001The time is 6 pm and I'd like to call this meeting of the new Britain Board of Education to order. Uh, I'd like for us to all stand, please, for the pledge of allegiance. Mr. Please. >> Yes, ma'am. >> I pledge allegiance 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. >> Roll call. President Diana Reyes >> here. >> Vice President Miss Barbara Marino >> here. >> Secretary Dr. Eddie Proski >> here. >> Mr. Anthony Kane. >> Oh, he's excused to be. Miss Andy Parker >> here. >> Miss Hannah Patrisco >> here. >> Miss John Pina >> here. >> Mr. Richard Reyes >> here. >> Mr. Jose >> here. >> Miss Tina Santi. >> She is
002on her way. Um, I'd like to call for a moment of meditation. Dr. Bzorski and I would like us to reflect on the life of Laura Curran, please. And um, Jerrell Harper. Thank you. Public participation. Do we have anyone signed up? >> Um, would anyone like to address the board? Would anyone like to address the board? And once more, would anyone like to address the board? Thank you. Um, first we have our superintendence report. >> Good evening everyone. Um, thank you for being here tonight. Uh, thank you in advance. We'll have a slightly longer than usual meeting tonight because we weren't able to hold our um, finance, facilities, and transportation meeting because of >> I don't know that frozen white stuff that keep it keeps falling out of the sky. So, um, I'd like to
003first of all, on behalf of the whole staff, thank the board members for your continued commitment to serve the kids of New Britain as a member of this board of education. March is board member appreciation month. You found a small token of our thanks at your seats uh when you arrived tonight. So, uh it's important for the public to know that each year board members dedicate hundreds of hours of volunteer time for no compensation. the only compensation is is to give back to the kids of this community. So, uh staff, please join me in a round of applause to thank our board, please. >> Sincere thanks for your service. Um >> going to take you through as I usually do the um the advanced copy of the district dispatch that you have in front of
004you. Really nice cover story. uh thankful to our partners at CBIA who joined us last month. Not I would say not just joined us but asked to join us. They asked to come to Timber High School to feature our uh academy structure and really show off ourmies to um state legislators. So I believe we had four or five state legislators in attendance as you can see from the cover page. We had um Mayor Sanchez with us which was wonderful. We had partners such as Gina Coleman, um, executive vice president from the hospital join us. It was a really great day to kind of show off exactly what's going so well about these offerings at the high school. So, thank you to everybody who who made that possible on our side. Um, Sandra Sanford and of
005course Myra Rodriguez a big part in um in organizing that. You'll see a thank you to you again in the inside on page one, part of the building the beacon article. A special shout out to uh Mr. Barry and the staff of Chamber School. They've been going above and beyond just to make their parents feel welcome at their school, including passing out, I believe it was hot chocolate on a very cold day as as families arrived. So, special thank you for that. Um really nice crop of superintendent challenge coin recognitions this this week this month I should say excuse me. Special note there on the right hand side the Gaffne team. These are teachers staff members who went above and beyond on their own time to create videos to help families understand how to deliver
006high impact literacy strategies at home. And it started off as an idea that was just geared at their families. But when Miss Langanger saw just how well they were prepared and how seriously they took it, this is going to be a district-wide release of of their work. We're going to share all all across the district on our various tables. So, wonderful stuff there. On page four, you see the uh the cover article that I mentioned earlier. And we've just had a bumper crop of athletic successes. So, you've got really nice features on two of our champions, um, Zachary and Yendry with indoor track and field. Some really nice stories there as you continue to turn. really usually our social feed part of this booklet is kind of more like laid-back, but there's a lot to
007to celebrate here as well, such as um Lady Kes winning a wrestling championship, um staff members being recognized um by the Community Foundation for Greater New Britain. Some really, really nice stories there. So, as always, I encourage the board and all the members of the community to to visit the dispatch, whether online or at hard copy. I want to say thank you to I believe it's now uh the members I think 10 separate PTO's who have come out to meet with me as I've kind of made my rounds around the city. Uh for me a personal and special thanks to the principles who've combined some of those. So, it wasn't 10 individual nights for the superintendent out, but we've we've been meeting and greeting with lots of people making our pitch that they become active
008and and advocates in the process. And we've gotten some nice feedback um from that as well. And last week, we'll talk about that again, that white stuff that keeps falling from the sky. As the board and the community saw, um you know, I made a call last week that just didn't work out. And as I explained in that video, those are my least favorite. Now, in my 11th year of being a superintendent of schools in Connecticut, right, as you heard me say, the ones where we wake up and there's a pile of snow on the ground, those are easy. Or the ones where three days ahead they're saying we're going to get 22 in of snow, those are easy, too. Uh, Wednesday was a hard one. And tomorrow's going to be a hard one, too.
009So tomorrow is a perfect example of having to rely on the forecast. Tomorrow at 4:30, actually I'm looking at an email here. At 4:40, I'll be on a conference call with our consulting meteorologist and he's going to tell me his prediction of when the snow will change to freezing rain >> and then might change to rain. And it's a perfect example of how these calls work just to kind of to continue to inform the public and our families. So, the latest forecast I saw was that the snow would start somewhere around 10:00 a.m. Somewhere around 11, it would change to freezing rain and then it might change to straight rain at 2. So, our earliest bus rolls at 5:00 a.m. So, a delay only gets us to 7. And our latest bus finishes at 5.
