Weslaco ISD Board Workshop (May 11, 2026)

001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Good evening. Are we ready? Carlos? Okay. I'm Isidoro Nieto, president of Weslaco ISD Board of Trustees. The board workshop and training is being conducted in compliance with the Texas Open Meeting Act Meetings Act. Notice of this board workshop and training has been posted online for at least three business days prior to the meeting date. The time now is 5:36. >> [snorts] >> And I will call this board workshop and training to order. I will now begin the roll call. Uh Mrs. Jackie Sustaita? Present. Mr. Ben Castillo? Present. Mr. Mark de los Santos? Present. And myself, Mr. Nieto. We don't need a quorum for a board workshop, but we do have a quorum. Public comments? There are none. None. Thank you. Dr. Vera, budget number workshop number three. On Didi Rodriguez? You

002make the presentation? Good evening uh President Yetto, members of the board, Dr. Deveta. I have with me tonight Ms. Romalda Ruiz from Region 1. We have been working very closely with her team, uh budget team, and of course cabinet members to work on on all of these items that we're about to discuss today. So, if she may chime in or if we have any questions for her, she can chime in as well. The team uh may also chime in if if if uh needed. Um so, we're going to begin tonight uh looking at um where we're at so far, overview of 25 26. So, uh in column A, B, and C, you're going to see, you know, well, A and B have the same numbers, but A currently is the budget based on the April

003amendment, so where we're at at that ADA of 14,278. Revenues or expenditures, looking at a deficit of 17.7 million there, and these numbers do not include food service. So, if you remember on the April amendment, uh there was a deficit of project a projected deficit of 19.5 million, but that included food service. So, this does not include food service. And then, what we did was we once we had all of those numbers into the system, we sent everything over to Ms. Romalda's team. They reviewed everything, and they came up with the pretty much the same analysis that we did um with those revenues and expenditures. Column C is currently based on our projected um actuals going out to year end, so accruing for all salaries up to August, um contracts that need to be paid

004out. That is basically all expenditures right there as of our actual spend right now. So, as you can see with the freeze and and making sure that we were watching our spending, this the expenses actually look to come out a little lower, maybe about three three million or so there, three three or four million based [clears throat] on whatever uh right now our actuals are projected to be at at the end of the year. So, the reason for the two different numbers there 17 is basically if we spend every single dollar that was budgeted for. More than likely that's not going to happen. We're still trying to be cautious and not spend so much money. So, on column C that's right now where we're projected. Could it go up? Could it go down? Possibly, but

005that's more more or less in the ballpark of what we're looking at. Um and the plan to address that, of course, would be on the next slide. So, currently whether it's the 17.7 million, whether it's the 13.9 million, the way we're looking to address this deficit this fiscal year, we understand that the deficit is something that is recurring, right? We know that next year we're going to be dealing with the same thing, you know, maybe 13, 14, 15 depending on where we're at and where we're where we go with our budgets. We understand that this is something that we need to address with our action plan and all that, but for right now this fiscal year we're looking to address the current deficit with um the remember the 14.1 million in interest that we had

006discussed at the last couple uh presentations by bond council. They have approved. Um we have discussed with Region 1, we've discussed with CRI on on this whole process and we can transfer over that 14 or use the 14.1 million basically to fund eligible projects that were previously funded out of 199. So, that 14.1 is going to cover projects that were uh carried out previously when administration we were all under the impression that we did have a healthy healthier fund balance at the time. 7 million, I don't know what happened here with my A, B, and C. >> [laughter] >> I don't know what happened there. 7 million assigned for construction currently uh will be transferred back to unassigned fund balance. The 7 million is currently sitting there in our construction fund for HVAC purposes. So,

007those the HVAC uh projects can now be covered under bond proposition A. So, that 7 million will be handled by our 623 um bond account. So, that 7 million will now be unassigned and transferred back to fund balance, giving us a total of 21.1 million that's going to be put back into fund balance for this current fiscal year. So, remember whether it's the 17 or the 13, we hope to actually clear out the deficit this fiscal year to get us on a clean slate for next year um with our our plan moving forward with the the deficit that we're facing. So, fund balance breakdown. So, this is breaking down where we're at, where we began July 1, 2025 after our um audit was complete. So, we have the unassigned fund balance there, 52.9 million. So,

008what we're doing with this um additional funds that we're doing we're assigning uh unassigning, I guess you could say, the 7 million for construction. We're reallocating the bond interest, 14.1, giving us 74 million, which is of course additional fund balance days, but we're also already accounting for that projected deficit. The maximum deficit if we spend every single dollar that's currently in our budget, which we're hopefully not going to do. I don't think we will. But this the projected deficit is the maximum there of 17.7. Then we have also accounting accounted for that projected self-funded health transfer out that we're going to need to make at year end of 3.8. So, that's 21 million 21.6 million that's now going to be reduced from that 74, giving us still in the ballpark of the 52 million. Again,

009unaudited ending unassigned fund balance. This is just our projection of about 96 days at year end 6:30. Now, we still have things going on, so this may or may not, you know, end this way, but this at least gives us So, if that projected deficit is actually less, then it gives us additional fund balance. Um So, what you have there on the bottom, any um you know, the the italicized uh wording there, that's straight from TEA with our first report. So, um we don't uh we we gain all our maximum points as long as we are above the 60 days. So, the 75 is the operational um is the 75 days is operational expenditures and their assigned unassigned fund balance. TEA also indicates an optimum, that's a huge one, 60 days or more. So, at

01096, we're well above that optimum uh fund balance days requirement for the school first rating. So, again, just want to stress that if we are comfortably above that 60, 75, any any additional days we're looking to hopefully, of course, balance the budget next year. Um uh depending, I guess, if we do have a uh deficit budget. Which more than likely, right? It's recurring, so we want to try to to clear that up. This tab right here is the self-funded health insurance. This is where our actuals are at. We have 10 months of actuals there, July to April, actual spend, budgeted revenues, where we've been at. April is uh a positive because that's where we gained our What's the word, Mr. Buttimer? rebates >> rebates back there. And again, if I think if I can chime

011in here a little bit, literally the first 10 months, if you think, are cash in, cash out. Where we do have projected, obviously, is still May and June. And then, obviously, with the final In addition to that, we are not sure where we'll get with run-outs that come back in the June, but again, based on the 10 months of actuals, we are doing better than we had anticipated back roughly 6 8 weeks ago. So, again, the The 10 months you're seeing our actuals cash in, cash out. And April, you you mentioned that's when we got rebates. That's when we received the rebates, yes, sir. All right, that answers one of my questions. Yes, so that's why that one's a positive, that one month. So again, this is just projected on cash basis at 3.8. So

012this is what we're looking at and it may be more depending on runoffs like Mr. Buttimer said, we may need 4 million, we may, you know, depending, but that part will come from fund balance because this is where we um for next year we are we're increasing that budgeted revenue by increasing that district contribution. Uh Mr. Rodriguez, question on August 2025, that's another month that's also uh positive. Was that also when we received rebates? Probably more rebates. August Dr. Cantu? No, it was just a good month. Okay. Beginning of the year. Okay. Good month. Very not as many claims as you get into the year. Mhm. Okay. Um and again, remember these we hadn't made any changes to our health insurance plan in the last couple years. So we did have good years on our

013actual claims and that's just starting to catch up to us. So we hadn't made any changes, the district absorbed all these costs, our employees never took the hit. Uh so now definitely the the district is um is having to address that. >> What about the revenues for January? Why are they lower than every other month? January, January. Oh, I had asked that question. Why do the month like why is it lower, the revenues? Okay, so that's basically whatever gets paid out from our staff. So did we have like any staffing changes from December to January? Maybe retirements, resignations as of December. >> retirements or resignations then you don't we don't pay for them anymore. Mhm. Correct. >> So any retirements, resignations there that would come off um as of January. So that would change that

014number. Um So with this in question I'm I'm so I'm assuming that for next year for the health insurance we're going to have to budget a higher amount than what we have done the last couple of years. Correct? Yes, sir. Correct. Okay. Now, here here's my concern with this because we had the consultants come with insurance telling us that we could save 4 to 5 million dollars not just with moving the levers around but by actually looking at the claims. I'm not in any way saying there's a fraud or anything like that but there's sometimes you you need somebody to go through. Was this actually Was this claim actually what it was? You know, there's all kinds of stuff that we need somebody to look at. Have whoever's doing this, Dr. Cantu or the the

015brokers, whoever, have they ever brought up a red flag to you, Dr. Cantu, since this is your department saying, "Hey, you know what? This is way more claims. Let Let me look into it. Let me make sure that nothing's being duplicated or they're not charging us more than we should." I'll let I'll let him answer but I do want to just speak on when we go through our actual financial audit at year end, the auditors, CRI, they pull a whole sample of these staff members and claims and we in turn ask Dr. Cantu, he asks Blue Cross or whoever it is for for all of that backup for all of those claims. So, they as part of their audit, they do review a good chunk of claims. That's part of just their sampling. So, Dr.

