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001Here, >> Mr. Tucker. >> Here, >> Miss Joyce. >> Here >> you approve of the agenda. We don't want to hold Mr. >> Gray. >> Green. Okay. I'm sorry. Board members, let's um if we can, let's move our action item first. Let's go the action item. So, we won't hold this here. We'll go into the finance. Okay. So let's um is there a motion for the approval of the change of the agenda? How did you do? >> Thank you. >> Oh, and I do apologize. There was one there was one here. It was announced that Mr. At this time we'll do our pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. >>

002Thank you, board champions, school board members. I'll move this back. It's a little bit loud. Thank you all for allowing us to bring back the request for the field trip for Baltimore Convention Center for our cheerleaders from Cool Spring Elementary School. And so if you can pull it up and make it a little larger if you can. It's a little hard to read. Thank you. So if we can go back over some of the questions that you all had from the original from the other night. We have the date of the application and then we have the departure date is for 228 2026 and our the students will be returning on 312026 and this is to the Baltimore Convention Center for the CIAA. For the CIAA um tournament, we have 12 passengers, grades 3 through

0035 students, and the time of departure is 4:00 a.m. on 2:28 2026, and they're returning on the 31st at 4:30 p.m. for the total hours of 36 hours. They will be traveling by school bus and there are >> charters, >> charter buses, excuse me, charter buses. And so this is parents will be responsible for feeding their students. Breakfast will be provided by the coaches with the co by the coach and this purpose is to create and perform a routine to music that smooth transitions with the parent beginning, middle and end and integrate levels of pathways. So we can continue to scroll down. Okay. And so if we can click on the link, the second link that will give some additional um thank you that the additional link will give additional information. Thank you so very

004much for your patience. So we have it pulled up and so here is uh the additional documentation. Dear school board, members of the school board, we finalized as we finalize preparations for our upcoming trip to Baltimore. Um, I pleased to present this following financial breakdown. This is coming from our team. The goal has been to ensure the opportunity is accessible for every student athlete through a combination of proactive fundraising and generous community support. The expenses for this trip to Baltimore to the CIAA tournament are fully covered through the following allocations. And students will be staying overnight at the Stbridge Suites in Baltimore. Is that correct? in inner harbor by IHG. The initial contribution with parents have already contributed $114 per room toward the reservation and there are nine rooms at $880.65 is left on the

005cost of the room. Remaining balance will be paid from from the remaining balance of all rooms will be paid in full using funds generated from our recent crispy cream fundraiser. So we can make the adjustment in that transportation professional transportation services or the charter bus will be provided by win transportation. This ensures that our student athletes travel safely and arrive as a cohesive unit. The total cost for this transportation is being covered 100% by the incredible generosity of our community partners. Specifically, we would like to acknowledge the following donors. Higher way ministries at $250 estimation. Tucker Funeral Home for $500. Bland Funeral Home for $450. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated for Petersburg Alumni Chapter for $450 estimation and then the cheerleading funds for $25. And so that is coming from Mr. Sion Reed who is

006um staff member at at >> Cool Springs Elementary School. I'm sorry having a senior moment. Cool Springs Elementary School and he's also the sponsor for our children um core at Cool Springs. And so these are the students that are um coming and these are the parent and guardian names and it shows a a makeup of which parents are riding the bus and which parents are. And so that's all the information in transportation. And so if we could go back. Thank you so much. If we could go back, I can't see. If we could go back to the layout for the parents, the one that talks about the parents that will be accompanying and riding on the bus. Thank you, SH Tucker. So, all cheerleaders will be in the hotel room with their parents. And so,

007we want to highlight that for the board members. If the parent is not able to attend or come, the child will not attend. So, just wanted to clarify that from questions at the last court meeting. So, just wanted to highlight that. So, thank you very much. And then I just scroll through again. And there's a group rooms agreement for where our students will be staying. And that completes the packet that we're submitting to the board for consideration for approval. Um so at this time before I will make the recommendation Mr. Green, my question is on the on the list is showing that a lot of your parents are not riding the bus. And I notic that you're taking up a chart bus, right? A coach on there. >> Repeat one more time. >> How many

008passengers on that on that coach bus? >> How many will it take? How many can actually get on there? >> Um 55. >> But how many are actually riding on it? >> You have a lot of parents. >> They're not riding the bus. So it's two. So if you can scroll down to the because I think it's how many to answer. So we have two parents who said they're not based on your chart. There's two parents. There's two parents who are riding the bus. That's correct. >> And so that means that the others are attending driving. >> It'll be four parents because um Jordan has two parents. Um has two parents >> and and then Olivia dad has a parent that'll be five. >> So basically there's a total of three or four parents that

009are going to be riding the bus because I see Omar Kelly and then I also see um Reeds and Gardner. Is that correct? So those are the those are the three parents who are currently >> student. Yes. >> The student name. >> Yeah. name is to the left and guardian names are to the right. >> So basically there are three to answer board chair pitch question. >> Cisco it should be a yes. >> Which column? >> Cisco >> Kiana should be a yes. >> Okay. So that's been updated since we submitted this paperwork. Okay. So now we have four. So we have five parents now that are attending. So basically we have five parents and how many students? >> I'm sorry. >> 12 students and five parents are riding. So 12 students and so five

010parents are riding the bus. >> Okay. So the other parents are driving. Is that correct? >> I'm sorry. >> Other parents are driving because I think in the presentation the paperwork said that students will not be staying in a hotel room if their parents are not staying. Is that correct? >> So the parents who are not riding the bus will follow behind the bus. >> So they're following behind the bus. Okay. But they are staying with their students. >> Yes. >> M how >> like staff? >> Yes. >> Um it'll be me and Miss Williams. >> Yes. >> My question is >> I don't have a problem with the trip. I got to follow whether or not while we if they doing it as a school activity or you doing it as an organization activity

011inside the school cuz when I used to travel with my wrestling table with my track team we had two affiliations we was affiliated with the the school and we had an aa USA card to travel outside of the school program. So since this outside the school program you're doing it as a school activity or you doing it as a to do that. >> It'll be a school activity for school. >> Yeah. Although we have chaperones behind us, we know that when we get to a to set up like that. Kids get to wander a lot. We have to make sure that we definitely have to have our eyes on our students here because that movement will be very tight. >> The reason why I asked this because >> it's tough. >> Yes. I have more

012of a statement than a question. I think um with these opportunities because we are moving in a different direction um as a division and I think you know as we put in our fiveyear strategic plan that our students will have opportunities like this I think we need to um kind of look at the process of how these things um are done um because I don't think this should have been a comeback two times and so I think um with the process there needs to be a better process in place even down to transportation. Um, if we're going to have partners with transportation, it needs to be a list of more than three to four, especially when it's something like this where it's last minute because if I'm not mistaken and Mr. Green, you can correct

013me, transportation was lost. >> Yes, I lost transportation to academy. Um, I also lost it to win. I had to redo a whole another um quote to win, which is the one that was supposed to go on. So I think um I think as we move in a different direction, I think it's something good that we just go back and look at the processes of how these things are um you know how we bring these to the board and how you know we see these unfold. But congratulations on just getting invited to come out. I do know I did hear something about like the woos or something extending. >> So that's something also the Virginia state woos will be there to help us. Um they're going I'm sorry. >> They're going to be um helping

014us guide them in. Um they're actually going to um they gave them like individual posters to like show them um how to like um promote themselves and stuff like that. And they're going to do like a um show them also um how to do like um wear like more their natural look with their face and stuff like that and show them how to be themselves. >> So that was that was pretty much all I had. And you know when things like this come up, please Wait, this is for anybody to listen. Don't wait till the last minute because the sooner we get the information and you know I shared it with the sooner the better. Um so yeah I think it's I think it's worth taking a look at the process because we definitely want

015to have these opportunities these type of opportunities for our students. Yeah because our strategic plan said thank you. >> And the reason why first of all congratulations on doing a great job putting all this together. Um the reason why I asked is because when you travel and and you say it's a school activity, we have a responsibility far as insurance and everything else. And that's the reason why I asked if you traveling as a club organization that you organize and you have a charter or or whatever then you covered under under that. So when you make it a school activity, we have a I take kids all over the country and we do it through our clubs and organizations. So like when we concerned black men, we have our own insurance. We have everything and

016we take them different places uh every month, but we don't have to come back to the school to ask permission because we have our own liability insurance. So when you do something outside, say like if you were traveling, you said this the children squad for the school. Okay, that fall under um um Virginia High School League because it going to fall under our recreation I mean our athletic director, assistant athletic director all the way down. you're traveling as a school under the school, then that's a liability that we have to accept and we have to approve. So, I don't have a problem with approving it. I'm I'm looking at in the future. If you want to do something and you're going to raise all the money yourself and you got your $100, get your child

