##VIDEO ID:gOP537qO3ec## call the meeting to order we'll start with the pledge allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the repic for it stands one nation God indivisible with libery and justice for all number three approval of the agenda so second have a motion in a second all those in favor signify by saying i i p the same sign motion passes public forum none presentation actually I'm going to take a little exception to the rule if I may Mr chair for a public forum um I would like to take a moment to recognize because I think this is the last official full meeting for Lance oi as a school board member and for those of you that weren't here earlier um he said he walked into his first board meeting and he was going to walk into his last so that's a huge accomplishment for everything that Lance has been through but Lance we do have a small certificate of appreciation a plaque to follow for it looks like 12 years of service and commitment to the Pipestone Area Schools and your capacity so again um this little uh token here says uh in grateful recognition of your 12 years of dedicated Service as a school board member of Pipestone Area Schools your un wavering commitment leadership have significantly contributed to the success and growth of our schools and Community respectfully signed by the board chair and the superintendent of schools so congratulations thank you for your service and for everybody to celebrate with us we do have cake afterwards so uh you got to stick around for that too thank you so much and I don't know if I should give this to you as much as your wife probably my wife she's been a great help thank you everybody it's been a wonderful 12 years and I was chairman for 2 years and that was interesting but I did it and I've had a lot of ups and downs in here but the biggest confence was getting the Elementary School built and more stuff for our kiddos to do and that's the biggest thing is we're here for our kids and that's it kids only education is the most important thing in my books I think we've done a great job here and come a long ways thank you for everybody for supporting us and that's it thanks thanks Lance number five presentation 5.1 Matt tobert audit report everybody should have a copy left on off one on to everybody um I'm going to start my presentation on pages three four five and six and this is our opinion regarding the financial statements and what this four-page report States in our opinion the financial statements that come after this present fairly the financial position and the results of operations of the district as of and for the year ended June 30th 2024 it's an unqualified clean opinion which is what you want to have in your audit report if it were something other than that I would have been talking to you well before this evening so um that's the first uh start that's good that's where you want to be with that and then if you I think a lot of you have been in previous presentations I've done i' like to go to the back of the report uh starting on page 75 because the information in the back of the report is considerably more detailed than the condensed information it's the same information but it consider again it's considerably more detailed um I'm going to hit totals starting on page 75 uh the format to this schedule is this is a statement of revenues and expenditures for the general fund only uh the format is First Column is budget second one is actual third column over is the variance with the budget and the far right hand side is the 2023 actual comparative uh total revenues the district budgeted for were 16, 38692 on the back on the bottom of page 75 uh total actual revenues came in at 16 million 72750 so the district did better than budget by $384,500 uh you're up a little over $570,000 in Revenue 20 23 to 24 um most of that probably coming from revenue in the state sources category uh that is up a little over a million dollars in that category Alone um I'll mention it a little bit later but uh two of the revenue items that are probably subject to the most potential fluctuation is general education Aid and special education Aid those numbers seem to move all the way up until probably uh April or May of the following year um in the last report that I checked with GED computation on the Minnesota Department of education's website uh general education Aid on a,2 55,000 we're about $2,500 different than the last computation the state did so that's great we want to we want to be close to that number and special ed uh is actually uh up uh compared to the revenue that uh Jackie had computed and so for both of those items we we we're very close in those items so that's uh uh the two of the items that have the most potential fluctuation if you will um but I feel that we're real close on both of those so with that said I'm going to move to page 76 this is where we start the expenditures expenditures are categorized by broad category uh district and School administration uh the very first category is uh budgeted re budgeted expenditure excuse me of $997,000 $1 actual was $992,000 so you were uh a little bit under budget by just about $5,000 uh District Support Services middle of the page budgeted was 464 992 actual was 442 859 so we were under budget in that category by 22,33 then uh towards the bottom 2/3 of the way down the page regular instruction uh districtwide budgeted for 65279 9 actual came in at 66447 so you were over budget by $1,348 and that's that even at that dollar amount you're still within just less than 2% less yeah just 1.17% of what your total budget was we're still very close uh Elementary School at the bottom of page 76 budgeted at $3,787 actual was $3,162 502 we're over by 155,156 within approximately 5% of what the original budgeted amount was and then top of the next page is the Middle School budgeted expenditures were 1, 7,771 actual was 1, 45,891 so we over budget by 38,1 191 again that difference is still less than 4% of the original budgeted amount and then the secondary school the last category in regular instruction was budgeted at 2,874 375 5 actual came in at 2,881 320 so you were over budget by6 6945 that's less than 02 of 1% of variance on that one and then the total regular instruction we take all of the categories together budgeted at 7,541 962 actual came in at 7,753 861 so you were uh over budget by excuse me over budget by $2,899 again that very is less than 3% from the total budget so very close budget adherence on the what I call the reg the overall regular instruction category last one on page 77 is vocational instruction 4438539568 [Applause] exeptional instruction uh budgeted at 2,36 33459 actual came in at 2,262 631 you were under budget for the exceptional instruction by 71,9 64 again just right around 3% variance with the budget middle of the page instructional support, 56308 was budgeted actual was 8932 49 under budget by 16359 and then pupil Support Services uh bottom of page 78 was budgeted at a million6 35993 actual came in at 1,578 467 you're under budget by $ 57,5 26 and that's right around a 3 3 and a half% variance from the uh original budget and then the top of page 79 site buildings and Equipment uh which is basically maintenance and utilities that type of thing of the actual physical structure 2,200 631 budget a m996 9938 was the actual under budget by 23,6 193 and then fixed cost programs which is basically all of the property insurance budgeted was 147 285 actual was 148 610 so you were $1,325 over budget in that category taking into consideration all of the previous categories from