(CNN) — Public schools in Portland, Oregon, will be closed Wednesday as teachers go on strike with no agreement reached on a new contract.
“It’s official: We are on strike to ensure the district meets our demands so that every Portland student can attend a great public school,†the Portland Association of Teachers union said in a Facebook post.
Portland Public Schools – one of the largest school districts in the Pacific Northwest – has more than 49,000 students across its 81 schools, according to the district’s .
Teachers are headed to the picket lines after months of negotiations with the district for a new three-year contract.
The top issues include compensation, student discipline, class size and the use of school resources to provide housing for students experiencing homelessness, according to .
Among the points of contention is the union’s request for a 23% cost-of-living increase over the next three years, according to the district, which is countering with a cumulative 10.9% cost-of-living increase over the next three years.
“Educators deserve salaries and benefits that mean they can afford to live in the neighborhoods where they and their students live,†the union says on its website.
A union representative said they received a proposal Tuesday that did not meet their expectations.
“We were told to expect a proposal from the district this afternoon and we had fairly low expectations for this,†the representative said in a . “And unfortunately, the district’s proposal didn’t even live up to our low expectations.â€
The district has not responded to CNN’s request for comment on the strike, but  that it will update families on Wednesday evening whether schools will reopen or remain closed Thursday.
The strike comes across the country have in recent months, from Hollywood writers to nurses, factory workers and auto workers.
In March, a union representing 30,000 Los Angeles school custodians, cafeteria workers, bus drivers and other support staff went on a three-day strike that effectively stopped classes for more than a in the nation’s second-largest school system.
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