Nov. 27 (UPI) — About 43,000 students were expected back in class Monday after Oregon’s largest public school district reached a tentative pay deal with teachers over the weekend to end a three-week strike.
As part of the preliminary deal, 4,000 teachers in the Portland Public Schools district agreed to go back to work in exchange for a 4% raise worth $4 million over the next two years, according to school board chairman Gary Hollands.
The agreement, reached Sunday between the district and the Portland Association of Teachers, still has to be ratified by a majority union vote before it goes into effect.
Aside from pay, the deal seeks to address several key problem areas for the district, including large class sizes, huge workloads and not enough planning time for educators.
Teachers walked off the job Nov. 1 to put pressure on the district to address ongoing concerns after five months of negotiations for a new contract.
The work stoppage caused 11 missed days of school that will be added back to the calendar and possibly cancel the upcoming winter break and other school holidays.
Sunday’s resolution also provided increased clarity on “target class sizes and caseloads, including new committees to discuss growing class sizes, improved overage thresholds that cover new classifications of educators and a guarantee of 410 minutes of protected planning time for educators at every grade level,” the union said.
In June, the state legislature approved $10.2 billion in funding for K-12 public education through 2025, but the school district claimed the money was inadequate to meet the union’s demands.
“This contract is a watershed moment for Portland students, families and educators,” said PAT President Angela Bonilla. “Educators have secured improvements on all our key issues. These changes will make a huge difference on priorities like mental health supports for students, educator workload relief, and safe and welcoming school environments. Educators walked picket lines alongside families, students, and allies — and because of that, our schools are getting the added investment they need.”
