001Okay, good evening everybody. I'm going to go ahead and call the meeting to order this evening. We are beginning with the community consolidated school district 46 board of education truth and taxation hearing this evening, Wednesday, November 19th, 2025, 6 pm here at Frederick School. I need a call to order please with a roll call. >> Mac >> here. >> Braden here. Nash >> here. >> Halverson >> here. Hun here. >> Miller >> here. And Weedman >> here. >> Very good. Everybody's here. Would you join me for the pledge, please? >> To the flag of the United States of America to the stands one indivisibley for all. >> Thank you. I need a motion to approve the agenda for this evening's truth and taxation hearing. Please. I'll I'll second. >> Okay. >> Miller. >> I Halverson.
002>> I Mac >> I. >> Weedman. >> I >> Braden. >> I Hume. >> I. >> And Nash. >> I. >> Very good. Thank you very much. I'm going to hand it over to Mr. Wildman for the presentation. >> Good evening everyone. Tonight I will be presenting the 2025 property tax levy for Community Consolidated School District 46. This presentation outlines the process, key figures and rationale behind the levy, what is required as an annual step in funding our schools. Here's the mission. As with all our financial decisions, our levy process is guided by the district's mission, empowering learners, creating equity, and cultivating community. These are not just words. They serve as the foundation of how we allocate resources and make make financial recommendations. Our goal is to ensure every dollar supports equitable opportunities and highquality
003education for all students. The work also connects directly to our strategic plan goals and board policies. We're committed to transparency, ensuring our financial practices are clear and that they direct and support direct district priorities. So, here is the timeline. Uh we held a preliminary discussion on September 17th. On October 15th, the tenative levy was presented. Uh the legal public notice was published on October 16th. And tonight we are holding the public hearing and adopting the final levy. Uh to frame the levy discussion, it's helpful to recall where revenues come from. The majority of CCSD's operating funds are generated locally through property taxes, which account for 56% of our total budget. On the expenditure side, most of our spending is invested directly in people and classrooms. Combined salaries and benefits represent the largest categories. So, let's
004jump directly into the levy itself. the property tax uh extension limitation law or PEL limits how much property tax revenue can increase from one year to the next. The limitation applies to the PTEL limiting rate which is different from the property tax rate and the Lake County office ultimately determines the final tax extension based on our levy request. So I'm not going to go through all these. I'm just going to go through a couple of them. The tax levy is the total amount that we request. Uh the limiting rate is the highest rate that can be extended. Uh the extension refers to the total taxes and the CPI and EOV are explained there. Uh for the 2025 levy, a few important figures stand out. CPI is 2.9. We're estimating new construction of that number there.
005And our final extension was 42.6 6 million and the proposed 25 extension is 44 million. Including debt service and our seed IMRF payment, the total extension equals $45.1 million. Uh this res represents a 3.2% increase over last year. And then finally under public act 1020980895, I have to do this one. um districts are required to disclose their cash reserves and the debt payment for the year. So that's the disclosure. That concludes the presentation of the 2025 property tax levy. I'm now open to any questions. >> Any members of the board have questions? >> Thank you, Mr. Wman. >> There is an opportunity for public comment. Is there any signups for No signups for public comment? Okay. Okay. Then I need a motion to adjurnn the truth and taxation hearing and then we're going to go
006and readjourn into the board meeting. >> So move. >> I'll second. >> Okay. >> Y >> I >> Nash. >> Hi. >> Miller. >> I >> Albertson. >> Hi. >> Weedman. >> Hi. >> And Braden. >> Hi. >> Okay. Thank you. I need to call to order with a roll call, please, for the regular board meeting evening. We're still here at Frederick School, Wednesday, November 19th, 2025. Now, at 6:07 67 6:07 p.m. Okay. All right. >> You are welcome. [laughter] Okay. You I'm I'm never going to get that opportunity again. Okay, I'll move. Okay. >> Mac >> here. >> Braden >> here. Nash >> here. >> Halverson >> here. Hun >> I >> here. >> Miller >> here. And Weedman >> here. >> Great. Thank you very much. And similarly I do need a motion
007to approve the evening for the regular board meeting. The agenda for the regular board meeting. >> I'll move a second. >> Okay. >> Miller. >> I. >> Mack. >> I. >> Halverson. >> I. >> Weedman. Hi >> Braden. >> Hi Hume. >> Hi. >> And Nash. >> Hi. >> Okay. Thank you everybody. Public comments is has that changed? Okay. >> Okay. We are on to the board report section of our agenda this evening. So this week I'll start down here with Miss Herson. >> I have no update this week. >> Thank you. >> Miss you. >> Mrs. Nash. >> Brief update. um had the opportunity to partake in our equity and inclusion committee call on November 17th. Um it was really nice to have the committee back around the horn again. Um got some exciting
008updates from um our team just with regards to our two-way dual language programs that um we've been hearing about and I won't steal any of Mrs. Gluck's thunder. I'm certain that it'll be covered in the superintendent report, but just a lot of hard work and and intentionality and commitment going to make sure that um from an equity lens, right, that we have pathways for our students um both to and from um speaking Spanish and English. And I'm just super excited about the value that that's going to bring to our students and community as a whole. And um and then we also had a opportunity just to to just debrief and just have a collective exhale. And I think that's needed um not only in academia but just as a community as a whole. And so
009it was really really way to kick off u the first meeting of this quarter. So thank you uh Miss Amy. Good luck. >> Mr. Braden, >> I just give a wholehearted second to Miss Nash's equity report out and report. >> Mrs. Miller. >> Yeah, two things. Um, just a reminder, there's an email in your box about Immigration Connection. They are available to do a board presentation just about the law and changes in the law. So, if we're interested in that, just please let me know um through that email and then I'll either find out more information or not. Thank you to those of you who have already responded, but I'll send that again. Um, and then also want to thank our whole community for the food drive. At the same time, we had our elementary
010schools, all of them, our middle school and Frederick. Everyone contributed food. It was incredible to drop that food off having done it before. Um the food pantries always generously supplied, but this time was absolutely amazing. There was food floor to ceiling around the entire collection room and that was before the scouts came in and before the 127 food drive. So, yeah. So, thank you to everyone who participated, everyone who coordinated students, everyone, everyone, everyone who dropped things off, even individual contributions. So, that was a huge success. And thank you again, Dr. Glickman, for your nudge on that. Really appreciate that. And of course, to all of the work um Andrea Young has done and the other members of the community engagement committee who were super helpful in picking up donations, dropping off boxes all week.
