I think in terms of I from myself, I think in terms of like politics. Sorry, I don't know who else was saying something. Um like that is something that we wouldn't want to address depending on either side, whatever side people are on. Um but we would not want to unless it became a situation where it was like We probably We would probably offensive where in terms of like um What was the thing? I I don't know. Yeah, I don't think that we're able to um Like unless there is um a certain level of disruption that would come from it. Um so I think that that So I don't I don't know. Um I know that like uh they they we went to a law conference and they had mentioned something about like people's responses to Charlie Kirk and like the res what teachers were able to to wear was very different than what they were allowing the kids to wear.
Um is it for K and all the way through six that we're doing it? Yes, K through six. And there is the cost per like math. I think the math cost is Thank you. $50 per student um for two volumes and then $70 per student for six volumes. >> And by volumes, are those the consumables or is the consumables separate? >> Yes, ma'am. The six workbooks uh plus the personalized instructions. So like the um Rachel's nodding her head, but like the my my path all of those digital components as well and that's magnetic literacy and uh ready classroom math are the two curriculums that curriculum associates use that we use from there. The I Ready itself just to make sure I ready is just the platform like the data platform but the the curriculum itself is called magnetic literacy and then ready classroom map. Okay, Jenny.
In this instance, this year alone, or FY25 last year, we spent $881,000 from the that revolving fund to offset transportation costs. So, in reality, that 881, go over to the regular day bus of 778, it's $1.5 million for the bus. It's a it's, you know, you have to keep this all in perspective here. It's it's pretty significant. Special education, there's always questions in the community and and we always want to be careful, right? When we're when we're talking about special education and general education costs because uh and I'm a I'm a father of a of a of a student who was on an IEP his entire career. I understand the the challenges uh in our community of of of having conversations about the true nature and the cost of special education versus general education classes. It's significant. And for those students who are who we can't who are who are so, you know, medically fragile that we can't supply education to them here and they have to go and and be educated at a private school at costs of $200,000, per child?
However, school was still much different than it is today. Corporal punishment was generally accepted as okay as well as punishment that left kids humiliated in front of the classroom. And while things like the duncap might be a little bit over dramatized in the movies that you see today, things like having to walk in front of the to the chalkboard and write I will be good over and over again were definitely reality. It wasn't until the 1800s and early 1900s that they started to bring early school supplies in. For example, the noises slate to reduce paper use, the spelling stick in the reading charts to help teachers in front of the classroom, and dictionaries that were made specifically for students. As you can see, it even advertises use in the common school. And school supplies is what I'm going to focus on. We don't see technology as a part of this until the early 1920s.
And the most amazing thing about competing in bowling is that when a kid earns a 300, the best possible score you can earn, the entire lanes stop what they're doing, come, watch, and clap. If there is anything I want to teach my own children, it is that. It is that we can celebrate each other's moments. Second, I want to speak a little bit to what makes this district what it is. In Clarkstown, you can't turn a corner without running into a former student. People don't just grow up here and then come back. I'm sure some of you did. Yeah. Uh They want to return what was given to them and bring those same lessons to the next generation. When I was 22 and starting in this district, I walked into a school I had never heard of, and what stopped me in my tracks and made me want to build a home was this community.
Like that was mentioned that like um the kids don't have like the same They have more rights than like the teachers would have So I don't I don't recall exactly how they told us about it. Jay, were you going to say something? Yeah, I was going to point us back to item one from that list. So I think the reason it says maintaining order and discipline in a content and viewpoint neutral manner. So the order and discipline component is is if somebody was wearing that shirt with that you know, political figure on it and it wasn't disruptive to the learning environment, it wasn't creating problems, then we don't really have the ability to restrict it. If doing that created problems, but then somebody else showed up in a Bernie Sanders shirt and um and that was creating problems and but in that case we didn't afford enforce it because whoever was doing the enforcement was more aligned with Bernie Sanders beliefs than with Charlie Kirk's beliefs, then that would not be a viewpoint neutral manner.
Um, yeah, I I'm trying to understand, Tanya. I know that we have been uh this is sort of a couple years now that we have been trying to integrate this curriculum within the school. Um, and we don't have yet, is it, is it accurate to say that we don't yet have kind of year-over-year data to show the impact of this new curriculum on the school? I feel like the last time we got a report, uh, that was the case, >> right? because at the time let's say I think it was in um last year uh there was only one um classroom using the uh piloting the reading um the magnetic at the time magnetic literacy and K so you don't have that information yet for um Pelum where you know in the other district several other classrooms were using it over time so but Pelum last year it was just the one and it was kindergarten if you remember you saw the kindergarten I ready um beginning and end of year, but you did everything else was blank.
