by Marianne Gasaway
The Clear Lake School District plans to hold its tax rate steady in the upcoming fiscal year.
At its Tuesday, March 21, meeting, the School Board listened to a budget presentation from Superintendent Doug Gee and voted unanimously to move forward with its proposed FY 2024 budget. A public hearing on the measure will be held at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 11, in the District’s Administration Center Board Room.
Gee noted the Clear Lake School District has held its rate steady at $10.39 per $1,000 of assess valuation for six years. That practice will continue under the new proposed budget.
Like the City of Clear Lake, the School District has been bolstered by Clear Lake’s steady increase in property tax valuation. That increase, along with continued positive numbers of students open enrolling into the district, have kept the district on a strong financial footing. Gee noted that although certified enrollment (students residing in the school district) fell by 14 students this school year, served enrollment (total number of students in seats) actually rose by 34 through open enrollment. A change in the amount of funding school districts will receive from the State will result in just over $77,000 in new money for the district, he said.
Gee suggested the Board begin to study some options for the use of funds it has accumulated in some funds (which are designated by the state for specific use).
One of the options he discussed was to propose a surplus levy on the district’s 2020 bond referendum which supported building and facility improvements district-wide. The bond is not callable until 2026, however by holding funds until that time the district could make a large payment on the bond, saving the district approximately $229,000 in interest, he explained.
Gee also noted the district’s current PPEL (Physical Plant and Equipment Levy) amount of $1 will expire in Fiscal Year 2026. Under state law that amount can be raised to as much as $1.67. Gee said the Board could ask voters to approve an increase to $1.34 in the November 2023 election. An increase in the PPEL would allow the district to again save funds which it could use for future needs, rather than ask voters to approve a referendum.The district currently has $1.3 million in PPEL funds and that amount will increase to more than $1.5 million in FY 2023.
No more TLC
On a 4-1 vote the Board approved a plan which will move Teacher Leadership and Compensation System (TLC) educators back to the classroom next school year. TLC personnel are a team which support their peers in the classrooms.
The district received more than $1 million in ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund) dollars from the federal government in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Kindergarten-12th grade institutions were allowed to use ESSER funding to address pandemic learning loss and invest in infrastructure and programs to operate their school buildings safely. Among the uses Clear Lake put the dollars toward was creation of an elementary school interventionist position, grades 6-12 math interventionist, elementary school counselor, at-risk counselor at the high school and reading interventionist at the middle school.
Educators who accepted TLC positions were informed funding for the positions would disappear in 2023-24, according to Superintendent Gee. He informed the Board those affected have been offered to return to in-classroom teaching positions. The district will add an additional English/Language Arts position at the middle school.
Paras get a raise
The Paraeducators Teamsters Union gave its opening proposal for negotiations and following a brief closed session the board unanimously approved. The agreement increases the starting wage for a paraeducator in the district to $14.50; paras already employed in the district will receive a 70-cent per hour raise.
Other business
In other business, the Board approved the purchase of a new bus from School Bus Sales for $134,786. The bus will be the first in the district’s fleet to have a gasoline, rather than diesel-powered engine. Potential savings in fuel and maintenance costs were behind the decision.
The Board approved offering contracts to: Madison Beenken, high school math teacher beginning in the 2023-24 school year, and Payton Martin and Madeline Biggers, elementary paras. A resignation was accepted from middle school science teacher Rose Borseth, effective at the end of the school year. Coaching contracts were offered to: Rich Peters, high school boys tennis, and Ashlyn Hoeft, middle school softball. Mary Jo Peterson was approved as a volunteer tennis coach.
The School Board agreed that at this time students will not have to make up any of the snow days at the end of the year.
