001We'll call to order the special meeting of the school board for Tuesday, July 29th, 2025. Uh our first order of business is the pledge of allegiance. We'd invite you to stand as able. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> 1A, our school board meeting norms. Mr. Manley, >> be prepared. Be on time. Value and respect each other. Exercise thoughtful and deliberation and conversation. Be professional at the board table and when visiting with the general public. Speak up when the norms are not being followed. And advocate on behalf of students and keep the community in mind. Thank you. Under two, superintendent's recommendations for action 2A is our consent agenda. I would
002seek a motion for approval of the consent agenda as outlined in your board packet. >> It's been moved by Mr. Palmino. Is there a second? Second. >> A second by Dr. Lun. We'll take a roll call vote. >> Manley, >> yes. >> Anderson, >> yes. >> Hodak, >> yes. >> Cleven, >> yes. >> Larson is absent. Pomacino, >> yes. >> Flynn, >> yes. >> Lun, >> yes. >> Burger, >> yes. >> H. Yes. Zero. No. One absent. >> Motion passes. 2B. Schoolboard committees and community liaison appointments for 2025 2026. As you can see, as outlined in your memo, Dr. Brener and I met, took your various uh pieces of information into consideration and did our best work uh for both committee appointments and the community and building liaison assignments for this upcoming year. Uh we
003also have, as you notice, uh the desire to have a schoolboard member from district 1 at each of our monthly beatings meetings on the air force base and so that is outlined as well. Um, Dr. Brener and I would stand for any questions. Otherwise, uh, the administrative recommendation and my recommendation is to approve these committee and community leaison appointments for the Grand Fork school board members for the fiscal year upcoming as presented. So, any questions from board members? >> Yeah, I got one. >> Yes, Mr. Cleven. >> The pending is for what? take that. >> Yep. That would be for >> is for what? >> District 140. >> Okay. >> Um those appointments. >> Thank you. >> Great question. Appreciate the opportunity to clarify that. Any further questions from board members. Before I seek this
004recommendation, I just want to thank uh all of our board members uh for uh their work on these appointments. These are extra meetings, extra preparation, and we don't often get to pause and uh and highlight that. Um so much appreciation in advance for the work you all are about to do. With that, I would seek a motion to approve the committee and community leaison appointments as outlined in your packet. It's been moved by Mr. Manley. Is there a second? A second by Mr. Anderson. Is there any further discussion? We'll take a roll call vote. >> Lun? >> Yes. >> Pomicino? >> Yes. >> Flynn? >> Yes. >> Anderson? >> Yes. >> Cleven? >> Yes. >> Manley? >> Yes. >> Larson is absent. Hodak. >> Yes. >> Burger. >> Yes. >> HS0. No. One absent. >>
005Motion passes. 2C. This is the appointment of behavioral health and wellness director Dr. Glatch. >> Thank you, Chair Burgerer. As you can see in your packet, there's a recommendation to approve and to welcome back Dr. Amy Gayard to Grand Forks Public Schools as the new behavioral health and wellness director um effective August 4th. So, currently Dr. Gayard is working at the University of Mary as the um as an assistant professor and the internship supervisor for the counseling department. And prior to that, she had 13 years of counseling experience, 12 right here in Grand Forks Public Schools. So, she knows our district well. She helped craft some of the crisis plans that we are still um using today and we are really going to tap into her expertise to make sure that we continue the great
006services that we have and um continue to develop additional services around mental um health and wellness. So you can see in the packet that there was a comprehensive interview team. Um both Matt and I were on that. the director of special education, special education process facilitator, a school psychologist, a school counselor, and a district social worker, which are many members of the broader behavioral health team. Um, so the recommendation is to approve um the hiring of Dr. Amy Gayert for the 2526 school year at a salary of $19,594. And please take any questions at this time. >> Questions for Dr. Glatch, Dr. L. So, does she just get added into the director grid and stuff? >> That is correct. >> Thank you. >> Other questions from board members? >> Yes, Miss Flynn. >> Is this
007the salary that to piggy back off to Dr. Lond, is this the salary that she'll start with or does is she offered this and then when the school year starts, she'll get the increase. This includes the increase as my understanding. Yes. Thank you. >> Other questions for Dr. Glatch? >> Oh, we have a motion to hire Dr. Amy Gerard uh for 2526 school year. The salary 104594 5,000 education factor total of 109594. That motion by Miss Flynn. Is there a second? Second. >> Second by Mr. Cleven. Is there any further discussion? We'll take a roll call vote. >> Hodak, >> yes. >> Cleven, >> yes. >> Manley, >> yes. >> Larson is absent. Flynn, >> yes. >> Lun, >> yes. >> Anderson, >> yes. >> Pomonicino, >> yes. >> Burger, >> yes. >> H, yes.
