HB 1934 hearing none questions. I have a question for the library. I'm very familiar with the Dolly Parton reading program and I know about the Molokai one because of Senator DeCoite and I think it's a marvelous program. However, for having a child and having availability books does not necessarily mean that the parents will read to the child and that the child necessarily reads. So it takes a lot more than just receiving one book. Um You know every every the child at certain throughout to the age five. That's one thing. The other thing is not every student or every family needs to have a supplemental book. So can't you look at the program and see where are the areas of need so we can focus in on those that one the parents can't afford the books or two don't have the books instead of saying one child in the whole state because there's just not enough funding to support to continually support something like this and we have to be realistic about that.
Hearing none, chair, your recommendation is adopted. >> Okay, thank you. And our last item on our agenda is House Bill 1782, House Draft 3. This is relating to artificial intelligence for the protection of minors. Recommendation here is to pass with amendments. We're going to accept and adopt the proposed amendments from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Protection. Um we're also going to accept and adopt the proposed amendments from the Attorney General's office in their testimony. Uh we're going to accept and adopt the proposed amendments from Charter Communications. We're also going to accept and adopt the proposed amendments from CTIA, which is the following. Um that's contained in their testimony, I should say. And then we're also going to uh defect a date to January 1st, 2077. And that's it. Any further discussion, comments, questions, or concerns? Oh, uh We just lost quorum. Um on our end.
We knew that it was critical to prioritize the focus so that we could work collaboratively and intentionally to address the areas in which we would have the highest impact. So, in the next um slides, I'll be sharing with you how exactly we plan to um strengthen our our certified behavior specialist is has transitioned to a board certified um behavior analyst, also known as a BCBA. Um we have uh one. Our BCBA is Elena Quiñones, and we'll be moving that to two certified BCBAs. And then, I'll also be talking about how we plan to strengthen short- and medium-term removal for tier three students um that need some time away from the the regular classroom. So, to address these priorities, um we developed plans for more aligned system for tier three management. At the foundation, we have tier three classroom supports. At the next level, we have more targeted school supports.
It's 7.25% and I don't know if there's a way to highlight that more. >> to show that that this is as much a driver but in terms of a gap between 2 and 1/2%. And with special education costs are going up. Um it seems like that's a significant thing. Not not that we're trying to highlight one thing over the other. Mhm. But just looking at the two charts you kind of look at it and it looks like it's consistent and it's really not. You know, it's it's visually looks that way but Yeah. Yeah, and and and I I uh so I have some of these also uh printed on a stacked on 11 by 17 and laminated so when we're out in the public I see these as more support for having talking points and narratives um as opposed to trying to tell the story with them because the bullet list would have to be um much larger, right?
We have three old elementary schools and a preschool. Um, but we're down to We used to almost be at 2,000 children. We're down to 1,200 children. And to keep funding these buildings, if you shut the middle school, you would save $900,000. But my goal is not to cut a single teacher's job. And so it was like an MCCAST question for me as a mathematician. How many different ways can I do this? If you c if you close Newton, it would you'd only save $500,000. The elementary schools are all the same. You'd say $500,000. Principal, some custodians, maybe you can absorb those positions somewhere else. But that's the reality. Greenfield has never gone to the table to talk about working with surrounding neighborhoods. For whatever reason, the school committee just kept going and going and saying, "We can afford it. We can afford it." There are other towns that have that attitude as well.
That is a $2 million increase. That and like I said the retirement we're already over. If you did nothing, we we I couldn't balance the budget with that because what we've gone up in two things that we can't change. Um I think we have to look and say well what's important to us. I looked at it as well. None of this is educational, but it doesn't appear to me that we're on track to be spending. Um and this is just my figuring. I certainly can be wrong. I've been wrong before, but um it looks to me like we're going to have extra in it this year. And um it I have $261,000 available. These are just from my notes, so I don't >> You're talking city side or school side? >> School side. So I would be looking closely at that budget. I actually go through the payrolls on this one and I said I don't think we've hired all those POS people in the first category.
I'll take any questions on that one first. Sure. >> Yeah. >> People have the option to opt in for one or the other because I know some people like maybe drive their kids in the morning but pick them up after school or is it opt in opt out? >> No, I think I think we're going to have to allow them to because we have to provide transportation. Okay. So, yeah, that'll be all part of that like breakfast. >> Yeah, we have been talking about to to a variety of people about some of the situations that days sometimes can be challenging >> activities. So we're trying to take that into consideration as as >> any other questions online.
