After holding a public hearing with no comments at Monday night’s regular meeting, the Marshalltown Community School District (MCSD) board of education unanimously approved the 2023 certified budget with a property tax rate of $17.8554 per $1,000 of taxable valuation.

The newly approved tax rate for FY23 is 28 cents less than in fiscal year 2022 due to certain aids provided by the state government, as MCSD Director of Business Operations Paulette Newbold explained in previous board meetings.

Under the approved budget, which passed by a 6-0 vote as Leah Stanley was absent, expenditures totaling $124,115,374 were also approved for the 2022-2023 school year.

In addition to the public hearing for the FY23 certified budget and tax rate, a public hearing was held for an amendment to the certified budget for fiscal year 2022 (FY22).

“In regards to the 22 certified budget amendment, that’s a budget amendment for this year, and we are needing to do that due to increased expenditures due to the receipt of federal pandemic resources, primarily in salaries and benefits and instruction and support services,” Newbold said.

The previous approved expenditure for FY22 came to a total of $87,744,710, but with the certified budget amendment, it totaled $89,144,710. There were no comments from the public on the amendment, and the board approved it unanimously.

New Rogers Elementary Principal Pamela McDonnell was also welcomed by the board as she will be taking over Mick Jurgensen’s position on July 1. McDonnell is a 1982 Marshalltown High School (MHS) graduate, and she is looking forward to bringing her 35 years of experience in education back to her hometown.

“I’m so excited to get back to the building level where the real work happens, and I’m so excited to be able to go in and support the teachers and the staff in the strengths that they have and then work together on taking a look at some things that might improve the situation or that might help,” McDonnell said. “I could not be more excited to be returning to Marshalltown.”

The board recognized six students from Lenihan Intermediate School for the essays they submitted to the American Legion and Marshalltown Elk Lodge’s “What the Flag Means to Me” contest. The top three boys — Aiden Holmgren, Alonso Romero Bautista and Garrett Thede — and the top three girls — Arianie Hidalgo, Maritza Barajas Hernandez and Kennedy Goldman.

These sixth grade students competed with the Marshalltown Elk Lodge, and several fifth grade students competed with the American Legion, though Brooklyn Smith was the only fifth grader in attendance.

The Lenihan student’s Extended Learning Program (XLP) Teacher, Vanessa Engal, said the XLP Writer’s workshop participates in the essay contest each year, but she made sure to mention it to other students as well.

“We had a wide variety of essays, and then this year, I made sure to share this opportunity with other students and other passionate writers in the building, so we have a wide variety of kids today, and I’m so proud and excited to see some new faces too,” Engal said. “This is really great that we can branch out and get other students to participate in such a great opportunity like this.”

The students that attended read their essays to the school board, and they will be invited to a dinner at the Elks Lodge in June where they will be recognized for their essays.

In other business, the board:

• Heard a presentation from Fisher Elementary.

• Heard an update from the Student School Board Representatives.

• Heard a presentation from MCSD Director of Instruction Shauna Smith on the Professional Learning Communities (PLC) Institutes.

• Unanimously approved an out-of-state field trip for XLP teacher Susan Fritzell and MHS freshman Landon Stanley to attend the International Science and Engineering Fair at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

• Unanimously approved amendments to the wording of the Marshalltown Education Association Tentative Agreement and the Nutrition Professionals Tentative Agreement.

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Contact Susanna Meyer at 641-753-6611 or

smeyer@timesrepublican.com.