Teachers tell board $4.1M cuts are harming classrooms; call for levies and restored staff

During the Jan. 12 open forum, three leaders from the Prior Lake‑Savage Education Association (PLSEA) delivered unified testimony detailing how a recent $4.1 million budget reduction package is affecting classrooms across the district. Speakers described overcrowded lab classes, large kindergarten and elementary sections with students who need intensive support, and the loss or scaling back of programs such as Laker Online.

"The recent $4,100,000 budget reduction package isn't just a line item on a spreadsheet," PLSEA co‑vice president Sarah Stregi told the board. She read multiple teacher accounts: a high‑school lab class of 39 students where spaces are designed for 24; third‑grade classrooms with 28 students and many learners needing small‑group support; and teachers acting simultaneously as instructor, interventionist and behavior support. "Our students deserve better," Stregi said.

Ali Havorka, also a PLSEA co‑vice president, asked the board to consider lowering the class‑size cap and warned about unsustainable workloads: "We need smaller class sizes to best support student learning," Havorka said, listing classrooms with mixed needs and calling for paraprofessionals and reading interventionists. PLSEA president Joe Mesnick urged the board to consider a levy to bring per‑pupil funding closer to neighboring districts, saying PLSAS currently spends less per pupil than surrounding suburban districts.

Why it matters: teachers' on‑the‑ground descriptions connected budget choices to instructional capacity and student safety and framed potential levy proposals as mechanisms to restore staff and services. Board members acknowledged the comments and that further levy conversations and programmatic planning would follow in upcoming workshops and presentations.

The public comments were entered into the record; the board proceeded with agenda items after hearing the speakers.