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ACE Academy, a trades-focused charter school operating in Northeast Portland, will close after the current semester.

A mix of factors is behind the unanimous decision by the school’s board of directors to 鈥渕othball鈥� the failing eight-year-old school, according to Tom Goodhue, board member and executive director of the Oregon Building Congress.

鈥淚t’s kind of like the perfect storm of things going wrong,鈥� he said.

First, ACE was asked by its landlord, the Pacific Northwest Carpenters Institute, to relocate. Then a plan to move to Mt. Hood Community College was derailed by 鈥渋nsurmountable鈥� cost concerns. In addition, enrollment continues to decline. Oregon laws make funding difficult for charter schools. And two school districts, including Reynolds, are withdrawing their participation, according to Goodhue.

Officials had high hopes that the unique school would help develop the next generation of construction workers. Its board of directors contained an even split of public school administrators and construction industry professionals, and funding derived from both sources. The goal was for enrollment to reach 500 students, but ACE was never able to draw even 200 鈥� meaning the school received sizable subsidies for its unfilled seats.

Today, around 120 students attend the academy for part of the day twice a week. The closure also affects two administrators and five teachers.

Of ACE’s approximately $800,000 annual budget, $709,000 came from the state through school district partners. The school also was the regular recipient of large donations from the Associated General Contractors Education Foundation and PGE.

鈥淚t’s very disappointing,鈥� said Mike Salsgiver, CEO of AGC‘s Oregon-Columbia chapter. 鈥淏ut those issues that caused AGC to help create ACE in the first place have not gone away, and we’re going to continue to work on them.鈥�

The construction industry was one of those hit hardest by the Great Recession, with unemployment reaching nearly 50 percent unemployment in places. Many of those workers never returned, so the current building boom has been tempered by an acute lack of skilled help 鈥� despite the availability of jobs offering good wages.

The ACE Academy is two years into its second five-year charter with the Reynolds School District. The district did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

In a joint letter announcing the school’s closure, board members said they are open to conversations about starting a different school with a similar mission.

鈥淭he successes and challenges experienced over eight years of ACE would inform the development of a new academy,鈥� the letter reads.