to the stands nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. [sighs] >> Thank you. And then we'll jump into the roll call. Clerk Anna, if you'd read the roll call, please. >> Uh, Miss Anna is here, Miss Jones >> here, >> Mr. Carop >> here, >> Miss Stark is not here, >> and Miss Yang >> here. Easy enough. Um, next up on the agenda would be approval of our agenda for our meeting. Um, do I have a motion to approve the agenda as written? >> So move. >> Motion by Jones. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by Anna. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> All those opposed. Motion passes. Uh, next up on our agenda, superintendent's report. So, I'll turn it over to Dr. Lewis for your report. Thank you so much, chair. Uh Lori and I are going to work through our finance update. As a reminder, we have the six SOD modules. Those are still available on our website, but we um have finished all six. So, thanks for your attentiveness to those modules as I know you heard them more than once. So, um much appreciated there. Lori, I'm wondering if you want to do the updates here on um the main pieces and then I if you don't mind, we'll do transportation and then the superintendent's financial report if that's okay. >> Sure. >> Okay. Do you want my computer? >> Um I can do this. >> Okay. >> All right. So, um at the last board meeting, you guys approved the cash flow borrowing the aid anticipation certificate. Um so we continue to work closely with Ellers and DAD Davidson on the issuance of those um bonds and they are going to be out on the market tomorrow and we are expected to get an authorization call um sometime midm morning to get that completed and then we are hoping and anticipating a close on September 3rd. >> Anything more you want to add? >> Perfect. >> All right. Uh the audit continues. Um we have Brady Hoffman working alongside with uh Janelle from the audit team. He is unraveling our uh salaries payable. Um lots of journal entries there. And then um working with Skyward on why our bank wreck isn't coming out the way we want it to. So, he has a meeting scheduled with Skyward uh later this week and then uh we'll get further updates from Janelle. We're also waiting on a couple items from their side. So, we're getting closer uh once the Skyward thing goes through and then um he Brady and Janelle will actually meet to come up with a final plan. Um we have been working side by side with MDE. Um, I feel like we're becoming fast friends with some of our team there. Um, uh, they've actually reached out a few times in helping us, uh, with some of the nuances of our EUARS and uploading that, which is new to myself. And, um, we're sharing updates from the audit. They're sharing updates from their side. And then we have um a joint meeting with them at the end of the month to kind of touch base again. And then we'll continue to have monthly meetings with them um the larger team. And then I will meet more often with uh a couple of the folks on the team. So that's that. And then um do you want to give the transportation update? >> Yeah, sounds good. Um, transportation continues to be a very challenging area for us. Last year, for example, we spent $8,166,3102. This year, we had initially thought that we had spent $18 million and there was a spreadsheet error that occurred um coming out of our finance team. So, that's been corrected. Um we are looking at 10,976,727.31. However, that is not um all-incclusive of um summerrise and potentially any uh invoices that still haven't come in. Here's the interesting piece that I actually um have been digging and digging and digging along with Relle and Lori. And these claims are so important. As you know, DIG dollars, while it's not an immediate reimbursement to the district, eventually that is mostly reimbursed over quite a repayment schedule, right? Mostly reimbursed. The formula calls for 100% reimbursement, but the formula is underfunded, so we don't get 100% reimbursement. [snorts] um we get reimbursement on special ed education transport um minus a 5% dock that was um put in by Governor Walls two years ago. And then our homeless and youth and transition is 100% reimbursement. However, um Governor Walls uh put in place that we had to do that $250 million special ed reduction in Minnesota. The interesting piece is that um there's something called um maintenance of effort, MOE. So under federal law and special education, you can never spend less the following year than you did the year before. So special education funding in Minnesota carries more than services rendered to students on an IEP, individualized education plan. One of those areas is homeless and youth and transportation. One of the proposals by the blue ribbon commission, and this is obviously on a statewide level, there's no good choices. There's no good choices. They can't touch anything with uh IEP services, right? Nothing that's special ed. So, there's discussion around reimbursing districts at 60% of homeless um and then the district pays for the 40%. So there are so many formulas that generate aid for us and we are down out of uh 10.9 million um expenditures were funded on 765,000 for the 26 27 school year. So we are working like crazy to get that funding up. Um, it has to do with not only our reporting and the coding, it also has to do with our EUARS um, system which Lori talked about and there's these complicated things with errors and all those things. One of the things that was discovered today and again when I talk about coding errors um, sometimes a coding error actually doesn't impact revenue and it doesn't impact cash flow. So what that could be is um item where you see uh achievement and integration aid not busing achievement and integration achievement and integration aid is over spent and basic skills revenue is sitting with like 4 million in it and