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School board reviews budget realignment retreat, sets schedule for three follow-up sessions
Summary
Board members and staff reviewed takeaways from an Oct. 10 budget realignment retreat, described roughly a dozen topic areas to be addressed, and set three follow-up retreats Nov. 7, Dec. 12 and Jan. 16 with decisions expected in February. Staff emphasized a public website with materials and a 'forced-choice' decision tool to guide priorities.
District staff summarized the Oct. 10 budget realignment retreat for the Grand Forks School Board on Oct. 27, saying the session was the second of five planned retreats intended to help the board and administration set priorities and realign budget decisions for fiscal planning.
"This retreat marks the second of 5 with the first 1 being August 14," a district presenter said, describing a set of roughly 12 broad budget buckets that were presented and discussed. Staff listed the buckets as: course offerings, class sizes, certified support staff, curriculum adoptions, co- and extracurriculars, employee compensation, support staff, building utilization, educational technology tools, support services, busing and the district's 15% carryover savings goal.
Staff and board members said the retreat included table conversations, breakout sessions and a "forced choice" exercise intended as a decision tool. The district will repeat the exercise and provide side-by-side comparisons showing how administrators ranked the same items so board members can identify differences before final decisions. The presenter said the next retreats are scheduled for Nov. 7, Dec. 12 and Jan. 16, with the board aiming to reach decisions in February.
Board members asked that retreat materials be posted prominently and that site usage be tracked so the district can answer where public engagement is occurring. Several members who missed retreat 2 asked for summaries and the slides; staff said the materials are featured on the top ribbon of the district website and encouraged board members and the public to review and submit questions.
Staff also described parallel building-level meetings to gather input from principals and noted recent administrator sessions where the same forced-choice activity was run to compare where administration and the board landed. In addition to possible reductions, staff said they are exploring revenue options such as activity fee variances (higher fees for costlier sports) and highlighted that the Summer Performing Arts (SPA) program operated with a $59,000 surplus this year under director Lisonbee Peterson.
No formal decisions were made at the Oct. 27 meeting; board members emphasized maintaining momentum, keeping the large group of stakeholders engaged across the remaining retreats, and returning to the board for timely follow-up.
