Portland Public Schools Drops Demand For Furlough Days

One day after teachers from Portland Public Schools crowded a School Board meeting to protest not having a contract, the school district announced a major change in their proposal to teachers.

Because of an audit that reveal additional funds, the district says it no longer needs to ask all of its employees to take five furlough days this school year.

There is one big caveat. If state funding for K-12 education falls again, the district may need to implement one or two of the five furlough days originally proposed last spring.

Tuesday's announcement was hatched before Monday night's School Board meeting, at a Nov. 3 executive session of the board. But it was made public Tuesday during state-supervised mediation with the Portland Association of Teachers union. There's still no settlement on the immediate horizon; but the two sides reconvene next week.