Good evening. I would like to call the um May 11th business meeting of the ISD 482 to order. >> Like everybody to please join me in the pledge of >> 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. The district's mission statement is that Little Falls Community Schools work together for each learner to achieve academic and personal growth in a collaborative, safe, and engaging
environment. Um, so before we get into the kind of the nuts and bolts of the meeting, first I'd like to thank Julie Mucell for helping put the board packet together. Hopefully it was like riding a bike and kind of fallen right back into it. So appreciate that. And then what we'd like to do is we'd like to honor
our 2026 retirees. So, um, retirees, I see we only have two of you here, but when I call your name, what I'd like you to do is come on up and we have a little parting gift for you. So, um, first we will have, um, Mary Sitzman. And this is
crazy to even write this. I'm barely 50 years old, but she has 50 years of service. >> [applause] >> wants to take a picture again. [clears throat] [laughter] >> Awesome. Thank you.
And then next with just a poulry 29 years of service, Kevin Jordan, come on up. [applause] >> Congratulations, Kevin. And then [clears throat] our other two retirees who couldn't be here tonight are uh Jackie Majis who had 12 years of
service and Troy Murphy who had 19 years of service. So again, thank you to all. Um if I did my math right, that's 110 total years of service to the district. So it will certainly be missed and much appreciated for everything you did. So thank you all of you.
>> All right, next we have public comments. Um, we have one. So, I have um a policy I need to read is that Little Falls Community Schools welcomes you to the meeting of the Little Falls Board of Education. This portion of the agenda will be limited to a total of not more than 30 minutes. Individual speakers are
asked to limit their comments to not more than three minutes. The board asks that all comments be in keeping with contribute to an atmosphere of civil, courteous, thoughtful, and respectful discourse. Uh Sarah My name is Sarah Maro. I've addressed
this board multiple times since November 2025 regarding my concerns about the district's exclusion of my son from participation on his basketball team and the district's failure to implement his stayput IEP as written. As a result of those concerns, I filed a formal complaint with the Minnesota Department
of Education. On May 4th, 2026, MDE issued its findings to Superintendent Greg Johnson and to our family. In those findings, MDE stated, quote, "Following an independent investigation, MDE determined that the the that the district is in violation of the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA." [snorts] End quote. For our son, for our family, and for the disability community, this finding was both significant and validating. On December 2nd, 2025, I submitted a student disability discrimination grievance report form to the district
and to this board. At that time, the district declined to conduct an internal investigation and stated it would wait for the outcome of the MDE complaint. Now that MD MDE has officially determined that the district violated IDEA, I have submitted a new grievance report outlining concerns regarding the
conduct and actions of the superintendent, special education director, athletic director, high school principal, basketball coach, cross country coach, special education teacher, regular education teacher, par profofessional, and community services director. This grievance report includes a copy of the MDE determination for the
board to review. I sincerely hope the board will now take these concerns seriously and ensure that the district policies, student protections, and accountability measures are followed transparently and consistently. Today, during a compensatory education meeting, the district stated that it did not believe compensation to our son was
necessary despite MDE's findings. That response was deeply disappointing. It is difficult to understand how the district can continue dedicating substantial resources towards attorneys and efforts to fending the exclusion of one student while appearing unwilling to invest
those same resources into meaningful inclusion supports and opportunities for that student. This situation has had a profound impact on our family. No student should be excluded, marginalized, or denied equal access because of a disability. No family should have to spend months fighting for
rights and protections already guaranteed under the federal law. Our family will continue to advocate for our children and for students with disabilities. We will continue documenting concerns, speaking publicly, and pursuing accountability when students rights are not protected. Inclusion matters, accountability
matters, following the law matters. I urge this district to reflect on these findings, rebuild trust with families, and commit to doing better for all students moving forward. Thank you, Sarah. [clears throat] All right, next we have the approval of the agenda.
>> So move. >> I have a motion by Sharon. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by Mark. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. >> All right. Motion carries.
Next we have the consent agenda which consists of personnel approval of prior meeting minutes approval of financial transactions um and the at wills those are separate >> that actually we should have that a part of the consent
>> it is okay so it is in there okay so then the approval of the atill contracts >> okay so looking for a motion for the approval of the consent agenda >> so moved >> a motion by Dan do I have a Second. >> Second. >> Have a second by Mark. Any further
discussion? We should have all had a chance to go through one of those. Okay. Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. >> All right. Motion carries. Next, we have the resolution for acceptance of gifts.
Kelsey. >> Whereas the following have generously offered to donate to the Little Falls Community Schools. Therefore, be it resolved by the Little Falls Community Schools Board of Education to gratefully accept the gifts. Federated Co-ops donation of $1,000 to Little Falls
Community Schools High School Federated Co-ops Scholarship Fund. Federated Co-ops donation of $1,000 to Little Falls Community Schools High School Federated Co-ops Scholarship Fund. Frian
Foundation of the Initiative Foundation donation of $1,200 to Little Falls Community Schools Fraan Scholarship Foundation Mary G. Tilman Healthcare Fund of the Initiative Foundation donation of $2,500 to Little Falls
Community Schools Mary Gene Tilman Healthcare Scholarship Fund. Mary Jean Tilman Healthc Care Fund of the Initiative Foundation donation of $2,500 to the Little Falls Community Schools. Mary Jean Tilman Healthcare Scholarship
Fund Craig and Cynthia Kalahar donation of $50 to the Little Falls Community Schools Christopher Callahar Memorial Scholarship Fund and Sean Gritner Memorial Fund of the Initiative Foundation. Donation of $500 to Little
Falls Community Schools. Sean Gritner Memorial Scholarship Fund. >> I will second that. >> Okay. And a roll call vote would be Doug. >> Uh, yes. >> Mark, >> yes. >> Julie, >> yes. >> Dan, >> yes. >> Sharon, >> yes. >> And myself, yes. >> Okay. Motion carries. Thank you. All
right. Next, we have our first presentation. Looks like the comprehensive arts planning program from Sarah, Todd, and Karen. Yes. >> Take it away. Excellent. Well, we are happy to be
here. Um, we have a fun presentation that I'm sure will be up on the board at some point. Um, >> Karen, did you send that to me? >> I sent it to you. >> Sarah did. >> Sarah did. >> And yeah, to you and Julie a week ago.
>> No worries. We got We got lots going on. So, we are um um the um CAP coordinators. CAP stands for con comprehensive arts planning program. Um and the goal with this is um it's
organized by the perpet. Here it is. Um and they help districts. We're on slide number two. Is it two? I think so. Yeah. Um they guide districts um to help figure out what they need in the arts areas to help
improve. So, the arts covers not just music, music and visual arts, but media arts, theater, and dance. Um, we have a growing media arts program at the high school, and we'd like to work, I mean, we'll get into that later, I guess. Um, but it's based on the belief that the arts are essential components of a basic
um, education. >> So, this is the uh, 20th uh, cohort that they've had at the Perfect Center, and every cohort's every two years. So, they've been doing this for about 40 years. And in our cohort, there's seven other schools, >> I believe. So, I think so. >> Um, and so >> all over the state.
>> All over the state. So, Brainard's a part of it. Alexandria, is it Bro, >> no big lake. >> And there's some smaller schools like other cities. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> So, it's been going for a while and it's uh, you know, over 40 years.
