Legislative Action Impact on the Osseo School District

It’s been a month since the state shutdown in Minnesota was resolved. But, the impacts are far from resolved for state school districts.

As state agencies review impacts the shutdown and resulting legislation, the has been analyzing how Education Omnibus bill impacts District 279.

Superintendent Kate Maguire provided the District 279 School Board with a brief overview of the impacts at the Tuesday, Aug. 16 regular school board meeting, focusing on four ways the Education Omnibus bill impacts school districts and how the Osseo School District is responding.

Emphasis on reading proficiency

“New legislation establishes a goal that requires a local plan for having students reading at or above grade level by grade three," Maguire said. The Osseo School District will respond, she said, by using “our regular curricular development processes” over the next year.

Parts of the legislative action require parent notification and parent involvement and there is also some literacy incentive aid mixed in.

Increase emphasis teacher and principal evaluation

“New legislation calls for development of increased mentoring and evaluation for probationary teachers,” Maguire said, indicating the legislation links 35 percent of evaluation to student academic growth. “Our school district already has a robust system in place to evaluation both teachers and principals, but we’ll be adjusting our processes once the state develops some model standards.”

 Delayed payment to schools starting 2011-2012 

“Schools will receive only 60 percent of promised state aid in the year it is due,” Maguire said, indicating the remaining 40 percent will be shifted to the following year. She said it’s an accounting strategy used by the state to balance to budget because it reduces the amount of state aid that needs to go out in one year.

“It does mean that our school district might need to borrow money to pay its bills, like many other school districts,” Maguire said. “It’s going to have a significant impact on us.”

In an interview at the end of July with Maple Grove Patch, District 279 Director Business Services Kelly Benusa said she does not anticipate the district will need to borrow funds nor adjust the current budget projections, but it could impact future revenue streams from investment earnings.

Small revenue increase

The basic formula allowance will be increased by $50 per student in each of the next two years, according to the Osseo School District website. The less than one percent increase “was largely intended to help offset the costs of borrowing due to delayed state payments.”

“We know the small increase in revenue won’t make up for the slightly declining enrollment, potential cost of borrowing money and ordinary cost of maintaining services and staff,” Maguire said. She stated the district “planned conservatively for this school year” and is the process of developing a long-range financial planning process.

In the short term, the Osseo School District is looking for ways to contain costs. Maguire cited recent examples such as:

• $1.3 million in cost avoidance since an energy conservation program started in 2008

• $750,000 saved from a 2009 redesign of bus routes

• Steps in place to reduce increased insurance costs

• $2 million saved in the past two year by cutting back on the use of purchased services

To find out what other impacts the Osseo School District might see resulting from the recent legislative session and district comments, check out the District 279 website here.