001[music] Good evening everyone. I'd like to call to order the rescheduled meeting of the business section for Mount Vernon City School District. Today is February the 26th, 2026. Please stand for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States. >> May we have roll call, please? >> Trusty Brown, >> present. >> Trusty Kelly. >> Trusty Mcdana, >> present. >> Trusty Militin. Trusty Peterson >> present. >> Trusty Scott. >> Trusty White >> present. >> VP Mitchell >> and President Marabel >> present. >> Okay. We have a quorum and student trustee Adoro >> thank you everyone. We would also like to just acknowledge that we are celebrating uh the end of Black History Month here. So, just to um wish all those people, everyone out there. Um it's the end of this month's celebration,
002but we know it lasts a lifetime. So, thank you. At this time, we would like to hear from our superintendent for the superintendent report. >> Great evening, President Marabo, Vice President Mitchell, fellow board trustees, students, families, staff, and the greater Mount Vernon community. This is the superintendent's report for February. Next slide. I want to start off by saying happy Black History Month. We want our students to have an understanding of all history. So, Black History Month is an important time for us. Students have been learning in their classes about impactful black people throughout history. so they can truly understand the range of accomplishments made by people who look just like them in many cases. We hope you join us in our celebration of Black History Month for Denzel Washington School of the Arts Black History
003Month production on Friday, February 27th. There will be performances at 12:30 and 6:30. And I think actually that has since been rescheduled to next Thursday, March 5th. My apologies. March 5th. Next slide. All these pictures in my face. Oh god. At the end of January, I made the trip to Albany to advocate for the district in front of the state assembly. Our children deserve these resources, and I asked the assembly to adopt Assembly Bill A6827 to provide us with the means to meet our needs. Additional funds would help us address vital areas of need, including building repairs, expanding special education support and services, and expanding universal pre kindergarten. The funds are essential for the success of our scholars, and I want to be sure that we are securing the maximum possible resources for them. Thank
004you to the New York State Assembly for hearing my testimony, especially Assembly Member um Gary Prello for his sponsorship of the bill. And I also want to thank Senators uh Ba Bailey and Mayor for their support as well. Next slide. To date, I've held two community forums um this past month to discuss budget priorities and answer questions from the community. I presented the results from our budget survey and shared how these will will shape our priorities for the 2026 2027 school year budget. Thank you to everyone who came to participate in our budget process. We will use the questions asked to develop an FAQ that we will share with the community as we near the budget vote. Our next step is delivering a balanced budget, which I'm about to present uh after using the community's
005feedback to the state monitor by March 2nd. Dr. Young Wilkins will then give her budget presentation at the board of education meeting on March 10th. We are planning for board adoption of the budget on March 24th with the final day to adopt the budget being April 24th. I will also host additional community forums for feedback and questions after the budget is finalized. Next slide. Our students have three outstanding options for high school and they will be put on display for students to get a glimpse into our schools soon. Our high schools offer each offer something different and I encourage families to come out to see which would be the best for them. For our artistically inclined students, Denzel Washington School of the Arts will have auditions and an open house from 10:00 a.m. to 2
006pm on Saturday, March 7th. You can visit the school's websites for more information and to submit an application. Next slide. I can't thank our teaching staff enough for the work they do with our students, but they deserve all of our gratitude. We celebrated teachers and teaching assistants throughout the district earlier this month, and we were thrilled to give proper recognition to the people who are making such a huge impact on our students. 79 teachers and te teachers assistants were selected by their peers and building leaders for the award and it was a heartwarming it was heartwarming to hear about the great work they do in their schools. Our next celebration will honor the students for Black History Month in March. Next slide. Pre kindergarten is an important step in a child's educational journey and registration
007windows for pre kindergarten are opening next week. The pre kindergarten 3 lottery will be open on March 1st and prek4 early registration will open on March 2nd. Visit the registration page on our website for more information and links when registration is open. Next slide. We began the month celebrating National School Counseling Week. And I want to reiterate now just how important our school counselors are for our children. They provide so much support on a daily basis and are so important to the success of our students. Thank you so much counselors for your hard work. Next slide. It was fantastic to see all the families who joined their children at school for parent involvement day two weeks ago. I was able to visit Benjamin Turner Academy, Rebecca Turner Academy, Steam Academy, Pennington School, and Graham School,
008and appreciated the opportunity to connect with more parents. I want to thank all the parents who took the time to spend a day with their ch their children and and be active in their education. Students are most successful when their schools and families are working in tandem, and parent involvement day is a great way to build on our collaboration. Families, please stay involved as your child continues to go through school. Next slide. At our most recent work session, I discussed the district mission, vision, core values, and goals. While the board of education and the superintendent take a key role in shaping these items, they require the input of the entire community. These are the guiding principles of our district and they need to serve everyone. We will also consider New York State's portrait of a
009graduate while analyzing our mission, vision, values, and goals to ensure that the work we are doing aligns with the state standards for graduates. Next slide. Students have been getting active in PE as well as learning to save lives for heart health awareness month this month. Districtwide, students are learning about the importance of keeping a healthy heart by staying healthy and active. Thank you to our teachers as well as our director of health and physical education, Miss Lisa Maison, for providing this knowledge to our students. Health is so important. So it is also important that we are giving our students the information they need to live with uh with they need to live a healthy lifestyle. CPR demonstrations are also providing our students with valuable skills that can save lives. It also could help them get
010a babysitting job. Thanks. Spring sports are starting SCO soon and registration is now open. Please visit the athletics page on our website for more information and to find out the family ID registration link. I can't wait to see the warm weather, the weather warm-up and our children outdoors again playing sports. Thank you for listening to the February superintendent report. And are there any questions? Do we have any questions for the superintendent regarding the report? >> Okay, hearing none, we'll move on to 2.2, the preliminary budget presentation by our superintendent, Dr. Deario Strickland. >> I was about to say me. No, I'm just kidding. Just trying to lighten the load. Um, great evening again, trustees. You want me to go over there? No, I'll go over there. Okay. Good. Great. Great evening. Geez. Great evening again.
