001The Monday, January 26, 2026, Invergrove Heights Community Schools Board of Education's regular meeting is called to order at 5.32 p.m. in the district office. As a reminder, all public comment during regular school board meetings must be related to an information or action item on that night's agenda. The district holds public listening sessions prior to all regular board meetings to allow participants to speak on topics that are not on the agenda. More information on public comment and public listening sessions can be found on the district's website. This meeting is being recorded and access to the recording will be made available on the school district's website as quickly as possible. Our school district... school districts mission is to inspire, innovate, excel. A community commitment. Board Clerk Dukes, will you please take roll call. Yes. Member Warwick? Here.
002Member Larson? Here. Member Pearson? Here. Member Klingner? Here. Member DeMioia? Here. Member Lounsbury? Here. And Member Stavros here. Alright, please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Tonight we are recommending the board amend the agenda to allow for the annual audit to be presented as the next agenda item. After the district highlights, this will allow Principal Auditor Bill Lauer to present and answer board questions. Do I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda items and to amend tonight's agenda as requested? So moved. Second by Member Klingner. Okay, motion by Member Nehemiah. Second by Member Klingner. Any discussion? All those in favor?
003Aye. Opposed? The motion is carried. Tonight we are presenting board members Shana Dukes and Darcy Pearson with a leadership development certificate for successfully completing the MSBA leadership program. This achievement reflects their participation in completing the leadership workshop series, phases one through four. Congratulations to you both. All right, now we'd like to invite Director of Special Services Abel Riudiki and Director of Learning Megan Blazek will introduce the district head. So tonight we proudly celebrate an extraordinary group of educators who make a powerful impact in our schools every single day, our paraprofessionals. Para-professionals are essential to the learning and belonging of our students. They support instruction, work side-by-side with teachers, provide one-on-one and small group assistance, staff our after-school child care program, and help students feel supported, capable, and better. For many students, pairs are the steady
004presence to help them navigate challenges and celebrate growth. They are creative problem solvers, patient guides, and trusted adults who know how to meet the needs of students and meet them where they're at. Whether adapting learning, offering encouragement at just the right moment, or helping a student find confidence, their influence reaches far beyond any single lesson. This work takes heart, skill, and an unwavering belief in students. Every day, paraprofessionals help build school communities grounded in care, connection, and opportunity. To all of our paraprofessionals, thank you. Your dedication, compassion, and commitment help shape brighter futures for our students and strengthen our schools in ways that truly matter. We are grateful for you today and every day. Thank you. Thank you to all of our paraprofessionals. All right. Director of Business Services, Heather Ani, and Principal Auditor, Bill
005Lauer, will introduce the recommendation to approve the fiscal year 2025 annual audit. Before Bill gets started, I just wanted to say thank you to Bill Lauer and his team at L.D. Carlson. They were incredibly patient and professional with us as we were producing the new accounting principles and a software conversion made some of our reports a little challenging, so they have been wonderful. Thank you very much. Good evening, superintendent, members of the board. I'm going to cover with you this evening and then try to get to three things here. First of all, I need to make sure that I have some required communications I need to share with you, making sure you understand kind of what our role is and how that kind of division of responsibility is with the financial statements that you receive.
