1-10-22 Groton Board of Education Meeting

001to order at exactly 6:00. Um, first thing on the agenda is to approve the COW minutes from November 15th, which >> was I'll move it. >> Thank you. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Um, >> that's Liz. >> I'm sorry. >> I said that was Liz. >> Okay. I can't remember the word. Everybody votes now. >> All those in favor? >> Oh my god. All those in favor? >> I >> extend. Um. Okay. Good. >> And abstain. >> Yep. Okay. All in favor? Um, now we will discuss the school calendar. I don't know what staff member is going to do that. Will that be Susan? >> Susan's not here. >> Yeah, I see her. She's muted. >> Y, >> we've actually reviewed the calendar. >> You are. >> Sorry. We've reviewed the calendar

002several times and this year's calendar probably most closely um mirrors the learn calendar. And my suggestion was we should keep as close to the learn calendar as possible seeing that um many of our teachers may live in other districts. Many of our students have parents who are teaching in other districts. And the whole reason that we created a regional calendar was to have those start dates that would be in sync. um to also have our end dates in sync to have the regional um professional development both in November and March the same date so we could participate in that and we've certainly gone through experiences with other calendars to suggest that there are things that uh we wouldn't want to repeat you know issues like taking away the October indigenous people Columbus Day um we've

003talked talked about maybe not calling it a particular name. Um, but we also um had added the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and we hear from all our families, especially military families, how wonderful this is to give them the opportunity to visit family. We've also talked about Veterans Day and how important it is for Veterans Day because sometimes that's the day that the military parent is able to be home with the family and it's very hard to get veterans to come out on that day because they usually have really big um things that they're involved in um in in the community at large. So, we're able to celebrate Veterans Day throughout that week and I think we do a really good job. I wouldn't want to take that away. There was also concern about starting much earlier,

004but you need to know that this year, especially now that we have at least one snow day, is going almost to the end of June. And um a lot of work gets done in the summertime and needs to get done. And so we are starting earlier than we had been the past several years. We don't have to start after Labor Day. We can start before, bring our teachers back. So, we're really within a day of starting in the same way that all the other learn districts are starting prior to Labor Day and getting it started in August with our three PD days, which I think is really important for our staff. It allows us to have a convocation to have a faculty meeting and that whole bonding thing happens and you know getting information about

005the new year and it also allows the district to have a PD day with district initiatives and the schools to have their PD days and especially now that we have five intradist magnets at the elementary and we continue to be a steam my magnet at the middle school and have so many different initiatives. I think that this is really valuable time. So that's all I wanted to say is like in defense of where that calendar came together. It was really aligned very closely with the learn calendar. And I know you've had copies of it. Um and I tried to bring out the points that you've been making to answer any questions. I do see Jay's hand is raised though. >> Jay. >> Yeah. Uh just uh one thing I wanted to note is uh heaven

006forbid we're still in session on June 19th, but that is a federal holiday now, I believe. >> Yeah, we have to look into that. Um I definitely will because now that we've had the snow day, we really go into the next week. So I will absolutely check on that for this year's calendar. >> Yeah, but just the the notation that it is Junth. Yep, that's right. >> Just in case we're either in session or or summer school has started. Um other than that, >> summer school typically doesn't start that soon. We usually have a week in between and especially with the um with the special education summer opportunities, but we have so many camps now that we usually wait until beginning of July after 4th of July. >> Okay. And in in terms of the

007idea that came up in the last meeting about just marking everything as a school holiday, I I really don't want to lose Thanksgiving, Veterans Day, Martin Luther King Day, and just slap a generic label on those days. Um, personally, I just, you know, it's these are all on a on a federal calendar, and I just think we should continue to align with that. >> Thank you, Jay. >> That's it. >> Thank you. Any other comments, Liz? >> Yeah. Um Susan, you last um the last time we looked at this was the first meeting with the new board and Bev Washington had asked for some data require about the AP and IB scores and would it be better because the discussion was would it be better to to look at them um look at starting school

008earlier if that would benefit our kids and I realized that this might not this you know our scores last year are probably not indicative of what our scores would be because of the distance learning, but I just want to know if we're going to be getting those um scores at some point so we can have a look at that data >> and then to make for future decisions and um and when that might be >> um we can certainly look at that data like you said it is definitely affected by COVID. You've already seen the ESVAC data and the NGSS and as I said it's not just AP and IB. We we do assessments of our kids and that information is to be used to help us really accelerate learning so our kids will learn

009even more so. So um >> you know we we will certainly have that on the calendar of things to take a look at more deeply. >> Yes, please. And I wanted to second my uh the thoughts that Jay said. Um Columbus Day, I'm not sure if that is considered politically appropriate now. Should it be Columbus Day slash indigenous people's day? So, what is the, you know, what's the national trend on that? >> I would say I've been hearing indigenous people, but I can certainly look into that. >> Yes, please. >> I want to say that I thought a lot about this today. indigenous people in particular, Indigenous People's Day in particular. And I think what would have to happen is that the municipality would have to change that and then we would follow along. Um,

010but that's something Susan can look >> that would be a great liaison topic, wouldn't it? when we pull the new liaison team together because I think Kim has talked to um Jill Rusk and um >> Mr. Melendez and I think they're really looking forward to joining forces so that we can put some really good topics on the agenda to discuss between the three groups. >> Can you um repeat what you said? Did everyone hear what she said from the beginning? >> Yes. >> Okay. It was just me. No worries. >> That's a good idea. >> Just that I remember the Graten um board of ed, town council >> and city council um RTM liaison committee that we have hosted >> at Graten Public Schools. um last year and I I be happy to clarify this

011last year because their task force meeting um was laid on top of the same time frame that it wasn't always well attended but I think the um feeling is that it's something that can be very valuable for us to partner with our other town representatives. >> Yes. Um and some of the this indigenous people's day could be raisedly with the town council. >> Right. >> Any other discussion before we move on? >> Doesn't look like it. >> So, this doesn't get voted on now, but hopefully we can put it on the calendar for the end of January. So, if anybody has any other questions or need, you know, clarification on anything, please feel free to email um Kim or me or you. Um, Cat, and just to see if if there's anything else out there

012that's a question to folks, I'd be happy to answer. >> Thanks for that, Susan. >> Thank you. >> Before we get started with the budget workshop, I wanted to ask the body, would we like first and foremost after the presentation, I would like us to try to keep our questions until the end of the presentation. However, do you want to do that after the bullet elementary instruction or in between each bullet? Do we understand? >> Yeah. I think what when we practiced because I actually reviewed it with Phil and Ken today and we went through each piece like the orientation the prior year review and if he has a couple slides that go along with each of these and you've seen the slides but he can put them up and I think it's good that

013when we're ready to discuss it we then take the slides down from the share and then we can discuss. So, I like the idea. That's how we kind of practiced it, Cat, is that we thought we'd go each bullet and then stop and then take questions there so people kind of can remember their thoughts. What do you think? >> All right. So, that because I've spent time figuring that out, that's the way we're going to do it. >> Okay. I have >> a quick question before we start. >> Yes. >> Can we get a budget book yet? Yes. >> Oh, you don't have your budget book? >> No, I don't. >> Did Does everybody have their budget book? >> Yes. >> Before we went on vacation, it was sent out through our courier. >> Mrs.

014Arman, did you get one? >> Okay. Well, >> um >> I'll go. >> It was It was a white It looks like this. >> Yeah, I just um >> if uh >> I don't see it. So, I'm I'm just going to kind of if if Ken when we get to the different parts, are you going to put them up? >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, if I find it >> Well, no. Let me let me double check because okay, my my office here is in nasty turmoil. That's why it's blanked out behind me because disaster has hit. It's tornado alley back here. >> So Ken, if I can't find it tonight by the time we get off, I'll email you and >> arrange one out to you. Y >> thank you so much and

015I apologize. Um, another thing I would request is that um, you keep your questions as specific as possible so we can keep the meeting moving and we're not here till 9 or 10 o'clock at night. If >> can I also recommend that you put your questions in chat so that I'll have a recording then of all the questions and if we can't get to all of them tonight, I can actually take them and research and respond. That would be awesome. >> Alrighty, Ken. >> So, um uh I think we're going to start off with uh the budget timeline. Um and I'm going to put up the uh latest. So, can you can you see that has >> we can see down to February 3rd. Well, >> let's see. >> All the way across. It has

016starts with Monday, October 4th, and and >> yes, >> 10th, January 10th. We're right here. >> So, I'll scroll up a little bit. Um, so this this was in the front uh pocket of your budget book. Um, except you'll notice a highlighted area right here. Um, there's a there's a change. Uh, instead of uh Monday, February 14th, we change it to Wednesday, February 16th. So, you should have gotten that with your board notes. Um, and I would ask that you replace what's in the board book with this one, the one with the highlighted piece on it, so that uh we all stay on on the same schedule. >> I sent that out with the board notes, the corrected one. I'd also like to have you pay attention to Tuesday, January 18th, because it's coming very

017fast next week to have the public hearing, board of education special meeting, and then our budget work session. And Joyce and Ken have been working um supporting me in putting together the presentation. It's almost ready. I have a couple tweaks and so I'll make sure you get that before the weekend. So you'll have the presentation that we're going to be putting out to the public. So again, if you have any questions, let me know. >> Thank you, Susan. >> And so everything else on this timeline stays the same as it was. It's just that one highlighted spot that changed. I just want to make sure everyone was aware of that. >> And and Ken, all the meetings start at six. >> They do. >> Okay. Um before I say that though, um all the budget