>> So, the next question is, how did we get here? Um, this was probably me. I was like, we're going to do this. Um, and I'm just like, hey, can I? And everybody's like, "Yeah, go for it. We'll just whatever." Um, so there was a call for applications last year, um, probably about a year and a half ago for the CAP program. And I'm like, "Yep, I'm
going to put out all this paperwork. I think this would be really great for us. It, um, really aligns with all of our educational goals and the district goals as well." Um, but working with the CAP program. So, put in an application and was one of the eight schools in the
state to be selected, which was awesome. Um and because of this grant, they are giving us with the areas that we are concentrating on $4,500 for two school years. So that's total of $9,000 um to help us with um paying ourselves if
we're working outside of school time, for staff development, for I mean lots of other things. Um but then there is a total of another additional three-year commitment for us to implement the things that we are planning right now. So it's a year of reflection which was
this year. Next year is a year of planning and then the future three years are for implementation. So, next slide. >> And you can see these are our we're the co-chairs, the three of us. Um, visual arts, media arts, music. Um, and you can
see every all the other music and art teachers in the district are part of the group. And we've been meeting um mostly at like during professional development days. Um, but we have plans to connect um over the summer um and in the future
outside of our school hours. Um, like I mentioned earlier, it's organized by the Perage Center for Arts Education. They have been a huge resource for us, I mean on this, but they are probably one of the best in the state for like professional
development for the arts areas. Um, just I mean like I we attended one of their sessions on reading and it's like, hey, we know that you know reading is important. Here is how you can incorporate reading into your areas. >> Yeah. >> So very specific. All right. Um, because
of the reflection that we've been doing this year, we had a whole day of like what do we are doing good in our programs? Where do we think we need improvement? What direction do we want to go? Um, through lots and lots of of speculation and planning, um, we came up
with four main areas that we would like to work on as a group over these next handful of years. And the four of them are >> listed up on the >> listed on the TV right now. Um and they include investing in creating opportunities for access to the arts. Um showcasing of the arts in the student
for like in the schools and in the community. Um elevating and empowering a collective voice for the arts and developing and implementing a much stronger K12 media arts program. So right now we have it at the high school and that's it. Um, and within each of
those areas, there's three or four or five different focus areas and then different action steps within each. If you're interested in seeing our 27page rough draft, we would be in we would be willing to share it with you. We're
saying we have a plan. >> We have a plan. >> Um, yep. So there are some needs and opportunities um for growth that we see a continuous need to provide curriculum materials, content and academic time in order to address our standards because
we are a standard-based curriculum. Um whereas I know like there are areas that are not but we do have very specific standards as well. So we feel like this is important. Um, one of the things of note which we find found really interesting is that MDE
requires schools to have a minimum of offering three of those five areas K12 and the students are supposed to fulfill two out of the three areas. So, looking
at our programs, we have music, we have visual arts, K12. We do not have a third at the elementary and the middle school. Um, because we have a really good media arts high school program, it's only natural to kind of go that direction. And right now, the state is looking at
rellicensing the fine arts or visual arts to include media arts. Um, so that's a discussion and process that is happening this summer, I believe. Um so that just made sense for us to work with that K12 media arts and how to implement that.
Um so we would like to be in compliance with the states. Absolutely. Yes. >> Hopes um for the future is that we can continue to offer quality programming um that we offer um opportunities for
students um and then offering more options in the media arts area. Um especially like as we're seeing how the media arts like transfer over. so well into modern society. Um support from you. Um we appreciate
the time during staff development. Um continuing to support us in our in our events. Like if you want to come to the band concert after this tonight, that would be really great. Um continuing to design options for sustainability. Part of looking at budgeting is part of our
plan. Um, and we're part of our plan, too, is to develop [cough] a um develop to develop a community arts council. So, if anybody's interested in being on that, you can hear all the great things that we're doing in the arts, we'd love to have you.
Any questions for us? >> I do. Um, you mentioned I don't know which slide it was, four or five. >> Um, do you work with GR? We do. do because I know you've gone to communities down there with yourself. >> As we looked at the strengths of our district, the partnership with the Great
River Arts was a huge benefit. I mean, there's a lot of like when we looked at other districts, there's many other communities that don't have that great reciprocal relationship like we do. So, like we're we're super fortunate and plan to continue like they're on our list for who we'd like to have on the
arts council because we, you know, want to have their input. >> Well, they got good background. Yes. The other thing um Karen just mentioned that in our elementary that we don't have a part for the media arts. >> So wouldn't when our students are taking their art projects to the county fair
which is community wouldn't that fall into that? >> No. Media arts is different. Um media arts is electronic based more electronis based art. >> So the oldfashioned hands-on is not included. >> Correct.
Correct. sort of the visual arts standard. >> Okay. Yeah, >> they're separate standards. >> They're separate standards. So, the media arts includes things like video production, um animation, photography, um computer-based artwork. Um >> and they want that in elementary. >> They as far down as kindergarten.
>> Oh, yeah. As far down. >> And we like we attended social media training through the peritch this year that it's accessible. I mean, you can make it >> and they're already they're already doing some of the things on their own. >> Other questions? Sorry. Yeah, that you kind of answered my question. So, that
was going to be is social media part of this? I mean, I know it's kind of been the the schools and stuff, but >> Yep. But there's I mean, if you look at what the kids [clears throat] already have access to, it's teaching them to analyze and then be able to create their
own with technology that's appropriate to their grade level. So, like, are they going to do the same thing that our high school seniors are doing? No. But can they do video recordings on a tablet and edit them? Yeah. And there some of them are probably doing it already and some of them may be better than some of our
high school students just because they enjoy it. But shouldn't they have the opportunity to learn from [cough] educators [clears throat] that can guide their experience >> and that absolutely seems to be the future obviously what's out there. >> So >> I will just speak as a mom of a
kindergarten student. My uh son would love to be a YouTuber. Yes, he would love that. >> We'll teach him how to do it better. >> Thank you so much for having us. >> Providing for you, >> right? [laughter] >> Thanks to all of you for
>> having the initiative to go after a grant like this and finding ways to >> improve programming. We have wonderful programming, but of course there's always ways to >> consider doing things differently. Thank you. >> Yeah. Part of it uh is having us together in a room. We get to talk about
ideas which is sometimes we don't have that time and so to enhance our programming is a big part of our gap project. >> Well said. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Our next presentation is our map stars program with Christy and her
band of stars. Huh. That's >> right. Whole crew. off to the side too. You guys >> Okay. Well, this is part of our crew. Um, so I think you have the slideshow. Yeah, [laughter] >> here we look again.
>> Come on, Greg. Um, this the the the students are going to do most of the speaking tonight, but just as a as an introduction, um, this was something that I being the director for five or six years now, I've wanted to do uh a Matt Stars chapter here in Little Falls
for quite some time. And uh thankfully through the Elevate PD uh committee, Sarah Sarah Salo and Kelly Kilinowski uh jumped on board and uh were willing to get this started as well. And our students created this slide deck
presentation and they are going to do most of the talking, but I said I would answer a lot of the questions. So I'll let them take it away. >> Are they introducing themselves or >> Megan's gonna introduce everyone? >> I'm sorry. Perfect. >> That's okay. >> I'm Megan. Um, this is Maurice, Dom, and
Maisie. And we're the stars group. There is two more, Benny and Con. Connor. >> Yeah, >> they had to work tonight. >> Yeah. >> What is Map Stars? Map Stars is an elective class that teaches us life
skills that prepare us for life outside of high school. Uh, and what it stands for is the Minnesota Association of Alternative Programs, Success, Teamwork, Achievement, Recognition, and Self-esteem. What did we do? Our group met every
Monday for an hour and a half. We had conversations about decision making, budgeting, life skills, and possible real world scenarios. We finished the year by going to Fergus Falls for a competition. You forgot an important statement there.
>> Oh, >> and clean. >> And clean. >> I think there was six. We took six students and we came home with 24 awards. >> So, they did really good. >> Yeah. >> The easiest parts was showing up and
getting a credit and collaborating on ideas. And some of the hardest parts was putting yourself out there, brainstorming, um why they joined and why they stayed. Part of it is they joined because we begged them to. No. Um we we came up with about 10 or 15 students that we
thought would be good fits for this program and we're ready to take on these kinds of conversations and these ideas. And uh in the end we we whittleled her down to about six of them that could be there consistently. Every Monday they showed up uh ready to go. They have a
binder of work that they take with them when they're done with all of this with a resume um and all of that. I think that why they joined is the same reasons that we wanted them to join and that was to to make friendships and connections. Um one part of an independent study
program that by nature doesn't exist is collaboration. And so this was a way for us to bring that collaborative piece into our programming and support our kids in in becoming young adults. [snorts] This is our sign up for I put the slide
in here. The spring conference is the highlight of their year and they will tell you a little bit more about that here in a couple slides. But Fergus Falls, the one of our her name is Kristen Tulle. She's up there. She is actually the co-chair of STARS for the
state of Minnesota. And she called me on a Monday and said, "Hey, uh, are you guys coming up to Fergus for the event?" Blah, blah, blah. And I said, "Well, we haven't planned on it. we're not really sure. It's the first year we've done this. And she said, "Well, you'd be doing me a huge favor because our other team backed out, so we'd be competing
against each other." And again, this is on a Monday. And I said, "Well, great. When when is the competition?" And she said, "Thursday." I said, "Oh, like as in three or four days from now." And she said, "Yes." And I said, "Well, I can take it back to the kids and see what they think." And uh when I took it to them, they were beyond excited to do it.
Um they had to sign up for one independent event. So that's the employment interview and then the human relations decision- making. Um human relations was things real life work scenarios. You're at work and you have a disagreement with a co-orker and they've decided to go to the boss and tell the
boss all these untrue things. How do you handle that as a as an employee? And then they have to come up with scenar ultimately be the best solution for that. That's individually. And then as a team of two, they could do team management or teen parent decision-
making. And as you can see, they signed up for both because this was how they cleaned house was because they signed up for everything they could sign up for. And then at the end, they play the life smarts um kind of a trivia style uh game about everything from what color is
coolant to what does FDIC stand for to any of those kinds of things. So this was at the spring conference and we hadn't really prepped them for what the structure would be like. It's very timed out. They get 10 minutes 20
minutes to prepare their presentation and come up with their solutions and then like 10 minutes to present and you you have to follow that timeline. So they did great. We showed up with five minutes to spare before the first um brainstorm time and this is them all
brainstorming. They just right away got to work and then um they bring in community members to um interview the students and to they give their presentations to these adults as well. So that's very cool. I think they appreciated that and
and the adults were really good at giving them feedback. So on the left is a student giving his interview and he ended up winning first place. He knew it ahead of time and so before his name was even called he was standing up to to get
the award. So that was pretty cool. Um and then on the right is the HR decision. I think the component of having from when Kelly and I went last year just to observe this and having the community members come in, it it lessens the stigma of what an alternative
learning program is. Um I think a lot of us, you know, who grew up in the late 1900s, we all think of that that ALC as something completely different than what it is currently. And and it makes that connection. I know last year there's a couple that were like, "Well, we're actually hiring, so if you wanted an
actual application, um, so there was connections that were made and a first impression is your your best impression." And um, so it's it was just really cool to see the community support the ALC uh, and their students as well. >> And this was the end of the competition,
which was the life smarts. They get buzzers. Um, I think the students were probably most excited for this part. Um, they got to be a little competitive, answer your questions in that trivia format, and they were very excited to come back
and brag about how they won 90 to 45 or whatever it was. And then the next two pictures, I think, are just some of their certificates um that they won. And it was just really cool to watch them grow in confidence
throughout the year. and also just their their life skills. Um, and what one of my favorite parts as a teacher was um seeing them come every Monday and be excited to be there for Map Stars and sometimes they have a hard time coming
to school, but they were there pretty much every Monday and just watching their motivation. and Benny in the hat there. He actually came after work after school the day before the Fergus Falls competition just to get his MAP stars binder so that he would be extra
prepared for the next day. So just their commitment and their motivation was really cool to watch. And that's them and the Fergus Falls School only have one certificate.
They each have one and we have four and five. >> Is this Fergus? This is their high school. [clears throat] Their >> their community ad center. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All their awards.
>> That is cleaning house. Impressive. >> Yeah. Um we're really proud and excited of um bringing the snaps program to our students and watching them grow [clears throat] and um we just want to thank you guys for your support and your
continued support of our program. >> So when you guys like would learn something new or get something would you find yourselves talking to your friends or about it stuff? >> Yeah. Um, specifically, we had this week
where we did um a bunch of budgeting scenarios and we had to find like how we would maintain the lifestyle we wanted in the future like with jobs and finding a place to live and such. And like me and Maisie, we've been friends outside of school for years and we would talk
about that and how like actually useful that is. And I feel like it did create conversations about like the future and stuff. outside the stars, we'd be talking about it. So, yeah, that is nice. >> It's a fantastic pro. I mean, that is Can you come to my house and talk to my
kids? [laughter] >> Not a question, but one of you at when you're doing intros said that the hardest part was public speaking. Apparently, you've mastered that. You've all done a great job tonight. >> Thank you. Yeah, you can't see their nervousness, but there's they've done a really good
job of preparing for this. I think, um, the part that gets me emotional, and if you've been to graduation, May 21st, for those that don't know yet, um, if you've been to graduation, you know, I get emotional anyways. Um, but especially this group, um, when I look at this
group, I I see how much they've grown in our program in the two, three, four years that they've been with us. Um, but especially in in in alternative ed, a lot of our kids struggle with coming to school because they they don't know what it feels like to be successful at
things. Um, and these guys were very successful this year with this program and did us all very proud. They came in. I made them come in. I may have bribed them with Subway, but it I do whatever it takes. And they they came in after this after
they got done at Fergus. I said, "I want want you guys to come and they were like, "Oh, well, that's no question. They're not they're it's not an option." They were excited to come in and show you. And they all came in with those medals and several of them are seniors this year and they said, "Can we wear these at graduation over our gowns?" And I said, "Absolutely. I don't know why
you wouldn't. That's the perfect time to wear them." So, and it has started, like you said, those conversations with other students. One of their ex exit projects was to create a slideshow presentation to show other kids. Um, and so we utilize this for that as well. And
afterwards, I h I had three or four kids come to me, but one in particular that this is his 17th school that he's been to. Um, and he would not have been ready for it this year, but now going into next year, he's he's very ready. And he came up and said, "I want to sign up for that class right now." And I said,
"Well, it won't start until September, but I will get you on the list first [clears throat] thing." So, yeah, just [snorts] a lot of pride. Very excited for these guys. >> Very well done. >> Well done. >> Thank you guys. Any other questions?
>> Thanks for coming in. >> Any other CC updates? >> Yeah, CC updates. We've got graduation coming up on the 21st. Uh I think we're right around 34ish, give or take grads. It's always a it's always a last minute thing. You never know who's going to cross the finish line um at the last minute, but we are
excited for that. And you guys should have some invitations coming out. I think Amy was finishing those up. Um the secondary intervention piece is something that we're really excited about. Lisa Salar I know has talked to you guys about it several times. Um but ours ours part in that being the hub in
that first hour uh we'll be working with 10th 11th and 12th grade students and in seventh hour we'll be working with 9th grade students. Um at our last meeting we every time we meet with that group the secondary intervention team we just come up with more ideas that make it bigger and better. And um originally the
original plan was to schedule those kids in a quarter at a time. And now we've talked about more like a semester at a time because the idea would would hopefully be especially for the upper classmen, the the sophomores, juniors, and seniors that they come into the hub in the morning. We help them get their day organized. We help them tidy up the
things that they had to finish up for homework wise and just start the day on a really positive note. We're happy that you're here. We're glad that you're here. I needed you here today. how can we get you started in a in a in the best foot forward kind of a way. Um so the hope is that they don't want to leave us
in a sense that this is working. So why change it if it's not work if it's um still working? And part of the thing too that we're talking about that I'm really excited about is basing a credit recovery um on the standards that are not met. So instead of failing an entire
semester of a course that the student has worked for 18 weeks on on American civics and they just didn't pass that last part about XYZ. Um could they maybe work on that with our social studies teacher and earn that credit and not
have to retake the entire semester with us in summer school extended day or or hybrid option. Um, I'm really excited to see that move the needle as far as graduation rates, um, and things like that go. Um, the challenge that I put
forth to my staff the other day was I put four numbers on the board. Uh, the number 36, 11, 13, and 63. And the initial guess was that those were the winning lotto numbers that we should all obviously be playing tonight. Um, so you're welcome for that. But um 36 at
the time was the number of graduates that we were looking to have walk across the stage and 11 is the number of seniors that just weren't going to quite make it. Um these were kids that could have graduated and by if in a perfect world they would have but things just happened. They're still there. They're
still working hard but they aren't going to graduate probably until next year. Um the number 16 is the number of students that we just lost. We don't know. They've either gotten their GEDs, they've moved out of district, they've just ghosted us, so to speak. Um, but if we were to move the two middle columns
into that first column, that number 63 would have been our graduating class, and that would be amazing. To have a class, the biggest class we've ever had is 44. Um, we typically are around the 20 to 30 mark, but to have a class at 63 would have been pretty cool. Um, and so
I challenged my staff going into next school year, how do we move the middle two columns into the first column? How do we how do we retain these kids? How do we get those ones that maybe they need 24 credits and gosh, that's a lot, but could we look at a credit
differently um in order to get them across the finish line so that they're not here until they're 21? >> So, yeah. Did I forget anything? I feel like >> Okay, >> well done. >> Thank you guys. Thank you so much. >> Thanks, Christie. Thank you.
>> Now, back to the LAPD meeting. from one to the next. >> All right, next we have our student representative updates. >> Greg, are you ready? Oh, look at that. You're Johnny on the spot. >> It's all for the kids.
>> Your time's a charm, right? >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Huh? This is our May presentation. I guess we weren't here last time, so it kind of combined the last two months. Uh spring sports are starting to wrap up a little bit. Uh baseball, we played 14
games. We have a four game week this week and only six games left to go. Base softball's got two games left. Uh boys golf has four meets and girls golf has four and track has two meets before section. So good luck to all of our athletes as they wrap up.