008Zero, no. One absent. >> Motion passes. 2D, compensation recommendation for chief academic officer. Dr. Briner. >> Thank you, President Berger. Uh, in front of you, you have uh four memos. I'll be taking you through uh the first of four and this is for Chief Academic Officer Amy Bart. And um these these conversations are a little bit different because uh the four individuals I'm talking about tonight are not represented by any group. Um but they're uh they negotiate individually uh for each other. So um for themselves, excuse me. So for uh Amy Bart, I'm just going to provide a little context and clarification uh regarding why some of the numbers are different uh in some of the memos. uh for Miss Bartch uh the the request is for a 5% increase in year one, 3% increase
009in year two. And the rationale for um for us going a little bit higher with uh with Miss Bart is she has a more active role in our superintendent meetings uh that happen every Monday. Uh now it's going to be every Tuesday. She has a more active role in schoolboard meetings and presentations and with the be legendary work that we've done around uh academic achievement. uh and it move moves her closer to um equitable pay in terms of positions comparable to hers across the state. Uh when I say across the state, I'm really talking about the large largest six school districts. She was quite a ways uh behind some of the others. So uh so that's the uh rationale behind the 5% 3% uh for for Miss Bart. So in year one, you can see
010uh everything has been outlined in terms of what the base is uh the percentage of increase uh and then the education factor. So in year 1 it's 153,580. Uh in year two uh with the base pay of uh 15583926 plus her education factor brings her total to 158,3982. I'd respectfully seek approval for the above recommended compensation for chief academic officer Amy Barch for the 202526 school year and the 2627 school year as well. Thank you. questions for Dr. Brener, Dr. L. >> I don't know if it's Dr. Brener or Brandon or somebody else, but I know in the past we've we've we've done compensation surveys about, you know, where do people sit in various job descriptions and I just can't remember how long ago we did that for the director kinds of groups or is
011there a cadence that we're going to every 3 years we're going to do some some surveying and look at what what what does the athletic director do, what does buildings and grounds do? I'm just curious where where we are with that. Thank you. I'll go ahead and take the first swing. Actually, uh, business manager Vombach presented me with, uh, information from the other large school districts u because the business managers actually collate that information. So, uh, it's all based on the 2425 actual, uh, that we're comparing to. Uh, so that is what I used for a benchmark for the four that are in front of you today. >> Just a a quick followup. So, you're looking at just North Dakota schools. >> Yes. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. Other questions for Dr. Brener? >> It's
012been moved by Dr. Lun to approve the recommended compensation as outlined in your packet for Chief Academic Officer Amy Barch for 2526 and 2627 fiscal years. Is there a second? >> A second by Mr. Anderson. Any further discussion? We'll take a roll call vote. >> Flynn, >> yes. >> Hodak, >> yes. >> Anderson, >> yes. >> Manley, >> yes. >> Lun, >> yes. >> Cleven, >> yes. >> Palmino, >> yes. >> Larson is absent. Burgerer, >> yes. >> H, yes. Zero, no. One, absent. >> Motion passes. 2E. Compensation recommendation for business manager. Dr. Brener. >> Thank you. Um, same holds true for business manager Bombach. Uh the recommendation uh is for a 2-year compensation package. Uh his numbers are his percents are a little bit uh less, but they're in line with the averages across
013uh teachers, directors, and principles at 2.88% in year 1, 2.85% in year two. Um I'm pretty confident Mr. Bombach wouldn't want me to say this, but the offer to him was greater than what's in front of you. Uh and he respectfully and politely uh declined that offer. So, uh, I did go back to him a second time and, uh, we had that conversation. He's comfortable with, uh, with what's in front of you. So, uh, so for Mr. Bombuk, it's 2.88% in year 1, 2526 for a total of 151,665.70. And in year two, uh, it's 15,59.88.17. And I would respectfully seek approval for the above recommended compensation for business manager Brandon Bombog for the 2526 and 2627 school years. >> Questions for Dr. Brener and Dr. L. >> Well, I think that's very admirable, but I
014think we have to be careful and make sure that we keep people in in market range. I know we had a superintendent recently that did that for a few years and I don't I I I think we just have to be careful. I think it's very admirable and I appreciate you doing that. But we want to make sure that we pay our people at a good market rate too as well. So, other questions from board members? >> It's been moved by Miss Flynn to approve the recommended compensation as outlined for business manager Brandon Bombach for the 2526 and 2627 fiscal years. Is there a second? Second by Mr. Palmino. Any further discussion? We'll take a roll call vote. >> Ponino, >> yes. >> Lun, >> yes. >> Larson is absent. Flynn, >> yes. >> Anderson,
015>> yes. >> Hodak, >> yes. >> Manley, >> yes. >> Cleven, >> yes. >> Burger, >> yes. >> H, yes. Zero, no. One absent. >> Motion passes. 2F, compensation recommendation for associate superintendent of secondary education. Dr. Brener. >> Thank you again, President Ber. Uh you can see in front of you uh the the two-year package for uh Dr. Glatch would be 3% in year 1 and 3% in year two. Uh and that puts uh Dr. Glatch in the range of the averages of principles and directors uh more of our uh central office um folks. So uh you'll see in year one it's uh 185 144 which includes um excuse me uh got my new tri focals on here. Um it's the uh the 3% uh is equals the 179752 which equals 155144 plus uh the
