Robbinsdale School District addresses $21 million deficit

ROBBINSDALE, Minn. (FOX 9) - The Robbinsdale School Board met Monday night to announce plans to address a $21 million budget shortfall for the 2025-26 school year due to what officials are calling an "implementation error."

The district faces a deficit because of a budgeting error that essentially counted $20 million in available revenue twice. Changes are expected to come in the form of expanded walk zones for bus route cuts, changing school bell times, cutting staff and increasing the cap on students per class.

District officials plan to slash between $15-$17 million from the 2025-26 budget, ranging from Education Service Center staff and administration to school-based reductions and transportation. 

Preliminary school reductions

What we know:

Officials say most schools in the district will go to larger class sizes as they reduce staff. The plan calls for cutting $1.8 million in ESC administration, and more than $850,000 in other staff. A source told FOX 9 as many as 200 teachers could be laid off.

Here’s how the class size breaks down at every level.

• Kindergarten – Increase from 20.2 to 25
• First grade – Increase from 20.4 to 26
• Second grade – Increase from 21 to 28
• Third grade – Increase from 23.5 to 28
• Fourth grade – Increase from 22.9 to 30
• Fifth grade – Increase from 23.3 to 31
• Middle school – Increase from 22.5 to 25.2
• High School – Increase from 23.4 to 28.1

Walk zone changes

Local perspective:

The district plans to change the distance for buses to provide service to get students to school to the elementary and middle school level.

• Elementary students living within 0.8 miles of their school are in a walk zone and will not get bus service.
• Middle school students living within one mile of school will not get bus service.
• The high school zone of one mile stays the same.

Changing bell times

Big picture view:

Under the budget proposal, Robbinsdale schools will generally be starting the day earlier, and ending earlier.

• Elementary students would arrive at 7:30 a.m. with a 7:40 a.m. bell, instead of 7:45 a.m., and have a 2 p.m. bell with a 2:07 departure. Afternoon students would have a 1:50 p.m. arrival.
• Middle school students would have a 9:25 a.m. bell, five minutes later than normal, and a 4:05 p.m. bell.
• High school students would have an 8:35 a.m. bell, and 3:15 p.m. bell.

What's next:

The Robbinsdale School Board met Monday night to address the 2025-26 proposal.