011So, thank you to everyone. >> Mr. Weman, >> I have nothing. >> Okay. I would since this is our last meeting before the Thanksgiving holiday, I'd like to take an opportunity to wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving and express my gratitude on behalf of myself and the board of all the work that we do in the district, the educators, the staff, the on andm staff, the on&m team, everybody who directly impacts our families, our communities with the food drive, with the equity audits, with the wonderful concerts that we get to see, all of the entertainment. I've gotten to see the rehearsal a couple times for The Lion King out in the hallway there. I think I was about to be recruited, but it didn't happen. So, my dream was shattered. But you, the work that you
012all do and the work that we get to witness is something that is truly exceptional and truly grateful for that and uh it really resonates in our community, with our families, and especially with our kids. So, thank you and wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving since we will not see you before that happens. That's my little report. That brings the board report section to a conclusion and I will hand it over to Dr. Glickman for the superintendent report. >> Thank you, Dr. Mack. Well, first of all, I'd like to welcome people to our board meeting. It's a nice crowd tonight because it's an exciting evening. So, like to thank our staff members that are here. I'd like to thank our well administrators who are also staff members that are here and some special guests that
013we'll meet in a little bit. Um, I also am very grateful to our community for what was truly a spectacular food drive. Thank you, Christie, and the rest of CEC getting that going. Um, principles that are here, thank you so much for what you did to get it over the line at your buildings. Um, including a little bit of friendly competition that was going on in a Google chat that we'll talk about another time. Um, I'm going to hand this over to Mrs. Gluck to talk for just a moment about the presentation that Mrs. Bogran brought to the equity inclusion committee meeting this week. >> Yeah, thank you. Good evening. Uh so yeah, I'd like to thank Amber Bogan for coming to join us on Monday evening for equity inclusion meeting. Uh she walked us
014through our uh two-way dual language programming that we will be implementing starting next year in kindergarten. and uh walked us through how we got came to the decision that we did related to um that programming and gave us some background about what will be included in that programming and really asked for feedback from the committee. Um as we start to have conversation about a lottery process that will be possibly coming for um students to be able to participate and families to be able to participate in that program. and so to help us to think through um to provide uh Amber with some information to what kinds of questions might we want to be thinking about as we head into that. So it was great conversation um and we walked through the timeline for what that
015will look like and just some of the planning that's already started. So thank you Amber or Amber for joining us. Thank you. And finally it is board appreciation month. Um, actually November 15th was board appreciation day, which is somewhat fitting that it was a Saturday. And I say it's fitting because our board, a group of caring community members and volunteers. Want to clarify, board members are always volunteers. um they volunteer their time and they are regularly busy doing board work in some way or another or doing something for our school district on the weekend while also taking care of their families and taking care of any of their own professional responsibilities. Um, it's also fitting that we are honoring our board tonight on the very same night that the board is hiring a new superintendent
016because hiring a superintendent is one of a school board's most important responsibilities. And to illustrate that board, you may recognize this book. You all have one, the basics of governance. For those who don't know, this is a book that board members all receive when they are becoming a part of the board and um being trained, right? There's a whole process you have to go through. So, I brought it in um a little read aloud for just a moment. So, first of all, there are six pieces of responsibility that a board has. Board, I know you all know this, but our community may not. One is clarifies the district purpose. Two is connects with the community. Three is employs a superintendent. Four is delegates authority. Five is monitors performance. And six is takes responsibility for itself.
017And so um speaking of that employs a superintendent part, the very next page is a key message about board and superintendent relationships. I'm going to read it. Don't worry, it's not long. It says, "An effective school board develops and maintains a productive relationship with the superintendent. The employment relationship consists of mutual respect and clear understanding of respective roles, responsibilities, and expectations." [music] And so that's the the formal language. I wish to say that that language of productive relationship and mutual respect board you go so far beyond that language um you you go deeply beyond those words as you've offered so much trust to me over the past seven years and true kindness. So to our our new superintendent who is yet to be named but might be sitting in the room you have hit a
018pot of gold with this board of education in school district 46. Their communication with each other and with you will be stellar. Their questions will be insightful and thoughtful and their intent will be pure every single time. So board, on behalf of our entire administrative team, we thank you for your time, your service, your compassion, your commitment to the community, the students, and the staff. In a little while, we will say thank you with cake. But first, I believe we have another agenda item. Dr. Mack, that's the end of superintendent's report. >> Thank you, Dr. Clickman. We do have an action item tonight and I'm going to call for the motion first and then I'll make a comment. Uh I need a motion to approve the appointment and the contract for the new superintendent. >>
019I'll move. >> I'll second. >> Okay. I'm going to make comments first. As uh Dr. Glickman indicated one of the most important roles of a school board is to select and appoint and work with a superintendent that guides the district. And we are incredibly privileged tonight to introduce the next superintendent of Community Consolidated School District 46, Dr. Alfonso Carmona, who will begin his service on July 1st, 2026. Welcome also to some very special people who are in attendance with him, who I've had an opportunity to meet beforehand. Uh, and a couple are watching online, so I've been told. So, I would like to welcome Dr. Carmona's wife, Bernardet, here. We have two of his daughters here as well, Amanda and Gabby, are here with us this evening. And I am told that online and watching
020us, hopefully you can hear us and see us, and I'll wave, uh, are his daughters, Adriana and Daniela. And so welcome to this really special evening to uh to to be here with your husband, with your father. A very very proud moment as we as we share this. Dr. Kamona comes to us with a very distinguished record of educational leadership and most recently serving as the acting chief education officer for Chicago public schools. His experience from leading the systemwide initiatives at CPS, one of the largest public school systems in the United States, serving as a principal and a bilingual teacher, reflects both depth and breadth in his service to the students. Throughout our national search conducted with the support of the marvelous team over at BWP and Associates, Dr. Carmona consistently demonstrated a strong commitment
021to equity, innovation, and student success. All hallmarks of this board. His collaborative leadership style and dedication to continuous improvement align very closely with the values and mission that this board in district 46 has set forth and that mean everything to us. We are very excited to welcome Dr. Carmona to our district community and we look forward to the vision and stability that he that you will bring to our eight schools and the many villages and communities and families that we serve. Please join me in a round of applause in welcoming Dr. Alfonso Carmona as the next superintendent of community consolidated district 46. [applause] I would also be profoundly remissed to not take this opportunity to begin the deep gratitude to Dr. Glickman for her dedication, service, and the passion that you have shown for District
02246, for our staff, for our communities, and most importantly for our kids and our families. I know that we have Oh, I did it again. I know that we have another six or seven months to go left, but we're My kids are going to be mortified if they watch this video. But I wanted to begin the thank you process now because This is going to take me time to do that over the next six months. So, thank you for everything that you have done for our community. [applause] >> We have a motion and we have a second so we can vote. >> Weedman. >> Miller. >> I >> Nash >> I. >> Braden >> I >> Hun >> I >> and Halperson >> I. >> Congratulations Dr. Kamoa. [applause] Yes. Yeah. Would you like to
