001[Music] Thank you. Hey, I'll be abstaining number six. Good evening. I call this meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you for joining us this evening. Please be advised in the event of a fire emergency, an alarm will sound. Please know all emergency exits evacuate while away from the building. At this time, we request you turn your phones to silent. Thank you very much. It has been brought to my attention that there is significant parking issues outside in an attempt to make sure everyone gets here that needs to be or wants to be. Um I would suggest we make a
002someone make a motion to delay maybe 15 minutes to make sure everybody that wants to get this meeting is able to. It's pretty it's a very important meeting. I'd be happy to make a motion to pause for 15 minutes. Can I have a second? I'll second it. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? All right. At this time, we will close. Um, I'm going to adjourn this meeting for 15 minutes. Resolved at the board of education adjourn the meeting of May 23rd, 2025 for 15 minutes until approximately 6:15. Can I have a motion, please? I'll make it. A second. Second. All in favor? I. All right. We'll be back. Sorry. Good evening. I call this meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United
003States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you all for joining us this evening. Uh thank you for your patience. We pushed it back a few minutes because we were told that there were some problems with parking and we wanted to make sure everyone had an opportunity to get in and seated that wanted to be here. Uh please be advised that in event of a fire emergency, an alarm will sound. Please note all emergency exits and evacuate well away from the building. At this time, we request everyone please turn your cell phones to silent. Thank you for your cooperation. First and foremost, I want to acknowledge our new addition, Mr. Arie Richie. He was um voted in and was appointed in
004by Miss Suboose on the 22nd in district office. So that has been done. Welcome Arie. Thank you. Um we're going to move the meeting to additions, deletions, and changes to the agenda. Uh Dr. Chanel. Yes, there are additions to the agenda this evening. Uh in front of you with those additions, you will see several resolutions. As the board works its way this evening through the decisions that you are going to make on next steps around the budget. Uh each of these resolutions will help support the decision that you make. So they're there for you um for your convenience. Thank you very much. Uh the meat of this meeting is going to be uh new business number one, discussion of the potential approval of a resolution for the 2025 2026 annual school budget. Dr. Chanel will
005be presenting on this. This is a time for Dr. Chanel to present to the board of education our options now that the budget's been voted down. Um she will do that and the board will have an opportunity to discuss that publicly and ask questions of Dr. Now, if there are questions or commute uh concerns from anyone in the audience that doesn't have them answered while they're listening, then please stay after and we will do our best to answer them. Um we're committed to making sure you guys and everyone has their questions and concerns answered. With that, I think Dr. Chanel is going to start on her presentation. Thank you. Good evening everyone. I first want to just get started by talking a little bit about how we got here. Um I want to basically take
006a moment to say to our community that at no time during the process of building and designing this budget was the governance team that you see in front of you um hoping to to take money or to not hear the voice of our community. So I want to begin by saying that clearly we learned that the reserve conversation and even the way in which fund balance occurs inside of a school budget became conversation in the community. So I want to apologize. I would say our big takeaway from Tuesday night is that we haven't communicated enough. And so not only will we begin that communication this evening around these topics, but also as we move through this process, we will make sure that we increase our communication in future years. Uh so for this evening I'm
007going to begin by talking a little bit about the board's options uh that you have moving forward here. So as you know we actually uh designed a budget. Uh the budget was aligned both in our appropriations which is how we talk about our expenditures and that forecasted revenue that we're expecting. A bulk of the revenue that we do get to fund our schools does come from the New York State Department of Education in terms of state aid. And then we do have um taxes that we collect on our local community. And of course, we have some other revenue which we'll talk about a little bit tonight as we um progress into some slides. Before we do that though, I want to talk about the budget that you all built that we built collectively. This budget
008is actually designed to stay on mission for us. We felt very strongly and I still feel very strongly this evening that the budget that we built in terms of the staffing that exists inside of it, the types of things that we have planned for to take care of our students and of course taking care of our facilities and the investment that the community has already made in this campus are of high priority. So this budget, the 2526 budget does take care of providing a safe and secure facility and infrastructure for all of our kids. And it offer also offers high quality instruction. There are no cuts proposed in this budget to any programs that we offer here on our campus. So from preK to 12, from our advanced placement courses, our dual enrollment courses, all
