Minneapolis Public Schools Board, District 1: Candidate Forum
Sean: Today we have the two candidates for the District 1 seat on the Minneapolis Public Schools board. The voters of District 1, which is in the northeastern section of Minneapolis, will vote on Nov. 3. I’d like to note there’s also an at-large seat open on the school board, and we hosted a forum with those candidates on our Oct. 22 episode.
Today, this forum is going to give ample time for the two candidates from District 1 to share their positions. Our guests today are incumbent school board member and board treasurer Abdul Abdi and challenger Ben Lattimore. Abdul and Ben, thank you so much for being here.
Ben: Thanks for having us, Sean.
Tane: Thank you both so much for being here. For a lot of folks, top of mind with the Minneapolis school board is the transformation plan that proposed closing 16 schools. That plan has now been taken off the table. But just to start with a simple yes or no: Would either of you have voted for any of the three proposals that were part of that plan if they had come up for a vote and you were on the school board? I’ll start with you, Mr. Abdi.
Abdul: No, and I voted no already.
Tane: That’s fair. We’re going to get into it more, so I’ll give you more time, but just to get it on the record: Mr. Lattimore, would you have voted for any of the three proposals if they’d come up and you were there?
Ben: I would not have voted for any of the three proposals. I wrote about it at length on my website. But like you said, we can get into it more.
Tane: Let me ask this as a follow-up. Do either of you believe that the status quo, in terms of the district’s financial situation, is sustainable? MPS has had to close budget gaps the last three years, ranging from $40 million to $110 million. The first budget you’d work on if you were elected would be 2027–2028. So if you don’t believe the pathway we’ve been on is sustainable, what is the first thing you would push for to get MPS toward a more sustainable financial future? Ben Lattimore?
Ben: The first thing I would do, within the governance of the body, is try to find a replacement cabinet member for the finance role that was left vacant. There really needs to be someone to fill that role, and there clearly needs to be more staffing in finance and accounting in the district. There’s clearly not enough bandwidth there for people to do the accounts receivable and the accounts payable.
It was miraculous that they were able to get $10 million back in special ed reimbursements from the state. It took the deficit from around $50 million to $39 million. And when you see something like that, it’s like, well, what else is there? I don’t want to be conspiratorial, but I would venture to guess that if we missed this, maybe we missed something else. It’s probably not to the tune of $10 million, but who’s to say something isn’t being missed here or there?
I’m not trying to criticize. These people are working in public service, and they’re working very hard. I’m not trying to take anything away from them. But we need to have more financial governance in the district. And from a K–12 funding standpoint, there needs to be more funding from the state. We currently rank around 30th among states in K–12 per-pupil funding, and that needs to move up.
Tane: Thank you very much. I want to give Abdul Abdi a chance to respond to the same question. If you were reelected and moving into the 2027–2028 school year budget, what is the first thing you would push for to put MPS on a more sustainable financial path?
Abdul: As I have done for the last three years: those findings happened under my watch. I requested an audit of the department. I brought in an outside agency to make sure the three areas of finance, HR and special education work together, because we had a revolving door in MPS that kept us from looking at what is out there.
So what I would do, and I would do it again, is make sure the classroom sees the fewest cuts. We have to make sure we can keep the student-teacher ratio, because at the end of the day, we have to really teach those students.
I also want to make sure we advocate for more funding for our schools, because if we have the same number of students and our contracts and expenses are growing, that is something we have to address as a state by investing in those students. As Ben Lattimore said, we’re 30th in school funding, and we should not be. This state should invest more in these kids, and I’m going to be publicly seeking that school funding from our Legislature as well.
Sean: I want to follow on to underutilization, which is certainly connected to the budget but is not exclusively about the budget. More than half the district’s buildings are underutilized, which is defined as being at less than 70% capacity. It seems like that’s going to be something the next school board has to talk about.
I’ll start with Ben Lattimore. Even though you said you would not have voted for any of the three scenarios initially proposed in the transformation plan, are school consolidations and closures off the table for you? If so, what are other realistic options? And if you say, “Yes, school consolidation is on the table,” what are you talking about? What do you want to consolidate?
Ben: I would say school closures have to be on the table. If a building is at 10% capacity, financially, there has to come a point where you can close a building.
But the issue with this plan is that there was no quantitative backing for how it was going to help enrollment or even save costs. You have to have a plan for how it’s going to drive enrollment and a plan for how it’s going to drive cost savings.
When you look at Tuttle School in Southeast Como, when you look at Putnam Community School that became Yinghua Academy, when you look at Holland Community School that became New City School, we’re selling off these buildings to charter schools that then become our competition. And then it becomes a cyclical feedback loop where we’re losing several hundred students a year to Yinghua Academy. They’re a great school over in Northeast and they’re doing a great job, but we laid it out for them on a silver platter.
So if you’re going to close a building, there needs to be some contractual stipulation that you’re not going to sell it to a charter school, because that’s just going to make it worse.
