Aug 16, 2026

Despite Misleading Claims of Central Office Staff Reductions by the Lisa Sayles-Adams Administration, the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Central Office Burden Remains Very High at a Time When the District Confronts a $40 Million Dollar Budget Deficit

In spring 2025, the Lisa Sayles-Adams administration gave various figures were given at certain junctures as to staff reductions at the Davis Center (Minneapolis Public Schools Central Offices).

 

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1)  14.22%, made in a document presented at the 22 April 2025 MPS Board of Education Committee of the Whole;  

 

2)  11.74%, made in a document presented at the 13 May 2025 regular business meeting of the MPS Board of Education; 

 

and

 

3)  and 13.8%, remarkably made by Ryan Strack at that very same 13 May 2025 MPS Board of Education regular business meeting---  and reiterated in personal communications to me by Strack and Kimberly Haynes.  

 

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>>>>>   In addition to the conflicting claims as to percentage of staff cuts, there is the matter of the figures not actually being made on the basis of Davis Center employee staff cuts at all, but rather on the basis of the number of FTEs (Full Time Equivalencies) assigned to the Davis Center.

 

Thus, the Sayles-Adams administration gives appearance of misleading the public as to staff reductions at the Davis Center.

 

Consider these figures pertinent to actual staff reductions;  additionally, note median salary and total staffing expenditure information    >>>>>

 

 

Davis Center Staffing Information

 

April 2025

 

594 total staff

$81,259 median salary

$50,020,384 total staffing expenditure

 

 

May 2025

 

584 total staff

$83,291 median salary

$48,341,612 total staffing expenditure

 

July 2025

 

545 total staff

$85,372 median salary

$48,864,041 total staffing expenditure

 

Sept. 2025

 

576 total staff

$85,420 median salary

$51,693,770 total staffing expenditure

 

May 2026

 

580 total staff

$87,507 median salary

$50,221,551 total staffing expenditure

 

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An examination of these figures indicate that actual staffing reductions from a high in April 2025 of 594 staff members to the most recent figures as represented for May 2026 of 580 staff members reveals a reduction of only 14 staff members for a percentage reduction of 2.37% (two and thirty-seven hundredths percent.

 

In the course of spring 2026, Minneapolis Public Schools Senior Executive Officer Ryan Strack has continued to claim, more vaguely that a concerted effort has been made to reduce central office staff so as to fully staff “student-facing” positions at school building sites as much as possible.

 

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As with the deceptive claims made in spring 2025, these statements on the part of Strack belie the facts  >>>>>

 

>>>>>   Staffing at the Davis center has been essentially flat, at most a reduction of two percent (2%), with the figure as of May 2026 revealed as 580 staff members.

 

>>>>>   The median salary for staff members at the Davis Center increased from $81,259 in April 2025 to $87,507.

 

>>>>>   Total figures for salary expenditure at the Davis center was $50,221, 551 clsoe to the all-time high of $51,693,770 recorded in September 2025.

 

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The public should be aware, then that the central office burden is heavy,  at a time when the district of the Minneapolis Public Schools confronts a $40 million dollar deficit.

 

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