School boards across Minnesota are making lists of cuts in next year’s budget to make up for state funding that hasn’t come. Kimball is already in “statutory operating debt” or “SOD”, and Eden Valley-Watkins is trying hard to avoid it. Once in SOD, a school district must do whatever the state directs financially to get out. Eden Valley-Watkins’ school board met Monday night to review a list of cuts proposed by their superintendent Larry Peterson. The initial draft calls for about $250,000 in cuts next year, including four FTEs (the equivalent of four full-time staff members) and about $50,000 in administrative cuts. The plan calls for cuts at the elementary school (1 FTE), library and special ed. at the elementary, some social studies and English classes at the high school, and some reduction in vocational classes. Combined with their $100,000 reserve, Peterson hopes the cuts will keep the district far away from SOD. Proposed cuts will be finalized at their April board meeting. “We’re trying to be proactive,” said Peterson, adding that he’s ready to do whatever needs to be done to avoid SOD. In the case of Eden Valley-Watkins, there is still $126,000 in dispute. This is the cost for cleaning up the mercury spill there earlier this year. Peterson hopes the state will pay at least part of that cost, but cannot count on any help at this point. The state legislature has not yet determined whether funding to individual schools will be increased this year, or by how much. Such a decision will not come in time for schools making budget decisions. Even if it comes, it is expected to be only 2-3 percent at best. Kimball must make deeper cuts. At least $310,000 next year, and another $150,000 the following year, regardless of state funding increases. At their meeting last week, the Kimball school board heard superintendent John Tritabaugh’s list of proposed reductions that total $397,174. These cuts include five classroom FTEs at the elementary school, and comparable reductions in music and physical education, reduction of one high school paraprofessional, and elimination of junior high choir (because of low participation). The board is also considering suggestions to increase revenues. These proposed cuts will be discussed and finalized in April, and resolutions for specific staff reductions will be made by the school board in May. One program that will return next year is the all-day every-day kindergarten. The board is unanimous in its support of this. Although school funding is a complex issue, the budget woes of many Minnesota schools stem from eight years in a row of inadequate funding by the state legislature. “This forced schools to go out and get bonds passed,” said Tritabaugh. In the case of Kimball, which passed a bond in 2005 to begin next year; those rescue funds came a year too late. Kimball has two years to get out of SOD. The Department of Education tells the district how much money needs to be cut from the budget; it is left to the school board to determine the specific cuts to total that amount. The Department of Education plan also calls for the Kimball district to have a positive cash flow of 8 percent before they leave school finances to the discretion of the school board. In essence, the school district has two years to get out of debt then six years to prove it can stay out of debt. Until that point, the Department of Education calls the shots financially. The state’s tauted $1 billion “surplus” is a sore spot for Tritabaugh. “If Minnesota schools were funded properly, it should be balanced,” he said. Tritabaugh likened state finances to a personal checkbook. If you don’t pay some of your bills for awhile, it’s easy to show a surplus of funds in the checkbook. The state’s “surplus”, in Tritabaugh’s view, is only money that should have been paid out to schools already. The Kimball school district was only $36,000 more in debt that the state allowed. Now it must make between $310,000-400,000 in cuts to appease the state, with more cuts to be made this time next year.
