SPFT, district reach agreement, pledge to take on funding shortfalls together

February 12, 2018 by

SPFT President Nick Faber speaks at a press conference in the library at Galtier Community School, where he did his student teaching 31 years ago.

Members of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers will not strike tomorrow, but they aren’t walking away from the fight for fully funded, racially equitable schools.

After 13 hours of mediated talks that began Sunday, union and district negotiators reached tentative agreements on three contracts covering SPFT’s 3,700 members early this morning, averting a strike. Details of the agreements are not yet public.

During a press conference at Galtier Community School this afternoon, union and district leaders said collaboration was key to reaching common ground at the bargaining table – and will remain critical as the two sides carry forward their work to tackle funding shortfalls facing the St. Paul Public Schools.

“We are dedicated to working with our district and whoever else it takes to increase that funding so our kids can have the schools that they deserve,” SPFT President Nick Faber said. “SPFT is extremely excited about that work going forward, and we know we can work in the (spirit of) collaboration that we ended negotiations in … this morning.”

“We are so strong together,” Superintendent Joe Gothard said, adding that whatever approach the district takes to raising revenue, leaders know “we will not be able to do this alone.”

Collaboration could involve lobbying together at the Legislature or partnering in efforts to recruit new students, Gothard and Faber said. It might also mean working jointly on a levy referendum or other potential revenue sources.

The mutual commitment to raising revenue – whatever approach it takes – is a victory for SPFT, which refused to allow scarcity to dictate contract negotiations despite the district’s projected budget shortfall.

Instead, union proposals took aim at creating fully funded schools staffed with nurses, librarians and social workers, with smaller class sizes and expanded preschool and family-engagement programs. To realize its vision, SPFT called on the district to join its members in pressuring tax-exempt large nonprofits and corporate tax dodgers to pay their fair share.

The groundbreaking approach drew national attention and sparked public debate likely to outlive the next bargaining agreement. “We consider that a win,” Faber said.

“This contract campaign was centered around the myth of scarcity, but our corporate campaign continues on,” he added. “There is a lot of money in this state, we’re just making political decisions not to put it into our classrooms, particularly our classrooms with kids of color in them.”

SPFT’s bargaining team, meanwhile, said the proposed contracts for school and community service professionals, educational assistants and teachers make progress on several of union members’ top priorities.

“We won supports for our students, especially our English Learners and our students who receive Special Education services,” a post on the union’s website read. “We defended our class size language and strengthened the commitment to Restorative Practices.”

Although both sides struck a conciliatory tone at the press conference today, negotiations between SPFT and the district were the most heated in years, with union members voting overwhelmingly Jan. 31 in favor of authorizing a strike. Faber called the strike authorization “an awesome responsibility and an awesome piece of strength” in negotiations.

“Teachers go into this profession to be in a classroom, not out of it,” he said. “So when people are so passionate that they’re willing to walk, that’s an incredible feeling. It did offer us a great deal of leverage and sense of purpose going into those final conversations to make sure we delivered for our members.”

SPFT will hold informational meetings with members about the contract Thursday, and the union expects to hold a ratification vote early next week.

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Workers, parents show unity with St. Paul teachers after strike vote

February 1, 2018 by

A solidarity rally outside the SPFT strike vote drew parents and supporters from other unions. (photo credit: MN Workers United)

Members of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers yesterday delivered a powerful message of unity in their drive for a contract that delivers the fully funded, racially equitable schools St. Paul students deserve.

Parents and working people in the district, meanwhile, delivered a message of their own: It’s time for the school district to start listening to educators.

Several unions representing thousands of working people in St. Paul offered up statements of solidarity with SPFT members.

They included Teamsters Local 320, which represents more than 100 Nutrition Services workers in the St. Paul Public Schools. In a letter to the school board and administrators, Secretary-Treasurer Brian Aldes noted that teachers stood “shoulder to shoulder” with Local 320 member fighting for a $15 wage floor last fall.

“It’s time for the District to support its employees and drop the adversarial approach to negotiations,” Aldes wrote. “If the St. Paul Teachers go on strike against the District, please know that they will have the full support of Teamsters Local 320 and its 11,500 strong membership.”

Presidents of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, the Minnesota Nurses Association and the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees weighed in with letters to the district as well. Together, the labor groups represent more than 80,000 union members.

“These are moments when leaders need to step up and lead,” MNA President Mary Turner wrote. “And I am urging you to do just that.”

