Portland Public Schools teachers, board vote to ratify strike-ending contract

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Portland Public Schools and the district’s 3,500 teachers voted to ratify a contract Tuesday that officially ended the month-long teacher strike.

The agreement is a three-year contract that features teacher pay raises, student mental health support, more planning time, and more parent input on class sizes.

"Our educators are going to have a completely different experience especially next year when most of the provisions go into place and some of our students get the supports that have been sorely needed," Portland Association of Teachers president Angela Bonilla said.

The district has warned that the new contract will require budget cuts, but where those cuts will come from is still unknown.

The strike, which lasted for 26 days, added 11 more days to the school calendar to make up for missed time. Those added days will shorten winter break by a week and add on some periodic days throughout the rest of the year.

However, some parents and students have voiced concern over this decision.

"We have to get more days to make up for the time we have lost due to the fault of both sides," student Jorge Sanchez Bautista said. "Students never voted for the strike to happen, never were brought into bargaining to talk for themselves, or in the conversation on how to make up for the lost time."

District representatives say there were no good options for replacing days in the first place, calling them "bad and worse." The board says it will consider different days like MLK day to be used as a potential substitute, and is directing the district to look at other alternate days and solutions.

Before taking the vote, some school board members also spoke to actions taken beyond the district. They criticized the Oregon government for providing schools with limited funding.

"We also got a contract that we cannot afford, and we cannot afford it because the governor and legislature failed to adequately fund education in Oregon," board member Andrew Scott said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Gov. Tina Kotek spoke about the strike and impact on education statewide. She said she knows more needs to be done.

"I also want to send a signal to those districts to say we hear you. We know there are challenges," Kotek said. "We're going to step up and have a different conversation in the coming year, so when we come into the 2025 legislative session, we could be better prepared to address these larger systemic issues."

However, board member Julia Brim-Edwards said it'll take more than conversations.

"We're going to need more than talk at the state level. We're going to need a lot more action and we're going to need a lot more than an action plan," Brim-Edwards said.

Stay with KOIN 6 as this story develops.