The first quarter of the 2024-2025 school year is in the books. It has been jam packed with activities and athletic events. The time sure does fly by when you are busy and having fun.
I want to thank all the parents and students that attended our parent-teacher conference earlier this week. These conferences allow parents to gain insights into their child's strengths, weaknesses, and area we need to focus on. Together parents and teachers can develop strategies and set goals to help the students succeed both academically and socially.
In this newsletter, I wanted to share where you can find the math and language arts North Dakota State standards that we base our curriculum on. Scranton Public School is unique at the elementary level in that we focus on these standards and do not use text books to drive our teaching lessons. Our lessons are focused on the priority standards set by the state. We entrust our teachers to hit these standards and make sure we are individualizing instruction based on each student's needs. We teach these standards not so we do well on standardized tests, but so our students develop the skills they need as each grade level will scaffold and take each standard to a higher level. The elementary priority standards can be found on our website under the elementary tab. I have also linked them here.
Scranton Website Elementary Standards
A huge topic in the news is the upcoming election. One North Dakota measure I would like to talk about is Measure 4 and the elimination of property tax. I wanted to share some facts about Scranton Public School that I shared at our public hearing in September, as I feel it is important to get as much information out to our stakeholders as possible. Our projections for the 24-25 school year show Scranton Public School will bring in approximately $2,900,147 in total revenue from our three funding sources, Federal, State, and Local which is of course primarily property tax.
Federal revenue is our smallest revenue source for Scranton Public School. Last school year we received $119,949.68 in federal revenue. This number was actually inflated from most years as we received the last $39,000 we had left in our Covid relief money. We used this money to improve classroom furniture and provide extra academic supports for our students.
State funding is our largest revenue source, as we received $1,640,202 in state revenue last school year. This money is based on a per pupil payment and a transportation payment from the state. This money is primarily used to pay for teacher salaries, curriculum, and other academic programs within the school. This funding has increased over recent years as the state legislature has tried to reduce local property taxes.
For our local funding, we received $843,357 in property tax revenue. What does this revenue provide for Scranton School. These are the dollars we use to maintain our building and grounds, provide extracurricular activities, and provide transportation. For transportation, the state reimburses approximately 35% and our general fund provides the rest.
We have a building that was built in the early 1960's. There are a lot of behind the scenes repairs that are being made to make sure our school is operational. Our domestic water and boiler project from a few years ago had a price tag of just under $2,000,000. Our property tax revenue allows us to make those bond payments every year. Earlier this summer, our walk-in freezer for the kitchen went out and had to be replaced. That was another $50,000 project. Our playground updates are costly. We have completed over $100,000 in playground upgrades with approximately $50,000 more towards new pickleball courts waiting to be installed. We did receive some grants through the Bowman-Slope Community Foundation ($12,000), Bowman County Community Challenge ($10,000), and donations from Friends of Fireman ($10,000) and Dakota Western Bank ($5,000) for these upgrades. These organizations along with a partnership with the Scranton Lion's Club assisted with our playground projects and were instrumental in us getting them almost to completion. It has been a struggle to find contractors but the finish line is in sight. In addition to these organizations, Scranton Public School has used property tax dollars to make sure these upgrades are there for our students and the entire community.
Our local property tax dollars allow Scranton Public School to provide the updates we need to provide a great facility for our students and community as a whole. When it comes time to vote in November, we ask that you do so with as much information in your toolbox as possible. If you have questions or concerns, give me a call at the school and I will do my best to answer them.
We have had a hot, dry school year so far, but we know winter is coming. Please make sure the students are prepared for the cold and snow to come. Our buses are maintained and ready to go, but there can always be unexpected events that can happen. During winter months, we ask that our students have boots, gloves, hats, and winter coats to ride our bus routes and to activities. We want to make sure our students are safe in the event of a breakdown.
Also with winter approaching, we will once again use our school app to announce late starts or school closing due to weather. I try to make these announcements as early as possible, and communicating them is important. Please download the Scranton School App so you are up-to-date with the happenings at Scranton School. Search Scranton School in your App Stores and you should find the Night Hawk Logo that represents our App.
Once again, thank you for all of the support for our students. It is appreciated every day by our students and staff. If you have questions, complaints, or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the school. Let's work together to keep the school year moving in a positive direction. Before we know it, we will be talking holiday season and winter activities. Take care everyone and GO NIGHT HAWKS!
Kelly Pierce
Superintendent