Board of Education Meeting — February 2, 2026

001All right. Good evening, everyone. Um, we need to come back out of executive. Do we need to move or are we just good? >> We're good. >> Okay. All right. Welcome everyone. We're here for our February 2nd, 2026 board meeting. Um, I am serving as the president tonight. Uh, Rachel Gilker and Rob Samson could not be with us. Um, and I'm the next longest tenure board member. Um, so you'll have to suffer through me tonight. Um, we did have a executive session from 6:15 to 7:00 p.m. uh for the reason indicated on the agenda. And we'll move to the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All

002right. Uh, roll call of the trustees. Uh, as I mentioned, Rachel and Rob could not be here this evening. Um, next we'll move to the good of the order. Board discussion. Any board members have anything they'd like to discuss? Okay. Great. All right. We'll move to the opportunity for the public to be heard. Um, if any member of the public would like to come forward, seeing none, we'll move to uh item 3.1, which is our long range financial planning presentation. Um, can you tell us your name and then you're welcome to take the podium? >> Good evening. Uh, my name is Jason Schwarz. I'm the, uh, president of Donigan Incorporated, uh, the district's financial adviserss. Um, so we are here again for the second year now doing the long range financial plan update for the

003district. So, um, I think everybody should have electronic copies we sent around, but if anybody would like a hard copy, I do have a few of those as well. Uh, just let me know. Okay. Um, so if not, then we can uh jump into the plan itself. So, >> your clicker for the night. >> Sounds good. If you want to uh flip past the table of contents right there. Perfect. Um so just as a a refresher from last year kind of the starting point of you know what is a long range plan and why do we do it. Uh so essentially we we want to take a look at you know kind of how our results have been going the last few years and then make some projections based on the information we have at

004this time for you know what we see over the next 5 years in terms of trends uh with revenues and expenditures and fund balance use. uh kind of looking at expenditure commitments we're making in terms of um you know contracts or long-term commitments, capital programs we're bringing on, things like that and see how that all plays in uh in terms of you know the financial health of the district moving forward. Uh and then you know make educated decisions based off of that. Um one important thing is long-range plans are obviously not static documents. That's why we like to update them each year because a lot can change year to year in terms of projections, new initiatives or mandates from the state, things like that. Um, so it's good to always kind of get an update

005and see where things are currently. And then one key distinction we always like to make is that this is not uh your budget, right? It's uh it's a good useful tool in making decisions for your budget. Um, but we're not uh expecting you to take these numbers that are in the report tonight and then just drop that into your budget as you work through that over the next couple months. Uh obviously your budget needs to be a little bit more conservative um since you don't know what's going to happen during the year. This is trying to really hone in on what we actually expect to happen uh for to guide those decisions that you make in terms of bigger picture decisions with the budget. Uh so flipping to the next page. Uh we always like

006to start before we get into the projections themselves with just an update on capital. You know this this is a big piece of what we do with the district in terms of managing the capital projects, doing the borrowings and state aid forms. Uh, and this is important because it's, you know, one part of your budget, you know, one of the three parts of of the three-part budget, as well as a big piece of your capital, uh, tax cap, the capital exclusion and how you manage that. Uh, so just give you a few updates from where we are from last year when we were here. So, uh, the $25 million project continues to proceed forward. We're, uh, moving on with that. Uh, this past December, just about a month ago, we filed the final cost reports

007for phase one of that, the transportation facility. uh which was uh just over $11 million. So that's a you know a good chunk of the project has now been completely wrapped up and closed out. >> Can I just clarify that? Just want to make sure. So when did we file for that? >> Uh in December 30th, >> right? So any state runs that they utilize for expense based aids were in November. >> Correct. >> So that way our expense based aid data that was given to us in the state aid runs just for the board to understand this. It's not going to show that right now. >> Right. >> So >> yeah. So that the governor's budgets are always anytime you're kind of in the middle of a project is notorious for being off >>

008and that's very important for when we do our budget presentation later that you understand that now that it's going to be different and we based also our ours off of the governor's one. So just to be very clear on that. >> Yep. So >> uh and then in terms of phase two that is ongoing with the expectation that by this time next year by December 26 that we will wrap that up uh and the project will be pretty well done. Uh in terms of the borrowings, uh you can see anything that's shaded in on there is what has already happened. So on the on the far left, you have the capital reserve, kind of that seed money you had to start the project, and then the two pink boxes are the short-term financing, the bond

009anticipation notes that you've done the last two years. Uh and then we are now kind of getting to the end of spending that original 12 million that we borrowed. Uh so we're in the process of that unshaded pink box. We're in the process of this spring uh doing another note to help pay for some of that construction on phase two as that continues through the spring into the summer. And then as it stands right now, the current plan is to put that into permanent financing into bonds, the blue box there, uh this summer and June of 25 or sorry, June 26 already into that year, right? Um unless there's any reason why we're not ready to. So we'll have that evaluation this spring, but currently that is the plan. So by this time next year

010when we're doing uh an update, this project should be uh essentially pretty much wrapped up uh from what we currently expect. >> Can I ask going back to the state aid runs? I think you have in here right a projection of building aid. >> Does it take into account I think it does the completion of project. Yes, I think that's what Frank was clarifying is that our projections and assume that aid is coming since you have filed those finals versus anything that looks at the governor's numbers would not include that yet. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Okay. Uh going to the next page. Uh just a quick update on the other open project you had was the energy performance uh contract. So at this point um that project is pretty well along. So since we were

011here last year, we did the financing for that. Uh so that's a lease financing a little different than notes and bonds but that was done in May of 25. Uh so on the financing end that is all fully um closed and funded and you got a 3.99 which is a pretty good rate on a lease. Lease rates are typically a little higher than notes and bonds. So that's a very uh strong rate that you got on that. And then the final cost reports were just filed for that as well. Uh for which uh the aid will start for that for a half year in the current year because those were not due until June. So you're well ahead of you know when you had to get those ones in for that aid to start flowing

012also. Okay. On the next page, I know that a lot on here. Um this is kind of the the projection out of all existing and projected debt for the $25 million project. really the the key that we're focusing on here that you know all the different pieces are there with the bonds, the energy performance contracts, the $100,000 capital outlay projects you do. Uh but that far right hand column, column L is what we really focus on. That's that local share, the the tax levy uh and what goes into your capital exclusion. So, uh, you'll see we had the increase in the current year, 2526 from your previous, which aligned with what, uh, was told to the voters in the, uh, pre-referendum process of the $25 million project. So, we've taken that increase, and now you

013can see going on to the future, we anticipate just staying at that level, uh, being able to keep that, uh, local share nice and consistent going forward. Uh, and then out in the future, uh, a ways, there are some drops further out. So, you know, one thing as you kind of go through uh the next few years here is any planning for capital projects. There's no immediate drop off in existing debt. Um so, plan for capital projects, capital reserve will be important for that if you want to be able to uh try to get any additional work done with no additional tax increase needed. Uh and then as well as kind of taking that long-term look, we can start to plan a few years out for when those future drop offs are from existing debt

014um to plan to uh take advantage of those as well uh with other projects later on down the road. >> So, one one of the things we've talked about is that the $100,000 doesn't go as far as it used to. Mhm. >> So, do you have any recommendations as far as like when would be a good time for us to increase that amount based on the projections? >> Increase the 100,000. So, that the problem with the 100,000 is that's a very specific type of project that you can only do >> Yeah. So, the problem is Can I just take it real quick? >> Yeah. >> It's an expense base. So, you're only allowed $100,000 to get the expense base. So, we could add more money to that, but we're not going to get the capital.

