Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Many challenges make it hard for everyday residents to make sense of the details.
(Editor's note: This article is part of three-part package. Click here to examine the debate over Hopkins’ financial situation. Click here to learn why Hopkins got into financial trouble several years ago.) *** School finance is not the easiest of subjects to understand—and there are no shortage of reasons why. Some of it is because Hopkins Public Schools buries significant chunks of information deep in its website. The “Budget 2012-13” section and district press releases contains basic details about the proposal for the upcoming school year. But taxpayers who want to fully understand the issues must search further. The section titled “CFAC”—that’s Citizens Financial Advisory Committee for those not in the know—contains the dire forecasts …
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Hopkins Public Schools Independent School District 270
1001 Highway 7, Hopkins, MN
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Missteps led to deficits that officials say aren’t likely to happen again.
(Editor’s Note: This article is part of three-part package. Click here to examine the debate over Hopkins’ financial situation. Click here to read about the challenges that make education finance hard to understand.) *** Hopkins would arguably face less pessimism about the district’s financial future if eight years ago it had not dropped into “statutory operating debt,” a legal term for when districts go in the hole by more than 2.5 percent in a single year. So what caused that to happen the first time? John Toop, the district’s director of business services, said the School Board and administrators at the time—which did not include Toop or Superintendent John Schultz—made some inadvisable decisions. First, they waived the fund balance …
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Hopkins Public Schools Independent School District 270
1001 Highway 7, Hopkins, MN
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The district found money for new programs this year despite some grim forecasts. What gives?
(Editor’s Note: This article is part of three-part package. Click here to learn why Hopkins got into financial trouble several years ago. Click here to read about the challenges that make education finance hard to understand.) *** When Hopkins School Board directors examined the district’s financial future in January, an advisory committee presented them with grim graphs whose lines sloped ominously downward. The forecast showed the district’s savings sliding below a financial advisory committee’s recommendation, beneath the level required by district policy and on into negative territory. The report echoed another presented a year earlier, and it backed up a warning from the district’s director of business services that Hopkins faces a “…
44.933188
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Hopkins Public Schools Independent School District 270
1001 Highway 7, Hopkins, MN
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/locations/6837320
Friday, December 16, 2011
Board members signed off on a $42.4 million levy Thursday.
The School Board on Thursday gave its final approval to a 5.25 percent levy increase for taxes payable in 2012—confirming a total the district announced last month. The increase raises the total levy to $42.4 million. About $1.6 million, or three-quarters, of the $2.1 million increase comes from alternative facility bonds the district issued in the spring. The school district sold $29.4 million worth of bonds in March after the Minnesota Department of Education gave the district's 10-year capital facilities plan a positive review. The money is paying for major projects in 2011 and 2012 at North Junior High, Gatewood Elementary, Hopkins High School and other facilities. The percentage increase is also higher because this year Hopkins had $…
James Warden
7:18 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
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