Minneapolis school district officials and other stakeholders are having difficulty setting a calendar for next year, as competing priorities and unresolved contract issues stall progress.
The city's other schools and institutions are waiting on a decision, but the Star Tribune reports that teachers and administrators have not been able to come to an agreement. Teachers, according to the news source, are divided over whether to begin before or after Labor Day, while local administrators and parents favor beginning before that point.
Another point of debate is the length of holiday and spring breaks, which teachers want to last 10 and 5 days, respectively. Educators see those periods as their chance to recharge, while district officials are trying to fit more school days into the year. They recommend two days off at Thanksgiving instead of three, seven days around the Christmas and New Year period. Overall, the district is seeking to extend the previous 172-day calendar by four days.
In low-testing schools, officials are trying to implement an additional 5-day early start so that those students will have additional time to learn. The debate remains unresolved partly because district officials have yet to complete contract negotiations with teachers, although the Star Tribune notes that an agreement may be forthcoming soon. The district is reportedly lagging behind the rest of the state in terms of contract negotiations, the news source notes.
According to the Twin Cities Daily Planet, administrators and educators are largely stuck on issues relating to time. Teachers countered an earlier push for additional school days with a request for more prep days, and the debate has continued since without resolution. Compensation has not been a leading issue, interestingly, despite the amount of focus teacher pay and insurance benefits have received around the nation.
Lengthening the school year would have costs to the district. Officials are more concerned with the long-term sustainability of spending than with any immediate problems. The district already possesses an $81 million budget balance and expects more by the end of this year, but officials note this is a one-time source of funds that will be gone once used, and is not a renewable resource.
Teacher pay is expected to increase by $9 million if the school year is extended, without factoring in any cost-of-living adjustments or wage increases that could be part of a contract agreement. Officials are concerned that using the budget surplus to pay for expenses in the 2012-2013 school year will leave a larger imbalance in subsequent years, according to the Star Tribune.
Amidst the contract and calendar concerns, teachers may also be affected by state lawmakers' legislative actions. State senators recently passed a bill that will change the way school boards evaluate educators during layoffs. The law is meant to place effectiveness above seniority as a criterion for deciding which employees to keep.
Supporters argue that it would protect younger teachers, who are commonly the first to go during layoffs regardless of their talents. The law would not take effect until 2015, after a task force on teacher evaluation has had time to assess its impact and make recommendations.
Opponents stated that the law provided a way for school districts to get rid of higher-paid teachers, with state Senator Barb Goodwin questioning whether an appropriate model for evaluating teachers exists and saying the bill could interfere with educators' rights to negotiate collective bargaining agreements. Another lawmaker suggested that the bill could discourage potential teachers from entering the profession. Faced with so many education questions, it is uncertain what the coming school years will look like in the state and the Minneapolis district in particular.
