001uh uh good evening it's um February 25th 2025 um I'm calling the Gren Board of Education special meeting to special budget meeting to order it is 6:04 pm um and to start I would um just like to say that we um the board as a whole has had a very um long some might say exhaustive um process the last two months I think we started January 6 officially on the budget um we have had a lot of meetings had a lot of questions um some have been pretty challenging I think some might say um but um we have had a um an fa few with over I believe it's over a hundred or around a hundred questions um you know of you know about this budget and um that the um the Administration has um
002gotten back to all of those I think at this point or nearly all of them um which I appreciate and now um we have hopefully the last meeting um to um to approve the budget that we've been working on um and I would like to start that um by um seeing if there is any more discussion um on the the the document now is projected on lines um 39 I'm sorry I'm trying to see which lines it is here 3940 41 I think we had some some discussion I think it was mostly done but I just wanted to see if anybody else had any more questions on that all right um Clint if somebody raises their hand I don't see it just let me know because um I am uh one of us will do
003it should show up in the participants panel if you click on that all right all right I got everybody on my screen now um all right so um if we don't have any questions um I guess we can go and just start um line item voting on um on the items one thing I would like to start it's not highlighted but um there was discussion and there was a proposal for a number um on lines 29 and 30 and this has to do with the um superintendent's office and the um the um what is the other office um well actually it's lines yeah 29 and 30 I apologize yeah the superintendent's office and I am blanking in the other office uh the HR office um so there was originally one thing I would like to
004do is change this 10 and 75 um if anyone you know if everyone's all right with this it's 85,000 together and line 29 is really encompassed in line 30 um so if there's no objections maybe we just change that to an 85 um for clarity's purpose Clarity purposes does that sound reasonable to everybody I have no objection to that all right let's go I think that's it's a good idea yeah all right I'm good too all right no objection all right so um we had a lot of talk about this but there was a um a previous number floated we started a vote and we didn't finish it of um 11 15,696 on that line um the superintendent gave us a lot of um a lot of reasoning last night on the $85,000 deduction on
005that line um so um I guess at this point I would like to uh maybe we'll just start it with a vote on the 85,000 number and see um how many people are in agreement with leaving that at that number um so go ahead and just raise your hand so I can write this down so if you are in in a favor of leaving that number as the superintendent proposed 85,000 on line 30 um please raise your hand uh um would you want to just do a roll call Maybe um yeah if everybody um yeah sure um Jay hi hi yes no I'm sorry that I thought you sent me yeah I'm I'm in favor as well this is Thomas is in favor Andrea uh before I I'm going to vote Yes for everything that
006Susan proposed we hired a superintendent and where we got the idea that we were that person is beyond me so I am supporting everything that Susan's proposed all right um um see if I've got everything here myself I am an eye on that and then um opposed Adrian did you get me oh yeah I'm sorry no I didn't get your mic were you what was your vote I'm a yes I'm a yes all right thank you you didn't get me either Adrian all right yeah Jen what were you I'll support the 85 all right so I think I've got your name um all right all right um scrolling down I believe that we talked about all of these items already um did anyone have any any outstanding questions anything we left kind of on the
007table with um with these I all Ian is your hand up um yeah sorry I it was up uh inadvertently for the vote but um I did have a question that I want to kind of float out there but I'd rather wait until we clear all the other numbers all right yeah just remind me when we finish and we'll um sure yeah just have I have one more item to propose on the floor after we're done with everything else all right um so if we scroll down to line 38 um is now encompassed in line 42 hey listening to my meeia while I'm fixing the house I'm finally getting these Anchored In um all right so um why don't we just start um so we'll get to that later we just start with um Line
00839 um so this is $150,000 um deduction for the AIDS um I just have a quick question those those last few lines um like 31 through 37 I'm interpreting that as were there no cuts and that we agreed upon that is that correct or no um yeah unless yeah and Ian was saying that he might want to go back to those in a little bit which we can do um but um okay why we just finish talking about the AIDS and then um why don't we just do this this group of them and then we can go back up there if that's all right Mike yeah that's fine all right um so um so yeah the um the superintendent proposed cutting um 150,000 from um AIDS in function 1101 um I'm just going to take
009me just a second to find that so we can tell people what that line is at so the um superintendent's proposed budget um for that line item was 557 th000 uh 569 um and the proposal is to reduce it by 150,000 is there any more discussion on that there any questions I I was just wondering is that lower than what it is this year if they do that um our budget the budget book says that this year the budget was 351 um I I did a little bit of research in this so I have a few numbers that I can um that I can um give you the um the actual spending on this line item in um physical year 23 is H was uh $31,000 in 24 the budget was 630 and what we
010actually spent was 35164 6 um and then in 25 the initial budget um just had that up give me just a second to get to that the initial superintendence budget um which I thought was interesting was th600 oh no I'm sorry substitute line that was the wrong line line 130 teachers AIDS the the in the superintendent proposed was 528,000 and um through all of the talks last year and um negotiations that had gotten reduced down to um to 295 351 so that that's kind of the the history and and where we are right now on it um and the and I think that can I just add in Adrian I think the 295 351 is really really Slim I mean I'm just really hoping we you know were able to do that um I know
011Ry had looked at it but I I do feel there is some some room um in the regular AIDS and whether it's 100 or 150 whatever this board decides I feel like there is room to take from there but not a whole lot 100 to 150 that's about it all right um yeah yeah I was kind of thinking halfway sorry I was just kind of thinking halfway I I was just gonna ask a question of Susan um so um and and I'm trying to think of what where we would like AIDS to be and um like a little bit more I mean we know we've got them over lunchtime and are bus AIDS included in this line bus Aid yes bus AIDS are included as well y all right and then I mean one thing
012I wanted to point out is preschool AIDS um and I believe that discussion last year we went from two per classroom um down to one per classroom and from the FAQ it appears that now we have um one per classroom um one special ed teacher and then any other Paras that are in the room are typically assigned to students so they're not really available to work with the whole classroom so the Paris have the one either one in the morning one in the afternoon or one all day long just like the kindergarten teachers have but in both situations if there's a child who needs a one-on-one we get the par educator for that child or if they are sharing like a couple students you know with one pair depending on what the IEP says most
013often in preschools you do see another adult plus the aid in that classroom but they are servicing a particular child or a particular few children yeah where the a Services the teacher and all the kids yeah so the pair is really there to support the student that they're assigned to absolutely obviously certain situations they may need to help out but they really shouldn't be relied on as part of the core support in the classroom that's right so um you know I guess if I started out with a question do um if by reducing this could we go back to having to AIDS in a in those preschool classrooms would this number support that kind of an increase I know we've had a hard time just filling the positions in general but but from a budgeting
014standpoint if we had all of the aid positions that we'd like to have filled um could would that also include going back to two I actually think even if we cut back a 100,000 so we would be at um 457 or 75 as Mike said split in between that we could probably potentially have an extra person in that room as an aid for each of the eight classrooms all right and then and then I mean would you say that from your dealings with the special ed teachers that they feel with that um is highly beneficial to the classroom the operation yes I would say that I've heard that from them all right yeah honestly I have all right Ian did you have a question Ian or hold on yes sorry my mic was not taking
015on um yeah I just want to get some clarity because a little bit of a blurry line for me in my mind um uses to like verse Paras I mean we're talking about the preschools um were those AIDS or Paras in the in the preschool classrooms they were talking about so we have two different groups the AIDS are regular Ed AIDS or Aids that so you know whether they help on the bus whether they help help in the cafeteria they're all mostly part-time people they help in the morning session or the afternoon session for be either preschool or or even kindergarten you might have two one and in the morning 1 in the afternoon but they are not part of the par educator Union so par educators are really um have that extra training to
016work with students with special needs particularly on a onetoone or a few small group and so they're you know they do a lot of some of the same things too you know they're helping assisting but the AIDS are more assisting in the classroom for all kids and for the teacher understood understood so AIDS are General Ed and and more you know yeah but but Paras are in the union and they have Special Ed training right um so what we're talking about here are AIDS that are general purpose AIDs that would be able to to kind of float around and kind of go as needed into whatever classrooms well they're usually assigned they're usually assigned to a bus or a classroom so right right yeah usually like but but should things change and develop differently over
017the year they could be reassigned if needed but either way like they're there to support the General Ed um right students and they're kind of like they're not attached to a special ed case right exactly okay all right so that's good to know um all right uh I'm I'm ready to talk some numbers I guess um but I I would be um in favor as small a cut as possible here um just again as as I said last night like I'm interested in making sure that we have resilient resiliency and flexibility on on the elementary level um so I could see like I like Mike's proposal of of a halfway um I would even go so far as only taking 50,000 here um but I would want yeah like so I'd want to see an
018investment of 75 to a th000 or sorry 75 to $100,000 um on top of the uh I guess so what we're looking at is the overall number we're just talking about the differential right now but the the current proposed number is an increase of $262,200 M okay so if we were to only reduce that increase by $50,000 we'd be looking at an increase of$ 212 $218 and Adrian actually has the actual Excel spreadsheet so he can put in a number to let you guys look at that that's why I got these Excel sheets out to you yeah so you could you could look at what would 100,000 look like and what would the percentage be or 50 or MH because right now we're at 7.53 with all the things that you've agreed to got it
019well I'm I'm not too concerned about the overall percentage at this point I'm looking at just kind of like the immediate impact for this line um and just trying to find the middle ground here um so uh um I guess I'll make a motion for a reduction of only uh $50,000 on Line 39 so a total reduction of 50 instead of 150 is that what I'm hearing you say correct all right um I guess we can um we can start by seeing is there any just by I guess we can start this with just a list of hands if people want to raise them is there anybody that um would support um reducing that line by $50,000 if you mean taking a $50,000 cut I'm supported instead of 150,000 yes all right so are you
020taking a you you want the end goal to be 50,000 or do you want the end goal to be negative 150 is this sorry I just I'll just do it on the on the page um that's what I'm proposing okay 50,000 deduction um R the superintendent proposed $150,000 deduction um I think she said she feels that we could return some services to where they were with between what a75 to $100,000 reduction MH um we could return um uh you know two two aids to each of those preschool rooms with that um and when I proposed just a $50,000 reduction so smaller than superintendence it's a smaller reduction which equals a larger investment in the in elementary level all right um so who else would would like to support the um the $50,000 reduction got no
021one uh me for sure all right Mike [Music] um so what do we have I would support that proposal this is Jay all right um I would support it as well which I think puts us at [Music] um so J that puts it at five six I think who do you have on your list of supporters all right so support a reduction of 50 is Ian Andrea Dean um Jay you said you would support it Mike and I would support that as well um so that six in support of any opposed abstention I'm opposed you're I just don't want to yeah I'm opposed all right um all right um so so um that passes at 50,000 um and so that would bring that line item to slightly less than um than the the superintendent's proposed
