Board of Education Meeting - March 24, 2020

001this is a special presentation from the Brighton Central School District Board of Education welcome everyone and thank you for joining in this evening obviously through the ongoing healthcare crisis that really as it relates to the coab in nineteen pandemic we are conducting our meeting virtually this evening first time ever for us and Brighton and now commonplace pretty much beginning this week with meetings all over the state and probably most of the country we do invite all community members to participate as they normally would I'll be it from a safe social distance you're watching this event streamed please feel free to go to link on the BCSD org website to join the meeting by a zoom as is our regular practice in a moment we will begin our meeting with an opportunity for public comment our

002regular rules for comment with regard to stating your name and address the duration of your comments still apply the decorum that we asked for our public meetings should still be observed here in our virtual meeting it's a public open meeting of the board to conduct our business and the in public and participation by the public takes place during the public participation session on the agenda and not throughout the meeting so a little different than the ongoing forums and the additional virtual forums that dr. McGowan is holding and the board will continue to hold as we go forward this evening is still a Board of Education meeting thank you for your support on this new approach and for understanding our limits as we use the technology new to us in this manner so that it's best

003to keep everyone safe so then I guess officially I welcome you to the Brighton Central School District Board of Education at executive budget proposal and budget hearing for March 24th 2020 to begin this evening we do offer the opportunity for public participation members of the public who have joined us here online welcome to I guess dr. McGowan will have folks raise their hand and you will enable them to speak is that actually actually no you most people listen on all who are in the meeting right now are on mute all you need to do is unmute yourself and you can go ahead and do that and that would be for this section of the meeting and then we would just ask that you go back to mute only because the the microphone takes tends to

004pick up all sorts of background noise and you know then that kind of lays over the the audio of anybody else is trying to speak so okay I'd like to participate in the public session simply unmute yourself and follow the same procedure you normally would for public comment which correct me if I'm wrong mark is just name address and then address you're coming to the board yeah actually yeah we'll remind again I'll you know give me a sign raise your hand and hopefully where I have video of you will do that if not we'll ask everybody to please be careful and take a turn weighing in not everyone is here on video please be brief we ask everybody to please be brief you're welcome to make a statement ask a question if it's something we

005can address this evening we will if not we will get back in the future we also invite any members of the public anything that you see or hear tonight our agenda is posted online our materials are posted online any materials that we update during the meeting or they get added very very rapidly along the way we'll make sure that those are updated also this evening if you will so that they are there you're welcome to email us either directly to Kim lands of fame or any of the board members with any question or directly to dr. McGowan and you can also phone any of us also so at this point time we'll welcome members of the public who joined us via zoom who might want to ask a question or make a comment during public

006participation so do I see anybody who were is raising their hand Heather coin yes please yes hi there thanks for doing this you can hear me okay yep okay great I just had a budget related question Oh okay and that is I'd been curious about this I know that back in 2018 in response to Trump's tax changes New York state passed a law allowing school districts in New York State to allow unrestricted charitable contributions I was wondering what the board's thoughts and the administration's thoughts have been on setting this up for Brighton given that the funds can't be earmarked by donors and have to go into general programming and operations I asked this because I've heard more than one community member asked about donating to save programs and I thought this might be a way

007to do it at least in some part and without putting extra burden on those who can't afford it so I know if you had any thoughts on that or any the board member said okay thank you I have a couple of thoughts on it but first I'm gonna ask Kevin would you like to weigh in on that one sure well Heather at first I'd say we have not turned down a donation yet so if anybody would like to approach us well there's 36 some people on this we would be happy to hear that and they could certainly talk to us about that and actually this year we began kind of broadening our perspective on accepting donations and a couple of the extracurricular programs at the high schools Key Club being one of them we're sponsored

008by a business in town and house digital sponsored the ski club so since they since they put the money up I should mention their name too so we're happy to think about that when we talk about you know a tax change that allowed for that and us being able to set up a fund and it would not be here March etc that would be a key for us that donation is not necessarily be earmarked for a particular program etc philosophically what we've struggled with over the years was the fact that if somebody was donating a sum of money for something they would likely whether or not it was earmarked for that expect some sort of influence deference participation then in how those funds are spent just from an expectation perspective for example of somebody zoning

009money for a coach even though we say well that can't be your mark they say well okay that's fine but that's really what I'm hoping I'll go towards and then by the way a couple months later well why isn't my child getting more playing time or why is the coach doing it this way or why is that it right so there's that issue the influencer issue but then there's also just the practical implication of if a program is something we are proposing is worthwhile and should be a part of the program and should be a part of what we're saying is our k12 program both soup-to-nuts from the academic side to the extracurricular side this is what kids in our community should get then philosophically we that's what we should be including in the budget

010for for the entire community to pay for and not be dependent on a donor for that it should be supported by the the greater perspective of the tax levy as part of the program you know and then the issue becomes okay so that works for a short period of time maybe that works for one year and that's great for that one group of kids but in terms of equity then the following year it's not supported by that donor the way that money is being spent it's not a recurring source of revenue it's a one-shot revenue for that year and it's a gap then that either needs to be filled by another community member and we become then fundraisers which we struggle with being fundraisers because frankly we already are in the sense that we're raising

011a levy and then asking people for additional money beyond that as a school district as a taxing entity you know it is a struggle philosophically so you add all those things up and it's not something that we have felt comfortable going out and soliciting donations but if people would like to approach us to do that we are not turning them away either okay I I would add also Heather thank you well we as dr. McGowan said every one of our meetings that have a consent agenda we normally are accepting one or more gifts from members of the public and they could be donations of cash they could be donations of items to different programs we're certainly appreciative of that and they can be residents they can be alumni they can be anyone really there's always

012that mechanism to gift to the district if someone would choose also the brand education fund through that where many residents alumni and other supporters of Brighton who no longer live here donate through that as a vehicle all the time to help out the district the one thing I will tell members of the community specific to what you asked for in terms of legislation this comes up every once in a while through school boards association inquiries and when we last looked at this if you'll recall this legislation was done by New York State in an attempt to undo federal legislation around the limitation on state and local taxes the companion piece required to make it work was never fully done by the New York State Legislature is what I had previously been told by School Boards

