By John A. Charles, Jr.
In September, the Portland Public Schools Board voted unanimously to approve the purchase and sale agreement (PSA) for an 80,000 square foot building, which would serve as the home of the “Center for Black Student Excellence,” (CBSE). The sale price is $16 million.
The vote triggered a 90-day due diligence period to be conducted by the PPS Facilities Improvement and Oversight Committee (FIOC). The committee met on October 8 and will meet again November 3. The full Board will vote on December 2.
Portland voters approved the CBSE concept in 2020 as part of a $1.25 billion construction bond (Measure 26-215) which included $60 million for the CBSE, though design plans for a building did not exist. In the five years since, none of the $60 million has been spent because no facility has been built. Advocates cannot explain what the Center will be, who it will serve, what it will cost to run, how to fund its operations, or its methods for improving the academic performance of PPS students.
The school board’s FIOC committee held a work session October 8 to discuss the first due diligence report on the “One North Building” in the Albina neighborhood. The Staff Memo identified standard tasks such as a title search and environmental liabilities, but the staff is not addressing critically important issues.
First is the fact that the One North building will not be used as a school site, but as a youth community center. The 194-page CBSE vision published two years ago casts the center as a hub for community organizations who are “advancing a culture of black excellence.”
However, PPS is a school district whose primary mission is classroom education. The District has never operated a community center with classroom dollars and buying a commercial building for non-school programming will be difficult to justify.
A second issue is the questionable legality of a race-based student program. The landscape has changed since the summer of 2020. Recent rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court have made it clear that race-based programs in public education are unconstitutional and violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Already a complaint has been filed against PPS in the Office of Civil Rights for “The district’s decision to allocate resources to black students, and not students of other racial backgrounds.”
The Trump administration has made it clear they will withhold federal funding from state and local governments who discriminate on the basis of race or sex. The Port of Portland, Washington County, and the City of Portland have all changed policies to align with federal directives. Is the PPS Board willing to risk $70 million in budgeted federal revenue to spend $16 million on an undefined, non-school, race-based program?
Buying the One North building is a bad idea for a tax-supported school district, but that does not mean it’s a bad idea. Portland has many private organizations serving the Black community who offer programs, services, and after-school activities with experienced staff and robust programming. The CBSE would be an imaginative project for these groups to sponsor.
Perhaps the best fit would be the 1803 Fund, established by Rukaiyah Adams with a $400 million donation from Phil Knight in 2022. Not only is education one of the Fund’s three priorities, Ms. Adams was the first person to cast a vision for the CBSE in June 2020. Ms. Adams could use this opportunity to implement the vision without the legal restrictions and challenges sure to be imposed on a tax-supported entity like Portland Public Schools.
John A. Charles, Jr. is the President and CEO of Cascade Policy Institute, Oregon’s free market public policy research organization.
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