Grand Forks School Board Faces Budget Cuts, Realignments, and a Music Dilemma

GRAND FORKS ND (trfnews.i234.me) Superintendent of Grand Forks Schools talks about suggest cuts and realignments to shore up the school districts budget.
zero absent motion carries thank you we’ll now have um if you guys want to use this door um or unless you want to stay that would be fine too um but there’s three seats there will be three chairs open in the front if anyone wants to shuffle we’ll now go on to our fiscal year 25 budget update while this is under recommendations for Action um it’s just an update on the process so we’re not taking any action on this item Dr brener um will provide an update on the process um and then we will move into um public comment thank you madam president first of all thanks to everybody who who was here tonight adults and students alike I certainly appreciate please well I will do the best I can uh to speak up I’ll lean into this microphone um just wanted to thank all of you for being here this evening and it’s good to see students uh at advocating on behalf of themselves as well so thank you before business manager Brandon bombach begins his overview of where the recommended budget reignment recommendations were made in terms of percent per group it’s worth noting clarifying some misinformation being portrayed around the recommendations but first uh last Thursday I invited anyone positionally or through program refinement to meet with assistant superintendent ma baky associate superintendent kathern gatcher me to have a conversation I’m pleased to report that a couple of groups have done that so thank you for reaching out we’ll meet with you very soon so with respect I want to provide some comments and the clarifications on all the information swirling around the community this is not an undertaking anyone wants to lead or to be a part of however it’s pragmatic it’s a pragmatic part of leadership and education or any other organization who has to address the bottom line first the 15% general fund goal by 2026 has been a 2-year goal established by by the school board and a driver behind administration’s work our Auditors have expressed a desire to see the ending fund balance brought back into a comfortable year in balance as Illustrated to all staff who were able to attend the district-wide staff meeting virtually last Thursday our school district presently at approximately 99.78% fund balance is far below Fargo West Fargo Bismark and Min not the reason for our fund balance dipping below the recommended 15% was a combination of several factors the 2015 loss of the additional 10 ms in our building fund although as Mr bombach pointed out voters approved the additional 10 ms in 2021 thus in six to S years there was a loss of approximately $15 in building fund Revenue alone without those resources the district relied on the general fund our checkbook to pay for catastrophic boiler boiler failures in several schools along with replacing two aging relocates at Viking Elementary School further the state’s funding formula changed uh change reduced local property tax revenue and capped Mills which was another Revenue stream change and subsequent loss to our budget anyone believing we are padding the budget does not understand the reality and the complexities of our budget again 15% is recommended by our Auditors and actually the auditor who was at our finance committee meeting um last week said 15 to 25% and so we’re shooting for the low end and we want to make sure that we have room for negotiations with all of our employee groups as next year will be a negotiating year again as far as the recommendations German will be phased out over the next three years which means all freshmen who took German this year will be able to take German 2 three and four through their high school years it’s not being cut at the end of this year it’s being phased out over the course of time World Language at the middle level will be reshaped and integrated into other courses so that World culture is understood so there’s not an elimination but rather an alternative way to deliver this content I’ve been questioned that I don’t or upper Administration doesn’t value music education and that couldn’t be further from the truth I’m a wannabe musician I’ve played in a band my son plays violin and Orchestra plays piano and is in jazz band at the middle school level he loves his teachers and so do we as parents the recommend recommendations are around refining music education delivery not cutting music education I want to repeat that we are not cutting music education we have a model that allow allows for music teachers to serve a portion of their day providing one-on-one lessons with students that’s an expensive model it’s the conservatory model it’s been supported by the school district for quite some time we are advocating that rather than one toone lessons instructors work with groups of student for skill development again it’s our perspective that this is refining the delivery of music not cutting it it’s been suggested that music education is taking the largest reduction that’s not quite true elementary schools across the district are going to see a 7 to 10 full-time equivalency reduction given enrollment Trends in other words reducing teachers by 7 to 10 across all of our elementary schools I would advocate that music teachers sit sit in a room with District leadership and that meeting will come up soon because we already received a communication for that and again I want to thank you to the music educators for so that we can further that conversation what’s been lost in the conversation is that anyone whose position has been affected will have an opportunity to work in another capacity for library media Specialist PA professionals that may be another PA professional role and I can fully appreciate that may not be what they want they have their positions through the end of the school year nobody lost their job last week many of our teachers are multi-certified and are qualified to teach in other content areas while that may not be their true desire or their passion they will still be gainfully employed and be paid where they’re placed on the salary schedule attrition that is staff retirements and resignations will continue between now in this summer we’ll do everything in our decision-making power to align skill set with position availability is it perfect far from it does the timing work for everyone I doubt it finally there’s been a tremendous commitment by the school board and me to elevate compensation for all colleagues in a manner that will attract and retain people for the 10 years prior to my superintendency salaries received minimal minimal growth which put the district further behind large and small school districts in the region and across the state last spring and summer school board negotiators went deep into the general fund to address those salary gaps it was stated then and throughout this year that balancing the other side of the Ledger was necessary respectfully we can’t increase salaries by approximately 133% over two years and expect the budget to balance itself every area of the school district has been affected by reductions as Mr bonduk will illustrate shortly it’s worth noting up front that while all levels Elementary Middle School High School athletics and special education had goals some exceeded and some closely met those goals at the end of the administrative work between all levels in the mark Sanford education center we’re at approximately 97% of the overall goal of reducing expenditures by 5% through this process there will be more moving Parts between now and June 30th and that will allow us to reach 100% of our goal the 2024 25 preliminary budget will go before the school board in August with a final budget for approval in October 2024 so for tonight School Board you’re not here to approve the budget or any decisions um but it’s it’s an update for you and and certainly Bears repeating that people are here to speak so with that said I will turn it over to Mr bombu for a higher level of those percents it’s