October 26

Today, we met for our eighth mediation session with the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT). PAT did not present a counter to our proposal from yesterday. We met with the mediator around 11am to share a counter to PAT’s early childhood proposal. We engaged in two small group sessions about special education, and PAT shared an updated special education proposal at 6:45pm.

The absence of any movement from PAT’s bargaining team on hugely costly issues like class sizes, planning time, and compensation is concerning as we head into our final pre-strike sessions. PAT continues to say that we could afford these by making cuts to administration or by spending the remaining $65 million in reserves, but this is not the case.

Our shared financial reality is one of fixed revenue that has not kept pace with inflation or our students’ needs. We’ve already offered compensation that exceeds our revenue increases, but PAT’s proposal so far exceeds our revenue increases that it would mean hundreds of millions of dollars of cuts over three years. And because 90% of our spending is in schools, cuts would affect classrooms and students’ education experience. And negative impacts to students’ education experience is something neither we nor PAT’s members want.

We are at the bargaining table as long as it takes to find a sustainable solution for our students. We will meet again on October 30 and 31.

October 25

Today, we met for our seventh mediation session with the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT). Our day was very similar to last Tuesday. We convened at 10am. At 3:45pm, PAT’s bargaining team met with the mediators to share its counter to the proposal we made 8 days ago. We received that response at 5:15pm and turned around a counterproposal by 8:40pm. We will meet again tomorrow.

We need our community and PAT’s bargaining team to recognize that we are not unwilling to accept their proposal: we are unable. Even the proposal we have made will require at least $45 million in structural budget cuts over the next three years.

In stark contrast, PAT’s proposal would require $277 million in cuts over the next three years. This is without including the over 500 new educators we would need to hire under the union’s proposed hard class caps. $277 million in cuts would devastate programs, services, and staffing levels. Class sizes would inevitably rise, and the quality of students’ educational experience would decrease. The benefits of the union’s proposal do not outweigh the losses. We know it would harm our students in both the short and long term.

We will meet again on October 26, 30, and 31. We are also ready and willing to meet whenever we can in addition to those dates. We are at the bargaining table and ready to stay as long as it takes to find a sustainable solution that keeps schools open.

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Supporting documents:

• PAT Counter Proposals
• PPS Counter Proposal

October 17

Today, we met for our sixth mediation session with the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT). We were promised a proposal by late morning. We received it after 3:30pm. We met with the mediator to discuss until 4:45pm. We prepared a counteroffer and delivered it to the mediator at 7:00pm.

PAT chose to leave before hearing our counter proposal. We were meeting with the mediator when PAT’s bargaining team said they were leaving. PAT President Bonilla then did a television interview stating the district did not provide a counter proposal – while we were sharing our counter proposal with the mediator. This was our last scheduled mediation session.

The district bargaining team had planned to stay into the night so the teams could continue to bargain. We shared an offer with the mediator that raised compensation, added more planning time, and sought compromise on student discipline.

We remain at the bargaining table. We will stay into the night. We will work weekends. We will do what it takes to reach a negotiated settlement and keep schools open. We hope PAT shares our urgency.

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Supporting documents:

• PPS Counteroffer
• PAT Counteroffers
  • Article 9
  • Article 12
  • Planning Time
  • Special Education Article

October 11

Today, we met for our fifth mediation session with the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT). 

We primarily worked to find compromise on the amount of dedicated planning time elementary educators get each week. The contract currently requires 320 minutes (5 hrs. and 20 mins). PAT has sought 460 minutes (7 hrs. and 40 mins). The district has proposed 360 minutes (6 hrs), and is working on options that do not reduce student instruction time. While we did not end the day with an agreement, we had productive conversations and engagement.

We continue to struggle to get on the same page about district finances. PAT continues to assert that we have roughly $100 million in reserves without acknowledging that our current budget draws that number down to less than half of that. The union’s comments also tend to frame our reserves as readily-usable money rather than recognizing it as the savings we hold for emergencies, and to weather gaps in our revenue cashflow. And we continue to struggle to understand where the union sees an additional $228.4 million in our district budget to fund these proposals.

