001Mhm. >> Good afternoon at this regular meeting of the school board to order. If there are no objections, we'll approve the agenda by consent. You all good? All right, at this time I'll entertain a motion to go into executive session. I move to enter executive session to discuss personnel matters pertaining to employee hiring, compensation, terminations, resignations, contractual, and legal matters. Second. All those in favor? Aye. All right, we will be back in about 30 minutes. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. >> Mhm. >> Hey. >> Mhm. >> Okay, at this time I'll entertain a motion to come out of executive session. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Aye. All right. We will now have a moment of silence. I think I was using it. Um, then the pledge of allegiance led by Sunny Campbell who is
002a second grader at Rebe Elementary School. So, if we'll have that moment of silence. Okay. Sunny. Thank you so much. All right. At this time I'll call on our district arts coordinator McGuire for the Superintendent's Art Awards. Madam Chairman, members of the board, Dr. Ballinger, good evening. Good evening. I have the distinct pleasure of presenting the Superintendent Art Awards this evening to four very talented students. Each school in our district submitted one piece of art for primary grades K through two, elementary grades three through five, middle grades, and high school. These pieces were adjudicated by a panel of judges and the winners were selected. The pieces chosen as Superintendent Art Award winners will be on display in the district office. Tonight I would like to recognize the following students. If you will please come to
003the front when your name is called to be recognized and remain at the front for photos. Our first winner is from the primary category, Sunny Campbell of Ruby Elementary School, art teacher Mrs. Treva Davis. >> [applause] >> In the elementary category, Rosalie Falk of Ruby Elementary School, art teacher Mrs. Treva Davis. >> [applause] >> In the middle school category, Jory Watts of Long Middle School, art teacher Mrs. Katie Stewart. >> [applause] >> In the high school category, Bryson Davis of McBee High School, art teacher Mrs. Tory Wade. >> [applause] >> We encourage you all to uh take a moment this evening to view each of these winning pieces on display. Congratulations to all our winners. >> [applause] >> It's okay. All right. Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board, Dr. Ballenger. The South Carolina
004Association of Title 1 administrators awards scholarships to financially support post-secondary education for qualifying high school seniors. There are six regions in our state and I'm proud to announce that Lillian Thompson, a senior at Central High School, has received $1,500 to go toward her first year of college. Lillian is going to York Tech. She's studying psychology to transfer after 2 years and major in adolescent psychology. She intends to get her master's degree in adolescent psychology and become a therapist in a juvenile detention center. So, Lillian This is the >> [applause] [laughter] >> This is the second year in a row that Central has had someone win this. All right, next we'll have our coordinator of career and technology education, Ms. Ellerbe come up for the CTE recognitions. Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board, Dr.
005Ballenger, and guests. Tonight, I am proud to recognize several outstanding career and technical education students for their hard work, dedication, and commitment to excellence. Not only in the classroom, but also through the many hours they devote to extracurricular competitions and activities beyond the school day. At Chesterfield High School, we are excited to recognize three exceptional teams for their achievements at the state level. Please join me in congratulating the following students for earning third place in the SkillsUSA State Crime Scene Investigation competition. Allison Lloyd >> [applause] >> Jenna Kelly >> [applause] >> and Jenna Stafford. >> [applause] >> We would also like to recognize their instructor, Mr. Richard Corns, for his dedication and continued support of our students. Let's give them all a well-deserved round of applause. >> [applause] >> We are also proud to recognize
006two teams that competed in the SkillsUSA State Mechatronics competition and earned both first and second place honors. First, congratulations to Savannah Gunter >> [applause] >> and Holden Lowry, who's at a baseball game right now, who captured first place at the state competition. This >> [applause] >> This marks the third consecutive year that Chesterfield High School has won the state championship in Mechatronics. Savannah and Holden will travel to Atlanta, Georgia this June to represent South Carolina at the national SkillsUSA competition. We would also like to congratulate Eli Falconberry >> [applause] >> and Cayden Press >> [applause] >> for earning an impressive second place finish in the state mechatronics competition. A special thank you goes to their instructor, Mr. Jeff Spencer, >> [applause] >> for his hard work, leadership, and dedication to these students in our career
007and technical education program. Let's give all of these students another round of applause. >> [applause] [clears throat] >> Our final recognition tonight is especially significant. Julian Owens, a senior at Cheraw High School, was selected as one of only six students in South Carolina to receive the prestigious Harbor Freight Fellow of the Year Award. He received this honor at the Youth Skill Trade Summit in Charleston, South Carolina. And I didn't see him come in, so I guess I'll take his award for tonight. >> [applause] >> To all of tonight's honorees, please know that Chesterfield County School District and our CTE program are incredibly proud of your achievements, your dedication, and the bright futures that lie ahead of each of you. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Next, we'll call on our Chief of Student Services, Dr. King,
008to present our athletic players of the year award. Good evening, Dr. Ballenger, Madam Chair, and school board members. Each year, we celebrate the incredible athletic talent showcased across to our high schools by honoring students who go above and beyond in their sports. Each school [clears throat] selects one outstanding outstanding female and one outstanding male athlete to exemplify who exemplifies excellence, dedication, and sportsmanship. To be eligible, nominees must be in grades 10 through 12, participate in competitive athletics during the school year, and maintain strong academic performance and good disciplinary standing. Student athletes who compete in multiple sports are given special consideration for their exceptional commitment. This year, the athletic directors wanted to place a greater emphasis on recognizing the outstanding accomplishments of our student athletes, both on and off the field. Rather than selecting only one
009male and one female district player of the year from this distinguished group, each area will now recognize a male and female district athlete of the year. This change allows us to celebrate more student athletes for their dedication, leadership, athletic achievement, and academic success throughout the year. Each honoree's name will be engraved on a district level plaque as a lasting recognition of their commitment and excellence. So, moving forward, this format will ensure that all school level player of the year receive recognition for the positive impact they have made in athletics, academics, and their communities. At this time, we will have each school recognize their respective winners, and I ask that the winners please stay standing with your awards so that we can get a group picture of all of our school winners. So, at this time,
010we will call Ms. Sherry Young to present the McBee High School male and female district players of the year. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you. Dr. Ballenger, Madam Chair, members of the board, it's my pleasure to present two fine outstanding young people to you tonight. Uh first, our female athlete of the year is Ms. Naomi House. Uh Naomi's here tonight with her mother, Ms. Nisa House. >> [applause] >> While at McBee, Naomi has participated in volleyball, powerlifting, basketball, and track. Naomi's accomplishments include the following. She has played volleyball for 2 years, serving as captain and an all-region player. She's participated in powerlifting for 2 years, competing and placed 11th at the 2025-26 state power meet. She is a four-year varsity basketball player, four-time all-region, two-time all-state, captain, and this season she achieved the milestone of
011scoring over 1,000 points. >> [applause] >> For track, she is a three-time all-region selection and a four-time all-state selection for both hurdles and javelin. She's not only an outstanding athlete, but an amazing well-rounded student. Naomi has a 4.58 GPA, is student body president, and a member of senior Beta Club and the National Technical Honor Society. She is a dual enrollment student dual enrollment student with NETC, a teacher cadet, and is an aide to our athletic trainer when she's not competing, which is not often. Uh Naomi is such an amazing young lady. Uh Coach Jawors says the following. Naomi is the kind of player every coach wants to have on their team. She's hardworking, driven, and always willing to do whatever the team needs her to do to succeed. Naomi had never played volleyball until 2
012years ago and was able to pick it up at an extraordinarily rapid rate and became an all-region selection. She was truly a force on the court that opponents feared. Naomi is all-region or all-state in three sports and is one of the most well-rounded athletes to come through this county. To be able to dominate every sport she attempts is a testament to the type of competitor she is and it's been such an honor to coach her these past few years. On Friday, Naomi will be signing her letter of intent to continue her athletic career at Clinton College in volleyball. While at Clinton, she plans to major in early childhood education. >> [applause] >> Our male athlete of the year is senior J.J. Melton. Uh now J.J. couldn't be here this evening due to playing in a
013baseball playoff game that we are leading 5 to 1 in the top of the third. Um [laughter] while at McBee, J.J. has participated in football, basketball, and baseball. And J.J.'s accomplishments include the following. He's participated in 4 years of varsity football serving as captain and been all-region selection for 3 years. J.J. participated in basketball for 4 years and served as captain this last season and was also an all-region selection. And in baseball, J.J. has competed for 5 years on varsity and he's a four-time all-region selection, 2-year captain, and I'm sure once baseball season awards come out at the end of the year, he's going to be adding uh to to that uh nice str- string of accomplishments. J.J. also is not only an outstanding athlete but an amazing student. He has a 4.965 GPA. He's
014a member of senior beta where he has competed and placed twice for visual arts at the state Beta Convention. He's a dual enrollment student with NETC and a member of the National Technical Honor Society. JJ participated in Boy's State and has been asked to return this summer as a counselor. He's active in the FCA and FFA and outside of school, JJ is a member of the Cedar Creek Baptist Church and volunteers his time to work with future Panthers at the McBee Rec Department. JJ is loved by the student body, teachers, coaches, and community. His baseball coach, Coach Tillers, says the following. JJ is the type of kid that every coach loves to have in the program. He makes everyone around him better just by being there, by just showing up every day. That is one
015of the things that helps a team be successful. When one of your best kids is one of your best players, for one, he's made me a better coach by simply just having the opportunity of coaching him. I know every practice and every game I will receive his best and he simply looks for the same out of his teammates and coaching staff. I coach harder because I don't want to let him down. His love for the sport, competition, his teammates, and our program is only matched by his strong faith. The Chesterfield County School District could not ask for a better student athlete to to represent them as player of the year. JJ's future plans include continuing his baseball career and majoring in business. His future goals include earning his general contractor's license and owning his own
016business. >> [applause] >> Next up, we have No, you do you do you can do the individual and then the group. We do the individuals then the group. Next up, we have Ms. Tammy Burden that will recognize the players of the year for Cheraw High School. Good afternoon, Superintendent, Chairman Board four members. I stand on behalf of David Byrd who is now coaching and we're leaving for Z route. Our force our first athlete will be our female athlete of the year Jalaea Hudley. Jalaea is here with her mom, her dad, and her brother Josiah and her coach coach Driggers. Jalaea >> [applause] >> Jalaea is a two-sport athlete. She plays volleyball and softball. She has a travel ball um travel volleyball team that she is also a part of and she has soared. Jalaea has
017numerous accolade um numerous um accomplishments. Um she's a teen center volunteer. She volunteers for the senior citizens. She volunteers for the bingo night for the senior citizens. Jalaea volunteers for everything that the Cheraw um recreation department does. She's always visible and she's a community service person. That's why I love her. She makes impacts not accolades. She is the class president for the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade year. So, she's been the class president all those four years. She's a beta member. She's the 2025 homecoming queen and the 25-26 prom queen. Jalaea has a 5.046 and she is attending USC Honors College in the fall. We love you. >> [applause] >> When asked to give a quote about Jalaea, one teacher said, "Oh, there's a mountain waiting for her and she's going to get it."
