001this is a special presentation from the Brighton Central School District Board of Education good evening everyone Mark O'Connor Bates school board president welcome to our meeting this evening we take note that the Board of Education of the bright central school district in response to the continuing emergency emergency circumstances caused by the cove in nineteen pandemic inconsistent with the governor's executive orders we are conducting tonight's publicly tonight's scheduled public business meeting and budget hearing this evening May 26th 2012 at 7:00 p.m. held viable by a zoom and by through the district website we will offer the opportunity for the public who is tuning in this evening by video and zoom teleconference to offer any comment that they wish additionally any resident of Brighton Central School District is welcome to comment directly by email or telephone to
002me on behalf of the board directly to dr. McGowan or through our board clark district clerk kim lens of your presentation enough beyond the budget that has been previously approved by the board of education for 2020 2021 after the completion of that presentation we offer the opportunity for any public comment for members of the public that are on the broadcast to see me if you wish to comment tonight you need to go to the chat feature of the zoom screen that you have in front of you at the bottom of the bottom of your screen you'll see a chat icon Stein in to chat with your name and we will all you for comment in the order that your names are listed on the chat feature so that we can keep keep track of everyone
003and make sure that we don't miss anybody who has comment based on the zoom screen or verbally trying to weigh in so any time from now on through the time that we begin public comment section if you would like to comment please check in on the chat icon and add your name and we will call on you at the appropriate time so thank you so I now turn it over to dr. McGowan to begin the public hearing of the proposed budget and to begin that with a updated budget presentation of the budget that was adopted by the board at its last scheduled meeting dr. McGowan thanks very much mark I'm going to share the screen and this is a condensed group of slides from each of the previous budget presentation that essentially just outlined basic
004points regarding the budget adopted by the Board of Education and presented last week and evolving over weeks in fact months to set the stage for the conversation I would just remind residents that all the budget information is listed at BCSD org under the budget tab and any information they need from there there is a significant amount available to them and certainly if they have questions please let us know and we'd be happy to get that information to people just an important reminder to people to consider as we're starting the conversation in this budget hearing in particular there is not and these are based on some of the questions that we've done from people there is not a an ability for a revote currently right now we don't expect that to change but in this current
005situation the way the executive order is written in the way statute is regarding budget reboots there is not a revote possibility right now which would mean if this budget does not pass the board would automatically be adopting a contingent budget a contingent budget by definition and statute means known in taxes would be levied and that would result without additional revenue coming to the district in the need to reduce spending by an addition of 2 million dollars in service reductions and all programs essentially at this point is what we would be coming back and recommending to the board because there wouldn't be essentially additional ways we believe to cut the budget going forward without it being program reduction so that's just very simple straightforward to the point when people have asked for is the option or
006what would the choices be that is what would happen if we had to adopt a contingent budget so different than last year we were able to talk about a revote and a revised proposal we wouldn't be able to do that in this particular budget is also under the property tax cap that's been something else that's been asked of us there is not a 2% property tax cap our tax cap is three point eight three percent and this is within the allowable levy growth in the property tax cap as calculated by the state of New York that is their formula and that is our cap number those variables change every year for every district and your cap is different consequently let me walk you through again the history in the process in this situation first we
007continue have this evolving issue that we've had for many years regarded regarding foundation Aid and the lack of aid coming to the district that should be from the state of New York even with the governor's proposal to increase aid very modestly and I hope that we more would be expanded when the legislators finish their work on the budget we had to reduce funding by two point four million dollars and that required us to create some program reductions in the budget that we were working on at that point we then had the pandemic challenge I will call it and a loss of that proposed increase in aid both in terms of foundation aid but also in terms of expense based aids that would not be paid has predicted going into the following year a potential and
008expected pandemic assessment of pandemic reduction and the loss of projected loss of sales tax also from the from Monroe County who pays us a portion of sales tax proceeds each year and that was a spending reduction of 1.3 million I was really a 1.7 million dollar gap including a pandemic reduction so we do spending another 1.3 million dollars and at this point that pandemic assessment hasn't been made we are expecting that to be a possibility and they need to use reserves to cover that additional part of the gap going into next year and finally there's the unknown and upcoming an evolving challenge really which would be an unprecedented reductions possibly another 1.7 million and in fact perhaps quite a bit more the governor has mentioned a twenty-percent potential reduction in aid if it was just
009foundation aid that would be 20% would be about 1.7 million dollars if it was our total aid which is well over 16 million dollars we certainly would be talking about a much larger cut in aid that could potentially happen through the course of the year important to note the tax cap calculation and briefly mentioned to you it is based on again the state's formula the real property tax levy of last year the tax base growth factor pilots receivable are also factored into that and then the receivable going into next year again initially our tax cap would be fifty four point five four to nine nine five million dollars that would be an increase of one point nine five percent but we are allowed to exclude a certain portion of the increase in debt service or
