December 11, 2023 at 5:30 PM - Regular Meeting

Description:  The Board Development agenda item is meant to provide the Board with the opportunity to discuss Board Operations.  For the December 11, 2023 meeting, the items that will be discussed include:

• Discuss Student and Staff Listening Sessions that will be conducted in January/February

Description:  Review and consider the open meeting minutes for the 11/13/23.

Description:  A motion will be necessary to approve the agenda as presented (or) with changes as recommended.

Description:  Individuals may use this time to comment on any school district related items. A copy of Board Policy 187 -- Public Participation at Board Meetings is enclosed for your reference. Individuals making a public comment should include their name, address and relationship with the school district.  Each individual will be allowed 3 minutes to comment.  The Board will allow 30 minutes for public comments.

Description:  Victoria Raemisch and Kendall Haviland will give the students report. 

Description:  Members of the WTA will give a teaching staff update

Description:  This section is reserved for any comments from members of the board on meetings they attended or other informational items.

Description:  Attached is the Notice of the April 2024 School Board Election.  Ted Frey (Town of Wesport/City of Madison), and Mark Hetzel (Town of Vienna) seats are on the ballot this spring. 

Description:  Attached is the Notification of Non-Candidacy should an incumbent choose not to run for reelection this spring.  The deadline for an incumbent to file the non-candidacy form is December 22, 2023 at 5:00 p.m.

Description:  State accountability report cards will be reviewed including a comparison with Dane County and our benchmark districts.  The attachments include the slide deck that will be presented during the meeting and the report cards for the district and each school.  Key takeaways and connection to our achievement goal are noted in the slide deck.

Description:  The 2022-2023 Student Achievement Report will be reviewed.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to discuss the topic of 2024 bond proceeds management. Regarding the November 2022 referendum, the school board has approved borrowings for $9.9 million and $99 million of the $175 million approved by the voters. There are different federal requirements that apply to each of the above borrowings. This discussion will focus on the $99 million bond issue. Attached please find documentation on this topic from our financial advisor PMA.

The attached document estimates interest earnings of $5 million from the investments related to the $99 million bond issue. The district, working with our financial partners (PMA and OCB), has successfully invested the funds since January of 2023 to maximize interest earnings. The budget committee made a recommendation to the board in February 2023 regarding our investment strategy. 

Our interest earnings could exceed what is allowed by the IRS. The IRS requires specific spending targets in order to retain all interest earnings when said earnings exceed the rate of borrowing for the bond issue. In our case, the estimated interest earned is $5 million and the estimated maximum allowed is $3.6 million, unless the spending targets have been met. The spending targets are as follows for the $99 million bond issue:
25% by August 1, 2023 (have met this requirement)
50% by February 1, 2024 (on track to meet this requirement)
75% by August 1, 2024 (behind schedule to meet this requirement)
100% by February 1, 2025 (behind schedule to meet this requirement)
We are seeking board member feedback on 3 potential paths for planning in 2024:
1) Seek lower rate of return investments to reduce overall interest earnings. (Ex: tax-free municipal bonds)
2) Continue current investment plan and spending plan with the understanding we will not meet the 75% and 100% spend down requirements and will need to return $1.4 million in interest earnings to the IRS. 
3) Continue current investment plan and accelerate our spending plan with a goal of meeting the 75% and 100% spend down requirements. If this approach is preferred, administration will need to present capital maintenance expenditures of a significantly larger scale over the next couple of months. We will also have to work with Vogel Bros. to seek opportunities to lock in costs for middle school supplies, materials, equipment, etc. 
The facility committee is recommending moving forward with option 3.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to provide an update on capital projects, and request consideration of additional capital projects for HVAC and districtwide maintenance.

Attached please find our budget tracking document for capital projects. Please note that this document has been updated to reflect the October School Board meeting capital projects approvals, and the GMP savings for Heritage Elementary School. Administration will review this budget tracking document before reviewing the potential additional capital projects. 

