001Test test test. No, just us. >> Mr. Chairman, I have six o'clock on my computer. I'd like to call the meeting to order. The meeting has been noticed. Evans Print Media Group, WCC Radio, Magnum Radio, Lacrosse Tribune, Sparta City Hall, Sparta Free Library in the Maplewood Administrative Building. Are there any changes to the agenda tonight? >> No, there are not. >> Uh, no changes. I'd request a motion to adopt the agenda. >> Move to adopt the agenda. >> Second. >> Motion for Mr. Bernett, second from Mr. Wells. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All post say nay. We have an agenda. Please stand 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
002God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. >> All right, Mr. Rusky, remind us of Sparta's mission statement, please. >> Yes. to educate all students academically, emotionally, and socially to inspire curiosity and resilience. >> Thank you. Do we have any public input tonight? >> I do not believe we do. >> No. All right. We'll move right along then to 2A Meadow View Fall Co-curricular Report. Mr. Sanders. >> Yeah. So, this show is red, so I believe that means I'm on. >> Yes. >> Nice. All right. So, I'm here to talk about the uh I'm [clears throat] so sorry. Fall sports uh cross country. We had 24 registered uh participants, 11 boys, 13 girls. We had three coaches, Miss Barber, Sonaman, and Mr. Log. Uh the season, and this is what the students said to their fellow
003students during our fall sports assembly. Uh this season was filled with PRs, tough finishes, many miles ran, and some victories over Toma. Always got to celebrate those. Our first race was a win for Sparta with Dominic P being the overall winner for boys. In our conference meet, every single athlete had a personal best even though we ran in the freezing rain. Thank you and go fight win. Uh coaches emphasized social emotional learning during the season with goal setting, celebrating those personal records along with resilience and perseverance. Uh seventh grade football had 40 athletes from Mete and Innovation STEM Academy. Coaches were Gabe Miller and Steve Zifel. Students reported that the seventh grade football team had a great season. They went 5-0 as well as dominating Toma 39 to zero. We learned a lot over the
004season and got better each week. We'd like to thank our coaches for helping us learn and making us better. Coaches reported they really focused on quot cooperation and teamwork along with collective responsibility. And there was maybe a little bit of positive peer pressure to stay out of trouble and avoid running hills uh at practice. I think coaches motivated the students. If anyone got in trouble, the whole team ran, so there was some positive peer pressure to avoid trouble. Uh, eighth grade football only had 23 students. Oh man, I'm so sorry, folks. Eighth grade football had 23 athletes from Meadow View Innovation STEM Academy, and we had a student from Virtual Learning. Coaches Renate Mitchell and Austin Becker. Football season was highlighted by improvements from the previous year. They scored a touchdown in every game this
005year and ended the year with more players than they started with. One of the best days for the players was a fumble recovery drill in the mud. one of those rainy days where they got to get muddy. Moms and dads might not have appreciated the laundry that night. Uh for social emotional learning, the eighth grade team emphasized the curriculum that was being taught in the classroom about overcoming obstacles with a tough season without any wins. That was definitely something to focus on. Uh in the classroom, curriculum discussed the importance of working as a team and focusing on improvement. And that was one of the main messages the coaches stressed every day. For golf, we had 27 participants, 17 boys and five girls. Uh they were competitive in all of the eight matches they played. Boys
006took third out of the five teams at the conference meet. We actually had an increase in female participation this season and the girls got to develop their skills with their peers and they even got some encouragement during practices from the high school coach Sarah Anderson. So, she's definitely excited to see some more females coming through the program for high school. Uh and then they did some looping at the last home meet. So they wanted to make sure every kid got a chance to participate in a meet. So they had some kids uh play four holes and then the other plays kids played the last five. So everyone got to to compete for their school. Uh for social emotional learning, coaches had check-ins with the players, discuss their progress and their skills and really their confidence.
007Talked about resiliency is a big topic in golf, the ability to believe in yourself and your abilities even when things aren't going according to plan. Which pretty much summarizes my golf game. [clears throat] Seventh grade volleyball, we had 38 athletes, MeteView Innovations, and one from St. Pats. Uh we had three coaches because we separated them with a A B Red and a B gold. Season the A team went undefeated. The red team went five won, five out of six, and the gold team won three and had a winning season as well. This season was an incredible journey of growth, teamwork, and dedication with each player stepping up to support and push each other to be better athletes and people. This season was so much fun. We worked hard in every practice and every game learned
008to communicate, stay positive, and trust each other on and off the court. And of course, the coaches focused on teamwork, communication, the emotional intelligence, and understanding how others are feeling during the match. And then some problem solving. How do we how do we work together when things aren't going the way they're supposed to. [cough and clears throat] Uh for eighth grade volleyball, we had 40 athletes again from Meet View Innovations in St. Pats. three coaches, uh, Miss Marshall, Gashing, and Green. Uh, the red team B finished the season undefeated with six wins and no losses. Some of their favorite memories included winning our first game of the season, which was against Toma, and the pizza party at the end. So, they remember the beginning of the season and the end of the season. Miss Gashang's
009favorite memory is beating Westby after being down one set, and they had to win the last two sets to remain undefeated. The Gold B team showed tremendous improvements throughout the season. Learned a lot. Some of their favorite memories were cheering each other on and the improvement of teamwork throughout the season. Coach Green's favorite memory is that our last home game when we didn't give up. The girls play their hearts out in the last set making some great hits and saves. And then the A team also finished the season with seven wins and four losses. Team showed tremendous growth throughout the season. developed his players and teammates, improved blocking, learned perimeter defense, a 6-2 offense, hitting from the back row, learning how to make pancakes, and how to communicate on the court. They just so we're
010clear pancakes is a volleyball skill, not breakfast. Uh they supported each other, played with heart, worked hard. Some of our favorite memories included beating Toma early in the season, and Miss Marshall's favorite memory is trying a new lineup at Westby. uh through social emotional learning. Throughout the season, they focused on setting team and individual goals, promote growth and accountability. They had some early and mid-season discussions on teamwork, communication, supporting one another, and they incorporated some cooperative games and team building activities to reinforce that theme of unity within the team. And then the last slide I have tonight is just a summary of where we've been the last few years. See that uh cross country has been a bit of a dip. Uh football's pretty steady where we've been. golf kind of steady uh and then
