all right um I'd like to call to order the uh Tuesday June 25th meeting the Columbia height school board and we will start with the Pledge of Allegiance Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with libery and justice for all thank you shall you do a roll call please yes yes right uh granin H here Palmer madus here Mueller here pway here superintendent stck here thank you our mission is creating worlds of opportunity for each and every learner all belong all succeed our core values are Community Excellence collaboration Integrity respect courage and Innovation we will start this evening with a Highlander highlight is J on her coming for that you know okay well take it away I got it I will take it away um so can you come on up you can have a seat right there um our Highlander highlight tonight very excited to introduce our Columbia Heights High School and Dell High School synchronized swimming coach Camille gross Camille was named the 2024 Coach of the Year by the Minnesota high school School synchronized swimming coaches association awesome and she taught Yours Truly how to do synr swimming so there is video evidence so good job yes not g to watch the video now maybe in my last one um Camille you've been the coach for six years um at Columbia Heights and recently um started whopping with deal out um I will say I've had the pleasure of knowing you those six years as you have have coached my daughter um as well as many other team members um I have seen the team grow um not just in numbers um although that has been great as well um but in Talent um teamwork um mentorship of each other I think you have really fostered an incredible group of swimmers who care for each other who teach each other who learn from each other um have fun with each other and have you've done creative practices and different things and we get held them accountable and have them practice six days a week and as such we've seen our program be more and more competitive um last year um all swimmers competed at State and this year a number of swimmers competed at State I will say as a parent I feel like you have done such a tremendous job of supporting young ladies during Co um weird Seasons um different venue changes different rules that happened um I think probably the most impressive thing I've seen is the development of our new and young swimmers um and seen so many of them compete at State their first year um I think is is incredible so um I give you huge Kudos um welld deserved coach of the year of all the coaches in all what 18 17 districts or schools that compete in synchronized swimming um you're definitely my coach of the year and I'm glad that you got the recognition um that you deserve thank you appreciate that would you like to share anything um it's just it's really a nice honor it's something that's voted on by all of the other coaches and I think typically in other years the person who wins you know they win state or they have all of their swimmers get on the podium and this year we put zero swimmers on the podium but I got that honor because they are noticing that we are improving every year so that was really heartfelt and I appreciated that great yeah excellent anything else from any other Julie I just think it's exciting to see a program grow and young swimmers get involved because they're excited to see you know to see the kids winning and doing well so I think you know that's really important to to feel like you're jumping into it an accomplished group and not just some you know what I mean and so I just want to thank you for being serious and still giving the kids a lot of fun thank you um no congratulations um first I'll say because I know you said you know it's usually people who've gotten this or won that but I think it's amazing that your efforts are being applauded um like winning isn't everything so muches withing these I'm and um I know they're going to walk away with so much more than just you know Synchro so I appreciate you doing that I do want to share that I've only been to one of your shows it was the end of the year show here and I was sold like just from that um I was the only one to win Chuck a duck by the way oh congrats I felt happy about that um because I am not uh coordinated whatsoever so it was it was yeah it was fun um but I have a little one who's going into the fifth grade now and she's already like you know trying to get pointers from Maddie so that she can you know learn how to do it um she was definitely Amazed by everything you guys were doing so keep it up it it was amazing to see you guys do that um and the togetherness I mean they're so closed and you can tell that it means so much to them so I'm pretty sure you had a lot to do with that and bringing that to the atmosphere so thank you so much and congratulations thanks and if anybody ever go ahead I was just going to say say and being an Olympic year just just assume you're going to have double the amount of girls next year I'll take I mean for sure Y and I was going to say the end of the year show is a tradition um at Heights so I'll always catch it next year Camille and her coaches also do a routine they're way better than the mom's routine but barely but they did they did a great job too so thanks Jessica I just want to add my own um thanks for all your work and congratulations on all of your accomplishments I think it's been really um it's been really cool to see uh that as the the team has grown like also visibility in our community about the team and about sychro has grown and that's been really really neat to see so congratulations thank you well we have a certificate for you um so we'll have you come up here Kristen's going to take a picture oh I got to be there it's only three of us this time somebody's got to be we got to be in the middle I guess so yeah thank you to see you so they're going to shake your hand you get to you get to run the get to do you work for it congratulations congratulations congratulations congratulations amaz thank you and then open this back long way [Laughter] congratulations again Camille Round of Applause for Camille wonderful and as I said earlier you are more than welcome to stay for this meeting or not most people don't stay and I'm just going to give you one second while I reset my board book password apparently all right um next we have um our agenda approval adjustments and announcements can I get a motion to approve the agenda so moved oh Julie in a second second second by Michelle any discussion hearing none we'll proceed to vote all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed abstain motion carries next we have our announcements um on July 4th Tuesday is a holiday and the district is closed on July 9th Tuesday at 6: PM is a board meeting here in the community room that is our only board meeting um in the month of July and then um starting August 14th and this is not a typo so our if you recall from um previous meetings Tuesday the 13th is a primary day so we cannot hold our meeting me so our board meetings will be on Wednesday August 14th at 5:00 p.m. we'll have a subcommittee on policy in the community room um at 5:00 P PM we'll have a SubCom Community engagement in the training room and then at 6 PM we will have our board meeting here in the community room um next we have our communication to the board and citizens and employee um Representatives May briefly address the school board the board will listen to brief remarks ask clarifying questions and if desired request the administration follow up um the board will not take action at this meeting on request presented this time and time is limited to 3 minutes since there's no one else in the room I'm assuming we have no one to address the