001[Music] Good evening. Welcome to the Monday, September 22nd regularly scheduled Valley View School Board meeting. I would ask that you silence your phones, rise, and join us in the pledge of allegiance led by member Burus of the United States of America and stand with Thank you. Member Hy board affirmation statement if you would please. >> Our mission is to empower every learner to be college, career, and life ready and to develop, grow, and achieve as a productive citizen. Sir, moving down the agenda, student and staff recognition, introduction of the new student ambassadors. [Applause] Good evening, PresidentWigley, Vice President Campbell, members of the board, senior administration, and the Valley View community. My name is Adam Herurder, and I'm the executive director for our middle and high schools. Tonight, we are here to recognize our new >>
002Can you give me a second? >> Hang on. Need a motion to approve the agenda as presented. >> Second. >> We have a motion and we have a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Mr. Herder, if you would. Sorry, because we pushed these guys up to get them out of here because they got homecoming stuff. Sorry about that. >> Very much appreciate. >> Fire when ready. >> It's RHS homecoming, so we're moving right through this to get our students to their activities. Um, tonight we're here to recognize our new student ambassadors to the board of education. The ambassador role is a wonderful example of how our students exhibit our district's portrait of the learner competencies, including success as an effective communicator, adaptive learner, critical thinker, and empathetic citizen.
003Each year, we will add two junior year students from each high school to the ambassador team. These students will serve for their junior and senior years. This year they will focus on learning from the senior ambassadors who are also here this evening, developing their leadership skills and offering valuable perspective from a student point of view. All four of our new ambassadors have many characteristics in common. For example, they are heavily focused on serving others and driven both academically and socially to be involved in their schools. Our new team members also represent varying and unique backgrounds which will help our program connect with even more students. Before we recognize our students, I would like to briefly thank several people for their valuable roles in our ambassadors program. Thank you to our current ambassadors for all their
004hard work. To the administrative teams at both schools, including Dr. Pascavage, Dr. Lennox, Mr. Kinder, and Mrs. Smith for their leadership, Vice President Campbell and Secretary Sutherland for their role as liaison. The entire board for supporting all of us throughout this process and the many truly impressive students who were not chosen but showed tremendous skills and potential as leaders as well. Without further ado, please hold your applause until the end as I introduce our new student ambassadors to the board of education. from Bowling Brook High School. Sharon Aoot Ansa or go ahead and clap. We'll clap in between. [Applause] Also from Bowling Brook, Katherine Rodriguez Hernandez [Applause] >> from Romaville High School. Leah Peachy [Applause] [Music] [Applause] And finally, also from Romeville High School, Ariana Thomas. Welcome to all and congratulations. [Applause] Thank you, Mr.
005Herder. Appreciate that. Welcome, new ambassadors. So sure you'll do great. All right, moving down the agenda. So student ambassadors got to go. They got homecoming stuff. Uh treasures report. Mr. Renitch. >> There is none tonight. >> Thank you, sir. Moving down the agenda, consent agenda items. Dr. Wood. >> Yes. Thank you, board president. Tonight we are seeking your approval of six consent agenda items as presented. 7.1 board meeting minutes September 8th 2025 7.2 Executive session meeting minutes September 8th 2025 7.3 student activity contract perfect pastries Irene King Elementary School 7.4 gifts for Romeoville High School 7.5 special board meeting minutes September 6th 2025 and 7.6 6 special close session meeting minutes September 6th I'm sorry September 8th 2025 >> move >> second >> we have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda
006as presented is there any discussion seeing none hearing none roll call vote Madame clerk >> member Pipkin >> yes member hyo >> yes >> member Shrova. >> Yes. >> Member Beduris. >> Yes. >> Secretary Sutherland. >> Yes. >> Vice President Campbell. >> Yes. >> PresidentWigley. >> Yes. Leazison reports. Any for my right? Any from my left? If there are none, student ambassador leazison report. Miss Sienna Grant from RHS. Good evening members of the board and audience. Um, my name is Sienna Grant and I'm a senior as well as a second year ambassador from Romeoville High School. Um, to begin, I will start with the our house shoutouts, which is just things that we would like to shout out coming from Romeoville High School. First, we would like to congratulate Coach Serenion on winning his 200th
007career win as head varsity soccer coach. Coach Trovado was named coach of the week by the Chicago Bears. He will be honored at the Bears game in December. The team will receive a $2,000 donation from the Bears. Elanie Tjo, my fellow RHS ambassador, was awarded the Chicago Bears Latino Youth Leader Award at the Bears versus Cowboys game this past Sunday. We are excited to kick off Hispanic Hispanic Heritage Month across the district with a variety of activities, spirit weeks, and more. RHS Latino American Student Organization, LASO for short, hosted a very fun and successful field day to bring students together to celebrate Hispanic Heritage. Congratulations to the Romeoville High School MC JOTC program. The program was recently named a Naval Honors School for the fifth year in a row, signifying that they are in the
008top 20% of all programs in the nation. The Marching Spartans have had a great season so far. They competed Saturday at Northern Illinois University in Decal and placed first out of six bands, beating out Asiggo, Walke, Northwest Iowa, Neighborville Central, Decal, and Juliet West high schools. You can catch their next performance Friday at the homecoming football game. RHS is happy to welcome eight new clubs and opportunities for our students. We thank our students and staff sponsors for initiating these ideas and volunteering their time to run these programs. Um, now on to old business. We would like to extend another congratulations to our newly inducted junior members, Ariana Thomas and Leah Pichy from Romeoville and Sharon Oote Ansa and Katherine Rodriguez Hennez from BHS. And for our new business, we have recently noticed an uptick in
