B.E.A. notes from the BCSD Board meeting 11-28-16
I. Call to Order – Welcome 7:00 p.m.
II. Pledge of Allegiance-
III. Adoption of Agenda- motion made by Bross. 2nd by Hatteburg.
IV. Public Comments- None.
V. Consent Agenda
3. Minutes, Bills, Financial Reports, Human Resources Report, Travel and Gifts- Bross moved. Brueck 2nd. No discussion.
VI. District Positive Accomplishments-BHS Varsity Club- Mosbach with Varsity Club, Senior Class cabinet, and Dreamcatchers. Emily Peterson from Varsity Club- leaf raking- 10 yards, worked with National Honor Society. Molly Cockrell from Dreamcatchers. They work with Hospice to fulfill end of life wishes of Hospice residents. Alex Houseal from Senior Class cabinet. Trying to improve school spirit. Working to develop relationships with students in hound rooms. Mosbach- “We’re doing amazing things at BHS”. Board thanks them for attending. Board reminds them that they can email board members when they have things going on that the Board can help promote. Emma Johanns also from senior class cabinet. Want to improve student to student and student to teacher relationships. “We want to raise the positivity.”
VII. Student Representative Report- Anna Dodge- food drive- this year’s turnout was better. Over 1000 food items donated, and over “a couple hundred dollars”. Thanksgiving Day meal held at BHS. LEO club had students volunteer to help with that- also had students help serve the meal. Lighted Parade- Marching band participated. The Dick Mellinger wrestling tournament, and girls and boys basketball. Blood drive December 8.
VIII. Superintendent’s Report- Hope everyone had a great break. Coen’s sister in law got some take out meals and he wanted to clarify wasn’t his wife. Cabinet meeting- things are going. Wrestling meet. Contacted about naming Sunnyside library after former board member who passed away. Smarter Balanced testing has no science component- that would mean more costs. Wednesday admin team meeting- started out with a breakfast- team building opportunity. Worked through website. Tuesday went to Dr. Muhammad part of the day, but activities in the community consumed part of his day. Northeast corner of Bracewell rock issue still being worked on- don’t want it to fall on someone- don’t want to be liable.
Robberts- Thanks, Mr. Coen.
IX. Items for Discussion
4. Resolution of Support: Promise of Iowa Public Education Campaign- Mr. Coen- at Iowa Association of School Boards conference, were asked to read and support this. Coen doesn’t see a downside to it at all. “Great idea”. Iowa Public education a united front- we are a good system (Robberts said about Iowa schools). Bross brought up Trump’s Secretary of Ed pick- I don’t know why. Here’s a link to the campaign. Kendell moved to approve, Garwood 2nded. Unanimous approve.
5. Bus Bids- Mr. Reynolds- want to replace 2 buses. Will come out of next year’s PPEL funds. Bross moved. Hatteberg 2nd. Vickstrom asked about one of the new buses. Robberts- how is PPEL doing? Budget for buses each year- this is well within this budgeted amount. Unanimous approval.
6. SBRC Allowable Growth-Open enrollment- Reynolds- school funding runs a year in arrears- we had 126.1 students that are newly open-enrolled students- can increase spending authority to pay this. Garwood moves, Vickstrom 2nd. Brueck- someone asked her impact of how many students live in Middletown? Most of them go to Danville- how much does that cost us? Reynolds said he’d have to look into it. Hatteberg- at one point they had a choice. This might be resolved in email (the Middletown issue.) Unanimous pass.
7. SBRC Allowable Growth-ELL- Reynolds- state funds these students first 5 years, but districts are allowed to recover some of these costs from additional allowable growth- this was 5 students. Hatteberg moved, Bross 2nd. Unanimous approved.
8. Depository Resolution- annual resolution- no changes from previous year. Brueck moved, Garwood 2nd. Unanimous approved.
9. Financial Update- Reynolds- I did the best I could with this, but it was a lot of info all at once.
2017 enrollment- this comes from 2015- 4457.5 students. 21st out of 336 in the state. Slid 1 from the previous year. Total property tax rate- $15.79048- 75 out of 333 districts- assessed valuation per pupil $199,213- 15 out of 333 districts. Wide range in iowa of assessed valuations. Enrollment trend continues to decline in the next 4 years- state projecting we will decline another 50 students each year in the next 5 years.
Fund balance 9.4 mil, District is 19.4% solvent. - lots of numbers that will have to be looked at in minutes- too fast to type it all. We are very financially healthy.
We are towards the upper end of where we want to be solvency wise- 3 to 4 years if we did nothing to offset our cost increases we would reduce our funds.
2016 unspent balance- estimated- authority 50, 298,691
Expenditures- 49, 678, 111
620,580 we didn’t spend.
Kendell- what can unspent balance be spent on? Credit card limit in Reynold’s words. Some of this would have to be used for categorical funds. We have 18mil in unspent balance.
I can’t keep up with his numbers. Coen brought up 1 months payroll is 2.8 million. Staff % 78% salaries and benefits. State recommends 75-82%. The majority of our costs will be people. 2011-2013 we had enrollment increase. Last two years we have added people (hatteberg question). Some of our people are paid with grants. Revenues go up because of those grants.
