6/9/2026 - NMUSD Regular Board of Education Meeting

001We'll call this meeting to order at 503. Roll call vote. >> Please. >> Trusty Murphy >> here. >> Trusty Pearson >> here. >> Trusty Maroy >> here. >> Trusty Anderson >> here. >> Trusty Crane >> here. >> Trusty Wagan >> here. >> Dr. Smith >> here. >> All right. Adoption of agenda. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call vote. >> Trusty Murphy. >> Yes. >> Trusty Pearson. >> Yes. >> Trusty Morit. >> Yes. >> Trusty Anderson? >> Yes. >> Trusty Crane? >> Yes. >> Trusty Wagan? >> Yes. >> The vote was six. Yes. Six. Yes. Right. Carol, I just feel free to laugh [laughter] away. >> The math adds up. >> The math adds but adds up. Yes. [laughter] I'm your auditor. >> Okay. Community input on close session

002items only. Clerk Pearson, would you please read your statement? >> This is an opportunity for the public to address the board regarding items on the close session agenda only. Comments on closed session agenda items are limited to three minutes per comment up to 20 minutes per topic. A speaker may not relinquish his or her time to another person. >> Okay, we have one speaker uh T Terry Welsh. Hello, my name is Terry Welsh and I am president of the Coastal Corridor Alliance and I've been saying for the last seven years and I will continue to say until I breathe my last that the greatest single thing that ever happened to our effort, the greatest blessing was when Frank and Joanne Randall donated $50 million. What happened then was Trust for Public Land was able to

003leverage that $50 million and raise the remaining funds and Banning Ranch was purchased in 2022 and it is now permanently protected publicly own coastal open space and it is appropriately called the Frank and Joanne Randall Preserve or Randall Preserve. But for 150 years it was known as Banning Ranch. And that's because in the late 1800s, it was purchased by the Banning family. Yes, that Banning family. Phineas Banning is known as the father of the port of Los Angeles. And he was a real visionary. He knew that Los Angeles was going to be an enormous city and that it needed a deep water water harbor where big boats could come in and dock and unload their cargo. And he looked at Santa Monica Bay and he looked at Long Beach. He said, "Long Beach is the

004place." and he dredged this harbor, built a breakwater and cargo ships could come in and unload their cargo. Back then they were sailing ships and they were they the the cargo was put on a horsedrawn wagons and carried into downtown Los Angeles that eventually became steam locomotives and then diesel trains and today ships still come into Long Beach unload their cargo and it's carried by diesel train to the heart of Los Angeles. So, a real visionary and this guy was a real magnate of early California and incredibly wealthy guy. If you go to Wilmington, that's a little town just north of Long Beach, there's the Banning Mansion. It's called the Banning House Museum. Now, you can learn all about the Banning family. So, why did this immensely wealthy person buy a goat farm in Costa

005Mesa? And well, um, now back then it was a 4,000 acre farm. It's whittleled down to 400 acres it is today. that some people think that Phineas also wanted to build a second deep water harbor at the mouth of the Sanan River. We don't know. If I ever find out, I'll let you know. But for 50 years, the Banning Ranch was an agricultural use, goat, sheep, etc. They discovered oil in the 1920s. In 1940, it became a full-on oil producing oil field. That continued for 80 years, and they pumped their last bit of oil about five years ago. Um, last thing I want to say about the Banning family is on Saturday I had the privilege of meeting Joe Banning and Julia Banning. That's the great great grandson and great great granddaughter of Phineas Banning.

006We had a fundraiser and they were gracious and they generate they donated generously. So to summarize, I'm going to turn back to what I always talk about is please try to find a way not to build homes on Banning Ranch. Um, we really believe there are alternative locations and let us know what we can do to help you f help you do it so you don't build homes on Banning Ranch. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All righty. Um, we will now move to close session. The items are A conference with real property negotiators, b public employee discipline dismissal and release, c conference with labor negotiator, and we will return to open session at 6 p.m. Good evening. I am calling the meeting of June 9th, 2026 to order at >> board president uh Dr.

007Soilu is out of town and so I will be conducting the meeting tonight. In closed session, the board of education took action to approve the separation agreement and general release of number 202504 HR and the roll call vote was unanimous. That opening ceremonies. Now we will have a moment of reflection and pledge of allegiance led by Trusty Crane. Are you ready? >> Trusty Crane. Stand up your heart. Let's begin. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. >> Righty. Uh now for the adoption of the minutes from uh May 19th, 2026 and special meeting of May 19th, 2026 and the regular meeting. Um I said that wrong, but anyways. I

008think you got it right. Okay. Do we have a motion to approve the minutes for the special meeting and the regular meeting? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All righty. Uh, roll call vote. >> Trusty Murphy? >> Yes. >> Trusty Pearson? >> Yes. >> Trusty Mroy? >> Yes. >> Trusty Anderson? >> Yes. >> Trusty Crane? >> Yes. >> Trusty Wagon? >> Yes. >> Okay. 6. Thank you, ladies. Um, okay. Now we're moving on to recognition and we are recognizing the spring athletic sports champions. Dr. Torres. >> Yes. Always a good time to be in Newport Mesa. It's um wrapping up the school year and we have several winners tonight from Costa Mesa, Newport Harbor, and Coronar. But I'd like to introduce and welcome Dr. Mike Shaka who's going to introduce this item. >> Good evening,

009Vice President Murphy, members of the board, Dr. Smith, executive cabinet, all of our wonderful uh guests here today and the students who are in the wings who we're about to meet. Um success is created when great leaders hire great coaches and those great coaches coach exceptional athletes. And so we're going to talk about some of those exceptional athletes today. It's important to notice it's only some of them because we have so many CIF champions that next uh next board meeting we're going to continue with the celebration. So, first of all, I'd like to introduce our principal of Costa Mesa High School, Jeff Giles, who's going to talk a little bit about some of Costa Mesa High School's CIF success. [applause] Good evening, uh, Vice President Murphy, board member, Superintendent Smith, and Cabinet. It is my

010privilege to recognize an extraordinary group of student athletes from Costa Mesa High School. Our CI CIF Southern Section Division 3 Championship Girls Swim. >> Yes. [applause] This year's team was led by head coach Keith Ryan and assistants AA Ryan and Kata Inawe. They proved that success is not measured by numbers alone. While we had a small number of swimmers, this group was truly mighty in performance, demonstrating exceptional dedication, teamwork, and competitive excellence throughout the season. Leading the way was Melanie Ping, who captured the CIF Southern Section Individual Championship in the 100 breaststroke. Our girls also dominated the relay competitions. Uh Carolina Sangosi, Melanie Pang, Emma Freeland, and Khloe Wool Smith were crowned CIF southern section champions in the 200 medalleyly relay. In that race, they set a new school record. In addition, Khloe Wool Smith,

011Melanie Payne, Carolyn Sangosi, and Mia Walker earned the CIF Southern Section Championship in the 200 freestyle relay. This group also established a new school record during that CIF finals race. The team success extended beyond CIO championships with multiple individual school records being broken this season. Carolina Sangosi set a new school record in the 100 and 200 freestyle events. Melanie Pang established a new school record in the 200 individual medally and Khloe Hills set a new school record for the 500 freestyle. These accomplishments represent more than athletic achievement. They are a testament to perseverance, discipline, teamwork, and school pride. On behalf of Costa Mesa High School, we congratulate these remarkable student athletes and their coaches for an unforgettable season and for bringing a CIF championship home to Costa Mesa. Congratulations [applause and cheering] Congrats. >> Congrats.

012[laughter] Congratulations. [applause] >> Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations, Costa Mesa High School. [applause] >> Our next school we're going to recognize is Newport Harbor High School. I'd like to call up uh someone that is not a stranger to this boardroom, Dr. Shawn Bolton. [applause] >> Good evening, Vice President Murphy, members of the board, Superintendent Smith, Executive Cabinet, and distinguished guests. We have two individuals that we're honoring tonight for their achievements in the CIF competition that unfolded this spring. Our first one, she is a fourthg generation Newport Harbor graduate, Natalie Mccardi. [applause] With her tonight is Coach Bates, who's also a science teacher at Newport Harbor High School, who also instructed me that I should talk tonight. [laughter] So Natalie's Natalie's great-grandfather graduated Harvard 1946. He was one of five allciff basketball players. Natalie's grandmother graduated from

013Costa Mesa High School, was a longtime librarian at Newport Harbor. Natalie's mom is here tonight along with grandmother who's a Newport Harbor grad. And Natalie is not only a Newport Harbor grad, but was one of our valadictorians this year, one of 17 valadictorians. She's headed to Calp Pololly Slow to run track and field. She was a individual champion in the high jump and she also set Orange County and school records in the 300 hurdles and so she was third in state in the 300 hurdles and it was at state that you set those records correct. So congratulations Natalie and she's well on her way. [applause] >> Our our next individual is Connor. He is not here tonight. He's probably training. The 28 Olympics are in Los Angeles. The 32 Olympics are in Brisbane. Watch for

014his name. He he we followed all CIF language and protocols. He legally moved out here from Connecticut and had a valid residence in Newport Mesa Unified School District. He his family moved out here just so he could attend Newport Harbor High School. He was a key member of our water polo team. Went backto back with the champions championships in water polo. He also set the 50 free and 100 free record not only at Newport Harbor High School which has a long lineage of distinguished Olympians in the aquatics but also in Orange County and set CIF records. And he was a CIF champion in the 50 free or the 50 free and 100 free events this this spring. And he's headed to Stanford to compete in water polo. again, watch for him in 2028 in Los

