Bemidji School Board Discusses Ways to Sustain Budget

Trying to avoid statutory operation debt, the Bemidji Area School Board is looking at several different ways to sustain their budget.

The school board held their monthly meeting Monday night where they discussed what could potentially affect Bemidji High School students, staff, and teachers. With difficult decisions ahead, Bemidji High School students made sure that their voices were heard on the idea to change from a four-period block schedule to a six-period day.

“I personally don’t think a six-period day is the best [solution] we could implement,” said student representative Abigail Enquist, “so if scheduling is definitely something we’re going to have to change at the high school, I hope that we can look at many possible options, ’cause I know there are many different scheduling models that we could use that might be better for everyone involved.”

The district says that although they understand the sacrifices that have to be made, this situation only comes because the district needs to have a steady revenue flow and must provide mandatory services to students in the district.

“We are required by the state of Minnesota and by federal law in many cases to provide mandatory services to students, everything from meals to transportation to special education to testing and many, many other mandates,” said superintendent Tim Lutz. “All of those mandates, almost all of those mandates cost money, and again nearly every one of those mandates is underfunded, so the issue is a shortfall in revenue. The remedy is to cut, and cut, and cut.”

The board is expected to have additional meetings to continue the discussion to explore possible solutions to their current budget issue. The school board also welcomed its newest member, Gabriel Warren, at Monday’s meeting.