##VIDEO ID:VX0fxIlLgxA## is December [Music] December 16 2024 the time is 601 get a motion to approve the agenda as presented motion to approve the agenda and second I second alls in favor raise your hand agenda is approved uh stand for the pled Allegiance Julie do we have any Inhibitors no okay moving on to truth and tax taxation heing all right let me pull that up quick he coming up on the screen seconds so this this is our uh School District um required truth and Taxation hearing uh to discuss our 2025 our current school year budget and then our proposed taxes for taxes payable when 2 so bear with me as we go through this if you have any questions at any time certainly let me know um for the agenda just review the meeting requirements um we'll present the current school year budget and some information about where our dollars go in our current budget then we'll present the proposed tax levy and there's time for public comment if anyone has questions as we conclude clud this so the meeting must be held between November 25th and December 30th at 6: p.m. or later uh change that was made a while ago is that it can be a part of a regularly scheduled meeting and we have done that here this year um present our fiscal 25 budget and then the proposed pay 25 tax levy and again allow for public comments um public school districts are are funded by the federal government state government local fees and local taxpayers through property taxes with the state of Minnesota being the largest source of funding and you'll see that and in particular with regard to our debt service see that on a special a graph later on um just always um first I should back up thank Michael Hart from PMA for doing a number of these slides of financial advisor to the district and I was happy to see he had included this slide in I probably use this for the last 20 years I was a superintendent just to give people a perspective of the current general formula allowance that we receive per puple unit uh we currently have a gap of $1,364 so that formula has not kept up with inflation uh Through The Years um and operating levies have historically filled in that Gap and uh the district has an operating Levy as well but not to the tune of $1,300 um the state did make some changes recently that our formula is is CPI adjusted now moving forward whether that's sustainable um to be funded over the long term we'll see as we move forward but uh the uh formula allowance has not kept up with inflation certainly Excuse me yes do I understand then that the state is proposing to make up oh no that Gap no it's just they're going to I think hopefully not grow that gap which had been happening as you see along here that now it's going to take in account inflation used to be you go to the legislature and hope for 2% maybe 3% on the formula um many years we got 0% on the formula that you see where the bar is closest together there um so um we'll see if that's sustainable as we moving forward [Music] so why can I not here we go um so the budget uh our 25 budget we as a school district are required to have a variety of funds our general fund is where most of our business takes place uh it pays for our essentially our Educators and uh staff taking care of our buildings Food Service fund pretty explanatory community service fund this year we have a building construction fund um and then a Debt Service fund and then internal service fund where we have the flag air scholarships um you'll see that as a an item on the audit report as well our budget for the current year our general fund uh we show a deficit uh budget in our initial uh budget for this year we have revenue of 10,866 th000 and expenses estimated to be just over 11 million for a deficit of around $135,000 that was the budget that was approved by the board last last June um we typically do a a review of that budget and have a revised budget before the board in uh probably March this year before we get to that but uh we will have a revised budget based on where our enrollment is what Staffing changes may have happened since that uh initial budget was approved our food service budget we show a deficit here of 111,000 um just some notes our our auditor tonight will talk about a finding about a large Food Service fund balance that we have part of the plan is to spend that down buying equipment for the new facility out of that fund um so we're showing a deficit there can I ask one question so the change to actual budget so is that based off of mid mid year or is that triling 12 months this is just from what was whoops sorry what was projected Revenue wise as of this time per perod this six months it's what was projected for total revenue versus total expenses it doesn't have based on where we're at right now so as we get closer to July 1 that number will negative no these are set by the budget that was set by the board in June it's not tracking how much revenue is coming in or expenses going out yet okay so uh these are just the revenue and expenses that were approved by the board as our budget for this year in the fiscal reports that uh Lindsay has you'll see some information about the amount of Revenue and amount of expenses that were at right now for the year for general fund but this is strictly the budgeted amount that was approved for the year so then what is the change to annual budget balance B so so there's so they're saying if if our projection or the projection that was made last June holds true our fund balance would go down $134,800 oh okay okay okay yeah I think that's different wording I would maybe use that word yes yes okay I thought okay and things can change but this is just what was approved so yeah I thought that was a change from what we projected as of this time period to no no it's just if those numbers hold true revenue and expenses our fund balance is going to change by negative $13,000 and then likewise Food Service which is a known known deficit um going forward as we buy that equipment community service has historically had a budget budgeted a deficit and again our auditor will speak to some more of that and then the building construction fund Works a little different um uh you know it shows a negative B basically we're building a school this year and uh we're going to be spending approximately 50 M1 million this year and then the remainder of our funds the following year Debt Service um will show a slight increase in our fund balance of 220,000 um again for Debt Service we have a an amount that is due on our bonds each year and we Levy our taxpayers 105% of that amount in case we have any um unpaid property taxes we have a cushion there to make sure we have enough to pay the full amount and then each year that basically gets credited back to the taxpayers the next year but each year moving forward will Levy 105% and then we have that trust trust fund which is essentially that U scholarship money that goes in and in and out of the district here um so who who pays for the funds that come into the school district State as we said earlier is our largest revenue Source 77% followed by local property taxes at 177% federal dollars uh which would be our Title One program primarily and then food service revenue and then uh other local Revenue would be any any fees or interest earnings that we may have throughout the year expenditures by program we are not unlike most school districts in that we are people business so you'll see um uh instructional programs at 65% um then add Administration and District Support Services uh we're going to be close to 80% um and that's salary and benefits for all the people that are working in our in our school system then our operations and maintenance instructional support and other uh would cover the remaining 20 roughly 20% and then we go by object Series where it's broken down how much for salaries you see 52% 177% for benefits so for our School District employees 69% of our budget is going toward that for salary and benefits and then our contracted fees for services a little bit larger because we do contract for our custodial Services where if we did not our uh salaries and benefits would be a little bit higher in that area our last remaining area 6% is for just supplies that are purchased throughout the throughout the school year so our our Levy this year just the timeline for it uh the process starts this past summer when in particular Lindsay heiney is entering data that we estimate for this coming school year what do we estimate our enrollment to be uh what What bond payments do we have out there um what programs are we going to participate that may generate revenue or not um long-term facility maintenance plan has to be submitted um many items go into U the state in summer normally due by by early August and then we get a preliminary Levy in early September and that is approved by the school board um and as you recall I I recommended that we approve the maximum at at the time because there are sometimes modifications due to erors at mde or by data uh submitted by the school district um but we did that in September um districts may have a operating Levy or bond election in November if those were approved that would change what that preliminary Levy was but otherwise the only change we can make is lower the Le that preliminary Levy at this at this meeting and I'm not going to recommend that we do that but that's a change we could make and then we are required to hold the truth and Taxation meetings during this time frame and then we'll ask for approval of our final Levy tonight and those will be the school district portion of taxes that are collected in Pay 25 and I always emphasize that we're talking only the school district portion tonight um city and county or townships are having their meetings during this time frame as well the state really limits a lot of what we can do on our our property tax levy it's limited by how many students we have um what our overall population is for our community education programs what's been authorized by voters and then what happens with districtwide property valuations and we'll show some examples of that this uh to read