the second the first page we started uh was 1 millon excuse me 16, 8227 was budgeted actual was 16, 518 942 so overall all district general fund expenditures you were under budget by 3037781955 there was a small Insurance Recovery of $4,100 so overall the general fund went forward by $187,900 $8 ends the year with a positive fund balance of 7,565 930 if I can have you just maybe stick your finger in this page and go back to uh page 42 I just want to give you the breakdown of the reservations of that fund balance of that 7,565 930 the about middle of top of the middle of the page uh under fund balances Note 10 there's $130,100 set aside for prepaid items items to be expended in your uh 24 25 year then just below that it says restricted fund balance and highlighted general fund starting with Student Activities all the way down to medical assistance those are uh categories of fund balance they're reserved strictly for those spending purposes uh the funds need to be spent according to the uh requirements of those spending accounts so we got total general fund restricted fund balance of 1,451 030 then the top of about the middle of the next page 43 center of the page it says general fund there is Severance set aside of $48,990 298 and then the bottom of page 43 general fund unassigned fund balance $ 5,910 553 that's funds that are available for any basically general fund spending purpose it's not restricted funds when we add all those together that totals up to the 7,565 930 on page 79 uh just one other note on page 79 uh the district's policy is to maintain between 25 and 34% of fund balance uh of a threeyear average expenditures uh three years average expenditures of 16 million and and some change uh you're basically using that formula you're about 36% 37% funded in the minimum of 30 25 to 34% you're a couple percent higher um that was 38% last year 22 23 it's 36.8% this year so you're meeting your required fund balance or your kind of your own self-imposed required minimum fund balance for a general fund unassigned fund balance any general fund questions I can answer for anybody if not then the next category of funds I want to deal with are on page 82 um page 82 and 83 but we'll start with 82 this is the Food Service fund uh middle of the page total budgeted revenues were, 8,846 actual revenues came in at 1,1 1876 64 so we had more Revenue than budgeted by 178,0 1818 expenditures were budgeted at 98639 actual expenditures came in at 1, 125367 so you're over budget expenditure Wise by 39228 when we subtract expenses from the revenue above the Food Service fund went forward by $162,200 balance of $950,000 we we'll talk about this when we get to the management letter at the end you've actually got too much money in your food service fund which you probably are aware of but you have for a few years yeah yeah and now there I think in January or February you're going to get a letter from mde regarding it and and dealing with it so yeah I if if anything good came out of Co it helped my students by Food Service funds in all of my districts and that would probably be the only good thing but uh that's yeah so your your food service is a very healthy food service on page 83 we've got the community service fund uh middle of the page total revenu is budgeted at 304 474 actual was 326 640 so over over over budget by 22166 uh expenditures about 2third of the way down the page were budgeted at 33416 actual was 359 827 so you over budgetting expenditures by $2,671 then we subtract the expenses from the revenue above we have a deficit in the community service fund 33187 you budgeted for a deficit of just about 30,000 so you're really very close to what your original budget plans were uh end of the year the bottom of page 83 the overall fund balance for uh community service is $552,000 if I can have you just kind of stay on this page or we can go back to it starting on page uh be page 43 of that community service fund balance of 552 213 top of the page uh Community ad is 24288 ECFE is 310 530 uh learning Readiness is a small deficit of $461 and then overall community service restricted is $52 $56 those total up to the $552 213 fund balance that we talked about on page 83 that fund balance is reserved strictly back to the like the general fund that's for those spending categories alone so for the most part all of the food community service fund um fund balance is set aside for those spending categories then one more couple more funds here uh two page 85 this is the district's capital projects fund uh this fund exists these are generally temporary in nature they exist just to take care of a capital project once the capital project is done any excess is transferred out any deficit is is transferred in to clean up uh this would be the uh the bond project that the district is undertaking uh revenues were were $6,650 of interest income uh expenditures through June 30th were $209,700 so we subtract that from the revenue above we have a deficit of 92423 then below that we have a category called other financing sources and uses this is where the bond proceeds came in uh we've got Bond pre Bond premium the excess over the amount that you originally issued of 198 220 and then the actual principal value of the bond bonds 2,685 we've got total other financing sources of 2,883 220 and giving us an ending fund balance of 2,79 797 and that'll be that'll be spent as as the project moves forward so again this this is this will be temporary in nature when the project is done uh that's this fund will be closed out then on page 87 we have the what should be the last fund this is The Debt Service fund and this fund exists strictly to pay principal and interest on standing District indebtedness uh again middle of the page budgeted revenues were 1,838 869 actual expenditures were 1,857 649 so we're over budgetting the revenues by 18780 uh expenditures are strictly just principal and interest charges budgeted at 1,831 850 actual the same so when we subtract the expenses from the revenue above we have a positive 2,799 ending fund balance is4 2 3,239 uh as the bonds are paid the the state will uh monitor the year Levy and ultimately in a perfect world when this gets to the end it should be zero um the district has three outstanding issues that the the 2019 uh building bonds has an outstanding balance of $2,325 th000 that'll be paid off in 2040 uh the lease is got a balance of 346 ,000 that'll be paid off in 2028 and then the new bonds 2,685 uh that will be paid off in 2034 okay then I have just a couple of other things just to touch on in page 89 just just to bring your attention uh page 89 is the schedule of expenditures of federal Awards uh because you have excess or $750,000 of federal funds expended uh your to the requirements of the single audit so we have to provide this schedule to the federal data Clearing House and if you see here the district received the 1,758 538 federal funds in 2020 23 24 um which is which is amazing it's just what we had about of that 7 million 1,758 a little over $720,000 that should be the last of the Esser funds or the covid funds coming down let's hope that neither Jackie or I live long enough to ever see that happen again as well um then we have a couple of Auditors compliance reports internal control page 91 92 and 93 uh this is the independent Auditors report in internal control and compliance uh we test the district's internal control and that's how transactions move through the district receipts dispersements uh approvals those types of things um and then we also test your compliance with the