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Measures 66 and 67 Contract Negotiations |
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Written by Maddy Muller
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Tuesday, 26 January 2010 |
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There are two pressing issues on the forefront of Grant teachers’ and students’ minds. The first, Measures 66 and 67, are extremely influential to every one at Grant. Both measures provide Portland Public Schools with money that, in the words of English teacher and activist Jamie Zartler, is “absolutely critical” not only for Grant, but for public education across the state.
The second issue is the ongoing contract negotiation between the Portland Association of Teachers and Portland Public Schools. Everyone has seen the yellow posters and pins in classrooms of teachers like Pardis Navi and Therese Cooper, but what do these issues have to do with each other? With the students at Grant?
In short, Measures 66 and 67 will raise income taxes for families that earn more than $250,000 a year, and will raise the minimum tax that corporations pay from $10 to $150, as well as change the way the largest corporations are taxed. Together, the measures would raise $33 million to balance the state’s budget. Forty-five percent of this money would go to education.
However, if the measures do pass, Portland Public Schools will not be in the clear; the 2010 budget already includes the money the measures will raise. If passed, these measures will maintain our current class sizes and ensure most teachers' jobs… for this year, at least.
So far, polls show the measures are receiving positive feedback. More than 60 percent of voters across Oregon appear willing to pass the taxes for the benefit of education and public safety.
But there is one question left unanswered: What effect will the measures' verdict have on the teachers’ union negotiations?
Currently, negotiations are in a process of mediation, the second step after the initial failure of face-to-face negotiations. State-appointed mediators, at the request of PPS, have been overseeing the negotiations, but both PAT and PPS have issues on which they will not compromise. An impasse—that is, a declaration of no agreement—has not yet been overcome on either side.
With Ballot Measures 66 and 67 looming overhead, the teachers’ negotiations are not likely to be forestalled, but the measures will prompt moderate negotiations. William Wilson, a union leader and member of the teachers “Bargaining Team,” puts it this way: “Would you want to strike when these measures are on the table? No, that’d be foolish.”
Wilson’s major concern is not that the measures will affect the negotiations, but rather that the negotiations will affect the passage of the measures. Wilson worries that the energy and resources he would like to spend on the passage of the measures will be funneled into the exhausting process of negotiating the contract.
Additionally, even if the measures do pass, PAT and PPS may continue negotiations. The influx of money for the district does not carry the solution to complicated issues such as teacher evalution.
Now, more than ever, the passage of these measures is necessary to keep the district afloat. Democratic House Speaker Dave Hunt is optimistic that the measures will receive support. “If 66 and 67 pass, it will be a re-affirmation that people want to continue to move Oregon forward, and the people are interested in strengthening our schools… and making some progressive policy choices going forward.”
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