018The other one was her volleyball coach who said she's an outstanding person and she works hard. She's very dependable and cares a lot about others more than herself. That's great pride. I love it. Also, I stand to present Caden Thomas, the male athlete of the year who is not here. He is participating in the district championship game on tonight. Caden is a 4.04 GPA. He plays football, basketball, and baseball. Cayden works actively for the Habitat for Humanity project, which is through the Sherrod High School Cape Department. He's a Sherrod First Baptist Youth program, where he's very active. He has had 15 college offers. He's committed to Averett to play football in the fall. When asked by his coach when I asked his coach, "What do you say about Cayden?" He says, "He's the most coachable
019kid I've ever had." His teacher says, "Cayden's so determined, he's He demonstrates respect and a maturity, and there's a very strong character that always comes out of him. He always has a positive attitude." So, we're very proud of Cayden, as well. Thank [applause] y'all. YES. NEXT UP, WE HAVE MR. PRINCIPAL ROB RANSOM, that will present Central High School's male and female district players of the year award. Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board, Dr. Bowden. It is my pleasure to stand in tonight for Coach Lear. He is away at a baseball game in Clinton. Uh and I have the pleasure of recognizing our male and female athletes of the year. Our female athlete of the year is Miss Grayson Tucker. She is a senior. She is accompanied tonight by her parents, Mark and Jennifer
020Tucker, and her brother, Davis. She participates in cross country and track. She has a 5.0 GPA. She is 4 years on the student council. She is current student body president, 3 years Beta Club, current vice president, 2 years Mu Alpha Mu Alpha, excuse me. 4 years FCA, youth member at First Baptist Church in Pace. And a quote from her coach, Coach Pollard, "Grayson is a true representation of what it means to be a student athlete. She has excelled and been one of our strongest leaders in cross country and track. She balances heavy heavily involved in our school activities, excelling in the classroom and in our sports. She is one of our hardest working athletes in the weight room and her work ethic is unmatched. She has served and has served her well in her time
021at Central. As she is in the top three in her class and one of the most successful runners on our cross country and track team. You will not find a better student athlete or person than Grayson Tucker." >> [applause] >> I also have the pleasure of recognizing Cody Brandon. He is a baseball player who is unable to be with us tonight. He is a junior. His parents are Chris and Brandy Brandon. He plays baseball and football. He is in the Beta Club, Palmetto Boys State, uh FCA, and has a 4.7 GPA. A quote from his baseball coach, "Some student athletes Some student athletes stand out because of how well they play, others because of how smart they are in school, but the really special ones do both while staying humble and kind to everyone around
022them. With a 4.7 GPA, strong work ethic, and leadership on and off the baseball field, he shows what it means to truly give your best in everything you do. He is not just a great baseball player and student. He's the kind He's the kind of person people look up to because of the way he treats others and handles himself and works hard every single day." Thank you. >> [applause] >> And last but not least, we have Coach Kenny who'll be coming up to present Chesterville High School male and female District Player of the Year. Madam Chair, Dr. Answer, members of the board, thank you for letting me be here tonight. Our first nominee our first recipient is our female athlete of the year Reagan Rivers. >> [applause] >> Reagan Reagan is here with her aunt
023Kaylee Hassell, her grandparents Nina and Jerry Gainey, and Jennifer Rivers. Reagan participated in volleyball and basketball and the unique thing about Reagan is she's the youngest participant I think I've ever had because she's only a 10th grader. So, it's a big accomplishment for her. Academically, she's student government secretary, she's in the First Baptist, she's in the United Methodist Youth Group, and she's third in the softball class. Uh Sports-wise, volleyball, she was offensive MVP, she all-region, and had 167 total kills. And her main sport is basketball, and as a 10th grader, she's made the region freshman of the year, all-region team two years in a row, all-state two years in a row, two-year all-state all-region team. And she has a total of 734 points already in only two years. So, she'll hit that thousand tomorrow, hopefully.
024She'll get a thousand more next year, hopefully. Uh Her coach, basketball coach Nate Jolly, when I think of Reagan Rivers, the person she is comes to mind first. One of her biggest strengths is keeping the environment light even in tough situations. Reagan has the highest of standards for herself academically and athletically. She's driven to be the best, not average or near the top, but the best. Chesterville County cannot can't for a better representative for athlete of the year. Reagan Rivers And >> [applause] >> And I have one more quote from our English teacher, Bethany Lee. "These days it's rare to find a student who equally possesses the drive for both knowledge and athletic achievement that Reagan Rivers possesses. She is an inspiration to all who know her for her intelligence, determination, resilience, maturity, and compassion."
025Now, for our boy recipient, [snorts] of course, like all the other ones he is playing baseball tonight. Uh Bryce Adams, who is uh the son of Neil and Michelle Adams, principal of Chesterfield High School. And his whole family is in Lake City for baseball night. I don't have a score update. Uh academically, he was student body president, National Beta Club, Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He's ranked sixth in the senior class. He was a Palmetto Fellowship Scholarship recipient and is a member of Hopewell Baptist Church. Uh athletically, 4 years football, 4 years baseball. All region both teams. Football captain 2 years. Golden Ram Award for football. Uh pitcher of the year award last year and I'm sure he'll get all region this year and uh the same award again. Uh his calculus teacher, Dr. Saster, "Bryce
026is a loyal young man. In addition, he is very even-keeled on the field and in the classroom." And his football coach, Coach Nick Dixon, "As Bryce's football coach, I've watched him lead, compete, and represent Chesterfield High School the right way in everything he does. He's more than a great athlete. He is a great young man. His hard work, character, and leadership has made a lasting impact on our athletic program, school, and community. I'm proud of you and thankful I had the opportunity to coach you. Congratulations, number seven. Bryce Adams." >> [applause] >> All my female players of the year, come on up. We'll get a group picture. Congratulations to each one of you. Thank you. Let's give them another round of applause. [applause] Madam Chair, I would like to make one comment. Uh we will
027be recognizing our uh students that uh received an associate's degree um at our June uh board meeting. Uh we were still collecting additional data to try to get those uh we could not get those students listed on on tonight's meeting, so we will recognize them at another one. Okay, thank you. If if um anyone wants to leave, we'll take a few minute break. See if someone happens to stay through here. >> [laughter] >> It's the whole crowd. Hey man. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Sure. All right, come on back. You too, man. What you doing back there, man? Congratulations. I'm going to get Excuse me, like you did too. >> [laughter] >> Kiss me. Kiss me. No, no. Okay, back in order. Board members, you've been given the minutes for the April the 13th and
028the April 27th meetings. If I hear no objections, they will these will be approved by consent. >> [clears throat] >> Okay. All right. Uh, board members, you've been given the overnight student travel. If I hear no objections, we'll approve those by consent. All right. Now, we'll turn the meeting over to our chief financial officer, Mr. Caskey, for his presentation on our financial report. Madam Chair, Dr. Bounds, members of the board, good evening. Good evening. Uh, Friday's evening, you all received a copy of the March 2026 financial review. I'm going to run through just a few of the numbers now. Uh, as you can see, we got uh, our local revenue, state revenue continues to come in. I believe we're at somewhere around 95% collected on our local at this point. Uh, and then our state
029continues to come in as as scheduled. We'll we'll get the rest of that in the in the coming months with the last payment coming in July. Uh, and same with the year-to-date expenditures, uh, they are they're coming in. We we will get I believe we will be right on right on the money as far as the the non-labor costs go for the year. The labor costs will continue to track. Those will be those will continue to go up as well as we've seen over the past few months. And then the sales tax versus expenditures, again, we uh, we had our facilities meeting earlier today, and the uh, the sales tax expenditures have yet to hit yet because we're still in the procurement process for a lot of those things, but our sales tax expenditures have
030hit uh, nearly 4.2 million as of the March payment that we just received, which puts us on a projection for 5.541 million for the full year, which is about $41,000 higher than our initial 5 and 1/2 million off projection for the I just Well, I wanted to go over a couple of uh things as far as schedule goes for the state budget schedule. The sine die will be on May 14th. Uh hopefully that will be delivered to the governor between sometime between May 12th and May 14th. Uh and and that's that's assuming conference committee all goes as scheduled and they get those things issued. But we will we will see everything else has come out a little later than expected this year, so I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see that taking taking a
031little longer than than May 14th to have it completed. Uh I have reached out to the State Department about projections for state finance numbers. We normally have those by now, but with everything kind of delayed at the state level this year, uh we we are still waiting on those. I haven't heard back from the from SDE about when we could see updated revenue numbers for 135th day, but as soon as we have those, then we'll we'll get those numbers out to you. Uh are there any questions on the financial report or anything that I went over? Question. Thank you, Mr. Gaskins. All right. Now we'll call our Chief Academic Officer, Mr. Stubbs, for our curriculum report. >> [clears throat] >> Good evening, Madam Chair, Dr. Ballenger, members of the board. Good evening. I'd like to
