It is 6 PM and tonight it is our uh regular board meeting on December 17th, 2025. And first I ask that clerk Milner take attendance, please. >> Director Beerm >> here. >> Director Michael Moulder >> here. >> Director Zuzac >> here. Vice Chair Dresley >> here, >> Chair Tate >> here, >> Director Bruns >> here, >> and Director Melner here. >> Thank you. And also joining us at the table, we have three of our four student representatives along with our superintendent. Could I please ask all who are able to please rise for the pledge of allegiance and remove your headwear. I pledge allegiance 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. >> Thank you. Next, I'm looking for a motion to approve the agenda, please. I would like to make a motion to amend the agenda to add the 2526 revised budget to the discussion and report section of the agenda. >> Thank you. Could I get a second with that? >> Zusk seconds with the amendment uh as disclosed. >> Thank you. Any discussion? All right. Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the amended agenda say I. >> I. >> I. All those in opposed say nay. Motion passes unanimously to approve the agenda with the amendment. Next, I'd like to take a moment to uh recognize our visitors in the room. Thank you for joining us both here and online. We appreciate your support of Hastings Public Schools. And first up, we have our Raider Spotlight. Yes. So, I would like to introduce uh Mr. Trent Hansen to come forward and acknowledge two recipients tonight. Khloe Arnes for girls swim and dive and Nolan St. Sver for adapted soccer. and I'll turn it over to you, Mr. >> Thank you. Good evening, Chair Tate, Superintendent Wear Camp Perman, board members, and student reps. Uh, this is what you call a live audience behind me, right? This is awesome. Uh, so it's a pleasure to kick off the night with some student recognition. So, as noted, we're going to honor two Hastings High School students that in the most recently completed season, fall of 2025, were Minnesota State High School champions. One in an individual activity, one in a team activity. So, it's pretty rad to have uh junior Khloe Ares sitting right next to me. We're going to start with her. Uh she was the class A state diving champion. So, uh the 34th individual state championship in school history, second in diving, first uh female diver. And there are so many accolades and stats in what was a really decorated year. I'm going to give you just a couple. Uh she set at last count eight different records throughout the course of the year, not just the state championship, but eight different records. Um the school record is considered what's the highest total that you had in any meet at any time at any place. And so she set that this year for the second year in a row. She broke her own record from last year. Uh and then every facility has their own set of um records as well. So if you're in a particular pool and the diving record was X, Chloe rolls in and just breaks it and sets it there, too. Um the other uh thing that's that's really cool to know is that uh as we were talking with her um her coach and her shortly ago, it's more rare for a diver to also be a swimmer at the same time. And she's an accomplished swimmer. She's fast. And so in most meets in two or three swimming events during the night, just not just the diving, which is highly technical and and highly specialized. So um she is one heck of an athlete. And so just want to um spread out the recognition. and you know her head coach Katie McCalpin and assistant coach Joe Hos and then I think it's a really cool recognition and I'm just going to point her out to you her diving specific coach was sitting right next to her in the crowd that's also her mother and she is also the previous record holder of the female school record in diving so we're just keeping it in the we're keeping it in the family got to mess it all around and I didn't ask her permission to do that but I think it's all part of the cool story right so that's a good deal so I will pause there um uh she deferred from any of her kind of planned comments, but willing to answer a question or two if anyone has one. >> Well, that was actually one of my questions. If you've because I went to school with your mom. I biked I biked to her house when we were little. Did you how many records of your mom's did you break over the years here? >> Um just just the one, but she had two, but a few other people broke before me, but so just one. >> Got it. That's awesome. Uh, and are you thinking about doing this beyond high school at this point? >> I think so. Yeah. >> Awesome. Yeah. Right. You're good at it. So, [laughter] >> keep it going. That's awesome. Congratulations and way to represent Hastings. Well, >> any other questions from anybody. >> All right. Thank you. >> Oh, okay. [applause] >> There you go. Get to grab that one. and we can't wait to see your picture. Thank you. >> I'll note uh because there's a couple cool images there. Uh every sport has their own unique dynamics, right? Sometimes part of the dynamic is that the event is loud, it's crazy, it's it's kind of hard to hear. In diving, it's literally the exact opposite. You know, the decorum is you don't move. It's quiet, right? Which gives it a completely different intensity. and uh like all eyes are literally on you. So, it's pretty cool to watch in general. It's particularly fascinating at the U of M uh where the state uh diving championships are held. Huge crowd, quiet crowd um when they're launching, but awesome accomplishment. So, Lindy, if you wouldn't mind punching to the next one. Uh Nolan couldn't be with us tonight, but I want to make sure that he gets his appropriate uh well, he's not here because he has a game. Uh he's he's on the he's on the floor with four hockey right now, but you had a chance to meet Nolan, those of you that were here in the summer, and his adapted soccer team was the state champion in the fall. So, it's the second consecutive state high school championship for the Hawks, which is great. And of note, in this particular tournament, there was three games. Nolan scored 11 goals in three games. He scored all five goals in the championship game. uh he is a machine and so uh he really was disappointed that he wasn't able to be here to tell you about it, but I have a feeling he might be back. Uh he's got a couple years left to play. And I'll uh leave you with this. Our awesome partners at HCTV are working on a 2025 Champions Focus. Um a video um um highlight that'll include all the track and field items from the spring, Nolan from the spring, Khloe and Nolan from the fall. It's going to be done probably at the end of this week so we can kick the 2025 video into circulation before the calendar year is over. But it's been a lot of fun to watch these kids get out and go. So, great way to start. Thank you. [applause] >> Well, we're sorry that Nolan couldn't join us tonight either, but congrats to him for sure. >> All right. And next up, we have our Spark grant recipients. >> Yeah. So, I'm going to go up there tonight, >> okay? >> And do this a little differently. So, I'm going to speak from here so that our recipients can just come up to the podium as I announce your name and um what you've been awarded. And then I'm going to hand you a certificate. if you can just stand here until all are up here and then we'll give you an opportunity to tell everyone a little bit about what the plans are for the use of these funds. I'd like to announce that again these funds are from the St. Croy Valley Foundation. Um we appreciate all the support that they give us. um the the people here that apply for these grants put a lot of time and effort into exactly what the use will be for and it's going to be for more opportunities for kids that come outside the regular practice of what might happen in school. So maybe a bit more hands-on. So I'm excited to have all of you here about our winners. So I'm going to go ahead and start announcing. Um first up is let's get sawing Rosario Malo from Hastings Middle School. Congratulations for receiving $2,610. Congratulations. Appreciate it. [applause] Our next recipient is STEM Robotics, Jill Jensen, Jennifer Harvey, Aaliyah Susk, um through our elementary school. This is for $11,25428. Congratulations [applause] Congratulations. Our third recipient again, uh, Kennedy Elementary Prairie Installation, Jill Jensen, and this is for $15,000. [applause] Our next recipient is CNC plasma cutter for metals class Nathan Newman for Hastings High School. $15,000. [applause] Our next one is learning from Ojiway author Anton Truer, Carrie Jagger, Anthony Lerno. This is Heather Cop, Christy Balm, Jackie Morrison for Hastings High School. And this is $3,500. Our next recipient is for an outdoor classroom. Colleen Tom, Samantha Pearl, and Sarah Jensen at Tilden. And this is for $9,53525. [applause] Congratulations. Congrat. Thank you. And our final recipient, another outdoor classroom for Annette Hansen, Aaliyah Zuzac, Matt Eserby, McAuliffe Elementary for $15,000. [applause] So, I want to officially again congratulate all of you and I would love it if you would if you take some time a little bit. You have a seat right here and tell us real quickly the group about a little bit about your projects. Whoever wants to begin um so I'm Molo. I teach sixth grade STEM here at the middle school. So I have a let's get sawing. Um so in my grant I kind of talked about prep for the high school. Um, so a I'm requesting or I have received 10 chomp saws, which is pretty much a combination of a tabletop kids safe um router saw or a jigsaw. Um, and it only cuts cardboard, doesn't cut wood. Again, I work with sixth graders. Um, it's supposed to be kids safe, ages like three plus. Um, and I just thought it'd be a great opportunity um, to kind of prep them for the high school when they get to work with the real stuff or even when they get to eighth grade here and work in the wood shop here. Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Um, so Annette and I are here receiving this grant for renewing the McCulliff Woodlands, which was um, first established in 1997. Um, and so it's been almost 30 years now, and it's in need of some TLC. Um, we're going to hope to u make it a bit more accessible for students and staff to use. We're going to hopefully add in, you know, some more signage, some um space for outdoor learning out there, more accessible, and make it a good space for not just um STEM and science, but for all the classroom teachers to be able to engage kids in nature and bring learning outside. So, yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Um [clears throat] so uh this $11,000 is going to be spent to buy each of the elementary schools um a classroom set of a robot named Dash uh which is a three- wheeled blue cyclops um that can be Bluetooth controlled with student iPads. Um it is very userfriendly um but has increasingly um sophisticated uh programs that students can do. So it can be used uh for K through 4 um and increase skills computational thinking um and skills in computer science. Uh and then uh the $15,000 will be used to transform um about 4 and a/4 acres of what is currently lawn grass um in the back field of Kennedy uh into restored prairie. Um I'll be working with Prairie Restoration, which is a company I've contracted with at a previous school, um to uh transform that into a short grass prairie with wild flowers. Um and again that will be an opportunity uh for students to be able to study um how diversity of plants and animals um can change uh with that uh new type of law uh compared to lawn grass uh how that will increase um and there are science standards from K through 4 that we'll be able to use um in that space um and being able to see those changes over time and increases in populations um doing [snorts] controlled experiments uh looking at seed dispersal, looking at plant animal structures. Um, and again, I'm hoping to have uh classroom teachers have some opportunities to use that as a space to take students uh as well as for some STEM lessons. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Still on? Yeah. Um, thank you for having me here. You you guys along with the St. Croy Valley Foundation have given the high school medals program funding to get a CNC plasma cutter. Our students at the high school are grades 9 through 12 that are in the general metals and advanced metals classes. They can earn college credits as part of this class. And one of the things we do is we get uh large sheets of metal in that are 4 by8 or 6x10. And students need to make those big pieces of metal into small pieces of metal that they can uh design and build their projects and have a lot of quality learning through that. Currently, we have a handheld plasma cutter. So, it's as good as, you know, it's as good as the students and that's really wonderful. But this is going to open up a lot of opportunities for them to build and design a lot higher quality products and have a a much more rich learning experience as they go through designing and building those products. So I really appreciate what the foundation has done and all the support that you guys keep showing to the pathways for teched. [applause] I want to find out who this talk is. Go >> ahead. Good. >> So, our award um is for Hastings Reads. It's for um Anton Troyer to come and we'll pay for part of him to come and visit us on probably a snowy cold February um day because that's how it is when we plan fun events. Um he wrote um everything you wanted to know about Indians but we're afraid to ask. Um both an adult and a and a children's or more of a young adult version. And then Werewolves won't die. Um and these books are being used at both the middle school and the high school. um when he visits, he'll visit the high school, the middle school, and for all of the community members. And I'll have this if you want it. Um he'll be at um the art center at night um so people can come and see him. And Hastings Reads is a program that really um brings books, authors, knowledge, activities to our community. It's in our schools um and then it's our community members. But I'm a parent in the district with young children in the elementary school and a teacher and I just see everybody coming together around books and learning. So it's cool. [applause] >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Um we're from Tilden. um the preschool team, all day preschool. Um our grant is for outdoor classroom. Uh play is the work of children. And we've kind of been on this journey where we're noticing that in our modern world, a statistic we ran across is that children are becoming more sedentary. They're becoming their day is more structured both at home. We used to say, "Oh, you can do that at home." But they can't. So we're starting to see that we we are the place that we have to allow child development to happen. And so with an outdoor classroom, we are trying to bring the classroom outdoors because outdoor experience are more dynamic. It um it provides mental health, physical, gross motor, fine motor, social, emotional growth. I mean it hits all of our objectives. Um so it's just like the most dynamic place that we can be having a classroom. So uh this this will provide us um to because we want the environment already is rich in outdoors but these tools that we're bringing these toys will provide opportunities for science for language growth. Um we have a big track some tires for heavy lifting that helps with um self-regulation. um a scale problem solving a scale in terms of like weight. >> So um and we've just we've seen a lot of growth already by bringing our classroom outside. We also noticed that this fits with the district's um mission. We care, we empower, we achieve. This does put the child at the center of learning. Um and we hope that this then carries carries home with the children. Uh, and we we see that kids are talking about like social emotional self-regulation words, but we also hope it like bleeds into kindergarten. And we also have seen um we've been wanting to do reverse integration um not integration um with special ed education, but it's naturally happening outside where kids are interacting and it's just been fantastic. So, we are honored to receive this grant and we are we are pleased and delighted to put it in place. So, thank you. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um, I have to say I am envious of our students right now. We have so much cool stuff going on. It's incredible. So, uh, next up we have our fall 2025 employees of the semester. So, thank you. I'm going to just stay up here and I'm excited to announce our employees of the fall 2025 semester. I will announce each of you individually. Come up and then you can tell us a little bit about yourselves. So the first person I'd like to honor tonight is Aaliyah Zuzac. She's STEM teacher at McAuliffe Elementary. She's nominated for employee of the semester award for her exceptional and passionate work launching the new McCullof STEM program. So Aaliyah, will you please come forward again? And I have a [applause] Um, hi. So, I'm Aaliyah and uh, yeah, I am very honored to receive this award. I um, last spring made a big transition from being a second grade classroom teacher for the past seven years um, into being our STEM teacher. And that was not a decision that I took lightly. Um, but when this position was announced, it just spoke to all of my own passions and excitement about education. And, um, I remember in my interview, I told story to Matt Eserby about how some of my most vivid teaching experiences have been centered around STEM activities, the ones that really stick with me, the moments that I remember with my students, and um, it just really drives me. and my parents who are here and who are math and science teachers also probably have contributed to my interest and passion there. But um it's been a really incredible experience. It's been a lot of hard work. Um a lot of time um but just the students are thriving and they are loving it and they are excited and they're smiling and they're problem solving and I see them in the hallways and oh what's what are we doing in STEM today? and you know they're like, "Oh, I put a blue butt on my Christmas list." And you know, just like seeing their their excitement and the things that they're doing and it's just been really amazing and I have awesome teammates and we're really excited about getting this program going and where it's going to go in the future. So, thank you very much. >> So, our next employee of the semester is Pete McGinness, our FIAD teacher, athletic director, and coach for the middle school. I do not believe he's here. Let's see [gasps] back. Um, I'll just say Pete has nominated for his 39 years of exceptional and selfless service to the Hastings Community and School District as a teacher, coach, and middle school athletic director. I want to honor him tonight even as in his absence. Thank you. [applause] Our next recipient is Aaron Ranken, speech pathologist with our early childhood special education program at Tilden. Aaron is nominated for her outstanding work as a speech language pathologist in the early childhood special education program. She consistently demonstrates an amazing attitude and expert dedication. So Erin, can you please come forward? Okay. Hi, I'm Aaron. Um, and I'm speech therapist at um, Tilden and um, I'm just thank you for this recognition. It's really nice. Um, and I love working at Tilden. I have amazing co-workers. Some of them were up here just talking about the really neat just innovative, thoughtful things that they're doing to bring such great learning opportunities to our tiny ones. Um, and it's just it's a great place to be. I look forward to going to work every day, which is really lucky, I think, cuz not everyone can say that. So, um, yeah, I'm just really happy to be here and grateful that I landed at Tilden six years ago. So, thank you. [applause] And now I'd like to introduce Jackie Morrison, special education teacher, as well as the NHS adviser and department lead at the high school. Jackie is nominated for embodying the high standards of high of Hastings High School through her passion, leadership, and comprehensive commitment across multiple school and district roles. Her nominator notes that Hastings High Schools would be quote completely lost without her unquote due to her readiness to take on any challenge with a smile. So, welcome Jackie. [applause] >> Hi. Um, I really hate talking about myself, but I am Jackie Morrison. I'm a special education teacher at the high school. Um, I think this is my seventh year, maybe eighth, I'm not sure. Um, I just really feel privileged to work in this district. I have the most amazing colleagues. Um, they are my lifelong friends and I also said before, I am a parent in this district and I feel so honored to have the teachers that my kids have had. A lot of them have been in the room tonight um because they're exceptional. So, I really I I think it is an honor to go to work every day. Um, I love working with our students. I am a co-teer in some math classes. I am a case manager. Um, I run co-advise the NHS program. Um, I'm all over the place in that building. And I just love seeing kids and working with kids, all kinds of kids, special ed, genet, it doesn't matter. So, um, yeah. [clears throat] Thank you. [applause] And next, I'd like to introduce Karen Gikin. She's our lead cook at Pinerest Elementary. Karen is nominated for her talented work, exceptional composure, and proactive critical thinking in the Pinerest lunchroom. Korean's ability to maintain ease and efficiency while always seeking improvement makes her a vital asset to the team. So, please welcome Karen. [applause] Hi, I'm Karen Giken. I am back in the kitchen for a reason. I don't like being in front of people. [laughter] Um, I've been here almost 30 years. I started to be home with my kids and it's an amazing job and I love every minute of it. I've been at the old old middle school. I've been at Tilden. I've been at um the high school. back to the middle school and I'm at Pinerest now for the last 12 or 13 years. Thank you for nominating me. I was totally shocked when they walked in. I'm like, "What is going on?" Um, I couldn't do it without my team. I have a really good team. They're helping me make decisions. When we had a power outage, we're like, "Okay, what are we going to do? Let's think about it. Let's talk about it." Um, I would not be able to do it my job without them doing their job. So, I'm very lucky to have the team that I have. Thank you so much. [applause] >> And our final recipient tonight is Pam Zeiss, administrative assistant at Pinerest Elementary. Pam is nominated for being the heart of the front office and an indispensable support for the entire school community. So, let's welcome Pam. Oh, she's not here tonight. She wasn't able to I didn't Okay. I can tell you all um when we I was the fortunate one to get to deliver the news that they were awarded the employee of the semester and it was so fun to see how aruck they were and so incredibly surprised and which shows you their humility. I can tell you when we read the comments of all of the nominations that come in, it's it's amazing what your colleagues say about you. And I just appreciate that so much because I I said when I came in, we're a team. We need to act as a team. We need to lead as a team. And when I see those comments, that's exactly what's happening in our schools. So, I want to thank all of you for the work that you do each and every day and for your colleagues who nominated you as they are working equally as as hard. So, thank you. Thank you so much for what you do for the Hastings community and I wish you all the best for the next semester. [applause] [cheering] All right, congratulations to everyone. All of your efforts uh in our district are very much appreciated. Uh we do not have public comment is typically next. We do not have anyone who signed up for public comment this evening. Uh so next we are on to truth and taxation with Miss Subert. Thank you, Chair Tate, directors of the board and superintendent work camp Herman. My name is Jennifer Subert and I serve as the director of finance and operations for the district. And tonight I'll be providing information on the taxes payable in 2026. So based on Minnesota state law, uh we have to hold a public meeting and include a presentation of our current year budget as well as the proposed property tax levy. So those are what I'll be covering tonight. Um included with that, there'll be some background information on school funding. Um I'll talk about the district's budget as well as the district's proposed tax levy for the taxes payable in 2026. And then we'll open it up for public comment. uh Minnesota state legislature is responsible for setting school funding and there has to be a uniform system um and that includes the taxes. So as a result the funding is highly regulated. The state sets the formulas which determine the revenue. Most of those are based on an amount per pupil and then there's tax policy for local schools and a maximum authorized property tax levy. Um, the state authorizes the school board to submit for ref referendums and operating and capital needs, but those do require voter approval. I'm going to just touch on two main areas that impact school district funding. And the first one is the general education formula. So, this graph um kind of illustrates that since 2002 2003, the general education formula has not kept pace with inflation. There's currently a gap of about $1,420 per pupil and for our district that equates to a little over $6 million. So, it's a it's a big number. And then the other major funding area is um special education, which um we are there's mandatory services that we're required to provide to students. Um and with this being underfunded, the general fund is forced to cover those costs. So you can see that um statewide is underfunded by about 503 million for fiscal year 2024. And then um even with some recent funding, the costs will still be underfunded by about 524 million statewide for fiscal year 2028. In addition, there's some um proposed cuts that are coming even further for special ed. So, there was a cut to the special ed transportation aid. And then there's also a blue ribbon commission right now that's looking at the special ed funding that's responsible for cutting another $250 million. Um, as we look at our budget, school districts are divided into separate funds um as required by law. So we'll have our general fund, our food service, our community service, our building construction, debt service, the trust account, internal service, and then the OPED trust, which is for other postemployment benefits. This next slide is just a summary of our overall revenues and expenditures um by fund. I'm not going to talk through this, but if anybody's interested, this presentation is in included in board book and can look at it. So then just some additional summary information. If we look at our revenues for our 2526 budget, uh our revenues are approximately 82 million with our general fund being the largest at about 85% of that and then after that it's our debt service fund at about 5.7% and then our food service fund at 4% and then our community service fund at 3.5. Um again, so that was all of our revenues. If we're looking at just our general fund revenues, those are about 70 million. Um and the sources that they come from, the major source is the state. So that's 70% roughly. And then local is the second largest at um about 27%. You can see the federal government is the third and that's at about 2.3% of all of our general fund revenues. Moving on then to expenditures. Um for 2526, our general fund expenditure total is 71 million. Um the largest being salaries and wages and employee benefits. So we are definitely a people business. Um those two equate to about 71.5% of our overall expenditures. And then the purchase services is the next largest one. and we contract out for our busing, we contract out for our subs, and we contract out for some staff. So, that one um also is definitely kind of the people side of things. So, those three combined is greater than 91% of our overall budget. And then if we look at our general fund expenditures by program, um again if we look at the ones that are really touching the classroom, so the the regular instruction, vocational ed, special ed, instructional support, pupil services, if we add all those together, that's over 80% of our expenditure budget is directly tied back into the classroom. Um just a quick reminder that sometimes changes in our tax levy do not um determine a change in our budget. So the tax levy is based on many state determined formulas plus voter approved referendums and some increases are revenue neutral being offset by state aid. Um again, our expenditure budget is limited by the state set revenue formulas, um voter approved levies and fund balance. And then just an increase in school taxes does not always correlate to an increase in our budget. School