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adopted a framework plan Tuesday night to limit spiraling construction costs for a trio of high schools.

The schools will be limited in size, and district officials will evaluate trade-offs including 鈥渓ower-cost building systems and materials,鈥� board member Julia Brim-Edwards said.

The requirements call for reduced square footage in all three high schools, to about 295,000 square feet, which is similar in size to the rebuilt Lincoln and Franklin high schools.

PPS鈥� effort to cap costs came after district officials this past fall received estimates that exceeded $450 million for each school. Such costs would make the rebuilt Portland schools among the priciest in the state and even the nation.

Dan Jung, PPS鈥� chief operating officer, estimated the changes would save $20 million to $40 million per project. That savings would be redirected to other projects, including elementary and middle school modernizations.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a big range,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he projects are going to be different, but we鈥檒l know more soon.鈥�

In November, PPS contracted with Cornerstone Management Group of Wilsonville to evaluate costs to rebuild the three schools 鈥� Cleveland, Jefferson and Ida B. Wells-Barnett.

One of the benchmarks used by Cornerstone and PPS is Beaverton High School. The all-new school is under construction with a $253 million price tag. But a comparison between Beaverton High School and the Portland ones is inexact, Brim-Edwards said.

鈥淭here are some very substantial differences between the projects,鈥� she said.

Cleveland High, for example, will be built for 1,700 students, versus 1,500 in Beaverton. Beaverton has a 47-acre site with which to work, while Cleveland fits snugly on an 8-acre site that鈥檚 split in half, Brim-Edwards said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to do an apples to apples (comparison), and we should note, I think, our teams have been good stewards of our tax dollars to date and that a straight-out comparison isn鈥檛 always fair,鈥� she said.

Board members sought to reassure parents of Cleveland, Jefferson and Ida B. Wells students that they will not be getting lesser schools than ones recently completed. PPS opened Benson Polytechnic High in August 2024 and Lincoln High in fall 2022.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not looking to take away their theater rooms; we鈥檙e not looking to take away their arts rooms,鈥� board member Herman Greene said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not looking to take away any of the things that are important to the students and the communities of those schools.

鈥淛efferson, Ida B. Wells and Cleveland, you are going to get state-of-the-art schools,鈥� Greene added. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to be magnificent, and it is going to be great.鈥�

The school projects must meet 鈥渕inimum requirements for number and sizes of spaces鈥� and be 鈥渟imilar in terms of classroom and spaces that the previously modernized high schools have had,鈥� Brim-Edwards said.

The projects are backed by big-ticket bonds approved by local voters, including a $1.2 billion bond in 2020 and a $790 million bond in May 2017. Previously, PPS benefitted from a $482 million bond in 2012. Now PPS has referred a $1.8 billion bond for voters鈥� approval in May 2025.