The facility committee is recommending approval of the NAMI HVAC proposal (option 1) and the highlighted projects on the attached facility committee consideration document. Both motions passed 3-0. 

Description:  Attached please find the summary spreadsheet for the policies that will be reviewed at the meeting.  These policies have been reviewed by the administration and the policy committee chair prior to movement to the committee for consideration.  The recommendations related to the policies on the agenda for Monday's Board Meeting have been forwarded to the Board for consideration by the Committee on a 3-0 vote.

Description:   The purpose of this agenda item is to review the federal energy efficiency programs that are available in 2024. Attached please find information on both the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (179D) and the Inflation Reduction Act from August 2022 (Direct Pay). 

Our total utility spending in the last 3 years is as follows:
2020-2021: $1,042,198.91
2021-2022: $1,278,471.00
2022-2023: $1,309,499.15
Total utility spend is a function of several factors including weather, cost of the energy, and amount of usage. A good comparison to make is our utility expenditures compared to similar organizations. We can make this comparison through Frontline Comparative Analytics. Our overall educational expenses are the 3rd lowest among comparable Dane County districts. However, our utility expenditures rank 4th highest when compared to those same districts. Please see the attachment.

Utility expenditures will improve in 24-25 because of the replacement of the Heritage complex with a new energy efficient Heritage Elementary. Annual savings are estimated to be $30,000 to $40,000. Our largest expenditure in the utility category is electrical costs. Outside of specific targeted projects, the district has not invested in modern energy efficient lighting throughout our older facilities. 

Attached please find initial proposals from Westphal on updating the lighting at Prairie Elementary and the High School to modern lighting systems.  We will also need proposals for the Middle School and Arboretum. 

Energy efficiency projects will have multiple benefits in 2024:
1) Reducing utility expenditures in fund 10
2) Improved classroom lighting throughout all 4 older facilities
3) Opportunity to pursue both state and federal energy efficiency incentives
4) Environmental impact of reduced energy usage

Administration is not requesting approval of these projects at the December meeting. If there is interest by the board, administration will vet these projects out for compliance with applicable state and federal incentive programs prior to seeking approval. Administration requested feedback from the budget committee on the professional partnerships necessary for this work (legal and accounting).

In addition to energy efficient lighting projects, other projects like solar systems, HVAC systems, and EV charging systems are also eligible for these federal incentive programs. The new Heritage Elementary design includes a geothermal system, a solar system, and EV charging stations for both district and staff/public use. Administration will also be pursuing all available federal incentives for our energy efficiency efforts at the new Heritage Elementary school. 

Regarding EV charging stations, the district will need to have a policy regarding our approach to electric vehicles not belonging to the district (staff, visitors, general community use). We will be seeking board member feedback regarding the best approach to create a district policy for these EV charging stations. 

No action is requested on this agenda item. 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to review natural gas purchasing. Attached please find documents from Symmetry. The district purchases natural gas directly from Symmetry instead of purchasing through our local utility provider MGE. Our symmetry rep, Dan Navin, was in attendance at the budget committee meeting. Natural gas rates are lower than in recent years and we have the opportunity to lock in rates for a portion of our natural gas purchases for 2024. Dan reviewed options with the committee. Administration requested committee feedback on how to proceed. A decision would be necessary at the December 11 board meeting in order to lock in natural gas purchases for January 2024. The Budget Committee is recommending approval of locking in 50 percent of the district's natural gas purchase for the January 1st - March 31st time frame. Motion passed 3-0. 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request approval of a School Perceptions community survey on the topic of operational referendums/long-term financial planning. Attached please find a proposal from School Perceptions. 

At the board retreat this past summer, we discussed the concept of a School Perceptions community survey to receive feedback on a variety of financial planning topics. Administration would recommend a survey to be released prior to spring break with a draft presented to the budget committee/school board in early February. The budget committee is recommending approval 3-0.

Description:  The purpose of this discussion is to request approval of the proposal from our audit firm Wipfli for a five-year agreement. Please see the proposal attached. 