Bobby Kasper, president of the 50,000-member St. Paul RLF, called the district’s approach to negotiations “incredibly disappointing.”

“Our schools work best when educators are valued and their concerns are heard,” Kasper wrote. “Today’s strike vote is a clear indication that isn’t happening… We hope today’s vote serves as a wake-up call to district leaders that it’s time to get serious about negotiations.”

SPFT held its strike-authorization vote at a downtown hotel yesterday, drawing participation from about two-thirds of it 3,700 members. The union represents three bargaining units in negotiations: community service professionals, educational assistants and teachers and licensed staff. All three overwhelmingly backed strike authorization, with over 80 percent support.

The union planned to file notice of members’ intent to strike today, and a work stoppage could begin as early as mid-February.

The two sides have scheduled a return to mediated talks tomorrow. Teachers said they will continue to push for smaller class sizes, restorative practices, support for English language learners, more nurses and librarians and other measures aimed at improving student outcomes and tackling racial disparities.

Support for language programs is among SPFT’s core bargaining proposals.

“Our members are ready to tackle the racial disparities that exist in our schools and in our community, but they need the resources in order to get that done,” SPFT President Nick Faber told hundreds of people gathered for a rally downtown St. Paul Monday. “But our district has refused to talk to us about many of these issues.”

Teachers also aren’t giving up on efforts to build new partnerships with corporations like Ecolab and U.S. Bank that avoid paying property taxes in St. Paul, as well as large nonprofits like Allina Health and Macalester that benefit from property-tax exemptions.

Parents like Kirinda Anderson, whose daughter attends Wellstone Elementary, want the district to team up with teachers and get serious about holding corporate tax-dodgers accountable for draining resources from public schools.

“Instead of going to our schools, our money is going to tax breaks for companies like Ecolab and U.S. Bank,” Anderson said at Monday’s rally. “When they don’t pay their fair share of taxes, they’re depriving our children – kids like my daughter – the education that all children need to be successful… I’m going to call it what it is, and that’s systemic racism.”

“Nobody wants a strike,” Faber added. “None of our members wants to walk away from our students, but sometimes it is the only way workers have to get management to listen.”

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Teachers, allies keep heat on Ecolab, U.S. Bank as Super Bowl party ramps up

January 29, 2018 by

St. Paul teachers and supporters march through the streets of downtown St. Paul to the NFL’s “opening-night party” at Xcel Energy Center.

Hundreds of people whose work keeps the Twin Cities running shut down traffic outside a Super Bowl party in St. Paul tonight.

Teachers, low-wage workers and other activists called out the corporations funding the Super Bowl Host Committee – Ecolab and U.S. Bank, in particular – for prioritizing a high-profile game over local student outcomes and people’s lives.

“During this upcoming week, corporate elites will earn millions of dollars and use Minneapolis and St. Paul as their corporate playground, while we, the workers, continue to face wage theft, poverty wages and increased militarization in our communities,” Donia Caldwell, a member of CTUL’s fast-food worker organizing campaign, said during a post-march rally.

Activists marched through the streets, from Ecolab’s offices in Hamm Plaza to the Xcel Energy Center, site of the Super Bowl’s Opening Night party. As helicopters hovered overhead, marchers took over the busy intersection of Kellogg and West Seventh Street, backing up traffic in all directions.

Most people in the crowd carried signs supporting members of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers, who are scheduled to take a strike-authorization vote Wednesday. Members of the union’s negotiating team have said the two sides are making no progress on teachers’ top priorities, including smaller class sizes, pre-K programming and funding for nurses, librarians and language specialists.

But teachers aren’t just negotiating with the school district. SPFT is reaching out to corporations like Ecolab and U.S. Bank, the beneficiaries of local property-tax breaks, in an effort to recoup some of the funds diverted away from the district’s general fund.

So far the corporations haven’t been receptive to the idea, SPFT President Nick Faber said.

“Ecolab has said no even though they’ve got $2.1 billion of untaxed dollars in offshore accounts. They’ve said no even though they’re going to be gaining $96 million a year through the new GOP tax bill,” Faber said. “Same with U.S. Bank, and they’re going to be getting about $1.1 billion from the new tax plan.

“And what will our students get? They’re going to get a party for millionaires and a game in the town across the river.”

While teachers called for an investment in schools, low-wage workers like Caldwell called on U.S. Bank and Ecolab to “divest” from poverty wages by supporting a $15 minimum wage in St. Paul and funding for enforcement efforts targeting wage theft across the state.

