Houston School – Organized and Audited

The Houston School Board began their regular January 4 meeting with their organizational meeting to start off the new year. Little changed – Rushford State Bank was named the official depository; the district legal counsel also remained the same. Wire transfer authorization was given to Superintendent Mary Morem and Director of Finance Gwen Rostad.
Once again Mimi Carlson was selected chair; Josh Norlien returned to the vice chair position; Mark Swenson is clerk again; Arlin Peterson will continue to serve as the district treasurer. Compensation for board members will remain the same as last year at $50 for up to two meetings in a day with a $500 extra payment to the chair at the end of the year.
The board will continue to meet on the first Thursday of the month at 6 p.m. with the exception of the July meeting which will be July 11 to avoid the July 4 holiday. Additional work sessions may be added on the third Thursday of the month as needed.
Fillmore County Journal was named the official newspaper after vice chair Josh Norlien commented that he appreciated the on-site representation and coverage by FCJ.
Most of the assorted committee and board representatives for various groups and associations remained the same. The board members try to share the duties and choose committees they have a particular interest in.
FY2023 Audit
Following the organizational meeting portion, Craig Popenhagen of CLA (Clifton, Larson, Allen) presented a summary of the 2023 clean audit. Once again, Houston needed to have a Federal Compliance Audit due to increased federal funding from the Covid monies. This came back with no findings and will probably not be necessary next year with the ending of Covid federal funding.
The undesignated fund balance which is the “safety blanket” for the district showed 4.3% of the total budget. The goal is to have a 5% balance in this fund.
Popenhagen applauded the school for putting the funding to use as it came in for the staff development and student activity fund as well as the long term facilities maintenance fund.
The food service fund showed a spike in 2022 as a result of federal funding for free lunches. In 2023, with the higher food costs, the fund returned to its normal balances.
Community Service funded itself this past year. When Covid was in full swing, free childcare had to be supplied for essential workers which had hit the budget.
In expenditures, the school spent down $715,000; this was below the budgeted spend down of $1,000,000.
Five per cent of the total expenditures is on administration. Eighty-nine percent of the total is going for classroom support.
The ADM (average daily membership) of the online school is at 200 more than before the pandemic. The enrollment at the brick and mortar school has remained stable over the last five years.
Transportation expenses showed a spike due to the purchase of two new buses in 2023.
Houston showed an uptick in vocational classes which has to do with the licensures of faculty for vocational. High School Principal Michael Mangan reminded the board that 35% of the cost of approved vocational programs is returned to the school by the federally funded Perkins funds.
When Vice Chair Norlien asked Popenhagen if he saw anything to be aware of post Covid, Popenhagen reminded the board that Covid funding would be going away. This totaled about $500,000 in 2023.
Superintendent Morem told the board, “We’re going to have to be creative. We did hire extra staff with Covid money; we won’t be able to afford this next year.” The board has always prioritized maintaining small class sizes in the past.
Other Business
In other business, the board:
• Heard Superintendent Morem recognize teaching assistant Natalie Seekamp for the fantastic job she’s been doing at the preschool; Morem noted that Seekamp’s schedule has been tweaked for the upcoming semester to allow her to be at the preschool more again;
• Continued to work through first and second readings of school policies in order to clarify the school policies;
• Gratefully accepted donations to the school – various individuals, businesses and organizations donated a total of $970 to the Hollidazzle Elf Store and Caledonia Haulers, Inc. donated $2,000 to the softball program;
• Passed a resolution to have Superintendent Morem make recommendations for adjustments to curriculum and staffing;
• Recommended that Morem remind residents to look for their property tax statements in the mail in March to see that their final property taxes have gone down compared to the proposed taxes sent out earlier.
The next regular Houston School Board meeting will take place February 1 at 6 p.m. in the high school media center. The public is welcome to attend; a public comment period is available at the beginning of the meeting.