Oregon’s school buildings are aging, averaging more than 40 years old, according to the 2021-22 Oregon Statewide Report Card. Oregon’s average class sizes are large, among the biggest in the country, according to the National Center for Education Statistics’ most recent data.
On Tuesday’s ballot, school district bonds all included building replacements and nearly all the levies were about maintaining staffing. In unofficial results early Wednesday, voters appeared to approve continuing the levies while mostly saying no to the bonds.
The one bond exception was the St. Paul School District. Voters approved a $3 million bond that triggers a $2 million Oregon School Capital Improvement Matching Program award. St. Paul plans to replace its 71-year-old career technical and agricultural science education building as well as renovate its food service facility.
St. Paul also plans to improve its security with entryway cameras and automatic locks. Many of Oregon’s older schools don’t meet modern calls for more secure entries, and all of the proposed bonds that failed included safety improvements.
The Scappoose School District wanted to replace its 1931 middle school and add high school classrooms. Oakland wanted to build a new Lincoln Middle School gym to replace a partially condemned off-campus 1930 gym as well as upgrade its softball field to meet Title IV fairness requirements. Eagle Point wanted to replace a 1928 Shady Cove K-5 building and add classrooms at multiple schools. Silver Falls aimed to replace its 1938 Silverton Middle School, portions of which have been condemned. North Wasco had planned to replace its 1941 The Dalles High School, which was last renovated in the 1970s.
Voters decisively said no to all of them, with only North Wasco failing by less than 10 percentage points.
Voters who were already paying levies that support staffing, though, seemed more receptive. Roughly two-thirds of voters approved levies for the North Clackamas, Siuslaw and West-Linn Wilsonville school districts.
Sweet Home School District voters also renewed a levy, but the money will go to maintaining a community pool at the high school. It’s 75 years old, though, and Aquatic Director A. Jay Bronson said it probably will need to be replaced soon, according to an Albany Democrat-Herald story.
– Jake Arnold, OSBA
jarnold@osba.org
