001e e e I'll call the meeting to order please stand and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance I to the flag of the United States of America and to the rep for it stands one nation godible andice for all thank you all right we have the good news report to start us off DE not just one good news report but in keeping with all the great news going on in the district we have two so uh I will invite some friends to come forward with me here and we will get started with the first portion for more than 30 years now hundreds of parent volunteers have stepped up to raise funds to support our activities at three high schools recently of course adding the fourth High School uh through something we call President Bowl
002since 1991 actually a nonprofit corporation has been established and has been supporting our students coaches and activities primarily with an annual football game pairing matchups of Mount Rushmore proportions between the presidents bearing the school's names those Washington Lincoln Roosevelt and now Jefferson of course and in 2023 a new event was added a basketball game and so they continue to grow fundraising efforts and uh continue to seek out the support of our community in our Public Schools so Chris Maxwell is assisting in our presiden B efforts Cassie Markman is this year's current president is that right yeah exciting so I'm going to have them step to this Podium and we're just going to do a little Q Anda with them so that you can be informed of the things that are happening with president's po um
003first of all tell us a little bit about what's happening right now in the planning and preparation of president's po perfect and thank you for having us uh so this is really uh planning and kickoff time so you know the fall is is when uh the activities are happening so that's when most people are seeing the the fall and the winter now uh the football and the basketball activities but this is when we're actually the fundraising pieces are kicking off the committee so the committee is made up of representatives from all of the different schools all the athletic directors are part of the committee as well uh Casey Miley and uh others uh are a part of it also and so this is that push of the fundraising efforts and reaching back out to the
004wonderful support from the community um uh but also all the Planning by the committee so uh every school breaks off into committees and they take on certain efforts you know one's in charge of the tailgating and the security and everything in those spaces um one group handles the social media and the website and all of the pr related things um just all the activities that go on and it literally takes hundreds it does yeah Cassie tell us a little bit about how did you land the presidency of this group and whyton um I was the treasur for Roosevelt for the last two years and Mr Moore and our president at on our booster club have seen how much I've done for our football team and for our school as it is and said that it
005be a great position for this and I said yes thank you thank you it benefits our boys and and our school and our kids and our all the fundage that comes back to Rosevelt benefits every child right so you have um you were telling me the money is divided up I mean we're not just talking Sports here we're talking all booster club activities so this is music uh drama um best buddies a a variety of activities and at Roosevelt we provide we are1 shirts for every student in that school so the booster club and a good sponsor of Arts in the community provide a t-shirt for every single kid in that school so they don't have to buy a T-shirt If they don't have the fundage for it um so that presence B Money helps
006even children that aren't in sports or um Athletics or any thing to outside of extracurricular um we do a lot for inside the school with our booster cob money that is with our pres Bol as well and I know the other schools do that as well sure so we really rely a lot on this presence bow to help our students absolutely and that basketball game is one uh example of how you're sort of growing the the opportunities available for uh fundraising yeah and the I mean the goal is to have all of the different activities involved and and they are involved with all of the fundraising um you know we've talked about the basketball event was the first time last year that we we have done that uh we learned a lot and we'll continue
007with that and you know the goal is I know we've had uh cheer camps in the past we do a youth youth basketball tournament and we really have a vision of growing and expanding all of those into different activities and different ways to get all of the district and as many students involved as possible and we're near reaching a milestone of of fundraising I think I saw on the website do you have a number you want to talk about how much youve you've raised over all yeah well so so this year um uh uh this last year we gave away $35,000 to each School the year before was uh $31,500 so each year we're just looking to continue to build and grow that and all these activities have really allowed us to do that awesome
008and they are approaching about $2 million in the funds they've raised how can people support president's bll yeah well uh I would say uh two key two key ways are uh please give and support our efforts they'll be our regular letters and Outreach and emails that are be going that will be going out um but then buy tickets um that really is a big part of the effort buy tickets and come to the events these really are about creating great atmosphere and environment for the kids and having the community come together and the final piece is we always need a lot of volunteers lot of volunteers you want to make a plug for the volunteers the other thing too um there is a lot of students in our community that can't afford a ticket so
009there is an option to purchase volunte purchase tickets for students so if say you want to donate 200 tickets to a particular school you can reach out to each school on their um go bound site and buy tickets for students it's a big thing in Roosevelt that we want all of our students to be able to go but there is a good percentage Citywide that students aren't able to go so y i i urge people if they want to have a n a donation that's a great I was also going to add on that front we do provide discounted tickets for the students as the school year starts so there's a half off kind of days that are at the school and so trying to get as many kids the opportunity to get there and