016$5,000 education factor because she did uh secure her doctorate this year. Congratulations again. Uh so for a total of 190,144 in year 1. Uh in year two, the 3% factor uh through all the multiplying and additions of the education factor uh totals 195,698.32 and that puts uh Dr. Galatch um in in good market value with other assistant associate superintendents in the big six school districts. Uh so recommendation is for uh approval for Dr. latches 202526 and 2627 contracts compensation. Questions for Dr. Brener? Seek a motion to approve the recommended compensation for associate superintendent Dr. Galatch for 2526 and 2627. It's been moved by Mr. Cleven. Is there a second? Second by Mr. Manley. Any further discussion? Take a roll call vote. Anderson, >> yes. >> Flynn, >> yes. >> Cleven, >> yes. >> Hodak, >>
017yes. >> Palmino, >> yes. >> Larson is absent. >> Mun, >> yes. >> Manley, >> yes. >> Burger, >> yes. >> HS0, no. One, absent. >> Motion passes. 2G, compensation recommendation for assistant superintendent of elementary education. Dr. Brener. >> Thank you. In front of you would be the same percentages as uh the previous um uh one that I just went over. uh 3% on 179,550 uh equals that increase. Uh so when you add the two together um the 184 936 and50 plus the education factor uh that Mr. Baky has uh totals 187,836.50 50 cents in year 1. For the 2627 school year, the 3% factor is used again uh which equates to 190,484 plus the 2900 education factor for a total of 193,38460. I'd respectfully seek approval for the above recommended compensation package uh for
018assistant superintendent Matt Baky for the 2526 and 2627 fiscal years. Thank you. >> Questions for Dr. Brener? seek a motion to approve the recommended compensation as outlined for Matt Baky for 2526 and 2627 fiscal years. It's been moved by Mr. Palmino. Is there a second? >> Second by Dr. Lun. Any further discussion? We'll take a roll call vote. >> Cleven, >> yes. >> Larson is absent. Pomacino, >> yes. >> Lun, >> yes. >> Manley, >> yes. >> Flynn, >> yes. >> Hodak, >> yes. >> Anderson, >> yes. Burgerer. >> Yes. >> HS0 no one absent. >> Motion passes. 2 H. Consideration of preliminary budget and tax levy for fiscal year 202526. Mr. Brandon Bombach. >> President Berger, members of the board. Um, I will just go through a presentation to help kind of take some
019of the numbers off the page and talk a little bit about a couple of different things here. But just before I get to the presentation, just to articulate what's in the memo. Um it lays out some of the rules around just what we need to do each year as far as setting a preliminary budget and then the process for a final budget. Um this follows the format of that SFN 9149 which is the document that we end up sending over to the county. Um you'll see there at the top of that page is where it articulates the number of different mills that are levied each year. And so that's that's the the crux of of the preliminary budget impetus, something that we want to get over to the county so that we can advertise a
020public hearing and folks can come and and voice any opinion they have about those number of mills levied. I would just articulate that none of those have changed from the prior year. They're all the same in total of 130.68 mills across a number of different buckets. The one thing that is a little different this year is normally we take the total taxable valuation in the school district and apply those mills and that's what we get. There will be property tax caps this year. So even at the top of that page those numbers are are greater than what they will be. Um in fact I've worked in lower numbers for all the rest of the budget. But um we'll be going through some work with the county auditor just to double check make sure this is
021all correct come the the final budget. So what'll end up happening is is the mill rates will actually be a little bit less than what's here. These are the maximum amounts and so that's allowable. You can set a preliminary budget for what the you know anything you think it'll be and you can't exceed that when you get to your final budget, but you can reduce that. So that's functionally what we'll do is we make sure we get those property tax caps correct. >> Yes. >> Can I ask one followup before you go on? Just point of clarification. um that cap only applies to existing property and not any new valuation. Could you just illuminate that a bit more, please? >> I appreciate the question, President Burgerer. The cap applies to existing property. So, um in
022some cases, if we have a new construction that receives its certificate of occupancy, that would in the first year post that construction, you'd get that full value and then years after, you would be limited to 3% increase on that. Thank you. >> Um it would also apply to different um tax increment financing or pilots or anything that would be a tax exemption for a period of time. The first year it comes on the rolls that full amount would be assessed and then there'd be that limitation of growth thereafter. Um and one other point I was going to make there not going to remember it but I hope that answers your question. So through the presentation um I just wanted to put a couple different numbers in context. So this whole presentation is about the preliminary
023budget and just where we're headed in that process. But to help us understand that preliminary budget, sometimes it's useful to look back on the the budget we just wrapped up and just how those year-to- date actuals have come into play, how that informs the next year budget. So, first and foremost, the technicalities around this process is the board needs to consider and approve a preliminary budget as well as set a public hearing date and get that information over to the county by August 10th. We're doing it on July 29th because our next scheduled board meeting is August 11th. So, we're doing it now. Um, and the public hearing date set um in the motion is September 8th. We do have another board meeting on September 22nd um where it's envisioned that any comment received on
