Schools
St. Paul Public School Board votes to avoid mid-year layoffs
By Katherine Langford
Eleven Minnesota schools land on state’s financial trouble list
Marcus Chen
Marcus Chen
Managing Editor · St. Paul, MN
Marcus manages the day-to-day editorial workflow across all brands, coordinating coverage assignments and ensuring editorial standards are met. He previously served as city editor at the Pioneer Press and holds a degree in Political Science from Carleton College.
More from Marcus →Managing Editor · Friday, October 30, 2026 at 8:00 PM · 1 min read
“Programs, unfortunately, have to go. You re seeing, in different districts, where we re navigating potential school closures,” said Dr. Renee Sbrocco Corneille, executive director of the Educational Leadership, Practice and Policy department at the University of Minnesota and a former superintendent. https://youtube.com/shorts/aagYIBmd95o She s talking about what schools have to do to balance their budgets when they end up on the state s SOD, or Statutory Operating Debt, list. After the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) warned the Fridley Area Schools that the district is in a debt spiral, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS wondered how many Minnesota districts are struggling financially. We learned the list is short but the finances that land a school district on that list could hurt its ability to educate your kids effectively. A district lands on the SOD list when it spends at least 2.5% more in a year than it actually has. “That s going to vary from district to distri
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