And I think that's really important because as we go through these these budget issues, as we have to tighten our belt, one of the things that is happening is is our students with special needs are not only not decreasing in number, but they're coming to us with more significant needs. And we have five feeder districts that feed into us. and we're getting an increase in the number of kids coming in, but then we're also um seeing a a higher level of need with those students. Just like everything, our groceries, gas, the cost of things increases and has been increasing and will continue. Um and so meeting the needs is getting more expensive. So, I want to just touch on this briefly because we serve students in addition to on our campuses, we serve students who aren't able to be um educated in our schools. Sometimes we have students because of their social, emotional, and behavioral needs that have to be placed in non-public schools or in residential treatment centers.
I love greeting the the drivers every morning and seeing all their faces and it just makes my day to make them happy. Hi, I'm Chrissy Holt Grief. I'm one of the district nurses with Apple Valley Unified School District. Sherry is an invaluable asset to the AVUSD family. She plays a key role in making sure that our students have access to safe and reliable transportation to school. I'm always impressed by how quickly she can make adjustments when changes arise. She is proactive in keeping families informed about any changes in bus schedules. When the need arises, she even steps up to drive the bus routes herself, ensuring that students get to school on time, and she does it all with a warm and welcoming smile. It's clear that she's not only just doing her job, but she's truly invested in the well-being of the students in our community.
Each of you will have to decide how you how you vote on the budget. But you're going to have to use real common sense here with the body public and where we're at in addition to what the business administrator said about our federal funds and what that could cause the district as a whole. These these are you know these are landmines you have to avoid very carefully. So in closing let me just say that you know you're going to try to build momentum so that you can achieve in the outer years not just this year. So if you go to 2% as I think administration is recommending if you go to that 2% you may be able to pull together a recommendation the following year where you could go possibly more but then you're going to have to show results and I would urge all commissioners up here on the board speak to thorowness but don't ever pay lip service to efficiency.
uh reading curriculum. Just an update there on selection committee recently met to discuss K5 uh reading adoption. So currently looking at uh two resources um and and the the different strengths that they offer. So next steps gathering financial quotes um to be considered within that process and look to come May boarding with a recommendation uh there. Monty joined us um there as well. I don't know if you have anything you want to add there. um findings to that process and where we're at. That was it was just really enlightening to to hear the perspective of the of the committee and taking into consideration not only the the teachers and how they would utilize it but but really how it was going to affect the students and you know what was going to be the best to how was it phrased scaffold up and down or something to that effect.
And they're fine and hey, we want to talk about this other one. But every single one of those had when it's a bigger change, it's a new it's like you you reopen that application and we never have we don't maybe it didn't need to be done. I'm not saying but like it I've watched a lot of planning board meetings before I was on the board. Pay attention like Mark now I'm on the board like I don't believe we have a good process for that that's related to this right. Let's pretend we're talking about the project next to your house for a second. And I don't think I can because I'm on the board. Sorry. Okay. Let's pretend we're talking to a project that doesn't exist that one of us decides looks sketchy. This right here, what whatever we we come up with, we'll force a conversation.
The cliche I like to say is a budget is a plan and plans change. And what ended up happening in the past years was that we wrote the grants for specific purposes that when they did not come to fruition, we had two choices. amend the grant or we turn the money back to the federal government because we didn't spend it all. I don't think anyone here would want us to turn back the money to the federal government. So, we amended the grant and we did what I remember I called the legitimate shell game of moved expenses that were originally planned from whether it be the local funding or one of the other revolving accounts. We moved it to the ESER grant to fully expend the ESER grant and therefore free up money in the local budget or the other revolving accounts to use as statutoily allowed.
There's also a lot of logistical issues um that make that pretty challenging. you know, uh, athletics being a big one, daycare being a big one because like I said for the Y there are their employees and, um, so we are we want to be able to put everything on the table, including acknowledging what some of the limitations and strengths of these different options are. U, but we're not going to put anything out there that we haven't vetted to make sure that logistically it works. And then also to be able to share what the pros and cons are and the financial ramifications of any decision we make is sorry I guess that the the mouse rolls out my brain. Um so if you move the high school up to 820, right? Then are would we we would have to maybe Vin you said this already we would have to add an extra like wave of buses or would we push all of the elementary schools forward after that or Yeah.
