The Rush City School Board heard a “pre-sale” report regarding the sale of general obligation maintenance facility bonds during its meeting on Sept. 26.
At the previous school board meeting, the board approved the process of selling bonds as part of the maintenance plan for the school district.
The amount approved was $4,980,000 for general obligation maintenance facility bonds. Ehlers is the financial institution overseeing the sale of the bonds. Jen Chapman of Ehlers attended the meeting to present a “pre-sale” report.
The bonds will have a term of 15 years and will be callable in February of 2032. There will be refinancing options available at that time. The district has an A+ underlying bond rating. Ehlers will receive bids for the bonds and present them at the Oct. 24 meeting.
Citizen comment
During citizen comment, Pat Moulton, a long-time resident of Rush City, attended the meeting to thank the board for their service.
“To volunteer is a big deal and I know the commitment is a big deal,” Moulton said. “I really appreciate what you have done.”
She went on to discuss a new set of rules beginning in 2025 for people who are licensed to teach.
Moulton said, “this was not legislated; it was mandated by a board.”
Moulton described it as a “Marxist style agenda.” She said, “How are we going to protect our good teachers who don’t want to do this. Who didn’t sign up for this ... This is life changing.”
She summed up her comments by asking the board, “Is this what education is for? You should be interested in defending good teachers ... keeping good staff. I think it is time for adults to take back the school. It is time for adults to be adults. Children need boundaries. That is their safety net ... When the state becomes the oppressor how do you respond?”
The school board has a policy of not addressing citizen comments during the meeting.
Attendance update
Superintendent Brent Stavig gave an update on student attendance.
He said the district expected (and budgeted for) 82 kindergartners but only 50 are enrolled. He said other districts are beginning to look to their own Early Childhood education program versus the census data when estimating how many students will be entering the district.
He added the district graduated 68 seniors so the number is down greatly. Stavig said in the elementary school, “we lost 13 students, some were staff members that have moved out of the district.” He went on to say, “it is concerning.”
A majority of the school district’s funding is based on enrollment numbers.
In other notes:
• Sept. 26 was the first regular school board meeting with Keith Haugrud as a board member. He was selected by the school board to replace Matt Meisner who previously resigned from the board. William Schmidt now serves as the chair of the school board.
• The general fund levy decreased from 2023 (payable 2024) to 2024 (payable 2025). In 2023 the amount was $2,357,477, with 2024 (payable 2025) at $2,065,344. This is a decrease of 12.38%. The total levy also decreased from $3,900,118 to $3,633,687, a decrease of 6.83%.
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