015>> We're not going to get the aid back. >> Yeah. Right. You could you could do a larger cash project, but the A would come back over 15 years instead of all in the next year, which is the benefit of the $100,000 projects. >> I know that there's been a lot of conversations to lobby to get that up. >> Yeah. >> I don't know if that's going to happen anytime soon, but that >> Yeah. >> Um >> Yeah. All right. So, that's where we need to focus is our advocacy efforts on the >> 100K. All right. >> 250. >> Okay. Sorry. Go ahead. >> No problem. And then the other thing that we've kind of uh talked a little bit about with Frank Colleen is, you know, there is still some conservatism in these numbers,

016you know, in terms of what we're projecting for the bond on the 25 million. So, you know, after this summer will be a good time to kind of further evaluate where you currently stand and what capital needs you might have for the future because we'll kind of know where all the the pieces are shaking out at that point. So that's uh something to kind of keep in mind for you know the fall or next year as you get through you know building condition survey and reviewing your facilities plans and all that and then we can kind of start to look at what opportunities there are for the future for the next project and the next needs. Okay. Uh the next page is just uh kind of graphically showing that same you know what we were

017just talking about. had the increase last year which was that you know 2 and a half% increase that we told the voters and now we're just kind of staying nice and flat out into the future and where you do start to see the drop offs further out that's where we'd have you know additional opportunities in the future for more planning for projects with minimal impact. So then going to the next page talking about buses real quick. Um so on here you can see again the shaded in boxes are the um bus propositions you've done the past few years. We do also have on the top there uh an anticipated uh bus proposition for this upcoming May's vote uh with the expectation that we would be bonding some of that as well as using some of

018the uh reserve to help pay for uh a portion of the uh of an electric bus and some infrastructure associated with that. Uh so we're trying to use uh some of the reserve to basically make the EV buses have uh zero local share and then continue to leave some money in the reserve for future uh EV if needed. Um and then also having uh the remainder of the bond would be for your typical diesel uh gas buses plus a transport vehicle I believe. Um and then on the next page is the summary of the buses. So really what we're trying to do there right now is just kind of maintain that steady local share it. uh when you look in the far right hand column in the mi uh like towards the middle there as

019you've kind of ramped up your purchases the last couple years trying to maintain that roughly 290 to 295,000 local share have a consistent level each year obviously as things shake out with all the uh news with the buses and everything that may have to change as we look at uh phasing in any requirements from the state but as of right now we're just kind of trying to keep status quo and maintain that level as best we And then we have just the summary bar chart for that one as well, which shows that kind of that level that we're trying to maintain and where you see it falling off in the out years. That's just because we haven't projected any additional buses beyond this 5-year plan that we're looking at. So as it goes out, you

020see it taper off. But if you continue to replace buses on your current schedule, that will just stay nice and level out into the future. Any questions on on that real quick? the capital update before we get into the long range plan projections. Okay. So, we turn from there then to starting to get into the the meat of the long range plan. So, we always like to start before we do the projections by taking a quick, you know, snapshot back at the past couple years, see how we've been doing as a district. So, this is the your fund balance levels at the end of each of the last three years. So you can see uh we've generally had some increasing levels uh and that's what we like to see you know kind of see it

021are there any alarming trends from where we've already been at in terms of deficits. One thing I'll point out you'll see it better on a slide uh towards the end of the report is you did have a what appears to be a draw down on fund balance in 2025. Uh but that's kind of really just because of a planned use of the capital reserve related to the $25 million project. So uh on the later page you'll see while it looks like it's a draw down of fund balance if you take you know kind of remove that variable you actually had an you know what would have been an operating surplus like in the other years. So that's a a good thing to point out and and notice in terms of kind of the good uh

022strong positions you've been in the past couple years. Uh going to the next page. So now we start taking a look at those five-year projections onto the future. Uh we'll talk about the revenue picture in total in a second, but we start by kind of stripping out state aid separately just because there's so many things that go into that. You know, like Frank was saying earlier, the expense-based aids, right? All these pieces. Uh so just a couple things to point out here. Uh the top line there, foundation aid. So we have the actual numbers uh for the last two years plus what the governor just released for the 2627 estimates right now. Uh and then going forward into the future, we're projecting a 1% increase or sorry 2% increase in foundation aid each year. Uh

023which is kind of a good middle ground. You know, this year it was a guaranteed minimum of 1% for all districts. Uh or if you were, you know, not on formula, you could get more than that. Uh traditionally, it's been somewhere between that and 3 or 4%. So 2%'s kind of right in the middle there. Uh, also on the bottom page, the bottom three rows, uh, building a, capital outlay, and bus aid. These numbers, uh, we're not holding steady. We're pulling these from those projections we just ran through at the beginning of the report. Right? So, as we know, some of these projects are going to be coming on. Uh, we're projecting that aid out based on, uh, those projections as well. And then all the other categories in there we've uh kept essentially flat

024assuming that if you continue to have similar uh purchasing amounts of those expense based aids that you will also continue to receive similar amounts of aid for those. So then going to the next page looking at the revenue picture in general um what we have assumed for here in terms of taxes is in that blue line across the top of the page we're assuming you're going to go right out to your tax cap. uh which we have a page later in the report showing how we're getting to those assumptions. One thing that's important to kind of introduce is a a concept tonight and then you may have to you know talk about it throughout this year leading into next year's presentation and budget. You see in the second column over there 2028 you have the

025a negative number that we've highlighted in red there. So that is associated with the anticipation of the uh Champlain Hudson Power Express I think it is right uh pilot coming on. So you see right below the dash boxes you see that other tax items jumping up from 210 to 1.8 million. So that's a a rather large pilot that we're expecting to come on the books possibly next year. Uh which has a negative impact on the tax cap. Um I think there has been you know speaking of advocacy there has been some advocacy for the impact of pilots and negative tax caps on districts. Uh but as of now there's no changes to the formula. So that is something that would be an interesting conversation to have of you know do you cut your tax levy

026because the formula requires it or you know do you potentially try to go for a 0% tax levy in that year and override the cap which could help you know further your operating surpluses but requires a supermajority. So the projections here tonight assume we go true to cap. Um so no supermajorities needed. Uh but we can kind of talk in a minute when we get to the fund balance page about you know if you went for zero what that could mean in terms of impacts to the future years of this projections. >> Can I just take one second just to clarify what you just said because I think it's I think it's very important kind of interesting. >> We need a supermajority to go over the tax cap. And usually people think well if your

027tax cap is 2.5 and you want to go out at five you need a supermajority. But if your tax cap is negative -3 and you want to go out at zero >> then you or even negative one. >> Yep. you still need a supermajority for that. So I find that kind of funny. >> Y >> because it's that tax cap rule though, right? So it's not just when you want to go over it to extend beyond. It's to actually create so you don't have a deficit in future years. >> Correct. >> Huge. Right. >> Huge. >> Because that if that went down that would >> for your contingent budget would be different, >> right? No, but it would be it would affect. >> Yeah. because we'll be we'll have a lower base for the next

028year's calculations. >> Exactly. So you need to really understand that. So that is a really important one. I appreciate that opportunity just to explain tax cap because yep usually people think about it in multiple ways but never at a zero. >> Right. Right. Because there's that you know miser 2% tax cap right. Everybody always thinks of the two, but you know, for a number of reasons, it can change. And when you have a a large pilot coming on like that, you're already seeing it a little bit, you know, this coming year where we're anticipating a slightly lower number at the 2.3 versus those out years closer to the 3 and a half. Uh because you have some smaller pilots coming on in the upcoming year, but then you're really seeing the impact when that bigger

029uh Champlain pilot comes on the following year. So, so just to reiterate, the this plan tonight that we're talking about assumes no tax cap overrides, just going right to the cap. So, it does show that decrease in the taxes in 2028, uh, which can be further, you know, talked about later on. Uh, other than the the pilots, which we've already covered, really the only other kind of thing to point out here on the revenues, the, uh, use of money and property, uh, we're projecting just a little lower than you've had the last couple years. That's primarily interest earning. So again, as the Fed has been cutting rates a little, just assuming that you're still making more than you did a couple years ago when there was nothing when you're making 0.1 in the bank, but

030uh kind of pulling that revenue back a little bit for the future years uh just based on projections. And then one kind of last thing to point out here on the revenues in that bottom right hand corner, you see the average change is 3.2%. So if you just kind of keep that in mind as we flip to the expense page because it kind of helps with the overall story of you know the difficulties that schools face in financial planning. So when we get to the expense page you know we've got a very you know highle summarize look at your budget we've worked with Colleen and Frank to you know come up with some assumptions based on what we know for uh contracts or historical averages for insuranceances things like that. So that's how we're getting