Next year-we don’t know what allowable growth will be. Reynolds estimates 2%. New Money projections of -$174,590. New money with open enrollment impact -$ 466,571. We lose roughly another 300,000 to open enrollment.
Roughly losing 50 students a year in new money projections for next 4 years (through 2021). Costs go up 1.2 mil a year. We are fortunate that the district is so solvent.
Conclusion- we need to move conservatively- enrollment a considerable factor- how will we continue to sustain the programs we do have.
Robberts- bottom line, come spring, 1.7 mil negative from budget. Either some from cash reserves, some elimination of staff and programs, some increase of taxes. Deliberate decision making process. Will have effect when we go into contract negotiations in the spring.
Will the board be considering early retirement incentives? Kendell asked.
Robberts- this frees up money in the general fund. Will these be on the agenda in December? Coen- that might be early. Coen says Republican government will be on time supposedly. January might be when we talk about early retirements.
Robberts wants to invite legislators to lobby them for funds. Reynolds- we are consistent with other districts.
Garwood- 2 factors put us in situation that we’re in- open enrollment, and property valuation. If we could get open enrollment turned around it wouldn’t be “quite as dim”. “I’m really optimistic that it’s going to turn around.” “We have really protected our cash reserves.” We need to keep in mind that our financial solvency is critically important for the future of our district.
Reynolds- 126 students- 55 were kindergartners. Large share that already had open enrollment contracts but moved into our district.
Coen- we’ve flatlined kids leaving us. We have to get people to give us a chance in the first place. Vast majority of our kids do wonderful. Early childhood center- need to do some of that planning in January. We don’t have enough preschools- city of burlington is woefully short of preschools. Under the age of 4 is what Coen wants to work on.
Brueck- wants to look at how many teachers we have.
Hatteberg- we need the staff for programs.
Vickstrom- do we have more unfunded mandates coming down the pike?
Robberts wants to sway new legislators.
10. Board Policy 506.1 Student Records Access 2nd Reading- Reynolds- policy designed who has access to records. Bross moved, Hatteberg 2nd. Unanimous approved.
11. School Board Convention Sharing-
Bross- Finance 301- great session.
Engaging your stakeholders through roundtable- had a lot to do with engaging folks in the future. Good session.
Keynote speakers he heard were very good.
Bross felt like things that he heard harkened back to a one room schoolhouse- wonders if we have gotten too far in assembly line education.
Hatteberg- concurs with Bross about general speakers- not only school people need to hear it, community too. Financial session was good. Went to Muscatine schools session about changing labels- this is different than our BILA- theirs had similar aspects to ours.
A lot of the things people are talking about, we are doing, or we are in the planning stages of.
Vickstrom- went to Muscatine session- we can celebrate bottom end and top end. Went to a session about rural schools- collaboration needed in what schools offer. Collaborate outside the systems- we need to do more collaborating with people outside the district, like people in the community and industry. Keynote talked about promotion- we need to continue, we have to try to show how we are improving on areas. We have to take everyone that walks in the doors. Our scores haven’t gone down (public schools).
Garwood- Legislative- nothing too Earth shattering- one of the priorities is mental health. We are right there in the forefront with that. Everybody is now focusing on something Coen introduced to our district- quality of life for each and every student.
Brueck was unable to attend. Thanked everyone for sharing.
Kendell- everyone took mine. Keynote said UCLA is a public school in name only. Attracts top achievers. Another keynote brought up the scope of the test scores. More students taking tests than ever before. Scores may fall because of increase in numbers taking tests. Convention is a lot of fun- to hang out with other board members. Funding is a concern- with legislature taking shape.
Robberts- Dept of Labor regulations on salaried persons- pay period that you look at. ???
One held with legislators that when you email them, put your address on it, so they put you on top of list.
Board’s role in creating positive culture. Discussion from boards that didn’t have positive cultures- board member resigned- 4 were all new with new superintendent. Board had to become ambassadors why they changed their minds about what they had run on. We have a duty to abide by constituents, but we also have to look out for students as well. Robberts- Board needs to advocate for our district. Shouldn’t just be a listener.
X. Board Communications- Bross- nothing. Hatteberg- HS boys paired with girls to get them to straighten up.
Garwood- appreciates donations of hats and gloves to buildings. Major turn around due to Coen- everyone in community need to give you a big pat on the back. Thank you for all your hard work.
Brueck- how thankful we are for all our staff.
Kendell- coming in from the west- there’s a billboard- Caution entering Greyhound country- Booster club was responsible. Very striking- makes you feel good. Big thank you to Sherwood and Company. There’s one south of town, also. That’s going to have an impression on people.
Robberts- we have some very positive things happening at BHS. Blood drive Dec 8. One final take away from convention- our superintendent and financial officer are very well respected in the state. Lots of compliments from other districts. So great to have such dedicated staff.
XI. Adjournment- 8:21 pm.
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