010So, and 2our early dismissal only gets us to three. So if the roads are unsafe anywhere in between there, it's caused to cancel school. So I don't want to cancel school. We've already had five snow days. I don't want the sixth. >> But if right, and this is this is the difficulty. If at 4:30 a.m. the prediction is that it's that there'll be dangerous travel in between that window I just described, um my choice will be to cancel. So, as I said in the video that I released last week, it didn't work out. But given the same information at 4:30 a.m., I would have made the same exact decision as I made last week because it was supposed to only snow a total of an inch and a half spread over four four to five
011hours. So, this is what it's like when Miss Gonzalez, Miss Langer, and I communicate very early in the morning as as I'm making my decision and and uh getting input from from lots of different people. So, >> just point something out. Do note that unified sports be having competitions in Glastonbury tomorrow. So all of us are going to be heading over there. Um just if you can just keep that in mind. I'm not saying you have to. >> Okay. >> If you could please. >> Of course. And that's my report for this evening. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Committee reports. Um I don't think any committees met this past month. So uh we'll skip that. Board reports. gonna be going to read a band sometime. >> So excited. >> Me, too. And I'm excited.
012I'm gonna read too. So, >> can I just able to just contribute? So, Dr. Gasper um was speaking before the um state committee this month. And um I just wanted to say how honored I was as an New Britain High School graduate, as a graduate of our school district, as a parent, as a speced parent. This is the hour, this is the minute, this is the moment that we really need to be stepping up for our kids, especially at the state level. Um I have um God bless through just many many years of having relationships with our delegation and not only that but also at the state level and understanding very full well how important it is to actually give face. I was very proud to do my Princess Diana wave right behind Dr. Gasper
013when he was giving his speech. >> Um and it was just amazing to be able to hear and connect with other school districts. Um there were other members of of CABE actually that were there. Um so we were able to meet and really just be in support of our students in our respective districts. Um and Bridgeport, you know, is having troubles as well as our other districts. And so it was great to hear from them, but also most importantly to be there to support our superintendent in front of the state and also be able to just really back them up as a parent, as a as as a board member, yes, but also as a parent. And I encourage other parents to also go if they can. It's one thing to write letters and make
014phone calls, but it's completely different when you actually go there, speak in front of them, um, and be heard. And it's just, and it was amazing. So I enjoyed supporting Dr. Gasper when he was doing his speech and he said look and we have a board member and there I was so for anybody that could it was great going there to support him as a board member being there to support him but as a as a parent being there to support our district. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And if I embarrassed you I'm sorry. >> No takes more than that. >> TWO LITTLE THINGS to share. I'm I'm always very very excited about Britain High and all the great things that are going on in Britain High and um I just think it's a
015great school with so many opportunities and my son I'm not saying this to brag about my son but my son um he's a senior and he had a lot of time off but he loves the school so much that he didn't want to leave early like every day so he decided to take the introduction to engineering class and he absolutely loves it. that he had never done anything like that. And then the other day, and again, this is bragging about the engineering things. He made this really cool thing on a 3D printer, and I just thought it was very, very cool. And his name is shooting out and like just the stuff that is going on at the high school. Um, and I'm glad it was featured. Yeah. So, it says it says Patrisco and
016then it just kind of cool. So, they are utilizing um the resources at the high school and kids are taking advantage of them. And I noticed it was it was in here too with the um with the focus on careers. Um and yeah, so there's just a lot of really wonderful things happening at um New Britain High. And then of course I have to promote Frozen, which is coming up at the end of March. So >> this and that's all. >> They're going to be doing a Frozen thing at the library actually, like a little frozen at the library. >> Yep. >> Um so just make sure that >> you need to tell your parents. Well, my kids are spec out of New Britain High School, so they're not going to be in Frozen or
017anything like that, but they do have unified sports. They're going to be in competition tomorrow. Keep us in prayer that we make it back. >> Well, since we doing that shout out and bragging RIGHTS this year, it's in Missell's class and they uh marketing class and they went to Central and they had to on the spot come up with a commercial and promote it. It can be something old or something that they invented. And my granddaughter who was picked along with other people in her group and they won first place. So now they have to go regional and she go >> I didn't know I was going to have to do that on the spot in >> I have the opposite of bragging about my son. Um, it has to do with a special memory
018I have of Jerel which has been rolling over in my mind the last month. And um, I knew Jerel because we worked on the the committee to uh, choose the first poet laurate of the city which was Mike uh, the chief Peterson and um, on the council. we had conversations, but um my first memory of him, my first knowledge of him was as a a wreck basketball coach of my son. And um when my son was very little and he had just discovered goalkeeping for soccer, we told him to stay always back in the net and guard his territory in goalkeeping for soccer. But for basketball, he didn't. He had no basketball instincts. He did the same thing. He stayed in and nine other kids went to try to score. And my point is Jerel
019was the most gentle, patient, supportive human. He would look at me as if to say like, "Are we going to try to turn this kid into a star, you know, and um and you know, like he just was so patient." And so, >> I don't know, blessings to Jerelle's memory, I guess. Um, and then the other thing that I wanted to say is I believe we have Janette Luna here who is our presenter. Um, at the state of the student conference, we were just so impressed with the knowledge that they had and everything that they shared. Um, and so we're going to hear about the special um, special education financing. Um just like a point in fact like for example page 118 of our board packet um it says that our our budget will be