010capital expenses going into next year and the state allows next year for us to exclude forty seven percent of that one point six million dollars next year that is part of the increased cost for capital that brings our total allowable levy growth or our tax cap number to three point eight three percent for fifty five million five four five eight ninety being the captain number so in other words the state says to us by a simple majority vote of the community that is how much we would be allowed to levy going into next year without the supermajority the estimated revenue coming in next year again this detail all provided on the website and explained to detail in previous presentations but very quickly as you can see that drop of projected sales tax revenue investment income
011down other aid in fact revenue down from the closure of a parochial school as well overall again you see the totals and the property tax total down below in terms of the proposed budget what is the spending mean for us going into next year we're dropping in the area of salaries we have cut twenty seven positions ballpark in the budget that's a reduction in the salary expense of three point two percent or 1.1 million dollars the other important number to notice on the screen is the number in green at the bottom that debt service payments so that's the voter approved 2017 project and the debt service that's due on that which will come into play this year an addition of 1.6 million dollars we had to account for in this budget as well some services
012impacted by these budget decisions are also important to point out we have a modified instructional leadership and professional development programs so reducing that type of support for improvement of instruction modified the music program at 4th grade class size and course offerings as well the team structure at the middle school we've cut literacy and math coaching supports for a language for sixth grade has also been cut restructured our academic an invention services and supports summer school offerings as well reduced our Scholastic athletic supports we are maintaining all of our teams reducing the budget in that area there needs less contests and different budgets for material supplies lemonade are reducing our co-curricular and extracurricular opportunities as well and any transportation services that were being provided prior to September 1st our starter school we will not be able
013to provide for any of our outside or non-public school programs no other service level reductions that are included as well the summer curriculum development program assessment made to all the travel and conference budgets equipment funding is eliminated in this budget - what would be the contingent budget standard so as if it already was a contingent budget which by definition is the lose essential for the maintenance of program or Health and Safety and an assessment to supplies materials again to all the building budgets as well this is a particular detail on the number of positions being reduced overall in the budget we see in the administrative category one position fourteen point seven and the teaching category academic support center academic support instructors rather three positions point nine five in the clerical area five positions in the
014paraprofessional area school aid security to positions and point three of a nurse position as well elementary class size will increase in this proposal as well this was one of the reductions we mentioned if you take a look our grade one will be from 11 now down to 10 sections grade 2 from 11 to 10 in grade 3 from 12 to 11 and that's a ratio that is not exactly what we would like but we feel like we can live with and kids will still get an excellent program 18.6 at the kindergarten level 2 the same for the afternoon kindergartens but the average slightly down actually from last year's and/or this current year's am can again and in first grade we're currently in nineteen five would be a twenty three point two next year second three
015twenty point five will be a twenty two five next year third grade twenty point nine to twenty one for next year twenty two and fourth grade twenty three point five in fifth grade again we know the community would prefer smaller class sizes but given this current revenue shortfall those are what we're proposing or what we've proposed and you've adopted at this point important to point out again the building and the reason for where the levy is going towards that capital expense that I mentioned to you you take a look our cap number again with you one hundred ninety eight dollars per home valued at two hundred twenty thousand dollars that's the chart on the left hand side and that is ninety seven dollars of that tax increase will go for a capital R that one
016point six million dollar expense and 101 for operations and on the right hand side is more detail regarding what was approved in 2017 by voters and the projected average annual tax at that point in time was projected to be one hundred forty four dollars just for that capital expense and that was gonna go at two hundred thousand dollars we have a some debt service bridge in a sense we are using rewritten reserves next year if you notice on the far left at twenty twenty one year when we're talking about next year the debts are service payment of four million dollars but what is important to point out is the orange column that's the building aid which only follows the year after the spending which is what I will say our building aid go up in
017subsequent years and next year we'll use fund balance and the net levy increase to cover the difference so if you took to be very Elementary about it the yellow and the gray and you added it to the orange it would help match that expense and so that fund balance bridges us to when the eight payments start to flow more freely next year to support that project reserves and fund balances all detailed in last week's presentation but also here for your reference and again post it on the website does give you a sense for where our reserves are and when we would ask to be committing those towards in this offset the need for additional tax increase as well again the history in the process the initial challenge I mentioned reduction of 2.4 million dollars the
018additional challenge of the pandemic situation and the potential coming up the unknown in this current budget year as well this is more detail on that unknown this whole issue of the 20% that the governor has mentioned the number right in the middle your screen one point six for one there will be a 20% reduction in foundation you if the governor's talking about 20% in eight overall that will be of the 17 point 1 million dollars on the left-hand side of your screen and we are expecting that there will be a cut of three hundred sixty six thousand four hundred seventy seven dollars or a pandemic assessment the summary or the impact on the tax levy the revenues overall we've got four point eight six two percent unrestricted foundation 82.7% the balance of the levy and
