Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Consolidation Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board discusses consolidation talks and plans revenue-limit analysis for feasibility
Summary
Board members reported progress in consolidation talks among feeder schools and agreed to prepare revenue-limit worksheets and analyses to evaluate potential financial impacts; a small team and outside review were proposed for oversight of the financial analysis.
Board members updated each other on continuing consolidation discussions among Arrowhead and feeder schools and described next steps to analyze financial feasibility.
Board members said several schools had agreed to have a financial analysis prepared. Member Blasier noted outreach to elected officials and the assembly convened a small team to move the work forward. The board discussed creating revenue-limit worksheets to examine tax rate, tax levy and state-aid impacts for potential consolidation scenarios.
Jeff (a board member/staff participant) said he planned to pull revenue-limit numbers from the DBI website and produce a consolidated worksheet that will include resident counts, total property value and state-aid amounts; Ron Russ was asked to prepare additional district-by-district worksheets. The timelines discussed called for pulling certified figures in October or early November so the worksheets would reflect the most recent certified data.
Board member Dan Fuhrman offered an outside resource to review the final analysis for accuracy; board members discussed potential fees for that outside review and who would pay them. Representative Kitchens was referenced as having proposed monetary incentives at the state level to encourage consolidation, and members noted legislative activity in Madison on incentives for district consolidation.
No formal decision to consolidate was made; members said the work would continue with financial worksheets and a small team to oversee next steps. The board signaled the analysis would include revenue limits, debt obligations, fund balances and per-pupil spending as follow-up items.
No vote was taken on consolidation during the meeting.
