Call this meeting of school board independent school district 624 to order. Uh will the clerk please call the role? >> Scar >> here. >> Strife >> here. >> Thompson >> here. >> Aran >> here. >> Daniels here. >> Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> What happened? Here's our pledge. >> Well, that's a first. [laughter] >> No. >> No. >> Weird. >> Oh. We can wait a couple minutes. Do you think what? >> We're fine. We're fine. Just going to check. >> I don't understand. >> I don't know. I've never seen it move before. >> Me neither. It's always been there. >> I don't know. Maybe another organization who met >> part of it. No. >> Okay. Well, >> Amanda's on it. It was always just right there next to the escape one. >> I didn't even notice it when I came in. >> That's weird. >> Yeah, it is. That's because why would it leave the room >> anyone? Why don't we just have like a picture of the American flag on the screen? >> It's coming. >> Where did they [laughter] >> [applause] >> Well done. >> That's what you figured. >> Oh my goodness. >> Has to be taller. >> I know. Can you >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you, Rachel. >> We have before us an agenda. Can I get a motion to approve? >> So move to move >> by Thompson. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Second by Strafe Ogie. Is there any discussion? >> Yes. >> Yes. Mr. Scar. Um I would like to uh make a motion to up to the agenda to allow uh video streaming of the public forum and also five minutes after the forum to address the comments from the public by the board. >> Okay. So the motion is there to video stream the forum and then five minutes after to make comments. Do we have a second? Do we have a second? Do we have a second? Okay, motion fails. Any further discussion? And now we still have a motion on the table to um approve the agenda up before us. Any further discussion? Okay. Then hearing none, I'll move forward. This will be a voice vote. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Approve. [clears throat] Same sign. >> No. >> Okay. The motion carries. We have an agenda. It was 41. We also have before us a consent agenda. This contains a variety of business items that come to us monthly, including donations. We are truly grateful for the support shown every month to our staff and students. We want to say thank you for all those that have donated. Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Can I get a second? Second >> second by Johnson. Further discussion Mr. Scard. >> Uh two things. One on the approval of the minutes. There was two items that I wanted to raise. One was it's on page eight. It is five G where it talks about the month uh Thompson moved and Bloyd second to approve the monthly invoices all of which met the standards and guidelines as set forth by the school board and the quarterly revenue and expenditure report. And I would revise that to say that staff represents that the quarterly revenue and expenditure report met the standards and guidelines as set by the school board. >> Any further discussion on that change? Do you have it up? >> I'm looking for it. >> Could Could you repeat what you're asking us to do? >> Sure. Um, yes, I would like to change that so that staff represents that the quarterly revenue and expenditure report meets the standards and guidelines as set by the school board because really in effect that's what they're doing. We're not we're not staff is Can you find it there? [clears throat] >> I've got it. But >> okay. Do we need to get a second to make that change? >> Well, I'm not I I think we need to some clarification on that. >> What page is it on again? >> Page eight. I've got it right in front of me. >> So, to improve the monthly all which have met standards and guidance as set by the So you want it to say as set by the staff. >> No, >> I'm not understanding what you wanted to say. >> The way it reads right now, it means that the board is representing that it meets the standards and the guidelines set by the board. We're not the the staff is >> right now. It says Ellison moved and Daniel second seconded to approve the consent agenda consisting of and then it lists the items that we are approving in the consent agenda. I I understand that the way that this the way that the >> approving the consent agenda. We're not saying who said or did >> there is a representation in that that says that it meets the standards and guidelines as set by the school board and the quarterly revenue and expenditure report. It has a representation in there that staff makes, not that we're making. So therefore, I think it should be it should plainly read that staff is representing that. >> Wouldn't staff be the one who is representing it because it's in the packet that they helped create? >> That's not how that reads. >> It reads that Ellison moved and Daniel seconded to approve the consent agenda consisting of quarterly revenue and expedentiary report. So, we're approving it to be in the consent agenda. >> It says all of which met the standards and guidelines as set forth by the school board. And the >> Oh, I was looking at the number. >> We're on page eight, Angel. >> That's >> it's a fairly standard thing to ch to to to revise that when staff is providing you something that they're representing that it meets the standards and then we approve it. It's pretty standard operating procedure. the standards and guidance as set by the I guess I don't see the issue with that but >> where would you like where would you like the word staff I'm just looking at it right now where would you you want that school board taken out and staff put in >> no >> okay I'm still not understanding then >> I read it I've read it twice again it again >> can you read it again >> is it five What? What's in what's the letter? >> 5G. >> Well, it's not it's down in the paragraph below, which is why I didn't you were mentioning that. So, I was looking at that area. >> So, >> okay. Read it again, please. Mr. Scar. >> Staff represents that the quarterly revenue and expenditure report meets the standards and guidelines as set by the school board. I mean, I guess I don't see the harm in that, but I don't understand. >> It's a governance issue >> what the deal is with that. And I would probably want to talk to some council before I made that a motion or approved it. >> Well, right now he right now we're representing >> Yeah, I know. I just need to understand what that's going to do before I >> So then can we table I have one other one as well on the minutes. [clears throat] Um B under public forum. It says Allison made a point of order that the agenda does not allow for discussion during the public forum portion of the meeting. It's not [snorts] that the agenda does not allow. It's that the board policies do not allow for discussion during the public forum portion of the meeting. So I think we should be clarify that that our policies don't allow it. The agenda doesn't empower >> this. You're saying policies drive that. >> Yes. >> Okay. So first let's you want you're going to start with the and what number was that? You're saying 5G. >> 5G. Okay. But he's wanting the paragraph below to be the area where it's changed. >> That one I could I mean I would table that one I guess and come back to it. Um I would want to just get further clarification. Um I don't necessarily oppose saying that the policy is what drives the public forum portion of the meeting. I don't see an issue with putting that in there instead of the agenda. >> I agree with you, Angela. I'm fine with putting policy. I'm not I'm not sure I understand. Um I would like to table that discussion and and look into [clears throat] it a little bit more for the change to change the other minutes. [clears throat] Okay. So, we're looking at this. We're going to look at uh let's talk public forum. Um, you want to say, uh, Ellison made a point of order that the agenda does not allow for discussion during the public forum portion of the meeting. >> And we want to rewrite that to say >> um, >> the policy does not >> board policy. >> Board policy. >> Yes. >> Does somebody >> to change that? I think do I need a second to change that in the minutes? Um, I think so. >> Okay. I'm going to go ahead and second that so we can have discussion right now to change that. So, I'll go ahead and second your to change it. Do we have any discussion? >> Um, my only question is is it policy or is it practice? >> That's a great question. >> Okay. Um, >> we know. >> So, Mr. Scarf, can you provide the policy that um do you have the number of that policy? This board approved deletion of that policy. >> Okay. So, it's a practice. >> Well, I mean, >> yes, it's a practice as a as a >> public form instructions or procedures, right? >> So, we could say procedures. >> Yes, that's what I'm asking. Is a practice of procedures or policies. It sounds like a procedure. >> Yeah. >> So, we could put the word procedure rather than >> Yeah. Keep in mind we delete this board deleted that. >> I I understand that, right? So, it's a procedure rather than a policy. Okay. >> So, now we have in front of us um [snorts] we were saying a board policy. That was what we're discussing right now. Um do we want to do you want to amend that? >> Yes, I'll amend it to procedures. >> Procedures. Okay. >> As a result of a lack of policy. Okay. >> Deleting the policy. >> Understand that >> and I'll stay with that second with that. So now what you wanted to read is uh the point of agenda the procedure does not allow for discussion for the public forum. I would like to just make a point of clarification because Ellison made that. >> It was her discussion >> that it says Ellison made the so I don't know how we can change what she I mean she said that >> okay so >> we could >> we we're not going to so what we're what we're doing here is this >> because then we'd be changing her words to that she said procedure instead of agenda but she didn't say that. So by changing that you're and you're here saying we're going to change what she said >> where agenda is not allowed for. So um I think we could put her we could put agenda in quotes or put that part in quotes and then put procedure in parentheses so that we