PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon’s largest school district said late Sunday that it had reached a tentative agreement with its teachers union and that about 45,000 students would return to school Monday after more than three weeks without classes.
The agreement still needs to be voted on by teachers who have been on the picket line since Nov. 1 over issues such as pay, class size and scheduling time. It also must be approved by the school board, but the union agreed classes could resume as long as voting continues. Portland Public Schools students missed 11 days of school before the district began its weeklong Thanksgiving break.
“We are relieved that our students are returning to school and know that being out of school for the past three weeks – missing classmates, teachers and learning – has been difficult for everyone,” Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero said in a statement .
The teachers union said the tentative agreement was a major victory for both teachers and students in areas such as class size, teacher salaries, health and safety and mental health care for children still struggling with the pandemic. Students make up for missed school days by eliminating a week of winter break and adding days in the new year.
“This contract is a turning point for students, families and educators in Portland,” said Angela Bonilla, president of the Portland Teachers Association. “Educators have driven improvements on all of our important issues. … Educators walked the picket lines alongside families, students and allies – and as a result, our schools are getting the additional investment they need.”
The deal would give teachers a cumulative 13.8% cost-of-living increase over the next three years and about half of all teachers would earn an additional 10.6% through annual incremental increases, PPS said. The agreement would also increase instructional time for elementary and middle grades starting next year and increase teacher planning time by 90 minutes per week for elementary and middle grades classrooms.
The district would also triple the number of team members dedicated to supporting students’ mental and emotional health.
The students last went to school on Halloween.
Many parents supported the striking teachers, but as school closures continued, some expressed concerns about learning loss among students, especially after the long school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. There was no online instruction during the strike.
Tensions escalated as talks continued over the Thanksgiving break, with teachers marching across a major bridge on Tuesday and holding up rush-hour traffic for about 15 minutes. One school administrator’s rental home was vandalized and another had posters taped to his car, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.
Even celebrities, including several actors playing beleaguered and underfunded teachers on ABC’s hit comedy show “Abbott Elementary,” posted videos of support on the teachers union’s Facebook.
The Portland Association of Teachers, which represents more than 4,000 educators, said this was the school district’s first teacher strike. The union has been negotiating a new contract with the district for months after the previous one expired in June.
Teachers were angry about growing class sizes, lack of classroom support and planning time, and salaries that have not kept up with inflation. The annual base salary in the district starts at about $50,000.
Portland Public Schools repeatedly said it did not have the money to meet the union’s demands. Oregon lawmakers in June approved a record $10.2 billion budget for K-12 education over the next two years, but school district representatives said that wasn’t enough. Earlier this month, some state lawmakers held a news conference on the Capitol steps to push for a resolution.
The district in its statement urged voters to pressure state lawmakers for better school funding and said it would have to make cuts to afford the concessions to the teachers union.