023say a few words? Yes. Uh there's a little microphone thingy over there. Just press the little button on there. There you go. Excellent. Can you hear me? Excellent. I don't have any 67 um jokes. Um I think I've worn it out for the evening. So, Well, mostly because my daughters are not necessarily going to be happy about it anyways. But, uh, good evening uh, board president, members of the board, and members of the Grace Lake community. Uh, with a profound sense of honor and deep humility. I am thrilled to accept the contract to serve as the next superintendent of Grace Lakes District 46. Board members, thank you for your immense trust and confidence in me. to my wife and my four daughters, uh, my two younger girls that are here tonight, Amanda and Gabby, and
024to my two older girls who have been sending me text messages for the last couple of minutes, including a little joke about the 67. [snorts] Um, thank you for all your support uh, and for and for, you know, supporting me along the way in my career. It means everything to me. Uh as I mentioned to the board uh during the interview process, I was drawn to district 46 because of all the palpable commitment to student success and for their reputation as a place where excellence is the expectation. My core belief is very simple. [snorts] Every student in every school every day deserve a worldclass educational experience. But this vision is not about me. It's about us. is about partnering with our administrators, with our dedicated educators and staff, with our involved parents, with our board,
025and of course with the greater Grace Lake community. Our path forward will focus on three key uh pillars: academic growth, the student and staff well-being, and community connection. The work ahead of us is significant, and I am ready to roll up my sleeves. The transition will begin soon and I'm committing to spending a great deal of time doing one thing above all, listening. I want [snorts] to hear from our teachers and staff about what they need to thrive. I want to hear from our parents uh about their aspiration for their children and most importantly I want to hear from our students specifically about their dreams and aspirations. I am very excited about this new chapter for my family and me as well as for district 46. I promise you a superintendent who will be accessible,
026who will be transparent, and will be absolutely dedicated to the future of this district. Looking forward to our partnership. Thank you so much. Another very important role of the board is to invite everybody to enjoy some cake. So, we're going to pause the board meeting for now and then we will be back. For members watching online, we are pausing for a momentary celebration and we will be back. All right, we are going to continue the board meeting. Everybody's welcome to stay or leave, however you choose. You got the cake, so I would run if I were you. Good night. Good night. Good night. Congratulations again. Good night. Good night. Good night. >> Yep. >> That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. >> Okay. We're going to go ahead and move on with >> We
027are Yes. >> Yeah. >> We're going to go ahead and move with the along with the finance committee portion to the meeting. So, I'm going to invite Mr. LaCroy to come to the table to sit for the finance committee is just Mr. LaCroy. Yes. Okay. That's right. The first item on here are the audit results. So I'll pass that over to Mr. Wman. Right. Or no to >> Yeah, you can you can pass it to me. >> Pass it to you and you pass it to Yep. >> I can uh introduce this is our audit partner from Baker Tilly who's going to be here to tell you about the audit results. Um just a quick reminder to those of you who are here for the first time, this is the audit committee right now. So
028for the purpose of the finance committee, it's now the audit committee and this is your opportunity to talk directly to your boardappointed CPA firm and ask any question you may have about the uh the audit which was completed through June 30th of 2025. Thanks Chris and thank you everybody for your time this evening. I don't know why everybody wanted to stay. [laughter] Um before I get started, I do want to thank Chris and Marco and his team uh for the efforts they put into preparing for the audit. Um the audit process is a good five, six month process. It's a journey. Um and we come in interruptered day-to-day with a million questions and requests on top of what they have to do, you know, each and every day. And without their responsiveness, professionalism and ability
029to get us what we need to do our job, we can't issue the audit on time, be here today, uh having this discussion. So just thanks to them and all their hard work for the audit process. They make our job easier. So I really appreciate that. Um tonight I'm going to give you a just a nice highle overview of the audit process. I'm not going to get any any numbers in my presentation but obvious obviously if you have any questions feel free to interrupt me or wait till I'm done. I'll be very short and sweet for you and then any questions you have I'll be glad to to answer for you. Uh so tonight I'm going to first run through each of the different reports you get or that we issue on your behalf. The
030first one is the annual comprehensive financial report. That's the big document. That is a report that paints the full picture of the district's financial health for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2025. Uh you we work with Chris and his team to compile that beast every single year. Um and I want you to as as a board to know that information, it's your information. It's your numbers. It's what you put out to the public to tell them how things went. um we help can put it in all the right formats in prescribed standards and all that good stuff, but really it's your information. The only information in that report that comes from us as the audit firm is the section called the independent auditor's report. That's us telling you and anybody else who use a
031financial statements, can they rely upon that information? Uh we issue what's called an unmodified opinion. That's the highest level of assurance we can provide. That means we don't look at every penny dollar, right? We would be we'd live in Chris's office and he'd be sick of us very quickly. Um, but we do do a lot of deep dive into the important information to ensure that that can be relied upon and paints an accurate picture of the district's financial health so that you bond holders, residents, whoever it may be can rely upon that information and know this is how district 46 did this year and this is where it stands as a June 30th. So that's that's the gold star. That's the pat on the back for you did what you need to do. We can
032issue the audit and with with a clean bill of health uh from that regard. So most of what we talk about is kind of geared towards the negative. The report, the independent audit report itself is the positive. That's the thumbs up and that you did a job well done and we were able to get everything we needed to do to issue that report. If you're going to read any section of that report, there's two sections I recommend reading. The management discussion and analysis and the transmitt letter. Those two sections in conjunction really give you all the high points for what happened during the year. That MDNA is really the financial nuts and bolts of hey, how did things change? What big dollar value impacts were there? Whereas the transmitter letter gives you a lot of
033non-financial context as to what has happened, is happening, and what will be happening in the future. So, if you're going to read any section, you don't read every single page. Um, if you're to read anything, it would be those two sections. I do recommend reading that. That'll give you a really good picture of everything that happened during the year. In addition to that report, there are a bunch of other required deliverables reports we have to issue in accordance with audit standards, state statutes, and things of that nature. One of the other reports we issue is called is really ISBY's annual financial report. That is the state board of education's required financial reporting to them in their prescribed format. It more or less is a regretation of what's in the annual comprehensive financial report. We do
034issue an opinion on that that says this information speaks back to your financial statement. So everything in there that is a financial statement number is in agreement with what's in your financial statement. So those two documents are kind of interlin together um and they're in agreement with each other. The one thing I always point out in that document is the financial profile score. That is the state board of education's methodology for evaluating financial health of districts in Illinois and they massage these numbers themselves as they get through the process every year of getting every district's uh report in. Um based upon the calculations in the AFR that was submitted to ISBY um you're at a 3.35 which is a market improvement over last year's 3.1. So while it's still on the upward trajectory there was
035great improvement from the prior year which is great to see. One of the other reports we issued, kind of one of the bigger reports we issue, is our deep dive into your federal spending. Uh we call it the single audit. We have not issued that report yet. And the reason why is because the federal government has not passed the annual rules and regulations regarding how we do that work. We have drafts of these documents called the compliance supplement. It's a way it says every federal award they list out what are you supposed to look at, what's a requirement for these awards. We have the draft of it, but OM has not passed is not authorized or approved that final version with a shutdown of the federal government. Obviously, that has extended that. We don't know