We remain engaged in these conversations, seeking a compromise that will keep schools open. We reiterated today to PAT that we want to remain at the bargaining table and keep schools open while we work toward a solution. We hope PAT agrees.

We will meet again on October 17.

October 2

Today, we spent our time with the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT) discussing financial matters. As an Oregonian story last week made clear, we are far apart on finances – and that distance seems to be rooted, in part, in misunderstandings that we wanted to clarify.

We spent time in a joint session presenting updated financial information and responding to questions. We have included PAT’s feedback in this presentation. We felt it was a productive exchange. We know we will disagree in this process, but we are committed to closing any gaps in understanding so that we’re not juggling both differing facts and differing perspectives.

We will meet again on October 11 and 17.

September 15

Today was disappointing – for us but, most importantly, for our students and families. The Portland Association of Teachers offered no counter proposals – and yet declared impasse. This was particularly surprising given their commitment to finding resolution.

Because of this, we end today – 228 days since we began bargaining:

• without PAT reducing their request for a 23% increase over the contract
• without PAT making any compromise on removing mandatory minimum suspensions
• without PAT modifying its request for exclusion spaces within schools
• without PAT modifying its proposals to create hard classroom size caps
• without PAT dropping its proposal that the district develop affordable housing

PAT also did not respond to the package proposal we made last week, which included a higher salary offer and a $3,000-per-year stipend for special educators.

We will meet other days for mediation despite today’s unproductive session -- October 2, 11, and 17. Despite our frustration, we continue to keep our students at the center and will strive for compromise.

Our students do not deserve this inaction in the face of potential school closures.

September 7

Today, we offered compromises that would both reward our educators and further our students’ success.

We were able to raise our compensation offer substantially. Our offer today would give educators a 4% cost-of-living increase in the first year of their contract, followed by 3% increases in the second and third years. This increase, along with a previous offer to raise starting salaries, would make our starting educators the highest paid teachers in the metro area's six largest districts. We also added a new, $3,000-per-year stipend for special education teachers, including school psychologists, speech-language pathologists, and other special education professionals. Our educators have requested more teacher-directed planning time, and we were able to offer an extra day of that as well.

We are not there yet, but we are committed to the hard work of finding common ground. We were grateful to hear PAT President Angela Bonilla voice the same desire to reach a settlement at the September 5th Board meeting. With that agreement, and a shared commitment to student success, we remain hopeful that we can keep our schools open this fall.

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Supporting documents:

• PAT response on permissive subjects
• District response to PAT on permissive subjects  
• PPS Proposals
• PAT Proposals - part 1, part 2

August 31

Today, we started the state-led mediation process with one priority: our children’s success. We offered compromises that would keep that vision at the heart of our work – and maintained our position on proposals that would negatively impact students.

While we remain apart on many issues, we made good progress during this first round. Today’s back-and-forth resulted in four tentative agreements.

We continue to strive for common ground that keeps our children at the center, keeps schools open, and respects our teachers. We remain fully committed to reaching a consensus with PAT and look forward to making further progress at our two upcoming mediation sessions.

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Supporting documents:

• Tenative agreement on Articles 11, 21, 22, 27
• District letter on permissive subjects
• PPS Proposals
• PAT Proposals

August 28

On Monday, we met with the Portland Association of Teachers' (PAT) bargaining team at the Prophet Center. Portland Public Schools brought one counter proposal to the new article addressing pre-kindergarten educators. PAT brought five counter proposals. We signed one tentative agreement on Article 14 (Mileage, Parking, and Procurement Cards).

We believe we are close to agreeing on a few more articles. PAT has identified ten articles as their top priorities; following our mediator’s recommendation, we are saving those proposals for mediation. Those articles span significant areas such as compensation, workload, and student discipline.

You can watch the session here.

Going into mediation, we are keeping our students’ success at the heart of our negotiating. Both sides reiterated their desire to settle this contract in the course of yesterday’s discussion. Yes, we are still apart on some key issues, but we are very hopeful that our shared commitments to our students will lead us to resolutions. Ultimately, the contract must serve our students and create the conditions for their success.

We begin mediation on Thursday, August 31, with two further sessions on September 7 and September 15.