009ridership of ebikes and pedal bikes. And we would like to thank the district for purchasing a bike rack for us so that we can have a safer pathway safer pathway for these students. And as we approach homecoming week for both BHS and RHS, we would like to remind students to be safe and have fun while making lasting memories. The psychology club made posters to bring awareness to suicide prevention month. Additionally, students will be able to add messages of hope on our suicide awareness poster during lunch on Tuesday, September 23rd. We would like to remind students and families about Safe to Help, which is a 247 hotline available for our students to get help and send help to others with issues like bullying, depression, and anxiety. A live agent responds to text messages and calls, making
010it a great resource to all in need. Parent teacher conferences are October 30th and 31st this semester. Sign up begins October 7th. And in the coming months, the RHS ambassadors will be working with our eighth graders as they prepare for Romeoville High School. Here are a few key dates. We will visit during the school day for a special presentation at Avito Martinez on November 18th and JJL on November 20th. Our incoming freshman night at RHS and families will be on January 22nd. Be sure to save the date and look for more details to be shared on parents wear soon. And to end my report, I would once again like to thank the board for giving us ambassadors a position to share and engage with our community. And I'd like to thank the administration and staff
011who help meet our needs every day. We are glad to hear that a tenative agreement has been reached between the board and the union. And it was amazing to witness the passion of our BBSD community. Stay safe and responsible and have a great night. >> Thank you. >> And she's got to run. So I'm told so uh while you're gathering uh we'll move on down the agenda. Is there anybody in the audience who wishes to address the board? >> One moment Mr. Quickly. >> Yes. Thank you President Quickley. I apologize. I attended an event and I would like to give it as my board liaison report. I thought it needed to be an old business. So I'm going to ask if I can go ahead. >> Thank you. This is I attended a anb which
012is the Illinois Association of School Boards event. this it was called a super Saturday and I was going to give an update in old business and I just didn't understand that I I should do it in the board leaison report. So thank you for um backing up the agenda for me. Uh it was a great event. It was several new school it was all pretty much all new board members who were there as well as a few people who were seasoned in order to train us. Um and so we just went over kind of what our role is as a school board member. And so I just wanted to let you guys know that I have had that particular training, but also give you a couple of key takeaways that I really enjoyed. One is
013the biggest room is the room for improvement. I thought that was a great key takeaway that one of the speakers shared and that we can all remember that when we have a new um experience that there's always room for improvement on the organizations that we enter, but also for ourselves as we're learning and growing. Um and then um the bill the role of a board member is not to get in deep and we're not the ones who are your teachers. We're not the ones who are your administrators who are running the schools. We're not the ones who are the administrators who are actually doing the work of the district. But our role is to make sure we inform the community and we take information from the community to make sure that we are overseeing. So
014they they always give the example of there is a school dance on the floor. We're up in the rafters watching it and making sure everyone's safe, making sure everything is in that we have all the procedures and the rules in place and that we're following them and that we're making sure that everyone's having a great time on the dance floor. And so, um, they did cover that and I just had a great experience. And if you ever have questions, let me know. Thank you. That was all. Thank you very much, President Quigley. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> All right. Uh, anybody who wishes to address the board, please keep your comments to three minutes. State your name >> and we will be I will be allowing to let you know when you get down to
01515 seconds on that. >> Vice President Campbell will be watching the clock at 30 seconds. She'll give you a signal. >> Evening. >> Stay with that timer. I think I've got it down to three. Good evening, members of the board and members of the Valley View community. My name is Katie Thomas and I am the teacher librarian at BJ Ward Elementary. I'm here tonight on behalf of both myself and my colleagues to raise an urgent concern about the future of our elementary school libraries. Because of a recent changes to the special schedule, four of our elementary schools now have no time at all to run a library program. While other schools have lost so much time that their library services are drastically reduced. That means thousands of students will no longer have access to the
016very programs that make our library so impactful. As a result, district family reading night has been cancelled for the 2025 2026 school year. Without action from the district, additional library supported activities including the Battle of the Books, book fairs, literacy initiatives such as book clubs and steam enrichment will also be cancelled at the elementary level. These are not extras. These are the programs programs that inspire all kids to be readers, connect families through books and give children opportunities beyond the classroom. And we cannot in good conscience offer them in some schools while leaving other students behind. School libraries are not just specials. They are carefully cultivated spaces essential to learning. Librarians build collections that support classroom instruction, run clubs that spark a love of reading, and secure grants so all students, including those with accommodations,