018work sessions start at six. Um I think that we have to confirm that uh Susan as far as the public hearing and and the joint uh meeting. >> I'm going to look at it right now to >> Yeah, I don't want to say that without confirming. Oh, good. You found it, Liz. Good, good, good, good. Um >> yeah, the special meeting regarding the public hearing of the budget is at 6 and then our special meeting regarding the budget work session is at 7 and it will be on Zoom because we've decided to do all of our meetings with the the outbreak the bigger surge of COVID. Uh the next um item I wanted to share was uh the budget development uh schedule which was also sent out on um in board notes. Let me see

019and can can we see that? >> Yes. >> Okay. So this this this is the same schedule um as far as the budget work sessions are concerned but it kind of breaks down what it is we we want to uh accomplish in each of the sessions. Uh so you notice today uh 110 uh we you know we're going over the budget materials. We're going to look at prior year a lot of what's on what's uh bulleted on the agenda. Uh and then next week we'll you know we'll start marching through the uh the function uh pages uh as outlined here. Uh but I just wanted to um go over this and make sure there weren't any questions before moving on. And then the the things that we were going to try to accomplish on Valentine's

020Day, we set aside for two days later so we wouldn't interrupt anybody's Valentine's Day, but it's the same item. So, we just moved it from 214 to 216. >> Um, we also want to point out that on the joint uh uh board of ed, town council, and RTM is on 2222. Isn't that >> Yes, we love that number. You need to play it. to me a numbers lady I thought that's a great number but that's when we meet with town council and RTM education group and that's when we kind of have a a meeting that seems to have worked out really well and we can kind of um we should just look to review um Ken what we had originally um talked about the type topics that we're going to be talking about with the

021joint at the joint meeting. These are the the ones you see on athletics. That's what we're going to talk about in our board meeting. So, we'll make sure you have that page of information that we kind of a historical walk through with them. >> Yep. And and we'll have uh we'll review the CIPs and then we'll also talk about uh any any of the comments that may have come out of the January 18th meeting. >> All right. All right, I'm going to move on to the next but bullet unless you want me to stop here. >> Keep on going. >> So, I thought it might be a good idea um especially with a few new board members uh to just kind of go over what happened last year with regards to the budget. So, and

022this was also in the board uh board notes, I believe. Um, but this is um this is kind of like a uh a history of of what we went through last year. Um, so I'll go through it uh uh you know a little high level and then you can uh um ask any questions. Um so it just for uh information's sake uh the FY21 budget was 77,438090 and the initial budget that was um a draft budget that was presented to Dr. Grineer at the time uh because it would have been October no I'm sorry november December of 20 um it came out at 79829979 which is a 3.09% 09% increase over the FY21 budget. So, we're talking what this year's budget FY22 versus FY21 the year before. Um, doc working with Dr. Grineer and Susan,

023we did work through some adjustments um an adjustment to the site budget. We we removed a piece of snow equipment that um that Sam had in there because we were able to purchase it with FY21. And we also made a very large adjustment to the health insurance reserve because the reserve was was a little higher than it should have been. Uh so we made that we felt comfortable making that uh that adjustment. So on January 14th of 21 uh the budget that was presented uh by Susan uh was 78,268081 which is a 1.07% increase. Uh, of course the the board went through all of the um uh workshops uh just like we're doing now. Uh last year uh we came up with some adjustments uh that the retirements weren't taken into consideration last year. So

024we were able to put those in. Uh there were some adjustments that were made at the secondary uh campus which was um replacing a teacher with uh with a sorry uh replacing the athletic director and removing a teacher uh converting the dean to a assistant principal and converting apex tutor to a full uh teacher. Uh as well as at the elementary school we added that should actually be 0.5 FTE PE uh physical education teacher and and a 1.0 0 FTE for school secretary. Uh so those items brought the budget to uh you know pretty much the same 78,300,000. Uh and then uh through further work, we determined that there were some costs that could be paid for with the SR2 uh specifically one and a half workers um uh remote learning software that was budgeted

025in in the SR2 uh as well as the summer school which was paid uh in full by uh SR2. So we removed those costs from the budget. We also made some further adjustments uh removed travel for workshops that could have that was that were paid for by the uh DODIA STEM grant. Uh we reduced diesel fuel because there were some leftover uh supplies from the year before. Uh we uh decided to fund some of the uh IT infrastructure with DoD supplemental impact aid funds which we've done in the past. Uh and then we also made an assumption that there'd be a reduction in regular education magnet tuitions uh by 10%. Uh that number came in around 9.2%. So it was it was a pretty good assumption. Uh came in uh pretty pretty close to that.

026Uh and then on electricity and natural gas, we assumed that we turn over the uh those three buildings that um that were no longer using over to the town uh quicker. Um so it was an additional uh reduction there. Uh so that brought the um uh budget down to 77,746 765 still a point4% increase. Uh we made a couple more adjustments. We added uh a function for diversity, equity, inclusion uh and funded that with um uh some funds 15,761. And then we uh charged the uh the DoD supplemental impact aid for uh technology costs for 324,000. That brought the budget down to the which uh was a 0% increase over FY21. You can see that one. >> It's always good to have that reminder of all the steps that we go through and it kind

027of prepares us as we go through this journey together that we'll be doing some of the same things looking closely at the budget to see what we can do. >> I'll stop sharing so we can see. But so that that that's just a synopsis of of of what we went through last year. As Susan said, I think I think it is good to understand, you know, what we went through, what we had to uh uh what adjustments we had to make so that we can um uh you know, we can it can help aid uh uh looking at this year. >> Anybody have any questions about that little history walk? >> Great job, Ken, on uh calling the magnet tuition. >> Yeah. >> Well, that that was Susan. Uh and yeah, it was that was

028pretty good. I'd like to see those go down further, but uh it's a good start. >> Yes. >> And we added a couple to our magnet. >> Yeah. >> Per pupil cost. So, so one of the things that we did was the one point nearly $1.5 million reduction to the health insurance plan. And I just want us to know the um to be extraordinarily careful with this and cautious. And you know when we were discussing it, Ken really came up with an awesome visual. And I said to him, I feel like now I really get it. I used to get it in numbers, but now I have a picture representation. So modeling and mathematics is very important. So if you want to bring that up, is that our next place? >> That's a great segue.

029That's awesome. Um yeah, so um health insurance reserve. Uh so um yeah, I did put together this uh uh kind of iteration. >> Can can Joan note that Kim arrived at 6:26? >> And Beverly is here, too. >> Oh my gosh, how did I miss Beverly? What time did you arrive? Did you um notice that Beverly? Beverly. >> Okay. >> I came in about 610. >> Oh my gosh. I'm sorry I missed you. >> Not a problem. >> Thank you. >> All right. >> Okay. Sorry to interrupt. >> I will share my let's see it insurance. Okay. So, uh, the health insurance reserve is really a it's just a um it I I think of it as a container and it it holds it holds funds, holds money. So, I I I think of it

030as I wanted to get a cauldron or something, but this this as close as I could get >> cauldron. >> Um, so that's how I self health insurance reserve. the um there's two inputs that go into the health insurance reserve. There's what's the board puts in uh and that comes through uh the budget and then there's the amounts that the employees contribute and and those are um contractual through the uh the um the uh union contracts uh the amount that they contribute. So those are the inputs. Uh on the output um it's it's claims and admin costs. So it's it's it's the cost of the claims. We're a self-insured plan. So, all claims that come in uh have to be paid through this health insurance reserve. Um, putting aside stop-loss for just a second. And

031then the admin costs, the costs that Anthem charges us to uh to to manage uh manage those claims. >> And that um was in the neighborhood of close to $9 million, right, for >> That's right. Yeah. the last slide and the slide that you received in your board notes uh actually actually gives some figures to this u and we'll we'll get to that at the end actually >> it'll it'll go on >> okay >> a couple of levels to understand in this uh in this cauldron sorry in this um cylinder uh first is it's they call it the corridor and it it represents 25% of annual claims and it's a it's what it's it's basically a safety net if you have a self-insured plan, you have to be able to uh pay for those claims

032that come in and and so it's required that we have a corridor which uh you know it's 25% of annual claims so it does go up and down depending upon the amount of your claims >> but it's red hot so we don't touch it. >> That's exactly right. Um on top of that we have what what we call health insurance reserve above corridor. Um and and this this is the amount that um uh you know we should maintain uh this health insurance reserve uh because if we don't have it there uh then if if we if we don't have enough funds in the account it'll it'll go into the corridor and that's what we want to avoid. So >> it's kind of like the yield sign. >> Yeah. That's why that's why it's yellow, right?

