Dickinson reacts to criticism of levy, financial situation

Steve Dickinson, director of business services for the Brainerd School District, responded at Monday's school board meeting to recent criticism of the district's financial situation and questions about whether the district has proven itself worthy of passage of an operating levy referendum this November.

Recently, a few open forum writers in the Brainerd Dispatch have questioned how the district could find itself suddenly in financial crisis and have insinuated that the district's finances may have been mismanaged by administration.

Dickinson showed a list of about 15 headlines of news stories in the Brainerd Dispatch dating back to 2003 that he compiled related to district budget cuts, talks of school closures and other ways the district has discussed dealing with its budget crises. He said he just took a sampling of the headlines of stories that related to the district's ongoing financial situation.

"Not to be defensive, but this has been a long road we've gone through," Dickinson said.

Dickinson said he felt he needed to address these criticisms publicly and he said he has submitted a letter to the Dispatch.

While one letter writer raised the question that the school district needs to be audited by an outside source, Dickinson said the district undergoes a thorough audit each year and has been audited by the LarsenAllen firm for more than 15 years.

Board member Ruth Gmeinder told Dickinson that perception is reality, that when people read these letters in the newspaper, regardless of the truth, that others tend to believe them. She said Dickinson should respond but not feel he appears defensive in the process.

Board chair Kent Montgomery said anyone who wants to learn more about the school district's financial situation should contact district administration.

In board action, the board approved the proposed 2008 levy at the maximum so that state adjustments or corrections, if any, will be included in the proposed property tax statements. Since Thursday's finance committee meeting, the state Department of Education released its levy limitations reports so the proposed levy figures have decreased since last week, said Dickinson.

If the operating levy referendum Nov. 6 fails, the proposed 2008 levy would be $13.07 million, a 5.8 percent decrease from last year, or a $808,000 decrease. If the operating levy referendum passes, the proposed 2008 levy would be $18.7 million, or a 34.7 percent increase, a $4.81 million difference.

Assistant school Superintendent Steve Razidlo and curriculum staff gave a presentation on the recently released MCA-II test results.

They will be discussing the issue in depth at the Oct. 26 curriculum committee meeting, including the ways that the district is attempting to reach out to students who aren't meeting adequate yearly progress on these state assessment tests and raise overall test scores.

The board hired the following new certified employees: Laura Amundsom, occupational therapist, Paul Bunyan Co-op; Sarah Munsterteiger, speech/language clinician, Paul Bunyan Co-op; and Kasey Odden, Lowell fourth-grade teacher.

JODIE TWEED may be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.