011trustees, students, staff, and members of the greater Mount Vernon community. Um, I am presenting our draft budget for the 2026 2027 school year. Next slide. All right. Our total budget is funded primarily by local taxes and state aid. For 2627, local sources total about 7.6 million. State aid is projected at 123 million and taxes at about 145.3 million. That's why the changes as I mentioned prior uh in Albany matter so much to Mount Vernon because of the huge stake that uh we receive from New York State educa New York State um the state. Next slide. When we compare year-toear, total revenue increases by about 6.9 million, bringing us to a 279.1 bill million uh budget. State aid grows by about 5.2 million, tax revenue by about 2.2 million, while local revenue declines slightly by 564,000.
012And just uh for further context, the local revenue is actually the funds that we receive and reimbursement back from BOSEIS. So that actually becomes a part of this this year's the next year's budget as well. Next slide. This slide shows that taxes make up just over half of our total revenues, 52.1%. State aid accounts for 45.2% and local revenue just 2.7%. That balance is important as we think about tax levy decisions and affordability. And again very important to lay it out showing what was adopted, what we are planning to increase uh by as you know that every year um things are getting more expensive. Um, eggs got more expensive, gas more expensive, education for children more expensive. Next slide. Here are some key assumptions uh based off of this budget. The governor's initial state aid
013run calls for 2.66 increase in state aid. However, there were meetings that were attended by our state monitor and it seems as if Save Harmless will be upheld this year. Okay, I should not say will not will be upheld this year which will decrease our foundation aid. We have since budgeted for only a 1% increase which is a very conservative measure. Uh there are continued health increases in health care. There's going to be an increase in charter school basic and transitional aid due to the increased enrollment due to grade level expansions at the Ammani charter school. And upon receipt of the legislative runs, assumptions will be reviewed and adjustments will be made accordingly. Okay. So we uh next week we'll be in Albany. myself, uh, Mr. Leonard, our treasurer, um, Dr. Marabo advocating on behalf
014of Mount Vernon, um, stating that we need hold harmless to continue to remain in place, uh, so that we don't receive a decrease in funding. Next slide. This slide reflects the January 20th state aid run, which is an early estimate, and it does change often. The governor's consistently puts out runs between now and be before the budget is actually um approved by the assembly and uh senate. It helps guide planning, but it's not final. That's why we continue to monitor updates and avoid overcommitting funds. Now, I want you to just see again on this slide in particular, um, these estimated aid values still reflect 2.66%. Um, and we actually underbudgeted that to 1.0%. Uh, based off of the fact that uh, save harmless uh, may be in effect. Next slide. Here's why we stayed conservative.
015A later update suggested state aid could lend closer to 1% instead of nearly 2%. That difference equals millions of dollars. So we planned responsibly rather than optimistically. Again, if you look um we see here that um we were expecting 126 million um but actually we've excuse me we've planned to only receive 1268289. Next slide. This slide breaks revenue down by line. The takeaway is transparency. Every dollar we project has an assumption behind it and those assumptions are reviewed and adjusted as state information becomes cleaner. So as you could see there is a box on this slide. We are unable we don't know how much we're going to get uh for the lottery um grant. We don't know from commercial gaming. Those are individuals that go to the casinos. some of those revenues actually come to
016school districts. Um our computer hardware, software, textbooks, BOSI state aid, that all is flexible um and could change. But in the final run from the governor, we will actually be able to see exactly what we are expected to achieve for next year. Um next slide. This slide shows how the tax cap limits what the district can raise. Even if costs rise faster than revenue, we are legally constrained. Our projections stay within the cap tax cap and any levy decision will be made after the final state aid is known. So, as of right now, just in full transparency, we have planned for revenue increases from 0.25 all the way to 1.99. Where we are landing at to balance this budget without adding any new positions with working with the current constraints that we have is at
017a 1.5 increase. 1.5% increase. This will help with um rebuilding our fund balance. It will help with the increased costs uh that are likely to come with transportation, with health care um and also settling the contracts of our C csea members as well as our uh Mount Vernon administrators group um for next year. Those are two high priorities. Next slide. This worksheet shows different tax cap scenarios. And again, I explained that we were running scenarios from 0 point if we were to do do nothing all the way to 2.5 um just because I want we wanted to see what exactly would come um come about. The board is not being asked to decide tonight of course and this is about understanding options so the so decisions are informed compliant and community conscious. So again uh
018A is us selecting excuse me A is from the prior year uh B is us settling at 1.5% in order to balance the budget and then C would be what we could actually go up to if we wanted to if we needed to exceed the tax cap. Next slide. Even though the budget totals 279 million, we don't receive that money evenly throughout the year. Tax collections comes in waves. Uh in our district, we collect taxes in July as well as January. So oftent times we need additional funds to help cover current cash flows throughout the year, which is why cash flow planning is essential to keeping the district operating smoothly. We have already made some changes in that we do not make payments to vendors as well as employees on the same cycle. Um, and