015Angeles and 2032 at Brisbane, Australia, because he'll probably be a member of the Olympic team. So, thank you very much and congratulations to our two individual CIF champions. [applause] Sorry. Sorry. >> [applause] >> Congratulations, Newport Harbor. And we'll have Newport Harbor part two at our next school board meeting. Lastly, I'd like to uh invite up uh Assistant Principal Eugene Kong from Coronado Delmare High School who's going to talk about some of our CDM CIF champions. Hello. Good evening, uh, board of trustees, executive cabinet, and distinguished guests. It's my honor to introduce our swim team coaches. First up, Coach Lucas Reynolds. He's an alumni of Cornado Delmare Middle and High School, class of 2009. He's currently a social studies teacher, also teaches in the Academy of Global Studies, coaches boys water polo in the fall and

016the swim team in the spring. This is his third season as the head swim coach with nine years coaching swim. Alongside coach Reynolds is coach Chuck Olsen, also CDM alumni, graduating class of 1981, coaching assistant here at CDM and a varsity swim coach for the past three seasons. 20 plus years of coaching swim, also head coach at the Newport Hills swim team. They would like to say a few words about our honores. [applause] >> Thank you. Thank you for your time. On behalf of Luc L Lucas Reynolds, who oversees our operation, allows me the freedom to help coach some fine athletes. Um, I say there's two, none better. And I'm not talking about their swimming ability. Uh, it is their ability to not only work hard, work on their school, but also come back and

017contribute to their teammates. A lot of times in club swimming versus high school swimming, once the uh higher performers leave and they're working out with their club and compete with us, we don't see them a lot. And that is absolutely not the case with these two. Um I've also uh tasked them with the uh chore of coaching their teammates which is as you know not always easy but the patience and the kindness that they show uh and of course the respect that their teammates hold for them makes them an invaluable tool. Uh also since I do coach an age group program it's a perfect example of what we want our younger athletes to look up to when they get older. They need role models now more than ever. So, that being said, um I would

018just say this, their swimming prowess is amazing. Beginning the season, Lucas and I talked and we said, I think we're going to have the best male and best female breaststroker, if not the state, possibly the nation. And I will tell you, you all know, we are not the biggest school. I don't I doubt that this has maybe even ever happened. Uh that being said, um the way these two represent our school um is beyond admiration for their swimming ability. It's the two wonderful humans that they are. So I thank them and so does Lucas Reynolds. [applause] Thank you. >> [applause] >> And they're only juniors. >> Did you tell us their names? >> Do we know their names? >> Thank you. [laughter] >> So, I apologize. You know, I kind of thought wasn't certain how

019this was going to go. I do want to introduce Ethan Lim, a junior, please. >> I'm sorry. E. [applause] >> And this is Sophia Simonowski, uh, another junior and also great representatives for at least the next year or two. Thank you. [applause] And that's a wrap. We have some more teams we'll be bringing forward uh at our next June meeting. >> All righty. Now uh we move on to the Harbor Council PTA report. Good evening, Vice President Murphy, Clerk Pearson, Trustees, Superintendent Smith, Cabinet, and community members. My name is Martha Flur, and I'm honored to serve as the president of the Harbor Council PT Harbor Council of PTA's second to the last meeting. [laughter] Um, for the past two years, it has been my distinct pleasure to represent our 27 PTAs and the more than

0205200 dedicated volunteers that Martha >> Mar. Did you hear me? >> That's a first >> on video. They were >> Okay. um and the 5,200 dedicated volunteers who make our work possible. These past two years have been truly remarkable. Our units have provided countless extracurricular programs, activities, and vital support for the teachers and staff at their respective schools. They have entertained, educated, and encouraged our students to not only do better, but be better. Our units have successfully advocated for students safety and funded unique, engaging, and frankly quite downright fun educational and cultural opportunities. Through the thousands of hours of service and generous financial contributions, our volunteers have transformed the student experience. While each school has its unique personality, they all contribute to the strength of the Newport Mesa Unified School District. When one school succeeds,

021our entire district succeeds. And that was quite evident with our 2026 graduates. 22 of our students received AA degrees, and that's out of nine kids. So, several of them received three. Kerna Delmare received $3 million worth of of scholarships for their students. Uh Estanza High School 2.4 million. They didn't publish what Newport Harbor, but I'm sure it's right up there and they didn't publish what Costa Mace is. So I know that that's what up there. But just evident with our champions here. The impact of this work is visible every day. Just today, I heard from Lauren Malmeister, president of College Park PTA, that over 1,000 parents, students, and community uh members participated this last week in their summer kickoff event. This is just one example of the incredible community spirit our PTAs foster. We are

022stronger together. And tonight I would like to introduce the 20 2627 Harbor Council uh president, Mrs. Lisa Bowler. >> Come up here. Lisa [applause] is no stranger to Newport Mesa. She has served in the position previously. Her four kids attended Newport Harbor uh Enson and Mariners elementary schools and they have graduated and have now started their own families. And now those children are starting at uh there are two at uh Mariners, one that's promoting up to Enen next year. So she's quite interested in the new principal and uh she's got two more starting in the wings. So Lisa, there you are. >> I also am a graduate of Newport Harbor and went to and my husband graduated from strong supporters of Newport. Thank you for welcoming me. I look forward to seeing you in the

023coming whatever. [laughter] >> Thank you. >> Thank [applause] you. >> All right. Next, we have uh Amy, right? >> From the classified. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Uh hi. Um good evening. Uh uh, Vice President Murphy, trustees, superintendent Smith, cabinets, uh, my name is Amy Ching and I'm president of the CSEA employees union. And I wanted to thank the trustees, administrators, and personnel commissioners who participated in the appreciating classified employees day, ACE day. Um, it's one of the highlights of the year. And, um, we wanted to highlight the moment um, Trusty Pearson was paired with Julie Hamilton, a health assistant at Harper. Julie um and her dedications to students left an unmistakable impression upon Trustee Pearson. And I won't go into details. I'll let her tell you that story. Um but tears were

024shed and the um it was just a very heartfelt moment that was felt by the entire room when she shared her experience. Being present and really seeing each other in moments like this can bring our community together. So, we want to thank everybody who put the the day together and everyone who participated. While we wish the students and staff that are off for this summer the best, we remember that many continue to work throughout the summer. Limited term assignments for bus drivers, instructional aids, nutrition services workers, librarians, and office staff provide continuing educational and enrichment uh programs for our students. These work days also help classified employees bridge the summer gap financially and increase pensionable days for less than 12-month employees. The CalPER circular which takes effect on July 1st has the potential to reduce

025current pensionable pensionable days for hundreds of classified employees in Newport Mesa depending on how the district implements it. Hundreds of people As we begin negotiating tomorrow, we hope that powerful moments like the one Trustee Pearson experienced will be reflected in the work we do together. We look forward to continuing to do the work for student, staff, and the community. Thank you. Thank you, Amy. Um, do we have any community input? >> Yeah. Um, now we have community input on non-aggendaized items. Trustee Pearson, please. This is an opportunity for the public to address the board regarding items not on the regular meeting agenda. Comments on non-aggenda topics are limited to three minutes per comment, up to 20 minutes per topic. A speaker may not relinquish his or her time to another person. By order of the

026Brown Act, section 54954.2, Two, the board will take no action or have any discussions on non-aggendaized items. The superintendent may provide clarification during superintendent's comments. Thank you. Uh first up, Sergio Telles. Tles. >> Hello. Good evening everyone. Uh my name is uh Sergales. I being a community leader, a community member for the last uh 14 years uh partnering with a lot of different nonprofits, the city of Costa messa, city of Newport and just government agencies on uh creating better communities, healthy communities and um so and one of the nonprofits that I have partnered with, it's a nonprofit called the non-toxic neighborhoods. So, uh, that's why I'm here today because for the last, uh, several years, I've been advocating to ban the use of pesticides and herbicides within the school, Newer Vesa Unified School District. I

027never got anywhere. I followed up. I followed through. Never got anywhere. Never got an answer back. Recently, I found out that the process of how to handles pesticides and herbicides has changed in one site. And while that's a great estate and I'm glad that you took that action, I think all the students and staff and family deserve the same level of protection regardless of which neighborhood they lived in or how loudly they're able to advocate. Healthy, health, and safe. The standard should be applied consistently across every site in the district. Pesticides is a real issue. We want transparency. We want to be notified. It shouldn't be a privilege to choose certain communities or certain schools. It shouldn't be a privilege that they only this only certain school get that. [snorts] I think it's not it's

028not just it's not just about that. It's about treating every school the same. It's not treating one school different than from the the other school. It's about ensuring that every child receives the same consider consideration, the same protection, and the same commitment to a healthy learning environment. So what you did was a great step, but it just doesn't seem fair that only certain communities, certain schools just because of whatever reason there now it's a different process. But then there is the undeserved disadvantaged communities that go to different schools that it doesn't matter if you keep on spraying pesticides. So I'm I'm here to advocate that the ban of pesticides all across the new Promesa Unified School, not just on some schools. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Uh next we have uh Bethany O'

