Nodaway Valley board reviews proposed calendar, certified budget

Nodaway Valley Superintendent Paul Croghan said Wednesday, March 8 during the regular school board meeting in the high school media center that if there was one more snow day, the district would have to continue classes after Memorial Day. The following day, weather conditions warranted a snow day. Such are the challenges of living in Iowa.

The school board heard about those challenges as they relate to creating next year’s school calendar during that meeting.

The board was presented the proposed 2023-24 school calendar. It will be up for approval in a public hearing process during the Wednesday, April 12 meeting in Fontanelle. Board members noted it is very similar to this school year’s calendar.

Also up for approval will be the certified budget. It was also presented to board members during last Wednesday’s meeting.

Calendar

Croghan said that the calendar was shown to district staff for their input before it was brought to the board. On some parts of it, staff decidedly weighed in. On other areas, they were split in their responses so administrators made final calls.

A few highlights of the proposed 2023-24 calendar are:

• First day for students is Wednesday, Aug. 23, last day is Friday, May 24

• two-hour early dismissals each Wednesday for professional development

• 190 days and 1,080 hours

• leeway of 9.5 hours or 1.5 days before time has to be made up

• Wednesday, Nov. 22-Friday, Nov. 24 off from classes for Thanksgiving

• Friday, Dec. 22 is first day of winter break, back to classes Wednesday, Jan. 4

• Parent-teacher conferences, followed by spring break (out Thursday, March 14 through Wednesday, March 20) then Good Friday off (Friday, March 29)

Budget

The certified budget informs the public of actual revenues and expenditures for fiscal year 2022; re-estimated revenues and expenditures for FY 2023 and estimated revenues and expenditures for FY 2024. Through it, the district certifies estimated expenditures for FY 2024 and the property tax rate for FY 2024.

As expected, Croghan stated that the impact of the voter-approved Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL) that voters passed last week will be less than the $1.34 per $1,000 assessed valuation ask. Instead, the impact will be about 46 cents, the district said. The proposed tax rate for the district is 13.59723, an increase from 13.01859 in FY 2023 and 13.40449 in FY 2022.

This proposed tax rate falls very much in line with the district’s property tax history over the last six years.