036when we're going to get uh the kind of the go-ahhead. There's not a single single audit in the entire country that can be issued for 6:30 year and afterward. We're not allowed to. There's nothing we can do. So, we've done the work. We're kind of sitting on it. Um, you know, as of right now, we did test your uh special education grants, your idea cluster. So, that's the program that we deep dove into this year. We know what we have to do. we just can't issue anything because the feds haven't said you can go ahead and do that yet. Uh we have identified no findings to date on that and do not anticipate any. So you will eventually get a clean bill of health on that report when we are able to issue that. So
037want to let you know because that is a report that usually is handed out as part of this. Um but we can't because of that kind of our hands are tied there. So if a question or anybody is like hey where is this thing? We have about 60 of them to get out at the same time whenever we get to go get the go-ahad. So it'll be fun for all of us. Um, one the other report that is issued you do have today, it's kind of just a short little paper handout. That's usually included in that single audit report. It's called the government auditing standards report. Uh, that is where we dive into basically your overall internal control structure and processes to identify any significant weaknesses that generate risk to the district. Right? If there
038are gaps in your process and your controls, that would indicate to you, hey, this is something wrong, but there's a risk here. um and we're required to communicate those to you in a couple different formats. That document is an opinion we issue. Um we have to issue it in conjunction with the financial statements even though it usually goes in that other report. I don't know why that's just how the rules were written and they work. Um so we issue that separately that will eventually be included in the single audit report when it is released but we issued it we have to in conjunction with the financial statements. So we're presenting to you now in kind of a standalone format at the moment. In addition to that, uh the last report set shortly wise that we
039have are in the process of issuing right now is for the government accountability and transparency unit which is a relatively newer organization to the state. Um it's another kind of slice and dice of your numbers. Um it's used by all state agencies except for ISBY to monitor the funding that they pass through to other organizations. For school districts, it's a bit duplicative because ISB's had their prescribed formats for a long time. None of the other state agencies nobody really had that or a consistent format. So unfortunately, school districts have to be tagged onto that because every governmental entity or actually any entity that receives funding from the state of Illinois is required to submit that report on annual basis. So we usually do that as part of that single audit because those numbers are really
040connected to each other. Um we're in the process of filing that right now and that'll be issued shortly and there's a longer runway on that than your financial statements. So um we'll be getting that done in short order. So those are all the different reports and opinions we have to issue that represent your information. The last delivery report we have is the one with the colorful cover is what's called our audit results letter. What that is is our communications as the auditor to you as the governing body. Uh in that packet there it's a whole assortment of required communications we have to make as part of the audit process. Instead of issuing them peace meal and different documents, we consolidate them all into one report. Um it includes a lot of different things related to
041our responsibilities. your responsibilities for the audit process as the governing body kind of big overview of what our audit plan is, what we look at, what's risky versus not risky. Um, and if everything went according to plan, you know, also there are some informal recommendations we have in their best practices along with if we did have any significant reportable findings that would have been that previous government auditing stands report. It also has to be recommunicated in here as well. Um, glad to report the report is very boring. That's a good thing. So whereas the audit opinion is the the gold star thumbs up, great job. We we we did it right. Um this letter is not designed to give you kudos. It's designed to tell you when things go wrong. So that when I say
042that letter is boring, that means things went well. That means there were no major risks. There were no indications of fraud or uh not being able to get information from management or uh you know difficulties in the course of a things that didn't go according to bad stuff, right? Um, and really you can see as you read that it's a lot of nothing happened. This didn't happen. No, nothing we found here. That's great. So, as you read that, it's very negatively oriented. Um, but take that as things went according to plan and went well because we don't have anything big in there to talk about tonight. Um, so there's a bunch in there. There's a lot of required communications in there as well. One of the last things I always like to remind you and
043it's kind of baked into that letter is in while we work with Chris and his team on dayto day, you're the ones who hired us. we work and report to you. So, not just tonight, but any other time, if you ever have a question or want to talk to us about anything at all, we are always available. So, with that, that concludes my comments and any questions you have. >> Turn it over to the board for any questions. >> Yes. Y >> um could you just repeat the name of the document that we're still waiting on that's in the single audit report? >> So, the the the single audit report is that's the report that's not issued yet. Correct. that government auditing standards report that couple two pager that that behind it as a print
044out for you that will be integrated into that report when we issue it'll just be the same exact report we just have to issue that simultaneously the financial statements. So normally we do all of it together right but because of this delay that we can't control we have to issue it on its own and then we'll bake it into that report when we issue the whole thing later on. >> Thank you. >> I just have a general question. Um, so we're facing a leadership transition as you as you saw. Is there anything we should do differently? Anything we should be watching or documenting um just specific to transition times? >> Um, during when there's a transition role is obviously making sure it's a great time to reevaluate, right? Just in general, not even that things
045are not being done to effective, but seeing and taking, you know, kind of that person's perspective and their strengths and weaknesses and evaluating, hey, how are we structured? Now, superintendent's obviously a big role. So um it's you know from top down I think in any leadership role u management role it's a time to re-evaluate or evaluate where you're at and where if it's where you want to be. Um I think looking at the processes who's again this is more from the financial oriented mind of who's reviewing and approving who has access to things should they have all that control and access should you have separations of responsibilities you know that's very much in our internal control financial business office mindset but there are elements of that that also carry forward to any type of leadership
046transition. So it's really just going in with fresh eyes and that'll also come from the new superintendent as well in terms of you know how he wants to do things slightly different than your current superintendent, right? Um because everybody has their own different approach. So um I think the key is trust but verify everything. That's always my my recommendation is that you trust you put trust and faith into every leader that you hire and contract with. Um you trust them but you always have to verify it. So it's just as part of that process. It should be ingrained in how you work with everything probably are how you're doing it. Um, so it's just making sure that you, you know, are giving them the power that they need to do their job, but also making
047sure that you understand how that's being done and whether it's in alignment, what your objectives are. >> So, I'm just going to follow that. So, you say trust and verify. Is there anything specific that we should be looking at, measures or indicators, anything specific >> from a non-financial aspect? I'm getting way outside of my lane. From a financial aspect, obviously Chris provides you the budgets and and you work with that as part of an annual process and making sure you're in alignment with that. Obviously, is you're I don't I can't remember talking where you are currently collect the bar agreements. Um obviously that's a a big part of the overall process looking where you're going and where that's being negotiated. Um and looking at your overall funding um and how you're spending again mine's all
048finance. That's kind of where I know um I think ultimates looking at your performance things like the financial profile score and looking at the trends for those is important. uh just looking at your fund balances year-over-year and how they are um looking to grow or sustain or spend down if you have strategic spending like capital plans, things like that. Um that's a good from a financial metric to see where you are from a financial health standpoint and always be looking at um and looking at things on a monthly basis, right? If you're getting reports on a monthly basis that show you how things are going, isn't it is it what you expected, right? I think the unexpected is always to keep your eye open for is well, I don't understand that or what is this?