up there for folks probably but um I'm just going to look at a few of these areas that have the biggest differential um in our general fund uh we show an increase of 7.2% and a lot of that comes from our adjustments um if anyone on the board recalls last year we had a negative adjustment due to that long-term facilities maintenance that was levied in anticipation if the new building had failed the district was going to move forward with some long term facility maintenance projects when that um when the building passed that plan was then scrapped long-term facility maintenance and we needed to pay some back to the state and property taxpayers I should say um so there was a large adjustment in that area um and so that went went away and then we had some and now it pops back up this year so you see we have adjustments this year of 23,000 compared to a negative adjustment of 41,000 so that added a 245,000 to our Levy this year over twice what our total general fund went up up by so uh that is the biggest change there um Community Services stayed essentially the same Early Child early childhood education did go up excuse me um but uh total of 8,570 in total so not a significant change in dollar amount in debt service um fund our Boer approved Debt Service is going to stay fairly flat at that $4.5 million and uh and as you recall a year ago you had OPB on there and that's down below um that is gone our last payment is going out in February um so that will no longer show up in our in our books as we move forward and what is that other post employment benefits so the district um don't ask me the year but number of years ago bonded for I think it was $9,000 for to help cover other post employment benefits so health insurance or retirement payouts that were um due to employees via contracts that were been s so they Lobby or they bonded for that so they had that pot of money to draw for those various payments and that was Debt Service fully funded by levies yes yes so our total property tax levy for all funds came up to an increase of $ 44,1 or 67% for the year um and here just highlights major changes operating went down operating referendum and that's due to declining enrollment um our local optional revenue is this based on the same formula so that's declining enrollment then we had those adjustments and uh again it says ltfm was our primary uh factor in that major change and then The opep Debt Service those bonds have matured and will be paid off in in February so um percent change to a tax levy does not necessarily mean a change in our Revenue um because our Revenue comes from a mix of property tax and state aid primarily and then we also have some federal federal dollars as well so it does not mean we're getting necessarily more Revenue overall it just means the amount coming from property taxes is going up by [Music] 67% um State Equalization formula um there is a Formula that equalizes some of the uh Revenue that we receive based on the property valuation of the district we are a fairly property wealthy District as being an a community with under 600 students um and therefore we don't qualify for any Equalization um I remember about twoyear period in my career as a superintendant where we actually qualified for Equalization the formula has not kept up with Rising egland values in particular but uh there is a Formula out there um this is a chart the changes whoops changes in property tax values and Trends the the line the green colored bar is net tax capacity and then the blue is referend the market value so we tax properties on two different types of property those that are net tax capacity and those that um qualify or pay taxes based on referendum market value and that's for your operating Levy for an operating Levy um everything except Agland pays for an operating Levy so commercial industrial residential um is paying the Lion's Share of an operating Levy when we get into a bond issue net tax capacity comes into play um so the increases here in the lime green bar are primarily due to what's happening to a gland in in uh in these areas you see uh last year a 20 29% increase in our net tax capacity um we were probably seeing 20% plus in our egg values and uh and Su in our residential and commercial but certainly driven by our egine values it's looks to be going down for this coming year at least it's estimated at that level uh but again egg gland is probably leading the charge at some of the highest increases um just a reminder for taxpayers um last spring you received a notice about your valuation um and you have an opportunity to challenge that valuation um and that's the valuation that's used for the pay 25 taxes so that window is long gone you'll see another notice in March um when you see your first tax statement you'll also get a notice about your proposed valuation for the following tax year and if you have a complaint about that and think it's gone up too much you need to requ or go to a Equalization Board hearing um or go to the County Board hearing and and make a request to have a change I will tell you it's rare that assessors will make a change but um it is a chance that you have to express your concern over what they're saying for valuations um this is just the statement that everybody has seen this is a generic one um we had a gentleman show up tonight looking for the county truth and Taxation hearing that was not here tonight um but this lists you know the city Township County and School District District um tax levy hearings and there's that March valuation statement that you'll get it looks something like this and then it will tell you what who and where you need to contact people to appeal that that valuation notice um and then I'll try to run through these quick um you know the taxes that your property pays is based on three major things the estimated market value what property classification it falls into and then what the tax levy is H what the tax levy um being established by the local jurisdictions is affecting it so ours are going up 67 I I haven't seen a local sibl County or Renville County property tax statement I don't know what their's are going up but that's certainly impacting your taxes and then your Township or City whatever is happening there is going to be P taxes property values do not rise uniformally across all properties so my house might have gone up 5% yours may have gone up 15% um so those changes shifts the burden around from taxpayer to taxpayer I mentioned egg was going up faster than commercial and residential that's shifting some of the burden to egg egg properties um so here is just some example no change in tax burden if we had um two homes valued at 100,000 and they both went up 20% if they were paying $50 when they were valued at $100,000 for those homes they're going to pay $50 when they're pay they're valued at $120,000 because we're still trying to collect a $100 it's just being spread over 200 140,000 in Total Property valuation right now but that's an unusual circumstances properties don't typically all go up the same same percentage here's a uh again homes valued at 100,000 one house goes up at 10% another goes up at 40% that would shift a tax burden that $140,000 home is now going to pay 58 and the other home even if it went up 10 % is going to see a drop in taxes of $8 in this example we've got several different businesses involved a couple homes commercial um and some Eggland same type of deal um they're all valued at 100,000 but the the tax capacity of each of these properties is different a home has a net tax capacity of 1% Eggland home Eggland is 05% of the value and Commercial is 2% of the estimated market value so if they all change 20% increase for the homes 10% increase for commercial industrial and 4% for Eggland you can see how that changes the tax uh distribution of who's paying for for what um a change for for farmers in in the CW crowd here um you're you are only allowed to Homestead so many acres based on the valuation of those that acreage and for this pay 2024 it was limited to 2,150,000 that's going to jump to 3,500,000 so if your land is valued at $10,000 an acre you could Homestead 215 Acres this current year next year you'll be able to Homestead 350 so if it's Homestead it's a 0.5 net tax capacity um and if it's non-homestead it's going to be a 1% net tax capacity so a little bit of race for for our egg Community with that increasing um a Homestead market excl classification there um I talked about net tax capacity uh my guest back there said if she left it meant it was too boring so I'm going to quickly get through this um for our district we have our net tax capacity is generating 5.56 million in property taxes for us remember 4 and a half million of that is for the for the bonded Debt Service and a referendum market value so our operating Leverage is generating $1 million for the district and uh and that again excludes Eggland and if there's any seasonal recreational properties in the in the district if we have any we don't have many of those so what this is saying is the net tax capacity we from everybody that lives in our district we're going to collect 5.5 million for one year for one year yep yep um and then this just gives a an idea on a estimated School tax for for an average home in our community would be $57 and it gives a breakdown of where those what that tax is covering so um board approved debt would be like if you had done a long-term facilities maintenance Bond the board itself could approve that so we have zero there right now a voter approved operating levy on the bottom 158 is going toward that voter approved bonds $190 so our large that's our largest component of our of our overall Levy and then um I guess we we'll put this out on the website if people want to look at um at various properties here but um it's a comparison from pay 24 to pay 25 um with residential and Commercial increase at 3% and if egg has a 10% increase which has been running at least 10% commercial and residential are actually going to see a slight decrease in their school taxes egg will see a slight increase um of 7 to 12 cents for homestead