032highlight several items from our curriculum report. The first is um some of the things going on with CTE. The agriculture program at Central High School participated in a farm day at Page One Elementary. Um students were able to go to various interactive stations and and engage in hands-on experiences. Um all of our four high schools sent FFA members to the South Carolina State House to participate in plant presentation day. Um and that included a formal ceremony, student-led plant presentations, and opportunities for students to engage with state legislators. The health and science and mechatronic students traveled to Northeastern Technical College to tour the facility and to participate in program-specific simulations. Um and again, that gave students hands-on experiences um and exposure to post-secondary pathways. Um we are continuing to strengthen um our early childhood programs. We
033are excited to announce that we are partnering with SC Pyramid Pieces um to further um enhance our commitment to excellence in early learning. Um we already started this initiative in mid-April. Um our teachers and coaches, special ed, curriculum, we all came together to meet with um South Carolina Pyramid Pieces. And um this will allow us to to gain more professional development, appropriate practices, a strong emphasis on social and emotional learning um that aligns with the South Carolina um early learning framework. So, we're excited about this initiative. This will actually be a 3-year um implementation. Um federal programs is ensuring that our students have um books for summer reading. Um they have been working with our schools to allow students to to self-select books. This is in grades 5K through grade 5, so that they have
034access to books over the summer. Um in addition, um we just had a state and federal consolidated audit um and wanted to report that there were zero findings. The audit confirmed the proper and effective use of federal funds, reflecting the department's commitment to transparency and adherence to program guidelines. You will see under the fine arts program, of course we've had our students recognized this evening, but there's also lots of other events that have happened this spring, and just a few of these I'd like to mention. The Long Middle School band traveled to Florence for the solo and ensemble festival. We had they had eight superior ratings and five excellent ratings. Petersburg Primary School showcased their very first art school art show. Central High School the students from Jazz Central provided entertainment at the Sandhills Telephone
035Cooperative annual meeting. The Pride of Straub won a art or a silver medal at the CWEA championship last month. Students from CRMS and Matte High School traveled to Artfields Junior in Lake City for an artistic exploration to view artwork and discuss artistic techniques. And Chesterfield Ruby Middle School will host its end-of-the-year art show on May 14th from 5:00 to 6:00, so invite everyone to come to that. If you will look at the secondary schools, you will see a list of the academic awards at the high school, and so those are listed in order from beginning on May 22nd through May 29th. The link will publish the graduation issue on the June June 2nd, and we are right in the middle of spring testing. So, everyone is working hard to ensure that we are following the
036state and district protocols as we are beginning our spring testing. Are there any questions? I have one. >> [clears throat] >> Tell me a little bit about the cycle on a pyramid. So, the pyramid model is is a framework. Um, it's not a curriculum, but it is a it is a framework that's going to provide um teachers with ways to um ensure that that students are um in a nurturing environment. Um, it also will provide some help with with some um behavior strategies for young children. Um, and so we will begin probably small at one school and then expand um as we learn more, but we really are excited about this initiative. Um, so we applied for that and we were selected to be part of that initiative and so we had our first meeting
037um and we just got a little taste of it, but what we're excited about that it's all about um what are the things we need to do for our youngest learners um to make sure that they are engaged and and you know um positive behaviors and all So, so are they engaged with public school districts that you're aware of? Sorry. Are they engaged with other school districts in the state? Mhm. And and Darlington, I think just uh just applied and they're going to be part of this initiative, but the yes, there are other school districts. Okay. Thank you. All right, Dr. King, our chief of student services, your discipline report. [clears throat] Good afternoon again, Dr. Ballenger, Madam Chair, members of the board. >> [snorts] >> I would like to go over the discipline data
038for the month of April. Uh this data is an overview of discipline trends throughout the the and within our grade levels. So, starting with high school, once again, our top five high school infractions were at number one was school tardies, which was 24% phone violations at 14.3% cutting class at 9.4% disrupting class at 5.2% and cutting activities at 4.5% which gives you a total of 57.4% of incidents reported in PowerSchool. For middle school, our top five infractions are at number one inappropriate behavior at 21.6% violation of class rules at 9.3% disrupting class at 7.1% disrespect at 6.8% and inappropriate language at 6.2% totaling 51% of incidents reported in PowerSchool. For the elementary level, our top five infractions at number one is inappropriate behavior. At number two is hit, kick, push at 15.7% I apologize at
039number one inappropriate behavior is at 21.6% at third bus violations at 10.7% inappropriate language at 8.8% and disrupting class also at 8.8% and our top five district-wide infractions for April is at number one inappropriate behavior at 15.8% tardies at 9.0% phone violations at 7.1% disrupting class at 6.8% and hit, kick, push at 5.8% So, just in looking at some of the trends across the district um and like I said, I gave you a different another breakdown of the trends at each grade band. Um but you can see inappropriate behavior is the most persistent and dominant infraction overall. And remember I said it before, that's a broad range of infraction with inappropriate behavior. It was ranked number one eight out of the nine months. Um, so of course this confirms the general student conduct and behavior
040expectations are primary drivers of discipline across the district. Um, attendance issues are a consistent secondary driver in our district. Truancy and tardy appears in the top five every month. Uh, truancy it peaked in October. Um, [snorts] but it kind of was more prominent in mid to late January to April. So attendance is not isolated. It is a system-wide ongoing challenge directly tied to engagement and discipline outcomes. Uh, phone violations remain a systemic issue. Um, present in the top five every month for high school infractions. Um, and device use continues to be a district-wide instructional disruption requiring consistent enforcement. Um, classroom disruption is stable, a recurring concern. Disrupting class appears in most months. Uh, this indicates ongoing challenges with classroom management, student engagement especially as the year progresses. Physical behavior declines but remains present. Um, this
041suggests early year adjustment issues with improvement over time but continued need for monitoring. So some emergent and situational infractions that we see is violation of class rules that popped up in February and bus violations which increased in March. Um, these reflect shifts in behavior contexts indicating that discipline concerns extend beyond the classroom. Um, so one thing that I would like to note, one of the things that we were monitoring at the beginning of the year when we changed the fight initiative mid um, year. I would like to say that the fights have either decreased or remained the same. They remained the same in two of our schools, but they have decreased tremendously throughout our district. So, that initiative that we put in place, it has been working, and I appreciate the board for allowing us
042to make that change, but it has been working positively in our schools. Any questions? That's good to hear. Any questions? Dr. King. Yes, sir. Device usage. It's not just cell phone, correct? It could be cell phones or tablets or infractions like with computers or even now with smartwatches. Cuz I've I've heard of instances where kids are texting from their watches. Mhm. And all in the middle of class. >> Mhm. Just [snorts] curious on that. See, we And this is one of the things that we don't have in place now is a policy. Well, it says electronic devices, so it still should be monitored [clears throat] within the classrooms, but it's sometimes it's hard if you're not really looking and seeing that it is a smartwatch cuz see, kids have learned to get onto the Wi-Fi.
043And so, if even if they don't have their device, they can hook up to the Wi-Fi and still text on their watch. So, you just have to be observant. And that goes back to structures in the classroom and classroom management and those things. So, Mhm. Is there a controlled environment like the classroom? Uh how does that compare with the with your common areas? I know you mentioned about the bus area. What about the cafeteria areas, the hallways, uh those kind of areas for disciplinary issues? Have you seen an increase or decrease in those areas? I actually have seen it it it And that all depends. It depends on the supervision that's within the halls and the supervision that's within the common area at lunchtime. The more supervision you have, the less likely you have incidents
044that occur. Um but I've also seen less supervision, that's when you have some of your incidents occur. So, I think that our administrators, especially in those peak times, have made it a made it their business to really key in on those things and to increase um with supervision. But, you know, just like with anything else, if kids are unsupervised, perfect opportunity to get into mischief. So, I think supervision is key to, you know, eliminating or decreasing those instances. But, of course, like you said, with the bus and different ones, you got one person on the bus versus multiple people supervising in a commons area or a hallway. Yes, sir. Any other questions? So, Madam Chair, I would like to kind of ask, you know, we started this um initiative looking at our discipline report monthly.