publication called government auditing standards and then also a publication put out by our Minnesota state auditor's office called the Minnesota legal compliance guide for school districts um and we had no instances of non-compliance with either the uh government auditing standards or the Minnesota legal compliance audit guide uh we have we have two findings uh in regard to internal control we'll discuss those in just a second uh they're the same findings that we've had in all of the virtually all of the audits of the district and virtually all of the audits that our firm does with the ex of the city of Pipestone they've got they've got some measures in place with enough staff that they can overcome uh those comments but we'll touch on those in just a second and then we have page 94 95 and 96 is another independent Auditors report this is a report also on compliance and and uh and internal control but this has to do strictly with your uh major federal program which mathematically worked out this year was the remainder of the Esser funds uh when we found no instances of non- compliance with the federal requirements in regard to the uh uh major federal program that the district had and then if we can go to page 98 and 99 um these are in relation to the two findings that I talked about earlier uh we've got on top of page 98 finding virtually all of the reports that our firm has done for the district and all of virtually all the others other than the city of Pipestone you just can't split things up long enough to where the point of one person doesn't have more than one involvement in the transaction um and it's just economically infeasible to design a system of internal control that would eliminate that um I mentioned to my either City councils or school boards or nonprofit boards you guys are part of the mitigating circumstances in that so if there are things that you see questions that you have ask your questions you know get an answer that you're satisfied with because uh you're part of the oversight in that uh internal control and then 20242 Gap financial statements our responsibilities as the Auditors is to render that FL page opinion on the beginning of the report again with the exception of the city of Pipestone we also as the engagement with our clients we prepare the audit report we prepare the document with the foot notes and the disclosures and the schedules um this is no reflection on the work that's done here at the at the district uh I say it every year but it's not something you send somebody to a half a day class and they come back and they can do it it's just it's there's since I started in 1983 there is so much more to Preparing these financial statements than what there is now there's probably 45 more pages than what there was when I first started it's just unbelievable so um I'm required to bring that to your attention there's really nothing that you can do regarding that um other than you know Jackie going back for getting some education and literally and all it's going to do is it's just it's a preparation of this document we're just hoping that the accounting profession will allow us to continue to prepare the financial statements and do the audit that's the next thing I think is probably coming down the pike where you'd have to have a firm come in and do this and then we would do our thing and all it is going to do is add another layer expense yep end of the day but that's something we'll deal with when that time comes if it should um then everyone should have two loose letters in the back of the report and I'll go through these relatively quickly um first one says management letter the first one I have in front of me um Food Service net cash resources what we talked about earlier you got you got excess funds in your food service uh the last one two the last three pages of this letter um I just took the notice from the Department of Education and just filled in your numbers into their computational uh thing and you're over by a little over $176,000 so um hopefully you can develop a plan or devise a plan to to spend to spend those funds versus returning them but just to want you to be aware of it um and recommended adjusting journal entries on the first page uh the journal entries behind here the one two pages um some of these actually our our Jackie just got us to got them to us after we started our process uh they're normal recurring yearend journal entries um there was a period probably 10 years ago or so when there was probably three or four times this so Jackie has went a long ways towards doing additional uh year end reconciliations and that type of thing so these have been posted to your statements your statements agree with our audit report and actually the report has been transmitted to Minnesota Department of EDS so and then the last letter says communication with those charg with governance conclusion of audit um first page qualitate aspects of accounting practices if there were any new accounting pronouncements uh we would discuss that here they're not going to with for this year there were none top of page two when I talked about general education Aid and special education Aid I'm required to bring to the districts your attention any significant estimates in the financial statements uh General ad and special ad are are large dollar amounts make up a good share of your Revenue um and we feel that the estimates and those are both very close like I mentioned with the uh last time I checked with mde we're very close with their last computation middle of the page difficulties encountered in performing the audit there no significant difficulties no other difficulties either uh corrected and uncorrected Mis statements there are no uncorrected Mis statements to our knowledge disagreements with management we've had no disagreements with management during the course of our audit um top of the next page page three consultations with other independent accountants if either our firm or the district thought it may be necessary to get a second opinion on the application of an accounting principle or an accounting pronouncement uh we discuss that here but neither the district nor our firm consulted with outside accountants other audit findings and issues if there are anything else that I thought should come to your attention that we hadn't discussed previously I would discuss that here um I mention this every year that I we can't make management decisions for the district but if there's any way that we can provide you provide you guys with any information or any additional information that will help you guys can make good decisions we're available year round so um I think that's all I got I kind of tried to keep moving here for you but uh if you're looking at this at a later date and have a question on something do not hesitate to give me a call I'd rather have you ask than Wonder there's a lot of information that goes together to get this to a document this size to be honest with you thank you man okay very good thank you have a good evening congratulations L I want to thank Jackie for always being on top of stuff and even if you have questions she always finds them right away and she even do she does that for us as well very good very good which helps keep us moving yep I appreciate that thank you you take care 5.1.1 approval of audit report and journal entries some second I have a motion in a second all those in favor signify by saying I I I close same sign motion passes 5.2 truth and Taxation 5.2.1 discussion of budget and proposed propy property tax okay board members