Read Carefully to Understand the Misleading Claims Made by the Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams Administration Regarding Davis Center Staff Reductions as Fiscal Year 2026 Budget of the Minneapolis Public Schools is Finalized

Staff members at the Davis Center totaled 568 (five hundred sixty-eight) as of 13 May 2025, according to my calculations;  sixteen additional staff members may occupy positions at the Davis Center;  if so, this would bring the figure to 584;  but as I clarify the actual figure, I am proceeding with the figure of 568 (five hundred sixty-eight) as reference for most of the comments and data that I provide in this series.

 

The figure of 568 would be a reduction of 26 (twenty-six) staff members from the figure of 594 (five hundred ninety-four) that prevailed eight months ago, in September 2024;  this would calculate to a 4.38% reduction.  The figure of 584 would be a reduction of 10 (ten) staff members from the figure of 594 (five hundred ninety-four) that prevailed eight months ago, in September 2024;  this would calculate to a 1.68% reduction.

 

Both figures (4.38% and 1.68%) would be far short of the 14.22% reduction claimed in the FY 26 Budget document presented by Minneapolis Public Schools Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams and staff at the 22 April 2025 Committee of the Whole meeting of Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education. 

 

The claim in that document is that “Staff based at the Davis Center are being reduced by 14.22%” for fiscal year 2026.  If the latter claim is valid, further cuts will be made in staff by comparison to the mid-April figures on which the current series is based.

 

But then, the administration of Lisa Sayles-Adams has had difficulty stating clearly and definitively the percentage reductions that have actually occurred:

 

A figure of 11.74% was given in the key document at the 13 May Regular Business Meeting of the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education;  and on that very evening a high-ranking staff member stated that the figure pertinent to Davis Center staff reductions as Budget FY26 (the district budget of fiscal year 2026) would be 13.8%.

 

And then there is the matter the basis for that 13.8% reductions.

 

District officials give appearance of deception in the provision of these figures:

 

Data that I received upon request indicates that the 13.8% figure is not based on reduction of staff actually working at the Davis Center but rather on FTE (Full-Time Equivalencies) assigned to the Davis Center as of 14 April 2025---  meaning the maximum number that could be hired as staff---  and the FTEs projected to be assigned to the Davis Center when Budget FY26 is finalized in June 2025.  With the figure of 678.8521 FTE on 14 April 2025, reduced to 585.3092 FTE by the time Budget FY26 is finalized in June, this would calculate to a 13.78% (rounded to 13.8%) reduction.

 

Understand, then that the administration of Lisa Sayles-Adams has been highly deceptive in statements to the public and to the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education:

 

At no time in the course of my eleven year investigation into the inner workings of the Minneapolis Public Schools have there been 679 staff members actually working at the Davis Center;  the figure has tended to hover just above or just below 600 staff members.

 

The figure for actual employee FTE (as opposed to assigned FTE) on 14 April 2025 was 607.015 FTE. 

 

On 13 May 2025 the comparable figure was 606.015 FTE.

 

This would mean that as the budget was being finalized there has been a reduction of only one (1) FTE;  in percentage terms this would be a negligible 00.16% (far under even one percent [1.00%]).