019of course then at the bottom you get to the increase in the real property tax levy of three point eight three percent and what does that mean I don't hum got it at $220,000 I apologize on the make a correction this is three point eight three percent and a typo in this slide apologize three point eight three percent increase in the tax levy which assumes a quarter percent appreciation in the tax base the rate itself is not finalized and until the tax Board has approved in July and that's until the values for all the properties are provided to us we do not assess or value of the properties that's done by the town so the estimated tax rate for next year 26.97 or $198 on a home value to add $220,000 there are two other
020proposals as well and this is the first of you to withdraw from the capital reserve a an amount of 2 million dollars and that would be officially shall the board of education of the brain Central School District in Monroe County New York the district be authorized to withdraw 2 million dollars from the district's existing 2015 capillaries our fund for the purpose of paying additional cost associated with the district capital improvement project approved by qualified voters the district at a proposition held on May 16 2017 and that's to continue the project without asking for reauthorization for all revenue from taxpayers this would be from the reserve account of course we recognize that the reserves are created from those dollars as well from fund balance at the end of the year that you appropriate to each reserve
021but this is the point to have a backup fund in a sense for when costs increase through the course of a project there is escalation or appreciation all the time in those costs so we're asking and as we must require permission and requires permission from the community to a draw that amount for those capital expenses and the current balance of the technology reserve fund is over a million dollars we're asking to reserve to withdraw $300,000 again the voters approve the establishment of reserve you have the ability as a board to put money into the reserves and then the community must approve the withdraw of the money from a reserve now we would be to purchase eighth grade tablets the continuation of one to one program at the secondary level replace laptops for staff that is
022the device that they use in their work they don't have desktops that is a laptop is what is used certainly there's never been a time where it's a more apparent the need for both the laptops and the one-to-one program that's really helped in terms of our distance learning program and district audio-visual hardware replacements as well would come from that and that is in lieu of having that added again to the general fund in the budget each year I think it's important point out that this budget certainly reflects our brain believes in terms of integrity respect responsibility self-control the plan of eighty two point nine four million dollars spending up three percent three point or 1 percent 1 percent operations 2.0 1% in capital and again continues to reflect the work that we are in committed
023to within the blueprint safety security wellness rigorous course served for all students creativity and innovation instructional technology diversity equity and inclusion response also demanded increases in spending and our need to continue to invest in program while responsibly trimming in order to minimize impacted students and nowhere have we said this without an impact students it's certainly going into next year it also honors the tax impact of the 2017 facility improvement project when I talk about integrity respect responsibility self control it certainly also respects the fact that taxpayer has asked us to stay within property tax cap after the vote last year which certainly this does as well and again those important considerations what does it happen if this doesn't pass there's no revote likely it would mean no new taxes then that would mean two million
024dollars in service reductions and all programs would be in question at this point property tax cap and this proposal is under the cap which is something that was a concern for our community we want to make sure we're communicating that clearly to people as well don't forget to vote it's all by absentee ballot this year we've sent out significant amount of information about how to vote and we'll continue to do so of course the hearing was tonight and the definition of a qualified voter anybody who's a citizen of the United States 18 years of age and a resident within the school district for a period of 30 days preceding June 9 to 20 20 the day of the vote these are by state law and an absentee Bell was sent is being sent to every
025household in fact they went in the mail today with the budget newsletter if you would like an additional absentee ballot we send your name and mailing address to vote at BCSD org or call 240 250 200 extension 5 5 0 2 by June 5th and we will mound them to you they can be received here by mail there's a posted page pen vote coming with each one or they can be dropped off here at central office beginning tomorrow in fact up through 5:00 p.m. on the date of the vote June 9 2014 thank you very much dr. McGowan for the updated information a really a summary of the information of the past six months or so we will move on momentarily to the public participation portion and a reminder that if you wish to speak
026either ask a question or make a comment please use the chat button at the bottom of your screen and put your name in and we will call you by name for public comment in just a moment we do want I do want to behalf of the board and the district remind folks of a few things that dr. McGowan touch down first of all all of the materials on the entirety of building our budget going back to last summer with our planning sessions everything is online on the district website there's a separate tab for budget if you click on there you will find all them different materials with regard to the budget and all of the different highlighted areas that dr. McGowan touched up you could also in addition to that if you wish watch any
027of our previous board meetings there is a video archive available on the website we have been receiving budget updates for the last four to five months at almost every single meeting additionally I think it's important to remind the public that when we ask the public to vote essentially what the public is voting on is a spending plan that is a not to exceed number and a tax levy that's a not to exceed number so adjustments can be made obviously the spending plan could be reduced at a later date dr. McGowan touched on the difficulty the umbrella that we're all under this year for the first time ever this Kovach pandemic adjustment period three periods that that revenues may be further reduced and may necessitate additional spending reductions additionally to that we are all hopeful that
