Northfield School Board hears budget updates for charters, districtwide – NewsBreak

Northfield Public School District might be looking at some financial hurdles in the coming school years, a possibility that isn’t projected at the city’s charter schools.

Northfield School Board held its first business meeting of the year Monday, Jan. 13 at the district office. The meeting began with the annual presentations from representatives of Prairie Creek Community School and Arcadia Charter School, both authorized by Northfield Public Schools.

Prairie Creek runs a surplus, and students from there still test comfortably above the state average. Board member Ben Miller asked about the many new laws passed over the last few years, and whether they’ve presented any new challenges or opportunities for the school.

Prairie Creek Community School Director Simon Tyler said he doesn’t think mandates were adequately funded. He gave an example of free school lunches, which he doesn’t think were reimbursed enough due to the need for additional staff.

“For sure, let’s look at initiatives that support students,” he said. “Let’s do the work alongside that, to think through what it’s going to cost, how it’s going to be staffed in an already pretty burdened environment.”

Arcadia students’ test scores were also above the state average. The school’s finances, after some cuts and additional funding this year, have also remained in a surplus. Arcadia Director Laura Stelter said the students got to sit in and learn more about the budgeting process as they prepared the presentation for the board.

Northfield Public Schools Finance Director Val Mertesdorf summarized the districtwide budget for the upcoming year.

The budget is not as high as the administration had hoped, sitting at 13.8% of the fund balance by the end of fiscal year 2024, which is 0.2% lower than the board’s goal. By the end of this year, it’s projected to drop to just above 12%.

“We have committed to being transparent and proactive in our approach,” Mertesdorf said. “We are still operating from a position of financial strength. I think that’s the message I want everyone to know: We’re able to respond to our current budget, our declining enrollment and some of the projected unfunded mandates we’re going to be tackling in the next year.”

Mertesdorf said the district’s enrollment has declined 7% in just five years, or 222 students since 2019. She said this is largely due to declining birthrates and other national trends.

Board member Jeff Quinnell reiterated that the district is intentionally cautious about its budget.

“We are proactive stewards of our funds,” he said. “We have a higher fund balance than many schools our size. We are operating at a position of financial strength, with a little more than $8 million in reserves that this board has worked very hard to build over the years. That allows us to respond when we have these projections, versus react.”

Before wrapping up discussion, Miller clarified where the money they’re discussing comes from and what it funds.

“We’re talking about funds that fund our operations,” he said. “So that’s different than our referendum that the community just supported, in terms of building the new high school. Those two are two different buckets.”