Northfield School Board Passes 2011-12 Budget; Considers New Levy

It was supposed to be the vote that would cement the 2011-12 budget for the .

But with the Minnesota budget process at an impasse, the school board's unanimous vote on next year's school budget of $38.2 million on Monday came with anything but an air of finality.

The uncertainty that has hung over next year's budget since at least January has now, with the possibility of a state government shut down, raised the concern that school aid might not come at all.  

If Gov. Mark Dayton and the state legislature don't reach a budget deal by July 1, government and other state-funded entities shut down for lack of funds. That has district officials and others in the state putting together contingency plans for all the ways the budget standoff may play out.  

Northfield Superintendent Chris Richardson said he is crossing his fingers and toes in the hope that state officials reach a budget agreement soon. In case they don't, board members voted unanimously to authorize the district to secure a line of credit to cover expenses if there is a gap in aid payments.

In the meantime, the legislative impasse forces the district once again to make decisions based on hypothetical scenarios. Lacking funding numbers from the state, the board finalized a budget that is based on a potential 5-percent decrease in state aid and a 2.45 percent increase in expenditures.

Likewise, uncertainty over the state's finances in the near term will continue to complicate the board's work.

For instance, the district's current operating and capital levies expire in three years. Not only must the board decide if and when it will go to voters with a new levy request, but they must decide how much to request without knowing what level of school aid they can expect from the state in the future.

As with the 2011-12 budget, school officials will consider scenarios from best to worst case. Under the best likely circumstances, state aid would remain constant and the district would need to pay for increased expenses with a or a spend down of the fund balance, or a combination thereof.

Without renewed levies, the district would face shortfalls of $5.8 million in the general fund and of $750,000 in the operating capital fund—nearly two and a half times the cuts just made for the 2011-12 fiscal year.  

“It is frustrating to feel like we are so in the dark as to what the future will be like,” said board chair Kari Nelson.

She instructed board members to come to the July 11 meeting prepared to discuss levy questions such as when to hold the vote, how much to ask for and the time period during which a levy would be in effect.  

In other business, the board learned that the Blandin Foundation is providing a total of $60,000 over the next two years for the school's Tackling Obstacles and Raising College Hopes (TORCH) program, a program designed to help increase the graduation and college attendance rates of low-income and minority students, according to a Minnesota Alliance With Youth publication.  

Also, the Minnesota Office of Justice Programs selected Northfield's PRIMEtime collaborative as recipient of a $161,502 grant to support a number of youth programs in the district. Nearly 1,000 students participate in PRIMEtime programming every year.