001All right. Good evening. >> Good evening. >> Oh, I forgot. Yeah, you guys respond. That's awesome. All righty. Um, I'd like to call to order our budget hearing of Verona School District, Verona, Wisconsin on the this 22nd day of September, 2025 at 5:00 and 37 seconds. I am the board of education vice President John Torkel. Let's begin with introductions of board members and key staff. I'll start down at that end. Joe Haynes, >> you're introduced. Yes. You want to introduce yourself? >> I'm Joe Haynes and I am here >> and we're glad to have you. >> Thank you, >> Corby. We're glad to have you, too. I am Corby White. I'm also here. >> Meredith Christensen here. >> Glad to have you. >> Christopher Pero here. >> Glad to have you as well. >> Here.
002>> Glad to have you. And we'll all be thinking about our president, Jen Murphy, who is staying away with sickness for right now. Uh, and I'd also like to introduce our cabinet, our administrative cabinet for who's joined us here, as well as our superintendent, Dr. Comm. >> Yeah. And then serving as a parliamentarian for the meeting will be the district's uh, council, Nate Edwards. >> We're glad to have you, too. All right. All right. First order of business is the election of a chairperson to preside over the budget hearing in the annual meeting. Nominations are now in order. Do we have any nominations? >> I nominate John Porco, the chair of both. >> I will second. >> Any other nominations? All right. There are no further Nominations are closed. Hearing no objection. Any objections to
003me? John Porco serving as chair person. All right, then I will be the chairperson by unanimous consent. I appreciate the vote of confidence, however misguided it might be. All right. Why can't y on me? Okay. Our clerk, Corby White, will read the official notice of the budget hearing. >> Right. Notice is hereby given to the qualified electors of the Verona Area School District, Dane County, that the budget hearing will be held at the Verona Area High School, 234 Wildcat Way in Verona on the 22nd day of September 2, 2025 at 5:00 PM, which is the time and place of the annual district meeting. Copies of the budget are available at the administration building located at 700 North Main Street, Columbia, Wisconsin. >> All right. Thank you. A notice is filed with the minutes. I now
004call on Chad Weezy, deputy superintendent of business and operations, and Pete Brener, director of finance, to present the proposed 202526 budget. Thank you, chair and sitting in President Mr. It's great to be here tonight. Uh we uh we're here tonight to go through our annual budget. Uh and to do so, I think it's going to be important for us to take a look back uh and as also take a look forward in terms of how we got here. As part of this budget presentation, specifically the Bremers, I'm hoping for some Zinger questions. uh um feel free to ask questions along the way if anybody has any uh regarding where we're at for uh the upcoming year in particular the 2526 budgets. So as we work our way through this evening kind of three separate meetings
005the budget hearing and certainly here to answer any questions regarding uh the budget our annual meeting where we take seven important votes uh and then we would transition into a board meeting this evening. Uh so for the budget hearing we're going to get grounded in board policy. We're going to go through the budget calendar. Uh we're going to be able to look back at 2425 and how that fiscal year wrapped up. We're still in the middle of an audit and we'll bring the results of that back to the board here in December. Take a look forward the budget year we're sitting in right now, walk our way through uh the timelines related to getting that budget across the finish line uh in October. We've included some important information. Um our budget strategy and goals that
006we've addressed, a small update on enrollment, where we're at with fund balance, what we're doing with debt management, and where we see the tax levy headed. Uh and then the annual meeting, we'll get a financial report from our board of treasurer. Uh we'll have a state of the district from Dr. Clarity, and then we'll have seven resolutions that we'll vote on to kind of wrap up that meeting. Uh as a reminder, I would say this meeting in particular uh is really that capstone event when it comes to budget planning. Uh OE5 uh our schoolboard policy does require uh us to to plan in certain ways. These are teased out into eight different criteria. Um I won't read these verbatim. Uh but the superintendent needs to develop a credible budget. Uh needs to tease it out
007by budget line. uh has to de develop a budget that reflects anticipated changes to employee comp compensation and inflation staff increases and performance increases. Uh I think this meeting certainly exemplifies everything that is in OE5 um and the all of the indicators tied to that uh tied to that board policy. A reminder on where we're at in the budget process. We did a little look back um in terms of where we got with the draft uh budget book and the work we did with the school board uh to get to this document. Uh we had um Corby read the the notice that went out in the Verona press a couple the last couple of weeks. Uh we sit here tonight on the 22nd. We do have some important stuff on the way in particular in
