Adams 12 Board of Education Meeting 5/27/2026

001to call this meeting to order. We'll start with roll call. >> Director Anya Wuaebo. >> Here. >> Director Assad Lucas. Director Battistelli. >> Here. >> Director Goldstein. >> Here. >> Director Marshall-Olson. >> Here. I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda as stated. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Director Anya Wuaebo. >> Aye. >> Director Battistelli. >> Aye. >> Director Goldstein. >> Aye. >> Director Marshall-Olson. >> Aye. >> And we're for executive session. I will entertain a motion to recess for executive session for the purpose of discussing details of security arrangements and safety and security policies and procedures pursuant to board policy 2.0, general operating limitations, and Colorado Revised Statute 24-6-402-4D. >> Second. >> Oh, so moved. >> Second. Director Anya Wuaebo. >> Aye. >> Director Battistelli. >> Aye. >> Director Goldstein. >> Aye. >>

002Director Marshall-Olson. >> Aye. >> We'll be back. >> Mhm. >> Okay, we are going to reconvene. Uh, we are at agenda item five, Pledge of Allegiance. Please rise if you are able for the pledge. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. On Oops, I got to get closer to the microphone. Okay, on to reports, updates, and information. Uh we have a special um guest Well, he's not a guest, but a special uh reporter out there tonight, Deputy Superintendent Beau Foelber. Um he will update us on district developments. >> Always happy to be a special guest. Um just brief comments tonight. I know we have a full agenda and lots

003of folks uh in the board room tonight, but we did just wrap up last week our 75th year as a school district, and I've been so fortunate to be a part of this district for well more than half of those years as a student, a community member, and now a staff member, and I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that this year was like the 74 before it, lots of highs, um big celebrations, difficult challenging moments, uh but every step of the way, and it's been true throughout my entire time in Adams 12, is just deep appreciation for the way this community shows up and supports its schools, and I'm deeply appreciative to our staff, to our students, to our families, for our community, uh for continuing to invest in this district over

004those 75 years. It's been a tre- tremendous place for me to grow up. It's been a tremendous place for me to raise my own children, and it's really exciting uh to be a part of it and to see it continue to grow and thrive, and um I'm just feeling a lot of sincere appreciation to have lived and to still call home this Adams 12 community. >> Thank you. On to Director Adnan Woo Ebu. you. >> Thank you, President Goldstein. Good evening, everyone. Um as Assistant Superintendent Fobert said, year is in the history books and behind the behind us in terms of the rearview mirror. Thank you, everyone for coming and and attending this evening's discussion and meeting. Um just a few items I want to go over. Uh number one, I want to express my

005condolences to the Rocky Top uh middle school community um on the passing of of Asher um in in the tragedy that that happened to his family. Um we stand together and uh uh we're here for each other during this tragic time. Um I completed my school visits for the year with Prairie Hills a couple weeks ago and had a chance to meet Principal Stephanie All Day and also social emotional learning teacher coach um Adrian Fobert. And so it was a wonderful time seeing the school. Uh wonderful time seeing some of the tools that they're using for problem solving among children which is something I think even us as adults could possibly use and I asked lots of questions regarding that. Uh number three, um had a chance to go to the 5K run although I

006did not run, I walked uh and um I'll be honest with you, my my my my biggest memory from that day that Liselle Reed and Shannon Hancock organized was not the running or the exercise but it was the food. And and I really enjoyed some of the food that was there. Took a couple plates home and had to work it off. And finally, um I think it's next Thursday, June 4th. We have the five-star Topgolf five-star classic that Shannon Hancock is organizing where we try and engage the local businesses in in terms of how they can partner with us and support us and support our schools and our kids and our community. So looking forward to that on June 4th. Um, we have quite a few folks coming up coming in. I believe well over

007100 companies organizations are represented. So um, that should be a good start to the summer. And that is all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you, Director Marsha Olsen. >> Thank you. Um, I'll keep it short. I just um, congratulations to all of our graduates and to our continuation. Um, thank you for the to the ESC staff for shifting things around so our um, Thunder Vista group could come here. I I know um, Director Assad Lucas and I wanted to make that but we were at another graduation but I'm glad that they were able to after a trying year. Um, and um, thank you to the Thornton staff for the Thornton groundbreaking. That was really um, fun to see and exciting. Um, and I also share um, the condolences to the family. Um, just incredibly

008tragic and I think this year's been better than some but we still have not been um, unscathed by tragedy. Um, I hope everyone has a great summer. Um, I also want to take it just a moment of personal privilege to say I'm attending Peter Eltz's uh, funeral on Friday. Um, as many of you know my mom was a paraprofessional in in Peter's class. So I got to see through um, that as well as through my stepson who went through Rocky Mountain um, how many lives he truly impacted. So um, you know, my thoughts are with his his little kiddos and his wife and it'll be a good day to celebrate him. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Director Marshall and Director Batticelli. >> So, I do have a list. So, prepare yourself. I'm kidding. [laughter]

009We have attended a marathon gauntlet of graduation ceremonies and they're always wonderful to attend, but after attending eight of the nine district ceremonies, I can safely say that I am exhausted. And I missed the ninth one because I had a work conflict, unfortunately. We did attend or I think we were all there. The groundbreaking ceremony for the Thornton High School. We're really excited to see that kick off and it is North Thornton High School is well deserved and we're looking forward to providing that new space and those new innovations for our Thornton High School students. I did want to add that with the graduation ceremonies, the speeches from the students and staff at the Five Star Online Academy and the Vantage Point Academy Vantage Point were just amazing. And so, if those are available online,

010I strongly encourage you to go and have a listen because they were remarkable. As well as attending the graduations, I discovered that students can now earn a seal of climate literacy and it goes on their high school diplomas. And in case you're not aware of this, I wanted to make everyone aware that the general requirements to earn this seal are two climate related courses. One of them is a science course, an experiential project around climate literacy, and I think there's a presentation requirement in it does differ by districts and by high schools, I think. So, do check with your high school if that's something that your kid is interested in. But yeah, I was excited to see that. Um, also congratulations to those schools who were recipients of the CDE awards recently. Um, we also

