001Welcome everybody. I'd like to call to order this regular meeting of August 14th, 2025 and note that we are holding this meeting in dual locations here at the Santa Barbara County Board of Education um office in Santa Barbara as well as our North County office on Farnell in Santa Maria. I want to note that live simultaneous Spanish interpretation of the board meeting is available for those who are viewing online and I would invite you to join me as we pledge allegiance to the flag to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands nation under God, indivisible, with all. >> It's nice to see our colleagues in Santa Maria and Anna will do the roll call. >> Okay. Uh Mrs. Alvarez Flores >> here. >> Thank you. Uh Dr.
002Armistad >> here. >> Mrs. Cardi >> here. Miss man here. Mrs. Frost. >> I think I didn't hear her here, but I see her. >> I know. I saw her move. >> Here. >> You're here. Okay. Um, Mrs. Reid >> here. >> Mr. Walker, >> here. >> Thank you, Anna. There are no changes to the agenda, so we'll start with some president and board comments. Uh for my part, I would like to acknowledge the tremendous loss to the community um with the death of Peter McDougall. As everyone knows, uh Peter was a just a a superhero in education in this area. He served 16 years on the county board of education, two terms as president, and it was truly an honor serving with him. He had a massive commitment to student success and to public
003education. He had a mean sense of humor and I used to tell him it's kind of like being with a Kennedy when he was around. Um, we miss him dearly. Any other comments from our South County? Uh, I would like to share uh about Cababrio High School uh being awarded the 2025 Superintendence Award for Excellence in Museum Education. It's outstanding for that school. I've I've visited this aquarium several times. It's incredible the work that the the teachers and the students do on this. Uh it says the award recognizes our student designed hand-on labs activities that local elementary students participate in during their visits to the aquarium. Uh they've received lots of help from Monterey Bay Aquarium um and other aquariums in the area. And I just think it's incredible. If you haven't been there, uh
004I would recommend a visit. >> Thank you, Sarah. Nadra, I just wanted to um add on to your comment just about uh Dr. Peter McDougall. Um I had the honor of um representing his trustee area after he uh uh he retired. Um and he was just such a foundational leader and left big shoes for all of us to fill. and I just think of um his profound leadership example that continues with his legacy. So, >> thank you. Are there any other comments? Yes, Judy. >> Um I Uh I don't know. Um interrupted my train of thought. Um I had the pleasure of serving with Dr. McDougall on different foundation boards for over 20 years and I cannot think of him without thinking of his manner of communicating with staff uh at board meetings and it
005was always I have three things to say and it was always three things to say first, second and third and I just um I I I'll never forget that and And I'm I'm so sorry that we've lost him and I'm so glad that I had the time to serve with him and that I did. >> Yes. And his legacy is deep. And here um at County Ed, we have him to thank in large part for the computers for families program. He he was instrumental in that campaign and so much more. Thanks everybody for your comments. Uh do we have any public comments? U Mary Beth I believe >> I see Vita's arm in the air. >> We we can't hear. Oh no. I was just going to share a little bit about um the beginning
006of the school year starting in San Maria Bonita. And with that um our superintendent gathered all employees at the fairgrounds on August 12th for lunch and I mean everybody. They closed the schools so that everybody could go for that hour of lunch there. And then they actually continued the professional development from 1 to three for all that we're going to continue with professional development and brought in a very inspirational speaker last name is Lel. um fabulous introduction to a very busy year. And with that uh we also have a group of um future educators, special education group of nine who will be phys uh finishing their residency in June and a group of u bilingual ed this is the third year for the bilingual ed credential. Uh and I believe we have 12. I might
007be wrong because I couldn't count everybody that uh was there. So, it's a busy time and we're back at it and and saying in Spanish, let's hope more to come. >> Thank you. >> That's great. Thank you so much. Um so, back to public comment. >> None here in South County. >> Any in North County? No, there is no public comment. >> Thank you very much. Okay. Now, we're going to move to a closed session to uh entertain an interd district attendance appeal. So, I'll invite uh those of you to exit. Welcome back to open session. With regard to the interdist transfer appeal, the board voted unanimously and sadly to uphold the decision of the district and deny the interd district transfer. Now we'll hear from Dr. Salceto on the superintendent's report. >> Thank you
008and good afternoon to everyone and um it's very very good to see all of you here in person and online. See you very clearly here. Um, so it's wonderful to see you after the July recess and I want to um just say what's in the air. Boy, that is these interd district transfer hearings are so challenging because you're considering the humanness behind it all. So I I know that that's a a very difficult um experience, complex and all and just appreciate how um how far you lean in to listen to the families as well as the district too. So thank you for that. I have quite a few updates that I'd like to share with you beyond the superintendent's report that's in your um your uh materials. First off, I I'd like to um say
009a thank you to the front line staff in um Quyama um related to the Gford fire. Frontline meaning first responders. Um frontline meaning the families and the schools. Um Superintendent Alfonso Gamino and I communicated today. We've been communicating our office with his team throughout the fire. He's done a phenomenal job of communicating to his families. Students returned yesterday. The road was opened yesterday and I will say that the office of emergency management, our team as well as Quuiamo worked very closely together um was very intentional to move mountains literally so that uh roads could open so that school could happen. So, a huge thanks to every individual who had their hands in in that and Quyama is open and I got a big thumbs up from Alonso Camino today. Yeah. I also want to introduce
010an individual of our a new individual to our team, not new to SB CEO, um our associate superintendent of human resources, Gina Brham, who's in Santa Maria today. I bet you she's gonna get up right here and approach the podium right there. There we go. Um to say hello. I thought Gina could just say hello and um you have a face to the name there in Santa Maria. We'll get a face to the name back here in in Santa Barbara when we next meet. Gina, if you want to just say a few things. >> Sure. Thank you. No, I'm excited to be here. Um back at >> We just got cut off from your um mic. Yep. Oh, maybe one more time. We just heard the Oh. Nope. Cannot hear. Yeah. Shoot. >> All right.
