Board approves 2026–27 school calendar; staff reports $1.4M in grants and recommends ending a 20-year Madison agreement

The board approved the school calendar committee's recommended 2026–27 draft calendar by motion after a staff presentation that emphasized instructional hours, built-in professional development days and a strategy for making up weather days. The committee reported 176 instruction days and an estimated 1,073.6 instructional hours in the model, exceeding the state's 990-hour requirement.

On grants and donations, staff read a list of recent gifts and said the division has tallied roughly $1.4 million in grants so far for FY26. They noted a denial of a $900,000 SPARK grant for an extended-school-year program that will be re-applied for and flagged a new National School Boards Association / Go Green air-quality grant opportunity (up to $45,000) that would require the board to adopt an indoor-air-quality policy as part of the application.

Inter‑district agreements: staff recommended the board reconsider a nearly 20-year arrangement with Madison County because the district has exceeded the supplemental-basic-aid cap and no supplemental basic aid will be generated under current rules. Presenters said some program-sharing can continue through ad-hoc memoranda of understanding, but the longstanding capped agreement now carries net local costs without offsetting state supplemental funding.

Other business included updates on Mountain Vista Governor's School slots (district pays for six slots, currently four students enrolled) and program donations to the carpentry program that will be used for student tools and hands-on learning.

Next steps: staff will return in March with the staffing-study report and the budget public hearing will be scheduled for the March 10 meeting.