SLE School Board
SEELEY LAKE – Seeley Lake Elementary (SLE) Board approved a resolution of intent to impose an increase in levies should Senate Bill (SB) 307 be approved. Superintendent Chris Stout also apprised the board of the preliminary discussions to end Thursday early outs and add a Friday off at the end of the quarter for the 2017-2018 calendar.
SB307 is sponsored by Llew Jones (R) of District 9 in Conrad, Mont. The bill’s intent is to revise the laws related to school funding. It allows school trustees to adopt a resolution to increase non-voted levies to appropriate funds to four major categories: major maintenance and repair; technology; energy efficiencies and critical infrastructure.
It passed the Senate with a 49-1 vote Feb. 24 and had its hearing in the House March 13. If the bill is signed into law, the resolution allows for $32,800 more revenue to be used for school facility maintenance and technology projects. This is a mill increase of 4.27. Taxpayers in Seeley Lake School District 34 will see a tax increase of $5.59 on a home valued at $100,000 or $11.18 on a $200,000 home for the 2017-2018 fiscal year. SB307 requires the board to pass a resolution each year by March 31 to continue the levy increase.
Stout recommended the board approve the resolution. He feels this is a solution to the issues of aging infrastructure that should prevent the district from having to run another infrastructure bond in the future. He said this is for long-term maintenance projects not an emergency fund.
“We’ve needed to replace some things in the kitchen for the last 15 years and we haven’t had money to do it,” said Stout. “We’ve needed to repair the parking probably since the day they did it. We don’t have a dime in the general fund budget to do any upkeep to the school building.”
The school facility maintenance and technology projects proposed were the purchase of a Chromebook Lab (portable computer lab that can be used in the junior high wing), repair the SLE parking lot and do deferred maintenance to the kitchen and classrooms. These projects can be adjusted slightly in August if needed, Stout said.
Chair Todd Johnson acknowledged that if the board approves this resolution it is different than a voted levy where the public has the opportunity to voice their opinion. He told Stout that the school needs to provide the community with the information explaining the need for the projects and explaining why it cannot come out of existing funds.
“I don’t think anyone can argue that our students need the best technology moving forward. I’m just saying we need to present our case and we need to present a good case of why we are doing this and that’s all I ask,” said Johnson.
Because of the April 15 deadline for the resolution, the board unanimously approved the resolution pending the passage of SB307 through the legislature.
Stout said that he and the calendar committee have begun discussions for the 2017-2018 school year. One of the new suggestions was ending early outs on Thursdays. The staff training that is currently being held on Thursday afternoons would be replaced with a monthly staff meeting after school and a Friday at the end of each quarter that the students would have off and the staff would have a PIR day.
Stout said the origin of the Thursday early out was to match the high school. That is no longer something they need to match. In fact, he said there are SLE students who are not involved in the after school activities but have to wait for an hour and a half to catch the high school bus.
Stout said there is mixed philosophies about whether Thursday early out is a productive time for the staff. It can be a challenge to bring in presenters or collaborators for one hour on Thursday. Stout said the committee felt a full day would be more productive.
Stout said in the past people have been concerned that not having early out on Thursday would end the outdoor program and the other programs.
“[Since that time] we have done so much on any given day [outdoors and with other programs], I don’t think people would necessarily feel that way, but I could be wrong,” said Stout.
Stout will make his official recommendation for the new calendar at the April board meeting. The calendar will be matched as closely as possible to the Seeley-Swan High School calendar but will remain a five-day school week. Stout said it will not include Thursday early out and a day off would be added at the end of the quarter. He does not anticipate this will add school days to the calendar because the students are going to school longer on Thursdays.
In other business, Johnson is the only applicant for the two open trustee positions. The deadline to apply is 12 p.m. March 23. Nomination petitions are available at the SLE office.
The next board meeting is April 18 at 5:30 p.m. in the SLE Conference Room.
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