Good evening everybody. I'd like to call the West Tanka School Board meeting to order. If everybody would please rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. At this time, we'd like to ask Lauren to rise and repeat the school board member oath of office. Heidi. >> Okay. I swear >> that I will support the >> Constitution of the United States and of the state of Minnesota. and that I will discharge faithfully the duties of the office of school board member of Independent School District number 277 to the best of my judgment and ability. >> Thank you very much. >> Congratulations. >> Um chair moves for approval of the agenda. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? I. >> All oppose? Motion carries. Announcements. Facilities Committee meeting February 18th, 7 am right here in this room. Uh, school board works session February 19th, 3 PM in the ESC community room and policy committee meeting um March 9th, 5:00 in the conference room and and a regular board meeting to follow. At this time, I'd like to invite Jeff Peterson up to the podium to share the success presentation. Good evening everyone and thanks for having me tonight. Uh really excited. >> That's not working. >> Mr. Peterson, do you have a slide? Oh, nobody. >> They're your team. They were there. >> Oh, yeah. They were there. >> Sorry, >> Mark. In your TL. >> In my >> in your TN report. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Thanks, Mark. All right, I'm just gonna start over. I'm really excited to be here tonight to share uh share some outstanding um students here at West Hanukkah High School. I'd like to invite Luke Sunborg uh and Ava Dam to come on up. Uh Luke and Ava are seniors this year and they are the um AAA um candidates from West Taka. And you can see that uh Ava Dam was AAA winner. We we had a um brunch a couple Sundays ago down at Gus Davis and uh there's 15 or so schools in our region. Uh each school has two and um two students out of the entire region are selected to move on from the local and region level to the state level. And so uh congratulations to Ava. She is our second did a little research. She is our second uh student from West Tanka to achieve that uh level of recognition. and um the other was uh Ralph's daughter Julia Harrison in 2011. So Luke Sunborg uh parents Mike and Alicia Sunboard. Uh Luke is a student who truly represents excellence, dedication, and leadership. Uh he has distinguished himself academically with an outstanding 3.99 GPA challenging himself through five AP courses and two college in the schools concurrent courses reflecting a strong commitment to learning. Luke is also a well-rounded and accomplished student athlete. He participated in visual arts for two years and competed in multiple varsity sports through his high school career. five-year member of the West Tonka White Hawks cross country team. Lucas served as team captain for two seasons and earned all conference honors during his junior year. In addition, he competed in boys hockey for three years, including two seasons at the varsity level. As a four-year member of the boys golf team, Luke earned all conference recognition all four years and qualified for the state tournament three times with hopes for continued success this spring. This fall, Luke will continue both his academic and athletic journey at Luther College where he will compete as a member of the Luther men's golf team. Of course, thank you. >> Yeah, we just slide on the other side of AA. Ava DM, parents David and Tracy D. Uh, and Ava wasn't able to make the AAA u brunch. Uh, she was participating in honor band at the U of M. And so I got a call from our region secretary saying when Ava said I can't make it saying, Jeff, Ava is our winner. You can't tell anybody. >> But, uh, it's pretty big deal. So, um, so, uh, Dad was down there to accept her, uh, her her plaques down there. Ava Don is a candidate who truly embodies, uh, the Minnesota State High School League's AAA award, excelling in academics, arts, and athletics. She has demonstrated outstanding achievement, earning a 3.95 GPA while challenging herself with a rigorous course load that includes five AP courses and five PSO courses. In the arts, Ava is a four-year member of the West Tanka High School band, earning superior ratings at solo and ensemble contests, all conference honors, and recognition as a two-time allstate band recipient. Most recently, she was selected to participate in the University of Minnesota Honors Band, which was on the same day as the branch. Uh, athletically, Ava is dedicated three sport dedicated to three sports uh for the White Hawks, competing in cross country, track, and field, and Nordic skiing. She's earned all conference recognition and has served as team captain for the past two years, demonstrating strong leadership and commitment. Ava's dedication, leadership, and excellence across academics, arts, and athletics exemplify the true spirit of the AAA award, making her highly deserving of this recognition. Congratulations, A. And starting right there with Mr. Rob, you're going to go around the wagon here. Congratulations. Congratulations. >> Congratulations. Well done. >> Uh here we've got a couple Thanks for coming, guys. Uh couple of juniors. Uh the Excel Award is an State High School League award for junior uh students. Um Valerie Moagi and Levi Hayes. Uh I should have said that Ava is one of 32 students that have moved on to the state level for uh the AAA recognition. Uh Levi is one of 34 students in the state to to advance at that level. I did a little research. I'm pretty sure Levi is our first student to achieve that status. >> Valerie Moagi. Uh parents Gerald and Zedi Moagi. West Tank is proud to recognize a student who truly exemplifies excellence both in and beyond the classroom. Valerie Moagi, a junior at West Tanka High School, is a shining example of dedication, leadership, and service. Valerie has demonstrated outstanding commitment as a student athlete participating in one season of volleyball and currently competing in her third season of girls varsity basketball. A three-time letter winner, she has earned the respect of her teammates and coaches and now serves as a team captain. An honor that reflects her work ethic, character, and leadership on and off the court. Beyond athletics, Valer Valerie is deeply involved in student life at West Tanka. She is an active member and leader in