010also those if we can have some ticket angels be a part of the process uh wonderful well we know it's a lot of work and thank you for stepping up to take leadership in that and for all of the ways you're reaching out into the community as well thank you from us uh the school district is such a wonderful partner uh all the facilities all the planning the athletic directors and all of their work in all of it it is a true partnership awesome they do great work Bor do you have any questions or anything you'd like to say no I would just add thank you uh I I remember the president's bow when I was a student at Roseville High School a few years ago um it was fun then and it's fun now
011and it's really grown in into something that's really more of like a community event even if you don't have somebody that's playing or performing at halftime or whatever it's still a great time to to just come out and be a part of our community so I'm also going to plug put a plug in I'm guessing if there were any business sponsors you guys would be more than happy to entertain those offers as well so there's lots of ways to to get involved as an individual as a family or even as a business sponsor so um every dollar really does make a difference presidents bow.com you can check it out become a sponsor and get involved awesome thank you guys so much our them is set September 14th so if you guys you'll have your calendars
012come out in September 14th perfect thank you so much thank [Applause] you and Dr St will'll take it from here every now and then I get to do the good news report what maybe once a year I think I get the mic well this one is is a unique um continuation kind of of some things that we have heard and thought about before and we have some really good news to report as a result of kind of the thinking and collaboration that has taken place in the interim so I'm going to give just a little bit of an overview of kind of how this has has come to be and then I'm going to invite some speakers up um to help me with the good news report and so if you remember um a few
013months ago we had uh some of our same friends visit us because there's a special place that is referred to as ninth and Grange and this is also an area that came to be known as Lincoln Park and there was um some concern that that space was maybe going to be developed into something other than what it has been for that neighborhood for many years um which has been a space that's provided somewhat of a of a green space Maybe maybe where people don't have availability with a yard or other places to go and it's become a beloved area for them at the same time this is also a district property that once was home to a school and then was cleared off and as we know as the city continues to grow that undeveloped
014space becomes an important asset that that may become important to The District in future years and so it was important to the board and to our district leaders that we retain ownership of that and so we were kind of at a point where we said well we're not we're not selling it um the neighborhood was interested in doing something the city has some other priorities and so this wasn't emerging as a priority so through some uh additional thinking and conversations right about at the right time I happened to find a a example of a of a great Concept in another part of the world even and when I saw it I thought wow this might be just the right thing for how we can all come together and maybe make this work for everybody so
015what we're going to talk a little bit about um in the next few minutes is just the partnership that we have developed around this unique space moving forward and so um we're going to be collaborating to do enhancements things that will add value to this space add value to the neighborhood while still retaining a space that at some point could be redeveloped or um maybe change purposes with the school district in the future but in the meantime we have a great partnership with our city parks and recs they're part of this our neighborhood partners and we have some Anonymous donors who are already interested in providing some financial help um depending on what those enhancements become we have um some folks who are willing to help us just with the expertise and then um our
016school district and our neighborhood School and I'll talk just a little bit about that because that's one of the items that I think is kind of the best part of this outcome so some of the themes that underly the work that we've been doing now to think about this um in collaboration with this entire group is that we know that this is a space that is a place for all ages to enjoy together and that's been a deeply held value we know that we want a place that's safe and enjoyable and if we are opportun IC and strategic we can also involve our students in some of the thinking and planning around this we know that we also want it to be um adaptable we know that when these types of spaces are close to
017schools it can be used for Outdoor Learning which is a really big emerging theme in our district and we we also think there are some really unique intergenerational opportunities available with the existing community garden spaces and our neighborhood friends will talk I'm sure a little bit about that we also think um that it's important that we kind of revision maybe something that's vacant or underused and bring enhancements to the whole Community please notice my picture that might go along with the flexible theme there yeah thank you um and the gardening really um looking at some great ways that we can partner with what's already happening in that space we also think there are some things we can do for more playable spaces and enhancing some things um where our families want to spend time together