if we it's in the >> Yeah. As if it's not her words. Yes, that'd be fine. [snorts] >> Okay. So, what do you recommend we do? You're going to what was how you >> going to say Ellison made a point of order that the agenda and we'll put that in quotes >> and then we're going to put procedure in parentheses does not allow for >> but she didn't actually make it. I don't think we can change the motion she made or any of the language she used. >> She just made a point of order, >> right? >> Well, the way that it's worded then it's the point of order. I understand what Dan's trying to >> the point of order would then would be um the uh point of order is that the agenda does not include >> but then again we're still changing what she said. So >> yeah, but >> we can pardon me for a second. Somebody wrote wrote this. This isn't exactly what she said. >> Do you know that? >> Can you can you tell me what she did say? >> I don't know what she said, but somebody wrote >> How do you know she didn't say that? Somebody wrote this. I don't know if that's what she said or not, >> but you go back in what she said. Yeah, we >> I don't know whether she's the way that this reads, it would be I don't think it would be then. I understand what you're trying to say here and I I'm not arguing that part. I'm just saying we can't change what she said. I I don't know how we can put in I get what you're trying to say. I understand. Then what I would say is somebody go back >> figure out how we listen to the >> So somebody should go back to the video and see what she said >> and we can do that. So maybe we put this one table as well and we come back to it and we figure out how to fix it properly. >> So we make sure we have her words >> I think that on the second matter as long as we're talking about that that's a bigger issue >> we still have in front of us. So, um, we have the, uh, what the the motion on the floor is Ellison made a point of order that the agenda does not and we say that the policy, our procedure, excuse me, does not. That's what we have to work on right now. So, either we table it and take it back or we vote it down for now. Why don't we table it and then put it onto the next agenda so we can listen to the tape as you suggested because we can get her exact words >> and then we can maybe clarify somehow. I just would like to figure out how we do this so we can have the proper language in there but without changing her what she did say. >> So let me get this clear. We're gonna if we table this, are we going to approve this agenda but not that portion of it? >> Those two items that we've [clears throat] tabled. That's my understanding. >> Okay. You okay with tableabling both of them? >> Sure. Yes. >> So G 5G and >> and B and B. >> Okay. So moving forward, um can we approve the consent agenda absent of those two items? Any further discussion? on the consent agenda. Yeah, I have one other item. >> Okay. >> I'd like to have the invoice register, which is 5B, as a separate [clears throat] agenda item. >> And purpose is what? >> Discuss specific items on the invoice agenda. >> Did you get a chance to talk to Dr. Kasmichek prior to this meeting? >> It's not a requirement. >> Okay. [snorts] And then if I do that, if everything is done in closed doors, how does how does the public enjoy the uh or get benefit of the discussion? How do they where's the transparency with that >> in the board packet? >> But I'm asking questions specific to an item. >> But are you asking it for if I would just want to know if community has the opportunity to also ask that question. I mean, it's like saying our students come to school every day and they are required to do all the work in their class on their own because that's what we expect of our students. Yet, we don't expect that of our adults in the community to do some of that work themselves. >> I don't believe >> because it makes the board meeting not be um sufficient and run in a timely fashion so we can do what needs to actually be done in the board meetings. As I said, as I've said at prior board meetings, it's not the public's responsibility to make sure that uh what we present in our agenda is understandable. It's >> getting a lot of because I have never in all the years I've been on the board had a community member send me an email asking me anything about our um financial report. And I have yet to hear um you bring up a point that would make me want to see that there's something that's being done here. >> I've heard it from a number of people that the invoice register is not [clears throat] helpful. >> So that's the point of order here. He has the right to pull that. >> Yes. >> And so we will pull that and make that the next agenda item. So right now we are going to um we have in front of us approval of the >> Well, did we get a we have to have a second? We have to >> He has a right to pull anything off the agenda >> without a second. >> Yeah. Right now he does. Yes. >> Okay. >> So he has that right according to our procedures. So then for for us we have the consent agenda. We've tabled the two items and we're removing the registry. Any further discussion >> hearing? I just have I just want to count how many pages that'll be. One, two. So, this will be a roll call vote. Um, Mr. Scar, I just want to make you aware >> that at six o'clock. >> I understand. >> So, we may have to stop that and come back. I just I'm not trying to >> I'll try to be as brief as possible. >> Okay. >> So, um, for us, we have the consent agenda. Um, we've tabled the two items and we've pulled the registry. Can we have the clerk call the role? >> Sure. Arcan >> I >> Thompson >> I >> Stri >> I >> Gar >> I >> Daniels I >> Okay, that that's been approved. Um the next thing we have on the agenda then is the registry. >> Thank you. >> So what questions do you have? So, one of the questions kind of stemmed from last last um the last meeting which where we have decentralized decision-making and I was curious I saw Arvig which I'm assuming is our internet provider. Is that true? >> Arvig. >> Yes. >> Does each uh facility have their own internet provider or does the district do it on a on a campuswide basis for everyone? >> Basis. >> Okay. Good. Thank you. And I know that we have LB Carlson. They went through a change and we have a fee for $7,500 for them. >> Yep. >> Do we have the same partner that we had last last year or did they rotate the partner? >> The same. >> The same. >> We're aware that LB Carlson has a requirement to rotate partners. >> Correct. >> Okay. I would be curious as to why they did not rotate the partner. >> Okay. >> Uh we also had $7,000 to the regents at the University of Minnesota. >> Mhm. >> What was that for? Do you know off the top of your head? Okay. We can just >> I'd be able to tell you, but I don't know. >> That's fine. Um, the other thing I was Oh, by the way, on your green solar leasing, you still have electricity when I think that was lease payments. Okay. >> Is that correct? >> Um, I'd have to look, but I believe it's correct the way it is. >> Okay. Thank you. The other one, and I might I think I'll make a motion on this, is we have so many Amazon >> um expenditures um on the invoice register. I was wondering if I I'd like [snorts] to ask the chair if we could add to the agenda for either the work session or the next meeting that we have an overview of what controls we have over these Amazon purchases because there's a lot there's just a lot of them and I'm curious as to and it seems to be growing the number of transactions. So, I'd just like to know what controls do we have in place from a district standpoint on those on those expenditures. >> Okay, that's the will of the board. We'd be happy to do that. >> Thank you. Okay, either the work session or the agenda. That's that's all. Thank you. So, before us, we have the check register in front of us. Can I get a motion to approve the registry? >> So, moved by Strife OG. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Second by Tom um Daniels. Uh, any further discussion? Once again, I'm going to put this for a roll call vote. >> Okay, >> you call the role. >> Sure. Strifoji, >> sorry. Hi. >> Thompson is sorry, I'm on the I'm on the other I'm sorry, I'm on the wrong one. Sorry. Stri. Uh, Scar. >> Yes. >> Thompson. >> I. >> Aran. >> I. >> Daniels. I. >> Okay. The registry's been approved. All right. Um, right now I'm looking at I think I have three speakers. Should we go ahead and start and if we have to interrupt? It's now time for the public forum portion of the meeting. The public forum allows up to three minutes per speaker with one minute remaining. You'll get your orange card held up. Orange card held up. With 30 seconds, you'll get a yellow card and at the end of three minutes, I'll let you know that the time is up. School district policy and data privacy laws preclude personal and student matters of data being discussed publicly. Speakers may not make allegations, charges or ch charges or complaints against any student or employee. Speakers will be called up to microphone one at a time and only those individuals have been recognized will be allowed to speak. Members of the audience may not engage in any conduct that disrupts any part of the schoolboard meeting and that otherwise impedes the school board's ability to conduct business. Presentation of public hearing related to the proposed 2025 payable 2026 prop property tax levy. Mr. Wald thank you chair. Good evening members of the board Dr. Casmichek our student rep Mr. Reese and to all of our community members who joined us and our students who are here tonight for their uh for this public hearing. Uh tonight is our uh truth and taxation hearing for taxes payable uh 2026. We are this meeting will uh parameters for this meeting are set by the state legislature and by state statute. Our hearing tonight will fulfill all of the requirements. Uh following the presentation and the public comment period, the school board has the authority to officially adopt the final levy. We'll cover background information on school funding. We'll look at the district's current year budget. Uh we'll look at the proposed tax levy for taxes payable in 2026. And then uh there'll be