Nearly 50,000 Portland public school students haven’t been able to attend school in November even as the union organizing the teachers’ strike is throwing tailgate and dance parties. 

The Portland Association of Teachers, which represents about 3,700 teachers and public school employees, is demanding higher pay, reduced class sizes, and professional development training, including “racial equity and implicit bias” training. The school district says implementing the union’s demands would be too costly.

While students stay home from class, the union’s Facebook page says, “the party won’t stop til we get a contract that puts students first!” It is calling on teachers to bring grills, games, and glow sticks to an all-day party and tailgate Tuesday. 

The strike is drawing questions about whether teacher unions should use strikes as a way to implement political ideas, and concern that the drawn-out bargaining is affecting students’ educational progress.

“The educational impact on students from a strike is significant,” a former teacher at Oregon’s second-largest district, the Salem Keizer school district, tells The New York Sun. Jenny Maguire taught for 20 years at Salem, which she says is poised to go on strike in February. 

“Since 2020, Oregon schools closed for over a year because of Covid, then again for an ice storm, fires, and now a strike. These students have gotten a very inconsistent education with little quality control,” Ms. Maguire says. 

Oregon has the worst public school attendance rates in the nation, she adds.

“Because public schools devalued education by canceling it frequently, many students lost the momentum to attend regularly when it opened,” Ms. Maguire says. The strike, which is anticipated to last at least through Thanksgiving, is further undoing students’ routines and sense of regularity, she says.

The strike is hurting students who need behavioral support and special education services, she adds.

“It is essential that they attend daily to build their skills, capacity, and stamina to function safely and access their education,” Ms. Maguire says. “Just a weekend off from the school routine can set many students back a few steps. It’s slow progress to help them learn self-regulation.” 

There is no recourse for families whose children attend public schools, Ms. Maguire adds. She resigned after 20 years in public education, she says, because, “I knew we were not offering a quality education in this state.

“Having school canceled on a whim was just one of many reasons access to a quality education in Oregon is limited,” Ms. Maguire says, adding that concerned parents should support petitions to get school choice on the ballot in November 2024. 

Portland public school teachers already earn about $87,000 a year, which is more than Portland’s median household income and 84 percent higher than the city’s per capita income, a senior fellow at School Choice Now, Corey DeAngelis, tells the Sun. 

“Teachers unions just held children’s education hostage to secure multiple multibillion-dollar ransom payments from the federal government,” Mr. DeAngelis says. “Apparently that wasn’t enough for the power-hungry unions in Portland.”

By leveraging the strike to demand racial equity training, the union “let the mask slip by going beyond the usual demands” for higher pay, he says. 

“They love that they have the power to close schools — leaving families in disarray and children without an education — to extract everything they can from taxpayers,” he says. 

“When private sector employees strike, families can take their money elsewhere. When public sector employees — like government school teachers — strike, families should be able to take their children’s education dollars elsewhere.” 

“These strikes will never end without school choice because there is no meaningful feedback mechanism. When private sector employees strike, the employer feels the pain,” Mr. DeAngelis says. “When public sector teachers unions strike, the customers — families and their children — feel the pain.”

A representative from Portland Public Schools did not respond to a request by the Sun for comment. The Sun was unable to immediately reach a representative from the Portland Association of Teachers willing to comment.