St. Paul Public Schools welcomed some 30,000 students back to school Tuesday as classes resumed for grades 1-12, with kindergarten and preschool students starting Thursday. Among those returning students were roughly 250 children attending East African Elementary Magnet School, which opened for the first time Tuesday in the former Jackson Elementary building. Jackson closed last year as part .
The St. Paul school board on Tuesday night approved its first billion-dollar budget for the coming academic year. The $1.035 billion in spending will require the district to dip into its general fund reserves to cover a $34 million revenue shortfall, but it will allow St. Paul Public Schools to avoid laying off any teachers or paraprofessionals. The budget gap is largely the result of .