001I alian 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 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. Kelly, do we have public comments? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. While you're getting me that, I will read our policy. 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 three minutes. The board asks that all comments be in keeping with contribute to an atmosphere
002of civil, courteous, thoughtful, and respectful discourse. Sarah, >> good evening. As the district is already aware, we have taken several formal steps in response to the district's decision to exclude our son from extracurricular activities this school year. These steps were not taken lightly. They were taken because the district's actions directly contradict his IEP, contradict state and federal disability laws, and contradict the rights that every student with a disability is entitled to receive. First, we have submitted a complaint to the Minnesota Department of Education regarding the district's failure to follow our son's IEP and provide him with FAPE. For years, his IEP has included specific language allowing his participation in extracurricular activities with the appropriate accommodations. These supports have allowed him to successfully participate in both cross country and basketball since 2021. This year, however, a
003new district policy was implemented and based solely on his disability. He was excluded without any consultation with parents and without any input from medical professionals. Second, we have filed a discrimination complaint with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights as well as with the United States Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights. Both complaints are based on the district's decision to exclude him specifically because of his disability. At no point has the district provided any non-discriminatory reason for this include ex exclusion and there has not been a review of his needs and abilities prior to making this change. No change made to his IEP which is required under IDEA in section 504. We have also filed a district 42 disability non-discrimination complaint. This now requires the district to conduct its own internal investigation into whether staff
004acted in a discriminatory manner. Although this process is uncomfortable, it is necessary because parents must be able to trust that decisions affecting students with disabilities are lawful, individualized, and consistent with federal requirements. We are also extremely concerned by the conflicting messages we have received from district leadership regard regarding what the district is legally obligated to follow. According to the special education director, the district's attorney advised that even though multiple paragraphs in our son's IEP clearly address extracurricular participation, the district does not need to follow those IEP provisions to provide FAPE. In contrast, the special education coordinator has stated clearly that everything written in an IEP must be implemented. This contradiction is alarming because the legal foundation of fate is the individualized education plan. When only one member of the special education leadership team understands this
005basic legal requirement, it raises serious concerns about how decisions are being made and how students with disabilities in this district are being served. We expect the district to correct these misunderstandings, follow the laws that protect students with disabilities, and ensure that our son and every other student with a disability receives the rights that they are entitled to. Thank you. Okay. Next, [clears throat] we're looking for an approval of the agenda, which should be in your packets or on your laptop. >> I'll make a motion. >> I have a motion by Sharon. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Have a second by Mark. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Oppose. Same sign. >> All right. Motion carries. Next item is a consent agenda which consists of
006personnel approval of prior meeting minutes and approval of financial transactions. Um again looking for a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> So move a motion by Dan. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Have a second by Mark. Any further discussion on any of the items hearing? None. All in favor signify by saying I. I. >> Oppose. same sign. Okay. Motion carries. Next, the resolution for the acceptance of the gifts. Sharon, >> whereas the following have generously offered to donate to Little Falls Community Schools, there be it resolved by the Little Falls Community Schools Board of Education to gratefully accept these gifts. Faith Lutheran Church, donation of $500 to the Little Falls Community Schools Care Closet. Pine Country Bank donation of $500 to Little Falls Community Schools Pine Country Bank Scholarship Fund. Jim
007and Chelsea Evans donation of two Schaffer 30 30inch fans with mounts for the Little Falls Community Schools swimming pool area valued at $1,650. Coburn's donation of $380 in food baskets to Little Falls Community Schools Flyer Pride Pack. Walmart donation of 200 in gift cards for food, supplies, etc. for Little Falls Community Schools Flyers Pride Pack. Zion Lutheran Church, donation of 500 for food, supplies, etc. to Little Falls Community Schools Flyer Pride Pack. The Meets, donation of $320 to Little Falls Community Schools for the Flyer Pride Pack. an anonymous donation of $15,000 to the Little Falls Community Schools Care Closet. Morrison County Family Connections donation of $800 to Little Falls Community Schools Care Closet. Teresa and Glenn Welters, donation of $500 to Little Falls Community Schools Robotics Program. Little Falls Youth Baseball Program, donation of $2,000
008to Little Falls Community Schools for the egg line for the baseball fields. Rebecca Jacobson Straw, donation of 1,500 to the Little Falls Community Schools. Carol R. Straw Educational Memorial Scholarship Fund. Rebecca Jacobson Straw's donation of $500 to Little Falls Community Schools AVID Scholarship Fund. I need a second, please. >> I'll second. >> Okay. Um, roll call vote. Doug, >> yes. >> Mark, >> yes. >> Julie, >> yes. >> Dan, >> yes. >> Kelsey, >> yes. and myself is yes. This motion does pass. >> Thank you, Sharon. >> Next, we have flyer pride cards. Mark, you want to start us off? >> Sure. First [clears throat] one is uh recipient Randy Fleshucker, but uh grounds kitchen support. I appreciate your positive attention and smile that you always have have everything you come into the Lincoln office.
009Keep on smiling. I appreciate your positive attitude and smile that you always have. Sorry, I really bucked that up. Uh, Sabrina Hampler and the high school custodian staff, Jeff, Willie, Brad, uh, Jared, Stephen, and Brenda, and Craig. This crew has been welcoming and beyond help since day one of our uh, transition. They are always quick to help fix, adore, or deliver dei dehumidifiers. Thank you for taking such excellent care of us in our space. Uh Christina Holiday. >> Um this one is for sped teacher Lisa Brandon. Lisa always comes up with ideas and strategies to help her students be successful. She is very conscientious of all aspects throughout the day. She is not only is there for her students but also for the paras working in the room. Recommended by Tori Geyser. Um long-term fourth
010grade sub Shauna Zachs I believe this is. Um you have been a great long-term sub in our building. You fit in with the Lindberg family so well. Not only will you be missed by your students in your class, you will also be missed by the staff. We hope you come back and sub all the time. on recommended by Sabrina and Erica. >> Cody Pelzer, head custodian. Cody does an amazing job every day. No matter the problem, he is fixing or making a plan to quickly fix it. He is a huge help to everyone in the building. His attitude and behaviors demonstrates fire pride to a tea. Nicole Brambrink. Um, and this is Karen Warner, art, FMP. Karen does a wonderful job teaching art, facilitating the CAP committee, and is a big part of FMP productions.
