Just two years after Minneapolis Public Schools unveiled its Office of Latine Achievement, the office is facing major budget cuts.
The office has played a large role in welcoming the district’s new immigrant students, and provided support with everything from academic credit recovery to support following a parent’s deportation. At many MPS events geared toward the Latino community in recent years, district representatives have proudly touted the new office and the fact that it was started by parents.
But next year, the office may look very different.
Budget documents show that Minneapolis Public Schools plans to slash the program’s budget next year from more than $1 million to about $340,000 — a cut of more than 70%. It’s part of a series of proposed cuts to address a $75 million deficit projected for the 2025-2026 school year. (In a statement, district officials said the budget documents do not reflect an additional $100,000 in non-salary costs set aside for OLA next year.)
“My Latino students are so vulnerable with the political situation,” said Dulce de la Rosa, the president of the district’s Latino Parent Advisory Council, which played a major role in advocating for the office’s creation. “It’s the only refuge.”
The proposed cuts to OLA mean that the department will now have four staff instead of 11. It will also have no leader and no budget, said Marion Tizón, OLA’s director.
“We’re devastated, and our community is devastated,” Tizón said. “Anything that can continue will be drastically reduced next year.”
The Office of Latine Achievement is not the only department serving vulnerable students facing cuts. The current budget proposal calls for a cut of 34% to the Office of Black Student Achievement.
It also calls for the department that serves homeless and highly mobile students to be split in two, and for the program’s director to be cut.
The budget also calls for cuts to English language learner services, early childhood education and special education assistants, though some special education positions have been restored after pushback.
“We are being told that they’re cutting things that are far away from students and the classroom, but it is really often programs that are very tailored to students who have very specific needs,” said Heather Anderson, executive director of the Advancing Equity Coalition.
Tizón noted that many other programs facing cuts also disproportionately serve Latino students, including early childhood education and homeless and highly mobile students.
“We have a lot of questions and not many answers of why the decision is made to disproportionately cut services for Latin students,” she said.
In an April 24 statement to Sahan Journal, Minneapolis Public Schools officials acknowledged the feedback from the Latino community and said they hoped to restore some funding to the office.
“The district’s financial situation does require significant reductions,” Minneapolis Public Schools said in a statement to Sahan Journal. The district said its commitment to Latino students is “unwavering, even if limited resources mean we must think differently about our budget.” Next year’s students will still have access to graduation coaching and mentoring, academic support, and family engagement and cultural events, the district said.
“We appreciate the feedback received, in particular from the Latine community, on this part of the budget proposal,” the statement continued. “We are currently reviewing options to make an offsetting reduction elsewhere in the proposed budget so some funding for the Office of Latine Achievement can be restored. We expect to share more details on this in the coming weeks.”
Students speak out
Students, parents, and staff packed the public comment section of the April 15 school board meeting, pleading for the restoration of funding.
Washburn High 11th-grader Dulce de la Rosa — the niece of the Latino Parent Advisory Council president — spoke in support of the Office of Latine Achievement.
“As a student that has received the support from the Office of Latine Achievement, I can assure you, I have received more help from them than any of your MPS staff,” she said.
“I have received the guidance on how to succeed in high school and be ready to graduate and be prepared to go to college. My work ethic has improved since OLA came into our school and helped us all. If it wasn’t for OLA, I would be very behind on my credits, and you would have one less student graduate.”
Jasmin, a senior at South High, spoke against the proposed cuts to OLA and to English language learning programs. “For many of us, it is the only place where we feel like we belong at a school that often treats us like we don’t matter,” she said. ”You are talking about students who come into this country to learn a new language, adjust and survive. These classes are the bridge to important things and almost everything, like learning, friends and life-changing opportunities.”
“These cuts make it even more obvious that we are not a priority,” she continued. “We are not invisible. We are not disposable.”
Student speakers also decried proposed cuts to the Office of Black Student Achievement.
Angel Jordan, a student at Southwest High, said her Queens class through OBSA — designed to bring awareness and support to issues facing Black girls — had taught her how to overcome obstacles like impostor syndrome and social anxiety. Her public speaking had improved so much due to her work with OBSA that she was part of a team that won a debate championship.