006Second, I'll go through the audit process and I'll talk about the opinions that we issued and the report letters that we issued along. with your financial statements. And third, I'll just spend a little bit of time going through some of the very high-level financial results for the year under audit, which of course is the year ended June 30th, 2025. So as I mentioned, I'm kind of required to make sure that you understand as the body that oversees the district's financial reporting process. that the responsibility for all the data and the disclosures that go into making up the financial statements that you received is the responsibility of district's management. We can go out and perform our audit process, provide an opinion as to whether that document fairly presents the district's financial position and results for the
007year under audit. As part of that, because you have to report in accordance with governmental accounting standards, we issue a report letter based on a review of your internal control and compliance with governmental reporting. You're also subject to an audit of your compliance with state laws and regulations by the separate report letter with regard to that. And that's an audit program that the State Auditor's Office puts out for all local government units that we audit to and provide that report. Typically at this point, I'm also reporting on your single audit of your federal ORS expenditures. That has been delayed. Single out because you earn over seven hundred fifty thousand dollars in federal awards You're subject to a separate compliance audit of those specific expenditures are also included in your overall audit but the separate compliance
008audit couldn't be Completed along with your financial audit this year because there's a delay and issuance of some of the federal guidance that we needed to complete the audit They came out with it the Wednesday at about four o'clock before thanksgiving um so we were not able to circle back on all the odds that we had and get that completed The Department of Education did very early on recognize that was going to be a problem and they extended the deadline for getting that to the state to March 31st, which is the federal deadline. We have done most of the testing. In your case, we did audit your child nutrition program where there was a small change in that that we got a certain plaque on, but we do expect to be completing that in the
009next few weeks and we'll send those reports out. As far as the audit results, Once again, we were able to provide a non-modified or a clean opinion on your financial statements. We had no issues with the government accounting standards compliance. We did mention... Once again this year you got to implement a new government accounting standard as Heather just alluded to. In this case it was GASB 101 that kind of changed how you report your long-term liability for compensated absence. This didn't have as large of a dollar impact on your financial statements as some of the things we've done. I think we've had new GASBs in the last. four or five years. Some of them had much larger impacts on your financial statements. This didn't require a restatement of it in the beginning numbers, but it
010did change how you report that long-term liability. It doesn't impact your fund financial statements. It only impacts the long-term portion of unused compensated absences reported in your entity-wide financial statements. From an internal control and compliance standpoint, as I said, we didn't have any issues with compliance. We do call it to your attention something we've been reporting each year due to the small number of people that you have in your finance department. There is a less than ideal segregation of duties in some areas. From a Minnesota legal compliance standpoint, this year we had no findings to report based on our testing. Typically another thing that we do when we do our audit each year is follow up on any findings that were reported in the previous year. I'm happy to report two things that were reported
011in 2024 have been corrected. Number one, in 2024 there was a material audit adjustment that were done in 2025. Second, there was a Minnesota legal compliance finding with regard to contracting and bidding in 2024 and making sure that you had the withholding affidavit from the state of Minnesota before you made a final payment on a contract. We tested that again in 2025 and did not have any findings to report. So both of those things were corrected in 2025. From an opinion and report standpoint, that's typically what I had to cover. Before I move on to some more financial information, I'll just stop. Are there any questions at this point? I'll move along to some of the financial results for the year-ender audit. This graph shows a 10-year history of the district's financial position at year-end
012in terms of the cash and investment balance in your general fund and the unrestricted fund balances in the general fund. The blue bars are your cash and investment balance, which is about $15 million at the end of the 2025 fiscal year. Your total fund balances were about $11.1 million, which was down about $1.3 million from the year before. What we're reporting here is just the unrestricted portion of that, and I'll go through that on my next slide. That was about $7.5 million. As I mentioned, your fund balance went down by about $1.3 million. You had budgeted for it to be spent down by about $483,000, so you were about $820,000 lower than had been projected in your final budget. This table. breaks down the various components of fund balance that you reported in the general
013fund. Of that approximately $11.1 million in total fund balance, you had about $146,000 in that non-spendable fund balance category. That is essentially, in your case, prepaid expenditures. It's still an asset that's going to be of value to you in the next year, but you've already spent the dollars on something. You can't re-spend them for something else, so that gets reported in a separate category. The restricted fund balances are basically the state funding mandates that come along with some of your general education aids and some of your other aids as to how you spend them. You had about $3.4 million in those restricted fund balances at the end of the year. That's where most of the decrease in fund balance happened. That was down about $1.1 million from the year before, mainly in your operating capital,