029Conor. Hello. Thank you all for the opportunity to speak tonight and um I know I have emailed some of you and uh thank you for your interest. I'm here to speak about student teacher ratios. I have a rising fourth grader at Mariners Elementary and currently um we are being told that the ratio will be up to 32 students per one teacher. I had the opportunity to speak with Gabe Del Royale uh this morning um and I really appreciate his time. He pointed me towards a researcher John Hattie in um out of New Zealand in many of his metaanalyses. Uh I am a big data person. Um so I dove into some of the data. [snorts] Um interestingly none of the studies that have been used by uh John Hattie to look at class size ratios

030have been done since the pandemic. And I think we all know that the pandemic was very much a factor in students learning. Additionally, um the only study I could find that was done in the US was from 2009. Unfortunately, it's behind a payw wall. So, I wasn't able to pull that study. I did pull a study that was done internationally in 2018 and looked at the class size numbers that they actually used in this data. So the class sizes that they used um were a mean of 22.9 in France um ranging up to uh in the US class sizes that were considered large at more than 23. So while the data shows that lowering a class size has maybe a small effect on student outcome and actually looking at John Hed's John Hadtie's data the

031effect size is the same as homework. Um, but it doesn't tell us whether large class sizes have a negative effect on student outcome. And the data that that statement is based on is actually based on class sizes that are much much smaller than 32. We're talking about a large class size of 23. Also, this data takes into account one variable. It doesn't look at multivariable uh co- reggression from what I could tell. And it doesn't look at things like student engagement. I found a study that shows that student engagement decreases by 25% AC across the class when you increase the class size by five. Um I also found a study that looked at how bullying increases in larger class sizes. We also see that teacher burnout increases in larger class sizes. I actually do have

032a little bit of personal experience with this. My oldest was at Mariners in the 2022 2023 school year. started off the year with 32 students, went up to 34 during the course of the year. I can tell you that that was a very, very difficult year. Her teacher was burnt out. Her teacher left teaching after that year. The other sixth grade teacher is no longer working as a classroom teacher either. He's moved into another position. I would would really like to see Newport Mesa Unified apply this research. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Next up, uh, superintendent's comments. >> I want to thank the community advocate for coming. Um, he may have left, but I'll I'll clarify for the board's interests. Um, you know, we haven't made any um adjustments to spot treatments on

033any of our campuses, including Anderson. Um, what we have here is a chance to pilot something that he and other community members have advocated for for some time. Um we have a field restoration project at Anderson where half of the field is also being restored but by the city uh they were going to pilot a similar um non uh synthetic spray. Um and so we thought this is a great chance for it to pilot it. We brought to the board before the board policy says the least toxic effective way. We had no data to demonstrate that that least toxic was effective. So here's a pilot for us that then we can apply as he said to every school. We definitely agree that that safety shouldn't be a privilege. Safety is a a benefit for all

034of our students, every one of our schools. And this pilot will give us scientific data to look at is this impactful or not to inform your policy decisions going forward. So, don't disagree with anything he said, but just wanted to make sure we were clear about what the pilot represents, why that was the pilot spot, um, and how we're going to analyze it moving forward. Um, and and even with that pilot, taking all kinds of precautions in that community, uh, windcreens, um, so that they can, you know, make sure that there isn't, uh, chemicals blowing and filtering through. We've shut off the irrigation so there isn't any runoff. It's all fenced in, so no kids can play there. So, even though we're doing an organic approach, a non-synthetic, which is what some of the folks

035have advocated for, we're taking even more precautions than that. Um, so we look forward to seeing how this works so we can bring that back to the board. Um, I would have loved to have been in the meeting with Gabe and our parent geeking out about data. I can only imagine how much fun that was. I I enjoy having these conversations myself with with Gabe. And I I think you know one of the points that was made is you know we do have to look at some current research because things probably have changed a bit based on the impact of the pandemic. Probably referring to this the um Tennessee Star report that was embargoed or behind a payw wall because that is kind of like the leading research on class size reduction um nationally. I

036can't speak for internationally. And what's interesting is that they found that um for academic outcomes in fairness, right, because there are other things that the parent mentioned um that aren't necessarily academics, that there is only a benefit, a measurable or significant benefit for 17 or fewer students that it if it got higher than 17, it was statistically not as significant. And that was only for grades K through three. That any grade above three, there was no statistical relevance really to class size reduction for academic improvement. What's interesting, not that you brought this up, but Jack Oonnell, who advocates for us as a part of capital adviserss, wrote the legislation in California for class size reduction, he couldn't get the state to fund it at 17 to1, which is what the research said, right? Clearly, the

037state could only afford 20 to1. So, he asked Jack, why'd you do it? That made teachers and parents happy, right? That that's a consideration, but as far as the research goes, you know, that's what this has been built on. And I think we do have to look at what has happened in the scientific community since the pandemic. I I'll say this though, what the science is clear about is that there is no greater impact than quality of instruction. That's why the teacher efficacy bid is so important. That's the greatest lever we have that can overcome all those other disadvantages and barriers. And that's why this district has leaned into that. And I hope that parents not only appreciate but see a difference in our focus on quality instruction in every classroom, making that a guarantee.

038I would also hope that our parents are encouraged by the fact that in Newport Mesa Unified, we have some of the the lowest class sizes, the lowest teacher to student, and I would go even further student to adult ratios in the state of California and including Orange County. Many of our folks who work in this district have kids in other schools and they they wish that they had class sizes like we have because they're in 34 to 35 in every grade level including kindergarten. And so I uh I know that doesn't exactly agree with with what every parent would like. I would hope though that they would see that we do have a benefit here in Newport Mesa and they feel grateful for that and with our staffing ratios that are historic in this district.

039as soon as we get a plus one. So if one student comes in, we act right away and we reduce that classroom because that's our commitment to the community. Um and so I I agree we have to continue to to rely on the research. Um we have to continue to lean into quality instruction because that is a great equalizer in public education. And I would love to to geek out with you someday over other research and talk about, you know, what we can continue to do because we we are and should be the best school district in California. And we'll only get to that place as we really leverage that high quality instruction, support our teachers, and support staffs doing that great work, right? Measure it and get better every day. Uh, and the research

040is a big part of that. So, >> thank you, Dr. Smith. All righty. Uh, next we move on to community input on agenda items. Do we have any agenda items? Nope. >> No more community input. >> Okay. Uh, now we have the consent calendar. Do we have a motion to approve the consent calendar? >> Some moved. >> Second. >> Lisa. >> Sure. >> Okay. Roll call vote. Sam. Trusty Murphy, >> yes. >> Trusty Pearson, >> yes. >> Trusty Mroy, >> yes. >> Trusty Anderson, >> yes. >> Trusty Crane, >> yes. >> Trusty W, >> yes. >> The vote was 60. Um, moving on to our public hearing and action calendar. We need to receive the report on the SULPA local plan services plan and SULPA annual budget plan for the 2026 2027 school year. Sarah

041Yak. >> Yes, that's me. Uh, good evening. I'd like to ask uh Juliana Salva, our director of special education resolutions and Sulpa to come up and present this item for us this evening. Um, last year I had to step in and bat for her because she was out having a a baby. So, I'm glad she's back and is able to do our presentation for us this year. supposed to be up there. >> There it goes. There we go. >> All right. >> Vice President Murphy, Superintendent Smith, Trustees, Cabinet, and guests. I have the very high honor of coming before you today to talk about the special education local plan for next school year 2627. >> [clears throat] >> So um I appreciate Dr. Jacam uh presenting last year for me. Um so this is be

042an addition to that. The SULPA special education local plan area really outlines and operates the governance plan. We here in Newport Mesa are a single district SULPA. So it's unique in the fact that we're all one together instead of a multi-dista where there's several districts under one SULPA. Um this year the each SULPA through the state is required to update portions of the local plan. We need to hold a public hearing and then adopt the plans at a board meeting. Um th this year we had to up update the annual service plan portion of the local plan which is where we identify the services that we're providing at each of our school sites. um non-public county RTC placements and then we also um utilize the service codes through CalPADS which is the California longitudinal pupil

043achievement data system and we adopt their service codes and essentially what happens is our IEP lists IEP services for students based on codes. Those codes are entered into the calpads and that's how we report what services we're providing at each school site. All of the services that we provide are determined by an IEP team based on the students unique individualized needs. So, uh, you'll see the annual service plan is a very long document, uh, very, very small, but what you see on the left is a list of all of the schools that we have students, um, where students attend, and then across the top are all the different service codes in CalPADS that could be potentially an IEP service. Um, we don't provide every service. some of them are not applicable or maybe some of

044them we don't have students at that school site currently where those services are needed. So we don't put a little check box in that area because we don't have any students that need that service at this time. And then the other portion of the local plan that we had to adopt or update is the annual budget plan. and that's where it lists the revenues and the expenditures for next school year are projected. Um, for our district, this portion of the budget is part of the overall budget and is adopted along with the the district budget. So, we work very closely with our special education department um directors as well as the uh budget department in order to make sure that we have all of our numbers accurate. Um in table one you'll see in the

045next slide um the special education projected revenue. Um it is important to note that the district general fund provides nearly 69% of the funding for all special education services in the district. I will highlight that that is down from last year which is a good thing. Last year our um local plan had a projected general fund contribution of 74% and this coming year we're projecting 69%. So we we'll talk about that once we get to the the table. And then the second table I'm going to talk about is our projected budget expenditures. So like I said uh the table one it this is talking about where we get our revenue from. So there's a variety of sources. There's uh federal funds that we receive, there's state funds we receive, and then there's also local funds

046that we receive. Um portions of grants, workability, uh transition partnership, preschool grants, alternative dispute resolution grants are all part of the revenue. So like I said on the previous slide it is 69% about is the general fund contribution which is >> I'm just going to clarify it's 69 million and 7 we went down from 74 million that's the contribution the amount of money to now 69 million. >> Okay sense. >> Yes. So on table one you'll also see well you'll also see that the contribution on the right side the the revenue the percentage of of total funding that property tax is also almost 69%. So >> the same >> about the same so that's that's good. Um and then the expenditures you'll see on table two is talking about where we allocate our resources for

047services for students. And so majority of the services are or majority of the expenditures are in the certificated and classified realm which is good because we need to have people provide the services ed specialists, psychologists, um speech, AP, occupational therapists. Um and then we also have a small budget for uh supplies services. um capital outly small being relative to the expenditures of of staff. So next steps is here we're we're doing the public hearing. We've already had OCDE review our plan and we were actually were provided um the the signature uh yesterday from OCDE and next we will once the board has approved it we will send it off to the California Department of Education by the end of the month. So it's quick but do you have any questions? Uh, Michelle, >> I'm sorry.