011volleyball is it's solid. We got a lot of girls want to play volleyball. There any questions or concerns about my presentation tonight? I just want to thank you for this and uh emphasize that I it's really great to see incorporated into the co-curriculars. >> Absolutely. Thank you. >> Any other questions, comments? >> Thank you, Mr. Sanders. >> Yep. Go fight win. >> All right. Financial report, Mr. Russ. >> The formal report is attached in board docs for your review. And uh if you do have review, if you have any questions, um Miss Hower will uh be happy to answer those or I can answer them now. But um real quick, um we do I want to highlight one things on this slide is delay and impact uh aid revenue due to the shutdown. It's not
012affecting us that much, but we do have a slight delay. We get impact aid uh due to Fort McCoy and impact aid is is um basically land that is not buildable. So, um that is it's Fort McCoy, so we can't build there. So, we do get a u some impact aid, it's called. Um other districts may not be as fortunate if they're on a Native American reservation, for example. Uh some districts are getting hit pretty hard by this where they have a lot of medaid uh coming, but we're okay. Uh right now we don't have that big of a um impact at this time to do that. So um that's all I really wanted to um highlight. We didn't need to borrow any cash for cash flow purposes. So that's always good, but we continue
013to monitor in November. And uh we did receive some um when we traded in our student technology, we did get that money back um as well. Any questions on the financial report? But everything's detailed in board docs. >> Is there a when the impact aid will be delayed or distributed? >> It's all based on the shutdown. >> Okay. >> Maybe it passed the Senate and that was the last I heard. So, but it's going to be some time. And then the SNAP benefits, it was overturned and then the Supreme Court got involved. So, but that's not part of the financial report. Okay. Any other questions, comments from board? >> Thank you. All right. 2C, facility project report. Mr. Russ, >> we continue to um move forward with the facility project. Uh meeting again on Wednesday.
014Uh and a week from Wednesday, we're doing what's called the patron uh with SHS. Uh we realize that we made some decisions about a couple months ago on what SHS is, and we want to make sure that we're all on the same page as we move forward. So, we're going to start an early day on Wednesday. Um, and we're going to have a plan where the civil engineering is going to come in and describe what's going on in the site exactly. And then we're going to go to HVAC, then we're going to go electrical, then we're going to go to plumbing, then we're going to go to paint, fixtures, uh, casework and everything like that. So, it's really to start to really finalize um the plans to make sure we understand completely what's going on.
015And then once we do that with the high school, we'll do it again with Meadow View, Southside, and Monasuri. Um those are little those are less projects so they won't take a full day uh necessarily but we want to make sure that we do our due diligence because everything we do now makes sure those bid documents when they go out for all the projects are that much more clear and concise and it keeps everybody happy as we go down rather than well I didn't think that we had this paint color or that's what we've decided at this time. So trying to keep those change orders to a minimum. So, uh, everything's up and running, uh, on, um, on our website and, uh, continue to get engagement, uh, as we go through this process. >> Questions
016or comments from board? >> I had a question, Mr. Russ. Do you know um, bid documents? When are they going to be going out to >> uh, beginning of feary? >> And is that the bid day or >> that is when they go out? The bid day is the beginning of February, I believe, February 4th. So everything's due February 4th. We'll get the the uh construction documents out the beginning of January. Uh we're going to use uh our our uh non-school non- studentent day on January 19th where about 200 uh contractors will be coming through uh and taking a look at the high school specifically during that time. Um, so February 4th is when all the documents are due and then we really start to see are we under budget, over budget, um, rate on
017budget because we have budgetary figures for each of the sites that I I named before and hopefully things start to refine. Um, as we get to, I believe we're at 75% construction documents, uh, coming up here, we start to refine and as we know more about tariffs, as we more to hone in on those designs and those documents, it really goes back to having those documents really be articulate and fine-tune, we're really sharpening those pencils now so the contractors and vendors can really say, "Yep, this is what we have. This is the spec we need." They have to spec it. And that's where Market and Johnson reviews all those Thank you. Other questions at all. All right. Thank you very much. 2D announcements and upcoming meetings, Mr. Russ. >> Um, we just had a successful
018musical uh this past weekend and coming in for another uh finale musical uh this week upcoming weekend. Uh when are sports started today? We had girls basketball start today, boys basketball next week. Uh, middle school sports are running before you guys got here. Wrestling was going and I believe we have basketball going too, Mr. Sanders. Boys basketball. Um, so we're we're we're up and flying away uh for the winter. We start the these seasons are typically a little bit longer, especially at the high school level. Um, but middle school keeps ramping up as well. Uh, fine arts, we come into the concert season now with the holidays and with singalongs and that sort of thing. So, just a lot of positivity throughout and uh keeping the kids engaged and welcoming the community. Tomorrow is Veterans
019Day. Our uh all of our schools celebrate Veterans Day in their own way and we're actually going to be live streaming uh the high schools uh this year. We're going to give that a try. So, thank you for the high school to um open their their virtual doors for that as it's a great way to celebrate our veterans and our current active military um members as well. And we have the upcoming dates coming up here. And just a reminder uh in December we do have that uh change in the board meetings up to December 15th. >> Thank you, Mr. Russ. All right. Any other questions there? Good. Move into business. 3A. Discussion possible 2026 operating referendum. Russ. >> All right. Now is the time where we start to consider uh a possible operating referendum in
0202026. Uh tonight is a big overview discussion. Uh not looking to get into specifics. There's this is not an action item. Uh my intent is is that uh we have discussions today and uh maybe get some additional information that you would like to see. Um and then bring that back to November at the end of the month and have a discussion again. um unless it's the will of the committee to uh want to put that as an action item. Um but tonight is not an action item. Um we're going to start talking about uh some earliest. So I'm going to jump ahead uh screen uh to the uh possible election dates. [snorts] February is a primary. uh most likely we'll have a primary. Um but due to the fact that 70 days prior we need
021to set the resolution for the referendum, it's not realistic that we do uh February. So that's why it's crossed out. So our next opportunity, if we did want to uh go to referendum, once again, this is a big if, we would have three opportunities. School districts can only go two elections per year. So we have two tries at this. uh the spring elections the uh Tuesday the 7th in April and then we have a primary uh on a in August and then the general election on the 3 and there's some information there. So realistically if the board wishes to move forward in January uh I'm sorry in April we'll be looking to have a formal resolution uh for the committee of the whole meeting so we can get that going and that sort of thing.
