Mt. Vernon Board of School Trustees

Mrs. Bond shared the following Good News:

1.  MV celebrated Drop Everything and Read (D.E.A.R.) Day with dedicated reading minutes in every school on April 12th to celebrate the birthday of Beverly Cleary, a beloved children's author.

2.  MVCSC's Food Service Department collected 3,800 lbs. of non-perishable food items and donated them to the Fortville Area Resourse Mission (FARM), which was a value of $6,346.

3.  FES students celebrated "Purple Up for Military Kids" to honor our military families.

4.  At the annual MVEF Gala, Doris Johnson, Food Service Director, was named District Staff of the Year and Lynette Huth, MVHS Science Teacher was named District Teacher of the Year.  Also, Lorraine Ewing (Class of 1969) and Linda Garrity (Class of 1973) received MVEF's Distinguished Alumni Award.

5.  The Vernon Township Fire Department honored Dr. Parker with the Vernon Township Fire Department Challenge Coin.  These coins are given in appreciation to recognize personnel for special achievements and to signify affiliation and support for one another.

Dr. Parker announced  Mt. Vernon's Food Service Department was recently honored by the  Indiana Department of Education Office of School & Community Nutrition for providing nutritious and award-winning meals to students.  Only 44 schools in the state of Indiana received this honor. He presented Food Service  Director Doris Johnson and Assistant Food Service Director Kasey Voeller with a framed Golden Apple Certificate and thanked them for their amazing work this school year noting the pandemic shined a light on the strength of our Food Service Department.

Mrs. Alissa Lockwood, principal at Mt. Comfort Elementary, made a presentation spotlighting her school, focusing on celebrations.  The kindergarten team held a 100th Day of school in person celebration and PLC celebration, celebrating 98% of their  students were proficient in Math EL#3 (comparison) at the end of the post post assessment.  The 1st Grade Team held a 120th Day Celebration with 120 days of learning.  They also celebrated TBRI Vocabulary  "Gentle and Kind" and "With Respect" by sharing ways to show respect at school, home and to others.  They also made promises to be gentle and kind with their actions, words and thoughts.  The 2nd Grade Team celebrated the 102nd day of school, held a Idiom  Parade and celebrated Reading EL#5 (plot). The 3rd grade team celebrated their hard work on their IREAD-3  test.  86% passed the first time, with retakes to be held in June.  They also met their PLC goal for Area and Perimeter EL#5 with a growth from 3% to 70% passing the post test.  The 4th Grade Team celebrated finishing the PLC cycle over adding and subtracting mixed numbers by increasing from a 4% proficiency rate to 85%.  The 5th Grade Team celebrated their first room transformation day, Donut Shop, the grand finale to studying fractions and mixed numbers.  They will be participating in a virtual simulation of BizTown in a few weeks.  Other celebrations included increasing from 48% proficiency in Reading EL#5 (analyzing multiple texts) to 81%.  Special Area Celebrations included Tournament of Books and completion of Project Lead the Way Modules for students in STEM.  MCE recently wrapped up One School One Book where all staff and students read the same book, which this year was Wish.

Mike Raters, Interim Principal at Mt. Vernon Middle School, introduced four students to help him with his presentation.   William Smith highlighted academics.  Emma Branson talked about arts and activities  pointing out the many opportunities for in-school and  extra-curricular activities offered at the middle that help students learn life  and  social skills.  They include band, choir, dance team, robotics club, drama and  theater, kitchen table homework club, newspaper, year book and student council.   Damarion Johnson hit on athletics stating their are 10 sports for girls and 10 for boys offered with the goal to represent Mt. Vernon with pride.  Kayleigh Moran ended with the middle school's motto,  T.S.I.E ("The Secret is Effort"), along with other "E's":  empathy, engagement, excitement, excellence, enthusiasm and extracurriculars. 

Mr. Shipley presented a report on Kindergarten Roundup, which was held recently at all three elementary buildings.  This year a total of 252 students registered (96 at FES; 63 at MCE; and 93 at MES).  He anticipates a 23% increase in numbers from the spring to fall ADM.

Mr. Elkins presented an Operations Fund Review.  He began by reaffirming several points made previously.  The Operations Fund budget (current finances, future finances and our growth plans) is not a new story, it is an old story.  The story actually began in 2010.  Decisions made in the past in conjunction with DUAB included an expiration date which is fast approaching.  He stressed we are currently receiving full Operations funding this year, but it is what starts to happen next year and beyond that is the issue.  As of today, there is no legal mechanism to recapture the revenue to the Operations Fund that we are currently collecting through the Debt Service Fund.  It would take state legislative action for that option to be put back on the table.

