Educational technicians in Portland schools have reached a tentative agreement with the district that includes a 12% increase to starting wages for most ed techs, ending months of negotiations that were hung up over compensation.

The proposed deal comes more than a month after ed techs began the school year without a collective bargaining agreement.

The school board will vote to ratify the contract at its meeting on Tuesday night. Superintendent Ryan Scallon said in an interview Thursday that the union had approved the contract and he’s optimistic about an approval from the board.

The previous three-year contract, which expired at the end of August, took more than a year to negotiate during the 2021-22 school year. Ed techs worked that whole year without a contract, a situation that they say led to understaffing and unsafe working conditions.

Dozens of education technicians protested low wages at a Portland Public Schools board meeting on Sept. 3. Daniel Kool/Staff Writer

When discussions over this year’s contract stalled, more than 40 people protested at a school board meeting in early September and union members testified that the previous contract’s starting wage was not livable.

THE NEGOTIATIONS 

The district employs three levels of technicians: Ed Tech Is need a high school diploma or GED, Ed Tech IIs need 60 post-secondary credits, and Ed Tech IIIs need at least 90 college credits, and most have a bachelor’s degree. Scallon said about 90% of technicians employed by the district belong to that third group. They are all paid on a scale that increases with time in the position.

If the contract is approved, all of their pay ranges would increase over the next three years.

Ed Tech IIIs would now earn between $21.28 and $31.06 this year based on experience, according to the proposed agreement, a $2.34 raise over the former starting salary of $18.94. By the 2026-27 school year, that would grow to range from $22.14 to $33.79.

Starting pay for Ed Tech Is would increase from $16.20 to $17.85 this year, and then to $18.57 by 2026. And the Ed Tech II wage includes a step from $17.27 to $20.00 this year, and then to $20.81 by 2026.

“I think we got to an agreement that really recognizes the value that our education technicians bring to the district and are excited that the scale we’re able to put forward now is really competitive,” Scallon said. “It will make our ed techs some of the best compensated in the area, and also at the same time is able to operate within a budget that we had planned for.”

Scallon said the union and district came to an agreement quickly on the working condition component of the contract, but finalizing salary and benefits took longer. He said delayed contracts can sometimes look to the public like conflict, but in this case, the issue was just a need for more time to work through negotiations.

“That extra little bit of time that it took has resulted in a contract that’s really achieved the goals that everybody wanted, which is to make sure that our ed techs are compensated in a way that recognizes the value they bring to the district,” he said, thanking Union President Jennifer Cooper and other members of the bargaining team for their investment in the negotiations.

Cooper said in an email Monday before the union vote that she was optimistic about the deal.

“I do believe our membership will be happy with the salary and benefit increases we were able to obtain,” she wrote. 

Cooper did not return requests Friday to discuss details of the negotiation.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

Because the contract comes more than a month into the school year, the pay scale adjustments will be applied retroactively and ed techs will receive the backpay after the contract is approved, Scallon said.

In addition to appeasing current employees, the district hopes the new contract will help solve a shortage of ed techs. The district budgeted for 226 ed tech positions this year, but Scallon said only 206 are currently filled. He said there are other factors besides pay contributing to the shortage, but the newly competitive wage should make a difference.

“Ed techs are really important in our schools, and so we work really hard to fill. When a school is short an ed tech, they work really hard to make sure that they’re covering, they have people shifting over, providing support in various ways,” Scallon said. “None of it’s perfect or ideal, but schools are pretty creative with how they support. We hope this helps take some of that strain off.”