022budget last year as well so you know whatever we had in you know for last year yeah for for the record I did just save this as a alternate version so um I'm not altering I guess well whatever I mean yeah I think I made you a copy and so you guys can play around on this this get it right and I would say um too that I would recommend the same thing for the subs I think we could go down 50 I think I'm rethinking the 150 is being a little high and that way you'd have the 50 for the AIDS 50 for the subs so you do get 100,000 um Savings in there but I think that's going to be very much more doable for us and give more support where it's needed
023okay you guys have influenced me so why don't we just change that number to 50 now if that's what the superintendent's um proposing for now um I I'll support I'll put that in as the second number on the table that 50,000 oh all right um yeah sorry if I'm doing this wrong please let me know um oh no it's great you get three numbers on the table and then you decide on the most recent one um first so in the case of Ian you could say that like I had that alternate and then he had another one and we went for that first if it didn't pass then we'd go back up the line so it it's perfect all right um all right and then um I guess just for clarification Susan are we officially
024moving this into 1700 because it is a a districtwide substitute number we get out of Elementary and into districtwide I will check with Ray to see how complicated that's going to be um but we do know that the sub is not just Elementary it's for all so let me ask him what's going to be the best way to do that should that be in the 1700 which is the districtwide and if we can do that we certainly will or somehow split it up by by grade level yeah I know that's kind of complicated that got messy that got messy the last yeah um yeah just just for clarification because it kind of makes it seem like we're spending more in elementary than we are by putting it all there right um so um all right
025so there's a number of 150 and a number of of a deduction of 150 and a and a deduction of 50 on the floor and this is from a starting budget number of 950,000 um which just for clarity it seems like we're going to be around that number this year yeah that's right about 950 so we'd be reducing from what we think we're going to spend this year but we're not going to be adding more building Subs I really think we have the right number of building Subs although there are times when you have to hire even a other person you know that's not a building sub if you're short so all right Ian did you have a question um yeah I just want to get um Clarity on so the projected expenditures this year
026is 950,000 no it's more like it's more than the 777 or what whatever we have in there it looks like it could be up to 900 but we're just not sure yet okay um yeah um well I I just you know my my mentality on this is I'm I'm just concerned about like running short or like tending towards a deficiency and you know if we're running that fine line if it's like right around 900,000 I'd be inclined to do a zero cut here so that we are up to the full recommended the initial recommended amount by the superintendent of 950 ,000 because you know that puts us a little bit past what the tendency what the trend is for this year which means that we might end up with a slight Surplus but worst case
027like we we are covered for a little bit excess should cost run over just in case you know and it's not not a huge amount at the end of the day but um you know um I'd be in support you know if others are in support of the 50,000 cut here um to the initial increase uh I guess I I could live with it but i' i' I'd rather just have a little bit more of a buffer just so we don't end up in in a situation where we have to transfer funds from another function code or something like that um later in the year did you put zero on the board is that your third number yeah I guess I yeah I'll put zero out there why not sure 50 and 150 deductions so
028I apologize but I'm gonna have to ask Mike I guess how how I'm supposed to handle this um like weighing the different numbers um oh so it's the third number so you consider the zero first and vote on it if that doesn't pass you go to the in this case the 50,000 and then and then I guess the original number is what we had in the table before 150,000 right but as we as sorry go ahead no you go for it gonna say that as we eliminate options like say the zero fails and we move to the 50 and the 50 fails or I mean as we eliminate options there'd be an opportunity for another number to be put on the floor you know so if the zero fails someone could move say 25,000 if
029they wanted to move more incrementally um and we could run that number and if that one fails then it would go to the 50 um that's a possibility if somebody felt like that might be better approach to go but we have three uh Broadley space numbers now so that that's that's in good shape but if we wanted to get a little more fine-tuned I don't think that would be considered frivolous because there's still substantial amounts all right under so you know this comes from Roberts Roberts you know allows you to go out two two Amendment levels so this is where we get the three numbers from so you could have the number that's moved and then an amended an amendment and then another amendment and then you start with the furthest one out and then
030work your way in but Ian is right if if you if you if you vote down the the one the last one that was that was proposed now you have a space for proposing yet another third number and you can do that at infinitum nobody likes that but um so there's no there's no necessary Cascade until people just sort of out of ideas all right Jay did you have a question or a state or something you like to conern yes I may have to step away for a minute but is said last night I don't support the cut for the um teachers or um for uh the subs um and on stti sticking by the 50,000 for the AIDS um and I'll come back as soon as I can all right thank you so would
031we count that as a vote in favor of the zero yeah so let's say we just had the vote for the zero and Jay voted for that I think that would be a reasonable interpretation for that um so what are the three numbers on the floor all right so anyone else that would support um the you know not not taking a deduction for um substitutes he you at sorry was that me yeah anyone else that would so you Flo that number right so now we're yeah so I'm in I'm in favor of the zero cut here um anyone else for a zero that's J and Ian all right all right so now I will move on to a $50,000 deduction no I'd like to make a motion for 25,000 all right so now would I
032put that one on now yeah all right so 25 ,000 deduction I'm in favor so one thing do we have to second the Motions I'm happy to Second it I just want to get the process right I'm happy to Second it and I will second that we're doing this very informally I figured the rate that we're going the way we do things with such a small group they'll be one vote tonight which is the F the bottom line right that that has to be official yeah okay great all right kind of a hybrid so um any other support for the $25,000 um besides Ian all right um all right let's move on to the $50,000 deduction support that I'm in favor I support it Mike all right I'm going to support that one as [Music]
033well all right so we have three in support of it and Jay is away um all right I would have thought you had more than that well I don't know who support the 50 Bean no you don't support it all right no again no no all right how many of us are left I don't see everybody all right and Mike you don't support it no no I support it I support the 50 pass all right so that's so yes I support all right um so um that puts us as four how many are in the meeting now there would be seven of us seven I think yes so I would count J as an exstension say more in favor than against so all right yeah so um so exstension uh yeah that's good all right
034so it's is that 321 four yeah I think that's it you got it again 421 421 yeah yeah sorry you said four three yeah four two one so in favor of is Andrea Ian myself and Mike um Dean and Jen are not in favor and then we'll put Jay as in a St Adrian Adrian yes I only got three yeses who is the fourth Andrea so Andrea Ian myself Ian I didn't hear yeah Ian's on so those are the four thank you all thank you Joan and I suggest um not counting J exension since not the meeting right now just have it 42 yeah just makeing zero yeah that's that's that's fair um all right um so moving on to line um so this is um reducing two FTE out of Elementary um teachers that
035are retiring um the super attendant has been clear that um she does not feel those um those spaces need to be filled this year um however I did say Adrien with the way enrollment flows through this district and all the comings and goings I I wouldn't object to having that money in the budget if we needed it we could then have it and we would make sure that we hired that teacher you know like you had looked at some of the cases where there were larger numbers than the third and four or the fourth and fifth grades so you know we could or we could just reduce one FTE and be a little more safe and keep the others so it's up to you all what number you want to to move I would be
036okay with whatever you decided all right um Ian um yeah so as am I muted or can you hear me yeah yep um so I I'll I'll we might move 64 um I'm inclined to move zero but I don't know I mean it it would make sense I mean if we wanted to go gradually again I guess you know a structure where if there was a motion for a 64 and then an Mo motion for zero we could kind of work our way you know toward you know if we had to go gradually we could but I'm I'm in favor of zero uh change to this line like to make a comment Adrien yes um last night Susan and and Susan correct me if I um misremembered last night Susan said there were four retirements
037she's keeping two and she was willing to reduce two so now what we're doing is technically keeping four additional staff and based on enrollment decreasing the two that's being kept can be utilized for those other grades like fourth grade I think was high at like 20 or 23 you're remembering very accurately that's exactly yeah yeah so you have to remember on Line 39 and line 40 You' basically removed 200,000 of reduction already and if you remove this it's going to be another 128 and um I know we need to take care of the kids we need to make sure but um if Susan originally thought that she could support the district who are we to decide how to manage the district um and we also need to be concerned about the taxpayers so that's my
038comment on this I will not vote for zero all right that's it all right Mike thank you I just want to make sure whatever number we vote that we're sticking on the FTE that's in the superintendent approv budget I don't post budget I don't have that number in front of me I think it was 127 f2e um I me okay so so I can see that there're I I would like us to basically every spot that has a teacher right now for every retirement I want us to hire back someone new I understand that that would be at a lower rate so I could support I I I'm fine with putting this a zero and I could also support a different number by not putting that up right now all right I and just just
039for clarification the rate that we have up there 64,000 is a new teacher right it's not the savings retirement there's already a a built-in savings 15,000 that's already been taken in and just just for clarity from there's a total of um I don't know 10 teachers retiring or or eight teachers retiring in the district um but the but um the initial the initial discussion I believe that they were all going to get filled and and now we're talking about filling all but two like because in the elementaries I think we have five retirements in Elementary yes alone but but we do need some of those teachers um right right I don't want to speak for you see but so um uh Dean I think one was a speech language pathologist so yeah four classroom and
040then on there yeah and then Ian Okay so see if I understand the proposed FTE that I see in the book is 127 Susan are you saying that with the $128,000 cut that's that's in this line we still have the $17 yes okay because we it says FTE but we're really taking the salary we've got the FTE is configured based on enrollment of what our needs are but due to the retirements and the we had not taken any money out to to move the budget down because we were holding on you know basically waiting for this process to uh unfold a little bit and get closer to knowing more towards the end of the year just in case so if we yeah so if we didn't take the 128 out if we left it in
041there You' essentially have spare cash to do something else hire two more teachers or hire tutors Etc yeah okay right and we still have money in there if for two of the teachers at least the speech pathologists I have to fill with the speech pathologist when you say money in there you mean money after the 128 yes I think there's four positions total from the um grade one going down to three instead of four so taking the 128 is not does not prevent you from filling the the positions that are open no okay yeah so what it comes down to is leave the 128 in there for Susan to figure out what else to do with it but it's not we take 128 out and two bodies go you take two out and you've acced
