Facing another round of cuts that exceed $4 million, members of Prior Lake-Savage School Board heard from local residents and administrators during its March 23 meeting about the impact anticipated program cuts will have on students and the district in the coming year.

Reductions totaling more than $8 million were previously approved by the board in the past two years, and nearly every department within the district has been impacted. Significant changes for the coming year that were approved earlier include site consolidations, reassignment of school attendance boundaries, repurposing a neighborhood elementary school and selling of the District Services Center.

The recommendations made during the recent meeting focused largely on staffing and class offerings in the 2026-27 school year. Not everyone was happy with what was being proposed, which included plans to cut the equivalent of 43 full-time positions, reassigning teachers and eliminating some class offerings.

“We’ve been in cut mode for a while,” Prior Lake High School Principal John Bezek said, who also talked about the challenges of leveling out class sizes to keep student numbers in the 20 to 30 range and reassigning staff members based on seniority, which could involve moving teachers to other buildings. “We’re getting to a critical stage. There have been a lot of uncomfortable conversations.”

Two of the proposed changes drew the most comments and criticism. Residents and board members expressed dissatisfaction with reassigning a high school choir teacher to the middle schools, and elimination of Spanish immersion classes in grades six through eight.

Bezek said there was a significant change in students signing up for some elective classes when the district authorized going from a seven-period day to six periods years ago. When he first was hired for the principal role more than a decade ago, there were close to 300 students who were involved in choir. Dropping one period from each school day forced students to choose between electives, and many chose to drop choir, resulting in now only 150 being enrolled in the program. Most school districts in the Twin Cities area have gone to six-period school days since they are most cost-effective in terms of staffing, according to Bezek.

Three residents spoke during the public forum portion of the board meeting to express their frustrations with losing a choir teacher at the high school level due to the drop in enrollment. The same number of people relayed their concerns about eliminating nearly all of the Spanish classes in the middle school grades, particularly when students had been enrolled at La ola del lago since kindergarten.

“I am adamantly opposed to this cut. We made a commitment to grow this (Spanish immersion) program. These families are heavily invested in it. I think this is a big mistake to cut this program,” said board member Jessica Mason. She added that it would be difficult for the 50 to 60 students now in fifth grade who had been in the program for five years to resume Spanish classes at a later time if none are offered for a two-year period. Her comments drew applause from audience members.

Board member Lisa Atkinson suggested several times during the meeting that she preferred cutting more administrative costs so those dollars could be redirected to student programs.

“Like many folks who have emailed and spoke tonight, I am devastated by what is being proposed,” said Dustin Smith, who was elected to serve on the school board last November. He suggested that misinformation and unsupported claims have played a role in eroding confidence among voters and failure of the previous levy referendum vote.

Proposed budget cuts for the coming year will continue to be assessed and discussed in the coming months. Because the March 23 meeting was classified as a study session rather than an official board meeting, no action was taken on the initial recommendations made by district staff and administrators.

The budget and staffing proposal contained six “buckets” that outlined recommended cuts and financial consequences. Priorities previously identified by the board and administration included maintaining class size targets to support personalized student learning, while maintaining and enhancing differentiation and enrichment programming. Optimizing use of resources included streamlining of transportation operations, evaluating partnerships to maximize savings and maintaining a balanced budget, along with a minimum of 8% unassigned in the general fund balance.

The following budget reductions totaling close to $4.1 million were prepared by the district’s administrative staff for review during the meeting. Final decisions on the recommendations will be made at a future board meeting. Proposed cuts with the grade level or department noted are as follows:

Elementary Site Consolidation | $1.69 million in savings

• Eliminate 14 teachers, based on projected enrollment
• Eliminate 1 principal
• Eliminate 1 dean
• Eliminate 6 other support staff members

Middle School | $595,000 in savings

• Eliminate the equivalent of 6.4 full-time staff positions
• Eliminate sixth grade Spanish immersion program
• Eliminate Spanish immersion social studies in grades seven and eight
• Eliminate band lessons

High School | $765,000 in savings

• Eliminate the equivalent of 8.55 full-time staff positions
• Reduce and consolidate some MnCAPS programs

Athletics and Activities | $100,000 in savings

• Reduce stipends for some sports coaching positions
• Reduce shuttles for some athletic events
• Eliminate middle school girls swim program

District Services Center | $800,000 in savings

• Eliminate the equivalent of 6.5 full-time staff positions
• A net savings would be realized on special education staff retirements

Revenue/Compensatory Adjustments (under review) | $200,000 in savings

Key implementation and decision dates on the proposed revisions that will be considered by the PLSAS board include:

• April 24: Tentative staff assignments finalized for the 2026-27 year
• April 27: Budget update for board
• May 4: Budget update for board
• May 18: Review preliminary final budget
• June 8: Board action on final budget for 2026-27 school year