013Association so in other words it it may not be fully set up for an individual to receive any sort of a benefit at the state level now I will look forward further into that but so there's an element there but again getting back to if there's a resident or anyone who wishes to make a donation of any type of gift will easily make that hit okay thank you thank you yeah can I just pop in there for a second that particular law and I pulled it up and looking at it right now the companion piece to it is that districts and music municipalities are encouraged to then offset the donation by offering a 95 up to a 95 percent tax credit so it would you keep a donation and then not receive the tax payment

014so it would it wouldn't be a net gain for us the net gain would be maybe five percent in terms of funds and and while I'm not looking at any sort of net gain in the face it's it's not necessarily it's meant for people to be still be able to write off their taxes on their tax return it's not meant to be a revenue driver for districts exactly and as we acquired a state School Boards Association was clear back to us the state legislature needed to fix that to really make it work but meanwhile the federal government's then it disallowed into the federal level the courts did in anyway so okay we're talking we're done with that one for now thank you others members of the public who are here either visually or on audio

015who wish to ask a question tonight all right I see no one raising their hand is there anyone who's not at a video that wishes to unmute their microphone and ask a question or make a statement okay then thanks folks for joining in we're gonna continue to move forward if there's something you see or hear tonight again please send us an e-mail text call and either dr. McGowan any members of the board we're happy to follow up further with with additional information so at this point I'll ask members of the Board of Education for approval of our agenda for this evening so moved back a move by Jolene and seconded by Larry Tim would you call the roll how do you vote hi Larry hi julene hi Karen bye mark died Christina bye Marvin Marv

016you need unmuting vote please yes thank you yeah not bad for the first time around everybody good chef now the motion please for approval of the minutes from our March 10th 2020 meeting so moved second move by Karen and seconded by julene first I'll ask if there are any additions Corrections or deletions those minutes that have not been previously reported I think that was Andrea who seconded it oh I'm sorry second right am i right yeah all right go ahead Kim call the roll please Andrea hey Larry hi Jillian hi Karen I you know I thank you all right next up on our agenda this evening item number 5 is a presentation by dr. McGowan of the executive budget proposal the legislation for the 2020 2021 school year dr. McGowan everybody could mute their mics

017that would be great you take care of that hold on one second care okay thanks very much and let me just walk you through this presentation very little has changed since the last presentation given to the board two weeks ago while everything in the world seems to have changed this proposal itself hasn't necessarily although we do want to point out a couple of areas that we'll need to address along the way and keep thinking about as we move through this process so this is the proposal as it stands right now we will ask you on the 14th to adopt a budget and and I do expect that we will have to make changes between now and then a state budget has not been agreed to and we'll address that as we walk through this but

018certainly there are pretty seismic shifts in terms of the economic landscape and the state budget landscape that we will have to address as well okay so our key budget guidelines that you adopted back at the beginning of this process of course revolve around the idea of having sustaining revenue to make sure we can appropriately fund our work going forward and in next year's budget we also of course in these guidelines ask that the budget support the blueprint plans as they're developed throughout the summer and implemented into the air particularly I'm sorry particularly in our priority areas around system safety security capital planning budget development mental health and wellness Act McGregor for all students diversity and equity we also stated in the guidelines that we'd want to make sure that we're evaluating the resource requirements to

019make sure that all students have the opportunity to graduate with the right skills to move on to college or career particularly in to individualize to their talents and what they would like to do going forward and in thinking about the economic climate and changing needs we want to make sure we prioritize resources and evaluated opportunities for reductions in consolidations as well and we in this budget process wanted to make sure as a guideline that we were prudently planning for the implementation of full-day kindergarten and the debt service impact of the 2017 approved by voters project and then we comply with the New York State property tax cap and understand its impact on us long term as well the budget development calendar through the process of course you're very familiar with this we're all the way

020down now to the budget proposals on the 24th but we've had community budget forums we provided you updates and you've been meeting pretty regularly of course covering budget topics as we've reacted to what the state has provided to us in terms of their projections in the governor's proposal and in terms of what our spending plans are and our needs are here in the district the bunch of factors that we've assessed essentially on the left-hand side the budget factors that we know are increased staffing demands due to emerging needs demands for additional special education services labor increases relative to the increase in minimum wage demand for specialized transportation as well pension contribution increases health insurance rates going up and then multi-year impact of planning for full-day kindergarten along with the capital project and the allowable tax

021levy growth have 1.8 1% and so we have going into now now we also know some consideration for the debt in that but that's what the factors were that we were assessing along the way so the factors to continue to assess are the changes in mandated student programs the student elective demands as we scheduled at the high school level changes in state and federal aids and this big one here in red impact of virus and this is something for people to continue to think about and for you as a board to consider over the next several weeks we are just now beginning to understand what the economic implications could be they could be long lasting several years long lasting and we need to consider what what that what impact that plays both in this year's

022budget and budgets moving forward as well any new unfunded mandates there could be unfunded mandates as a result of this particular situation we're hearing about them on a daily basis frankly are the possibilities volatility and federal politics and funding reliability what happens in the election in November will impact our work here as well relative to funding for public education through title - and then financing strategies for the capital project and really the tolerance in this community for tax increase relative to the tax levy limiter the tax cap is a consideration as well we did collect community feedback along the way when we did a thought exchange we had 469 participants they shared nearly two hundred thoughts 199 thoughts and we held community forums on the 25th and of February and the third of March as

023well to really triangulate that data and get a better sense for what exactly that was telling us we've done Facebook live events and in-person events of course the most recent being Thursday when we held the forum virtually and discussions were held to gather information we asked participants really clarify that exchange data and the takeaways from that word that we didn't we wanted to keep cuts as far away from students as much as possible I wanted to keep programming the way it is and that reducing would be better than eliminating this is really what we took from those conversations and from the data I presented we also took from that that we should not present a budget over the cat and that the community values all of its programming beyond mandates we heard over and over

024again keep bright and bright and keep advocating which we have continued to do spending a considerable amount of time and all day and from here you know from from Brighton advocating supporting the work of fight for Brighton collaborating with anybody who will listen to us not just our legislators but legislators who could have an influence over that process and are sympathetic to our situation and who experienced some similar situations the districts that are within their legislative boundaries of Hezbollah so what process are we looking to use to close the planaria gap well the plenary gap you see down on the right hand side was 2.4 million dollars and I'll go through with you the difference between revenue and expenses where we got to that 2.4 million dollars but what we're looking at in this proposal