011Got rotating mics. >> There you go. This one. >> Perfect. >> Okay. All right. So, I was just saying it is wonderful to be back at SBCEO. It's great to be here with all of you. I had the pleasure of meeting three of the trustees here today in person and uh just look forward to meeting all of you um down there in Santa Barbara in person in the future. So, thank you just for the introduction. >> Thank you so much, Gina. We're so excited to have her on board. Gina comes most recently from Guadalupe Union School District was um assistant superintendent there um working with Dr. Emlio Handal and prior to serving there for seven years she was here uh as CEO so she's she's come back. Yeah. So excited for everyone to meet her
012in person. Um what another more on the uh information item um good news is that Alan Hancock College each year has a Hancock honors event. Um I know I'm looking over at Judy Frost here. She's a sponsor of that event and you know very much um uh you know involved with Alan Hancock College as many of many of you are. One of the um individuals who's being recognized is Dr. Henry Davis and some of you may recognize him as a graduate of the board and county offices operation recognition. He was a a veteran served in um the military and due to his service was unable to receive his high school diploma at that time. So several years ago, I want to say it's 2019, um he graduated, got his diploma through the county offic's operation
013recognition. Um his story is phenomenal. He is uh going to be recognized as one of the uh awardees at um Hancock Honors. we decided to go ahead and talk uh send a message to all of the graduates of Operation Recognition saying that one of their own was getting honored and um invited them up to Hancock Honors to join him. So, just a feel-good news story there. Um the date is September 6th. I think it's around a five or 6 PM event. Um and uh you know, I know that you'll send great uh spirits out into the universe as he gets that award. I'll be there. Um I know that Judy will be there. VA may be there. We'll see. Um, but we'll there'll be a a large event, a large group of people there. All
014right. Then moving on, I at your places I put an article, an op-ed that um was sent out widely throughout the county standing with our students and families in time of uncertainty. And I say that because clearly the uncertainty, the fear, the anxiety, the worry, it's um palpable in our communities throughout the county. Um not to uh over extend my time here as a super with this report. I do want to call out a couple of lines here because I I say that because it really is a statement um from from me and the county office around our support of our youth. And in the third paragraph, I I really mean it that most of us have zero control over federal policy. We do have control over what we stand for. And in Santa Barbara
015County, communities reflect importantly a wide range of deeply held beliefs and lived experiences. And we all have friends and neighbors and colleagues and family members on on all sides of the political aisle. And that's part of living in a in a democracy. And yet, when it comes to children, I believe we stand on common ground. Children deserve to feel safe and loved. They need compassion and care. They need family and they deserve to live and learn without fear. That really is um a statement that I I really hold on to strongly around supporting our youth and then of course their families and then of course our communities. on the back side or the second page, I emphasized um intentionally that California law guarantees all children the right to a free and public education. We do
016not ask for nor collect immigration information. We do not share data with immigration authorities unless presented with a valid court order. and immigration officers are not permitted on campus without a judicial warrant. These safeguards help keep schools what they're meant to be, which are places of learning, safety, and connection. Beyond that, what is written here, we we want to focus on the joy and the learning and the growth of our students in our schools. We wouldn't let even an auntie pick up a a student unless they're on the emergency form, you know. So, we we are wanting to have school be a place of learning and support and growth. And we are I am working with our superintendent private and public schools and charter schools as they also are wrestling with what what's happening here
017in our communities and all of us want to lawfully conduct school. Um, and so just please I I wanted to share that with you and and let you know where where I stand where schools have been very very supportive of not only this statement but creating their own statements and ensuring that on their websites um they have information for families, resources for families to know the laws um and know to also to to make a plan if they need to make a plan. So, our website at SBCE also has resources. We've shared those out with our schools and districts. Um, Santa Barbara Unified has a very strong statement. Galita has a very strong statement. Santa Maria Bonita has had a huge community event about their statement. So, I I wanted you to know that that
018activity is happening. All right. Changing um course now on um the federal funding. Um over the July I shared with the board about the impounded funds and now they are unfrozen. So the uh funds will go back now to school districts. Um in terms of Santa Barbara County, the amount of those impounded bound uh funds for the school districts including SBCO totaled $12.4 million. And now of course they they'll be uh unfrozen and sent back out to districts. I I want to I want to share with the board my my thinking around the federal impounds because at first glance it has to do with funding. Are you getting funding or you not getting funding? You know, are you getting funding? And I I want to put that in in one place uh spot. Another spot
019is the scramble that that's caused by no thinking you're going to get funding and then it gets stopped and then it gets started again. So there's the funding and then there's the scramble. And then the third category is the the the policies and what this means for students. Um, so the funding piece, we know that, you know, there I I I believe there's times where there's ample funding and it it it es and it flows. There's it increases and it decreases and and that we understand we we understand that we want funding for our students per pupil, but we we we have lived through uh lots of different changes with with funding flow. The second portion though is the scramble is one of the hardest pieces because in order whether you're a school district or
020a nonprofit organization or a company retail or any any kind of company, the way you plan is not month at a time. It's not a day at a time. And in fact, it's not even a year at a time. You really want to plan strategically over time. So if at if you're planning for funding over time and then it suddenly gets stopped, you are pivoting and you're trying to serve your students the best you can but it takes people and people costs money and so then it becomes this um whiplash of decision-m and so that is a part the scramble is the part that I think is really challenging challging. Um so that because if you want to be strategic, you need to know what are we working with here? What what what's guaranteed funding?
021And then the third area of signaling what does this mean? This isn't a comprehensive uh uh thought that I'm saying or not all comprehensive. It's not everything in one basket, but um when you see professional learning for for staff um cut uh supports for migrant education students, supports for um emerging multilingual learners, um when you when you see uh cuts for um LGBTQ plus youth, uh it becomes a statement around who are we supporting when we say we're supporting all students. So, I think um I'm I'm I'm pleased to know that the federal impounds are now no longer being impounded that they'll get out to the schools. It's that, but it's more than that. And so I just wanted to uh say that as a statement because as we as you as I provide you
022information about funding for schools. It's also about what are the policies? What are we saying about all students? What are we saying about strategic planning um and thoughtful plans for our schools throughout Santa Barbara County and our nation. So um wanted to say that the uh penultimate um topic that I wanted to share has to do with information technology services. Over the summer in the in July I sent the board um the ITS audit um that had come up in in a previous conversation and shared with you some of the restructuring that we're doing which is really really important. I'm going to start start actually with the goal. The goal in mind is to have a a robust ITS department here at SBCEO that's looking at supporting all of our organization mindful of cyber security
023knowing that we have the cloud we have programs we've got uh AI right here here it's not even coming it's it's here now and support for our school district so the goal is a is a I believe the right goal for our IT um services uh department and our organization. when um when Sharon Van Gundy and Sam Van Gundy uh retired after a very very long time of dedicated support at SBCEO, it it uh allowed for some restructuring to occur plus just getting the input from the audit uh all the surveys, all the interviews, the public comment, any comment, those all informed a need for a restructure. So in in ter and I and I'll say it's more than a restructure. It's really a philosophical change as well. So one of the philosophical changes that
024is a restructure is that um the uh uh I don't even know if I've completed my thought on Sharon and Sam Van Gundy which is to say a thank you for all of their support. That's what I wanted to say is a thank you for their years and years of service and dedication. Um and Sharon at at the time was the lead of the department was an administrator. that was the title of her of her role. And we thought, you know, um when we're seeking a a new lead for that department, it it's um not necessarily something familiar that everybody knows. What's an administrator of IT? Let's make sure that we call it what people know it to be a leader of that department, a chief technology officer. So, the chief technology officer position is
025now open. Um it's was the job description was created. It's open. We we spoke have been working very closely with the current IT staff. They too were saying, you know, with all this restructure, let's hire that CTO position first. It's open until this Sunday at midnight. Um and then we'll see if we need to extend it or if we go with what we've got, but that's that it's coming soon. Um and importantly, that individual will be part of the uh my cabinet team. So, um, still reporting to Steve Torres under school business administrative services, but reporting directly to us as a a real conduit for, um, information decision-m throughout the organization. So, that's one piece. Another piece is really just defining the different tiers in IT services of who's face-toface with um, customer clients and
026who's really looking at policy and um, security. So all kinds of tiers are are have been created that make good sense. Right now we're expanding from 15 individuals in the department to 17 individuals in the department um as a start. Um and we're we're really um we're really working together to improve what needed to be improved um to deliver on the goals and services that I I shared at the beginning. And um you know I'm I'm really thankful for our team, our IT department, for Steve and Mari and Gina and so many people who've been part of this to um to work with our consultant with the audit uh uh group who were excellent um but also work with our own team to help define how we're we know what the goal is. How are
