001okay to uh get a motion to come out of executive session all in favor aye opposed motion carries next up is the superintendent presentation or is it just the report yeah so the agenda reads superintendent report and then budget presentation so we can do this superintendent's report and an update and then You want to do the pre or do you want to take it out of order? We can take it in order. Okay. So before. Sorry, what did he, what did he say? Joe, we're going to take, well, we'll take it in order, pardon. So we'll do the report first. And before I offer the report, I would like to make an amendment to S 178 on page four for proposition number one, budget proposition. And it will read as. to adopt the annual budget
002of the Utica City School District for the 2026-2027 fiscal year and to authorize the requisite portion thereof to be raised by taxation on the taxable property of the Utica City School District. And I offer that with that omission. Are there any pages that are being not offered? Are there any pages that have to be pulled? under proposition number two it's entitled capital project it should be capital reserve fund and we um Yes. So one, we're creating, proposition number two, we're creating a new capital reserve fund for $30 million, up to $30 million. And then number three, we're actually taking from the capital reserve fund that you created two years ago. Okay. So, yeah, so, or revision on proposition number two, capital reserve fund instead of capital project. Okay. All right. So for $160,000, for... 178
003page four. I'm going to reread the proposition number one budget proposition and it will say to adopt the annual budget of the Utica City School District for the 2026-2027 fiscal year in the amount of blank and to authorize the requisite portion thereof to be raised by taxation on the taxable property of the Utica City School District. And then for the capital project, Mrs. Moll, what is the... appropriate language it was advised by legal counsel it shouldn't be capital project should be capital reserve fund okay so the proposition number two will be amendment to reflect capital reserve fund in lieu of capital project okay are there any other senators that have to be pulled were there any items that the superintendent wasn't recommended yes i'm going to hear what he said i'm going to withdraw s180
004and s-177 okay i know that we already tabled it but just thought it and s-177 yes okay so is there anything else if not i need a motion 181 i'd like to pull on page seven s-181 okay so we're pulling s-181 so not offering 177 not offering 180 amending 178 pulling 181 based on that and I have a motion to adopt the superintendent's report okay all in favor opposed motion carries I need a motion to consider s 181 okay is there any discussion hearing none do we need a roll call vote no you don't no sir no no okay all in favor aye aye opposed abstain motion carries pardon abstain abstain okay um do you have a presentation or something that you want to share with us dr spence yes i do So tonight we'll
005complete the final portions of the budget consistent with the budget timeline. Prior to that, I just want to frame this budget as the budget is a living and breathing document that builds upon previous years of progress. So again this year, we dedicated this year to this theme of equity, accountability, and achievement, raising the bar for all students. We hold true to our mission statement, which is this continuous improvement. And we've been steadfast and committed to the idea that the district, we have a host of things that we want to pay attention to, but what's most important is incremental and sustained growth over a period of time. It's the surest way to large-scale transformation, and it allows us to strategically prioritize our efforts on a year-to-year basis to improve the district overall. Here we have our
006vision. Again, our vision is consistent with the portrait of graduate work, so kudos to the board for being ahead of their time in that effort. Again, as we really think about our year and where we're going, we started this year off with the instructional priorities and SMART goals that has really guided the work of the district. It's guided our ideas around resource allocation. It's guided the activity of the professionals working in the organization to support the whole growth, the whole child and student outcomes. I want to take the time here to reflect on this historic accountability milestone. really you know state that i'm very proud of the organization for the work that it's done to ensure that we have no schools that are in a negative accountability status our school's in a good standing i
007want to give a shout out to assistant superintendent uh mr fauci for his work and making sure our curriculum standards were aligned and really working to support instruction at at our core levels as well as our faculty and staff and teachers that work day in and day out to make sure that we are making demonstrable growth Again, we are not saying that we need to stop here. We're not saying that this is the end-all be-all, but this is a monumental task and a monumental occasion to be able to state that we are no longer in receivership as a district and it's something that the organization ought to be proud of and it's something that I've championed in my advocacy work in Albany as we were advocating for funds. We also had from previous years, from
008last year we had implemented an extended day program and we received statewide recognition for that program from the New York State School Boards Association as being an innovative and high impact program because it was really structured to support our neediest students and really strengthening our elementary education. The goal is if we can address the learning gaps in the elementary. those gaps will not exacerbate as students go through the system over time. So we really put a strong focus on this core instruction at the elementary levels, which will tie into what we're going to discuss in regards to the budget. Along those same lines, looking at the resources, I also want to highlight the work of the finance team for ensuring that we expended 100% of our ESSER funds, $58.3 million, and we received a final
009reimbursement of the outstanding $3.2 million in this month of March. So I want to definitely say shout-outs to the grants team, the business office, and all the critical work that was done to ensure that we were able to fully capture the intent of that grant. Also want to just highlight the fact that the work that we're doing is being noticed by other parties. When we were in Albany testifying in regards to advocating for CTE program and things like that, the state legislator had said they had interest in really studying the district's CTE work. We've received our invitation. to present at the New York State School Board Association Annual Convention and Education Expo this upcoming October, October 22nd. And what this really shows is that people, external stakeholders are really looking at Utica and the work
010that's being done here to improve the system and they are taking note. This is a statewide opportunity where we're able to present for the state and we hope that if your schedule is allowed that you will come join us as we present and this proposal was submitted today. Along the same lines, we haven't discussed this yet, but I'm happy to state that the Utica City School District was nominated to receive a scholarship opportunity for a graduating senior from the Small City School District Scholarship Award. So they're looking at, they want us to identify a senior that has great promise and has really met their academic potential, and we're working to select. that senior so this is new news for hot off the press and we're happy again it reflects the fact that we have people
011looking at the district noticing the good things that are happening here and and choosing utica which is one of the things that i pretty i believe is critically important to the success of the district it's not only celebrating the incremental milestones as we are improving and engaging in this difficult complex work of urban transformation it's also really highlighting the fact that We are being positioned as thought leaders in particular regards, particularly around our CTE programming, particularly around the ways in which we're attempting to expand the opportunity structure for all students. And we're starting to see that people are taking notice of that work. So we will be excited to do the difficult work of finding a deserving senior because there's so many of them and we will select and nominate them accordingly. I just want