031to these projections. And then the other big variable in here is that uh debt for the 25 million coming fully online. Um so when we factor in all those things, you can see at the bottom right hand of the expense page, you're up at almost 6.68% increase, right? So that's as we get to the fund balance page in a minute on the next page, you'll see kind of the impact of when your expenses outpace your revenues, you know, what that does to your bottom line. It's a a very common situation that all school districts in New York State face. you know, you have uh a lot of costs that are out of your control in terms of labor, insurance, benefits, things like that. Um, while you're kind of restricted on the revenue side with the

032tax cap on your tax levy and state aid being out of your control. So, uh, kind of talking about the impacts of that as we get to the fund balance page. So on this page here uh on the first column to the left, this is where uh going back to that fund balance page that we were looking at at the start of the projection. So this is where you can really see what we were talking about that it you know it looked like you had a million dollar deficit last year on paper but when you take out that uh transfer from capital reserve to capital fund which was a planned uh draw down. If you take that out then your actual operating surplus would have been about 1.3 million which is you know close to

033in line with the prior year. So that's a good starting position that you're in. You're, you know, have a good healthy budget right now. And then you can see as we kind of come into this year about halfway through we're projecting still a surplus but slightly lower than that. And then as we get into the out years and you see that number turning red, that's where that impact of the 6.6% increase on expenses but lower growth in revenues comes on. You know, as you go out, you'll see that, you know, it's in the red. It kind of grows over time. But when you look at the bottom line with the fund balance on the bottom half of the page, the good news is you're in a good position from, you know, what you've done over

034the last couple years and being able to fund reserves and build those up. Um, that we have some room in that financial picture to absorb those deficits without going red overall until the last year of this report. Uh, which that's a good sign when we have that. We see, you know, some districts have that case. some districts the reds come in in a year or so from now if they haven't kind of gotten in those strong healthy positions to start. So, you know, the good news is it's further out, but it's always still a good, you know, eye opening exercise doing these long range plans to make sure that we're still continuing to make, you know, uh, strong, sound financial decisions each year so that we don't accelerate, you know, some of the hard decisions

035if we get to them later depending on what happens with aid or other, uh, mandates or decisions. So, um, >> so that's where we're kind of at. And one thing, uh, back to that pilot discussion, we did just kind of like to give some idea or context of like the difference between going to that negative cap or just going for a zero. If you went for zero in 2028 and were able to get it, that would pretty much clear up that entire red number in that outy year from that, you know, not reducing that tax revenue that you're collecting. So, just something to keep in context. We can certainly do further evaluation of that, you know, between now and next year as you're kind of deciding on next year's budget. But that was just a

036quick rough calculation that red kind of cleared up and you were about to break even for the five years if we didn't go uh take that cut in 2028. >> And and Jason, does the fund balance estimate assume that those numbers stay constant over the life of the plan? Like not that we're adding to our fund balance, >> right? This would not assume any adding to the fund balance because it's projecting deficits in all the outy years. So it's uh not the projections are that you wouldn't be able to add anything to your reserves and you would actually start to kind of draw on them a little bit >> as you go through. So we're not we're not showing the draw down of the reserves because we can't project in any given year how much

037of any given reserve you could use just doing this kind of highle analysis. But where you see the unassigned fund balance go to the red, you wouldn't let that go to the red. you start drawing down on those reserves you've been able to put away uh to keep that unassigned in in the positive as you drew down the overall fund balance. >> Yeah. But to the extent we have surplus in this year, next year, we could avoid those draw downs of the fund balance. >> Yep. Yeah. So you'll see in the 2026 year where we still have that um surplus, when you look at the bottom, you see we're drop just dropping into unassigned right now. So at the end of the year, you'll probably take a look, see if you're over your 4% with

038that, you know, 800,000 coming in, then you could fund some further reserves. If you had the deficits in the out years, you'd have to draw down. But this is, you know, still a a a realistic but conservative projection. So especially in the first year or two, there's the chance that maybe it turns out a little better and you would have some of those surplus funds to continue funding reserves. Jason, just a clarifying question. Does that fund balance also include offsetting budget? So using some of that money to offset the budget or less tax? >> Yes. So that would be the assigned appropriated >> row there. So we've kept that constant going >> forward 18 is what we're looking at which was higher than previous years. >> Right. So if you scaled that back that could

039also drop in other categories. >> Did you have a question about pilots? No, I just wonder if those were the two. >> Yeah, I just want to clarify loudly for everyone. Kathy asked the pilots we have the two big ones is Atlas Copco and then the one that you're talking about. Those are the two larger. We do have a solar pilot. Correct. >> Tell us about solar. >> Yeah. Which is very small in comparison. >> But Atlas Copco and the other one be the ones that >> great to have the revenue but just that pilot hit is hard. >> Right. So that's the the first discussion is when it comes on what do you do with that you know negative number and then years from now when if those pilots were to expire not be

040renewed then there'll be another conversation about what do you do as those properties roll on to the tax roles >> and they can go to 2.5 or 3 million with that one. So that would definitely be a huge hit to the district 20 years later. >> Yep. >> Okay. So then if we go to the next page this is the tax cap sheet. are just kind of showing the uh the math of how we're getting to those numbers for how we're doing the tax cap. So, we don't have to run through all the specifics, but you can see uh really the key thing is in the middle of the page there, the boxed thin line that we're this plan shows no supermajorities needed, that we're just going to the cap. Uh and also in the

041in the bottom row where the red is showing that we're not leaving anything on the table. We are going right to the cap, not staying under at 2% or 1% or anything like that. And to that point, the next page just shows kind of, you know, the con. This is a a common thing we'll talk to a lot of districts about is just the impact of going through the cap and what happens if you don't. So, you know, when we talk about those fund balances and the draw downs, again, a big piece of that is when you go to the cap, we're kind of maximizing our revenues to really keep that gap between the revenues and expenses as small as possible. if we don't do that. So this page here, what this is showing is

042the difference in tax revenue collected if you go to the maximum cap versus if we only go at um 2% each year. Uh and this even assumes the 2% in 2728, which would require an override. So even, you know, that year you may not do that. Um but if we were to go at 2% flat across the board instead of what we're allowed to do, the difference in uh tax levy collected is 2.6 6 million. So if you went at just flat two every year instead of what we're projecting in this plan of going right to the cap, then that fund balance page when you go back to where that um 600,000 or sorry 6 million to the red on the last year and then kind of the second to last year barely clearing into

043a positive deficit. That's going to get even worse if you leave that 2 million on the table of you know uncollected revenues. So basically that outear turns into 8.2 2 million and you go red uh in 2030 as well. So it just kind of illustrates you know when you talk in percentages sometimes it doesn't sound like a big impact if you go at you know two versus two and a quarter but you know when you get that compounding impact is starting at a lower spot each year and not collecting that all you know over 5 years it adds up to 2.6 million that you know small percentage difference. So, uh, a big piece of the the financial planning, continuing to keep those deficits, you know, out in the future or as small as possible if

044they were to hit. So, that is the the update for this year. Any questions on any of the the projections themselves that we didn't you already asked a few as we were kind of going along there. >> Have you seen other districts come in at a 0% cap and request an override as opposed to go negative? >> Mhm. And have they passed? >> It's been a mix, right? I mean, it's always hard to get the supermajority. Like that's when you look at the statistics, the districts that stay within the cap, it's almost a rubber stamp that your budget's going to pass. It very rarely goes down when it only requires the simple majority. The super majority, it's more of a mixed bag, but we definitely have seen more districts able to get supermajorities passed in

045recent years. Um, so I think messaging's gotten better around that. Uh, and I think there has been some success with that, the messaging specifically around, hey, we're going at 0%. So, even though it requires a supermajority, we're not even asking you for more taxes. So, it's I mean, it certainly makes it harder, right? It's a bigger number you have to clear, but we've definitely seen some districts be able to do that successfully uh with that messaging out there. Some of them have had to do it because of the capital exclusion instead of the pilots and managing that. But >> uh when you get out ahead of it, it certainly gives you a better chance at being able to do that. >> Great. >> Anyone else have questions? >> No. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> All

