2026-05-11 LFCS School Board Meeting for May 2026

001Good evening. I would like to call the May 11th business meeting of the ISD 482 to order. I'd like everybody to 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. The district's mission statement is that Little Falls Community Schools work together for each learner to achieve academic and personal growth in a collaborative, safe, and engaging environment. So, before we get into the kind of the nuts and bolts of the meeting, first I'd like to thank Julie Musho for helping put the board packet together. Hopefully it was like riding a bike and you fall right back into it. So, appreciate that. And then what we'd like

002to do is we'd like to honor our 2026 retirees. So, um retirees, I see we only have two of you here, but when I call your name, what I'd like you to do is come on up and we have a little parting gift for you. So, um first we will have um Mary Sitzman. And this is crazy to even write this. I'm barely 50 years old, but she has 50 years of service. >> [applause] [clears throat] [laughter] >> AWESOME. THANK YOU. AND THEN NEXT, with just a paltry 29 years of service, uh Kevin Jordan. COME ON UP. >> [applause] >> AND THEN [clears throat] OUR OTHER TWO RETIREES WHO COULDN'T BE HERE tonight are Jackie Madges who had 12 years of service and Troy Murphy who had 19 years of service. So, again, thank you

003to all. If I did my math right, that's 110 total years of service to the district. So, they will certainly be missed and much appreciated for everything you did. So, thank you all of you. All right, next we have public comments. We have one. So, I have a policy I need to read is that Little Falls Community Schools welcomes you to the meeting of the Little Falls Board of Education. This portion of the agenda will be limited to a total of not more than 30 minutes. Individual speakers are asked to limit their comments to not more than 3 minutes. The board asks that all comments be in keeping with, contribute to an atmosphere civil, courteous, thoughtful, and respectful discourse. Uh Sarah. My name is Sarah Merrow. I've addressed this board multiple times since November 2025

004regarding my concerns about the district's exclusion of my son from participation on his basketball team and the district's failure to implement his state-wide IEP as written. As a result of those concerns, I filed a formal complaint with the Minnesota Department of Education on May 4th, 2026. MDE issued its findings to Superintendent Greg Johnson and to our family. In those findings, MDE stated, quote, following an independent investigation, MDE determined that the that that the district is in violation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA, [snorts] end quote. For our son, for our family, and for the disability community, this finding was both significant and validating. On December 2nd, 2025, I submitted a student disability discrimination grievance report form to the district and to this board. At that time, the district declined to conduct an

005internal investigation and stated it would wait for the outcome of the MDE complaint. Now that MDE MDE has officially determined that the district violated IDEA, I have submitted a new grievance report outlining concerns regarding the conduct and actions of the superintendent, special education director, athletic director, high school principal, basketball coach, cross country coach, special education teacher, regular education teacher, paraprofessional, and community services director. This grievance report includes a copy of the MDE determination for the board to review. I sincerely hope the board will now take these concerns seriously and ensure that the district policies, student protections, and accountability measures are followed transparently and consistently. Today, during a compensatory education meeting, the district stated that it did not believe compensation to our son was necessary de- despite MDE's findings. That response was deeply disappointing. It is

006difficult to understand how the district can continue dedicating substantial resources towards attorneys and efforts defending the exclusion of one student while appearing unwilling to invest those same resources into meaningful inclusion and supports and opportunities for that student. This situation has had a profound impact on our family. No student should be excluded, marginalized, or denied equal access because of a disability. No family should have to spend months fighting for rights and protections already guaranteed under the federal law. Our family will continue to advocate for our children and for students with disabilities. We will continue documenting concerns, speaking publicly, and pursuing accountability when students' rights are not protected. Inclusion matters, accountability matters, following the law matters. I urge this district to reflect on these findings, rebuild trust with families, and commit to doing better for all students

007moving forward. Thank you, Sarah. >> [clears throat] >> All right, next we have the approval of the agenda. I'll so move. I have a motion by Sharon. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Mark. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed same sign. All right, motion carries. Next we have the consent agenda, which consists of personnel, approval of prior meeting minutes, approval of financial transactions. And the at wills, those are separate? That actually we should have that a part of the consent. >> It is, okay. So it is in there. Okay, so then the approval of the at will contracts. Okay, so looking for a motion for the approval of the consent agenda. So moved. Motion by Dan. Do I have a second? Second. I have a

008second by Mark. Any further discussion? You should have all had a chance to go through any of those. Okay, hearing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed same sign. All right, motion carries. Next we have the resolution for acceptance of gifts. Kelsey. Whereas the following have generously offered to donate to the Little Falls Community Schools, therefore be it resolved by the Little Falls Community Schools Board of Education to gratefully accept the gifts. Federated Co-ops donation of $1,000 to Little Falls Community Schools High School Federated Co-ops Scholarship Fund. Federated Co-ops donation of $1,000 to Little Falls Community Schools High School Federated Co-ops Scholarship Fund. Fregin Foundation of the Initiative Foundation donation of $1,200 to Little Falls Community Schools Fragon Scholarship Foundation. Mary G. Tillman Healthcare Fund of the Initiative Foundation. Donation of $2,500

009to Little Falls Community Schools Mary Jean Tillman Healthcare Scholarship Fund. Mary Jean Tillman Healthcare Fund of the Initiative Foundation donation of $2,500 to Little Falls Community Schools Mary Jean Tillman Healthcare Scholarship Fund. Craig and Cynthia Callahan donation of $50 to Little Falls Community Schools Christopher Callahan Memorial Scholarship Fund. And Sean Gritner Memorial Fund of the Initiative Foundation donation of $500 to Little Falls Community Schools Sean Gritner Memorial Scholarship Fund. I will second that. Okay, and a roll call vote. Would be Doug? Uh yes. Mark? >> Yes. Julie? >> Yes. Dan? Yes. Sharon? >> Yes. And myself, yes. Okay, motion carries. Thank you. All right, next we have our first presentation. Looks like the Comprehensive Arts Planning Program from Sarah Todd and Karen. Take it away. Excellent. Well, we are happy to be here. Um I

010we have a fun presentation that I'm sure will be up on the board at some point. Um Karen, did you send that to me? I sent it to you. >> Sarah did. Sarah did. And yep, to you and Julie a week ago. No worries. We got we got lots going on. So, we are um um the um CAP coordinators. CAP stands for concept comprehensive arts planning program. Um and the goal with this is um it's organized by the Perpich. Here it is. Um and they help districts run slide number two. Is it two? I think so. Yeah. Um, they guide districts um, to help figure out what they need in the arts areas to help improve. So, the arts covers not just music music and visual arts, but media arts, theater, and dance. Um, we

011have a growing media arts program at the high school and we'd like to work I mean, we'll get into that later, I guess. Um, but it's based on the belief that the arts are essential components of a basic um, education. So, this is the uh, 20th uh, cohort that they've had at the Perpich Center and every cohort's every two years. So, they've been doing this for about 40 years. And in our cohort, there's seven other schools. I believe so, yes. Um, and so >> the state of Minnesota. >> the state. So, Brainerd's a part of it, Alexandria, Zumbrota? No. Big Lake. Big Lake. >> And there's some smaller schools like the Twin Cities, yeah. Yeah. So, it's been going for a while and it's a you know, over 40 Yeah. 40 years. So, the next

012question is, how did we get here? Um, this was probably me. I was like, we're going to do this. Um, and I'm just like, hey, can I? And everybody's like, yeah, go for it. We'll just whatever. Um, so, there was a call for applications last year, um, probably about a year and a half ago for the CAP program and I'm like, yep, I'm going to put out all this paperwork. I think this would be really great for us. It um, really aligns with all of our educational goals and the district goals as well. Um, but working with the CAP program. So, put in an application and was one of the eight schools in the state to be selected, which was awesome. Um, and because of this grant, they are giving us with the areas that

013we are concentrating on, $4,500 for two school years. So, that's total of $9,000 um, to help us with um, paying ourselves if we're working outside of school time, for staff development, for I mean, lots of other things. Um, but then there is a total of another additional three-year commitment for us to implement the things that we are planning right now. So, it's a year of reflection, which was this year. Next year is a year of planning, and then the future three years are for implementation. So, next slide? >> And you can see these are our We're the co-chairs, the three of us, um, visual arts, media arts, music. Um, and you can see every all the other music and art teachers in the district are part of the group. And we've been meeting, um, mostly