each year we are required to hold a truth and Taxation hearing and so this will officially convene that hearing the slides are on your on your packet as well as on the board for your reference and I'll just cue Deb to move forward to the next slide whoa not quite that fast but um yeah we'll move along here and go through the process to inform everybody about what's going on with our truth in taxation process um and if you have questions please don't hesitate to ask and we will do our best to answer and when I say we that includes myself and Jackie and if we don't have an answer we will certainly seek to find the answer that you might ask so moving on to slide three um you can see that the reason we have that is in accordance with Minnesota statute statute 27.06 5 that we are required to hold this and it is regarding the property tax statements that individuals will receive regarding their taxable pay their tax payable um and you can see in point number two most taxing jurisdictions hold these public hearings prior to certifying their final levies to discuss payable taxes 25 Levy and fisc year 25 budget so um and this is an opportunity if are any public comments related to those moving on to the next slide who sets the levy components of a District's tax levy are generated really by a couple of functions one is the state formula that impacts how we are funded as a school district and the second is voter approved um as authorized by the state these are your operating referendums and as you heard earlier um those outstanding bonds that we have within the district moving on to slide five um people may wonder how is their property tax determined and the county assessor is the one that has a significant role in this looking at the uh market value for each Pro each parcel of property and as you as Jackie and I sat through a training earlier this year on levies um one of the things that was noted in particular in Southwestern Minnesota southern Minnesota is the great increase in the local valuations of local property because of land values and how those have increased exponentially um so there are some districts that have seen their their property valuations increase by as much as 50% I think ours was a 33 38% increase in property valuations and again driven by those Market values of land um then Minnesota's the legislature has a a l a tax capacity formula that they apply and then it is calculated from those functions in terms of what uh the local levies will be the next slide shows the sources of General funds across the state you heard during our audit report um our general fund and you can see that as as as the state goes um about 70% of the general funds so the large gray um piece of the pie there is is where the bulk of the funds come from for the general fund and then there are some federal sources that go into this at the state level about 9% property taxes make up 16% um and again local sources of revenue about 5% now this is the state and each individual District looks a little bit different um relative to each of the district's property wealth and functions accordingly so we can move on to the next slide then slide seven and I think this is an important slide just to highlight that funding often Trails what happens with inflation and we've seen that become even more pronounced in the latter years here um our most recent history when we look particularly from 2021 to 2025 and as a as a reference point right now um funding for K12 education is trailing inflation by approximately $1,364 per puple unit in fiscal year 2025 so when um people have asked how have we done historically if you go back to 2020 or 2003 you can see that that Gap was relatively narrow and it has only continued to increase over the years and that's why you see the increases in local operating referendum that have occurred across the state um because it has just become a function of of local districts to maintain some of the things that they may have historically done and property tax levies I think are are an important function to look at as well where are the impacts coming from and you can see the school district versus non-school District property tax levies um and as you see the the bulk of the property tax levies are from non-school functions so again um people may may say well the school district has this or that impact on our local property tax um we are not the bulk of what happens with the local property tax so again that's just a point of reference as well so we get a little more granular and specific with our district when we turn to our our current numbers for the 2425 school year budget and again these are items that have been developed and projected into our budget this isn't new information for you board members it's just compiled into this truth and Taxation report to understand how we are arriving at our Levy targets that we are um the general fund we had projected revenues of 15,452 th000 with projected expenditures of 16,9 73,000 and that yields us a projected deficit of 1.5 million again not a new number not a surprising number number that we heard um when we adopted the original budget uh earlier this year our food service fund continues to show growth and we will put forward a plan to the Department of Education as is required to determine how we can spend down those resources and I know there have been some questions can we apply it in some of our curricular areas unfortunately we can't I wish we could do a proar kitchen with these funds but um MD is very restrictive on what you can do with these funds and and it's really unfortunate because um I know part of our original plans with the bond funds was to do something in our in our child or in our um family consumer science kitchen but unfortunately we can't use it that way um at least I haven't found a creative way to yet General Debt Service funds um you can see what's going on there and then building construction um for a total deficit when you combine all funds together of 1.5 million so not a whole lot of variance off of our general fund that is our largest fund fun little pictures of our little arrows across the district as we move to the next slide slide 11 are tax statements um so this just gives an idea of a property tax statement for everybody to understand how it looks you have your property calc classification and market value um sent in the spring of 2024 and cannot change the value and then you want to watch for your spring of 2025 statement um there are places where these uh taxable valuations can be appealed that will be notified on those tax statements so individuals if they wish to appeal their valuation change they can do so accordingly the effective tax rates um on the next slide show what those rates are established by the state um and it's based upon your property C uh classification in the state of Minnesota you can see the farm versus seasonal recreational which we don't have much of obviously in Pipestone um residential h stads the apartments um public utilities and then the commercial industry those those rates are again all established through uh the state and you can see that that is sourced by the house research committee one of the things that we benefit from in Southwestern Minnesota pretty extensively is the a to school tax credit we've talked about that within the context of the roofing project and I know in the bond for the new school it was also a discussion point it was a law that was enacted back in 2020 or excuse me 2017 and it does have reach into um fund 7 which is all of our debt service levies and then