028the that the Senate and the House of Representatives at the federal level will enact a further stimulus package type bill that will provide direct relief to school districts along with local municipality town governments should that occur and we receive an amount of infusion if you will an aid that's the possibility they are depending upon how much that maybe could add the program reinstatement but it also could be applied to Lobby at a later date so in other words in a yes vote you're voting yes to not to exceed a certain plain amount of expenditure and not to exceed a tax levy amount that we have detailed this evening as Kevin mentioned the budget newsletter which contains all of the details in the approved budget and one ballot we're put in the mail today the additional
029ballots that have been requested will begin mailing out tomorrow and you will have this week in mail boxes beginning the next day or so all of those will be arriving if you do need an additional ballot please contact the district by vote at B CST org email and we will make sure that you receive additional ballots the drop box a bit availability is there ballots are we are designed to be mailed back to us but if you're concerned about mail or if it gets near the deadline of June 9th there is a drop box that will be installed outside central office beginning late tomorrow all ballots have to be in that drop box or have to be received in our central office through the mail system by 5:00 p.m. on June 9th and then the
030other element in terms of questions or comments from the public tomorrow Wednesday dr. McGowan weekly zoom live Facebook live town-hall meeting with residents the Board of Education will join in with that tomorrow for the Facebook live program to specifically answer budget questions that have been posted and continue to be posted using thought exchange that link is available through the website and additionally comments that will be added tomorrow during the Facebook live session so that opportunity ask further questions or detailed questions is there and then also this evening we are going to open that up at a moment our public participation at board meetings has a few simple rules we ask you to state your name and your address we ask you to please be brief there's a three minute time limit if you have detailed
031questions if you if you have something that would exceed the three minutes or multiple questions we - please email us and we will provide you an answer back by email also so at this point Kevin I guess we are ready for public participation so do you have a list for us there I have yes first residents request would be Avram Burman okay hello it's often Burman 55 Shelley circle all right thank you welcome so you know for not really a question but oh I got somebody here who's requesting to control my camera you know what my first question is really not even a question well I guess it's a question but what is the protocol for community members who wish to engage the board via email or in person so for example if someone sends
032you an email with the question what happens after you receive it walk me through the process well it quite simply that if an email is sent to directly to me for example and I had the answer to that question I would answer you back and I would copy the entire board of education along with dr. McGowan if however it's a question directed to an individual board member say me as president or the entire board that could be rather lengthy rather detailed requesting information that is you know requires a bit of research or a bit of compilation than normally Kevin McGowan or our assistant superintendent for business affairs mister Liu Li MOU then would be the one answering and responding back on those types of inquiries okay because I've sent out you know probably about ten
033letters over the last maybe two months and I've never had one response from you or any of the members of the board and I've never ever had like you have sir you have received multiple responses weekly from mr. Liu Li MOU right but he is a he is a point person on behalf of Kevin again some of the questions asked from the board directly and and with respect in order for you to maintain some level of impartiality I would appreciate having some responses directly from you and the board members I realized my time is limited so let me get on to the next question I'm looking at a letter here that was dated May 12th 2020 that was from Louie lame-o to Kevin McGowan where he talked about the unencumbered balance basically where the budget
034was at as of March 31st and that under-covered balance and the the the the summary of that was that the district was about 1.4 million dollars ahead of where it was last year and I've requested over the last you know two months to see sort of projections schedule that would also take into account not only the cost savings as a result of the shutdown do decoded 19 and I think the school shut down it from that mistake and I think it was March 15th or 16 was the the first day that has shut down obviously it needs to include April needs to include May June July and all I guessed it and we know now that the school will not open until at least until September because Governor Cuomo lasts this past Thursday indicated that
035summer school would be cancelled for in-person sessions so can you respond as to how you will you know since the budget that were asking being asked to vote upon you know come June 9th won't include anything past March 31st you know in the eventualities that there are no additional reductions in state aid and all things are equal can you share with the community as to how you will disseminate information to the public with regard to the ado you know how you're going you know how you how you might be how that might impact the tax levy because obviously if we look at cost savings from after March 31st right April May and I think what you and ends the current 2019-20 school year those cost savings will obviously act as a surplus for this year
036I will then offset the the tax levy you know requirement for next year in addition to additional reductions as you know in in the current you know twenty twenty twenty one calendar year well we would we would continue to message to the public really through the year using all district resources in terms of where things stand with regard to surplus for this year savings from this year additional costs from this year and then we would also be messaging to the public at the point in time we were going to be approving the tax levy which is normally during the summer usually in late July early August one thing that I would make note on and I'm going to move on to the next questioner and if you have additional information please you feel free to
037email us further one item that I do want to make note of we have obviously we're in the process of conducting school but not in school buildings so there are some savings to be had from that but there are also some additional increased costs that we are still working through in calculating the full effect of based on the governor's executive orders which sort of get issued once a week for example our food service costs are quite a bit more expensive and the revenue from food service is dramatically less than it was so additionally the general concept here is dollars that we're saving now and through the end of June will be applied as surplus to next year's budget some of those have been accounted for in an approximation right now as far as attempting to
