I'd like to call this meeting to order. This is Mahtomedi Independent School District 832 on Monday, August 24th, 2026 at 7:00 p.m. The Pledge of Allegiance. Roll call of the attendance. Complete. Next item is to approve the agenda. >> I'll move. >> Second. >> Moved by Peterson, second by Stout. All in favor? >> I. >> I. >> The motion passes. Uh next is the approval of the consent agenda. Moved by Peterson, moved by Stout. >> Second. >> Second by Doman. All in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. Consent agenda passes. Next on our list is the Superintendent's Report. >> Well, first off, we've I we were already talking about this as you were entering. We've had we welcomed um our staff back today and we had a fabulous kickoff with our Teacher of the Year. Not she didn't just give a speech. She performed a musical um for us and so it was really it was really amazing and she brought um she She retired teachers. She brought her mentor to to help her from when she was a new teacher to help with the performance. We had the St. Members of the St. Andrew's choir were there on the stage, so it was really it was probably our best kickoff ever and thanks to the work of Julie Kim Zemel. It was no surprise that she's our teacher of the year. Our website does have back to school information, so if anyone is still looking for those supply lists or anything else they may need to know, it's there on our website and our home room teachers and schedules are out, so those are can be found in our infinite campus. We are going to be preparing for construction soon and so as that happens, we will be updating our website. We do have a specific website dedicated to facilities and so as we as we start moving forward, that will be will be updating the community, will be updating it here on the website, too. Right now, we are saving October 1st to do a for community members to come in and look at our renderings of our um of our updates and be able to ask questions and have our architects there and so you can save that date, October 1st, but we'll we'll let you more know more details about where and at what time. That's coming week. So, if you can picture this along Stillwater Road, there is a kind of a traffic calming area right by Glenmar and um it is intended to be able to have students cross right there and um it's not always as well kids are not as well seen as we would like them to be and so as a result um we do have the Safe Routes to School Committee came up with this idea to have these safety flags and you can see them as you drive drive along Stillwater Road so that students can pull those out and kind of wave them at drivers, let them know they're coming so you'll be able to cross and then there's a place on the other side where they can So I thought that was a pretty ingenious idea from our Safe Routes to School Committee. I like that here. The community garage sale was a huge success. It was enormous so I don't know if anyone got out there either to donate or to shop but we had 400 people shop the sale and um it was a ton of work sorting all those donations and we had some great students in the National Honor Society as well as our Community Ed department really put in a lot of time to put that together and that uh community garage sale goes towards scholarships for um Community Ed programming so thank you to everyone who put in the work and brought some donations. All right, this is uh this is hot off the press. Uh Yuktika Sampani just won an award, first place in a statewide essay contest and her essay was The Time Traveler's Guide to Modern Democracy. She got to meet with um Supreme Court Justice Hudson and Associate Justice Dissent or um and uh we're very proud of her and in her hard work and her success in that essay contest. Just some upcoming events. Here we go. First day of school coming up next week so we're excited about the 6th and 9th grade orientation. Our our principals and our staff have been working hard. I know there's a training tomorrow for our students to get ready to be able to post our 9th and 6th grade. So our student leaders are training tomorrow to get ready for that. So we're excited to see how that goes and thank you to the board for supporting this uh first day because I know our principals are really excited about being able to have a little business. Okay. And that's my report. >> Um next we are going to review the board member calendar. >> Okay, first call out. >> Is that Is there anyone here who has any questions or has anything you need to call out for the schedule for September and October? >> I could I could be mistaken. >> Uh yes, don't use those coffee and conversation dates. Those don't look right. So, um check before you log on. Usually the first one is from 8:00 to 9:00. They have noon to 1:00 and the second one of the month is always noon to 1:00 and they have 8:00 to 8:30, which isn't right either. They're an hour Yeah. And it's it's only half an hour. Okay. So, everything's right except for the one is longer than time. So, yep. I'll call one out. I noticed the first uh Oh, sorry. Nope. Um I'm on the wrong one. And that's not going Okay. >> Um next we're going to have an update on the Minnesota's