001that your school district. We have concluded our executive session with no action to report and we will now proceed with our regular agenda. Um we will start with uh our Pledge of Allegiance led by our student ex-officio member. Um so welcome to members of the public who have appeared in the auditorium to watch the Board of Education conduct its business. Um we need to point out to you emergency evacuation procedures, so please note the exits at the rear of the auditorium as well as the two on each side of the stage. In case of an emergency, please proceed to an emergency exit directly to the outside um in an orderly fashion. This is a smoke-free and vape-free school district. Smoking and vaping is not permitted in the building or anywhere on the school grounds. It
002is also a hate-free and bully-free school district. Um we're going first to the board consent agenda C. Thank you, President Hayes. The administration recommends approval of board consent items with elected and scheduled C1. Is there a motion to approve item C1? Vice President DeLoa, second by Trustee Calderon. Questions? Question. Just want to ask the um assistant superintendent of finance, was there anything remarkable to report? Thank you. Did I hear you Did I hear you say no? He said no. Okay, thank you. So, all in favor? Unanimously approved. Next, we go to superintendent's report. Thank you, President Hayes. Tonight, I'll be keeping the meeting somewhat abbreviated by not giving a formal report, but there are some words I want to share with the community. I want to thank everybody for coming out tonight and for those
003of you watching the streaming. Tonight, it's an important night for our district as we present draft six of the proposed budget for the 2026-2027 school year. I want to begin by saying plainly that we understand the weight of this moment. We understand what it means to propose piercing the cap and we know the real ask of our community. We don't take it lightly. We don't At the same time, this process has not stood still. We've continued to listen, continued to respond, and continued to make difficult adjustments with the goal of protecting what matters most for our students. Even at this stage, we've made additional reductions in administration and we've restored library services to the current levels with the intent of continuing to strengthen the program moving forward. That matters and it reflects the fact that
004we've remained responsive through our process. It's also important to say clearly that we've taken real corrective action. We've worked diligently to address business practices that contributed to the situation, strengthened oversight, improved our internal processes, and put better structures in place. This budget isn't just about eliminating a deficit. It's about creating stability, rebuilding trust, and putting this district in position to move forward with confidence. And that's why I believe there's reason for hope. This budget gives us the opportunity to preserve programs that mean so much to our community, protect opportunities for our students, and begin building again with greater care and purpose. I believe deeply in this community and I believe in South Country's ability to come together when it matters most. This is a difficult moment, but it also could be a turning point. My
005hope is that South Country will be an example of what's possible when a community comes together when it matters most. I also want to express that it's important for us to set an example for all of Long Island that as difficult as a moment this may be, what's really possible is for South Country to come together, face a challenge with honesty, and never lose sight of its children. I want to thank all the community members and staff members who've reached out to me in support and in support of this budget. I look forward to visiting constituents to educate them more about this budget and what it means for our district. In a few moments, Mr. Robart will give an update on our budget and I implore everyone to pay attention to it and really listen
006with an open mind and with the hope that we we can rise together as a community for the sake of our children and our programs. Thank you. The next The next section of our agenda is trustee and advisory committee reports. Seeing none on my right, seeing none none on my left except for our student and we would like to hear from you. Good evening. Um I'm proud to begin by saying that our student council has officially been recognized as a gold National Council of Excellence for the fourth consecutive year. This achievement reflects the dedication and commitment from members of our council. This is something that our community should be taking pride in. I want to thank Mrs. Hawk and my exec board >> [applause] >> I want to thank Mrs. Hawk and my exec board
007for their hard work day in and out. None of this is possible without you. Looking ahead, we have great things planned. South Country South Country will be taking place May 1st in the high school auditorium. This event will give our students the opportunity to showcase their talents and creativity. We are also preparing our 30 days left of school ice cream social that is coming up and we're working on a Cinco de Mayo after school event. In addition, our student council will be sending members to help out at Great River Street's sensory night to continue our efforts to give back to our community. While we recognize that there's a crisis happening within our district, I want to emphasize that our students and staff work hard every day to create a strong and healthy environment within the
008school even during difficult times. Our commitment to improving our school will always stay strong. Thank you. >> [applause] >> And to add to Mrs. Robart's comments, the high school is also hosting a variety show uh this Friday Saturday at the high school. It's going to be a lot of fun. The theme is Disney. Please come out and have some fun and be entertained. Madam Chair, I just I didn't want to miss the opportunity to make this comment. I know you will comment on this later for the trustee reports. And I just wanted to ask your um indulgence. Is it this the meeting that the um those who are running for board uh trustee are announced at this meeting? I see that they're not on the agenda. You know, traditionally, I do recall we've done I
009don't remember if it's the immediate one or the next one, but if we have the names, we could do that now. Um I think that They're here. Maybe they can stand up and >> Okay, they're here. So, you know what? Uh we've got four candidates for the board. Uh the board term commencing July 1 of for 3 years. Uh could you stand up and be recognized? That's four candidates. Um Okay. In the in the back, I think that's Ms. Brown. >> [applause] [applause] >> Ms. In the middle, is that Mr. Moukliam? YES. >> [applause] >> MS. HAWKINS DEAN >> [applause] >> AND MR. CALLAN. >> [applause] >> THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE TONIGHT. SO, now we're on to the public participation portion. This is where we give up to 30 minutes to have members of
010the public make [snorts] comments. Um each person is entitled to speak for 3 minutes. It is not interactive with the board. Um and the comments during this section would be for agenda items only. Um are there cards for speakers? Could Could you call uh the first three? And let me just Let me just say further, I think everybody has heard this before, that the purpose of of the comments on agenda items will not include comments about any individual person and will remain within the decorum that is expected of our students as well as our board. Thank you. The first speaker is Carrie Carson. Then on deck is Cheryl Moore. And then Joe Orth. Good evening. My name is Carrie Carson. I'm the president of the SCAA, and I will be speaking on behalf of my
011membership, as well as someone who will be directly impacted by the elimination of the assistant director of special education position. I want to start by acknowledging that our district success depends on the collaborative efforts of both teachers and administrators in guiding and supporting our students. Teachers truly are the heart of instruction and deserve full recognition without hesitation for the work they do every day. At the same time, school leaders play an essential role in supporting those educators, strengthening the overall learning environment, and ensuring the success of the entire school community. Administrators are responsible not only for maintaining compliance, but also for promoting equity and balance for both students and staff. This is not a matter of picking teachers or administrators, rather it reflects a shared commitment in which each relies on the other to achieve
012the best outcomes for our students. Both roles are indispensable and deserving of equal value and respect, and both are needed here in South Country. When you excess a person, you diminish capacity. The reality here at South Country is while overall enrollment may be may be declining, our student needs are not. Currently, we are seeing increasing trends in our need to serve students with complex special education needs, as well as an increase in English language learners requiring support. Yet the proposed cuts target those very areas. This is not a strategic plan. It is a misalignment with student needs, and the consequence of that misalignment will be felt. When you eliminate a position, the work is not eliminated. The role carries legal responsibility and is compliance driven, having mandates that do not go away. Lastly, by eliminating
013the assistant director position, you are excessing an assistant director who is dedicated to her work, relentless in her commitment to students, and deeply knowledgeable. She does not walk away from problems, she solves them. She stays until the work is done. She supports staff, guides families, and ensures our most vulnerable students are never overlooked. This position has existed prior to 1988 because it is necessary. Removing it does not remove the need, it removes the capacity to meet it. I have serious concerns about the impact of this decision on our students, our compliance, and the integrity of our services. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Cheryl Moore. Wish she had a podium here or something. Sorry. My name is Cheryl Moore. I won't go into all the ways I'm connected to this district because it would take up
