Kare11
SPPS propose $1 billion budget to school board members
This comes as the district continues to work its way out of a shortfall totaling more than $100 million
SAINT PAUL, Minn. — There are no easy decisions for Saint Paul Public Schools right now, as the system grapples with a deficit over $100 million, and the cuts associated with it.
“We knew we had our work cut out for us,” Tom Sager, the district’s executive chief for financial services, said. “We identified $150 million in a budget shortfall.”
“As we look forward to next year, we do plan to use part of our fund balance to keep as many programs and services in place as possible for our students and staff,” Sager continued.
There will be some cuts, though, with much of it coming from three of the district’s five main funds. The districts food service fund would see it’s budget reduced by $2.5 million, down from nearly $32 million total in 2024.
The community service fund would decrease by $4.7 million, down from $34.5 million in 2024.
“We ended up reducing about $114 million out of our general fund budget,” Sager said. “So we went from a little over $800 million last year to $700 million this year.”
Increasing, is money to the district’s construction fund – Sager says that’s what pushed them over the billion dollar mark. With a deficit as large as the district is facing, some may ask why the district still needs a budget higher than a billion dollars.
Sager says it’s still down from last years budget, which was also more than $1 billion.
This situation isn’t an uncommon one, either. Scott Croonquist with the Association of Metropolitan School Districts says his organization has seen similar situations.
“It’s really, almost across the board,” Croonquist said.
A major reason for that – the end of federal pandemic dollars received years ago.
“Districts, if they were going to help their students and families, they had to hire those additional people, even though they knew that, you know, in a couple of years that federal funding would end,” Croonquist said.
The school board will discuss this during their meeting on June 18th. The district must pass a budget by the end of the month.
While there are hard conversations ahead as the district discusses cuts, Croonquist says it needed to happen now, or risk a larger deficit in the future.
“If you don’t make the hard decisions this year, then it’s only going to compound the next year,” he said. “You’re gonna keep digging a hole.”
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Parks officials say the colder weather this winter is a welcomed change after the unusually warm winter last year.
SAINT LOUIS PARK, Minn. — Several cities across the Twin Cities metro are planning to open their outdoor ice rinks this weekend.
Saint Louis Park and Edina both opened their rinks Friday afternoon. Minneapolis and Eden Prairie will officially open their outdoor rinks on Saturday, according to their city websites. The Saint Paul city website says a few outdoor rinks in the city will be open this weekend and a few others could be open in the coming days.
Larry Umphrey is the Park Superintendent in Saint Louis Park. He says the weather this winter has been great for making ice.
“We’ve really had Mother Nature cooperate this year, unlike past years,” Umphrey says. “I’ve been dealing with ice and outdoor ice for 25 years, since the late 90s, and last year was the toughest I’ve ever seen.”
During the unusually warm winter last year most municipalities only managed to keep their ice rinks open for a handful of days. This warm streak has motivated a lot of cities to take a long hard look at the costs and benefits of operating outdoor ice rinks.
“I think there is some analysis going on within the cities of what they’re going to do moving forward. I know here in Saint Louis Park that we believe these rinks are an important amenity,” Umphrey says.
The city of Saint Louis Park maintains 18 ice rinks within the city limits. In Minneapolis, the parks board recently decided to close a few ice rinks, partially due to climate concerns.
The decision to close those ice rinks was also motivated by budgetary concerns.
Umphrey says building and maintaining outdoor ice rinks requires more work than most people realize.
“We actually started getting these ice rinks ready 30 days ago,” Umphrey says. “We’ve had to flood these rinks hundreds of times. Our trucks hold about 900 gallons and we come out and flood basically one full truck every time we come through. So, there are hundreds of thousands of gallons of water down on these rinks.”
Weighing the costs and benefits of outdoor ice rinks can be challenging because the benefits can’t be measured in dollars and cents.
Every ice skater on the rink is a person who is having fun, experiencing the outdoors, and likely creating memories, and you can’t put a price on that.
