To help maintain stability in district funding, the Moorhead School Board converted a portion of the district’s operating levy to a board-approved levy at the June 23 board meeting.
District voters approved an $850 per pupil operating levy in 2010. That levy amount was converted to $949.52 when the Minnesota legislature recently changed the way pupil units are counted for funding.
Action by the legislature allows Minnesota school districts to approve a board-approved levy of up to $300 per pupil unit. This was done to help equalize education funding between those districts where voters have approved higher operating levies and those districts where voters haven’t approved additional operating levies.
In Moorhead, the School Board approved the conversion of $300 of the $949.52 per pupil operating levy to a board-approved levy. The board-approved levy would need to be renewed after five years.
Additionally, $424 of the $949.52 per pupil operating levy is local optional revenue from the state, effective with the 2015-16 school year. The remaining $225 per pupil operating levy is the voter-approved levy that will provide the district with funding through the 2017-18 school year.
In other business, the School Board approved the district’s annual operating plan, which includes the preliminary budget for the 2014-15 school year. General fund revenues are projected at $64.3 million with expenses projected to be $63.6 million.
Even with several construction projects underway, the district’s property tax levy will be reduced because refunding bonds earlier this year offsets some of the construction costs.
Capital projects for 2014-15 outlined by Jeremy Larson, interim assistant superintendent, include refinishing the Moorhead High School gymnasium floor with the new M logo, work on facilities master planning, enclosing an additional team area for a classroom at S.G. Reinertsen Elementary, and repairing the swimming pool ventilation system at Moorhead High School. Work on the parking lot entry and sidewalk repair at Ellen Hopkins Elementary that was originally planned for this summer may be delayed to the 2015-16 school year.
Besides the gymnasium addition at Reinertsen Elementary, other projects being planned for the 2015-16 school year are security upgrades to school entrances, kitchen remodeling at Probstfield Center for Education, and upgrading the elevator at Moorhead High School as a part of a master facilities plan.