The False Promise of Portland’s “All Electric” High Schools

by John A. Charles, Jr.

Portland Public Schools threw itself a party on May 29 to celebrate breaking ground on the new $460 million dollar Jefferson High School. The Oregonian dutifully repeated the talking point that the building would be “all‑electric powered.” Sounds impressive… until you look at the details.

Because PPS quietly admitted—right before the ceremony—that the school won’t be all‑electric. Science labs still need natural gas for Bunsen burners. State law still requires diesel backup generators. And the other two high‑school rebuilds, Cleveland and Ida B. Wells, are in the same boat. So the “all‑electric” label is more marketing than engineering.

But even if PPS could pull it off, it wouldn’t change emissions. More than half the natural gas used in Oregon is burned to make electricity. So removing gas lines from the school just means the same gas gets burned somewhere else. Meanwhile, wind and solar provided only about eleven percent of Oregon’s electricity last year. Fossil fuels provided at least thirty‑eight percent. The grid isn’t magic.

What is real is the cost. PPS’s own consultant warned that all‑electric construction would add at least ten million dollars per school. And when Cascade asked the district for documentation on those added costs, PPS gave us nothing.

New York’s governor just backed away from its own climate mandate after projecting thousands of dollars in new annual energy costs per family. That’s the future PPS is pretending not to see.

It’s not too late for the board to stop chasing slogans and redirect thirty million dollars toward improvements that actually help students.

Click here for the PDF of the 645-word commentary

John A. Charles, Jr. is President and CEO of Cascade Policy Institute, Oregon’s free market public policy research organization. He researches, writes, and presents testimony and analysis on state and local issues important to the freedom and opportunity of all Oregonians.