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Supporting documents

• PAT Proposals
• PPS Proposal

August 22

Today, we met with the Portland Association of Teachers' (PAT) bargaining team at the Prophet Center. Portland Public Schools brought five counter proposals. PAT brought two counter proposals. We did not sign any tentative agreements on any articles, but we reached verbal agreement on Article 14 (Mileage, Parking, and Procurement Cards).

Our discussion focused on Article 18, which covers transfers. Currently, there is an internal round of hiring for some PAT members – including unassigned educators. Our proposal would eliminate this round, but all unassigned educators will receive their assignment before we post jobs externally. The benefit for everyone is clear: unassigned educators still get placed early, and earlier external posting can make us more competitive across the region.

You can watch the session here and here.

We remain dedicated to searching for common ground and striving to reach the best deal for our students. The best deal for our students is one where we can continue to offer some of the best employment terms in our region, and where both educators and school leaders have what they need to ensure each student’s success.

We have suggested another bargaining date before we begin mediation. We are still waiting to hear back but eager for another opportunity to meet and discuss. We will then have three mediation sessions scheduled: August 31, September 7, and September 15.

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Supporting documents

• PAT Proposals
• PPS Proposals

August 15

Today, we met with the Portland Association of Teachers' (PAT) bargaining team at the Prophet Center. Portland Public Schools brought four counter proposals and one appendix. PAT brought four counter proposals and read a letter regarding their position on a fifth article. We did not reach a tentative agreement on any articles.

You can watch the session here.

Our contract has forty-four articles and appendices; at this point, twenty-eight articles and appendices remain open and unresolved. While we disagree on many elements, we know that no one around the bargaining table wants to deprive students of learning. By centering our students and their wellbeing, we are confident we will find a resolution – and our district will be stronger for it.

We will meet again on Tuesday, August 22, from 10am until 2pm. We will then have three mediation sessions scheduled: August 31, September 7, and September 15.

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Supporting documents

• PAT Proposals and Letter
• PPS Proposals

June 5

Today, we met with the Portland Association of Teachers' (PAT) bargaining team at their office. Portland Public Schools brought three counter proposals. PAT brought ten counter proposals and read a statement from a community member regarding their housing proposal. We reached a tentative agreement on Appendix L.

This was our final scheduled session, as PAT has declined our offers to schedule additional sessions before the start of the next school year. Given this, and since they did not bring any counter proposals to our previous session, we spent the bulk of our short time together discussing PAT’s counter proposals.

PAT continues to ask for shifts – especially hard and soft class-size caps and additional educator-directed time – which would necessarily harm the educational experience for our students. This exchange represents a crux of the issue: one of PAT’s bargaining team members suggests that PPS could shorten high school schedules by a full period without limiting students’ ability to meet graduation requirements or explore varied career paths. When a PPS bargaining team member highlights this, the discussion is shut down.

There are so many hours in each school day, so many days in each school year, and so many dollars in an already-austere budget. Without some recognition of these tangible limitations, we find ourselves at an impasse.You can watch the first session here and the second session here.

We will update you should future sessions be scheduled but, at this time, we do not expect new sessions to happen before the next school year.

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Supporting documents

• PPS Proposals
• Tentative agreement
  • Appendix L

May 30

Today, we met with the Portland Association of Teachers's (PAT) bargaining team at the Prophet Center. Portland Public Schools brought nine counter proposals. PAT did not bring any proposals. PPS increased our COLA offer and proposed to eliminate the first step on the salary schedule, which will raise starting salaries.

Junho Chang, PPS’s Senior Manager for Budget, also presented about our current financial constraints with the goal of increasing understanding of our budget and addressing PAT’s erroneous claim that PPS “is hiding tens of millions of dollars”. He broke down how money flows between the state and the district, and explained different legal and policy limitations on how the district spends. You can watch his full presentation here.

Generally, our discussion focused on the nuts and bolts of various proposals with specific attention to the many additional forms of compensation PAT has proposed. We remain concerned that the union’s proposal adds over $200 million in new costs at a time when the state is funding us below our operating costs, and we are having to make significant reductions. (Further estimates of those proposals can be found here.)

You can watch the first session here, the second session here, the third session here, and the fourth session here.

