##VIDEO ID:2AFnAZMk-0w## all right to flag United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all all right for roll call we'll let the record reflect that all members are present and we will start the truth and tax 18 for good evening chair hoffstead members of the board Dr chram Herman I am the business manager Heidi Heen and I am presenting the truth and Taxation presentation that is required by State Statute tonight and we'll go through several slides we'll have some opportunity for public comment at the end um and in the meantime we'll get started uh so the meeting uh truth and Taxation requirements what I'm going over tonight is all part of the statute and the reasons for some of these housekeeping slides if you will so the meeting must be held between the um November 25th and December 30th time frame at 6 PM or later it may be part of our regularly scheduled cord meeting and the presentation must include discussion on the district's fiscal year 2025 budget the pay 2025 proposed tax levy and we must allow for public comment which I mentioned will come up here at the end so Minnesota school funding in general uh we are funded by federal government state government local fees and local taxpayers um funds through property taxes with the state of Minnesota being the largest source of our funding in the district this slide is one that I include have included for the last several years in truth and Taxation meetings and what this shows is over the course of the last 10 years uh you can see there there's two different lines projecting um the basic formula allowance which is in the green and then what the formul allowance would be if the cost of inflation was included based on the Consumer Price Index and the Gap there is just under $1,400 per pupil which equates to several millions of dollars to public school districts alone uh with the the regard that state funding just hasn't kept up with inflation they're starting to put into the formula some infl inflation Clauses that will be coming up here in in the next uh fiscal year we'll see how that plays out with the the upcoming legislative session but overall uh basic formulas not keeping up which definitely plays a factor in the local Levy that is authorized by the school board each year uh requirement to look at the budget this is the 2425 original budget that the board approved in June but this uh current year overall general fund Food Service community service and Debt Service there are some projected expenses exceeding revenues um however since that time we have worked and continue to work on many facets of the budget and um opportunities to uh lessen that if um at all possible we towards um an option for revenues to exceed expense so we'll have more to come uh in upcoming board meetings when we look at potential budget revisions for the current budget year and then also tonight after this you'll hear about our fiscal year 24 results with our audit so this is a graphical present representation of our general fund Revenue by Source again in state aid being almost 86% of our overall funding for the general fund we have Levy uh coming in just uh over 7% other types of of revenue streams uh just under 6% and our federal aid just over 1% of the total general fund Revenue budget similar graph except this is expenditures by program code so we we break out the program similar to how we uh present the expenditure budget so we're looking at salaries and wages benefits fees for service supplies and capital there you can see over 75% almost well actually over 80% of our district general fund budget is in the form of salaries W wages and benefits 125% fees for service 65% of the overall budget is supplies and just over uh 2% is capital which is consistent and what we will see going forward uh in budgets to come that this type of allocation by program is relatively expected in a public school district this is just a little bit of um a financial highlight when looking at the district overall recently we had um the opportunity to refund a bond which provided savings to our the overall taxpayers for our debt service that were required to pay based on the voter approved Bond our rating came in exceptionally high for the size of our school district drawing a blank on what the actual rating was double A minus maybe um Christina is shaking her head and that is an exceptional rating again like I said for the district our size and we even beat some of the largest Minnesota public school districts in the state so um and that's mostly based on um Financial components but also um demographics of the community uh tax base as well and then our fund balance uh the fund balance policy of between 14 and 20% has been met in the LA in the previous years but also you'll find out tonight here in our audit review our fund balance policy meets the unassigned fund balance policy meets the current setting of 14% which will we end up 16% in FY 24 the 2025 property tax levy so this will get into the details of the actual Levy that we're presenting and recommending the board to consider tonight the timeline this has been reviewed in previous board meetings but just a reminder the school district tax levy timeline spans over a few different years um summer is information where the state will provide us with some preliminary levies and so the board considers that um in September in September the board like I said mentioned the the board will certify a preliminary Levy and that's where the maximum was set at that time uh if there are to be any elections to be held regarding bonds or other voter approved levies that happens in the months of November ongoing updates to the levy take place between the months of September and tonight we hold the truth and Taxation meeting and then T property taxes are collected by the counties from the taxpayers in the year of calendar year of 2025 which actually results in Revenue to our school district in our fiscal year 26 uh this is uh just some basic components uh of how the local property tax levy is accounted for in dollars and cents so the state limits the local property tax levy based on statuto defined in formulas and some of those formulas are driven by uh total pupils in our district specific eligible expenditure types the population of our district any voter authorized levies that have been passed by voters and District property valuations this is a look at the the overall Levy uh left to right categories both general fund community service fund and Debt Service fund the final pay 24 Levy there for reference that was board approved uh back in December of 2023 which is revenue uh for us in fiscal year 25 the proposed Levy that we're recommending tonight for the board to consider and then the percent of dollar and the amount of dollar change and percentage change but overall a small increase of about 1.29% on the overall Levy funds so that doesn't equate to what our taxpayers are going to see on their tax statements this is just in general um dollars and cents as far as the increase from the previous Levy to this current Levy and all of the factors that I mentioned on the previous slide are to be um accounted for in this this increase as I had mentioned the tax