Lakeville Considers Closing Elementary School to Help Trim $15.8 Million Deficit

Next year, Lakeville could close an elementary school, will likely have fewer staff and teachers, and could cut programs, as Independent School District 194 grapples with a $15.8 million budget deficit.

Early this month, the Lakeville school board talked about ways to erase the multimillion deficit for the upcoming two-year budget cycle. The  consensus: everything is on the table.

Superintendent Gary Amoroso said in September that closing an elementary school, cutting 150-175 jobs, including teachers, fee increases, and program reductions–such as the optional Early Bird hour where high school students take elective classes–were all possible as the district deals with the 2011 budget.

On Nov. 2, voters defeated two of the district's three levy questions seeking additional property tax dollars to help eliminate the $15.8 million deficit. Only a renewal of an existing levy was passed, which will continue to give the district $3 million a year for 10 more years. Had that levy failed, the district's deficit would be more than $21.6 million.

"It's like cutting off my right arm, but we are basically going to be dismantling and reevaluating our programs," said board member Kathy Lewis. "In times like this we need to provide the core of our mission—educating children, and that might mean we may need to be closing an elementary (school)."

While nothing is official,  Amoroso said he plans to present the school board with a draft of the administration's recommendations at the group's next work session on Jan. 5.

"We will be downsizing, there is no question," Amoroso said. He also said the board will go through many drafts of recommendations, and there will be opportunities for public feedback before the board makes its final decision on Feb. 8. A timeline and dates for future meetings can be found at the district's website.

"This is going to be emotional for the community," board chair Judy Keliher said. "(But) we need to determine what the new normal is."

In the past, district administrators have said closing a elementary school and using it for a different district program, such as community education, could save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Currently, Lakeville's nine elementary schools are home to 4,700 students in grades K-5, and that number is forecast to shrink by 200 students in three years. But the system capacity for those schools is more than 5,200 students. With most schools having enrollment around 500 children, the district could close a building and absorb the students into the remaining eight schools and still be within capacity.

Board members say state funding for public schools is expected to decrease as state legislators grapple with a $6.2 billion deficit, and that Lakeville residents either can no longer afford or are unwilling to pay more property taxes to help pay more to educate children in the community.

The average house in Lakeville, which the district estimates at $250,000, currently pays about $1,242 in property taxes to the school district. If the two levies had been approved, the same house would have paid $337 more in taxes.

Board Vice Chair Michelle Volk said drastic changes need to occur because going back to the residents every two years and asking for new dollars isn't a long-term strategy.

"Everything's got to change. How we operate; how we do business; everything," Volk said. "We need to operate like a business and it's too much of an unknown to operate and rely on hoping (we get new levy dollars.)"

"The bottom line is $15.8 (million) is the number we start off with and go from there," said the district's director of business services, Mark Klett. He also added the savings a particular cut makes depends on when it is removed from the budget. For example, if the board were to permanently trim $7 million from its 2011 budget, Klett said the savings in the following year would be $7 million, plus inflation.

Good or bad, Volk said Lakeville schools aren't alone in this.

"(Districts are) all hitting the wall at the same time, so there's no model out there to figure out how to redo what we're going to be redoing," she said. "We'll have to be open to some ideas because there's nothing true and tested on how to do it. But we're not alone, and schools across the state and the nation will look a lot different the next couple years."

District administrators will be gathering recommendations over the next month. At 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 5, during a work session at the district office, the board will get its first look at the budget adjustments looming.

If residents have suggestions or comments about the cuts, they can email them to ISD194Budget@isd194.k12.mn.us.