EM school board: interest rate may be lower than anticipated for referendum projects
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
ELK MOUND — The interest rate for the Elk Mound school district’s nearly $16 million in referendum projects may be up to one percentage point lower than anticipated.
Brian Brewer of Robert W. Baird & Co., the Elk Mound school district’s financial consultant, spoke to the Elk Mound Board of Education at the April 27 meeting about referendum financing, said Eric Wright, district administrator.
Voters in the Elk Mound school district approved the $16 million referendum question during the April 7 election on a ratio of two-to-one.
Bonds would be issued in two different batches to fund the referendum projects, Wright said.
The first issue would be for $9.6 million, and then at a later date, the remaining $6.1 million would be issued, he said.
Selling the bonds in two different batches will minimize the total interest cost, Wright said.
The interest rate used in information distributed to school district residents prior to the referendum election used a rate of 4 percent, but the interest rate currently is 2.9 to 3 percent, he said.
Borrowing less than $10 million at a time means the money is “bank qualified,” which results in a lower interest rate, Wright said.
At the current interest rate, the school district would save between $300,000 and $400,000, he said.
The financing terms are expected to be approved at the May 18 meeting.
Also related to the referendum for determining the scope of work, the Elk Mound Board of Education approved SDS Architects, Rettler Corporation for civil engineering, and MEP Associates for the environmental sampling contract.
The contracts are expected to be finalized at the May meeting.
Organizational meeting
Prior to the regular business on the agenda, the Elk Mound Board of Education held the organizational meeting following the spring election.
Tim Sivertson was elected by the board as president of the school board, and Kyle Jenson was elected as vice-president.
Pat Rhude was elected by the board as clerk of the school board, and Gary Bodenburg was elected as treasurer.
The following committees also were approved: compensation review; long range/short range planning; inservice, federal programs and scheduling; human growth and development; education technology; and Board of Education student representative screening.
Kyle Jenson was approved as the representative to the Cooperative Educational Service Agency (CESA) 11 Board of Directors, and Gary Bodenburg was approved as the delegate for the Wisconsin Association of School Boards.
The school board also approved the policy book, including revisions and updates.
Mary Strand was once again approved as the recording secretary for the Elk Mound Board of Education.
Other business
In other business, the Elk Mound Board of Education:
• Held a public hearing on the waiver of instructional hours. No members of the public attended the meeting for the public hearing.
• Approved submitting a request for an instructional hours waiver.
• Approved building budgets for the 2020-2021 school year.
• Approved dental and health insurance. Dental insurance will have a zero increase in premiums, and health insurance premiums will increase by 4.9 percent.
• Accepted the resignation Nicole Resch, middle school teacher.
• Confirmed the next meeting for May 18 at 7 p.m. The May 18 meeting originally was scheduled as the annual staff recognition luncheon, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no luncheon this year. The school board meeting is normally at 5 p.m. after the staff recognition luncheon.
• Approved adding a high school special education teacher and posting the position.
• Approved adding school board member e-mail addresses to the school district website.
• Approved adding a curriculum coordinator position for the 2020-2021 school year. The former curriculum coordinator filled a shared position between Boyceville and Elk Mound but has recently retired.
• Approved paying employees and coaches through the end of the school year. The employees and the coaches have been working in other ways, such as helping with food service and creating instructional materials for students. The WIAA also is considering some sports activities in July.
• Approved hiring an occupational therapist. Previously the Elk Mound school district subcontracted for an occupational therapist through Prevea.
• Learned that if the school district is going to have a graduation ceremony, it would most likely have to be held after June 30.
• Approved grading for the fourth quarter with pass/fail for elementary and middle school students and giving a choice of a letter grade or credit/no credit to high school students and their parents.
• Approved using the savings accrued during the school shut-down (heat, electricity, fewer buses running and no substitute teachers) for re-roofing the elementary school. The parts of the school that were built 10 years ago will not be replaced. The work is expected to be completed by June 30.
During a closed session, the Elk Mound Board of Education:
• Approved individual teacher contracts that were up for renewal for the 2020-2021 school year.
• Approved teacher promotions.
• Approved hiring Jennifer Solberg as the food service director.
• Approved hiring Jen Stoiber as a middle school teacher.
• Approved hiring Madeline Russell as a high school math teacher.
• Approved hiring Kinsey Bodenburg as an elementary teacher.
• Approved hiring Megan Bonnell as a speech and language pathologist.
• Approved hiring Sally Bartig as the high school secretary.
