16 school districts fail to meet contract deadline

by Tom Weber, Minnesota Public Radio

At least 16 school districts across Minnesota did not meet last night's deadline to have a new contract in place with teachers.

St. Paul, Minn. — The most up-to-date list from the statewide teachers' union. Education Minnesota shows 16 districts that missed the midnight deadline to approve teacher's contracts.

But the group is still waiting to hear from a handful of districts, so that number could go up.

Even if the number holds at 16, it will still mark the biggest number of districts to miss the deadline in 12 years.

One of the districts that missed the deadline - Albert Lea - won't have to pay the penalty.

That's because the state forgives the penalty for districts that filed for arbitration before the deadline.

This will be the seventh time schools have faced this deadline.

In the previous six times a total of 65 districts missed, which resulted in more than $2.5 million in penalties.