Wrenshall drops teacher position to deal with deficit

The Wrenshall school board on Monday night passed a resolution to not renew a contract for a probationary elementary school teacher. The move was discussed the week earlier at the committee of the whole meeting as a way to erase a $43,313 deficit in the planned budget for next year.

“I don’t like it,” board member Janaki Fisher-Merritt said at the time, “but it isn’t devastating to class size.”

The cut means that a class of 30 students will have one teacher instead of two this year, which elicited groans from some in the audience at the meeting last Wednesday.

Superintendent Kim Belcastro said the expected total enrollment at the school is 365 for the next school year.

Here is how that enrollment breaks down:

Kindergarten: 19 students

First: 22

Second: 36 (with two teachers)

Third: 22

Fourth: 31

Fifth: 28

Sixth: 30 (likely two teachers)

Seventh: 29 (two teachers)

Eighth: 52 (two teachers)

Ninth: 27

Tenth: 20

Eleventh: 21

Twelfth: 28

Wrenshall’s budget is predicated on the state legislature passing a bill to increase school funding by at least 2 percent for next year. Gov. Tim Walz has recommended a 3-percent increase. The House is working on a bill that would match the governor’s request but the Senate bill calls for just a half-percent increase.

“We have to be somewhat conservative,” Belcastro said of any expected boost in state funding.

The May 14 referendum question about raising taxes for improvements at the school will also be a factor in next year’s budget.

“We’re being intentional to not be in deficit-spending,” Belcastro said.

Teacher changes

High school science teacher David Blinn will retire in June after 38 years with the district. The board on Monday accepted his retirement letter and will look for a replacement. The district is also seeking a K-12 music teacher. Deb Fenlason holds that position now but has been asked to teach sixth grade next year.

Referendum details

Voting in the May 14 special election asking for an increase in school taxes to pay for improvements at the school will take place at the Silverbrook Town Hall at 401 Alcohol Road in Wrenshall.

Eligible voters who can’t participate on that day can cast an absentee ballot at the auditor’s office at the Carlton County Courthouse in Carlton. Voters can also request absentee ballots be sent via mail by making arrangements with the auditor’s office. The office number is 218-384-9127.

The office will be open for absentee voters on Saturday, May 10, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It will also be open for voters until 5 p.m. on the day before the election, May 13.