all right I'd like to call to order at the December 10th 2020 2024 meeting of the regular school board um we will start with the pledge pledge of allegiance Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right thank you Michelle you do the roll call please yes uh granin here petw here Palmer here madis here P here Mueller here superintendent stimi here thank you y our mission statement 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 first we have our agenda approval adjustments and announcements we'll start with the approval of the agenda can I get a motion to approve the agenda so moved Julie in a second second second by Laura any discussion hearing none we'll proceed to vote all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed abstain motion carries chair Mueller can I uh have a point of order please yes okay thank you so much um I would just like to say um I would like take a second to acknowledge um your leadership and everything that you have brought to this board um I remember when you first ran we live in the same Precinct and I was one or two people behind you and I remember voting for you and I remember you serving as my school board um liaison when I was at Valley View I remember you serving our community as a community member and when I joined the board you became a mentor and a friend and I wanted to take a second personally to say thank you for everything that you've done and then also um as Vice chair I want to make sure that we honor you um in conjunction with our superintendent so superintendent steni has um your Columbia Heights Public Schools letter yes your letter letter in school board the letter to school board yes so yes yeah so go take your picture stand on this she doesn't know where to go I want you to notice that Stephanie put it together and made sure that syro there got your school and [Applause] congratulations can we should we invite family to take a picture real quick as well if they would like to family would you like to take a picture of it I'd love to thank you good job he understood the assignment so proud I love [Music] it y we'll just Photoshop Maddie in here she's way at college right yeah [Applause] making this a tough one yep um I think also before we move on um just I would like to offer if anybody else uh had anything that they wanted to to share um that's fine if you don't that's also fine but I want to make sure that we have that opportunity before we um continue on so I want to thank you for from the bottom of my heart for your leader ERS ship and guidance just being a new member of the board is not easy to to navigate and I just really really appreciate all your help and your kindness thank you thank you a weird calling on you I know I'm like yes you're next say something nice about me go ahead ready and go um well I'm going to miss you um I appreciate everything that you've helped me with I think I got lucky and completely blessed when I started the board and you were the chair um not that there were worse chairs before you or anything but I'm happy that you're here I wanted to make sure that I said that um I'm sure having experienced that would have been great too but I am happy that you were shared when I was here and that um you know I I got to really learn a lot under you and and you really helped carry this board through some things and um yeah I'm I wish you could stay so yeah thanks I I I guess maybe I might need those tissues um we've known each other really long time you know I mean way before school board and stuff our our kids did the the tea ball together and and everything and your amazing amount of dedication to the community and to the kids and and just your family and CH I mean every everything you put a 100 a th% into everything that you do and it's been a great honor to serve with you on this board and and and to have you as our as our chair I'm really going to miss you a lot and I hope that you stop in um sometime especially during TR truth and Taxation and um and if you have if you have any any advice when it comes to roof beds we don't always use to you know I'll have to remember and does this fit into our budget you know um thank you thank you for everything and um I I really can't say enough of how much I appreciate you as a friend as a mentor and um and a leader in this community thank you and I I want to also offer my thanks for your leadership um and all of your contributions to the school board but but more than that to the commitment to serving all of the kids in our district and all of the families in our district um personally you've been a mentor to me since before I was on the board right when I was a parent and I had concerns or questions or I came to every single board meeting and was just watching like you weren't like who is this person why is she always here like you engaged with me and um really helped me learn more about um how governance Works how the the relationship between the school board and and the district and what the work we do here actually means to our staff to our students and to our families so thank you for everything you've done and for the Legacy that you're leaving um I would uh also welcome you back for public comment but I would remind you that if you do come back for public comment you're limited to three minutes and there's a timer yeah yes lauan you exemplify Highlander Pride everything you've done I remember when Ethan and Maddie were in elementary school over at Highland and you know you were a champion for kids then and made major changes as a PTO president you've made massive impacts on our district when it comes to the Arts um I could go on and on and name Many Many Items um from your parent lens from your Community member lens and from your Schoolboard lens so I um I this I'm not saying goodbye or I'm going to miss you because I plan to see you so thank you for your service yeah thank you thank you um and then before we move on there is a request that Kristen would like a picture with the entirety of the board and you okay and superintendent so oh we're gonna come take a picture everybody now that we've all been crying a little bit oh yeah that's pretty awesome yeah do your job now yeah that's cruel to do that at the top of the meeting I Y was not prepared for that so thank you um I I just I want to say thank you um it's been a wild eight years as a board member um thank you Laura for recruiting me when our Littles were in diapers um at the park while the our bigs were playing t-ball um I I've had a passion for advocating for all our kids um two of mine are are here um who've gone K12 in the district um thank you to you boys and your sister um for sharing me with the rest of the community um thank you to my husband to cook dinner every Tuesday night for the past eight years um and supported me and advocated and when I wasn't sure if I was going to run again for my second term he was the one who who pushed me um and to my mom who's here um she was a public school teacher for over 30 years um she taught me that strong schools make strong communities and that teachers and staff need support of parents and leaders so that they can do the most selfless thing which is teach other people's kids to make sure that all of our kids can be strong caring smart and engaged citizens um you're not getting rid of me um that's for sure Kristen's already recruiting me for committee um I'll be here I'll continue to advocate in different ways um thank you Natty um former board chair who um was a confidant um both during while I was on the board and with her and after she left and to John and Molly and holla who I also served with um I have truly had the pleasure of serving with the most amazing people um there are other boards out there that are nothing like ours we are strong we are decisive we get things done and we do good for kids um and thank you to the community members who voted for me not once but twice um to allow me the opportunity to take care of our kids and our community um and thank all of you for electing me as your chair and trusting me with leadership of the board um and for all of our our directors um and Brian I bet you're like relieved but not we've been through a lot poor Brian who does both finance and Facilities he got a lot of me and Stephanie and Don um and superintendent stck your leadership and partnership um we've done great things and I know you guys will continue to do great things so and if you if you don't I'll be at that table during public comment limited to 3 minutes so thank you all um so much and thank you to my family for showing up tonight and for those in the audience and um this is where I get to say to my family you're welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting it is phenomenal or you can go home and hang out until I come home and we have dinner um but you're you know you can you can leave but thank you for showing up for me and for always supporting me thank you [Applause] and with that we have our announcements I gotta try to read this now um continuing on with our meeting thank you Mary you're welcome um on January 7th at 6 PM is the organizational meeting in the community room uh January 14th at 4:45 is the subcommittee on policy in the superintendent conference room January 14th at 5:00 pm is the subcommittee on community engagement in the community room January 14th at 6:00 p.m. is the regular school board meeting in the community room and January 21st at 5:30 is the Schoolboard work session in the community room um next we have our communication to the board um at this time any citizen or employee May briefly address the school board the board will listen to brief remarks ask clarifying questions and if desired request that the administration follow up the board will not take action at this meeting on request presented at this time and time is limited to 3 minutes um we do have one person um who wishes to address the board back all right we just had our um Citizen and employee representative um and we had somebody a member of the community come to address the board um to thank me for my service I'm offer okay um next we have our consent agenda and the consent agenda includes the Personnel report the policy second reading my board book is messed up give me a second um so the consent agenda has the Personnel report the policy second reading annual review for policy 722 public data requests the treasure report for October 2024 and the minutes from the November 26 meeting can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved Mary and a second second second by Jessica any discussion heing now proceed to vote all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed abstain motion carries thank you next we have our acknowledgement of contributions as this is a resolution I will read this acknowledgement of contributions resolution Minnesota statute 123 b.2 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 or for the benefit of the pupils thereof therefore the school board of Columbia Heights Public Schools Independent School District number 13 resolves to accept with appreciation the $2,911 monetary contributions detailed in the background those details