That's the reality that we're living in and that that we're obligated to fund. So, you'll notice year over year, we had we had one year where our cost went down in FY21, but you can see that the actual increase when when Michael shows uh the conversation about, you know, the 2.5% and and you got health insurance that goes up eight. Well, we're looking at 12% next year, close to 14% increase in special education out of district costs for the same amount of students, by the way. It's not that the number of children are utilizing the service, it's the needs of our kids and we don't have control. The state allows uh a a different process for private schools to increase their rate. We've got some schools that are increasing their fees by 20 plus percent. We're responsible. Here's where I I always get like I I try to take a step back and think, "Damn, we do a really good job in this community." I this to me is a slide that says, "What's the value that you all and the and the folks who are watching online at home and have children who have been through the Ashland public schools and I will be clear.
With the popularization of film cameras, when Kodak's film cameras started to become more popular, he branched into making what he called the Eastman classroom films. These were very short films in black and white that were used to advertise things that were happening around the world. For example, when the Panama Canal was created, an Eastman classroom film was created about it to teach kids about the importance and what it really was. However, most schools only had about one or two different films on hand, and this would just be cycled over and over again for the students. Additionally, students students also enjoyed listening to the radio. However, this wasn't really something that could be worked into curriculum as again it was only on current events. Then in the 60s and 70s, color came into technology with shows like Sesame Street that were being watched both in the classroom and at home and the iMac one and two or the Apple computer 1 and two which came out in the 70s.
And that has never changed. I was going to bring up the financial hardships that I noticed during the winter, um and the economy and health care and gas prices. but as you said earlier, you already know how extraordinary this situation is to all. You're correct. These are extraordinary times. Even for those with great skill and big hearts, the positions we have to assist our community and our futures are limited. We only have so many coaching jobs. Many are going through financial need and that financial need will likely only grow in the next few years. I ask the board to celebrate our community and our camaraderie. I ask you to reconsider this policy. Thank you. Thank you, MS. WOODLEY. >> [applause] >> HI, MY NAME IS JOE FUSEE. I HAVE nothing written down. I'm going to speak from the heart. I've been a teacher here for 28 years.
But if we're equally enforcing anytime an article of clothing depicting something is disruptive to the learning environment, then we have the ability to restrict it. Does that help at all? And wasn't there that kid in that high school kid that um was wearing a uh Make America Great Again shirt in some other state and got punched in the face or something like that? And then the other kid got suspended for it. I think it was like in Ohio or something like that. I think I did hear about that. I I guess that's that's kind of my point, too. Um is that something that we just leave out completely and address as it comes? I think that personally um the political climate of today, that's actually more divisive and pressing than some of the other things that we're talking about. Very good question. >> you know, so so I'm just I'm just bringing it to the attention and I know that we're focusing on this and this is important, um but just in my line of work and what I've seen, that is actually a a bigger elephant than we're actually uh you know, what's outlined thus far.
That's why. But this year, all the classrooms are using it. And uh William, that's probably where your question came from because last year it was only kindergarten for the reading. >> Mazelle is making sure you know it's first. >> First grade. Thank you, Miss Jazelle. First grade. Yes. Excellent job. >> Okay. And if I could just say thank you so much, Mr. for actually piloting last year. >> All right, I'm looking in all the corners. Sometimes those hands get lost in the in the background of the corners, but I don't think I see anymore. Oh, yes, Rachel. >> You didn't miss me. I just raised my hand. Um, Sarah, you're making me very nervous with your camera on while you drive. I'm just also need to say that out loud. Um, I >> I'm not driving. I'm passengering. >> Okay, great. Um, um, I think this is less of a this is also not a question.
Yeah, there are ups and downs every day with our school system. There are some families who are happy. There are some parents who are not and there are some kids who are thriving. There are some we can do better. 100% that's public school. But guess what? We're about five $5200 lower than the average in the state of Massachusetts. We spend our state rank 361 of 395 districts, school districts. That's what we are. We're in the bottom of what we spend per child on education. The value of education in what students are getting when they walk out of this community is tremendous for what we're spending. End of discussion. It's not even a debate because you flip this in reverse and you go look at where we rank and we're in that top 10% of how we achieve. But we're in the bottom 5% of what we spend.