017and same thing we did I did it when I was in high school. We used to charter buses and go to games and different things like that. But we did it through our organization, did it through our fraternity, did it through all of that. Now this right here, you got all the parents involved and you raised all the money yourself. You got the buses, you got everything. But the liability if we approve it going to fall on us. And see, so the thing is the good thing who's who's on staff as you and who else? >> Um Amber Williams. >> Amber William. Um and like I said, I don't have a problem with the trip at all. I have a problem with making sure that it's set up right and we had the right platility

018in place. So, you know, we can't stop you from going. I wouldn't stop you from going. But what I'm saying is if we approve this, then all the liability as far as insurance fall on us. So, the thing is is that I want you to go. Don't get me wrong. I want you to go. But, you know, this right here, we need to make sure that it was set up right and that we understand what our liability is when we set them out there. Because see all the parents are going there now. See if they did it on their own, the parents would be responsible for the insurance. The parents would be responsible for everything. And the thing is is that that's why approving it ourselves. Whether we approve or not, y'all can go. The

019thing is, but if we approve it, we're taking the liability for the insurance. So you don't need our approvers to go with the current say, "Hey y'all, we going we going to take our kids to the CIAA, okay? and y'all organize this and and you go, that's fine. It's just like we used to had clubs and organizations that went to Europe when we was in high school. That was the club and organization that went it had nothing to do with the school itself and liability for traveling to Europe. We went to France, we went to Madrid and different places like that cuz we we we raised the funds and we paid for it on our own. Adrian, you remember that you know the different clubs we used to do that. So the thing is that

020um we didn't need the school board to approve us our travel when we paid for it ourselves and the parents went and the chaper went and different things like that. So I was just wondering what do you um you know whether or not we even should this had been one of the things that we needed to approve. I think you could have went without us approving it because the parents and everything y'all got together organized and planned the trip to the CIAA. The invitation was was great, but it was to the cheering squad. But I don't know. What do you think? I would just th don't point that out there because I know what we did in the past. We didn't we didn't have to approve anything like that because they could go on their

021own. If they taking the kids to CIAA, that's great. Super Saturday is great to go to and participate. So that's what I was just wondering. I think what tied you up was you came to us and um for this trip. You understand what I'm saying? >> Oh, I get you 100%. >> Yeah. Because uh we used to take kids out of school all the time, take them places, and u um if it wasn't a school activity, then we didn't didn't need school permission. That's all. So, I think that's what the confusion is on up here right now is that this is something you could have went on and done without coming to us. If you if your parents going to take their kids and say, "I don't that's fine. I I took mine every year.

022What is going on? >> And I said, um, Mr. Green, this is this is not you, but who spring had a if they had a PTA, which I don't know, but if they have PTA, the PTA is required also to have insurance and the PTA could have went in with you and sponsored that trip and you all would have been covered. But I don't know whether the PTA has insurance or not, but but you would have been covered. I mean, I know all we we had the insurance and so we would go in and help sponsor trips which would cover them and it would take the liability off the school and and see this right here by the parents going you really don't need no insurance but the parents going they're covered under the parents

023insurance. So the thing is is that that's why I was confused about why you need our permission at all because it's something you can do anyway. So the thing is is that we wouldn't do anything to block your trip, but we really shouldn't even have to approve your trip because you had you done everything. >> I think you understand what I'm saying, >> Mr. I believe he had to come to us because I believe they listed it as cool spring. What do they call it girls? >> Cool spring. Well, yeah, he's down here signed off. >> So it does fall under school, >> Mr. L. My only concern, my only concern is when you get to Baltimore, >> all those people there, those kids in different directions, we have to pay attention to it because

024that's that's going to be an explosive time. Not saying they can't do anything. That's not what I mean. I'm just saying just And just one more point, just one more point. Even if you would have done it under the PTA, PTA don't fall under us. That's a separate organization. You understand? So the thing is that you could have done it with that, you know, the um parents teacher association. There's a whole lot of ways you could have done it without tying us up and tying you up because even though they have that name, the name is not such that we can't um I mean you know you say you traveling at Cool Spring School. Yeah, that's a name that's saying that's Peace City Public School. But if you're traveling at your cheerleaders from Cool Spring,

025you know, or you got a name, what's the mascot name? >> Cougars. Okay. You got the cougar squad and they from cool spring elementary but you're traveling as under the PTA doing with the parents and everything else PTA sponsored trip it doesn't everything just because you have the name doesn't mean it going to fall under us but what activity you're doing it could be fall under PTA or some other organization could be the Delta sponsored trip you understand or somebody else. So, um, that's just my opinion. Like I said, you really didn't need us. It's it's it's so it's the way you go about it, you know, the way you, uh, go about it. So, I understand. But, um, >> Huh. Thank you. >> If you do it this way, you do this, but if

026you >> anyone have a better a better process. >> Okay. Your recommendation this morning. >> Thank you, Bo. Schoolboard members. It is the superintendent's recommendation that the school board approve the field trip to the Baltimore Convention Center CIAA Cheerfest for February 28, 2026 to March 1st, 2026 as provided. >> You heard the superintendent recommendations and motion to accept >> with one one add. Um, can you did each one of them sign a permission form to go? >> Yes. on that permission form, even if it's handwritten, they should the parent should add to it that they're going to be responsible for the insurance and everything and the coverage of everything because this is not something that we normally do this way. So, can um and if you can see that they get them to sign that

027um far as insurance and everything on their permission slip that that going to be covered under their um um insurance then it'll be cool. So, I actually asked Miss Brown if we could, just so you know, you all know that I did ask if we could do a waiver and have the Yeah. do like a waiver um so that we can get in before they go and things that'll >> and so she is um and this is not to discourage you. I mean, I know it seemed like a lot, but this is not to discourage you from bringing stuff, you know, when y'all are doing things. We just got to get a better process. We have to get a better process in place because I think this is uncharted territory for us when it comes

028to elementary school. >> We go places just that we didn't go through like we need >> I mean but you know middle school and high school they're under the VHSL >> but the elementary school we don't have anybody that they fall under because it would have been covered if it was middle or high. So you had the recommendation and and that was Mr. Mouse as we add also to make sure that their parents do sign a w >> right that's it just sign just sign a waiver for his insurance and that they don't take care of then you good >> and Dr. Martinez, if you could get, like you said, Coach Lawson, if you go ahead and get a copy of the one we already have, the waiver form. We should have a waiver form

029where our student athletes typically travel. And if you could find that waiver form and we could get it over to um the principal at Cruz Spring that can get it to Scion because the principal at Cruise Spring, Mr. Brown, I know taking notes that she needs to know because she's fairly new at the school. So, she's learning the process and so she needs to know that there's going to be um a change. Like I said, we'll we'll have we'll look at our tire process because I think this is a new process for you all to go out of town. Is that correct? Okay. So, yes. So, everything is a learning experience and so when you know better, you can do better. Thank you. Okay. >> Oh, Motion I second. >> Who made the motion? You

030made the motion. Mr. Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> oppose. Motion carries. >> Okay, Mr. Green, make sure you principal get information back to Mr. Mr. B. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Enjoy. Okay, next we will go back. We move next to the superintendent stand. >> Thank you, Mitch. Schoolboard members, um, thank you for allowing us to bring back the monthly budget update as of January 31st, 2026 with the corrected totals. And so, Dr. Greywood, who is going to start the conversation off again to start over um with the updated presentation with the numbers corrected and u comments and then move forward. Thank you, Dr. >> Good evening, board chair, vice chair Tucker, esteemed members of the board, Superintendent Brown, colleagues, and community. I'm here tonight with Miss Patrice Gazel, our able

031senior budget analyst, and together we'll be presenting the updated monthly budget update as of January 31st. Our agenda tonight will we'll be talking about the city transfer budget and actuals. We'll talk about the general fund food service and grants and we'll talk about head start federal and non-f federal budgets. Next slide please. Starting with the city transfer, our original budget for FY26 is 12.98 million. As of January 31st, we have received 7.57 million, which reflects about seven installments of 1 million each. >> 7.59 7.69. I'm sorry, I can't see it. >> 7.57. It's 7.569. round up to 7.5. >> That leaves a remaining balance of 5.4 million still to be received. Next slide, please. General fund budget and expenses. Across all state categories, the FY26 current budget totals 72.7 million and as of January, we

032have expended 39 5 million leaving a balance of 33.2 million. A few highlights. Construction 23.4 million to date with 23.2 million remaining. Admin, attendance, and health 5.37 million spent, 3.37 million remaining. Transportation, 2 million spent with 1.5 million remaining. Operations and maintenance 6.77 million spent 3.85 million remaining. Technology 2 million spent 1.25 million remaining. These balances reflect normal midyear spending patterns with construction and operations continue to drive the majority of expenses. Next slide. Food service and grants. FY26 for food service was 3.3 million. Year-to- date expenses 1.87 million remaining 1.43 million grants across all grant categories F26 budget 15.65 million yeartoday expense 6.26 6 million remaining 9.3 million most grant categories are tracking as expected for meteor when we combine the general fund food service and grants FY26 budget across all funds is 91.6 million