011were able to call the resource closet managers, I think, for um, the Five Star Foundation, and it was lovely to talk to my group of resource managers and thank them for what they do to stock the resource closets at each of our schools, um, and provide those much needed clothes, food, things of that sort to families in need. Um, I did walk the five the Five Star 5K, as well. Mine was actually by accident. >> [laughter] >> I'm still trying to figure out how I did that. I meant to do the one mile. I did the 5K. Um, my body was not ready, and my feet reflected that, but I survived. Um, my condolences also go out to, um, Asher's family. It's really hard to, you know, put into words the level of, um, emotion

012[clears throat] that you have about that, because it's such a devastating set of circumstances, and I just can't imagine ever ever being in that sort of situation. So, my heart goes out to his to their family. Uh, and I think, uh, other than that, that's it. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, well, I I want to start with you mentioned the 75 years, and um, I've also been a big part of this district. Probably, I was doing a little math, Bo probably started before me, but I was older when I started. Um, >> [laughter] >> No. >> But, I always look I have to say this, Bo. I always look at Bo, I see the eighth grade Bo Fobert that I knew in my science class in eighth grade at Westlake Junior High. Um, and there's

013a couple others, um, on staff still that are people that I had the privilege of teaching. Um and >> [snorts] >> it was fun to walk down that road of 75 years just like looking at up some of the research on some of the schools. I helped a little bit with that and and just knowing uh you know what I know and the um experiences that I've had in this district. I've watched this district grow from being um basically two high schools to five comprehensive high schools. And so um I want to commend Adams 12 for being the district that it is. I'm really proud to be a part of it. Um unfortunately, I missed the five comprehensive high schools. I was finishing up another gig for the year um down at the capital. And

014I also wanted to do the five-star 5K. I actually paid to do it and I have a t-shirt, but I was trapped at the capital that day. Um so I was thinking about you guys. I was also thinking about all of you during those five graduations and I think people were thinking about me because I kept getting texts with um screenshots of me on the screen. So I thank you to to Bailey for doing a video so I could at least do that. Um but then once um sine die happened, I was back in the graduation gig. I did go to Front Range Community College's graduation, one of their graduations on the Thursday. And then I had the um privilege of traveling around the district district with um Bo, Chris, and Megan giving out the

015awards for the CD E um awards. And uh then I got to do more graduations. And um we um finished up a great year, I guess. And um it was it was probably one of my last. So that was that was kind of um emotional, too, to think about all these graduations that I've been privileged to be a part of and all these kids that you're you shake their hands and and a lot of them you don't know their stories but you can kind of tell a little bit that sometimes they've struggled to get where they are and some of the you know especially at some of the alternative campuses because and you listen to some of the kids that speak and represent their class and their stories are are quite poignant so it's really

016it's really been an honor to do that. I also do want to mention my heart does go out to the community of Rocky Top for the tragedy that happened there too and I don't have words for that. And I will also be honoring Peter Ziltz on Friday. I had the honor of working with Peter as a special ed provider in the district and he actually was the one who taught me my restraint training as a special ed teacher so yeah. All right with that we'll move on to general public comment. >> Good evening. The board welcomes public comment to learn about the preferences and concerns of the Adams 12 five-star community. Each speaker will have three minutes. Please use the microphone and state your name and city of residence before beginning your comments. Please give

017any handouts or information you would like to share with the board to David Wareheim. A three-minute timer will be set for each speaker. Please keep an eye on the time and kindly conclude your remarks when time has expired. Our first speaker tonight is Jonathan Matthews. >> Hello. Good. Okay. My name is Jonathan Matthews. I'm from Northglenn. I have a rising first grader at the Studio School and I wanted to come before the board today to advocate for the Studio School amidst this coming school consolidations. As a child, I was lucky enough to attend an arts-focused elementary school before we even had a word for what STEAM education was. I spent my days learning all of the traditional and necessary educational rigors of the day with the addition of arts in every week. Through the performing

018arts, we learned how to control our bodies, how to live in our own space, and how to express ourselves. In music, we were exposed exposed to other cultures, languages, and experiences that enriched our minds and souls. In visual arts, the use of creativity and how to map our thoughts and feelings in physical form. This [snorts] education formed the bedrock of my creativity and curiosity and my calling as career and career as a chef is due in no small part to the early foundation in the arts. This same education sits at the heart of what makes Studio School so special. When examining schools for our child to attend, we prioritized schools that incorporated the arts and in Adams 12, that really left us with only the one option. And in this school, our child has excelled.

019She's enjoyed every second of school and comes home excited to show off her new song she has learned, or the piece of artwork she's been working on, or the dances she and her friends practice during recess. In this community, she's the definition of thriving. I know I'm not the only parent that feels this way either. There's an energy in the air of the school, the sense of belonging, and a celebration of talent, creativity, and achievement. It is no surprise to me that the Studio School was awarded the Governor's Distinguished Improvement Award, and that the school is ranked among the district's highest performing. Our students are in an environment that values them for who they are, regardless of where they come from. And I know that while it's nice to wax poetic about what our school

020offers, it's also important to acknowledge the realities of what this board's challenges are. I do not envy the difficulties ahead involved in right-sizing this district uh and facing our new reality. That being said, one would hope that the over 20% of out-of-district students that attend the Studio School would account for something, as well as the performance of the Studio School that we've shown year after year. I know many other parents are concerned for their own special schools, but there's truly nothing else like Studio School. If this school were to close, many, if not all of the students from out of the district would then leave Adams 12, as well as a fair amount of the other students already in the district. The unique combination of arts and academics that makes up the Studio School is

021worth preserving. And keeping the Studio School open would recognize the unique space in which our school sits, and all of the hard work of its teachers and students. I'm hoping that we still would work on keeping the Studio School open. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> Our next speaker is Christie Hargrove. >> Can you hear me? Okay. Hi, my name is Christie Hargrove, and I live in Westminster. Um, I'm coming before you to encourage the board to consider a resolution to um to uh I can't think of the word I want to use. I should have written a list. Uh >> [laughter] >> for you to approve um initiative 195, your support of it, and also uh proposition NN. Both of these initiatives will be coming well, one is for sure on the