land per acre or 14 to 24 cents for non-homestead and then there are some various scenarios out there uh if or residential Homestead if 0% increase in values you should see a decrease in your taxes this year again because other property groups are making up for that um that for you um and I'm more calculations if you did a 6% increase in values and then this is the a a major chart I wanted to show for the bond which we mentioned was $4.5 Million Debt Service payment here's who's paying for that 24% is pay is coming from hestad commercial industrial and any other property types that are out there 23% is egg being paid for by Agland um that is not part of that Home garage house garage in one acre and then the state is actually paying 53% or over half of that debt service for us thanks to the 70% EG credit so um and you all know full well that without that 70% a credit I doubt we'd had a 60 plus per approval of of a bond issue and that's certainly assisted many different districts throughout the state and then lastly there's some different programs if tax your personal taxes are going up certain percentages um there are different refund programs available certainly talk to your to your accountant on on uh what is available to you but again if other entities are like us with a 67% increase uh very few of these would probably qualify so again when it gets to that point in the agenda uh we'll be asking to approve the levy in that in that amount 6,570 44161 so any questions sorry to bore you with all of that but I I think it's um I want it out there for the public so they hopefully get a little better understanding of um you know where our doll revenue is coming from and how how it gets paid to us here will that slide be up on the website for the public yeah I can we'll get that up there this presentation so would be available for everybody all right any other comments or anything question okay thank you now we'll move on to number five fiscal year 24 no yes five number five yes sorry fiscal year audit for presentation by Abdu yeah Dr Smith you good with uh running the presentation yep yep pull it up here I'll go up here and then you can drive I got my notes on mine anyway so this will uh this will work well so thanks everybody my name is Lane with AB I've been here for the past few years now but it'll be similar to what we've done in the past we're going to go through our presentation um and do a highle overview of the 23 24 so a lot of the information that you just heard will segue into this a little bit different we're looking backwards rather than looking forward uh from a budget to audit purposes so we're going to go through our audit opinion our responsibility we'll look at your main operating fund your general fund some of your other governmental funds then also how you compare to to other school districts throughout the state and other school districts in questions for me before we get started there is anything that comes up long way feel free to uh to interject so yes we're going start off by going through the audit results and communicating what our Auditor's responsibility is versus what your responsibility is so Char with governance so we as Auditors are required or our the objective of financial statement audit is to apply on Financial statements that there material misstatement so really what that means we're engaged to look at the numbers make sure everything's in line we use a lot of judgment we use a lot of random sampling we can't look at every single transaction that the school district enters into um so we provide reasonable Assurance basically that the numbers that we're looking at are free from that significant bar so with that we provided a clean or unmodified opinion on a financial statements so that's good that's what you want ultimately the financial statements themselves fall back on on you as a school board those charge of governance by accepting the audit repot okay um so again have clean opinion on the financial statements under generally accepted accounting principles we're also required to look at other areas of legal compliance at the state and the bedro level so we have um two we audited two major programs this year to get to the single audit threshold the eser and the striving readers program we don't have any compliance findings to report at either of those programs or at the state level um as Dr Smith mentioned earlier we do have one compliance finding new laters that exess cash in Food Service fund um so as we'll look at in the next few slides you can see that there's been an increase in fund balances in that food service fund over the last few years uh there's also One internal control finding limited segregation of Duties basically from a cost benefit standpoint the district's willing to accept a small size around the finance function um and just being aware that that does come with additional risks and due due diligence at the board level as additional level of control to look through various things with monthly your quarterly reporting whatever it ends up being um check registers U things like that just to stand out make sure nothing seems odd could you reference that one I mean are we unusual in having that finding as a small school district uh that's very good point yes so that is very common in a small school size I think one additional level of control that you have with with Lindsay being involved that also gets rid of some of the other control findings at small District C uh with preparation financial statements and some of the material lot adjustments Lindsay does a good job of preparing some of that however she's the main one that's involved with a lot of a lot of different functions so there are some overlapping controls there so uh yes that is very common in a school district your size um majority of the school districts we work with have that as well addition uh if we look at the 2023 audit results on the next slide uh same findings as we had the the prior year we did have some Student Activity purpose findings that was also complian in in fiscal year 23 that was remedied in fisal year 24 any questions on that before we look at some of the numbers so the first one we're going to look at is the ADM um so as Dr Smith mentioned earlier this is going to be your primary driver of your general education Aid uh into your enrollment and how the funding mechanisms work so you can see the general overall trend the downward Trend um pretty common in public schools from that 2020 to 2023 decrease of that 686 in 2020 down to that 600 in 2023 it did go up about a dozen students in 2024 you a little bit of an increase there that information come to you where you get that we get that from MD so all a lot of our information that we get is going to come from MD and it's available if you want to go out and grab it to all public knowledge on their website um but they do have their ADM reports that come through uh they on their their website so um and that's a good point for the next few slides here all that information is just going to be um grabbed from MD and available resources that they have um so what we're going to do and what we're going to look at here in the general fund in your main operating fund is look at the unrestricted fund balance so that's really the dollars that are available for spending at The District's discretion so it's not going to include any of the restrictions of dollars that are specifically set aside but um again the unrestricted the dollars that can be spent so really what we want to do is compare that orange line to the black so that's going to be a measure of liquidity and basically showing as um as you're as your general fund budget changes that black line um you really want to see your orange fluctuate uh similarly to the black um so your fund balance policy in the yellow cost for about 12% or that 1 and a half months of reserves in the budget and you can see as that ADM did decrease the past few years your budget expenditures remained right around the same right around that $10 million uh and the what happened to your fund balance was that did decrease with those funding mechanisms and drawing those balances down now I know there's a lot of difficult decisions that were made over the past few years to build that back up but you can see on that graph there as your uh as you have started to build those reserves back up uh you have increased that over your your fund balance policy over that 12% um well so we're at 17 and a half% of our unrestricted fund balance but we had we approved a negative fund balance so how are we going from 12 to 17 yeah so this is to 24 they're looking back to last year so we don't know where we'll end up yet so so we call this year fiscal year 25 yeah so that's confusing so our school district's fiscal good point fisal years for school district are the June 30th date at the end of that year so this we are in fiscal 25 this report is from the 2324 school okay would actually be June 1st 23 the June 30 or July 1st 23 June 30th rep so yeah always looking backwards there buding see us there's definitely Factor so um but again you can see the overall trend from 2021 to 2024 and the Positive Growth there um and that just allows you additional flexibility on um just cash flows various other um decisions that are into the district so if we can go to the next slide we can look at how you compare to other school districts throughout the area and throughout the state so again we're going to focus on the orange that's going to be your district and then compare each other schools in the Statewide average these next few slides is going to be anything in yellow and then also anything in black is going to be Economic Development region N9 which is kind of the greater Mano area um so you can see overall districts in both your area and throughout the state have been right around that 30% is little bit of a decrease over the past few years both locally and throughout the state again a lot of that is to to decrease in enrollment just overall in general where you can see your district has had that inverse relationship and has been building