achievement and integration is sitting with a negative 279,000. Well, what you can do is those allowable expenditures that go under basic skills revenue can then balance out achievement and integration. There's no revenue change there. There's no cash flow impact, right? It's just money that flows in to the district on a 23 a payment schedule. Transportation is a cash flow issue. It's a coding issue and it's um a reimbursement issue. Right? So what happens is until we get this right, we are not going to get the reimbursement that is owed to our district. there was a particular form that I'll talk about here [gasps] in my finance part uh not [clears throat] just the transportation um where that form alone generated $600,000 in um additional aid for us and what we discovered today is our this part wasn't discovered today but this last part that's why I literally said chair I have to send a text on this because we've been working on it our achievement and integration expenditures Our finance team is quoting them at 3.7 million. Our um CISO who manages our uh transportation both for the northwest suburban side and for the ISD14 side they are coming up with 2.2 2 million right [snorts] that's a huge number 1.5 million difference right and at about 4:30 I think today um I have a very specific example and I just this is going to lead into the next piece here so our one of our vendors is Halo and Halo is billing us on the dig transportation which is Northwest Suburban. CISO is also billing us on that. But when you look at the coding in the email done by CISO, it's attributing nothing to achievement and integration transportation. But yet the very bill generated by um let's use first student. first student is showing tens of thousands of dollars attributed to in achievement and integration to the Northwest Suburban. So now we have to fix what CISO is coding it versus on the very same invoice what first student is coding it. I'm going to pause there on the transportation and see if there's anything else before I jump into my soups finance report. I think you gave a great example of the transportation piece and I think it's about I I always say it's about we've got to fix the past but then also prepare for the future. So simultaneously we're looking up all these areas we're thinking about things we're constantly thinking about okay we're starting in July we've got not a lot of transportation August but September we're ready to go. So we actually are creating trackers where we're looking at every student in the system to see what is their flag. Um are they a student who receives special education services or a student who is um who receive a digg uh transportation and then we'll track that monthly for them. So it's about that. It's about looking at the invoices differently. So, um, I just appreciate, I think, your involvement and your involvement for us so we can make the system better moving forward. So, >> I'm not going to read to you my report here. Um, I guess my big takeaways here from this is we've been on a journey of forensic uncovery. And that sounds like a really odd term to use. In fact, MDE recommended that we get a forensic accountant. Little did they know, we already had a forensic accountant, right? And what happens that I have discovered humbly in this whole process is that professionals know their own lane, right? So, our financial advisor is saying one thing. MDE finance has their their viewpoint. Specialed MDE finance has their viewpoint. It has taken me relentlessly saying, "I know that number is not right. That number is not right. That number is not right." We got down to the bottom of tuition agreements for special education services. And tuition agreements are both setting three and setting four. Sometimes people think they're just setting four. We were coming in before catching the I'm going to call them coding errors because coding errors in the special ed system mean coding a child for a disability category and service level that is not the one that they have. So that's a coding error. But that also results in a much lower oftentimes reimbursement rate. >> So we went from just in the area of children that turn attend our district that are served in setting three and setting four that are not residents of our district. We were realizing $272,000 in aid and now we're at 1.9 million. MDE as they should have because this is what we were telling them. I didn't know we were telling them this, right? They loaded us on 7.62 million in aid for next year and I like that was a bad day. Real bad day. Um we're realizing 15.6 million. So, what we're doing is we're we're waiting and last Wednesday was an awful day. I thought that the aid payments would adjust for the 30th and they did and the team remembers what that was like for me. Um, but we're finding this and our reports are generating. But it's just like it's not one thing. It's not a double payment on a bond. It's just like literally getting down. Like last week I said to Relle, [snorts] "Do we really have one to one Paris?" As if I expect her to know this, right? I'm like, "Hey, do we have only one to one paris servicing only resident children in our district?" And they're coming up with, you know, 327,000 hours. And she's like, I'm going to have to check. And I'm like, why do you have to check? Why wouldn't you know that? Like in a joking way, right? Well, it comes out to there's six children served out of district. So that generates tuition, right? And so what's happening is all of these moving parts are coming around and we have to have our MEG system agree with Satra agree with youars. Did I miss any of these players? >> And then we have tracking then we have federal do draw down. So federal funds are encumbered by MDE on our behalf, but they're not included in our cash flow and they're not included in our accounts similar