008the month of October. Uh so we do finally get our state uh equalization aid certified by DPI. uh Pete who I consider to be a state expert on this topic. So likely we'll have it very close but we don't know for sure until we get that aid number in October. Uh then uh we will end up once we get aid and property value and know our final enrollment we'll be back in front of the school board uh to pass the final budget on October 20th. So um kind of end middle of October that's when all this work gets finalized. The bud budget presentation tonight is really our best guess in time really midsummer uh as we work with the board to put this budget together and the final pieces fall in place later on uh
009in the coming month. A quick review on where we all the work that happened in 2425 really with two budgets in mind. Uh and I won't read this one verbatim but there's some key pieces in here. Uh we ended up building into our budget a compensation p uh strategy for staff that was in line with inflation. Uh by the time it was all said and done, and we'll mention this a couple of times tonight, the $8 million land purchase that we've worked on in 20 242 did does have an impact on what happened with fund balance because we passed an unbalanced budget. Uh but when it was all said and done, uh we ended up having um some surplus left in the the remainder of that budget. So we ended up with a 5.8 8
010million budget shortfall last year that cascades into this budget uh this year and we'll have an update on where we sit with the fund balance. And there is the transition to kind of where the year end will likely uh end up. Uh Pete, remind the audience what unodudited means in terms of what we have with fund balance. >> Well, thank you Chad. Yes, we are uh going through our annual audit process right now. So the numbers haven't been finalized. So until we actually finalize the finalize our numbers and finalize everything that we have there, we still have to consider this unaudited. Um there's one thing I want to point out on this slide here to the very bottom number where it's showing a general fund balance percentage of 23.59%. That right there is calculated as
011our $26 million fund balance divided by the general fund expenses. Now, as Chad just mentioned a couple minutes ago, we had an $8 million land purchase in there. So, our general fund expenses are a little high this year, which makes that general fund balance percentage a little bit lower than where I think it would typically be. Uh, technically, that's how our year ended based off of the 24 25 expenses, but we're actually probably going to be closer somewhere around 25 or 26% is where our fund balance percent will be. And you'll see it on the slides to come that our we actually expect our expenditures to go down this year because we don't have uh the $8 million land purchase built into the 2526 budget. It was last year, but we did end up in
012a spot that uh we still have the $26 million in fund balance. At the board meeting tonight after we're done with the budget hearing and the annual meeting, you'll hear from Pete and myself regarding short-term borrowing. Um, as it turns out, uh, even that number right there, certain times during the year, our cash flow dips down to the point that we need to borrow money on a short-term basis to make sure we can pay the bills. And we'll get into that a little bit further tonight, but our our fund balance is well above board policy threshold uh, and then in a very solid spot. as we present the uh 2526 budget and what we've worked on for a full year. Uh you'll see Pete and Chad already back here likely in November or December uh
013working on the 2627 budget. Uh it it's kind of a year-long project, but these were kind of the goals we built in uh to start the year. Uh again, keeping taxes in check, compensating our staff, having a debt management strategy uh to take care of future capital expenditures and potentially operating expenditures and align our staffing to student enrollment. And we've done that. So, um a snapshot in particular looking ahead now uh at our 2526 budget. A few a few key pieces built into this budget I wanted to make sure I called out. Uh so we have uh set aside $1.25 million uh for our postretirement benefit account. Uh as we've talked to the board already, we're forecasting uh that that money will run out before the expenditures do. Uh and this is a stop gap
014for us to continue to work our way through uh teasing that fund out as long as we can. Uh we were able to secure $1.5 million in savings uh through all the hard work of both our both VESPA VAEA Michelle Haiti who's here in the human resource department. Lots of hands-on uh us changing healthcare providers and uh putting an on-site clinic uh in the district. Uh we were able to preserve staffing levels in most cases and class sizes are still in a very good spot in our school district. Again, we compensate our staff and inflation. Um, and we're going to get into a little more detail tonight um on prepayment of capital debt. And again, uh we are forecasting by the time all of that is done uh and will happen again this year, we'll