022Um that's the timeline by statute that we want to have something like that. So, that gives you an idea of what we're able to possibly do if we decide to go to referendum. Um, so just a very high level. Uh, as a reminder, our current $750,000 operating referendum is in year two of two. So, it's going to be falling off uh for the start of 2627 school year. In big picture, looking at our budget for 2627, once again, big picture round numbers, subject to change, we're looking at a $2.3 million deficit, which is pretty close to what we talked about when we went into the last operating referendum. I believe we talked about 2.2. So, we're pretty close to what we thought. Um, with that, um, if the 2526 budget remains the same, we we
023still will have $1.1 million worth of fund stabilization from fund balance that we could use. So, if we use it all, uh, we're facing a $1.2 million uh, deficit, which is included with the $750 falling off. So basically $450 to $500,000 additional we would have to look for uh due to the 750 falling off. Um and we've been in a deficit and uh for the last four years we've used a combination of fund balance reductions and the community's uh operating referendum that they supported was 750. So this is just a big picture about maybe establishing the potential uh operating referendum in 2627 um to to kind of set the stage and ready for for some questions. But uh you may ask what happens if we uh go in April and are not successful. Um we
024can go back in August or we can go back in November if we wish. Um and if you recall it be look very similar if we go in November. uh the annual meeting prior we would have two levies and mill rates one with a successful referendum and one uh that was not a successful referendum. So at the um annual meeting they would set two levies very similar to what we did with the $87 million facility referendum. The downside of not passing in April or not going that's that's up to the board is is that the reductions will have to take place prior to the start of the school year. Um so when we look at our staffing [clears throat] plan if we decide not to go in April or we aren't successful in April we
025need to have a staffing plan for that. we need by statute we have some deadlines that we have to keep in mind for May 15th we have to offer teacher contracts. So that's we can't say yeah we're going to offer you a teacher contract in May 15th and by the way if we're not successful in November or in August that's not the way it works. So we have to plan accordingly uh and adjust especially staffing levels. It comes into um you know we last year we did uh we were able to uh pay our staff more than CPI. So uh compensation comes in. Last year we're very fortunate to have a reduction in our health insurance premium that saved us that basically saved us of 1.1 million not being used. Probably not trending in that
026that good. We're trending in a positive way. Um, so those are all the things that we would have to consider. But for tonight's discussion, we're just more talking about how do we do we want to start moving forward? What information do you need to look at this $2.3 million deficit that we're facing? So with that, open it up for questions. Once again, this is discussion, not getting into the nitty-gritty. Um, I'd rather not say, hey, you know, we've used reductions in the past. what's going to be reduced are I'll answer it right away off the front end. We have areas that we would reduce naturally which we've always said regardless of our budget we would look to that and then beyond that we would have to have some discussions. We're running out of areas with
027the four years we're running out of areas that are naturally happen without an effect on the student experience which we have tried our best not to uh take. Okay, Mr. Chairman. All right. Thanks, Russ. Any questions or comments from board? Yeah, go for it. >> So, if we go in April and we fail, do we get that that act 41 penalty? Then >> the act 141 penalty is only for the low revenue ceiling. So if they do raise the low revenue, if we don't go again and pass it and they say we go from a low revenue ceiling of 11,000 to 12,000 in the next bianium budget, I believe we would be penalized then. But that would be in the next bianium budget. So that would be two years down the road. >> If we
028went in April and failed and then went again in the fall to pass, is there still the penalty then? No, there is no penalty because once you once you successfully pass it, the penalty is gone is erased. >> Okay, thank you. >> Everybody gets the 325, but if they do raise that low revenue ceiling, which we were hoping for, um, which didn't happen obviously, um, then that penalty would be in place is my understanding. >> Yeah. Uh, just just trying to get as much big picture things. Uh, I want I want to focus on like like something that would that that I believe would pass. And so, um, I'm thinking like my goal would be like a 729 mil rate. So, 12 so 12 cents. I think just me running rough numbers. That's about a
029one to $1.1 million referendum, but I'd like to see that >> be presented. I I think that could be passable and even though it might not be exactly what we need based on what I'm seeing, you know, it's better to get something rather than nothing. So >> So I if I'm understanding correctly, you'd like to see what a we'll say a $750,000 operating referendum would impact the the the levies in mill rate and then 1 million and then 1.25 25 and or you know just do to give you some prefer to benefits about what would it look like if we went for 1.25 we can do that. >> Yep. Other questions or comments? >> Good. Um I had a couple just thoughts to share. Um, I think I was going to say something similar of
030seeing a couple hybrid options. [clears throat] I think um um what was I going to mention? I remember in 22 when we had to make all the cuts after it failed and we were focusing just now on seal um one of the biggest recommendations to support that was the feeding our children and that's come back around. I wonder if if it's possible to get what that uh cost would be and uh how that would relate to uh the operations for everyone to be able to eat and meet those needs. Um not sure if that's a large number or not, but that would be nice to know, especially if that's a target moving forward. >> So, universal breakfast and lunch for all kids. >> Yep. >> Okay, got it. And and then I think the other
031kind of takeaways on my end would be um in those options that are presented to us highlighting those board focus areas. So like I think if staff retention for example, right? It seems like we're doing a lot better of a job there last couple years than than five years ago. And so what else can we keep going that that's do more of those things that are going right? Um but if an option a budget option would be to highlight those goals. So staff retention uh the business I believe it was the community local business relationships we already have all day prek so that's moving forward but I think those other two co-curriculars and open enrollment um having options to consider that reflect those values in specific ways would be helpful. Um >> I think is
032that enough? >> Yep. I think we can start to look at possible options. >> Um and how you know really you talked about staff retention for example. >> Um you know in order to you know one of the things that we we did as a board last year was pay more than CPI. Other districts in our area weren't so lucky they got a 0%. And if we want to pay our teachers to be to for retention and and that sort of thing, that's one of the areas that we may have to focus in on. Once again, it's a big picture thing. It's not just the um the the um the compensation piece, but it's health insurance. It's everything that comes into play when we start talking about the budgetary things minus culture and the stuff
033like that. But I think we can start to take a look at um what are our priority areas and maybe some things to address or concurrent things that we're doing to to make that move forward. So >> thank you. Anything else? >> I think Mr. Dr. >> uh it seems to me that we're going to have an operating referendum. It's just a question of how much. And if we could, you know, keep it around a million or less, I think that that's most apt to fly in the community. Well, >> and I'll get that information about, you know, we can start establishing, you know, we've done $750,000. I don't remember when we started it, but it's it's been a while. And one of the things that maybe we can show, I've heard, you know, we
034talk about inflation and everything. $750,000 when we first started this. What is it now? Once again, we're we're looking to, you know, to really establish to stay away from, you know, we we're going in thinking we have one shot because if we do go in April, we have one shot in April. We want to make the best of it for our staffing levels and for our staff as well and for our kids because it's going to have ramifications um if we don't pass, but we'll work through those and uh we'll definitely go that way. So, I think I think something that would also be important to highlight is to continue to show people our act 141 punishment compared to other districts. Like for us that's a million dollars or maybe maybe a little bit more.
035We're still below we're still 141 out of 141 like like dollar per dollar per people. >> I think I think that's incredibly critical. um really liked what we did last time and I don't think we're going to ask for much more than than it just because we don't want to over ask but I I honestly think that whatever we end up doing like our options are cutting programs or cutting programs. So, I mean, like it's important that we show people though that that uh that the direction of an operating referendum has has the greatest impact on our kids and our community as a whole. So, >> so when we start to move forward, there's a lot of different, you know, we talked about time frame. last year was two years or last time was two
036years because we wanted to a get out of the act 141 penalty and wait for the bianium budget. Well, we did that. We did exactly what we talked about. Um, so now it gives the board an opportunity and the once again the binding budgets are the binding budgets, but the we're pretty clear that the 325 is staying and the low revenue ceiling is you know what you know the new governor may have a different say but that it's pretty much we're going to anticipate 325 for the foreseeable future. No low revenue ceiling unfortunately. So, we'll be continue to be, you know, 421 out of 421 and we, you know, show the show the ramifications of that. It's a million bucks and we're a million short. So, >> I think uh to Todd's piece at the
037end there, it would be nice to capture and show in a graph or table all the cuts we made over the last four years, too. Like, that's running out of options that have the least impact and showing that. Um, >> that would be super helpful. >> Yep. So the time we'll be considering you know the duration two years five years you can go all the way to the recurring forever. I'm not saying that but that's an option. Some districts have have done that. Um you can also tar it. We could do 750 one year 1 million the next 1.25 or 7502 years 1 million. So there's a lot of different ways to um to work it. So it doesn't have to be one figure for X amount either if you're interested. So once again I'm
038just throwing out ideas that you can ponder and it might be um as we move forward we start to project the 27 28 budget 28 29 budget. We're anticipating about losing 100 kids a year. So that has an impact on us as well. >> So I I guess since since you asked the question I'll answer it. Uh yeah. So, as for the the tearing, excuse me, my vote my voice is a little scratchy today. Uh as for the taring, uh I' I've been a little bit uneasy on that just because I've seen how badly doto has failed their last few referendums. And I don't think it's because of the taring. I think that they just have a pretty big hole to dig out of and not a big enough shovel. But um if we could
039if if we did want to do the tearing direction, I'd want to see like evidence of districts like like our direct neighbors that have passed one cuz I've only cuz my grandma lives in Stoddard and it's the only reason why I pay attention to their weird referendum and see see their letters and whatnot. That's the only reason why I know it. But if like a district that right next to us, ours has done tearing and it works. >> Yeah, I can try to find out that data for you. >> Yeah. And then as for time, I think I don't I don't think we're going to be over asking. So, it's going to be really um it's going to be really what I would say on the timeline would be just pretty much what recommend uh
040what in admin would recommend in my opinion just cuz you know uh like like like we say with inflation and the $750,000 isn't worth as much as it was 20 years ago. like that $1 million by year a million dollars by year five is going to be a lot less than a million dollars in year one. So >> yeah and you know we've you know there's a balance when we went through the facility referendum we heard when you coming back when are you coming back when are you coming back and saying well we for facilities probably not for many years for operating we only have we're in the first year of you know as we talked about it it's coming in two years we we had the materials that we showed again and said hey
041this is coming we knew this was coming so some people are going to say for referendum fatigue, I'm going to vote no. And so that goes back to the length. Um it's whatever we if we can take three to five years, that would probably be ideal in my opinion. Two years is probably too short. Three years is probably, but that's down the road. We can definitely talk about that as well. But people are going to want to know when are we going to come back? When are we going to come back? That comes into the next agenda item. But when we were planning on the facility, we knew that we didn't think we'd be able to build as much as we can now just based on the fact patterns and we've we've retoled and we've
042really refined what we wanted. So we used in the old in the old uh schedule we had a ledge in five years we had some things fall off just in case we needed to go back for a facility referendum. Well, right now we don't think we need to do that pending February. So, in the next agenda item, we're going to discuss no action items, but we'll discuss the opportunity to have our uh facility referendums next borrow help us in this area as well. So, the mill rate and the levy discussion will change, you know, the resolutions and bonding rates and that sort of thing. So, it's helped us um and we'll demonstrate that in the next slide as well. But if you do have more information you would like, please let myself and Miss Hower
043know. We'll try to get to the uh get you that in the board as much as we can and we'll have this discussion again uh two weeks from today. >> One one more comment. Uh with all that's gone on with the legislature and continuing to stiff us, I'll call it. They give a tax break but then make us look like the bad guys because we have to go to operating referendum in order to make um our budget. Um the I think we have to also incorporate our messaging in to explain that to the uh electorate. >> Yep. Dave, did you have anything? >> I'm just thinking in terms of illustrating this when we go forward, something that might be um useful for public and and maybe some of the staff too is to say like,
044well, if we we need this to have x number of teachers. Um not that we would cut x number of teachers, but to give a measuring stick to say this is what we we're actually looking at. Um if we don't pass this, we're looking at up to x number of teachers. we're gonna have to cut x number of programs. Not tight, but in a broad stroke, kind [snorts] of say this is what we're really looking at losing. >> Yep. And that'll be the the uh once we establish what we you know what would happen if we don't go to referendum or if we fail or if we go 750 using as an example, we are still looking at this. So, it's really this is what the amount gets us and this is what the amount
045doesn't get us. So, we don't want to be scared tactics. And I'm glad you said in general, you know, but we're running out of things to to do. We have the student experience. We have staffing. We have transportation. Um the the big ticket items, and we've the last four years, we have we've really, you know, buckled our bootstraps up and said, "Okay, what do we truly need?" Going back to what you mentioned, Todd, this is what we need to have to have the best experience possible. So, okay, >> just more quick one on that. Um, I would go for the April one. Um, because of the staffing planning because it when you if you lose staff because they're afraid of it, it's not just the cost of the staff, it's now the cost of the
046mentors that take over to mentor those new staff in and the time that they have to take away. And so, it compounds on top of itself. So, >> is it Sorry, I'm going to keep asking questions. Is it possible to get a list of everything we pay for now that didn't exist in 2000 when 750 operating referendum first started? >> Because I bet that's pretty big. >> So, new initiatives. >> Sure. >> Unfunded >> technology, safety. I mean, like that alone is going to show why we need more than that. [snorts] I mean, among other things, mental health, right? >> That would be helpful. Um, I would lean towards April, too. And I I feel like every two years right now is it has been a lot. It will be a lot. That's not by,
047you know, accident. It's by design. So, I would encourage at least maybe that four years. Is there value in staying on that banium budget cycle? Like that was helpful uh two year three years ago, right? I think it is. I think there's some strategy there to say, "Hey, we we we feel that we know what the next budget cycle is based on the information that we have now. It's a good chance that this is." So, when we have a new governor, for sure, we'll know that and legislators and we'll we'll know more information on a on that cycle, too. >> Yeah. Okay. [snorts] Any other questions, comments? >> I don't know. I I guess get like adding like the city perspective this the city's getting strung up too. So I know that the city is
048planning on or at least that there is brief talks in a finance committee meeting that they might end up going to referendum in 27. Just something that we got to strategize referendum fatigue too where city might end up doing that for on their end >> at the finance committee. Did they say what it was for rating or facility? I don't know much about that side of >> this was this was just talking like >> you know just for like keep police staffing up or whatever. it would be like a $250,000 for like 5 years and he's looking into it like it's his first go around with referendum so it's not going to be in it's not going to be in 26 like we're planning but like we would have to try I I wouldn't recommend
049doing it the same time they're doing it. So we'd have to add that to our strategy too if if the city does decide to go that route. Okay, this is helpful. >> Anything else? Good. Do you have any other questions? Mr. Russ, >> I think that's good. If you guys have more questions or, you know, want to sit down and talk, always have coffee. >> Okay, perfect. All right. Uh, we'll move on to 3B then. Discussion of the updated financing plan for the facility project. >> All right. So kind of um mentioned it what we're you know if you recall we borrowed the 66 million originally with the project and got a historic low um interest rate. So it's actually saving us about $9 million of interest from what we planned when we went into
050the referendum planning. So, we have a $9 million. We're really looking to avoid interest the at most of the cost, but um we hit the sweet spot and the 66 million we locked up with a great interest rate and we're also getting good investment on our returns. And then um we planned on taking another 15 million approximately out. And when we started to, as I mentioned early earlier, we're realizing we can do a lot more with the referendum. So we look at how can we use the next borrowing cycle to our advantage and what strategy we're looking at and this is only for discussion okay highle discussion the action item will be coming on the end of the month and I'll talk about that at the very end um but we can spread out this
05115 million over two calendar years and we're coming up to the end of one calendar year and stay under $10 million or less of borrowing That includes the borrowing for the facility and leases that we have. We're leasing, we'll talk about leasing cars and our vehicles and stuff like that, but leasing our technology. If you recall, we have a three-year lease with that. That falls under that 10 million, right? So, what we're looking at is having a bank qualified loan, which is less than 10 million. And the interest rates in a bank qualified loan are about a half point less because um without getting into it, the lender has more write offs and and that sort of thing. It's basically a different tax bracket if you do less than 10 million. So we get a
052half we get a half a point reduction in our interest which leads to about a half about a million dollars of interest avoidance. Okay. Um, so at the end of the month, we're going to bring two resolutions to you. One for 2025 and one 2026. And Barrett is going to uh strategize when's the best time to do it to get the best bang for our buck interest-wise as well because it's under we can run we can earn unlimited interest on these without worrying about arbitrage for the 66 million. Arbitrage is it goes to a point where you can't just invest and get unlimited interest in the 66 million. There's a point that's called arbitrage that if you're over that point, you have to pay the federal government and they don't like that. For why I
053don't understand you'd figure more interest to the federal government, but so it's really a if you're over, you got to pay it. So we're pretty close to getting that arbitrage. We don't want to be over, but we want to just skirt that line. But with these bank qualified there's no arbitrage. Earn as limited interest as you want. Now it's small amount but we can do that. Um and this continues to do the interest avoidance like we talked about earlier with the low bond rate that we had. But it's really about getting this next borrowing cycle and using it to our advantage. And uh there'll be a payment schedule that allows us to um it's called stabilization fund allows us to play with it a little bit when we start talking about the operating side. So
054other than the resolution that's a big picture item. I got a lot charts and graphs but for the most part we're looking at the end of the month two resolutions. We work with Carls and Brady to get the official resolution and the official um agenda item. But basically, we're going to continue our plan like we have all along. We've just strategized a little bit different. Instead of taking the 15 million in one borrow, we're strategizing. We're spreading it out to make it work for us. Again, the more we know, once again, when we started this project, we know this. Now we know more and we want to adapt to make sure that we get the best uh return on our investment for this and that's why we have Bear Financials and their teams and Corals
055and Bradies. This is why to make our money work for us to the best that we can. So any questions minus um the actual resolution language. Is there anything that you have any questions or anything you'd like to be answered before that as well? >> Got some tough questions for you Sam. Okay, I'll write him down. >> So, bank qualified. Does that does that mean it's bonded or like how do we So, if we did pay extra on that, how how does that are is the payment like schedule about the same or is it like something that it's or is it more like like your your home loan where you just pay off the principal? Is does that make sense? >> So, you're asking if we can uh do defecence on the bank qualified. >>
056Yeah. Yeah. Does it Does it work? Does it work that I'm wondering if it works that way? >> Can we prepay? >> Yeah. Can you prepay year five versus year 10 or whatever the heck it is? >> Can we prepay or or reduce the uh years? Okay, got it. >> Um and then a lot of the slides said that we we saved uh interest by putting in the 66 million. Uh what what are we able to do with those interest savings? Is that just put into like that account and then it like only pays off the interest or are we able to use that for a facility project? >> So the interest earnings or savings? >> The interest Oh, the interest earnings are the slides called as savings. So I just want to be clear.
057>> Yes, we use so the 66 million we are getting a very good return on our investment. So we'll say $5 million using that hypothetically. Okay. I don't have the exact number. $5 million. So we now are 87 million turned to 92. >> Yes. >> So we could use that for a facility project. Is that what you're saying? Yes. Okay. Just wanted to be clear on that. >> Yep. When we are going to be using it. That's part of the >> reason that's you know we redid our design and became more efficient. And when we did that, we found, okay, we have x amount more we can do and we have these interest earnings. These interest earnings are ridiculous because our interest rate that we lended on is so low. So that's why we we
058really I don't want to say got lucky, but we got lucky >> on the amount of interest of earnings that we have. >> Yep. >> Yeah, that's everything. >> You got it. Other questions, comments from board? >> I was going to ask Mr. Russ, is it Can [clears throat] you go back? Was it December and March for those two borrowings? Yes. >> So, >> I'm assuming the uh bars and Brady might know this history, but is that going to impact us negatively if we're don't have the full amount borrowed until after bid day, until after everything goes out? Like that's >> we should be okay. This is That wouldn't cause like contractors, vendors to if we spread that out beyond when >> they'd be asking to commit. >> Nope. I we I can double check
059that, but we're we should be good to go because the 66 million, especially with SHS starting first, I think we've earmarked that pretty close to what it is. So, I can make sure that the December and March doesn't impede the timeline for our our contractors. Anything [clears throat] else? Good. That's all I had. Thanks for doing that. I mean, that's [sighs and gasps] >> ways to be efficient and good stewards. Thank you. And that's why we have our partners >> and uh to do this and that's why it's so important for us to react to the data that we have >> because it is ever changing and if we have an opportunity to get better I think we need to at least ponder whether or not we take advantage of that. >> Is there a
060way to track how many change orders building solutions has saved us or is that >> we are getting a we we will be getting a report on that. Yeah, we'll get a lot more as it starts going but we get a report from them saying hey how where did that savings come in? >> Yep. Okay, perfect. All right. [clears throat] Uh, where we at? 3C discussion possible action to recommend new van leases. >> All right. So, um, one thing that when Ryan and Leah were started to talk and they started to talk to our counterparts across the area, um, a lot of City of Sparta does this and Toma does it very effectively and other organizations is that they lease their their, uh, vehicle fleet with Enterprise. Enterprise is one of the uh most reliable
061in this. They give you the data and we're going to have a slide on that. But when we started to look at redoing our fleet, we have a lot of costs associated which we're going to get to in a little bit. But um some of our fleet is old, some of our fleet is newer, and some of our fleet is in between. And right now we currently buy our vehicles outright. So big lump sums. they're on our capital improvement plan and [snorts] saying, "Hey, we, you know, in five years, we're going to need a new new maintenance van." Well, between now and year five, it's got the maintenance cost. It's got, uh, does it still fit our needs, whatever that might be. So there's a lot of variables to that, but we want to make
062sure that we have the part of the goals of this project or leasing is to budgetary savings for our student experience, special needs, co-curricular, field trips uh in our transportation budget because currently we have uh our golf teams driving a bus for five or six kids because we don't have vans. So the contract with Southwest and you can imagine the costs with that as well. Um we have some specifics. We have robotics and music that share a van and um we're looking to you know how can we how can we better service our staff and our kids. Um more flexibility. Once again right now we rely on Southwest Transportation is an excellent partner with us. Um but we rely on them for a lot of things. So, when we start to look at what Enterprise
063can do with us, um, they, if we did go with a leasing program through Enterprise, the maintenance is all free of charge. It's all built into the lease payment, just like you're leasing a vehicle. I've never leased one, but I've been told it's the same that if you need an oil change, your transmission goes, whatever that might be, everything's taken care of. They also track they can track the mileage. They can track the data, the usage, everything like that. And they do a cost analysis of when to trade in. Currently, right now, we wait until our vehicles are basically the end of life. Well, through their program, we're looking at a 5-year lease. And even when we redo this now, they're looking at what are some good vehicles that we can trade in right now
064and get the most top dollar for. The enterprise is found to be uh they get better tradein values than the other competition as well. Um they sell vehicles like I said where we can get you know retrade in. Uh we have meetings with their support team say hey this is what we want how things going this or that to really understand the uses of that. Um but so they do a lot of the the leg work for us and it's all part of the lease payment. When you look at our comparable districts, you can see that um some have more, some have less. Toma has 24 transportation vans. Mustin has eight on Alaska 6. So, it's really about their their um their model. And right now, we have 10. We're looking to propose two 10
065pass we have two two 10 passenger vans and eight minivans. You can't buy 10 passenger vans anymore. They won't pass safety and and that sort of thing. So the 10 to 12 passenger vans that we used to be going on, they don't make them anymore. So it's all minivans are the largest ones that we have. So when this is just another graphic of words and uh a chart of our current vehicles. We currently have 16 vehicles in our fleet and all of these are owned by SASD and they have some um information there where u this is the type of vans that we have. When you look at the budgetary savings, special education and midday routes, just the one-offs, we're not talking about normal busing or anything like that. We save about 15 to 20
066a year. We have to, if a student is experiencing homelessness, we have an obligation to get them to and from uh wind, we have uh wind transportations that may have some one-offs. uh co-curriculars. I mentioned the golf as an example. And here's a bigger piece, our long range plan. If we need to buy a new maintenance vehicle, that's not cheap. And that's just taken out of our operating budget. So, and also the maintenance costs of 10 to 15 year plus time and that sort of thing. Now, you need a transmission, that's one thing. Routine oil changes and all that stuff. The our trucks get used quite a bit, especially in the winter. Snow is coming. To say it, but it's coming and our team is ready. So, there is a I don't know, maybe I
067went over it. Um, there is a cost though when we buy these van if we possibly lease more vans. Right now, Southwest is driving their own vans. we may need to if we talk about transporting uh students with special needs or transporting a a student that's experiencing homelessness, they have to come from our people. So, we may have to look to hire an FTE to be a van driver. So, that's an additional cost. But what we're looking at getting, one of the benefits is is that we can narrow down how much does it cost per year specifically for transportation vehicles. We're looking at a 5-year lease and we're going to find some um some uh some finances there. But at the end of the 5 years, we will reduce and they say almost all the
068time you reduce your payments for the next 5 years for example because the resale value is so high and that gets put back into the program. So it's not like hey we're done with five years do a re renew a lease. It's they sell the vehicles and we get those month we get those funds partial of the funds. So it starts to lower your lease payment the following cycle. So, that's one of the benefits as well. And if we do have specific questions, they're able to come next on Monday as well to answer any questions that you might have. They're open to do that. So, what we're looking at here's a chart of um the plan A lease and the plan B lease. Um this is our current fleet, and we're going to get into
069a little bit more of the specifics, but it it shows which ones we're keeping, which ones are new. So, in plan A, it's an aggressive plan. We're only keeping four. Not to say that the ones that we have are garbage, but based on their data and based on what they know, that's an option for us. And you'll see the the price difference of doing that. Or plan B, for example, um it's less. We're keeping 10, we're adding 10. So either way, we're looking at having a fleet of 20, adding four, mostly in minivans, and we're looking to do new maintenance cargo vans as well. Okay, so moving on to the lease opportunity. This shows you pretty much what we're looking to do. And I'm going to call it $130,000 for this plan yearly because with
070the uh cargo vans, we need to add some some uh features to them. These are all brand new vehicles made right from the factory. So, we tell them what we want. It is made. We're not going to a lot saying I'd like this one. I'd like that one. We are making these vehicles. the way we want them to be. So, the the cargo vans for the maintenance, we need to add them. We have one right now that is very nice. Two right now, which are very nice because you're start adding shelves and the the stuff on side of the van. So, I'm going to call it 130,000. So for 130,000 a year for the next five years, we could get 16 new vehicles maintenance-free moving forward. The remaining because we're going to get these in
071about March. Okay. So when you retroactive the last 3 months, we're looking at approximately a $45,000 investment for 2526 and then about $130,000 investment moving forward for the next 5 years. So this is our recommendation. It is 130. Once again, we're looking to build in the budget just like the technology leases. every year. We're going to plan on this. That is our recommendation to do that to get the best updated fleet possible for our staff and students. The other option or plan B, as you can see, it's I'm going to call it 95,000. We get a credit back for the ones that we sold. So, it's a about a 100,000. I'll just call it 100,000 a year. starting in 2627 and the investment this year is very small 3,000. So either way the investment out
072of a $44 million budget isn't that one but it's that long-term commitment that we're looking for. And the reason why that we are recommending option A is for $30,000 more we get 14. We get 16 vehicles a year compared to option B where we only get for 100,000. So that's why if the board is interested in moving into a lease agreement, the administration recommends option A because we get more bang for our buck. It's a more upfront cost this year and moving forward, but we get updated vehicles, we get maintenance, and it really meets our needs districtwide. And I understand we're asking for this prior to our first agenda item as well. This is something that we would be looking to add to the budget to be consistent for the next five years by doing
073this route. Are there any questions in regards to our recommendation to the full board? Once again, we'll have time to talk and that sort of thing at the full board. This won't be on consent and you might [clears throat] have questions and once again enterprise is more than happy to come here and explain the program as well. Questions or comments from board? >> Yeah, go for it. >> So on plan A that 41,000 is that after the sale? >> Yes. >> Getting the 134,000 for that. Okay. >> Yes. All right. And some people may say, well, why is that? It doesn't seem right. Well, the trucks that we'll be trading in have that much high resale value. And that's why for when we start to trade in more your resale value, you know, because we're
074looking at possibly trading in a 2024 vehicle. Said, well, it's great. You can do that. You can keep it. That's fine. But you can get a 2024. We just bought a new minivan for sales. We can trade that in and make pretty much good money because we don't we don't drive a lot. We just need reli reliable vehicles that go on short trips. And that's why we keep our resale value. And then when you lease, you get maintenance and make sure it's up and running. Your resale value is so good. Other questions? Did you have one time? >> Yeah. Um, just want to know maybe just a little bit more background on what what made us go to this direction cuz I know like on a like like on a personal household level like I
075wouldn't recommend my brother to lease a vehicle cuz it's just like the upfront costs are are expense and of course you know like like you pay for all the depreciation all the maintenance anyways, all the whatever, and then then your the leasing company takes a cut. So, I just want to know why I I understand why it's beneficial, but why is this more beneficial than just us owning our own fleet and then replacing them and making money in the budget for that? Mhm. >> I can get a little bit more uh response for you there, but my understanding is is that now we have the reliability and the dependability of the vehicles and of the budget. So, we're not saying, you know what, a vehicle goes down tomorrow, we need a new vehicle. You know
076what? It's old. We were hoping to get two more years. Now, we need a new vehicle. Now we have to get $60,000 out of our fund balance right there out of our out of our general fund. This way it's all taken care of. It's predictable. Uh we know what to expect and um we increase our fleet um to give our students and our staff experiences that they can do. But I can I can get more information on the why to you guys. Uh, having leased a vehicle in the past myself for a total of six years, I can tell you that overall you're going to save money by turning that car over and uh you're not going to be, you know, stuck with a vehicle owning it out until you run it into the ground
077and then you've got a large, you know, expenditure and down payment to, you know, to lease. artist to pay for. >> I'm I'm a pro at running vehicles down into the ground. So, I mean, that's just my >> and we are pretty good at it, too. And that's it's a change in philosophy. And that's it's it's once again, I'm not saying it doesn't have um you know, negative to it, you know, because once again, I'll go back to the you know, we just talked about a $2.3 million shortfall. I acknowledge that, but we feel that this in the long run for the dependability and um the sustainability, we feel that this is best for our district. >> A couple questions. So, under the lease that they're covering the maintenance, then that's included in the lease