permanent school fund by Director Peterson and Barb Differt. >> So, we have pulled together some information for you as a school board it's going to be important that you understand what this request is. It is a constitutional amendment. You may not advocate but you can you should inform our community of what it's about. It is um because it's a constitutional amendment one of the reasons we really want to make sure that people are informed is that uh if you skip this um skip this question it counts as a no vote. So, it's important that people understand what it is so that they can make they can make a choice either yes or no, but just skipping it no. Comment for people what they don't know. >> Unfortunately, it's the last question on the ballot. >> You have to make sure you >> Um so through three big things uh permanent school fund already exists. Um it does not raise taxes and it just updates how the fund is distributed to schools. Um Oh, I'm going to have to ask you that. There we go. So, here's a a little bit of a timeline and I don't know if Jenny, I know you've talked about this before. Is this something you wanted to Is there anything you want to call out in here? Okay. I No, it was just interesting to learn how old it is and how it started and where the money comes from. So, um the So, the federal uh the federal government granted millions of acres of land to the state of Minnesota for the use of public schools. And these lands created the school trust lands. So, um I know Director Stout has been on the board long enough to remember potentially we did have um um Director Donovan was a member of for a while of that school trust land um group the advisory group. And so, he would often talk to us about about that when he was um when he was on the um committee. I'm sorry, I don't recall whether it was committee, task force, whatever it may be, advisory um So, this has existed for um quite some time. We do already get money through the permanent school fund. Um it is based on interest and dividends only because that is what's written in the constitution. And so, this amendment is um is essentially saying we want to be able to modernize the way those um school funds are distributed. So, that's essentially what this is about. >> What does modernize how the school funds are distributed mean? >> Yeah, so um I believe so, I'm going to I I can get you more information about it, but essentially the only way that um funds are distributed right now are through interest and dividends. And so, what they want to be able to do is use a an investment strategy to be able to um distribute more funds only instead of I I don't I'll have to go back and look and see exactly what the phrasing is. >> Well, there's a group called SBI, the School Board Investment. They take this money and invest it and then we just get the interest and the dividends. So, besides the the school trust fund task force than the school board investment group making that money. So, modernizing where that money's sitting and how much we get. >> So, you can look up exactly how what the investment strategy is, but I um we again, I'm I'm not as familiar with exactly how investments work around um around these kinds of funds, but um it is similar to the way um a lot of foundations invest and distribute funds. So, that is what I can I can tell you. And I'm sorry you're not able to participate here. Sorry. Thank you. Um So, there and so on your if you look I can send you more information. There's a ton of information out there and if you want to dive into exactly the finances like I did, that information exists on the MSBA website. What we were intending to to do a little bit here is just going to the high-level talking points. And there's also a video and that may get into it as well. >> I I MAP was dealing with something similar at our meeting is that the investments that they hold have gone up in value, but the amount that they're kicking out um they could kick out a much higher amount and not have an impact on the long-term viability of it. So, many schools that do endorse do um like endowed um either endowed scholarships might be kicking out two, three, or four percent, but you can go as high as five percent increase the amount and not really chew away at the principal in the long run. So, I think this is just given the pretty good rise in the performance of a lot of investments over the last you know, seven to 10 years. Um they could just distribute more funds without really impacting the long-term viability of that principal. So, it's just an update to >> Ryan, these the restrictions that has now are so outdated. You have the potential of getting an extra $100,000 about a half over a hundred thousand dollars to the general public. >> MSBA Are they actively trying to get people to vote for this? >> They're actively trying to get us to get the information out. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's just that this is the kind of thing that people might not know enough about. Um and so so we're we're working to try and make sure people are aware of that. And I should have stopped talking a long time ago and let you do the talking, right? Let's They see they brought it to the capital in the first place. >> But I I know but to get the public to vote for it you really need to >> They believe AMSD AMSD had a presentation a couple weeks ago. There's a PR firm that's been hired. I don't recall if it was MSBA who hired the PR firm or if it or if it was AMSD. >> I don't know that either hired the PR firm. I I want to I don't know. Oh yeah, we have >> It's a a a There's a There's an organized professional effort to get the word out and craft the message. >> And I did see cuz I was curious about it too so I did a little bit of research and it does on the ballot does say it will not increase taxes. So that's good but I'm still very People are asking me what it means and I that's why I did a little bit of research but um there's a there's an idea that it will raise taxes so then I have to like say oh no, it doesn't raise taxes but so it'd be nice if there's more effort going on on that too. >> Uh and and we have a there is a little talking points out for you to talk This I gave you this too so that if you needed it um you could look at up as well. Um and again, there's a lot more information and you could always steer people towards the MSBA site as well. They have all of this where >> Quick question. Um, since we're not advocating for this, we're informing, does anybody know this well enough to make the counter argument if somebody was to make the argument to vote no for this? What would their point of view be? Why would they want to vote no? >> There is a vote no campaign out there already. And some of their It's not here yet in Modesto. I haven't heard of you yet, Barb, since we talked on Friday. Okay. There's some words at the beginning of that where it says this money comes from land, from logging and mining. And that's a red flag for people that it Oh, it's going to increase mining and it's going to increase logging. No, the land is still going to be purposed the same. I'm just answering the question on how to tell people, but you can. Um, it's We're still reaping the benefits of the land, not more, just distributing the historical gains it's had in the last 15 years. That slide's gone. So, those words on there, I think make people a little nervous that this money comes from logging and mining. >> Okay. >> They think it's going to increase logging and mining. Well, I'm not sure. Um, here's I guess this is another um, that this might help also with your question um, in terms of that what's different now. Um, and and so do know that uh, it it really is just solely on per pupil. So, there's no other There's no other factor in this where, you know, it depends on your demographics or anything. It's just a perfect full amount. And um, and you can see that it's, you know, it's not a make or break for our uh, for a budget, but it is, I mean, $100,000 is significant for us, and so um, it would make a it would make a difference, and so I that everyone is aware of that. Sometimes I think it's quoted that it's a 40% increase that's a percentages can be so, you know, so confusing for people. It's that 40% increase to our overall general fund, which is what we are already getting. Um, so again, and so things that don't change, that we still have we're going to still have the funds, the land is still remains, we're not increasing taxes, there are no new taxes. And um, the public charter and tribal schools will benefit. Um, and it and it just gives additional predictable funding for which is something we for all school districts, which is something we talk a lot about here is that when when legislative changes uh, are huge and don't allow us to be have predictable funding, um, that's a real challenge for us, especially our small districts. So, any place that we can find more predictable funding is a good thing for us. This is the official ballot language. It does say, like you said, without raising property taxes, but that's not written in there. I had asked if the word without could be bolded, but you cannot do that on a ballot. The font has to be the same. the same. Again, leaving the question blank is considered a no vote. So, that's important. Make sure people know about it. Oh, and this is what Director Donna referred to. This is the group that is also working on getting the word out. I do have a video as well for this. I don't know, is that is that overkill or would that be helpful to be able to see the video? >> Don't think I need to see the video tonight. >> The video, I I was going to show it to you only so that you knew what resources are out there if you need to steer if there are people who prefer video talking points or reading that PowerPoint. These will be sent out in our e-news so that people are aware of it. And we will have the video along with it. So, again, in your role you probably want to be able to let people know about it and direct people to those resources and so on. A couple of points for us to pass on to is one of the bullet points Barb has is this is consistent money for us every year. It's not the instability of is do we get 2% this year, 2.5, 2.3, 4.5? It's just it would be consistent 4.5 or 5% of that fund every year. We can just plan on it. And >> Fund balance can go up and down. Depending on how the market does. >> Yes, it's an average of 3 years. It's a common practice in many other states. Don't ask me which ones. Uh And then if you have 50 minutes, guys, if you're all walking or driving, uh MSBA has a recorded webinar from Thursday. 