an opportunity for public comment at the end. Article 13, section one in the Minnesota Constitution indicates it's the legislaturator's duty to fund public schools and goes on to say that legislature or the legislature shall make such provisions by taxation or otherwise. Because education is a constitutional duty of the state, funding is highly regulated. The state determines the formulas that calculate our revenue, uh tax policies, maximum levy amounts. Uh the state also authorizes school boards to submit referendums to voters for both operating and capital needs. I want to share two examples of historic funding challenges for Minnesota schools. First, this chart illustrates one of the greatest challenges we face in public school finance. And that is that state funding has not kept pace with uh uh with inflation since 2003. On the bottom left of this graph, you'll see the per pupil funding level in 0203 at $4,966. Follow the blue line which shows that the general education per pupil formula would be if it had only been adjusted for the rate of inflation in each bienium. It would be at $8,91 per pupil. Uh and that would have ensured the same buying power for school districts over the years. Uh the orange line represents the actual funding on the student formula from 2003 to current. That's at $7,481. Uh the gap between the orange and the blue line represent a delta of $1,420 per student. Um and that's if the state would have would have only adjusted for inflation for the White Bear Lake schools. That gap represents um uh underfunding of approximately 13.3 million. And inflation I said our organization like every other organization and like uh every household uh we're paying more for labor, utilities, insurance, supplies, everything is uh impacted by inflation. So that inflation gap is comp is compounded by the underfunding of mandated services particularly special education. The state of Minnesota is mandated to provide programs and services for students with disabilities, but they do not fully fund the cost of these services. According to the Minnesota Department of Education, the cost of providing special education programs was underfunded statewide by $53 million in fiscal year 2024. That's a This is projected to grow to an underfunding of 524 million by fiscal year 2028. This underfunding requires school districts uh across the state to make up that funding shortfall through their general fund. This process of being required to use general fund dollars to fund mandated services is referred to as a cross subsidy. Our cross subsidy is our special ed cross subsidy in White Bear Lake is approximately $5 million. In the last bian, the legislature made some progress in reducing the special education cross subsidy uh but are only funding it at 50%. Special education services are necessary and will continue to provide those services. They're uh they're not only uh required by statute, they're important services for our students with disabilities. will continue to meet those students needs. But I would suggest that the legislature needs to close the cross subsidy for special education by fully committing to funding special education programming. So these two factors there are significant contributors to the school districts across the state to rely on local operating leds for the purposes of funding and reporting. school districts manage separate funds and these funds are legally restricted for specific purposes. We'll look at these in the following slides and our director of finance Andy Johnson will walk us through these. Um this report is the report that we include in the local newspaper every year a summary of our uh previous school year's operations and then the budget for the upcoming school year. I will present more information on the upcoming budget in the next slides. So first on our operating funds, we have four main funds. The bulk of our operations flows through the general fund at about 74% of our total budget. And then about 4% goes towards uh food service and community service funds. And then debt service, which is uh where we make all of our debt payments, comes in at about 17% of our total revenues in the school district. Um, delving into the general fund revenue specifically for the 2526 school year, the vast majority of our funding comes to us in the form of state aid at about 72%. Then local uh dollars account for both property taxes and then other miscellaneous revenue we might receive like donations or student fees um [clears throat] accounts for about 25% of our revenue. And then our federal federal revenue accounts for about 2.3%. So in total the general fund revenue for this school year um the preliminary budget is $146,782,000. Then we look at our expenditures and we're going to look at these in two different ways. Um this first way that we look at them is by object code and the vast majority of our expenses um is related to salaries and benefits. That comes in at about 80% of our total budget for the year. Then we have about just just shy of 14% of our expenditures goes towards purchase services and that would include our contracted transportation. That's a big um percentage of that chunk of money. And then just about 4% of our expenses goes towards supplies and then a small amount towards capital expenditures and other about 2% in total. Uh the other way that we look at this on the expenditure side is by program or sort of by department level. Um, so starting at the bottom, if we look at regular instruction in green, that accounts for about 40% of our total spending, about just shy 1% goes towards vocational ed. Then in the blue, we have special education instruction, which accounts for about 22% of our total spend. And then instructional support services at about 6 and a half%. All of those together account for about 70% of the school district's um expenditures in the general fund. Then we have pupil support services which also includes includes transportation and our um counseling, health department, um social workers, etc. Uh that's about 12%. Then we have sites and buildings at about 10% and that includes our long-term facility maintenance spending. And then a small amount goes towards other um and then administration and direct and district support services accounts for um just about 6% of our total budget. Um, one thing I want to point out is a change in our tax levy does not always mean that it's an increase in revenue for the school district. Um, the property tax levy is incredibly complex. About 40 pages of calculations that go into um, this funding stream each year. And sometimes we may see an increase in a property tax levy and a corresponding decrease to our state aid. Um, and sometimes it goes the opposite way as well. And so, um, it's just important to note that when you are looking at our property taxes, um, sometimes you might see an increase. It doesn't actually correlate to an increase in budget. In December, um, m municipalities across the state of Minnesota are coming to their taxpayers and having this truth and taxation um, hearing. There's one main difference is that for a school district, our budget year starts on July 1st. And so the property taxes that we're collecting from taxpayers throughout 2026 folds into our 2627 budget. [snorts] Um and that budget will be adopted by the school board in June of 2026. And then for cities and counties, their budget year begins on January 1st. And so the taxes that they are collecting throughout the year actually go towards that calendar year budget. >> Okay. Uh all property owners uh recently received a proposed property tax statement. looks something like this. Um, you would receive it from the county in which you live. And this shows all of the taxing jurisdictions that levy property taxes, cities, counties, school districts, um, and special taxing districts. Each jur jurisdiction sets its own levy and combined they make up the total of your property taxes. Uh, the county serve as the fiduciary agent. They collect the tax dollars and they distribute them to the uh, jurisdictions. Um, in the next several slides, we'll dig into the property tax process. Uh, school districts can levy in over 40 different categories. Uh, but not all school districts qualify in all those categories. And the example I always use is that we don't qualify for a takenite levy in White Bear Lake, although some school districts in other parts of the state do. uh MDE calculate uh calculates limits for each levy category um for each or in each category for each district and these limits are based on state statute and voter approval. This slide outlines the multi-step process of determining the tax levy. Any of these steps may affect the taxes on a parcel of property. Uh but the school board has control over one of the six steps and that is step five. Uh but many factors come into play prior to this involving the county assessor, the legislature, the county auditor, uh MDE, then the school board adopts a preliminary and final levy, and then finally back to the auditor of each county to determine the tax rate on each property. Uh this slide looks at the timeline uh of the six steps. We received the first draft of our levy limit report from MDE on September 8th. On September 26th, the school board certified the levy amount. In mid- November, the county set out the proposed tax statements to property owners. Tonight, we're holding our public hearing on the proposed levy. And then following the hearing tonight, the board will have the uh uh vote to certify the final levy. The proposed tax levy for taxes payable in 2026 uh is an increase from 2025 of 3,120,539 increase of 4.4%. And on the following slides, we'll break down the major components of this change. This is a summary of the le of the levy changes in the general fund, community services, and debt service funds. And we'll explain each of these in the following slides. Uh $730,000 is attributed to the increase in the operating levy. This is driven by enrollment and an inflationary increase. MDE uses an estimated CPI to determine the operating levy inflationary adjustment. Um when the finalized CPI is determined, uh this is always chewed up on the following year's levy as