um include monetary the Columbia Heights athletic boosters donated $2,000 to track and Fe field $4,066 to girls basketball $1,000 to robotics $1,000 to girls and boys tennis $75 to North Park $3,985 to the Chicago trip $560 to cheer $71 to Heights Herald 876 to HOSA $222 to speech and $449 to wrestling the Columbia Heights High School class of 1994 donated $1,994 to the Columbia Heights High School for uh staff and school use anonymous donation of $2,000 to the district's parents for school supplies Cynthia jersa donated $50 to the ranana tuck roll Memorial Scholarship Tasty Pizza donated $250 to support the robotics team in kind donation Alex uh Bawa donated muser four octave concert Mima mimba mallets and a music stand valued at 1, ,500 to the band program at Columbia Academy John Zurich donated books valued at $618 to the media center at Columbia Academy Anonymous donation of floor puzzles valued at $236 to Valley View for classroom use total fiscal year 2024 2025 monetary contributions to date $5 51,529 can I get a motion to adopt this resolution so moved Julie and a second second second by Laura any discussion all right thank you very much to our generous Community um I'm going to miss reading those resolutions that was a short one this time um but it just means a lot to have the support of the community and uh a big support from our boosters organization um any other discussion Michelle since this is a resolution weo the roll call please yes uh granin I pway I Palmer I mad I who I Mueller I thank you resolution passes next we have our discussion reports and information items and we'll start with reports from members of the board and we will start with Mary okay well um thank you so much uh as you may have guessed I have been in contact with superintendent stunich um on a number of things but also coordinating a little bit um I have uh had uh meetings or phone calls with um member maderas uh member Palmer and um member pway um I also have and you actually chair Mueller as well um and had an opportunity to check in with a number of student staff and families um over the past few weeks I also attended uh the robotics meet at Columbia Academy which again is been just massively successful um and family is coming it's saying that uh how excited they are because there's space to to come and watch and that makes people feel a lot more engaged in the process which is wonderful to see so I'm I'm very excited about that uh I also attended the Middle School winter choir performance uh last night which was amazing we had there are so many students in the middle School choir that we don't have risers to to for them all to stand um so they did a fantastic job uh singing and uh it was really wonderful to see I also had an opportunity to attend the opening night of Shrek the Musical which um you know every single play that goes on I am just convinced that they can't possibly do better and every time they do better and better this was it was amazing um and I'm so so proud of our students and uh I'm so grateful for the staff and families um and community members who come in to help uh support those students so they can have an amazing like play performance um it's it's amazing so um I I'm always excited to attend those and um and yeah so I think aside from that oh one other thing I I did speak with uh the staff adviser for the heights Herald and I have um given a hard copy of the heral to all of our members when we used to get our um board packets delivered to us we would get uh the hard copy of the paper and we don't do that anymore so um I wanted to make sure that we uh also had an opportunity to to get a hard copy of that because it's wonderful online um and also it's such a great award-winning um newspaper that I think it's it's wonderful for us to be able to to have that hard copy too so I think that that is that is all great thank you thank you yeah um switch things up a bit because I think this is the first time I really haven't done much to report um that I attended Shrek which was great um and I attended the uh subcommittee on community engagement meeting before this which remember Gran was there as well yep um you always forget something I always do yeah um but that is it that's all I have thank you Michelle Laura um I was a little busier um first I I did have conversations with chair Mueller uh Mary thank you for your time and um superintendent steni um uh Jessica we we had some pretty good conversation I believe as well when we attended the delegate assembly um that through msba U talk about legislative uh priorities and and things that that perhaps legislature was being overly helpful with that we needed to um help them actually correct um so uh so that that's a lot of fun to uh and and enlightening to be able to engage with the other districts to find out what their priorities are um interesting uh topics like AI um had not considered that so someone was Forward Thinking and brought that forth as a resolution um to create some sort of a work group for being able to combat um AI um as far as education is concerned lots of lots of different uh priorities and you can check all that all that stuff out on the uh msba uh legislative platform um I also attended Shrek and and like Mary said I mean every time you go to one of these these Place she's like I can't get any better than this I I really think that Trek is like the Pinnacle it was absolutely amazing I I I really wish I could have gone to the other two shows because I had a feeling that they would even be better than the first time I saw it which was on opening nights um what a great performance and full house I mean they did such a great job I'm so proud of our of our of our program um the only other thing I did um was the uh the subcommittee on community engagement prior to this I think that covers it thank you Jessica um thank you the so the few things that I have to report have already been reported on uh I I did attend the deliot assembly with director Palmer um and I think we had 28 resolutions um that were considered for the platform and I agree it was really enlightening to hear um what some of the common um challenges are across the state and then also here some of the differences in the priorities and challenges um we face um as a district of our size in the Metro versus larger and smaller districts that are also in the Metro or in Greater Minnesota so that was really um really interesting we did receive A draft copy of um the legislative priorities uh for for the upcoming session from msba and so I think that those should be published shortly um there's over a dozen I think in the draft um one pager that we have um but they really focus around um a couple of themes that I don't think you'd be surprised about which are really about um making policy changes to maintain local control um and also to um fully fund uh all of the mandates that we have uh to respond to as school districts um in addition to of course um the funding mechanisms that that we we really need um in our district and and other districts are struggling with too so um I did just want to mention that um the de delegate assembly um uh the delegate spots are twoyear terms and so um there'll be an opportunity um next fall for folks to apply to be a delegate and I would really really encourage um anybody else on the board to give it give it a try to it's really fun I think we can have up to three um from our district um in our in our region um and um there will also be an opportunity for anybody to participate in the day at the capit capit that will be happening um uh in conjunction with the Minnesota Association of school administrators and that'll be March 10th I'm sure we'll hear more about that and we can share more but I wanted to at least um note that now so that people can start thinking about um attending that and being part of legislative advocacy um and then I also did attend Shrek as well um fun fact my family is a little bit of Shrek the Musical connoisseurs uh my oldest son when he was about three or four was obsessed with that Musical and we went on like a Metro Wide uh tour of all of the local schools that were um putting on mounting Shrek the Musical Productions um but I have to say that he said that this was the best production that he's seen that's high price so it is high price it is high price the kids did great so kudos to everybody who's involved with that I know that those rehearsals and all of the things that go into the production take a a lot of time and energy and passion so I really um uh director Palmer said that how proud you are to see our students perform and I I felt that in watching the show as well just Pride for for Heights and for all of the students that um put put their hearts into that production so I was glad to be able to attend thank you thank you Julie yeah my mind's really short I attended the subcommittee on policy right before this meeting and I did have some conversations with a couple of community members so thank you um you guys kept me working all the way up here to my last meeting so I did have the chair meeting um prior to this meeting as well as the subcommittee um on policy I also had conversations with superintendent stenvik member pwe member grandlin and member Palmer so you guys were making sure I was working so thank you all for your time superintendent stck um report and correspondence for us uh yes I also attended Shrek and I concur with what's already been said particularly the choreography was exceptional um but it was a really fun performance and kudos to all involved um as the region n representative for Masa I spent much of the day today in an masasa board meeting U and the board will be receiving their draft legislative platform so it'll be really good to compare amsd Masa and msba all the acronyms um for the legislative platforms I wanted to let the board know that we are keeping an eye on enrollment particularly Highland grades three and four um in so you know that Valley View is closed to open enrollment in grade three and at North Park we're seeking to hire an additional third grade teacher there are two and because the two currently there have full CL very full classrooms so um there's something happening in third grade around in town so um if anyone is looking for a third grade teaching spot at a great school um we have one available um but so in January at the first regular meeting um I may seek to close Highland grade three and four to open enrollment um so we're keeping an eye on that and lastly I wanted to share that um last week I the head of the labor the teachers Labor Management um committee and I observed a structured literacy lesson so react um in fifth grade at Valley View prior to our Labor Management meeting and we were able to discuss with representatives from our you know um from local 710 across the district about how it's going for um our structured literacy and our react implementation the challenges the excitement um the hurdles you know all of the components and just really bring Clarity um to the team and what that might mean for the future in terms of um react what are we we're on 2.0 now so maybe 3.0 we'll see that's my