A draft audit of the $1.83 billion property tax bond being used to rebuild three Portland high schools says the bond program is at heightened risk for fraud because Portland Public Schools outsourced its management to a Texas-based construction firm without sufficient oversight.
The draft, exclusively obtained Tuesday by WW, adds fuel to an existing controversy over the district inking a $61.5 million contract with the firm Procedeo to oversee program management services for the 2025 bond. In four findings, auditors determined PPS had failed to establish a sound business case to offload bond management services to Procedeo, and cautioned that the district had become overreliant on the external consultant. Auditors said the district followed Procedeo’s advice to reduce PPS’s own in-house staff, gutting the district’s ability to operate independently while increasing Procedeo’s…
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