019we did that to help maintain cash flow. Next slide. This slide shows how we spend our money. The largest cost remains, and this is every single district, salaries, benefits, and required services that being special education. Many of these costs increase annually which is why efficiency and careful planning are critical. This also helps inform our legislative priorities. Again, what we will be advocating uh next week on behalf of the city school district. Next slide. Our fund balance is essentially our financial safety net. And as you all know, um definitely concerned. we're uh close to none and there's no telling what our f federal government will do. Um, god forbid something drastic happens, where are we going to get that money? So, we have to begin to rebuild some reserves. Uh, we have to begin to uh
020be um a little more frugal with our spending. Um, so, you know, just wanted to put that out there. We use it carefully to manage unexpected costs and avoid disruption, but not as a permanent funding source. Responsible use protects long-term stability. This budget does not call for the use of any fund balance. I will work within the constraints of the budget to help illuminate the priorities that I have identified as well as what the community has identified. Next slide. As we refine the budget, we continue adjusting projections to reflect staffing, contracts, and programmatic needs. This keeps the final budget realistic and prevents mid-year surprises. And we are currently about to undergo a um a positive uh we're we're going to reconcile our accounts mid year which is something that should have been done all the
021time to make sure that any line that has a negative in it is actually taken care of. is zeroed out or um it or additional funds are actually put in so that um we get a realistic number of what it needs to be budgeted for for next year. Next slide. To balance the $271 million budget, we match revenues to spending, reorganized central office roles, added only positions, and and I'm using added in quotes. I'll explain that in momentarily to the academic and financial plan that was added by the financial academic and financial plan. And we're leveraging our title and grant funding where possible. So when we say added positions, for instance, the academic plan calls for uh a director of bilingual education. My goal is not to say, "Hey, we're going to add a director
022of bilingual education." I'm actually looking at the current vacancies that we had. looking at how many days they've been vacant. We have positions that have been vacant for over a year, collapsing those positions, and there you go. I have my director of bilingual education that we can hire for. That is exercising fiscal responsibility and making sure that we just do not keep simply adding on to a rollover budget. In addition, I've made mention earlier, um, we are looking to all go on the same cycle in each of our school buildings. That way, if need be, schools can share it staff and that no student has a non- highly qualified educator in front of them based off of scheduling differences. So, again, working within the confines, I'm known as uh cheap. Yes, I am very cheap.
023and we are going to work within what we already have and not just simply keep uh compounding on what is already there. Um years past it does look like we've just done a simple rollover budget and rollover budget means we then just add on top of that rather than looking at the district as a whole. um which is something that we will continue to do in the event that the number is lower for New York State and it creates a budget gap. Guess what we'll be doing? We'll be cutting positions to make sure that we are able to meet the needs of our students and you know reorganize uh effectively. Next slide. The next step include continuing to look for efficiencies, planning for potential MVAG and CSEA contract increases um which are already included in
024the projections. So we've already costed out uh our employees within the $279 million budget and advocating for additional state funding. Again, we'll be in Albany Monday through Wednesday. um and holding community forums before final decisions are made. Next slide. These are the dates that guide the process. March 2nd is the submission to the state monitor. March 24th, board adoption. May 5th for the public hearing. May 19th for the communitywide vote. Um, we will be putting out dates on the website uh that actually state when I'm taking the show on the road so that families can further give their input with the numbers um as it uh is in front of them. Next slide. And in closing, this is a balanced, cautious, and transparent budget that reflects taxpayers while supporting our students. We will continue updating
025the board and community as final state aid numbers are confirmed. So again, that confirmation comes after uh the governor presents the final budget to the assembly and senate and then they passed the vote. Last year it was pretty late. Hopefully this year it will not be. And with that being said, questions. Do we have questions for our superintendent? Okay, I'm going to start to my right, Trusty Peterson. >> Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Thank you so much, Dr. Strickland. Um, when I saw this earlier, I was like, "Oh my gosh, this is the first time I feel like since my children have been in the school district that a superintendent has given a kind of like a a preview of what the budget for like it was." I was blown away. And I really like
026that you gave um not only the you know the taxpayers an idea of what an increase could look like at this verse that. So I really appreciate that. Absolutely. >> Um question you mentioned what my question earlier when I saw this was the >> the charter school transitional. So Ammani did get approved to >> so they did um and uh these are some of the things that we will continue to advocate for. Um, I will check the board of regents, but I'm almost certain that they did get the approval. Um, regardless, we still, you may have seen, we gained an extra eight students last week, so wonder where they came from. I'm not sure, but um, they they're here. And um, yeah, but that's >> okay. >> But regardless, that means I think they're going
027a grade level uh up. >> Up. They're going to grade level up. Correct. Yeah. Okay. All right. All right. I just was when I saw that 1.6 million increase, I said, "Whoa." So, yes, for that. >> No problem. Thank you, >> Trusty Mcdana. >> Uh, hi. [clears throat] Thank you. Great. The great presentation and yeah, I think it's fantastic that um the community gets to see all the elements in advance, the variables and the complexity. Yes. >> Of a school district budget. Two two thoughts. one um the local property tax component um over 50%. Right? That's a that's a lot. Um >> I just want to make the point again, maybe I'm a broker record, but this is why local property tax abatements hurt us so badly. We are so dependent on local property taxes.