033total expenses to date 47.65 65 million remaining 44 million. That puts us at just over 52% expended on media point which is consistent with expected base. Next slide please. I'll have Miss Gh. Uh, good evening, Board Chair Pritchette, Vice Chair Tucker, Board Members, Superintendent Brown, Petersburg committee, and cabinet members. Again, my name is Patrice Scott. I'm the senior budget analyst, and this evening I will be providing the monthly budget update for Head Start program as of January 31st, 2026, including the corrected totals. Our total Head Start budget is 1.4 4 million with 697,45 expended as of January 31st, leaving us with a remaining balance of $72,595. We'll walk through the expenditures starting with personnel salary and wages. We're at $471,15 spent. French benefits $195,730 spent. Classroom supplies, we are slightly over budget at 59 9

034$19,564. Uh general supplies, we have a credit of $218. Copier rental, $924 expended. Child care plus uh well child plus uh no expenses recorded as of January 31st. Teaching strategies, $5,977 spent. Shredded, $443 spent. Field trip and local travel, no expenses recorded as of January 31st. Other operate operating expenses, no expenses recorded as of January 31st. Our purchase educational services, $2,112 spent. Memberships and dues, $75 spent. Parent activity fund, $100 spent, and training and technology assistant, $1,583,00083 spent. So, our totals uh total federal funding uh budget again, that's 1.4 4 million expended as of January 31st is 6,900 6 I'm sorry 697,45 and then the remaining balance $72,595. Next one. Now we'll review the Head Start non-federal funding. Just as a reminder, our non-federal funding is our local match requirement to support the Head Start

035grant. Our overall local match is 350,000 with 171,342 expended as of January 31st, leaving us with a balance of 178,658. Salaries and French benefits, we have expended $11,52 Um, our donated goods and services uh spent as of January 31st is 44,000. Pupil transportation 115,840. And then volunteer services, no expenses as of January 31st. So our total non-federal share, again, our overall budget 350,000. Recorded expenses as of January 31st, $171,342. Remaining balance 178,6 Okay. Yes. Let make sure. 1,178,658 uh grand total uh with federal and non-federal funding 1.75 million expended as of January 31st $868,747 with the remaining balance of 881,253. And that concludes our budget update. Questions? >> Thank you, M. question. Of course, I only had one, Mr. Brown, and I am assuming that they wait. I guess they're waiting. >> There's I know

036there's a trip coming up. >> Yes, sir. Slide seven questions. C6 field trip. >> I can I'll verify but I know that students have already gone on some field trips and I know they coming up. They may have those funds to pay for local. >> Yes, they may have used their local funds >> because these are federal funds and so they also have federal and local future funds. So they've exhaust so they've been exhausting. So I guess just figuring out thank you what what they've extended from local and then go to their federal dollars. We can get these answers for you, Mr. Thank you, sir. Any other questions? Thank you, Dr. Gwood, Miss Appreciate it, Thank you boarders and school board members. So we will now tee up our next presentation which is the focus

037of our work session this evening which is our proposed FY27 >> budget superintendent budget proposal and this is the work session and so with that I will turn it over to Dr. Greywood who will walk us through um with the support of Miss God, our senior budget analyst. And we also have Mr. John Wallingford here who has been supporting us as the um assistant budget director um to support this budget work for FY27 um hand in hand with Dr. Greywood and um Miss Dr. Greywood. >> Good evening again. My name is Matias Greywood and we're going to start our budget proposed budget work session shortly. Next slide please. Our agenda follows the uh flow of the budget. We will start with the strate strategy framework, the strategic priorities, the FY27 initiatives, enrollment trends, K3 class

038size reduction, revenue trends, BRS, LCI impacts, cost drivers. We'll talk about the A&M recommendations. We'll talk about shortfall mitigation, job vacancies, and finally the budget calendar for the rest of the period. Next slide, please. We begin with the code of Virginia because it counts the entire process of the budget development. State law requires the superintendent to present needs based budget, not a capped budget, not a negotiated budget, but an estimate of what is required to operate the school division. This important context this year is because the needs based request includes a significant increase in the city transfer. We will connect this slide back to the revenue section later. Next slide, please. The PCS PCPS 5year strategic plan. Typically, the strategic plan precedes the budget. This year, the plan was finalized during the budget development process.

039Every decision we made assumed alignment with the priorities the board has now adopted. So, when you see the initiatives and cost drivers later, they are directly tied to the strategic priorities you approved. Next slide please. The FY27 initiatives key points. The largest component is the evergreen compensation and classification implementation 2.8 million. This ensures a minimum of 3% increase for every employee across the board plus the required adjustments to bring us to market. We have two added seats for code RBA. One FT operations coordinator which is essential for the operations team as it underos some restructuring and we prepare to uh start building a new school. We are also requesting after school activity buses and drivers and u program logistics for 150,000. Almost all of these investments are student facing or instructional in nature. Insurance increases

040are being absorbed by the division and are not included here. Next slide please. Slide six. Enrollment history and forecast. Enrollment is one of the most important drivers of state revenue. We have been in a long-term period of decline. From 2016 today, enrollment has fallen from roughly about 7,500 students to under 4,000. Nearly a 50% reduction over a decade. Last year's drop from 4164 to 4055 was unexpected and cost us several million dollars in state revenue. The forecast shows continued decline into FY27 and FY28. A declining enrollment environment requires conservative budgeting and careful staffing decisions. Next slide, please. K3 class size reduction grant. This slide explains why we are losing approximately about 2.2 2 million in K3 class size reduction funding. Under the new Cbased eligibility rules, divisions must meet strict student teacher ratios. For Walnut

041Hill, we needed to meet one is to 21 ratio between teacher students and for other eligible school eligible schools we needed to meet a 1 to9 ratio. We also needed to meet classroom plus resource ratios of 1 to 16 or 1 to 14 and teachers must be licensed or provisionally licensed. We do not meet these ratios. So we will not qualify for the grant next year. This is a major revenue loss and one of the reasons why the FY27 budget is tight. Next slide please. General fund revenue turn 2024 to 2027. This slide shows revenue story over the last four years. Between FY24 and FY26, our baseline revenue grew by nearly 12 million. That growth allowed us to stabilize corporations and make key investments. In FY27, however, revenue will decline by approximately 262,000 even after

042including a 2.9 million increase in the city transfer for compent class adjustments. Two additional notes, the 2.9 million request is tied directly to compensation and classification. Construction of the new school will require 53 million in budget authority which will be added to the capital of projects fund. We will need coordinated conversations with the city on the mechanics of that authority. Next slide. General general fund revenues. State revenue decreases by 3.2 million. City revenue increases by 3 million. Federal and other remain essentially flat. The net result is a 262,000 in decline in yearover-year revenue. If the general assembly provides additional funding during reconciliation and we are cautiously optimistic that will help stabilize the FY27 budget. Next slide please food service and grants. Two quick notes federal revenue increases by 1.4 million in FY27. This reflects both

043current year performance and addition of about 700,000 for our TA relationship. If federal revenue continues at current levels, fund two will be in a much stronger position than anticipated. As for grants funding, we expect GRA revenues of about 11.8 million in FY27, representing a net increase of about 245,000. Next slide, please. A recap of all funds, the total FY27 budget across all funds is about 139,000 139.1 million, which represents a 61.8% increase. That increase is almost entirely due to the reactivation of the capital project fund for the new school. The operating funds, general nutrition, and grants show modest changes consistent with the revenue slice. We're requesting about 53 million in additional budget authority for building the new school. That's what's inflating this number. So take note. Next slide. VRS reduction and LCI change. These are

044two statedriven impacts to our FY27 budget. BRS uh Virginia retirement system. The employer rate will drop from 14.27 to 12.2% in FY27. That's going to save us about $385,000 next year. Our local composite index increased from.2076 to 2152. That shift reduces state funding by roughly about 440,000 and increases local share by that same amount. It is not a loss in the sense of disappearing re disappearing revenue. It is just a shift from state to local responsibility. Next slide please. The cost drivers for next year's budget. These are the main pressures that we face for FY27. We are going to need to spend about 2.8 million for comfort class. Liability insurance would go up about 5%. Health insurance is going to go up about 28%. Which is approximately about $2 million. The 28% healthcare increase is

