The St. Paul Federation of Educators has reached a tentative agreement on a new contract with St. Paul Public Schools, the union and district announced Tuesday afternoon.
The deal averts a teacher strike, which would have begun March 11 if educators and the district had not reached an agreement on a new contract. A strike would have shut down schools for 33,000 St. Paul students.
In a joint afternoon news conference at Maxfield Elementary School, educators and district officials struck notes of relief and jubilation.
“We have reached a settlement that affirms our educators, that commits to building the future I think we all want for our students, and we all acknowledge that there is still work to go,” said school board chair Halla Henderson.
The announcement comes after months of negotiations. District and union leaders spent long days with a state mediator Friday through Tuesday, at one point staying to bargain until 5 a.m.
Both union and district officials declined to share any details of the new contract. Leah VanDassor, president of the St. Paul Federation of Educators, said those details would first be shared with members and would not be publicly available until Friday at the earliest. The union’s 3,700 members must still ratify the contract before it can take effect.
The biggest sticking points between the union and the district during this year’s contract negotiations were wages and benefits. Educators previously told Sahan Journal that the increased costs of their health insurance had resulted in a net pay cut.
Though VanDassor declined to share any details on these points, she told Sahan Journal, “I feel really good about where we landed.”
She credited pressure from her members for steering the negotiations on a path to settlement. Over the weekend, St. Paul educators built art for a potential strike; on Monday, they held a pop-up rally at district headquarters, where the two sides were bargaining.
“Our membership in the field really pushes,” VanDassor said. “They did a really great job of supporting our work at the table.”
Superintendent Joe Gothard said the district stayed “at or near” the budget parameters it had set for contract negotiations. The district had allocated $12.4 million for wage and benefits increases for SPFE members and projected a total deficit of more than $107 million. Gothard explained Tuesday that the deficit projection included inflation and estimates of increased contract costs. The tentative agreement would not change the projected budget deficit, he said.
Gothard praised the bargaining teams for reaching a settlement prior to the last minute. Part of this success came from having clear guiding values through an emotional process, he said. He also credited the involvement of the school board, particularly Henderson, who was at the bargaining table all weekend.
“I think we were able to be very successful at the table to get a response like we did today from SPFE,” he said.
Pat Pratt-Cook, the executive chief of human resources for St. Paul Public Schools and the district’s lead negotiator, said the breakthrough came as communication improved.
“Once we got a sense of more of what it is they were actually looking for, I think we were able to build our package in a way that made it really attractive to SPFE,” she said.
Gothard said that a strike, or even the buildup to a strike, can chip away at the cohesion of a school community.
“I think it’s a really positive sign to get the settlement and to say to our community, we can work together, we can do this, without taking our families and staff up to the deadline,” he said. “It’s really good for everyone.”
Union members celebrated their settlement, too. Before leaving the news conference, educators dressed in their union red huddled together.
“Who are we?” they chanted. “SPFE!”
