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002{ background-color: black; } ::cue(c.bg_white.bg_semi-transparent) { background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5); } ::cue(c.bg_green.bg_semi-transparent) { background-color: rgba(0, 256, 0, 0.5); } ::cue(c.bg_blue.bg_semi-transparent) { background-color: rgba(0, 0, 255, 0.5); } ::cue(c.bg_cyan.bg_semi-transparent) { background-color: rgba(0, 255, 255, 0.5); } ::cue(c.bg_red.bg_semi-transparent) { background-color: rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.5); } ::cue(c.bg_yellow.bg_semi-transparent) { background-color: rgba(255, 255, 0, 0.5); } ::cue(c.bg_magenta.bg_semi-transparent) { background-color: rgba(255, 0, 255, 0.5); } ::cue(c.bg_black.bg_semi-transparent) { background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); } District special meeting actual budget, hearing to order. Can we uh all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance? Yes. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, 1 nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all, okay, but can the clerk, call the roll please, Mr. Jason Cooper's excused absence Mr. Donald Doss here, Mr. Joseph Obaka Junior
003here. This is toil new here, Mr. Braden Mana Mrs. Danielle Puma here Mr. James Paul. um, so, we can then, Start the the budget presentation and hearing. So turn it over to you, Dr. Smith thank you. Good evening to the board. Good evening to our guests that are with us today and good evening to the viewing, public, as well as my Administration has been, which all day. But still y'all got a good evening. So we are going to discuss our proposed budget for the 2526 school year. And with everything we do, we want to send our work around our vision and really, our vision States. Pretty clearly students will attain a knowledge skills and character necessary to become productive members of society. so too do we acknowledge our mission which is to provide a high
004quality education that is accessible to all students in a safe and orderly environment? So that they have the knowledge skills and competencies necessary to be College and Career ready. And so what you'll see today is a budget that's designed to mirror that intention of the mission and vision, so that we can realize that those that promise right there. The highlights for this budget that we really want to draw. Attention to is the expansion of our student learning and graduation Pathways. We've invested structurally in the construction of a CTE wing on Proctor, high school. And now we are going to add the administrative and, uh, uh, teaching bodies to help bring that Vision, um, into fruition. When it really is about, is ensuring that our students have the skills and the, the, uh, habits of mind
005to be competitive in the labor market, post-secondary or go on to, uh, college, should they want to? And so, it's an investment from this District in this community, and to expanding Pathways, and we're really excited about that. Along the same lines, you'll see that we are going to be intentional about strengthening Community engagement. 1 of the things that I've noticed since Adventure, this community is that we there's a need to position the school system in a way that is responsive to community needs, where we look at our community members as partners in, This work by galvanizing our Assets in the community, whether it's other systems, leaders of the county or city level or other non-for-profit. So we are going to intentionally embed that within a framework of this organization so that we can coordinate that
006activity in a more efficient manner by having a department dedicated to that work. Similarly, we are expanding learning opportunities through our extended day program and want to um acknowledge the work of of this team and this Administration for getting that program off the ground. Our Raiders extended day program has um been implemented across all 10 elementary schools. And this year was the pilot in which we were able to provide social emotional learning as well as academic support for students across the district. And it's it's been marketed successful based on what we've received from, um, our stakeholders Along the same lines, our long term, strategic planning the district, in order to be successful. In transforming, the truly needs a strategic plan, a multi-year plan that Maps out the goals and activities as we're looking to transform
007the system. So we are going to embed that into this budget so that we can have the Consultants help lead us through that work, so that we can have the proper Community Investments. Teachers faculty staff community members, business owners everyone alike, come together and Utica United fashion to develop a multi-year. Strategic plan that will belong to the community. That outlines some of the things that we're doing. again and building this budget, you know, we are planning out um, you know, months ahead but to the extent possible, we are building a budget that's going to link to student, need to student data and student needs. Again, we realize in just in my conversation with uh, elected officials in the city, at both the city and county level. We, we know that the 3 to 6 after
008school, our is a critical hour for our students. We know that based on the, um, student achievement that we've seen within the system that there is a need to provide that additional support. So to be responsive we implemented the Raiders extended day learning. So that's what we mean when we say that, we're taking a budget and we're building it around student needs to make sure that it's supporting. Um, our our students, the stakeholders, Again, you know, addressing the whole child through our social emotional needs. But also we're looking at the uh sustainability of the budget going are the uh the days of the Esser and cersa our Esser funding that the government injected into school systems across the country. We are moving more towards a lean and actual budget with an absence of those funds.
