The Audubon Community School District Board of Education is scheduled to hold a regular meeting at 7:00 p.m. on August 17 at the Audubon Middle-High School Boardroom. The agenda includes financial reports, a sharing committee update, legislative priorities, student enrollment matters, an extensive policy review, personnel actions, administrative reports, and a proposed closed session for the superintendent's evaluation.
Key Items on the Agenda
Legislative Priorities for the 2027 Session
The board is scheduled to consider the RSAI Legislative Issues Survey for FY27. Rural School Advocates of Iowa is collecting member input to establish legislative priorities for the upcoming session, with its priorities and platform scheduled for discussion, approval, and prioritization at the RSAI Annual Meeting on October 8, 2026, in Des Moines.
The survey asks districts to assess issues including:
- Adequate school resources, including per-pupil funding, categorical funding, transportation equity, and supplementary weighting.
- Staff shortages and possible responses such as loan forgiveness, grow-your-own programs, and licensure flexibility.
- Quality preschool and potential 1.0 weighting for full-day programming.
- Local school board authority.
- Public-school funding and accountability relative to state-funded private schools.
- Resources addressing poverty, mental health, and other increasing student needs.
- Whole-grade sharing and reorganization incentives.
- Operational sharing incentives.
- Formula equity between districts.
- Property-tax reform and protection of local school board and voter authority.
- Rural access to Area Education Agency services and supports.
The survey also asks respondents to identify up to five top priorities.
Sharing Committee Update
A Sharing Committee Update is scheduled as a discussion item. The packet identifies the topic but does not provide substantive details about the update, recommendations, or any proposed board action.
AFS Student and Open Enrollment
Two student-related matters appear under action items.
- The board is scheduled to consider an AFS student from Germany who would be hosted by Dave and Jo Beane.
- The board is also scheduled to consider open enrollment involving two students who moved to Carroll from South Dakota over the summer. The packet says a parent has obtained a job in Audubon and is seeking housing in Audubon.
Major Financial Items
Year-End Financial Reports
Warrants and financial reports are included on the consent agenda. The packet notes that the district is working on year-end finances and that the CAR is due September 15 to finalize FY26.
The financial materials include general-fund cash-flow comparisons, categorical-funding expenditures, account balances, and August board reports. The FY26-to-FY27 cash-flow comparison reports a general-fund balance of $3,657,099.55 at June 30, 2026, followed by $3,543,119.68 at July 31, 2026.
The FY27 account-balance report shows July 2026 ending balances across the general, management, activity, SAVE, PPEL, debt service, nutrition, and trust funds totaling $5,426,578.18.
August Warrants
The August board report lists $257,131.70 in expenditures across several funds:
- Operating Fund: $56,801.15.
- School Nutrition Fund: $48,014.69.
- Activity Fund: $22,143.45.
- Capital Projects — SILO: $7,693.40.
- Physical Plant & Equipment: $113,479.01.
- Trust Fund — Expendable: $9,000.
Among the larger individual entries are $44,896.68 for equipment from Rapids Wholesale Equipment Co., $41,265 for Apple technology hardware, $25,430 for portable bleachers from Townsend Ventures, and $13,000 for Hudl athletics expenses.
An additional August board report lists another $17,792.95 across the operating, school nutrition, and activity funds. That report includes $7,415.80 for Top 20 Training professional development and $5,489.25 for nutrition equipment.
Policy and Governance Items
Five-Year Policy Review
The board is scheduled to consider a broad set of policies in the 100, 400, and 600 series as part of a five-year review. The packet states that if no changes are needed, the board may approve the policies and waive a second reading.
The review encompasses subjects including:
- The district's legal status and educational philosophy.
- Title IX and assistance animals.
- Employee vacation, family and medical leave, and professional-purpose leave.
- Special education and career education.
- Teaching about religion and academic freedom.
- Talented and gifted, at-risk, individualized, and online instruction.
- Dual enrollment, foreign students, and home-school assistance.
- Information resources.
- Class size and classroom grouping.
- Animals in classrooms.
- Field trips and excursions.
- Insufficient classroom space.
Many of the policies in this review were last reviewed in August, October, or December 2020.
Employee Travel Compensation
Policy 401.07, Employee Travel Compensation, returns for a second reading. The packet raises the question of whether the district can establish its own reimbursement rate rather than using the federal rate, noting that the federal rate changes and must then be checked when reimbursements are processed.
2026 Legislative Policy Update
A second reading is also scheduled for the Policy Primer Vol. 34 #5 legislative update. The packet recommends rescinding Policies 603.04, Multicultural/Gender Fair Education, and 603.10, Global Education, as part of the update.
The policy package responds to legislation from the 2026 Iowa legislative session and covers subjects including:
- Public meeting notice requirements.
- School board candidate filings.
- Open enrollment and athletic eligibility.
- Curriculum and physical-education requirements.
- Technology and one-to-one digital-device programs.
- Employment eligibility verification.
- Gifted and talented screening and programming.
- Student expression and free-speech requirements.
- Disruptive student behavior.
- Employee leave following certain student-related injuries.
- Special education.
- Public examination of district records.
The materials state that HF 2676 requires certain limitations and requirements for digital instruction and one-to-one device programs, including a technology-adoption checklist retained by the district and made available to the Iowa Department of Education. SF 2220 addresses uniform procedures for screening, identifying, and serving gifted and talented students.
Disruptive Behavior Policy
Policy Primer Vol. 34 #6B, addressing disruptive behavior, is scheduled for a first reading. The agenda describes the item as involving additional policy changes required by the state and identifies draft Policy 503.11, Disruptive Behavior.
Related legislative materials explain that SF 2428 establishes requirements involving classroom removals and disruptive student behavior, including procedures for nonviolent and violent disruptions and special provisions for students with individualized education programs.
Personnel Items
Several personnel matters are scheduled for consideration.
Hires
The agenda lists:
- Jordan Mulford — para.
- Caitlin Wade — para.
- Ashley Hartl — para.
- Bayley Moreno — para, contingent on completion of a background check.
- Brynn Blomme — junior high volleyball, contingent on a BOEE license.
- Michael Greving — assistant girls wrestling.
Resignation
The agenda lists the resignation of Cassie Matthews, a para.
A transfers heading also appears in the personnel section, but the packet does not identify a specific transfer.
The agenda includes a public-comment period. The packet directs people to contact the superintendent or board president and references Board Policy #213.
Later in the meeting, the board is expected to receive communication and updates through the superintendent's report and principals' reports. The packet does not provide substantive details about those reports.
Proposed Closed Session
The agenda includes a proposed closed session concerning the superintendent's evaluation. The recommended motion would have the board enter closed session under Iowa Code Section 21.5(1)(i) to evaluate the superintendent's professional competency, at the superintendent's request, and to prevent needless and irreparable injury to the superintendent's reputation.
Because this is an upcoming agenda item, the packet does not establish that the board will enter closed session; it provides the recommended motion for consideration.
What to Watch at the Meeting
- How the board approaches the RSAI survey could indicate which state-level school funding, staffing, sharing, property-tax, and local-control issues it wants emphasized for the 2027 legislative session.
- The five-year policy review could allow numerous policies to advance without a second reading if the board determines that changes are unnecessary.
- The separate legislative policy package contains broader changes driven by 2026 Iowa legislation, including technology, student behavior, gifted and talented programming, open meetings, and other governance requirements.
- Policy 503.11 on disruptive behavior begins a separate first-reading process, while the Vol. 34 #5 legislative package and Employee Travel Compensation policy are scheduled for second readings.
- Financial reports arrive as the district works to close FY26 and prepare the CAR due September 15.