048I'm sorry. >> Oh, no. Carol, >> it was so quick. [laughter] >> I was so sorry. I was asking some other questions. One, I um one just to um is there any way to get that in a bigger font? >> No, I shared that. We'll we'll get the board um >> cleaner copies that are easier to read and and and in the future, we'll make sure that as we project up there, it's readable. Um, it's just really hard for people to kind of track those and that's that's our mistake and we'll we'll get you better copies and make it bigger in the future. Apologies. >> That's all. Okay. Uh, Ashley, thank you. Um, yes, if you could just print the version that's attached to the agenda, that would be great. Um yeah. Um I was

049wondering on the table two where it talks about the other outgo and financing is 11% and 11 million. What does that entail? Because salaries, benefits, supplies, services, all of those are covered in the other portions, but that seems like kind of a large are we financing this or what other outcome mean? So what that is is is that is the amount of expenditures that we utilize to send students to county regionalized programs. So students that are deaf and heart of hearing that attend Santa Ana Unified or the OCDE deaf and heart of hearing program. There's also several other programs that OCD utilizes um to ensure that we meet the needs of our students and and we send our students there. They're still our students. We still attend IEPs. We still keep track of them. We

050still are very much involved in their education. They just need different types of services that we don't offer here. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Yeah, a quick question and that could be first of all, thank you for the presentation. That could be a um um Mr. Dixon question and you can come back with it later but uh what is the percentage of our from our general fund that we are using like these the 69 million for example or the 74 what percentage of our general funds is that as far as spending on >> out of the 505 million total budget. >> Yeah. So I I can't do that off top my head but I can certainly do that math for you and get it get it back to you. Absolutely.

051Put it in the weekly. >> Okay. >> Yeah. But it's basically you're tying it to the total overall budget that you'll see in a little bit about 505 million for the year. >> Yeah, I asked because I I hear across the the county a lot of districts um say that takes a big chunk of their budget and so I was just curious how we compare to the other school districts. >> Yeah, it's actually very timely question. We just reviewed that information at our latest CBO meeting, the chief business official meeting and so we have that countywide data. Yeah. >> And so that's something we could definitely provide to you. It is fascinating how much has gone up over the years. >> Yes. It's it's a countywide. It's it's statewide. It's not isolated to us >>

052because I know IDEA has never fully funded what they promised they would fund and that's that it's really very taxing on the leas. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um and do we have a motion to approve? So >> this evening is just a re a receipt of the report and the public hearing and it will be adopted at the next board meeting along with the regular district budget. So it's a two-part process. So the next part is just the public hearing for you. >> Great. Thank you. >> Um all right now that we don't have to vote on that ladies. [laughter] Next B. Uh the public hearing for SUPA local plan services and SUPA annual budget plan. Dr. Yon. >> Yes. This would um be an opportunity

053for any member of the public or community to speak on the local plan um that is before you. Are there any public comments? >> The hearing time. >> Opening the hearing at 6:49. Are there any public comments? >> None. The hearing is now closed. 6:49. >> Uh 17C repeat receive report on the local control and accountability plan and the 2026 27 budget. like to welcome up Vanessa Gaye who will share our LCAP season and how that's gone. I want to commend her work in making sure that there lots of voices and perspectives in our plan that it really represents what we're doing. It's authentic. It's real and it has a vision for us moving forward. And similarly to the SULPA, you'll just receive it. We open it to the public. Sunshine it if you would.

054and then we close. >> Yes, it's the evening of plans and budgets. You're welcome. Um so, Superintendent Smith, Vice President Murphy, uh members of the trustees, uh cabinet, and guests, I'm pleased to bring a report to you tonight on our local control and accountability plan, my 10th here. Um and I'm really um pleased to just open out with this guiding slide that we use in so many of our presentations. And um we're proud of our our LCAP and that it really does encompass the ethic that all of our students are all our students. And um you can see that in the way that we've structured our our LCAP, but we're we're always mindful of that. This is guiding our work. Um what is our uh LCAP? It is a state requirement. Um it's a three-year

055plan. It's required of all districts throughout the state. Um it must be approved by the board uh by June 30th of each year. Um it contains many components that are required by the state. Um it has a budget overview that I'll be sharing in a moment. It has plan summary. It addresses different um technical aspects um about technical assistance re we've received because we do have um differentiated assistance support. We outline our and how we've engaged our educational partners. There's goals and actions um etc. Um I am not known for my short plans. Um but this one is down from the 300page behemoths that it has been. It's only 160 but there's 25 pages of directions. So, we're actually um you know, we're we're a little bit shorter than usual. Um but um we we

056are guided by our board priorities and tightly aligned. You may remember last year we rearranged our goals to match. Um and we anticipate as the strategic plan is finalized and we're looking at the language of that, the portrait of a graduate that we will be incorporating those aspects into the next LCAP cycle. Um we are in year three. Um, and so next year, uh, we will be writing to an annual update that closes out this cycle and then opens up the next LCAP cycle. All LCAPS are required to open with a budget overview for parents. It's created by the state. It's supposed to provide some a little more clarity on how the money all fits together. The circle on the left represents multiple funding streams coming together. And then there's that larger blue piece that

057says total LCFF funds. And then broken apart, you see two kinds of pie. The smaller pie is a supplemental amount called the uh supplemental and concentration grant. We uh have a the supplemental category only and that's 20,448,844 I believe. And then that the rest of that big blue piece is um the other LCFF funds. So those pieces go together. The point is that little pie is supposed to be directed toward our high needs students, our lowincome English learner and foster youth in particular. And so that's one of those pieces we write to in our plan. But the LCAP does not uh account for all of the dollars. Um as uh Jeff Dixon mentioned, we have an over $500 million um budget, but not all of that is accounted for in the LCAP. And so that's

058what the blue on the side represents. That um of that 500ish million, around 300 million is what's included in our LCAP. There are things like retirey benefits and other routine maintenance and things that we just don't include um in our LCAP. And then the third page of the budget overview is a reflection on 2526. It's meant to be an annual update. And so the point that we want to make is that the supplemental amount that's the target from the state was $20 million, but in reality, Newport Mesa budgeted 26 million. So we exceeded that target by a great amount. We ended up spending around 24 million. And so the purpose of this little page is to show was there a shortfall in what happened. And so a couple of key things happened in particular. We

059had a healthy AVID budget. We didn't spend all of it. It was a little hard to get all the tutors that we may have wanted, but we're working on that. Um so this is the the purpose is to kind of say well what happened and you know I I can assure you as I always do our children were served they were safe seen supported and um guided by high quality instruction and we're um always looking to improve. So uh engaging our educational partners starting off in February officially known as LCAP season we go out and we reach far and wide. We have a survey we reach out to our advisory uh committees. We have the parent advisories and um a number of school site councils. All of our school site councils report to us. We

060gather all of that data. We synthesize it. We look for themes and patterns. Um again, we encourage everyone to get involved at your school level because your school plans are what then also help guide and um support our LCAP. Um we have our school community facilitators weigh in on what they're seeing with parents and families. And uh we've really made an effort in including student voice. So, um, we have not only the student advisory, we go to all of the elementary, we go to eight elementary schools for focus groups, and we do focus groups at all of our middle and high schools. So, we're pleased with that and of course the partnerships that we continue to have with our bargaining units. So, um, this piece here is to let you know that when we're doing

061the measurements um, and the results, there are some measurements required from the state and those are things like grad rates and smarter balance scores, um, chronic absenteeism, etc. We can also add additional metrics and that's something that we do. for instance, our star reading or metrics around our AVID program. And so you'll see that throughout our LCAP. And then um we have to make sure that we have metrics for anything that's a contributing amount that LCFF supplemental money. When we're spending that, we have to connect it to metrics. And you see that in the essay at the end. And then lastly, we have to make sure that we're supporting student groups. um when we have any student groups especially that have been identified on the dashboard in red and orange, we have to make sure

