CHAMOIS — Chamois R-1 board members approved a tax levy of $5.5262 per $100 at their meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 12. The new rate restores the voluntary rollback approved by voters in 2014.

“Your revenue is going to increase by 11.8% this year,” said district patron Tom Brandt. “How does that come into play with the Hancock Amendment?”

Superintendent Lyle Best explained that in an even-numbered year, the school board is allowed to make changes to the voluntary rollback.

“In 2014, the school district could have set the levy at a rate of $6 per $100, and they could have been levying that amount since 2014,” Best explained. “Instead, they rolled it back nearly $.90 or so at that time.”

Best went on to explain that since the district has continued to take a rollback every year, the calculation changes and now is set at a lower point at $5.5262.

Brandt argued that he still thought that the maximum increase that the district was allowed was 2.2% according to the Hancock Amendment. Brandt asked if there was additional financial information available to the public.

Best provided Brandt with additional financial information.

“It’s hard to be prepared for a meeting when you don’t have all of the information,” Brandt said, adding that the only information he could find was on Facebook, and it was not the same as what was presented at the meeting.

Secretary Jennifer Keilholz noted that any of the assessment information could be requested from Osage County and that everything that was required to be posted had been posted.

“Here’s how it hit me: the voters did not approve the tax increase at the last election, and now you want to approve an increase in funds for Fund 4 where there is no taxpayer oversight,” Brandt said.

“I would argue that it didn’t pass by the needed percent, but the majority of folks who voted did approve it,” said Board President Steve Cramer.

Brandt laughed at Cramer’s comment.

“I don’t find that funny because our school needs a heating system,” Cramer said. “The kids in this school are cold, and the majority of folks in our school district did vote for it, even though I agree with you it did not pass.”

Brandt commented that only 30% of the voters from the school district voted.

“The people who didn’t vote don’t count,” board member Kelby Bush said. “It’s their fault if they did not vote.”

“I agree, but it’s irrelevant because the rules are the rules, and it didn’t work,” Brandt said.

“Well, we’re following the rules right now by considering getting rid of the voluntary rollback,” Cramer said.

Brandt said that he intended to do additional research on how the Hancock Amendment would apply, since it limits how much revenue the school district can increase from year to year.

“You have 72% of the money in savings, in reserves,” Brandt said. “You have $1 million in Fund 4 now and over $2 million in the other accounts, yet you went out and asked for $1.75 million in April. If someone had come to the public and said, ‘We have 34% above and beyond our stated goals. We’re going to use that money to pay for the heating system that we desperately need, and therefore we want to partner with the public to say we need this additional money.’

“That would have been a lot more palatable in the big scheme of things,” Brandt continued. “Now you are trying to get $154,000 to go into Fund 4 when that fund already has a million dollars in it. What for? What for?”

“A couple of things: taking cash flow into consideration, and another is protecting long-term sustainability for other capital projects that could be needed,” Best answered. “It has taken considerable time to build up Fund 4. My position would be that there are a lot of other current needs and things on the horizon that we are going to need the Capital Projects Fund for, so if we deplete it, we don’t have the ability to fund the other things down the road. This kinda protects that. It allows us to do the project we need to do right now and maintains funding for Fund 4 for other things that we may need later.”

“From my perspective as a retired senior citizen, you are taking money out of my savings to put it in yours,” Brandt said. “That’s how I see it. The other thing is you went for more money than you needed. You could have used the money you already had and partnered with the taxpayers, and that’s not what you chose to do.”

“Was having the rollback for 12 years partnering with the taxpayer?” Principal Jeremy McKague asked. “How much money has the average person saved over the past 12 years because of the rollback? We’re just asking for what was already approved a long time ago.”

“I understand, but you don’t need it,” Brandt said. “You have 34% above your goal. That’s play money. You have a goal; you exceeded that goal. What is that money allocated to?”

“What happens if something else happens to the school?” board member Chuck Lamb asked. “So, we come to you for a donation?”

Brandt suggested that the district would need to go back to the voters. “Personally, I think you went for too much this time,” he added.

Brandt asked if the board would have approved the rollback if the bond issue had passed.

“We were never going to do that,” board member Kris Wuelling said. “It was never discussed.”

“We wouldn’t have the money we have if we weren’t good stewards of the district,” Cramer argued.

“You guys have done a great job with your savings,” Brandt admitted. “I wish I had a million dollars in my savings account to play with.”

“We have an aging infrastructure, so we can’t run on our bootstraps,” said board member Nick Schollmeyer.

“To me, there is a larger aspect of this, and that is the future of this school district, and I don’t think you want to go there,” Brandt said.

“If you want to go there, let’s go there,” Vice President Rebecca Mehmert said. “My mom graduated here in the ‘70s, and they were saying then that the school was going to close.”

Mehmert noted that her mom has seen her children and grandchildren graduate from the same school.

“We are taking care of our school, and I think the school looks amazing,” Mehmert said. “We have wonderful faculty and staff that take care of our kids. We are all products of this institution and would say we are all successful.

“I’ve heard it said multiple times that it is a private school feel at a public-school price tag,” Mehmert continued. “I will stand behind our school 100%. I’m sorry you’re new to the district and don’t have that connection, but for a lot of our voters, they want to see this school succeed. There is more than just a bottom dollar here. There’s a lot of tradition; there is a lot of pride and a lot of history. For those of us on the board, this is a no-brainer.”

Board members approved placing $4.7676 of the total tax rate into Fund 1 and the remaining $.7576 into Fund 4, the capital projects fund.

In other business, board members approved an increase in the substitute pay schedule. The substitute pay schedule will increase as follows: teachers day 1-10 (from $115 per day to $120), teachers day 11-20, consecutively (from $135 per day to $140), teachers day 21-plus, consecutively ($210 per day to $215), and support staff ($13.50 per hour to $15 per hour).

Activity drivers’ pay increased from $12.50 to $13.50 per hour, while the rate per mile remained unchanged at $.55. Reimbursement rates also remained unchanged, with mileage remaining at $.55 per mile and meals remaining the same as last year’s rates, with breakfast at $10 per meal, lunch at $20 per meal, and dinner at $25 per meal.

* Board members approved updated Policy #3370 and #3610 regarding fundraising events for groups in the district.

“It is a good idea to increase the guidelines,” Best said, noting that there were no changes from last month when it was discussed.

Best explained that Policy #3610 added language that clarified that money from fundraisers should be turned in to the office daily.

“Policy #3370 expands the guidelines by quite a bit since our policy was pretty thin,” Best said.

For the upcoming school year, organizations within the district will need to have approval for first semester fundraisers by Sept. 1 and approval for second semester fundraisers by Dec. 1. The deadline for summer fundraisers will be May 1.

Best would like all organizations that operate with their own accounts to schedule fundraisers with the district,  if possible.

School organizations will be limited to one fundraiser for community members and one fundraiser inside the school per year.

“There will be flexibility for the junior and senior classes,” Best said.

School board members asked if fundraising has been a big problem for the district in the past.

“Whether we have had a problem or not, right now there aren’t any guidelines,” Best said. “We need to have something in place.”

McKague noted that it helped protect staff members as well as established fundraisers like the FFA fruit sales.

* Board members approved curriculum updates for the following subjects: K-12 ELA, 6-12 Ag, 6-12 Social Studies, and 6-12 Science.

* The board approved the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Special Education Plan as submitted, along with contacts for foster care, migrants, English language learners, and homeless students.

* Best noted that a staff survey to see if anyone was interested in or needed the district to provide daycare generated very little interest.

“There is no need for us to move forward at this time, but it is maybe something to look at in the future,” Best said.

* Board members approved outstanding expenses for $59,376.88.

* The district had the following fund balances: general ($2,615,374), teacher ($89,956), capital projects ($1,007,842), and activity (-$89,717).

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT

Best explained that he had been following the School Funding Tax Force meetings and that both models being considered by the committees would increase school funding by $600 million dollars per year.

“I doubt that is popular when they can’t fund the current formula,” Best said. “There’ll obviously be an adjustment to that.”

Best noted that there have been several discussions on how to deal with hold-harmless schools to move all districts to receive funding based on a formula.

“They believe hold-harmless districts are getting more than their fair share of money per student, even though that amount hasn’t gone up in twenty years,” Best said. “They are trying to make sure they don’t have a big positive or negative impact on any one district. I don’t know if they can stay true to that.”

Best noted that the purpose of the committee was to come up with the best way to fund schools.

“The goal is to modernize the formula and bring it up to the current times,” Best added.

* Best told the board that the water-softener in the high school needs to be replaced for a little over $5,000. The sump pumps in the basement have not been working and also need to be replaced.

“We’ve been having these heavy rains, and it has created quite a mess,” Best said.

He had a different contractor look at what could be done to repair the elementary boiler that had a cracked plate and stopped working last winter.

“We had a different HVAC contractor look at the boiler, and there isn’t anything different they have recommended,” Best said. “We need to replace those cracked plates. They are going to adjust the gauges to better control the water temperature, and the cost is going to be about the same at $15,000.”

Best is hoping that the repairs will last through the winter.

* Principal McKague reported that summer school was a success with attendance at about 60% of the students.

* Junior high and high school registration has been completed.

* The elementary open house was held on Aug. 20.

* A Red Cross Blood Drive will be held on Sept. 9.