Bemidji school board to review tentative labor deals for nine units

Bemidji Area Schools was preparing to review tentative labor agreements for nine bargaining units as it tried to hold down costs after $2.7 million in staffing cuts and a projected deficit that administrators say could top $3 million in fiscal 2027.

The biggest piece already in place is the tentative contract with the Bemidji Education Association, which represents more than 400 teachers and educators. The school board approved that agreement on April 20, covering July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2027, after more than eight months of bargaining. Meeting-packet reporting put the total contract cost at 3.71% under the Minnesota School Boards Association model.

The teachers’ deal also reshapes the calendar. It shortens the school year from 182 days to 178 days in 2025-26 and 179 days in 2026-27, and moves the last day of school from June 3 to May 29. That gives the district a modest operating reset, but it also means fewer instructional days for students at schools across the district, from J.W. Smith Elementary School to Bemidji High School.

The agreement lands in the middle of a broader budget squeeze. Bemidji Area Schools approved nearly all of Superintendent Jeremy Olson’s proposed $1.6 million reduction package in mid-February, then followed with the larger staffing cuts in April. In practical terms, the district is trying to stabilize its books while preserving enough staffing to keep classrooms covered and student services functioning without deeper disruptions later.

Teachers had already forced the issue into public view. In January, more than 100 Bemidji teachers came to a school board meeting, and more than 40 met beforehand to make signs, as the Bemidji Education Association pushed for a raise that would keep pace with inflation after more than 200 days without a contract. That pressure appears to have helped produce a pattern settlement, and the district has said it intends to use the teachers’ deal as the template for other bargaining groups.

Bus drivers are next in line, and their stakes are different but just as immediate. At a May 18 meeting, about a dozen drivers and supporters showed up while the Bemidji Drivers Association sought a new agreement after nearly a year without a contract. Drivers say base pay starting around $19,000 a year is not enough, and one driver said pay progression over 30 years totals only 7%.

The transportation side matters because Bemidji’s drivers cover an 825-square-mile district, log more than a million miles each school year, and staff 54 of 63 routes directly, with nine routes contracted out to Bemidji Bus Lines. If the pattern settlement lifts pay enough to keep drivers in place, it could steady routes and reduce turnover. If it simply tracks the same narrow fiscal margin, the district may buy short-term labor peace while setting up fresh pressure for future cuts or another tax ask.