Unexpected salary cuts to teachers, staff at Twin Cities charter school

Unexpected pay cut for charter school staff

Teachers and staff at a Twin Cities charter school are facing an unexpected pay cut.

The decision comes just weeks before their school year begins at Seven Hills Preparatory Academy.

“Never mentioned anything about financial issues during this training,” said one teacher who didn’t want to be identified.

The teacher said they are not going to accept a pay decrease to teach at the Academy.

“I thought to myself, well, this isn’t fair because this is not what my contract was signed for,” the teacher said.

Earlier this week, the teacher said there was a meeting for staff at both the Richfield and Burnsville locations, announcing the salary decreases.

“They told us the reason was due to accounting errors when it came to not accounting all of the money that was going towards employee benefits,” the teacher said. “I’ve never seen something at a workplace where staff were so upset and sad. I saw multiple staff crying.”

School administrators say they are reducing salaries by 5% for instructional and support staff and up to 10% for administrative positions. When asked how long this will be in effect, the school said, “This adjustment is not intended to be permanent. It reflects the current year’s budget realities, and we will continue to evaluate our financial position moving forward.”

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS also asked if this was in fact an “accounting error.”

“We are currently in the process of reviewing previous years’ budgets and are committed to a thorough and transparent process,” Seven Hills Preparatory Academy Executive Director Ed Fellows said. “At this stage, we are still working to determine the full scope of the issue. Our priority is to ensure accuracy and accountability in the findings.”

“At Seven Hills Prep Academy, our top priority is always providing the best education and support for our students. Unfortunately, like many schools across Minnesota, we are facing budget constraints,” the school added. “We made the very difficult decision to reduce salaries instead of terminating staff. This will allow us to retain staff and keep our valuable community intact. This was not a choice made lightly, and we deeply value the dedication and hard work of our teachers and staff. Seven Hills Prep Academy remains committed to supporting our staff through this situation, and to finding long-term solutions. Our mission remains unchanged: to ensure every student receives a high-quality education and feels supported every day.”

While the teacher who spoke to KSTP isn’t moving forward at Seven Hills, they believe the timing of the announcement was wrong.

“We’re so close to the school year starting and other schools have hired teachers already that I guarantee you there’s going to be staff that feel like they’re just stuck there,” the teacher said. “If they had let me know a couple weeks ago, I would have started looking for other jobs.”
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