011She is a great employee. Mr. Borgi. All right. Sarah Salo, math teacher at CC. Sarah had some big shoes to fill stepping into this role. She has done just that and then some. From improving and creating new curriculum to fostering relationships with staff and students, she excels. She has been a great addition to our CEC family. Christy Holidayiday. And then we have Janice Otman, Paris student support specialist. [clears throat] Janice is a valuable employee at Little Falls Community High School. She supervises fast, provides academic and emotional support to kids, and goes above and beyond to connect with students. She is a star. Mr. Borki, >> Gracie Rusted, childcare aid. Every day, Gracie shows up at Little Flyers with positive attitude and ready to hang out with all the learners. I appreciate her willingness to jump
012into any classroom at any time. Thank you, Gracie. Kayla, Emily Ludkkey, childc care teacher. Emily, thank you for coming back. Your transition back to Little Flyers has been smooth and we are very appreciative of you. Keep up the great work, Caleb. All right, I have one for Matt Bomb, assistant business office manager. Matt's a very level-headed guy. Always calm and approachable. He answers questions with patience and thoroughess. He reliably follows up, providing solutions, completing projects, and detail and efficiency. He can always be trusted to handle confidential manners, matters, and questions regarding benefits and insurance. We are fortunate to have a dependable, calm, and capable person in the business office. And they didn't leave their name, so anonymous, I guess. Janatma, uh, EC and spread coordinator. Janna, thank you for always being one to brainstorm thoughts,
013ideas, and wonders with me. You are appreciated so much. Kayla Gruber and Jessica Holm, a parah at Lindberg. Thank you, Jessica, for everything you've done this year to help my students and I. I appreciate your willingness to jump right in. No matter what we are doing, we can accomplish so much more during our days because of your assistance. Thank you for all you do, Glenda Davis. Right. Next, we have our student representative updates. So, is that you, Maddie? >> Um, okay. So, Megan and I are here right now. Uh John is currently at basketball practice, so he said, "We're on our own today." [laughter] >> Um the first thing that happened in the month of November was our Veterans Day program. Uh Chrissy Bonberg was our guest speaker. She is the mom to two of
014our students. And then uh she just spoke about how I don't know, she she just spoke about how much the military meant to her and how it brought her to where she is now. And then there was a student contest for what I think was junior politics. I am not 100% sure. And um a bunch of kids submitted forms and the winners got money. >> What I was understanding Um, the 49th IMC. Uh, it's where all of the kids in band come together and play some old and new songs that everyone knows and loves. Um, then the bottom two pictures are John. >> I noticed that. >> Um, lucky enough to sit right behind him. Um, and the bottom one is him marching in. And then the one on the far right is him actually
015playing the cowbell to one of the last songs. >> Um we also the student council did a fundraiser. It was penny wars. Um it was a big hit. Kids >> what what is penny wars? So the pennies were what actually gave your like grade points >> and then dollars or any of like the bills and then silver coins actually took like grades down. So if I was a junior wanting the sophomores not to win, we would have dropped silver coins and dollars into their bin. Um, and actually the juniors were in a big lead for a while, but um, one of the sophomores actually dropped a hundred bucks into our bin and they won. So, [laughter] but overall um, yeah, they won. They got to leave class at 255, so 5 minutes early. And we
016raised a total of um, $1,4717 for the food shelf. And each dollar equaled five meals. I'm >> Yeah, >> that's great. >> The magical dinner was last night at the middle school. Um the concert choir had their annual magical dinner, a Renaissance themed dinner concert and Mr. Johnson was there >> and so was Sharon. Thank you for the shout out. >> Was very nice. It was wonderful. [clears throat] >> John must have made that sign. We weren't there. Oh, >> did he? um some upcoming events because you can't really talk. Um tonight at 700 p.m. they have the Gathering of Waters concert at the high school auditorium I am attending. Um and then there's a girls basketball home opener against North Branch tonight at the high school. Um the 9th at 700 p.m. we have
017the middle school coral concert at the high school. Uh the 9th at 5:45 is a boys basketball home opener against St. Francis. Um the 11th at 7 at the middle school is the band concert. 7:30 on the 15th is the holiday concert at the high school. That's my favorite one. And the 18th, 19th, and 20th, the Pine Country Bank Classic basketball tournament during Christmas break. That's pretty much it. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Jeff. >> Okay. Can we go on to new business? Um, first thing we have is a resolution approving the quit claim deed. >> No, that's afterwards. >> That's not next. >> You got another presentation first. >> Oh, my school jumped. Well, my apologies. >> That's right. A little bit of time. >> Yeah, [laughter] >> I know. But then I
018had to look for the papers quicker. >> Sorry, Lisa. >> It's all good. >> Whenever you're ready, go right ahead. >> Well, thank you for having me tonight. Um, I'm here to share with you our comprehensive achieve a achievement and civic readiness goals from last year, how we performed, and then our new goals for this year, as well as some updates. So, we'll start with the updates. Um right now our elementary classrooms are piloting some resources um through lots of learning. We've come to find that and the science of reading perhaps you've heard that a little bit too but reading instruction at an elementary level should really include word recognition. So if you have a younger child, right now at the elementary schools, they'd be doing some functional phonics, really learning the code of English,
019how letters work together to make words and for our spelling. But the other part of it for reading comprehension is the language comprehension side of it. And so we have to build background knowledge for students, build vocabulary so that even if they're really good at reading words, that they have the understanding around those words as well and what they mean so that they can um understand what they're reading. So right now we're piloting some knowledge building resources. So we have functional phonics which teachers are really loving. We're seeing some great results from that but we're looking at trying to adopt a resource that would help us on the other end of the spectrum. Um building that background knowledge and vocabulary and working on the writing components as well. So we have 16 teachers at Lincoln
020right now piloting and 15 at Lindberg. That is a lot of teachers working really hard to try out these new resources. We have four resources that we're piloting. Um, and all four of them have been vetted by MDE through the READ Act, and we'll talk about that in just a second as well. So, they're either highly aligned resources or partially aligned resources. Um, and our timeline is really to try and make a decision with our literacy team by March and then adopt so that we can begin in the fall. Any questions about that literacy pilot? So, the read act is another piece that has really been impacting our school districts and all around the state as well. Um, the goal is really every child reading grade level or meeting their individual goals based on their
021IEPs or um if they're multilingual learners. And then from that, we've had some great progress within our district. Letters, we're on our year two of letters. We'll wrap that up in May. It's a heavy lift for teachers. We have about 70 teachers who are starting at new right now um or were starting at new last year. We have about 25 teachers who had completed it before last year. So they're attending live sessions or PD days with their colleagues and um getting some deeper learning refreshers as well. But it's been a lot of great learning and I really appreciate all that they've poured into that. We are working on that curriculum adoption. We adopted functional phonics which also was aligned with the readact. Um and now moving towards that knowledge building as I talked about we
022switched over to fastbridge assessments last year from as web so that has been another lift that was part of the read act there was only two approved screeners and a web wasn't one of them so we had to move to fastbridge and capt basics is one that we're starting this year uh based on fastbridge assessments fourth graders through 12th graders who or fourth graders through 11th graders and then we have additional screeners in 12th grade that are high risk or some risk in either of the reading areas would have to take the CAT to read basics assessment to give us more information on how to support them. It's a really great assessment and gives us lots of great information. It even leads to interventions potentially based on their scores. And so it can give us
023a lot of really powerful things to take away from and best support all students. We're really excited about that, but it's been um a little bit of a challenge as we try to navigate what that looks like in our district. And then to follow that that secondary intervention. And so now that we have that great information, how do we support those students? And so right now the middle school is rocking it on a new intervention called Power Up. Um actually every student in our middle school is doing it right now. And that is working on those foundational skills and trying to potentially fill any gaps that a student might have with that word reading piece and comprehension vocabulary is part of it as well. Um and so for our highf flyers, it can work on
024more advanced things and for those students who need the foundational things, it's adaptive that way. So, it's been a great tool. Teachers are really loving it. Students, I've heard from parents that some students are really loving it as well. So, that's been an exciting addition and we're looking to expand on that for next year as well. And then phase two training. So, letters focused on our K I'm sorry, prek five teachers and all sped teachers in the district. Uh phase two training will focus on our ELA teachers at the secondary level. So, we will have our middle school and high school ELA teachers looking into the four approved trainings for that and making a selection to move forward with for next year. Any questions about the readact? So, again, just a huge teacher shout out.