020overextended by 5.5 to 6.5 million. You get information like that as a board and just don't know what to do with it. So we are just very grateful to have >> I know what to do >> to have somebody in the room to kind of guide us through these dynamics. >> Mhm. Anyone else? >> Can I just I just want to tell um just in in in speaking about Jerel and honest to God, the last time he and I spoke on the phone, he goes, "Tina, I really miss you." And I'm like, "Boy, that's really funny." I said, "But you're only calling me because you need me to fill a seat at the Martin Luther King event." And we always joked around that way. Honest to God, we've known each other forever. Chloe's 27 for,
021you know, at least maybe about 15 years. But anyway, so the weird part is is that I said to him, I said, you know, I love you too. I miss you, too. And he goes, Tina, I just miss you come over. You always make it a point to make me laugh. I said, dude, I go over there and make you laugh whenever you want. Like now, so like I would just send him random factoids every day just to like really like both get under his skin, but also to get her eyes out, you know, just to make him laugh. But I always had such great memories with him. And I know that he is truly missed as a human, not just as my friend. Um, and I am so blessed because he had such a
022great relationship with all of my children. And that's very rare, right? That that an individual would connect with all of your children in their own unique way. And he too celebrated the uniqueness that was my children. And he always found a way to infuse their not understanding with understanding the bigger point of what was being celebrated or what was, you know what I mean? So that they weren't lost in the crowd. when my kids get overwhelmed in big crowds anyway. He just made it just so so beautiful and his spirit was just so beautiful and I'm really really blessed that I knew him in my life and one day we'll sing again. So >> thank you for sharing it. >> I just have really quick and also Terrell was also my children's uh camp counselor
023as well. Um but uh he was uh honored at the Black History Month um event at City Hall and one of our staff, James Jones, was honored and so was one of our students, Kayn Morgan. So that was awesome. And I also did want to shout out the cheerleading team on their competition friends. >> Absolutely. >> We don't have anybody else have anything. Okay, great. Um we don't have students. uh representatives today. So our next is our presentation of uh school and state finance project to special education funding. >> Good evening. >> Hi. How are you? >> We're great. >> My colleague Erica Haynes is also here. >> So we typically use the podium. >> Okay. >> Just getting comfy. >> We're not super formal, but there's a mic there's a microphone there so the
024public can hear you. >> Perfect. We'll have when you start, we'll have you introduce yourself to the board and then you can take it away. >> Great. Just waiting for >> Thank you for being here tonight. >> All right, let's do this. Um, hi. Thank you so much for having us here. My name is Erica Haynes and I'm the director of community engagement at the School and State Finance Project. >> My name is Janette Luna. I'm a senior data and policy analyst with the school and state finance project. >> So, a little about us before we get started. We're a statewide organization that was started in 2015. Um, we're a nonprofit nonpartisan organization. We focus on collaboratively working with stakeholders throughout the education system and that includes uh students, parents, educators, and elected officials and
025policy makers. um to identify great solutions that support students, schools, and communities. >> So, today we're going to give you all a state levelscape view of who our kids with disabilities are in Connecticut. Um and that'll help us to better understand how New Britain students with disabilities fit within the broader landscape. Um we're going to then jump into how the students are served. So, we'll start with the who, move to the how, um, and then we'll get into the funding piece, and we'll end with what you all can do, um, as a board and community members. So, who are the students we're serving in the state of Connecticut? Um, this graph shows you overall enrollment in the state. As many of you are aware, it's been declining for the last several years. Um, and so
026to understand what's happening with our kids with disabilities, we just wanted to put the framework here that overall enrollment is declining. It's now um as of the most latest numbers released on Ed's site just below 500,000 students in the state. You can go to the next slide please. So despite the overall declining enrollment we're seeing a rise in the number of students with disabilities. >> So that means our percentage of kids with disabilities has gone up substantially >> and we're seeing that across pretty much every disability type besides students who have a speech language impairment. every other disability type has increased over the last uh 15 years and we've seen the most increases in kids with autism, kids who are classified as having it's a state definition but other health impairments. I know it's very
027broad. Um and learning disabilities just to kind of put this in perspective. The number of students with autism has nearly tripled in the last 15 years. Um, and even though they're not as substantial percent increases, we've seen huge increases across other disability categories as well. Uh, we've also seen ginormous increases in the number of students with disabilities across every racial category. So, we've particularly seen percent increases in black students, in students who identify as two or more races, and in Asian students across the state. Um this chart you'll see just shows the percentage of students with disability in each racial category 15 years ago compared to now. So you can see there's a jump between um >> you use ginormous >> it's really really big. Go to the next slide. Um we've also seen um
028>> that this is a national trend but in Connecticut as well students with disabilities are disproportionately male. So, if you're a male student, you're about twice as likely to be identified as having a disability as u if you're a female student. And like I said, this is pretty much the trend um across the nation, but we have in terms of percentages, about twothirds of our students are our students with disabilities are male and about one-third are female. >> Um all of this data is compiled from the state, but it's important to note that these are just students with IEPs. we're missing a huge chunk of students which are students with 504s. Um there is a difference in definition that a lot of people tend to mix up so we put it on the slide for
029you so you have it available. Um but the key difference between students with an IEP and students with a 504 is that students with an IEP require specialized instruction. So students with 504s don't typically um have changes to their instruction. However, they do have similar services that require extra funding that require extra resources and bandwidth from teachers. So, uh that might include students who need separate setting during testing, testing accommodations, extra time. Um they typically have in-classroom supports, but they're often um receiving the same accommodations that students with IEPs are. Um and it's a huge chunk of our students. So if you look at the data there, this data is actually not from the state because there is no publicly available data from the state of Connecticut on students with 504s. This is from a
