A state task force whose recommendations could have seeded a dramatic overhaul of how Oregon school districts bargain labor contracts with teachers is inching towards some consensus, after months of discussion.

But at least for now, the group’s findings look unlikely to imminently upend the state’s current system, which allows each school district to independently negotiate wages and benefits with its teachers and support staff without state limits or sideboards.

“We’ve heard a number of positives and also negatives associated with statewide salary and minimum salary schedules and mixed results from other states regarding whether a statewide salary schedule has actually addressed workforce issues,” task force member Alisha McBride, superintendent of the Vale school district in eastern Oregon, said during Wednesday’s meeting of the Joint Task Force on Educator Salary Schedules. “The topic deserves continued exploration, but a strong commitment to moving toward a statewide salary schedule [is] premature based on the information that we have so far.”

More specific policy proposals from the group won’t come until closer to the start of the legislative session in 2025.

But task force members seem to be aligning on a list of shared values, findings and priorities that suggests that Oregon should “continue to explore the challenges and benefits associated with moving towards statewide salary schedules or statewide minimum salaries for Oregon education.”

Both are delicate topics in a state with 197 school districts that each cherish their local control and with powerful educator unions who aren’t used to statewide guardrails on bargaining.

Districts and school employee unions are also frustrated with what they say are mismatches between how much state budget experts estimate that labor costs will increase in a given year versus the cost of living boosts sought by teachers and school employees to keep up with inflation and housing prices. Most school districts spend about 85% of their operating budgets on salaries and benefits.

Nowhere was that mismatch more evident this past school year than in Portland, where teachers went on strike for 11 days in November while seeking a 23% percent cost of living adjustment over the course of a three-year agreement.

But the state’s budget allocation to the district had presumed much leaner, more conservative raises of just 2.55% per year. The two sides eventually settled at 14.4% compounded increases over three years, with district leaders warning that even that amount would force tens of millions in budget cuts in the coming years.

At the end of the strike, state leaders from Gov. Tina Kotek on down acknowledged that the same dynamic could play out in dozens of other school districts. While no other districts have weathered strikes since Portland, budget cuts were common statewide this spring, from Medford to Bend to Salem-Keizer.

The task force has investigated whether setting a universal salary schedule could ward off similar disputes and potentially encourage more people to both enter teaching and to remain in the profession, particularly in hard to fill specialties like special education. Under such a system, each district would still bargain individually over non-wage issues such as working conditions.

But with a final adoption of their shared “values, findings and goals” set for next week, task force members on Wednesday said more study on a statewide educator salary schedule is needed, particularly to account for regional differences in the cost of living, and to unpack support staff roles, which are classified differently depending upon the school district.

The task force’s final report is due to the Legislature in mid-September. Task force members include Sen. Michael Dembrow and Rep. Courtney Neron, both Democrats from the Portland area who chair the Senate and House Education Committees, respectively. Other task force members include representatives for teachers, unions, administrators, school support staff and parents.

— Julia Silverman covers education policy and K-12 schools for The Oregonian/OregonLive. She can be reached via email at jsilverman@oregonian.com. Follow her on x.com at @jrlsilverman.