078payment costs, >> correct? >> Okay. And do they dictate who the maintenance has to be done by? >> By an ACS certified person. >> Okay. That's it. >> Um, is there a penalty for not completing the maintenance on time or [snorts] within a certain number of miles? Um, and then is there the ability to expand if necessary? Um, speaking of running vehicles into the ground, I think I've been in one that's had a bad transmission, two that have had banned engines, >> um, several that have had oil changes only done every year when we asked about them. This was past buildings and grounds, but um a lot of teams that I know of went to using buses because of their lack of confidence in the reliability of the vehicles the district did have. So, I
079could see us needing more vehicles because curriculars that have smaller teams would actually rather take a van. >> Yeah. >> Than lease a bus. So, that might offset some of that. So, be interested to see what that >> So, the penalty for not getting uh something fixed getting it fixed or not maintaining it on time and to expand. >> So getting more vehicles >> if we deem it necessary down the road like next year we got more requests because >> Yep. >> they're comfortable driving them. >> I'm sure they'll we want more vehicles they'll do it for us. >> Yep. I can definitely do that. Good questions. >> Other questions [snorts] you have on Dave? >> No. Okay. I was going to ask if I'm reading that correctly. So, our maintenance cargo vans on whatever
080slide that is 32. So, we get was it a couple years ago we were going back and forth on upgrading those maintenance cargo vans. Yep. >> And th those are the ones that are the old uh they don't have the sliding drawers. Essentially, there was staff safety involved, right? Like injuries, some of those pieces. And and the way I'm reading that is all of those would be included in this fleet that is continuously upgraded >> to the best, right? Like for that accessibility for the tools and everything they use it for. Okay. >> Yep. >> I want to make sure that was what that was referencing in there. >> And earlier today, I apologize for late. We finalized all these things and I don't like doing this, but just timing is timing. Um, I did
081share with the board a more detailed what is kept and what is not as well with they got mileage on there, they got resale value. Again, Enterprise does it all for us. [snorts] >> So, >> okay. Um, other questions? Otherwise, I'd entertain a motion. I'll recommend that we move forward to the full board the recommendation to lease 16 vehicles as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh motion by Mr. Bernett, second by Mr. Gonkey. Any further discussion? Otherwise, we would go to a roll call, I believe. Miss Markin. >> Dr. Bernett. >> Yes. >> Miss Barren. >> Yes. Mr. Wells. Yes, >> Mr. Burns Gilbert. >> Yes, >> Mr. Gonkey. >> Yes. >> Motion moves the full board 502 absent. All right. 3D discussion, possible recommendation to approve revising a technology position. >> Mr.
082Kis, >> thank you very much. So we are looking at um replacing our old middle management position of network administrator with a cyber security specialist position. Um this first slide says currently we have a director two computer technicians. Overall, we are down two positions from last year, which would have been the network specialist and another computer technician. Um, we proposed this role because we have a high need in cyber security. Um, I think everyone knows that these days the amount of stuff out there is far more than it was in years past. So, that's why we decided to go with this. Um, we do have a job description linked here. We also have um the reasons why we think it's this is the way to go. the proactive threat defense, combating of attacks, staying ahead
083of evolving threats, uh data and financial protection, safeguarding our sensitive information, financial and student information, um and mitigating financial losses along with overseeing our current and future cyber security initiatives. Our current ones are managed methods which protects our Google and Microsoft data. Cybernet which is our fishing email thing um the training and prevention for staff our multifactor authentication which we've implemented districtwide for staff and hello ID which is our single sign on which also helps us connect everything together. So the recommendation is to repurpose the old network specialist middle management position into a cyber security specialist middle management position, bringing our technology staff back up to four, still down one full-time employee from the previous year. >> Any questions or comments on that? >> Thank you. Yeah. Questions, comments from the board. >> All right.
084Yeah, Mr. Con, go for it. >> I'm just glad to see it. >> Thanks. Was there a I didn't see this in the job description, but was there a cost associated to the position or we're still not getting back to full staff, so it's save. Can you highlight that clear? >> So, the there's really no cost. It is would just be a change in job title from the the old network administrator position. >> So, it's not adding any >> It's not adding any cost. It's actually saving us money because we're not going to replace the fifth person, >> right? Okay. >> I can we can get you the the what we're looking at as a salary for that or an hourly. So, >> okay, >> perfect. Thank you. Other questions from board otherwise I'd entertain
085a motion there too. I move to approve the new uh position as presented. >> Would you like that on consent? uh under consent. >> Second. >> Uh motion by Mr. Wells, second by Mr. Goni. Uh any further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All oppose say nay. Motion moves to the full board as presented. Thank you. >> And we'll move on to 3E. Discussion, possible recommendation to move July 4th, 2026 holiday to July 3rd for operational purposes. Mr. Russ. >> Yes. Um per our handbook, if a holiday falls on a Saturday, it goes to Monday. Uh however, we're looking to start summer school um on that Monday. And I think it'd be a good idea to have administration present and fullyear staff members there at the same time. So, it's um
086real quick just to recommend moving it to the observing the July 4th holiday on July 3rd for operational purposes. So we would celebrate a we would have the long weekend Friday, Saturday and Sunday for those who get the holiday uh rather than Saturday, Sunday, Monday. It's all because of summer school. >> Questions or comments from board. Otherwise, I'd entertain a motion on that. >> [snorts] >> I move to um move the July 4th holiday of 2026 to July 3rd, 2026 for operational purposes. >> I'll second that. >> Motion by Miss Baron, second by Mr. Bernett. Would either of you consider that on consent agenda? >> Yeah, both on consent. Okay. All those in favor say I. >> I. I. All oppose say nay. Motion moves to the full board. 502 absent. Um, with that we'd
087move to adjourn or I'd entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Motion by Mr. Wells, second by Mr. Goni. All those in favor say I. I. >> We'rejourned. Go Pack Go. >> Thanks a lot everybody. Have a great evening. >> Thanks guys. Oops.