On Wednesday, June 28, Tofte town hall was packed with people interested in learning how the township supervisors would vote on a matter that would allow – or not allow – the township to donate $20,000 to Birch Grove Community Education.
Tofte Township supervisors called the special meeting to continue the discussion from the May 31 session held to deliberate on how to activate the Birch Grove Task Force (BGTF) agreement.
BGTF was a committee of about 20 people formed from all three west end townships of Lutsen, Tofte, and Schroeder. Led by Bill Hansen, those on the committee had to come to a consensus with all of the board members in agreement before giving their recommendation to the townships. At the end of three months, the committee supported a decision to advise the towns to give funds to community education.
With that information, Tofte supervisors Craig Horak, Sarah Somnis and Sam Crowley had a big choice to make. Not everybody in the West End is behind townships donating to the school — or in this case — to the community education that operates on the campus. With many current students who attend Birch Grove coming from Lake County, many feel that Lake County should be asked to give money to the school.
This past school year 32 percent of the K-5 students at Birch Grove came from the Wet End, with 68 percent attending from Lake County. That meant that Schroeder had two students, Tofte three and Lutsen four. If Schroeder contributes $20,00, that works out to $10,000 per student if it was being given to the school.
In 2016, at the township annual meeting, a vote was taken, and $20,000 was approved to give to the Birch Grove Community School payable for the 2016-2017 school year. That donation was withheld when several months later it was learned that townships aren’t legally able to give money to public charter schools.
That edict came from the Minnesota Office of the State Auditor which on September 15, 2016, sent letters informing Lutsen and Schroeder townships that under current state statutes, townships had no legal authority to donate money to a school.
Meanwhile, Birch Grove Community Education requested Lutsen, Tofte and Schroeder appropriate funds to its Community Education for Youth programs. This is allowable under Minnesota Statute 471.935, which states, “A statutory or home rule charter city, county, or town may appropriate money to support the facilities, programs, and services of a public or private, not-for-profit youth center.”
When asked if the township had its attorney look at that statute, Craig Horak replied, “We talked to our attorney, and we do have permission to do this. We have a legal opinion backed up by state statute to appropriate money to a youth program or senior services.”
Programs offered by community education include the Saplings program which is open to kids 3-5 Monday through Friday from September to June. Campsite Kids is another summer program for ages K-5th grade which runs Monday through Friday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the three summer months. Summer Saplings operates for the same age group as the Saplings program with the same hours and days through the summer. Birch Buddies is a before and after non-school day program that operates from September-August. Most of the programs have been developed to help parents with daycare needs. Somnis said parents pay $3.50 per hour for their children to attend. They also strengthen the school because the children age out from day-care and into the classroom in a school and staff they are familiar with.
One member of the audience asked why community education would need to be funded at the same rate as the request that came from the Birch Grove Community School (BGCS).
Horak explained that this year because the township had already appropriated the money and it was accounted for in the budget, that the dollars should go to community education.
As stated in Minnesota’s 2016 statutes, the purpose of community education is to “make maximum use of the public schools of Minnesota by the community and to expand utilization by the school of the human resources of the community, by establishing a community education program.”
When asked how funds appropriated to community education could help the school, which has been under financial difficulty because of low (but improving) attendance the past few years, Diane Blanchette, the director of BGCS answered. She said the school can now charge community education for transportation costs, computer and communication expenses, and other items associated with running programs in the building. “By charging these costs back to community education, this will indirectly help the school,” Blanchette said.
One group that will not take part at the school any longer is WE CONNECT. They were told that as of July 31 the office they use would be unavailable to them. Jim King, who is a former Tofte Township supervisor and who serves on the WE CONNECT board, said the organization would remain active in the West End, but would no longer do the summer Wednesday night pizzas for the community, nor take part in the senior lunches or the other activities they ran through BGCS.
“We informed the school two weeks ago that as of June 30 we would be done,” King said. “WE CONNECT will have no space in the community center as of July 31. Some of our equipment will be moved, a few items sold, and the rest given to the Tofte Township to use as they see fit.”
Community education will take over WE CONNECT’s duties on Aug. 1. “We will move to another location and continue to be a positive entity in the West End,” King said.
In the meantime, when asked about the senior lunches, Horak said he would be making sandwiches for the seniors during the month of July.
“Are they good?” one lady asked. “Yes, I’m a good cook,” Horak answered. “Want to get married?” she asked. “No, I’m already married,” Horak replied with a laugh.
Before making a motion, Sarah Somnis said that Tofte owned the Birch Grove building and that because the township voted in favor of giving to the school, “we are following through with the voters’ wishes.”
Somnis motioned, with Horak seconding and Crowley voting for, to approve Resolution # 6-2017 citing statute 471.935, which gives a town board authority to annually appropriate from its general fund for a youth center.
“Whereas, the Town Board of Supervisors find the expenditure of funds to be for a public purpose and in the interest of the town; Now, Therefore be it resolved that the Town Board of Supervisors approved the transfer of funds in the amount of $20,000 to be used for the Birch Grove Community Education providing youth center services and programming. These funds will be moved on June 28, 2017, payable to Birch Grove Community Education.”
As Horak noted, the money appropriated was for the 2016-2017 year, not for the next 2017-2018 fiscal year. If Tofte and Schroeder pass similar resolutions, Horak said a joint agreement would have to be made to manage the funds.
Horak added that a community education advisory board made up of one supervisor or person who attended all of the monthly meetings from each West End community would be sought to serve on the advisory board. This group would, Horak said, help determine where money should be appropriated, but the final determination on spending would be left up to township supervisors.
Going forward, Horak said the county would be approached about giving some money to the West End community education program. Next year, he added, Schroeder and Lutsen would be asked for $9,000 each, while Tofte would be called upon to give $12,000 to the youth services program.
“You won’t be asked to give more money, but less money each year under this program,” Horak added.
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