District financials stay the course, good and bad

The good news for the Carlton school district is that there were no surprises and things stayed pretty much the same as years before in the annual audit released Monday night. That’s also the bad news as the district continues to face rising costs associated with more students living within the district choosing to go to school somewhere else.

The district is not getting “economies of scale,” reported Matt Mayer from BerganKDV, which performed the audit. He was reporting at the final regular meeting of the school board for the year.

In 2016, the district was spending about $11,600 per student. In the past year, the district spent about $14,000 per student. In short, the fixed costs for education are remaining the same while the number of students served drops. The audit reported that Carlton has been losing about 25 students a year for several years.

As in years past, the audit had strong language about the district’s holding pattern with declining enrollment. It needs to “make significant decisions about its future in order to remain a fiscally sustainable district for the long term,” the reports said.

Despite all the “headwinds” blowing through the district, its overall financial health is OK, Mayer said.

In the short term, because of less-than-expected costs in a year that saw most school days moved online since March, the district was able to drop its annual levy. Taxes payable in 2021 should be 2.6 percent lower than in 2020. A decrease in debt service also helped keep the levy low.

The district’s fund balance is along the state average, at about 21 percent of the annual expenditures. The overall budget for the school district next year is $7.2 million. Taxpayers foot the bill for 23 percent of school costs, which is within the range of most Minnesota schools. Benefits and pay to staff accounts for up to 70 percent of annual school costs, also with state averages.

Next board up

Despite a lot of discussion last week about making some decisions on the shape of a consolidation with Wrenshall and the prospects of Carlton revamping its district makeup on its own, no viable motions were made Monday.

Tim Hagenah made a motion that would have put the Carlton board on record saying it wouldn’t take part in a consolidation with Wrenshall without keeping each district’s debts separate as payable by taxpayers. Hagenah continued offering mixed messages on why he wants the consolidation effort go away entirely. He stated that a consolidation wouldn’t add to what Carlton students are already receiving in the districts. He also stated he favors one campus for all students in a consolidated district.

LaRae Lehto, the board chairwoman who did not seek re-election this past fall, said she’s never been in favor of consolidation but went along with working on it because of the will of district residents shown in surveys. But she said a new board in January needed to take up any lingering issues.

Jen Chmielewski, the other board member who won’t be back for another term, said the message the Carlton board is sending is that it doesn’t want consolidation and the fight over debt sharing or not is just a way to push it off the table. She said she’s used the term “wishy washy” too many times to describe Carlton’s lumbering through the consolidation process.

Anne Gustafson said cooler heads needed to prevail and the consolidation option remained the most viable for the district’s future. “It’s disturbing to hear grown adults not being logical,” she said.

Hagenah needed a lot of help in wording the motion to take a stance on the debt. It didn’t pass. Only he and Sue Karp voted “yes.” Sam Ojibway appeared to be in their camp last week but said Monday that it’s just not the right time to be making decisions on consolidation as a new board comes in.

Chmielewski brought up motions to bring back a discussion on dissolving the district and to take a K-12 school option off the table when it comes to long-range planning discussions. Both motions failed.

In the end, the next board, which will add Eryn Szymczak and former member Julianne Emerson, will tackle the lingering consolidation and long-range planning issues.