the longest stand. I haven't done the wrongful >> like to call to order the January 29th board meeting. Everybody stand and say the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the
United States of America to the republic to its nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. Hello everybody. I am acting chair today is um not with us today and
neither is Josh Perkowitz but we do have a quorum so we'll continue ahead. Um, let's see. That's roll call 4.0 is to approve the agenda. >> Thank you. Any questions or discussion on approving?
>> The only um the only thing I would add is if you looked under and we'll be uh Erin will be talking to us about the sale of the bonds today. there was some information left blank in there and it has been updated because depending on how the sale went and what it went in so
so that has been updated otherwise I don't think we have made any adjustments to what was you know put out there so just wanted to mention that >> okay thank you okay all in favor for approving the agenda say I >> I any opposed motion has carried 5.0 O
is communication and reports. We'll start with the finance update at 5.1. >> Hello everybody. >> Hello. All right, we're about 50% of the way through the year. So that we're kind of looking at where we fall in line with the budget at
50%. So, um, looking at our federal dollars, it's nice to know that we actually did start receiving some of our, um, federal money, and that is actually our -ate payment, um, for the network switches that we purchased at the end of last
year. So, that is that what is that's what that is for. And then our title funding just started flowing in this month. So, we'll be getting some catch up on that. Um, going down into our expenses, looking at the equipment budget, that is
um, a little higher than we have been in the past, but it always comes down to timing of when we buy our our major purchases. So, this year, we kind of did it earlier in the year versus later in the year. And then we keep flowing down into instructional support in the bottom
section of the page. And um we're sitting a little high there, but that's because um those expenses are budgeted throughout the different categories in that bottom section. So just depends where they line up for their coding throughout the year.
And that would also be the same with um other financing uses. Um that is our insurance premiums for the year. And they at the end of the year it gets divided out by where the payroll lands. Um any questions on there? Right.
Um second page. The only um comment I'm going to make is that we are just about 2% almost 3% a little bit high in the expenditures for overall budget um over last year and that is basically a timing issue. So that will level out as the
year goes on. We'll just keep a close eye on it. And then um finally on our treasures report just the main note I want to make our p cash position is down. We will be watching that very closely through the remainder of the year. So
that's what I've have. >> Thank you. Does anybody have any questions for Carl? >> Thank you. Okay. 5.2 is administration and department head reports. Superintendent. >> All righty. Yeah. Um, I'm just going to um throw u mainly some dates at you. Um,
I left everyone um some uh what do you want to call drafts of um next year's school calendar year. Um don't worry about the stuff in the middle. Nancy didn't update, you know, it's just looking at the the three versions. For the most part, version one starts I
think there's four days if you look in that first week before uh Labor Day. Um and then look I'm for the most part look down like the holiday break and so on. The second version is very similar. I think it has three days in that first week. Um I think it shortens some of the
holiday break puts you know some location or or shorter weeks if you will um later in the year. Um and then the third one is that we didn't have which I again was in you know everyone I've talked to is in favor but didn't know.
So we we put these obviously days can be moved all over if there's >> well a lot of options you know on where you could put breaks different things. It's for the whole board to look at and like I say um I did send it to the um union group and ask for a date you know
when can we get this to just start looking at. Um I would like to get it to the board for the February 9th meeting. They threw at me Thursday. Um it's fair fairly quick turnaround. Um, so what I'm throwing out is I know there's three people. Um, it's Lindsay, Holly, and
Josh. I doubt anyone's gonna, you know, obviously Holly, it's not a good time at 3:30 on Thursday. But what I'm throwing at the board is if there's anything you would really like to see. Obviously, it's going to come back to the board, but I mean, um, I guess I'm I'm thinking
between admin and the, you know, the the union reps. Um, let's see where it comes in. And you know, when we get what a proposed one is, I'll throw it back to the board. It obviously will come to the board for final approval. But, um, you know, if there's anything that we're set
and dried, you know, has to be I guess I don't have anything that has to be other than we all have our own preferences. Some, you know, like one and I'm just I I gave it to principles um on Friday. You know, some couldn't we have the 23rd in December? You know, um, and again, all
those are open. you know, there's a lot of movement and stuff. So, if there's anything you'd really like to see, let me know. But for the most part, we're going to meet on Thursday and we'll go from there. Um, like I say, uh, uh, I just throw it out. Um, not that I've heard anything in my I don't I shouldn't
guess that it'll be cancelled, but we do have a meet and confer coming up on February 2nd. Um, again, I don't think we've actually had one um since we've been scheduling them, but I will, you know, as soon as I know um for sure we're not going to meet or will meet, I
will throw that back out. I'm just looking. Um, and that's um also Lindsay, Holly, and Josh. So, but right now there's nothing on the radar that I'm aware of. Um, I want to make a note next board meeting on February 9th, Nexus is
going to have their booklet put together and they will be here to present and so I asked you know um how long should you know we suspect and they're guessing between 60 and 90 minutes. >> Oh wow. >> Okay. There'll be two of them here. they'll present um the uh admin group
has kind of a final run through I forget later on here before that which they'll go through but so what we'll do is we'll do our regular meeting so to speak and then before we close at the end >> we'll go on with that. So I just wanted to give you a heads up on there's
several things coming there. Um the second thing I wanted to um throw out again which they would like brought and and I talked with Scott uh Sacred Heart has come back asking if we would revisit the girls hockey. Um for some reason they think the co-op may be dissolved
again. I don't know what's coming down, you know, not this year, you know, and so if it doesn't, it would be for the 2728 school year, but they also have and I again I don't know what a belief that something may happen in this off season to where they would either add another
school or something like they did last year. So they'd like to know that's what happened. We weren't meeting till Monday night and they wanted it prior. So I'm just giving you a heads up. We're going to bring it. So, if people want to talk with anyone or I mean, not to say you have to approve, you could delay it or
what, but um I'm just throwing that out that that's coming. >> Are we voting on it next meeting? >> Unless there's a reason, you know, not to. I'm just like say, I mean, I'll let um I haven't talked to Lynn or Josh about it. You know, um Scott and I were approached and I just said um I want to
say it was last Thursday and I said, I'm not going to, you know, this quick. I said, let me bring it to this board meeting. you know, if there's something again, I don't know what else you'd want. You know, I mean, we had numbers last time. It's not you, like right now, I think they have three or four people, you know, high school kids playing. It's
not an end all be all solve of any, but so that'll be coming. Again, we don't have to Matt to answer the question, but it'll be on there just like anything else be tabled or something. And then um the other presentation will be coming and again Manda and I are meeting um
with I'm going to just say a representative from soccer that's interested in putting a shed um storage facility out back. We're going to meet with them um and I think they will present at that meeting. So um there'll be a few things um
heads up on um obviously we've had some cold weather. I just wanted to give you a heads up. Um I didn't ask on Thursday, Friday, um we had 471 students out. Um Oh, wow. But on the flip side, it's still under 25%. You know, and so again, it is what it is. Um if you had any
input on what we did, I'd be open to it. I obviously talked with Lynn um several different times as we were trying to make decisions and stuff. Um but um it is what it is. And um I think that's all I have right now. I see a specific
conversation or questions. >> No, nothing. I had no further questions and then that was kind of committee reports rolled into one there. >> Yep. Yep. >> Okay. All right. So 6.0 is to approve the consent agenda. Is anybody I'll make the
motion. Motion. Okay. >> I'll second. >> Okay. >> Anybody want anything pulled? Um I just want to comment that on 6.2.1 the beginning date is missing from the last six person there. >> Yeah for the
>> under hires. >> There's a few of them that are missing. >> Beginning but then >> Oh, gotcha. >> And the first one and the second one. Yeah. And the third. Yeah. >> Well, no. >> Beginning January. Beginning January. >> The day is missing. Yeah. >> Oh, so so L is January 20th, 2026. At
least on the one I have. David, is it? Yeah, the bottom. >> Oh, >> you see the top >> and then the bottom just the last one just says >> okay >> just not complete on those dates. >> Yeah, the one January 20th, one January
12th and then the one I don't I'm not seeing as well >> on the electronic copy here that because this page that I'm looking at on hard copy is not listed on there. >> Yeah, >> sorry. >> Okay. So just get those dates or
>> the only comment and again um obviously thank you to um you know Mr. Enright was retiring longtime um employee. Not that we don't thank anyone that's left. Uh heads up on that Christy Divine at will contract. I feel bad I left that off.
She was hired not you know into last year. So the list I had that we approved last time didn't have her off. Sure. Um we gave the same percentage and so on. So, um I I apologize to her and just giving you a heads up that's why that one is here and wasn't on the other one.
Um and the only other thing is down on 6.5 and again um the first reading is policy. It has to do with the sale of bonds. Um we had this back in 2015. Um and Aaron can mention it's it's a policy
they recommend us having. I don't know if we ever got rid of it. It's not listed in ours now when they I'm guessing it was when they sold bonds originally um you know or for this group but so we're putting it in there. We'll bring it for approval next time. This like the first reading but um if someone
went why didn't that come to the policy committee or something. That's where that came from is just so we can say we're going to going to have it. >> That's all I have. >> Okay. All in favor of approving the agenda say I. >> I consent agenda.
>> Yeah. the consent agenda. Any opposed? And motion passes. >> Okay. And 7.0 is opportunities for citizens to speak on items not on the agenda.
Any don't see any here. And we're all set, superintendent. Okay. And 8.0 is district business. 8.1 is the authoration authorization of the bond sale. >> So my thought is if we could take a
motion um in a second, let's just get it open and Aaron can present and then you know you can do your actual vote on it. Um if that makes sense. >> Okay. Yep. I'll take a motion to approve the authorization of the bond sales. I'll make the motion.
>> I'll second. >> Welcome. >> All right. Hello. Uh thanks for having me tonight. It's nice to see all of you in person. So uh we're super excited about the bond results this morning. So we wanted to
share that information with you. Um in your board packet, you do have the resolution to approve that sale. And then we provide a sale day report as as well that's included in there. So I'm just going to uh touch on a couple highlights from the sale day report. So
um again um you receive a a credit rating. So, uh, sim I'm sorry, you receive a a bond rating. So, similar to, um, a credit score for a mortgage, right? Generally speaking, the better the bond rating, the lower the interest cost. And so, um, as part of this
program, you uh are a part of the state's credit enhancement program where the state of Minnesota guarantees your debt service payments. So, what that means is you receive the state's credit enhanced rating, it's called. So, the state's currently a AAA, so you receive that. And then you also receive an
underlying rating, uh, which is an A+, which is a really solid rating. Uh, and I'll touch on that in a minute. So, we sold bonds this morning. Uh, typically we like to see at least three biders. Uh, and we actually had 13 biders. Um, so there's a lot of demand out there.
Um, and I think, you know, this kind of just represents where the market's at right now. and you received uh the lowest bid out of those 13 which was uh Jeffre out of New York. So we saw nationwide interest uh in your bonds which is great. So ultimately um I think
when we did pre-sale the pre-sale report back with you in November when I was virtual uh we were estimating like $100,000 of uh interest savings at that time. Uh we actually uh uh were just short of $300,000. So over $299,000 in
uh interest savings. And so that'll start with your levy cycle next year. Uh so that's a reduction of just over about $40,000 annually uh for the next seven years. And again, as a reminder, those savings uh go directly to your taxpayers. You can't use those for
general fund operations or anything like that. Uh it has to be used to reduce future levies. So So ultimately, that's that's a a great piece for for your taxpayers and your district residents. Um there is a a bid tabulation in here that shows the different biders uh the
different underwriters that had submitted a bid. And then uh finally I just wanted to mention um uh your bond rating. So uh with standard and pores, they're one of the kind of typical bond rating agencies. And so what that looks like is uh we had a call with Kevin and
Carla and S&P takes about 45 minutes to an hour. Uh S&P asks a lot of questions, right? And um I wanted to mention that Kevin and Carla did a really nice job representing the district. Uh they were wellprepared and that really showed and that's that's important during during
that call. So part of the rating is uh kind of factors outside of your control. Things like they look at things like your property valuations, your local economy, your median household income. So some of those things are out of your control. They also evaluate some things
that are in your control including uh fund balance, operating results, things like that. So there was quite a bit of conversation regarding uh your fund balance. You do have your f fund balance policy in place and so S&P askked questions to ensure that you were planning to, you know, kind of stay
within that fund balance policy. So, just wanted to mention that because your rating is already set now for these bonds, but should you issue any debt in the future, right, they'll come back and they'll say, "All right, last time we spoke, we talked about your fund balance and you know, and how does that look now
compared to what what you kind of said it would be um at this time." So, just wanted to mention that that that was part of the conversation that we had with S&P. So, uh, with that, I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you might have either on this or, um, on the
policy that that Kevin mentioned, uh, that's before you as well. Um, but ultimately, uh, you know, we appreciate the continued partnership with the district and and are really excited to share these results. >> So, if we were to take on more debt in the future, you said, would that result
in um, changing this rate? >> Um, nope. So, the the rates for these bonds are set. Okay. Yep. So, it would um be for a future debt issue. We would come back and they would do the bond rating call all over again. You're currently at an A+ um with a stable
outlook, meaning they don't expect any significant changes. So, then when you if you were to issue future debt, we would do this again and that rating could change depending on if you have changing financial um a changing financial situation and projection. Did I did that answer? So,
so the rating could change like these rates are set. Okay. You know, the bonds are I'm sold and we'll get everything taken care of between now and when it's, you know, completely like your closing date. >> But if we were to go out to the voters or whatever and do another bond, it >> would affect our bond rating.
>> Well, then you get rerated. You know, you hope to stay A+ or >> Yeah. >> but it won't affect the rates, just the bond rating. Well, at that time, whatever the the bond rating is will affect whatever, you know, the rates, who knows what they are. Say you're a year or two years or three years down
the road. It won't affect the rates we sold >> that we locked in. Yeah, >> correct. These are locked in. But like I say, what what Erin was talking about, we had some conversation. Say we ate into the fund balance a bunch more, got below like our policy says between 8 and 25%. If we were say at 6%, it's very
possible the bond rating would not be where it's at. you know, they would look at it going, you know, we had conversation about why, you know, what like like our deficit last year, you know, we actually went to higher. We talked about selling or buying the uh Chromebooks early which is one of you know the main reason it was not right
where we had you know predicted or you know but things like that of you know it's going to be important that we kind of curb even though we you know we're roughly 350,000 300,000 in the whole out of a 30 million which is doesn't seem like a lot but you do that three years and it's a million dollars and all of a
sudden now we're in a you know in in a bad place. We're not at, you know, 25%, you know, above right now. We're 10, you know, so we're getting it close where we need to, >> it's the right way to say it, close that gap, >> you know. So, I think that was part of
our conversation because if we did something year, two years, three years down the road, we want to make sure we still have good rating. Otherwise, yeah, >> we will have elevated rates. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Thank you. And maybe I'll just kind of follow up. I'll maybe close a loop on that. So, like the next rating down is
an A. So it's A plus and then A and then A minus. So typically between those different tiers we see about five to 10 basis points of change in the interest rate which is like 05 or 0.1% which doesn't sound like a lot but if you apply that to $20 million over 10 to 20
years uh it can add up. >> Okay. >> And and I would just like to thank um Aaron Matthew the Ellers crew um they're just fabulous to work with. Um, and then you know they use another group to help with some of the documents and Peter's great. So
they hold our hand very well through the process. Let's put it that way because it is it's not our deal that we would. >> Very good. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. So all in favor for the authorization of
the bond sales say I. I. I. I. >> Any opposed? And motion passes. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> 8.2 is to accept donations to the school district.
>> And usually I do that. Let me grab that up. Okay. I will make a motion to accept the donations from the following entities. A donation from the EGF boosters to girls tennis for overnight stay in the amount
of $1,030. A donation from the Pima Gorge Foundation to general music for music in the amount of $50. Donation from Megan Shaga for to esports funding for esports in the amount of $500. Donation from Daniel Black to esport
funding for esports in the amount of $250. Donation from the East Grand Forks music boosters for to the general music for music the amount of $3,57.50. 50 donation from JC Zach to the Monty
Zach Scholarship the amount of $500. East Grand Forks Arts and Crafts donated to General Music for band instruments in the amount of $3,57.50. A donation from Cheryl and Bradley Tupa um to music for band and choir travel in
the amount of $100. um an anonymous donation to general for general in the amount of $3,800. Another anonymous donation to general for general in the amount of $10,400.
A donation from Hug goes to the Senior High for music in the amount of $229.50. Donation from Hugh goes to the senior high for art in the amount of $229.50. again from Hugo to CMS for music in the
amount of $229.50. Another from Hugo to South Point for music in the amount of $114.75. And one more from Hugo to New Heights for music in the amount of $114.73. Total amount of donations that were
approving tonight are $24,562.98. That was one long motion. And if we can get a second. >> Thank you. All in favor of accept accepting the donation say I. >> All opposed. Motion carries. 9.0 is
payment of claims and accounts. I'll make the motion to approve the payment of K12 bills 13913 through131 038 in the amount of $313,36746. >> Second. Thank you. All in favor
of paying the of payment on accounts claims and accounts, sorry. Say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? And motion passes. Okay. All right. We are on to board member comments. We'll start with you, Matt.
>> Um, I guess I just want to say thank you to Ellers for working with us to um help us with these bonds. off this. So, it's definitely some good news. Um, I would use more money. So, thank you very much. That's all I have. >> Amanda, >> um, I want to say thank you because I
looked up a lot of that stuff and learned a lot of new things that I had no idea that I didn't know um, about bonds and things like that. Also, the schoolboard convention was interesting as always. Learned quite a few things that I also did not know until I knew it. Um, and that's about all.
>> Thank you, Holly. Nothing. >> Nothing to say. Okay. I will again thank you to Ellers and all of that work that went into that sale. Um and of course thank you to for all the donations. That was a a large number tonight. So that's always helpful. And congratulations to
Jim Knight on his retirement and all of his years of service. We thank him for that. And yeah, I think that's all I have. All right. The next meeting of the board of education is scheduled for February
9th in this room at 5:30. And >> your calendar is open for that one. >> What was that? A long one. >> That's a long one. >> Yep. That's a long one. So, buckle up. >> All right. Um, I'll make a motion to adjurnn. >> I'll second.
>> Okay. All in favor of adjourning say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Now, before everyone jumps, Holly, I I don't need you, but the other three No, we need signatures for all. So, some need treasure. Matt, we're going to use you as the clerk since Josh is out.
Okay. And so,