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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=sdTDMAkngVk

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Important for you people to >> It's up to you, this is a sad meeting. >> No, it's not. It's a happy meeting. I'm just watching here. It's 5:30 now. All right, good evening. Welcome to the regular school board meeting for Tuesday,

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July 14th. We'll go ahead and call this meeting to order and start with roll call. Today? >> Here. >> Hartman? >> Here. >> Kroc? Leathers? McAlister? >> Here. >> Young? Silkey? >> Here. >> All right. Please stand for the pledge.

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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. I need a motion to approve today's

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agenda. >> So moved. Second. >> Thanks. Do you need me to tell you who said that? >> No, I got it. Okay. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> Aye. >> great. We have a few tax abatement requests to hear first. So, the first

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we're going to hear is HRA of Austin for the construction of twin homes located at 1104 and 1106 24th Avenue Northwest. And presenting tonight for HUD is Superintendent H. >> Thank you, Chairwoman Day, members of

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the board. As referenced there on the agenda, we have two housing tax abatements for the HRA. The first one is for the validation of $385,000, and it is located at

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Sorry. >> [snorts] >> It is located at 1104 24th Avenue Northwest. And the second one is located at 1106 24th Avenue Northwest and that has a valuation of the same amount of

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$385,000. >> So there's a those are both both each >> One level, yeah. >> Okay. One level? >> One level. >> Okay, got it. All Is there a motion to approve the tax abatement request from the HRA of

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Austin? >> Second. >> All right. Any discussion? All those in favor? >> Aye. >> Aye. Motion passes. The next uh tax abatement request is from Tim Sheedy

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for new construction located at 23 711 513 Avenue in Austin. >> Yes, this is our third tax abatement for tonight. We've identified the location of this project and the valuation uh for this

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particular tax abatement request to the board is listed at $450,000. >> All right. Can I get a motion to approve the tax abatement request from Tim Sheedy? >> So moved. >> Second. Okay. Any discussion?

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All those in favor? >> Aye. >> Aye. Anybody opposed? Motion passes. All right. Superintendent board. >> All right. Thank [clears throat] you, Chairwoman. Good evening, everyone. Uh just a few updates. Uh I just want to highlight just that we continue to reflect the

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partnerships, people in progress that continue to strengthen our schools. Uh just an attendance update. Uh you guys you know one of the most important annual updates that we talked about is our attendance impact analysis. Uh that this information has been provided to you and for the third consecutive year our data

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continues to tell a really consistent story. Uh that students who attend school regularly achieve at significantly higher levels than students who miss substantial amounts of school. As you're aware, we did have a student task force that did work all last year and presented

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at our last board meeting some things that we're working on. And so we've taken really significant steps to strengthen the attendance monitoring, family communication, and interventions for this coming school year. We know that this work isn't finished, uh but the data continues to affirm a

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simple truth. Students need to be in school and we're excited for this coming year cuz we know that every day matters and putting the work of that task force to work. I just want to say thanks to the Austin Public Education Foundation. Yesterday was the Packer Classic. This is another outstanding event

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benefiting benefiting our staff and our schools. Just a sincerely thank the foundation board, our sponsors, the volunteers, the golfers. I apologize to my team and everyone out who helped make the event a really big success. The

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foundation continues to be an incredible partner for us by investing directly into our classrooms and supporting innovative teaching, funding grants for staff and creating opportunities that enrich the learning for our students. So thank you very much. It's a great day. Warm, it was a great day.

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I want to recognize Tracy Broughton, too. Tracy is a teacher at Southgate Elementary who was was selected as the Austin Rotary Club's Educator of the Year. This took place a couple years ago and we did have some of our board members that were able to attend

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and also a student from Southgate, a former student of Southgate was able to recognize and and honor her as well. So this is a well deserved recognition and reflects the exceptional work happening every day in Austin [clears throat] public schools. So, congratulations to Tracy.

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Uh I'll just talk a little bit about expanding STEM opportunities. I do want to highlight another example of some innovative work happening here in Austin public schools. Uh the Formal Institute, uh recently received some state funding funding support uh for the next phase of this molecular

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biology and communities initiative. And as part of that planning, uh we're going to be working closely with the Formal Institute, which is going to be visiting the I.J. Holton Intermediate School later this month just to learn a little bit more about STEM learning environments uh and how our staff has designed and

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implemented that in our schools since they want to see firsthand what's working in our classrooms and gathering areas and then potentially incorporate some of these into their new facility. So, uh it's a great It says a great deal about the quality of work happening in the Austin public schools and how

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educators are creating learning experiences >> church and many volunteers who continue to invest in Austin students and their generosity helps ensure that students have clothing and basic necessities they need to come to school ready every day. So you have information that I

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shared in the previous board update for the third grade. So I just want to thank our staff and community partners and the board for their continued leadership and support of our students and our schools for the community of Austin. >> Anybody have any questions?

