Only Brainerd, 8 other districts have failed to settle teacher contracts

The Brainerd School District is now one of nine school districts in the state that hasn't settled with its teachers' union after St. Cloud teachers reached a contract agreement with its district Tuesday.

The St. Cloud Times reported that St. Cloud teachers approved a two-year contract that provides salary and benefit increases through June 30, 2011. The St. Cloud School Board approved the contract Thursday.

The settled contract freezes the teachers' salary schedule for two years, according to the St. Cloud Times. St. Cloud teachers will get step increases in 2009-10 and 2010-11. Teachers at the top of the salary schedule will receive $1,000.

St. Cloud teachers also were to be paid retroactively because the agreement was reached 15 months into the contract. The contract also added $40 on Oct. 1 toward what the district pays for health insurance for teachers with a family policy, according to the St. Cloud Times.

The total cost of the contract for the St. Cloud district is $2.5 million, or a 3 percent increase above the previous contract, according to the St. Cloud Times. It is the lowest settlement in recent history, the newspaper reported.

Education Minnesota spokesperson Lonnie Hartley said Thursday that Brainerd is one of nine school districts in the state that has yet to settle with its teachers' union. Other districts include BOLD, Carlton, Grand Rapids, Lincoln, Lake of the Woods, Minneapolis, Northland Community Schools in Remer and Winona.

Brainerd Superintendent Steve Razidlo said the district and its teachers' union, Education Minnesota Brainerd, remain in mediation to settle teacher contracts for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years. Union and district negotiators last met with a state mediator on July 14. There are no other mediation sessions set at this time, said Razidlo.

"We are still in mediation with our teachers and we're hopeful that we'll come to an agreement soon," Razidlo said.

At a board meeting in June, Brainerd school attorney Tom Fitzpatrick revealed details about the board's last best offer at that time to its teachers' union, figures that previously were kept quiet during closed mediation sessions.

That offer would cost the district $1.37 million. This included a 2.37 percent increase for eligible teachers to receive step increases; a 3.06 percent average increase in all eligible teachers to receive lane changes; an additional $1 per hour, or a 4 percent increase, for teachers who receive hourly rates of pay; a $500 stipend for both 2009-10 and 2010-11 for teachers at the top of the salary step schedule; and a maximum 6.7 percent increase in district contributions to a teacher's 403B retirement account. Other details of the district's offer involved paid time off used for teachers' union purposes and an additional sick day for teachers who use two or less sick days within the contract school year.

The Brainerd School District received a $200,000 state aid penalty for not settling with its teachers by Jan. 15; St. Cloud lost $225,000 for missing the deadline.

Brainerd also hasn't settled with its educational assistants, which is represented by Education Minnesota Brainerd.

Hartley said Education Minnesota President Tom Dooher will be in Baxter Sept. 16 to meet with Brainerd's educational assistants, who also are working without a settled contract.

JODIE TWEED may be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.