Conway Levy Committee Meeting
Sept 27th, 2017
The regular meeting of the Conway Levy Committee meeting was held on Wednesday September 27th, 2017 in the Conway School Library. Superintendent Dr. Chris Pearson called the meeting to order at 6:32pm.
In attendance: Beverley Collart, Darcy Olsen, Julie Hummel, Francisco Vera, Katherine Wolfe, Monica Schmidt, Ryan Rivas, Suzi Rivas, Amy Hughes, Barbara Sneva, Ben Winkes, Erik Kragnes, Gwen Dalseg, Jessica Bell-Hinderstein, John Townsend, Demi Daman, Karen Hanseth, Jack Sleasman, Wade Melton, Scott Horton, Amy Staudenraus, Sue Curtis, Spencer Welch and Dr. Chris Pearson.
22 members
●2 Board Members
●4 Staff Members
●9 parents
●6 community members
●All local tax payers
Introductions round robin
Presentation:
Presenter: Superintendent Dr. Pearson
Presented:
‘Conway Levy Committee powerpoint”
●The Committee’s charge (slides 4-5)
●School Finance 101 (slides 6-17)
Referenced:
‘2017 Property Tax, Assessments, and Fees’ resource sheet
●The ‘McCleary Decision’ (slides 18-22)
●Implications for Conway (slides 23-28)
Referenced:
‘Conway Levy Projections Spreadsheet’ resource sheet
Break 7:20-7:30pm
Parking Lot Questions:
- Is the state still formulating
- Why are salaries such an unknown with current bargaining? This year we have salaries set. 18-19 and forward, we don’t know scales ie: will you make more for having more experience, etc.
- How many tax payers in the district? Roughly 2100 tax payers, 1100 households
- How many out of district kids enrolled? And do they pay? Traditionally 430-450 enrolled, about ⅓ is out of district. Out of district generates roughly 1.1 million. 13,000 for local students, 9,000 for out of district.
- What percentage of school costs are salaries? Approx 80%
- What is the expected amount of special education costs? This will come later in meeting
- Have you seen increase of home value based on Conway school reputation? Unknown
- Average value of home in Conway? Unknown to us
- New home construction vs out of district students? We would still want to maintain between 430-450 students, so with new home construction we would reduce out of district numbers accepted.
- Teacher turn over rate in Conway? Our teachers stay over time. Recently, there were more retirements so more newer young teachers.
Superintendent Chris Pearson continued powerpoint presentation “Conway Levy Committee Powerpoint”.
●Creating enrichment plan
○Ben Winkes comments that enrichment is still paying for basic things. Confirmed by presenter; state only satisfied one part of the judge’s orders of McCleary act- state has yet to show how they will fully fund basic ed.
●What is our vision for Conway
○What do our kids, citizens and neighbors need that Conway can provide with an enrichment levy?
Next Steps slide
Future Meetings:
Wednesday October 11th @ 6:30pm
Wednesday October 25th @ 6:30pm
Wednesday November 8th @ 6:30pm
Meeting adjourned at 7:59pm
Conway School District
Enrichment Levy Committee Meeting
October 11, 2017
The second meeting of the Conway Levy Committee meeting was held on Wednesday October 11th, 2017 in the Conway School Library. Superintendent Dr. Chris Pearson called the meeting to order at 6:34pm.
In attendance: Francisco Vera, Eric Kragnes, Ben Winkes, Amy Staudenraus, Julie Mitchell, Katherine Wolfe, Demi Daman, John Townsend, Julie Hummel, Monica Schmidt, Jack Sleasman, Karen Hanseth, Ryan Rivas, Suzi Rivas, Barb Sneva, Amy Hughes, Darcy Olsen, Scott Horton, Sue Curtis, Spencer Welch, and Dr. Chris Pearson.
Superintendent Chris Pearson introduced new member Julie Mitchell. Brief summary of our first meeting.
Introductions.
Spencer Welch
●How we will function as a group to come to a consensus
●Next meeting various options and proposals
Small group discussions:
●As you think about our shared work together over the next few weeks, what are your highest aspirations about what we can accomplish?
●School board focused set of goals, that make sense fiscally so that the levy will pass
●Enrichment that will reach all kids. Interest culturally bringing in diversity.
●Goals that benefit kids and a levy that would be supported by everyone: staff, community, voters.
●Plan that supports students leaving Conway ready for the world, a more diverse world, good collaborators, good communicators amongst other traits.
●After school enrichment available for all kids: some like sports, outdoor. Some are more public while others are more shy. A need for after school program. Uncertainty with state funding that how will this levy balance with that to still be able to give enrichment to our children.
●What might get in the way of our accomplishing these goals
●We need to be skeptical of how voters outside of this committee will view the levy. We should be devil’s advocate of ourselves
●Being aware of our audience
●Be aware of current political climate- this is not a political thing, this is for our children.
●Recognition of long and rich history that conway has, along with new perspectives- find a way to meet in the middle.
●If correct information doesn’t get out - rumours or miscommunication can hurt voting.
●Make sure it’s simple enough to get goals out there, without extra fluff.
●Communication needs to be rich enough without too much confusing detail.
Spencer notes: We as individual committee members have the opportunity to be a source of information outside of this room for those in our communities who may not have knowledge about what the levy is.
