Copyright Star Tribune
After seven months of tense negotiations between Minneapolis teachers and the school district, the two sides came together Monday to celebrate reaching a late-night agreement Saturday, just three days before a potential strike. The deal averted what could have been the second Minneapolis teachers strike in just three years. In 2022, the teachers picketed for nearly three weeks. The district was not yet ready, at least as of Monday morning, to report how much the two-year package will cost, and to what extent it might deepen the school system’s chronic budget woes. Minneapolis faced a $75 million shortfall this school year — the first year under the new agreement — and is eyeing a deficit of at least $25 million in 2026-27. Now, the teachers and support staff in the Minneapolis Federation of Educators (MFE) will vote whether to accept the tentative agreement on Thursday and Friday, and then it goes to the school board for approval. Negotiations began in April on three separate union contracts that expired June 30 and cover more than 4,300 employees. But after the union voted last month to authorize a strike, the pace began to quicken last Wednesday, with the union issuing daily updates, reporting that progress was being made. Still, teachers and supporters continued to mobilize and on Thursday, they marched with picket signs at sites across the district. A new parents group — Minneapolis Families for Public Schools (MFPS) — also bolstered the union’s efforts, filling district headquarters with hundreds of people on Friday to urge that the district to do all it could to meet the federation’s demands. Last week’s bargaining came without the input of an outside mediator — just negotiators for the two sides, plus school district staff. Catina Taylor, president of MFE’s education support professionals, said Monday that a new collegial spirit took over to help seal a deal. Now, she added, “we will start breaking the past practices of being adversarial toward one another and building better relationships so that we could get these contracts done for our students and staff a little bit more faster, easier and smoother.” The district and union had been at odds for months over the issues, with the district saying it couldn’t afford the union’s proposals — while adding that space in some schools was too tight to make the union’s class-size proposal work. (Minneapolis and St. Paul are the only school districts in the state with negotiated class-size caps in union contracts.) In June, the district reported facing a projected shortfall of at least $25 million in 2026-27 — this after balancing its $75 million shortfall this year through a combination of cuts plus the use of about $15 million in rainy-day funds. The union had suggested that the district dip into reserves again to settle the contract. Marcia Howard, president of MFE’s teachers’ chapter, said the two sides began talking earlier than usual with hopes of finalizing an agreement “before the snow flies.” At the same time, she said, they were hearing from outside voices who opined about the “travails” of the school district. “That noise has sort of deafened us to what was great about Minneapolis Public Schools, about our educators, about our families, about all the people who choose to move to this city,” Howard said. “And we had to sit across from each other at a table and remember who we are. And that took a little more time than we thought it would.” Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams looked out at a roomful of district and union leaders on Monday, and added: “This was an all-hands-on-deck and I’m very, very proud of you all, and I’m excited to see where we’re going to go together and how all of our children will prosper.”