numerous organizations including DECA, Math League, Link Crew, National Honors Society, Prom Committee, Student Senate, Future Medical Professionals, Letters of Love, and Rotary. Her willingness to lead and serve across so many areas highlights her commitment to making a positive impact within the school community. Her dedication to service extends well beyond the school day. She volunteers her time coaching youth, girls basketball, serving as a discharge volunteer at Methodist Hospital, packing meals at Feed My Starving Children, and supporting a variety of community service initiatives throughout the year, including events with the Eli Hart Foundation. Through her leadership, service, and commitment to excellence, Valerie Moagi exemplifies the spirit of the Axel Award. Congratulations, Valerie. I actually don't know how she didn't move on either. It's just it's unbelievable when you hear that stuff. Uh Levi Hayes, parents Dan and Jenny Hayes. Uh West Tanka is pleased to honor a student who truly exemplifies the values of the Excel Award through commitment, leadership, and service in every area of school life. Levi Hayes as a junior at West Tanka High School. demonstrates dedication and work ethic both on and off the field and beyond. Levi is a multiport athlete who consistently shows perseverance and excellence. He has p participated in one season of football, two in cross country, two-time letter winner, three years of wrestling as a letter winner, and two years of track and field earning letters with his third season approaching. Throughout his athletic career, Levi has been recognized with numerous team awards, including Rookie of the Year, most improved, and hardest worker. Honors that reflect not only his athletic ability, but his determination and team first mindset. Congratulations, Levi. Thank you for your service. >> Thanks for coming out. Thank you. >> I'd like to thank the school board for your continued uh support. Um the opportunities that our students have uh both athletically and and around the school in activities and other areas are just phenomenal. And so we appreciate your support and thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Thanks. Are there any um members of the public that wish to come before the board to speak tonight? said none. >> We'll move on to reports. The student report >> all alone tonight. >> I know. I'm all alone. George ditched me. >> He's competing in math league. So hopefully they'll be order tonight. And I think this one means they might make it to state, but we'll see. I guess I'll hear tomorrow. But um starting off with some sports. The Hawkeyes dance team got second place in jazz and third place in kick it sections this past weekend and we're headed to state this weekend. I think it's like the 20th consecutive year that we've qualified. So that's amazing. Such a solid program. El Pensky had their senior night this past Friday and then their girls also placed fifth in sections. Unfortunately, their season did end there. Both their girls and their boys team. Boys basketball will play at Holy Family tomorrow night and they have another full month of games before section play begins in March. And girls basketball is the same. They'll also play at Bully Family tomorrow night for a double header. The girls hockey team had a huge win over Orno this past Saturday, earning their place in the section final against Breck on Wednesday, I believe. This was also exceptional. They've had their season ended by Orno like for the past four years. So, this was super exciting. And then finally, I was able to find that the boys hockey team has three like regular season games left and then they'll enter sections later this month and earlier into March. I unfortunately was not able to get an update for boys or girls wrestling, but I do know we did host a little invite tournament, whatever you call it, this past Friday. So, that was really fun to see. And then moving into some activities, the new finance club run by senior Gavin Rudimer had outstanding attendance at their first meeting. Math league has their final meet tonight at Orno and they're hoping to qualify for state, but we'll see because they are, I think, towards the top of the se section, so they have a really good chance. Over 160 students qualified for the DECA state competition. This is a new record for Wester's Becca chapter. I feel like we keep climbing, so this is awesome. Um, they'll be competing downtown Minneapolis on March 1st through 3rd to earn their spots at the international competition in Atlanta this year. And junior Ella McClullen was named art district's representative and state officer for next year. Finally, Science Olympiad qualified for the state competition on February 28th. And then moving into some arts, the competitive one act Yellow Wallpaper ended a very strong run at their section competition on January 31st, receiving third place. The spring play Clue held their auditions in mid January and have begun their rehearsals for their show coming up in mid-March. So I guess it's highly anticipated, so you guys should all go see it. Four senior choir participants were invited to take part in the Dorian Vocal Festival in Iowa, a prestigious recognition for West's choir program, which is amazing. And then senior Ava Dom received amazing recognition and performed with the U of M honor band at the end of January. And finally, seven West Tonka High School students were recognized with honorable mention Awards and the 2025 2026 Minnesota Scholastic Art Awards Competition, a statewide program celebrating exceptional student creativity and artistic achievement. Moving into some academics, AvaM is one of 32 finalists for the MSHs AAA award. And Levi Hayes is one of the 34 winners statewide of the Excel Award. Both students have received these honors on a statewide level. Congratulations to them. We just heard about all their amazing accomplishments. They're really impressive. And finally, Woodson's construction stuff. There's no crazy updates besides two stairwells being open that have exponentially cut down my routes walking to class. So, I'm very grateful. But yeah, that's all I've got. So, thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Now, we'll go on to construction report. She she always tease me up, so it's always good. >> Uh, this one will be relatively quick tonight. Um, we'll we'll give a quick update the picture. That's