025to you is a series of service level reductions amounting to $650,000 so it's important to point out if the 2.5 million dollars we're only asking to reduce service in the community right now by $650,000 and those are an important $650,000 they represent real people of real positions very important programs to us but there are modification of the current offerings we don't take that lightly we don't want to do that it's important to point that out that we prefer to continue to operate those programs the way we have we simply can't afford to at this point which is why we're proposing what era we're also looking at cost of rose financing strategies to make up another eight hundred twenty-five thousand dollars that will have an impact later on we will have to make up for that

026expense on the revenue side later on either through additional taxes or additional cuts to reduce our expense in future both budgets we're also looking to we have updated our projections and reconciling our expenses this year so based on updated numbers for health insurance and what we can anticipate going forward and then efficiencies received also in the process of $175,000 just where we've looked at additional places that we could count on savings in the budget also the cost reduction strategy is the $650,000 that I mentioned to you that is a result of these specific program and position cuts the first is we are cutting the assistant director of humanities position and restructuring administrative positions related to academic intervention services special education mental health that's a 1.0 reduction in the administrative area we are reducing class electives

027and making adjustments in class size to reduce some staffing of a high school level by 2 positions at the middle school level we're suggesting and proposing cutting 5.6 positions for savings of $300,000 but it will modify the team teaching structure also reduce foreign language to a half year program it's in sixth grade it's currently a full year program and we will be looking at enrollment adjustments as well in class size at the middle school again reduction of 5.6 positions and French Road we're going to restructure the delivery of fourth-grade internal music that will be half the program it is right now we will still be able to service all children just scheduling that differently will not be scheduled as a special - rather just pullout instrument lessons but we would make that available to all

028students and researching our instructional coaching positions by another position that's embedded professional development at the K through 8 level that will be reduced also in this proposal budgets are a statement they are statement about what we value they communicate a message and where our priorities are it says a lot about where we are emphasizing our work when we put out a budget as a value statement this particular executive budget proposal does mean exceed our state mandates to support every child along the spectrum so we have now reduced services beyond the mandate something we talked often about that we go above and beyond it does preserve our core educational programs those valued by the community there are modifications but it does preserve our programs and we believe it respects taxpayers and honors our commitments specifically not

029proposing a budget to go over the tax cap respecting the the perspective that we received from taxpayers both through this process but frankly and last year's vote as well in the proposal over the cap what do the expenses look like going into next year and how do they break down salaries will go down slightly 7 tenths of a percent that's based on the number of people again in that's not a reduction in their salaries that's based on the number of people being accounted for in terms of salaries so that's a reduction of two hundred forty-one thousand dollars the benefits line will go up only three and a half percent I know I mentioned to you an eight and a percent increase to the health insurance benefit but again by a reduced number of people being

030budgeted for in that category the total spending in that area will go up three point five percent mostly spending based on student needs student programming in particular will go up eight hundred fifty seven thousand dollars and supplies and services will go up $705,000 debt service will go up 1.6 million dollars that is the payments becoming do now and the 2017 voter approved project we have to make that lift we talked about that quite a bit for several years we'll talk about how that is a portion of the debt service lifting into this years but that will continue to have to build into that going forward as well so where does that breakdown revenue versus expenses the estimated revenue coming in next year would be a four point six two percent increase overall three point eight

031percent increase in the revenue coming from the levy three point eight three percent specifically in the property tax cap area and then the payments in lieu of taxes will go up fifteen thousand dollars it's a small dollar amount looks like a big percentage but those pilot agreements go up fifteen thousand dollars next year or six point eight percent for a total increase in that area the tax collected is pilots and the tax cap levy capped levy at three point eight four percent financing sources in total the use of reserves and appropriated fund balance will go up twenty six percent and we're talking about nine hundred thousand dollars are using on reserves than on five thousand dollars on that is an increase over what we previously have used and that's basically us saying to you right

032now those are rainy day funds and it's pouring and so that's what we need to be using that for and we'll continue to explore use of reserves remember the long-term implication of that as well also our investment income will go up slightly and sales tax will go up slightly as well those are smaller dollar amounts and bigger percentages and the state and federal aid we expect to go up right now six hundred forty eight thousand dollars largely that's entirely state aid or three point six four percent and again because there's not an agreed-upon state budget and we're unsure of that number that's the governor's proposal I would have told you two weeks ago that that would go up based on legislatively agreed upon budget and creative power with the governor we don't know the status

033of that at this point so we'll certainly keep you posted and that's why there may be a variance between now and the April 14th adoption of the budget our estimated expenses though on the right hand side we don't expect that to change significantly between now and then unless we're coming back to you saying we need to reduce expenses further because the revenue will be less right now we're looking again at benefits going up three point three seven percent total lows he's spending up ten percent at eight hundred fifty seven thousand I mentioned to you based on student need supplies contracts and the big one again 1.6 million dollars or 37% increase in that debt service that's coming online at this point the resulting tax ring will emphasize this at the end again is $26.90 per

034thousand dollars of assessed value and the average home being assessed at $220,000 that would be a $198 increase the important to point out again what we are doing and we used to call this points of pride this particular slide but I want to point out why we've changed essentially our language around that although we are proud that we are able to maintain programs with modifications and glad to be able to present that feel like that's the right answer for kids it's very difficult to talk about pride in a moment where that also impacts people's positions and the program that we would rather have as a full program not a modified program so yes we're glad we could find a way to make this work for another year but a modified fashion but it's just important

035to say - it is not necessarily by choice it's by necessity so what does that mean we are modifying the instructional leadership of a professional development program I mention that those two reductions to you the coaching supports as well that's that embedded staff element we mentioned the music program at fourth grade the sixth grade foreign language class size course offerings and again that team teaching structure at the middle level and on the right hand side these are the areas that we're able to maintain that are important to us that we've heard over and over again are community values so much so a is services and supports these are beyond the mandates summer school offerings all of the opportunities we have for kids in terms of extracurriculars athletics co-curricular activities and the transportation services that are