033Although it looks a little bit >> be careful >> ketchup and mustard to me right now. I know. >> Um, and so these are these are the components that I think of when I think of the health insurance reserve. And then the last slide just throws some numbers on what we think FY22 is going to look like as far as what these numbers are. And so you'll see that the board of ed is putting in close to $5.5 million. uh employees contribute close to $2 million and the claims um and admin costs going out we anticipate uh will be somewhere around $9 million. If if if if you add those up um you know uh five and a half and two is seven and a half. So you can see that that claims and admin

034costs are are higher um than the amounts going in. And so what that's having effect of doing is reducing your health insurance reserve above the corridor. And and and this is this is built this is how this is how we built it. And this is how we uh um you know we purposely did this. This is that's the one half million dollars that we took out. Um >> yeah, the seven and a half from the nine gives you the one and a half that we took out. >> That's right. >> And it didn't get filled back up again. Although at the end of the year we did try to be responsible citizens and pay back what we did have at the end towards this um and OPED but it was a drop in the bucket

035compared to what we had put out. >> Yeah. I mean, it was a substantial amount of money. It was $100,000 that we put in here at the end of last year. Uh um you know, but unfortunately when you're looking at, you know, balances of of what was it? Three three and a half million is what we anticipate the end of this year to be, it it has an effect, but um you know, you need more than that to to impact this. Um, >> so I guess the moral of the story is we can't keep taking from this fund and we have to really ensure that we have it at a good healthy rate. So in any and Kenneth and I have discussed this, if we do have endofear unexpended funds, I would like to be

036able to fill this bucket again with whatever we have. >> Yeah, it's definitely good use of funds. uh it's appropriate and it's and it's um um it's warranted I believe. Um so that that's that's health insurance um reserve. Um OPED if you want to look at OPED uh it works in much the same way. I'll stop for a second. I'll share. So OPED is um other postemployment benefits. So, a a um an employee that leaves our employee, if they still have um uh the ability to uh utilize our benefits, uh we have to have a reserve on hand to uh to fund that. Oh, and this one starts Oh, golly. There we go. I wanted to start in the same place. Um so, this one starts, it's the same thing. It starts with an empty

037empty cylinder. contributions go in from the board of ed. Retirees make contribution. This one actually uh the uh teachers retirement board also makes contributions. Um so there's an extra input here. Output is the same claims and admin costs just uh just like on um on the uh health insurance reserve. Uh but OPED doesn't have that corridor. It doesn't have the minimum. Um uh basically we should be funding it so that it it grows to a point where uh you know it can absorb um if claims and admin costs happen to exceed uh the inputs. Um and then here's a here's a representation of uh of the numbers that we think FY22 will end up at. And this shows uh that it we'll have a reserve around $2 million. Uh the reserve was around $1 million

038at the end of 21. Um we are um does that make sense? Yes. Yeah. So it's it's approximately uh one two three five million going in. Five million >> no three >> three three >> three and four two four coming out. So yeah it's it's it's increasing by about a million. Um, >> but you were telling me, um, when we were discussing this, Ken, the interesting thing is we really, back in the day, a few years ago, you know, Mike and I were saying, "What is this OPED?" We were all saying, "What is this?" And, you know, we were minimal at best at contributing. Last year, I think you said we got it up to a million and this year we're up to two million. Is that right, Kim? >> That's right. Yeah. Yeah. When

039I started >> So, we're we're steady steadily gaining on this one. >> That's right. Yeah. So, that that is a quick uh down and dirty on on oper. >> Does it make a little more sense to folks seeing the pictures? Looks like Matthew has a question. >> Yes. If I'm understanding correctly, Ken, if this year, God forbid, we had expenses of 20 million, then that would mean that the reserve the the the red reserve at the bottom would have to be 20% of that and then we would try to get another 20% above that if we were able to. I'm just not picturing a scenario, just just the math of it. >> Yeah. Yeah. Math mathwise correct. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and and I guess maybe one other thing to talk about is that that

040we do have a um uh we do have insurance uh in a way uh that that that guards against that kindic um >> uh claims. We have what's called a stop-loss policy >> like reinsurance. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, we we have an insurance policy. So, if it goes above the the current level is 200,000. If any one claim or claimment goes above 200,000, um the the insurance would would uh would kick in and and the insurance company that that we get our um stop loss through would uh would would would pay for claims above that uh above that level. >> And we monitor it really closely every month to just to see how we're doing. And it was interesting last year, maybe even the year before and this year, we've been under what we were

041expecting, but it it I keep saying people are going to get back to the doctors and some of those other um treatments that they might need that, you know, at during COVID we weren't really able to, you know, follow through with. Any other questions about the health insurance reser reserve or op? >> Great. >> I anticipate we'll be talking about it again, but I wanted to give you an idea of um where it was at and and um and and provide that uh that graphical representation to if if it helps helps you to understand it. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um the next slide is um it's we provided this last year. This was the uh salary reconciliation uh slide. And uh what this what this one does is the biggest um biggest expense

042for for the district is uh is salaries or payroll. And so if we can understand how that's changing and moving, then you know, we go a long way towards understanding, you know, why we're seeing the increases that we're seeing. And so I put this together last year. It seemed to work well. Um hopefully it's on your screen and you got that in your board notes. Uh but basically what it does is uh down at the bottom you'll see it says FY22 budgeted payroll 50,164 323. That was the budget of payroll from from last year's uh last year's budget. Uh this first column is, you know, what we're adding what we're adding to payroll this year. So going from last year's budget to this year's budget, what has been added? Um the the biggest um uh

043drivers here are contractual uh and non-contractual salary increases that we're seeing. teachers being, you know, they're the biggest part of our of our salary and uh per their contract, we are anticipating an increase of somewhere around 960,000 uh from last year. um uh the you know and then we go through each of the each of the contracts, the administrators um uh the paras custodian secretaries uh the administrators and uh clerical and the other non-union uh workers that we have. Uh but then this this bottom one is a new one this year is we're we need to address the minimum wage um that is uh increasing it's increasing to Help me out, Lori. >> 15%. >> $15, but not until >> $15 >> June of 24, >> right? >> However, uh with the market uh the

044way it has been for for u the positions that this is impacting, um we needed we needed to make an adjustment uh sooner rather than later. So we we went through a process uh over the past couple months, Lori identifying the folks um and and calculating what the impact would be. Uh and so this 253,000 is the fullear impact of of applying uh the minimum wage now versus waiting till it uh it raises to 15. I think it's June of 2024. So this year we found it in our funds because we haven't had been able to hire all the staff because we haven't had some of these competitive wages and it's been really hard on us. Um so we are going to be paying for half a year starting in January till June and then

045this is the full year. >> Yeah. with the >> FY23 >> the assumption that we have all these people on staff which I'm hoping by uh by this by this time we do have everybody back and and we have full force. Uh so the the impact is going to be that 253,000. So total salary increases is uh is uh 1,524,000. Uh then we did add some positions to this uh to this budget. Uh, and I think we've talked about this before, but there's the elementary school assistant principal um, basically for um, Themes River and Mystic River. Uh, there's the 1.0 FTE school secretary for the same those same schools because they're such larger schools. Uh, we did have to add an elementary school teacher um, this year. So that's reflected here because it wasn't in

046last year's payroll. We did increase the uh the American Sign Language teacher uh from a 0.5 FTE to a full 1.0. So that's the increase of a 0.5. Um you'll see it it's it's it's it's a rather large number, but we went we we we hired a a top step teacher. So we um that's what that's why that number is as large is. And then uh the athletic trainer uh we we would typically we have typically gotten our athletic trainer uh from a third party. Um but uh we're having trouble uh securing that uh in that um there there's nobody um we can't find anybody to to to fill that role. So we we went out and and found our own athletic trainer. Um, so you'll see an increase here in salaries, but you're going

047to see a corresponding, maybe not the exact same amount, but a corresponding amount, uh, decrease on professional fees because we would no longer have to pay a third party. >> And I would say one of the big assets to that is that this athletic trainer will be the athletic trainer for both Grant Middle School and Fitch High School, where in the past the contract was just for Fitch High School. >> That's right. Uh so total positions adds another 34 uh added positions adds uh 340,545. So total additions is 1,84864697. Uh there were some reductions. We do have six retirements. Uh and when uh we have a retirement, we we would typ they're typically higher step um uh teachers and we would hopefully uh replace them with um with with uh teachers that are uh on

048a lower step. Uh so thus saving uh the district um the differential. We estimate that to be,000 and so for six retirements, we're anticipating a reduction in salaries of about 180,000. And there was one position that we uh removed uh an ELELLL teacher, English language learner teacher uh that is has been funded by the alliance uh district funding. Uh so that's that's an additional reduction of 55,000. Uh so if you take last year's budget, you add the 1,864, you reduce, you take out the 235,000, 51,000 51,794 is uh is the budgeted payroll number for FY23. No, take that down. >> That's a lot to take in. >> Yeah. And hopefully you also have that uh the page that we sent along in board notes. >> If you remember, we were really looking at cost avoidance

049with closing three schools and opening two. So we had four administrators originally and we thought we could go down to three, but it's really showed that it's almost impossible with the um preschool. And I can let Phil talk to this because he's really overseeing the elementary. So, Phil, if you'd like to >> chime in here about the needs at the elementary school level, that would be terrific. >> Sure. And yeah, I've been meeting with the elementary teachers. I meet with them uh bi-weekly at a few extra times a month and and I've been working especially with Jamie and uh Giardano and Steven Wheeler uh at the new buildings. Um, you might remember I think I well I know you all received in the uh it was I checked back it was the December 12th board

050notes um sort of an outline from each principal um as to um you know the size of the school, the number of students that have IEPs um and the different programs that are happening at these schools and and um each of the schools has a um you know a little over 520 students a piece about you know they're averaging about 135 um students with IEPs. Um we have the K1 Academy uh and the 23 Academy in uh Thames River. Um and the uh the ABA district programs at at Mystic River as well as the uh you know integrated preschool and the preks. So a lot of different programs under the under the are being housed at the at the new schools and um you know working with them. They're just, you know, right now throughout

051the year, they've been acting really as building managers. And we want to, you know, we think this position um will help them getting back to be what they're supposed to be, which is the instructional leaders of the school. Time in the classroom, time to evaluate teachers and to lead um lead instruction. Um so, I'd ask you to to look back on on those. I could resend them out if if uh if some of you did not receive them. Um I'm not sure who was on the email at the time. Um again it was it was December 12th it was dated. Um so we can look back and send >> we could add that to our board notes so that they'll have that. >> Absolutely. We could we could send that out again. But it's just