um it is projected to remain at 7 at 70% into 2025 and it does come from state income sales and other tax revenues and it is a way to create some balance in equity across the state in terms of tax impact um so into the next slide you can see some of the history of those and again the fixed rate at 20 25 of 70% then finding your AG to school credit on your tax statement again you can look at the tax statement sample that is provided here in the property tax and credit section it does have egg and rural land credits listed there and that's where individuals can see the benefit that we as a local District have when we exercise the egg to school credit and as you look look at the next slide slide 16 um we're not going to get into all the details but as you look at it the darker red um the greater above the median it is in terms of the impact positive impact AG School Credit has and if you look at each and every one of those counties that is highlighted in the darker red you would probably see the greater valuations in Farmland um again just because of those are really the Bread Basket counties of the state of Minnesota and we get a little more specific here within our um district with our local option revenue and operating referendum um you can see what those allowances are per pupil and the equalizing factors that are factored into um into these areas and we do not have OPB funds in the district and Jackie can if you have questions on that we can certainly give you more detail but OPB was an option that was provided to districts several years ago for post-employment retirement benefits and Pipestone Area Schools did not exercise that option so while you may see references to opep that is not something that is specifically applying to the Pipestone Area Schools moving on to the next slide some more proud arrows so uh looking at our school district's tax levy um as people look at their tax statement they may see changes in their tax statements the first thing I would encourage people to look at is what has happened to your property valuation and make certain that you reference that because that does dictate often times what happens to the taxes um what we are seeing in in districts like ours where there is increase in EG valuation is a a greater Reliance on local versus State effort and again that's just a function of of property wealth um and we're really curious to see across the state what's going to happen particularly as property values in the egg areas have gone up and now we're seeing some of the major complexes Downtown Minneapolis standing open and vacant and wondering how that's going to shake up some of the property wealth um accounts across the state so again there a lot more discussion happening on a much bigger picture across the state relative to property valuations the next slide um talks about referendum and our district currently is below the median in terms of our per pupil um allocation for operating referendum uh we're at $474 per pupil the median is at 5113 the upper quartile is at 9 or excuse me is at 1,25 again interesting to see the distribution of where those dollars are the upper quartile as you see the dark red um is really concentrated particularly around the Twin City metro area you'll notice a couple of more remote areas as well they may need that for some Transportation related Services um there are 94 districts however across the entire state that do not have an operating referendum in place one of the items that was enacted by the state legislature that I believe our um board will need to discuss at a future date is the opportunity for school boards to renew an operating ref referendum one time without a vote of the public um that is something that we will need to discuss because our operating referendum is slated to conclude I believe um 2027 28 so um we will have some planning and preparation to do when we think about closing or maintaining that that source of funding there in the district property wealth pictures um again you heard me mention this earlier that um our district referend a market value per residential pupil unit this is the cost per pupil unit for the um for the land valuations and and not to be a surprise that concentration in the in the Twin Cities area again just because because of the high commercial concentration relative to Greater Minnesota and um a lot to do with what's going on in the in the Lakes Country area because you see a lot of Resort type communities there so putting it all together um we have our long-term facility maintenance and we have we approve a 10-year facility plan we know that our plan will reflect because we have talked about ltfm in the context of our roofing project so when we look at um updating our 10year plan and contingent upon what might happen legislatively a significant portion of that if not all will be allocated towards supporting our roofing project through a bond against our ltfm funds again that's contingent upon what might happen legislatively because there have been considerable discussions about doing something through ltfm at the state level for roofs proposed pay 2025 Levy certification for our district you can see the numbers that are included here um again Jackie has reviewed these and has provided the input and you can see what the total amounts are when you look at our PID 2025 Levy of 4, 297,000 um which is an increase of $372,000 um about a a change of about 99.5% so 99.49% and you notice in the footnote going back if you can dab I think it's an important footnote to capture that the agda school credit uh provides approximately 1 million doll offset of the general fund Debt Service Levy for farmers and um we don't have any timber land owners out here though so we have more information available we encourage we Jackie nor I are are property tax experts but we are required to provide this hearing um if people have questions we encourage them to reach out to Amanda Sandy at the auditor's office for details specific about their property tax statements um or if people wish they can contact the state of Minnesota for property tax relief and support um and there's an 800 number provided for that as well so I do stand ready for any questions um and if needed I maybe refer to Jackie as well but again that is our truth and Taxation any questions for Jackie all right moving on to six consent agenda uh 6.1 approved minutes of the regular school board meeting of November 25th 2024 and 6.2 Personnel report action required um can I get a motion to First any questions anything on the consent agenda discussion can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda second I have a motion on second all those in favor signify by saying I oppose same sign motion passes seven financials 7.1 review of budget year to date yeah budget year to date I made a few transfers um we're currently at 33% last year at this time we're at 32% so it's close the budget amendment will either be done in January or February so then I'll go back and I'll review everything and include things that we didn't know about in June and amend the budget which that require reward approval when that happens I'd like to say January but we'll just say February January question Jackie on the budget here to date all right 7.2 approved Treasures report for November yeah current cash balance is $9.7 million let's just list all the accounts we have and bank accounts any questions comments get a motion to approve the treasures report for November second have a motion in a second all those in favor signify by saying I I close same sign motion passes 