Carstarphen: Cuts not easy, but some overdue

The St. Paul School District may address its financial shortfall next year by eliminating cost-of-living pay increases for many employees, eliminating district-funded band lessons for students in grades four through six, and reducing funding for students learning English, special education students and athletics.

"These solutions will not be easy, but they are also, in some cases, overdue," Superintendent Meria Carstarphen told the school board Tuesday, "And as far as the economic crisis is concerned, they are unfortunately necessary."

The district announced in January that it's facing a $25 million deficit for the 2009-10 school year. At 5 percent of the district's operating budget, it's the largest budget deficit the district has faced in at least a decade, according to chief business officer Lois Rockney.

Carstarphen recommended that the school board make $15 million in short-term cuts to the 2009-10 projected budget to help the district get through the economic downturn. She also recommended it look for $10 million in more long-term, structural cuts that will help the district deal with an infrastructure too big for the number of students it has.

Carstarphen said the funding cuts represented the equivalent of about 265 staff positions district-wide.

The St. Paul School District is the second largest in the state, with 38,500 students and a total spending budget of about $652 million for the 2008-09 school year. In the past nine years, the district has made more than $90 million in cuts to its projected school budgets.

St. Paul is not alone in its budget situation. Officials in the Minneapolis public schools announced in December that they expect their budget to be short $28 million for the upcoming school year.

• $10 million that would come directly from school budgets.

• $5 million to eliminate cost-of-living pay increases for principals, teachers, administrators and others whose contracts will be negotiated for the 2009-10 year.

• $1.4 million to have the district stop paying for individual band lessons for students in grades four, five and six. Individual schools could decide to pay for the services themselves, or the district could look for outside funding, such as grants.

• $1.4 million in central administration reductions.

• $800,000 from both special education and services for students learning English, to make up for enrollment declines.

• $650,000 from athletics, to make up for the enrollment decline.

Mary Cathryn Ricker, president of the 3,600-member St. Paul Federation of Teachers, said Tuesday that she was surprised the district came forward with its proposal to freeze pay increases before contract negotiations have even started.

"I mostly have questions," about the proposal, she said. "My first reaction is ... I guess we've started negotiating. It looks like they've passed us our first proposal already."

The district was careful to stress Tuesday that no final decisions have been made, and the numbers could change based on the national economy, action at the Legislature, enrollment changes and the possibility of a federal stimulus package.

While the stimulus package has now passed both houses of the U.S. Congress, the Senate and House bills differ. Estimates show that St. Paul could be in line for as much as $50 million, but that number could change significantly before a final bill is signed, according to Michael Baumann, the district's controller.

Board member Tom Conlon expressed concern with the proposed cuts to band lessons. "It always seems that arts and language are the first to get the ax," he said.

The board plans to adopt the 2009-10 budget on June 16.