014at, like, during professional development days. Um, but we have plans to connect, um, over the summer, um, and in the future outside of our school hours. Um, like I mentioned earlier, it's organized by the Perpich Center for Arts Education. They have been a huge resource for us, I mean, on this, but they are probably one of the best in the state for, like, professional development for the arts areas. Um, just I mean, like, I We attended one of their sessions on reading, and it's like, "Hey, we know that, you know, reading is important. Here is how you can incorporate reading into your your areas." Yeah. So, very specific. All right. Um, because of the reflection that we've been doing this year, we had a whole day of, like, "What do we are doing good in

015our programs? Where do we think we need improvement? What direction do we want to go?" Um, through a lots and lots of of speculation and planning, um, we came up with four main areas that we would like to work on as a group over these next handful of years. And the four of them are listed up on the board listed on the TV right now. Um, and they include investing in creating opportunities for access to the arts, um, showcasing of the arts in the student for, like, in the schools and in the community, um, elevating and empowering a collective voice for the arts, and developing and implementing a much stronger K-12 media arts program. So, right now we have it at the high school and that's it. Um and within each of those areas, there's

016three or four or five different focus areas and then different action steps within each. If you're interested in seeing our 27-page rough draft, we would be we would be willing to share it with you. We're saying we have a plan. We have a plan. Um yep. So, there are some needs and opportunities um for growth that we see. A continuous need to provide curriculum materials, content, and academic time in order to address our standards because we are a standard-based curriculum um whereas I know like there are areas that are not, but we do have very specific standards as well. So, we feel like this is important. Um one of the things of note, which we find found really interesting, is that MDE requires schools to have a minimum of offering three of those five areas

017K-12. And the students are supposed to fulfill two out of the three areas. So, looking at our programs, we have music, we have visual arts K-12. We do not have a third at the elementary and the middle school. Um because we have a really good media arts high school program, it's only natural to kind of go that direction. And right now, the state is looking at relicensing the fine arts or visual arts to include media arts. Um so, that's a discussion and process that is happening this summer, I believe. Um so, that just made sense for us to work with that K-12 media arts and how to implement that. Um so, we would like to be in compliance with the state's. Absolutely. Yes. Hopes um for the future is that we can continue to offer

018quality programming um that we offer um opportunities for students um and then offering more options in the media arts area um especially like as we're seeing how the media arts like transfer over so well into modern society. Um support from you. Um we appreciate the time during staff development. Um continuing to support us in our in our events. Like if you want to come to band concert after this tonight, that would be really great. Um continuing to design options for sustainability. Part of it looking at budgeting is part of our plan. Um and we're part of our plan too is to develop [cough] a um develop to develop a community arts council. So if anybody's interested in being on that, and you can hear all the great things that we're doing in the arts, we'd

019love to have you. Any questions for us? I do. Um you mentioned, I don't know which slide it was, four or five. Um do you work with GRRA? We do. Yeah, cuz I know I've gone to communities Sure now. As we looked at the strengths of our district, the partnership with the Great River Arts was a huge benefit. I mean, there's a lot of like when we looked at other districts, there's many other communities that don't have that great reciprocal relationship like we do. So like we're we're super fortunate and plan to continue like they're on our list for who we like to have on the arts council cuz we, you know, want to have their input. >> got good background. >> Yes. Yes. >> um Karen just mentioned that in our elementary that we

020don't have a part for the media arts. So wouldn't when our students are taking their art projects to the county fair, which is community, wouldn't that fall into that? No. Media arts is different. Um media arts is electronic-based more electronic-based arts. So the old-fashioned hands-on is not included. Correct. Correct. So, for the visual arts standard. Okay. >> Yeah, they're separate standards. They're separate standards. So, the media arts includes things like video production, um animation, photography, um computer-based artwork. And they want that in elementary. And they as far down as kindergarten? >> far down as And we like we attended social media >> training through the perbitch this year that it's accessible. I mean, you can make it yeah. >> And they're already they're already doing some of the things on their own. Other questions, sorry.

021Yeah, that kind of you kind of answered my question. So, that was going to be is social media part of this? I mean, I know it's kind of been the the way in schools and stuff, but Yep. But there's I mean, if you look at what the kids [clears throat] already have access to, it's teaching them to analyze and then be able to create their own with technology that's appropriate to their grade level. So, like are they going to do the same thing that our high school seniors are doing? No. But can they do video recordings on a tablet and edit them? Yeah. And there are some of them are probably doing it already and some of them may be better than some of our high school students just because they enjoy it. But shouldn't

022they have the opportunity to learn from >> [cough] >> educators [clears throat] that can guide their experience. And that absolutely seems to be the future, obviously. It's all there. I will just speak as a mom of a kindergarten student. My son would love to be a YouTuber. We'll teach him how to do it better. Thank you so much for having us. Thank you for fighting for you. >> [laughter] >> Thanks to all of you for having the initiative to go after a grant like this Yeah. and finding ways to improve programming. We have wonderful programming, but of course, there's always ways to consider doing things differently. Thank you. Yeah. Part of it is having us together in a room. We get to talk about ideas, which is sometimes we don't have that time. And so

023to enhance our programming is a big part of our capstone project. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. All right, our next presentation is our MAP Stars program. Christie and her band of stars. That's right. The whole crew. Okay, well, this is part of our crew. Um, so I think you have the slideshow, yeah? >> [laughter] >> Very look again. Um This the the the students are going to do most of the speaking tonight, but just as a as an introduction, um, this was something that I, being the director for five or six years now, I've wanted to do uh a MAP Stars chapter here in Little Falls for quite some time. And uh thankfully through the Elevate PD uh committee, Sarah uh Sarah Salo and Kelly Kilinowski uh jumped on board and uh

024were willing to get this started as well. And our students created this slide deck presentation, and they are going to do most of the talking, but I said I would answer a lot of the questions. So I'll let them take it away. Are they introducing themselves, or are they >> Megan's going to introduce everyone, yeah. I'm I'm Megan. Um, this is Maurice, Dom, and Mazie, and we're the Stars group. There is two more, Benny and Con- Connor. Yeah. They had work tonight. Yeah. What is MAPS STARS? MAPS STARS is an elective class that teaches us life skills that prepare us for life outside of high school. And what it stands for is the Minnesota Association of Alternative Programs, Success, Teamwork, Achievement, Recognition, and Self-Esteem. What did we do? Our group met every Monday for an

025hour and a half. We had conversations about decision-making, budgeting, life skills, and possible real-world scenarios. We finished the year by going to Fergus Falls for a competition. You forgot an important statement there. Oh. And clean house. >> house. I think there was six we took six students and we came home with 24 awards. So, they did really good. Yeah. The easiest parts was showing up and getting a credit and collaborating on ideas. And some of the hardest parts was putting yourself out there, brainstorming. Um why they joined and why they stayed part of it is they joined cuz we begged them to. No. Um we we came up with about 10 or 15 students that we thought would be good fits for this program and we're ready to take on these kinds of conversations and

026these ideas. And uh in the end we we whittled her down to about six of them that could be there consistently every Monday they showed up uh ready to go. They have a binder of work that they take with them when they're done with all of this with a resume um and all of that. I think that why they joined is the same reasons that we wanted them to join and that was to to make friendships and connections. Um one part of an independent study program that by nature doesn't exist is collaboration. And so this was a way for us to bring that collaborative piece into our programming and support our kids in in becoming young adults. >> [snorts] >> This is our sign up for our I put this slide in here. The spring

027conference is the highlight of their year and they will tell you a little bit more about that here in a couple of slides, but Fergus Falls, the one of our Her name's Kristen Tool, she's up there. She is actually the co-chair of STARS for the state of Minnesota and she called me on a Monday and said, "Hey, are you guys coming up to Fergus for the event?" Blah, blah, blah and I said, "Well, we haven't planned on it. We're not really sure. It's the first year we've done this." And she said, "Well, you'd be doing me a huge favor because where our other team backed out, so we'd be competing against each other." And again, this is on a Monday and I said, "Well, great. When when is the competition?" And she said, "Thursday." I

028said, "Oh, like as in 3 or 4 days from now?" And she said, "Yes." And I said, "Well, I can take it back to the kids and see what they think." And when I took it to them, they were beyond excited to do it. Um, they had to sign up for one independent event, so that's the employment interview and then the human relations decision making. Um, human relations was things real life work scenarios. You're at work and you have a disagreement with a co-worker and they've decided to go to the boss and tell the boss all these untrue things. How do you handle that as a as an employee? And then they have to come up with scenario different options and list pros and cons and then what would ultimately be the best solution for