025Um, a lot of change has happened just even from the read Act, right? There's always change in a district, but when it's coming through legislation and it's such big changes, um, that can be a heavy lift for a lot of people. So, I appreciate all that they poured into that. Um, and we'll get right into the comprehensive achievement and civic readiness results from last year. So, we had two goals for all children ready for school. And the first was 85% of school readiness children demonstrating proficiency on EIFs or their standards for early childhood based on their new assessment that they're doing TS Gold. So last year was their first year using TS Gold and those students going to kindergarten showed 96% proficient which is super exciting. So we met our goal on that one and
026you can see in the bottom corner that our proficiency rates um have really grown. So that's super exciting to see that growth there. And then the other one was to show all students or 100% of students showing growth over time or over the year. And so looking at rhyming, alliteration or hearing that set words start the same with the same sound, identifying letters and names of letters and then writing their name. We had 98.6% of students showing growth in two or more of those areas and one student only showed growth in one of those areas, but still all students showed growth in a area. So another goal met. When we look at the racial and economic achievement gaps between students being closed, our goal was to close the gap between our free and reduced population
027and their local counterpart by 8% um for last school year according to the MCAs, but wanting both of them to increase based on academic rigor that we're bringing to the classroom. And we did um have a little bit of a closed gap there. So we decreased the gap by 1.6% but not to that 8% that we're hoping for. So that goal we did not meet. The next area is college and career readiness. So at the high school we had 100 our goal was 100% of students exploring post-secary opportunities through college and career readiness programs using school links and we had 100% of students taking part in that. This was a continuation and maybe some high schoolers can speak to that too, but this was a continuation from the beginning of the year through advisory all
028the way to the end of the year. So, it was kind of that cycle that they could catch up if they were absent um or if they weren't able to do something, they were able to get that done or at least get into the program and work on it a little bit. So, that goal was met. At the middle school, they were doing a digital notebook and this one came at a week. It was a week focus on the digital notebook where they explored careers and so we only had 77% complete that and our goal was 100. So we didn't meet that goal. Um but again with that week of focus if students were on vacation or gone or other things variables were in there that was impacting that as well. The next is the
029high school graduation rate. This comes out in the spring for the year almost 18 months prior. So we're actually looking at the 2024 graduation rate. The combined graduation rate for Little Falls, including CC and the high school, is 79.7%. So that's an increase of 2.4%. The high school itself, if we um don't count the CAC as part of it, was at 88.7% which was a.5% decrease, but CC actually increased by 10 over 10% and they're we're at 50% last year. So that's a celebration as well. >> So again, just kind of reiterating that was from the 2023 2024 school year. the new results for last school year will come out in the spring and and you can be updated in the next ker report. Um so again celebrations with that increase of overall 2.5 and
030the CC increase. When looking at CC we know that the CC has that extended graduation rate um based on students who may be behind in credits or have life situations happen. So when looking at the 5-year graduation rate right now we're at 67.2%. 2% at the CEC. Um, last year that group of students was at 39.9%. And they also had five students add to that class list as well. From the six-year graduation rate, we're at 57.7% and that's up from 47.3% the last year. Three students have left that class. And then for the 7-year graduation rate, which will cap out this year, um, we're at 73.2%. last year was actually at 75% but they had a new student move in so that impacted that percentage as well. And then another part of that that we
031focused on for the first time last year was the decreasing of FS percentages. So, at the high school, they've done a lot of work to try and um improve the way that they support students and making sure that students don't just get an F and move on, but instead how can we can we help them do the learning? So, looking at quarters um and semesters obviously, so there's four quarters in a year. Two semesters make up are made up of two quarters. um there are more classes that end at the end of semester 1 than that did at the end of quarter one. So we see those bigger bar graphs there. But we saw a decrease in quarter 1 um by almost 5%. And then if we look at even quarter 1 for this year
032it decreased from last year's decrease by another percent. And then in quarter two or the end of semester 1, we saw a decrease of 4.2 of students with one or more F. And then quarter 3 was a decrease of almost 1% and quarter four or the end of semester 2, end of the year was a decrease of 4.8. So as much as it kills me to not round up, but we almost [laughter] met that goal. Um, so this is again just that semester look at that, taking out the different quarter classes. And then a new goal that was added last year was the lifelong learner. And our goal was that 80% of middle school and high school classrooms would implement AVID strategies to promote lifelong learning. And according to a staff survey, we were at
03380.4% implementing AVID strategies. um 95% of staff acknowledge that they know AVID strategies that could be implemented. So that's also exciting that we have that understanding of AVID. So the goals moving into the next year or this year are 85% of school readiness children demonstrating proficiency and then 100% of school of school readiness children enrolling in kindergarten. we know that or showing growth, I'm sorry, for this school year for those that are enrolling in kindergarten next year. Um, because it's a different group of students, we decided to keep the goals the same because it really does change from year to year, but knowing that that ultimately is our goal to see that that proficiency and growth. And we'll use some different resources that we currently have. Our preschool teachers are in letters. They've just started
034creative curriculum this year. Um, and continuing to monitor progress with that TS Gold assessment. For the achievement gap, because we did not meet the achievement gap goal, we kept the same goal, continuing to work on raising our rigor within the classroom, um, meeting students where they're at and helping them master skills and understand concepts deeper. And so really trying to align our resources to standards and giving family engagement opportunities to support students outside of school. And then that secondary intervention piece that we talked about as well. While we also have that at the elementary MLC's and database decision-m for teachers college readiness, we kept the same two goals again. um looking for that post-secary opportunities and school links at the high school at 100% this year. And then with new leadership at the middle school,
035we kept that digital notebook as well. Um perhaps a change in the way it's delivered or how he tweaks that to meet the school's needs this year, but continuing to strive for that 100%. And then students graduating high school. Our goal continues to be increasing that to 90% for the four-year graduation rate. And again, continuing to decrease the number of failures or the percentage of failures with students with more than one F or one or more Fs um by 5% for this school year. And the high school has done a lot of great work with some retake policies um with attendance policies and other things to support students as well. And lastly, the AVID strategies we increased to 90% to try and get AVID within our classrooms um even more and supporting teachers through that
036with PD and other AVID resources. [snorts] Any questions? I [clears throat] know you alluded to it, but um the digital notebook in the middle school, do you are you aware that he's going to change that? I mean, it would seem that it's going to be pretty hard to get 100% if you're just going to >> Yeah. >> take a one week at a time, >> right? And I think the hard part is is that right now he's doing a great job of getting to know the middle school for himself. [clears throat] Um, so not wanting to make a huge shift at this point, but whether it's spreading out the digital notebook concept or um having students come back to it through makeup work and those kinds of things or even um a makeup session for
037students if they need that. So yeah, he's continuing to look at how that can best serve his students. >> Other questions? >> Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay. All right. Looks like if I'm following right, we have the superintendence report. Keep it short. We have a number of presentations tonight. I know a few of you have asked about the success of Flyerfest that we had back in October. And so Flyerfest raised over $50,000 [cough] after expenses. It is a total of $43,312 that will be split between activities and the education foundation. And that's really close to the numbers from last year. Last year we received an anonymous donation of I think about $12,000 that went towards that fundraiser. So subtract that out. It's a very similar profit range.