districts under are on a different cycle than the city and the county. So our budget year begins July 1st in comparison to theirs being January 1st. And then the 2026 taxes will provide revenue for us in fiscal year 2627 versus for the city and county it's on their calendar year. And then this is just a sample of the proposed tax statement that um all parcels would have received and there are different taxing jurisdictions within that and each um jurisdiction will list the amount that they're getting in taxes. So, school district property taxes, again, each school district has a limited authority to levy for taxes, and MDE calculates the levy amounts for all the different categories, and it's either based on state law or voter approval. Um, this just kind of walks you through the steps of the property tax process, but it really starts with the city or county assessor. They're looking at the estimated market value for each parcel and then again those legislative leg legislative formulas that determine how much we can um levy for. And then the county auditor calculates uh the tax for each one of the jurisdictions. Um the Minnesota Department of Ed calculates the limits and then the board sets the levy. So we're at step five tonight. and then the county auditor will divide that final levy by the district's total tax capacity to determine the tax rates. So, uh September 8th, we did our uh preliminary levy. Um December 24th, the board had approved that. Um in November, those tax statements had been mailed out. Tonight is our public hearing and then following the hearing um the school board will certify the final levy amount. Um our proposed payable 2026 tax levy is a decrease from 2025 of about $399,000 or 1.9%. And then the changes by levy category and the reasons for the major increases or decreases in the levy are coming up. So this is just a summary um that you can see comparing the payable 2025 taxes to the payable 2026 taxes. Um and there are many categories and again as we talked about there's formulas um to determine all these amounts but you can see in the total it is a decrease of that 399,000 and it was also a decrease last year. The change is really related to prior year adjustments. So there um many of the things are based on estimates and then later years they're recalculated based on um actual information and they're retroactively adjusted. And then the factors that impact an individual taxpayers's taxes. So there can be a change in their individual property. So that can impact how much tax they pay. um there can be a change in the total of all properties within the district. Um again, that will impact what they pay. And for um Hastings, our tax base increased by about 1.61%. And then the referendum market value was also an increase of about 2.17. So, we're seeing an increase in the value of the property within our district. and then just increases and decreases in the levy amounts um caused by those formulas or voter approved referendums. Um this is just a quick kind of example that um relates to the property valuations. So if we have two houses that are equally valued at $100,000 and our total levy were $500, um each property would be paying 250 of that. But as the values of the houses change, so this example will show the top house is 110,000, the bottom is 125, the total levy is still the 500. [snorts] You can see that they're paying a different tax amount because it's tied back to the value of their home. Uh, as we look at a 4-year comparison, um, and this is just kind of meant to be an example of the school district taxes only. Um, and it's shown based on no change in a 10.8% increase in property values for residential homes. Um, it's meant to be an example for properties within the city of Hastings and it is prepared by Ellers, our municipal advisor. Um, you can see here if we just kind of follow the example of a $300,000 home, the taxes in 2023 were,080. 2024 1,120. So, an increase there. But then when we get to 2025, there's a decrease. It went to 1,67. And then 2026, another decrease, 1,03. There's some additional examples in here that I won't go through. um based on different property types, but again they are included in the presentation if anybody's interested in going back and looking at those. Um and then there are some state property tax um either like refund programs or deferral programs. I have those listed here. Um I would just say contact your tax advisor on any of these if you're considering them to understand them better. and then our next steps. So, the board will accept pro uh public comments on the proposed levy and then later in the action items, the board will certify the 2026 property tax levy. So, I can turn it over to the board if there's any questions. Um I I do have a question. Could you go back to the slide where you had the examples or not the examples, the home that one? >> Yep. So, so the the taxes are going down for the second year in a row, but even if you look at the taxes, the proposed taxes for 2026, those estimates are actually lower than what people were paying in 2023 for taxes on every single one of them. >> Correct. >> So, that's good news for taxpayers. >> Correct. >> Can I follow up? >> Yeah, Director Zuzac. So just uh to to clarify because my I mean that the levy is going down by 1.9%. But my taxes when I look at the school portion are going down by more than 1.9%. And it doesn't take a lot of head scratching to see that that happens because the what we are levying what we are getting is less than what we got last year. That's that's the primary driver. But the total value of property within the district or the tax capacity of the district has gone up considerably. Did you say 2%. >> Yep. So I can get back to that >> maybe. >> I I think it I think it was 2%. And and then >> Yeah. So our tax base is increasing by 1.61 and then the referendum market value is increasing by 2.17. >> Yeah. So, so that means that the first number is the value of my property individually. On average, individual property owners, their value went up by 1.3%. But that tax capacity also includes the growth of businesses or other homes, other properties that are in the district. >> Correct. >> So, those are really the drivers. Yep. >> Um, yeah, that's that's good news to your point, Chair Tate. >> Yeah. >> All right. Any other questions? >> All right. Thank you. >> Yes. >> Uh, and now I'd like to open it up for public comments. Uh, anyone is welcome to come up and just want to remind you this isn't an opportunity to interact or ask questions. Um, but you're welcome to come up and share your thoughts if you'd like. All right. No. Oh, yep. Okay. Welcome. >> Thank you. >> So, she was saying that um the tax was the the levies were tax um voter approved levies, right? So, where's the where's the one that you guys uh voted on the board? Is that included in this or what happened to that? >> Yes, it is included in this. It was initially a voter approved and then um legislatively there's an option for a board renewal. >> Okay. But that the the legislature put that law in in 2020. The this was supposed to be up in 2023 and the legislature put that in in 2023 and then the board voted to extend that levy for another 10 years. So it wouldn't have been a voter approved. It would have been a board approved levy, but it's you're saying it's a voter approved levy. The voters did not know that it would go another 10 years. The voters voted on it for 10 years and then that was supposed to end that contract. That's a contract when a voter approved. It's a voter approved levy. So, that contract was up and then the board okayed it without the voter approval. So that should be corrected if cuz it wasn't. And then there was another that same year there was another levy put on the voters which they did approve and I'm wondering that was like uh 20 thou $20 million. I'm wondering if that um levy the board will extend that for another 10 years and if the voters knew that at the time when they voted for that levy. [clears throat] >> So the initial levy was a voter approved and then based on legislation the board had the authority to renew it. So that's the that's the one piece. The second piece is the additional one that was added was the tech levy and there is not legislation that allows a board to currently renew that. >> Okay. So then that one will end in the 10 years like Okay. All right. But the legislature I just have to say this. The the legislature can't put in a law that's unconstitutional. So there's that and it should it's a binding contract. That was a binding contract between the voters and the board and a vote. It's like the contract should have ended and it didn't because the board voted to extend it. The there's there's no law that's a law that's unconstitutional. It doesn't matter what it is. It has to go it has to align with constitution. So it that was not uh that wasn't a voter approved levy and it should be taken off as a not a voter approved levy. It should be a board approved levy. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Thank you for sharing your opinion. Appreciate it. >> All right. Next up we have our reports and discussions. And first up we have our student reports. Um, sorry taking a while to load. Uh, first up we have student representative Henson. All right, good evening everybody. Um, starting off with Kennedy. They had a very exciting month. Starting December, they did 10 days of giving which students donated food to Hastings Family Service to ensure that no person goes hungry over the winter, which I think is very nice. And then multiple students get creative through beautiful art that is gorgeous. And then the third grade students had an author visit from Christine Conlin. They learned about the life of an author and then the works that go into writing, which is awesome. And then we talked a little bit about that STEM grant, which I think is pretty cool. And then the fourth graders and their focus group had a visit from the superintendent, which I personally love that. And then there's a picture of that right there, which is super cute. And then they had a Carpenter Nature Center visit. The fourth graders took that visit. And then they learned about survival situations. And then that was sponsored by Wendy Lumis and Karen Eggberg. You can see them hiding in their little survival fortress, which is super duper cute. And then they had a sea life visit, which is super cool. I used to work at Sea Life, so it was fun seeing these pictures. And that's them holding a stingray tail. And then them at the touch pool area. There's just more pictures. And then the science museum came to visit the kids at the school. They taught the fourth graders about paleontology. And then that looks like just a little demonstration with like a dinosaur in a tree. And then at Tilden, they had a very fun visit from Climb Theater. And then they demonstrated how to be a preschool student in self-regulation. And then they're reading a little book right there. And then the students created a thankful turkey in Miss Mitchell's class. All right, thank you. Any questions? All right, and on to student representative Dery's report. Good evening. Okay, starting off with McAuliffe Elementary December 5th, they started the month off strong. Um the first grade students are having a blast learning to code with the Bluebot robots as we heard um completing mazes designed by their classmates. December 12th, the kindergarters the kindergarteners got festive making gingerbread houses out of milk cartons with their grandparents and or loved ones. December 19th, the kindergarteners have an exciting visit coming up from the Pleasant Hill Library. December 22nd, winding down towards break, the students are getting a very special treat from our HHS Jazz Band who will be performing a concert for them. And then finally, to kick off break on December 23rd, the students are ending their last day of school with a fun game of winter bingo. I'm super jealous. Um, these photos right here were from the STEM students learning to code with their blue bots. And then Pinerest had a or has a very busy month this month, December 1st to 10th. In the spirit of the season of giving, Pinerest absolutely crushed their 10 days of giving, raising 2,925 pounds of food and they earned themselves a Culver's party. I also um was noted that they raised $610. Um December 4th, the fourth grade students were visited by members of the HHS band to explore a variety of woodwind instruments during their music class. December 5th, the Minnesota Twins mascot joined the p the Pinerest to pro to provide a program called TC Strikeout Plan. TC Bear taught students the importance of breathing exercises and how to manage their mental health with a three-step plan called notice it, name it, share it, which is super important. And then December 17th, the third graders took a field trip to the children's theater. December 18th was finally is finally the Culver's party, which Culver celebrated Pinerest for raising the most among the three elementary schools for the Hastings Family Service. December 18th and 19th is the grandparents day for the kindergarten students and they are making gingerbread houses to celebrate the holidays. December 19th, the fourth grade field trip to the classic Nutcracker at Oshanaugh Street Katherine University will take place. And then December 22nd is the choir holiday show for parents. And then also December 22nd, choir, jazz band, and spiral singers are get to provide a show for the Pinerest students and staff. Here are some pictures of all of the food and produce that the Pinerest students raised. And then our HHS jazz band visiting Pinerest for their music class. >> Awesome. Thank you. Any questions? >> Nice. Well done. >> All right. And then on to student representative Suarez Garcia. >> Okay. So, for the high school, uh this month at the high school, the Raiders refuel crew was started. This is a group of our special education students who go around delivering coffee and other other beverages to the teachers along with the occasional snack. This is a great opportunity for these kids to learn useful job skills. Also, the website specifically the high school portion has been revamped to highlight the pathways making it easily accessible for parents but also students allowing them to dig deeper into different routes post high school. And then for the arts this month there it was really crazy for arts students. Uh there was two concerts um that showed their festive spirit. The band and orchestra students had their