001Good evening, everybody. Can you all hear me? Awesome. Thank you. Welcome to tonight's regular school board meeting. It's Wednesday, January 21. Can you all please stand up for the Pledge of Allegiance. And, Director Tidholm, can you lead? Thank you very much. With that, let's start off with roll call. Director Espinoza? Here. Director Tidholm? Present. Director Holien? Present. President. Van? I am here. And Vice President Alvarez has an excused absence. And this is our superintendent to the right of Director Tidholm. Thank you, everybody, for allowing me to be virtual. I am still in Dallas. I came home for a week and back in Dallas to finish up a project here. I'll be home towards the end of this week, so thank you for allowing me this opportunity. With that, do you are there any changes or
002additions to tonight's board meeting agenda? Can I move a couple things to consent? Sure. Which would you like to move? If no one has any comments, 10.2 and 10.3 to consent. Director Holien, 10.2 and 10.3 are introduction items. So those are just being introduced at this school, this meeting. So to move into consent, it would be action items. That I move those to action items? Yes. Could you move-- can you clarify your question, please? Could I move 10.2 and 10.3 to action items? Yes. Erin and Holly are coming up to the podium. I think it would be making it almost like an introduction and action item. And so you'd likely be adding one, making that change. And you'd also be adding into the motion, the language around-- it would be in the best interest of
003the district to do so. So you'd probably want to name on the record-- why you're making that motion to move it, to make it an intro in action. And that to do that, it would need a second and a roll call vote. I understand. The reason why it's closing out two POs that we can move on from-- so, would there be a second or-- One thing I would just add-- the board action report does currently state it as an introduction and an action item on a different date. So if there was someone in a community who wanted to speak to it, they could think that they would have another opportunity at the next meeting. So I just wanted to name that. Got it. We can disregard that then. OK, thank you. Thank you, Erin, for
004coming on up there. Any other calls for changes or additions to tonight's board meeting agenda? I hear and see none. Thank you so much. We're going to move to acknowledgment and appreciations. Can I please have a Director of Family and Community Partnerships, Lita O'Donnell, come on up for a presentation. Is it on? Yes. OK, thank you. Good evening, board directors. Tonight, we are honored to recognize the African Community Housing & Development Organization. ACHDO is a vital partner helping us fulfill Highline's promise that every student is known by name, strength, and need. ACHDO provides culturally rooted, out-of-school time programs, featuring social emotional learning, outdoor education, and a strong STEM curriculum. Their youth programs also build leadership skills, support positive cultural identity, and help students plan for future events. We are grateful for their partnership and service
005to our students and families. We have with us tonight Ebenezer Tsegaye, community engagement coordinator, Andre Ervin, community outreach coordinator, a few of our families that are supported by ACHDO And I'd like to invite Bilan Aden, co-founder and vice president, to the podium. Hi. Good evening, board members, superintendent, Highline staff, students, and community partners. Thank you for this honor and for the opportunity to share a little bit about our work. I want to first thank our wonderful staff at ACHD, our education department. I always say they are the magic of our organization. And I love that they get to enjoy creating meaningful experiences with our students and their families. And I want to say thank you for the parents who are true partners in this work for coming out this evening. African Community Housing & Development,
006or ACHD, is a community-based organization rooted right here in south King County. Our mission is to support families holistically by strengthening housing stability, education, and community well-being. Everything we do is grounded in partnership, cultural responsiveness, and deep belief that our young people already carry brilliance and potential. Our role is to create inclusive spaces, expand access to resources, and walk alongside students and families as they grow. A significant portion of our education work serves students from Highline School District. We operate an after-school program at our ACHD headquarters in SeaTac, where more than 90% of our participants are Highline students. Through our out-of-school time programming, students engage in hands-on STEAM learning, social-emotional development, and outdoor education. Our academics matter greatly. We place equal emphasis on building confidence, collaboration, emotional awareness, and strong sense of belonging because learning
007does not just happen in isolation. During the summer, we operate summer day camp and campout programs, serving more than 150 students and parents combined, providing over 6,000 hours of programming. Throughout the school year, we serve more than 250 students through our after-school programs, Saturday excursions, and in-school partnerships, delivering nearly 20,000 hours of learning and enrichment. These are not just numbers. They represent relationships, trust, and consistent presence in students' lives. One of the most unique aspects of our work is how we intentionally connect STEAM learning with social-emotional growth through our outdoor education. When students are outdoors, they are not just learning science or engineering concepts. They're learning perseverance, teamwork, leadership, problem-solving, and how to regulate emotions in new at sometimes uncomfortable environments. Whether they are building, hiking, experimenting, or reflecting together, students are developing skills that