to a bond. So we have to draw that money down. But what it does is federal reimbures general fund expenditures. We didn't draw down in 2425. Well, what's going to happen if we didn't draw down? It's kind of a good way to get to SOD as well as not claiming the correct expenditures in transportation. Federal carries over so we're good. Federal is also carried in title one large amounts. Title two large amounts. So we are getting down to the level where we literally know it's six paras that are one to one. I'm sorry. Yeah, six parents that are onetoone that are associated with six out of district students in our district and it it doesn't matter for how much we love them. It matters for the billing, right? And then we know nine kids are resident students. So then that realizes different aid levels. So that's essentially the journey we're on. Um I am like these guys know MFR Minnesota funding reports went down last week and I almost lost it. remember like refresh refresh why is it broken try a different device [laughter] and so that is what's really going to tell us the 28th I'll know [snorts] really well um where we sit on that estimated pay I want to talk about something called the ADMW it's a um average uh daily uh membership average daily membership report um it's recommended especially districts with high mobility like ours that We're maybe updating that until like maybe October 15th, like from now till October 15th, like weekly. [snorts] I trace back. Fidley Public Schools has never submitted that in the past 5 years. And the individual that is now submitting it has worked in the district for 14 years and she never saw the form. So these are the items that I talk about. And with that came $3.1 million in genet aid adjustment. So this is the level that we're at. I talk a lot about how and I've talked with you all about how I need to be at the strategy level. And [sighs and gasps] last week vice chair said to me in such a good way because I said I'm not at the strategy level. I'm not. I'm not. And she said but I think you are. I think you're at the strategy level for what we need. So, this has been like forensic summer. Why didn't you laugh? Well, it's not funny. We've been through like a really rough moments, right? Um, but it's like the summer of the forensic undoing. And while we are still not there yet, I feel so good about 25 26. I literally just said to Lori, remember, we have until November 24th. Like, we can make those corrections. The federal, we can go back. our bonds we can go back. So while we have rebuilding team, this is years that we're uncovering here of things that impact cash flow, coding [snorts] errors that impact our um reimbursements. And honestly, [sighs] I have made and will continue to make personal adjustments on that because I cannot be sitting and charging myself and our assistant superintendent with tracing one-to-one para hours on who's a resident and non-resident district student because that takes away from other parts of our job. And if people in our organization are not willing and don't take this the the professional learning or the MDE training because we haven't been doing MDE training in years. If we don't take that then I'm not saying that you are not a good you know fiscal person. I'm just saying you can't work here. And what happens in school districts of our size is we borrow money, right? And now I feel like um I feel like we're at like a really bad bottom. What's that called? >> Yes. [laughter] Thank you. I feel like we're at rock bottom. But I think, you know, a very valued uh individual that I respect highly said to me, you know, your first year you took care of the violence, then you focused on the academics, then retro surge came and now you're getting to the bottom of the money. And I think that I can sit here and say with you today, I [snorts] think that we finally figured out all of the different pieces, but the problem is it took someone that instinctively can know things are wrong. Like I looked at Michelle, poor thing. It was a moment yesterday when I looked at her and she just said a number and I said, "That's wrong. That's factually wrong. Pull up the transportation report. That's factually wrong, Relle. I know that's wrong. And that's what I think ISD14 needed is someone that can just look at it and say that's wrong and relentlessly hold people accountable to fixing it. And um it's a I would say we still have a bit of road ahead of us, but I actually feel a lot better that I literally know now I go into Cedra, I check I know a child and I know a staff member over there, right? And I can just go in and check and spot check and spot check and spot check. And then I know that when our finance team is working on the EUAR's errors, I know every morning around 6:17 in the morning that's going to generate a report. And I know if they're not working on it, I don't get a report that morning for the next day. And I know that I'm like, this needs to happen, this needs to happen. So unfortunately, it took a forensic level and frankly a high degree of micromanagement and uncovering for us to get to the bottom of all of these problems. And I think when people think about coding, they think it's what I talked about. Oh, you just put it in the wrong part of your budget. Coding errors carry far deeper consequences than just the wrong area of the budget. I also want to be very honest. I have not had the bandwidth to even touch community ed and that's a whole another problem. That's a whole another area that I have to delve into. But right now the special ed, the transportation, which we have always known, I've always said it's special ed, it's transportation. So, I'm going to stop there. That was probably a lot more. Um, I'm not sure why I got emotional about the finances. I think we care and we we we we live in this every day and we want every