052>> so the reduction from four to three while we've kind of gotten our way struggling our way through it this year. We really feel that they need that extra support. So, >> I think there's a question. >> Steph, you had a question. >> Steph, you're muted. >> Yes, I do. Um, so the American Sign Language teacher, she's working a half a That's a half a position and you're paying her $72,000. Um, no, I can um I can uh hopefully um answer that. So, in last year's budget, FY21 budget, we had a half of a uh FTE already on the in the budget. Uh this was a this was a um teacher at the beginning of their career. Uh so we replaced her with a with a with a full-time 1.0. So it's an increase of

0530.5. Uh but we're but this is a teacher that has more experience and and has a has a is on higher step on the on the contract. >> So she's actually not half she's actually 1.0. >> Right. >> Correct. Correct. >> Right. Okay. And my other question is what positions are minimum wage positions? >> Um the there's quite a few. Um well, it's any position that was uh below the $15. Uh so we did have some power positions. Uh we have some aid positions. Um uh >> I think even custodial >> uh I don't not too sure. I don't think the custodian um No, I think they were all above the $15. Uh but it was mostly the aids and and the uh some of the paras. Uh some of the terrors were above uh

054but for the ones that were below we we made an adjustment for those. >> Okay. So when you said aids uh you're talking about um uh recess aids or you talk about classroom aids >> and kindergarten aids. Yes, Beverly. That's exactly >> School bus aids >> program staff for for programs like Treehouse and um adult education support staff. It was a lengthy list >> and and those are the people we've really had a hard time hiring. So, we really are in need especially in the pair professional ranks. Um and it was important though that when we set out to do this and negotiated it with the um union for the paras. It was important that everybody felt like they would have a win in this so that even when you bring on new people at

055this new $15 rate, others were also making some gains as well. >> No, I'm not against the raise. I'm for the raise. I think I think they should at least get $15. I would be probably in favor of more money for them. Um but $15 definitely should be what they get. Thank you. >> Thank you, Bev. if you could lower your hands so I don't call on you again. And does anyone else have any questions before we move on? It looks like Liz has a question. >> Yeah. Um, didn't we um Ken or or Lori, didn't we send out or didn't we, you know, when we first talked about this back in the fall, didn't we have a listing of um that grid or something that you had put out? Maybe because of the new

056board members, they didn't weren't here at that time. We should that should go back out so that the people can see what that's happening was there. >> We can add that. That's a great suggestion. Liz, >> you want to add it to a board note, Susan? >> Yeah, board notes. >> All right, we'll get that >> grid of >> because I think part of that grid shows how we did little adjustments I think for everybody. Yeah. >> So, you know, because we talked about that extensively, I remember. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Liz. That was a good suggestion. Anyone else? >> Matthew, >> thank you. Ken, could you give me a clarification? Did the salary chart that you showed include or exclude Esther funded positions? Um uh the the the salary schedule I

057showed uh excludes esser esser uh funded positions. This these are all positions that are that are funded uh by the board budget. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you Matthew. Okay, one final call. Any other questions? All right, then let's move on to the next um bullet point. >> All right. Um, so the next thing and it and it kind of goes along with orientation uh but uh uh we thought we would go over uh the object code and it's the one that is found on in your book in the front pocket. Um it's it's um I'll get one as well. So, it follows along with uh the uh the red section in your book, but it it gives some comments as far as um what um the reasons why uh we're seeing the

058the changes in those particular object codes. So, I I can share this I hope. Um there we go. All right. Can everyone see that? Is it is it big enough? So, this should this should correspond to it's called supplemental-1 through supplemental dash 8. And it and it's our object code um uh report uh but it's it's it's made a little bit bigger. And then as I mentioned on the right hand side there's comments as to what's what's driving uh the changes uh uh in in these accounts. Um, and so I I I'll go through this uh and then we can uh then we can circle back uh if there's any uh questions. >> This was one last year that we we did um that Mike and I actually started with Ken. And I think the

059board really appreciated because when we go through and see some high percentages, we'd say, "Oh my goodness, what's going on?" And we'd ask that question each and every time. And this way the comments kind of tell us what's going on. and you know even with some reductions you know and and decreases. So this was I think very helpful and I think it's helpful for the community as well. >> Uh so uh the first section is is salaries. Uh and we have uh the first section is administrators. Uh and so we do see a uh a 5% increase on the district administrators. That's object code 105. Uh this is being driven by um uh uh both competitive hiring rates as well as full years uh for some of our administrators. We did uh we had a

060couple new administrators start the over this past year. Uh and so that's what's driving that. >> Does it also include the elementary addition of the elementary principal assist? >> Well, I was looking at just line 48. Um, you're right. That's included in in line 53 in the total, but uh line 48 is just the uh the district administrators. >> Oh, okay. >> Is is our principles uh and that's a 2.1% increase. We had the same principles year-over-year. So, that's just a contractual increase. But, uh you're talking about line 50, Susan, uh which um is both the contractual increase uh as well as the addition of the assistant principal that we we talked about in the previous slide. Uh so that's driving an 8.8% increase uh there. Um a contractual increase for the curriculum coordinators. Uh

061we no longer have a dean. Um and then uh under athletic director it, you know, it's showing a 10% increase. We budgeted at at the dean salary, but uh in actuality uh we ended up paying uh uh higher than that, 138,000 versus 128. So when you look uh budget year over budget year, it's it's a 10% increase. Uh but total for uh administrators a 6.1% increase mainly being driven by the addition of the uh assistant principal at the elementary school. Um next is the the teacher salaries. Um and so the uh classroom teachers a 3.1% increase which is uh mainly um contractual increase but there is that added 0.5 FTE um ASL teacher as well as the elementary school teacher that we spoke of in the last slide. Um the special ed uh certified teacher

062they don't all necessarily go up by the 3.1%. Uh it's all dependent upon the the which what teachers are in each group and where they are within the steps. Uh so um um you know they kind of run the gamut here, but overall it's it's about a three uh 3% increase. Um you'll see summer schools is blanked out because that's being covered by the actually I should say ESSER 2 and ARPser. Um so there there is no charge to the uh to the board budget um for next year. Um let's see tutors uh we have a contractual increase in there for them um per per their per their contract. Uh the coaching stipens um we actually per the uh contract we um we we didn't actually settle on what the new stipen mounts are. That's

063something in I think it's the March time frame. Uh so we put in a placeholder of 2% increase for the stipens. Uh but um looks like they went up two and a half% because we added in um a wrestling uh at the middle school. Um so that increased it a little bit more. uh the non-certified aids. These are the the aids that we talked about before, the the the kindergarten aids um as well as the PARS. A line 65 is the Paris. Um and you'll see that that went up by four and a half%. So there's there's some contractual increase, but there's also the impact of the minimum wage in there. And that'll affect most of the people in in this group. Uh you'll notice on line 67 other aids is going up uh by

064by an astronomical amount. That's where we put the um that's where we put that athletic trainer uh for lack of a better better spot. Um and so once again is an increase here, but we're going to see a corresponding decrease on the other professional fees uh in a second. Uh substitutes uh are kind of kept kept rather steady. Um we we we are funding quite a few uh substitutes through the uh ESRE 2 and ARPser. Uh and so um we think that we can um keep this steady um just a small 1% increase um while we uh work through the the funding um at the from Esser 2 and ARBs. Uh clerical is uh it it shows a 4.1% increase. so that there's a contractual increase in there. Um, as well as adding that 1.0

065FTE for the uh for the two new bigger elementary schools. Uh, custodial maintenance and techs. Um, they uh that's a contractual increase in steps. Uh, you'll notice that the technicians actually look like they didn't increase at all. That's because we had three retirements uh this past year out of the technical staff and we were able to replace those at lower rates. So, it had the effect of uh of no increase year-over-year. Uh and then u security and supervision, these are the security guards at the the secondary schools. Uh we put in a 2% increase. Uh so overall uh I don't know if you remember, but from that previous schedule, there's that 590 uh sorry 51,794. That's that's that number uh that we uh that we got to. Uh and so that's that's a 3.2% 2%

066increase and we talked about where we got where that 1.6 million came from. Um let's see the next section is benefits. Uh you'll see that we put in a 5% increase 5% increase in claims. Um um as we as we spoke of uh we we need to continue to fund the health insurance reserve appropriately. uh we are being told from our uh insurance um um consultants that we should expect increase in claims of around uh 5%. Uh and so that's that's what's driving that uh workers comp and town pension. These numbers come from the town. We don't actually have those numbers yet. Uh but we put in placeholders of one and a half and 1% for the two uh two sections hoping that will be sufficient to to cover those. We we'll get those hopefully

067over the next 30 days or so. Social Security and Medicare driven by the uh by the salaries above. Um and uh so it's a a 4.2% for both Social Security and Medicare. Uh other employment benefits. Uh we did we did show you that we were anticipating um uh retirements uh six retirements. Uh and so as stated before, we anticipate saving around $30,000 per per uh retiree. Uh but at the same time, we have to pay out uh per their contract uh a severance payment. And that that we approximate that around 15,000 per uh retiree. And so we're we're anticipating that that will cost around $90,000 next year uh to pay those uh severance payments. uh unemployment. Uh it it um now that we're past the uh the the COVID, you'll see the last year$120,294. Now

068that we're past that, um we should go back to our more normal uh amount. We anticipate that 40,000 should be sufficient to uh to cover our cost of unemployment uh insurance. Uh tuition reimbursement. Um a small increase here. uh the teacher and residency fees get charged through here and so that that's what's driving that increase. Uh so overall uh total benefits going up by 5.3% or a little bit over half a million dollars. I'm just going to keep on going and then at the end we can we can circle back. Is that that what we want to do? Uh purchase services. Uh so these are first the top one is instructional services. So these are this uh these are the services we get from like project O and um um I can't think of uh

