Financial Challenges Force Sartell Schools To Cut $1 Million

SARTELL (WJON News) -- An area school district has had to make significant budget cuts as it prepares for next year. Sartell-St. Stephen Schools have reduced the 2026-2027 budget by about $1 million.

Superintendent Michael Rivard says the main factor is the gap in their funds and rising costs. He says, however, there are a lot of contributing factors:

"Increasing expenses in areas such as transportation or utilities, our salaries and benefits for our great employees, and at the same time our revenues that we get doesn't keep pace with those increases."

Rivard says enrollment also plays a major role because it drives how much state money the district gets and right now Sartell-St. Stephen is graduating more students than they are bringing in at the kindergarten level.

"And that shift tends to create financial challenges over time, and so at this point we're responding in a responsible way. We are planning now rather than waiting until the problem becomes bigger or larger and reducing spending by a million dollars for the 2026-2027 school year is part of that effort to try to stay stable and protect the district's long-term financial health."

He says retirements and attrition with staffing helped with the cuts. Rivard says the district focused on preserving core instruction and supports to have the least impact on student learning when making the reductions.