Robbinsdale community voices concerns over school district’s $20 million shortfall

Robbinsdale school budget $20 million short

Robbinsdale School District officials held a town hall meeting to address a $20 million budget shortfall for the upcoming school year. FOX 9 reporter Soyoung Kim has the full story.

ROBBINSDALE, Minn. (FOX 9) - Robbinsdale Area Schools is facing massive budget woes for the next school year.

What the school district is saying

This comes after what the district calls an "implementation" error.

District leaders invited the public to a town hall meeting at Cooper High School on Wednesday.

Many people voiced concerns over how the district has found itself facing a roughly $20 million shortfall for the upcoming school year.

What residents are saying

Some community members gave emotional testimony.

"I choose this district every day and trust me, it’s not always easy," said a parent. "A miscalculation of $20 million?"

"We’re here because we’re not happy. All of this going on is fiscal mismanagement," said a community member.

District leaders said their $200 million budget for the next fiscal year is made up of $180 million in general revenue plus $20 million in compensatory funding.

How did this happen?

The district’s Chief Financial Officer Kristen Hoheisel said that essentially, $20 million was counted twice.

"So that number was embedded and then the budget was approved by the school board. After the process, the compensatory revenue again was, to support the sites, was implemented twice or again," said Hoheisel.

When asked how the district got to this point, leadership said it is also facing a deficit for this school year after roughly $14 million in cuts that were anticipated will most likely not be realized this year.

What comes next?

Hoheisel also said she anticipates the school district to be in Statutory Operating Debt (SOD) at the end of the 2024-25 fiscal year. SOD is a state-defined status triggered when a school district’s year-end deficit exceeds 2.5% of its annual operating expenses. It will require the district to submit a corrective financial plan to the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE).

Superintendent Dr. Teri Staloch said administrators are auditing programming to navigate how to account for this massive shortfall.

"We’re auditing and looking at programming right now. Really looking at what’s the return on investment," said Staloch. "What’s working well for our students right now we want to make sure we prioritize and maintain, and where are those places that we need to look at. With a budget reduction process this large, we're going to be looking at everything."

District leaders said they plan to hold more opportunities for transparent conversations about how to move forward.