012to inform the board that we have a CTE site visit from the New York State Department of Labor, Commissioner Reardon. It'll be on March 31st at 1 p.m. at Proctor. And we welcome you to come if you would like to go there and meet them as well. Again, there's more people that are taking interest in the CTE work. We did also extend invitations to others. Just in my travels going to conferences, I noticed that there are other systems, members of the Big Five, that had expressed interest in coming to Utica to see that work, to see what it looks like. As to some extent, we are pioneers in this work. So I'll keep the board updated in regards to visitation and things like that. And then lastly, just recommending for our summer 26. that we
013really engage in a shared retreat when we can really discuss some of our um really build on our workshop stuff we had some really fruitful conversations at the board workshop regarding critical issues that face the district and this retreat would give us an opportunity to really work together to identify shared priorities and really think back to what are the areas that we really have excelled in as well as strategic priorities for the upcoming year so we welcome that discussion and That's it for that presentation. Now what I'd like to do is move into the budget presentation if there's no questions there. And I'll explain to you how this frames what we're proposing for this budget. The budget, again, is not done in isolation. It's really a document and monies that provide us with the tools
014necessary to engage in this critical work. And before I engage in the budget process, I just want to, again, thank business office. I want to thank Heather Mowat. I want to thank Dave Drido as well as David Langone, who have been instrumental in leading this work and really putting this stuff together. So I want to give kudos to my administrators. It's been a really good process, and we're really proud of what we're going to put forward and the impact that we believe we can have. Now, again, everything starts with the mission and our vision. Our district goals, again, the district goals are important because they really galvanize the activity for the organization, what we aspire to do and how we're going to get there. And then we talked about previously the strategic budget priorities. Now,
015much as presentation, the board has seen, we're now wrapping it up in one package here. We've talked about the summer enrichment opportunities, and we really thought about this and said, it's really more of a summer regression opportunities. And we have a framework that we'll discuss today that should also be in your package. But really, we know that kids lose ground in the summers. We know that. um students at a lower socioeconomic status on the spectrum they lose critical ground in the summer just because of the opportunities that may or may not be afforded to them so we want to make sure that we are investing in our students to ensure that they have continuous education and are in a system that's going to provide them with uh the social emotional supports as well as the
016academic opportunities to be successful We've talked about the expansion of the Raiders. They are learning. Dr. Spence, can I ask you a question about the summer program? Of course. Yes. Okay. Is that going to be educational-focused, or is that going to be more or less educational-focused and more akin to activities that don't relate to education itself? So the goal is for it to be learning opportunities and really an amalgam of both. We want to make sure that the students have a strong interest in going there, but we also, by providing them with fun activities, which we really call social-emotional learning, as well as an academic focus. And Mr. Fauci, if you would add some other commentary in regards to the vision that we're floating for the board's approval. Well, is there any, is there, you
017know, we have the summer coming up. basically three short months what is contemplated in terms of the educational efforts I guess I will call it book learning or non regret you know the attempt to prevent regression what what what is it what is contemplated that the district is going to do as it relates to that program So this program is outside of the normal summer school opportunities that our students will have. It's academically oriented. The extended learning time program... What does that mean? What does academic oriented mean? So for students who did not meet credit requirements, there's a summer school program for them. There's extended learning time opportunities at each of the schools for students who need additional academic help. Going into the summer this program that dr. Spence is talking about that. We're looking
018at is really to Supplement those activities with additional learning experiences for kids for example right now We've solidified summer stem camps with a couple partners the Griffith Institute and SUNY Poly We're looking to again run the summer athletic camps that we ran last year We put out an interest survey to all of our teachers to see what types of learning activities they would like to lead over the summer. We've collated that and provided a list of different activities in the performing arts, visual arts, media, leadership and character development, book studies, writing workshops. Mr. Fauci? Yes. Mr. Fauci? Yes. Will there be anything focused on our better and best students to give them? the opportunity to perhaps do some elective learning or to reinforce or college prep in terms of SAT prep or ACT prep. Are
019we doing something for our better students as well as some that we're trying to prevent? From regression those certainly can be blended into this program. Absolutely, but right now this program is not formulated, correct? It's not finalized yet Correct. Okay, but is there an actual framework of this program? There's a framework of the types of learning activities that we are going to operate over the summer So there's ideas, but there's no real framework as to what it is that we're going to be presenting. What's the overall cost of this program? I believe that we budgeted $500,000 for that, these programs. Okay. I'm just playing devil's advocate here. Would there be a place that we could spend $500,000 during the school year, which is, I think, something that we discussed? to continue improving our reading levels.
020So let me just add some more context there. So the critical part of the work is that in education, we get the kids at varying levels when they enter the system. And in that summer, depending on their zip code and the parents' resources, there lies the ability for the parents to supplement. the extracurricular learning opportunities that would make one a well-rounded person, whether that's books in the home, whether that's field trips, whether that's going on a plane, et cetera, et cetera. And there's actually a value in that role, 2005, unequal childhoods really speaks about the differences in opportunities that are based on just the parents' abilities to expose the kids. So what I was thinking is that by having this level of investment, We're able to ensure that as the students move through the system,
021they have the proper content and skills and habits of mind to do school so that we can hope to hopefully see a reduction in incident referrals and students that don't have the proper comportment necessary for school. One of the greatest challenges... Can you explain to me how this program would change comportment? Precisely. So what it will do is by putting them in an environment where the school is reinforcing its values and expectations for social behavior, providing the students with an opportunity to work with adults under guidance of the adults, the children are constantly learning. They're at sponge. They're learning how to interact. They're learning how to communicate. They're learning how to solve and resolve conflict over an extended period of time. And that's where, as a system, we're really playing catch up because the system,
022we're taking the kids, unlike other school systems, chart, et cetera, that can filter. We take who shows up at the door and the ways in which they showed up, and we have to do our best to make sure that by the time they exit, that they'll be prepared. So the hope is that if we can keep them in an environment where they're learning. And in these structured activities, they will gain those skills and be better positioned to hit the ground running, which is what you'll see with a lot of the systems, whether it's the Harlem Children's Zone or whether it's the Catholic schools, where they really try to provide a wraparound support to keep the students engaged. So our hope is to sort of replicate these models that we've known to work to ensure that.