046right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome to stay, but you don't have to. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> All right. Next up, this is a heavy uh finance night. Um we have the budget presentation. >> Yeah. So, Colleen and I are going to give the budget presentation. Um so, I just want to clarify. So when we walk through this, we kind of giving you examples of it. We talked about the long range plan. Now, when we did this and when we started this process, again, we just finalized the long range plan on Friday. Governor's runs came out just recently. We used a governor's run. That's what we should always do. So that's what we're basing this off of, but we gave you caveats on it so we can see. And again, this

047is very early in the budget process. I want to clarify like this is the steps that we take first. This is our first run. our second budget really hones in closer understanding where we're going to be and so by then March wait is March by April we really have a very clear understanding of what we can and cannot do. Um but tonight is the widespread based on the executive budget which as Jason said didn't have the expense based aids >> in that because of the exclusions that we did for substantial completion of the transportation project clarifying that before we begin. Come on up. Did I did I get that right? >> You took the wind out of my sales. I'm sorry. I said we would do this together. I'll hit the first couple slides. So,

048this is what we always have. It's our vision statement, our mission statement, and then our goal statements that we have for the district. I mean, I went over them last time. It's already 7:35, so no one's opposed. I'm going to skip those, but I could keep them in. So, and now to Colleen, we're going to go over the executive budget highlights. So, this is what the governor's budget has, not specifically what impacts us, >> right? It's the New York State overall budget. So, it gives you an idea. So, the New York State budget gives you an idea of those influences that are affecting not only us but everybody um throughout New York State. So, you've probably seen the governor speak about her enacted budget um with comparison to last year. It has improved um with

049that New York State school aid um it had an eight increase of a little over 1.3 million which is 3.6. that 3.6 um equates to a little that includes your expense based aids as well. So it takes all aids in factor. Of those tire aids, 779,000 of that is foundation aid of 2.96. Typical foundation aid increases for those districts that are held harmless are only 1%. So there's really not much of a margin in there. So when you really look at the 2.96 to 1% there's not much there. Um so you know how the trending foundation aid is going. So our aid runs right now um a majority of the state aid runs when we talked about that building aid there's a number of school districts not just us that submitted those final cost reports.

050So those aid runs that are out there right now in New York State there's about what she's expecting is about $170 million in additional building aid that will be reflected When the enacted budget comes out, >> do we get Sorry. >> Is that timing? >> Do we get updated rungs? Do they update them before the budget comes out or that's >> No. So's going to have to do a very [clears throat] good job of projections. >> Got it. Yes. Um, >> hence the reason why we didn't want to do that now because we want to give us the time to really work into it and talk to Bernie, make sure that they have our projections right, >> and then we want to look at all of the plans that are on it and making sure

051that they're all actually for completion because there could be discrepancies until we know exactly how much money we get back. >> Yeah. >> So, typically they rely on your February 15th database. So the reason we got our final cost reports in is to make sure that we had time to lot it so that we'll roll it into that February 15th. >> We want to build a >> Yeah. Y >> which is what the state aids are based on. So the one big shift that you you've heard the governor speak about is that notable shift of um um early childhood education. So when you take that shift, she obviously needs to get money from other sources. It's now up to over um 1.32 million which is that full day conversion aid and UPK aid or 40.32

052increase over last year and what she's planning on doing. So for us as another issue with the executive budget highlights foundation a um changes the current law um changes over last year the CPI is right now in the enacted budget is showing a 2.8 8 increase um in the executive budget, excuse me. Um but they're trending to say that it's going to be more 2.7. So when you change the CPI, typically even if it's a 0.1% that affects foundation aid formulas. So we may see a slight change in foundation aid it may be minimal, but that 0.1 believe it or not does make a a change in when you're looking at your formulas and your foundation aid. Other changes we just talked about is that 1% minimum increase. So if you think about last year,

053that minimum increase for those hold harmless schools was 2%. So she essentially cut that in half, which is very hard for districts that are struggling as it is on the hold harmless. That's that big shift in that strategic um that's a strategic shift in that foundation aid. Boysville, fortunately, is no longer a hold harmless. Um our enrollment changes and some of our wealth measure measures were positive. Our wealth measures dropped. It may not be good as a district, but it helps us on the converse side by giving us a little bit more aid. Um, what's reflected right now in our aid runs is 2.82 increase, which is great when you consider 2% last year or what >> or 1% this year, right? So, we're very >> So, we're almost double. So, right now, our budget

054for foundation need is a little over 167,000. So expense based dates as far as the governor's proposal this has been a target for many years again it's remained untouched they're not touching it there's no changes proposed any in decreases on aid runs um are data driven so any of the expenses and that flows into that February database will be reflected we don't foresee anything unless we wanted to put let's say we found an aid that textbook aid or other that we wanted to make sure or our enrollment if we saw a spike in enrollment we can put that into state aid and by the February database we hope it be reflected we don't see foresee any of those changes so as we just mentioned that current executive run is based on everything that was populated

055in November days November database so essentially all your um annual ST3 filings that's what gets populated in November database and pulls out for us >> and just so people know is when this comes out the state aid runs come out the day after Martin Luther King Day. So the 20th. >> Yeah. >> So we just get these on the 20th and then you have to build your budget based off of that. So just you know so you understand how this is all working. I'll take the next stop. >> Sure. >> Perfect. Uh universal prek. Um so the district's current UB funding is $5,400 per student. I know there's been a lot of talk uh that the governor is increasing that. And then our state aid runs it does show an increase. So it it shows

056an increase of $10,000 per student towing 22 students. So it shows an aid increase of $220,000. Previously, it was $386,000 for $5,400 per student. So, kind of a decrease in the aid run in that regard, but it doesn't matter because you have to have a UPK program in order to get that money. If you don't have a UPK program, that money goes back into the pile for the state. We cannot use it. Um, we did put out an RFP. Uh, the RFP is kind of convoluted because I can't say it's $10,000 because that's an executive proposal and it has to be agreed upon through the April 1 budget. So, I have to just say it's out there. It's currently $5,400, but it could be 10 grand. We really don't know the answer yet. Um, and

057one thing I think that's really important to understand is in the governance governor's proposal is that in the 2829 school year, the money that you get is the money you get. in 2820 and 29 they say if you have students who want to be in a UPK program you have to pay for it out of your general fund you're not getting any more increases from that per pupil allocation so they're saying that we'll give you this first starter but after that it has to become general fund components now it's unmandated still but they're looking at mandating that great so that's a lot of the conversations that are being had so that's something that I don't think is always publicized as well but there is that little caveat in there that districts will have to take

058on that burden without the increase. >> So, >> are there even enough providers of EPK? >> Well, at that money, yes. I think $10,000 per student, I mean, that's something you could look at potentially bringing in house. At $10,000, that is that is pretty strong. Again, the problem with that is it's strong for the first two or three years and then as your labor increases, all the other issues increase, you're going to eventually put in general fund money. Any district that's had UPK for a long term, they've been good for four or five years. Those money is stagnant. General fund comes in. And if you look at districts who have large UPK programs, they do offset the general fund money. And districts like ours that are not or high high wealth or moderate wealth, we're

059not getting tons of aid other places. So then you have to make those very difficult decisions of what do you give and what do you take from that to be able to offset that. So, and that was that decision that we had last year to not offset general fund money. Hence the reason we lost that UPK program. So, it's there, but I just know that it's a lot to understand. So, any questions on the UPK? >> RFP RFP is a request for proposal. >> So, one of our UPK concerns with bringing it in house was always space. >> Correct. >> Does the elementary school project help with creating space? >> There would be space to be able to allow it based on current enrollment trends. That would be great. >> Yeah. >> I wouldn't say

060for next year I think Mr. Beenzi would have a >> a heart attack. >> Yes. >> But in years down the road it is is something [clears throat] that we could look at to see if it would be a viable option. >> But again, let's say this was a question that was asked. You have it in house. You have 22 students in a class. You have two more students who want that. Based on the governor's proposal, you would have to then contract with the CBO and pay for that. So >> sounds unworkable. >> So that's where we currently are at. >> So basically what Jason touched on too, I mean when we talk about expense based aids, what they've been also been trying and I think they're I think this is actually going to go

