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An annual Portland Public Schools bond performance audit from Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting found the district was delivering on its promises to voters but not without significant delays and cost overruns on a few key projects.
The audit, which covers fiscal years 2023 and 2024 and was first reported by the Oregonian, found concerns similar to those already widely reported, including delays on modernization projects such as Jefferson High School and the Center for Black Student Excellence. It also found that the school board’s last-minute quest to cut down costs on Cleveland and Ida B. Wells high schools could ultimately contribute to more delays, which could result in higher costs due to general market cost escalation, among other factors.
Auditors also flagged disconnects between the district’s Bond Accountability Committee and the school board, including that board members weren’t receiving quarterly reports from the bond oversight group. In all, the audit made 23 new recommendations.
“The number and scope of the audit recommendations is unprecedented,” says outgoing school board member Julia Brim-Edwards, who called for more transparency and oversight from the board and district leadership.
In a response to auditors dated June 9, Stormy Shanks, PPS’s senior director of the Office of School Modernization, concurred with a majority of the recommendations, but noted that some could not be implemented, or were better modified to suit the district’s financial realities.
“PPS Staff will develop implementation plans for each recommendation with a ‘concur’ response and will make a good faith effort to meet the implementation goal of December 30, 2025,” Shanks wrote. “The quantity of recommendations will likely push implementations past that date.”
