Action of the School Board Action of the School Board 06/25/15

Meeting Date:
June 25, 2015

Board Chair
Tom Heidemann

ACTION

of the School
Board
Anoka-Hennepin School District

Communications, elegations and petitions

LeMoyne Corgard, president of Anoka-Hennepin Education Minnesota (AHEM), the district’s teachers union, spoke about the Workload Limit for Certain Special Education Teachers Policy 427.0, which was first discussed at the June 22 School Board meeting.

Finance
Vice Chair

Marci Anderson

Levy referendum and budget planning

Chief Financial Officer Michelle Vargas, and Steve Kerr, the director of community and
government relations, presented an updated budget reduction plan.
Both Kerr and Vargas, along with Superintendent David Law, told the School Board it was
the administration’s recommendation not to pursue a levy referendum in November.

Treasurer
Bill Harvey

Clerk

Jeff Simon

Director

William Fields

“With the short amount of time, it’s hard to have the same amount of integrity on this levy
as we did on previous ones,” Law said.
Kerr echoed Law’s sentiments. He said in previous years, when Anoka-Hennepin has gone
to the community for a levy referendum, the district has been diligent in engaging the community for feedback, offering community forums and other opportunities for public input.
But Kerr said that this year, with the compressed timeline needed in order to get a referendum on the November ballot, the district would have to depart from that past practice.
“It’s been past practice to be very transparent for levy referendums. We have a good reputation for that in the community. We don’t want to jeopardize that,” he said.
The reason for the tight timeline was a result of delays by the state legislature in passing the
education budget bill this past spring. It wasn’t approved by the legislature or Gov. Mark
Dayton until the June 15 special session. Without knowing what would be included in the
bill, or what kind of funding the district would receive from the state, it became difficult for
administrators and the School Board to forecast how big any budget shortfalls may have
been.
Instead of a levy, administrators recommended trimming between $4 and $6 million from
the budget through various cuts.
“We’re in the process of putting together the budget reductions. We don’t have anything
firm yet — department leaders and administrators are still coming together,” Vargas said.

Director

Nicole Hayes

The School Board agreed with the administration’s recommendations. Board Chair Tom
Heidemann said not rushing to a levy allows the district the time to look more closely at
the budget, as well as allow enrollment to shake out once the school year starts. “I don’t see
any disagreement with the administration’s recommendation,” he said.
Law acknowledged cuts will be difficult. “Cuts are not easy, but we can manage,” he said.

ANOKA-HENNEPIN
SCHOOLS
A future without limit

For now, administration will work on putting together a list of reductions throughout the
fall. Discussions with the School Board about the reductions will begin in November, and
the board will approve a first draft of reductions in December. There will be two public
hearings on budget reductions in January before the board formally approves the final list