>> Yeah. Um, and I think once people understand how things work and the power they actually have that they're going to be more likely to participate because if people think, "Oh, nothing I do matters." What would be their motivation to participate? But if they're like, "Wow, I do have power to to help figure out how the town's going to look or the zoning, whatever." And not just when you're sitting in a town meeting, when it's too late to do anything. I think that would be great. All right. So, our next topic under the umbrella topic is letting the people speak and I had some uh I want to call them unfortunate experiences since we did the last podcast where I was like invited to speak and then I was cut off. Uh, I was interrupted then cut off and then uh I was I just I couldn't believe it because we actually talked before last time about Baron versus Kenda and I know that they at their open meeting law training that they had I think it was in February late mid midFebruary they talked about um that when there's public comment.
>> Yeah, a lot of the a lot of my friends at least I know we all applied for a lot of scholarships. It's it's nice to get kind of they give us a booklet of all the scholarships that we can apply to and you know it made my life a whole lot easier because I went through and I could go kind of organize scholarships that I wanted to apply to. I think I think the the guidance department that we have does a really good job of setting us up for success. I know if you needed anything you could go down and ask and the whole kind of scholarship thing was run by them. So I think kind of the convenience and then obviously it's really relevant for a lot of us. College is expensive. So we're all we're all looking for ways to make it as cheap as possible.
But I don't know that the expectancy was forever. >> So it's not a big cuz I mean when when I look at it I know that I've looked at it before and I'm pretty sure it's cement on the loading dock top and then cement on the side. >> Yes, it does look. And so you look like a big cement block. >> You go to the dumpsters and it is not. There was a >> Oh, the dumpster's on the far side of the loading dock from Route 10 >> and it's hollow. >> Yeah, right. And you can see it's it's a chainlink fence. Um, apparently at some point there was a discussion about like turning that space into a classroom underneath or a usable space that never materialized. So >> I guess storage. I don't know about a classroom. >> That was a very long time ago, but that's that has not happened.
>> Uh, I I don't I don't know. I >> Yeah, I I wasn't in that conversation yesterday. So just I can maybe help clarify. So Rich Jelbert has his own line item in the regular budget um for over the course of the year. And so as projects emerge, there's planned projects and then projects that are potentially anticipated and then there's unanticipated. And so Rich will use his line for all the planned projects. And as the year unfolds, if there's uh more in there that he has room for, he'll continue to use that. And if there's leftover or excess funds also at the end of the year, those can be used for projects like this as well. But um this was something that had been talked about since last year. So this I believe this project in particular, a portion of it is in there. And I think we were all surprised to see how much we could get done for 255,000 to make it operable for for another program.
I don't have a we don't have a choice. I don't have a money tree out there. Um, this pains me. Um I I'm not happy to have to raise taxes, but I don't >> I mean there's nowhere to cut. Um >> there is nowhere to cut. >> There's nowhere I literally on Thursday night I just stared at the budget again. It no I had my county VA meeting yesterday >> and um so many of them are raising taxes but their board is like frustrating them because they're like we're raising taxes and you're cutting positions like >> where are we getting the balance? So there's like a lot of frustration. Um and it's frustrating because the state obviously just keeps putting it back on us. So one of the things our county BA said yesterday is that um the the budget this year maintained a 3% cap on losses.
We've been told by people, brokers, and anyone else who has some level of experience and professional um expertise in this area to expect another 30 to 40% increase. Again, go back to my January presentation. I dive deep into health benefits and the pressures on our budget. Our salaries again 54 cents of every dollar 5455 million increases contractually at about 3.5 to 4% annually. Transportation. So we outsourced the majority of transportation last year. We were always outsourced the majority of transportation but the remaining we outsourced last year. So we have many thirdparty transportation providers. When we have providers we have contracts with them. Those providers can inc or uh renew their contract with us at the consumer price index of next year's 3.58%. That CPI, the state tells us what CPI is for state school transportation contracts. Last year was 3.57%. If they choose not to renew or the district always has the option not to renew as well, the contractor or we would have to go out the bid by law.
