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Leaders of the Minneapolis teachers union said Monday they expect members to approve a tentative agreement for a new contract, averting a strike that would have started Tuesday.
The Minneapolis Federation of Educators and Minneapolis Public Schools announced the agreement Sunday, after a months-long stalemate at the bargaining table.
The union’s teachers chapter president Marcia Howard said negotiators were able to make progress last week in face-to-face negotiations.
“We realized that we had a lot more in common in our vision, in our values, in our way of thinking about the funds, about our students, about the staff, about our vision for the future of Minneapolis Public Schools,” Howard said. “The numbers started making sense to both sides.”
The union had filed an intent to strike in October as negotiations stalled. Leaders were holding out for better wages, smaller class size caps and more support for special education staff.
District leaders had said the demands were too expensive, in a year with an already tight budget. The school district has faced multiple years of budget gaps of $75 to $100 million. A $20 million technology levy that voters approved last year helped, but officials said that addressed only a portion of the budget concerns.
Representatives of both the school district and the union said the contract agreement strikes a balance.
“We were creative within the resources that we have,” Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams said. “We have to be responsible stewards, and that's what this contract represents.”
Officials from the union and the district shared some information on the new contract at a press conference Monday. They said it includes smaller class size caps, and more manageable caseloads for special education staff.
According to union and district leaders, pay will increase for employees in all of the union’s three chapters: teachers, educational support professionals and adult educators. Teachers will get a 2 percent pay raise this academic year, and another next year. The district also agreed to adjust the schedule for pay increases, so teachers will now reach the top of their salary schedule after fewer years of teaching.
Adult educators will earn the same salaries as teachers in the district — a pay increase of 30 percent for some, leaders said. And educational support professionals will get a lump sum payment this year, plus a 3 percent salary increase in the next school year.
District leaders said more details of the contract will be made public once union members have a chance to review and vote on it.
Catina Taylor, president of the union’s educational support professional chapter, said she’s satisfied with the contract.
“We may not have won all of the big things — we still have work to do — but I will say that we are steps closer to winning all of the things for our students and staff and making this a destination district,” Taylor said.
Union members will vote Thursday and Friday on whether to officially accept the contract. It will then go to the school board for a final vote.
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