LMSD is known as a place where students flourish, with abundant resources to help them to discover and chase their dreams. But this is no longer the case. With a multitude of budget cuts in the 2025-2026 school year, LMSD has struggled to find the funding to support student activities and education. Students experience the effects of these cuts every day, and it is time for LMSD to tighten the belt and cease large spending projects, lest our district face even more devastating cuts.
The district didn’t just find themselves in this situation overnight; it took years of extravagant purchases to create an environment where our district was willing enough to put the education of our students at risk to fit a budget. In 2016, LMSD was sued for overtaxing residents, many of whom had moved to this area due to the apparent prestige of the academics. LMSD later agreed to pay back $27 million over several years, but that isn’t the most shocking detail. What is even more appalling is that just six years prior, LMSD was sued for violating students’ privacy. The district was accused of spying on students through the microscopic camera on the school-issued computers. Ultimately, LMSD settled the case for $610,000 dollars, but the damage had already been done. With two large settlements over six years, the district had little room in their budget for extravagant purchases, yet in the summer of 2020, the district started construction on Black Rock, a $90 million middle school. Proposed in 2016, the district had plans of building Black Rock Middle School for years, even following both settlements. By creating Black Rock, LMSD was able to depopulate other schools by redirecting students.
LM students encounter the effects of these settlements and purchases every day, inside and outside the classroom. Students taking Human Anatomy and Physiology classes, who originally chose this class to pursue an interest in the human body, are no longer provided with the same experience as in years past. The typical budget was cut significantly for this school year, resulting in students having to settle for dissecting, for instance, half an organ instead of a full one. Teachers have turned to spending their own money on equipment, worrying that if they do not, their students will not gain strong lab experiences or be prepared for college courses. These same shortcomings extend outside of the science department, even into sports; when the fall sports season started, a request was put through for new girls’ soccer uniforms and for the replacement of the ripped-up goals on the turf. Both requests were denied, and teams who play on the turf encounter the impact of these cutbacks every day.
These examples speak for themselves: The cuts have drastically impacted the LMSD community, and it is time for them to stop. They have caused more harm than good, impacting students’ athletic careers and scientific ones alike.
In order to return LMSD to its former glory, all massive spending projects, like infrastructure projects, must stop. These budget cuts are dangerous and they aren’t coming from outside forces — they’re coming from our own school board. The nine members that we trust to make the right decisions for us are the ones to blame. They decided to spend the budget on a new school. They decided to deny our athletes the equipment they need. They decided to cut the science budget. They represent a district that preaches “Enter to Learn, Go Forth to Serve”—yet how can we go forth to serve if the ones who are supposed to protect and support us won’t provide for us to learn?
