The proposed cuts include teaching jobs, an early-childhood hub and special lunch menus as the district faces expiring federal pandemic relief funds and a $107.5 million budget gap.
The minimum wage law that took effect Monday guarantees at least $20-per-hour for workers at fast food restaurant chains with at least 60 locations nationwide. That doesn't include school food service workers, historically some of the lowest-paid workers in public education.
Community members, including PSD teachers and other employees, have also expressed concern about the growth of administrative positions at the district's central office.
A superintendent's time horizon is longest of all: budgeting, capital projects, strategic initiatives and changing state requirements—and this is the time to prioritize those issues.
If enacted, the cuts would leave nearly every Minneapolis school with less money to spend. Add that to the list of huge challenges facing MPS leaders, with student enrollment declining, and tense teacher contract negotiations still ongoing.
"This is a solid budget," Republican Senate President Robert Stivers said. "It is the best budget that has been proposed or passed by the General Assembly."
Created in 2003, the Recovery School District is a network of public schools the state has adopted after being classified as "academically unacceptable" for four years in a row.
The School District of Philadelphia has four full-time certified librarians this year for more than 116,000 students, per spokesperson Marissa Orbanek.