And the musical was a huge success. It was awesome. I don't know if any of you got to see it, but I had a great time up there. Um, Friday night sold out, which is awesome. I've never seen the auditorium that full, honestly, ever in my life. And [cough and laughter] that's awesome to see. And the two other shows
were good sellouts, too. So, thank you to anyone who came to the show. >> You did a great job, John. >> Twice. >> You did your part. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> And music. Um, tonight is the band concert. Um, and then next Monday will
be the choir concert. >> Okay, I'll tackle this one. Um, on March 30th, 78 juniors and seniors are inducted into the honor society. Um, in order to be inducted, a student must have a GPA of 37 or higher. And there are 28 2-year honor society members
graduating suma kumlad. Um, that's a GPA of 39 to 40. So, that's pretty impressive for our senior class. And then 12 two-year members are graduating magna cumlad uh 37 to 3889. Congratulations to all these dedicated
um students and also congrats to our nine co co- validictorians graduating with a 40 GPA. >> And am I wrong? Are you one of those? >> Awesome. >> Yep. So he's he's got everything over here. [laughter]
He's in every sport, every musical, band and choir. He's He never >> When do you have time to do school work? >> This summer. >> OKAY. [laughter] >> ACTUALLY, not graduating. >> Fine time. >> Between 9 and 12:00 p.m.
>> Um day of caring. This past week, we had our annual our 15th annual day of caring. Um and that's when students in the high school go around the community and clean up yards, houses, wash windows. I I swept a driveway,
>> my my house. And then after the long day, we go back to the high school and we have Coburn sponsor our lunch, I'm pretty sure. And it was hot dogs and hamburgers. And then there's activities like volleyball and karaoke and movies.
There's a lot going on. Um, these are a couple pictures I took. Um, I did have one of Mr. Johnson in the doorway, but he looked pretty stressed, so I didn't put it. [laughter] >> Thank you for that. [laughter] >> Uh FFA, over the past couple of months,
our FFA chapter had a few more teams compete at uh regional contests and specialty competitions. The egg sales team of uh me, Maddie, uh Joseph Hamp, and Jackson Timmer. We placed first in the region. Um, and then we advanced to the state competition uh the end of
March or sorry, April. Um, and we placed sixth as a team. We also had a forestry team that got some experience which is pretty cool. I don't think we've had one >> um >> in a long time since Mr. Plof was the egg teacher. So >> that was a while. >> Yeah. Along with that, we also had a
team of me, Joseph Hampler, Jackson Timmer, and Everett Rudolph compete in a meat cutting competition and place fourth. That was completely new and we did not expect to even get our meat cut, but we did. So, and we had all the cuts we needed. So, that was impressive. Um,
and then the teams that advanced to our state competition were egg sales, dairy evaluation, and poultry evaluation. >> Were you cutting beef? >> Yes, it was um the whole back of a pork and then a shoulder claw on a beef cow. And we had an hour for both cuts. Okay.
>> John, why weren't you an FFA? >> I don't know a thing about that. [laughter] >> [clears throat] >> Um, [laughter] and then also last Friday, yeah, it's already been last Friday. Um, we had our annual kitty barnyard. So, a bunch of
our students have um animals that we all put on my trailer and haul around town. Uh, we went to Lincoln, Lindberg, Big Adventures, and the Mary of Lords Elementary School. and we just get to hang out with all the kids all day and
show them our projects for the year. So, it was really fun. >> How long have you been doing that? >> Uh the kitty barnyard? >> A long time. >> A long time. It used to be like where it was in the exchange arena and everybody came to us, but now with transportation
and stuff, it's almost easier to just bring it to them. >> Interesting. >> So, I heard a lot about Minecraft farming. >> [laughter] >> I brought two sheep and they told me all about how they get the wool from the sheep. Yeah, >> sounds about right. [laughter]
>> And a lot of kids do not realize that baby chicks cannot fly when they drop them. So, >> but they all lived. It's fine. They all went back in their pen. We did not lose any. And then um this year on Saturday I
helped with a bunch of kids um plant our crop plot that's over by Hillmerson Sports and we actually worked with NS Consulting um a channel dealership from Long Prairie and somewhere else I can't remember.
There was so much going on that day to um actually plant our first test plot. So, we planted 19 different varieties of a bunch of corn to hopefully make a good crop and see how each variety grows
compared to the other. So, it's our big it's our biggest fundraiser and it's our new learning opportunity because we haven't had a test plot before. So, we're going to work with everyone who's helped us on Saturday to show us how all that works. >> That's [snorts] great.
>> How big is the plot? Um, it's a 20 acre field, but all we did was we planted six rows of each variety for about 500 feet. So, we did not plant the whole field, >> but >> And then do you go to like a farmers
market to sell it or what? >> Um, no, this is field corn. So, we have um a local farmer who is willing to buy it as silage corn for his dairy cows >> is what I think we're going to do. So, that's going to happen. And we also
planted 12 rows of sweet corn. So, depending on how that goes, I think we might have a sweet corn sale. >> Perfect. That's great. >> Who tends it during the summer? >> Um, pretty much everybody or anyone who can come. We We're going to try and get
like once or twice a month go out to the field and have the workers come or like the helpers come out and teach us like this is what germination is. This is what we have to do if and I know this year we're going to have
a drone come and fertilize or >> no spray fungicide on the corn and it's going to be a whole day of like him teaching us how the thing works and how the drone and we're going to switch out
the batteries and fill it. Yeah, he talked all about that on Saturday, too. >> [laughter] >> We're going to hopefully go out a lot this summer and learn a lot. >> Some upcoming events. Our last home baseball game for the season is on Thursday against Pierce. Last home
softball game is tomorrow against Melrose. I don't know if that track meet day is right. Did you guys change that? >> Yeah, it is tomorrow. Our conference for varsity is tomorrow in Foley and then a JV meet at home on Thursday. And then band concert tonight, choir concert next
Monday, graduation will be next Friday, May 22nd. And then also balorate will be next Wednesday. And the senior scholarship event is this Wednesday. >> Thank you. Well done. Well done, you
guys. Nice job. All right. And then next we have a certificate of appreciation for Mr. Allen since he is our graduating senior. >> So John, why don't I have you come on up here? >> Okay. >> I think I made it.
>> You made it. Oops. Better not grab that one. >> So it's an appreciation here. You get to hold this for us. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. >> Make sure you send that to his mom.
He'll she'll want it. [laughter] >> I'm sure he can handle that. >> Thank you guys for this opportunity. It's been awesome. >> All right. Next, we have the superintendent report. You know, we have phenomenal students
across all of our schools and three fine examples that represent our students on the school board. Um, just listening to them talk about the activities that they're in and the passion that they have for those activities is always very rewarding despite the stress you see on
my face makes me very happy. >> You want to see those pictures? >> I don't want to. [laughter] You delete that. >> You'll have to post it. I do want to say in regards to John and and we touched on that just a little bit as he entered the
room here, but John um I think really represents the best of what all of our high school students are. When you talk about somebody who takes the time to be involved in numerous activities, a musical, a band concert tonight, a choir concert next week or is that this week?
>> Next week. >> Next week. Um, how many musicals have you been in John over the course of the year? >> Nine this year or >> No, your experience at Little Fall Schools. >> Nine. >> Nine musicals. And >> obviously we only have four years in high school. So John has been extremely
active. So I'm very proud to have had you on our board and wish you all the best as you head off to >> Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. >> And what are your majors? >> Music and finance. >> Outstanding. Thanks, John. Thank you.
>> Uh you heard a little bit about meat cutting from our students and we had a we had a finance and facility board committee meeting last week and we talked a little bit about this but we did receive a grant from the department of education uh department of health for
a meat cutting program which will begin next year and we actually included that in our registration packet for next year. Are you two registered? >> Duh. >> Okay. actually like I heard a lot of kids talking about it and there's a lot registered. Super excited.
>> I think there's actually going to be two sections of it. I think that's how many there's signed up and Mr. Arc is really excited about that. He's he's like that's his favorite thing. So, >> well, it sounds like maybe he has a
couple of co- teachers that could help him out [laughter] with your experience placing forth. >> Yeah. >> Okay. But we have actually started purchasing some of the equipment with the grant and then finagling a little bit of a surprise for us. But thanks to
Heidi and Mark uh here in the room making sure that we have hot water accessible to that area and it um separated with a screen of some sort. So if you have a moment pop down into the the egg area. It's going to be a really
neat addition to our CTE program. So, since you'll be on the board next year carrying forward, you can talk a little bit about this new class. >> Yeah. >> All right. Perfect. Um, speaking of CTE, we had Tim Barrett
from the Minnesota Department of Education visit our our CTE program last week and Tim is kind of the uh the guru for CTE and any type of programming changes, grants that we work on. We work with Tim and he's been instrumental. So,
it was really nice to have him visit Little Falls and share some of the exciting things going on in our CTE wing of the building. Did you two meet him? Well, I think you should represent us. That would be wonderful.
Uh, you heard some important dates coming up. Tomorrow morning is the AVID breakfast for those of you who can make it at 9:30. John mentioned scholarship night on May 13th, balorate May 20th, CEC graduation on the 21st, and then the
high school graduation at 7 o'clock on the 22nd. And if we can just meet again at 6:45 prior to graduation where we always do up in the comments. Great. Like to give a shout out to our
educators of excellence that were honored last week. Doug was a part of that celebration. We had 10 recipients. Sabrina Hanler, Joel Gu, Monnique Waldock, Jessica Janssky, Tara
Schlaggel, Andrea Ze, Lindseaylair, Melissa Miller, Mary Sitzman, and Teresa Messenger. So, thank you to those folks. Uh, also a shout out to community partners who've been a part of our job fair a couple weeks ago, day of caring
last week. and then those who continue to support our scholarship program, which is an incredible amount of resources and dollars for our students. Board members, in the information you have in front of you, you have a letter that we plan on sending out to families
this week. And thanks to Mark's coordination and partnership in ensuring that we have a top-notch emergency management plan and expanding that to be able to work even closer with our police department and uh county resources. We
are conducting drills at Lincoln, Lindberg, and the middle school this spring. We're letting staff know that these drills are are coming. Obviously, we're going to communicate that with parents, but what's unique about this drill is that it will be initiated by
the police department through our crisis go app. Typically, any drills we have are initiated internal. So, in the event we ever had an emergency that law enforcement was aware of and we weren't, they would have the the ability to put
us into a hold or a lockdown. We won't be taking them out to camp, I think. >> No. Nope. Good question. And that's why we left the high school off of this training procedure is because of the extent of their practice this fall.
And then lastly, and I forgot to get it on the agenda, but we've talked about it a couple of times. We'd like to make it tweak to next year's school district calendar and 2627. It won't have any impact on students or families, just staff. And that's taking
the May 3rd professional development day and shifting that to August. So we have an additional flexible professional development day. considering new reading curriculum, a new student management system, a new HR employee system, a new student
management system with data and our typical vector requirements. But we'll bring that to you in June for official approval. That's all I have. Okay. Any questions for Greg? Okay. Next, new business. Um, Kayla,
I'll have you step forward and talk a little bit about the proposed little flyer rates. Do you have handouts, Kayla? >> Um, I just have the letter. It's basically what was shared with you guys some work.
Um so yeah, I am just here today to kind of follow up with a previous discussion that we had um before about increasing the rates for Little Flyers Child Care. Um proposed rates um were all given to
you. We talked about those, but I'm here for questions today. If you have any questions, there's no determination that needs to happen today. Um but next month, I do want to share this with families to give them um a heads up on any changes. But I'm here for questions or answers hopefully if [clears throat]
you have any. >> So Kayla, the the approach we've taken is to give little flyers a year >> to see how things are going, see how the budget's trending. >> And now that we're over that year point, we've had discussions at the board
level, committee level, work sessions >> to consider increasing those rates. number one, so we can meet our budget targets. >> And number two, make sure that we're ahead of and charging more than some of our partners in the community.
>> Yeah. And I did um at the work session prior, I did share, you know, other rates that other community child care centers or inhome daycarees and and with these proposed rates, we are ahead of what other centers in our area. Um, I
think one thing to keep in mind is, um, we don't want to do this and then do it again and then do it again and then do it again. But keeping in mind we are only one year in and giving ourselves another year of this increase without changing any other wages or anything
like that for staff. Really just keeping it so we can see what is the income coming in. um a year from now we can re-evaluate and and then determine what do we need to do from there. I think we've had so many changes with our enrollment, with our staffing um and and
all of those things, the startup cost, all of those initial things will kind of be settled. I'm hoping in a year from now to say um we have a little bit better idea of what is what is needed for little flyers. And I can't remember if we shared
at the last meeting you saw a budget report from Heidi with the community education budget in the impact of the startup [clears throat] costs for the child care center. And the city now has contacted us just recently and let us know that the check is in the mail. When
we started the little flyers agreement, they agreed to submit $200,000 to our program to help with the startup costs. So, those are coming which will help offset some of those costs. >> So, we're reviewing this tonight
>> and looking for approval at the next board meeting. >> Yes. >> Yep. >> Will this increase I know it's going to help cash flow it, >> but will it put us in the the black or a break even position >> or are we still going to be lagging behind a little bit?
>> I think we're getting closer. the way that we that we put it all together, we're getting closer to the black. Really, this first year, >> I don't feel like we were able to give a true number because of so many of those startup cost things. >> Um, you know, we're not purchasing new
furniture every year. We're not purchasing those big things. Um, and with some experience under my belt now of getting some of those, um, staff to be more consistent, you know, all of those types of things, um, it's getting closer to the black.
Can you scroll down, Greg? >> I just wanted to say quickly, so we're looking at with the infants, $25 increase a week, toddlers, $20 increase a week, and then preschool >> $25 a week.
And I did include in this um this document in particular. I can send it again if you guys want to review it. But um some of the things that we had talked about switching that contract our contracts um from the school year dates to July 1st to June 30th because parents
have not been exper that hasn't been their experience in the past. And then also I reviewed all of the federal holiday dates and our closed dates per for professional development. So, I want to make sure parents have that in their hands the same time they get this information.
>> Kayla, how many of the part-time care you've got? One that's says Tuesday, Thursday, and the other one Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Do you have a lot of people that use that? >> Yeah. Um, in my toddler room in particular, I have six Tuesday,
Thursday, and I have three Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Um, I know that doesn't seem like a lot, but we have 18 toddlers in there. So that's a third of the class on Tuesday, Thursdays. Um, and then my infants, I just have one Tuesday, Thursday. Um, and then
preschool, it's it's kind of a mi it's kind of a mix depending on what classroom you're in, but I would say it's probably two or three in each that have a part-time contract. Thank you. Y >> anything else for Kayla? [snorts] >> So, yes, just one more question. Um, I
know this will be looked at again in June, but this information can be shared with parents at this point, the letter, or do you want to wait because it does talk about that it was just proposed at the school board? >> Yes. >> I think if we wait until June, it's not a a lot of turnaround.
>> I think plenty of notice is a good thing. >> That's what I would prefer. Okay. All right. Perfect. Thank you. >> Thanks, Kayla. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Next, um, you should have a paper. It's finance and facilities update. Um, you should have a a two-page document in
front of you that kind of goes through the um kind of the options as far as um after the results of the referendum. And I don't know if you've had a chance to look at it, but I think part of the discussion is um just kind of maybe
stepping back and taking a look at the district as a whole as far as what we're looking at um you know, facilitywise and stuff. and and I know the the referendum was mainly for the high school, but um this might maybe address some of the
other buildings as they are older than the high school and and maybe possible um things that we might want to do. So, um I think what we had talked about in our fac finance and facilities uh meeting was maybe getting a um a
facility study kind of similar to what we did at the high school to um to look and see what are things kind of breaking things down into what we absolutely have to do, what um would be nice to do and and maybe things that we don't need to do for a while. So, any additional to
that? Yeah, I I if I could share this just to help frame things, too. And I appreciate that information, Doug. Um I think this is an important time to take to recalibrate and revisit our options moving forward and we we certainly did that at the work session. The recent
referendum results provided clear feedback from the community and it's our responsibility to reflect on that input while continuing to address the long-term needs of the district. Over the past several years, we've made substantial progress in strengthening our financial position. And I think
you'll hear that tonight when Heidi presents a revised preliminary budget for next year. While there is always more work to be done, our unreserved fund balance is evident evidence of that progress. This is a success story that I believe our
community does not fully understand and we need to do a better job of communicating the work that has gone into stabilizing our finances, particularly the fact that this has been accomplished without asking our taxpayers for an increase. At the same
time, right sizing our district based on enrollment and available resources must continue to remain a priority. This expectation is shared by our stakeholders and is critical to maintaining long-term sustainability. The lack of support for the recent
referendum does not eliminate the need to address facilities. Our buildings continue to age and those needs will not go away. As we move forward, we need to consider a new direction that balances community feedback with operational realities.
Despite the referendum outcome, I believe there's still a broad understanding that programming grades 7 through 12 in a single building rather than two is a concept that makes sense and warrants continued exploration.