018for maybe a little longer and then just looking at how how can we just use the space better what are some other ideas that our neighborhood friends have for um what we could do to make it even better than it already is and so the student voice is um part of what we are adding to this and we just happen to have the perfect teacher um at Axel Park and she is here tonight raise your hand rysa this is Risa jungling and she already is known for her plants and her outdoor uh education that she does with our students and she is a willing partner and is already really excited about um being kind of the missing link that we've added to this partnership and so um councilman nart is here he was part of
019the city um work around this the mayor and we all just had some really good conversations that have led to this and so um shared ownership um involving our kids to be connected with the neighborhood and to maybe give them a way to connect with people in a new way for how they contribute how they are part of things and how they can uh get a greater sense of belonging and I don't want to go to my last slide and I think the next one is the last slide and so um that's kind of where we are we're really excited about this and so I'm going to call up the following people and they're going to expand on this just a little bit Greg nart Jennifer Johnson keckler Sarah Hansen Bob Dinka Mary glensky and
020Laura Roi are all going to um tell you a little bit more from our neighborhood partnership perspective good evening School Board uh Greg ner former city counselor and proud father of a Rosevelt high school student just a few weeks off the council I I'm really grateful to the sual school district and the school board and especially superintendent stavam for uh making this opportunity possible thank you for for all of your advocacy and the discussions the district could have easily just said no and just left it at that uh but instead the superintendent proposed the idea that the school district the neighborhood work together to do uh this project and it's something that I think will benefit children families um all generations and the students um in the district I attended the first meeting and what
021I was really impressed about was Dr staven brought this for forward and she was excited about it I mean she was really pumped um this isn't something that was just a grudging hey we'll give you something this is something that she's really really engaged in and and it was really gratifying to witness that underserved neighborhoods need opportunities like this for play and Recreation they have such small yards they just don't have that that space and this is just something that can be a win-win for everybody um and so I think it it's just great for for everybody uh that's involved it's going to be great to see this partnersh ship uh as it goes forward and I'm going to be excited to see what happens from it and once again uh thank you for making
022this opportunity possible it's really going to make a a huge huge difference we make big differences with with little things um not just big buildings but little things like this where we just work together and we can change lives so it's really exciting thank you when I first moved to sou Falls in 1965 people from our neighborhood had an elementary school at Lincoln they had a middle school at Axel Park and they had Washington High School downtown obviously there have been a few changes since then uh certainly the city has benefited from the Washington Pavilion I think that there are other benefits that have come up from changes of program at axo park and I think that we now now are embarking on a newer change that will benefit the whole neighborhood and is definitely
023appreciated so just wanted to say thank you for the fact that we're going to be having more utilization of a space that's been uh vacant lot for some time except for the uh the gardens that are at the uh at the top of the hill hope to save space for the kites that we used to fly there so put the trees on the sides and then they won't be a problem but thank you it is appreciated common spaces like the green space at Ninth and Grange go towards a lot towards Community Building uh common spaces where people can civically and civil get together and exercise their duties as citizens of a community are of the utmost importance importance to making sure that you have a community functions and works well together uh the inner areas
024of sou Falls frequently get overlooked in this from the standpoint that they're they are so densely populated without a lot of space for CH people and children to gather and play the space at Ninth and Grange has been a vital part of this community since the 1800s in fact one of the first uh schools in this town was at the ninth and Grange space and it was designed by Wallace da who was is the most significant architect in sort of our Town's history um that building is no longer there but we still have the space and I thank the superintendent I thank the board I thank the city for continuing to make the space available for children for adults for the entire Community to work together and to make a space that truly serves the
025entire population thank you very much uh like Greg niser said I too was at the first meeting and uh superintendent stav you showed great leadership and you've been at all the following meetings you've put a ton of time into this thank you it means a lot to our neighborhoods we live in a very densely populated neighborhood with a lot of children a lot of families and everyone loves this space and now they get to continue to enjoy it so thank you so much we really appreciate you evening I'm Sarah Hansen I've had two Lincoln grads and I have two boys that'll be at Patrick this fall and I also have those same two boys that spend a lot of time at the Green Space so this has been a top priority for my family and
026um I am super excited to been a part of this journey from the beginning and now to see it come to fruition in a committee that's coming together in a most unique partnership I would say um with school district um leadership with also teachers from the district with folks from our neighborhood and people from the city um you're pretty much getting all aspects coming together um to promote this green space that's so important to us and I'm really looking forward to seeing what can be accomplished there might not seem like a big space in terms of real estate but it's big um in our community and I I'm really excited for what the superintendent um has spearheaded here I I'm happy to be able to work with her um as our neighbors have already put