7.3 approved 2023a bonds Treasures report for November current balance in the bond account would be 2.7 million any questions motion to approve second motion second all those in favor signify by saying I I motion passes 7.4 approved regul bills for December anybody get a chance to look through them anybody see anything stands out questions either good get a motion to approve the regular bills for December second a motion on second all those in favor signify by saying I okay OPP same sign motion passes 7.5 approve High School activity bills for December again everybody get a chance to look through anything that stood out any questions discussion motion approve I have a motion in a second all those in favor signify by saying I I oppose same sign motion passes number eight board Forum information 8.1 board reports and updates you didn't get together no we um we had mediation on Friday um and we got a we got a statement that we got put together that will be releasing um following the meeting just close statement and just for clarification for everybody the statement will clarify the school board's um last best final offer that was presented at the mediation session before um before the mediation session concluded all right anything else anybody no all right number nine administrators report 9.1 superintendent board report um board members you can see the enrollment on there again slight variations not um not anything too too great in terms of that um I did in in my report include information as well about um the mediation that's also reflected like I said before or like Brad referenced before in the in the handout that will be provided um the state budget forecast I've included a document for you to reference um this is actually from the recent budget forecast that was released and I think uh a real telling statement of this and this goes back to a question that often times boards get asked at the school board level why do you have a fund balance and when you look at the statement shared in the forecast this is directly from the state forecasters according to the forecast while Minnesota is expected to have a surplus of 66 million for the 2026 2027 bium there is a 5.1 billion ion dollar deficit brewing for fiscal years 2028 to 2029 unless the legislature takes actions and measures to prevent it from happening um this is driven by a lot of the legislative action that took place the last couple of years with categorical funding and some things that um that are put in place some that haven't taken effect yet others that have so um again I just want the board to be aware this was released I believe last week so again it's fairly fresh it was information that was shared in the uh Minnesota rural Educators Association information for um for districts that are part of M which we are we've been having some discussions to partner with um the various EMS services in the community on a joint venture for communications Tower and some efforts to improve communication tools in the in the community and within the school district um there may be an opportunity to do some Partnerships with that and if uh if we keep moving forward with that effort which it sounds like there's some traction to do so um it would allow for some more robust Radio Systems in our school district in our buildings for enhanced and improved Communications during crisis moments so um and we were reminded once again today how important that is with the school shooting that occurred over in Wisconsin today so again just know that these are important discussions and things that we're focused on um Community Education we've been hearing some feedback on some opportunities that we've been providing and have received some uh feedback from staff we asked staff members if there were some interest so it sounds like we're get uh generating some interest among staff members for some different classes that can be taught and then we do have a reorganization meeting I believe board members you should all have that on your calendar for January 6th and the school board convention I know we have several of you planning to attend um January 16th and 17th in Minneapolis there is a a pression um training that's going on that I know Brad and I are planning to attend it's going to be talking about uh particularly the implications of the new Family Medical Leave Act requirements in uh Minnesota that we have to put into our negotiated agreement and how we can go about doing so so um that's all I have to share unless there's some other questions I will point that you've been getting these at the board meeting these little tidbits from taher Foods um they were one of our sponsors at our Christmas party so we appreciated that and um just uh again just some things that they're trying to do to build awareness of what's going on in the Child Nutrition program and obviously we have some opportunities to do more because of the fund balance that's in our Child Nutrition program so um just some more information there as well you want to talk the bud that was the reference that I had to the budget deficit that's projected so that's that document that you see attached um for further reference and would encourage all board members if you did not read that through your communication from our M that you would take an opportunity to do so because it does give you some those projections and what those are based on for the state legislature is that meeting at 7:00 then on the six yes yes any questions for cl oh and you see the deficit they're projecting in 2 and 29 that you said yeah let me go back is that what it was okay perfect oh you're looking at the sheet any other questions all right moving on 9.2 principal board report all right good evening December was a lot of fun so we had the kindergarten and first grade concert on December 3rd that was awesome the first graders had speaking parts and it was so incredible to watch them they did an amazing job Friday December 6th we hosted our second terrific kid program once again I love that our community comes together and celebr our students we had gingerbread fund so on the December 3rd and 5th our third grade students had their parents in the Commons and made gingerbread houses and yet today and tomorrow our preschool students in Miss DA's room will be doing gingerbread houses as well we had our staff Christmas party this last Saturday that was a ton of fun we missed those were not able to attend the second and third grade concert is tomorrow night I look forward to that today the second graders were in their practicing SE away the students in kindergarten through fifth grade wrote letters to the Pipestone County Star and then we had a lot of fun dress updates throughout the month [Applause] so I thought it was very cool the um little ey on K land that gave us a lot of really positive you know look to our school district so it's great I think it's a great program but I just that was really cool that if we were historian any questions any questions for Jennifer thank you I do not have a formal board report for you this month but do you have any questions or concerns or comments for me thank you 9.3 curriculum teaching and learning board report good evening uh so we are starting the midst of State Statewide testing we have our access testing for our El students that will be starting in January and then following up with that we have our MCA testing so we are um I'm making sure we have everything ordered getting staff trained and all of those things to prepare for the MCA testing and I got to join Mrs morovitz at the colony