Wellman

The Mid-Prairie school board heard from two FFA officers, Averi Janecek and Layken Lee, during Hawk Highlights.

Janecek and Lee explained to the board what the chapter was involved in over the summer, including the Iowa State Fair, Washington County Fair, Johnson County Fair, parades, movie nights, cookouts and much more.

Throughout the summer, members competed and exhibited in several areas, including sheep, swine, breeding beef, performance beef, ag mechanics, floriculture, farm crops and photography.

The chapter saw success in several of those areas, including swine, floriculture, meat goats and farm crops.

Janecek explained to the board how the FFA officer team prepared for the year before beginning its summer activities.

“We met and came up with our goals for the year, chose what we wanted our words for the year to be and wrote down what we wanted the year to look like. It was just really fun.”

The group also continued a new tradition that began last year, with Lee explaining how the summer movie night helps welcome incoming members.

“We had a summer movie night for incoming and current members. We had a trailer with some couches, a wheelchair, pool floaties and lawn chairs. We popped some popcorn, had water and snacks and just welcomed the new members for a fun night.”

While speaking to the board about the chapter’s busy summer, FFA Advisor Elsa Schmidt said members have plenty more planned, including the Washington County 5th-Grade Farm Safety Day Camp, a second-grade visit arranged by an FFA officer, a pop tab collection, roadside cleanup and much more.

Schmidt told the board the chapter has something going on pretty much every day.

“These are things that we have coming up in the next month and a half. Averi has been updating the calendar in my room. She’s one of my TAs right now, and it seems like we have something going on pretty much every day.”

During the Iowa State Fair, Schmidt said 22 members participated in events including swine, breeding beef, performance beef, ag mechanics, floriculture, farm crops and photography.

In addition, Janecek served as the Washington County Beef Queen and Washington County Fair Princess.

The Mid-Prairie FFA continues to grow, with approximately 69 members, including 28 freshmen.

Special education deficit resolution

During the meeting, the board discussed a resolution requesting $35,000 in allowable growth for the district’s special education deficit. School board secretary Jeff Swartzentruber explained to the board that the final deficit is expected to be $34,989, compared with $382,800 last year.

Swartzentruber said the district has accumulated nearly $3 million in special education deficits over the past 12 years while using the cash reserve levy for only about $150,000 during that period. Despite those deficits, he said the district remains financially strong.

“Most districts would be in the negative by more than that,” Swartzentruber said.

A board member also asked Swartzentruber why the district has maintained its unspent authorized balance percentage above the recommended level.

“It hasn't necessarily been that we prefer to do that. It's been a matter of trying to be as fiscally conservative and responsible as we can be,” Swartzentruber said.

He also explained why he considers the district’s unspent balance to be more important than its cash balance.

“Everybody has heard me say it: Cash is king, but unspent balance trumps cash.”

Swartzentruber also discussed the district’s fund balance and said he is more comfortable when the unspent balance and cash figures are closer together.

“Our fund balance is $5.7 million, so we have about a $1.3 million gap between our unspent balance and cash. Some people say that’s great, but that just means we could go $1.3 million into debt if we chose to do that. By lowering it from 43% to 35%, those numbers come closer together, and as an accountant, I’m much more comfortable with those numbers being closer together.”

After hearing the information, the board unanimously approved the $35,000 resolution for the special education deficit.

IASB delegate

With the IASB convention coming up, the board needed to appoint a delegate. Although absent from the meeting, board member Ryan Schlabaugh had previously volunteered for the position. The board unanimously approved his appointment as the IASB convention delegate.

Other business

The board approved the FFA’s trip to the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, from October 21-24.

The board also approved the Madrigal Choir’s trip to Augustana College from October 11-12.

The board was presented with an engagement letter from Ahlers & Cooney regarding the bond election this November. The firm had already worked with the district on the petition process, but the board needed to approve the engagement letter to continue working with the firm as the bond process moves forward. The board approved the engagement letter.

Next meeting

The next Mid-Prairie school board meeting will take place Monday, September 28, at 6:15 p.m. in the Central Office community room.