We will meet again on June 5.  PAT has declined our offers to schedule any additional sessions from June 5 until after the beginning of the new school year; they have indicated that they will be ready to resume bargaining in mid-September.

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Supporting documents

• PPS Proposal

May 19 

Today, we met with the Portland Association of Teachers' (PAT) bargaining team at their offices. Portland Public Schools brought one counter proposal, and PAT brought nine. We reached tentative agreement on one article. Dr. Emily Glasgow also presented about our early childhood programs.

Our counter proposal addressed parking concerns raised in the course of covered significant ground and aimed to be responsive to both our educators and school leaders.

We had a robust conversation about many areas where educators were seeking additional compensation, such as bilingual ability, additional duty, and after-school or weekend work. Many of these requests already fall within the duties covered by each job description, however, so we struggle to understand why additional compensation would be necessary.

We also strongly disagreed with the union that educators should have the power to override school site councils. Such power would be antithetical to the whole point of site councils, which is to bring together students, families, educators, service providers, and school leaders to make holistic decisions about the site. To give one group veto power would undermine the entire project.

You can watch the first session here, the second session here, and the third session here.

We meet again on May 30.

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Supporting documents

• PAT Proposals
• PPS Proposal
• Pre-K / Head Start Conversation
• PAT Tentative Agreement - Article 1 Status and Effects of Agreement

May 11  

Today, we met with the Portland Association of Teachers' (PAT) bargaining team at the Dr. Matthew J. Prophet Education Center. Portland Public Schools brought counter proposals on five articles, and PAT brought a modification to their initial proposal on Early Childhood Educators. 

Our five proposals covered significant ground and aimed to be responsive to both our educators and school leaders. We offered expanded planning time for elementary educators, increased the Professional Growth Fund, lowered the overage threshold for counselors, and a target cap of district-mandated standardized assessments.

Dr. Renard Adams also delivered a concise accounting of the operating implications of PAT’s proposal. He made clear that, while we share the goals and values of our educators’ union, we simply do not have the funding to pay for, nor the operating capacity to support, the bulk of their proposal. Their proposal adds over 500 positions, and the articles we discussed today would – just those articles – add nearly $100 million of new costs.

You can watch the first session here and the second session here.

We meet again on May 19.

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Supporting documents

• PPS Proposals  

April 13

Today, we met with the Portland Association of Teachers' (PAT) bargaining team at the Dr. Matthew J. Prophet Education Center. Portland Public Schools brought counter proposals on two articles, and PAT brought a counter proposal on three articles.

We spent the bulk of our time together hearing testimony from educators who are addressing the rising mental and behavioral health and social emotional needs of our students. We agree with PAT about the need to provide comprehensive supports, and we also recognize that students’ needs are growing.

But many needs have grown, as has the cost of operating our district at current levels. State revenue is not keeping up with our costs, and one-time special funds are ending. We are faced with a finite amount of money and we simply are not able to fund many priorities at the level they deserve. That was the nexus of disagreement – not the value of or need for educators to do this vital work.

You can watch the first session here, the second session here, and the third session here.

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Supporting documents

• Letter to the PPS Community: 23-24 Budget and Bargaining Implications
• PPS Proposals
• PAT Proposals
• Tentative agreement
  • Article 5

April 4 

Today, we met with the Portland Association of Teachers' (PAT) bargaining team at their headquarters. Portland Public Schools presented four counter proposals, and PAT brought two counter proposals. 

Major discussions focused on educator planning time, class size caps, and parking near schools. PAT also presented comparative data from the fourteen metro-area districts. We will review what they presented further, but our initial concern is that it failed to account for important distinctions between roles and district policies.

We will meet again with PAT at the PEC on April 13 starting at 11am.

You can watch the bargaining session online: part one, part two, and part three.

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Supporting documents

• PPS Proposals
• PAT Proposals

March 7 

Today, we met with the Portland Association of Teachers' (PAT) bargaining team at their headquarters. Portland Public Schools presented our financial proposals and included a counter proposal, and PAT brought four counter proposals. In the February 14 update, we shared that the parties had tentatively agreed to Article 4 and today we tentatively agreed to Article 25. 