028When when uh uh corporations don't pay their property taxes, we it hurts us a lot. So that's that's why um I I speak about that because it's so important. The other thing and may this might be a stupid question I don't know just thinking about the fund balance and thinking about the um outstanding prior year taxes that will flow in keep coming in and also through an arrangement with the city with the money they is there any way to to assign some of that money directly to the fund balance as a mechanism for ensuring that we're systematically rebuilding it without having to depend on budget variance in the next You you know what I'm saying? I don't do that enough, but >> So, two things. One, um the tax abatement is um definitely an issue
029uh in particular for the Mount Vernon community. Uh and in addition, because we feel so strongly as a board about this, that's why it ended up on the legislative priorities. So even though other organizations at the state level are not necessarily recognizing it, best believe it is a priority for Mount Vernon because not only that, these are the individuals that are likely sending their children to our schools. Um yet they get to abate uh the the taxes. Uh there is a portion of the fund balance where there could be assigned uh items and we can do that automatically, but we have to wait based off of what we end the year with. Once we end the year with I'm praying in the black, we will begin to assign that uh specific fund balance and then
030uh have some of those additional revenues at the end of the year uh in the unassigned fund balance C category. Yes, sir. >> Trusty Mitchell, you had a question. >> So, um can you hear me? Am I on? Yeah. All right. So, first off, thank you. Um, this is probably one of the one of the most informative budget presentations that we've seen at preliminary. So, I want to thank you for going into the fold as much as you did to explain things because it brings that transparency. Um, >> just a couple of things really, a couple of comments. Budgeting conservatively and responsibly is because of the situation, not based on magic money and optimism based on just the whole point of trying to keep a zero tax levy. This is where we This is why
031we are where we are. We've been budgeting optimistically and based on fantasy and magic for 10 years almost straight. And this is why the fund balance is where it is. The fund balance and I've said this before in layman. It's the fund balance is the roof fund or the hot water boiler fund. You got that money. You save it. It's there in case the hot water boiler because you know you need that. We're spend we've been spending the general fund balance to make the district work. It's like using a credit card to buy groceries on a regular basis or pay your coned bill and the fund balance has been being depleted. We've been using and I'd love to see what how much money was used from any grant money and monies that we received during
032COVID. I'd love to know how all of those funds were spent over the past 6 to 10 years as well to determine where that money went. But um I want to talk about one thing you you mentioned. We we saw actualized cost. The budget that goes out on the district page shows the prior year budget. >> Mhm. >> And then it goes to the next year. There's never a time when taxpayers can see actualized budget costs. What costs came in actuals. Yeah. >> And I think that that blurs and skews the picture because if we're budgeting this much, that rollover budget has been a a huge problem. We've been doing rollover budget and creating and keep stacking people. two people doing one person's job, three people doing half a person's job for almost a decade.
