PORTLAND, Maine — Many teachers and students have returned to the classroom for the new school year. Staff in the Portland Education Association for Educational Technicians union have come back this school year bargaining for a new contract.
The union has been negotiating with Portland's Board of Education for months now, seeking higher wages for the ed tech pay scale.
“We’re asking for a livable wage," Jen Cooper, the union's president, said. "I love the work that I do and the impact that I have on students every day. I just wish that I only had one job instead of the four."
The union is still working under the expired contract, which expired on Aug. 31 within this past week. The starting wages for any of the three ed tech positions fall significantly below $20, according to the contract. The contract shows an ed tech with 10 years of experience is still making anywhere from $20.23/hour-$23.65/hour depending on the ed tech position.
"The [staff] will not continue to stay when they see schools 20-30 miles from here paying much much more. I've been begging people to stay long enough to see this contract come through, but I'm losing the fight because they're seeing others willing to pay more," Cooper said.
Portland's Board of Education chair Sarah Lentz said the board has been in contract negotiations with the union for the past couple of months.
"We are really trying to balance moving all of our staff to having a livable wage with comprehensive good benefits, and increasing the tax rate," she said. “They are really the glue of the district, and they do really important work."
The Maine School Management Association's Executive Director Steve Bailey said staffing ed techs in schools is as important as ever as students return to the classroom post-pandemic.
"The amount of time students spent outside of school and outside of learning to do school has impacted their ability to function within the classroom," Bailey said.
Lentz said the last time the union was negotiating, for its Sep. 2021-Aug. 2024 contract, the process lasted for 14 months. She said she is hopeful an agreement will come soon.
