Minneapolis school board members on Tuesday are expected to detail their plans to close a $75 million gap for next school year. District leaders have signaled already that school nutrition and special education will be affected. Some layoff notices have already been sent.

Officials in recent months have also been examining the district’s building use for possible savings. They’ve estimated Minneapolis Public Schools is operating now at 65 percent of the enrollment the buildings could ideally support, though district leaders haven’t said whether they plan to close buildings.

Now the state’s fourth-largest district, Minneapolis has struggled for years with budget deficits driven largely by shrinking enrollment. Last year as the district faced an even larger budget gap of $110 million, it drew from its reserves, cut jobs and left nearly 5 percent of its open staff positions unfilled to make ends meet. Some of the cuts included positions in finance, human resources and cleaning staff.

Minnesota’s school funding system is based on a per-pupil formula, so when kids choose to learn elsewhere,the thousands of dollars in state and federal funds that go with them is spent elsewhere.

Student counts rose slightly this year to about 29,000 according to records collected by the state Department of Education, but that’s still down roughly 20,000 students from 2000. The district also took a significant enrollment hit during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this week, district leaders said they were planning cuts to special education assistants and were restructuring school nutrition sites, but were attempting to avoid getting rid of major programs that students interact with directly. 

“Funding for some school-based programs and staffing may see slight declines but we are pleased to share that there are no complete eliminations proposed to student-facing programs in school allocations,” Deputy Superintendent Ty Thompson told board members on Tuesday.  

School budgets struggle across Twin Cities region

While the Minneapolis district struggles are well-known, a recent survey of Twin Cities area school districts shows many other school systems struggling to close gaps.

The survey by the Association of Metropolitan School Districts shows all but a few districts dealing with deficits, many in the millions of dollars. 

Added together, districts expect to see a shortfall of $280 million. That would slip to $264 million if Gov. Tim Walz’s budget proposal is approved. Those numbers are slightly better than the more than $300 million in expected shortfalls districts reported last year.

St. Paul, now the state’s second largest district behind the Anoka-Hennepin schools, faces a $51 million shortfall.

Minneapolis school leaders say they are moving forward with budget plans, although board members worried aloud recently about what might happen if the federal government cuts spending on special education or Title 1 — funding that supports children from low-income homes. 

“What would be the reality if Title 1 is taken away?” board member Adriana Cerrillo asked at a recent meeting. “I hope that we are thinking about that.”

“We are monitoring,” said Ibrahima Diop, the district’s chief financial officer. “It would be devastating across the country … we would have a budget shortage of about $25 million that is right now in schools.”