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12/31/2009 12:00 AMSeth Rowe, St. Louis Park Sun-Sailor While cuts have emerged as new problems for many organizations in 2009, they have been a continual theme for the St. Louis Park School District. "After making $9 million in budget reductions over the last several years, we're being forced to look at everything possible, including efficiencies for buildings, while maintaining providing high-quality education for all students," Superintendent Debra Bowers said. With a looming state shortfall again, she said up to a five percent reduction in education funding from the state is possible. In 2009 the St. Louis Park School Board oversaw budget reductions of $640,000 for the current school year, Fiscal Year 2010, significantly less than the $1.3 million in cuts the previous year. The amount of cuts for the current fiscal year would have been much higher for Fiscal Year 2010 without voter help in fall 2008. Voters approved referendum questions providing more funding for capital projects and operating expenses. The operating referendum provided nearly $1.4 million in revenue in Fiscal Year 2010. The school district also benefited from legislative action allowing it to sell bonds to pay for post-employment benefits for retirees. The bonds offset $440,000 in expenses in Fiscal Year 2010. Legislative action also allowed the St. Louis Park School District to transfer $250,000 in capital funds for building maintenance and similar expenditures over to use for operating expenses, such as paying teacher salaries. The city also offered to cover $80,000 in expenses for school liaison officers at St. Louis Park Senior High and St. Louis Park Junior High. The St. Louis Park School Board focused reductions on classroom teachers, with board members saying they have exhausted other possibilities in past years. "We've cut as much out of everything we possible can," Boardmember Larry Shapiro said during a hearing before reductions had been finalized. "We're at the point where the only two things left are cutting programs or larger class sizes ... None of us are happy about this. Every public school district out there is fighting the same battle." Noting the aid of the successful referendum, Boardmember Jim Yarosh said, "We're hurting, and if we're hurting a lot of districts in Minnesota are doing a lot worse." About $440,000 came from classroom teacher salaries, with other reductions coming to special education funding, the athletic departments and community education. The district did benefit from about $1.3 million in special education federal stimulus funds for use over two years. The district will also receive about $314,000 in Title I funds to improve teaching and learning in schools with high levels of low-income students, but the funds must go toward new initiatives instead of going to maintaining existing efforts. The district faces potential new cuts in coming years. The district is projecting a $2 million deficit in Fiscal Year 2012. "The community wanted for us to have a long-term budget," Bowers said. "We have a long-term budget, and it doesn't look good." The last referendum moved the school district to the maximum local operating levy allowed under state law, meaning that the district cannot ask voters to approve higher taxes for classroom expenditures unless the Legislature raises the cap. In the meantime, the school district is considering the possibility of closing buildings. A study found the district has excess space. A report from a study by Wold Architects and Engineers concluded that St. Louis Park Junior High is operating at about 68 percent of capacity, with the senior high school operating at about 81 percent of capacity. At the elementary level, researchers identified available capacity of nearly 400 students. Districtwide, a potential excess of 300,000 square-feet exists, by one measurement, said R. Scott McQueen, a partner with Wold Architects and Engineers. Bowers and a district facilities committee have recommended three options entailing grade configuration. One option includes creating K-5 school instead of having separate schools for K-2 and grades 3-6. Under that proposal, the junior high would serve sixth-graders as well as students in seventh and eighth grades. A second option entails creating schools that would serve students from pre-kindergarten all the way through seventh grade. Students in eighth through 12th grade would find themselves studying in the same facility. The third option includes schools serving kindergarten through fourth grade; grades 5-7; and grades 8-12. A series of meetings have been arranged in January to discuss the options. Details and documents relating to the facilities study is available online at slpschools.org. The St. Louis Park School District has received some assistance from its staff. Administrators have agreed to a pay freeze and a teacher's union also has made concessions. The Park Association of Teachers agreed to reduce the increases they normally would receive for reaching certain stages in their teaching careers. "It's a 2 percent increase per year and we could not absorb that, and the teachers realized that and were extremely creative in trying to help us work to a solution," Assistant Superintendent Bob Laney said in explaining the contract before board members approved it Dec. 14. Instead teachers agreed to a 0.85 percent increase in salaries in the first year of a new contract and a 1.49 percent increase the next year. Increasing insurance costs will still put more pressure on the district, though. Insurance costs for the group went up more than 9 percent for the first year and 12 percent for the second year, leading to a total contract impact to the district of about 5 percent over two years. Laney and board members expressed gratitude to teachers for their willingness to work with the district on the contract. "We couldn't have done it without their assistance," he said. "We would have been in trouble." http://www.mnsun.com/articles/2010/01/04/news/sl31yirschools.txt | |||||||||||||||||||||
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