008carry into the classroom and into life. Our outdoor education goes beyond single-day activities. Every summer, we take families on three-day family campouts. For many, it's their first time camping together. It creates a space for connection, rest, shared joy in nature. For our middle school and high school students, we go further by going to front country and back country trips, deep into the wilderness. There's no internet, no roadblocks, no TikTok, none of that. These experiences are intentionally designed to stretch comfort zones in a safe and supportive way. Students learn responsibility, resilience, trust, and confidence. And we consistently hear them say these trips change how they see themselves and what they believe they are capable of. We're also proud to partner directly with Highline Schools during the school year. At Cascadia Middle School, we support the Black
009Student Union Advisory class through hands-on STEAM projects and by bringing in partners who expose students to new tools, careers, and pathways. This spring, we're excited to take students to a local farm in Burien in partnership with Nurturing Roots. We're launching this as a pilot with the intention of expanding to five schools in the 2026-2027 school year and ultimately scaling this model to serve every school in Highline Public Schools. One of our biggest highlights of 2025 was launching the STEAMpire Build Your Future Expo, which was a true community celebration. In partnership with Highline and the city of SeaTac, ACHD led a large-scale, steam-focused event with nearly 50 partners from colleges and universities to the armed forces with community organizations, cities, and companies like Amazon, Orion Industries and Blue Origin. More than 300 students, families, and community
010members gathered at Tyee High School to explore what is possible. Because of its success, we're excited to announce that the STEAMpire Expo in 2026, [INAUDIBLE] Pathways will return to Tyee High School on November 17. This past year was also a major milestone for ACHD with the launch of our Makerspace. Students from Highline and the city of SeaTac Teen Center now regularly use 3D printers, sewing machines, engineering kits, circuits, and art tools. We've watched students go from asking, what is a Makerspace, to saying, can we please be in that Makerspace? It has become their favorite place in our building. The space is available at no cost to Highline Schools and Highline students and families with our education team ready to support with access and learning opportunities. Beyond education, we know student success is deeply connected to
011family stability and community well-being. ACHD also supports housing stability, food access through our farmer's markets, and connection to essential resources. Because when families are supported, students can truly thrive. It is one of our greatest honors to work with Highline School Public Schools and serve our home community with genuine purpose. Highline's strong culture and community engagement from the district office to school staff creates these conditions for meaningful partnerships to flourish. I'd like to close with a phrase from an African proverb. Umuntu, ngumuntu, ngabantu, often known as Ubuntu, which means I am, because we are. It reflects the belief that no student success is alone. Young people thrive when they are known by their name, recognized by their strengths, and supported in their needs by the adults and communities around them. This is the heart of the
012Highline promise. And ACHD is proud to partner in supporting that promise, ensuring Highline students graduate, prepared for the future they choose. Thank you so much for that presentation. Directors, do you have any questions or comments? No questions, but thank you for the work that you do. It's super exciting. First of all, getting the kids away from technology. Thank you. I'm a huge fan of getting my kids somewhere where there's no cell phone service, no Wi-Fi. And it's great that they have these opportunities. And I mean, the 3D printer is cool. But I'm more excited about the sewing machines, honestly, because it's a loss. It's a lost art, right? But, yeah. Just thank you for all the work that you do for our community and for our babies. Because they deserve to have these spaces, and
013these opportunities, and this support. I wanted to make a comment. Thank you very much. That was a wonderful presentation. One thing that really stuck with me was the Makerspace and how we can collaborate and work together to have a space where every student, as you said, can make something regardless of wherever, whatever their situation is. But that just really stuck with me, so thank you very much. Yeah. And I just wanted to add that thank you for being here and for sharing about your work. I personally know families and students who have benefited from your support and your services. So I'm deeply grateful for that. You said in your presentation that students' success is connected to family and community well-being. And that's absolutely right. And we see that in the work that you do. And
