Minneapolis teachers strike, closing school after roughly two years of limited in-class learning

Minneapolis teachers went on strike as of Tuesday morning after the city's public school system failed to meet teacher union demands for salaries, hiring and resources for students' mental health.

The strike will school for about 30,000 public school students. 

Minneapolis Public Schools  said Monday evening that it could not afford to meet the demands of the teachers. 

A strike was narrowly avoided in St. Paul following a tentative agreement that was reached Monday night. 

Both teachers unions pushed for higher salaries, smaller class sizes and more mental health support for students.

Negotiation leaders pointed to rising costs and declining enrollment as reasons that the unions' requests do not fit the current budget.

"Our members have put out a clear mandate – we need a livable wage for [educational support professionals], we need more mental health supports, we need class size caps and we need competitive wages with other districts," Greta Callahan, president of the teacher chapter of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, said in announcing the strike.

She also said district school officials "have not moved significantly on any of those things. They are not even pretending to avoid a strike."

Negotiators say they "remain at the mediation table nonstop in an effort to reduce the length and impact of this strike."