045significant. We will need to explore plan design changes in future years to absorb any new um increases. Next slide, please. Alvarez and Mar recommendations. We continue to implement and the recommendations of Alvarez and Marcel and we have done quite some work on cash forecasting and reconciliations. Reconcilations are almost at the 90% implementation. Cast forecasting is a little bit more challenging because of um ECP and um position control not being fully implemented in our financial uh ER staffing in finance. We uh we've done quite a bit. We we hired a purchasing agent that we just lost and um we are still trying to find an assistant director of the budget. Other than that, we're fully staffed. In terms of position control, what was required is to implement it fully in our ERP system. We have partnered

046very well with chief HR, chief of HR, Dr. Lane. Dr. has done significant work on that and we're we're positive that in the next 6 months we should be able to implement a significant part of position control in our system. What that does for us it helps us um automate a significant part of the budget up to 80% of it so that next year in building our budget we will be better positioned. grants management. We've restructured grants and uh made it separate between fiscal and program side of things and we continue to monitor progress. The budget process is still being developed and rear and if we implement position control we'll be very well positioned for next year. We have made progress but several items are still outstanding and we continue to implement position recommendations. Next

047slide please. budget revenue shortfall mitigation. This is uh this slide is showing how we came about um dealing with the budget shortfall we faced in FY27. To balance the FY27 budget, we implemented three mitigating strategies. We eliminated the 500,000 budget development reserve that we had. We removed a one time all one time FY20 cost from the baseline. Things we did in FY26 that were one time we eliminated all that from the baseline. We deactivated some vacant positions. These steps do not reduce services. They simply align the budget with recurring needs. Next slide, please. Job vacancies deactivated. We deactivated about 16.5 vacant position. This does not generate savings. It prevents future cost increases. If we filled all 16.5 positions, the cost would be roughly about 1 to 1.5 million. So in essence, we're saving 1 to

0481.5 million in future cost that will not be included in the budget. As revenue improves, the first position we restore will be will be uh that of position control and finance operations. the system that I talked about that is because it's a requirement of the A&M report. Next slide please. Budget calendar. I think it's important that we talk about the budget calendar where we are currently. Today we are in February 24th tonight's work session. We need to have a public hearing sometime in March. And we've scheduled um a joint budget meeting with the city on March 31st. Um there's a statuto deadline to deliver the budget to the city on April 1st. We need to present to the city council sometime in April. The city council should approve the budget by May 15th and at

049some point in May, we need to bring it to the school board for adoption. We continue to be optimistic because all branches of state government are now controlled by one party and current proposals suggest additional K12 funding may be for next before we get to questions I'll do a recap of what we covered today. First this is this is a needsbased budget as required by code of Virginia. Everything you saw tonight reflects what it takes to operate the division responsibly in FY27. The budget is fully aligned with the newly adopted five-year strategic plan. Every investment supports institutional quality, staffing stability and safe, modern learning environments. Our FY27 initiatives total 3.2 million and nearly all of them are studentf facing or instructional. The largest component is the evergreen compensation and classification plan which ensures we remain

050competitive in staffing retain retaining. We continue to face declining enrollment which directly reduces state revenue combined with the loss of the K3 class size reduction grant. We are absorbing more than 2 million in loss funding. Next year our revenue picture shifts. State funding decreases by 3.2 2 million while the city's support increases by 3 million. Even with that increase, our net revenue gain is a slight decline of 262,000. Our major cost drivers include the 28% increase in healthcare cost that's being absorbed by the division and not being passed to employees, which is about 2 million and the 2.8 million needed for compensation and classification. These are unavoidable pressures that we must We have taken responsible steps to balance the budget. We've eliminated a $500,000 budget development reserve. We've removed overtime one time FY27 cost and

051deactivated 16.5 vacant positions. These actions protect classrooms and avoid reductions in student services. The 53 million in budget authority for the new school will flow through the capital projects fund and we will work decision to ensure the mechanics align well with their financial policies. And finally, we remain cautiously optimistic that the general assembly may provide additional funding during reconciliation. But we have built this budget on the information we have today. In short, this is a responsible, transparent, student centered budget that positions the division to move forward while navigating a challenging fiscal environment. I'm happy to take your questions. Thank you. Thank you Dr. Quest from members. Go back to um the reduction. >> This one K3 class size reduction. And can you tell us what LCBI change is? >> Local composite. It's local composite index.

052It's the formula used to fund the schools between the state and the locality. All this we had an improvement in the local composite index meaning that the state's going to fund us at a lower rate and the remainer is going to be passed on to the local Okay. Okay. Um, K3 class reduction grant. >> That's slide number seven. >> Yeah. Slide number seven. I don't know if you can answer this. Maybe Miss Lane can answer this, but uh what do we need to uh how far are we from meeting that? We lost it, right? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, so how far are we from having enough license and provisional teachers to um to meet that? I don't have exact numbers. I'm sure Dr. Lyn can help. That's why I say Dr. Good evening chair

053preacher, vice chair, colleagues, community board members, super and looking at our numbers for 256, we had around 39 that meet the criteria and we did a total of about So we're a little over 60 away. We don't know what our numbers will look like for next year as of yet as we are establishing through our round table committee what the baseline numbers will look like for 2627. And so once we have finalized that information then we'll be able to come back and know exactly how many we need per grade level to be in compliance with the expectations for the K class. >> So so this is not just for K through three. This is for the whole school system. >> No, it is for K through three. But once we establish the class sizes, then

054it shifts and levels teaching positions across the division. >> So just so I'm clear. Okay. Um right now you said we had 36 and we need 60. >> We had around 39 and we need close to 60 based on the receiving about >> So we're a little bit better than halfway there. That's what I'm saying. >> Yes. And um some things that are going to help us as we move forward is the partnership that we have with university instructors because we have 16 right now that at the end of this year we'll be provisioning the license and so it's state on the presentation those help us as we move forward to reach our goal for FY2. So, um, the reason why I'm asking sometimes you just got to, you know, got to get everybody to

055chip in because do we have certified teachers on the four, fourth, and fifth >> that that um, if necessary >> could do K3 to meet this, >> yeah, >> thank you. Just as part of conversation, thank you, Dr. Lane. Um, great question, um, board member Miles. And so, um, as we've been studying this over years, because Petersburg has been, you know, kind of working with this K through class size reduction grant for probably a decade, right? Um, and so we are still working through the requirements for it. And so, one of the things that we found when we got here, one of the things we found is that we know that principles, me being a former principal as elementary school, is one of the things you try to do is you try to put your

056certified teachers at the tested grades, right? And so you will there are people at the non-ested grades that can be moved. And so Dr. Lane probably hadn't had a chance to address that yet, but the plan is working very closely with Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown's working with the principles and they're working on a plan to look at where across the school division are our certified teachers in each school and then work with principles to potentially have to reassign them to K1 2 and three so that we absolutely can have the license or you know because it's considered licensed if you're provisional in in Virginia. So yeah, so there we're looking at that now. And so starting off this year as far as planning, that's one of the um things that we're doing is trying to

057figure out how we can make a shift to be able to work through that. But you know, that is a difficult shift shift for principles because you want to put everybody license at the tested grades. But I'll just, you know, say and I say this all the time, um you know, being you know that that that in working with Mr. ground and instructional your ch your your kids at K12. That's your foundation. Your foundation is K12. And so if you can get the foundation right, it gives you a better chance at the upper grades because for example in reading, you know, K12, you're learning letters, sounds, words, sentences, right? Just for example. And so when they get to the upper grades, if they got that down, it's a little bit smoother transition for them to

058start to to learn and comprehend and do those things. And so that's one of the pieces that we're going to be doing. And so you're right to answer your question to yes, we are looking at where our licensed teachers sit in each school and having to work with principles to determine for next year where they might be shifted so that we can report them as those numbers with having licensed teachers at the K1, 2, and three. But I did want to acknowledge that principles want to have teachers at the upper grades. But you got to figure out that balance of um where they go. But for this grant, it has to be K12. K1, two, and three. And then I also want to make another point that if you look at the budget, we also

059have I think bonuses in there that we're proposing this year. That's not as much as last year. Um I think if you look at slide um it's actually on slide number 15. If you notice that we have on slide 15, we actually put $80,000 in there for hiring bonuses. So that's for about 10 teachers, certified teachers. Um, and that's going to be at the $8,000 mark. Um, we wanted to put 10 in there. And so those are particularly focused on K1, 2, and three. And so those K1, two, and three teachers will be targeted and we will provide the bonuses for K1, two, three teachers that um we're able to hire. So just wanted to direct. So thank you for want me to make those comments. >> It seems like you're working on it. Um,

060and the reason why I brought that up when I said I notice when I say that I said get everybody to pull together and work as a team because I know sometime teachers don't like and uh and I know that because um I never work with the little big ones myself. So I I can't I can't stand up. But I know what we discussed since I've been on the board and I know Mr. London lead the way on this about how important K through3 is. And you see the government is putting their money where their mouth is because they know how important it is that and and buys not needing that. We lose those funds. And the thing is is that we have to because that they they they putting their money where their mouth

