>> Chair, I don't have that answer on me, unfortunately. Uh but I know someone who might. Um Brian, >> he wants to come save the day. Burn. Same question. >> Brian Miamoto, Hawaii Farm Bureau. Uh I think it's very difficult to answer the question, Senator, without knowing exact purchasing for each of these departments. But uh I think anecdotally, um with more programs, which we're supporting, there's more competition for the limited supply of local that we have. And that's why the Farm Bureau along with DAB and other partners come to you folks for positive agriculture policies in order to increase scale. That's something that we're working on. I believe right now DOE is only at 6.4%. So we we do agree with with public safety. We support the intent. I think our concern is moving up that benchmark from 2030 to 2028 at 30%. DOE is already at 30% 30 by 30 is is their goal.
Let me call you back up. >> Okay. From the Hawaii Department of Agriculture and Bio Security. >> Okay. Please introduce yourself. >> Yes. Hello, chair, vice chair, members of the committee, Cedric Gates here on behalf of DAB. Uh DAB stands on its written testimony offering support of this measure. Uh this will help contribute to the ongoing work that we have with LCC uh regarding our bio security uh program to train and uh retain workers for DAB.
>> You weren't kidding. That was a full report. Did they have you there all day? >> Yeah. That was great, though. Thank you very much. Any questions for Mrs. High on SCESC? All right. Since uh Mr. Incalcutatera is not with us this evening, we will not have a southbound Brook report. So, at this time, I will ask if there are any final comments or questions regarding anything from any of the committees. All right.
So, it's it's it's a piece of that puzzle, but it's not a direct correlation to success in middle school uh and teameming. And and it again, it doesn't guarantee academic uh achievement and and it's not necessarily a guaranteed academic strategy. >> So, the next slide is um talking about, you know, is is teaming the right model for Center Grove? Um and you can read the the slide. Um, but I would tell you we recognize and and we've enjoyed the benefits of teaming uh in in Center Grove and we're not taking all that away. Um, you know, both schools have taken time with our teachers uh to identify those benefits of teaming that we want to keep in our schools. And um we're now building a schedule that scales up to those expectations and to the way that we want to continue um our schools given the size and also the recent legislation asking for additional course options.
So, um, what I envision there is a buildings and grounds department. Um, that will actually, um, and it's also to help pay for some utility increase costs and expanded preventive maintenance. But what we need to look at doing obviously from the feedback that we got in the comprehensive plan process is we need to look at fields. We need to look at an expansion of fields in addition to the maintenance of the fields that we have right now. Um, and then we also need to look at, you know, making sure that we maintain the facilities that we've built, um, and even the ones that are somewhat older. Um, one of the things we commonly heard when we were going forward with the with a debt exclusion for the two new buildings was that we don't take care of the current ones that we have. That was one of the arguments that was presented.
one of the things that this board uh has certainly asked a lot about and we've taken to heart the conversations about data and looking at those scores. Um so we recently gave to the 9th, 10th, and 11th graders in the fall of uh 2025. We gave the PSAT something we've been giving for years. Uh we had the ability to look back uh and compare scores amongst cohorts and grades to really look at um in specific individual like for example uh a cohort of students progressing through the PSAT what did they score traditionally over the course of the years and then you look uh from a real curriculum perspective in an individual uh grade level. So look at all nth grade the last few years. You look at all these and we started to identify areas that um are of importance and areas that we're strong at and some areas that we uh need to improve in.
>> So, it's same manufacturer. We picked a better product than they did and they got four >> Well, it it'll be five years this year less. And >> that Yeah. And that just proves that, you know, we we need to get up-to-date information here. >> So, I think we should move forward with at least the 7500. Um, but we do have to ultimately spend 30,000 though, Emily. I'm just looking at the fees. >> Yeah, I don't know that it would be $30,000 total. the the um lump sums are the preliminary design, the $7,500. The final design and construction documents would be um $12,500 and then bidding phase services for $2,000. I would say that those costs, the 22,000 is really like non-negotiable for them to get us through the project. Um but the two pieces is the the local regulatory permitting. They budgeted $8,000. I don't know that it's going to cost that much.