And we have currently 35 students in our district who are enrolled in a non-public school. The cost per student is between 110 and 190,000 per student. And unfortunately, that's not a cost that we have any control over. The non-public schools, as their cost goes up, they pass that on to us. Um and again these are students who we have tried to support um through the systems and supports that we have available but we're not able to because of the significance of their needs. Residential treatment is where students actually live outside the home at the facility. We have 10 students right now who are in an RTC setting. Um because the students live there, the cost is significantly more. The cost for our students runs between 178,000 and 300,000 per student depending on the stu where they're placed and the level of need that they have in that placement.
My name is Jill Coburn, and I'm a router dispatcher at Apple Valley Transportation. Sherry's absolutely amazing. She comes in at 4:30 every day. She has an hour to piece together a puzzle to keep this department running as smoothly as it does on a daily basis. She's amazing and she is nothing but a pleasure to work with. This is Doug Smith. I'm the director of transportation for Apple Valley Unified School District. We have one simple job here and that's to get kids to and from school safely. It's like putting a puzzle together, a thousand piece puzzle together that we have to do every single morning, but the pieces move and they change direction and they go missing. And Sherry does it every single day without fail with a smile on her face and sometimes even even being part of the puzzle where she has to drive.
They go hand in hand. Somebody's got to pay the bills. And I believe if I was correct, 85% of that supports the Clifton schools comes from local property taxpayers. Those are the people who pay the freight. We're not getting somebody coming in from Trenton giving us extra money. So I thank you for the time. I wish you well under discussions. And again, Superintendent, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Thank you. Would anyone else like to approach the table? Right. Seeing no one to close by Commissioner Brunack, seconded by Commissioner Mahia. Okay. Next up, we're going to vote um for the adoption of three different meetings. So, the March 11th minutes of the March 11th meeting, which was our committee of the whole, our first um budget meeting, March 13th, which was a regular board meeting, and the final minutes uh for March 20th, which was our strategic planning meeting.
So yeah, it was really good. Glad to be there. Uh lastly, IPLI, Mrs. Hos and Mrs. Hall both graduated from their two-year program with Indiana Principal Leadership Institute. So, um again, that two years, year one focuses on um the the individual leader and year two turns to school improvement and they get to bring two teacher leaders with them. So, uh this past year, Mrs. Hall had Paxton Mer and Miranda Patton and so appreciate their um leadership with with Nichol Nicholson alongside Mrs. Hall and then Mrs. Hos had Lexi Carson and Lisa Tat and so appreciate the the work that they've done and um and the the growth in in their leadership and their schools and I know Dr. director and I are are proud of their commitment to their personal growth and achievements and what they'll be able to take take from there as they continue on.
Then the board can discuss as a board and vote on it whether this is something we need to reopen or not. So I I don't have a problem with a process that allows for a conversation. I don't think, you know, any protocol that we create. It's not going to require them to do anything other than it's going to give us a chance to speak. I mean, that's my point. Like this there's another part to this that doesn't have to be written. It just it gets it back in front of the board to have those like that view and those conversations. Or it's simple as like you have a list of items. We say when you're ready to submit your drawings for permit, use this as a checklist and if there are any major changes, give us a heads up. It could be uh I don't know depending on the scale of the changes figure out if have like review online or offline.
I need to state that over and over again as statutoily allowed to do what school committees can do with these funds. We did and it allowed us the flexibility to again have the beginning balances in these accounts that we had for FY25. And I'll be perfectly honest with you, come the closing of FY25, some of these things may end up looking differently as well, either up or down. But it's the nature of ed reform that gives school districts the flexibility to do this. And that is exactly what it is that we are doing. It's sound fiscal management under the opaces of providing the best education we can currently and going forward into the future. So yes, previous years absolutely there be changes but again I it is worthy of repeating and it's this is Andy on repeat. It is worthy of repeating that this has been the practice of the district even when we haven't been here to fully expend the local budget and if there's any funds available at the end of the year.