016Cantu, you want to And also it it This is following the industry trends that we're seeing with all the inflation, more expensive health care. It's state wide. It's across the board. So, we're it's not unique to Weslaco that we're seeing more expenditures. Okay. I guess since you were talking about that, sir, are we What's the actual actuarial basis or trend lines or What what what utilization trends underlie that? It's a 13% bump, right? So, what what are we going off of? Are we just going off of the numbers on here or are we getting actuaries to help us come up with that? >> When you say 13% bump, we're looking at an increase of the district from 732 to 879. So, it's going to be a little bit more than that. Um that's based on

017the projections from One Digital as far as what it's costing. We are are also looking at existing claims, people who are suffering right now with their cancers, with their serious illnesses. They're not That's not going to go away. We're going to continue with that. So, we know that if we if we do nothing, if we didn't move the levers, we were going to spend spend 29.9 million dollars. That's the 4 million that we're talking about reducing that with the leverage adjustments cuz we did find 4 million dollars there. So, now we're looking at a 26.8 million dollars spend instead of the 29 if we had done nothing. So, we have work to bring that down as far as um the projected cost. Where What point does stop loss come into play? Hm. Stop loss kicks

018in um individual stop loss. We have an aggregate stop loss also, but individual stop loss kicks in when an individual crosses a threshold, right? So, it's it's insurance on our insurance. >> Yeah. Um all of the figures that you have here are already deducted for stop loss because when I get a credit for stop loss, I I deduct it from the claims that are being reported. So, throughout the year as the claims are coming in, we're also getting stop loss uh reimbursements that are coming in. So, all of those are already folded into these numbers. It's not like an additional uh money that we're going to see at the end of the year. They're actually being deducted as those stop loss payments are coming in. Okay. Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. Okay. Next slide shows

019our bond propositions update, and this is just an overview of each proposition, where we're at with the spend, uh how much uh is in progress, what's remaining. The bottom line is our interest. That's the 14.1. Of course, those numbers are not grouped into the top. That's just a standalone line right there showing how much each proposition has earned in the pools. So right now, I know proposition B, we're in the design phase for a lot of those projects rates are on the fine arts piece. And then on proposition C, I know there's a lot of stuff that we just need to close out, right? We're pending closing out on prop C cuz athletics, all of those projects are pretty much all done. And then prop A, of course, those are a lot of the more

020heftier ones that we're looking at roofing, HVAC. So those take a little more time on the design phase. I know that's a big piece of the the timeline right there. It's the design phase for those. Um I know Mr. Armendariz is here if we have any questions on that. >> [laughter] >> A question that I had brought up during when we had our review. It's been what, two or three years since the bond passed? About two? Two years? Two or three? I believe two. So when I saw this number, I thought, "Wow, you know, we haven't really moved much on the proposition A." And then we talked about how the process is what takes longer. So I mean Mr. Garza, I don't know if you could explain because whoever's watching it, they're watching later on

021and they're saying, "Hey, what you're barely at 9 million spent and we have 140 million." Is what's taking it so long to to go? So good evening Mrs. Stites, members of the board, Dr. Rivas. So what we have here, if you see in progress, that's actually what we have under contract. So all of that and so we we don't we spent 9 million close to 10 million, that's been paid out. But we already have encumbered those additional 49 million. So it's a total about 60 million or so that we have out of the 140. And so the process calls for the design and a lot of these depending on the the size of the project can take anywhere from 8 to 10 months again depending on the size. On the short end we're looking at

022about 2 to 3 months at least. And so that is you know a lengthy process. And then we go through the bidding process and [clears throat] we have to add that to it. And then we go through you know the fact that we have to bring it to the board for approvals and and meet the proper requirements. And so sometimes we have that already available but we have to wait until the next available board meeting. So that adds to to the whole timeline. Okay. >> the construction. Do you think comparing methods like competitive sealed design build is one of them more of more efficient with a the money than the other? For example, if we do design build instead of the competitive sealed proposals. Is there a a way where instead of micromanaging every little

023thing we just have somebody do everything turnkey? Like does that help the the process go faster? Well, based on experience the difference between design build and competitive sealed proposal essentially just that the competitiveness of it. And only because under design build essentially the way described [clears throat] the project is being designed as it's being constructed. Mhm. And so we have per se a cost that we get from the contractor that is not to exceed type of of cost that we get. Saying we're going to design this and build it for you and we're not going to charge you there's not going to be any change orders or anything like that. So so ahead of the game there's got to be some built-in cushion for them to make sure that they cover everything. And so the

024difference between with CSP which is competitive sealed proposals is that we're seeing that ahead of time. You know the numbers and comparing one number to to another number. In terms of the actual time schedule, it it does speed up the process on the back end of the construction for the for the for the civil proposal [laughter] method of construction. And Mr. >> sorry. The the design build. The design build. Yes. >> Okay. Mr. Then now that you said that, Mr. De Los Santos has brought up how, you know, this is our budget and then it's kind of been public, oh, this is how much we have to spend. So, you're saying that with design build, it's not ahead of time, it's just as we go, so there's not really a We might know the budget,

025but they might not. Is that how it works? Well, no. So, under design build, they're going to give us a proposal and again, like I said, it's a not to exceed type of number that we get the cost. Because they're not going to charge us anything extra after that. Um but again, they're they're building as they're designing. That's what the that is. >> So, question on medical. Um Quail Valley Middle School and Central and I believe which one's the other school that was built in the last few years. Were those design build or were they were sealed bid proposals? No, they were sealed sealed bid proposals. Right? Yes. Okay. Next one I had a question about Ibarra. That's when it was built. Ibarra? That's the elementary. Well, so I had a question because I've been

026researching that, right? In the beginning when we started this process years ago, we decided to use the old method. Well, there was a discussion between the board, right? One party was saying, let's go design build the design build route because they've seen multiple districts utilize that process and and they were successful, quick, and fast and they saved also money because of the way that that process works. Versus the older method, which I agreed at the time with. I said, well, let's try the older method and then let's and then later on if it doesn't work, we'll go with the design build route. Right. The older method, you had the architect engineers, then you had the contractor, and then you had all these different components, right? But we saw where it kind of fell into and

027there was issues, a he said, he said, she said type thing, well, it's their fault, it's not ours, etc. and all these things. And a lot of districts locally under ESSER utilize the design-build method. And as I started researching it more, and in that process, not only do they do the design, but they already have They go out there and get the actual bids as well and contracts, right? Because they already have a network of people that they use. They put it out there. And it was my under my The way I understood it is that we still have an option to look at prices, right? And options. And then at the end of the day, they also then monitor the construction and and then the finished product, right? Cuz they have their architects, their

028engineers. Everything's in-house, right? And then subcontract out and get all the prices for you. Finish the project, monitor the and they they're the ones that monitor it and then turn it in. So, in other words, there's only instead of having three different people point the finger and blame each other in this process, there's only one company that you that you hold responsible. And so And so that's not the way that it works in with there cuz they're going to design it they're not cuz I guess the way it sounds to the public was well, they're going to design it and then build and tell us the prices we go. They'll give you a fixed price before we even start. They'll come to the board and present. Correct. >> Yeah, that's part of the And then

029we have options to deny. Yes, so that's part of the procurement requirement. We go through a process of RFQs and you short list the board short list whoever they want them or they you all want to to come back and do a part of be part of the RFP. And the RFP is where they disclose their cost methodology. Mhm. And that's what gets ranked. How they're going to How they're going to bill for this and profit margins and whatnot they're they're included in the project. >> And the only reason I'm saying that is because Look, and it's like I said with the bond. I understand that everyone has their their their opinion and their view on it. But the reality is it's 5 to 8% right? That's the That's the average increase in in commercial

030costs for for for construction. You know, Ms. Estayta, she she understands as well, right? Cuz she works in that field, too. You're looking at 5 to 8% increases every single year just in commercial construction in that rate if not even higher, right? With With the market right now, Yeah, it's exactly So, yeah, you might be gaining some interest on it, but at the end of the day, it's not in comparison to the bond payments you're making, right? Cuz you do a bi-annual bond payment, right? That's as shown to us before on the for the loan that we have. And also versus the increase in cost and construction cuz of the time period we're waiting. So, I mean, I kind of agree with Mr. Tyner here that we should kind of look at that as a

031as a board as a different option to go for to move forward because I was hoping things were going to get better as time went on, but as we've seen for everybody in our market, right? Um just just everybody, no matter what field you're working in, trucking, etc., everything sales, you're seeing a you know, our economy is not where it needs to be. And prices are still going up even though construction is down. So, I think we need to look at better options cuz right now you have projects that the design has been sitting behind 2 to 3 years. You know, which is kind of unacceptable. At no point [clears throat] has the administration, yourself, or anyone else come forward and said, "Hey, we need to take action because you do have designs." Or Dr.

