- All members present
- Announcements:
- Cinco de Mayo celebration
- Art from 8th graders in store windows
- Middle school orchestra received honors with distinction
- Northfield FFA had good showing at state conference
- Goats back at Northfield High School
- Next week National Teacher Appreciation Week
Items for Discussion and Reports
- Proposed 2026-27 General Fund Budget
- Director of Finance Valori Mertsedorf presented
- For action at May 11th meeting
- Schools face declining enrollment- declining birthrate and lack of affordable housing. Enrollment data based on Rice County birth data- address of where mother lives, not where hospital is
- State Sources- largest source of budget
- Increase in funding from MDE
- Special Ed funding projected to decrease, state changing from 100% SpEd transportation reimbursement to 95%, state dollars are also being lowered overall, budget will be updated in December to reflect
- Summer Unemployment- not levy eligible, anticipating state funding to run out- not funded for FY 27
- Property Taxes
- Inflationary increase in operating referendum
- Capital Projects Referendum increases
- Federal Sources
- Grants becoming more competitive
- Local sources
- Assuming no increase in activity fees and participation in activities
- Fee for transportation less than original projection- more neighborhoods/routes have unsafe ways to walk to school than originally thought
- Interest earnings increased slightly
- Total revenue 71.3 million
- Expenditure Assumptions:
- Salaries, negotiating with 15 agreements. Anticipating small increase
- Benefits- as salaries increase, benefits increase
- Potential increase in MNPL
- Non-Salary/Other
- Transportation contract increase
- Ice arena lease- lease levy eligible
- Benchmark fund balance goal: 14%- projected to end at 17.4% in FY 2026
- Total general fund expenditure with some omissions
- 71.2 million total proposed budget
- Salaries and benefits make up about 80% of this budget
- 70k surplus budget- attributed to hard work of district staff
- Questions from board:
- Ben Miller asked Val to ballpark the impact of state decrease in SpEd funding?
- Hard to say at this time
- Amy Goerwitz asked about nearly tripled amount of dues and memberships
- Offsetting an internal accounting shift
- Ben Miller asked Val to ballpark the impact of state decrease in SpEd funding?
- Later School Start Times Discussion
- Board has talked about this many times in the last decade
- Why?
- Studies about benefits for high school students with later start times
- Academic achievement
- Mental health
- Physical health
- Wanting to put high schools in the best position to be successful
- Brain development – circadian rhythm change
- Studies about benefits for high school students with later start times
- Work sessions Dec 15 and Jan 29
- Regular board discussion tonight
- Any changes to daily schedule would take effect 2028-29 school year
- A high school facility project would be done. Aligned two changes
- Transportation is the biggest adjustment
- Options: current schedule, moving start times back 40 mins (cost neutral, simpler, childcare increase in the morning, dismissal times 4pm and later), start elementary earlier than middle and high schools (more complex than is thought, longer bus rides, you would need to add 11 buses to decrease bus times)
- NCEC – not required to provide transportation for preschool students
- District currently busses preschoolers
- Are the benefits to students worth the transportation costs given you may need to offset them and what are the parameters you want to set for the school board in the coming years as they operationalize a new plan?
- May 14 Public input meeting
- May 26 further board discussion
- June 8 board can make a final decision
- Nancy and Lorraine asked to expand and explain further
- Small buses – smaller buses used for special ed transportation, NEC and mini vans for these kids as well
- Smaller buses have wheel chair lifts, integrated carseats, etc.
- Mini vans used for smaller children and special ed transportation because you can put car seats and booster seats in them
- The board is getting reimbursed for special ed transportation – will this offset costs of added transportation?
- 90% reimbursements
- There is no significant expense change shifting times back 40 mins
- An additional parent listening session is suggested. May have to be on a Saturday
- Want to have two sessions for maximum participation
- Explanation video on the website to prep people
- Not a burning issue. Don’t want to rush, Board members want parent input before making decisions.