So got got his eye on maybe even standing on the taller steps on that on that podium down there in Champagne. So round of applause for Brady. All right. With me tonight is coach Elizabeth Short for our uh women's wrestling program. Uh I'll our uh boys wrestling uh coach unfortunately had a situation um out of his control this evening. He was hoping to be here. Um so coach Short is going to represent and share what Mr. which coach Kowaltic had for Nadim. He had like just a little short script he wanted to to share tonight. All right, here you go. >> We're going to abandon the speeches and you guys will just rest. My money is on Jade, but that's just me. I'm biased. Um, so I am proud to introduce Nadim Haleem, a man who represents the very best of Andrew High School. Nadem is a fourtime state qualifier and two-time all-state wrestler, but those titles only tell part of the story.
Um, I was actually at a meeting after this one and Tamara messaged me and she said, "Do you want those posters left up for the board meeting tonight?" Yes, actually I do. I asked them if they would leave them. And so this is part of our career coaching grant, but you can see a little bit of what our process is. A lot of times we start with the current. What are the things that we have going on right now? And then you'll notice May of 2029. Like that's the target date. So we're looking ahead. Where are we going with that? And then what do we need to do in the meantime to get there? And so what's our planning going to look like? So right now we have this going on across the entire district. And so then the goal is that we'll be able to come back, we'll be able to wrap this up, revisit our strategic plan and have that better aligned um with our updates and ready to go for the next school year.
Dr. Stalbalm's experience and leadership approach strongly align with those identified properties priorities. Dr. Stalbalm brings 20 years of experience in public education, including 10 years as a teacher and leadership roles at the school, district, and state levels. She has a strong track record of improving student outcomes while advancing staff recruitment, retention, and organizational systems. She began her career in Greenwood schools where she taught elementary and middle school. She later served as a senior school improvement specialist with the Indiana Department of Education, supporting instructional improvement efforts statewide. Dr. Stalbalm led district-wide academic initiatives for the Cooko School Corporation that produced measurable gains in student achievement. She has also served as assistant superintendent for human resources in both Monroe County Community School Corporation and most recently Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation. In addition to her professional experience, Dr. Stalbalm, her husband, and their three sons have proudly called Center Grove home for nearly eight years.
>> Correct. >> And we currently both have plans, but they do differ a little bit from one building to the next. So, >> I think it's also important to note that it is guidance related to the systems and processes, but what's developmentally appropriate at the elementary will look different at the middle and high school level. When you talk about ti, >> great.
We can talk about that process too. Katie, you could talk about that. When there is a public comment, the the idea is to let the people speak instead of, you know, trying to shut them down. Do you want to talk about the process of public comment? >> Well, I think that we should do a better job of allowing it, saying when it's allowed, when it's not allowed, and why. And I I think that they do need to take heart um that mass Supreme Court ruling that people do get to say. Now I mean I I think there has to be some measure of them. Like when I was on the planning board and there was basically Zoom bombing that was just >> terrible. Like do do you allow racists and other things to occur? >> Generally probably not right. But what and so I think we can do a better job if there was a well- definfined process.
So I think >> yeah I also think students like informing other students kind of that word of mouth um is great and and I already have my ticket for March 29th for Pippen. So or 28th for Pippen. So I'm really excited. So thanks again for plugging that. >> Of course. >> Great. Any other board members comments, questions? >> With respect to the um applications though, we worked to almost make like a common app sort of format now where students only enter their demographic information once and it populates into a variety of things. Marlene, I know you worked a lot with Scott Conway on that. Can you >> Yeah. So, sorry. What Scott Conway did, Scott is one of our data analysts in our tech integration um office. And what he did this year, which Connor, you might not even be aware of because it's the first year they've done it, is they put two links on the website.
So that's where we are. But >> that parking lot is also our pool. >> Yes. So that is a So there's the >> Apple. Yes. Yeah. And it be there's also drainage issues. I think the challenge last year was this came off as like, oh, you're trying to expand the parking. Um, it would reroute parking, but there are a lot of drainage issues with this specific part of the parking lot as well along with >> So, I think I think one of the things we need to do if this makes it through the council again is make sure that it's the loading dock because it when it came referendum, it looked like we were going to redo the parking lot. >> Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And and me and British have talked about what's the way to frame this in a way that like it's the safety is is the the highlight versus a convenience or parking.
um if we had I think you remember if we had uh included students in this the it's a completely different ballgame because of the requirements of over uh under 18. >> So um this was sort of a a faceelift and some cosmetic changes on the inside to make it clean it up and make it appropriate for the kind of space that an adult program would need. >> Okay. Um yeah, I would hope that um you would re uh reach out to Rich or whoever is responsible for that budgeting of the and make sure that any remediation work is included in that that you would not be coming back to the board. >> Sure. >> For additional funds >> um because now we're remediating or prices now have gone up. >> Thank you. Yep, we will certainly do our our due diligence on that. And then just to add what Cara was saying, you know, we did anticipate this when we were putting last year's budget together.