009So, as we're building this budget, we're also thinking about the long-term fiscal health and sustainability of the organization. 1 of the requirements is to present our budget in 3 parts. That would be the programming administrative and capital portion, that we'll go through now, The first thing I'd like to point out is that 78.5% of our budget is focused on programming, which is directly related to students. As we work through the presentation tonight, you'll see that information. We are recommending a 290 141927 million budget for the 2526 year. That is an overall spending plan that we present to our voters in regards to Um, the budget vote with that comes a 0% tax levy. Increase over the prior year, what that means is to balance our budget, the level, the levy does not increase how that
010impacts each individual homeowner is different based on a number of factors that go into that. This slide represents how that 3 parts are split out and it shows the stability from year to year. The administrative portion of our budget. Will highlight the differences from 1 year to the next. We've had some presentations throughout the year that have gotten more granular with some of the information. So this year what we're looking at is a 1.4 million dollar increase 1 thing. I'd like to point out is you will see some categories that are spread across all 3 parts of the budget. For example, employee benefits. That's we have Staffing in all 3 parts of our body. Budgets. So, the employee benefits follows, as we go through these slides, this evening. Um, another thing to point out here
011is really the, um, Community engagement portion, which Dr. Spence was speaking to earlier, is, um, included in this part of the budget as well. Move on to programming. So to Echo what Kim said, the programming side of the budget really is, what directly impacts students. So I just wanted to take an opportunity to talk about a couple of the lines, where you see a shift first, uh, instructional instruction, regular day. You see a 7 million dollar increase and that's attributed, uh, mostly to contractual increases and the addition of after-school programming, and also the special schools line. You see a decrease of approximately, uh, 230, Thousand dollars. And that's attributed to the school district Contracting with Bose's once again for our summer school programs and the programming side of the budget. We're looking at an increase
012of approximately 25.5 uh million dollars. And I'll turn it over to Mike with regard to transportation. So, a couple of highlights in here um, big increases uh 5.813 730 million in the computer assisted instruction. So and that is our 5-year Tech plan year year 1. Um, also, in there is new software, we have a new mat series. Uh, That the curriculum has picked out for this year. Uh increased in software costs uh additional software that we already have. And we also have a multi-year new copy or lease agreement for all the buildings and the aid ratio for that. Uh, um, portion of the budget is uh, 98.4 And just to add some greater context, when Mike talks about the aid ratio, you're talking about the, the the the ratio of funds that are reimbursed to
013the district. So for every dollar we spend, we receive an idea sends on that dollar. So it's an expense driven Aid. We spend the money to get the money back. I just want to clarify that for the public. Point. Now, the transportation is another big item. So 6,137,000 098, Again, that's 90% Aid ratio and the increase in that is we increase the field trip lines. Uh, we added 32 routes. We have a increase in bus aides and the bus per runs, uh, doubled from the original, um, bit from 2223. And then you also have, uh, the, the cost price index increase that is mandatory by the state included in that. We'll move on to the Capitol. So the capital uh is not a lot here, so the operation of plant, the increase of 545,918. Um,
014so that is our our custodial side of the house. Uh, That is contractual agreements. Increased in Supply costs. And then you got the uh, maintenance of plant. There's a decrease of 101334. Some of that decreases due to the the 1 time. Shot that we bought the trucks from last year for the new maintenance vehicles, for salting and plowing and grounds upkeep. There are increases in that contractual line too for contracts. Service contracts salary increases. And then we have a hund thousand dollar capital outlay, or that capital outlay is going to be the stairwell, stairwells at Albany, the stair, treads, and landings, and handrails. Um, they're well beyond their expected life. Uh, the 8 for that, we get back on the following year and that's another 90% a driven project. So again, just looking at the
