Photo by Wanda Hanson
After seating new board members Steve Walters and Lisa Schultz, the Houston School Board quickly took care of the organizational part of their January 9, 2025, meeting. In a twist from most years, there were actually two nominations for board chair, Josh Norlien and Mimi Carlson. After a vote, Norlien was chosen as chairman and Carlson was then voted in as vice chair. Mark Swenson was once again chosen as clerk, and Arlin Peterson was chosen again as treasurer.
Rushford State Bank was designated the official depository; Fillmore County Journal was chosen as the official newspaper. Houston Schools will use the same legal council as they have in the past. Director of Finance Gwen Rostad and Superintendent Mary Morem were authorized to do wire transfers. Compensation for board members will remain the same as last year. The official meeting calendar was approved; regular meetings will be held the first Thursday of the month at 6 p.m. There may be additional study sessions held some months on the third Thursday of the month as needed.
Hurricane Heroes
ExCEL Award nominees Avery Kingsley and Grayden Beckman, and Triple “A” Award nominees Austin Sonnek and Casy Herek, were named Hurricane Heroes for January. The ExCEL Award recognizes juniors who are leaders in their school. Grayden Beckman shared that he was most proud of his volunteering at the Scare at the Fair as his community service.
Casey Herek won the sub-regional Boys 1A; his name will be entered into the district 1 competition. Casey enjoys everything he does at school and its impact on other students. Morem shared that at the awards ceremony for the musical, Casey knew every single student and what they did for the musical. He thanked each one for their contributions.
Audit
Craig Popenhagen joined the board meeting virtually to summarize the recent audit. The audit received an unmodified “clean” report. The SPED program was audited this year additionally since there was an increase in federal funding for the program since Houston withdrew from HVED and provided its own SPED in house. Next year the Federal dollar amount that calls for an audit will rise from $750,000 to a $1 million amount. As a result, Houston will not have to undergo an additional SPED audit next year.
The general fund unrestricted balance was $1,422,941, a 4.6% increase over the previous year.
The Community Service Fund showed a deficit of $72,298. This comes as a result of offering tuition-free preschool. The board continues to feel that the preschool program is worth the investment since it acts as a feeder program for kindergarten and gets students off to a good beginning. Michael Mangan informed the board that several grants have been applied for to help fund the preschool program.
The Food Service Fund continues to struggle. Although meals are free to students, that doesn’t mean its free to the district. The Food Service had a balance of $48,520 in 2023 and $7,400 in 2024.
The total General Fund increased about $3 million since the school is employing more teachers as it runs the in-house SPED program; money is saved, however, by no longer contracting for services from HVED. The General Fund Expenditures distribution is “pretty consistent.” Additional administrative expenses are spread over the online students as well as the brick and mortar school.
Popenhagen pointed out that Houston is spending more on vocational instruction than the state average. Transportation expenses on the other hand are lower than the state average.
The board accepted the audit report as presented.
Regular Business
In their regular business meeting the board:
- Approved a contract with GreenWorx for lawn service at a rate of $60 per hour;
- Approved a boilerplate resolution for the superintendent to make recommendations for reductions in programs and positions;
- Accepted a donation of $400 from Ring and Run to the general fund;
- Heard from student school board representative Grayden Beckman about the plans for Snowdays with a Valentine’s Day theme, recent toy drives, toilet paper drives and an upcoming blood drive to be held at the school as well as the development of a cell phone usage class for senior citizens to be held on Sundays;
- Accepted the $30,196 bid for a replacement sign near the gymnasium. The new sign will be larger than the old sign and will be programmable with an app online; it will be funded through LTFM.
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