District Weighing Cuts to Spanish, Special Education

In the face of an estimated $9 million budget shortfall by 2014, the Edina School District is prepping for what could be some painful cuts.

Among the changes being considered for the upcoming school year are a reduction to special education staff, lowering the amount of money available for staff development and—perhaps the most divisive—eliminating the district's elementary Spanish program.

The school board voted to eliminate elementary Spanish from the district at the group's April 11 meeting, though Superintendent Ric Dressen said that was more of a procedural action than a final decision.

"It's still just a proposal," he said.

A pair of community dialogues were held April 18 and 20 as part of the district's Budget Reduction Reallocation and Revenue Generation (BRRRG) process. More than 40 community members turned out for the first session, where conversation ran the gamut from potentially switching the district's sports programs to a club sports model all the way to axing the band program to make space for Spanish.

Proposed cuts and changes were grouped into four separate tiers, each representing $750,000 in total cuts. While first and second tier items—increasing student parking fees, a slight reduction to Special Education department—were for the most part unchallenged, things got more heated as talk turned to the third and fourth tiers.

Dressen joked he didn't want to be a "Dressen Downer," but made it clear the district is going to find itself in serious financial trouble if nothing is done soon.

"The quicker you can make adjustments, the more you can save over time," Dressen said. "We've solved these problems before and have a long history of figuring out funding challenges."

Edina resident Susan Khatri was happy she came out for the forum, as she said it was good to hear the various options the district is considering. Khatri doesn't understand the general backlash regarding eliminating elementary Spanish, as she feels it's "inevitable" due to the quality of the program.

"It's twice a week for 20 minutes," Khatri said. "It's already so watered-down, there's really nothing of value there. To cut it isn't as bad as it sounds."

District administration will use the feedback gathered during the community dialogues to shape the final BRRRG plan to present to the school board at a special May 2 meeting, set to take place at 5 p.m. in Room 349 of the . No formal action will be taken on any of the items until the board's regular meeting on Monday, May 16.