She said already, this work programme has delivered nearly half a billion dollars of learning support and removed National Standards- something teachers said contributed to workload demands.
There were 2964 primary and secondary teachers at more than 150 schools in Northland as at the end of 2017, according to the ministry's latest database.
Most of them are represented by the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) union which last week rejected the latest offers from the ministry.
NZEI's national executive agreed last weekend to call paid union meetings in the second week of next term, from May 6 to 10.
If there is no progress made by then, it is proposing that members vote on taking partial strike action by working to rule from May 15 until a national day of strike action on May 29.
The work to rule would mean working only between 8am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.
Kaeo Primary School principal Paul Barker, who is also the NZEI principals representative for Te Tai Tokerau, said the expectation of teachers particularly in low socio-economic areas like the mid and Far North was perhaps greater than in other areas.
However, he said teachers all over New Zealand were required to do more for less in terms of class size, extracurricular activities, and organising fundraising drives.
"Over the last decade in particular, teachers and principals' pay has stagnated. We train for three to four years then get a job and some of us have substantial student debt to pay off," Barker said.
"In areas like ours, schools become the de facto support system in our communities. In my school, 30 to 40 kids have their first meal at the school so we also care for their health needs and our attitude is if we don't deal with it, no one will."
MacGregor-Reid said under the government's offer, the starting salary of a beginning primary teacher would be between $52,429 and $54,186 depending on the qualifications they held.
"Primary teacher retention remains high and provisional data for 2018 shows an increase of new beginning primary teachers entering the workforce alongside an increase in enrolments in teacher training.
"The government's investment to boost teacher supply is progressing well, including awarding 165 TeachNZ scholarships for primary teaching careers, allocating 230 grants to assist graduates into their first roles and helping more than 1,300 teachers either return, or remain teaching by enrolling in the Teacher Education Refresh programme."
MacGregor-Reid said the ministry has had more than 1,100 qualified teachers from overseas screened and made available to principals for interviews.
She said 271 teachers have accepted roles, of which more than half were primary teachers.