by Tom Lee
Interim Superintendent
Sartell-St. Stephen
A couple years ago a friend of mine (a corporate executive) approached me after church and asked me pointedly, “So Tom, do you think schools have enough money now?” My answer (“no”) clearly surprised him.
I went on to explain that schools were designed to help students learn basic skills of reading, writing and math. They were also designed to assist students to learn other academic subjects, including science, social studies, the arts and more.
His comment was a helpful reminder that some people feel like they know schools because they went to school. Most people are unaware of all the responsibilities schools have been given to address a wide variety of community needs. School districts are a “womb to tomb” community service organization (early intervention programs for students with disabilities starting at birth through special education, and adult programs through community education).
I was able to remind him that in today’s world, every school district is, among other things, a:
- Food service company,
- Child care provider,
- Preschool (ages 3-5) provider,
- Security company,
- Transportation company,
- Student health-support provider,
- Mental health-service provider,
- Activities organization (Sartell-St. Stephen has more activities than ever before such as athletics, Knowledge Bowl, Robotics and more)
Of course, districts may “subcontract” some of their responsibilities like transportation but remain the responsible party to deliver these services.
Traditionally, school districts have been responsible for the educational component for students if they are incarcerated, pregnant, enrolled in day or residential treatment, or homebound due to health or other reasons.
Recently, you may have heard of several school districts both locally and throughout Minnesota that are compelled to reduce their budgets for next year. Why is that if school districts have received what our state politicians call “historic investments in schools?”
It is in part related to declining enrollment (birth rates are down) and the fact that local school districts have only control over approximately 50 percent of those “historic investments.” The remainder are tied to specific mandates.
State mandates – for which local school districts have no control and are part of what our state politicians call “historic investments” – include providing:
- Free breakfast and lunch for every student in Minnesota (costing the state approximately $400 million).
- Unemployment compensation for hourly employees (the state earmarked roughly $135 million to provide funding over two years. After the first summer of implementation, the money is nearly depleted).
Just those two new mandates cost the state more than half of a billion (billion with a “b”) dollars and are part of the “historic” investments. The other 50 percent of the new dollars the state provided included improvements on the state per-pupil formula and significant improvements to help offset the growing cross-subsidy (where special education costs exceed the costs of providing the service and the general fund makes up the difference). Meanwhile, inflation takes a significant chunk of the remaining new money, as do collectively bargained contract settlements.
Our district will need to adjust our budget next year by making $1.25 million in adjustments. We plan to balance the budget through non-renewals of probationary instructional staff and attrition.
This information is not shared here for the purpose of gaining sympathy or to give some more reasons to complain about schools “always complaining about money.” These are simply facts to assist your understanding.
At the end of the conversation with my friend that Sunday morning, he replied he never thought about the requirements and demands on schools. He walked away with a greater understanding of the functioning of modern schools and I hope this article has that same effect on readers.
