January 11, 2021 at 4:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

More Information:  Mission Statement - Milford Public Schools will prepare all students to be successful citizens: Our Mission is fulfilled when all students read with comprehension, speak and write clearly, compute accurately, reason logically, understand and appreciate the fine arts, apply suitable strategies and habits of mind to solve problems, utilize technology to communicate and to understand information and behave morally.

This agenda contains a list of subjects known at the time of its distribution.  A copy of the agenda reflecting any changes will be available for public inspection during normal business hours in the District Office.  Except for items of an emergency nature, the agenda shall not be altered later than twenty-four hours before the meeting.  The Board reserves the right to alter the order of items, as it deems necessary.

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According to the Nebraska Open Meetings Act the board shall keep minutes of all meetings showing the time, place, members present and absent, the method(s) and date(s) of the meeting notice, and the substance of all matters discussed. 

We have never had "the method(s) and date(s) of the meeting notice" in our minutes as the minutes are created from the agenda.  I have not added agenda item #1.1 to state when the meeting was advertised in the Milford Times and will attach the ad we sent to the paper for publication.

If we ever have an emergency meeting or a meeting we could not get published in the paper, we would then change the item #1.1 to reflect how the meeting was advertised.

Implementing this process will automatically have this item appear in our meeting minutes.

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Information concerning the Open Meeting Law, Chapter 84, Article 14 of Nebraska State Statutes, is posted on the bulletin board in the back of the meeting room.

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This is the public’s opportunity to speak to items on the agenda. This is also the public’s opportunity to speak to other non-agenda topics concerning the school district - since it is not an agenda item the board cannot discuss or take action on the matter at this time. To be recognized, all participants must complete the Request to Address the Milford Board of Education Form.  The District has established separate complaint procedures for any complaints, including complaints and concerns against individual employees.  As such, the Board requests that this complaint process be followed before discussion with the Board takes place.  Thank you for your participation.

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General Fund for $102,273.56
Payroll for $678,133.98
Total $780,407.54

1. Through five months we have spent $3,725,090
2. Last year at this time we had spent $3,561,025
3. This is a difference of $164,065 or a 4.61% total increase to date
   1. $13,453 of the increase is for general fund expenditures and $150,612 of the increase is for salaries

Expenditures to Point Out:

1. Bills this month are all "normal" expenditures.
2. The ESU 6 payment of $41,567 makes up just over 40% of our expenditures.  These are for services for the 2nd quarter of the year.  They include technology services, SPED transition services, SPED OT, and the SPED CRAVE program.

More Information:  Report is attached

More Information:  A NRCSA Legislative Update is attached.  It contains information regarding elections and committee assignments.  A few highlights:

1. Sen. Lynne Walz will be replacing Sen. Groene as education committee chair.
2. Sen. Mike Hilgers was elected speaker.
3. Sen. Lou Ann Linehan retained her position as chair of the revenue committee.
4. Sen. John Stinner retained his position as chair of the appropriations committee.

Unicameral Update January 7 Bill Introductions
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Bill introduction will last for 10 days or until January 20th.  Gov. Ricketts is scheduled to give his State of the State address January 14th.

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Open discussion as needed.

Introduced Bills of Interest:

LR13CA from Brewer - constitution amendment to limit the percentage of funding for schools that comes from property taxes.  It states that:

1. No more than 33% of the funding for free instruction in the common schools shall come from property taxes.
2. The Legislature may provide for the education of other persons in educational institutions owned and controlled by the state or a political subdivision thereof.

3. 2020-21 Milford Revenue Numbers
   Total Revenue	$8,113,024
   Property Tax	$5,231,648	64.48%
   All Other	$2,881,376	35.52%
   	$8,113,024	100.00%
   33% is:	$2,677,298
   Remaining:	$5,435,726

LB2 from Briese - Change the valuation of ag land and horticultural land for certain school taxes

1. Here is one part of it:  Agricultural land and horticultural land as defined in section 77-1359 shall constitute a separate and distinct class of property for purposes of property taxation, shall be subject to taxation, unless expressly exempt from taxation, and shall be valued at seventy-five percent of its actual value, except that for school district taxes levied to pay the principal and interest on bonds that are issued on or after the operative date of this act, such land shall be valued at thirty percent of its actual value.

