Charter schools get one-year approval

Paid and bus shuttle service options

presented to board

By KEVIN SWEENEY

Journal Editor

NEW ULM -- District 88 will continue to sponsor charter schools in Hanska and Lafayette for one more year, according to agreements approved Thursday at the District 88 School Board meeting.

The one-year agreements will give the charter schools in Hanska and Lafayette another year to find new sponsors. Charter schools are run by non-profit organizations or cooperative boards, and are required by the state to have sponsorship from local school districts, universities or colleges, or some other qualified sponsorship organization.

The agreements had previously been approved by the Lafayette and Hanska charter school organizations.

The school district voted earlier this year to end its sponsorship of the local charter schools, which were organized several years ago after District 88 voted to close the public elementary schools in those communities.

In other business Thursday night, the school board discussed some possibilities for providing expanded busing services to students who live within a 2-mile radius of their schools and are not currently receiving busing service.

One option would be a paid service, in which families living within the 2-mile radius could pay for busing service with New Ulm Bus Lines. Interest in this option has been low in past parent surveys. The cost for such a service would be $3 per student per day, and parents would have to sign up for a nine-month service. A five-month service covering the coldest months was another option mentioned to the board by Superintendent Harold Remme.

The district could also consider providing shuttle service between school buildings. Students could walk or be dropped by parents at the school building closest to their homes, and be shuttled to the school they are attending.

Such a plan wouldn't provide the same level of service, but it would be paid for by the district at no extra cost to students who use it.

The cost of a shuttle service would be about $10,000 a year, Remme estimated, including costs of hiring supervisors to watch students before and after school as they waited for the shuttles.

The paid service could also carry a potentially heavy cost to the district, depending on how many students would qualify for free and reduced-price rides, using the same guidelines for free and reduced price lunches.

The district administration will send a letter to parents within the t2-mile radius of the schools to see what kind of interest there is in paid service or shuttle service.

In budget matters, the district adopted revised revenue figures for the current school year budget. General fund revenues are up about $700,000, due mostly to more accurate accounting of student numbers in special needs programs, and in the amount of reimbursement that is due the district.

The district also got a look at preliminary figures for next year's budget. Revenue and expenditures are showing slight increases. General fund expenditures are running slightly ahead of revenues, due in part to a $40,000 increase in health insurance costs this year.