Support for language programs is among SPFT’s core bargaining proposals.
As the NFL staged its Open Night Party in St. Paul Monday, protesters shut down several streets downtown, calling on Super Bowl sponsors to support local schools and racial equity.

Bakery workers organizing Saturday’s Taste of Justice joined the demonstration, too. They pledged to keep shining a light on working conditions and union-busting at Franklin Street Bakery, even as co-owner Wayne Kostroski basks in the glow of his star-studded gala in St. Paul this week.

Bruce Peglow, an officer of Bakery Workers Local 22, called Franklin Street Bakery unsafe – one reason workers are trying to organize a union.

“Several weeks ago there was carbon-monoxide poisoning in the bakery,” Peglow said. “Two of the workers went to Hennepin County Medical Center. One woman, if she’d have been there five more minutes, she would be dead.”

Inside the Xcel Energy Center, Black Lives Matter activists succeeded in dropping a banner supporting the demonstration’s theme: “Divest from violence. Invest in community. Imagine what’s possible.”

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St. Paul Federation of Teachers schedules strike vote

January 24, 2018 by

SPFT members called on corporations like Securian to pay their fair share toward the schools St. Paul children deserve during a march through St. Paul’s skyways last month.

Frustrated by the St. Paul Public Schools’ refusal to take up their top priorities in contract negotiations, members of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers will take a strike authorization vote Jan. 31, the union announced today.

Members of three bargaining units in negotiations with the district will participate in voting next Wednesday. SPFT represents over 3,400 teachers, educational assistants and community service professionals working in 65-plus St. Paul school district buildings.

“Our members are incredibly disappointed that the school district has so far refused to work with us, but as educators, we remain committed to creating the schools Saint Paul children deserves,” said SPFT President Nick Faber, an elementary science specialist.

SPFT members took an ambitious and groundbreaking approach into negotiations with the district that began last summer.

Union members proposed partnering with the district to seek new revenue from large non-profits and corporations that enjoy property-tax exemptions in St. Paul. The district has so far refused that partnership, leaving SPFT members to meet independently with Ecolab, Allina Health, Macalaster College and other potential targets.

Additionally, union negotiators say they continue to wait for management’s response to proposals that would strengthen St. Paul schools and address the district’s racial disparities, from lowering class sizes to staffing each school with a nurse and librarian.

Rather than respond, district negotiators have pushed for teachers to work longer hours with more students at no additional pay. And the union alleges negotiators “continue to dismiss the contributions of our Educational Assistants and School and Community Service Professionals in SPPS.”

Members of SPFT’s executive board voted Monday to call the strike vote. Mediated talks with the district will continue this week.

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Union coat drive will help St. Paul’s homeless youth keep warm

January 11, 2018 by

St. Paul RLF President Bobby Kasper presents coats and hoodies to St. Paul Project REACH staff (L to R) Cindy McGowan, Tracey Jackson, Karla Stewart, Beth O’Keefe and Ka Zoua Kong.

Union members in the East Metro raised over $3,100 to buy winter coats for students in the St. Paul Public Schools struggling with homelessness. Jackets and hoodies donated by a union screen printer nearly doubled the total haul for area children in need.

The coats and hoodies, dropped off at SPPS’ Project REACH offices Monday, aren’t likely to stay in boxes and shopping bags long. Home school liaison Karla Stewart said the need for winter gear is high across the district, from pre-K classrooms to high schools.

“If students don’t know how they’re going to stay warm on their way home – or if they’ll be able to stay warm when they get there – it’s really hard to focus during school hours,” Stewart said.

Project REACH provides education services and related support to homeless youth in the St. Paul school district. The district estimates 2,000 of its students struggle with homelessness annually.

Union members raise funds to purchase coats each winter as part of the Jean Jones Coats Initiative, named for a now-retired St. Paul teacher. The initiative is coordinated by the St. Paul Labor Studies and Resource Center, the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation’s nonprofit arm.

The coat drive received a boost this year from Union House, the buy-American retail outlet and screen-printing shop in Wyoming, Minn. Owner Max Anderson donated eight boxes stuffed with puffy jackets and hoodies.

“Union members nearly doubled their contribution to the Jean Jones coat drive this year, and Max Anderson’s generosity put us well over the top,” St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper said. “I’m proud of the generosity our local labor movement continues to show the most vulnerable members of our community, year after year.”