014my 3 minutes. I am disappointed, frustrated, angry, pretty much how I'm sure everyone in this auditorium is feeling both behind and in front of the podium. For weeks now, we've been hearing cries from the public of fire the entire board. Obviously, that is not going to solve our problems. In fact, kudos to the four brave residents who have submitted their names for consideration. I know being on the board of education can be a gratifying job, but it also can be a thankless job. And case in point, I just wanted to mention Ms. Calderon, Mr. Ross, and Mr. Felice said it was morning in July and got hit with this in August. And um they're still standing, and I think that's wonderful. And Mr. Belmonte, who lists the numbers in his sleep, despite his expertise, we
015are in just too deep. I have a couple of questions. If this budget fails, what is the cost of putting up another vote? And why did we have to hire a second PR firm to sugarcoat this crisis? Wasn't that just throwing more money after bad? So, we currently have two PR firms. What does that cost us, and what have they achieved? I haven't been to the last two meetings due to the illness, but I've been watching them, listening to residents, parents, teachers, and most impactfully, students. Most comments were filled with anger and fear and accusations, but many shared ideas as well, thinking out of the box. A speaker last week asked if we had looked further into local businesses for tax rebates. The other night, a teacher, who happened to be my daughter, spoke of
016cutting buses. Suggestions of making sports, music, etc. pay to play. Have you looked into any of those options? Years ago, we had the Clipper Club, and the parents worked to fund the activities their children were interested in. I feel as if this budget has made this district more divisive than any race or political issue we have faced. The budget you proposed will get votes by the non-taxpayers in this district. Why not? What do they have to lose? On a final note, when we are looking at staffing cuts, it's easy to say we're eliminating 54 FTEs. Big deal, what's an FTE? But it's a faceless abbreviation, and every time I hear that term, I cringe. We need to humanize the FTEs. They are people. They are our neighbors and friends, young people just starting their lives
017and families together. They're people who are sending their children to college after devoting their lives to educating ours. They are not just FTEs, they have names and faces, plans and needs. And those of us who pay taxes and have students in the school, it's time we say enough. Please don't give up. This is Bellport. We're counting on you for one last Hail Mary. THANK YOU. >> [applause] [applause] >> JOE ORTH. SO, WE'VE COME TO THE PART OF this horror movie where everyone is heading down to the boiler room. Will anyone make it back upstairs alive? I don't think so. We came to this auditorium tonight to find out which budget option the board decided on. I'm not alone in saying that I couldn't even figure out which one to root for. The first option is
018horrific. The other two seem infinitely worse. And now, as members of the community, we're being asked to come through financially to put our district back on the right track, to redirect this runaway freight train. The budget vote is the one day of the year our voices are truly heard. The parents, teachers, and students of South Country have made speeches, meeting after meeting, beautiful, passionate, moving speeches. They've been heard by the school board, but have they been listened to? I still think of the second grader with the sweet voice asking and worrying about his teachers getting shocked, as he put it. He was heard, but was he listened to? Did he get the same generic response the rest of us got? We're out of money, son. What do you want us to do? Many would say
019the budget is guaranteed to fail. Why would we allocate more of our hard-earned money to a business office that in the past we wouldn't trust to buy us a loaf of bread at the store? Has the central office shown us any sacrifice, a fraction of the sacrifice our excess teachers and working community members are about to make? The crazy thing is, I think the budget can pass, But, we're still waiting to see a gesture, one gesture from someone at Central. Will one of our heavy hitters step up and say, "I know I won't save any anyone's job with this, but I'm going to give back the $30,000 raise I got this year. It just doesn't feel right taking it." Would our hired gun step up and say, "I know I'm making 1,200 a day and
020it's a bankrupt district. I'm going to give you guys the last month for free." The budget vote is in a few weeks and I, like so many others, want to vote for it. But, I want to first see a sign from Central Office that they are half as invested in this as we are. Please make that gesture so we can all have something to believe in and move forward together. THANK YOU. >> [applause] >> CLIFFORD PERREAULT SAMANTHA Parenti and Graham Polakoff. Good evening. My name is Luke Perreault and I teach social studies here at Bellport Middle School. Over the last month and a half of meetings, I've heard over and over again that the decisions the administration and board need to make are not easy decisions. I don't doubt that the decisions you have to
021make are hard, but I want to take a moment to acknowledge the tough decisions that everyone in this district is going to have to make in the near future. And it hits a little bit closer to home for me than the last time I stood in front of all of you and spoke. Last week, my wife and I found out that one of the programs that could be cut from this district is the world languages program. My wife is a Spanish teacher here at BMS and through no fault of her own, she may be out of a job. I'm not seeking sympathy. People lose their jobs all the time. Many of my colleagues in the BTA have already been told that they will not return next year. But, it's excruciating being in a state of
022limbo and not knowing what's going to happen. It's maddening when a colleague of mine, who is also in the world languages department, asks what specific cuts are going to be made and the answer is, "We don't know." So, now, my wife and I need to make tough decisions about how we're going to adjust to this new reality, just like our colleagues who are in the same situation. You have teachers that are being let go by this district who are questioning whether they even want to continue in this field because they are so disheartened by this whole travesty. They have to decide whether they want to continue in the location they love or find something else to do for a living. The voters have to make a difficult choice, especially the ones with kids in the
023school. Their votes can decide whether their kids' favorite programs are cut. And yes, that's Let's not forget about the kids. Depending on what happens, their choices may be narrowed when it comes to school programs. They may not have the opportunity to join a club or play a sport or perform music or create art or dive deeper into a new language or pick up new skills in the kitchen or do any of the other wonderful activities that students, up until now, have had the chance to participate in. You recognize the decisions you make are not easy and I appreciate that, but the bottom line is these decisions could have been avoided if the right decisions had been made in the past. THANK YOU. >> [applause] [applause] >> ALL RIGHT. UM, SAMANTHA PARENTI, UM, I'M A TEACHER
024AND ALSO A COMMUNITY MEMBER. I would like to do this Q&A, honestly. So, I have a few questions. If you can answer them or get back to me on it. I have sent emails. I received basically no emails back except from two board members and I haven't received another email from one of the two board members. First question is, can a teacher and a community member join a committee? Because I was told that I cannot if I'm a teacher and a community member and that's a policy. So, I would like to know that if you can answer me. >> I'll be happy to get back to you after the meeting, okay? Yeah, because from if there's no teachers on it, as a community member, I would understand that I have the right to join. And
025I asked in December to join my committees after I spoke about how restorative justice going to get cut, how literacy programs are getting cut. And then in December when I was asking to join committees, I was told I was not allowed because I was a teacher in the district. And that to me is confusing because I also pay taxes in this district. Let Let me comment and and I don't I don't want to use this uh to waive our standard, which is 3 minutes for you to comment, but briefly, traditionally, a community member on a an advisory committee is someone um without who is not employed by the district. Is that policy? Well, actually, the uh advisory committees are it's not that specific, but your point is well taken and I'm sure that that's something
026that can be discussed in the next year. Because So, can we >> But, it's a little bit and respectfully, it's a little late because I asked in December to join. Could you Could you go back if you have comments? Yes, my next question is about the busing. >> No, not questions. It's just you can get back to me. It's not a question. It's about the busing. Because this year you guys cut the 4:30 and the 5:00 busing and I'm confused who goes on the bus at 4:30 and 5:00. I coached for many years, so I'm confused. Are you saying athletes go on this bus? Because as a coach, none of my athletes were going on this bus. Sporting, you have um games, you have practice. I mean, many of the kids are going to ask
027their parents, they're going to ask, you know, friends if they can get a ride home. So, I'm just a little confused on that also. And then you have kids hanging out and then they're getting on the bus and going home and then the kids are on the bus and then they're coming back and they're coming to the coaches saying, "Is this one of your players?" And they're typically not. So, I'm asking who's going on these buses and why are we doing a 30-minute in between? You don't have to comment on it. You can also get back to me about that and how that's affecting the budget. So, just curious about that as well. Um, the third thing is you I've heard a lot of board members saying, "Can you guys email, reach out?" It's been