042for those already shown in the FTE two bodies that are Mi missing out of the yeah what I'm saying is if we if we if we say if we if we let's say we voted majority yeah let's get let let's cut 12 out of the out of the proposed budget just like it says in line 41 right now it's not like that means that two teachers take a hike no okay yeah no but $128,000 takes the hike out of our budget well yeah I mean have you know even 128 I'll see you and raise you you know right but we're we're arguing about the 128 as though it has it's it there's a direct connection with our current fdes the fds we would like etc etc and what I'm seeing here is there a very
043tenu it sounds like there's a very tenuous connection if any between what how we're staffed how we would like to be staffed and so what does the 128 mean you you you say seem to be saying that you could do without it you could staff you could fill a couple of positions that are empty right now that you don't yes need the 128 you like the 128 for something sure um this this is how I'm I'm gathering I'm not looking for excuses so people are don't misunderstand me I'm looking for excuses to cut the 120 I'm trying to understand the reality of what that means the reality is that the fds that we have in the proposed budget is um really based on the enrollment that we have in the budget and would give us
044very good class sizes between seven mostly 17 and 20 but there are a couple that are above 20 there and mostly in the upper grades but the finances we never remove the finances from the budget when we saw those positions being able to be reduced in FTE at that grade one level so Susan what is your bottom line recommendation I mean I I really felt that we could do reduce Ed the 128 but if the board felt more secure with just one position reduced financially we could do it that way too but I felt I felt we could do the 128 but it's really now the board's decision well I think it's a superintendent's decision so I want to hear what your recommendation is well I would say that my recommendation as Jen said was
045to remove the funding for the two but I know that I have the two others there if we need them um Adrian Ian and then Mike um yeah so I'm I'm more um aligned with Mike's thinking on this and um I understand that it would not reduce the 127 if we took it um but and um so if we kept it kept the full 128 would that increase where would the increase Could Happen anywhere amongst any of the Staffing whether it's certified teachers uh the AIDS or no it would really be for it would really be for the certified teachers I mean that's the function that it's under um so and and we really are looking at the enrollment and class sizes right now so but and I would probably say in the elementary level
046so we'd be looking at maybe setting up like a co- teing situation since we are out not necessarily you know there might be a class that could be divisible by four instead of three and instead of having 25 to a class for instance they would have more like you know a little over a little under 20 18 right so say say if there's like a a grade level that had like a couple of classes that were like 24 um you could you could make some adjustments there yeah yeah you could and then you know like I said Gren is one of those places that you know every week our enrollment list changes some leave some come you know we've talked a lot about that and over the summer it it really is a we're we're
047rocking and rolling in that central office in the enrollment office with so many people coming through one one more question um so if we keep the full one 28 in the budget does that mean that the FTE would increase to 129 well you if you were in a situation where you gained more students in a class like there's that 25 at Nea let's say they had three more kids show up or something like that now it could be that they could have the choice of another um magnet school because of the way the lottery is and pulling for the you know um mobile students or they might want to stay in that school and then we could divide it up a little differently if we had but we have two positions already that I know
048of that we could do that with beyond what the 128 affords well my interest in keeping the 128 in the budget would be to ensure that we could hire two extra full-time teachers to uh relieve any of the classrooms in the lower levels in elementary levels that uh are maxed out to the Limit um you know whether it's through a co- teing model or through a uh whatever you know is deemed necessary but I I'd be looking for some kind of commitment that it would go towards you know a full-time teacher that would with the intent of relieving wherever the class sizes are the most uh maxed out is that something that you know you feel the administration could commit to I'm just not sure what that model would look like I'd have to really
049consider it I'd have to also know what the enrollment looked like when we you know through the summer and when we start the year to see how we'd have to prioritize that so if the enrollment and the numbers did not um meet the expectations or the or or you know um to make those changes uh to relieve any sort of stressed classrooms what would happen where would that money go well it would be still in the teacher salary and um you know guess unspent it it could be unspent or we could spend it in a different way maybe we pick up another reading teacher or something to help us out I mean I'd want them teaching um and you know you've talked a little bit about um you know supporting remediation so this could end
050up like going towards like remedial supports well it could be you know like you're saying someone helping out if someone had expertise let's say in Reading we have a lot of teachers who are certified teachers who you know might love a year doing reading all right so we we could uh have faith in a commitment that would go towards a certified staff that is in some way going to be targeted towards the classrooms to help um support where you know as needed um where the class sizes required even though with this reduction of the 128 you still have those two extra FTE that could help support you in the elementary level so you know I don't know that you'd have to reduce the whole 128 all right um well I'm in support of a zero
051cut here in principle um but uh but I definitely would want to like kind of have some reporting um throughout the year to to get you know to make sure that the money you know like to to know where the money ended up going I guess well and I come decision I come back to you guys through the summer telling you about where we are with enrollment and if there's any changes so it's we take a little bit of vacation but we do see each other over the summer and I F you in as we go along even with regard to the budget you know and you know so but but would there ever be a scenario where this could be a thing that like um you know would would help hire anyone you know
052like the 128 could if it was divided out differently would would hire you know more Paras or more AIDS or or numerically speaking do you envision any sort of scenario that might occur well yeah I'd have to come back to you all with a proposal I'd have to you know really because we're talking about yeah changing it's all kind of situation dependent but but having right but having the money would at least you know give us a pivot point to work from yeah okay all right well thank you for that um so yeah I'm more to think about Ian yeah thank you I just want to say I might lose connection I'm on station um but I've got I don't have enough information to support aut and I do support the zero I could support
053something in between two but my question is I think we talked about a total of four teacher requirements classroom teacher requirements Elementary have any of four individuals retired yet like basically are they still in the classroom now oh they're still in the classroom M and you know they'll retire at the end of the school year yeah and we'll have a celebration for them because they're wonderful people who've been there a long time so are we I I'm sure and I met i' met a lot of wonderful School teachers and other teachers well um and then my other question is so four of them retire are we how many would we be read advertising for to hire new people to fill those positions is it two four what's it depends on if there's a 128 cut
054if there's a 128 cut if there's a 128 cut we would be looking for two but I mean we're gonna still fill the we're gonna still fill the retirements you know the ones there are certain you're only filling two of them and leaving two of them unfilled right so so that's a reduction of two um FD two people in the classroom um and I don't have my budget in front of me right now but I do know that I I believe I remember that um there are 127 FTE right now in the actual for this year and so and then in the superintendent proposed budget is also 127 so if four people retire out of that 127 and we're only going to rehire fill two of those positions then to me that goes down to
055125 F2 um unless unless maybe this is the other possibility that um um right now the actual is 129 but it definitely doesn't say that are you talking about for this year me you mean compared to next year this year in the budget b it says we have 127 FTE actual so that's that's what I take as the classroom teachers there right four retire and we don't fill two of the positions then we go down to a position but actually for me the total number doesn't matter um regardless is the fact that if we take this 128 cut $128,000 cut we are reducing the number of classro teachers by two I so that's why it's important to zero I could support um a small cut maybe like 40,000 um saying that you know the teachers
056that are rehired are going to be at a lower rate um but so the numbers haven't added up for me actually um really I feel like there's no subtraction being done in terms of fpes where they should be and the fact that this came and such a late time um we don't have the information or the time to do it so so still if if you can reconcile that for me um uh are are we going to have the same number of of teachers in the classroom in Elementry or is it going to be too less for that cut it sure sounds like it's going to be too less so there used to be four first grade teachers in our district and now we're down to three no we're down to um four we're down
057to a three tiered system in first grade now what happen is those the teachers who are in that first grade classroom can then fill those retirements so you're not going to lose anybody so the retirement piece is just that you won't lose any staff out of the four because they'll have someplace else to go where the retired teachers are but they might change classrooms we just I'm just talking about the funding is at 128 um if we there so there are two people that aren't aren't doing anything right now they are what because we're it seems like we're losing capacity if you if you reshuffle people that we don't lose capacity only if someone's not doing anything or let me say in a positive sense I figure every teacher is working real hard and is
058tasked right now if we lose two spots then they're working real harder or students aren't getting uh are in bigger classes well that's said it's that phenomena where in first grade that kindergarten class was 2/3 remember the 275 instead of like a 350 number so you're still going to have class sizes of 20 but you'll have three of them instead of four of them which we typically have so your class sizes aren't affected you just have fewer students going into the first grade because of the legislation that changed the age for kindergarten this year when they were in kindergarten okay so it does what was saying problem but your your teachers would still you know even your teachers would still have jobs but we're just taking the funding from it in the 128 and not
059you know replacing and if we have if we need to add teachers back we have more funding that is still there so so what Dean was saying was that was positing that maybe this $128 uh $128,000 cut wasn't going to reflect the reduction in staff right that's exactly but I but what you're but but what you're saying is if we are not filling to a retired position to me that is reduction staing I think it should be to everyone else so I to me I see this as uh if we support the 128,000 which is the H number on we're supporting a cut in teachers to the elementary levels that um really really need it really really need the the people power so it's not just a money thing right right but you saw the
060numbers that are reflected in the enrollment and like I said most of them range from 17 to about 20 21 but there are some that are beyond that I mean we certainly don't want to go back to the days when I first got here in Pleasant Valley had 27 per fourth grade class and I had to get uh Aid to help out in those classrooms so we're not talking like those kind of numbers thank goodness oh I fully agree yeah yeah yeah I fully agree with that and but I think if we're reducing the Staffing in elementary we're going that direction right Dean yeah let me get my hand down before I forget it um so it's one or the other it can't be two different ways of seeing the same thing either the 128
061represents a genuine cut either in existing staff or the the ability to rehire a couple of FTE uh or as I heard it before isn't a cut to anything except the dollar figure if that's the case if the second is the case then really while we're talking about a potential cut of $128,000 it sounds like if Susan had never included it in the proposed budget to begin with we wouldn't know that it was missing she'd still be Staffing the same way and we wouldn't be talking about this except this way if somebody said why don't we add $128,000 to the budget because we want to do this or that or the other good thing at the elementary level or wherever that's how I'm starting to see the $128,000 we're talking about it lamenting it as