penny maximized for our children and our staff and our families. It's just been it's been a really rough road. So team, anything I left out there board, I'm gonna stand for questions on this one before I move on. question. >> We're good. >> Okay, sounds good. Thanks for your grace on this. And we are going to be going to every presentation to tell superintendents what to look for in their budgets because there's no one out there that tells you. There's no one that says, "Oh, it's the ADMWE." Oh, God. Okay, great. And Michelle along with the other staff members submitted that at 9:38 p.m. last Monday night. I was literally in the McDonald's drive-thru because someone needed a chocolate sundae at 9:38 and she's like, "Okay, we submitted it, Brenda." And I knew instantly that was submitted. And I said to her, "Was this your first draft?" And she's like, "Nope." I said, "I bet you submitted that around 3:17 p.m. today." Cuz that's the level that I know cuz I get on those reports. So Lori has inherited a very rough situation that most people run away from. And we have our rough moments, right? We have our rough moments like all of us where we just like you just like you're so defeated, right? But then there's moments like Rochelle and Amy were going to put away the food tonight and I said, "Oh my god, Relle, I found the issue. I found the issue with the transportation and Lori was coming out at the golf carts and I'm like look at look at look it look at." So now we're rebuilding that tomorrow. So it's all these pieces. I will say that unfortunately or fortunately most of the staff responsible for these errors year after year are no longer employed with us and our consulting firm cause a lot of this a lot of these problems and what I learned the really hard way is they don't actually come in and fix your problems they don't and it just took us to get to that level so thanks [snorts] for the journey that we've all been on there. So with that, Dr. Cochran, that's a weird transition for you. [laughter] I'm so sorry. A little lighter topic. >> A lot lighter topic really. So over to >> Is this your third board meeting on calendar? >> It is. Except >> we are going to talk about a future calendar, not the last two times I've been here where we've been talking about some of the errors that we had in our calendar. Um so we our calendar committee has been meeting and um has drafted the 2728 school year calendar. You can um click on the link. Um our calendar committee is made up of representatives from across the the district and in all different areas, everything from um our clerical, our par educators, our teachers union. And so we have representatives from all of our um our groups that come together in order to put the calendar together really taking into consideration the needs of our community, our student population. Um and then also of course meeting state requirements. And again just to quickly highlight, I know that we were here again I was here the last two months talking about some of the errors on the calendar. We've really made sure that we will not have to come back and ask for a revision to the calendar. a major difference. The last two that had the errors in it, just you probably remember we had um four staff development days because of the readact requirements. We are now back to two staff development days which is in the um in the teacher contract. And so um ultimately those two days is kind of what impacted our errors in our previous calendar. So we've made sure essentially that we are correct where we you will see the number of teacher days at the bottom down there is equaling to 183. Our teachers union has 185 days in their contract. Um, however, two of those days are due to conference time outside of their time. So, that is why we shoot for the 183 days to make sure we're meeting the minimum. Um, so this is the first glance at this um on the agenda and I believe it'll be back on the agenda next month for approval. Is there any questions or anything I could answer about that? >> No, I think we're good. >> Perfect. Thank you. Thanks, Dr. Cochran. Nice work. It's nice to be on the proactive side, isn't it? >> Yes. >> Yes. Okay. You ready? I'm so ready. I mean, every day it just gets closer and closer as we get closer to the school year. So, here's our construction update for this month. Um, so I mean, our athletic stadium is totally transformed. It's gorgeous. And you can see some pictures here of our new scoreboard. Um, the electronics are going in right now. Um, as we speak, I can't wait for that first day. It's it's lit up. Um, I will say we've already been getting calls from other districts who want to know the size of our scoreboard. Seems to be a friendly competition going on about who has the biggest scoreboard. Um, and also people who want to come out and see what's happening. So, you can see here our um, new field is being installed as we go. So, we have that in place. Um so excited that the Fidley F has now adorned the field. Um we'll also see the uh track start to come alive um in the next few weeks too. Um moving on our uh pool remodel. We had a big exciting day when the crane came in and put some HVAC up on top of our roof um to help our pool area. You can see here on the left our new locker room coming into play. Our new lockers have been installed. We're just really excited about this new area for our students and our community. Um, our middle school classroom renovations. Um, for the classrooms, we are ahead of schedule. Um, you can see here things are getting lined up. Windows, flooring, new paint, doors being redone. I'm just really excited about those. I know teachers were making contingency plans just in case, which I always understand. Um, but we're really happy to say we're on schedule there. This bathroom over to the right might be a little bit behind schedule, but