6 Big Changes Made To Proposed District 191 Budget

DAKOTA COUNTY, MN — Board members for Burnsville-Eagan-Savage Schools (District 191) have made several changes to the proposed budget adjustments for the 2019-20 school year. The changes were made after officials received community input from a public forum and through an online portal.

The following changes were made to the initial list of adjustments:

"Remove 9th grade athletics from the list of cuts"

"Remove middle school orchestra from the list of cuts"

"Remove 1 FTE in custodial/maintenance service from the list of cuts"

"Adjust the BHS Media EA cut to keep 0.5 FTE"

"Continue offering French 1 and French 2 at Burnsville High School"

Officials are also working on a busing change that will have high school students walk to their closest middle schools — if they're within walking distance — and be transported to their high school by bus from there. The change is expected to save about $230,000, according to a news release.

"Board members expressed strong opposition to increasing walking distances," officials said in a statement.

"District 191 is facing a $7 million shortfall for 2019-20 primarily due to state funding that hasn’t kept up with inflation and underfunding of special education services by both the state and federal government.:"

The district will adopt the 2019-20 budget this June.