levy and the budget so the percent change to our tax Levy doesn't necessarily equate to that same percent change to our budgeted Revenue again some of those Levy um increases can be offset by reduction in state aid meaning no additional revenue for School District budget District budgets and so again this has to do with legislation it has to do with some of those components I had mentioned in the previous slide um as well as anything that would change in tonight's Levy consideration by the board this is some valuation history based on the property value increases in the the various properties um in the district this is looking specifically at um the two different categories referendum market value which um takes into account only certain properties in the district and net tax capacity which takes into account all properties in the district the graph shows overtime dating back to um 2017 all the way through current estimated taxes for 20125 you can see there overall T um valuation of properties across the district had continuously increased um flattened out a little bit and then in 23 and 24 values rose up overs wordss towards 15% um in in the category ories um as did um the category of natex capacity so we're looking at large property valuation increases which are a a big component of what each taxpayer sees on their tax statements for the various uh municipalities that collect tax levies um the good news I guess is property valuations may have stabled out uh stabilized a little bit and we're seeing just a um what most people would consider a modest increase of under 4% valuation and so hoping that taxpayers will see some relief uh there based on their property values so this is the timeline for taxpayers when it comes to Levy dollars and their tax statements so in March of this calendar year March of 2024 you would have received or taxpayers would have received their preliminary valuations from the counties um in the early spring early summer the local and County boards um have the opportunity for taxpayers to um come and appeal their property valuations that would be the time for our taxpayers to consider that and then in November counties deliver mailed notices based on the preliminary Levy information that the board set in September attend truth and Taxation hearings uh throughout um the end of November and the the month of December and then in March of the following year so March of 2025 taxpayers will start um receiving their tax statements for which depending on the property types and categories taxes payable in that Year may and October example of what a property tax statement looks like there's a lot of information on the property tax statements um amounts uh contact information important to to identify that in contact information as to who needs to be contacted if you were to have questions on the various um municipalities collecting tax levy on your specific properties this would be uh the back of your notice or notices that you would receive in March in addition to contact information on the front this would be where you want to take notice of the appeal process reminder this valuation comes in March um so this valuation our taxpayers would have received in March of 2024 so keep an eye out for this statement to come March of 2025 we will have your preliminary tax assessed and tax Andor Tax Market values if you have any questions on that this is where you can get the information on what to do about that as I had mentioned uh changes to tax law legislation impact levies municip municipality levies and the district school district levy um some of those tax law changes of recent that impact the tax ta that our taxpayers will pay in 25 so the Homestead market value exclusion in is increasing for taxes payable in 2025 what that means is um taxpayers might see some reduction in their taxes for residential home properties that are valued up to the 517 uh 5172 200,000 57,200 so that would be um something that may impact our taxpayers in our district in addition agricultural Homestead classification increasing so there was a limit uh to uh that amount for taxes payable in 24 that increase from 2.15 million up to 3.5 million for taxes payable in 2025 so what this does is it will reduce taxes for land owners with greater than that um that previous limit of 2.15 million in land classified as Homestead so how that impacts each individual taxpayer is going to be specific and will be noted on your tax statement I went over this a little bit but there's just two different types of valuation for properties and you'll see this on your your tax statements as well net tax capacity so what this does is it includes most all property types uh in the district that pay a portion of um all levies whereas referendum market value excludes any egland or seasonal rep property so there are certain levies that only tax on certain categories of property types and then there's the net tax capacity that taxes on all types of properties and so making sure that um taxpayers are aware that there there's different categories uh this is just looking a little bit at um how property values don't always rise uniformly across all properties so across the district so if you think of it as you know a pi and dividing that property tax pie if you will it doesn't one increase on a certain taxpayer's property doesn't necessarily equate to another um decrease in a property tax owners valuation so typically what taxpayers will see is higher increases in your specific property valuations uh equate to larger piece of the property P so if my valuation goes up I'm going to pay more of that property tax than say a good friend of mine that lives in a different area of the district and their valuations went down again just a little bit more on dividing that property tax piie so if uh the district's tax payable in 2025 we taxing all property types of the levy of just over $2 million where the Lesser or just under 600,000 of our total district levy is taxing the the I guess the smaller piece of the pie when it comes to property types and so uh that helps spread out the tax burden on all of our taxpayers when you can tax more of the district's taxpayers versus the smaller referendum market value this slide we um saw back in September it's just a refresher of what um variables of the current Levy that the school district uh taxes on what categories and the amounts that come from those and so broken out in a a bar graph with the the various colors so that top gray uh area is all of our categorical levies so that the board would have been eligible to approve so that's our operating Capital our ltfm long-term facilities maintenance our community ed our Career and Technical education any lease levies if we were to have any um that the board um chose to Levy for which we currently not least levying for the Mid-State portion of our um expenditures where other District boards choose to do that um so that's a small portion of the overall tax levy um and this is on a home value assumption of about 300,000 of the total $1,236 of taxes the taxpayer would pay $119 of those dollars are for those categorical levies uh board approved debt that's the the the green area that's I