Portland Public Schools is fighting a stack of lawsuits over Benson Polytechnic High School's construction, with subcontractors claiming they are owed millions of dollars and the district accusing its own general contractor of causing serious construction errors. The career and technical education magnet school in northeast Portland, which enrolls about 1,000 students, reopened in fall 2024 after a modernization that ballooned from an original $269 million budget to a final cost of $410 million, a $141 million overrun.
MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions filed a complaint against Portland Public Schools and general contractor Andersen Construction in Multnomah County Circuit Court, as reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive. The company says it is owed more than $3 million and claims it incurred actual completion costs of $5.6 million on a subcontract that was originally worth nearly $2.4 million, according to the complaint. MacDonald-Miller had been hired by Apollo Mechanical Contractors to handle controls and wiring for mechanical, plumbing, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, and the company says it is owed millions in unpaid invoices overall.
Apollo Mechanical Contractors filed its own complaint in September 2025 over unpaid labor, materials, equipment and work on the Benson project, and the outlet's report notes Apollo is seeking more than $17 million in damages. Andersen Construction, which served as Benson's general contractor and construction manager, claims Portland Public Schools owes it and its subcontractors at least $50 million for extra work performed on the job.
District Points Finger at Contractor and Architect
Portland Public Schools is pushing back hard. District lawyers claim Andersen Construction, and possibly subcontractors and the district-selected architectural firm, caused serious construction errors on the project, and the district is seeking at least $16 million from Andersen and possibly other parties, per the same account. The dispute has grown pointed enough that the district terminated Andersen Construction's contract to oversee the Jefferson High School modernization, a $466 million project that began in summer 2026 with Colas Hoffman as the only group to bid on the job.
The Benson overrun did not emerge out of nowhere. An April 2019 performance audit by Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting found that internal district construction estimates for the 2017 bond program were $100 million higher than the figures presented to voters, according to OPB, a gap that helped set up Benson's initial budget shortfall and preceded the resignation of former district operating officers as the underestimation came to light. Portland voters later approved a $1.2 billion bond in November 2020, Measure 26-215, specifically designed to complete Benson's modernization and absorb roughly $230 million in cost overruns carried over from the 2017 bond, per Ballotpedia, while keeping the existing tax rate of $2.50 per $1,000 of assessed value.
A Long Construction Timeline, and a Fatal Accident
The rebuilt campus is substantial: 230,000 square feet of restored historic structures, including the main classroom building, auditorium, gym and foundry, alongside 135,000 square feet of new construction, achieving a LEED Platinum rating, according to Andersen Construction's own project materials. While the work stretched on, Benson students were relocated 11 miles away to the former Marshall High School campus in Southeast Portland from 2021 through 2024, a temporary arrangement OPB notes has held students from multiple high school rebuilds over the years.
The project's history includes tragedy as well as cost fights. The estate of 33-year-old ironworker Samantha Deschenes filed a $25.5 million wrongful death lawsuit against Andersen Construction in Multnomah County Circuit Court in June 2024, following a fatal forklift accident at the Benson site on May 30, 2024, according to Construction Dive. Deschenes was employed by subcontractor REFA Steel Erectors when the machinery rolled over her, the outlet reported.
Benson's Fallout Is Reshaping the Next Wave of Rebuilds
Benson's financial and legal mess is already changing how Portland Public Schools handles its newer projects. In April 2025, the school board mandated that design teams cut total budgets for upcoming high school modernizations by $33 million to $67 million, a move Willamette Week tied directly to fears that project costs were becoming among the most expensive in the nation, with reductions including scaled-back square footage and lowered LEED certification targets. The district also plans to open three new all-electric-powered high schools by fall 2029, according to the OregonLive report — the Wells, Jefferson, and Cleveland modernizations now underway.
Those three projects carry their own hefty price tags. The Wells High School modernization has a $449 million budget with a groundbreaking scheduled for fall 2026 under general contractor Hoffman Construction, while the Cleveland High School modernization broke ground in summer 2026 with a $472 million budget under general contractor Skanska, which Hoodline previously reported secured nearly 20 zoning adjustments for the 300,000-square-foot rebuild sitting within a foot of SE Powell Boulevard. Portland voters funded this pipeline through a $1.83 billion capital construction bond passed in May 2025 with 55% approval, the largest package in district history, according to Willamette Week.
Cost-cutting pressure has already sparked friction at Wells, where community members protested the district's decision to drop a vocational metals shop from the modernization plan, with critics urging shared career and technical education programming with Benson Polytechnic instead. Portland Public Schools now faces ongoing litigation over the Benson modernization even as it tries to keep the Jefferson, Wells and Cleveland projects from repeating the same budget spiral, according to OregonLive reporter Julia Silverman's account for The Oregonian/OregonLive.
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