038We have a policy team meeting tomorrow with myself, Kelsey, and Julie and Dan to talk about some policies. And I want to say a thank you to Chelsea Robinson, Heidi, uh Doug Dalberg for the work that they've done on negotiations. I know I've shared with you board members that I feel like our progress here recently has gone extremely well. We're close to settling with all of our major unions and hopefully have some contracts to bring to you for your approval here soon. Put you on the spot. Um Megan, how did your aunt do in her CARE report? [snorts] >> Good. >> Not too bad. Okay. Just wanted to know. Thank you. That is all I have. That's all. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Next in new business, looks like we have a resolution
039for quick claim for um the parcel kind of right next to us here. So um you have the chair. >> Yes. Resolution approving quick claim B between Little Falls Community Schools and Earl J. Lamir. Um now therefore be it resolved by the school board of independent school district number 482. The school board hereby approves the issuance of a quick claim deed to Earl J. Lamir for the property described as parcel number ID 48.2910.00. I need a second for this. Please >> second. >> Okay, we have a second roll call vote. Doug, >> yes. >> Mark, >> yes. >> Julie, >> yes. >> Dan, >> yes. >> Kelsey, >> yes. >> And myself is yes. That one does pass. >> Okay. And then looks like you have a second one here. >> Yes, we do. um
040resolution regarding land transfers by and between Independent School District 482 and Contegrity Properties LLC. Um now therefore be it resolved by the school board of independent school district as follows. Quick claim D is to be delivered and held in trust at Larsson Abstract Company incorporated in Little Falls. This is I need a second also for this. >> A second. >> Thank you to add a second by Dan. And a roll call vote is Doug. >> Yes. >> Mark, >> yes. >> Julie, >> yes. >> Dan, >> yes. >> Kelsey, >> yes. >> And myself is yes. That also passes. >> Thank you. >> The short versions instead of three pages. >> Okay. Looks like next we have an action item which is the approval of the review and comment. Um you >> I will I'll
041tag team this with Michael Hart from >> okay >> our financial adviserss at PTMA and Michael will join us here at the our last work session board members we walk through the review and comment and as we discussed this is the description of our project that we will submit to the state of Minnesota that hopefully you'll approve we'll send off to the state for the state to approve and we need that approval before we can move forward with our project. So again, I'll walk through this quickly, field any questions, and then turn it over to Michael for the financial components of the project. The review and comment includes uh background information about Little Falls Community Schools, which we submit regarding our school district population, where we're located, um what makes us unique, that's included in
042the plan. Obviously, a pretty important factor is our enrollment and trends within our enrollment. And as we've talked about, like most districts in outstate Minnesota, we have declining uh slow, steady declining enrollment. that impacts our budget and impacts the need for space. Also included in the review and comment is information about our facilities, the age of the facilities, the use of the facilities, and the square footage of those facilities. It is noted in the review and comment that the district did make a decision to close Dr. Knight Elementary in 2025. They're interested in the facility deficiencies and so through the work with our architects at Witsth as well as integrity going through the building and identifying what the needs are in our district especially at the high school and why it makes sense for us
043we believe to combine our seventh and eighth graders at the high school for a secondary school model and sixth grade back at Lindberg elementary. And in the deficiencies, it talks about not having enough classrooms to accommodate grades seven and eight. The square footage is there, but not enough classrooms. Um, we have a large media center that can be remodeled into classroom space. Not enough PE space based on guidelines and other additions that you see listed there in front of you. There are some deficiencies not addressed in the [clears throat] project that will continue to address as a district. For example, the main gym floor at the high school needs work, but that's something that will likely be completed through long-term facility maintenance. and it lists the benefits of this project to our students, to our
044teachers, and to our community. [cough] Um, improvements include indoor air quality, uh, renovations to space and making better use of the space that we have, expanded opportunities for middle school students, improved safety and security, and as we'll talk about question two, focusing on additional gym space. From the teachers and community standpoint, itre increased efficiencies in the use of the space, allows us to be able to close the middle school, shift programming from the middle school to the high school, which creates a cost savings for the school district annually of over a million dollars a year and obviously reduced operational costs. There's a description in the review and comment of the scope of the project. You'll see there's a picture of the high school, information about the high school, and the then of course proposed improvements
045included within the project, which as we've talked about and certainly ask any questions, but just highlighting that 50% of the work done at the high school is improving the HVAC and indoor air quality. which those issues won't go away and are definitely needed in a 53y old building. And the other half of that project includes adding the additional classroom and instructional space at the second level of the high school to accommodate seventh and eighth graders. Improvements to restrooms, which is definitely needed in some areas of the building as well. And so you can see a map included for the state to look at and then a description of the estimated expenditures broken out more specifically. But as I indicated, about 50% for indoor air quality improvements and 50% for instructional space for a total of
04634,35,000. The other need that's come forward through the work of the board and the district is the possibility of adding additional gym space. As we've discussed over the past months and at work sessions, the proposal includes a second question with a three gyms being added to the south end of the high school with a total dollar amount of $9,520,000 for those three gyms in question two and improvements and changes to the uh south entrance to the high school. Those costs are included. Summary of $43,825,000 for both questions. We've also listed then in the report the estimated reductions in operational costs, the estimated reduction in program costs, and then a projected timeline. If this moves forward, if it's supported through the referendum, it would not we would not see those changes completed until school year 2728.