014it's most meaningful nowadays with the current situations out in our community. So I'm really thankful for that. And I hope we can continue to learn more from you and your partnership with Highline. Greatly appreciate the opportunity for you coming and sharing what the program does and how it supports our schools. With that, I know that Director Holien has a certificate of appreciation. And if he can come on up, we're going to have a picture taken with everybody. Let's have all the families up there, too. As it is, I'll tell you a different vantage point from this view here. Seeing everybody up on the dais, that was great. Thank you. With that, we're going to move to our superintendent's report. Dr. Duran, you're up. Thank you, President Van. And, yes, thank you for the presentation. I
015especially appreciate the ending remarks there by weaving in our promise. Appreciate those words there and appreciate the work that you do to support our families and our communities. And just thank everybody for being here tonight. I want to start off by sharing a great visit that I had to Evergreen High School with ILED, Instructional Leadership Executive Director, Omar Crowder, last week. Our visit focused on observing classrooms where students are earning college credit. We visited University of Washington's psychology course, which is taught by an Evergreen teacher, where students were preparing for an upcoming quiz by reviewing examples of different types of motivators. Evergreen is working to expand its college credit offerings so that students can ultimately earn enough credits to complete an associate's degree while still in high school. This is just one example of our
016workforce strategic plan goal-- Future Ready. And speaking of our strategic plan, we are currently in the process of refining it. So this is our last year of our current strategic plan. So we've heard very clearly over the past year from our students, families, staff, and our community that Highline's strategic direction is the right one. This passage of our levy, along with our recent polling and survey results, shows strong alignment around our goals and our Highline promise. We have begun a refinement process of the district's plan with the focus on how we implement our strategic plan goals and how we measure progress. Over the next couple months, there will be several opportunities for providing feedback. Given our budget realities, the feedback will also inform our budget development process not only this year, but moving forward, also.
017Families can look for details in Highline headlines, staff, and Highline Insider. And community members will find information on our website. In addition, we are seeking input from our Highline community, using a thought exchange. Families, students, staff, community members are invited to share their thoughts online. The ThoughtExchange is now open at highlineschools.org. I would now like to welcome Jeb Binns, the President of the Highline Education Association, to share a few remarks. I also want to encourage everyone to listen to our Promise Podcast to hear how Jeb spends some of his free time. Thank you, Jeff. Good to see you. Yeah. Thank you, President Van, Superintendent Duran, members of the board. Thank you for being here. It's a tough few months to be an educator in parts of the country, and thinking about communications that I've had
018with educator friends in Minnesota, and connecting with members in Education Minnesota who are standing in their power, in their purpose to support their communities, and reading reports in the Seattle Times yesterday about disruptions in schools, and thinking about that, we don't pick our crisis. But we will be remembered for our actions or inactions as we go through. And I just appreciate the fact that we're thinking, we're planning, we're doing what's right for our families, and looking to support folks. And speaking of doing the right things and supporting folks, there's a pretty cool opportunity that's coming up that is open to friends. And the idea is, who are you pouring into? And it is the theme of the Rainier Educators of Color Network Conference. It's the 7.0. It's the seventh year that my extremely talented Vice
019President and NEA Board Director friend back there, Shawna Moore, has been putting this on. And we are offering a couple different days of learnings. One of them will be on the 6th of February. There'll be a community event at PSSC. And it'll be more of a camaraderie social gathering, some five bingos, some fun things like that. And then on the 7th, there will be a Day of Learning at Highline College. So, yes, you got that right. It's 6, 7, so take that. You're welcome. John was very pleased that I was going to say that tonight, so there you go. But I just wanted to continue. I some great conversations-- central office today with leaders. Just really appreciate the time that Kisa carved out for me today to talk about our MTSS work and looking at
020this idea that just this good partnership of like, how do we come through, and do the good work, and try to define what this is? And how do you do that? Because it's lots of things all the time. So I really appreciate that, so thank you for your time. I also had great conversations with Director of Elementary Special Education Gabe Bungert. And we were talking about how to support students and how to support staff. And we need to-- and that's going to be one of the big things. The, emails that I am receiving are around inclusion work. And it's not around the idea that we don't want to support students. It's about the idea that we need to make sure to do the foundational work before we jump in and do things. Right? And so
