Our Challenges
Why is Badger Community School holding a referendum now?
Badger Community School is holding a referendum in response to several financial challenges that impact our ability to protect current personnel levels, student resources, and adequate learning spaces.
State funding has not kept up with inflation for nearly two decades.
Our school district receives the majority of our funding from the State of Minnesota on a per-pupil basis. Over the last two decades, the formula used to determine this level of funding has consistently lagged behind the inflation rate. This means that our school district receives comparatively less funding per pupil each year, which challenges our ability to maintain the current level of student services and support.
This chart shows the historical gap between the state’s per-pupil funding and the per-pupil funding provided if inflation were accounted for.
Our district faces a budget deficit of approximately $500,000.
Due to the state’s funding gap, it has become more difficult for our small school to balance its budget each year. As a result, our district faces a budget deficit of approximately $500,000 heading into the 2024/2025 school year. This gap will be filled this year, as it has been in past years, by spending reserve funds to cover the difference, but at the end of this school year, these funds will be nearly depleted.
Without additional funding, the only way to avoid deficit spending will be to make significant cuts to staffing and student services.
Our school building requires maintenance and additional space to meet the needs of today’s students.
While our maintenance staff has done an excellent job maintaining much of the school’s infrastructure, our aging building needs a boiler replacement, heating and ventilation improvements, and restroom updates to replace worn-out surfaces and ensure handicap accessibility.
Our school is also very undersized, at only 203 square feet per student. This is among the lowest in the state and at least 35% lower than our neighboring school districts. Further, a recent evaluation of our school’s educational adequacy identified over a dozen areas that do not meet the Minnesota Department of Education’s standards for learning spaces.
