MINNEAPOLIMEDIA BREAKING NEWS | Anoka-Hennepin strike averted after marathon mediation yields tentative agreement

The Anoka-Hennepin School District and its teachers union, Anoka Hennepin Education Minnesota (AHEM), reached a tentative contract agreement early Wednesday morning, averting what would have been the district’s first teacher strike in decades and ensuring that schools will remain open across the North Metro.

The breakthrough came after an intense, roughly 20 hour mediation session that began Tuesday morning and concluded at approximately 5:00 a.m. on Wednesday, January 7. The agreement cancels the strike that had been scheduled to begin Thursday, January 8, which would have closed schools for about 38,000 students and sidelined more than 3,000 educators.

With the strike averted, all district schools will operate as normal on Thursday. Classes will proceed as scheduled, and previously threatened cancellations of athletics, middle school activities, and elementary events have been lifted.

A months long standoff resolved at the deadline

The agreement brings a temporary close to negotiations that began after the previous teacher contract expired on June 30, 2025. Talks stretched through the summer and fall, entered formal mediation in November, and intensified in late December when AHEM members voted by a 98.5 percent margin to authorize a strike and filed a formal notice of intent to walk out.

An earlier eight hour mediation session on January 2 failed to produce an agreement, leaving this week’s talks as the final scheduled opportunity to resolve the dispute before a shutdown of Minnesota’s largest school district.

Wages and health care at the center

While the full terms of the tentative agreement have not yet been released publicly, both district and union leaders confirmed that the deal directly addresses the two core issues that drove the dispute: compensation and health care costs.

According to district spokesperson Jim Skelly and union leadership, the agreement includes adjustments to the salary schedule aimed at narrowing the wage gap cited by educators. It also increases district contributions toward health insurance premiums, responding to union concerns that sharp recent increases in the district’s self insured plan were eroding take home pay for many teachers.

Union leaders had repeatedly framed the dispute as a false choice between salary increases and affordable health coverage, noting that some educators were paying more than $1,500 per month for family coverage following premium increases reported to be around 22 percent. District officials, meanwhile, pointed to budget pressures, including a projected $22.2 million reduction and new state mandated costs such as Minnesota’s Paid Leave program.

What happens next

The agreement reached in mediation is tentative and not yet binding. It must now move through a formal ratification process. First, the more than 3,000 members of Anoka Hennepin Education Minnesota will vote on whether to approve the contract. If ratified, the agreement will then go to the Anoka-Hennepin School Board for final approval.

The contract covers the 2025 26 and 2026 27 school years.

Early Wednesday morning, the union celebrated the breakthrough on social media, writing, “When we fight, we win! Thank you everyone for all of your hard work and support!”

For families across the district, the immediate uncertainty has lifted. With schools open and activities restored, parents are no longer required to seek alternative childcare for Thursday. More details about the contract’s specific terms are expected to be released after union members are formally briefed and the ratification process begins.

MinneapoliMedia