think that says $24 out of the the $1,200 total tax that would have been the long-term facilities maintenance bond that the board approved and had authority to approve um uh in in previous years uh the big middle chunk uh the $718 out of the total $1,200 in tax that the this specific um example shows is voter approved bonds um and capital projects Levy so the district doesn't have a capital projects Levy but we do have a large voter approved bond in um over 60% of the total Levy that this taxpayer example pays is $718 the bottom uh lighter blue color is uh $375 this is again a category oral levies um local local optional equity in transition and that is $375 of the total $1,200 tax example and the district does not have a voter approved operating referendum so there's no tax there this is an assumption based on property value increases so I think the theme of tonight would be property value uh for each specific taxpayer and the type of property they have or properties they have um certainly impacts the taxes that they pay um for their um School District levy so this is an example residential Homestead showing um a 0% increase to their value which would in some cases may be nice for um people um you can see their overall what they paid in 2024 based on their value of 10 just different valuations $144,000 residential Homestead all the way up to a $530,000 residential Homestead and what that that change or net change would be and So based on the current um pay 25 Levy home homeowners in residential Homestead categories will see a decrease if their property values stayed the same no increase no decrease um so this is an annual incre increase or decrease and in this case it's an annual change of as much as $45 um up to or up to about $75 depending on the value of your residential home the next assumption is if you're Val if this specific example is an 8% increase in valuation that shows what um I would consider a nominal annual change in Levy taxes for the specific valuations of Homestead anywhere from $8 a year up to the most expensive valuation of $572,000 or $152 change annual we do have some agricultural types of properties in the district and so this is showing um the egg to school impact and what that means for Royalton Public School District so the state will pay for approximately just under $300,000 of the $1.74 million debt um uh $1.7 million Debt Service that we the district pays for that Boulder approved Bond so in 2025 the state pays for 300,000 of that overall total debt service that the District go these are just some other taxpayer resources taxes are tax statements in general and I U have been working and presenting truth and Taxation for the last 10 years are not easy and so here are some resources that if property owners have questions they can reach out to these different organizations uh to learn a little bit more about their specific situations uh for our district um to be able to uh touch on all the different types of property categories the different types of property tax classifications the different rates would is in a never ending Endeavor and so looking for out for our taxpayers what options they can have to reach out for resources to learn a little bit more about their own situations so tonight uh the recommendation for the final 24 page 2025 School District levy would be to certify the amount of 2 million 68,9 19673 well that's a lot of information uh truth and Taxation is a lot of information important information certainly uh we provided more in this presentation than the state statute requires we feel it's um helpful important in order for our taxpayers to have the information available to them and is why we included it today but now if we have any public comments I certainly welcome that I just like to add to that the ltfm bond that the board in past year has approved just to remind everyone that will be over in 2032 it expires then and the voter approv for the bonding for the building um will be done in 2036 so just a reminder of that because sometimes we forget since it's still result which was a part of yeah so so the ter or the that I'm looking for the bond the voter approved bonds amortization schedule stayed the same during the refunding so that still ends in 2036 still ends in 2036 with the um savings and that was around $60,000 a year year over the course of the next 10 years about $77,000 total Saving right but public comment is um an option and if we have any public comment I would welcome that that the individuals would State their name and ask their question and keep it to two to three minutes of discussion any comments all right good evening everybody Ellie home um the2 million and odd dollars would that be Max Levy then like 100% okay um I would like to just tell you guys or ask you guys to take into consideration again um although it remains in a gray area still that that Levy vote can go back into the voters hands um I just want you all to take into consideration a few hundred signatures from District district members I collected that would like to see less Levy percentage taken from them when you approve the max vote and for the max ly dollars I might um first of all thank you for your comment um reduction in Levy doesn't necessarily equate to reduction in our taxpayers amounts that they pay but it certainly reduces any state aid Equalization that we would receive so any under leving or reducing of a levy for our school district impacts the amount of state aid that is equalized meaning the state pays it versus our taxpayers could be anywhere from 400 to $700,000 of money we would no longer receive from the state so that alone in a district of our size is an impact that would certainly make a difference in how we Budget moving forward and is a savings for a taxpayer anybody else right on schedule y all right uh thank you uh so I will uh before we do that anybody have any questions for hide on any of that all right and I will take a motion to adjourn all right any discussion all in favor say I opposed all right motion carries we will close the taxation meeting and 6:35 so we right on time to the next regular scheduled meeting so I called the regular scheduled meeting um we already did the Pledge and the roll call with all members present uh we'll start with board chair comments uh I just have one comment so uh we're just over over $116,000 in donations for this month so I just want to say again thank you to uh to all those that are supporting our school and our students that's uh that's a pretty amazing number uh from there I will take an approval of the agenda director Bowman thank you second director hacket thank you any discussion all in favor say I oppos all right motion carries and uh appreciation recognition and presentations we have uh Caitlyn aren sorry chair Hoff said members of the board dramp Caitlin aren activities director I would like to recognize three of our student athletes um first off would be Haley wilu she was um named to the Morrison County all area volleyball team um next would be Max bardan who is also um put into the all a football team for the Morrison County record and then Madison Albright um was the Morrison County record volleyball player of the