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The Special School District of St. Louis County has gone from a budget surplus of $26 million in the 2022-2023 school year to a projected budget deficit of $74 million this year.

SSD primarily attributes the shortfall to the increased costs of salaries and benefits, which are on track to cost the district $103 million more than they did two years ago.

That, coupled with the loss of pandemic aid, a decrease in interest earnings and a change in state’s measure of attendance, has put SSD in the worst financial place it’s been in years.

On a phone call Wednesday, Superintendent Michael Maclin insisted student services would not be affected.

“My goal is to ensure that we are fiscally responsible,� Maclin said.

SSD was created by state law in 1957 and supported by a countywide tax levy to educate children with disabilities. The district operates eight of its own schools, but most of its students attend its 22 partner districts.

Overall enrollment at SSD’s partner districts has gone down in recent years while the number of staffers SSD employs has gone up. Enrollment at SSD’s partner districts has decreased by nearly 9% from 2010 to 2023 and the number of students with individualized education plans declined by 11%. Yet SSD has added 76 teachers and 278 paraprofessionals over the past five years.

The district said in a statement to the Post-Dispatch it needed the staff to address the impact of “extended remote learning� during the pandemic and to ensure students were supported during their transition back to the classroom.

Maclin became superintendent in January after his predecessor Elizabeth Keenan was abruptly put on leave in October 2023. Keenan and the district’s board “mutually agreed to a separation� two months later, with no explanation as to why Keenan was placed on leave.

SSD’s previous superintendent did not have an administrator with the title of CFO. Maclin said Keenan employed two chief operation officers, one of whom performed the duties of a CFO and was “100% qualified.� The district hired Ferguson-Florissant’s former CFO, Cindy Reilmann, in July.

“I can’t speak to how things were handled by previous leadership,� Maclin said.

Maclin’s administration started implementing a in late spring to reduce spending over the next five years.

The state requires school districts to maintain a minimum fund balance to serve as rainy day funds. For SSD, that cushion is no less than 30% of its projected spending each year. The district is projected to have a fund balance of 38% this school year.

“I would be nervous if we didn’t have a plan,� Maclin said.

SSD anticipates up to 18 instructional administrators opting in for the separation incentive, with each receiving $24,000 to do so. It’d save the district about $2.3 million.

The current school year has already proven difficult for multiple school districts just two months into the fall term as issues faced both locally and nationally combine for a perfect storm. Pandemic relief funds ended in September. The state’s COVID-era grace period for average daily attendance has ended (attendance is a multiplier in the state’s school funding formula). And a mid a hyper-competitive hiring landscape, districts have to do more — and pay more — to attract and retain staff.

Last week, administrators at the Ferguson-Florissant School District said they may ask their board for a hiring and spending freeze this week, pending board approval. As of Wednesday afternoon, administrators planned to ask the school board to borrow up to $9.5 million in tax anticipation notes.

St. Louis Public Schools faces an estimated budget deficit of $35 million in the next year, mainly due to staff raises and extra transportation costs.