Seismic Improvements

The PPS Bond program provides the district an opportunity to focus on seismic safety. Most of Portland Public Schools facilities were built before World War II. Those and many others were built well before seismic safety was a factor in the design and construction of buildings.

To address seismic issues and other important health and safety concerns, in 2012 PPS began a multi-year School Building Improvement Bond Program. The program’s goal is to modernize and rebuild all the schools in the district over the next several decades as well as making health, safety and infrastructure upgrades to all schools in the short term.

A significant amount of bond work has gone toward seismic safety with 85 projects having been completed so far.

Seismic Retrofits (2020 Bond) Seismic Retrofits (2017 Bond) Seismic Upgrades (2012 Bond) 2025 Bond Seismic Projects

More information about PPS Seismic programs

While we don’t know when a major earthquake will occur, we take the risk seriously and are methodically working to provide mitigation through the ongoing Bond program. We thank the taxpayers and Business Oregon SRGP for their continued generous support. For more information please visit the PPS Facilities earthquake preparedness page, and the Seismic Rehabilitation Grant Program (SRGP) page.

Board Facilities Committee Updates

See the latest seismic update at the November 10th, 2025 Facilities Improvement and Operations Committee meeting here.

Here is the most recent version of the report from August - Bond Seismic Program Report V2 UPDATED: latest version from August 2025.

PPS Seismic Safety

Full seismic upgrades - 15 schools so far

1. Benson Polytechnic High School (Modernized 2024)
2. Franklin High School (Modernized 2017)
3. Grant High School (Modernized 2019)
4. Lincoln High School (Rebuilt school 2022)
5. McDaniel High School (Modernized 2021)
6. Roosevelt High School (Modernized 2017)
7. Multiple Pathways to Graduation hayu alqi uxyat building (New school 2024)
8. Alameda Elementary
9. Creative Science School
10. Faubion PK-8 (Rebuilt school 2017)
11. Hayhurst Elementary
12. Kellogg Middle School (Rebuilt school 2021)
13. Lent K-5
14. Lewis Elementary
15. Marysville Elementary (Phase 1 complete. Phase 2 begins June 2025)

2020 Bond significant interior seismic upgrades - Harrison Park

Roof Level Seismic Improvements

Roof-Level Seismic Improvements — 57 schools	2012 — 21 schools	2017 — 23 schools	2020 — 13 schools
Abernethy Ainsworth Alameda Arleta Boise-Eliot Bridlemile Buckman Cleveland Creative Science School Creston Hayhurst Hosford James John Laurelhurst Lewis Maplewood Sabin Sellwood Stephenson Ida B. Wells Woodlawn	Beverly Cleary Chapman Chief Joseph Harriet Tubman Harrison Park Jackson Kelly Marshall MLK Mt. Tabor Ockley Green Rigler Sitton Duniway MLC Woodlawn	Ainsworth Cesar Chavez Duniway Glencoe Markham Meek MLC Richmond Rigler Skyline Vernon West Sylvan Winterhaven

Scope of remaining PPS Seismic work

PPS continues to evaluate seismic needs and priorities. In mid-2024, a structural engineering consultant delivered a seismic assessment report that included assessment of all school buildings. The high-level assessment report includes seismic vulnerabilities and rough order of magnitude (ROM) construction costs to correct the vulnerabilities. A summary of the construction costs included in the report is below. The construction costs do not include escalation, design fees, permitting fees, or owner costs. Total project costs would be well over $1 billion.

Label	Description	Cost
A	ROM Construction Cost to Seismically Retrofit ONLY Unreinforced Masonry (URM) at All Schools	$129,251,000
B	ROM Construction Cost for Full Seismic Retrofit at Schools that Contain Some URM	$340,050,875
C	ROM Construction Cost for Full Seismic Retrofits at Schools that do not Contain URM	$585,497,250
Total ROM Construction Cost for Full Seismic Retrofits at all PPS Schools (B+C)		$925,548,125

Schools with the highest need - Unreinforced Masonry (URM) Schools

How PPS plans to prioritize future seismic projects

At the end of 2024, a new contract was established with a structural consulting engineering firm to develop a prioritization of the identified seismic work documented in the 2024 seismic assessment. The prioritization work includes collaborating with the District to define the criteria by which the work is prioritized, completing the prioritization, and developing a report as the work product for the prioritization effort. Currently, the report is anticipated to be finalized this summer. This is a significant step in the process of planning our seismic retrofit scope in a way that is intentional, is based on accepted industry standards, and aligns with PPS values.

SRGP Grants – Doing more with limited bond dollars

A portion of the PPS seismic work is made possible thanks to funding from the State of Oregon’s Seismic Rehabilitation Grant Program (SRGP). PPS has been able to leverage bond funds to secure additional funding for seismic work on ten of the schools so far. PPS regularly applies for these state SRGP funds. It is a bonus to the taxpayers as it allows us to do additional seismic upgrade work not originally funded by the bonds.

SRGP Grants that helped fund 10 full seismic upgrades at

PPS Total Seismic Projects Chart Per Bond Year

Category	2012 Bond	2017 Bond	2020 Bond
Full Modernizations - Schools built to meet or exceed current seismic code requirements at the time of construction	Franklin Faubion Grant Roosevelt	Benson hayu alqi uxyat Lincoln Kellogg McDaniel	Jefferson (in Design)
Seismic retrofit of the whole building to immediate occupancy structural standards	Alameda Lewis	Hayhurst Lent	Creative Science Marysville Phase 1
Interior Seismic Improvements	Abernethy Arleta Beach Creston Grout Hosford James John Jefferson Lane Llewellyn MLC Woodlawn	Harrison Park Middle School Conversion
Roof-Level Seismic Improvements	Abernethy Ainsworth Alameda Arleta Boise-Eliot Bridlemile Buckman Cleveland Creative Science School Creston Hayhurst Hosford James John Laurelhurst Lewis Maplewood Sabin Sellwood Stephenson Ida B Wells Woodlawn	Beverly Cleary Chapman Chief Joseph Harriet Tubman Harrison Park Jackson Kelly Marshall MLK Mt. Tabor Ockley Green Rigler Sitton Duniway Harrison Park Kelly MLC Mt. Tabor Ockley Green Woodlawn Harrison Park Ockley Green Woodlawn	Ainsworth Cesar Chavez Duniway Glencoe Markham Meek MLC Richmond Rigler Skyline Vernon West Sylvan Winterhaven