Whole-Grade-Sharing Letter to Parents

February 11, 2015

Dear Farragut Elementary/Nishnabotna High School Community Parents,

I am writing this letter to update you on the latest developments regarding changes for the 2015-16 school year.

During their recent accreditation visit, Iowa Department of Education officials, cited several equity and accessibility issues with the facilities in both Farragut and Hamburg  In addition the Iowa School Budget Review Committee ruled on January 21, 2015 that both district’s negative unspent authorized budget authority balances would be eliminated if the districts met certain conditions, specifically that the districts needed to implement building configuration plans that would maximize efficiency and that could be implemented in the shortest amount of time.

Since our Whole-Grade-Sharing arrangement with the Hamburg Community Schools extends through the 2015-16 school year some significant changes will have to be made, in both districts, to allow us to operate past the end of this year. Both the Farragut and Hamburg Boards of Directors have passed resolutions, which modify the Whole-Grade-Sharing agreement to address our facilities situation and the conditions set by the School Budget Review Committee.

 Beginning in August of 2015- the start of the 2015-16 school year:

• We will not be able to use the elementary wing of the school building in Farragut

• We will not be able to use the vocational building in Farragut
• The middle school building in Hamburg will not be used

In order to maximize efficiency and best utilize our facilities so that we will be equity and accessibility compliant, we will be serving students in the following facilities, beginning next August:

• All PK-6 students in the Farragut and Hamburg districts will be served in the Marnie Simons Elementary Building in Hamburg.
• All 7-12 students in the Farragut and Hamburg districts will be served in the Nishnabotna Jr.-Sr. High Building in Farragut.

We are currently working on academic, transportation and staffing plans to support the new building configurations.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Respectfully,

Tom

Tom Hinrichs

Superintendent

Farragut Elementary/Nishnabotna High  School

SBRC Approves Additional Budget Authority for Farragut & Hamburg Distircts

Below is the, “Summary of Action” regarding the Farragut and Hamburg Corrective Action Plans at the January 21, 2015 School Budget Review Committee Hearing.

31. Farragut Community School District

The decision of the Committee in this matter is to approve modified supplemental

amount for the 2014-2015 school year in the amount of $803,010 as part of its corrective

action plan, pending receipt of board minutes authorizing the request, and to direct the

district to resubmit its corrective action plan at the April hearings with sufficient

reductions in expenditures to end FY15 with a positive unspent balance. The Committee

directed the district to adopt a plan to maximize the amount of savings in the shortest

period of time.

The district is directed to operate its expenditures in compliance with Iowa Code. The

district shall not expend in the General Fund for FY15 more than $2,002,533, not

including any allowable special education expenditures in excess of special education

receipts, plus actual miscellaneous income received. Miscellaneous income shall not be

expended until received.

The district is directed to submit monthly reports to its board and to the SBRC

demonstrating the financial position of the district in relationship to its certified budget

control lines and to maximum spending authority. These reports shall be available to the

auditor on request.

32. Hamburg Community School District

The decision of the Committee in this matter is to approve modified supplemental

amount for the 2014-2015 school year in the amount of $148,951 as part of its corrective

action plan and to direct the district to resubmit at the April hearings a corrective action

plan that shows sufficient changes to ensure that the district will complete FY15 with a

positive unspent balance. The Committee directed the district to adopt a plan to

maximize the amount of savings in the shortest period of time.

The district is directed to operate its expenditures in compliance with Iowa Code. The

district shall not expend in the General Fund for FY15 more than $2,508,006, not

including any allowable special education expenditures in excess of special education 9

receipts, plus actual miscellaneous income received. Miscellaneous income shall not be

expended until received.

The district is directed to submit monthly reports to its board and to the SBRC

demonstrating the financial position of the district in relationship to its certified budget

control lines and to maximum spending authority. These reports shall be available to the

auditor on request.

The complete findings of from the January 21, 2015 meeting can be found here

Summary:

• Due to the fact that the motion provided a significant amount of modified supplemental aid, $803,010 on behalf of Farragut and $148,950 on behalf of Hamburg the SBRC approved similar motions for each district with the same conditions and it was apparent by their discussions that modified supplemental aid would not be granted without these conditions. The only difference in each motion is the amount of modified supplemental aid.

• The primary condition is that the districts implement a building configuration plan that maximizes potential cost savings to each district and that maximizes the utilization of remaining staff after our budget reductions. In addition the building configuration plan needs to be one that can be implemented in the shortest amount of time that requires the least amount of facility upgrades.

• The only building configuration plan that was discussed during the SBRC hearing was the proposal approved by Farragut  Board at the Monday, January 21, 2015 regular Board meeting. That proposal was based on the proposal that Hamburg Superintendent Terry Kenealy presented at the Mediation Session last week. The SBRC motion was consistent with the proposal, adopted by the Farragut Board, following the Farragut discussion.

• During the discussion it was also stated by Dr. Berger and it was obvious that the committee members were in agreement that the two districts needed to adopt the most efficient and cost effective building configuration plan and stop the movement towards arbitration. Dr. Lane Plugge was in attendance and he concurred that arbitration should be taken off the table.

I believe that the Farragut and Hamburg districts have been given quite possibly our last opportunity to prove that we can step and act in the best interests of our students The SBRC finding will be part of our scheduled phase II accreditation visit in February. Following the accreditation visit, which will examine not only budgetary issues, but also facility equity and accessibility and educational programming the Department of Education will present findings  to the State Board of Education recommending accreditation or non-accreditation of the district(s)  for action at the March State Board of Education Meeting.