Looming issues fuel Farmington School Board meeting schedule changes
Budget, goals among work session topics
by Laura Adelmann
Thisweek Newspapers
To allow more in-depth discussion of looming issues, the Farmington School Board will modify its meeting schedule beginning Feb. 27.
The Board will continue to hold its business meeting at 6:30 on the first Monday of the month, but on the fourth Monday, meetings will begin at 5:30 p.m. in a work session.
Both meetings will continue to be held at Little Theatre at Boeckman Middle School at 800 Denmark Avenue, broadcast live and replayed on cable television and online.
The first topic that will be addressed in the work sessions is the budget, Farmington Schools Superintendent Jay Haugen said Tuesday.
He said the district needs to cut $1.4 million from the budget, noting it will have spent the last $800,000 of stimulus funding received two years ago.
Haugen said the district will no longer be able to use capital dollars to fund technology personnel salaries.
“It leaves us no money to purchase technology,” Haugen said, adding that he will not recommend asking voters for a levy referendum.
“We’re not talking about or even thinking about a levy now,” Haugen said.
Board Chair Tera Lee said she anticipates budget cuts will be a necessary topic of the work sessions.
The board will also likely discuss facilities projects, strategic plans, board goals and a survey the district plans to send to staff and the community in March.
“We are going through change,” Haugen said. “We have a lot of big things and opportunity in front of us…we have to have time to work through the issues.”
Laura Adelmann is at laura.adelmann@ecm-inc.com.