062that we've included them in an analysis at the beginning of the OKAP. Um so you have also seen monthly presentations highlighting a number of the um activities that we do to support our student outcomes. So um you'll see a lot of that the outcomes reminiscent in the LCAP um but this thing is a lot more dry. Um we have the plan that goes all some few and so each action is tied to a goal number. So goal one, action one has a title and then it shows you the action as well as the total funds and the numbers are important because if you were to look at the um action tables at the end, they correspond. So there's a little bit more money about dollars and cents at the end. But this gives you a

063sense of what are we spending on and then um who are we guiding it toward. So for instance, what you'll notice in action 1.13, this is designed to support English learners. So we call that out and then yes, it's a contributing action. And then this uh again is for few. You'll notice our advanced placement and SAT fee wavers designed for low-income students so that there's less of a financial burden in participating in these assessments. So that's the structure of the plan. We have four goals that are designed to serve all. We have a goal five for Backbay and a goal six for Monavista because they receive a special funding stream that has to be included in the LCAP. We want to highlight some key investment strategies that we think are bearing fruit. um when you've

064seen numerous reports on our early literacy and we're so pleased with all the progress there as well as the academic innovation that you heard about recently our CTE pathways the critical thinking strategies that we do where we elicit and respond to student thinking where we're building thinking classrooms and doing thinking maps etc. So we have some um significant investment in the academic success but we have also invested in the whole child. As you know the school counselors continue to gather great feedback as well as the PBIS work that we've been doing across our schools. Um in terms of parent and family um we're pleased that we brought on parent square and we're trying to unify our messaging but we also have strong advisories and um especially our multilingual family outreach which is of course our

065school community facilitators and the multiple ways that we try and make sure we provide translation and interpretation. Lastly, if you've driven around our district, you've seen that our facilities improvements um have been keen. And then we um continue to support technology refresh and infrastructure and of course our staffing. Toward the very end of the uh LCAP, we have an increased or improved section where we talk about again that 20 million. This is a budgeted for next year. And then there's a a percentage that's just a calculation from the tables um to increase or improve services. And so the way that you then look at all of the dollars and cents is in these tables. So there's a section designed for looking at the 2627 school year and that outlines everything in the LCAP, who it's

066intended for, um if it's coming from uh federal funds or state funds or more of our general fund. And then um the contributing actions is anything that we said is part of that 20 million uh 800 448,000 that goes here and is outlined about who it's supposed to serve and what the dollar amount is. And then in the annual update, what happens is we tell you, well, we thought we would spend X amount and then our estimated actual, the best that we can tell because, you know, the books aren't exactly closed yet, but they're close. So, our estimated actuals and then we have to explain any um material differences embedded in the uh LCAP. And then we have again the contributing actions. So, anything that was a yes and design for our highnee students, we

067talk about um how much um did we spend and did we get close? And if not, then we explain um throughout the LCAP at the goal level um what the material differences might have been. Um there's a carryover table. We never have carryover because we always far exceed the target. Um so uh we're in good shape there. And then lastly, you can find the LCAP on our website. Um easy to find. It's the top billing because it's my page and I am um pleased to say that it's there. Um like uh our friends in the SELPA, we are in contact with OCDE. they have given us some suggestions on a couple tweaks. So, we will have some minor tweaks in some of our budget tables as well as some small tweaks in the language in

068the end um tying our um our actions to our metrics. They wanted a little tighter alignment there. So, not a big deal, but um we will respond to our friends at the county. And with that, um thank you for uh receiving the report on this year's LCAP. >> Thank you. >> Any questions? All right. Um, now I believe I'm doing this right. >> Um, we're opening up the public hearing for the local control and accountability plan. Yes. >> Hearing is open at 7 o'clock. Are there any public comments? >> None. The hearing is now closed at 7 o'clock. Thank you everyone. Uh, 17e. We are receiving your report on recommended 2627 all funds budget. Mr. Dixon, [clears throat] >> thank you. Good evening. Uh, one of the things I noticed right away when starting here

069uh, almost a year ago now was in the research of the district's budget, I was so impressed with how robust it is. And that takes tremendous leadership and it starts at the board level. So, thank you for that. But holy cow, putting that together is a lot of work. And I'm very grateful and thankful to our uh fiscal services team who for the past over month has just been uh like working like dogs putting this together for us. And um I know Julie >> Amy's shaking her head. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> But it is it is great work and it's great to be a part of and it is a real big team effort. It's across departments. this does reflect a lot that we do everything we do and so it's important so although I'm

070going to do a high level uh presentation tonight on it I do want to just remind the board that um this is the first step of two we have this month every June we bring this to you as information first gives us time to digest it we ask questions along the way if you have anything else or we have any updates we'll bring it back in June we'll acknowledge whatever changes we made from what we're sharing tonight um and then of course we have uh the interim reports that occur later on. So, here we are tonight. Uh we are the first meeting in June. We uh have your proposed budget for 2627. Um we'll bring it back a second meeting in June for action. And at the same time, we begin closing the books for

071this past fiscal year. You heard a lot of the terms estimated actuals. Those are the figures you're going to see in here tonight. We eventually move into unodudited actuals. That's when we have closed the books and those are our final numbers. And those usually are different from estimated actuals to unodudited actuals. And it's usually you don't spend everything you have. Um or in the case of last year, our property tax revenue came in a little bit less than we thought as well. So it does recognize those little changes. But um this is this is very close and I feel good about this budget. >> And of course our budget study session. I want to thank the board again. A lot of what we talked about in our budget study session this year informed what we

072did in the budget. And there's one particular slide that I'll call out what we looked at in terms of material supplies and services that we we all talked about. So let's begin with the state budget highlights. Um all in all it's a good good budget. Now I I say that with the caveat this is from the May revision. The state has not adopted their budget yet. That is still in process but usually the May revision is pretty close. Um and it's all been it's positive for education as you see here. Prop 98, the primary funding for educ uh ed education in California, uh up by 28 billion over the three years. So the way the calculation works, they look at three fiscal years and that's how they propose their budgets at the state. And so

073when you say 28 billion, yes, that's over three years, but that's all positive. Even better, they uh direct 4.6 billion to the Prop 98 rainy day fund. So that tells us that they're getting more revenue than they anticipated. Again, another good sign. They increased the COLA to 2.87% and they also added additional funding to support a new paid pregnancy disability leave mandate. Um, I will just remind the board we are we do not receive LCFF funds. So, we will not be receiving any of the pregnancy disability leave mandate funding, although we still would be required to implement it like all the other districts. So, it' be similar to transitional kindergarten for us. Uh there is an increase in special education funding uh for the per student rate up over $1,300 from 999. Uh even though

074that's not been finalized, we've received direction from all of our uh state advocates and lobbying partners that that will go through. So that is accounted for in the budget you see tonight. Increase the proposed discretionary block grant to $5 billion from $2.8 billion. What's great about that and we hope that this goes through as it is is we do receive these funds because they are outside of the LCFF. So, whatever the state gives us in terms of discretionary, even non-discretionary, as long as it's outside of LCFF, uh we c we count and track on that carefully. And then we have expansion of the community schools program. I know Dr. Shields has brought this up to me many times. And what's really great is the state continues to invest in we're really um education shifting programs

075like universal meals providing students a free breakfast and lunch every day they come to school and so um it's a significant investment and so we'd like to see them continue that. Our enrollment remains fairly steady at just over 17,000. Um, one thing that we are tracking carefully, and you're going to see this in future enrollment projections is the new developments that we have coming through for Newport and Costa Mesa. Uh, we don't know the exact timeline of when they're going to be built, but we're tracking that and that's going to be part of our enrollment projection reports in the future. And so, we're excited about that because there is potential to bring in some new families and continue to have stable enrollment or uh maybe even better, maybe growing enrollment. Our revenue projections remain steady.

076There is steady growth year-over-year. Right now in the budget report, there is a 6% growth for 2627 over this year in terms of property tax revenue and then 5% in 2728 and then 4% in 2829. So those are the assumptions that we've built into this budget. they were confirmed and I want to thank you again for uh allowing us to consult with HDL who's a property tax revenue consultant. So those numbers we were able to confirm with that and also compare that with the projections we get from the county treasur's office. So we feel good about it at the very least. It's a positive trend and it shows steady growth expenditures. We we show a moderate increase over time. As you know, the bulk of our expenses lie with people and there's natural growth in

077those costs, whether it's step and column or health care cost that's going to increase. And so, um, showing a moderate to, uh, slow growth in expenditures actually means that we're doing some things to improve our efficiencies and we're excited about that. And we started that work this year. We had, in fact, it started before we had that conversation at the budget study session, but that just reaffirmed we're going in the right direction. And so, we're going to continue that work. And going straight into that slide, you see in books and supplies and services and operating, you can see our estimated actuals for this year um is about $104 million. In 2024 25 last last year or two years ago now was just over $und00 million. We're finding ways and redundancies that we can improve to

078lower that. Now whether it falls into more books and supplies, lowering costs or finding more efficiencies or services and operating to be determined. So I would look at this more of a a bulk number that 96.8 million. Um that would be our goal and that comes again out of our conversations we had about the budget and doing and looking at our redundancies. So a good example of that would be software. There's certain software that we've been looking at that does the same thing as other software. So maybe you don't need both. Mhm. >> Um or we're not using the full capability of software. And there's a very specific example in our business office where we had a a a piece of software that we weren't going to use to its fullest capacity. So, we cut