032Revetta has, he's brought it up multiple times. That that he and he's been getting after uh certain uh engineers and architects saying, "Hey, you're taking way too long. You're saying 8 10 months right now, but you have projects currently sitting there that that have been sitting over there well almost 2 years behind on design. And that's unacceptable, completely unacceptable cuz you do that for any customer, they would have If I had done that for a customer, they would have fired me a long time ago. And and um that's kind of something I just want to put out there for the board to to to look at And that's the thing you say like you say, you know, it's finger pointing, "Well, it's them. That's No, it's them." And we we've run into that [clears throat]

033problem. And it's costing us money, it's costing the district money. I mean, you go design build, you're not Let's say I'm going to build a house, I'm not going to call the electrician. You know they're done. Now I'm going to call the plumber. You know they're done. Now I'm going to call the stucco guy. We don't do that, right? I mean, that's what I'm saying, we we're doing that right now, but with design build, it's kind of like here's the project manager, here's the >> [clears throat] >> house, take care of it. So, if something happens, I'm going to go back to you, project manager, and ask you instead of going to every single guy on the list. So, that would kind of make sense to me, but that's something I guess we can look

034into to see if it's more efficient for the district. >> And again, as I mentioned, so on the back end, uh in terms of construction and the timeline to complete it, design build, it's more efficient in terms of completion. And so, without having done a cost assessment as to whether that's going to end up offsetting, you know, the cost of the delays when if we go to the competitive sealed proposal method, you know, we don't have that information that they I think I very recall West Chicago East High School and Gonzales, Rudy Silva, and the CTE were built design built. >> Yes, sir. Cuz I was here during that time. Yes, well, there you go. We're going to look at all of this, and again, our goal was hopefully by by August of next year

035have most of these projects done. But, we met with Bill Sabatino and Ron McVeigh on some of those projects, and we're going to meet with them and bring it back to the board if that's a better option. Again, good points uh from all of you. Mr. Estrada, Mr. Losantos, good points that what y'all made. Thanks. To to add to that, and to those questions, that's the portion on the reduced risk, the single point accountability eliminates finger pointing between designer and the builder, which you were echoing. I know that's one of the key points we're looking at right now through the design build. And and I with your experience, you know, as as a director of this, I'm sure it's a little better for you, hopefully, that you know, you're overseeing everything right now, and later

036if we do go design build, you have somebody to go to, and one guy instead of 25, 30 guys. That's a big enough >> So, with the management, it might also be helpful. >> And there's multiple companies that do that. I think Johnson Controls does it as well. I forgot the the other one. There's one that's called something like that. Yeah, and there's another I forgot the name of the other one, but yeah, there's a there's a bunch of companies that do that. So, yeah, I would be interested in that process as well. For whatever reason, I've been dealing with a lot of HVAC issues all over the valley as through the regular CSP kind of procurement process. Yeah. Okay. All right. And this next slide um it's an overview of 26-27. So, this is

037I want to stress right here. This is extremely preliminary. My budget team has been uh working on these numbers, but templates change. The template changed on us uh last week on the state aid. It actually dropped a million or so. Um so, these these are extremely preliminary numbers. On the on the expense side, the salaries, of course, that's the big chunk that we're really looking at there with the attrition piece. Um and then the other campuses and departments, that 13 million there is where we're really studying to make sure like to see where where can we cut? Is there a percentage across the board or were they essentials? So, that's the one we're really looking at. So, this that's where the the we need to find that balance on this revenues and expenses. But again,

038stressing that is extremely preliminary. Showing this deficit of 15 million, it could be less, it could be more, you never know. Um right now, this is very preliminary with the July 1 districts as well. This is where all of our um our uh projections come into play because we won't have certified values uh property values until July. Um I want to also stress that the uh 15 million-dollar deficit here does include that 3.1 increase for that self-funded health insurance. And I know Mr. Romualda and the team, we've all been back and forth on this. How this is not just a Weslaco ISD thing. This is a state-wide thing. Like everybody across the the the state of Texas is going through this. Um we are luckily not one of those that's closing schools. Um I know

039I I a lot of our neighboring districts are neighboring districts here in the valley. Um, and I know she's here to attest to that because she sees that being coming from Region One. She sees how it is a statewide problem that that we're all facing. Um, and not just a Weslaco ISD thing. Again, this is preliminary um uh, revenue's based on 14,000 ADA. Could be higher, could be lower based on where we're at with enrollment. So, that's you know, we'll have more accurate closer to the finish line numbers come next meeting uh, because we we uh, want to have that for you guys by the next budget workshop so that we can give you guys a couple weeks before we actually approve the budget in June um, so that you can actually see what we're

040looking at. So, on a on a total budget, I'm assuming that uh, salaries is about 82%? Around there. Total? Mhm. >> [clears throat] >> Yes. And I know we we've talked with Mr. Maldonado and the normal percentage ranges 75 to 85 is is normal salary range. For a for a um, budgets. Mr. Trevino, I'd just like to emphasize for anybody who's watching also, you said it in a couple of slides back that uh, we had 52 million in reserve just emergency >> Mhm. >> we're and that's about 96 days. Correct. And but the but we are only required or the minimum days we should have is 75. Right? Is that Is that what it is? >> 60. It's actually 60, not 75. >> So, but we have enough in Weslaco ISD. [snorts] Correct. We're not

041I've heard oh, it's you guys are broke, you're in the negatives. No, we're not broke. There's there's still money there. It's our little the savings account, the little piggy bank just in case, right? But we are even on top more than the minimum where we [clears throat] should be. >> I did a review of other districts in the valley and some are at 30 days. Some are There's There was a one that was 30, one that was 40, 60. So, everybody's across the board. Some are Some are healthier, you know, above the 90, uh but there are districts across the valley that are in worse shape than us. Yeah. So, we're we're still healthy. I have a question, right? And and and I think this has been Trustee De Los Santos's point the whole time.

042So, right here, our preliminary revenue's 176, but our preliminary expense is 192. Correct. >> And I know you have a plan to cover it for this upcoming year. But, what are we going to do for the following year? This year, yeah. >> [clears throat] >> 2027-2028, well, I guess when you get to 25, well, I guess what he's trying to say is we're going to go into 26-27, you're rolling everybody over, right? And then when May, you're going to come up with 27-28, you're not going to have one-time revenue. You're not going to have a $14 million bond injection because you I guess the reality is here is I mean, I know it's it's I guess just cuz everybody's hurting, I don't want to be hurting. Cuz we weren't hurting. You know, that's kind of

043the thing here. That's That's the end story here. We We were never hurt We were never hurting, you know? And in 23, 24, 25, and 26, we gave raises that we shouldn't have. The superintendent uh was told this information, brought it to the board, and and we approved raises and stipends where we were massively uh over-leveraged on salary deficit. That's a fact. Um it kind of reminds me I didn't want to bring this up, but it kind of reminds me of an old story, you know? The guy bought in $50,000, got on a blackjack table, and he he got there like at 8:00 at night. I used to work at the casino. All right? And then by I think 12:00-1:00 in the morning, he was down to about 9,000. And then at 3:00, I heard

044cheering and rallying, and he ended up cashing out at 29. The guy walked out the happiest guy in the world, and I asked my general manager, Lou, I said, "Why is that guy" I just started started working there. I said, "Why is that guy so happy?" He's like, "Well, for him, it's all about the thrill." He got came in at 50, came went down to 9, ended up cashing out at 29, and he has that money that he could sustain that, right? Luckily for him, right? He owned a owned a candy machine factory in Seattle. But we are in a casino, okay? And at the end of the day, um my with my fellow trustees, I'm glad we're in the position we're in. I don't want us to be at zero. Um but at the

045end of the day, we were a lot better and a lot healthier. We were We were We were financially on track to be uh possibly we had we not been told to give raises and stipends when we would have already been balanced without anybody. Uh we would have been close to it, right? Projections and analysis were correct. And so we still have a a rolling over, like uh Trustee Castillo just brought up, you're rolling over. Your deficit would have been even larger this year had you not froze everything, right? You froze resources, um you know, departments and spending and whatnot. You know, superintendent, they made the right call. Tough Tough probably is Tough Tough as he could probably do, right? Now that he got the right information, but he made the right call. And so

046I just want to stress that. I and I want to be stressing that with my community as well, too, cuz we were rolling into the next year, you're not going to have another injection from interest from bond interest. >> I also want to state that we're not rolling over all the salaries that were currently budgeted for. >> Right. We have a long list of of staff members that are not being replaced. We're analyzing those numbers [snorts] uh real closely with the budget team to see how much of that is actually carrying over and how much of that is not. >> Right. Yeah, that's that's really important. I mean, for all our trustees and for the future as well. >> won't be rolling over and over and over. So that's another The 7 million was canceled

047Well, not canceled projects, you just rolled them into reclassified them into bond, right? That's what That's what that 7 million >> Correct. The 7 million H-track, yes. Okay. What is the second uh line item EST on behalf estimated on behalf >> So that is on behalf, but that's a wash. So TRS, it's revenue it's booked as a revenue and it's booked as an expense. So that's just the only reason we have to include it. So, that's why you see it on the revenue side and you see it on the expense side. The 9.8 million. So, that's the >> oh, you have on behalf in there? Yes. >> So, if you take off on behalf, it changes, doesn't it? It goes down to 182. >> Yeah, it goes down to 180 something. But, it's a wash.