009of our extracurriculars that we offer in terms of clubs and activities, and of course our athletic programs. And so I just want to talk about for me the importance of making sure that every Raider comes to school every day that they find opportunities that make them feel like they are connected to our school because we humbly believe and the research supports that when kids are connected to our school they do better academically. This budget does all of those things. Revenue sources. So as I begin to talk to the board this evening about your choices, about your options that we've laid in front of you, really the board can do two things. the board can make a decision to go back out to the community for a second vote or you can make the decision that
010you don't want to go to a second vote and you want to run a contingent budget. That really is the two decisions that you have in front of you. So, tonight I want to talk a little bit about the options within those two decisions to help the board uh learn a little bit, pose questions, and kind of get a sense of the direction that you want to go. So, what I'm going to show to you first is really um our per our our revenue sources. So, in our proposed budget, as we were moving into 2526, you'll actually see on the slide here how we had originally proposed to raise the money to take care of the budget that we had, we did have a 2.3% tax levy. That's what our community has voted down. So
011in the slide that you're looking at now and also would be my recommendation is that we go out back out to the community to vote a second time but that we do re we take that percent tax levy from 2.3% down to a 0% increase. In doing that that means that we have to go down on this slide to where you'll see the reserves that we use. So I wanted to draw your attention this evening that every year when we're building our budget we actually do focus in on reserve spending. So, we do have a reserve plan that has us taking the reserves, our savings accounts, and making sure that we're applying the reserves back to the build of the budget. The reserves do give us really great cushion to help make sure that we're
012taking care of the needs of our community as it comes in without having the tax rate from year to year really change dramatically. So, this year's 2.3% really did put us in line with what the community has grown to expect from us, which I would say has always been slow and steady growth. So this year, if we're going to go back out and we go out at the 0%, in order to do that, I would recommend that we actually increase the amount of money from 1,135,000 out of our reserves to help fund this budget to $1,452,33 out of our reserves to fund this budget. That would be a 28% year-to-year from last year to this in terms of the increase. That still puts our budget at the exact same number that we originally appropriated, which
013is to spend the [Music] 21,660,678, which makes sure that we're running all of our programs with no cuts. In terms of our budget-to-budget increases, because I would not be making any recommendations for the board to be making any cuts or any eliminations in programs, the budget in terms of what was originally presented will look the same to you here in terms of budget-to-budget increases. The board does have another option. You could go back out for a vote to the community and instead of going out at a 0% tax levy, you could create a tax levy here this evening that runs anywhere from 0% tax levy to that 2.3%. That is at the board's discretion. When we do this and go back out of the 0%, if we decide to go at zero, I think what
014the board needs to understand and what the community needs to understand is that the budget would remain the same. So everything else that you've grown accustomed to seeing in this particular process, our threepart budget remains the same. Should the board decide that you want to do a different tax levy, let's say this evening uh pick a number and we decide that you you decide that you want to go out at 1.5%. The difference there would be that we would still pull from reserves to take care of what would be left on the table. So we'd still have to expend reserves, although that would allow us to collect some money from the taxpayer. I do want to take a moment and pause just to say that part of what we understand though in inside the structure
015of how the schools function and the way the state functions and the property tax cap and how we have to calculate things. If you can imagine from a mathematical standpoint, zero is really never good. So we know when we're collectively making some of the decisions around the budget development that when we go out with something that is at a zero next year that zero is going to find its way into the equations that drive the way our school is funded from here on out. As I mentioned we do rely very heavily on state aid. And so you should know that this year in the budget that the governor has now passed in the state of New York, they have actually created in there a a pullback. If the federal government does not send the money
016to the state of New York that the state is expecting inside their budget, they have given a carveout to take back up to 25% from the aid that they have sent to schools. So when we typically are thinking about how we build school budget and even how we use reserves, we feel very strongly that the reserves are for emergencies. If the state were to take back money from us, let's say that it's the worst case scenario and it's at that 25%. We're talking about well over $2 million. So for us to have adequate reserves to be able to weather storms that are outside of our control, that's usually how we view the use of reserves. We are currently feeling like a budget being voted down by our community is an emergency. We wouldn't want to
017use reserves every year and over time to build our budgets and to take care of the needs of our programs, but we understand that we we left the community with more questions than what they had. So for us, the contingent budget, it to me is going to be the worst case scenario. And I I want to move into that just a little bit. So we go out if we went to the 0% you won't see you won't see any change in terms of of u the tax increase if we had to move to a contingent budget. The contingent budget is actually something I hope we never see in our time here. So we're going to talk a little bit about what a contingent budget is. But I want to tell you how we get there.