022ballot, and the other one we're going to need some help getting signatures and uh promoting it to get it on the ballot. But should they both get on the ballot, some of the things that it will do specifically for the Adams 12 School District is about 27.6 million dollars beginning in 27. This comes from a graduated income tax. The graduated income tax will give tax reductions to 99.7% of Adams 12 families, which will be helpful for them in the affordability of so many things that are going up in price. Um, while I believe that the uh, the other measure will create a structure as we go forward, I believe that the graduated income tax is the only way to put new money into the system and allow us to um, stop, you know, get on

023the road to adequate funding. We need to get on a path. Um, as you can see from your troubles and stuff in Adams 12, um, it's crucially important and there's no time like the present to uh, get out there and work for initiative 195. And I do have petitions with me if anyone's interested and I have information uh, that you all may be already have, but I could provide to the audience if that's appropriate. Well, I could just put it out on the table. And if it's not, that's okay. >> If you want to give us information, you can give it over here and then he can >> Perfect. >> Yeah. But petitions we really can't do. Sorry. Right. Our next speaker is Laura Mitchell. >> Thank you, Chrissy. >> You should know better. Good

024evening. Um board members and deputy superintendent Mr. Fobert. Um I'm Laura Mitchell. I'm from Westminster and I am also co-chair about 12 kids identified with dyslexia. Our organization advocates for students with dyslexia, but also for all struggling readers. Tonight I want to speak about early literacy because literacy is a foundation for every academic outcome this district cares about. According to the 2025 CMAS data, 14 of our Adams 12 elementary schools reported that half their third-grade students did not meet or partially met expectations in English language arts. That should concern all of us. When students fall behind early in literacy, the consequences compound year after year and affect every area of academic success. They affect performance across subjects, long academic confidence, graduation outcomes, and future opportunities. Every year matters for every cohort. I recognize the district

025leader- leadership and educators have worked hard and implemented important changes in recent years, but the results make clear that the current pace of improvement is not enough for students in these schools. Tonight I want to focus on urgency, accountability, and opportunity. I believe this board has an opportunity to lead boldly by making literacy an urgent district-wide priority. Our community recently demonstrated its willingness willingness to invest in Adams 12 through support of our mill levy override. Families want to know this investment will translate into measurable gains for students, especially in literacy, which is a gateway for all future learning. I urge the district to publicly prioritize literacy achievement through clear and transparent literacy goals, regular public reporting, evidence-based instruction and intervention, strong teacher training and coaching, and expanded support for struggling readers in the earliest grades

026before gaps continue become entrenched. I also believe that the DAC in our school sacks can help strengthen community trust and engagement through transparent communication and ongoing progress monitoring. As the district moves through school consolidations and restructuring, Adams 12 has an opportunity to not simply reorganize buildings, but to redesign systems in ways that directly address um persistent literacy challenges. I recognize that district leadership educators have implemented important changes. I appreciate the work already underway. This is not about blame. The encouraging reality is that schools serving similar student populations have demonstrated that stronger literacy goals are possible with the right systems and sustained focused. Adams 12 Kid would love to partner with the district and bring ideas for supporting parents and students. >> Ma'am, your time has expired. >> Thank you. Laura, it's good to see you.

027>> Our next speaker is Erica Pomerance. >> [laughter] >> Wasn't sure if the third one was coming. Thank you, Madam President, Vice Superintendent. My name is Erica Palmer and I am the mother of two and hopefully soon to be three studio students. I am also a living example of the importance of the arts inclusion programs. Well, it wasn't specifically called that, I was fortunate to go to three Adams 12 schools that had a strong emphasis in art programs. I had I have no doubt that these programs shaped who my brother and I became. My brother is a professional musician and builds professional architecture models. Meanwhile, I am a flight attendant and I use skills from that I learned daily from my stage management and acting daily on the plane and more. >> [laughter] >> When

028we were looking at schools for our oldest, we considered all of the options. Homeschooling was very high on the list, but wasn't the best for her and so we looked into other options. Sorry. We were looking for a place that had class sizes that were smaller, a school that had a high emphasis on arts and was inclusive, welcoming, and safe. The studio school became our first choice for public schools and within the first few months of being there we knew we were in the right school. While our enrollment enrollment numbers may not be as high as desired as desired in the in the district, our school is thriving. The school is not just a school where parents drop off the kids and leave. It's a place where community is the focus. We have built what

029I feel will be lifelong friendships and have created a community of caring and support for our families. It also meets a need for kids that don't learn in traditional ways and especially kids that are not neurotypical. The smaller classes allow for the students, teachers, and parents to team together to meet the needs of students who may learn differently. It allows for the teachers to really get to know their students. And at the Studio School, it's a step further where the teachers really encourage the students to build friendships with all their classmates, and they do. The atmosphere in the school is vibrant, caring, and engaging. The school year ended with an organic meet-up of about 15 families at TCBY on the last day of school, and the students shouting Studio! Studio! in the restaurant. And then

030the party continued on at a local park. Studio School meets an important need for our students both in and out of district, which our family is. And to close it because it doesn't meet the necessary conditions would make be a travesty. Instead, let's make it bigger, make it into a K-8, maybe even eventually a K-12. Let's help the school to shine. Thank you. >> Thank you, and I think our paths crossed at a school once upon a time together. >> [laughter] >> Our final speaker is Alicia Ortiz Heath. >> Hi. Um my name is Alicia, and I um I am a proud parent of two boys at the Studio School. Um we um I wanted to come here and just kind of talk about what everybody else has kind of talked about how special um

031this school is to our family and to um a lot of the families um at the Studio. Um I have a younger son who is um sensory processing and autism. Um he wakes up at 6:00 in the morning, and the first thing he starts doing is art. He's cutting, he's gluing, he's drawing, he's that is when he is upset that is his go-to. This school has allowed him to shine as his perfect little self that I'm not sure a lot of schools he would have shined the way that he shined. I kind of want to back on Erica and in making the school bigger. So one of the things that I found very strong about the studio is the sense of community. I have two step kids that are in the Saint Vrain district and

032we just kind of left the studio STEM Lab which I was the assistant teacher in the preschool. One thing that is different about the studio is every day after school parents and kids are staying. They are playing in the playgrounds together, they are bonding, they are building friendships and relationships that are going to last a lifetime. I'm going to piggyback on the last day of school one parent brought a kickball and a box full of snacks and parents picked up on this and they all joined parents and kids were actively playing kickball together on the last day of school and it's such a beautiful thing that I would hate to have to tell my little boys that you know this this amazing community is going to not be around anymore. So again, I'm just here