014long-term storage and maintenance restrictions. Of that $3.4 million, about two-thirds of that, roughly $2.6 million, were those capital-related restrictions, either operating capital or long-term facility maintenance restrictions. You also had about $530,000 in restricted for medical assistance, which is special education-related services, and about another $285,000 in other smaller restrictions. The next two categories... which are controlled more on a local level. Your unbalanced assignments are things that you have internally earmarked for specific purposes. That was about 2.7 million at the end of the year. That was down almost $200,000 from the year before. There are several things within that. You've got about 1.1 million assigned for separation and severance costs. $750,000 that again categorizes capital related assignments, future purchases of equipment. You have about $590,000 which is assigned for your 2026 fiscal year budget. The original budget
015that you adopted for the general fund anticipated spending fund balance down by about $589,000. So that becomes a fund balance assignment at the end of the previous year. because you adopted that budget. Then you had about $250,000 in carryovers for unspent budget from 2025. The last portion of that then, on assigned fund balance, which is available for spending for any purpose, was about $4.8 million. Pretty close to the year before, up a small amount, about $22,000. We kind of track... Your assigned or I'm sorry unassigned fund balance and the unrestricted which is those last two categories together as a percent of what you spend each year just to give you some idea how that's changing year to year both of those Okay, one of those percentages are shown below there. Your unrestricted fund balances were
016about 12.7% of what you spent in 2025, and your unassigned fund balance was about 8.1% of your 2025 expenditures. Your internal fund balance policy is you're trying to maintain that unassigned fund balance at 8% of your budgeted expenditures. That ratio is about 8.4% based on your 2025 budget. We'll start talking about your general fund revenues. One of the things that we always track when we discuss revenues is the number of students that you serve because that does drive your general education formula funding and a lot of your other funding sources. For the 2025 fiscal year, you served an average daily membership of just under 3,300 students. And when you add the pupil weighting to that and convert it to pupil units, that converted to about 3,619 pupil units. That was down about 5% from the
017year before. This has really gotten a little more volatile for you the last few years. If you go back to the first few years on this graph, it was pretty stable. You're fluctuating maybe half a percent or less year to year. Your student population did go up by a little more than 2% in 2024, and now you saw it go back the other way, down about 5% in 2025. And of course, that does drive funding. Don't know true demographics are showing but something that continues to expand it for closely So I'm looking at revenues overall and general fund you took in Just under 58 million dollars in the 2025 fiscal year as you can see from the graph By far the largest portion of that comes from state 80 about 75 and a half percent
018of your funding through state aides and about another 17.5 percent a little less than that from your property tax levy revenues in total were about a million dollars over budget variance of over 2% almost all of that variance came in that last category that's kind of other revenues that's made up of kind of two things part of it is your fees student activities admissions donations contributions have non-recurring Small revenues like that and then also your investment income is grouped into that That variance is kind of split between those two things you budget pretty conservatively there as you can see here Those revenues were up a little bit a couple hundred thousand from last year, but about 1.1 million dollars higher than budget part of that is because they are revenues that fluctuate from year to
019year, hard to project. And also just a reminder that investment income includes not only interest that you've actually received and have in your bank account to spend, but it also includes the change in the fair value of your investment portfolio, which you wouldn't have to actually spend unless you sold those investments, which typically you tend to hold those to maturity. But you do have to recognize that year to year. 2025 was a good year in terms of investment returns part of that reason that you had that budget variance there is because that was higher than your budget for investment income on the expenditure side you spent just over 59 million dollars in the 2025 fiscal year About 75% of your general fund expenditures, a little under that, is salaries and benefits expense for the year.
020About another 17% goes in purchase services. Those are kind of the two big ticket items in your expenditures. Expenditures are about $1.8 million over budget, about 3%, a little over 3% variance. Kind of two areas there. Number one, capital was over budget by about $900,000. And if you remember when we were looking at your fund balances, that was spending down the long-term facility maintenance restriction there. You had more projects going on during the year than you'd anticipated. The other area was purchase services were about $880,000. And that includes things like maintenance costs, utilities, transportation, which has been something that's been going up quite a bit. Next graph I'll move on to some of your other governmental funds. These are your two other operating funds that are quite a bit smaller than the general fund, but
021to give you some idea of the history of their food service special revenue fund ended the year with a total fund balance of just under 1.4 million dollars. That was up about $187,000 from the year before, just for context, as opposed to almost $60 million in the general fund. You're typically spending around $3 million in this fund. So that fund balance does represent about 47% of your annual expenditures. So you've got a very significant fund balance in your food service fund. The community service fund ended the year with a fund balance of about $47,000. That was down about $171,000 from the year before. You had budgeted to do a little bit better than break even, so you're about $188,000 below what you projected in this fund. You were pretty close down to zero there. You