038fill additional gaps that will occur in some form with further reductions from New York State it is possible to look at we always do when we go ahead and set the tax levy depending upon the revenue situation at the time it is certainly possible to utilize some of those funds in that way but that's very difficult to tell right now number one because the year isn't finished in June and we don't know what additional orders may be issued by the governor in terms of continued service and secondly we have no idea yet what the federal government might do in an additional stimulus bill in terms of funding directly to cut to k-12 public school districts so we'll keep the public posted obviously we're doing it now more than once a week and we'll continue to
039do that through the summer by all of our platforms so so the assumption out to the next person if you will have additional information that you'd like to know further you can send us additional emails and we're happy to answer those questions would you like me to direct that email to you can direct it to me you could direct it to mr. Alaimo as you've been doing for many weeks now and we've been answering those questions for you it's entirely up to you if you'd like to send it to the entire board or the entire email list with mr. Alaimo at the top that's been the current system with your questions you're entitled to do that either way it's entirely up to you and you will and you will respond in your capacity as president
040of I may or may not directly respond to you depending upon the question and the detailed answer that's required mr. Alaimo is responding for the board at the behest of the board he's not circumventing the board in any way shape or form if you have something directly that you'd like to ask me you're more than welcome to email directly to me and if I have an answer to that I would answer the question for you if it's already in existence on the website I'll direct you to that site also oftentimes when I don't get a response it's not clarified that it's and then it just simply is not responded to so so there there's the confusion for me and that's why all right that's what the protocol was when I send an email and I
041ask questions from the board and sometimes I just simply don't get a response or I ask Lou Alaimo question and he says any question I don't response it will be responded by others and then nobody responds to it so we've got that we're gonna we're gonna move on we're gonna move on we do believe we're answering your questions as multiple as they are and we will continue to do so dr. McGowan next person please oh let's see here there was a comment and entered into the chat but I don't know if this person wants to speak to it out loud so I'll read it to you and then I don't know you would like to or not let's see here okay I'm sorry so this is a person named Mike okay Mike go ahead if
042you want to ask that question are you comfortable reading it to us Kevin uh yeah Mike is trying is it Mike's mic is not working that's not variation that is Mike's mic not working so I'll go ahead and fit sorry with Mike he said sure okay let's see it is I understand that capital projects have been voted on in previous budgets and we and we will not renege on previous commitments that said taxes I've gone up about six percent over the past two years can we get a commitment from the board that until we can keep taxes at an even level for at least a couple of years we will we not started any new projects new large projects point is that we're constantly hiking taxes to a point where it seems that it is
043unsustainable things well I'm I'm happy to have you or mr. Lyme away into Kevin I think we've answered a question similar this often right now our current plan is to stick with the capital plan has previously approved by the voters and I make no two notes we are actually under what we represented to the public as far as its total tax impact we are on schedule in terms of financially what we committed to do to the public secondarily in our efforts thus far to go to the bond market and borrow in a very strategic way we are saving money on interest cost so excuse me that is helping us with the current capital project we have no planned capital projects at the current time our plan is to see through the plan that has been
044approved in the phases that have been approved and we have a very aggressive owner architect construction manager committee that is overseeing those details on a daily basis and continue to be prudent about that but I do remind folks especially folks who maybe our Brighton alums or have lived in the community for a long time our buildings are magnificent but they're old and they did they did need and do need additional work and we needed the space especially in the district to add and we are a slightly growing population and we have the full decade so but right now those are the capital projects we are committed and at least the short term you know albeit occurring a emergency or some situation with a building that has to be dealt with but other than that there
045there are no new capital projects currently on their rise I don't know if you have anything add to that yeah I would just say I know this very similar question was asked on a thought exchange when I had said last week was in the same tonight I can't imagine a scenario where we would be launching a new capital project a large project in the foreseeable future We certainly have other phases in mind because the revitalization of our facilities is desperately needed and there's more work to be done but certainly given the current circumstance that's not the plan my only hesitation in an absolute or a binary answer to the question is one's definition of a large project is different you know varies from person to person number one number two some projects are able to
046be accomplished through the capital reserve and not through incurring additional debt service and the other issue is a large capital project could become necessary you know just simply because of an infrastructure need no different than if in your household budget you committed to not having a project and then you had a roof you know roof damage roof leak etcetera so I wouldn't want to be held to a there's absolutely no way but I would say to you that yes the the plan is to to not launch any other kind of significant project until we're in a better place financially and there's there's work to be done but certainly that given the current challenge that's not something that we're planning on doing so there's another here from John which again John I can read it if
047you'd like me to it it or you can so I give you a second here John if you'd like to ask your question it must be the sound of my voice John would like me to read it for him so I will go ahead and do that how are you planning for class sizes for next year let's see when school reopens so I mean essentially right now what we have budget for the number of teachers we have budgeted for and the class sizes that are we're in the presentation that I just gave are what we are planning for we are though having all sorts of internal conversations about what does it mean a physical distancing is required further from what we're doing right now what does that mean in terms of schedule what does that
