Solving the Budget Crisis

To solve our budget crisis we will have to make some difficult decisions. There are three traditional options to solve the crisis and one innovative one. I think that we will likely have to combine these options to make the optimal decision.

The first traditional option is that we issue an operational levy, AKA we increase taxes. With inflation and the cost of living skyrocketing over the past few years many of us don’t want to be spending more on taxes when we already give SO much.

The second traditional option is that we let go of teachers. The big issue with this is that we are already seeing big classroom sizes and overwhelming teachers with the amount of students they have. This option would only make this worse and would directly harm our students’ educational outcomes and our teachers’ well-being.

The third traditional option is that we cut funding to extracurriculars. The big issue with this is that extracurriculars are critically important to student well-being, educational outcomes, and career opportunities. Extracurriculars are critical in maintaining student mental health and creating connections with other students. Students who participate in extracurriculars also have better grades and educational outcomes than students who don’t participate. Some extracurriculars like robotics have direct career opportunities and give students the ability to learn and get experience with a career.

Finally, we have the last option, which I believe is the best option and the most innovative option. Currently, for certain sports, students are given the opportunity to work with the Brainerd Public Schools Foundation to speak to donors and secure funding through boosters. This option would open these boosters to all extracurricular activities to be funded by donors. Working with the BPSF we can also open the door to have local businesses invest in students extracurricular activities. This makes it so that organizations can get to know the students they may be hiring and open the door for students to explore more careers. A perfect example is having local law firms and sales companies invest money in the speech and debate team so that those students have experience, the needed career skills, and connections to those companies for employment post-graduation. This makes it so that we can peel back funding for extracurriculars that are funded by donors, allowing us to slim the budget while also continuing our extracurriculars and expanding student career opportunities.