062a potential cut what it sounds like is really should we add the $128,000 to the budget never mind that you know was already baked into the original proposal this is what it's all sounding like I but I agree if it if the removing the 128 removes actual people or the capacity to replace people that's something to be concerned with but I'm not hearing that I'm hearing Susan saying we're adequately staffed that's a you know without the 128 I'm good I can handle it I'm not thinning down Etc that in other words the 128 is if you will a stray I don't want to use the word fat but we're and I and I I'm I'm fine with people saying what can we do with the 128 but I just don't see it as from what
063I'm hearing as a cut to anything presently and on top of that Dean it's kind of a phenomenon that legislation has done to this class now I don't disagree with the legislation I think being five in kindergarten is important but that whole class is going to go through high school and through as a as a class of 275 in elementary and then probably less than that when they hit middle school and high school where most of our classes start out at 35400 in kindergarten and go through and then they they get down into the 200 range or closer to 300 in the high school do you know what I mean so that's going to be a a smaller sized group all the way through school because of legislation and we Chang the age so that
064we only had a two-thirds of a class that we typically have I mean that's the best way I can explain and that that phenomenon has caused us to have be able to reduce our budg by by the 128 and I think it will continue continue through the years I don't think next year I'm going to have to put more unless we get a submarine and they have a bunch of second graders next year or the year after you know what I'm saying so I mean which if you want to you know we could plan for things like that just in case we get you know we double the number of second graders or just in case or if we wanted to to to talk along these lines wouldn't it be great if class sizes were
065say 10 to 12 kids let's fund 10 to 12 the Staffing for 10 to 12 kids along with the capital component and one thing I forgot to mention the 128 if you're looking at that as remember this if you're looking at it as what sort of salary does that represent the salary of say two new teachers uh you know on the on the first wrong or the first couple of wrongs what about the expense what about the payroll expenses for those teachers those are not accounted for anywhere else I don't know how fine-tuned you know those numbers are but we'd have to add for if the 128 is he let's add a couple of people because we' like them then the 128 might not cover all their cost that could be true vot to keep
066the 12 if you vote to keep the 128 you've also got to add some money to cover their their payroll costs whatever that is when we do this estimating though that tends to be absorbed in it we usually it usually covers it pretty much yeah withing and going yeah Andrea you're muted just to let you know thank you I'm sorry um so what I'm hearing is that we're as we stand right now we're okay we don't really need anything else that this is just extra stuff and funding and uh I think I heard last night that there's no place for them for any more staff anyway there's no room anywhere is that correct there's there's not many extra classrooms that's the way it is Andrea but this this particular in in the two big schools
067sames River and Mystic River they are able to handle four tiers or four classrooms per grade level in their first grade they typically have four classrooms so does CK and Nea and they have the classrooms for that but for this first grade class because they were a smaller class because the age changed and only two-thirds of the typical kindergarteners are coming so only 275 across the whole District they do have they will have an extra classroom with that so there will be a little bit of extra room because of this phenomena of this K1 to all going all the way through Elementary School smaller class size all right so then the 128 is covering things that may be but really right now we're okay the way we are corre I feel that way but it
068you know it if the board would feel more comfortable with 64 they could do that but I I feel like I this is doable stay with this in my view thank you um Susan do you know what the maximum class sizing is for kindergarten or first grade or maybe Amory knows it I'm not sure well I do know that when the board votes each year on your um I guess your your expected class size it's not even you know it's not even per the contract it's just you usually look at 20 for K and one 22 for two and three and no more than 24 I mean those are kind of more max size you know um but typically we do have 2022 and and really in third and fourth we've been pretty fortunate having
069you know 22 23 not 24 27 so in the contracts you can't go over the 27 without giving some additional support in those upper grades um I mean I mean my own my own feeling is that when I look at the enrollment forecast I mean just I went I pulled up last year's budget and we did um lose from the proposed and FTE changes in the budget I mean I'm not sure exactly what happened because you know things change but um but we lost one classroom teacher in Charles bar and then one classroom teacher in um in themes River um last year so now we would be losing two more and this has been kind of a you know a progressing Trend and and I brought up class sizes but but I'm just going to
070go to Mystic River where I believe that we will have an extra classroom if there's enough for one classroom for grade um because first grade is only going to be using three but in Mystic River um you know on that enrollment forecast it says we're going to have 21 kids in each kindergarten class um which which I think is a lot um and I I don't see it as the worst thing especially for a school like that that really could use the support and it has a lot of need I don't see it as a bad thing if um if if the classes had 15 and 16 in them at the current it would also give us um a little bit of a cushion if we do have more kids because there are like when
071we look at kindergarten next year um I think it averages out about 20 maybe maybe 19 point something um you know just on that enrollment forecast so I I don't see it as a bad thing I mean if we were to run some smaller classes um I think it could help with achievement especially if we could run smaller classrooms if we have room in Mystic River or fames River um to run a little bit smaller classes for those for those youngers and and I kind of wanted to bring up that you know that the kind of the surge or like the little w of it's like a slinky the wave of enrollment that we have I mean that's going to be going throughout the system and and last year um last year we um you
072know we um you know you came up with the TK idea which was great because we knew we weren't going to have as many k kindergarteners right age change so we moved those teachers into kindergarten or into TK but now we need to move them back into first and that type of thing or back into kindergarten yeah exactly I'm sorry um but yeah we'll need to move them back you know like a year out it's going to be a continuing thing where we're going to have a small class followed by a big class so teachers are probably not going to be super excited about you know some kid teachers are probably have to move a grade here and there but um but I you know I see it as um we're ultimately going to have
073the same amount of kids in our schools um so so the reduction of Staffing um along with if we could reduce some of those those classes I think that um in general like te teaching and learning would be more successful so um so that's my own feeling is that um that this money you know if we were to deduct or not it should be in teaching staff um and and not for other things so you know I I'm kind of of the you know you can't split the baby so you know like a $40,000 um number you know it's hard to hire a half of a classroom teacher probably um but um but I you know I am in support in in keeping the staff as we are because it doesn't seem like the projected
074enrollment is going to change very much and and we very well may need um you know we may end up with a few kids and then we don't have any classes running for them um because they're all maxed out or we'll have very few classes running for them because they're all you know maxed out especially in those K12 numbers so so um you know I've heard all of the you know all the discussion I appreciate apprciate that but I but I I still would support kind of keeping the Staffing levels as they are and and filling retirements particularly in elementary Dean yeah uh okay so following what you just said you you're in favor of keeping the staff levels where they are I think we're hearing two different things I'm I'm hearing that that the
075128 leaves the staff you know removing the 128 leaves the Staffing where it is so if that's correct then you shouldn't be concerned about removing the 128 but obviously some people are hearing that removing the 128 results in a staff production so it's one or the other it's not two sides of the same coin it's two different coins Al together and then I heard it a little differently Dean can I just add this Adrian I heard it a little differently I hear what Adrian is saying is that we could reduce the class sizes even more with those additional staff if you know if we kept that funding yeah well then then then the discussion should be about hey you know we have class sizes of yay big let's make them smaller by hiring more people
076let's throw in $128,000 that's really what we're talking about then it's being it's being cast as a discussion about whether or not we should cut staff when really this is what we're talking about is adding staff and yeah and that may be a wonderful thing but let's talk about it in those terms and not say we're losing staff we're cutting staff it's two different things I don't necessarily um like I'm not proposing although I would support it down the line but not right now um reducing General classroom sizes if we if we kept this so I I guess I am confused if we're not filling retirements then that's reducing staff um I thought I was under the understanding that the numbers that you put in just accounted for that number already but um but if
077we're not filling two two classroom teachers um due to retirement then we're reducing it depends on with the retirements are not necessarily in that first grade so what would happen is Teachers would have to move around to fill positions so we have fewer first grade class that's just happens to be the phenomenon that we're dealing with next year I saw there were two kindergarten teacher retirements it looks like there there's at least one there may be another I'm trying to think it was CK and maybe it was stes River um oh not CK um there's definitely one at Nea oh farum I think there was a kindergarten teacher re on the FAQ but so in in I in you know having reduction of class sizing um that would take an enormous effort by the board
078um and this isn't this in my opinion is reduction of a couple of classes um sizing a couple of classes and leaving a little bit of cushion for more students because it seems like we're pretty full um where we can so so I you know I whatever the number is I would be in support of keeping Staffing as it is this year knowing that we already cut two Staff last year from the El like classroom teachers from the elementary schools yes let's keep the staff and if we sus what I heard Susan saying it could be wrong is we we're keeping the staff and we can get rid of the 128 and I will point out one more thing which I pointed out before there seems to be some something not connecting with the FTE
079that's that's FTS that are being reported there's something inaccurate about it this is this is what leads us to the you know 7% average uh teacher salary increase which is a phantom um and and and the difference between you know the ft is report in the pink section the ft is report in the the green section whichever section it is and then there's also the frequently asked questions we have a really Nifty chart so I'm I'm going not so much by the quantitative report which again this seems to be something off about that I'm going by the qualitative report that Susan gave which is I'm staffed I can I remain staffed I'm fine hey who wouldn't like another 128 but I can keep my Staffing without the 128 I don't PS I don't even know
080why that's in there I'm paraphrasing because I didn't take it out I guess I guess for for clarity um and this might touch on what Mike's going to say is so we have um in in this budget we have 104 classroom teachers is what the fdes are so we'll pretend that right now or it says that um our actual for fy2 is 104 and that was proposed in the budget three weeks ago was 104 um now if two teachers are we hiring any new teachers outside of um filling some of the retirements are we adding any positions outside of the retirements so it's almost a I have to really see the grade level and it's it deals with grade level and certification so it is a complex 3D problem because you have to have teachers
081who are capable of teaching in those slots where the retired people are yeah now if you if you've reduced your your first grade classroom you might have a first grade teacher that can easily slide down to a k yeah um I'll I'll pull up the FAQ and and find that out but so that that being said I mean I just want to kind of go back to you know if we have four now um and two are retiring it seems like we're going to have 102 un two two retirements that we're not filling it seems like we're going to have less staff next year if we're not hiring a new um you know if we're not hiring um you know replacement staff so I guess I'm still confused I I thought that we were just
