Northfield School District Identifies Potential Cuts

Elementary band and orchestra teachers could be on the chopping block for next school year.

Parking and athletics might cost more next year for students.

The newsletter could head to an online only format.

Those are just a few options being considered in a $960,000 proposal for budget adjustments for the 2010-11 school year, according to a release from the Northfield School District on Thursday.

The district projects it will need to cut $2.4 million from its budget for next school year and will cover $1.7 million of that with fund reserves. That leaves about $705,000 in staff, programming and other areas that needs to be trimmed.

“Due to the lack of any increase in state funding for public education over the last three years, continued reductions in special education and federal Title funding, increases in costs in order to maintain programs and services, and likely state budget reductions in aid to schools, the District needs to prepare to make this level of cuts,” said Superintendent Chris Richardson in a press release.

The nearly $1 million identified for cuts accounts for about a 4-percent reduction. Richardson said there's been nearly a 14-percent reduction since the 2005-06 school year.

“The reductions continue to impact both the classroom as well as all of the support services that help classroom teachers to be successful with students each day,” he said.

The recommendations come from district budget review committee, which acted on proposals from five program committees that examined different areas of the district.

A public hearing to discuss the proposals is slated for 7 p.m. March 16 at the .

To see everything considered for cuts, click on the PDFs to the right.