concert on 129. That was the last Tuesday and it was like a snowstorm. It was horrible. Hopefully everyone got there safe. I was there all day cuz I didn't want to drive home and then drive back for it. But my si little sister played in it and it was great and yeah, it was a blast. And then the choir concert was Saturday. Uh that was it's s always super long for choir kids cuz we have to do two concerts back to back but it's always fun and um it's going to be I'm going to miss it cuz it's my last year doing it but it's it's definitely a fun experience. And then some extracurriculars. Winter sports are underway. We have 12 different Hastings High School sports and one adapted cooperative sport. We do host a holiday basketball tournament in two weeks for boys and girls which is great for our community. And we have sports like wrestling, boys hockey, and girls hockey that all play in in and out of town holiday events during the upcoming holiday break. Also, our knowledge bowls first team is doing really well to start off the season to is doing really well to start the season off with a seventh place finish at their first meet this year, which is insanely good for for Knowledge Bowl. Um especially cuz the top around if you're in that bracket almost every single person who was above us I'm actually I I'm on the team for that went to state last year which is it's it's really good to be up there. That's way better than we were last season and we're hopefully going to make a good run this year. Uh and then lastly, youth and government students are getting ready for an exciting exciting convention next month. Okay, now the ALP. So they had their annual Thanksgiving sale celebration. The ALP celebrated its annual Thanksgiving tradition Thanksgiving tradition on the day before Thanksgiving. Festivities began with turkey bingo, a favorite activity among students. Each turkey bingo winner received a custom-made hat constructed by Mr. K. In addition, the ALP staff provided a full turkey feast serving over 50 students and staff members. There was an abundance of food ensuring that all attendees were served and able to enjoy the celebration. And there's some photos from that, some hats, and then the college and career readiness, some campus visits. The ALP completed the its first campus visit of the school year with a trip to Dakota County Technical College or DCTC. The ALP also aims to provide two to three campus visits each year to support students post-secary planning. These visits intentionally focus on two-year technical and community college as the majority of HHS students who pursue per post post-secary education typically enroll in institutions other than four-year universities. And then lastly, Hastings Online Academy, HOA. The Hastings Online Academy remains very active this year. HOA is currently serving a total of 70 online students, including 27 full-time students and 43 part-time students. Early enrollment data for semester 2 indicates continued growth with 37 full-time students enrolled and 39 part-time students enrolled. HOA continued to provide flexible learning options to meet the diverse needs of students across the district. >> And then it report. >> All right, any questions? >> Okay, thank you. And then unfortunately, student representative Banky can't be here tonight, so keep going. >> Okay, so Jen reported on the middle school and this is some things that she had to note. So for the Hastings Middle School on December 8th and 9th, the middle school had one of its scholastic book fairs. Many students were allowed level were awarded level up awards this week for their excellence in and outside of the classroom. And I believe those are pictures of those students. And then students can audition for the winter play How to Get Away with Murder this week. Today students were able to get involved with some school spirit with a Whoville dressup day. Hastings [snorts] Middle School has been invited by Dakota County and Public Arts Advisory Comm Community Committee to help promote the 2026 Dakota County Students Art Contest. This annual event celebrates young artists across the country and we encourage our HMS students to showcase their creativity. Students can submit designs until late March. On December 23rd, the students will have Jingle Bingo where parents have the option to donate wishlist items. And that's that's a wrap. >> Thank you. [laughter] And this right here tells me exactly why I feel tremendously busy as a parent in December, right? Lots going on in our schools. Lots of fun stuff. So, thank you students for all your great information. Appreciate it. [clears throat] >> Uh, next up we have our superintendent report. >> Thank you. So, I would like to also reiterate all the opportunities to see wonderful concerts and activities our kids are in, all the sports. Um, I too was at all the band concerts and I was at the concert on Saturday and I have to tell you this, Mr. Warren doesn't know I'm doing this, but I went up to him a couple months ago, went visit him, see how he's doing, and I said, I'm so excited to hear this choir. I said, do you know uh Wartford Choir? I was there my freshman year. I sang in choirs, been all this stuff. And he's like, yeah, I know the director there and it's the world just keeps getting smaller. Yeah. >> And I said, "Well, you have to go to Christmas at Warbert because it's so awesome and it's just great and you know, they plan their entire calendar around this." And he's like, "I, you know, I I've got not gotten there yet, but I know it's I've heard it's just outstanding." So, I go Saturday and I'm just impressed with every number that keeps happening and I'm just so excited and I'm almost [clears throat] like wanting to cry because I'm not at Christmas at Warberg this year. All of a sudden, the kids come down the aisles for that final song and we get to sing with them and we get to sing Silent Night. And that's exactly what happens at Christmas at Warberg. >> And it took everything I had not to just want to just stand up and, you know, cheer. And I can tell you that the performance is collegiate level. >> It's fantastic. >> It is collegiate level. So congratulations to all of the performers. the jazz band. Outstanding. That was another thing I was in I love so much. So anyway, I just want to say to all of our community, please go to these events. You are missing out if you don't go. I'm inviting my family, my meaning my extended my sisters, I'm inviting them next year because they have to see this. So I just want to say I have to reiterate wonderful things happening. Um, I would also say too, I'm excited about you can see the grants that we're given and you can see the opportunities our kids are going to have for being outside in the learning environment. Um, I'm really excited to see where this goes for our elementary kids. Also, with the prairie that's going to be um started at Kennedy, there will be opportunities for our high school students to come over through horiculture classes, etc. and and participate in learning and opportunities there as well. So, this is a district-wide really opportunity. Um, depending on what happens with Pinerest and Mclliff with their outdoor or outdoor classrooms, there may be opportunities where we do little small mini field trips where they can come over as well. So, there's a lot of plans in our future to see where this goes. And I feel to me that aligns beautifully with our pathways. As you can see, our middle school grants that were awarded align nicely with some of the pathways that are happening. We will be looking at that work more explicitly next year on that middle school alignment to high school. Um I've been thinking a lot talking a lot of different teachers and and leadership around what is our vision for the next three to five years. We need to start to maybe tap down on some things. It's coming to us. Um we have some good things started. I'm really excited to see what our future is. So that's kind of my report. I would love to say happy holidays to everyone out there. I'm excited for kids to have a little bit of a break. Although, as you can see, many are in tournaments and so I don't really know how much of a break they'll get, but we've had a really good really good start to our year and so I want to thank everyone for that and happy holidays. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, >> you do know that peace piece is a it's a tradition, right? So, so we do it every single year. So, every person who is in choir that goes through Hastings, I mean, you you just talk about the closing song and I get the chills because you and to have um I mean, I think it's special to have son of Lynn Warren now directing. So, it's like the legacy on the choir level and then there's also the legacy on the instructor in front of you and it's just it's really emotional. So, I second how amazing our choir was. >> Yeah. >> I have to say one other thing. I was just at fifth grade and sixth grade last night. They were [snorts] awesome. that they were incredible. And I went on I said that's why high school's so great is because we start young and we it the the level of education that's happening what how they're learning how to sing uh is amazing and so we really have good things happening here and I was it was just wonderful and I thank everybody for their hard work for that. Yeah, it's awesome. And if if folks haven't gone to the band and orchestra, the holiday band and orchestra, it it is something to see. The entire stage is packed with students. The sides of the stage are packed with students. In front of the stage is packed with students and you have three conductors going at the same time >> to conduct the final song which is which is amazing. It was slay ride this year and it was fantastic. [snorts] >> Um anyway, on with other business. It's a lot of fun, right? Talking about all the concerts and everything. >> Thank you. All right. Uh, next up we have our building construction fund project update with Miss Hubert. >> Thank you. So, just a quick reminder that the building construction fund accounts for the money the district received from the voter approved bonds for school renovations and improvements. Um, we continue to work on closing out these final projects. Um, they they do take time though to make sure that all the work is done and done correctly. So, we currently have a balance of about 562,000 [clears throat] in the fund. Um, and the unallocated is about 404,000 of that. Uh, the only update since last month was the interest that was earned and we'll continue to work on closing out these projects and then we'll make the final arbitrage payment. >> All right. Any questions? Thank you. Next up, we have our data request update from Miss Mullen. Good evening. Um this evening, um I'm happy to report we have no new data requests since last board meeting. We do have four that are pending that we're working on that are in progress and our legal bills as far as data requests this month were $639.50. Thank you. Uh next we have a presentation on paid family medical leave. Miss Mo again. >> Good evening, Chair Tate, Superintendent We're Camp Herman, and members of the board. Um, this evening I have the pleasure of presenting to you on paid family medical leave. It's kind of a swear word in our office. Um, and I will I will share I'm just going to share some of the basic information about it, but I just want you to know none of us are experts. We are literally learning this webinars as late as 2:00 today trying to just get all we can for the information regarding this law. So I'm just going to give you a highlight of the law so you kind of have a an overview of it. Um so what is paid family leave? So, the paid family leave is a state provided benefit that kicks in on January 1, 2026, and it provides payments for a portion of an individual's um base pay [cough] for qualified leave. There is a premium or a tax that's um paid by the employer and the employees. In the in our district, we have that split 50/50. So, it's a 88 tax and the employee and that's split equally. Eligibility is uh for payment is based on the earnings of the individual during the previous year. In order to qualify for it, they must have earned $3,900 in the previous year, but that is across all employers that they may have worked for, not just our district. The maximum benefit per week that an employ an individual can earn is $1,423. Employees apply directly through DED for the benefit. Uh generally in order to qualify for this you would have to have a a um condition that lasts at least seven days to qualify. The exception to that would be bonding where there isn't a 7-day like elimination period. Um and this leave can be either used consecutively or intermittently. I did provide uh just a snapshot of the payment calculator. Even the calculation of what they're going to pay for benefits is very difficult to figure out. So they take the first I I printed out the thing. So if you the the wages you earn between 0 and $711.50 per week, [snorts] you get 90% of that towards your benefits that they're going to pay you. the next amount from 711 to423 um you get a different a 66% of that added on and then the next level is wages above 1423 you get 55% of that. So even just calculating what a person's going to get for benefits is very it's not an easy thing. There is a calculator which is what I have a screenshot of up there where you can put in your information that'll give you a calculation that would should get you close to what it is. [snorts] The available leaves under this paid family medical leave act. There's two portions of it. There's family leave which covers bonding caring leave so care to care for a family member. um military family leave or the safety leave which is kind of consistent with the ESST for the um abu domestic abuse and those kind of safety issues. The other portion is the medical leave which is um leave for your own serious health condition. What's available under the under the law is up to 12 weeks of medical leave and up to 12 weeks of the family leave, not to exceed a combined 20 weeks. um for both there is this leave is available to both spouses. So the um what we're finding in our district is we have paternal leaves that are being requested in increasing numbers compared to what we've had because they can take paid leave under this family medical leave. Um there are employment protections that are in place. So there are job protections which basically means we have to restore an employee to their original position that they were in when they