033to re-emphasize everything that everybody else has says it's amazing school. Don't get rid of it, make it bigger. So that's it. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> All right, thank you to everybody who came out to express their concerns. Board committee liaison reports. Um LR pack is the one board report and director Sal Lucas is not here tonight. Although I do want to put a plug in that we did have the groundbreaking for Thornton High and I was honored to be a part of that. And I am so excited to see how that turns out. And that was a lot of the work that LR Pack has been doing the last couple of years. Okay, next is the District Accountability Committee presentation. And I have I see Tara and Ms. Tutank and Kevin

034and Adi. Okay. Okay, and Mr. Froberg. Stephanie's the only one that knows how to turn it off. >> [laughter] >> I mostly appreciate that we are not being timed. Thank you for that. >> I'll see it wasn't just me. >> And she's putting it away, that's even better. Good evening. My name is Tara Raju and I am the president of the Adams 12 District Accountability Committee. I'm here with my colleagues Kevin Tangay, who's the DAC vice president, and Adi Sun, who's the DAC secretary, to present our work from this year and provide recommendations for future work and iterate for next year. Thanks for the time on the agenda. Before I start, I mostly want to acknowledge DAC members that are here. There's some I see a couple. And those that are listening cuz we just

035everyone's listening. >> [laughter] >> But mostly really to acknowledge their engagement, their questions, their curiosity, because really what we are presenting is all of their work that they've done throughout the year. They built relationships with district leadership, school principals, school accountability committee members across the district. So, really an acknowledgement of all of their work and thanks to them for that. Okay. As you all know, the board knows, DAC's responsibilities are defined by Colorado statute, which is stated here. I am not going to read this slide, but I do want to just mention mention briefly the areas that we spent the most time. We're gathering feedback and having a better understanding of district spending priorities aligned with the district's unified improvement plan, monitoring and observing the district's implementation of the unified improvement plan. And engaging with

036charter schools, there were no new applications or renewals, but we engaged in kind of a new way on this off year, and so you'll hear more about that later. And lastly, really consistently and working to increase parent engagement, particularly around our SAC school SAC work. So, that is a brief summary of this slide in particular, but you all know the the details that are here. The last few years, these guiding principles were created prior to this current DAC leadership, but they've continued to guide our work, and so I I've continued to keep this here because they're quite evergreen. Right? Working to operate with some transparency, engaging with different parts of district leadership, legal counsel, and all of you, etc. to ensure we are following all those rules. Engaging opportunities, that's in large part and thanks

037with district leadership that gives us those opportunities, and we have good working relationship, which you'll hear about also. Self-sufficiency is all dependent. These are all interdependent in many ways, and always adding value to all, to you as the board. Okay. Um my job here this evening is overviews. So, >> [laughter] >> just to give you some sense, um year by year we've continued to grow DAC membership, and so the recruitment and membership process has continued to be successful. We had the largest group again this year, so I feel like I've said that every year that I've been up here, um which is great. Um we've had consistent um attendance. Kind of our average attendance throughout the year was still pretty was still strong. Um and just around that area, we have about 15 to 17

038members that um have said that they're returning, so we'll have a nice group of veteran folks coming back next year. Um and that increase of membership has only allowed us to increase, right, to connecting with school SACs, principals, and engagement. So, it's been really helpful in that way. The structure, in some ways, just to give you some sense, we've employed new strategies, not just relying on the subcommittees, but adding sort of remote tasks for folks to engage in um that are consistent and coherent. So, hopefully folks can find different ways DAC membership can find different ways to engage. And those um strong engagement opportunities have been really critical. And before I go into that, because it's allowed DAC members to go deeper, particularly in the UIP area, and charter, and SAC. And that's a large

039part thanks to Bo Fobert, Kim Brady, Dave Bayne, um Director Paula, now Director Ike um halfway through the year. Um really around your attendance, your expertise, and engagement with our DAC members, because it's been it really is we aren't, since we're not a part of the district, all those questions that come up, all of you have consistently allowed us that opportunity and for DAC members to engage. So, we appreciate that um intensely. Also, thank you to the charter team and finance team, everyone really that has engaged and presented to our group, and new district staff members that were voting members a part of the DAC this year. Um they really were their insights are invaluable to lots of questions that folks have. And lastly, I just in this world of engagement opportunities, I will always

040a hundred times thank thank Stephanie Hicks for her much needed support and help throughout the year because without her much of what DAC admin does wouldn't happen. So, thank you, Stephanie. Um you'll hear in more detail these recommendations, kind of keeping our core participation, clear expectations, leveraging these flexible form formats. These are sort of on things that we heard from DAC membership, but particularly also the recommendations to keep iterating each year. Um we keep adding opportunities as I've mentioned. So, this integrating of calendar opportunities is sort of a big one cuz we're just giving them more. If you want to do this, come attend this, go to that. So, trying to integrate some of those and really translating all of that engagement into um useful, valuable input for all of you. So, part of our

041big work that you've heard over the last four years really has um DAC's work to build our connection to school DACs. And that and across the system. And so, that DAC liaison work um continues and is really a foundation of a lot of the DAC work. It is now an expect a member expectation that every member has a school DAC that they're attending or working to connect with. If it's not their own students, if they have a student in the district, um it's another one. Right? So, that is a real basic and with the additional members and the growth of the DAC, we've been able to reach more SACs. And a really exciting part is that we have a strong equal representation from sort of the southern the arbitrarily southern and northern part. And so,

042that has been a real effort over the last few years and we've got there. And you'll hear more about that later. But, big deal. So, [laughter] a significant push this year was ensuring SAC information, particular SAC meetings, showed up on school websites, newsletter, particularly the school websites cuz every school website has a SAC page. It got better as the fall progressed, but this was a really critical part of some of the work this year to ensure that got better. Um, more is room for improvement, as they say. Um, we had a number of community members that either had students that graduated from the DAC or graduated from the district or didn't have any students that were um, you know, in the district. And I think those SACs that they were connected to really appreciated having

