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Portland Public Schools realized few savings in its quest to cut down construction costs at what promise to be some of the most expensive high schools in the nation.
Under heat from the Portland School Board this past spring, the district’s efforts have lowered costs at Jefferson High School from a projected $491 million in October 2024 to $466 million, and Ida B. Wells High School from $455 million to $449 million, according to a staff memo from Dr. Jon Franco, the district’s senior chief of operations. Meanwhile, costs at Cleveland High School have slightly increased, from a $469 million budget to $473 million.
That brings the total cost of the three projects up to about $1.38 billion. The district has budgeted $1.51 billion from two property tax bonds for the overhauls.
The latest figures indicate that savings will likely total an additional $140 million, alongside the $190 million that the bond set aside for deferred maintenance upgrades.
Per Olstad, a leader in the parent advocacy group Safe Structures PPS, whose work advocating for seismic retrofits bolstered the latest bond’s passage, says his group wants to reaffirm to the district that the savings was promised to seismic improvements.
An August report by Holmes Consulting Group, which PPS commissioned, identified and prioritized school projects based on seismic risk scores. That report determined it would cost the district about $118.6 million to retrofit unreinforced masonry buildings (the most at-risk structures) and about $902.9 million for all PPS schools.
“There is a default presumption that that money will be used for seismic retrofits at K–8 schools,” Olstad says. “We want to remind them that this is not just general slush fund money. It is supposed to go for a specific purpose.”