061through there's a number of school districts that filed late filings for expense based aid and they're sitting in the prior year adjustments queue. I really feel that this year it's going to be the year that they're going to wipe that out. So if somebody has 300 400,000, it usually took about 18 years to get funded on those prior year adjustments, but because it's taking so long, I think she's finally going to get this through. So if anybody has We don't I look to see if we had any prior year. [laughter] I looked, we don't have anything, but I know of districts that have balances out there um that if she pushes through, they have no chance in getting it. Most districts will never see that 80 because previously it was like 18 years before you

062can get your prior year. So, but I think that is one thing that's definitely going to go through. >> Take the next bullet. >> So, zero emission bus, it's still there where we have to only buy zero emission electric buses by 2027. So, that is the current thing. There's a waiver right now for districts to be able to do so, but it's based off of your use plan. Our use plan shows that 50% of our routes could still be done by electric buses. So, I can't see us actually getting that waiver because it shows that we could still do it based off of what we have. >> Yeah. >> Um there's been a lot of conversation out there about changing it, pushing it back, having hybrid buses. It's still a key point. I know that

063the legislators I've spoken to, I know Senator Fehee, Assembly Member McDonald, Assembly Member Romero, they've all talked about supporting that. It's I don't believe it's ever going away. I want to like I've heard that from every single legislator I've spoken to. It's not going away, but I think they're going to soften the treadm. >> We still have to buy it, >> right? >> It's still out there. It's still there. By 2027, we're supposed to buy and by 2020 32 or >> 20 35 >> 35 off. >> Um it says your full fleet has to be electrified. That's the current regulation. That would be a daunting task for us at this moment considering 50% of our fleet wouldn't be able to meet the needs of our students, the school population. >> The waiver allowed So in

0642027 is your last year that you can buy a diesel bus any purchases. So if you want the waiver and you can't outfit your fleet, that waiver allows you to go ahead and get the aid on a diesel bus if you wanted it. We're not doing it this year because we are buying, but it may be applicable in the next couple years >> if they allow the waiver to continue. >> Correct. Correct. Um and the one big item that everybody is advocating for is obviously the out some they did make some progress with the foundation need formula last year, but it still doesn't um it still doesn't reach where it should be. um the capital outlay as we talked that 100,000 for as long as I've known 15 18 years has been out there. We

065know it doesn't cover cost. It would be nice. There's been advocacy efforts but they keep kind of just pushing it down the road. >> So, as you know, we've been doing this for a while. We've had all these conversations. We've looked at our budget priorities. We looked at all the proposals. And then we get to state aid runs. And then we now we have to really start looking at is where are our potential gaps? What how does our expenses and revenues line up? And you know it always comes down to the first one where it's like oh my gosh how are we going to do this right? The first one comes out saying what could this be? And without the expense based aids built into it it's a little bit scarier. Um, you know, I

066think no matter what, I think there's still going to be a deficit between expenses and revenues just because of the fact that if you look at what we do and what we have, we're getting $160,000 if we're lucky through foundation aid. We can only get $550,000 for our tax cap. So, you're looking at $700,000 yet you're seeing increases in health insurance, cost of living, and all these other components that are going to outrun that, right? So that is going to be something we have to, you know, always contend with as a high wealth and modern wealth district is you're going to constantly see this battle. Um, so I'm going to just kind of run through a couple of these things and then we'll get right to the meat and potatoes if that's all right. >>

067So we're always looking at balance meetings and you know making sure that we have that. >> Here's what we always start with. We start with our first draft which is our rollover. We take all of our expenditures from last year with minimal changes or no changes and we say if we do exactly what we did last year knowing what we've already done what would it look like and that assumes everything and then our revenues and our expenses are projected and we use historical and data trends. So it's it's it's always your rollover. It's not zero base it's rollover and components. So Colleen, >> okay, so as we we're going to be talking in in a couple slides and I don't want anybody to have sticker shock when they see our nurse first initial runs. The

068biggest thing you have to keep in in our expenses don't keep in pace with the aid that we're getting. They're the smallest aids and obviously if you just even look at our insurance that insurance is more than just even our foundation aid if not three times more. So when you have that foundation aid certainty those are big factors in play as we look at our expenses. So when we talk we just talked about the building a projection. So chapter 97 projects is a big there's a big difference in how the state looks at those. It used to be in prior years if you had a capital project and your your project was submitted to the state they would project aid based on that commissioner approval date. They no longer do that. So, they need to

069have a couple factors in order to start those building aid projections. You have to have um your final cost report submitted. You have to have your um certificate of substantial completion and one or two other things. But that's where we are now. So, when we did our um final cost reports in December, because the we all those um pieces were in play, it did not show up in our eight runs. So, it's a big I can see a certain part of it. I'm another part of the aid projected aid runs, but it's not in our current aid runs. Um, so that building aid what Jason showed were some of those factors of those final cost reports. It's a positive for us. Um, so other factors as we is inflation, property tax cap, inflation is well

070over 2% but we're capped at 2%. Um and you'll see and moving forward there's a big increase in our health insurance um and other benefits. So that plays in a big part and it's not just us, it's every school district that is dealing with that. So he's got Okay, thank you. So, our initial rollover budget when we just mentioned everything that we known as expenses and not changing anything, keeping staff, keeping programming, taking into fact some of those increases such as health insurance, our ERS and TRS rates, it was an increase of a little over $1.9 million, which is a little over 5.5%. When you look at that, it's keeping everything as we know now, but the biggest you saw the debt service. So de service as we had that capital project coming on but

071we also will have the corresponding building aid to help offset that ERS increases went up um little less than 1% TRS actually decreased but it actually decreased a little bit more because Friday afternoon they came out with the actual rate it's going to be 8.24%. So, that's a help. You know, I take everything as a every little bit as a win and that definitely helps us. Um, when you look at our benefits, our health insurance, our prescription is up 12%. CDPHP 10.45 and Highark a little over 14%. That is not something that I'm shocked to see. I've seen it happen in other districts and other areas I've been. We are actually when you look at the consortium we are one of the lucky ones at 4 point 14.75 some are as high as 20%. >>

072And the the high mark is the specialty drugs. >> They have all the different drug components in there but the thing that drove the high mark was the use of the specialty drugs. >> Okay. >> The high mark is also our our insurance. It's our one insurance provider and the CDPH. >> Got it. they are putting um and we'll have we're going to have a um benefit meeting with all our units. The one item that Highark is trying to do is to utilize it's called utilization management which will help hopefully in the future offset those. So this just provides you um and again this is preliminary. So right now we're looking at an increase of $1.9 million which is 5.51. those salaries that are projected are based on what we have in contracts right now

073and assumed projections for those that are expiring. So that could change. Um and then equipment is pretty much the same. Um it's pretty much the same just for minor um increases. Contractual again is all those items that are we know they're going to increase um based on just your regular um cost of living. debt service does have the increase again because of the um coming on of some of those bonds going into permanent finance and you'll see the biggest difference as we just talked about of 8% alone in your benefits >> can you explain utilization management for people who might not know what that means >> it's all behind the scenes so what happens what's happened in the past so you had a doctor that gave somebody I'm going to I'm going to give you

074worst case scenario This is what they provided to us, an oxycodone. So oxycodone should have only been a 30-day supply, but the doctor wrote it for 90 days. So what they're going to do is look at the legitim legitism, I can't say it right, of that prescription and then go back and talk to the doctor and say, really, do you is it really valid that they had that 90-day? Let's put it where it should be to 30 days. They're not taking away anything. They're just looking at to make sure the necessity of that prescription is meeting what your health needs are. So it's on the provider end not on the consumer end. >> Yes. Yes. >> All right. So revenues I gave you a comparison of 26 27 or 25 26 to what we are

075projecting for next year. So property tax we used a 4% increase. This will change um a little bit based on some of those projections that come in. So our building aid so building aid what I used and our property tax cap to offset our exclusion was 2 million. It may come in a little bit lower. it may come a little bit higher. So that could change that 4%. Just that was just used as our basis. So um our pilots, as Jason talked about, we have two new pilots, the smaller ones that are coming on this year, which is a help. Um so that came in at 204. We, as we know, moving forward, if those properties move into a taxable status, we'll see where we'll get that additional revenue. The key part is it has

