Grand Forks School Board will recess until July, but budget work, new member orientation will go on
Jun. 18—GRAND FORKS — With the School Board on summer break for the next three weeks and Grand Forks Public Schools' employees cashing in on any paid time off they can't carry into next academic year, the Mark Sanford Education Center is expected to quiet down considerably for the rest of June.
A few things are still happening at the district level ahead of the School Board's annual meeting on July 8, however.
First off, members of the district's business office will continue working on next academic year's budget.
Those administrators are charged with delivering a preliminary budget for the 2024-25 school year to the new School Board ahead of an August deadline.
"For the business office, this is when the work happens," Business Manager Brandon Baumbach said.
Board members must approve a preliminary budget by Aug. 10, the last day for the school district to submit the 2024-25 budget to the Grand Forks County Auditor.
The board will vote on a final budget in October ahead of a similar deadline.
The business office is also working on closing the books on the current fiscal year's budget, which ends June 30.
Work on the 2023-24 budget may continue until that budget is audited in October, as the district finishes expending federal dollars and pays outstanding bills.
For instance, Baumbach said, the business office could shift some of the bill from the $3.5 million in capital improvements on Benjamin Franklin Elementary School undertaken this year to the district's building fund, in lieu of the ESSER dollars intended to go toward those projects.
"We try to get this fiscal year accounted for, understand it, and then we can finish building the budget for next year and meet those dates as well," he said. "So there's a lot that happens."
School Board members will also have to come in ahead of the July 8 meeting to be sworn into office.
The county canvassing board meets June 24 to confirm the results of the June 11 election. Within the following five days, School Board members must take an oath of office, Baumbach said.
The board's newest member, Jay Kleven, can also expect a new member orientation where he'll meet with Baumbach and Superintendent Terry Brenner and receive an overview of the school district's revenues and expenses and some history of the district's finances, Board President Amber Flynn said.
Brenner wrote in an email to the Herald the new member orientation had not been scheduled yet but would likely take place before July 8.
Kleven is also required by North Dakota Century Code to attend a new member workshop hosted by the North Dakota School Boards Association before the end of his first year in office.
On July 8, the new School Board will assemble for the first time and appoint its president and vice president.
The new board president will then meet with Brenner to assign School Board members to board committees like finance and policy review, based on a survey completed by members.
