FILE- Ballots are processed at the Multnomah County Elections Division office in Portland, Ore., Nov. 1, 2024. A special election was held in Oregon on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. Across the state, ballots included a range of measures and local offices including school bonds and municipal positions.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
While the biggest school bond on the ballot seems to be passing in Tuesday’s special election, Oregonians appear to be split in their support of education-related bond measures that would fund school building construction, maintenance and other improvements.
Voters in all 36 Oregon counties cast ballots on Tuesday. There were no statewide measures on the ballot in the May 20 special election.
Turnout for special elections in Oregon is typically lower than a general election and hovers between 20% to 30% participation of eligible voters, Secretary of State Tobias Read said ahead of the election Tuesday. This year’s election had a turnout of just under 19%, according to figures from the Secretary of State’s election website Wednesday morning.
Portland voters maintain support for school construction in Oregon’s largest school district
Portland Public Schools’ nearly $1.83 billion construction bond proposal was the largest such school bond in Oregon history, and among the biggest property tax investments for voters in Multnomah County. In early returns, the bond measure was passing by a margin of about 58% to 42%.
Julia Brim-Edwards, a PPS board member and the political action committee chair for the bond, was optimistic about the bond’s passage on Tuesday night.
“This is a generational investment for our schools, for our kids and for our community,” Brim-Edwards said. “Whether it’s elementary schools with the falling ceiling tiles, leaky roofs at the middle schools or outdated science labs in our high schools, I know that this bond will make a huge difference for schools across Portland.”
The measure continues a 2017 property tax rate of about $2.50 per $1,000 of assessed value.
The vast majority of money generated from the tax will help pay for overdue renovations and reconstructions of three high schools in the district. It will also fund safety and modernization upgrades at other PPS school buildings and technology advancements, among other things.
Mount Hood Community College’s last-ditch funding effort appears to be passing
Another big item on the ballot for voters in Multnomah, Clackamas and Hood River counties was Mount Hood Community College’s proposed $136 million construction bond. Results as of Wednesday evening showed the bond passing by less than 1 percentage point. This is the college’s seventh attempt to pass a construction funding measure.
The bond would cost the average homeowner about $60 per year, according to the measure’s website. Money from the bond would go toward construction costs to update, repair and maintain the college buildings. College officials said the school has not relied on bond funding for over 50 years, which has left campus facilities in dire need of safety improvements.
Support for education bonds across Oregon
Seven other school districts across the state and one community college had construction bonds on the ballot.
A bond measure in the Tigard-Tualatin School District also appeared to be passing by a slim margin based on returns early Wednesday morning. The $421 million bond aims to overhaul four elementary schools, as well as implement a range of security, HVAC, plumbing and technology improvements. Voters in the school district southwest of Portland had previously approved a $291 million construction bond in 2016, which built a new elementary school and substantially refurbished two other schools.
Early results in the contest for Chemeketa Community College’s $140 million bond show Willamette Valley voters are narrowly passing the measure. It would allow the college to make building upgrades and bolster its career technical education programs. As of Wednesday morning, the measure was passing by a margin of just under 3 percentage points.
School measures appeared to be faring a little better on the coast.
Voters in Tillamook County are supporting two education-related measures. Early returns show approval of an $11 million levy for the Neah-Kah-Nie School District. District officials say the additional money made from the property tax is needed to keep operations afloat amid a projected budget shortfall. Voters in the north coast county are also supporting a $23 million bond to fund safety and facility improvements for the Tillamook School District.
Farther south, in Lincoln County, voters supported a $73 million bond measure by a two-to-one margin, according to results Tuesday night. The bond aimed to make building repairs, upgrade security systems and expand classrooms, while adding performing arts spaces to three high schools. According to reporting by public media partner KLCC, the Lincoln County bond brings $6 million in matching state funds with it.
Not just about schools
A number of Oregon special districts put measures on the ballot to support fire protection, emergency services and public safety. And similar to education, the results were mixed.
Winners Tuesday night appeared to include Columbia County, which floated a four-year levy to support jail operations; Jackson County and its five-year local option for fire safety; and the city of Sweet Home, where voters were renewing a five-year operating levy to support police.
Voters were not supporting a local option in Curry County to support law enforcement; the formation of a new public safety district in eastern Klamath County; nor general obligation bonds for police facilities in the city of Dallas.
OPB editor Rob Manning contributed to this story.
You can view county-by-county results at the links below.
School bonds
Mount Hood Community College bond
Chemeketa Community College bond