This is Apple computer 2 right here which used floppy discs to play games like Oregon Trail that brought educational fun. And this Apple computer also brought computers to be more mainstream because they weren't as big and bulky and you could have them in your homes and possibly in your schools. In the same time, what you mostly did for work was typing class. So which was required for you to be on your typewriters and to make copies. There was no copy machines. There is what was called a mimograph with people which people also call a crank machine or a ditto machine using purple ink to press onto these papers to make copies. In reminiscing on school in the 70s and 80s, Joe Sylvia, a New Befford resident, said in New Befford Guide how it was only on lucky days that they got to wheel in this big film projector to watch movies or go to the computer lab and all wait to work and play around one computer that they all shared.
I have coached bowling, which I have a passion for. And I'm very passionate [laughter] about it. So, I'm super excited about their success. I also coached girls soccer. Many of my students and our coaches are former students and former athletes of Floral Park High School. They chose to come back here as teachers to pass on the great Floral Park pride and tradition. My husband, more specifically >> [clears throat] >> specifically about You're not going to meet anybody who's more truthful or fair than my husband, Joe Fusee. He has coached track, wrestling, baseball, and soccer. And if you've been around in the last 20 years, you know the success that he brought to the soccer program, recognition and county and city. An amazing program that hardly anyone would walk away from. He walked away from it for two reasons, our daughter, Riley, and our son, Chris.
So if and Jay, if if you could speak to this, too, is it possible to just say like no political shirts or no political or is that I don't constitutional? >> Yeah, I don't believe so because I believe it becomes a free speech issue. And so, you know, kind of going back to um what was shared earlier about you know, us having more ability to direct teachers in that regard than we have to direct students. Student free speech is large I mean, obviously there's there's federal and state statutes, but a lot of the way that it's applied is driven by a case called the Tinker case. And that's the case law that tends to um impact this, and I believe it dates back to like the Vietnam War era and um students, you know, wearing articles of clothing to protest the war. And so, this has been hashed through the courts pretty um heartily over the years, and typically um any district's attempt to control political speech in particular um tend to get um denied by the courts, become problematic for the district unless the district can prove a uh it's not significant, a um substantial disruption to the learning environment is the language that they use.
This is a comment that I want to like invite my colleagues on the school committee to consider. Um I looked back the meeting notes are not online from the finance committee that meeting that we're talking about but I received a summary from other people who did attend. Um, other departments are receiving level uh services, not level funding. And I would like to invite us to consider if we might want to increase our request from the town to what is on my mind is that in February when we last discussed increasing our use of the choice revolving fund, we were talking at 80 to 80 85 to 90k point. And I would like if our if if our dip into the choice fund remained at that level. Um I know Margaret, you're gonna find out more information definitively, but in in the next two weeks, I would invite all of us to think about what that might look like and how how we might navigate the next conversation and vote on the budget.
It's great value. It's a catch-22 for me to show this slide. It really is, right? Because people are like, "Hey, damn, you guys do a good job for what you we spend." You're right. We do. But it's going to get harder and harder. That's my point. So here's the scenario that I think is really what what I'm driving at with trying to fix stability and I'm going on too long and I definitely want time to have conversations with folks. Revolving funds for those who are at home and here, revolving funds can only be utilized for very specific purposes. So if we charge a student to ride a bus, we can only use those fees that we receive to offset transportation costs, okay? Similarly with building rentals um and athletics. The key to this whole override and the the vision of the Ashland public schools and what we can do is this in red is this school choice number.
Their incentives were also nothing to do with technology. Instead, it was things like these little scratch and sniff stickers that got them excited. And the biggest reward was being able to go wheel in the TV cart to watch a movie, watching things like Magic School Bus and Bill Nye, which you might recognize as well. But this was a big moment for them to be able to go and bring in this big TV cart. It wasn't until the 1990s that we started using smaller technology and technology more on the computer with the overhead projector, the first overhead projector and the launch of the Google search engine. However, this Google search was not the 5-second search that you're used to. This was a little bit more like computer science class, having to type your commands into DOSs and figure out what you were trying to tell the computer to do.
He has been lucky enough to coach them since they were young kids. Specifically, our son, from T-ball to coach pitch to farm league to minor leagues to majors through eighth grade. He has the extremely rare opportunity that anyone who's involved in sports knows is extremely rare to be able to coach your child and his friends in high school sports. He has coached these boys since T-ball, not just our son, but all the boys that he now wants to continue to coach in high school. He is a volunteer. He doesn't do it for the money. He does it for the love of the game and for the love of his I ask you to reconsider this policy and allow teachers, not just my husband, but all teachers, to continue to coach and inspire young kids, whether they go to Floral Park or any other school. He supports the kids that go to Floral Park in every single sport.