Belgrade schools cut more than $1 million from budget following failed spring mill levies

BELGRADE, Mont. — The Belgrade School District is headed into the start of classes this Wednesday after cutting a little more than $1 million from its budget following failed spring mill levies. 

District leaders announced the reductions as they prepared for the start of the year. The district said the shortfall came after the spring election left a $1 million funding gap. 

In past years, the district has negotiated budgets with teachers' unions before the spring election, and made two different options based on whether the spring mill levies pass or fail. This year, they decided to wait until they knew the results of the election to negotiate. 

Superintendent Dede Semerad said the district weighed each expense by importance as leaders decided what could stay and what had to go. 

“We just put everything on a list and talked and said, you know, for some things it was like, 'This is really important.' And for some things we said it'svery important. And maybe right now we can't afford it,” Semerad said. 

The district has already been reviewing open jobs over the past few years to decide whether to refill them or remove them, she explained. That process helped shape this year's cuts. 

“Should we refill this position, or shouldn't we? Does it need to be the amount of time that we have it at? Is there some other way to make this happen?” she said. 

The district also removed positions that were less directly tied to classrooms, including instructional coaches. However, they ultimately still cut or changed some teaching jobs at the elementary school and high school levels. 

Semerad said families and students would likely notice the biggest effect in classrooms that sit closer to capacity. 

“We just don't have the funds to be able to say we can cap our class sizes at 15. So, things like that, we were already in the process of doing. And we know that impacts students and families and teachers. Again, not our favorite thing to do, but this is how Montana works. And so, we need to work within that framework,” Semerad said. 

The district also eliminated the middle school assistant principal job and replaced it with a dean position that Semerad said offered more flexibility. Athletics fees also increased for the first time in more than 10 years. 

Ultimately, $1.07 million was cut from the budget, and retained staff were negotiated a 1% wage increase.