District shutdown avoided in Anoka-Hennepin Schools

A high-profile budget impasse that threatened to halt operations of the state's largest school district was resolved Tuesday night.

Anoka-Hennepin Schools officials on Wednesday confirmed the school board is on track to adopt its 2024-25 budget by the end of June, avoiding the shutdown some school board members had threatened over ideological issues.

"Resolution of the budget impasse means that the district is no longer under the threat of a shutdown on July 1, 2024 and planning for the next school year will continue as planned," the district announced Wednesday.

School board member Matt Audette had previously said he'd vote against the budget if his demands to strip the district of various diversity and equity initiatives weren't met.

In an April 12 Facebook post, Audette said he and two other school board members, Zach Arco and Linda Heokman, would not vote in favor a budget that promotes what he described as "divisive, dehumanizing ideologies."

The list of programs and teachings Audette said he sought to block includes "culturally responsive teaching", "social justice", "social emotional learning", references to pronounces and gender identity, "equity", "anti-racism" and over a dozen other concepts.

Education Minnesota stated the disagreements left students "caught in the middle of an extremist attempt to hold the district's budget hostage."

The debate spilled into Monday's school board meeting, where dozens of community members spoke both in support of and in opposition to Audette's efforts.

A large group of students rallied in opposition to Audette's efforts to eliminate certain teachings from the classroom and remove diversity initiatives, such as student affinity groups.

According to the district, the six-member school board will continue conversations surrounding the idealogical issues raised during the recent budget talks.

"A process to further study and resolve these matters was developed using existing board timelines and procedures during a five and a half hour meeting where the issues were separated from the budget approval process," the district shared.

The district is facing a large budget shortfall and leaders are aiming to reduce spending by around $5 million in 2024-2025 and cut costs more than $20 million the following year.

More on the budget proposals can be found in the district's website here .