And so as a result of that, Glattus, we adjusted the way we budgeted this year dramatically to anticipate the fact that we now know we were overbudgeting particularly benefits and some salaries and needing to put some money in other places such as agencies. So in a very proactive way instead of just rolling our budget forward, we took those measures into account, made some adjustments on salary and benefits and change the way we plan for those benefits and to come up with the 3 million um ask which is far below what we've asked for way far below in the past to take into consideration. So do I think next year's budget I don't think we're going to be turning up any surpluses. Um, and in fact, we're going to have to, um, you know, I think I use the term razor's edge to, you know, continue to monitor that.
In fact, just as of late over the summer and into the fall, our board uh and staff has developed a list of fundamental elements that best exemplify a model classroom at our school. Elements that need to be included in every open classroom classroom. Um these are some of the elements that we adhere to uh in our philosophy. Uh students work uh individually or in small groups depending on the activity. Uh choice and independence uh are emphasized and supremely important at our school. Uh classrooms are multi-age uh and learning spaces are flexible. Uh uh teachers act as facilitators or guides at our school rather than kind of didactic people that stand up in front of a classroom. They interact with children and help guide them through the curriculum. Uh collaboration and community are central to the classroom and commitments or work lists uh help develop work habits, organization and focus.
So, uh, I think we're going to have to change even another statute if this bill is going to pass because we're trying to align all the goals. Moving up two years may not offer us the opportunity that that the the industry is working on with the legislature to increase scale so that we can meet the demand of these programs farm to school. This one, I believe, is we refer to as farm to state. So again, not knowing what each department is purchasing, but e even understanding what 30% of their purchasing would look like, it's hard to determine, but um from a production standpoint, Senator, we do know that we need more land. We need more water to produce more because the the farmers that are producing now, they already have their markets and we we're unsure if they're going to be willing to move their markets, be it to to restaurants, hotels, supermarkets, farmers markets to these different programs.
Uh this is uh something that we prioritize in light of uh the recent investment by the legislature uh to DAB for these types of programs and here for any questions. >> Thank you. Carlin McFaten testifying for Hawaii Food and Policy. Not here. Nicole Galas Galiss for Hawaii Cattleman's Council. Brian Yamoto for Hawaii Farm Bureau. Let's see him. Erin Mendelson also in support individual. And Leilani Dlo. Anyone else here wishing to justify on this measure? Okay.
Hearing none, we are open to the public for agenda items only. I don't see any members of the public that are actually here, unless there's anybody from the administration who would like to address us. I think we are clear to move on to item 6.1. Be it resolved that the Bound Brook Board of Education upon recommendation of the superintendent approves the minutes for the following board of education meetings regular and executive meeting minutes from January 21st, 2026. May I have a motion? >> Motion. >> Thank you, Mr. Bal. A second. >> Thank you, Mrs. High.
Um and and we know that we can do this um through our robust MTSS model. Um and it will further enhance our um academic decisions as well as our behavioral and emotional support for our kids. Um so you could see up there some of those points. Um you know the effectiveness of any model, you know, it's not about the programs, it's about the people. It's the people and we have great people who care. We have great people who care about kids. Um you guys have done a nice job of hiring people that do and so we're going to continue to make sure that that's taken care of. But we're going to enhance our practices with researchbased uh modern models that keep up with the legislation and our growing needs. So next is some of the feedback we received and I have this broken into a couple slides.
So, we're trying to address that. Um, under the police department, you'll see $100,000 there for full-time uh traffic enforcement. Um, an additional $300,000 for an additional firefighter per shift. Um, there's the 2.75 million for the school increase. Um, under cemetery parks and trees, um, we would restore the landscape maintenance account with Yellowstone. Um, and then under senior center, um, we would look at increasing it by $20,000 to increase the hours for some of our senior staff, our senior center staff so they can do more activities. And then you see a fairly uh, you know, decent size from a percentage increase um, in veterans benefits and that's just veterans benefits are going up. You mean there already existing benefits and they just been an increase in them or there's additional benefits? >> additional veterans. >> Yeah. Taking advantage of it. >> Okay. So, but same benefits but just additional people involved.
