INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT 196
Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan Public Schools
Educating our students to reach their full potential
Legislative Advisory Council Meeting
MINUTES
6–7:30 p.m., March 18, 2015
District Office
Present:
I.
Kim Craven, Valerie Dosland, Cindy Ford, Gary Huusko, Gary Krueger (co-chair), Chas
McCready (co-chair), Laura Menk, Jason Nord, Retno Saridewi-Wong, Tony Taschner and
David Unmacht
Recap of Capitol Visit
Co-chair Krueger gave a brief recap of the LAC’s visit to the Capitol on February 3. Led by
Superintendent Jane K. Berenz and Director of Finance and Operations Jeff Solomon, the
delegation made visits to 15 local legislators and education committee chairs.
Early February was good timing in terms of letting legislators get settled in but meeting with
them before things got much busier with committee work. Suggestion for future meetings: have
other (new) citizen members attend; invite members of other district advisory councils to attend.
Another visit this session? Co-chair McCready said it would be worthwhile for a small group of
citizens to make a visit after the break, to reconnect with them after the budget targets have been
set.
Member Dosland suggested inviting local representatives and senators to attend our next regular
meeting. (NOTE: Our next regular meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, May 20, just two days
after the constitutional end date for the 2015 session. The May 20 meeting is rescheduled for
Wednesday, June 3.)
II.
Session Update and Advocacy Alerts
Policy – Member Dosland provided an update on the session just three days prior to the first
policy deadline. The House and Senate both came out with their policy bills. Unlike other years,
she said there is really no need to try to get things removed from the bills. She commented on the
number of similarities (common ground) in the bills and desire to avoid high drama. Both bills
share a goal to reduce the amount of student testing, but have different plans on how to
accomplish that. Both have provisions that address teacher licensure issues. Dosland said an
alternative to LIFO (last in, first out) will be in the policy bill, but the Senate and Governor have
no interest in moving this forward.
Finance – The focus will shift to the finance bills. Dosland said the House is expected to release
its spending target the week of March 23 and the Senate target will probably be released a couple
of days after the House. The Governor’s revised budget proposal was released and overall
spending for E-12 education is nearly $700 million. Dosland said the Senate feels more demands
for money on the formula; the House typically allocates more to the formula. She said the Senate
is also interested in helping districts that do not currently qualify for the alternative facilities
program; they support additional funding for early childhood, but not universal preschool; they
have discussed funding for technology, and want to fully fund concurrent enrollment programs.
On the House side, Dosland said there is support for early learning scholarships, money to the
formula and something for concurrent enrollment.
Regarding communication for the remainder of the session, Communications Director Taschner
said the district will continue to push for additional funding to the formula, as well as other
priorities for technology and facilities funding and will closely follow specific policy and
funding provisions that could impact the district as they move into the next phase of the
committee process. Dosland suggested a simple message, repeated over and over. Co-chair
McCready said to look for the common ground in the House, Senate and Governor’s proposals
and reinforce it.
III.
Facilities Recommendations/Community Survey
Taschner reported that the Strategic Planning Facilities and Equipment Task Force members
presented their final recommendations to the School Board on March 9. The final
recommendations are very similar to the preliminary recommendations that were presented to
focus groups, advisory councils, site councils and parent leader groups throughout the district.
The recommendations are in the areas of safety and security, space for learning, and learning
technology. The total cost of the recommendations is $180 million, with $35 million for safety
and security, $90 million for space and $55 million for technology access and infrastructure
improvements. If the board were to call a bond referendum question for $180 million, the tax
impact would be approximately $12 per month to the owner of the average-value home in the
district, currently $245,000.
The next step in the process is a scientific survey of 400 randomly selected district residents,
which is scheduled to happen the first week in April and be reported at the April 23 School
Board meeting. Taschner shared a draft of the survey and gave members some time to review it.
Based on the results of the survey, the board may decide to move forward with all, none or some
of the facilities and technology improvements recommended by the task force. Following the
survey, the next step in the process would be for the district to prepare a Review and Comment
document for the state. This document would provide additional detail on all of the proposed
improvements and would signal the board’s intent to call a referendum question. Approval of the
actual question language would happen in July and August.
IV.
LAC Membership and Terms of Citizen Members
Taschner presented a proposal to stagger the terms of citizen members on the LAC and increase
the number of citizen members from five to seven. There was support to move forward with the
proposal. Three of the five current citizen members will be selected to have their current terms
extended from ending June 30, 2016 to ending June 30, 2017. The terms of the other two current
members would expire June 30, 2016. In spring 2016, there will be a process to fill those two
expiring positions plus two positions that will be added. Following that process, there will be
seven citizen members on the LAC, three of whose terms will be set to expire in 2017 and the
other four in 2018. Taschner will bring a process to the next meeting to select the three members
whose terms will be extended by one year.
V.
Announcements

Your Attendance is Requested– All LAC members are invited to the School Board meeting on
Monday, April 13, at 6 p.m. at Dakota Ridge School in Apple Valley to represent school district
volunteers in recognition of School Volunteers Appreciation Week in the district. All who attend
will be invited to the podium during the superintendent’s recognition at the start of the meeting.
The superintendent will make some general comments about school volunteers and specific
comments about the LAC. At that point, she will ask everyone to introduce themselves and then
walk in front of the board table to shake hands with the board members and superintendent.

May 20 LAC Meeting Rescheduled to June 3 – As noted in item I., the next regular meeting is
scheduled for Wednesday, May 20, just two days after the constitutional end date for the 2015
session. The May 20 meeting is rescheduled for Wednesday, June 3 to allow additional time
following the session so we can invite local legislators to attend the meeting.
NEXT REGULAR MEETING
6-7:30 p.m., June 3
(rescheduled from May 20)
District Office