No. 2 Pencil, By Mark Ciota

As a school board, we have three long-term aims for our school district: 1) Safe, healthy, welcoming schools; 2) increased opportunity and achievement; and 3) effective and efficient operations. Dr. Funk wrote about some of the great things we were doing a few weeks ago in regards to student achievement. One component of effective and efficient operations is financial stewardship. Today I would like to share with you good news: We have received the Minnesota Department of Education’s school finance award.

Under the leadership of Dr. Funk, and the financial stewardship of our Deputy Superintendent and Finance Director Lori Volz and the many talented individuals at District 241, our district has been able to accomplish many remarkable financial results during the past five years.

1. $16,521,000 facilities upgrade to our heating and ventilation systems throughout the district. These modern systems are more efficient and provide climate control so our staff and students can learn in a healthier environment. We did this with minimal impact to the taxes of our local residents, as we were able to secure zero/low interest bonds for the projects, which saved taxpayers $3,383,000.

2. Increase of staffing. When Dr. Funk was hired as our superintendent in 2009, we had 239 licensed teaching staff to meet the needs of our students. With the approach we have taken to acquire grant funding and additional aid from government sources, our staffing has increased to 277 personnel, while our student population has gone up slightly. With the funding of additional staff, we are able to provide extra interventions and instructional coaching to meet the needs of our diverse population of students.

3. Implementation of a $1.2 million wireless Internet infrastructure throughout the district to support our growing digital education initiative. In the past year, we have been able to update this system through $133,000 we received from a federal E-Rate grant.

4. Procurement of over 1,000 Chromebook/iPad devices for students and teachers as we prepare them for the 21st century.

5. Establishment of a free onsite health clinic for over 900 employees/dependents who are covered under the district’s health insurance plan. This clinic allowed us to see a decrease of 11 percent on our prescription insurance claims in its first year and is having a reduction on our overall claims cost.

6. Refinancing of the bond for Albert Lea High School, which resulted in a savings to local taxpayers of $1,136,000.

7. Through our district’s energy savings program, we have saved over $3 million since the programs inception in 2003 ($1.5 million since 2009).

We have accomplished all of these while holding a line on local tax increases. District 241 taxes for property owners have decreased 11.6 percent since 2013.

We have moved from a management style board to a governance style board over this same time period. The board oversees and monitors this work from a high level. The real work to achieve these results is done by our administrative team and staff. Thus the credit for this work, these accomplishments and this award are for the entire team at District 241, and on behalf of the board, I want to thank them for their efforts and congratulate them.

It is a pleasure to serve on a school board where we can continuously improve the experience of our students and staff while keeping our local taxes down.

 

Mark Ciota is chairman of the Albert Lea School Board.