The South St. Paul District 6 School Board made an announcement April 10 that it would rather not have to make.

"It's necessary to do this, unfortunately," said Board Director Deb Clark, after the board announced that it would direct administration to make recommendations for reductions in programs and positions.

Superintendent Dana Babbitt said the district was still unsure about what its budget would look like for the 2006-07 school year and it was still unknown as to how much would need to be cut.

The board was required to make the announcement at the April 10 meeting to comply with state law.

Babbitt said that the district was still suffering from two years in which it received no increase in state funding.

While the district was helped by a voter-approved referendum in 2004 and a 4 percent increase in state aid for this school year and the next, Babbitt said the district has still yet to recover from the freeze.

The board also announced a joint purchasing agreement with Anoka Hennepin School District 11 that will allow the district to obtain food bids directly from the manufacturers rather than the vendors.

Aside from the Minneapolis and St. Paul schools, a number of suburban districts were also involved in the program, said Babbitt. He said schools in the program represented nearly 60 percent of the metro students.