061is and we got to put the teachers where the money is. And so that's something that we got to figure out. So I'm not going to go any further with it. I just want to know that's something that we really really really and some teacher might work with us and some of them might say I don't want to change grades but but um what's needed is needed Mr. Did you want to say something? >> Yes. Can I Mr. Chair? >> Yes sir. >> Um I want to add that uh with the 2.8 8 million implementation of the content class study, we would have at least a minimum target salary of 60,000 for certified teachers. It's going to help us become very competitive in the market. And with the bonus that we will target to K3

062class size reduction uh K2 class size licensed teachers, I think we with that plan for FY27, we should be able to ramp up so that by FY28 we would be positioned very well in order to have this grant back in the in the revenue. Okay, Mr. D. >> Yes. Two questions. I know last year we did a lot of uh capital improvements and u I didn't see any capital improvements in the budget for next year. Maybe we talk about that a little later, but um um I do think that should be included capital improvements. I know we wanted to put new windows at Lake Mark. We wanted to u put new windows at cool spring and I think we had a lot of other things that we wanted to get done. we ran out of

063money before we could do that. So, just want to keep that stuff on the front burner so we can if we do have money left over that we can get some of those capital improvements done. And um I also think that um we know we just went through something with the city about some money that was left over from last year's budget and uh I would like to see that we put a ring of day fund into the budget whereas this money will roll over into next year's budget. We have money left over from the previous year, but roll automatically over to a rainy day fund. U we just experienced power outage at Burning John's which I think was about $100,000. And uh we also just uh which wasn't anticipated. So raining fund uh would

064take care of things of that nature. Also at the high school, we had some problems with the oiler and the uh transferring of uh hot water throughout the building right here. And uh that was another added expense. So I would really would like for us to have a rainy day fund and uh put that into place. So whereas we have extra money left over from our budget, we can roll that over each year and then we can u take care of some of these uh capital improvement projects. um high school basketball is on the move. Uh many of you came to homecoming and I guess you notice that cars are all everywhere up and down Johnson Road, all in Camelot, all down near Vernon John's. So, um that's something we need to keep in mind.

065We do need additional parking here at the high school and uh also at Vernon John's uh uh that's a parking nightmare with that fire lane there where a lot of teachers have to you know park in the back and all that block the fire lanes. The fire lanes really shouldn't be blocked with Ron Johnson. So, uh those are just some examples of things that we need to get done and uh I don't want to um let anybody feel that teaching and learning is not the top priority because teaching and learning is a top priority, but um we've got good things going on inside our schools. So, we need our schools to look good on the outside and we do look good on the outside. And we got to make sure that um we keep our

066employees happy that they love to come to work in Petersburg. They don't have to worry about finding nowhere to park, come to a game, the spectators don't have to worry about nowhere to park. So we have very uh quite a bit of things that we need to uh to take care of. So I think a rainy day fund um we need to look into that and also keep capital improvement on the front ground front. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Dan, for bringing that top of mind. Um, we we do need fund balance, and this is something we uh we've talked about in our last budget presentation at the city. Um, we also brought it up in a conversation we had with the mayor, the vice mayor, and Minister March Alman, the city manager. And we're

067continuing those conversations. is important because um if you look at our strategic plan is a fiveyear plan. The budget cycle is a one year budget cycle. We need to plan along those lines every 5 years. So that we need to have fund balance and uh monies that roll over not just within that one cycle. I also appreciate that you you think we should continue to invest in our capital improvements uh project plan and Dr. Martinez here who is our operations uh chief would appreciate that too. We need to invest in that. Some of what has happened is because of the budget um but the issues we fa face with our budget you know in FY27 where revenues are going down, expenses are going up and we needed to balance it. We had to dip into

068some of those funds that we you know set aside for capital improvements but We're optimistic that the legislature and the, you know, the governor is, you know, with the budget coming out, we anticipate that we will get additional revenues. If we get any of those funds, we slate them towards capital improvements. >> I just like wants to say something. I'm sorry. Uh good evening everybody. I just want to make one point about what you said Mr. Dan. Sometimes language is very important. Very important. Um because misconstrued by the press and by the by the public. The term you used twice was leftover funds. And so I don't mean to correct you, but let me say this. Those funds were not left over. The funds in question, those were funds that were >> already encumbered. Sorry

069for the accounting language. There were purchase orders and contracts that were already made. And so all we were doing was carrying those funds over for contracts we'd already entered. And I I know the language that was used on January 20th implied something a little bit different than that. And so I just wanted to make sure everybody on the board here is clear. Those weren't monies that didn't get spent. They were obligated. The cash just hadn't gone out the door yet. >> Thank you very much. >> And I just your thought. >> Yeah, I know we talk about um moving money around and u I just like to say that um everybody moves money around. I know I move money around all the time. So, it's not unusual for a school system to have to move

070money around to do what you need to do. So, um I just think that's very important for us to be able to have that um opportunity to do that if we need to do it and and to do it in a timely manner because like I said uh things happen and uh thank you very much Mr. Wford for those words. Appreciate that. >> Thank you Mr. Dance for all of your points. um they are very timely and very helpful at this moment. And so I do agree and I think we definitely need a fund balance where we had the conversation that I think we were asking for like a $3 million fund balance. I think it was in the in the budget proposal for last year. And so hopefully when we meet with city council

071on May March 31st, we can bring that up again and ask directly as a united, you know, team with as one Petersburg that we need a fund balance and then commit to making sure that whatever reports we need to provide to the city, whatever information related to that fund balance, we are happy to provide so that they can see that we're trying to be transparent and do the things that we need to do. And that fund balance would be tied to specifically capital improvements. And that's what it is. And it would live in our capital improvements budget. So that the thing that you're talking about, the importance of making sure that we can do some of this preventative maintenance and all these um things um to our repairs to our buildings would be there. And

072so um this year, as Mr. Dr. Ray was talked about last year was the first year that the board approved um the capital improvement um funding and so that was given directly to us and so we were able to use a large portion of that and so that was the first time I think that that ever had been a line item in the budget was last year and so this year we weren't able to put it there but Dr. Ray was going to talk a little bit later about the update on our audit and so the audit where we are for the annual audit. He'll give the update because I know he gave it to the finance committee. Um I gave a kind of general update yesterday. Um but one of the things that if

073there's there are funds that are remaining for the from the FY25 is that correct? From the FY25 budget we are going to be requesting for us to be able I don't know what that would take for city council. you all know that process for be able to either keep that money or get that money back and then that money would then go directly to capital improvements to address all of the things that you have been talking about and so that is what we're hopeful for but I do think that Dr. Dr. Greywood will be able to give a little bit more information, but we are hopeful that there will be some funds remaining um and then we can go ahead and start the process for asking um to keep those funds so that we can

074put them into capital improvements which will help mitigate the fact that we don't have it in this budget unless we get additional funds from the from the state. Is that correct Dr. Gay Williams? >> From the state. >> Yes. Um the we we've provided everything on the annual audit to our auditor and we're anticipating that in the next few weeks we will get a final uh report out and when that happens we will know whether we have leftover funds that we could uh talk to the city to allow us to roll over into a capital improvement fund. But that wasn't part of this presentation. When we get there, we will provide an update to the school board about where we are and what we need to do. >> Yeah, that was part of the remember

075we were combining it today to just give a brief update on where we are. We know we don't have the full presentation, but just to update, which is what you just did, update them on where we are with the eye. >> Thank you, Dr. >> M. >> So, thank you so much. I just wanted to piggy back off of what Mr. Dan said um in regards to seeing the capital improvement um a part of the budget, but now that you've explained, I just want to plug in if we could add BL to the list because there's a lot of things I already had the conversation. Yep. So, we can add them to the list. Um there's a lot of things that I would love to see there. Even if we just start off with something

076as simple as, and it may be simple to some people, but it is huge to me, matching desk and chairs, that is something big. I heard Mr. Dan say um just furniture in general, even down to the teachers. I heard Mr. Dan say um you know, a lot of the things that we're doing, they're taking off um academic wise, athletically. So, you know, we do want the inside and the outside to be able to match. So, if we could um just look into that. And another thing that I was going to I love the idea of when we get the final audit back, seeing what that money um how much money we have and putting it towards the capital improvement. Can we do a itemized list like we did last time just in case it's

077asked of us where those funds will go to. Can we have a list? Because I do, you know, we've heard the categorical funding thrown out there. So, if we could have a list to just detail where what where those funds will be and that's it. Absolutely. Uh I think we we have a we have a list. Um Dr. Martinez has a um has a list. >> Is it the capital improvement? So the capital improvement plan I know that the um operations advisory um team I know that Dr. I mean Dr. Martinez I know that you all are working on refining it because I know that there are additional things like the Blandford um like other things that we've identified. So, I think now is the part of the conversation is updating that because that's what