047we would be moving into a 7 through 12 secondary school and grade 3 through 6 Lmberg Elementary. I'll pause at that point. Board members, any questions before I turn it over to Michael for the financial description and information? >> I don't think there's any new information in there. >> Michael, welcome. Thanks for being here. >> Happy to be here. Thank you. Um hopefully this feels like uh some review here too on the financing information as well. At this point in time though, we want to make sure that the the assumptions that we have made before you you take this uh and ask your voters for the consideration are very well understood and known in terms of how this would be funded uh with the the issuance of general obligation bonds. So we've identified here on
048this uh first page the assumptions that we have used. We're using current interest rates plus a 75% cushion. That's in case the interest rates would rise between now and when the bonds are issued. We would expect these bonds to be issued sometime next summer at the earliest uh should the project be approved. It's a 20-year bond that would be ultimately paid off um on February 1st of 2047. the taxes would be seen for the first time by property taxpayers in calendar year 2027 should this be approved. So, >> [clears throat] >> um if if this is a yes vote in in April and you proceed forward as a school board, uh you would see this on the levy process uh next December. And I know you're going to take some of that action for next
049year, but uh which obviously this would not be included in the we are using a tax base growth of 2% which means the total value of all the properties in the school district we're assuming are going to grow by 2%. it's oftenimes grows faster than that historically in your school district. So, um we're building in what we believe is a pretty conservative assumption there. The the last bullet point on there is we're not assuming you'll receive any debt service equalization. It's very rare for school districts under those formulas to receive any state support. So, this is uh primarily funded by your local property taxpayers. In terms of the bond payment structure, this visual is very important to understanding the the assumption we have made on this front. The green and the blue looks almost black
050on the screen here. Bottom part of that, that's the current outstanding bond payments. And then the yellow two colors, the darker of the yellow colors is what the payment structure is for question one. And then question two would be layered on top of that. And so when you put it all together with the tax increase, it would be the same tax levy or roughly the same for a 20-year period of time within your community. And you can see how we get to that is that that's together with the current outstanding debt and that's proposed. Um so that the bond payments on question one get larger after those old bond payments are paid off in in several years time. You can just see that visually. This structure uh allows us to have a a slightly lower
051tax increase here in the first year. Um as we look at this overall and we certainly expect these improvements to serve the district for much longer than 20 years, which is our other consideration as we think about this, the numbers are shown in detail there down below. Um, one thing I' I'd point out just, you know, uh, for your understanding, you see the right column, that's a combined payments together with the the current bond payments plus the proposed first uh, two questions here is about $4.7 million per year. So, the interest rate when the bonds are sold, it'll be fixed so that that payment will be steady. And to the extent valuation grows over time, that 4.7 million doesn't grow over time with it. And so if your property value continues to grow as a
052school district as it has in the past, tax rates would actually decline. Um so the number of dollars being levied to support these projects will not increase. Uh they'll stay steady for 20 years is the way that the plan is structured. Um the following page shows what we call the sources and uses of funds. This shows a question one matching the project amount of 34 34,35,000 and question two matching the 9,520,000. There's a reoffering premium which is a a financial structure that will allow us to pay for the the cost of issuance and that capitalized interest is a is uh we're planning to need to pay for part of the initial interest payment out of the bond proceeds in order to maintain the the level or the taxes le level through the first couple years
053uh through the overall process because the tax levy doesn't come in right away and you know it takes some time for that process to work group there. Uh we also include as required by the state the the preliminary debt service schedules or payment schedules which um funnel that the information or show in more detail in that prior information. And then the last page here, probably the most important thing is the tax uh impact or estimated tax increase that we expect from question one. We have highlighted on there a $225,000 home, which is a typical home in your community. This would be $175 annually or approximately $15 per month related to question one. If question two was also approved, it would be another $63 or approximately $5 a month. If you put the two together, it's
054$20 a month for that $225,000 house. In Minnesota, you pay taxes based upon what kind of property you have and how much your property is worth. And so we are showing a range of values uh to give some description and also showing in different types of properties with commercial property, agricultural property there as well. One thing I want to highlight um that we also put in here is that uh subject to your approval and proceeding forward with this. We are in the process of collecting data from accounties that uh will build a website for you or a link that you can put on your website that will allow any taxpayer to put in their partial ID which you find on your tax statement or you can look it up on the county website and it
055will show every individual property owner uh what their expected tax increase would be related to this. So, you know, this chart is good. It's interesting. It's not perfect for everybody and we know that and so we're going to take the care to make sure that um everybody has the opportunity to understand what this will cost them uh should it be approved by the voters? >> Board members any questions? [clears throat] >> Just a comment. I mean, I think the with the interest rate and the the buffer built in, I think that's very conservative. I mean, having a a 3/4 of a percent built into that. >> Yeah. I I mean, I think that's I think we we'll do better. >> Well, we we think you will, too. And if we get to that point in
056time, it will be our job to get you the absolute best rate interest rate we can. Um, and you know, we have had periods of time where interest rates have risen though, and we want to make sure that what we tell your public, we're going to be able to deliver on with that promise. So, that's typically where we land with these things. And sometimes interest rates actually go down, you know, between they could go down between now and next summer. Um, we just can't predict that. So, >> that's how we build that in. And on the margin, um, it does change the tax impact, but it's not going to take the tax impact from $20 a month to $10 a month, right? >> It might take it from 20 to 19 or 20 to 1850,
057something like I mean, that's what we're talking about in terms of the differences. So, >> broadly, you know, this is a I think the most fair, truthful way to share the information. >> But yes, that's intentional. >> Yeah. >> Any other questions? Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> Michael's going to stick around and talk a little bit about after your decision on the review and comment about the resolution and ballot. >> Okay. So, being that this is an action item, um I would look for a motion to approve the review and comment. So, have a motion by Dan. Do I have a second? >> Second. Second by Mark. Any further discussion or questions? Anything hearing? None. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. All right. Motion carries.
058All right. Next, we'll go to the election resolution >> with all the information we were given now with from Greg and Michael. Um, this is the resolution relating to determining the necessity of an issuing [clears throat] a general obligation bonds and carrying a special election on April 14th, 2026. This is a roll call um decision. I need a second first though. >> I'll second it. >> Can you have a second? >> Sharon, we'll have Michael walk through a little bit of the information if that's okay first. >> Okay, >> great. Thank you. Um so the resolution this is the formal action to call for the election and so there are a few things in the resolution just to make sure that that uh the public understands the the action being taken here. Uh firstly there
059are several notices and requirements related to the election uh and and those are covered as a part of this uh process. There are also a description of the ballot questions that will be on the ballot and I think maybe just it's it won't take too long. I'll just read the two questions uh for you here tonight. So question one is shall the board of independent school district. Uh number 42, Little Falls, Minnesota be authorized to issue general obligation bonds an amount not to exceed 34,35,000 for acquisition and betterment of school sites and facilities including but not limited to remodeling in indoor air quality and safety and security improvements at Little Falls Community High School. By voting yes on this ballot question, you are voting for a property tax increase. School district question number two. If
060school district question number one is approved, shall the board of independent school district number 42, Little Falls, Minnesota, be authorized to issue general obligation school building bonds and amount not to exceed 9,520,000 for the acquisition and betterment of school sites and facilities, including but not limited to construction of a new gymnasium at Little Falls Community High School. By voting yes on this ballot question, you are voting for a property tax increase. So that is the language that will show on the ballot. Um according to this uh I I want to point out just one thing and there was some question in terms of the the language in there especially related to the word acquisition you know that you know I think it can potentially mean that we're purchasing or adding to here and it's really
061as defined by state statute really construction uh and what you are doing in in each of these cases. The other thing uh important piece of information that I want to highlight in the resolution is that for this special election, the school district will use its combined polling places which have been acted on by the board previously, but it is not a general election. So, not every precinct will be open as normal. And there are three polling places that are identified in this resolution. the initiative foundation in uh Little Falls, Bethl Lu Bethl Lutheran Church in Little Falls and Randall Community Building. And uh so those are the three polling places that will be open on election day on uh in April, which is defined uh here. So I'm happy to take any questions about the
062the resolution. Um, can I just ask, I should have asked this sooner, but when it says on that question number two that there's the construction of a new gymnasium, is that misleading or do you think that we should say it like that? Because we're adding more than one gym. Do you know what I'm saying? We're adding three gyms, >> but it's one building. >> It is one building. >> I don't know. Maybe that's picky. I just I don't want the voters to come back and be like you said a gym >> you're building I'm being picky. >> Is there a way to put gymnasium spa space and the space allows us to have three in it? >> Yeah, we do have some discretion about what that language says. So construction of >> new gymnasium space.
063It's >> I don't if I'm being picky say I'm being picky. No, because we need to have the picky because that's what the voters are going to be. >> Rather be clear. >> I guess I think of the children just as a general >> building, >> right? Yeah. >> But that's just me. >> You thinking, Mark? >> I'm thinking words smithing is not my game. >> [laughter] >> I know what you're what you're saying if we just change it to gym space. >> Um >> instead of saying school building bond gym space. >> Yeah. I don't know if people are I think with what we're going to get out before the vote people are going to know it's three >> basketball courts instead of just one. Oh yeah, I see. I would agree with that.