028a week since I heard about numerous questions I had as a non-voting staff member, but also a community member. I know for me only two people are only ones who are constantly in contact. So, that's confusing. It's becoming frustrating. I don't like You want us to vote yes, >> [applause] >> Madam Chair, um, Ms. Parenti did get to me. Did Yes, with the question about the the busing and I did ask the question. And I didn't have to get back to you. Okay. Um, but the question of that you asked about the busing, apparently, the answer was those particular bus routes were already in the contract and couldn't be taken out. I think that's what that was the answer I got. So, that's why they won't put that into the order to And I understood
029from the last one you're saying that it would be cheaper to keep the 4:30 and 5:00. I think because they were already in the contract, so they couldn't be removed, so that's why they won't put that back in. That Thank you for bringing that up and I think that's something that Mr. Belmonte and the superintendent addressed. So, could we get back to our standard Yeah, but I think I have my last I just The last comment is for the whole entire budget for you guys only have one Q&A from the community is very disheartening because then you guys have us just basically speaking, you're telling us you're listening to us and then you guys are giving us information and it's just kind of And none of you guys have come to the schools except for
030a few, but there's I don't want to say very few of you have interaction with the staff. >> [applause] >> On September 18th, so this crisis came about It was made aware to Superintendent who said over Labor Day. Two weeks later on the 18th, Superintendent Santana signed a contract modification request of $15,400 for PR and crisis management services for 2 and 1/2 months. You know, teachers are losing their jobs, teachers can't print, AP classes are cut, classes are being cut and you spent 15 grand of our taxpayer dollars, our hard-earned money on crisis management. Are you okay? I previously submitted multiple questions to the board, none of which have been answered in any meaningful way. I submitted them to the FAQ, not answered in any meaningful way. I asked at the last board meeting I
031noted that you guys ignored my question on IMG, our forensic audit firm, and Trustee Chini said that this accounting firm was hired by the district within the past 5 years. And so, I FOILed for it, as a parent is forced to do in South Country District to get basic information, a Freedom of Information request. And shout out to Miss Glenn for dealing with all of my FOIL requests. And I was told that responsive records didn't exist. Okay, so we have board members telling us something in public. You can lie to the public as you guys have been doing multiple times in the past year. And again, when we FOIL for this information, it's not true. Uh I also I want to talk about this proposition that we're going to that is part of this budget
032discussion. And I want I talked to a number of board members. Mr. Ross and Ms. Calderon both said they would leave this to the taxpayers to decide, okay? Um and you know, many of you guys on the board came in last year as part of you know, a public demand for reform after last year's horrific cuts to our educational system. And I'm just asking the board members actually, can you explain to us, please, at some point during this discussion, how cutting revenue by $900,000 to save $400,000 in net operating expenses will save nine teachers' jobs? And I would like to know which positions will be brought back if I vote for this proposition. Um you know, this is I have a hunch that you can't, okay? In which case, like I'm demanding a little honesty
033from the board, all right? And then also, Ms. Prante, uh just asked so many important questions. One of them, uh you spoke about an advisory committee. All right, I want to be clear. We had a budget advisory committee I was asked to be on it. We have no budget advisory committee. They don't meet. Uh they don't even have the decency to tell the community members who volunteered their time that we're not going to meet. He said, "Oh, it's no four days earlier." We canceled our last meeting and we never heard from them. The minute we submitted questions, me and the CPA, the other community member who was handpicked by Ann Hayes to sit on this board, you know, not only did we not get an equal response, the committee stopped meeting, okay? We never got
034budgets to advise on. Uh so it's a the idea that we're here at the 11th hour dealing with this. We were asked by Mr. Del Monte to think about what clubs we want to cut. Does that sound reasonable? No. And here we are at the 11th hour asking the community to not only reach into their pockets and have a 13% tax hike. That's in addition to cutting one out of five teaching positions in our district. It's unacceptable. >> [applause] >> THIS THIS IS OUR GUEST CARD, Owen Journey. All right, I'm just going to kind of pick up where where I left off last Monday. We didn't have the uh time. Um you know, we're obviously facing I don't even know where to begin. I mean, everybody's sad, they're outraged, they're scared. Sad, they're scared. I
035hadn't gotten there. I am absolutely stunned. Shocked. I'm in PTSD. I know what it's like to sit in the board and be yelled at for an hour. But I think that experience I can't imagine this cuz at least half the community was supporting what I was saying and they did. And uh you know, this you you have done the uniting of the entire community to vote no on the school budget. So I left off saying that we have a not only do we have a financial crisis, a $15 million this fiscal year and next fiscal year, is that correct? No. But $15 million in reserves, we have no money in the bank. So this is a $30 million crisis. That's not just a failure in budgeting and financing. Mr. Del Monte, thank you. I don't
036know what they're paying you, but it's not enough. Um to have to come here and defend this and fix it. So we have a crisis, not just a financial crisis, we have a crisis in leadership. And I actually said last time that you you know, go for the 13 and a half the same tax increase cuz that way at least And you know, you said, "Well, we have to We hear we don't want to raise taxes, so we don't want to cut programs. You can't do both. So we're doing this." So there's just one thing somebody brought up, a gesture. And you know, I hadn't heard one person on this board, one administration, particularly Ms. Santana, you, say, "I'm sorry. I screwed up. >> [applause] >> I PUT THIS DISTRICT IN THIS PLACE THAT IS
037UNTENABLE. I'm sorry. And I I want you to support this monstrosity of a budget that I put together to bail out what we screwed up. And in order to build any kind of trust with the community, I'm going TO RESIGN. WOO! >> [applause] >> I WAS PUT IN A POSITION OF HAVING TO move having to remove the superintendent. And I thought who had A1 bond rating, money in savings, a reasonable tax rate, buildings that were improved, including this very auditorium. So you know, I had to do that in this auditorium. The least you can do, do you want me to vote yes, is step aside. STEP DOWN. >> [applause] >> NO MORE SPEAKERS. THEN WE WILL NOW move on to the budget presentation. Good evening. Tonight is a combination of a budget process. I like
038to begin by saying that it is it is not the end of the process. It is the beginning of a process as we go into the future. Um I would like to begin by giving an overview of some of the uh visions and the core values that we have implemented in creating 2026-2027 budget. Uh these were the old underlying goals and achievements as to where we are now and what we have accomplished. Um one of the most important pieces over the last three years with the structural deficit issues is that we fixed the structural imbalance. And what do I mean by that? Is that we really have restored fiscal stability where we are at this point. Um we have a plan in place to accomplish that. We have been aligning our recurring revenues with our
039recurring expenditures, which has been out of balance in the past. Um we have eliminated and/or reduced tremendously the reliance on one-time financing sources and funding sources. We have implemented a multi-year fiscal recovery plan. Why? Because this problem spans over three years, 2024-2025, 2025-2026, and also into 2026-2027, which we are dealing with that budget that will be presented to the community. Um one of the other things to to establish is that we were proactive in the financial monitoring and timely budget adjustments. These are things that we did to enhance and improve the internal controls within the district. Budgets are monitored differently than they have been in the past. Um there we do what's called budget to actual monitoring, which helps us control the district's budget. Real-time financial reporting as we seen with this budget process that
040it's real-time. As we went through this process, we noticed that there were changes. There were pluses and minuses. So what we were doing is as we were building the budget, we were developing the budget um, with the community and with administration and the board in real time. Um, we have implemented strict controls on hiring, purchasing, and contractual commitments. And more importantly, um, we have fixed the prior pattern of under-budgeting expenditures. We all know how we got here. We all have read the controller's report. We have built accurate and transparent budgets. And that's what we believe is going to be presented to the community in the '26-'27 budget. We have built the budget based on actual staffing levels, not just estimates and blind projections. We have built the budget on contractual obligations, on things that we