029that. That's individually. And then as a team of two, they could do team management or team parent decision making and as you can see, they signed up for both because this was how they cleaned house. That's cuz they signed up for everything they could sign up for. And then at the end, they play the LifeSmarts um, kind of a trivia style game about everything from what color is coolant to what does FDIC stand for to any of those kinds of things. So, this was at the spring conference and we hadn't really prepped them for what the structure would be like. It's very timed out. They get 10 minutes, 20 20 minutes to prepare their presentation and come up with their solutions and then like 10 minutes to present and you you have to follow that

030timeline. So, they did great. We showed up with 5 minutes to spare before the first um brainstorm time and this is them all brainstorming. They just right away got to work. And then um they bring in community members to um interview the students and to they give their presentations to these adults as well. So, that's very cool. I think they appreciated that and the and the adults were really good at giving them feedback. So, on the left is a student giving his interview and he ended up winning first place. He knew it ahead of time and so before his name was even called, he was standing up to get the award. So, that was pretty cool. Um and then on the right is the HR decision. I think the component of having for when Kelly

031and I went last year just to observe this and having the community members come in it it lessens the stigma of what an alternative learning program is. Um I think a lot of us, you know, who grew up in the late 1900s, we all think of the the ALC as something completely different than what it is currently and and it makes that connection. I know last year there's a couple that were like, "Well, we're actually hiring. So, if you wanted an actual application." Um so, there was connections that were made and the first impression is your your best impression and um so, it it was just really cool to see the community support the ALC uh and their students as well. And this was the end of the competition, which was the Life Smarts. They

032get buzzers. I think the students were probably most excited for this part. They got to be a little competitive, answer questions in that trivia format. And they were very excited to come back and brag about how they won 90 to 45 or whatever. And then the next two pictures, I think, are just some of their certificates that they won. And it was just really cool to watch them grow in confidence throughout the year and also just their their life skills. One of my favorite parts as a teacher was seeing them come every Monday and they'd be excited to be there for Math Stars. And sometimes they have a hard time coming to school, but they were there pretty much every Monday. And just watching their motivation. And Benny in the hat there, he actually came

033after work after school the day before the Fergus Falls competition just to get his Math Stars binder so that he would be extra prepared for the next day. So, just their commitment and their motivation was really cool to watch. And that's them and the Fergus Falls School. Which all of them are doing well. They each have one and we have four or five. Is this Fergus? This is their high school, their [clears throat] They They are community education center. Okay. Thank you. All their awards. That is cleaning house. Impressive. We're really proud and excited of bringing this Math Stars program to our students and watching them grow. [clears throat] And just want to thank you guys for your support and I appreciate your continued support for our program. So, when you guys like would learn

034something new or get something, would you find yourselves talking to your friends or about it, stuff? Yeah, um specifically we had this week where we did um a bunch of budgeting scenarios and we had to find like how we would maintain the lifestyle we wanted in the future like with jobs and finding a place to live and such. And like me and Maisie, we've been friends outside of school for years and we would talk about that and how like actually useful that is and I feel like it did create conversations about like the future and stuff even outside of STARS we'd be talking about it. So, yeah. That is nice. It's a fantastic program. I mean, that is Can you come to my house and talk to my kids? >> [laughter] >> Not a question,

035but one of you at when you're doing intros said that the hardest part was public speaking. Apparently, you've mastered that. You both have and did a great job tonight. Thank you. Yeah, you can't see their nervousness, but there is they've done a really good job of preparing for this. I think um the part that gets me emotional and if you've been to graduation, May 21st for those that don't know yet. Um if you've been to graduation, you know I get emotional anyways. Um but especially this group, um when I look at this group, I I see how much they've grown in our program in the two, three, four years that they've been with us. Um but especially in in in alternative ed, a lot of our kids struggle with coming to school because they they

036don't know what it feels like to be successful at things. Um and these guys were very successful this year with this program and did us all very proud. They came in, I made them come in. I may have bribed them with Subway, but I do whatever it takes and they they came in after this after they got done at Fergus. I said I want want you guys to come in and they're like, "Oh, what That's no question. They're not They're It's not an option. They're excited to come in and show you." And they all came in with their medals and several of them are seniors this year and they said, "Can we wear these at graduation?" over our gowns and I said, "Absolutely. I don't know why you wouldn't. That's the perfect time to wear

037them." So and it has started like you said those conversations with other students. One of their exit projects was to create a slideshow presentation to show other kids and so we utilize this for that as well. And afterwards I I had three or four kids come to me but one in particular that this is his 17th school that he's been to and he would not have been ready for it this year but now going into next year he's he's very ready. And he came up and said, "I want to sign up for that class right now." I said, "Well, it won't start until September but I will get you on the list first thing." [clears throat] So yeah, just [snorts] a lot of pride. Very excited for these guys. Very well done. Well done. Yeah,

038thank you guys. Any other questions? Thanks for coming in. Any other Yeah, CEC updates. We've got graduation coming up on the 21st. I think we're right around 34-ish give or take grads. It's always a It's always a last minute thing. You never know who's going to cross the finish line at the last minute but we are excited for that and you guys should have some invitations coming out. I think Amy was finishing those up. The secondary intervention piece is something that we're really excited about. Lisa Salber I know has talked to you guys about it several times but ours ours part of that being the hub in that first hour we'll be working with 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students and in seventh hour we'll be working with ninth grade students. And our last meeting

039we Every time I meet with that group, the secondary intervention team, we just come up with more ideas that make it bigger and better. And um originally the original plan was to schedule those kids in a quarter at a time, and now we've talked about more like a semester at a time because the idea would would hopefully be especially for the upperclassmen, the the sophomores, juniors, and seniors that they come into the hub in the morning, we help them get their day organized, we help them tidy up the things that they had to finish up for homework-wise, and just start the day on a really positive note. We're happy that you're here. We're glad that you're here. I needed you here today. How can we get you started in a in a in a best

040foot forward kind of a way? Um so the hope is that they don't want to leave us in a sense that this is working, so why change it if it's not work if it's um still working. And part of the thing too that we're talking about that I'm really excited about is basing a credit recovery um on the standards that are not met. So instead of failing an entire semester of a course that a student has worked for 18 weeks on American Civics, and they just didn't pass that last part about XYZ. Um could they maybe work on that with our social studies teacher and earn that credit and not have to retake the entire semester with us in summer school, extended day, or or hybrid option. Um I'm really excited to see that move

041the needle as far as graduation rates um and things like that go. Um the challenge that I put forth to my staff the other day was I put four numbers on the board. Uh the number 36, 11, 13, and 63. And the initial uh guess was that those were the winning lotto numbers that we should all obviously be playing tonight. Um so you're welcome for that. But um 36 at the time was the number of graduates that we were looking to have walk across the stage, and 11 is the number of seniors that just weren't going to quite make it. Um these are kids that could have graduated and by if in a perfect world they would have but things just happened. They're still there. They're still working hard but they aren't going to graduate

042probably until next year. Um the number 16 is the number of students that we just lost. We don't know. They've either gotten their GEDs, they've moved out of district, they've just ghosted us so to speak. Um but if we were to move the two middle columns into that first column, that number 63 would have been our graduating class and that would be amazing. To have a class the biggest class we've ever had is 44. Um we typically are around the 20 to 30 mark but to have a class of 63 would have been pretty cool. Um and so I challenged my staff going into next school year, how do we move the middle two columns into the first column? How do we how do we retain these kids? How do we get those ones that

043maybe they need 24 credits and gosh that's a lot but could we look at a credit differently um in order to get them across the finish line so that they're not here until they're 21. So yeah. Did I forget anything? I just like Okay. Well done. Thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thanks Christie. Thank you. You bet. Now back to my LDPD meeting. From one to the next. All right, next we have our student representative updates. Bridget, you're ready? Oh look at that. You're Johnny-on-the-spot, huh? All for the kids. Did you drive, right? >> Yeah. Yes. Um this is our May presentation I guess. We weren't here last time so we kind of combined the last two months. Uh spring sports are starting to wrap up a little bit. Uh baseball we

044played 14 games and we have a four-game week this week and only six games left to go. Base softball has got two games left. Uh boys golf has four meets and girls golf has four and track has two meets before section, so good luck to all of our athletes as they wrap up. And the musical was a huge success. It was awesome. I don't know if any of you got to see it, but I had a great time up there. Friday night sold out, which is awesome. I've never seen the auditorium that full, honestly, ever in my life, and >> [cough and laughter] >> that's awesome to see. And the two other shows were good sellouts, too, so thank you to anyone who came to the show. You did a great job, John. I went

045twice, so So you did your part. And music. Um tonight is the band concert. Um and then next Monday will be the choir concert. Okay, I'll tackle this one. Um on March 30th, 78 juniors and seniors were inducted into the honor society. Um in order to be inducted, a student must have a GPA of 3.7 or higher. And there are 28 two-year honor society members graduating summa laude. Um that's a GPA of 3.9 to 4.0, so that's pretty impressive for our senior class. And then 12 two-year members are graduating magna laude, uh 3.7 to 3.889. Congratulations to all these dedicated um students, and also congrats to our nine co- co-valedictorians graduating with a 4.0 GPA. And am I wrong? Are you one of those? >> them, yeah. Yes, so he's he's got everything over here.