030separate national database and we only have data up to 2022. But you'll see that the number in the last decade has more than doubled um or and the percentage has more than doubled. So, we had about 3% of the entire population in 2012 who had 504s and over 6% in 2022. And we can assume it's even higher today in 2026. >> Okay. >> I'm doing my German Shepherds. >> Yeah, I noticed that, Barbara. Yeah, >> I um it's documented who's got a 504 within a school district versus an IEP. Correct. So, this >> data is collectable. Yes, >> it is collected. It's just not available for the public to see. So, the state department has it in their internal systems, but we don't have access to see it. >> They don't forward face it. And
031I want to point out that it matters. >> Let's government secret. I mean, I >> indeed it is not a government secret because we can get this data at the national level. Um, but they don't forward face it. And I think over time when you look at that that growth right as we see across um all all sorts of of learning needs and unique challenges 504s in Connecticut are one of the higher growing across the country and and I think that it is um one of the unique challenges that you as board members face um because it's a hidden cost right you're not seeing that um and there are similar requirements to students who have IEPs regarding meeting those needs of 504 students. Um, and over time that growth is is also kind of um
032your budget is tethered to that growth as well. And yet it's not a an identified line, right? You don't see that. You all and your superintendent have to make those choices related to it. Um, and I think it's important to acknowledge that that's happening. It's one of the um, growth opportunities that the State Department has regarding data transparency. >> My head is already gone down the road of modifying ECS and I'm I'm identifying and how many what's my number of of what I've got if I'm not including all. >> Right. >> Sorry. >> Yeah, >> I I do that. He yells at me all the time. >> We'll definitely address that. Don't worry. Um, so that's kind of a picture of who our students with disabilities are across the state. So now we'll talk about
033how they're served once they are in our special education system. Um, so there are large and persistent gaps between our students with disabilities and their general education peers. So what you're seeing on the screen, it might be hard to see and see see for folks in the room, but there's a turquoise line at the top that represents the number or the percentage of students with a disability um who are scoring a level one or the lowest cortile of scores on the math ESPback. The dark blue line on the bottom is showing comparatively the percentage of general education students who are scoring at the lowest. So you'll see a lot more students with disabilities are getting that lowest category in the ESPback. And you would think with the huge increased investment in special education over the
034last several years that that gap would start to narrow, but it doesn't. Even though we've been investing more in special education compared to general education, the academic gaps are still there and they're remaining relatively stagnant over time. We go to the next slide, please. Um this is a similar graph. However, instead of showing the lowest scoring students, it's showing the students who are passing or scoring a level three or four on the math ESPback um assessment. And so the dark blue line at the top is our general education students substantially more passing than our students with disabilities um on the bottom. And similarly that gap has not really changed over time. My head hurts. Um so that was kind of an academic picture. This graph is showing you our student teacher ratios. So uh many
035people are probably aware that we have a teacher shortage but especially a teacher shortage in special education teachers. So, um, back in 2007, the student teacher ratio for, um, special education was about 12 students per teacher, and it has jumped in more recent years to about 14 special education students per special education teacher. And then on the flip side, the general education student teacher ratio has gone down. So even though there's a teacher shortage, it's substantially worse in special education. Next slide. Um, okay. So, I wanted to show some chronically absent data. Again, apologies that it's hard to see that light turquoise line that represents our kids with disabilities um if you're in the room. Um but essentially, students with disabilities are about twice as likely to be chronically absent than our general education students,
036which is obviously very concerning after looking at the academic data. Um, similarly, our kids with disabilities are nearly twice as likely to be suspended as our general education students across the state. And again, these are statewide numbers, not just specific to New Britain. Um, and then lastly, I wanted to finish with some postsecary outcome data. So, this table shows um, college enrollment comparing students with disabilities to general education students and then college persistence data. Um, so the big takeaway here is that our kids with disabilities have remained their enrollment rates have remained pretty stagnant over time. So from about 2018 to 2024, 44% of students with disabilities are enrolling in college. And that number hasn't really changed over the last few years um compared to about 70% for general education students. And then college persistence
037is a term that the state uses. It just means that if they're in college, they then go on to their second year. Um, and the number is again lower for students with disabilities, but it is relatively higher than some of the other metrics we've looked at. So about threearters of the students with disabilities in college go on to the second year. >> Um, now I'll kick it to Erica to talk about how we fund. >> This is the fun part. >> Yeah, >> you get the fun stuff. I get the doom and gloom. Um, well, I I don't know how optimistic I can be here, but I think I think that a lot of times we struggle with this doesn't make sense. And um I can't make it make sense, but I can tell you
038why it doesn't make sense. So, that's what we're going to do. Um, and and we're going to break this out because I'm going to tell you that the state tells us that Connecticut's local public school districts primarily receive special education funding through the ECS grant. Now, we have a separate presentation of school finance 101 that walks you through every element of that. And when you walk through every element of that, you would look at me and go, "That was never mentioned." And I will tell you 100% correctly and we'll talk about that. Um and then additionally the state comes back and funds through reimbursements of excess cost and excess cost is four and a half times the average per pupil spend. When you spend that on one student, you can actually start submitting for reimbursement.
