The Jan. 7 Portland Public Schools Board Meeting led to a vote on a bond package vote set for $1.83 Billion in May, which would go towards the renovations of Cleveland and Ida B. Wells. It would also cover improvements to school curricula and technology, as well as further maintenance.
PPS has attempted to set significantly smaller targets for the modernizations of these two schools, evaluated at $340 million each, after realizing that these modernizations would be among the most expensive high school modernizations in the nation. Many community members of the schools expressed concern that this proposed cut would not allow for them to have equitable modernization in comparison to other PPS schools.
The meeting included a lengthy debate over the addition of a $40 million fund to the bond to fund a Native Student Success Center. This would fulfill a decade-long promise to provide further equity for the district’s Native American population, which was numbered at 237 according to PPS 2024-25 enrollment data. This number was evaluated to be 1,900 by Superintendent Dr. Kimberlee Armstrong.
The fund was backed by School Board member Julia Brim-Edwards, whose zone encompasses Cleveland, as well as School Board member Herman Greene.
The fund was ultimately shut down in a 5-2 vote due to concern over the use of bond funding, which the opposition argued should be used for facility improvements primarily.
Despite the loss of the fund, Armstrong reported that she would immediately begin a reallocation of funds in partnership with her Racial Equity and Social Justice Team to allow an additional 100 hours of tutoring, clear K-12 pathways, and a tribal liaison for the upcoming academic year, all for Native American students. She also stated that $1.1 million of the bond’s $56 million curriculum budget would go towards materials for study of Native American history, culture, and contributions in schools.
To establish clear K-12 pathways, Armstrong proposed a Native American program in a dedicated PPS high school, to allow for a larger Native American community and student union. Armstrong stated that there were three unnamed schools in particular that PPS’s Native American population is currently concentrated in, and that one of those schools would gain the Native American program soon.
The $1.83 million bond is projected to have no effect on property tax rates, which was a large concern of voters.
The meeting also resulted in the reelection of board members Eddie Wang as chair and DePass as vice chair, who both ran unopposed.