064I see that. Now >> I think of a gym as a a court. Can't look at it as like a court. >> That's true. Okay. >> Do we have to make question two um only pass if question one passes or can we have them stand alone? So, if the voters said no to one but said yes to two, we could still do the gym space. >> You do not have to have them contingent. You could take that off of this or so it it would not include that contingency. Uh, you know, the way that it's written currently, if question two does pass but one doesn't, then you're not authorized to build the gym facility or issue the bonds to fund it. Um, so do you have that option? Yes. In terms of strategy, this question
065was asked of me. I mean, that's a kind of the legal answer is strategy. I think this is not the case. It's not guaranteed to be the case. But it is very likely that question two will have yes less yes votes than question one, no matter if they both pass or they both fail or you split them. Just historically that is >> uh very common. The reason to have it in there is that it really does kind of establish the school board's priorities um that we need to get we need to spend this money first before we spend that money. >> Okay. >> But if a person votes only on for the second question, is their battle discarded? >> No, it's they add them all up together. So question one has to pass as a
066whole, >> right? >> So if they just like if somebody just didn't vote on question one, it's not as though their their question two wouldn't be tallied. Okay. >> I think it speaks to I I appreciate what Michael said about the priority of question one and I think everybody here agrees with the added gym space. Otherwise, we wouldn't have a second question. But it's really what I think is important about this plan is it's not anything over the top excessive. It's the fact that we need we need gym space in the community. We need gym space for a lot of reasons, but we especially need gym space for instructional purposes. And if you don't have, you know, another 300 students coming into the high school, is that needed or not? Probably is, but keeps it
067on the instructional focus. [snorts] >> Okay. Any other questions, >> comments? Then [clears throat] moving forward, we do have a resolution with a second on the floor. Discussion has been handled. Um, we'll go to the roll call vote. >> Doug, >> yes. >> Mark, >> yes. >> Julie, >> yes. >> Dan, >> yes. >> Kelsey, >> yes. >> And myself is yes. >> Thank you, Michael. >> Thank you. Have a good day. >> All right. Next, we have the approval of the smart finance system. put Heidi on the spot. If you could uh all of you know that we've made a a decision to move ahead with changing our student information system from Skyward to Infinite Campus. And along with that, because Skyward also plays a significant role in our finance and HR programs, we've
068explored other opportunities as well. And so Heidi, if you don't mind talking a little bit about SMARTT and our next steps. >> Sure. So I'll preface it with the fact that my school finance background and experience uh is solely the smart finance system um for transacting and accounting for our um business office, the finances, the HR and the payroll. However, I was the least involved in the decision-making factor of if our district mainly business office staff decided to stay with Skyward or move to another platform. And so the long story short, uh the group of us office staff met. Uh we first determined what that might look like, how that would impact the office. Uh we did include um when we were uh going through the decision steps to move student information systems, we did
069at that time also have um the head clerical support staff in all of the buildings have a high level overview if you will of of the smart systems because they too will have some involvement on um the smart um side of things through the purchasing uh payroll, time sheet, um approval, timekeeping systems. Uh but overall, the district office staff took the most amount of time to determine what, if anything, we needed to consider. And then we decided that we wanted to at least explore the option. And so we uh had the uh smart systems finance HR payroll team from region one which is out of the Morehead um Fargo area. Uh come to the district uh spend a good more than half of the day with the district office staff. Uh did a what I
070would say a highle overview of all of the different features finance HR and payroll. Uh we had representatives from each of those areas here um from region one and uh could speak specifically to the support and the role that they provide to the district for the programs. And then after that meeting we took some time again just to kind of lay out the pros and cons. Uh we had some time uh a couple weeks to kind of decide if in if in fact we wanted to. Each of us uh in the business office had a direct contact with region one that we could call, we could virtual meet with. They could answer some of the specific questions that we all had. And then we also received uh other school districts as references that we could
071contact that also moved from Skyward to the smart systems. Long story short, uh we decided last week that we were going to move um effective July 1, which [snorts] uh starts the ball rolling. Now, um I will note that there are five regions in the state of Minnesota that all are um owners of what is called the smart finance system. Uh we chose to go with region one uh based on references from other school districts uh and regions that they work with, my experience uh with other regions uh within the state. And then um the fact that the team felt very supportive by the region team that actually came here and could speak on behalf of their roles, their content and expert um areas in those specific fields and the tenure of the region one
072staff. So we um upon the board's consideration to approve, we will start working um with region one and also with Skyward to extract as much data as we can and then import it into a sport system. Anything I might have left out right? [clears throat] >> Well done. >> What about the cost? How is it comparable to Skyward? Yes, actually the cost will be less. Uh we uh are charged uh by Skyward specifically for program implementation reports if Skyward doesn't have the reports. Um any customer service support if we can't figure it out on our own um we'll be charged by Skyward whereas the region one's um platform is all-encompassing. So, it's likely going to be a cost savings as far as the systems themselves and the cost we pay to have the systems are
073very comparable. >> Yeah. >> And it would seem to make sense to since our other system is the smart system. >> It's integrated. So, >> okay. Any other questions? All right. This is an action item. So I would need a motion to approve the >> So moved. >> All right. Have a motion. Was that Sharon? >> Motion by Sharon. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> I have a second by Dan. Any further discussion? >> Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Oppos. Same sign. All right. Motion carries. Next. Looks like we have the 2026 school board meeting schedule up on the screen. Um I have to I know it was in everybody's packet any questions about that or any concerns or any conflicts I guess that we see immediately
074just the three there are three months that are third Monday meetings I would like to propose and we can we could do it tonight I suspect that with a meeting on January 5th that's a long gap until our next meeting if we could look at possibly a work session on January 26th. Was considering January 19th, but that's a holiday. We can't meet. >> So, if folks are available on the 26th, we'd like to schedule a work session at 5:00. [clears throat] And I think we have to approve. Do we approve this at the reorganization meeting? >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, it's not an action item. >> I do want to welcome Mr. Allen here tonight who made it. If you ever want to get if you think your schedule is busy, [laughter] take a look
075at at John's. One day John >> just meet himself coming and going. You leave here tonight for a concert. >> Yeah. >> And then a couple concerts next week. >> Three. Yeah. Four. Five. Five. >> Five concerts. >> Yeah. >> Not including the magical dinner last night. >> We're glad you're here. >> Yeah. Good to be here. >> Okay. I have no or unfinished business. So, uh, reports from board members. Dan. Nothing to report. >> Nothing. Julie? >> Nothing. Sure. >> Uh, last night I went to the Magic first time, 21st M performance they've done. First time I've made it. >> Um, very good decorations and the since I had been there the day before for the Carousel of Crafts and then you go back for for this. It's like a completely different building. It
076was decorated fantastic. Costumes were great and the music was beautiful. Meal was good. Catered by the Royal Cafe. pass it on. That I was very impressed. >> Thank you. >> All right, Mark. >> Uh, nothing to report. >> Okay. And I have nothing to report as well. >> Okay. Looks like next we have the truth and taxation presentation and public comment. Um, I'm assuming I'm going to hand it over to Heidi here. >> Yes, I'll be hiding it first so you don't have to [laughter] go through all my Whenever you're ready. >> Oh yeah. >> John, tell us about the concert tonight. >> Tonight is the meeting of Waters concert. So, it's hosted by CLC at the high school. Um, Jonathan Llam, Dr. Jonathan Laflam is the director at CLC and he used to be