So no district lost more than 3% um of their funding, but no district received more than 6% um of an increase. um next year or in future years they are going to look to modernize the current formula which I think will be a benefit um to a lot of districts. There has to be a lot more consideration taken into um special ed costs and things that nature like I said things that are out of our control um that it's hard to sustain these these changes and these increases without some additional help from the state. Um, so the DOE is also trying to look to clearly explain like what drives state aid. I guess then they can get a little more creative. Um, and then I did I'm going to send you guys this article. This is from a um superintendent. He's been around for a long time, but his name is Tony Tone um on March 13th, which was right after the budget numbers came out.
But that's a catch 22. going out the bid many times results in a higher than CPI renewal. There's too many unknowns with transportation. We have students every week, and I'm not kidding when I say every single week, who require a new transportation service. So that might be a McKini Vinto student or students who are displaced in another town but still attend school in Eshan. We are legally required to provide them transportation. We are legally required to provide transportation for our out of district placements. On the special education side, we receive we see mandates, continued mandates and updated mandates from the state of New Jersey without funding and our out of district tuition rates exceed our 2% ability to raise our tax levy cap. But not only that, we don't know in any given year how many out of district placement students we're going to have.
He is kind, a relentless worker and and a natural leader. From the first time he pulled on the Thunderbolt singlet, he has been an electric factory. He thrives in the spotlight and excels in the chaos. The best way to describe this is if you find a way to score 22 points, Dino will find a way to score 23. What truly separates Dino is his force is his fierce competitive spirit. We saw this clearly during the state quarterfinals this year. Deep into a highly contested match, he began limping in the third period. Uhoh. Most would have folded, but as he has done 135 times in his career, he simply found a way. He pushed the match into overtime and secured the win, clenching his second All-State honor through pure determination. The Thunderbolt wrestling program is in a significantly better place today than it was four years ago, and that is a direct result of Dino's leadership.
So again, not a lot of information about what is actually going on in the plan right now, but I did want you guys to know that there's a lot of work going on across the district right now with our strategic planning as far as revisiting and making sure that we're headed in the same direction and that everything we're doing. Some of this also came about from the TAG grant as well when we were sitting looking at the applications and then also looking at what the process could look like for it. you know, you can start going down so many different rabbit holes as far as like, well, measuring this and measuring that and, you know, measuring different things and if we're not all pulling in the same direction and stuff, it feels kind of counterproductive. And so, if we're all working in the same direction and we're all focused on areas that are contributing to this, we also need to capture that in our TAG grant as well.
The board will hold a public contract hearing in April, followed by a special board meeting to vote on her appointment. We are confident in Dr. Stalbone's ability to build on Synagrow's strong foundation and continue to move the district forward as we work in support of our students, staff, and community. So tonight, Dr. Stal, Mr. Russell, I want to express my deepest gratitude to the board for placing their trust and confidence in me as the selection for the next superintendent of Center Grove and I look forward to completing that process in the upcoming month. >> Thank you. >> Okay, announcements, anything, Rob? >> I just want to welcome Dr. Stalbomb also, and if I butcher your name more than once, I apologize in advance. Uh just want to let the public know we went through an exhaustive search. We had a lot of really really good candidates and Dr.
So, um, this slide really hasn't changed very much, but we really, you know, if you have any questions and so forth, please ask. I think the The uh big thing here is, you know, when we're talking about maximizing instructional time, um just thinking about that the total core instructional minutes per week. Um core meaning language arts, math, science, and social studies. Um and we're going to have a graph on slide 20 that will show you the difference in those minutes um here in the future. So um the other the student to teacher contact uh contact time. So um some of that is um some class sizes will be lower and uh so that ability to get to more kids more frequently um and providing feedback and all of that is is uh really important to us. Um we want to pri prioritize the school instruction uh and expand those um electives.