Teachers approve new contract in Anoka-Hennepin school district

Teachers in the Anoka-Hennepin school district have approved a compensation package that will eat up virtually all of the money the district received from the Legislature last year as part of a $2.2 billion boost for public education.

Under a compromise agreement reached through mediation last month, the district’s 3,200 teachers would see average pay climb by 5% in the first year of the new two-year contract and 3% in the second year. The deal is retroactive to June 30, when the last contract expired.

The deal still must be approved by the Anoka-Hennepin school board and the executive board of the union, Anoka Hennepin Education Minnesota. With more than 36,000 students, Anoka-Hennepin is the state’s largest school district.

School board leaders did not return calls Monday.

“As is always the case in negotiations, we didn’t get everything we wanted, but we got a lot, and this contract includes important building blocks to reach the schools Anoka-Hennepin communities deserve,” said Val Holthus, president of the Anoka-Hennepin union.

Under the new deal, Anoka-Hennepin teachers would start at $50,000 a year while veterans could earn as much as $100,000 annually.

The pay raises would cost the district $35 million more than it had budgeted for teacher salaries over the next two years, district spokesman Jim Skelly said previously. Anoka-Hennepin received $66 million from the Legislature last year, but union leaders said $64 million is needed to fund the various parts of the teacher deal.

“The board is expected to approve the contract on Monday,” Skelly said, referencing the board’s next meeting Feb. 26.

The union said the district has more than $122 million in its savings account to support the contract, support other staff and address student needs.

“The district is the one in charge of their budgeting, and we did our research to know that our contract demands were within their fiscal capacity,” Holthus said. “They said yes to this tentative agreement and the parameters.”

Among the highlights of the contract: A $750 bonus for all educators this year, increased 403(b) contributions and increased pay for early childhood and family education teachers, adult basic education teachers. physical education teachers and others who have large class sizes.

The district also agreed to boost its contribution to health insurance by 5% this year. Next year, that contribution will increase another 5% for individuals and 10% for families.

As of Feb. 13, 200 school districts have reached tentative or final agreements with local teacher unions, representing 61% of the 328 regular school districts that are negotiating new contracts this school year, according to Education Minnesota.

Districts already have agreed to pay increases of 2% to 8% this year, according to officials with the Minnesota School Boards Association.

Last week, St. Paul teachers authorized a strike against the state’s second-largest district after school leaders offered raises of 2% to 3% this year. In Minneapolis, where teachers are seeking an 8.5% salary increase this year, the union has requested a state mediator.