022had about a 2% of your annual interest in your fund balance there. I'll briefly mention two other funds that you maintain. I don't have a graph for them, but they kind of run themselves based on when you issue bonds and are doing significant construction projects. Your capital projects fund, you had some bonds you issued in 2023. You did most of the spending on those in 2024 and 2025. At the end of 25, you only had about $110,000 left from that bond issue. You spent about $1.4 million on the projects that had been planned through that bond process in the 2025 fiscal year. Your debt service fund, again, all of the levies and payment schedules are adopted when you sell each bond issue. You took in revenue of about $5.5 million. That's mainly property tax levies
023you pay that debt. And you paid about $5.4 million, about $3.8 million, a little more than that, with principal and the rest of interest, which are scheduled debt service payments. At the end of the year, you've got about $1.25 million in that fund for future debt service. The last table I'll share with you here is a really, really... Compact version of the first financial statement in your document that you receive it's kind of what I refer to the second layer of financial reporting so the first two statements in your Act for there are what we refer to as district-wide financial statements. It takes all the funding information. We just talked about Where you only are reporting current assets and current liabilities it converts it to a full cruel basis So it brings in all the
024long-term assets and liabilities And it puts it all together in a single presentation. So it gives you kind of a broader, longer-term perspective of your financial position. So the top half of this presentation walks you through how you go from about $14 million in fund balances of the funds that we just talked about to your district-wide net position of about $11.4 million. just under 66 million dollars in capital assets and other depreciation so all your buildings equipment buses everything Your general obligation debt and other capital related debt that you've issued to either construct those assets or purchase those assets was about $42 million. And then the last couple categories there, the $28 million, $28.5 million liability there is your proportionate share of the state's P-E-R-A and T-R-A pension plans. So now let's try to make
025sure I point out here, you don't control anything with this other than the number of employees that you have. And that $28 million doesn't impact what you're paying annually in your general fund. Basically what that is, is the proportion of the statewide underfunding of those two plans. It's attributable to your employees being in those plans. Actuarial study each year kind of a portion that out based on what your district contributed to the plans as a proportion of what they took in statewide and you have to report that on these entity-wide financial statements just like any other school or city or other government that employs people that participate in those plans So down at the bottom then it kind of shows the different components of net position. You've got about $30 million in your net investment
026capital assets, which is those assets minus the debt outstanding there. The restricted net position of about $5.8 million mainly goes back to those restricted fund balances in your general fund plus anything. In your other funds, the food service, community service, staff service, those are restricted by the fact that they're in those specific funds. They can't be spent for just general purposes. And then that net position that's labeled unrestricted, that deficit there, that's your unrestricted fund balances in the general fund that offset by that PERA and TRA pension also. And so that other category there, part of that includes... your liability for compensated absences, there's a number of things, pluses and minuses in there, but those long-term portions of your employee benefits are kind of fall down to that bottom category because there's no pre-funding in
027those for you. your financial position did improve by about 4.3 million dollars. Most of that was in that investment in capital assets and that's kind of basically related to how quickly you're paying your debts off versus how quickly you are... you're depreciating those assets and anytime you're adding assets to levies without adding more debt that does go up a little bit. So the restricted went down by about 927 as you mentioned that was mainly the spending of your long-term facility maintenance levy of the general fund and then that last category went up by about 817,000. A lot of that came from kind of a positive change this year in that P-E-R-A and P-R-A liability. So that's typically what I cover from a numbers standpoint. Questions on anything? I guess just tonight I'd like to ask
028the board to approve the 2024-25 annual comprehensive financial report. Do I have a motion and a second to approve the fiscal year 2025 annual audit? Motion by Member Pearson. Second that number work number person second that number work any discussion I guess I've never asked do we pay for this service? Although it's required. It's required. I mean, I thank you for it. I just wanted to clarify one piece. Bill mentioned 2023 and bonds. We didn't have a bond election during that time. That's abatement bonds, and that's the abatement bonds, right, that we use for our parking lots? Yes. I just wanted to clarify if somebody, when they hear that, they think that there's a bond. Is it something that we did with our abatement bonds? I think kudos to you, Heather, for the work you
029do and the moving target. Especially, I was kind of noting where the expenses sort of surprisingly go up and other things. It's just a moving target. I can just tell from Bill in describing this, you do a great job. Also want to thank Bill and his team. I think when they're here, we acknowledge that they're almost a part of our team at times. Although they probably can find Heather no matter where she's at when they're looking for stuff. But it is a collaborative effort, and it is, Jake, something that's required, but something that helps to make sure that we're staying on track as well. So I know since, I think, last year, your name changed as well, right? Yes, we did merge as of the start of this year from MMDR to L.B. Carlson. L.B.