023Johnny hits the ground running in September and he doesn't unlearn the things that we've given him or her from September to June. What is the grade range that you would expect to participate? Is this going to be for just elementary students or is this going to be for our older students? Mr. Fauci. All levels of students in the district. All levels. So it's contemplated that we're going to have... middle school children and we're going to have high school students in this program? The summer, so we have all grade levels involved in summer programming. This particular program that Dr. Spence is discussing, it's going to, we're looking at elementary and middle school level and some of it for the high school as well. So all three levels will be involved. Is there any transportation money that
024we're going to be expending as it relates to this program? So that's one of the parts of the program that we are still discussing. We're looking at meals, transportation, and building usage based on the construction schedule. Is that included in the $500,000? I don't believe so. Or is that in addition to the $500,000? I don't believe it's included in the $500,000, but I'll defer to Heather. Of the $500,000, $400,000 is for personal services payroll and $100,000 is contractual. So what is contemplated or the estimate for transportation and food? So in regards to transportation, if we take the community schools model and we have, it's based on neighborhood and zip code, that's one model which we can get back, bypass transportation costs. And then for food, we're working to calculate those things. So we look at
025this. Was there any consideration given to. reducing the number of locations so as to introduce the students that need to work on their comportment so that they can become familiar so that when they get to middle school we don't end up with people that don't know each other or not you know we can reduce the number of people that don't know each other or that aren't familiar with each other and perhaps they can reach a common ground that would avoid some of the tomfoolery that we are facing in this district so joe uh yes for those considerations what complicates this is we are uh involved in some robust capital improvement projects. That's that's the complicated factor is that this district out of a lot does a really good job that capital improvements and we're we're
026we're hitting that work. But that's the complicated fact. We're trying to look at those schedules to see if we can do that. So you may how long is this program expected to last? during the summer four weeks the stem programs are scheduled for six weeks the stem programs that were released today or we got i think we got the notification today those are only 9 to 12 i think no the stem programs there's an elementary component and a middle school i'm sorry 9 a.m to noon oh yeah yes i'm sorry okay sorry and that was i think they were the month of july right and that's yes and they're going to be held in the cte wing at proctor high school okay so that's one program that was okay and here's the program do any
027other board members have any questions about this particular summer program it's something no that is part of the summer program so it's part of what's being contemplated as a budget no it's that's already planned for in this budget that's one of the components that's already planned for It's planned for in the budget. Well, because we've done it before. Within the $500,000, yes. We've done them before, so we're expanding them. So how much of the $500,000 is recurring expense of programs that we've run in the past, and how much of it is new expense expanding? I know that curriculum was still working on this. So the STEM programs that we've ran in the past were run through grants. This year, we do not have the grants to run them, so we're running them as part of
028this program. Were the grants just discontinued on either the state or federal level? I would have to check into that. Okay. And here's another way to look at it, is we have the difficult job of addressing societal ills, historic and systemic disadvantage through the school system. And so we really think that if we can... continue to attack the literacy and promote that and really build up those those skills we'll see less incidents at the high school level because we'll have more students that are prepared to engage in the in the work I think one of the difficult things is part of our superintendents hearing process when we we enter into it into an agreement is you know asking the students to write an essay and I can't tell you the amount of times where you
029know we have students where their writing isn't where i believe should be sufficient as a former la english language arts teacher and we start to see trends with that demographic of students that are prone to those incidents so it's really an investment and kind of look at it as a pilot to see is is this going to have fruitful fruitful gains over time because we won't have to strongly invest in remediation in subsequent years speaking of speaking of of looking at gains What is going to be tracked? What is the data that is going to be tracked? Much like you track data for, or I assume you track data for the RED program, right? So what data is tracked when you're going to be trying this program? And what data is tracked, for example, when
030you do the RED program? And have we determined whether or not participation in the RED program has actually had meaningful gains in terms of attendance? And do we track that information? Yes, so the office of accountability works with the systems of care and they are tracking specifically for the red program student attendance behavioral referrals office disciplinary referrals State test performance results so they are tracking those types of data sets with would that be would that be something that we could be furnished? Yes at some point in the next you know 30 to 45 days Yes beautiful um i have another well maybe it's a recommendation i'm not sure but at the end of the day the school can only handle so much the school district financially and and transportation and food and all that has
031there been any conversations with the city because i know the youth bureau has a program for utica city school this for utica city residents and i'm just wondering if there's a way to have a potential collaboration or host some events because they do have daily events like tennis and swimming and maybe alleviate some of the costs on our end to have constant programming or something like that from a sports standpoint because I don't think there's anything academic offered. I've been very clear since I've been here. I've welcomed the city, I've welcomed the county and any other elected official. Again, I would like to pay some homage to Griffo and Button Shine for always being there and ready to be listening here. But I've had an open door and we've reached out. So, you know, if
032the city has an interest in collaborating, we are here and willing to collaborate. Yeah, because I think we can only assume so much, you know, and I think the city does have offerings. And I know whether it's us just. Helping promote them or you know using a building and alleviating some of the pressure because they can only take so many students too with just having the rec center but I think from an athletic standpoint that there may be a way to collaborate, hopefully, with the city. I would hope that they would be interested in the conversation. It sounds like we're in the planning phases. So I think there should be, I mean, I'm just, again, what do I know? But I think there should be a focus on performing arts. Joe, I think so too.