report great thank you so much um next we have our District's annual budget hearing which is our truth and Taxation hearing so I will invite director Henkin and we have Matthew is it Hammer our senior municiple advisor from Ellers all right thank you chair Mueller members of the board and superintendent stenick give me one minute here to get this presentation up on the screen for everybody okay all right um and uh this evening I have uh so we have our annual truth and Taxation hearing and uh I have with me Matthew Hammer um from Ellers um and their financial advisor um and um I'm just really going to turn it over to him and let him uh proceed and uh he can maybe further introduce himself uh we uh um we'd worked with uh Ellers in the past and um um I don't know recently six months less than a year um we re-engaged with them and uh they're uh solely working with or we're solely working with them for Financial advising as we move forward in the district and I'll just turn over him for the presentation in the hearing good evening um Matthew Hammer from Ellers uh financial adviser um for the school district I get to come before Jim tonight which is uncommon right normally normally Jim goes before me so he gets to listen to me tonight um but we're going to have the district's uh um uh annual truths and Taxation hearing um we'll cover some information about school funding along with that the district's budget um and then cover some information about how taxes are looking for property owners among the district here for Taxas payable 25 um and I'll I'll just say a little bit we do have an increase in the levy but we'll talk a little bit about that doesn't necessarily mean an increase for the local property owner um because of uh some of the Dynamics that happen with uh how school taxes work in Minnesota so we'll get to that at the end here um annually districts or all municipalities have to have a hearing um that hearing uh is conducted um has to be done between November 25th and December 30th um this year uh and it has to happen at 6m or later at a meeting and it must offer public comment um as part of that hearing District the school districts are required to talk about their current year budget fiscal 25 year uh budget and then changes that are happening as part of the local Levy so um we're going to touch basee on that along with um some information about uh school funding um and some of the things that we're seeing um in in that regard um and some Trends um not only with uh some of the key things that have happened at the legislative level um but a topic that's always kind of important to discuss and and special ed and and what we're seeing with uh that from a funding for how it's impacting School across the state um so the legislator uh as part of the Constitution establishes that there must be a uniform system for public education um and as part of that the legislature is um is tasked with making uh Provisions in taxation otherwise to to make sure that there's an efficient system for the public schools throughout the state and what does that mean um that means that the system is highly regulated right um so there's for formulas that are determined by the state um most of those formulas as as you're aware are driven by per student fund or per student so your students drive your funding um it's not driven by your tax base um like other municipalities for a school it's driven by what your student enrollment is doing um tax policy is also set uh that's uh regulated as well there's maximum levies that school districts are authorized to uh establish but for the most part those are established by the legislature um um annually through laws and then the department figures out those maximum levies on an annual basis and then um school districts are Al authorized to ask voters to um submit referendums um to increase revenues either for operations or for buildings um through capital projects and um we'll see how that impact is having some impact on your budget for 25 because the voters support that happened in 23 is um that first year Revenue now now is flowing through in your fiscal 25 budget uh so the basic education formula this is the formula that uh when the legislature talks about increases uh this is a graph uh that we produce on an on an annual basis and it shows what the basic education formula has done over the last two decades um and it does this uh the Bottom bar represents what's happened with that fun funding over that time um the legislative session um last in 23 um authorized a 4% increase in year one and a 2% increase in year two and the top bar represents inflation and you'll notice that bar now is widening um and everybody knows if you go to the grocery store right and you're um purchasing your food um that cost is going up so over that time the last two years we've seen uh north of six % inflation um and District's budgets are going up uh by about four and two um based on that formula increase uh the other uh thing that was a important uh Improvement that happened during the last slight of stage session was improvements to the special ed cross subsidy uh and um in fiscal 23 that cross subsidy that underfunding um that was impacting general fund budgets across the state accounted for about 7 $26 million of underfunded special ed cost for school districts that Improvement is uh important for schools but the the forecasted underfunding is still about 455 million in fiscal 27 so it's still having a big impact uh to uh District's budgets across the state um when we think of a a school budget most uh those budgets are established into several funds um and Jim will touch on that this when you see the audit here later but uh the the district's overall budget for fiscal 25's uh about 74.2 million in revenues about $ 71.4 million in overall expenditures and a big portion of that is made up in your general fund that's your largest fund about on 88% of the district's uh Revenue flows through the general fund and then there's the other n non- major funds including Food Service community service building construction The Debt Service where the district's uh Bond payments are and then the opep trust uh most of your funding is going to flow through the state uh about not quite 80% of your uh general education uh revenue is comes through state aid uh about 52.1 million uh the federal funding makes up about not quite 4% the local Levy albeit a very important portion right is about 16 and a half% of your overall funding and then there's a very small portion of other that that's established there so the overall District's Revenue budget for the general fund is about 65.5 million for a fiscal 25 your overall expenditures are estimated about 63.1 um million for fiscal 25 uh school districts are people business so about 70% of that funding is going to go towards uh salaries and benefits and then the other categories are listed there uh when we look at it from a program perspective you can kind of see that break break down um a large portion of your funding sitting in the classroom which is always uh an important um um piece that we always like to point out that most your funding is hitting kids when we look at uh changes in tax levies we always like to point out that a change or an increase in a tax levy doesn't necessarily mean a change in a District's overall budget um and we'll see how that's playing out in some of the formulas uh um it's refer ref to as Equalization but the way schools are funded a portion of your funding comes through local tax levy and a portion comes through state aid um and those formulas um with the growth in the tax base or the cess values that have happening across the state have have not kept up and those uh those formulas haven't been adjusted for the large assessment changes that have happened so a larger portion of funding is coming through District's local levies and that's a Statewide Dynamic and and we'll see how that's playing out a little bit in your Levy when we look at the taxes payable 25 Levy uh your budget uh was adopted for 25 back in June and um we'll talk a little bit about tax year 25 is going to be revenue for the district in fiscal 26 so right now the district has established estimates for enrollment um for next fiscal year and that's uh how the levy is determined um and then those levies are going to be adjusted through future adjustments which is always something that happens as part of the levy process as those numbers are refined um to actual numbers after the fiscal year is over this differs from a city or county that their budgets are driven um by calendar year and they're establishing their budgets that align up with the the tax year so there's a little bit more Precision when you when you think about a city or county as they're establishing their budgets and their Levy uh the School uh prop or the tax statement um looks like this property owners would have received their tax statement here in November and uh we always like to point out there's uh numerous sections in that tax levy and the School portion of it is in the middle there we're the one jurisdiction that gets two lines um we get a voter approved line and another tax line um but uh we only make up a portion of that overall Levy so it's important to as you look at your overall Levy there's lots of components for other jurisdictions on there as well so each school district has limited Authority um those are calculated uh by state law and then there's also voter approved levies that play an important role to what your overall Levy is for a school district and that's going to um make your Levy look different from school district to school district uh there's numerous steps in this process and I think the important piece here is that uh there's there's a lot of things that happen before we get to the school board setting that Levy each year um the county assessed the values the legislature sets the formulas the county otter spreads the taxes or uh determines the tax capacities that are going to be used to spread the taxes the department sets those Levy limits when they uh produce the district's uh Levy reports uh the school board then uh sets those levies um as part of the process in step five and then the finally the county auditor takes those levies here uh after the board certifies them and and sets those fi final tax rates to spread taxes next spring and this gives you that breakdown uh the Department's required to produce those reports each year by September around September 8th uh the School District certified that Levy back in on September 24th um which by law you're required to set that proposed Levy um by September 30th each year property owners receive those statements then in November and uh we're having the hearing tonight and then uh following the hearing the school board will actually set that Levy and then the county will spread those taxes based on this Levy tonight here in next March so the district's overall Levy uh is increasing by about 3.8% from a dollar perspective about $540,000 uh we're going to touch a little bit this gives you a breakdown of all those Levy C categories um I don't know if Brian showed you but probably