030Carlson. And I would just like to thank Heather and her team. It's no fun having to go through an audit while you're continuing to do all of your day-to-day. You have to keep going. We know we're at disruption. We try to minimize it, but it's extra work for everybody. They're always very responsive and helpful, giving us what we need to do our job to. We appreciate that. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The motion is carried. Thank you. All right. Moving on to the consent agenda. Do I have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda items? Motion by Member Klinger. Second by Member Dukes. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The motion is carried. We've got our donations up and I just want to thank all of those all of you
031who have donated to the school district this past month. Your generosity and support of our students and staff is greatly appreciated. Information items. Fiscal year 2027 budgeting parameters. So we will have Heather share. Yes, as Member Nebioia talked about, the moving target, but share the parameters for 2027. So as we set the parameters for our budget, we use the guiding change document, and we start with the current reality. So a lot of these are the same as the prior year, but they just don't change. Like the school district funding has not had peace with inflation. And there's been a more significant increase in inflation in the last few years that creates an increase in expenditures and in staffing costs. We're expecting a general fund increase between 2 and 3 percent. Federal funding has been decreasing
032and allocations haven't been given in a very timely manner. For the 25-26 budget that had to be set in June, we weren't given our federal allocations until October and those were cut by $265,000. So it's just that feeling of unknown with some of that funding. Enrollment projections for 26-27 are still slightly decreasing as our kindergarten class is smaller than our seniors that are graduating. Salaries and benefits make up about 75% of the general fund budget. And as far as contract negotiations, we have three that we're currently working on for the current year. I think we have one that we'll come to for approval tonight, so two after that. And then we haven't begun the ones for next year, which means that six, no, five of the contracts are unknown for 26.7 at this time. Compensatory
033education funding, that calculation is unknown as well. If we are not held harmless from a prior calculation and funding is based only on direct certifications, meaning not the educational benefit applications that come in paper or electronically, but just those that have Medicare or other funding that gets direct certified, then we stand to lose about $1.5 million. So if they hold us harmless, we will still be in the status quo in the same spot in that revenue. And then the school board is required to establish a budget by June 30th, 2026. For our unacceptable means, it's unacceptable to violate the district policy and to contradict the vision and mission of ISD 189. It's unacceptable to recommend changes without addressing implications, financial sustainability, and if accrued, creating an implementation plan. The results of what we're looking for
034is financial stability. to establish a projected fiscal year 27 budget that limits the impact on the unsigned fund movements and align to the district's mission, vision, and strategic directions, consider additions, reductions, and redesign, have an efficient and effective use of resources, and if reductions are necessary to limit the impact on the classroom. So this guiding change document was shared with the board at work session and now. So going forward in February, there will be a presentation of the preliminary budget to the board at work session. And then from February to June, we'll be working with principals and department heads to gain input on what their budgetary needs would be for the upcoming year. And then we'll continue to update the board as we have information. and present the fiscal year 27 budget to be considered
035for approval on June 8th and then the board will be able to approve it on June 22nd. All right, moving on to committee reports. Jake, will you please give an update on the facilities committee? The facilities committee has not met this month. All right, thank you. Darcy, will you update on the finance? Yeah, the finance committee met on January 12th to review expenditures to date, negotiation parameters, and upcoming negotiation mediation. Thank you. Sherry, will you update us on the personnel committee? Yes. The personnel committee met on January 12th. The agenda included updates on labor negotiations and litigation. Thank you. And Shana, policy? Policy committee has wrapped it as well. Okay, thank you. Membership reports. Dave, will you please update us on AMST? Sure. AMST met on January 9th. Their agenda included routine business. They also
036had an election-appointed executive committee vacancy. And we had guest speakers that shared information about the Minnesota student survey. And then an interesting take on education funding in Minnesota was provided by... a group of high school students that did this as a project and their perspective and what they came as far as what they look as possible solutions moving forward very intriguing very intriguing so i think i included that in update but i'll maybe put that back in so you can take a look at it it's very interesting and very much showed the high-level understanding that high school kids are able to gain in regards to education funding in Minnesota, which some of us struggle to find no matter what we do, but they had some very, very viable aspects that should be taken into consideration.