board we'll move on to the consent agenda uh the consent agenda includes the Personnel report um the workers compensation um renewal and the minutes from the June 11th 2024 meeting and June 20 excuse me June 18th 2024 meeting can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda so move Michelle and a second second second by Julie any discussion hearing then we'll proceed to vote all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed abstain motion carries next we have acknowledgement of contributions that one give me one second got it all right acknowledgement of contributions um this is a resolution so I will read this Minnesota statute 123b 02 permits school boards to receive for the benefit of the district bequests donations or gifts for any proper purpose and apply the same to the purpose designated on that behalf the board may act as Trustee of any trust created for the benefit of the district and the benefit of the pupils thereof therefore the school board of Columbia Heights Independent School District number 13 resolves to accept with appreciation at the contributions detailed in the background of$ 71,9 5227 detailed background includes um donations to the Columbia Heights High School scholarship fund elae yos for $300 Mir Miranda Clemens Remax Synergy $500 for the Remax Synergy musky Community Support Foundation scholarship Pete Hilla and John Rockwell for the at Remax Synergy $500 for the remx Synergy scholarship Danielle Berg Valley View Elementary $1,260 for the Valley View alumni fun scholarship Pam uh excuse me Pamela zimba $400 and Jane HCK and Elan yo $300 for the helck family scholarship Jennifer Klein $111,000 for the Jaden Klein scholarship fund Jonathan railander Columbia Heights Fine Arts Foundation $ 6,552 55 for the Columbia Heights Fine Arts foundation and Jim GLE $50,000 for the Italian American Club Foundation scholarship a donation to Columbia Heights High School of $139. 72 was made by the Columbia Heights Fine Arts Foundation total fiscal year 2023 2024 monetary contributions to date is $219,400 12 I get a motion to approve the resolution so moved Jessica and a second second second by Julie any discussion um thank you to our very generous community members and um especially support of our of our students in the scholarships um it's great to see so thank you as this is a roll uh resolution Michelle we do the roll call please y uh granin p i Palmer madus I Mueller I pway I and resolution passes thank you um next we have discussion reports and information items we'll start with reports from members of the board and we will start with Jessica oh you're all in for a treat because I was unable to be with you for the last meeting so um I want to catch everybody up I missed everybody got to report out on all the celebrations they were part of at the end of the year so I'm going to force you all to listen to All of the ways I got to celebrate with our students and families um so I was able to attend um as a chaperone with the leap classes to the young authors conference um that was held at bethl University and that was through spark path which is one of the programs that we have access to as part of our membership with bright Works which was used to be Metro exu so um I just wanted to um share that here because it was really amazing to see you know you hear about here are all the things that these memberships cover and we have reports um here at the board table about what that work looks like and how our students have opportunities through those organizations but to really be able to be there with the students on that day and see them participate in all of their sessions was just really amazing to see um all the ways they were inspired by the breakout sessions they went to and the keynote speeches um and it was like a little academic conference like they had their little schedule of all of their um breakout sessions and they for the most part got to where they needed to go all by themselves and um that was just really amazing to kind of just see that in action um I was able to attend the powow uh on the 31st of May I was able to participate um uh celebrating our fifth graders at Highland we had a little fifth grade party during the day and then on the same day we also had the rise up celebration end of the year party at Columbia Academy so it was a big day of celebrating the transitions for our fifth graders and the transition for our eighth graders um and then uh like many of you all of you many of you here I was able to attend graduation um and celebrate with our students and families there at the high school um and then I attended the work session last week at North Park and I think that was uh our last work session at uh School building that we have scheduled yeah of our tour our Whirlwind work session tour um and so a lot of the um I know a lot of the items that will be discussing tonight um uh we had detailed conversations about at that work session um and that was a really collaborative conversation um and then uh msba uh their most recent webinar was a legislative session recap for districts and so that um uh I was able to watch that live but I believe they've recorded that too and that's out there for folks to to get a a sense of how all of the legislative changes um are impacting our districts at least on a very like quick level right we have to think about what that means for our actual policies coming up um and then lastly um I attended the Columbia Heights uh art and information Fair last week I was um helping out as part of the PTO collaborative table so all of the um parent teacher organizations in the district kind of tabling but I was able to talk to a lot of folks too about um our schools and activities and um uh I know that our district had a table there as well so it was very well attended and I was happy to be a part of that that is all thank you thank you so much it wasn't so bad no wasn't so bad I've done work you were organized yes um I attended our work session last week and I was able to get through um my selections for March and April's expenses which I scheduled a meeting now with superintendent stenvik for Monday next week so that's my report perfect great thank you all righty um so I attended um a Hilltop city council meeting last Monday um being there liaison and went to get over there and just get to know the city a little bit I sat down with um Ru their clerk um actually a couple days before that and she just kind of gave me the rundown the history of Hilltop and we just had a good conversation um and I drug Anita with me so she could uh listen to to it I mean I think it was more subconscious listening but um she still heard a lot of what was going on and um it was really good uh to to be there and see you know what their city council does versus a lot of the other City Council meetings that I go to and see how that's set up um they are also working on um I don't know if everyone's heard about it but the Central Avenue um project that's going to be coming up um so they have someone come in and explain that so I got it explaining from like Hilltop perspective and I'm hearing it from Columbia Heights perspective so it's nice to meet those things in the middle somewhere um and I actually just came from um their ice cream social that they have every year where families come out they have face painting and um people there giving out bike helmets and school supplies and book bags all kinds of things um and they have Ben and& Jerry's come and and give you free ice cream so it it was a a pretty good time U my responsibilities Li elsewhere though and I had to come to this meeting but um it was really fun getting to go over there and meet people um who you know attend our schools