April 16 Meeting

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April 16 Meeting Agenda

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Superintendent Report

All fifth grade students will be at the middle school on April 19 to prepare for their transition to sixth grade. This is the second year that SLP has held JumpStart, and it is an awesome day where students get to connect, meet teachers and get to learn more about middle school experience.
High school theater students have been working hard to prepare for the spring play. This weekend, there will be shows on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. The show is Steel Magnolias, which is right in time for the 35th anniversary of the film. It is a great show about family, friendship and the strength of women.
This year, secondary schools have more than 400 students participating in athletic activities. It is thrilling to see the number of students who are returning and trying out new activities. Additionally, on Sunday, SLP Schools held the 9th annual athletic hall of fame.

Watch the full report

Design Team Update on Music

Every instructional area in St. Louis Park Public Schools undergoes a three-year (three phrase) curriculum review and design process. In this process, team members measure previous success and determine next steps within each curricular areas to achieve racial equity transformation in alignment with the strategic plan.

Racial Equity Purpose: Music education is uniquely positioned at the intersection of culture, collaboration, creativity, and craft to interrupt the traditional transactional relationship between student and school.

The purpose of music education is fostering holistic musical literacy through learning as a whole musician and liberating students’ artistic voices to connect with and critique the world around them.

The Design Team is in its second year of their work, Looking Around.

The Design Team will focus their efforts on:

Continuing to visit other districts and music programs
Review and discuss literature around music education pedagogy, literacy, and anti-racist systemic change
Surveys and focus groups
Continuing to discuss critical question toward fostering long-term change

Watch the presentation

Finance Advisory Committee Recommendations

The Financial Advisory Committee (FAC) is designed to advise administration and the school board on economic and school finance issues and to build community trust in district finances. The committee is make up of community members, students, and staff/school board. They have formally met six times this year, with one more meeting scheduled in May. The FAC also held a

few optional meetings in March to finalize budget recommendations and prepare the April 16 report.

FY25 Budget Recommendations

Recommendation #1 Within revenue constraints, build an expenditure budget that maintains an unreserved fund balance of 8%; with growth toward 12% - 16% (2 months)

Recommendation #2

2% (current law) Increase in per pupil formula

Recommendation #3 4,212 K-12th grade adjusted pupil units (APU), with potential for increased enrollment if efforts to improve the student capture rate are successful

Recommendation #4 No change in local revenue

Recommendation #5 Expenditure recommendation

Understand the district cost drivers and the reasons for major variances from comparison districts on a cost-per-student basis

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Mid-Year Budget Update 2024

The report included:

FY2025 Budget planning timeline for operating fund balances
Fund balances and details for the following: General Fund, Unreserved, School Nutrition, and Community Service
FY2024 emerging financial items: revenue increase, expenditure cost drivers and fund Balance decline

The school board will be asked to approve the FY2024 mid-year budget update at the April 30 school board meeting.

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Aquila Elementary Building Capacity

Aquila’s enrollment coupled with increased space needs for programs (enrichment/talent development, multilingual learners, special education, adaptive PE, etc.) has created challenges for the community to equitably access curricular programming.

The school board learned about trauma- responsive approaches to the potential building design, such as spaces that encourage movement and play, inclusive restrooms, learning commons, culturally relevant designs, incorporating arts and nature, equitable accessibility, natural lighting and much more.

Administration recommended moving forward with a construction option to add additional classrooms and spaces at Aquila. The estimate for the full project is about $20 million. Potential funding sources include the 2022 bond funds or a lease purchase. If the school board decides to move forward with a facilities addition, the goal would be to completed fall of 2025.

The school board is slated to vote on the recommendation on April 30.

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School Calendar Review

The school board will consider additional changes to the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school calendars at the April 30 meeting.

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Action Agenda

The school board approved all action agenda items including:

Miscellaneous pay rates resolution
Heath insurance rate for self-funded insurance plan rates for 24-25
Contract for services for 20 days with incoming superintendent Dr. Hines
Resolution to terminate the contract with Children First effective June 30, 2024.

Watch the presentations

Get in touch with the School Board

Board members welcome your input. Email the entire School Board at schoolboard@slpschools.org. You can also call the School Board message line with your questions or comments: 952-928-6040. The Board also holds Open Forum at each Business Meeting, which occur on the fourth Tuesday of every month. To participate in Open Forum, please complete this sign-up by 3 p.m. on the day of the meeting at which you would like to address the School Board.