037Thank you. Shana, will you give an update on the VEST Foundation? Yes, the VEST Foundation met on January 25th and generally took four days to review scholarships for this year and some action team updates. Thank you. Liz, will you please update us on MSBA? Sure. The MSBA Leadership Conference took place on January 16th and 17th. The conference included keynote speakers whose focus was on inspiring connection, teamwork, and courage. There were several of us board members who were able to attend. And if I can ask him to do a survey of how he liked it or didn't, that would be great. I think it would be interesting. I had it in my comments, but it's a good time just to mention. I think we should really highlight the saxophone quartet that took place at MSBA. I
038feel like that. Maybe we'll talk more about that. Darcy, maybe it's a good time to go out there now. We had a saxophone quartet from Simile High School perform at MSBA. And what happens is you nominate your band or your... portion of the band. Musicians to be selected. Yeah, musicians to be selected and it's all the school boards can, you know, school districts can do that and our quartet was chosen. So four saxophonists came down to Minneapolis and they played on a very large stage. They were the closing band and they had 15 minutes to play while people trickled in and they were in front of superintendents and school board members from across the state and they just they really really shined they were magnificent it was great to see them and they were the
039only ones who came the two music groups had been invited they were the only ones who who came so i think it was really brave and courageous and on any given day it was brave and courageous and it was even more so last week so outstanding outstanding director pash and those kids thank you and Dave will you update us on intermediate school district 917 yes they had their regular meeting on January 13th and the bunch of their agenda was a organizational meeting and election of officers All right, moving on to action items. The 2026 legislative priorities. Superintendent Bernardson, will you introduce the recommendation for proof, please? Yes, thank you. I think it's important to know that these are priorities that we have had conversations, I think dating back to November, maybe? At least. And at
040various times along the way. And we last looked at them at our work session. I mentioned that we may put them into a... formalized document that that may be to hold off just a little bit to make sure we've got these exactly right also along with that as we further identify these priorities after our action tonight. We'll also put numbers to them so that when we're having conversations with legislators that we have talking points that really show what the impact would be for our district as well. So first category is financial and Heather mentioned it as well in her other comments earlier today. We would really like to extend the compensatory hold harmless for two years. We have a significant impact if that does not happen. I can't remember exactly the number. I think it
041was like 1.5 million dollars that would how that would impact our budget. We also like to maintain full funding for special education and repeal the contingent 250 million dollar reduction enacted in the 2025 session. So another significant impact that came out of the session. Along with that we'd like to fully fund our multi-lingual learner cross subsidy to ensure that we're providing the services to our multi-learner. students but also not impacting our other budgets as well along the way and then the one that we've talked about over time is the local optional revenue piece which is a board approved piece which has been at 724 for a number of years actually I think since 2014 and we'd like to see that increase to 975 979 dollars per pupil which would recover the ground that we lost
042due to inflation but also along the way link that to the basic formula as well so that we are getting that on a regular basis and for us again that would be a significant difference maker. We'd like to have our board to be able to renew our capital projects levy one time without an election. This is one we've had significant conversations about because we know that we have one that's expiring soon. And when that was on the ballot, we ought also to levy on the ballot at that time. And right now, a board can renew a levy one time, but not a capital project. So we think it would be prudent for us to be able to do that at the same time. Plus, when those do go to voters, the approval rate is about
043as close to 100% as you can get. And we know that elections cost money, they take time, they take resources, and we think this would be a very viable thing for our district. We'd also like to see some permanent funding or repeal the... term unemployment benefits to non-licensed school hourly workers, which is something that's come along that's also provided us some challenges. Then we'd also like to fix the employer contribution of 50% under the Minnesota paid family leave and medical leave law and allow public school district employees and collective bargaining units the ability to opt out. Another piece that came out of the last legislative session that's having a significant impact on us. And I think you've had data that has showed that Our number of leaves this year is far outpacing the leaves that
044we had last year by I think it's about four or five-fold when we look into that. So it just keeps growing as well. And our biggest challenge with that is to find replacements for those people. Plus we know that that will potentially have an impact on our students and their learning. We'd also like to see a fully funded other REDACT. And then a piece that we're, I think, Liz, you had some involvement in this and something that has been moderating around a little bit, but we'd like to support a constitutional amendment to modernize the permanent school funding distribution allocation. And that would replace an outdated interest and dividends formula while providing a percentage of market value framework for stable year funding while protecting the trust fund for future generations. It's like having funds that are
045sitting in a spot but they have the allocation is still, should I say maybe decades old, that needs to be updated because there is a source of revenue for us but we also do not want to jeopardize that fund at the same time. Did I say that the right way, Liz? Okay, within that we also see the opportunity to reduce, as always, special education paperwork. We know that our teachers spend an enormous amount of time in paperwork and there are parts of that that we see as being very beneficial and some of it is stuff that we maybe could find a different way to accomplish. Along with that then, we've been talking about the Minnesota's assessment system and since there's been some commissions established, we'd like to see one established to look at how we