039those reimbursements are not at 100%. And I'll explain a little bit about that. So, in good news, I'm gonna kick this off with some good news, and I think it's really important. This is a significant change. Um, prior to 2025, um, the way Connecticut had no unique funding stream to support students with, um, disabilities, it kept us in a a small minority of states. Um, last I knew, we were in the good company of Arkansas, West Virginia, and Rhode Island. Um, and so last year that changed. Um, and it changed in what they call um the seed grant, the special education and expansion development grant. We'll call it the seed grant so I don't stumble for the rest of the nine. Um, and that seed grant actually um provides additional dollars that that actually are
040intended solely for the support of special education. Um, so we'll talk about this first. I want to start with the education cost sharing formula because the state says it's in there and they say this because in 1995 they said we do not need a separate line item for special education. We're just going to roll it in to our education cost sharing line item. At the time it was roughly $911. Um now they assume that about 23% of all education cost sharing dollars are attributed to to supporting special education expenditures. Um so that was their primary path. I will tell you if we look at the formula and we break out all of the ways we talk about students with needs and the calculation of how dollars come to New Britain public schools, those dollars are
041not part of that. And so it's really attributing your spend to special education but not the funding. And it would be like if if we went to the dollar store, purchased something for a dollar, and right as they were putting that dollar in the cash register, you took it back and you tried to buy another thing for a dollar. Although my son would now tell me that they're not dollars anymore. It's about $2. So, um, shame on me there. But we can talk about how inflation has affected our funding, too, right? So, um, the ECS formula has never included a weight for students with disabilities. It does include a weight for multilingual learners. It does include a weight for for students um, an economic disadvantage, a measure of free and reduced price lunch. And for
042for concentrated poverty, when the number of students on free or reduced price lunch exceeds 60%. But students with disabilities have never been in that category. Go ahead. Um, one of the ways the state has consistently done this, as I said, is through excess cost. And it's that four and a half times threshold that gets you to starting to get reimbursement on your dollars. Um, it's never been 100%. It always ran about 72% or so. Um, and then a couple of years ago, we set tiers tier slides in nursing. No, >> they're not. >> Okay. We said, we didn't put the slide in there because the state has never met these tiers. We all got our hopes up that they were going to reimburse at 91, at 88 or 89, and at like 85 depending on
043community wealth. Um, they set that law in place and have never met that. Typically right around Christmas time, your superintendent gets a letter saying, "Hey, here's what we're expecting reimbursement to be and it is a disappointing amount somewhere uh around 65 to 70%. Um some districts again compare depending on district wealth it varies. Um it's always been an underfunded opportunity. So, it's underfunded in order to meet the tiers and it's wholly underfunded if we wanted to get to 100%. So, in meeting the tiers, we'd need to add about 35 million. If we wanted to get everybody to 100% only after that 4 and a half times, we're actually not talking about anything crazy. Um, it would cost about 68 million. So, I told you the good news is last year we put this seed grant
044in. And the seed grant is a is a new unique stream that is dedicated for special education support. And when they did that, they actually tied it to ECS foundation and said, "We're going to think of this as a 50% weight on the foundation amount." And we all say that sounds amazing. Um absolutely amazing. And it in theory is amazing. Um at a 50% weight though the state funding share would be about 190 million. The state only allocated 130 million. >> I mean 30 million. Thank you. >> So glad so glad you're here. And it's only Monday. Um, so you look at this >> approximately 16th then, >> right? >> They met approximately one sixth of their obligation. >> Correct. And so they're they're not meeting their obligation on the excess cost side of it.
045They're not meeting their obligation on on the direct seed grant and and all of this relying on the back of education cost sharing >> which is fully funded this year for the first time since its initial inception in 1988. So it's 38 years to get that part of our funding to full funding. So when you're feeling these tensions around finance, the these are in a in a frame of the state meeting their obligation minimally or in a phasein period over time while districts are left trying to figure out how to actually fill that gap. >> And I would add that full funding in in quotes is based on 2013 calculations. >> I was just going to say that. Oh, you scare me. Yes, >> you're scaring him, too. >> Yeah, I do. I probably did.
046Yeah. >> Um, so, so looking across what what we're looking at, the the state is is currently providing roughly 8% of the cost to fund special education that is sitting the the remainder is sitting with you all and local taxpayers to fill in that gap. Um so even when we look at okay if we were to take if we were to take that 23% attributable through education cost sharing um they still would only be funding roughly 27% of special education costs. um and and you know the excess cost and then the seed grant all fall so far short that when you're struggling with a budget and I think there are a couple of important things to note when you're struggling with the budget within all of this you do not have the ability to say
047sorry this year is not your year we don't have it in the budget you don't have that flexibility and it is it is different than other budgets in that way both through 504s and IEPs. And so you all and and um generally what we hear are community members not not understanding why there are fluctuations or why it's not predictable. Um and and you know when you graduate a class of 12th graders, you're getting a class of kindergarteners needs are not the same. And so there's a you know such a range in this space and and then the people unpredictability is a piece of it. The funding unpredictability is significant. It hampers your planning and it it hampers you throughout the year as you have to react to different scenarios. Ultimately the question though is what
048can you do? And this is an exciting this is exciting and this is good and actually very timely. So thank you superintendent. Um when we look at at how you engage um we do school finance 101 conversations and presentations. We do them at the board level. We do them at the individual level um in person. Today I did one over the phone and we do Zoom. So, um, encourage people if you don't know all the ins and outs, let us know. I love when I love coffee. So, if you're ever down for coffee, um, I am happy to to sit down with people. Also, pizza is a favorite food group of mine. So, um, truly, we want this information to be accessible to folks. We want people to understand. A lot of times, you know,
049what we hear is we know something's not right, but we don't know what it is. And this is that opportunity. Um, advocacy is so important. I cannot emphasize this enough. Um, for you all as elected officials, I know as a board, you decide your position and and you may speak from that as individuals. And I go back to hearing as I listened to comments earlier, right? You're board members, but you're also parents. You're also community members. Advocacy is essential to to people understanding how you're experiencing it and that you care. And I'm just going to uh place a challenge here. I've been doing a ton of work in the quiet corner. And we have a bill um coming up on Wednesday in a public hearing and we've got a ton of testimony from Thompson, Woodstock,