045Um it all started because of um going back to uniforms at at a couple of schools, and [snorts] just kind of wanted to just maybe have the board members think, you know, is this a report that you'd like to continue to see moving forward? Um you know, has this has this data been worthwhile to you as a board for us to go over that each month? Um as you know, cuz I know we do have our June meeting coming up, but then we'll be rolling over into July and August. So, I just kind of wanted to get that out in front. You guys can think about it. Let us, you know, kind of let Madam Chair know as a board, or you guys let me know, Madam Chair, you let me know at some point
046if you want us to continue this, or if you um have found this valuable, or any other report that you need. Okay, board members, you let's by June think about it, and um see if you want to continue or not. The purpose behind this discipline report was to determine what the group was going to do with uniforms and that, right? That was one That was one of cuz some of the determining factor that was brought up concerning uniforms was because of behavior. Um and so we wanted to look at the behaviors, be able to compare those between schools to see if uniforms actually had an impact um on on behavior in in schools versus other schools. >> So in saying what you're saying there I like I like to come back in June, hear the
047recommendation from the administration as to what we should do. Okay. Yeah. >> [clears throat] >> Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Yes, ma'am. See you again. It is time Dr. Ballenger, our superintendent, will make his report. Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to welcome everybody that is in attendance tonight in person, those that are also joining us online. Thank you for taking a vested interest in Chesterfield County School District and in our children Chesterfield County Schools. I would like to start my superintendent's report out tonight recognizing two amazing people. I would like to recognize we did have our district teacher of the year and employee of the year banquet last week. And just wanted to make note of our District Teacher of the Year was Shannon Jacobs. She's a resource teacher at Cheraw Elementary. Ms.
048Jacobs is known for her unwavering commitment to her students' success and her ability to inspire everyone around her. We're so proud to have her representing our district. The District Employee of the Year is Ms. Renee Dees, school nurse at Jefferson Elementary. Nurse Dees is a vital part of Jefferson Elementary family providing care and compassion to our students every single day. Her dedication to health and the well-being of the school and community is truly unmatched and I just want to say congratulations to both those individuals and they um are [snorts] are wonderful selections as far as our district teacher of the year and employee district employee of the year. I would also like to recognize um some other recognitions that we've had. I'll start with uh on April 28th was school bus driver appreciation day. So,
049I want to say thank you to all of our bus drivers that are out there bringing our kids and getting them safely to school and then back home each and every day. On uh May 1st, we also had principal appreciation day. Uh I want to thank our administrators in our schools for the everything that they do uh the day-to-day working to make sure that our children our faculty have a safe place to work and play um daily. I also wanted to recognize our uh May 1st was also school lunch hero day. So, thank you to all of those that uh prepare and serve our children's uh daily in our cafeterias. Also, May 1st through the 7th was National Physical Physical Education Week. So, thank you to all of all of our physical education teachers that
050get our kids to moving each day in our schools. Also, May 6th, that was school nurse day. Again, thank you to all of our nurses who take care of all the bumps and bruises and sniffles each and every day uh in our schools and for taking care of of our children. Also, uh Teacher Appreciation Week was May 4th through the 8th. I want to recognize all of our teachers across the district and I want to say thank you to them for the job that they do on a daily basis. Also, want to say thank you for choosing Chesterfield County Schools as your place um to call home and for employment. I also wanted to mention that graduations will be held on May 30th, uh 2026. Cheraw High School and Chesterfield High School will be at
0518:30 a.m. Central High School and McBee High School, McBee, sorry, will be at 9:00 a.m. Um May 20 May 25th is Memorial Day. Uh there will be no school. Uh then we have on May 28th and May and May 29th are half days and the last day of school is May 29th. I would also like to give an update on um Canvas. We did have uh we got a notification concerning a uh data breach with Canvas. Uh we do not have a lot of Canvas users in our district and so I was going to ask Dr. Hale if she would kind of come up and share some information uh concerning Canvas and and our IT department has been working on that diligently. Uh but Dr. Hale. Yes. Um so to give you some background, Canvas
052is an online class classroom platform that teachers use to post assignments, share resources, communicate with students. But as Dr. Ballenger mentioned, Cheraw County School District does not use Canvas on a district-wide basis. Furthermore, we do not have a paid managed Canvas environment. But it does offer a free version for individual teacher use. So our district technology team led by Michael McGuire has reviewed the information currently available from Instructure and from the South Carolina Department of Ed and is continuing to assess any district-specific impact. Instructure has reported two security incidents involving Canvas. Unauthorized access to some user data and the temporary appearance of a ransomware warning message on the Canvas login. Instructure has reported that both incidents have been contained and that at this time there is no evidence that assessed information has been further shared
053or distributed. According to Instruct- information that may have been assessed include names, email addresses, that student ID numbers, which is not social security numbers. It's just an ID number, enrollment information and messages. Instruct- has also stated that core learning data, student submissions, and login credentials were not compromised. So, also Chesterfield County School District received this notification from Instruct- on Tuesday, May 5th. Due to the nature of how the notification was routed and delivered since we weren't really uh used to getting emails from Canvas, district leadership became aware of the incident a few days later and has since moved promptly to assess the impact and respond appropriately. Our last- our technology team is actively reviewing the guidance from Instruct- and the Department of Ed, auditing the system activity, and taking precautionary security steps, including credential changes
054and system log reviews. We are in the process of reminding staff to remain alert for any phishing attempts related to this and suspicious requests for login information. We take the privacy and security of our students, families, and staff seriously. We will communicate directly with any affected individuals as additional information is confirmed, and we are committed to keeping our community informed as the situation develops. Any questions? All right. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Lane. You're You're done with your report? And that would be the end of my report, Madam Chair. [laughter] Okay. Now we'll call on our Chief of Human Services. Sorry, resource resources, Dr. Bone, for her personnel exhibits, the addendum, and board policy. Thank you, Madam Chair, Superintendent, and members of the board. I present to you this or you've already reviewed this
055month's personnel report and addendum. I would I recommend your approval of those two items. So, second. All those in favor? Aye. Okay. Thank you. I also want to review the second reading of policy GAG, staff conflict of interest. Yes, the policy GAG addresses conflict of interest related to the employment of staff in schools or departments where family members are also employed. This revision aligns with district hiring practices that allow for family members to work in the same school or department while maintaining the prohibition against supervising family members. I recommend your approval of the second reading, please. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Aye. I [clears throat] got Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Dr. Bone. All right, now. Welcome back, Dr. King. You got a laundry list of things. Yes, ma'am. So, um
056you have already been given copies of updated policies in section B along with recommended changes and deletion of policies no longer needed. So, at this time I would like to recommend it as presented for second reading and approved. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Aye. All right. That was a little bit easier than last time when It was. I'm going to sit tight because I think I got something. Ready? Yeah, go ahead. All right. So, Dr. Round, you want to lead in with it or Okay. >> [clears throat] >> So, on this is to go over the ceiling lighting and HVAC renovations at Central and Terrell High Schools. The solicitation was issued by the Chesterfield County School District on April the 6th. Um the pre-bid conference was held on April the 13th at 11:00
057a.m. at Terrell High School. There were seven companies um that were that attended the pre-bid conference. Those uh companies were Coastal Builders, LL Johns HVAC, Michael J. Jordan Construction LLC, FBI Construction Incorporated, Carraway Construction, Omni Heating and Cooling, and Gilbert Construction Company. The bid opening was opened on April the 30th at 11:00 a.m. at Terrell. We received three bids. The three bidders were from Michael Jordan Construction LLC, FBI Construction Incorporated, and Carraway Construction. The statement of intent to award was posted on May the 4th. Intent to award was issued to Mr. Michael J. Jordan Construction LLC. He was the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. Unless protested, suspended, or canceled, the statement of intent becomes the final award at 4:30 p.m. on May 13th. The contract is cautioned not to begin [clears throat] work until a
058purchase order is received from the district. So, at this time, I recommend a motion. I recommend that the superintendent be allowed to enter into a contract with the selected vendor for the ceiling, lighting, and HVAC replacement at Terrell High School and Central High School. I move that we accept the recommendation. All those in favor? Aye. Okay. Thank you. Okay. On June the 8th, we will have our next regular board meeting. Mhm. It's not up there. It's not on here. It's on here. Well, wait a minute. Well, okay. We'll skip me just a minute cuz if this is a little different. Um Mr. Caskey, you want to come back? You probably do. We'll probably do this one. Do your presentation. Uh we are going to uh go with the the first reading of the FY 27
059budget. I think kind of Dr. Ballenger and I are going to tag team this one. Do you You the I do have it. Um are we able to pull up that presentation? >> [clears throat] >> Okay, so we are not going to spend the full 2 and 1/2 hours like we did for our workshop on this. We are going to uh go through and address some of the changes that have been made and updated to the presentation. And get down to uh finalizing our first reading. Again, our mission and has stayed the same. Um again, we did provide the history of Chesterfield County schools. Um this information has not changed as far as the number of schools we have, number of students, um average meals, average routes. Uh of course, our children, they are why.