018As a board of education, you can make the decision this evening that you don't want to put the community through another vote and you could move just to go straight to a contingent budget. If that's what the board decides to do, we have to reduce the amount of money that we're going to spend. So, we will have to take our original proposal and we'll have to drop it down to the 21,446 um 84 that you see there. But that's not the worst part of a contingent budget. The worst part of the contingent budget is all the laws that follow. So if we go to a contingent budget, now I told you the board can make that decision to do that this evening, but also if the community votes down a second budget that the board
019puts up for them to vote on, we will be in a contingent budget. So there's two ways to get there. The board can choose it this evening or the second negative vote for us would put us in a contingent budget phase. So in contingent budget, we had mapped out a capital outlay project where we were going to take care of some of the HVAC issues that are happening in this building. If we move to contingent budget, we are not allowed to spend on capital. So the capital outlay project has to go. Something for us to consider. We put about $100,000 a year into a capital outlay project. When we spend that $100,000, we actually get the next year $86,000 back in building aid. So just thinking about how our budgets are built, we actually have
020when we're generating aid, we're creating for oursel both an expenditure and a revenue. So when we plan to expend in ways that generate aid, we get revenue back on the other side. Part of that is also helping us maintain that steadiness that we talked about that we want to stay right around the 2%. we if we are generating aid in in all the areas that we can, we actually are creating for oursel revenue coming back in the next year. So that's different I would say than any other um business expense or anyone else that's running a business and trying to um keep their books tight. What makes us different is that we do get about $86 about 86 cents back on every dollar when we spend on something that generates aid. So if we take
021the capital outlay project out, we will experience a drop which we have grown accustomed to. So it builds on our budget and becomes cyclical. So the moment that we lose that, that actually next year will we'll have an $86,000 cut right out of the gate. So something to think about. Also, it eliminates all of our equipment purchases. So if we need a piece of equipment or I should say if we want a piece of equipment in order to um keep our facilities running and things going well on a contingent budget we are not allowed to do that. We also have to eliminate certain student supplies. So we have gotten a little bit better I would say at creating those lists of things that kids need to bring from home to be successful in school by
022making sure that teachers are putting those supplies into their own supply purchasing. under a contingent budget, we would not be allowed to buy and give things to kids, student supplies that we should consider should be coming from someplace else. So, paper and pencils and I know that sounds so silly, but the contingent budget would actually come with a lot of constraints for us and we would have to change a lot of our practices. Uh, eliminating salary increases for those not under collective bargaining. There are very few members of our faculty staff um that are not under collective bargaining, but there are a couple that are carveouts there. The thing that I think is going to be most detrimental to us is that if we go to a contingent budget by law, not by us, not
023our choice, the law says that we will not be allowed to have our taxpayers use our facilities unless we can actually get pretty good at estimating what the cost will be for using the facility and that we must charge upfront for its use. So for us, we have always been a school district that is very open to our community. We allow our community to use our facilities without charge. Uh even if youth football is coming and they want to turn on the lights in the stadium, these kinds of things would be not allowable. So just some clarity. Let's say that our our little league kids want to play T-ball out on the front yard of the elementary school. That that's that would be no cost to us, right? That we could allow. But the second
024any member of our community wanted to use a facility and the lights have to be turned on, we would have to find ways to charge for all of that in in fair ways. That that from what I understand from legal counsel and so I this is new this is new territory for me. So what I understand from legal counsel is it's almost impossible to really get that finite number when you're talking about utilities. And so it almost rules out the ability to even charge for the use of your facility. it would shut us down in ways to our community that we wouldn't appreciate. There's also a component of a contingent budget where the administrative component, not administrators, the administrative component, all the things that it takes in order to run the administrative side of the
025house, that would be everything from some of our copying and printing to our legal uh legal expenses, those particular expenses also have to go back to last year's levels. The other thing I would like to talk about this evening is our bus purchase. So, as you know, the purchase of our bus also went down in this last vote. So, I want to talk a little bit about our options here. I see it very similarly. We have three options. The easiest that I didn't even have up here as your option is we can say, listen. We've the community is concerned about spending money and we aren't going to ask them for a bus. So, the option that you don't see is that we just take the bus right off the table. We go after the budgetary
026component to make sure that our schools are running and that we have all of our programs. What would that do to us in terms of transportation? Well, we typically run our buses anywhere from 10 to 13 years before we're beginning to retire them. Upon retiring them, they actually stay in our fleet. They don't automatically go to auction. They stay in our fleet and they get used for shorter runs, uh, field trips, things that don't need or don't have as much wear and tear. We could survive a year without buying a bus, but we couldn't make it another, right? So, next year we would either have to buy two buses or we would just say we're we're off in our in our rotation. We do get aid back on the purchase of a bus. So, we're
