001Nice. See Yeah. [Music] I'm a great observer. Okay. I think I messed up. When do you have to say anything? Okay. I did. I did. Yeah. Well, that's good to know. It's a reference and if it's an Are we all back? I call to order the committee of the whole. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I seek a motion for the approval of the agenda. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Chair votes I. Motion carries. Um, roll call finds us present except for Sarah and Ally. Federal funding update, please. Dr. Conrad, you got it. So, um, just wanted to take a little
002bit of time tonight to discuss where I I think we kind of are from current status of federal funding. Um, and obviously uh things that have transpired in the last few weeks regarding uh certifications, authorizations, whatever you want to talk or call them. Um, and really have some dialogue with the board, explain how I came to this decisions that I came to during that time. Um, and I I think we do this and and I spoke at our all admin meeting this morning um about it as well and just said we've we've really tried to take a measured and accurate approach to this. There's a lot of chaos um and a lot of anxiety from our staff as a result of it related to to federal funding. And you're hearing something different every single day.
003Sometimes it's accurate, sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's something that actually happens, sometimes it's something that might be happening or could happen. Um, so we've really tried to take a measured response to not induce anxiety, to control what we can control, um, and also not pretend to control what we can't. Um, so with that said, um, appreciate the discussion tonight. Obviously, the importance of federal funding I I think is clear in our district and really goes across political lines, right? So, um soon after uh that certification was was due to the Department of Ed, Wisconsin of uh Institute of Liberty and Law sent out a email and they weren't happy with the way that DPI handled it. I wasn't happy with the way that DPI handled it either. Um, however, they said accessing this critical funding
004to prevent unnecessarily harmless students, especially those most reliant on federally supported programs is critical. Um, so I I think there's a broad understanding um across the spectrum of how important this funding is to our district. Um, DPI obviously put something out uh I believe it's about $10.8 million, 9% of our total budget. Um, so it'd be catastrophic to lose lose federal funding. So with that said, um, I made a decision two weeks ago to submit an amended certification. Um, and what that stated was that we would follow title six and that we would follow the law. Um, and that we would reserve our rights and defenses afforded to us. So, um, the rationale behind not signing the certification is I think there's there's questions about at at the time and there still are, uh, questions
005about the certification, what it means, what it all entails. U, we didn't have time to get those questions answered. I don't think the Department of Ed is going to answer the questions of 400 different districts in Wisconsin, let alone across the US. So, um, we worked with our legal counsel, um, on that to come to that that resolution, but really where the chaos was created here and, um, Department of Ed, DPI, whose fault it is, is here nor there, I think, at this point. But what happened was um in early April we got on a call as Wisconsin superintendents with DPI and DPI is the SEA uh the state education agency and all districts are referred to as LEAs local education agencies and what DPI made us aware of is that they were being asked
006to sign a certification um and solicit signatures from LEAs. However, the SEA needed to solicit those signatures and they were not going to be asking for signatures. So there was nothing that we could do as eleas because DPI was not collecting those signatures. Um that was clarified multiple times in that meeting and that was the response that we got from DPI. So um we left that meeting as superintendent as a virtual meeting with an understanding that there was nothing that we could do. Um even if we wanted to sign they weren't collecting that signature uh sheet that was that and really it took the political pressure off of schools to be honest. Um so that's where that stood. um uh up until about 24 hours before it was due and we got a different email
007from DPI saying if you so choose uh department of vet is asking us to make you aware that you can sign individual and that was a pretty alarming email for me to get 24 hours out uh when we're talking about $10.8 million in the livelihood of bride 68 teachers um and the kids that they serve. So, um, we've definitely expressed our frustration to DPI of the position that we were put in, um, that late in the game. Certainly expressed our frustration that we weren't able to to call a board meeting or have discussions about it, um, on such short notice. But what we did that what I did that evening was work with our legal team. So, um, we we really utilize two different attorneys. Um, and, uh, worked with both of those individuals, one
008more more than the other. Um, one firm said they were going to meet, uh, within their firm and have an answer for us in the morning and for all the districts that they serve in the morning. The other attorney was interested in working through the night and really hammering out um, options. So, we did that. Um fortunately in the morning uh both both attorneys agreed that um a modified assurance was likely the best place to go and the best route to go. Um so we had both of our attorneys in agreement on that. Um and and from there really it just became um a game of telephone as I worked with my colleagues across the state to make sure that we weren't on an island by our own uh by ourselves. So, I didn't want
009um the SAS to be the only one signing a modified assurance if everyone else was signing or not signing um as that would have put us in a big in a bad spot and drawn attention to our district. Um I think what we were fearful of was the possibility of federal funding being withheld pending a review of our district had we not submitted anything. Had we just blown it off and said, "No, thank you." Um that was the fear. you have no idea how long that would take. Um so to have that amount of money held up a review would have impacted our district quite a bit. So we definitely wanted to avoid that while also not signing something that uh put us in jeopardy of of having to do things that um that we
010didn't understand quite honestly or may not believe in. So that's where that um that's where that went and uh somewhere between a plurality and a majority of the districts in the state went in the same direction as us. Uh so we are definitely uh have a lot of other districts that are on the same boat as us that did the exact same thing. We felt good about that and definitely in in Chboan and Manito counties and a lot of the larger districts, we're in the same we're in the same page there. So, that felt good. Um, within probably two hours of submitting it, a couple of court cases hit and the entire thing was stayed. Um, so right now it's status quo as if that assurance doesn't exist and that we weren't asked to sign.
