This week in meetings part 1)

Wed 5pm: Business Services Committee meeting. Items of note:

V) Energy Performance contract with McKinstry. Once more into the breach.

VI) 2009-10 budget update and preliminary budget proposal: This will be the first detailed look at the proposed budget reductions for next year. This is a discussion only, nothing will be approved

VII) Approval of district transportation bids: Bus service (currently provided by Badger Bus) is run with 5 year contracts. The current contract ends this year and we have solicited bids for the next 5 years. We will also make a recommendation concerning continued district operation of routes in Cottage Grove or if those should also be contracted.

VIII) School start and end times: To reduce transportation costs we will discuss a proposal to adjust the bell times for the CG 5th graders.

IX) Walk Zones: Change the 5th grade walk zones to match the 6th grade walk zones district wide. Currently siblings in the same building might be in the situation where the 5th grader is bused while the 6th grader walks.

Coming up...

The September Business services meeting will be held tomorrow (Monday not Wednesday!)

The biggest items on the agenda will relate to the transportation issues in Cottage Grove, where an unexpectedly large enrollment (especially 4k) and various issues related to the new schedules have created needs to be resolved.

We will also be discussing a proposed administrative review of our facility usage fees which haven't been updated since 2003. The fees are set to cover the direct costs to the district resulting from the use of these facilities.

The 2008-2009 original budget will be presented for approval.