082saying that the FTE counts are incorrect or something like that um but now I've never said the ft e are incorrect I just said that we never took away the funding when we reduced those four um the four tiered first grades into three three tier yeah we left the funding in there that would be because we put it into the TK though right with those staff [Music] members no it really doesn't it doesn't affect the TK because TK kids will be going into kindergarten next year and those TK teachers will roll back up to kindergarten all right um can I ask a quick question yeah yeah go go ahead Mike and then Jen um I'm gonna try to find those yeah so so this is for superintendent it'll help me and I think it'll help
083um if the board chooses to cut 128,000 from the elementary function code will that budget support less teachers fewer teachers than are currently in the Elementary classroom supported under this function code right now you will still have what is predicted in the 210 of course that I think it includes reading teachers I'm just asking yes or no it is it fewer no not certifi certifi teachers is it is it fewer if we take the cut or is it the same as it is now in terms of number the same number it's the same FTE it's just the money that's affected because I never removed the money when I when we did the FTE because we were kind of waiting to see how this would shape out so so we will not see a reduction in
084elementary school Staffing uh for certified teachers because of this cut is what you're saying that's what I'm saying and so we have four retirements we're hiring plan to hire advertise for two of those positions not advertised for the other two positions where those other how did those other two holes get filled and funded well that's based on certification and I don't have the list of teachers in front of me but you know well are they going to be filled they will be filled yes we have to fill them so for retirements four retirements in Elementary classroom teachers and four of those positions will be filled next year right with this cut right with the cut right that's correct um all right I'll just order offer a little clarification and then it'll go to Jen so
085the retirements I just pulled up the sheet um we have one kindergarten teacher at themes River a speech and language pathologist at fames River Elementary at um Nea kindergarten at Nea and music teacher at Nea those are the five um Elementary School retirements that are on this this list so go go ahead Jen are were you done Mike I'm sorry um yeah I'm done okay I don't know how many times Susan has to say there is no staff reduction when we removed the 128 she has said this like 10 times no staff reduction with the removal of the 128 I mean like how are we only going to stop discussing this when we finally get concurrence of zero reduction by all because I'm pretty sure I would like to call for a vote now because
086we've discussed this long enough that's it all right well it's just because it says in my opinion it says on the line -2 FTE due to retirements due to enrollment and then retirements are in parentheses that's the confusing part so maybe we need to re um label that line yeah I think that did confuse you guys I just meant with the retirements we're not really going to lose staff either because we can mostly fill them with you know it's fine it's definitely retirement that probably complicated things so it's at a retirement savings instead of a negative -2 FTE is that should we we've already taken we've already taken the retirement savings we already took the total number of positions times $155,000 it's out of the budget I know that for fact oh oh so this
087is a a minus 2 FTE reduction right what we're talking about no it's it's minus the 128 but it's it said should we change description is it retirement reduct of savings is that what it is or is it a minus no you can take out the retirement that's complicating things I mean if it's retirements they retired young for Pete's sake that's 128 is does not cover two people in the No No who put in 25 30 years that's right so it be a net like because you're gonna rehire so so since there's not going to be an FTE change would it be fair to say that it was just an an error or something like that versus no what you could possibly do is the funding for two positions just put funding for the two
088for two positions funding for two positions right it's the the amount it's going to be that keep it if it's G to be that then we should get minus 2 F I'm call for a vote all right um so I guess based on everything I heard I I guess maybe you were saying that the retire the reductions would have been in retirements that's a higher salary of the people that retired and yeah we've already taken care of that so those and teachers in the district we've already taken care of that when I asked if if the 128 was spent on certified teachers would that increase the FTE from 127 to 129 you said yes um so that tells me that you know we it this this would be an addition to what is already established
089um so if that's the Paradigm in which we're voting then let's vote on that and I can live with the outcome whatever it may be um I'm still in favor of a zero cut here uh because I'd like to like have that flexibility to try to invest some more in in more Staffing on the elementary level to try you know identify the needs as the school year comes on and try to make some accommodations for that um but I can understand people's hesitancy to do such and and that's fine so you know if the vote doesn't go for zero then I I can live with it I'm not going to try to BL the point any further um so I'm I'm good to go all right and then Jen and then Andrea and then hopefully
090we can vote I'm sorry didn't put my hand down from before so maybe it's just me me too I'm sorry oh all right so um without any other further um discussion so we have two numbers right now 128 and zero is there interest in any other numbers all right I I would say we can vote on the zero and then you know if someone wants to throw a motion on for 6 we could we could do that then all right so um so proposal to to not take a reduction in um in object code 101 function 111 so for a z deduction from the budget I'm in favor uh Thomas all right yeah and I'm I'm supporting the Z dollar Whitney's in favor of zero reduction we have in favor Whitney myself and Ian anyone
091else in favor of a zero reduction I uh am in favor of uh zero reduction all right Jay I I'm confused I want want to leave things alone does that mean a zero reduction no we haven't got to that yet all right okay the 128 I believe um all right um opposed all right Dean I am I am me and Jen Andrea am I missing somebody Matt's not here be's not here all right so we're there so and then there's no room for exstension so looks like it passes as a zero reduction that's a four to three my account yeah so it's Mike myself Ian and Jay that are for a zero doll um a z change to the budget and um opposed by Dean Jen and Andrea so that's four to three to zero
092correct riously no hold on there we go yes no the name carefully all right so moving on to line 42 um this one got a little bit confusing but it was Sports stipend and stipend for um like teachers and staff for clubs and stuff is am I explaining that correct right and I talked to Mark romano and it's more from his budget with the sports and it it's things that he was able to reduce looking at the budget so he felt comfortable removing that 60,000 remember the athletic budget is you know one of our larger budgets so in a high school you have both the academic side and the athletic but I did check with him before removing this amount all right um and I was just going to just for clarity because this one
093was a little bit confusing in the FAQ it moved money into summer school but we're undoing that correct that's why we're there's a zero up at line 38 now um am I correcting that I don't know which let me look at the page what page are you on well it said um it said we were going to move it originally all right no out of 1500 into summer school that was in the FAQ so basically we're just going to disregard that number now right and summer school is just going to stay as initially proposed yes summer school is staying as initially believe was 40,000 um um so we briefly move it up to 50,000 I can't remember where that was now but anyway summer school will stay where it is wherever um that no special
094yeah I I can't find it right now but but it doesn't matter because we're not going to change it um so and in this line um it got conf confusing because lines 126 on page 569 function 1500 they got Consolidated into just 126 right to 518 690 I think um where in FY 25's budget it it was you know 353 on on Sports and then other activities was 102,000 right so um the and and I just did the the Ma and um this new reduction of $60,000 um that that was that increase of that number ended up being a $57,900 less than it was funded last year which is um like I don't know 3% or something 2,000 out of 500,000 um so it so it's essentially flat year toy year um yes relatively close
095to Flat year to year on you know between 126 and 127 and I I see you there Jen but I'm just going to is it possible to have it in the budget that goes to John Bert to have numbers in 126 and 127 so we can see if there's a change in sports or other like it was last year to have it broken out again yeah I will ask FAQ kind of broke it out but um but now I'm not sure if that was right that breakout that the FAQ had so can we um you know like we can vote on the $60,000 reduction but um but however that total works out I would I I would personally like to see it separated so we can see how much we're spending on Sports coaches um
096assistant coaches and how much we're spending on like the the people that are running um you know the clubs and stuff like robot okay I've just put a note to myself to have Ray do that all right and then um Jan and then Mike I don't know how my hand got up um I apologize I don't have any comments to say all right any anybody else have any comments Ms or questions or I just want to say I just want to say I'm glad I'm glad we're going to put the number in Student Activities because that's one of those lines that people flip to every year at different levels of government so if they see that as zero we'd be getting a lot of questions that we don't need to have to say well no
097really there are activities that just together I agree I don't know why I don't understand why that was actually done M that was how it was handed to us we got we got a lot we had a lot to deal with when it was handed to us so understand understood all right I oh yeah sorry um yeah so I just wanted to get a little bit of clarity on uh the 60,000 um this reduction would um like what would this change is is this an addition that is just going to be held back or is this something that is going to be uh something that was established and being reduced this year there's no reductions it's just looking at the four-year contract and the stiens and making it more realistic you know it's just savings
098that Mark felt that you could do without losing anything but I'll get you the breakout of which is the clubs and which is the sports yeah I would appreciate the breakout on that um like so any given like are these the stipend that help that pay for the coaches yeah the teachers and the coaches yep and it's per contract so it's not anything we decide on a year-to-year basis so it's basically built into the contract so this is just more a more accurate calculation of what that those contractual obligations are yes that's what he said yep okay well in that case um I I can't think of a reason to object to that um so I'm fine with the the 60,000 number I guess so just just for the clear just for the numbers um
099if we take the 60,000 it would be um that that lines 26 and one and 27 would sum to 4 55,974 58690 so that's that's the total of those lines um like roughly $2,000 less so are there any other questions or can we vote on this one all right anybody like to make a proposal 42 all right um so um everybody that's in favor of a $60,000 reduction on lines 126 and 1227 and 1500 say I hi hi put your hand up because it's going to be confusing if you don't mind um Dean yes sir are you in favor of the $60,000 reduction by my hand is up oh all right sorry I didn't see it yep it's too pale color hand than everybody else well I'm trying to match my complexion oh all right
100and J I see J so it's unanimous right yep all right so it's unanimous 60,000 deduction all right so that is all we have on um this sheet um where can I see what that number is because you know how I like numbers yeah so um it' be a 7.35% reduction um from well where we increase yes 7.35% increase from um FY 25 total is 94,500 for 560 um and it would be a 6,466 th000 $76 increase um from from last year's budget all right Ian you have a question or anything oh um yeah so I just wanted to kind of uh check in on we we talked a little bit about the budget software last night um and In the Heat of the Moment I kind of misfired mathematically and um I understand that
101uh Clint was talking about a $330,000 um CIP with the town that was going to somehow be like a joint venture and we had the 115,000 that we allotted for this current fiscal year that you know I I'm hoping to see um make its way through the budget and end up in our noning fund since we haven't been able to spend it on what we identified it for but I I guess a couple of questions first off um what function code in line item was at 115,000 um attached to I don't know I'd have to ask Ray okay um and second I guess uh we're looking at uh it would be 165,000 would actually repres present the halfway mark of the 330,000 figure so as I was thinking about today and what I was trying
102to get at last night was that I think in order to try to encourage the Town Council and the RTM to support that CIP I thought it might be a strong move for the board uh to one uh first uh vet the proposed CIP from our end and vote on it in as as far as like a like a symbolic vote saying that you know we endorse the idea of going to that budget software in such a way as proposed by the CIP once we get a look at all the details of it um but then also maybe uh um since we have 115,000 already lotted towards the budget software we would only need uh looks like 50,000 more in order to meet the town halfway on that 330,000 figure and so I guess I