LB2 from Briese would have us hold budget meetings on their own nights and would require schools and NDE to publish more detailed information on receipts and expenditures related to where the funding originates.

LB79 from Briese related to the property tax relief fund:  For tax years year 2020 through 2023 and each tax year thereafter, the minimum amount of relief granted under the act shall be two hundred seventy-five million dollars. For tax year 2024 and each tax year thereafter, the minimum amount of relief granted under the act shall be the minimum amount from the prior tax year increased by the allowable growth percentage as defined in section 77-6702.

There are more and a running list of bills introduced can be found at:  https://nebraskalegislature.gov/bills/search_by_date.php?SessionDay=2021
 

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Option #1

1. Retain the Same Officers

   1. A board member has the option of making a motion to suspend the rules and retain current officers.  

   2. Once this motion is made, a second would be needed and then discussion and then voting could take place.  

      1. If a second is not received, the motion would die for lack of a second or supporting motion.

 

Option #2

1. The vote to elect board officers may be taken by secret ballot, but the total number of votes for each candidate shall be recorded in the minutes.

2. In the event any officer cannot be elected by a majority after 10 votes; no votes occur after ten motions fail for lack of a "second,"; or no member volunteers to serve as an officer for a particular position, the tie will be broken by the applicable method:

   1. If the board is split between two members, the officer will be determined by coin flip.  The winning member will be the officer for the upcoming year unless the position changes by action of the board.

   2. If the board is split between more than two members who wish to serve as the officer, any member wanting to serve as the officer will put his or her name into a drawing.  The name drawn out will be the officer for the upcoming year unless the position changes by action of the board.

   3. If no member is willing to serve as an officer for a position which is required to be a member of the board, all non-officers’ names will be put into a drawing.  The name drawn out will be the officer for the upcoming year unless the position changes by action of the board.

More Information:  Dave or the new board president will appoint committee assignments.  The current list of committee assignments is attached.  

More Information:  This will become a yearly item for review.  I have attached a document of my records.  Please take a look at it to confirm my numbers.  

More Information:  This is an annual procedural item.

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Secretary
Policy 2002 states that if the secretary is a member of the board of education, the board may appoint an assistant secretary to perform assigned duties of the Board.  The assistant secretary shall see that an accurate record of the proceedings of the board is kept and that a concise summary of each month’s meeting is published along with a list of all approved claims.   

Treasurer 
Policy 2020 states that the board shall elect, employ, or appoint a treasurer.  This person does not need to be a member of the board.  The treasurer may be designated to sign checks and certain other documents.  The treasurer is the custodian of the monies of the district. The treasurer shall issue no warrant of payment of claim against the district until such claim has been duly authorized. 

We have normally appointed Tammy Salyer as acting treasurer but I feel we should start appointing her as assistant treasurer just like we will start doing for the secretary position.  The assistant treasurer shall have the authority to print the appropriate district checks for claims that have been approved by the board of education or in situations where the authority may be granted by the superintendent through a district policy.

My recommendation is we appoint Tammy Salyer as Assistant Board Secretary and Assistant Board Treasurer to perform duties as presented.

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Information from KSB Law regarding Designating a Law Firm:
Many boards designate the law firms(s) that they will work with during the next calendar year.  While such action is not technically required, it does clarify a school’s authority to work with legal counsel under section 79-513 that states:  "The school board or board of education of any school district in this state may pay from its school funds for the legal services of an attorney employed by the board when it deems legal counsel necessary or advisable." 

I recommend we take this action.

More Information:  Bobbi's letter is attached.  We wish her the best.  Bobbi's enthusiasm and dedication to healthy lifestyles and teaching that to our students has been outstanding and fun to observe.  Bobbi's passion will be missed.

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The Board of Education reserves the right to enter into Closed/Executive Session for 1) the protection of the public interest, or 2) the prevention of needless injury to the reputation of an individual, and/or the individual has not requested a public meeting. When making a motion to enter into Closed/Executive Session, the member making the motion should be as specific as possible as to the reason(s) for executive session.

The Board President will restate the reason for Closed/Executive Session after the motion has been acted on.