●What does each member need to be able to say: “We are engaged in a community process. I agree with what we presented to the board. Or, I didn’t agree with everything we presented to the board, but I felt that I was able to discuss my feelings in this group. I support the process and recommend you voting to support the board’s recommendation.”
●Respect each others intentions
●We are here for same goals, to reach the same outcome
●Feel safe in this environment
●Needs vs wants or a blend of the two? We need to build our rational on what is a valid reason for asking voters to support our levy
●We are a diverse group of parents, community members, staff, etc. so we should have the ability to ask each other what each member feels the school/ community needs.
●Be able to communicate the feeling of hope.
●Make sure that we check in with each committee member along the way - to make sure that even the quiet observers are able to contribute.
Quick break.
●Considerations, filters, priorities that we will use to guide and eventually evaluate proposals for content of the levy. This is what we value as a community in how we would use levy dollars.
●Most return to the community bank for the buck…
●Discuss $1.50 cap
●Class size
●To build and enhance proactive learners!
○SEL K-8
○Summer school
○Electives
○After school programs
○Smaller class size
●Accessible programs for all students
●Broadening student experience
●Maintain and respect what already works for Conway School (kids, teachers, community)
●Interchangeably achieve
A) safe supportive social environment
B) enrichment opportunities
●Sports
●Arts
●Music
●Skills - academic
Spencer charged members to consider small group discussions and come back to next meeting with thoughts on the following questions.
●What do I like that other groups brought up
●What are things that are totally opposite of what my group thought?
●What was something that surprised me that another group brought up and I would like to know more about?
Future Meetings:
●Wednesday October 25, 2017 @ 6:30pm
●Wednesday November 8, 2017 @ 6:30pm
The meeting was adjourned at 8:05pm.
Conway School District
Enrichment Levy Committee Meeting #3
October 25, 2017
The third meeting of the Conway Levy Committee meeting was held on Wednesday October 25th, 2017 in the Conway School Library. Superintendent Dr. Chris Pearson called the meeting to order at 6:35pm.
In attendance: Julie Hummel, Amy Hughes, Katherine Wolfe, Karen Hanseth, Gwen Dalseg, Jack Sleasman, Julie Mitchell, Demi Daman, Monica Schmidt, Wade Melton, Francisco Vera, Ben Winkes, Amy Staudenraus, John Townsend, Ryan Rivas, Suzi Rivas, Barb Sneva, Darcy Olsen, Sue Curtis, Spencer Welch, and Dr. Chris Pearson.
Spencer Welch welcomed committee and gave a brief summary of our October 11 meeting.
Dr. Pearson and Sue Curtis presented Conway Levy Committee Meeting #3 Powerpoint.
●Review of committee’s charge
●Timeline for ‘Enrichment Levy’ vote and implementation
●School Finance 101 ‘Levies are for Learning’
●Feedback Responses
○What are our current class sizes?
■K-3: 22 students (average)
■4-8: 25 students (average)
○HS Credit Bearing Classes
■Currently: Algebra
■Options: Foreign Language, possibly a science or technology elective
○What if we ask for $1.25 / $1,000 instead or $1.50
■Decrease in local revenue:
●Approximately $144,738
■Savings for taxpayer on a $400,000 house:
●$100.00 annually
■Savings for taxpayer on a $800,000 house
●$200.00 annually
●Local Effort Assistance (LEA)
○New Rules for 2019 & beyond
■Districts need to collect at the $1.50 rate in order to be eligible for LEA
●Levy Resolution Rules
○If actual collection is higher, the county rolls back the collection amount to the approved amount.
○What happens if you don’t ask for enough? The district has to go back to the voters for approval through a new levy.
●FYI: Other relevant information: ‘Types of Properties in Conway’
○35% of all properties are residential taxed at full rate
○37% of all properties are agricultural land and open space taxed at a lesser rate
○28% of all properties are state forest property taxed at a lesser rate
●Unknowns
○Unknown salary schedule
○Actual revenue amount and staffing costs
○More detailed guidance
●Creating and ‘Enrichment Plan’
○New tax rate allows to collect $851,400 - $893,970 over next 2 years.
○What do we know?
■The district already incurs expenses that are considered enrichment totalling approximately $712,954
■Approximately $112,893 - $168,747 remains available based on a 2 year average collection.
Short break.
Spencer Welch led ‘Considerations Discussion’
●To build and enhance proactive learners
●Broaden student experience
●Enrichment opportunities
●Class size
●Safe, supportive social environment
●Maintain and respect what already works for Conway Schools
●Most return for our community
●Discuss $1.50 cap
Value Voting
Each committee member given 3 green, 1 yellow and 1 red vote
Green = what member values most
Yellow = member has questions on this or wants to discuss this more
Red = member doesn’t support this idea as what should be included as a priority.
●Discuss $15.0 cap: 0
●Return on investment: 5 green
●Enrichment and maintaining lowering class size: 40
●Safe, supportive social environment: 4 green, 3 yellow
●Maintain and respect what already works for Conway School (for kids, teachers, community): 2 green
Spencer reviewed votes and answered questions on topics with yellow votes.
Sue and Dr. Pearson presented ‘Average staffing Costs’.
Committee members given time to answer reflection questions.