GFW Board review operating levy vote

by Doug Hanson
The GFW School Board helds it regular monthly meeting on October 15th. Chief Financial Officer Lindsey Heine explained the upcoming levy on November 7th.
Heine pointed out that this vote is for an operating referendum, not a building referendum. She stated that going from two sites to one site will allow the school district to reduce expenses and thus lower property taxes.
Operating levies are use for the cost of educating the students. So that is staffing, supplies, overhead, etc.
So the referendum is to revoke the existing operating levy of $1,406.30 per pupil and replace it with a lower new operating levy of $992.40.
Since the second part of this question is to replace the levy, that means the District is adding taxes and the State requires the statement that “voting yes mean you are voting for a tax increase”.
But taking both the revoking the higher levy and adding a lower levy, the end result is the taxes will be less.
Heine also stated that this levy is on the home, garage and one acre of land.
During principal reports, Jennifer Thompson reported that the football players come to the elementary for lunch on Fridays and the students are enjoying this interaction. Also that representatives from Amplify, the Districts new reading curriculum would be at school to help teachers with any questions.
Erin Jacobson reported students at the high school had the opportunities to attend a conference to learn about 80 different colleges in one stop. Also students could go to Ridgewater to talk about education options and a variety of careers that were available.
A donation of $50 to the band department from Charlotte Hoffmann was approved.
The  board meeting was then closed for two different sessions. The first on legal issues concerning the Fairfax School building and the second about labor negotiation.