year for her season this past year um so they obious Max is playing volley or basketball right now and I think the girls were supporting their classmates so they were not able to be here but we had a very good sports thank you and I would like um present a certificate of thank you for service to Angela raring and Kyra for your service to the board and our school district thank you thank you so much I know it's your last meeting and um we just want to say thank you so much because we realize the time and commitment that it takes and um it it's really meaningful for us and you did was wonderful working with all of you and I hope you stay active with our schools as I know you will but and I would like to get a picture if you could you have your certificate get Center Stage the last picture that was a little crazy for me four years go fast doesn't it it does good four years uh recognition of citizens for input purposes I don't have any cheats tonight anybody all right uh we will go into uh board committee report so Finance uh finance committee met on November 25th um pretty standard meeting and tonight T is going to share a presentation on part two about the post secondary and other details um for Midstate so uh Little Falls is looking to possibly join Midstate so uh we have a person from Source that's going to review the advantages and disadvantages of what it would be uh if that did happen um and they joined back Mid State again so um that's be an ongoing process for for some months um and then our next meeting is uh on the 8th so after our organization meeting then we'll meet there and and do that and then uh policy so we are resending one uh policy that msba doesn't have and it that whole policy is clearly spelled out in statute so not something we really need uh the other one that we're approving is the three-year check and then the um approval of the board handbook is in the policy anything else policy wise okay uh superintendent report yeah just real quick um winter sports are upon us so excited got basketball going wrestling going uh wrestling home tomorrow night so anyone can attend just want to say too shout out to our um Melanie seminsky and our play she we lost a lot of seniors last year that were very involved in our theater program and so we had lots of kids this year that were doing things for the first time not only maybe in lead roles but also in the backup of um the lights and the sound and they just did an outstanding job it was a play that was a take off of um Harry Potter and they just did a really really good job so love to see the young ones coming up and just stepping right into those footsteps so that was really fun and um now we have concerts so had our choir concert last week be on concert next week so if you can come please do they do a wonderful job as well all right any questions for the superintendent all right Heidi business manager report any evening again H Dr Christine work and Perman presenting the fiscal year 2025 December budget update enrollment is at 98 students was as of the month of November as compared to previous year 907 a slight increase we budgeted 910 and we continue to track it monthly historical data for the last 10 years based on enrollment and you see this every month and that the fact that every year we have fluctuations in enrollment this is uh look at month end October for the general fund revenues provided some additional detail going forward to provide um additional Insight on where we're at overall different categories but if you look at the budget as compared to Prior fiscal years the overall all percentage is on track at 26% you drill down into the different types of revenues by Source our local Levy is just based on the timing of of the the month-end reports and the receipt of the property tax taxes that were paid in the month of October so that's the timing issue there and the variance and the reason for the variance there Federal revenues are based on receivable entered that need to be adjusted from the prior fiscal year that has been done but at the time uh these adjustments were not included in the overall comparison and then the miscellaneous local Revenue variance there uh from the previous year was specifically due to uh Insurance Recovery for a bus that was rear ended that was repaired general fund expenditures again month end October looking at the various expenses by object code overall we are above projected totals as a percentage of the budget uh as compared to Prior years we're currently tracking at 26% for the month end of of October on the next slide I go into the details as to what those um variances are specifically so Sal salaries and wages were tring under budget by 0.5% we'll continue to monitor that and we'll continue to see uh salaries and and wages come in under budget based on Staffing changes in the current fiscal year benefits are coming in over budget at this point in time granted reminder this is a snapshot of month end um and the variances there specifically are an overall increase in health insurance premiums that are uh specifically tied to the percentage uh in different contracts work comp increased and unemployment expense increased all of which um work comp unemployment really have no control over what those expenses are are going to be current U certainly work on um work comp by maintaining safe uh working conditions but that is ongoing purchase services are over budget um tracking 12% based on previous years and this is based on timing and payment so we've talked about this um at all of our board me meetings our property insurance in previous fiscal years we paid it for the month um and then we paid a small fee for being able to pay that monthly uh our district has sufficient cash cash flow and so we made the decision that we're going to pay that all upfront so we can lessen the total expense overall so that's the difference there and then ltfm long-term facilities maintenance repairs and projects as compared to previous years projects spaned out across the fiscal years whereas this specific fiscal year we um budgeted for and completed the rec carpeting of um certain class rooms in the district so that's the the overall reasonings for a result in 12% over budget we'll see that um spread out over the course of the months to come supplies were under budget ranging from 1 to 6% specifically buildings and grounds and transportation fuel Capital we're on track as budgeted we budgeted to purchase a bus we budgeted to purchase plan technology needs and curriculum so those are all on budget and then the other category is a small facet to the budget and this specifically the variance is based on reclassification of some of the fees and codes associated with um MD's coding requirements any questions on the budget overview before I jump into postsecondary so this was um as um member um trout had shared we we visited this last board meeting just giving you a high level overview of the colleges our students are attending um uh with postsecondary the opportunities that rhs students are attending college and the schools here in our buildings being taught by our educators and then the overall total student count um and the total credits for