046>> [laughter] >> Every sport, every musical, band and choir. He's he never When do you have time to do school work? This summer. Okay. >> [laughter] >> I find time to do that. Between 9:00 and 12:00 p.m. Um Day of Caring, this past week we had our annual our 15th annual Day of Caring. Um and that's when students in the high school go around the community and clean up yards, houses, wash windows. I I swept up driveway. Hm? My my house. And then after the long day we go back to the high school and we have Coburn sponsor our lunch, I'm pretty sure. And it was hot dogs and hamburgers. And then there's activities like volleyball and karaoke and movies. There's a lot going on. Um these are a couple pictures I took. Um I

047did have one of Mr. Johnson in the doorway, but he looked pretty stressed, so I didn't put it up. >> [laughter] >> Thank you for that. >> [laughter] >> Uh FFA, over the past couple months our FFA chapter had a few more teams compete at uh regional contests and specialty competitions. The egg sales team of uh me, Maddie, uh Joseph Hamfler, and Jackson Timmer, we placed first in the region um and then we advanced to the state competition uh the end of March or sorry, April. Um and we placed sixth as a team. We also had a forestry team that got some experience, which is pretty cool. I don't think we've had one um in a long time since Mr. Ploof was the egg teacher, so. Yeah. Along with that, we also had a team

048of me, Joseph Hamfler, Jackson Timmer, and Everett Rudolph compete in a meat cutting competition and placed fourth. That was completely new and we did not expect to even get our meat cut, but we did. So, and we had all the cuts we needed, so that was impressive. Um and then the teams that advanced to our state competition were egg sales, dairy evaluation, and poultry evaluation. Were you cutting beef? Yes, it was um the whole back of a pork and then a shoulder cloud on a beef cow. And we had an hour for both cuts. Okay. John, why weren't you in FFA? Yeah. I don't know a thing about that. [laughter] >> [clears throat] >> Um >> [laughter] >> and then also last Friday Yeah, it's already been last Friday. Um we had our annual Kitty

049Barnyard. So, a bunch of our students have um animals that we all put on my trailer and haul around town. Uh we went to Lincoln, Lindbergh Big Adventures and the Mary of Lourdes Elementary School. And we just get to hang out with all the kids all day and show them our projects for the year. So, that was really fun. How long have you been doing that? Uh the Kitty Barnyard? A long time. >> time. It used to be like where it was in the exchange arena and everybody came to us. But now with transportation and stuff, it's almost easier to just bring it to them. Yep. So. I heard a lot about Minecraft farming. >> [laughter] >> I brought two sheep and they told me all about how they get the wool from the sheep.

050Yeah. That sounds about right. >> [laughter] >> And a lot of kids do not realize that baby chicks cannot fly when they drop them. So. But they all lived. It's fine. They all went back in their pen. We did not lose any. And then um this year on Saturday, I helped with a bunch of kids um plant our crop plot that's over by Hemmersbach Sports and we actually worked with Ennes Consulting um a channel dealership from Long Prairie and somewhere else. I can't remember. There was so much going on that day to um actually plant our first test plot. So, we planted 19 different varieties of a bunch of corn to hopefully you a good crop and see how each variety grows compared to the other. So it's our big it's our biggest fundraiser and

051it's our new learning opportunity because we haven't had a test plot before. So we're going to work with everyone who's helped us on Saturday to show us how all that works. That's great. [snorts] How big is the plot? Um it's a 20 acre field but all we did was we planted six rows of each variety for about 500 ft. So we did not plant the whole field. But And then do you go to like a farmers' market to sell it or what do you No, this is field corn so we have um a local farmer who is willing to buy it as silage corn for his dairy cows is what I think we're going to do. So that's going to happen and we also planted 12 rows of sweet corn. So depending on how that

052goes, I think we might have a sweet corn sale. That's great. Who tends it during the summer? Um pretty much everybody or anyone who can come. We we're going to try and get like once or twice a month go out to the field and have the workers come or like the helpers come out and teach us like this is what germination is, this is what we have to do if and I know this year we're going to have a drone come and fertilize or No, spray fungicide on the corn. And it's going to be a whole day of like him teaching us how the thing works and how the drone and we're going to switch out the batteries and fill it. Yeah, he talked all about that on Saturday too. >> [laughter] >> We're going

053to hopefully go out a lot this summer and learn a lot. Some upcoming events, our last home baseball game for the season is on Thursday against Pierce. Last home softball game is tomorrow against Melrose. I don't know if that track meet is right. Did you guys change that? >> Yeah. Yeah, it is tomorrow. Our conference for varsity is tomorrow in Foley and then a JV meet at home on Thursday. And then band concert tonight, choir concert next Monday. Graduation will be next Friday, May 22nd. And then also baccalaureate will be next Wednesday. And the senior scholarship event is this Wednesday. Thank you. Well done. Well done, you guys. Nice job. All right. And then next we have a certificate of appreciation for Mr. Ollend, since he is our graduating senior. So John, why don't I

054have you come on up here? Hey, I made it. You made it. Oops, I didn't grab that one. So, it's an appreciation. Here, you get to hold this. Hold it this way. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You should send that to his mom. She'll want it. >> [laughter] >> I'm sure he can handle that. Thank you guys for this opportunity. >> Thank you. All right. Next we have the superintendent's report. You know, we have phenomenal students across all of our schools and three fine examples that represent our students on the school board. Um just listening to them talk about the activities that they're in and the passion that they have for those activities is always very rewarding. Despite the stress you see on my face. I don't want >> [laughter] >> You delete

055that. You'll have post it. I do want to say in regards to John and and we touched on that just a little bit as he entered the room here, but John um I think really represents the best of what all of our high school students are when you talk about somebody who takes the time to be involved in numerous activities, a musical, a band concert tonight, a choir concert next week or is that this week? next week. Um how many musicals have you been in John over the course of the year? Nine. This year or No, it's your experience in Little Falls schools. >> Nine. Nine musicals. Obviously, we only have 4 years in high school. So, John has been extremely active. So, I'm very proud to have had you on our board and wish

056you all the best as you head off to Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. And what are your majors? Music and finance. Outstanding. Thanks, John. Okay. Uh you heard a little bit about meat cutting from our students and we had a we had a finance and facility board committee meeting last week and we talked a little bit about this, but we did receive a grant from the Department of Education, uh Department of Health for a meat cutting program which will begin next year and we actually included that in our registration packet for next year. You two registered? Okay. I heard a lot of kids talking about it and there's a lot registered. They're super excited. I think there's actually going to be two sections of You're right. >> that's how many there's signed up. And Mr.

