Minneapolis families can breathe a big sigh of relief this weekend as they prepare to return kids to their classrooms on Monday. This month, many parents scrambled to find places for their children after the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) went on strike March 8. There has been no in-class or remote school since then.
The two sides announced a deal Friday that is expected to be voted on over the weekend with the goal of sending kids back to school next week. Once the contract details are revealed, we hope the pact doesn’t break the district’s already challenged budget. Even with millions in additional one-time COVID-related federal funds, the district has experienced projected deficits.
Minneapolis Public Schools administrators were right to make a stand against imprudent bargains, given their finances.
According to MFT leaders, the tentative deal includes better protections for educators of color to survive layoffs, more mental health supports for students and a significant raise for education assistants. Under the new contract, they will receive “up to $23.91” per hour as a starting wage. That brings them closer to the $35,000 per year that the union was seeking, the leaders said, but didn’t get them to that number. They vowed to continue to fight to raise those salaries.
By comparison, the teachers union in St. Paul averted a strike earlier this month. The tentative agreement there includes firmer class size caps and expansion of mental health services. Educational assistants would receive a 13.5% raise over the next three years. Next year they will receive an increase from $15.94 per hour to $18.82.
St. Paul teachers will receive a raise of 2% in each of the next two years. Bonuses of up to $3,000 — $1,500 for each of the last two academic years — will also be awarded. St. Paul educators also added caps on class sizes to the contract. Those caps had been part of a memorandum of understanding between the union and district that had an expiration date. Now that they are in the contract, they’ll be more difficult to adjust if enrollment or other factors require changes.
In Minneapolis, the 17-day strike only added to the district’s multiple issues. Months of negotiations were sometime contentious, leading one school board member to abruptly resign, citing “broken trust” between board members, the district and the community.
The district has experienced declining enrollment in recent years, dropping from 33,500 in 2019 to 28,689 students last fall. District leaders expect that enrollment will continue to drop by at least 1.5% each year over the next five years. Having fewer students translates into fewer state dollars, which in turn contributes to year-after-year budget deficits.
Meanwhile, the latest statewide test scores on the MPS website show that only 42-45% of students are proficient in reading and math. Like other school districts, Minneapolis is working to recover from the academic setbacks caused by months of distance learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The challenge ahead for administrators, teachers and other school staff members will be to make this new contract work with dwindling resources. And they must rebuild trust and demonstrate that the new pact will indeed improve student learning.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism