March 13, 2023 Work Session

We had our work session at the district office on Monday 3/13/2023, beginning at 5:30pm. Our new director of finance and operations, Lori Volz, and assistant, Sarah Cramblit, presented a finalized budget plan that we will vote to approve at the next regular school board meeting which is Monday March 20,2023 (moved up one week from the normal schedule due to spring break). Overall, our finances appear to be in a “break even” place, with a 12.45% (8.5 million) unassigned fund balance (goal for this is 8-10%). The plan is to move $500,000 to the assigned fund balance for the career pathways program, which still leaves us with >10% unassigned fund balance. This balance is essentially a “buffer” and will help cover 1-2 months of operating expenses if needed, especially because the state aid is never given at 100% in a given year. There are delays in state aid payments to school districts and sometimes the aid is not ever fully given. Ms. Volz and Mr. Elstad also discussed the bills working through the legislature right now, one of them being HF 1269 (https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/text.php?number=HF1269&version=latest&session=92&session_number=0&session_year=2023). While there is potential for increased state funding, this is going to come with restrictions and mandates that could end up costing the district more money and thus could prove to be very challenging. There was quite a bit more detail reviewed with the budget and this information is available through the district website.

Bob Olson, our director of facilities, infrastructure and security presented information about our early childhood facilities. A few months ago, we were given information describing the challenges that our pre-K children and staff have with the current buildings they use (Owatonna Education Center and Roosevelt building). Mr. Elstad noted that in 2015, we addressed the K-8 facility needs, then in 2019 we addressed grades 9-12 needs, now we have to start thinking about our youngest children, our preschoolers! To start this process and conversation, Mr. Olson presented 3 possible solutions for our preschool facilities: 1. Renovating the existing sites. 2. Add on to an existing site or build a new facility. 3. Lease an alternative site in the community and renovate as needed. The current OHS is not an option due to the high cost of renovations that would be required. There are multiple factors to consider with the 3 options presented, the pros and cons with each, ultimately with a goal to move forward with something by the school year 2024-2025. The school board and Mr. Elstad recognized that community members have “levy and bond fatigue” with all the decisions and costs related to our school buildings in the last several years yet understand that our pre-K students and staff are struggling.

Also on the agenda was a discussion of the book, The Governance Core. One of the basic concepts discussed was the role of a governance board. The example from the book described a forest fire. The school board represents the fire fighters in the helicopter, seeing the big picture and forming a plan to contain and stop the fire. This role is different from the fire fighters on the ground, working to fight the fire right in front of them. They all have the same goal, but have different roles to play. We need the helicopter view and the frontline view to accomplish our best work.

During the board forum, we were given a brief update on the new high school from our facilities committee members. The new school construction continues to be on budget and on time for completion in July 2023.

Next regular school board meeting is Monday March 20, 2023 at OHS. Take care everyone, spring is coming!!