um we uh have a contingency plan in place, but um we're really um striving for that being open for kids the first day of school. The middle school Vista project um that you can see walls are going up. Um lights are going in. Um just a lot of work happening here. We expect this project to go really fast um for the remodel. The big piece for this will be restrooms as we're moving forward. And then of course doors. Doors, it seems like the special reinforced doors that we use for our visttor programs. Really um are often on back order. We've expedited these um but they tend to be the stumbling block for us as we uh get this project in play. We do have contingency plans um that the students can be at the high school for maybe the first week or two of school. Um, most of those middle school students actually were there last year when it was a secondary program, so that won't be unusual for them. And then we really hope to get them involved as they look at their new space, coming over, visiting, um, getting to see really what's happening and being a part of those last couple weeks of construction. Um, before I move on, I will say we have two other projects going on. One is the autism uh, program that's happening here. We're waiting for permits. we have like the builders are in the parking lot ready to go. Um so that project we're waiting for that one to start as well as the remodel for our lower level here. Um we received a grant for a half a million dollars um last year. Um and this space will be a community space. There'll be room for early childhood. Um there'll be a health center um so that visiting nurses can come in as well as a computer lab for um adults and um students in our district to be able to use their job hunting or anything else they might need technology for. So that is our um our uh our report for today. >> Just as a reminder board we are using what we call braided funds. So, we have long-term facilities maintenance, we have bonds, we have um capital levies, all of these different funds. You heard tonight as we um got a sneak peek at the stadium that we will have phase one and phase two. So, part of the stadium is funded through the bond, which was that $30 million voter approved bond. Question two in November of 2024. Um, in order for us to not have a tax impact to the um homeowner homeowners and property owners in Fidley uh school district, we staggered that out. So 13 million came in in the first uh payment that we are using and then another 13 million comes in in um June or July. So that's why we are doing that phase one phase two is so that our um property uh owners don't have that tax increase. So [snorts] that's why people are like well $30 million bond. Yes. And we staggered it. So, [snorts] just wanted to uh remind us of that. Relle and I had the absolute honor of doing the lead conference um which is through the University of Minnesota. This was an interesting day. I so badly wanted to pull out of this. We were having just a really rough time um with the finances. That was one of our moments that day. And we went and it was so great. even um people that Harold and I worked with in Rochester specifically stayed we were the last session of the second the last day like not the best spot and we had such a roomful [snorts] and they put us in this beautiful like library space at um what's the name of that building >> uh the alumni center at U of M and it was just gorgeous and we got to present there and um what this does is you know the work that we've done around the talent pipeline growing our own the grants that we get, all of that. I feel that while that has worked super well for ISD14, it's our job to also ensure that every child in the state of Minnesota has a highly qualified teacher in front of them. And a lot of districts don't. So, we're able to talk through that. And we also are a real example of how we really value our candidates of color. We always talk about, you heard me say this yesterday, recruitment is easy, the retention is the hard part and especially retaining uh our staff of color. So, we talked a lot there. It was very well attended. Um what else would you like to share? >> I would like to share that it's very fun to present with um Superintendent Lewis. So, um oftentimes she is such a dynamic speaker. We see that here at the board meetings and she um she she goes and I'll just be honest with you, she does not follow slides at all and I spend a lot of time on those slides. >> So she will like I will interject things, she'll be talking and stuff and I'll just randomly go through the slides and every once in a while there's probably three times during that presentation it just like all came together and she was actually talking about the slide. So, but no, it's just always a real joy to uh present with you and to see our colleagues and um spend time with them and just share uh what we're doing here in Fidley Public Schools. >> Um this work will also be actually presented at the AVID National Conference. we've been invited to present there and then AVID is actually um [clears throat] paying uh for me and Michelle to go down to Houston, Texas to share it with um Texas superintendent and that's a big state so I don't even know how many um but my understanding is hundreds of superintendents. So, it's just good to see the work realized. And it's so different when you have a superintendent say to you, "This worked in my district. My district's 80% children of color, 72% children." Um, coming from households of poverty, 20% and rising. Um, in multilingual, obviously, people know our district and how our community pulled together to protect our children when ICE agents invaded us illegally. Um, so it's just nice for them to hear like street credit, right? And then they're like, well, if that can work with you, it can work anywhere. So it's always nice