015go through the defeasance process again. Uh our work stabilizing the mill rate and prepaying capital debt has provided 11.5 million in interest savings to the taxpayers of the district. that has nothing to do with state aid. All that money ends up saving our taxpayers uh that $1.5 million. In the future when we have to get to a spot um that we have to borrow money again uh for a capital expenditure like a new school, this will also be paying dividends because we'll be able to work our way through um a debt schedule that we put a giant dent into uh for in particular paying off this high school. We got a new slide. marathon. I'm hoping I get a gold star tonight for the new slide. I redid the scale. We used a little AI
016orange and black. I'm not wild about it. Pet it. It looks like a Monopoly cart. Um and so at some point I might have to I may have to redo it as well uh in the future. Uh but I think this this idea of the balancing act of of our expenditures on one side, what we're doing with staffing debt and our operating expenses along with balancing it with our revenues mainly um from state aid and taxes and in the middle and that's what the board's job is manage the mill rate and make sure we figure out the le. Um so it is it truly is a a balancing act. Again, I won't read read this all the way through, but the main idea here is we have very few available tools uh to um to
017manage our budget. We do have a state imposed revenue limit. We have gone through now um our operating permission from the last operating referendum. Um and one uh one thing for tonight that everyone should know, we're not I didn't do five slides on state aid. Uh but um we are predicting to have a loss in state aid uh compared to the year before. And in general, the state of Wisconsin got no new money from the state to support public schools. Uh we were able to hold on to $325 per student and an increase in special ed reimbursement, but all of that money statewide comes from local taxpayers. Um and the work the school board has done to manage the mill rate primarily through prepayment on capital debt of a affords us the opportunity to present
018a budget to the public and to all of you that has a very modest increase in property taxes. That will not be the story statewide. uh where um school districts that may not be prepaying capital debt are going to be forced if they want to leverage uh that $325 a student to compensate their staff in line with inflation. All of that money is coming from local taxpayers. Um so um I I think we're very fortunate in the Mon area school district to have a forward thinking school board that's given us the tools uh to manage that mill rate. That is not the case in other school districts where all of that new money will be coming from local taxpayers. Likely some upset uh local taxpayers when that happens. Um while we're talking about taxpayers, here's
019where we are estimating uh things will fall in line in terms of tax impact this year. Again, this is our best estimate tonight. Um and really our best estimate this summer. We will not know really how all of this shakes out until we get all those final numbers. what we have for property value, what we get for aid, and how many students we have. All of that will fall out in the next month. But we are estimating at this point the budget we're presenting to you has an increase of about 6 and a.5% uh in terms of our levy. We do have a very good idea that our district will end up with about 4% net new construction. So that what that means is our overall tax base 7 plus billion dollars will go up
020by 4% this year with new construction. So people who didn't pay property taxes last year or properties that weren't taxed last year will be taxed this year. Meaning of that 6.6 6 or 6.5% in levy increase taxes we're recommending to the school board. 4% of that comes from people that didn't pay those taxes last year. In the end, that all filters out and we end up with about a 2 and a.5% increase uh estimated in property taxes for existing property taxpayers. A reminder, and we'll get to this in October, when we find out equalized property values and they're finalized, that two and a half percent will not be evenly spread across our school district for existing property taxpayers. Our local municipalities have all kinds of things going on uh with equalized property value and some
021folks still might see flat or decreased taxes while others will certainly see more than a 2 and a.5% increase uh because of the way fair market value and equalized property values uh work into that equation. Our estimated mill rate for today uh is 10.75. We put together uh two different things related to historic charts. One where our fund balances ended up and we have a mil rate chart I believe on the way. Um we did want to call out uh for everyone a little more detail on where we ended up with debt management and strategy. We will be coming back to the school board for a vote on debt defeasence. Um and again, why are we doing this? uh one it's our way to strategically manage the mill rate and it is really helping out
022this year in particular uh in terms of where we ended up uh there is no more callable debt we have to put uh money in the end into something called the defeasence and in the future if we're interested any capital or operating question for our taxpayers we are overlevying uh $5.5 million this year for capital debt um and that does not have to happen every year with a lot of the boards and tools uh into the future. I did have Pete just pull this just to um I guess that we have um have some transparent evidence uh relative to our debt manage management strategy going back uh to 2017. Uh and this is just through this last fiscal year. uh we had 10 and a half million dollars of interest savings uh that we've saved