021it's this idea of taking advantage of what we call year zero, of taking advantage of things that we have actually codified in the collective bargaining agreement. And I'm highlighting this. Because I want to make sure that we follow up on the aspects of the collective bargaining agreement that all schools are spending one hour a month in their staff meetings, specifically addressing inclusion. And that does not count having a PLC meeting or one person happens to be a special educator. That is not a meeting focused on inclusion. That is a meeting with a special educator in the audience. So we need to do a good job on that. I need people to follow up to do that. Because right now, what I have is the word on the page and nothing else. And if we don't
022value and honor those words on the page, then we're not doing the work. And then we're not supporting faculty. And we're not supporting students. So that's my one thing that I encourage leaders to dig in on. Because I know that when we set the foundations, we do well. When we skip the foundation pieces, we jump in, and we're like, uh-oh. So let's build the good foundations. Thanks. Very good. Thank you. All right. Now, I would like to welcome Jackie Bryan, our chief financial officer, to the podium to give a budget update and as she is making her way to the podium for our community members. And it's something we started up last year as an opportunity for our community, hear more about our budget development process throughout the year, not just at the end of
023the year when we're asking the board to make approval. So welcome, Jackie. Thank you. Good evening. I am here to give the monthly update for January. And you will see all of these numbers that we are talking about discussing tonight, are as of December 31. And they are not final numbers. But once we close the month out, then you'll see that the actual report come to the board. So looking at January enrollment, we're trending exactly where we projected when we saw enrollment come in September, October. So we still are right around projection. We're about 116 FTE over projection, which is great news for our budget. The one area where we're trending slightly lower is at our comprehensive high schools. But you can see we're leveling off in other areas. And we will be sharing enrollment
024projections next week with our schools for next year, '26-'27. And we're seeing a very similar trend in the coming years of very stable, steady enrollment. So that is great news. Our year-to-date numbers. We are trending where we would expect here as well. So year-to-date for revenue-- we're at about 29% of our revenue coming in. And for expenditures, we're at a slightly higher-- 32%. This would be normal for this time of year. And we do anticipate trending in a similar way we did last year. So our year-to-date revenues-- when we look at our largest revenues coming in, there's very specific time periods that revenues-- that we receive specific revenue. So when we look at local revenues, we received $27.1 million. Those are for tax collections, mainly. And that's twice a year. And our larger portion of
025our tax revenue comes in the spring. So this is what we would expect to see at this time of the year. Our state revenues as well-- we would expect to see something very steady throughout the first few months. Because we receive state apportionment, based on our budget for September through December and then January, which we will receive our apportionment report, usually around the 25th. So we haven't received it for January yet. But January is the month that the state trues us up, based on our actual enrollment, not on what we budgeted. So that's when we see our apportionment start to fluctuate a little bit, based on enrollment. So we won't see it the same, exact amount month to month anymore. Federal. We are exactly where we would anticipate being. Most of our federal dollars are
026not grants, but we have to claim the money as we would with a grant. And so we're always a few months behind in claiming. Because we have to wait for the information to come in, and then we submit the claim. And then the claim comes in with the revenue. So it always looks slightly lower, but we catch up by the end of the year with federal. And then "other" is our area where we transfer at the end of the year. We transfer some money from our capital into general funds for our past tech levies. And this is why it looks-- it trends pretty low throughout the year. And then we do a large transfer at the end of the year. For our expenditures, again, very similar to what we saw last year, trending exactly where
027we would think they would be. The one that's trending slightly higher than budgeted is special education. And so we are doing some work on that right now to try and stabilize the expenditures there. Otherwise, we are trending exactly where we would expect within our budget And moving on to '26-'27 budget development, we've been doing a lot of work already this year. We used to start budget development in January, February when we got enrollment projections. This year, we started in October. And so it's pretty much a full-year cycle now, as we do the following year budget development. And so in November, we had our first work session with all of you. And we presented our year end from '24-'25 and then our projections for '25-'26 and beyond. January-- the legislative session just began. It's a short