027kind of back where we were with the capital outlay project. We we have always bought a bus, which means we get the aid back. The minute we don't buy the bus, we don't get the aid. So, we're going to be back in that little bit more deficit. So each time we're talking about aid not coming back through, you're dropping next year's expenditures in terms of we won't have revenue. So something to think about. So your two options that I see in front of you, you can go back out with the exact same proposition, which was to ask the community for permission to buy a bus and to ask community for per to to ch basically to charge via tax um collection for for the bus. We would then finance the bus and over the course
028of 5 years, we would continue to collect on paying for the bus that way. Option two is that in order to get this bus, the voters could actually approve through proposition the use of 200,000 up to $200,000 out of the 2023 vehicle and equipment reserve. They would also then approve the purchase of the bus using those funds. That's an option. long term. If we were going to get into next year budget cycle around this time, option two is actually something that I would probably begin to recommend as superintendent that we start looking at using the vehicle and equipment reserve. As the aid comes back through, you put the aid back into the reserve and so you create for yourself a cycle where that is running. So eventually you were going to see that from me
029as as a recommendation moving forward um to address some of the controllers's concerns. What questions do you have for me? Discussion amongst the board. Becky, can I ask you um just while this screen is up, um is this uh the money that comes back from the state that the same 86 uh cents per dollar? Dr. Capron, is it our transportation aid at the 86 cents on every dollar? I a little tiny less than that. It's something in the order of 82 to 84. Well, it's still a lot. It's still a lot. It's a lot. Okay. So, every time you're talking about spending $200,000, you're going to get 150,000 like that back. Yeah, we are. Oh, well, that's nice. Again, that's one thing that makes school so like intriguing to pay attention to the way our
030systems work. So the more the more we place into anything driven by Boseies or through the state the transportation that generates aid we're making an expenditure but we're going to end up with revenue on the other side in the next year in the next year. So sometimes people will say well why can't we just buy that? It's going to it's going to generate Boseies aid in the first year. You still have to pay. So your budget has to be prepared to handle the payout. And then most of our I shouldn't say most I'm probably that's too broad a term but we get Bosey's aid back somewhere between you know September and November depending on the type of aid that's coming back through. So we do use our reserves to in the in our budgets to
031make sure we have healthy cash flow. Um but that's sort of the way that Boseies works. We spend or Bosey's aid works. We spend and then we get revenue on the back half. we put through in terms of our school. We are so good at maximizing aid that anytime we can do that, we are doing that. So, in a way, it's it's a chance for our community to get back money that we pay as New Yorkers. You got it. I actually love that. I often talk about school budgets that way. So, in the state of New York, right, we're taxed. They take our money, they take it up to the state, and then they decide how they're going to spend it, right? So any time as a school district that we can be strategic and
032stick our hand up there and take back our piece, that's exactly what we do. And that has a lot to do with our need, right? So our aid levels are really driven by the needs of our community. So if we were in a wealthier community, we would drive less aid. If we were in a community that had much lower socioeconomic need, we would drive more aid. There are some schools that are getting 98 cents back on every dollar based on the need of their of their school community. So, give giving you that idea. We're at 86 cents back on every dollar. We're not at 32 cents back on every dollar, right? We aren't we're not a wealthy district, but we're also not the the most poor in our area. Great question, Bruce. How much is
033in the vehicle reserve? About 600,000. Okay. So regardless, the way I see it, we we we if we don't have a bus this year, we've got to have one next year. Yes. So if we It'd be nice to have a bus both years like we usually do. So this year perhaps we bite the bullet. We take the 200,000 out of the reserves by the bus. Doesn't cost anybody anything. But my question is, we'll still get $172,000 back regardless. Oh yeah, it'll come back over the five years. Keep coming every year as part of the plan. Okay, that being said, then my thought process is just we we I don't think we should skip a year based on my experience of buying a bus. So, why don't we consider buying it out of the reserves? That'll
034still leave us that that that's one/ird of that account. Still leaves us with $400,000. And I need to correct it's right the balance right now is closer to $500,000. Okay. Well, is I just wanted to All right. That that that that's fine. Is And then next year going into next year, a year from now, we we hopefully we could be back on track and could buy our bus. But as this year it would be zero, not a penny for the bus. Now getting back to that the the contingent budget that you you you're telling describing to us to to me that sounds like a train wreck. Personally, I I don't see like a win maybe win. I just see lose lose. So that being said, if we have the opportunity to just use the 172,000
035whatever it is out of reserves and go back out on the 17th at a 0% then that that's win-win in my opinion that that that's win-win. We don't everything that I had read in the my past and and heard the the contingency budget. We don't we don't need to go that route. I don't think it's much simpler to just let's let's give them kind of what what they I think they want. 0% on the 17th, not pay for a bus on the 17th. We have a bus and we move forward. That that's that's my thinking personally out loud. I mean, I think my perspective and just kind of weighing in on it that has the board like why didn't we go out at 0% to begin with, right? Why didn't we do that? So, we
036we have we should acknowledge in this moment that the 0% for us actually means that we're going to expend from the reserves. I I'll use the bus as an example. I don't want to I don't want to get caught up in the hype around electric buses. I'm not I'm not interested in the debate this evening. I think just in general I am personally as the superintendent of Calonia Munford very hopeful that they continue to move down the line this concept we will go from having buses that are costing us $200,000 a piece to buses that are costing us $400,000 a piece if that's what happens to us. So part of why we even have begun growing some of our reserves is because we're getting ready we're we're assuming that we've got risk coming our way.
037So why do we use reserves? We we use them to offset risk. We know that we have a risk coming and our vehicle and equipment reserve isn't large enough to handle the risk that's coming. So, just want to throw that out there that it's not that we it's not that we don't care, it's that we care both in the short term and in the long term around how the district is going to afford what I will call mandates from the state that we probably are not from what I'm hearing coming with aid to help us buy these things although the law is going to require it. So, how is that going to happen for us? We have the first year out we have to pay for it in cash like we have to upfront the
038money. So if we're building a budget this is I this is so comp so complicated really but if we're building a budget and let's say that we have to buy in order to keep pace with what's going to be expected from us in 10 years that we have to buy two electric buses a year to like get ourselves first going. We would have to pay the $800,000 out of our first budget. So we have to pay it. Then in the next year we get it back in aid. So it will help us in the next year for not having it cost us quite as much. But in that first year, anytime you're assuming risk, you're increasing your budget. If we have to increase our budget and state aid doesn't increase to match it, the only
039other place to fix that is to go out for a levy. So we we grow concerned around having a levy in one year that's 2%. and then having a levy in another year that shoots up to 10 because we're going to have to try to figure out how to weigh our cost. So I think I just want to say that out loud because I know that when we were building the budget the board was aware that if we are going out at zero that has implications for us not just in this moment but it actually impedes that long range planning. So, just want to put that out there. And that's a perfect analogy of how New York State handcuffs districts, whether it be small districts like us or even larger districts with with their with
040their mandates. That that's just an example. Please, if if you learn one thing extra tonight besides maybe we'll go out at 0%. Keep in mind the handcuffs that the mandates, several mandates New York State throws at us. I mean, it's just beyond our control. Thank you. I want to just take a moment to express like um to to back up a little, right? Like we're talking about the bus, but everyone's really here for the budget. Yeah. Um that's that's the meat of of what of the money that we spend. I want to back up to the night of the budget vote. um sitting in the district office and getting the no vote back and feeling very um disappointed in myself that we weren't able to bring a budget to the community that they wanted and
041they could accept and tolerate um and disappointed in myself that we didn't do that. So for me when that happened I saw two problems. the fir the first problem and the problem we're here for tonight is we need to pass a budget for our district that keeps our educational standards high. Um and that's the priority at this point. But there's the other component where in my 12 years as a school board member, it has felt like we've had a good communication um stream with the community and we I I was caught off guard with the vote. So, I feel like yes, we have the budget to deal with tonight and that's our immediate concern, but we also have to build rebuild some communication streams with the community so that that doesn't happen again, right? Because
042nobody wants to be in in this seat. And clearly, we weren't hearing a part of the community because they came out and voted and we heard it that way. Um, so I I I I would be remiss in in my 12 years, this is the hardest thing we've done um to to not mention that to you. So I I want you to know that we've we have heard and aside from the budget tonight that we hopefully can gain consensus on moving forward. Um it is on my agenda to make sure something like that doesn't happen again. Thank you. you know, us being part of the community, we're volunteers. Um, we're trying to make the best decisions we can make. And, uh, this year at least, I think, like John said, 0% tax increase is something
043everybody needs in this day and age, and using the reserves for that would really work well this year. I think Becky, if you would like to um explain a little bit why we got these extra funds in reserve, it's because the COVID money and that we're trying to use it strategically and not use it all at once to buy to have new teachers and things like that that you're going to have to um lay off if you don't have any the money isn't there anymore. Um, and so we've been putting money this using the reserve strategically so it can be used down the the line um in future years. But as you say, this is sort of a crisis and that we we need to pass a budget and we don't want to go to
044contingency because nothing else. We want to the community be able to use our school buildings and our our things. You know, I think that would be hardship on the community. So, so I do think that that's something that the the board So, I I guess where I'm reflecting on what happened on Tuesday, right? It's around we we don't mean to live in an echo chamber. It's not how we mean to function. Uh but we in terms of the operations when you're living inside the walls of the school, you do understand a little bit more about how things are moving and why things matter. So I I feel like I just need to say to the board that I being part of the decision-m I know that right from the get-go your goal was to put
045a budget up that the community could support like right from the get-go and that it would have in it what the students needed. So yes, I will speak a little bit about the reserves this evening. So I think it's not so I I don't know and this is a question I actually had for the board that I was going to be intrigued to have conversation with you all um come early June around reserve management. So as you know we have the controllers report and in the controllers report when the controller is speaking to our reserves and how much money we have in reserves and then talking about fund balance in ways that made it sound to our community like we collect more taxes than what we actually need to expend. um that part for us
046because we know how the budget is built and we understand the nuts and bolts of it. Like when I read that I read it and think well the comproller wasn't sitting in the room when the budget was built and so not understanding necessarily who we are in Calonia Munford and the kinds of risks that that that come for us financially that we need to mitigate in order to make sure that our community is well taken care of. But we do know that. So the decisions inside our budget as we're making those decisions are definitely based on who we are. We have a different tax structure than districts even five miles down the road. We don't have as much business as businesses 10 miles down the road. So if something are to were to happen to
047us in terms of a business no longer paying in, right? We've got to be prepared to handle back to that original concept. We don't want to tax our community at 2% one year and 10% the next. So the reserves for us do give us the balance to be able to keep oursel pretty healthy. So let's talk about the reserves and that let's call it a skyrocket that you see in here. This is actually coming off of what you're going to refer to as COVID. So if you guys recall um we we shut down our schools. We still paid our teachers. We paid our staff. Our kids were sent home. We weren't running electric. We weren't running our buses. We weren't using fuel. So through the time when our school was shut down, we actually did