and we just don't you know see a lot of so I want to make sure that I'm getting in there so you guys will be hearing more updates about Hilltop coming up um I attended last week's work session as well at North Park um and I also took my final quiz for the science of reading I had to do it um and yeah I I passed that I didn't print my certificate yet but it's coming um and I also attended the um the art uh info Fair um over at houet so that was fun I forgot about it and we came like the last hour and um we kind of jetted to all the tables but we were still getting good information and um getting to talk to people and I saw Jessica there and um yeah it's good I I love those kind of events because they bring people out the neighborhood um that we know that we don't know and people just kind of walk by and join in uh so that was a pretty good event too I'm all done thanks thank you um um I have a short report um I last week I attended the chair meeting prior to our work session as well as our work work session I agree with Jessica um I thought we had some really good conversations and collaboration um so thank you all for your time at that um also finished the science of reading took the final quiz and passed the course so um I think that that's a highlight like that that wasn't I for those of us who are not Educators by trade so um I have total respect for for those who are um attended the chair meeting um prior to this meeting um and had um some conversations with a parent um and follow up with um superintendent stck thank you next we have our superintendent report and correspondent superintendent sik uh thank you we have entered into negotiations with the clerical unit Food Service educational assistants and custodial units and so this will be an ongoing process throughout the summer the dates that we have scheduled so far um I've going a couple weeks back that through our American Indian education program Yolanda dors sloy and I were able to take high school students to up to malax where they learned about indigenous culture um medicinal plants history and also their current current practices and current cultural ways um amazing a learning experience for everyone and lastly we wrapped up the school year with um admin team meetings so we dove into the draft strategic plan which we'll hear about about tonight again and reflected on the year and planned for the next school year so had a tiny bit of fun too I'm looking at the directors tiny bit thank you validation of the fund yes thank you um our next item is the msba membership um so our msba membership is um an annual renewal um so it is up for Renewal um membership Ship dues um for the 2024 2025 school year is 9,2 um that is up a little bit from last year which was 8,756 correct me if I'm wrong is that based on enrollment yes so that would be the cost of that um the board book subscription is um also up for Renewal and the amount um for 20 uh 2024 2025 is $2,700 um up $600 from last year's cost um and then Additionally the as part of that invoice as well is the msba policy service renewal which is $750 um for the fiscal year um July 1 through June 30th of 2025 um that fee has not changed so um msba provides our board um our mandatory training as well as additional trainings member maderas just talked about some of the education um an opportunity she has just recently um participated in with msba um our board book subscription um as well as that we used for each of our meetings and then I think as member H and I can attest to the um the value of the policy um Subscription Service um which I and mad as well and the policy subcommittee um the service that we received for msba for their policy renewals so um this would be an action item um at an upcoming meeting any thoughts or discussion um any questions on msba just a question so the is the total amount then the total of those three yeah so the total amount will be $1,452 thank you good question I had that written down and I have say I was like I'll just do some math in a little bit Julie is there um can you buy bits and pieces of it is that why it's broken out so if we just wanted the policy service or just wanted the training yeah and that's something that we um there's some discussion um in the future in terms of maybe not using board book um and looking at um like Google Docs um and that was something that superintendent svic and I had talked about and I didn't want to make that decision right now so quickly and maybe spend the next year in um seeing if you know Google Docs works for us um you know while we still have board book as as an option and look at that for the next year is Google Docs free okay yeah yeah but I think before we like I said canceled this and jumped all in we needed some time to see if that actually was a good idea or not any other questions about the msba renewals or okay so that'll be an action if there are anything that comes up just let me know um next we have our policy first reading the policy first reading includes policy 414 mandatory mandated reporting of child neglect and 415 mandated reporting of vulnerable adults so that um those policies were reviewed by the policy subcommittee um they are currently on available on our website for review and comment um any if anybody in the public public has anything that they would like to share um I think those policies were um they're very statutorily based and so um we just looked at some of the msba recommended um uh changes to those so um but those will be available um for public next we have um policy 714 fund balances so director henkins would like to join us thank you chair Mueller members of the board and superintendent stck uh this evening um for information item um in discussion uh the school board um uh requested um to have a conversation about our fund balance policy policy 714 um and this uh uh policy came to the um policy committee um this last meeting and um there was great discussion with this policy there's some more significant changes um so this evening um bringing it forward to the board um I can pull it up on the screen I if you would like I okay um do you wanna yeah I can I can jump in um so thank you director hin um and for those watching um now or if you're watching this later um we this is one of the things that uh Dr mer madis and I had talked about in terms of having a conversation um at our work session um as you're noticing um typically we do not go over our policies in great detail um you know we do the first read they go through the subcommittee we do our first reading and then we do the second reading um the revisions to this policy um or proposed reion Visions to this policy are a little bit more substit substantive you know that thank you in nature um and this was something that I had requested a meeting with director Henkin and superintendent svic to discuss um and uh really looking at um a a a change to our fund balance policy and as we discussed in our work session um really looking at at several different things and looking at um the past couple of years in my time as a board member in convers ations we've had to have about cash flow borrowing um about times um during pandemic um and sudden enrollment drops that are our fund balance has dropped below our fund balance policy um as we talk about challenges that we've had with um you know English language learning um students who are new to our district and funding that you know follows or lags behind um when you know Staffing is needed um really looking at saying how do we be good stewards of tax pay your dollars how do we make sure that our district um is is financially stable so that you know one thing here or there does not impact us so greatly that we you know don't get