Skills for Tomorrow

LOW ENROLLMENT TO CLOSE DOORS OF ST. PAUL CHARTER SCHOOL / Skills for Tomorrow, a St. Paul school dedicated to teaching job skills, will shut down next month; November 25, 2009; Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN) 

A small St. Paul charter high school that was among the state's first charter schools will close its doors next month, its board decided Monday.

Skills for Tomorrow, which has focused on getting students ready to enter the workforce, will shut down on Dec. 18 when students go on holiday break, said school director Claude Maddox.

Financial problems stemming from declining enrollment led to the decision, Maddox said. The school has 81 students, down from 108 six years ago, he said…

The school's board made the "responsible decision" to shut down the school when it could still pay its teachers, meet other financial obligations and cause the least disruption to students, she said. The school has an annual budget of about $1.2 million, mainly from state and federal funding, Maddox said.

Opened in 1994, the school billed itself as the nation's first "school-to-work" charter high school…