Striking St. Paul teachers returning to contract talks Thursday

Updated 10:40 p.m.

The union representing St. Paul teachers and other professional school staff said late Wednesday its negotiators will return to the bargaining table at 8 a.m. on Thursday as its strike against the city school district moves into its third day.

Members of the St. Paul Federation of Educators took to picket lines Tuesday after overnight talks with district leaders failed to produce agreement on a new contract.

Union representatives said then the district had not come close enough to satisfying their demands for more funding of mental health services for students, as well as more multilingual interpreters and special education funding. Thursday would be the first negotiating session since the talks broke down.

The strike has closed schools for some 37,000 St. Paul public school students.

Superintendent Joe Gothard has said the union's proposal would require an additional 300 hires at a cost of $30 million a year.

Negotiations over a new contract began in May. Two years ago, the district narrowly averted a strike. The current strike is the district's first since 1946.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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