023through the fees process uh which is which is really a good thing. So our proposed budget tonight I'm not going to go through this in great detail uh but um in the end as I mentioned we are projecting a uh our budget in terms of the money we're going to spend to actually decrease from the year before. That's primarily due to the land purchase that happened last year. We are projecting our mill rate to be 1075 and that is we want to do a little historic jump around for that. Um so and certainly answer questions if folks have any uh coming out of the 2016 uh and then 2018 window related to the referendum uh and the cash the district ended up borrowing. Um our mill rate was as high as 12.88. 88. Uh, and
024you can see here the school board has been doing what they can uh to keep property taxes in check with steadily decreasing that mill rate along the way. Previously, uh, um, many school board members, even Amy Alman, uh, would always be one to say just keep the mill rate flat, set it and forget it. Um, and we deterred from that strategy a little bit because property taxes would would have gone up substantially if we would have just had a flat mill rate. and we kept that in check uh with uh kind of stepping that mill rate down with an eye on what goes on with that new construction. Here's our uh proposed budget by uh by fund. Uh and a few things again as a reminder the board we're waiting for. Over on the right
025um we are projecting our levy um what we would ask from taxpayers to increase by about 6.6% and that is teased out just a little bit there. fund 41, what we end up doing with our C community service fund. The general fund is fund 10 and what we do with with referendum debt. Um, we've got $15.4 million built into our referendum debt. And that minimum debt payment on that million. So that is uh an update on both the 2425 budget wrapping up and high level stuff on what we've got in the 2526 budget book. questions at all? >> All right. No questions. It was very thorough. Very thorough. >> Got us through in 20 minutes, Mr. >> There you go. Um, since this is anformational hearing, we don't need a vote on this. So, I
026if there's no further business, I will entertain a motion to adjourn the budget hearing. >> Got a motion from Juan Carlos and a second from Chris. >> And to be clear, anybody can be making motions. >> Anybody can be making motions. >> Any resident, yes, >> can be making motions. All right. All right. So, all those in favor of adjourning the budget hearing say I. >> I. >> All right. Any opposed? Excellent. Moving on. I'll call to order our annual meeting of the electors of Verona Area School District in Verona, Wisconsin on this 22nd day of September, at 5:22. Our clerk, Corey White, will read the official notice of this annual meeting. Thank you guys. >> Notice is hereby given to the qualified electors of the Verona Area School District, Bay County, that the annual
027meeting for the transaction of business of said district will be held at the Verona Area High School, 234 Wildcat Way in Verona on the 22nd day of September. 2025 immediately following the budget hearing which began at 5:00 p.m. All right. Thank you very much. All right. At this time, I'd recognize our treasurer, Joe Hannes, to present the financial report. >> Thanks, John. Um, this is the one time a year that I get a captive audience and then I get to just talk and never has to listen. So, um, but I promise I'll be brief because a lot of what I have to say Chad just went through and there is a full treasures report. It's in it's in board docs if anyone wants to look at it. I'm not going to go through the motions
028of just reading it, but it it goes through a lot of the highlights from last year and a preview of of this upcoming year's budget that that Chad had just gone through. What I want to do is talk a little bit about the highlights, but also to kind of emphasize and reiterate how difficult it is what we've been able to accomplish because of the way we do school finance in Wisconsin where we have this revenue limit that artificially caps how much money we're allowed to even bring in to use to operate our schools. Uh there is this, you heard Chad reference a balancing act, and that's because a lot of these priorities we're dealing with pull against each other. Right? If we spend too much on uh priorities today, that could put us in a
029position where we're selling out the future of our district. Um if we're sending if we're spending too much money on recurring costs, it could mean that we're in a difficult budget position in the next year or two. And so what we've been able to accomplish this year uh I think really well balances those different priorities in a way that still balances the interests of our community and our taxpayers as well. We we've been able to provide continue to provide uh pay increases for our staff to keep our staff at or near the top of Dayton County in terms of compensation. That's been a priority for us. Um uh we you have you heard Chad mention the on-site clinic. This is going to be another thing that's going to be really beneficial for our staff to