to be able to present that. And then we hear other presentations and can bring those back. School meal prices. Before Michelle starts here, I'm going to share um, and I shared this in the video, but I don't think I can elevate this enough because this actually came up two years ago, too. um not the meal prices but a sign that we had in our high school. Um so Minnesota has universal free meals, right? So the first breakfast and the first lunch every day for children and children that are in our afterchool activities, their first snack. However, children have the ability to purchase um all cart items and second breakfast, second lunch. I don't know if they can purchase a second snack like before swim. I don't know that piece. Um, but that's the meal prices that we're referencing. So, children don't pay for their first meals, but there are children that want a second meal that then is paid for. Absolutely. So, we'll be looking at that, but I also want to give you a little information because the Minnesota Department of Education, USDA, issued the minimum adult meal prices on July 24th. Um, Fley Public Schools nutritional services prices were below the required minimum price. Thus, the minimum adult prices needed to be increased to $3 for an adult breakfast and 550 for adult lunches. This minimum price is based on state and federal reimbursement rates plus the national average per meal value of the USDA. So, just wanted um you'll be voting on these tonight and these increases will go into effect on September 1st um for the 2627 school year per your vote. Okay, I'm going to pause for any questions on that item since it is a voted item. Okay, Minnesota Permanent School Fund. I'll be presenting to you on this in September as well as in October. Um, we've been talking about this. This gives money on the formula. Um, I'm going to be careful here. Um, so I had initially, if you recall, told you it was around $28 and then we were honored to have the guest who popped her head in and said it was much higher, which got me excited. Um, it's not. So, it's the 28 an ADM. Um, so we would realize about $80,000, which is great. Um, and I can't tell people just like with the referendum how to vote. Um, I'm not like any other employee of ISD14 when they're not during contract hours. They can. I can never um actually do that. Um, I think it's good that people get educated. It has no taxpayer impact. Um, a caution that I want to make here is it's $80,000 $28 when we hear this next legislative session. But we increase the Minnesota permanent school fund. I will certainly put numbers to that. As a reminder, we were ducted $960,000 in compensatory aid. So, while I want to educate all of us on this and it has no taxpayer impact, it also doesn't reduce the fund. I also want to make sure that we all understand and our messengers that it's 80k and I would ask us to think about that inflationary index that is built in that we all worked very hard for. I do not want this to then be used to remove the inflationary index. So, I'm probably going to be pretty hard on this and I'm not not in favor. Excuse me. I'm not saying this isn't something we should talk about, but what I am saying is please, please, please, please, please look at the actual impact on districts. And one can say that the largest school district in the state will realize more money on this. They will, but also remember it's proportionate. So, they also have a lot more expenses. So, I just really ask that we be mindful that if this is passed by the voters of Minnesota, we need to remind elected officials in March and April and February what the actual dollars here are associated with. And when we have elected officials that are unable to understand the run rate, what I mean by run rate is um you know what I mean, right? Like how much that is per child and what that looks like. I'm very concerned because people walked out of here that evening thinking it was double what we would get. And that concerns me on a very deep level. And again, so thankful for $80,000. As a reminder, Fidley Public Schools puts out 10 million in transportation a year. So, with that, can we play the video? I >> sure can. David, take it away. >> Did you know that every Minnesota public school student [music] is part of a public school trust? More than 168 years ago, when [music] Minnesota became a state, lands were set aside to create a permanent trust dedicated to one purpose, supporting public education for [music] generations of Minnesota students. Today, that promise continues through Minnesota's permanent school fund. Revenue generated from school trust lands is invested, creating a permanent financial resource that helps support public school districts, charter schools, [music] and tribal schools throughout Minnesota. Over time, careful management has helped the permanent school fund grow to more than $2.3 billion. This growth has prompted a discussion about how annual distributions from the fund should be calculated. This November, Minnesota voters will be asked to consider a constitutional [music] amendment to update how annual distributions from the existing fund [music] are calculated. The proposal does not create a new fund. It does not change the purpose of [music] the trust and it does not raise income or property taxes. Recommended [music] from a nonpartisan task force and with strong bipartisan support from the Minnesota legislature, the proposed amendment reflects modern [music] trust and endowment management practices and will increase distributions to schools while maintaining the fund for future generations. Learn more about Minnesota's permanent school [music] fund and this fall's constitutional amendment at minnesotaapsfmendment.org. board. I'll pause there for any questions or comments on that video. ISD14 did not spend any money on that and we will not be