017can thrive in our library spaces. But without time and staffing, those opportunities disappear. When that happens, we create a system of halves and have nots among our students. We are asking the district to provide staffing support in the form of a paraprofessional for schools with large student populations. We strongly believe that this is the way to ensure that all students, not just some, have access to highquality library instruction and programming. In fact, in the budget being presented here tonight, the state specifically recommends using part of our evidence-based funding EBF dollars for librarian aids with a suggested line item for this exact position under part two section 5 core investments in the fiscal year 2025 adjusted adequacy target, an amount of $1.6 million. Nearly every district comparable to VVSD locally that we have found has at
018least one librarian aid per building in addition to their certified librarian. Parents and families, this affects your children directly. When libraries are cut, students are the ones who lose. Please speak up and ask the district to protect our libraries. Our students deserve better. We truly do believe every learner every day. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the information. >> Hi. Please state your name. >> My name is Willie Poe. I'm the exec director of focus and um I brought a couple kids here of Focus Valley View students that didn't get a chance to speak yet about some of the concerning issues that's dealing with our schools. I wrote something so I'll go from there first. But for those that don't know, we have a program titled focus focus on critically using our skills to
019be productive citizens in society. It's geared towards at risk underserved students. And what we want to what I want to say today is that we want to represent the diverse community of learners and make sure that things things they need are considered during decision- making. The latch key kids, the bus riders, the c the credit recoveries, the parents working second shift or even students jobs, even students with jobs need support. The students who only time for school is at school. How do we best put support in place to keep them out of the school to prison pipeline? As you see, we have our shirts on and our our shirts is designed for to we don't want to see another kid go through the school to prison pipeline. So, anything that we can do in the
020schools to keep the kids in school, that's our goal. But I was shocked to see that we have a leadership program at Bowling Brook High School and we meet with Dr. Pes Chavage at the school. And it was really concerning to me how many of the atrisisk underserved kids don't have lunch. And I didn't understand why they don't have lunch. One um they have to come to school on the bus. They have to leave the school on the bus. But while they're in school, they doing credit recovery. They got wheel. They got all these other programs where they said they be walking around in the school with snacks in their pockets going from class to class trying to eat. And I asked the principal why they don't have a lunch. It's not enough periods in
021the time for them to get a lunch to eat lunch. Now I know when they get to our program in the evenings why everybody is hungry. They don't get a chance to eat and then we have to feed them. But several of the kids want to make a couple statements and I just wanted to make that that their presence felt and let get them opportunity to speak. Thank you. >> Thank you. step up. >> What's your name? >> Hello. My name is Jal Fes. I'm a sophomore at BHS and um I'm a member of Focus. I work as the videographer and the added period the eighth period or uh yeah the added 20 minutes would help people who like need to eat when because they don't have enough time like for the will pro Wilco
022program like will said and um it really helps out cuz I know this some member of focus who like said that they didn't have enough time to eat lunch and it would really help out if they did have enough time so they didn't come to places hungry. Thank you. >> Hi, my name is Blessing Jerry. I am a junior at Bowling Brook High School and I'm a member of Focus. I'm the bookkeeper of Focus. Um, I think the eighth period would be great because I right now don't have a lunch because I substituted in to take driver's ed and it's some like I do have to wake up early in the morning cuz sometimes I catch the bus and sometimes I don't. And when I catch the bus, I don't get to pack a lunch
023because I'm going so early and I have to get ready. And so when I go to school, I don't have a lunch so I can't go in the lunchroom. So, I have to go on the grab and go, but I don't eat peanut butter, so I can't get they only serve peanut butter items, so I couldn't get that. And I was asked I asked could I go in the lunchroom? They said no. So, I just had to wait till I got home to go and eat. So, I think the eighth period would like with students that take like AP classes and stuff like that, I think it would just give them like a ease of mind or like a break. Thank you. >> Thank you. Hi, my name is Timothy Morgan. Uh um I go
024to BHS High School. I'm a junior and I would like to speak. I would like to say I go I am in a BHS leadership um program and we have meetings on helping our teams speak up for people that don't have voices and people that feel like they haven't been heard about their problems around our high school that affect most of the teens in BHS like working on getting the kids a lunch um working on getting the kids to lunch for other kids that take selective um classes like wheel co or have to take driver's or have to take egenuity because they fail the class and want to graduate early. And I feel like that that's where the eighth period come in that all these kids need help with not only I would say with
025eating, they need help with their work, their study halls. They need help. They need a break. They need time to rejuvenate their minds and get ready for the next class. And not only to say that, I felt like a lot of kids just genuinely need that break. And definitely for the hardworking kids, the AP kids and the seniors. Thank you. >> Thank you. [Applause] Hi, my name is Lricia and I'm a sophomore at BHS and I think the BHS leadership focus group helped me get things off my mind and I had a freedom of speech to say what I believe should happen in school. [Applause] >> Thank you guys for giving us the opportunity to have the kids speak. >> Thank you. >> Thanks students. [Applause] Uh, seeing no one else, moving down the agenda.
