Minneapolis teachers will not be going on strike after a tentative deal is reached with the district, however, the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) has announced a strike authorization vote is still being held for one of its two chapters.

Shortly after 12:30 a.m. Thursday, district leaders announced a tentative agreement had been reached, however, the MFT announced shortly after 10:30 a.m. that same day that the education support professionals had begun voting on a strike authorization.

“I think everybody understands a potential strike would be very complicated and hard for our children, and for our families, and for the city so that’s not anything that anybody wants,” said Superintendent Dr. Lisa Sayles-Adams at a press conference on Friday.

The results of that vote are expected to be released on Saturday, and a mediation session for the district and the ESPs is currently scheduled for next week on Tuesday.

“We’re happy for our teacher colleagues, but our negotiations with the district are going too slowly. The district offers so far do not respect our contributions to the education of Minneapolis students,” said Catina Taylor, president of the ESP chapter of the MFT.

“The ESPs still have quite a few issues still on the table — wages, hours per week, health insurance — so all in, it would be a pretty substantial package,” MPS Senior Human Resources Officer Alicia Miller said.

Unionized teachers are slated to vote on the deal May 8-10, and it is expected to be approved. Specific details of that deal haven’t been released, but hours of negotiations and months of discussions have been held about the contract.

If teachers approve the contract, it will go to the Minneapolis Board of Education for final approval on May 14.

“I am so proud, so proud that we were able to settle this at the table even though we were ready to take it to the streets,” said Marcia Howard, first vice president for MFT.

Teachers had been asking for a 16% pay increase over two years, but district officials said they couldn’t afford that number and needed to cut spending. A strike authorization vote was initially planned for this week, prior to a deal being reached.

Several walkouts and other demonstrations have been held as well.

The union applauded the negotiated deal.

“It is the highest raise that we have seen in our unit for over 25 years,” said Greta Callahan, MFT president, without providing the specific increase. “We’re feeling like we won and the students are going to win from this contract.”

She said it also included workload relief for special educators and a reduced calendar, among other priorities.

Superintendent Dr. Lisa Sayles-Adams issued a statement overnight, saying, “As we keep our students at the center, we worked together to reach an agreement that honors the hard work of our licensed staff and recognizes our budgetary constraints. We look forward to continued partnership.”

Callahan also said in a statement, “We worked together collaboratively in service to the students of Minneapolis Public Schools and reached an agreement that we are both proud of. Our time today was incredibly productive, and we believe it is a new day for MPS.”

The new contract comes as the district faces a $110 million budget deficit.

“It will most likely grow once we negotiate all of our contracts,” said Sayles-Adams. “We are looking at layoffs in the district.”

She added increasing enrollment, additional state education funding and a referendum this fall could help reduce the deficit.