towards more so those period of averages so again a lot of uh a lot of difficult decisions I know over the past few years were made but you can see again the the impact of those and how you're being comparing to your benchmarks and other districts just one clarification on this slide this is our total general fund where the previous one is our unassigned correct okay yep so the previous slide where we looked at that's going to be the dollars that are available specifically for or that are unrestricted so dollars that can be SP where that was already about that 17.9% where this one's at 28.3 that's going to include additional 10 9 10% of dollars that are restricted for those different um fund balance purchases whether it's um career and Tech whether it's long-term facilities maintenance as you mentioned earlier um specifics like that with different okay so the next slide what we're going to do is look at specifically fiscal year 24 so we're going to compare what's your looking at earlier right your revenues compared to your expenditures so when the final 24 budget was done anticipated about 11.9 million in revenues compared to 11.35 in expenditures so anticipated about a 56 about $566,000 increase so that third to last line that net change in fund balance Dr Smith correct me if I'm wrong I think it was a a decrease um for fiscal year 25 uh where this past year 24 was an increase of about 566,000 so your actual results came in about double that so you had about $1.1 million increase in fund balance from 2.0 M or 2 million to 3.15 million at the end of of this SCH year 24 so a few reasons for that so you actually collected about 12.2 million in total revenues uh your taxes in it mean a little bit higher uh again perfect Segway from earlier that was about $114,000 you had some other Revenue mainly Student Activity Revenue com in that was about $75,000 positive obviously there's a lot of changes in Market uh value adjustments and um interest earnings interest rates during the year so that ended up being $100,000 higher as well so you about $300,000 positive variance in revenues you also saw about $240,000 positive variance in expenditures so salaries and benefits in total ended up being about $50,000 under budget uh your Sal your sites and buildings you have $136,000 positive and just maintenance utility cost think likely a lot of was with some of the changes in the the buildings um in closing the one site and then also your pupil support was down about 150,000 lot that was just Transportation cost that can be from a wide riding sources whether it's fuel uh depending on some of the needs with the transportation so that's kind of the three main areas that uh were the primary driver of that so again anticipated about of $563,000 increase actually have about $1.1 million increase um which we seen refle in those past few slides of building F balances do any of the revenue increase duee to Federal Co relief dollars part of that or was that Y and so there was a there was a decent amount so we did audit about bu I think it be about $575,000 in es dollar there's also about 500 a similar amount in that driving readers dollars too so a big chunk of that and we'll look at that um if you actually go to the next slide that'll be a um a nice Segway again uh so if we look at your primary drivers of the general fund revenue for fisc leader 24 again as we mentioned earlier the state sources is going to be the majority of that right about 75% annually you can see again how you compare to some of your peers um where your federal is a little bit higher again it's because of those Esser and those string programs that are in your local sources also end up being a little bit higher than your peers again a lot of that is going to be um related majority of that's going to be tax related but uh which we drill down a little bit more on to the next slide but then also some Student Activity dollars that okay so as you mentioned earlier going through the budget process on the property taxes if you look at the district as a whole compared to other districts in your area and throughout the state you're more or less right in line on a per home value $100,000 value and operating on that per ADM basis for your a little bit different is going to be that Statewide averages that you're a little bit lower on the property tax per home again that's going to be indicative of higher footprint in the agricultural side of things right so um having that that wider District the egg egg land that's in there does skew that a little bit but overall on that per ADM on that per home value basis pretty much right in line with other districts again in your area throughout the okay so we'll switch the gears a little bit and go to the next slide so we're going to look at um total expenditures by program so yep that one right there and I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time here again superintendent Smith did a good dve of articulating at earlier uh the main driver of your general fund expenditures by program are going to be on your instructional versus your support so um yeah right about that 67% in fiscal year 24 end up being spent on the instructional side of things um so if we look at the next slide what we're going to do is break down your school district and compare to other school districts throughout the state on the box and whisker plot so if you think of your general fund uh and those budgeted expenditures going up over the past few years um you're again see a similar Trend to other districts throughout the state so that yellow line is going to be the Statewide average where a lot of districts saw a decrease in enrollment you actually went up in fiscal year 24 so it looks like your expenditures averaged out a little bit bit but if we look at the next slide and look at your total spending on a perm basis on that regular instruction it pretty much overlaps where other districts have been at throughout uh throughout the Statewide average so typically from your Elementary and secondary regular instruction right about that $75,000 in spending for and if you look at the next slide um again we're going to drill down specifically on the instructional side so the sped side of things uh you can see that cost to operate on a perum basis has been going up really that's just going to be an indicator that you have additional needs additional need students that are being um being enrolled for the past few F years so is that pretty typical between all districts or is that special to our district um so I mean I it varies right depending on the needs so I would say generally Trend you're seeing that's a general Trend there are um anytime there's if it looks like an outlier to MD they might PLL and do specific sped audits or things like that um so I mean I generally speaking I would say yes that's pretty similar to see an increase in spending I don't like that drastically but again it really just depends on the needs of the students and um the different type of needs that are enrolled in Dr Smith anything else I would just I would just comment obviously the Statewide average is is going up slightly and we're kind of moving well past that um we actually talked in our earlier meeting our special ed costs have been rising partially I know we have more students going down to RiverBend Y which if they're going there means they're in need of a higher cost program so as our enrollment is down there our overall cost for special end they still count in because we're paying the bill for our students that are educated down there okay did not know that funding is a little bit different though there it's quite a bit more confusing but uh yes it is uh the funny mechanism is different than where just your general enrollment the change in um so it's uh there's always a lag with the the spending to or depend on the revenue is collected versus the spending so generally speaking you're going to see a your cash resources are going to lag behind what what we would typically recognize as Reven you know I I'll just make a my my political comment for the N um the the real story behind this picture is the cross subsidy that we have in special special education um where uh the federal government has pled to fund 40% of these costs I think they're at 15 16% now that they fund um so that's a pretty big chunk um and then the state isn't as far behind as they are but they are they're not fully funding special ads so that means the district um has to use their General Ed dollars to cover that cost that isn't being picked up by federal or state government so um we want to do whatever we can to manage to bring that increasing line back to Flatline and down if we can because that's save the gy fund out student who decides what students go to rubber B is it a parent choice is it a it is a team IEP team choice so um we have our special head team Mr wasman and our one of the principles are going to be in that meeting parent teacher uh if we're looking at a possible Riverbend placement usually somebody from there would be part of that as well so we know what type of programs are available but it's a team decision but and the ultimate placement comes as a result of testing a and assessments it's based out of settings um in school districts so if a school district cannot provide like um a setting for like a a three or four student who is you know um an EBD student who needs more supports behavioral wise um then that's what R bench program provides for them so it's a small contained classroom all day that may have anywhere from six to 12 students in that classroom um the team decides that the General Ed setting is not a conducive setting for that student um to learn in and or isn't disrupting others as learning typically that's the case is that they interrupt and disturb other whoy as well and uh the number of students we're sending is on the rise every year is what you basically right I need to do more study but I know it's higher this year than it has been past and I would assume it's following a similar line to what you're seeing here I trying and there is some catch up with situations with