The school auditing environment is challenging. Fewer accounting firms are conducting public school audits. The last two audit firms for our district, prior to Wipfli, left the public school auditing field. Administration would like to secure the services of an audit firm for a longer time frame. Wipfli stepped in when our previous audit firm declined to continue school auditing. The audit proposal for 2023-24 has a base price of $24,000 which can be compared to a base price of approximately $20,000 for 2022-23. The budget committee is recommending approval on a 3-0 motion. 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request approval of the proposals for accounting and legal services associated with federal energy efficiency programs. Please the attached proposal from Wipfli for the accounting services. 

The district needs to secure both accounting and legal services in order to pursue the federal energy efficiency programs referenced earlier in the agenda. Our auditing firm, Wipfli, has a department dedicated towards this work. We have also discussed the legal services with a Madison based attorney, Michael Allen, from McCauley Lyman LLC. Michael's rates are $382.50/hr and $162.50/hr for paralegal work. The majority of the work is accounting based, but legal assistance would be required for contracts. Administration is recommending approval of these partnerships. The budget committee is recommending approval 3-0.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request approval of the proposals from Traffic Analysis Design Inc. Attached please find the proposals. One proposal covers the new schools ($49,776) and one proposal covers all of the existing schools ($37,095).

Administration shared a presentation regarding transportation at the November board meeting. One of the topics from the presentation was hazardous transportation areas. An initial proposal for traffic studies was shared with the board in November. Administration requested a revised proposal based on the discussion that took place in November. Administration is requesting approval of the proposals. The traffic study is expected to take 3-4 months to complete. Administration intends to fund the new school proposal out of referendum funds and the existing schools proposal out of the general fund. The budget committee is recommending approval 3-0.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to review our contract with Lamers. Our seven-year contract with Lamers expires at the conclusion of the 2024 summer school session. We need to make a decision to either extend the existing contract or seek proposals in early 2024. 

Administration is recommending consideration of a three-year contract extension for the 2024-25 to 2026-27 school years. The district will be opening two new school buildings during this period of time. In addition, the district may be conducting a traffic study and considering other policy changes. A full request for proposal process would be less challenging after we get through the opening of the two new schools. The Budget Committee is requesting additional information on this topic, and will continue the discussion at the January 2024 meeting. 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to request approval of the 2022-23 audit report. Please recall this is the third year of receiving an audit report from Wipfli.

Attached please find the final audit report as well as the required School Board Communication report. Please note the school board communication report does not identify any concerns from the audit firm. There is no recommendation from the Budget Committee on this topic. 

Description:  Attached in the "extras" section of BoardBook, please find a list of the accounts payable payments issued during the month of November 2023. Please feel free to reach out to Allie Dye at alexandradye@waunakee.k12.wi.us if you have any questions.

Description:  Attached you will find the Budget Status report as of November 30, 2023 and the Cash Reconciliation report for October 2023.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to review the district census report. The 2023-24 district census process has been completed. The census was completed by utilizing existing student data from the Infinite Campus database, and an online data collection process. The information from the online data collection process is then entered into the student records database by attendance area to create a census report by elementary building. Please see the attachment that includes the census numbers by attendance area and changes in census numbers between years. The following are some observations about the information that is attached:

1. The census report indicates 4 sections of kindergarten at Arboretum, 5 sections at Prairie and 5 sections at Heritage. The census report has identified 260 potential 24-25 K students, compared to 288 the year prior. 
2. The elementary attendance boundaries are holding to capacity in each attendance area, with Heritage and Prairie having a similar number of K resident students. 
3. We will need to monitor the 24-25 4K open enrollment students as the families determine what school district the students will attend for kindergarten.

Please contact Allie Dye if you have any questions about the attached information. 

Description:  Due to the size of this document, it has been placed in the extras section and not for public viewing due to confidential information.

Description:  Please make sure you have notified Rebecca by the end of the 12/11/23 meeting if you plan to attend the convention and if there are any special pre-conference workshops or meals you wish to attend. 

Thank you.