that's what we're working on right now up front there. So very soon. Um so there's stairwells we just talked about, those are now up and running um on the northeast. So again, giving giving the kills access. Um here is the admin edition that we're working on out front. So we have the superructure out um and then we're racing the month of February, March to to get it complete so we can hand it over and get that's that's the next um area to to go. Um so this month we're working on roofing um the fac exterior facade and pouring factory slabs and then we'll start framing framing walls. >> We going to leave the mud floors for our principal and assistant principal. >> Yeah, we're going to make >> has weather cooperated with progress or >> Yeah, I mean it kind of slowed us a little bit down with the cold weather. I mean, it's just sometimes the crews don't don't want to work in minus 10, but um but for the most part, we we maintain the schedule, so no issues. Um and then we're also in the in the media center. Um that's starting to already take shape. We're starting to frame walls in there. And >> will that be done sometime this spring or is that into the summer? >> Um that that is into the spring. So that's that's part of the the areas we're >> we'll turn over the media center and then the office and then the student services uh beginning of May is when that all should come online. >> Uh we're going to be taking down the gym uh after spring break and then we are some of the lower level the bathrooms and a few classrooms on the lower level. We're going to turn that over this spring with a little theater. And so we're uh we're in transition, but first is to open up the >> that uh once we open up the north end, then we can close down the courtyard and we want to get that going because the admin area becomes our new nursing area >> and like to get that opened up. So, that's kind of the gist of tonight. Like I said, we're kind of in that l we're in the middle of we've handed over the stuff. They're they're uh they're into their new spaces and hopefully going well for heard positive things. Everyone likes to their new digs. So, really just an incredible response by students and staff of the the classrooms and so a lot of people are really happy. We've had some good planning meetings with the start of with the start of construction for uh the stadium. One thing that should happen if weather allows before our next board meeting is right now we're hoping early March we're going to start working on the parking lot that's currently where the old tennis courts are. And so you'll see in the coming weeks, uh, we're going to set up different staging areas so we can move move on that project. But if weather allows, we'll start at the beginning of March. Um, making that a step and we'll have that update here. >> There'll be some some logistics going on in the next month, just kind of like Kevin said, moving some stuff around, but we're excited to get rolling this spring. And >> yeah, I think like after you guys come back in the fall, it's going to be amazing what this place looks like. I've talked to a lot of students and they're really happy with the classroom. They're really happy and they love having the stairwells and all the light that that brings. Yeah. Is another big factor. It's really really nice. >> Yep. >> Kevin, you mentioned the the small theater. What's the timing on that again? >> Uh we're gonna that will turn over to us next spring, but >> Oh, next spring. >> Yeah. >> Okay. I thought you said there's quite a bit of shoring going down to the lower level and as that's going to allow natural light in and we extend the wall to the east. So quite a bit's involved in that. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. That's kind of our last >> uh want to thank uh Ka the staff, the students. We try to pick certain little parts of the project as we go. And so over spring break, we're going to work on some of the tile on the flooring. Uh just different areas where we think we can um get a little bit more done. And so people have been very cooperative. Uh if you were to come into the performing arts center, you'd see the popup uh media center. So our media specialist is now where uh Corey Bowman had an English classroom. and our our staff and students have done such a nice job of showing the flexibility of how can we can continue certain services in different ways and really uh do a great job of it. And so uh we've been able to keep a lot of that service available for kids and then if there's requests for books how we can accommodate that if they have tech needs how we accommodate that. But, um, that's that's really a a great effort by many. We've we've enjoyed having construction just be on the north side here for a little bit and that's been um to center it. I think that's just good for everyone. So, we're at a stage where that can happen. There's some restoration work still to do from the um out here by the front entrance right this spring. Is that >> uh we're going to that won't happen till the very end of the project. Now we're going to stack up of a lot of conx boxes in that area in that area. uh when because the whole track area and then south of the fields and all the parking lots are going under construction. It really left a piece of that grove there that we were able to come up with a space that doesn't impact the trees and we can put down uh some gravel to use that and then we'll take that up and then turn that back to grass afterwards. That'll give grounds a good project. >> Uh otherwise, yeah, we we continue to work on the staging of the next space and um I think Gary went over that. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> You're talking about the area across directly across from the tennis courts there >> on the side of the the So that's the old tennis courts. We're going to start working on a parking lot, but the where we're going to put the conx boxes are between Sunnyfield and the first sidewalk. You'll see that it was cleared of snow. >> Kind of by the digital >> Oh, by the digital sign. >> Yeah. >> I wasn't sure what we were calling the main entrance anymore. >> Oh, I see. >> It's been sh. >> Well, yeah, because our north entrance will be the main entrance. It will be, >> but then which driveway you drive in, I don't you know what's the name? >> That's gonna what it is this year will be different next year. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Right. Then we'll move on to the treasures report. Heidi, will you >> read this nice short report? >> Here are the cash donations for December 2025. Eric Schmidt in memory of Evan Schmidt, West Tanka High School band program, $5,000. West Tanka band boosters, West Tanka High School band program, $350. Jim and Melissa Murphy, West Tanka Wings, $1,000. Hilltop PTO, Hilltop Primary Schools, $782.50. West Tanka Middle School PTO West Tanka Middle School $1,772.36 Robert and Karen Morgan Family Foundation Community Ed Boce $1,000 Cheryl Dale Cheryl Woolly and John Dale class of 63 scholarship $28,000 Butch Hbert Larry XL memorial scholarship $100 Wiser Insurance Agency Wiser Insurance scholarship $500. Sandra Eldrid West Tanka class of 1975 scholarship $1,000. Christian and Jean Dah Westka class of 1975 scholarship $500. G. Roberts Westona class of 1975 scholarship $1,000. Kristen Zimmerman Wester class of 1975 scholarship $1,250. Charles Hildink, West Tanka, class of 1975 scholarship, $100. Diane Hildink, West Tanka, class of 1975, scholarship, $100. Richard Rice, West Tanka, class of 1975 scholarship, $100. Mound Farmers Market, West Hanka Middle School student senate, $100. Anonymous, Westa Middle School student senate, $15. West Tanka Hockey Boosters, West Tanka Boys Hockey Club, $8. Robert O'Hara, West Tanka Nordic Ski Club, $50. Ted and Carrie Wick, West Tanka Nordic Ski Club, $300. West Tanka Nordic Ski Boosters, West Tanka Nordic Ski Club, $4,330. Sean and Deb Bailey, National Honor Society, $100. And here are the cash donations for January 2026. Anonymous Hilltop Primary School, $50. Non-farmers Market, Shirley Hills Primary School, $100. Shirley Hills PTA, Shirley Hills Primary School, $9,59, sorry, $9,591. N Farmers Market, West Tanka High School, $100. Anonymous West Tanka High School $50 West Tanka boys hockey boosters Westka High School boys hockey $650 Westka girls hockey boosters high school girls hockey $1,193.50 50 cents. Trinity Lutheran Church Agape Fund CE sponsor a student uh community ed I'm assuming sponsor a student $1,000 Barbara and John Makabe C ECF $300 Back channel Brewing Collective CE Voce $140 American Legion Auxiliary Unit 398 American Legion scholarship $2,000 Butch Hbert Cross Country Scholarship $100 Minneapolis Foundation Tyler Hill Sunshine Scholarship $2,000 Butch Hbert Larry XL scholarship $100 Long Lake Fire Department Long Lake Fire Department Scholarship $1,000 Law Office LLC Eric Hag Memorial Scholarship $500 Thomas and Nancy Christensen Austin Goddard Memorial Scholarship, $250. Marggo Spanners, class of 2012 scholarship, $1,000. Steven Whitmer Mustang class of 1975 scholarship, $1,000. Ronald and Susan Uton, Mount Wanka, class of 1975 scholarship, $1,000. Audrey and John Fox, Mount Wanka class of 1975 scholarship, $1,000. Mark Holmouth, Mount Waka class of 1975 scholarship, $250. Nordic Ski Boosters, Nordic Ski Club, $53,965. Sarah Dega, Taco Box, $150. >> Lauren, nice job with the 1975. class raising some funds there, man. Holy moly. >> I'm assuming you raised 10. >> Was that from your reunion? >> Yeah. >> Activities. >> Yeah. >> Well, afterwards saying, "Let's do this." Yeah. >> So, that was your fifth year. >> Yes. >> That was the year I was at war. >> Were you Were you campaigning everybody to uh We had well we had talked we had talked well I did set up real quickly. We had talked on the reunion committee about >> putting a bucket out getting $1,000 for a onetime scholarship and I said we can do better. Let's get enough so that it has $1,000 of interest every year. >> Yeah. >> And so we started at the reunion but then I sent out emails to everybody that attended and everybody that didn't attend and just said here's what we're doing. >> That's awesome. >> So I think we've got eight people have given a thousand so far. Um, you know, the goal is to get that up. I want I want to know that $28,000 scholarship. I didn't I didn't see your name next to it. >> I knew it was last month. It was last month. >> No, we've actually had that in a few years. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Terribly generous. >> Yeah. I was going to say that's that's huge. I mean, I'd love to get to that level, >> right? You know, and my my thought is in what, three to five years, we hit that se age 73 where you've got to start taking mandatory dispersements from retirement funds and people are looking for ways >> Oh, sure. >> to reduce their taxes. It's a real good time. I think >> I believe you can do it, Lauren. >> Well, thank you. >> Okay. All right. Um, tonight we'll be reviewing the high points of the 2020 2526 revised budget. Um but before we revise um or look at the revised budget, I'd like to take just a brief look at our normal um monthly financial reports um for enrollment, revenue, and expenditures. Uh this slide shows a snapshot of our uh February 1st enrollment um districtwide 2,456 students. Um we did have a new family move in in January and with the semester change um annually every year we have some schedule shifts of high school students but the net effect of all of that is we had um a district-wide increase of four students um revenue and expenditures through the end of January uh we have collected 16,299,000 or 36.3% of our revised budget and we have expended 22,4 36,000 or 50.4% of our budget. Um both the receipts and expenditures um appear to be tracking um appropriately compared to the prior two years >> almost exactly halfway between the prior two years. >> I know. I like that. That's right. >> That's that's impressive. >> Yes. Um all right. Um as you recall last summer in June, um US board approved an adopted budget. Um and each school year, um midway through the year, um several of those unknowns that we experienced, um have become become much clearer and the revised budget now is based on updated information, current enrollment, and current legislation. And I'd like to thank Lauren, Brian, and Ralph uh for meeting last week to discuss the revised budget in greater detail with um Kevin and myself. Um as you're aware, um our district enrollment is the key factor in our operational budget. This slide shows a five-year enrollment history. Um and as you can see from this chart, um we've been very fortunate to experience stable enrollment. Um, our adopted budget last summer we set at 2,47 students and we are experiencing stronger enrollment