Mpls. Educators, School District Reach Tentative Contract Agreement

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Minneapolis teacher's strike, which has gone on for three weeks, may soon be over. Both sides have reached a tentative agreement, potentially solving issues that caused the strike in the first place.

The Minneapolis Federation of Teachers continued to rally Friday. The union says they made gains on a number of important issues, such as pay for education support professionals, protections for educators of color, class sizes, and mental health support.

"I am very pleased to announce at this moment that we have reached a tentative agreement," said Ed Graff, superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools.

Just before 4 a.m., the district and the educators unions reached a tentative deal following weeks of negotiating and picketing.

"It's all kind of a blur. The days have run together into weeks and months and weekends. I'm just really grateful that we were able to come together at the end of the day," Graff said.

Press Conference: District Discusses Tentative Agreement

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While few details have been released, the superintendent says the district will be taking a close look at their monetary funds in the coming weeks, after they had projected a $21.5 million budget shortfall for next year.

"The contracts we have put forward are going to require us to take a look at our budgets and make some adjustments going forward," he said.

But Graff and district leaders say they are looking forward to students returning to class.

"Today is a new day for our kids, for our schools and for our district," said Kim Ellison, the school board chair.

While both sides are optimistic, the union is quick to point out that this is a tentative agreement and the contract still needs to be ratified.

"We sat at the table for hundreds of hours with these folks to hammer out this deal and we are pleased with the outcomes of what we've seen," said Shaun Laden, Minneapolis Federation of Teachers.

Press Conference: Union Leaders Discuss Tentative Agreement

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Union leaders say they were able to add class size caps and they say they got significant pay increases for education support professionals. They say they also gained historic job protections for educators of color. And they're pleased with gains made for mental health in schools.

"We have mental health support teams, we have gained in elementary schools. We have doubled our nurses, our counselors in elementary schools," said Greta Callahan, Minneapolis Federation of Teachers. "This is an historic day. This is an historic fight."

Union members are expected to vote on the contract this weekend, and the district's more than 28,000 students could return to school on Monday.

The district is also looking at ways students can make up lost classroom time. They have said that graduation will not be impacted and the graduation date won't change.