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Ely School Board members carved through a smorgasbord of somewhat routine business items Monday, but two upcoming meetings figure to be anything but routine.
A pair of study sessions, one this week and another in early-January, will focus on district finances and the upcoming state legislative session - including a sit-down with both State Sen. Grant Hauschild (D) and State Rep. Roger Skraba (R) The Dec. 16 study session (6 p.m.) will include the results of the district’s annual audit, after what was acknowledged to be a difficult budget year for the district.
District reserves have tumbled the last two years and the school had an operational budget that was in deficit spending in 2023-24.
The audit report figures to show a further dip in fund balances, which fell last year from $2,019,800 to $1,923,091.
Of that, just over $1.7 million was in unrestricted fund balances, which combines funds the district classifies as unassigned, assigned and committed In the mid-2000s, that total was in danger of falling into a negative balance but climbed steadily after voter approval of an operating referendum.
The school’s unrestricted reserves reached $1 million in 2013 and got as high as $2.7 million in 2018, but have slid back down.
School officials have traditionally used the unrestricted reserve as one gauge of the district’s financial health, with the school board first setting a goal to keep at least 10 percent of operating expenditures in reserve. They later increased that to 20 percent.
Meanwhile, superintendent Anne Oelke told board members to plan for a Jan. 6 meeting with both Hauschild and Skraba.
Plans for the session evolved from a sit-down Oelke had with Jeff Anderson of the Costin Group, the firm that provides lobbying services for the Ely district.
“This is brand new,” said Oelke. “I’m proposing we switch our study session from the end of the month to the start of the month. I had a great meeting with Jeff Anderson and he is arranging for our legislators to be available that day and hear from us about hwat we would like to see happen for our school.”
Oelke noted the meeting presents a rare chance for a small-school board to convene with two lawmakers, and she noted that the session will include a report on the district’s $20 million-plus facilities project, which got a boost from additional state funding secured by the lawmakers.
Oelke noted she hopes the board also addresses other funding issues.
“I don’t want to lose sight,” she said. “We’re so grateful for the facilities project, but I don’t want to lose sight of ongoing funding for small school districts.”
Board member Jen Westlund called the upcoming gathering “a great opportunity” for the board.
In other business Monday, the board:
• Heard the latest enrollment report which includes 512 students in grades K-12, which is down from 525 at the start of the school year.
• Approved memorandums of understanding with the Ely Education Association regarding the use of credits for salary lane changes and for payments of dance coach and knowledge bowl advisor stipends.
• Agreed to enter into cooperative agreements with Northeast Range for speech and boys and girls golf, with Northeast Range to become the host school for those activities.
• Agreed to engage the Ely Education Association in regards to robotics and Lego League being added as school activities.
• Approved salary lane changes for teachers Autumn Boedeker, Megan Wognum, Molly Olson and Kelly Noble.
• Hired Anna-Lena Forsman as a long-term substitute for a math teaching posision and granted her a leave of absence from her paraprofessional position.
• Accepted the resignation of cafeteria aide Kate Perkins.
• Hired Ray Podominick as assistant boys basketball coach, Troy Oelke as junior high girls basketball coach and Patrick Vanderbeek as junior high boys basketball coach.
• Nominated school board member Tom Omerza for a position on the board of directors for the Range Association of Municipalities and Schools.
• Approved a letter of understanding with the Ely Educational Association in regards to a grievance filed over insurance brokerage fees. Several teachers will be compensated for fees that were taken out of their paychecks.