033I think there should be a performance on that, I mean, a focus on that, because, you know, I think that... you know, getting involved in that type of activity might help some of our students that have an issue with deportment. Joe, I agree with that. You know, the goal is, what I would hope is that over years, and even intentionally with this one, we were talking about the scope of program to provide the kids with those types of activities. The hardest part is, again, what we'll see with the, when we look at Success forgets success and class advantages are handed down by no fault of anyone's own, but just what we naturally do for our children. So again, when you're talking about the most advantaged, most affluent parents. We know we take the child on
034a college tour. We know that the kid needs to play piano. We know that we're going to go to this vacation at Disney. We're going to do all of these things because we know that that leads to a well-rounded child and that it will help that child in later life outcomes. The issue that we have in a district that's economically disadvantaged such as ours is that many of these children may or may not leave their neighborhood or may or not be exposed to those types of offerings absent. district and strategic intervention. And so I look at this as a way for us to combat poverty, but also to reduce the cost. I can tell you it's more costly to remediate an 11th and 12th grade student that cannot read or write than it is to
035address those gaps early on in the early years. And so this is more of a strategic plan that will have a cost savings measure if employed well, if we do it well, if we get it right. I see us having to spend less on the back end. on things like credit recovery for kids and you know the the incidents and things that we spend a lot of time managing so it's it's really out of box thinking the this stuff is been employed in other systems that have had success and i'd like to pilot it of course and if the board supports that then we do it and love to share the information to track if it's a worthwhile expenditure so thank you for bringing up the equity points that's what i wanted to transition to
036yeah Philosophically, I agree with the thinking here. Practically, I am concerned that because we haven't factored in transportation, we haven't factored in meals and things like that, where that's unattainable for this year, you could, even though the goal and the thinking is to reduce those inequities. practically we could unintentionally further some of those inequities by providing these opportunities for students who have the transportation to get to those schools and excluding students that don't. I would really like to see the breakdown for the 30th of the difference between programs that used to be grant related and programs that are new because I don't want cut programming. So to the extent that programs already exist and they need to be driven by general fund balance rather than grants, I'm in favor of those. I'm going to repeat
037the recommendation that I previously gave, which was that I do believe long term this is a great idea to try to implement. In the short term, I don't think we're there this year for some of the more expansive things without those equitable measures in place. And I would rather see that money that's not being used to continue programming used for either one-shot expenditures or remedial expenditures during the school year where we have more control over ensuring that there's not an unintentional, inequitable result. And to Brayden's point, I think this came up last year, the summer camps were awesome. But I believe there was a disadvantage if you couldn't get your kid there from 2 to 3.30 at one school or them being shorter. So when building this plan. you know, if it can't be nine
038to five, so to speak, or nine to 12, that there's consistency or a way to include everybody. Because sometimes when things are just on a Tuesday, Thursday, from two to three, it just becomes difficult. And I think that we isolate a lot of the students. And I know in the past, you've talked about like four corners of the city and having, you know, buildings open. Unfortunately, a lot of vestibules and playgrounds are being done. this summer and I know Proctor has some restraints with the pool so I'm just kind of curious to see how long they are and what topics they cover all all good feedback you know we can if we can get it together and get that our proposal strong enough love to do it this year if it's if it's something that
039we pilot for next year it's good my biggest concern is we've got to do something district different because the history is with the history and the organizations I look at it from the um The challenging thing about our organizations is they're funded in perpetuity, regardless of output. which is a good thing, but it also has an unintended consequence. So we want to try as much out-of-box thinking as possible to disrupt those inequities. But I think the feedback here is valuable. Mr. Fauci, can you work with the Office of Accountability to look at expanding existing, and then we'll also look at to what extent we can subsidize some of those other funds. But also, we'd like to come back on the 30th. next week to give a more fleshed out idea about the things with meals
040that Joe, you said, which was great, and braiding of transportation, and then let's have a discussion. Now, if it's something that... I just wanted to say this. Look, it sounds like we're in the idea phase. I think it's a wonderful idea. I support the effort that you're making. The question that I have is, if we are... If we are unable to put together a cohesive, cogent program, then perhaps we may want to defer this until we've got it so that we can have it as broad as possible in terms of delivery to the children. a great understanding of what we are looking for in terms of the data that's going to demonstrate that our investment, and you and I have discussed this any number of times, we don't like the fact that the kids aren't
041reading in high school. So anything that we can do to improve that is great. But what I'm concerned about is kind of... not quite having all the kinks out, but we know we're excited about the idea, which is very important. But I don't want to deliver something to the children that either eliminates kids that might have been able to participate, or in the alternative, we don't give them anything more than basically time on a jungle gym or, you know, in a playing... you know different activities that's that's my perspective i think it has to be significantly education um you know related and impactful that's just agree my perspective agreed so what we'll do is we'll put it together um there's been a couple of moving parts so we did a couple iterations of this we'll
042put it together for the 30th and then have a discussion if it's something we say you know what this is something we aspire to then we'll we'll make the you know the changes in the budget but again it's um It's our district strategy for combating systemic inequities, and we're going to try to get it right. So all great points. Appreciate that. And, Joe, I know you hate that statistic, too, about the reading. I'm with you there. So we're going to work on that. Expansion of Raiders Extended Day was able to negotiate with ICANN. They were really good partners in reducing our operating costs, even though we're expanding. So that was... That was a fruitful conversation. And then we had the career and technical education expansion, the district-wide technology replacement cycle, and then professional development across
043the organization. Again, emphasizing professional development because we have, to some degree, it seems there's evidence to suggest the district has experienced isolationism. meaning that district has been largely isolated and disconnected from other from the broader field. So we want to make sure that we are bringing the innovative strategies and approaches that are out there in the field of education back to the district so we can think about how do we stay abreast of the cutting edge pedagogical advancements in the field, but also we are looking at things differently so we can think about innovative ways to address these ever-changing complex problems. in the organization so we're we're hoping uh to do that across the organization and then again i'll flip through some of these things because we've talked about them so this was extended day
044um the award-winning red program of course uh career and secondary education we talked about that strengthening building support adding the addition of um adding assistant principals one of the things um from our for our organization why we believe this is very important is because we want to make sure that The feedback that we've gotten from our building administrators is, you know, Dr. Spence, we love the instructional walkthroughs. We believe in the vision. We believe in prioritizing instruction, but we just need a little bit more support and help in order to get in classrooms and provide substantive feedback in real time. In order for our educators to grow their practice, they need to have consistent feedback as well as a conversation around how are they educating students within their respective buildings. So we believe that by
045adding that building level support, not only are we building a succession pipeline as we're training, which I call AP's principles and training, we're training up the next bench, but we're also ensuring that we can really keep the pulse on instruction because we want to keep the momentum going for the district. So the Board of Education approved, pursuant to your recommendation, three additional assistant principal positions tonight. How does that impact what is being added in this budget? Well, now we have nine. I'm joking. I'm joking. This has been an element of confusion in the past when people have been voting on the budget. So I want to make sure it's good. No, that's a good question, Bray. I'm just teasing you. So it'll be less than. So now we're looking for three. We'll lessen that. We'll