069uh the Mystic Seapport. Uh so when we go out and we have instructional services uh provided uh to us instructional improvement services is when uh we're getting somebody to come in to give the uh teachers uh uh uh uh ways to improve their uh instructional um services. Um and so uh between >> we actually found out some good news through department of defense education activity fund that they are accepting as part of sustainability to be able to use the funds into the following year. So we can have a service like the new perspectives in mathematics context for learning mathematics continue with us for the following year and provide the PD um and not and then we wouldn't have to cover it in operation costs. So that'll be help us with our sustainability and we have

070the funds in that to do it. Um, under professional services, you'll notice uh not line 98, but line 99. This is where the athletic trainer um is being so is uh is is no longer being charged here uh because it's up in salaries. So, you'll see a reduction here of uh uh of it's a reduction of 40,000, but it but it's being reduced by uh items going the other way. Um and then uh computer network services are are up. Um you know this this is the cost of providing um internet and network services to uh to the to the district. Uh so we're anticipating an increase there. Overall for total purchase services we're we're expecting to be about the same as it was uh this year. A little under uh $2 million. Um a small

071small small decrease. Uh property services. So the these are services to maintain uh the properties. Uh water and sewer. Uh we anticipate, you know, we have less buildings, but we anticipate the the usage to be similar as what it was with the the larger number of buildings. Same with trash uh removal. Uh we're still going to have the same amount of trash to remove. Uh snow removal. We've had a couple of really good years the past two years. Uh I I don't know how long that's going to continue. >> Had to call my first snow day. We'll see what happens this weekend. I'm hoping it falls on the Martin Luther King weekend, the snow day. >> We still have to clean it up though, so >> I know that's true. >> No snow. So, we're

072we're keeping it steady at 50,000. Hopefully, that's uh that's sufficient uh this year and next year. Um repair and maintenance, uh pretty pretty flat year-over-year. Uh that's just uh reflection of of you know, we have newer newer buildings, so hopefully not as many things to repair. Um and then under rental um the the main driver under rental is our copiers, our leased copiers and uh which we use for our centralized printing um system. And as we move forward and we know the exact number of copers that we need, we're refining that number. And so uh we think we can um reduce that budget to 123,000 next year. So again, we're we're looking at property services and we anticipate that to be sim very similar to this year uh 843,000 versus 848 last year. Um so

073very very similar year-over-year. Next section is transportation, insurance, communication, and tuition. Kind of a hodge podge. Um this the first section lines 126 to 130. This is transportation for our students. Um, and you'll notice that uh 126 and 127 are up well they should be up uh in in total by 3%. Uh that's this is the last year of our contract with STA, Student Transportation of America. Uh and it called for a 3% increase uh in rates in that last in that this final year. Uh and then we put in a placeholder of a two and a half percent increase on curtain uh costs as I anticipate those would go up especially with the increased cost of uh of fuel. Uh transportation other um this is down this is field trips athletic trips uh they're

074both down by approximately uh $9,000 each. Uh so that's driving a decrease uh just less less field trips happening. Uh yeah, this comes through the uh the principal's um site budget uh reports. So that that's what drives it. They're putting in what they anticipate spending and so it comes through here. Um transportation for staff um um it's uh the education and admin are are kind of flat. You'll see that travel conferences is up. We we've had a couple of years where we haven't done much travel. Um but we uh you know we anticipate my and and other uh areas where um where you know if if we have the opportunities to to go it may make sense. Uh we still um um recommend that we we do the webinars or the the distance but uh

075sometimes it makes more sense to to go in person. So that's what's driving that number. Um liability insurance is is anticipated to go up. We have three brand new buildings. So, uh liability insurance is based upon uh the cost to replace >> value. >> Yeah. And so with these brand new buildings, it's just uh it's driving these up um quite a bit. Um so um we're anticipating a 10% increase in our liability insurance premiums. Um and that's what's driving that. Uh under communications, we do have a new phone system in place and it's also has uh a new uh a backup. Uh so, you know, we've had troubles in the past where the phones go down and we're not able to get through. We have a system in place now so that uh that won't

076happen. Uh problem is those that backup and and the new services it it it costs uh it costs a little bit more. So, we're anticipating an increase of 23,000 uh under telephone, which is it's a 35% increase. So, it's it's it's a good increase. Um and then, let's see, minority um recruitment. Uh these costs are uh covered by the alliance district funding next year. Uh tuition, special education tuitions. Um um so we do anticipate an increase in the vocational and magnet school uh costs of about 2%. Uh but if we assume the same number of students as we have this year um we could probably expect to see a slight decrease. Uh as far as the placements uh one uh line 152 and 153 these are you know somewhat beyond our control because uh if

077a student needs to be placed uh they need to be placed. Uh so you know we have a we have a pretty good budget in there now. Two two and a half million for board of ed placements and 600,000 for state placements. Um you know uh we've come close to that these past two years. So I feel pretty uh uh pretty comfortable that we probably spent somewhere close to um close to these these uh budgeted placement amounts uh in the next uh in the next fiscal year. I think some of the savings you see in special ed vocational down 10% is also because having the transition academy right at central office and having all the opportunities that we've been able to give kids we've been able to keep them in district and that can be

078said too for other programs that we have in the district. Um you know just really trying to make sure our kids can stay in district when at all possible. >> Yeah. Yeah. definitely has a has a positive impact on our numbers uh because not only is it the tuition but it's also the special education services that these students cost >> um and so that that's added on top >> uh tuition other is regular ed students as well as adult ed um you know if we anticipate the same number of students uh this year next year as we have this year uh we can probably uh anticipate a small increase here um um estimated Yeah. Uh just about just about flat, but um flat to the budget, but uh increase over what's actually going to happen

079this year. >> Well, and we don't have any control when Learn or New London decides to increase those tuition costs. >> Yeah. They've already told us that they're going to increase >> 2%. >> Yeah. So, we've got that built in here. Uh so, overall for that entire group, uh an increase of uh one and a half percent, but it's it's a it's a big base. So, it's an increase of 173,000. Um under supplies uh once again these are driven by the by the principal's um site budgets. And so what you're going to notice is an increase in general supplies but you'll notice as we go further down that's a decrease in um in textbooks uh because there's more online resources. So, um they put more um uh funding up here in supplies um you know

080in the various ones a decrease in science supplies and you know they go up and down. Um overall for just regular supplies, a $42,000 increase. I'll point out line 177, which is food. Um that's being driven by uh we do we do um fund any any lunch liability that's unpaid at the end of the year uh in the uh in the cafeteria program has to be funded by the board of ed. And so, you know, for FY22, um, we're not charging the students, but it's anticipated that in FY23, we may start, uh, charging students again. And so, there may be unfunded lunch liability that we have to cover. And so, that's what's driving that increase in there. Um, under computer supplies, there's a decrease on on line 180. This is, uh, we had HP printers

081um, at all the school locations. uh that lease has ended and we didn't renew. Uh so that was a savings to the district of 43,000 and we're utilizing the copiers that we spoke about earlier uh as a centralized uh printing solution um throughout the throughout the district. um software. We have a small increase in year, a small $9,000 uh dollar increase. Uh but it's being offset by the fact that we're covering some of these costs through uh SSRE 2, ARPser and um and the DoD supplemental impact aid. And >> I just want to add that um Tom and Phil have been working on a usage um and you know and survey so that we can look at what we do have and try to streamline it. We had purchased a lot of things. A lot

082of things we got for free but then we were purchasing um when we were totally remote learning. So, taking that aside, we're we're really they're really doing a wonderful job and can present to the board about their findings to reduce some of those costs >> and that's ongoing. We review that on a weekly basis. So, >> yeah, I agree uh that that that's good work happening there. And just so we're we know that this software covers both the the learning software as well as the just the um um >> management >> software like P school and and the financial software that I use. That's all comes through this line. Um, electricity and heating. Um, you'll see on line 186, it looks like, uh, it's pretty flat year-over-year. Um, we we we did have to, uh,

083carry three those three buildings that we're going to turn over to the school, uh, turn over to the district, uh, the town. Um, and so we're anticipating that happen. So, we should see electricity about the same year-over-year. Uh even with the reduction of those three buildings, uh we will have a full year of the new buildings on the natural gas. Um uh all all three of the new buildings are are are heated through natural gas and less heating oil because the buildings uh that we're turning over are utilize heating oil. So we we'll see less usage there. Uh so a small increase uh $66,000 increase uh year-over-year. Uh the cost for diesel we anticipate go up almost $10,000. Um and that's just that's just a result of the fact that the price for gas diesel

084is is going up. >> Um here are the textbooks that I alluded to before. So this is a reduction in in textbooks because they're utilizing more online resources uh textbooks, workbooks. um a slight increase on on the library books but uh for the most part uh as far as books are concerned it's it's a decrease of 28,000. Um, as far as facility and maintenance supplies, um, you know, there's some reductions in here, but, uh, we we we'd, uh, we underbudgeted, uh, the custodial supplies last year and, uh, so we we we have increased that one, um, uh, let's see, uh, almost 15%, $20,000, uh, so that we have the sufficient amount of supplies for custodial. So the total increase for facility and maintenance supply is 14,000. other supplies. Um these these go um up and

085down. You know, I I'll just go through them so you understand what they are. Uh sports services, guidance, improvement in instruction. So the these are supplies that support those programs. Uh because they're not really a classroom supply and they're not a um they're not a um an admin supply. Uh that's what 205 is. There's an increase there of uh almost 5%. audio and visual supplies. That's an increase of $3,500. This is to support the uh audiovisisual at the buildings as well as um as well as that central office. And and with the additional um usage of of Zoom and all um u we're finding we need more more supplies in that regard. General admin supplies uh pretty flat down $500. School admin supplies up $1,600. um professional materials. These are materials that um that either

