With failed levy, Owat. school seeks $3.7M in cuts
The message was received, loud and clear.
When residents voted down an increase in the operating levy for the Owatonna School District by a 23% margin, the resounding “no” brought a healthy dose of perspective.
As district officials gathered the night of Nov. 4 to await results, Superintendent Tammy Champa brought out a spreadsheet she had created about the elections of 2015, 2019 and 2020, as well as the voting outcome of each precinct.
“When I put all of that together, I went, ‘hmmm, in the last 10 years, this community has invested more than $200 million dollars in our schools,” she said at the Nov. 21 Coffee and Conversation, a monthly event designed to share district updates with the public.
“That’s a lot – and where’s the threshold?” Champa said of the dollars spent. “Well, a few hours later, we found out where that threshold is. So it’s a pretty strong message from the community.”
She sees the process as unfolding in chapters.
“The first chapter was getting to the finish line of the levy – and waking up on (Nov. 5), believing that we did everything we could to try to inform the community,” Champa said.
“Now it’s a new chapter, and so we’re feverishly working on the budgeting, and having budget workshops and moving forward with that,” she explained.
Following a finance committee meeting, the Owatonna School Board on Nov. 24 approved a resolution to have staff identify $3.7 million in reductions for the upcoming year.
The OPS general fund budget is about $80 million annually.
Mark Stotts, director of finance and operations for the district, said prior to the election that 81% of the district’s budget is employee salaries and benefits.
Though specifics have not been determined, the cuts are “going to mean people and programs,” he said.
Champa and Lori Buegler, communications specialist for the district, are working on a community engagement series, “just to get back out into the community and really be as transparent as we can be about budget decisions,” the superintendent said.
Mark Sebring, president of the Owatonna School Board, was pragmatic about the election outcome.
“I’m in my 13th year on the board,” he said. “In my very first year, at that time, the school district had a $40 million budget, and we had to cut $4 million.
“Now we have an $80 million budget, and we’re cutting roughly $4 million,” Sebring said. “And I’m not going to tell you that it’s easier, but I have a huge appreciation for what (Champa and Stotts) are doing. They’re taking a really surgical eye toward, ‘How do we do this?’ and recognizing that the overwhelming majority of every dollar we spend goes into the classroom, so we have to be really careful” about where and how to reduce spending.
Board member Lori Weisenburger said she was surprised by the outcome – and the spread.
“But as Tammy said, I guess the community spoke,” she said. “People heard the message, even those who maybe didn’t see it the way I did – and I think they were informed, so the objective was met.”
She echoed Sebring’s sentiments about the work to come.
“I look forward to seeing the proposals and the work that the district staff and Tammy have been doing,” Weisenburger said. “I can already tell, nothing’s off the table … so we’ll see what the reality of the impact will be, but I’m hopeful that it’ll feel like a little bit of trimming and right-sizing, as opposed to” large cuts.
Another important message was also sent – to the district staff.
Champa and Stotts spoke to employees at each building “to really answer any questions they have,” Champa said, “but most importantly, just to (tell them) this was not a statement about the quality of education or about the work of our educators.
“I’m just really wanting to support our teachers and all of our staff,” she said.
Champa knows transparency and community input are key – she heard it often during the days leading up to the vote.
“There will be time for that,” she said, “but I will tell you right now that our list is probably 15 pages long of line items, of things that we’re looking at,” not just class sizes and programs.
“We are looking at so many other things and ways of going about things,” Champa said.
When the options have narrowed somewhat, “what I really want to be able to do is talk about those decisions, and then continue to get feedback.”