a grant and so our summer school program has to be greatly reduced or we have a boiler issue and now we can't you know afford something else and so looking at that and having the meeting with director Henkin and superintendent stenvik in terms of what is an appropriate fund balance for our district um so that we don't have to always be worried um and so with that I have revised the fund balance policy um from our um unassigned general fund balance to be from six to 12% to 12 to 18% um giving us more of a 10 to 18 sorry thank you 10 to 18 I actually read it here 10 to 18% um giving us you know that base that we are not not just on the cusp of cash flow borrowing um in addition to that another change in this revised policy is that the former policy said that the goal of the policy was to not be at the at the top of the fund balance um and I have um proposing a revision to that that the um that we are looking to move toward the top of the fund balance um policy so that the goal would be to continue to grow that number number as we are able um and what makes sense for the district so that we again continue to be um financially stable as a district the third um really change in this is that the fund balance policy had already provided um language so that we could assign funds um we haven't in as long as I've been on the board um and I really got to thinking you know during the last year we've had a lot of of teachers and staff come talk to the board about some of the challenges that they've had about um our sizes of our e classes about um needs of our special education students about facility needs um so really looking at and listening to the staff that came to talk to the board how do we very transparently you know show that we are setting some dollars aside or earmarking funds so that those funds are available for the three things that can EB and flow greatly and really impact our fund balance um as well as greatly impact our staff and their success and our students in their success so adding language in this fund balance policy that can you know is on the same lines of you know that we can assign those funds but earmarking that our district will assign funds in um El um special ed and capital projects um as making that a note that those those designated funds are available um within the the I might be using the the wrong words I want to make sure I'm not saying we're not like it's assigned within the N assign y so it's assigned yes um and I and again this was a a conversation that we had had at the work session um but we wanted to be again very transparent um with our community that you know having this discussion as well at the board table about the the the revised um policy proposal so do you have anything else you'd like to add nope you covered it so um discussion questions um from the board Jessica um well thank you chair meller for the really thorough overview um as chair Mueller mentioned we did have a very um comprehensive discussion about this uh at the work session um and um this is something that this proposal is something that has been um carefully thought out and we had a lot of um discussion about what the Practical impact of these changes um might be to our future budget cycle um and to um a lot of the um budget decisions that we need to make um at the end of the year as well as how it could impact um you know our conversations in negotiations and bargaining all of those pieces um I think that uh part of our fiduciary obligation as board members is um as chair Mueller put it uh stewardship and Care um and part of financial stewardship is trying to kind of find that balance between ensuring that we have um a sufficient fund balance to um not be in a position to have to make um very sudden or drastic cuts at the end of the year year um or uh figure out how we're going to um pay our bills and get into cash flow borrowing um and then also making sure that we are spending the dollars that we have on the students that we have now so that we're able to serve those families um I I am supportive of the um the increase in fund balance uh range to 10 to 18 I think that that does strike a really approp at balance um I think it's important uh that uh our constituents uh our families our staff our community understands too that the fund balance is all onetime dollars so if we need to um use our fund balance um it's to cover sort of immediate or un unusual expenses so um and we've we've had some of those right so um we've seen Transportation costs uh rise really substantially in a single year we've seen how enrollment fluctuations uh show up and have impacts across our entire budget um and so I I really believe that this range will allow us to be able to weather some of those big changes and not be in a position where we're having to uh necessarily make drastic Cuts because we have to pay our bills now um recognizing this is onetime money um but that allows us if we do need to make some substantial budget changes to absorb an increase cost that we have time to kind of have an offramp to do that um I do think that that's really really important um and then I know that there's also been uh research uh by chair Mueller and uh by director Henkin on uh what other districts are doing in terms of fund balance which I think is an important thing to look at um with the understanding that you know we have um our district is not the same as all other districts right um and so that was a question that I had at the work session and so I don't know if you have more information about that now director henkins about um sort of what that 10 to 18% means to us it's okay I mean we have one more this isn't an action item at this point but I do think that that's an important piece of this puzzle too to understand what does a 10% fund balance mean for us in terms of paying our bills is that a month of expenses is it less than a month like I I just don't have context for that um and then similarly if we look at 18% if it's our goal to get to the top of that fund balance what that might mean in terms of expenses um because when you look at Best Practices out there um there are examples that are based on really months of expenses um I know that um the so just doing some a little bit of research the uh government Finance Officers Association their best practice is no less than uh two months months of fund balance I don't think that this gets us anywhere near that I'm guessing um but um just kind of gives you an idea of like where that uh where that stake in the ground is in terms of you know having a sufficient fund balance um and so when you look at what other districts are doing there are districts that are uh have uh fund balance ranges much much higher than 10 to 18% and um I think that's one of the reasons I'm comfortable with this particular range too is it doesn't take us to so high that we're in a position where we're not um necessarily using all of the dollars that we could on the programming needs that we have right now um especially in light of um the community voting uh to support our our Levy funds and making sure that we're using those those funds for our students in our program so um that I guess was sort of the the highlights of some of the conversation that that we had at the work session and I wanted to make sure that um those that might watch this meeting um understand um what the considerations were in that discussion um and that uh it really was a thoughtful conversation that we're not here just reading through and and and voting on a substantial change to fund balance policy without having those conversations so thank you thank you I want to add one other comment as well that I didn't mention and uh Jessica something that you had said