With a possible St. Paul teacher strike a week away, negotiators are meeting each day this workweek and have taken some of the most contentious proposals off the table.

No major agreements have been reached, but the school district no longer is pushing the St. Paul Federation of Teachers to sign an application for Q Comp, the state’s alternative compensation program, according to public updates posted by both sides.

Twenty-nine of the state’s 40 largest school districts participate in Q Comp, according to Department of Education data.

For St. Paul, it could generate $6.2 million in annual revenue from the state and $3.3 million from city taxpayers. Nearly all that money could be spent on activities the district already does, freeing up almost 2 percent of its $521 million general fund budget for other purposes.

But the union has fiercely opposed the teacher evaluation and performance pay program. They say it hasn’t gotten substantial results in other schools and there’s no guarantee lawmakers will keep funding it.

OTHER PROPOSALS

The union said that on Monday negotiators for the district offered a counterproposal that “begins to move in the right direction” on class size. The union wants fewer students in each classroom, while the district had pushed for larger classes in higher-income schools.

Also Monday, the school district said it’s now willing to work with the union and others, in the form of a “joint education partnership council,” to pursue voluntary payments from local corporations, nonprofit hospitals and colleges.

The district also took time Monday during the fifth mediated negotiation to educate the union team about how budgeting works and the need to keep some money in reserve.

The district is willing to spend just $2.06 million each year of the two-year teacher contract, whether it’s on 1 percent pay raises or other union priorities. The union has asked for 2.5 percent raises, along with the hiring of more teaching and nonteaching staff.

Discussions this week have concerned proposals not related to salary and benefits, the union said. They include restorative practices and a long list of cost-neutral proposals.

The district said Tuesday it presented a memorandum of agreement on social emotional learning, which builds on the restorative practices pilot, now in its second of three years. The proposal includes no new money, but the district said it would work with the union to search for funding.

BOARD JOINS TALKS

Three bargaining units representing some 3,100 teachers, 400 educational assistants and 170 school and community service professionals voted Jan. 31 to authorize a strike. It could begin as early as Tuesday, Feb. 13, forcing the district to cancel classes.

Since that vote, the three bargaining units have come together to negotiate as a single group. The two nonteaching groups reached tentative agreements Tuesday on some nonsalary proposals.

Superintendent Joe Gothard and board members Zuki Ellis and Steve Marchese met with negotiators for the first time during part of Monday’s mediation after the union had complained they weren’t participating. Mayor Melvin Carter III spoke to negotiators Tuesday.

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St. Paul district to pay student $48,000 for teacher’s ‘achievement gap’ remarks The school board also met Monday in a hastily called board meeting and scheduled three additional closed-door meetings Wednesday through Friday to discuss negotiation strategy.

Both sides say they continue to prepare for a possible strike.

The union says a strike would sideline 3,100 teachers and other licensed staff, 400 educational assistants and 170 service professionals. The district has about 38,400 students from preschool through 12th grade.