either a positive or negative adjustment. Um the estimated CPI that MDE applied last year was slightly uh lower than the actual so is being applied to this year's levy. Um additionally, there's a change in prior year adjustments to the general fund of just over 1.26 million. This is a normal statemandated process. MDE calculates initial levies based on estimates and in later years we receive retroactive payments as final enrollment values and expenditures are certified. Uh this ensures districts receive no more and no less than the authorized revenue and these adjustments can result in lowering or increasing future levies. The most complex area is the coordination of debt levies. This reflects a strategic scheduling of bond payments uh to minimize tax swings. We work with our municipal adviserss on a debt payment schedule so as to maintain a generally level tax impact. The LTFM levy in the general fund is increasing by 912,877. There's a reduction in the LTFM levy in the debt service fund of uh 3,131,000 and that decrease is offset by an increase in the voter approved levy debt service payments of 3,567,000. It's important to note that your individual uh school tax bill might not directly reflect the exact 4.4% 4% change in the overall levy. Many factors can cause a greater or lesser individual properties tax experience. Uh could be a change in assessed value of one's pro property relative to other properties and uh changes in total value of all property within the district come into play as well. Um let's illustrate this concept in the most simple of scenarios. If a school district contained just two properties and they're of equal value, in this case $100,000, the district had a total levy of $500. Each of those properties would pay the same share of the district levy at $250 each. But in the next year, one homeowner sees a 10% increase and the other sees a 25% increase. If the total levy is $500, the house with the 25% increase uh would see a greater would pay a greater share than the property that saw the smaller increase. Uh next, we'll look at the trend in property tax over the past 40 years. Uh we'll look at examples of property taxes on a property with no change in property value and then we'll see examples with a 10.8% 8% change in the value of residential properties over four years. I'll note that examples used are for the for property in the city of Wiper Lake in our preliminary estimates. This table shows property taxes from 2023 to 2026 and is based on no change in property values. The second to last column, the second to last column indicates the change over four years and the final column indicates the change from 25 to 26. So if you look at the $350,000 value home uh outlined in blue, you can see the school district taxes increased $18 over those three years. In every residential home value from 250,000 to 700,000, school uh district property tax increase from 23 to 26 show modest increases. Uh this year all are generally flat. So key here is that the change in the assessed value plays a significant role in uh the taxable value of the property. Uh this is the same data presented in a bar chart for property taxes over a 4-year period. on the left a $250,000 home and on the right a $400,000 home. Again, we see a generally uh we see generally flat taxes over those four years. Um, but you know, note that if the $250,000 home on the left uh made a big addition to their home and it was assessed then that next year at $400,000, they'd see an increase from $1,219 on the $250,000 home in 2025 to $260 on their $400,000 home in 2026. Here's the same representation for commercial and industrial um and non-residential non-h homestead properties from 23 to 26. Uh but we know that property values have not remained flat on most properties and so we've seen uh most of us have seen increases in the assessed value of of our properties during this four-year period. This table shows a change in property values since 2023. Here you can see the home on the left uh in the first column is $225,700. Over the four years, the estimated value of that home would be $250,000. These are on typical property um and certainly wouldn't reflect any one individual's property, but it on the typical property they see the property tax on that home would have gone from $1,89 to 1,220. And the home on the right uh that $400,000 property in 2026 was worth what is it? 381 361 361,100 in 2023. Of course, these are just averages on these properties. Um, and you know, individuals may have seen slightly more, slightly less in their changes in their assessed value of their property. The state of Minnesota has a few refund programs and a tax deferral program available to property tax owners. We don't give tax advice. Uh but you can look at into this at the department of revenue website which is noted uh well it's revenue.state.mn us. Um there's the home homestead credit refund and incomebased program for homestead property owners um whose property taxes are high relative to their household income. The special property tax refund is available if your gross tax increases at least 12% and $100 uh over the prior year and homers can save 60 or get refunded 60% of the value above 12%. Uh the senior citizen property tax deferral allows individuals 65 years or older who meet income guidelines to defer a portion of their property taxes. And I believe that income, yes, it's $96,000. Um, deferred property tax, deferred property taxes plus acred interest must be paid uh when the home ownership is transferred. So, it operates like a reverse mortgage. And income taxes, those who itemize deductions for federal income taxes may deduct a portion of their property taxes uh paid. And new in 2024 on the Minnesota return, renters can claim their renters's refundable credit right on that return rather than using a additional form meant to simplify the process. So this completes the uh the presentation. I'll turn it back to Jeran now for these next steps. >> Okay. Um this is this is a public hearing. So, um, if there's anyone who would like to speak specifically about pro, uh, the proposed 2025, uh, payable 2026 payable tax levies, please raise your hand and we'll call you up. Okay, I'll call you up in a second. I just want to read this to you. You're first in the back there. Um, basically, we'll follow the same uh, guidelines and audience etiquette for the um, public forum. School district policy and data privacy laws preclude personal and student matters or data from being discussed publicly. Speakers may not make allegations, charges, or complaints against any student or employee. Only those individuals who have been recognized may speak and members of the audience may not engage in conduct that disrupts any part of the meeting. Okay. So, the gentleman in the back, you may come up. Did I address you guys or? >> Yeah. Yeah, you can sit on it. >> And if you could tell us your name, that'd be great. >> Uh my name is Michael McCertie. Um I am a White Bear resident and uh I've come to discuss uh the property tax um increase as the levied proposal has raised my property [snorts] tax uh 16.75%. Um, being a millennial that was priced out of the housing market for a very long time, uh, I just recently got to move into a larger home. And, you know, this wasn't exactly budgeted for or expected. Um, and between all of the le or all the tax increases, it came out to be, you know, over $700 of an increase. Um, and with that said, I I think it's kind of, you know, I so I come from the laborers union. Um, I was a proud member of the laborers union. I got very politically active. I went to the Humphrey Montdale dinner. Um and with that I also know that the um the educators union does try to pass levies on off years off election years um because it has a high success rate and that's because if you actually go to those elections you'll see that a majority of them are older and they qualify for that property tax deferral. Um, so they don't get hit until, you know, they die or whatever. But for somebody, you know, that's still young and trying to get a start in life, I mean, this is a very significant increase. Um, and you know, I think or I I know rather being in the construction industry and now being on the estimating side of it, I see a lot of these school projects come through. And I got to say, there there's quite a few very frivolous projects that are done. So, I don't think that we have a taxing problem. I think we have a spending problem. >> And with that, I will pass. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Somebody else had their hand up that wants me to come on up, please. >> My name is Ralph Tilma. I live in Whitebear Township and I brought my tax statement with me and I have a question about the tax amounts for the school district. There's an A that is described as voter approved levies and there's a B other local levies. What's the other local levies? And it's a significant amount of money on my statement. It's $580. And it's there's no explanation on the tax bill at all of what that is or where it even came from. >> Are those are they related. >> I don't know if Annie or Tim, if you want to address it or if if you want to if you want to visit with one of our finance folks, you we'd be happy to. >> Okay. Well, [clears throat] >> the voter approved are the ones that go to the there's a ballot question and then there's other categories that aren't that aren't voter approved. They are um they're just part of the of the way Minnesota um has created school finance. [snorts] the school finance system. So, not all of it is voter approved. Some of it is some of it is state aid, some of it is levy, and sometimes is a share with different categories. So, there's a variety of categories that make up the other. >> But do they all pertain to the school district >> in in that category? Yeah. Under the school district category. Yes. Yeah. So, if I add up A and B, A is $648 and B is $580. That ends up to be $1,28. If I turn this over and look at the property tax for Ramsey County, it's $1068. And I'm thinking Ramsey County has a whole lot bigger expense and budget than the school district. How can the levies for the school district be greater than Ramsey County? How can that happen? Anybody have an answer? Nobody has an answer. We ought to have more meetings then if you can't answer that. I agree with this person that was just up here. Our expenses for the school district are racing out of control. We have school resource officers. We have people working in the cafeteria. We have janitors and bus drivers. We have a really big employment budget and it ought to be looked at. Some of this stuff is getting out of hand. One other comment about the school district. We paid a ton of money to expand the White Bear Lake Area High School. We never had an opportunity to go there for an open house and see where our money went. I never saw that. We ought to have something in the White Bear Press that says, "Hey, we're going to have an open house for taxpayers to come in on a Saturday and there'll be staff members here to show you what was built and what our high school looks like." No, we never had that. That's an oversight. >> We We did have open houses related, but so the community could come and see. >> Oh, I must have missed it then. >> We had lots of them. >> Yeah. You can always reach out and you know we'd be happy to to show you. >> Okay. >> Well, is there anybody that can look at these numbers? >> You can. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Do we have any other uh people who want to comment in public forum or the levy? Yes. Come on up. Hi, my name is Michelle Casperen. My kids all went to White Bear Lake, uh, graduated from the school system, did fine, did great for their schooling, but I see expansion on buildings and changes to restrooms. So that instead of just having a men's and women's restroom that they can go into, now we have a whole new forum for how they lay out even in this building. That is unnecessary. I mean the spending is on things that are just cranking up the cost and the all materials construction is expensive and it's understood but where are we getting the controls on what we're spending and how how we're spending it what we're spending it on. Um yes we it's important to pay our teachers that we have good teachers to educate our children so that they are successful in life but and it does take reasonable facilities but White Bear Lake the new White Bear Lake High School it looks like a college campus it's huge I don't know where the change came in the handful of years since my grad my kids graduated that resulted in the need for that large an expansion. Um I'm not sure if it was covered somewhere in a previous meeting, but I will say that it seems like our spending is out of pro is going out of proportion and and a lot of it is to construction. I mean, updating buildings, that's fine. Maintenance of buildings, it's important. Keep your buildings in good shape. But the massive renovation and expansion for the high school and some of these other changes in the building seems like somebody thinks they just have a unlimited budget to go after and build whatever they want. And it just doesn't seem like it's fair to the taxpayers that these projects are being built and we're not really having a say in like how that where the spending for that is going and the choices on what you're doing to expand and how you're spending our money. I would say buy spend it on textbooks, spend it on teachers and have enough facilities. But I I look at what was done and it just feels over the top. And that's all I would have to add. I I just feel like my my taxes went up 17%. His went up 16. Mine went up 17. Um and a good chunk of it came from school the school levy taxes. So probably close to not quite 50% but close to it. The other tax increases were not nearly as hefty. They weren't enough to warrant actually going down because they seem like a minor amount that would have been attributable to inflation. This seems significant. And that's all I have. >> Thank you. >> Yes, Bradfield. >> Hi, uh, Rebecca Bradfield. I'm going to try to not repeat some of the things earlier with finances, but I will echo what they've said. I've definitely seen a lot of things that were poor choices that have led to where we're at with this taxes. Um, one thing I've consistently heard complaints about is transportation costs. And it kind of seems like common sense when we move transportation out of a central location in the district that it was going to cost us more to take take students everywhere. And when we chose to put an extra elementary school in Hugo instead of a middle school. So now we're busing kids that pretty much live by central all the way over to Mariner or kids on the far north end of the district have to come into downtown wiper. It just doesn't make sense. And I really want I will reiterate what I said earlier with the with the budget piece. Like you can't pass a budget that has a deficit and you can't expect the taxpayers to have bottomless pockets. We don't. And as much as they want to say that in, you know, things aren't keeping up with inflation, none of us have paychecks keeping up with inflation. And I do understand that the school district doesn't have control over the valuation. But I don't think having spending 100% of a bond is a responsible thing to do in this economy. So going forward, I think it's very wise of all of you to be watching how that money is being spent, especially on these bigger projects. It's really easy with the volume of invoices going through. It's probably slowed down a little bit as some of those projects have completed, but to be looking what where's the money really going? Is it some silly furniture that nobody's really going to use? Is it, you know, I and I don't know like the cafe in the high school. I looked at their prices and I was like, who's subsidizing that? Because they're obviously not able to pay for the space with what they're doing. So, just think of what what really matters. I think we need to get the budget back in check where more of that is going into the classroom because it's not it. There's so much that doesn't make it to the classroom and then the teachers are asking parents for money on top of our taxes. And in my case, I'm paying tuition on top of taxes. So, keep that in mind. We don't need to spend all of it. People are getting priced out of their homes because their taxes are getting too high and that's not fair. And it's not a number of students in the district availability. I've watched the trend. We're still a net exporter for open enrollment just for public schools. That doesn't even include the number of kids choosing non-public options. So, as much as the presentations say otherwise, I would really encourage you to dig for the data yourself. >> Thank you. Any other comments from the public? Yes, come on up. [clears throat] >> Hi, Nathan Durkus. So, I just want to echo some of the things I heard others say. You know, I love White Bear Lake. I think it's great. It's my family's, you know, best community in Minnesota, uh, from our opinion. And we want to support the schools. We really want to support the schools but at the same time um you know our tax our property taxes are going up 15%. And it's really makes it really really hard to you know continue to be part of the community and be part of this and see children go through the school system. So just want to ask you guys to please be very very thoughtful about the budget, very thoughtful where the money's going and save where you can. I you know this whole year, the last five years through my work, through my budget at work, I'm constantly having to chip away, chip away, chip away. It's awful. I know it is. But, you know, to get some of the kind of increases you guys are being able to get or are being proposed. I I'd love that for my personal personal uh work budget. Um, and I want to help support White Bear Lake, but please be thoughtful about um where we can save, where we can reduce the tax burden on uh on us. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Evening board. I'm Tim Clucker. Um, wasn't intending to speak, but a lot of lot of comments. I just wanted to weigh in a little bit if I could um to to just share the concept of budgeting isn't that difficult. There's what comes in, there's where it goes, and there's what you're left over with. And if you're not happy with that last one, you have to either increase what comes in or decrease what goes out. I know I'm making that sound super simple and I know budgets are much more complicated than that. But the basic premise and understanding is if we don't have it and we're not happy with where it goes, we have to make tough choices. We have to have tough conversations or we have to figure out how to increase the money. Um you would all know better than most of us as to how we can increase money. Is it enrollment? Where are the enrollment numbers? Which I guess leads to kind of the other question of what's the return on investment? One of those returns on investment is student output, performance, GPA scores, taking us into that that academic field of the conversation as well. Um, you know, we spent a lot of money to build a new Viking stadium, but we have not yet brought home a Super Bowl. So, just because we create a new facility that's nice and shiny and flashy doesn't necessarily guarantee we're going to increase the performance of what happens within those buildings. And while I appreciate the upkeep of the facilities um and the offerings to the students and to the teachers to do their job, I'm just curious when the return on investment will start to manifest at a slightly faster rate. And I think that's one of the things that we keep coming back here month after month and asking those questions, looking at the goals, trying to see the trends on where all of those different performances lie. Um, I have a feeling if we were to see some of those trends going up in exchange, we would have a little less tension when it comes to seeing those increases because we would see in exchange, here's what we're getting. And I think that's what a lot of people maybe at the core are frustrated about. I don't see what I'm getting on the other side of what I'm giving. So, when it comes to what the responsibility is before all of you, which again, I don't envy