Hutchinson Public School District 423 voters answered two funding questions this past week. Now the School Board has many others to ask as future legislation, enrollment and other factors could impact what comes next.
Voters chose to renew a $310.88 per pupil levy for another 10 years, with 4,421 (54.63%) voting “yes,” and 3,671 (45.37%) voting “no.”
However, a second question, which requested an additional $382 per pupil levy was soundly rejected, with 4,616 (58.81%) “no” votes and 3,233 (41.18%) “yes.”
Levy funds must be used to pay for school operations and learning programs. Overall, local dollars cover 12% of the school’s budget, with the remaining share coming largely from state dollars paid per student, or for programs such as special education.
If the first question was not approved, the school anticipated it would lose approximately $1.1 million in annual revenue. If question two failed, the school said it would consider additional cuts estimated to be $1 million per year.
“I’m really grateful to the community for passing question one,” said board chairwoman Tiffany Barnard. “It would have been catastrophic had that not passed.”
Despite the second question having been declined, she said she felt results showed promise, and potential for the school board to come back to voters next year with a new or adjusted request, and in the meantime make sure there is full transparency in the budgeting process.
“I think we’re still living in this post-COVID catchup, so maybe success looks different for everyone, and in a year, people might feel more confident,” Barnard said.
The school will also be busy lobbying lawmakers to place more money in the formula to fund schools. Director of Business and Finance Rebecca Boll told school board members earlier this year that state funding to schools has not kept up with inflation. If it had, she said, the school would receive $1,264 more per student than it does today.
That shortfall compounds with other issues schools face, such as a statewide trend tracking lower enrollment overall. As a result, districts receive less money from the state.
Whatever the district does next is ultimately up to the new School Board, with two new members beginning in January. But, Barnard said, on the table are cuts in staffing, mental health support, class offerings, programs, technology, student activates, extracurriculars and athletics.
“To generalize it, anything that isn’t mandated is up for discussion,” she said. “There is no black and white answer yet.”
But there are other variables to consider, as well.
“Right now, as an advocate for our school district, I think a lot could happen in a year’s time regarding funding. So, if the state Legislature adds more money, we won’t have to ask for as much. If we see enrollment increases, we won’t have to ask as much,” Barnard said. “Our sincere hope is it would be wonderful to not have to go back to our community to ask for an increase. It would be wonderful if things were funded, if our programs were funded. Our state is sitting on this huge surplus, I hope they do something with this.”
That decision will largely be in the hands of the DFL, which last week was voted into control of the Minnesota House, Senate and governor’s office.
But the funding issue is federal, as well.
“I fully support serving all levels of special education. That is how we serve our community. When a student is given an individual plan, the federal government mandates that we meet all of those needs written in the IP, but they only fund 40 percent of the costs,” Barnard said. “So, our general education budget has to cross subsidize 60 percent of the cost. That is taken out of our general education budget.”
As a regional center, Hutchinson has additional resources, but also attracts open enrollment from other districts.
“The other unique situation in our community is we have to also subsidize the special education costs of the charter schools,” Barnard said.
Overall, Hutchinson Public Schools cross-subsidizes special education with an average $2.4 million per year.
“So, we were asking the community for $1 million dollars on question two. You could see if the federal government decided to fully fund special education, we wouldn’t need to ask our community for anything additional, that would wipe that out,” Barnard said.