015budget on a year-to-year basis, we show this here so you can see the continuity and service and programming. We've added some additional items to the budget, but writ large to budget, has not changed dramatically. It's pretty consistent in the areas that we are a funding and Of it is salaries and benefits to support student learning. Most of it is dedicated to the programming to serve our students. And here we just showed it by function. And by object, you have seen the same slice of pie. So you can see where the break up the funds are In regards to our revenues, we're highly dependent on the state aid that we've been talking about tonight and those different ratios that assist us with those expense driven AIDS, the largest increase for our revenues. This year is in
016state aid. The breakout for that is 12.9 million and foundationally Foundation is the potion of Aid that comes to your District. That there aren't any strings attached to it. Like, the expense driven Aid is for a specific purpose. However, in our district we are do participate in community for excellence called the C for program, which does, um, it does, um, it require additional reporting and some additional factors when we're utilizing part of that Foundation Aid. So really, when you look at that ovary, overall, state aid, increase 12.9 is in the foundation. Aid 4.3 is in transportation, and 6.8 is in bosies, which are all expense driven AIDS. What that really means is we spent that money this year and then we get an aide percentage back on that for next year for that Aid portion
017of those. Expenses that we pay out and just that that also add on that again. We can't emphasize enough that we are heavily financed by the state very small local share million dollars in a budget that's 290 million in that the state has certain concerns for how we spend the money and how the money is spent. So there's very little where we're able to fluctuate, to some extent because the money is spoken for in these particular categories. So I just want to highlight that that point. And the other thing on this slide is the allocated fund, balance is really the district savings that we're allocating back into the revenue side of the budget to assist us with balancing our budget for this year and we are also, um, putting our 1 of our reserves, back
018into our budget, as well to help balance those expenses. That's considered kind of a 1 shot Revenue. That's not a renewable Revenue. When we talk about property taxes state aid, those are revenues that come in every year into our budget. When the district is allocating their savings. We spend that money. We don't get that back. Then you see the pie chart for Thompson. So, here we have the proposed Capital project for 120 million. Again, the building Aid ratio is 98% Some of the improvements of districtwide improvements will be Safety and Security upgrades, exterior window and door replacement infrastructure and upgrade finishes and the data Network. The other upgrades which are usually mostly mechanical boiler replacements. Air conditioning and assembly spaces, technology upgrades? Uh, Proctor, High School, interior finishing in programming, renovations. And then in the
019exterior sites, uh, uh, exterior light, uh, LED lighting. Uh, exterior, signage reader boards and, uh, outdoor, um, Learning Centers, which we don't capture in the 64 million dollar project. This, uh, this slide represents the cost summary of the local tax impact. And as you can see, the tax levy impact. um, we estimate is 0. Uh, 98 cents of every dollar that we, uh, invest in, uh, our capital projects come back to us through state aid, as as Kim mentioned. Um, so the goal here is to have to have a smoothing technique so that we don't see big spikes and big dips in our budget. You talk a little bit more about that. We talk about the smoothing that stabilization explained that while we're doing this while we're going out again with the projects. So the
020goal for, what are we trying to prevent? What are we? What we're trying to prevent is a tax increase, right? Or or not being able to balance our budget, um, and pulling from important programs. So, by doing that, that kind of takes that, that element out out of it, because we know where it's going to be at all times. So the investment over over what period of time that the these Investments are going into into use. It has, I mean, there's a lot of work that goes on to it. It's a year-by-year thing. And so you take a look at when you're borrowing when you're making those payments, um, in return and you compare it to when you're doing your Investments. And so it was determined 120 million would be the right number. Okay. So
021when we're talking about that, of course, we're we're saying that's what the project is. But based on the approval by the State Education Department. What's coming out of pocket? For the district is how much 2% 2 So that's why we keep rolling it so that we don't end up. Being caught. We're, we're, we're going to end up having to foot the bill for more or we're going to end up, not being able to keep our Correct. And it's it's it's a multiple year. So we're not going to be spending 120 million dollars in 1 year. It's a it's a rolling. It will be borrowing intermittently rebing. Um, because you don't want to, you don't want to borrow 120 million. Leave it in a bank, right? That doesn't do anybody any good. Um, so, um, you
