On 29 November 2022, Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Board of Education Finance Committee members received a clear warning from Interim Supeintendent Rochelle Cox, Senior Finance Officer Ibrahima Diop, and Executive Budget Director Thom Roethke that MPS was facing a "fiscal crisis" that could reach catastrophic proportions if drastic budgetary changes were not made.
At the
time, the approximately $960 million annual budget was balanced, in large
measure due to federal relief funds
received during the Covid pandemic; but
those funds were slated to abate in 2024. Cox and Finance Division officials warned that
massive cuts would be necessary to avoid dangerous depletion of the general
fund that would put the district into operating debt. The Finance Division’s five-year financial projections
indicated that even if enrollment decline could be reversed, expenses would
greatly exceed revenue. A fiscal cliff loomed; doing nothing was "not an option"; Roethke said that maintaining the status quo
in expenditures and revenue would find the district running out of money by the
end of fiscal year 2025.
At that
juncture in November, five newly elected board members---
Abdul Abdi (District 1), Collin Beachy (At-Large), Sondra Emerich
(At-Large; later to change their given
name to Joiner), Faheema Feerayarre (District 3), and Lori Norvell (District
5)--- were due to join the MPS Board of
Education in January 2023. Kim Ellison,
Board Chair at the time, observed that Senior Finance Officer Diop had been warning
members about the looming financial crisis for years and that the issues must be
addressed very soon to keep the district sustainable.
Interim
Superintendent Cox and Diop conveyed to finance committee members that much of
the financial dilemma was due to decreasing enrollment, which at the time had
declined seventeen percent, from approximately 34,000 to 28,000 students, over
five years. Projections by Diop’s staff
indicated that enrollment could decrease to 23,000 students by the 2027-2028
school year.
The key
document presented at the November 2022 meeting stated that "MPS must
address both the quality of its product as well as work with policymakers and
city leaders to address factors outside of its control such as crime, housing
prices and transportation issues, if it hopes to stabilize.”
Roethke
emphasized that MPS spent $3,900 more on a per-student basis in general
operating costs than the average spent by the state's 15 largest districts, largely
due to Minneapolis's substantially lower student-to-teacher ratios compared
with other districts. The district’s relatively
large number and small size of schools produced those lower ratios. "Other
districts simply operate fewer, larger schools," Roethke commented.
Interim
Superintendent Cox declared that as the next Board and long-term superintendent
made the needed changes, they should do so in a way that focused on improved
academic quality for the students of the Minneapolis Public Schools.
…………………………………………………………………………..
Three and
a half years later, procrastinating MPS Board of Education directors and
Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams may be finally poised to address building
usage issues and other issues related to the district’s financial woes.
At the 15
September 2026 meeting of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Board of
Education, the Superintendent Lisa Sayles- Adams administration presented three
options for building usage that depending on the plan could close 9 to 16
schools. Under any of these plans, most
elementary school would have art, music, gym, reading, and math intervention
specialists. All middle school students would have full programs of athletics and extra-curricular
activities; all high school students
would have access to all classes needed to meet graduation requirements.
Each of
the three plans would close the following schools >>>>>
>>>>> Loring Elementary School
>>>>> Pratt Elementary School
>>>>> Kenny Elementary School
>>>>> Bethune Arts Elementary School
>>>>> Anwatin Middle School
Each of
the three plans would move students from presently occupied buildings to
continue programming in another school site
>>>>>
>>>>> Hmong International Academy (would shift culture
and language magnet programming to Jenny Lind Elementary)
>>>>> Heritage High School (Somali student
program would shift to Edison High School
>>>>> FAIR School for Arts (would shift to North
High School)
>>>>> Longfellow Alternative High School (teen
parent program would shift to North High School)
>>>>> Wellstone International High School (program for immigrant students ages 18 to 22 still working toward English language mastery would shift to South High Schools.
Each of
the three plans would consolidate these schools:
- Lake Nokomis Keewaydin and Wenonah community
schools would consolidate at the Keewaydin
campus
- Lake Harriet Upper and Lower
Elementary Schools would consolidate at the upper school campus
- Hiawatha and Howe Elementary Schools
would consolidate over time at the Howe campus, or they might be closed
- Hale Elementary School and Field
Elementary School would consolidate at the Hale Campus
Some
plans would close these schools:
- Cityview Elementary School
- Webster Elementary School
(Note
also that if Hiawatha and Howe do not merge, they would close.)
