School general fund climbs to $3.3M
Holyoke School District Re-1J ended the 2020-21 year with a general fund balance of $3,328,138, as reported at the Dec. 8 school board meeting by auditor Scott Szabo of Lauer, Szabo & Associates.
Szabo said this puts about five months of funds in reserve, which “is a good, healthy reserve for a school your size.”
Board president Dusty Sprague acknowledged that it’s good to be at five months in reserve.
The reserve fund balance is up $1.04 million from a year ago and has been increasing steadily since the 2017 balance of $952,907.
The funded pupil count in the year ending June 30 was 607, compared to 608.5 the previous year.
Szabo, Superintendent Kyle Stumpf and Sprague all praised the fine work by Budget & Finance Director Ben Rahe and his team.
In addition to approving the 2020-21 audit report last week, the board also certified the district’s mill levy for property tax year 2021.
A total mill levy of 37.345 mills was approved, including 27.0 mills for the general fund, 7.0 mills for mill levy override, 0.035 mills for abatement and 3.310 mills for bond redemption.
Assessed valuation for the school district, as of Dec. 15, is $80,220,290.
CASB convention reported
Board members recapped the recent Colorado Association of School Boards convention in Colorado Springs.
They cited the district being on the leading edge as Stumpf led a presentation at the convention on the Student-Centered Accountability Program, and Ashley Clayton and Summer Maloney put together a presentation on the district’s progress with the Homegrown Talent Initiative.
Sprague emphasized the significance of not only presenting the information, but the value of both S-CAP and HTI for Holyoke students.
Stumpf said he likes working for a district that is on the cutting edge and allows administration to take chances, sometimes fail and try again rather than to stay with the status quo.
Board members also appreciated the special board meeting at the convention where they had the chance to converse with Caplan & Earnest lawyer Coulter Bump.
New board member Nain Vasquez said it was nice to learn more about policies and procedures for serving on the board.
Several addressed consideration for potential consolidation of activities as a suggestion for future conferences.
Other business
In other business at last week’s meeting, the school board:
— Heard a nice recap of the National FFA convention trip to Indianapolis, Indiana, from Oct. 25-31, by eight members of the local chapter.
— Approved up to $140,000 in repairs, upgrades and installation of playground equipment.
— Reviewed salary information from school districts in this region as a teaser to start thinking about salaries in the district for 2021-22.
— Approved new bank authorization signatures with the change in board officers after last month’s reorganization.
— Reviewed proposed CASB policies on resignation of instructional staff/administrative staff; and discipline, suspension and dismissal of professional staff.
— Gave second-reading approval for CASB policies presented Nov. 2 and first-reading approval for those presented Nov. 16.
— acknowledged Holyoke Enterprise reporter Brenda Brandt attending her last meeting before retirement, after covering the board for the past 42 years.