041know. And the things where we had to project, we used historical cost structures. So, the process has changed and we have significantly improved the process. Um, we also have implemented conservative and realistic revenue projections. And that is important when you go through a budget year to ensure that you have sufficient revenues to fund your budget. The other things that we have implemented and accomplished is sustainable cost structures, right-size staffing and programs to enrollment need. That is something that we talked about prior meetings. Um, the district's student enrollment is down over 600 and some odd students over the last couple of years. When you look at the staff that has been reduced in relation to current class size, and we'll expand on this more at the budget hearing on May 6th, I believe. And also to
042evaluate all expenditures through the lens of educational value. What are the opportunities for the students? And fiscal sustainability. It's the one thing that I have brought to the table for this district is that if we're going to look to implement a program, we have to ask ourselves two questions. One, do we have the money to fund it? Two, can we sustain it? Will we have the money tomorrow to sustain? And those are significant improvements than what has been here in the past. And I thought it was really important to share this with the community as to what has been done over the last couple of months. In addition to that, we have implemented decisive and corrective actions uh, over the uh, last 3 years. And this is something that I just Normally I I don't
043read statements, but this is something something that I would just like to read. We cannot change the past. We have fully taken control of the future. This plan ensures that South Country operates within its means. And it protects students and rebuilds the financial integrity our community expects. I understand that. I appreciate that. And those are the under the underlying values that we implored in creating the '26-'27 budget. And again, the things that we did differently this [snorts] year and especially going into next year, spending controls, strict approval protocols. There's nothing that gets rubber-stamped anymore in the business office. A lot of things go through my desk. A lot of things go through other processes where which may not have been in place in the past. We have approved on that. We are managing the district's
044and the taxpayers' finances. Um, financial monitoring, monthly budget reviews. I put monthly up here, but actually this happens on almost a daily basis with the creation of purchase orders and the way we manage the budget within the business office. These These things are happening. These things have been implemented. And we worked over the last several months making sure that we were very, um, responsive to the comments of the controller's office. And not only that, but to to the things that we identified as a group going forward. A lot of the things that were in the controller's report were actually things that we identified within the business office prior to that report even being released. Um, budget reconstruction. That '26-'27 budget that the community has was built based on actual costs. It's a real budget that
045represents the district's programs. Okay? There's not estimates in there. There's not guesses. It's based on data and it's based on fact. Cost reductions. Uh, everyone is well aware of this through the various budget presentations. We have made significant cost reductions as we were building this budget and operational adjustments. Some of those adjustments were painful, but nonetheless, they had to be made. As I said one of the other presentations, we had a program we could not pay for. You all could not pay for. So, we're trying to strike that balance and, um, bring the community a budget that can be supported and which restores the confidence in the in the credibility in what direction that the district is going. So, basically in conclusion, I can stand up here today and say with confidence that I believe
046that we reestablished the financial control that may have been I won't say lost, but maybe lost or not as, um, complex as it is now as it was over the last couple of years. So, having said that, um, what I have here is the district is required from the office of the state controller to file what's referred to as the property tax limit worksheet. And we usually have to file this at the beginning of March, like March 1st. And as we go through the budget process, as things change, we have to refile. So, I'm just putting this up there to let the community know that as of yesterday, I refiled this report with the controller's office to let them know that South Country School District was going to pierce the cap. And that the amount
047that we were going to pierce the cap is $5.67 million. Okay? And that's the budget that we will be presenting to the community in May. These next couple of slides are some lot of information. I'm going to walk slowly because we have been dealing with a 3-year deficit impact to the district since I came here. '24-'25, '25-'26, '26-'27. And on the left is just a kind of a little summary of how the district got there. And some of the identified issues and problems that needed to be addressed. And we talked about that budgets were built on unrealistic revenues. They were not sufficient revenues to cover what the budget appropriations were. Um, the expenditure estimates were unrealistic at best. And this is information that was also reported out within the controller's office. So, these are the
048reasons why we got here. And these are the reasons why we are doing what we are doing to take corrective action so it doesn't happen again. Um, the one-time funding for reoccurring costs, under-budgeting in major cost areas. We talked about transportation, special education, and salary and benefits. Um, the lack of ongoing monitoring and timely adjustments. That was a big correction since the first week that I came to South Country School District. The use of fund balance and reserves beyond sustainable levels. When the budget was overspent in '24-'25, the operating deficit was $16.2 million. You went into your savings account and reduced your savings account by over 51%. Okay? That cannot be sustained. What that means is that you didn't have enough money to pay for your existing programs, so you had to dip into that
049savings account. We cannot sustain that going forward. We need to make these adjustments. Okay? And the result, as we saw from some of these problems, we have multi multi-million dollar deficits, depletion of fund balance, and the loss of financial stability. And that's what we are restoring. So, what is our action plan and how are we resolving all of that? We are um the district has sought out special act legislation, as we talked about. Special act legislation provides us a longer runway to fund some of the deficit in the 25-26 school year. Okay? And spread it out over a period of time. Um when we first requested the special act legislation, it's something that has been presented to the governor. It has to be approved by the governor. It has to end up in the governor's
050budget. So, we were pretty clear when we went up for that ask, that we were covering mainly 2 years, 25-26 and 26-27. We were asking for $15 million to cover us through the period of 6/30/27, which would have taken us through the current deficit that we're dealing with in the 26-27 school year. There was significant outreach by the superintendent and myself consistently, weekly and sometimes daily, to our all these state agencies and the stakeholders, our local and state legislators, as well as special thanks to the PTA and NYSED for their assistance, and also helping to navigate some things with the state for an advance of our general aid, which happens to be a interest-free loan that the district can get on our state aid. Um it looks as if that the last communication that I
051received from SED on Friday, that that's very promising. And we're waiting for the state budget to be approved, so we can take advantage of that um that loan, if you will, to help us with our cash flow and meet our needs through the end of the school year. Um In that communication back and in those efforts, the state was pretty clear. And I don't think there was any mincing of words that they may be willing to help us with 25-26, the current school year. But they're not willing to help us with the out year. The out year they consider 26-27. That's the budget year that we're working on now. So, that presented the problems that we are now dealing with in presenting this budget to the community. That's why we have to take that $5.6
052million deficit and we're looking to put it on the tax levy at this point, so we can, as a district, fund that and get the support from the state to help us navigate the $8.7 million deficit we still have in this 25-26 school year. Cuz that's the deficit that we sit with projected through June 30th of this year. And that deficit must be addressed by some type of finance. We have a month and a half left of school. There's no way the district can cut $8.7 million. We're looking for the state for support. We're looking for special act legislation to fund that, so we can do away with that deficit and start fresh in the um year after, 27-28. So, as I mentioned, we have the $8.7 million deficit in the current year. And keep
053in mind when we finished 24-25, when they first brought me in, we ended up with a negative $1.8 million unassigned fund balance. Okay? So, the immediate need of the district to fund the deficit is the $8.7 million plus the negative $1.8 million, which comes out to just over 10.5. So, in all likelihood, the district will be asking for the special legislation deficit financing in the amount of about $11 million to do away with that deficit, so we can finish this school year without overspending another voter-approved budget. Okay. We have to close that budget gap. I know it's a lot of information, but I want the community to understand the complete complete funding plan. So, right now, where we are, since we are addressing the current year that we're proposing to the community in 26-27, I'm
