Catherwood LibraryILR School

Schools in the Portland, Oregon area have experienced school closures that began on November 1st due to teacher strikes. Portland teachers are seeking increases in teacher salaries to match the increases in cost of living, smaller class sizes, increased teacher planning time, improved mental health and special education services for students, and cleaner school environments. The Portland Association of Teachers represents unionized educators and is working to negotiate a new contract with Portland Public Schools. The two parties announced that they are getting closer to reaching a new agreement, as the Portland Association of Teachers reduced its demands by $120 million after the Oregon Department of Education stated that the state did not have enough funds to meet the current demands. A major change in the proposal is the shift from hard limit caps to classroom sizes, and instead the use of a classroom sizing committee to determine if a classroom can handle more students than the suggested number of students. This measure was the most costly aspect of the Portland Association of Teachers proposal because it would require hiring new teachers and having more classes to accommodate smaller class sizes.