Minnesota schools that used COVID-19 relief money to prop up their budgets are now facing cuts, despite significant investments from the state legislature.
“We’re coming off, obviously, a historic pandemic, which included, as a result, historic inflation,” said Scott Croonquist, executive director of the Association of Metropolitan School Districts. “And then, in addition to the historic funding, really, there are some historic new expectations and requirements for our school districts coming out of the legislative session.”
Minnesota lawmakers this year committed to large increases in the per-pupil funding formula and dedicated money for required but underfunded special education and English language learner programming. The money coming from state sources is on top of billions of dollars in COVID relief funds that districts received from the federal government.