103would propose that we add um 50,000 to this budget in order to uh to with the ident with it identified as being additional to the budget software upgrade to be added to the 115,000 and be held in standby to match the town should the town carry through and pass that CIP so with all that as a as an explainer I would motion to um add 50,000 to our budget for Budget software upgrades all right all right Jay did you have a question on this topic yeah comment yes um yeah I just want to clarify when when we talked about the 115,000 last year with um uh the business manager at the time Dave his idea was to uh purchase a system uh for Budget planning and also to explain the budget uh to make it
104web based um and make these uh Budget Building exercises more transparent and more informative for us and the public that's different than munus which is the system which records the debits and credits so to speak um I think the industry calls it an her um it is where the chart of accounts lies and the the uh debits and credits are posted um you know as the financial transactions go through the system so they're they're two different things now if the board wants to reallocate and abandon the idea of a budget building system you know where we can make this whole process flow better and and be more understandable for everybody um and reallocate it to um an accounting system which munus is um you know that's fine I just I don't want to muddy the
105waters because they are two completely different systems and the Budget Building system would ideally um Talk Back and Forth with the accounting system um so that it wouldn't have to be manual entries um but they would still be two Standalone systems um if I could respond um yeah yeah I would I would say I'm I I I thank Jay for his clarification on that and and um you know yeah my memory of it is is I I guess you know is is a little more is a little is a little different but either way at the end of the day like it's for you know financial management budget construction um and I'm not sure we're sort of operating at disadvantage here because we don't have Ray and we don't have Clint or do we have
106Clint I don't think we have Clint no um so um I'm not sure there were very they were very responsive to the CIP I think we need to have that go through its course and and listen to what um I think wasn't Clinton saying that he was going to try to get the vendor in or several vendors in to talk to us and to the town I thought um yeah yeah I heard that too and and and um and I'm not sure I didn't I didn't get a good understanding whether or not there would be an expectation that as a joint venture I mean is a town expecting us to come up with some percentage of that CIP money I had I hadn't heard that so this may been communicated with me this may be
107we may just you know that that that motion may just um we may just have to let it die in the vine um because you know thinking about that I'm not sure I don't want to get over out over our out over our skis either um but that's what I was trying to get some understanding it might be a little premature it might be a good thought for later but I think need to get our ducks in a row and learn more about this even me you know I've just heard really good things about it and I think there's Synergy between the town and the board having something that um can respond to one another and you you're Le you're less likely to have human error for human entries to things and passing them over
108to town employees from our side and their side going back and forth I think it's going to be a better tool for everybody to use is what I'm understanding but I don't know a lot more than that and I'm learning I would like to learn more yeah yeah so um I guess you know in that in that light I mean if I would I'll I'll just withdraw the motion um unless somebody really wants to kind of run with it um but uh because I guess we need to know more about the CIP the nuts and bolts of like what's expected of us you know I'm I'm in favor of the idea I just need more need more details and I definitely um want to honor some of that I mean I do remember a lot
109of that discussion um that Jay mentioned and yes we were looking for a dual approach one to try to you know attain better construction techniques and methods as well as better you know accounting systems and something I would Mel with a town so yeah I guess we just have to wait and see about the um what happens with the CIP and wait to see um well we and and watch for that 115 I guess that's the one takeaway here is I just would like to have that um answered either in the FAQ or with an email as far as like where that 115,000 is located um in the uh 2025 budget so that we can kind of keep keep a keep a finger on it and and make sure it doesn't um it gets to
110where it needs to go as far as like a non- lasting fund and then stand on standby for us to make a decision okay I wrote it down it's on my list appreciate it thank you question yeah I I just want to mention real quick so the um my understanding was if we go with the single instance with the town um in the cloud um that that would be totally covered by by CIP and not operating budget and again 115,000 i' I've done some research on that the vendor is one of the vendors uh which is agnostic as to the uh system we use for the accounting um is willing to come in at our first opportunity um to get a demonstration of what that budget planning software is so that it can be spent
111in the current year if that the will of the board so I just thought I'd put that in there as a placeholder all right yeah I think that all warrants more discussion but um to try to keep it on the on the topic of the budget for next year for FY 26 um if that proposal is off um you know hopefully we'll be able to talk about that soon um but we'll we'll stick with things on the budget so are is there anyone else um any any other um question comments discussion on on the budget revision um I just wanted to um can you hear me yes um I I know Mike expressed an interest to run back just to take a quick sweep through 31 to 37 um and looking at those now all
112having some discussion on these and looking at my notes from prior meeting means um I know that we discussed RTC and took that reduction off the board um we took the 1108 math field trip reduction off the board um the IB and AP testing I I believe we voted on and it did not pass so that that was taken off the board um so the only ones that that don't strike me as familiar and having been discussed are the last two 36 and 37 um so maybe we could just briefly touch on those and make sure that those are things that either have been handled or we could handle them right now yeah um before we get to those I'm just going to go back to Roc because I know that Mike had brought this
113up and just asked for um some details into that budget um so I know we talked about um not changing that number um but to get you know we just have a a base number but nothing really else um so he had he had requested that um so I'm going to follow up with that question if if we have any details yet into that budget and if not if we can um get them I had said that it's more than uniforms of course you always have to replace uniforms in the jackets and that kind of thing for different sizing and but there's also a lot of after school activities and transportation um competitions even on weekends so there is stien probably that would be necessary even for the instructor for his overtime or his time
114beyond the school day but I will get um a list of things that add up to the 50,000 for you all right all right thank you oh uh Mike's back but he needs to be promoted to panelist Adrian are you able to do that oh I don't know I'm doing it right now all right okay great um yeah so I guess Susan a quick question was there any email could you do a search and see if there's like was there a communication from the from the instructor where maybe that was itemized out request no I haven't I have not received that I had talked to him about getting that together so um but he will I'll remind tonight okay all right Mike thank just to bring you up to speed Mike we had just requested
115the detail into the r RC line the the more detailed budget and Susan's going to get that back to us um all right so 126 so moving down to um 119 601 computer supply or is it six yeah so actually I just went back supplies for um unclassified what is that four um yeah I think that's a pending reduction right because there are no FTE in there so there's no need to to have the benefits uh not benefits1 it says general classroom supplies oh is that one of the ones where we were talking about all of the supplies and then we ended uping 100,000 in total and said we were going to leave all of the individual ones alone or something like that is am I correct in that no I think the object number
116is wrong I think the note says we're removing the SSI there's no FTE in the unclassified account so there's no reason to have lines 212 to 227 which add up to 67,000 uh 998 so that needs I think two things got confused in this one line because object 601 is the general classing supplies $75,000 and7 or seven sorry $ 75,7 and there was somewhere else in this list did we talk about reducing overall Supply yeah so the overall General Supply to requested reduce was 100,000 so I I now I'm having a memory I think I brought this up pointed out that that's three4 of that 100,000 right there we took that out that would only leave this line 19 to be another 25,000 supplies to be removed somewhere else in order to make that $100,000
117Target if I can throw in some clarification really quick I've got it in front of me the 67,900 [Music] yeah maybe the 601 wasn't correct because that number is in the FY 26 budget and that covers Social Security Medicare unemployment tax and Mentor stipend to add up to that but there are no FTE in that category so um so Jay is that is that your understanding that maybe um I I i' kind of missed this before too but um maybe all that should be zeroed out I don't know about the $1,500 stipend for Mentor but um we can't zero that out security all of that stuff um should we get rid of that because it doesn't seem to be associated with anybody can anyone answer that question I'm looking are you looking n where are
118you yeah 5-4 5-41 okay 119 unclassified 6 to2 um so it says grouping of all instructional and other costs not attributed to major programs budgeted expenses include contractual Severance payments to teachers and administrators health insurance benefits for retired employees employee assistance program payments and unemployment compensation payments Additionally the building substitute teacher charges are allocated in this as well well charges so is that what that stuff's for the Social Security Medicare is for the building Subs that are in other parts of the budget yeah I wouldn't take that out I mean I I want to make sure that that's in the area that we've designed for 1700 districtwide although it looks like Social Security Medicare was kept in the function where there were Staffing and I don't see Subs I don't see summer school um but
119I do see a mentor stien and a student intern and some other miscellaneous um Staffing so I wouldn't want to take that out unless I knew those those people were covered there's a repair of equipment yeah the rest of it seems reasonable to leave in but it's the Social Security Medicare unemployment tax but probably those three where there's numbers but no FTE assigned in this category but but then there's a student intern maybe it's for um um oh yeah I I think that's too risky I have to I will check though with Lori just to make sure what this is well there there's there's a bit of a relic here I think of the the to do teachers and the things that used to be in this yeah in this function code and I think
120that's just a vestigial limb and is it real is it in our budget now like so that would be a clerical correction that's what I want to double check with Peter Jennings to make sure in that case that would be like we've been leaving the Social Security and Medicare with any staffing in that function it doesn't have FTE but there is um a student intern in here and I don't know if the state unemployment tax is just miscellaneously stuck here I don't know I've got to find out though that's the first time I'm cut that no I wouldn't cut I wouldn't cut 223 because it's the only uh instance of that account in the entire budget right so that 35,000 is um is necessary we do have to pay into unemployment but the Social Security
121Medicare looks like like leftover like you said okay so should we put in a correction here no I let L let Lori and Peter Jennings look at it leave those funds alone I mean I just want to make sure I mean Jen and then Mike so I'm the one who brought that up um a couple weeks ago and they were supposed to look into that a couple weeks ago um because I think we were going through it and it was like Hey the salaries were removed so why weren't all the associated benefits moved or if not even there just transferred into the 1700 account just for consolidation even though it's um not the regular benefits so so I guess we can wait to have Lori look or just leave it but that was something that
122we had brought up like a couple weeks ago get in in the FAQ sheet do you know Jen I'm not sure because that's how keeping track of everything I apologize if you didn't get it but I do think we need to look at it and I don't know if it ends up something that's a little extra in the budget um to used for other insurances and things then that's just only going to help us in the long exactly so maybe they just yeah no it's not and considering what we all put back today that's like nothing so maybe we just move it into the 1700 account so then dis way like all of that types of benefits and Social Security and everything is all together okay I will make that suggestion thank you and then
