In a new update this week from the Portland Public Schools district board, a last-minute proposal to cut a quarter of Cleveland’s modernization budget to help fund other necessary capital projects has surfaced. The raising of this issue, combined with the impending deadline to make an official bond proposal for voters means that it is unlikely for PPS to put a bond measure before voters this spring.

In a message to staff and families sent out Dec. 4, PPS explained that “the estimates to rebuild three of our high schools has risen to more than $450 million each, which would make them the most costly high schools in Oregon. PPS leadership believes that the costs for the three new high schools should be scrutinized and made more manageable.” 

Cleveland, one of the last three high schools in line to be modernized, has worked diligently for the past few years planning a new high school. A detailed and defined architectural plan has been evolving, and since early May of 2024, the basic layout was confirmed. Official plans were presented in October, and throughout the process, the community has had the opportunity to provide input on what the new Cleveland should look like since the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year. 

As the modernization work was happening at the school level, the district was wrestling with how to fund the project and put a bond before the voters in the spring of 2025.

However, this fall, the board’s School Facilities Oversight Committee began discussing the district’s pressing capital projects and weighing those priorities with the costs of building three new schools. Despite this, school board chair Eddie Wang told the Willamette Week on Nov. 10 that Cleveland will be on the bond and that “there is no plan to not have Cleveland on the bond.”

Principal JoAnn Wadkins sent out a message to the Cleveland community on Dec. 2, explaining that “in particular, $340 million dollars is being proposed for Cleveland HS. The new proposed amount represents a reduction of $108 million from the original budget proposed in the Comprehensive Plan for Cleveland HS that was approved by the board in May 2024. The planning stages for Cleveland HS, which have included contracts for the design team of Mahlum Architects and Studio Petretti, and the construction company Skanska, have been funded at $20 million from the 2020 bond. This proposed reduction will have a major impact on our project. The committee meeting is open to the public, and we have had Cleveland community members at each of the committee meetings.”  

According to Vice Principal Sean Murray, the board would have to finalize the language for voters to examine in May within the first two weeks of January, so the issue of modernization will likely be pushed until next year. The Cleveland administration is unsure when they will be able to provide a concrete update.