028session. And we are distributing enrollment projections, as I mentioned, to schools next week. February-- we have monthly board updates again. And then this is a big month for our schools because we send out the allocation sheets. It's going to be through all of you this year. So it'll be a different way of receiving those allocations. And those will go out in February. March-- we'll have our second work session of the year. And we'll really have a better idea by March where year end projections will be. Because we would have had a few months of actual apportionment by then. And we will see, really, where we're trending with enrollment and spending. March is actually, also, a really busy month for our schools. We have our Resource Alignment meetings with each school. And this year, the legislative
029session ends in March. So we will be wrapping up a lot of that work in March, which last year it was, as you know, a long session. So it was much, much later, April-- we continue with budget development. And in May, we're actually finalizing everything that we're going to come and present to you in June and adopt in July. So, what's next? So the big things that are coming up next week. We have Resource Alignment meeting training for all of our school leaders. So that is on Tuesday. We have one for elementary, one for secondary. And they'll come in and learn about resource alignment processes and then, also, they'll be trained on Allovue So they'll know how allocations will come in through Allovue and how they adjust their budget using Allovue this year. As I
030mentioned, enrollment projections will be shared on Monday with school leaders. Apportionment is coming in. So we'll start really monitoring and updating our monthly financials and projections based on actual apportionment now. We're looking at ledge session. We're looking at bills and any fiscal impact. We haven't seen much yet this session. I don't anticipate seeing a lot of bills with any additional revenue coming in through the session. And as mentioned, we're doing our Strategic Plan Refinement and Budget Engagement meetings. We had our first one last night. And we'll continue those throughout the end of January, beginning of February Here to answer any questions. Oh, I do have one question. Sure. So you mentioned there was a difference between projections, and special ed, and actuals and that we're addressing that now. Yes. So, how are we addressing that?
031So part of what we're looking at specifically right now is our-- so we project. Not only are we doing enrollment projections for our overall budget, but we're doing enrollment projections for things like special education or CTE. We're monitoring to see if our enrollment in special education is growing at the same rate our expenditures are growing right now. We're also monitoring the types of costs we're seeing. So, for example, when we go out for safety net-- at the end of the year, if we have much higher needs that are being met, we can claim that in safety net. So we're starting to look at that now. Because this is usually the time of year we would start thinking about that. The other part is we'll see actual apportionment come in, not budgeted apportionment. And so that
032gives us a really clear view of what revenues will be throughout the year. Sounds good. I have another question. Yeah? It's OK? OK. So you mentioned that we don't anticipate any bills coming in with revenue. Do we anticipate bills that will decrease? Not that we've necessarily seen. I think-- and, Holly, correct me if I'm wrong. You're the expert here. But what we've really heard is because we don't expect any additional revenue, there are a few bills. There's an MSOC bill that's been introduced. But there's not a lot of hope that we'll receive additional revenue this year. What school districts have really asked is that there aren't any additional asks or unfunded mandates put on schools this year. Because we just can't take on anything else right now. Yeah. Thank you. Any other questions, directors? OK,
033Jackie, I do have one follow-up question. In regards to our headcount. I see the biggest increase was in our choice schools. Can you share what choice schools? Is it one or two? Or is it just spread across the board on that? It is spread across. And so our choice schools are Choice Academy, Innovation Heights Academy. I may forget some. Raisbeck Aviation, Big Picture, Maritime, and Highline Virtual Academy. Thank you. And some of those do fluctuate with enrollment throughout the year. So innovation Heights Academy will start the year lower than projected and grow throughout the year. So that's something that we anticipate throughout the year. Highline Virtual Academy does that somewhat as well. The other schools like Choice Academy that have enrollment caps-- we project accurately each year. So it wouldn't be those schools that we
034would see the growth in, necessarily. Thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate that. And President Van, that concludes our remarks tonight. Thank you, Jackie. Thank you, Dr. Duran. With that, we're going to move on to our director's report. I'm going to start off with Dr. Espinoza. OK, thank you. So I wanted to share that in recent weeks, families have reached out to share that their children are essentially afraid that their parents will be taken by immigration and that they may never see them again. I'm hearing that this fear is real. And I know that it shows up in classrooms. And it's informing the everyday lives of our students and families. So on Tuesday, my family and I were in Olympia advocating for farm worker tribunal. As you know, my children, and my partner, and their