50 minutes on this. You have an hour in the car. Um get some points. Okay. Great. Thank you. about this. It would be helpful if you send an email to all of us. I know you're sending it to everyone with the video, but the video you're going to show plus the MSBA thing, can you share that? >> Oh. Oh, yeah. I don't have the webinar. You mean uh I don't have a webinar to show you, but I have I can share the >> But what she's referencing. It's on MSBA's main home page. >> Oh, it's not in an email. Watch here or listen. >> But I can For sure I can send you everything. >> Um how long is the video? You have it up over there? Yeah, the >> permanent school fund video. >> Sorry, did Did I share it with you? >> Yep. Oh. Share it with them. >> Let's watch it just so that just so you have you know what it offers. >> Did you know that every Minnesota public school student is part of a public school trust? More than 168 years ago, when Minnesota became a state, lands were set aside to create a permanent trust dedicated to one purpose, supporting public education for generations of Minnesota students. Today, that promise continues through Minnesota's Permanent School Fund. Revenue generated from school trust lands is invested, creating a permanent financial resource that helps support public school districts, charter schools, and tribal schools throughout Minnesota. Over time, careful management has helped the Permanent School Fund grow to more than 2.3 billion dollars. This growth has prompted a discussion about how annual distributions from the fund should be calculated. This November, Minnesota voters will be asked to consider a constitutional amendment to update how annual distributions from the existing fund are calculated. The proposal does not create a new fund. It does not change the purpose of the trust, and it does not raise income or property taxes. Recommended from a non-partisan task force and with strong bipartisan support from the Minnesota legislature, the proposed amendment reflects modern trust and endowment management practices and will increase distributions to schools while maintaining the fund for future generations. Learn more about Minnesota's Permanent School Fund and this fall's constitutional amendment at minnesotapsfamendment.org. >> There we go. That's helpful. Okay. Thanks. That's what I wanted to share with you. >> Um up next, we're going to approve the donation and grants for July 2026, totaling 13,018 dollars. >> I'll move. >> Second. >> Moved by Stout, seconded by Peterson. All in favor? >> I. >> I. >> All those? All donations and grants are greatly appreciated. The use of these funds will be to further the mission of the school district and are used towards the wishes of the donor. Next we'll have Tim come talk about the construction management contract with Knutson Construction. >> Okay, so as Drew mentioned, this is the agreement. There are I'm going to I'm going to give you a brief a summary because there are six attachments here that you're going to be approving in one motion. Uh the first one and the one that I spent the most time on is the A133. It's a It's an AIA contract. And that's it. That's really the meat of what the agreement is with Knutson Construction. Uh there's an A There's an A201. And that's That's really how we get the work done. Describes the relationship between the construction manager, the architect, and the owner. Um and then there's a an RFQ and that's when we went through the process of request for qualifications from firms. And uh so that gets That is That becomes part of the contract, part of the agreement. And then we have a purchase agent agreement and that just allows Knutson to purchase materials and so that and that way we don't have to pay sales tax on those materials. So that's the agreement uh between uh between us and and required by the Minnesota Department of Revenue. And then we've got an equipment rate exhibit and that is C because we'll be renting equipment from Knutson to get some of the work done. Possibly some cranes all sorts of different equipment and then supervision and labor rates. Uh don't know what what the cost folks will be working from canoes and there'll be some overhead cost on that type of thing involved. I will do want to point out that we we may we probably will may probably will use canoes in the self-perform some work. Those that can be to our advantage we don't get very many bids on work or we're tight on a timeline. So we will and that's up to the discretion of So there's it's very possible we will do it for some of that some of the labor and maybe some demo and that type of thing. So but I don't I don't have a good way of going through 70 some pages of fine print. But so I I think maybe what I'll do is just open it up if you have questions on the contract. Particularly on the A133 that like I said that's where most of the agreement is most of the cost are charges that that the district will pay. >> I'll if I could just