001Miss Her, would you open us with prayer, please? Heavenly Father, this evening we invoke your presence. We lift. We ask, Lord, you continue to abide with us. Help us to never forget that Lord, you will never leave us and you will never never forsake us. Heavenly Father, this evening for those who are going through sad hours of bereavement, Lord, ask them to continue to look to the heels with their help because all of our help come from you. Heavenly Father, this evening, help us to do everything that is in order. Help us to do it your way. Help us, Lord, to be civil in everything that we say and do for each other. Help us to always do things in order, Lord, the way you want it to be done. And we will give you
002all the honor and glory that's through you. And it's in the precious name of Jesus this evening we count it done. Amen. Amen. Call the Kershaw County School Board of Trustees meeting to order. Is there a motion to adopt the proposed agenda? Properly motion by Miss Furnace, second by Dr. King. All those in favor know by saying I. And that's unanimous. Is there a motion to adopt the consent agenda? properly motioned by coach Blackman and second by Rebecca. Thank you. All those in favor, let it be known by saying I. I. And that's unanimous. We want to thank each and everyone for gathering this evening. Um and so that moves us down. We did not have anyone to sign up for the public forum. Old and new business. We are down the resolution of property
003transfer. Mr. Billy Smith, good evening Dr. Smith, members of the board, Dr. Goodwin, uh bring before you today something we started this journey on about three, four years ago, it seems like. Uh it's been a while, but we came to you uh back uh during a FNF meeting and had it talked with you about uh the city's request uh for uh two parcels of property at the back part of our property. Uh one parcel is uh 1.43 acres uh that they proposed to put a water tank on and the second parcel is 1.15 acres uh that they proposed to put an electrical substation on. Um when we talked uh you gave us at that time the nod to go ahead and and and discuss with them uh what we would uh like to get in
004return. Our request was that they help us uh get a driveway uh from our property over to Battleship Road and take care and and take care of everything that would go along with that, which means any permitting, legal fees, u that kind of thing. We also asked uh that since they were going to be back there and fencing their two parcels uh and creating compounds that they would have their fencing uh contractor fence around our uh maintenance. Um I call it compound back there, but we have a large metal building back there that we use and store our equipment and things. Um, and so, uh, they have already installed the fence at a cost to them of about $25,000, uh, which we we greatly appreciate and they did a good job and they work with
005us really well. Um, where we are now is they have agreed and uh, that's what you have in front of you to assist with the per permitting. Uh we uh have got estimates on what it would uh cost to put the driveway across and and the purpose for the driveway just so you know if you haven't been here uh between 4 and 5:15 5:30 and try to get out of here and now especially since they have uh put the the concrete uh median out there to short down our runway if you're going left toward Lug or or toward Springdale. It's made it a lot more difficult now and and not very safe uh for some of our folks trying to get out of here. So, this would help us greatly to get over to the
006light there on battleship and and our folks to get in and out of here uh safely and and mostly uh departing from here. So, they're going to give us $60,000 toward that and then they're going to give us up to 25,000 for any associated cost for the project. And it is uh administration's recommendation uh that when we're asking for a motion uh for y'all to allow us to uh go into a uh an agreement uh with them for what they've uh said they will do for us. And we in turn uh work with them to uh get these two pieces of part parcels uh totaling uh what uh 2.68 acres. Excuse me. 2.58 acres. Any questions? I'll be glad to. And before any questions from Billy, uh Dr. Govern, you'd like to share? Yes, if
007I could. This is a project that's been going on obviously longer than I've been here. Um that I was surprised of when I first came. Um the the the move on this is that the funding uh has time limits on it for the city. So, they're moving forward. I thought it was interesting that it's been a year that or more that the fence has been up. They they did all of the fencing, which looks really nice. And I made the comment, they sure do have good faith that we're going to go through the same thing. We did have a uh contractor do a full uh work up on the uh estimate estimated cost of cutting the uh driveway. Um it's a little bit tricky, you'll notice, because of a little wetlands area there. So it
008has to make kind of a funny curve if you are looking at at the at your your plat. We got a curve to stay 30 feet off of the wetlands area. Yes. So we've we've had that surveyed out also just to make sure. So um this uh you know this is again where we got another governmental agency that that you know we work well with. Uh this does allow them to put in that water tank to uh to increase their capacity for the steeplechase industrial park and then also the associated electric uh with the substation. Um it will be a real benefit to the folks who visit this building and who work here as far as uh getting in and out. It's only getting worse. Um we we've really seen a big change in in
009that road getting out. And then they added the median last week, which uh really has complicated things. So um we uh uh once once this transfer is complete, we'll move forward with going ahead. Originally, the city was going to pay for the drive and they were going to pay for the associated cost, but based on the grant money that they're using, it appears it's easier for them to to pay us money that we then devote to that purpose. So, we'll obviously put it into an account and and use it for the for the said purpose. So, uh certainly we'll take any kind of questions that you have about the project. Um, obviously there are some numbers popping out on the the information that you gave us, Mr. Smith, Dr. Goodwin. Um, what do you do