made me think of it is that this you know by you know should this fund balance revision fund balance policy pass it doesn't mean that tomorrow we're saying that our fund balance needs to be um 10 to 18% um we did add um information in this policy that we wanted to get to that range um by December 31st of 2027 so giving us time much as as we don't want we wanted that time to be able to off-ramp things if you know we do have fluctuations and funding we also wanted that time to to grow into this without saying you know we our plan isn't my plan in this isn't to say we need to cut right now because we need to meet our policy it's that we've got you know several years to to get there or few years so thank you Michelle um yeah just thanks for doing the research I mean everybody who was involved um it's not something I even thought about cuz like you know being newer to the school board and not even knowing what a fun balance is um and getting to know ours and then seeing everything that you guys have said and the ways that you've explained it um I mean the you know the the revisions um it does make sense and I I really think that uh it it's nice to have that in place so I appreciate everybody involved for for doing all the work I know it's not easy and in your poor eyes from reading everything but um I do appreciate it really um I want to point out the assigned funds I I think that is something that we talked about significantly at our work session and one of the things you kind of want to understand is that this is this isn't restricting money it is a way of just kind of setting it aside and um we're we will as a board be informed of how much and um how that assignment is going to be done and um that that can be returned as well so it's it's it's really more of a a way to hold on to some funds so that when we have these emergencies or situations where we absolutely need to have another El teacher or something we have the money to do so um the other thing was you know assigning when it comes to the fund balance policy the assigned funds are not included I'm going to they're not included so they're taken out of the total for our fund balance policy it's internal restrictions yes like you said internal last time I was like oh I just wanted to make sure yeah so yes I wanted to make sure I understood that great thank you any other questions discussion I'd like to thank director Henkin for your time on this and all of your time as well um I think it's an important um topic and um we will have this as an action item on our next meeting agenda thank you thank you next we will go into our action items and our first action item is our strategic plan framework with direct stles good evening chair Mueller members of the board superintendent stenvik um this evening I come to you with the action item of um approval for the Columbia Heights Public School vision 2030 strategic plan the board was presented with the information about this plan we had a lengthy presentation at the last board meeting and this evening it comes to you for Action thank you can I please get a motion to approve the Columbia Heights Public Schools Vision 2030 strategic plan so Michelle and a second second second by Jessica any discussion Jessica I'm just thrilled to be able to vote in support of the new strategic plan tonight I mean this is a long time coming and I think really represents um a divers uh swath of our community being engaged in the planning efforts um in a couple of uh different rounds of community engagement and um I think that was really important because we did see um some changes between that first set of community engagements and the draft and the second draft that that feedback really did um impact the direction that we moving um and I know that the opportunities I had to uh participate alongside um members of our community in the engagement um really echoes in this plan like I I can read this and I can connect it to um specific pieces of feedback and ideas that came from our community and I I think that that's really important that this really does um amplify the voices of our students and our family and our community members um and it connects uh to our mission and our our values um and so I'm thrilled to vote in support of it and I'm excited to continue to discuss um the the metrics that will help support this plan and Advance all of the pieces of it towards Student Success so thank you discussion I do want to point out there are a lot of outcomes on this and it is complex and so we are having our Administration will be going through and coming up with the some ideas of metrics and how to measure these things so our community understands that although there's a lot here there's still a lot of work to do so I just wanted to bring that up excellent point thank you um one thing I'll note too is that um Vice chair uh granin and member Palmer are not able to be here this evening um both of them at our previous meeting expressed their support um for for the plan as well they just weren't able to be here this evening any other discussion verying none that we will proceed to vote all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed abstain motion passes thank you thank you so much and we will welcome back director Henkin um for the 2024 2025 preliminary budget thank you chair mu members of the board and superintendent stck give me one second to share my screen okay uh this evening um I'm seeking approval for the preliminary budget for the 2024 2025 school year um this was presented in detail at the June 18th uh board meeting and um but I do want to on camera step through the summary and I think looks like we can see it fairly well you guys should the board members you should have it in the packet as well um so uh since fy2 24 this we're still in it's June 20 25th we're still in fiscal year 2024 even though the school year has ended um and um we haven't audited um that school year that will come to the board in December um like normal so right now we're still projecting our 2024 fund balance so I'm just going to kind of Step through that really quickly as that's been presented already um you can see um about 4.4 million in the unassigned um category um of of what our fund balance is and uh you can see the restricted accounts um they are listed operating Capital gifted and talented compensatory achievement integration um I think the notes here most of the time in most of these categories uh the money we receive is the money that we're spending we're not really carrying a balance in these restricted areas um some of the exceptions are where I like to see some money um are operating Capital long-term facility maintenance for our building needs um and um with very low cash balances there when problems come up that's where that funding needs to be to um um help us with those and or larger projects that need to happen where it far exceeds our our um amount that we receive yearly um so we are starting to actually finally build a little bit in those categories and we need to continue um um but that's those restricted areas um new um with a recent um not this past legislative session but the previous we have a couple categories of literacy Aid and school library Aid and and the money that we receive in those categories um it doesn't quite get to um the staff we have um um that we're using to um those funds for um so you'll see a zero balance in there until I think we get into the future a little bit maybe they'll catch up um um but um and they weren't supplanting they were adding additional staff with that funding um so you can see um our food service I'll skip down there um Food Service fund we had a balance of about $1.2 million Community Education um projecting