Bond measure would rebuild Lincoln

Lincoln is slated to be completely rebuilt as part of a proposed 2016 bond measure.

The PPS Bond Development Committee named Lincoln as one of three Portland high schools most in need of improvement.  “Lincoln High School is, by far, the district’s most overcrowded high school building,” the committee wrote in its recommendation to PPS Superintendent Carole Smith. “PPS has exhausted all available in-building options for managing the enrollment at Lincoln,” a committee statement said.

The new measure, which would also rebuild Benson Polytechnic and Madison high schools, is part of the district’s wider plan to improve schools in the coming decades.  “We are at the beginning of a 30-year program to rebuild all of Portland Public Schools facilities, most of which are 60 years or older,” Smith said in a statement.

Portland voters approved a similar measure in 2012 to rebuild Franklin, Grant, and Roosevelt high schools, but construction is not scheduled to begin until at least 2015.  The 2012 measure included the money needed for future construction planning, meaning that if the proposed bond is passed by Portland voters in 2016, construction could start immediately.  The proposed bond will have to first be approved by the school board.