048mean in terms of staff we have available unfortunately until we have guidelines which we don't expect until June we can't develop a hard-and-fast plan until mid July which is when that will be required so I can say that again if we have to go to a contingent budget we'd have to make significant staff reductions and class size would be impacted pretty dramatically and at the same time managing physical distancing would would be exceptionally problematic would be the best way I can say to that so we're managing right now the best we can with the people we will have available to us I have another here from and John feel free if you want to jump in if I did not answer that enough for if there's more information like please feel free Claire would you
049like to ask this question yes hi this is Claire mcLaughlin and that 10 turn about me you could mention that if the budget vote does not pass that it's an extra two million dollars in cuts that would need to happen so is that on top of the the additional state clawbacks that could happen throughout this year yes okay these are almost unfathomable numbers Claire it is two million dollars it simply means when you're in a contingent budget you can raise no more in taxes from what you did the year before and so the additional three point eight three percent increase is a two million dollar increase that's how much revenue would come from that and we would not be able to levy that so that would be you know pretty dramatic reductions I was asked
050earlier today what would that mean in terms of number of people well that was just teaching positions that's 33 teaching positions but it's likely a combination of lots of different positions and you know it's it's everything is on the table at that point so I mean everything so we have been on the table but everything you know so many different programs would have to be reduced and yes that is outside of whatever could happen relative to reductions from the state thank you you back thank you for the question let's see here sue did you want to sue wanted to raise a question okay nope all right somebody here on an iPhone but without a name or the question I see on the phone chains and multiple voters are expressing concerns that the increase is not
051affordable what you have to say to families living in the community who are experiencing a significant financial impact from the pandemic and cannot afford the increase without hardship oh I'll respond and then if you'd like me to mark yeah you know go ahead and I'm happy to wait now I know if any other board members want to weigh in we talked about this frequently right now so one I would say not to parse the specifics except that when it says I see on earth are chains and multiple voters I don't that each of those comments are multiple voters or a smaller number of voters right so I don't know if that particular comment represents and I don't know yet without going in and look at the results how many people have rated those thoughts and
052where they rate but that's certainly something we would discuss tomorrow and the question what do you say to families living the community who are experience a significant financial impact from the pandemic and cannot afford the increase without hardship I don't think there's any good answer I think that any increase is too much I think that the taxes we already are paying all of us on this screen is too much I see that when other districts because of their particular state aid situation are paying far less per thousand I'm very frustrated and I'm very frustrated that our community has had to pick up the slack for the fact that they are not getting equal protection and their fair share or state aid what I say to families is I feel horrible that we are increasing their
053cost I also say I don't know what else to do without massively reducing program there simply is no way around that conundrum that the tax increases as modest as we could make it while still reducing a significant amount of programming but no amount of a modest increase is acceptable to somebody experiencing financial hardship and I don't have other than apologizing other than explaining very sincerely that we don't want to raise anybody's taxes and I am I feel horrible about that I recognize that people are experiencing a hardship however there is a significant value to what is being received that is so important to the life of that family also and their child or children or their neighbors children and to their property value there is a benefit to that but that really is hollow consolation
054if somebody has a difficult time paying Belem is experiencing hardship I'm not sure that there's a great explanation for that when somebody is having financial trouble yeah you know Kevin I uh I would add the same thing but you know before I make a comment as board president I'm gonna ask you to eliminate a member of the public who joined tonight and is now holding up signs some sort of a protest I think he's shown that his time with us this evening is done on this and I believe it's inappropriate and I believe would be appropriate for you to to ask him to exit the meeting and video he's happy to continue to listen if he wishes but but I think we need to take that action you know when we when the Board meets
055early on in the beginning of the summer and we begin putting together a plan with the with our leadership team on budget we one of the first things we discuss is tax impact and we start out with that conversation knowing the conundrum that we have been put in for multiple years by New York State in the funding formula that's a real issue okay most bright onehans now are aware of the significant accurate issue of Brighton being underfunded significantly in terms of foundation aid from New York State because of that situation which was solved partly for a couple of years do the efforts of the entire community and the fight for Brighton group and Joe Morelli essentially when he was a member of the assembly and then it was undone I listened today to the three
056candidates for the Democratic nomination for the assembly seat that is currently vacant that represents Brighton they ran with Evan Dawson an xxi all three of them talked about the significance of funding for education and they are all well aware of Brighton's conundrum and situation and knowing it from a factual standpoint and committing and pledging to do all they can to try to help we are paying too much in local property taxes to support our schools and Brighton largely because of New York State's failure but at the same time we are all committed to an excellent bright and education specific to this year's budget I would say that we as a group made a decision as difficult as it was that any further reduction going to a zero tax increase for example would really put us