026Section 10, human resources report. Misty Donado >> 10.1, the consolidated action report for certified, classified, and administrative personnel is being presented for approval as amended in all items presented. >> So move. >> We have a motion and we have a second on the consolidated action report. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, hearing none, a roll call vote would be in order. >> Member Hy, >> yes. >> Member Shrova, >> yes. >> Member Buris, >> stay. >> Member Pipkin, >> yes. >> Secretary Sland, >> yes. >> Vice President Campbell, >> PresidentWigley, >> yes. 10.2, Miss Donado. >> Action for 10.2, Two resolutions 2603 is the authorization of dismissal of educational support personnel employees for reasons other than reduction in force. >> There a motion to accept as presented. >> So move. >> Motion and seconded. We
027have a motion and second authorizing dismissal of educational support personnel for other reasons than reduction. If there's no discussion, a roll call vote would be in order. >> Member Schro? >> Yes. Member Burus? Yes. >> Member Pipkin. >> Yes. >> Member Hy. >> Yes. >> Secretary Sutherland. >> Yes. >> Vice President Campbell. >> Yes. >> President Quigley. >> Yes. All right. Moving down the agenda. We are going into public hearing. Talk about the budget that's been on file for several weeks. Uh Mr. Ren will be presenting, but I need a motion to temporarily adjourn the regular scheduled meeting. Have a public hearing on the proposed budget for fiscal year 2526 of the Valley View School Board meeting. >> I'll move district. >> Second. We have a motion and we have a second. All those in
028favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. We are now in budget. Mr. Renitch, please give us your presentation. >> Uh, thank you. U, before I begin, just a couple points before presenting the budget. Um, the board approved the tenative budget on August 18, 2025. The budget has been on display um, per the statute for 30 days. In addition, um the required notice for the public hearing uh was also published in the paper and I placed that affidavit in your packet for you tonight. So, we're here to present the 2526 budget and tonight's presentation is called making a grade and that title was chosen very intentionally. And I've been naming my budget presentation for the last four years. That and I've gotten a lot of questions of why do you name it making the
029grade? And in education, making a grade isn't just about test scores or report cards. It's about rising and meeting challenges. It's about progress and it's about growth from our students, yes, but also from all of us who guide and support them. So what you see tonight is a result of a shared responsibility. It's the music we create when everyone plays their role and we're all working in harmony to prepare our students for the future. So, while staying true to be responsible to the stewards of the taxpayers community, this is a letter from Dr. Wood and I to you, the board of education and our community. And in summary, what it says is as district leaders, we are deeply committed to both the academic excellence and responsible fiscal financial stewardship. Our focus remains supporting every learner
030every day. Tonight's presentation is part of our ongoing commitment to transparency and fiscal accountability. We will walk you through where we find our funding, how it's spent, and how it aligns with our instructional priorities and goals. Here's a budget overview. So tonight's board meeting, the board of education is expected to adopt an operating budget of expenditures of almost $324 million, excluding on behalf payments, which are about $82 million. For the newer board members, those are the pension obligations that we have to account for that the state um is supposed to be funding the pensions at and we have to recognize them in this budget. We also um cautiously will continue to have a positive outlook and remain a double A one um rating from Moody's which puts us one notch away from a AAA rated
031um rating from Moody's. And just um as a reminder um the district did go through a financial review a few years ago and this is the first time that the district has ever had such a strong rating from a outside organization of Moody's. It was about a three and a half four hour presentation where we had to present the financial philosophy our debt structure and our district policies along with other things as a consideration our accounting practices and so forth. Um overall it appears that the district will have 140 days cash on hand. That is a metric that we watch very closely. Um and the government finance officers association or the GFA recommends 90 90 days. And for the past seven years, the district has received a financial profile score of 3.80, which is a
032financial recognition, which is the highest recognition you can. And the reason I bring up um these metrics is because these are outside agencies looking at our financial statements. And these are outside agency. Moody's is a a company that rates the United States government and Fortune 500 companies and Illinois State Board of Education rates every school district in the state. So these are independent evaluations looking at the financial strength of our district. Real quickly, I'll just go through some revenue highlights. Property taxes are our largest source of fund. It accounts for 64% of our budget. We're anticipating about $230 million of revenues from property taxes. This year, we're budgeting $14 million for corporate personal property replacement tax, which is CPPRT. Um just to just to mention um in 2023 we almost had $32 million of CPPRT.