024the ETH could be incorporated or considered for the final budget consideration on September 22nd before making its way back to the county by October 10th and those dates are set in law. So we abide by those. Um this is just when one reminder here of some of the guiding principle to date regarding our um our general fund carryover balance. So in the top center column you'll see some of the goals had set for ourselves a few years back about reaching 15% by 63026 and what that percentage is is general fund balance um expend below that percentage of general fund balance. So that's the the carryover amount which is referred to the dollar amount in the piggy bank when we cross from June 30 to July 1 divided by the total expenditures of that year. That's
025what would give you that um percentage. And then furthermore the just the language there is that the total general fund balance. I'm going to articulate just a little bit more information related to restricted funds and unrestricted funds just for awareness here. The one um preface here before we get into the numbers is it would be at this point difficult to reach that goal of 15% by 6:30 2026. Um and the editorial our offer here is is largely for growing needs. There are there are stakeholders all across the district advocating on behalf of students. And so when I show you these budget numbers, um it's it's largely what I would consider to be that case is that um we've had needs arise and um things come up that have been worked into um the budget and
026that has put us in a position where in this last fiscal year the preliminary numbers coming in are showing that we exceeded budget. Um all told when you put that together. So this would be a summary of the last fiscal year that's 2425 school year. The first column um outside of the green box is the first white column. You can see the way we set the budget of revenues just under 130 expenditures just under 130 and really a modest um expectation to end barely just on the positive side. As you go down, you'll see I've included a beginning general fund balance and then the ending fund balance. And so the effect of that budget would increase um just a little bit the ending fund balance. There are four numbers there. Two are percentages and two
027are dollar amounts. The first of those at 12 million is what I think would be included in our goal is the total carryover balance. That's everything there. The reason I've included the 9.8 million is just to show um what the total unrestricted funds are. I think the spirit of the savings account balance is that if you needed it, you could use it and there are some limitations on some of the funds that carry over. So, our goal articulates a general fund balance carryover, which I think is clearly the 12 million, but just I also wanted to show the total unrestricted dollars in case we really needed to use those. And so, by the ending fund balance of that budget, not much changes. If you move to the second column, you can see a great deal
028has changed this year. Um and that um when you look at the revenue um that came in a little less than expected, just over a million dollars, which equates to just under 1% of the total budgeted amount. And on expenditures, they did exceed what was budgeted, again, less than 1% at 66%. But that should show too just how thin some of the margins are on even $130 million budget that a small adjustment like that can really affect um that rainy day fund in the end. Um, so I point that out here that would show that the way the those numbers are coming in would be a loss of 1.9 million. Taking our enal ending general fund balance down in either one of those categories at UVU to either 7.7 or 6%. Um, not going in
029the right direction on our goal. The reason why largely and there's a lot of movement throughout a bunch of numbers but if you just look at what's budgeted to actuals and in that monthly report we receive at the board what would pop off the page it primarily these two things uh the first of those on the expenditure side and this is salaries and benefits you put those salaries and benefits together the actuals exceeded budget by $1.7 million uh this largely due to you know I think a a lot that went into um realignment efforts that targeted a reduction of $3.3 million in the salary or in benefits and not all were realized. There was a whole lot that took place including when enrollment um presented in the fall. Um for example, one of the goals
030that we came into that realignment with was actually to reduce class sections by a number of those and they just weren't realized as students showed up. We needed to do more. Um, a couple other examples here would be classroom specialists inclusion inclusion pairs thought they could be reduced when all told they actually grew over the course of the year. Again, folks advocating for student needs and um, administration addressed those, but that exceeded budget. Property tax estimates um, also were off. This is information we get from the county um for the calendar year and the expectation of what will come and they were off 3% and so that that came to uh less on the revenue side of 843,000. Those would be the two biggest movements. There's a lot more that come together if you're trying
031to match the numbers, but you could see how the 1.7 and 840,000 could explain the majority of that 1.9. Please. >> Thank you. I just want to add a little more context to what uh Mr. Bomb has has discussed thus far. Uh just to put it in some number perspectives. Uh we went into the year um anticipating that we would reduce our classroom specialists by 10 and those are our substitute teachers who are under basically under contract who show up at a building each and every day. Um but given all the conversations that we had with GFA around uh special ed teachers not receiving their prep time, not receiving their lunchtime, we had to increase those classroom specialists uh to accommodate that um by 10. So that was a you know uh 20 FTE swing
032right there. Uh the inclusion pairs Brandon already talked about um the classroom reductions at the elementary level. Uh Mr. Baky was charged with uh let's see if you can reduce eight um and at the end of the day we're able to reduce one uh based on our student enrollment uh that grew in the fall. Uh just a couple of other pieces um fortunate for us DPI has some set aside money that's been you know given to them by the legislature for ML or EL students and for special education students. And Mr. Bombach um has been appointed to an interim committee uh to take a look at that and see what what else we could gain from the state because that's real money in real time that we could advocate for. Uh we've also uh enlisted
