News Portlanders for Schools, flush with cash for two campaigns to increase property taxes for schools, today launched two TV ads designed to provoke maximum sympathy for the multimillion-dollar measures. (Sidenote: The latest figures from the state elections division show the Portland Association of Teachers union recently donated $100,000 to the campaign, bringing Portlanders for Schools' total to $1 ...   More

News One part of Portland Public Schools' new two-year contract with its teachers union is supposed to save the financially starved district $4 million a year by increasing high-school teachers' workload.But that feature of the new contract—to have high-school teachers teach six out of eight periods a day instead of five out of seven—still remains something of a proposal. While PPS administrators have ...   More

Schools The School Board on Monday night hailed Portland Public Schools’ new labor contract with teachers as collaborative   More

News The Portland School Board voted 5-1 last night to approve a new, two-year agreement with the district's teachers union, the Portland Association of Teachers. Board member Martín González was the lone "no" vote. But board colleague Trudy Sargent, who missed the last-minute meeting due to prior travel plans, sent a 3 1/2-page written statement explaining why she would have voted "no," too.   Following ...   More

News Portland Public Schools' tentative agreement with its teachers union, the Portland Association of Teachers, includes a salary increase for the district's most veteran teachers in the second year of the proposed two-year contract.That pay bump comes in the form of a new "step" on the teachers' salary schedule and translates to a 2 percent raise for teachers with more than 12 years of teaching experience. ...   More

News Protesters will descend on Salem tomorrow to show support for collective bargaining in Wisconsin. But pro-union Portlanders have another chance to do the same closer to home today.At 4 pm today, hundreds of teachers from National Education Association's Pacific Regional Leadership Conference in Portland will gather downtown at Director Park, home of Portland's Teachers Fountain. The rally, which will ...   More

News Jefferson High School hosts two forums on the challenges of public education next week. The first forum, on Wednesday, Dec. 8, will cover recent changes in how the Seattle public school district evaluates teacher performance. Hosted by Stand for Children, the Black Parent Initiative, and Community & Parents for Public Schools, the event from 6:30 pm to 8 pm will feature a labor negotiator ...   More

News Portland teachers will hold a rally at 6:15 pm outside tonight's 7 pm Portland School Board meeting to pressure the district to reach agreement on a new contract. The Portland Association of Teachers union, which represents about 3,800 educators in Portland Public Schools, has been without a contract since June 2008. Since then, the district has asked teachers to agree to five furlough days and ...   More

News Several hundred Portland Public Schools teachers gathered outside Monday night's school board meeting to protest contract talks that have dragged on since before June 2008, when the teachers' contract expired. Their chanting outside delayed the meeting's start time — then threatened to overpower the opening minutes. As school board chairwoman Trudy Sargent pounded the gavel to start the ...   More

News Another busy night for the Portland School Board this evening. Portland Public Schools' teachers, who have been working without a contract since July 2008, will hold another rally outside the meeting tonight. (Here's a summary of last week's mediation session, from the Portland Association of Teachers union.) And proponents of a new charter school focused on the recording arts are also gathering ...   More