ST PAUL, Minn — There was chaos and confusion Monday night at a St. Paul charter school board meeting as it discussed its financial crisis.
STEP Academy is on the brink of shutting down as its finance director announced it's now exponentially further in debt.
On top of that, two board members resigned at the meeting, including Rahima Ahmed and Abdulrazzaq Mursal.
That board also, unexpectedly, appointed five new members. They then called for a special session for Thursday, leaving some people confused and angry - including teachers, none of whom would go on camera.
STEP Academy's latest board meeting showed it had 117 fewer students enrolled than planned, leading to them being $775,000 over budget. In efforts to cut costs, teachers and other staff have been let go.
STEP Academy serves a significant part of the Somali community in the Capital City and works to reach students who are underserved by traditional schools and underrepresented in STEM fields. Superintendent Mustafa Ibrahim is accused of improper management practices and the nonprofit overseeing the school for the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), Innovative Quality Schools (IQS) says the school is in financial crisis.
Sources had told KARE 11 Ibrahim was expected to resign, but it's unclear if that happened. He wasn't at Monday's meeting, but his supporters call his leader "excellent".
Other parents are concerned about the future.
"With this nightmare that's happening, I want to know one thing, what are we going to do as a community," said Aliyo Jama, whose children attend STEP Academy.
Some parents are also critical of IQS, accusing it of racial bias. Every one of the state's 180 charter schools is overseen by an authorizer like IQS. In a statement, IQS says it oversees 30 charter schools and that it exists to "safeguard quality educational opportunities for students and maintain public trust and confidence."
Its chair, Steve Kelley, also maintains that any claims of racial bias are unfounded, writing, "IQS and its leadership team have acted professionally and impartially. I am optimistic that as the STEP Academy board carries out the letter and spirit of its agreements with their authorizer, the school will continue to independently provide its academic program that is both responsive to and highly valued by its students and families.”
IQS has confirmed to KARE 11 in past reporting that STEP Academy is in this position, in part, to its newest campus in Burnsville. And that it overestimated its enrollment projections and spent too much on renovations.
At Monday's meeting, STEP Academy's finance director said the operating budget deficit has now more than doubled to $2.1 million.
The school is proposing a new budget to try and fill the financial hole. It includes $325,000 in reductions at the St. Paul campus, $225,000 in cuts at the academy's Burnsville site and a $225,000 reduction in operations/office staffing.
STEP is also working to add $600,000 from renegotiating building leases at both locations and its transportation contract.
If STEP Academy closes, MDE data shows it would be the 11th charter school to close this year - the most in several years.
Charter school enrollment has been growing. According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, charter school enrollment increased by 9% from 2019-20 to 2022-23, adding over 300,000 students.