022know, we're pretty careful about monitoring that. Thank you. The next slide just talks about the propositions that, um, our taxpayers will see uh, at the voting booth first 1, of course, is the budget for 290 million which Dr. Spence says, has explained. Number 2 is the 120 million dollar project. Um, I know that previously um, uh, our, our construction manager has explained the different projects and I know Mike, Herrera has explained the different types of projects that will amount to 120 million over a period of time. And then, our third is the funding for the Utica, Public Library. We don't fund them directly. Um, they tell us what they need to collect in taxes. Um, and because they're within our jurisdiction, it goes on the ballot. Um, this last slide for me has to do
023with the annual election. Um, we've changed up 2 of our polling sites. Um, Mostly due to the reimagined church, has got some Renovations and some things going on there. So they can't be there and the Westside. Senior Center was able to help us and we really appreciate them coming uh to to help us number 2, city of Utica. The shepherd Place Firehouse they're going to have Renovations this summer, our excuse me, this um, yeah this spring and this summer and so uh we reached out to Municipal housing authority and they they're allowing us to use Gilmore Village. Um, the only other thing I want to mention about this, we're really excited. And we've mentioned this before, we're changing our, our voting systems to the Bulls system, which you normally see at your county and stay
024elections, um, and that's going to be with the tablets. So it's going to it's going to run. I think much more efficiently this year. I know we we had some some issues last year and it was quite late. And we anticipate that we won't have those issues this year. Okay. And and lastly, you know, this this budget really is about supporting students. It's about supporting programming the budget each year will increase as costs escalate over time. The cost of human capital within the organization, the cost of goods and services. But really, as you will see, it is a greater continuity in programming from the previous year, in the upcoming year. And it's really about our ability to service our children and be responsive to, uh, student needs. So that's our budget presentation. Uh, okay, so
025we're opening it up for uh either questions or public comment. You have any questions or public comments? Step up to the dais introduce yourself and um, Fire away. First of all um I'd like to thank you guys for um replying to my email and answering the questions I got through most of it. So I can see it was very well thought out and very thorough. So thank you for that. Um, I do have a couple pages of questions if you need to stop in between and I can just email them to you guys, if it's too much, just let me know. Um my first question is with the federal government closing closing out all Co Monies to schools, was the district able to expend all Esser funds. You understand the full, the fully, uh, expensing
026of all grants is a concern for the Auditors and was a finding in the external audits. So that's my first question. I know expense, you know expect answers today. Number 2, I'm not I'm not sure that that relates to today's budget hearing so if that's something that you want to. You know. Providers would later. Yeah, we'll get it to you when we can. I just figured with funding and if, if it was spent or used or not, if that's going to offset anything so Mr. Potter, this is, uh, this is about the general fund, but so if that question, you can just submit that through email. But this is about the general fund. Now, the public doesn't vote on federal funds, I just want to make that statement. The public votes on the spending plan
027for the general fund so that's not a revenue source that comes in to use it. It's not with the public, uh, votes on. So that's what I'm saying. So it's the the general fund, like, the general operating fund, the federal funds and certs, its own Beast with that, so you can email the question, but if you have questions about the general, okay, okay, okay. All right, so is a grant question, okay? If it's not applicable. Oh okay. All right, let's see here. Um, let's see. Ah, here we go in the budget. What has been added to help improve the graduation rate? What are we changing? Or adding to the high school to improve importance? Are you hiring any additional staff or reducing class sizes? Or providing more AIS to help the students? Do we offer
