001Well, good evening, everybody. Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to our special board meeting on public hearing on the budget tonight. It's Wednesday, June 25th. It is 415. Can I please get a roll call? Director Espinosa here. Director Tidholm present. Director Holley present. President Vane here. Director Alvarez is running a little bit late. And to the left, my left here is our superintendent, Dr. Ivan Duran. Well, tonight we are going to be holding a public testimony or a public hearing for our public to come in and share with us their thoughts on the budget. To address, please, when you come up and speak, to address the school board during the public budget, public hearing, please sign up on the sheets at the entrance of the boardroom. Speakers will be called in order they sign up and are
002allotted two minutes per fund for testimony. So please sign up. We have two speakers signed up for General Fund. First up, Ken Kemp speaking on General Fund. Thank you. Yes, Ken Kemp. And looking at the General Fund, I understand that there's going to be monies being taken from the General Fund to support other parts of the budget because of lack of resources coming in. And then looking at the levies that are coming up for vote, I believe that there's, when I've been looking through the budget from what I've been looking through, there's quite a bit of leeway. And I'm looking at the report online was saying that each one of our students is costing about $16,000. And I'm looking at our budget, 421 divided by 17, which is the estimated number of students that we're
003going to have is more like $25,000 per student to fund. I think that we should spend a little bit more time looking over the budget and finding places where we can make those adjustments within the budget that we have rather than raising a levy and putting it back on the taxpayers and the community. I see that, for the most part, they're looking at about a 65% raise over the next five years, going from 421 to about 750 million. And that seems to me like with the results that we're getting with our education, with our children, from the OPSI being behind in reading and falling behind in other places, we should be able to focus more on the education. And I think that, as a taxpayer, that we should be spending our money a little more
004wisely within the budget that we have. And I'll yield. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next up, Patricia Bailey, speaking on General Fund. With the state of the economy, I would have expected the Highland School District to show some compassion for taxpayers and cut some of the fat from the budget. But apparently, you have no plans to do that and instead call for a huge spike in spending. With the last legislative session, Washington citizens are already subject to the highest tax hike in our state's history and a heartless attack on working families. Now the Highland School District is demanding more money. What about the highly paid two dozen educators serving in the administration in the so-called student learning department? Have they contributed to student learning or have they only burdened teachers with ineffective strategies that
005actually undermine the profession of teaching? Think of the money that could be saved if you move them into the classroom. What about cutting outside consultants? You spent a half a million on transform. Did it help the students read, learn to solve math problems, write skillfully? Are students more physically fit or better trained in a vocational skill? What was the result of that expenditure and other consultancies? Money must be directed to the classroom, not to jobs programs for adults. Burdening taxpayers with more taxes in an already inflated budget is callous and abusive to our already overtaxed Highland families. Thank you. Thank you very much. We have another speaker. Speaking on the general fund, Katie Cressley. Good afternoon. I am Katie Cressley, and I am interested in speaking about the general fund. I've been looking at the
006budget for the first time. Usually it's overwhelming, and this time I dove in a little bit. Usually Stuart Jenner is someone that comes and speaks regularly. He's a data guy, which we all appreciate. And he's not able to be here today, but he did write a really good article. I'm hoping that you were able to see that in the Burien News. He asked a lot of good questions. The other thing that he did ask for this time around or last time around was to have a little extra time so that the community could have an opportunity instead of just having the budget introduced and then voted on immediately. So it was really great that the budget and the board allowed for more time for the community. I appreciate the transparency. That is a big piece
007of what's going on. He did ask the difference. We're looking at a large amount of a budget which is coming down to about $25,000 or more per year for a full-time student. That is significant, and especially with the lack of literacy. There's a focus that has been stated that literacy is going to be a big piece of what you're looking at going forward and making sure that students can catch up. What I do see missing is line item information about what programs you're going to be putting in place, the MTSS, the multiple tier plan to catch up kids up because only one in three are actually meeting standards across the board in reading and writing. Math is even worse. And with the high number of graduation, it's really important to make sure that those kids
008are prepared for the future they choose. That is part of the perception poll that was obviously came across very well. People believe that Highline is doing what they say they're doing, and I really hope that Highline will keep up to that. Thank you very much. And speaking on the Associated Student Body Fund, ASB Fund, is Katie Kressley. Thought I was going to have two seconds to write a note. Again, Katie Kressley. And the Associated Funds are student body funds. A couple of things that, just a couple of ideas as I've come across and as I've been watching, is part of the funds, I understand, are for enrichment things for students outside events. And one of those things that I see that has been challenging to the district to deal with is, say, for example, the
009robotics team. There's been some back and forth with that. I'm hoping that going forward that the robotics, homeschooling, other, like even the band that was removed from one of the high schools, there's just different projects that are really enriching to students in and out of school, and I'm hoping that those will be considered because people have come up and spoken to the board, and sometimes it goes heard, and sometimes it's addressed, and sometimes it's not to their satisfaction. So I'm hoping that all children, especially highly capable, good heavens, I mean, wouldn't it be nice if there was actually afterschool programs that worked with literacy and reading and things that actually had meaningful results. The one thing that I am hoping that the board focuses on is outcomes and making sure that the dollars that are
010spent are focused on student outcomes and not just nice words. Thank you. Thank you. We don't have any more speakers at this time. Thank you. We will hold off until any more community members sign up. The public hearing is open if it continues. Well, thank you, everyone who came out to speak on the budget public hearing tonight. We appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts, concerns, and ideas. This is gonna conclude our session. Can we please have a motion to adjourn? I'll make a motion to adjourn. All those in favor? We need a second. We need a second, please. What? May I have a second, please? Oh, yeah. Second, please. I'll second that. Second. Two seconds. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Nobody. Thank you, everybody, for joining us for our public
011hearing on the budget.