Teachers in Beaverton School District demand better pay, classroom safety

PORTLAND, Ore. ( KOIN ) – Teachers in the Beaverton School District demonstrated outside their campuses Monday morning as their struggle to reach a new contract with the third largest school district in the state continues.

Teachers say their contract talks with the district since February are not making enough progress on some of their bigger issues — like pay and classroom safety.

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"The future of Oregon's public school is in our hands, and we won't stop fighting until every school building has the resources it needs to meet the social and emotional needs of all our students and their families," said Katie Lukins, Vice President of the Beaverton Education Association.

Educators are also warning state lawmakers to do better when it comes to funding education during their next session in January 2025.

Meanwhile, legislators met in Salem last week and considered ways to avoid teacher strikes.

One of those possibilities was a statewide teacher salary schedule with a state mandated minimum for new teachers. Another was changing the way the state figures out how much money school districts need to operate, including most of the money for salary and benefits that does impact hiring teachers, counselors and social workers.

Beaverton teachers said they also want to have more input for district decision making on issues like staffing levels in classrooms.

Parents and students joined the teachers during the walk-in before heading into school, but some families are concerned about a possible strike like the one involving Portland Public Schools last year, which lasted more than a month after contract talks broke off.

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However, the Beaverton Education Association, the union representing teachers in the school district, said they are not headed for a strike at the moment, thanks to several bargaining sessions scheduled in the coming weeks.

KOIN 6 News reached out to the Beaverton School District to get a response to the demonstrations, but we have yet to hear back.