076to move into taxable status. So if it's not finished, they feel it's going to be finished when I talk to Albony County, but if it's not finished, that could be moved back to another year. >> Just want to clarify the smaller of the two. So it's we have a solar and Atlas Copco. >> That's a pipeline. >> The pipeline is another year out. So it's we're not even see that for this year. So >> I just want to make sure no one gets confused by the pipeline, which is going to be really good for us in revenue, >> right? >> We may not see until next year. Unless that's not finished, then we might not see it for another year. So if it doesn't go >> truly bank on unfortunately >> right. >> So what

077overall when you look at our revenues it was a slight increase of a little over 3%. Um or 33 point >> Colleen just clarify really quick. >> Oh state aid >> we know that the property tax will probably go down >> because of the fact that the expense based aids will be going up which are capital exclusions. Correct. >> So knowing that with the state aid we we could possibly see our state aid go up. Yep. >> And that could be anywhere between a million to two million. >> Correct. >> Based off of how much revenue we get back. So that's where we want to clarify that. So when you're looking at our gap and our revenue, it could drastically change based on after we clarify saying exactly how much are we going to get

078off that, what's going to be bonded, how much of our capital projects are we going to see, and then what revenue we're going to see. So by March, we really should have a very firm understanding of that. It's just right now we're just trying to get our heads wrapped around it all. So >> that's exactly what's showing on the executive runs right now. >> So right now we're seeing worst case scenario based off of the executive budget runs that were sent out on the 20th. >> Correct. >> So >> okay. >> So if you look at what we have projected for revenues, which again is based on the governor's exe executive runs and what we have for expenses, there is a a gap of a little over $2.7 million. When you compare that to last

079year, it's an increase. So, think about it as a a static rollover budget. I know it's not doesn't sound good, but it was the difference of like 800,000. And that 800,000 is pretty much to me is like looking at your health insurance. We kept everything pretty much stagnant. No increases and a lot of the line items. Everything was stagnant. So, you already had a 1.9 last year. So, in order to balance that, you used um 726, and then you used 726,000 from reserves, which was the TRS um and ERS, and then you used 1.1 million of fund balance. So, Jason showed a 1.1 fund balance using that every single year. That's not something we can do. He used that as a just as a a stock app to show you there's no way that the

080district can maintain the 1.1 unless we're replenishing our fund balance with over a million dollars every year. So that's something conservative that we were looking at. So as we move forward there's a number of options that we're discussing obviously um cost containment procedures other items. So right now we're looking a little less than a million dollars to put back into fund balance this year. Hoping that will be higher >> and more I believe it will go a little higher because some of the aid from that we just submitted for final cost reports we will get some of that aid in 2526. >> So that'll help us with the fund balance. >> So we've talked before about um establishing new reserves. >> Yeah. So I think once we've got the the budget passes like we should

081have a conversation. We could do it in audit [clears throat] >> you know initially right. >> Yeah. >> Um >> I totally agree. I think what we have to do is we have to look at how much we're putting in to offset that and that's where we have to look at those cost containment strategies, right? What are we doing as a district and how are we looking at across the board, right? I mean, we're literally Kelly and I are going to be looking at every practice that we have and saying how do we maximize this? How do we minimize it? Is there, you know, is there anything we can do with this to truly understand these cost savings? Because you can't expect to do fund balance of 1.1 million. You're never going to get to

082a capital project. You're never going to get to those other components. So, we have to like, you know, make those decisions and go through it. Um, you know, again, it's going to take us time to really get into it. I'm not anticipating major overhauls, but I definitely think that we just look at our practices across the board, especially after we see that expense based because right now 2.7 the first time you see it, the first time we saw it was on Thursday of last week, right? >> Oh, yeah. I saw it. >> Yeah. And we kind of >> I saw it earlier >> and we kind of went, >> you know, but then you look at the expense based aid, you look at all the other components, >> you know, we know that we're going

083to be able to get this down, but there still will be, we use $1.1 million. We've never done that. Last year was the first year. Usually it's around 800. Correct. >> Yep. >> Um so we should try to get back down to at least where the practice has been for the district, you know, or if not better. Uh but we shouldn't always have that be the new measure. And the more you rely on that fund balance, the less you can put into reserves, right? So you're balancing your budget, but you're not be able to save any money for anything else. >> Yeah. >> Any questions on all of what we said so far? >> I know it's a lot. >> Yeah. >> So, property tax, do we really need to get into how we calculate

084it? >> No. >> All right. Because >> Yeah, cuz >> we thought >> we didn't even get to our student board members, >> right? >> Or the rest of the agenda. So, our levy increases, this is just our historical look back. It's it's basically what we have done. Last year was our highest >> um that we went out to and then you'll notice that this year will be lower. >> And then real quick, I just want to talk about the bus propositions at this point. >> I'm just going to move us along a little faster and then if there's questions, please let me know. >> As Jason said, we are looking at doing a diesel and an electric bus. We're going to use the reserves to do that. We still have to go out for

085voter approval for all of these things. Um, but we set up that reserve for a reason last year. So, it was smart to do that and we're still getting those cost proposals. Any questions on that one? >> Nope. >> Look at that. And then future possibilities. We're still looking at EPC funding. We're supposed to be getting a report in the next week or two, correct? About our cost savings over the year. So, we're still waiting on that. when that, you know, this might be a tougher year, but next year with that pilot, depending on what we do, that can set the district up for a much better place giving that influx of revenue. Um, and then, you know, our building aid increases. >> Yep. >> I miss anything on that, Kelly? >> No, I had

086explained to chapter 97 how that aid flowed. So, the 2627 aid that we are projecting will definitely help offset that budget gap. just >> items that are on our budget calendar. >> And then also the board election materials are out. Am I correct in saying that? >> Just no. Not yet. When do they go out? >> 23rd. So there it is. February 23rd. The petitions are available and then they got to be in by the 20th of April. >> Okay. I fasttracked. I'm sorry. >> No, you're fine. >> You're fine. Any questions? >> No. >> Okay. >> We we primed up the other day for this. I hope that's all. >> All right. Thank you, Frank. Thank you, Colleen. >> Great job. Um, next we'll move to our student board member report. >> We're pretty

087fast tonight. February and uh January are not very exciting months. Uh, third quarter started, so we're officially halfway through the school year, which is great. Uh, winter sports are going well. Just finishing up around now. Yeah, I had the uh indoor track girls had first colonial council and second for sectionals and then the boys had fifth for sectionals and somewhere on state falls coming up and then there's also the upcoming winter wave February 13th. So that's going to be a really fun event to see how that goes. >> Great. That's all tonight. >> Thank you. Okay, next up >> I get to talk again. Okay, I'll be quick. I promise. Um capital project update. Elementary school is progressing as we know. Uh our facilities committee me met with our architect and right and the construction

088construction manager company architect and um that March release is not going to happen. So it's going to be April release of area A which is the music room, art room and office area. They're doing the steel. They're doing all of the laying down. If you look at the facade of the building, the new brick is actually in in that one area. What people don't realize is that brick was actually different already. So, but that is the new brick that's there and the giant window will be going there. Cafeteria is still going to be in July date, but we should be getting that building open and that hallway is open there coming April 1st. So, that is positive. Uh the trap issue that we've had at the elementary school, so we've had backing up and different

089things. A couple items have come up with that. since we had the opportunity to fix it, we did. Um, last Friday they came in and we used um allowance money to be able to redo the whole trap. So, they replaced the trap and everything else with it. So, it used to go pretty deep into it. Again, it was about 50 75 50 years old. It went pretty deep. So, it was getting stuck and it was pretty jagged. So, things were getting hooked on there. They changed it all out. One thing that did so that should help, you know, right? But the other component of this is that why are we seeing it now? People like, well, why is this happening now? What's happening? And what's the big change? Kitchen, right? If you think about it,

090we had a kitchen. That kitchen washed items all the time. There was water going into it. We had more water use at our elementary school last year than we do this year. So that water flow is was also cleaning all those items out all the time. So if we're saying I was asking that question multiple times, how did this happen all of a sudden? It was the change with the use of the building along with the deteriorating pipes. So, we had that fixed. So, hopefully that should fix majority of the issues. Um, really it for capital project today that I have. Any questions on it though? >> Nope. >> Okay. Calendar days really quick. Um, I want to talk about the adopted calendar when we get to that point, but I want to talk about

091the 180day calendar and the calendar itself because after these snow days and emergencies and then the governor's emergency, people are like, "Oh, we got time or we got all that." People get very confused of how state aid works with the 180day calendar. It's called the 180day calendar and state regulations. So, I just I want to just clarify it a little bit. The state of emergency is only if school districts go underneath their allocation. So if you go underneath your 180day use, and I can explain what that means, then you can use your state emergency to do that. But you have to exhaust all days possible in order to get to that point. So it's not like this. People think, well, emergency days are safeguards. They're really not, unfortunately, because you still have to exhaust everything.