the society too you know because there was lag in education for brief period of time not necessarily here but across the board the co era has probably accelerated that a little bit but overall it's certainly a trend we' want to reverse if we can do we ever get kids back I mean they evaluated down there and then sometimes brought back into the school district the goal is typically to have them be successful in a gened setting in a public school system and so some do go for a period of time and come back um some go and don't ever come back that's the ultimate goal of every IEP written is to to get them back into a general education classroom for some students that's just not what what grades are go down there me all yeah yeah even Elementary all the way pre preschool yeah what's the success rate of students coming back you if you had a guess I wouldn't know that because I've only been here for a couple years but I do know that we've had to come back that have been previously sent in the last couple years that I've been here currently have one um now starting in partial days um so they'll come back for a couple hours and then I Rend for the remainder of the day um either they started our school or they'll end of the day at our school um so then we gradually um integrate them back into the school setting um and see how it goes and if they can't handle it then they go back there for a while then we try it again right so yeah any other questions on the general fund so we'll switch gears a little bit and next we will look at the food service fund um so same thing right we're looking at that net change in fund balances that third to last line anticip anticipated about a $53,000 increase I actually saw about a $77,000 increase so um obviously Chang the Food Service function this year with the state seing and helping in with some of the meal programs so generally speaking we've seen an increase in revenues uh and I think a lot of times too with just the additional need with additional meal serve we saw a higher increase in food service costs as well um so your cost did go up about $775,000 from fiscal year 13 and fiscal year 14 um but with that you also saw Revenue come up or go up as well so a lot of that is with that state program so that was up about 140,000 so is saw about a again that $77,000 increase in fund balance from $447,000 to right about $525,000 at the end of the year so this year 23 saw about $65,000 increase this year 24 was about $77,000 um so you know again thinking back to earlier part of that is going to be drawn down that's the main reason of that is for uh that food service funding uh the feds say that you can only have three months worth of expenditures in cash or net cash in that fund they did give you a reprieve up to that six months um so it's it's kind of that middle point of what you can be using those dollars for so a lot of times it does come down to Capital and what those Capital needs are to improve some service equ which we be happy okay um so if we go to the next slide we'll look at again the same thing Statewide averages with your food service fund um trending in pretty much the same direction of other school districts throughout the state um upward costs again more meal served um typically just puts higher Demand on food service providers samey so your other operating fund is going to be your community service fund again anticipated about a $57,000 increase in fund balances you didn't quite have uh as much increase as anticipated but did go up $30,000 from 114 to 145,000 um so a few reasons for that uh federal revenue is going to be a big chunk of this charges for services are going to be in there as well um there's some one-time Grant Revenue with some of the dayare and there's some outliers for specifically related to fiscal year 24 so there is some tax ly going in there too as you talked about earlier um but typically the community service fund would operate at a loss and that's pretty common without some of those onetime funding mechanisms that are out there so building that in as part of the budget part of the budgetary process we talk about is important but you did see General increase in costs in the food service from in 2024 so again not quite as high as anticipated change in B so it's originally um done as part of the budget process and what you can see there on that next slide is it will be reflected some of those increases in the costs um trending a little bit higher than some year peers but if you look at things overall you're pretty close to that Statewide average $1100 higher than um than your peers but that doesn't again necessarily mean it's a bad thing just investing more resources on that Peri basis related to the community service or what programs are being offered in that that community service F okay so if we combine everything that we talked about and we look at your total cash and investment balances by fund um saw the increase in the fund balances and that's being reflected by increasing your cash balances as well so at the end of fisc year 22 you're right about that $3 million overall you can see that has increased over $5 million a big chunk of that is going to be that general fund that saw that million dollar increase in fiscal year 24 uh and then the big chunk of that to is going to be your debt service fund so those dollars are specifically restricted to make those Bond payments so that ends up being about a million dollars that's in there you also have $216,000 in your opab trust so uh as mentioned earlier that bond is dropping off I think it was entered into in about 20 2009 if my memory does recall um so you do have $216,000 left in that from that bond to to pay off those benefits even the de paid off and then you also have about $574,000 in that scholarship trust fund as well um that's sitting out there for those scholarship payments so we typically or we purposely excluded the building construction fund to not skew this significantly uh they're at the end of this year 24 $69 million left in unspent bond proceeds for the completion of that building um but again that's specific for to to pay those contractor engineering those costs related to that project so that's going to be in that building construction fund but really want to focus more on the operating on this slide rather than the one instruction so with that that is all I had to go through so again wanted to keep it high level as possible but any other questions or Dr Smith anything that you want to add related to F the year 22 nothing that I have any as a board we're we're going to approve it in January just to provide some more time if people want to look so if we do have questions we can yeah my contact information is on the slide have it and be happy to answer anything that comes up thank you thanks everyone appreciate it okay moving on to six consent agenda get a motion to approve your consent make a motion and second any questions all favor raise your hand sent approved moving on to informational items superintendent report yes um going to start at enrollment uh December we were at 550 students down one um but I just heard from Mr wman today that we had four new students enroll at the high school this week so um so we're actually up a little bit uh but from the first of the month we were down one right now we're up three so that's going in the right direction um just some notes superintendent search um it has been posted out Statewide um we have it in three four locations it's not up yet uh at Masa but it will be shortly um just a reminder that the we're seeking input from anyone from the public and uh Mr ber TR is going to be over at the middle school high school on Wednesday from about 12:30 to 5:30 in the afternoon if anyone wants to stop in there's actually a signup sheet but we're going to be collecting that and they'll he will take take Walkins whenever they show up try to fit fit them in and then Harold Remy will be here in Gibbon same time frame so if anyone wants to come in and provide any input into uh what they think the the next superintendent what characteristics that person should have um feel free to do that and then uh pretty the posting closes on January 10th and then just to confirm our interview dates it is are going to be that Monday which I kind of suspected since you all have Mondays kind of marked off on your calendars so Monday the 27th would be the first round of interviews and then Monday uh February 3D would be the second second round um and that's uh they would start midafternoon I think is what uh they're planning right now I think he said uh he'd ask the Committees to be on site around 1:30 so they could go through some information and then interviews would start around two two o'clock start 13 Dr Smith how was uh advertised for the general public to go sit down and give their opinion uh we put it on the website it went out in a community mailing through Communications as well um right I think I think think uh it was in the newsp I know Doug Hansen had it in his column that there would be opportunities for Community input as well just that's miss it and and there's a survey out there as well so if you can't come uh to the meeting there's a survey and that's there's a link on the school district website there's a superintend superintendent search tab on the website in fact I think when you first log on it's splashed right in the middle that you click there and you'll go to that site so thanks for bringing that up because that that is available and will be through through the month of December most likely so um just some quick building updates um I think at our last meeting Brian Kobo said he wanted 25 degrees and no wind well we got less than 25 but windy for much of the time since then so wind has hampered some progress but otherwise things have moved along uh very well with the Colder Weather firming things up out there um just where some things are at right now uh they were pouring concrete on the floors uh second floor of the elementary Wing uh early this morning already when I went by um and then they'll they're starting on second floor they'll move down