048It's a It's a wash on its own. Yeah, we still have to include it. No, no, no, no. We we included Because you never see it. >> Yeah. It makes sense what you're saying, but we Yeah, we still have to include it. I'm good. Okay. Okay. So, what does that mean then for the deficit number? Because the deficit is 176 minus minus 192, right? Or 192 minus 176. It's a wash. >> subtract the number on both sides if we needed to cuz it's an in and an out. Let me try to explain it as a wash cuz you have it on both sides. Like it's coming in, going out. So, does So, our preliminary deficit, does that go down by 10 million? It No, it doesn't change. It's a wash. You see it's on the

049revenue side as a as a >> Oh, I see. I see. on the on the expense side as a minus. I'm not a numbers guy. Yes. Yeah, I think like Mrs. Spiter brought up in the last meeting, too. And And it's it's We're hoping that positions stay closed, right? And And I guess that's kind of the the concern here, too. Like we would need to be I guess administration superintendent and staff need to be real creative in in keeping [clears throat] that pay those payroll costs down and not replacing those positions that left. I know she brought up last time some of these people are certified, bilingual, sped, etc. So, >> [clears throat] >> And where Where's our insurance spend on here? Cuz you have estimated insurance at 2.4. That insurance is property. Those are

050other insurance. That is not health. So, the health is a separate fund. Health is a as a 700 series fund. So, it's not part of these numbers. These numbers are strictly 100s. Well, what are what what we're subsidizing, is it in here? Uh it is not in here. No. It's on the previous for 25 26, but it is not in here in 26-27. What we're increasing is in salaries. Right. That is included in salaries, the 3.1 million. That is included in the 158 million. Okay, that that was my question. >> Right, because it's a salary uh Yeah. And it's kind of like, you know, and I and I think we're talking about these numbers just for the trustees. You're you're you're bringing in bond the bond interest and you're you're moving you're reclassifying the $7

051million and we're putting it back because we had taken it out originally was already reserved, right? So, we're putting it back. But, you're putting money back How do I put this? It's really hard to explain, right? Cuz people get confused. >> yours, either, cuz that's 25-26 and right here this is 26-27. Oh, yeah, right, yeah. Not talking about Not even talking about 26-27. I'm just talking about 25-26. Your slide Yeah, we go back to that slide. You're you're going and putting back in 21 million, right? If you can see here, you're putting in seven plus 14 million of bond interest, that's 21, but it's a one-time expense that you're going to see this year for the trustees. Correct. >> understand that. You're not going to see that again next year. >> this is one-time. >>

052only reason you're able to do that and put 14 million back in the fund balance is cuz we originally took it out to spend on projects that we shouldn't have or under the guise that we had a surplus, like you said earlier. But, my thing is that you and then you had a freeze. So, my question as a trustee, taxpayer, parent whose child comes here is it how how do we know I'm just confused as how we had a funding freeze here at the end of the year. I'm sure everybody got calls and you had people talk about how their money's got locked up and whatnot. How do we know that we're going to be able to operate effectively next year at at a capacity where we're still going to be successful, our campuses and

053departments? Cuz I know that you're going to you're going to cut across, right, their budgets. >> Correct. >> They're going to have lower numbers next year. How can the How can the school board be ensured and our community that we're going to still be able to operate that capacity? And two, how long can we sustain doing that, holding back of those expenses and making sure that it's across the board all across all departments, okay? And I know everybody says, "Hey, campuses are being cut, depart you know, maintenance, nutrition, etc." Like everybody's going to pitch in, right? And pull together as a team for this. Athletics as well. And all those things, right? Those those critical departments. And my second question is those 21 million, so they're going back, but they're also then coming back out,

054right? To to level off the deficit. That's what I'm trying to tell the trustees. You're getting it, it's coming back, but then it's going back out. >> Worst case 17 million. It may not be the 17 Yeah. Worst case 17 million. It may not be the 17, it may be less. Yeah, hopefully it's smaller. And that 15 million in that other slide that we're looking at, that's just a projected deficit for next year. >> Correct. Extremely preliminary. Very preliminary. Um On top of the 21? On top of the No, the 21 is for is for this fiscal year. So the the infusion of the funds that we're bringing in is going to wipe that out. >> Right. Yeah. >> And we will carry over additional fund balance days into 26-27. Right. And so after this

055year's deficit is is where we start all over. With a 15 million with a 15 million dollar deficit. Correct. We start all over. This is where we have to get creative and I think I can speak for the entire team with as much as we've been discussing this and trying to come up with ideas, we will not affect our students in any way. Like we're going to make sure that the decisions that we make are in the best interest of the students. Yeah, well, I think that's what the board's been stressing this whole time. Our cuts And class and classroom first. Of course. 1,000 And everything else is just going to have to maybe take a bigger hit. I mean, that's me as a my opinion as a trustee. And and I wanted to say

056it out loud. Just looking at this without being a numbers person, the biggest number on there is the first is the first line. Of course. So that's And again, that's also preliminary. That could actually go down once we really hit that list of staff members not returning and positions that we're not going to be filling. Not all of this the positions are accounted for there as they continue to come in. So, we're working closely with the budget team on that to make sure that we get the right amount. And again, that's why it's also very preliminary. >> what would be the I'm just going to throw this out here right? I know the public might understand it, but what would be an incentive for early retire for retirees? Like maybe You know what I mean?

057Because at the end of the day, if you spend if you spend three or five but to to save 90 or 100. You see what I'm saying? I don't know if there's a if there's an analysis or whether that would even make an impact or not or help you. Um But you're talking about next year. This year next year. Well, yeah, we're May already. Yeah, it's kind of late in >> have to talk about you know next year by December. Because next year is going to be the biggest hurdle. That's where we're really going to know okay, now where we're at. I'm looking at your but the the bubbling yellow and it says based on 14,000 ADA estimate. I remember sitting here last year and mentioning as I as you mentioned before that ADA seems

058a little high compared to what we've actually had. And they said, "No, no, no, it's okay. We're okay." How are we right now with registrations for this coming school year compared to the 14,000 that we estimated? I think Dan mentioned it last month. Yeah, how about how are we now? Cuz So, I can say this much. After the fifth marking period or through the fifth marking period, the current ADA is 14,350. Mhm. For next year, people? Right now. Right now. This is current. Current. But what if our registrations that come in? What are we looking at? We missed it by 150. But registration figures are at what what percent? Remember you mentioned it. Yeah, registration number I think as of last week we were Friday afternoon Friday morning So, we're roughly 80% pre-registration. 77.9 77.9

059Can you remind me again how much did we lose with that ADA that didn't we we didn't hit? The 150 last year? Uh this >> No, the 150. Okay, so we originally budgeted >> How much is that 14 five? How much? We originally budgeted at 14 five. With the April amendment, we brought that down to 14 280. Okay. So, we actually brought it down below where we're tracking right now. We're tracking at 14 35, but this 17 million dollar deficit budget is at 14 280. So, it's actually lower. We went really conservative so that we're not you know, the higher number. So, we went from 14 five to 14 280 with the April budget amendment. >> Okay. But my But my question is not my my question is from the the ADA that we didn't

060hit, like what is the total? How much >> 150 Oh. But 150 times about 2 million. >> 1 million 1 million is basic allotment only is 61, yeah, 61. But that doesn't matter. >> Mhm. Okay, that's what I wanted to know. Okay. [clears throat] But but basically that doesn't matter to the 14 five because you you're deficit is based off the the new >> 14 280 Yeah, correct. Right. So, we So, it's not that we didn't miss the ADA at 14 five, we just changed it completely. >> 14 five no longer exists. That's out the window. Yeah. Yeah, but we had already budgeted for that. Yes, correct. Yes. And and so, that's why we're Mhm. kind of happy seeing the numbers at 14 350 because currently our budget is 14 280. So, that would be

061additional revenue that would come in later once the settle up happens. Right. So, so the 14 280 >> school. So, we're going to >> budget off of 14,000? I thought we said we're going to do 13,000 >> That was one of the options. Remember, I gave you three options last workshop. I gave you 14,000. [clears throat] I gave you It was 13 nine. 13 nine and then I think 13 eight. I think so. My thing is always this, and this is just a question. So, you're if let's say you were to lower it down to 13,800 or 13,900, but your opera you I mean, you give contracts. I mean, your your operations are still what they are. You know? So, so your deficit would just be larger if you have if you look Is that

062my correct to say that financially that if If we kept those expenses the same, yes, but we're still working on the budget. >> No, no, I mean if you change the ADA You would generate lower revenue. >> Lower revenue if if to the state. Yeah. Right. So, that really has no benefit to say the the only way you can do that is if you were to do a reduction in your costs. Like to to say, "Hey, we're going to lower our ADA or budget to 13,900." What that means is that you would have to lay off staff. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. And since we didn't lay off staff I would like to just really be uh transparent and project reality what we think we can hit. Like I understand at 14,000 Dr. Rivera might

063be seeing a surplus, right? Cuz if you hit to 14,280 next year, you're going to have 280 students additional funds to come in. >> That's correct. >> But but even then, like I said, our our our budget is what it is. That's what I'm trying to say, I guess. I I just want us to be careful cuz they're changing the way they do the clawback. Now it's month to month. Correct. So, that's going to allow us to really analyze the numbers in real time and make any budget adjustments [clears throat] as we need to. Mhm. So, next year will be a little different. You may see um changes in Could you elaborate a little bit on the clawback? We can't give ourselves a loan anymore. Right. Right. No, we're going to be hit real time,

064I believe, right from [clears throat] Mhm. Yeah. Oh, on the clawback. No, like a little bit more definition for that on the clawback that he he [clears throat] that he that he mentioned right now. That month to month Um [snorts] that situation. They're settling When are they settling up? It's just yeah. 88 A good good afternoon evening. Mr. President, members of the board. Uh Dr. Rivera, members in the audience. Um all she's he was referring to is that now TEA requires that districts and charters across the state submit um attendance data in a more every at the end of every reporting period. And so, by doing that, your cash flow and cash that the state sends you on a monthly basis, is going to fluctuate significantly. Mhm. Mr. Castillo mentioned is that if TEA was