Former
Minnesota Federation of Educators president Greta Callahan, now MPS Board of Education
director for District 6, spoke vehemently against any school closures. She complained that the decision had been
made by seven central office staff without sufficient consultation with the
community and that the presentation did not indicate how much money would be
saved or how many families might leave the district; and she said that the Board of Education
directive to the Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams administration was not to
bring a plan for closing schools but a plan rather for winning back the 47% of
Minneapolis families of school aged children that do not select MPS over
charter schools, private schools, and other districts.
Callahan
drew loud applause from most audience members, including the heavily
represented organization, Minnesota Families for Public Schools.
But
At-Large Board Director Joyner Emerick countered that the administration had
exactly fulfilled the Board’s directive and praised the potential for equitable
distributions of resources under the plans. District 2 Director Sharon El-Amin
commended the plans for the potential to improve academic results for Black and
Brown students. District 5 Director Lori
Norvell Board member also indicated approval, agreeing with Emerick that the
administration had fulfilled directives from the Board faithfully. District 4 Director Adriana Cerrillo, along
with Emerick attending the meeting virtually, commended the administration’s
hard work but was less effusive in her praise than Emerick, El-Amin, and
Norvell.
District
3 Director Lisa Skjefte was absent.
District
1 Director Abdul Abdi questioned if Edison High School had the infrastructure to
serve Heritage High School students, expressing fear that they might seek other
options.
At-Large
Director and Board Chair Collin Beachy commended the superintendent and
administration for their hard work and conveyed openness to the changes
proposed; but he wants a plan for
measuring improved academic results, and he seeks to mitigate impact on
teachers.
……………………………………………………….
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The MPS
Board of Education is slated to vote on these proposals at the 10 November 2026
regular business meeting, after meetings for community input occur during a
period encompassing 30 September through 9 October.
These
meetings will in all likelihood be sham events in the mold of the highly
controlled Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams “Listening Sessions” of spring
2024, after the Board decision to hire her on 1 December 2023 and after
beginning her new post on 5 February. So
no one should be fooled that community opinion is going to be taken seriously.
But the
Board should approve one of the plans, ideally ceasing to utilize 16 buildings
now serving as school sites, thereby saving operating costs so as to more
wisely utilize resources.
Thereafter,
the focus must be on providing students with a knowledge-intensive,
skill-replete education, necessitating the training of teachers capable of
delivering such a curriculum.
Rochelle
Cox would have, as long-term superintendent, long since induced the Board
to act on the financial crisis about which she, Senior Finance Officer Diop,
and Executive Directo Thom Roethke had warned.
And she would have moved forward with her Tutoring Triad interventions,
online ACT preparation, and online high dosage tutoring. She and then Senior Academic Officer Aimee
Fearing would have continued to invite such proponents of broad knowledge for
intrinsic value and improved reading ability as Natalie Wexler and then
skillfully induced teachers to undergo the training necessary for the provision
of a knowledge-intensive curriculum.
The
process that denied to Cox and Fearing the opportunities to continue their
promising initiatives was deeply corrupt.
The Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams administration has been deceitful
and irresponsible in seeking to blame former Finance Division officials for the
crisis about which they had warned and sought so skillfully to mitigate. Sayles-Adams is an intellectual lightweight
who somehow gained doctoral committee approval at Minnesota State University/Mankato for the worst dissertation that I have
ever read, yet insists on staff and Board members addressing her as “Dr.” Her administration has taken no action to
improve academic quality, lacking the comprehension and courage to take
necessary action.
In the
aftermath of the Cox and staff presentation on MPS finances in November 2022, I
analyzed building usage and published suggested closings and re-purposed
buildings that closely resemble the plan presented at the 15 September 2026
meeting by the Sayles-Adams administration, while also continuing in Public
Comments and on my blog and other platforms to expose the academic failure of
the district.
The MPS
Board of Education is at least three and a half two years too late in moving on
the building usage and financial issues;
Sayles-Adams has moved too slowly on the building usage issues since her
assumption of her position and she has irresponsibly blamed the district
financial crisis on people who were confronting that crisis forthrightly.
The MPS
Board of Education should approve one of the plans addressing building usage on
10 November.
In the
meantime, and with the distraction of the building usage matter out of the way,
I will continue relentlessly to advocate for the changes necessary to provide
knowledge-intensive, skill-replete education to children of all demographic
descriptors
