At the Sept. 3 study session Thompson School District R-2J trustees reviewed a packet of proposed CASB legislative resolutions and discussed several items they expect to raise at the CASB fall conference.

A district official, identified in the meeting as Bob Ebersol (Thompson CFO), provided material that board members said noted the district is budgeted to receive $3,456,000 in Medicaid funding that may be at risk at the federal level. Board members said they would share the email chain with the board and asked staff to forward the underlying correspondence that was sent to legislators.

Trustees discussed several numbered CASB resolutions in the packet. They asked Sarah Rasmussen (district staff member who had reviewed one resolution) to prepare a short paragraph summarizing the board’s concerns about a proposed change to how alternative-education campus (AEC) results are applied to district performance frameworks; Rasmussen agreed to send a paragraph by the end of the following day for use at the fall conference. Board members emphasized that Thompson’s alternative campuses are part of the district and should remain subject to high expectations and that any statewide change would need amendment to align with the district’s existing measures (for example, iReady benchmarking used three times per year).

On other resolutions discussed at the meeting, the board indicated support or consensus positions: trustees expressed support for a resolution that would limit state-board authority to overturn local charter-authority decisions except where the state board finds the local decision arbitrary; they also indicated support for a resolution to restore local control over teacher and principal evaluation systems as written, with at least one trustee urging that language emphasize allowing districts to design evaluation frameworks rather than requiring a change. The board discussed a proposal to make state board elections nonpartisan and recorded a divided view; the chair asked for thumbs-up or thumbs-down and recorded a 5–1 result in favor of forwarding that resolution with a favorable recommendation, noting it was not unanimous.

Ending: The board agreed to forward feedback to the CASB fall conference, asked staff to circulate the email chain about Medicaid funding and to provide a short written position on the alternative-education resolution by the next day.