046look at student measures and how we can replace the MCAs with a nationally recognized college entrance exam. So really updating that aspect as well and that's part of how we look at student achievement in this district. We don't look at it exclusively on one set of testing data, we look at it across the board. And then we'd also like to strengthen the PSU or post-secondary enrollment options and online programs to ensure accountability and rigorous standards, which requires students to take equivalent courses at their home district. And we're benefiting from that because of our... What we offer in our district, but other districts aren't. They're having challenges with that. And we like to allow districts to set that eligibility criteria. And then our third piece is safety. And we'd like to increase the Safe School Levy
047and add an inflationary increase and or expand LTFM or long-term facility maintenance to include safety and security measures. And then permit some limited removal time with non-exclusionary discipline to support effective reentry planning and maintain safe classrooms. And if you may remember, non-exclusionary discipline is disciplinary pieces that apply to our primary kids and elementary school, but we do think there is a time where we should really have that opportunity to have some removal time, but very intentionally. So these pieces, along with resisting unfunded mandates, and of course the honor, local control, and inherent managerial rights are pieces that we think would be beneficial for us to put forward as a school district and know that along the way we also work with AMSD, which is the Association of Metropolitan School Districts. MSB which has been mentioned
048and also another group called the Minnesota Association of school administrators So it's not only us carrying these legislative priorities But there's these and others that these groups are carrying as well And we know that we have a very good interest base from our home legislators who really like to hear from us and we'll work to have Once action is taken these put together so we can share them with them. So this evening we're looking for you to approve these Do I have a motion and a second to approve the 2026 legislation? Any discussion And we'll discuss them more. I appreciate a lot the conversations we have around this. I think we're always learning. And that constitutional amendment one is kind of a new, big deal. It might be hard to understand. I welcome the public
049calling us up, asking us. We've got graphics, and we will continue to work on that one. And all of these are complicated. They're a little bit complicated. So I really appreciate the thought from us. And these are priorities that we put together that really impact us as a school district and I think we've heard during different times especially during levy conversations and alike, what are you doing? Well, we're actively, actively communicating with our legislators to make sure that they know the impact that different legislative actions have on us or the benefits that we can gain from future actions as well. And again, want to share that they are very receptive and we really appreciate them at the same time. Any other discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The motion is carried. All right. Director
050of Human Resources, Emily Herman, will introduce the recommendation to approve the 2025, 2026, and the 2627 Bustard-Everett Tentative Contract Agreement. Thank you for saying that. Members of the board, I'm here to present an agreement that we were able to reach with the bus drivers within the board parameters. The agreement includes a 2.75% increase in year one and a 3% increase in year two. In addition to the salary changes, there's some language added to match other contracts in terms of cash out options for unused personal leave days. Again, we're asking for your recommendation to approve this type of agreement. Do I have a motion and a second to approve the bus driver contract agreement? Motion by Member Pearson. Second by Member Ward. Okay, motion by Member Pearson, second by Member Ward. Any discussion for working hard
051and for continuing to build those relationships? All right. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The motion is carried. All right, we are wrapping up with superintendent and school board comments. So I'd like to begin with Superintendent. Thank you. Yes, I was going to mention the saxophone quartet, but it seemed we had a very good natural time to do that. And again, thank you for those that advocated for our students to have that opportunity because that is a chance to showcase our kids. Thank you for that. Today we had a workshop day and just want to remind people that that workshop day was signifying the end of quarter two and we actually start semester two tomorrow so we're halfway through the school year. Along with that, communication went out last week in regards to our temporary
052remote learning option for students and want to let people know that we took our time to make sure that we're hearing from our families and understanding what they need for their kids to be successful. It's very easy to move forward in a different direction, but once we heard from them, we were able to formulate what our plan is so that we can support them. And then along with that, usually I try to provide my comments without having to read them, but I just want to read my last set of comments for this evening. It has to do with caring for our community. We recognize that the ongoing local events can feel unsettling. These situations affect all of us, including our students, our staff, our families, and our community. Our focus as a school district remains
053on providing a safe, caring, and predictable environment for everyone. As a public school district, our highest priorities are safety and learning. Please be assured that we have comprehensive safety protocols in place. Our school district has a fabulous working relationship with our local police department. They are a part of us. We are also providing short-term remote learning opportunities for students who are unable to attend school due to safety concerns. This format was put together as we were able to figure out what our students and families needed rather than telling them what we think they need, which is so important. We are navigating this together and please do not hesitate to reach out to any of us or to your school if you are in need of support. We had a chance at our listening session to
