Minneapolis Teachers' Union Defends Race-Based Layoff Policy

MINNEAPOLIS — The president of the Minneapolis teacher's union is defending a new policy that allows the school district to let go of certain teachers based on their race and ethnicity.

Specifically, the policy states that certain teachers can be protected from a layoff if they are from an "underrepresented" population in the district.

"This language is one tiny, minuscule way to retain educators of color and other underrepresented groups IF THEY choose to destabilize our schools by slashing building budgets and cutting the humans who have relationships with our students," tweeted Greta Callahan, the head of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers.

However, Callahan said that "layoffs should not happen in the first place."

The new policy is a part of the contract that the Minneapolis Teachers Federation and the district agreed to after the two-week educators' strike last spring.

The district said it has struggled to employ a staff that reflects the backgrounds of its students.

In an email to Patch, district media relations coordinator Crystina Lugo-Beach said that "to remedy the continuing effects of past discrimination, Minneapolis Public Schools and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) mutually agreed to contract language that aims to support the recruitment and retention of teachers from underrepresented groups as compared to the labor market and to the community served by the school district."

Specifically, the new policy states the following:

Starting with the Spring 2023 Budget Tie-Out Cycle, if excessing a teacher who is a member of a population underrepresented among licensed teachers in the site, the District shall excess the next least senior teacher, who is not a member of an underrepresented population.

Similar language comes into play when the district is looking to rehire staff that was previously laid off:

The District shall prioritize the recall of a teacher who is a member of a population underrepresented among licensed teachers in the District. To do this, the District shall deprioritize the more senior teacher, who is not a member of an underrepresented population, in order to recall a teacher who is a member of a population underrepresented among licensed teachers.

The new policy could be adopted by other districts across the country hoping to make their staff better reflect their student population.

The policy will be implemented at a time when parents, teachers, and administrators across the nation remain divided on how to address race and inequality in schools.

Critics of the district's new policy argue it is illegal under the Civil Rights Act, and even unconstitutional.

The Minneapolis Teachers Federation did not respond to Patch's request for comment.