027forth a myriad of ideas that they would like to see um and it'll be exciting to see which of those can be utilized and um and really put forth and and make our community um all the more enjoyable not only just garden and and being able to provide for folks um not only working and coming together but also a place to play um we talked also with our neighbors about what kind of a name we want to to bring to this green space and one that kind of percolated to the top and made the most sense was uh Lincoln Commons and it's it's referred to as a space where surrounding neighborhoods can come together and enjoy the natural resources that are there and I don't think anything else quite epitomizes um the space at Ninth
028and grain quite like a common because it is really where we can come together um as one and enjoy that space so I want to be able to thank the superintendent for her leadership in this for the board in their support in this and the other um acting partners that we have going forward on our steering committee and with that I will turn it back over to the superintendent thank you thank you well I want to thank all of them it's been a real Joy so far to to meet and to start envisioning this and so uh from here to forward we will refer to this as Lincoln Commons where our Focus will be on honoring the past enjoying the present and preserving for the future so thank you all for coming yeah thank you
029all I know Dr sa has been really excited about this project so it's fun to see um some of the ideas and people who have participated um and we can all probably agree that our kids need to be outside playing more so what a great opportunity for them to have that designated space so thank you all for coming tonight I told them they could leave too we're used to that we're used to that all right can I please get a motion and a second for approval of the minutes for the meeting held on May 13 2024 so move second I have a motion in a second all those in favor signify by saying I I I oppos saying sign the meeting the minutes are approved we have one person who would wish who wishes to
030address the school board on a non-agenda item somebody time for me good so Amy if you want to come forward um and just tell us your name and address please and you'll have five minutes I think I got it okay thank you good evening uh my name is Amy Bruner and I'm here today to address the recent us Department of Education proposed changes to Title 9 regulations which may have a significant implication for our school district as a concerned parent within the community I'd like to understand how the sou fall School District intends to address these developments the title 9 rule change expands the definition of sex discrimination to include various factors such as sex stereotypes sexual orientation and gender identity furthermore it mandates school policy changes related to access to facility ities do process
031protections for students accused of sexual misconduct and the use of preferred pronouns by teachers and students while these changes are slated to take effect on August 1 of 2024 it's important to note that there are legal challenges filed Across the Nation against the changes including requests for preliminary injunctions which may delay the implementation of the rules for some time a May 8th press release from Governor chrisy nome's office confirmed that South Dakota has joined one of the lawsuits against the United States Department of education in the letter dated May 2nd South Dakota Department of Education Secretary Dr Joe Graves advised South Dakota school districts not to comply with the revised Title 9 rule or change their policy pending This legal challenge the letter says and I quote the South Dakota Department of Education is concerned
032about these changes for several reasons notably the this places Title 9 regulations in direct opposition to state law some Provisions impinge upon First Amendment rights due process guarantees and the rights of parents as the first and primary educators of their children definitions of sex-based harassment have been expanded to include gender identity due to misapplication of a United States Supreme Court opinion and funding your District relies on is now threatened to ensure compliance unquote Dr Graves ends the letter by asking that South Dakota school districts refrain from change in and implementing policies to reflect these rules as a parent I'm deeply concerned about the potential implications of these changes on women and girls are constitutional protections and fundamental parental rights it is essential that parents are fully informed and involved in decisions that affect their children's
033schooling experience as such I would appreciate any information that you can provide regarding how title n has been handled within our school district up to this point in addition I would like to ask what changes have been proposed or may be considered by The District in response to the proposed rule change transparency and open communication are crucial in addressing these issues I urge the school board to closely monitor these developments and consider the potential impact on our students staff and educational programs it's crucial to ensure that any change is made two school policies are transparent respectful of parental rights and in the best interest of all students and tonight after we get done I'll um forward you a copy of my um talking notes with my email and if I could get some response on
034that I would really appreciate what what you all are considering doing going forward so thank you thank you you want me to turn off okay we have nobody wishing to address us on any agenda items can I get a motion in a second to approve the agenda please don't move second I have a motion in a second all those in favor signify by saying I I oppose say sign the agenda is approved we do not have any conflicts of interest this evening can I get a motion in a second to approve the consent agenda 9A through H please so move I have a motion and a second all those in favor signify by saying I I I oppose same sign that is approved the supplemental consent agenda um a one and two can I get