Um and so we looked at smallest growth in terms of different score bands that are there. And you can see highest growth in areas of craft and structure, geometry and trig. Uh and the smallest growth in the area of expression of ideas and problem solving and data analysis. Um, so those are just bigger overarching topics and categories that then go back to our teachers, uh, who when they work in their PLC's and their CLTs, so we call them CLTs here. It's professional learning communities. Um, they can look to develop, um, some assessments, right, and some teaching and specific strategies that can help them work on these particular skills with students to show improvements. We believe as a school district and as most schools do, um, we're not teaching to the test. The SAT foundationally is a test that does measure important skills that kids need to have to be successful.
um especially once we're able to talk to a town engineer. Um and then construction phase services as um TBD >> and potentially could be something that is folded into the actual capital expenditure plan. This is a piece that can't um because we haven't been approved but folding as much as we can into a capital plan would be great. >> It sounds like on on average like in other areas been I know we had spent 50,000 or more just on the consulting work. the 7500 I think is quite reasonable for what you're going to get because they're going to they're going to do a study not only of our existing facility, but they'll look at what um options you have for the different types of turf blades, different type of infill, are you going to do padding, and you get an estimate of probable cost. And you know, by the time you get to capital budget, at least you'll have something in hand that is is solid for everybody, board of ed members and the town council to weigh in on.
We're a big district. We have fluctuations. We have surprises. Uh, we have needs that come up during the year. And so, but we also are still working on hiring and staffing. So, some of that could could wash out. So, we'll be monitoring that very closely. We're able to kind of go as close as we we we have gone because we do know we have a little bit of backup. We don't really want to have to use that. We want to make sure that that's a real rainy day, like really pouring for us to use that, but it's there if we need it. Um, similarly with the healthc care reserve, we're we are completely um stocked on the healthcare reserve. We have a lot of insurance there should we tend to, you know, have a couple of high claimments that run our budget over. Um, that's what the reserve is for, right?
And one of our taglines is dirty hands and belly laughs are the sign of a great day at Wildflower. Um the most fundamental of all the fundamental elements of our school is integrated thematic learning. Um in integrating subjects into thematic units demonstrates the interconnectedness of our world. Um higher levels of engagements are created through this method. Uh, hands-on activities, projects, and choice support learning styles and diverse learners. Um, let's skip through these a little bit, but uh, students develop critical thinking and and they apply knowledge across disciplines and deeper understanding is created as students explore themes and make connections across multiple subjects. Some of the examples of classroom themes over the years have been food uh, growth. Um, our kindergarten did a whole year theme on just dirt, uh, which I thought was fascinating. Uh, castles, Harry Potter Potter d, uh, dig fossils, Americana were some of the other themes.
So, what we're trying to do is increase scale, have small farmers become medium-sized farmers, mediumsized farms become large farmers, large farms become >> So, Brian, >> bigger farmers and new farmers. So, so I I get that you know um you know most of these guys either have their markets already >> um which some are under contract that they have to supply so the add-on of trying to supply the different department so I'll throw the question to you is it most of these part departments before they can accept that food have to be food safety certified and is it a challenge for the smaller farmers to still meet food safety certification to then do business via one hub or a cooperative that would be on pass through to get more product to meet that 30% demand. >> Uh your the first question Senator as far as food safety certification um I understand working with state agencies that normal that's their normal practice to prevent um or to minimize the risk.
Hearing none. Carlos if you can come back. Uh, so Carlos, you folks at Leeward? >> Yes. Your Leeward hat on. Um, have a two-year associates degree here. And then what this bill is asking is that you go on for two more years to get a bachelor's. But you're saying that West Oahu, which is not far away, has a fouryear. So why is there a problem? Um, and why the need for this bill if things are working? Um, and so historically, uh, there should there should have always been alignment between the community colleges and the four-year institutions. Often times, the curriculum begins to drift. Um, and so what's happened is that the community college students haven't had the mo the clearest of pathways. Additionally, when you enter at a community college, you may have the option of going to the College of Ed Monoa or uh West Oahu, depending on the advising track that you take.