057Art is really excited about that. He's He's like that's his favorite thing. So. Well, it sounds like maybe he has a couple of co-teachers that could help him out. >> [laughter] >> What's your experience placing fourth? Yeah. Okay. But we have actually started purchasing some of the equipment with the grant and then finagling a little bit of a surprise for us, but thanks to Heidi and Mark here in the room making sure that we have hot water accessible to that area and it um separated with a screen of some sort. So, if you have a moment, pop down into the the egg area. It's going to be a really neat addition to our CTE program. So, since you'll be on the board next year carrying forward, you can talk a little bit about this new

058class. Yeah. All right. Perfect. Um speaking of CTE, we had Tim Barrett from the Minnesota Department of Education visit our our CTE program last week and Tim is kind of the the guru for CTE and any type of programming changes, grants that we work on, we work with Tim and he's been instrumental. So, it was really nice to have him visit Little Falls and share some of the exciting things going on in our CTE wing of the building. Did you two meet him? Well, I think you should. You represent us. That would be wonderful. Uh you heard some important dates coming up. Tomorrow morning is the AVID breakfast for those of you who can make it at 9:30. John mentioned scholarship night on May 13th. Baccalaureate May 20th, CEC graduation on the 21st. And then

059the high school graduation at 7:00 on the 22nd. And if we can just meet again at 6:45 prior to graduation where we always do up in the commons. Great. Like to give a shout out to our educators of excellence that were honored last week. Doug was a part of that celebration. We had 10 recipients. Sabrina Hanfler, Joelle Guast, Monique Waldock, Jessica Jansky, Tara Schlegel, Andrea Zeck, Lindsay LeClaire, Melissa Miller, Mary Sitzman, and Teresa Messenger. So, thank you to those folks. Uh also a shout-out to community partners who've been a part of our job fair a couple weeks ago, Day of Caring last week, and then those who continue to support our scholarship program, which is an incredible amount of resources and dollars for our students. Board members, in the information you have in front of

060you, you have a letter that we plan on sending out to families this week, and thanks to Mark's coordination and partnership in ensuring that we have a top-notch emergency management plan, and expanding that to be able to work even closer with our police department, and colony resources, we are conducting drills at Lincoln, Lindbergh, and the middle school this spring. We're letting staff know that these drills are are coming, obviously. We're going to communicate that with parents, but what's unique about this drill is that it will be initiated by the police department through our CrisisGo app. Typically, any drills we have are initiated internal, so in the event we ever had an emergency that law enforcement was aware of and we weren't, they would have the the ability to put us into a hold or lockdown.

061You won't be taking them off the camper, okay? No. No, good question. And that's why we left the high school off of this training procedure is because of the extent of their practice this fall. And then lastly, and I forgot to get it on the agenda, but we've talked about it a couple of times. We'd like to make it tweak to next year's school district calendar in 2026-2027. It won't have any impact on students or families, just staff. And that's taking the May 3rd professional development day and shifting that to August, so we have an additional flexible professional development day. Considering new reading curriculum, a new student management system, a new HR employee system, a new student management system with data, and our typical vector requirements. But, we'll bring that to you in June for

062official approval. That's all I have. Okay. Any questions for Greg? Okay. Next, new business. Um Kayla, have you step forward and talk a little bit about the proposed Little Flyers rates. Do you have handouts, Kayla? Um I just have the letter. It's basically what was shared with you guys in the packet. Um so, yeah, I am just here today to kind of follow up with a previous discussion that we had um before about increasing the rates for Little Flyers child care. Um proposed rates um were all given to you. We talked about those, but I'm here for questions today. If you have any questions, there's no determination that needs to happen today. Um but, next month I do want to share this with families to give them um a heads-up on any changes, but I'm

063here for questions or answers, hopefully, um if [clears throat] you have any. So, Kayla, the the approach we've taken is to give Little Flyers a year Yep. to see how things are going, see how the budget's trending. >> Yep. And now that we're over that year point, we've had discussions at the board level, committee level, work sessions to consider increasing those rates, number one, so we can meet our budget targets. And number two, make sure that we're ahead of and charging more than some of our partners in the community. And I did at the work session prior, I did share that you know, other rates that other community child care centers or in-home day cares. And And with these proposed rates, we are ahead of what other centers in our area. I think one thing

064to keep in mind is um we don't want to do this and then do it again and then do it again and then do it again. But keeping in mind we are only one year in and giving ourselves another year of this increase without changing any other wages or anything like that for staff. Really just keeping it so we can see what is the income coming in. Um a year from now we can re-evaluate and and then determine what do we need to do from there. I think we've had so many changes with our enrollment, with our staffing, um and and all of those things, the startup costs, all of those initial things will kind of be settled. I'm hoping in a year from now to say um we have a little bit better idea

065of what is what is needed for Little Flyers. And I can't remember if we shared At the last meeting you saw a budget report from a Heidi with the community education budget and the impact of the startup [clears throat] costs for the child care center. And the city now has contacted us just recently and let us know that the check is in the mail. When we started the Little Flyers agreement, they agreed to submit $200,000 to our program to help with the startup costs. So those are coming which will help offset some of those costs. So, we're reviewing this tonight and looking for approval at the next board meeting. Will this increase, I know it's going to help cash flow, but will it put us in the the black or a break even position? Are

066we still going to be lagging behind a little bit? I think we're getting closer. The way that we that we put it all together, we're getting closer to the black. Really, this first year I don't feel like we were able to give a true number because of so many of the startup costs of things. Um you know, we're not purchasing new furniture every year. We're not purchasing those big things. Um and with some experience under my belt now of getting some of those um staff to be more consistent, you know, all of those types of things, um it's getting closer to the black. Can you scroll down, Greg? I just wanted to say quickly, so we're looking at with the infants, $25 increase a week, toddlers, $20 increase a week, and then preschool, 25 25

067dollars a week. And I did include in this um this document in particular, I can send it again if you guys want to review it, but um some of the things that we had talked about switching that contract our contracts um from the school year dates to July 1st to June 30th because parents have not been experience that hasn't been their experience in the past. And then also I reviewed all of the federal holiday dates and our closed dates for for professional development. So I want to make sure parents have that in their hands the same time they get this information. Kayla, how many of the part-time care you've got one that's says Tuesday, Thursday, the other one Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Do you have a lot of them that use that? Yeah. Um in my

068toddler room in particular, I have six Tuesday, Thursday, and I have three Monday-Wednesday-Friday. Um I know that doesn't seem like a lot, but we have 18 toddlers in there, so that's a third of the class on Tuesday-Thursdays. Um and then my infants, I just have one Tuesday-Thursday. Um and then preschool, it's it's kind of a mix it's kind of a mix depending on what classroom you're in, but I would say it's probably two or three in each that have a part-time contract. Thank you. Yep. Okay. Anything else for Kayla? >> [snorts] >> So did Yes, just one more question. Um I know this will be looked at again in June, but this information can be shared with parents at this point? The letter? Or do you want to wait? Cuz it does talk about that

069it was just proposed at the school board. I think if we wait until June, it's not a a lot of turnaround. I think Plenty of notice is a good thing. That's what I would prefer. Okay. All right. Perfect. Thank you. >> Thanks, Kayla. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Next, um you should have a paper it's finance and facilities update. Um you should have a I'm going to do a two-page document in front of you that kind of goes through the kind of the options as far as um after the results of the referendum and I don't know if you've had a chance to look at it, but I think part of the discussion is um just kind of maybe stepping back and taking a look at the district as a whole as far as what

070we're looking at um you know, facility-wise and stuff and and I know the the referendum was mainly for the high school, but this might maybe address some of the other buildings as they are older than the high school and maybe possible um things that we might want to do, so um I think what we had talked about in our finance and facilities uh meeting was maybe getting a um a facilities study kind of similar to what we did at the high school to um to look and see what are things kind of breaking things down into what we absolutely have to do, what um would be nice to do, and and maybe things that we don't need to do for a while. So, any additional to add? >> Yeah, I I if I could share

071this and just to help frame things too, and I appreciate that information, Doug. Um, I think this is an important time to take to recalibrate and revisit our options moving forward, and we we certainly did that at the work session. The recent referendum results provided clear feedback from the community, and it's our responsibility to reflect on that input while continuing to address long-term needs of the district. Over the past several years, we've made substantial progress in strengthening our financial position, and I think you'll hear that tonight when Heidi presents a revised preliminary budget for next year. While there is always more work to be done, our unreserved fund balance is evident evidence of that progress. This is a success story that I believe our community does not fully understand, and we need to do a

072better job of communicating the work that has gone into stabilizing our finances, particularly the fact that this has been accomplished without asking our taxpayers for an increase. At the same time, right-sizing our district based on enrollment and available resources must continue to remain a priority. This expectation is shared by our stakeholders and is critical to maintaining long-term sustainability. The lack of support for the recent referendum does not eliminate the need to address facilities. Our buildings continue to age, and those needs will not go away. As we move forward, we need to consider a new direction that balances community feedback with operational realities. Despite the referendum outcome, I believe there is still a broad understanding that programming grades 7 through 12 in a single building rather than two is a concept that makes sense and warrants