054going to put that aside for a minute. I'm going to back up 24-25, the current year. And as I mentioned before, um in all likelihood, we would be looking to borrow about $11 million. And when you look at the district's situation right now to get us through the end of the year, by the end of May, we need to borrow approximately um over $14 million >> [laughter and snorts] >> just to meet our cash flow needs and to pay our bills. One significant piece is that on May 29th, we have a $27.5 million tax anticipation note that's due. What's worse than overspending a voter-approved budget? It's not being able to pay a note. And it falls on them. That's got to stop. So, the borrowing and the complexities of what we are doing now until
055June 30th is great, um because the issues are very complex. We are still counting on the state to come through with that special act legislation within the New York state budget. Uh the budget is supposed to, we were hearing, May 1st. It could be thereabouts, it could be longer. But as that timeline keeps ticking and we don't have a state budget, and we don't have an answer as to whether we will get that special act legislation to address this year, we're going to have to come up, I need to put alternate plans in place. And those alternate plans are borrowing on short-term notes. We talked about that [clears throat] in one of our last meetings. And that, while not the best case scenario, would give us an opportunity to close the deficit this year, so
056we can legally say that we didn't overspend the voter-approved budget. However, what a short-term note does, even if we just cover that $8.7 million, it kicks [snorts] that payment out, the whole payment, out to the 27-28 school year. And that would be a So, we would be starting the 27-28 school year with a deficit. We don't want to do that. I'm not supportive of that. What we're looking to do is we're looking to pay down the deficit this year with financing. We're looking to address the budget 26-27 and start clean in 26-27 and give us a clean platform going into 27-28. Okay? So, that's our vision. That's our plan. And um the thing with the um with TAN borrowings and the advance of the state, I I just want to kind of put that into
057some context. If we were to get a $7 million loan on our advance of general aid, that means the money that we usually borrow on the tax anticipation note can be reduced. Last year, we borrowed $27.5 million. So, just by way of numbers, cuz I hate numbers, if we if we were able to cut back our TAN borrowing by $7 million at a 5% interest rate, we would save approximately $350,000 in interest. That's a big number. Okay? And keep in mind what I said earlier about that advance of general aid. It's interest-free. They're lending us our own money to be paid back over a period of 30 years. Not a bad deal. A little bit of creative, complex financing. I have probably spent the this morning and previously uh maybe up to 10 hours with
058bond counsel and fiscal advisors laying out these financial strategies and what ifs. What if we don't get this from the state, what do we have to do, what's the timeline? Nonetheless, I'm not looking to make all of you financial experts, but I want you to be aware that we have these plans in place and we really plan on not finishing this year with a deficit or a problem, but fixing it and as we go forward. I know that's a lot of information, so maybe it's time maybe I take a pregnant pause here or maybe a pause and ask the board if they have any questions before I just keep rambling on. Maybe just to have you repeat that with the budget that's being presented tonight, piercing the tax cap, it will mean that starting July
0591, there will be no deficit and we'll have a stabilized financial structure so that this district can continue to be the district that we've known. That's correct. What one of the things that we emphasize is that in building this 26-27 budget, in my professional opinion, it's a real budget. It was built with real numbers. It was built built with based on actual numbers, based on contracts, based on existing historical costs. So, there was really no guesswork that went into that budget. So, the reason why this is so painful is because that 26-27 budget really reflects your program costs. And you when you look at the prior years and the amount of deficit that we have incurred, your prior year budgets didn't do that. Now they do. So, this is what we're bringing to the community
060and yes, I'm president of this. That would mean the case no more from a program cost at that point. The deficit would be resolved. When you couple that with what I talked about in 25-26 and resolving the deficit, at that point, the deficits have been addressed, eliminated and financed over a period of time. So, the only thing that we would have to do on a finance deficit is we would have debt service going out for a term number of years. Um when we get to that point, we can fund that deficit over a period of 5 years and stretch out the payments. We can fund it over 7 years. We can fund it over up to 10 years. Okay? Depending on the impact that we want to have on future budgets. But when we get
061down to that point, we're we'll definitely share that with the community. I just want to put the comment to the board to thank you again publicly because your task is departmental, not just in sort of shoring up our budget practices and our business practices. Where I'm at as a superintendent today is so far away from where I was in October before you started. Um this financing, this collaboration between the two of us, our elected officials, the state education department, all the stakeholders, uh has been incredibly important learning experience I think for for me and I appreciate it, but I also want to give my appreciation for all the nights and weekends we've spoken, you've worked pro bono uh for the district. I know where your heart is. Um it's really been a pleasure working with
062you as difficult as the situation is. So, I just wanted to say those comments because I think the public and the board are just getting a small glimpse of the complexities and the challenges that we're facing. And so, I wanted to thank you that above and beyond budgeting, shoring up our business practices, the the work and the hours you put into sort of coming up with a deficit financing plan moving forward that's so comprehensive. Thank you. So, it really is not all bad news because I think we're going to have some good news for the community. Um Monday we had a meeting and we made some changes to the budget that brought us to a $150.5 million budget. Um since that time, the board of education has recommended some additional changes. Um changes is a
063net change of zero, but nonetheless, they're still administrative changes um as the superintendent had suggested. So, one of the things that we heard today is that we are removing from the 26-27 budget the assistant director of special ed position. Um with that, we are also downgrading the assistant superintendent's for HR's uh title to executive director. That definitely wasn't my age. Um we're we're downgrading the title of the um human resources assistant superintendent and with a salary reduction of $20,000. And with that, we're bringing back the elementary library position to the current levels that we had prior to making any reductions in the area of library. In addition to that, we are making an additional budgetary provision in the area of special ed to accommodate potential special ed additional special ed enrollments. And this is an
064area that we've been watching very closely that we have tremendous increase in uh student uh uh enrollment within the special ed program that is really driving our costs high. And when you see the breakdown of the budget, you'll get to see those uh numbers. Um the good news is that well, I'll give you the bad news and then the good news. Um we are piercing the cap. We already talked about that. >> [sighs] >> The proposed impact on the tax rate is 13.45% on your $50.5 million, 2.2% spending increase. And again, we're taking that $5.6 million deficit and we're putting it on the tax levy. That's why the tax levy goes up to 13.45% and uh as we talked about, the deficit is eliminated. We're done with it. It's been resolved and no further reductions
065going forward. The good news is is that we went back and we looked at the the impact of the taxpayer and we had an update to one of our formulas and that's just a system of checks and balances and what uh some people noted. So, with that, the estimated cost to the taxpayer is 70 $749 a year or $62 a month. Okay? If you take the special uh the transportation referendum and if that is successful, we then reduce that by another $900,000 and that brings the projected tax levy down to 12.19%. Okay? And then the tax rate would drop down to about $55 a month. So, when you think about where we are, when you think about the number of reductions, almost $5 million of reductions to get here, when you think about the what's
066left in the programs and most of your instructional programs are intact. Okay? It is a uh I wouldn't say good place to be, but it's not good that we have to pierce the cap, but overall, it's a plan that lets us continue and rebuild the budget and the instructional program with a clear slate going forward without additional financial burden. So, as I mentioned, the budget that's going to be presented to the community today and you'll see more on this back on um May 6th. So, this is the total budget, $150.516 thousand. You can see that with the reductions that we made in salaries, we went from $65.1 million down to $62.6. We're down $2.5 million in salaries. And again, that's a net decrease. That's an offset of any contractual increases or step increases that are
067currently built into that. Our benefit costs are $2 million over the current school year. I think what's impressive to where we are from a cost standpoint only is that our salary and fringe benefits are down from prior year $461,000. Um our debt service, we know is up about $1.1 million and that's because 26-27 is the first year of the debt for our EPC project going forward. Nothing here beyond that in 2027-28. We have some debt falling off, which we're going to have about $2.5 million of debt service that's coming off. Uh which is a good thing. Our contractual um expenses continue to rise, uh about 10% increase, uh about $1.1 million. Our BOCES expenses, up $1.8 million $1.4 million. Up almost 11%. A significant piece of that, if not most of that, is special education.