043that one community member that often is what alludes SACs. Um, so that was really helpful. I mean, I think what we also find is there are these really strong active SACs and then there's still schools that have none. And that's problematic, right? And continues to be an issue. So, there's was a great progress made and continues to be room for improvement. And that gives you some sense of kind of the number of schools we got to, number of we have observations that people submit. So, that gives you a little bit of that graph. Our recommendations are not that dissimilar from last year, but there are some questions that we pose um for district leadership and for uh the board and really for the leadership next year around um what our recommendations are. That early launch

044of SAC liaisons and can doing that very early in the work of the DAC is important. Really clear communication of meetings um in multiple places, repetitively, ongoing. That [clears throat] needs to just continue to be cuz if you don't know where a meeting is, you can't attend. Um parents can't attend. So, that seems like a good basic principle. The DAC will continue to really collect best practices and ideas to pass on to SAC for SAC discussions cuz there's some meetings that are really productive and engaging and interesting, so we need to collect more of that. We do find um for DAC members, the SACs and principals are really willing to engage with us now. It's been a few years, and so they have a better understanding over and over again of what we're doing and

045why we're doing it. Um SAC liaisons are really good connectors. And really, the ongoing work the DAC leadership does to create tools, templates, emails, all that kind of work so that DAC members can engage easily with their principals and SACs are are really a big part of the puzzle. And so, some of the questions we're left with and to iterate for next year, um continues to be sort of what does a strong, active SAC actually look like? Um at what at different levels would it look like? What does it look like at an elementary school, a middle school, and a high school? It might look differently. What does that mean and define that? How can schools partner together to learn from each other? How can you move a good, strong SAC from one level and

046get those parents engaged at the next level are some of those kinds of questions and lastly really for to work with the district to figure out how to get principals to connect to better strategize and build stronger SACs across the system. So that is sort of an overall view of kind of that SAC work. You'll hear with the specifics of some of what they did now, but that is my portion and I'm going to pass this on to Heidi. >> Thanks, Tara. Good evening. My name is Heidi. In a national minutes, I will talk about a big chunk of our DAC work, the principal survey. During 2021 school year, DAC conducted its first principal survey to gather feedback on SAC activities across schools. The result served as a baseline for feedback as a baseline to

047understanding SAC practices across the district. Now 5 years later, DAC leadership felt it was a valuable opportunity to revisit the survey, compare the results over time. Our goal is to identify the shifts and the changes in SAC engagement and to better understand the current needs and the priorities of SACs across the district. With the district support, we received 50 responses this year. We found that while there are still opportunities for growth, many SACs are demonstrating stronger communication, collaboration, and engagement than we saw several years ago. As we reviewed the survey results, several key strengths and highlights stood out. Many schools reported significant improvements in school communication, stronger membership and a meeting attendance, and a more collaborative team effort within SACs. We also saw increased trust between school leadership and the members Along with more organized

048meeting structures, agendas, and formats. At the same time, schools expressed a desire for greater student participation in SAC discussions, improved confidence and ability in analyzing school data, and broader representation that better reflects the diversity of their communities. When looking at top priorities across schools, two theme constantly rose to the top: academic improvement and the increased community engagement. As for communication strategies, many schools are relying more on social media platforms and school calendars to connect with families and communities. Within schools, we found a stronger desire for additional support through shared best practices across the district, as well as more SAC training and the resources for staff and members. Therefore, this is an area where DAC can play an important role by helping creating a best practice toolkit that schools can use. Building on the survey results,

049here are the next steps. First, we would like to continue increasing representation from schools across the district, particularly from the south half of the district. Secondly, we believe ongoing relationship building between DAC, SAC liaisons, and individual school SACs will will be essential in strengthening collaboration and communication. We also want to continue promoting the district-created SAC handbook and encourage more consistent use of those resources at a school level. Another important next step is collecting and sharing SAC best practices along with year-end observation data so schools can learn from one another and identify successful strategies. With SAC meetings themselves, we would also like to create more guided discussion focused on SAC challenges, success, and practical solutions. And finally, we look forward to continuing our partnership with district leadership to support schools that may not yet have regular

050or strong SAC engagement. Overall, this survey reinforced that SACs are making meaningful progress and there is strong potential for future success. In addition to the SAC work, I'd also like to briefly highlight some of the charter work this year. For the 2025-2026 school year, there were no new charter applications or renewal. However, that didn't that did not mean there was no charter related work happening. In fact, this year was an important step forward in strengthening DAC's connection with charter schools and the charter leadership. For the first time, DAC was invited in the monthly collaboration meetings between the district and the charter leadership. These meetings gave us a valuable opportunity to better understand charter school operations, current priorities, and the ways charter schools are working in partnership with the district. They also helped create a more

051proactive and pro-collaborative setting for communication rather than DAC only becoming involved when there is a formal application or renewal. One of the biggest takeaways for from this year is that this collaboration meetings were highly informative and constructive. They helped strengthening communication and alignment between the district and the charter leaders, and they gave DAC a better foundation for future charter related responsibilities. Looking ahead, our recommendation is to continue DAC participation in the monthly district charter collaboration meetings. Maintaining that regular connection will help build open communication and the trust over time. We encourage DAC participation in charter SAC meeting related to UIP. This would help DAC better understand charter school goals, challenges, and best practices. We also suggest DAC subcommittee continue participating in charter application renewal and the continue focusing on three key areas: mission and vision,

052climate and culture, and organizational performance. This area gives us a helpful framework for understanding whether a charter proposal is aligned, sustainable, and student-centered. Overall, the goal is to strengthen the ongoing partnership between district and charter leadership to so that this decisions continue to be centered on students and the needs of the broader Adams 12 community. With that, I will hand it over to Heaven, who will walk us through the UIP progress. >> Thank you, Edie. Uh before we go on real quick, the principal survey has a lot of data in it. So, we just showed you a just a smidgen of things we pulled out that we thought were real important. Uh we actually did break out the by two school type. And so, if you're interested in having more data, we're happy to share.