H uh hasn't but this uh comes out into about a 40-page document in size four font um that gets produced and we're breaking it down into the major categories here um breaking it down by the funds that are established as part of that Levy but overall the district's Levy is going up about $540,000 from a dollar perspective um when we look at the breakdown of the major uh areas of change uh the district's voter approved Levy that was authorized back in 23 had an inflationary Factor established with that um so there's a a portion of the levy now that's uh getting increased right based on that voter approved Authority um and then enrollment estimates are a little bit higher than what was used in 24 so that's accounting for about $180,000 increase in that component of the levy which can be used to fund any general operating cost of the district uh another Levy that is changing and we're highlighting this one the local optional Revenue um this Revenue flows uh through a combination of local Levy and state aid um and as I pointed out uh those factors have been static um and they're Set static from based in in law right so as the district's tax base has grown over the last number of years or the assess values have grown over the last number of years the amount of state aid the district's receiving has been been decreasing um so uh a big portion of this Levy change is a result of uh lower state aid um not necessarily an increase to the district's budget the Lev is going up but the local share of the levy in um is going up and the amount of Aid the district's receiving is going down when we look at that impact uh each year uh a property owner is going to have a different impact depending on what your value change is and this is a simplistic way of looking at that um if you have the same value home if your value home it was valued at 100,000 for two property owners and we were just spreading taxes over two Property Owners they would pay the same about $250 a year if we look at those two properties and they changed in value 1 by 10% which is represented in the orange and 1 by 25% which is represented in the blue you can see the dynamic that goes on on an on an annual basis uh as levies are spread um that uh property owner on the top they they would pay actually less towards the levy and then the property owner with their value going up more would actually pay more towards the levy and this Dynamic goes on each year not only by uh what your property value does on a trend but also what different types of property are changing on an ongoing basis as well another thing that's changed in taxes payable 25 is there has been improvements to the um um our um homestead credit exclusion um and that uh program was improved which is a reflection of the assessed value change that's that's happened so there's recognition at the legislative level that property values have went up um and as part of that program they've they've changed that to uh make some improvement to offer more um relief for property owners uh that used to top out at about 5 434,000 now it's been increased all the way up to 517,000 and we've accounted for that in the estimates that you'll see as we move forward so as we look at uh the district's tax base we always like to or taxes estimates we always like to look at it in a couple ways one um initially is is if property values did not change at all right so if we look at a home value at 2115 250,000 you can see the estimated taxes that property would have paid over the last four years um taxes payable 23 to 24 reflects the change um from the referendum so that was the increase of five around $500 per student um in the operating referendum which is reflected there and now between 24 and 25 you can see we're we're seeing an actual decrease so even though the levy has went up about 3.8% the district taxes are actually estimated to go down um and there is a reason for it um uh Metro districts are part of a fisc the fiscal disparities program or or sharing tax sharing pool right and that's built on a one-year leg so uh as the district's referendum increased last year um the contribution for the pool this year which is coming on a leg the district's getting a larger contribution of that shared pool which is impacting the district's taxes and actually lowering them um so the district is receiving a larger share of the fiscal disparities pool this year so so good news right so the district's overall levies is going up but taxes are going down for property owners so you can see this Dynamic um a little bit here so this is a four-year Trend so on a residential home uh valued at 200 or 300,000 you can see that Trend um this is doesn't account for any valuation change over this period of time so if your property stayed the same value um over this period of time this is what you would have seen for taxes um so between 22 and 23 um you would have seen a decrease then the uh change that happened as a result of the operating referendum increase approved by voters and now we're seeing a decreasing in um between 24 and 25 you can see that this is a um that same information represented for a commercial property owner or a million-dollar apartment and then when we get to uh this slide this represents uh information in regards to what that change would look like if your property would have just changed on what the district's overall referend market value changed over that period of time um so you can see uh the tax base uh this represents a 20% change between 22 and 23 a 5% change between 23 and 24 and then the tax base being largely flat between 24 and 25 um so that overall property in two this year if it was valued at 200,000 this really represents that property would have been likely closer to value at about 160,000 back in 22 and you can see how taxes have changed over that [Music] time um we always like to point out uh uh property tax refund programs and deferrals uh these programs are largely underutilized we're P to told by the Department of Revenue so there's the homestead credit refund the special property tax refund and the senior citizen property tax deferral program so there's some information in regards to those programs and um people should check them out on an annual basis so with that that's uh the information we have in regards to the district's uh budget and tax levy for the truth and Taxation hearing um and we can offer up any public comment as part of the process great thank you um any questions from members of the board and from the public who is no longer here so Mary um thank you so much for the presentation I really appreciate it um at our prior meeting I had noted that while my my house increased in price um our tax uh responsibility in terms of the district did go down so um it was wonderful actually to see that in a graph math is not my strong suit uh so I appreciated the the breakdown so thank you very much for that um with regards to the state property tax refunds and deferral uh where do people um primarily like find that information is there um a particular website that they should go to to um to access these different programs or to see if they have the ability to access them yeah so those forms are filled out on an annual basis and they're located on the Minnesota Department of revenues website thank you um and they're required to be filled out in August each year on a one-year leg so okay thank you so much other questions Jessica um not so much a question but I just thank you for the comprehensive presentation I just wanted to note that I think that this is really helpful in explaining some of the pieces of this process that can seem very um very confusing on its face to property owners and and so I think to the community this is a really helpful Pres presentation to understand how um you know that increase in uh Levy doesn't necessarily mean an increase in budget what it means uh for uh why when we pass you know a 3.8 in perc increase in the level that doesn't just equate to a 3.8 increase in uh direct taxes to like every homeowner in the um in the district so I just really appreciate this breakdown and I'm I'm glad that this is available um to our community to be able to um better explain what is a very uh confusing thing to understand so thank you very much other comments or questions Julie I just have one comment um I think it's really helpful to understand what part is State kind of driven and what part is our our local community and I think this presentation it does that very well to kind of explain hey this is State requirement here here and then it impacts what we and that's why it goes up and down in our community is because what the state does so I think that's really helpful and hopefully um we get people reviewing this um presentation on online and we can because I think it's really well presented thank you you Laura oh um I I've been through a number of these and every time I'm just I'm like I understand it and I come go through and I go oh I forgotten about that you know and um the interaction so I I I really appreciate the format as well so this this was I think the without a doubt for me it was the easiest to follow that i' that I've experienced yet so I really do appreciate that awesome anything else well thank you very much we will talk about the levy again in just a little bit sounds great great thank thank you yes y Dr Henkin you get to hang out with us a little bit more and we will have our audit um with um Jim from mmkr as well yeah hold on one second uh thank you chair Mueller members of the board and superintendent stenvik um this evening uh we have uh our preliminary audit uh for fiscal year 24 and I have with me Jim nikton from mmkr our auditing our independent auditing firm and uh we have our uh preliminary draft management report that Jim's going to go through and and I'm just going to turn it over to him and and let him uh drive from here all right there we go again my name is Jim mikon with mmkr CPAs I'm the auditor for the district I think this is my second year of being here um and uh I'm glad I'm here I I was going to be a little late and I got out of my last meeting very quickly as you as as you noted um so I'm glad to here on a timely basis um so and yes I am after you very nice presentation um so uh kind of just uh the goal of this presentation is to go through the audit results for the year end June 30th 2024 uh it is uh known that we are uh in a preliminary draft stage U we did Issue preliminary drafts um last week and they are being reviewed uh both by your team as well as my quality control team at my office and we anticipate you know um in the next few days or weeks maybe a week completing the process and issuing the reports um uh just here we go so it is a a requirement in uh state law that the district prepare an annual Financial uh report you do take it uh to a new a level beyond the standard of financial report and complete what's called an annual comprehensive financial report that particular report is is looking now give you a sense for it it's about 115 118 pages long so it's very uh comprehensive it it is submitted for certificate of achievement in financial reporting which is an