St. Paul schools, teachers will resume talks early Thursday

St. Paul Public Schools and the union representing its striking teachers are headed back to the bargaining table at 8 a.m. Thursday.

The union announced the resumption of talks in a news release Wednesday night.

"We are ready to start negotiating to get a contract that won't leave any student or educator behind," said Nick Faber, president of the St. Paul Federation of Educators (SPFE). "St. Paul educators miss their students and want to get back to school."

Kevin Burns, a district spokesman, said: "The district is enthusiastically looking forward to resuming these discussions."

Earlier, at a Wednesday afternoon news briefing, Burns said that the school system was preparing a new proposal for mediation.

Still, the strike will enter its third day on Thursday.

On Wednesday, educators continued to picket across the city, and for a second consecutive day, they also marched and rallied — this time downtown. Standing in the back of a truck outside City Hall, State Auditor Julie Blaha summoned her experience as a math teacher to challenge district claims that it could not afford the union's proposals.

"As someone who works at numbers and budgets all day, they've got the money," she said to cheers.

The St. Paul Federation of Educators is striking over demands for additional mental health and multilingual supports, as well as more people to work with special-education students. Superintendent Joe Gothard has put the cost of the proposals, which also include wage increases, at more than $50 million.

"We have limited resources and we need to place new investments where they are needed most," Burns reiterated Wednesday.

To brace for a potential revenue hit caused by a lengthy strike, the district has sent notices to more than 2,000 employees saying they could be laid off if the strike stretches on. Among them are teaching assistants — a group that includes many low-income people who have fought hard in the past to raise their pay.

Burns said that the notices were a contract requirement, that no decisions had been made about who would be laid off and that no group of employees is being singled out.

Earlier in the day, Faber, said that the union was heartened by community support. He added that on Tuesday, the strike's first day, 87% of union members took to the picket lines. He also called on the district to return to mediation.

Burns, however, said it was not that easy. One or both sides had to bring forward something substantial, "something new and different," Burns said, to trigger a resumption of talks.

The Bureau of Mediation Services did not respond Wednesday to a request for information.

On Thursday, the district will open seven "Kid Space" sites giving elementary students a safe place to go between 8:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. Busing is available, and advance registration required. For more information, go to spps.org/kidspace.

Staff writer Emma Nelson contributed to this report.