068That's one of the programs that is mandatory, we must provide, and we send our students to BOCES. One of the things we did is we looked very closely at every one of our BOCES programs. We went through probably four or five pages of lists. We were able to cut down about $160,000 worth of BOCES expenses that we put over to help fund our future special ed costs within the district. Our supply costs were down uh just under $750,000. Okay, we still have over a million dollars left in supplies. Um and in looking at the inventories and the things that buildings have, uh we're just going to have to tighten our belts for the next year or two. Our textbook workbooks, we're in good we're in good spot, and we were able to reduce that by
069almost 200,000. Uh transportation costs were up about a million dollars overall, and that's based on our transportation contracts. We did make certain transportation reductions um that we were where we we were able to reduce our costs mid-year without significantly impacting the um students and their transportation. Just to clarify on what we did to the late buses, one of the girls in the proposals, we reduced the 2:30 buses, four 2:30 buses, we eliminated in the earlier, I think it was like March 25th, and it was a savings of about $416,000. We took those out. And then in draft four, we eliminated the rest of the late buses, and that was another savings of about $172,000. But in the last budget, you may recall, in draft five, we restored the other late bus transportation for both in-district
070and out-of-district students to make sure that the students that avail themselves of the after-school activities, that they have a way to get back home at the end of the day. And we felt that that was very very important. Um and for the cost of $172,000, it seemed like that would impact a lot of students in a very positive way. Um the next couple lines are just small transfer to cafeteria and transfer to special ed funds. The cafeteria fund is doing very well, it's profitable, so we were able to reduce the um general fund contribution by about $25,000. Our special ed funds, that basically covers our summer special ed student program, and that, as we know, is increasing. And uh we had to add about $50,000 to that line. Um our equipment code, we looked at
071that very closely, and we have a slight decrease of $31,000. So that's the summary of the budget. At the budget hearing, we're going to get into more detail of these particular items and uh drill down a little deeper. On the revenue side, you have to have matching revenues and expenses. You have to have a balanced budget. You cannot have any holes or any deficits. Okay, you have to have funding that supports your program. So if your program is 100% and represents your current programs here in the district, you have to have matching revenues to match that. You can see that the first large category is state aid. Uh we're really flat in that area. We're anticipating that possibly when the state budget comes out, we may see a little bit more foundation aid, um but
072in building this budget, I did anticipate an additional 1% based on kind of the information that we had from the state and some of our legislators. Another significant portion of our revenue is pilot payments. That's what we call payment in lieu of taxes for companies that are in the um district that get pilot uh relief on their uh taxes, if you will, to bring their businesses into the town of Brookhaven. So these businesses pay us directly, and that's a source of revenue for us. Um the other income um items, you can see, I'm not going to read through each one of them, but they are small portion of the overall uh budgeted revenues of just under $2.7 million. So our total state aid and other income is projected for 2026.7. And then the other half
073of that is what we call other source financing. So when you apply money from your reserves or your fund balance, it's not considered revenue, it's considered other source financing. And what we did here is um we did some very strategic moves that uh when you look at the 2025-26 budget, and you look at where we ended up the year before, there was a lot of money that was put on the table. And rather than rather than utilize all that money, we made a conscious decision to take some of those reserves and only apply 50% to this current school year for the simple reason that we did not want to completely deplete our reserves, and want to have a little bit that we were able to move over to the 2026-27 year. And we're we anticipate
074using about $2.6 million. Now, if you look at that appropriated fund balance line that's on the top, it has zero in the 2026-27 column, $5 million in the 2025-26. The biggest problem we had in 2025-26 was when that 2025-26 budget was passed, that $5 million, uh people thought that they were going to use the revenue from the previous year into this year. However, if you remember what I said, we finished the 2024-25 year with negative $1.8 million. There was no money to apply. So that $5 million that was planned that wanted to affect in 2025-26, we began the 2025-26 year just with that figure alone with a $5 million hole. So imagine my surprise, I thought I was coming in to just address 2024-25, and then you start looking at 2025-26 and start really peeling
075back the onion and seeing what the issues really are. We have identified the issues, and we are resolving the issues. So again, the total budget um spending plan is a 3.3 million dollar increase, 2.2% increase in spending, and again, uh the impact is at the 13.45% and $749 a year for the taxpayer. So what does this mean? Um just about wrapping up before my battery goes dead. So if the budget is approved, what we have accomplished is the financial stabilization begins now. Okay? We have predictable and responsible planning. That is how the 2026-27 budget is built. And more importantly, where we stand now, we have the greatest amount of protection for our core programs. That's where we stand today. That's where we stand with the budget that we will be presenting to the community. However,
076on the other side of that coin, if the budget is not approved, okay, and whatever the decision is by the board of education, they can decide to go on contingency and have to cut about 9.6 million to get there, to get back to the current year tax levy. Or they can decide something in the middle, the middle. They can decide to go back to the tax cap at a 5.52%. They have to cut 5.67 million. Nonetheless, those are big numbers, and there's no way to sugarcoat it. You have to make those choices. When the budget goes down twice, you get two bites of the apple. Goes down twice, no choice, you go on contingency. You go right to the current year tax levy. Okay, and I've said this before, this is not a threat. I
077want people to understand what's at stake here. So in closing, I want people to please remember the The that the district identified and also the office of state controller. Those are significant challenges. But keep in mind that they're not permanent. They're things that we can change and things that we can fix. We have already taken this the decisive actions to correct past practices. We have implemented strong fiscal controls and we built a budget that reflects the true cost of operating this district. And that's what our 2016-2017 budget represents. Our vision forward and where we have come is grounded in discipline, transparency and sustainability. You don't have a budget or instructional program if you cannot sustain it. The finance piece has become a very important piece of the overall instructional budget. You cannot separate the two.