left. Um in order to qualify for the job protection you have to be employed at least 90 days in the with the employer. We are also required to continue the health insurance contributions um paying our portion of the insurance. the employee paying their portion. If an employee is out and is not in a paid status under the paid family leave, um we would then have to make arrangements for them to pay those premiums similar to what we would do for COBRA continuation. Uh and then the other piece is no retaliation. We can't interfere or retaliate and we also cannot make the employee give us their payments. There are some pretty big district impacts um to this new family leave. Um the big one being with our substitutes. We're anticipating we already have experienced a shortage of substitutes. We anticipate an increased um shortage due in part to the number of absences um that we anticipate having in a significant increase in number of absences, the length of leaves that people were on. If you remember under FMLA they had a total of 12 weeks and a couple combined couldn't exceed 12. Now they each get up to the 20. So that and when you have employment where you have two spouses employed by the same employer, it has a potential double impact for us. We have a lot of that in our district. Um the other piece is if there are individuals who had a child during 2025, they are able to take leave in 2026 for that for leave for that child. even if they already took 12 weeks in 2025, they're eligible for leave again under the PFML. Um, we did anticipate the increased sub costs as we were doing the budgeting process. Um, as Jen did her budget, we did increase that um, budget line by half a million dollars in hopes of trying to at least offset most or some of that cost. Um, and we do expect an increase in our collapsed classroom and loss of prep coverage where we have individuals covering inside the district for each other. Um, the other piece would be increased workload. You have staff that will be covering with if there's not subs available, you have those collapsed classrooms and people picking up additional work. Um, we are also required deed is who deed does an unemployment who also is handling all of the PFML processing. They get the applications to deed, but then they turn around and submit requests to us for every leave to provide them data on the individuals who requested leave. Excuse me. So, that's um additional work that didn't take place before. Um we also um are as I said earlier we're expecting an increase in the number of uh leaves that we usually take and because you now have to coordinate ESST FMLA PFML district paid leaves the meetings and the conversations with individual staff members requesting leave takes significantly longer to try to um get through all that information and explain um the coordination and tracking of these leaves. Um, we already track FMLA because there's a max of 12 weeks. You now have to track FMLA separate from the PFML. Um, and our district leaves go through the system, but it's another piece that has to be tracked. And then the time um for calculation of payroll at leaves and top off. So you'll see on the agenda there was um we have someus going for top off of um to allow top off for PFML. that is we are one of um I would say we're the minority of districts who are allowing top off so we're going to be guinea pigs in the process um but it's going to take some work to figure out what an employee is getting from DED and then what we need to top off as far as leaves and calculate the pay without exceeding 100% of their pay. So we will need to wait for information from deed to tell us what they're getting so we can figure out what we need to pay them. Um and then the districtus I talked about already. We do have um some there's some pretty significant notice requirements. We started back in August. We are we were required by December 1st, 30 days prior to the implementation to provide notice to our employees about the benefits that would be available. We actually put this in our safe schools training back in August when staff came back to work. um as one of the modules. We also um begin at that time putting it in our new hire packet. So, all of our new hires as we've gone along have already been notified um as part of the hiring process. And then I sent an email out on December 1st just as a follow-up reminder reminding people of the leaves. We again gave them the notice requirements um the legally required one. Um I have a snapshot of a district uh developed handout that we developed. We actually worked with the teachers union as we did negotiations to try to put something together that would be easy for staff to understand. So this gives you the three columns. You can't see them on the clearly up there. It's got the PFML, the FMLA, and then um ESST. It explains what the different leaves types are, what's available under of each of those leave types, um the qualifying reasons, um who's covered, and how much you get each year. So our hope was that this would be a snapshot that would be easy for staff and then we put links right to the HR team at the bottom so they can access help right from the bottom of it. And then the other piece we started at the same time is a frequently asked questions. So in the email I provided a link and as we do meetings with staff and as we get questions we'll continue to just add the Q to the Q&A so people have an ongoing updated resource for what we know and what we're learning as we go. So that is PFML in a nutshell. I I can answer questions if you have them. [laughter] [snorts] >> I do have a question. So am I right that they can it's it's all three of these that they can layer on each other. >> Mhm. >> Okay. >> So PFML is a paid absence. FMLA is an unpaid absence. FMLA is 12 weeks. PFML is 12 + 12, not more than 20. And then ESST is we've made our sick leave a combined sess and those all depending upon what you're eligible for can be layered. >> So when are when do you I mean when do are we going to know how this interacts with our budget is it going to be a while still >> um well we this first six months we we start January now so we'll have the first six months >> um which we can kind of see what's happened with that first six months. This first year is going to be kind of a double hit because we've got the people from 25 also eligible. So I don't know if we know a single year until we get through the second year. >> Okay, >> sounds good. just makes me raise questions about >> um can you go into the top off uh thing a little bit more and just provide like uh what's the rationale for doing that and what does it really mean please? So the top off is allowing a staff member to whatever their compensation is that they're getting from deed for the PFML, they're allowed to top off using district acred leave that they have um banked. Theus that we have in place the for the exempt employees um we are requiring the use of half a day increments to top off their leave. So regardless of what it takes to do that, it's a half a day of leave to top off as as long as they don't need more than a half a day to get full pay. And then our hourly employees, we did a top off a 2-hour increments. So they have to use at least two hours of leave to be to cover the differences um to get to that 100% compensation. >> And I just want to make sure so the PMFL that is open to any employee >> at all. All they have to earn is the 3,900 and whatever in the previous year. >> Um, and what kind of notice do they have to give when they're using this kind of leave? >> Um, they're supposed to give, I believe it's 30 days notice or as much as they can. Um, they are required by deed, they actually fill out an application when they apply for deed. I actually set up an account to go in to try to do it just to see what it was. When they asked for my driver's license, I backed out and said, "Never mind. I'm not not doing the rest of this." Um, but there is a lot of questions that they ask um when they do that piece and one of them is whether they're going to have a top off of benefits or not. Um, so there's a an application process. Then DED will let them know if they're approved. DED in their questions asks them, have you notified the employer? And then when we get the question that we went through today on some of them that does say, did you notify your employer? And then they ask us, did they notify you? So hopefully that will help. We also put in theou a requirement that within so when you apply you get a certification that you applied. We required in theus that within 48 hours of getting that certification the employee provide that to us so that we can make sure what they asked deed for and what they're telling us they asked for are the same. >> And this is this is open to every employee every single year. [clears throat] Correct. >> Correct. Yeah, I think this is a dirty word for most business owners in this state right now. So, uh, yeah. All right. Yes, Dr. Zuzac. >> Um, when you consider what DED is doing when they get the application from the teacher, would you describe that process as being really judicious or are they just confirming that the person qualifies? To be honest, I haven't seen the applica actual application of what they're filling out past past the initial information where I had to enter my personal information. So, I don't know exactly what's being asked on there. Um, we did when we went in today, we were able to get to um we have two people that have already been approved um that had babies in 25 that are taking leave in 26 and they get a notice of determination that tells them this is your weekly wages that we considered. We actually were able to see the wages from all their employers. Um what they earned from those employers, what the weekly benefit they calculated and they're going to get is, which is what we will then use to figure out what do we calculate as our full wages and the difference to top off. But I do believe there it is based on the short amount I did. I think there's a pretty lengthy process to apply >> are each of the multiple employers. If a if an employee has a couple of jobs, are each of the multiple employees responsible for some portion of the payment? >> Um I believe so. >> Okay. >> The actually the tax is spread across everybody. So everybody's paying the tax. >> Yeah. And then it comes from >> regardless. Yeah. when when you look at the salary that one would have to have to get to you know the the the maximum you know the 88% then 66 and 55 almost every teacher would have a salary such if they're a full-time teacher they'd have a salary such that they would get to the full-time or the full the the broadest benefit I think >> just when I did the back of the matchbook uh math on that chart. >> Yeah, I actually put in just our BA zero salary and calculated off of 50,000 and went through the process and when we took all the breakdowns and got to the end number, it was about 83% of their base wages is what they were getting from the FML. >> Yeah, that's what I was instead of 88 or Yeah. >> Yeah. That I mean that was I was just picking around 50,000. So, it wasn't an exact number off our schedule, but just to get the scenario, what what does it look like? >> Yep. Yep. That that's what I was thinking too. Thank you. >> Another quick question. How does it interact with the summer? Like if they have a child over the summer or like how if they don't take it in the summer, they take it during the school. Like how does how does it interact with that? >> An employee can get um PFML in the summer even though they're not being paid because the wages we're paying are for wages earned during the school year. So they can still can file for PFML benefits in in the summer in addition to the PMFL they're getting on there as long as it doesn't exceed that max. >> Any other questions? >> Yep. Director Dressley. >> So then on top of um the district pays for the insurance, we would also be paying insurance and wages for the subs that we'd have to fill those spots with. Correct. >> Correct. Okay. >> Thank you. All right. So, if anyone is looking for a subbing job, >> now is a good time to consider, especially after January 1st. >> We did meet with um Kelly Services to say, "What are you doing to prepare because we want to know that you're out there doing some extra work to try to get extra pools and so far we have good fill rates this year. We'll see how well they're due once this really hits full boore with all the districts." >> Sure. >> All right. Thank you. wasn't very uplifting, I gotta [laughter] be honest. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Appreciate the information though. [laughter] >> Uh, next up we have our delegate assembly summary. Um, and if if folks noticed before this weekend, um, my handwritten notes were attached in Boardwick and then MSBA sent out a fabulous much nicer looking version of the, uh, summary. So, for folks who aren't aware, the delegate assembly is um where um voted upon delegates go and hang out for an evening and a day uh to talk about resolutions that have been voted on by all of the school districts across the state. And it's basically um the delegates vote on what is going to be sent to the legislature via MSBA's lobbying efforts. So what do we want to see happen at the at the legislative level for this next year? So uh Director Zuzac, Director Dresley, and myself were uh three delegates there out of 116 118 delegates, sorry, 118 delegates from across the state were there. Um and up [clears throat] in front of you, you have a list of the 36 resolutions that were discussed and voted on. Um, and I can say that Hastings, uh, I believe we were by far >> the biggest contributor of resolutions this year. >> Um, and so you can see we are part of resolution number three, which passed, and that is ensuring school districts have adequate time to plan and prepare for the financial and operational impact of new laws and regulations. Resolution number four which passed and that is regarding when new mandates are created that uh that they must include a full fiscal note to understand the full impact. Uh number six was also a Hastings one that passed and that was investing in career pathways and technical education basically um ensuring that they abide by the laws that are already in place. Resolution number seven was one that Hastings put forward as well and this was fully and permanently funding unemployment insurance for hourly school workers. Uh resolution number 10 did not pass. Uh that was the one that was repealing Q comp and putting it into the general fund. I argued in favor of this one. Um and the truth is I thought it was going to fail. Um there were about half of schools right now get comp funds and there are uh is it 27 29 of us that are on the wait list and have been for years. MSBA has been advocating for 11 years now to open up more funding to fund Q comp and to expand the number of schools that it's offered to and the legislature hasn't done that yet. So this was my attempt at another approach. Um and as I like I said as I suspected it failed. um the schools who get CUC comp definitely don't want to give it up, right? So, it's a tough cell. Uh so, that one was the only one of ours that did not pass. >> And let me just mention the districts that did get Q comp, they spoke in favor of it, but of course, they still voted against it. So, uh yeah, they voted in favor of the resolution. They voted in favor of uh repealing UC comp. Um yeah, there were some arguments made about um really the the metrics on that are difficult to to prove for one. Um and then uh the and and the ones that that they do they are able to track it. They said that the results are mixed. So uh so it's just basically that uh half of the school districts in the state are getting extra funding and half aren't. So uh resolution number 23 is another one that Hastings had signed on to. That one also passed and that is authorizing candidates to omit addresses from campaign materials. Um, number 29 was another one that Hastings uh put forward and that was amending earned safe and sick time or sick and safe time mandate to redefine family member to make it a little bit more um clear because right now it is a pretty expansive list of people that you can use your ESST for. Resolution number 31 is was also put forward by Hastings and that was regarding um allowing public school district employers and district uh collective bargaining units the ability to opt out of Minnesota paid leave um that we just walked through and or and if not able to bargain an opt out agreement a 50/50 employer employee contribution shall be implemented and that is all that Hastings signed on to. So >> that's all >> that's all there's a lot. So uh we did well um the the assembly went very well and uh I think it was it was a great experience again. So any other input? >> My other delegates >> just uh Tuesday I think it is we got a a letter from MSBA. all of us did um the the monthly newsletter and it highlighted the delegate assembly and one of the five things that it talked about was the timeliness of school funding and how critical that is. So, I I think that um it it's of interest to me that one of the political adviserss that works for MSBA, Denise, had commented that the that one just makes too much sense to actually pass the legislature, which [laughter] we'll wait and see. Um, there was one thing, one other thing that I wanted to mention that I found was very interesting. I want to say last year there were maybe two resolutions that passed it passed unanimously. Right? There's always somebody in the room. Out of 118 people, you're always going to find somebody who doesn't want to sign on to something. This year there were, sorry, eight nine nine out of the 36 were passed unanimously, which was pretty shocking. Um, and of those I will say four of them were ours. >> So, pretty cool. All right. Anything else on delegate assembly? >> We're good. Good. All right. >> Hey, while we're talking about MSBA, just quick uh acknowledgement. Clerk Milner, Melissa Milner is being uh recognized for your leadership and MSBA getting all four phases of your training done. So, congratulations to you. I hope you're going to the dinner. Uh, thank you for that recognition. That's that's really nice of you. Thank you. >> Congrats. >> No, you're good. >> All right. Uh, next into our schoolboard committee reports and liaison reports. Uh, first up, ISD97 with Director Zuzac. >> Real quick, it was that really cruddy Tuesday night. Uh and so we did not end up recognizing the licensed and non-licensed uh employees of the semester at 9:17 that meeting. We're going to do it in January. And then the only big news to share and it's good news, but one more year. Uh just like Hastings, that district is very well managed financially and we uh had a clean audit. the same company does the auditing for 917 that works for us in Hastings. >> Awesome. Thank you. Uh next up we've got AMSD with Director Bruns. >> Yeah, there were a lot of materials that came out of uh this meeting. It was pretty robust. I'll direct your attention to some of the work around referendums just going over the results statewide. Very successful. like so whatever the narrative was around them saw a greater than supermajority passed through their voting process um the platform for this legislative session was adopted. Some highlights reflect conversations that we're having at this table all the time. So they're addressing school safety and adding funding per pupil funding to that process. Um stabilizing compensatory funding. So maintaining some of that hold harmless um language. uh modernizing fund distribution and then maximizing local control and some of those state statutes that eliminate that from our hands in the connections issue. It'll be it's interesting to look at that and look at what Farmington is doing and seeing the parallels there. Um so it is definitely something that everyone is walking down um and understanding the benefit of that for students. Uh they also highlight just challenges around recruitment and retention of staff. They do a deep dive on teachers of color. The one stat that I think is really powerful and it is reflective of the last 10 years is that first year teachers leave within the first five. That would be uh sorry 33% of them. So when you think about who you need to where we need to drive our attention, it's that the first five years when it comes to onboarding and induction into the organization. >> Thank you. Uh next up we've got community collaboration committee update with director Milner. >> All right. So, our next event will be held Monday, January 12th from 6:00 to 7:30 in the middle school cafeteria and we are going to be doing a deep dive in the school perception survey. So, for everyone out there, um, if you want to come find out what our students, what our staff, um, and what the community parents are saying, it's going to be a great time to dive in and see what's happening and how we use that information. So what what kinds of things are we going to do to um to use that information for the betterment of our students? Um on top of that, we tenatively also have another meeting planned for the 1 of April. Um and then the committee will meet on the 28th of January to um get the feedback from the community from the January 12th meeting. So, I just urge everybody in the community community who's interested in what's happening in our schools to come. It's going to be a really great interactive um time to to give us feedback, listen to what's happening. It's just going to be a really great um great time to to engage and become active in what's happening in our schools. >> Thank you. Uh next up, we've got our finance committee report from Director Zuzac. Uh two big things were discussed. We talked about the adjustments to the budget, the mid-year budget adjustment, and the timing was a little bit peculiar because we actually had a presentation at this table prior to the meeting. And so the the discussion that we had on Friday was a little bit more in-depth. Um and then it that transitioned well into a conversation about you know uh upcoming levies and and you know what will the process look like for those levies um and the timeliness of it. Our next meeting is to be determined but it's likely going to be in February and it will be on Thursdays. We're going to be switching our meetings to Thursdays instead of Fridays but the date isn't picked yet. >> All right. Thank you. Um, and just a reminder too for folks who don't know, our January 5th organizational meeting is coming up and that's when we will possibly reshuffle committee members, reshuffle um uh things, right? That's when we vote on all that stuff. So, a lot of things are up in the air for next year until that uh all those decisions have been made. Uh, next up, we have our NAPC committee update from Director Bruns. >> Yeah, good evening. Um it's it's always funny with as amate occurs so much earlier in the month by the time we get to the regular board meeting. So revisiting the past work is always kind of joyful. Um when it comes to NAPEC itself, old business, some of the bylaws were just rewritten and then approved so that decisions could be arrived upon on more of a consensus basis and maybe not so concerned about having just really being able to navigate individual calendars. when you think about a committee of anywhere from 8 to 15 on a given night and being able to do those things with enough folks but getting through that. Um we did advertise the community collaboration event that will occur on January 12th. Talked about um can as our new Native American um education liaison and she's absolutely walking right into it. She's doing such a good job of feeling out what was successful before and then collaborating across districts and what are you doing that might be different. Uh, so there's more um from her within this, but it was just exciting to announce that not only was she hired, but she was already hitting the ground running. Um, director Hajes was there from teaching and learning and highlighted that 70% of students who identified as Native American receive reading intervention and all targeted through uh, Fastbridge and other subscreeners. What's been promising in the intervention process is that 90% of kindergarters at Kennedy are showing better than expected growth on those interventions and it's not like the other two are lagging far behind 80% of students at Mculliff and Pinerest achieving greater than expected results. So, it's really promising that the interventions that we've selected are working and that there's a review process for is this effective, is it not? Who is it effective for? Who's slipping through the cracks and who's really excelling in this? I talked about the ELA curriculum review, uh the science curriculum review beginning at the elementary level and then triing moving third and fourth grade students away from iPads and towards Chromebooks. This is something that we already have on hand and would be substantially less expensive and also better prepare students for the work that they do with technology where iPads in interact with apps and learning apps really well, but they're not as generalizable for skills that kids will use across different platforms. Um but cyan cyan peacockale is doing wonderful work. So she's developed goals and strategies for herself and then seeking feedback on that. And I think that's really powerful when you begin with the end in mind. Where do I want to be at the end of the year? And then seeking feedback and sometimes saying like that is a really healthy goal like I I want that to be the goal but it might exist down here somewhere first. But the goals are are really welldeveloped. Um um she's established the Native Club at the middle school with having two meetings already because we do a lot of work at the high school level to help folks graduate and get really connected. But the earlier we can intervene and provide connection and support, the less likely we have to do that. >> So as soon as we can get connected and build those family relationships, the better for for us as a school. It just takes less resources if you're already connected and succeeding at a younger age. the graduation ceremony, which is always really killer. May 12th, 2026 at the high school, be there, be square. They have 11 seniors they're tracking so far. They are rocking uh some MTSS work to make sure folks are on track to graduate. But um as a high school case manager, that can be uh the spring can be a crazy time when you're trying to seek search uh get those credits out and tease them out of anywhere. Our next meetings are January 8th, February 5th, and then we have spring TET consultations February 23rd through the 26th at Treasure Island. >> Thank you. >> Uh, and there have been no student schoolboard committee uh, meeting since last month, >> but I do have a request that >> I'd like to request that we we schedule a student school board committee meeting um, with the current students sometime in January before we start looking at the process of the new students coming. Um, so just to request that maybe we can get that on the books. >> Sounds good. Thank you. And then finally, policy committee. So this month the policy committee met on December 12th. Um since the three policies presented for first reading include substantial revisions, the detailed ration are included in the um committee discussions but I'm not going to read through all of them nor the changes. The changes are available in board book. Um, I'll just go ahead and give everyone an opportunity to if they have questions about policy 520, Student Surveys, 807, Health and Safety, or 903, Community Education Advisory Council. >> I'm sorry, 911. Does anybody got any questions or comments? Those are our first readings for >> brief comment um that sorry a brief comment that uh student survey one we've been working on for months I mean to to get it to where it is. So we're proud to get it to the table today. >> 16 months. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> But it's here now for first reading. So well if nobody's got any questions for these then we'll just there are no changes to any second or third reading policies. Does anybody have any questions about any of the ones on the agenda? All right. Well, then that's all I have for tonight. >> Our next meeting, tenative meeting is the 8th of >> January. >> January at noon. >> All right. Thank you. >> Uh next up, we have our revised budget discussion. And I know the board received uh quite a bit of information at our work session last week about the revised budget, which is why we didn't initially have it on as a discussion item, but um thought it was appropriate to add that into a recorded session as well. So, uh welcome back, Jen. All right, so tonight I'm going to go through a summary of the revised budget. Um the full packet of our budget is available on our website. Um, basically for this presentation, I'm just using some screenshots out of that full packet. Uh, we will first look at the changes to um the budget from adopted to revised and we're looking at the general fund unassigned. So, we had um adjusted pupil units. Once students actually got into school, we update those numbers. So in the adopted we had 4,275. In the revised budget we're increasing it to 4,318. So it's an increase of 43 students. Um as we compare that to our prior year final. It is still a decrease but not as large as we had anticipated. So there is some additional revenue that goes with that increase in the number of students in the amount of about 414,000. Our state special ed a aid budget has been updated to $12 million. This is an increase of $670,000 and it's uh based on two things. First, just knowing more about what we actually got for revenue last fiscal year. And then second, we made a change in how we're using some of our revenue in an effort to maximize our state revenue. So, our tuition, um, we're using more of our federal dollars to pay up for our tuition, which should help us earn some additional state specialed revenue. Our interest budget was updated to 1.2 million, so that was an increase of 400,000. The hourly worker unemployment between terms has now been added to our budget. Um, $280,000 is what we'll receive in this year for costs last year. uh federal special education there's a adjustment of about $89,000 revenues equal to expenditures. So you'll see that when we talk about expenditures also title 1 2 and three again revenues equal to expenditures so an increase of about 62,000. We did get a cyber security grant um approximately 34,000 that we used to pay for some of our cyber insurance. Um and then high school athletics miscellaneous revenues were increased by 15,000 offset again within the expenditures paraprofessional training increased by 14,000 offset within our expenditures and then just all other revenues about 3,000. So our overall revenue budget increased uh 1.9 million. As we look through the expenditures, um the biggest piece for our district is always the payroll benefit calc. Um and that had a a decrease of about 3.38 FTE. And that mostly related to some positions that we were unable to fill um with employees. So we contracted them out. So you're going to see the offset of that in just a little bit. But then at the same time, we update all of our new hires um from estimates to actuals. Once we know what um where they're placed on the salary schedule and what they're taking for benefits, all of that is updated. Um all teachers have been updated to the proposed settlement. So later in the agenda tonight is approving the new teachers contract that has been already adjusted and worked into this revised budget. And then pair of professionals, we are still working with them. Um, so those are still estimates. The substitute costs were uh overall, sorry, that payroll benefit annual kelk was a decrease of about 278,000. Um, but then our substitute costs were increasing by 500,000 directly back to what director moan had already talked to related to the paid family medical leave. um our special ed unfilled positions that we took out of that payroll benefit kelk and just moved them to contracted positions. An increase of 42,000. Hourly worker unemployment between terms 290,000 increase. That's what we're expecting our cost to be this year. Our transportation um increase of about 93,000 and that's general and special ed. um federal specialed just the offset to the revenues that we talked about. Uh the leases, so we did have an increase in the ice arena lease. Um we are renting some space for gymnastics that qualifies under our leases. And then 917 had a change in their DCTC lease. So that's an increase of about 76,000. Um title 1, 2, and three, again, just offsetting the revenue that we talked about. um some special ed expenditures just based on prior year actual expenditures we increased by about 53,000. Our maintenance department expenditures increasing by about 33,000. Um and then all other is about 24,000. The high school athletics offsetting that revenue we already talked about. Same with the paraprofessional training. And then our building supply budget changes. So those are updated with the revised budget every year. and we look at the enrollment to ensure that we're allocating out the correct amount. Uh so we did those adjustments and then they also added a culinary class that we added a supply budget for. There was an audit entry uh for the subsequent year's expenditure. So when the adopted budget was approved, it was overspending by that $98,000. So, as part of our audit, we're required to essentially set that money aside out of the previous year to be used in this year. So, you can see that's decreasing our expenditures. Um, and then some of our tuitions for like care and treatment, PSO, and college and schools, we're decreasing that budget by 90,000 based on prior year expenditures. And then within our safe schools, um there is the proration of the school resource officer. Um that wasn't available to start with the district until January. And then there was an increase in cost in the crossing guards. Um again, just based on prior year expenditure. So overall, that's a decrease of 47,000. And then our liability insurance and workers comp, we have actual numbers now. So those have been updated and it was a decrease of 30,000. So our total budget our total expenditure budget increase was 305,000. So the net is uh 1.677 million. So then as we look at our fund balances and our schoolboard policy, we have some different categories of fund balance. So we have restricted, committed, assigned, and unassigned. And I'll go through these in more detail, but if you just kind of watch that 2526 net, you can see within restricted, we're overspending by about 432,000. The committed um is to the good about 38,000. The assigned is overspending 1.5 million. The unassigned is a positive 768,000. So, our total general fund bal uh total general fund budget we're overspending by about $1.1 million. And then I did just as a reminder list the the fund balance policy. So, we have an unassigned fund balance policy that states will have a minimum of two months or 16% of operating expenses and that would be about 12 million and our projected unassigned fund balance is about 19 million. So, we continue to try to um plan for some future funding changes that we know are coming our way and we'll talk in more detail about those. But then as we look at uh the different categories of accounts, the first one is the non-spendable or the restricted accounts. And for all of these accounts, there are legal constraints. Um they're restricted by statute as far as what we can use those dollars for. And I'll just kind of highlight some of the the bigger ones um within that net budget column. So the staff development, you can see we're spending that down by about 139,000 and that was a plan spend down as part of our budget adjustments. um within the operating capital. That one is overspending by about 264,000 and we do have 400,000 budgeted within that one for the gymnastics facility that we're still working through. And then [snorts] the MA or third party billing is a positive of about 70,000, but we do have two vans that were >> [clears throat] >> um planning to replace in 2627 and that would be about $100,000. The committed accounts, so these are established by school board action and we have two. We have one for pension and the accumulated sick leave and then we have one for technology. Um the pension and accumulated sick leave is determined by an actuarial study. Um it's always a two-year study. So we already had that in place for 2425 and 2526. The assigned accounts um these are accounts that are set up with a specific intent and you can see that first one is that subsequent year's expenditure. So we're we're spending that 900,000 that we had to set aside. Um right now we have within the site improvements we have 400,000 budgeted again for gymnastics and then um the other accounts we're just kind of planfully splending down. Uh the one I'll highlight is the STEM for elementary. We've heard a lot about STEM tonight. Um but we did set up an account to fund those staffing positions. So we're spending down half of that in this year and then half of that in next year. And then the unassigned account. Um, again, this one there is an increase of the 768,000, but that's really because we set aside that 900,000 in the previous year. Otherwise, we would have been overspending. And then just kind of keeping in mind that once we get to that 2627 adopted budget, if that one is overspending, we'll have to do that same audit entry, which will then affect this ending fund balance. So then just a few other things to look at enrollment. Um if you kind of look at the 25 26 column and then that blue line and compare that then to the 2627 column again the blue line. Um you can see that we are continuing to anticipate a decrease in enrollment. And for that one, I'll just kind of highlight, you know, in 2526, our graduating class is 377, but in 2627, our incoming kindergarten class is 253. So that's where the majority of our declining enrollment is coming from. Our higher graduating classes versus the lower incoming classes. This next slide is on the referendum revenue. Um, so we do have the capital project levy and then we have two operating referendums in that. Um, we kind of call it number one on there, but the last year of the revenue for that is fiscal year 28. Um, and in the graph you can see the the orange is the capital projects. Um, the blue is the operating referendum number one. So that one's going to end in fiscal year 28. And then the gray is operating referendum number two. So there is because that has been voter approved under Minnesota statute 126c.17, there is the option for the board to renew it and there is a window. So the board renewal window would be July 1 of 2025 which we already passed through June 15, 2027. And then [snorts] if the board were to choose to put it out for voter approval again, um the window for that or the opportunities for that would be November of 2026 or November of 2027. Um the food service >> I'm going to interrupt you. Go ahead. >> So that's something we as we need to talk about is what are options there. So keep in mind you can the board can renew at its current level. However, that is not at its max that particular referendum. So we could actually go out to the voter to ask for additional revenue if we chose to. Those are the conversations we need to have. So Jen and I will be putting together different options and we'll be talking to finance committee and then we'll talk at work sessions and we'll give you lots of information so that we can make um an educated decision on how we'd like to move forward. Keeping in mind if you were to determine that you want to go out to the voter, I would recommend strongly that we survey our community first to get that feeling of where we think they the tolerance level is for our community before we'd actually put in all of the efforts of um working through explaining to community members what it means. Um that's just a recommendation. So we'll come we'll be doing that work here soon like next month to get that ready to go. So, I just want to bring that to your attention to know that's coming. >> Thank you. Okay. So, then as we move on to the other funds, our food service fund um is projected to be overspending by about 240,000. And some of that is just that capital projects timing that was planned for last year that we're moving into this year. And then we also are working with Taher to revise the contract that we have with them. Um we're anticipating to bring that to the board in January. So, none of those changes have really been reflected in this budget. And then as [snorts] far as fund balance policy for the food service fund, um it's a minimum of $100,000. So, you can see our ending fund balance is still within those guidelines. And then community um service fund net budget is about $3,000. So, just a little bit to the good. Um but again, their ending fund balance is about 223,000. The fund balance policy is a minimum of a h 100,000. So they're still within that policy. The building construction fund, I think this is at least the second year that I've, you know, budgeted for it to end at zero. Um, some of these projects are taking a long time to close out. Um, but again, we're just really trying to make sure that they're the projects are completed and the work is done the way it should be. Um I did budget to include the arbitrage fees and then um we're just anticipating that by the end of the year we'll have all that taken care of. The debt service fund um projected to have an ending fund balance of about $1.4 million and we do have two um outstanding bonds. So there's the 2016 school building bonds. The final payment on that is February of 2030. And then there's the 2018 school building bonds or the capital appreciation bonds. Uh [clears throat] the final payment on those is February of 2041. And then our trust funds. Um so our dental fund, we're projecting that our revenues would be greater than expenditures by about $56,000. And then our health self-funded uh would be expenditures greater than revenues by about 399,000. I'll just note on that one that I um budget for what the highest anticipated amount of claims is. Um historically we've come in better than that. So we're hoping not to use fund balance. Um but from a budgeting perspective I'm just always conservative with that. >> [snorts] >> And then fund 45 uh revenues greater than expenditures by about 488,000. And again, that's for the other post-employment um benefits. And that's the end of what I have unless there's any questions. >> Um I do have a question. So obviously we said with the with the leave the unknown of the leave act, right? Um you said we budgeted 500,000. Are there other like big items that could be out there that we're just a little uncertain of? I mean, I know this is great news that we're projecting a revised budget of of um coming in better. Uh but the question is what what are the unknowns that you still see out there? >> Yeah. So, I've tried to budget for everything that I know of for this year. Um so, I will say there's nothing that I like knowingly didn't account for. So if there's something that comes that's unexpected, there's really nothing I can do about it. I've tried to account for everything that I know of. Um >> I think with the 1.3 million we put aside 1.3 million. You want to talk about those the assigned for those unexpected future? >> Yeah. So we did talk