036important to so many people in our community and that is for everybody in our community and we recognize that we're providing service for our public and non-public students we also recognize this has been a conversation that we've had and want to continue to endorse that as a service necessary for so many people in our community whose days off don't always align with all of ours but that is the service that many people in our community and the only service that they receive for the taxes that they're paying towards this program also relatively small dollar amount but important for people to know our non-public families that we are offering that service for them and we will continue to do that in this proposal that we have in the past recognizing that that's a financial burden for

037people a practical burden in a loss of instructional time if those students are not able to attend those days even though Brighton might not be in session ourselves so I do want to point out again the the building up or levy for capital outlays we've used this slide in the past and updated it at this point to make sure we're pointing out to you again the 2017 facilities Improvement Plan and the expectation at that point that there would be an average annual tax impact of 144 dollars that was presented again in 2017 but when the override was defeated in 1920 instead of that one lift into the tax number we've had to break that up now over several years you can see in the bar chart here on the left-hand side of the slide that

038we are looking at that $180 $188 total increase the blue bar that's how much we're allowed to increase that attacks at the cap number and that breaks down to 143 dollars for operations for the ongoing program that we're offering and 55 dollars of that is going towards the levy and again we'll have to continue to build towards that total of 144 dollars of annual impact we can't put that all in at once that was the attempt last year in the levy but we can't do that because we are capped in how much we can collect going forward so I just want to point that out that we'll continue to have to recognize that when we forward in this slide shows that we'll have to use some short-term financing until our building aid begins and the

039debt service you can see over time we are building and it will go up again in the 21 22 budget and then pretty much level off at that point for the foreseeable future but we have to spend that debt service in order to generate the aid in the following year so as you can see the orange bar on the chart is then the building aid that is generated by the debt service being paid so we will increase that significantly in the 21 22 budget still not there matching that expense yet or coming closer match that expense so we're asking them to use fund balance to bridge that gap going into next year and you can see the net levy impact of that we will level off then and then 20 1:22 budget which will be

040a walking time for sure so what do the objects and particularly look like and what are the summaries we would make about those we've pointed out several of these expenses in the earlier slides we do keep these in the presentation because these are all posted on the website I want people people to be able to take a look at each of these items and ask us questions of course if they do come up and we want to keep these available to people the bottom number that 1.6 million again is that debt service and point important to point out transportation services going up 12% is a combination of the additional cost for specialized transportation for specific programs for students and the train off of our contract expense going into next year in our budget right now

041we are in a deficit in that area respect more we need to budget more for that just because of the expense going out so it's a true expense right there and then if we look again at the BOCES programs and support that specific to student needs going up eight hundred fifty seven thousand dollars some of the factors that increase the spending and i know i've mentioned some of these we are reducing that expensive administrative area by cutting that position the teaching area is up 4.4% non-certified area will go down 18 percent reducing one administrative position that staff teaching the impact the elementary music sixth grade foreign language team teaching etc each of those reductions we mentioned those modifications and also though adjust for enrollment increases at kindergarten and and free NL and special education and

042then we're adjusting for minimum wage and contractual increases as well as we continue to work on implementing a higher minimum wage here in New York State and we will reduce our plan planning for funding for full-day K in 2122 as well we had hoped to be able to budget more and build towards that we can't continue to do that right now given the current budget circumstance so reduce or does reduce that funding as well so with those positions where will we land next year we will be looking at a six positions in particular in kindergarten so that our enrollment is at 15.5 but will be relatively stable going into next year of course as well the spending factors would like to continue to point out to you the health insurance overall spending in that specific

043area in the benefit area goes up 6.4% all together in that line we're up three and a half percent the medical inflation trend for us is eight and a half percent and it carries over our risk position provision continues that and builds on that into nineteen twenty we need to build that back up we had to go into the risk provision this year and our pension rates will go up ten point two five percent as well plus any growth in base wages increases our spending that area payroll taxes are will go up commensurate with the change in our personnel costs less adjustment for the current budget variance and then we have an improved loss factor for workman's compensation with risk ratios which helps us reduce that slightly in particularly other spending areas and factors we

044want to mention to you business technology services are reflected seventy thousand dollar investment cyber security to comply with Ed law to D and the shield Act those are required for us to invest in that data security for our students and staff in this community it also funds our technology department supplies and contracts previously we took out at the Tech Reserve we have to move that now into general fund and as that reserve draws down the operational cost must go into the general fund so we've got to be making a transition in special education reflects the current enrollment services also replenishes our risk reserve based on emerging trends and the transportation cost again reflects that current program mandate inflation adjustment as well as driver wages to increase your recruitment challenges so we need to continue to

045support that contract because again we're very shallow on drivers for sure and having enough people this is more detail again than we include in the presentation for people to take a look at the business function there's a ten thousand dollar change in our cost for audits that goes up eight point six percent and then if we go down through these other lines we have to go back we deferred some equipment spending last year we have to build that back in that's a 39 percent increase but it's 140 four thousand dollars and last year he cut several O's out and the promise was that we'd have to go back to that line for equipment replenishment again all of this data is available and has been reviewed in previous slides but this is more detailed for people

046to take a look at so the projected revenue where then is money going to come from we always point out to people again that property taxes make up 66 percent of the total spending state federal aid just 21% our community is paying the bulk of the cost here at school and that's important to realize because the state should be picking up far more than they currently are the source of new funds going into next year essentially will be the tax levy in orange right there tax levy also in capital and then funding from the Capital Area and foundation aid also going up just slightly going into next year the tax cap calculation and we mentioned to you it is not a 2% property tax cap in New York State for us it's three point eight

047three percent it's different for every district and it's different for every years based on a variety of factors two percent or less is just one number used in that calculation it's a misnomer that it's called the 2 percent property tax cap are kept this year actually would have been one point nine five percent but we're allowed to exclude forty seven percent of the money required to be levied towards that one point six million dollar increase in capital expense let me repeat that if we had to use one point six million dollars of what would be available if we levied just the cap number it would eat up such a significant part of our allowable levy that we have to have some of that excluded and by law the state allows you to do that and

