The La Crescent-Hokah Board of Education certified its proposed tax levy for the 2010 calendar year at its monthly meeting Sept. 16, 14 days before the deadline to do so.

District business manager Julie Holman presented numbers to the board and recommended certifying the maximum amount, which isn’t unusual. The actual total could go down between now and December, when the board accepts the final figure, but it cannot go up if a lesser amount is certified.

The total levy certified is $2,362,572, which represents a 4.9 percent increase over last year’s levy.

"The number could change a little bit," Holman said.

The increase lies entirely in OPEB bonding liability. Otherwise, all other areas of the levy decreased, Holman said.

The board will review the budget and finalize the levy at its regular Dec. 16 meeting.

Alternative school name change

With little discussion, the board voted unanimously to change the name of Bluff Country Learning Options, the district’s alternative learning center, to Bluff Country Learning Center.

Principal Ben Barton, who also oversees the alternative school, said over the years, Bluff Country Learning Options has morphed into simply the acronym BCLO, and the school is looking to move away from it.

"We truly are an area learning center. We would like to change our name to the Bluff Country Learning Center versus the Bluff Country Learning Options," Barton said, "and we’d like to move away from the BCLO to the BCLC.

"You’ll likely hear us call it Bluff Country," he added.

No bus route change

After conversations with Ready Bus Line owner Tom Ready in an attempt to make a bus route reduction, Holman said it was decided that cutting a route wasn’t possible, based on the number of students who still need transportation throughout the area.

As a concession, Ready proposed that he’d forgo the current-year 2 percent price increase if the busing contract is extended out another year, Holman said. That option is still under discussion, as Holman has requested updated pricing structure from Ready. The original contract expires June 30, 2010, and if extended, it would be good through June 30, 2011. The 2 percent increase would be in effect in that extended year.

Board member Bryan Tornow asked whether further extensions could be made, but board member Kay Snuggerud said she was wary of being tied to a more lengthy contract, not knowing the state’s financial situation that far out.

The issue will be discussed further by the district’s finance committee.

Beginning year enrollment

Holman reported that opening district enrollment reached 1,317 students: 474 in the elementary school, 306 in the middle school, 514 in the high school and 23 in Bluff Country Learning Center.

Holman said that’s a decline but almost exactly where the district predicted it would be to begin the year.

Community Education director

Superintendent Ron Wilke said he has looked at finances to see what the budget would allow for a replacement for Chuck Ericksen, who left as director of the program this year. He said it’s likely the district will move toward some type of part-time position.

Wilke has collected job descriptions from other community education programs in the area and wants to meet with secretarial staff to get a handle on the needs. He hopes to bring the board a position proposal at next month’s meeting.