PORTLAND, Ore. — Nearly four full weeks into a teachers strike that has shuttered Portland Public Schools (PPS), both the district and the teachers union have tentatively agreed to a deal that could see students back in classrooms on Monday. School will resume after a two-hour delay.
Educators from across the district's 81 schools began their strike on Nov. 1, citing a laundry list of demands that went unresolved in contract negotiations beginning early this year — chief among them teacher salaries, class sizes and planning time.
Under the settlement proposal, kids resuming classes Monday, Nov. 27. For makeup days, both students and staff would sacrifice five days of winter break, Dec. 18-22, plus three previously scheduled no-school days between January and April and three designated inclement weather days from Jun 12-14.
Nearing a deal
Bargaining between PPS and the teachers union made significant progress within the last week after a slow start early in the month, although the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT) accused the school board of roundly rejecting a recommended settlement on Monday. PPS countered that this was only a "conceptual proposal" and not tentative deal.
While the proposal had many things the two sides agreed on, a district spokesperson said some fundamental issues remain that still need to be worked out. In a new settlement proposal offered by PPS to the union Monday afternoon, the district highlighted class size, student discipline and safety, and educator compensation as three major points they'd yet to reach a tentative deal upon.
While the union late last week backed down on its insistence for class size caps, the district said that the latest proposal would have instead instituted class size committees, giving parents the opportunity to weigh in on whether to admit a new student to a class already at the threshold for classroom size.
In its counter-proposal Monday afternoon, the district did not reject the idea of class size committees altogether, but said that parents should not be involved — reserving that for teachers and administrators.
"We're not comfortable with parents making (educational) decisions for other people's children," Board of Education Director Julia Brim-Edwards said earlier on Monday. "We really feel that's a responsibility of the principal. The committee would be the principal, another administrator and two teachers. We feel that's the right level of decision-making."
The proposal suggested that PPS wanted to withdraw most commitments to reducing class sizes in exchange for meeting teachers' demands for more planning time and increasing levels of some staff.
Tentative deal details
The contract will cost roughly $175 million over the next three years, and this process has brought sharp attention to the state’s underfunding of quality education, according to a statement from PPS.
"It will involve making significant cuts during our spring budget process for the upcoming school year, and we will handle those as with all budgeting – with input from our community. We will also turn to our community for future advocacy in Salem, and support for the levy in May which directly supports PPS educators," said the PPS board of education and superintendent in a statement to the PPS community.
The President of PAT, Angela Bonilla addressed the deal during a press conference Sunday evening.
"We have increased our planning time by 90 minutes a week so we have a guaranteed 410 minutes protected planning time for educators at every grade level," she said. "We've improved class size and case load language and shared decision making committees involving educators and parents so ensure our classes, when they need to become larger have the supports they need to ensure every student has access to the quality education they deserve."
In addition to increased planning time and a plan for improving class sizes. Demands such as increased mental health services, a contract article dedicated to special education and improvements regarding teaching spaces will also be met. One of the larger demands was addressing the pay gap to cover the rising cost of living for educators.
"We have also won a 13.75%t COLA [Cost-of-Living Adjustment] over three years so that’s six point twenty-five percent, the first year and four and a half percent the second year and three percent the third year. That is the highest ever COLA for PAT educators at a time when educators really need the increase," said Bonilla.
Educators will be reviewing the materials and plan to vote on whether to ratify the tentative contract on Tuesday. The PPS board will also meet on Tuesday to vote on the deal.
- Educators will be provided a 13.8% cumulative cost of living increase over the next three years. About roughly half of educators will be receiving a 10.6% increase from yearly step increases.
- Mandatory minimum student suspensions will be replaced with trauma-informed processes to help students receive the support they need.
- New class-size thresholds and processes for resolving class size concerns impacting educators, school leaders and parents will be restructured.
- All middle school students will be provided with a seven-period day to help expand electives and decrease class sizes.
- $20 million in capital funds will be dedicated to temperature mitigation and maintenance issues prioritized by educators.
- 15 minutes will be added to the school day for elementary and middle grades beginning next school year, student instruction time to be maintained.
- Minimum planning time will be increased by 90 minutes each week, going from 320 minutes to 410 minutes – for elementary and middle school educators while also adding planning and grading days for all levels.
- The district’s Rapid Response Team to support mental and behavioral health needs in school communities will be tripled.
- The hiring process will also be expedited in order to be more competitive in comparison to other regional districts.
This is a developing story and will be updated with more details as they emerge.