060That's why we are all sitting here today to do what is best for our children. Uh we did go over the budget development process for the state and the school uh system. We did talk about our uh strategic plan and how that guides uh everything that we should do with our budget. Uh we did also look at millage rate historical numbers as well as our current student counts. And uh as you can see, there's been a decrease uh in student count. Um if you go back all the way to FY '22 to FY '26, you can see that there is a over about 300 student drop. Um this slide has been updated. I did want to provide you with uh a representation. I did ask Mr. Caskey to project as close as he could to
061project uh as far as a projection to how much fund balance the district will use this year. And I believe that number was about 1.9 million. Is that correct, Mr. Caskey? >> 1.917 And so, when he puts the uh when he adds that that number, you can see what it does to that trend line on the graph. That orange line right there, that is the state minimum requirement that the district is supposed to have in in our fund balance according to state code. And with the use of about 1.9 million coming out, you can see that gets us really close to where we are. You can also see the trend data shows that with the implementation of the new state funding formula for public schools, what has been happening with the fund balance of this
062district. So, you know, I this this information was newly added. We wanted to make sure that you did see that projection. Now, there are some things that can fluctuate with that. As Mr. Caskey mentioned earlier on in his finance report, he's waiting on numbers on the 135th day from the state to see, you know, did we lose more than other schools? So, is that going to affect us harder or is it going to affect us less than it does other schools? Um, and so, we are waiting on that information. There are still a few other things that he's waiting on that could have an impact on that, but confidence level, I think he feels that, you know, we that's that's a pretty good number to be at. If you remember last year, the audit showed
063that we used 3.4, 3.5 million dollars out of the fund balance last school year. So, now you're about 1.9. So, we have got to do something to get that trajectory. Otherwise, pretty soon, if if we continue on this path, we will not even be at the state required for the 8% fund balance required for this district. So, that that one was updated. This one stayed the same. Again, our staffing standards, some of the processes that we use with our staffing standards. Again, this gets into the, uh, the Alec the state formula. Anything you want to say on the formula or do you guys I think we covered it pretty well last time unless there's questions. All right. So, I think the next four slides talk about the state formula. Uh, then we got into our
064state revenue projections. So, right now those are still holding true. Uh, again, this is another representation. We saw that at the work session concerning how much state funding we're getting out of the, uh, the raises that we will do and that's about 51.9% um, is funded then 40 48% up there, uh, is is not funded. We have to come up with that. So, uh, then our local revenue projections again that that has not changed. Uh, we have kept the local revenue projections, federal revenue, facilities and building, sales tax revenue. All of our revenue projections are the same. Currently, we still have the same initiatives, [snorts] the $2,000 increase at all sales for all on all teacher scales, a 1% cost of living, a 50 cent, uh, per hour rate increase for all classified employees on
065the G scale and a 2% rate increase for all bus drivers. Uh, position enhancements and and, uh, additions. So, you can see the two Army JROTC. Um, I would like to apologize that I did miss that adding getting that added on because we are adding JROTC um, at Chesterfield High School. Um, that is a shared cost position. So, we cover half and and they cover half. Um, so that was absorbed simply because when we started look we went back and looked at all of our numbers um, at our high schools we were able to find where we're going to be able to move a high school staff member to another school which allowed us to basically it was a wash for the what what was going to be the expenditure uh for the JROTC and
066plus having the you know the low numbers at a high school uh one of our high schools in an ELA um ELA department. So, that number did not change uh change the overall number or bottom line of our budget because it was basically uh about what's there. Uh same thing we still have those needs over there on the right. That did not change. Uh here nothing changed from this. Uh did there or was there The non-certified position the non-certified reductions did increase slightly. Uh I think we added the the bus supervisor position um and the I believe one administrative assistant PLC. I believe those two were not on the the work session. Yep. Um additional reductions again we we have done just about everything that we could we could we can at this point in
067time um with uh reallocation of operational expenditures, Christmas bonuses being removed, new teacher sign-on bonus being removed, uh middle school bonus at New Heights being eliminated, um and that kind of gets us into our expenditure report. Question on that. I got a question on that. No no go back to the next Yeah. Let me ask you a question here. Um at one time salaries benefits were covered by 28%. It used to be the old rule 28%. Well, like now our benefits have jumped up better than >> It's pretty significantly higher than that. Yes, sir. If we got uh if we're just talking about fringe benefits, like just your retirement, like uh and and Medicare and your workers' comp, that those things uh right now it's about 33% that retirement has increased very significantly. It's 20
068almost 25% that the district has to match on top of the employee matching 9% or it contributing 9% the district matches almost 25% now. I believe it's 24.61. Uh so, those those benefits have crept up pretty significantly and that's not even including health and dental. So, typically when I'm when I'm estimating a new salary, if I'm just give me a $100,000 salary or $50,000 salary, I'm going to add 44% on top of that just to cover the make sure I got the fringe benefits covered. Well, when I went back to start reviewing that budget, then looked up on the exceptional education, you got salary there almost $4 million, but you got employees benefits almost $2 million. They're they're very significant now. Uh a lot of that, like I said, has come from the retirement matching
069percentage increasing over the last several years and the health insurance. That's another one that's increased significantly. Uh PEBA's increased the cost on the state several years in a row and that has all been passed on to the employer rather than uh saving trying to save that money for the employee, which makes sense, but we're absorbing all of that cost. So, no longer from the state when we get a salary increase we don't pick up the 28% anymore. We picking up anywhere from 35 to 40%. >> I would say it's at minimum 44. And then, I think for a full full family full family health coverage now costs the district almost $19,000 a year just for that one employee. If they select full family coverage. This has happened over what, the last 3 or 4 years?
070It's been longer than that. It has increased rather significantly since 2012. >> going up, keep going up. State benefits aren't what they used to be. You know, whenever we had a salary, we automatically just plugged in 28% and you knew that. Okay. All right. Continue. All right. Uh again, restricted state expenditures, uh that that has been uh the same. Uh federal facilities non-labor funding, again, we're holding uh everybody is basically they're they're staying uh level. Now, there are were some slight increases because, you know, if we have to utilize, for instance, uh PowerSchool, if they go up, we have to pay it. Um otherwise, we will not be using their service. So, uh you know, there were some increases to uh uh some of the services and programming that we do use, but other than
071that, then everything else stayed the same. Uh again, there's your non-labor, that's departments. Uh revenue versus expenditure, so here's where we're at now. Uh Mr. Caskey, we did we're able to update this sheet a little bit because uh we've been working that budget um looking at a lot of different things that we can do to kind of make sure that we can balance our budget this year. So, Mr. Caskey, you want to talk about I think that number was $1.2 million last time, now we're at 1.152. I believe it was 1.2 at the finance committee meeting but last at the work session, I believe our number was 1.9. So, that that was when we had worked it down pretty significantly from that number. Uh part of that was there's new positions that we identified and
072another piece of that was some additional capital uh capital improvement uh expenditures that we were able to trans transfer over to our capital projects fund. Uh and and just little nickels and dimes that we've been able to add up over the last little bit to to get that number down to just under 1.2. So, but that's that's where we are now and that's what we still have to talk about tonight to figure out how we want to make up that last that last 1.1, 1.2 million dollars. So, so question, we don't expect any more possible funding from the state at this time? Well, like I said, that that I'm still waiting on the 135th day numbers. I don't anticipate those numbers going up. I anticipate those numbers going down if anything. Uh hopefully we can
073maintain level. Uh right now I've got budgeted in to have a $150,000 decrease to our revenue based on the numbers that I've seen so far. Uh and that is worked into this number. But, uh if it the the way the funding formula works now, if we are if the state as a whole moves exactly the same proportion that we do, then our funding stays flat. So, let's just say we had a 1% reduction in student count. If the state also as a whole reduced by 1%, then we don't lose any money. But, if we shrink or grow at a faster rate than the state as a whole, then we either lose or gain money respectively. So, right now it looks like we had lost I'd be lying if I said I remember the exact number.
074I believe it was like 0.3% of our student count from the 45th to 135th day. So, if the state shrinks by 0.3% during that same time period, then we won't lose any money. But, if they stay flat or grew, then we could lose more than what I had projected for the 135th. The what what I used for my projection is the state staying flat and us reducing by that 0.3%. Thanks. Wow. And Dr. Coleman, um I talked to Dr. Ballinger about this, too. When kids graduate early, Mhm. uh like in December, that makes our count go down. We lose money when they do that or when parents take their kids out and put them in home schooling programs, then we lose our count and lose revenue well that we started out with in the year.
