[December 13, 2024]
Filling a soon-to-be vacant school board seat takes on renewed importance as PPS grapples with shaping a bond measure to address school needs.
Following a recommendation from Portland Public Schools staff earlier this month that the budget for each school be trimmed by around $100 million, public design meetings have been cancelled and the design process halted while new budgets are developed.
In the meantime, board member Andrew Scott announced his resignation, effective in January at a date yet to be determined. Scott’s Zone 1 seat includes much of SW Portland and he has been seen as an advocate for updating Ida B. Wells, his alma mater.
Scott’s resignation comes at an awkward time in the development of the bond measure that, if approved by voters, would fund the rebuilding of Ida B. Wells and Cleveland–the remaining high schools awaiting funding in the district’s ongoing modernization initiative.
The remaining school board members will name a successor to fill the seat until a new director can be elected in May to serve out Scott’s term ending in 2027. The deadline to submit the application for the interim appointment is December 20.
As of this writing, no applications have been submitted to fill Scott’s position on the school board.
If no one from Zone 1 applies, the board could be free to make an appointment from the city at large. School board members must live in the zone they represent but are elected at large.
Candidate interviews and final voting to approve the appointment are expected to take place in mid January and will be open to the public.
The application period to file with the Multnomah County elections office for the seat in the May election runs from February 2 through March 20.
Since his election to the seat in 2019, Scott has been a strong proponent for bringing Portland schools up to modern standards. As reported by Willamette Week in November, Scott stated that he planned to remain on the board until the bond could be drafted and referred to the ballot in early January. Recent events, however, have thrown the bond timeline into doubt.
The price tag for upgrading Wells and Cleveland had grown to as much as $450 million per school. Funds to modernize Jefferson were approved in the 2020 bond, but late changes to the design and associated delays led costs to rise above the budgeted amount to $490 million. Up until December 4, the next bond had been expected to include additional funds for Jefferson, but that is now in question. At $450 million and beyond, the budget for the new schools would exceed the 2022 $245 million price tag for Lincoln High School, landing them among the most costly in the country.
In addition to filling Scott’s board seat, PPS faces additional challenges:
Creating a bond package that will pass muster with voters: Sticker shock aside, containing the costs for the new schools would allow for leftover funds from the $1.1 billion bond to be allocated to other critical needs. This strategy could start to address over a billion dollars in deferred maintenance and could make the package more appealing to voters.
Referring the bond in a timely manner: Delaying the bond until November of 2025, for example, could result in millions of dollars in additional financing costs. Not only is there a February 28 deadline to file for the May ballot, but significant lead time is needed to plan and conduct a campaign to garner the support of voters.
Creating realistic budgets that align with previous high school rebuilds in terms of quality of facilities and programs: PPS has commissioned an outside analysis of the cost estimations. However, as of December 2 they did not expect those reports to be ready before the end of January, if not later.
—Valeurie Friedman
Questions? Comments? Let us know.