Edina City Council — Transcript
Friday, December 22, 2023
Collective Bargaining Agreement with Education Minnesota
Certification of Property Taxes Payable in 2024
Annual Financial Audit for Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2023
Financial Position and Fund Balance Analysis
Student Enrollment and Demographic Trends
Fiscal Year 2025-2029 Financial Forecast and Budget Assumptions
State Legislative Funding Improvements
Food Service Fund Operations
Community Services Fund Performance
Leadership Recognition and District Updates
Votes (7)
Approval of Consent Agenda
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [4:20] · Seconded by Unknown [4:20]
The board considered items on the consent agenda without specific discussion of individual items. No board members requested removal of items from the consent agenda.
Approval of Collective Bargaining Agreement with Education Minnesota
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [4:27] · Seconded by Unknown [4:27]
Director of Human Resources Sonia Sailor presented the ratified two-year collective bargaining agreement. Key economic improvements include step advancement for eligible teachers in both years, updated competitive salary schedules with 2% improvement in year two, addition of steps 25 and 30 for experienced teachers, 25% increase to health/dental insurance contribution effective January 1, 2024, and 4.5% increase effective January 1, 2025. A severance provision sunset date of October 1, 2023 was added to allow the district to receive additional levy revenue equal to 25% of severance costs. The negotiation team included Education Minnesota President Jason Doctor and teacher negotiators Laura Mesler, Dave Boone, and Michael Smith, along with district representatives including Chair Allenburg, Director Burman, Director of Finance and Operations Mert Woodard, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Smel, and Assistant Directors of HR and Business Services Camille Sherman and Jason Stagman. Board members expressed appreciation for the collaborative negotiation process.
Certification of Property Taxes Payable in 2024
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [8:52] · Seconded by Unknown [8:57]
Director of Business Services Mert Woodard presented the property tax certification as a continuation of the Truth and Taxation meeting held December 11th. The recommended certification amount is $72,719,000, which will fund a portion of the 2025 fiscal year operations. This action sets 35% of the revenue budget for the next school year.
Annual Financial Audit Presentation for Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2023
Dissent: None
Principal Auditor Bill Lower from MMKR presented the results of the fiscal year 2023 audit. The district received an unmodified (clean) opinion on financial statements, the highest opinion available. The audit identified no internal control or compliance matters in financial reporting. One minor finding was noted regarding timely payment of claims: 2 of 25 transactions tested were not paid within the required 35-day window, attributed to staffing turnover in the business services department early in the fiscal year. This issue was resolved by year-end. Two prior-year findings from the 2022 audit were successfully remediated: (1) audit adjustments related to missed construction invoices and accrual of liabilities, and (2) documentation of vendor debarment checks for federal contracts. The district is pursuing ASBO Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting for the first time, with submission deadline of December 31st and expected award notification in spring or summer 2024. Key financial metrics presented include: unrestricted fund balance of 14.5% of operating expenditures (compared to statewide average of approximately 22%), average daily membership of 8,582 students (up 218 from prior year), general fund cash and investments of $41.5 million with $2.6 million in fund balance, total fund balance increase of $2.5 million, and net position deficit of $7.4 million (primarily attributable to $121 million pension and OPEB liability from state pension plans, though this liability improved by $26.5 million from prior year due to improved plan funding levels).
Fiscal Year 2025-2029 Financial Forecast and Budget Assumptions
Dissent: None
Director of Business Services Mert Woodard presented a five-year financial forecast indicating significant budget challenges ahead. The district successfully addressed a projected $4 million shortfall in fiscal year 2024 through the BERG (Budget Reduction, Reallocation, and Revenue Generation) process, implementing right-sizing of licensed staff at the middle school, reduction of PA professionals to pre-pandemic levels in K-2, application of chargebacks to special revenue funds, and freezing of operating capital allocations. The 2023 legislative session provided substantial relief: an additional 2% funding increase beyond the assumed 2% (totaling $1.3 million), and a major improvement to the special education revenue formula increasing reimbursement from 6% to 44% of calculated cross-subsidy costs (generating $3-3.5 million in additional funding for existing expenditures). Additional revenue sources include school library aid and student support personnel aid. However, the forecast shows concerning trends: the district is projected to end fiscal year 2024 with an unassigned fund balance of 5.6% (below the 6% policy minimum), declining to 3.9% by end of FY2025 and negative 19% by end of FY2029 under status quo assumptions. Revenue assumptions include 2% annual growth (locked in for FY2025, then tied to inflation with 2-3% range), 3% growth for operating referendum revenue, and proportionate growth for special education revenue tied to expenditures. Expenditure assumptions include 3.7-4.6% annual increases for licensed staff salaries (50% of total salaries and benefits), slightly lower increases for administrative and non-licensed salaries, 10% annual utility increases (reflecting facility expansion), and 25% liability insurance increase for FY2025 (following a 36% increase in FY2024 due to property revaluation and market hardening). The administration will present budget reduction options in January to restore fund balance to the 6% minimum, with a required reduction of approximately $2.56 million to reach exactly 6%, though a higher reduction is anticipated to ensure sustainability. The public BERG process will engage stakeholders in February or March to develop containment options.