050Daveville, and North Groves Vinerale. And if you can find that on a map, you are doing well. >> Um I challenge you. It's important and it's important to normalize folks advocating um both for their community and for a perspective because it truly truly matters um at the state level. And so um we make it quick and easy for folks and we are happy um to get that link out to you, but we we can talk to folks about it. We can help factch checkck if you want. And we do have an action center on our website that allows you to look at what's happening, learn about bills, and submit testimony there. Um, most often I think it's hard to figure out where to start, right? And so if we can do that for you and
051then you can change it to who you are, that's a really beautiful thing. It matters. So, if I may, Erica, just to interject for people watching at home, we have our own budget advocacy web page here. It's csdnv.org/budget advocacy where they can find sample letters to both local elected officials and state elected officials and all the email contacts along with our budget documents. >> That's amazing. >> Um, >> that's not why I brought it up. >> I see the challenge and I accept the challenge. um you can reach out directly and even when you submit testimony follow up because sometimes there are hundreds of testimonies submitted reach out to your state representatives say just wanted to you know to make you aware this is an issue that you have an opportunity and I weighed on
052weighed in on so um again if you need help let us know um We have an app um and you didn't have it in the but we have an amazing app and if you go on our website um you can download our app and this app is amazing. It lets you um look at district you can look at district finance demographics and student performance. You can compare districts. You can look down into the school level. Um and and I think that looking at data is super important. Not just because I'm standing next to Janette, but also because um what you think is happening sometimes the data shows you differently. And so I think that's really important. Um and and so stay informed. Get on our mailing list. Get on your own mailing list here because
053I'm seeing it. Um, and make sure I think it's also a a challenge is to normalize this for folks to talk about funding not just one time a year because people run to catch up, but but to really get people comfortable with talking about it and asking you all questions about it in the community. um so that it becomes a normal conversation because the more understanding we all have um the more support for change and and change is still needed in order to strengthen school districts like New Britain. >> If I you guys are amazing because when I first got on and and trying to navigate and figure out this your your info and your assistance has was just been great. So, I do thank you and I thank you for this as well. >>
054As as disappointing and depressing as it can be, it's still very informative and very helpful. Appreciate it. >> Thank you, Barbara. I really appreciate that. And you have our our emails. You certainly can if I will say you can dive down into our website. It is you will spend a lot of time there and that is a good thing. Um, but reach out with questions. Don't hold back. Um, and I also, now I have to own up to it with Janette here, but I also encourage you to ask the hard questions. I enjoy playing a game called Stump the Data Team for community members. Um, and bringing back some of the the questions that you might think like this might be a stupid question. It probably is never um one, it's never a stupid question,
055but it's probably one that stumps them a little too. And I love that. Um, so please do that. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Any questions? Do we all have any questions? >> Any questions? Anyone? >> No. But thank you very much. >> Thank you very much. >> Asia, can you send the presentation to the board as soon as possible? >> Thank you. >> We'll move on to new business. Item A's, approve the minutes from the regular board of education meeting on February 2nd, 2026. >> Any questions? Any petitions? >> Do I have a motion to accept? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. Thank you. >> One abstension. I wasn't here. Sorry. >> Next is uh item B. Review the vacancy list and staffing update. >> Are there any
056questions? >> I do. >> No, no, go ahead. Um I do have one um which has to do with the I think it was on page 18 in the one that we got. Um the parah or paski who uh resigned after three months and the slade middle school teacher after two months. Um I was wondering if those departures are answered in the um the report above. Uh, I think what I'm asking for is more discussion about the the quick turnover of staff at the at Palaski and SLE. >> We can have Dr. Sen present or prepare something for the next personnel committee if that's acceptable. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> No, I I just would like to make a suggestion. Yeah. In reading your weekly notice, I find it um I'm very
057excited about the fact you get to see go for lunch with the students and you meet with the administrators. And what I'm I'm missing though is there should be some meeting with the teachers whether it be a group of teacher a small group of teacher or one of those Wednesday meetings somehow or another. And that should also include too. Absolutely. >> We can add to your schedule. >> So, we already we already do. We we meet with their union representation regularly. So, that used to be monthly, but those those contracts have changed it. That's the union. But there are people who >> don't get to share with them maybe and would come to a meeting and ask question make suggestion and then maybe get some feedback as to why what's happen is happening. You know
058one of the things when I first started teaching the way the schedule was set up we had time to help new people and the way things are now >> you don't have time to help anyone. So any any person coming into the school is pretty much sink or swim unless you have a friend or know someone. So if there's a way that we can make it more of a, you know, where they feel like they're contributing, there's someone they can go to and talk to. And I'm not saying that that has to be you, but I'm just saying if you do. >> Okay. >> Can I just um echo that? I'm just saying that I just need to make sure that you know I have to echo that because my kids are struggling at New
059Britain High School in their special education and their struggle is actually because their their staff is is really don't get me wrong, everyone is is very vocal with me when they catch me getting coffee in the basement at St. Mary's and in Spanish, but they're not talking with anybody else and they don't have anybody else to talk with. And I even when I say well listen you guys have you in leadership that doesn't sound the same that doesn't land the same they need to have somebody they can speak with. So thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else? >> Yeah. The only other thing that I have for the vacancy list um like we did with the budget last year if we can get >> information regarding salary and benefits as we're moving along through the
060budget process. um because that report last year was very helpful. >> Yeah. >> Item C, review the exit survey data. Good morning. Any questions? Thank you. Item D, report of personnel transactions and extra extracurricular activities. Do I have a motion to accept? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Thank you. >> Item E, uh, facilities and IT updates. >> And in the interest of time, I've presented this to you in written format. We can certainly answer any questions, but because we do have a long agenda tonight, we thought we would do it that way. In >> invoices from first student, can we we got invoices? We did receive invoices from her student. >> Okay. >> Mostly correct. >> Casper. >> So, thank you to to Miss Gonzalez and Miss Valerio or Mr.
