Up to 20 staff at an independent Indigenous school in Alice Springs are set to be made redundant after plunging enrolments left the school $3.7 million in debt.

In a letter to staff on Wednesday, Yipirinya School's statutory manager Stuart Reid said the school had seen a significant reduction in government funding after student numbers almost halved from 368 in 2024 to 186 in 2025.

Mr Reid said the drop in enrolments meant the school had not received its usual October round of funding from the Northern Territory and Commonwealth governments and its previous allocation would have to last until January next year.

He said Yipirinya would also need to hand back $3.7 million in overpayments to the federal government and would only receive about 50 per cent of its 2024 funding allocation in 2

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