046look for three. So we'll change this to say three, and it'll serve in the large. Because it won't be Proctor. So it'll be. Three more elementaries. Right, because tonight. Four elementaries, three elementaries, and Proctor. So the math will be less than three. Less than three, but one is definitely going to Proctor. Well, Proctor, one of the ones voted on tonight is for Proctor. Yep. And so essentially, you have the lesson. So we'll be updated for... Yeah, yeah, that'll be updated. We'll update that. No, so it really should say seven. Well, it's six plus one, so it's four. But see, it's six. At the elementary school, one at Proctor, so really it's... Sorry. No. My math is not math. Four more at the elementary school. So I have six. We have six elementary schools. And one
047at Proctor. That is seven. We approved three tonight. We're still shopping for four. Four, precisely. Yes. Thank you. See, your math was bad. And then part of the budget, if I understand correctly, is going to be the long-term sustainability of those positions. Or are the other three that we approved tonight completely already budgeted for? So the three that were approved tonight are already in this budget. This school year. This school year budget. Ending 2020. Yes. Okay. Again, we've talked about the professional development, unified sports clubs, and elementary club opportunities. So we'd like to, again, make sure that we're introducing our children to CTE at early and elementary school. So by the time they arrive at the high school, they have to navigate the pathways. That's also another difficult... can be difficult for the district is
048we offer a lot we have a lot of robust opportunities and it's sometimes navigating how to do that there's a certain pathways that you take to become an ap student to become an ib student there's a certain pathways you take um to really take advantage of the opportunities so we want to make sure that kids understand what cte has and they're prepared and able to engage interest early on um because that's another opportunity for students um i have A question in regards to just sports. So there's been a few recommendations at the most recent P.E.F. committees in regards to additional sports and maybe clubs, depending on... Do they have even... Like, has the athletic director provided that support? I guess I don't know, it's my first year on PF2, so do we bring them forward
049before the budget? Has it already been discussed? You know what? Yes. i'm going to say yes they're talking about the esports and the different variety of sports so there was talk of um modified cheerleading okay as a it would have to be a club because four schools are not part of section like we don't there isn't four schools white spro is the only one so there was discussion because i believe there was 90 something cheerleaders that have been trying out so mr ambruso the athletic director had the recommendation that really at a modified level there is a need for it so we're talking about that esports there's been a variety of other types of clubs or unified sports so i'm just unsure of we have prepared i believe in the board docs already for the
05030th all of the meeting notes from pf from this year just so that anything that can be part of the budget is at least transparent obviously we can't get everything and there's been different um Talks of a lot of different things but when it comes to sports, how is that being budgeted if there is a creation of new or addition of different sport tips because I think down the road to the Board would love to entertain any like we have added girls wrestling and you know, how do those recommendations come forward to be prepared for the budget? So Steve, Steve, first of all, you're talking about the process for it. Remember, there's a collective bargaining agreement, right? We're adding additional clubs. So we'll talk to that and then we'll talk about the money aspect of
051it. Oh, I mean, I heard you. Yeah, that was, well, that was it. I know we talked about collective bargaining because there was discussion of adding additional assistant coaches at younger levels, like Modified and JV, I believe right now are only head coaches and volunteers. So that's been an ongoing discussion in PF along with additional, and I think we talked about this, like it being contractual and language, and I understand that, but I just want to make sure that. You know, if it's that next budget season, that we're following the right steps. It's a priority. I'm going to tell you why I agree with that priority, because it's one of the things that there's a segment of the population I'm trying to capture that's disconnected from school. So if we can get as many kids
052involved in different things, we support that. Dave I'm gonna ask that you get those notes and considerations and you work with the business office and anticipation of the 30th But like there was one about like the e-games and things like that, which I also think is good You know, not every kid is gonna you know run a 440, you know, and I think I believe it a PNV came up like Donovan had that whether it was established through Section 3 or however networks are just a club but just equity in between even the building. So if You know just to make sure that programs are available if they can be available, but the creation of or the adding sports to our roster, I know modified cheer was Recently discussed and a couple I'll say girls
053flag football and yeah and i know we tried that but in the future or obviously the superintendent has a recommendation or the athletic director i just want to make sure that they're appropriately budgeted for accounted for when they can be we will have an update on the 30th that fair we have an update on the 30th what i'll do is is there is there anything else in your your uh presentation or we uh oh so you mentioned apib classes so i'm gonna put you on i mean really okay um Is there short-term or long-term plans to introduce IB classes to the district? I would love that. I want to, this is what I would say. I would love that. I think that's a very good program. What I would want to do is I want
054to discuss that at a board retreat to discuss those expansion of those things. Because I think, I see that as part of a stronger strategic vision for the board. And we will prioritize that. i agree we should have those things i'm not saying that i necessarily you don't you don't like that no i don't listen can you just give me international baccalaureate oh yeah oh you were right i know that they've been divisive in the past i know some people who have said no just do ap Some people want to go to IB classes. I believe that this mostly focuses around the transferability of those credits. There's reasons to do it. There's reasons not to do it. I'm not saying 100% go do it right now in the budget. I'm open to it. I just
055want to make clear I'm not saying go do it right now. That's a good point. I think that should, in my opinion, should be part of our larger strategic vision for the district success because we're really just trying to make sure the kids have the most they can get the most. They're very good. Steve, can you write that down? Okay. And then so now I want to talk a little bit about the numbers. So for what will be a proposal, we don't really see this number fluctuating. So the things that we've talked about here, like adding addition. clubs, we're going to do it within the existing confines of the budget. Wait, hold on. Okay. And so we're also recommending a 0% tax levy increase. Levy remains $30 million. Of course, at some point, we would
056like to start doing some increases, 1% or 2% over time because our costs are escalating. But right now, we're not recommending that for this year. So, again, this was a really good budget process. I do want to thank my administration. Again, I want to thank Heather Mowat. I want to thank Dave Dreidel and the insistence of Dave Langone, as well as the administrators that came to talk with us. It really was a good budget process. We discussed things such as philosophy. We talked about strategy. And the thing that really stood out was, again, the long-term sustainability of the organization, because there are some factors that I'll talk about that I just want to put on our radar that we should consider. But I think we did a phenomenal job. Heather, Dave, feel free to chime
057in if you have anything you want to say. Don't be shy now. Don't be shy. Now it's your budget, Heather. Don't be shy. To Dr. Spence's point, one of the charges that he gave the team was sustainability. And I think in some of the materials that we've presented to you really exemplifies that. Living within our state aid percentage increase was one of the big charges that we had. And so I know that we presented something to you in February and then again last week. And we got you something today that showed the differences between what we approved. preliminary presented as a draft. Also things have changed, right? Every day that we get farther into a budget, new data becomes available and new information to us. And sometimes we trip over something. Not often, but we
058do. And so we're constantly communicating. And so I think the sustainability portion of making sure we lived within the state aid percentage increased. right because the majority of our budget is state aid we're different than most school districts because we are not property tax driven we are more or less you know state aid driven and so that was one of our bigger charges and then number two is dr spence will get into it in a minute as it relates to appropriating fund balance making sure that that's sustainable and I think he's going to get into that in a minute. So I think sustainability is one key word and then the second key word I think he's going to really expand on is value, value in this budget, value added. And I also want to just
