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In yesterday’s paper I wrote about a statewide program that funds seismic upgrades for K-12 public schools.

A tidbit that I didn’t mention in the story is this: the program has a deadline for when ALL of the state’s schools and emergency buildings should be upgraded. As writer and seismic safety advocate Edward Wolfe noted in a message to me this morning:

When voters amended the Constitution to approve borrowing for this purpose, it was based on state law saying school upgrades should be completed by [January 1,] 2032. At the current rate (about 15 schools per biennium) it will take more than 80 years. We are about an order of magnitude short on our commitment.

That math is based on the , which estimated that 649 public K-12 schools in Oregon would be likely to collapse in the event of an earthquake.

The seismic rehabilitation grant program is funded by bonds. The constitution-amending ballot measure stated that up to $620 million in bonds could be issued to be spent on seismic upgrades to schools and emergency facilities like fire and police stations. The state Legislature has only allowed $30 million in bonds to be issued for this purpose so far.

The state Legislature and treasurer are tasked with deciding when it is financially feasible to authorize more bond sales to fund the seismic rehabilitation grant program.

The 2032 deadline does add a good bit of urgency to the program – as if saving our children isn’t an urgent enough issue. Unfortunately, the language from the law, Section 3 of ORS 455.400, is actually somewhat lenient:

Subject to availability of funding, all seismic rehabilitations or other actions to reduce seismic risk must be completed before January 1, 2032.

Seismic safety advocates will just have to keep rallying for that funding to become available.