the 2425 school year so almost 80 students are participating in either postsecondary Andor College in the schools which accounts for over a thousand credits um specifically to college courses then on the next slide if you take into account uh the uh the total credits and some historical data that we had shared last month but based on the revised number of credits that students are taking we're seeing an um a very large increase in um the impact to the overall School District's budget in the 2425 this year so each credit equates to about $261 per credit for postsecondary and we budgeted 170 ,000 we're seeing that that's going to need to be revised upwards to almost $300,000 so a very large impact to our budget and same with college and the schools it's $3,000 per course uh we're seeing that on track as far as um an overall um account to the budget with the exception of one class uh in accounting I believe that's not being provided which would um de increase um our overall College in the school's budget by about6 to to $9,000 total but we're seeing a very large impact on postsecondary we continue to work through that I know Administration are working with postsecondary organizations in partnership with other school districts to really determine and Define what this looks like going forward opportunities for students and school districts uh to work better together to manage these growing costs and then this also uh impacts how we look at revising our 2425 school year budget already um having um mitigating factors in place but now working even more diligent um to less an expense increase revenues so that we can present a revised budget that in where revenues exceed expenditures so we're focused on it we're committed to it we're working through it and will continue to report out monthly any questions on postsecondary or college and the schools so PSO for that piece um student option and they take whatever classes they want as long as it manages with Monica and that stuff and there's really nothing we can do we are not yes we're not in a position to ever dissuade a student as long as they meet the requirement of a college they have every right to take that course um the other thing is is when they withdraw from a course if they've withdraw drawn past the time we still pay the college keeps the money we find them another class so we pay almost double in some of those cases so that's one what she's talking about we got to work with these colleges to find out whether this is the way that it's managed right now works the best for everyone because that's one particular uh example of where that money goes to the college the child is no longer in the class and they're keeping those dollars and yeah to answer your question we have very little if any control over we we can't yeah and that's dictated in legislation College in the school so so that's our teacher yeah if we if we continue to have a robust College in school they probably the child could still choose the class I know that but if it's something that they choose you know they still can choose I know I know so one thing we' talked about was like which one might be easier sometimes sometimes students might choose that option too so it might not always be ours which can be it just can be depend anything else do we know why the large increase in CFO do we have like larger classes right now or based on enrollment no we don't have well I guess I can't say that I can't answer that I I think I I don't know specifically the higher grades I again you have any guess yeah I guess are Co kids they learned how to do it on the computer at home ninth grade seventh grade 8th grade sixth grade probably more comfortable with it than the ones before were you want me to guess I mean yeah that's almost double for some reason it's good for the students but I do agree too if we had more CIS I think that could help keep more students in I hear there's a lot lot of conflicts of trying to schedule CIS and certain progressions it's not super easy from I hear to get classes that you want the other problem is the challenge that can be is the 18 credits they have to have beyond the Masters in order to teach that yeah so to get the proper certification more challenging to teachers in the K12 system speaking based on working in districts across the state of Minnesota the majority are seeing this increase in students choosing postsecondary yes not just thank you all right thanks principal report chair hostad members of the board superintendent were Camp Joel swensson High School principal uh two quick reports for you November 15th uh we hosted a catalyst all staff training for our inservice day uh Catalyst previously known as Envoy as kind of a nonverbal classroom management technique uh package of strategies that teachers can use in the classroom to uh effectively work with kids um it was a very good day of very good Training um I have been in classrooms and I have uh I have seen teachers making use of that um Envoy was really 10 years ago was almost solely an elementary uh type of program and the benefits of it have now been realized that it applies across the board and so uh with the rebranding of catalyst they have also updated the training to to make it applicable to high schools and so we're excited to do it um the teachers really I'm thinking in 16 years of Designing PD for teachers this was one in the top five in my time as principal uh it was really really well received um and uh the biggest part of that like I said is when you go out in classrooms afterwards that you're seeing the things in action and we are seeing them in action so I will continue to encourage that and to support that um they will come and do some on on going coaching with our teachers they'll come in uh the Catalyst leadership will come in and observe our teachers and provide feedback to them on um on some of the techniques that they're they're attempting to use in classes so uh Catalyst was very good and then on November 20th um we hosted our sixth grade parent day again um we had a bunch of parents in here uh and went through the school day they went to all the classes in fact we had like I was like what is going on we had like two or three parents come in to see the nurse because they had been participating in fed class and Band-Aids and it was it was a good time they were having a good time um uh but they they navigate through the school day lockers lunch classes obviously participating in classes I'm really fun uh to get that chance to have our parents in the building and see what it is I always thought about you know how does a parent I sit at the dinner table with my three kids and they can talk about the school day and I know what I know what's happening I know what's going on in the building but to a parent who has not experienced that when you talk about well I went to English class and then I had to go all the way to science class and then I had this do and this do for them to get insight as to how the flow of the day goes and they go from what what's expected where things get handed in in the classroom where they sit how they group all of those opportunities for parents to get a view of that is a really positive