049is not part of our budget, not part of what we could thought, you know, surprise. Those are all these things that none that they're wrong, but you always want to keep an eye out for and make sure you understand uh as part of that, especially when you have new things going on because with new people and new in, you know, high roles, there's always something different. So, just making sure you're comfortable with that those new directions and new ways of doing things or just things that arise during the course of that transition and kind of adjustment period. >> All right. So, I did get through some of this before the meeting started. Um, on page nine, you mentioned that it's a kind of a recommendation that we expand the the district business office by one
050by one person uh qualified finance staff. Um, what do you what type of a role would that person be taking on that you can foresee? How do like I assume is going to be splitting some of the duties up initially, right? >> Correct. Correct. So the way our observations based upon what we see at other districts of your size and how your business office runs right now, it's kind of the Chris and Marco show, right? I mean, that's how things are and they do a great job mitigating risk. So we look at this from who has the various responsibilities and where are we finding where maybe you can't implement best practices. There's a lot of compensating controls, alternative procedures that that you guys do to reduce risk, but it's never as good as the real
051deal of, hey, this person does this, this person reviews and approves this. Right now, you really don't have that level of flexibility with what is effectively a a twoperson show. Um, and because of that, I mean, we're used to seeing it again districts your size, there's a higher headcount, and that's just kind of being blunt about it. Um so um often we see at smaller districts where it's like hey you should really have another person but it's not feasible because they're so small there's not enough work to go around for that extra person based upon our observations for you guys in in kind of what we see elsewhere of similar and like size and you know similarly operated community consolidated districts there's plenty to do and there's a lot that I know they lift on
052that you know impact them and when we come in make it harder on them um that as a result that there is definitely some stretching of responsibilities because they have to um and having an extra head would allow them to integrate some best practice controls, further reduce risk, allow them to do really do the things that they're supposed to be doing instead of doing things they have to do. If that makes sense. >> Thank you, >> Mr. McClo. >> I was just going to add that one of the big parts of the verify part of trust but verify is why you're here today is the board has engaged you to help them to verify. >> You may have been being modest about that. why you're here. Um, and the other things you talked about are
053more of a strategic thing, right? You know, what is what is the strategy we have capital but but the actual accounting audits, that's why you guys are here. >> Other questions? >> Okay, thank you very much. >> Thank you everybody. Okay, next uh under our finance committee portion here, we've got an update on the five-year projections. Back over to you, Mr. Well, I got two presentations. I'm going to do them sitting down. Sorry. Okay. Uh good evening, members of the finance committee. Uh tonight we'll be reviewing our five-year financial projections. As always, these projections are designed to help us understand where we're headed financially based on what we know today. While also recognizing the projections are influenced by a wide range of variables beyond that control. As with all our financial decision making, our five-year
054projection process is guided by the district's mission. Empowering learners, creating equity, and cultivating community. And this work direct directly connects to our strategic plan goals and board processes. So I'll talk a little bit about the projections how we build them. Um five year projections help us understand trends, anticipate challenges and evaluate decisions not just based on today but based on the long-term impact. This allows the board to make informed responsible financial decisions to support educational priorities whilst maintaining fiscal stability. Uh the models used in this projection rely on frontline analytics used to be forecast 5 but it was purchased by Frontline and with all the known information including we have them the most updated information we can we have the fiscal year 2526 budget which was approved in September. We have the levy that was
055just approved well will be approved in the next agenda items. It's been presented to you. Um and then we have the audited fund balances which we just discussed. Um in in addition to that we have current collected bargaining agreements um in their current form. Um and we have every known major cost driver such as which I will talk in a little bit more detail about such as transportation, health insurance and special education. So we have a CPI of 2.9. So, the reason why I have 2.9 used in the future levy of 2026 is because that's the last known value I have. Um, so that was September's. I don't know if we're going to have an October value because of the federal government just didn't calculate it. And I'm not joking. We don't know if we're
056going to have one. We might just skip a month and just jump straight to the following month. This is the world we live in. Um and then so that's our most updated value which will be used in the web 2026 and then estimates for 27 through 2030 for 3%. Just mentioned that we budget fully staffed meaning that every position we assume it's filled. We assume it's filled with the FTE at the beginning of the school year and it's all the increases are based on the current agreements with the GFT and the PSP. uh we have made several assumptions. So one of the assumptions which I've been alluding to over the last two to three years is that we will eventually become a tier 2 district. So I am making that assumption right now that in
0572028 the district will actually leave tier one and become a tier 2 district. Now that might be an indication of good things that we are moving in the right direction but it means we get half the tier money going forward. So we're currently getting around 1.2 2 million as a tier one district every year. If we become a tier two district, we'll get 600,000. So, just want you to remember that number. And it's compounded because it's held harmless from the previous year. So, that's just illustrative. Um, the reason why I' I've moved us to a tier 2 in 2028, Jason, is because we're currently at 70% and I think we'll move to 80% which will just move us into tier two. Oh, dep they're just they're just example numbers, right? In >> that correct over
058three years it's $1.8 million cumulative. >> Yeah. The real absence. Yes. So, so, so one of the things that we talked about last year with tier one and tier two money was the effect of CPS. Remember when we talked about that? CPS fell back into tier one. So, we have this extra money because they were a tier two district and then all of a sudden they fell back into tier one. So, they swelled up another $65 million. So, everyone's tier one money went down. So, it really depends on what the pot is. It just gets exhausted through tier one and then goes to tier two and then what's remaining goes to tier three and four. Okay. Then we have other assumptions. We have everything at 4% outside of well transportation at four. Uh we have
059two collegments that we've just recently agreed to uh with Durham transportation for 4%. So I've extrapolated that through the five-year projection. Um health insurance big increase uh was not anticipated. We have bounced around over the last couple years between going between 7% and large and large increases. We the last the last projection last year we had it much much lower based on our current trend. The cooperative has issued a memorandum to all the all the members EBC um all the members stating that we we should be expecting a 17 to 22% increase driven not just by um trend through the entire that's based on the blue grass blue shield blue book. So that's the entire middle market of blue cross blue shield uh renewals. Um but it's it's driven by a lot of farmer increases.
060So there's a lot of GLPS which are driving costs um a lot of pharmaceutical changes which are people are being able to allowed to take through the HMOS. So that that's a large cost driver in terms of actual experience that's that's being experienced through actual renewals. And so that trend will be reflected highly likely in in our renewal next year. So we put 17% in because that's what we got to do. Um special education tuition, we actually budgeted this year for a 17% increase for seedall which was a large increase. Um and we're budgeting for another 15% next year. I I presented information to you how our trans our tuition has effectively doubled over the last eight years going from about 2 and a half million to about [music] 5 million and I don't see
061any change in that currently go It's not moving. Can you move it? Okay. So, this is just a summary of kind of a few things I talked about. Um, I'm going to be presenting to you a fund balance history, a look back. So uh in could you go to the next slide? Okay, this is the a look back that I wanted to start with. So based in fiscal year 2122, we saw a slight increase in our operating fund balance. Uh this was the last year we ended with an operating surplus prior to the referendum. So the reason for that was because we had uh ESS money. We had lots of other things which were helping of the district. We had the good days of federal support. We had national school lunch program which was feeding
062every student. Then we entered into um planned deficit spending from fiscal year 2022 to 2025. During this period we also issued our des bonds. So you can see the difference between the orange line and the blue line. We have the operational line in orange and we have the the blue line uh indicating our funds which includes debt service and those capital the capital amounts that we spent uh that increased our overall uh fund balance. Uh those bonds would been 100% uh spent down right now. So as we go into um the next project actually we're looking into the projection it's been fully expended. What did we do with that money? We we put a new roof at Avon, Prairie View, Woodview, Frederick. We put a building automation system in all buildings, new chillers at Frederick
