KSD3 News
Weekly Update from Superintendent Wendy Johnson
6.2.2023
In this update:
- Wrapping up & staying in touch this summer break
- ๐ School property taxes dropping
- ๐๏ธ Looking ahead in our schools
Wrapping up & staying in touch this summer break
Kuna community
We love serving your children in our schools and hope your families have a wonderful summer break.
During the school year, I send a weekly update to keep you informed. This is the last weekly update for 2023-24 school year. We will continue to communicate - just not weekly.
Some information to expect:
Board Report: Our school board members will continue their monthly report recapping meetings. Those are sent via email the Monday after the meeting. Summer reports will be June 12, July 17, and Aug. 14.
Student ISAT, Access Reports: If your student took a state ISAT or Access test this spring, we will send score reports to parents and guardians via email later this month. If you have questions, you can reach out to assessment@kunaschools.org.
Survey: Later this month, we'll ask for your thoughts on why the March bond failed and ask you to weigh in on options to manage growth without new spaces.
Electronic systems: Most families and student don't access our systems during the summer, but be aware that you may not be able to access some programs after mid-July. After summer schools end, our information systems are reset and refreshed in preparation for the new school school year. We also are implementing new systems for our transportation and nutrition services. We'll share more as needed.
Back-to-School: Later this month, our school websites will post information about supply lists and when to expect student schedules in the secondary. Closer to the start of school (Aug. 24 for students) we will ask returning families to "register" your children by completing the Back-to-School Update in PowerSchool. In August, we will post information about bus routes and meal prices.
Calendar: The 2023-24 school year calendar was approved a year ago. You can find it on our website.
District Office Open: Later this month, schools not involved with summer school will close for the summer so we can conduct our annual cleaning and repairs and will reopen shortly before the start of school in August. Our district office is open during the summer (except a short break for the Independence Day holiday).
We appreciate your support of our teachers, administrators, and staff as they have served the children of our community this past year.
๐ School property taxes dropping
Property assessments were mailed by Ada and Canyon counties with information about property values as well as upcoming budget hearings for your taxing districts including Kuna School District.
Our budget hearing is Tuesday at the school board meeting. We've received some calls asking about the impact of a new state property tax law -- HB292 -- approved by the Idaho Legislature. This law takes effect July 1.
The short answer about next year's school property taxes is we will collect less in property taxes than in previous years. Here's why:
We kept our promise to not ask taxpayers to fund educational needs if other funds were available. This means we did not ask voters to renew our $2.5 million levy for learning (also called a supplemental levy) for 2023-24. We will instead use one-time federal funds -- exhausting those savings.
We anticipate receiving about $1.8 million for the new property tax relief bill. This could change. That new money must be used first to help pay off school district bonds. It wonโt pay for all the outstanding debt but will help reduce it.
Our estimates are that the amount we need to collect from tax payers for the supplemental and bond together would drop by about $4 million.
๐๏ธ Looking ahead in our schools
For details please check our online calendar at www.kunaschools.org
- June 6 - Kuna Board of Trustees meeting first Tuesday * change from second Tuesday
- June 7 - Kuna Summer Science Camp
- June 26 - Policy Committee meeting ** Changed from June 5 ***
- July 4 - Happy Independence Day!
- July 11 - Kuna School Board meeting
- Aug. 8 - Kuna School Board meeting
- Aug. 9-10 - New student registration Kuna High School
- Aug. 14-17 - Back-to-School Days Returning Kuna High School students
- Aug. 15 - Fall High School Sports Parent/Student/Coach meeting
- Aug. 21-23 - Teacher in-service
- Aug. 24 -๐๐ SCHOOL STARTS FOR STUDENTS!!! ๐๐
- Sept. 4 - No school Labor Day
- Sept. 12 - Kuna School Board meeting