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Save Strong K-8s

Successful neighborhood K-8s are worth more than just their price per student.

What would Rightsizing cost that PPS isn’t counting?

PPS’s Rightsizing plans count what closing and converting schools would save, but not everything they would cost. Some of those costs, like new bus routes, can be estimated from PPS’s own budget. Others, like what happens to the schools PPS closes, PPS hasn’t said.

PPS’s Rightsizing plans don’t say how students would get to their new schools. About 29% of Laurelhurst’s attendance area is more than 1.5 miles from Mt Tabor, the distance at which PPS buses middle schoolers. Here’s what that would cost, using PPS’s own budget.

  1. $28.8M
    PPS’s 2026-27 budget for contracted school buses PPS 2026-27 Budget Vol. 1, p. 90 (line 533110) ↗
  2. ÷ ~225
    Bus routes PPS runs today, counted school by school1 PPS bus schedules by school ↗
  3. = ~$128,000
    Average cost per bus route, per year $28.8M ÷ 225 routes
  4. × 30%
    Share of approved bus cost paid by PPS (Oregon reimburses PPS for the other 70%) Oregon Dept. of Education transportation rankings, 2026-27 ↗
  5. = ~$38,000
    Average cost to PPS per bus route, per year $128,000 × 30%

PPS buses middle schoolers who live 1.5+ miles away.

$38,000–$77,000 a year New cost to PPS to move Laurelhurst middle graders to Mt Tabor Oregon rule OAR 581-023-0040, rule 3(b): bus service for middle and high schoolers living 1.5+ miles from school ↗
Fact check

Counting every cost, not just the teachers, running Laurelhurst as a K-8 costs PPS $10,022 per student per year. The average PPS middle school student costs $10,776.2

Busing Laurelhurst’s ~226 middle schoolers to Mt Tabor would add an average of $168–$341 per student per year.

PPS 2026-27 Budget Vol. 2, p. 5: dollars per student by school, 2026-27 (excludes special education, ESL, and nutrition) ↗

How many new bus routes will PPS need to cover the 7,000–8,000 K–8 students who change schools under Rightsizing?3

  • About 100–170 new routes if every single student who changes schools under Rightsizing needed a bus, at 48–72 students per bus.4 That would cost PPS about $3.7M–$6.3M a year. That’s an (unrealistic) upper bound; many students won’t need one.
  • About 30–50 new routes if 29% of them needed a bus, as Laurelhurst’s area would. That would cost PPS about $1.1M–$1.8M a year.

1 I counted route files on PPS’s bus schedule site, Oct 2026 (223 AM, 226 PM). Averages assume every route costs the same; they don’t. One bus often serves several schools, so the true cost per bus is likely higher. ↑

2 Cost per student at all 15 PPS middle schools, 2026-27 (Budget Vol. 2, p. 5). Average weighted by enrollment. ↑

3 PPS’s figures: 6,988 K–8 students move under Scenario B, 7,981 under Scenario A (24% and 27% of K–8 students), including students at closing schools such as Sellwood MS (OPB, Oct. 6, 2026). High schoolers affected by boundary changes are not counted. ↑

4 A full-size school bus seats about 72 younger students at three to a seat, and fewer older students; about 48 at two to a seat. Howard County Public Schools’ transportation FAQ describes the three-per-seat rule for elementary students and smaller loads for middle and high schoolers. PPS doesn’t publish riders per bus. Routes = 6,988–7,981 students ÷ 48–72 per bus; cost = routes × ~$38,000, PPS’s average share per route after state reimbursement (above). ↑

Sources and method

Sources

How the numbers were calculated

  • The bus budget: PPS budgets $28.8 million in 2026-27 for contracted yellow-bus service (budget line 533110). That excludes taxis ($2.9M), TriMet passes ($2.1M), and PPS’s own transportation staff. All student transportation together is $48.9 million in 2026-27, up from $44.1 million the year before, so busing was not cut in this budget.
  • Counting routes: PPS posts bus schedules school by school. I counted the route files for all 65 schools listed: 223 morning routes and 226 afternoon routes. Laurelhurst has none. Mt Tabor has five. This counts route listings, not buses. One bus often serves several schools and shows up in each school’s list, and a 2020 PPS staff report counted 131 big-bus routes. If there are fewer buses than listings, each one costs more than $128,000, and my estimate is low.
  • What PPS pays after the state: Oregon reimburses districts 70%, 80%, or 90% of approved bus costs, depending on how a district’s cost per student ranks statewide (ORS 327.013). PPS ranks 59th of 100, below the 80% cutoff at rank 80, so it gets 70% back and pays 30% itself.
  • Who would ride: Oregon’s rule and PPS’s guidelines call for busing middle schoolers who live 1.5 miles or more from school, measured along streets and paths. Measured that way, about 29% of Laurelhurst’s attendance area is more than 1.5 miles from Mt Tabor. In a straight line, only about 2% is. PPS hasn’t published a transportation plan for this change, so I assumed one or two routes.

Limitations and context

  • Hazard routes. Students who qualify under PPS’s hazard rules (streets over 20 mph with no sidewalk, or wide or fast streets without crossing controls) can ride even if they live closer than 1.5 miles. This estimate doesn’t count them.
  • Families who drive. Some families will drive instead, adding traffic at Mt Tabor at drop-off.
  • Ride time. A route that picks up across a large area is longer than the straight-line distance suggests.
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