to the main floor uh when they're done upstairs uh decking and Roofing Crews were there as well this morning putting insulation on that Elementary wing and getting that hopefully that roof buttoned in a little bit more than it is and they will move from west to east as well uh pre-cast panels are are still going up um um I didn't realize it but um you can see it now that you know the gym walls on the west now have another anle right next to it and that's kind of the storm shelter so going down that Hall there's actually two separate panels so they're doing that storm shelter area now they have the second story of the storm shelter those planks are laid because they're going to want to drop that generator in there as soon as possible so they can button up that rough area as well um yeah so that's the major work that's uh taking place uh they're they're doing some work with the uh trusses in Commons area where they can from the auditorium over to the kitchen wall there uh but uh most of that will most work will happen back in that storm area as that area is complete so um lot is happening and it uh a lot more workers will show up once we get the floor poured in that Elementary Wing then you'll start to see electricians plumbers in in those areas construction guys putting up the uh steel studs for the walls after so um let's see um oh Gibbon and winp surveys for for our current sites and what we should do with those in the future uh they those survey links went out in Gibbon and winthrip utility bills the city bills um we already have just under 200 responses um roughly two to one win to Gibbon um but uh that's a great response and then now in our inflight magazine that's coming out shortly and we'll be out to all gfw residents that survey link will be in there as well uh we will compile the results of that survey in in mid January and then I'm working with the city administrators in Gibbon and winthrip about setting public meetings that will be in February sometime so when you finish with superintendent search we can just move into the next public meeting so so keep your calendars free um yeah that's it and then I I just have one more um announcement at the end of the meeting here that I do that okay when you do your your student count is that lunch line poll or is that actually kids sitting in a seat that's kids that's not lunch line that's that's our kids that are registered for classes and attending school they that's doesn't matter what they're doing for lunch they could yep so okay thank you um moving on to um middle school high school report there's always a lot going on where at school it's hard to choose Shar but so we'll start with the student council the student council has been actively engaging students through seasonal Traditions each month this fall students enjoyed the annual pumpkin hunt featuring a real pumpkin Rome by the Bastion family for the upcoming winter week students have planned several festivities this um last week prior to the holiday break grade eight the College and Career Readiness class took a trip to the Minnesota Zoo during the racing College and Career Readiness trip to the zoo the students explored the wide range of career required to operate the zoo highlights included zoo exhibit creation students learned how to exhibit designs um that required meticulous planning and teamwork with even Minor Details subject to revision eighth graders enjoyed the designing mock exhibits and resolving team disagreements they also learned about animal tracking demonstrations students tested tracking devices by hiding and locating a fake Turtle using radar signals the Hands-On activities highlighted the challenges of monitoring animals and was a favorite among the participants these experiences promoted career exp exploration while fostering teamwork problem solving and critical thinking skills it was definitely um something that they say they would like to do in the future for the next classes FFA 10 members attended the inaugural leadership winter Summit participating in state level leadership development events leadership conferences and student workshops Liam Bastion competed in the Farm Bureau discussion meeting joining 15 other F members from across the state tomorrow we'll conclude our highly successful fruit fundraiser with members selling nearly $30,000 worth of fruit meat cheese and pickled herring proceeds from the fundraiser support the FFA activities and reduce costs for students participating throughout the year since the start of the Year FFA members have been actively competing in Regional contests and leadership development events and they will for the rest of the Year our CTE Department also along with our work-based learning kids and Thunderbird manufacturing students visited the schwe doors in Hector to learn about the manufacturing process from um for various types of doors during the visit they also gained insight into managing the equipment used in the production process uh Jim ju settle George grome and Mark turtle from our board visited with our students as well on that day so thank you for that our music department last week our Middle School and High School choir band programs held their winter concerts over two different evenings the band with approximately 95 students total showcased each grade performing three selections per group the Middle School choir also performed four songs in total while the pop choir and concert choir performed separately and together as well with approximately 85 students in the choir program many also participate in both choir and band showcasing their dedication and versatility which is a unique opportunity supported by many rural school districts moving on to our positive behavior intervention supports this is one Focus that we have been focused on since the beginning of the year even starting last year but for those of you who are unfamiliar with PBIS which is positive behavior interventions and supports it's a proven framework for fostering positive behavior academic success uccess and emotional well-being in students while creating safe and Equitable learning environments our team has been actively working to recognize students monthly and organize reward days for demonstrating leadership and positive behavior the team wanted to do something special for our staff as well so they felt appreciated so we sent out you matter notes from members of the team to teachers to build rapport and relationships among staff we also had popcorn and pop deliveries during conference this year the team meets monthly or twice if needed to prepare for ongoing training since summer we have completed four training days with two more days scheduled this year we'll also have more trainings next year which will um be in total of nine over the two years we've established the sore Matrix which has been uh discussed and displayed with our students and we are developing Frameworks and flowcharts to proactive address student Behavior additionally we are clarifying guidelines and addressing behaviors in a classroom versus goals that would require immediate office refs thank you thank you anything to add for elementary um her report was in in the packet okay so okay and Dashers was well um okay nothing to report from the student council who was in there moving on to board reports uh riverband District which I've been a part of for four years going to meetings there and they're expanding to a secondary location they just they rented Nicholson athletic leased it and they've remodeled it with classrooms and staff Staffing rooms and that'll be opening the next few weeks so they got more space for more program stuff and just so that everyone knows uh would like to make sure we keep sending an Envoy to the meetings which I believe are usually held every last Tuesday of the month I think that's typically what it is but somebody just have to contact them and is that an inperson meeting yeah so it's in person in the school which is you know on the far side of Tali right right so yeah and they do a lot of work I got to be on that board for four years there's seven different districts so met a lot of people lot different schools keep up to and and what time is that meeting it's typically six o'clock on Tuesdays but I think it's the third or fourth Tuesday Tech I'll confirm that before subject to change on our oration meeting too so I think we've changed our times stuff before y yes we will need a new representative from the board so thinking of that's something that would work it's a monthly meeting as well that's very similarly structured it's just it's even a little bit more casual okay moving on to policy committee anything to report I think our most recent policy committee meeting was to go over the policy revisions we going to approve today potentially approve it so all that information is there most changes were most of them were just word changes right there was no real large changes to any just simple wording of one or two things and this is about half of the that we went over I didn't put them all on the thought I'd spread them out so we didn't have 120 page for or document this that's good so from FF lrp committee anything to report i' say Dr Smith covered most of the what we covered um little more change order talk possibly upcoming change ERS nothing or shattering and I think uh Mr T are was commented on the time frame for the West wi which about two to three weeks as I recall r on the west one and then perhaps another two to three to the East and another two to three all dependent of course on the weather there may be nothing done in the next few weeks but that if it was possible there was be a number of work days that they were looking at just to get it in Clos and the only other note I had here was the whole building there was a good chance it would structurally be all the whole thing tied together in a month so that was a couple weeks ago so it's it seems like it's turning that that way see the welders around what so yeah so the wind lay down a little bit you get all that decking on and that that's been our problem it's the wind so a little bit behind that