Continued: School budget blues fade with check from state

Osseo schools is putting its check from the state of Minnesota to immediate use: The district is rehiring 23 of the 185 teachers the school board decided to lay off in March.

Because of the Legislature's decision last month to give schools an extra $51 per pupil as a quick fix to schools' mounting budget problems, Osseo got an unexpected $1.3 million in added funding.

Unlike many other school districts, which either weren't facing funding shortfalls as serious as Osseo's or that squirreled away their state checks for a rainy day, Osseo's school board determined last week that the district's soaring class sizes had to be reined in.

Teachers targeted for layoffs got their pink slips in person at their schools on May 21. The restored positions will be divided among elementary, junior high and high schools, said Osseo Superintendent Susan Hintz. Who will get rehired and exactly where those positions will go has yet to be determined, Hintz said. Still, teachers will likely wind up where class sizes have swollen the most.

"I know for a fact that one school is getting three positions because their class sizes are so high," Hintz said. She did not identify the school.

Hintz said class sizes in the district have risen to as high as 38 students in the elementary schools and 41 in junior high and high schools. Despite the partial success of a levy referendum last fall, district costs had so outstripped revenues that the school board authorized $16.3 million in cuts last March. Those measures included closing two elementary schools and revamping the programs at four other elementary schools.

Other districts weren't hit nearly so hard. Even those that had to make cuts are more inclined to use the state money to build up reserve funds for the hard times they think will continue.

Robbinsdale schools, which made $5.4 million in cuts for 2008-09, will use its $766,000 to make sure it has a surplus of cash going into the next school year. Mounds View schools spokesman Colin Sokolowski said the school board hasn't yet decided what to do with its additional $580,000.

In the state's largest district -- Anoka-Hennepin -- a windfall of $2 million from the state will be used to avoid having to raid cash reserves to cover a $2 million deficit for next year. Burnsville-Eagan-Savage schools, however, will use its $500,000 to maintain its reserve fund and ensure that the district can pay 30 to 40 rehired teachers beyond next year.

Initially, Osseo schools was going to bank the new money to reduce budget cuts for the 2009-10 school year, when projections show that $4 million in budget cuts will have to be made. Then, the financial outlook turned a bit brighter.

"Our actual expenditures came in better than our projections," Hintz said. Negotiated contracts with teachers and other employee groups during the 2007-08 school year resulted in lower raises than were anticipated. Also, employees agreed to contribute more toward health-care premiums. The savings that resulted allowed the district to feel more confident about keeping the 23 rehired teachers beyond next year, since the extra $51 per pupil is only for the 2008-09 school year.

"We have a higher degree of confidence that we won't have to reduce these same teachers a year from now," Hintz said.

Osseo schools, a suburban district in the northwestern Twin Cities metro area, is the fifth largest district in the state, with more than 20,000 students. It covers all or parts of eight communities.

Norman Draper • 612-673-4547

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