exceptional program for your financial report uh that you receive on an annual basis that particular financial report is required to be audited by a certified public accountant which is my role with the district uh we take responsibility in that audit as you can see in the management report you know for uh um the various audit standards including uh those that are Guided by the office of the state auditor in the state of Minnesota the Minnesota Department of Education as well as the federal uh guidance that is provided uh under uniform guidance um so we do complete the process um I'll just uh stay as I move along here um I am required to report you know kind of give you some sort of sens as to the how the audit went um you know the audit timing was a little bit delayed um just from the sense of of change in personnel which most of I'm sure you're aware of so we pushed back the timing of the audit just a bit so that we this District could get up to speed and uh thankfully gratefully um you know we're here tonight and issuing this on a timely basis which is a credit to all of those people who were involved in the audit process um we didn't really uh change the what I would call the scope of the audit I'm required to communicate that to you if I were to change something along the way we anticipate certain Auto process as we go in uh and if we change that process due to some condition or something that would occur we would report that which we did not um that did not happen so as part of the audit process we issue a series of audit opinions uh the first one is on that financial statement I mentioned we weren't able to issue a unmodified opinion or will be issuing I guess you can say um which is a clean opinion is is the opinion you were looking for uh is a positive you know result of the audit um we do audit your internal controls as it relate specifically to financial reporting um you know as part of that particular process we issue a finding if you will I'll call it I'll call it more of a reportable item it's technically a finding but we go under the under this audit with the understanding that you have limited segregation of Duties in your internal controls it's really a function of the size of your organization the size of your Finance staff and less to do you know with a limitation you know in structure so as part of our a of process we look for other things to overcome that particular limitation um those things what we would I would describe as compensating controls other the other controls that you're putting in place to overcome that I guess you could say limited segregation of Duties you know things that Brian does things that the superintendent might do on an annual basis other uh departments looking over and in processing data school boards involved in the proc process um are all part of a a control system and so we issue a finding in that vein but we really don't have any recommendation for change it it is a result of your size and and really those compensa controls are sufficient uh to um have no concern on my end with that particular item so moving on you know I didn't have have any items or other findings to report into internal controls we audit your uh um compliance with various laws and regulations uh specifically to both state rules local grants as well as federal laws uh we did not have any findings to report um um I I did mention uh that we audit the federal awards that you receive um anytime a district gets more than $750,000 of federal Awards it triggers what's called a single audit of federal Awards um that's pretty standard for a school district um we reported that your schedule of federal Awards was appropriate and and uh did not have any findings there uh we did audit uh two major programs this year specifically the uh Food Service program and the educational stabilization funds um uh and did not have any uh findings to report uh continuing on in my opinions we did have one finding specifically related to the district's internal controls in the federal program area and on top of that within the child nut ntion cluster that's really just your food service program overall um so the finding we have here relates to what uh the uniform guidance Federal uniform guidance described as suspension and dearment uh you are required in every Federal grant not just this one but everyone uh to to um determine if any of your vendors are being suspended or debarred by the federal government uh the federal government keeps an active list that you are required to to test and to make sure that you're not Contracting with those vendors that are disbarred if you will um as part of our testing we noted some limitations in that control uh we noted that in the Child Nutrition CR cluster it it was not happening um they were not testing for that um particular element uh so we here you can see we issued a finding specifically related to that that that should be happening and that's a limitation of internal control what's important to understand as a board though is that we didn't find any indications of non-compliance what that means in a layman's term is you did not contract with people that were suspended or Demar you just weren't checking um so we did there are two very distinct elements of that finding that is that it should be noted um this is a controlled deficiency and not a compliance exception so uh and then lastly we had reported that you did not have any findings in in our ATT testing of Minnesota legal compliance for laws and regulations again it's important to understand we don't test every Minnesota law just the ones that the office of the state auditor gives us to test but that being said we didn't have any findings to report so overall I find the uh findings in in particular um uh to be uh limited to the one item which is I won't say common but it's a a finding that happens quite a bit it's a rule that um you know we see findings out a lot and doesn't provide uh over overly concern um on that particular item as I talk so what we'll be looking for from a board certainly uh uh as a board you should be looking for on the in any sort of finding is really what is the corrective action um audits come with findings so we try to focus on the corrective action what's going to happen there is a written corrective action plan that will be issued and submitted to the Department of Education as well as the federal government in terms of what you're doing to correct that particular item I believe actions already been taken based on um you know our exit conference that we had the other day so um look for that in your materials um continuing on in my report we do do have what I what we classify as general comments and recommendations these particular items did not raise to the level of a finding they were comments and recommendations that areas that needed Improvement um first one really is you are required to have written uh procedures within your uniform guidance your federal award programs uh uh that particular um policy uh in our view was adequate to eliminate or to avoid a finding but there were some improvements that needed to be made both with the current policy but given also that uniform guidance has changed in October of this past year or 2024 actually uh that particular policy will also be need to be updated for the new rules um so we make a recommendation and we have provided to Brian and his team very specific um guidance on where we found limitations within that policy um so uh look for that recommendation I think you said January that's what I heard the other day that it'll be forthcoming uh to you we also had one one item that that stood out during our testing Rel related to payroll um during our testing we do a number of samples you know specifically to payroll transaction we did notice one uh one particular transaction uh where a W4 was submitted uh uh to update withholdings both federal and state withholdings for an employee and that particular payroll didn't change as a result of the submission of the W4 um we do some additional testing when we see that type of thing we expand our samples if you will um to make sure you know it's not pervasive is the best way to put it um and we found this to be an isolated incident um uh that being said it is being investigated or looked into by by staff and what was the particular circumstance here that caused that and and certainly corrective action is being acted upon in that particular with that particular item so I'm going to move forward to this particular area I did mention that audits come with findings um and last year we did have findings and it's important to note probably most important to note that those findings were eliminated um the corrective actions that were put in place as we discussed last year eliminated both the financial statement finding as well as the federal internal control finding for um reporting and tracking of of federal capital Assets in this case uh so that's that's excellent um um news as part of this audit process continuing on um I'm going to push forward to what I first believe would describe as the financial results um I'm going to start right here um so the first part of any audit really is the compliance the district's doing an exceptional job in that area having the one finding and no other uh reports as well as clearing um prior year findings um the second part really is the financial results uh this particular graph starts in my management reports really starting with Statewide information um the state of Minnesota as well as the district is utilizing a percentage to help manage your organization that particular percentage is uh fund balance your Equity position as a as a uh percentage of operating expenses um this particular graph um shows the Statewide fund balances as a percentage of expenditures meaning we added up everybody every fund balance in the whole entire State and added them together and put together a 10-year graph this is wiely known information utilized by the Department of Education I need to make it very clear that these are not not District numbers these are excuse me uh these are not the district percentages you're used to seeing in your fund balance policy I said that better I did say that better this is the percentage that MD uses um uh so these numbers aren't the same they're using the same math but they're using different calculations so that's important to understand that being said so what the graph is telling you is overall Statewide fund balances uh um are starting to come down after an increase during the pandemic the pandemic caused fund balances actually globally to increase because of change in really how the schools were operating and since that time you can see that the fund balances have started to go down really the result of some of the the federal money that came to districts on a one-time basis is starting to dwindle so you're seeing districts having to use that fund balance to to um to fund their operations the the blue uh is the Columbia High School District's uh uh fund balance percentage using the Statewide calculation and you can see that over after um you know was that three years of of declines from 