030be able to get timely and costefficient health care for themselves and their family members uh while also hopefully saving us money on our when it comes to insurance. um we uh we were able to we're always keeping one eye on the future, not just the present. So, we were able to secure uh and buy this eight eight and a half million dollar piece of property that's really going to look out for the long-term interest of our district when uh which is growing and we are going to need new square footage at some point. Uh we've also kept an eye on the future in how we've been doing the debt management strategy that Chad talked about. we saved, you know, well over $10 million in terms of how we've decided to manage our our long-term capital
031debt. Uh we also, when you look at the end of the year, how we did this past fiscal year, we even came out ahead of where we projected on our budget. We it there was a shortfall, but it was a planned shortfall because of that $8 million land purchase, but we even came out ahead of where we planned to be. uh uh and most importantly throughout all of that we're able to do all these different priorities but at the end of the day we're still dropping our mill rate to the lowest it's been in decades. So we always try to set the mill rate even though we're not in charge of valuing your property in terms of what your how it's going to be valued and the mill rate gets applied. We're tracking that in
032an average way and we're trying to reduce our mill rate in a way that's on par or as close to on par as we can with the average increase in in you know land valuations so that our community doesn't see a big hit in property taxes associated with the schools. So, we've been able to do all of those different priorities and those different highlights that I just talked about while still trying to keep the tax impact on our community as level and minimal as possible. And I think that's a major accomplishment. Um, and I think that's a testament to Dr. Clarity and Chad and Pete and their whole team. Uh, because they're the ones who are doing the work and making the recommendations on how we how we manage our money. And I think it's
033one area that we're we're doing an exceptional job in. And you can read the full treasurer's report in board docs if you want. But that's the end of my report. >> Thank you, John. Thank you. Are there any questions about the treasures report? Anyone at all? All right. Like I said, I think it was very thorough and I would second what Treasurer Joe's had to say that this has been um a pretty awesome job. So, all right, moving on to old business. The next item is the approval of the minutes of the September 23, 2024 budget hearing and annual meeting. Is there a motion to approve the minutes as presented? >> To approve. I have a motion from Chris, >> second >> and a second from Mont Carlos. Any other questions? And let's all vote
034in favor saying I. >> I. >> And any opposed? All right, the minutes are approved as presented. New business. I'm going to call on the Verona Area School District Superintendent Dr. Tine Clarity to present the state of the district. >> Thank you, John. Um, first before I I get going, I just wanted to take a quick moment to thank the board of education uh for again in going into year five the honor and the privilege of being uh able to lead the pulinary school district. Um, it's something that I don't take for granted and it's something that um really fills my bucket in the opportunity to serve this community and the community that's given so much uh to to public education. I also have the honor of being able to serve you know some of
035the most dynamic staff members in the world of field of education that you can that you can imagine. Uh the commitment that they have to each and every child uh serving beyond the classroom whether uh food and services and health and wellness happiness and just sometimes that that emotional support. There's no better place to educate uh uh students than the Ronary school district. I try to lead in a way that embraces a humanitarian approach and embraces every staff member and an acknowledgement of the work they do. So, as we think about this the achievements that we're going to be able to talk about today, please think about the staff members that are behind behind this work because they are the ones that carry this out every single day. And again, it's just my honor to
036be able to serve in the capacity uh to be able to partner with these amazing leaders to uh the amazing staff members to uh to do this work on behalf of our community on behalf and be for our students. So again, thank you to our board for uh the continued support and the high expectations uh and the accountability measures that are in place to make sure that we continue to provide a world-class education. So I'll begin our our annual meeting, excuse me, the this report with in inviting and really lifting up our five priorities of our strategic framework. Uh we are in the midst of the um 2025 26 uh of the 2028 ending strategic framework. uh and I say ending loosely as I say the the work that priority are is so powerful now
