Union leaders and Bend-La Pine School District officials have another full day of contract negotiations on Tuesday, as wide gaps remain over pay, benefits and working conditions.
Some of the conflicts echo what recently drove Portland teachers to strike, but Bend education officials are optimistic they can reach an agreement before the end of the year.
“These are consensual meetings, and now we’re meeting almost every day,” said Bend-La Pine Schools spokesman Scott Maben.
Since May, the Central Oregon school district had been at odds with two unions representing about 2,000 of its employees. But the tenor has changed in recent weeks, said Bend Education Association President Sarah Barclay, who chairs the bargaining committee for the teachers’ union.
“We’re definitely seeing a different tone now that’s in the right direction,” Barclay said. “If I had to put one word on it, it would be hopeful.”
The negotiations come as Portlanders return to school this week after a historic teachers’ strike kept 40,000 students out of the classroom for 11 school days.
Portland teachers reached a tentative agreement on Sunday for a 13.8 per cent cost of living adjustment over three years.
Bend teachers are working toward a two-year contract that also calls for double-digit pay raises – 11% this year and 10% next year, according to their union’s latest proposal.
The district’s last offer was less than half that, at 5.3% and 4%, respectively.
“We’re still a long way apart,” Maben said.
He acknowledged that the high cost of living in Bend, where the median home price just climbed to $850,000, makes it difficult for teachers to afford to live in the city.
“But at the same time, we have to meet our obligation to be fiscally sustainable with the limited tax dollars we receive from the state,” Maben said.
In recent years, Oregon has supported schools with emergency pandemic funding, and that money will run out at the end of this year, he added.
Barclay said the deal to end the strike in Portland Public Schools shows that districts can still set priorities despite shortfalls in state funding. She argued that teachers who can afford to live where they work better serve students by becoming part of the community.
“Compensation isn’t just money in the employee’s pocket,” she said, “it really has an impact on the community.”
Other sticking points include more planning time for teachers, increasing the number of working days in the school year and capping class sizes. Barclay said the district has not yet responded to the union’s proposal to limit class sizes.
The Bend Education Association’s contract expired over the summer, as did another contract with a local of the Oregon School Employees Association, which represents about 1,000 classified staff such as bus drivers, custodians and cafeteria workers.
For the next three weeks, the district has scheduled two full-day meetings a week with BEA, in addition to evening sessions with OSEA, Maben said.
“We’re going to do eight hours of bargaining with teachers, take a half-hour break, and then go into four hours of bargaining with support staff,” Maben said. “That to me illustrates the sense of urgency and the commitment to get this done.”