News

For the 13^th year in a row, Spring Lake Park Schools has received the Association of School Business Officials (ASBO) International’s Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting award. The most recent award is for the 2018 fiscal year.

The award was given to the district for having met or exceeded high standards for financial reporting and accountability. Less than 10 percent of districts in Minnesota receive this award, which was announced and presented at the September 10 school board meeting.

“I hope this recognition of our district’s commitment to solid financial stewardship instills pride and confidence in what we are doing,” said Superintendent Jeff Ronneberg. “We receive tremendous support from our community and we do not take that support for granted. We are always looking at effectively using the financial resources our district’s residents provide.”

ASBO International is a professional organization of over 5,000 members. The organization provides programs and services to promote the highest standards of school business management practices, professional growth and use of education resources.

Strong financial position
The ASBO award highlights the district’s solid financial condition for the past several years. That strength is projected to continue for the next several years and is supported by continued growth.

While many other metro-area school districts have had to make painful budget cuts, Spring Lake Park has been able to manage effectively using existing resources. In fact, the district has been able to lower class sizes and has some of the lowest class sizes in the metro area. The financial position has also been helpful for attracting and retaining teachers and staff.

Taxpayer support, levy renewals
Community support has been critical to the school district’s overall financial health. Right now, the district is positioned to manage funding challenges with our existing resources — including levy resources — without having to make any reductions.

Of 40 metro districts, 38 have approved higher funding per student through their voter-approved levies than our district. We also have the lowest voter-approved levy amounts of our neighboring districts.

We have also been able to provide some relief to taxpayers over the last nine years. In that time, the school board has approved bond refinancing that lowered the school portion of property taxes for district residents. The total property tax savings from refinancing is about $120 per year for the owners of a $250,000 home, a total savings for district taxpayers of more than $13 million.

“As district voters are asked this fall to consider renewing two existing levies that fund essential programs and technologies, I hope they will take time to understand what we have been able to do in the district to manage these resources,” said Jeff. “The renewals do not increase funding for our schools and they do not increase taxes for district residents. We plan to continue to manage these resources responsibility and are in position to do so for several years.”

For more information about the 2019 Levy renewals, visit the Spring Lake Park Schools’ website.