073continued exploration. The options that you see in front of you are intended to support informed discussion about how we move forward strategically, responsibly, and with a focus both on our students and community. And I really don't want to read this document to you that you have in front of you. But it does it highlights the conversation and notes that I took away from the work session and that marked the individual meeting that I had with you, and I did share our summary with the board. That option one is is pressing pause. And you can see some of the rationale for doing that and the risks involved. Moving ahead, plowing ahead with the facility needs and the rationale there, and um what that move could look like. Thirdly, maintain the status quo. And then if we

074do press pause, which I think was seemed to be the consensus of the group, that conducting community engagement needs to continue. And as Doug indicated, completing a comprehensive facility study, not just with the high school, but also our two elementary schools. Refine options and reset a long-term plan. Reassess timing and approach for future action because these needs aren't going away. And explore all viable options for the future use of the middle school beyond just conversations with the city of Little Falls. So, I guess highlighting um the last the third page where it says superintendent size. Um again, highlighting what what Doug shared. Moving forward on things we control immediately and completing a facility study. Continue to look closely at the high school and how we can continue to refine the scope of a potential project

075there. Tighten some cost estimates and prioritize what needs to happen in that building and then not that we haven't already, but continually seriously evaluate the closure of the middle school. And there are significant savings that come into play that are general fund savings that are real and important to our district long term. We can eliminate duplication. We can align with our enrollment reality and you'll see some of our enrollment projections tonight from Heidi. And then continue to seek potential partnerships. Number two, we will continue to address critical needs using our existing tools like LTAP found in capital as needs arise and really target um a potential plan for indoor air quality and mechanical systems post facility study. Mhm. I think most importantly, my goal would be and through the direction of the school board by

076March 31st have a have a plan B developed and ready to communicate to stakeholders working closely with you folks on what that looks like, again, post facility study, uh financial study, and what's best for us moving forward. We uh don't want to overlook our community feedback. We cannot let our facilities continue to slide. And we need to lock into a timeline moving forward. I think as we discussed at the work session, the reality of the referendum failing. Um I I believe personally, and I think in conversations with some of you that it may not have been necessarily the plan, more so timing, tax sensitivity, some of the complexity within the plan, perhaps, and some of the trust and clarity gaps that exist. And rushing back out doesn't fix any of those. So, we can't retreat

077from the concerns, but we can't force a plan, either. And I think what we've talked about at the work session of taking a 9- to 10-month approach to better understanding, putting a plan together, and address the needs that aren't going away. Any questions you have follow up to that? The facilities inspection, um you pretty much have a handle on what the buildings need. Are you paying that someone to come in and look at it, or is What we talked about at the work session, Mark, is asking for consideration from the board to look at a proposal to dig deep into Lindbergh and Lincoln. We have a general idea of what some of those long-term needs are within door air quality and mechanical issues, but not to the extent that we do with the high school

078because we had engineers and architects walk through that building and tell us specifically what those issues issues are. I think Mark in his expertise and time in the district can give an overview of what some of those needs are, but in terms of an in-depth timeline-based plan that allows us to create that next step and tap into the resources that we have available. I think that will be helpful. Okay. What about the state funding? I know that when if the referendum would have passed, we would have got some state funding to help with some of this reconstruction and changing out things. Is that still going to be available for us next year or is there a time limit on it? Yeah, the state funding funding would have diminished the tax impact on our ag land.

079And so, if the plan come March 31st is let's go out for a bond, be it through could be through a voter-approved bond or could be through an indoor air quality bond, any type of a bond would allow for that ag credit tax to be in place. Okay. Looking at our financial aspect. >> so [laughter] sure. We're all the wisdom here. I have asked for that. >> to clarify that for sure. I know we've we've discussed it, so I'm certainly have that answer. I just don't have it off the top of my head right now. So, I can Okay. provide the the answer confidently and get it to Greg. Mhm. Good show. >> That's That's That's all I have for you. Any other questions for Greg? So then next item we have is the approval

080of a facility study. And I think we what we're looking for is just the kind of get a get a quote on it or find out not actual approval but just that we can take the [clears throat] steps to find out what that would cost us. Exactly. Okay. So do you need a motion for that or just a quote? Yep, it's a it's a action item so yes. >> Okay, so I'll make a motion to get a quote on the approval of a facility study. >> Okay. I'll second. Okay, I have a motion by Sharon, second by Dan. Any further discussion? Okay, hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed same sign. All right, motion carries. Next, Heidi. You are the star now with the budget. Mhm. Am I the last

081on the list? Oh, no. >> [laughter] >> I'm sure you're saving the best for last. All right, do you want to put up the presentation? >> [clears throat] >> Greg? Yes. I think I emailed it to you so it's probably forward, isn't it? Or did I Oh, yeah, I did. Right there. All right. So, for those of you that don't know who I am, I'm Heidi Higen, the business manager for the school district and tonight I'm going to share a preliminary budget for all of the operational funds within the district uh for next fiscal year and So I'll start with the general fund. It is our largest fund. I like to provide you some high-level budget updates that have either come to fruition based on legislative changes and or information that we have known all

082along throughout the last couple of years. So, increase per pupil funding, this is what the state pays per pupil on the general education aid formula. This year fiscal year '26 is 2.74, next year the state set it at 2.69, which is an increase of about $201 per pupil or $7,682 per pupil general education aid. I don't know if you recall, but in one of the legislative sessions I want to say two sessions ago they agreed to pay a per pupil funding of not less than 2%, not more than 3%, and in between the 2 and 3% they would account for inflationary impacts. And so, that resulted for for our district or districts across the state at 2.69. Compensatory funding, this is also called basic skills. So, we receive funding based on free and reduced calculations

083of students and families in our district. The change that's impacting Little Falls Community Schools is a decrease of about 430,000 or just over 2.1 million for next year's compensatory funding. That big change resulted in the state no longer taking into account families that actually fill out a free and reduced application rather the only families and students that are eligible for eligible or counted for in this funding are what we call direct certified families and that is based on any other types of state support that these families might be receiving and therefore directly certifies them. Right now the legislature and MDE are working together on what if anything they they can or will consider doing for next fiscal year whether they can hold harmless so then we would essentially still receive the the full amount of

084compensatory funding and or that 430,000 that's set to decrease. We have yet to find out so hopefully by May 18th when the deadline for the session to be wrapped up will provide us some additional information. Funding for summer unemployment, I like to have this on the radar one because our non-licensed staff that do not work during the summer months are eligible to apply for unemployment benefits so right now the district pays for that over the summer months which equates to about $300,000. The state is still reimbursing districts for that amount. Title funds, this would be a decrease of about 126,000 for next year or about 554,000 that we'll receive. These are federal funds and over the last several years federal funds have slowly decreased year over year. Paid family medical leave expense, this is new

085as of January 1st, 2026. All employees are seeing an additional tax on their paycheck, which is called paid family medical leave. Both employee and the district pay into that tax. This year we how the the calendar year runs and how our fiscal year runs, we're only paying half that, whereas this next cycle will have a full year's worth of that expense. So, if that will be increasing by 45,000 or 85,000 that we the district would pay. State special education projecting about $6 million based on the most recent special education comprehensive aid report, which would be an increase of about 300,000 for state special education next year. Federal special education projecting no increase or decrease at this time. More information over the coming weeks may come to fruition. And then the one of the legislative changes

086in the last biennium was the change in special education transportation reimbursement. So, up until this year, we had received districts across the state had received 100% of transportation reimbursement for special education services. This year we're receiving 95% of that total expense. Next year they're reducing that another 5%, so 90% reimbursement is what we'll receive on transportation expense for special ed. So, Heidi, just a couple of them clarifications. [clears throat] So, when you're talking about compensatory funding, that by being certified that typically means you're on SNAP, maybe some type of certified program as opposed a state program as opposed to free and reduced where maybe you're not on that program, but you still might be considered free or reduced. So, that's where we lose that. Yep, correct. >> And then um the state special education because