065paying you on 14,000 ADA for the whole year, Mhm. now and if your ADA is now 13,800, they're going to be paying you on 13,800. So, you're not enjoying that benefit that can be invested and generate a little bit of funding. That's that is also catching up to some of the some of the issues they've seen statewide where you get the money advanced, districts go spend it. Now, you're truly in a deficit because now you cannot pay the the state back. Mhm. That's the new uh method of operations as far as ADA and any special allocations FTEs are being submitted to the state. Mhm. Thank you. Yes. Something that has really gotten me thinking right now that she was saying that when it comes to because the state doesn't fund school districts on [clears throat]

066enrollment, right? We might have >> Correct. 15,000 kids, but they have to come to school. They base funding on average daily attendance. >> Yes. So, we have an a strategy. We have an intervention for to bring the kids in for enrollment. We have George Lopez. We have registration everywhere, marketing, recruitment. Great. We have a strategy to enroll kids. What's the strategy that we have or what's the plan that we have or that you guys have to increase the ADA? What What What's going on there? Should I take it to the next slide? The principals work very hard with this. I mean, we The ADA that we have, I think it's almost 95. Mhm. And compared to other districts, we're way up there. Right. Right, but I I mean, I don't want to think about compare

067I want to think about us. That's like I tell my kids, "Don't worry about other kids you do. Worry about you." Uh yes, but it's high right now. 94 almost 95. >> higher. >> [clears throat] >> Compared to The principals work very, very hard on this. No, I know the principals do a a job in the schools. I worked in a school. I'm calling parents, bring your kids in, but there's always if we really want a plan, there's always a a strategy to what are we going to do, how are we going to hit this? We have a strategy for bringing them, but we don't have a strategy for keeping them. Well, we do. 95% is pretty high. I think you [clears throat] can We can't we We can't go high I mean, it's difficult.

068It could be done, but very difficult to go over 95. We can see what the elementary schools and middle schools that have high attendance. What is the What strategies are they using? Right. >> To make sure like for example, Clover Hill, they always has high attendance. Okay. What is it that they're doing to encourage those students to come to school? Right. Same thing at the high school. Same thing at High school is more difficult. Middle schools, you can handle it. What are they doing to encourage those students? >> my point. Not to upset anybody or offend anybody. It's to think together as a team because the the attendance that I've seen in the reports, that's a lot lower than elementary is high school. And and that's what I want to see what's the plan. I

069know we're doing great. It's not to get anybody upset or mad, but what can we do? We're always looking to see what we can do better to to to improve on that. So, that that's all that was my question. That actually that discussion we did kind of pick up with Romalda where we were talking about well, what are ways that other districts are increasing revenues? Other districts aren't in the same place we are with our ADA. We're we're up there pretty high with our ADA at 94%. So, that's one thing we told her we're kind of 94, 95 and she says, "You guys are pretty good." But, we can always do better. As a teacher, they would tell me, "All right, Ms. Regilano." my principal. I went from second grade to first grade cuz my

070kids weren't reading. Like, "Hey, we're all we're all expected to do it." And it has to be consistent across the board for everybody in this district, not just for some. So, if I expect my teachers and everybody else to work hard let's And I know you guys have, but I don't want to just say, "Oh, well, that's that's good already." You know, like we like we got to keep trying. Mhm. >> Well, what I've seen as an end user, which I think is real is my kids go to school here, right? You have pajama day, you have all this all this cool stuff that makes it, you know, talent shows. My like my little girl, for example, she's very excited about the talent show next week. So, she wants to go to school. >> It's

071easier to get the elementary kid over the year. >> don't know what you do for high school, but yeah. >> And let me tell you, my kids are in high school, and there's I mean, I don't say there's no There is motivation, but it can be better. The motivation that that we And that's why we're doing LSG, and we're meeting with the kids, and what can we do better for you? And what are you needing in your school to come so that those are all the things that we can think about when we have more meetings. What can we do to motivate them more? Maybe it's the parents also. And the parents, because I'm guilty, too, sometimes. Well, you can pull you can pull all those data that data. Why don't you Why don't you

072do an analysis like for those campuses? Like for the or not you per se, cuz you're the budget, but you all do an analysis on what are the heaviest days like like they're saying special events is it Monday-Friday? That's typically Is it Monday-Friday is when you see kids are absent? That's usually when you And so, how do we how do you do that for for attendance purposes? Cuz I'm speaking from experience. We just hold special events, especially Friday. All right, those are the days where you'll see kids that are you know, we have a different culture now where parents let kids stay home, but Mondays or Fridays. >> started implementing like Friday activities this Fun Friday morning called Fun Fridays. They meet all together at the gym right to [clears throat] start off the day,

073kick off the day. So, but again, it's our Monday-Fridays. Is yeah. Yeah. I think the other thing that needs to be noted very briefly is with Mr. DeAnda, we've worked very hard to target the correct students for our Flex Op, Mhm. which is right as our Sassy, Right. and we've done a much better job targeting the correct students, and we've earned and that's what's helping us maintain getting like to that 14,350. It's been a concerted effort between himself and all of especially at the middle and high school levels with the attendance clerk. So that has benefited us again targeting the right students. Now that you say that Mr. Buttimer, the ADSY, is that like additional school days for school year? Is that does that generate funding? So you're taking us to another route but when

074we get to the academic calendar come a week from today Oh yeah. we are adding we're going to what's called ADSY, additional days school year. Okay. So what we're doing is it does a couple things. Number one, the state asked us to look at additional days school year to mitigate learning loss. That's the number one reason. However, the carrot that they put with it is funding. Once you can go above 175 instructional days, you can claim everything from there ADSY, meaning there's another weighted daily average that they put to. So we've built this instructional this academic calendar coming up with an ADSY day built so we can claim ADA for every kinder through eighth grade student for one day. Do do we have that already? We will have it coming forward. >> school year. Next

075school year. Perfect. Yeah, I was I was at an agenda review at another district and that superintendent was recommending that to me that at their district they make a bunch of money. In addition to that then anything summer school again again I'm going to take you summer school 2027 all will generate ADSY. Right. It basically pays for itself versus you having to a lot for the program. Yeah, you got to have the funding in summer. Yeah, I know we're doing that and we're going to Yes. Thank you trustees. I I couldn't remember the acronym. Yeah. [clears throat] So we're saying ADSY. We do want to add that Dr. Echeverri's comments to the principals and those that worked under him as a principal, it always motivated us. And I know they get motivated by it. They're

076very competitive. We're all competitive by nature. So, we do appreciate the comments that Dr. Rivera takes every week to dissect each one, and I know it sets a tone with our campuses as well. So, that's very important. I know other superintendents have asked [snorts] me for his for his deal on the weekly attendance. They're ranked. They're ranked every week. Just being at the at the school just I mean at the school, sir. Even my kids say, "Mom, I know that man. He's always here." So, it's good to be seen. I know you do a great job of that. You go by and you walk with the kids and they they they get to see you. So, that's really good. >> You have you shooting the basketball. >> [laughter] >> I do want to say also

077that attendance there there are many kids in our school district and everywhere really where coming to school is not is not the biggest challenge because they have many home problems Right. in home with violence, with hunger, with different things. So, this we try to address. But not all kids are the same. There many with family problems. Mhm. Yeah. And as what Dr. Rodriguez said, "Well, let's help the parents." And you know that that's where we get involved with our parent center. And the parent the people who are in charge of working with parents in our school district. It's all just interconnected. So, I'm sure you guys can find a way. All right. Okay. Continue. And the last slide is a plan? Yes. >> This this is This is a plan for us to reduce the

078deficit. Go ahead, Ms. Diddy. I'm sorry. Uh yes, right here, sir. This is the plan so far. Again, we know last meeting you asked for dollar amounts, timelines. That is something we're still studying and we're still working on. So, all of these reduction of expenses and increasing of the revenues is something we're still studying in uh great detail so that we can have something more um pretty much done deal for you guys for next uh workshop. That way you can really have those numbers laid out for you before 2 weeks before you approve the budget. So, um again, looking at the attrition lists, reduction of the campus department budgets, and we're looking yes at at across the board not not taking into account any specific ones. Um reducing travel travel expenses. We've met with uh

079department uh directors and and discuss certain options. Reducing overtime and definitely programs staying within their allotted uh budgets. We, you know, have our state allotments and then we end up going over. So, we're definitely studying that a little bit more. For example, CTE, bilingual, all of those programs I know that we discussed in our uh agenda review last week. And then on the increasing of revenues, um like Mr. Stedman said, you know, recruitment and enrollment, ADA. How are we going to incentivize the campuses that are struggling? So, that's something we're we're looking at um working on with the with the team and reaching out to the campuses that are doing well. Um virtual schools, the land sale, the ones that were approved at the last board meeting. Um we do have a grant writer on

080board who is submitting applications for us left and right so we can try and uh generate revenues through additional grants. Um I know he's working closely also with the Katie Reyes and and the rest of the team there as well on the grants. Um any interest and we understand that rates are dropping, but we just have it in there as a line, you know, just um on on revenues. And then property value audits audits, we can't really put a dollar to that cuz we won't know until that actually does um you know, come in, but we do have the the um the that also in in the works as well. And then liquidated damages, that's part of the whole um construction uh issues that we have going on right now. I have to I have

