In the wake of what the U.S. Department of Homeland Security dubbed “Operation Metro Surge,” the targeted district of Columbia Heights Public Schools (CHPS)—alongside many others—has just begun to take a breath. Nevertheless, a new, not entirely unrelated endeavor taunts the district: budget cuts. Next school year, CHPS is set to face up to $4.6 million total in budget cuts, forcing the district to cut current staff, increase class sizes and reduce department sizes.
An initial $1 million loss comes simply from a loss of students, as CHPS is projected to lose 200-300 students between the current school year and into the 2026-2027 school year. This number isn’t new. Every year, a similar number of students leave the Columbia Heights district, but usually a near match amount enrolls by the following fall. In the upcoming school year, however, CHPS has a much smaller predicted amount of new students enrolling. District officials say this reduction likely comes from recent restrictions on immigration to the U.S.
“For the last few years, we have experienced more kids moving in due to immigration to the U.S. and to Minnesota,” Columbia Heights Superintendent Zena Stenvik said. “This school year, our enrollment was impacted by federal policies that significantly restrict immigration. So, although we have had about the same number of students moving out, we had far fewer moving in.”
The additional $3.6 million projection comes from a change to the state legislature. As previously reported by the Heights Herald, since 1969, Minnesota school districts have had a compensatory revenue component in their financial formulas that would determine funding for public education. According to an MN House research document readily available to the public on their website, compensatory revenue is “designed to provide additional funding to schools that serve academically disadvantaged students.” Since the 90s, this fund has been determined by the amount of students eligible for free and reduced lunch using the Application for Educational Benefits.
But, when Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed the Free School Meals bill into law in 2023, it made the former determinant of compensatory funding virtually impossible to follow. Instead, the Minnesota state legislature has turned to relying on County Direct Certification, a system that reports on the amount of families who are enrolled in government assistance programs like SNAP and Medicaid. Unfortunately, these programs don’t define poverty as broadly as free and reduced lunch programs did, not to mention the changes that these programs have faced under the second Trump administration, especially those concerning non-citizens’ qualification.
In Fiscal Year 2025, a hold-harmless was instated by the Minnesota state legislature to prevent schools from experiencing the negative effects of sudden financial shortfalls. In this agreement the compensatory pupil unit from 2024 and 2025 was compared, and only the larger number was taken into account for revenue calculation. This agreement was extended for fiscal year 2026, where the compensatory pupil unit from 2024 and 2026 were compared, and again only the larger was taken into account for the revenue calculation. The hold-harmless was lifted for fiscal year 2027, leaving schools to brave the storm that may come from the lost revenue.
These changes are not affecting school districts equally; for a community like Columbia Heights, where 77% of our high school students are considered economically disadvantaged, our district is affected considerably more than others whose students are already in a higher tax bracket and therefore have funding that relies on a lower percentage of this money than ours. Next year, 858 students who would typically be qualified for Educational Benefits would no longer qualify under County Direct Certification. Many of these students come from non-citizen households, whose families will no longer qualify for Government assistance under Donald Trump, despite the fact that the need for assistance still exists. According to a district email, CHPS is projected to lose $1,000 per student, while other districts in the metro area are losing about $200 per student. All in all, Columbia Heights is getting hit uniquely hard by funding cuts.
These losses only mean furthering the proven class and race based education gap, which disproportionately affects diverse communities like Heights. The funding loss means, as previously stated, a reduction of staff and thus increase in the number of kids per class. Larger class sizes have been linked to lower student achievement and school readiness. Studies suggest a critical threshold of about 27 students per class. Currently, CHPS hovers just around the threshold at an average of about 25-28 students per class, but these averages will likely increase after the cuts (and this average means there are several classes above 30 already, as there are several classes under 25 as well).
“We’ve had to make cuts in programming this year,” CHHS Principal Mr. Todd Wynne said. “The lack of funding impacted our classes in language arts, science, special education and our english learners language program, so they all took cuts this year.”