053It just takes some work. Okay. So, I'm going to Oops, I did I go the wrong way? Okay. I'm going to talk about UA UAP. So, our goal is to observe the major improvement strategies in schools and at meetings and etc. So, one thing that was nice this year is we go to these meetings and they're the ones below the ILT instructional leadership. Uh now we have a coaches meeting and then we have the progress monitoring tool. What was cool before that is the district team came in and trained us about these meetings before we went. Uh that's new this year and felt it added a lot of value. Uh I will say the two new meetings, the instructional coaches meeting and the progress monitoring tool were very interesting. Uh big learning for us. Uh

054we intend to continue with that. Uh we love our partnership with the district, their incredible transparency, and their generosity of time has made the DAC work really better. So. Okay. So, I mentioned this so we can mention again, but uh what we've known what we understand is attending meetings continue to be an effective method for us to observe and educate ourselves. Uh DAC members who observe the PM tool updates were very impressed. I went to two myself personally. They were two different ones. Um and so that's going to be a thing for us. So, we're going to continue to attend these meetings, but we're going to continue to push on more members to attend. I think this These are the meetings where you really get a deep understanding about how the infrastructure works, that the

055educational infrastructure works. Uh one of the things we did is we brainstormed with a district. And uh one of the things that was asked and that we think we need to do is look at all the different meetings and all the different activities more holistically where we collect data in a way that that all tie together. Right now, we just get feedback forms that are freehand, Uh uh but that's not the way that you can compare and make sure things are going. So, we're going to look at that next year. Uh another goal of ours is to understand the connection between the district and the school UIPs. The coaches meeting, the ILTs, they focus on district priorities. Their PM tools focus on school priorities. And so, that's one of the things we want to understand

056as we develop better relationships with the SACs. And then, one of the requests have been going on, explore ways going expand beyond monitoring and to be more forward-thinking. And I think as we collect more data, we'll get there. I don't know that next year's the year, but next year's a data collection year to build around this. Okay. Now, handle spend spending priorities. Uh this year, we just continue try to improve it and try to advertise it. So, we've simplified the language even more and uh we improved principal engagement. We got a lot of help again from the district, which is very valuable and uh the results are telling. So, big bump. The chart on the right shows what we did this year versus last year. Uh the year before that, it wasn't quite a big

057jump. This is a huge jump. We got 106 responses from 28 schools, 14 north, 14 south as Tara said. What's even more interesting is that last year we started with a translation of the survey to non-English languages and we got I maybe one, maybe two, but this year, with the help of the district, we got 22 different responses. And those were in Dari, Pashto, and Spanish. So, some of the key takeaways from the survey, uh this is a good one, uh last year to this year, the recognition of the school UIP priorities was there for the members. And so, these are SAC members, so you hope they know this, uh but it was good to see. From a district level, though, it's different. Uh there seemed to be a loss in understanding of the district

058priorities. And I don't know if that's because it's more focused on the school UIPs or whatever, but uh it's a it's about a 10 to 12% drop. Okay. This is the meat. So, for the improvement strategy one, the engaged students learning that fosters academic social belonging, we had a lot of respondents up there, and uh you can see that the teaching life skills is above 50%, and so is increased mental health staffing. And so, these are good, but more importantly, if you look at the survey, 96% of the respondents saw some focus on this this improvement strategy. And that is because they, you know, you just look at it, every one of them, and they responded at least something. So, they're seeing improvements in their schools, which I think is really gratifying. Okay. Because they

059we had so many I want I wanted to separate and do the non-English speaking ones, uh because it tells a different story, and not a bad story, but a different story. Uh you can see that out of the 22, 18 saw an increase in the support staff, or just a more effective support staff, or whatever. But that was That's pretty big. And then, uh the before-and-after school clubs, and etc. So, 80 the That number of 18 out of 22 is 82%. Uh and this will play out through the rest of the data, as well. Okay. Now, this is the second one, and it's plan and implement rigorous and relevant grade instruction. Not as many respondents, but again, uh three of them are about 50% uh with the new improved course materials uh being the leader,

060and I I think that's a a big one. And I that plays out in the PM tool, too, by by way. Uh when the PM tool meetings I went to, you could see how this related to what we saw in the classrooms. So, and then instructional coaches and the staff, again with this one, 96% saw some effort going into this. And so, I think that's gratifying. So, maybe next year we need to focus down on more details to understand. Okay, from a non-English speaking, uh, 86% called out out of the staff that provided district support to the multilingual learners. But, you can see a lot of these are very high. Uh, the the feedback from this community who responded to these, uh, is extremely positive and, uh, is quite interesting, I think. So, okay. So,

061the comments around it. This one came up a few times. Uh, that the gifted and talented programming, uh, was most frequently mentioned as a concern. Uh, specifically the loss of GT advocates. Uh, so, that that not only came up in the survey, but it also came up in some of the meetings, the DAC meetings that we had. Uh, the English language learner support draws mixed feedback. And this is interesting cuz it's kind of a contrast, uh, because they they want they appreciate bilingual support, but they want more stricter English policies. And so, I I don't know that you ever solve this one, but you it's one you that came across pretty strong. Uh, better communication with non-English speaking families in simple translated formats is also requested. Now, that's from the English speaking comment side. Then

062we go to the next one, and yet it's just the main theme is genuine gratitude. Uh, the ones who responded in a different language, uh, are very happy. You can see that from the last two charts. Uh, they feel very supported and, uh, so, I think that's a a pat on the back. So, I I underlined the last one, uh, just because the overall theme message is more targeted, well-funded support at both ends with better communication and adequate staffing. To me, that's the MLO, right? And the MLO got voted in this year, but I think next year it is when we're going to see uh, it whether it's working or we're getting more feedback on the effectiveness of what's being done. Okay. We did show you this one last year. It's an eye chart, but

063I there's a couple important points. How do they get their information on the district budget uses? And uh, there's a large growth in the SAC involvement, which is good. That's what we want to see. That's as a DAC, an area we're really pushing on and focused on. Uh, but a big growth in the Board of Education meetings. Now, we come to one a year, so I don't know, but outside of that, I don't know how that necessarily works. Uh, the only one of concern is the fact that no knowledge has eight. And that's, you know, not a lot, but still there's people who have no knowledge about the district budget. >> [snorts] >> From the non-English speaking, uh, big kudos to the newsletter. And uh, as Edie mentioned, there's uh, it's being used, uh, but

