Minneapolis Public Schools faces a $115 million budget gap. Here’s what to know about possible cuts

The equivalent of as many as 200 full-time jobs — both in the classroom and at district headquarters — and several programs could be cut as Minneapolis Public Schools leaders look to close a historic $115 million gap in next year’s budget.

That projected shortfall is largely due to the sunsetting of $250 million in one-time pandemic relief funds and rising operating costs in a district that has continued to lose students in recent years. Despite falling enrollment numbers, the district has not made proportionate changes to its operations over the last decade. It has the building capacity to serve about 45,000 students but now enrolls about 28,500.

District leaders have announced some of the cuts likely coming to schools and departments next year, triggering a fierce wave of opposition from parents, teachers and students.

Here’s what to know about next year’s proposed $966 million budget:

The budget crunch will affect staffing, eliminating some existing positions — or in dozens of cases, not filling vacant jobs.

The proposed budget sends nearly $46 million less to individual schools compared to last year. Elementary schools will no longer have dedicated funding to support fifth-grade instrumental music, which was implemented in 2021 as part of the district’s controversial redistricting plan. Principals have the option to fund a music teacher with other discretionary money.

Eight schools, each with fewer than 450 students, will lose funding for an assistant principal. The district will shutter eight preschool classrooms, which were funded with pandemic relief money. The district budget also calls for the elimination of 36 vacant bus driver positions, six fewer school nurses, and a $100,000 reduction in the athletics transportation budget.

The district also proposes the elimination of some tutor positions and the central office-based executive director and department support positions for the city’s magnet schools, which were another central element of the district’s redesign in 2020.

The bulk of the proposed cuts to school budgets will come by reducing an academic interventionist program funded with pandemic relief money. Those positions at every school in the district were meant to help kids who were struggling academically catch up.

Schools that serve a large population of low-income students will continue to have some interventionists, paid for with other federal grant money.

Ibrahima Diop, the district’s senior officer of finance, said many of the proposed reductions are offset by rising costs.

Diop recommends using $55 million from the district reserve funds to act as a “bridge” to the 2025-2026 school year. By then, district leaders hope to bring in more revenue through a tech levy increase and have “transformed” the district — a process that may include closing or consolidating schools — to be more financially and operationally sustainable.

“This is our one and only opportunity to use that,” Diop said. “So we must approve a budget for next year while also simultaneously beginning the work of transforming the district to move to a more sustainable structure.”

New Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams has started the last few board meetings with an apology to the staff and students affected by the reductions and recently thanked those who’ve reached out with ideas to bring in alternative funding.

At a board meeting last week, she also apologized and announced a reversal of a proposed cut to the district’s heritage language programs after pushback from Hmong and Somali families.

Sayles-Adams said she hopes for more ongoing state and federal funding. “But until that point, it is our duty to propose a balanced budget that will best serve our students with the resources we have,” she said.

Several school board members said they’ve lost sleep over the proposed cuts and have received many messages from parents and teachers.

“This is not an easy hill to climb...and it’s just starting,” board member Ira Jourdain said.

The budget, which must be approved by June, could be reopened depending on the salary increases agreed upon during contract negotiations between the district and teacher and support staff unions.

The Minneapolis teachers union began mediation sessions at the end of February. The union representing support staff will have its first mediation session with the district next month.

In a news conference Wednesday morning, Greta Callahan, the teacher chapter president of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, said the two sides “are not close” to reaching an agreement. Another mediation session is set for next week.

“What we are desperately trying to avoid right now is another strike…we don’t want that to happen again,” she said. Callahan is running for a seat on the School Board against Minneapolis parent and Montessori educator Lara Bergman.

The district said in a statement Wednesday that it would like to update the community on negotiations but noted that “we honor the confidentiality required by mediation and therefore cannot share more specific details at this time.” It added that it hopes “to reach a contract settlement soon.”

Budget recommendations will be presented to the full school board March 26. The first reading of the budget is set for May 14, and final approval will come in June.