086teacher or or admin uh would get to help support um support um um um uh uh the work. Um oh, there's actually a decrease on that 16%. Uh so overall supplies is a small increase of 11,267.4% increase over over the prior year. Uh all right well home stretch here. Uh we've we've got equipment >> seventh inning stretch. >> We got equipment. Uh so instructional equipment we do have an increase in total increase for instructional equip equipment shows 46% which it's a big percentage but it's off it's off a low base. So off of $67,000 um we we're anticipating increase of $31,000. Uh so it it looks like a bigger increase. Um it's being driven by uh a couple of things. We we had an update to the piano lab. We're looking to upgrade the teched

087computers at at the high school and then also uh add uh a Mac portable lab for multime multimedia classes at the at the middle school as well. So those are the things that are driving driving that increase. uh non-instructional. We're we're actually not looking for an increase uh flat year-over-year. Uh that $10,000 is for um just some facilities equipment. Uh so in total uh equipment up 40%. Uh year-over-year, $31,000. Uh as far as dues and fees, uh somewhat flat. The the driver here is under line 223. Other dues. We did agree in the last teacher contract that we would pay for the uh SLP license. That's speech and language pathologist license licenses. Uh and that's going to run uh like $2,800. And that's what's driving that increase. Uh so in total it's uh 2,355,08 or

0883% increase. Done. >> Shoo. Yeah. I'll stop sharing. There we go. >> That's a lot to take in. >> Does anyone have any questions? I don't see anything in chat. Let me see if I see anything hands. >> No. >> And and just so you know, we we'll be going all over all of this in >> Yeah, we'll go into detail, >> but that's like an overall top down type of a look. Mhm. >> All right. I see Liz's hand up. >> Yeah. I I Susan Ken, when is the building scheduled? When are those building scheduled to be handed over? What's the the status on that? >> Well, I know that um Sam has been working really hard to clean them out and anything that had needed to go to the schools has already gone

089been gone through. The town and city has looked through the schools to see if they wanted to absorb any of the leftover materials and I think it's gone out to bid. So, we're right in the middle of the bidding process and I think as soon as we can clear them out, the town's going to be taking them on at least SB Butler and Claude Chester. >> Okay. So, once those get turned over, then our responsibility to maintain them goes away. Correct. >> Right. And so that could reduce some of our expenses, especially in those two buildings. >> Am I right? >> I'm going to add to my board notes. I'm going to work with Sam just to see if we can get a timeline on that. >> That would be really cool because >> Yeah,

090>> that's a lot. >> This is how I learn what I need to put in the board notes. Oh, the timeline is that they are um the auction just finished and the uh purchases of any items that were left in the buildings are coming there today, tomorrow, uh the rest of this week. Next week, uh the move manager, Tom BBE, will be um discarding the leftover or obsolete materials that are left in the building that did not sell in auction. >> Okay. Thank you, Sam. >> So, what are we thinking, Sam, as a prediction of turning over the buildings? Are we thinking >> this winter or hold on to them till spring? Have we gotten any indication? >> Well, I'm hoping that we can do it within Mrs. >> I'm hoping we can do it

091in about 60 days or so. >> Oh, that'd be great. Thank you. Were there any other questions? >> I see Matthew's hand is up. >> Thank you, Sam. Is there anything of the surplus stuff that's not been auctioned that might be made available? >> Raise your hand on the screen. Is that correct? >> I see. Yeah. >> Uh, shall I wait? >> Yeah, wait. Cat, you're you're frozen and your uh your speech is delayed. >> I think that is not part Yeah, I think that's not part of the budget. >> Okay. All right. How do I sound now? >> You sound better. >> But you're still frozen. >> Still a problem. >> You're still >> It says that your network bandwidth is low. >> Is there still a problem? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> But

092you can hear me. I can hear you. >> We We were changing that. We actually just signed up yesterday. I apologize for that. Um Matthew, I'm wondering if maybe we could add that to a future item. >> Sure, no problem. >> Can you just restate it for me so I can write it down, Matthew? >> Sure. I was wondering if there was anything left over that we might make available free to our staff. >> Matthew, can you hear me? >> Yes, I can. >> Matthew, can you hear me? >> Yes, I can. >> Um, we'd have to look into that. There's very there's a lot of specificity. It can wait. There's no crisis on this. This can wait. >> Yeah, we'll just have to look because there's specificity around turning the building over. So, there's

093almost like a policy written. So, we have to just check to see what the what the process is. >> Sure. >> If that can be done. Okay. Are you guys ready to march right along? >> Mrs. Zerman, did you raise your hand on the camera >> before Matthew spoke? >> I'm not sure what you're asking me. Katrina, >> did you raise your hand? >> No. >> Did you have a question? >> No. >> It looks that way. Mrs. has a question. I thought so. >> No, she does not. >> Trust me, I have no question. >> What? >> I think we're dealing with a latency issue with her. She's like, >> okay, I have someone long further behind than we thought. So, maybe just move on to elementary. before um >> yeah um I am

094>> All right, I'm gonna turn the camera off. That may help. I don't hear any um any crinkling anymore from Cat. So maybe that feedback has ended. Can you still hear us, Katrina? Because sometimes when you turn off your video and you can still hear us and talk, it kind of works better. >> Yes, that's why I turn my video off. >> Okay. Perfect. All right, then we'll keep marching ahead. Ken, tell us where to go to next. I think it's >> red section, right? >> Yeah, actually we were going to do the uh the yellow >> just just to do it like a like an overview. Uh so let me share that yellow section where there it is. So this corresponds to pages uh one where does it >> one two and one three.

095>> Yeah. One one two and one three. Yeah. So this is uh that first section in your book. Um and um first page is is the uh one-1 actually. This has the mission and goals and the uh the diversity, equity, inclusion statement. Um 1-2 is is just a look at uh at the the budget and it's looking at um how much um salaries and benefits uh how much tuition and contracted services, transportation, uh utilities and the network and software costs. And it what it's trying to do is basically say where where can we have a lot of impact? Uh so 77% of our cost is under salaries and benefits. Uh so >> so I'm just going to give you a mic granerism. If Mike were here, he'd say what do we give our students? We

096give them the highest qual quality teachers, paras, custodians, secretaries, principles, administrators. And so you can see that over threequarters of this pie is in the people that we give our students. That's right. That's right. Um, so that's that page. Uh, the next page is kind of just a review of of how how this uh how this budget is is is funded. Uh, so the revenue source to support the the board of education uh budget. And so you'll see that the uh um we we do get source we do get uh funds through the federal uh through federal which is the impact aid funds uh which are uh which are for uh students of military or are federally impacted uh um um properties uh whether whether they live on them or or work on them. Uh

097we do get funding uh from the federal government for that. We also get um excess cost for special education. Um that's uh been around 900 uh 900,000 925 to a million dollars per year. And then we also get uh costs through Medicaid. Um uh a big chunk we get is through the education cost sharing uh grant from the state. Uh it's been pretty consistent at 25 million over the past couple of years. And there are also some other state uh funds um uh grants that we get funding for uh mag uh uh some transportation um um and and ones like that. Um >> so I think the thing that when we say we the town directly gets these funds to pay for the education budget. So, I think it's really important when we go through

098all of our presentations to the public that they understand that we have these significant amounts of money that are going toward to the town directly, not to the board of ed, but to the town directly to pay for education in the town. >> That's correct. Yeah. And so what what we don't get through those sources, uh the the town uh does does pick up the the remainder, um which has been somewhere in the um 46 to $49 million, excuse me, range. Um and then uh we do this little comparison against uh you know the the the property tax that's collected in town and it and it hovers around 50% of of property tax collected supports uh the board of ed budget. Excuse me. >> So that seems to mean that the other 50% then would

099cover all the other expenses that the town would have. That's correct. Sorry. Um the next page is a little bit of more detail on the grants. These are the ones that come directly to the district. Um whether they be the the title grants, um Cal Perkins, um IDEIDA to support um special education. You'll see on this line here, perhaps I should number these. Um this is the DoD supplemental impact aid which this one comes directly to to the district which we use in the past to uh to pay for uh technology. We've also noticed that the amount of impact aid which goes directly to the town has seemed to increase. So they're actually getting more money than what we've budgeted for them. So they're getting increased money from impact aid and we've gotten increased money

100through the supplemental impact aid. Hence we've been able to afford a lot of our technology through that instead of using our operation budget. >> And then we do have confirmation that uh from the alliance district funding we'll get 200,000 both uh this year and next year um to uh support uh the initiatives uh for the targeted district improvement. Those are all uh under what we call categorical grants. We get those regardless of what we do. We don't apply for them. Uh they they just they come to us. Um the next section down is competitive grants. So these are ones that we've actually u applied for and and we have to um um compete I guess uh for them. Uh and so this is uh this this chart here actually shows last year and this year

101uh for the MSAP grant um this is the uh last year for the MSAP grant. Um so we won't see that repeating. Um the DODIA math grant also ends at the end of this year. Um so th those are the funds we're getting there. uh the >> although we did get the information that for sustainability we'd be able to use some of those funds that are unused for next year for sustainability. So that that is really good news. >> Yeah, it's great news. Um DODIA STEM grant goes through next year. So goes through 2023. And then we have a new one here, the DODIA health STEM pathways uh which actually started this year 22. So, it's going to be going for a number of years uh through 2026. Uh and then we've also got a