081to add CTE stuff in there, too, as additional revenue. >> We need to add the CTE. Mhm. I do want to add that we do study the overtime carefully, but it will not be at the expense of students. Okay? So, we make sure that we don't cut any of that. They still continue with everything, but we We look at it closely. I just I I have two comments. One uh uh last month I was at a board meeting where they were presenting uh dropping enrollment uh region wide, right? And uh the two school districts that did the best in that was that district I was at and Weslaco ISD. So, for a long time you guys have been doing a real good job of keeping keeping our kids in school and all that kind of

082good stuff. Uh so, I want to Thank you. Good job, sir. Thank you. Uh and good job to the board, too. Uh Uh the other comment I have is looking a little bit forward I know the governor has his five-point plan on property tax relief. And a lot of those points affect us. And so, I think we really got to start looking ahead. I don't know if they're all going to pass, but I think some are going to pass. Uh I think that could have a negative effect. I'm not sure if the state's going to hold us harmless on all that stuff. They really haven't expounded on their plan. But, like one of them is reducing M&O property tax. Mhm. $25 [clears throat] worth of our budget. Mhm. Uh the other one is capping the

083property values at 3%, I think. And so, that could hurt us pretty bad as well. So, I just you know, I think we got to be conservative as as conservative as we can without hurting kids, right? And then >> [clears throat] >> And I And I understand it's a multi-year thing, but you know, as aggressive as we can, when we can, I think we need to be aggressive. Uh cuz I think that after the next legislative session who knows? Good points to make there. Yeah, I wrote that down. For us, the biggest key on this page is reduction is A. Because this this this includes administrators. It includes Paris who retire. No one's going to lose their job, but the key here is to make sure that when the school starts in in August, we

084have the right-size staffing for all the kids. But, cuz they're going to come first. But, we are going to reduce on A at all levels, including administrators. Who have resigned or retired. Okay. Okay. >> And then just the last slide I have is just a timeline. We I think Oh, I don't know how that date changed. The workshop should be 6/8. And by then you'll have actual figures, right? >> Yes. The work >> Yeah, it changed several things. The letter Yeah, I don't know what happened there. But the workshop is 6/8 and then of course we're looking at budget adoption on June 22nd. And by 6/8 we will have the numbers. We'll have the numbers on on the >> number four? Correct. Workshop number four. >> the the agenda is going to change at the

085meeting next week. We're going from what day to what date? We are looking to go from June the 15th to June the 22nd and that is an agenda item for next month. >> the budget then. Right. Give us one more week. >> Cuz I know there was a a question that came up well, that was enough time if we went from workshop June 8th to approving the budget on a week later if that was enough time to analyze things. So there will be an agenda item. So there's a two-week gap basically between the workshop and approving the budget. Okay. Okay. Anything else? >> Cuz we have to approve it before July 1st. >> Yes. Correct? That's correct. Yes. Mhm. Any Is that it? Any final questions or comments? Uh Mrs. Speiker? I think so. We

086have support. Dr. Haimi? No, sir. Mr. Ben Castillo? No, I just I sent you some questions, the ones that I didn't ask today. We asked you to just [clears throat] review it. >> Yes. And again, if any board members have questions, they can always CC me and myself and let Dr. Vera know he'll follow up. Mr. Los Santos? Um no, I think I already made some I mean I just have I mean one or two statements. I already made my statements as we did earlier, okay? But one of the things also I want to look at is when we're looking at at solutions, uh attrition and whatnot. Knowing like like Trustee Castillo said, looking at next year, then looking from next year looking at 26 27. We need to really start looking at other than

087attrition and analysis and analysis by your department because attrition you're only going to lose maybe 2 million in SAP this year, but you have a large bubble a salary bubble. Um you had a hiring freeze that you said eliminated millions of dollars. I mean freed up millions of dollars to cover some of those salaries and then you you're still having and disclosing possibly 17 14 to you know what Last year was 14. So you may be able to bring it down somewhere around that range, but one thing with like like Dr. Ybarra just mentioned as far as staffing, uh I am very very as a trustee, I don't know how the other trustees feel and they can chime in if they need to, but the last thing that I want to touch is campuses and

088departments that service those campuses like nutrition, maintenance, okay, and transportation because those are highly operational required positions, especially everyone that's on campuses working directly with students and and and kids. Um I would assume and I've only I know this by looking at other presentations that were given to me of other districts going through uh structural reductions and whatnot that you would look at other positions that don't directly impact students that are out there. >> Correct. >> And that and that's kind of where I stand and and I and I hope everyone else does too. I agree. >> Yeah, and I agree with you. I actually have one more question. I know it's supposed to be my first question. I'm sorry I forgot. The on the first slide you had region one numbers and we had

089our numbers and there's a variance of about 3.8 million. This is your answer. What >> What's your question? What's your question? Whoa, why? >> So so the difference is because C is actually our projected year-end based on actuals. A is our budget. And B? >> A and B is a budget. Oh, what happened? >> B. Yeah, A and Yeah, A and B is the budget. And C is a projected deficit based on actuals. So B is just Region 1's analysis of all the numbers once we did that amendment in April. So just to over you know just to give another overview of everything that the team did. >> Region 1 okay with our C? Mhm. Yes, actually they it was their recommendation to get those projected actuals in there. But we we voted on C

090didn't we? We voted on the amendments. Oh you voted on A. Right. A A but then we also voted all the the the transfer the funding transfers back. But That's A. That's A. That's A. C is literally actuals. Yeah. Yeah the actuals. And Region 1 verified >> Yes with the freeze. With the freeze. That's why it's smaller. If they didn't do a freeze it'd be 17. If we spend every single dollar that's budgeted we're looking at A. Right. One thing I commend you on Doc you took action immediately on that. That's that's a hard decision to make. Thank you. And we are all getting calls on it. Oh which one? On the freeze. Freezing spend. Yes. There's a lot there's a lot of folks in your position that should have done that and haven't done

091that and you did it so. Right. Thank you. So yeah. Any other final questions? >> [snorts] >> Any final comments Dr. Vida? No. You good? Good. All right. Let's continue on to number four. GT Board of Trustees training. Is that with >> Yes. Yes. What's tonight? It will be with Oh yes. Is that a required training? Yes. Yes. Is it required GT training? Probably so. You doing the training? Yes sir I am. Okay so I have a question before you start. What incentives did you use for Weslaco High School for ADA? It's the teachers the teachers need to have the students we have students that will show up to your class every day, and then maybe they'll know there's some flexibility. It's the teachers' expectations, the principal getting on the intercom saying like, "Hey, we

092were at 94, the other school was at 95. We need to get higher." Mr. Maldonado, thank you for being here. Thank you for coming. >> Yes. Yes, ma'am. Thank you for coming. >> Thank you. But yeah, it is it is harder at the secondary, but yes, it's it's a whole team effort. >> classroom and if the kids like you and want to go see you, they're going to go. The big team effort, yes. >> But you know, and that's where parents and students need to understand the reporting period because that's how you get your ADA reporting period. If you're there in the morning and you have a doctor's appointment or whatever you have, as long as you come in by I believe is it cuz we're now on block schedule 10:00? Yes, sir. Right. And

093I think also what gets monitored gets done. And Dr. Rivera, I remember as principals we would get that report and we wanted a good not not good, that was not good. So, you know, just that type of monitoring also it encourages us to keep up at it. >> Yes. And as an academic officer, you guys are can help even more with that, you know, cuz you have your experience. >> Share strategies, yes, ma'am. That's awesome. All right. Thank you. You you may continue now. Okay. All right. Well, good evening, Dr. Rivera, Mr. Nieto, and board members. So, tonight was presentation is going to help us meet the requirement for the GT training for school board members. I'm good to be here. So, this is a video. It talks about who our presenters are, but if

094you don't mind, I'm just going to tell you who they are. It's Mrs. Davis and Dr. Kelly, and they are former assistant superintendents. They've been on board. They've actually worked with GT programs and they're also parents, but we're not going to watch the video. Well, I told you a little bit about them and you're going to see them in the videos in a minute. And we have three main goals for today. Our goals are to make sure that we establish the importance of serving our GT students, that we review the legal responsibilities for our GT services, and that we also learn a little bit about how to evaluate the programs that we have and make sure that we are compliant and that they are effective. So, why should you, as a board member, dedicate attention

095to GT students and services? Well, number one, it's the law. It's required, right? So, uh Texas Administrative Code 29.122 requires it. And then, number two, sometimes we think, well, it's the GT students, they're okay. But, the truth is that they're not exempt from pressures such as dropout issues, high-stakes testing concerns, uh dropouts, and college and career readiness focus. So, they're just as important as those students that we sometimes think that they're going to be okay just because we label them as GT students. We're going to go ahead and watch this video. It's a 2 and 1/2 minute video, and it's going to talk a little bit about what is the expectation for school boards members as it relates to the GT programs. One thing that I will tell you, Region One provided this video for

096us, and I did notice that they talk about five areas, when in reality, there's six areas that make up the GT program. And then, the indicators, uh the way they're rated, they will refer to them as compliance and exemplary, and I think that's something from the past. They they haven't updated their videos, but in reality, they're accountability and uh exemplary. But, we're going to go watch this video. We began by looking at the five areas within the Texas plan, Texas state plan, and uh examining each of the indicators starting from the perspective of are we in compliance? And I have to admit that in that first year, we found that we weren't in compliance with every indicator. So, that's where we started was in the first year we said that's what we have to address

