The 300 or more community members, students and Lake Superior School District (LSSD) staff members gathered at Two Harbors High School on Tuesday evening in support of LSSD teachers and their quest for a fair contract. Teachers in the district have been working without a contract since June 2023.
Signs that read, “Supporting Our Teachers Is Supporting Our Students”, “Education Cuts Never Heal” and “Care For Educators Like They Care For Your Children” were visible throughout the crowd. I had the opportunity to talk with several people who came to make their presence felt and their voices heard. Gary and Luke, who are the grandfather and father of LSSD students, expressed their concern about losing good teachers if salary needs are not met. Luke stated, “The kids are the ones who will really lose out and I’m not sure that the administration appreciates that”.
A number of people expressed concern over the fact that teachers are leaving the profession for better paying jobs and better benefits in other districts or in the private sector. One participant said, “As more teachers leave, it becomes more and more difficult to fill teaching positions. A teacher from Minnehaha Elementary School said that when she started working for the district in 1995, there were 500 applicants for the teaching position that she applied for. Now, districts have to beat the bushes in order to find qualified applicants to fill vacant positions.
One THHS student I spoke to said that she had just heard about the “cost of living” issue from one of her teachers. “I just started to hear about this,” she said. We aren’t hearing about this in class.”
Union officials from the district and from Education Minnesota spoke at Tuesday night’s rally. District teachers were encouraged to “seek a contract that respects what you do every day.” Education Minnesota represents 475 teachers from across the state with 86,000 members. The LSSD is apparently the last Local among neighboring districts to be working without a contract. Teachers are asking for a 4.55% pay increase in 2024 and an additional 3.2% increase in 2025. If these requests are met, wage levels will be in line with what is being offered in most districts around the state. That being said, teachers will still be making wages that are below the current cost of living. Minnesota Education President Denise Specht stated recently that “Teachers statewide are fired up. They know there’s an educator shortage in Minnesota, they know working conditions have become more challenging. And, they know that things can be better and they are taking a stand.”
The Lake Superior School District has a $300,000,000 discretionary fund. Some of that money could be used to address the salary needs of teachers. The district leadership is apparently not ready to invest money from that fund to adequately compensate their teaching staff. The hope instead is to lobby the State Legislature for an increase in funding for education. While this is a noble goal, it continues to put LSSD’s frontline staff between a rock and a hard place.
On February 15th, teachers in Saint Paul will be voted on whether or not to authorize a strike. No one that I’ve spoken to from the LSSD teachers union wants to strike and, at present, this possibility is not under consideration. Here’s hoping that District officials will reach an agreement with district teachers.
