Just before the holidays, three of the biggest school districts in the Portland metro region concluded labor talks with their teachers unions.
In addition to the David Douglas and Reynolds districts and their teachers unions agreeing to contract agreements, Portland witnessed a busy fall of negotiating that culminated in the negotiations in the Gresham-Barlow, Tigard-Tualatin, and Hillsboro school districts.
The largest school district in the metro region still attempting to negotiate a contract with its teachers is the Beaverton School District. At the moment, Beaverton, Oregon’s third-largest school district, and its union are undergoing state mediation. January 7 is the date of its upcoming meeting with a state mediator.
Following union members’ ratification vote, Gresham-Barlow school board members approved the district’s three-year contract on Wednesday. Over the following three years, it provides cost of living adjustments of 4.5%, 4.5%, and 4%.
Teachers in Tigard-Tualatin would receive a 4% retroactive raise for the current school year and a 4% rise for 2025–2026 under the terms of the two-year contract. Next month, the Tigard-Tualatin Education Association’s members will cast their votes on whether to approve the deal.
Teachers in Hillsboro would receive a cost of living increase of 3.5% for 2024–2025, 4.75% for the second year, and 4.25% for the third year of the three-year contract. While a teacher ratification vote is still pending, school board members unanimously approved the contract on Thursday.
The Hillsboro School District’s chief financial officer, Michelle Morrison, admitted at a board meeting on Thursday that the cost of living adjustment provided for the current school year is less than in some nearby districts, but she also pointed out that the overall contract increases were greater than what Hillsboro has recently been able to provide.
However, even the governor’s suggested budget won’t be sufficient to meet our costs at existing service levels with these levels of general compensation increases, she said, and Hillsboro might have to cut workers.
Governor Tina Kotek has suggested that the state raise financing for the state schools fund by over 11%, to $11.36 billion. According to Morrison, in order to prevent budget cuts, Hillsboro and other districts throughout the state estimate that they would require $11.8 billion.
Beaverton’s future is more uncertain, even if the recent contract settlements in several districts provide a contrast to the disruptive strike at Greater Albany Public Schools in the mid-Willamette Valley. The district has offered cost of living increases that largely mirror those in Gresham-Barlow, Tigard-Tualatin and Hillsboro: 4% for the first two years of the contract and 4.25% for the third. Over the course of a two-year contract, the Beaverton Education Association is requesting cost of living hikes of 8.5% and 7.5%.
The Portland Association of Teachers, in contrast, reached a settlement with cost-of-living adjustments of 6.25 percent, 4.5%, and 3% over a three-year contract following an 11-day strike in 2023.
Julia Silverman writes for The Oregonian/OregonLive on education. You can contact her at [email protected].
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