We just finished the first school year that incorporated the Compensatory Education Resolution. That resolution returned $1.5 million to Duluth’s higher-poverty schools, funds the schools for years generated but that were spent to lower class sizes in schools with wealthier student populations.

For the coming school year, the district introduced a new budgeting system. It is supposed to fund based on needs, not buildings. It abandons the uniform student-to-staff ratio, a formula for balancing general-education funding across buildings. This gives district administrators complete discretion over general-education funds.

I warned in a previous commentary in the News Tribune that this new system could essentially undo the impact of the Compensatory Education Resolution and equity in funding. I was told by district administrators my fears were unfounded.

The superintendent promised that, absent a deficit, all buildings would receive the same level of funding as this past year. This implied the district was satisfied with, and committed to, the relative levels of funding among the buildings.

A week or so after receiving this assurance, we were told that despite passing a $5 million referendum in the fall, there would be a deficit this year.

This year’s budget includes: a 2 percent staff raise, contributing up to $2.7 million in additional staffing costs; a nearly $500,000 loss due to declining enrollment; a cost of nearly $1 million related to the correction of a previous year’s student count; and nearly $1 million less in compensatory-education funds.

Despite multiple sources of reduced revenue and increased costs, the district linked the fix for the deficit primarily to building-based, year-to-year losses in generated compensatory-education funding. This resulted in the six higher-poverty schools in Duluth seeing a budget cut of $626,225 while the wealthier seven schools were cut by $226,768.

Using Minnesota Department of Education’s fall 2018 enrollment count, this equates to a cut of $213 per student for the six higher-poverty schools and $48 per student for the other seven schools. The additional $400,000 lost by the six higher-poverty schools is nearly a third of the gains generated by the Compensatory Education Resolution.

Given the district claims to be funding needs, not buildings, it is reasonable to ask if our test scores, graduation rates, and other measures of student performance really suggest greater relative need in the wealthier schools.

Alternatively, it is reasonable to wonder if this move is a further indication that district administration either doesn’t support equity or simply doesn’t understand how to carry it out.

Kevin Skwira-Brown of Duluth is a Denfeld parent, an equity and inclusion trainer, and a member of various equity-related efforts in the community.