A small crowd of educators and parents gathered together across the street from Lucey Laney Elementary School on Thursday afternoon, March 7, to respond to the “threat of budget cuts” from Minneapolis Public Schools.
The district announced in its latest financial committee meeting on March 5 that it projects a deficit of over $95 million for the Fiscal Year 2025. To address this, they’ve proposed reallocating resources and making significant cuts that would affect classroom size and staffing.
All fifth-grade instrumental music teaching roles would be axed along with world language teachers and more.
In an email to the press, the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers and Education Support Professionals (MFT) described the cuts as “emotional blackmail” used against educators for years. “They’re saying, ‘Accept exploitative working conditions and below-market wages or we’ll go after the most vulnerable students,’” said Greta Callahan, president of the teachers’ chapter of the MFT.
“Minneapolis educators won’t stand for it anymore. If the administrators would reprioritize their spending, this district can afford to pay its educators fairly and provide the high-quality education all our students deserve.”
The statement asserts that the union has met with the district for 12 negotiation sessions and is currently in mediation with them. Their opening offer to the district was an 8.5 percent salary increase for the first year of their next contract followed by a 7.5 percent increase.
Rebecca Pera, a member of Minneapolis Families for Public Schools, has two children in MPS schools and stood with educators on Thursday afternoon to show her support for their jobs.
She described past teachers who lose their jobs due to cuts as important members of the community and in the lives of the children in school.
“In the last few years we’ve seen the district make a lot of cuts even though there’s been significant funding increases in the state legislature,” Pera said. She expressed concern that the funding wasn’t going toward the salaries of educators, social workers, nurses, deans, and any individual who makes contact with students each day.
In May of last year, both the Minnesota House and Senate passed over $2.2 billion in new spending for K-12 education over the next two years during a government surplus.
In response to a request for comment, a district representative shared that MPS is currently facing the largest budget gap in its history of at least $110 million. This figure, according to the district, does not represent the forthcoming contract settlements with the different collective bargaining units engaged with the district.
Their statement continues, “It is unreasonable for MFT to ask MPS to prioritize teacher salaries and reduced workload without recognizing the reductions and adjustments that are necessary to fulfill those priorities.”
The district representative cited the Association of Metropolitan School Districts, which estimated that about 70 percent of their member districts were facing budget gaps in the next year due to the end of COVID-19 and increasing expenses. They also stated that roughly 60 percent of funds were spent on instruction with an additional 12.6 percent on instructional and pupil support services.
During their committee meeting, the district also illustrated how they would reallocate 20 percent of school-generated compensatory education revenue to deal with the influx of “new-to-country” students and use a third of Title I funding to fund intervention staff at those same schools.
Catina Taylor, ESP president, also addressed the media on her stance against the proposed cuts. “We want our district to invest in our schools, invest in Minneapolis.
“I’ve been employed for over 25 years and counting, and I want to see our district grow. I want to work with our district to put the money where it belongs. Because when you’re taking it away, you’re taking it from the students,” Taylor said.
Taylor also pointed to the fact that districts surrounding MPS were settling their contracts with educators, begging them to stop the cuts and settle their contracts.
Marcia Howard, MFT vice president and an English teacher at Roosevelt High School, criticized MPS during the conference and stated that their actions did not match with their rhetoric.
“You cannot cut your way into being a world-class district,” she said. “They constantly say that they are going to be broke and then at the end of the year, we find out that they got a surplus.”
In their statement against budget cuts, MFT has called out MPS for having administrative bloat and overspending with outside contractors. Howard underlined this criticism and stated that any money available at the district should be flowing toward benefiting the students of the district.
“Our students support us. The people support us. I don’t know what’s going on at the Davis Center. I don’t know what’s going on at the board. But we’re hoping that the powers that be support us and our students as well,” she said.
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