Leadership Updates and District Announcements
Dissent: None
Superintendent Stanley announced several positive district developments: (1) Fifth-grade students' space station experiment was selected by a national team for implementation on the International Space Station, involving raspberry germination research to support nutrition for lunar habitation. The selection process involved local experts narrowing 200 experiments to 5-10 candidates, which were then reviewed by a national team. An assembly was held at Creek Valley to announce the selection. (2) Principal Paul Pesel has accepted a permanent principal position after successfully serving in the role for six months. The superintendent noted receiving accolades for Pesel from PLC meetings and cabinet members. (3) Board member Karen Gabler was recognized for completing the MSBA Leadership Development Program (phases 1-4), with a certificate of completion and recognition at the upcoming MSBA conference. The superintendent encouraged families, staff, and students to enjoy the winter break.
Adjournment
Dissent: None
Moved by Unknown [51:18] · Seconded by Unknown [51:19]
The meeting was adjourned following completion of all agenda items.
Notable Quotes (17)
I am very pleased to announce that Education Minnesota ad has ratified the tentative agreement that is before you this morning um for a new two-year collective bargaining agreement effect of July 1 2023 um and extending through June 30th 2025
our negotiation teams worked collaboratively to problem solve and reach compromises that allowed us to provide a fair and competitive salary and benefits package being proposed for your approval
I do want to um thank the negotiating team um for the work that was done on behalf of the district and our teachers I know that that's not easy work and um I just appreciate the work that went into um making this contract
this is a continuation of our truth and Taxation meeting from December 11th where we'll actually ask you to certify the taxes payable for 2024 which will fund a portion of the 2025 fiscal year operations
audits are um of course expected but always a a pretty big undertaking especially as the government Accounting Standards Board um imposes new auditing standards for us to implement and so I just want to give a shout out to them I think residents of the district and the school board can have a great deal of confidence in our level of competence and stewardship of of public funds
once again we were able to provide what is referred to as an unmodified or clean opinion on your financial statements it's the highest opinion that we can give we had no issues uh from a financial reporting standpoint
you have uh 35 days to pay claims from the later of the time that you receive either the goods or services or the invoice for goods or services um two of the 25 transactions that we pulled the test were not paid within that 35 day window
so as Mr La had mentioned before we are raising the level of our financial reporting from just basic financial statements to the annual um comprehensive financial report the highest standard in governments and so the asbo will review um individual submissions to make sure that we comply with every component of the Acer and so we'll be recognized for doing so
today you certified our Levy so that's going to um set 35% of our Revenue budget for um next school year um part of this process involves taking all of our current Staffing our current revenue streams what we believe will occur in the next one to five years and creating a forecast which will um ultimately paint a picture regarding our fund balance for the next five years
last school year um I gave gave a similar presentation which indicated a $4 million shortfall between revenues and expenditures for the fiscal year that we're currently operating 2024 at that time we immediately engaged the budget reduction reallocation and revenue generation process otherwise known as the Berg in order to contain our expenditures or create revenues um for a net difference of $4 million
the state also decided to somewhat fix the broken special education Revenue formula um in the years past we were receiving about 6% of the calculated cross subsidy um this year and going forward we'll receive 44% um so that's a massive increase inrease in funding will receive about3 to $3.5 million of additional funding for expenditures that were already incurring so that's a huge plus
with um I wouldn't say hyperinflation but extremely elevated inflation a tightening labor market and um extreme upward pressure on salaries um it's it's becoming a little bit more difficult to predict um what expenditures will do particularly as 70% or so of our expenditures are salaries and benefits
we ratified a collective bargaining agreement tonight and also several others over the last 12 months um that means that that $5 million will actually go directly to supporting those staff um that we value so much and that will put us in a position where the starting point um for fiscal year 25 is likely to be under our 6% unassigned fund balance policy
once the administration is aware that the school board or the school district will be under that 6% um cap on our unassigned fund balance we would immediately present a plan to bring ourselves to at least 6% in the subsequent fiscal year um so at a future school board meeting I believe in January we'll be presenting a number of options to bring us out of that position
I want to just Express appreciation for your continued uh Clarity in presentation of budget information not only for our Board review but also for the community there's always a lot of moving Parts um what I particularly appreciate is how we are balancing uh an incredible legislative session that was completed last year with some really needed and welcome benefits and gains with Revenue but also the fact that that doesn't bring the district forward or just assure that there can't be any budget cuts
their um experiment was chosen to go to the International Space Station and I'd like to talk a little bit about what happens how they are chosen by a national team that isn't a local team that chooses that experiment and so um we work with local experts to narrow it down to 5 to 10 experiments we had a total of 200 and then those um suggestions are sent off to a national team and that national team actually chose um our fifth grade students experiment where they will be working with astronauts on the germination of raspberries
Paul pesel has now um formally agreed to move into permanent princi principal ship he's done a great job for the past 6 months um we continue to receive accolades whether I'm at PLC or I'm in the building talking with students um many many of my cabinet members continue to receive acoid for him so we're excited that he is willing to permanently become um a hornet
Ordinances & Resolutions (6)
Two-year agreement effective July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2025, including salary schedules, step advancement, health/dental insurance contributions, and severance provisions.
Comprehensive financial report being submitted for ASBO Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting, including introductory section and 10-year statistical trends.
Fund balance policy establishing minimum unassigned fund balance target of 6-10% of following year's adopted budget expenditures.
Five-year budget projection incorporating revenue assumptions (2% annual growth), expenditure forecasts (3.7-4.6% licensed staff salary growth, 10% utility increases, 25% liability insurance increase), and fund balance projections.
Meeting held December 11th where property tax certification was initially discussed, continued at this meeting with formal certification of $72,719,000 levy.
Annual audit by Malloy Monteu Kowski and Ravich for fiscal year ended June 30, 2023, providing unmodified opinion on financial statements and federal single audit compliance.