059want to thank the board for coming on that Saturday. I think we had some really fruitful discussions around the budget. One of the things I say in the organization is if we're not talking about poverty, race, class, gender inequities and society and that sort of historical societal lens, you can't do the work of urban education because we are really providing tools to lift groups out of poverty and to help groups. provide a living for their family and generations to come. So I do want to thank you all for coming in on that very cold Saturday, engaging in a very high-level discussion, one of the best discussions I've had in my career as an educator, and the level of discussion I thought was really good as well. Now, moving on to the revenues, one of the
060things we talked about. So again, you'll see property taxes flat because we're not offering a 0% increase. You see about a 7.9% adjustment in state aid, and that's what Heather was talking about, really trying to stay within that number. And then you'll also see a diminish of the appropriated fund balance by $500,000. And really, that's essentially our savings account. And so when you really look at our revenues... In public education, that's the only thing that we really control is the expense side of the budget. And to a small degree, a small portion of revenue is what we can appropriate from the local taxpayer. So we, when we're building this, are really trying to be conscientious about how does today's actions impact tomorrow? And you'll see that for things such as, you know, we've budgeted for
061food service and things like that. We've been very intentional about that. But these are the revenues. Again, we're heavily reliant on state aid. And we'll move to the special items. And if you want, have them take this. One of the things I just want to mention, we see in their occupational education, we see a little bit of an increase. One of the things we try to do throughout the entire budget, I know that I've had some questions, especially since the February presentation by Dr. Spence, why are some of these numbers going up? Why are some of them coming down, especially as it relates to contingency built into those lines? We took a look at every line and looked at a historical trend over the past three or four years because some of these lines weren't
062being used. Some of them... the expenses were coming out of other account lines. So we really tried to right-size it. And as you can see, a little bit, well, that's not much of a change in educational television, but... as it relates to the increases and decreases in some of the lines. The RAN interest we also reduced from February till today. We know that we've got positive cash flow. Things are healthy at the moment as it relates to our cash flow and our restricted reserves. And so we don't anticipate receiving a RAN next year. Therefore, why would we have interest expense in there? And that was part of the reduction Dr. Spence is going to talk about in a few minutes. And I'm going to go back just to say this. The revenue side, again, because
063we don't really control where we're getting the money from, it's based on a state. One of the concerns that we've, and we've went through so many discussions back and forth is about the unknown. We have seven open contracts, which means that as those contracts are negotiated, those contingencies that we built, the FTE becomes greater. The cost of the FTE becomes greater for the organization, which means that if state aid does not come in at a particular level. It becomes flat over years. And we have increased cost in health insurance. And the cost of the contracts are so rich that over time, the employee, the cost of it grows to be so much. you're on the course for reductions because your fund balance will not be able to sustain year over year. So it's really those
064unknown variables. We know that health care costs are escalating. We know that the cost of the FTE is escalating. Again, we've seen this in the private sector with UPS, rich contracts, a reduction in the workforce to be able to afford those contracts. So that's a real number, and it's a number that I've been very clear and intentional about because no one remembers the good be today and... how it manifests tomorrow. So we're being conscientious of that. And this is why we have not been aggressive with. in regards to our contingencies to that extent because we understand costs are going up and we're also keeping the levy flat. So I just have to say that. Can I just add one other thing? On the third line down appropriated fund balance of 10.8, 10,800,000, the question could
065come from the floor, well, okay, you're appropriating fund balance. What happens in year two? What happens the next year? Are we still going to have that hole? So one of the things going back to sustainability and value added, of that 10.8 that we're looking to pull from fund balance, In the following year, we're going to see an increase in state aid for transportation because our transportation expenditures are going up and they're 90% aidable. And likewise, we're seeing $10 million increase in our BOCES expenditures for the 26-27 year, whereby right around 80% of that is aidable. So when you're seeing those increases, that following year, we're going to see that revenue come back. So we wouldn't expect to see, at least for those particular expenditures in year two. We're going to be made whole. So all
066things being equal, we're not going to see that in year two. And that's really the point is we're really taking the expense and turn it into an expense-driven aid so that the money is replenished to some extent within the aidable ratio year over year. Just to get ahead of this, because I'm sure there might be someone who might be confused. They might be on chat. They might be confused. We've got to say this, unfortunately. If we... Do not expend fully our monies. You'll see a year-end surplus. For example, if we don't hire everyone and we anticipate we have these hires and we come in under that, then you'll see less money spent on ERS, TRS, healthcare, etc., etc., which would also create a surplus. It doesn't mean we don't need the positions. It just means
067that we're subject to the volatility in the market at that particular time. So the goal is to, again, build a budget based on what we need. and take those the the uh the appropriate fund balance and convert that into an expense driven aid so it comes back year over year so that it's sustainable and that's what heather was really getting at Just to finish up on this slide, on the fourth line down, that's transfer to school lunch, transfer to special aid. You see a big increase there. As you may recall, the past couple of years as a board, we've had to come back to you and ask your consideration on a budget transfer for school lunch in which we subsidize. And this year we're upfronting it so that we don't have to come back to
068the board and ask at the end of the year for a budget transfer. um i have a question on that is that number inclusive of are we providing summer meals yeah so that that's including like the summer we're doing the summer meal sites again okay and so right now we are um in discussions about that moa but we're being cautious and um prudent by budgeting accordingly but there's the 35-hour rule which has necessitated this type of expense here And then lastly is just our debt service. I mean, that's prescribed just based on the capital work that we're doing. So we know what our out years are presently and what we plan to do. And there again, I believe it's 89 or 90, 98, 98, 98% aidable. Okay. And then when you look at the budget,
069I mean, you see the majority of our budget is really centered on a program. Programs. Oh, there was one. I know we put that in the budget. We put that in the budget. He'll come back. Okay. I'm kind of over the... You can get your hair. Okay. You sure? Okay. All right. So, again, the majority of the budget, you know, is really the program. You know, the budget's really salaries and benefits, and then the scope of that, the bulk of that is just the programming that we're providing to our students. This is our administrative budget for this year. We've taken out the labor relations position. However, I think in subsequent years, I think at some point I would recommend that to the board. I think it provides a more efficient means for the organization in
070regards to the things that we need to do. And I think it's also efficient from a cost perspective. But for this year, we're not recommending that. I wanted to see if there was anything else that was going on here. Heather, am I missing anything on this slide that we wanted to mention? No, but I do just want to clarify that we did make cuts from the February presentation that we did to get us to making sure we were under that 7% expenditure number based on where our stay date is. What type of cuts? uh contingency cuts there there was no jobs cut there was no benefits yes no benefits cut no programs it was really based on contingency and then moving a little bit of money around in certain places once we came up with
071better data yeah that's just to go on record saying that we're not cutting personnel we're actually expanding program and uh at this time that we're also negotiating these contracts, which is why I say there's a little risk there, but we believe that we'll be okay. So I believe I saw in one of your memos with that labor relations position not being offered, that $170,000-odd that was being moved to both back to contracted legal services and also to an HR position. Can you explain that, the thinking behind that? David, do you want to expand on that? Well, I just, we are looking for HR right now, HR home. And I think there was a third area that you put. That was just those, that was split between those two classes. Between those two. So I'm trying
