Some recent personnel moves threw a curve ball of sorts at Ely school officials scrambling to come up with a balanced budget for next year.
Recent retirements, resignations and leave requests have upended the budget cutting process and have prompted the district to pivot in advance of a final decision by May 11.
“We’ve kind of had to readjust and move from within and look at where we can share people and move people around,” superintendent Anne Oelke said at Monday’s school board study session. “We don’t want to hire people and then look to reduce in the future.”
Longtime high school teachers Jim Lah and Tom McDonald will both retire at the end of the 2025-26 school year while middle school instructor Kaley Hotaling has elected to take a leave of absence.
A fourth teacher, high school science instructor Logan McLouth, will move on at the end of the school year as well.
The district is eyeing about $600,000 in cuts and revenue enhancements to close the budget gap, and will rely on a $213,480 donation from the Ely Educational Foundation and an estimated $195,000 in savings from a four-day school week.
That still leaves nearly $200,000 yet to cut, and savings figure to be realized as a result of the staff changes.
“I think we’re making some headway,” said Oelke. “We may make some adjustment in the English department that we’ll move forward. We’re also interviewing for the science position. We’re looking at between a .8 (full time equivalent) to a 1.0. It’s hard to find people to come here with a .8 but we don’t really need a 1.0 so we’re trying to be creative.”
Also a factor are class selections by Ely students for 2026-27 and the potential that some classes won’t be offered because of a lack of students.
“It’s coming to a head,” said Oelke. “We’ll meet as a finance committee May 4 and come to the board with recommendations for May 11.”
Board member Tony Colarich voiced some hope that state legislators may come to the district’s rescue in the form of additional funding.
“I think we’re going to get some of it, and maybe we’ll be fortunate and receive all of it,” said Colarich.
But Oelke voiced some caution, noting that a third of the budget gap is being filled this year by a one-time donation.
“We’re still trying to claw our way back out of deficit spending with declining enrollment,” she said.
Grades K-12 student population in Ely has tumbled nearly 600 students in the late-2010s to 461 this year.
That is expected to continue, with a high school graduating class of 38 this year, some high school classes in excess of 50 students and an incoming kindergarten class of 22.
The district also will likely bleed further revenue to Vermilion Community College, given projections that as many as 51 students will utilize the post secondary enrollment option program, which allows high school juniors and seniors to take courses at Vermilion and simultaneously receive high school and college credit. This year, there are 38 PSEO students.
As a result of budget challenges, created by rising costs and drops in student enrollment, the district has been in the red the last five budget years, with losses in fund balance each year as follows:
• 2021 - $412,221;
• 2022 - $464,774;
• 2023 - $97,709;
• 2024 - $472,979;
• 2025 - $254,691.
The district has already made major budget reductions in each of the last two years, but the impact in 202526 wasn’t as much as expected due to some higher than expected insurance costs and the addition of staff to accommodate student enrollment at a particular grade level.
Unfunded mandates including a new paid leave program and unemployment compensation for employees who don’t work during the summer have contributed to the budget strife, and Oelke noted that state aid has not kept pace with inflation.