075So Do we know how many we are losing to early graduation? [snorts] How many did that in December? So can you repeat your question? I'm sorry. How many students graduated early like as in December? I don't have that number off top of my head. I know we could probably get that number pretty pretty easily through power school. I don't have that number off top of my head right now but I believe when I was looking at it I I want to say it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 if I if I remember correctly and that would represent a little little less than half of what our total student count reduction was from the fall to spring. Wow. I did have one question and this is around obviously the state funding is the state
076funding and that formula. So really I'm just looking at local funds and is there any way that we could gain on the local funds beyond millage increase? You know, is there some other kind of revenue? Uh So I'm just being hypothetical. Let's just say we look at >> [snorts] >> uh funding from a a business or from a donor or some other local resource to to help us cut down this since we we're really fighting it tight cuz my concern is going to be if like what you said in the room if we're continuing to use from fund balance the way we are it's not going to take long before we're in a very critical area. So what can we do just opinionated from the local perspective to to change that trend? Your your thought
077process is right. We need we need to increase that revenue side cuz at this point uh we we've scraped things out of the barrel as much as we can and we're as far as the expenditure side, there's not a whole lot left that we can do as far as productions go. Uh we we have very little that we can control outside of millage for our local revenue and and those are really not big dollars. You have your tuition for out of district students. Uh you have just general donations and collections from the community, but typically if you're going to have something that is significant like you have hundreds of thousands of dollars that a company or something's going to donate, it's going to be for a specific purpose. It's going to be for a specific
078program. We want you to add this and we're going to like maybe we they need us to match it. So typically when you get those big influx of cash from partners like businesses in the community, it's to add something not to cover what you are already paying for and that's what we got to figure out right now. Okay. Well, and if we have time, could you go back to the the reductions you guys did with bonuses and all all this stuff so I can just take a little glance back. So this this is one number of you want Oh, there it is. This this is one number that changed >> you were there. I thought it Okay, was that it? One number that changed that we didn't mention. That that is $335,000 of that top
079line was not there during the work session. [clears throat] That was one of the things that we identified. That was some capital improvement expenditures that we were able to transfer over to capital. So that that's a number that did change since last time you seen it. What specific questions did you have on that number? Well, I I just want to say cuz I I I do believe that um we want to take care and appreciate all of our employees. Um and I'm I'm not really big I I know we're really in a crunch situation. Um and I'm just looking at it from my own perspective here to just see what what else am I not seeing cuz obviously you guys did a great job in presenting the data that you did. And like I said
080earlier, if we're right at the bottom of the barrel, what are we going to do to keep us staying at the bottom of the barrel as we progress forward? Those are things that we've got to continue to look for. We've got to continue to look for every possible revenue source. And we're looking at additional grants. Again, those those are typically restricted, so they're going to be for specific purposes. And typically, those grants that we add are going to be to add more programs and not to cover existing costs. So, we've got to be careful we add grants to not not be supplanting. Typically, that's a that's a word that's a buzzword that you hear in federal grants a lot where you you can't you can't get a new new revenue stream from a federal grant
081to replace a general fund expenditure. And that's what we're that's really what we're we're fighting right now is that we're having increases in expenditure mandates specifically coming down from the state over the last several years for increases in teacher salaries. And we've got to figure out some way to pay for those things. We can't just we we can't get grants to pay for that type of expenditure, too. And if your student population is constricting, then you have to look at other structural changes across the district, yeah. Absolutely. Okay, thank thank you very much for that. And so, just to make note that uh did get some information that if there were 39 December graduates um across the district. All right. So, I'm almost to the end here. Get back. Oh, sorry. All right. So, this
082is where we're at. So, we're at 1.152 million. Uh as we've continued to to kind of look and and you know, reallocate, hold, repurpose, um address the budget. We we have worked that number to 3.1 million. Uh as you can see it there. Um to close that gap, we also provided the options that we talked about with the uh uh with the budget committee. Uh what was that, last week? Uh when we went over some options. We did add a couple other options uh that was mentioned. Uh so we did add those. One option being, you know, what is a the savings from a one-day furlough across the district. Uh we also added the option that was a request to add a 21 a step 21. Uh so we did add that as well. Uh
083Mr. Caskey, was there anything else that we added to >> the only other new one. I think those were the only two that that that were added to this. Um as far as solutions uh to where we're at to try to balance our budget. Uh that the blue is are basically new additions to the budget. And the peach is basically current expenditures into this year's budget that would be moving forward into next year's budget. Um at the uh facilities committee, they came up with two options. Um and I did provide you guys cuz as we get off of this slide, I provided board members with the options right here. So you do have that in front of you. Uh so just know that that's that's what we're talking about up here. Um option one uh
084Mr. Caskey, you want to talk about the options a little bit? Sure. All right. So for option one, uh you can see up at the top. I tried to format it so it's a little bit easier to see what's included in each in each option. When you looking at the table, sometimes it's a little bit harder to track across and see which item is which. So for option one, this is this is option one that the finance committee settled on last week. So, it would be to remove all four of the BCBA positions, which would represent a savings of $403,200. Uh cutting meals and professional development travel costs by $100,000, and that would just be reducing those across the district. And then to cap all working retirees at step 23, that would be all working
085retirees regardless of their uh position, and that would be an average salary reduction of about 3% to save $190,000, which would bring our adjusted general fund expenditure budget to $81,246. And we would also require a four-mil increase to our revenue uh that would increase our revenue by $424,000 approximately, and leave us with a budget deficit of just south of $35,000. And so, as we as we go through this, we we've talked about it in finance committee, talked about Dr. Ballenger and I, if we can get our budget inside that $50,000 plus or minus range, then that that represents what we would consider a balanced budget. This is an estimate of next year, and that represents a percentage of a percentage when you're talking about an $80 million budget. So, uh even though it does say
086that it's still a $35,000 deficit, that would effectively be a balanced budget when you when you consider how far off we have been in the past. Yeah, when you're looking at $4.2 million that we are having to cut from this budget, getting that close, I mean, I'm going to call that a win. Um you know, if we can get somewhere into that $100,000 range on either side, really as we move forward with budgeting, we should actually be budgeting to where we have a half a million dollar surplus to the good every single year in our budget. Um but right now, where where we're currently at, we're going to we're going to take what we can get, and [snorts] um and and try to continue to move forward and work through this. Uh I op- Did
087you have a question? >> to say something. Ba- Based on what I'm looking at and and I've never seen for lack of better words what uh the CFO, superintendent, and the committee, I mean, you you all comb through this budget. I mean, I don't It's It's one of those things where you say, "Uh, but what I've seen in the past is pretty much this is the deficit, this is how much we put in the fund balance. Let's pretty much talk about the budget in general and let's vote on it." But this approach it removes you know, where we didn't know this. I I I like what you're showing. It It is a a tough tough time talk about not wanting to give a Christmas bonus. I I agree with Dr. Chapman. I would love to
088see you give those types of things. I don't want to see um working retirees' reduction reduced, but it is it is a it is a tough uh face to be, but you all have gotten it down to a point where you write as we move forward, you can see where we can have a surplus where we're looking at well, do we necessarily need this based on what we did last year? This hasn't been an approach that I think Mr. Sweeney would agree with. We've been on Of course, Mr. Birch has been on it for a while. Or Mr. Teel, that we've taken. And so, I say I commend you for it. Well, thank you. I appreciate it. I mean, and and it you know, everybody's been working hard on this and and you know, and
089and even with the finance committee working with Mr. Sweeney and and Mr. Coons to to really uh I I tell you they have dove deep into this stuff and we've had some long conversations and a lot of phone calls, but uh well, so I do appreciate Yes, Mr. Rupps. Um it's been brought to my attention that we and it did not come up in the budget meeting the other night the issue of furloughs. And I know this happened several administrations ago. I would like to hear your take on furloughs and what you think and one way or the other. I'm not a fan of fur- I'm I'm not a fan of furloughs right now when you have other options that could balance the budget. Um simply because, you know, we are still recruiting and, you
090know, what that's not a very good way to recruit say, "Hey, come on. We've already got a day off scheduled for you." Um you know, so I think that when we when we look at things it could be a good thing. It could be a good thing. But, um you know, and I think that, you know, I'm just not a fan for of of furloughs when there are other options that you can look at. I I I do have one question too on that furlough after Mr. Robbins is finished. This was This happened back several administrations ago. I've had about six or eight teachers ask about the furlough issue and I just wanted to bring that cuz it did not come up in budget committee. Yeah. Well, when I believe that was 2010. Yeah, it
091was probably '08. It was during the Great Recession. That's when when there was a lot of different, you know, budgets were really hit hard. Um and so you did have you did have a lot of schools doing furloughs at that point in time. Um you know, so this this is a different situation. Um you know, it's it's it's um you know, there's a lot of other factors playing into why we are where we're at. Um and and so I think there's other solutions besides furloughs. Did you explain to them it's not that we've been mismanaging funds, but when the state give increases and we got to figure out where we going to get it from? Correct. >> We found ourselves in situations like this. Well, and and part of that is again with the as
