For the fifth time in 14 years, voters in the Portland Public School District will have the opportunity to vote for or against a school bond. This time the school district board has proposed a $1.8 billion school bond. If passed, this would be the largest bond in Oregon history.
Voters last said “No” to a PPS school bond in 2011. Since then, voters have approved a total of $2.472 billion in school bonds, in 2012, 2017 and 2020.
Will taxpayers say, “Enough already”? Perhaps. Here are seven reasons to vote “No” on this $1.8 billion school bond.
1. There’s too much debt already. Portland Public Schools has already passed billions in school bonds, in 2012 ($482 million), 2017 ($790 million) and 2020 ($1.2 billion). Now the district wants to burden taxpayers with a record breaking $1.83 billion dollar bond. This bond far exceeds the $1.2 billion raised by the 2020 bond.
2. PPS is building too many high schools at a time of declining enrollment. Former board member Scott Bailey revealed that PPS is building high schools for 17,000 students when enrollment projections show only 11,000 students in 10 years, “a huge overbuild that will waste hundreds of millions of dollars.” (PPS Board meeting, March 4, 2025) If passed, the school bond will pay to rebuild Jefferson High School with a capacity of 1,700 students when current enrollment is just 459 students.
3. PPS construction costs are far higher than in neighboring districts. In Portland, school buildings cost $1,340 to $1,570 per square foot. Seattle schools spend $1,200 per square foot, Bend schools are at $1,150, and Beaverton schools cost just $874 per square foot. (Source: The Oregonian Jan. 19, 2025)
4. This bond will spend $311 million dollars on laptop computers, tablets and “comprehensive, culturally relevant, and up-to-date textbooks and curriculum materials.” (pps.net) No family would finance a home computer or set of encyclopedias with a 30-year mortgage. Why should the district finance textbooks and computers with a 30-year school bond?
5. Senior citizens need relief from increasing property tax bills. Rising food, insurance and fuel bills make it tough for seniors to make ends meet on fixed incomes. Another school bond means an additional $1.83 billion in principal plus approximately $1.7 billion of interest must be paid off over the next 32 years. This means decades of paying $250 per $100,000 assessed property valuation to pay off these bonds.
6. There has been a lack of community input. At the Feb. 4 board meeting, board member Julia Brim-Edwards said, “I’ve been involved with six PPS bonds. This is the bond with the least amount of public comment, the least information, and no community stakeholder group. We can’t keep shutting down discussion.”
7. There is no guarantee that the promised buildings and projects will get built. The 2020 bond included $311 million for Jefferson High School and $60 million for a Center for Black Student Excellence. Neither was built. Yet taxpayers got sent the bill.
The school board members need to re-assess building needs in light of current capacity and falling enrollment. Community input from all sectors of Portland need to be heard and listened to before a “right-sized” bond can be proposed to build essential buildings only.
Portland voters can make themselves heard by voting “No” on this supersized and unaffordable school bond.
Richard Emmons is the publisher and editor of the Oregon Eagle.