078we used last year when we came um to ask the board back in February to, you know, give us authority to um fund those capital improvements that you've seen over the summer. That came directly from our capital improvement plan. And so, we need to update that Dr. G, Dr. Martinez, with the operations advisory so that they can go ahead and walk and work together and prioritize exactly what we want to do. We know that the windows and doors at the two elementary schools was already on the list at Lake M and Cool Spring that was already there. And then of course the other one. So I'll let you all work through that. But just we need to go ahead at the next meeting Dr. Martinez is to go ahead and finalize what you know the

079CIP um top you know project so that we can have that ready to go um for funds that we could anticipate being left over from the FY25 budget. And we won't know that until everything is complete. >> And what that does for us is once that's approved and adopted by the uh school board, once we get funds, we don't need to come back to you for additional authority. We can implement right away with Dr. Martinez and >> So once they update once you all update the CIP, then we'll bring it back for the board to go ahead and vote on and then that'll be that'll be um the piece at that point. Mer I think I think it's been enough conversation wrapped around the CIP. I agree also Mr. Dance Tuckers uh I only made

080a note the only note I made of the is what is remaining? Are all those projects on the CIP done? Not done. She indicated something relative to the list. We need to see what that is. Um page five indicated on the FY27. Slide five uh slide five indicated FY7 initiative and there are two areas on there. I'm going to go by the sheet that you gave me but it indicated uh uh two or three positions F2 FT1 was the uh director of secondary uh curriculum. I know we've had some previous discussion about that. Anyway, and let me digress. Great presentation. >> Thank you. >> And this is the time that we kind of hash out. Um, and I know we've had some discussion around the second. However, notice that one FTE indicated operations coordinator. U

081not sure about that one because not sure where that I just put a question mark by that one and we'll discuss that a little later. Go to slide 16 and I'm going get to my points real quick. U slide 16 indicated these deactivated positions and and I'm grateful that as well. However, I know that previous conversations, in our previous conversation, we talked about here's a relative part of it. We'll hire someone at $124,000, but yet we deactivate custodians and we deactivate uh individuals around maintenance. So, I think we'll have some more relative conversation about that. Not to say we may not need any. However, if we're going to hire and deactivate, but we've had some other conversations about it because there have been some previous concerns about making sure we have enough staff, keep buildings

082clean, not getting contract service, things of that nature. So uh uh those are the yeah administrative support maintenance uh three free custodians. So uh later on in our discussion I'm going to bring it back up. I want to make sure that building one and two if we're going to hire what is that going to mean definition behind that I would say $124,000 for a position like that is relative to almost five or six positions that we need maintenance and building. So outside of that my comments. Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you. >> Can I um the 124,000 is an estimate and that's not a salary. It's including benefits and things like that. We may actually hire somebody at a lower rate. It's just part of the budget. The other thing I would want to

083add is that there's some restructuring of the operations team that's going on and some of that is a plan that uh Dr. has and we're trying to support by bringing in an additional person. He has the ideas on what that's going to look like within the team. Um some of what we deactivated. It's not all the vacant positions within his operations. And remember, we're just deactivating this to balance our budget. If we get additional funding later on some of these positions as needed based on prioritization, I'm sure he to get additional funding to hire the required team members as part of these restructuring for >> Dr. Elsa want to add if I can add so these are just so the we have lots of vacancies right so and am I correct Dr. Martinez that there

084are other vacancies that are custodians that we didn't deactivate. Is that correct? So, we have lots of other maintenance positions that were not deactivated. So, um this is not an exhaustive list. There are still lots of other maintenance vacancies out there. We just tried to look at the ones that we didn't necessarily need at this moment that we could deactivate because we still have lots of other custodial vacancies that we need to fill. We have plumber, we have electrician, we have all those. So, we just selected some of those for now to deactivate, but there are several others that are still in the queue for us to hire for. Um, so we haven't done that. Um, and so Dr. Dr. Martinez, if you want to talk about the um operations coordinator position and I can

085jump in as well. >> Absolutely. Thank you, Miss Brown. Um so the ideal is that number one. >> Yes, we have. >> Okay. Okay. So the ideal is that if you look at facilities as a whole, how has it been running um as a system, it's really been um ran by one facilities person in a sense, right? So he is in control of over uh he has custodian, he has grounds, he has maintenance, he has auto mechanic, he has warehouse, he has all of these things. So we need to um really focus on the systems and the processes. Right? So as of right now we have to understand what exactly is facilities right so we have to separate the custodial operations from the maintenance operations if you will so uh if we look at the

086cleanliness of our schools and we start upgrading the standards of that we're going to need someone to focus on the custodial operations the grounds and the actual general maintenance of the schools right um and then on the other side of that we have trades. We have trades that are carpenters, electricians, uh plumbers. Um and so we can easily sit here and say, "Hey, I need two more electricians. I need one more plumber." But there's nobody to really train that staff up and actually engage in exactly how we're going to do our deferred maintenance, how are we going to do um uh our maintenance work orders and whatnot, the major projects. So, um the purpose to bring the maintenance uh coordinator in is to build up a team of tradesmen of of subject matter experts to

087actually get on these roofs, to look at the HVAC units, to uh look at these um um um electrical systems and to be able to catch things before they break down like how they are at um at at some of our other schools. So, it's really two different trades. The custodial operational side is completely different than the maintenance trade side if you will. Um as far as the vacancies here, we need to um so if you look at let's see custodian one um from the bottom um four rows. So you got custodian one two and three um those are vacancies that's been vacant for a while, right? So we've been moving along without those right now. So it's going to help balance this budget out as of right now. And as Dr. Greg would um

088brought up um once we get regular funding um we're in the process of right now assessing so we could sit back and we could point out hey this school needs this that and the third but we're coming up with a system and a standard where I'm assessing each school and we're trying to figure out how we're going to identify how many custodians needed at this particular school right like let's just say this school is u 100,000 square feet we know exactly what this school needs right but we have set the standard. We have to set the systems in place. I can't have one school at this level of cleanliness and another school at another level of cleanliness. No, we're trying to set up systems and standards in place and um I believe that's what we're

089doing. So, um hopefully I answered your question. >> Yes, you okay? >> Okay, Mr. I was thinking about the fact that we have we have not really had an opportunity to have those things leaving a great the need of help more than what we realize. And then there are so many of the men that we do have, they are somewhat reluctant to what's being done because they think about finance. And that's that's common to do that. But we have to uh give them some uh excitement to to think about and stay in the position that we are. We're not in a position where we can just grab people out here in this community. you can't do it. So we have to look at things in a different way. We have to look at our finances

090like Mwood says that that money is how monies have to be used and we can probably bring in some of those persons that are able to do some of the work that can be done. We keep talking about CTE. We keep talking about all of these other things that we want to do. we look at um when we talk about for instance one one area that I look at all the time is the fact that we have a bl school but I'm hoping that as time goes by with that school and a gymnasium coming at the back of that that school that those kids deserve a they going to the VA they've been playing in the yard where people bring their We have to look at some of these recapture. But we need the we

091need. >> Thank you, Mr. Lund. Back to Miss Tucker. >> I just have two questions. So, the first question that I have is I know you said that there's a split or there's you're looking towards doing like a because there's two different things that fall in the operation. So would this coordinator be working hand in hand with Mr. God? >> Absolutely. >> Yes. >> So it is the same. >> Absolutely. >> Yes. >> So similar >> to we have now excuse me we have now two custodial. So remember we have two custodial foremans now. We had one and then we had another we added another. so on and they are working however that's structured now it'll be two coordinators it'll be trying to call people's names but on Mr. Gette there will be another person

092that works hand in hand with Mr. Got so it's the exact same level that's the exact same level now and so then there this person would have the roles that identified by Dr. Martinez and the other person would have roles that identified by Dr. Martinez he split would be split okay thank you for that so My second question is um what are we doing to fill the vacancies that are still remaining? Um because I I just I'm trying to wrap my mind around bringing a coordinator where we we still have a lot of vacancies there and then we I know you said that there's still positions that we still have there but we also have rid of some. So >> right so we have to understand how exactly those vacancies even became there right so

093if we look at the totality of what our current system is right basically we're we're accepting that is the system that we're going to keep right so what I did was I analyzed for the last year um and assessed exactly how our current system is working and how we can make that how we can improve that right um So, in order for us to improve that, um, I'm I'm creating a system and a new organizational plan to improve our efficiency, our resilience. Um, and as of right now, if you call operations, who who are you calling? >> Okay. Right. So, um, for lack of better term, I don't know when he went on vacation. I have not one clue. And he's already 30 plus years in. So at any given time he can say you

