With some school administrators around the state accepting pay freezes or pay cuts, there's now talk of teachers, too, getting small or no raises in this tough economy.

A shift -- a delay actually -- in state payments to districts is making it even harder for some districts to balance their budgets. In some cases, administrators say, pay freezes for some could lessen the need for layoffs.

Breckinridge teachers already have agreed to a "soft" freeze, says the Fargo Forum,  and Lake Park-Audubon Superintendent Dale Hogie plans to try to negotiate a freeze, including of seniority raises. Hogie and the district’s two principals asked to forego 2 to 2.5 percent raises built into their contracts.

Hogie, whose district cut almost $300,000 from its budget, said he expects teachers will come to negotiations with an open mind: “I think they’re confident we’re not hiding a stash of cash that will suddenly appear. When we tell them there’s no money, they believe that.”

Andrew Schwan, the lead negotiator for LP-A’s teachers group, said teachers haven’t met to discuss the pay freeze proposal. But he noted a freeze would be a sacrifice: “As a group we lose money as our premiums go up. It’s a tough situation both for the teachers and the district.”