- Amy: Want to give parents lots of time to get used to it and trust in Hillaman – don’t want to lose the momentum
- Narrowing down the options that the board recommend will help them get better feedback
- 4 years of a surplus budget – financially responsible board
- Wanting to push conversations in the fall
- Ending questions
- Is the board adding another comment session?
- Want survey results – using generative AI to summarize data
- This spring or the fall?
- Most board members want to extend the time frame to give people more time.
- Concerns that the matter will be dropped if it gets pushed off
- The board wants other anecdotes from other school boards about how they do their schedules
- Future board meeting: setting a new timeline to make this a priority to discuss next fall
- Too soon to put out a survey if we are extending the timeline because education resources need to be available prior to surveying because people won’t understand all of the issues
- Next steps:
- Talk about the timeline
- Find others to talk with about their experience s
- What metrics do we need in a survey to get the results we want
- Timeline doesn’t need May 11 update, May 14 turns into a work session, May 26 and June 8 will be canceled because of the new timeline that will be made up
- Historically work sessions are not livestreamed
- Work session may be a good opportunity for the public to learn more
- Should it be livestreamed?
10 minute recess
Consent Agenda
- 6a: Minutes
- 6b: Gift Agreements
- 6c: District Youth Council Members (DYC) 2026-27
- 6d: Financial Reports – January 2026
- 6e: Personnel Items
- All passed at same time
Items for Individual Action
- 7a: Raider Image
- RALIE presented the horse and cow images to the board
- Dr. Hillman gave comments including appreciation of student and community involvement, feedback, and concerns
- Dr. Hillman gave no recommendation as to which course of action to take
- Jeff gave a statement declaring general distaste for changing the mascot, especially in a time of so much time for Northfield (school renovations, new superintendent, changing budget and enrollment). Encouraged board to vote no to both options.
- Ben noted that student surveys showed no majority of support seen from students for either option, suggested creating a committee to continue working on this topic
- Maggie expressed same sentiments as Ben, no desire to choose either mascot at the time
- Corey expressed intent to vote no on either of the new options, distaste for continuing work on this matter for now
- Amy voiced support and thanks for students’ work on this issue, continued sentiment of low student consensus indicating a better option needed.
- Jenny expressed same concerns as other board members
- Claudia made a motion to reject both proposed options and keep the block “N”
- Ben discussed a motion to create a Raider Image Committee- this did not pass.
- 7b: Resolution Authorizing the Renewal of an Expiring Referendum Revenue Authorization
- Everyone else: Yay!
- Nelson: Nay
- 7c: Financial Forecast Follow Up
- Board requested to approve budget restorations
- Corey thanked special services team for their work in this matter
- Motion carried
- 7d: Resolution for Termination and Non-Renewal of Probationary Licensed Staff
- Effective at the close of 2025-26 school year
- No questions
- Roll call vote
- All vote aye
- 7e: Resolution Proposing to Place Tenured Licensed Staff on Unrequested Leave of Absence
- Roll call vote- all voted aye
- 7f: Policy 802 Disposition of Obsolete Equipment and Material
- No additional comments from Dr. Hillman
- None opposed. Motion passes
Items for information
- 8a: Construction Update No. 25
- Representative (Sal) from engineering firm and Knutson Construction present to answer questions
- She noted only scopes that were on budget were awarded with exception of precast and this couldn’t be avoided
- Knutson is working on a rebid schedule for scopes not awarded yet- awaiting new bid date
- Project Oversight and Leadership Committees will continue to meet
- Selected by Adam Thielen foundation for a “significant” weight room renovation project
- Groundbreaking scheduled for June 9th
- Bids came in higher than expected, but could very well be lowered/changed
- Questions from the board:
- Amy: Will any changes to bids affect the visual design of the building?
- Some may (ex; tiling on walls that don’t require it) but still awaiting any firm decisions, trying to minimize these and still solve problems
- Amy: Will any changes to bids affect the visual design of the building?
- Representative (Sal) from engineering firm and Knutson Construction present to answer questions
- 8b: Superintendent Search Update
- 8c: Graduation update