The options that you see in front of you are intended to support informed discussion about how we move forward strategically, responsibly, and with a focus both on our students and community. And I really don't want to read this
document to you >> that you have in front of you, >> but it does it highlights the conversation and notes that I took away from the work session and that mark the individual meeting that I had with you and I did share our summary with the
board that option one is is pressing pause and you can see some of the rationale for doing that and the risks involved. moving ahead uh plowing ahead with the facility needs and the rationale there
and um what that move could look like. Thirdly, maintaining the status quo and then if we do press pause, which I think was it seemed to be the the consensus of the group that
conducting community engagement needs to continue and as Doug indicated, completing a comprehensive facility study not just with the high school but also our two elementary schools. refine options and reset a long-term
plan, reassess timing and approach for future action because these needs aren't going away and explore all viable options for the future use of the middle school beyond just conversations with the city of
Little Falls. So, I guess highlighting um the last the third page where it says superintendent thoughts. Um again highlighting what what Doug shared moving forward on things we control
immediately and completing a facility study. continue to look closely at the high school and how we can continue to refine the scope of a potential project there, tighten some cost estimates, and prioritize what needs to happen in that
building. And then, not that we haven't already, but to continually seriously evaluate the closure of the middle school. And there are significant savings that come into play that are general fund savings that are real and important to our
district long-term. We can eliminate duplication. We can align with our enrollment reality and you'll see some of our enrollment projections tonight from Heidi and the continue to seek potential partnerships.
Number two, we will continue to address critical needs using our existing tools like LTFM and capital as needs arise and really target um a potential plan for indoor air quality and mechanical
systems post facility study. Mhm. >> I think most importantly my goal would be and through the direction of the school board by March 31st have a have a plan B developed and ready to communicate to stakeholders working
closely with you folks on what that looks like again post facility study financial study and what's best for us moving forward. We uh don't want to overlook our community feedback. We cannot let our
facilities continue to slide and we need to lock into a timeline moving forward. I think as we discussed at the work session, the reality of the referendum
failing. Um, I believe personally and I think in conversations with some of you that it may not have been necessarily the plan, more so timing, tax sensitivity, some of the complexity within the plan
perhaps and some of the trust and clarity gaps that exist and rushing back out doesn't fix any of those. So, we can't retreat from the concerns, but we can't force a plan either. And I
think what we've talked about at the work session of taking a 9 to 10 month approach to better understanding, putting a plan together, and address the needs that aren't going away. Any questions you have follow up to
that? >> The facilities inspection Um, you pretty much have a handle on what the buildings need. Are you paying to have someone come in and look at it or is
>> Well, we talked about at the work session, Mark, is asking for consideration from the board to look at a proposal to dig deep into Lindberg and Lincoln. We have a general idea of what some of those long-term needs are with
indoor air quality and mechanical issues, but not to the extent that we do with the high school because we had engineers and architects walk through that building and tell us specifically what those issues issues are. I think Mark and his expertise and time in the
district can give an overview of what some of those needs are. But in terms of an indepth timelinebased plan that allows us to create that next step and tap into the resources that we have available, I think that will be helpful.
>> Okay. What about the state funding? And I know that when if the referendum would have passed, we' have got some state funding to help with some of this reconstruction and changing out things. Is that still going to be available to us next year or is there a time limit on it?
>> Yeah, the state funding funding would have diminished the tax impact on our egg land. And so if the plan come March 31st is let's go out for a bond be it through could be through a voter
approved bond or it could be through >> an indoor air quality bond any type of a bond would allow for that egg credit tax to be in place. >> Oh >> looking at our financial experience [laughter]
well where's the wisdom here? I'm >> I would want to clarify that for sure. I know we've we've discussed it. So, I'm certain we have that answer. I just don't have it at the top of my head right now. >> So, I can
>> Okay. >> provide the the answer confidently and get it to Greg. Good sh. >> That's fine. That's all I have for you. Okay, any other questions for Greg?
So then next item we have is the approval of a facility study. And I think we what we're looking for is just to kind of get a get a quote on it or find out not actual approval, but just that we can take [clears throat] the steps to find out what that would cost
us exactly. >> Okay. >> So do you need a motion for that or just a quote? >> Yep. It's a it's a action item. So, yes. >> Okay. So, I'll make a motion to get a quote on the approval of a facility study. >> Okay. >> I'll second. >> Okay. I have a motion by Sharon, a
second by Dan. Any further discussion? >> Okay. Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Oppos. Same sign. All right. Motion carries. >> Next. Heidi, you are the star now with the budget.
>> Am I the last on the list? Oh, no. >> No, [laughter] >> I'm sure you were saving the back for last. >> All right. Do you want to put up the presentation, [clears throat] >> Craig? >> Yes.
>> I think I emailed it. So, it's probably in Oh, yeah. I did email right there. Yep. All right. So, for those of you that don't know who I am, I'm Heidi Hagen, the business manager for the school
district. And tonight, I'm going to share a preliminary budget uh for all of the uh operational funds within the district uh for next fiscal year. And so, I'll start with the general fund. It
is our largest uh fund. I'd like to provide just some highlevel budget updates that have either come to fruition based on legislative changes andor uh information that we have known
all along throughout the last um couple of years. So increase per pupil funding this is what the state pays per pupil uh on the general education aid formula this year uh fiscal year 26 is 2.74.
next year. Uh the state set it at 2.69, which uh is an increase of about $21 per pupil or $7,682 per pupil general education aid. I don't
know if you recall, but uh in one of the legislative sessions, I want to say two sessions ago, uh they um agreed to pay a per pupil funding of not
less than 2% not more than 3% and in between the two and 3% they would account for inflationary impacts. And so that resulted uh for uh for our district for districts across the state at 2.69
compensatory funding. This is also called basic skills. So we receive funding based on uh free and reduced uh calculations of students and families in our district. Uh the uh change that's
impacting Little Falls Community Schools is a decrease of about 430,000 or just over 2.1 million uh for next year's compensatory funding. That big change uh resulted in the state no
longer taking into account families that actually fill out a free and reduced application. Uh rather the only families and students that are eligible for um eligible or counted for in this funding
are what we call direct certified families. And that is based on any other types of state um support that these families might be receiving and therefore directly certifies them. Right now, uh, the legislature and MDE are
working together on what, if anything, they they can or will consider doing for next fiscal year, whether they can hold harmless. So then we would essentially still receive the the full amount of
compensatory funding andor that 430,000 that's set to decrease. Uh, we have yet to find out. So hopefully by May 18th when the deadline for uh the session to be wrapped up uh will provide us some additional information. Funding for summer unemployment. I like to have this
on the radar one because our non-licensed staff that do not work during the summer months are eligible to apply for unemployment benefits. So, uh, right now the district pays, uh, for that, uh, over the summer months, which
equates to about $300,000. Uh, the state is still reimbursing districts for that amount. Title funds. This uh would be a decrease of about 126,000 for next year or about
554,000 that we'll receive. These are federal funds and over the last several years uh federal funds have uh slowly decreased year-over-year. Paid family medical leave expense. This is new as of January 1st, 2026. All
employees uh are seeing an additional tax on their paycheck which is called paid family medical leave. Both employee and the district uh pay into that tax. this year uh we
how the the calendar year runs and how our fiscal year runs, we're only paying half that. Whereas this next cycle, we'll have a full year's worth of that expense. So that will be increasing by 45,000 or 85,000 that we the district
would pay. state special education uh projecting about $6 million based on the most recent special education comprehensive aid report which would be an increase of
about 300,000 for state special education next year. Federal special education uh projecting no increase or decrease at this time. More information over the coming weeks may come to fruition. And then the one of the legislative
changes uh in the last uh bienium was the change in special education transportation reimbursement. So uh up until this uh year we had received districts across the state had received 100% of transportation reimbursement for
special education services. Um this year we're receiving 95% of that total expense. Next year they're reducing that another 5% so 90% reimbursement is what we'll receive on transportation expense for special ed.
>> So Heidi just a couple of um [clears throat] clarifications. When you're talking about compensatory funding that by being certified typically means you're on SNAP maybe some type of certified program as
opposed state program as opposed to free and reduce where maybe you're not on that program but you still might be considered free and reduced. So that's where we lose that. >> Yep. Correct. >> And then um state special education because we have a higher population of
special ed students. thus the increase funding. Is that accurate or >> that is accurate? However, there's other variables that come into account and special education funding spans back three fiscal years and they take into account total special education expenses
in con conjunction with uh the students that are eligible to receive services in conjunction with the level of services those students need. And so there's a lot of variables that go into the special the state special education
formula. Uh there's only one person in the state of Minnesota that is an expert on that and that's Paul Faren and he is the only one. [laughter] So, I take uh for what it's worth, I take the comprehensive state aid report um
as a as a indicator of what we would reasonably expect for future years. >> It's not it's not too late if you are interested to reach out to local legislators. >> And I'm going to jump back up to compensatory funding. You know, poverty
levels in Little Falls School District have not changed. You could make a case that they've probably increased, but yet because of a change to a formula, we're losing $430,000 in in funds that directly go to support
students that are struggling. And I think if you proportionally look at districts that are, let's say, the winners and losers of this formula change, we are hit pretty hard as a school district. And because of what you
referenced, that different way of looking at it, which technically the the official change to the state formula, which a committee is going to put together, but their report isn't due until october 1. I
don't know why the state is feeling like they need to make this change right now when there could be another change based on what this committee is going to do. But this is not um fair to Little Falls Community Schools. Uh general fund uh continues. So, we
base uh the majority of our general education revenue on the number of students that we serve here in um Little Falls School District. And as I had mentioned, the education formula uh is 2.69%.
Uh we're projecting early childhood um let's just say ECSE early childhood special education uh through 12th grade enrollment next year of 2,120 students as compared to uh this year
about 2,179 students. So about 60 students less next year. And that primarily has to do with uh a large uh 12th grade and ALC class
graduating and 125 kindergarteners coming in. And so we continue to see kindergarten staying relatively stable at that 125, but we have larger class sizes in the next handful of years that
will be graduating out. And so in Little Falls, we expect and project year-over-year decreases in student enrollment, which impacts our funding. Um, where else? Levy revenue. So, our
levy revenue is decreasing by $440,000. So, the levy revenue is the board's approval back in December uh of 2025. that levy taxpayers in the district pay our their taxes the whole calendar year
of 2026 and then that equates to revenue for us next fiscal year it's decreasing for a few reasons enrollment so there are portions of the levy formulas that are strictly tied to enrollment the other
component is our long-term facilities maintenance levy depending on the property they call it property wealth so the value of properties in the the district as a whole. When they those values fluctuate, it it sometimes
um provides a benefit of lessening the local taxpayer um impact and it goes onto the aid uh formula. And so in this case, although we're seeing a reduction in our levy of 440,000,
we're receiving some of that 440,000 on the state aid side. So, um, an advantage for our district and a benefit to our taxpayers. Other revenues, uh, projecting to decrease, uh, mainly grants. Uh, we received a handful of
large 40, 50, $240,000 grants. uh this fiscal year that I'm not expecting that we'll receive them again as they were one-time grants. And then interest income will fluctuate likely
decrease uh given um a slight decrease in rates currently and unsure of where that might go um over the next fiscal year. Any questions on the revenue?
On the expense side, salaries, wages, and benefits I combined for a total increase of $770,000. Uh, and this is taken uh strictly from all the contracts that we've settled, the staff that we have
currently in the district and their salaries, wages, and benefits based on those settled contracts. Purchase services. Uh this is what we would pay outside vendors to provide services uh to our district andor um staff andor
students decreasing $220,000. Specifically relates to our special ed contracted services. So right now this fiscal year we pay uh a company to provide our special education due process. Uh next year we've actually
hired um on staff a due process um staff member. So that is decreasing. And then also our uh we contract with an outside vendor for our um school psychology
uh support uh in addition to the staff that we have here in the district. We were able to hire that. So that also is decreasing um in addition to a speech path um support contract. And so we are
decreasing that based on our current uh enrollment andor students on needing services with speech pathology supplies are increasing 440,000 right now. That's mainly due to our ELA
curriculum uh purchase of about 250,000 and uh the consideration to purchase uh student devices for all 9th through 12th graders. Right now uh students in 9th through 12th grade have Chromebooks that are at either end of life or um will
soon be end of life and we need to take into account that fleet refresh for u next fiscal year. And then capital uh mainly um long-term facilities maintenance and/or facility projects
decreasing by 1 million. This year we spent just over 1.1 million in bu larger building uh projects whether it was flooring, painting, signage,
um other types of um HVAC andor um heating updates. And so next year, given the conversation that we just had about pressing pause on any facility updates, um working with uh a content
expert in um reviewing our facilities, and then putting a plan together uh moving forward, whether that's going to be monies that the district already has in fund balance, long-term facilities maintenance, or other types of funding resources.
Any questions on general fund expense? just to chime in. I you reminded me of I think a really good point back to facilities and pressing pause and we're seeing some positive trends with our budget right now and another year of
that being able to to have a handle on where our budget will be in next year at this time I think also creates a better a better spot to be able to make some big decisions. [cough and clears throat] Are all our contracts settled now for
employment? >> We are very close. We have one contract that expired in the 2526 school year that uh just Dan and and Doug were working on today. I think we're close to that one specific contract. And then we
have about seven or eight at will employees whose contracts expire June 30th that we will wrap up here. The teachers, paras, food service custodians are all >> the big ones are all taken care of. So this won't affect our numbers a lot.
>> Shouldn't >> that's where you Heidi I think where did I see the seven right here. >> Yeah. >> Uh this is just uh the numbers. So looking at the general fund as a whole
uh from left to right, expenses broken down into the different uh categories, revenue is one line item. You can see historically where we've landed uh for next fiscal year. Um although could be alarming if you don't know the full
story. Um we're we're um projected to have just uh over 34.9 million in revenue. Uh based on some assumptions for expenses and other knowings, uh just over $35.1 million which results in
expenses being over our revenue by about $200,000. Uh that $200,000 is coming from what we call restricted funds. And so our our curriculum is that large $250 per p $250,000 purchase and
our student devices also coming out of an operating capital restricted fund balance. Um and that those are are about $150,000. So yes, based on what we're uh what I'm presenting today,
about $200,000 more in expenses. Those relate specifically to those highcost capital operating capital expenses. So then if you go to the next slide, this tells the story of even though we
are assuming or projecting $200,000 more in expenses next year, we're still able to maintain fund balances in restricted um categories. At the top there, the the majority of the top portion lists out
all the restricted fund balances. And from all the way to the right, you can see where those balances land in the middle are unassigned fund balance. So from left to right, if you go all the way over to the right, um projecting just under 3.7 million in unassigned
fund balance. uh as you had approved earlier uh in April at the board meeting the revised budget we're projecting some flexibility to assign some money for next year andor future uses and that
results and if you scroll down just a little bit next year's unassigned fund balance of about 10.5%. Again based on the the assumptions that I have in um this preliminary presentation our board policy is
anywhere between 10 and 12%. So we are able to maintain um a solid 10 10 and a half% and we'll continue to monitor that in the general fund. Any questions on the breakout?
All right. And then just some things that I have on my radar considering and always going to continue to monitor um while we move towards a June um budget approval. Kindergarten enrollment. Um
Mr. Dobis has kept us up to date on where kindergarten enrollment is currently at. He felt it was is very similar to comparable year and comparable to previous years. So he feels that 125 kindergarten enrollment number is reasonable and realistic. Uh
we talked about the the depth and the magnitude of of where we're at with facilities, student devices, uh a high cost item and a need to um put together a plan that's going to support a device
refresh uh over the next several years. And transportation. Uh we know what our percentage increase in our transportation contracts are. However, the um uh instability of gas and diesel
prices, I continue to monitor that and we'll need to reconsider what I'm projecting as a an increase for next year's unknowns at this time when when it comes to transportation. And then I take all of this into consideration
while ensuring that I come to the board uh with an unassigned fund balance recommendation that lands in board policy between 10 and 12. So that's the wrap on the general fund. The next few funds should go fairly
quickly, but any general fund questions? All right. Food service budget fund two uh strictly uh prohibited to uh food service and all that that entails. I um projected revenue next year based on
current year trends. And so we'll talk a little bit on uh what that looks like on the next few slides. Expenses uh salaries, wages, and benefits increasing $22,000. Uh we do have the MSEA food service contract settled. Um and so uh that
increase uh should be u uh relatively known. Purchase services increasing $1,000. Um that's just main mainly adjusting for a potential slight increase in repairs and maintenance uh
for anything within the food service department. Supplies are increasing 24,000. That's strictly due to the food and milk costs that we're projecting. Um and then capital is decreasing by 140,000. Uh that's uh mainly due to the high school kitchen remodel that's
taking place over the summer. Um but also takes into account that uh the uh kitchen um combi ovens are needing to be replaced and so that takes into account the option in the budget to purchase those next fiscal year. fund balance
target uh after all that's uh projected $764,000. Although that seems like a lot of money and it is a lot of money to have in a fund balance. Uh MDE is still uh recommending a target of six month six months of expenses and if you take that
into account for our program that's just under 1.3 million. So, um, knowing that we're, uh, under that target, we'll continue to work, uh, towards, uh, increasing that fund balance.
