Budget Process

School districts in Minnesota get funding from three main sources: state funding, local property taxes and federal funding. 

District 191 receives about 70% of its revenue from the state government, 23% from local property taxes and 4% from the federal government. The remaining 3% comes from grants, fees and other smaller sources. 

Most of the revenue is based on how many students attend District 191 schools. However, some is based on need (e.g. percent of students from low income households or special education services provided to students). 

No. School districts have very strict financial rules they must follow, and a lot of school funding must be used for specific uses determined by state and federal laws. Each year, the district is audited by an independent firm to make sure it's doing a good job keeping track of and accurately reporting those expenses. 

The District’s total budget is divided into different accounts - called “Funds” - and each of these Funds is used for a different purpose.

For instance, the district has specific Funds for Food Service, Community Education, Capital Projects (building construction), and Debt Service. The money that’s in those Funds can only be used for those specific purposes. 

Most of the district’s spending is from what’s called the General Fund. It includes general operations of the district, such as K-12 instruction, special education, transportation, utilities, administration and facility maintenance. 

Even within the General Fund, some money is set aside for specific purposes. For instance, some money has to be spent on educational technology, some has to be spent on specific student support services, and some has to be spent on facility maintenance.

Schools are a service provider, so the majority of our spending - about 80% -  is on people, including their salaries and benefits. The remaining 20% is on operational needs like transportation, utilities and maintenance. 

The graph shows a breakdown of district spending by purpose for 2025-26. About 75% of our spending goes toward instruction and instructional support. Only about 4% of spending is on administration.

No. Neither the state nor federal governments provide adequate funding to meet the needs of students, so the district uses its general education funds. The difference between the funding provided and the cost to provide these services is sometimes called the Special Education and Multilingual cross subsidy. 

In 2024-25, the district’s Special Education cross subsidy was about $7 million, and its multilingual funding gap was about $3.5 million.

Compensatory funding is money provided by the state of Minnesota to help schools support students who do not meet performance standards appropriate for their age. The amount school districts receive depends largely on the number of students from lower-income homes. 

In the past, the state partially relied on families who applied and qualified for “educational benefits,” which included free or reduced price school meals. However, that law recently changed and now the state only counts students who qualify for educational benefits through participation in another existing program, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Medicaid. 

This change resulted in fewer students qualifying and less Compensatory funding for District 191.

Learning coaches will work with school principals and district leaders to:

• Build teacher capacity and elevate high-quality, evidence-based instructional practices
• Partner with teachers in co-planning, modeling, observation and coaching cycles
• Advance grade-level alignment and coherence through Collaborative Teams
• Plan and lead professional development that supports school-level and district-level priorities
• Support curriculum and Pathways implementation

Ultimately,  this role exists to build teacher capacity, strengthen grade-level alignment and positively impact student achievement through sustained, collaborative and strategic instructional leadership.