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Portland is getting three new high schools.
Early returns on election night showed voters approving Measure 26-259, a $1.83 billion bond for Portland Public Schools that would rebuild three high schools and provide seismic upgrades to some of the district’s most dangerous brick buildings.
The bond is the most significant item in the special election. So far, 54% of voters are supporting the bond, and 46% of voters have rejected it. Turnout for the May special election has been low, according to Multnomah County elections director Tim Scott, who says he expects it to finish up at around 21%.
The news was of extreme relief to PPS bond supporters, including Superintendent Dr. Kimberlee Armstrong. Dozens gathered at Brooklyn Carreta in Southeast Portland on Tuesday night to watch the results roll in. As 8 pm approached, district officials, parents, and bond supporters gathered around baskets of fries and anxiously hovered over their phones. With the hour change came an eruption of cheers and several rounds of applause, as cries of “We did it!” rang out from the crowd.
“What we’re seeing in these initial results is what we have known all along, that Portlanders know and love their schools,” says Tony Morse, campaign manager for Yes for Portland Schools. “This campaign comes as a crucial time for Portland’s future.”
The bond aims to complete a promise the Portland School Board made to voters in 2012, when it passed its first in a series of bonds to modernize all nine of the district’s high schools. It will raise $1.83 billion by keeping the property tax rate for bonded debt at $2.50 for every $1,000 of assessed value for a district homeowner.
The bond is split into two major buckets of money: About $1.15 billion will go toward three high schools, Cleveland, Ida B. Wells and Jefferson. The district plans to commit any spillover from the modernizations, alongside $190 million in deferred maintenance funds, to repairing and retrofitting elementary and middle schools. It will also fund curriculum and technology upgrades, as well as improvements to athletics facilities.
In recent months, Oregon’s largest school district has faced increased scrutiny for this bond, which, if passed, would be the largest in the state’s history. (PPS already holds that record from November 2020, when it passed a $1.2 billion bond.) If the bond passes, the district is on track to build some of the nation’s most expensive high schools, at more than $450 million apiece. There’s also been some concern that the district is overbuilding high schools for a capacity it isn’t projected to have (“Too Many High Schools,” March 19).
But with ballots arriving in mailboxes, the School Board assuaged a different concern: that the bond guaranteed little money for seismic upgrades for 19 unreinforced masonry buildings, which include several elementary schools. Spurred in part by WW‘s reporting, parents successfully pressured the School Board to prioritize earthquake safety when spending the $190 million in deferred maintenance funds.
That last-minute resolution galvanized parents who were previously on the fence, possibly helping its passage.
Armstrong credited the School Board’s work holding frank discussions about the prices of the high schools and the seismic resolution. She says that the district “has a strong team” that’s fully in place and ready to tackle all the district’s facilities needs.
“It’s been hard, it’s been long; unfortunately, the work has just begun. The board here, we are committed that every dollar goes as far as possible, impacts as many students as possible,” Board Chair Eddie Wang said. “We want to make sure that we are part of making Portland a world class city again.”
There’s another bond measure on many East Portland ballots this election, Measure 26-258. The Mt. Hood Community College bond would raise $136 million by adding 25 cents per $1,000 in assessed property value to the tax bills of homeowners in its catchment area, funding facilities upgrades and other improvements. That bond is so far failing, with 46% of voters approving it.