033Mr. Baky and um uh our special education director uh doc Dr. Dietrich, excuse me, uh to serve on those committees as well. So we have larger voice and more representation at the state level. So there we're still optimistic that we're going to pull in a few more dollars. Probably not enough to offset uh what you see in front of you. Uh and then finally, uh you know, I would say that during our retreat on on August 14th, we're going to spend some time, you know, really analyzing and looking at this because when we say 15% um carryover, 15% of 130 to 135 million, that's that's a pretty big number. Um, so we'll want to think about, you know, what that might be moving forward. But it it certainly isn't without due diligence and effort, you
034know, that we didn't achieve our goal. There were just uh a number of factors and variables that came into play last year where we couldn't realize uh that that total reduction. So I will stop there. Thank you, Dr. Brener. And so that's kind of an explanation, some wrap up of how these numbers are coming in for this year. When we talk about a preliminary budget, we're looking for the year forward. Here, I've put the the most recent year wrap-up right next to that preliminary budget. And you can see what's coming here, revenue expenditures, is that that expenditure over revenue of 2.9 million. So the the structural issue in this year will continue into the next year. Uh and then um that'll be a little bit exacerbated. So that's what you can see here. And kind
035of the takeaway of that second column is, you know, we we would obviously continue to go in the wrong direction if that's where we end up landing on this this final budget. But there's a there's a lot going on in this budget beyond just that continuation of those um um positions that we just discussed. You know, we're bringing on a new career impact academy. We're uh implementing a new virtual high school. We continue in strong direction with curriculum investments. And then even esser dollars that came in just a few short years ago. The first trunch were largely used for technology purposes and that was fantastic at the time. We got a lot of new computers and a lot of stuff. Um but a lot of that stuff expires or reaches into life at the same
036time. And so we're mitigating um just what that looks like for teachers, staff and then the student Chromebooks or devices as well. So there's a lot going on in that budget. And I would say that there are still variables at play. This is preliminary. uh preliminary budget definitely want to include what um what reality could look like. Um but what we can do between now and when we come back to the board on September 22nd is continue the work and there's things that will come to show. So for example, we've built this budget off of largely the folks that we've had employed uh over the past year because all summer long we worked to um get those contracts out and get those contracts back, but we're also hiring new employees. is we're getting everybody into
037the system come the new school year startup. So September 15th, which is the first big uh first biggest payroll here of the year, is when everybody gets into that accounting system and we can see not only what their compensation is, but what deductions they've chosen chosen. It's open enrollment right now, for example. And so just one example we've talked about during negotiations even is if you have a experienced retiring teacher um eventually be replaced with someone who's newer and not quite as experienced. They're going to have a different position on that pay matrix. You know that wouldn't be completely captured here. So that things will move a little bit. Also, we don't you never entirely know which students are going to show up or how many of them will show up until you get to
038that first day and you start counting um kids in desks. And so that's another one. And then even um on the grant allocations um clearly there's been a lot of movement at the federal level and just on Friday I think it was finally announced that title 2, three and four um were to be released and from the state we've heard some correspondence but yet no figures or numbers even on that front. So the my only point is to demonstrate that there's still a bit of movement that can take place between the preliminary budget and the final budget. And so that kind of takes us to these next steps here before um happy to answer any questions. But what the action is tonight is to consider the pre preliminary budget and set a public hearing. It's
039important. Second step is to set a public hearing um for September 8, 6 p.m. at the Mark Sanford Education Center so we can get that information um over to the county and that can be publicized across the school district. And eventually, like I said, the work continues coming back September 22nd. And Dr. Brener mentioned too, we have that fall retreat here in the middle of August where I'm sure, you know, we'll talk about a number of um concepts there as well. Um, again, happy to answer any questions about this. This is a summary of the document that's within the memo. Um, but wanted to put it in PowerPoint format. >> Questions for Mr. Bombach. >> Dr. L. >> Ju just two quick questions. The the fraud loss that we incurred, was is that on last
040year's budget or is that in this year's budget? And is if it's on last year's budget, was that part of that negative balance at the end of the year? >> Yeah, good question. Um Dr. L, the fraud loss will be um reported on last year's budget, but it will not be in this budget. This is our general fund budget that was related to the building fund. >> And then and if you don't know the answer to this uh uh now, you can tell me later. I'm just curious I if do we know what it costs on average to educate a student in Grand Forks compared to how much money we get from the state? >> Yeah. Um we do know that Dr. Len uh and I could articulate at least at the high school level.