010you have a a foresight as to what additional incurrences may be monetarily beyond the amounts allocated by the city? Are we kind of in that ball game or ball ballpark range? We believe based on on the the contractor who did the estimate for us, we believe that it'll come in within those dollar amounts. So, we won't be encoura um you know, they start digging around, you never know if they're going to have to put in rock fill, you know, under a section of that driveway or not, but right now there doesn't seem to be any concerns. Any other questions? Okay. Administration recommendation is transfer of about 2.5 a lot to the city of C. That's correct. Yes sir. Dr. King is your motion. Okay. And second by Miss Furnest. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All
011in favor let it be known by racial white hand. Thank you. Next item under the chairman's report. I just want to pause and say um to the board members, we have many invitations of a joyful time of celebration, graduation, retirement, and I want to encourage us to attend as many as possible. Um retirement people have dedicated many years of service in their lives. Uh for our students, it's a very important time for them. they have reached a milestone in their life and so it's good to be a part of this team and district of all that's taken place. So as much as we can let us try to that's all I have. Okay, Dr. Gil um as Mr. Willard comes up to uh to do a budget update. Um, I based following up on the
012invitations, I just want to take a minute and remind everybody that this is uh National Education Week and Teacher Appreciation Week and how much we appreciate what our teachers do day in and day out. A couple of weeks ago, obviously, we recognized our district teacher of the year, um, Miss Randy Ray, and proud of her and hope that she does well as she moves forward into the state uh, uh, teacher of the year program. Uh, obviously our teachers are are the they're the heart of what we do every day and I'm so proud to see the way our community has celebrated our teachers. Uh, if you haven't been on Facebook, there's been some neat posts by the public information office where you can comment on your favorite teacher or make comments about great teachers. Um,
013and I hope if you if you do Facebook, I hope you take time to do that. Uh, also though tomorrow, uh, want to point out that tomorrow is, uh, school nurses day and I did not know this. Uh, Julie pointed out that's Florence Night Florence Nightingale's birthday. And that so that's where the the date is around for school nurses day, which I was not aware of. But uh we do appreciate uh all that our teachers do, but we also appreciate all the ways that our community helps to recognize our teachers. You know, everything from the schools, but also PTO's, different businesses. It's amazing the way people uh come out and and show their appreciation for our teachers. So, um if you have an opportunity to to show your appreciation, I hope that you do. So,
014u and with that, then we'll go to budget, which is not really a good transition. I always get the best segways. But uh thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Dr. Dr. Goodwin, good evening. Uh as Dr. Goodwin mentioned, we just want to bring you uh a little bit of a budget update. Um I had not planned on getting indepth on uh what we what we have been dealing with and what we have kind of been fighting against with regard to funding. Uh but in light of a an email we received just a few minutes ago, I wanted to give you just a very brief uh summary uh of of the funding formula and what's going on in case you hear about it or get questions. So um the uh several associations and CFOs
015across the state, superintendent, we've been doing a lot of digging into the funding formula. Uh and if you recall uh two years ago the funding formula changed to EF from EFA to a proportionate share formula and we've had a lot of questions about it and in the previous two years we were just learning about it and the funding were was at levels where it was hard to determine exactly what was going on meaning the funding levels were much higher going into the 2526 year. Uh there is not a lot of state funding to go around. So, it's bringing some things to light. And when I talk about this, I want to be very clear that I'm not talking uh I'm not making any comments that is derogatory or negative towards charter schools. This is just
016a the facts about the formula. Okay? As as we have. So, uh it is not their fault. This is just the formula. So uh when the proportionate share formula is calculated um in the old EFA days we had a base student cost we had a 45day 135day count we could multiply that base student cost times the number of students and we could accurately project and give you uh fairly good estimations about where we would stand on funding. The new formula is not set up that way uh because it is now inclusive of all charters and traditional schools from be from the same pot. When we were under EFA, charters were funded from a separate pot. So when they all brought were brought under the same formula, uh the funding is now determined. If you envision
017a big pie, you get a slice of the pie, but in order for you to get more, you have to grow at the same rate or a higher rate as the total proportion in the state. Meaning, we could gain students but lose funding. And that is the way that the new formula is set up. And the issue that we have determined, the biggest issue we have determined on this is it comes down to waitings. So, uh, with the, uh, charter schools and the traditional school districts being in the same pot, uh, the base waiting we we receive for a, a regular education student is 1.0. However, uh, charter schools, whether they be virtual or brickandmortar, receive a waiting that is higher than that because they do not have the opportunity to receive local tax revenue.