also offer that um the this contract has gone through a few months of work with our attorney um going through with fine-tooth comb to make sure that um it just to on our behalf I guess I'll just say that. >> labor of love >> Yes. There's been a lot of time to ensure that this is a good contract for our district. >> And we're and it part of it part of the time was we're the delivery method which is a construction manager at risk where the first school district in Minnesota to use this is what I would have been told. And the reason that we looked at that model of construction delivery is it should result in less change orders. Change orders are costly to our project. and it gives the construction manager a little more control over the subcontractors that get hired. >> What are Mr. Chair? Tim, can you explain what are they at risk for? >> So, what what happens in the process is soon we'll be sharing with the board guaranteed maximum price that will be done. along with the architects. And what that does is once we lock in that price any if if costs go over that, the district is not liable to to Newton for that overage. By the same token, if we're under there are we put in protections for the district that that we keep any if if it's under we keep the savings. But, you know, they do build in overhead, they build in some profit into their into their calculation. >> So So, 100% of any savings that they drive is goes to the district. >> Yes. Yeah, you'll see, you know, if you look in this contract, you'll see that language at least in a couple different areas that all savings the district keeps all savings. There's things like there's a construction manager contingency. Again, they have to come to the district if they want to defend to that contingency and use it for some miscellaneous things or some things that weren't planned for. And but if they we give approval for them to use that and if there's anything left there that that is not a that comes up back as a credit for us. >> Last question. So, do you have any color as to why this was the first Why hasn't this been used in the >> It's been used by cities in >> Minne- in school districts in Minnesota. >> Uh the last two So, two legislative sessions ago, uh the legislature passed a passed a a new law for school allowing school districts to use that. So, primarily it's been used by cities and counties have used it for I think since that law was passed, but um yeah. I I don't I don't know why it kind of It took a while for school districts to kind of catch on. >> Thanks. And what what provisions in here protect us from um completion and maintaining a certificate of occupancy before the school starts next summer? What do we have in there for >> So, there are We'll have a construction schedule. We've We've developed You've seen kind of a timeline that Knutson has brought and shared with you. Um so, we'll be locking in not only that guaranteed maximum pricing, we'll be locking in the timeline uh to make sure that we're able to hit all of the different marks to have the projects completed. And there's language addressing that in the contract as well. >> What happens if they go over on the timeline? If the school is not ready to be occupied by the end of next summer? >> Yeah, that could that could definitely happen. Um but normally what happens is the district is going to work with the construction manager if that were to happen. If we had you know, there there are some lead times that that can be that can be problematic in some of the supplies and that type of thing, but we'd work together to work around those things. And that that's that's not uncommon. >> No. It's not uncommon for it to be a concern. >> To be a concern. >> Okay. But it it isn't super common to miss a deadline. It happens. >> It it does happen, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think a construction um is not a nice neat little box. It's It gets It can get messy. So, We've got a lot of protections in here for the district. >> Any questions? >> You sign on our behalf or who who actually executes the signing? >> Um you will you'll sign tonight and then uh Paul will sign. I'll stick around make sure if you have any any more questions get answers for you. I do have Ja- Jason I I do have Jason on on available right now if there there were any questions that come up that we need to get an answer for. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Need a motion. >> Have a motion to approve the contract. >> I'll make the motion. >> Motion by Doman. >> Seconded by Peterson. >> All in favor? >> Aye. >> Aye. >> All opposed? Passes. >> Okay, next is our school board committee reports. Um our first is the Association of Metropolitan School District Board. >> August 7th, AMSD met um like I mentioned before um oh, I didn't mention it before. Um but a presentation from the organization that was hired to put out the message on the permissive school fund um amendment was presented to the uh was presented to us. Um I'm not going to There was nothing new said in that presentation that you didn't hear tonight. Um there's also a presentation um on the Blue Ribbon Commission on special ed and and compensatory revenue. Barb, I know you are