just with pre-cast not being able to go up in some areas because of the wind and then in insation and decking material when that's lot of the decking is on is all on on the front yeah the front yeah the elementary yeah the whole way across East and West stuff is all on y so you said there were a lot of CH Burgers no that's all not yeah it's everything that we've seen they present we've already seen um they just they're still betting some of the bigger ones we brought up some points that we want them to drill down a little bit further up their contractors contingency is looking really good still it's it's no different than what saw right around $2 million last time and that and that includes this bigger one that it's already was already on trying to rittle that down if they can confirming with contractors so even with that large one coming we still are sitting at just over two million contingencies so it's a good spot to be in I think most of the major you know big num number items that would come through are are done oh knock on wood but uh um yeah we're in a we're a good spot there um I've been signing a lot of change orders lately but they've been for zero dollars and it's just uh it seems weird to sign a document for zero dollars but it's a record keeping and because the schedule changed they were um um not required but they were it made sense to go back to the contractors does does this delay and scheduled change your get priced in any way few had a few dollars in there but 90% of them came back Zer so they just have that recorded that um the offer was made did they get natural gas in yet they were talking so we uh talked about that earlier meeting today they were out almost all of last week digging that in it's out there it's not active yet so they're running off of Elin tanks um I don't know exactly when they'll make the switch over but the line is all the way out there now um so but they're running off of LP for right now I'm pretty sure they have to do a shutdown to a main main line so they'll have to shut off the main do the way they were saying was No Interruption might be well there they're saying is No Interruption um while the school's up and running so they're not going you know during Peak Seasons or whatever they're not going to shut the school down because they need P gas for emergency situations like the generator if there was storm to come out that George what they were were they figing that they were gonna how did they get is there is there a paway they they had a separate one coming in from the West to that generator that's up above the storm shelter otherwise line comes all the way around to the east side so if there's a shot down for tying in I I wouldn't think it's already tied in yeah I I think it's it might be but it's very long as far as interruptable and non- interruptable service it's probably okay it would be that way so shut service I'm not sure how they done dug today at all you see all the structures above where they were working up last week so it in before done that's good okay moving on to the community engagement committee we just had that meeting before and talked a little bit about time capsule ideas and you could maybe say where our idea the location is going to be yeah we've been uh working with the Architects about where where a time capsule would go in in one of the walls um well um Brian Johnson from P said well why don't you put it in this under this bench and if you recall there's a stairwell that goes up and down right north of the office area we kind of stood right there as we were doing the tour and around that stairwell is a permanent bench that's just there so we're going to keep a spot open underneath that bench and it it will go in there um and then there will be two plaques in that same general area once there there's normally a dedication plaque that has board members listed that were involved in the process and um Architects construction managers Etc and then another one just referencing the the Time Capsule that's there and we'll have to figure out you know when it would be opened um that would be on there um and last thing so we'll have to this spring sometime take any input of what should be in that time capsule for a while we thought we were limited to what would fit inside a a narrow wall but we have a little more space so I'm sure things like a course schedule for the current school year you know local newspapers from last week before we do that time CS things like that but uh we'll let the public suggest ideas as well iPhone or something yeah yes old so you guys will be putting out a advertisement you know it's something that won't happen until probably next June or something so sometime in March we'll put something exciting know and the rest of our discussion was mainly about the buildings and surveys to the communities yeah that kind of covers that uh executive committee was basically regular meeting setting agendas and nothing too extreme okay moving on to action items uh approve the contract with scsc for superintendent search Services uh could I get a motion a second and could discuss if we want to I'll make a motion the contract with scsc and a second I'll second any questions or discussion about their services just clarification for our public that's the gentleman that we had here um Jeff berrang and Harold Remy um whove run previous searches for the district the uh you get great value for for a little price um I don't think they even build us last time for the copies that they made or anything extra so it's a service that's provided by the south central service Co and as a member we're able to take advantage of it and they they'll do a great job for you they know our district they know superintendant around the state of Min okay any other input you on the drill yeah all in favor raise your hand approve okay moving on to B approving the PID 202 Levy at 6,578 44161 get a motion in a second discuss we have to next motion approve and a second I'll second it any questions or concerns or [Music] anything no I think it was well explained earlier for sure so all going to be put on the website y put that presentation if anybody that's not us that wants to review more has that opportunity okay all those in favor raise your hand L is approved Okay C approving policy revisions as presented 535 601 603 604 606 66.5 607 608 get a motion in a second motion to approve those and a second I'll second any concerns or discussion I'll just make a comment as George already referenced all of these are being approved at one meeting because they're legislative or language changes caused by the legislation so an example is um what I a presentation that I forgot to do during my report that I'll quick at the end here world's best Workforce is now um oh gosh I'm always going to change forget that comprehensive achievement and Civic Readiness so throughout almost well seven out of these policies have that old world's best Workforce and now it's comprehensive achievement and Civic Readiness and there are occasionally sources cited to different sources new ones but otherwise simp it's simply a word here or there in Follow by legislative changes okay all in favor raise your hand policy changes approved moving on to acceptance of donations by to gfw schools whereas Minnesota statute 465.16 in full and whereas acceptance of donations in accordance with the donor's terms is best interest of gfw schools uh donor Patricia Ericson $250 for the TCA could a motion to approve the resol the acceptance of the donations motion to accept the donations and a second I'll second have a motion in a second Julie would you call the rooll s yes marle yes erle yes yes gome yes Miller yes Breeze yes thank you accepted well tonight is my last night for now may come back in the future but uh I'd like to thank the board for all the good work we've done and working together very well it's been been good it's been nice to reacquaint and also meet new people and try to figure out uh how schools actually run which is a mystery still but um I really like how the committee structure has changed and since I came and and hope it just maintains through the future if you guys can keep it going and thank you for coming on board when we needed you so very helpful and also that to keep going with the school as best possible on the building project and anytime you guys are doing a tour give me a call well thank you Dan for your uh dedication and service and this is uh thank you to you for your four years of service and you can thank me for the uh nondescript wrapping job because they left it up to but thank you thank you very much and I I gave it away by kicking here you probably heard it dinging under under here several times during the meeting so and there some more you want to pass uh well I I have this world's best Workforce report I'll take two minutes to to show that and uh while I'm while I'm pulling it up um we are required annually to do a world's best Workforce and um and now an achievement in integration uh report to the public each fall and last year in December the uh world's best Workforce was given and then we received an achievement and integration Grant which is a three-year Grant so we're receiving approximately 85 to $90,000 a year that's going to help um some of it's going to pay in part our dual immersion program teachers but it's spread across many areas trying to um address the growing diversity in our district and uh keep achievement going for for all students so this is just a quick uh quick report first on the world's best Workforce I'm going to call it that for this yet um but moving forward it's going to be the comprehensive achievement and Civic Readiness report but our our goals were pretty uniform throughout here it was 90% you're going to see that number a lot 90% of four-year-old preschool students will score at or above expectations in phonological Awareness rhyme alliteration units of sound on the teaching strategies gold Assessments in literacy objectives by the spring of 2025 so we we have another year to go on this uh we are currently on track at 85% of students scoring