By Patrick Tepoorten

In order to address concerns that the North Branch Area School District was not being transparent enough with financial statements, Finance Director Randi Johnson was asked to give a report to the School Board at the Nov. 8 meeting.

The report, a preliminary look at the final numbers from 2006 - 07, was a month earlier than usual and was submitted by Johnson even before the audit has been completed. However, she was confident that little would change between her summary and the completion of the audit.

According to Johnson, the general fund balance ended the year better than the district had projected by $487,067. Of that, unreserved fund balance - those funds not earmarked for specific areas - came in about $180,000 more than expected.She further informed that captured unspent balances would be used to offset cuts to this year's budget.

However, she warned that the extra fund balance was roughly half of what the district typically enjoys at the end of a fiscal year, leaving less to deal with future budget cuts.

Johnson also informed the board how changes to special education funding and billing were negatively impacting the district. With lower excess aid estimates and new processes for tuition billing, Johnson expects the district to lose about $300,000 in the area of special education.

The audit is scheduled to be completed in December.

In other news:

• Currently there are two separate collective bargaining sessions going on within the district. School board Director Donna Setter reported that negotiations with the North Branch Education Association, the district's teachers' union, are moving forward, and have been "respectful and productive." Director Kirby Ekstrom reported that negotiations with Local 284 are just underway.

• Separate general obligation bonds dating back to 1998 were combined and refinanced by the district. Lower interest rates are expected to result in a slightly smaller tax levy.

• Permission to seek bids for school buses and to solicit bids for banking services were approved.

• A date of Dec. 13 was set to hear a level three grievance from an employee of the district, and a student expulsion was approved based on a violation of school policy and state law.