037there may be some adjustments would probably be a recommendation to the board to kind of carry this work moving forward with with some some adjustments for us that's the future conversation but as we think about our areas of community collaboration inclusive teaching and learning student agency value and belonging and wellness and mental health you'll see attributes of that throughout this uh list of accomplishments and and also areas where we want to continue to grow as an organization in the Beginning with the academic outcomes for the uh the year, uh we dove deep into standardsbased learning in every single classroom to ensure grade level uh rigor. Uh it's been led by the tremendous work. I want to give a shout out to our executive director of academic services, Amy Engle, who is just being her key
038leadership moves and bringing the uh continue to to push the team towards uh acade academic excellence, but also having and having high expectations for what takes place in every in every classroom. Um her team is amazing. The full cabinet I don't want to name each one but hopefully from the heart they understand and know what they mean to this or organization. In our areas of early literacy uh we've had very associate K through three very strong growth. U I'm just going to say this and it'll be my least political statement probably of the day. I'm try to stay away from that area but I want to remind our community that we did not embrace the world literacy especially K3 because of act 20. we were ahead of head of the game and really wanted to
039make sure that literacy was the foundation because we truly mean that the true spirit of freedom in our country is being literate and educated. Um and that was far before any legislation was was passed. So this is not a responsiveness but just proactive approach to to education. As we think about some of the greatest gains that we had uh the board of education and school district and why this this district excels because of the board's leadership is the priority and the focus of ensuring that we look at data from a a demographic breakdown to understand that every student has access to the opportunities within our organization. With that, we are able to talk about the gains and because of that focus and intentionality, our students with IEPs, our our Asian our Asian-American API population, Hispanic,
040Latinx population, multilingual learners, and black students all show growth in in various categories uh last year, and that's something that to be acknowledged and celebrated, but that does not happen without the expectations of this board that we look at data from that from that uh perspective. Uh, as we look at some of our assessments, I want to give a shout out to Brian Cox and his team here at the high school. We look at our AP exams. We took over 1,285 exams or over 33 courses with 84% of our students scoring a three or higher. Uh, that outpaces both the state and the national average in 21 of the 33 courses. So, shout out to the high school team for their continued expect high expectations but and great performance uh for for our learners. [Music]
041Mar spent a lot of time on that slide. I'm going to show him. Sorry. In the area of culture and climate. Um, you know, we understand that we don't get the academic outcomes that we have if we don't have a culture and climate that's conducive to safety and a space where uh staff can perform to the grass and students can engage in in deep learning. And to do that, we've engaged a lot of a lot of work across multiple departments. And I'll begin with attendance uh with the with the decreasing in chronic absenteeism overall in the Bronier school district and all schools. Every single school reached the 90% uh goal for attendance with our elementarymentaries hitting 94 95% for attendance r attendance rates. uh social emotional learning uh with our approved district partners. We are
042now offering on-site therapy and those partnerships are expanding as as well. Restorative practices, we have over 100 staff trained now in restorative practices. This has allow for improved behavior, safety, and outcomes. And you think about the experience surveys that the that the board and administration expects. We had 4,200 plus responses to our uh surveys. um you really given us really sight uh feedback in terms of where we are doing really good work in areas where we need to grow. Uh things that we want to celebrate are the vast majority feeling respected and supported. Families asking are also asking for more consistent progress updates where we are continuing to work with our our buildings to do so. And our students rightfully so in this world and it's so heart touching to hear them ask for this.
043They want more kindness and empathy from peer-to-peer and have those expectations of one another is really something to be acknowledged and supported. As we move into staff uh community wellness, uh you heard of some updates to the financial department around the opening of the SSM uh uh health clinic here in in Ron area school district. What that means from a financial uh standpoint, but what it also means in terms of supporting our staff and their families. You know, you know, when we talk about the humanitary approach to to leadership and making sure that we engage with everyone uh through that through that lens, there's nothing more important than physical and emotional wellness and ensuring that we have the space for physical wellness and emotional wellness and especially from the physical component, but wellness as well.
