Robbinsdale officials outline $8M‑plus recovery plan, propose school closures and program cuts

Robbinsdale Public School District officials told the board during a Nov. 24 study session that the district faces a deepening structural deficit and must take action this year to stop compounding losses.

"We are a negative $11,000,000 in our unreserved, undesignated fund balance," said Kristen Holbeisel, the district's chief financial officer, describing the district's position at the end of the most recent fiscal year and warning that preliminary projections could push the deficit to about $16 million without cuts. Holbeisel and other administrators said the board needs to find at least $8 million, and ideally $9 million, in reductions for the coming year to halt the trajectory.

To begin hitting that target, administration recommended, and reconfirmed at the session, a package centered on site consolidation. The plan published for public notice would include the potential closure of two elementary schools and one middle school, a move staff said would yield roughly $2.5 million of the required savings. Administration emphasized that the Dec. 15 public hearing is the formal step for community input and that any final board vote will follow the hearing and additional study sessions.

Beyond the closures, staff identified a mix of administrative and programmatic reductions to reach the overall target: a phased reduction to the International Baccalaureate program (with senior-year continuity for current seniors called out), secondary scheduling and staffing efficiencies (a cited target of just over $2 million), and a roughly $500,000 reduction in non‑instructional personnel costs. Staff also flagged transportation changes — including eliminating district buses for some magnet programs — as a potential multi‑million‑dollar savings item.

Administrators repeatedly framed the package as a painful but necessary set of choices to produce an immediate fiscal turn. "At a minimum ... the board needs to cut $8,000,000," Holbeisel said as she reviewed a sample statutory operating debt resolution that the district must transmit to the Minnesota Department of Education. The sample resolution included commitments to discontinue deficit budgeting and to submit preliminary budgets showing the discontinuance of deficit spending.

Board members pressed staff on timing, impacts and alternatives in extended discussion. Several members urged more precise cost estimates for transition expenses before committing to particular closures—bathroom retrofits, moving specialized equipment, and other one‑time conversion costs were repeatedly raised as items that could affect the near‑term timetable. Administration offered working estimates and said some numbers remain to be scoped, including mover quotes and facility‑specific retrofits.

Administration also told the board about two near‑term town‑hall/listening options and committed to return with requested details (transportation modeling, exact lease costs on off‑site properties, and more precise move/retrofit estimates) before the Dec. 15 hearing. "We will come back and provide additional information," a district presenter told the board.

Next procedural steps: the district will continue study sessions, hold a listening session and the Dec. 15 public hearing; the administration expects to bring a recommended statutory operating debt plan to the board for final action in January.

What to watch: the exact pairings of schools the board ultimately selects for closure; whether the board accepts the administrative scheduling and staffing efficiency proposals; the final vote on the SOD resolution and the district’s submission to the Minnesota Department of Education.