And the other area is to look at the libraries and the books that you folks probably phase out children's books. How do those perhaps those books can be utilized. So I'd hope that you folks will come back with a plan on looking at that and see how we can get a sustainable program and still meet the needs of those who really need to have this. So And [clears throat] I would just like to add though there was an an international study done in the early 2000s across 42 countries that two there were two things that were important for kids education and and whether or not they would be successful and one of them was having a home library. So I hear what you're saying that they may not be read to but there's also kids who parents parents might not read to them but they will read.
Okay. Okay, so um Well, we we deferred decision-making for LBT till Yes. For so for for this one, for the Committee on Labor and Technology, let's see if you I don't think Okay. Well, for this one, I know there's another committee after this. What we're going to do is we're going to roll over Oh, we are not going to roll over. Thank you, chair. Yeah. We now have quorum. Thank you, Senator Favela. Okay. Thank you, chair. I just read uh Senator Favela, would you like me to reread the proposed amendments? >> [laughter] >> Okay, so I just read them um out. Um so, basically uh we're going to just pass it accepting those amendments as I just previously shared and then defecting uh the date to January 1st, 2077. Any further discussion, comments, or concerns? Okay, if not, Vice Chair Llamaso for the vote, chair votes aye.
So, uh part of that is the need for reset or refocus spaces. We have these um to varying degrees in the schools already. Sometimes they're called um a a cooling space or a calming space. Sometimes they're called an ISS room, um but we will have reset refocus across all of our elementaries. And at the top is a district-level program for the highest-need students. The key is that each level works together to ensure that students receive the right level of support at the right time. So, um at the school level, as I stated, we'll be implementing reset and refocus spaces. These are structured environments where students can regulate before returning to class. The students will be working with trained personnel who support de-escalation and re-engagement. The goal of these spaces is to support the individual student while returning them to um a learning environment that in the meantime is protected for the other students.
Um you know, cuz this would go along lines of you know, we know next year we're expecting $686,000 increase um in our out of district costs without sending an additional kid uh outright. So um yeah, I the these are the these are intended to kind of be more supportive than think than actually the narratives themselves. Uh and then this is our transportation. Uh so just looking at this, uh FY18 was a contract year. Uh so we had a new contract and we had had to add three additional buses that year. So um so this just kind of shows you what the transportation costs are and the these are our regular buses, special education transportation and athletic buses. So uh our totality there. Um Just of curiosity, what drove the drop in '17? Like, what I don't know if you I don't know if you were able to get get that information, Chris.
But we need to look at all the buildings around us. There's a beautiful new high school in Turners Falls that even has a pool for goodness sakes. I mean, last year I took every school budget in Franklin County, $111 million asked from the people who pay taxes in Franklin County for 5,000 children in Texas. That's probably one school district, you know? I mean, it's kind of absurd. Um, at this point you could we could send them to Deerfield Academy probably for what we're paying at some point. I know the center school for sure. So, because I added that up last year because they're like at nine grand a kid. So if you look at what we're paying to educate a child in Greenfield, but there's also this other problem that our schools need some help to perform better because people are fleeing Greenfield. There's more for sale signs in front of houses.
There's four and then I think there's just three people there. Um, and then as far as just when we're doing the budget and looking at it, um, and this certainly is for next year, not this year, but, um, it would be very helpful to see the FTEES side by side last year versus this year. Um, so if we have like 3.5 FTEES in health, I'll just use that for an example. 3.5 FTEES and then I put a graph up in the middle of that in the health department. So you can see there's still going to be three and a half next year three and a half in fiscal year 26 and three and a half in fiscal year 27 because I did go through some of the things one at a time and I thought okay this um it looks like maybe that's not the same number as last year.