011Um and we continue on following title six as we interpret title six and it has been uh in the past. So that's where we are right now with that. Um those court cases will be interesting to watch. Uh I think the same argument that DPI was making you saw reflected in those cases that it was vague. Um and it'll be interesting to see how that plays out over time. Um, but for now, we're in a we're in a good place there. And it was, I think, a lot of headache and a lot of fear and a lot of anxiety ultimately not to not to be necessary. So, we'll see where it goes. The piece I would say right now that that gives me a little anxiety is um the skinny budget just came out for
012fiscal year 26. So um that's going to give you some idea of where administration plans to go. Title one and IDA is represented in that budget uh in its current um amount. So we feel good about that at this point. Um, I'm concerned about the other areas of title and I the information I'm getting right now is they're looking at doing block grants which would allow states. It kind of takes away the accountability. These these title funds are really scripted uh as to what you can spend them with and there's a lot of accountability on them. If they put them in the form of block grants and send them to the state, the fear is that they're going to flow toward voucher schools and toward other areas. uh rather than what they were originally intended
013to do. Um but again, that's me projecting. Um so I I hear that through professional channels. I don't have any reason to to say that that won't happen. I don't have a reason to say that it will, but I think that's a legitimate fear at this point. Um that's going to affect our ML students. It's going to affect our mental health initiatives. Uh, obviously if I'm guessing you've all gotten emails now about Medicaid. Uh, United Way did a nice job of pushing information about that out this week. Medicaid cuts would would really hurt our mental health programs or reimbursements um through Jason's department, etc. Our Americanore tutors that we have in our building. Jim, how many tutors? We have 14 currently. 14 tutors that do amazing work with our kids in reading. um that is
014tedious at best right now. Um Head Start funding was rumored to have been cut and now appears to be back. Um just to name a few, right? So there's a a lot of moving parts here, a lot of scary uh things to think about losing for our kids. At the same time, um we haven't lost a huge huge um portion yet. We feel like we're doing all right. The skinny budget seems all right at this point. We'll see where it goes. Um, and that's about all we can say right now with any kind of certainty is um it's in the skinny budget. Title one IDA, that's what we wanted to see. Um, title three is title four. If that goes away, that's our 21st century grants for kids after school care. Um, things of that
015nature. Probably about $500,000 worth of supports for our kids. Uh it's our ML funding for Kelly's programs. Um things of that nature that would that would be most impacted. So we would likely need to cut or find additional dollars to support those programs outside of federal dollars. So we will do our best to keep you updated on that. It changes every single day. U but I just wanted to walk you through kind of that scenario, how it played out. Um why we why I made the decision that I made and what we said as of today. We got any questions? Well, I would just put this in the context of sort of the draconian cuts in the proposed the legislators legislaturator's proposed budget. Um that will have um I think dramatic impact. Um and obviously
016this is just the start of the process and but given the apparent antagonism that's present and um one I think we're not going to get a budget by July 1st um but just to balance the potential loss of a lot of support at the state level like mental health funding. Um and then and it appears that the special education funding that we were hoping for is at least for now off the tape. So it's it's a really grim picture when you put the two of them together. So we may feel a little more comfortable at the federal level, but I think at the state level just my basic understanding I mean it's just it's really quite extraordinary. So I mean they took child care completely off. Yeah. Childare, who needs it? Yeah. So, I mean,
017that tells you sentimentally where they're coming from. Yeah. Scary stuff. Um, so if the state doesn't provide us uh budget numbers by July 1st, so they have another deadline or we just they don't have a deadline? No. And there's a I mean there's an interesting process and if they don't come to an agreement that we could lay out and talk to you about. I don't want to get too much into the state budget because we're not outside to talk about it, but um yeah, it it is it's just a it's a really bad place to be right now. Um we had our all admin meeting and I relied on Rachel to um bring some positivity to the meeting because the whole start was to talk about the budget and it's just really difficult right now.
018Uh the federal funding is precarious at best. The state budget, they obviously pulled everything out. Um, we're still hearing that they're I don't even know the nuances of of how they do it, but essentially you can pull stuff out without removing it and other stuff you just remove. Um, they pulled special ed funding out but didn't completely remove it, which we've been told is a signal that they're willing to do something there. Um, the same thing for low revenue. Uh, and I believe mental health, there were three areas there where it they were signaling they were willing to discuss. So, we'll see what that looks like. I have not talked to a representative yet, and I've talked to a lot of them who have said absolutely no to a special ed increase. Uh, they know
019the cost of doing so. They know how much it costs them for each percent they increase it. They're well aware of the um the push from us uh and the need for that. So, we're hopeful, but uh we're also realistic about where things stand right now with our politicians. Any other questions for Dr. Conra? Thank you. Thank you. Um so, I seek a motion to adjourn to close session per Wisconsin state statute statutes section 19.851 CE. And I'm going to read it all. um to consider employment, promotion, compensation, or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the board of education has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility for the purpose of deliberating strategies to address specific issues pertaining to collective bargaining for teachers and an administrator succession plan. and regarding deliberating or negotiating the sale
020of public properties, the investing of public funds, or conducting other special public business whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a close session specifically for the purpose of developing potential sale and negotiation strategy of district property. Is there a motion? So move second. Any discussion? And we will do um action with a roll call vote. So sergeant Denise I I I I I motion carries. We are