BEAVERTON, Ore. — Teachers in Beaverton, one of Oregon’s biggest school districts, resume contract negotiations with the school system on Tuesday.
Beaverton teachers have been working without a contract since June, union leaders said. Negotiations began more than six months ago. While some agreements have been reached on smaller articles, larger issues remain.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do this fall over the next few sessions,” said Lindsay Ray, president of the Beaverton teachers union
These negotiations come after teachers in the biggest districts in Oregon, Portland and Salem-Keizer, had slow bargaining sessions a year ago.
Portland teachers eventually went on strike for close to a month for a better deal. The biggest areas of contention included teacher pay and class sizes.
In Beaverton, those same issues remain in contract negotiations, less than a week before the school year begins.
"Aside from working without a contract, everything just feels very unsettled," Ray said.
Beaverton residents are also watching negotiations play out.
"Teacher pay has to be commensurate with the importance of the job," said Paul Gorman, whose kids graduated from the Beaverton School District.
"They get the money they want, but then they have to cut back on the services,” John Bowman, whose kids also went through Beaverton schools, said. “Because they don't have as much money as they used to."
The Beaverton School district declined KGW's request for an interview.
The teachers union said they don’t want to strike, though they won’t rule anything out.
"If that's what needs to happen, then that's what's going to happen," Ray said.