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The Chisago Lakes School Board finished up some important business on their last day before Christmas break on Thursday, December 21.

During the annual Truth-in-Taxation hearing, the 2024 preliminary proposed levy for the Chisago Lakes School District was revealed and will be ticking up just over two percent from $11,118,918 in 2023 to $11,353,474 which is a total change of $234,556. Both the Community Service Fund Levy and Debt Service Fund Levy were reduced but the general fund levy went up nearly six percent.

The board also received the 2022-23 audit from Justin Nilson of Abdo. Nilson saw no issues throughout the audit, saying the district was “pretty consistent” in their numbers. Board member Jeff Lindeman pointed out with the exception of community ed, the district spends considerably less than the state average per pupil, including $1,681 less in general fund expenditures and $198 less in food service fund expenditures. Chisago Lakes does spend $142 more than the state average in community education. Lindeman followed up by asking the auditor why the district spends less on pupils but has only about half the fund balance as the statewide average.

“I would say there is a decent degree of the metro included in some of those numbers which raises the numbers, but on a percentile basis, the school district is conservative in its spending,” Nilson said. 

Longtime board member Brenda Carlson added that the fund balance has always been kept a bit lower than the state average because past boards have believed in a balance that keeps funds in the schools and used for the students and not always sitting in the coffers. They’ve tried to keep dollars within the classroom while still keeping a healthy enough amount in funds without straining any specific budgets, she said.

“I was looking forward to tonight, and I heard something that stuck with me. I hear about transparency a lot, and it’s the difference between an army of one and an army of many,” Board member Josh Soderlund said. “Transparency always has a negative connotation of people doing something wrong and we are in such a distrusting and cynical world. I was looking forward to this meeting as arming our community with information so they can join us and be on our team. We look at the finances and see numbers and we need to solve things together. It’s times like this presentation that are going to get us as a community going in the same direction.”

Superintendent Brian Dietz addressed the district’s plan in a general sense after the failed voter questions in November. He noted there have been a couple of leaks in the roof at the swimming pool and the district is fixing them up as best they can, but going forward the district will start to look at next steps.  “We’re going to do a comprehensive facility assessment and pick apart who we are, and get some experts to let us know what we are looking like and give us some direction moving forward,” Dietz explained. “We’re going to put some groups together and figure out really what the needs are moving forward and have another look at this and see how we can fund those pieces.”

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