a balance of about $7,000 Community Education has been hit very hard um through the pandemic um and continues um to uh building construction fund that's our capital projects Levy um so that funds um our one toone initiative with computers and also um deferred maintenance projects and Debt Service fund um for bonds that we've sold in the past or internal service fund for dental or self-insured so we need to carry a balance there um and that balance is sufficient for the expenses that we have yearly and then our OPB trust um for future post-employment benefits for our staff and then so total funds just under for uh$ 13.5 million so that's that where we're sitting so for this um year uh the projected revenues of $47 million um and the N assigned projected expenditures just over $45 million um in this in the restricted areas um there really isn't any significant increases um a little bit of increase in compensatory because that includes our El funding we have a little bit higher uh number of el students so we see a little bit higher number there but again it's you know Revenue in expenses out um we we will see a zero balance um in that category at the end of projected after to fy2 um grants is one area I'll point out um through covid dollars or through Co time um we received um Co dollars from the federal um from the feds and that number increased um over $7 million um during Co that grants area and so that fiscal cliff um that everybody has talked a lot about is um you know the co dollars end and suddenly that Grant area is you know decreased by over half um and with Co dollarss it also allowed supplanting um we tried to balance that um to try to avoid the ultimate Cliff um and you know in in sense in our budget in this budget um two things are helping us one um is the state coming through with a little bit higher than normal increase in our general formula um they came through with some special ed cross subsidy and now this next fiscal year in FY 25 we have the additional operating Levy dollars come on so that's really helping us plus we and then we tackle on our student enrollment currently has been increasing over the last two years um so um we're we're seeing um even though that we had that big decrease in that Grant area um we're still seeing um a budget that looks um healthy um in the other categories um ma billing um long-term facility maintenance Student Activities there's no really significant changes in those categories um so total general fund 65,500 th000 um roughly um in revenues and total expenditures uh 63 million just under 63.2 million Food Service fund Food Service fund has been healthy um as uh recent years because our meal counts have gone up um it got healthier during covid um just because we were serving more meals and there was a higher reimbursement rate during Co and now with universal meals um in the state of Minnesota it's the same kind of formula because it's free meals for the students we're serving more meals and we still receive that reimbursement rate for those meals so we're seeing additional revenues and then we've added more staff um and we've been improving doing some improvements into the kitchens to handle the more the higher meal count uh food costs have gone up so you see the costs go up as well um and since we're caring ing such a healthy balance um in that uh fund which there is a limit on how high that balance can be per um expenditures um we're seeing we were trying to do some more improvements some Capital Improvements which we have a were washing project in the kitchen right now um again to spend those dollars improve those kitchens um again to meet the high higher meoc count serving that's happening um as I mentioned before Community Education um programming it it seems it still is a challenge um preco in that Community Education programming we wereing we were seeing um over $2 million in revenues now um predicting about 1.4 um and5 million um in revenues and and um equally in expenditures so still seeing a positive fund balance but barely um within the community service fund um again it's as the revenues go down it's it becomes even more of a challenging um aspect for that program and um controlling those expenses as staff costs go up and all these other things go up um so there's still still some work um in that category um that we're doing um to help that program out Debt Service fund um nothing out of the ordinary there I skipped over building construction fund building construction fund we do see an increase in that U for fiscal year 25 the again that capital projects Levy is based on the net tax capacity of the community so as that net tax capacity goes up we receive a little bit more funding in that area it's kind of almost like an inflationary adjustment and which again construction costs continue to go up so that really helps um with that aspect so we see about a 1.9 almost two Mill $2 million in that uh fund now um we're predicting to spend about a 1.5 million um again building up that that fund a little bit as we look forward to larger projects in the future um and then no surprises in the internal um service fund we'll see a little bit of increase in that again um OPB trust you know we'll just kind of see how the market goes um seeing U predicting flat there um so then all funds um 74 million 74.6 million in revenues and just shy of 72 million in expenses so then I'm just going to slide over to our projected um fund balance um at the end of fiscal year 25 so that's June 30th of 2025 uh about 16 $6.2 million fund balance um just shy of a million in capital projects or in capital dollars I mean um and uh um compensatory a little bit of a balance there um and then um seeing a little bit of an increase in that long-term facility maintenance not much I would like to see it um going higher but um a little bit of a time so about a $400,000 balance there um third party billing we see that balance go down a little bit or actually no balance goes up a little bit um and uh Student Activities still um predicting a flat there and uh also in scholarships um you know we have money coming in at a point and money going out at a point um so a little bit of decline moving down um a little bit of decline in the food service fund um which is what we want to see because we don't want to hit that cap uh dollar amount and um and again we're we're using those uh dollars uh within um some of the projects we're doing like the were washing project at the high school um so we adding about $44,000 to community ad um so we'll just be 115,000 11,500 roughly um construction fund um looking at a balance of about a million dollars and um not much of a change to Debt Service and not much of a change to um our Dental fund um again which is is healthy so no no concerns there um and if we started to see a a concern which we did a few years ago we would increase our Dental rates um and uh to increase the revenues that are coming in based on expenses but right now um it doesn't justify that so that fund is healthy so total all funds about 16 16.25 million so that's a summary of the budget um preliminary budget for fy2 I'm stop sharing and Julie I have a question yes so we have operating Capital under restriced funds yes operating Capital facilities and equipment we have long-term facility maintenance yes we have a building construction fund yes can you explain what the difference is and why we bucket these three why like if we needed a shed out back it should be one section or another could you kind of explain that yeah um so I'm going to start with operating capital and long-term facility those restricted buckets that we have there um so long-term facility maintenance wasn't something that we've always had um so