2019 to 2022 you've seen an uptick an increase in 2023 and a and a a significant increase in 2024 and I'll get to some of the specifics around that but most of that has to do with enrollment improvements uh it has to do with some of the budget cuts that took place in the past um uh as well as the referendum that was P um uh we talked a little bit about this at the meeting when we were talking about it and typically you see uh an uptick like this when you have a referendum uh pass uh referendums um typically uh cause it a fund balance but referendums last only last so long so you want to have that referendum balance over a multiple years um um and so having a fund balance increase like this is is a positive for the district and and should last for some time as we move forward yeah so I'll I'll continue on and show you some of the individual data later in my presentation so this particular graph is on the next page showing uh a governmental funds revenues on a per student basis what this is is taking all funds including um uh Food Service community service debt service and comparing that to the adms the student counts um so uh what it says to you is in 20124 the district generated $1,423 per student um 16606 in the general fund um so when you look at that graph you you can you can see a few things you can certainly see the property taxes uh increasing in 2024 due to that referendum you can see State AIDS increasing uh significantly uh part of that is the increase in the formula allowance part of that is increase in the number of students that you had uh other categorical improvements that that came from the state um uh stands out in that particular number as well you can also see the decline in federal dollars uh that stands out probably mostly on that particular graph you can see uh last year you had $1,800 per student and this year was 700 um I would assume that's going to continue to go down maybe not quite that dramatic but um you can see that other things that stand out uh you can see the Food Service fund if you if you all remember the state of Minnesota is funding free a free meal program you can see that particular Revenue coming through on that graph uh you had some changes in Grant uh funding in the community service program um and that is also shown there on that particular U showing a decline in that program so I'm going to move then to the expenditure side of the equation so this is um expenditure using the same uh data points um showing general fund excuse me governmental fund expenditures per student you're spending $1 17,8 per student which is actually lower um than the previous year but most of that has to do with the increase in the actual student uh population uh you can see on that particular graph when I look at it that the one number that stands out is mainly Capital um Capital can fluctuate year after after year between years just based purely on projects um projects come and go depending on each Year's budgetary um availability uh so overall you can see that the general fund um increased its spending um by uh what's that about $200 most of that is in the uh the classroom if you will in regular instruction as well as special education continues to be area of growth um so overall expenditures that are are on that graph look very good so here's the this is we get into the specific Financial Trends now what did I do of uh of your District this is the general funds financial position over the 10-year period you can see here that uh uh in 2024 the overall fund balance um increased going pull out some notes real quick um the overall total fund balance the general fund increased 4.8 million in 2024 and that compared to an increase in your budget of about 2.6 so uh due to a combination of higher than expected uh revenues and lower than expected expenditures you have a uh uh fund balance increase that is above what you expected uh I'll just say this as an auditor I love that result higher than expected revenues lower than expected expenditures if I could say that every time at a school board meeting we'd all be really happy uh um so the financial results are certainly are you know are very good um we do uh on this let's go to this page we do have very specific information on the uh components of the fund balance um the restricted fund balances did go up based on legislation there's some based on spending of legislatively restricted dollars uh the district also uh had some amounts that are assigned probably for the first time in a while um uh assignment fund ballots are really internal assignments priorities that the district has that um you're going to utilize some of the fund ballots for particular programming programmatic areas and you can see that those total about 1.5 million this past year uh so the unassigned amount at the end of the year is 5.3 million which is represented in a percentage which is now your percentage being clear uh at end of the year at 99.4% um and what does that mean so you can well first of all you can see the percentages in that graph over the last uh 5 years ranging anywhere from 5.5 to to the low point of 2.6 but on this page you can see I do point out that the district does have a fund balance policy uh is my understanding that well that that particular F fund balance was vetted and changed this particular school year um and you could read it read it there it it it uh states that the school board will strive to maintain an unassigned general fund balance of between 10 and 18% I also believe that there's a goals that are uh in front of the board that uh move towards the higher number over was it three years if I remember right um and so you're at a 9.4 level which is actually just below the low end but given the improvements for the year I think it's an exceptional jump towards something very positive uh in that regard um so this is a policy that as a board should be hyperfocused for you uh if you're going to focus on one number that came out of this audit it should be that one um if you if you're looking at Direction and you're concerned about the district or at least what how should I make financial decisions if you could see that number and look at it every time and go yep we're headed in the right direction or if we're not within that realm we should be considering well what's next so that's a certainly a very very positive item continuing on I won't I'm not going to address this one but this one's probably the best one ever but um well this is a school this is an ADM graph and I wasn't going to address it but really this shows some very positive Trends in the school student population you can see this is a percentage change in in students served um and you can see after 2020 in 2021 declines uh you're seeing some significant improvements in overall trend student which is super great for the district um other graphs that I wanted to point out this is really in the general fund Revenue area the reason I put this up is not to get into too much detail um on on on the aspects of it but I do want to point out um one thing uh general fund revenues were um about 590,000 you know over the final budget um which given a 61 million doll operation uh that's pretty close um to be truthful you really can outline when you look at that particular um result that there's really one item that stands out and that's state aid specifically related to the students that you had you you end up having more students have projected which is really the point of or where that's coming from which to me is exceptional work on the part of the District staff um as an auditor I come to you and I I I need to assert to you that your budget um is can be relied upon to make good decisions I'm here six months after the fact and you've made a lot of decisions uh since this year end and you need to know that the audit is going to hold true at the end of the day if it if I come here and throw out all the new numbers it's disconcerning to board members so my I'm asserting to you that the numbers are holding true in this audit and and are good to make decisions going forward and that's really a very very important statement on the expense side um you can see here that you weren't maybe as close as you would have hoped um not that it's negative U um but you were about $1.5 million under budget for the year um and down here it St states that mostly that was in salaries and benefits of 1.4 million so almost all of it if not identical almost all of it and most of that was due to unfilled positions in the district um I I this is probably my six seventh presentation this year doing Audits and that statement has been said every time every time unfilled positions unfilled positions that is a challenging environment to work in as a school to know that you can't fill the positions I.E third grade as you were talking about earlier that's challenging right um it's happening everywhere so the fact that you're under budget hard it's hard to deal with that's just the fact that's inherently what you're dealing with so continuing on you have two other funds there's more than two but these two Stand Out The Food Service fund uh increased its overall fund balance um by 418,000 uh this particular fund was supported by additional State monies as I mentioned earlier most districts are seeing an increase in fund balance as a result of that particular uh um fund balance um or funding increase uh we did discuss that this particular fund has a fund balance of of 1.6 million which is getting real close to a limitation that the state has in terms of fund balance um there's some actions taking place on the part of the staff to to make sure that that doesn't get exceeded and those funds are utilized it's a good problem to have but it is something that you should be aware of uh in the community service fund you can see there that that uh that particular fund is is is almost below zero um there again is some unfunded mandates in that particular fund that um um is not out of your control that's really leading to some of those declines but uh there again there's some actions that are forthcoming in terms of what you're doing to to eliminate that concern or that low fund balance um lastly I wanted to point out um uh that was about it uh you did have some other funds um you know you have Capital funds debt funds internal service fund and opep trust fund at the end of the year has about $5 million um in this particular year I think the interest earnings are exceeding the actual payouts so it did actually increase if I remember right so I think that's the end of my presentation so summarizing uh My overall Financial or overall audit results um we were able to issue a a uh clean opinion on your financial statements we did not have any findings other than the one suspension in dear Department finding there is a corrective action plan that's in front of you or will be uh if isn't already uh on correcting that particular situation your overall financial position is improving uh general fund balance went up almost to the level of that fund balance policy that you have which is super great in terms of trend lines uh uh overall budget to actuals were uh um as expected U and