um, particularly in our kindergarten class this year which is currently 191 students. And we're pleased to report that the revised budget calls for bumping it to 2447 or a gain of 40 students um, as compared to the adopted budget. Um and our revised budget um is tied um to our December enrollment of 2025, which we do most years. Um we took the enrollment figures and um made all the um uh revenue um calculations um and updated it to 2447 students. And now that we have a better indication of funding um and we applied again the numbers our um largest source of revenue is our general education formula. So every pupil unit that we serve we receive 7,481 weighted per weighted student. Um compared to last year the government uh state of Minnesota gave us a 2.74% increase. Uh we also in this revised budget we applied our operating referendum at step two which we'll talk about a little bit more on the next slide. Um we updated our special education revenue. We we've had um thankfully improved cross subsidy aid um over the last couple years. Um we adjusted our lease levy. Uh we up also updated our federal revenue um that we update um according to preliminary awards. Um, at this point, um, we still don't know our final awards from the federal government until spring. Um, and our local, uh, receipts, we also updated to actual admissions fees, um, sale of equipment, and also interest, um, to name a few. Um, this slide is again our second largest source of funding um, that our district relies on for our operating budget. In November 2019, West Tanka residents approved a 10-year two-step operational levy in support of our students. Instead of asking for a large increase upfront, this levy accessed funds only as they were needed by the district. The two-step levy gradually was designed to bring West Hanka closer to the funding levels of our neighbors to the east. The second step included um an additional $350 per student plus inflation and we received that higher allocation beginning last school year. These the two-step levy has had a huge impact um on our ability to maintain essential programs um preserve quality um high quality programs and and has really helped the success of all of our students. Um and the funding is also um very instrumental if we would have to weather um a difficult storm or an unexpected expense. And we are most grateful for this funding. Uh this slide gives a recap of our general fund um revenue by source. On the left hand side is our audit from last school year. So that's that's actual. Um on the right hand side is the revised budget that I'm presenting tonight. And you can see that the state of Minnesota um uh is where we collect most of our money from about 63%. Our property tax owners um contribute about 30% and the others are made up by uh local and federal dollars. Um again, not a not a great um swing between the two years. Um, in addition, in the revised budget, um, not only did we update our revenue, we also updated our expenditures, when we set our budget this summer, we didn't have all of our staffing done. Uh, we weren't sure about a lot of, um, things that weren't going to be wrapped up until the audit was done as far as that actual trends. And so, we had the ability to do that now mid year. So, again, we we know who our staff are. We know their um, benefits that they're um, taking. All of our bargaining groups and individuals are settled. Um we could update um our utility trends um our projects that we have with our grants, long-term facility maintenance, operating capital and furniture, fixtures um and equipment that we're purchasing on a general fund. Uh this pie graph shows our general fund um expenses by program code. Um I always like looking at this each year. a percentage um indicates West Hungry does does a fantastic job of spending the majority of the district funds in the classroom for regular instruction, vocational instruction, special education, uh pupil support, and instructional support. Uh this slide uh shows the prior history of the general fund unassigned and assigned fund balance. This is another point of pride reflecting good stewardship and fiscal responsibility. With the revised budget, um we plan to grow the assigned fund balance by 400 um just about 470,000 and then we'll be accessing about 300,000 for um planned assigned furniture expenses. The district is projecting um an unassigned and assigned fund balance of uh just over 7.1 million which is 16.03% of the general fund expenditures. This continues to stay within our fund balance goal policy of 8 to 18%. Uh we monitor this um closely with our our planning um financial software and also our district finance committee. uh fiscal responsibility, long-term planning and forecasting is top priority. Okay, the next seven slides I'll go through um briefly. We have seven other funds besides general fund. Obviously, general fund is our largest, but I'll give a broad overview of the the other seven funds. Um starting with food service. Um the West Hawker Foodies uh do exceptional work and are pleased to be serving students um breakfast and lunch at no charge um through the federal and state child nutrition program. They are forecasting uh a fund balance use of just under $450,000. Again, they've been planning on this for quite some time, and that will be used to purchase um equipment, which ties in beautifully with our construction project. Community education um houses our adventure club, youth afterchool programs, adult programs, summer enrichment, the West Tonka activity center, early childhood programs, adult basic education, early childhood family education, and um preschool screening just to name a few. Um our community um department um offers strong programming and their mission is to provide exceptional programming and yet continue a solid um fund balance which they are planning to do in the re in the revised budget. Building construction um the building construction revised budget um I'll I'll talk about the expenses first. Um we receive a draw schedule from Krauss Anderson and um you can see by the the dollars that we'll be expending. It's going to be a very busy summer. Um all of the um expenses were updated and to what we'll be spending through June June 30th of 2026. Uh the revised budget revenue for building construction um was updated. We updated it for interest earnings and we also have the final numbers for the second sale of our bond, the tax