027we going to get there? And so it's been a it's been a very very positive but difficult um you know comp complex reorg uh but but I I wanted to make sure that you heard about it. I'm happy to give a an update later as we move along but I know you've been hearing about this um IT services and so I wanted to give you an update there. And then uh last but not least not least I wanted to say that I'm excited um what's coming. you won't you'll get a flyer and I'll share this with you later, but um in September I want to get the date right. In September on the 30th um our team is hosting a um a an artificial intelligence AI workshop for the community. So parents and students and
028educators, we actually have a series going on through the year, but that particular event in the evening will happen across the county. It'll be multiple locations. right now. We right now it we believe it'll be Santa Barbara here at SBCEO um somewhere in Sanz Valley will host a an opportunity as well as Santa Maria Joint Union High School District. I want to thank Ellen Berger and her team for bringing um Ken Shelton who's an incredible speaker um around AI. It's obviously uh there's wonderful tools that we can use, but there's also a lot of caution that we need to ensure that we're thinking about and Ken will do a really great job of providing that September 30th um in the evening. More to come. Okay, those were all of the updates I wanted to provide
029and I wanted to see if you had any questions for me whether what from what I shared or was in your report um from North or or or here. So, let me take a minute. Hi, this is Judy. Hi Judy. Um I I just wanted to um note my appreciation for your response um with the IT audit and the IT response. I it really helps the board to know that we have public comment for a reason and if we hear things and we investigate them and we decide there's changes that could be made, it helps us know that you're being responsive to what's going on in the organization and um I really appreciate it. So, thank you for keeping us posted. >> Thank you. Yeah, I I mean I would also echo uh that last
030thing you said to me really was a question I was having in my head as you were talking about how this organization uh can be more proactive in terms of leading and instigating the discussion and conversation around education in general uh but certainly specifically AI. Uh so I just came back from a a financial conference um that train has left the station. I mean it it is it is here and you know even as you're talking about hiring a couple more people which is probably necessary certainly a lot of it is there are going to be a lot of people displaced and moved around and I think the more we can be proactive in terms of having understanding what does that mean in education u everything from curriculum to workforce so glad to hear that
031>> you >> I'll add to that that I I think it was a great idea um to include the chief technology officer in your cabinet. That's a that is a proactive move and it really is meeting the moment and it's it's the next frontier and there's a lot to learn and there's a lot of changes that will shake down as a result. So, thank you for that exciting news. Um, also thank you Susan for reminding us of the values of this office. Um, prioritizing not just academic success, but student safety and welfare. Um, I think it it behooves us to have a leader who is walking the walk. Um, who's cleareyed and can get us through the scramble as you said. um with I have total confidence in your ability to do that and I
032appreciated that article. >> Thank you so much. >> Just want to echo the same thing. Um there's a lot going on >> and that's the one thing we can really agree on. I really appreciated that statement as children and how they deserve access to education to feel safe, to feel loved, and that's our responsibility as adults. And um I'm not sure everybody's speaking up that should be speaking up. And so I'm really proud to be part of this organization and the willingness for this community to be standing up the way they have and having you our leader really demonstrate that. I I'm very appreciative. Thank you. >> Because everyone else has said what I've been feeling. So yeah, thank you for all of the information, reiterating our values, being the leader that you are. Um,
033it's it's it's it's very comforting to know that we have your leadership in this in this role at this time. >> Thank you so much. Thank you. >> And with that, we'll move on to the consent agenda. Um before you've got the minutes of our special meeting that was held on June 12th, the meeting the minute meeting the minutes of our regular meeting on June 12th and then the minutes of our meeting on June 18th. Um, in addition to the registration of credentials and certification documents and issuance of temporary county certificates, um, our acceptance of donations, declaration of surplus, issuance of high school graduation, uh, diploma, and I need a motion to approve all of the above. >> I so move. >> Got two motions. I'll take one as a second. We'll need to do
034roll call for every action because we're dual location. >> Okay. So, let's do uh a roll call vote then. Anna. >> Okay. Uh Mrs. Alvarez Flores. >> Here. >> Uh I >> Thank you, Dr. Armistad. >> I >> Mrs. Cardi. >> I miss >> I >> Mrs. Frost. >> Hi, >> Mrs. Reed. >> Hi, >> Mr. Walker. >> All right. Thank you. >> I would like to ask one question about uh item number 16 since we're up here in North County. Um Nadra, did you bring cards for our graduates? Uh or have we passed that torch on to someone else to make sure that happens? >> I did indeed. >> There. >> Well, can you can you sign I think our names. I'm sure all of us would like to sign. So, please put our
035names on it as well. >> And thank you. >> Of course. >> I thought of that. >> Great. Thank you. Um, now we'll have a presentation on the federal funding outlook in education. Um, we've going to prepare for a Zoom coming from DC. I'll take the time to do that. Again, mics off until we need them. I'd like to introduce Alicia Kilmovich from West Ed. I got a chance to hear from Alicia a few weeks ago who pre presented on um the federal funding outlook and although uh and she's in Washington DC and does this for a living for West and when I heard her I thought okay she's great um she will provide us with a an education here. So about 15 minutes on a federal outlook and Alicia, thanks so much for joining
036um by Zoom today. I'll hand it over to you. >> Absolutely. Uh thank you so much for the invitation and uh it's wonderful to meet everyone. Um as as Susan mentioned, my name is Alicia Kimmelich, director of policy and outreach with West. Um and essentially I'm Wested's uh government relations person. Um, and just as a quick uh preface for all of this, it I it will get a little wonky at times. So, if anyone has a question or needs anything clarified, please just inter interrupt me and and ask it. Um, because it'll be easier to understand everything, you know, in the full picture if everything's clarified um versus waiting to the end. Uh, let's see if I can advance my slides. Oh, yes. Great. So uh so let's start with Congress and what's been happening.
037Um so Congress's focus right now isn't really on policy. It's really focused on appropriations and budget reconciliation. So first thinking of uh fiscal year 2025 appropriations which is coming to an end uh September 30th. Um there wasn't an actual appropriations that Congress passed. they passed what they call a continuing resolution which essentially just maintained current funding levels and extended them through this fiscal year. One of the big changes though um or big differences for the contin this continuing resolution versus what we've seen in the past is uh historically when appropriations pass or continuing resolution pass there's the legislative text and then there's also what's in what they call the bill report which is like the explanatory statement. A lot more details are in the bill report than in the legislation itself. um this CR passed
038without the bill report which means there's flexibility that the administration has um that they can exercise with some funding and they already have a little bit uh so uh for charter schools for example for the charter schools program uh they added $60 million to for a total of 500 million to go towards that program. They haven't told the public where that 60 million came from so which other program they took it from but that's the kind of flexibility that they have with this funding right now and if there is another CR um that flexibility could continue just depending on the larger politics. Um and then also for this year there are potential recisions which I'll talk about more in just a minute. So, there's fiscal year 2025 appropriations, which we're in right now. As they're
039figuring out fiscal year 2025, Congress is also talking about next year, fiscal year 2026. And this is again where it can get a little wonky because the timeline isn't as it should be, as it as it has been, you know, 30 years ago when they were doing appropriations. Um, so fiscal year 2026 starts October 1st and runs through uh September 30th of next year. It starts with the president's budget request. Um, which is just a proposal and I'll talk a little bit more about what's in there and and what we need to look for and understand in just a bit. So, Congress considers that proposal and then enacts, you know, different funding levels. The House first usually first proposes their bill before the Senate. Um this year is a little different. The Senate introduced their
040education bill first which is unusual. Um but their education bill uh was developed more bipartisanly than what we're expecting from the House. So once each chamber passes their budget, they'll conference it. So figure out the differences and negotiate the levels and then it goes to the president for his signature. And that's going to probably be the wild card in all of this is if whatever Congress agrees to, if the president will also agree or the administration will also agree with it. And this will impact next fisc next excuse me academic year. So this funding that's being decided for fiscal year 2026 will be available to uh to schools, districts, and states July 1st, 2026. And then we have this third piece um which recently passed but I wanted to still include it because they're talking
041about doing a more budget reconciliations um as well as just talking about the impact of the budget reconciliation or as it's maybe known more colloally the one big beautiful bill. Um this uh this bill specifically impacts mandatory spending. So appropriations is for the discretionary side of the house. Discretionary spending is about 35ish maybe 40% depending on the year of the total federal budget and these are the programs that um Congress again has to appropriate every year. If they don't that's when we enter a government shutdown. Your mandatory spending programs which is closer to 60 65% of the budget those are the programs that are also known as entitlements. So, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, um, and SNAP or food stamps are the big ones. And these programs are mandatory because it doesn't matter if Congress doesn't
042act or or if we are in a government shutdown, the these checks are rolling out no matter what. So, if you recall some recent government shutdowns, um, people still receive like their social security check because again, that's not discretionary funding. that's mandatory and that funding is going regardless. Um, so in this big beautiful bill, it really focuses on mandatory funding again. Um, so not a lot of impact on K12 education specifically because most K12 education dollars comes from the discretionary pot of money. Um, but as we'll talk about in just a little bit, there will be some probably some impacts on K12 funding stemming from the budget reconciliation bill. The bill also extended uh the 2017 Trump tax cuts. It increased the debt limit. And the really important thing and why they want to do
