PORTLAND’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS are an embarrassment: Only 53 percent of students graduate on time, and the average age of our buildings is 65 years. We’re outpaced by suburbs like Lake Oswego and Beaverton, which have lower dropout rates and better facilities.
So what to do? How about ask for some help?
On the May 17 ballot, Portland Public Schools (PPS) is asking you to sign off on the most expensive package of tax hikes in Oregon history. District officials would like to start rehabbing dilapidated, seismically unsafe campuses. They also need a cash lifeline to keep from laying off teachers.
And, yes, their timing is terrible. The city has barely begun to claw its way out of a recession. If a majority votes yes, then the average homeowner’s annual property tax will increase by $400. Ouch.
But we say vote yes anyway. Not letting the ‘burbs put us to shame means Portland needs to pony up, even when it hurts. The influx of money is right for students and it’s right for the city. It’s even right for all you childless renters who might have to pay your landlords more each month.
A solid commitment to public education will send a strong message to employers who might want to move to Portland (you like having a job, don’t you?) and to community-minded family types who might be (reluctantly) considering moving away.
The increase is actually two measures: a $548 million bond to rebuild nine schools and refurbish the rest of the 85, and a five-year, $57 million annual levy that will help run the district’s schools.
Because of the economy, a group of schools advocates, calling themselves Learn Now, Build Later, are urging voters to say no to the bond, but yes to the operating levy. They say we should wait two more years to plan another bond and, in the meantime, the district should close more schools so we can spend that bond money more efficiently. Those are reasonable cautions at a time when taxpayers are already counting their pennies.
If we pass the bond and rebuild schools we can’t afford, we could wind up with what Learn Now, Build Later spokesman Eric Fruits calls the “Wapato problem,” referring to an expensive new jail still mothballed because Multnomah County can’t afford to run it. Worst-case scenario, they say, is that we allocate $548 million and wind up with beautiful schools we might not need, lacking both teachers and basic classes.
But let’s look at what’s not up for debate: Our schools are falling apart. (We’re talking asbestos-coated pipes, oil furnaces that are time bombs for fire, and kids taking turns plugging in computers because of shoddy wiring.) They’ll be even worse in two years. And with the state mired in a budget apocalypse, it’s our responsibility to fix them. Now. Before a major disaster or tragedy makes us wish we’d voted yes.
The bond certainly isn’t perfect. Learn Now, Build Later notes that the bond spends half its money on only six percent of students and doesn’t include seismic upgrades for 13 schools that are rated “very likely” to collapse.
But closing more schools and praying for a more perfect plan? PPS has tightened things up, closing 12 schools in 10 years. It’s a wrenching process, and the community has said enough is enough.
We also doubt PPS can put together a less controversial ask in two years, or ever. What this bond focuses on—overhauling the city’s worst schools and making fixes at every school citywide—is a necessary investment and not one that should wait. Vote yes.
The Mercury did not endorse candidates for Portland School Board, whose names also appear on the ballot. But to read detailed questionnaires from school board candidates, check out the League of Women Voters of Portland’s voter’s guide over at lwvpdx.org.
As a former PPS student, I really cannot stress how important this is. I went to the “rich kid” public school, Lincoln, and I was taught in classrooms that had unsafe levels of CO2. In my health class, kids had to sit on crates because there weren’t enough desks. (Or enough room for desks–there were almost 50 kids in a basement classroom with no windows).
Let’s base school upgrades on each individual school’s ability to improve it’s academic standing and graduation rate. It’s time for teachers, principals and school administrators to start worrying about our children rather than worrying about their entitlements and pensions. Our graduation rate is 55%. Absolutely dismal. PPS is failing the children and the taxpayers of Portland. Vote NO.
BokChoy wrote:
“Let’s base school upgrades on each individual school’s ability to improve it’s academic standing and graduation rate.”
BokChoy’s observation that “PPS is failing the children” would make sense only if BokChoy him/herself attended PPS, judging by his/her failure to use proper punctuation: “it’s” should be “its.”
Vote yes. HELL yes!