035a motion in a second please so moved I have a motion in a second all those in favor signify by saying I I oppose same sign that motion passes with one exstension from myself and the reports of the superintendent tonight two things um the first one is a really important uh part of our year and one that both Human Resources as well as Dr boyon and her staff give a lot of time and attention to and really it happens all through the year but then we also do kind of an intentional end of the year thing because we know that part of our district priorities is recruiting and retaining and this a a big part of both recruitment because as we bring people to our district we talk about the benefits that we have with
036many of the things that Dr boyon will cover but then we also go back around and say did those things that we provided to you work and does that cause you to want to stay in continue teaching and continue teaching in our district and so um she'll provide an overview of kind of what that looks like now at the end of the year right thank you good evening tonight um as Dr stum said I'm here to give you an update on the new hire Academy on boarding new teachers and then the feedback That We Gather at the end of the year and that falls in um the district priority areas of academic success and staff Excellence really making sure that we prioritize recruiting and retention for educators to make sure that we maintain that consistency
037of um insu Falls and have great educ ators in all our classrooms the Cornerstone of our efforts is the new hire Academy and the new hire Academy is a comprehensive program designed to support and Empower new teachers as they begin their career in the sual school district um that new hire experience starts with the HR department throughout the summer they offer multiple opportunities so it fits the new hire schedule to come in they meet with them they get some onboarding um done this year pick up their technology device at that meeting so that way when they start with us in August at that new hire session um that new hire kickoff it's August 12th this year um that they're ready to go and Jump Right In and that new hire Academy continues throughout the school
038year and with after school sessions to support um the teachers with different curricular areas um the curriculum that specialize that they specialize in we have effective teaching strategies student engagement s um sessions um our Kagan strategies technology is a big piece how do we help them with um with canvas with our view boards the audio enhancement systems and everything else that supports great teaching and learning and then our diverse learnings where special education e gifted all of the other um um people to help support and then self-care how do they take care of themselves as they they going through the year and throughout that new Academy we equip them with the tools and the knowledge they need to Excel and Foster a strong sense of community within our district and we don't stop there um
039we approximately April Becky dman and I invite the new hires to come in and we just want to have a conversation with them and it's a great time for us to talk to them ask questions take their feedback what was great what could we do better next year and then really have that great listening to be able to um move forward and so during that time we support the teachers but we provide them that opportunity to give us that feedback so one question we ask is what supports benefited you as a new teacher in the sual school district and we heard that relationships is a big one and it's relationships with other teachers across the district and they know coming into the sufal school district and they're a part of that new higher Academy they
040might get to know if I'm a middle school math teacher other Middle School Math teachers across the district and they have something in common because they both started at the same time Elementary same thing High School same thing and we see cohorts of teachers that become lifelong friends and they remain um friends across the district but throughout their career and so that was one of them and resources they appreciate the resources that are available to them whether it's um the technology resources or maybe it's somebody that can um answer questions with specialized Behavior special education IEP paperwork all of those different resources that they didn't have access to in another district and then we have um scheduled time with the instructional coach they valued that time with the coach whether it's um building curriculum co-
041teing co-planning um just someone to listen you know we say that coach is the mentor their um support and then also a great listening ear and classroom observations they wanted more we give them the opportunity to go out and observe another classroom with that instructional coach and so that was a they just learned so much from seeing another person teach and being in that environment but then having those conversations of what they saw and maybe what they um Can Implement within their new classroom what advice would you give to Future teachers making sure that you value those relationships with veteran teachers and not hesitating to ask questions um and next one seek out opportunities make sure that you have confidence in your ideas and ability to seek out opportunities for observation and learning and then
042reminder to trust colleagues and yourself and embrace those interactions with veteran teachers new teachers and also the administrators they're there to help and support you and um once they know that if we come in walk into your classroom we're there just really to see what the kids are doing but then how can we help support them too and then what do you most value um what was most valuable professional learning the positive experiences with the curriculum um the resource sharing and the coaching Cycles in a coaching cycle is when um we talk about and plan an area that you want to work on maybe it's in the area of writing so we talk about it and then I coach you through that we watch you we observe we see the growth that students make and
