Build high schools smaller to cut costs, Portland school board members say

It turns out that, at least when it comes to constructing new high schools in Portland, size does matter.

Members of the Portland Public Schools board will suggest that the footprint of all three projects be drastically decreased in order to cut the soaring costs of upgrading three high schools.

School board member Julia Brim-Edwards stated that Cleveland, Jefferson, and Wells high schools might save around $70 million out of the about $1.15 billion that high-end projections predict if they were kept to about 295,000 square feet, the same size as the renovated Franklin and Lincoln high schools.

According to the current designs, Wells will be built at 324,000 square feet, Jefferson at 322,000 square feet, and Cleveland at 316,000 square feet.

In their meeting Tuesday evening, board members will discuss ways to reduce the high school project budgets, which make up the majority of the $1.8 billion general obligation bond that Portland voters will be considering in May.

For months, board members and district administrators have been debating how to address the high expenses of the high school projects, especially in light of the backlog of upkeep at the middle and elementary schools in the district. However, there haven’t been many details regarding what exactly would be removed from the high school projects in order to save money.

Along with the lowered square footage goals, Brim-Edwards and board members Christy Splitt and Gary Hollands created a memo that included the following instructions for district employees:

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  Projects should only have teen parenting centers if there is a demonstrated need among students at each school.
  
  
• 
  Portland should stay the course for environmentally sustainable building practice, but staff should consider structural material choices such concrete or steel versus mass timber, with an eye toward carbon emissions, durability and cost.
  
  
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  Athletic facilities should eliminate or reduce excessive cost items that are not in service to student-athletes and athletic teams.
  
  
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  District officials should reexamine project management fees charged by each of the

  contractors

  hired to oversee the high school projects. Such fees were projected to be higher for each of the three Portland schools than at nearby Beaverton High\l, which is currently being rebuilt, according to an independent construction costs audit commissioned by the school board.
  
  

Along with the trade-offs that would result from such reductions, such as reducing so-called specialized spaces that go beyond what is required by the school district’s specifications for what all high schools should contain, the framework also instructs staff with the district’s Office of School Modernization to come up with an additional $10 million in cost savings per building.

The proposals would not alter some of the areas that the construction audit found to be cost drivers, such as constructing an all-electric infrastructure and adhering to the district’s equity in contracting policy.

Julia Silverman writes for The Oregonian/OregonLive about K–12 education. You can contact her at [email protected].