The Kingsland School Board kicked off their February 18 meeting with Spring Valley-Wykoff FFA (Future Farmers of America) Chapter representative Cody Howard who gave an update on the chapter’s busy month. The chapter made and delivered valentines to the elementary students.
Max Erdman, Seth Howard and Ira Schmidt got their Minnesota State FFA degrees in February. They will officially receive the awards in April.
“We had two teams compete. Small animals, which received eighth place, and the wildlife team, which placed sixth. Carson Wolfgram got first and Kaleb Rainey got sixth,” Howard shared.
In celebration of FFA Week, the chapter recently went tubing at Ironwood Springs, had their pancake breakfast, had a teacher appreciation and a member meal. Other events included a scavenger hunt, a coloring contest for the elementary, dress up days, barnyard, door decorating and Ag Olympics.
Budget
The board heard an update on the budgeting for the future school years from Superintendent Scott Klavetter.
“It’s challenging, frankly, to look at budgeting for next year right now with all the uncertainty coming from the state. The reality with where we are sitting right now is we have a balanced budget for this year. As I’ve shared, I have a little bit of anxiousness with that because there is not a lot of optimistic tones coming from St. Paul about the budget forecast,” Klavetter said.
To complicate the matters, Klavetter explained that while the school must have an adopted budget by July 1, 2025, the state budget office, which usually has their budget forecast ready in February, is now expected no earlier than March.
“I think the challenge is going to be, long story short, we have to have an adopted budget by July 1. I think there is a lot of people questioning whether the state legislature will have it’s work done by then so we actually know what we have for revenue forecasts,” Klavetter stated. “We’ll keep working to keep as many programs and opportunities as possible for students. That is always the goal.”
The board voted to approved the revised 2025 fiscal year budget.
Facility Maintenance and Planning
“The architects for the maintenance project that was approved in November, ICS Consulting Inc. our project manager and TSP, Inc the architect for the project did a pretty comprehensive walkthrough with Nate (Carolan) and myself,” Klavetter shared.
TSP will now review the maintenance 10-year plan, recommendations from ICS, as well as additional suggestions they came up with during the walkthrough.
“They are going to take all that back and put together a first draft of their proposed projects that we should do. We can give our feedback and they’ll modify and adjust from there as needed,” Klavetter said. “Their hope is to have the scope of the work largely figured out by the end of spring (2025) and be ready to go out and do a request for proposals to find people to do that work. Then schedule that for spring and throughout summer 2026.”
Regarding the upcoming special election for the proposed referendum, Klavetter shared district staff has begun meeting weekly with the ICS Communications team to brainstorm ways to keep the public informed about the May 13 special election.
The kingslandbond.org website is back up for voters to learn more about the referendum.
The district will is also going to try to reach the voters by creating a video to show the function of the school during the day in hopes that it will show the need for more space.
Roof
The board awarded the roof replacement contract to Jackson and Associates, LLC during their February 6 meeting, for a cost of $2,730,000, which according to Klavetter is right on target for what they expected.
“We also added the additional $119,000 for wall panels which will eliminate the need for tuck pointing on those sections of wall that are taller than others. They should last longer than caulk and mortar as far as drying out and cracking. It should also prevent leaking along those seams,” Klavetter explained.
At that time board members questioned Jackson and Associates representatives on whether the school should prep part of the roof for solar panels.
“If you remember there is the is the Solar for School grant and the federal rebate program that would provide funding for solar panels for schools,” Klavetter said. “Both solar companies and roofing companies prefer solar panels not be put on roofs. The roofing companies don’t want that on their roofs and the solar companies feel they can get a better angle if they are ground mounted so they generate more electricity.” He noted that many schools appreciate the recommendation but put them on the roof because then they are out of sight and mind, plus the vandalism worry isn’t there.
Klavetter shared the response from Jackson and Associates was that if the district decided not to prep the roof it would be a savings of $17,700. “It’s not a huge impact, but it is $17,700,” he said. “The other piece is, though, is both Garland and ICS said they feel like instead of doing that mineral imbedded material we would do a traditional flood and gravel roof there. What they are saying is we can do the flood and gravel $17,000 cheaper and we feel like that would actually be a better quality roof because it’s more durable.”
According to Klavetter, the Kingsland Facility Committee recommended going with the the flood and gravel roofing, though it would eliminate the option of solar panels on the roof.
“Personally, I would agree with the facility committee,” board member Kyle Rader said. “I think it would show poor judgement to try to put solar panels on a brand new roof and it has only the potential to cause problems.”
The board unanimously decided while they are still open to doing solar, they will be looking at the options for ground panels instead of roof mounted. They will move forward with the flood and gravel roof.
When discussing the financial benefit of having solar panels Klavetter said, “Right now what they are saying is essentially what you would save in electricity costs would pay for the panels within three to five years. These panels are supposed to last at least 20 years.”
Other Business
The board thanked Kingsland School Parents (KSP) for their donation of $244.02 for recess equipment. The board also thanked Greg Melartin for his donation of $250 to the drama club for their March trip to see “Grease.”
It was noted the Minnesota State High School League (MSHL) is currently being investigated by the Department of Education for allowing transgender student athletes to compete on sports teams based on their gender identity. This is after changes were made to Title IX, a federal law banning sex discrimination in schools, which now prohibits the participation of transgender girls in female sports. By not complying schools may be at risk of losing funding and could even face legal action.
Preschool fees will see a 3% increase, with two half days up $5 to $105, three half-days up $5 to $150, five half-days will now be $235, two full days will be $220, three full days will be $335 and five full days will be $515. School Age Child Care (SACC) will be up five cents to $3 an hour.
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