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Portland Board ratifies MOU with teachers’ union to allow extended-responsibility pay for current year
Summary
The Portland School Board voted 6-0 to ratify a memorandum of understanding with the Portland Association of Teachers that implements extended-responsibility pay for work outside the school day for the current academic year; the agreement was signed Sept. 5 and is one of roughly 15 open bargaining issues.
Portland School Board Chair Wong and the board voted to ratify a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Portland Association of Teachers that implements extended-responsibility pay for work outside the school day for the 2025–26 academic year.
The MOU, signed Sept. 5, 2025, was presented to the board for ratification at a special public meeting Sept. 18, and the board approved resolution 7177 by a vote of 6 to 0.
Dr. Armstrong told the board that the agreement is part of a broader set of negotiations with PAT and said, “we have reached tentative agreement, and we were scheduled to vote on, September 30 as an amendment to the collective bargaining agreement that would allow for extended responsibility pay.” Legal counsel advised the board that it had authority to vote on the item at the public meeting. Chair Wong called for the vote and announced that “Resolution 7 1 7 7 is approved.”
Board members and staff said the district is acting now to provide reassurance to staff who perform duties outside regular school hours, including band directors and debate advisers. Chief Tonkre (staff) and other presenters told the board that some employees had continued to perform extended-duty work and that pay under the MOU will be applied for the current academic year; board members clarified that the agreement does not cover work from the prior school year. Dr. Armstrong and district staff described the MOU as one of approximately 15 outstanding bargaining issues under ongoing collective-bargaining discussions.
Director Split moved adoption of resolution 7177; Director LaFord seconded. There was discussion among board members about whether voting at the special meeting was rushed and about the practical effect on upcoming extracurricular events; staff said the ratification would provide reassurance and that retroactive pay for activities in the current school year would be covered, but it would not retroactively cover last year. The board cited the signed MOU and the desire to remove uncertainty for staff as reasons to proceed.
The resolution instructs the board to ratify the attached memorandum of understanding between Portland Public Schools and the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT), and the board recorded the motion as adopted. The district indicated it will continue negotiations on the remaining open bargaining issues with PAT during the 2025 bargaining cycle.
The ratification resolves this discrete item by formal vote; other bargaining issues remain under negotiation and were described by staff as separate from the ratified MOU.
Resolution 7177: ratification of the memorandum of understanding with the Portland Association of Teachers — adopted 6–0.
