Most Twin Cities area schools districts show deficits for 2024-25
A new survey of school districts in the Twin Cities region, Rochester and Duluth finds more than 70 percent are expecting budget shortfalls in the upcoming school year.
The survey, which was conducted by the Association of Metropolitan School Districts, shows districts face more than $300 million in shortfalls for the 2024-25 school year, with nearly two-thirds of that gap centered in Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools.
St. Paul leaders have said during the current teacher contract negotiations that the district faces a $108 million shortfall. The AMSD survey has Minneapolis reporting a $90 million projected deficit currently for the next school year.
Anoka-Hennepin, the state’s largest school district, reported needing to close a $24 million gap.
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The projected budget holes have opened despite a significant increase in state funding following last year’s legislative session.
School leaders say the projected shortfalls are due to a combination of inflation, sunsetting pandemic funds and costs from new legislative requirements.
Some districts say they will need to consider laying off staff, cutting programs and using up fund balances as a result of the projected shortfalls.
“We will have to consider all options, including using fund balance, administrative cuts, program cuts, and staff layoffs,” Cory McIntyre, superintendent of Anoka-Hennepin Schools, said in a statement provided by the school districts association.
Anoka-Hennepin recently agreed to a new two-year teacher contract deal the union said includes salary increases of 5 percent for the current school year, retroactive to July, and 3 percent in 2024-25. The district received $66 million in new dollars from the Legislature last year, enough to cover the new contract’s expected $64 million cost, the district said.