048their calculation is 47 percent of that could be excluded from the cap and the levy at 731 thousand dollars the result of which is a cap number of well that's should be three point eight three which we've reported before so apologize again that's three point eight three is the total amount because this also includes an exclusion for the additional expense for both capital that's included as well so let me just point that out again verbally and for the recording I'll update this slide before it's put up for the community that's three point eight three five percent the foundation aid area is important to again consider there is a gap in total amount that is being paid relative to what we are owed so if you take a look at the total orange and blue we

049are anticipating next year to receive a gap of eight million dollars a ballpark eight million dollars when we should be receiving over sixteen million dollars an eight million dollar gap where does that number come from the total amount due to the district is based on real kids in real time enrollment level of poverty property wealth in the district English an English language learner special needs students a free and reduced lunch count etc a variety of factors go into determining that number and that number tells us it's the state's number that we should receive over 16 million dollars but we will only receive 8 million and the reason for that is in the distribution when the state looks at the number that's due for every district and then decides how to distribute the money they actually

050have available they make a political calculation called the shares concepts it's nowhere in the law it's just an agreed-upon concept in the negotiation of the budget at the end of the day to make sure that every area in the state gets their fair share regardless of what the actual foundation a number tells you you should get it is divided that way and that results in a essentially misguided efforts at balance that many of our neighbors receiving more because their number do their total number due has not gone up as fast as ours ours has gone up faster based on our particular demographics than many of our neighbors our total amount to thus throwing off the percentage while everybody has stayed relatively flat over the years in fact over this period of time our increase has

051only been funded the increase itself has only been funded by less than 50% of what it should have been over time so we have that eight million dollar gap that translates by the way ending to a sixteen percent difference in your property taxes that particular gap so how does that compare to other districts around the state our peer group based on the state's calculations receive 81% of their adieu we're just receiving 51.8% so our point around advocacy has been this issue of it's just simply not fair get everybody to a similar place relative to that reduction we realized the state can't afford the full amount for everyone but there should be a fairness and how much we are reduced and as I mentioned before that increase over time over the last 10 years has gone

052up 39% and it's only been funded at 57% of the increase that should have gone up in the last 10 years so the budget summary and the impact on the tax levy again the increase in the real property tax levy is three point eight three percent and we we would telling you that that is not over the cap it is not over the cap going in the next year and that's the total amount we will be looking to raise the amount used in the fund balance by 26% going into next year again the rainy day funds and the unrestricted foundation aid at this point we believe will go up three hundred forty seven thousand or 4.2 percent what is the impact then on tax rates as we mentioned before I'll home doubt it at $220,000

053will be a $198 that assumes a quarter percent appreciation in the tax base but the rate is not final until the tax warrant is approved in July and that's time to Braden $198 and town of Pittsford $198 as well two different taxing entities we are also proposing withdraw from the capital reserve fund of two million dollars the current balance is seven point nine million dollars and that would be authorizing us withdraw two million dollars from the existing 2015 capillaries are fund for the purpose of paying additional costs associated with the district's capital improvement project approved by qualified voters of the district in 2017 and essentially this is we have a capital reserve and we're expenses are higher than what they would have been in 2017 we're not going out for reauthorization from the community and

054asking for additional tax to pay for that we're saying we would like our to cover any of the overages and at this point we're asking to withdraw two million dollars the community put this money aside for these purposes and now we have to go back and ask for permission to be able to do that and asking voters to approve that in this process or certainly to vote on that of course the balance of the technology reserve fund is just over a million dollars and we'd like to withdraw three hundred thousand dollars and that is to continue the one-to-one program of the secondary level of the eighth grade tablet program and that's for staff staff laptop replacements and also other AV hardware replacements there's probably no better time than to be talking to you about the

055drawing for technology purposes as a time when people are using this technology right now to learn on their couch at their desk in their kitchen and all over the place other than in classroom so by way of summary the spending proposal is eighty four point two four million dollars that's an increase of four point six percent two point six of that is operations two percent is I capital and reflects our continued investment in our priority our safety security wellness rigorous course work across students creativity innovation and search on technology diversity equity and inclusion and response or mandated increases in spending invest in programs that we think are so very important while responsibly terming remember modifying programs so we reduce our impact on students and honors both the tax impact of the 2017 improvement project and

056respects where people wanted to be relative to the cap this year it reflects what we value which is maintaining as much of our program as we possibly can next steps for us are to assess the impact of the final state budget when it is finally adopted ask you to adopt a budget like heaven thanks kid this slide was updated these are last year's dates so that we just need to correct it so the budget would be I may 19th on budget hearing so I apologize for that no that's right so the actual budget adoption will be on the fourteenth and the budget I'll just give everybody right now the budget hearing is on May 12th and the 19th is the budget vote so we'll update that side as well for posting to the website all

057right I will stop sharing there and ask if there are any questions from the board or any additional detail for board members that they would like to discuss board members does anyone have anything further question or comment for dr. McGowan yeah mark this is Larry I know this is unknowable cabin I would just make the comment in watching the governor statements yesterday he said I allow for spending money we don't have right now and that doesn't bode well for us I know we can't know what the impact of that is at this time but that's a genuine concern to me in terms of what we're trying to do not just next school year but the next few school years yeah I would just respond that Larry you're absolutely right it's something we're really worried about

058which is why we definitely you know issues that we may need to come to you a couple weeks from now with a different perspective on this and we have tonight it's too early to know that right now although the governor is not wrong at all in what he's saying and that's a concern we share there's a lot of conversation about all different issues related to this I mentioned to the board earlier that this is a you know fascinating not wanted but fascinating exercise and understanding how the wheels connect to each other and how this all functions for example there is a request across the state to collect property taxes at a different time frame for this year that would affect our cash flow there is concern about the state's ability if not collecting income tax

059revenue until July to make their payments to us in April May and June and their remaining state aid payments just cash flow issues there there are so many questions right now that are up in the air in terms of a you know 710 day almost apocalyptic change to our economy so we're really preparing for what adjustments might be made whether that's a budget extender or whether that's mid-year cuts whether that's the gap elimination adjustment I think there's a lot of different concerns going forward certainly that we're trying to monitor and prepare to make adjustments for ya and you know Kevin if I could add to I think thank you for the presentation thank you for the update a reminder to the public will make the corrections that we noted and we'll continue to update information