041I was just looking at these numbers but we're I don't remember the exact numbers but whereas we get just over $11,000 per student it would cost us roughly $17,000 to educate the student. So there's a there's a little gap. It's kind of a twothird oneird gap. I would not say that's little. Uh, Miss Flynn, it's >> just more of a question and a comment, but um, as we move forward with this year's budget, I wonder if it would be helpful to articulate whenever there's a financial ask to um, really hone in on whatever's budgeted for that category and to um, more so just highlight like this this line is we're going to go over with this request or you know this will put us at 90% of this line item cuz I think that helps
042um at least me you know let's say we get a curriculum uh request early in the school year that's going to put us at 80% of that total budget then it helps us keep a benchmark you know as we move through the year um so certainly we get those financial reports um but there's a lot of numbers and um I just wonder if maybe we can articulate that through some of our conversations in a a better way as we kind of move through some things. So, um I guess more so that's just where my brain is going. I don't know if it would be helpful for others, but um certainly helps with the requests over under where we're at during the year. >> Oh, go ahead, Mr. Bombach. And then I I can piggy back
043on that comment, but please >> just happy happy to accommodate that. In our accounting system, we have those numbers readily available. So, if it's a matter of when a request comes to the board to include that, not not difficult. I'm >> just going to piggyback on that comment and then open up the floor again to other board members. Along with that, if there is a great need, an urgent need, a changing landscape, I we get this. This is constantly moving target. um perhaps as we're getting close to those individual line item marks or even over um uh uh some illumination of what else could give at the same time. You know, we might do this in response. We're also at the same time or the plan is um something else is is decreasing. So that
044that would help us especially as we're um trying to hold at least as close to uh a balance as as possible. Uh other questions, comments from board members, Mr. Cleven? So on the proposed budget that's kind of mostly focused on the revenue side, but on the expense side, are we planning anything to kind of manage the expense? And if so, what's the risk of not achieving that? You know, like we kind of missed a little bit on our cost control this year. So I'm just rephrasing the question. Do we have similar goals for the upcoming year? and and which of those think we have a risk of missing our target on? >> Yeah, I'd be happy to address that. So largely, you know, our salary and benefit component of our budget is is nearing 85%
045of the entire budget. And so what we do is we take that employed group from the prior year and we apply all the rules of the negotiated agreement. We step we we make those assumptions. So sometimes folks will accomplish their doctorate degree in between. congratulations again. And sometimes they'll change their deductions. All that stuff doesn't enter the system until late in this year, this time frame. So all that largely will will take care of itself. The the control we have on that is position control. And at this point too, contracts are extended, etc. So we're we're largely uh in the in the boat we're going to sail in for the rest of the year on that component of it. So you look to items that you have some discretion on. consider, you know, dues and
046fees or supply lines or things like that. And you would say, you would set the budgets to ask all parties across the district to to contribute to kind of keeping this under control. And so, um, that's what we will, you know, spend the better part of the next time frame here too, scouring through. Um, obviously you need to give folks the equipment to teach, too. But, um, that would be number one. If you if you take a a longer look at the budget, then you can you can look at more structural conversations um you know onetoone technology requirements for students. Is that something that we want to continue with? Is every you know age group student need their own personal device neighborhood schools um uh you know do we charge for busing any of those
047kinds of bigger concepts. I think you take the time have that um board level conversation to consider those elements a little bit longer term but between now and September need to look at the cost control and those discretionary items. >> So when when would we have those kind of detailed conversations uh that for examples that Mr. Bombach just referenced? I would say that the beginning of those conversations will be on August 14th and then there's just going to be a lot of work in earnest between board meetings. >> Thank you. >> Did you want to add something, Mr. Baky? >> Yeah, thank you, President Burgerer, members of the board. One other thing to also note is the impact that enrollment has on the overall budget. As enrollment increases, obviously the number of teachers that we
048need in the classroom tends to increase as well. Um, as articulated by Dr. Brener, when it came to elementary uh class size reductions, we saw a huge enrollment last year at our elementary level. This year, right now, our kindergarten numbers are sitting pretty low in comparison to last year. Um, and so, are we going to see some reductions? We're holding on some staffing right now as a result of our low kindergarten numbers at this point in time. Now, does that mean it won't raise in 3 weeks and all of a sudden number of kids will show up at our doorstep? That happens. So, that will adjust as the year's going on. and we've held on some hires that we're waiting on to see if the kids actually show up from there. So, enrollment has a
