Teachers strike ends in St. Paul (Minn.) district

The St. Paul (Minn.) school district and the union representing its teachers have reached an tentative agreement to end a strike that began on Tuesday.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that classes for all students are scheduled to resume Monday,

Details of the compromise agreement have not been released.

The tentative agreement came at about 3:30 a.m. Friday, after more than 19 hours of mediation.

“We are glad to reach an agreement with our educators,” said Superintendent Joe Gothard in a statement. “Through hours of compromise and a laser focus on placing students above all else, we have a new two-year agreement that targets resources to areas of greatest need.”

Negotiations between the school district and the union, which represents 3,600 Educators, Educational Assistants and School and Community Service Professionals, began last May. Mediation has been going on since mid-December.

EARLIER: Teachers in  St. Paul (Minn.) Public Schools have walked off the job to begin the district's first teacher strike since 1946.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that the St. Paul Federation of Educators announced at 3 a.m. Tuesday that they couldn’t reach a deal on a contract despite 45 hours of mediation over the last four days.

“District leaders weren’t willing to move on the issues educators and parents know will help students thrive and break down racial barriers in our schools,” union president Nick Faber said in a prepared statement.

Superintendent Joe Gothard said the district “offered a commitment to fund a significant number” of the new hires the union requested, but it wasn’t enough to end the dispute.

“We all agree our students need additional support, but we must be intentional and responsible when increasing investments in our district,” school board chairwoman Marny Xiong said in a prepared statement. “The [union] proposals would have forced cuts to programs and would have been unfair to other [district] collective bargaining units.”

Union negotiators rejected a district proposal Monday that would have kept school open for 37,000 students while the dispute was resolved in binding arbitration.

Teachers began picketing at 7 a.m. Tuesday.

State mediators had been brokering sporadic talks since December and will continue to do so if the parties want their help.

The union’s stated priority proposals are hiring more mental health professionals, multilingual staffers, special education teachers and restorative practices specialists.

Teachers also have asked for salary schedule increases of 3.4 percent and 2 percent on top of step-and-lane hikes based on education and experience.

St. Paul teachers made $75,199 on average last year — second-most among the state’s public school districts.

One year ago, the school board and district administrators set a spending target for all bargaining units: salary schedule increases of 1.5 percent this school year and 2 percent next year.