033We are down to about 14 million or 12 million almost a $20 million decrease. One of the items that you'll see later that's putting a pressure on our budget. The district does continue to leverage fund balances by maximizing our return on our investments and we're expected to generate almost $6.7 million of investment income. Um we are class our EBF um funding is expected to be around $54 million and we're looking at and this is our second largest source of revenue and uh we're looking at an additional $700,000 in revenue from that funding source. Expenditure highlights. Um our largest expenditures are salaries. At the time we were we were putting this budget together, we had to make an assumption and 4% increase was used which will increase this line item by $ 8.2 million. Um the
034amount of dollars that are allocated are about $24 million or it accounts for about 63% of the budget. Our second largest expenditure in the budget is our benefits. um um coming in at about 13% or an operating cost about $43 million. The budget does assume that we will be moving to the blue choice option. Um this budget does also account for the new Deb Sakora Early Childhood Center which required about 20 FTEES which are full-time equivalent positions and they're listed there in the presentation. As we talked about the budget and making a grade, I always think it's important that we just don't talk about numbers, but we also associate it with learning and our students. And part of the budget does have things allocated in there. And I would ask that Dr. Pollson just speak
035uh briefly to these two line items. >> Thank you. Yes. So we work very closely together in order to make the grade together. These are two major undertakings for educational services achieve which our ambassadors know very well as they're smiling in the front row. Um not only has it been a culture for students but it's been a culture for staff across many years multiple years that is a um complex gives our students access to complex text. It's also is a good predictor of how our students are comp going to perform on the Illinois assessment of readiness. Um, but not only that, you can ask a student across the district, if you have your own students in the district, they know where they're at for their Lexile level on any given day. So they and their
036Lexile level lets us know how they're performing in their literacy skills. um another a new initiative for us for our K2 programming which the Illinois um uh excuse me Illinois Illinois comprehensive literacy plan is a mouthful um in the last couple of years has identified seven areas that we have to tackle from a literacy standpoint and one of those areas must be phonics and that is what we're looking to do um for the K2 development of all of our students across our 12 elementary schools is implementing a research-based phonics program to ensure that our students are prepared to tackle complex texts from three from third grade and beyond. Thank you, Dr. Pollson. I appreciate that. Um, continuing with the theme of supporting students and staff, uh, we are constantly investing in 21st century technology. Um
037we're spending about $3.3 million in this initiative every year. And just as a background uh perspective, um prior to coming to the district, the district used to take out short-term loans to um fund um the technology initiatives and they were um ad hoc and not really in a organized method. I've worked with um Robert Gilmore to put together a plan that really structures the way we purchase our technology in a proper life cycle for all of our um devices. So, we know that a Chromebook lasts four years and so a student will see one, put one in their place um in first grade, fifth grade, and ninth grade. So, we're constantly infusing new technology into our students hands, but we're also doing it with our staff um where we are having a life cycle of
038four years for their laptops and replacing them and be able to support them for in the classroom. So, um that's another way that we are supporting our students and our staff. And then I think the last thing that is important to mention is our facilities. research indicates that the quality of the learning environment, including lighting, air quality, ventilation, temperature, directly impacts student performance. And so the district has very good facilities and our community appreciates that and we will be investing um $3.9 million in projects to maintain a safe and um proper environment for our students and for our staff. Here's a nice pie chart that shows where the district receives its money from. And you can see because of state funding model that the district must rely on local resources. So we get 64% of
039our dollars from property taxes and about 8% is from local, which is registration fees and interest income, 21% from state funding. On the other side, the district is broken out what by what we call objects according to the Illinois program accounting manual. And you can see that 76% of the budget is salaries and benefits. 63% salaries, 13% benefits. This is not unusual um in auditing other school districts and being in other spaces. Um, this is about the right percentage that school districts do spend on salaries and benefits for their staff towards their budget. Here are some key metrics that I think are important for the district to look at as we try to navigate our way moving forward um through this budget and other budget cycles. Enrollment Enrollment is down almost uh 17 to 20%
040since 2011. We are down almost 3,35 students over that time. And you can see that. And so one of the considerations we have to take a look at is staffing class sizes and uh other metrics. Um, you know, we might want to take a look at a facility study, seeing how we're maximizing the use of our facilities and see if there's opportunities there uh to look at different structures or different spaces for our students. As I mentioned, another key metric is our corporate personal property replacement tax. In 2023, it was at $32 million. This year we're budgeting right around 12 million which is a loss of about $20 million. You advertise that over five years that's over hund00 million that the district is trying to navigate through this budget process with that loss of of
041revenue. So debt, there's been a lot of questions and a lot of comments made about our debt and I think there are some key attributes that we need to look at. First of all, those green bars I formed that that's referendum debt. That is debt that was an issue that wasn't decided by the board. It wasn't decided by the administration. This was by our community. Our community wanted a new high school and new buildings built. And that is the structure of the debt that we have right now that we have outstanding. You you will you will see there are some key data points coming up. The first one is that um debt service will begin to be paid down and in 2028, the average homeowner of a $340,000 home will see a $200 credit when
