District prepares list of proposed cuts, change

Eliminate the kindergarten milk program. Get rid of the curriculum director. Erect a wind turbine and sell energy.

When the Inver Grove Heights school district set out to make budget cuts after voters rejected a levy request in November, administrators asked school employees to brainstorm to find ways to bridge the $1.2 million gap.

School leaders shot down many of the suggestions -- including the three above -- for a variety of reasons.

But the cuts the school board will review Monday night speak to the wide net that the district has cast in search of places to save.

"Everything was put on the table," said board chairman Phil Prokopowicz.

Likely reductions for next year involve cutting the equivalent of more than a dozen staff positions and bumping up some class sizes.

High school world language classes would get bigger, and the average middle school class would go from 25 to 27 students. Family Science (aka Home Ec) is likely out the door, as is a middle school computer technology course. Elementary students probably won't be taking any district-sponsored field trips. The activities department would have to come up with $30,000, probably by raising fees, said Superintendent Deirdre Wells.

And seventh-grade health just barely squeaked through. The class, also offered to sixth- and eighth-graders, survived after school leaders balked at scrimping on education about drugs and sex just when kids hit puberty.

The board will discuss the budget Monday, and final approval could come as soon as March 10, Prokopowicz said.

The budget for next year didn't cut any new curriculum initiatives, and Wells was happy about that. But the district can't make it through another round of cuts without slicing core programs, she argued.

"We are to that precipice," said Wells, who pointed out that another school levy is about to expire. Even if voters renew it this fall, the district will be looking at about $1 million in cuts for the 2009-2010 school year, she said. If it fails, that figure will be closer to $2.3 million.

So the school board may grab this item from the list of staff suggestions that won't affect next year's budget: Run another referendum in the fall.

That decision hasn't been made yet, Prokopowicz said. But, he added, "It's extremely likely."

Sarah Lemagie • 952-882-9016