(Willmar MN-) The Willmar School District is facing the prospect of budget cuts in the coming year. Willmar Schools Finance Director Kathryn Haase says at the current rate of spending, they will exceed revenues by 5 million dollars. She says the main culprit is the loss of students after the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March of 2020...
...Willmar lost about 200 students who opted for home schooling or other educational options, but they regained a little less than half that number back. Willmar School Board Chair Justin Bos says as COVID numbers continue to shrink, he hopes they get back more of those students next year. Superintendent Dr. Jeff Holm says they hoped to get some help from the legislature this year when a bi-partisan bill helping them pay for federally-mandated special education programs made progress, but that bill, like many others, died when lawmakers failed to pass it before the adjournment deadline...
...This spring the school district passed what was called a "generous" two-year contract with teachers. School Board member Mike Reynolds says they did so to try and attract and retain high-quality staff...
...The school board and administration will begin the process of examining where they can make staff reductions that would have the least impact on students. They hope to spread them out over the course of multiple years instead of all at once. Fortunately the district currently has a healthy fund balance, but Holm says you can't live on that for very long. The Willmar School District has a policy to maintain at least a 6% fund balance and right now it is at or above 20%.