043it's really about the growth of the students and so we have the outcomes and that was one of the things that was they're positive and then co-planning and co- teing you know so let's plan a lesson you teach I teach you watch I watch um so they really valued those things because that helped them to grow as a teacher and then what surprised you the most about the year and it was witnessing the significant growth of the students and so think about your first year teaching and realizing how much growth those kiddos are going to have from the beginning to the end and just um the excitement that they see um in their students and then the variety of needs from everything from Early Childhood all the way up to um plus 21 of just
044those varied needs and then the um different support with bilingual students and families and the support that they receive on the ability to communicate with those families so great great things happening in the sou fall School District I have some fun pictures here um pictures of collaboration pictures of coaching um co- teing and just student interaction so at all levels and then we always end the year with a celebration because we start with a new hire event at Jefferson and we end and this was a new hire celebration where they're sharing stories and talking and celebrating and it really takes them out of the um the school setting so that way they can say yes I want to come back everything was donated but then how can we come back and I'm appreciated for what
045I do we want them to come back the second year it's a big piece of recruit recruiting and retention so with that um we're committed to cultivating and retaining outstanding Educators the new high higher Academy Fosters Community among new staff while supporting professional growth we value the feedback from our new teachers and remain dedicated to Gathering their insights to ensure we are meeting the needs of our newest Educators and with that I will stand by for any questions and ask you to acknowledge the report anybody have any comments or questions I'm assuming you got some feedback on things that could be better do you remember anything specifically that maybe they said they would like more of or didn't work as well as they would have liked it or expected it to sorry to put you
046on the spot no um they did of course like I said the one thing can we go out and visit the classroom more um and more time to collaborate with others you know because the new hire all those events are after school but that's intentional um because we can have all there at that point and we can't just pull a select few um and then Becky do you remember any other yeah yeah yeah I think time is such a challenge with in your in your in your normal kind of class day and then while the time is over like you're tired and you have stuff to do for the next day so then to think about having to give up more of that time is is a challenge for everybody no matter what your job
047is right um but for teachers who are with you know 20 to 30 people all day long to try to kind of refocus so I can see how that would be a challenge that's really hard to overcome and they really value the time again with teachers from across the district because um I learn from you just by your experiences that your building are different than mine just just the way it is at or grade levels too yeah and I think even with technology the way it is you can maybe save on some Transportation time or things like that and do um more remote or virtual ual types of learning that again the time factor of at least making it more efficient than um before but yeah great um how many people were in the are
048in the academy all of them right so all new hires so we have a hundred typically 150 to 175 new hires and we say new hire because I could be a five-year teacher coming in from someplace else and they're included in that too because um that way they get to know the suul school district staff and how how we support them awesome I love the the end of the year event I mean I feel like that's something new I don't know if we've been doing that for a while it is new I think what a great way to kind of come back together again and reflect on the first year and um just celebrate that you made it yeah too yeah y thank you all right can I get a motion in a second to
049acknowledge the new hire onboarding and first year Reflections report please so moved second I have a motion in a second all those in favor signify by saying I I oppose same sign that passes and next is Mr V with our 2025 opt out that he will go through the board thank you so this goes this goes back to following the plan that was developed in 2019 when we called the finance Action Network I think their first time we met with them was in 2006 maybe and then around 2011 or 12 then we recall a group of another group and a lot of these people were on from the beginning some some are new but here's here's who was on that um they're they're they're Financial they're business folks and they're they're financially inclined so Sarah
050Anderson shamans was on Jason Ball from the chamber Keith Severson and I'm from the audit firm of V Bailey Bob timan he was the CFO for ramota since then he's been the he's been the president I think ramod too bet Becky whitrock uh from Geotech we're on there along with Dr Maher Doug Morrison and myself and so we met and we did what the the group always does we review our financials the district financials um compare ourselves to other school districts in the state and others nationally and then they come up with some recommendations for the board and we've kind of been following those ever since so this is what uh these are some of the conclusions that came up I'm not going to read all those but uh that that opt out was crucial
051to current funding it was 7 half million do opt out was going away in a few years and it was like okay we have to we you can't afford a 7 half million cut to your budget they also determined that we the districts have been fiscally conservative and we only use the portion of the opt out that that we need and they can't they uh suggested a 10year amount of funding at that time about $15 million um in opt out capacity is reasonable to maintain the opt out used at a constant five or just over 5% of the budget while also maintaining uh maintaining a 2% contingency for the district they so our fund balance had been in the sevens the the year they met and that's where we're going to be next year even
