Board declares vacancy; approves budget

Chuck Kajer, Managing Editor

The New Prague Area School Board accepted the resignation of board member Dan Carlson at its Monday, June 28, meeting. Carlson, who recently retired from his position with the Burnsville Police Department, had informed the board at its June 14 workshop that he would be resigning after accepting a job that would take too much time away from his board duties.

The board held a discussion on how to replace Carlson, who has served six-and-a-half years on the board. State law requires the board to appoint a replacement to serve until the next election. Superintendent Craig Menozzi said in checking with the Minnesota School Board Association, he learned the board could either appoint someone outright or accept applications for a replacement.

Board members were unanimously in favor of taking applications, but spent a great deal of time on the details of the process, including a timeline, how many candidates to interview, whether the entire board or a committee should interview the candidates and when to hold the interviews.

In the end, the board decided to allow applications up until July 16. They will hold interviews with up to five candidates during the week of July 26. The goal is to have a board member in place by the August 9 workshop.

Applications are available at the school district office at 410 Central Ave. N in New Prague or at the district's website www.np.k12.mn.us.

Budget approved

The board approved the district's 2010-11 budget. The budget, including all reserved and unreserved funds, includes revenues of $40.3 million and expenditures of $40.4 million. the General fund has revenues of $29.9 million and expenditures of $29.1 million, with an increase of projected fund balance to $1.6 million.

Former finance director Dan Pyan, who left the district in May, was at the meeting to go over details of the budget. He has continued to work with the board in finalizing the budget.

Pyan also recommended, and the board approved, $4.685 million in anticipation borrowing for the 2010-11 school year. The board will borrow the money to help with cash flow during the season, and it will be repaid as the state receives its state funding for the year. Many districts, including New Prague, have used this financing tool to help with cash flow. It has become even more crucial as the state will be delaying more of its state aid payments this year due to budget restrictions.

The board will not hold a workshop session in July, but it will hold its regular meeting two weeks earlier than usual, on Monday, July 12.