Minneapolis teachers speak out after district lays out plan to possibly cut hundreds of jobs
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis Federation of Teachers and Education Support Professionals spoke out Wednesday morning, along with representatives from food service, clerical workers and school bus and truck drivers, to call attention to the slow pace of contract negotiations and how it's affecting learning conditions in schools.
The union and the district have met more than a dozen times to negotiate, but still haven't come to an agreement.
It comes as the district released its latest budget proposal on Tuesday. The more than 130-page outline potential cuts to more than 200 full-time positions to save millions of dollars.
According to the report, roughly 40 teachers — including 15 fifth-grade music teachers, five math teachers and five special education teachers — would be cut.
Cuts to support staff like physical therapists, interpreters and speech-language clinicians would also have to be made.
Thirty-five vacant bus driver positions would be left unfilled and 30 student support service positions, including six school nurses, would also have to go.
Four custodial positions and 10 IT positions would also be eliminated, among other cuts.
District leaders cite declining enrollment, rising costs and the end of COVID-19 funding for the historic $110 million budget shortfall they're facing.
The teacher's union says educators aren't buying it, and calls it "emotional blackmail" that targets some of the district's most vulnerable students.
"They have done this every year for as long as I can remember," said Catina Taylor, president of the education support professionals chapter of MFT. "I've been in this district for over 25 years and I don't believe it's fair to send out letters saying that, 'you won't have this job,' and then around in September, all of the sudden they have a whole lot of job openings. They're short-staffed and it's almost like we're in this big deficit around this time of the year, doing budget tie-out. Then all of a sudden there's a budget surplus when it's time to go back to school."
In the new two-year contract, the union wants an 8.5% raise for teachers in year one, and a 7.5% raise in year two.
The budget recommendations still need to be presented to the full school board on March 26. The teacher's union is planning on another info-picketing session that day ahead of the meeting from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the Center for Adult Learning.
A final vote on the budget is expected in June.
