MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis teachers strike entered its second day Wednesday as union and district negotiators are set to enter a 90-minute bargaining session at Minneapolis Public Schools headquarters.
Educators picketed in front of Lucy Laney Elementary in the morning, chanting and marching on the sidewalk in front of the north Minneapolis school.
Union leaders are demanding higher starting salaries for educational support professionals, "competitive salaries" for teachers, school counselors in every school and class-size caps. The union is seeking a 12% salary increase for first-year educators and 5% increase for second-year teachers.
The average salary for a district teacher is $71,500, according to state data.
Superintendent Ed Graff said Tuesday the union and district were "still very far apart" and that while both sides have made concessions — union bargainers initially asked for a 20% salary increase for first-year teachers — the price tag for the union's current ask is about $166 million over the district's budget.
A negotiations updated posted online by the district Wednesday morning said, "MPS remains committed to meeting and negotiating with MFT in order to reach a contract agreement in order to get our students back in their classrooms as quickly as possible."
Classes are canceled for the district's 28,700 students for the duration of the strike.
Shaun Laden, president of the education support professionals chapter of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, pushed back on district leaders' claims that the union's proposal would break the budget.
"We don't believe we have a budget crisis in Minneapolis Public Schools," he said. "We have a values and priorities crisis."
Dane McLain, a social studies teacher at North Community High School, led his colleagues in a series of chants in front of Lucy Laney Elementary Wednesday.
Even though he feels his class sizes are manageable, McLain said he voted to strike because he sympathized with colleagues who reported they had 30 or 40 students in a class.
"It's just not sustainable," he said.
Union leaders are also taking aim at the state Legislature, which this year must decide how to spend a historic $9.3 billion surplus. They plan to picket in front of the State Capitol at 1 p.m.
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