018they have nothing to levy millage against. So they cannot earn that and that is completely understood and is a very good point. Uh some of those also run their own transportation systems. So they need help with that and we completely acknowledge that. But the ratios in the current formula whereas we get a 1.0 O waiting for a regular ed student. The brickandmortar charter schools get an additional 1.25. So that is a total of 2.25. So if you think about it, if I get a if I get a dollar, this person gets $2.25. The virtual charter is a was a a factor of 65. and we in trying to get some amendments into legislation. Uh we we now hear that there was some positive steps taken today where we were able to get a small victory
019and it appears that that virtual charter ratio has been reduced um by about 20 basis points. So we we do foresee that that would do two things. one, the Senate version and the House version has not been different up until now in material matters, which means the likelihood of there being a conference committee debate on the budget after House Two, which they're in now, um, uh, was low. By that amendment, we feel like this will go to conference committee, which will get more discussion. Uh, and we hope that the conferees that'll be named will still see that uh, see that through. uh which would then in turn put a little bit more money back into the traditional school district coffers. Not going to be much and it's not going to fix the problem. Uh but
020I just wanted to take a few minutes to uh to mention that because now that it has has been talked about and has been voted upon. You may hear that. So that's just a brief summary um of what we have seen in the formula and what we're we're fighting for um and what we're we're up against. But again, these are just facts. It's not against any charter or anyone in those sit uh those institutions. This is just the formula as it stands. So, we will continue to keep an eye on this and and let you know what happens with it. Um any questions about that or any any thoughts in general? Dr. Good. There there is a webinar Friday that the school boards association correct is um hosting an online webinar uh that is geared
021toward uh more information about this situation uh after today's uh uh you know results. It's going to be a lot easier discussion to have because at least we've gotten uh you know the legislators in the house to understand that there is a concern. you know, a lot of times it's just difficult to get them to acknowledge there's a concern. So, we do we do, you know, we're very thankful all of the education organizations came together to work on this over the past two weeks. This was a probably the biggest joint effort I've seen on anything in 10 12 years. So, uh we're very proud of of the way everybody came together to to work on this. Um, again, it doesn't solve the problem, but it at least gets a little bit of of of weight
022off of some districts, but then what it does is it establishes a committee to go back and review the formula and how things can be adjusted to make it more fair to all involved. Is there a pre-registration for that? Is there a link for it for the school board that they have it listed on? Um, so we can get in your legislative update on Monday had it Yeah. Okay. Sure is. And I'm sure they'll send another one to you closer to Friday. So, we'll uh we'll kind of jump into the budget uh budget update and and that kind of that background will come to light as we talk about a few things. And I'm not going to bel labor uh the first couple of slides that are before that that are before you. Um and
023you'll notice the title at the top says ways and means and senate budget versions. Um quite honestly that's because up until today they are pretty much identical. I have only highlighted highlighted a couple of things on those slides that are a little bit different but uh we don't yet know how material they are. So, uh, one difference is on the education scholarship trust fund. The funding in the, uh, ways and means house version had all of that funding in, uh, general fund, whereas in years past, it had been in lottery. So, it was going to be $45 million, I think it was, coming out of the general fund. And the Senate took a position that it was going to be split between lottery and general fund. Um I think it was maybe a a 25
024million 20 split or something like that or 30 and 25 I can't remember the number. Um so that would make a little bit of a difference in our funding uh in our favor but again we don't know how that would translate uh at this point and I'll I'll talk about that a little bit when I get to the revenue slide. Uh the other one on on the next slide that's highlighted is the employer health insurance increase. Um, up until the uh, Senate debate a couple of weeks ago, it had been presented to us that there was going to be an employee increase, which would be the first time that had happened in many, many years. And then there was going to be a slight increase on the retiree insurance, um, but not a direct expense
025to us where it would increase the revenue we would receive based on the retirees, then it goes straight back out. Um the Senate changed that to uh put a 4.6% uh insurance increase on the employers. Um we're not yet sure whether we're getting full funding for that uh because we're still awaiting additional information. So um we we do have enough information to be able to give you some projected cost impacts based on the budget versions. Um so the first chart that you'll see uh is going to show you what is mandated under the proviso 1.3. So um as you know the uh appropriations bill and the debates um uh surrounding that focus heavily on and have for years minimum teacher salary schedule and bus drivers. Um, so one mandate is the minimum teacher salary schedule
