Anoka-Hennepin School Board Narrowly Approves Budget

After months of discussion, the Anoka-Hennepin School Board approved its budget in a narrow vote on June 24.

The $742.5 million budget will see Minnesota’s largest school district through the 2024-25 school year.

Included in the budget were approximately $5.1 million in cuts, which include 40 central office and administrative positions.

Another $21 million in budget cuts are forecast for the 2025-26 school year. 

Shutdown Averted

The school board avoided a shutdown by approving the budget ahead of the July 1 deadline. 

In April, Anoka-Hennepin School Board Member Matt Audette signaled an ideological showdown after posting on Facebook that three of the six board members, including himself, would oppose the budget. 

Initially, it appeared that Board Member Zach Arco and Linda Hoekman would align with Audette, opposing the budget.

In the Facebook post, Audette said the trio was opposed to a laundry-list of district policies, particularly teaching related race and gender issues. 

However, Arco was one of four board members to support the budget.

In the 4-2 vote, Hoekman and Audette cast dissenting votes. 

Several board members said they were committed to discussions on curriculum and classroom policy as they develop the next budget.

Anoka-Hennepin Schools cut 40 administrative and central office positions from its 2024-25 budget.

Arco said he would support the budget with the expectation that these discussions continue.

Audette, who has voted against the district’s last three budgets, said he wants cuts to so-called “cultural-war” programming in future budgets.

“I’ll be looking for a disparate impact on these, what I’m now going to call just the broad spectrum of cultural war-related topics that are going to need to be cut,” he said.

Meanwhile, Board Member Kacy Deschene, who co-chairs the board with Arco, said leveraging the budget to force policy changes would harm the district’s students and staff.

“The cultural wars that you view as being constantly talked about and brought up — because you’ve asked for them to be brought up and talked about — is not respectful of our 8,000 staff,” she said.

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