Friday Board Bulletin 2/3/2023

Posted Date: 02/03/2023

Board Members:

I hope you all are staying warm today! Tomorrow and the weekend look to be much better! This week was busy with both conference and AEA superintendent meetings. We are spending time on our conference by-laws in an effort to both update the document and to make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to conference governance. That has not been the case in the recent past. 

In the legislature this week there was movement on SSA. We anticipate this will be settled next week at 3%. If they end up settling it at 3% it will be the highest it has been in 14 years. I am also monitoring SF 181, which was passed out of the Senate. It's a bit complicated, but basically there was an error created in a prior piece of legislation that had to do with assessments and valuations (you probably have seen some media coverage on this). It has the potential to impact our tax rates. Because this hasn't been resolved yet, they are trying to get the budget certification pushed back to April 30th so we can make the appropriate adjustments. I'm still aiming for a March 22 target, but we may have to flex. This needs to be fixed, and the sooner the better. I'm also keeping my eye on HF 5, which is the transparency bill first introduced last year. There is a lot in here, but essentially it makes provisions for parents to be able to review instructional materials. The definition of instructional materials is key, and as written it appears to be manageable. There is also a provision on library book reviews and a required civics test as part of government class. 

Those bills mentioned here should not be considered all inclusive of those that I am currently watching right now. The fact is, there are a lot, and many of them are just bad pieces of legislation. But, to list them all off here for you would be, well a lot for you to read! 

Have a great weekend!

Dr. Tony Voss
Superintendent