060on the website as it becomes available but it's quite clear that from you know our conversations we should we still continue to try to have our conversations with those in Albany that we've made relationships with over the last couple of years it's just that as everyone can fully understand there's just no room for this conversation right now in Albany with anybody first of all they're not in Albany no one and how it's gonna shake out it's pure speculation other than there's not a lot of positivity around it in terms of dollars until we get that budget from the state which we should have you know a week from now or ish you know depending on what they decide to do then we'll have a number in terms of what to expect it will also have

061some guidance from them on what to expect for year two year three possibly in terms of you know all the different types of thinking around extensions and budgets the the dreaded gap elimination type approach again if that comes around mid-year cuts which could be a conversation so we are just gonna have to be ready we're gonna have to be nimble you know we're not scheduled to meet formally again until April 14th which is supposed to be an adoption we may well have to meet formally and you know in sort of a zoom workshop prior to that once we have numbers and we have to look in reevaluate and you know move forward from there so that's that's kind of the best we can tell folks right now I I think it's difficult because everybody is

062in no matter where you're on your life everybody's situations up in the air and every aspect of life and and we still have to work on this budget and get it moved forward for us to the extent that we can okay all right thank you Kevin I appreciate we appreciate that and thank you for the update next up we'll have an update from Lu Li mo on the bright and facilities improvement plan and where things currently stand I guess on that loop yes good evening so I'm gonna share my screen - with a presentation prepared by campus construction just go through some of the upcoming activities it'll be a quick update just to give the board in the community an idea of what's what's happening in construction we are at this point I'm sorry full

063going construction we're taking advantage of the schools not being there we're following all go bid 19 protocols our contractors are anyway we are allowing them access to our buildings though what work is is ongoing and they're making good progress just in these last five days that we've been out of school so I'm gonna share my screen right now and show you I can figure it out so you excuse me while I'm new to this - okay so just some upcoming activities in the 12 corners middle school first we have the cafeteria floor replacement this is a result of us excellently rejecting the first floor that went in it appears the contractor did not have a clean surface when they laid the tile so we rejected a fear that it will crack over the long term

064and we're working with the contractor now - to be able to reschedule that it'll take about 10 10 business days to do that if we get notice that we may be out from school longer than we might take advantage of the opportunity otherwise that'll be replaced this summer library renovations we were scheduled to start at June 1st and take over the library space the librarian mrs. Lambert have been very cooperative her an entire team at the Middle School in accommodating this so we could be open and ready for business in September so that will be up coming in the next couple months our renovations are planned for this summer so we'll have some reconstruction of our rooms and updates and renovations bathrooms are beyond going we're renovating excuse me 54 bathrooms across the district improving

065EDA accessibility and just modernizing our facilities that will start in the middle school with asbestos being first and then renovations of the non asbestos work one of the other areas is handrails in stair towers four and five and we're going to do that at our first opportunity one of the consequences of the virus is we are fearful about supplies and materials coming in we expect that as companies may have shutdown that we're going to have fillets in that so that's something that we're watching very carefully and see how that's going to impact our our schedules at the high school is everyone knows we are still working on the auditorium renovations we're working with Graco now who is the contractor subcontractor with with the walls and the ceiling work as well as ductwork there's a lot

066of work there and there's been significant change orders that has been presented to the Board of Education with the asbestos that was discovered as you recall our hero reports back from the 60s and 70s were just wrong and so we had a lot more asbestos there that we needed to take care of we're taking this opportunity to do that and do it the right way so it's so it's it's complete as a consequence the schedule has been has been pushed out we're supposed to be in there in November we're not going to be back until the start of school with all the work that needs to go in there so that's that's I'm going and we have a large crew in there working the transformer replacement this is an important item that will impact the

067the entire community so we're at our G and E's mercy for the transformer replacement they required based on the work that was happening that we replace the transformer they have to engineer that and and approve that and they give us the date when they will be on site so we are completely at their mercy right now we are shooting for the end of June we were always targeting for the last soon as school gets out to be able to to install that transformer and that would be a complete shutdown that would impact neighborhoods so our Jeanne and we'll work with our partners at the town to communicate that and to understand how far-reaching that shutdown will be the science room renovations we have started that now we have our contractors in there that have started

068the demolition we will start asbestos and that will be I'm going over the next next several months the rooftop air handling units we are installing steel in the Janae's eum's and the units will be installed this summer so that room renovations are ongoing as well as other classroom renovations and French Road we have begun the demolition of the art music suite so thank you to dr. Rio and her team of art music teachers at French Road for packing up and allowing us to get a head start on that that's going to be a significant reconfiguration of that space and so that is started in ongoing we'll have toilet room renovations rooms 208 and 209 the contractors are starting the floor cutting and the drainage which are our key items to that if they can complete

069those before school is back in session that would be a great start classroom lighting retrofits that's almost complete so significant lighting upgrades throughout the building with LED units the rooftop air handling units is the cooling tower and that's going to be replaced this summer the wall pack lighting replacements that's the exterior all around the building those are those are underway and the emergency circuit lighting is 80% complete we allow the contractor to start in February and they've been working as programs and ongoing staying out of everyone's way so we've got a significant head start on that and that progress is we're pleased with that progress so then to Council Rock so we have the major activity at Council Rock is the south addition so they're working on the courtyard and the sidewalks they will be

070that's that's finally complete the courtyard drainage and the courtyard so they will start to install the features with the sidewalks so we should have a useful instructional space starting in the 2021 school year so that's exciting we're completing the roof and finishes of the South addition and again we plan to occupy the South addition that's going to be our swing space as we continue with the mechanical work and the interior of the building so the north addition we're working on finishes and pane painting cafeteria equipment and kitchen equipment in the stage area is all being constructed we will not have that back though until November of 2020 so even though they're making significant progress and any one that goes through the neighborhood and sees that it's it's looking good there's still a lot of work