052with all the op we're doing so there isn't really any room in your budget to go much further than that so if something happens where your state gives an 88.6% cut like it did in 2013 or something like that you got to have you got to have some flexibility and that's what they're talking about here um and then uh they also then came up with this opt out lading approach instead of opting out for7 A5 million dollar and then after it expires in 10 years you go again and you know it is it's not guaranteed so instead of risking S5 million dollars in a year they said start at one and a half and like lad at like a CD go up and do it for 10 years and then the next year do you
053know inflate it we've been going up 100,000 a year which maybe seems like a lot on 1.5 million but not on 15 million it's it's not very much of a of a of a of an increase so um anyway that that was their their final recommendation was to ladder um ladder the opt out instead of having we had two big amounts they were looking at a 7 and a half million which is now gone and a $5 million one which was still in and they said get away from that to do it every year with smaller amounts so here's what we've done since then um we we were utilizing the $5 million opt out pass in 2017 until it expires at the end of two 2027 we've done the annual opt out I just talked
054about starting in for 2020 um up through this year at 1.5 million and then increasing at $100,000 a year or yeah 100,000 a year so it's at 1.9 million right now and then for 2024 we built our budget with uh with uh 11 million in the in the we we had 11 we opted out for 11 million last year even though 13.1 was available that's for the current year we're in that's going away and uh What uh we're re we recommended through the budget process this year was follow continue to follow the recommendation of the finance Action Network and opt out for 2 million last year was 1.9 opt out for 2 million beginning with taxes payable in 202 25 and continuing through 2034 it's a 10e opt out and then as part of the
055budget process we had in our plan to go up to 11.5 million from 11 in 2025 so that's already built into the budget um that is not that that is not anything new as far as this goes so I just say that this opt out is to to replace that this opt out we're doing tonight is part of this lading approach to replace that 5 million opt out which is going off in a few years so and we went we went through this in the budget but it's always good to remind people of our us and our neighbors there's 11 school districts were we were the third lowest um property tax rate on on houses and so that's kind of those are those our neighbors in there so finally uh the administrative Rec recommendation is
056to approve the following resid solution you can read it on there is those words are required by the by they're in state law so there's no there's no changing things or whatever are correc in the grammar that's the way that's the way it reads in in uh the state so I we I'd ask for you to approve the resolution you have in your materials and everybody can see on the screen anybody have any questions or comments interesting artwork selected time oh I used that one before I just uh changed the words um I think my only question would be it's now been five years since the the finance Action Network met and a lot of things have changed in five years is there a plan to get a group of people I mean some of
057those people are no longer in sou Falls but is there a plan Planned next date that we are looking at yeah I mean so what was what would spur in the old in the olden days like 10 years ago we would uh we would uh bring them together as we saw an opt out expiring in a couple of years so we've been using their approach this latter approach just every year just small opt outs so sometime yeah you want to bring a group like that together give just haven't had the um you know the the key the the accelerant to cause that because we' just been following what what they recommended and and uh we knew the five we knew the $5 million one was was going off in a few years but we've been
058building through that with with with this lading approach so that's what something the board wishes that's certainly something we can do we just haven't had the you know the kick in the pants to do it because we're just lattering our our deals we don't have a big one coming off that we haven't already planned for right yeah and I I I think that that's appropriate I just was thinking sometimes with all of that we've been through with covid dollars and all you know State funding and all that it might be nice to meet when you don't have to so that you can have a little bit of clarity and planning and being creative versus feeling like we got we got to fix this because in two years this is going to happen or whatever so
059I I think that their approach has been very helpful and it's been we've seen the benefits of of doing what we have been doing um so it's not that we're doing anything wrong or need to change I just think sometimes it's nice to revisit especially if it's been five years to just get a fresh set of eyes and say should we continue down this path or is there any creative way that we could look at this sure it's a good idea anything else do you want me to read the whole thing no I think no I don't think we read these oh we have to print in the paper twice too so and you've had it and it's been out on our website now for over 24 hours so okay with that then if there's
060no further comments can I get a motion and a second to approve the opt out resolution so move second I have a motion and a second all those in favor signify by saying I I I oppose same sign that is passed anything else to come before the board no if not can I get a motion in a second to move into executive session seccl 1-2-2 parentheses 2 I have a motion and a second we will move into executive session thank you