spending any money on this its materials. MSBA is supporting this. Uh Minnesota Association of School Administrators is in favor of this and AMSD Association of Metro School Districts is in favor of this. I believe they put the money behind this. Um, any questions on this? >> Okay, sounds good. I will then move us along to the board updates. Clerk Anna, I don't think we have anything from Northwest Suburban yet. >> September 16th. >> Yay. Okay. And I think I'm the June super for that one. AMSD was a pretty robust meeting. chair, do you want me to fill in here a little bit? And >> great, thanks. >> Okay. Um, and I know um, vice chair was there as well. Okay. So, permanent school fund um, you will see linked there. It talks about just what we talked about here with their written material. They actually brought in the vote yes uh, group for the permanent school fund um, that presented to us. Then there's the 2026 election um guide. Not that some of that maybe isn't helpful for us. It's really more though about um districts seeking referendum and uh school board elections and we are not in either of those situations this year. Legislative platform survey. I filled that out. Um fully fun spend special fully fund special education. Fully fund special education transportation um give us back the forms um for qualification for compensatory have a permanent solution on compensatory. Um so same story that we do every year. [laughter] So we filled that. Oh, I also put in there um bring back sensitive locations for ICE um in Minnesota. And [snorts] then um we had presentation from the blue ribbon commission on special education. This again is $250 million reduction that Governor Walls mandated two years ago. And then special education, I talked about this earlier. The cuts proposed are awful. awful. Um, so really our work here, I sorry I put this in the survey too, is get rid of the $250 million mandate cut. And this is one of those situations where I think there's a misunderstanding kind of like when our federal dollars were frozen a couple of years ago and the governor came out and we did the press conference at Hayes. um the requirements for special education which is required at a federal level even though the funds were frozen for special education multilingual um education and other areas the requirements didn't go away. So the same thing is existing here. The $250 million has to come from areas of special education funding that are not driven by student IEPs, hence that maintenance of effort. So, I'm not certain when this mandate went through that everyone understood that we're actually not cutting special education line items. We're actually cutting things like reading support that comes in something called ADSIS, homeless transportation, which is federally required as a reminder. So, I'll be honest with you, that presentation I wanted to throw up. And I have two fantastic colleagues that are on that as superintendent. And there are no good choices. It's horrible. So, we are going to lobby like crazy for that 250 million to um not be taken away. Um because there's just it's it's ugly, team. It's really ugly. And um that's that's really a problematic position. Um I don't know why it's not on here. Oh, compensatory revenue. Um I did want to share that one of the times for the received $960,000 dock in compensatory revenue, not because our um community is getting wealthier, but because the forms don't count. Um, remember there's two ways used to be to qualify direct certification. So, think of SNAP, Medicaid, um, those types of programming. You autoqualify if you're on those. As well as then the forms. Um, it was a decision made um, the year I came here, the year before actually, that impacted the year I came here that forms went away. Then we had what was a hold harmless. So, we were made whole on our reduction for the 2526 school year. When I testified to the Ways and Means Committee, I mentioned about the impacts of ICE Metro Surge, including this is also at the same time that we're receiving an almost million dollar reduction in compensatory ed aid. I was contacted by an upset person at the state level that I didn't include the hold harmless. So what happened for the 2627 school year is we lost $960,000. The home harmless was 10% of the entire pot that we're a loser in this situation that districts lost. It is not a an actual hold harmless 100% funding. So Fidley did receive $7,600 in hold harmless. So I was asked to correct that statement and now I have that we have received a deduct of $953,000. [snorts] With that, I'll turn it over to Northeast Metro 916 update. Thanks for that um report on that. Also, >> sorry, I should have paused to say anything there on AMSD. >> Sorry. Thank you. >> Nope. That's good. Thank you for including all of those details. Um for our 916 meeting this month, we started with a legislative update from Valerie Dosland, um who represents uh the intermediate school districts as our lobbyist. um she kind of gave us a preview of what was coming in this current year and um just how maybe some of the election results will be in impact on um this year's legislative session. Also including some of these pieces of information that we heard at AMSD as well with the blue ribbon commission on special education and compensatory revenue. Um 916 has uh annually run student and family surveys and we were celebrating areas of growth this year um in terms of families that are feeling belongingness within the uh district. Um, we received our Q comp update from the district where we had learned that n or 89% of eligible employees received their full or a reduced amount of their incentive pay and um 56% of the staff met their individual goals for this past year. Um, let's see. We uh looked at our um impact report for the year based off of our strategic goals and plans. 