very >> concerned >> concerned about this and so if you'd like to speak >> Well, I think what I I wonder I want us to talk about it at our September meeting because I think we'll have some more information. I'd like some some district runs to really know how this is going to affect us, but just in a nutshell, the legislature um there's legislation passed to that this for this Blue Ribbon Commission to come up with $250 million in special education reductions. And and so the they needed to come up with some recommendations. And as part of that, the other factor in this is there's something I'm I'm going to I probably shouldn't go into this, but I'm going to just try. There's something called maintenance of effort where we can't spend less on our special education on special education services from one year to the next. We have to at least maintain our services. And that's that's a federal law. And so the concern about this $250 million reduction is that we would have penalties from the federal government if we reduce special education funding. So what they did is they looked at those things that are not required to be covered by special education funding. And here in Minnesota one of those programs is ADSUS. So that's our intervention programming. Um at all our schools. And we'll talk more about it, but we are one of the big losers in this proposal because we have very robust ADSUS programming. So Um, and a lot of small schools and small schools are the ones that have used excess programming more robustly because of our limited resources. So, I would like to talk about that at some point because it it is pretty significant for our district. >> Is that happening or is it a potential? >> Well, there's a there's a potential. So, it's going forward as a recommendation. Again, um, the the main recommendation from this Blue Ribbon Commission Commission is really repeal that leg- that legislation because this is this is a really big hit to programming and special education and and our interventions. Um, so that's the main thing is repeal it, but if you're not going to repeal it um, it's going forward as a recommendation. Um, excess programming reduction is going to be one of the main things that will hurt us. There are other aspects to it, but that's the one that that hits those of us who are small districts that are using excess programming, it it would hit us disproportionately. >> Wasn't this an an issue last session as well? >> Um, we started talking it was last session that they started talking about that this Blue Ribbon Commission came into play um, and right away they spotted this issue with maintenance of effort and they said, well you know, that kind of ties our hands with our options on how we can go about this. So, so I we've been anticipating that this could be come through in the recommendations. And they've done some things to try and not make it quite as severe, but it'll still hit us pretty hard. Um, I it's a good question. I probably should know a little bit better before I answer that. So, I I do want us to talk about it in September. They last met on July 8th as a full group. Uh so so the steps uh I let me I'll do a better a better job explaining it more in September, but I also wanted to have a conversation with our finance committee um in September as well about a number of the things that um have happened legislatively over the years that are impacting our budget and and so that's um finance committee can come forward with some recommendations for us for our legislative platform. >> Okay, that concludes my report. Uh next is MAP. Um Barb and I both attended this on the 18th. Um it was their first meeting of the year. They welcomed a bunch of new members. Uh they welcomed a new director Medora? >> Yep. >> Medora Benson? Um who is eager and excited to get going and um looking forward to what she does. Um they had a financial report from the prior year. They ended in a very strong financial position. They had a similar conversation that we just had about raising potentially raising some of the scholarships in order to match the growth of the investments in order to pay out a little bit more. Um we'll see if they have come to a similar conclusion. Um the probably one other thing to mention was that they were promoting the >> Dever get-together. >> Dever get-together on Thursday, October 8th from 4:30 to 7:00 and that is at Pine Point >> Pine Tree Apple Orchard. >> Tree Apple Orchard. >> Yep, Pine Tree Apple Orchard. >> Did you have anything else? Oh, also Barb gave a wonderful presentation to thunderous applause >> Yes. Yes. >> on the >> sure they applauded because >> applauded to the update to the construction facilities pictures and updates. >> Yep. Did the same thing this morning at the teacher welcome. learned my lesson is that you start by telling everyone how excited they are and then show them the >> Okay, um MSBA update Good None Um Metro 916 board >> I shared the last one via email and then we meet again >> Any other board reports? Not yet. Motion to adjourn. Do I have a motion to adjourn? Move by Stout >> Second >> Second by Doman. All in favor? >> Aye >> Aye >> Opposed >> We are adjourned. >> That might be the fastest