With a more than $108 million deficit looming, St. Paul Public Schools is looking to cut spending to keep its budget balanced.
After-school programs, teacher prep time, food service and custodial staff funding are some top items set to see cuts as a combination of the expiration of federal pandemic aid, higher inflation and declining enrollment squeeze the budget.
At last Tuesday’s school board meeting, district leadership acknowledged some programs will need to be cut.
“This year’s budget will and has revealed many competing investments that are going to challenge us as a community,” said Superintendent Joe Gothard. “We have some really challenging decisions that we’re going to make and it will impact nearly every school community in St. Paul Public Schools.”
The school district isn’t done figuring out what it plans to cut, though so far it has identified about $71.3 million to eliminate. Another $36.2 million or so still needs to be trimmed for the district to balance the budget and address a $107.5 million deficit.
New budget must be set by June
St. Paul Public Schools will have to set a new budget by June. This year’s budget is about $1 billion and was passed by the school board in 2023. Next year’s likely will have to be smaller.
St. Paul schools aren’t alone in seeing budget strain. Many districts across the state have budget shortfalls despite a significant bump in state funding for education last year. And that’s despite record state aid delivered in last year’s budget. The district is set to receive more than $56 million in additional ongoing state aid tied to inflation.
More than 70% of Minnesota’s metro school districts expect deficits, according to the Association of Metropolitan School Districts.
The biggest is in St. Paul, which is the state’s second-largest district with around 33,000 students. Minneapolis Public Schools, also among the state’s biggest with around 30,000 students, has a deficit of around $90 million.
Cuts so far
District and teachers union leaders reached an agreement to boost pay by 10% this month. It’s an added expense for the district, which said it was only willing to increase pay by about $12.4 million and ultimately agreed to increases of more than $19 million.
The contract will cost about $37.5 million more than the previous one. It averted a strike earlier this month, which was set to begin March 11.
It’s not yet entirely clear how the union deal will affect the budget, though there’s already a significant deficit. So what has to go in order for the district to balance the budget?
Programs paid for by federal pandemic aid make up about half of the cuts the district has identified so far. About $36 million in funds tied to the American Rescue Plan Act make up half of what St. Paul schools will have to cut.
So far that includes:
• Around $10.9 million for additional training and study time during the school day for teachers aimed at achieving district math and literacy goals. When teachers do the training, known as professional development, students typically get instruction from specialists.
• About $8.9 million could get cut from food service and facilities, supplies, after-school programs, and administrative support for pandemic aid.
• There could also be a $6.9 million cut to additional custodial staff in schools and a $5.6 million cut to partnerships with 39 different community organizations that provide “enrichment opportunities” for students.
• Middle school after-school programs that provide classes in art, science, technology, health and fitness, and culture could see a $3 million cut. About $1 million in funding “for quality control specialists and frontline staff to meet pandemic food service regulations” is also expiring.
• Additional staff to support elementary school libraries and off-school-time free community education programs are among other areas that likely will see cuts.
Information sessions
School budgets are still in the works, but the district has to send allocations to schools this month so administrators will have an idea of the funds they’ll be able to work with. Once schools have preliminary budget information, they’ll hold information sessions for families in mid-April and May.
The district finalizes its budget in June.
St. Paul initially had a much bigger expected budget deficit of around $150 million.
But a few factors, including a reduction in one-time spending from pandemic aid of about $25 million, and a $6.5 million boost in state compensatory aid — money for schools with more low-income students or larger numbers of people who don’t speak English as a first language — reduced that shortfall.
