Marquee outside the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall

The marquee of the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall announced the Portland Association of Teachers strike vote. Union members would go on to overwhelmingly approve a strike.

Portland's teachers on Thursday presented the school district a new contract proposal containing concessions on some of the key issues that put the two sides on course for a strike Feb. 20.

The union made its offer in face-to-face meetings with Portland Public Schools lasting more than four hours and later described the concessions in a message to members, who must vote on any deal.

The proposal puts the two sides just over half a percentage point apart on salary increases, according to the "bargaining brief" sent to union members. The union is now seeking about 2.5 to 2.6 percent annual raises with the district most recently proposing 2 percent a year.

The "mediation settlement proposal" also offers concessions on rules governing how teachers are transferred and the role that teaching qualifications play in the layoff process, the document said.

One major issue that remains unclear from the brief is the union's current stance on a contract clause concerning class sizes and teachers' workloads. The union has pushed the district to hire 176 teachers to reduce class sizes, while the district has offered to hire 88 teachers.

The Portland Association of Teachers memo told members the offer constituted "significant movement" by the union "on a substantial number of issues currently in dispute."

Representatives from the bargaining teams of the district and the union met for the first time without a state mediator since union members voted Feb. 5 to authorize a walkout.

Portland Public Schools Superintendent Carole Smith chose her words carefully in talking to reporters after the meeting with the union.

"Today, we met with PAT and they presented their mediation proposal to us," she said. "We will then get back together with them on Sunday and PPS will present our mediation proposal back to them."



"I will tell you that both teams are working really hard to get to a negotiated settlement," she continued, "And every single time we get together, it deepens our understanding of what we're trying to accomplish together.""

Union president Gwen Sullivan said today's proposal reflected compromise and creativity on the part of the union's bargaining team.

"The board will definitely recognize the movement and the change that we've put into this," she said.

Sullivan declined to give specifics on the proposal to give room for the district to respond on Sunday.

But the union's bargaining brief had a subtle but distinct shift in tone that suggested progress toward a deal.

Past bargaining briefs from the union to its members have conveyed skepticism about the elected Portland School Board's appetite for give-and-take. Thursday's communique said, "The Board's team has promised to issue a comprehensive proposal in response."

The two sides are scheduled to meet again on Sunday, Feb. 16, when the district's bargaining team will present its own new proposal.

The district and its union have been bargaining over a new contract for more than 10 months. Union members on Feb. 5 overwhelmingly voted to approve a walkout, which would be the first in Portland Public Schools history.

The full text of the bargaining brief is below:

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