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Thank you. I don't know. I'm waiting for it to hear. I know who lost the tournament but that loser wears two. I got it right. Uh, anybody have any other words?

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No. No. No. I I will just piggyback on Dr. Page's comments about the Pack and Classic. We had 84 players um on 21 teams that came out in 88°

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weather and it was an excellent day. Huge shout out to the foundation's executive director, Tim Rejak, who put together such a great event. Um and it's really it was really fun to see the number of

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teachers and administrators who were able to come out and play. Um there was teacher representation from just about every building, I believe. Um a lot of our teachers were winning prizes for the games. I know a couple of our teachers walked away with the

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closest to the cooler. So they got some nice coolers that came from Running's End. Um Jim just did a really great job of engaging the community and our, you know, our community partners and um a lot of alumni involvement in this um

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so, it's really great to [clears throat] see um alumni investing in the schools and in our teachers and ultimately in our kids. So, it it was a great day. So, thank you to everybody involved in that.

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Anybody else? All right. Consent agenda. So, motion to approve tonight's consent agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. Any comments? >> I have a question.

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>> Okay. >> Um It's on the SRO um contract. >> The school resource officer? >> [clears throat] >> School resource officer, SRO. Just want to see if I got that

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um in in the agreement part of it, in number two, it says 80% of Ellis and 90% of Austin High School's officers

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salary and associated benefits will be paid. Is that Cuz what on the cover letter, I was assuming that 80/90 was 80% salary, 90% benefits, how it was reading.

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And so, is this 80% of the resource officer at Ellis and 90% at the high school? Is that what it All right. Thank you for that clarification. >> I have a question, for you, Lori. >> Yeah. >> Just on the on the Pepsi contract.

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>> Yeah. >> Uh I I just saw that they do a sponsorship to the district for for 1,500. Um as part of the contract, is that Is that going to be worth specifically is that to us >> Yeah, it's usually it'll be um what we

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request is in merchandise so they can have banners that we determine or anything that are on events. Uh and so that's the uh the value of of the donation or the money that comes back. >> So the students uh that's not all monetary, but

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>> We can get that in. Uh for example, in the past we were able to get uh coolers for traveling uh teams, banners, um some things that may be sports specific or activity specific then Keith Carter will work with them um assess what some things would be just a voucher or

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anything within our department. >> Okay. >> All right. Did I do a I did a motion to second? >> Yep. All right. >> Uh any other comments, questions, concerns? All those in favor? >> Aye. >> All right. Anybody opposed?

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Motion passes. All right. Our next agenda item is our request for the approval of the bond sale with Siemens and Peach. >> Yeah, thank you, Chairwoman and members of the board. Uh tonight we are approving the bond uh the general operating fund, uh facilities and maintenance and tax abatement bond

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series 2026A. Uh tonight uh presenting with us is Steve Bommer from PTMA and I will Do you let me know when you need me to advance? >> Great. Thanks, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here, managers and board members, Dr. Page. Um in this role, I get to come to a lot

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of different board meetings throughout the entire state and it's kind of fun to hear some um neat things that go on in various districts. And tonight, I play a lot of golf, and it's the first time I've ever heard of a closest to the cooler. So, we're going to bring that back somewhere, and we're going to make sure we use that somewhere.

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>> You should get together and come play at the at the Panther Classic next year. >> As long as that closest to the cooler, we're in. >> Well, every year. >> Okay. Um thank you. Anyway, so to the task at hand, again, you're tonight the board is is the resolution on the table to ratify

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the sale that took place yesterday on facility maintenance and abatement bonds. Now, this process actually started many, many months ago when we were trying to evaluate what facility needs you had. But the process process specific to this bond sale

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started in March of this year when the board took action to authorize a parameters resolution authorizing the sale of facility maintenance bonds and abatement bonds. And again, the purpose of these bonds was to fund some interior quality projects across various

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buildings district-wide, and to also fund parking lot improvements, which is the tax abatement portion of the bond district-wide as well. If we go to the next slide after page, thank you. On yesterday, Monday of this week, we went

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to the market and took bids, and your district drew a lot of interest, and we had eight bidders come in with very strong bids. The winning bidder, as you can see, is Raymond James at a 3.76042 interest cost. So, very

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very competitive and a very good rate for you, which I'll share with you on the next page. Um which shows a sales summary, and when Mr. Harper was here prior, he shared with me what he thought would happen when we went to the market. And you can see that the power amount is

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very similar, but about $20,000 less because they offered roughly $20,000 more in premium. The biggest issue for is what was the interest cost we were expecting to be at 4.17%. It came in at 3.76%, which means that the interest you're

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going to save over the life of these bonds based on what we were projecting, what actually will happen is 500 and roughly $40,000 of less interest costs. The deposit amount again is going to be just over $9.8 million. That will go into your interest account

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and it will collect interest. I'm going to invest those dollars and funds on the air quality portion is about half the amount that we're expecting to sell based on the project side. We will be selling the second half when

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bids are taken and accepted and so we know the actual amount that's going to cost to finish that project. If it's good, they come in to your advantage, we'll sell less bonds in the future and if they come in higher, the board will have a decision if they want to increase the amount of bonds to sell in the future.