Vote No, this bond is more than $939 per person in Portland. Where is that money going to come from? Where did the stimulus money go?
There is no rent control in Portland and renters are going to feel this increase big time.
It’s not for the kids – where are the kids going to live? Portland has 21,000 homes in foreclosure and gaining.
The bond is not only extremely expensive — as in a $34 million school for 300 kids? Are you kidding? It is pure no-bid pork.
Vote no on the bond. Vote no on corruption.
Also, the true purpose of this bond is to force long-time black folks out of their homes in NE PDX. This is the only way, Carole Smith has decided, inner Portland graduation rates will go up.
So, “progressives” you can pat yourselves on the back if the bond passes and the the new jewel box of Jefferson HS is all white kids five years from now.
I truly believe that the schools need the money, I voted for the smaller teacher bond but the buildings bond is a bit to much to bite off at this time. I wish government would quit using my house as an ATM. Wake up Oregonians it’s time for a sales tax, yes sales tax. It’s a Carbon Tax in a way, Our consumptive lifestyles need to be taxed, to help reduce our Carbon Foot Print. A three legged tax system: income, property and sales tax, should help even out an unstable economies workings and create a more reliable source of income for government services, including schools.
I bought my house based on a certain income & payment, this tax increase is $50 a month more, what should I cut out? Food? Heat? Lights? Internet? I haven’t funded my IRA in 10 years, that could stand getting $50 a month.
20 Years ago a school board member cut the school budget and everyone was standing around cheering. Where did they cut? They cut the maintenance budgets for schools, part of the schools sad state of disrepair were choices made 20 years ago. Maintenance saves money in the long run.
Oregon’s Tax structure is broken, that’s what needs to be fixed
I am liberal as hell, but their is no way that I will vote anything but NO NO NO for this giant waste of money. Portland Public School kids fail because they are raised by failures who teach them to be failures. No one needs a school to learn, they need the desire. Don’t believe me? Look around the world.
Sometimes it breaks my heart to be liberal because I listen to other liberals and think, “Can’t these dumb motherfuckers do math?!” Why don’t people accept that about half of kids don’t give a shit about an education and neither do their parents. You have to be dumb as shit to think that the grad rate is just over 50% because their is not money available.
Obviously, no one at the Mercury owns a home. But thanks for taking time away from bike-bitching and Bieber obsession to tell me how to vote.
Bub: is it embarrassing to knock someone on their grammar and then be WRONG about it, as you were? “It is time for teachers” = “it’s” with the apostrophe. BokChoy’s usage was correct. Where did YOU go to school?
Wow, this thread is going to be a parade of assholes, I can already tell.
If you post a pro-vote-yes on the school extortion, I propose you must list your employer.
Cause unless you are wealthy or employed by the school district, you’re screwed when this passes.
It’s not irrational to say this will be the straw that sends people packing.
We’re broke, you @$$#o1es
If you’re not willing to pay for the common good and the social contract; STFU and GTFO.
STFU and GTFO? Nice. Please tell me where I’m obligated to do anything simply because you think it is in the common good? Silly me, I thought I had a say in this matter. Let me know where I can drop off my ballot, you can fill it out for me.
Hey, Graham. I pay 23% of my modest income to this state to contribute to our society, and I am happy to do it because living here makes me happy and I want our city to be the best it can be. But that has nothing to do with the fact that the same schools that are “raining ceiling tiles” are also producing graduates, and even some very smart people, despite the high number of lazy, entitled morons who treat school like a prison that they are forced to attend. A building is not an education, so stop pretending that this measure is about educating kids. It is not; it is about politicians preying on the fact that liberals value education but often think with their hearts rather than their heads.
You know what you call a dog with no legs? Nothing, he ain’t gonna come anyway.
@pdxlager: You’re a fucking idiot.
@WhamBam: So you’re blaimg the students for the insitutional problems? That 45% of the student body is lazy? No, this is a systemic problem and you’re blaiming the victims. You’re a fucking idiot.
