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Items included in this column are things that I have heard, seen or have been reported to me. I cannot vouch for their veracity.

North Branch School Superintendent Deb Henton recently announced a plan to deal with a projected $2.9 million budget deficit for the 2008-2009 school year. The bad news was formally and publicly delivered to the NB School Board at the April 10 meeting. The three-phase plan focused on a combination of "Administrative Restructuring, Facilities Reconfiguration and Buildings and Programs."

Phase 1 called for a reduction in staff at the administrative level. For a projected savings of $251,000, a building principal and an assistant principal position were eliminated. The second phase is aimed at saving about $200,000 annually by shifting two programs out of leased space and into school district buildings.

Phase three is a combination of staff cuts, reduced services and increased revenues. The cuts are designed to save about $2,000,000 per annum. About 60 percent of that savings will come from cutting about 23 teachers from the staff. Another $450,000 will come by reducing support staff in schools, building maintenance and grounds and bus drivers.

Part of the savings in Phase Three is an $83,000 reduction in the activities budget. The savings are to be achieved by a combination of increased fees, elimination or restructure of programs, cuts in supply budgets and shortening current middle school seasons.

The current fee structure (What parents pay for their kids to play sports or participate in a non-sport activity) is based on two factors; The kind of activity and whether it is a high school or middle school activity. Under the new plan, sports fees will be based on the grade of the student. Middle school athletes will pay $100, ninth graders will be assessed $125 and 10th-12th graders will pay $150 per sport. The exception is hockey, where fees will be doubled (from $175 to $350). Fine arts and Academic competition fees will also be increased. It's hoped that the increased fees will raise nearly $30,000 per year.

The biggest activities cost savings will come from cutting the length of Middle School sports seasons by 20 percent. The savings would come from commensurate reductions in coaches' salaries.

The District also hopes to save $20,000 by making two other changes. NB hopes to save half of that by reducing the supplies budget for activities and save $10,000 by exploring the possibility of pairing with St. Francis for boys' hockey and/or asking the local hockey association to contribute more to the school program. (The girls' program and the NB youth programs are currently aligned with SF).

Other savings would be realized by cutting clerical support for the activities, combining middle school cross country with the high school program and cutting, from four to three, the number of NBHS boys' basketball teams. The basketball savings would derive from travel and officiating expenses.

A significant number of coaches or advisors of Viking activities will be among the staff cuts and will need to be replaced. According to Activities Director Becky Leuer, the challenge of replacing them will be significant. "We will have 15 coaching vacancies caused by staff layoffs. Plus, we lost eight coaches or advisors to resignations. Also, because of retirements, we will have three more middle school coaching positions to fill."

If I added that up correctly, Leuer will have 26 coach/advisor positions to fill for next year. Of course, many of the staff who were cut were the ones interested in coaching. It seems likely that remaining staff will be, in general, less than enthusiastic about assuming more extracurricular duties.

When asked what the most difficult part of this will be for her, Leuer said, "We'll be losing some terrific teachers who were also great coaches. It's difficult because people lose their jobs - not just in activities. I have my work cut out for me finding people to run these programs."

In my view, school districts have been put in a very difficult position. When the state legislature passed the open enrollment policy allowing students to transfer from district to district for "academic reasons," they put the districts in competition with each other.

While many Americans view competition as a healthy thing, it can result in unintended consequences, especially if the districts don't have equal resources. North Branch already has some of the largest class sizes and lowest expenditures per pupil unit in the state when compared to schools of similar size.

Yet, with cuts, class sizes will be even larger. They could cut out some activities to reduce expenditures. However, if they did that, they would run the risk of losing students to neighboring districts. If they lose students, they lose the funding from the state that comes along with the students.

It also seems foolish to base school funding on the property tax base in the school district and the willingness of the voters to provide additional funding. It's never seemed logical to operate a system that promotes inequities among school districts. Shouldn't students in public schools enjoy relative equality of opportunity?

North Branch isn't unique. Many schools face similar issues on a regular basis. Difficult economic times just seem to magnify the problem and bring them to the forefront.

You are invited to send interesting, unusual and/or humorous items that could possibly be used in this space. If you choose to do so, please send it to [email protected].

If you prefer, you may send it to

Chisago County Press

Attn: Dave

12631 Lake Blvd.

Lindstrom, Mn 55045

or, you may bring it in to the office.

Sports stuff would be great, but, please do not limit yourselves. Politics, religion, culture (pop or otherwise) are welcomed. Please do not feel offended if your contribution is not included.

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