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Um the next page next page is the um uh the structure of the bonds. If you look at the gold part of those uh bond chart, that is the new bonds that you'll be approving tonight and that's how the debt service looks going forward.

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And then the next page um we try to be very transparent of where all the money goes when you do bond sale. There's costs associated with that um including the fee we pay to us at PFM Securities. Um you had a rating call with Moody's um bond counsel who

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um is is uh drafting the resolution for tonight um is on there as well. Um they also serve as a disclosure counsel and then you have a smaller future payment agent um which is where your money goes to pay our bondholders in the future.

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If you go to the next page, um we can just kind of review again. As I mentioned, this started back in March of this year. We are at the point now on July 14th. If you scroll down a little bit more, you're ratifying the sale. There you go,

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that's fine. And then, once this is ratified tonight, your money will be deposited into your account on August 4th, which at that point in time, you'll have money to pay your your contractors. Um the last page just kind of reviews what I've told you

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for the last couple of minutes here. You're going to get that money, we'll invest it, it'll be available to pay your contractors as you start doing the project, and we will follow all the IRS guidelines when we issue taxes on 1099s. There are some specific guidelines you need to follow on the

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investment side of things, and we will help you to certain track that as well. And with that, I'm sure I'll stand for any questions. >> Great. Do we have questions? I just throw that out there, the interest rate came in. So, I just lowered the 10 as a fiduciary. That's

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huge. Any questions? Anybody say anything? Um all right, is there a motion to approve the bond sale? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Carol, second by Tom. Further discussion? All those in favor? >> Aye.

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>> Aye. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you so much for coming down tonight. >> Thank you. >> All right. Our next agenda item is to establish our truth in taxation hearing date with that to page. >> Thanks, Chair May.

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Each year, the board has to establish the date for the truth in tax hearing taxation hearing. This aligns with Minnesota statutes. It requires all school districts to discuss their payable levy and the 2026-2027 budget.

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Our proposal is that this truth and taxation hearing be conducted on December 14th, 2026. >> All right. Is there a motion to approve December 14th as our truth and taxation

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hearing date? Motion by Carol. >> Second. >> Second by Bob. Discussion. All those in favor? >> Aye. >> Aye. Motion passes. All right. Next we're going to hear

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this month's donations >> Yes. >> for approval. >> Yes, Chair Baber and members of the board. We have several donations tonight to share with you. These are in accordance with policy 706. Our first two are with the Lions Club of Austin,

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both for $200, one for the CEO program and the other for our adapted bowling team. The American National Red Cross donated $1,500 to AHS. We had 18 individuals from the community and the program supplies for the Amazon

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wish list and this went to the More Than Pink program. Another More Than Pink program recipient of $500 was from the American Legion Post 91 and $250 from the Early Risers Kiwanis Club. So, thank you for them.

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Austin, Minnesota Austin Morning Lions Club donated $500 for the AHS football program. Casey's General Stores donated $21.20 to Ellis Middle School for supplies. Our the Music Boosters of Austin donated

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$1,200 for the AHS marching band and First Farmers and Merchants Bank donated $100 for the Austin High School boys soccer team. >> [snorts] >> All right. Is there a motion to approve this month's donations.

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>> Second. >> All right. Discussion? >> It's great to see it. >> They're such generous kids. >> Yeah. >> This is kind of random, but the donation to the to the marching

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band. The band, amongst other high school groups, did amazing with the July parade. Uh it was really fun to watch them. It was great to see the robotics team out with their with their um robot

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the entire parade. It was great. I love seeing our kids getting involved. So, just I probably should have said that during my report [clears throat] report, but whatever. I'm going to do it now. All right.

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Any other comments? No? All those in favor? >> Aye. >> Aye. Anybody opposed? Motion passes. All right. Uh this next one is an an action item. Uh we need to

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uh approve a date change for our Sep- September study session, uh changing that from September 28th at 4:00 p.m. to September 21st at 5:00 p.m. I need a motion to approve that change.

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>> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. Any discussion? All those in favor? >> Aye. >> Aye. Anybody opposed? Motion passes. We don't have any delegations tonight, do we?

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>> Nope. >> Okay. All right. A reminder that our um special school board meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 27th 26th in the district office conference room. Is there a motion to adjourn?

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>> So moved. >> All right. All those in favor? >> I. >> I. Motion passes.