If I read one more endorsement of the school proposals that says, “the timing is terrible, BUT…”, I’m going to swing into PRIMAL SCREAM OF NEWSPAPER FRUSTRATION MODE!!!
The timing is seriously terrible. Jobs haven’t come back yet. Supporters keep saying that schools are in crisis, but the school buildings have been a wreck for a long time. If it was really a crisis, PPS would have gone to the voters five years ago, when times were good.
I’m not willing to see people lose their homes and have a harder time putting food on the table just so PPS can solve problems, right now, in the middle of hard times, after neglecting them for years.
Better to say, “the timing is terrible AND, let’s vote against these thoughtless proposals — come back and ask again after the good times roll back in.”
No, you bi-polar dickhead. I’m not blaming kids for having shitty school buildings, I am saying that fixing the school buildings will not increase the graduation rate.
@WhamBam: So now you’re claiming that there’s no correlation between outdated, delapidated facilities and the low graduation rate in Portland? Problems with the public school have no silver bullet that will fix everything, but this will unequivocally help the system. If your school has moldy plaster and exposed wiring, you’re much less likely to attend class. But obviously you like to imagine that environment has no affect on the student body. You’re still an idiot.
Fine, Professor. When this measure passes, if the graduation rate goes up, you can enjoy the smug satisfaction of knowing that I am sitting here saying, “Well, Graham was right.” And I will continue to “eat my hat” as every school district in the nation sees that Portland got teenagers to throw down their smart phones, delete their facebook pages, quit smoking pot and care about education just by improving school buildings.
@WhamBam: Druge use by teenagers has been on a decline ever since the Baby Boomers stopped being teenagers (proof: http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/public…), other than that, you still seem to be blaming the student body as a whole for systemic problems over which they have no control.
How about this? I accuse you of being racist. There’s roughly 47,000 students currently enrolled in the PPS, of which 44% of the student is body is non-white. Portland as a whole has a demographic that’s 21% non-white. You’re just pissed off that a disproportionate amount of your tax dollars will be going to non-white people and you’re wanting to reinstitute Rassenhygiene policies.
We have extremely old, even dangerous school buildings, and bond funds haven’t been available for upgrades in over a decade. And of course there’s a second measure to fund teaching positions, so this debate is hardly just about improving buildings. But clearly we should stop worrying about financial matters and address what’s really at issue here: the Facebooking, the marijuana cigarettes, and the rap music that are standing in the way of education. We’ve all just got to take responsibility and tighten our belts — cause that’s a lot cheaper than actually paying for quality public education.
Graham, it is reasonable and responsible for people to weigh how much they can/should pay in taxes. No one who owns property in this city isn’t doing their share for the social contract.
People who disagree with you or vote a different way don’t have to leave town. You aren’t the king of jack shit.
@Blabby: Wrong. I am in fact the King Jack Shit. I’ve even got a crown and everything.
Graham, I thought I could smell a crown of shit on you. It’s spelled “drug” by the way, not “druge” – but I’m just a fucking idiot, what do I know….
Gawd, I wish I wasn’t turning into a crotchy old conservative. I’m not really sure where I’ll get the extra cash for the 18% increase in property taxes though. It’s not like my wages are rising or I’m getting more hours at work. I’m lucky to even have a job after 6 months of unemployment. My next door neighbor has been out of work for two years. Oh well, time to throw more money at a problem. Cash fixes it all right?
I’m trying my very hardest to not let my feelings drift into ‘damn ungrateful little shits don’t even want to be there in the first place, my school was a piece of shit full of asbestos, and I still made the damn honor roll’ land. Guess I’m not trying hard enough eh?
Graham, I thought I could smell something on you. Now I know it’s a crown of feces.
Speaking of knowing things: It’s spelled “drug” by the way, not “druge”. How does it feel knowing that idiots are schooling you left and right on a public comment board related to funding education?
Get a job outside of your cushy government school payroll Graham and try to figure out how to keep the lights on and pay the rent.
This 50% increase in taxes for poor and working people is driving us out.
Then we don’t pay your salary and benefits.
And the failure factory keeps turning out 50% grads.
And there’s no jobs for them.