about this as um part of audit but you know for last fiscal year we came in better than what we had planned primarily based on interest some unfilled positions and then special ed funding because we did some changes in how we were um coding things to try to maximize that. So we had an opportunity to set up an assigned account for future funding changes. It has a million3 in it and you can see based on this like we're not using it in this fiscal year. We're carrying it forward so that we have it going forward. And there's a a list of potential funding changes. Um you know there's like the unemployment, there's the changes to special ed, there's this PFML, there's just there's a long list of things that Go ahead. >> I got to jump in on that one too. Compensatory is another one. and compensatory could be an unknown sooner than we think because that legislation says we're only holdless this year. So, they got to get moving on it. That's why you'll see in all the platforms going to the legislature now that they they've just got the committee together now. They're starting the work to look at compensatory and how we they might devise a different uh calculation method. if they don't get that work done by June 30th, that funding change will be very very different for us come next year. So that holdless that's on the platforms of all of the major AMSD MSBA, etc. is super important. So when you talk to local legislators, if you're, you know, if we get down to the when we get down to the capital, that's got to be a really big push because they, if they can't get that work done to solve that problem of how it's uh formulated, then they need to renew that, give us that old harmless an additional year. So I just plant that as an unknown >> that we don't know about. And that summerterm unemployment, yeah, >> you'll see that's a big one. And that is so just know that that is an increase every year because as we give raises every year, so does that unemployment go up every so so even if your staffing stays the same, that cost is going to go up. And so it's really important that the state fund that fully >> at the state level. It shouldn't go on local property tax owners. It needs to be fully funded at the state level. And so I just remind us all of that, too. And I know I mentioned it as part of truth and taxation, but the other thing out there is that blue ribbon commission for special ed. Um they're tasked with cutting $250 million, which is a huge number. And if they're unable to do it, um it would come out of our cross subsidy funding. So one way or another, it's going to impact us. We just don't know exactly how yet. >> Director Michael Moulder. >> Yeah. [clears throat] So awesome that we have some um future funding changes like reserve accounts and then we've done the 500k for um potential subs. Um do is is it your opinion that I mean with I know we're going to be voting on the teacher contract and um we had all this information about the PFMLA with your proposed budget. Is your is your perspective that the next couple years we're we're in good shape in your opinion? >> I mean that's a hard it is a loaded question. I'll say it that way. Um I will say you know we have a healthy fund balance at this point and we have continued to try to make adjustments as we've moved along year to year so that we don't put ourselves in a position where we have just a ton of adjustments to make. Um, we do have, you know, some of these reserve accounts set up for things, but legislatively there's just always things that can come that are unexpected that as much as we try to prepare for them, >> of course there's there's always going to be the unexpected, but I mean like with what we know, I mean, >> do we have >> I know there's always going to be an anxiety around the unexpected, right? And but I obviously always applaud your work and I think that you're just excellent and with the with the help of Christine too. But I yeah I just wanted to kind of get um you know your gauge. We have we're going to be approving a contract for two years tonight and I just want to know >> um we're not we're not going to be drained. We're going to be okay for two years. >> For two years. Correct. And starting um you know in January we'll start working very detailed through the budget projection model and we'll start bringing that back to you guys and they'll be many scenarios because there's going to be things that we just don't know. So we'll do some scenarios that are really conservative. We'll do some scenarios that maybe you know aren't as conservative and then some things in between just to start giving you guys an idea of what the next five years looks like. So, I'm going to interject. Um, one thing that you have to well, well, I'll have to remember is that the board set up parameters for those negotiations and that's exactly where we stayed and I'm fully confident that that contract is is a good contract for the next two years. Also, where we're um fortunate as a district is we have um we have assigned accounts that we're doing some preparation for our near future. We also have the restricted accounts that have fund balances where there's opportunities there. If you were ever into a situation that we wouldn't necessarily have to use our unassigned fund balance and that's key. So when you look at fund balance policy, you should have an order on the expectation of how fund balance ever do get used. And you want that unassigned fund balance to be the very last thing you have to use. And then you build that up because it's the most versatile. And so the more you can have there, the better you are. So if you have money in professional development, assigned account or restricted account that staff development that you want to use, that makes sense. if you if you spend those down, it's not as terrible as what you're you know what I'm saying as to leave the unassigned alone. And so we're doing a good job in this district and and we should feel proud of ourselves. However, as Jen said, we just don't know all the things that we don't know, but I think we're making good decisions, but also trying to be innovative with our future as we think about what's going to happen with career pathways with as we think about what we're going to do with our work. We're looking for grants. We're looking for support in every possible way, but we also have to be ready to spend a little bit sometimes if we're going to be innovative. We can't let that restrict us to the point where then we're stagnant. So, we're always looking at those and it's it's a big major balancing act and that's what we take into consideration >> and that's part of the reason why I asked because the I think you guys have a better pulse on all of the balancing act. So that's where I'm like if I feel I might feel anxious about XYZ but you guys know more than we do. So to feel your confidence is kind of what I'm what I'm >> and just kind of as a refresher like as part of the audit we talked through these so I know I kind of quickly went through them but there is also an a curriculum assigned and kind of talking back to some of the things that Christine or Dr. work a Perman had mentioned that uh assigned account can be used to do some of those kind of innovative things around curriculum and um pathways and um all of those types of things. So I again I do think we've really tried to set ourselves up to be successful and to have some funding areas that we can fall back on when we need to. >> Thank you. What is what percent of funding for the given year? So the 2526 school year do we receive in 2526 and what percent do we receive in 2627? >> Yeah. So it depends on the different funding sources. In general there is like a 9010 split >> state. So, so just to to give some reference to this, if if you don't have a fund balance that's at least as big as that gap in state aid, you may have to go out and borrow money to make payroll on money that the the state already owes us. >> Yeah. >> I mean, it it so our fund balance saves us a lot of money over a o year after year. It does. And there's been times, you know, like in government shutdowns or things like that when we're not receiving the funding in a timely manner. And again, our fund balance has saved us repeatedly. >> Yeah. >> And so if you don't have a big enough well enough >> all right, I have one more question. Do you see do you are you working on I'll say in the backs of your minds any shifting of priorities given our revised budget and how it's come up with adding new curriculum adding some new positions yes training you know >> so those are in discussion so we do we're in our we have a curricular review cycle and so we're looking at ELA right now and math but ELA at the secondary so there'll be some costs there that we can look at some ideas. Um, we're also looking at what positions do we need and I still come back to instructional coaches um, opportunities there because I believe that as we want to implement the read act stating this new uh, all the training that's gone in the ongoing coaching is going to be important to really have that stick. So, we're talking about are there opportunities for us to do that in a way that it's sustainable? But that's the other piece. You don't want you want to be really careful about using any sort of fund balance when it comes to staffing because those are ongoing costs versus a curriculum purchase I can do. It's a onetime thing. So, those are definitely conversations that we're having and with the greater group um around where are we headed and that's part of that visioning too. Where do we see ourselves? How are we going to get there? And then how do we fund it? I I >> can we quickly comment will one of you please quickly comment on a new way of doing budgeting that you're looking at going forward for the 2627 school year a new way of building the budget instead of having it be uh predominantly historical. Do you see >> you talked about the financ >> you talked about how they don't just move money around between looking at the bottom line they're actually looking at their program codes >> okay so are you talking about like the line item budgeting >> yes okay thank you sorry I didn't follow um so and it's actually starting in January so we're working with all of our budget managers to implement a new process where in the past, we've given them like an overall building budget and we've said as long as you stay within that overall building budget, you're fine. And they might have gone over in some areas and under in other areas, but we always just watch that bottom line. From a systems standpoint, that gets difficult because there's really nothing automated that's ensuring a on a daily basis as they're doing these things that things are staying within their overall budgets. So starting in January, um they're when they do purchase orders to encumber funds against a code, they have to have a budget enough enough in budget to support that. And if they don't, then they'll have an opportunity to transfer their budget in between codes. So again, they're still going to stay within their overall budget, but it will be a more detailed budgeting process that will help us um in real time ensure and know that we know where we are financially and that you know each budget area is staying within their overall budget. >> Yes. Thank you for making that change. >> All right. Any other questions, comments? All right. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. All right. Uh, we're on the home stretch, guys. All right. Next up, I am looking for a motion regarding the consent agenda, please. >> I move to I move to approve the consent agenda. >> Beer seconds. >> Any discussion? All right. All those in favor of approving the consent agenda say I. >> I. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes unanimously to approve the consent agenda. Now we are into the items for individual action and I'm looking for a motion on the payable levy. >> Do you mean bills payable? >> Nope. The payable levy is the first item on the Got it. I approve I approve the payable levy. >> I move to approve it. Second, Dresley. >> All right. Uh, any discussion? Right. All those in favor of approving the payable levy say I. >> I. Those opposed say nay. Motion passes unanimously to approve the payable levy. Uh, next I am on the revised budget. Could I please get a motion on this, please? >> Bruns will make a motion to approve the revised budget for 2526. >> Second by Susk. >> All right. Any discussion? All right. All those in favor of approving the revised budget for 2526 say I. I. >> Those opposed say nay. Motion passes unanimously to approve the revised budget for 2526. And finally, we have our donations resolution. Uh could I please get a motion on this? >> I move to approve our donations resolution and wave the reading. >> Okay. Could I get a second, please? >> Yeah. Mayor second. >> Any discussion? Uh, I would just like to thank again thank our generous community. Uh, the this month's total donations are $62,453. So, thank you all for your support of Hastings Public Schools. It's very much appreciated. All right, with that, could we take a roll call vote, please, on the donations resolution? >> Director Beerm, >> I. >> Director Michael Moulder, >> I. >> Director Zuzac, >> I. Vice Chair Dresley, >> I. >> Chair Tate, >> I. >> Director Bruns, >> I. >> And Director Milner, I. >> Thank you. All right. And finally, we have our future meetings attached here. Uh, we don't have many. You'll notice as I mentioned earlier, we have our um January 5th organizational meeting where we will reshuffle committees. It sounds like we may be adding a couple of liaison to committees uh and that kind of thing. And then once those committees are reset, we will be setting up our schedule for our committee meetings. Uh directly after this we have our closed meeting to do our superintendent uh midyear performance evaluation and then uh tenatively as was mentioned earlier we have our January 8th policy committee meeting coming up and January 12th we have our community collaboration event. All right, any questions? All right. Uh and at the um again at the January 5th meeting we will also be voting on our schoolboard calendar for the year as well which will set all of our meetings for all of these meetings for the year. So all right with that I am looking for a motion to adjurnn. I move to adjourn the meeting. >> Milner seconds. >> All right. Any discussion? All those in favor of adjournment say I. >> I post say nay. Motion passes unanimously to adjourn at 8:12 p.m. Thank you.