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Community Ed offers courses in labor history, construction careers

January 10, 2018 by

Want to learn more about local labor history? Looking to explore career opportunities in the construction trades? These two labor-related courses are among the St. Paul Public Schools’ lineup of Community Ed offerings this winter.

Peter Rachleff, a retired Macalester professor and co-director of the East Side Freedom Library, will teach “The Labor Movement and the Struggle for Democracy in Minnesota” on Tuesday nights, Feb. 13 to March 20, at the historic Carnegie library, located at 1105 Greenbrier St. Registration cost is $53.

The course description promises a survey of how Minnesota workers – “native born and immigrant, women and men, skilled and unskilled, blue collar and white collar, people of color and white” – have organized over the last 150 years for political power and a collective voice on the job.

“Learn how they struggled for citizenship and the right to vote; demanded the right to organize and engage in collective bargaining; organized unions to protect their rights at work; and organized politically to shape public policy.”

People entering the labor force – or considering a career change – will get an overview of opportunities in the construction trades at a one-day course Feb. 27, taught by Don Mullin, executive secretary of the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council. The session will cover coursework and skills needed for different trades, expectations, insurance, work cycles and more.

“Choosing a Career in the Trades” will meet from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the St. Paul Community Ed offices, 1780 W. 7th St. It’s open to ages 16 and up. Cost of registration is $7.

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Teachers to large nonprofits: ‘We all have a stake’ in St. Paul schools

December 18, 2017 by

St. Paul teachers marched through the city’s skyway system earlier this month to draw attention to their campaign for fully funded schools.

Tom Stinson, a school nurse at Harding Senior High, sat across a table from two representatives of Allina Health last month and painted an unsettling picture.

“Our kids will usually go to the nurse in their school eight times before they access any health care outside the school,” Stinson said. “They don’t get to the doctor’s office for various reasons, like lack of transportation or co-payments. We have kids that come in every day with serious health needs.”

Harding is lucky enough to have a full-time nurse, but that isn’t the case for all public schools in St. Paul. It’s just one example, Stinson and other educators say, of the challenges the district faces in serving a diverse population, plagued by systemic racism and high rates of poverty.

So where does Allina come into the picture?

The not-for-profit health care provider owns United Hospital and 23 other properties in St. Paul, with an estimated market value of $178 million. Allina operates like a large corporation, paying its CEO over $1 million and stacking its board of directors with executives from Piper Jaffray, Buffalo Wild Wings and other businesses. Allina’s net income was $199 million in 2015, and it maintained an investment portfolio worth over $1 billion.

Despite the corporate sheen, Allina’s property-tax burden on those 24 buildings in St. Paul looks the same as any shoestring nonprofit’s. The same can be said for property owned by HealthPartners, Health East and private colleges like Macalester, St. Thomas and St. Catherine.

The abundance of large nonprofits in St. Paul – combined with development deals that shield large corporations like US Bank and Wells Fargo from property taxes – restricts the revenue St. Paul’s school district can collect. But rather than throw their hands up in frustration, Stinson and other members of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers are reaching out to corporations and large non-profits to discuss ways they could voluntarily pay the city and the district for services they expect, from police and fire to public schools.

“Schools and nonprofits are able to attract top talent to Minnesota in part because of the reputation of our public school systems,” said Erica Schatzlein, a teacher at Nokomis Montessori who took part in the union’s meeting with St. Kate’s. “People want to work in a community that is also a good place to raise a family.

“We all have a stake in the next generation of Minnesotans, and we are all responsible for nurturing and supporting them. These large nonprofits and schools are currently not doing their part to support our public schools students, even though they’re using our schools to help in recruiting talent, and they’ll be looking to hire our students as they grow up.”

SPFT’s conversations with large nonprofits and corporations are taking place against the backdrop of ongoing contract talks with the district. A sense of scarcity looms over negotiations, with the district facing a projected budget shortfall of $27 million.

Teachers have offered 10 proposals in bargaining, developed after meetings with parents and community stakeholders. They include a scaled-back reliance on testing, expanded access to preschool, smaller class sizes and increased family engagement – all elements, teachers say, that go into creating the racially equitable schools St. Paul students deserve.

But in a nod to the district’s budget shortfall, teachers’ first proposal was that the union and district collaborate on efforts to seek funding from corporations and major nonprofits. So far, the district has refused – a decision Stinson called “disappointing but not surprising.”

