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Voters this week approved Portland Public Schools‘ – at $790 million, the largest ever OK’d in Oregon.

The margin was approximately 66 percent in favor and 34 percent opposed.

The large dollar amount is mainly due to significant health and safety upgrades needed throughout district facilities. Alarming amounts of lead were discovered in drinking water pipes, and other problems are tied to asbestos, radon, seismic vulnerability and insufficient fire and life safety systems.

Four schools – Benson, Lincoln and Madison high schools and Kellogg Middle School – will either receive significant modernizations or be rebuilt completely. But nearly all of the district’s 90 schools are expected to receive at least some attention.

District leaders were uncertain prior to the election whether the bond measure would pass after a series of scandals, including the mistaken award of a $146 million design contract to the bidder rated second-best by PPS’ own formula. BLRB Architects was already under contract with the district by the time the top-rated bidder – a team of Opsis Architecture and Dao Architecture – was debriefed by PPS.