Spanish Cuts Still on Table as Budget Decision Looms

The Edina School District is narrowing down options as it relates to an estimated $2.25 million in projected cuts for the upcoming school year.

School Board members continued discussion around what to trim out of the 2011-12 budget during a special meeting on Monday, May 2. One of the key sticking points—as it has been all along—was whether or not to eliminate Spanish at the district's elementary schools.

Board member Bert Ledder remained firm in her stance to not cut Spanish, as she said the district already "runs our elementary schools pretty tight." Rather than pass along that $160,000 reduction to a different area of the budget, Ledder thinks the cut simply doesn't need to be made.

"We're still trying to cut everything out and aren't giving young children the option to try to explore other possibilities," Ledder said. "I think that's a huge mistake in our education delivery."

Board member Idith Almog said even though students would not be exposed to a foreign language until the start of sixth grade, she believes they can still obtain a decent level of fluency in the languages of their choice.

"We have students passing AP tests in all languages that we offer them," Almog said.

As $500,000 in next year's budget reduction represents federal stimulus funds that can't be replicated, she said saving Spanish now would likely be a short-term victory for the program.

"We can have this big discussion, but it's not necessarily worth it," she said. "If we came up with a different way to cut $160,000 from the elementary schools, we'll go for it. Otherwise it seems that Spanish is the bumper one on the list for our constituents."

It wasn't quite as cut-and-dry for some board members. Lonnie Skrentner said she feels conflicted regarding the issue, as she could go one of two ways: completely eliminating the Spanish program or, conversely, going back to an all-day model beginning at Kindergarten.

In talking with parents, Skrentner said the one thing that kept coming up was how much students truly enjoy taking part in a foreign language, saying it helps bolster their enthusiasm for learning the rest of the day.

"Spanish is a place where they're not taking bubble tests, they're actually learning in a fun way," Skrentner said. "When we take that away, I agree we're robbing them of something."

District officials are projecting a general fund budget shortfall of approximately $2-3 million next year, with a potential $9 million gap by 2014 if no changes are made from the current trajectory.

Proposed cuts and changes have long been grouped into four separate tiers, each representing $750,000 in total cuts. Tiers I-III all represent cuts which will likely be made, while Superintendent Ric Dressen said those items in Tier IV will likely not be a part of this year's budget. Dressen doesn't anticipate having to dip into that $750,000 pot unless some drastic changes take place at the state level.

"We don't know what the Legislature is going to decide," Dressen said. "Because of that, we'd still like to keep Tier IV alive."

Dressen and district officials have until the board's regular meeting on Monday, May 16 to finalize the proposed cuts, at which point the School Board is expected to act on it. The final budget and staffing plan will then need to be approved by the school board in June.