abatement, the LTFM bonds, and also the refinancing of our 2016 bonds. They were bonds that were callable, meaning that we could refinance them if we wanted to. And we took that opportunity while we had um bonds going on. And that um provided a refinancing savings of just north of $350,000. um construction projects typically are are in over phases and we were really happy to um have a two sale bond so the district did not spend unnecessary interest costs when we did not need the funds um at the beginning again accessing the funds only as needed. Um, with these bond transactions, our taxes will stay in line with the levels that were planned before the election. Uh, debt service is uh where we um have three voter approved bonds, the 2012, 2016, and the first sale of the 2024 bonds. Uh, that um is collected through our for through our property taxes for our principal and interest payments. and it also includes our 2018 abatement bonds trust fund. Um, this tracks our activity of our scholarship receipts and payments. This last spring, West Tanka High School awarded over $469,000 worth of local scholarships. This budget, as you can see, is just a little over a h 100red,000. And this only accounts for the scholarships that we are the fiscal agent for. So that's an example is the um the scholarship that Lauren's involved in. Internal service fund is um it houses our dental and health insurance activity. We are self-insured and we are projecting a slight reserve growth in our self-insured programs this year. Um our self-insured um program has has really performed well over the years and has um been monitored closely. So, we have a monthly um employee benefit committee as well as an adviser that tracks um the statistics each month. And then the last of the seven other funds is OPED. And the OPED stands for other employment or other post-employment benefits. And uh back in 2009, legislature granted um districts statewide the opportunity to finance their OPED liabilities through bonds. and the district took advantage of this opportunity uh which was a very wise move. Um had the bonds and those bonds were um paid off and closed out and retired in 2019. And so the fund balance that's um listed here that's in excess of $3 million is in a trust fund and ready for future responsibilities that the district has. All right. Um that concludes the review of the revised budget. Um, this slide, um, I know is a little bit difficult to read, but it's a one-page overview. It's in your board packet, and I also posted it on the the district website, but it gives the, um, beginning fund balance, the revenue, the expenses, and what we're anticipating for ending fund balances. Um, later on the agenda tonight, um, there'll be an action item where you'll be approving this budget. Uh, just a couple more slides. Um once we're done with the revised budget, we dive right into the 2627 um adopted budget that we'll be uh processing in June. Um it's early on, but we um have on this slide before you just the beginning assumptions that we're talking about. Uh we're looking at 160 kindergarteners, 2,425 students. We are as of right now, we're planning on similar funding levels from the state as to what we received this year. Um again we have our second step of the levy that um will be in place and then we we will apply the inflation factor. Um we have additional capital projects levy that will be factored in and the um expenditures. Um we have some groups that were settled with otherwise we'll be putting in estimates for the salary and benefit. Um we are currently experiencing a little bit higher um claims on our insurance. So we're keeping an eye on that. We usually lean at this time of the year to be conservative um with our budget. Um dental is um more so in line. All other salary and benefit costs in our projection model uh we applied 3% to those and we did add the um again the furniture fixture technology items that we knew about um that were for the coming year. And then lastly, um each year um the um there will be an action item um for a budget goal recommendation. Um in an effort to protect the district's strong financial position each year, we challenge our budget. Uh we explore opportunities to increase revenue and we also um look to save any district dollars that are available. Um on this slide is just some of the notes that we've talked about. We we do a we have a five-year financial planning tool that we use and it's showing a a variance of about $40,000. Um the board was very strategic um in assigning dollars for class size, special education, and um other expenses for the bond. And uh we were um our goal is to preserve those assigned fund balances. Um and again, we talk a lot about enrollment. um those are are something that we'll keep an eye on between now and when we adopt the budget in June. We also keep an eye on um retirements. And at the end of the day, our goal is to stay within our fund balance um policy that you have set of 8 to 18% fund balance goal. And then below is just a few highlights of budget calendar items. Again, two action items tonight. The revised budget, the budget goal. um we have an important um staffing meeting um with our administrative team in March. Most of our budget is based on um staff. So it's that's an important meeting since that's the um largest year of our our budget. Um we have two finance meetings. We do a a mid-progress check-in in April and one before the board meeting. And then finally um at the June meeting, we will bring the adopted budget to you. And with that um that's all I have. Kevin, did you want to add any comments or any questions or comments from the board? Okay. for the teaching learning report. Tonight I come tonight uh to present the annual American parent advisory vote of concurrence. And tonight we had plans to have chief uh Carrie Static here. She's the chair of the Apac committee and she just texted me. She has a sick kiddo at home. she wanted to be here, but she did want to express the board her appreciation on behalf of the committee of the support of participation that I know Gab's been part of some of the meetings and Gary, you've been part of some of these Apac meetings. And tonight, what I'm going to be doing is sharing you just some updates of what's going on with APAC committee and then there'll be a vote of concurrence that I'll I'll talk through um at the end of my presentation. Just as a reminder, it's