Minneapolis teachers and school district reach tentative agreement, averting strike

Minneapolis teachers announced late Saturday that they reached a tentative agreement with the school district, averting a planned strike on Tuesday.

The school district and Minneapolis Federation of Educators have been in negotiations since April on three separate contracts, which expired June 30 and cover more than 4,300 support staff members and teachers.

The union said the agreement will address their goals of smaller class sizes, caseload limits and better pay, but didn’t specify specific details.

“This agreement is proof that when educators, families and our community work together, we have the power to build brighter futures for our students and a more vibrant Minneapolis,” said Marcia Howard, the chapter president. “By coming together around real solutions, we’ve taken an important step toward the stability and unity our schools and city deserve.”

The union members have to accept the tentative agreement, and then it goes to the school board for approval.

“We believe this agreement honors the requests and needs of our staff while balancing the fiscal realities our district is facing,” the school district wrote in a statement.

Superintendent Dr. Lisa Sayles-Adams added in a statement that the agreement “puts our students first and advances our shared values and goals.”

In past statements, the district said that it couldn’t afford the union’s proposals and that space in some schools was too tight to make the union’s class-size proposal work. The district faces a projected shortfall of at least $25 million in 2026-27, according to a school board presentation in June.

In 2022, the teachers picketed for nearly three weeks, the second strike in the district’s history. In 2024, the two sides reached an agreement just before a strike authorization vote was scheduled, resulting in teachers receiving their highest pay increase in 25 years.