048end up with fund balance. So we moved the fund balance into reserves in order to save it for a rainy day to be able to offset costs that are coming. We didn't have to the next year increase taxes massively. We've been able to stay steady. So then the federal government actually released stimulus money. And when the stimulus money came out, we got just over I'm going to say like $2.5 million or right there in the ballpark around 2.5 million. So what you what you would have seen if you were here in the way that we were delivering the that money is that that money actually allowed us to pass they call it pass through. So often times grants you're not allowed to use pass through. So if the grant comes out and says with this
049grant you must buy a teacher that you must pay a teacher you must use that grant money for that purpose. The co money actually came out with some pretty large and it was meant to take money and stimulate the economy. So I know that the federal government based on the way they delivered this wanted us to I don't know hire five social workers that or two more nurses that in turn we would lay off once that money was no longer there and the money would not be stimulating the economy for us. The stimulus money has gone into the reserves where it is living it is drawing interest. It is using that interest to add to our revenue. It is creating resources for us to be able to create cycles that generate revenue inside the walls
050of our school and also preparing us for rainy days. We would not have reserves at this level if it were not for the CO money. So, you're seeing the CO money in action here. Thank you for asking that question. And and can you also mention how some of the school districts did get more teachers and they're laying them off? They did and they did lay them off and we, you know, we've benefited from that in terms of needing to hire staff that's getting laid off in other districts 100%. We just, we chose not to use what we would refer to as one-time money to create a reoccurring expense when the revenue was not going to be reoccurring. So in a school this size where our revenue is is not very much, right? You don't want
051to take this giant influx of revenue and then go buy things that you would have to pay for year after year after year after year. So instead they went in here and it's generating back for this community year after year after year, including a larger capital project than what we've had in the past because we were able to put more money into our capital reserves. So, in my time here, I've been accustomed to capital projects that don't actually touch the classroom. And this capital project that the community has voted and supported is actually going to address some of our learning spaces. Our libraries were in desperate need of being, you know, upgraded and having a phase lift. And the same is true of our auditorium. And both of those areas are going to happen this
052year at 0% addition to taxpayer because we used reserves to do that. Thank you. We'll generate aid. We use the reserves, we generate capital aid. So I think for the board this evening, you know, you're two you're you really have two decisions. You you have to decide Proposition one, Proposition two. Are we moving forward with Proposition one and in which ways? Are you going to go out at 0%. Are you going to change the amount of the tax levy? Are you going to move right to a contingent? The other option, the other decision you have to make this evening is, are you going to buy a school bus? Are you going to take it completely off and only have one proposition if we go back out to vote? Are you going to buy a school
053bus and ask the community to pay for it over time? Or are you going to use reserves to pay for a school bus? Two decisions that will allow us to move forward and communicate back out to our community what our next steps are. Bruce, could I ask quick? What's the last, as of today, what's the last date we can buy a diesel school bus? I know that's been pushed out. I want to Is it 2032? I want to say 32. Yes, sir. Yeah, I think that's I think that's what's in the regulations right now. But there's this, as Dr. Chanel highlighted there's an awful lot of discussion about how that would occur and even whether the energy supporting grants that originated in you know are going to be sustained. So that was definitely one of
054my main concerns seeing that voted down is that we'd be up against it. My initial estimation was it was going to be 27 and we only have a couple more years to purchase these things but 32 is much more workable. They just extension with this recent budget that was passed. Great question. So that takes a little pressure off that situation because I know in area districts the electric bus um proposals were voted down. Mhm. Um so which we project will happen here like just in general the the amount of money and the infrastructure like it it's a it's a lot to change and understand. So, from what I've learned about the contingency budget, that would not meet the needs of our district and the educational success that that we've grown accustomed to, right? Like, we
055would not be able to do certain things for our student body that we normally do. We would not be able to make certain purchases. Um, that would really hold our hands in many ways. So, the contingency budget for me as a board member is is not a feasible response. Agreed. I agree. I have some concerns with that though because the community spoke loudly and and like what you said, I feel like I hear from folks all the time and I heard nothing this cycle. You know, I had seven phone calls as a board member the entire year. Um, and I would expect if there was a lot of concern from the community, thank you for coming tonight, that um, it would have been louder. And so I was just as surprised as everyone else that
056it was a no. But at the same time, it's a no and the community really meant it. Um, and so for us, I know we're sitting and we're receiving it and we're feeling it fully. Um, but why was it a no? Is it the money? Is it the product we're delivering? You know, whether we like it or not, we're in a customer service business. You know, is the service not what the community is expecting? You know, what do we need to improve on to justify receiving that money from the community? Um, there's a lot of bluecollar people here and it's harder and harder and we say that and it's it's true. Um, I don't know. I don't want to offend people by saying, "Hey, we understand that you're not happy, but our priorities are still
057our priorities and we feel like we ultimately need these and and asking them to set their needs aside." Um, granted, it's not a significant um dollar figure per hundred thousand this year to to go out if especially if we go out at zero, but that budget's still going to build next year. Um, and and that's a lot of what I heard. I made some phone calls the other day. It's just it's it just seems like a neverending growth for fewer kids. Um, yeah, it was it was pretty loud and it was new kind of new to me. So, I have concerns about just rolling it, but I certainly think that if you get a go to a zero, you're just talking about what we had last year and that it's not going to go up.
