Dairy owners is candidate for BOE seat
Board of Education
Dairy owner is candidate for District 2 seat
Editor's note: This is the last in a series of stories highlighting the candidates running for seats on the USD 410 board of education. The general election is Tuesday, April 1.
Dale Klassen, of rural Durham, is running for the District 2 position on the USD 410 board of education. The District 2 seat is currently held by Brenda Enns, who did not file for re-election. Klassen is running unopposed.
Klassen owns the Klassen Dairy, located south of Durham. He's married to Kay, and they have three boys: sixth-grader Andy, third-grader Aaron, and 5-year-old Brandon.
Klassen never thought about running for school board until Brenda Enns suggested it, he said. This is Klassen's first time running for public office, although he's served in leadership roles before.
The dairy owner wants to be involved in the school board to make sure the rural students of the district are represented, he said.
A good school board member will go into the job with an open mind, Klassen said, realizing that his decisions affect not only his children but the entire district.
The budget will definitely be the greatest challenge the board faces, Klassen said.
"That's going to be a problem for an extended length of time," he said.
Klassen doesn't see the financial problems coming from wasted money, but the district will have to discover what isn't needed and distribute funds a little differently.
It may be necessary to make small cuts in every area, he said. Everything should be examined.
When considering the "pay to play" option to raise money for the district, Klassen said that he was initially against it. Now he thinks that a $50 or $60 fee, which is the same as the cost for a pair of shoes, could be doable for families. The board should discuss if it wants to give that added expense to families.
Bottom line, the district needs to find a way to get money.
"We've got to come up with some revenue," he said.
Klassen is against raising the mill levy or raising taxes, but the district may have to face that someday, he said. First, though, cuts should be made.
Although he hasn't studied the issue of consolidation, Klassen does think that the district should analyze how the administrative costs per student pan out and then look at the numbers for other districts.
"I'm curious to see how we compare with others," he said.