035grandparents are farm workers. And my five-year-old daughter, as we were leaving, was very afraid. Because there was a crowd out in the front of the capital steps. And she was afraid. And she started crying. And she was afraid that because we were out there, advocating for our rights as families, that ICE would come in and take us away. So I just want to reiterate that I believe, and I know that all of us are on the board believe, that it is our duty as a board to be proactive as elected officials. And we need to continue to build a culture of belonging at Highline. And I'm committed to advancing this work. And I know that my fellow board members are as well. I'm committed to working with our staff and our community partners and to
036continue to build a relationship with other elected officials in the region to help keep our students safe, not just in classrooms, but outside in our community as well. I also want to say that Madrona Elementary had their academic parent-teacher teams. And I couldn't attend today because I'm here with you all. But my family is there. So again, I just want to highlight how important it is to have that relationship with families and teachers and everyone in the schools that support our students. I also want to share that the Health Sciences Program at Tyee is now open to accepting applications for its new program. This is a hands-on program that and career focused. It's intended to help students learn by doing and to build their confidence early in the health industry. So by junior year, students
037choose a pathway that includes college coursework or earning a CNA credential. This is a partnership with Virginia Mason where our students gain real world experiences. And we have a video that showcases this work, which I'm happy to watch with you all. [MUSIC PLAYING] Right now, I'm interested in being a physician. It feels like I'm already getting prepared on my first year of high school. I want to help people because it is a great feeling knowing what people need. After high school, I want to go to college and pursue something in the medical field like optometry. After high school, I'm going to either go into the nursing pathway or even the doctor pathway. And getting some hands-on experience and classes and things is definitely going to help show me where I want to go. What excites
038me the most about launching this program here at Tyee is allowing students to have the opportunity to explore health care in the school. We have this amazing partnership with Virginia Mason Franciscan Health. And students are able to meet health care professionals and also visit different health facilities. Majority of our students do learn better when they use their hands. Students will be looking at X-rays or learning how to read pulse. And a lot of our health care jobs are hands on. Being in this program does help me feel future ready. Because it shows me what I need to do in the future in order to get where I want to be. By the time they get to their junior year, they get to choose the pathway that they are most interested in. So students could stay
039with the college in the high school classes. They can graduate with a Certified Nursing Assistant cert. And then they can go to work right away after that. I feel like I'm in something pretty special that not a lot of people get to do. And I'm getting an opportunity to get into the workforce faster. We're basically at the lab for future to come. We start the walk and then people run after. [MUSIC PLAYING] Right now, I'm interested in being-- That was great. Thank you so much. Anything else, Dr. Espinoza? No, thank you. I appreciate that. Director Holien? If my mic would actually work. A couple things. Good evening. The annual report apart is now live, highlighting how students are growing in classrooms across Highline. The report shares real student experiences, alongside data that shows how learning
040is taking shape. This year's report focuses on growth over time and how staff support students through four key priorities. You can explore the full report with stories and interactive data on our website highlineschools.org backslash report. Couple things I kept forgetting to bring up-- I was able to visit Sylvester in Beverly Park a while back with Erin and Dr. Duran. And the work that Chad and Rick are doing was really cool to see, seeing advisory time, running into students that were just ecstatic. And seeing Chad's culture at Sylvester was really cool to see in action. At Beverly Park, it was great to see a kindergarten class, and how seamless their teacher and the para was working with every student, and also a publishing event as well. I was able to attend a strategy and budget community
041event last night with Dr. Duran and Director Tidholm. I highly encourage the community to go to future events, so we can hear from you directly. There should be-- I believe there's three more, but you can look on the web page. It was fun. I stopped at Evergreen to watch basketball last night. That was the first time I've watched high school hoops in a little bit. And I was sitting there with Joe, the principal. And he introduced me to a student, Olivia. And she is actually on the hiring committee for the high school. And I thought that was just really cool. She was a little shy, but, sorry, if you're listening, Olivia. And lastly, I think to piggyback on Dr. Espinoza's comments, just about Highline's commitment to-- every student and family are welcome here. Regardless of