033So >> to add to the transparency, is there a way that we can add into that budget book that we put on the on the on the district page um at some point once we recognize what the prior year costs were so that taxpayers can say, okay, well, I look at the 2324 budget and we budgeted this much, >> where do we come in on actuals? So then it explain it paints a picture because when you budget you look at what you're going to need and then when you budget for the next year you're supposed to be comparing what you actualize that to determine you got to be able to make it make sense to somebody looking at it who doesn't isn't inside like like you are. So and the last thing I'm going to
034say is um looking from within. We have the best and brightest in the district as we speak. And for that director of of a a bilingual that fashion of trying to find who we need, it doesn't mean that we have to go outside in the street and keep bringing in people from the outside who do not know what Mount Vernon is and what it needs and we're overlooking the folks that are right here and we have to get away from that. Thank you. >> Oh, thank you. Uh just uh u rollover is dangerous uh because of exactly what you just said. We simply don't cut anything. We just stack it on. And if I have a vacancy as a former principal, guess what? I'm filling it. So that you can't give me a reason to
035cut it. Um, we can't sustain that process. Um, we are supposed to, so I have different ideas about the budget book. Uh, we are supposed to uh do our accounting uh using the general accounting principles. um in which if for instance you spent $10 in this line, you have to budget $10 or more in that line. You can't cut. You're not supposed to cut because those are bad accounting principles. That stuff was happening. Uh the only way you generally get your savings is by from salaries and benefits. That means we have to cut the fat. I'm looking I'm asking um Miss Graves and her team. I need the vacancy report. Not only do I ask that I need the vacancy report and how many days it's been vacant. There's some vacant positions that are over
036one year. Meaning we've been sustaining. So we about to sustain some more and I'm going to maneuver positions to get what I need. I don't want to add more of a burden on the community. um we can use the efficiencies of the district to actually uh continue to do good work on behalf of our students and that's what the plan is going to be and uh you said it well for me. Um I'm looking at who are the best candidates for our district. Uh I don't just look from outside also look within. I mean you have to give the folks that have been in this work the chance. Um, but I will say this new position that will come forth in terms of bilingual education in world languages. Um, unfortunately they had a super they
037have a superintendent that ran a bilingual school and as expert in part 154. So, whoever's out there that's going to apolog I'm going to apply, please be ready for me. All right. But we're going to start that small and then grow it out so that we don't put constraints on the district further. We have to start at kindergarten. And what that means is instead of having two kindergartens at one place, one of those are will turn into a bilingual kindergarten, the other one will be a monolingual kindergarten. And that way you don't create um uh issues as it pertains to where are we going to uh find the staff in those regards. So >> do we have any other questions? Uh Trusty Scott, >> thank you very much. Um I don't have a question. And
038I have a a comment, you know, because I'm a visual person and this presentation was was great because it gave gives me a like a road map or a template now to use for future in regards to things that may come out of the district that may be communicated to the um community that I can say, "Oh, you talked about this, you talked about that. Where are we with that?" So, I appreciate that because I don't recall ever having such a document that could be shared with the community to know how the district funds are being utilized. >> Yes. >> Or how they're being spread out or allocated across. So, having this was is great and I appreciate you putting it together. So, I just wanted to make that. >> Thank you. >> And you'll
039soon see that um with our treasurer, he's diving right in. There's a specific format that I want to see for our monthly treasurer's reports. He's he's getting ready for the next one. Okay? He's going to present the same old same old this month. Next month you're going to see a new look. Um and that will even be more transparent because you're supposed to actually see revenue specifically, appropriations specifically, like what did we spend? >> Um where are we negatives in lines so we don't have to continue to do this? uh jumping rope uh as it pertains to coming aboard. Well, we got to move money. We need if we just got into the cadence of doing this appropriately, you would trust the administration to just go ahead and move the funds so that we are
040um accurately showing what the finances are. >> Absolutely. [laughter] Don't worry, I'm working with them. >> Are there any other questions? Okay. I have a few questions. Sure. Uh number one, I noticed that you indicated that we were looking at uh possibly a 1.5% or two um but we could go up to a 2.5% increase. >> Correct. >> And just in my in my estimation, looking here on the document, it looks like there's a difference of $1.4 million depending on whether or not we do a 1.5 or 2.5. So my question is because we are in a fiscally distressed why would we um go to a 1.5 and not utilize the the max cap of 2.5 knowing where we are and what the needs are and where we lo where we were deficient last year.
041>> Yes. So that's a fantastic question and I'm glad I get to answer that. Um I will say for the sake the sake of the legislation with the monitor our only position is to make sure that we have a balanced budget. That's it. That means the uh revenue matches the appropriations. The net is zero. That's it. However, based off of the governor's run that comes, based off of the fact that I may have used all the vacancies and people are really asking me for gifted and talented programs, then we have that wiggle room where I can say, "Ah, we have to go up. we have to increase in order for us to make sure that our students have the very best. So we only for budget neutral sake um just did what we had to
042do. But when we start thinking about priorities, that is when we may have to adjust here and there. If the governor, I mean, who's running for office, governor, um, if she happens to say, "Oh, you get 5%." We still need to get a little from the community to continue to withstain an an increased fund balance. Um, however, we don't need to even think about 2.5. um because I'm not going to be adding. I'm going to simply stay within the confines of what um of what we are receiving. >> Okay. All right. Um does anyone else have another question before I ask another? >> Okay. The other the next question I have I wanted to just make a comment to um Trusty Mitchell. Um in terms of the what we're actualizing um those are the appropriation
043reports that we have been asking for from the uh prior school business official and they were promised to us and we should be expecting them I guess in the next um next months. So if we are looking at them monthly as you stated then we will know what the actuals are and we won't be moving in a in a in a a haphazard way. Correct. So just to comment on that >> the next question that does anyone have a question? >> Okay, I want to just ask make sure uh also can you just please reiterate what the percentage is of the salaries in the budget and the healthcare. Okay. You know, my eyes can't see. I want to say, well, salaries and benefits are definitely um some of the highest costs. I can't even see.
