Deloris Smestad is a special education teacher who has been with the school district for 20 years. She said most of the teachers try not to worry about budget cuts. But she also said teachers recognize the reality: Staff are often among the first to be cut.

“We have a large part of our elementary staff that is nearing retirement,” Smestad said. “So, we’d like to keep some of our young teachers to be leaders tomorrow. But that’s getting really difficult.”

Stability ability

The USC School District is centered in Wells and includes Bricelyn, Easton, Freeborn, Kiester and Walters. None of the communities are any too affluent and all of them are inextricably tied to the miles of rolling farm land that cover south central Minnesota.

Passing USC’s five-year, $360 per pupil referendum was not easy for the voters, said Supt. Bob Stuerman. On property valued at $100,000, the actual tax burden amounted to a yearly increase of about $120.

Stuerman said district residents are aging. Fewer young people are coming through USC’s doors. In Wells, the average household size (2.3) and the percentage of family households (64) are both below state averages.

“This district is all farms and agriculture,” Stuerman said. “We have smaller amounts of industry. ... We were really pleased when all of our precincts passed the referendum. That was definitely a good sign.”

The referendum should generate about $300,000 for the school district. Couple that with the savings from closing Kiester’s middle school, and Stuerman said USC will be a in a fairly unique position among rural schools.

“With the savings from closing Kiester and the referendum,” he said, “we should be able to continue current operations and maybe bring some programs back.”

Stuerman said the first priority is to maintain the district’s educational programming. But on the short list for possible programs to bring back are: middle school art and family and consumer science electives. Stuerman also said USC may once again give school funding to the cheerleading team, which is currently run by volunteers.

“I was not aware there was a possibility cheerleading might be brought back,” said Sue Vee, one of two moms who volunteered to coach the team. “If (USC) could provide a program for the rest of the girls coming up, that would be wonderful.”

Temporary solutions

Referendums, however, are only a temporary stopgap in the shifting tide of educational funding.

The majority of state funding comes through per pupil funding. Minnesota’s base amount is about $5,100 per student. But those per pupil allowances are weighted. A high school student who takes more expensive classes and utilizes more expensive resources receives thousands of dollars more in state funding than a kindergartner who requires fewer resources.

Imagine this scenario: