PORTLAND (AP) – Tax-cap supporters criticized Portland school officials and union leaders for withholding details of a new teachers’ contract until it is approved by the school board after the Nov. 2 election.

The Portland School Committee is scheduled to vote on a two-year contract sometime in November after Mainers vote on a statewide referendum that proposes capping taxes at 1 percent of a property’s value.

Phil Harriman, a spokesman for Tax Cap Yes!, said it appears the school district and the teachers union don’t want the public to know the raises that are included in the contract until after the election. He noted that the Portland City Council decided last spring to wait until next year to send out tax bills using the city’s new assessment figures.

“Maine’s largest city is deciding to keep all these things behind closed doors until after the election,” Harriman said. “It’s troubling.”

School and union officials said it is a coincidence that the school committee won’t vote on the contract until sometime in November after the election. They said withholding contract information is a common practice allowed under Maine law.

Jonathan Radtke, chairman of the school committee, said officials had wanted to settle the contract before the school year ended last June, but circumstances prevented a resolution until now.

The school committee is scheduled to meet Nov. 3, the day after the election, but Radtke said he didn’t know if the contract would be taken up that day or later in the month.

According to Maine’s Freedom of Access law, public records do not include materials used in collective bargaining, and boards are allowed to meet behind closed doors to discuss labor contracts and proposals. The law says negotiations may be open to the public if both sides agree to hold talks in open sessions.

Withholding information about a tentative deal is the normal process, said Gary Vines, lead negotiator for the Portland Education Association, which has more than 600 members. It just so happens that the school committee has no scheduled meetings between Oct. 26, when union members vote on the contract, and Election Day.

Portland Mayor Nathan Smith said Harriman’s suggestion that city officials are hiding something from the public is untrue. He said the city has already made the new valuations available to the public.

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