Anoka Hennepin School District, the state's largest, is seeing a significant drop in student numbers, in large part because of a reduction in immigrant numbers and a dip in the birthrates for school aged kids. The district is worried because the drop will inevitably be linked to a reduction in state aid based on student populations.
I don't quite understand all this. It appears that a big problem with school budgeting is the use of voodoo accounting. I'm sure it's a complicated thing, but the way I was taught, organizations calculate their fixed costs- the items that must be paid regardless of "business" volume- and then their variable costs separately. The impact of aid revenue is important and needs to be looked at closely, but the bottom line is that it doesn't cost significantly more to educate that 24th child next year in a class that had 23 this year. Once you've reached a tipping point where you need to hire another teacher, that's when it really matters on the spending end.