2012 election

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Oregon results:

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A

to rebuild and upgrade Portland Public Schools buildings is headed to victory, according to partial returns.

Nearly 63 percent of Multnomah County voters have approved the measure, which would be the largest local government bond measure passed in Oregon history.

Under the bond, Franklin, Grant and Roosevelt high schools will be renovated, while Faubion K-8 will be rebuilt. Dozens of schools will also receive seismic upgrades, roof replacements, handicapped accessibility upgrades or science lab improvements.

The campaign was the district's second try at a bond measure after facing a narrow defeat in May 2011. District officials reworked the plan to include fewer schools and focus mainly on safety upgrades.

The bond will cost homeowners $1.10 per $1,000 of assessed property value, which pencils out to about $165 annually for a house assessed at $150,000.

After the previous campaign received criticism for accepting large donations from businesses that could stand to benefit from the bond, this year's campaign appeared to rebrand itself: the Portlanders for Schools political action committee went by a different name, Our Portland, Our Schools, and said it was a grassroots efforts.

The group also imposed contribution limits on itself for businesses that could bid on bond work, though it violated those limitations once during the campaign. While the previous campaign raised about $1.2 million, this year's effort raised a third of that with about $404,752, including about $41,000 of in-kind contributions.

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