state statute that districts that have 10 or more American Indian students form American Indian parent advisory. And we have very humble beginnings back in co. It was two parents and myself meeting on Zoom trying to figure out how we're going to do this and what this means. And that was six years ago. And now uh our enrollment is up to 34 students. And then with the state of Minnesota, when you hit 20 or more students, it opens up funding. So minimum funding for an APAC committee is $40,000 plus $500 for every student above 20 students. So we have a budget of $46,500 from the state of Minnesota that is dedicated to the American Indian parent advisory all in the spirit of supporting American Indian students. So with that with that money um the the committee takes very seriously the work of supporting American Indian students. The the bottom of this slide uh demonstrates the three big areas that we focus on and it is really one developing cultural awareness in our community in our schools of our American Indian students. It's really working on building stronger connections between our students and families with our buildings with our district. And then it's really wrapping our arms around our American Indian students to help them uh learn about their heritage, their background, their customs that they understand where they have come from. And that really is the mission of the APAC committee. Now, with those goals, the way we go about this work, uh, last January, uh, with the funding that we have from the state, we hired Leslie Chase on the left. She is our very part-time elementary American Indian leaison and she meets with our identified elementary students that are American Indian uh once a month and they have short meetings like at Hilltop right the start of school Shirley Hills at the end of the day it's all voluntary so we contact the parents we ask them would they like to be a part of this and it's really focused around just crafts talking about their heritage she might have a story to read to them and it's just for them to be introduced to their culture. And then Alia Hollerin uh she's our secondary learning leazison and she is working with our middle school and our high school and she's just doing a terrific job with with that level of students. This is a picture of the two of them with uh Izzy Hannon and she was a West Taka High School 2025 graduate and with Alli's leadership they produce they sponsor an American Indian graduation. So I'll show you a few more pictures about that in just a minute. So those two le Leslie and Ally really guide they do the work of the committee. committee really is a board watching over like you do the the offerings and the operations of of the work. So just as a quick recap some of the programming where we use the funding we we pay for those part-time positions with the leazison we work and partner with McGizzy. McGizzy is an organization out of uh Minneapolis that works with middle school and high school kids. So we have uh Jason Anderson is a McGizzy educator. She comes out every Tuesday to the middle school and she comes twice a month to the high school to work with our American Indian students. Again, it's focused on cultural activities. It's focused on heritage discussion. It's all voluntary, but she probably has um at the middle school and the high school average of seven to 10 students that show up each time she's meeting with them. And then Dave was a part of this just a few weeks ago. Every year we sponsor American Indian scholarship financial aid night and uh Lar Gardensson from the office of higher ed comes and talks with families about the different scholarships and financial aid opportunities uh really in our in our state university system. and we had uh other apex from Rockford, Waconia, Orno with us. It was a really nice gathering uh with families and students just to begin to understand college scholarship opportunities, financial aid opportunities designated for American Indian students. So, we do this every every winter kind of right in time for application uh time for students and it it's very well received. And this is just a slide of the American Indian graduation ceremony that we do. So this was just last May and this is again Izzy Hammond and we have Norman Benson. He is a Native American elder. He comes he leads the um the program and then you can see these star quilts that are handmade is a traditional gift for for the graduate. And again, the the families, the grandparents come and again, it's voluntary. If the student wants a Native American graduation, we host it. But it is all voluntary. And we've done this two years in a row now. And again, we'll reach out to our seniors that are American Indian. And we'll walk that again here in this coming May. And these are just a few pictures uh with Leslie Chase and the work that she's doing with our elementary students. And what's kind of fun with with this group is that sometimes they have no idea that they're American Indian until their families tell them or other students that are American Indian. They make these connections together. This is the American Indian uh science engineering society STEM conference that came to Minneapolis in October and it is run by it's a national organization and they it's all American Indian professionals and they're there to show American Indian students different career paths in the STEM fields. We had four students attend that this year. Just exposure of opportunities that they might have in the STEM engineering fields. Just picture that. And and that's that's Ally and the work that she's doing, you know, contacting the parents, organizing the event, being there as a chaperone, all the details. We could not do this kind of work without without Ally and her efforts. And then the last thing I I just share with you tonight is there is more and more effort between neighboring districts that have Apex and and the effort here is we've met twice this year. The idea is to build a more regional event like on the weekend among all the families across our neighboring systems. It's a it's a great effort. Nothing's been planned yet, but it surely has passion and and and a want to do that. So, some more to come on that piece there. Just other AP pack events that have been going on. You know, the Timberwolves, the twins have American night. So, we had students and families go to that. Uh we all right now is