Lent and César Chávez

Two Spanish immersion schools, from 2019 to PPS’s 2031 projections

Two schools show what the scenarios would mean for Spanish dual language immersion (DLI). In a DLI program, children learn in both English and Spanish. Lent is the precedent. In 2023, Portland Public Schools (PPS) moved Bridger’s Spanish program into Lent. PPS also moved Lent’s neighborhood program out, so Lent became an all-immersion school. César Chávez is the plan’s main new hub, a school that takes in programs from other schools. In both scenarios, PPS would make it a regional Spanish immersion school for kindergarten through fifth grade (K-5). It would take in the immersion programs from Beach, Sitton and James John. Its neighborhood students would move to Rosa Parks, and its middle grades would move to George.

1. How enrollment has changed since 2019

Figure 1: October enrollment, kindergarten through grade 12, by program. Lent and Bridger were K-8 schools until 2021-22, when their middle grades moved out; César Chávez is still K-8. In 2023-24 Bridger’s Spanish program moved to Lent and Lent’s neighborhood program moved to Marysville. Hover for counts.

Sources: Portland State University Population Research Center, Portland Public Schools Enrollment Forecasts, 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2026-27 editions (Appendix C / Table 5.5; archive). Method details: Sources & methods.

In 2022-23, before the move, the Spanish programs at Bridger and Lent together had 319 students in grades K-5. The combined program at Lent opened with 273 students and has 256 today.

At César Chávez, the Spanish program has held steady at about 310 students. Its neighborhood program has shrunk from 230 to 143 students. (The drop from 2020-21 to 2021-22 at Lent and Bridger came from their middle grades moving out. It does not mean those schools lost students.)

2. Lent after the 2023 move: fewer students than planned

Enrollment fell short of every projection. PPS’s 2023 plan expected Lent to reach “an estimated 527 students in 2025–26” (Green, T. L., & Hanson, H. (2026, June 29). Equity audit evaluation of Portland Public Schools’ Southeast Enrollment and Program Balancing initiative: School-by-school analysis (PPS SEGC documents), p. 34). Portland State University (PSU) also forecasts PPS enrollment. Its June 2023 forecast already included the move. It had Lent at 291 students that year (Portland State University Population Research Center, Portland Public Schools Enrollment Forecasts, 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2026-27 editions (Appendix C / Table 5.5; archive)). Lent actually enrolled 256. Lent now enrolls about 31% fewer immersion kindergartners a year than the two schools averaged per grade before the move. Measured the same way, the district fell 14% (details).

Lent no longer serves its neighborhood. A school’s attendance area is the neighborhood it serves. In 2022-23, 63% of PPS students living in Lent’s area attended Lent. This share is called the capture rate. After the conversion, it fell to 30%. Most of that drop was by design: PPS assigned Lent’s non-immersion neighborhood children to Marysville. Today 31% of Lent’s students live in its area. Lent’s students are now 68% Latino. By comparison, PPS students living in Lent’s area are 34% Latino (PPS, School/Neighborhood Enrollment by Ethnicity & Program, October 2025 (School rows; PPS Data & Reporting)).

Staff and families describe a hard transition. The equity audit records this account: “A lot of the parents who pushed from Bridger for their kids to come to the school didn’t end up staying…they felt like it was out of their way [and that] their students didn’t feel supported” (Green, T. L., & Hanson, H. (2026, June 29). Equity audit evaluation of Portland Public Schools’ Southeast Enrollment and Program Balancing initiative: School-by-school analysis (PPS SEGC documents), p. 39). After 2022-23, 63% of Lent’s staff left (p. 39). You can read more accounts on the Equity page.

Table 1
Lent and its neighborhood, 2019-20 to 2025-26
Year
Lent's neighborhood
Lent school
PPS students living in Lent's area Attend Lent Share (capture rate) Lent students Share living in Lent's area
2019-20 489 337 69% – –
2020-21 474 328 69% – –
2021-22 271 180 66% – –
2022-23 270 169 63% – –
2023-24 256 76 30% 273 28%
2024-25 245 71 29% 256 28%
2025-26 254 80 31% 256 31%
Capture rate: share of PPS students (K-12) living in the attendance area who attend the area's school. The 2023-24 drop is largely by design: Lent's non-immersion neighborhood children were assigned to Marysville, which PPS counts as another neighborhood school. Lent was K-8 until 2021-22. Where Lent's students live is published from 2023-24.
Sources: PPS, Neighborhood Capture Rate Metrics (Enrollment Summary by K-12 Students’ Neighborhood and Type of School Attended), October 2019 to October 2025 (current, archive); PPS, School Enrollment by Neighborhood of Residence, October 2025 (PPS Data & Reporting). Method details: Sources & methods.