Any questions? >> Yeah, I did. So I have two questions. Um I did have the same concern about Cherry Brook students getting home um late. Uh, I know some buses already arrive at homes around 4 4:15 and in the winter that can be pretty late, especially for a 5-year-old getting off the bus. My other question is around um the actual drop off and pickup at Cherry Brook right now and if we're going to see an increase in parent drop off and pickup. It's already pretty crazy there in the morning. Um, and it kind of sounds like we as with this suggestion are looking for less kids to be riding the bus. Is that the intent? >> No, that that's not my intent. My my intent is really to figure out who's riding the bus and who's not riding the bus and really looking at do we need to adjust our routes because some of us would be saying and I and you're going to have to correct me if I'm wrong here.
Right. And so I think and I understand the cost. I just think when you think about the full investment in literacy this is just one one one part we can play in ensuring that not only do they start with their own libraries which will lead them into using their libraries as well. I I think it it can be a win and it's it's not as much money it's not as big of a a pocket of money that we would need to do this program. >> Understood. And we would hope to do it in a public private partnership so we wouldn't rely entirely on the state. >> I I I agree with you but everybody has their own little it's not that much money. It's not that much money. It's not that much money and it's continuing to add up. So I'm just trying to be realistic and let's start with those areas and perhaps within that time then you can get the private sector to come in.
Okay, members, we're voting on HB 1782 HD3. Recommendation of the chair is to pass with amendments. Anyone present wanting to vote with reservations or no? Hearing none, chair, your recommendation is adopted. So, for HHS, same recommendation, pass with amendments. Vice Chair for the vote, chair votes aye. >> 1782 House Draft 3 is a Senate Draft 1 noting the presence of all members. Are there any EWRS besides myself or no? Seeing none, recommendation is adopted. Thank you very much and um that joint hearing is adjourned, but we are still rolling over to the EDU HHS hearing next. Thank you, chair. Thank you. I know. 14 minutes. Yep, go ahead. [laughter] Go ahead. Go, it's all you, Donna. It's all you. Go. Go ahead. I I I don't think we need to um do another countdown, do we? Wait. Okay, please proceed. EDU. Okay. 1574 we're on the agenda.
So, in our next slide here, um I want to share with you some of the data that the guiding coalition looked at in order to make some of our plans for next year. So, what you're looking at here is the number of students in each grade level, kindergarten through fifth grade, that in all of last year had seven or more discipline incidents. So, um roughly a a incident a month is what it averages out to be. For context, and as an example, you see first grade is the highest there with 15 students. So, if in first grade, 15 out of when we ended last year, we had 674 students, were uh the higher need, that equates to 2% of our entire first grade. So, we know that um this is a not a lot of students, but a disproportionate number of disruptions because they can sometimes cause multiple disruptions.
Um I know I know I I I I we talked about it, but I can't remember if you if you had the information. Well, No, '16 to '17. '16 to '17. See how it See how it goes down a little bit? Think back. >> Goes down a little before it goes up a lot. And the first year we were off '17 Um I feel like that's been going on longer than that. I don't know if it was a fuel cost adjustment, Mark. It's not significant. Oh. Yeah, it would have saved us some Right. So, what we talked about, yes. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that that that could that could that could be what That could be what it is. Yeah. And and and to to Jim's point, you the the difference between those two data the the the FY15 and '17 data points is isn't significant.
Our taxes went up, then the water bills went up the next month. You and if you're old like me, you're sitting there going, "Why do I live here? thoughts to me, you know, why don't I go to Florida or North Carolina? Because and that but the people who are going to buy those houses, guess what? They want good schools. I mean, right now we're down to one Google star, which is, you know, >> I wouldn't be terribly concerned about Google reviews. A kid, >> if you're buying a house, >> a kid who's upset that he has homework he doesn't want to do, can very easily launch a bot army. >> I was going to say that wouldn't be your child. >> I could see him I could see him launching a All right. So, but I mean >> I have a question for Stephen. >> Go ahead.
So those are a few of my suggestions and I'm going to be quiet so people can talk. I have more but that was where I want to start. >> Thank you mayor. member Deniv. >> Now my questions have changed because I have a question for you. >> So I think our vacancy is 600,000, right Andy? >> So like that's the amount that we haven't hired. >> Yeah. So, so you're thinking that if we haven't hired like in your in your thinking of this, if we haven't hired the position for a year, you're suggesting that we take the vacancy money and put it towards other things. Is that what you're thinking? >> Only I would never say that for me teaching or it's because we had ones that we had every single one of those >> just this is just me my opinion like I do that in DPW.