Minneapolis teacher strike continues; district raises pay offer, cites 'financial limit'

Negotiations continued Monday between the Minneapolis public school district and its teachers union as the group's strike stretches into a new school week.

After weekend mediation sessions, district and union leaders both said they want to end the strike quickly. District officials said their latest offer represents a "financial limit."

Classes are canceled until they reach an agreement.

"They've done it in St. Paul, we can do it in Minneapolis," said Shaun Laden, president of the educational support professionals chapter of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers. He said the union's goal is to get their priorities — including class-size caps, mental health supports and higher wages — into contract language.

A strike was averted in St. Paul last week, when that district and the leaders of the St. Paul Federation of Educators reached a last-minute tentative agreement, which union members will vote on on Wednesday.

In a brief news conference on Sunday, four Minneapolis school board members spoke about the district's latest offers and pointed to what they say are financial burdens the state has put on its public schools.

Without additional funding from the state to help close gaps in paying for the state-mandated special education and English language learner services the district provides, Board Treasurer Kimberly Caprini said the district will "continue to financially struggle year after year."

Caprini said the district's latest proposal "significantly increases" spending "in recognition of the extraordinary work of our staff over the last two years." If the union accepts that offer, she said, the district will have to make "other drastic cuts" if an infusion of additional state dollars doesn't come.

The district's offer represents about a 9% increase in spending on wages for support staff over two years and a 7.4% increase in spending on teacher salaries, with individual raises varying by experience, according to an update posted on its website Sunday night. The district also offered to include contract language limiting class sizes in "highest need" schools as well as $3 million in one-time investments to add more mental health supports for students, said Board Member Jenny Arneson.

"We know this does not meet the current demands of the unions, but we have reached our financial limit," Caprini said.

Greta Callahan, president of the union's teachers chapter, said the district's weekend offer was the first that she felt represented movement in negotiating toward a deal. Union leaders were pleased to see offers of class size caps, but district leaders are still hesitant about what they are willing to write into the contract, Callahan said.

"We are totally willing to move on the numbers, but we need to make sure our priorities are in contract language," Callahan said.

The class-size cap in grades 1-3 at high-poverty schools will drop from 26 students to 25; for other schools, the number will go from 28 to 27 if the contract is ratified, the union said. The agreement sets the ninth-grade cap at 35 or 36 students per class.

The St. Paul agreement also includes hiring six additional psychologists and increasing salaries, including for the district's lowest-paid educational assistants. Teachers and support staff will also receive a $3,000 one-time cash payment, according to the union's summary.

Under the contract, teachers would receive a 2% raise for each of the next two years and the starting hourly rate for educational assistants would increase from just under to $16 per hour to $18.82, the union said.

St. Paul Federation of Educators will hold a ratification vote Wednesday on the tentative agreement.