District-wide changes have been a huge conversation for the past year with the new start times coming into effect in the 2025-26 school year, the with the block schedule coming for the 2026-27 school year and the new Lake Elmo Elementary being built. In addition, state-wide budget cuts forced the district to cut unfunded mandates and to be able to save the money, there are now some programs and departments getting cut.
At the school board meeting on March 18 they showed a graph of the unassigned fund balance. There has been a downward trend since the 2019-20 school year of 9.7% and as of the 2023-24 school year it was at 1.1% and seems to be holding steady. That also reflects the settling of employee contracts and unfunded mandates.
The district has also started using a priority-based budgeting system last year that will help differentiate what is needed and what can be cut. The system includes a total of five steps.
Step 1 – Plan and Prepare, helps understand partnerships built, principles and policies, analyze student learning and communication. This step would mostly be focused in the earlier months of the school year such as October.
Step 2 – Set Instructional Priorities, create S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goals, identify root causes, develop priorities and select priorities. Step two would take place during the months of Oct., Nov. and Dec.
Step 3 – Pay for Priorities, would apply the costs and analysis along with prioritizing expenditures and would take place during Jan. and Feb.
Step 4 – Implement Plan, would create a strategic financial plan, create a plan of action, allocate school sites, and create a budget document. This would take effect in the months Feb., March, April, May and June.
Step 5 – Ensure Sustainability, to make sure the priority based budgeting is staying on track it is important to implicate and evaluate the scenarios given therefore allowing it to continue on effectively.
Looking at the areas being reduced or cut, it appears it affects programs and reduces the cost impact class sizes. Areas of focus include:
Eliminating elementary art classes and reducing media specialists are two of the subjects that are getting cut which will affect all the teachers throughout the district and with there already being only four teachers throughout the seven schools already they are already spread thin. The plan for the future is that elementary art will be embedded into classroom learning.
Media specialists are also getting reduced from five media specialists around the district down to two starting in the 2025-2026 school year. The media center has been a topic as of recent due to book concerns also taking place throughout the district. The media specialist will be replaced with media techs.
There are a total of nine social workers spread throughout the district with there being none at Rutherford Elementary. Those social workers were hired during COVID and were able to be supported through state funding. Since then, the revenue is no longer available so they will be reduced as well. Although the district has been connected with Family Means over the past years since COVID to help keep those resources available to students outside of school rather than in school.
“We are aware of this and we are sensitive to it, and this year we actually increased our commitment with Family Means to provide counseling services external to the district where they come in and can meet with our students so we look forward to continuing that relationship moving forward,” Dr. Mike Funk said at a board meeting on April 8.
AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) is a way for students to get opportunities to learn about topics such as college preparation, organization and different effective study habits. While the classes will still be available the AVID coordinators will not be.
One of the areas being expanded is with science specialists. This would help put more focus on sciences studies in classrooms to help support teachers and to help implicate the new science standards.
All four of these programs or resources being removed or reduced are affecting teachers, staff and students.
“I think it’s gonna be harsh in the beginning, because change is hard in general, and so having one thing change over time and getting accustomed to it seems to work better, and I know that the school board is trying to spread out when they’re making the changes,” senior student council president Ainsley Smith said.
At the same board meeting in April talking more about the cuts that will also include BARR coordinator, GATE coordinator and central support positions.”I think that students that need a different form of learning or a more enriched learning style are not going to have access to that, and so those students will probably struggle more,” Smith said.
It was also stated during the meeting by Executive Director of Finance Marie Schrul they are “awaiting legislative action before any additional reduction are considered. Future reductions likely will be in the area of reducing salaries and benefit increases as we negotiate new contracts,”
Overall reductions are challenging, and with new additions and the changes that come with it that effect the budget will not effect class sizes.