049huge impact on it, at least from an elementary side of things to keep to keep in mind. >> Other questions or comments from board members, Dr. Lun, >> ju just to reiterate, I think what Brandon said is, you know, 85% of the budget is personnel and it's like turning the Titanic around. You don't just flip it really quick. So those kinds of things take a while and then we end up in a case like we did this last year where we had more students we needed we needed people. Uh well if we don't have them we aren't going to fire a bunch of people mid mid year. Uh uh so it it takes a while to turn that around but but uh so I think the administration has done a wonderful job with this. Um
050I'm disappointed we won't make our goal but I think we have that that's we didn't make our goal because we needed to educate kids in this community and I think we did our job. Yeah, just to piggyback on that, Dr. Lun, by setting ourselves toward that goal, um, yes, we're seeing at least, you know, preliminarily, uh, we might head backwards before we find some more momentum again. Um, but we had the funds when we needed the funds, uh, and, you know, spent down some operating reserve and and went into the red. Um, again, to Brandon's original point, um, everyone had students in mind when these decisions were made. everyone has present tense students in mind when these decisions are made. Other questions, comments from board members. What's before you tonight um is u is a
051request for approval of this preliminary budget and tax levy. Uh I I'm imagining and someone correct me if I'm wrong um that that also in in this motion um would be a statement uh about the public meeting public hearing uh on the property tax levy uh for Monday, September 8th, 2025. That would be at 6:00 here at MSC. So, I would seek a motion to both approve this preliminary budget and tax levy and um uh and state that the school board will conduct a public hearing on that levy during its meeting on Monday, September 8th, 2025 6 p.m. >> So, >> it's been moved by Dr. L. Is there a second? >> Second by Mr. Cleven. Any further discussion? >> The >> Yes, Mr. Cleven. the public meeting is part not part of the schoolboard
052meeting but occurs at the beginning of it like how's that structure look like just curiosity question irrelevant to the merits here >> I think that's exactly right the way you said that public uh I better make sure I'm getting a nod from Cindy to make sure that that uh occurs just like you said right away 6 p.m. and then the board meeting will follow. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. So, different from a citizen comment period, you know, we hold the the hearing at 6. Thank you, Mr. Clut. Other thoughts, comments about the motion on the floor, which again is to approve the preliminary budget and tax levy and set the public hearing for Monday, September 8th. We'll take a roll call vote. >> Larson is absent. Manley, >> yes. Blunt, >> yes. >> Pomacino,
053>> yes. >> Hodak, >> yes. >> Anderson, >> yes. >> Cleven, >> yes. >> Flynn, >> yes. >> And Burger, >> yes. >> H, yes. Zero, no. One absent. >> Motion passes. 2 I, consideration of governmental lease for bus for career impact academy routes. Mr. Bombach. >> Thank you, members of the board. President Burgerer. Um, so what you have in here in front of you is a conversation that originally came to the finance committee and was discussed but had not come to the board until the exact lease structure was was looked at. I just want to give a little bit of um context to what was discussed at that board meeting or at the uh finance committee meeting was really thoughtful consideration about how we ensure access to the new career impact academy. you know,
054prior to the Career Impact Academy, these courses were provided um at either Red River or Central. And in some cases, both buildings offered those courses and and in many cases, they did not. So, if you wanted to take part of the autos lab and you were a central student, you had to find your way to Red River to take part in that. Um similarly here, all of our students or for most courses will be going to the Career Impact Academy. And so we've really been thoughtful and considered how to ensure access. In doing so, we explored options. Um I would characterize those as three. One would be what would it take for our busing partner Valley Bus to provide um busing to and from the career Impact Academy to both high schools. Two would be
055what if the school district completely operated the number of routes required to do the same or three is a hybrid. Um ultimately, um there was a hybrid option that was explored and really kind of weighed in from finance committee and that would be that the Grand Forks Public School Districts operates a um 50 p 50 some passenger bus, I forget the number, 55 passenger bus and would circulate a route from Red River Central to the Career Path Academy and back for three blocks of the day. Um but the turnaround time for the middle block was a little too difficult. So it was required a hybrid approach of asking valley if they could bring in a bus just for that middle section of the day more of a a day charter or shuttle and so it
056would not be a full um route and combined um that was the most cost-effective method. The what that would require of the Grand Forks Public School District is to endeavor upon busing which has been the first time in quite some time. So, we needed to purchase or lease a bus, also hire a bus driver, uh, and and really facilitate the operations of a bus route. And so, that had been, um, articulated as part of the conversation as well. Ultimately, the bus lease identified at Harlo's um, and in financed to the Horizon Bank is is what's in front of you for decision today. Um, what this would be is is stepping into a three-year lease before a purchase to option option to purpose, oops, option to purchase. And the reason being and that we don't entirely