042it comes to their tax bill. And this is just an estimate. And then two years later, they will see another $250 credit, accumulating almost $450. And then by 2032, all of the referendum debt will be paid off. And um roughly an average homeowner will see about a $1,200 credit from our debt uh service payment being structured. Some metrics that to look at that sometimes aren't mentioned is that we're only at 50% of our legal capacity. Um the district could issue far more debt if they wanted to um under the under the uh the calculation from the state board of education. And as I mentioned, the district did increase its bond rating to AA1. To put this in perspective, that upgrade rating into context, of all the K12 school districts across the country that Moody rates,
043there are fewer than 100 school districts that have a higher rating than Valley View School District 365. So, it is a major accomplishment for us. I would be remiss in saying that we are going through a 10-year life safety um survey and there might be opportunity where there might be some sprinkle of debt that we might need to issue in order to maintain and meet those life safety standards. So this is a spreadsheet that I put together I always recommend if there's one place that you want to go and look at the district's finances, you can see it all on one page. You can go to the transportation fund and see that we spend $9.3 million on salaries there. Or you can look in total of how much uh property tax revenue we have on
044and what percent of the budget it is. So, I believe that this is always a nice spreadsheet to look at, but I do think there are three key metrics or data points that I think are important for the the board and the community to understand. The first is the 12 140day cash flow on hand. That's something that Moody's looked at. That's something that you have in your board policy and that is something that we always are constantly watching and ensuring that we maintain that level of reserves. Um, GFOA recommends 90 days. We're at 140, three months versus four and a half. The second metric that you need to see is that we are in a structural deficit within our education fund. That is netted against the nutritional service fund which is generating a surplus surplus.
045So the real number is right around $3.2 million just as the ED fund as it stands on its loan. And then I wanted to point out and this is a metric that I've shown every year and it's important one. Our two largest revenue sources are property taxes and EBF funding which generate generates about $248 million. And our two largest expenditures are salaries and benefits which generate around 246 million. Why is this metric so important? We can only grow our property taxes at the consumer price index. So if the consumer price index is at 3%. Our salaries should be and benefits need to increase at that same rate. And right now after the fourth year presenting that those salaries and benefits are intersecting right now with our revenues which is causing that structural deficit. So we
046really need to look at how we grow our salaries and try to contain the growth of those salaries um as we try to look forward and charter way. There we are teetering um on um ensuring that we maintain that fiscal health and strength that we've been rated on. Um a deficit will grow and double every year that you don't address it. So that three million can turn to five million next year which can turn to 10 million the following year. So it's very important as we work as a team to look forward and trying to limit the growth of those um seeing that we're capped at our revenue. We have to manage the expenditure side of that. Finally, what do all these numbers mean? So when you put it in context, all those numbers on
047the previous page really don't mean much um without the relationship of our learners and our staff. And I organized the budget into five different sections. And what this shows is that instruction does take top priority at Valley View School District 365 and that we're continuing to make our decisions and our mission to support every learner every day. So, we do have the right priorities in place. That instruction doesn't include cleaning the classroom. It doesn't include transporting our students. It doesn't include feeding our students. Those are dollars spent directly in the classroom. So, I'd like to conclude um my slide presentation with an analogy. And last year, I ended with a reflection on the summer Olympics because of the timing of it. And it was about celebration of hope, p perseverance and and potential. This year
048I turned to music because music speaks to all of us. Great music happens when every member of the orchestra plays their part with intention, harmony, and care. Just like an orchestra, our district is made up of many individuals and each with a different note or different role and their own unique instrument. And it takes all of us working together to create something more truly beautiful. We've all have accepted the challenge in preparing our learners for the future. But we also must meet another critical challenge. doing so in a way that is fiscally responsible to our community. Excellence and stewardship must go hand in hand. We must need to balance both of those um metrics out. So when we see our graduates step confidently into the world prepared for college, career and life, we hear the
049results of all of our collective effort. We hear the music. The impact of every teacher, every pair professional, every office staff member, every security personnel and every learner leader is present at that moment. And because the music, our success doesn't come from one soloulless. It comes from all of us together. So together we are proving that Valley View is truly making the grade. Finally, I just want to take a moment and thank Helen Romeos for doing most of the heavy lifting of putting this budget together. Helen started uh July 1 and has quickly learned her role and has done a phenomenal job in acclimating to the district and supporting um the admin services and doing a great job in her leadership. So, thank you Helen for that. I want to thank the board of education