077the band director at the high school. So, he likes to come back and do a lot of things at Little Falls. So, our middle school band will be playing there. Long Prairie's high school band will be playing there. We will follow them and then it'll be CLC and then at the end we'll all be playing a big march together. Cool. Start at 7:00. >> Yeah. >> And how basketball practice go? >> Pretty good. Got a game tomorrow hopefully as long as the snow allows. >> Yeah. >> Was it still snowing? >> Yeah, it's going to take my time on the way here. So >> yours looks like you might need shoes or toes though. >> Yeah. >> Not good. No shoes. >> I can pull it up here. >> No, I have it. I just
078didn't save the I have the PowerPoint. I didn't save the PDF which is coming. >> Yeah. such. >> There we go. >> Okay. >> All right. Tonight is the truth and taxation meeting for uh the 25 pay 26 levy for the school district falls community schools independent school district 482. So the agenda for tonight's meeting is that we'll review why we have the meeting. Uh I'll present information on the current school year budget. uh I'll talk about proposed tax levy and then uh for any public comment at the end. So we're we are required by statute to hold truth and taxation meeting between the months and dates of November 25th and December 30th. The meeting must be held at 6:00 p.m. or later. It can be part of a regular scheduled board meeting as it
079is tonight. And it must include the fiscal year 2026 budget and also the pay 26 uh proposed tax levy which is actual uh revenue for our school district in fiscal year 2627. [clears throat] And then we also must allow for public comment if any things that I like to point out. Uh just as a refresher and oftent times community members in general because uh the tax levies uh have so many different components and variables that the revenue formulas are set by the state legislature except for any voter approved referendums which we did not have uh in this specific levy. uh the local levy and the the state aid mix are also set by the legislature. So depending on different variables within our district's um property uh local levy and state aid mix uh can be
080a combination of both. And then any increases or decreases in local taxes does not necessarily mean that it's an increase or decrease to our school district revenue. So, if the levy uh proposed goes up, that doesn't again necessarily mean we're getting more uh tax money. Same would go if it decreases. It doesn't necessarily mean it's a decrease in revenue. Uh Minnesota school funding uh is public school districts are funded by a few different uh funding sources. uh the federal government, the state government, any local fees, and then local taxpayers uh through property taxes uh with the state of Minnesota being the largest funding source. So, our uh largest funding source for uh Little Falls School District comes primarily from state funds, not local taxpayer funds. I find uh this representation interesting. So, state funding, the
081basic general formula, so what each student receives from the state of Minnesota uh department of education uh formula has not kept up with the state funding over the last 20 years. And so what this graph represents is um the basic formula allows the green line. And since 2003, you can see how that line has um gone up uh slightly uh over the last 20 years. And then the blue line is actual basic the formula if it would have kept up with inflation. And so there's a difference of $1,453 per pupil. You can uh I would call it napkin math. you can take even if it was $1,000 uh per pupil and the district had 2,000 um students, that's an additional $2 million that would have been uh funded to the school district had the formula
082kept up with inflation. Now that that is the case and we're receiving about $1,400 less per pupil because of that. oftent times local fees uh federal government funding and um local taxpayer levy is used to make up that difference. Uh next we will discuss the current uh 2526 school year budget. A highle fund accounting overview. So the school district is required to use fund accounting systems. So uh we account for different types of revenues and expenditures using six separate funds. Um note that the ones with asterisks uh do include a tax levy component which are only funds 1, four and seven. So the general fund, this encompasses all operating uh costs such as salaries, um textbooks, equipment, benefits, general fund dollars, fund one, food services, a standalone fund primarily and solely for the uh purpose
083of the nutrition programs uh including breakfast and lunch. Fund 4 is also a standalone fund. This is the community service fund. Uh these funds are specific to community education programs which the majority of uh are considered and funded by feebased programs. There is a small levy component in community service. Fund six is also a standalone fund in the event that we have building construction projects. one we spoke of one potential tonight and in the past the district has gone out for building construction projects as well. Fund 7 is the debt service fund and this is the fund that we uh use to pay principal and interest on outstanding bonds and then there's a handful of others. Uh just depends on what type of uh revenues and expenditures are in those funds. Uh are the main
084one that we're most um familiar with is the internal service fund and this has to do with self-funded health insurance or dental plans. This is the 2526 budget summary. Uh on the very left side you can see the different funds there that I just spoke about. Uh next to that is total revenues budgeted in each of those funds. uh following uh expenditures in each of those funds and then excess or deficit depending on total revenues and expense. Note this was the uh board approved budget that the board approved back in June 2025. Here is a graphical representation of revenues by source. Uh so it's a little bit small but uh the majority as I'd mentioned earlier comes from state aid. So 81% of our general fund revenue comes from state aid. The next uh biggest
085portion is 12% of our total revenue in the general fund and that comes directly from our local levy. 4% is federal and 3% is other. On a similar note, same graphical representation, but this is general fund expenditures by object code. And so the types of expenditures, uh the majority of our expense is uh in the form of salaries and wages in the general fund. So 54% of our expense comes from salaries and wages. Next uh is benefits which uh res represents 19% of the overall general fund uh expenditure budget. Next would be fees for service. So these are all fees that we would pay to outside vendors and contractors for uh fees andor services um fees for the services that they provide. Next is supplies. 4% of our overall general fund budget is in the
086form of supply expense. 3% is capital and then everything else is under other which is 1%. Next we will talk about the proposed property tax levy. Uh I like to pro provide this timeline. It is uh sometimes confusing. Uh but in the summer months, I work to compile all of the information that the state uh provides for preliminary levy calculations. In September, you all, I'm sure, recall the presentation of the preliminary levy. Uh in the certification by the school board, uh you can either certify a certain amount. Typically, uh in this case here in the district, we certify the max. If there were any referendum elections, those would be held in November. That could impact that preliminary levy here. We did not have that. And then we're having this meeting tonight. And then in 2026,
087property taxes are collected by counties and distributed to school districts. So taxpayers pay uh depending on the type of of um category but oftent times May and October and then we receive those funds in um June and July and November and December. The local property tax levy uh has statutodefined formulas. As I'd mentioned, um most if not all of the levy calculations are based on legislation, but here it's also driven by the number of students we have in the district. Um specifically any eligible expense types, the population within the district, any voter authorizations, and then the districtwide property valuation. So all of those components are taken into account um when determining the formulas and the calculations for our property tax levy. I can't make this bigger, so this is hard to see if you have
088it um available to you, but this is uh the Little Falls uh public school district proposed property tax levy. Uh it's the same uh information that we that I shared back in September. uh no amounts have since changed. Uh but we have a general fund category which is fund one at the top portion of that. We have a community service fund for portion which is the middle portion and then we have the debt service fund fund 7 which is the bottom. Overall, the property taxes are decreasing. Local levy uh property tax amount is decreasing just over $35,000, which is about a 5.24% decrease in the revenue that the district is receiving. Uh keep in mind that doesn't mean our taxpayers are going to see a a decrease potentially could see a decrease in their uh
089local school levy tax that they'll see on their statements or have seen on their statements most recently proposed. Uh it's just this is a reduction in our revenue that we're receiving from the local tax levy. Uh that $35,000 [snorts] [clears throat and cough] uh decrease has to do primarily with a decrease in the operating referendum and that's mainly due to the decline in enrollment. Uh long-term facilities maintenance. We see a decrease here of about $439,000. That um is actually a decrease on the local levy. It's offset by an increase in state aid on um the the basic formula. So, uh we are seeing our taxpayers uh results in savings on our local levy because the the state aid levy mix um component is a result of that. And then we're seeing an increase in the