026uh being updated. Uh, both sides of the legislative body upheld the $1,500 per sale increase to the state minimum. Um, just a disclaimer there. Um, that's not a guaranteed $1,500 raise to the person. That's just an increase to the state minimum salary schedule. Other related classifications under the under the proviso uh for many years uh there are classifications that are now deemed to be treated equally as teachers uh to include obviously guidance, media, nurses, uh psychologists, OT's, PTs and there may be one or two more in there. uh so they get treated the same way and one step for all those eligible in those required classifications and you see the projected cost of that is a little north 2.2 2 million. And I'll ask you to please remember that number. Bus driver salary schedules. We
027will uh plan when we get into the readings to show you a 2% increase on those schedules and that is in line with the uh state employee increase as well as a step increase for those that are eligible. Um projected cost of about 160,000. Um, while it's a little early and until we make all adjustments, it's hard to zero in on what the 4.6% employer health increase would be, but I'm projecting that to be about $875,000 right now. And then the next chart looks at non-mandated items, but things we would like to consider and bring before you uh for the 2526 budget. Um, in line with that state employee increase, we would uh desire uh it's not firm because we're we're not to the uh point to know how we stand, but we would like
028to bring a 2% cost of living increase for those non-mandated classifications, meaning everybody else and uh for employees that are not impacted by the salary schedule study adjustments. So, just a a quick comment on that. um the salary schedule adjustments that we have brought before you for consider that we will ask you to consider uh and that's actually the next bullet um for the 2526 year we have adjusted those enough to include um adjustments that were recommended under the study as well as to include the cost of living increase in those already. So those would not be presented separately with a 2% cost of living increase because they're already getting that and a good bit more in all of those classifications. Um so for those that are non-mandated and do not fall in those categories,
029projected cost would be about $200,000. And the next bullet, those salary schedule upgrades that we have been bringing to you for the past couple of months. Um right now the true cost of the ones that we have in there um come in to be about $956,000. Uh little bit lower than what we had projected, but the big reason is because we were basing those projections on the schedules based on the number of days they were built for. So, if it was a 242 day schedule, but somebody works 220 days off of that schedule, the impact will be less. It doesn't mean they get less as a percentage, but it's just not going to be as costly as 242 days. So, uh we're within the projections at this point in time as we've made those adjustments,
030and we'll certainly, uh keep you updated on that as we get into the readings. uh we we would hope to uh it's not firm just like the uh cost of living increase to implement one step for all eligible employees that are not mandated under the proviso u like we have done every year and we would hope to uh be able to uh recommend one step for all eligible working retirees and that would take them from step 25 to 26. So, from the time that I have been here, we originally went from step 18 to 23. Current year, we went from 23 to 25. Um, we would like to at least add one more year uh to that longevity for those working retirees that are still with us. Uh, no estimate of cost at this time
031because we need to make sure we verify and firm up that list of who we need to touch. Um and then other things that we need to continue to look at before we uh come to you with readings on the next slide. Obviously we'll be looking at utilities uh supply cost for both operations and instruction uh technology needs that are not capital related. Uh and that's more or less our subscriptions everything we need for um instructional software licenses etc to see where we stand there. and then then Dr. Goodwin and his team uh our team in general will still continue to look at staffing um in all areas of the district. So that represents a little bit of detail for you as you look ahead for the expenditures u revenue. There's not a whole lot
032to give you right now uh because we have only seen the ways and means projections based on the 45day report and we didn't expect to get house projections because nothing changed from ways and means to house. There were a few changes a couple of weeks ago in the Senate and we're still awaiting the Senate projections based on the 135th day report. So all we have to report to you right now is based on ways and means our net increase above the current year on revenue only equates to a little over $2.2 million. And you remember that number that I asked you to remember. The very first box, the very first bullet addressing the teacher salary schedule, addressing a step for those classifications alone cost $2.2 million. The issue is part of this $2.2 million includes
033a little bit for fringe cost. So really the net amount we're getting through aid to classrooms general fund and aid to classrooms EIA is about 1.7 million just to implement bullet one. Not a good situation. And that's why I wanted to give you the briefing about the formula itself because that's that's kind of why we find ourselves where we are as we move into this budget process. So, um, even with the Senate version, we do not expect significant increases. Um, and we'll have to see what number gets translated with this amendment that we understand has been voted on now. Um, just a few reminders that we'll share with you. Um, you can read through most of those. We hope the legislative session is going to end on time. Uh, we'll see if anything gets stretched.