058And you're also um addressing the concerns people have about the reserves and say, "Why don't you use some of the reserves?" And we'll say, "Okay, we're going to use some of our reserves to make this this difference." Um, there were other expenditures that people in the in in the village especially are going now have to be paying for. Can I say it? [Laughter] All of a sudden we're paying $30 a month for garbage that we've never done before. And to even think of anything more is like the school budget is something where we could have a say. The same thing happened with the fire department. They people said, "No, we don't want to. We don't see the need for it and we're not going to pay for it." I agree, Mike. I believe that um
059the community voted no and there's an assumption that it's all based on the the numbers, but there we have to explore as a board um what's really going on there, right? And I see that as a longer term not problem but opportunity for us to explore in the year to come. Um I I I think that's important. I don't think we can lose sight of that and I think that's going to take time and commitment from us and and I believe we're all willing to do that. I agree with what what what with what Liz just said, but to piggyback on Michael for one second, and I and I hate to be the only one in the room with sour feelings towards New York State and state government, but as long as this school is
060located in New York State, everything Michael just said is true. But but we What can we do about it? We have less students. We have less students. So why did the budget go up 2.3%. We have less students. C how about can you just give one example the another handcuff the state has thrown upon us like something to do with uh I don't know what with the the reviews quickly like our the the AR requirements around that. So just in general the the way because people do ask right about administrators. I assume I assume that's where you're going with this. So, under the regulations for the annual professional performance review, our teachers have to be evaluated. And so, there's quite a bit of time that principles have to spend in classrooms making sure that they're
061observing lessons. And you want you want that. You you want that, right? So I I I can talk about it from an evaluation standpoint, but I think more importantly, it's that when you're hiring building principles that were teachers themselves and you put two teachers in a room watching kids learn and you allow that back and forth around how the learning is going, everyone is growing their practice and kids needs are being met. So to me, the the evaluation is is it's what the state mandated. The glory of that is that you're really supposed to be principles spending about 70% of your day inside classrooms working with teachers and working on curriculum instruction. So for us to cut administrators means that we would have no one in hallways ever. You know, people would be tied up
062and unable to handle the student day-to-day piece um based on the requirements that come from that. That's just a little thing. I'm I'm done. Thank you. Yep. We have to deal with it. Well, and our expenses do continue to go up, right? So, like just thinking about healthcare, like healthcare in particular is is a big expense for us each year and it continues to go up. And I was at a meeting last month where they were talking about similar similar to our reserves here. You know, we have we have money set aside in what you'll call a reserve, like a savings account that we use across the the buying power of those of us that are in a shared group. and how much money is expended out of those buying groups has to do with
063the wellness of the folks that are getting their insurance through schools. And so I learned a lot last month about those costs and how much they're skyrocketing. Um that's something that we have to keep talking about. It's a it's an expense that we continue to acrue and we don't have good control over keeping it at bay. It just keeps coming. It changes and our budget has to match that. So less kids. I did say this um when we were in our in our actual budget hearing, someone brought that up about less kids. And I I do think in general some of the decisions that the board would have you would have in front of you. You're you're not prepared. I'm going to say I'm not prepared to talk about what that would look like for
064us long term. Uh if we really wanted to do something different, we wanted to take the budget and say that we need to shrink the budget. I don't think we shrink the budget tonight at this table because we don't know what the community how the community would want us to do that right the minute we start eliminating let's say we eliminate u AP classes at the high school or we eliminate a certain section of our athletics or we say we have more clubs and activities than any school our size let's cut our clubs and activities like we could actually be cutting things that our community then comes and votes our budget down because we cut all the wrong things. I do think we should go into a year of exploration. I think we if you
065decide that you're going to offset this budget, go out to zero and pay through reserves. I think we do have to dedicate to your point, Mike. What was the community saying to us? I thanks for saying that cuz I you put words to what I was thinking is we need to have next year's budget planning needs I thought it was very good this year from sitting here. Um, but next year I think we need to have a different lens looking at it where it's a deliberate process instead of shoot, we've got 30 days to pull this off. Um, yeah, but I guess that's what the community is asking us to do. And well said. Yeah, I think we can all agree with that. Yeah. Are there more questions for Dr. Chanel or Bruce regarding what
066she has presented this evening. Oh, thank you. I think it's good. One one thing I'm just concerned about that I mentioned to you is in the writing when people go to vote, assuming that we're going to do the 0% tax levy and the same thing for the bus. the way that it's written and apparently it's the way that it's got to be written. Um the 0% is in the top line, but later on it says shall be raised by a levy of tax upon the taxable property, but we're saying it's going to be zero. So, we have to be very clear to the public that it's zero. It's not going to go up, you know. And is is that that first line going to be on the on the um ballot? When we create the
067ballot, we will actually send that language off to the attorney for the attorney to make sure that our propositions are written the way they need to be. I can certainly have the conversation with Sarah around making sure that on the ballot that it is very clear to the taxpayer that we are not flatting the tax. Okay. We're not increasing the level. Yeah. We're not increasing the levy. Not increasing the levy. That's Yeah, that is why it's worded that way, right? We They are still going to pay school taxes, just they don't have an increase to it, which is why That's right. increasing the levy. Yeah. So, yeah, the the terms of budget and levy a little confusing. I've been thinking about that a lot the last couple of days of like how could I have