087we have a higher population of special ed students, thus the increased funding. Is that accurate or That is accurate. However, there's other variables that come into account and special education funding spans back three fiscal years and they take into account total special education expenses in conjunction with uh the students that are eligible to receive receive services in conjunction with the level of services those students need and so there's a lot of variables that go into the special the state special education formula. Uh there's only one person in the state of Minnesota that is an expert on that and that's Paul Ferrin and he is the only one. >> [laughter] >> So, I take uh for what it's worth, I take the comprehensive state aid report um as a as a indicator of what we would

088reasonably expect for future years. It's not It's not too late if you are interested to reach out to local legislators. And I'm going to jump back up to compensatory funding. You know, poverty levels in Low Falls School District have not changed. You can make a case that they've probably increased, but yet because of a change to a formula, we're losing $430,000 in in funds that directly go to support students that are struggling. And I think if you proportionally look at districts that are s- let's say the winners and losers of this formula change, we are hit pretty hard as a school district and because of the what you referenced that different way of looking at it. Which technically that the official change to the state formula which a committee is going to put together, but

089their report isn't due until October 1st. I don't know why state is feeling like they need to make this change right now when there could be another change based on what this committee is going to do, but this is not um fair to Little Falls Community Schools. Uh general fund uh continues, so we base uh the majority of our general education revenue on the number of students that we serve here in um Little Falls School District. I as I'd mentioned the education formula uh is 2.69%. Uh we're projecting early childhood um let's say ECSE early childhood special education uh through 12th grade enrollment next year of 2,120 students as compared to uh this year about 2,179 students, so about 60 students less next year. And that primarily has to do with uh a large uh

09012th grade and ALC class graduating and kindergartners coming in. And so we continue to see kindergarten staying relatively stable at that 125, but we have larger class sizes in the next handful of years that will be graduating out, and so in Little Falls we expect and project year over year decreases in student enrollment. Which impacts our funding. Um where else? Levy revenue. So, our levy revenue is decreasing by $440,000. So, the levy revenue is the board's approval back in December of 2025. That levy taxpayers in the district pay their taxes the whole calendar year of 2026. And then that equates to revenue for us next fiscal year. It's decreasing for a few reasons. Enrollment So, there are portions of the levy formulas that are strictly tied to enrollment. The other component is our long-term facilities

091maintenance levy. Depending on the property, they call property wealth. So, the value of properties in the the district as a whole when they those values fluctuate, it it sometimes um provides a benefit of lessening the local taxpayer um impact and it goes onto the aid uh formula. And so, in this case, although we're seeing a reduction in our levy of 440,000, we're receiving some of that 440,000 on the state aid side. So, um an advantage for our district and a benefit to our taxpayers. Other revenues are projecting to decrease um mainly grants. We received a handful of large 40, 50, 240,000 grants uh this fiscal year that I'm not expecting that we'll receive them again as they were one-time grants. And then interest income will fluctuate, likely decrease given um a slight decrease in rates

092currently and I'm sure of where that might go over the next fiscal year. Any questions on the revenue? On the expense side, salaries, wages, and benefits are combined for a total increase of $770,000. And this is taken strictly from all the contracts that we've settled, the staff that we have currently in the district, and their salaries, wages, and benefits based on those settled contracts. Purchased services, this is what we would pay outside vendors to provide services to our district and or staff and or students. Decreasing $220,000, specifically relates to our special ed contracted services. So, right now, this fiscal year we pay a company to provide our special education due process. Uh next year, we've actually hired um on staff a due process um staff member, so that is decreasing. And then also our uh

093we contract with an outside vendor for our school psychology uh support in addition to the staff that we have here in the district. We were able to hire that, so that also is decreasing. Um in addition to a speech path um support contract, and so we are decreasing that based on our current enrollment and or students on needing services with speech pathology. Supplies are increasing $440,000. Right now, that's uh mainly due to our ELA curriculum uh purchase of about $250,000 and uh the consideration to purchase uh student devices for all 9th through 12th graders. Right now, uh students in 9th through 12th grade have Chromebooks that are at either end of life or will soon be end of life and we need to take into account that fleet refresh for the next fiscal year. And

094then capital, mainly um long-term facilities maintenance and/or facility projects decreasing by 1 million. This year we spent just over 1.1 million in built larger building projects, whether it was flooring, painting, signage, um other types of HVAC and/or heating updates. And so, next year, given the conversation that we just had about pressing pause on any facility updates, working with a content expert in reviewing our facilities and then putting a plan together moving forward, whether that's going to be money that the district already has in fund balance, long-term facilities maintenance, or other types of funding resources. Any questions on general fund expense? Just to chime in, I think you reminded me of I think a really good point back to facilities and pressing pause. And we're seeing some positive trends with our budget right now and another

095year of that being able to to have a handle on where our budget will be in next year at this time, I think also creates a better a better spot to be able to make some big decisions. >> [cough and clears throat] >> Are all our contract settled now for employment? We are very close. We have one contract that expired in the 25-26 school year that just Dan and and Doug were working on today. I think we're close to that one specific contract and then we have about seven or eight at-will employees whose contracts expire June 30th that we will wrap up here. The teachers, paras, food service, custodians are all The big ones are all taken care of. So, this won't affect our numbers a lot. Shouldn't. That's where you Heidi, I think. Where

096did I see the seven? Right here. Yeah. Uh this is just uh the numbers. So, looking at the general fund as a whole, from left to right, expenses broken down into the different uh categories, revenue is one line item. You can see historically where we've landed. Uh for next fiscal year, although could be alarming if you don't know the full story, um we're we're um projected to have just uh over 34.9 million in revenue uh based on some assumptions for expenses and other knowns, uh just over 35.1 million, which results in expenses being over our revenue by about $200,000. Uh that $200,000 is coming from what we call restricted funds, and so our our curriculum is that large $250 $250,000 purchase, and our student devices also coming out of an operating capital restricted fund balance.

097Um and that those are are about $150,000. So, yes, based on what we're uh what I'm presenting today, about $200,000 more in expenses, those relate specifically to those high-cost capital operating capital expenses. So, then if you go to the next slide, this tells the story of even though we are as assuming or projecting $200,000 more in expenses next year, we're still able to maintain fund balances in restricted categories. At the top there, the the majority of the top portion lists out all the restricted fund balances and from all the way to the right, you can see where those balances land. In the middle are unassigned fund balance. So, from left to right, if you go all the way over to the right, um projecting just under 3.7 million in unassigned fund balance. Uh as you

098had approved earlier uh in April at the board meeting, the revised budget, we're projecting some flexibility to assign some money for next year and or future uses. And that results in if you scroll down just a little bit, next year's unassigned fund balance of about 10.5%. Uh again, based on the the assumptions that I have in um this preliminary presentation. Our board policy is anywhere between 10% and 12%. So, we are able to maintain um a solid 10 10 and 1/2%. And we'll continue to monitor that in the general fund. Any questions on the breakout? All right. And then just some things that I have on my radar, considering and I'll always going to continue to monitor while we move towards a June um budget approval. Kindergarten enrollment, um Mr. Dobis has kept us up-to-date

099on where kindergarten enrollment is currently at. He felt it was is very similar to comparable year and comparable to previous years. So, he feels that 125 kindergarten enrollment number is reasonable and realistic. We talked about the the depth and the magnitude of where we're at with facilities, student devices, a high-cost item, and a need to put together a plan that's going to support a device refresh over the next several years. And transportation, we know what our percentage increase in our transportation contracts are. However, the instability of gas and diesel prices, I continue to monitor that and will need to reconsider what I'm projecting as a an increase for next year's unknowns at this time when when it comes to transportation. And then I take all this into consideration while ensuring that I come to the

100board uh with an unassigned fund balance recommendation that lands in board policy between 10 and 12. So, that's the wrap on the general fund. The next few funds should go fairly quickly, but any general fund questions? All right, food service budget, fund two, strictly prohibited to food service and all that that entails. I um projected revenue next year based on current year trends, and so we'll talk a little bit what that looks like on the next few slides. Expenses, salaries, wages, and benefits increasing $22,000. We do have the MSCA food service contract settled. Um And so, that increase should be uh relatively known. Purchase services increasing a thousand dollars. Um that's just mean mainly adjusting for a potential slight increase in repairs and maintenance uh for anything within the food service department. Supplies are increasing