102grant to u uh establish an afterchool care program at Graten Middle School which started this year uh and will continue until 2026. And so those are our competitive grants at this point. I know that uh Susan and her staff uh are working on uh on getting more of those. Um Oops. And then we also got uh these Corona relief funds. Uh so last year we got what they call the CRF, the Corona virus relief fund through the state of $1.2 million. That was the immediate one that had to be used through the end of December of 2020. Then there was the CARES Act or the ESSER um ESSER grant that has to be used through uh September 30 of 2022. Um and we we used the lion share of it uh last year uh and

103actually I think we finished it up uh just this past month. Um so that one um has has ended. Uh then we have uh CARES Act 2 or ESSER 2 uh which is utilized through September of 2023. Um and this this is the amount that we anticipate utilizing this year 1.5 million. The American Rescue Plan RA ARP ARP uh also called ESSER 3 or ARP esser uh is through September of 2024. And then there was some other oops very sensitive uh some other smaller um um coronavirus amounts. There's an ARP idea to support um um social worker and behavior analysts uh that goes through June of 2023. SR2 special education recovery activities uh to support special education um students at the high school also goes through June of 2023. and our ESSER uh for homeless

104children and youth which goes through September of 2023. Um so in total uh the corona relief um we anticipate utilizing an F this year FY22 uh 3 point almost $3.4 million um to to support um the initiatives that that they're that they're looking for there. Uh so in total the total grants for this year uh is utili utilizing eight million uh $8 million almost $8 million 7.989. Uh the next page 1-5 gives a little bit more detail on on the corona virus relief grants. Uh these are the newer ones um 2 and ARPs. I don't know if I have no um I don't have the the other smaller ones in here, but you can see how they're they're multi-year ones. So that this is the amount anticipated spend in FY22, FY23 and FY24. Uh but

105for a total uh for ARPs anyhow 6.572 and let's see SSR2 was uh 3,ion45,000 and that's how we anticipate uh spending these. We had to you know submit a budget to the state uh and this corresponds to what we've presented here. Um then this page here is a little bit of history uh as far as uh the uh the board budget over the past uh this is 11 years. Uh you'll see that it's been the uh for the past three years. Um but then if you average these uh uh these amounts over the 11 years it's it's on average 6% per year. And then on the expenditure per pupil, um this is a calculation provided to us by the um Connecticut State Department of Education. Um you'll see that um what what we put here

106is what the what Grten's expenditure per pupil is and what the Connecticut average is. And you can see that uh we're consistently uh at least now below the um the Connecticut average. It looks like back in 1112 we were pretty close to what the average was 112 1213. Uh but then um we're quite >> half a million to 1.3 million under the average. >> That's right. Um and and you you'll notice a big increase 2019 to and uh sorry the school year 2019 2020 was 16 uh almost 16 and a.5 million but then last year 2020 2021 is almost 177. It's a big increase u that was mainly driven by um changes in in the number of students. Uh but you'll see that happened all across the state that they had a similar type of

107increase. Uh so um you know we don't want to see increases here but by the same token uh some of you know it's happening throughout the state and actually throughout the nation I believe. Um and then the last page is just a look at what those average costs per students first we look at all at our local districts uh to see how we stack up against uh against them. you'll see that we're on the on the lower side uh with Ledger being the only one lower than us. Uh they're at 15,752 per student. Um the average for local is a little over $19,000 uh which is similar to what the state uh average is. Um you see how they they stack up here. And then we also compared our district against the other districts that

108are like us from our DUI. Uh, and you know, we're on the lower end. There are a few lower than us. Bristol, Planefield, Ngatuck, um, in the 17 to $16,000 range. Um, the average for this group is 18,800. Um, so we're we we we're below the average of both the local and the district uh, reference groups. So, I will stop my share. That's just a little uh high level uh review of of our budget. I think this is um these slides we've taken a few for the PowerPoint as a good way to introduce the budget to the public because I think it's good to to show them how a budget is built and what is the biggest expenditure which is of course people um and then how is the how does the town afford the

109budget you know what part is from the taxpayers what part is coming in through grants So, I'm hopeful that um this will give people a little bit of clarity, but always appreciate your feedback and if you think of anything else that you think would help, let me know. Okay, before we move on, does anyone have any questions? >> Looks like no. >> No, I do. I do. >> Okay. Zach. >> Yeah, I should know this, but I don't. And if I don't know it, maybe other people who are watching don't know it either. So I I think I heard Ken say that the federal funds that go to the the the town uh are designated for education expenditures. Well, what happens if if we don't spend all of that money? Is does does the town

110spend it in other ways? Do they have to send it back to the um federal government? What happens to it? >> Um so, so you're saying if if they if if we don't spend uh according to our budget and we spend less. No, I'm saying the federal funds the federal funds that go to the town. >> If we don't if our budget doesn't um consume all of those, what happens to the the monies that are left over? >> I think a good example is the impact aid because impact aid has been coming in higher than what we budgeted. So that additional let's say million dollars is going into the town >> and it's not going for educational purposes. >> I thought I spending it for educational purposes. They're spending, let's say we, let's say we

111predict it's three million for impact aid, but they get four million. >> So that extra million, the three million pays for our budget because that's what we had predicted, but the extra million is sitting there and goes into the town for them to spend. >> Go ahead. And maybe a way to think about it is um we we spend the federal and state dollars first and um and the town portion is just reduced. You know, the the the 40 the 46 million or the 40 40 47 million whatever that number was. They just they just utilize we just utilize less of that. So, so no, no funds have to be returned. Um, because a uh there's never a reconciliation of of how it kind of goes, it's kind of back to that that whole VAT

112or that that cauldron uh um kind of all goes into this uh into this big vat and and we're not necessarily uh making distinctions on on what amount is federally funded and what amount is town funded. It just kind of goes all goes into the general fund and then goes out from there. >> I thought I heard that it was designated strictly for education. Okay. And and the other comment that I have is that if you're a young family coming into town and you look at our budget uh education budget and you see that it's 0%. And then you look at where we stand either in the DR or in the neighboring towns and we're almost below everybody. Who on earth would move here if you had children? That's it. >> I would say that

113the reason we have such high quality is the people that we hire, but also the competitive grants in the tune of about $10 million from the federal government in the past eight years. That's what's provided teachers college, Columbia University, all of the math, the NGSS, the MYP. So, we have seen significant additional funding that has caused us to really shine. >> Yeah, I understand it. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about >> public perception. >> Yeah, I understand the uh the u the quality of our education present to the ch children of town. I'm talking about people who don't know that, who don't know us, who are looking strictly moving here from wherever and are are looking strictly at what we spend and where we stand and the public perception. That's what I'm

114talking about. I'm not talking about the quality of education. I know what that >> Okay. >> I just wanted to make statement. >> Okay. Um I have two hands up, Jay and Bev. I'm gonna start with Jay. >> Yeah. I just wanted to make a point that uh page uh 1-3 what Ken has done there explains uh Dr. Arian's question uh quite nicely and I it'd be interesting to see that for more years going back. I'd be curious to see. Basically what we're saying is the percentage of property tax that supports the board of ed budget went down from 50.6 to 48.4 and part of that is the increase in impact aid. So, in other words, we've reduced the taxpayer burden u the local taxpayer burden through federal funds. And number two, we have to

115keep in mind that when we're looking at the cost per student, again, we're looking at what came through the budget. If you were to actually add in what we got through the grants, we spend a lot more per student than that. But this budget book is designed to support our uh presentation to the town and and the allocation of uh town funds. So those numbers, you know, uh really don't reflect the true amount we spend on our students. >> That's a better connection. You said that well, Jay. I guess that was my intent, but you said it better. Thank you. Um, Beth, you had a question. >> Um, Susan, how do you come up with perupal expenditure? How do you calculate that number? >> So, we really take out, you know, how much we spend

116in a year and kind of divide it by the number of students we have to figure out is it that easy math? Is it there any other trick to it, Ken? No, that that that's pretty much it. Uh actually the the um Connecticut State Department of Education calculates it for us uh based upon our year-end report. Um but it is really just that simple. It's really it's most of our expenses. We do take out adult education and other things. Uh and we add in like kind expenses from the from the town. Uh but it is essentially what Susan said. It's it's the total cost divided by the number of students. Any other questions, Bo? Okay, I'm gonna move on to Matthew. >> Katrina. >> Yes, Matthew. >> Would I think Jay captured what you and

117I were chatting about earlier today. If we could somehow present the same data in a different way, we could show that we were spending more money per pupil at a lower percentage of cost to the town if we somehow had a first budget that wrapped in all of the grants that we received. And then when we go, you know, that's the total expenditures that goes there that we make. Then we subtract the the amount that we we break out the amount paid by the grants which is not paid by the taxpayers. The amount paid by the federal and the state which is not paid by local taxpayers. We end up with the same amount of money that's paid by the lower taxpayers but it represents a lower percentage of the total cost while responding to

118Miss A Dr. Arian's comments about we want to show people that we do invest in our kids. I'm just wondering if that's something we might work on. >> Um, can you can you hear me? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Can you hear me? >> Yes. Um, I'm thinking maybe um you could send a referral to Kim to review um or and or develop um different charts or whatever um to after we're finished with the budget for this year because I think we're a um far along to make those kind of significant changes. Thank you. >> Okay. I don't see >> Are there any other questions? Okay. Um now we go on to elementary instruction or is that what Yeah. >> Yeah. And that's really our home run stretch here tonight. Ken, you've done a great job.

