PPS hastily approves teacher contract giving raises to thousands of teachers and firing hundreds of teachers

As reported in the Oregonian, the despite criticism from parents and one school board member's adamant opposition, the Portland school board approved a new teacher contract that will bring the district's 3,200 teachers slight pay raises and result in hundreds of pink slips.

The agreement between the union and the board was reached a light speed and behind closed doors. The Oregonian explains the reason for the super quick hush-hush agreement:

The quick approval of the contract, reached less than a week ago and prepared entirely out of public view clears the school board's agenda to work on securing voter approval of a record tax increase on the May ballot.

Hang on to your wallet: PPS and teachers union set to ink contract ... with ZERO public input!

The Oregonian reports that PPS administration and teachers union leaders have agreed to terms for a new two-year teachers contract. Some highlights:

• The deal will be signed, sealed, and delivered early next week. That was when the two sides' full negotiating teams were slated to meet to present their initial, yes initial, proposals for contract terms.

• The entire deal has been worked out behind closed doors, without involving the full negotiating team from either side or a single public discussion of potential contract terms.

• All terms of the contract are a closely held secret. According to communications director Robb Cowie, the district doesn't plan to reveal them until after the start of the school board meeting next week.

Looks like sometime next week Portland's teachers union will issue a statement fully supporting the largest property tax increase in state history.

Out of state firms (and one union) are bankrolling the biggest property tax hike in Oregon history

Out of state groups from as far away as New Jersey and Georgia have put up almost one-third of the money to fund Portland Public Schools' campaign for the biggest property tax increase in state history.

Most of the money is coming from construction contractors and developers who stand to make millions and millions of dollars in profits by pulling money out of the pockets of Portland homeowners.

Contributions as of February 24, 2011 according to ORESTAR:

Howard S. Wright Constructors	$25,000	OUT OF STATE
Stacy and Witbeck, Inc.	25,000	OUT OF STATE
Nike, Inc.	25,000
Northwest Natural Gas Company	25,000
Portland General Electric	25,000
John Gray	20,000
The Standard	20,000
Walsh Construction Co.	12,500
Adidas America, Inc.	10,000	OUT OF STATE
Heery International, Inc.	10,000	OUT OF STATE
Hill International	10,000	OUT OF STATE
KPFF Consulting Engineers	10,000	OUT OF STATE
Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters, SSF	10,000	OUT OF STATE
LCG Pence Construction LLC	10,000
Miller Nash LLP	10,000
Kroger	5,000	OUT OF STATE
Boora Architects	5,000
John Carroll	5,000
Kaiser Permanente	5,000
Legacy Health System CPC, LLC	5,000
Mark Edlen	5,000
Metropolitan Land Group, LLC	5,000
Providence Health System	5,000
S.D. Deacon Corp. of Oregon	5,000
Safeway Inc.	5,000
SERA Architects	5,000
Umpqua Bank	5,000
Walker Macy	5,000
Ball Janik LLP	2,500
David Evans and Associates, Inc.	2,500
EMS Management LLC	2,500
Fortis Construction Inc.	2,500
Friends of Jeff Cogen (5571)	2,500
Hoffman Corporation	2,500
Shiels, Obletz, Johnson, Inc.	2,500
William Shields	1,500
Azumano Travel	1,000
Barbara Regan	1,000
Bradley Malsin	1,000
Chapman School PTA	1,000
Dan Saltzman	1,000
Ellsworth Ingraham	1,000
Forest Park PTA	1,000
Mary Nolan for State Representative (3701)	1,000
Nick Fish for City Council (5709)	1,000
Rex Burkholder	1,000
Stephen McCarthy	1,000
Sunnyside Environmental School PTSA	1,000
TVA Architects, Inc.	1,000
William Dickey	1,000
Carter MacNichol	500
Constance Seeley	500
Douglas Goe	500
Jeffrey Condit	500
La Paloma/Paloma Clothing	500
PBS Engineering + Environmental	500
Susan Barrett	500
Trudy Sargent	500
Pamela Knowles	300
Alyssa Keny-Guyer	250
David Schmidt	250
Jason Matusow	250
Laura Smoyer	250
Metropolitan Learning Center PTSA	250
Stephen Gomez	250
Pam Knowles for Schools (13648)	246
Brock Logan	200
Cathy C Arrington	200
Linda Hopkins	200
John Sutter	150
Rob Nelson	101
Miscellaneous Cash Contributions $100 and under	3,580
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TOTAL	$355,977