Hopes are vanishing that significant savings can be realized from the three major high school modernization projects set to begin next year in Portland, according to a new set of cost estimates.

The budget projections, which will be presented at Thursday’s meeting of the school board’s Facilities Improvement and Oversight committee, outline a $472 million budget for Cleveland High in Southeast Portland, $466 million for Jefferson High School in North Portland and $449 million for Wells High in Southwest Portland.

All three projects are projected to get underway next summer and be ready for students to move into new buildings by September 2029. As of now, students at Wells and Jefferson will remain in place during modernization, while students at Cleveland — where the main building site

See Full Page