064in this for this particular community, it's very important. What's just as interesting is that local news is a source, right? And I I don't watch local news, so I can't really comment, but uh, I didn't know that was a source to really get information about school districts uh, effective. So, so something to consider, why is that? Uh, the friends, there's one with friends and stuff, that that one makes a lot of sense, right? Okay. >> Oh. >> Yeah, I think with the local news, I just remember last year that Chris and I were on every channel >> Oh, you're at the >> when we were talking about the budget, so that could be why. >> Okay. Now, it makes sense, more sense. >> [laughter] >> Okay, so what are the takeaways? We're going to continue

065to grow. I think we've made progress, good progress last 2 years on the UIPs, understanding the UIPs, where we could be effective. We started with a simplified working on a simplified UIP, but now we're branching out. It's our It's our SAC driven method that we're going is really going to help us from a holistic perspective look at UIPs. We see that the schools are seeing that, at least the ones who responded to the surveys. That the strategies are working. I said the new school matters. Better engagement with non-speaking parents. I pointed that out a few times. Okay. So, our goal for next year. So, wasn't mentioned, but I'm president next year, so these are things. Huh? >> It'll be mentioned. Well, okay, I'm pre-mentioning it. >> [laughter] >> So, anyway, we're going to continue to

066work the SACs. I think we've made a great progress as a committee. I think we're going to run into some limitations because of on growth because there's only so many things, how many people do you can get engaged to go out and visit and be on different SACs. We tried to map the SACs in a way that would get people to go by showing them where close to the house, but also showing the times and the dates so that they could pre-plan to get there, but we'll see. That's something we'll focus on. The spending survey will continue to work on. Just tweaks. We don't want to lose our historical data. One of the notes of that is that there's very bursty data in there where some schools responded a lot, so you have active principles

067and such, and so that can skew data. I looked at a lot. I don't think it really skewed it that much, but we'd like to get better representation for that survey. Create some method communicate with parents, community members about spending actually means. You yeah, or one of our DAC members here, that's one of his passions is that he he has people raise their hands and uh do you know what spending means? Do you know in in the in the question is are we articulating to these schools at these these SACs what actually spending means, right? If I'm a parent, I don't really care. I just want to know focus, but that's a whole different kind of thing. And then encourage SAC involvement engagement. In fact, as we recruit, we will be again, as we did

068last year, we expect you to belong to a SAC. And if there's multiple parents on one SAC, we're asking you to pick up another SAC to try to continue that engagement because that being on this committee that and learning how the the UIP stuff is really, I think, where you get value as a parent community member. That's where I get the value. So, that we're going to continue to push on that. So. >> So. >> Last but not least. Um and then we'll be done. This is the last one, I promise. Um is really just to give you some sense that leader let DAC leadership continues to get feedback and want feedback from its members, from all of you, um from district leadership to ensure we're meeting kind of our state statute requirements, but also

069making it a valuable experience to increase recruitment and membership and just engagement, right? Parent engagement across the district. So, we couple of years ago created a feedback survey of our own, and so we you see some of that feedback trying to ask the question of what do we do well, what do we not do well, and so you see we had about a 40%, probably 38% feedback. Um most agree that we've gotten quality opportunities for folks to engage in Adams 12 and contribute to DAC work Um they are able to participate and observe all of the different areas. They have access and able to engage if they are able to and mostly believe that we're headed in the right direction. There are some great recommendations and feedback in there. Those are a few to continue

070to sustain the SAC outreach, this evolution of data that really Kevin introduced and has built the last couple of years. So a lot of kudos to him around this all the data that you see and you have seen and will continue to evolve over time. But particularly how sharing one of the big things is how DAC work is value added and that continues to come up. What do we accomplish and how do we contribute to all of you, the board and the district. SAC recruitment resources and recognition was a real suggestion and then more feedback from additional stakeholders outside of the ones we already ask for. So the last last, okay, it's the third last, maybe the second to last last is um big kudos really to Kevin, Ike for first semester, IED for second

071semester, really brought lots of value and great ideas and inquisitiveness and strengths to the DAC this year. I'm really making it more engaging in a variety of ways for our members and so it's exciting next year's team will be Kevin as the president. IED will continue as secretary and we have a newest member Matt Goff will be DAC's new vice president. He is out of town. I don't think he was able to make it in town. Last last, really the last one. I know I see Lori, is that really for anybody that's listening is really to encourage folks to get involved. This is an incredible way to have parents or community members at the school level and it particularly at the district level to kind of get as Bo says, behind the curtain in many

072ways around how the district does its work and how it does the work. So, I will really just say at the action is happening locally. So, I really would welcome people's curiosity and feedback cuz applications are still open. So, that's my commercial for the DAC at the end. Um and last really, thanks for the time and um what questions do you have? >> Questions anybody or comments? >> Yeah, I did want to comment. It's it's been a pleasure um being a member of the DAC, being secretary for half a year. Um and and now being the the board representative uh supporting. And and I really like uh working with Kevin and and Scott over there specifically uh driving uh data more and more with with Dave's support. Um I'm a data guy uh in in

073and we are really um really using it well to to improve uh outcomes from the for the community and for our kids and and looking forward to continuing more of that work next year. So, thank you. >> I just want to take a moment to thank President Raju for all of your work. Um you stepped in for an additional six eight months when you technically could have retired so to speak, but you stuck around and you've invested so much time, effort, and energy into into this work and you bring such professionalism. And um I'm always so amazed by the you come in with these really structured goals and targets and um it's it's just amazing that that you bring this level of technically you have two jobs and you're doing a great job at both

074of them, I suspect. So, um yeah, just from the bottom of my of my heart, thank you for your investment uh in our community. It means so much. And then I KNOW WE'RE YEAH. >> [applause] >> I KNOW WE'RE ALSO GOING TO BE IN GOOD HANDS with Kevin and ID, and I'm not sure I know who Matt is, but I'm going to have faith that you guys can wrangle him in if he needs to know. I'm kidding. Um and you have a great DAC team there. But for those of you who have not participated in DAC, I just have to echo um what people have said. It's a wonderful opportunity. I did it myself in 2017 and 18. You learn so much about how the schools function and how the district functions, and it's a

