First quarter is coming to an end this week already. Our construction continues on the addition adjacent to the ag shop and will continue for a few weeks as they ready for next summer's completion. The process is going very well and the upgrades will be fantastic.
Much has been talked about in the press lately with over 130 ballot questions on the agenda for school operating levies this November 8. This has received a number of negative comments from some of our state legislators, who are in turn, working to defeat some of these votes. Why would these folks intrude into local decisions on such matters, I thought that party was for less government? I see there is even talk of forcing these elections to even years, again a local control decision. Who knows where this will all lead.

We do not have a question on the ballot this year, and our $500 per student operating levy which was renewed in the fall of '08 will come up for renewal in
2013. The average operating levy across the state sits currently at $1,029 per student, so ours is less than half of the state average. Should a number of these levies across the state not pass, there will be massive staff layoffs I would assume.

One of the main reasons that these levies are needed in districts across the state is the way the state has funded education in the past number of years as illustrated in the statistics below.

State aid has not kept up with costs for many years as shown in the following chart:

Year Per Pupil Aid Change
07-08 $5074
08-09 $5124 1%
09-10 $5124
10-11 $5124
11-12 $5174 1%

The average yearly increase since 1991 = 1.3%
Consumer Price Index yearly average = 3%
This, of course, does not include the $2.7 billion that the state currently owes schools as they have balanced their budgets on the backs of our students for the past years with the aid shift.
Hopefully, the economy and cash flow for the state will improve, so the shift doesn't become a reduction.
Football team plays for the section championship tomorrow night in St. Cloud. I know we will have a good crowd in attendance for that.