Dozens of education technicians filled the back of the room at Tuesday night’s meeting of the Portland Board of Education, protesting low wages after beginning the school year without a collective bargaining agreement.

As the board called Tuesday’s meeting to order, more than 40 techs and their supporters flowed into the room around 6 p.m. They held signs demanding “Higher pay for ed techs” and noting that “I work two jobs.”

The union and district have been in contract negotiations for months, but it’s not clear when a new contract might be finalized.

Dozens of education technicians protested low wages at Tuesday’s meeting of the Portland Board of Education. Daniel Kool/Press Herald Staff

Jen Cooper, president of the union, offered the first public comments at Tuesday’s meeting. She said the group had gathered to demonstrate the scale of support for techs.

“Time and time again, I’ve stood here and been told that we’re valued members of the Portland Public School community,” Cooper said. “We’re just asking for a livable wage.”

Cooper said her teenage son got a job as a busboy with a catering company this summer, where he was offered around $20 per hour as a starting wage. “That’s step 4 on our contract,” she told the board.

Starting pay for new ed techs currently ranges from $16.20 to $18.94 per hour, according to the previous contract, which expired at the end of August. Under that contract, techs who have 31 or more years of experience can earn between $24.06 and $28.11 per hour.

“As a parent, I was proud of him at that moment for his very first job,” Cooper told the board. “But he’s making barely less than I am 26 years later.”

She said Portland schools are losing valuable staff to better paying districts, even as she begs techs to wait for a new and more equitable contract. Many, including herself, work multiple jobs to make ends meet, Cooper said.

In an interview before the meeting, Cooper said it was not feasible for many techs to live on their school salaries alone.

“Many of our ed techs, they have a hard time making it to things like this because they are working second jobs, third jobs,” Cooper said.

In her comments, Kerrie Dowdy, a member of the Portland Education Association, read the board a list of 10 other districts that offer more than $20 per hour for new ed techs, including Berwick, Kennebunk and Cumberland.

Dowdy said the crowd represented “people who understand the extraordinary value of the work ed techs do with some of our most vulnerable students.”

Dowdy said the school board has previously pitted “different collective bargaining groups against each other” – arguing that increased salaries for one group of staff, such as teachers, left limited cash for other groups.

“We will not allow ourselves to be divided,” Dowdy said.

The previous contract, which expired at the end of August, was signed in October 2022 and applied retroactively to September 2021, but the techs had worked without a contract for the entire 2021-2022 school year while the previous deal was being negotiated.

Cooper declined to answer questions about specific points of the contract or specify what wage the union hopes to land on.

Superintendent Ryan Scallon said negotiators have agreed on most items in the contract, but they are hung up on wages and some benefit issues, which he called “the hard piece” in an interview during the meeting. He declined to say what either group had offered as a new starting salary.

The two parties are slated to meet again Wednesday, following a mediation session with a third-party several weeks ago, Scallon said.

Scallon said “everybody wants it resolved as soon as we can have it resolved,” and that he was optimistic negotiations could be completed within the year, though he could not say for sure.

He said the district is focused on retention and wants staff to feel recognized and excited to come to work each day.

Maya Lena, a parent and substitute teacher at Amanda C. Rowe Elementary who also offered comment, said the district needs to work to improve retention of ed techs by increasing their starting pay, expanding benefits and offering increased support. Lena is running for an at-large position on the board.

“When we are unable to fill ed tech positions, we put our students at risk,” Lena said.

Portland educators have argued for years that insufficient staffing means students with unique needs can’t get the degree of supervision and support they require.

Scallon said ed techs are “the ones that are closest to the students.” He noted that while a teacher may be responsible for around 25 students, a tech may work with a student one-on-one or in a small group, depending on their needs. He said “no one’s disputing” that techs and teachers should be fairly compensated.

“These things get complex when we’re talking about when you put in together wages and benefits, because they all factor in,” Scallon said. “And so we need to figure out how do we put that all together in a way that’s competitive.”

By 6:20 p.m., the crowd had shuffled out as the board resumed its planned agenda.