The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

February 24, 2009

School districts looking at deep cuts

Difficult decisions on the horizon for several area school districts

By Tanner Kent

MAPLETON — At the beginning of February, most school districts were still trying to forecast the budget difficulties on the horizon.

Now, at the end of February, forecast is meeting reality and difficult decisions are looming.

In the Maple River School District, administrators are meeting with the community Thursday to discuss the possible closing of its Amboy school site.

In Waterville-Elysian-Morristown, a school site in Elysian may sit empty if a lease agreement can’t be negotiated in the coming weeks.

In the Le Sueur-Henderson School District, officials just wrapped up an intensive slate of public forums in which several budget solutions were presented, including turning one of its elementaries into a charter school and moving to a four-day school week.

And while such discussions are shared by nearly every school district in the area, Maple River Supt. Willis Schoeb said that doesn’t take the sting out of a difficult community dialogue.

“It’s not going to be easy,” said Schoeb of his district’s plans to consider closing its Amboy site. “But it’s a process we have to go through, and we need to make sure everyone has a chance to express their concerns.”

Maple River will need to adjust about $1.2 million to rectify its 2009-10 budget. Closing its Amboy facility — which is used as the district’s west-side middle school — would only make up a portion of that deficit. Schoeb said the district also will consider keeping the Amboy school open but in a more limited capacity — say, as a sixth-grade center.

Schoeb said the Maple River School Board will make an official decision on the school in early March.

In the WEM School District, discussions about closing the Elysian facility have been ongoing since last May when district residents rejected a nearly $40 million bond proposal to build a centralized school for the entire district.

Supt. Joel Whitehurst said district and city officials are working on a lease agreement for the Elysian site with the Tri-Valley Opportunity Council. But even with the repurposing of that building, Whitehurst said, the district is still facing about $600,000 in budget reductions.

Whitehurst said the district is planning a public forum in March to discuss budget solutions and possible outcomes for the Elysian building.

“None of the options schools are facing are very enjoyable,” Whitehurst said. “And many of them are pretty detrimental to education.”

In the Le Sueur-Henderson School District, officials hosted the last of three public forums Monday. Supt. Dave Johnson said the district presented several traditional, and nontraditional, budget solutions and gathered input.

In addition to the standard fare of cutting staff and programs, LSH also presented the public with budget options that included: changing to a seven-period high school day, chartering the Hilltop Elementary School, moving to a four-day week and selling its bus fleet.

Johnson said his district is planning for about $650,000 in reductions. The School Board will hear recommendations for reductions March 2, but nothing will be final until the beginning of April.

“There are a lot of significant unknowns,” said Johnson of the status of state and federal funding. “We’re just trying to be as transparent as possible.”

If You Go
What
Public forum on possible closing of the Amboy school site
When
7 p.m. on Thursday
Where
Maple River High School, in the AAA Gymnasium

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