Minneapolis

Monday, March 21, 2022, Minneapolis school teachers will be going into their tenth day of a strike, which will have been going on for about two weeks of school. Among other things, Minneapolis teachers and education support professionals are striking for better wages and smaller classes. On Sunday, the school district came up with what they said was their final offer, which essentially was a 15% raise for education support professionals.

St. Paul

St. Paul school district was also at risk of a strike earlier this month, but they struck a last-minute deal. The deal averted the standstill of the approximately 34,000 students and 4,250 teachers, that attend and work at St. Paul schools. The deal included higher wages, smaller class sizes, and hiring more staff such as counselors and social workers, to help with students’ mental health.

Sartell

Monday night, Sartell-St. Stephen school board approved a contract that the teachers agreed to earlier this month. The agreement was for two years and included a 3% salary increase in the first year and a 3.5% increase in the second year.

Another large part of the contract is the health insurance.

Ms. Box gave her thoughts on the health insurance part of the contract saying that she thinks “There was an extreme cost increase when the district switched to private healthcare.”  She does not think the district has compensated for that increase.

Mr. Scherer also gave his thoughts on the contract, saying “It is a good fair contract, except for the uncertainty about health insurance increases in the coming years, along with the increases in the past.”

The contract increased health insurance costs to $900 for single coverage, and $2400 for family coverage.