050for being good financial stewards of the taxpayers dollars and their guidance and their leadership and Dr. Wood for his leadership. I really do appreciate you Dr. would and instilling collaboration among all departments and your leadership. So, thank you for that. And finally, I just want to thank senior leadership for all their contributions to the entire process. Honestly, we are just the facilitator of this budget. It takes all of the departments coming together and working together and putting their numbers together and having meetings with the principles, the directors, the assistant superintendent to put this budget together and to coordinate it and to facilitate it. It is not done by one department. So, it's done by a team as I talked about the orchestra that we have here. And that concludes my presentations. Do you have any
051questions? >> Thank you, Mr. Wrench. Uh, any questions from the board? No questions from the board. Are there any comments from the staff? Dr. Wood. Any comments from the public? If you wish to address the board on the budget, please state step down, state your name. Seeing none, hearing none. Moving down the agenda. Can I get a motion to close the public hearing and go back to the regular scheduled meeting? >> So move. Second. >> We have a motion. We have a second. Is there any discussion on that? I need a roll call vote, please, to adjourn the public hearing button. Oh, >> yes. Yes. Yes. All right. Moving down the agenda, we have held the hearing. A motion would be in order. Mr. Renage on 11.2. >> So, the administration is recommending that the
052board of education approve resolution 2602 adopting the budget for fiscal year 2526 as presented. >> Move. >> Second. >> Motion and seconded. Is there any discussion on the budget as presented? If not, Madame Clerk, a roll call vote would be in order. There's your red light. >> We're working. >> Member Hyle, >> yes. >> Member Shrova, >> yes. >> Member Beduris, >> yes. >> Member Pipkin, >> yes. >> Secretary Sutherland, >> yes. >> Vice President Campbell, >> yes. >> President Quigley, >> yes. Thank you all. And just as a brief comment, John, thank you for your presentation. Very much appreciated. Uh, as member Pipkin mentioned earlier, one of the big things that we have to do as a district is establish a budget and make sure that it's livable within the community, provides us the
053things that we need to do. I want to thank everybody for their stewardship in doing that and doing this budget. So, that said, moving down the agenda, purchase of BHS theater lights. The 11.3 is the Bowling Brook High School theater department is requesting the purchase of nine theater performance lighting fixtures. These fixtures are typically mounted on the auditorium rigging system and are used for the play and musical performances. Historically, the district had to rely on renting these fixtures, which cost about $8,000 a year, plus all the coordination of renting, delivery, and installation. In addition, there could be an opportunity uh with Romeoville High School to share these lights and by uh thereby accelerating the district savings on per on this purchase. So on September 9th, bids were publicly solicited and on uh September 13th, the
054public bids were open. It's important to note that this purchase will be funded 50% by the boosters of RH uh BHS, excuse me, and 50% from BHS's student trust account. So, the administration recommends that the board of education approve the purchase of the theater lighting fixtures from JRlx, Inc. in the amount not to exceed $50,18.50. >> A motion to approve purchase of VHS lights. >> So move. >> Second. Motion and seconded. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, hearing none, a roll call vote, please. >> Member Vurus, >> yes. >> Member Pipkin, >> yes. >> Member Hy, >> yes. >> Member Shrova, >> yes. >> Secretary Sutherland, >> yes. >> Vice President Campbell, >> yes. >> President Quigley, >> yes. Moving down the agenda, Miss Pollson, 12.1, Responsive Classroom. >> Yes. Thank you. Information was presented
055at the last board meeting on September 8th and we are respectfully asking for your approval as presented. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> We have a motion and we have a second for responsive classroom. Is there any discussion or questions of Miss Pollson? Roll call vote please. >> Member Pipkin. >> Yes. Member Hy. >> Yes. >> Member Shroa. >> Yes. >> Member Verus. Yes, >> Secretary Serdlin. >> Yes, >> Vice President Campbell. >> Yes, >> President Quigley. >> Yes, Dr. Wood. Action report says no report. So, I'm assuming that means no report. How about that? Reading is a skill. Comprehension is even more important. Next, superintendent information reports. Dr. Wood. >> Yes. Thank you, board president. quickly. It's my pleasure to present tonight's superintendent update. And um annually, we like to remind our school
056communities that im immunization records and physical exams are due before October 15th. And um school staff will reach out to families as needed to make sure we don't have any interruptions or disruptions to student learning. Uh Mr. Renich, speaking of great music, um not pictured, we um recently um participated as a district, but also our um bands from our middle schools and high schools in the Bowling Brook Pathways parade and the Romeoville Founders Day parade. And I would like to say um our students did a phenomenal job through their particip participation, but also the con connection to community is strong. Um there were a lot of um positive comments and smiles on folks faces as our bands marched along. And additionally, I just like to really really shout out our band directors and our parent
057volunteers. You don't realize how many steps are involved with making sure a u performance um at an event goes off smoothly and our parents do a wonderful job coordinating events. Um, but what you do see pictured here, um, on the left is our Jane Adams marching band with that beautiful sunset behind them. And they are featured in the Bowling Brook High School marching band invitational that occurred last week. This was a wonderful opportunity for parents, students, and staff to see Bowling Brook Middle School bands perform on the BHS football field along with the Bowling Brook High School band. The most interesting and amazing part as always is hearing the high school students cheer on the middle school students. Um that always brings me joy when I see that community support um with our high school
058students leading the way but also encouraging our middle school band students um to take that next step. So just wonderful opportunity. On the right you see our step and that's our secondary transition experience program student Carmen Gonzalez cutting the ribbon for the next step coffee shop at Joliet Junior College Romeoville campus. Uh we are incredibly appreciative of the hard work of STEPP staff and students for providing work and life experiences for the STEP program students and the folks at Joliet Junior College to include President Klein Namoa for their continued partnership and support of Valley View students. This is a reminder that the panorama um survey is open and to remind all that who participate that your voice matters and it will be administered September 22nd through October 10th um with all staff and students in
