Northfield board reviews $6 million reduction packages; class‑size targets, transportation fees, substitutes and counselors draw questions

The Northfield School Board spent an extended portion of its April 14 meeting reviewing draft priority‑based budget reduction packages intended to close roughly $6 million in expected revenue shortfalls.

Superintendent Dr. Hillman opened the discussion and asked board members to limit questions to the packages under review. Administrators presented packages grouped by topic — activities, district services, elementary, secondary, and special services — and asked the board to discuss the individual line items at an upcoming work session and vote on changes at the May 27 meeting.

Key items and points raised during debate and clarification requests:

- Transportation fee and routing: The district proposed charging some families a transportation fee for students living within two miles of a school; administrators said they will provide a list of affected students and that the two‑mile distance is measured by road distance to the school front door. A board member asked administrators to model how many families would be affected and how additional parent drop‑off could alter traffic patterns at elementary sites.

- Substitute staffing: The district proposed eliminating two full‑time substitute positions that were created during the pandemic to stabilize daily coverage. Administrators said the two full‑time subs spent about 65% of their time covering teacher absences and 35% covering educational assistant roles; they reported only 49 total unfilled absences districtwide this year. Board members asked for data about frequency of unmet coverage needs and the potential incremental costs of patching coverage if the full‑time positions are eliminated.

- Instructional services and HR restructuring: The district proposed not replacing one instructional services position and redistributing responsibilities across remaining staff and district leadership; Superintendent Dr. Hillman said he would assume leadership for that team and work to redistribute duties while acknowledging some non‑essential tasks would be discontinued. Human resources changes include a retirement and partial return arrangement for an HR leader, with some investigative and negotiation duties shifting to the superintendent.

- Elementary class‑size targets: The reduction package uses target divisors of 20 for kindergarten, 24 for grades 1–3 and 27 for grades 4–5 to calculate required teaching sections. Administrators said the targets apply to general‑education homerooms (licensed teacher to student ratios) and do not include special‑education caseloads or educational assistant staffing. Board members requested more detail on current class counts, contingency FTE usage and how targets would be applied where some classes already exceed target sizes.

- Secondary scheduling and electives: The middle school schedule changes under consideration include a shift from a seven‑period day to a six‑period model. Administrators identified three related savings items that together reflect most of the financial impact of that schedule change: a reduction of middle‑school electives (line item 49), elimination of a middle‑school media center educational assistant (line item 62) and adjustment to the health position (line item 64). Board members raised questions about compliance with Minnesota arts standards, bundling arts standards across courses, and whether quarter‑long elective models could satisfy standards.

- Counselors and attendance: The high school and middle school each carry proposals to reduce counselor FTE (line items 53 and 55). Administrators described counselors’ roles in attendance work and proactive interventions; they said social workers and other staff also participate in attendance interventions and that district attendance coding has been a statewide and local data challenge. Board members asked for specifics about counselor duties, whether social workers can absorb additional work and historical timing of counselor hires (counselors added in 2021 with federal ESSER‑era funding).

- Health services staffing: One reduction option would convert three school‑site licensed nurses to non‑licensed health aids paired with licensed coverage across two buildings; in response to public concern, administrators offered an alternate (76a) that would keep a licensed nurse on‑site at each building while reducing the department’s total FTE by one (i.e., six licensed nurse FTE instead of seven). Staff said that the district maintains a pool of substitute nurses and that coverage plans would be used on days with absences.

Administrators repeatedly emphasized the packages are a set of tradeoffs; several board members urged more detailed data for the April 22 work session, including the number of students affected by a transportation fee, the contingency FTE history and impact on class sizes, up‑to‑date fund‑balance modeling and alternate scenarios if state special‑education reimbursements change. Superintendent Dr. Hillman described the May 27 consent‑style process the board will use: each package will be presented as a block, board members may remove specific line items for separate discussion, then the remaining package will be approved and removed items considered individually.

No formal reductions were approved at the April 14 meeting; the board approved the consent agenda and other routine items but deferred line‑by‑line reduction decisions to the work session and the May 27 meeting.