043another one is because of some arcane rules in the Senate. Uh you only need a simple majority, so only 51 votes to pass a budget reconciliation. For appropriations and most policy bills, you need 60 votes. Right now the split is 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats or folks who and two independents who caucus with the Democrats. So 47 Democrats. Um so getting to 60 can be can be a challenge nowadays. Um so if you only have to get to 51, they can essentially lose two votes and still be able to pass this bill. So that's why they put a lot of emphasis and time into budget reconciliation. It's a It's a speedier process than having to go through the full uh filibuster and everything in the Senate. Okay, I don't know if I can advance my
044slides now. So, next, please. Thank you. So the big thing now uh for fiscal year 2025 approach um so a month ago when I gave this presentation to Susan the big thing was all the funding was frozen for for the titles. Um so if you recall title two uh which was profession teacher professional development title three English language acquisition all that funding that was supposed to be available July 1st uh the office of management and budget or OM had frozen it for programmatic review. I'm happy to say within this month's time, those funds have been unfrozen and should now have flowed through states into districts uh and schools. There is still some funding that ED has, excuse me, the Department of Education has or in DC is shorthand known as ED um that they still
045have act they still have that was appropriated through fiscal year 2025 that we're not entirely sure what they're going to do with. Um, and the reason we're not sure is that usually they submit an operating plan that tells Congress how they're going to use the dollars. Historically, no one's really cared about the operating plans because Congress has been pretty prescriptive in terms of telling the administration how they're going to use the dollars because they have the legislative text and that bill report. This year, again, without that bill report, the operating plans are really now important in terms of telling Congress how they're going to use all this money. Um, those operating plans have not been shared with the public. Um, and the site that tells how much money has been spent uh based on program
046and department is not operational anymore. Um, I believe there's a lawsuit going on around that and if if that is legal or not. So, we're not entirely sure how much funding is still with ED that hasn't been allocated. I think my best guess would be about a billion dollars. Um, but don't don't quote me on that because again, there's there's no real public information on that. So, some some of the funding has been given to states and and you know, luckily all of the formula grants were unfrozen. Um, we weren't I'm I'll be honest, I'm not sure entirely what the program review was or if there was one or if there was just enough pressure from Congress to release these funds, but those funds have been unfrozen luckily. Um, the news and where I'm getting
047this this billion dollar number from is really the competitive grants. Um, so these are grants that uh schools, districts, states apply for. Um, a couple of big ones are the education and and education innovation and research grants or the teacher quality partnership grants. Again, these aren't this is money that isn't formulaically just given to everybody, but there's an application process. There is no news on those competitive grants. Um, they've canceled most of those contracts. So, we're waiting anxiously to see if they're going to recompete things or if they're going to spend this money. And if they don't want to spend this money, that's where we go to recisions. Um, we don't know yet. This, and this is where I may get a little wonky, so again, please interrupt with any questions. So, there was a
048recision package that the administration sent to Congress um a couple weeks ago. That was the uh $9 billion that went to uh USID programs and public media. Um Congress passed that, so that money was rescended. So, basically, Congress had already allocated that money and then took it back um at the administration's request. What we keep hearing is that there's going to be another recision packet because again, they have all this money that they need to spend by the end of this fiscal year, which is a month and a half away. Um that they either it needs to get rescended or we get into a legal gray area. Um, we're hearing that education funding is going to be part of this potential recision package, but there is no official word in terms of how much or
049which programs. Um, it's all a lot of DC rumor mill. Um, and with the recisions, you know, a lot of money could come from the riffs that have happened at ED. So, there is less staff or fewer staffers now at ED, which is less money that they're spending overall. So there could be some, you know, some funding that has been obligated because they don't they're not paying salaries anymore as of August 1st. Um, and then there could be some other interesting proposals and ideas that they have uh which we'll talk about in just a sec when we come to the president's budget request. So there's the official recisions package that they could per they could propose to Congress. They have to do that if they want to go the official route. They have to do
050it by tomorrow uh by the 15th because Congress has 45 days to act on the to act on the recision package if the administration sends them one. If they don't send it by tomorrow, which is looking likely, we enter and this is where I these these are very DC terms, but there's a potential for what they're what we're calling a pocket recision or a silent recision. A pocket recision would be they don't allocate the money, they don't propose it to Congress or maybe they do propose it to Congress right after Labor Day and at that point it's too late already in the fiscal year to spend that money. So it's automatically rescended. They're just running out the clock. A silent recision, which is a a newer term that I just learned, um is especially for
051competitive grants, is basically they have all this money to spend for competitive grants and they just don't have a competition. So that money just goes unspent. So it's not officially rescended. It's not rescended by running out the clock. It's just silently goes back to Treasury. Um so a lot could happen in the next 45 days with education funding. um that we are anxiously waiting to see what the administration tries to, you know, tries to do and and what they're interested in. And the legal gray area is is impoundment, which is if they don't use the money Congress has allocated. Um I say it's a gray area even though the law is pretty clear. The administration has said their interpretation of the law differs from what differs from precedent. So there could be a legal fight
052uh coming in that way as well. Uh, next slide, please. Actually, no, I'll next slide, but also I'll pause just to see if there are any questions really quick. Okay, great. Um, so, so we talked about fiscal year 2025. Now, let's go back to the budget reconciliation or again, one big beautiful bill, OBBB, or just BBB. Um, it has a lot of different names. So, it passed along very thin margins in both the House and the Senate, which shows just how contentious this bill was. Um, in the Senate, the vice president had to cast the tiebreaking vote to make it 51 to 50. So, there are some big policy changes that could impact state education funding um, in the near future that I do want to make you all aware of just in case you
053aren't consuming the news in the same way that I do, which is probably best for your mental health if you don't, but just to let you know. Um, so there will be uh a new requirement for states to contribute to SNAP or food stamps. This is happening in 2028. It's based on the state's error rate. So if they're issuing overp payments or underpayments, states are going to have to do anything from 5 to 15% may have to contribute to SNAP. They also have to contribute more to SNAP's um administrative costs, which will be new, and that's all going to impact state budgets. There are expanded work requirements for SNAP which could uh result in people losing that their enti that um their entitlement or their eligibility. There also new work requirements for Medicaid which also
054could result in people losing eligibility for Medicaid which could have a potential impact on school-based health programs um as as well as special ed. So, anything that's charged to u the child health program or CHIP, um that could be impacted because that's a that's a subsect of Medicaid. Um and then the other thing for K12 specifically is a new school choice tax credit. So, this doesn't really apply to California cuz you don't have vouchers, but essentially for parents who are spending money on private education or vouchers, they can receive a tax credit um up to a certain amount. So big changes specifically in the entitlement programs that could have a trickle down effect um for K12 education and then a a pretty it could be a sizable effect on uh California's budget. >> Next. >>
055Yes. >> On on the state contributions for SNAP, you indicated it it picks in 2028. Did I hear that correct? What about the work requirements on Medicaid? Is that >> now? >> I It's not now. It is sooner than 2028. I think it could start in 2026. I I will double check that um just to be sure and follow up with Susan. Um so don't quote me on 2026, but there was a lot of debate in Congress between the House and the Senate in terms of the timing of all of this. Um because they don't want certain things happening before the midterm election, just to be very frank. Um, so I will I will double check the timing of the Medicaid piece and and get back to you if that's okay. >> Yeah, I I
056thought it was after going to be after the 2026 election, but it could still be December 2026, so the month kind of on that one matters, too. Thank you very much, Alicia. >> Of course. Yeah. Okay, so I know I'm running short on time, so I'll just >> I'm sorry. Yes, go ahead. >> Oh, I'm so sorry. I just wanted to ask about and you may have mentioned this the schoolbased health programs the potential cuts what programs would what what that might be. >> Yeah, that's a great question. So any kind of uh so if there's a program at a school where they're charging anything to Medicaid so that could be school nurses, that could be mental health. Um, sometimes that covers services for uh kids with disabilities depending if they need certain equipment or
057um or certain resources. Anything that's being charged to Medicaid could be impacted because of the new work requirements because if the adult is no longer eligible for Medicaid, then the child, unless they're covered under CHIP, isn't eligible either. Um, the other wrinkle in all of this, and maybe wrinkle is too light of a term, but is the impact for undocumented students and immigrants. Um, there was a lot of conversation during the development of the bill in terms of not allowing undocumented immigrants access to state Medicaid funds, which California does. That provision did not make it into the final bill, but there was a dear colleague letter which is just it's more guidance versus orders that went out from the administration that undocumented immigrants should not be receiving any program benefits or uh any program supports
