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The ACE Academy, a public-private trade school set to close next month, might not be at death’s door after all.

Under an idea now moving forward, the career-tech charter academy would relocate its programs to Benson Polytechnic High School for one year while it looks at solidifying a partnership with Portland Public Schools.

PPS spokeswoman Christine Miles confirmed that ACE applied to become one of PPS’ charter schools, though not in time for 2016-17.

The potential partnership was discussed Wednesday at the monthly meeting of the Oregon Construction Workforce Coalition. Many of the coalition’s members have paid into ACE over the years, and have regularly expressed frustration with what they see as a lack of urgency regarding public education and the state’s complicated rules regarding charter schools.

ACE’s teachers have applied to work next year at Benson, a trade skills-focused school in the Buckman neighborhood. And Benson has extended an 鈥渋nvitation鈥� to house ACE’s architecture classes next year, according to Tom Goodhue, Oregon Building Congress’ executive director. Since Benson already has a robust construction program, it wouldn’t need resources from ACE. But the charter school’s architecture program could be used by the district, Goodhue said.

The coalition was formed to address a dearth of young blood entering construction 鈥� a trend that threatens to stunt the growth of companies and continue to drive up construction costs. As shop classes and other electives have been cut in favor of college prerequisites since the 1990s, stakeholders thought programs like ACE could fill a gap for training for craft skills.

The ACE Academy opened its doors in 2007 with a goal of enrolling 500 students. That number was reduced as the school struggled to take on even 200 students. In addition, the school’s board of directors faced waning interest from two of its four school district partners. ACE was finally forced to close shop when its landlord, the Pacific Northwest Carpenters Institute, asked for its space back so it could expand.