Rib Lake looks at ways to maximize referendum dollars
Members of the Rib Lake School Board on May 17 were busy looking at how to get the most bang for tax dollars approved in a building referendum earlier this spring.
Board members Rib Lake Board of Education on May approved the Resolution Establishing Parameters for the Sale of Not to Exceed $15,000,000. This gives the district the ability to go to the market and sell tax-exempt bonds so long as they meet these parameters. By passing this measure now, District Administrator Travis Grubbs and School Board President Stacy Tlusty can enter the market at the most opportune time in July rather than wait for a regular board meeting to sell the bonds.
Kevin Mullen, Director at Baird Wealth, presented the plan of finance to the board. Overall, Mullen reported that interest rates below the estimated values bode well for staying at or below the mill rate of $1.46 per $1000, stating, “following through on that is the most important piece.” The district will borrow in two phases. The first will be roughly $14.2 million in July 2024, and the second will be around $5.3 million in January 2025. Mullen reported that interest rates were estimated at 5.25% in the referendum plan, and they are now between 4.5-4.75%.
By splitting the funding into two years, the district can benefit from arbitrage and earn investment income off of the borrowed money. Mullen stated, “There is an opportunity to make money on arbitrage.” The board voted to have Forward Bank and ADM manage these proceeds. After the meeting, Grubbs further explained, “ADM is a municipal advisor and bond proceed manager. Forward is a bank that also offers various investments. ADM does more managing, coordinating and placing investments and specializes in these types of projects for school districts. ADM will use our facilities plan and financial draw schedule to make a plan of investment over the course of the project and they will use local, state and national banks to invest the funds in. ADM will also work with Forward for investment options for the district and we plan to utilize Forward much more than a typical bank. In turn, we will utilize Forward’s money market account, CDs and potentially treasuries during the project. ADM will coordinate and track investments.”
The board unanimously voted to increase base wages for teachers and support staff for the 2024-2025 school year. Grubbs advised that all teachers will receive a 4.12% raise and a $1000 step, and the board approved this measure. The board hopes to promote retention of staff members with the change, with board member Karah Grzanna stating, “longevity is what you want, and I think they should be compensated.” Next, the board passed a pay increase for support staff of 5.5% with an extra 30 cents per hour for staff members who are at the end of the hourly schedule.
Several adjustments were made to the staff handbook. The board voted to change the policy on compassionate care days to have the district provide compassionate care days instead of other staff members providing the days by donation. 30 compassionate care days are available to staff after all eight regular sick days and other accumulated sick days are used in the event of emergency illness to the staff member or their immediate family. Under the previous system, a staff member could be donated up to 30 compassionate care days from other staff members. Grubbs suggested the days be provided by the district rather than by donation from other staff members, stating, “We should take care of our staff members.” He also specified that compassionate care was used twice this year, so the change will not be a large financial burden on the district.
The board passed a $2 pay raise per hour for bus drivers who work extracurricular events, increasing their hourly wage to $16 per hour. Grubbs noted that regular route drivers make $16-19, so a raise was needed for extracurricular bus drivers. Board member Rollie Thums agreed, stating, “we should be able to eat that because they are taking on a hell of a lot of responsibility.” Grubbs added that the $2 raise is estimated to cost $1570 per year. In other revisions to the staff handbook, the board voted to post the Teacher Salary Schedule in the appendix of the handbook and removed the Athletic Director from the Extracurricular Pay list.
The board voted on officer positions for the year. Stacy Tlusty is president, Rollie Thums is vice president, Nicole Glenzer is clerk, and Amanda Treffinger is treasurer. In other designating business, JoAnne Peterson is the recording secretary, Forward Bank is the official depository, The Star News is the official newspaper, Stacy Thums is the WASB Delegate, Rollie Thums is the WASB alternate, and Karah Grzanna is the CESA 9 Representative.
With the addition of new board members, committee assignments were updated. The committee assignments are as follows: Personnel- Stacy Tlusty, Peter Meyer, Nicole Glenzer; Facility- Rollie Thums, Nicole Glenzer, Karah Grzanna; Policy- Amanda Treffinger; School Forest- Rollie Thums; Safety- Stacy Tlusty, Nicole Scheller; Athletic- Karah Grzanna and Stacy Tlusty.
The Pupil Self-Evaluation report for the 2023-2024 was completed. Building principals will now serve as secondary compliance officers, with Grubbs being the primary compliance officer. Grubbs identified two aspects of scholarships that will be updated. Scholarship information will be mailed to all families to ensure everyone is aware of opportunities. Additionally, all scholarship applications will be submitted without names to eliminate decision bias. A nondiscrimination statement was added to the Rib Lake common scholarship application.
In staff changes, the board voted to accept the resignation of Assistant Athletic Director and Trainer Cassie Semon. Grubbs then reported the hiring of Mindy Martin as a grades 3-5 SPED teacher and Mikayla Kosmer as a middle school math teacher. On these hires, Grubbs stated, “They are going to do a fantastic job.”
Regarding summer school, Grubbs reported that 211 students are currently signed up for summer school. Notably, the first session of swimming lessons is at capacity with 60 students. Grubbs stated that there are still spots in the second session, as 41 students are currently signed up.
Routine reports were delivered for the elementary, middle, and high schools. Elementary School Principal John Dallmann reported that 95% of elementary staff are letters trained for Act 20, which is designed to promote literacy across the state. Elementary students had an enjoyable fishing day, and board member Rollie Thums thanked the Rib Lake and Westboro Fish and Game volunteers for making the event happen. Rib Lake Middle and High Principal Kirsten Budimlija reported that prom and post prom were a success, thanking local parents for their support. Upcoming events include high school graduation on May 24 and 8th grade recognition on May 29 at 7 p.m.
In other business, the board voted to renew the HVAC contract for one year with August Winters. Lastly, Rib Lake School District website will be updated for a total cost of $5,400.