So we're putting that puzzle together right now. Right. That's what you're doing. Yeah. So that's what we're putting that puzzle together right now and saying like all right if we kept X number of buses the same exact number of buses we have now same number of runs what could we do if we adjusted that in any way shape or form? What would that look like? you know, and moving things around where, you know, you have to be considerate of Barnum School and walking distances. You and I were talking about that the other day. So, like, do we need more buses in that area than maybe we would have needed at Chapman because there are less kids able to walk, you know? So, we're evaluating all of these different uh elements that that contribute into it. And it's it's a lot of work. Um, and so like I said, we want to make sure that we're putting out a product that has been vetted before we throw it out to the community and they either love or hate something that's not even feasible.
And then we also provide something called wraparound services for our students. And right now we have 30 students who receive wraparound support. They get support in the home. They get individual support, family support. and it costs us about 104,000 per month to provide those wraparound services for the students. Then this slide is really just a very quick uh Nancy could give you a better a better table and a better presentation than I could on the budget, but I think this is a really good overview and highlight. So, as you can see, there's the 2223 and the 2324. um uh columns on here. You can see from year to year that the revenue, the money coming in is actually increasing. In the state revenue, it went up about 600,000. It went up about 3 million in from AB602. But the contribution from the general fund had to go up as well because even that increase in money coming in was not enough to cover the expenses.
She is the biggest reason the kids get to and from school safely. [Applause] Well, congratulations to all. So, I'm going to go ahead and uh we'll dismiss the students and I know that Sher has to get to work at 3:30. So, thank you everyone. Congratulations again. I almost got you and then I was like with this other kid and they'll be like All right. See you next month, Hannah. Two more to go and then what? Oh, good, good, good. Let me just tell you, be ready to grade for hours. Be ready to grade for hours. I love Right. Yeah. I'm just going to wait a couple What's that? Oh, I know. It's still late though. I didn't [Music] Kylie, is there more cards? Okay, so as everybody's heading out, we still have some business to attend to. So, we'll start with board member comments. And first up is Anita Tucker.
So, motion move motion by Commissioner Bassford, second, second by Commissioner Brunak. Roll call. Mr. Shad, Miss Bassford, yes. Mr. Brunac, yes. Mr. Media, yes. Mr. Iano, yes to 11 and 13, abstain on 20. Miss Suarez, yes. Vice President Santiago, yes. President Paris, yes. Motion carries. Floor is yours uh for your superintendent report, Dr. Robert. Thank you uh Mr. President. Good evening, commissioners. Thank you uh to all of the uh staff and members of the community uh who spoke tonight. You know, your voice matters and and coming here and speaking matters. Uh this this board needs to hear what the community thinks and despite what uh some people may think that they don't have a voice, you do have a voice. There's at least one of these meetings every month um sometimes two and this board will listen to you. So thank you for coming out tonight and speaking.
So congratulations to Mrs. Mr. and your assistant superintendent I think record. Yes. All right. Thank you CHS folks who are still left. Um yeah for hosting providing a student focused presentation. Um we love that like Mr. set it. It is nice because we don't get to deal with the students on the daily basis or even the teachers every day. So we're all Amen sister. So feel so much more comfortable when the newspaper is not right here probably watching online. Um yes, thank you Jenny. Um Jenny filled in while Lexi Carson was out um is the teachers representative. So it was kind of nice to get a text with her different times of the day and hours of night, those type of things. But yeah, I mean just I mean that is one of the things that is so great that even you know she's representing the teachers and represent administration the board and these things.
Yeah. And I think some of this like I mean um this isn't always well I mean yeah maybe it's up to us but I would also like to understand um like Doug Scott's view on this I would like to understand um you know Kurd cup curb opening dimensions and locations like is that something if the fire department would care about that which they might then it should stay on the list if they're like you know it's it's changed all the time a little bit it's fine you know Um, and if it's not in the end, if it's not the way it should be, I mean, it it it can be changed, right? But neighbors might care about, we had that conversation about ADU that people might not want another curb cut. So, I mean, it's it's not just as simple as I'm saying another curb cut.
I went back because I anticipated this coming up. I have found emails between Liz Gilman and the business office and myself about the fact that she's bringing to our attention even though we knew it that there is a balance that is left in a local budget. What are you going to do with that? So, it's a practice to zero out the local. And as I said to you, mayor, your question in May of the 2024 meeting, I told you the order we spent it. I took grants off the table because the grants are spent in accordance with the parameters that the grant was written. Then we spend the local first which is why as I'm a broken record every report that I give to say we charge everything to the local first. So it's local first grants in accordance with the grants and then revolving accounts as needed.