044>> I had this on somewhere. >> Was it 52? >> No, it's way more than 52%. >> Way more than 52%. And I know that we budgeted or we um put forth uh at least a 10% or 10 to 12% increase in healthcare. >> Okay. We had to do that. >> Every year healthc care beats us up. Not only that, uh last year healthcare and transportation beat up this year's budget which caused us to be starting the year in a deficit. So we did budget appropriately. Um we do have to go out to bid. Uh, and uh, I will say that the majority of our budget are salaries and >> and I I'll get that for sure. >> Okay. And can you give me the average percentage of the that salaries take up in a
045budget normally across the state of New York? >> Sure. Um, I don't have that right off the bat, but I will definitely >> Okay. And those are the only questions I have. Any other questions? Okay. Thank you so much, Dr. Strickler, for a full and comprehensive uh preliminary budget presentation. We appreciate you. >> At this time, we will hear from our newly appointed treasurer, uh Joe Len. Um he will present our January treasurer report, um which should be located in front of you at your tables. Good evening uh trustees, staff, >> good evening >> students >> and welcome >> and community members. So I'm I'm really excited to be here. It's day eight. So you know eight in Chinese culture is a lucky number. So I'm hoping that means luck for us all. Um all
046right. So today I'm going to go over the treasures report. I don't have the cash flow. I haven't had a chance to uh uh transition that yet. We're in the process of transitioning tasks that are paramount to these reports. So, I want to make sure when I do these reports, they're accurate and uh informative. Um so, we'll cover the treasures report today. Then at the next board meeting, we'll cover the cash flow. And then in the following on March 24th, I'll cover February both the cash flow and the treasures report. So, just to give you guys a little bit of a preview of what's coming. Um, so Amy did a really good job of going through the line items and each all the details uh last board meeting. So, I'm not going to do the
047same thing. What I'd like to do is really just highlight some critical numbers what the key changes uh between last month and this month. So the first item I want to note is um we had more than double the receipts in the general funds. So you're looking at over almost 60 million in uh receipts. That is largely due to the fact that we're getting the second installment of our school and library taxes. So this is really the surge that's coming in in January and a little bit in February. Um we should expect a little bit higher also in February, but then it should slow so slow down. Um there was an offset of the tan. So last month you had a tan in there of 17 million that's not here. So um overall that really
048solidifies our general fund with 47 million. Um the other number I want to point to is the payroll deduction. So last month that was a area of a lot of questions because it had a negative uh net balance. So as Amy pointed out that was a timing issue and that it would clear itself in January. And sure enough here it is we're back in the positive and everything's cleared out. Um next in the multifund you're going to see a negative balance in the capital. So that although the the multifund is one single account so from a cash standpoint we were fine but we did not move money from the capital fund over into that dispersement fund. So that will be done and then that will rectify that uh situation by the next uh report. And
049as I transition uh tasks from Amy and others who that are treasurer responsibilities, we're simultaneously looking at improving the processes. So really trying to streamline things so that you're not seeing the as many occurrences of these negative uh balances as we're moving funds quicker to where they're needed rather than um sort of these delayed movements. Um lastly, uh the other area I would point out is just the other dab debits. She had mentioned that that would also sort of clear itself out and sure enough it cleared itself out. So overall, that's just the highlights of the treasures report. >> All right. Do we have Thank you so much, Mr. Lynn. Again, welcome. So, do we have any questions from our trustees? I'll begin on my left. Trusty Mcdana. >> Thank you. Thanks very much. This
050is great. Uh, just one question about that tax anticipation note. Um, is the will will we be paying that back? It looks our cash position is good. I expect that we'll be able to pay that down maybe this month or next month. Yeah. >> Well, it'll definitely be paid back later in year with interest. So, I I don't know yet. Uh I'll have to uh look into it uh in terms of when we will pay that back. >> Was there a prepayment on interest on that? Do you know? >> Um that I cannot answer, but I will say that um when you take out a tan, there's an obligation to pay it back at the end of the year. >> Um so perhaps um we're actually doing relatively well. The community of Mount Vernon has
051been fantastic in in coming to pay their taxes. Um, which helps the district immensely. Um, if we can start paying on it to bring down the interest, uh, if it makes a difference, uh, we probably will make those decisions, but we'll we'll definitely have talks about that and report um, based off of what our decisions are. >> Yeah, I I I'll make a note of that and and follow up. Okay, thank you. Do we have any other questions on the treasures report for January? Okay, hearing none. Thank you so very much. We will move to the next item on the agenda, which is communication from the public 4.1. I'd like to read a statement. Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to convene the public comment period of our meeting. Although state law does not require
052us to hold a public comment period, we have chosen to do so because we believe it is crucial for us to hear from our community members about their concerns and issues. Please note that the board is here to listen. The public comment period is not designed to be a discussion. If we are not able to respond tonight, we will respond to your questions and concerns at a future meeting or have the proper staff member get back to you at the appropriate time. This is because we take your concerns and questions seriously and want to have sufficient time to process and research issues if need be. On personnel matters, we ask you to go through the appropriate administrative channels to ensure the issues are addressed at the building level first. Under state and federal privacy laws,
053we are unable to entertain any comments or questions about school personnel. Please know, however, that we take personnel concerns very seriously. A comprehensive organization chart is ongoing as we navigate the budget process and identify who should be contacted for different issues. Finally, we want our schoolboard meetings to serve as an example to our students in hope that members of our school board and members of our community can deal with controversial issues in a civil manner and demonstrate mutual respect for one another. We ask that speakers please address their comments to the board directly rather than the audience. We will insist that all speakers and members of the audience maintain civility and respect for our any divergent views. In the unlikely event the meeting becomes unruly, the board will recess the meeting and return once order
054has been restored. Finally, I want to remind everyone that if you so choose, in lie of speaking during the public comment period, you may submit written comments to the board at BOE trustees at mtveroncsd.org org or our district clerk Rita James or James at mtveroncsd.org or our superintendent Dr. Strickland at dstrickland atmtveroncsd.org. Each individual speaker will be allotted three minutes. If you do not choose to use your allotted time, it will be forfeited and is not eligible to be yielded to another speaker. The individual time limits will be enforced so that as many members of the public who wish to speak may be allowed to do so. We thank you for your cooperation. And I just want to let you know that this statement will be issued as a abstract on the next meeting so
055that we don't use up as much time to read it. And each individual member will be again allotted three minutes. The board will now entertain public comments. Clerk James, please announce our first speaker, >> Norman Hupperman. Norman Hutman. Mr. Israel Williams. Thank you. Good evening, Madame President. Good evening, board. Good. Good evening, Superintendent Dr. Strickland. >> Good evening. >> Um, first I'd like to um speak to Dr. Strickland and thank you for your transparency. Thank you for the opportunity that you extended to me over the past week before the snow to meet with you and to discuss some things and I really appreciate that. Um, I would like to address some observations, concerns, and some suggestions. one being the I want to go back to parent involvement day. Um I'm a parent in this district.
