May 30, 2025

Jessica Premo
17 hours ago
5 min read

Happy summer!

Well, maybe not quite yet. With only seven student days remaining, there’s a different mood in the air this time of year. It isn’t just the calendar making positive changes, either. The legislature passed well overdue pension reform, and Governor Walz signed the bill into law. Effective June 30, 2025, the new enhanced 60/30 rule will provide a better retirement for our teachers that have dedicated their lives to our community. The new rule captures more than 95% of the benefits that existed under the Rule of 90, and our union has worked for years to realize this change. If you are considering retirement in the near future, I would encourage you to contact TRA, directly, to learn how these changes impact you.

This is another example of the power we hold when we stand together. Thank you to everyone who took the time to contact their legislators, talk with their neighbors, and keep informed about our progress. An extra thanks goes to Brent Bovitz, current EPEA Treasurer, for the work he carried out in transforming the fledgling movement into a reality at the capitol over the last five-plus years.

In solidarity,

Charles Cooper

Link to previous EPEA Newsletters

Link to EPEA Staff and Leaders

Summer

There is not a section of our contract dedicated to summer months, which makes complete sense. We are under contract for 185 days, unless there is a special arrangement with the district on an individual basis to add or remove duty days. The 185th day of our contract is June 11 this year. There are some important reminders and considerations for the summer months to consider:

If you are working during the summer, there should be extra compensation attached to those duties. You cannot be mandated to perform any school-directed duties outside of our contract days.
Our contract identifies a summer school rate of $45 per hour, which is shared with targeted services. EPIC programming, run through Community Education, is funded separately, and we do not have a contractual agreement for compensation.
Benefits continue during the summer months! Your wages and benefits are carried for the life of your contract, whether compensated through 24 or 20 paychecks.
Our union dues are paused during the summer months. Dues processing begins with the October 15 pay period and ends with the June 30 pay period.

I should remind folks that the next contractual year will begin with workshop week on August 25 (or new teacher week on August 18 for any mentors), but that would run antithetical to a section dedicated to recognizing a well-earned break…

Link to EPEA Contract

Guidance from Your Member Rights Advocate

If you are in need of support at an administration meeting, believe there is a contract violation, or have a performance/conduct-related support request, please connect with Carla Thompson (Lead MRA) cthompson@edenpr.org or 952-240-6577

Member Benefits:

Built In Benefits With Membership

ESI PerksConnect - discounts to area activities and restaurants
NEA Discount Marketplace - discount tickets and travel programs
NEA Mental Health Program
AFT Trauma counseling program

Pension Bill Explainer

After bipartisan approval by the Legislature, Gov. Tim Walz has signed the 2025 pension bill. This historic improvement to teacher pensions will become law and take effect on June 30, 2025.

Learn more about the bill and what it could mean for your retirement by watching our wrap-up and explainer video here. You must be logged in to the website to view.

Federal Update: Two Major Court Victories for Public Schools

Two pieces of great news came out of a federal court and the U.S. Supreme Court:

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from dismantling the U.S. Department of Education and ordered the administration to reinstate employees fired in a mass termination. This can't happen without congressional approval, she ruled.
Oklahoma will not be able to launch the nation's first ever religious public charter school after the U.S. Supreme Court deadlocked in a 4-4 split. This was a major ruling on the separation of church and state.

May 27 School Board Business Meeting

The final meeting of the Eden Prairie School Board for this school year was a busy session. The board met with a primary purpose to publicly read the 2025-26 budget and enter closed session regarding negotiations. As the first official act of the evening, Debjyoti “DD” Dwivedy was reinstated following a brief leave from the board due to military deployment.

The beginning of the meeting ran slightly beyond the allotted time frame. The spotlight series highlighted the amazing work that is being done at Eagle Heights during discovery. Fifth grades (shout out to Kelsey Kelzer!) demonstrated their learning with robotics and programming, and a pair of first graders showed how authentically we tie big ideas to the real world, culminating in a first grader explaining the basics of nuclear fusion. After the students’ presentations, Linda Wallenberg was recognized by the board for her achievement as Minnesota’s Teacher of the Year. In her response, Wally reminded the board of two essential truths of education. First, we all do this work because of love, and second, we must stand up to the threats against our students’ voices.

The Board’s work for the evening focused, primarily, on financial reporting. The first report regarded school lunches and pricing. Bad news if you buy lunch: next year the price of staff lunches will rise to $5.25 because of state mandates. Following, the board was presented with an initial reading of the 2025-26 budget, which was built on the parameters the board previously approved. There were some notable improvements in the financial forecast, notably the continuation of state funding for unemployment benefits, benefits from energy efficiencies, and an increase in the general funding formula (now $7,481 per pupil).

Superintendent Swanson noted that the district is, financially, healthy while many of our neighbors are cutting programming. Swanson further noted that continuing to invest in our programs and our staff will allow the district to continue our growth in coming years. The district is, intentionally, entering deficit spending this year, as was intended when our most recent levy was passed in 2022. The district will maintain a fund balance in excess of 8%, which is a parameter set by the school board, until the levy’s five year promise lapses in 2027-28.

The board entered a closed session at 8:45 to establish a negotiation strategy. This summer, the contracts for bus drivers, buildings and grounds, and our EPEA expire. The board’s closed session lasted for more than ninety minutes. There were roughly a dozen EPEA members in attendance prior to the closed session.