092we go back to that example with the bar graph where it shows where that vertical line was when the state funding formula changed, you know, historically this district has not had to had to raise millage because its state funding and the way the formula worked, it was very beneficial to this school district. >> Right. But now that the state funding formula has changed, those practices that was that that were beneficial to us are now being a detriment to us. Um it has totally switched Absolutely. that light switch the in in the oppo- in the oppo- position. And so now as a school district we have to look at things differently and we have to start looking at at our finances differently because we we cannot rely upon the state funding as has been historically um
093in Chesterfield County. Okay. A- a- and Dr. Ballenger and Mr. Caskey, w- when I'm looking at the one-day furlough, and i- is that amount the fixed cost and the personnel cost? So that would represent specifically the that that's just going to be the personnel cost. That's the savings from the personnel cost because typically when you're going to do these furloughs it's going to be on a teacher work day. Uh it's not going to be on a on a student day. So that your your fixed costs are going to be a little bit less there and you're going to recognize a lot a lot less of a fixed cost savings when you're talking about one day. Uh you you know, you may have you may turn the lights off for a day or not run the
094water for a day, but that is going to be a fairly microscopic savings when you're looking at the the full picture. Your your labor cost is where you're going to see the vast majority of that furlough savings. A- a- and I certainly agree with that. Um and I guess I'm thinking well, if if your bus transportation is down for a day, your like I said, your other fixed things like lights, uh other utilities, uh your food service, uh all of that for one day, even with your personnel, it sound like it would almost be kind of and this is rough thinking again, at least another hundred or two hundred thousand dollars above what what what I'm seeing here. Well, the like I said, if we from what I've understood, if we're going to do a
095furlough day, it would be a teacher work day that kids are already not scheduled to be there. So, transportation wouldn't be running anyway, the food service wouldn't be running anyway. So, all of those savings that you would potentially see if you ran it on a a Tuesday in September, it would not be recognized just because we have a very strict number of days that we're required to have those students in school and we can't we can't just take one of those days away without having to make it up somewhere else. You you're going to get rid of all your savings if you have to make it up. So, it would end up being one of those teacher work days where where your costs are a lot lower to begin. All right, I think we're on
096option two. Yep. And I did want to just mention I didn't get to the part at the bottom. Just so cuz I'm talking about a lot of a lot of the same wording and and adding this and taking away that. The option The stuff at the top is what we're going to remove and the stuff at the bottom just kind of gives you some notes about what each option keeps. So, I did want to mention that for option one. Option one does keep the full $2,000 increase for all teachers. That's every cell of every teacher salary scale going up by $2,000. It keeps the 50 cent per hour increase for the classified G scale employees. It keeps the 1% cost of living raise for non-teacher employees that are at the top of their scales, those
097those employees that would not get a step. And then it does keep the chief of exceptional education position in the budget. Right now, all of those things are in there if we don't take them out. So, just as we go through each one of those has that option to keep at the bottom. So, option two, uh same starting number obviously, we would only remove two of the four BCBA positions to save $201,600. Uh that meals and professional development uh $100,000 reduction, that's going to be across the board. That's going to That goes without saying. That's going to happen either way. Uh so, that's going to be in all of the options that we discussed tonight. This one also reduces the teacher increase to what is mandated by the state. So, that would be rather than
098giving every single teacher a $2,000 raise, we would give only what is required to get us up to the new state minimum, which would for the all of your bachelor's scale teachers and the first half of your master's teachers, that would still be the $2,000 increase because those cells are already on the state minimum. So, when you increase the state minimum 2,000 for those, they're still getting the 2,000. But, for the ones that are above that, they are already being paid slightly above the state minimum. So, we're not required to go up the full 2,000 to get to whatever that new state minimum is. And if we chose that option, that would that would be a budget savings of about $250,000. So, question. Which which option is being recommended? I know you're just sharing it
099right now, but So, the these are the options that the finance committee recommended as just for discussion by the board. And then Dr. Ballenger added a >> And I did add a superintendent's recommendation. >> Okay. So, it's going to be added? It's on there. [snorts] >> That That'll be the last one that you guys are Got it. Got it. Uh we also have to hold the chief of exceptional education, which would be a $158,000 savings, and to cap administrator and teacher working retirees at step 23, uh which would be a 3% reduction there. Now, that would that is notably different than the previous example where we would be capping all working retirees. This specific example excludes classified employees. So, it would just be just administration and teaching working retiree employees that would be capped there,
100and that would be a $154,000 savings. When you add that into uh into the budget and increase millage by three mills for a $318,000 boost to our revenue. That gives you a just just shy of a $30,000 budget budget surplus. So, again, in that one Can we go back real quick? Yep. Uh, just what that one does keep It keeps two BCBA positions. It keeps the 50 cent per hour increase for our G scale employees. It only includes the increase to the minimum for the for teachers. It keeps the 1% cost of living in increase for non-teacher classified employees and it uh, does not I'm sorry, that that bottom one is is incorrect. It does have the cap. I'm sorry. No cap for classified working >> No cap for classified. Yeah. All right. Good for
101the option three. All right. Option three, uh, similar to option two, we have to remove two BCBA positions. This one includes a reduction of that raise for the G scale classified employees. Before it was 50 cent, what is currently in the budget is a 50 cent per hour increase. This one reduces that increase to 25 cents per hour for that for that group. Again, we're cutting the 100 $100,000 from the meal and professional development travel cost budgets. Uh, this one also includes that reduction for teachers to the minimum mandated increase and it also holds the chief of exceptional ed. And it it keeps that same three mill increase. So, effectively, what this does is it removes uh, 25 cents per hour of the raise from the classified employees and it eliminates the working retire reduction
102or cap. So, that that's the trade-off that you see in between option two and option three. And that gives you uh, about a $13,500 surplus for option three. And finally, this the this is the last option that the finance committee suggested last week. Again, it's a reduction of two two BCBA positions. The meals and professional development reduction. Uh, uh, reducing teacher raises to the minimum mandate and to hold the chief of exceptional ed and a three mill increase and that still has a budget deficit of $124,000. So, we would still need to do some work there, but that is that is an option and that would be a use of fund balance that would further get us closer to that 8% number. All right. We'll go to the last one. And this is Dr. Bauknight's
103superintendent proposal. So, in this proposal we would, uh, remove two BCBA positions, cut the meals and professional development travel costs by about $100,000, and cap administrators and teacher working retirees at step 18, which would be an average salary reduction of 7.7% for a $400,000 savings. It would also increase millage by four mills for a $424,000 increase to our revenue and have a budget deficit of $26,000. All right, guys. Do you have a question real quick? Mhm. On option three, we're going to be in the green, so we won't have to use our budget fund or whatever, and we will not touch any retired. Is that correct? Let me make sure I've got to get I've got to get that pulled up. We'll go back to option three. Yes. That is correct. >> Yes. I just
104want to make sure I'm understanding that. Okay. What is the pleasure of the board as far as the any of these options work for y'all and whatever we pick today, it may not be the same at second reading. Um, legislature may have a revelation between now and then. Um, and the conferees could change it for some reason or the other after the way the ends. um when they work on the budget And I would be very surprised if the revenue number doesn't change in some way. There's always something. You mean revenues less or more? I would anticipate less if I had to guess with one of the other. I would I would hope that they stay at the $150,000 reduction that I currently have budgeted for. Based on that that is if the state stays
105relatively flat with their growth. But if the state for whatever reason when whenever they get all the numbers compiled has a 1 or 2% increase, then we could see a a greater reduction because as a district we we did reduce by about a fraction of a percentage. Well, there's a lot of counties in our same boat. There are. And this is that's one thing I did want to mention that this is not this is not isolated to Chesterfield County. You look across the state and you see districts that haven't raised millage in forever starting to raise millage and they're cutting the staff like we're cutting the staff. It's it's it's a public education in South Carolina thing right now and I think the state legislature is starting to realize that. And Greenville count county as
106large as they are have lost student population. Their mill Their mill compared to our mill is Yeah, well, I know. >> That's right. Some counties have even cut out um working retirees. They're not They don't have not having any this year. Madam Madam Chairman um and to the rest of the board um I um like uh go back to option two, please. Uh I like uh option two. Uh I am not you know I still the election and and put the motion on the floor for three mills because we was desperate we thought we was in desperate need And then we had reassessment. And um I guess I got a few telephone calls from last year. And I guess I catch a few from this year. Uh either one of these here options option two
107is additional three mil. Um it'll allow us to keep uh two BCBA positions. Uh a 50 cent increase for classified G scale employees. And I'll say the same thing that I said in the finance committee. Uh we have a lot of employees in this district that's that's at the bottom of the scale when it comes to talking about uh uh salary. Uh and we owe it to them uh for that 50% that 50%. We actually started out with $1. And so we dropped it down to 50 cent. And then one of those options is 25 cent. Uh the teacher salary increase to uh state minimum. You still get a 1% cost of living for non-teachers. So I go with the 3% cap administrators and um teacher working uh retiree. I think option two is is
108probably my better bet. Uh That's that's my say. That then that's still taking at least $2 million from the fund balance. I'm only slightly higher. Looking at everything, I like option four. Um that doesn't touch the work working retirees. I had a lot of phone calls about that and they've they've given their years and dedicated employees. And I just I can still give us a little bit of a surplus at the end of it. at the end of I'm with Bob on the total I'm going to do three. We all do three and you don't take it from anybody who's been here 30 years or and what have you. They put their time in. I'm with Bob too on three because we can go like Mr. Sweeney said, they do not need and they classify.