063and Prairie View, a new Bers at GMS. So really the most essential capital work that was needed for the school district. Uh so in summary, the operational draw down from 2022 to 25 was intentional and allowed us to sustain operations through a three-year contract with GFT and the PSRP. We give a 664 increase for all staff. Um, this was expected as I stated, but it did contribute to the standard and pause credit rating being adjusted from double A plus to double A in May of 2025 just based on that erosion of fund reserves. I just wanted to show this timeline. This timeline I've not updated because it's an old slide, but it it relates directly to the the March of 2024 referendum uh which was an operating levy referendum as you know and provided the
064additional funding and resources for our capital funding. So, as you know, we've issued $17 million in debt certificates. We'll be we'll receive them on December 2nd, excuse me, and we'll support the implementation of our longrange facility plan. I just want you to Remember that when you look at the next graph. Okay. So this brings us into the look into the forwardlooking projection and the uncertainty that we continue to face. While the model reflects all known information, we do need to acknowledge the significant uncertainty that still exists at the state and federal funding landscape. As of today, we still don't know what will happen with title three and we still don't know what will happen with Title One Pie. are several of the federal grant programs that have historically been stable foundational supports for schools. As
065you know, there's active discussion at the federal level about moving special education out of the US Department of Education entirely. If that does occur, which is looking likely, it may come with reduced funding, regulatory restructuring, or other consequences that we can't predict today. So any one of these changes uh either alone along a multiple occurring at the same time could materially impact the district's long-term financial outlook and would require adjustments to future strategic planning. As of right now, this is the operating um line going from 25 through fiscal year 31. And as you can see, we're issuing a large amount of debt certificates. 17 million five and then 10 to get to sorry and then 15 sorry 17 five and 15 over three years with the spend occurring down through fiscal year 29. We know
066what that money is being spent on. It's being spent on libraries. It's being spent on student support spaces and they'll be spent on the remainder of that all those different mechanical and things that we need to be spending on as part of our long range plan. So where did that come from? There were direct commitments from the referendum. So addressing capital needs and improving safety and security. So big part of that $17 million is being spent on safety and security projects at our buildings continues to attract trade and retain quality teachers. And the third commitment was maintaining programming class sizes. It's already stated the district has issued 17 million in debt certificates which will be received next week which will fund the long range facility plan. And then putting those two together. So now we've
067got the five-year look back. We've got the fiveyear look forward. You can see the trajectory of the district. We have the ESSA year, the final year of ESSA through 2021-22. We have planned deficit spending and then we see the referendum inflection point in fiscal year 25. It's not enough to pull the district out of its decline. So, some takeaways. Um, with the new levy in place of continue monitoring, the five-year model does not return the district to its full structural balance. However, with however, we do need to think about our future credit rating. Um if we do not eventually rebuild that fund balance probably through 2029 we and become recompliant within the board policy um we may be looked at future downgrades. As always we'll continue to revise projections as new data legislation or economic
068conditions emerge. Our goal goal is to remain transparent, proactive and disciplined in ensuring financial stability and supports that support strong educational outcomes. And that's my presentation. >> Questions or comments from the board? >> Mr. So this will probably be an op uh probably a long a long process to do. Um, when was the last time we looked at the special education services that we are getting to see if there are alternatives out there that are providing the same quality of service but maybe at different price either bringing more students into schools that are I don't know the makeup makeup PlayStation needs, right? Um, so we could we at least in the future possibly look at that as a whole and see what our options are revamp. I'm just because it's our biggest one of the
069biggest drivers of our cost increases at 50%. Even if we find a way to shave a little bit off of that immensely um but again I don't want to sacrifice the services. Um so that's just one of the things that I as I sit through the presentation and I see the big numbers the insurance part my work got 18% started out did um so the 17 didn't surprise me any um because that's Um, I I think we need to continue to work on finding areas to save So can I can I just jump in on special ed? >> Sure. Go ahead. And then I'll make >> So um we have the district has to be quite careful in coding special education expenditures because each year we have a test called the maintenance of effort. So
070it's not always easy or even legal for a school district to reduce its expenditures. There are only certain things that we actually able to reduce them on. um salaries of retired teachers and capital expenditures are a couple of them to spring to mind. So the district has to be very careful because we could actually lose our idea funding just those are put in place as safeguards so school districts don't cut the most vulnerable of their student population. >> I'm just I'm just saying I'm throwing it out there that we it has to be done through the lens of Mo >> for sure. Thank you for mentioning that and I just wanted to answer a little bit more globally. Um Jim, I appreciate you bringing that up. So board, it's really important for you to know
071that this information is brand new to us. Um there has been absolutely no time at all to consider um you know where we might go from here. So I just want to make and when I say brand new, I mean really really brand new. I think Chris, you got that insurance information just a few days ago, right? >> Yeah. >> Yes. This last this week. >> I just had a um I keep thinking about the end of u A Christmas Carol when Scrooge asks like are these the visions like can they be changed? [laughter] Um or because the we're working off of assumptions, right? Like so and and and that's the only thing you can do based on the information that you have. Is it possible if things change at the federal level if they
072don't got you know um they don't move the um the special education out of the department of education? Like is it is it possible that we would not see the sharp decline if things were to change at that level? I don't anticipate that and I don't think anybody in our world is anticipating that. >> Okay. Okay. So, so I think one of the things on the probably slide three or four I said this is not going to be exact and over five years it's definitely not going to be exact because if I look back over the projections back when I was hired in 2021 things were a lot rosier because we've had heavily compounding highly inflationary increases that no one has ever seen in the history of the United States and that's me trying to
073be as we the increases have been large in all the major areas. And I look at it as almost gravity. It's like gravity is pulling the the graph down because of the weight of those expenditures that the district has to do. We have to feed our students. We have to clean our buildings. We have to transport our students. And we have to have the best teacher we can in every classroom. So when you talk about cuts, where do you cut? I mean there are things only certain areas that we can look at. So that's that's the difficulty that we are trying to be the best school system we can but we're doing it with not enough not enough funding. >> Yeah. And um we also got hit with a few of those CPIs that were
0742 and.3. They were really low right and.78.7. They were really low. Now that's the max we could actually ask for right or get. So with being in a pel or tax cap district or county um it's P it's CPI or 5% whichever is lowest and that's what hurt that hurts when it's historically it's 2.2% or at least it was for 20 or 30 years it was about two 2.2% 2% and having the seven and a point8 back to back really hurt everybody's finances like every taxing district got hit with that. Um, having the bigger ones that we had to where we were able to actually get up to 5% was better, but we were still losing two% behind CPI, right? So, everybody, every all the expenses went up 7%. We could only get up to
0755%. So, we lost we even lost there, but at least it was able to kind of help sustain that a little bit. So, yeah. So, we had 7% in 21 and six and a half and 22. So, as as that kind of es and flows because of the way the tax cap is written for um Illinois and it kind of it really hampers the ability of taxing districts to raise the amount of money that they actually need to function and puts everybody in behind a ball. And that's why we have with a referendum, right? Is now the good thing with the referendum, we got it passed because the community supports us. We have to be very smart with the money that they entrust us with. >> So I just want to thank Dr. Glickmanu and
076Chris for all the work you did on the referendum. I think this would look a whole lot more scary if we hadn't passed that referendum. And also thank you to Chris for calling attention to the opportunity to look at additional property because I think even that we would be in a much more scary place. So, thank you. What's that? >> Yeah. Um, I guess my question is just I understand that the information is new and you need time to process. When do we start talking about what to do next? What What do you need in order to do that? Um, I think one of the things we probably need to do is think about scheduling a um finance committee meeting sooner than the one that we have next scheduled. Um, so we will I think
077we need to um do a little talking and thinking, but um don't be surprised if we land one on your calendars. Um right coming up because I think we don't have another one scheduled right now till March. Is that right? Uh I wait I know I have that information. One moment. Um the next one >> say it again. >> February 25. Yeah. So, right. It it need will need to be sooner than that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I have at the moment. I mean, we really when I say new, I mean [laughter] this afternoon conversation. So, um we we'll be coming back to you for that. >> Chris, I was trying to figure out how to reconcile what seem to be disperate pieces of information, right? The assumption that we're going to be status
