The process for negotiating the recent teacher contract, giving Portland teachers roughly a 13 percent raise over three years, reinforces why more, rather than less, City Council oversight is needed over the school board. Neither the mayor nor the city manager was consulted to provide input to the contract negotiations.
It was irresponsible of the school board not to seek or include any guidance from the city side in the contract negotiations. Without substantial teacher attrition or unlikely programmatic savings, the contract will significantly impact future city budgets and programmatic priorities on both sides of the city budget. It likely will cause Portland’s already-high property taxes to increase even more.
The contract negotiations demonstrate why more, rather than less, City Council oversight is needed to ensure sound fiscal management, priority setting, accountability and transparency. Greater school board autonomy will simply worsen an already-broken system and should be rejected.
Ken Farber
Portland
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