The general public might be getting used to discussions of crumbling K-12 schools and the millions of dollars any district might need to address deferred maintenance projects related to roofs, HVAC systems and plumbing systems. But even in this context, the amount one school district needs for upgrades to make its schools safe, reliable and efficient is staggering.
Portland Public Schools has a $2.9 billion wish list for a proposed construction and maintenance bond it plans to put before voters in 2025, according to OregonLive. That massive tranche of money would pay for new high schools in three quadrants of the city, plus deferred maintenance, new athletics facilities, updated curriculum materials and more.
By comparison, the San Francisco United School District, which enrolls about 6,000 more students than Portland, is seeking approval for a $790 million bond this November, while voters in Austin, Texas — a district nearly twice the size of Portland — passed a $2.4 billion bond in 2022.
Several Portland school board members said the proposed request will be whittled back in the months ahead. And in acknowledging that they need more time to gauge the sentiment of restive voters before settling on a precise figure, members voted to push back the date of the bond election to May 2025.
School board chair Gary Hollands says he thinks the district’s real facilities needs approach an eye-popping $5 billion, given the district’s stock of aging school buildings that have been under-maintained for years and the staggering costs of seismic upgrades in an earthquake-prone region.
Dan Hounsell is senior editor for the facilities market. He has more than 30 years of experience writing about facilities maintenance, engineering and management.
