Three more districts eke out contract before deadline

The state's teachers union said Monday that three more school districts approved contract settlements with their teachers in the waning hours before a deadline Friday night.

With last-minute pacts ratified in Morris, Goodridge, and Wadena-Deer Creek, Education Minnesota now says 25 districts missed Friday's deadline. Those districts face a penalty from the state of $25 per pupil.

The union had predicted earlier on Friday that as many as 35 districts could miss the deadline, but a flurry of activity allowed that list to shrink. Other districts that called last-minute board meetings on Friday to ratify deals include Bemidji and North Branch.

The late scramble, however, was still not enough to prevent what is likely to be a record amount of fines levied against districts; Minneapolis alone will be fined about $800,000.

Every district in Minnesota is on the same schedule for teacher contracts, which last for two years. The average cost-of-living pay increase for teachers statewide this year is less than 1 percent in each year of the contract.

Some contracts that don't include cost-of-living increases, which raise the entire pay scale, do still include so-called "step-and-lane" increases. These are raises built into the pay scale for years of experience and additional education.

Education Minnesota says the following districts missed Friday's deadline:

• * Benton Stearns Education District

• * BOLD

• * Brainerd

• * Carlton

• * Carver-Scott County Coop

• * Eastern Carver County (Chaska)

• * Edina

• * Floodwood

• * Frazee

• * Grand Rapids

• * Hibbing

• * Houston

• * Independent School District 287

• * Lake of the Woods

• * Lac qui Parle Valley

• * Lincoln

• * Luverne

• * Minneapolis

• * Nashwauk/Keewatin

• * Nicollet

• * Remer-Northland Community

• * St. Cloud

• * South Koochiching-Rainy River

• * Winona

• * Yellow Medicine East