042immigration status, you are valued. And I want to say that again. You are valued. You are safe in our schools. Our schools are places of learning care. Highline remains committed to welcoming and protecting every student, regardless of background, language, faith, or immigration status. Harassment, intimidation, or hateful behavior have no place in our schools. Thank you. Director Holien. Director Tidholm? Yes. So Gold Star nominations. It's about that time of year. They are open for the 2026 awards. They recognize people who make a difference in Highline. And that includes teachers, volunteers, alumni, paraeducators, and support staff. Staff, families, community members can all nominate somebody who is living up to the Highline promise on the Highline Schools Foundation's website. And the nominations are going to be due by the 16th of February. I also, with Director Holien and
043Dr. Duran, had the pleasure of going to the event yesterday. Wish we would have had more parents involved. Happy for those that came out. It's really great to hear from parents and guardians of our youth in our schools to see what their experiences are and what they think that we could do better, what we're doing. Great. I do hope that we have some family members show up and give their feedback to the next two. There's two more? I believe two more events that we're going to be having, also can submit it online, if I'm not mistaken, through a poll. Got the pleasure of catching a piece of the Cascade game. They did great and the Evergreen games as well. And just that gym is so amazing. If you haven't seen it yet, it was super
044cool. And then regarding the legislative session, we are two weeks into the short session. Things are getting busy. Obviously, MSOCs-- materials, supplies, and operating costs are going to be our priorities along with special education and transportation. We got to wait until the session is over to see how this goes, but we'll see. There are some bills right now that we're watching. House Bill 2432 would allow us to sell or grant surplus technology to our students. The Senate Bill 5910 would provide a much needed clarity around how districts communicate about levies and bonds. Senate Bill 5920 would allow school districts to accurately charge requesters who make extremely broad or burdensome public records requests in an effort to help discourage frivolous public records requests. That would be amazing. I'm super excited to see how that goes. Another
045one that I'm interested in that I'm keeping an eye on-- Senate Bill 5814, which went into effect, I believe, the 1st of October. It expanded the sales tax for a number of services for the school districts. The understanding was that it was not going to impact school districts, but it definitely has, so hoping to amend that so that we can pay our bills and our educators and just hoping that the state will fulfill its paramount duty to fully fund education. We will see how that goes. And just to piggyback off of Director Espinoza and Director Holien, no one is illegal on stolen ground. Just a friendly reminder of that. And those that consider themselves to be the stereotypical American-- if you look at your history and your ancestors, there is places that people can also
046return to. And that's all that I have. Thank you. Director Tidholm. I do have a question in regards to-- I know that you and Dr. Espinoza attended the WSSDA Leg Conference. How did that go? And how was how was that conversation with our other elected school board directors? Apologies. I completely forgot that one. It went as expected. Across the board, across the state, school districts are struggling. They are not able to pay for all the things they need to be paid for. The legislators are not keeping up with inflation, as we know. If you look at the numbers, a number of schools are in binding conditions. They're very close to it. So we're all pretty much on the same page, putting all the differences aside and really advocating for the state to fulfill its paramount
047duty to fully fund education, a big one that the school districts are really looking at and advocating for, that I mentioned, is the Senate Bill 5814, an amendment to that, that's really impacted school districts where we're already struggling, as it is, to have these huge numbers. I don't have them off the top of my head. Jackie might have them somewhere. I'm not going to ask her right now. I won't put you on the spot, but that's a huge number. Contractors, support staff, things that generally were not taxed are now having these taxes put on them. So when budgets are already tight and we're already dipping into our savings, and a lot of school districts already don't have those savings, it's just really putting a huge burden on them. So, yeah, we're all pretty much on
048the same page. Do you have anything else? Yeah. So I'll just add it was my first time attending. And I did some group work with other school districts. I met folks from a school district that had 137, 140 students and all across the state. And one of the, I guess, threads across our conversations was just a really big emphasis on saying no to additional state mandates without any funding or support. And then there was a lot of conversation and learning around transitional kindergarten or early childhood education, and how that is being impacted, and what that means for students and families. So, yes, I learned a lot. And I really appreciated being part of it. Thank you all for sharing that conference with all of us. It's my turn. As you know, at the last board