2020 expenses (dollars that left the Operations Fund) totaled $9.92 million with most revenue being spent for wages & salaries and supplies & utilities. 2020 revenues mostly from Debt Increment Transfer and Property Taxes.  Next year the Debt Increment Transfer will be cut by 1/3 and gone the next year while Property Tax revenues will get smaller and Partial Waiver to Protected Tax Transfer will get bigger.  The Increment Transfer was approved by special legislation in 2012 and administered by DUAB. It refinanced existing debts into 2012 and 2012B Bond Series which levied for an amount equal to principle and interest of debts payments; interest used to pay investors and transferred principal equivalent to Operations (at the time CPF, Bus Replacement and/or Transportation Funds prior to 2019).  It had a 10 year approval, with an expiration date, allowing to be collected and transferred to the Operations Fund $3.36 million in 2021, $2.10 million in 2022 and it goes away in 2023. The expiration creates a $3.3 million of capacity in Debt Service with no rate impact but no way to recapture this revenue to Operations.

When compared to similar districts (our peers), Mt. Vernon Operations rate is the lowest among similar districts.  The Debt rate has been used as a temporary source for additional operations revenue.  Mrs. Freeman thanked Mr. Elkins for the comparisons to other districts as it gives us a clear picture of where we are compared to them and how we stack up to them  

Revenue per student.  2019, first for the Operations Fund, shows that Mt. Vernon was receiving the lowest net levy revenue relative to our peers and that trend has continued.  Mr. Elkins is most proud of the breakdown of expenditure types.  Mt. Vernon was the  2nd largest district among peers, based on enrollment, in 2019 but was only 3rd of 6 with regards to Operations expenses which goes back to the efficiency we are implementing with regards to spending by not wasting money.  

Mr. Elkins showed a slide showing our 2021 Tax Supported Funds, Debt Service, Operations and Pension Debt.  Tax cap losses will be shared among all three funds when Waiver to Protected Taxes is implemented.

Mr. Elkins compared to area peers, the levy per student amount the DLGF approves to the actual amount collected per student.  For Mt. Vernon it is $1,190/$583.  Compared to Frankton-Lapel, Greenfield Central, Hamilton Hts., Southern Hancock, South Madison and Beech Grove,  Mt. Vernon is the second lowest, which has a big impact, with the lowest being Beech Grove.  

Operations Fund Sustainability Strategies include:  a) Maximizing Debt Service Operating Balance (cash to offset waiver) to move money from Debt Service to Operations; b) Protected Tax Cap Waiver ($2 million transfer to Operations for 2021); c) Excess Levy for transportation ($335,090/yr. minus cap loss)which is not much, but enough for one new bus; d) $9 million of energy savings projects approved in April, 2020;  e)  Local growth quotient eligibility (max lev annual increase from 4% to 5%?);  f)  increased Education to Operations transfer (currently at 8% and can go up to 15%); and  g)  Renewal of tax cap waiver legislation (short term solution).

Dr.Parker reminded board members that the first week window to apply for out-of-district enrollment began April 16th.  The second window will be May 7-17.  Getting these numbers early will enable Mt. Vernon to plan ahead and determine the need for additional teachers if necessary.  He feels the transfer policy the board reinstituted in 2019 is working well, enabling us to control the number of out-of-district students.  He presented a slide showing student enrollment/ADM/transfer students cohort growth from 2015 to 2021.  Further data shows in 2018-19 there were 692 transfer students and 644 in 2019-20.  104 net transfer students did not return between 2018-19/2019-20.  This decrease is exactly what the policy intended.  93 transfer students were new to the district generating $602,268. While transferring to Mt. Vernon is mostly due to parent choice, data shows in district students transferring out of Mt. Vernon is due to attending charter and non-pubic schools.  Dr. Parker showed a slide comparing net transfers to the other Hancock County school districts.  Mt. Vernon has fewer net transfers students than Southern Hancock and Eastern Hancock .  Open enrollment percentage took a significant decline when the new transfer policy was implemented in 2019 and a slight decline the next year.  This re-emphasizes that the transfer policy is working and we are able  to manage our transfer student enrollment and the other side of the growth.  

Mr. Gray made a motion to approve Resolution 2021-13 Authorizing the Payment for Claims for Athletic Officials Through Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT).  Mr. Edwards seconded, and the motion carried 5-0.