078You cannot operate one in a vacuum without knowing what the fiscal implications are. That's just the way school finance works. We know that from this process that the school district has stabilized financially. We know that if we are successful and the community supports this going forward, the district emerges stronger, more accountable because of the pieces that we have in place, and better positioned to serve the students in the years to come. So, with that, um I'll wrap up and just want to remind everybody that the um the big budget presentation is going to be on May 6th at 6:15. It's currently scheduled for the administration building, however, but that might change depending on public interest. And um at that time we're going to do a complete review of the budget um both on the expenditure
079and revenue side. Take a little bit of a more of a deeper dive to give you a better idea of what's in some of the categories. Present the three-part budget as well as a little bit more detail on what a contingency budget might look like because we have that responsibility to do that when presenting the budget to the community. So, with that, um I'm done. I'm not sure. There we go. I wanted you just to clarify something because one of our public speakers um the comment included the idea that this year this year's budget included loss of art, sports, music, and um all the activities that we've come to value in South Country. Could you clarify that? Yes, uh that is not true. Uh what was taken out and some reductions in this budget, we
080reduced on the in the area of athletics, um second teams at the middle school, which was a really minimal uh cost where we cut back. And a lot of those um a lot of those sports that we looked at were basically under-enrolled and some of them weren't running anyway. So, it was not anything substantial. It was not deep cuts within the athletic program. Um there were not deep cuts in the music program and there was not deep cuts in the art program. And just follow follow up again that with the budget with a 13.45% tax levy increase resulting in a cost to the average homeowner of either $62 a month or $55 a month depending on the result of the transportation proposition. That is correct. That enables this district starting in July to offer all
081the classes and programs and activities that we've become accustomed to with the adjustments based upon participation and enrollment. That is correct. And in addition the budget the budget that we're looking at tonight eliminates the deficit going forward. So, coming next year the business official will not be having to deal with the deficit. Yes. So, I understand the superintendent had a question. >> Yeah, I do. Just a quick clarification. You talked about the EPC and the additional debt service tied to the uh EPC project, $5 million. So, it's a a comment and a question just to have some clarity for the public. First, the $400,000 in revenue from the rebate is not tied to the building aid we'll receive as a result of the EPC because I want to make it clear that although we will
082have debt service tied to the capital improvement projects by the EPC, that also comes with building aid. And so, while it is a debt service that we're requiring of the school district, it is also a source of revenue. That is correct. Yeah. EPC project is supposed to be revenue neutral and expenditure neutral. That means that the project is normally funded from the savings that it generates. So, that's why energy performance contract is so advantageous for a school district. You're able to do significant amount of capital work with little or no impact to the taxpayers in the community. So, any questions? Just one quick one to kind of recap what Mr. Sayers just said to So, my understanding here is that $62 a month on the average is without the referendum and $55 a month with
083the referendum tax levy transportation referendum. A couple weeks ago our graph board had a bunch of items listed up on stage uh about things that could potentially be cut. Every item that was on that graph board is saved at this point that we had by our presentation at this point. Yes. And in the reverse, if the budget was not adopted or did not pass, the next monthly cost would go down significantly, but those items that were on the stage at that point would be affected at that point. Yes, those are the items that we were um showing the community that if we needed to cut further before we made the decision whether we were going to pierce the cap or whether we were going to go back and cut you know, $5.6 million or $3
084million or whatever the number was, that these were the items that we were now going to look at. Because we spent so much time um in looking at the what I call the fringe items around the core instructional program to achieve some of the maximum savings that we could without deeply cutting into the program. Those 45 teachers are not fringe. We will not cut out those We are conducting the business of the district and you please accept this as a warning. Let me put put a clarification. Any individuals are never fringe. When we talk about the fringe, other areas in our budget that we've been able to reduce. Never once have we ever communicated the fact that any staff reduction is meaningless or insignificant. Every person has value, has lives, has family, and we do
085think about that deeply. And when we talk about the impact of programs, almost majority of all of our programs are running, including our world language programs in this proposed budget. There are class sizes that are going up by two to three students in the secondary schools. We're still maintaining class size averages in the mid-20s for the most part. And in our elementary schools, our class sizes are still operating between 23 to 25 students per class. So, we indicated that in our staffing presentation. But in no way do I want to minimize the impact that our staff reductions had on our community, our community of teachers, our community as a district and individuals. Um that that part is truly hard for me too. And I I can't emphasize that enough. You know, um I think the
086school mentioned how the whole term FTE is off-putting. I agree. Of course, it's staff per man that is full-time equivalent. Um and we certainly don't visualize our staff or people as that. Any Any other questions to my right? Seeing none. To my left, any questions? No questions. So, here I Is Mr. Durney still here or did he leave? He left. He left? Okay. I just I just wanted to make a comment of what he said about, you know, uh taking the board taking responsibility. Um I guess he wasn't here March 11th when we first started talking about responsibility. As one of the two incumbents who um is not running for re-election this year, um and having taken that responsibility by not running for re-election, um I just wanted to reiterate that um it's it's because
087of the responsibility I took in not in not seeking re-election. Uh it was a hard decision. I am a 9-year incumbent on this board. I took my role very seriously. I explained it that night. Everybody in this room I'm sure has heard me say it. >> [clears throat] >> And I had um I had really uh I was really upset with myself that I had uh I saw the deficits in the treasurer's reports. I asked the questions of the business office and I asked the questions of the of the superintendent. And we don't have to reiterate here I can reiterate here now. Um the signs were there. And I was upset that I didn't press harder for those answers and that and I um I encouraged the new the three new members of the board
088that um Mrs. Mook pointed out that walked into this mess. And I encourage them moving forward, don't take no for an answer. Because look where we ended up. And so in accepting that responsibility, I have to walk away. And it's unfortunate because I put my heart and soul into this into this job, this job that I love. And now I'm not going to be here July to navigate this 3-year recovery plan. And so some of the comments that are made here tonight, I we really have to listen to it going forward because I agree with many of them. The budget committee that had full good intentions when it started out by putting adversaries together to bring the community together, had all good intentions and it failed miserably. And we have to learn from that because
089we really could have come together. We really could have done the right thing. But that budget committee was nothing but lip service. And I'm really sorry that it didn't work because it really could have been something good. It really could have been very meaningful and it wasn't. And here and now here you know, here we are we're in, you know, 2,300 hours right now. And I am really struggling because this board for the last three, four meetings met until midnight. Not with all of you, with most of you. Last meeting that we had a special meeting, we stayed in executive session till midnight. You guys all went home a little earlier than that. But we stayed here until midnight. And some of the agreements that we that the um Board of Education came to didn't
090get interrupted. Excuse me. I'm I'm going to do a point of order cuz we're trying to complete questions And and I have to make a vote. So if you're going to rush me through that vote, then then go right ahead. You want to stop me from speaking right now? >> I'm just going to say that Okay. Some of the things that you're saying that I don't agree with. >> Okay. Then I don't agree with this budget. >> [applause] >> And the reason why people don't know what I said on March 11th is because we don't have the minutes. And that's no fault of the district clerk. The district clerk is a one-person band. And in the time between now and then, she's had to run two library votes. She had to orchestrate all the individuals
