PORTLAND, Ore. — More than a thousand Portland teachers and supporters marched through downtown Portland on Saturday morning in an effort to push Portland Public Schools closer to a deal. A teacher strike is scheduled to begin Wednesday if a deal is not reached.
"The negotiations have been hard," said Angela Bonilla, president of the teachers union (PAT).
The teachers want more planning time in their weeks so that they can work on lesson plans, grading, communicating with parents and completing other tasks that they can't do while teaching students. Smaller classrooms are also a sticking point.
"I have 180 students," said Shannon Kittrick, a Roosevelt High School chemistry teacher. "And in order to give five minutes of feedback, that is 15 hours of work."
Compensation is a key issue for both sides, though some progress has been made. The union wants to increase salaries for teachers by 8.5% this year, 5.5% next year and 5% for the third year. The district has offered 4.5% this year, 3% next year and 3% again in the final year.
"It does not help retain quality educators and diverse educators when they can't afford to live in the city," Bonilla said.
Some parents of Portland Public Schools students also marched Saturday in support of educators.
"My son is in a class of 31," said Isabel Johnson, who has a son in Portland Public Schools. "And he has an amazing teacher, but would his experience be better in a class of 25? Yeah 100%."
Portland Public Schools told KGW that the average class size for an elementary school is 23 students.
PPS administrators said that many of the teachers' demands would be too expensive for the school district to afford. Already, they claim they will have to make budget cuts to support teachers with the current proposal.
"Our proposal on the table right now will require budget cuts in this year, and in the next three years," said Renard Adams, chief of research for PPS.
However, teachers are becoming increasingly frustrated. Many are preparing for a Wednesday strike.
"The chances are pretty high that we will have to be on strike on Wednesday," Bonilla said.
The two sides bargained for a couple of days this past week. They will meet once again on Monday and Tuesday in hopes of preventing a strike.