Hopkins Students Should Be Spared Shutdown Ills

Hopkins students should be spared the effects of a state government shutdown in all but the most dire scenario.

Hopkins Public Schools has sufficient savings and credit to make it through nearly an entire school year without state payments, said John Toop, the district’s director of Business Services.

“I don’t see where it will affect kids in the classroom at this juncture,” he said.

State leaders have put forward competing plans in the event legislators and the government can’t agree on a budget before the end of June. Gov. Mark Dayton’s proposal would cease state payments to K-12 schools. Schools continued to receive those payments during the 2005 shutdown.

But Toop said Hopkins has a number of ways to shield students from the effects of a shutdown.

Savings: The district has built up an $18 million fund balance that it will tap before it ever borrows money to cover halted state payments. Even better, the shutdown would begin in the summer, when expenses are lowest because the school is out for the summer.

Toop didn’t yet have exact figures for how long that fund balance would last, and the district must take into account already scheduled state payment delays. But with the district spending about $8 million a month on average, he estimates that the district go one month, maybe even two, before it had to borrow.

“I’m not going to pull the trigger until I have to,” Toop said.

Borrowing: On May 19, the school board approved a 45-day credit line worth $7.7 million credit line. The district can also borrow about $20 million against its tax settlement and a further $18.4 million against anticipated state aid.

“We have plenty of borrowing capability to almost get us through the school year,” Toop said.

Prioritizing payments: The district can also buy time by delaying payments to vendors. It typically pays its bills early but could give legislators more time to reach agreement by waiting until the last day to make a payment.

But even though students may not see any changes in the classroom, the district could still see the effects. Borrowing comes with costs that would eat into the savings needed for future financial emergencies.

Critical student test scores would be delayed because, under Dayton’s plan, the Minnesota Department of Education would be operating with a six-person crew, said Nik Lightfoot, the district’s director of administrative services. That would prevent schools using those assessments to address student needs.

These tests are also important because they’re used under the federal No Child Left Behind Act to determine whether a school has made “Adequate Yearly Progress” (AYP). If districts and schools receiving Title I funding fail to meet AYP goals for two or more consecutive years, they are classified as “in need of improvement” and face a battery of potential consequences.

Hopkins has four schools that missed AYP targets in at least one area—Eisenhower,  and Alice Smith and  elementary schools. Lightfoot said no one knows what impact delayed test results will have on these schools’ AYP status.

“Until we have the information, we won’t know where we are,” Lightfoot said. “Seriously, it’s never happened.”