Portland Public Schools is about to begin the process of redrawing attendance boundaries for potentially all its schools, marking the most significant redistricting initiative the state’s largest school district has undertaken in years.

It is planning to outsource most of the parsing of which boundaries should be reset — and how — to a private firm with geographic information systems expertise and experience helping other school districts rezone schools.

The Portland school board was set to approve a $296,000 contract Tuesday with data firm FLO Analytics to study current boundaries and recommend new ones for the district’s schools.

The timetable to implement the new boundaries is the start of the 2020-2021 academic year, according to the bid submitted by the company.

The district most recently re-drew boundaries last summer to convert Roseway Heights into a middle school and to relieve overcrowding at Beverly Cleary K-8 .

That year, Harriet Tubman was also renovated and reopened, six years after the school was initially shuttered .

But this latest revision could affect more than 46,000 students enrolled in Portland’s nine public high schools and the middle and elementary schools that feed into them.

It’s also the first time an outside firm will preside over a process previously handled by a volunteer committee.

FLO Analytics’ proposal makes references to using mapping technology used by government agencies and private companies to draw boundaries and map routes for emergency services.

Spokesman Harry Esteve said PPS solicited bids from companies that have experience with similar work for large districts. FLO and one other firm submitted bids.

The Seattle- and Portland-based company has provided enrollment forecasts and boundary reviews for Salem-Keizer Public Schools, Tacoma Public Schools and the North Clackamas School District, according to its pitch.

FLO Analytics will present an initial assessment to district leaders in July. The data firm said it will put forth three different boundary scenarios for the district to consider and then solicit input from the public during community meetings.

Gathering community feedback and setting up those meetings, according to the bid, will comprise more than half the project’s expenses: $151,000.

The school board, teachers, parents, students and communities of color are all listed as “key stakeholders” for the boundary redrawing project.