079it in half. Now, this isn't to the tune of millions. This is tens of thousands of dollars, but we're looking very closely and we're trying to find ways to do things and um put the money, all the money we have back into our instructional programs and our classrooms. Um, as we know, it was made very clear when we look at making cuts or doing things differently, we're not to touch the classrooms. And I remember that conversation very well. So, our ending fund balance we have for this year just over $72 million. Um, and it slowly drops next year, but then it starts its gradual decline. So, the way I like to describe this when I talk to Dr. Smith is this is our soft landing coming out of very significant investments over the past two

080years. All the vast majority of that was one time in nature and we're catching back up and now we're putting ourselves back back in a position where we're going to start looking at ways we can address increasing reserves. Um bringing up other opportunities or programs uh having facilities discussions and mapping out and planning those projects with dollars to back it up. Um so generally excited about the work we have ahead for us and um we're coming into it in a very good position. So you can see when I say that our our revenues are catching back up to our expenditures, it's beginning in 2728. We now see those lines crossing back in the right direction where our revenues start to exceed expenses. Um this does account for that $8 million in um being more efficient

081with our expenditures that I showed on the previous slide. Um but even without that, we're still trending in the right direction and we're we're going to start tapering off on our expenses and increasing revenues. In terms of our reserve level, uh this is an area of focus and I brought it up once already, but this is an area of focus and you're going to see that on the financial activator slide for us as well. This is a busy slide and I apologize for that. I usually don't like busy slides, but you've seen this many times in the past, so I didn't want to deviate from how you've been looking at it. The two that we want to focus on right now is that purple line which is a 17% recommended reserve level versus the yellow

082line which is what our reserve level is projected to be within our budget and it falls below that 17% now. Um it's certainly not as low as it was back in 2010 where it was just over 7%. But that's an area we definitely are keen in on and you can see as our results on our financial activators. We have unrestricted general fund balance change negative $26.1 million. Again, that's coming off those large investments and finalized payments for all the work. Um, property tax revenue change positive for us. Again, we're showing 6% for next year. General fund, our reserve for economic uncertainties. Well, that's flat for all three years. Four and a half% of total budgeted expenditures. Reserves again, that's where we drop into we need to uh analyze 9.3%. And then our routine restricted maintenance

083continuing the investments made there and OPED workers comp and our Moody's credit rating remains the same. And I did just get the updated Moody's report last month. So it's been confirmed it's the same. When you look at the multi-year, you can see in 25 our current year and 26 27 we show the negative change in uh general fund balance. That changes in 27 and 28. And that's again where you saw the revenue flip over the expenditures. But in our reserves, you see our estimated actuals for this year was keeps us just over 14%. Now, it's not that 17% goal, but acceptable was 13 to 17% on the activator. We're falling below that. So, this is a a real area of focus that we're going to bring to you with every budget discussion we have. Now,

084it does show improvement, but I think, and if I've heard the board correctly, I at least want to be able to bring you options to increase that at a more rapid rate. Um, and there's a variety of ways to do that when you in terms of budget. One of the most common is when you have unforeseen or unexpected revenues come in. Um, especially if they're one time in nature, you could elect to put those to reserves if you want. And those are discussions we'll have. Um, and so with that, uh, I do appreciate again all the work the business team put into putting this budget together. I appreciate all the departments and the help they had. Everyone had to meet with our team to put this budget together. And again, I appreciate the work that

085you've done in this district. Um, because this is one of the most impressive budget books that I've seen and it's a tradition I want to continue and I want to build on. So, thank you. Okay. All right. >> I do. >> More. >> Um, thank you so much for all this information. I just want to point out, it's not really a question. Um, I know the answer, but I want everyone else to hear the answer. Um, we asked you to do more with less. um can you speak to that and give an example of for instance the new position that um we're bringing on to uh the district the new person the new position >> really appreciate that question uh a lot of thought went into that that decision and that move um one of

086the things I was tasked with when I started here was look at everything with a fresh set of eyes um we had some opportunities in specifically in our maintenance or I'm sorry, our facilities department given some people leaving um in a transition and before we just rehire positions, we made it a conscious effort in cabinet to we're going to look at every single position that comes through and not just replace. Let's let's analyze what do we really need? What can be most effective for us? In our specific instance, we looked at our director of facilities who left and separated with the district and said, "Well, what is it that we really need?" We came off just two very large years of a lot of capital improvement projects and big projects happening. Regardless if we were

087fully staffed, and we were in facilities, you notice we still have to bring on a lot of construction managers, you have architects that you have to hire anyway. Uh you can build in construction admin uh scope into their contracts. So thinking about that, where did we find a bigger need and for us it was a lot of our outside user groups, the use of our facilities, the use of the theaters, uh basically the operation management behind the using of our facilities, right? We can build the facilities, we can modernize facilities all day long, but to maximize the use of those facilities really where we saw the need. And oh, by the way, it's a it's a reduction in the amount of total salary from the previous director position. So it's going to be an ongoing

088savings for our district. And so that's just that wasn't the goal. The goal was what do we really need? It just so happened to work out where we saved some money and and it's a forever ongoing. So um that's why I really appreciate that question and example. So thank you. C >> could I tag along to >> Yeah. Trusty Crane or Trusty Michael? >> I'm finished. You're finished. >> Trusty Crane. >> I mean someone else may have may be next but I this one tags on to her her question. Um, so can I speak? Okay. >> Yeah, there's no one else. [laughter] >> No one else. >> Well, um, uh, so thank you for doing that. As far as restructuring, um, under your cabinet position, are you anticipating any other changes in your org chart

089that we we have discussed already or is in the making? >> Uh, I will say that is in process. So, one of the things we're doing, and again, thanks to what you've allowed us to do, is we're working with um a group, and it's two different groups that are blended together, but they're helping us work with our strengths. We all took the strength finder. We found out where we like to operate, right? Um and so we're taking that opportunity to do a small group breakout with the the strengths uh consultants, and we're working with our facilities, maintenance, IT, purchasing, and risk. and we're taking away the thought of structure and we're saying what do we need to get done and we're going to reimagine what what things could look like. So that is in process

090right now. Um but it's a team effort because it's going to require everyone to buy in. Um our goal is just to get the work done right, get it done well and get it done effectively and efficiently as well. So >> Mr. Mr. Dixon, if I can also um kind of jump in here on the org chart, trustees will see under special services that we currently have a director of health services. um as you know um she is retiring at the end of this month and this is again another position that we brought to cabinet looked at the job duties looked at the current structure and determined that we would um restructure that from a director to a coordinator position. So that will be one more example of a change you will see the budget

091book reflects what's currently in existence for our orc chart but um starting July 1 that will look different. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Yeah, we can go back to the So, um, so in the next year it looks like we're going to save, you know, 26, we're going to somehow claw back 26 million and those two changes, you know, kind of amount to just a couple hundred maybe. So, where is the lump sum of this savings coming from? >> Yeah, in the budget that you have before you, the reductions are occurring in the books, supplies, and services and operating categories. And that's why I highlighted that on the slide. Okay, >> those are what we can control without doing any sort of programmatic analysis cuz the last thing you want is your business guy telling

092your ED services what they should be spending their money on, right? [laughter] Um so uh again it starts with there is an area we can control but they again going back to those cabinet discussions on every single personal move personnel move that we do needs to be analyzed and evaluated to be the most effective use of our funds >> and for our students and so I foresee there's there could be changes there as well but it's not proposed in this budget and that's why you see that the revenues don't catch up to the expenditures until the 27 28 year >> and Is there for every department is there sort of like a um a goal that everyone has to cut or what does that look like? >> We will work on that specific amount. Um

093you can see here if you just look at the budget for what it is is about $8 million that we're trying to call back. Um that's going to change on audited actuals. So we we have some time to work through that because the those will be more real numbers once we close our books. Um, >> but yeah, that's that's a process and we hope we don't have to get to the point where you have to go across the board reductions of any kind. But that's a tool in our tool belt >> and right now we don't we show we don't need to do that. >> Um, but if that were to change then yeah, we'd have to have that discussion >> on that point. Just >> we didn't want it to be an arbitrary number

094because a lot of districts just say pull a number out of the hat. >> Instead, what we're focusing on right now is a mindset shift. Right? So we we question everything we're doing. And what I've seen in my career is you tend to then even get more out of that. If I give you 2% or 3%, you're going to find 3%. If I tell you to behave differently and to have people interrogate that investment from all around you, you find six or seven or eight, right? So for us, it really was this first step is let's change mindsets in the district, right? and and we're seeing it pay dividends already from where we were during the the budget study session to now. But at some point, if we get to a hard number, then we

095may have to come back with now we need X. But that that's how we approached it. >> And all of those um processes are going on this year to get to our next year of um where our revenue exceeds our expenditures. Correct. Yeah, we've we've already started the work and you reaffirmed it with our budget study session and so now we're just we're staying course on that. >> Okay, great. I like the way to look at it. It's like giving your kid the uh having them determine the punishment. Sometimes [laughter] it's less severe >> than yours. >> So, I like it. Thank you. >> It does work better. >> Yeah. Trusty Crane, >> I think. >> Oh, I thought you wanted to go back to >> Okay, never mind. Trust trusty Anderson. >> No, I