057beyond the limit of being able to deliver to the expectations of most of our residents as it is it's going to be difficult and we're relying on our people we're relying on our parents from relying on our kids and we're going to figure out a way to get it done if we were to be at a zero percent local property tax increase and I understand for a lot of folks you know it's $198 for the airbridge property tax payer that's still a lot of money to a lot of folks in these difficult times with the unforeseen situation ahead so it's something that we weigh very heavily and at the end of the day have to make a decision based upon what's best for the entirety of the community and that's what we have decided to
058do for this year and then the voters will have to decide so I don't know if any other board members want to weigh in on that particular question or some of the other questions this evening but you know that's where we are right now mark this is Larry I would just add as a board member I would just tell you personally our household income has decreased this year so entering into what equates to a tax increase is not something we enter upon lightly I also know that to not do it would materially impact the quality of the education so that alone has more impact on property values in our community than anything that I can think of so we don't enter it lightly we have a long discussion about this and there is there's a
059lot to lose but I can speak from a household that is going to see less income this year that there is an impact to the tax increase but to our household the other choice is worse Thank You Larry anybody else have anything you want to get okay good dr. McGowan do we have anybody else listed as wanting speak we do not think ideal if anybody else wants to jump in the chat welcome to do that and happy to ask your question for you and I do remind folks that tomorrow you're welcome to call or email us at any point time we will answer we do answer you're also welcome please to join in tomorrow to the Facebook live townhall join in via the thought exchange that's already posted link is on the website or tomorrow
060you're welcome to watch and comment during the Facebook session and as I mentioned earlier the board will be there participating with dr. McGann tomorrow and you know continue to to message with us we're happy to what we're trying to do is to explain as clearly as we can to everyone knowing that some folks are very well versed on the entirety of our budget revenue and spending and have paid have been involved with this for many years but we have many many residents who are just now maybe just recently paying attention moved here it's become more urgent to them came across their radar or whatever it is that are learning new all of this information that we continue to discuss so we've tried to put everything that we can think of on the website so that
061folks who are looking for an answer to a question can find it but we are here to help and we are here to educate and as I say with the the budget newsletters arriving at homes beginning in the next couple of days there may be some more questions that folks have and just let us know we will get back to you mark I did miss one and I don't know if jebra wants to speak to this out loud her if she'd like me to read it so I'll give you one second ever if you want to say it okay so I'm being asked by Deborah and I hope I don't say it wrong Deborah but Biden cough beam cop around commitment equality is the goal if commitment to quality is the goal could you speak
062to maintaining quality and time with kroehner curriculum that's a really great question the way that I've tried to describe this before is that within a few days time our staff had to lift an entire you know brick-and-mortar in classroom face to face experience and put in a virtual space to different degrees of with different degrees of experience in background using the platform and the tools available and then in every different content area at every different level with every different type of support therapy and other special service and did so remarkably well in so many ways and throughout that experience we've tried to learn and improve and grow each day and I can't tell you how impressed I am with the work that's been done by our staff to provide a quality experience and one of
063the ways that we've described this also as this is crisis education you know we talked about it being distance learning or continuous instruction and no different terminology but the reality is we really had to focus very very quickly on what needed to get done to the best of our ability given the limitations of Technology of time of space and of different families and being able to engage in that extra instruction in a lot of different ways without widening the equity gap for families but finding the most meaningful way to teach kids and provide them with experiences and again remarkably impressed with that work that being said they think our teachers would be the first one to say they are constantly growing and learning and trying to figure out the best way to do it and
064transforming what is a very social experience the act of teaching another human being how to do something and gaining an understanding of whether they understand the work and have developed appropriate along that continuum these require relationship these requires so much face-to-face they require reading body language and understanding the person across there and whether they get it and how to individualize your instruction in the next step and technology bridges so many gaps but doesn't entirely bridge that one so long story even longer what are we doing to think about Bonnie while we're looking at each other and ourselves and saying what worked what didn't work what can you improve on what tools we need to provide what support can we provide what professional development can we provide are we using the right tools should be thinking
065about different it's been a constant part of the conversation and we'll be asking families more and more as we plan for what very well could be an approach that we have to use going forward whether it's in September or sometime during the year or when the next thing happens this won't probably be the last time we experience something like this unfortunately we want to figure out what worked really well and what we can capitalize on there are so many people doing great very work I have three in the district I'm seeing it as a parent myself and the work that my three kids are involved in and the experiences they're having with their teachers have been pretty incredible but we want to continue to grow in that area too so thank you for bringing it
066up we'll continue to work out and thanks to mrs. really is one of those people - all right thank you very much dr. Bowen and thank you for those that joined in tonight that wanted to chat or comment I should say and just thank you for joining in we we appreciate the numbers that have joined in for our board meetings does any other board member have a comment or an answer to that they like ahead and one of the questions at all at this point out time mark time for tomorrow's meeting for tomorrow's 3:30 3:30 tomorrow is Facebook live well yeah we want town Town Hall with dr. McGowan and guests tomorrow 77 guests all right know at this point then we're going to move on with the remainder of our business be for this