“Queens class at my school has helped me improve my grades, become a more confident person, and build genuine friendships and sisterhoods,” she said. “At my school specifically, I struggled to do these things before I discovered Queens class, because I was never in a classroom full of people who look like me. I know for a fact that my story and my future matters, and that OBSA has made a positive impact on both.”
Helena Wheeler, who also attends Southwest, said OBSA helped give her a safe space and dream about college opportunities out of state that she hadn’t understood she deserved.
“OBSA has allowed me to be able to express myself, to be confident,” she said. “If you do not fund OBSA, there would no longer be girls like me, because we do not have Black teachers in the classroom.”
Other speakers decried proposed cuts in other areas, including the department serving homeless and highly mobile services and special education.
Cuts to special education staffing positions have sparked protests in recent weeks. As the board meeting began, Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams announced that the district planned to restore funding to 57 of the 102 special education assistant positions originally slated for cuts, as well as an additional 10 teachers working with kids on the autism spectrum.
It’s still not clear which positions will be restored, Marco Dregni, a special education assistant at Bancroft Elementary, said in an interview Tuesday. His team at Bancroft consists of two special education assistants, and one was originally cut. He’s not sure whether his colleague’s position will be reinstated and says he expects to learn more next week. But he noted the district still plans to cut positions to a department he described as “understaffed already.”
‘Difficult decisions’
At the April 22 school board meeting, Sayles-Adams noted that district leaders had to make “hard and difficult decisions that often impact lives” and that no part of the district was spared.
She also noted that the district would be prioritizing hiring additional elementary teachers this year to reduce class size, following parent pushback over large class sizes this school year.
Following a budget presentation from staff, School Board Member Lori Norvell asked about cuts to the Office of Latine Achievement.
Tia Clasen, the district’s senior academic officer, said that OLA’s work “sometimes overlaps some of the work of multilingual learning.” Clasen listed the work that she said would continue, including coaching and mentoring, spring break academy for credit recovery, and community cultural and family events.
Vice Chair Kim Ellison noted that English learners are a growing demographic for the district. She said she’d noticed the Office of Latine Achievement had helped families feel welcome in a new country, in a way that hadn’t happened before the office launched. “I’m hoping that all of that can continue,” she said.
School Board Member Sharon El-Amin said the board needed to consider structural changes so that it didn’t have to make major cuts every year. The board is again using one-time funding to balance the budget, although less than in previous years. Still, because of the use of one-time funds, the school board will start the budget conversation for the 2026-2027 school year already in a $25 million deficit.
“We have to bring the conversation about consolidation and repurposing of our schools. There’s no other way for us to try to continue to walk this walk without making the changes that need to be done,” El-Amin said. Otherwise, she said, all of these departments would continue facing cuts.
‘There’s not a clear plan’
Tuesday’s meeting was sparsely attended, but a few Washburn students came to show their support for the Office of Latine Achievement. They brought bilingual signs reading “Necesitamos a OLA dentro de nuestras escuelas / We need OLA in our schools!” and “OLA es un apoyo para los latinos / OLA is a great support for Latinos.”
“It’s the only office that helps Latino people,” said 17-year-old Alexis after the meeting.
He disagreed that another office was providing the same services. “It’s a lie,” he said.
De la Rosa, the parent advisory council president, also disputed the idea of overlap between OLA and the multilingual department. “It’s absurd,” she said, noting that the office did not provide translation services. “It’s a joke.”
Anahi, a 19-year-old graduating senior, said that it was very important to help students recover credits and improve their English. Adjusting to Washburn had been hard initially, but OLA helped her learn how to communicate with her advisers and her family.
“If it closes, there won’t be much help for Latinos next year,” she said. “For us, it’s an advantage because it helps us a lot.” She hoped others would have that same opportunity, she said.
Tizón questioned how the programs could continue seamlessly with such a significant budget cut.
“There’s not a clear plan how they’re going to achieve all these services and more without an operating budget and with only a third of the staff,” she said.
The school board’s finance committee plans to review the budget on April 29. A final vote is scheduled for June 10.
Correction: The current budget for the Office of Latine Achievement has been updated.