094know what here's my twoe notice that's number one right but beyond that regardless um our current system is not up to speed to best management practices if you will right so this is bringing us up to best management practices to identify um uh the ab the absolute roles of facilities management right we tend to use the word facilities just for almost everything, right? So, we have to understand that we need to address the custodial issue. What is the standard? Right? Are these custodians actually being trained? Are they being supervised? Are they being um supported? Right? And it's just not just the custodial. We're talking about building up um uh systems within the school and and have partnership with the principal to understand, look, these are your maintenance work orders. This is what we're going to

095take care of uh this spring break, this winter break. Um and and the general maintenance of the school, right? Next, you have the maintenance trades. These are the folks that's going to dig in deep into the HVAC preventive maintenance. These are the folks that's going to we we we got a big um um leak in in like some bathroom just overflowing. basic custodian is is going to be able to just lock it up real quick, but you have to have a trained uh maintenance tradesman to come in there and and handle that, you know. Um and um so you it's very important that understand there's a complete difference between maintenance and custodial operations, right? Um they'll be working hand in hand, you know, um and then um it'll allow um because there's projects that also

096comes with that as well, right? So let's say um the Vernon John system, right? Our electrician, our coordinator is going to come in. Now this is not just a regular coordinator. This is somebody who has 20 plus years of subject matter expert in HVAC electrician uh carpent tradesman work, right? So they can sit here and assess all of these because we have aging buildings, you know. Um, I can I can open up a a mechanic shop and and get a whole bunch of mechanics, but if there's nobody that's coming in that's going to help me, you know, train me up or lead me or teach me about some of the new systems, then we're just going to have a whole bunch of general folks just around here just being led by the blind. You know

097what I mean? So, um um this is absolutely the way to go. We're going to bring um uh software data and and we going to make decision based stuff. So you the second part of your question was about the vacancies. I have to identify exactly what's needed for this system, right? So we can look at see two or three systems but two or three custodians but I can't tell you as of right now um how many custodians is needed to make this building efficient or how many custodians it takes to make Vernon John's efficient. Right? So that's what we're trying to do. So we're trying to break it all the way down and build it all the way back up. And that's why I need that coordinator to come in because I can easily identify

098HBA guy, electrician guy. No, I would much rather have the subject matter expert come in and they build up that team over there. >> Question. >> I'm good. Thank you so much. >> I just want to make a statement. We have to present. Well, first I say we have a budget shortfall. We have to go to city council and ask for money. How Can we ask for money when we created a new position with a bunch of shorts? It doesn't look good for us to to to do that because we have money that that we've lost, but now we're saying, "Hey, we need a brand new position. So, how can we justify that to city council? I mean, you look familiar with Mr. Wolf." >> So, if I could, fantastic question, Mr. Prepie. Um, one

099of the things that we're about to uh embark on is a $53 million project. And that's not a trivial thing. Um, right now, Mr. Martinez is leading the charge. And if he doesn't have some help once that starts, and this directly answers your question, how do we sell it? >> Right. >> The answer is we're about to have lots of construction guys running around. there's going to need to be some extra hands and you know once that project is done two three years down the road okay then we can use that staffing in other ways but poor do I'm sorry Dr. Martinez poor Dr. Martinez is going to need a hand so >> also Mr. Wford can you also share with us and I know spoke about it also. Is there a possibility of a

100cost savings with this health insurance? >> So, another very good question. Should I go ahead, Miss Brown? >> Absolutely. Great questions. Absolutely. For everybody tonight. Thank you all. So, yes. Um I think the local choice I think um Mr. pretend had not talked um at the Maggie Walker meeting earlier about potential because I talked to a couple of the superintendent in the area and they talked about loan choice still with potentially Anthem and so I know we talked about it from your Prince William experience but if you could talk about looking at other options because we know that every year there's going to be an increase and we know that our um our belief in Petersburg and what we're clear on as a board and super and what I'm clear on as a superintendent from

101the is that we will absorb the health care cost and so knowing that walking in we need to be prepared for every year 27 28 29 because that is something that we're planning to do. So just you can speak to that other options for still providing a high quality option for our employees but pass it but making sure that we can absorb each year given some of the reductions that we may anticipate over the next couple of years. So, just just a couple of quick points. There's basically three ways to deal with increased health insurance costs. One is TLC. People in the in the industry refer to it as TLC, and that's the local choice, and that's a pool that's run by the state of Virginia. It's really easy to get into. It's a a

102challenge to get out of if you want to get out of it. And our ability to control our benefits is tied directly to what decisions are made at a state level. We have very little control of any of that. Second way to make impacts on costs is to do changes to the plan. And one really good example is if we were to stay doing what we're going to do this coming year uh with Anthem fully identified. Okay. One of the things we could do to change the plan to exclude for example I think they call them uh GLP1s that is the um medication that's used for diabetics and for weight reduction. That is a major contributor right now to increased health insurance costs. And so one of the ways to deal with it would be

103to eliminate that and and there are people who have done this. You eliminate GOP ones for weight loss and allowed for diabetes. Okay, that's that's one way. The other way is to look at other other plan changes just you know deductible changes those kinds of things to try and reduce the cost of the plan. The third way is to share some of the costs with our employees. Not something we've done here in the past. Um the employer shares high here particularly for single employees. Okay. So those are the options. Some of those this board has already decided they don't prefer. Um the last thing I'd say on this topic is health insurance costs are not going down. Okay? They are going up. We experienced 28% this this come for this this coming year and my

104expectation is that it's not going to be 10% the following year. It's going to be something higher. Okay. It's going to be in the 15 to 20% range. And that's a guess that comes from the Pierce Group, our consultant who helps us with health insurance. Whether that really happens or not is a function of all kinds of things going on in the health insurance market these days both at the federal level and at local levels. Thank you. And I wanted to just piggy back on Mr. Wifer. If I could go back to Mr. Pritch's question about going to city council because that is a very great question and so I do think in addition to what Mr. Waterford said, I think if we could go back, I think we need to highlight for city council

105when they asked that question is we've done a couple of things. Number one, we went to our budget and so we went and we deactivated vacancies. Not all of them because we have lots of vacancies. That's the first thing we did as a school division. We looked at them. Some of these we see some of these, but we got plenty more other operations positions that are still in the queue that we're hiring for. Still other positions. We did not touch any schools teacher positions. We have lots of vacancies and we left them. So the first thing we did was we went into our we went into central office for the most part and tried to get things that we could live without right now. Right? That's the first thing we did, city council. The second

106thing that we did was we went into our budgets. And if we go back to slide number 15, if we can go to slide number 15 for me, please. >> Yes. >> So, yeah, slide number 15. What we did was we went to every central office budget. If you see to the right, you have the department numbers and you have the departments in central office. We didn't touch any of the schools budgets and that's the money that they spend that has nothing to do with um the people that they pay. We cut every single budget in central office by 10.8%. So we went and we tightened our budget and we reduced the spending that people had access to this year. So that's the second thing that we say to city council that we went in

107we got rid of some we deactivated some vacancies. The second thing we did is we cut our budgets 10% across the board. Nobody had a choice across the board. Right. And then the third thing that we did Dr. Yes, we eliminated CIP. We we reduced uh operations budgets at uh 10 10.8%. And that did not impact instruction at all. >> And so and we went in if you look on the left those amount should be a lot more. So last year we invested um for 50 teachers for hiring bonuses. We reduced those because now we're working with university instructors. Now we have Dr. Lane. This year we I think attracted 18 licensed teachers. So we reduced those numbers. We reduced the amounts that we would normally pay by keeping summer school, keeping some money to

108ESL, funding, you know, things that we knew were important for academics. And so we went through those three steps in order to cut our budget so we could absorb everything and balance it. So that's what I would say to city council and the fact that we looked at what was important based on all the factors and that's what we asked the city council for. So if they asked that question that would be my response to say we did one two and three and so we didn't cut any schools but we cut central office budgets where people will have less to spend next year in order to be able to make it. We all tighten our belts but their belts were automatically tightened. And so that's what the way that I would would say that that

109we absolutely need an operations coordinator. So you have a Mr. Gotdet and you have a whoever Mrs. or Mr. or whoever that is because that is essential to where we are at this point in the school division and it's not like I said and then you know the other things and so like Mr. Wallinger said, "We're building out to build a new school." And so, um, that's would be the answer when they asked that. That's what I would stand up and say that that's what we did, step one, step two, step three in order to get our budget balance and to do exactly what the board asked, which was to absorb the 28% um pieces and to focus on what was most important. >> Thank you, Miss M. Proctor, and then Mr. >> Okay, Mr.