097are the compliance indicators that that we need to move forward with. And every year after that, the board continued to have a superintendent's priority performance goal that addressed the idea of moving towards an exemplary program. And we used the plan to set priorities each year to move us towards those exemplary indicators. The school board should pay attention to the Texas State Plan for two primary reasons in my opinion. The first is that they're responsible for compliance, and many school board members don't know that, but it's important that they work with their administrators to learn where they stand with the state plan. The second thing that we focused on as a board is that every school district in Texas, including ours, has something in their mission or vision statement about making sure every child reaches his

098or her full potential. And the Texas State Plan is a way for districts to understand the best way for gifted kids to reach their full potential. Does it mean that we have to do something special necessarily for that population or that we're paying more attention to them? It's really an opportunity to make sure those kids also reach their full potential. What we found in our 10-year strategic planning process was that gifted kids were not being challenged. They were not reaching their best potential. Not not in elementary school and not when they got to high school. So, we had a vertical alignment team where we looked at K through 12, and we looked at each grade level to see are we making sure we're doing everything possible for our kids to reach their fullest potential. And

099what we found was that at the elementary level, they were not um being challenged. They did not have the rigor. Um and then what that became as a high school kid is that they were afraid to take AP classes. They were afraid to fail. They were perfectionist. They weren't reaching their fullest potential at the high school level. So, we backed everything up and formed a gifted and talented advisory committee that would look into this as a result of our 10-year strategic planning process. And that GTAG pulled together an analysis of the state plan and is an ongoing committee reviewing on an annual basis our progress towards becoming exemplary. Next, we're going to talk a little bit about some challenges that are related to our gifted and talented students. So, gifted student dropout rates are as

100high as the general student population. Gifted students know 35 to 50% of the material presented to them. Boredom ranks as the number one reason gifted students drop out of school. A lack of challenging curriculum and poor pedagogy are the first and second factors contributing to boredom. Next, we're going to talk a little bit about some myths that are related to gifted education. Gifted students don't need help. They'll do fine on their own. Teachers challenge all the students, so gifted students will be fine in the regular classroom. All children are gifted. Our district has a gifted and talented program. We have AP courses. Gifted education requires an abundance of resources. These are all myths that those of us that are in the field and those of us that are parents, we know that these are all

101myths and they they're debunked and we study these closely. You did notice that our presenter spoke about the Texas plan. And so, this is the Texas plan and then we have our own local plan here in Weslaco. And the Texas state plan has all this information. It has the basis for the GT standards and accountability. It has the districts are accountable for the standards that are described in the accountability column, but then we also have many districts, and we're one of them, that meet the exemplary column. The board of trustee, your responsibility is to ensure that the district complies. So, there's six indicators, right? So, again, as a board, you're not responsible to manage these six areas, but you you do need to have some general idea and some knowledge of them because how do

102you monitor if you don't know what they are. So, we're going to go through them. The first one is fidelity of services. So, this includes policies and procedures, making sure that they're reviewed and that recommendations are made, and I am proud to tell you that we do have a gifted and talented district committee. It's made up of a couple of parents, a couple of teachers, we have some central office staff members, some business members, and our GT strategist. The district develops a comprehensive manual. >> [snorts] >> We develop a written plan of action for any standard that's out of compliance. We don't have one right now, so we're we're good with that, and that we use our funds effectively. The second section addresses the student identification process. There has to be written policies on how

103we're going to identify our students. There also has to be rules about what we do with students that come from one district to another, students that decide to go on furlough, and then we also need to make sure that when the students are identified, that we do provide the services, and that the assessment process uses multiple sources. It's not just a one test and that's it. We also take parent nominations, we take teachers nominations, so there's multiple sources. And then the final decisions is made by a committee where at of at least three who have been trained in nature and the needs of GT, and that would be our GT strategist and myself. We also the third section is the service design. So, the service design includes that students are assured an array of learning

104opportunities during the school day and throughout the year. That's why we have our pull-out programs at the middle schools and the elementary programs elementary schools. Local board policies are developed that are consistent with the State Board of Education rules for credit by exam or early graduation and we do offer that. That information on a credit by exam schedule can be found on our website. And then assessments and services are in compliance with the Texas State Plan. The fourth section is probably the most important one, right? The curriculum and instruction. Like what are we doing with our students? So, we need to ensure that it is a challenging learning experiences for students, that there's opportunities for them to develop advanced level products. And if you all went to open house, you would have noticed that our

105GT strategies showcased our students' work and their projects during open house at the middle school and at the elementary level. And the students have opportunity to accelerate. And the last one is improvement of GT services included in the campus improvement plan. So, right now our principals are working on their needs assessment for next year campus improvement plan and they'll include something related to our gifted and talented program. The fifth section addresses the professional learning. I'm proud to tell you that Weslaco ISD teachers, administrators, and counselors have earned over 2,300 professional development hours because this is what is required and we adhere to it. There's a minimum of 30-hour training for any teacher that's new to our district that's going to be providing instruction to our GT students. The second bullet talks about what training must

106be included cuz there's specific ones. And then teachers every year they get an annual update of 6 hours and even the administrators and counselors, they also have to get a minimum of 6 hours every year. So, once again, very proud of the work that our teachers and administrators and counselors have done. And the last section is the family community involvement. So, this involves written policies uh that are approved by the board. There's also an array of learning opportunities provided for our GT students. Uh products, performances, and achievements of our students are shared with the community. And the effectiveness of the GT service evaluate is evaluated annually. And we do that uh through surveys. We'll be distributing a survey to our parents to get their feedback. This is uh our presenters again. Uh we're going to

107have Ms. Kimberly Davis, and she's going to talk a little bit about the role of the school board member in the process of evaluating the district's gifted program. And this is a 1-minute video. The role of the school board member in this process is not to get into the day-to-day details of how it's going to happen. The role of the school board member is to make sure that it is happening, that there's analysis going on in the state plan. Of course, that's now required with House Bill 5. But, if you're looking at a self-analysis of the state plan, knowing that it's going on, being given updates, um having it on the regular agenda is very helpful, at least on an annual basis. In our In our district, what we chose to do is have an

108opportunity if board members want to sit in on the strategic um processes, we try to have that perspective represented as well. But again, that the role of the board is going to be an overarching uh guidance, making sure that it's happening, making sure that it's in compliance with the district's overall goals, but not to get into the details of how to actually make it happen. That will be left up to staff and and our teachers to make that happen. And we'll be doing that uh the last week of school uh during professional development days and work days. I'll meet with the GT strategist and we'll be evaluating that program. And then the importance of giving you all updates and and training. So this is again our presenters and this is a two-minute video. It's important

109for the board to get the regular update because it's a good reminder of exactly what the state plan is. It reminds them of what the different criteria are within the state plan and it reminds them that they are responsible for ensuring compliance. So it gives them the information they need to feel comfortable that our district is moving forward with the state plan and improving along the lines of our strategic planning process that we have committed to as a district. On our board calendar we now have an annual update from the GTAC and that comes from our advanced academics coordinator as well as from our assessment coordinator. They will work in partnership with that. Annually they will provide information on testing for not only AP scores and SAT ACT map scores any any other type of

110assessment in addition to whatever the GTAC is focusing on at the time. So our board now has an annual update for all of our GTAC objectives and those objectives will be set annually and then they will be presenting to the board on an annual basis exactly what their progress is. And of course the goal is to be exemplary with the state plan. So every one of the GTAC objectives is always moving towards becoming exemplary. You know interestingly when we first started this process responding to the school district goal and also trying to improve our GT program and moving it toward exemplary One of our school board members happened to be a retired teacher who spent the majority of her career working with gifted and talented students. And so we did recruit her to become part

111of our district committee. And she did attend almost all of the meetings. She was a great resource to have on the committee. And also it would allow she she would then have um additional or a greater understanding of what the committee was doing. And you all get a weekly update. Uh board members, when you all get your updates, there's a section there that talks about advanced academics. And then we'll also provide a yearly update once we collect the data from the surveys and so forth. And then our last video, this talks about the tips for an effective program evaluation. In our district, we began this entire process through our own strategic planning process, where we believed that every student should be assessed and appropriately challenged and then measured for growth. So the state plan is

112a really great way to do this for gifted students. You have to start with a goal in mind. And for us, the goal is that every student is challenged appropriately and every student is measured for at least a year's growth within a year. So with that end in mind, it made it very easy to [snorts] back into the analysis of the state plan and say, "This is not an easy population to guarantee a year's growth within a year." But by following the exemplary points within the state plan, it can give you a guide post for how to do that within your district. Program evaluation can be a challenge for school districts. But when the school board says uh that or when they when they state a goal for the superintendent. Then that that program, not

113only will there be implementation, but there will be evaluation because the the school board will expect a report. And um so in in in our case, what we uh the format that we uh took to uh approach our program evaluation did revolve around the state plan. Uh as we each year would evaluate our program, we would go back through the five sections of the state plan and through all of the indicators listed in the state plan and basically track our performance in moving towards those exemplary indicators. And it was as simple as opening up the state plan and looking across at the indicators and checking off where are we in in kind of a self-assessment in that way. We also gathered information from parents, from students, and from teachers through surveys to help inform our

