Minneapolis Public Schools and its teachers and support staff have reached tentative contract agreements that could end the strike that has shuttered schools for weeks.
The school district and the union both announced the news early Friday. The district said students could return to class as early as Monday, pending discussions with the union.
As of Friday afternoon, the union said discussions about the return to school were still ongoing.
Minneapolis Superintendent Ed Graff called the tentative deal “fair and equitable” in a written statement Friday morning. He praised teachers and education support professionals for their commitment to the district.
“I’m extremely grateful for their work, determination and dedication,” Graff said. “I am equally grateful to families and community organizations who supported their students through enormous difficulties during this time out of school.”
Leaders of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers called the tentative agreements “historic” at a news conference Friday afternoon where they shared some details.
The agreement “significantly raises” wages for education support professionals, bringing them “very close” to the union’s original goal of a $35,000 starting wage, said Shaun Laden, president of the education support professional chapter of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers. A $19.83 hourly starting wage for the vast majority of education support professionals will jump to $23.91 under the new contract, he said.
The tentative agreement also includes two years of step increases for education support professionals, Laden said. The union also fought for additional hours and days for education support professionals, but those are in temporary agreements, not contract language.
“Part of this process is a give and take,” Laden said.
Greta Callahan, president of the Minneapolis union’s teachers chapter, said the agreement, if ratified and approved, would add mental health support teams in each elementary school and ensure a social worker in each school building.
“We know we wouldn’t be here without doing what we had to do,” Callahan said. “This is a historic day.”
The union said in a news release that the ratification vote would happen over the weekend, but its leaders have not specified exactly when it will occur.
At a news conference Friday morning, Graff said the tentative agreements came together between 3:30-4 a.m. He said the district was set to meet with the union midmorning Friday to discuss plans for returning to school, as well as plans for how to make up days of class students missed during the strike.
School Board Chair Kim Ellison thanked students and the community for their “persistence, patience, ideas and advocacy” and thanked both negotiating teams and the school board.
“The last few weeks have affirmed what many of you already knew — Minneapolis is a place of passion and compassion, a place where people will do anything for our children,” she said.
Gov. Tim Walz, a former teacher, welcomed the news of a deal on Twitter Friday morning and praised the state Bureau of Mediation Services for working with the district and union.
In an interview with Minnesota Public Radio later in the day, Walz said he had been getting briefed on the strike multiple times daily.
“We’re engaged, we’re happy with this tentative agreement,” Walz told MPR.
Jubilation filled the air surrounding the school district’s headquarters in north Minneapolis as union members clad in bright blue sweaters and beanies swarmed the building while district officials addressed reporters inside.
Stacey Bellows, a preschool teacher at Mona Moede Early Learning Center, said she rallied with her fellow educators in hopes that education support professionals in her building will earn enough that they don’t have to work two jobs to make ends meet. She also can’t wait to see her students again.
“I don’t care about lesson plans, I’m going to have a hugging day,” Bellows said.
Xcaret Millan-Garcia, 10, had one word to describe how she felt Friday morning.
“Exhausted,” she said.
The Sheridan Elementary fourth grader misses her classmates and teacher. Her mother, Tania Garcia, is an education support professional and she, too, looks forward to seeing the families she works with again.
As she prepares to vote on the tentative agreement, Garcia said she can’t help but think that it’s been 50 years since Minneapolis educators were in a similar position.
“I feel like a part of history now,” she said.
Groups of educators who continued to picket at district schools Friday morning expressed cautious optimism about the tentative deal and eagerness to get back to work.
Outside Sheridan Dual Language Elementary, union steward and Sheridan second grade teacher Natalie Ward said the strike has brought many educators together and proven the support they have from community.
“It brought us a lot closer,” Ward said.
The strike began March 8, after months of stalled contract negotiations between the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers and Minneapolis Public Schools district officials.
The district’s 28,700 students have not had classes since then and many families have scrambled to find daycare and other activities for children — just the latest twist in an uncertain school year.
During negotiations, the union sought higher wages for teachers and education support professionals, class-size caps, and additional mental health supports for students, among other things.
But the district, which is projecting a $21.5 million budget shortfall in fiscal year 2022-2023, said it could not afford everything the teachers sought.
The two parties exchanged multiple proposals during the strike. The discussions sometimes grew tense and a school board member resigned citing broken trust.
The union organized pickets outside schools each weekday morning, and also held rallies around Minneapolis and at the state Capitol. Groups of students also held sit-ins to support the educators.
The strike is the Minneapolis district’s first since 1970.
A teachers strike was also planned in St. Paul this spring, but it was averted when the district and the St. Paul Federation of Educators came to a last-minute deal. That tentative agreement has been ratified by the union membership, but still awaits board approval.
Check back with StarTribune.com for more on this developing story.
Staff writers Erin Adler and Eder Campuzano contributed to this report.