City Council - 03/07/2005 - Joint Meeting INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT 272 - EDEN PRAIRIE SCHOOLS
OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE MARCH 7, 2005
SCHOOL BOARD MEETING
I. JOINT MEETING OF SCHOOL BOARD AND CITY COUNCIL
The school board and superintendent hosted a joint meeting with the Eden Prairie
City Council and several members of the City of Eden Prairie Staff Monday,
March 7, 2005, starting at 5:30 p.m. in Conference Room 283, Administrative
Services Center. The following were topics of discussion between the two bodies
of local government.
A. Lelzislative Updates
School Board members discussed how they are watching the legislature
closely to see if there will be any additional funding for education. Board
members are involved in a grass-roots effort, "Citizens for Eden Prairie
Schools," (CEPS) that advocates for more education funding. Board Chair
Scholtz shared the group's website, www.citizensforepschool.org. She
also referenced the recent rally at the Capitol where thousands of citizens,
staff and students joined together to encourage legislators to keep
education at the forefront of their agenda.
City Council members also are monitoring legislative bills on local levy
limits, on the market value homestead credit, transportation funding bills,
and a bill that would remove non-curricular programs from the schools.
The intent of this bill is to have the city run those programs with tax
dollars.
B. LCTS Fundinlz Update
Local Collaborative Time Study (LCTS) funds are given from the federal
government to Hennepin County to help run programs through the city
and school that help at-risk children. These funds could suffer a substantial
decline which would decrease the quality of services provided to students.
City and school officials are working together to determine what to do
about this possibility.
C. Cable Television
Although the school district shares a cable channel (14) with several other
districts, city officials announced that they operate their own cable channel
(16). Starting with Eagle Vision newscasts from Eden Prairie High
School, school and city officials are working together to make use of
more school-generated content on the city channel.
D. City's Potential Referendum
Based on feedback generated through a survey after last spring's
unsuccessful city referendum, officials have learned the following:
• Voters want an aquatics center but are not willing to pay for it;
• Voters would prefer to have the referendum held in November
rather than May;
• Voters prefer to have a city referendum run at a time when the
schools are not;
• Voters would prefer separate questions when they are asked to vote
on city projects.
The city staff plans to reprioritize at the front end of their budgeting
process as they explore the possibility of another city referendum.
E. City/School Boundaries
School and city officials discussed the history of city/school district
boundaries. Currently, there are Eden Prairie residents in the Minnetonka
and Hopkins school districts. Because it would likely take legislative
action, city officials agreed to research the issue and work toward having
mutual boundaries for both the city and the school district.
The next meeting of the two bodies of government is scheduled for Tuesday, September
22, 2005, at City Center. It was noted that the school district and the city have a unique
working partnership. In addition to the two joint meetings of the school board and city
council, there are quarterly meetings of the superintendent and her district council with
the city manager and his administrative staff.
The regular meeting of Independent School District 272 School Board began at 7:00 p.m.
on the 71h day of March, 2005 in the Administrative Services Center boardroom at 8100
School Road, Eden Prairie, Minnesota.