PPS says it’s $200M short of teachers’ demands

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - Teachers in Portland Public Schools have been on strike for over a week now as contract negotiations continue between PPS officials and the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT), the union representing PPS teachers.

In the last day, PPS has responded publicly on the Portland Association of Teachers’ latest proposal in the heated contract negotiations.

See Also: PPS students weigh in on ongoing strike

In their statement, a PPS spokesperson says the union did not attach dollar figures to the items they proposed.

On Monday, PPS released cost estimates on some of PAT’s proposals.

PPS estimates the union’s proposal would cost $358 million compared to the district’s offer of $147 million, a $211 million difference.

The union’s proposal included calls for salary increases to compete with the cost of living, a cap on class size, and a reinstated proposal for the district to build 10 affordable housing units in five years.

PPS estimates that it would cost a minimum of $163 million to comply with the union’s cost of living proposal, which already exceeds the district’s total offer.

In order to meet the union’s proposed cap on class size, the district says it would need to hire 352 more educators across the district, which they estimate would cost over $100 million.

See Also: Portland teachers strike continues as PPS, union fail to reach agreement over long weekend

To address the union’s request to build affordable housing on 10 parcels of land owned by PPS, the district estimates the total cost of all the developments would be $140 million.

PAT did not provide KPTV a definitive response on whether union representatives believed these estimates from PPS were accurate.

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