072to split the difference. So what would that position be? Well. I guess we're not sure right now, to be honest with you. I know we're still looking for the human resource administrative position that I'm currently filling. And I'm also getting pulled over into the financial side of the house. We have no assistant superintendent for business. So at this point, we're going to have to add another person to the pot to what we have. So we've only budgeted the first room. We only budgeted for one individual. We had the assistants who attended money budgeted, but we're looking for an assistant superintendent. The first round of searches for that was unsuccessful. And maybe we need to look at drawing somebody out with additional monies there. So we're just looking for some flexibility. Because I think my concern
073on that one is at least the way that I had interpreted it before when it was being included the labor relations specialist was that that money was essentially being taken directly from the contracted legal services line. And I want to make sure that we're budgeting enough in that line. Now we're splitting that back between two lines. So I said essentially the question broken down is, is there enough now being... reallocated back to that contracted services line? We believe so. We're seeing our legal expenditures contractual wise come down. Dr. Spence has really focused us on trying to do things internally. I mean we should be learning right and then taking taking off with that which we have been doing. So some of our Some of the rudimentary questions, we no longer have to go to them
074for their legal expertise, just like we did for the propositions, making sure that the language was correct. So we go to them when we need to go to them, and we're seeing our dollars come down, our expenditures come down, a little bit. Not a lot, but a little bit. So we should anticipate probably a creation of a position, resolution at some point, either after the budget passes next school year. I kind of thought I should interpret that or... I would say potentially, but at this point, you know, there's been a lot of change in the organization. We're still evaluating things. We've also been speaking with, and I know Dr. Spence and I had a meeting before Christmas. One of the things the district can consider is moving back toward the labor relations service for Madison
075BOCES. We're not fully into that service and utilizing that. It would be more expensive than BOCES. Mine item, but at least we're budgeted for the money. So there are different options that the district can look at going forward. Nothing of an emergency nature right now where we have to create a decision. So right now it's kind of the placeholder. At this point in time. And I think the district will be well served to take their time and evaluate things because there's been a lot of change. And one thing you don't want to do is make rash decisions and be an impulsive buyer, I guess. So at least the money's there. you can rest assured if it's not spent then guess what next year you're still going to have to go to Dallas appropriate companies I'd
076like to go slow I mean that's my philosophy go slow and make less mistakes and at the end of the day you have a better future for the same thing when the program started a budget have the anything drawing here that we wanted to discuss I have a question on this slide and we can discuss now or later but attendance services So I am confused on this role and the duties around it. I see the need for it. Our attendance rates are still high. So I guess it's more of, you know, the cost around it. And I see it's increasing. I just don't understand. I don't want to say I don't understand the position because I absolutely do when I see the need for it. My concern is the data around how we're measuring. Why
077is there an increase? Yeah, exactly. So why are we up $52,000 and how is that measured? This is all BOCES related and I don't know if you can... Sure, we hire our attendance teachers through BOCES. Correct. They're at all the elementary schools and the secondary schools. Are they on site at all schools, or are they split between buildings? I would have to look at the schedule, but each elementary school has at least a half-time attendance teacher. Most of them are full-time, and the secondaries have full-time attendance teachers. Do we know the increase? Is it just like a salary increase for who we have? I'm just trying to do some. man it's like a seventy thousand dollar position if across thirteen i'm assuming there's one per building i could be totally wrong my concern is are
078we getting our expectations out of this the need that then that could be a bigger conversation but um it's just some of this stuff when i was looking at this slide we're cutting in guidance that's so so if I could just we can come back and kind of drill down for you on the 30th yeah on attendance guidance was a reallocation of what was being done so guidance was not cut it was BOCES and it was it was being expensed out of an incorrect line So we've adjusted that. Okay. We really took a deep dive on BOCES this year. I mean, we took a deep dive on everything. Yeah. And tried to make sure that it was right-sized. But we can come back to you on the attendance. The only other thing I kind of
079want to mention is on the third line down, staff development, you see a large increase there. That isn't just... for your increased basic training. We've that also, Dr. Spence talked about back in February, the TIM Academy for special education and also therapeutic crisis. So we've got some unique training opportunities for our principals that are coming up this summer along with the TIM Academy and therapeutic crisis for special education. Okay. Yeah, because my concern with guidance is we haven't been fully staffed. So I just want to make sure the numbers are... As if we were fully staffed and then appropriate because that is a little concerning the difference from what was adopted and then what's proposed. Yeah, it was BOCES. It was really getting that BOCES expense into the right lines. Okay. And I do, and
080under staff development, I think there was a question from the board what my learning plan was in your individual line items, and that was the TIM Academy and the therapeutic crisis. Okay. Heather, to say anything here that stands out. Yeah, so as it relates to, we talked about the transfer to other funds really being school lunch, so we don't have to come back for a budget amendment. The co-curricular activities, this is for our extra class or extra curricular and our clubs and our music and our athletics. And so we've seen an increase in that just because we've seen increases in those opportunities for some of our employees. And then in the psychological services, we're not cutting everything. There again, this was another one where there was quite a bit of contingency. If you look at
081the lines year over year, it's not that we've got open positions. It was just that there was extra contingency there. So no positions are being cut. No contractual items are being cut. That was really the right sizing for psychological. I have a question when it comes to the RED program. Is that transportation is increased due to, I know there was talk of starting the red program sooner and I know there's also hesitation because it's with the opening of school and I like getting everybody's, are we, is the increase because we're starting it sooner? Is there talk of maybe pushing it into October, November too? So the budget we have reflects the September, third week of September start date. for the program. So we're going from seven and a half months to ten months and so
082we made sure when Dr. Spence wanted to propose this that that was fully includeable so we worked with Chief Ferraro to make sure that that was all includeable in there. Is it realistic the start time for mid-September? Based on demand it is but you know we'll tweak it I mean The program, and again, kudos to the administration and all that supported this and the board support for the award-winning REDD program. The demand, I mean, we started with, what was it? Was it 50 kids, Steve? Was it 50? Then it went to 80 and 100 now. We're looking to increase to 125. So the demand, I believe the demand will... I'm sure the demands there, my concern is the logistics because we know the beginning of the year with transportation and then I know our support
083services team have been great at implementing that and finding staff. And I would want it to start on day one. You know that I'm a proponent of the program, but the reality is I think just letting our families know when it is available. Like this year we said it was I think around Veterans Day. that opened so i was just wondering because that is a big jump in transportation back to joe's point we want to make sure that academics come first to all students so while the academic piece at the red program it's a very small percentage in the grand scheme of things so i'm just talking through the the line items all right capital uh help me take this one all right Not a lot of big changes. Our operation plan and maintenance plan,
084a little bit of an extra contingency in there that we took a look at to make sure. But we need to make sure that we have those custodians and we have our trades in there and we do fully fund it. really nothing else to talk about here other than the transfer to capital. It was determined for the $100,000 outlay. It would be the exterior doors for JFK. This current year, and I think, I don't know if it's completed or not, was the stairwells at Albany Elementary School. And so these are short-term projects that we can get in and get out quickly with. And that's fairly new to the budget, right? This is our first time starting those $100,000. Yeah. But just one project that has included everything. So it's not, okay. Okay. 70, 75. Yeah.