any of you the choice. I know it's difficult but those are kind of the probably the approaches that many people are thinking the return on the investment and the overall impact that it's having on the community because the output of the school does reflect the community reflects the students the families and the families that we say we wanted to be a destination district and attract people. It's kind of difficult to do that. One, when taxes are higher, but two, when some of those scores are not very favorable and they can go to a neighboring school system at higher proficiencies and decide to move there instead because their students are going to get a higher impact. So, wherever we increase the outputs, I would just encourage try to aim for both. Try to aim for more fiscal responsibility, but then better outcomes for those students and those families and overall the community. >> Thank you very much. Anybody else who would like to speak? Okay. So, we're going to close the public portion of this, I believe. Is that what we're going to do? Um, this is discussion item D1. Is there any questions by the board members? Is that how we can bring that open now? >> Any questions? Yes, Mr. Scar. [clears throat] Well, I just want to thank the speakers that came up because I agree that there is a spending issue and I think um you know since April I've asked about you know when we when we did the referendum we had four goals that the referendum was supposed to do. One was to address projected enrollment growth throughout the district. That didn't happen which that enrollment translates into less revenue. So now we have a bigger cost infrastructure to support with less enrollment and we still don't know why we didn't have that enrollment growth. Where did th those 20% of students go? Do we have an answer for that? And I haven't gotten an answer since April. Provide safe, secure, and healthy learning environments for all students through investments in our aging facilities and infrastructure. Yes, I believe that that has taken place. but leaving you know but our enrollment procedures at the high school compromised any safety and security and I still haven't heard uh what we have done to mitigate that risk. Um increase opportunities for students by creating a single unified grade 9 through 12 high school. We have a beautiful high school and we you know we punched that one. We did a good we did a great job on that. Now I think it used what 70% of the referendum went to the high school. Something I read that I didn't get it from the district but I think it was 266 million went to the high school and create flexibility designed learning spaces to support student centered instruction and we did that as well. I believe if you've taken a tour of any of the facilities and seen the renovations, we've done that. But the first two we didn't and we have I think we have a potential issue here where we have built this infrastructure to support 10,000 students which is our revenue base and we're not there yet. So what happened? What are we doing where we're losing these students? >> Those would be my >> question other questions for Mr. Wald. I do on um the in if you can go back to the chart that has inflation where we're underfunding right there. So, I don't know if you've ever heard of Ken Wolf or Bob Fallon, but they're uh experts in education finance in Minnesota. Now, when they looked I gave them they I asked them to look at our numbers last year. And when they looked at our numbers, this is a 20 year this is 2023. When they looked at our numbers, and I'll give you this because, you know, I'd like the school district to validate or to refute this. Um the combined revenue increase over the 20 20-year period increased 4.43% and that was over the CPI by 1.48%. which is much different than what we're what this is saying. Our total funding over the last 10 years versus inflation, combined revenue increased 5.56% per year over the CPI by 3%. And then per per pupil funding versus inflation, again this is 2013 to 2023, combined revenue increased 4.92% per year over the CPI by 2.36%. So their numbers are different and BA really what they're saying is our budget has kept up with the CPI. So I'm curious, you know, >> the point I was trying to make um was that uh the state's inability or unwillingness to fund education at the rate of inflation has put additional property or responsibility and pressure on local property taxes. Now the numbers you gave I don't have in front of me and they may or may not be accurate but um that gap is what puts pressure on property taxes. >> Yeah. And I think what these experts are saying is they don't see that gap. >> They see that >> the numbers he has there I I strongly doubt represent state funding. >> That doesn't sound accurate at all. >> Well, these are two noted experts on it, but I'll give you the information. >> Yeah. Well, it just doesn't sound accurate. I'd be happy to look at it. >> And I think second the other thing I wanted to add is, you know, I've asked um for an operational audit of the district, which is different than a financial audit. Financial audit just means you're keeping score in the right categories. Um an operational audit does a dive into efficiencies and effectiveness of the procedures and the policies that have been adopted by the school district. And that's something that I think that we need if especially if we're going to ask taxpayers for increases in levies and so forth, we have to have a baseline that that the stakeholders know that our baseline is strong, that we're spending in the right buckets and we're efficient and effective in our budgeting. I think that would be something that would be good would be good. And I want to just thank you for a complete presentation as well. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Other questions? >> Yes, Miss Thompson. >> I don't have a question, but just a comment based on that. I just attended the MSBA's delegate convention this weekend, and our guest speaker was Dr. Lawrence R. Jacobs. Um, and Dr. Jacobs is one of Minnesota's leading political analysis analysis and a nationally recognized scholar on elections, governors, and public policy. As [snorts] the director of the center for [clears throat] the study on politics and governance at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School, he provides nonpartisan insight on how political decisions shape public institutions and communities. Uh widely sought to speak to media policy makers, civic organizations. um he is a very well-renowned um individual and he presented in his pres presentation when when he was asked to look into the Minnesota states mandates that are mandated on our schools and when he looked from 2000 to 2025 he was he didn't even know what to say. He he did he thought it was going to be bad but he did not expect it to be as bad as it is. So it went from um let's see it says approximate number of mandates in 2000 was just around the 30 mark to today we are at over 70 like it went off of his chart mandates that we are mandated. Could you explain what those mandates do to our district when they're not funded, which they are most definitely not funded? When they're mandated, they tell us we have to do it. Yeah. But they don't give us the money. >> They put Well, special ed's a great example of that. But there's also uh the unemployment bill that was passed a couple years ago at unemployment for hourly school workers in the summer um is a significant expense. And uh the paid family medical leave act is another unfunded mandate that's putting significant pressure on our um on our school district budget. So, as the as these continue to mount, um you know, you you have to squeeze so much of what we spend our money on [snorts] is statutoily required. And so, um you know, it just continues to put pressure on important things that we do. And if you could talk a little bit more on how special education is not funded, but we are mandated and we want to provide those services to our students who are in special education. >> Sure. At both the federal and the state level, there are mandates for special education services. Um, we fulfill those diligently. We have outstanding teams of people who do it. Um, and some of our students have have really significant needs and we meet them every day in our schools and they're really our teachers and our pair professionals who are in those classrooms are heroes and they're the most important people in the school district to those students and families. So when they're funded at 50% um and that's just an increase to 50% recently u it's uh you know it's it puts pressure on the general fund >> because that's where we have to pull in order to meet those expectations. So we pull out of our general fund in order to make sure we're able to pay for our special education needs. That's just one example of a mandate. There's transport, there's all kinds of things that we >> and moving forward, there was a decrease in the special ed transportation funding. So, we'll get less uh revenue from the state for uh special ed transportation. >> And then since 2019 when we passed the bond referendum, which is only to be used on construction, it is not used on classroom funds or any of the other needs that we have. It's just for construction. And our voters in our community passed that with pretty good numbers. that they wanted this to happen. Uh what happened after 2019 that may have impacted the projected enrollment numbers? >> Yeah. Well, yeah, co >> I'm just not sure if anybody knows what that thing was called. >> Co had a significant impact on public education across the nation, certainly across Minnesota. And so, uh that kind of changed the game. >> Well, the numbers were already declining in a couple millions around that time of students across the nation. This is not just a thing for only our district. School districts across the nation are feeling this impact and we're feeling a little bit of that enrollment decline around that time. Um, as there's some rhetoric uh about what public education is and is not that had started to impact people removing their kids out of public schools and deciding to do homeschooling