St. Paul Public Schools teachers and other employees voted to authorize a strike Wednesday as the cash-strapped district refuses to move from its tight budget for labor contracts.

The St. Paul Federation of Teachers said 85 percent of voting teachers favored the strike authorization, along with 90 percent of educational assistants and 82 percent of school and community service professionals.

The union’s executive board is giving notice of intent to strike Thursday, starting a 10-day cooling off period before a strike can begin.

Two mediated negotiating sessions between the teachers and the district are scheduled for Feb. 2 and 7.

“Nobody wants to go on strike, and we will do everything in our power to prevent one. However, we are going to fight for what our students need and do not apologize for working to create the schools St. Paul children deserve,” union president Nick Faber said in a prepared statement Thursday morning.

St. Paul teachers were the first in the nation to go on strike, in 1946. They last voted to strike in 1989 but settled the contract first.

In a statement Thursday, the school board called the strike authorization disappointing.

“We agree with SPFT that in order to provide the best education to our students we need new revenue, better facilities, more teachers and support staff, and fair wages and benefits for all. Let’s continue to negotiate how to accomplish all this with the resources we have available. We have many shared goals, and we remain hopeful that we can find ways to collaborate and reach agreement,” they said.

The school district said classes would be canceled in the event of a strike, possibly to be made up after June 8, which was scheduled to be the last day of the school year.

NOT ENOUGH MONEY

The district says it’s willing to take on no more than $2.07 million in new costs each year of the two-year teacher contract — enough for 1 percent pay raises. But they’ve said agreements on any non-salary proposals, such as an expansion of restorative practices, would shrink the money available for pay raises.

The union since 2011 has seen contract negotiations as an opportunity to improve their schools, not simply increase their wages. The district since has agreed to limit class sizes, hire more support staff and try programs that improve relationships between teachers and their students and families.

But those agreements have been expensive. And combined with shrinking state aid due to declining enrollment, the district has been forced to cut back on administration and on non-core classes like music and art.

Both the district and union agree they should pursue more revenue but disagree about how to do it.

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.

NOT JUST WAGES

See Vang, a teacher at Phalen Lake Hmong Studies Magnet, voted for the strike. She said St. Paul’s schools are not racially equitable because of large class sizes and a lack of English language teachers, nurses and mental health professionals.

“Without these supports, our students of color are impacted the most,” she said.

Eric Kaluza, a gym teacher at Hamline Elementary and Jie Ming, declined to say how he voted Wednesday but said he’s concerned about large class sizes and wants to see an expansion of restorative practices.

“It’s not about the pay. I think we’re very equitably paid for what we do,” he said.

Negotiators have several key issues to resolve:

Wages: The union wants 2.5 percent pay raises this year and next. The district has offered 1 percent raises, on top of built-in increases based on experience and education level.

St. Paul Public Schools teachers made an average of $76,682 last year, more than any other district in the state. The average is $68,768 in Minneapolis and $68,092 in Anoka-Hennepin.

Class sizes: The last teacher contract capped classes at 26 students in kindergarten; 27 in grades 1-3; 29 in grades 4-5; 35 in grades 6-8; and 37 in high school. The caps shrink by two at high-poverty schools.

The union wants even smaller class sizes at each grade level. Under their plan, high-poverty kindergarten classes would be capped at 20 students and high-poverty high schools at 30.

The district says it would cost $91 million in salaries alone to hire more teachers for such smaller classes.

The district first asked for higher caps on class sizes. They since have offered a compromise that would maintain the existing class size limits only at schools that reach 95 percent of their enrollment capacity. They say the other schools need flexibility to maintain and grow enrollment.

Restorative practices: The school district and union are sharing costs on a restorative practices pilot that will expand to 12 schools next year. The concept uses circle discussions and emphasizes repairing harm over punishment.

The union wants the district to add two more schools each year, starting in fall 2019, and to hire a coach and a trainer for the program.

The district has not publicly responded to the proposal.

Support staff: In 2016, the district agreed to hire the equivalent of 30 full-time counselors, social workers, nurses, psychologists and teachers of English language learners.

The union now wants to set minimum ratios, such as one counselor for every 350 students in a high school and a social worker for every 30 elementary school students, plus a nurse and librarian for every school and instruction from licensed physical education, science and music or art teachers. They also want limits on caseloads or class sizes for English learner and special education teachers and therapists.

The district has said it opposes hiring ratios.

New revenue: The union wants the district to join them in direct negotiations with large local corporations and nonprofit hospitals and colleges for voluntary payments to the schools and to lobby for changes in state tax policy. They also want a property tax referendum on this November’s ballot. Related Articles Distance learning deal with St. Paul teachers calls for ‘regular’ — not necessarily daily — live teaching

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The school district said it would join the talks over voluntary payments but only if the union signs on to a Q Comp application.

Q Comp is the state’s alternative compensation program that requires a nominal component of performance pay. It could be worth $6.2 million in annual state aid plus $3.3 million from St. Paul property owners. But the Legislature would have to authorize more funding for the program, and many other school districts are in line ahead of St. Paul.

Nick Woltman contributed to this report.