$1.2M Hopkins School Plan Mixes Transformation With Support

The school superintendent’s proposed $1.2 million investment into school programs aims to both shore up previous shortfalls and launch transformative programs—such as International Baccalaureate and iPads in the classrooms.

The money is divided almost evenly between “enhancements” that bring new programs to the district and “adjustments” that beef up programs that have been shortchanged because of previous budget challenges.

Substantial portions of the allocations make up for losses of federal funding at XinXing Academy and in the district’s intervention program. There is also money to help keep pace with its growth.

But , the budget also contains some big ideas for the school district—some, like iPads and International Baccalaureate, that have already been the subject of in-depth discussions.

“This is a budget that is transforming how we do programming—as well as how we do dollars,” Schultz told School Board directors Thursday.

That doesn’t necessarily mean School Board directors are won over by the ideas. Both iPads and IB faced skepticism when the administration first presented the ideas.

Some directors were also concerned by what they didn’t see in the plan—namely, lower class sizes. In , respondents ranked lower class sizes as their highest priority by more than a two-to-one margin.

Director Steve Adams wondered why the district wouldn’t want to spend money in that area since it’s such a big concern. Even if it couldn’t lower class sizes across the district, Hopkins could focus on kindergarten classes—a student population the survey suggested the district should work especially hard to retain.

Doing that isn’t a straightforward process, though. Lowering class sizes is expensive, and school buildings don’t always accommodate it.

Meanwhile, other directors question whether Hopkins shouldn’t be more frugal. Under the current forecast, Hopkins’ savings could dip below the 6 percent that district policy requires in as little as three years. That’s a particularly scary prospect for a district that just seven years ago went into “statutory operating debt”—a legal term for when districts go in the hole by more than 2.5 percent in a single year.

“I don’t want to have to go back where we were. We worked really hard to get here,” said Board Treasurer Wendy Donovan. “I don’t want to have to spend and then cut. I want to be looking out three years.”

Hopkins is able to consider spending the nearly $1.2 million because of a combination of tighter bookkeeping and legislation that gave the district more freedom in how it spends its money.

Under the plan, the district would spend $324,000 of staff development money and $426,000 of capital outlay money on other programs. It would also release $400,000 in areas that had historically had budgets that were overly cautious.

Directors are set to take up budget discussions again at 5 p.m. Thursday.

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How would the money be spent?

Intervention ($253,000)

Intervention provides extra help for students, particularly in reading and math. The school district spent about $85,000 on intervention last year. But the administration wants to increase that to the proposed $253,000 because of the loss of a federal grant.

The money would impact about 625 elementary students in both subjects and 75 high school students in math. (Junior high intervention is paid for with a different funding stream.)

Administrators say this would help close the achievement gap— after Minnesota received a waiver from No Child Left Behind provisions.

Hopkins High School Strategic Work ($17,000)

The high school wants to “transform its program”—specifically in registration and interventions. This money would pay to:

• Registration
  • Improve the student handbook
  • Improve the registration process—specifically funding 10 more meetings of a registration subcommittee and five hours of “action research.”
  • Meet with junior high representatives to plan ways to ease the transition between junior high and high school.
• Advisory
  • Fund eight meetings of the advisory subcommittee and work on the improvement of advisory and “Teachers and Students Connecting” time—which gives students time to get extra help from teachers, work on projects or meet with guidance counselors.
  • Fund a point person for advisory.
• Intervention
  • Create a committee to focus on how the district uses data to develop an intervention timeline and process.
  • Pay for 10 substitutes so members of pertinent committees can get together for a one-day retreat in May.

Behavior-monitoring programs ($30,000)

The “School Wide Information System” tracks behavior trends and where they occur so schools have data to ensure learning environments are as positive as possible. Alice Smith Elementary already uses SWIS.

Last year’s survey, ranked lack of discipline as the district’s second most serious issue, behind only lack of funding.  

This allocation would primarily pay for substitutes while select staff train to use the SWIS program. The district would also have to pay $250 per school annually to license the software, or $1,500 total for the district.

International Baccalaureate ($109,000)

This allocation would fund the junior highs’ first year of candidacy for IB’s —which includes application fees, candidacy fees and an IB coordinator at each junior high.

During that time, staff would begin training and developing curriculum while the district explores whether staff and student schedules mesh with IB. If the program appears to be a good fit, the district would continue to pursue acceptance into the program. If it didn’t, the process could be abandoned.

IB has been , but School Board Director Kris Newcomer said just embarking on the process could create expectations that it will continue.

“It’s really hard to stop something when you’re down the road,” she said.

to read about IB in more detail.

Elementary AVID ($18,000)

Last year’s School Board . Schultz’s budget continues funding for the program, which aims to close the achievement gap and prepare all students for college.

Digital content ($200,000)

would bring about the large-scale adoption of iPads in Hopkins classrooms. The capital project levy would fund most of the $3 million cost, but it would require $200,000 from the general fund to help with the transition to tablets. to read about the plan in more detail.

Proportional distribution at Eisenhower ($51,000)

The administration’s plan would sets aside money for counselors, social workers, media and challenge instructors because their numbers haven’t grown with the school.

Ready for Kindergarten ($150,000)

The district launched its second kindergarten readiness program this year at Eisenhower Elementary, following on the heels of another program at . The superintendent’s plan would continue funding those programs.

Marketing and communications ($300,000)

This would be a bulk allocation intended to be spent over two years. Administrators say the district needs to invest in marketing and communications in order to maintain support from residents—particularly with the renewal of an operating levy anticipated in 2013.

Equalized prep time ($76,000)

The Hopkins Education Association noted during contract negotiations that teachers have different amounts of prep time based on their school buildings. This is mainly because of issues related to lunch periods—including size of lunchrooms and available staff to monitor playgrounds. This would set up a system that would allow prep times to be identical across the district.