or whatever they feel is best for their families, which is completely understandable. Everybody has the right to do that for their children in whatever manner they feel is uh best for their families. And we're currently hearing even more of that now, which is also then causing people to not have faith in what our public schools do and those [snorts] educators that are highly qualified in our schools to ensure that all of our students in our community get the equal opportunity to an education. I don't know if that's a question. And I guess it's just kind of a statement. >> Let me remind you that we're on we're talking about the proposed 25 payable 26 levy. So making sure we're not wandering too far. >> No, I were t we were asked why the enrollment numbers were down. So I am just addressing some of the reasons that would have led to that. >> Okay. Other questions? Um, straight m >> have you seen the information that Dan Scar was board members uh referring to. So I I want to one thank you for the presentation. Thank you for sharing information with us and I feel like it's very thorough. I feel like that I I was looking at the the website. We have information on all the facilities updates, all kinds of information on the website. I think all of the audit information is in all of the schoolboard packets. I want to thank you and and also Andy and I want to apologize for the insinuation that your numbers are inaccurate. >> So, um, >> could I just address that? I didn't insinuate that their numbers are inaccurate. The these >> You said that they don't seem right. You insinuated that. >> I was just saying these these guys came up with different numbers. We should look into it. >> It would be nice sometimes. at a time. One at a time. >> Okay. So, do you want Have you finished? >> Well, I was just saying I wasn't insinuating that the numbers were incorrect. I think numbers can be looking at numbers can be different. >> One at a time. >> Exactly. One at a time, but we >> we stopped others and allowed somebody else to talk when someone else was already talking. So, I'm just making sure that we're going to put the fair thing across the board for all of us. >> Okay. I just want to make sure when we're all talking we can't hear. And I know this is Daniel. >> Yeah. I I I want to talk a little bit about special education. I spent 40 years in special education. Practiced as a teacher, as a coordinator, as a director and and you're right, Tim, our people in this district and across the country yman's work to provide those mandated and necessary services. And when IDA came in and I was around when 94142 came in in the 70s when I first started practicing special education that was the first federal law and all of this was supposed to be funded by the special by the federal government at 40% and as we know it's been about 13 14 15%. So I don't think the burden is on the state always. It's on also federal government that has these wonderful mandates that are necessary and should include all of our citizens and all of our people. And so um you know it's expensive. It's very expensive as you said we have complex students. We have we have many categories of students that need that level playing field. So, um I just want to say I mean we provide terrific services and for anyone to imply other words or to be doubtful about I think the way we spend our money which I know we've worked so hard across the district not only with the building fund but the teacher funding the supplies the curriculum we spent hours and hours and hours talking about those things looking and turning over leaves where can we cut but not disparage or cut services for students and make sure we've got everybody in our mind at all times. So I just I want to thank you too and I know a lot of times we have people do um want to what uh imply that there's doubt about the way we're handling our finances. I understand I'm a taxpaying citizen. Our taxes went up. I know what you're talking about when people say it's difficult. I have millennial children and only well they haven't all been able to buy houses because it's it's difficult. It's hard. I understand. But I want to say it's not because we're not looking at budgets and we're not turning over every leaf. It's not that we're not making difficult decisions. We are. And I [snorts] appreciate what some of the people have here said, but we don't have to always imply that there's doubt about the way we're handling our finances or there's something going on that isn't I don't know correct or legal but I I agree we can we'll always try to do better we'll try to do better with budgets and we'll try to do better with students we always do >> okay thank you Miss Thompson I didn't mean to cut you off I just want to make sure we have Do you have anything else I just want to make sure everybody could hear and people are starting to talk over each other >> well it was Miss Strife that was stopped from speaking so I was just noting that >> okay Miss St. Oh, did you have anything else? >> I didn't mean to cut you off. >> I I have one question and I'm going to ask it. No. So, I know that the tax levy is 20 about 25% of our revenue that we earn. And I know that I keep hearing that if we had more students, would that reduce our tax levy? Because also with, you know, more students comes more cost. >> How does that affect the levy? Yeah, that's true. Our more students would increase the um yeah, the the local operating levy portion of it that's based on enrollment. >> Okay. Anything else? >> Thank you, Mr. Wall, for presenting tonight and thank you everybody for coming. Um, if I may, I'd like to then go back to the agenda and go to the superintendent report. Dr. K. >> All right. Thank you, Chair Arcan, members [clears throat] of the board. So, I'm going to start off my report tonight with an update on our high school's performing arts program. A recent fall musical, Cinderella, has received multiple accolades through the Henipin Theater Trust Spotlight Awards Program. As a result of this recognition, the cast along with members of the crew and pit orchestra will have the incredible opportunity to perform on the state stage in June. Congratulations to the students and staff who made this excellent production possible. And this year's musical was also a major success in attendance, drawing nearly 4,000 student, staff, family, and community members over the course of its six performances. This is the highest attendance we have ever recorded for a fall musical and uh was made possible by the performing arts center, the new performing arts center at the high school. So again, thank you to our community for that. I'm pleased to share that Otter Lake Elementary principal an Nelson was recently honored with the East Suburban Division Leadership Award by the Minnesota Elementary School Principles Association. Principal Nelson has served at Otter Lake since 2023 and previously served in principal and associate principal roles at White Bear Lake Area High School. Congratulations to an on this well-deserved distinction. The winter issue of the district's community education catalog is scheduled to arrive in residents mailboxes in December. The booklet also contains a district uh district-wide highlights in the Bears's bulletin and excerpts from the 2025 annual update covering student achievement, finance, and district profile information. Printed copies of the full annual update will be available at school buildings and at the district service center in January. Enrollment for the 2627 school year opens next Monday, December 15th. Enrollment packets were mailed to incoming kindergarten families last week. The packets include elementary guides, Spanish dual immersion information, and elementary experiences bookmarks in English, Spanish, and Mong. And once our uh once students are officially enrolled at any of our schools, they will receive a kindergarten welcome packet, including a uh special I'm a Bear t-shirt. And finally, a look ahead. We hope that students and staff members enjoy themselves during the upcoming winter break. School will not be in session from December 24th through January 2nd. We look forward to welcoming students back on Monday, January 5th. And speaking of January, we're excited to welcome families into our schools for Welcome to Whitebear activities. Our elementary schools will open uh will host open house tours for fall 2026 kindergarten families during the first full week of January. And our middle and high school teams will come uh will welcome this year's fifth graders and eighth graders as they prepare for their transition into sixth and nth grade next fall. and details can be found on the district's website. That's my report. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I'm just trying to get a handle. Oh, looks like we will be on discussion item D2. This will be the first reading of school board policies 402, 423, and 611. Do we have any um questions on those policies? Any questions? Give us a minute to get any further questions. Um these are just for u bringing let you know that these will be bringing forward these policies will um come back on January 12th to the agenda for discussion and approval. So these will be coming back and and so we'll see these again. I would like now to go to um operational items E1 action on a certification of the 2025 payable 2026 property tax levy in the amount of 73 million is it >> 598,400. Mr. involved. >> Thank you, Chair K, members of the board. Uh the school board approved the preliminary tax levy on September 22nd, 2025. Earlier this evening, uh we met the requirement for the uh public hearing. And the final step in the tax levy process is for the school board to certify the final levy amounts. Um, the recommendation is to approve the certification of the final 2025 payable 2026 property tax levy in the amount of $73,598,400. Can I get a motion to approve that levy? >> So moved >> by Thompson, I mean Daniels. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Second by Thompson. Now we have discussion. Any further discussion, Mr. Scar, >> I would I would like to add to that that the levy that you're what you're proposing is subject to an operational audit that would be conducted next year. You're trying to amend the motion. >> Yes. Do we have a second to amend the motion? Do we have a second to amend the motion? >> Do we have a second to amend the motion? Okay. The amendment did not pass. We're back to the original amendment to approve the payable and property tax levy amount. Any other questions? >> Could I ask a >> Yes. >> point. Um >> where would that how when we pay for things like that, that's an additional cost to the taxpayers and us in order to have that audit happen. Correct. >> Um yeah. Yeah. And unfortunately, we don't have that on the discussion right now because that did not pass. So that can be take that offline because right now we're just looking at the levy without that. So any other questions about the operational certification of the 25 25 payable 2026 payable property tax levy. Any other questions hearing? None. This will be a roll call vote. Will the clerk please call the role? >> Scar. No >> strife. >> Yes. >> I >> Thompson. >> I >> Aran. >> I >> Daniels. I >> Okay. Motion uh passes 4 to one. >> Uh next on the agenda is the action on the accepting the brochious grants. Dr. K. >> All right. Thank you, Chair Aran, members of the board. So this will uh actually be action on acceptance of brochious grants and Ryan art grants. The White Bear Lake Area Educational Foundation has forwarded 10 Brochious teaching grants and six Ryan art grants to to me and with request that these grants be formally accepted by the board. As part of their internal process prior to consideration of any proposal, the foundation [clears throat] reviews the proposal with our administration and we confirm that proposals are consistent with our curriculum and if technology is used consistent with our technology plan. So the recommended action before you is to accept the 10 Roches teaching grants and six Ryan Art grants from the White Bear Lake Area Educational Foundation uh as shown in the attached material in the the board packet uh in the total amount of $21,778.75. So then the the grants are outlined in the in the packet. So um I'm not going to read through those. You had the chance to do that. I just want to just comment again thank the every time we have these types of things coming before us just a great deal of gratitude for our foundation and the projects that they fund. So >> can I get a motion to accept and approve those grants? >> So moved >> by Mr. Thompson. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Second by Mr. Scar. Any further discussion? Just want to congratulate the people that received the grants. They did work to fill out the applications and and thoughtful thoughtful um questions and um requests. So, congratulations. >> Okay. Any other questions or comments? >> All right. This will be a roll call vote. I'll ask the clerk to call the role. >> Scar. I >> stri >> I >> Thompson >> I >> Arant >> I >> Daniels I >> Okay, they've been approved and carried. >> Next on our agenda is operational item E3 action on the tenative agreement 202527 fiscal year's international unit of operating engineers local number 70. Want to make sure I get it all in there. Mr. Mons, >> well done and good evening. So today I'm here to ask the board to approve the tenative agreement with local 70, our custodial group. And um I just want to say thank you both to the team that bargained on behalf of our custodians and also to um our team with the district. We put in a lot of time there, had a collaborative process um that we feel really good about and this settlement does fall within the parameters that we've that I've discussed with the board. Okay. >> Can I get a motion to approve the agreement? >> So move. >> Okay. Miss Daniels. Second by >> Strife OG. Any discussion? >> I just have >> Yes, Mr. Scar. >> Is this is this the last agreement? >> No, it's not. We still have several collectively bargained agreements to bring to the board. >> All right. Well, thank you. >> Absolutely. Thank you. >> Okay. Any further? Okay. Hearing none. This will be a roll call vote. Will the clerk please call the role? >> Scar. >> Yes. >> Stri >> I. >> Thompson. >> I. >> Aran. >> I. >> Daniels. I. >> Okay. Carries. All right. We're going to go to E4 action on school board policies 305, 306, 608, 722. Normally when we do this, we approve them as a total package. So first thing I want to ask, can we get a motion to approve the policies? >> So moved >> by Thompson. Second. >> Second >> by Strafe OG. Now open for discussion. And if you have something if you you want to look at if you could tell us the page and the and uh the number what you're looking at. Any questions hearing? None. I'll close discussion. This will be a voice vote. All in favor of uh accepting those say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. All right. I think we hit everything earlier when we kind of moved things around from the meeting. So, right now we have the board forum and now it's time uh for the board forum as an opportunity for board members to update the school board and the public on committee work which they have engaged in their official capacity as board members and create awareness of upcoming district and partnership events. Are there any board members that would like to share about your committee work? >> Yes, Mr. D O. Okay. I just wanted to uh speak to a presentation that I saw by Dr. Allison Gillespie and Cynthia Mueller uh that came at the Association of Metropolitan School Districts conference, the AMSD um and Brightworks uh annual conference. The theme was sharper focus for stronger outcomes. I was very impressed with the presentation that you both gave on how we are having been in education for 35 years. I understand the complexities when we include all students and educating all students and making sure all of their needs are met. Um and seeing the presentation was on really honing in and focusing on what's really important and seeing the plan in place um here in White Bear Lake that includes professional growth and development, standardsbased learning framework and collaborative leadership um combined um as they work together really honing in on principal level leadership and educating the administrators to lead in this work. um as a district-wide focus on high academic achievement and focusing our efforts right down to the goals of both administrators, our district goals, administrators and educators. So, I want to thank you and your team for the daily work and being in here just doing what's really hard and complex work every day to meet the needs of every student. It is so appreciated and I see it in the students and families. I attended Cinderella. It was fabulous. um just spectacular pres uh performance. I also attended the Penguin Project um who had a performance at the school district this last year. They'll be doing it again this next year. They had nothing but great things to say about the district support technology um never felt like they were intruding on the district and really felt welcomed in our spaces. And I want to wish a happy holiday to all of our students and families and our educators that work every day tirelessly to meet the needs of our students. >> Thank you. >> Anything else? >> Go ahead. >> Uh yes, I had the opportunity to attend the MSBA's delegate convention. This is a two-day convention that happens every year. uh school board members are usually nominated to be at this event um in order to to be able to be there. And I along with about roughly 11 or 111 other school board members um all gave up uh our weekend to advocate for resolutions that then the MSBA will bring to the legislature and advocate for. If the resolution passes, it has to pass um by the members that are there voting on it. And so this year we had um 36 resolutions. These resolutions come in, they're presented, they can be presented by a superintendent of a district, other members of the district, or by schoolboard members themselves. So we had 36 resolutions um that were given in this uh 354 page book that you get that you have to go through um and study and ensure uh that when you're there you're prepared to um advocate for your school districts. Um I along with members of our local community still water um Forest Lake members all were there together advocating for our students. Um and it was an honor to be there again this year. Right. And we're very >> and I echo the end of the year holidays uh celebrations to our staff and students and any manner that they um celebrate. >> Thank you. >> Everything's been sent. >> All right. >> Thank you. >> I want to talk about I have on Thursday I have the opportunity to attend the Ramsey County League of Local Government's annual dinner. Um this will be at the Keller Grill on Thursday. And I'm really excited that uh Joe Beckman will be our uh guest speaker and talking it there. So I'm really excited to hear what he has to say. And after hearing what I heard today, I think many of us would like his message. He's talking about how we have to communicate and work together and listen and work together uh as a group. Uh and and so I'll be going to that dinner. And just for the record, I paid the fee to go there out of my own pocket that doesn't come out of the school district. So everybody thinks that I'm Ryan. school districts. I'm not and I and I would pay it because I it's a worthwhile opportunity. Those of you who don't know, Ramsey County legal local governments allows uh members from school districts, uh municipalities, the water district um to come together and network. And so it's all those municipalities from the Ramsey County that come together and it's uh I learn a lot because I think I know something about the school district. Then I hear a lot of how the the water district is working and the cities are working together. So that'd be excited. I might be happy to go. Anything else? All right. Well, it looks like very well we've gotten to the part of the adjournment. Can I get a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Okay. By Miss Daniels. Can I get a second? >> Second >> by Miss Thompson. All in favor to adjurnn say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Congratulations. We're now adjourned.