By Sam Blackman

A few months ago, while preparing to give a talk to the Oregon Community Foundation, I looked up my old elementary school, Duniway, located in Portland's Eastmoreland neighborhood. A few keystrokes on Google brought up some elegant photographs of the school, and I was taken aback by what a beautiful, inspiring structure it is. The memories came pouring out: playing four square, racing through multiplication tables to keep up with the girls at my table, taking home and caring for Minerva the hamster. The investments that Portlanders made in public school buildings nearly a century ago created a marvelous learning environment that I benefited from decades later.

My experience was not unique, and the reason that 84 percent of Portland's school-age children attend public schools today is in large part due to the significant investments made by our community decades ago. Unfortunately, we have not reinvested sufficiently in our schools since, and the benefits of these early investments have diminished over time. At this point, many schools in Portland must be renovated seismically and structurally just to ensure that they are reasonably safe places for our children and educators.

We have an opportunity to do so: The Portland Public Schools bond (Measure 26-144) provides us with the chance to make not only these long-overdue repairs, but to make a statement about the value of education to our community. In particular, Grant, Franklin, Roosevelt high schools and Faubion PreK-8 would be fully modernized, transforming them from decrepit, dangerous structures into safe, inspirational atmospheres in which to learn.

Of course, there is a cost to passing the bond: $1.10 per $1,000 of assessed value on our homes each year. Given the challenging economic climate that Portlanders still face, taking on any additional tax burden requires overwhelming confidence that the investment made will generate strong returns. From a long-term perspective, there is no doubt that this is the case. Effectively educating our children is a fundamental social obligation for a democratic society, and many studies have directly correlated public investments in education with long-term economic benefit for individuals and society.

The short-term economic benefits may not be as obvious. At the software startup where I work, the largest challenge we face is finding and recruiting world-class engineers to Portland. We need to hire these people now to compete effectively in the global economy, not in 17 years when today's kindergartners graduate from college. We can hire some of these people locally, but throughout my company's history, we've also had to rely on recruiting employees from all over the country. Great public schools are a key recruiting and retention tool for every expanding business in Portland, and as long as these companies can successfully hire superlative talent, Portland's economy will continue to blossom.

Furthermore, the value of every home in Portland is directly affected by its proximity to public schools, as well as the perceived educational quality of those schools. Passing the bond measure will increase the value of all properties as it makes the nearby schools more desirable, higher-quality institutions. The increase in each homeowner's property value alone is likely to significantly outweigh the additional property tax burden. Finally, the $482 million raised will be directly invested in our community in the immediate future. So the bond will accelerate Portland's gradual economic recovery, providing jobs for the skilled workers who will take on the meaningful responsibility of reinvigorating our public schools.

If this school bond passes, it will be an overwhelming affirmation of the fundamental values of our community as well as our commitment to our children. It will pay tribute to the foundation laid by Portland citizens a century ago, while generating strong returns for our economy in the present and the future. And most important, this investment in the next generation of Oregon and America's leaders will pay outsized dividends for the next hundred years as we face ever-increasing challenges as a society.

Please join me in voting yes on the Portland school bond measure. It's time to craft a civic legacy we can call our own.

Sam Blackman is the CEO and co-founder of Elemental Technologies, a software company based in Portland.