10124,000. That's strictly due to the food and milk costs that we're projecting. Um and then capital is decreasing by 140,000. Uh that's uh mainly due to the high school kitchen remodel that's taking place over the summer. Um but also takes into account that uh the uh kitchen um combi ovens are needing to be replaced and so that takes into account the option in the budget to purchase those next fiscal year. Fund balance target uh after all that's um projected $764,000. Although that seems like a lot of money and it is a lot of money to have in a a fund balance, uh MDE is still uh recommending a target of six mon- six months of expenses and if you take that into account for our program, that's just under 1.3 million. So um knowing that

102we're uh under that target, we'll continue to work uh towards uh increasing that fund balance. We We can look at the numbers here. So then we can go over questions if any, but here again historically left to right, categories of expense broken out. Uh overall uh just over 1.9 million in expense projected. Again, a decrease mainly due to that capital equipment uh expense uh this year regarding the high school kitchen remodel. Revenue uh based on current year trends [cough and clears throat] just over 1.7 million. So we are spending more on the expense than we're taking in in revenue. Uh over the next couple of weeks before I bring the final budget recommendation to the board. I will work with Mary Bartlett, food service director, to see where, if any, we can decrease expense that

103I might have missed. Any questions on food service? All right. Fund for community education. I've worked closely with Kayla since I started here in the district in September and worked towards aligning and ensuring that all types of community education budget lines were reviewed and and addressed. So, revenue, based on current year trends, right now is is a projection that for today's meeting I I've put up here. I will continue or I'll continue to connect with Kera's or Kayla, especially with the the consideration for the increase in the Little Flyers daycare rates. And we will see a decrease in revenue based on the grant. So, we received a $240,000 grant from DEED, which supported a lot of those bigger expense items, curriculum, playground, things like that. That supported those startup costs for the Little Flyers program.

104Expenses, salaries, wages, and benefits decreasing about by about $19,000. That's mainly due to the the fluctuation in Little Flyers staffing. Hasn't quite hit a consistent level of what that trend looks like, so continue to monitor that. Purchase services, decreasing. My recommendation is that we decrease and I'll work with Kayla uh in depth when over the next couple weeks and I'll bring back, you know, some recommendations based on her input as well, but we should really be spending not more than what we receive for adults with disabilities and I know those programs are expanding and growing and important parts of the community education services and programs that we provide. But my recommendation is we shouldn't spend more than we get. And so that would result in $14,000 decreasing specifically in that program. So more to come

105on that. Uh supplies are decreasing $4,000. Again, mainly due to Little Flyers not needing to purchase some of those one-time startup costs. Um and capital's decreasing again specifically to the Little Flyers portion of community education, but the $332,000 decrease is specifically the startup costs and the DEED grant. Uh projected fund balance has me on alert, $108,000. It has continued to decrease uh year over year, which is only about 6% of expenses, so I would expect that as we continue to work towards Little Flyers becoming profitable over the next few years in addition to really monitoring all those other community education services and programs that we offer to ensure that we're not spending more that we than we receive and that we're setting our fees within reason and applicable to the services that we provide. Next

106is the the the numbers look at. So here you can see about 1.73 million in expense, again about $370,000 less, mainly due to that capital expense in general, and then revenue just over 1.6 million, which would be about $87,000 more in expense than what we're projected to receive. This does not take into account the increase in the Little Flyers rates. That will impact revenue and provide additional revenue than what we're seeing here. I will work closely with Kayla and provide a budget recommendation that would be more break even. And you? The check in the mail that is coming from Little Falls. That will just be into the regular revenue for little for the Flyers. Yeah, so if you look at that >> That's not included in any of this. No, it's not. And when we

107when I presented the revised budget back in April, you can see in the the purple shaded column there, $204,000, $205,000 of expense over revenue. That would having had that certainty that they were going to provide that $200,000 would have essentially broke even. >> Okay. So that will help, and then additionally, the consideration to increase those rates will help as well. Any other questions? You're cutting the budget pretty close this year. Or next year. Yeah, for Cuz that [clears throat] could be a lot of room for surprises. Nope. There is not. Our construction budget, I put this on here because we have uh carryover funds that date back to the 2016 bonds. Uh Mark has done a really good job this year and um a few previous years of spending that projected fund balance down. Uh

108based on what we're spending this year, we'll have about $137,000 to uh spend down for next year to bring that that fund balance down to zero. So, depending on what we find out in facility studies, depending on what emergent needs might come up in between then, uh we do have some funds to consider using. And then debt service fund is is based on the 25 paid 26 levy uh that the board approved in December and we pay based on our debt service schedule, which we have the three outstanding bonds uh ongoing. We did pay off three um separate um lease purchase, the 2010 A bond, and the 2010 B bond were all paid off this fiscal year. Projected fund balance is under 700,000. It's about 32% of expenses. That is highly regulated by MDE and

109state statute. And this is a look at the numbers. Um balanced budget for next year's debt service fund. And I think that's it. So, a lot of information uh when you take into account all the funds that I presented on. Um some of the the funds overall expenses are known. Much of that is salaries, wages, and benefits, uh which does provide uh some confidence in the budget knowing that we know those numbers. Uh revenue across the board is is you know, the best estimate projection that we can do whether it's based on enrollment in the general fund, food service, we are basing it on current years meal purchases um and the reimbursement rate from both the federal and state for meals. Community education is primarily a fee-based uh fund and so really capturing you know,

110what services we provide, how we set those rates, um and how does the revenue tie out to either >> [clears throat] >> a break even or sustainably more revenue than expense. >> [clears throat and cough] >> Any questions for Heidi? When you talk about community services, you mentioned that we're losing or it's costing us more money than what we're bringing in on the special education event or on the special education special needs. How are they doing on the rest of the stuff? Uh the you know, they've got softball or Yeah, so those are the details that I will work closely with Cara over the next couple weeks and bring that to the board in June. Okay. Anything else for Heidi? Thank you. Thank you, Heidi. Very concise easy to follow. All right, next we have

111um there's a a list of all the day of caring kind of donations, whether they were cash, whether they were in kind. Um it's quite a list. Um it's uh two pages and it looks like basically two legal pages. So, um a thank you to everyone. Um it was a great day. I know I was able to be up there and have a team and the weather cooperated, which is always a bonus. So, it was a a really good day. All right. Next under old and unfinished business is the second reading of policies. Again, um this is a non-action item, but all these policies are are there for for you to look at. So, if there's changes or concerns, you can reach out. Doug, how many of these are updated policies and how many are

112new policies? Policy is the >> Yes, 625 is brand new. Under the vending machines, we're responsible to install and do maintenance on them? No. Okay. I I read that about three times and I think I lost it in whose the definitions. It It looked to me like it was the school installs them and the school maintains them and I thought, "Why would they be our problem?" All right. Have we We've had a policy for naming facilities before? Yeah, um this Go ahead. The state does not. So, if you search MSBA, they do not have a naming rights or facilities but the district has an older one. Okay. is on our website. Okay, anything else on the policies? All right. Board reports. Uh Sharon? Um tomorrow the FFA has their plant sale. Also, the Randolph Scholarship

113plant sale is going on. Kathy Adamak is in charge of that. And the only other thing I want to mention was I did go on Sunday to Mama Mia. Excellent. Um the young lady who was the lead and the singer, I thought she was a senior, apparently she's a sophomore. The young cast. >> gosh, what a what a fantastic voice. So strong. So we have her for a couple more years. Fantastic. Dan? Nothing to report. Like the high school, the young kids have a lot going on at Lincoln as well. So there's a kindergarten music program scheduled for Thursday for parents to come watch. And then the track and field days are coming up um next week for the for the kids at Lincoln. So and I'm sure there are a slew of field trips

114as well. I'm sorry, I was going to mention that earlier. We've We've been in contact with the Minnesota Military Museum which opens September 12th. They've reached out to us and we've had a a meeting with them and they are willing to open their doors for our staff during workshop week. Which would be really nice if we have an extra flexible time to be able to do some things, but they would allow our staff to come through that last week of August before they officially open. That's cool. Yeah. So a staff field trip plan. Sorry about [laughter] Okay. Julie? I have nothing to report. Okay. Fine. Nothing to report. Nope. Good night. The only thing I will say is I will piggyback on what Sharon said. I had a chance to see Mama Mia and it

115was John was great and the whole staff was fantastic. And then again Dave Caring's 15th annual and it's just a just a great day overall. So All right, if there's no other business to come before the board, I would entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. Okay, I have a motion by Marcus, a second by Sharon. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right. Motion carries. Thank you everyone.