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St. Louis Public Schools braces for possible funding uncertainty amid federal shifts

Saint Louis Public Schools held its first public forum Monday on the 2025-2026 budget for the district. There's one thing they're very concerned about right now, and that's federal funding. SLPS Superintendent Millcent Borishade said federal funding makes up 13% of the district's budget, which may not sound like a lot, but it will have a big impact should it go away. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events To be more transparent as a district, Borishade and the financial office held a new style of public forum on the budget, encouraging participation from the crowd. 'So I had each of my cabinet members create a list of questions where staff, community, and parents would have an opportunity to answer, reflect, think about those questions and then go from there,' Borishade said. People at the meeting went to stations to learn more about what's allowed for different departments. For the board of education, the budget will pay for professional development, but they don't receive things like a car allowance. 'There are lots of different questions on what is allowable and what is not allowable. And I wanted to make sure that everyone had an opportunity to see what those allowable are, what those non-negotiables are, what those non-allowables are,' Borishade said. Their main focus: concerns about federal funding. 'We know that the federal government has a new administration and there are executive orders being signed every day that could affect this,' SLPS CFO Kimberly Johnson said. For the 2025-2026 fiscal year, St. Louis Public Schools is expecting $48.7 million in federal grants. '13% is a lot. And so, that's why we broke it out so that people could see the different categories, the different buckets that will be impacted, you know, food and nutritional services, IDEA, Title 1, 2, 3 and 4. We just want people to see the things that we're going to be working through,' Borishade said. Borishade said the district is now working on a plan B. If it doesn't receive this federal funding, it may need to dip into its reserves or reallocate money from other parts of the budget. 'I want them to make sure that they speak with their legislators, and share what is important and what is important is that we have state funding, what is important is that we have federal funding,' Borishade said. The next public forum is 10 a.m.-11 a.m. Saturday at the O'Fallon Recreation Complex, 4343 W. Florissant Ave. This report originally appeared on KSDK.