the long-term facility maintenance is deferred maintenance projects um so the big districts um used to get that um little districts didn't get any of that money little districts basically only got capital and then we got health and safety and so um our problem was is our operating Capital which you know historically is it's gone up a little bit because there's a formula at age of the buildings and and and there's some level of student enrollment in there but otherwise pretty flat in real reality um so not even close to sufficient to maintaining the size buildings that we have so our smaller districts have been arguing for many many years that the state has to allow the smaller districts to have deferred maintenance dollars as well so what the state did is they um kind of lumped in with long-term those deferred maintenance dollars health and safety so health and safety and deferred maintenance dollars are together and so what that gave uh our District's our size was a additional dollars to be able to maintain our buildings now there's a lot of rules on that because it's for deferred maintenance so if this carpet has worn out in this room and I need to replace this carpet I can use long-term facility maintenance dollars for that if I want to buy a new or build a new shed out here because we need a storage shed I cannot use long-term facility maintenance for that because it's not existing it's not a deferred maintenance project I have to use Capital but given that um we have about 1 um3 million in long-term facility maintenance and then we have less than a million dollars we receive every year in capital so there's about $2 million there um we have deferred maintenance costs just in our HVAC alone in this District that exceed $50 million so you can see that those funds aren't even close to making that work um so we had so we have that issue plus um back in 2014 we we're looking forward to a one: one and personalized learning within the district so then came on the capital projects Levy which was 40% deferred or 40% technology 60% additional funds for deferred maintenance um now with those those U dollars we specifically said what we were going to use them for um and uh so for the construction part of it and then also for the technology part of it so that right in the questions we asked the community that's what that was in there and so that's what we continue to use those for um now with the technology particularly I would say that um given when the panamic hit um we were already well on our way to being one toone districtwide so from a technology perspective we were well prepped um in our district because of that I I feel um um to really take on that from a tech perspective now there wasn't we're not the only District that was um because there was many districts that were one to one but um we could have been one of those districts that wasn't as well prepared um but that this fund allowed us to do that so that's kind of the three different ones um now are those three enough um obviously they're not and when you consider again um with our buildings and just the Deferred just speaking hbac Alone um and deferred maintenance needs um with those systems so um but you know we prioritize it we have a 10-year study um or plan and then that's based off of a study um that we did with K Anderson most recently um and so we'll just continue to work that as we can and uh look at different opportunities for additional funding to help fill some of those gaps and yet we were able to remodel or fix the were was Wasing actually getting a new were washing machine and remodel that whole Space so we can have more prep space Etc in the kitchen but that was from Food Service dollars correct most of that was from Food Service dollars there's some aspects of it that aren't um just because there's that's a very restricted fund um so there's some things that we just couldn't couldn't use in that um you know for example the abatement um we ran into um abatement needs we need uh with a and so that's where long-term facility maintenance comes into play because there's a aesus category in there um so then you know that fund will actually pay for for the abatement of that um did I anticipate that no but then again there's another reason to have a balance in there so that when you run into asbest um you can afford to make sure you take care of it all right away so thank you yes great questions thank you Jessica just had a couple of questions about projection so can can you remind us what the the enrollment what enrollment projection is B baked into the budget yeah so uh enrollment drives a majority of when we're projecting out what our revenues are I mean that's really the main driving factor and um in the last two years we projected uh flat to decreasing enrollment two years ago we received a large influx of of families from Ecuador or students from Ecuador this year we or last year because we're still in this year um and then this 23 yes in 23 and now in 24 we received another influx even though I assumed it that we were going to um be a flat so that's why I think you know we're seeing the revenues and expenditures that we've seen um or that I'm projecting that we'll see in that we saw in 24 and that we will see in 25 um now whether that substantially holds or not it was that's equates to over 200 students in the last two years so or this year and last year um so that's a lot of students for district our size um but also heading into the pandemic we were you know at 34 almost 3,400 students and suddenly we were down at 3,000 students and we lost over 300 students so it can shift really fast um but and then again we saw what our fund balance or we go back in time and look and see what our fund balance did it went from you know 12% down to 4.24% so you know outside things can drastically impact that and thus the conversation on fund balance and the importance of that um and the importance of you know what we're trying to do um so that when that happens when those big things happen that we're we're prepared for it even the small things that we can we can move on things and we we're prepared for it so the Assumption for fy2 is flat enrollment the Assumption for fy2 is a slight increase uh to enrollment and that's based on our enrollment projection looking at um historical where we grow what class what grades we grow in um so we have a progression ratio that I apply to it um some grade levels just roll forward well um you know we're guessing at um or you know we're doing a historical guess on what our kindergarten class is going to be um you know based on what's happening in the community um and Li birth all those conversations um historical information so kindergarten um because though we you know those kids coming in at kindergarten are the basis of of what our our enrollment is going to look like into the future um it's not a huge impact in the immediate sense but it's a big impact on what it looks like in the future um and our kindergarten numbers have stabilized um the last three years now now um you know so from the years coming the year of the pandemic the year after the pandemic um and now we've gotten back to you know kind of what we predict our normal kindergarten will be um so unless we see large live birth suddenly come through um we haven't seen it yet but maybe maybe we'll see it with the pandemic babies I don't know a similar question around the um Community Education fund and the the challenges that it's had over the last few years so moving forward are we assuming um like a like a like a slow Rebound in revenues for that or what are the assumptions we're looking at for that well we're definitely um taking a deep dive into Community Education um I've just