Braham school board approves preliminary levy

The Braham Board of Education unanimously approved a preliminary levy for 2025 as part of its Monday, Sept. 16 meeting.

“With preliminary data, the state report is showing a 2.99% total increase to the levy for 2025,” Superintendent Ken Gagner said. “The district does not see any significant movement in one particular area.

“In general terms, when you factor in inflation and home/property values, a 3% increase is fairly reasonable.”

Council member Mike Thompson noted that the approved preliminary levy only set a maximum levy for 2025; while the levy can grow no higher when it is set in December, it could be lower.

“[In June of this year] the district has set the preliminary budget for the 2024-25 school year to reflect approximately $13 million in revenue with nearly equal expenditures,” Gagner said.

Gagner noted that schools are different from city and county governments when it comes to levies because, to generalize, those entities determine what they need to spend in the coming year, then create a levy to match that spending.

“The state sets a [school levy] limit based on a complex formula,” Gagner said. “Then we say we are going to levy up to that limit, and create a budget based on that limit.”

Board member Kayla Hagfors, who serves as treasurer in the district, gave a summary of expenditures and revenues within the district that was generally rosy.

“Our [State of Disbursements] percentage has gone up from 28% last year to 40% this year,” Hagfors said. “Our policy is anywhere from 10-30%, so if there’s any investments we want to make, that would be encouraged.

“It’s good news; we’re financially healthy.”

The board also recognized Jessica Olson, who has left the district as business manager, for her work with the district. Aaron Christensen has taken over as the district’s new business manager.

“If you want to make a superintendent have sleepless nights, you lose your business manager,” Gagner said. “It’s unfortunate, but we’re glad we had Jessica because she did a super job.

“I’m super-excited about Aaron. He’s 100% capable. What’s tough about school finance is that it’s a completely different animal, so there will be a learning curve. But he’s dedicated and excited about helping the district.”

The board also set the date of its Truth in Taxation meeting for Monday, Dec. 16 starting at 6 p.m.

Enrollment look

Gagner also presented Braham’s preliminary enrollment figures for the 2024-25 school year.

His comparison showed the enrollments for each grade on Sept. 11 as well as a look back to May 24, the final day of the 2023-24 school year. In short, the preliminary numbers from this year were generally similar to last year’s totals.

“This [number] means these are kids not enrolled in another district, they are enrolled in our district,” Gagner explained. “Whether or not they are actually here is another question.”

Gagner noted that the state takes its official enrollment count on Tuesday, Oct. 1.

“You’ll get a much better number in October,” he said. “Right now, we’ll wait for all the shakeout.”