The Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education returned from its summer break on Aug. 6, for a two hour meeting, half of which was taken up by public comments. Directors Faheema Feerayarre, Adriana Cerrillo and Ira Jourdain were absent from the meeting. Director Joyner Emerick joined the meeting remotely.
Technology Levy
The board unanimously approved the ballot language to ask voters to increase the current levy by $20 million to a total of $38 million, for the next ten years.
Ryan Strack, the assistant to the superintendent and school board, presented information about the technology levy which will be on the Nov. 5 general election ballot for Minneapolis voters.
Unlike the operating levy, which the district can use to pay a range of expenses including teacher salaries, the technology levy can only be spent on specific expenses. The current technology levy only covers part of the district’s technology expenses each year. The expanded levy would cover the full cost of the district’s technology expenses.
The district currently uses general fund revenue to cover the remainder of its technology expenses. If voters approve the new technology levy, the district will be able to use those general fund revenues to pay for other expenses. The additional technology levy funds will not be enough to balance the district's budget without additional cuts in the 2025-26 school year.
If the levy is approved, taxes on a $350,000 house would increase $96 per year. The additional funding would be available to the school district in the 2025-26 school year if it is approved in November.
Agreement with the U.S. Department of Education Over Title IX Violations
After complaints by district athletes last year, the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights began investigating the district for violating Title IX, which requires boys and girls to have equal access to athletic experiences in the district.
The complaints centered on the diverging experience of girls softball teams compared to boys baseball teams. The board approved a voluntary agreement that will cover all sports in the district. Strack provided a brief overview of the agreement for board members and the public.
The agreement requires the district to take a number of steps around data collection and staff training, as well as improving its facilities between now and the 2026-27 school year. The district must collect data on funding for athletics, including funding from external “booster clubs.” To comply with the agreement, the district must ensure that all sources of funding are equal across boys and girls athletics across the district.
Public Comments
Several public commenters at the Aug. 6 meeting were union members representing the district’s bus drivers who are in the midst of negotiating a new contract with the district. Drivers are asking for a larger raise than the 2% that the district has currently offered. Members of the district’s clerical workers union also spoke during public comments asking for wages that reflect the importance of their role in each school.
Other commenters said the district has been slow to implement the new gender inclusion policy, specifically saying the district has refused to pay for signs indicating certain restrooms are gender neutral, and has not yet scheduled training for staff on how to implement the new policy.
There was an additional public comment period required by law because the board was voting to place a technology levy on the Nov. 5 ballot. The only speaker during this comment period was Marcia Howard, the newly elected president of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers. Howard said that there has been a “shift in leadership” in the district, and asked the board members to “boss up” by running the district as they were elected to do.
Howard also noted that the district will need help to pass the technology levy. In order to receive help to pass the levy, Howard said the board needs to demonstrate it is trustworthy by “being the bosses we elected you to be.”
Additional Board Votes
The board unanimously approved an eLearning plan for the 2024-25 school year, which it had negotiated with the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, as required by State law. The first two missed school days will be “snow days” for all students in the district and elementary students will have up to three “snow days.” Middle and high school students will be required to engage in online learning if school is canceled for more than two days.
The return to traditional “snow days” came about during contract negotiations with teachers. The district will reduce the number of days of school to 168 days from 170 days, but extend the school day by 10 minutes per day so that middle and high school students can still meet the State minimum required number of hours of instruction.