On Monday, November 17, Luke Greden, of CLA Rochester, presented the 2025 fiscal year audit to the Kingsland School Board.
The general fund revenue totaled $8,550,597 with 71.7% coming from state aid, 15.5 from property tax, 3.2% from federal aid and 1.4% from earnings on investments.
“Overall, a very healthy year for the general fund,” Greden expressed.
The general fund expenses were $7,323,173. The salaries and benefits made up 74.2%of the expenses, purchased services 18.3%, supplies 5.9% and capital expenditures 1.5%.
“Overall, you are putting 77% of the $7,323,173 of expenses directly to the instruction of the students. That is a really good percentage. On average we usually see around 74-75%, so you are virtually putting every dollar the district can right to the instruction of the students,” Greden said.
The unassigned fund balance is $1,246,019, up from $1,176,728 in 2024 and the assigned fund balance is $3,293,583, up $327,002 from 2024.
The restricted fund balance is at $484,525. Most of this fund is from state aid and has to be used for specific services.
The operating capital is $255,044, up $24,751 from last year, while the long term facilities maintenance is up slightly from 2024 at $1,036,521.
The food service fund is down slightly from 2024 with $198,723.
The community education fund is up to $430,091.
The capital projects fund is at $9,872,869. This covers the 2025 roof project and maintenance projects in 2026.
The debt service is $2,189,099.
Enrollment has been steady in the last five years, with 558 students for the 2020-2021 school year and 547 in the last school year.
“It is rare to see this right now. It’s good to see you are keeping that enrollment steady, because that is not a thing we see too often right now,” Greden commented.
The board approved the audit report.
Program Highlight
Every month the board will hear from various programs throughout the district. This month Amber Anderson, from Zumbro Valley Health Center, spoke about Kingsland’s mental health program.
Kingsland is one of five districts in the area working with Zumbro Valley Health Center. Since 2022 the program has helped over 161 students and has provided 3,764 billable service hours.
Anderson explained that by having the program within the school, students don’t have to miss extra classes due to travel and it gives more students an opportunity to use the service.
This year a second part-time therapist was added to the district and a children’s therapeutic service and support specialist comes in once a week.
“We use a lot of grant funding. So if a family’s insurance doesn’t cover mental health services we will use grant funding to as much as possible. We want to reduce the barrier to services as much as we can,” Anderson said. “I am here in the summer and I’m here in the evenings. My hours aren’t matched with the school’s day so I can be a lot more flexible.”
To receive the services, students can speak to the school social worker, Annie Aldrich or with Anderson directly. There is also a signup form on the Zumbro Valley website.
Other Business
The board thanked Fins and Films for their donation of $500 to the Spring Valley-Wykoff Future Farmers of America (FFA) and Stier Steel for their donation of $250 to the drama club.
The FFA had a successful corn drive with donations distributed between True Friends and The Spring Valley and Wykoff Food Shelves. The group had their November Activities Night where they made tie blankets and crafts for the nursing homes. The Forestry team and the Meats teams qualified for the state competition, which will be held in April. The group’s fruit sale is complete and deliveries will be made on December 3.
The board awarded bids for the 2026 projects. Rochester Sand and Gravel was awarded the site work portion for a total of $751,206.23. DMC Plumbing and Heating, Inc. was awarded the mechanical work for $757,000. Electrical work will be done by R and K Electric, Inc for $187,590 and The Joseph Company was awarded the general construction portion for $836,000.
The board approved the Spring Valley Community Center as the combined polling place.
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