058that are federally funded. So again, it's not it's not a mandate, but they are going to be more vigilant, I would say, in terms of how federal dollars are going and if any federal dollars are going to undocumented immigrants or undocumented students. >> Thank you for that. >> Yeah, of course. So, I I'm going to try to keep it going. I think I'm already running behind time, so I'll I'll try to speed up a little bit. Um so fiscal year 2026 the last year in all of this. So let's start with the president's budget request which you may have heard about. Um there was a lot of information around this when it came out in May. So the president again this is just a request. This is not definitely going to happen. It could have
059some elements could happen. I'll be honest. Some elements could if Congress decides but it won't be enacted just as is. It's too partisan for that. Um so for K12 about $12 billion overall would be potentially cut or that's what the president is asking to be cut from federal contributions to K12. Um title one would be maintained as or excuse me title one part A which is the state or the direct grants to LEAs um for lowincome students that would be maintained as is. uh special ed specifically IDA part B which is uh the grants to states would see a bump um by moving IDA part D programs which are more technical assistance to part B and giving that money directly to states um as well as grants for infants and families would be maintained um
060you can see they proposed increasing charter schools which they're already doing now given their flexibility um CTE or career tech educ education that funding would be maintained impact aid which is really for uh places that can't you can't collect local taxes for so military bases or um Native American res reservations that's supposed to help uh cover that gap maintained and then Indian education maintained the one thing you probably are like Alicia you skipped something which which is the K12 simplified funding program and this is this block grant that a lot of folks were talking about when uh this request first came out because essentially what it would do is everything that isn't listed or everything that's not listed in this lefth hand column would be consolidated into one block grant and divided up formulaically amongst
061states. That's a really big change from what we currently have which is several you know line items that really dictate how states and school districts spend their money and where the money goes. So it would be more flexibility for states potentially, but it would be an overall cut to K12 of about 4.54.6 billion. Um I did some calculating for California. These are very rough numbers. So again, the programs not included in the lefth hand column about $900 million is what California receives from those and those are those ones listed under uh consolidations suggested and the elimination. So the right hand column about $900 million assuming California maybe gets 10% of this potential block grant which would be 200 million that would that could be a loss of 700 million fally funded dollars for California. Again
062this isn't necessarily happening. We we still have to see how appropriations plays out, but this would be a significant change for federal dollars going to K12. Next slide, please. So, let's So, wrapping up with what's happened so far uh with fiscal year 2026. So, as I mentioned at the start, the Senate has released their bill. They released it at the end of July. We're not going to see the House bill until September. Um, which makes August an interesting time here in DC. Um, so in the Senate bill, basically they kept everything as is. Um, so they rejected most I mean almost all of the president's budget request. They increased Title One Part A a bit. They increased IDA part B a bit. There was a couple of um of uh competitive grants that they decreased.
063Um no program was eliminated or consolidated. They did not create this new block grant, that $2 billion block grant. They did not create it. And there's text in the bill that actually affirms the support that the Senate has for the Department of Education explicitly uh s explicitly rejecting any potential elimination of the department. So they can't just close it. They have to go through Congress. Um again, in theory, there's a lot of there there's a lot of gray still in all of this. And the bill requires staffing levels at the Department of Education that would allow it to carry out its responsibilities. It's debatable now if that if they currently have those staffing levels, but the Senate seems to think there's room for improvement. I'll put I'll put it that way. Um, and then the
064other piece that is really interesting is uh in the legislative text, it requires the timely distribution of formula funds. So really targeting that frozen uh that that freezing of the formula funds that happened earlier in June or excuse earlier in July, excuse me. Um that did not sit well with with many senators. So their bill would require that distribution to happen July 1st. So any program review would have to occur before then. This is just the Senate's opening volley. Um again, we have to see what the House comes up with. Um, if just to speculate a little bit, um, I think the House is probably going to look much closer to Trump's budget. Um, mainly because they're a bit more aligned with his policy agenda. And there's a world I could see in which the
065Trump administration leans a little bit on the House to uh as a rejection of the Senate in in in some ways as you know just to oppose what the Senate is doing since the Senate came out so hard against the president's budget. Um the other thing that's unclear at this point is the impact of recisions. A lot of Democrats in the Senate have said if they're just going to rescend the funding, we don't really have an incentive to negotiate appropriations because it doesn't really mean anything. So, if these recisions start to come or if pocket recisions or the silent recisions are looking more possible or probable, um that could really derail appropriations negotiations. I think that is my last slide. Um so, I will pause again for any questions. I apologize for going over. Uh
066I tried to keep it as short as possible, but then sometimes I just I like this stuff, so I talk a little bit too much. Um so I'll just I'll pause and see if there are any questions or any clarifications I can offer. >> Alicia, >> yeah. Um this is Judy Frost. Is there any possibility you would do like a monthly update of this in a newsletter to tell us what came of these items? Uh because this is the best representation of what's going on that I've seen. >> Thank you. >> Excellent. And it needs to be applauded. >> Well, thank you. Um, I will have to check with uh with my higherups. Um, just because that's not typically something West does. Um, I'm not saying so it's not a no, but it's a I
067I'll have to look into it and I can follow up with Susan um to see, but I that's that's a decision that may be made above me, but I appreciate it very much. >> Hi there. This is Sarah Reid. Uh, I also wanted to thank you with how you put this out there. It was very clear to understand. Uh, so I I really appreciate it and I would second what uh Miss Frost said, which was the update would be great. >> Absolutely. Thank you. I will I will definitely pass that along. Again, I'm not saying no. I'm just saying maybe for right now. >> Thank you so much, Alicia. That was really giving a lot more clarity in an area that just begs for further clarity. So, we'll wait. We'll stay tuned to see what
068the House has in store for September. But, is it my understanding that that would require a 51% vote to pass? >> Yes. Not a 51%. It would require a majority. >> 51 votes. 51 votes. >> 51 for the Senate. Uh, excuse me, for appropriations, it would be 60 votes in the in the Senate. For the House, they need a simple majority. >> So, the Senate is usually the pro it's usually the problem child because that's where they need to they need to have some Democrats vote for this or else we are facing a government shutdown starting October 1st. >> 61. >> So, it's going to be an interesting 45 days here in DC. >> Hold on to your hats. Yes, >> you again. >> Thank you all so much. Uh it was again it was
069a pleasure. I appreciate it. Um and I will I will be in touch through Susan um as soon as I can. >> Thank you. >> And as soon as something happens to report. >> Thank you so much. Have a good evening. >> Bye now. >> Wow. Okay. We are going to pause for uh a public hearing on textbook and instructional materials compliance. Open the public hearing. >> No, no, no public comment here in the south. >> North County. Any public comment? >> There is no p public comment in the north. >> I will then close the public hearing on textbook and instructional materials compliance. Um that brings us to a few action items. Um the first of which is a recommended adoption of a resolution regarding textbook and instructional materials compliance which the superintendent recommends
070adoption of. Do we need any further edification on this? Don't believe so? Oh yes we do. Okay. This is a a annual um uh hearing for all boards. So, school boards, so county boards of education as well as school district boards to ensure that there is sufficiency of materials for all pupils within their schools and um and for the county. Bless you. Um we purposefully hold this after school hours so that families or parents or community members could come about the sufficiency of our materials within our county education office programs. And so this resolution here before you, it's states that we do have sufficient textbooks within our schools and um it is uh it's before action. >> This is the JCCS schools and >> correct. >> So not >> not the school districts within the
071county. They they too are having this hearing. Um, and in fact, the um the time period upon which school districts must have this hearing is right at the beginning of the school year. I have there's there's actual uh dates and days and numbers and hours and things like that, but it has to happen for all local education agencies at the beginning of the school year to ensure there's sufficient materials and instruct uh curriculum in for each uh student. >> So, this is for resources textbooks uh as it relates to curriculum. Do we have a similar process for understanding and or do we have an approval process for curriculum? >> Yes. >> Separate from textbook. >> Yes. >> We do it when we do have an adoption which has been it's been a while now since
072we have I might ask Bridget to fill in if you if you'd like to make any comment but for the instructional materials this is the specific hearing that's required. >> Okay. And how did families or anybody know that this was the time for the hearing for the county? >> Yeah, very good question and I I I'll actually pass it over to Bridget on that one because as the resolution shares um it talks about gathering ensuring that families know. So let me let me pass it on to Bridget. >> Certainly. Can you hear me? Okay. There is a it is a public notice that is needs to be posted in order to notify families of the opportunity for the public hearing there. It's a process that happens, as Susan stated, annually and it has to happen
073within the first eight weeks of school. So, we we do that public notice piece um to inform them of the opportunity to come. And again, it's just for the sufficiency, meaning that we have at least one textbook per curriculum or adopted subject per student. >> Thank you. And that applies only to JCCS as you mentioned. Okay. Do I have a motion? >> I so move. >> A second. >> Second. >> I'll second. >> Okay. And this goes to a roll call vote. >> Okay. Mrs. Alvarez Flores. >> I. >> Dr. Armist. >> I. >> Mrs. Clardy. >> I. >> M. >> I. >> Mrs. Frost. >> Hi. >> Mrs. Reed. >> I. >> Mr. Walker. >> Hi. Thank you. Motion passes. >> Thank you. Our next item is the recommended approval of award of bids.
