The Becker School Board met on Mon., Jan. 6 for their first meeting of 2025.  

Board Chair Aaron Jurek opened the meeting by congratulating board members Troy Berning, Connie Robinson, and Ryan Hubbard for winning their re-election bids and welcomed them to another four-year term.  All board members were in attendance.  Ryan Hubbard attended via Zoom. 

Officers Elected

Jurek was nominated and retained his position as Board Chair.  Connie Robinson was named Vice Chair, Pete Weisman, Clerk, and Ryan Hubbard, Treasurer.  The board also discussed committee assignments.  Because there were no changes to the make-up of the board following elections in Nov. 2024, board members decided to retain their current committee assignments.  No changes were made.

Misc. Items

Within the Consent Agenda, required designations were made.  Sherburne State Bank, Minnesota School District Liquid Assets Fund, and PMA/MN Trust were named as District Depositories.  Bergan KDV, Ltd. was named as the district auditor, Kennedy and Graven as the school district’s Legal Counsel, and the Patriot News as the official district newspaper.

A schedule for 2025 meeting dates for the school board was approved.  Meetings will again be held on the first Monday of each month except for November.  The Nov. date was moved to Nov. 13 to accommodate for a possible election. 

A number of donations were accepted from area businesses and organizations.  Becker Football Boosters made a $5K donation, Northwest Area Jaycees $2.5K, and Excel Energy Foundation $1K.  Two $500 donations were received from Real Time Solutions and Michael and Lindsay Neumann.  Studio 5 was also listed as a donor. 

Board Pay and Operating Levy

Jurek brought two items to the attention of the board, the first regarding pay.  Jurek had explained that in the 16 years that he has been on the board, there have been no increases.  The item was added to the agenda to get board members to begin considering a pay increase at a future date. 

Supt. Jeremy Schmidt led a discussion about upcoming levies.  The board has two options to consider for the renewal of a 2015 operating levy that provides $540 per student in local funding.  The levy was approved by voters for a 10-year term and will expire this year if not renewed.  Because of a new MN statute, the levy can be renewed by the Board if the amount of the levy stays the same. Schmidt noted that past renewals, as far as he could verify, had been passed by voters.  He also noted that the statute was passed because 90% of renewals are approved throughout the state.  By approving the renewal, the cost of preparing for and administering an election could be saved.     

The second option for renewal of the operating levy would be to put it on the ballot in November which would allow the amount to either increase or decrease if the board approved a new amount.  No decision was required by the board on Monday, but the topic will again be discussed at future meetings.