114evaluation. We also uh conducted some um evaluation using hard data such as test scores, um uh even even grades, even um program demographics. Uh we would look at um participation in uh extra correct extracurricular activities and clubs to to gauge whether we were meeting the needs of our GT students. Even things like attendance and referrals. All of those uh uh discipline referrals. All of those things would go into an overall comprehensive program evaluation. I think it's important for board members to understand the an expectation of timing about how all of this was going to happen. The process of the evaluation itself takes time because of all the information coming from various different sources. And then you need to prioritize depending on where you are exactly what needs to happen first. And there are some very

115logical steps sometimes built in with the in the plan that state this has to happen before that and it's a logical sequence of events. But in other cases, it's just a matter of working letting the staff work together and try to figure out what makes the most sense. Every district's going to be different and letting the staff really dig in to what their top priority goals are going to be on an annual basis. But then you do have to continually evaluate that because that'll change every year. But I think it's unrealistic for the board members to expect that everything can change overnight because it really can't. The important thing is that you get started somewhere and this is a great place to start. >> Yeah. Okay. All right, so hopefully we met our three objectives

116this evening and this is where we received our information and my name and email and address is there. At this time, if you all have any questions, I'll take them and once again, we'll provide you an update that last week we will be working on collecting data and looking at our survey results. I'll begin with Mrs. Stata. Any questions? Uh first of all, thank you very much. I really enjoyed seeing that and learning a little bit about this because I didn't really I hadn't really looked at this policy in our board policy. There is actually one policy EHB B special programs. Um my question is it says here on the legal policy, which is all Texas, the criteria it's the state board of education, right? Not West Lakeway ISD board of education who comes up

117with the criteria? Right. Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. And there and there's different parts to it and there's a test that tests the students on their cognitive skills, but then we also have another test that test students with a creativity skills because gifted doesn't just mean I'm good at math, you know? So yes, ma'am. >> having that the kids, you know, drawing all kinds of different different uh sources. Uh the the what I was also going to ask you about because now that you clarified that, I've never seen Is it somewhere where we can I'm I'm just curious as a parent, you know, or or as a board member, where can I see that? Uh cuz it says here on the local policy, it says data No, where is it? Identification The board approved program [clears

118throat] for GT um shall establish criteria to identify them. But I've never seen it. Where can I go and see what the criteria is? So, if you were a parent, you would get your child's results and it would tell you yes or no if they qualified. If you would like to see the criteria, it's a cognitive test. It's a We have a uh program that we purchased. I can give that to y'all in an updated uh I was just wondering Okay, so it's not like part of our exhibit on our board policy or anything. The criteria is it's the state thing? Right. It's a district decision right now. Yes. Okay. On the on the tool that we use. And then the tool has criteria. Yes. Okay. Got it. Thank you. Dr. Jaime? Yep. Thank you

119for the presentation. You know, it's a good reminder as to what our role is with this, you know, not to worry so much about the day-to-day operations there, but you know, we do see those updates, you know, on the on weekly basis. So, thank you. You're welcome. What percentage I have a couple of questions. What percentage of students are identified as GT? And normally they start in elementary, correct? >> Yes. So, we're at 5%. We're at 5.2, 5.6, which is about the average throughout the state of Texas cuz I remember the first time I saw it for the first time that we met with uh with our families, with our uh our district committee, and I looked at it and I said, "Oh my gosh, it's 5%. Like, are we okay?" But then I looked

120at throughout the state of Texas, and that's the average. >> Yes, sir. And question number two, any board members uh that are on the committee for the GT, which is I I would probably recommend Mr. Castillo since he has young kids, you know. It's not a requirement, but you all are welcome. I'm saying because, you know, if what if one of us My kids are in are in it in the program, but >> That way you can understand exactly what's happening. I saw Ms. Morales give me a look when it says not just you need to >> [laughter] >> match. We're We're required to meet two times a year. We already met two times this year. So, but I'll keep that in mind. Thank you. >> So, if any board member wants to be part

121of the committee, Mr. Benavidez, you know, let us know. I know you're very busy, but It'd be great. Yeah, right. And I know that ACT SAT scores are very indicative of how well students are doing in all areas because this test uh All of Texas uses the same Oh, no, actually the the whole nation uses this ACT scores SAT scores for college entrance. Correct. >> So, there's the same test across United States. So, that's indicative of how well they're doing, and most of those these students are probably GT students. They were identified early and continue to [snorts] take AP courses, and I think that's You mentioned something about AP courses. A lot of students don't want to take AP courses cuz it's difficult. And their their daily average is going to impact their overall average.

122You know what I'm saying? Because if they want to be ranked in the top 25, the valedictorian and salutatorian, that's something that they do. But they don't think about that particular score. Actually, the PSAT score their junior year. If they can score high, they can get their tuition all paid for. But ACT and SAT also, you know, UT and the big major universities, if you score in the 30s, you automatically get you can attend those schools. So, you know, it's very indicative uh cuz the rigor in the AP courses is very important, especially at the high school level. Now that you say that, sir, because you said it's a myth right that that high school Right. Because AP is open enrollment. Correct. why when we say, "Oh, we we're providing GT services for our students.

123We have AP classes." Well, AP is open enrollment. Anybody can take it. You don't have to take a test to get in there. >> Yes, so that's my question. For example, my two of my girls when they were in elementary, they're in the GT program, Quest, whatever. They got to high school, but they're not automatic just because you were in GT we or Quest when you're in elementary does that mean you can take those courses, right, in high school? >> Correct. Correct. >> to qualify for them through the testing or TSI Well, they're pre-AP courses. We have dual enrollment courses. We have our college board AP courses. And so, there are for for example, dual enrollment, we could say it's open enrollment, but realistically, STC has criteria for you to take that dual enrollment courses.

124But, there's opportunities for our students at the secondary level, too. >> And again, this where parents need to understand that AP courses, especially if you score a three, four, or five, you automatically going to get college credit, especially if you get five. That's, you know, the big universities universities will take that score and give you credit for whatever AP course you were taking. Say AP Calculus. So, you don't have to take that course at the college level because you received a five. Or English. I don't I don't remember all the courses, you know. And then we have OnRamps also. We also have the OnRamps program with the University of Texas cuz some students college board AP one test, and if you don't get that four or five, you're done. But, UT OnRamps provides opportunities for

125students that maybe want to go that route. >> Right. And you just mentioned STC. I just went to the graduations last week for, you know, high school for for several districts, and it was awesome to see so many kids from Weslaco getting their associate's degree. They got their associate's before their high school diploma cuz they haven't even graduated from high school yet. But, it was very, very nice to see that that that our kids are are getting their associate's in diff- all kinds um I saw a lot of representatives from all the districts, but I I didn't see anybody from Weslaco and I was a little sad. I was like, "Come on, where's Weslaco?" Dr. Valdez was there for Mission and other people. So, hopefully next year we can make sure that we have a

126representative. I know there was principals in the audience and you know, board members and other people were there in the audience, but it was their admin or deputy superintendents or superintendents who were up there. So, hopefully next year we can just be able to represent for Weslaco because Yes, ma'am. We had 66, I believe, from Weslaco High School and Weslaco East had 58 or 50 more students. So, yes, Weslaco was well represented. >> That's awesome. Good to know. So, good good job on that. Thank you. Any other final comments or questions? Uh what are the grade levels for GT? Is it all Is it or K through 12 or >> starts at kinder. By law, we have to pre-screen all our kindergarten students and we did that this year. And so, it starts at kindergarten

127and if they qualify, they'll start their services in March of the their kinder year. And then they're good for a whole year until they decide to exit or furlough. But they're you're you still have that GT designation till you're qualified? >> Yeah. You don't have to test every year. No, once you qualify, you're in. Right. So, so high schoolers are designated GT. Right. So, for example, this year we had maybe a handful of students from both high schools whose parents or teachers decided, "You know what? I want to nominate this student." So, the student maybe was never recognized earlier or came from another district and they just were nominated. They tested and they qualified. But once you earn it, you you you have it forever. >> And in kinder you just screen everybody. In in

128kindergarten, they pre-screen everybody. They don't test any everybody. They pre-screen everybody and if they pass that step, then they go to the post screening. Yes, sir. Cool. Mhm. Do they wear some kind of recognition on their gown when they're graduating to show like they were part of the program or or not? So, at the at fifth in elementary schools, they don't. They all do get a certificate of participation Okay. and they get done trophies they and eighth graders they take an end of the year field trip also. Okay, but not for graduation as a senior going to college. There's nothing there to show. There is. So, if you graduated with your associate's degree, you get that extra stole. Okay. And then if you are a a DLA graduate, you also get an extra medal. Oh,

129nice. Okay. That on-ramps too where they wear that? Yes, on-ramps has an extra cord also. Yes. All right. Thank you so much for the presentation. >> Ms. Morales. You're welcome. Thank you so much. I wasn't I was just saying thank you for being here. >> [laughter] >> No, yeah, thank you for the presentation. A lot of information and the great job that that department that program is doing. So, I know my kids have gone through that program as well too and they were what's it called second to none when it comes to I've learned a lot. I've learned a lot. You know, as a principal, you know this much about everything and it's been a great year where I've got to learn more about the GT programs here that we have in the district. So,

130thank you for the opportunity. Definitely. Doing an amazing job. Thank you. Even though it was a budget workshop, we didn't need a quorum. Dr. Jaime walked in at 6:01 just for the for the record. Any other final questions or comments, actually? No, I'm good. All right. Thank you. >> For being here. Adjournment. So moved. All right. It is 7:10 and we adjourn. All right.