By Rich Larson
After months of discussion and community outreach, the Northfield School Board last night approved approximately $6 million dollars in budget reductions for the 2025-2026 school year.
This round of reductions comes on the heels of another budget reduction just two years ago, due to declining enrollment and what many with the school district and on the board have called “chronic underfunding of education by the state legislature.” Prior to the discussion and votes, School Board Chair Claudia Gonzalez-George spoke of the various needs students have today, from academic help to in-school health services, to transportation, and much more. It was with those needs in mind that she lamented the need for the budget cuts.
“School in 2025 is not just reading, writing and arithmetic. It’s this reality that makes the $6 million budget reduction a heavy lift for our district staff and our students. Everyone will be doing more with less. “
The reductions were made in six areas. The activities budget was reduced by $222,000. District Services were reduced by $1.8 million. The Elementary Budget was reduced by $1.3 million, the Secondary Budget by $1.6 million, and Special Services by $1 million. Notable within those cuts were the elimination of 9 full-time elementary teaching positions, an assistant principal position and a school counselor position at Northfield High School, a counselor position at Northfield Middle School, and a 5% decrease in School Superintendent Dr. Matt Hillmann’s salary. A much-discussed proposal to eliminate one period from the middle school workday from seven periods to six was removed from the reductions, thereby preserving the middle school’s seven-hour day.
Hillmann addressed the school board and the Northfield School District Community after the final vote was taken, praising the board and the hundreds of people who participated in the discussions leading up to last night’s vote, and held the process up as a glimpse of hope in an ever-more polarized society.
“People expressed their understanding of the need for action. How many times did we read people saying, ‘I don’t have to like it, but I know it’s what we have to do.’ They advocated fiercely for their perspective, and they did so respectfully. So, I reject this notion that we can’t have these hard discussions in our current democracy in a way that is civil, respectful and seeks the greater good.”
Hillmann himself was thanked by several members of the board for his leadership through the process. Each reduction package was passed by the board unanimously.
Rich Larson is the owner and General Manager of KYMN Radio. Reach him at rich@kymnradio.net