044those abilities to be very proactive and making sure that you know the things that we should be uh you know kind of testing for and screening for and making sure that uh chronic diseases uh do not permeate uh we have the on that space that's more personalized and provides a personal touch for our staff to be able to have that and that's just a great again a tribute to our board who provides the financial resources but also that long-term vision of making sure that our staff are are well well supported. So thank thank you to everyone that is engaged in that progress and we look forward to having you at the ribbon cutting in a couple weeks you know in October. We continue to uh uh show appreciation to our community who gives us the
045benefit and the uh an opportunity for time for collaboration on Monday mornings. on those Mondays being today where we have a weekly collaboration that really drives student centered improvement to be able to go deep not just in the content but actually understand the individualized needs of each of each of our students. Uh I think u additionally in spaces we have new curriculum uh that uh was uh necessary for us to uh put in play and for language arts and and as well as new curriculum for uh resources for for science. Uh so we now we're at the full implementation of SAVIS. We're one year into it. Uh our teachers are far more comfortable for it and our students are seeing some great growth using the Savage curriculum. The curriculum is one thing and we'll give
046a shout out to that but it's always the staff members behind the curriculum that drive drive the impact. As always we have opportunities for growth in our system and you know we perfection is a desire state but it will never be the state that we that we are in. But while we're on our journey to perfection, we can always uh keep keep moving towards excellence, which we're going to showcase the legacy of excellence that we have right there. Thank you for for bringing that to life here. I think John's shirt was somewhere, but we'll get him. Um we think about opportunities for growth. Uh we know we want to continue to expand um advanced learning opportunities and that what that means is extend learning for students. we're ready for more challenge and make sure that
047we have the systems in place for that challenging work to take place. Uh while we showed significant gains of disproportionality, it'll always be an area for growth until we appro until we hit full uh proportional data in our system. So that will always be listed opportunities of growth even when we have gains and knowing that our referrals are are down for uh black students and also down for our students with IEPs and many suspensions were were down as well. the disproportionality is still there and we need to acknowledge such and continue to close close those gaps. And then finally, our multi-layer systems of support. We continue to uh work to have stronger systematic support for students across all of our schools to make sure the continuum of services for each child is is in place
048and we have systems that align with the needs of of of every student. So, I'm going to close us out here with where we are in terms of our continued work this year. If you look anywhere around any of the buildings, we continue our attendance campaign with the be here be great. Every Wildcat counts campaign. Thank you to Dr. Hawkins and Adam Z who were very key components in in in that work as well and bringing it into all of our spaces. um as well as now if you haven't heard the the terms AI you're like we're we're way behind but uh we are not we continue to stay ahead knowing that AI is here and we need to keep up with the pace of growth and understanding and make sure that uh just as
049we talked about in our technology committee meeting today that our attention to AI is clearly aligned with our mission and it's aligned to every uh piece of our our our priority areas and strategic framework. We'll continue to leverage our our staff uh to make sure that we understand how the impact how AI impacts the classroom. So we're not just bringing the next resource, we're actually talking about implementation and uh staff voice is crucial crucial in that work. Uh so in closing, I just want to again uh reflect on the opportunity to serve the students, families, and staff of of this community. can't think of a better place to work, better place to be able just to uh hang out and uh enjoy whether it's a sporting event, the arts, uh any of those any of
050those spaces. Everyone here is truly committed to education and is and there's no better place to be than Ronair School District. So with that, I'll open it up to any questions from our our rambunctious crowd that um here and or any of our board members. Is there anybody wants to add anything or say anything questions? I get to speak as an elector and not just as a board member. Um I just want to say how much I as someone with kids in the district who lives here appreciate the schools. Um and that goes for everybody here that's done a phenomenal job for my kids. Um it really has been everything we've wanted in schools. So I greatly appreciate that. Thank you. As an individual, as a board member, we'll keep working. All right. Hearing no
051other comments, uh we will now consider the proposed resolutions. Each will be handled separately. A motion and a second are required for each. Discussion will follow and we will vote before moving to the next. Our first resolution is to fix the salary of our schoolboard members. And I'll read the resolution out. Resolution A. Be it resolved that the salaries of the school board for the school year be established as $4,821.70 for all members. Is there a motion? >> So, we have first motion from John. Is there a second? >> I'll second it. >> And a second. Thank you very much. Um, does anybody have any uh questions, comments, concerns? Yes, sir. >> Comment that represents a 2.95% increase from last year. So, so in line with >> I'll offer the same comment I feel like
