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Benson High School, the largest school building in Portland Public Schools, might be partly rebuilt if voters approve a mammoth school construction bond in November. Benson proponents want it to be fully done, rather than ungraded in two phases.

(Faith Cathcart/The Oregonian/file)

Portland Public Schools leaders plan to ask voters to approve a $750 million construction bond that would be the largest any local government has put on the ballot in state history.

All three board members on the bond planning committee signaled Tuesday they are on board with asking voters in November to approve that much borrowing. The amount is 56 percent larger than the district's previous bond, OK'd in 2012.

If voters say yes again, the school board would use the money to rebuild Lincoln High and Madison High, to refresh Kellogg Middle School so it can reopen to students, and to carry out about $300 million of environmental improvements to many schools.

Those improvements would primarily make the buildings safer for students, including addressing lead paint and lead in drinking water -- problems on the minds of many Portland taxpayers after a series of alarming revelations about lead in schools this spring.

The board members said a poll by a campaign firm hired to promote the bond suggests Portland voters would pass such a mammoth bond because it would cost property owners just $1.04 per $1,000 of assessed property value per year -- about the same cost to homeowners as the $482 million bond approved in 2012.

The board also plans to rebuild Benson High, a citywide career-technical magnet school. But board members asked facilities planners Tuesday to explore whether Benson could be rebuilt in two phases, one covered by a 2016 bond and another that would be paid for by a planned 2020 bond issue.

A $750 million bond isn't big enough to pay for full rebuilds at Lincoln, Madison and Benson and also devote $300 million to health and safety projects across the district. District officials issued a rough estimate that it would cost about $200 million to build a new Lincoln High, $160 million to fully remake Madison and about $260 million to fully build and upgrade Benson.

Benson's pricetag is far higher than for other schools because its tech labs and maker spaces add nearly 100,000 square feet beyond what a typical school has.

If voters approve a $750 million bond and the school district were to build all three schools as it has conceptually planned, that would leave less than $150 million for safety upgrades at other schools.

Poll results suggest voters are particularly interested in health and safety fixes, board members said. And board members also said safety is a priority for them.

The bond planning committee plans to meet one more time to create more detailed plans before bringing the proposed bond to the full school board for approval in late July.

The costs to repay the debt would be $1.04 per $1,000 of assessed value for 12 years and about 30 cents per $1,000 for 18 years after that. At the higher rate, the cost for a home assessed at $200,000 would be $208 a year or $17 a month.

The price is that low, for such a large bond, thanks to record-low interest rates of close to 1 percent, Carol Samuels, a managing director at investment bank Piper Jaffray told the board.

Benson supporters expressed frustration with phasing and felt the school should be done at once and prioritized because of earthquake risks. Benson is made mostly of unreinforced masonry, meaning it is the most dangerous type of building in an earthquake. Lincoln and Madison are newer buildings and not as risky.

"If we do have this earthquake in the next five to 10 years, it's our kids, our teachers, our faculty," said Benson parent Lisa White. "This isn't OK. We should be going first."

Rob Johns, chairman of the Benson alumni association, said after the meeting that he felt the poll result should have been made public. He called it was suspicious that numbers reflecting favorably on Benson were being kept under wraps.

Amy Ruiz, vice president of campaigns and communications for Strategies 360, which did the polling, declined to make the poll results public, but said she had briefed some school board members.

-- Bethany Barnes

bbarnes@oregonian.com

-- Betsy Hammond

betsyhammond@oregonian.com