078at some point in your assumption which is indicative of a healthy financial district with what I see on that graph and is the reason those two things are both true in this case because they're kind of divorced from each other you help me reconcile that those two what seem to be contradictory stories >> so they're both underfunded right we're not talking about a district which is 100% funed we're difference between having 30% as a deficit and 20%. It's still a large amount of money. It was $15 million and now it's probably 10. But 10 million over five years is still 50 million. So, one of the things I when we were going through the referendum was when we had a a committee of individuals who sat in this room said to us, "Hey, why don't
079you go for more?" We went for what would pass and we went the smart way knowing that it and it only passed by 52 and 48%. With that, so the district did not go for 100% us. We didn't ask for another 10 million per year. We didn't ask for an extra 50 million over those five years. So that's the is the issue that it's just that literal gap between moving a few percentage adequacy points and it's it's but it's still but it's still inadequate. Yes. Yeah. It doesn't change anything. So, I mean, it's it's it's a good thing because we're going in the right direction, but it just means we get less money next year. It's a I don't know what to say. It's not great. >> So, I've been away from the pieces of
080information and looking at this thing, but with what's going on at the federal level, has there been any momentum at the state level? Is anyone aware of legislative efforts to kind of step in and say, you know, we live in a blue state that public education it seems like and uh anyone hearing anything about the state doing anything not seeing any >> I mean the state is very proud of continuing to give us 300 million which is worth less and less every year because that does not increase the cost of CPI and so it's starting to fall flat for me um it gets brought up as a point of pride every year we're so proud to maintain this level of funding. But what they're not saying is it was 300 million five years ago and
081how much has inflation gone up? So it's, you know, the whatever that's called the future, present, past value. Um, so there's that. Um, we've been trying to advocate for mandated categoricals because those aren't in evidence-based funding and that is what is killing us is the mandated categoricals. And so I think there's been some effort to like pull mandated categoricals into our advocacy, but I think the it comes to the fact that the pie is still too small at the state level. I That's because if we get 350 million then direct care workers for disabled people get 50 million less. You know what I mean? Because we are not we're constrained for making the pie bigger. That's my understanding of it right now. I don't I don't know if that's Yeah. I mean not yet. Not
082yet. So I mean for me that That's where it leads me is what's the human cry? There needs to be a human cry because we like Chris said, what do we what do we do? I mean, we've switched to LED lights. Okay, that's not $50, you know. Meanwhile, we Yeah, we like we can't risk we can't fall behind and have another GMSSE situation. like we we got to keep putting roofs on things, you know. Um, so yeah, that's where it takes me. Anyway, we're going to talk about the sales tax and that's something. I I can't imagine that it's not a lot, but it's something. >> Okay. Now, the 1% sales tax. Yes. >> All right. it down. Okay. Uh today we're presenting a proposal regarding the county sales facility tax sales tax. So I'm
083just going to call the CSFT. It's a lot. Um this is an important discussion item for our finance committee this evening. Again, as with all our financial decisions in this discussion, uh we guided by the district's mission, empowering learners, creating equity, and cultivating community. And this directly aligns again with all those different uh strategic goals and board policy. Specifically, our commitment to re to review, expand, and clarify financial practices to increase transparency and communication. Okay. So, I'm going to start with the ballot language. This is the question for voters as it would appear. Uh the CSFT proposal would present a question to the voters which would appear on the ballot as follows. Let you read it. Uh this clearly defines the tax rate and the limited exclusive use of the funds. So the purpose this
084is what it is and how the funds can be used. The fundamental purpose of the CSFT is to establish a sustainable revenue source for school facility needs. It allows voters to approve a sales tax increase of up to 1%. It doesn't have to be 1%. It can be increments up to 1%. And the revenue is distributed to districts based on the student enrollment. Uh critically, the funds are restricted to capital improvements. This includes things like new construction, building additions, renovation, repair of existing facilities and key areas such as safety and security improvements and energy efficiency projects. It cannot be used for salaries and general operating costs. One thing I would say though, if we were successful with this, we could offset costs. So we could use the money to fund our operations and maintenance and
085levy more in the education fund. So that can't be directly indirectly is subsidizing the education. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> It says renovation and repair of of existing facilities. Does it also include the grounds that were responsible for maintaining? >> Yeah, for sure. Oh, yeah. Could be for sure. uh why it matters um it offers several vital benefits for us listed several there but two I wanted to highlight it's local investment uh revenues remain in Lake County and flow directly to our district ensuring local control how our facility funds are spent and it can be used for property tax relief. One of the things that you are able to do, several districts may do this if they don't require it, but it but it was successful on the ballot, you can actually uh abate that amount
086each year. The sales tax is paid by both residents and visitors to Lake County. And because we are not specifically a area that has a huge commercial base, that might be attractive. Um and obviously helps diversify the funding base and reduces pressure on local property taxes overall. So understanding the process for the ballot placement is key uh for this question to reach for voters. A local board that would be you and other local boards must pass a resolution requesting that the CSF be placed on the ballot. Crucially districts representing at least 51% of the country of the countywide. Student enrollment must adopt these resolutions. So if the top three to four school districts all voted yes, that might actually be enough. Once filed with the the Lake County Board, the B the county board with
087them formally places the question on the ballot. Here's the timeline. Uh the target election is November of 2026 uh to meet this resolutions are due to the count to the Lake County Board by August 16th, 2026. Um, if we are going to go forward with this, we would recommend the adoption would occur be by June 30th to allow ample time for coordination with other districts. And if approved by voters in November of 26, the collection distribution of funds would begin on January 1 of 2027. So to summarize, uh collaboration amongst all Lake County districts is critical to successfully reach the 51% enrollment threshold required. Um we must begin early coordination with both the the county board and our peer districts. Transparent communication with the community uh would be essential for building support and ultimately the
088CTF provides a reliable local funding source for our facilities. I just put this on here. We don't have to make a decision today. I just want to be dramatic like decision time. Um it's now come to decision. You know, you must decide now. I just said you don't have to. So, um but we do have time. Um the question before you is does the does the board wish to pass a resolution based on that timeline? And if we do, um we should start advocating towards that. So I want to just add one more piece of information about that. Thank you so much for that presentation, Chris. So um all this conversation is happening at board tables across Lake County. And so um we've actually um been asked to ask all of you basically to take
089your temperature um to see if this is something that you're interested in so that the county can make a collective decision whether or not they'd want to move forward. So, that's really what we're asking tonight. It's nothing for you to vote on. Um, but just we we need to know kind of like as a have a discussion and maybe take a strap poll about your thoughts so that we can share that with our other Lake County um administrative colleagues and inform them where our board is. >> Has this been driven by the ROE or just other >> uh Actually, no. Some other boards just started No, not the ROE. other boards started talking about it and recognized that 51% of boards need to um pass a resolution before it would go onto um onto the
090ballot. And so in order to decide whether we should consider exactly, we need to kind of know what the different uh school districts are thinking. >> Can I just say one more final thing? Um, I don't have the exact number, but I believe it's 115,000 students in Lake County. So, we're about 3,600. So, we're about 3%. So, we are not going to be enough. Clearly, it would take a number of school districts to be able to get to that 51%. Just wanted to be be aware of that could have we're talking about 100, >> right? And thank you. I didn't say that correctly. It's not 51% of school districts, right? >> It's the school it's it's based on enrollment. So, three to four largest school districts all vote yes. >> 51% is done. It's on
091the ballot. >> We don't have to do anything. >> How would we and I know you're not ready to quantify, but could you talk us through how you would quantify the benefit to the district? >> So, I reached out to a friend at 127 who presented this a month ago, and he actually did it. So, I stole his numbers, which is quite nice. Um so he estimated this was um Dr. Singh who made this estimate. So this is just an estimate. He stated that there's about $81 million which is collected in Lake County using 1.75. So 1% would be about $46 million. And then he divided that by his enrollment over the $15,000. So 127 would get just over a million dollars. We have actually higher enrollment than them. So we would get $1.4 million.
