District 742 Cutting $485,000 From Next Year's Budget

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- The St. Cloud Area School District is cutting its budget by $485,000 for the next school year.

Superintendent Laurie Putnam says 85 percent of their budget is on staffing, so she's made the decision to cut positions in the district office.

So those I have already made adjustments to our district staff from the district office, so that we weren't having to cut out of classrooms. That has always been my priority to maintain the positions of the folks who are face-to-face with the kids every day. Hard decisions, but decisions that needed to happen.

Putnam says it's challenging because schools need to put their budgets together now, but they don't know the final funding from the state legislature until the end of May. She says they are using a conservative approach based on the governor's recommendation for school funding.