056Well, start over. Uh my name is Israel Williams. I'm I'm a resident of Mount Vernon for approximately 49 years. I'm a parent in the district currently. So I'm I attended parent involvement day and at Mount Vernon High School which was had a good pretty good turnout, solid leadership. Um but one of the observations that I made that day was the language kind of singles out guardians. So for guardians who may want to be participant, there's really not much language that really invites guardians who are not parents. Um so I want to make that note. Also, there was a workshop that day called hidden in plain sights. I'm not sure I think you guys are aware of that. um workshop has to do with paraphernalia, hidden drug paraphernalia, vapes, you know, all types of things that
057are very relevant to our district from K to 12. So, I think that should be um considered to be expanded and actually put in video form to get to our residents if the residents can't get to the workshop. Um eating up time. Sorry. I want to address some concerns that involve much needed essential alignment between our m municipalities at this current time as well as the urgency facing the district proact to proactively include today's realities in the budget mission vision and core principles. I would like to recognize the significant work that has gone into developing the city's comprehensive plan after a long gap of 60 years. I would also like to recognize the volunteerism of the school board members who commit to doing essential work without compensation. Comprehensive plan. The adaptive comprehensive plan is ambitious,
058forward thinking in its land use and housing strategies. However, I respectfully believe that it would be strengthened by a formal coordination with the Mount Vernon City School District. Education is one of the largest users and budget drivers of any municipality and shares the consequences of land of land use impacts. Any major zoning shift will directly impact the school district significantly and has far too often been absorbed by taxpayers of this city. MVS needs to get a seat at the table and align for long-term execution of this plan that the residents of Mount Vernon truly deserve. A lineman could stabilize enrollment. alignment could protect fiscal health and signal a positive sign to this community. School coordination affects property values. Property values are influenced by school district stability, perceived educational quality, the rate tax rate predictability, long-term
059demographic trends, as well as other key influences. alignment should involve housing pipeline review, joint demographic modeling, capital planning coordination. It should also influence influence key decisions regarding three recently school um closed schools. Premature disposition of these closed schools followed by emergency borrowing years later would be devastating. This year's budget must reflect today's realities. The budget is not just a spending document. It is a strategic statement as well as the revised mission, vision, and core principles that you will present to the community. it should include emphasized fiscal stewardship, focus on enrollment stabilization, and encourage proactive leadership. In conclusion, as current projections continue to show decline and stagnant enrollment paired with increased density pro projections, it should become increasingly important that the district proactively align its planning with the strategic goals of the and objectives of the
060comprehensive plan. I respectfully urge, excuse me, brother. Excuse me. I respectfully urge the board to consider. >> Go ahead. Just finish. >> Thank you, board. Thank you. Thank you. >> Um, do we have any objection to Mr. Williams completing his statement? Okay, you can go ahead and Thank you. In conclusion, as current projections continue to show decline and stagnant enrollment paired with increased density projections, it should become increasingly important that the districtly proactively align with the planning and strategic goals and objectives described by the comp comprehensive plan. I respectfully urge the board to consider how this year's budget and strategic planning efforts reflect long-term stabilization vision. Thank you for your continued service and leadership. >> Thank you, Mr. Williams. I do apologize. I guess we had some technical difficulties. We didn't hear the buzzers go
061off. So, we apologize for the confusion. >> Thank you for the extended time. >> Okay. And also, thank you for your service. We we listen to you intently because we recognize your past service as a school board trustee sitting in one of these seats. So, we thank you so very much for you and the comprehensive um presentation that you made today and to give us some things that we really need to think about and also that the community needs to think about and that we've uh I know that Trusty Mcdana especially because he serves on the IDA board um as a representative, he doesn't have a voting seat, but he does have a seat to express the needs of the district. um because we we we share the same sentiment. Uh another thing I would
062like to say is that we did receive uh and this will be new information for the board. I did receive a phone call uh last night from the president of the city council who indicated that that they would like to engage the city school district in terms of informing us maybe every other week or how we how we fleshed that out. We haven't um made that determination. We'll talk to the board about that to actually sit down and have a conversation because we do realize that the city is its own municipality, but the school district is also a municipality within the city and it is only specific to the school district, but it is also two operating municipalities within one one city. And so in order to ensure that we have an alignment with everyone