for her monthly checkin and then Mrs Ortman and I actually spent a half a day out there a couple of weeks ago I've I'd never been out there so just learning what it's all about what they do got a little tour uh it's very interesting um to see how they do things out there so that was a lot of fun actually it is very interesting there yeah two years ago years ago three years ago it's three years very cool it was very cool any questions for Lisa hard to believe it's already testing season right thank you thank you all right 10 unfinished business 10.1 second reading of policy 503 student attendance this was brought to my attention that it only received one reading I never brought it back for a second so we were doing that a couple months later I did have a question question um just cuz I was asked on absences or tardies tardies and I don't know what it said before but um weather related or vehicle related um tardies are those going to be excused or unexcused and the other um conflicting thing and I is the I guess the illness the excused and unexcused 30es I've had um I think some parents just want clarification um because their child has received attention for a second unexcused but it was called in ill in the morning so should not Happ parent called in okay um when I look at this too I just want to I just want to make sure that there's Clarity here on absence it's just when I when I read this and I think about it I go I don't want us to get into a pickle with um I guess the school being held accountable for how many absences kids have and I I think it's great that you know kids don't have to provide this documentation for personal appointments anymore um but I do feel like we need to have some accountability as to how many times a student can be called in for the same thing over and over without having documentation providing that um what if we go 15 days in a in a quarter or a semester and a parent calls it in every every one of those are those 15 days excused or do we have to have a doctor's note after seven times after 10 times I I would like to see I don't know how anyone else feels maybe small there there I thought there's something at the bottom here that say something about if they miss more than seven school days per school year in elementary or one or more classes on a 7day school day per school year if middle school or Junior High goes on to then that would be considered habitual curency then would they be talked to I mean would there be a I'm assing conversation mhm with the parents yes we have attendance meetings every Monday and those are the things that we talk about um who do we have concerns about we do have an attendance problem yeah wait it's right there at the bottom it's well the 3 day and then you can see the three or more under oh yeah there that about it the last page [Applause] too so in answer to your question Daphne what we would have to do is if we keep it as is um it just honestly just creates more pressure for me and the rest of the attendance team in trying to get a hold of parents and families and figuring out where students are and why they weren't here and trying to uh encourage them to come to school I mean literally just last week I was on the phone with a parent that was unable to get their child to school because they didn't want to come and I ended up getting on the phone with the student and just begging them to come to school so that's Choice a choice B is to put something more Concrete in the policy or in our [Applause] handbook do you think having um more consequences would actually help the kids that are I mean that are not showing up I mean to me I I sometimes wonder if you're not showing if you don't see it as important to get your kids to school is that really going to make a difference you know what I mean yeah right I mean if you read like The treny yeah parents like when it gets to that level yeah that's what I mean it is against the law it's against the law as parents you can face consequences and so true yeah I just don't want it to get to that point without you know and then saying well it says right here in in the policy that I can call my kid in and it will be excused every single time for any reason so I didn't know if there was like you know if you're gone for three days and you're ill you need a doctor's know on the fourth day that you come back just so we know those three days you were ill I mean at that point you're usually going right to the doctor and W and I would say that the students that we that are sick or those that are legitimately you know having a surgery or something those parents over provide and overc communicate every single time their child goes to the doctor brings the note sends me the notes I don't know if this is something that we can um really put into effect this school year because we've already adopted it um correct me if I'm wrong Dr Willer we'd have to wait until next summer to re-evaluate the the handbook in terms of how many days after so many days without a doctor know yeah we would have to do it at that point in time consistent with the policy as doctor obviously go out I do I'm glad you brought that out because it is um it is something that is that I believe is being abused um by by students and and by parents a little bit not all of them of course not all of them but it just does seem too easy to send an email just saying my child's at home Mrs Ortman maybe you can comment as well about the engagement of the school resource officer with treny conversations um right they are they're hands are tied as far as that goes I actually did ask our um school resource officer to do a home visit on a child that Wass this stuff like coming to school high school student and he said I'm not able to do that I cannot force them in the car so we're our hands are tied everywhere and like your truy officers that come in well our school-based truy officer would be our Sr for for our school and then who we report to is [Applause] elsewhere but we do make reports we met actually today and we have reported a few treny um situations they follow through I hope they follow through that just goes to the state then or who get who deserve part I Casey slob is in charge of that that I'm not exactly sure she's the one that reports it it's really frustrating when um and this happens almost every day when um I talk to a parent either in person or on the phone or through email and they want their child to go but they aren't able to get them to at least four times a week and as a parent that's that's hard for me to wrap my head around you know high school students actually even middle we had we had one in Middle as well they just were unable to get them so Clint what would be our our I'm use the word protection in those cases where it is probably true in we you know because multiple times and the kid just doesn't want to come I mean what's our protection that the state isn't going to come in here and go through our attendants or and say that it's reported accordingly and really the burden goes back to the to the parent um if we had teeth with in the truy effort this attendance issue isn't unique to us every every District right now across the state's Bing as it seems and I think it depends on if it gets screened in and if they're taking it any further um last year we finally got one to get screened in and taking it further to educational neglect so we are doing on our due diligence part it just depends on when we make those reports if they're getting screened and if they're doing anything follow through on their end so agreeing with d