091that are running for this office. She's had to do the minutes that lasted until midnight. And we but we still don't have the minutes for to produce to show what I said. And the And to the four individuals, there were 11 of you who picked up petitions, by the way, but there's only four of you standing because the rest of you saw what you were facing and said, "Maybe not now." But to the four of you that are running, congratulations cuz any one of you who gets elected will do a fine job and congratulations to you. >> [applause] >> And I'm really sorry that I won't be able to join you. But um after what you said and after the misinterpretation of what we talked about till midnight the other night, I wanted to support
092this budget to say that we're going to put it out to the to the public to say we'll fix the deficit, we'll go forward with a positive with a with a positive message. But once again, you want to cut off my my dialogue so that I can express what I'm feeling here tonight. And I just don't feel that that that interaction is being honored here tonight. And then if the budget passes, great. I would give but give my whole heart and soul to it. And if it doesn't, then we have to cut What did What did Mr. Belmonte say? Nine another $9 million? And that would be devastating to this district. But once again, we have to cut off we have to cut off dialogue. And and Mr. Belmonte, we are lucky to have you
093here. I have I I went to uh St. Joseph University and I had three colleagues of mine who are in the in the industry. And they all called me tonight and told me how lucky we were to have you here. And we may have disagreed on different occasions, but many many uh people in the field respect you. And I guess we were lucky to have you to get us this far. So I do want to thank you and appreciate the help that you have given this district because the compliments for you did come through today and wished us luck for tonight. And I'm sorry that I can't finish my comments because apparently they don't adhere to the agenda. This is an important decision. And neighbors of mine are counting on me to make the right
094decision and other neighbors of mine will probably never talk to me again if I vote in favor of this. We made decisions that night. And decisions that didn't go through the way I thought they were going to go through today. And it's unfortunate that you're trying to cut off my dialogue again. And it's unfortunate that we're going to let down a district again in the 11th hour. I don't know what else to say except that to all these staff members and the support staff and the educators and the students and the community that have come here time after time, this is a really sad day. This is a really really sad day. And I don't know what else to do to try to get it right other than I did my part. And I wanted
095to support what we were doing here tonight. And if I would have been allowed to just finish my statement, I would have supported this budget. But since I wasn't, I'm not going to. >> [applause] >> We're to the point on um the budget adoption. Now, um shall I read the resolution or does the clerk with Miss Glendinning? You'll do it? Resolved upon the recommendation of Superintendent of Schools, the Board of Education hereby adopts an expenditure appropriation of $150,516,580 to operate the schools for the 2026-2027 fiscal year and presents such appropriation to the district residents for approval on May 18th, 2026. And it's a roll call vote. So when I call your name, if you could please uh tell me yes or no. I'm sorry. Our first >> That's the resolution that we need to um
096Hold that just a minute. All right. Is there a motion for the resolution? Vice President DeLillo, second by Trustee Calderon. Questions? Discussion? Seeing none, all in favor of the resolution Roll call Right. I'm ready for you to do that. Trustee Calderon Yes. Vice President DeLillo Yes. Trustee Felice No. Did you say that? No. Okay. Trustee Falcetta Yes. President Hayes Yes. Trustee Felice Yes. Yes. Trustee Ross? Yes. So, I see six yeses and one no. Resolution passes. And thank you. Next on the agenda is board consent agenda for curriculum. Thank you, Ms. Hayes. All right, the administration recommends approval of curriculum items for public schedule G1 and G2. Is there a motion to approve items G1 and G2? Two. Uh, Vice President Delilah second by Trustee Calderon. Questions? Discussion? All in favor? And two. All in
097favor? I can't see. Yes. Trustee Ross. Yes. So, what is the count? Five yeses. All right, so there is six in favor and and one who is not present for the vote. Now, we we go to H. Administration recommends approval of the agenda items located in items H1 through H4 for approval. Is there a motion to approve agenda items H1 through H4? Vice President Delilah. Second by Trustee Alister. Questions? Discussion? All in favor? Trustee Ross. Yes. Okay, six in six in favor and one absent for the vote. The administration recommends approval of business items for public schedule I1 through I23. Is Is there a motion to approve business items I1 through I23? Trustee Calderon second by Trustee Alister. Questions? Discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? Trustee Ross. Yes. Six yes and one absent for the
098vote. The motion carries. We go to our public commentary section. This is for non-agenda items only. And again, 3 minutes per person. Um any card that has been submitted. Could you call the names? So, first is Maya Schindler. On deck is Alida Masara and Clifford Pearl. Trustee. Just her sheet here. Thank you. So, I have questions. You told us nothing is being cut, no programs. But teachers were being cut. So, how's that possible when you have the dual language program that I believe is state mandated, but lots and lots of its teachers are being cut. How's that program going? Is world languages being cut? Another question for you. Up until maybe March 2011, the board was presented this information that you guys were making decisions. Who is making these decisions? Maybe now you guys are
099also making them or making decisions, but if you before that, who is actually making decisions what gets cut, what's not? Who's in the room? Thank you. >> [applause] >> So, hi everybody. I am a mom of two in our district. I am also um an author of this effort we have to ask for our top um top admin here to please step down. Step down is our call and I would like to talk about what this effort is and what it is not. So, to be clear, this is not at all personal. It is not an effort to cause harm in any way. It is an effort to create a platform through which this exercise can actually pass. Right? In order to make a case that we should increase our tax bill by this amount,
100there needs to be clear evidence of change and we don't have that yet. [applause] We hear that a few things have been structured. We We still do not have a clear understanding of what went wrong for us to be in such a big hole and we know that our top um guy in admin is in charge of this process of actually trying to create a budget. So, it is important to break some new ground. It is a step towards trying to build back trust. It is an effort to say things can be different. We cannot continue to have the same approach and hope for outcomes to be different. So, I just did hope to make that clear that this is what that call for our top admin to step down is about. It's about trying
101to create a platform for actual fiscal health in the future. With my last bit of time, I want to talk about how painful it was to hear that everything is intact, everything is great, everything will be fine if we increase our taxes by this amount. That was really painful for me. My um kids have been blessed to be taught by some excellent folks who are experts in their field, who have been cut, who have to find find like other places to work. This is a loss for our district. Right? Think back to a few [applause] um boards ago when this place was full of kids speaking about everything that has been lost. Okay? Things are not um fixed through these efforts to just cut and cut and cut away. We need to make some real
102shifts and I think that starts with this effort to say step down, SANTA. STEP DOWN. THANK YOU. >> [applause] >> WELL, AGAIN, I JUST WANTED TO CLARIFY after comments I made earlier um in the discussion that you were having with Ms. Hayes about Mr. Palomino, uh my uh speech uh was cited um I didn't say that those programs were going to be cut right now. I said depending on what happens, the kids' choices when it comes to those programs could be cut. And I was basing that off of the draft four budget from last week. There was a list of programs that could be cut and if you go on contingency, all of them will be cut and worse. So, I just wanted to get that out there. I know that they're not being cut
103right now, but I'm looking at the future in the worst case scenario. Thank you. And thank you for that clarification. Closing remarks by board members. >> Seeing none, is there a motion to adjourn? Vice President DeRillo second by Trustee Calterone. All in favor? In favor of adjournment? >> [clears throat] >> Everyone at the table vote. Okay. So, five in favor of adjournment, two not present for this vote. Thank you.