068worded that differently? Maybe maybe we don't have a lot of clarity. We use too much jargon. Like all of that, right? And reflecting on what do we do now? um if we decide that we're going back out for a vote, we need to speak very differently between now and June 15th to the community so that we're being very clear. If I think I'm hearing the board's will right now, um it's to move forward with Dr. Chanel's recommendation. If that is the will, then I may suggest um that we Motion to withdraw the other additions to the meeting. That would be two, three, and five. Okay, let's do that. Do you want to you want to vote on the first and then after if that is successful then withdraw? That's a good good idea. I'm going
069to start with a new business item number one. Adoption of the proposed 2025 2026 annual school budget with 0% tax levy. Resolve to adopt the proposed budget of expedentials for the fiscal year 2025 2026 in the amount of 21 million $660,678 and for the purposes shown in the statement of estimated expenditures adopted by the board of education by one and the same is approved and the amount thereof shall be raised by a levy of tax upon the taxable property of the school district. May I have a motion, please? So moved. A second. Second. Any discussion? I'd like to say um it's not in the resolution, obviously, but um we're bringing this back to the community if we approve this with humility, understanding that we need to take a look at next year's budget. And by
070the community granting us this opportunity to put this back for a vote, they're affording us the luxury of having 11 months to do a really good job um building something out for them. Thank you for saying that. Any other discussion? Again, somehow another need to say that the the difference between the budget the budget and the levy, right? Am I saying that right? is is going the the gap is being being filled by reserves from the reserves and I think people need to know that because there's been a lot of concern about the reserves right and I think that's that's heard in a very good point and Dr. Chanel will make sure that the ballot is well in our communications forward, right? Like another newsletter and making sure that we're making that very clear communications
071out to the community in different venues to make sure that we're making that clear. Right. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? That motion is carried. Can I have a motion to withdraw two and three, please? I'll make it. Can I have a second? Second. Can you please repeat what those are? Yes, of course. We're going to withdraw number item number two, adoption of the proposed 2025 2026 annual school budget with a unknown percent tax levy. And we're also going to remove adoption of a contingent budget from our agenda this evening. Correct. Did I I'm sorry. Did I get a second? Second. Thank you. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed. That motion is carried. We're going to move to number five. Authorization to purchase bus and issue bonds. Resolve
072that the board of education. I would go back and have the I'm sorry consensus around. Apologize. I got I got lost in all these motions. Um, we're going to start with uh four. Authorization to appropriate and expend from the 2023 vehicle equipment reserved. Resolved that the board of education of the Calon Munford Central School District is hereby authorized to purchase a 66 passenger school bus for student transportation at an aggregate maximum cost not to exceed $200,000 inclusive of trade in value with some of so much thereof as may be necessary to be raised by an exponential of $200,000 from the district's existing 2023 vehicle equipment reserve. established by the voters of the district on May 16th, 2023. And it further resolved that the board of education shall be authorized to enter into purchase contracts for
073this school bus on terms satisfactory to the board of education. May I have a motion, please? Yep. A second. Second. Discussion. Think that's the way to go. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? That motion is carried. I would ask for a motion to withdraw number five, authorization to purchase a school bus and issue bonds. I'll make a motion to withdraw. May I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? That motion is carried. We now have to appoint ele um election inspector and election officials for the upcoming second vote. Resolved that the board of education appoint head election inspector Doug Lowry and election inspectors Karen Richley and Fred Hermanson for the school budget vote June 17, 2025. May I have the motion, please? Yes. A second.
074Yeah. Discussion. I abstain. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? That motion is carried. We are going to uh move to executive session and return after that. resolved that the board of education returned or I'm sorry adjourn to executive session at 7:11 p.m. to discuss the employment employee history of particular persons matters leading to the appointment confidential student records protected by furo. May I have a motion please? A second say John say second. Oh I'm sorry. Yeah. Thank you. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? That motion is carried. Thank you very much. Thank you for coming. Thank you. We're going to move to executive session. We are back from executive session. Resolve that the board of education return to regular session at 7:23 p.m. Can I have a motion, please?
075Make a motion. Can I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? That motion is carried. We're going to move on to personnel number one. Resignation for purpose of retirement of transportation director resolved that the board of education upon the recommendation of the superintendent accept with regret and best wishes the resignation for the purpose of retirement. Mr. Ronado, transportation director effective June 30th, 2025. May I have a motion, please? Yep. A second. Second. Discussion. Very sad. It is. It is. I just I would like to say just thank you to Ron Auto. There is nobody that pays closer attention to buses coming in and out of here and the safety of our kids and Ron. Um his spirit will live on infamy here. He he will be a legend.
076I will miss him personally and professionally. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? That motion is carried. We're moving to adjournment. resolved that the board of education adjourn the meeting of May 23rd, 2025 at 7:24 p.m. May I have a motion, please? Yep. A second. Second. Discussion. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed. That motion is carried. Good night. Anyone that wants to stay after and ask questions or have concerns or want to engage in compensate conversation with Dr. Chanel, please do.