Minneapolis educators to vote on strike after negotiations fail

Minneapolis Public Schools and its educators failed to seal a tentative deal on new contracts, and now, teachers and other licensed staff members will start voting Thursday on whether to authorize a strike.

Tuesday’s mediation session between the district and union stretched 15 hours, ending just before midnight Wednesday as offers exchanged hands in the latest round of closed-door talks.

The biggest sticking points are over class sizes, special-education caseloads and pay.

“We’re not asking for the sun and the moon,” Catina Taylor, president of the chapter representing education support professionals (ESPs), said in a statement Wednesday announcing that a strike vote threatened for the first time last week would proceed.

Union members will vote Thursday, Friday and Monday whether to authorize a strike, although, if approved, a walkout wouldn’t likely begin until November since a 10-day waiting period is required to let the two sides continue to negotiate. Another mediation session is also scheduled for Oct. 30.

In a statement Wednesday, the district said it shares the federation’s main goals but must work with available resources and prepare for expected revenue losses, which it said last week could include state and federal budget cuts.

The district added that it has accepted most of the union’s class-size proposal, but that space in some buildings is too tight to make all of it work. Students at six schools would have to be moved elsewhere, the district said.

The Minneapolis Federation of Educators (MFE), which also represents teachers and other licensed staff members, has suggested that the state’s third-largest district could tap budget reserves and funds earmarked for outside contracts to cover any new agreements in the three separate contracts.

Teachers and other licensed staff members are seeking pay increases of 7% in 2025-26 and 6% in 2026-27. Adult educators, who work with immigrants and lifelong learners, would be moved into the same salary schedule as teachers, and ESPs would receive pay increases of 12% in the first year and 10% in the second year, under the union’s proposals.

In a 44-page document detailing its proposals, the federation accuses the district of spending too much on outside contracts, especially relating to transportation, and of keeping too much in its rainy-day reserves.

This year, the district tapped about $15 million in reserves to help erase a $75 million deficit in the 2025-26 school year budget. That follows the use of $55 million in rainy-day funds to help plug a $100 million-plus shortfall in 2024-25.

Transportation costs have soared despite the promise of savings in a controversial district redesign.