very very close to budget which is really comforting uh uh and lastly we had a very smooth Auto process which um going into the year might have been a concern for both of us sitting at the table to be truthful uh so that's great news so I'll open it up for any questions that you might have for me great thank you so much any questions Julie thank you for this presentation um so our significant deficiency around segregation duties you said no recommendations could be had that would change your opinion on that being not just a control deficiency versus a significant deficiency is that correct correct yes okay so no monitoring controls will reduce the risk on those um you know we look for compensating controls in that area I mean to the question could be asked can we eliminate the finding right could you could you add some finding you you certainly could I mean that's possible um it would take more people and more resources so there's always a balance between you know better controls and and cost cost benefit analysis for sure for sure um but we didn't see any you know thing that would need to be changed if you will I just want to go from a significant deficiency to a control deficiency I see what you're saying that I'm trying to get down the level yeah um that's something to consider seriously I I valuate that no really um and then you mentioned that it's the processing of cash receipts when what 95% of our cash or money comes in electronically from the state or um how material is our cash receipts process when it comes to putting it in as an SD yeah um we you don't have a lot of cash cash right yeah that comes in and out of the district so um it's not real material in terms of real cash most of it's coming through um you know through electronic means through the state and County and those kind of things so I don't sure I'm answer I guess the question is from a materiality standpoint is that really an SD a significant deficiency correct I don't think so no because you've got it in there as an SD do yeah you're going to have to point it out so I think you should re-evaluate that from a materiality standpoint I'm just at you know maybe you know you go back and look at your numbers and see does that really rise to the level of an SD right um but I understand the the that from I understand the the um segregation duties problem um when you perform your audit do you do a fraud risk assessment or do you have management due one where they identify scenarios per process and then determine risk of you know breakage basically well we definitely do a fraud assessment um that's required on our end to do a fraud risk assessment um you know as part of our audit uh we do a number of interview use along the way to evaluate the risk if there is any risk or fraud or if there was any risk or fraud that occurred um as part of our problem process um will we take that evaluation and build it into our audit program for sure okay um and then when it comes to that W4 issue um so you mentioned that you expanded your sample and didn't find any others so you only had a one off um situation so that that's good so we don't have a pervasive systemic problem there um one of the questions I had was related to um gasby guidance has changed how we um record assets from a from Individual to grouping um we did a restatement to the prior year can you explain does that impact that for if we go to that page where we have our fun fund balance does that reclass from last year back to the balance sheet increase our fund balance from last year or no am I not understanding that yeah no so the the what you're State what she stating there is um there was a new government accounting standard guidance on group Capital assets meaning um the best way to describe it the best example I have for it is um let's say you went out and bought a hole u a whole room full of chairs and each chair is uh below any sort of capitalization threshold that you have a capitalization policy um so in the past guidance would say don't record those as capital assets they just to be expensed if you will under the new standard they say well you bought a 100 chairs and collectively they're over your threshold so now you have to record all the chairs is the best simplest way to put it um so uh on the financial statement that's an entity-wide uh entry it doesn't affect the fund-based entries um uh in governmental accounting it's just an entity-wide financial statement item okay so uh in in the financials we report that entity wide but not in the funds so you wouldn't see it in any for sort of fund data okay so the fund balance doesn't go up when you when you reclassify it from a expense right right now now you're going to book it as an asset somewhere yep and so the fund balance doesn't change it doesn't affect PR it does not oh okay I'll have to understand that a little bit better I can show you sometime well yeah I would love to but um professionally one day yes um no I just wanted to understand that because we had that 4.4 as our fund balance percentage in the previous year and I thought if we reclassed a half a million dollars does that number change it does not that is all the questions I have so it's a great questions jie thank you for your leadership and experience on that I appreciate that thank you other questions remember that um yeah I was going to say that too like um I think a lot of times over the years when we talk about uh Roofing and those things our our heads all go to you and it's really helpful during these audit conversations like I notice I'm looking towards you to see like okay so I know you are going to understand this a whole lot better than I will so I appreciate your questions um the questions I had I was just going to say um I really appreciate your presentation um I was writing down questions as you were going and then you would answer them so I don't have any questions anymore um but I think it's it is largely due to not only Julie's um leadership on that but also uh your fantastic presentation uh really I as somebody who is not a math person I do really appreciate um making this as accessible as you have uh cuz I feel like this is one of the ones where I have understood a lot more and a lot better and to see those graphs is particularly helpful except for the 18% one because I know that that is not true um 9.4 yep 9.4 and and I do really appreciate you saying you know yes these are these there are a couple things that are concerns however they're not not major areas of concerns where you think we you know are are doing anything or we need to do massively different things and I think it speaks volumes to our our school staff um and our directors especially as we look around and see superintendents that are resigning in other areas or other massive um deficits in area school districts um and so to to to get the um the approval and the and the report from you saying yep you guys are doing a really good job I think especially in this environment is important so uh thank you for all of those things and thank you to our staff yeah thank you director henkins to you and your team um we're we're small But Mighty and you're very small and very Mighty in your yeah Department your department you are Department you're massive with your like that f with your Finance scheme your fining meeting way to go out lauan you do a lot yes um you wear many hats this is this is one of them and to have this audit um with the challenges that we've had in the past and um you know the cuts that we've had to make and the changes and you know how things are allocated and all the things that we've done to be you know we recently just changed our fund balance policy to have you know the low end to be 10% and we've you know given ourselves three years to get there um and we're we're approaching um I think that comes on your your financial management and as Mary said there's other districts that are really facing some challenges and I think hearing from our independent auditor that we can count on these numbers um is a testament to what you and your team are doing so thank you for that uh thank you um we definitely have a very strong team in the finance department and uh incredibly fortunate to have Kate wesper come in on board um as our deputy director of finance and and really lead the team through the audit so um it uh it makes a big difference to have have a very solid team uh moving forward thank you any other questions or comments Jessica um thank you for the presentation I really appreciate um all the context that was provided on all of these pieces because I think um we work towards uh the best financial position we can be in um but they're all kind of like parts of our universe right so it's like what are what are we doing with the levy and how does that affect us what do our funds look like what what is our fund balance policy and so just to have it come together and to have that explanation is really helpful um I do want to note though just the language in the draft report around minimum fund balancy um does imply that we are we were below our fund balance policy um which I mean you provided the context there but I I did just go back and look and we officially approved our new fund balance range on June 18th of 2024 is when that went into effect so I just I just wanted to note that that um if if you were just to you know read that part about the fund balance policy um it appears that we're we're under that that um but as uh chair Mueller had had mentioned we did also um in the policy note that that new Range was going into effect in 2425 and that we were trying to get to the the low end of that range by 2027 so um I I know we talked about the nuances around that in this conversation but I did just want to note that because when you when you first read that section you know it says we're we're going to take action as a board by our policy to to to get to that range and I think um as we've stated we're we're approaching that range already a couple years ahead of schedule so I I wouldn't want anyone to have the idea that we need to take drastic action as a board um in the immediate term in order to to kind of meet that new range that we've established in policy so that's all I wanted to say thank you thank you Laura I just have I just I compliments on getting that fund that um uh fund balance um raised up um is that this is really going to help so we don't have to do any cash flow borrowing I really I really don't like paying the interest on that it feels like a a um a very painful point in time when we were doing cash flow borrowing yes um and the levy increase enrollment and the thing changes we made um you know put us in this position and and yeah uh we're sitting in uh a healthy spot uh moving forward and um we'll see what happens at the legisl legislature uh in this legislative session which is going to direct us the next two years of funding so um which is you know a high concern so um you know can't say it enough please contact our representatives and and Advocate um for things so uh because yes we could be we're in a great place uh today can be changed tomorrow real fast yeah I'm always a mixed feelings