034Um, honestly, at this point, um, I guess one little downside to the amendment is it's going to take them a little bit to name conferees, which will probably extend past the adjournment date of this Thursday, May 8th. Uh, but that's okay. We'll we'll work with that and we'll see what they uh decide to schedule. Um, obviously a lot of these things can change as we uh have uh folks flowing in and out of the budget um in and out of the system. Uh still dealing with contracts. Um and uh we'll continue to look at any non-sary accounts and identify what what is needed before we get to year end. Um, one bullet I I definitely want to highlight just so you're aware, uh, is due to these partially funded mandates, and you got to keep
035in mind as these salaries increase and expenses increase, the state and federal grants unfortunately stay rather flat. So, they're they're pretty fixed. We don't see that they're going to go up. Um, so we would expect to uh at least talk to you during the readings about the ne the the necessity of having to use fund balance to at least on a budgetary basis but uh balance for the year. Um, and we've provided to you the legislative calendar. Um, and as far as our schedule, we would plan to bring you first reading of the 2526 budget at our next board meeting on May 20th and the second reading on June 4th, barring any uh significant delays in the legislative process from here. Um, I won't go through the noteworthy legislative items. We've provided those before. Um,
036I don't know that those will really get a whole lot more discussion uh at this stage, but I would say just to keep an eye on those because they could be impactful. Um, and with that, that concludes tonight's presentation, and I'll be glad to try to answer any questions. Yes, sir. Hey, sir. Whose responsibility is the cost of living? Is that a is that a function of the overall budget or is that a local? Uh, that's local. We So, and what is that tied to? Uh, that would be uh either tied to uh local tax dollars that that we raise or um could be uh partially funded from state dollars if there is um excess uh which in this case doesn't look like it's there, right? Um or it would be a function of being
037covered by our existing fund balance that we that we have in the coffers. So is the is it the same with the step increase? We we're we're that comes out of the the budget here. Correct. Yeah. The step increases uh even with teachers have never been a commitment by the state legislative body to cover. So my question is at 2% you're coming in short based on what Uncle Sam uses for uh cost of living assessment. So we're looking at like this year would be a 2.6 up to 3% cost of living adjustment. Right. So does the step and the 2% that we're kicking in you think we're getting there? Are we meeting that requirement? Uh the step itself on most schedules falls between 1 and a half to 2%. So it's close. It it would
038it would get close. Yes. Unless we have a crazy year like we did three years ago and it's 8% or something like that. Correct. Yeah. Correct. Good for me, bad for the district. I understand. No, that's good. Good. Appreciate it. Thank you. Is there a motion to go into executive session to discuss resation retirement of certified and classified personnel, employment of certified and classified personnel and assignment changes and transfer of certified and classified personnel properly motion by Miss Furnace second by Mr. Jane, I'm having a senior moment. Motion is properly for us. All those in favor let me be known by s I and That's anonymous. to reconvene the open session. Proper motion by Miss Furnus, second by by Coach Blackman. All in favor, let me be know by saying I. I. And oppose. In
039executive session, we discuss resation and retirement of certified and classified personnel, employment of certified and classified personnel, and assignment changes and transfer of certified classified personnel. Is there a motion to accept administration recommendation concerning employment matters? Proper motion by Mr. Jean, second by Dr. King. All those in favor have been known by raise your right hand. Is there a motion to adjourn and close with prayer? Motion by Miss Furnace, second by M. Reeves. All those in favor, let me be know by raise your right hand. Okay. Thank you. Heavenly Father, we ask that at this time that you dispatch your angels to guide us safely back home and help us to find all his will when we get there. And we give you all the honor and glory that's due to you. And it's in
040the priceless and name of Jesus we. Amen.