Um, we can look at the numbers here. So, then we can, uh, go over questions if any. But here again, historically, left to right, categories of expense broken out. Um, overall, uh, just over 1.9 million in expense projected. again a
decrease uh mainly due to that capital equipment uh expense uh this year regarding the high school kitchen remodel revenue based on current year [cough and clears throat] trends just over 1.7 million so we are spending more
on the expense than we're taking in in revenue over the next couple of weeks before I bring the final budget recommendation to the board I will work with Mary Bartlett uh food service director to see where if any we can
decrease expense that I might have um missed potentially. Any questions on food service? All right. Fund for community education. Um, I've worked closely with Kayla since I started here in the district in
September and uh worked towards uh aligning and ensuring that all uh types of uh community education budget lines were reviewed and and uh addressed. So
revenue based on current year trends uh right now is is a projection that u for today's meeting I I've put up here uh we'll continue or I'll continue to connect with Caris or Kayla especially with the the consideration for the
increase in the little flyers daycare rates uh and we will see a decrease in revenue based on the grant. So, we received $240,000 grant from DED, which uh supported a lot of those bigger um
expense items, curriculum, uh playground, things like that. Um that supported those startup costs for the Little Flyers program. Expenses, salaries, wages, and benefits decreasing about by about $19,000.
That's mainly due to the the fluctuation in Little Flyer staffing. um hasn't quite um hit a consistent level of what that uh trend looks like. So, continue to monitor that purchase services uh decreasing. My recommendation is that we
decrease and I'll work with Kayla uh more in depth uh when uh over the next couple weeks and I'll bring back, you know, some recommendations uh based on her input as well. But we um should really be uh spending
not more than what we receive for adults with disabilities. And I know those programs are um expanding and growing and important parts of the community education uh services and programs that we provide, but my recommendation is we shouldn't spend more than we get. And so
that would result in $14,000 decreasing uh specifically in that program. So, more to come on that. Uh, supplies are decreasing $4,000 again mainly due to Little Flyers not needing to purchase uh some of those
one-time startup costs. Uh, then capital is decreasing again specifically to the Little Flyers uh portion of community education, but the $332,000 decrease is specifically the startup costs and the deed grant.
uh projected fund balance has me um on alert. $108,000 uh has continued to decrease uh year-over-year, which is uh only about six uh% of expenses. So, uh I would
expect that as we continue to um work towards Little Flyers um becoming uh profitable uh over the next uh few years in addition to really monitoring all those other community education services and programs that we
offer to ensure that we're not spending more that we than we receive and that we're uh setting our fees uh within reason and um applicable to the services that we provide. Next is the the the numbers look at. So
here you can see about 1.73 million in expense. again about uh $370,000 less mainly due to uh that uh capital expense uh in general. And then revenue uh just
over 1.6 million which would be about $87,000 more in expense than what we're projected to receive. This does not take into account the increase in the little flyers rates. That will impact revenue and provide um additional revenue than
what we're seeing here. I will work closely with Kayla and provide um a budget recommendation that would be more break even in June. the check in the mail that is
coming from Little Falls that will just be into their regular revenue for little for the flyers. >> Yeah. So, if you look um at >> that's not included in any of this. >> No, it's not. And when we when I presented the revised budget back in April, you can see in the the purple
shaded column there $24,000 $25,000 of expense over revenue. that would having had that certainty that they were going to provide that um $200,000 would have >> essentially broke even.
>> Um so that will help and then additionally um the consideration to increase those rates will help as well. >> Any other questions? >> Cutting the budget pretty close this year or next year.
>> Yeah. for >> there's [clears throat] not going to be a lot of room for surprises. >> Nope, there is not. Uh construction budget. I put this on here because we have uh carryover funds that date back to the 2016 bonds. Uh
Mark has done a really good job this year and um a few previous years of spending that projected fund balance down. uh based on what we're spending this year, we'll have about $137,000 to uh spend down for next year to bring
that that fund balance down to zero. So depending on what we find out in facility studies, depending on what emergent needs might come up in between, then uh we do have some funds to consider using. And then debt service fund is is based
on the 25 pay 26 levy uh that the board approved in December and we pay based on our debt service schedule which we have the three outstanding bonds um ongoing. We did pay off three um
separate lease purchase the 2010 A bond and the 2010 Bond were all paid off this fiscal year. projected fund balance just under 700,000. It's about 32% of expenses that is highly
regulated by MDE and state statute. And this is a look at the numbers um balanced budget for next year's debt service fund. And I think that's it.
So a lot of information uh when you take into account all the funds that I presented on some of the the funds overall expenses are known much of that is salaries, wages and benefits uh which does provide
uh some confidence in the budget knowing that we know those numbers. uh revenue across the board is is you know the best estimate projection that we can do whether it's based on uh enrollment uh
in the general fund food service we are basing it on current year's meal purchases um and the reimbursement rate from both the federal and state for meals community education is primarily a feebased
uh fund and so really capturing you know what services we provide, how we set those rates, um, and how does the revenue tie out to either [clears throat] a break even or sustainably more revenue than expense?
[clears throat and cough] >> Any questions for Heidi? When you talk about community services, you mentioned that we're losing or it's costing us more money than what we're bringing in on the special education event or not special educ.
>> How are they doing on the rest of the stuff? >> Uh the you know they've got softball or >> Yeah. So those are the details that I will work closely with Cara over the next couple weeks and bring that to the board in June. Okay.
Okay. Anything else for Heidi? >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Heidi. Very concise and easy to follow. All right. Next, we have um there's a a list of all the Day of Caring kind of
donations, whether they were cash, whether they were in kind. Um it's quite a list. Um, that's a two pages and it looks like basically two legal pages. So, um, a thank you to everyone. Um, it
was a great day. You know, I was able to be up there and have a team and the weather cooperated, which is always a bonus. So, it was a a really good day. All right. Next, under old and unfinished business is the second
reading of policies. Again, um this is a non-action item, but all these policies are are there for for you to look at. So, if there's changes or concerns, you can reach out. >> Doug, how many of these are updated
policies and how many are new policies? >> Policy >> 625 is >> Yeah, 625 is brand new. Under the vending machines, we're responsible to install and do
maintenance on them. >> No. >> Okay. I I read that about three times and I think I lost it. And who's the definitions cuz it looked to me like it was the school installs them and the school maintains them. And I thought why would
they be our problem? >> All right. Good point. We've had a policy for naming facilities before. >> Yeah. Um >> Go ahead. >> The state does not. So if you search MSBA, they do not have a naming
rights or facilities policy, but the district has an older one. >> Okay. >> 980. It's on our website. >> Okay. Anything else on the policies? All right. board reports. Uh Sharon, >> um tomorrow the FFA has their plant
sale. Also, the Randle Scholarship plant sale is going on. Kathy Adam is in charge of that. And the only other thing I want to mention was I did go on Sunday to Malamia. Excellent. Um the young lady who was the lead and the singer, I
thought she was a senior. Apparently, she's a sophomore. It's a young. >> Oh my gosh, what a what a fantastic voice. So strong. >> So we have her for a couple more years. Fantastic. >> It is. >> Yeah. Nothing to report.
>> Well, like the high school, the young kids have a lot going on at Lincoln as well. So there's a kindergarten um music program scheduled for Thursday for parents to come watch. And then the track and field days are coming up um
next week for the kids at weekend. >> So, and I'm sure there are a slew of field trips as well. >> I'm sorry. I was going to mention that earlier. We've we've been in contact with the Minnesota Military Museum,
which opens September 12th. They've reached out to us and we've had a a meeting with them and they are willing to open their doors for our staff during workshop week. >> Which would be really nice if we have an extra flexible time to be able to do
some things, but they would allow our staff to come through that last week of August before they officially open. >> That's cool. >> Yeah. So, a staff field trip plan. >> Sorry about [laughter] that. >> Okay, Julie. Okay, Mark.
>> Nothing to report. >> Nope. But I the only thing I will say is I will piggy back on what Sharon said. I had a chance to see Mama Mia and it was John was great and the whole staff was fantastic and then again Dave Caring 15th annual and it's just a just a great
day overall. So all right, if there's no other business to come before the board, I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Okay, I have a motion by Mark, a second by Sharon. All in favor?
>> I opposed. All right, motion carries. Thank you everyone.