054hear from some of our community members that are very much wanting to support our community and I want to thank you that we're all in this together and we will work through this the best that we can to make sure we're supporting our kids most importantly. School board comments beginning with Member Ward. Yes, very well said about safety. So important. And I just was going to talk about the public listening sessions right before the regular board meetings, just a reminder that those are for our residents to come in and talk about anything that they have a concern, and that's at 510 every time in front of the regular board meeting. That's it. Thank you. Member Larson. echoing a little bit what the kind of parents had said there's a lot happening out there and it's
055been really amazing to see the support from community members food drives ptas raising money all the things hearing what some of the staff people are doing extra to help support families and the emotional load that they're carrying in doing so so just we see you thank you keep it up member pearson i too have been so touched by people that have reached out to me as a board member during this time the only outreaches i have received is requests on how can i help how can i get my help to your students and so this is this is a river fight this is isd 199 it's been really really touching to know or be reminded because we already knew how much our community truly cares about our students So thank you to everyone who was
056outreaching and doing things. I'm going to echo all of that, but I'm going to tie it in a little bigger. And I'm not trying to pick on South St. Paul or Two Rivers, but I did get to go to the boys basketball game between Sibley and South St. Paul. We had our first win in quite a while. And it was wonderful. And there were just a lot of families. talking to each other in the stands, friends of mine, South St. Paul friends, people, our community was there. The same thing happened at Two Rivers at a wrestling meet. And it what I we have a lot in common with those districts and they too are sharing the values That we are here to educate all students and and that is what we're here to do and
057we're here to do it safely and so I just love the outpouring I have also heard so many incredibly positive things and Eat when I kind of joke about our rivalry sometime, but really we are all I really do think there's a lot of solidarity with our tri-district So it's really wonderful I happen to be at the South St. Paul basketball game as well, and I think an interesting part of it was that people from both communities at the end actually hugged each other. Yes. And that shows a lot about how much people care, and things happen on the court, they happen in different places, but in the end we're all in this together. And I think that, oh, and the parents, thank you parents so much. You're such a great connection to some of
058our families who really need that extra touch right now. So thanks to those parents too. Yeah, same thing that many people said. I just want to say two things. One, I'm very proud of young people. I think it's important to note some of the greatest movements that have happened were started by young people. And so to see young folks doing what they think is necessary to be on whatever side they're choosing to be on, I'm very proud to see them and just want to continue to encourage them to do what they... believe is right because when when this is all over it will end like they will be able to say that I was on I was on this side and I did a thing and I'm really proud of them and then congratulations to
059board member Ninyoya and her election at the SBA that was very fun to be at and she is now the board member from District 7 representing a big group of us and so very proud to have you and to be there to support you and see you continue to you know do your thing and now not just support us. I'm really excited to see what you do there. I'm not a prepared remarks person, but I did write some things. I just think that as a board we hear a lot about readiness to learn, and we talk about state standards, performance metrics, high-stakes testing that looms over students every year, and teachers and all of us. But we need to be honest with ourselves and our community in that our kids, they can't learn math. They
060can't analyze reading. They can't be mentally or even physically here. when they're paralyzed by fear that their parents may not be there when they get home. And when around 30% of our student body belongs to that community and they feel targeted, that's not a small subset of our population. When that community and more, when they're afraid to leave their homes, it's not a political issue, that's an educational crisis. And so I want to be clear to our families that you do belong here. And I think they feel that. I believe that you're safe here. And I believe that every child, regardless of your background or your skin color, you have a fundamental right to an education where you feel safe, seen, and protected, and that's everybody. And to our teachers, when you see those empty
061seats, I know I see your struggle, we see your struggle, I know how hard it is, and you just can't reach a kid who's in survival mode. To our neighbors, I ask that you remember the strength of our schools is measured in how we protect our most vulnerable kids and that when many of our students and our families feel they have to live in the shadows, that our entire district is dimmed in that way. So I know that this board and our leaders and teachers continue to advocate for our kids, but most importantly that we will continue to tell every family in this district that our doors are open, our halls are safe, and your children are wanted here. Those are Jake's words, but those are mine too. I guess I have nothing additional to
062add, other than show up in ways that you can and how you can. And I challenge all of us who are not... living in immediate fear to step outside of our comfort zone and do something more to help someone and get to know our neighbors. So with that, the next work session will be held on February 9th, and the next regular board meeting will be held on Monday, February 23rd at 5.30 p.m. at Salem Hills Elementary. Do I have a motion and a second to adjourn tonight's meeting? Motion to member. Second. All in favor? Aye. Motion is carried at 629.