St. Paul Public Schools will consider an early retirement incentive and an array of program cuts to close an expected $23 million budget deficit next year.

Interim superintendent John Thein’s preliminary budget, presented Tuesday to the school board, calls for a smaller and cheaper teaching staff in response to declining student enrollment.

He also recommended eliminating the extra staffing help schools received this year — in the form of $85 per student — when the school board shifted money away from district administration.

Finance director Marie Schrul said the board in future years ought to make more strategic changes to the budget.

“These (cuts) kind of fill the need, but looking into the future we need to take a deeper dive,” she said.

School board chair Jon Schumacher agreed they’re looking at “Band-aids” this budget season, not strategic solutions.

Overall, the district plans to spend $519 million in its general fund, about the same as in the current year. They’re counting on modest increases in state aid formulas to offset revenue declines associated with the loss of hundreds of students.

The $22.9 million budget hole comes from inflationary and contractual cost increases. To negate that, Thein is proposing to cuts costs by:

$7.5 million on reduced staffing related to declining enrollment

$6.2 million by leaving vacancies open and possibly offering an early retirement incentive

$5 million by eliminating the extra $85 per-student allocation that schools received this year and cutting some of the $6 million in positions tied to former superintendent Valeria Silva’s strategic plan; these could include dedicated staff for high school truancy intervention and academic programs like aerospace, Montessori and International Baccalauerate

$2.6 million thanks to cheaper busing costs and reining in fees and supplies budgets

$1.6 million with either targeted cuts or 1 percent reductions to most programs

The plan does not call for any spending of the district’s fund balance. The district’s reserves stand at 5.8 percent of annual spending, or $4 million over their 5 percent target.

Thein also elected to preserve a costly extra planning period for high school staff. Most schools serving grades K-8 lost their “professional learning communities” this year, and high schools were expected to lose them next year. Related Articles Distance learning deal with St. Paul teachers calls for ‘regular’ — not necessarily daily — live teaching

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But Thein said that change, which would take an elective class period out of the high school day, would push too many students out of the district.

Last spring, the school system endured a turbulent budget season as new board members challenged Silva to reduce her administrative staff.

Thein should encounter less resistance on his budget, which was crafted with input from board members and an advisory team of district staff and community members.

Q COMP UNLIKELY

Last month, that advisory group heard a presentation on the state-funded Q Comp, which began as a teacher performance-pay program but which districts like Minneapolis have used to cover other costs.

Despite St. Paul’s budget troubles, Silva never could persuade the teachers union to participate.

The program could bring St. Paul an extra $6.2 million per year in state funds and $3.3 million from local taxpayers. However, the Legislature would have to appropriate extra money for Q Comp, and 14 districts are on a waiting list ahead of St. Paul.

More importantly, the teachers union still has little interest in Q Comp. They’ve said they’ll participate only if numerous changes to the law are made and lawmakers can assure districts the funding won’t disappear if the program is eliminated.

Union vice president Nick Faber told the advisory group last month that Minnesota should raise taxes on the rich and extract payments from wealthy non-profits to generate money for schools.

He said Q Comp perpetuates the notion that money for Minnesota schools is scarce.

“This is a myth we can’t afford to believe in. We just have folks stealing it from us and our classrooms,” he said. “The same folks that are profiting and reaping the benefits of this economic system are turning around and telling us we’re failing our students.”

Board member Steve Marchese said Tuesday they must be clear about the limited choices before the board.

“The absence of additional revenue will lead to staff layoffs,” he said.