Northfield School Board Approves Reduced Budget; Elementary Orchestra Saved

The music won't stop.

The Northfield School Board on Monday unanimously approved the 2011-12 budget, which is 4 percent less than the current budget—but saved elementary orchestra after months of advocacy from community members.

The unanimous vote came after the public comment time passed without anyone taking the opportunity to address the board.

Indeed, the low-key tone of the meeting seemed anticlimactic for a lengthy budgeting process that has involved pain, passion and effort on the part of the board, district and school staff, parents and community members alike.

The new $45.2 million budget is based on a “worst-case scenario” district officials adopted to prepare for steep cuts in state school aid that seem likely because of the state’s projected $5 billion deficit.

Over the last months, the board decided to cover the $2.4 million deficit with $1.7 million from the fund balance. The district will achieve the remaining $705,000 in needed cuts through reductions in staff positions and administrative costs, maximizing efficiency and increasing activity fees.

Community members made known their priorities for the district through a that commenced in late January. After review by a budget committee and district Superintendent Chris Richards, the board approved budget decreases as follow:

•             Elementary education 2.0 percent
•             Secondary education 2.47 percent
•             District services 4.0 percent
•             Student services 4.0 percent
•             Co-curricular activities 4.0 percent

The cuts include reducing faculty by about 2.95 classroom teachers district-wide. This adds to the loss of 19 teachers since 2004.

“I think it’s really important to put the historic perspective on these cuts,” said board member Julie Pritchard.

But those cuts may be offset by savings realized when the board voted to accept resignations from nine teachers.

The nine were among about 70 teachers in the district eligible for an early retirement package—including a one-time payment of $15,000—the board approved in February. Administrators expect to save $209,000 by replacing these more senior teachers and their higher salaries with less experienced teachers and their more modest salaries.

The $209,000 is the equivalent of 3.71 teachers, were school administrators to choose to use that money for salaries and benefits, Richardson said.

Northfield High School Principal Joel Leer and Northfield Middle School Principal Jeff Pesta presented the “toolkit” developed by the Secondary Budget Team.

The toolkit proposes specific program and position reductions to school administrators, based on the full 4 percent budget cut. They proposed fractional reductions to classroom teachers in such programs as industrial technology, science and world languages district wide. It cuts the art department by one teacher, as well as the elementary Gifted and Talented/Enrichment Services (GATES) program.

It is the latter that will be most difficult for the community to accept, judging by comments at the .

But the board is looking at maintaining services to gifted children through what is called the “schoolwide cluster grouping model,” in which gifted children would share a classroom.

Board members were enthusiastic about the ways in which such a model, as presented by Curriculum and Staff Development Coordinator Heather Ryden, would meet the needs of gifted students every day, not just in a brief weekly session.

The board also heard a report by Community Services Director Hannah Puczko, in which she provided an overview of the program and noted the improvement in its finances over the years.

TEACHERS WHO TOOK EARLY RETIREMENT INCENTIVE PACKAGE
Deborah Becker
David Bly
Jan Christenson
Deney Perkins
Scott Sahli
Bill Seeberg
Jean Vick
Kelli Vogel
Karen Zwolenski