at that level and again our our goal is to get and that was at in the spring of 2024 so we have another 5% to go but that's a a good first first step toward achieving goal number one goal number two is 90% will score above expectations um in uh in literacy objectives in the spring of 25 slightly different uh we're on track here at 86% of students scoring above expectations in goal number three 90% of gfw students at gfw Public Schools will be in the low risk and above average category on the fastbridge a reading test by Spring of 2025 with no demographic group below 85% um so here in the test we we are in progress on this goal overall we were at 60.9% our Hispanic Latino population was 41% white 67 two overal races 67% English language Learners were 20% oops sped sped was 42% special education and then free and reduced lunches were at 52% so we have some work to do in those specific sub subcategories um and overall we're at 61% so we have a ways to go on that on that goal as well by 2025 and then this one 100% of eighth grade students will complete a four-year High School career in college Readiness Plan um and that is really a requirement of the eighth grade year so we're on track there completed that college career Readiness Plan and then last goal number five 90% of 12th grade students will achieve their goals as stated in the career and college readiness Plans by the 2025 school year and we are on track there with the 10th and 11th grade cohorts on track to meet that goal by 2025 as measured by their career in college readiness plans so world's best Workforce and again it'll be changing slightly in the future but U um we don't receive a additional dollarss for that but for achievement and integration we do re receive some additional funding there and again last year was the first year of these these goals in in this uh category here 90% of our gfw Hispanic Latino students will be in the low risk and exceeds category on the fast Bridge a raing test um and you see that we are on track um and this is by 26 not by this spring but we've got a two years to complete this we're at 54 and a half% in kindergarten 58.3 in grade 1 and 50% in grade two again just with our Hispanic Latino students and in same same goal for our math um we're slightly lower scores here 57 for kindergarten 54 and a half for grade one and uh grade two Hispanic we're at 177% so we're obviously not on track there and have some work to do um I don't know this for a fact but looking at 177% that says we have seven Hispanic students in grade two and one of them was on track at this stage so we have some work to do in that in that area um in science technology engineering art math courses will mirror district and federal racial definition demographic groups and free and red reduced price lunch percentages by Spring of 2026 um after reading that goal it's a very difficult goal to evaluate because we have a hard time pulling that data in those particular ways out of our student information system so I have here you know overall we did not complete this um have not and probably not on track in general we meet it in grades K through nine because those students essentially have the same course requirements so when we get into electives that perhaps our Hispanic Latino population isn't taking advantage of as many college level classes as our our white students so um something we're trying to track and uh um we need to massage our student information system to see if we can actually track that the way this goal was written gives us these goals or were these were District generated goals so I think was Dr Horton and a committee that worked on this achievement and integration Grant so these come from a grant that was written and uh we were awarded um okay so and then the next one is similar that in college credit courses and exra curricular participation the the uh the participation levels will mirror our overall student population so here I just showed our our high school student population 75% white hispanic Latinos 19% two or more races 3% and then we have three other categories black American Indian and Asian all have 1% um so here with um college level classes we have six that are offered for credit so in four of the six college credit courses the percent of students in the two or more category exceeds the high school average so I think we were at 10% and the high school average was 3% so again we're talking very few students so if one student enrolls in those classes we probably met the percentage um and then we did not meet it for Hispanic Latino or for black American Indian and Asian students and one of the others was we were going to partner with neighboring districts to provide more opportunities for um racial involvement in extracurriculars and coursework and an example of that was the uh the musical this fall that was partnered with sibi East and we we did have 38% of the cast and crew came from sibla East so we were successful there I don't know the total of um non-white students involved but I know there were several in the cast as well as the crew after watching the performance so so that's the report on achievement and integration you'll see this again next fall for those board members that are back and interested community members uh um but uh this is part of our achievement and integration grant that we will receive funding for this year next year and the foll when we see it next fall we see the where we're at right now and then so yeah so now we can show yeah 24 we were at 54 and a half% and this year we're at I'm assuming the new superintendent will do it that way so I should speak for any questions any that on some of those that are seem fairly low what do we think's the Run well again we're we're taking measurements with in many cases very few students so as I um and I've used this example with uh with other folks I've talked to I had lunch at the high school couple weeks ago and sat down at table two two young men both both Hispanic background um and the one gentleman um says to me uh Jus won't be talking with you uh I'll translate for it he arrived here this fall I believe um from South America and doesn't speaking anything but very little English um and so that's a student who's taking our t with some accommodations perhaps but we don't even really know what schooling that young man had before arriving here so that's who's showing up in some of those low numbers in some cases how do you know what grade even put him him yeah it's a it's a administrative decision basically um you know it's pretty tough to put him in down with a middle school class when he's a senior age wise but um yeah and and he's fortunate he he has classmates that you know I won't say the student's name but he was great at just translating anything Jesus wanted to tell me or when I was asking questions if we don't make these goals does the grant no it it may impact the renewal of that Grant but this grant is good for three years so three years yeah and I would even say even if you don't 90% is a pretty high goal to put in a a grant like this it's it's admirable um but it may be tough to meet that 90% and some of these um so I think as if we're making suitable progress toward that 90% there's good opportunity to renew that award but uh but you you have to reapply spring of 26 but it seems like almost 50% we've already met roughly right and we got two years that pick chisel that y so well without the grant you wouldn't even track this stuff right so kind of a good good idea yeah and and you know you saw the total TW close to 20% now of our student population Hispanic so we do need to see how that subgroup of our student population is doing and and make sure they're uh they're moving forward at the same rate as their appear how long are this student that doesn't speak English are anybody seen this before and how long does it take for them to come around and start understanding what's going on in the classroom uh well that's a loaded question um and so it depends on what grade they come and it is not necessarily um their success is not necessarily um determined in one way or another um and some students may also have other needs as well so they may also have learning disabilities like their um Caucasian peers do and so there's a lot of different factors that play into the decision making for sure do they have a bigger desire to learn than some weight kids no they're kids they're kids so it's kind of the same view yeah but a general statement the earlier they arrive here the quicker the transition occurs yeah which is that and that's why we have a dual immersion program at the elementary because they can soak that that up very quickly and actually that's helping some of our students that have arrived here um and only speak Spanish in kindergarten of first grade they're in that so they're learning English through While others are learning Spanish they're learning English what what the tough part is as they get older like if we speak speak for like a junior or a senior who comes in and they come in um and it's the first time they've been in our country and going to school here they still are required to um meet all the requirements by the state of Minnesota in order to graduate high school and so that's the tough part is that we're asking those students to perform like their English speaking peers do when our Engish speaking peers have been learning that since they've been born so what happens when they come in like ninth grade and they're not up to speed by the time they're seniors do they continue to go to the to school after that or it's situational depending on the students needs but um kids do have a certain amount of time after they are seniors in order to graduate with their their high school diploma so just because they're a senior and they don't graduate during that year they do have a period of time to get their high school diploma and that's what we hope they do yes but their other option isly leave without a diploma start seeking employment other questions else d okay get a motion to adjourn the meeting and a second I'll second I'll meeting thank you