071to do on the inside and the cafeteria has to be has to be reconfigured and and outfitted and the interior a lot of mechanical work as you recall were essentially putting all the mechanicals we're moving the mechanicals from underneath the building to above the ceilings so that has presented some challenges the board has seen some change orders as a result of that that's a lot of mechanical equipment with the addition of AC to put about the ceilings without changing the roofline of the current structure so that's been a design challenge we have invested in the BIM model and the contractors are using that for class detection so they're figuring out all the changes before they get in the field which is helping us stay on schedule so that's been a worthwhile investment in the planning

072stages so finally the budget site and I'll try to increase the size of this if I can a little bit so this is the standard summary that we present to the Board of Education this is also included in the construction manager imports that the board accepts it provides the original contract value the change orders to date and the allowance allowances and then at the bottom is the most important part where we look at our contingency and that's a big part of the reason why we're asking the voters to allow us to withdraw the capital reserve fund to be able to replenish that remaining project contingency of three hundred and twenty four thousand dollars there's still a lot of work to do there's still potential for unforeseen conditions and we will need to replenish them in

073addition tomorrow we are opening a bid for the tile project at Council Rock again that was more unforeseen asbestos that we found in the interior we encapsulated that for this school year and we're taking the opportunity to retile that the interior corridors our budget for that piece of it is about seven hundred and eighty thousand dollars and you'll see what the bids come through tomorrow and we'll see what you know the environment right now is is doing to the market that'll be a quick that'll be an obvious test of where we are and how hungry contractors are for work so keep that in mind we do have a Sam's grant that was secured by Jamie Romeo and we're hoping once that comes through which could be years years from now that we'll be able to

074replenish the capital reserve with that budget is tight so it's we will need to replenish some of that contingency to make sure that we can hunter the scope that was presented to the voters so with that I'll unshare my screen and entertain any questions that the board may have Lou have we you mentioned in your presentation a couple of additions or abilities to operate given the fact that our buildings that are an occupied have we altered it all the bid schedule or the planning schedule that normally we where we were working for summer work into fall we're trying to push up as much as we can practice again not knowing when we're gonna resume school so we can't we can't be too aggressive in that but there's opportunity to get in there and do some

075demo and make sure that it's safer when students return we're taking every opportunity for that if I'm understanding the question correct yes no that's why I wondered I mean there's we don't know for certain definitively when school will and yet how long it'll go I mean any of those options but I assumed from what we had last talked that the bidding process and the timeframe to do that is what it is and and if we can take advantage of current subcontractors and other projects underway where we can add additional work we're going ahead to do that where we can correct okay okay great all right thank you very much board members anything further for Lou it again thank you for your continued oversight certainly for our partners at campus construction and their management and Larry

076Davis for your work on the owners architected engineers committee meetings which are many and long so thank you very much for your attention to that let's mark mark I would call attention to one thing Lou talked about a couple areas where our records weren't clean and we found in a couple of his examples asbestos where we didn't think there was one and you want to note that in the in the interest of you know learning and getting better as you go through that team under Lou is doing a great job of documenting and putting all those records online the building's records so then if they're shudder to think about this if there ever needs to be another project soon again we have much better records which means we're gonna have many fewer surprises and that's

077like some of the behind the scenes stuff I think Lou and then those buildings teams are doing that's going to help us a lot in the future it's painful now but we'll be that much better in the future I think it's important to note that yeah okay great yeah it's a very important point thank you so much all right then next up may we have a motion please board for approval of the notice of the our annual meeting budget vote in election go ahead Larry takes a tell second move by Larry and seconded by Karen I make notes and again for members of the public that are with us this evening we have legal requirements and timing requirements in terms of approvals of the date for the budget vote the date for the board election

078the process procedures as of now nothing has changed so in other words as we sit here this evening as far as New York State and the State Education Department is concerned we are scheduling to hold a vote on our budget and a vote on our Board of Education candidates on May 19th 2020 utilizing the high school as previously planned now obviously this can change we expect some things will change we do expect some guidance from New York State and stay dead that could happen yet this week or very early next week with regard to all of this and we would certainly communicate that immediately to the public but for right now in this meeting this evening we're asking the board to take action to approve the schedule as previously outlined and we will alter and

079adjust as we are directed to we have no ability on us by the way for those that have asked it's not our choice we can't unilaterally change direction in terms of dates absentee voting suspension of rules that's entirely from New York State and this is affecting all all elections primary elections the fall elections and certainly our school district elections scheduled for May so Kim would you call the roll I guess of the board on that please yeah Andrea why Larry hi julain hi Aaron hi mark all right Kristina hi mark Maur I saw his lips move yes thank you all right next item of business this evening we have two policies that are back for a second read and approval we've dealt with both of these previously as first reads may I have a motion

080please to approve second read on policy eight two six zero instruction under title 1 and parent and family engagement so moved moved by Gelinas seconded by Christina the board will recall from previous discussions and previous notes that this policy was updated it's a six page policy that was updated to affect all kata current changes made in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and update those as needed in our current policy around parent and family engagement under title 1 programs I don't have any additional changes or Corrections or updates from anyone does any board member have anything to add or ask further Kim call the roll please Andrea why Larry aye julene aye Erin I mark Dina by Mar yes okay a motion please to approve second read and policy 7 5 3 0 under our

081students section having to do with child abuse and maltreatment so moved second moved by Karen and seconded by Larry again this is similar situation although entirely different policy second read this reflects a number of changes that have been made both in education law in New York State and also Family Court and a couple of other New York Co with regard to child abuse who is a reporter reporting information to clarify and closer clarify the role of individuals like the Board of Education members so and again I don't have anything further to add or change or delete with our with what we previously hid as a first read so does any other board memory of anything this evening no go ahead Kim call the roll please Andrea right Larry aye humane hi Erin hi mark all

082right Christina I Mar yes thank you and then another item of business this evening a couple couple in a row a little unusual but due to the circumstances we're in it will explain a motion please for approval of a pay resolution regarding payment of certain employees during the coab in 1908 declaration so move move by Andrea and seconded by Christina the board has this resolution is prepared by our attorneys in lieu if it's not posted we will make sure we get it posted right away it essentially is a resolution covering the declaration of emergency regarding the Cova 19 virus and the authorization granted under that the superintendent of schools with regard to work rules pay and those types of things with regard to district employees does anyone have any further questions on that or everything

