Negotiations team
Brandon Auge
Staci Bartlett
Aaron Danielson
Tony Klehr
Jason Taverna
November 18, 2025
The District and the SCEA collaborated to share the following communication related to the negotiations process.
The SCEA and District have met six different times to continue discussing various components of the SCEA Master Contract. Both parties share the goal of reaching a fair and timely settlement. Dialogue has been productive and mutually respectful. Given the new Paid Family Medical Leave coming into effect on January 1, 2026 much of our conversation has focused around how this new law will impact members and interact with other existing leave benefits.
This program will offer payment and job protection to qualifying employees. On the district’s side, they have shared there are significant administrative challenges and concerns that will have to be addressed with this new state plan. This will impact work in HR, finance, and payroll. All of this work will be in partnership with the state of Minnesota who will be charged with managing and adjudicating leave requests. We are hopeful that after some additional conversation in the coming weeks, the SCEA and District will have clarity around how the new Minnesota Paid Leave will work with, be replaced by, or run concurrently with other leave benefits and language in the SCEA Master Contract. The District and the SCEA have two additional meetings on our calendars for the coming weeks. We’ll share an additional update with you all soon
September 24, 2025
The District and the SCEA collaborated to share the following update on the negotiations process.
The SCEA and District have met three different times to start negotiations for the 25-27 SCEA Master Contract. Collaboratively, we have agreed to norms, meeting routines, and how this round of bargaining will proceed. At our second meeting on September 3, the District shared their initial proposal. Over the next week, the SCEA team met and considered their proposal and developed a counter proposal in line with the agreed upon norms and expectations. This was shared with the District this past Monday, September 15. There are two items that the District and the SCEA are close to an agreement around. The District and the SCEA will share more updates about these items in the coming weeks. The tone and dialogue has been solutions-focused, respectful, and grounded in collaboration. The District and the SCEA have another meeting scheduled for September 29. We’ll share an additional update in October.