that this should probably have more teeth should we I mean what's our what's our what what should be [Applause] our handbook for the next school year policy committee when I mean do we do it now do we I think what we could do is um probably after the first of the year when we get our new committee assignments put in place get the committee together um and start start making changes since we are de because then that would put us in a position to update the handbook in time for adoption into the into the spring early summer for the handbook for the next school year so then do we just like soall go through the motion right now and since we're I think you could do the second reading adopted as a second reading and then in January when we create our new new committee teams do it at that time and in the mean time we can start doing some homework with some other districts to see what they've done and also reach out to our County officers to ask what they can do to help support us with the treny side because that's that's really where the issue lies the example that Mrs Ortman gave where a parents calling us throwing their hands in the air saying I can't get my child off the couch to go to school well whose responsibility is that really and and um we're not the organization to contact if that's the case they should be contacting the police department and and declaring their own child TR and from school but no parents going to do that knowing that there's consequences for calling truant that they have to internal so us last and yeah this it just seems like yeah that's that's a good way to say [Applause] it cuz you do mean like what what do you say what did you say Mrs Ortman like we need to talk about student attendance and we meet every Monday as an attendance team and decide how we want to move forward with each case that gets brought forth um and our attendance team now has we are actually getting them ready to go any student that has we're calling it great attendance um we're sending those home their little handwritten notes thanking them for coming to school um we're just trying to be as positive as possible and making School meaningful and engaging and a safe place physically and mentally for kids so that they actually want to that's what I can that's the piece that I can control right now what we know that this is where the value of having every child involved in a school sponsored activity is important because that is an added incentive for them to attend and to be here and um and we started looking at some other non-traditional type activities there's drone racing out there there's Esports out there that may capture another set of our student body that provide some encouragement to to attend Beyond what's happening in terms of curricular [Applause] activities discussion questions good a motion second I have a motion in second all those in favor signify the say I I OPP same sign motion [Applause] passes 11 11.1 resolution accepting donations we got a $10000 donation from first Bank and Trust uh for the band holiday open house um also another $100 donation from First Bank and Trust for the choir holiday open house um $100 donation from Christ to King Lutheran for the wellness room $100 Anonymous donation for overdue lunch accounts and another $100 uh Anonymous alumni donation for overdue lunch accounts like to thank thank um thank all these people for these donations um they're much appreciated can I get a motion to approve um accept these donations a motion in a second all those in favor signify by saying I I post same sign motion passes question like on those um overdue launch accounts can we put some of that money from our sitting there you just pay them off no you have to if you write off lunch accounts you have to write them off to the general fund you can't food resp fun we've asked even about increase in quality of food we can do that we can that you can no with this type of contract new new contct the new one we can push the food quality yes okay that's a button we should push stinks for days yes we'll get in touch with the pipes Catans wonder if you know what guy 11.2 approve technical updates to policies 507.00 6 66.5 and 613 and notice that these are technical updates hence no policy committee was necessary to call it was referencing some very minute number changes in stat statute or something along those lines um again nothing that was necessitating a lot of language consideration or verbiage in terms of local decision making so um that's why these are just technical [Applause] updates any discussion can I get a motion to approve so move second a motion in a second all those in favor signify by saying I I I oppose same sign motion passes 11.3 adopt Levy limitation and certification 2024 payable 2025 Jackie do you want to comment on this at all not really I don't know if there's anything to comment on well there you have it folks oh this she right here well okay I can this I just compare from one year to the next year and if you see the top two and I think this is this is why we have an increase basically it's due to the increase of our property value because they take the increase they take the property value divided by your students basically to come down real easy and they come up with a dollar amount if your property value increases and your students stay the same then your per pupil is going to be higher and your state aid goes down according and your state aid goes down that's what that whole Equity so they give us less state aid is our property value for people is higher and that's what's driving most of a lot of this increase so the solution is either the prices of farm line goes down or we get more students want to go down want to away but that's that's a lot what's going on here up above so like I said and it's all formulas and the and the stake can adjust at any time they want do they can adjust where that tier one and that tier two is and how much state aid you get compared to what the local taxpayers have to pay based on what she told us when there's some speculation that that could be a discussion at the legislature this year just because after what's going on with not only land prices but inflation and how it's impacted housing values across the state too um probably du for some review of that but again they have a a huge deficit to fix $5.1 billion so that money has to come from somewhere whoever makes the motion we need to include the 4,297 [Music] 682 and the motion any [Applause] discussion can I get a motion to approve I approve we adop C the total proposed Levy of 4,297 682 82 for the 2004 24 pable 2025 [Applause] is that all I got to say second I have a motion in a second all those in favor signify by saying I iose same sign motion passes 11.4 resolution establishing combined polling places for multiple precincts and and designating hours during which the polling pace place will remain open for voting for school district elections not held on a day of a Statewide election so we did not have to do this in 2023 because of the 20 election and now uh I think in the legislative sessions it changed so we only need to do this once until we roke it or until P polling place changes so once this is established it's good until yeah until it no longer is right right unless ping Place changes any discussion can I get a motion to approve second I have a motion and a second all those in favor signify by saying I I say sign motion passes number 12 can I get a motion to adjourn second I have a motion to adjourn all those in favor signify by saying I same sign get she Off K we