092Total estimate based on extrapolation. Don't know the number, but that's just a data point right now. 1.4 million per year. Per year. So it's distributed equally among all like by the student. >> So we would get based on 3600 divided by 115,000 that would be the percentage that we would get of the 46 million. >> So sales taxes are often regressive. Um so I'm wondering if this one would include groceries because the state starting in January 2026 What's that? >> I don't know if you did, but which Go ahead. Correct me. >> I I checked today. I think you asked me and it does not include groceries. Has it has a bunch of exemptions and from memory it's like groceries and farm goods. >> Yeah. >> I don't know why farmers don't exempt but they
093are. >> Okay. So, is there we've got the >> medicine as well. the data center coming in and to my knowledge um the school districts are not receiving additional revenue from that is there but there will be e economic activity associated with the data center specifically construction materials other materials like that. So will that is there a way to target industrial um regulations rather than residential because this is going to converge right when the referendum hits >> right so >> so is there a way to target it so it's minimizing the impact on res >> so the the T you said about the T5 the T5 is outside of our boundary so that's the first thing is it's not giving us any extra EV It does fall under 127s, but it's not under ours. In
094terms of the sales tax, it would have to be one of those items which would fall under that and it would have to be purchased in Lake County for it to be captured under that sale under those transactions. So, if the T5 was buying things, I don't know, elsewhere, Arizona, I don't know, and bringing them in where that company is, um, they wouldn't fall under that. So, I'm not aware of how the sales tax would correlate directly with the T5. I can't think of a specific way unless they were purchasing directly in like county. >> Yeah, I don't know. I don't I don't know whether to quantify that either. >> I've got a question for you, Chris. Um, so the language on the ballot says voters are approving up to 1%. Do we know how
095that actual percentage or fraction of a percent will be calculated? >> I'll wait. >> I think I think >> I think that I think that number that 1% is whatever is agreed on by the boards to put on the ballot. >> So we could put up to 1% on the ballot. So it could be it could be a quarter percent, it could be 50%, it could be 3/4% or it could be 1%. So that's how that number it has to be put on there. It's not everybody would have to decide what number% >> just one ballot question. >> I don't see how we cannot support it. I I mean I it would be malpractice not to. Sure. Right. I would agree. I mean, I would I would be in favor of that. >> So, I
096when we had our last lake division meeting over there in um we had two state reps there talking. So, I talked to a couple of them and I actually asked about this um this sales tax. About 38 other counties in Illinois have already passed this tax or this sales tax referendum. And I I made a simple question for him as is there any um appetite down at the state level to just make it black and white state instead of having every county go through this process. Um and I got the political answer. It's election time and nobody has the appetite to go put more sal. So, um it is going to be kind of up to the each county to get this going. I was trying to kind of prompt them to at least think
097about how does it work in terms of getting all like is there a twothirds majority that would carry the vote? How would that work if you had some boards out. Is it all in or how does that work? Like if we said we didn't want to, does that mean that we wouldn't get the the slice of the 1% if it should pass? >> No, I mean it's it it will be countywide. It's really about um whether or not there's enough of an appetite between our boards to actually even put it on the ballot. >> Yeah, good question though. So, I have in my research for this, there are uh districts down in South Illinois that don't say they don't want it even though they've had it. And so, they just debate it immediately. They immediately
098get take the money and they reduce the property taxes of the taxpayers. So, if you didn't want it, that would be the most obvious thing to do. If a district school board was adamant that they didn't want to accept that money, they would reduce they would use the the county tax to reduce the taxes of their actual constituents. That would be the way that they would do that. >> Which gives you the option of taking it if you need it, >> right? >> So if you had a project coming up, you could use it for that project. If not, you could back resolution. Okay. So, we will need to get back to our um cohorts to talk about this. So, I'm feeling like I'm getting a consensus of a positive feeling about moving forward with
099this. Yes. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, um the next step for us would be potentially to put a res of resolution and that would be what you would be voting for. So, we'll come back to you on that piece. Okay. >> I do also think it's kind of a point of advocacy that although it's not on groceries, it is nonetheless regressive. Shame on our state for putting us in this position. And I think it's a point of aggressy. Like look what we have to do. So, just something to think about. All right, we are going to move on to our action items. Ready? Thank you, Mr. Lory. It's good to see you at the table again. See you soon, my friend. Good night, Miss [laughter] Darn. Okay, we've got some action items to go through.
100Uh, the first one, do I need to do each of these separate bullet points separately under that main one there or just each main one? Each main one. Okay, I could say includes this, this, this, and this. You want me to do that? Okay. Okay. Not each separate one right on that larger. Okay. Okay. Okay. The first action item, a motion. I need a motion to approve the 2025 tax levy in a total amount of $45,98,190 which also includes the certificate of tax levy. The resolution regarding amounts necessary to be levied for the year 2025. The resolution to levy certain special taxes for special education district IMRF purposes. The resolution to levy working cash tax. The resolution to levy tort tax. and the resolution authorizing a supplemental property tax levy to pay the principle of
101and interest on outstanding limited bonds of the district. >> I'll move. >> I'll second. >> Okay. >> Weedman >> I >> Miller >> I >> Mac >> I >> Nash >> I >> Braden >> I >> Hume >> I >> and Halerson >> I >> Okay, motion carries. Next, I need a motion to approve the 2025 district audit. >> I'll move. >> Second. >> Okay. >> Hume. >> I. >> Braden. >> I. >> Halverson. >> I. >> Miller. >> I. >> Mac. >> I. >> Weedman. >> I. >> And Nash. >> I. >> Thank you. Motion carries. And finally, I need a motion to approve the K4 security camera project with forward edge that had been presented to us. >> I'll move. >> Second. >> Okay. >> Halverson. >> I >> Braden >> I Hume
102>> I >> Miller I Nash >> I >> and Weedman >> I. >> Motion carries. Thank you everybody. Finally, I need a motion to approve this evening's consent agenda which also includes the personnel addendum that was sent to us earlier today. >> I'll move a second. >> Okay. >> Braden >> I >> Nash >> I >> Hume >> I >> Halverson >> I Miller >> I >> Mac >> I >> and Weedman >> I >> Okay, thank you. We do not have any unfinished business. We do not have any new business. So, we have topics for future agenda items at this point. Dr. Goodman. >> Yes. Well, first of all, as we just talked about, we um we're going to need to add a finance committee meeting to one of our upcoming upcoming meetings. So,
103Chris and I will be talking about that and I'll be in touch with you. Um in the meantime, December 17th, um we have our Park Campus Wolves coming. Um they will be uh presenting and be at the board table. We're also going to be celebrating a lot of our athletes that night. We'll do an approval of bid awards, an approval of seniority lists, an approval of student fees. Um, we are hoping to have the information we need to have a discussion about our intercom's project, but we won't know until we get closer to that. Um, and also a discussion about door access, uh, the door access project. And again, these are the kinds of safety related projects that we have been talking about that are, you know, that come out of our uh funding from
104the referendum. January 14th, um we may have intercom's approval if we have discussion in December. We'll see. Um door access project approval and we expect to be able to bring a draft of a calendar, school calendar for 2027. Yeah. um and discuss that which moving into January 28th um we hope to be able to then approve um and we are actually ahead of where we usually are in terms of approving a calendar so we're glad about that um we'll also have our GMS Panthers with us um on January 28th so that'll be nice and um I don't have anything right now to share past January 28th >> thank you Dr. Uh, do we have any public comments? >> No. >> Did we drive them away? Okay. Okay. We do have a close session this evening.
105So I need a motion to enter into close session this evening in accordance with public act 5 Illinois CS120/2 paragraph C1 the appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees of the public body or legal counsel for the public body including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee of the public body or against legal counsel for the public body to determine its validity. Need a motion. >> So moved. I'll second. >> Okay. >> Hume. >> I. >> Nash. >> I. >> Miller. >> I. >> Mac. >> Hi. >> How >> I >> Weedman. >> Hi. >> And Braden. >> Hi. >> Okay. Very good. We do not anticipate any additional meeting business after the close session. So we will adjourn directly from that. Thank you everybody and good night.