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6-21-2000Duluth School Board approves $110.9 million budgetProposal would eliminate only 26 teaching positions
By Kate Bramson The Duluth School Board approved a $110.9 million budget Tuesday that cuts 26 classroom teaching positions instead of an earlier proposal that would have cut 40. Although the board approved the dollar amount for the budget, questions remain about certain positions, including the activity directors at the district's three high schools. State law requires the School Board set its budget by June 30. The board will discuss a budget revision in July that will address the issues of class sizes, activity directors and school social workers. The board left questions about those issues unanswered Tuesday because the district is still working with the state to determine how much additional state revenue the district will receive, Superintendent Julio Almanza said Tuesday night. ``We believe we have about $200,000 more than was approved here tonight,'' Almanza said after the board meeting. Despite about $2.1 million in cuts next year, the district will still spend more money than it did this year. This year's budget was $107.5 million. The district had proposed $4 million in cuts midway through the legislative session. Administration also had proposed spending $700,000 of the district's designated reserve fund -- a sort of rainy day savings account -- to make up the remainder of the budget shortfall. However, about $1.7 million in additional money appropriated by the state Legislature allowed the district to make fewer cuts than originally anticipated. The approved budget spends about $768,000 of the district's designated reserve fund. At Tuesday night's meeting, board members began discussing the merits of cutting the position of Woodland Middle School's assertive discipline coordinator. Administration had proposed that the licensed teacher in that position be returned to the classroom to lower class sizes. As part of the effort to reduce class sizes at the middle and high schools, administrators had also suggested that the high school activity directors spend half their time teaching next year rather than working full time as activity directors. In discussing the Woodland position, board members weighed the benefits of having an assertive discipline coordinator against the benefits of reducing class sizes by putting the licensed teacher back in the classroom. But School Board member Bob Mars Jr. cautioned the board not to get tied up with line-item decisions that can be discussed in July. ``I hope we're not going to sit here until 3 a.m. talking about each school,'' he said. ``... Let's not take each one of these little issues. That's not what this budget is about.'' Other board members said they could approve the budget if they knew the issues of class sizes, activity directors and school social workers would be discussed in July. The budget passed on a 6-1 vote. Mike Akervik voted against the budget. Members Eileen Zeitz-Hudelson and Mary Glass-LeBlanc were absent. ``Here's the dilemma that the board will have, and that is, you have to deal with class-size issues and you have to deal with activity directors,'' Almanza said. ``The question will be, `Which will be the greatest priority?' '' The district has budget troubles because expenses are going up next year, in part because of salary and benefit increases, but revenue hasn't increased at the same pace. The primary reasons for the budget shortfall are declining enrollment, changes in state funding formulas, a 20 percent increase in employee health-insurance costs and the increase in transportation costs because of rising gasoline prices, Almanza says. The district expects to lose more than 200 students from this year to next year. The 40 teacher cuts originally proposed included six elementary school teachers, eight middle school teachers and 26 high school teachers. After receiving additional state money at the end of the Legislative session, administration decided to cut only four middle school teachers and 10 high school teachers from classrooms, according to Greg Hein, the district's business services director. Elementary teacher cuts remain at six. Due to the teacher cuts next year, the portion of the budget spent on salary and benefits remains about the same as this year's, Hein said. In both years, that portion of the budget is about 78 percent. The current teachers contract, approved in January, increased teacher salaries by 6.6 percent over a two-year period, from July 1999 to June 2001. |
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