085Okay. So we'll do an overview of propositions. So we've got four propositions for discussion and approval. Proposition is one is just the budget that we're discussing tonight for the general fund. Proposition 2 is a capital reserve fund. Proposition 2 is the establishment of capital reserve funds. So school districts have capital reserve funds as a financial planning tool. When you approve them, you're approving a max amount to fund that capital reserve fund. Once it's funded to its max, it's no longer usable. So this is for an establishment of a capital reserve fund up to $30 million over a probable term of 15 years for future capital projects. Proposition 3 is a use of a previous capital reserve fund. So we currently have a capital reserve fund of $15 million. Proposition 3 is the expenditure of capital
086reserve fund monies. So on the existing capital reserve fund monies, this proposition is asking for approval to spend $10 million or up to $10 million on the current 2024 $65 million capital project. I just want to add... especially as it relates to proposition number three, this is for the unaidable portion, right? We've talked about how our capital is 98% eatable. When we don't meet certain types of percentages, this is going to be explicitly used for a central kitchen, right? So it isn't for instruction. So a good portion of that was found to be unaidable. You actually, this was passed by the voters two years ago. It was funded fully at $15 million. So that money is sitting there, and we're only looking to utilize $10 million. So there will be another five sitting there. And
087likewise, under Proposition No. 2. Wait, I have a proposition No. 2. Just, you know. Dave, why even establish propositions that another capital reserve? Like, what are we trying to do there? Sure. Heather, an excellent point. When talking about capital reserve as a financial planning tool, you're using those monies to lower the local share of your capital expenditures in a project. So, as she mentioned, those expenditures that are unaidable would be local share, hence potential tax increase if they were not funded by a capital reserve. So, using these monies as a financial planning tool to lower that local share of capital expenditures. So would you say that we're kind of getting ahead of things in planning in advance? For sure. I'd say that's an excellent sign of financial planning and long-term financial planning, taking into account
088looking at future capital projects, what's likely to be unadable, and how you can use financial planning to fill those holes when those project expenditures come around. So we have enough money for a field house? Fieldhouse is an example of likely un-aidable capital expenditures. We're getting there, right? We're getting in the right position to build an un-aidable fieldhouse. That's what I heard. We'll put it on the proposition next week. Two new schools. Okay. And proposition number four, funding Utica Public Library. While this is completely independent of the school district's tax levy, it does flow through on the school district's tax bill. So this is a proposition for them to increase their taxes that would flow through. How do you want to take this one? There's no proposed change this year in our polling locations or in
089our timetable for this current year of 12 to 9 p.m. We have 14 election districts and just really no changes. I know that the board clerk has done a great job, and so has Mike Ferreira, of reaching out to all these places to make sure that we can utilize those locations again this year. Do we still have the tool online that people can input? their address or their old it comes from the county so it'll tell them like you're this ward district but for school district election terms it's yeah whatever number yeah and with our great social media tools now yeah it can um When it gets closer, just remind, I know the, we send the letters and all that, but through social media channels and wherever, just to maybe at the schools, just to
090let people know that these are the locations and how the times of voting. And even just advertising that link that we have on the website. parent square or something because yeah it's a really good tool for anybody who's not used it in the past and it's really all new york state every county is on there this is where we are in the budget what we'll do is based on this discussion we'll um provide additional information we're asked and we will um again revisit the clubs and make sure that we um we're in alignment there so this is this is what we're looking at again we are um zero percent on the tax levy that's not a long-term financial plan in subsequent years i strongly recommend that we start to increase that tax levy because the
091inflation expenditures are outpacing what we're able to collect the greatest concerns will be the true cost of the fte and rising health care costs which is consistent across new york state based on the conversation we had with the commissioner of the big five so it's just some things to be on the horizon right now i don't see those as an immediate issue or threat but this is just long term we want to put that on record Nice job. Thank you, Dr. Spence. Thank you. Okay. I don't believe there's any other presentations, so I need a motion to approve the minutes from the February 7th budget workshop and the February 10th regular and special meetings. We'll take them together. Can I have a motion? Move it. Second. Any corrections, deletions, or additions? Hearing none, all in
092favor? Aye. Opposed? The minutes are approved. I don't believe there's any old business or new business for communication, so I need a motion to adjourn. New business, the policy committee will be recommending policies at the regular meeting of the Board of Education on the 30th. There should be one additional policy and two additional regulations as well that are being recommended. Okay, that'll be on the 30th. Anything else? If not, I need a motion to adjourn. Move that. Second. Second. All in favor? Aye. Okay, we are adjourned. Thank you for your efforts. Yes. We'll be here. Yeah. Dave. Dave. Dave.