063and a collaboration and shared vision with the entire city that we have to work together or it doesn't work. So I just want to say thank you so much for your comments. >> There there's also other involved um outside influences that we have to be aware of. Um SRA is dissolving and the standards and scrutiny will be less um less of an impact. So we really have to make sure that we coordinate so we don't um sort the blame or the the responsibility doesn't roll over to our residents. >> Right. Thank you so very much. >> Do we have any you have another >> Okay, that ends public comments. >> Okay. Thank you so very much. We are now at 5 one. Any questions? So we're at 5.1. So at this point we are looking
064at our consent agenda. Consent agenda includes items 5.2 through 9.1. So at 5.1 we are looking for a motion to approve the consent agenda items 5.2 through 9.1. May I have a motion? It's been moved and properly seconded that we approve the consent agenda items 5.2 through 9.1. Any discussion? We call for the vote. >> All in favor? >> Any oppose? Abstain. Motion carries. Thank you. Moving on to items 10. These are items that were submitted after our work session 10.1 through 10.17. I will give the board an opportunity to review these items again and if there's any item 10.1 through 10.17 that you would like further discussion on, please identify. >> [snorts] >> While you're perusing 10.1 through 10.17, Dr. Strickland would like to make a comment. Uh just in full transparency, trustees, as
065you know, the snow day caused us to have to cancel uh the school choice night. That resolution under 10.11 says Wednesday, February 25th, 2026. I am asking for this to be passed with a TBD and we will utilize the same staff hopefully uh as well as the administrators um that are uh at those schools. We really want to get our eighth graders over to Mount Vernon High School to see the different opportunities that they have for uh next year. And we weren't able to reschedule for next week because of an event at DWSA. Um but we're looking possibly at the following week. >> Again, I'll ask for any item that you would like to discuss from 10.1 through 10.17. Hearing none, I would like to have a motion to accept resolution items 10.1 to 10.17.
066>> Motion. >> Thank you, Trusty White. >> Second, Trusty Brown. Thank you. We have a first and a second. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. We'll call for the vote. >> All in favor? >> Any oppose? Abstain. Motion carries. >> Thank you. Do we have any items for executive session? Clerk James. >> Yeah, it's just one. [gasps] Have a motion, please, to enter executive session for the discussion of pending litigation. >> Motion, please. >> Motion. >> Oh, >> second. >> Okay. >> But we have a first. We have a second. All in favor? >> Any oppose? Abstain. >> Hold on. We We did not ask um Trusty Adoro to present his report. I do apologize. Trusty Adoro, I do apologize for that. Could you please if you have anything that you'd like to share with
067us tonight before we complete this vote? >> Hello everyone. Hello board members. Um so honestly I just have to um give my updates on my trip to Albany with my brother's keepers. Um because I was not able to come last board meeting because of I was preparing for the trip there. Um [snorts] it was an amazing experience. First of all I got to meet a lot of people especially Michael Blake if you um like um got to meet Michael Blake uh and it was a fun experience. Uh I even got his email and he we talked a lot and um that was one of the apparently one of the best moments I can say. Um other than that um I got good informations and um life lessons from it and I really appreciate that. Um
068that's other two slides well three actually. Um and I got to see some people and that's um that's a high they was a hi from um other people around uh New York states. Okay. Um now I just want to just give my uh what's called updates on the district. I personally want to say that that since this school year I have seen significant changes both ways positive and and negative but positive is has been increasing recently since I've seen it personally. Um first the walls of Steam Academy has been finally been starting to rep repainted been repainting um after a long four years of um being asked. Um so I like to say thank you for that. Uh and the my favorite one is the laptops. Uh have you guys seen the new laptops? Uh
069it's far more significantly better than the old one. And um I'm getting uh feedback from the lower classmen saying, "Oh my god, how is so amazing?" And um heck, they're even playing with the uh keyboard lighting up system. But other than that is is is good. So I do appreciate that. Um lastly, I'm just wanting to say um recently the question I have been asked a lot recently is about the principle of Steam Academy. Does the board has anything to say to ease the parents and students of Steam Academy? That would be my last off. Thank you very much. >> Thank you so much for your report. Um, as you know, we cannot discuss personnel issues. Okay. Uh, so I'm going to ask so just dial it back just a little bit. So I apologize
070for that snafu. I did not ask you for your report. So trustee I mean so clerk James, would you please um repeat the executive session motion? So motion >> let's start let's do it over let's start over. >> I have a motion please to enter executive session for the purpose of discussing pending litigation. >> Okay. >> It's been moved and seconded to go into executive session to discuss litigation. >> All in favor? >> Any oppose? Abstain. Motion carries. Okay. Thank you sir very much. We will not reconvene into this room. We will not reconvene in order to adjourn. We will go into executive session. And so thank you so very much for your attendance tonight.