061Valerio. They they are working on that. um for a student has received my request for uh a reduction or or an elimination of the 6% increase for next year and that'll be a conversation we have with the help of >> ship >> and the app is looking to be relaunched in early March. I I'm sure that's going to be huge for the families. Yes, we are tracking policies over anything within the vehicle and any changes to the 92% my left but parents can actually get access now and hopefully they're buses and not that I hate to I really like to bring up social media but so there was a there's There was a commentary about packed buses and whatever which I'm assuming is being addressed. >> We are within state guidelines and it's we're at
062a point where we have to reduce cost wherever possible and that should be expected. I wish we didn't have to do that but it's a financial reality. I'm I'm again we don't don't respond to any of those things just that issue but that's >> it's actually something that I've mentioned in some of my presentations to parents of okay >> the must buses might get fuller >> um some of the state guidelines for the littlest children say 3% seat we're not currently at 3% most of the time but um it's definitely one of the things that I'll be coming to you as a possible budget change if if the budget news is not Okay. Um, item F, reviewing the enrollment report. As you can see, we continue to trend mostly flat. >> Negative 168 on the
063top and plus 116 on the bottom. But around 9,600 kids right now. >> And this is the school, >> correct? >> Item G, approve revised policy 6145.1, student eligibility to participate in extracurricular activities. >> And this did come up. We did have discussion and thank you to Dr. Gasper for coming up with some language um that we did folks within the committee did have some comments concerns about the old updated policy. So thank you for language >> for us to take a look at. I personally think it's captured everything that we discussed >> at that time but um >> this is now for the full board. We're kind of >> skipping going bringing it back through committee and bringing it to the full board, too. >> I think this is the third time we're discussing
064it. And I just wanted to say thank you to the staff. Thank you to the board. Like the first time we saw it, I had a little meltdown over anxiety. Um, and you know, we discovered that it's not about that. Um, but the the last paragraph, I think, is really supportive. Do I have a motion to approve? >> So move. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Thank you. Next item. H approve revised policy 6146.11 grading and waiting weighted grading for honors classes. >> So for this I'd ask um Mr. Richardson to to come to the podium briefly. So this is something that came up really kind of on a very short timeline. Typically we would of course brought this before the uh policy committee. Um but it is timesensitive as
065we have students who are getting ready to apply for scholarships and getting ready for graduation. Even though the snow is still on the ground, we are getting for graduation. So uh Mr. Richardson will give us kind of a quick overview as to why we're asking for board action on this this evening. >> All right. Good evening everyone. >> Good evening. >> Um >> last year as Dr. Gasper mentioned we approved a policy a grading policy revision for um for our students and this year we ran a semester at the end of the semester we ran the grades for GPA and found that the policy had some errors in it um based on our seniors and their rankings. we needed to make a decision whether we were going to allow last the way we um their
066previous grades and the way we calculated mixed in with the new way that we're doing it would change some of the rankings. And so we thought that was unfair and thought that we should wait or or use the rankings the new ranking system for um freshmen this year and then roll it over with every other grade in the um preceding years after that. So, we're asking to be able to make that change. And I I am I could be joined by our lead counselor, um, Stacy, and our wonderful, uh, representative from MIS, Margaret, if you have any questions about that. >> Questions? >> No questions. >> Again, apologies that it didn't come through the policy committee, but we wanted to take action in a timely way on this one. Okay, since we're rolling right along,
067I got another request. >> Oh, >> so in last year's document, we needed to change A+ because the weights for A and A+ are no different. We never made that change in the document itself. So, we want to be able to make that change as well >> on where? >> So, in the policy itself, >> if you look at page three, >> it's policy. >> Yeah. 45 in your >> pack. >> Sorry. >> You can see that an A and A+ both have the same >> um weights for it. >> And again, this was discussed at the previous revision. >> We just didn't make the change. So, it's it's a clerical error, but it's this brings it in line with the discussions from last time. >> Absolutely. Thank you. >> Motion to approve. Second. >>
068All those in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Thank you. >> Item I, accept donation from CHDI connect to strengthen integration between school and community based behavioral health systems. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Item J, accept donations from the round table group to support the um the the Academy of Business and Finance at New Britain High School in the amount of $575. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> All those in favor? Um, >> item K, approve purchase order between CSDNB and Singer Pitch for replacement of six region bridges at New Britain High School in the amount of $36,86.94. So, >> second. >> All those in favor? >> If I may just clarify, sure. This is coming from a state bid, Miss Gonzalez, Miss Murphy. So, there
069is no need for a competitive bid process on this. >> Thank you. >> We don't have to We don't have to go All those in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Item L, approved purchase order and contract between CSDNB and Imperial Dade LL company for extension of custodial supplies in the amount of $360,500. >> Motion to accept. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Item N, approve purchase order between CSDNB and Dangress Ford for emergency vehicle repair for facilities in the amount of $13,381.3. >> So move second. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Item N, approved purchase order between CSDNB and Power School for renewal of E-Collect add-on districtwide in the amount of $24,465.37. >> Motion second. >> Any questions? >> No. >> All those in favor? >> Any
070opposed? Thank you. Item O, approve purchase order and bid award between CSDNB and Octane Forklifts districtwide in the amount of 14,499. >> So move second. Any questions? >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Item P, approve contract between CSD&B and the Efficacious Educator LLC to provide cognitive coaching for Slate Middle School in the amount of 23,000. >> Motion second >> question >> in that order. >> So, so what's up? So, um, through my SIG grant, um, I had a revision because a big part of my SIG grant was for the math instructional coach at Slade Middle School. However, through waiting for the SIG grant to be approved and the hiring process, we didn't hire the instructional coach until January. >> So, therefore, the money that was slated in my SIG grant for a full
071year of salary for instructional coach, I had um quite a substantial amount for a revision. So based on that, when we're looking at myself and my administrative team, Miss um Henderson and Miss Ortiz, um we manage a lot of things in the building, right? But our biggest focus really should be our instructional leadership. Um and that piece is something that I think each of us really could use our kind of some some time to cognitive coaching is like, you know, coaching your brain essentially. time to sit and talk and have someone look at what we're doing, how we're doing it, how are we giving feedback, how are we supporting our teachers. Um, I had an opportunity to work with Sarah back in 2018 when I filled in as intern principal at the high school. Um,