074Something a little different that allows districts to bill. And we're going to hear from Shannon York on the specifics. >> Hello. Can you hear me? No. Um, thank you for this opportunity. Good afternoon. Uh, my name is Shannon York, uh, director in student and community services. Um, and I'd like to provide just some additional context for the proposed health management software system as it relates to a new school-based billing system called the CYBHI fee schedule. So, back in 2022, uh, Governor Nuomo put together the master plan for kids mental health, uh, which included the children and youth behavioral health initiative or CYBHI. Uh, this was a $4.7 billion statewide initiative. Um and uh this was really a response to the growing need to support students mental health and wellness post pandemic at a place where
075students spend most of their time at schools. Uh there are actually 20 different programs or work streams under the CYBHI umbrella. Um and there exist in kind of four buckets or focus areas. uh workforce training and capacity, behavioral health ecosystem and infrastructure, coverage architecture and public awareness. Um and under coverage architecture exists the CYBHI fee schedule. So what is it? Basically the fee schedule is a new system that allows schools the opportunity to bill for behavioral health services that they are providing at or near their school sites. Um it is a multi-payer system meaning that schools um could build medical, they could build commercial insurance and disability insurance. It is school linked meaning the services are either provided at a school site or referred from the school site. Um and a fee schedule is a
076list of established payment rates for behavioral health services. Um the beneficiaries of this service would be students ages 0 through 25. So it is also inclusive of institutes of higher education. Um who can bill this would be COE's um districts and charters and as I said I um the cost to students and families there is none. So if a school builds a student's insurance there is no co-pay. Um it would just be a flat fee for service rate that the insurance company is required to reimburse at. Um and this fee schedule actually has an expanded provider type. So it includes licensed clinicians but also associates um who may be supervised by licensed individuals. It includes PPS credentialed individuals um such as school counselors or social workers, nurses, wellness coaches, which is a brand new position
077um and physicians and psychiatrists. And the types of services uh fall into various categories. We're looking at assessments, counseling, case management, psycho education, and crisis. So now, in order to join this new system, the state recognizes that schools may not have the infrastructure um in order to bill insurance care plans. This is a, you know, for some a brand new area to to enter into. So there's a different program under the CYBHI umbrella that provided some one-time funding for schools um to do that work and that is the school linked partnership and capacity grant. So this is a slide I shared back in March when um me and some other of colleagues provided a brief overview of some of the behavioral health supports that we were providing in our county. Um and this grant has
078four primary areas of focus. uh which are listed here, medical enrollment, service delivery, billing, and data collection and documentation. So, across our county, there's um 17 um districts and charters participating in this grant. And I want to highlight two of the focus areas listed here. And and really um that billing, billing infrastructure and data collection and documentation. Um these are integral components of a successful school-based billing system. um and districts and charters recognized that. So 15 of the 17 participating districts and charters decided to set aside some funds to find a health management system software to support in those areas specifically. So instead of the approach being a siloed process for each district or charter, this provides an opportunity to collaborate across the county. And so with that, um, I just want to highlight the
079the why, if you will, or some of the reasons why school districts are really looking at, um, adopting a billing vendor or an electronic health record. So, a health management system provides both of those two key pieces. Um, it provides secure data management, so ensuring that schools are really um, following um, protected health information laws. uh workflow integration. So of um this would streamline some of the workflows with billing data for efficient claims preparation. Schools are not necessarily um billing specialists, right? So the opportunity to bring along a system that um that can support with that is really important. Um maximize reimbursement rates so that way um we're not having a loss of work time and then hopefully to support with reducing errors. There's a lot of automation that happens in these systems. So, um,
080with that, um, that's kind of covers the the why of that part, but I'm going to go ahead and, um, bring up my colleague Steve Torres here to discuss our process that we used internally at SBCO for selecting the software system. >> Yeah, thank you, Shannon. Um, so like Shannon said, the most important thing is why um, and who we're serving. Um but I did want to make sure you had some information on the process that we followed. Uh our internal uh services department u manages requests for proposals. So we did follow a formal process uh for selecting uh a vendor and uh we opened up our uh request for proposals on April 8th and we closed it on May 5th. Um and we had a period for vendors to ask questions. We provided answers,
081posted those so that all interested vendors had the opportunity to access that information. Um, so in addition to direct communication, we had a page where they could access the information at any time. Um, and there's a couple slides here that kind of recap um, a little bit of what the why was, but how we captured it in in the request for proposal was within the project scope. Um, and ultimately for this electronic health records uh, system, we looked at three key areas. uh we wanted to make sure that the software package was turnkey, meaning that it was ideally already in use um with other LEAs um but that was an opportunity for uh slight modifications to meet our individual LEA needs. Um we also wanted to make sure that it was a centralized billing uh
082vendor solution um that fit the the needs and was able to handle the capacity of our 16 LEAs and the 35,000 students that they serve. Um and then lastly that it was aligned to the CHBHY C YBHI every time I'll say it slowly. Um initiative uh you know this initiative is is is new to us here that are doing it. Um and we want to make sure that the vendor had someone on their side that's tracking this just as closely so we could be partners in the process and rely on each other for getting that information as it's released. uh and the scope of work um for the multi-fee schedule uh just quickly four key areas um the integration of the health record system with uh Carolon which we learned a lot about on the
083internal services side during this process um ensuring that uh it meets those requirements seamless data collection data privacy um items like that um the third party billing solution to streamline the reimbursements you know ultimately facilitating this process for our districts so they could take full advantage of the billing features, medical enrollment, um, and then training and support. Uh, training on the front side, training throughout, um, to meet our individual needs. We know this is going to be a process, so we need to make sure that there's some real handholding throughout. Oops, go back one and forward one. There you go. Um, and just big picture, there was uh, six uh, key evaluation criteria areas that we looked at from the proposals that we received. Uh we looked at the cost proposed fees, the understanding of
084the project, the technical competence, functional technical requirements, similar project experience and maintenance and support. And we had rubrics uh to capture and measure those as well. Um and our process uh went as follows. We had initial review. We did have nine proposals that we received. Um we had a panel review those uh using the rubrics. uh we advanced um five to the final selection um and and they notified those individuals um that we would like to conduct an interview which involves questions um as well as product demonstration. We did those on May 22nd. Our panel included uh SPCO staff as well as staff from our districts and charters that would be uh participating in this program. Um and then through that process with the information we gathered um as well as reference checks, it was
085very important that we got information from those districts and um COE's that were already using the product. Um we did arrive at a vendor selection which is the uh Paradigm Healthcare contract which uh is in front of you now. So um that's the end here of our part, but we're happy to answer any questions. >> This is this is just Oh, go ahead, Mer Beth. I was just going to reiterate it's this just for a fiveyear contract. >> Uh two year two-ear contract. >> Oh, it's two years. Okay. Thank you. But I mean for a five-year the um governor's grant is for five years. Is that okay? CBHI. It's five years and this is a two-year contract. >> Yes. Yes. >> And it's really to get the districts started. >> Yeah. >> And then once
086started they're on their own. >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you, Judy. >> I need clarification. I don't know if I dozed. I'm not sure what happened, but um would this software be housed at the county office and the county would gather the information from the districts and I'm going to say an old-fashioned word, enter it into this system, or would this software be distributed to each of the participating districts and everybody would do their own entry? Yeah, these are software licenses. So, they're uh per LEA. So, those licenses are directly with the LEA. Um, and uh essentially what it includes is some setup fees and the license counts are based uh by LEA and and their their their property. >> Then what role if any does the county office have in each LEA for this?