As far as other avenues go, we’ve talked about this previously: There’s been too much focus on cutting costs and not enough focus on increasing revenues. I firmly believe that if we do things like reducing the emphasis on tech in schools and driving up reading and math scores, we’re going to bring families back to the district. MPS right now is about 10 percentage points below the state average in reading and math proficiency, and I don’t think that’s something we can turn a blind eye to. I think it’s something we really need to focus on, and there really needs to be a look at increasing revenues.
Sean: Let me pass that to Abdul Abdi, and I’ll give you the same level of runway. We started with underutilization, but Ben Lattimore also went to how to recruit more students. So, Abdul, feel free to use the same space, and share whether consolidation is on the table for you and what other options you might use.
Abdul: Nothing is off the table. I can’t sit here and say something will be off the table. But I think the number one issue for me is that families in Northeast and Southeast have been asking me for access to early kindergarten, and we don’t offer that universally.
I’ve been advocating for that at Waite Park for the last two years. We added a new kindergarten class. Families wanted to come back, but we have to give them that access back to our schools. In Northeast, I’m trying to expand Las Estrellas to K–8, because those families are asking me. So the demand is there, but MPS hasn’t really gone out there.
What I’ve been doing for the last three or four years: The place where MPS loses the most kids is from fifth to sixth grade. So I’ve been going to listening sessions with fourth-grade parents and saying, “Here is your Northeast Middle School. What do you want me to advocate for so you can stay?” Most of the elementary schools have the capacity. It’s in middle school where we lose students, and then in some high schools.
I’ve been growing Northeast Middle School. It’s now close to 600 students, up from 400-something. If you listen to those parents, what they’ve been asking for is band. I made sure every elementary school has a fifth-grade band, and that’s what attracts those families and makes them want to stay. I took those needs of Northeast to the board.
Tane: Can I do one follow-up on this? I know we’re spending a lot of time on the budget, but we’re getting into the recruitment piece. I hear what both of you are saying about attracting new families, or attracting back families who might have considered leaving or actually left the district.
But on the budget side, can the schools do that without consolidating? And if they can, how? Where do the financial resources for bands in schools, or for some of the things you’re talking about, Ben Lattimore, come from? Abdul Abdi, I’m just trying to do a reality check. We can talk about all these things, but how does it actually work financially?
Abdul: You’re right. We have expenses growing faster than the revenue coming in for students. That’s no secret, and every year we need to adjust to that.
But in the meantime, Tane, I want to point out that of all the students who could attend public schools in Minneapolis, only 50% are attending. If we can get maybe 10% more, a lot of these issues will almost be resolved, because the district gets paid based on the total number of students.
The families told me, “We’re getting more electives in the public schools. We like the music, we like the gyms, we like the sports, we like everything, but you don’t listen to what we really need: safety.” We spent a lot of money to create double doors and fix all those issues.
So with these budget issues, I want to make sure the classroom sees the minimum in cuts, and that we address all the other areas. I’m open to looking at the contracts we give out.
Tane: That’s fair. Ben Lattimore, same question to you. How do we do those things to attract new families with the current budget? Is that even possible without consolidation?
Ben: I think it is possible. If we’re talking about the current resources the district has, I think the focus has to be on things we can improve academically. Removing tech from the classroom, or reducing the emphasis on it, which we know is harming student learning, literacy and test scores rather than helping, is a huge piece. Driving reading and math scores is really what’s going to attract parents back to the district.
But if we’re trying to expand the pie a little bit, and maybe it’s a little naive of me given what the state Legislature has been doing recently, a majority of a school district’s funding comes from the state. If Minnesota moves from 24th in per-pupil funding up to 15th, which is not a crazy jump, that represents a $3,100 increase per pupil, which is roughly $80 million to $90 million for a 30,000-student district.
I think that’s where you’re going to see the biggest change in resources. The school board obviously doesn’t have direct control over that, but we can advocate, we can pound the gavel for it. Besides getting better financial and accounting governance, there aren’t a lot of revenue streams at your disposal.
Sean: I want to jump back into this conversation with a little urgency, because Election Day is less than a week away, on Nov. 3. Frankly, Ben Lattimore and Abdul Abdi, you’ve both shared compelling, positive, forward-looking ideas for the district. But residents of the northeastern section of Minneapolis have a binary choice to make on Tuesday. So Abdul Abdi, where do you see a real difference between your positions and policies and those of your opponent, Ben Lattimore?
Abdul: I’m also a parent, so I have skin in the game. I have three kids who graduated from MPS, and two are still enrolled: one is an eighth grader at Northeast, and one is a junior at Edison High School. So I see things through the eyes of a parent as well. I’m a big advocate of collaborating with other board members to make sure we address what our students need.
I’m a big advocate that every school should be safe, should be improving academically and should have access to high-dosage tutoring where it’s needed. At the end of the day, those students should not fall behind, because academics are number one. I’m proud to say that Edison’s graduation rate increased by almost 10 percentage points last year.
That’s what I’m advocating for: making sure that not only my district, but every corner of the city has access to me, so I can advocate for them and look at things through the eyes of a father. I’m blessed to have this chance again to serve my community.
Sean: Ben Lattimore, same question to you: the differences between you and your opponent, Abdul Abdi.