072and then we worked with her um when I went back as an AP for many years, too. and getting that outside p to being able to sit down with someone with an outside perspective when you're not in the minutia of the day-to-day all the time because Rosa, myself and Malikica collaborate all the time, but we're immersed in the building every single day. So, being able to show someone, you know, this is our our our um our growth plan, these are our goals, this is what we want to achieve, this is what we're doing right now, but how can we do it better? But particularly forest and coming back. >> Exactly. And particularly for this is for our instructional really focusing on our instructional leadership. >> Okay, cool. That's that's it. I I read >> it
073in here. >> I mean, you see I mean $23,000 is is also, you know, >> the dollar am didn't didn't bother me in just reading some of the stuff. I that's what I needed to hear. >> No problem. Thank you for asking. Yeah. What? >> Thank you. >> Oh, you're welcome. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Thank you. Um, next item is Q. Accept the financial report for January 31st, 2026. >> Miss Alan, do you want to give us any highlights of the financial report, please? We don't typically do it at this meeting, but we didn't we didn't have a chance to have an effect, >> right? Y um so this will I'll just try to be really brief. So this is a highlight of our um January 2026 financial report. And
074um on our second page of the uh presentation, I have the expenditure summary uh by category for the entire month. And um I did want to make a few notes here that um if we look at the salary line items, they no longer reflect negative balances. all of those transfers um from the local into the grants have been completed. So now all the expenditures and the budgets are in the correct account codes um since all the approvals came through for our grants. And I do want to make note this is really late in the year. We've never really received our grants so late in the year. So this is why here we are now in February where we finally completed these transfers. Um the next steps are now to realign the benefit. So the benefit
075line items, we're working on those right now. So we'll see a realignment of those as well. And then um after that, what we're going to do is what um already Miss Marino already mentioned prior to our vacancies. Um that's in a slide ahead and I'll and I'll speak to that as well in realigning those dollars. Um, so I'm now in object series 300. >> I'm sorry, that was on page 116. >> Yeah. Okay. Okay. So, um, object object series 300. What we're seeing here is um the uh line items um for facilities, other professional technical services. And I've already been speaking to this in our monthly reports. This line um is trending over budget and we will require a budget transfer at year end. But I also want to make note of the other line
076items um line 53590 and 53591 which are outside subservices line items. And that's what um we had mentioned earlier where that's where our subservices that are covering for those vacancies, that's where the expenditures are hitting. So now that all of our grants and all of those lines have all been realigned, um we will be doing transfers from the salary lines from our vacancies into these accounts. Okay. So um a lot of this um these these expenditures will be covered once we do those transfers. So you do those that's under that's from that that reclassification versus fund transfers that we have to approve. >> No, you will see them. >> Okay. >> You will see them. Absolutely. You do have to approve those and they will be in in the in the financial report. Absolutely. >>
077Gotcha. >> Yes. So then we can go to the object series back. One more. That's that's what we're here. Okay. So, um object series 500, this represents our special education tuition expenditures and as we've been reporting every month, um right now we have approximately $16 million in incumbrances. And again, those represent purchase orders. They are not yet actual expenditures. Um we are trending 5.5 to $6.5 million um over budget at this time. Again, I do want to note that we are still waiting for a $3.6 million um I would like to say reimbursement from the city, which is that special revenue fund and excess cost um should be posted shortly as well. Okay. So, we'll see that offset these expenditures. Okay. shortly. >> And um object series 600. I've been reporting um on this line
078for our last several reports as well. This is trending over budget. We are still waiting for the city to post that capital project reimbursement. Once that happens, this should offset most of this, but we are monitoring this line item. I do think we are going to require a budget transfer at at the end of the year for this line. And um we don't have any budget transfers pending board approval at this time for this month. And um I did want to talk about magnet school tuition just very quickly just because that was part of the governor's proposal and and for a minute there he did propose removing that cap that 58% cap which would have had um an impact on the district. So um I did just want to just briefly mention that um his
079proposal currently now um changed a little bit. So he's proposing a 3% increase. Do you want to go forward um Asia? So, it's a 3% increase in magnet per pupil rates. Um, so this would raise the total cost uh per magnet student. We're not sure what the impact is going to be on the district if this does go into effect because we don't know if the state's going to fully fund it or not. Okay. So, we just don't know yet. Um, then he there was a proposal to remove that 58% cap. um that wasn't adopted in the legislator legislature. Um so again, we're just going to um be aware of that and make note of that and we'll have to monitor that as that go as we progress uh forward. Um there is a CPI
080linked adjustment that may apply beginning um fiscal year 28. Okay. So again, not sure the impact. We just don't know if the state's going to be um budgeting for that or that's going to go um on the district. So the next slide is the multi-year tuition summary. So I was excited about this in that if if we notice for the current year, we did um have a decrease in magnet school enrollment. I know it's small, but it's still a decrease. So we we did decrease six students um in that enrollment. So we are at currently at 777 students. I would consider that a win for us. Um if you notice um year-over-year we've had quite a a big increase you know from 47 students 23 24 we had 74 students that increased the magnet school
081enrollment. So I did think that that was a win for us for this year. >> Okay. So that also maintain our tuition um expenditure um kind of level for the current year. But again, I also wanted to show what the impact would be if that 58% cap were to be lifted. That is a $2.2 million increase in tuition for magnet schools. So we do need to monitor that closely. Um whether it's a CPI increase or a lift of the cap, there is going to be an impact on on on what that cost is for us. Okay. Um, so then what's ahead? Um, so that February 26th meeting has actually been rescheduled to tomorrow, March 3rd. So tomorrow we will be meeting with the board of finance and taxation um at the city and um we
082should be posting that first excess cost grant. And that completes the hopefully a very fast summary of the January report. Any questions? >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. >> Thank you. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? >> We have no items on consent agenda. Uh, do I have a motion to adjurnn? Motion >> to adjurnn. Second. Thank you. >> Thank you everyone.