028AIS services and science and social studies to help students while taking the course English. And math have the lab a lab period for AIS. The others do not. Do you only get AIS after you fail? The Regents exam. I I I think it's in the I think that the response to that question is in the document that we've distributed throughout the community. How about AIS? well when if we're going to get into the details on operational issues, Again. This isn't really the forum for that. You're more than welcome to communicate. To the administration. Yeah, and ask whatever questions you would like to have asked. Well no I I understand that but it's about a budget to help further our school district. And these are questions that could help answer those questions and how we're moving
029the district forward with the extra funding. Well, I'm not I'm not able to respond to that. All know, that's fine. And it sounds like a question from the board's perspective about day-to-day things, which is the administration's purview. So aside from the fact that we're doing what we can and anybody that wants to provide any Back up on this. you know, we have programs in place where I'm assuming that the the administration is taking steps. And doing things to address. Issues and concerns. Yeah, the the the questioning accident, the better question is what's attributable to a graduation rate? And so when we look at the scientifically, we're looking at multiple variables and The questioning are, the regression is, how much of X variable is contributing attributable. Attributable to this particular, the impact on X, right? The
030graduation rate. So it's a multitude of factors and more complex, so I wouldn't do it justice to give you an answer right now. Oh no. Yeah, I don't expect more of a comprehensive plan, but the part of that work, that you're talking about will be in our strategic planning as we're going after that we come together as a community to look at that and we'll be looking at the internal system so it's not just an X1 size fits. All this is a large, a part of a larger comprehensive and more complex, uh, plan of action and, and, and these questions. Just so, you know, I don't need answers right now. I'm literally asking them because there's line items in the budget. It just says, dollar amounts, but it doesn't say how we're effectively making a
031change to improve what's going on, you know, in the district. Yep, this is just the spending plan. No, no, I understand that. Okay. But the spending still has a result of graduation, right? That's our end goal. At the end of the day is improving and getting graduation rates. Hey Jayden 9 and the response references. All right, thank you. Um, I know you guys touched on the Consultants a little bit um but this question what Consultants are included in the budget and what role will they play? Currently. Um we have Dr. Davis uh helping out pat patty service, and Chuck Mao and Jim salami. Um again just just a question on how the Consultants are going to be playing a role to really um, help with the budget and also help moving the district forward. In
032this uh, last year's budget, many positions were not filled, are they included in this year's budget? Do you have a plan on hiring for them? You haven't hired a director of secondary education or a director of Fine Arts. Um, all vacant teaching positions, being covered by current staff, uh, Ta Tas clerical and security. It is my understanding that you are negotiating with the UAA to hire additional APS are the new AP positions in the budget. Um, how many where are they going? I just want to highlight that point. I think you raised a good point, is 1 of the things, I've been talking about since. Uh, I've entered this community as we do have to get get better at filling, those vacancies, which is why I always emphasize, we have to be the best stewards
033of the district. You know, that we have to tell the story to make people want to come to our district, to, to look at this as an attractive place. And when we're not doing that, it makes it that much harder for me to get people here. So it's a communal effort. It's 1 thing that we're doing as a community and part of that will be um, within that strategic plan. How do we strategically go after that? And it's a part of our rebranding, as we're looking to, you know, get these positions filled but I definitely appreciate your thinking there. I mean, we're aligned appreciate it. Uh CTE, third floor. There were were um they are going to say uh where is it here? Um, on the third floor. Um, there was always 3 floors. And
034I've I've asked several times about it and I know there's extra funding within the building project. Um, Do we know how that's going to play a role in our funding in the future? Um, with the budgeting, with the faculty, with the maintenance and upkeep. Um, no 1's. Really discussed that through the meetings. Um, or budgets, we don't have we don't have a third floor. Howard. We have 2 floors. No no I I understand we had 2 floors. So talking about a third floor. Sorry talking about a third floor. Isn't really constructive because we only have 2, floors. Know I, I understand that. Okay. But you're not letting me finish. It's my time to speak. Not yours. Absolutely Howard. Speak away. He's interrupting me every single time. I know, I get it. What is the true