We already break our backs to pay for $#!++y schools.
We’re broke.
Understand yet?!
I’d love to see all the stupid, unnecessary crap bought over the course of a year by the people who then claim they just can’t afford to help pay a little extra for things like teachers’ salaries and safety upgrades in school buildings.
when did 65 years old become extremely old? how long are these new multi-million dollar buildings expected to last?
and, no, I don’t think there’s a connection between the buildings and the graduation rate. the point of this bond is to make it too expensive to live here and get the poor kids out of PPS boundaries.
@geyser. And I would like to see a copy of your household budget so that I may bask in the glory of your financial responsibility.
For one thing, knowledge about plate tectonics and seismic protection was far more limited 65 years ago, which is why seismic upgrades are often needed in older buildings. But more generally, the facilities have outdated equipment that needs frequent repairs. Consistently maintaining them requires lots of money that then cannot be spent in the classroom, which then has an effect on graduation rates. Now do you get it?
How long do you want to keep sinking money into these buildings when the more they age the more expensive it will be to deal with the problem?
And why does every one of your comments ignore the existence of 26-122? Is it because there’s clearly a connection between improving the graduation rates and (via 26-122) paying teachers salaries, continuing educational programs, and preventing big increases in class sizes? And because the latter measure wouldn’t fit into your conspiracy theory that the funding problems have been concocted in order to carry out gentrification or ethnic cleansing or whatever term you’d prefer to use?
@ geyser Are you aware that in 1995 a large bond was passed to seismically retrofit the schools? 30 years before that there was bond to abate asbestos. Pretty good scam.
The reason that the bond is so upsetting is because it outrageously expensive. Cedarwood Waldorf is rehabbing a hundred year old building that was squatted in for ~$2 million.
PPS wants $34 million for Faubion, which is one of the newest schools in the district.
The Levy is obviously not a bunch of insulting pork. It’s for more teachers, supposedly.
@altogetherPDX: Oh yes! I completely forgot that teachers are greedy and evil. Maybe the graduation rates would increase if we payed them less?
Graham let’s just give all the kids vouchers to go to Cedarwood Waldorf then they will not be burdens on PPS.
$550 million divided by 583,776 Portland residents = $942.14……from every man, woman and child. Regardless of income, employment status, fixed income, allowance. That’s a lot of money. It will affect us all negatively.
Vote NO.
This article/endorsement shows how inefficient existing heaters and windows are, which leave some students far too hot and others far too cold. In addition to the huge energy savings we’ll see with new and upgraded schools (which will need to be done sooner or later), studies show that students performance is improved by better temperature control, ventilation, and air quality. It will affect us all positively, and this is something we’re going to have to pay for sooner or later.
Of course it’s a lot of money, but a longer-term bond would cost a couple hundred million dollars more in the longrun, due to greater interest.
My url tags didn’t work. I’ll try doing them a simpler way.
Article/endorsement:
http://www.olcv.org/blog/yes-vote-portland…
Study about energy efficiency (improved temperature control, ventillation, air quality) and school performance:
http://www.energycircle.com/blog/2009/08/2…
I’m a parent of a kid in one of these schools. I’ve been volunteering a lot to pass these measures, along with hundreds of parents across the city. Many of us have been working hard over the years in our schools in all kinds of ways – we’ve seen how hard our teachers work with limited resources, and we’ve been in these buildings that are in dreadful states. Now we’re working hard to make sure that both the bond and the levy pass, so our class sizes won’t go up dramatically, and, just as importantly, to get them in the buildings that they’re safe in, that aren’t falling apart, and that are built to accommodate the needs of our kids. You can join us if you want. We’ll be out in all parts of the city this weekend, talking to voters about the 2 measures. To help, please go to info@portlandersforschools.org
VOTE – PPS would love for you to not vote. They have calculated that a low voter turn-out for a special election usually spells a win for bonds.
They no longer need a double-majority to pass this. A small fraction of registered voters can pass this poorly conceived, poorly timed bond measure.
VOTE – informed. http://www.LearnNowBuildLater.org