096mean I I still have questions, but Um, thank you. Uh, I also appreciate that. I think that's one reason we were excited to hire you and have fresh eyes coming from outside of our district and really looking at things in a new way. I think that is a great approach to have people really re-evaluate. Um, overall, um, one of the things I also was wondering is how will that impact some of our internal planning? Um I noticed books and supplies as one of the items and in past years we have had huge expenditures when we've done at one point we did the math and English language arts adoptions at the same time and it was a huge impact to our budget. >> So knowing then um that we need to wait a few years how

097what does that like internal planning or conversation look like with our teams? >> Yeah, adoptions can be very expensive. Um, but we know about them years in advance hopefully, so you can plan for it. Um, in terms of like reductions on other books and supplies, the only thing that we assumed at this point is no, we're not changing any investments into programs. And what we did experience in the past is a lot of new programs that came about or new startup costs that came about with those programs that don't exist anymore. So, I think it's actually be a lot easier than we realize because there's we're not starting up programs, new things, and having to buy all new books and supplies to kick those programs off the ground. We're just in a replenishment cycle now

098of those programs. >> Okay, great. Yeah, one of that's one of my concerns. I know a lot of our teachers particularly were concerned just I mean there was that was so much work to do both of them at one time. Um, but also just considering I I guess by planning what I meant is are we start do we have kind of either ad hoc teams? Are we constantly reviewing and asking hey is this math curriculum still working for elementary at this level? Are we still how does that kind of wait and see? Like do we have teams that we pull together a few times a year to talk about hey we would need to wait like three years if we want to make a change. What is that? As a reminder, we made recently in

099very recent years largecale adoptions. And so part of what we're doing right now in elementary is letting that settle now that people know how to use the materials, how to ask questions. You know, we have questions about casing and is everything here manipulatives that at the elementary level. And so now that we have a better understanding of that, now we'll be using the materials and looking at standards and if there are places that aren't covered as deeply as we'd like to and how we adjust but we won't be doing a whole new adoption for a number of years out like we did that we did the science ELA is our next and it's not for a couple of years out and those are major investments and they certainly use the voices of teachers to help

100us decide what is the best tool to use in the classroom for the students we have but we don't have a group right now being like so when when are we going not adopt math again. Like we're we're not at that stage yet. >> Well, I think that's good to hear. Yeah. I just I just wanted to make sure because I know that um that had in the past been such a huge impact and I think in different ways um I think for our staff to know that that >> things are settling um is reassuring. Um but also too like if we need new books, it's not like going to break the bank. Thank you. >> Yeah, that's true everywhere. It's a big deal everywhere. adoptions are are can be difficult. >> Trusty Anderson, are

101you done? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Trusty Crane. >> Okay. Thank you. Um it is nice to hear that we have you know coming from somewhere else that are that you're impressed by our books to know they're tight. Um so um the state budget this uh unfunded liability that we are going to be faced with as far as the maternity the paid pregnancy disability leave mandate. >> Um how are you able to gauge how much we need to set aside? >> Yeah. >> Um >> and do you have do you have any idea >> is this are we talking millions? computer >> potentially. Um, [laughter] no, we don't. What we do know is that of the 96.7 million, the state estimates that about 200 million of that will cover the cost for the um paid

102pregnancy disability leave mandate. Um, so proportionally and that's 1.4% of their proposed new cola. >> I guess that's what you're going to use >> um at the first point. But then once you start having a history of expenditures, that's really what you want to base your budget on. But like it'd be like trying to budget for a TK, right? >> When building that, it's it's difficult. But um >> usually you just want to have some flexibility with in your budget to adapt to those those things. And so that's kind of where we're at with this right now. >> So you're starting at 1 point something percent. >> It's going to be roughly around that. Yes. is just because it's it's going to be and when you extrapolate it based on the state data 200 million

103to the 900 million you're looking at like 17ish% on that it's yeah probably going to be about about 1% budget. >> Okay. And then going to the discretionary block grants uh the uh the five five billion from 2.8 billion. Is this uh do you know if it's truly discretionary or is there some asterisk? the proposal was and just so you're aware it is not budgeted in the revenue. The 2.8 billion amount is but the increase to five billion is not >> okay. So it's conservative what you're showing us. >> Well, even if they let's say the state said yes, we still want to do 5 billion, but they made it not discretionary. >> Yeah. >> That's why we didn't want to uh account for it in the budget at this point. >> Okay. >> On

104that note, we have to continue our advocacy. Um, if parents have uh ears that will listen and PTA and other groups, there's still a conversation, a push to fund the block grant on an LCFF basis. Once again, then we get none of that. >> Uh, >> the proposals now include an ADA basis, >> which benefits everybody. >> We have to be vigilant. If if they treat us like they did with TK >> or like they have with this additional amount you mentioned, >> um, we'll be harmed once again. So, for right now, it looks good, but we have to keep advocating for our students and our schools. >> And then in section three of page 78 and 79 of the the budget book, uh it's the off, let's see, general fund summary, your summary. >>

105Um, so we're looking at the revenue side and then we're looking at the expenditure side, of course. And it looks as if because now you have actuals from 2526. It looks like we're we are definitely heading in the right direction in the sense that um in 2526 we were 26.5 million in the deficit as far as expenditures. Um should I wait >> uh page 78 and 79? >> Got it. Yeah. But to your point, generally, yeah, we are trending in the right direction now. >> And I I like seeing that because it shows that the projected ones for 26 27 um looks like we're we've cut that in more than half. And I know that it's also conservative. So I do like seeing that trend because I know that you're showing in in the activators

106that we are >> we're doing better than last time last year. >> Yeah, the 2728 improved for us. I'm happy to see that we're being conserved in our expenditures, making sure they match a little more our revenues. We're going in the right direction. >> It's important. Yes. >> So, thank you for that. >> Of course. >> That's it. >> Any other questions? All right. >> Thank you, Jeff. >> Thank you. >> All of it sounded great, >> especially the facilities part always. Um, okay. We are not doing not doing all the voting again, right? >> Just the public hearing. >> Nope. So, just the public hearing is now open at 7:29. >> Are there any public comments? The hearing is now closed at 7:29. Sounds good. Thank you. All right. Uh moving on to the

107discussion action calendar 18A uh the 2627 declaration of need for fully qualified educators is new. >> Thank you. Um so each year the California Commission on Teacher Credentiing or the CCTC requires school districts to adopt and submit a declaration of need for fully qualified educators. Um approval of this declaration allows the district to request emergency permits and limited assignment permits when fully credentialed candidates are not available to fill certificated vacancies. Declaration is based on projected staffing needs and does not authorize specific assignments. Um annual approval is required prior to submission to the CCTC. Um so we do recommend tonight that um the board um approve this annual declaration of need for fully qualified educators so we can submit that to the CCTC. Um, so moved. >> Second. >> Roll call vote. >> Trusty Murphy, >>

108yes. >> Trusty Pearson, >> yes. >> Trusty Mroy, >> yes. >> Trusty Anderson, >> yes. >> Trusty Crane, >> yes. >> Trusty Wagon, >> yes. >> All right. 60. >> Thank you. >> Um, and 18B. Yeah, we uh avoid in the district u passing resolutions for the sake of passing resolutions es especially political ones. Um and there is a lot of need for advocacy in the state. CSBA has been recommending a resolution um about save our students, save our schools, the SOS. um we decided with our experience that a much better approach is to um advocate through our allies, capital adviserss and others a message on behalf of our district directly to policy makers. So we have in front of you today is a letter that would do something like that. Uh Trusty Crane being

109one of the delegates brought this item forward. I don't know if you wanted to speak to or explain to the board anything I've missed, but >> No, I I I do know I just came back from delegate assembly and many of our uh trustees around the county did believe that a letter specifically to the legislaturator legislators um is much more efficient than a resolution by the board just because it's going straight to the people who make who are going to make the decisions. This is just more of a um I think a resolution would be more of a statement from the board but not necessarily a statement to the legislators sent directly to to the legislators. So I think it's a better way to reach them. >> Any questions >> um for the public? Can

110you go through what um we are asking the legislators to do? >> Dr. [clears throat] Smith, do you want to take that or Here are the the bullet points that really articulate what the the main issues are. Establish clear, measurable statewide goals for improving student outcomes. Define the state's role in supporting local educational agencies through aligned systems of guidance, technical assistance, and accountability. include annual benchmarks and transparent public reporting on progress toward improved academic and school outcomes. Align state funding priorities and policy decisions with long-term strategies rather than disconnected or short-term initiatives. Provide districts with timely actionable data and evidence-based supports that strengthen local capacity. maintain local flexibility while ensuring statewide coherence and shared accountability for results. Focus urgently on improving student outcomes for historically underserved student groups. Those are the calls to action. >>

111And are we're hoping that they put this into some sort of legislation that they're going to pass or is there some bills up that we're hoping? >> Yes. So CSBA has their advocacy push. We are going to ask our advocates to advocate for these things in any vehicle that comes forward. So if it is CSBA is great. If some other educator sees our letter and says gosh I think that one point right there is something that I could put in a gut amend or bring something forward that they might do that as well. So I think all of the above. Um, currently there are four assembly bills that are being that actually parallel a lot of this language that um and they're all doing quite well and they're nonpartisan moving forward. So, it's looking hopeful.