123the last one 1260 trim down so that's enrichment um trim down to 56,000 it says total in that in that function um it says the total is 56880 three um I would I would say that that's um that's the only enrichment we and after school activities that we have for elementary so I know you guys have talked a lot about elementary and there are some homework clubs and some additional things that more like tutoring for Middle School it's we the it has increased so that we could do some of that for middle school so um I would say that that's the only thing they have when you think of an athletic budget and clubs for high school and all that we put in for the inner murals and the sports for middle school that's the
124only little bit that we have for elementary and they use it and parents and kids love it for those after school opportunities yeah just for anybody who might not have it I'll just say what the numbers are it's so the bottom line number um in that category last year um the fy2 budget um it was 39,821 9 UM the year before the actual used was about was 37,43 so um the proposed for this year is 56884 um which is a $177,000 increase from FY 25 um which represents 42% increase or 43% increase from the year before so Mike yeah I try to remember is this the one where the Middle School level maybe this year and the previous years uh it was covered by a grant and then that would happen coming year yes and
125they you know they do have um they do have a few clubs that they also sponsor um they do a drone Club they do a robotics team so I think those are really important for middle middle schoolers as well thank you and and for me I think just as much as we've got a Wonder one uh Chromebook ratio I think the school system is striving to have a at least a one: one every student should have an after school activity or an enrichment activity um that speaks to them and they can do I agree and sometimes that ends up being a career pathway because they love it so much so for this one I'll move with number of zero as a reduction all right uh Mike you all upet with comments yes um let's just
126take a vote everybody in support of the zero leave that it leave that as it is hi I I all right so Ian and Mike were both eyes Jay I think I heard you were an i is that correct guys all right I think that's what I heard so I'm going to go that it's unanimous everybody's in favor of zeroing it up there with hands up so we'll leave okay um or five yeah so just for clerical sake I so and I wasn't sure I didn't want I just put this in there as potential that's why I highlighted it as yellow but like I said line 19 we had agreed on on trying to find $100,000 in general classroom supplies reduction and then in function code um 1119 represented in line 36 there is 75,000
127in supplies that's unclassified um so so we did take the 100,000 for General classroom supplies that's about all I can do otherwise we won't have any supplies exactly so this is sort of like a zero CH a zero uh sum change all I did was just attach a spec the the 4,993 that's left to be made up to make the 100,000 in line 19 does that Mak sense to everyone well I think that you've already got the 100,000 accounted for so we can't take anything additionally it's not additional it's just I just identified a specific line where you know three quarters of it would go away I mean we can go back to the way it was I don't have any problem with that either but was it online 19 were we just add 100,000
128there and then you changed it yes exactly this is and this is a proposed like arrangement of information it doesn't change the bottom line number um but if somebody if if people would rather have it the way it was I can put it back I mean I I I'm thinking that as it was I think I have to figure that out if you're talking about generally cutting supplies okay had I had taken from the 601 General classroom supplies 100,000 yeah I think right leaving it as it was gives Susan the um option of yeah it gives me more flexibility so I can take from the least yeah any other opinions on that yep all right we're back to where it was all right all right so do we have all of them now well the
129one thing is um where do we land on this as far as on on on line 43 uh that was our function code are we waiting for information or is this a number that is the budget somewhere put that zero that we're not taking that out I'm just that's too fragile I've got to figure out I'm going to make sure that we've got that covered somewhere we can't take out a state unemployment taxs I think like Jay said that's the only place it happens I'll move zero yeah all right yeah anyone else supporting zero on that I do yep in favor of that Mike and Dean unanimous yep I support zero oh all right and moving it to 1700 and um um and moving it to um function code 1700 so it's all Consolidated yeah
130I wrote that down too in my book Jen thank you y I'll review it with with Ray tomorrow all right um now Ray has this this to take care of and then we also have the town reviewers coming into the business office so we are buy busy all right well we know what takes priority because we have uh two days this takes a priority I know they've got interviews but the review the reviewer might be able to wait until March 1 if we're not going to get this done well I no no he's yeah we're g to we have to get this done we got to work around it yeah um so is there any more discussion are you asking for other items to cut or no I don't know no please no well I'm
131asking I'm asking for other discussion if anybody has are you asking for motion to adjourn is that what you're ask no no we have a very important asking don't even kid about that all right so does anybody um all right so I will all right do you want to make a motion Mike or you want to discuss something yeah I I'd like to make a motion to remove um $63,000 for the Fitch PA system and I'm I'm doing that for discussion purposes well I wish Clint was here all right he probably doesn't need to be for this discussion okay all right oh yeah well I guess we don't need um a second right um uh yeah do you have yeah I would say my my R my rationale is is just that um I don't
132want to see it both in the cips and in our budget um and I and what we got from last time that there's no guarantee it's going to make it in the in um what John B Berke puts forward but um if we do include right now it's in our budget in our that we're talking about now so if we include funds for our PA system in this budget then I say we let John Burt know right away so they can redraw withdraw it from the CIP or this is why I put up the reduction or we could take a gamble um that the fact that it's Advanced at least one step that it might come through it certainly does fall into infrastructure um so so that's my rationale so I don't want to have
133it in both places all right I Ian do you have a comment or um I uh I understand the Gambit yeah I don't know I mean based on prior experience I'm I'm I'm inclined to leave it in the operational budget and um hope I don't know but yeah you know if somehow the CIP passes through then you know we could look at the 63,000 as as another play like you know what else could we do with it we could in our operational budget we do have the power to to reassign money uh after the fact um there is a process for that so um you know in the case that the CIP does pass I'd rather have it and not need it then need it and not have it I guess so I just saw
134I just saw Clint said he could weigh in if he wanted just his take on things yeah Clint's on so yeah Clint if you can if you've got a some clarity on this that'd be great CL are you there you there Clint I just texted does he need to get promoted to a panelist maybe no he's co-host with me okay thanks while we're waiting I just want to make sure it's clear it doesn't look like we're asking for the same thing in two different places hi everybody I'm here but yeah all right yeah Clint Could you um so Mike's question was um you know we I guess you were talking about having the PA system in a CIP and discussion on whether that should be in the budget if it's in a CIP um so
135could you explain where that is in process right now with the town uh so the CIP uh Sam and I presented uh as he mentioned to the Planning and Zoning um they asked why we were presenting munice uh along with other things but we presented as we were asked to um and my understanding is that they blessed those and pushed them through although Sam and I are still waiting for com confirmation and minutes from that meeting so they they blessed munus and the PA system so the the three on on the it side were and munice was really put in as a as a uh budgeting uh as a finance office so the really the only two it were PA for 63k and cameras for 100k and then whatever Sam had in all right um
136so I I I I kind of support Mike's thought that um we shouldn't be asking for money in two places um in in you know I know this started out in the budget and but it sounds like the change it was a change in CIP um but um I would like to see if any you know here any other board members that that um you know have an opinion on this anyone um I already said my my piece um i' like to hear others I have a question um so am my understanding then that the town may want to consolidate this is really coming from the town that they're they're the ones that want to consolidate with us and in essence save money overall if I may yeah go ahead if you're speaking of munice
137Andrea the this has been a joint effort between you know John bird has been involved Liz spell my counterpart on the town sign has been involved and we are absolutely in the fact-f finding um stage of it now we do have a ballpark proposal we've gone through two rounds of that the next scheduled meeting is to go through the chart of accounts uh because that is a very important thing when you're merging into one main system keeping those separate so that is being scheduled as we speak so I would assume that there would be a third slight change in what this will cost ultimately but to answer your question directly yes the right people from the town and the Board of Ed are at the table no promises have been made no additional funds have
138been allotted but this is where the ship is being steered and I do personally think it's a good idea for the town of Gren and then the sell would be that overall there would be a savings to the taxpayer there would be an ultimate savings to the taxpayer um and as this board has discussed uh quite a bit I I think there would be a better process overall or at least the opportunity for a better process from budgeting from management and so forth thank you uh just a quick point of clarification I guess that had to do that last exchange had to do with the IM munis but what we're discussing right now has to do with removing the PA system upgrade from the bord ofed operational budget um since we're apparently also asking for
139it in the CIP right it does make sense good idea Mike Whitney uh Jen I'll support Mike on that makes sense that we shouldn't have it into places um so I guess I would go to Clint and say what would you prefer knowing that we have to pass a budget tonight and it seems like a few board members at least don't feel like it should be in two places um what do you you know where where would you rather see this would you rather see it go through the CI you know it's kind of your project so would you rather see it go to CIP now or would you rather you know would you rather have it in our budget uh it's uh thank you for for asking um I understand the the as a
140former board member I certainly understand the concern with having it in two locations uh I worry about this from a security standpoint because I'm doing everything I can working with now one single vendor that I'm aware of in Connecticut that can actually service this product so uh my fingers are crossed every time we have a lightning strike or a storm or what have you that all being said I think it is squarely a CIP uh ask it is a large Capital Improvement system that obviously we haven't updated in almost 50 years so I think it if if we look at it through that lens it should be a CIP request and we could then tell the story of how it was removed from the operating budget because we clearly saw it as a CIP request
141and we were doing our due diligence to make sure that we're not you know having it allotted in two places and being accused of double [Music] counting you're going to join us when we go to talk about that Clint and Mike too all right yeah I I appreciate that Clint Mike and then em yeah and just quickly um the existing PA system isn't just a box in an inaccessible area as Clinton has described it also of course snakes through the whole school system so it really is infrastructure situation to upgrade and replace it right I'm happy to make the case for that all right in that case um having heard Clint speak on it and and thinking on it further I'll I I'll support uh Mike's motion as well okay any more discussion all right
142um so all in favor of remove removing the PA system from our operational budget in and and putting it into a CIP ,000 so everyone that's in favor please raise your hand all right um myself and then me all right so unanimous we're removing it all right [Music] 7.28% increase all right any more discussion I see Ian and Jay's hands are still up I don't know if it's sorry that was inadvertent I have nothing further I think 7.28 is is a fair a fair number to land on and I think we've done our due diligence here the best we can and uh I'm ready to move forward and finalize all right so does anyone want to make the motion to approve should I read it and then see if somebody wants to make it is