057know just what the requirement or needs of this bus route will be. So taking it one year at a time seems a little bit prudent. The terms thereof are about two 24,74727 cents for those first three years. And then that option to purchase is the balance remaining at 72875. Um the last note here um interesting part of the new market tax credit program which is a program primarily driven to provide community benefit to an underserved or underinvested area which is the census tract that this building exists in had a component of a community benefit grant 240 $240,000 that would then be invested into the community in some form or fashion. We've been exploring from the very beginning this option of providing access as above and beyond from what we normally do today. We don't provide
058transportation from Red River or from Central to Red River for example in my autos example. And so this would be above and beyond to ensure access. So we continue to work with um the partners in New America tax credit but it' be expected that that would offset the cost of this route for at least the first two years. So that would really help us understand the need for this bus and if it's something we continue um before taking on the general ledger. So we're still working out those details and that but that's that's the plan here. So all the attachments is the actual lease. I did have our attorney Cobb go through and review this um associated agreement to provide insurance and some other documents there you can page through. Um, but largely it has
059our largely in total it has our attorney sign off and so the administrative recommendation would be to approve the government lease agreement with Horizon Bank. >> Questions from board members? Mr. Palmino? >> I think we talked before this bus will be available before and after school for activities if we want. So it's to be controlled by us. >> That's right. we would we would hold that title t title and operate it and so we could use it for other activities likely a second driver because be a full route driven during the day but if we had a uh >> a coach with the CDL and they're taking the team just down the road we could use it for that >> questions from board members or comments from others on the finance committee Mr. Cleven. >>
060So, the new market tax credit $240,000 over two years and you said that will cover the costs of the bus, does that include the lease payment, driver? Yes. >> All of that. >> Yeah, I appreciate the question. Yeah. The operation of the bus route for two years. So, that would include the driver um associated benefits of the driver, the lease payments, the insurance, um fuel of that. Those are, you know, projections of what we think those things will cost. But yeah, that's the way it was imagined. >> So, we think this is kind of cash flow neutral when we're all said and done. >> That that's exactly the plan. >> Okay. Thank you. Other questions from board members. I just have one clarifying question. This might be a little too much into operations, but I
061heard you say a bus driver. Ah, bus driver singular. What's the backup plan? Somebody gets sick or injured or has an accident or, you know, needs needs to be unavailable for a day, a week. Um, I I don't even want to suppose the answer, so I'll just leave it at that. >> Oh, we've required Jonathan Elwine get a CDL as backup. No, no, but that's exactly the plan here, too, is that we would have other credential drivers who would fill in. And that's that's kind of the uh as we dip the toe into perhaps having a a bus or even a fleet of buses is you need to build the capacity for that. And so even with that hybrid option, it was because if you didn't have enough to hire a second driver fully for
062the second route, then could you really feasibly do that? And so there's questions there, but we um do have other people on staff with the CDL that could jump in in case of short-term um vacancy or mis time. >> Thank you. Other questions from board members? As you can see in your board packet, uh there is now my screen is stuck, but there is a recommendation to uh to approve um this governmental lease. Uh thank you, Mr. Anderson. This is why you're right next to me. Uh I was so close. Uh I would seek a motion to approve the governmental lease agreement with Horizon Bank. >> It's been moved by Mr. Cleven. Is there a second? >> Second by Mr. Palmino. Any further discussion? >> We'll take a roll call vote. >> Anderson, >> yes.
063>> Flynn, >> yes. >> Hodak, >> yes. >> Cleven, >> yes. >> Larson is absent. Lun. >> Yes. >> Manley, >> yes. >> Paulino, >> yes. >> Burger, >> yes. >> HS0, no. One absent. >> Motion passes. We are on to item three, 3A. These would be announcements. Does anyone have announcements for tonight? I have two. I have a friend who took uh one of their children to swimming lessons at the central pool. So, just want to highlight there is water in the pool and swimming is happening. Uh just thrilled to hear that. So, uh that's one. The second one is, you probably know this already, but the ribbon cutting and open house for the Career Impact Academy is Wednesday, August 13th. Uh, ribbon cutting is one and a public openhouse later that day. So,
064encourage everyone to attend. Encourage everyone listening to attend. If you need more information, please reach out to Mr. Ripley or someone else at MSEC. 3B. Board requests for future consideration. three. Yes, Mr. >> Just bumping it up uh on the whole district boundary attendance things where we're at with that. At some point, it'd be great to get an update on that. >> Yes. So on on Thursday, August 14th, our work session uh one of our items uh will be rolling out uh the school boundaries uh timing uh framework um the the policies surrounding that movement. So I appreciate the opportunity to to to clarify that. That's that's the next move. Uh other board requests for future consideration. 3C schoolboard meeting norms. Mr. Manley, how did we do >> the thorough preparation? Norm one allowed for
065a smooth process and dedication to respecting each other's contributions. Norm three made for a truly thoughtful discussions. Norm four. Thank you. >> This is like MI manly intelligence. And with that we are adjourned. Thank you everyone.