Although CHPS’s current numbers are smaller than most metro area schools, it is still at risk of surpassing that critical threshold in the coming years. While districts like Eden Prairie, for instance, have the funds to offer multiple years of aviation classes, Columbia Heights High School (CHHS) has to reduce core department staff just to get by. And, let it be clear, this is not a district issue. Other Minnesota schools are not simply “better” at garnering funding than Columbia Heights; their students are simply less poor, less Black and less immigrant than ours. Public school funding has never been egalitarian; it has always been buttressed by the same classist system that has allowed for expanded athletics programs in wealthier districts and a wider array of tutoring and counseling services in districts with higher property taxes.
So, what can CHPS residents do to reduce the harm of these funding cuts? There have been many efforts from students, families and district employees to have our voices heard. Senior Justin Cajamarca Ayora gave a heartfelt testimony about his experience at Columbia Heights and the importance of school funding at the MN Senate Education Policy Committee. School Board Chair Mary Granlund, Valley View Elementary teacher Ms. Peg Nelson and Superintendent Stenvik have also attempted to speak with legislative officials about the funding disparities. Additionally, district officials have sent out email templates to families and held letter-writing events in order for community members to have their own voices heard by officials. But, unfortunately, the legislative session ended on May 18, and it seems that the majority of Minnesota lawmakers won’t budge.
The future of funding at CHPS is unclear, as many factors determine if our funding might increase or drop further in coming years. While it may feel disheartening now, know that there are many State Representatives willing to fight for funding equality in struggling districts like Heights. Last session, the Minnesota State Senate Democratic-Farmers-Labor Party passed a proposal to provide Minnesota schools with an additional $25 million in compensatory revenue statewide, which would’ve taken the compensatory loss into account, but this number was reduced to $10 million in the House of Representatives, causing the shortfalls we are experiencing now.
“Next session, we may experience shortfalls in compensatory revenue, and if so, we will continue to advocate for the Senate DFL solution to provide additional revenue to accurately reflect the number of low-income students at every public school and compensate districts accordingly,” Minnesota Senate District 39 Representative Mary Kenush said.
It’s not totally out of the voters hands, either, CHPS still has the ability to pass a local levy, which would provide the district with more funding. During the CHPS School Board meeting on May 26, CHPS Director of Finance and Operations Bryan Hennekens introduced a possible health and safety operations levy of $147,500. This additional funding would help CHPS with basic maintenance costs. An official voting on the levy will take place on June 16, where the board members vote to approve a ballot question. If approved, the levy will then be passed onto Columbia Heights voters to approve or deny. While the district has had some luck with levies in the past, passing this legislation doesn’t come without a fight, as levies require an increase in property tax, which can be controversial among citizens.
“When state funding does not keep pace with mandated services and student needs, districts are often forced to seek additional local support through voter-approved operating levies,” Hennekens said. “Asking community members for higher property taxes is never taken lightly, but without stable and adequate state funding, districts are increasingly placed in that difficult position.”
Another hopeful prospect comes from a possible amendment to the state constitution. The Permanent School Fund, established in 1858, provides funds to every public Minnesota school district. Currently, there is a cap on how much MN schools are allowed to draw from the fund, but some Minnesota lawmakers believe that amending the state constitution to allow extra funds to be drawn could help school districts in desperate need of aid, without touching a cent from Minnesota tax payers. The amendment has already passed the Minnesota state House of Representatives and Congress, meaning it’s all left up to the voters this fall. Although the exact details of the amendment are not fully known, it could be a way out for struggling districts like CHPS if it passes this fall.
Despite the murky future of CHPS, there is hope. What’s most important right now is staying informed and involved. Ensure that you are staying up to date on local politics and learning what you can do to help reduce the impacts of the funding cuts. Keep posted on future levies and legislative changes that can support struggling districts. The fight isn’t over just yet. With enough passion and care, we can win equal funding for Heights students, no matter who they are. Because here in Heights, All Belong, All Succeed.