112I think one one of them is a blueprint, the other one's a dashboard as an example. So, I think this will resonate with the committee. >> Does it make it a stronger letter though to call out those bills? Um I I just like I don't I I I believe in all of this, but it also sounds very like lofty um without really like teeth. So >> we we can add those. I mean just we have to send it out by the 11th. So I mean the thing is we'd have to approve it tonight, right? >> Yeah, definitely. If if we're going to align it to any one policy, then I think you know what you'd need to do is have a discussion of each of those um what what they're actually saying uh and then

113have the board deliberate on on that. That could be done. It wouldn't be done in time for again trusty crane the the deadline is for >> for the 11th for for CSBA was asking to any sort in order to reach the to reach Sacramento would need to do it by the 11th whether it was a resolution or a letter. >> Yeah. Which is a a deadline they've defined. If the board felt like they wanted to look at it differently they could. It's just a different conversation. This is in lie of some kind of resolution, a targeted message to the legislature on similar points. But you're right, it isn't aligned to any one specific bill. >> Yeah. I'm just wondering if, you know, if I was a legislator, I got I'm very busy and I'm like,

114what do you what do you want me to do with this? [laughter] You know, so I think that's, you know, if if which these are all great things. I just want to make sure that we actually, you know, target give them an action that they can take. In in my experience, they just count up the number of supporters. >> They're not rating. Sorry, anyone watching. [laughter] >> Well, well, you know, Sacramento the most probably because of your visits up there. >> Yeah, they're not reading the whole thing. But they do count up everyone in sport. What we could also do is direct capital advisors to take this to the bills that are aligned to this to those authors directly >> and say that >> use this letter to support your bill because they'll be able

115to analyze which of those bills aligns with those those bullet points. So I I can have them do that. Kevin in fact reached out and said, "Okay, we're ready to do this for the board approves it. Tell me how you want us to use it." So >> Well, and yeah, and I think that's what I wanted to see. how is this going to be used um to make sure that it actually makes an impact >> like that. >> Yeah. >> If that's the board's direction, we'll we'll definitely give him that. >> Makes sense. >> That would be better. >> Okay. You I can send you the the assembly bills. >> Yeah. >> In fact, I'll I'll put them to work. >> Okay. Have them analyze Have them analyze the ledger. any any bill that addresses

116these things. Let's let them use this for evidence of of like you said. >> Here's here's one more district. >> Yep. Right. Okay. >> That's what they're looking for. >> Um so we >> I make a motion. >> Do we have a motion? >> I make a motion to approve this letter and send it off. [laughter] >> Second. >> So moved. >> Or second. Excuse me. >> Carol Christa. All righty. Sam, vote. >> Trusty Murphy. >> Yes. >> Trusty Pearson. Yes. >> Trusty Mroy. >> Yes. >> Trusty Anderson. >> Yes. >> Trusty Crane. >> Yes. >> Trusty Wagon. >> Yes. >> All righty. I think that's it. Right. Anything else, ladies? >> I think that's it. >> Are we still fighting for TK money? I mean, talking about fight giving our legislators the where we're

117we're I mean, where are we with that? And >> we are, but that's that whole conversation is um >> one that has to be really really artfully nuanced >> because of the research recently from Pace and others and how they look at community funded districts and and that other political side of that coin. >> And so yes, and we also don't want to give a reason why we should be funded differently, right? So, yes. Um, but we're trying to be very very strategic about how about how we do it. >> Oh, I know. Just want to make sure there was anything else before the reports. >> And there was um and and yeah, we don't want to open up that can of worms with my thought on that, too. Okay. Dr. Smith. >> Yeah. I

118just want to uh shout out to everybody that was a part of last week. Um I just want to focus on that. What a what a great week celebrating um our students promoting from one grade level to another which is important. But the real the real highlight were were the graduations, seeing those students walk across the field or the stage, wherever they walked. Um seeing their parents and families and and caregivers just love on them and support them and be so proud of them. Um, I I appreciate the staff and folks who spoke. I want to thank the board for their messages. Um, I heard so many powerful messages coming from all of you that contributed to what was shared that day. Um, and I think it gave our students a lot of encouragement. So,

119kudos to them. Kudos to the folks that made those events happen. Big kudos to the parents and caregivers for getting their kids to that point. Um, and I look forward to seeing what our students do in the future. >> Thank you. Um, all right. [cough] trustees. Let's start with Trusty Wagan. >> Um I'll just uh reemphasize what you just said, Dr. Smith, is that it was it was a wonderful week to just experience um such joy with our students. I always think it's, you know, there's not a lot of positions in in life or jobs in life that have this like big crescendo at the end. And I think education is one of those. And it's just so wonderful to see um to see what our students can achieve. And I really look forward to

120seeing what they all are doing. and hopefully they come back and and give us an update. But thank you for everyone that um helped us through those graduations. They were great. Um and yes, it's impressive to see parents um and see what the students can achieve, especially that they've been with us for 13 years or so. So, thank you everyone. >> Trusty Crane. Yeah, I mean we're talking uh PIO facilities AB, you know, the the site leaders and teachers and staff that all came through and you know spent a lot of hours for this moment and of course our students who who whose mission is accomplished, you know, it's it's amazing. So, thank you. Um I we I attended I'll do a report real quick. I attended um [laughter] >> Coach Sumner, who is the

121iconic legendary cross country >> and track and field coach uh has hung up his hat or shoes, shall we say, his track shoes, his cleats, uh and uh after 43 years of service to our students, 43 years. And so I kind of want to dedicate my report to him. Um he's left an indelible impact on our students. um he's taught him to be responsible, resilient, dedicated, respectful, and and um foremost part of a team. So, um thank you to Marcy Clark and Stephanie Walsh for organizing an event at the track and also for the districts for allowing it to happen this past Saturday. There were about couple hundred [sighs and gasps] gosh multi-generational uh uh families that had been affected by and impacted by coach Sumner. So, here's to Coach Sumner and I'm sure he's

122going to enjoy his post retirement. >> Trusty Anderson. >> Um, thank you. I think that Trusty Wagand and Trusty Kraton covered a lot of that. The one thing I did want to point out that to me was extra poignant this year was since we have several high school trans principal transitions. This year, it seemed extra um I don't know, like it it just seemed really meaningful to me. you could like hear the emotion a little bit more in their words and just thinking about some of the changes are really exciting. So, um yeah, it was a wonderful time. Thank you, >> Trusty Mroy. Um, I just want to add that um I I think the most exciting part for me was um shaking the the students hands and staring at them in the eye and

123and feeling >> and and just like talking to them like I remember saying, "Oh, you know, God, you had a great I mean, you must have a big fan club out there." Or I say whatever I said, but it was just like they they got so excited. They had no idea who I was, but they were [clears throat] like super excited and it was just I could see their future. And then the other thing that I really loved is I loved when they really the when they really gripped my hand. I'm like, "Yeah, they're going to be awesome. Whatever [laughter] they do, they're going to be good at." So anyway, so I guess it was just the one- on-one experience with the kids that really over anything um made made my day um both days

124that I that I did it. And I it was kind my hand kind of grossed me out a little bit, but um [laughter] but I went straight to the bathroom washing. Just kidding. But it was just kind of funny. But to think about shaking like 400 people's hands or whatever, >> that's carpal tunnel. >> That's a lot. [laughter] Um but anyway, it was really great to see their faces and their excitement and moving on and you know, it's exciting. >> Trusty Pearson. >> Yes, congratulations to all our graduates. Um same feelings all the other trustees. I did there is one thing I've always stayed away from and it's the open houses at our elementary schools just because I felt like it was kind of the parent and the teachers the parents and the students that's

125their time. So I've always stayed away from it but for some reason this year I found myself at I think it was Lincoln Elementary and I have more fun that I've had than any anything else I have been to. I mean everyone was so happy. Everybody's happy. I could not believe the effort that the teachers um and the staff put in so late in the game. I mean, we're talking last week and they were still putting things up on the bulletin boards. Anderson with all the new walls. I don't think that there was a empty wall in the entire school. They they plastered things everywhere. Um it was just such a it was such a feelgood. Kids and staff were working to the very end. Um, and I don't think I'll miss the open houses

126any anymore. It's a lot of fun. >> Um, ditto. I got to a few open houses, too, and it was it's so fun to see the families having such a great time and um the teachers being so proud of everything that the students have accomplished that year and having it all be up on the walls and yeah, no, it's such a it's a great feel-good um evening. Um, Paulino and Snor was at the same time, so I did have to run between two. So, you know, that was a workout. Um, uh, same, um, same feelings and thoughts about the graduations. They were amazing to attend. Um, when Costa Mesa, uh, High School graduated, uh, Dr. Smith was standing behind me and we saw the kids all throw up their um, you know, their hats and

127the and the the streamers went off and everything. And Dr. Smith goes said to me behind me, he's like, "This is the reason why I do this." And I was like, "Oh, yeah." Mhm. This is it. [laughter] Because they were um so overjoyed and and have so much ahead of them that they can they can accomplish and achieve. And I feel good about what we've um done to help them get to that place. Everything we've done to support them. Everything our staff, our teachers, our administration that we have that you have and we have all done to make sure that these kids can go off on the right foot and have a great start to their next life. So now I'm going to cry like Christa [laughter] and um and she I'm sure she can

128see. And uh anyways uh thanks everybody. I hope you all have a wonderful summer except for the ones we'll have to see in two weeks. [laughter] That's true. Good night. 7:46.