organizing our UFN two cities campus day uh visit and then there are pows and then there's other regional apath events that are being so leads me to the the formal part of my slides is it's just to share with you there is uh prior to March 1st the APAC meets and we have a discuss USS is about the school district and how we work together with the district and if the district is making progress with our established goals and they vote and it's a resolution of concurrence where yes the district is doing well they feel the partnership between the APAC and the district or they can vote non-concurrence where they'd say no there's work to be done if you have a vote of nonconcurrence Then the APAC needs to give the school board a written recommendation of the areas to work on. The school board would have 60 days to um respond be kind as to what needs to change. That's all part of statute that we follow this. So we had our vote on January 13th and no surprise to me and I'm sure to you that that was a unanimous vote of concurrence. great appreciation um of the work that we do, the support that they feel uh here and I speak for the families. I speak for the committee that um they really feel West a very special place to send the kids to school. So you have an agenda item simply to approve the vote and then Gary and Kevin there's a document to sign and I'll submit that to the statements. Thank you very much for your hard work turning to a very successful board. Well, when we look at our agenda items, I think everyone's uh really uh spoken to them with the addition that uh we have our enrollment in grade seven and grade five. We're going to be closing open enrollment off when uh they hit 210 in those two areas. And so this is a lever that we pull just to make sure that we can manage class sizes along with our enrollment. Um right now we don't see that in other grades, but if we do, we'll bring that to the board. Uh as uh Kathy presented, we feel um good about where our enrollment is is going and continue to make efforts there. But I think that's um that's a statement of just progress as a district. And so I'm pleased pleased to see that. Um Kath did a nice job of describing the revised budget and our budget goal. I would say every year that I've been the superintendent, we've had a budget goal. Um I think it's our effort to make sure that we're prioritizing dollars in the best place that we can. One thing that I do in my email out to families is if anybody has an experience where they think that we should give focus or we can expend in a more wise fashion, we always take that feedback from staff, from parents. Um, we continue to evaluate everything from our operations to how we staff to making sure we have competitive contracts. Uh, the full the full u 360 around it. We do that annually just to make sure that we are putting those dollars in the best place that we can. Um and I would say that as it is really tight that effort continues to produce areas where you see over time things shift and it's a good focus to place. So, I really just want to thank the finance committee, the board. Um, when you see that your fund balance is going up and you're also talking about challenging your budget for some people, they ask questions about it. And I think the reason why our fund balance goes up is because we constantly challenge challenge our budget. It's they're not separate. That's the result of that that effort. So, the goal is to make constant reviews, constant adjustments to have a strong a strong budget. Um, one thing that's happening at the state currently is they're reviewing our special education funding. There's a work group that's formed that's expected to give recommendations next October. Uh they're charged with finding a restructure of about 250 million uh statewide. That's uh something that we're monitoring closely of how that could impact our district, other districts. Uh one thing that we're in position when you have a signed fund balance, it protects you that if they were to make a change, we have a little bit of a time to adjust. But something that we've stayed engaged with with people that serve on that committee and our local representatives of just making sure that decisions made as we appreciate that there has to be reviews and sometimes adjustments that our voice is part of that consideration. And so we have um voiced where we think there's some opportunity there and what we'd like to see protected. Um and I think they've been as they're receptive different districts are going to be impacted differently by that and that's part of the process. So overall on budget uh the last and also Kathy mentioned with the sale of our bond that you took action in January on that's been fully uh executed now to this point and so we continue to manage our project and we're just really excited to see the progress being made. um September of 27. We can't wait for that date to come that we can say that we've expended uh the dollars that we've budgeted to bring those improvements for our students in this community. That being said, that's what I I got. >> Chair moves for approval of the consent agendas. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? Opposed? >> Motion carries. Discussions items. The chair moves for approval of action item 9A, approval of the 2526 revised budget. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I post. Motion carries. Chair move for approval of action item 9B, approval of the budget goal for the fiscal year 2027. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> All oppose? Motion carries. Chairman moves for approval of action item 9 C. Approval of resolution to close grade 7 to open enrollment for the 2627 school year. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> All oppose. Motion carries. Chair moves for approval of action item 9D. Resolution to cap grade 5 enrollment for the purpose of open enrollment for 2627 school year. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. Chair moves for approval of action item 9E. Approval of contract award for Titan Environmental and Nvestus and Mercury removal at West Hanka High School. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? I. All oppose. Motion carries. Does anybody have anything else to bring? If not, uh chair moves for uh adjournment. Is there a second? Second. >> All in favor? I >> oppose. Motion's carried. Meetings adjourned. Thanks everybody.