Several non-profits and corporations already support charitable initiatives in the St. Paul schools. Among nonprofits, Allina led the way with a contribution of $60,300 over a two-year period ending June 30, while Ecolab doled out 80 grants of $2,400 to St. Paul teachers who submitted applications to the company.

Still, the amounts add up to a fraction of what the organizations would otherwise be paying in taxes. And teachers note that supporting pet initiatives skirts the democratic process school districts use to prioritize spending.

“Are they doing anything legally wrong? No,” Stinson acknowledged. “But they’re dodging their responsibility as corporate citizens who reside in the city. If they would just pay their fair share like everyone else, everybody would be praising them.”

Julia Shepherd, a Harding teacher and Macalester alum, walked away from a meeting with college president David Rosenberg feeling hopeful, noting that Rosenberg is “deeply devoted to matters of racial equity.”

“I reminded President Rosenberg that this fall I received an email from Macalester asking me to contribute as an alum to their Annual Fund,” Shepherd said. “The subject line read, ‘We live our values.’

“That’s why I was there.”

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Voters back labor-endorsed candidates, referendums in local elections

November 8, 2017 by

Union volunteers made phone calls in support of the Roseville school district’s bonding request at a phone bank hosted by the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation this fall.

Labor-endorsed candidates performed well in municipal and school-board elections across the East Metro area Nov. 7, while voters in four large suburban school districts approved major school-funding requests that drew support from local unions.

Kera Peterson, political director of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, which issues unified labor endorsements in local races, credited endorsed candidates for running good campaigns this fall.

“Several union members ran for local office in the East Metro and, as a result, Election Day turned out to be a good one for kids and communities,” Peterson said. “Their interests will be well represented by the people that the Regional Labor Federation helped to elect.”

School boards

The three labor-endorsed candidates for St. Paul school board won comfortably. Incumbents Jeanelle Foster and John Brodrick gained re-election, and challenger Marny Xiong, a former union organizer with SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, was the leading vote getter.

Labor-endorsed candidates Craig Angrimson, Art Coulson and Mike Roseen swept three seats up for grabs on the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan school board. Angrimson is former president of Operating Engineers Local 35 and a delegate to the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation.

In White Bear Lake, all four labor-endorsed candidates won: Deborah Beloyed, Kim Chapman, Jessica Ellison and Don Mullin. Mullin is executive secretary of the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council and a longtime member of the Painters and Allied Trades Union.

Sean Brown, a member of the Carpenters union and the labor-endorsed candidate in a special election for South Washington County School Board, lost by just 287 votes in a tightly contested five-person race.

School funding

Several school districts put requests for operating levies and capital-improvement bonds to voters in the East Metro this year, and the Regional Labor Federation endorsed referendum campaigns in six districts.

Operating levy requests passed in the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage and White Bear Lake districts, but failed in the Forest Lake and Rush City districts. Voters approved bonding requests in the Mounds View and Roseville districts, but rejected a request in Forest Lake.

The results in Mounds View and Roseville will inject a combined $300 million into construction projects in suburbs north of St. Paul.

“These bonding initiatives are a win-win for working people in our communities,” St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper said. “They ease the constant strain on our school districts’ operating budgets and serve as a critical investment in our students’ learning environment.

“Bonding projects also keep our brothers and sisters in the Construction Trades working to build our communities, something they take an incredible amount of pride in doing.”

Municipal races

In municipal elections, labor-endorsed Mark Miazga won one of two open seats on the Falcon Heights City Council. In New Brighton, Mayor Valerie Johnson won her re-election bid with labor backing, and Graeme Allen, an organizer with the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, won a seat on the City Council.

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Teachers look beyond ‘cookie-cutter’ signs and banners with community art build

November 8, 2017 by

A flier for the community art build shows some of the artist-submitted designs volunteers will screen print this weekend.

Teachers in St. Paul are throwing out the playbook in contract negotiations with the district this year.

Banners, signs and posters in the union’s storage closet are on the way out, too.

Educators, parents, students and community stakeholders will work together on new, artist-designed signs and banners this weekend at a “community art build” co-hosted by the St. Paul Federation of Teachers and its sister local in Minneapolis. Organizers hope the event will provide momentum – and unique visuals – for contract campaigns on both sides of the Mississippi.

The public is welcome to participate in the art build, which will take place Friday afternoon through Sunday at the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers’ offices, 67 Eighth Ave. NE, Minneapolis. (View the event page on Facebook to learn more or sign up for a shift.)

