Lake Oswego voters have approved more than $425 million in school bonds since 2021, and security upgrades were part of both packages.

A statewide analysis by the Oregon Capital Chronicle, published Friday, Oct. 23, found that 53 Oregon school districts have passed bonds totaling more than $6 billion for infrastructure over the past eight years. Those bonds included hundreds of millions of dollars for security measures such as automatic locking doors, fences, hardened glass windows, alarm systems and cameras.

The analysis comes eight days after a teen gunman entered Silver Rail Elementary in Bend on Oct. 15. He climbed a fence and shot through the windows of a locked side door. He killed three children and a teacher before being stopped by another teacher and an armed parent, the Capital Chronicle reported.

The locked door and fence slowed him. They did not stop him.

What Lake Oswego funded

Lake Oswego's 2021 bond, a $180 million measure that passed with about 57% of the vote, paid for secure entrances and safety improvements at every school in the district, according to the Lake Oswego Review. The bond also funded full remodels of Lake Oswego Junior High and River Grove Elementary.

The district's 2025 bond, a $245 million measure, won with 71% approval, according to OPB. The Capital Chronicle analysis described it as more centered on safety than the 2021 bond, with plans for new secure classroom doors, hardened glass, expanded security cameras and upgraded emergency communications systems.

The district said the 2025 bond would maintain the current estimated tax rate of no more than $2.90 per $1,000 of assessed property value. Superintendent Jennifer Schiele called it the third phase of the district's long-term capital improvement program.

Neighboring districts

West Linn-Wilsonville and Oregon City school districts have each passed two voter-approved bonds that included security spending in the past eight years, the Capital Chronicle analysis found.

West Linn-Wilsonville's most recent bond, a $190 million measure, passed narrowly in November 2025 with about 52% of the vote, according to the Oregon School Boards Association. The district also passed a $207 million bond in 2019 that paid for a new school. The 2025 bond covers facility projects at all 16 schools and will unlock $6.1 million in state matching funds.

Specific details about Oregon City's two bonds were not included in the analysis.

Statewide picture

More than 100 of Oregon's 197 school districts have asked voters in the past eight years to approve property tax increases for school safety upgrades, according to the Capital Chronicle analysis, which drew on ballot referrals filed with the Oregon Secretary of State's Office and a database from the Oregon School Boards Association (OSBA).

OSBA spokesperson Jake Arnold said installing a single secure entrance at every school building is among the most common investments districts have made. In nearly half of all approved bonds with safety measures, districts sought funding to replace or upgrade security cameras, the analysis found.

"Pretty much every bond campaign I've looked at since at least 2020 mentioned safety improvements," Arnold told the Capital Chronicle.

School officials cautioned that security investments reduce risk but cannot guarantee prevention. Kelly McIver, a spokesperson for the Eugene School District, said in an email to the Capital Chronicle that people should view the measures as risk reduction, not prevention.

Nine more districts, including nearby North Clackamas and Gladstone, are asking voters in November to approve bonds that include security measures.