10 of the 13 strategic benchmarks for were met for this year and then the remaining three we've moved into the following year. We approved budget or sorry not the budgets but we approved um policies that have um updates within uh the law like legal updates um this year. So, we approved those and then we approved contract contracts for Arctic Wolf um for um Canvas Health and for uh DBT um training for social workers throughout the districts. And that is the end of that meeting. >> Excellent. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay, I think that's all the board reports. Uh chair is going to talk. We've loaded you up for upcoming calendar uh items at the end of the agenda here, chair, but I'm going to preview a couple. Um we gave you the month of July off if you remember. Um so our school resource fair is Saturday. Yay. 10 to 12. Um a great time by also pop over if you can. And then August 24th is next Monday. That's our superintendent welcome. fantastic time. Um, if you want to come and serve breakfast 7:30 if you want to come for the start 8:00 chair will open that up um for us and because of yesterday we all know why I have him open it right that's my provisioning and um then we will uh Dr. Cochran. That's till 11. Yep. Until 11:00. Another dynamic speaker that you will love. So, just come in and out to that if you can for any piece of that time. If you can't, no big deal. Board, I also recognize that August is a really heavy month for you with board commitments. I know um yesterday morning, then we have the um end of the new teacher celebration on Thursday afternoon. We have next Monday, we have the back to school um events. So, I understand and recognize it's a heavy month for you. So, [snorts] thank you for all that you do to come and support our district. So, with that, I will turn it back to you, chair, unless there's any questions. >> Any questions for Dr. Lewis? >> No. Thanks for the report. So, moving up with our next uh action item is our business action items. And we have I would certainly entertain a motion to approve our new public comment procedures. So >> motion made by Anna. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by Yang. This is a roll call vote. Miss Anna. >> I. >> Miss Jones. >> I. >> Mr. Carup is I. Miss Yang. >> I. >> Motion passes 420. Next up, I would entertain to uh accept our gifts and send gratitude to the Fley 49er Days Festival and GSA. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Motion by Jones. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by Anna. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> All those opposed. Motion passes. Next up, we have the consent agenda as written. This covers our prior business meeting, work sessions, new contracts, amendments, leaves of absences, lane changes, terminations, resignations, and retirements. The school meal pricing that we discussed, and the red eight contract. May I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Motion by Yang. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by Jones. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. [clears throat] >> All those opposed. All right. Motion passes. Next up and lastly, we have our important board dates. Uh this week we are welcoming, as Dr. Louis mentioned uh a bit uh all of our new staff for Freely Public Schools during our new teacher academy on August 19th. Our high school fall athlete and family meeting will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 starting with a dinner at the high school cafeteria. I believe that is a mandatory meeting for fall athletes. On August 22nd from 10 to noon, we will be hosting our back to school resource fair. Students and families will get free backpacks, lots of information and fun and games. As we look forward to starting the school year, we will welcome all Fidley public school staff back on August 24th with our opening day workshop and staff. We'll have a full week of professional development and preparing for the next school year. August 26th is preschool orientation from 4 to 6 here at the Fidley Community Center. August 27th will be a big day at Fidley Public Schools. Uh for the high school and middle school, we'll have their open houses and block party from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. Activities information will be in both of the parking lots. Uh as will uh a free meal of hot dogs, chips, and water. So come visit us. Tiger Club will have their open house from 3 to 6 during that event as well here at the Fidley Community Center. Stevenson will have their orientation obviously at Stevenson Elementary from 3:00 to 6:00. Hayes will have their orientation from 4:00 to 6:00. Vista programs will have their respective open houses also from 4 to 6. September 1st, we will be welcoming the first of our students to class. Fifth graders at the middle school, 9th and 12th graders at the high school. Tiger Club on September 1st still will have their open house from 8 to 4. And then on September 2nd will be the first day of school for all Fley Public School students. September 7th is the district is a district holiday and there will be no school. Offices will be closed. September 8th, our middle school fall sports will begin. Boy soccer, girls soccer, and girls volleyball. On September 14th, uh there will be a PTO meeting at 5:00 for Stevenson Elementary. And lastly, we have our next school board meeting will be held here at the Fidley Community Center on September 15th. Have I missed any dates? >> No. Okay, we're good to go. So, with that, I would certainly entertain a motion to adjurnn in what it seems like record time tonight. So, moved. [laughter] >> Motion made by Anna. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by Yang. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. >> All those opposed. >> And we are adjourned at 8:23. Thanks everybody.