092So our contract states in the teacher contract 182 days of working. That's that's our set point. The state requires 180 days total, right? And out of that 176 of those days are for pupils. So no matter what, you have to have 176 days. If you do not have that for kids, you lose state funding. So 176 is the magic number. Our contract, you have four professional conference days. So we actually have two added instructional days within the teachers contract. That's how it works. That's been that way for ever, right? Thank you. Yeah. So that's but that so that is how that works. Right now our contingency days we budget up to 185. Those are three give days back. So we always have to have what? 182. Those teacher contract days do not have to be

093student days up until we get to 180. So 182 181. Then you're very very careful. That's where all that is going to happen. So, I just want people to understand this. Just because the emergency came out, we technically only have one day left of our contingency days, our give back day or our snow day or our emergency day. If we have to do that and if we have to use it again, then we're down to zero. If we have another emergency day, the elementary school will go down to 180. I'll have to bring staff back just but it won't not for students. High school won't have to based off of the contract it was. they'll still have to come back for one day. It's going to be that fluctuation concerns that are going to be

094happening. If we lose two days, then I have to bring students back because of that 176. The elementary school right now, just to clarify, they are currently at 181 pupil days, but 182 days because we have the parent teacher conferences built in as an extra day. They had actually five superintendent conference days this year, five conference days. Um, by state law, you can actually only give four superintendence conference days. So, anything else you give you, it's not a superintendent conference day. It's just a conference day. So, non-instructional days. So, it's we're tracking it very carefully. Right now, there is no change or nothing to worry about. But major emergencies, water main breaks, things like that, you know, pipes out, those things. It does impact us very and we have to watch it across the Any

095questions on that? I know it gets very confusing for people, but I wanted to clarify tonight. And that is all I have. >> All right, great. Thank you, Frank. All right, we're going to move a little bit faster here, unless anyone objects. [clears throat] Um, next up, we have 4.1 minutes of our last regular meeting in January. Anyone have any questions or concerns about the minutes? All right, I'll entertain a motion. >> I move them. All in [clears throat] favor? >> I. >> Okay. I. >> Next up, we have financial reports. Um 5.1 and 5.2 the claims auditor reports. Um Colleen, anything to add on those? >> No. Okay. Would anyone like to move those? >> I'll move that. >> Thank you. >> Second. All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Item 5.3. We have

096a number of personnel items. I'd like to call out a couple. Um, we have 5.3.18, uh, retirement of Mr. Madison, um, after 30 years of service. Uh, we have, um, 5.3.19, retirement of Mrs. Furlong. Thank you for being here. Uh, we'll clap for you since you're here. Thank you. [applause] Uh, for 27 years of service. Um, next we have a retirement of Mr. Kelly, our school counselor after 30 years of service. Uh, and finally, Mr. Sapienza, um, who has a number of roles, uh, for 27 years of service. So, um, thanks in advance to all of our retirees for their service to the district and our students. Um, anyone have any questions, uh, about any of the, um, personnel items? >> Wish you luck. Would anyone like to move those? >> Thank you. Second. >>

097Second. >> All in favor? >> I Okay, moving on. We have 5.4, which is our cse recommendations. 5.5 are substitute teacher appointments. U would anyone like to move those or anyone have any questions? I'll move them. >> Thank you. Second. [clears throat] >> Second. All in favor? I >> I. >> All right. Next up, Frank, uh, you were telling us about the calendar. Anything you want to add on 5.6? >> Yeah. So, prior to us moving it forward or having a conversation, I'd like to discuss it quickly. Um, we've worked through this with committees and other people, and it always seems to come up. There's always a concern with it afterwards. It's it no matter how hard you work on the calendar, there's always something that comes up with it. Uh, VTA has brought something

098to my attention. I said I would bring it up tonight. I kind of want to concern and I sent the board an email quickly to make sure that you were aware of the concern. Um, last year we frontloaded three superintendent conference days and so we had five days and what we did was we allowed for that to have a half day for parent teacher conferences and then one full day for teacher conferences. Previously years past we did half days and there was like three half days in a row or three half days which after surveys came was not something that was really liked. 2324 year no 2425 excuse me. We also did that again we did a half day and an additional conference day. So instead of that 78 days for student instruction at the

099elementary school was 177 because we utilized one of those days as um a conference day for teachers to do parent teacher conferences. In doing it this year that was overlooked so it was not added. So this year there's only four conference days and one of those days was added in for parent teacher conferences. So what that ends up effectively doing was it would take away a PD day and make it a pseudo parent teacher conference which has been done in other districts but we have not done it here and it creates an equity issue because they've always had that PD and now they're losing that PD opportunity. So I understand that completely. So, I created some options that I want to talk to the board about and before we table this or before we make

100a decision, I kind of want to be clear on some of the options, right? And I and I've spoken to Kelly via email and Jeff, so they kind of are all in understanding and agreeance as well with these. So, here's the options and I'll tell you the ones that are preferred. Um, option one, keep it as it is. I don't think I agree with that or nor does the union or does the principal. So, I think the calendar that's here is really good. It's a good calendar. everything on it. I want to state for anyone who's watching it, the start dates are correct. The count the vacation days are right. What's going to change is probably like a student attendance day here or there. So, I just want to be clear. Everything else on this

101calendar that they're seeing is good. Um, it's the 9th and 10th of November is which is in question. Okay. Option two, which would be now option one, is the November 9th is a half day. The 10th be parent teacher conferences and then you add an additional PD day somewhere else. So keep as as it is and then add an additional PD day. Um it then it brings this down a little bit but it's completely doable. It's at 181 178 days for pupil instruction. It can be done but you still have that half day on November 9th. Option three, same as option two, but instead of creating an extra PD day, you create the January 23rd half day. make that a full day PD, but it only creates half a day of extra PD for staff.

102So, it doesn't give that full day of PD for staff opt and I that one is more doable with the 177. This one is a good one and it it creates complete equitability, but it brings your instructional days down to 176 days for elementary school students, which is right on that cusp of that calendar, which that's where the nerves start to hit a little bit. >> Yeah. >> Right. This is where this is the tough one. The ninth becomes a full day of parent teacher conferences. Done. It's easy. The 10th becomes a half day or whatever it would be for those teachers and then a half day of PD. And then the elementary school, then the 23rd then becomes a full day for elementary school students. Now, that brings us down to 176 instructional days

103for students, though. So, you're right at the cusp, but you're not impacting parents because what happens is those half days for parents now just become full days. So, it's not as large as an impact. The staff still get the full day of PD. The only trick is going to be if I have any emergency over those three days emergencies, we're bringing kids back, >> which schools do all the time. >> Yeah. Right. And and it's a completely doable one, but that one and and by the way, that's one most everybody favors because it's the most equitable and gives everybody and it takes away the half days. So, can be easier on parents. I will say that as a parent, you know, it does become easier. Um, that would be the one I would recommend, but

104I would recommend it cautiously because of the fact that we're down to 176. Colleen, I see your face when I say that. just because it's fine. Schools do it all the time, but we just know if we have more than three emergency days, kids are coming back, which is normal. >> So, so option >> I know that was fast. I apologize. >> Sorry. Option four still only has the half day PD, right? >> No, it ends up being full day because what ends up happening is, and I can, let me clarify this. November 9th becomes a full day of parent teacher conferences. November 10th [snorts] will be a half day of parent teacher conferences, a half day of PD. January 23rd, there was supposed to be a half day. We add another half day to

105it. So now we have a full day of PD between two days. >> Okay? >> So it's equitably back in for the staff and we're taking away those two half days for parents, which people don't mind that as long as they're aware of it. I think that's the best solution. And the one that I would recommend tonight for approval and change into the into the calendar. Again, all it does though, the dip, I just have to say it is it brings us to at 176. We always have a buffer here. There is no buffer for student attendance. How much is it if we lose one day of student attendance? Sorry, put on the spot. >> 180th of your age, >> which could $10,000 $20,000. >> Yeah. So it it can it can add up very

106good. You don't want to lose eight. >> Okay. So four is your recommendation. Is that also >> everybody else agrees with? Yep. That was Kelly's as well. >> Um Kelly's recommendation is that's the one that she liked, >> but we could also table have further conversations, but I don't see I looked at this. I really worked on it with Jeff again and went through it. That to me is the most equitable one and it's the easiest one because we're not adding any days of student attendance missing that weren't already going to be missed. November 9th they were going to do a half day. We just make it a full day. January 23rd they were going to do a half day. We make it a full day. We're not adding any more half days impacting parents.