143that the easiest way to do this yeah entertain motion all right so I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the FY 26 budget in the amount of 9 $ 4,361 56044 um which is a 7.28% increase over the FY 25 budget can we just round that cents to Dollars yes all right so let's delete the 44 94,5 184,000 oh wait I'm sorry reading the wrong line now 94,000 million million million million I do that too I thought it was be a one hour meeting um 94 mil 361,662 eight% increase that 44 cents is gonna come out of Mike's pocket stra out of the board side I will pay it I found a quarter on the street yesterday that'll go way 28 all right anyone want to make that motion so moved all right in
144I have a second I'll second and and just can you read it out again before the vote all right all right so the motion to approve the physical year 26 budget in the amount of 9 4, 361,662 eight% increase over the physical year budget all right um any discussion Andrew you have or no I'm voting all right Dean you have discussion am I first up all right I missed last year I was overseas um I have in my head the outlines of the little speech I was going to give last year I'm not going to keep us here very long but I think this this has to be said um I I know that I haven't done the percentages for this one but if you look at Susan's original proposed number I know that I'd
145said if you took our budget from 13 years ago and you stepped up 1.98% every year you would you would reach from 13 years ago to to today with Susan's original budget not counting the additional 6.4 million and everything that we talk about this budget cycle previous budget Cycles everything that's added subtracted but mostly added because it has gone up over the years is a logical piece on top of last year's piece which is on top of the previous year's piece everything has a rationale to it and yet from another point of view it remains a lot of money that is spent it's a town of 40,000 people we are not a big Berg we have a couple of large taxpayers thank goodness they take up about 20% of the slack I think but I'm
146not sure where they are on the grand list Gro long pointed as another 10% of the grand list so uh but for that this would be a you know represent a pretty large hit a larger hit um it's not about comparing us with other towns hey we're better we're in the middle you know don't feel so bad it could be worse you could be Salem OR I'm just you know pulling other towns out of the air it's a lot of money it's still $94 million to educate you know 4,000 uh plus kids may make it 4,500 kids and as I've said before many times there doesn't have to be even though it's enshrined in our state constitution but that that's not gospel either it doesn't have to be Mass public education there is sort of
147a societal compact that we will all pay to have free education on a mass basis by mass I mean kids don't have individual tutors you know everybody gets together except for exceptions they get together in a classroom of however many kids and there's a teacher and whoever else is necessary we provide the building we provide the Heats the light the heat the lights the seats materials the people in the classrooms transportation and almost anything else that is needed not everything else is needed but a lot of whatever else is is needed so that's a our job is to provide all of that kids job is to show up and as much as possible do their best and it's on their head and I hate to put it on little kids' heads but as they got
148older yes it is on their head if they don't achieve their uh you know their full potential they have a hand in it as well and as do the families that are supposed to be behind them and we are I don't know whether the scores from third fifth eth grade reflective of anything but there's a general sense of the kids are not performing as well as they could and who who is that and we're putting it on us to put more resources in these budgets and what we have is the picture I can't shake out of my mind is a picture of a horse the stick and then a carrot if the horse would just keep walking that horse will eventually get the carrot if we keep spending this money and most people I've talked
149to except for the LUN itics most people I've talked to are happy to spend money to even gold plate when the kids are actually educated I would like at some point I don't know how to do this but I would like at some point to be able to say we spent a hell of a lot of money and check out their results I don't know how that looks I don't know how that's measured and maybe we're doing it now but we keep talking about dismal test scores dismal SATs and dismal uh uh other other other uh metrics that we use um it just feels like we're going to do this and we're going to keep doing it and we're going to keep telling ourselves uh if we just spend more money if we just devote
150more resources it will get better what is our plan for getting to Nirvana or wherever it is that we're headed when is it going to end and again I realize it's not as simple as saying fine you know here's my 5-year goal or my two-year goal or my 10e goal this is tough stuff you're dealing with thousands of kids I get it and sometimes there is no solution maybe this is the best that can be done um you know I mean how old is the book or the piece Johnny can't you know why can't Johnny read That's from decades ago this is not a new problem so maybe this is just a phenomenon I don't know but I I I have a feeling I'm G to vote for the budget but with this with this
151idea that they can't it's always a lot of money and is this the is this you know are we going in the right direction are we going to get there is the horse ever going to get the carrot the horse gets hit with a stick but is the horse ever going to get get the carrot at the end of the day there I vented Ian and then Mike um yeah thank you I would I I definitely can empathize with uh with Dean's concerns and comments and um uh yeah you know I think overall like you know it's a thing that we always have to do a critical analysis of and that's why I look forward to working with this board and this Administration to find ways to uh different ways and and to capture data
152to uh try to assess um progress progression um you know not necessarily looking at uh comparative numbers to other districts as as as Dean noted but how we are functioning within our own uh s and and you know not standardized tests can only tell you one element of the picture um so I I I definitely look forward to finding ways to better capture that and also looking at ways to better uh uh you know deliver curriculum and uh in increase student engagement and um find ways you know to toh continue to to um find like what what Dean has also alluded to as like a steady state you know like where where can we produce you know um functional citizens um and uh you know education to me has always seemed like an extension of
153Public Safety you know uh it's that critical in my mind as far as like providing a foundation and sometimes like you know this if the scores aren't showing what we want them to well maybe the lenses that we're looking through are not necessarily the best too so we always have to keep that in mind and no I don't think that more money equals better Solutions at all um I agree that we always have to take a critical analysis of that and have that as an ongoing running filter but uh that being said I think we've we've done our due diligence uh to the best of our abilities with this budget and the 7.28% increase is is a fair thing and does kind of be seem to be consistent across the region as far as like
154what other um school districts are coming up with um there there have been a number of uh Dynamics uh associated with our situation uh one is shared across all school districts and not just the state but the nation as far as like inflation and and just the rising cost of electricity and other resources um but also you know we do have that uh what what I've euphemistically referred to as the point spread um the 1.2% that is a zero um a 0% increase to the taxpayer that was just transferred from the town budget to the board budget uh last year was a transitional year last year was uh that would that figure was not in the operational budget we we covered the expenses through uh supplemental grants and non- laap fund um but this is
155the first year where the uh nurses are fully integrated into the operational budget um so that's a zero % increase to the taxpayer but it is a 1.2% increase to the board budget um so that being said I think uh you know this is a number that I can support as a board member so um I look I look forward to moving on to the next phase of the process thank you all Jen you want Mike to go first just in case he lose Internet connection oh yeah yeah I'm sorry yeah M stand up first anyway thank you and that's what I was gonna say I might lose internet connection soon so just going to clearly register my vote as yes support of the budget number moved and um just I'll keep it brief for
156once and thank everyone for all the time and effort put into constructing the bud budget considering budget and I I do feel that this is a a budget that supports the educational needs of gr's children thank you Mike and Jen so I'm going to support this budget um I will admit it was a long and painful process um we can do things to improve it next year however um even though it was long and painful I think this year at least for me as being a new um board member um and this is the second time going around I feel like we as a board made um strategic decisions and made conscious efforts to invest in areas where we feel um that can improve the outcomes for the students because they don't get a second
157chance um we also made investments in the health like through the nurses and um you know um and through Susan's Grant which is not going to be in this budget but like investments in security so overall I think it was more comprehensive and for at least me it's a better understanding of what's in the budget so it is defendable um I was supporting it and defending it last year but this year I feel more comfortable doing so obviously there's areas where I don't feel like we should have reinvested and that occurred tonight um but overall um as an entire board I feel like we put in a good effort um in supporting Susan and her team and even though I know I was critical of the administration I do appreciate all the work that they
158put in thank you all right J thank you J yeah I just want to thank all of you um for all the time that we've uh spent going through this uh budget line by line we've generated at least 100 questions in the FAQ and so I also want to say thank you to the staff that answered those questions and followed up and and gave Clarity to uh you know all of the issues um in this District it's it it's complicated and it It's Complicated by the makeup of this District which is somewhat unique for all the reasons that you know um and uh so I'm appreciative uh to you and the staff and uh now we just uh move forward thank you thank you J anyone else like I think everything was said I think
159everything was said and said will and I'm just waiting for you to tell me what to do all right um yeah and and I'll I'll close out by um by thanking um especially the staff because this was a lot of after hours work um the board signed up for this um you know we knew we were coming into this and you know we made decisions to run these long meetings um you guys were dragged through them um to some extent and I I know it was a tough process but I I really do appreciate um everything that that everybody's been been um you know put into this not central office obviously mostly um but also the schools um we had we had other people in as well um so you know when I started with
160the board um you know knocking on doors my focus um was going to be to um do what I could to bring up the youngsters and um get our youngest students um you know more capable of handling the workload thinking um you know with the idea that we would be giving back to the community and we would be spending less money in Services later on and and I feel like this budget um was a small step towards that I mean there we obviously didn't add a ton of money into those kids but we did did add some services and and supported a little special ed a little bit more um so um you know we we did a lot of work on this and I I feel like we really went very well as a
161board um so I am um I'm fully supportive of this and and appreciate um everybody's work on it all the board members and everyone and I just want to thank you all this was really quite the challenge of a lifetime being left with something that was incomplete and you know not having the leadership in that business department but having raid come back and I definitely will pass on your your um your appreciation to our very committed staff whether they're in the school or they're with you know they're in central office and I couldn't have done this without all the hard work that you guys have put into it and I really applaud the investment that you've made I mean I came out trying to whittle it down to get it but think what you've done
162is really admirable so thank you very much thank you um all right I will I'm thinking it's probably most appropriate just to do a roll call vote on this um oh did you have something to say Andrew no oh I forgot thank you right um I will start with Mike just so um you can make it official you still there so what's your your vote yes all right I yes all right um Andrea I you want a hand that's good we got it Jen yes all right Ian yes uh Dean yay Jay hi all right and I am also a yes um or an I did I miss anybody all right all right so with that um the uh motion passed and we have a budget um C can you say the count yes so
163it was um unanimous 7 to zero to zero thank you I B's budget what that Habu budget yeah all right bu of time all right is would anyone like to say anything else all right Andrea well thank you everybody and Andrea I think she has something to say for motion to adjourn well done well done thank you all right thank you all right thank you all we'll see you next well Tech in favor wait that all right V full vote to adjourn all in favor I I I nice job Captain paining all right I think we're good all right thank you everyone well done