The Norman Public Schools Board of Education discussed the effects on the school district by the proposed tax increment financing district in University North Park leading to the possibility of a new school and the proposed 2024-25 budget during its Monday meeting.
NPS Superintendent Nick Migliorino and Tina Floyd, president of the board, were not present in Monday’s meeting. Justin Milner, associate superintendent and chief operating officer, acted as interim over Migliorino’s place on the board.
TIF district and possible effects on NPS
On May 23, the statutory review committee for the proposed entertainment district voted unanimously to send the Rock Creek Entertainment District project plan to the Norman City Council.
On Sept. 6, OU, Team Norman and city leaders proposed the entertainment district project plan, which will feature housing, retail, hotels and a new arena for OU basketball and women’s gymnastics.
Migliorino, who was part of the review committee, wrote on May 23 that, while he voted to pass the project to the city council for further review, his vote didn’t represent the school board’s approval of the project in a statement released after the meeting.
According to Brenda O’Brian, NPS chief financial officer, the 2019 TIF was set up to be a 50-50 split between funds going to sales and property taxes, in which NPS benefited from the percentage going to the city without a takeaway or a deduct from the state aid.
However, the TIF for the entertainment district project is set up for all the sales and property tax to be retained within the TIF development, meaning that NPS will not receive any property tax revenue for that area, according to O’Brian.
According to the project plan, by year 10, there will be new-to-NPS enrollments by either 14% of residents, which equates to 95 students; 25%, which equates to 171 students or 40%, which equates to 273 students.
Annette Price, Office 3 board member, said if there were 14% new-to-NPS enrollments, NPS would consider redistricting the schools, but if it’s higher, a new elementary school would be required in that area.
The elementary schools that might be affected by this project are Roosevelt, Cleveland, Adams, Eisenhower and Wilson, Milner said.
O’Brian said she wasn’t sure of the future outcome as there are so many variables that could affect this.
Milner said the district is always monitoring the capacity of the schools, and there’s room for growth within those schools.
“We’re making a little bit more of a speculative response because we don’t know what the number would be,” Milner said about a possible new school.
A land deal was offered to NPS by the OU Foundation for a possible new elementary school. Milner said the 5.5 acres land is buildable and will cost $8 per square foot. This would cost approximately $1.9 million.
If NPS decides to buy the land, Alex Ruggiers, Office 2 board member, asked if the district was legally bound to build an elementary school on that land or if they could use it for other purposes. Milner said there was no obligation to build a school.
O’Brian also said the TIF will not affect the funding of several projects in the school district, including those under the 2023 bond issue.
“This would not have any impact on anything that we have already prepared,” O’Brian said. “Then determining how this plays out, we would be mindful of (the impact) as we're working on our next bond issue, but there might not be any kind of impact on what we have in place right now.”
Price said she would’ve appreciated more input from the school system when discussing potentially diverting funds and believes it is up to residents to decide if they want to go forward with this development.
“I personally don’t see a lot of benefit directly to the school district, and I’m convinced that this isn’t what’s best for our kids,” Price said.
Dawn Brockman, Office 4 board member, proposed to ask city council to hire someone to do an analysis on the financial impact to the district. Ruggiers said he would like to see more information, especially on a deal that could negatively impact the district, before city council makes its decision.
“It’s a guessing game,” Dirk O’Hara, the board’s vice president, said. “City council’s got to decide what the process is at the end of the day. … However we can best advocate for our schools is what our jobs is and what (we) need to be doing.”
NPS designated community eligibility provision sites for 2024-25
The board approved Norman Public Schools to participate in the Community Eligibility Provision program, giving students free meals, regardless of their income.
Community Eligibility Provision, or CEP, allows schools with a high percentage of economically disadvantaged children to serve a free breakfast and lunch daily to all enrolled students.
The eligibility is based on the ratio of families who participate in federal programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid Free or those students who are identified as foster, homeless, migrant or runaway.
Tyler Jones, NPS chief financial officer, said the district would launch a pilot program for the 2024-25 school year to 10 schools, and if successful, the program will implement the program to other schools. He said the more meals are served, the more cost-effective the program.
The schools participating are:
Adams Elementary
Dimensions Academy (High School and Elementary)
Irving Middle School
Jackson Elementary
Jefferson Elementary
Kennedy Elementary
Lincoln Elementary
Madison Elementary
Reagan Elementary
Wilson Elementary
Jones said he anticipated little to no cost to the district for this pilot program. He said families are still required to complete the Free and Reduced-Price School Meals application as it can affect other types of funding.
Price said she is excited about this program and the impact it will have on families affected by food insecurity.
“Hunger is the enemy of education. Our teacher know this; our counselors know this. It’s very hard to be sharp in the classroom when you have all of these competing factors for your attention,” Price said. “I think we’re doing the hard work here to making sure that students have a chance to excel.”
2024-25 proposed budget public hearing
The board approved the proposed budget for the 2024-25 school year.
According to Jones’ presentation, the projected revenue for the upcoming year will be $150,772,062 while the projected expenditures will be $150,189,981.
Among the major adjustments made for this budget is the American Rescue Plan funding, which is going away this year.
The American Rescue Plan focused on assisting school districts in safely reopening schools and keeping them open for in-person instruction while addressing disruptions to teaching and learning resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Because of this, the district will lose around $10 million from their projected revenue balance, according to Jones’ presentation.
Jones said the district also had a Medicaid reimbursement of $100,000 and will pilot a program for school-based services provided by speech, occupational physical therapists for the 2024-25 school year with the money from the reimbursement.
Jones said there will be a little increase in the general fund to fund summer school in 2025 and has projected that NPS will start spending down under 4%.
There are a couple of projects that may run for a couple of more years before the district gets all of the sites to speed up the projects. Jones said he added those to the budget, and if NPS gets all the site contracts done next year, the expenditure balance would decrease to $77,000.
Principal position at Lincoln Elementary School
The board approved the recommendation of Jessica Tims as the next Lincoln Elementary School principal.
Tims has been working in the district for 13 years. She has been a teacher at Wilson and McKinley Elementary and has been working as the assistant principal at Roosevelt Elementary for the past three years.
Olivia Dean, the previous principal at Lincoln Elementary School, decided to leave her position after working in the district for 12 years.
This story was edited by Taylor Jones. Avery Avery copy edited this story.