Notably, the district presented the core of its financial offer, which is a 2.5% cost–of-living increase each of the next three years. Paired with longevity increases, this means approximately half of PPS educators would get at least a 5.9% increase each year for the next three years.

In the course of presenting this package during the first session, PAT bargaining committee members called ODE data about PPS into question. They said it differed from their classroom experiences with one member calling it “a manipulation of reality.” We reiterated the integrity of our data and the need for respectful engagement during the second session.

PAT also brought two speech language pathologists and one special education teacher to share their experiences. 

We meet again with PAT at their headquarters on April 4 from 11-7pm. 

You can watch the bargaining session online: part one, part two, and part three. You can see the PowerPoint PPS presented here.

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Supporting documents

• Letter to the PPS Community: Financial Implications
• PPS Proposals
• PAT Proposals
  • Article One
  • Article Five
  • Article Twenty-Five
• Tentative agreement
  • Article 4
  • Article 25

February 22

Today, we met with the Portland Association of Teachers' (PAT) bargaining team at the Dr. Matthew J. Prophet Education Center. Portland Public Schools brought counter proposals on four articles, and PAT brought a counter proposal on one article. We expected to bargain over the course of the whole day, but PAT ended negotiations early, ostensibly because we did not bring them a proposal about economic issues (salary, benefits, retirement, etc.). You can watch the exchange here.

As recently as the night before, we reconfirmed that the agenda for today did not include an economic proposal. The proposals on today’s agenda had no economic bearing, so it’s unclear why PAT was unable to continue discussions on the five articles under discussion. 

This is anchored in a desire to be thorough and accurate. We will seriously consider all proposals, and respond substantively. We will bring a financial proposal for consideration on March 7.

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Supporting documents

• PPS Proposals (Four articles)
• PAT Proposal (One article)

January 10

The Portland Association of Teachers (PAT) was scheduled to present a counter proposal on Article 9 to the District’s counter proposal from December. They did not do this, but instead posed questions about the District’s counter proposal from December.

The discussion focused on two areas:

• Existing contract language requiring mandatory minimum five-day suspensions in certain situations (9.4.14)

• Additional language proposed by PAT, which would establish subjective environmental safety reasons for why any “professional educator may refuse to work…”  (9.15)

Five-Day Mandatory Minimum Punishments

PAT’s bargaining team argued that the existing contract’s mandatory minimum suspensions should be kept because those days are an opportunity to come up with a plan to address a disruptive student’s behavior.

We strongly disagree. As we’ve said before, these punishments stigmatize students, lack context, and are a stark departure from our shared commitment to restorative justice. These punishments mirror the flawed mandatory minimum punishments which have failed so many youth in our criminal justice system – which is why the next five largest districts in Oregon do not have such language in their contracts. Finally, we contend that the decision to suspend should be a rare response to a student’s behavior and not a go-to response when adults need time to address the student’s needs. We owe it to students and families to address these types of situations without losing learning opportunities.

Environmental Safety Language

PAT’s bargaining team defended their proposed contract language, which would outline environmental reasons why any individual “professional educator may refuse to work…”  The proposed language would expand those situations beyond the existing contractual safeguards, which allows for such action when there is a threat of substantial injury or significant health hazard.

We share PAT’s core goal – to keep our students safe and healthy – and we know that many PPS learning spaces need modernization, either for their age or because of the changing climate. We are in fact working to modernize and update all of our schools, in part thanks to the investments of our voters in school bonds. We can’t keep students out of school while that work happens though.

But we struggle to understand how we could keep schools operational with the language PAT would add. It would allow an educator to effectively shut down a classroom over subjective standards of cleanliness. Some larger facilities projects – some of which are crucial, we agree – can only be made without students around or render whole buildings inoperable for long periods of time. The language they want to add could regularly shut down classrooms and leave students without spaces to learn.  As we work to achieve the mutual goal of safe and clean working and learning spaces, we must find solutions that don’t result in a loss of instructional time for students.

You can watch the bargaining session online here

December 13

This afternoon, PPS met with the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT) to share our counter-proposal to Article 9. You can review our written proposal here. 