083is posted online okay thank you very much so it is all posted for folks go ahead can call the roll on that one please Andrea hey Dean hi Larry hi Karen hi mark hey Kristina hi barb yes alright then now I ask for a motion please for approval of a second resolution regarding the continuity of essential transportation services so moved second move by Jelena and seconded by Karin another memo again provided to us by our attorneys in through Lu this is again recognizing the pandemic and the emergency declarations around clove at 19 this has to do with the district's ability to enter into agreement with our transportation provider continuation of services as we mutually agree to essentially to keep our contract in place and keep our drivers in place our transportation drivers through at least

084the current duration if you will this will provide for us the ability to be ready to move when we do open schools it will ensure that all of our drivers that we have driving bring buses are still employed and ready to go as soon as we get back to business if you will of transporting students so it provides with a couple of other provisions that allow lewin and Cavan to work with first student to make sure that during this time things are there's a continuation of services as the memo says so go ahead Kim call the roll Andrea nice Larry hi julain hi Karen hi mark all right Kristina hi mark yes all right then finally we're near the finish line we are gonna make it motion please for approval of our consent agenda for

085this evening so loved second by Karen and seconded by was it Andrea Jelena I think yeah Andrea thank you I make note of one i am i will make note of a couple things for those members of the public who look at the consent agenda you'll see there's a number of activities there date dated events we're going ahead right now going through formal processes so by the action of the board tonight we're approving these events in the hopes that they will things will resume and that the events can take place or be held in a postponed basis but for now we have an approval process for fundraising field trips things like that and we move forward with that approval process we also want to take note we discussed this a little bit earlier gifts to

086the district we want to take note and a thank you for dr. Howard coughed to the visual & Performing Arts Department a number of photography and business art books so we thank him for that that donation oh I'm sorry Kim call the roll please Andrea right Larry hiren hi mark all right Kristina hi Marv all right thank you very much everybody and thank you to the members of public who were able to join in tonight we may be doing this again this way on April 14th or before then if we need to meet in a special meeting is there any other thing any other members of the forum any members of the board have any other ends of businesses evening mark I just want to say one thing dr. McGowan go ahead two things one

087with regard to number 9 and 10 the pay resolution and continuity of essential transportation services want to thank all of you for your support just want to make note again the concept here for us is to provide income security for the most vulnerable in our school community relative to income and not as a gift but rather as a continuity of operations effort and our obligation to our employees as well and what this does in several of the contractual agreements in the district pay would be relatively without question that's understood as part of their agreements are articulated in the agreements but for others that's not necessarily the case and for that we needed the board to take official action to allow us to provide that income security going for it so thank you for supporting that

088it's the right thing to do and a necessary thing to do relative to also keeping all employees so that we can return as quickly there's a practical necessity to that as well the other issue is around transportation services it is the exact same concept that as long as they will continue to be employed by the contractor our drivers then will be able to come back to service immediately when we're ready to have them drive the idea of unemployment if they are not employed by the contractor if we're not paying on that contract likely many people would seek other employment and that's a fragile population already relative to having enough people to drive buses so just want to make sure that's very clear to people the reasons for that finally I want to point out two

089last things one is that the presentation that I pulled up for you so after I stopped and took a breath could see my text messages were that I had the wrong presentation pulled up the information is nearly identical but I want to make sure it's pointed out that Liu's presentation was perfect without mistake and that the one presented with errors that will be posted was because we're juggling multiple versions as we're trying to work through this from a distance a little bit differently that though is entirely on me and the wrong version pulled up different from what I had already gone through earlier in the evening I will close my additional windows before the next zoom board meeting so thanks Lou for the accurate information which B is what is being posted online what the

090community needs to know is it doesn't change the tax increase is the same three point eight three percent and the areas for reduction are the same largely the entire presentation but where numbers may have differed between sites that's because that was the pre edited version so I want to make sure I'm putting it out to people and finally last but not least I could not be more proud of the people in our district top to bottom relative to the number of people you know we have 600 or so employees and whether they are providing instruction online whether they are providing food for those who needed whether they are providing technical help access to buildings support from home I'm looking at this screen whether it's read Aloud's dr. Hall had to get off for his Town

091Hall with taeho at the Senior CLASS the online opportunities being provided by our principals by our teachers by so many staff members engaging and building community through that and the patience of everybody here from all us board members to the leadership team members many parents are on this and I think that's great that many of our community members have jumped on this meeting also and taken this in and I want to thank them for their support this has been a really interesting interesting the word interesting covers all manner of things experience and our community watching people in our community support each other has been a beautiful side effect of a bigger picture so we thank everybody for their support and couldn't be more proud of what's happening and what will continue to happen in the

092ways that our staff will support the kids and families in our community so thanks for that and three o'clock tomorrow a Facebook live event through the town hall and happy to have anybody join in there is a reminder out there with a thought exchange updated brand new wide open what's going on now that we are five days as of tomorrow will be five days into continuous and structured online learning opportunities for kids food service and the ways that we're trying to support the community where our people what do they need we'd like to know and like to be able to answer their questions so take care everybody stay safe and stay very healthy thanks Kevin we appreciate that so just prior to a journey on behalf of the Board of Education our sincere thanks to

093our leadership team Kevin Liu and Debbie everyone involved you know our directors our assistants our principals all of our folks you mentioned our teachers one of the things we want to remind folks is we talked up a little bit about in the continuation of effort in terms of those two resolutions the vast majority of our people are working we're not shut down we just have buildings that are closed and they're continue to do more every day they're continue to innovate every day to serve children and families and one of the things we do want to reach out to folks is you mentioned Kevin all of our different groups I do want to give a shout out to our our mental health folks our social-emotional people the psychologists the social workers our counselors to members of

094our community if you need help in your family reach out we are here for you this is going to be a long haul but we're all in together and it the day we're gonna get through it together so if you know or a neighbor or a family member who needs some help let your principal know let a teacher know let Kevin know and we will reach out and put you in touch with the right folks so thank you to everybody and thank you for the sustained effort we do appreciate it with that we'll entertain a motion to adjourn please so moved by Julian seconded by Andrea one last time tonight can call the roll please yeah Larry hi Aaron hi mark hey Christina perfect we are adjourned folks thank you so much to everybody this

095has been a special presentation from the Brighton Central School District Board of Education