School budgets offer tale of two districts

The two districts attempting to pull off a consolidation in the next year showed strikingly different anticipated budgets for the next year. The Carlton and Wrenshall school boards met in regular monthly sessions Monday night via online platforms.

Carlton continues to bleed money. Board members passed a budget showing that revenues in the 2020-2021 school year won’t keep up with expenses by about $457,000. It’s a continuing pattern for the district that is slowly eating away at its budget reserves as enrollment continues to dwindle.

Outgoing superintendent Gwen Carman, who will work her last week at district offices next week, said the district is losing about 45 students next year to open enrollment. There was also a larger-than-normal senior class in 2020, meaning the school population will be much different in the fall. About half of the students who live in the district actually go to Carlton schools. Most open-

enroll into Cloquet.

Enrollment has been a rollercoaster for the district, which tried to stave off losses by cutting staff. That $300,000 in savings was swallowed up by an increase in health insurance costs and other curriculum costs, Carman said.

She repeated her mantra about the district’s finances again Monday night. “It is not sustainable,” she said. “There needs to be a long-term plan as soon as

possible.”

The best hope for the district comes via a consolidation with Wrenshall. It would likely stabilize enrollments and perhaps increase overall student counts with the more educational opportunities a larger district can offer.

The Wrenshall board had to grin and bear a budget for next year that looks awful on paper: $5 million in deficits. But that’s due to how the district is receiving and spending $9 million in bonding money for quality improvements at the school that are now underway. Ignoring the money shuffle, the district expects to be in the black by next spring by about $54,000.

Enrollment in the district had remained steady, relying heavily on open enrollment from area districts.

The boards continue to wait on progress in the Minnesota Legislature when it comes to the bonding bill. Passage, with inclusion of a bill the districts have been pushing for through a lobbyist and local representatives, would mean state funding could be used to pay for 40 percent or more of the cost of consolidation. The cost to renovate schools and grounds for the influx of students is about $38 million.

The legislative session ended last month without major spending bills passed. Now the special session that began last Friday has been consumed by finding money to pay for pandemic recovery and new laws aimed at keeping police in line in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis and the flood of protests since.

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State offers 3 options on fall schooling

Schools will get guidance from officials on how to plan for the upcoming academic year by late July. That’s according to a statement released by the Minnesota Department of Education on Monday.

“We know that fall planning is already underway in your districts and schools, and guidance from MDE is needed,” Wendy Hatch, MDE spokesperson wrote.

Schools need months to hire staff, register students and plan for all the details of starting the 2020-2021 school year. But state officials say they will not release guidance on what form the upcoming academic year will take until the week of July 27.

At the moment, officials have told districts and charters to plan for three possible scenarios in the fall:

1) All children return to school buildings and in-person classes.

2) No children return to school buildings for in-person classes. Instead, all students will engage in distance learning.

3) Employ a hybrid of these two options with both in-person classes and distance learning.

This week, the Education Department is expected to issue guidance to district and charter schools on how to plan for the three possible scenarios.

— Minnesota Public Radio