Teachers of color get layoff protection in Minnesota district, prompting lawsuit

For nearly three weeks, Minnesota teachers went on strike demanding a “fair contract,” including guaranteed smaller classes, mental health support and protections for teachers of color.

More than 30,000 students missed school during the March union strike, MPR News reported at the time, as teachers refused to work until Minneapolis Public Schools agreed to several demands.

The Minneapolis Federation of Teachers ended the strike saying “major gains were made on pay for education support professionals, protections for educators of color, class size caps and mental health supports,” according to MPR.

But the protections for people of color now have prompted a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination.

Conservative activist group Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit Aug. 22 against Minneapolis Public Schools, interim superintendent Rochelle Cox and the Minneapolis Board of Education. Cox replaced Ed Graff, who announced he would step down days after reaching a contract agreement with the union, according to KARE. His contract expired this summer.

Judicial Watch named Deborah Jane Clapp, a Minneapolis taxpayer, as the plaintiff.

An MPS spokesperson told McClatchy News the district does not comment on pending litigation. The school board chair said the board will not discuss details, but added “we do believe the lawsuit is without merit and will aggressively defend the mutually agreed upon contractual language.”

Teachers of color are exempt from seniority-based layoffs and reassignments under the agreed-upon contract, according to the lawsuit, “which means, when layoffs or reassignments occur, the next senior teacher who is not ‘of color’ would be laid off or reassigned.”

The contract does not provide similar protections to educators who are not of color, the lawsuit states. Prior to the new contract, teachers were laid off or reassigned starting with the least senior teachers. Officials did not consider race or ethnicity.

About 66% of Minneapolis Public Schools staff members are white, according to the district demographics sheet. About 18% of employees are Black, and approximately 6% are Hispanic or Latino.

“Minneapolis Public Schools, the Board, the Administration has had very much a focus and a priority to create a contract that allows us to recruit and retain and prioritize our educators of color,” the former superintendent said in a March 25 news conference.

“And you’ll see that we remained focused on that commitment. That was a priority,” Graff continued. “That was one of the most significant priorities that we talked about all through the negotiation process, and our negotiations team did a wonderful job of maintaining that focus and certainly we need our students to feel the representation in the educators, and that commitment remains.”

Judicial Watch argues these protections violate the Equal Protection Guarantee of the Minnesota Constitution.

“It is incredible that in this day and age a school system would engage in blatant racial discrimination in employing teachers,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement. “The courts can’t move soon enough to shut down this extreme leftist attack on the bedrock constitutional principle that no one can be denied equal treatment under law on account of race.”

The organization seeks the racial and ethnic preference provisions to be declared illegal, and that it be made illegal to use any taxpayer dollars to implement this contract provision.

“The Minneapolis Federation of Teachers and Education Support Professionals continues to fight for policies that retain the skills and experiences that are underrepresented in our union, including the skills and experiences our teachers of color bring to their classrooms every day,” Greta Callahan, teacher chapter president of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, said in a statement to McClatchy News.

She said the union regrets seeing the district “forced to divert time and resources away from the real crisis – fully staffing our schools with the teachers and other educators that MPS needs to provide the world-class education our students deserve.”

This story was originally published August 24, 2022 at 12:34 PM with the headline "Teachers of color get layoff protection in Minnesota district, prompting lawsuit."