087>> Shannon come up for that one. Yeah. Yeah. >> Um quite honestly, it's going to be minimal on that regard. So, our role is really to help to um provide opportunities for onboarding, professional learning, some troubleshooting, but really what our role was to really try and um have our ELAs collaborate across their um perspective areas in adopting a system that can be used across the county. So our role is mostly I would say a a fiscal gobetween if you will on adopting this but really to help to um go through with a really um thorough process in identifying a vendor so that districts don't have to go through that independently. Do you see the uh potential need for the county to have a I'll use the word committee of all the LEAs that are using
088it so that they can share what they find or what they learn um you know a kind of a collaboration or do you see just if they if an LEA contacts the district office will supply some support, but that's it. >> Uh yeah, that's a great question. So, we have a behavioral health learning network that most of these districts already participate in. So, there are opportunities for districts uh the district leadership to collaborate um across the districts in our county. Does that answer your question, Miss Frost? >> Yes, it does. Thank you very much. >> Any further questions? Um, I have a question about the different um districts. It seems like they have uh different uh fees, annual fees and fees per student, unless I'm reading that incorrectly. And I just wanted to understand why
089or what goes into those figures. That's a good question. And so the cost per district is based on the number of students or the ADA count. >> And so um that is adjusted for each district. And then there are um additional add-on features that districts may select okay >> which we can cover with the funds of the grant but we um are are allowing eleas to make that decision of what works best for them on what add-on features they would like to adopt and some of those features are also based on the number of students. So one of them for example is an extra dollar per student if that LEA elects for that additional add-on. >> Yeah. Okay. Um, I see that and this I mean I'm sorry if I'm getting too much in weeds.
090is just a the difference between the student uh per year each student it's like for um the juvenile uh juvenile court and community schools it's 58 per year but then for the Santa Maria joint union school it's 8,000 approximately per year per student unless I'm reading that wrong because there's one per year and then student wellness features >> so the the student wellness feature is the one that's a dollar per student. >> Okay. >> So, it's based on just the number of students in that district. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Okay. >> I just was like that's the V why variance? Just wondering. Okay. Thank you for that. >> If I might one more comment if that's okay. I just wanted to mention this is a brand new system. So, um in relation to it
091it's not related to necessarily what was discussed in the federal updates. This is not um so um this is a new way for student for schools to be able to reimburse these dollars. Um it is not anything that is existing at this point in time. >> Hence our question. So thank you for your answers. Um >> no I do have >> one more one more. >> I am so sorry. I don't know what's with me today. My brain is functioning. Um, are we satisfied that this software will run on existing hardware and uh IT systems in all of these districts and at county? >> Uh yes, we had uh input from the districts um from that perspective as well as RIT as part of the process. Um and they are fully integrable with student information
092systems uh as well um as the hardware. So uh so yeah that was one of the components of the evaluation. >> That is it. Thank you. >> Okay. I need a motion to formalize the approval of the award uh of bid to Paradigm Healthcare Services. >> So move. >> We have a motion. A second. >> We have a second and we'll go to roll call. >> Okay. Mrs. Alvarez Flores. >> I. >> Dr. Armmerstead. >> Hi. Mrs. Cardi, >> I >> Miss Man, >> hi. >> Mrs. Frost, >> I >> Mrs. Reed, >> I >> Mr. Walker, >> thank you. Motion passes. >> Excellent. >> Now, we have an item on the Association of California County Boards of Education, ACCBE. I think this represents a merger. And for those of you who aren't familiar with
093the CSBA and the CCSB, they got together, had a baby, it's ACCBE, but I think Susan is going to provide us with a little bit more detail. >> I'll share with you. So CSBA, we're all familiar with the California School Boards Association, a large organization that provides a lot of support. CSBA had before now had an organization in it under it called the California County Boards of Education. So it was under CSBA, California county boards of assoc uh count California county boards of education. Um and it disband it it it not disbanded it turned into a region under CSBA. So CSBA has region one, region two, region three by by geography and they created region 14 for county boards. Okay. So CSBA has it now. And um when CCB existed, the fees at the time
094for counties to be a part of CCBE was $4,27. Okay. CSBA still has fees for us to participate. Um and then you add on to it for gamut like uh uh schoolboard policies. Um they provide workshops. Uh you would see on the next item there is going to be a conference. So CSBA provides sessions, workshops, information, resources. Okay. a group of county board of education trustees said, you know, I'd like to be see an organization that is of county boards members for county board members. So, a another organization got created and that organization is ACCBE, the Association of California County Boards of Education. The president of that um newly formed now separate an additional uh group is Beina um Leavitz from Sacramento County Board of Education and she and I spoke and she's um eagerly
095um accepting uh county boards to be a part of this organization. It's separate. They have her PowerPoint is part of your board book. Her FAQ is part of your board book. There are over 30 county boards who have now signed on to this new organization. And again, the the idea is to be uh created by county board members for county board members, I'll say as in a nutshell. And their dues, they base them on what what were the dues before and they base them on that. And now their separate dues are $4,225. They too are providing workshops. It's really created, I would say it's a little more grassroots, um, probably is a fair way to say, um, workshops put on by county board members for county board members and they're bringing in keynote speakers as
096well. So, it's a beginning. Uh, they've invited the county board to be a part. Um, we it's up for discussion for you. Um, I could see if you wanted to entertain a way forward. I could see either you um decide to sign on as a board of which the the county office has set aside the 4,225 should you wish to sign on this year. You could sign on this year and see how the year goes as a pilot and evaluate in a year. That could be an approach. >> Um, you could say, you know what, let's let's pause. let's see what what kind of offerings they have and then sign on to it. You don't have there's not a window that you can sign on and you miss the window. You can sign on at
097any time this year. Um but I just wanted to offer those as two options. I'm sure there's 50 more options in which you could entertain. But um I wanted to provide that for you uh as the distinction um and and a new organization that formed for county board members. questions, comments. >> I have a question and I'm sorry you might have mentioned this and I missed it. So is SBC CSBA is that still a separate organization? >> It is. >> Okay. So and are we a part and we are a part of So we would have a membership in two organizations. >> Correct. Got it. Yeah, that's correct. >> You're welcome. So I think the question is do we want to get involved in this nent organization that has been created to fill a need
098as they perceived it for an independent voice? Um do we want to pause, wait a year, see what it looks like, jump in then? Um pause, wait a year, choose not to get involved. It's $4,000 that's already been allocated. So, it's not a lot of money, but um right I don't really see any objection to joining. I think it uh it's probably they're going to need critical mass before they can really produce workshops of of importance and value. Um >> maybe separate related question. Uh so I'm a big supporter of the CSBI. Does our board typically uh have a presence at CSBA? Do we typically go to the annual? >> Yeah, the CSBA annual um kind of big convening happens specifically I'd say the bigger one the bigger convening is for district boards. >> Right.