thing minus the FI injuries a very positive uh opportunity for our parents and we will be looking to do it again next year so we'll try to do it again in that November American Education week time frame and invite the this year's fifth grade parents to come in and uh and and join us for a day of school any questions do you have both parents attend or is it a requirement to one parent attend or is there no requirement just both parents can attend if they choose a lot of we had some that split the day like some one came for the first half and then the other parent came for the second half and they switched off and um some parents were able to do it for the whole day they when they walked out like I'm tired and then we had some parents that could come for a few hours so I mean it was really open as to what was available to them true how many years have you been doing this this was year number two and so um it grew a little bit this year and we're hoping that uh we're hoping that the word gets out like hey go do it it's a you know it's it's a fun opportunity for them to get to see what their kids [Music] experience I didn't get invited my son was sixth grade last year he did not think I should [Laughter] come all right all right thank sure hassid members of the board superintend Dr BR Herman Tony Newman Elementary principal uh a couple things for myself here or for you guys um we had our letters training on that inservice day uh it was just shy of six hours because you're able to package it in one day for us we able to get done in a little bit under six hours but but it was still it was a it was a good day uh very interactive our our staff were very focused they were energized uh they were engaged in what they were doing um help kind of set the tone for unit two which is now getting into the the classroom strategies that they're going to be using so that was awesome uh the next one the next live is not until the end of February so we' got a little bit of time for for them to work on some stuff and with this early out here on Wednesday uh really digging into that unit 2 stuff American Education week was the week before Thanksgiving November 18th to the 22nd uh we had Royalton PTO members managing uh the the offices selling tickets for meals and uh it went out really well we had 346 meals that we sold um 3K 5 and I would say just as many adults came to hang out so we probably over the course of the week had about 7 to 800 adults eating with our children um which is a awesome to see sit down and um chat and laugh and smile and they just get so they get so excited to see their parents come in sometimes it's surprise sometimes it's it's um it's not but um grandparents Aunts Uncles it was it was it was a great great to see so it was cool um last week last Thursday we had uh two showings for our first and first to third grade concert 1:30 p.m. showing about all the elementary kids over all the ECC kids were in there uh good crowd of adults in there as well and then our 6 PM show was was it was a it was a it was a packed house there was a lot of people here a lot of people in the stands the chairs on the floor and these kids did an awesome job um so kudos to to Miss Thompson to get them ready and the teachers for helping to Wrangle them as they uh were waiting to get on stage and perform uh but they did they did a magnificent job and then coming up here on Monday uh Dr W Camp Herman mentioned it already the band concert is on Monday so it's the first opportunity for FIS creators to show what they've learned and um that's at 6:00 for middle school and sixth grade and and 7 o' for fifth graders and high schoolers any questions was awesome and excellent that Santa Claus was available wasn't it a good job amazing how he gets WR thank you uh athletic here hofstead members of the board superintendent Dr wamp Caitlyn aren um I'm here to present the fundraiser report for our Student Activities um we had a handful that participated in fundraisers from about May to November time period uh the Spanish club they had a resale which was in the last part of October to help for their Spanish trip um they sold 4450 worth in wreaths um $3,224 in1 has to be sent to the wreath company so they made about $1,176 um prom had their burger stand at the homecoming um game and they ended up making $600 which I think is like the highest they've made so that was good um girls basketball did a free throw shooting Shoon this summer um that's um to help raise money to cover shooting shirts and anything else um there's no expense and so they profited $1,168 125 um FFA fruit sales um they're still I think finalizing everything but they had roughly $88,000 in income um boys basketball they had their they just finished up their card fundraiser um and that's again to help um offset equipment costs and uniforms and summer basketball stuff and they made $4,100 Student Council had two different things they had their color run which was in part of kind of homecoming and kicked it off um they had about $885 in income and expenses were about $400 for the powder and shirts and stuff so they made about $485 um they do their turkey Bingo coin Drive which is a hoot to be in the hallways when they're gobbling down at the hallways um and they raised money for the Morrison County Food Shelf um so they um EXP fres were $65 income was $592 so they were able to give the food shelf $527 um cross country had two fundraisers this summer they had a 5K and they also did a 50/50 raffle during the parade um they went for food end of the Year banquet um and then new new uniforms um the 50/50 they made $490 the 5K they ended up after expenses made 2,000 $397 and then volleyball did cookie dough and soup sales back in August for team building activities and uniforms and they made roughly $4,500 good turn for stuff and I know this year I was ordering lots of uniforms so it's kind of nice the stuff any questions thank you all right uh next we have the consent agenda so um we have the approval of regular board meeting minutes um and then the claims accounts and financials uh does anybody want to pull anything all right chairman I move the consent agenda thank you dor hacket second second by director Rory uh any discussion no discussion all in favor say I I I opposed all right motion cares all right and uh we'll look at the approval of the final [Music] letter so approval of the final being requested for consideration tonight is in the amount of I can't remember what that amount was now slide 29967 thank you which is uh also the same as the the preliminary Levy that was set back in September at the maximum anybody want to make that motion motion to approve B thank you second second by director ha thank you H discussion all right all in favor say I I I opposed abstain motion carries all right are you going to introduce the audit report as well yeah that's next yep right uh good evening tonight we have from H Brady Marts our accounting firm the presenter Brian Ops opsol maybe have him correct me if that was wrong he's virtual and we'll be presenting our fiscal year 24 final audited results pull back here all right uh good evening can you hear me okay yeah got just get in perfect and you nailed