actually had a meeting with director stunkle earlier today on that and looking at ways that we can um um keep an eye on what's Happening looking at revenues looking at expenses along the way so that her staff has access to that information um she has access to that information so that you know they can help um keep an eye on things as we move forward um you know there's we definitely rely on on funding um and in you know some of the grants that we've had like the 21st Century Learning Grant um really helped um in that category it's not a small amount uh you know 260 $270,000 a year um that's a huge impact um you know when you look at that if you had an additional $260,000 um you know suddenly you're you're starting to get up at 1.8 million you're starting to get back towards that 2 million Mark where things looked a lot better for that that program and so um so we'll continue to look at that um and and work together to try to uh make sure that um we continue to um minimally we're we're continuing to balance balance that fund out and um and that we're looking to the future of what we can do um so that it's a healthier fund and I I think it's going to take more than our work um for that uh because we are not the only one that's seeing that issue um you know where we saw um Food Service um get healthier um through the pandemic and to today we saw Community ad take an exact opposite um so and again that was across the state so um don't have a clean answer for it but we definitely are putting the extra effort into it so at least we can do the best that we can do to affect it moving forward thank you I just have one more question that's okay um and that's just around the projected fund balance as a whole I think this is uh really helpful that we're having this action item right after we discussed the potential changes to the fund balance policy so looking at the projected fund balance for June 2025 if that were to hold what does that mean for us in terms of a percentage the projected fund balance for the assigned and unassigned um because right now we don't have um specific assigned dollars would be approximately 13% okay um and again that's before taking the assigned y That's before taking action on assigned just trying to think about um if the proposed fund balance policy changes are approved thinking about what the timeline looks like to get up to the top of that uh fund balance range uh by 2027 and I will say it it was to get into that range correct thank you for that clarification 10% right by 2027 by 2027 an important clarification thank you um so just trying to think about about uh what that looks like in terms of real dollars um in in a real budget so thank you any other questions I have one question um I know that we've talked previously that we originally anticipated that fy2 would be deficit spending um after kind of negotiating contracts and and everything else and we are not in deficit spending is that due um if I remember correctly from previous conversations to are um higher than anticipated and continued growing enrollment throughout the year correct thank you like I mentioned it's over 200 additional students um so it's incredibly impactful um for a discar size um and of course the cautionary tale is that um there's two forces um one is the increase enrollment two is that it's increased over what was projected um so um example is you when we do the cert Levy certification um which we you guys certified the board certified back in uh December um I'm projecting what fiscal year 25 enrollment will be and if I'm low on that Mark um then we're going to versus the actual um enrollment then we're going to see a positive adjustment but that positive adjustment is just a one-time adjustment um it's not continued funding and and so so now we' re have two years of an influx of um students um moving into our district that we did not predict I don't know anybody could predicted that we were going to see a huge influx from Ecuador um and and so now we're seeing a positive adjustments from from those um so it's those two things are really the primary factor um so you know receive um a better than expected um budget in 24 um will carry in 225 and again since we're carrying these students we're holding them at this point um that is carrying forward for us so that's that's the positive in that um but again as I mentioned you know even though I don't predict another pandemic you know we drop 300 students in a very short period of time so that swing can happen real fast for us um and we are at the top of where we've been in recent history as far as enrolling um we just haven't been any higher than this point um we spent more time way more time lower than this so um you know of course we're going to continue to work hard on that enrollment number um and the things that we do within the district but that's important that that stays where it's at otherwise it's a it's a very different story so thank you any other questions I guess I just wanted to note too that on the enrollment side it's while we want to work really hard on enrollment it's we also don't have the ability to have infinite enrollment either right like our we've had to close open enrollment um in several of our our grades this year um so we want to definitely hold that enrollment uh but there's not a whole lot of other places where students can go so thank you Dr Bennett I did not get do a motion on that yet did I okay thought I did but then I realiz no we did not no which I should have done before we did that but all good all right um can I get a motion to approve the 2024 2025 preliminary budget so moved Jessica and a second second second by Julie any other discussion we will proceed to vote all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed abstain motion passes thank you thank you Dr um next we have board topics anybody have any board topics I have several um a couple of things um that I have first um I would like to mention um that we had a closed session last week for the purpose of the superintendent goals and evaluation um and to provide a public summary of that um that it was um determined that superintendent stenvik um fulfilled her goals um and um received a um a successful evaluation thank you very much superintendent stenvik um I also um wanted to mention um that this Friday is the Jamboree parade um so if you've not gotten back to Stephanie um about that um please do we'd love to have you march in the parade with us walk in the parade and and it's not going to downpour on us this year so right our chair declared it so it will not yes get the rain it earlier in the day yeah so I see okay as long as it's not a torrential downpour that was pretty miserable that was fun you didn't enjoy our time together I I truly enjoy the time sitting in the van with all of you soak and wet yes um the other item I like I have last item is that we have one ticket available to the Guthrie on July 24th to see Little Shop of Horrors with the um Community Ed um Adult Enrichment um there are 17 community members signed up to go um and there is one available ticket if anybody is interested let superintendent St or Stephanie know um be great to have somebody attend when is that for like when is the show um it's on July 24th during the day so I think I just know that the the group will return by 4M so maybe oneish mat okay thank you thanks Julie um I did want to just back up to the announcements the July 4th holiday is on Thursday unless we are closed on Tuesday oh it is Thursday you are correct July 4th Thursday not Tuesday is the district open on Friday as yes after that so just Clos on the fourth thank you Julie any other board topics all right heing none we will adjourn at 7:16