Minneapolis Public Schools superintendent responds to teacher strike vote
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Minneapolis Public Schools educators and district negotiators are preparing for a mediation session on Thursday after union members voted to authorize a strike earlier this week.
A rally outside district headquarters on Tuesday evening attracted teachers and parents. The union has not yet announced a strike date.
Teachers say packed classrooms, special education support, subpar wages for teachers and pay disparity for adult educators are among the main issues in dispute during the last seven months of contract negotiations. The district says it’s facing a $75 million budget shortfall.
The last Minneapolis teachers’ strike in 2022 lasted 18 days and was the first since 1970. The 1970 walkout went on for 20 days and eventually led to the Public Employment Labor Relations Act, which ensured public employees have the right to bargain.
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To share the school district’s perspective, superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer on Morning Edition Wednesday.
The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity. Listen to the full conversation by clicking the player button above.
The teachers’ union wants competitive pay. Can the district make that happen?
I’d just like to start by saying that our values are aligned with the union. So we are really focusing on smaller class sizes, manageable case loads and competitive pay. But one thing I do want to share is that it’s important and critical that we work within the resources available.
The union says there’s always a deficit, but somehow the budget always winds up balanced. They point to district reserves, asking if today isn’t a rainy day, what is? Your response?
When they talk about a rainy day, they’re actually talking about our fund balance. The fund balance is like a savings account. It’s a reserve account, and it’s important that we are responsible with that, because it helps us respond to unexpected financial challenges. And given the projections, both at the state and federal levels for funding, that’s something that myself and all superintendents across the state and country are looking at.
But it’s also important to think about maintaining our fund balance because it impacts our bond rating. We want to make sure that we’re prepared to handle our finances, because expenses are increasing rapidly, and the fund balance helps us to mitigate those increased costs and those gaps.
It sounds as though you’re loath to tap into those reserves for pay increases.
We want to make sure that we have those reserves when those critical situations come. You think about a rainy day, and we look at the financial projections from the state and federal level — in addition to the financial laws that Minneapolis has been having for several years. We want to be responsible with the resources that we have available.
The state gave Minnesota schools significant money two years ago; Minneapolis voters last year approved a $20 million annual levy increase for technology. Where has that money gone?
What we did with the technology levy — and I just want to say thank you again to the voters of Minneapolis — we utilized those funds to move expenditures that we were having in our general fund onto the tech levy. Then, we were able to just work on our day-to-day expenses with available resources, working on the balanced budget that we had last year. We were really focusing on getting the resources closer to the classroom, which is what we really did. If we didn't have that tech levy, we would be in a more difficult situation than we are in at the moment.
The district is seeing declining enrollment. Why don’t fewer kids mean fewer schools and fewer staff?
One thing to think about when we’re educating our students: It takes a number of staff, it takes a number of administrators, a number of resources, to educate our children. I know that we have been talking about our transformation resolution, the work that we’re doing, and our board did pass a resolution about two weeks ago for us to continue our work looking at our decline in enrollment and our building capacity. We’re not there at the moment, but that is something that’s on the horizon as well.
Are you getting closer to announcing an actionable plan to close or merge schools?
We’re not there yet. We actually have information that we need to report back to the board in April. I would just invite the public to go to our transformation website. We do have a resolution there, and there are a number of items that the board wants us to analyze, study, to review and then bring back recommendations. And we will have more information for the board to consider in April.
I thought the planning process for closing or merging schools started in 2023. Why is it taking so long?
Well, there’s a lot to consider, and they’re really big decisions to make, so you want to make sure that we’re giving our board the best information so they can make those tough decisions.
Union leaders expressed surprise that negotiations have gotten to the point of a strike authorization vote. How would you characterize the relationship between the district and educators?
I've been here since 2024, and the union and I have worked very hard to have very positive and amicable relationships. We meet often. I think that we have open lines of communication. So I have enjoyed building this healthy relationship that’s positive, and I am looking forward to continuing that into the future.
Are you fairly confident that there will not be a strike and you'll be able to come to an agreement soon?
That is our main goal. So again, like I said earlier: I feel that our goals and priorities are pretty close — smaller class sizes, manageable case loads and competitive pay. It’s just important that we work within our available resources. But our main goal is to ensure that we avoid a strike.