049meeting, we were chosen to be liaisons, to be on the committees. And I was appointed to be on the SeaTac Committee. And at the most recent capital CPAC meeting, members began drafting possible bond packages for November. They were all working in small groups. CPAC members considered student impact, building conditions, the timing of these projects, but also, district-wide equity and financial, the feasibility of it. So I had the opportunity to listen across groups. There was strong alignment around addressing critical needs, replacing the aging middle schools, and securing long-term homes for some of our schools of choice. So it was really great to listen to our committee, throw out some great ideas, to be candid and surprising. So I'm just thankful and joyful and blessed to be a part of that group now and just to learn
050and listen on what our community is asking for. So with that, that concludes our board reports. And tonight, we do not have any scheduled communications or public testimony, so we'll move to our consent agenda. Do I have any questions or comments? I do have a comment, but I'm going to throw this out to the other directors. Any questions or comments in regards to our consent agenda? I hear and see none. I do want to make a comment on 6.4. This is the motion to approve the donation to White Center Heights Elementary School. I just want to do a quick shout-out. The grandparents of one of our students graciously donated $10,000 to meet the needs of their school. So I just really want to call out our community member, Diane McGee, for supporting our schools, and
051our students, and their grandkids. So, thank you so much for that donation. With that, can I please have a motion? I move the Highline School Board approve the consent agenda. Could I have a second? I'll second. All those in favor? Aye. Yes. Aye. Anybody opposed? I hear and see none. Thank you so much. OK, action item 8.1-- motion to approve Board Resolution 01-26, the Bond Refunding Delegation. Any questions or comments? Hearing, seeing none, can I please have a motion? I move the Highline School Board approve resolution number 01-26, Bond Refunding Delegation. Do I have a second? I will second that. Roll call, please. Director Tidholm. Yes. Director Espinoza? Yes. Director Holien? Yes. President Van? Yay. This motion passes 4 to none. Thank you. 8.2. Motion to approve Board Resolution 02-26, Issuance of Bonds. Any questions
052or comments on this? Just have a comment. It was very helpful to hear the presentation two weeks ago, regarding how we can actually, potentially save some money here. So I think it's a very good use of our dollars and thinking about things down the road. With that, I move the Highline School Board approve resolution number 02-26, Issuance of Bonds. Could I have a second? I'll second. Roll call, please. Director Holien? Yes. Director Tidholm? Yay. Director Espinoza? Yes. President Van? Yay. This motion passes, 4 to none. Thank you. That concludes our action items for this evening. We do have one intro in action. 9.1. This is motion to approve resolution or revisions to the salary schedule between Highline School District substitute guest staff and athletic coaches, due to the city of Burien minimum wage increase. Any
053questions or comments on this? I just wanted to clarify. So this is happening because our central offices are in Burien. Is that right? I read that right. OK. That's correct. Any other questions or comments? Do we have a number of the top of our heads, Jackie, about how this is going to impact us, or Sarah, whomever? We do have a number. Thank you for the question. Director Tidholm? It's $15,600. I was going to say it should be under fiscal impact. It's pretty minimal at the individual position title level. We were just below that new minimum wage. Thank you very much. With that, can I please have a motion? I move the Highline School Board approve the classified substitute and athletic coaches, salary matrix, and athletic coaches salary schedule, effective January 1, 2026. Could I have
054a second? I second. Roll call, please. Director Espinoza? Yes. Director Tidholm? Yes. Director Holien? Yep. President Van? Yay. This motion passes 4 to none. Thank you. That concludes our intro and action this evening. We have three intro items, and I'll read those off here. 10.1. Motion to approve the new board policy 3425, Accommodating Students with Adrenal Insufficiency. Any questions or comments? This is a state mandate. Is that correct, I believe? That is correct. Correct. Yes. So I was reading. And so it says that we don't have any students now who would be included in this. And there's some minimal fiscal impact projected. So, do we have any idea if any student becomes included in this? What's the impact? The only impact would be training of our staff if we get a student. Yep. OK, Thank
055you. Any other questions? Thank you. With that, 10.2, motion to approve Financial Acceptance and Closeout of Cascade Middle School Lighting Grant Project from McKinstry, Essension, LLC, purchase order CP 250054. Any questions or comments? Hearing, seeing none, we'll move to 10.3. It's motion to approve the final acceptance and closeout for district-wide roof replacements and restoration for Garland/DBS, purchase order CP 240062. Any questions or comments? All right. Hear and seeing none, that concludes our intro for this evening. Any calls for additions to our upcoming consent agenda? Hearing, seeing none, with that, that concludes our board meeting for this evening. Can I please have a motion to adjourn? I'll make a motion to adjourn. All those in favor? Do we have a second? We need a second. Oh. President Van, we need a second first, please. Could I
056please have a second? I'll second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye? Yes. Any opposed? Hearing and seeing none, thank you, everybody. That concludes our meeting for this evening. Appreciate you all.