090debt service of about $189,000. That's due to increased debt service payments on the school building bonds and the facility maintenance bonds that have matured. And so tonight, Michael talked about kind of that wraparound concept. This is what's happening here. We had um some older school building bonds and a long-term facilities maintenance bond that has matured and since paid off. So now we're going to pay that extra money towards the building bonds that remain. Uh I just talked a little bit about this but the percent in change to the tax levy doesn't necessarily equate to the percent in change in budgeted revenue. So me being that our tax levy is going down 5.24% that doesn't necessarily mean um either that our revenue andor our taxpayers are going to see a decrease. oftent times it's offset by
091a reduction in state aid meaning that it's no additional revenue to our school district. So there's some variabilities there depending on formulas. Uh and this is one of those formulas that I talked about the state equalization formula. So, property valuations in our district over time change valuation up or down. Um, and then dividing that by the the per student. The formula provides more state aid to districts with less property wealth per student. So, in our district, uh, having less property wealth supports more of our revenue coming from state aid versus the local levy. I thought this was in interesting information. So if you look at this, this is um the uh Little Falls Community School District property valuation percent increase over time. So if you look um from the left to the right, uh pay
0922018 all the way up to the estimated pay 26 on the right. And then there's two different components of property value. Referendum market value and net te net net tax capacity. I'll talk a little bit more about those in the next slides. But you can see in pay 2018 anywhere between 2 and a half to just under 3% increase in property valuations from year-over-year. You can see in pay 23 and 24 upwards to um 17% uh in those years. And so, uh, we can all attest, at least I can speak, I don't live in, um, the school district here, but I can attest that in 23 and 24, I received my property tax statement, and I was like, wow, [laughter] my home value went up a lot. Um, and now we're starting to see some
093of those valuations stabilize. Um, here is some information for our taxpayers. I like to refer them to this timeline. It's helpful even for myself as a reminder. So, we receive our u preliminary valuations in March of every year uh for the county taxes that are payable for the following year. And then in the spring and early summer, uh local and county boards um would review any appeals. So, if I were to get my tax statement and I think the valuation is not accurate, I would appeal that valuation. And in the spring and summer, the the counties and the um local boards review those uh challenges. In November, uh between the 10th and the 24th, we receive our mailed notices of the proposed uh property taxes. So, uh, within the last month, we all should have
094received our property tax statements as proposed, which are a reflection of the preliminary levy that we set in September. And then in March, March of 2026, we'll get that statement. It will say how much we owe and then we would pay depending on um our property tax um statements. This is what one would look like uh for taxes payable in 2026. This is just an example. Um but there's different sections within the proposed property tax statement. Oftent times uh the school districts if not all the time is the bottom section of our property tax uh statements. Uh I feel this is important information as well um on the appeal process. If we were to get a a property tax statement and we feel that the values are inaccurate, we would need to let uh the
095counties know um in that March, April time frame, there's uh specific steps to take to appeal uh both on the the front bottom half of the evaluation notice and then on the back side of that. So, we always want to make sure we're looking for this in the months of March. uh how our uh property taxes are calculated. So there's three components uh in the calculations or I should say three key variables. Uh the estimated market value. So that's determined by um the each parcel and by the uh assessor uh within the county. Um the property tax classification. So these are rates that are established by the state depending on the type of property and then the tax levy which is established by taxing jurisdictions like our ourselves the school the city the county townships
096and any other. So all of those variables uh are taken into consideration and the uh result would be property taxes that are due uh dividing the property tax pi. So property values don't necessarily rise uniformly as we saw in the previous slide with the different um increases over the last uh five or so years and the burden shifts um from taxpayers with lower increases to those that have higher increases. So overall, you have a property valuation in the district. Uh depending on if my property valuation goes up and Mark's goes down, um that that shifts, right? The more valuation he has, the more he pays, the less I pay. So a higher increase uh in your property valuation means that you would pay a larger piece of the property tax pie that's um calculated. And
097then when you you take into consideration still um the the portion of the pie that each of our uh taxpayers in the district would pay u our district uh taxes for payable 26. There's two different components. The net tax capacity that I talked about is just over 3 million. And this is most all property types pay on this, including any seasonal wreck, any agricultural um the the the majority of all types of properties and classifications would pay on this $3 million amount. Then there's the referendum market value. So this is less properties depending on the type of levy you have and that's about 2.5 million and this excludes any egg land and seasonal wreck properties. So depending on the type of levy and the type of property, there's different amounts, but overall the total levy
098amount that is being proposed tonight is 5,515,960. Uh we have seen uh this illustration in in previous uh board sessions and work sessions, but this is an estimated 2026 tax for a residential property home owner. Um there's different types of categories within the levy. Um on that left hand side you can see there's categorical levies which include our operating capital if we were um the long-term facilities maintenance community ed is considered categorical career and tech any leases that we might have levied for. Uh then we have board approved debt which is that I would say fluorescent green color and then we have um or board approved debt. So that would be board authorized debt. Then the next section is kind of that darker darker emerald green. That's any voter approved bonds or capital project levies.
099And then the the the bright blue is categorical levies that are eligible for board approval. So this would be our local optional equity and transition types of revenues. And then the bottom part is any voter approved operating referendums which we do have. So, you take all of those different components for an estimated school tax of about $542 for a residential home owner that has a home value of about $225,000. And then that 542 is broken up into those different categories. Whereas the majority of um this uh illustration they are uh paying the majority of the levy is going towards um the local optional equity and and transition uh revenue. Uh this would be an impact on a current taxpayer in the district with a valuation of about 7% [clears throat] which we at this point
100in time feel that property values have stabilized and 7% is a reasonable increase in valuation. I know it's small to see, but if we take that $225,000 uh residential home owner property valuation, their taxes for this current levy and what is being proposed would go down by about $27 uh for the year. So in this illustration again 7% value increase every category of um property type is seeing a decrease with this proposed levy here would be if there was 0% increase and this is just another example a 0% increase a residential home value would see around a 67 uh dollar decrease in their school t school district tax levy. for the page 26. Based on that, I would recommend that the board consider approving the levy amount at the 5,515,960, which again is the same
101as our preliminary levy that you approved. And I don't one public member here, but any questions, public comments, any questions? You don't count. [laughter] >> Oh, maybe you are to be another district president. >> You get the biggest opinion here. What do you mean? [laughter] >> All right. Any questions from the board for Heidi? >> I know it's a lot of information and just tax levy in general is a lot of detail. >> The goal would be that based on this proposal, our taxpayers should see a decrease in their school district tax levy. Okay. Well, hearing no questions. >> Okay. >> Thank you very much, Heidi. Um, [clears throat] so right into that then, we need a resolution to certify the tax le. So, I'll hand it over to you, Sharon. >> Resolution for proposed
1022025 payable and 2026 tax levy. So, nicely described to us. Now therefore, be it resolved the school board of independent school district number 42, Little Falls, Minnesota, that the lead be certified in 2025 to be collected in 2026 is to be set at 5,515,960. Um, need a second? >> I'll second it. >> We have a second on the floor. Any discussion? >> Hearing none, roll call vote. Doug, >> yes. >> Mark, >> yes. >> Julie, >> yes. >> Dan, >> yes. >> Kelsey, >> yes. and myself is yes and that passes. >> Thank you. Any other business to come before the board? Hearing none and motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> All right. I have a motion by Sharon, second by Dan. All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you guys. Save tomorrow.