the last name it's opsol so well done um I guess the uh plan of attack tonight will be for me to go through the highlights of the audit report um give you a chance to ask some questions if anybody has any um I do have a tendency to run through things relatively quick so feel free to slow me down and ask questions um I'll certainly open it up for questions at the end of the audit if there are any as well um before I get into the audit report um wanted to just a couple highlights uh you know no difficulties performing the audit no disagreements with management no new accounting standards for FY 24 so as far as the uh financials are concerned everything was arrived at the same way it it has in the prior years there is one new accounting standard for fy2 related to compensated absences um nothing really that you're going to have to pay additional just a different accounting exercise we'll call it and we'll work with Heidi on how that uh comes about um the other soapbox item I got for this evening is I've had a couple um too many uh districts that have had some fraud occur um related to EFT payments from the bank um so just to keep in mind that anytime you're paying somebody electronically uh and they switch or want to switch account numbers routing numbers Etc um make sure that that's being followed up with a phone call it's beginning to be more prevalent for for some things to be paid electronically whether it be construction contracts credit cards Etc and we've had a couple instances now where emails have come from legit vendors that have been basically hacked and the forms being used by districts Etc to uh change these are actually being used and it looks real because they're using things like chat GPT to um arrive at some you know regular knowledgeable emails that would come from somebody um that you're working with as opposed to what they used to be where it was you know Prince of Egypt or something says you get this great inheritance no longer are you getting that or you're able to see that so just word of caution a phone call might be needed um to verify those types of requests if that is happening so that's my Soap Box item um into the auto report I will try to share my screen um um so I believe I've got the independent Auditors report up right now um I'll give this a little bit bigger so you can see it so um if anybody's following along I'll try to throw out some page numbers so you can follow along Pages two through four is the independent Auditor's report we've issued an unmodified opinion on the financial statement so that's considered a good or a clean opinion that the financial statements are fairly stated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles it is managed M's responsibility for the numbers and the footnotes in the financial statements and it's our responsibility as Auditors then to Ure that they're reasonably stated which is what our opinion is stating is that we believe that they are the second section of the auto report starts on page five through page 12 and this is known as Management's discussion and Analysis section this is a high level overview of the um District year in in review and it Prov provides some Financial Insights of what happened um it's probably the easiest read of the financial statements it has some comparative information so if you're looking for just basically a snapshot of how the year went this would be the section that that I would look at um to provide some comparative information Etc the first audited financial statement starts on page 13 and uh runs through page 14 and I'm not going to spend a whole lot of detail or uh time on this statement think it's a little bit confusing to understand because it RS uh includes things like your net pension liability which is really an accounting exercise related to your involvement in the pension plans at the state level that are unfunded um it includes your long-term debt fixed assets Etc the bottom number that you see on page 14 is your overall net position within that full acral financials 3, 38,43 that number that you see above that that unrestricted number it's deficit because of the net pension liability once again just an accounting exercise you still pay your uh budgeted amount um set for by State Statute the second page is or the next page is going to be the statement of activities which is your changes in the full acrel financial statements three lines from the bottom the overall change is a positive 5769 26 once again this includes things like depreciation expense and changes within that net pension liability which can change quite a bit from year to year based off of Actuarial type changes and assumption changes so the next couple pages I go through is probably uh you know maybe hits home a little bit more where we get through your fund accounting financials and this is what you'd budget off of the First Column of numbers that you see there is your general fund two lines from the bottom the overall fund balance within the general fund is 2,426 248 the line that you see above that unassigned fund balance those are the dollars that you have available to spend that are not restricted or earmarked for any purpose $1,942 712 one of the things that we do to determine health of the district is we take that number divided by your general fund expenditures and you're at 16% as I heard Heidi mentioned earlier um anything between 15 and 25% is kind of where we'd expect districts to be and considered healthy um and you're also above your fund balance policy as well which is from 14 to 20% so basically right in the the middle of that last year as an example you were at 15.1% so it is a little bit higher than you were at last year so I wanted to point that out The Debt Service fund has $449,000 of fund balance uh which is restricted for Debt Service and then your community service and food service funds combined for a uh fund balance of $555,500 balance the general fund uh was down $486,000 uh Debt Service basically broke even it was down about $3,130 and then the combination of your food service and community service funds were up $42,988 and we'll see how that compares to your budget here uh for the general fund here in a second the next several Pages which is Pages four or 20 through 42 these are the footnotes to the financial statements and I usually don't go into much detail during this presentation but we can certainly Circle back if there's any questions it would have things like your debt schedules information on your net pension liability Capital assets Etc uh but right now let's go to page 43 page 43 is your budgetary comparison schedule for the general fund and the column that you see all the way on the right is going to be the difference between your final budget and actual and so you can see at the top revenues were about $332,000 more than budget a combination of federal sources as well as other local and County revenues a lot of times um Student Activities comes into play here because not all districts budget for Student Activities but they do get rolled into your general fund uh for financial statement purposes but maybe a third of the way from the bottom of the page is your total expenditures $830,000 more