Ivanhoe tuition plan expanded back to 10 years

The Minneota School Board has approved a new 10-year tuition agreement with the Ivanhoe Public Schools for 2019-20 through 2028-29. “The (original) agreement will be half over after this year and there’s interest by Ivanhoe to keep the 10-year-agreement going,” said Minneota and Ivanhoe Superintendent Dan Deitte.

Originally Ivanhoe and Minneota signed a “10-year tuition agreement,” to allow Ivanhoe junior and senior high kids to attend the Minneota Public School. The agreement allows Minneota to collect 90 percent of the state tuition on each student and yet allows Ivanhoe to keep 10 percent.

The “tuition agreement” is five years into the original 10-year plan. Ivanhoe School Board members have been so happy with the agreement they asked to add five more years to bring it back to a 10-year agreement. Supt. Deitte said the income from Ivanhoe has become about $450,000 per year.

“It’s been part of the reason we’ve been able to do so many improvements around here,” said Supt. Deitte. “And it’s a great positive for them (Ivanhoe). Five years ago, they had a tough situation and they’ve been able to help turning this around.”

Ivanhoe still runs an elementary program. While students can choose their own school after elementary, they’ve primarily come to Minneota. “It’s been working out really well for everyone,” said Deitte.

Substitute pay raised The board also approved raising the daily substitute teacher pay from $110 to $120.

“It’s getting really hard to find substitutes,” said Supt. Deitte. He hopes the increase will help draw substitute teachers to the school district.

Devices need replacing

The board found out there are 220 tech devices that are coming up on four years old and will need replacing.

“If anything (money) is available after the audit, maybe we can do some. Maybe we can do some at a time. It’s not a good idea, nor do we have the funds to replace them all at one time,” said Superintendent Deitte.