3. César Chávez today: two programs in one school

César Chávez is a K-8 school with a Spanish immersion program and a smaller neighborhood program. In October 2025, it had:

  • 195 immersion students in grades K-5
  • 105 immersion students in grades 6-8
  • 143 students in its neighborhood program

38% of its immersion students live in its own attendance area. Its capture rate is the share of PPS students living in its area who attend it. Now 74% of PPS students living in its area attend it, up from 63% in 2019-20.

Table 2
César Chávez, October 2025
Grades K-5 Grades 6-8 Total In Scenarios A and B
Spanish immersion 195 105 300 Stays; joined by Beach, Sitton and James John immersion (grades 6-8 move to George)
Neighborhood program 78 65 143 Grades K-5 move to Rosa Parks; grades 6-8 to George
Enrollment excludes pre-kindergarten. Scenario changes as described in César Chávez’s school guide: “César Chávez would change from a K-8 to a focused K-5 regional Spanish DLI school.”
Sources: PPS, Enrollment by Grade and Program Type, October 2024 and October 2025 (PPS Data & Reporting); PPS, How Could Your School Be Impacted? school guides (“PPS Family-Friendly School Guide”, per-school PDFs dated October 8, 2026), page 4, projected enrollment 2027-28 to 2031-32 (page). Method details: Sources & methods.
Table 3
Who attends, and who lives nearby, October 2025
PPS students Students Latino White Low-income (direct certification) English learners Historically underserved
César Chávez
Attending the school 443 64% 16% 66% 36% 81%
Living in its attendance area 312 56% 13% 70% 32% 80%
Lent
Attending the school 256 68% 24% 47% 41% 72%
Living in its attendance area 286 34% 29% 53% 27% 51%
Whole-school figures, kindergarten through grade 12. "Living in its attendance area" counts PPS students who live in the school's area, whichever school they attend.
Sources: PPS, School/Neighborhood Enrollment by Ethnicity & Program, October 2025 (School rows; PPS Data & Reporting). Method details: Sources & methods.

4. What the scenarios would do to both schools

Figure 2: Total enrollment: October actuals through 2025-26, then PPS’s projections from its school guides, if nothing changes and under Scenarios A and B (identical for these two schools). Hover for counts.

Sources: Portland State University Population Research Center, Portland Public Schools Enrollment Forecasts, 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2026-27 editions (Appendix C / Table 5.5; archive); PPS, How Could Your School Be Impacted? school guides (“PPS Family-Friendly School Guide”, per-school PDFs dated October 8, 2026), page 4, projected enrollment 2027-28 to 2031-32 (page). Method details: Sources & methods.

PPS projects that Lent would grow to 401 students in 2027-28 once Atkinson’s program arrives. With no changes, PPS projects 256. Lent’s school guide says the move “brings Lent’s student numbers above steady target levels (400+ students)” (PPS, How Could Your School Be Impacted? school guides (“PPS Family-Friendly School Guide”, per-school PDFs dated October 8, 2026), page 4, projected enrollment 2027-28 to 2031-32 (page)). Even so, Lent would fill only 50% of its capacity of 798 students (PPS, School Profiles, 2025-26 (Power BI dashboard: functional capacity, utilization, enrollment, direct certification, capture rate; page), retrieved October 9, 2026). Capacity is the number of students PPS says the building can serve. PPS’s goal is for schools to use 70–100% of their space.

César Chávez would have 541 students, all in Spanish immersion, compared with 413 with no changes. That is 96% of its capacity of 564. The guide projects that its share of students in poverty would fall from 66% to 48%. Its share of students from underserved racial groups would fall from 82% to 69%.

These projections depend on families following their programs. PPS assumes most will. In the moves where we can measure it, PPS’s projections have about 80% of students arriving at the new school (Equity §5). After the 2023 move, Lent ended up at about half of the 527 students PPS projected.

  • Enrollment is PSU’s count of students enrolled in October, kindergarten through grade 12. We use the count as first reported in each forecast edition. PPS’s own totals for Lent include pre-kindergarten (308 in 2023-24).
  • Lent and Bridger were K-8 schools until 2021-22, so earlier totals include middle grades.
  • Capture rates cover the whole school or the whole area. PPS publishes race by program (see Equity §3) but income only for whole schools.
  • PPS’s projections come from school guides dated October 8, 2026. PPS labels the guides as drafts. Capacities are PPS’s current (2025-26) figures from its School Profiles dashboard.