than budgeted um went through this a little bit uh discussion with client a lot of it has to do with some sub costs as well as utility increases um PSO costs like I heard before so um those are some some of the reasons that the expenditures were higher than budget um you expected to basically break even in the general fund and you were down about 48649 so an overall variance of $487,000 the other component of that expense was our services for special education that we paid to Midstate Midstate that came in exceptionally over uh the budgeted expenditures yes good point I I did fail to mention that um page 49 Pages 49 and 50 this breaks down your food service and community service funds as you can see on uh page 49 the Food Service fund does have a positive fund balance of $168,950 and the food or the community service fund has a a positive $386,000 if you look on the next page you can see overall es for both funds were positive uh the food service was up a little bit over $30,000 and the community service fund was up over $122,000 um page 51 is another way to kind of look at the breakdown of the different buckets of money that you have for the year and the top section is going to be your general fund The Columns three columns to the right is the column that we kind of focus on um that gets sent into the eup fars and or or into the state um looking for things that are negative you have all positive fund balances with the exception of School Readiness uh which has you know a negative uh fund balance of $21,000 you do have funds available in the community service restricted code to cover that so there's no red flags as far as this is concerned um there are other buckets of money that you have up in the general fund um within scholarship Student Activities as well um so this is like I said just another page there's no uh red flags as far as where you're at uh everything looks healthy as far as an auditor perspective um then we get into Pages 52 which is your uh legal compliance letter for uh the state of Minnesota they provide us uh a guide to go through things like pledge collateral conflicts of interest bid work bid work etc uh this is the clean report so there's no issues or findings uh that we did during that testing and then lastly you're government auditing standards letter this is a highlevel overview of your internal control structure at the district um we have one repeat finding which virtually all districts your size are going to have related to separation of Duties within the business office um same as prior year basically the risk exists but we do think that you have things in place such as board approval of bills Etc that help mitigate those risks so just wanted to point that out um that that exists even though it's it's mitigated um so anyway that was a very quick run through of the uh audit report I'd be happy to Circle back to any page or uh answer any questions anybody might have we have any questions Brian all right doesn't sound like there's anything from here Brian okay well thank you have a good evening you as well thank you so much thanks all right uh with that I will take an approval of the audit report director Bowman thank you second second by director ruring thank you any discussion all right all in favor say hi hi opposed all right motion carries and then approval of donations by resolution uh does somebody want to introduce the donations tonight director TR thank you all right she's introducing the following resolution uh so uh United ways Tools for Schools fun generously donated clothing and snacks totaling $293 to the Royalton Elementary School for students in need of a snack clean clothes a warm jacket or a class looking for puzzles and games to add to their learning the rice area Sportsman generously donated $4,000 to be used toward supplies materials and transportation for the trap shooting team rice are Sportsman generated $1,500 to be used towards the fifth grade deep cordage trip in the 2526 school year the Royals wrestling club generously donated $250 to be used toward supplies materials and transportation for the robotics program The Royalton fire department generously donated $110,000 to be uses towards span the Spanish class trip to Spain and an anonymous donation of $17 given to royalin public schools to improve the multi-purpose space for classes and golf program use um so be resolved by the school board to accept these gifts uh an adoption of the foregoing resolution was seconded by member hofstead and uh on a roll call vote so can you call the rooll director TR Hi D B hi director hi director director hackin hi director h i all right five and one obstain is uh passes 60 all right and next page so policy reading so uh the first one um we have is to approve resending the uh 2031 School Board procedures um policy want to make that motion director Bowman thank you no second second by director tro thank you uh any discussion on that one all in favor say I I opposed all right motion carries uh we have the second policy reading for uh public hearings and uh that one's still going through the through the Rings and the next one we have is uh approval of our third policy reading so this one's the crisis management policy which is our three-year review on this one uh so can I get somebody to moment all right director hacket thank you second second director tro thank you all in favor say I I I opposed motion carries and approval of the Royalton School Board handbook somebody want to make that motion I will director tro thank you second second director Bowman thank you any discussion on that all right all in favor say I I opposed motion carries so will this go out to the new board members yes before before January uh the plan is to meet with John and Ellie um in the next two weeks something like that give him the handbook and kind of talk through that and then after we do our organizational meeting uh going through uh kind of that second step of hey here's here's what to expect at the first meeting type of thing sure hopefully it's helpful like P for in the hand it is talk to all that yep that's for sure all right uh upcoming meeting schedule uh we have January 6 for the organizational meeting and then 13th for the actual regular board meeting um so before we adjourn Tyra or Angela do you have any words that you'd like to say I'll just say thank you it's been amazing to be part of the board I'm really happy that I was voted in and I had the opportunity to do it um thank you to all of you guys for doing it for as long as you have um and I just please keep the students as your number one priority that's why you're here it's for the students and strong schools give you strong communities so keep up the great work all right thank you very much ter the same Echo here it was really a great experience um I feel honored that I was voted in it was very new to me so I learned a lot through the process and um it was great to be part of the community very immersed into the school so great awesome well thank you very much as well both of you for the last four years uh I will take a motion to adjourn B director Bowman I figur that's where it come from all in favor say I I opposed all right motion carries