110Proctor. Okay. It was um with regard to what was mentioning had to do with >> healthare reduction in health care costs. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. >> Thank you. Whenever um you're talking about local control of healthcare there through the state, is that like the federal when say Medicare can work with um prescription drugs for instance and get a better deal by going with the state because it may affect so many others. You can get a better cost. So that's a very good question. The the local choice TLC the local choice is a group that was started by the state of Virginia to provide for smaller localities like ourselves a larger pool to be part of which reduces health insurance costs. So what what TLC the local choice does is it allows us to join with

111I don't even know how many 20 or 30 localities um and they get better uh they get the ability to self-insure and reduce costs and they do control the benefits the benefit levels so that's one of the disadvantages. >> I hope that answers your question. >> Yes. Thank you. And it could be it could be through Anthem. Am I correct? The local choice. Can it be through Anthem? >> To be honest, I'm not sure who the who the administrator is. >> Okay. Who the administrator is? And we can also last year, if y'all remember, the city has Anthem, right? And so we can explore going with the city and just being all city employees, city um city and school division employees maybe being a part of Anthem if they were open to that. And then

112that would just be a bigger pool. And so that might be an option. So um Dr. Greywood and Mr. W can talk to I think it's Pierce is our person to see I mean I don't know if Ro Mr. and I can reach out to the county um manager city manager excuse me to see if that might be a possibility. Is that is that a cheaper um way to go you know in future years? >> Yes. So if I could um uh the Pierce Group and the former CFO Mr. rider. That is something that they actually investigated uh trying to get in with the city and do a self-insured plan. Self-insured plan is something where the school division and the city together if they could do it because we're not big enough to do it

113on our own um would um underwrite risk basically. And uh even with the city, we're not large enough to make it uh u a safe choice. But being fully identified with the city may may reduce our costs, but costs are going up everywhere across the state of Virginia and nationally right now. So this is going to be a challenge for the next several years until things uh settle down on the national level. Mr. Quest um when we think think about was talking about we have our tears as far as medicine is taking we have choices of human health we have a lot of different directions we can go. Correct. >> We have options. Not lots of options. >> Not a lot. >> But we we do get an opportunity to be be able one like

114one thing we had a problem with was our our children being sick all the time and we had to change things. And that's when we start talking about the tier ones, tier twos, and those other masks that you don't have to pay a lot for. So there there are many ways to reduce costs if that's a desired focus of the conversation. Reducing cost will reduce benefits basically or reduce flexibility. You're going to get one or the other. >> I have a I have another question on that slide. I don't have the number on mine, but go back to the ones where the job is deactivated. >> Slide 16. >> Yes. On your elementary learning support, do um Mr. Brown and M we but Dr. Lane we created those positions when was here so how did

115those positions remain after we lost the co funding >> because those are co positions >> so I don't Dr. Lane, do you want to speak? Because I think some of it has position control. Am I correct? I don't know. >> Yes, that is part of it, but there's also some all in tutoring funds. That was a three-year set of funding that expired June 30th. And that was helping to support some ELSA positions as well. >> So, these three will be gone, but it it would leave us anyway June of 2025. >> This year, 2026. Yes. >> 26, I'm sorry. >> Yes. >> Okay. Are there any others that you know of positions are coming up that may not be on this list that we will not have? >> Yeah. Can we Yeah. Can we get

116a a list to show us all the positions that will be deactivated based on funding on grant funding? >> Yes. We'll get that. Yep. So, you have some that's coming up I think in June that you were working on. Is that correct? >> Yes. >> Yeah. That'd be good to know. If I can, Mr. Pritchette. >> Yes. The the reason you don't see those as as part of this and part of the budget development is because when the grant funding goes away, grant positions go away, it's um it's neutral to the budget. It has no impact in the budget. That's why you don't see that here. >> And it's good. Um and also I'm I'm thinking about this also because I know it's happened before. The positions that the people are in, please notify them.

117ahead of time that the money is running out, that position's ending ending. Because a lot of times we forget to do that and the people, you know, they come to the board meeting and say, "No one told me that my position is ending." So, we need to let them know in advance that we, you know, that the fund was running out. >> You did last year thing when you came, right? We did that with all the ones that were running out. What positions ran out last year? There's a few of them last year, right? >> Yes. It was some of like truency. Yes. Um, positions that have been created. I think at one point they may have been like student support specialists, but the names have changed over time. So, we did have some and

118when we go through the um the non-renewal process, we go through all of that at the same time in conjunction with the um chiefs for the specific areas. >> We send out letters. >> Correct. We have them and we meet with them. Those are the ones that Stacy because last year we did that process and Stacy process. So, we notified them in alignment with state with the process that Stacy helped us through with those non-renews because you all voted on the non-renewals based upon um performance or based upon funding. If you remember, that's what we brought that list and we kind of went through. So, yes. So, we will continue to work through that process and make sure that they're notified through that process that they put in place with us. >> And also, when

119we come back for our next work session, Miss Brand also, can we get all of the vacancies No. >> Oh, we Oh, they had a folder. >> So, what we did was Yeah, we already had them. >> Okay. >> We just had to ask >> because we didn't want you to think that these were the only vacancies that we had. And so, Dr. Greywood, I had the team pull out all the vacancies so you could see what's still left. And so, that's And I'll just say the team got together as cabinet got together and looked at all the vacancies. They went painstakingly through and decided which ones were not the most critical at this moment and then prioritized the others. And that's the list that you'll see. So we tried to protect schools, we tried

120to protect other positions. So that's that's the vacancy list um outside of those, but these are the additional ones. So these are the ones that we decided to keep activated and these are the ones we deactivated. So we will together next our next budget. I know it's not because we have our we have the warm heal project where the war heal How do you how do your schedule look? How do my schedule look for September? >> March the 11. >> Yeah. This is for come back for another work. We still need to have a work session because we're not we're not ready to move this in discussion mode. >> When we come back, we need to talk about the budget. We talk about a lot of things that concern but we need to focus on

121trying to get the budget the way we want a lot of stuff and so look at the budget. Everyone look at the budget come back with budget questions you know and things that we can help um because no sense in having people talk go off on a whole lot different topics and so I know you said I said those are really good questions but a lot of them really didn't help us to resolve some of the things that we're trying to do in this balance but make sure that Dr. G they gave a lot of good information but we need to focus on that information that that's all I'm saying. >> So we're doing another budget works session I think is what this is called. Is that right? >> Okay. We don't go to city

122until March 31st. >> Mr. Bridget, if I could, we got to remember we have to have a public hearing by by law. >> That's something that's also required. And then we're going to have a meeting and I'm just reminding of dates. We're gonna have to have a meeting where I actually adopt the budget as well. So that that tightens up the availability. >> Yes, I'm I'm looking at I mean because we've done it in the past, it's a possibility if we had the work session on the possibility we could do the um public hearing on the 18th before we start our regular work session. Usually we do it before we start the meeting. >> Absol. Yeah, absolutely. And that would be the 18 us and then we will put everything you will put everything together

123and we need to come back before the 31st and give the nod to move forward to city council. because we don't the board do not adopt the budget till after city council has actually um approved their approved budget. We make we don't make our final decision until it comes back to us. >> So here's what I'm saying. We have a joint meeting scheduled right now on the 31st. Theoretically we have to deliver not theoretically, excuse me, by law we have to deliver a budget um with other departments of the city to the city by April 1st. That's a date you actually reminded me of. >> And and hopefully on the 31st, you're going to have it ready because I'm pretty sure that's what they're probably looking for. have a balanced budget before when we meet

124on the on the 31st because like you said we they have to be read by the first and I mean and and you may um depend it's depending on city council March 31st could be our only meeting I don't know I mean it's happened to us before we've gone before city council and they called us and we had a a work session and we went and then when we asked do we need to come back in April they said no you've already been before So we shall see what happens. I mean it has happened before. It was only been there one time. >> This this request was the request we made to the city was different from the budget presentation, but we could do it together on on the 31st if required. >> Let's get

125clarity. We'll get clarity >> to them and ask can they accept this as our budget? We would reach out to the city to get clarification proposals. >> Yes. >> So is there so as we I guess so that as a team so Mr. PJ and board members in preparation for the March 11th meeting what are we bringing back to to the board so that our teams I know we're having discussions. I just want to know what are we what are we anticipating bringing back for for the board so that the team is aware so we can you know follow up. Are you clear Dr.wood? I'm just trying to make sure that I'm clear on what we're what we're supposed to be bringing back to the board. >> Is it anything that anyone needs need for

126them to bring back? I know now usually um Dr. for Mr. Usually we would have usually we would have the CIP attached to this also the updated CIP usually attached to this budget and we have not seen I know you said you all go back and work on it but usually that will come before the board when we also >> turn that also the reserve I think it should be fund balance >> fund balance fund fund balance reserve fund >> I think that's a request >> that's the conversation with the city I I don't want us putting up putting it up there when they're not aminable to approving it so we need conversations with them before we put it on the budget Mr. May also the draft budget because it's a draft budget. >> Okay.

127So draft budget and then the CIP attached to that. Okay. Got it. Anything else?