Shortly after the school year began, SPFT and MFT put out a call to local artists seeking designs that would evoke support for public education. A committee of educators selected a handful of submissions, which volunteers this weekend will screen print onto signs and paint on large banners – and even a parachute, for those looking down on a rally from above.

Sam Yelk, an art teacher at Linwood Monroe Arts Plus school in St. Paul, served on the committee. He said the submissions, particularly from student artists, left him “impressed and pleasantly surprised.”

“In a class of 28 sixth-graders, there might be 28 different ideas,” Yelk said. “Any time I’ve given an assignment to students, whatever the level, they always come back with such powerful imagery and ideas. It’s a breath of fresh air.”

Such creativity is in keeping with the spirit of SPFT’s groundbreaking contract campaign.

Rather than focusing on wages, benefits and work rules, St. Paul teachers want the district to partner with their union in pressuring corporations and large, tax-exempt organizations to pay their fair share toward closing a projected budget shortfall of $27 million.

“We have a different set of proposals than have really ever been put forth before,” SPFT organizer Mike Asmus said. “We’re trying to facilitate a conversation that’s different, and the art build gives us an opportunity to make something different from the cookie-cutter signs and banners you normally see at union rallies.”

The idea stems from an event held by public school teachers in Milwaukee last year, and at least one Milwaukee teacher will travel to Minneapolis to share advice and show solidarity.

Yelk said he envisions a powerful, positive event that brings together families who share a belief in the promise of public schools.

“We’ll be there to have fun and to express our shared hopes,” he said. “This is what’s right for our families and our students; this is what we should be doing.”

“It’s a bunch of people getting together to do artwork. I’ve never seen that turn into a brawl.”

Filed Under: Community, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Erik Brandt: An open letter to Macalester College (and its peers)

July 5, 2017 by

Erik Brandt is an English teacher in the St. Paul Public Schools.

I’d like to tell you about my long-time colleague, Amy. Over the last 20 years at Harding High School in St. Paul, I have watched Amy work tirelessly with thousands of our fantastic students – nearly all of whom are low-income, minority, first generation to attend college – to help them navigate the college acceptance and enrollment process, which, as you well know, is not a transparent procedure for any non-English speaking, poor, immigrant family. She has helped raise millions of dollars of scholarship funds to help these students afford higher education. With her connections and persistence, she has forged relationships with schools like yours and has helped get our students to college, where they have thrived. This is the good part of the story.

Undoubtedly, as an attentive neighbor, you have heard about the budget shortfall in the St. Paul Public Schools that has led to reductions all over the district, including at Harding. Guess who got cut at my school? It’s tragic: Amy will not be returning to Harding after 22 years of service. Amy’s equivalents at several other St. Paul high schools have also been cut.

So, why should you care, Macalester? This doesn’t really seem like your problem, but it is – on many levels. You need the brilliant, diverse students who come out of the St. Paul Public Schools. They enrich your campus and enliven the nature of the dialogue that happens in your classrooms. The truth is, however, that these students rarely make it to you without someone like Amy advocating for them within our schools.

Now, I know that the good people of Macalester believe in making the world a better place. That is certainly the image you sell to the public, and, having graduated from Mac myself, I believe there is truth in it. I know that you want to do something to help because it’s in your nature.

Well, guess what? There is something you can do, and it’s very easy – and it’s something that the public probably isn’t even aware of … and probably something you’d like them not to know about.

Regardless, here it is: Pay your property taxes.

Or at least make a PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes), like other colleges or businesses do in dozens of cities around the U.S.

You benefit from all of the resources afforded by property taxes but pay none of them while your school sits on one of the most valuable un-taxed pieces of land in the city. Your staff members live in St. Paul and send their children to our schools, but you provide no financial support for the schools. This is not like you, Macalester. You believe in responsibility and civic duty.

Our students want to attend your college, but without people like Amy, they won’t know how to make it happen. If you and your peers (yeah, I’m talking to you, St. Thomas, Hamline, St. Kate’s) contributed your fair share of property taxes, we wouldn’t be laying off desperately needed staff in our public schools or questioning whether or not we can afford enough firefighters and police officers for our city.

C’mon Mac. Be a good neighbor. It’s the right thing to do.

– Brandt is a National Board Certified English teacher in the St. Paul Public Schools and a member of St. Paul Federation of Teachers Local 28. Twice a finalist for Minnesota’s Teacher of the Year award, Brandt resides in St. Paul.

Filed Under: Labor Voices Tagged With: , , , ,
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