Ben: Something I think separates me, and it’s not just from Abdul, it’s from some of the other candidates I’ve heard for at-large and other districts: I like to think I’m a little more quantitative with my research, my proposals and my ideas.
I don’t know if all of my ideas are going to work. Maybe they’re naive when it comes to things like advocacy at the state level. But as someone with a business background as well as a teaching background, I think I can look at things from both perspectives. I have the business perspective, so I can be realistic with the numbers, and I have a teaching background, so I know what teachers need and what students need.
It’s also about drilling into the numbers and the details. For example, MPS actually had 3% growth in enrollment from two years ago to last year, when all the discourse around here makes it sound like we’re still hemorrhaging students left and right. It’s leveled off a little bit. What separates me from what I’ve noticed with some of the other candidates is really looking at the numbers, because I think that’s what voters are looking for.
Tane: I appreciate both of those answers. We’ve been talking a lot about issues that affect the entire district. Both of you have named things that are specific to District 1 to some degree, but this is a District 1 race, so I want to hone in on that for at least one question. Are there issues specific to District 1 that you’re focused on, or that you’re hearing about as you go through the community, that you would carry with you if you’re elected or reelected? Ben Lattimore, I’ll start with you.
Ben: Specific to District 1, I know we’re losing a lot of students to Columbia Heights and St. Anthony Village. Roughly 1,000 students a year are leaving to go to Columbia Heights and St. Anthony Village combined.
I think that’s a big issue for us, and we need to increase funding for Northeast Middle School and Edison High School. We have one middle school in the district and one high school in the district, and we need better funding and better resources in those two schools to really compete. It’s a wide-open free market right now, with open enrollment and charter schools.
When it comes to school closures, I touched on this before, so I won’t go down the rabbit hole again. But I go for runs all the time, and I run by Tuttle Community School in Southeast Como, I run by what used to be the Holland School over by the river, and I run by Yinghua Academy. When we close schools and sell them to a charter school, or leave them half empty for 20 years, or sell them to a church that then leases them to a charter school … if you’re going to consolidate buildings, man, you better have a plan, and you better have good counsel looking at those contracts.
In District 1, we’re really hurting from some of that. Obviously this isn’t the current administration; this is from decades ago. But bad decisions by some previous board members and superintendents during the 2008 financial crisis, when they tried consolidation, really hurt us, and we’re feeling the legacy of that in District 1.
Tane: Same question to you, Abdul Abdi. What issues specific to District 1 are you focused on or hearing about from the community?
Abdul: Number one is universal pre-K for all the schools. That’s what families want, and most of our schools don’t offer it right now. My daughter, who is now a senior at the University of Minnesota, went to Waite Park when it had pre-K. Now it does not. I want every family in Northeast to have that opportunity.
The other thing is, Ben is correct: we’re losing a lot of students from fifth to sixth grade. I want to keep listening to families to make sure I keep growing what they’re looking for in a middle school.
One thing that always used to come up is school safety, and I addressed that in Northeast. It’s so safe now. It has two locked doors, and there’s always security available.
We have a lot of competition, and I’m not shy about showing what the public schools offer compared to what charter schools offer. Give families the choice. Say, “This is what we’re offering: a comprehensive education with wraparound support. This is your community, and you need to invest in it too, to support your public schools.” I’ve been successful a lot of times, and I’m going to continue to do that.
The other thing: I really want to thank the whole community, because after Metro Surge, this community came together in a big way. We had close-knit support at every school. Families and community members who didn’t even have kids were supporting our kids’ fundraising and waiting with students at bus stops to make sure kids got to school and back.
I’m just worried that when those numbers come back, they might set back the progress we were making a little bit. But I’m hopeful that this next month we’ll get those numbers on whether those students are coming back or not.
I’m so grateful for that. And Ben, I’m grateful that you’re running too. Whatever happens is going to happen, but I’ve really gotten to know you very well.
Ben: Thank you. I appreciate it. Abdul, can I ask you a quick question about universal pre-K? When you say universal pre-K, are you talking about just Waite Park? Because I think the other elementary schools in the district do have pre-K, right?
Abdul: One class each, because there’s a waiting list in some places. We don’t have the capacity. At Pillsbury, for example, there’s only one class or something like that. So if one pre-K class takes only 20 kids, what are you going to do with the other 20 or 30 who want to come in? You have to tell them you don’t have the capacity.
Ben: Sure. Got it.
Sean: I love that we were in this moment of big universal feelings, and then Ben Lattimore is like, “OK, universal. What does universal look like right here?” But it’s important. In a position like this, you have to be in the weeds and also in the sky. And frankly, at this moment, I’m just enthused that two really capable people want this position and want to serve their community.
We’re wrapping this up. A big thank you to school board member and treasurer Abdul Abdi for joining us. We appreciate your time.
Abdul: Thank you, sir. I appreciate it, Sean, and thank you, Tane. I’ve listened to you so many times. You’ve been awesome.
Sean: And a big thank you to the challenger, Ben Lattimore, for taking the time this morning. We appreciate you, Ben.
Ben: Thank you, guys. I really appreciate you putting this on, and thanks, Abdul.