about do I want them to do something or do nothing you know sometimes nothing is easier so um uh yeah a couple of years back when we had to borrow because it was like a five day between when we had to pay something and when we had the got the cash that was painful you know I mean even though it wasn't a ton of money it was still money that could be better spent you know way better spent so I appreciate that especially the hard work and this was actually very easy to follow so I appreciate all the work you put into this and Julie thank you for asking all those questions that I had not a clue about I didn't know to ask them so I appreciate that super I just wanted to note um based on a comment that we have uh secured two of our three local elected officials for our January 28th meeting oh fantastic so I'm working on the third one any other questions or comments thank you so much for your Pres your time today thank you for taking the time thank you thank you don't leave director henkins brush my legs don't go got two more all right we will go uh move on now to our action items our first action item is the 2024 payable 2025 Levy thank you chair Mueller members of the board and superintendent stenvik um you heard our truth and Taxation hearing earlier um which this uh Levy was presented within um I did attach additionally within uh your board packet the breakdown of Levy which um you saw in that presentation so in each year we must certify the school um Levy in December um we did that tax hearing and so uh this evening um seeking approval or to certify the levy for pay2 2 thank you can I get a motion to certify the 2024 payable 2025 Levy as presented so move Michelle second second by Julie any discussion just a quick question um the entire L this is available on our website yes okay thank you any other discussion right here now proceed to vote all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed abstain motion carries thank you um next we have our Columbia Academy roof bid thank you chair Mueller members of the board and superintendent senic um we had a couple different presentations uh one before we posted for ad and and one as an information item for upcoming Columbia Academy rof project um so November 7th uh we opened up bids um after board approval to post um and we presented information at November 26 regular meeting and as presented in the previous meeting we're seeking approval to move forward with gar company's recommendation of the lowest responsible bidder and that is M Philip Brothers ruffing um who just completed a rough at Highland Elementary for us this past summer um so this project will be uh completed in the summer of 2025 and funded through uh mainly long-term facility maintenance dollars thank you um can I please have a motion to award the bid to MC Phillips Brothers Roofing for the Columbia Academy roof project for sections A1 A2 and A3 move Jessica and a second second second by Julie any discussion um I'm just looking at the thing and maybe I missed it and I'm sorry as I was writing things down but it said um in what the cover in our board book it says seing approval to move forward with the garland company and then underneath it says the Garland company's recommendation recommendation got it okay I just wanted to double check um okay thank you great thank you any other discussion um I have oh go ahead I was just going to say this is your last roof bed you must say something I know um is this within our budget thank you um and one comment for me is I'll be abstaining from this bid due to or this um motion um due to a professional relationship I have with one or more of the biders um any other discussion right hearing on proceed to vote all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed abstain I abstain motion passes thank you um next we have our resolution to combine precincts for special elections thank you um members of the board chair um chair Mueller and superintendent stck I'm here tonight um see um the resolution to combine resins for the special election thank you so we have before us a a motion to combine precincts for the special election um this is an annual um item that we do that if there is a need for a special election we combine our polling places in order to reduce expenses um this is a little bit different um this year than what we have done in the past um as we are um uh naming our polling places as the Highlander Center Gym um get the the schools portion of the gym um and having one uh one of the special precincts in one half and one of the special precincts in the other half that is um one the reason for that is so that we do not have general public in our secured school buildings um during the school day so it provides added safety um for our students and staff um on those special election days so um with that can I get a motion to approved um is this a resolution yes it is yes one moment please for my last meeting I will be reading you a resolution um resolution establishing combined polling places for multiple precincts and designated hours during which the polling places will remain superintendent will remain open for voting um for school district elections not held on the day of Statewide count or Municipal elections be it resolved by the school board of Independent School District number 13 state of Minnesota as follows pursuant to Minnesota statute section 205 A.1 the precincts and polling places for school district elections are those precincts or parts of precincts located within the boundaries of the school district which have been established by the cities or towns located in whole or in part within the school district the the board hereby confirms those precincts and polling places to be established by those municipalities pursuant to to statutes section 205 A.1 when no other election is being held in a school district the school board May designate combined polling places at which the voters in those precincts may vote in the school district election by December 31st of each year the school board must designate by resolution combined polling places the combined polling places designated in the resolution are the polling places for the following calend year unless A Change Is made one pursuant to section 24 204 b172 or two because a polling place has become unavailable four if the school board designated combined polling places pursuant to the subdivision polling places must be designated throughout the district taking into account both geographical distribution and population distribution a combined polling places place must be at a location designated for use as a polling place by county or municipality in the the school district that have or five in the in school district that have organized into separate board members elections District under section 205 a12 a combined polling place for School general election must be arranged so that it does not include more than one board member election District our combined polling place um is the independent school Independent School District 13 P1 Highlander gym uh Center door 41 um located at 1400 49th Avenue Northeast which would have the combined precincts of Columbia Heights precinct 1 Columbia Heights Precinct 2 Columbia Heights Precinct 7 Columbia Heights Precinct 8 Fridley um W Ward one Precinct 2 Fridley ward 3 Precinct 3 and hillt precinct 1 and the Independent School District 13 P2 Highlander Center door 41 um South gym uh located at 1400 49th Avenue Northeast which would have the combined precincts of Columbia Heights Precinct 3 Columbia Heights Precinct 4 Columbia Heights Precinct 5 Columbia Heights Precinct six and Fridley Ward 2 Precinct 3 pursuant to six pursuant to Minnesota statute section 2058 at09 the polling places will remain open for voting for school district elections between the SE hours of 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. 7 the clerk is directed to prepare a map illustrating the boundaries of each combined Precinct to post the map of the combined precincts in the administrative offices of the school district and to file copy of the map and a certified copy of this resolution with the county auditor of each County in which the school district is located in whole or in part eight as required by Minnesota statute section 204 B16 subdivision 1A the clerk is hereby authorized and directed to give written notice of new polling place locations to all registered voters in the school district whose School District polling place locations have been changed and the notice must be a non- affordable notice mailed at least 25 days before the date of the first election in to which it will apply thank you um so can I please get a motion to um approve that resolution a moved Jessica in a second second second by Michelle any discussion Mary so uh just one quick clarification when you were reading it off uh Fridley Ward one p Precinct 4 I think you said Precinct two um and so just okay for full yeah uh I get to do this one last time to you um and also uh just for clarity we at this time do not we are not planning a special election we do this every year and this is BEC just in case right so yes thank you thank you yep other discussion are we big on typos what's that are we big on typos yeah is there a typo there's just an S missing in the in school districts that have organized into separate board members number five Okay add that in it's just missing an S I just didn't know how pernicky we were about yeah it doesn't change the material of the resolution yeah thank you Michelle um one point I'd like to make is superintendent syic did reach out to the city um and informed them of the plan to use the Highlander um gym the schools portion of the Highlander gym um and they they had no comment so any other comments this is going to be really different if we have a special election you know but um obviously combining these uh these polling stations otherwise we would have to actually have people staffed at every one of those locations and the cost is extraordinary yeah so I'm glad we have this this so that we can combine and Pull It in although it is kind of interesting that they're basically going to be in the same building mhm you know so it's a shame we can't just do one because it's all going to be in the same place anyway but yeah is pursuant to State Statute you can't have only one poing place so any other discussion thank you Laura all right since it's a resolution we'll do a roll call vote Michelle do the role please yes granin I pway I Palmer hi madus hi po hi mu I resolution passes thank you um next we will move on to board topics are there any board topics yeah don't [Laughter] go thank you Jessica the Highland PTO is hosting a fundraiser on Thursday night at uh Noodles and Company and so uh the school receiv 25% of uh all of the orders between 4: and 8:00 p.m. um you can mention the fundraiser uh when you go to the restaurant or you can also put in the code giving 25 if you do an online or an app order and the money will go to help the school thanks great thank you any other any other others that was for you that's my gift for you thank you yeah all right hearing n we'll adjourn the meeting at 7:49