035cost of the red program? How much are the salaries benefits? Supplies, food and transportation? How's the rent program meeting the needs of all students? Do you plan to grow the program? So we can get more help as needed? Yep. So I just want to speak to that the direct program. this year was a pilot. It it was into uh it was a in response to the data that we looked at but also for the town halls and you attended 1 of those, I appreciate you for coming there. And so what was the will of the end of the community and it was the an investment from the administration to provide the access. So what we're doing this year is we're studying the red program. We're looking at the areas that were deficient in the areas
036that were strong in and then we're revising the program for the future. So it's a it's a living and bringing breathing thing. It's it's it's we're studying and learning and then we're hoping to expand. That's the goal for for, uh, next year. And, and the reason for that question is because I know there's been a lot of, um, talk within the budget where it's busting or, you know, Administration or whatever, the case may be, where they need. extra funding for the program but it doesn't outline how much we actually investing into it and and how we're being a catalyst to actually move it forward because I know in the December meeting, you had a concern for budgeting and funding for the program so that's why I was asking that question. Thank you for your answer
037on that. Um, as far as, uh, what staff are we hiring for the new engagement Department? Uh, what are the total cost for the new Department? That's a yeah, question. So we're looking to hire. I it's about 2, Admirals. And the dollar amount, I'd have to look and I'll get back to you 3, 3. So we're looking for a to to start there with that department. Okay, awesome. Appreciate it. For school, safety. Will you be hiring more security Personnel in the past? There was a higher rate of employees coming out of Corrections or police. Will you go back to that? Uh I I don't think that that's pertinent for this. We're just talking about the spending plan. That's an operational question. All right. Um, this year, you will be moving 11.3 million in the fund
038balance, almost 13 million, uh, the year prior and 1.7 million in, ER, ERS reserves. There's a limited amount of fund balance available. What is the long range plan to have these funds balance to balance out the budget? So that's the question that we will discuss at a later meeting. We discussed the reserve plan with the with the board. Okay. Awesome. It's in draft right now. Awesome. Thank you Athletics. Looks like a, a smaller increase. Um, I I don't know how that could be with the coaches raises and supplies. Like with the supply cost and the funding. That was interesting. So it's addressed in the uh yeah, it's in. It's in the okay. Um, can you explain, uh, the budget line transfers to Capital and transfers to funding? What are they paying with? I noticed last
039month. You uh, we keep making transfers. From the transfer to Capital line but never expense anything from it. What is that used for? So um, we're talking about, this is the purpose of this meeting is for the 2526 budget. Yeah. What I, I just want to just say generally, I haven't worked with districts in New York City, Buffalo Rochester to have. It also worked in New Hampshire budget transfers within a budget. That's normal activity within a budget. You, of course, you want to limit it as much because remember, we're predicting months ahead. So that's, that's normal activity. However, um, with that being said, we're focused on the 2526 and it's just the overall spending plan. Got you now similar to business and you notice things might change. You had the money for the towels, but
040now you need more ink you, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah yeah. Yeah, yeah. And, and, and the only reason why I I asked that question. Question because I know there's been a lot of meetings where we're saying the coding's wrong. So I didn't know how those budget transfers could affect future spending. So that's the only reason why I asked that. I I believe in the, uh, FAQ that we sent out. that you received a copy of, um, it's the second item. In there. Okay, that talks about budget coding. Yeah, okay, so if you'd like me to read it to you, I'm happy to do that. Yeah, I'm sure I can read it, okay. Um, let's see. Um, what measures are in place to reduce the health care cost to all employees? I believe
041that that is addressed on page. Uh page 7. All right. Awesome. I appreciate it. Thank you for your time, guys. Thank you, Mr. Well, thanks for coming in. Is there anyone else? That'd like to ask any questions? Or make any comments. Okay, I'm going to close the uh, I'm going to close the budget hearing and I need a motion to adjourn the meeting. All in favor.