107The impact was already there. We're just shifting the extent of impact which full day of getting somebody to watch your child is probably a lot easier than a half day sometimes. Yeah. >> So that is my recommendation of change. >> Okay. So, so we have option four and you're proposing to amend the calendar that's been included with the meeting materials to reflect those changes. >> Correct. >> And that's what you're asking us to vote on. >> That is what I'm asking you to vote on. >> Okay. All right. Anyone have any questions or comments about that? Okay. Then uh would anyone like to move the calendar with those amendments proposed? >> I'll move it. >> Thank you. Second. >> All in favor? >> I guess I will go over it with you tomorrow to clarify

108that the specifics of all the dates and time. >> Thank you. >> All right. Great. Moving to um old business item 6.1 audit. We did not meet. Our next meeting I believe is next month. Okay. Um 6.2 to curriculum, Robin. >> Yep. Um we did meet a couple weeks ago. Um kind of the main points we looked at is first we looked at, as we always do this time of the year, um current enrollment, possibly projected enrollment, and then class sizes. Um fortunately, they're going to be able to stay low. So, kindergarten through 12th or kindergarten through 2 grade, um looking at roughly 16 to 18 per section. uh grades 3 through five, 18 to 20 students. And then when we get into secondary, grades 6 through 12, only the core classes are taken into

109account for numbers and core being math, English, science, social studies. Um those are 20 to 22 per class. Obviously, that's not going to come into play for things like PE or you know, some of those ones where it gets way way way larger, okay? But that's always the goal is to keep them low. Um >> except for band and choir. We love those. >> I know. Like shove those kids in there for as many kids as possible. >> Um where was I? Oh uh we went uh an update on the wonders the literacy program. Um and same says staff are at a 90% comfort level with the curriculum and how it's been rolled out so far. And so far the early results from the 2023 to 2025 ELA assessments are looking good. We're moving in

110the right direction. That's a plus. Um we continued our discussions about the semiconductor technology and RPI partnership. Um any more updates on that, Frank? I know sometimes we were waiting to hear back for something. >> No, we're still waiting for Still waiting. Okay. All right. Um Yep. So, it'll be teacher training in July and there's going to be um roughly 6,000 or $5,000 for supplies. Um and then we finished up by looking at the portrait of a graduate. Um and specifically the focus on that portrait of a graduate is the culturally responsive culturally responsive sustaining education. Um, and it was very nice the way it was kind of laid out because it looked at kind of exactly what it would look like as you move through the stages, what the teacher would be doing, what

111an administrator would be seeing as things were um moved along. Oh, and then we did have a slight discussion about um the assessment and grading policy was being worked through. I think that was it. >> All right, great. Thank you. >> Thanks. Anyone have questions for Robin? All right, next up, facilities. Robin, Barbara, do you know if you met? >> We didn't. Um, >> a lot of it was the elementary school, >> which frankly, >> majority of time. >> It was all that good stuff. Um, the only other thing that we talked about was that because it's flu and cold season, um, all of the additional cleaning that's being done. >> Oh, we did talk about one other thing if you wouldn't mind me saying it. >> No. >> Um, I know. We had a

112concern raised from the neighbor regarding >> Yes, that's what I was just Yep. From the boiler. >> From the boiler. So, that was a great concern and I want to thank them for that. We've been very good partners with our neighbor. It sounded like a jet engine at one point when it started to go off like literally at and then it would go full. So, at like 2:00 in the morning, you would hear it was unfortunate there. So, we were able to get that fixed, but we are having an issue with that boiler down there where there's a sensor that keeps going off. Um, so they were out today and supposed to be getting an update. So, I want them to replace it all. But, um, so we did have we've been having that issue.

113Uh, but our our neighbor is we've been really happy working back and forth with them. They are now happy because we haven't had any issues that have come from that and the boiler has been fixed. So, sometimes we're not here when we hear all those things. So, it's good that we had our neighbor helping us through. The other thing we talked about was the elementary school. Um, the water boilers, the water heaters have failed or are failing. Um, I had a lot to say on that, but we sit at facilities committee, uh, Colleen and Andy worked very diligently and had one fully replaced because if you lose hot water at an elementary school, you're not having school and we already are really close on our days. We can't have that. So, one is fully replaced

114and then with a completely different unit. I want to clarify that. Not the same unit um that was here in the high school and at the elementary school. So, we've replaced them completely and changed models. And then the other one is still under warranty. So, we're looking at how that can get fixed through warranty. So, those were the other two things I just want to clarify. >> Great. Thank you, Matt. Paul. >> Sure. We [clears throat] have not met uh since the last uh full meeting. Uh we do have meetings scheduled for uh Wednesday. I do want to let you know that it was just I just learned something. may need to reschedu that, but I will be in touch probably tomorrow morning. Um, but in terms of what we're working on, as you'll see,

115uh, 4710 final reading is is on the agenda for this evening. And I think the next thing that we're going to dive into, and I did wanted to ask you, Frank, um, are we ready to move into the regulation or are we still collecting feedback on that? >> So, I haven't done anything with the regulation. We talked at the district advisory committee because I wanted to wait until it was approved. Um I'm crafting a video to go out to staff hopefully by the end this week just about all the conversations that the district advisory has committee has had to make sure that we right line and then the district advising committee has worked with admin and we sectioned out pieces to get staff feedback since there's so much. So it's probably not going to come

116back to the policy committee for a good two months. Um we really want to start working on it inhouse getting stakeholder input really having these conversations at the levels that it impacts people. Okay. >> Um we have two main topics that we feel are the the meat and potatoes to go over with staff and that was kind of developed and then we have some other ones. Um but my first job is going to be rolling it out to the staff with a cohesive message because unfortunately I'm not in all the buildings so video you know so I apologize now to all the staff that will see it because I'm not the best at those but I think it's the easiest way. Um, I do have a couple other policies that I'll reach out to you

117tomorrow that have come up that we need. >> Okay. >> Great. Um, and so with that said, uh, nothing else added. >> Okay. Great. Thank you, Matt. All right. Next up is 7.1, which is the policy you mentioned, uh, policy 4710 for grading systems. We've talked about this a number of times. It's up for a final vote this evening. Does anyone have any questions or comments about the draft? Nope. Okay, then. Would anyone like to move it? >> I'll move it. >> I'll second it. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Next, we have 7.2 ac acceptance of donations and 7.3 a budget amendment for gifts and donations. I'd like to take those two together. So, we'll be accepting a a gift for the elementary school from Box Tops for Education

118and then uh moving those funds into the appropriate budget code. Would anyone like to move those items? >> Um, I'll move it. >> Second, >> I'll second it. >> All in favor? >> I All right, we have our next opportunity for the public to be heard. Item 8.1. Anyone like to address the board? Seeing none, uh, we'll move to item 8.2, which is opportunity for the board to be heard. Any board member have anything they'd like to say? Nope. Okay. Next, we have 9.1 dates to remember. Um, we talked about this earlier. Board petitions are available February 23rd in the district office. Uh, our next audit committee meeting is March 2nd. I expect will start around 6:30. Should be a fairly quick meeting. Um, March 2nd is our next uh board meeting immediately following audit.

119And I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Thank you. >> I will second. >> All in favor? >> I All right. Thank you. >> Thank you.