067evening so may I have a motion please board of education to approve our so moved actually moved by Andrea seconded by Marv Kim would you call the roll please Andrea Larry hey Julian hey Karen hey Mark all right Kristina very far yes Thank You approval of minutes please a motion to approve minutes of the may 12 20 20 business meeting second that was moved by Karen Kristina Karen it was turned sir seconded by Larry does anyone have any correction addition deletion to those minutes please Andrea Andrea yeah she said I Andrew your audio area hi Karen mark right Christina I are yes thank you we have a policy a motion please for approval of second read policy seven five one one immunization of students may we have a motion some of them move that you
068lean ii ii ii ii by Larry a reminder a reminder to the board we had first read of this policy previously and it regards immunization of students and these were a number of changes excuse me recommended policy to be consistent with regulation and we had to clarify a number of responsibilities when a child has been refused admission or continued attendance for lack of acceptable evidence of immunization so it's a it's a short policy but it's aligned to recent edict and now this is second read this evening I have nothing further that came forward to me during the first read so we are voting to approve it as currently constituted does anyone have any other comment or question Kim would you call the roll please Andrea Larry aye julene hi Erin hi mark all right Dina
069aye Mar yes yeah thank you a motion now for approval of number seven approval of election inspectors chief election officers and chairpersons for the annual district vote motion please so moved by Andrea second second by Larry as you see on your agenda and the material it listed in the election inspectors we're approving election inspectors are also approving to a point the chief election officer and the person for the annual vote we we are engaging the services of eight individuals from through the Monroe County Board of Elections to supervise the election the receipt of ballots and the counting of ballots so does anybody have anything further on their questions or any comments on that and would you call the roll please Andrea yeah Larry I hi Aaron all right Tina Tommy morrow yes okay thank you
070a motion please for the next item approval of construction change orders so much well by Karen seconded by julene per our agenda this evening and the materials that we have this is this is contained in the memos from campus construction and from Lowell I'm oh this is our technical approval of construction change orders that were previously reviewed and given to us also under current review constant review by the owner architect construction manager committee which Larry sits on also so are there any further questions or comments on that Jim please call the roll Andrea Larry I lean I Karen I mark all right Deena aye yes and finally in terms of business items item number nine a motion please for approval of the consent agenda so move move them Harv seconded by Julian Andrea please call
071the roll on the consent agenda please Jim Andrea Larry hi hi Darrin hi all right you know hi yes okay dr. McGowan any other items of business for this evening no I just wanted again remind people that we want everybody to vote we want them to participate please if you need additional ballots in our own eligible voter vote at BCSD org vote at BCSD org is the email address or certainly call our office we'll get one out to you and those will be accepted through 5:00 p.m. on June the 9th so any information people would like please tune in tomorrow I have to answer questions again we have to answer questions and provide as much information as we possibly can and we'll continue to do so so thanks for everybody's important participation we wish the
072news was better but dealing with a set of pretty poor and challenging variables we've tried to maintain as much program for students as we possibly can and fulfill those are do any of the kids in their families thank you very much Kevin we appreciate that board members does anyone else have anything good in the order or items of business for this evening then one a couple quick reminders last year minors before we adjourn in addition tomorrow after our Facebook live Town Hall reminder to folks 5:00 p.m. tomorrow online with other virtual candidates night the six members six community members running for the Board of Education will appear for virtual candidates night please tune in for that reminder vote at be CST or gets dr. McGowan said if you do need additional ballots and also one
073critical reminder to those who may have voted by entity valid and other since this is not like other elections June 9th at 5 p.m. those ballots have to be in our hands they have to be in that Dropbox outside central office or have been received by the mail there's not a postmark there's not a courtesy time after that as there is in general election so just a reminder if you need a ballot additionally we'll get it to you any questions let us know please at this point then I want to clarify that that that idea that we can't accept ballots after 5 p.m. on 9 that's by executive order of the governor that is not our rule it's not our order that is exactly the way that the governor that the executive order was written
074in terms of covering power and how were to run this election how all school districts are to run the election correct thank you yeah I think that's a very important clarification that the executive order was light on details to say the least we've done everything possible to get the word out to develop procedures that include as many residents as we possibly can and conduct an election that is that is fair that is open that is accountable etc so you know the the getting three pieces of paper essentially because of the the envelopes required for every ballot sending out to 12,000 is 36,000 pieces of paper going out to people and then we will send as many ballots out is requested and needed by voters and want to make sure that people understand we were left
075to figure out an all absentee ballot election without very many rules to do so and I've worked closely with our school attorney and based on their collected was the wisdom of school attorneys across the state to put together the best procedures possible so thank you good thank you very much for the clarification and the question Karen anything else all right then Kim I guess we need a motion to motion please subject some well back in the seconded by Kris Nina Kim please call the roll Andrea hi Larry hi julain hi Karen hi mark all right Cena bye mark best and a reminder we next meet on June 16th thank you everyone we are adjourned this has been a special presentation from the bright and Central School District Board of Education