109We can move that 25 Kevin what would that put it at if we went to 50 cents? If we went and put >> Yeah, like move to there where the 50 cents increase is. Yes, sir. We come down to three and put it at 50 cents. If we did that >> And so we have 13.46 too. Oh, okay. Okay, I'm with You see what I'm saying? We won't be cutting them 25 cents. So effectively what what you're going to do if you try like three increase that one then what's going to happen is you're going to have a somewhere in the neighborhood of $125,000 deficit that you'll be that you'll be having when you cuz that that $13,000 is your surplus. If you add if you change the 25 cent per hour increase to 50
110cent it's going to add $137,500 to your budget. So that's yeah. So that'll take you down to yeah, you'd be $125,000 negative. Okay. And what I can do if you if you guys want me to I have this where I can load this on the screen and we can kind of see some different options if that would if that would be helpful. Let me make Let Let me make some this cuz I heard from a couple board members saying that they have gotten calls from working uh retired. Uh don't don't fool yourself and don't think that the finance committee didn't get those calls. Oh, yes. >> [laughter] >> Most most definitely. And not only that but we had a large audience here today that we were working on this on the budget uh last last
111Tuesday. Um Yeah, one thing I >> and the and the and the pattern was was that the budget the the board was going to cut cut the um work and retirees 10%. Superintendent recommendation was 7.7. We came up with 3%. Uh I probably got more calls back from work and retirees saying, "We can live with that." Uh um I won't say I got as many as I got before again, but I did get a few uh say we can live with that. So, it's a tough choice that we got to make. The other thing is is that we got a three three mil increase here. And I don't know what that's going to do on a $100,000 house. Uh On a $100,000 house that would be And and that's And that's assuming that this is
112a non-owner occupied property. Yeah, that's right. But if it's if it's a second house >> 6% I'm talking about. Oh, so I'm so on a 6% property, $100,000 house then you're looking at $3 $3 a year increase. 6% is what I'm living. Or $6 if I got that backwards. You said $100,000 home 6%? 6%? 6% of $50,000 car. That'd be $60. 6% of the assessment. Okay. So, leave them on a $50,000 car, I believe it's less than $5, $3 or something. So, when we're talking about a $100,000 house then it'll be in that uh That's okay. That's going to be a like $3 $6 $6 a year. So, it's not it's not a tremendous amount. Uh when we're talking about a $50,000 house then you're down to $3. So, that it's just whatever your whatever
113your assessment ratio is is what you're going to see. Can I go back to my your action about it from the superintendent's perspective? You gave us several options and I like that. Which option would best fit you as it relates to what you're trying to do? So, you [snorts] know, I mean, I'm not going to sit here and say that any option is a great option. I mean, that's why we're having this discussion. I mean, it's it's kind of you're torn in between, you know, everything. The The thing I try to do is one, we we need to have as balanced budget as we can get. Uh we cannot go um into our reserves as this district has in the past and as as the funding formula has changed. So, there's got to be some
114some changes made to how we operate as a school system. Um you know, when I look at it, yes, there You know, listen, I'm going to sit here and say that every single teacher needs to be paid more money than what they are. >> I I agree. Um but also at the same point in time, there are some teachers that are currently, like when we're talking about with our retirees, there is a benefit that they're getting that somebody else is not getting. Now, do they do they you know, 100% I agree with them for getting it. But also that is something that no but that that teacher that may be working across the hall is not getting. [snorts] So, I think we do have to look and can keep those, you know, is one person
115receiving a benefit over somebody else. Now, did they earn that benefit? I'm going to sit here and say yes, they did. But also at the same point in time, um you know, we we have to look at at at being as equitable as we can with everybody in in the classroom for those that are not receiving the benefit versus those that may be receiving them. Um And so, when when I look at it and I sit here, as long as we can move forward with with certain things. Um you know, I did give a lot of reasons for needing BCBAs. I gave given a lot of reasons for needing it you know, restructuring within um our special education department and a chief of of accessible sexual exceptional education because of the the the amount of
116students that we're getting in, the the things that are happening, and the support that we need there. It's just it's a big animal and we need to have that structure in place. So, you know, even [snorts] for me, and I'll just go to my option here real quick that I mentioned that I put up there. Um you know, even with with my option, I'm I I'd be like, "Okay, well, let's I I'll take one BCBA right now, and if you you know, if you drop something down, at least that's moving us in the right direction." Um you know, and also when you when you look at at that 7.7% um yeah, everybody's hearing 7.7%, but that's a budgeted amount. That's not an impact amount. Uh when when you hear the $5,000, well, it's $5,000 difference.
117Well, that $5,000 difference is our budget. But, how it would impact is only $3,000. So, those those are things that that we look at. You know, I try to make sure that I impact individuals as least as possible. Um but, we're to a point right now where we do have to make some tough decisions um moving forward. So, you know, even in in this scenario, okay, yeah, let's you know, if you want to drop a mill, put that at three mills, and do one BCBA, and and and achieve I think there's things that we still have to move forward with this district on. And I think the behaviors in our classrooms are things that we have to be very concerned about. And then I think also when you look at the you know, our our
118students with disabilities, and you know, we've moved from three schools to to seven schools ATSI. Um you know, you you look at the number of students that that were were I it's just there there are a lot of things that we have to address with meeting the standards that we need to meet across the board, not just in special education, not with the just behaviors, things of that nature, but across the board. And I think we need to impact areas when we have a chance to impact those areas so that we're moving forward. If we don't, then we're just going to stay stagnant and we're not going to be able to move forward. Well, I ask the question because although we four meals to me versus three meals, we're not talking about a big big
119big difference in terms of still getting what you are actually proposing from your perspective. You have got working retirees, no bearing there. You have I mean >> [clears throat] >> I support what you are proposing and I've heard a lot from from option three, but you're not talking about a whole lot. You talk if you're really talking about the impact of four meals versus three meals, basically. The what from what I'm looking at. And our meals aren't worth a lot. >> The what now? >> Our meals aren't It's not It's not like you did looking like Right, so Learn to take >> going to get us of making an impact going into the next year without going so deep into our fund reserve, I'm I really uh think that is the proposal that the board
120should consider. Uh which one, sir? >> The one that he's proposing right there is a four meal >> in the red. Number three is not in the red. But my point is is that like he said, making an impact. You you you you're going back I mean, three meals versus four meals, like you said, what's the what's the big difference? >> The big difference here is the working retiree is 7.7% versus 3%. Yeah, that's the difference there. >> That's a lot of money. And and so so option two we can get by for tonight and let's breathe on it and work on it and think about it till our next our second option come All right. our second reading come up again. Well, my my thoughts on it is first and foremost, thank you Mr.
121Burke for not putting me on the finance committee. >> [laughter] >> I I I I think you guys done an excellent job You you really have. And um I I I really think both of two and three are options that really we can at least find some kind of compromise on. Um when we look at new positions coming in, uh Dr. Bowman knows it's really tough cuz I agree I we really need those BCBAs. I agree with you. Uh but is And And these are just talking points for later on. Is that something that we can say, "Well, okay, maybe we can get by one." I don't know. Do we need the two? I don't know. Uh when I go back to Mr. Caskey, if we go with uh either one of them, how are
122we looking next year, the year the year after that, because we know we could be dealing with a declining fund balance every year based on the projection. So, we're going to have to find some way on the local funds to not have to depend on the state funds so much to control that that outcome. But I agree with Mr. Sweeney, I'm good with it. Uh definitely have a little bit of heartburn here and saying, "Let's reduce all those bonuses. Maybe minimize it, but take it completely out." I don't know. But most important is that we have employees in this district that we have not addressed their needs for the last six or seven or eight years. And if we go with option three, you're dropping them from $1 an hour down to 25 cent an
123hour versus 50 cent an hour. And these are the folks that makes our school go. Yes, the teachers and the administrators where the rubber meets the road, but they also have a part of that staff. And this is an election opportunity for us to go ahead and honor that agreement. At least 50 cent. We we've already cut it from $1 down to 50 cent. Mhm. Yeah. So, option two is is our best bet for the first reading in James Sweeney's opinion. >> [laughter] >> And and I agree also, Mr. Sweeney, because this is the first reading. I I can go with either one. We'll just have to get first reading. But now that [clears throat] you're And then it can be changed. >> that we approve the first reading of the budget. Option two. Adopt
124option two. I second the motion. Okay. All those in favor say I. I. All those in not in favor say nay. Nay. Nay. Thank you, So, we have two. Okay. So, option two passes. For tonight. >> For tonight. First reading. Yeah, okay. First reading. >> [laughter] >> Okay. It'll be all night. Thank you. I like change. Okay, what's next? All right. Just to get your Just to get your increase. That's just the first reading. That's just first reading. >> That's just first reading. Yeah. >> [snorts] >> It will change. >> I'm sure it will. For the next one. So, may my phone number. >> [laughter] >> I'm going back to Egypt, okay? Yeah. Um All righty. Yeah, you know, you can tweak it. All right. My report. June the 8th will be our next regular
125board meeting, so you'll be ready for second reading, okay, on budget? 5:00 Executive session is, and then our regular meeting at 5:30. Okay, the SCSBA School Law Conference is going to be held in Green August 28th, 29th, or sorry, through the 30th. Let Becky know if you plan to attend. And we have got to make a picture, folks, for the first gasp. That's after um for the graduates. So, at this time I will entertain a motion to adjourn. Motion. I need >> Second. All those in favor? Aye. We are adjourned. I don't like being a picture person.