119>> Yes. Hi. >> So, so the way this uh this uh uh book is uh put together is it starts with uh the first section which is which is quite summarized. It's high level and it kind of it breaks it down as you go along. Uh the very back section which is uh which is a paint tab. Um that's what has all of the cost by function. And when we mean function we mean that that that's the um that's the activity that's happening. um whether it's elementary instruction, uh the next one is is art instruction, uh for secondary, and it kind of goes on like that. And so when we're looking at that pink section, that's that's our lowest level of detail. And so that's why when we uh review the budget, we review on

120that level because any changes we make there uh would feed up to the total. Uh and so what I will do is I will share what is this five dash five dash >> five dash two >> five-4 and five-5 >> oh I've got two and three >> well those uh five-2 to one >> oh okay I'm sorry >> three are summaries >> y >> but uh five-4 hopefully you can see that is uh is um details for elementary uh function. Uh so the way this is set up is the top page or the even numbered page um kind of goes into detail on the number of FTEEs that are uh that are being represented uh as well as a um a short synopsis on on what this function is for. Uh so this is the

121first one uh function 11 101 elementary. This covers prek uh through uh grade five. Um and so the first section is uh number of classroom teachers uh broken down by school. Um as well as uh below there are some uh teachers such as art teachers, music teachers that aren't aren't broken down um uh that uh by school. They're they're they're specialists teachers. Uh and then also this is where we show the number of FTEEs for our regular and special education aids. Uh and there is a uh a description of of what uh is covered under this function. And then the change from last year's budget to this year's budget is we added a 1.0 FTE teacher um to allow for uh four tiers at at the new elementary school. Um and I think we talked

122about that previously. Uh so that that's what uh it it talks about from the FTE perspective and then from the dollars perspective um this this is laid out very similar to our object code uh summary where we go through salaries and benefits and and professional uh yeah professional service purchase services um and supplies. Um so let's see you'll you'll see that um total salaries and wages up by 3.4%. 4% which is which is pretty consistent with our uh being driven by the teacher uh contract. Um 377,187 increase on classroom teachers year-over-year. Um there is some increase to the regular teachers aids aids. Uh that's that is the uh minimum wage impact. Uh and then we have uh the um teacher and residence program um uh identified here um as an additional um additional cost. So

1233.4% um insurance I'm sorry for benefits for this group is it's a slight decrease of 02%. um instructional services down um $14,000 or 37%. Um these are once again these are driven by the uh school site budgets. Um repair of equipment um flat or increase of point4%. uh purchase services. Um so travel for field trips for the elementary uh is actually up uh 3,550. Um so it's a total increase of 2,550. uh supplies I'm sorry supplies uh overall supplies uh down uh 21,760 or 11% uh but uh increase in equipment uh of 10,450. Uh so the the total amount uh year-over-year difference for elementary is a difference of 357,864 which it's being driven almost uh exclusively from uh from increase in salaries which is uh is a um is due to the teacher contract um

124rates. >> All right, I will stop sharing. would Lori, would you I'm I'm just surmising this that in elementary we might have more um newer teachers, younger teachers that we've hired. Um I don't know if you know how that fares with, you know, in the middle school or the high school. Would you say we've had some cost efficiencies there? >> Um you know, I think certainly that's um what you've mentioned is definitely probable. You know, when we make elementary hires, it's definitely replacing a top step teacher, usually at a more entry level because elementary teachers um there are many more of them in the marketplace looking for jobs. So, we tend to, you know, see a lot of them come straight directly from college into the profession. And I think with regard to the contract,

125you know, we kept the steps or we've kept the steps for those teachers and that's a more significant jump yeartoear I think than those who are the senior, you know, um, experienced teachers who get an incremental but they don't get the steps, >> right, >> that the younger teachers get. So >> that's right. Right. And we do see some um retirement in um pair professionals at the elementary level as well and they tend to be hired at you know they come in at a a lower rate by the contract. Yeah. >> Any other questions that we might have? >> It's me my hands up. Um, can you just review what the teacher and residence program is, please? >> Um, it really, um, goes along with our diversity, equity, and inclusion >> mission. And Lori, you

126can speak to this. I I think we've hired three teacher and residents and they really are like interns and and teaching partners to the teachers in our building, I think. Have we really hired them at the elementary level mostly? Yeah, all three. >> All three. >> Currently an elementary program. Um, and it's a one-year um teacher and residence placement in which the district employs them. They also complete all of their coursework to become elementary certified. Um, with the completion of the program, we would hire them as elementary teachers upon completion. Um, and it it is specifically designed to attract educators of color to the profession. Um, and it does align to our our DEI mission and vision. >> So, let's say you have six of those retiring teachers, three might be elementary. It would then

127open up a position for these teachers and residents to become, >> you know, of course they would be interviewed. It would be a fair process, but it would certainly we would look to them as people who would be good hires and we've trained them too for the whole year. So, that's >> we've been developing them, right? They've been shadowing. They've been shadowing in the classroom with an elementary teacher on a daily basis, learning um learning the process of becoming an educator. Um we have two in this upcoming budget. We have two placements um that we've budgeted for. Currently, we have three in the current budget, but two um in in the up in the upcoming year's budget. >> Thank you, Lori. Thank you. Any other questions? I I Oh, Bev, I just saw your hand

128pop up. >> Thank you. Um, how many classroom teachers do we have? >> There should be a page on that somewhere. The total number of teachers, >> we should Yeah, we will get a total FTE. Um they've broken it up by elementary. So we saw the number of FTEEs. We've gone through the elementary. We'll then go through the secondary at middle school and high school. So you'll be able to see, you know, as we go through this process all the number of of classroom teachers. >> Okay. And um what do you mean by regular subteers? Are these teachers that um you hire that come in every day to sub? >> Um so you're you're talking about a line one um 120 regular teachers. Yeah. Uh no when it says regular subteers that that's to um

129differentiate them from uh special education. uh perhaps it's not the right wording, but um they're just they're sub substitute teachers that um it could be a combination of of people that come in like building substitutes that come in uh on a daily basis or ones that are called on a periodic basis. >> What's the salary of a substitute teacher in Bratton? We just adjusted them to um $100 per day for a regular daily sub and $125 per day for a building sub who reports every day. >> Is that competitive to the area? >> It is. they were part of the minimum wage adjustment that we just made effective January 1st and we did do some competitive analysis um so that we were matching them to the wages the subteer wages for the surrounding districts. >>

130Okay, thank you. And I will add just for for this particular budget um um we do have building subs that are being paid for through the ARP esser uh which won't necessarily um um um continue but uh for for the time being it's being subsidized through ARBs or ESRE 2 ARBs. So for instance during COVID and particularly last week and today middle school and high school had 25 people who had COVID and needed to stay home, teachers, parents, adults. So we don't usually see that enormous amount of staff, you know, who get sick on a daily basis, but CO has really hit us like a storm. And so that's why those funds in our Besser are there to provide for tutors and paras and security guards to have additional security and um substitutes which we

131really need because as people get sick they can't come in and we need someone to substitute and take their place. So those aresser funds have really um supported us well. Thank you. I don't think I see I think K got kicked out. Did she get I don't see her on the screen anymore. Yeah. >> Oh, I was just going to tell her she did such a great job. >> Yeah, she's had a weak connection all night, though, so she might have gotten uh >> So, we're at our twohour mark and I'm just looking to see when we come back together again. >> Yeah, that's all I wanted to go through. So, I'm I feel >> Yeah. what we're going to tackle. So, we have secondary instruction, enrichment, remedial, summer school, and some education media, which

132we'll look at on the 18th. After we do our public hearing, we'll go into a budget workshop. So, that was a good job, two hours to get through all of that. When we first designed this, I we went ahead and added the elementary piece to see if we could get it done, and we did. So, thank you to Katrina for keeping us on task. And thank you. >> Can I ask a quick question? >> You sure may. >> It's it's going back to the very beginning with the reductions. Did any of the reductions that you made last year would did they hurt you in any way? >> Well, I think you say, "Oh, I shouldn't have made that reduction." >> Well, that's exactly right, Beverly. And that's something that I think um we have to

133drive the point home as to why we need this additional um elementary assistant principal. These buildings are almost twice as large as you know our typical graten buildings the way they used to be. And we were thinking we could get away with reducing a secretary and you know many many different positions and we really looked at it because of the size of the building and said no we really need an additional spe you know additional assistant principal really in each building to help us with these specialized programs the special education the PPTs um so that's why we brought back this cost we also brought back the secretary so I'm glad you asked that question Beverly there are things that we thought we could do with the reduction, but it's really not possible if we want

134our principles to be instructional leaders, good instructional leaders that they really want to be and to be able to really evaluate their staff and their teachers. And that's an important job of a principal. >> Thank you. And um I would just, you know, coming from the RTM, I would just caution when uh if you if you say something like, "Oh, look at our per pupil expenditure. It's lower than other districts." Because people in the community, they're going to say, "Look at we got three new beautiful schools. We do care about our kids, right?" >> You know, right? >> And and also when they say, "Oh, the federal government's going to pay." Well, we also pay taxes to the federal government, so we're paying that, too. >> So, you're right. >> Just be cautious how you

135word stuff because the RTM picks up on that. And that's coming from >> advice. And I'm glad you're on our team to help us with the with the how we we present this. It's important. That's why we go to you all first. >> Well, thank you for that was an excellent presentation. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Thank you, Ken. Thank you, Katrina. So, I guess we just need Dr. Acriman for her final finale. >> Okay. M motion to adjourn. >> Second. >> Oh, Jay, you beat me. >> Good night, Gracie. >> Good night all. >> Thank you guys. Good night. >> Good night. >> Thank you, Lori. Thank you, Phil. Thank you, Ken. Thanks, everybody. I am.