052we offer every year at this time, which is that I think all of us up here would gladly do this job without compensation, and that's not the reason we're doing it. But we also recognize the importance in having this be an accessible position for people and that uh for some serving on a school board may require things like child care or other arrangements or maybe missing out on work. Uh so to make it remain accessible for everyone. That's that's the reason why I support this. I'll also add as a historical note that we uh typically approve the same salary for everyone on the board. Um it's just a matter of principle. We all do the same work >> and also we won't be paying attention to who votes. >> Historically, I All right. Any other
053comments or discussion before we vote? Everybody who resides in Corona can vote. All right. So, uh, those in favor signify with I. >> I. >> Any opposed. All right. Vote carries. Uh, resolution B. Be it resolved that there be levid for the 2025 2026 fiscal year. tax in the amount of 1 million upon all taxable property in the Verona Area School District. Sorry, that's $1 million upon all taxable property in the Verona Area School District to be deposited into the segregated capital fund. Is there a motion? >> So move. >> Another motion from John. Is there a second? >> Second from Joe. Thank you. Any further discussion? All right. Uh, votes in favor signify with an I. >> I. >> Any opposed? All right. Motion carries. Resolution C. Be it resolved that there be levied
054a tax in the amount of $83,489,369 upon all taxable property in the Verona area school district for the purpose of paying employee salaries and meeting other necessary expenses to operate and maintain the district schools and to finance the debt service and capital outlay of the said district on the basis of the approved budget for the 202526 fiscal year. Is there a motion? So >> motion from Joe. A second. >> Second from Chris. Any discussion? I will note that this reflects the budget that was discussed in the budget meeting. All right. All those in favor signify with an I. >> Any opposed? And the resolution carries. Resolution D. Be it resolved that the school district be allowed to sell equipment that is deemed as disposable equipment by the district. Is there a motion? >> So move.
055>> Got a first. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Oh, I was waiting for that one. All right. >> Second. >> Any other discussion? >> Excellent. All right. All those in favor signify with an I. >> Any opposed? All right. Resolution carries. Resolution F be it resolved that the date of the 2026 2027 annual meeting be set for September 21st, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. Is there a motion? >> So moved. No, they're just >> No, they're just a little differently. We all >> Okay. So, let's let's back up. >> I made a motion to approve. >> Okay. Can we table that? >> Sure. Table it. >> Let's table that and go back to resolution E so that we can uh and we'll come back to that. Resolution E. Be it resolved that the Verona
056Area School District be authorized to borrow money short-term for operating expenses if needed. Is there a motion on this one? >> Thank you, John. First, is there a second? >> Second from Corby. All those in favor signify with I. >> Any opposed? All right. Resolution E carries. Peter hard. Did I? Yeah, just about. All right. Back to resolution F that we had tabled. Joe had given a first motion, but we don't need to redo that first motion, do we? I'll reread it. Resolution F. Be it resolved that the date of the 2026 2027 annual meeting be set for September 21st, 2006 at 5:00 p.m. We already have a first from Joe. Is there a second? >> Second from Meredith. Although there any other discussion, >> just to clarify, 2026. >> 2026. Yes. Did I say
0572026? >> 2006. >> 2026. >> I don't know if this is being recorded. Just >> No, that's important. Let's catch it. at 5:00 pm. All right. All those in favor signify with I. >> Any opposed? All right. Resolution F carries. Resolution G. Be it resolved that the school board be authorized to acquire by purchase or condemnation under chapter 32 real estate and structures and facilities opportunate to such real estate necess necessary for school district purposes pursuant to Wisconsin statute 120.10 sub5 subm. Is there a motion? So move. >> Is there a second? >> Second from one cause. Any other discussion? >> All right. All those in favor signify with an I. >> I. >> Any opposed. So resolution H carries. If there is no further business, the chair will entertain a motion to adjourn the
058annual meeting. Hold on. >> We got one more. >> Last one. >> This is why I should just do it on paper. I got it. All right. >> Resolution H. Be it resolved that the school board be authorized to designate sites for school district buildings and provide for the erection of suitable buildings or for the lease of suitable buildings for a period not exceeding 20 years with annual rentals fixed by the lease pursuant to Wisconsin statute 120.10 sub5. Is there a motion? >> Motion by Meredith. Is there a second? >> Second from Chris. All those in favor signify with an I. I. Any opposed? All right, the motion carries. Now, if there is no further business, the chair will entertain a motion to adjourn the annual meeting. So move motion from Corby. Do I have
059a second? >> Second from Joe. All right. All those in favor signify with an I. >> I. >> Any oppose? All right. Meeting is adjourned. Thank you so much. Oh my god. No. So many so impossible words. All right. So,