Politics & Government

State of Shutdown: Impact on Northfield Public Schools

The state budget impasse is putting some strains on Minnesota school districts.

Northfield School Board members last month voted unanimously to authorize the district to secure a line of credit to cover expenses in the and stoppage of aid payments to school districts.

Fortunately for the Northfield district and other districts around Minnesota, Ramsey County District Court Judge Kathleen Gearing last week ruled that the state must continue payments to districts during a , which happened July 1.

That news came as relief to Superintendent Chris Richardson as the Northfield district receives about 70 percent of its $38.2 million annual budget from state funds. 

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“We really appreciated the willingness of the court to consider the fact that state aid for school district is a necessity,” Richardson said Wednesday. “Having that will make it much easier for school districts to weather the shutdown until we determine what the final results will be.”

For now, the line of credit won’t need to be used, he said. With about $7.5 million in the district’s unreserved fund balance, Richardson said district officials would continue to closely monitor what the state is doing and how Northfield’s cash flow is. Overall, though, Richardson said the district has carefully handled its finances in the past few years to prepare for difficult situations.

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“We’ve tried to be really good stewards of taxpayer dollars.”


State aid expected—but only in part

Because the Minnesota Constitution requires a “general and uniform system of public schools,” the ruling makes funding education a critical core function of government. Consequently, many—but not all—education aid payments will continue to flow to school districts, even during the shutdown.

While the payments for general education aid, property tax credits, and debt service equalization aid will come in to schools throughout the shutdown, the state will not fund a handful of other areas, including special education programs. 

And without the approval of a K-12 budget bill at the statehouse, state school districts might be left picking up the slack for unfunded programs, like special education, should the shutdown continue into the start of the school year.  

Special education funding alone accounts for about 20 percent of Northfield’s annual budget.

And it’s a complicated scenario for districts for many reasons.

The past few years has seen a shift in payments to districts—they receive 70 percent of their funding during the school year and receive the final 30 percent after final enrollment numbers are turned in following the school year. That’s a shift from previous years, when the split was 90 percent and 10 percent.

While districts will receive only 80 percent of its funding during a shutdown, the formula has reverted back to the 90:10 ratio, instead of the 70:30 ratio from the previous years, Richardson said. In the end, districts will still receive most of its money during the shutdown.

“It’s a short-term gift,” he said.

And while that is helpful for now, Richardson said he’s concerned with what happens with a state budget—and education bill— are settled. Talks during the previous legislative session suggested that the shift increase to 40 percent—or more—to help balance the budget.

“If they choose to deal with that long-term structural deficit with a short-term shift, that obviously makes the problem worse,” he said. “That simply kicks the can down the road another year but does not solve the problem.”


Licensing woes

Besides hitting school district budgets, the state shutdown has essentially closed the doors to the Minnesota Department of Education. And with only a skeleton crew remaining at the MDE, some schools across the state will now have to contend with expiring teacher licenses.

But Northfield’s schools won’t be among them.

Teachers must regularly renew their licenses with the Minnesota Board of Teaching, showing that they met certain professional development milestones since their last renewals. Even teachers who have been in the classroom many years need updated licenses to run classrooms. No current license—no classes.

The same goes for new teachers. And since many school districts across the state do much of their new teacher hiring during summer months, many new teachers may find themselves with a job but no license. 

With a little foresight of a potential stalemate at the state Capitol, Northfield administration and human resources encouraged its faculty of 279 teachers to renew their licenses earlier than usual this year.

Richardson said only a handful of community expert or variance licenses have gone unrenewed before the July 1 shutdown. It’s not much of a concern, he said, because those licenses, which allow for teachers to fill in for similar classes, are not used much. They’ll be used even less this year, Richardson added, because Northfield filled several of those positions by hiring teachers who were casualties of budget cuts in other districts.

As far as new teachers out of college, Richardson said there is only one in the Northfield district who still needs to receive a license from the state.

Should the state still be shutdown before the school year starts in September, he said those positions will be filled temporarily with substitute teachers.


State testing

Critical student test scores will also be delayed with an extended shutdown because the MDE is operating with a six-person crew. That would prevent schools using those assessments to address student needs.

The results from the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments essentially drive instruction at Minnesota schools. Since many districts decide on curriculum changes in August, after those tests results are published, schools across the state will be without a way to see where educational gaps exist and correct any problems that may be evident.

But Northfield schools collect testing data throughout the year and can plan accordingly based on that, Richardson said.

The statewide tests, however, are also important because they’re used under the federal No Child Left Behind Act and are the largest determination of schools and districts making AYP. If districts and schools receiving Title I funding—like Bridgewater and Greenvale Park elementaries—fail to meet AYP goals for two or more consecutive years, they are classified as “in need of improvement” and face a battery of potential consequences.

Greenvale is in that stage. This year’s tests will determine if Bridgewater joins that list, but because of the potential delay, the district may not know until after the school year starts.

The state of Minnesota is responsible for submitting the local test results to the United States Department of Education for evaluation. Without the staff to submit those results, an extended shutdown could mean Minnesota schools would miss the federal deadline to turn in their AYP scores—set 14 days before school begins, which is Sept. 6.

MDE Acting Director of School Improvement Steve Dibb spoke to Patch just a few hours before the department’s doors were to close last week.

“We’re not feeling very positive [around here],” he said.

Dibb said it was unclear exactly how the shutdown would affect or delay test scores from getting into educators’ hands because the impact was contingent on how long the shutdown lasts.

“If [the shutdown lasts] a day or two, there probably won’t be much of an effect,” he said. “If it turns into a few weeks of a shutdown then the reports would be delayed … How long? We don’t know … We haven’t had this happen before.”

But a spokesperson with the USDE told Patch that if the shutdown continues, the MDE can apply for a waiver of the federal reporting deadline, calling the shutdown an “unforeseen, mitigating circumstance,” and predicting that the a school district “would get a sympathetic review from the USDE since it would get the same treatment as a natural disaster that impedes State operations.” 

The difference between a state shutdown and a natural disaster, however, the spokeswoman said, is that in Minnesota’s current situation, no one from either the state or the local school agencies is communicating with federal education officials. Once the state government is back, she said, the USDOE would wait until MDE is operating and able to estimate when test analysis would be complete and the results disseminated to local school districts, before deciding on a new deadline.

For his part, Dibb went on to say his department at MDE had been working with its test vendors and clients to set up a contingency plan so when the shutdown is over, they can pick up where they left off.

“We’ll have to wait until the shutdown is over,” he said. “We’ll just take it as it comes and do our best.”

It’s something Richardson will be watching closely.

“It’ll be interesting.”


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