099>> Um I actually don't have that on my I don't have the dates memorized right now. >> December. You're right. I believe it is in December. and that isn't where the county board has traditionally attended. >> Um and uh there is a on the next agend agenda item, excuse me, the CSBA is convening county board members in September. And we have had sometimes pe uh individuals attend, sometimes not. Depends on who's available and who can attend that that weekend. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Uh, and would it maybe this new association, do we know when their next meeting would be? >> Uh, let's see. I think they might have a a schedule. Um, and they have been sending out some periodic messaging. Okay. 22nd. >> Well, quarterly gathering 22nd >> 22nd >> board director meeting the
10015th. >> 22nd 15th of >> September. So, not in conflict with the CSBA. I I think they're really wanting to not be in conflict with the CSBA region 14 county board services. They're really wanting to complement. >> I I would couple things. One, uh I would hope that a good number of us attend the CSBA conference that looks like it's in September 5th through 7th. And certainly an option might be you somebody could attend the the new association without being a member uh and report back to this body what their impression was of that organization. >> I also want to um share what I know Beina would want to share which is she's happy to come into a Zoom uh presentation as well. So there's another option >> obviously in addition to but you're not
101gonna get the flavor from her present. >> Yes. Yes. Thank you. >> Okay. With that, do we have a motion to approve membership in the ACCBE for the 2526 fiscal year? hearing. None. >> I'll make an alternative motion. >> Okay. >> Uh I'll make a motion that we send a contingency to their meeting to come back and give us their impression of whether or not we should join >> September. There's in the PowerPoint there's a full schedule. >> Yeah. While you're looking, I would just say absent of someone Susan or someone else making a strong recommendation that we absolutely need to join this Uh I I'm not too interested in spending $4,000. >> Okay. >> Uh just because I'd be more than happy for us to spend $1,000 for people to go and come back
102and give us your thoughts. I I don't want to c I'd be happy for people to go and >> Okay, that's Thank you for your input, guy. Um well I will make a motion then. >> Well you have a motion >> is that's an alter. Okay the >> my alternate motion was to send a contingency. >> Okay. >> So we need a second to go forward but >> in lie of membership. Your motion is to send a representative to the next meeting. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Do we have a second? Okay. So, that motion's defeated. I'm going to move uh to approve membership for this first year. Um and do we have a second? >> I'll second. >> Okay. I would like to have a discussion or comment that time. >> Okay. Um, I would
103prefer to refer this matter back to the superintendent and have her um, make a recommendation on how we proceed. And that might be to send some of us or see if some of us could attend one of these events. It could be anything. But I I just having been to a CSBACC be convention a couple um I'd just like a little bit more independent input about ACCBE. Okay. All right. Well, do we need a vote then? >> Well, you you get Yeah, you kind of do. You have a motion motion >> and a second. >> Uh, and I think if that doesn't pass, then you >> and it's a roll call. >> Okay, let's go for a roll call, but >> Okay, Mrs. Alvarez, >> will you clarify the motion again real quick, please? The
104motion on the floor is to approve membership for the fiscal year 2526. So a one year and I'm I'm forwarding that motion in the interest of making a decision. >> And that is one year in ACCBE. >> Correct. So the motion again is to approve membership in the Association of California County Boards of Education for the upcoming 2526 fiscal year. And we have a second and we have discussion. And now we're going to go to a roll call vote. >> Okay. Mrs. Alvarez Flores. >> No. >> Dr. Armistad. >> Yes. Mrs. Cardi. Yes, >> Miss Man. >> No. I'd like more information. >> Mrs. Frost? >> No. >> Uh, Mrs. Reid? >> No. >> Mr. Walker? >> No. >> Okay. Motion did not pass. >> Okay. Motion doesn't pass. Thank you. Next item. Reimburse expense
105for board members. I'm sorry. [Music] No, I think Judy then had and I don't know if we can take entertain Judy's >> motion recommendation. >> So remand it back to the superintendent. >> Was that >> Yes. I would make a motion that we remand it back to the superintendent for further um investigation and uh come back to the board with a plan, suggestion, recommendation, whatever. >> I was going to say I don't know that it needs an action, but I'm happy to take it back um to uh off we'll see about how we can learn more about the organization and bring it back to the board. Right. >> Okay. All right. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Thank you for that happy compromise. Okay. >> I don't think any of us are that excited about it,
106but I think it definitely needs a little bit more color to make it if it is indeed value added. >> And you know, it's it's interesting. I would like to be more excited about it, but I'm not. So, if I'm missing something here, help us out. Yeah. Well, we learned of this uh development I think it was last year and it was a little, you know, a little political in the kind of the way that the effort went forward. I think there was some >> there was some debate >> debate. Yeah, maybe political is too strong a term, but it was >> born of some a little internal division. So hopefully this will be we'll get more information. happy to give more information and um President Carti I'm happy to give some information about number
10722 as well the conference the conference I have information right here so I just wanted to point to it it's September 5th 6th and 7th at the Monterey Plaza Hotel and Spa this is a conference from CSBA the county board conference the cost of this conference is $699 for the three days um and then hotel would be and travel would be an additional cost. >> That's the summary. >> Thank you. >> And so the item is um a reimbursement of those expenses for board members to attend the CSBA County Board Member Service Conference in September in Monterey at the hotel and Spa. Um, and I need a motion on that. >> So, move >> and a second. >> A second. And we need a roll call vote. >> Can I ask a Can I ask
108a question? >> I I've never I don't really know the process for attending. So, it's a reimbursement if you so choose to go. Is that it? >> Yes. Do you want to explain that? It's just >> and then is there uh do we divide up and you choose things or I mean is there a focus on it having gone to other conferences with the other school boards we kind of divided and conquered? I mean I'm just looking for the purpose of going and how would the how what would be the outcome um upon returning from a conference. >> Yes. So um having been to uh these conferences before they're typically general sessions as you've many of you gone to conferences before general sessions and breakouts and um Mrs. Flores I will say that it's been
109u it could be something where we want to just uh see if there is availability this year for board members to attend. I I happen to know just through the events we even discussed today um that there's many many conflicts during that fifth, sixth and seventh window. And so that could be that could be problematic or you know in conflict with what um board members already have scheduled. But um I do I I thought I would raise that too. I'm glad you said something because um should a board member or the whole team like to go um I think it would be wonderful to then strategize which workshops we go to when we um which you we could we would help um reserve the hotel rooms for you. This item of course is about reimbursing
110should you go. But the question may be is anyone this year able to attend or interested in attending um or planning to attend >> and with that this is a budgeted item. So we have if everybody were be able to go. Okay. I think that was what you were asking too about the selection process if who would be allowed to go if there were multiple requests. Okay. Thank you for that clarification. Um again I'll ask for a motion. >> We already did that. We seconded. Okay, we're up to Thank you very much. >> getting late. >> We'll call vote. >> Alvarez first if you go >> Mrs. Alvarez Flores. >> I clarify my own thoughts. I >> Mrs. Cardi >> I >> Miss Man >> I >> Mrs. Frost >> I >> Mrs. Reid >>
111I >> Mr. Walker. >> Thank you. Motion passes. Thank you. Okay, now we just have some information items. You've seen the personnel report that's attached. Um, as always, the Williams Uniform Complaints Quarterly Report, uh, ethics training requirement for board members. That's an attachment. And I'm wondering, are there any questions on that requirement? That's new, right? Um, we have to have it completed by January 1st, 2026. and every two years thereafter. >> But we've not participated in that before. Or did I miss something? It is a new bill, a new requirement. Okay. Um and then we've got correspondence. And now we can move to a yet another closed session. So, we'll take a moment to regroup for that and we'll leave um mics off and then back on again, please.