Otherwise dominated by discussion of Waterloo Junior High School’s future (as reported on last week’s front page), last Monday’s meeting of the Waterloo School Board also touched on district tennis courts, some additional presentations and the budget for the 2025-26 school year.

The meeting began with a public hearing on the budget. Waterloo Superintendent of Schools Brian Charron offered a summary that ultimately concluded with no questions from the members of the public in attendance.

As the written summary of the budget details, the district is anticipated to see a total deficit in its operating funds of $1,997,104, though the estimated fund balance at the end of the fiscal year is projected at $8,433,535.

Charron has previously spoken about the possibility of the district needing to adopt a deficit reduction plan required when the ending fund balance is less than three times the amount of deficit spending, which the district seems to be avoiding again this year.

During the meeting, Charron noted district revenue is anticipated at $42.4 million, with 81 percent being local revenue, most from the annual tax levy.

“As a school district, we don’t have a whole lot of control over what our revenue is,” Charron said. “We have control over what our expenditures are, to a certain extent.”

He noted the importance of the district having a strong relationship with the community given how much the district relies on Waterloo residents for its funding.

Following the meeting, Charron spoke with the Republic-Times about a transfer from the district’s working cash fund.

Such a transfer has had to take place in previous years in the form of an interfund loan to another one of the district’s funds due to delays in tax payments.

This year, Charron said the district – in the projected, conservative worst-case scenario – is expecting a permanent transfer of roughly $750,000 to the education fund by the end of the year due to the deficit in that fund.

He noted such a transfer is a sign the board might have to “start having real conversations about where we can cut spending.”

The budget was ultimately approved by the board later in the meeting.

Charron also briefly discussed other district financial matters during his monthly report. He brought up the possibility of refinancing roughly $23 million which could save taxpayers nearly $1 million on district loan repayments over the next five years should interest rates drop as anticipated.

“We might get lucky,” Charron said. “We got lucky last time and cut $1.4 million off the payback, and there may be an opportunity to save another million dollars.”

As he further explained, discussion on this matter would need to come to a head in January as the bonds which would be refinanced are callable starting in March.

Also in his report, Charron brought up the need for a new activity bus, noting the current bus – a vehicle from 2011 with over 100,000 miles – is serviceable for local travel but would likely not be reliable enough for long-distance transportation.

While this was brought up purely for discussion and not a vote, similar equipment discussion and action took place later in the meeting regarding maintenance vehicles.

The board approved a contract with Bi-County Small Engine Center for no more than $12,834 for three 2025 Lazer Z S-Series Mowers with mounting kits after trade-in of three 2023 Lazer Z S-Series Mowers.

It was explained by Charron and maintenance director Will Hulett that this is part of an arrangement where the district uses machines through their warranty period on a certain schedule, trading them in and getting access to state bid prices.

Additionally, the board approved a contract with McCoy Construction & Forestry for no more than $13,400 for one 2026 324G Skid Steer after trade-in of one 2023 324G Skid Steer.

In other action items, the board accepted an audit conducted by Scheffel Boyle and approved one-year contracts for Hulett, cafeteria director Ruth Mason and business/office manager-executive secretary Marla Byrd.

Also approved were the payment of district stipends for 2025-26, a revised administrative assistant salary schedule, hourly rate of pay for the year for district computer technician Patrick Toenjes and the dismissal of a probationary cafeteria worker.

One of the larger discussion items beyond WJHS centered around the state of the district’s tennis courts, both those at Waterloo High School and those in the center of town at the intersection of Rogers and Hamacher streets.

Charron explained that, due to wear and weathering over the years, fencing at the courts needs updating alongside the surface which has accumulated many cracks – sometimes measuring two to three inches wide that have simply been filled in.

“We have been limping them along for several years,” Charron said. “The high school courts are 16 years old now… Last winter was a very hard winter for us with freezing and thawing and ice that was with us for two to three weeks. Both the in-town courts and the courts here at the high school are due for complete milling and replacement of that surface.”

Charron noted around $500,000 would be required to repair just the courts in town, adding the high school courts could also do with an expansion.

Discussion also touched on how the high school’s junior varsity team uses the in-town courts alongside the team from Gibault Catholic High School as well as members of the general public, with members of the board weighing the cost of maintaining the courts with the benefit they provide to the community.

Charron, discussing district maintenance, also spoke about shingle replacement at Rogers Elementary and a mold issue identified in the roof of the high school’s auxiliary gym which was previously addressed, indicating that moisture is continuing to get in and cause problems.

When it comes to additional presentations, this month’s speaker from the Waterloo Classroom Teachers Association was Zahnow Elementary social worker Michael Nehre.

He detailed his many years of experience working in the district, calling back to nearly 30 years ago when the district hired its first social worker – he was the district’s second – given the many challenges among students that teachers were unable to address on their own.

Nehre spoke about the growing mental health concerns and needs among students as well as how the district has placed that as a priority.

He further discussed the Second Step program, an initiative that has received ample positive feedback as it equips teachers to work with their young students on learning important lessons, with kindergartners hearing about paying attention, kindness and identifying feelings.

“I really wanted to thank you for your support in recognizing the mental health needs that we have in our school and supporting programs like this,” Nehre said.

An additional presentation came from Waterloo High School German teacher Julie Jennings and Spanish teacher Renee Koeneman.

Together, they spoke about their experiences with students in Europe over the summer, each of them having taken a group of students on a tour of various parts of Europe to improve their foreign language skills and experience the joy of traveling.

The Republic-Times previously spoke with Koeneman and Jennings to discuss these travel experiences with their classes.

Briefly addressing the board during the administrative report portion of the meeting was curriculum coordinator Jessica Washausen, who spoke about the success of the district’s Preschool For All program.

“We received the Gold Circle of Quality, which is pretty fantastic, if you ask me,” Washausen said. “It’s a lot of work. There’s a lot of detail that goes into creating a pre-school for all program, but we did have an evaluation or a compliance visit in April and it takes this long to get your rating back. We were very excited to get a gold rating.”