St. Paul Schools approve budget without layoffs

This is Fox 9 News at 9. This is not a fix and we're in a tough spot here. Big decisions in St. Paul tonight as the school district there faces ongoing budget problems. Thanks for joining us here at 9. I'm Karen Scullin. The district passed a plan that will help get it by, at least for now. Fox 9's Mike Manzoni is live in St. Paul tonight. And Mike, this gives the district more time to figure out kind of what to do next. And Karen, the district will avoid those layoffs for now, but the lead negotiator for the teachers admits that this is really just a band-aid fix at this point. The district and the teachers union worked on the deal that passed six to one tonight. It's grappling with a nearly five million dollar budget gap. The district blames that on the immigration crackdown earlier this year. More than 500 English learner students have left the district and that means less federal money. Under Under the plan, the district will leave a dozen positions That includes two English learner positions and seven educational assistants and as many as a dozen English learner teachers will take early retirement. So those things, along with other budgeting maneuvers and re-enrollments, will help close that budget gap. But everyone agrees that this is not a long-term fix. Our probationary teachers are looking at not having a job in the spring, and so we made this deal to, what, give them the remainder of the school year? That's not really a solution, right? It's a temporary band-aid. We are really being open and honest about where we're at with our birth rate decline in our city. We've partnered with an outside organization to really work to do some recruitment. To bring students back into our district and the plan could require some staffing reductions by the end of the school year this spring. We're live in St. Paul tonight. Mike Manzoni Fox 9. All right, Mike, thank you.