The district remains resolute in its goal:  To keep our students engaged in learning, and in safe and supportive classroom environments. This includes:

• Creating reasonable and trauma-informed standards

• Reorienting PPS’ student discipline toward research-based restorative practices

• Removing mandatory minimum sentencing rules

Unfortunately, PAT’s original proposal includes language that:

• creates a separate time-out room to “remove a student from class” at the discretion of the professional educator (9.4.1 - 9.4.6)

• preserves a mandatory minimum five-day suspension for a threat/causing fear of harm and mandatory expulsion for physical attack/harm (9.4.14)

• formalizes highly-subjective reasons why a “professional educator may refuse to work…”  (9.15)

We will reconvene for our next bargaining session with PAT on January 10, 2023, from 1 pm to 4 pm.

As part of our collective bargaining, we expect PAT to present their full contract proposal on January 30 from 9 am to 1pm. PPS will present our full proposal (minus the economics) on January 31 from 1 to 4pm. 

November 16

This afternoon, the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT) continued its presentation about its proposed changes to Article 9. You can review PAT’s written proposal here. 

 PAT’s proposal includes language that:

• emphasizes the importance of restorative justice and a multi-tiered system of support (9.3)

• creates a separate time-out room to “remove a student from class” at the discretion of the professional educator (9.4.1 - 9.4.6)

• preserves mandatory minimums of a five-day suspension for a threat/causing fear of harm and mandatory expulsion for physical attack/harm (9.4.14)

• suggests language related to environmental safety,  proposing subjective reasons for why any individual “professional educator may refuse to work…”  (9.15)

The district remains resolute in its goal: to keep our students engaged in learning in safe and supportive classrooms.  The preservation of mandatory discipline minimums is unfortunate and a key contributing factor to PPS’ disproportionate discipline and exclusion of Black, Native, and students of color from classroom learning. We will reconvene for the fourth bargaining session with PAT in December (date to be determined) to discuss this disagreement and respond to the union bargaining team’s proposed language.  

You can watch today’s bargaining session online here.  

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Supporting documents

• Article 9 PAT Proposal - Language - Nov 1 2022  

November 1

This afternoon, the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT) presented its proposal for changes to Article 9. You can review PAT’s written proposal here. 

Highlights of PAT’s proposal include language:

• On the importance of restorative justice and a multi-tiered system of support (9.3)

• That creates a separate room to “remove a student from class” at the discretion of the professional educator (9.4.1 - 9.4.6)

• That preserves mandatory minimums of a five-day suspension for a threat/causing fear of harm and mandatory expulsion for physical attack/harm (9.4.14)

• On environmental safety (9.15)

We will reconvene for the third bargaining session with PAT on November 16 from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm to continue reviewing the PAT proposal.

You can watch today’s bargaining session online: Part I, Part II.

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Supporting documents

• Letter to the PPS Community: PAT-PPS Contract Language on Student Discipline Needs To Change
• Article 9 PAT Proposal - PowerPoint 
• Article 9 PAT Proposal - Language - Nov 1 2022

October 26

Next Tuesday (November 1), PPS and PAT will convene for the second bargaining session. At this meeting, PPS expects PAT to respond with a counterproposal to our proposed changes to Article 9, “Discipline and Safety.” 

Below are two letters to the PPS community that further explain the District’s position on our proposed changes:

• PPS Is Committed To Special Education Students: Explaining Proposed Changes To Article 9 On Discipline And Safety
  
• Why Does the PAT Contract Require A Mandatory Minimum on Student Discipline?

October 12

This morning we had a productive first bargaining session with PAT. The focus was on Article 9, "Discipline and Safety."

PPS presented three main elements to PAT:

• Discipline Disparities by Race at PPS

• Current issues in the contract language, 

• Proposed changes to the contract language, including:

  • Creating reasonable and trauma-informed standards

  • Reorienting PPS’ student discipline towards research-based restorative practices

  • Removing mandatory sentencing rules. 

We will reconvene for the second bargaining session with PAT on November 1, 2022, from 2 pm to 5 pm. PPS expects PAT to respond with a counterproposal at this session on Article 9, “Discipline and Safety.” 

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Supporting documents

• Letter to PPS Community on PPS’ Proposed Changes to Article 9
• PPS Proposed Changes to Article 9: Discipline and Safety
• Article 9 PPS Proposal - Oct 10 2022