In the second semester of the 2026 school year, the New Ulm School Department is facing budget cuts, with the high school being affected the most. 

NUHS is not the only district facing budget cuts; schools across Minnesota are facing low enrollment and funding. 

Music classes are the ones being most reduced; this option to reduce the music division is quite controversial among teachers, parents, and students. 

The budget is, according to Bergmann, based on the number of students we have, and “they’re called ADMs, Average Daily Membership. Now, a high school student generates more ADMs than an elementary student does.”

The money they get from student enrollment pays for administration, teachers, counselors, and the rest of the staff. 

 Student enrollment fluctuates year to year, and each high school student is worth around 10,000 dollars. When the enrollment fluctuates, the budget follows it. 

The reason the budget cut is going to be around 2 million dollars this year is that Bergmann said, “Things come up like that, Jefferson needed a new freezer in their lunchroom.’’ Costs can add up, leading us into deficit spending. “Last 3 years, there’s been a deficit in the budget.”

The students have a play in where and what is cut, every year the students are asked “what classes do you want?” and based off of that they figure out what teachers are needed.

Its hard to make cuts, Bergmann says “These are all good people and they’re good teachers” 

Instead of completely cutting 4 teachers they can split it across the different sections. You cut a little bit here and a little bit there. 

The public has access to all this information from the school board in their board packet.