“We’re the State of Hockey. The state of ice skating. We want people to be able to skate,” Umphrey says.
While several cities across the metro are opening their rinks this weekend the big question is how long they will stay open. Next week we could see several days with temps above freezing.
Umphrey says the rinks should be fine if the warm temps only stick around for a few days, but if the temperatures stay above freezing for longer than three or four days the ice will melt quickly and crews will have to work hard to keep the rinks open.
Oly is 82 years old and has been working at the museum for half of his life.
SAINT PAUL, Minn — At the biology laboratory at the Science Museum of Minnesota, Richard “Oly” Oehlenschlager carefully examines a specimen.
At 82, Oehlenschlager is retiring from his position as the museum’s Collection Manager of Biology, leaving behind a legacy that spans thousands of specimens and countless stories.
“This room is a mecca for biological specimens,” Oehlenschlager said, gesturing to the cabinets filled with meticulously preserved plants and animals.
“This particular fish is called the solder,” he explained, holding up a specimen who is.
Oehlenschlager’s work goes beyond mere preservation.
Dr. Catherine Early, the Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology and Curator of Biology, speaks highly of her retiring colleague.
“He always seems like he’s in a good mood,” she said, adding, “I believe his mom was very tolerant of him doing taxidermy at the kitchen table.”
Oehlenschlager even has been known to cook some of the specimens that come in, particularly grouse.
“They’re far greater than pheasants, as far as my culinary taste buds show,” he chuckled.
Despite his retirement, Oehlenschlager plans to return as a volunteer.
“There’s a lot yet to do,” he admits, acknowledging that the work of preserving the natural world is never truly finished.
“One lifetime isn’t enough to really evaluate things properly, because each year is different, each day is different,” he said.
His legacy at the Science Museum of Minnesota is not just in the specimens he’s preserved, but in the knowledge he’s shared and the passion he’s inspired in others.
“It’s been harder to get respect because I’m a younger woman,” said Dr. Early. “He was so welcoming from the start, and he knows Minnesota so well.”
But keeping with his character, and acknowledgement that documenting natural history is never done, he said he will be volunteering once a week.
Kare11
Pilot program inside Stillwater prison puts emphasis on healing all from the trauma caused by crime
The program involves having incarcerated individuals mentor others and respond to crises
STILLWATER, Minn. — Behind the locked doors of Minnesota Correctional Facility Stillwater, change is happening.
“When we started this thing, we said we was going to make doing the right thing the cool thing to do,” Tito Campbell said. “Because we made the wrong thing the cool thing to do for so long, right?”
Campbell is the restorative justice specialist with the Minnesota Department of Corrections. The restorative justice program works to help change incarcerated individuals’ mindset, embracing that crime is something that affects all parties involved – the victim, the one who committed the crime, and the community.
That mindset is one that they discuss with a group of 16 mentors, who work inside the prison as fellow members of the incarcerated population. Those mentors then use those teachings to help mentor others, helping them approach conflict or their own day-to-day lives differently.
“Prison doesn’t just have to be prison, you know, prison can be a place where you can actually reinvent yourself,” Campbell said.
Earlier this year, KARE11 spoke with members of the restorative justice program as part of another story about the changes the DOC was making to the mail system. We spoke again to three of them.
“Our job as being mentors is to be able to identify that, to be trauma-informed, to be able to convey what a person may have went through,” Ramone Vercher said.
“We have to come to the table together, that’s how we change culture,” Rich Scheibe said.
Inmates say the program works since they can relate to those who are needing help – they share life experiences, and can use that to help.
“Having some type of insight and level of understanding about those things equips, gives you a better set of tools to be able to actually help somebody,” Lennell Martin said.
All three men say their past is a part of their story, but it doesn’t define them – and they’re working on helping others change their perspective as well.
“I’m able to identify with that persona and be able to help them identify what they’ve been through with traumas,” Vercher said. “It’s helpful.”
Campbell said there’s another group of mentors that will be added soon. He said the goal is to eventually add every facility in the DOC system, with mentors at every location.
