Portland Public Schools Weighs May 17 Bond Measure

The Nov. 2 ballot includes a bunch of tax measures that, if approved, could cost a typical homeowner in Portland about $35 a year more in property taxes.

All the more reason to mention that on Monday, Nov. 8, Superintendent Carole Smith of Portland Public Schools will present a plan to the Portland School Board that could increase your tax bill even more—and soon.

Just six days after election day, Smith will go before the School Board with an outline for how to repair and rebuild some or all of the school district's 90-odd campuses. That proposal is expected to take the form of A) a list of critical infrastructure needs and B) a method for meeting those needs.

Translation? A construction bond measure of unknown proportion perhaps as soon as the May 17 election.

PPS spent close to $1 million in 2007 to assess its facilities. That effort pinpointed over $900 million in needed construction upgrades. Citing the need to talk first about programmatic changes at its schools, the district put the idea for a construction-bond measure on ice for months. Now that the School Board has approved Smith's high-school redesign, the rebuilding can move forward.