059grades 3 through 12 participating. This is again an annual survey that is taken to obtain voice. Student and staff are asked similar questions about instruction and learning so we can see the classroom experience from both perspectives. Students also answer a series of questions about social emotional learning which helps schools identify students who may need additional support. staff responded questions about their school improvement plan in terms of its clarity, purpose, and organization, as well as the quality of the feedback and support they received so that we could continue to learn and grow and make improvements along the way. Taken together, these responses provide us valuable insight into how teaching, learning, and school improvement efforts are being experienced across the district, across levels. And finally, some important upcoming dates. September 24th. This week is early release. October
06013, schools are closed for indigenous people's day. Be um again another reminder about immunizations. We want to make sure that all student records are update prior to October 15th, but October 15th is the deadline and October 20th is the next board meeting. And that brings my update and report to a close. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Wood. Moving down the agenda, facility used vehicle purchase. Who's got that? Mr. Renich, I'm assuming. >> So 14.2. You want to take this, Teresa? >> Uh, currently the district is seeking uh to purchase one used vehicle, a pickup truck to replace an existing truck in the facility operations department. The vehicle being replaced is about 24 years old. The facility and operations department plans on purchasing a used late model F2504x4. So this is just an information report.
061The district intends to pursue the acquisition through the non-bid process via directly from the dealer and this is allowed by um the Illinois school code. >> Thank you. Uh moving down the agenda, Miss Donado, job description >> for 14.3. Attached to the board packet are two job descriptions for review. The early childhood community-based board certified behavior analyst and early childhood community-based special education paraprofessional positions. We will be bringing these job descriptions to the next board meeting in October for action. Both positions are funded by the community outreach inclusion early childhood grant which extends for another two years beyond the 2526 school year. >> Thank you. If you have any questions or comments on those, make sure you talk to Miss Donado. All right, moving down the agenda. Where are we at? Uh, legal services report.
062Mr. O'Driscoll, no report tonight. Thank you. Association Federation report 604. Nobody. Valley View Office Personnel Personality Personnel Council 604. >> No report. Thank you. Valley View Transportation. No report. Any old business report? I do have old business as well outside of my event that I attended. There was a question that was asked at the mic last time regarding why would we need 8th period. I promise you I did not know focus would be here and so many students expressed why they would like 8th period. One thing that I wanted to alert um the public about so that you are aware. There is a new law that is in effect um I actually know the statute. It's a 105 ILCS527-22 is the statute that has been in on the books for a while. It's the high
063school the required high school courses statute. They actually amended that statute where there are now new requirements that will take place in the school year 28 uh through 29. And so one of the things that I was speaking with another parent about um there is already a requirement that people have at least one either foreign language or or fine arts or something of that nature. So they have to have at least one in order to graduate. And now there's a requirement for two years of uh foreign language that's going to take place for 9th graders entering in the school year 2028 through 2029. that parent had was under the understanding that one would be for this foreign lang you know the one that we already have and the second one would be for a new
064one but that's not true these are two new years of foreign language if you use you know that one credit to cover that foreign language or fine arts that one you still need two additional years of the foreign language um so we need to make sure we have enough movement in our schedule um this goes back to what some of the focus students were saying we don't want it to only be relied upon by those who have the ability to be dropped off by a parent or grandparent at the zero hour. We want to make sure those who have who have to take a bus to and from school have the opportunity to graduate timely um when we have added new requirements under the state law. So, this isn't our district that has added this
065law. This is available. It's a statute written out um that's available for you to see today and you can Google it. And um there is also the um the um I apologize there is online an FAQ a frequently asked questions that is provided by the Illinois store uh state board of education. So they have prepared an FAQ about this foreign language requirement and so I would encourage anyone who has questions about it please be sure to see that um and if you want my page I can give it to you after this meeting. So that's all I just wanted to make sure that people are aware of that and that is coming down the pikes and we want to make sure that we have that available for our students. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any
066new business for the board? >> Seeing none hearing none. Freedom of information act requests are with Mr. Blay and are available online. Is that correct Mr. Blay? He's nodding his head in approval. Any announcements by the board from my left from my right. Want to thank everybody who participated in the parades and came out. Uh we have homecoming coming up for both the schools. Getting a little whoop. How about a little woot woot here in the front? Let's go. There we go. Uh celebrate appropriately and uh respectfully and have a good time. And that would be my two cents worth. Any announcements by the administration? Dr. Wood and crew? >> Not tonight. Uh that being said, a motion to adjurnn would be in order. So moved. >> We have a motion in a second. All
067those in favor say I. >> I. Same sign. Thank you and have a great evening.