At the October 14 Lanesboro School Board meeting, Superintendent Matt Schultz reported on how information has been shared with the district’s residents about the upcoming referendum vote. Three informational meetings have been held: one in August right before school began, one in September at the Commonweal Theatre, and one at the American Legion this past week.
A letter was mailed in October to all district residents. Postings were done on Facebook, and the school website has a plethora of information on it, including a link to the county’s GIS website where you can look up your property value as well as a tax calculator where you can plug in your property value to find exactly how your taxes would be affected.
Informational signs have been posted around town. Schultz takes smaller handouts to any meetings where he presents. Schultz declared he’d be happy to go and talk to any groups who wanted him to do so; they just need to contact him. Individuals with questions are encouraged to call him. At this time, Schultz has not gotten many questions from citizens.
Sarah Peterson suggested they send emails to groups such as the city council and the Chamber of Commerce. She herself had mentioned the upcoming vote at a recent EDA meeting.
During his report, Schultz stressed that the state has not been contributing what it had said it would. Lanesboro receives $600,000 less in purchasing power annually than the state promised when funding was changed. Next year, Lanesboro will need to purchase another bus which will cost $159,000. Diesel prices have gone up significantly. Health insurance costs at Lanesboro District went up 15% this year.
The only costs the school can control is staffing. “We do what we can with what we have,” Schultz commented. The costs of services are one of the big expenses at the school.
The school attempts to save money. They move staff as needed. Solar energy collectors were installed on the school. All the light bulbs in the school have been replaced with LEDs.
According to Schultz, most properties in the school district have actually seen a decline in their taxes for the school for the past three years. If the referendum passes, the taxes will once again be close to the 2023 taxes.
Schultz noted that the people of Lanesboro are aware that the school is very focused on the budget. The vote on the referendum will take place November 3 during the general elections.
School Trust Program
After a citizen question during a previous public input, Schultz decided to share information about the School Trust Program; a constitutional amendment will be on the ballot in November.
The program was begun in 1858 when Minnesota became a state. In each township in the state, two sections of land were set aside for operating schools (Sections 16 and 36 in Carrolton Township). About 2.5 million acres are in this program.
By state constitution, only 2.5% can be paid out annually to local schools. The fund keeps growing as a result. The state wants to use a rolling three-year average of the earnings and change that amount paid out to schools to 4.5% of those earnings. The state legislature voted for this unanimously.
If the amendment is passed, schools will receive about $33 per student. Lanesboro Schools would probably get about $10,000.
Business Conducted
Business conducted by the school board included:
• Listening to Alicia Pearson during the public input section of the meeting as she shared that the American Legion Auxiliary wanted to know if the school and teachers would want any changes in what the Auxiliary does during American Education Week; Schultz told her to call him this week about it;
• Hiring Grace Cummings as a paraprofessional and Aiden Lieb as a custodian;
• Accepting the resignation of Sue Mielisch as a van driver;
• Approved FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) leaves of absence for Allyson Young and Bret Klaehn;
• Approved a snow removal contract with JR Services; this contract provides snow removal at a monthly rate;
• Hearing a reminder from Superintendent Schultz that anyone running for school board and spending more than $750 on the campaign needed to fill out paperwork; this is not likely to affect anyone in the Lanesboro School Board elections.
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