075great way to be a voice for um for other kids and parents and community members in Adams 12. So, consider it. You don't have to be a parent. You can be a community member and participate. >> So, I just want to say once upon a time I was the board representative on the DAC. And that was when we started having those conversations about what do we want the DAC to be? And I we wanted the SACs to be engaged, and now here we are with some real uh results. And so, I I appreciate that so much because you made it. And um Tara, you were there then, and you've been a part of the DAC I can't I don't know how long. And a long time. Longer than I was ever on the DAC. And

076I just want to say thank you so much for your leadership on this because it's a volunteer position, and you have taken it so seriously, and dedicated yourself so much. And I have hopes that um Kevin, I know Kevin I will do the same. Um Kevin, I'm going to hopefully have a chance to catch up with you at the football games again. And um thank you for what you do because there really isn't a lot of direction uh in statute for the DAC and so it is what you make it and I think you guys have done a beautiful job of making it a very value-added committee to our district. So I thank you. >> I have to jump on the celebration too. Um Tara Director Battistelli referenced this but a year ago at this

077time Tara was supposed to be coming off of DAC. She had as Lori points out more than served her time very well I might add as a DAC leader but we had a situation where at that time both our current vice president and secretary had sudden life changes and weren't going to be able to continue on DAC and we desperately needed some continuity on the team and Tara very graciously even though she'd been serving on DAC for a really long time stayed on and brought us through that continuity and now we're in a really good place with Kevin and Heidi and Matt taking over but she's been great to work with. I've just appreciated her leadership and it just meant a lot that you stayed for that additional year and Lori's right not only is

078the statute less clear the DAC really has less direct district support. It's very different from our FAC and our PAC that gets a lot of direct leadership on the district team. It is very community driven and relies heavily on the leadership to kind of set the stage and follow through on the deliverables. And Tara has been a great leader in that space so I thank you. We will miss you. Kevin and Heidi look forward to continuing good work with you next year. >> And this is really the last last comment. >> [laughter] >> I just had to put that one out there. Thank you again. >> And I just want to say thank you. I have to hang out with FAC folks which are just as fun but the finance I don't get to do

079DAC but thank you. I know how much work you guys do and I really appreciate it, so. Thank you. All right. On to the next topic under board business, proposed financial plan and budget for fiscal year 2026-2027. And I see Gina making her way to the podium. >> Good evening, board. So, this has been a an interesting budget year that you haven't heard from me and Chris about budget for the last 5 months every time you see us. So, I put the Aaron and I put the present to get presentation together just a little bit different than we have in prior years because we haven't talked about the budget as much. An important note throughout, when we're making some comparisons along the way with the budget, we're comparing it to your last official action, which

080was the amended budget in January. And so, that's a little bit different than sometimes how we talk about things comparing adopted to adopted nuance, but I wanted to share that. >> [clears throat] >> So, first next week, you guys in your board packet will have the resolutions to use a beginning of fund balance, the appropriation and budget adoption resolutions, you'll get the student fee schedule adoption, and then you'll do the easy and the IDEA assurances. As we've talked about before, Colorado law requires the board to adopt the budget by June 30th. And there are real and true and significant consequences of not adopting that budget. So, if we if you as a board do not adopt the budget by June 30th, we as a district are held to 90% of the last official adoption. So,

081cutting 10% off of all of our funds would be a big big lift and have some serious consequences. So, I'd like to share that because this is one of the official actions the board takes on the finance side that is is quite consequential. So, as you guys have grown familiar to, we will come back to you in January with an amended budget. And the reason for that is there's a lot that we don't know today. We've put this together based on the information we have, but some of the key factors are we don't know our October count. We'll know that after October count. We don't know exactly the impact of our mill levy certifications. Uh all but one of them really aren't driven by assessed valuation, but our latest one is and so that will

082determine how much revenue we get from the 2025 mill levy override. >> [clears throat] >> So, you all have while we haven't done a lot of conver had a lot of conversations about budget in these meetings this year, you have heard again as has been going on for a few years, declining enrollment is continuing to put pressure on both school and department budgets. And um conversely, increases with inflation, compensation, benefits, all the other things, those continue to grow. So, we have those two challenges where how we're funded is going down and our ongoing costs are receiving these pressures. Um a note, the 2025 mill levy override, just like the other mill levy overrides, will be tracked separately. We'll report on those in monitoring report 2.4. And in this presentation, we break out the plan for

083the 2025 mill mill levy override, um, separately. I think, um, the superintendent did an excellent job in making decisions to to keep one-time resources for one-time needs. So, that's a challenge every year. It's something that is hard to explain to the public. You have this fund balance. Why can't we just apply that? Well, because that's one-time money. And so, we don't want to make ongoing decisions with one-time money. If If you were paying for, you know, a vacation out of your savings account, that's great. But, if you're paying your mortgage out of your savings account, that can be a problem if you're not adding to it. So, [snorts] overall, the proposed budget balances, um, our required cost increases, our investments, and reductions needed to align spending with our resources. >> [clears throat] >> Here's a

084little over overview about the general fund. So, this is our primary operating fund fund and where we spend most of our time and, um, energy talking about the budget. It's the the largest component of it, outside of maybe the, um, bond, which isn't really a yearly your piece. So, the appropriation budget here is broken out. The general fund has several sub funds. We have the main general fund. We have the instructional resources fund. That's where curriculum and and whatnot is purchased out of. IT is part of the general fund, but they're broken out separately. And then, risk management. So, the, um, funded pupil count is in this budget is down 1,352 students as compared to the amended budget or 4.1% Of that, we lost an additional 413 students because of the change from 4-year averaging

085to 3-year averaging. Our base per pupil funding grew by 2.4%, which is inflation. That's how base is designed in statute to grow. And then our assumptions that we built into our budget is that our English learner English language learners, free and reduced lunch, multi-district online, and special ed counts are held constant from our amended budget. We didn't make any changes there. Um I mentioned already that our 3-year averaging um caused the decline in our pupil count. We also are budgeting to receive 30% of the new School Finance Act. Um really important, you may have heard about this. I don't think we we talked too much about it in a in a study session or board meeting, but there was a period of a of week or so where we learned our cost of living factor

086was going down. And so that cost of living change, we were held harmless for this year. Had we not been held harmless this year, that was an immediate loss of funding of $1.1 million. So that will be built into our future year budget assumptions. There There is some work that I know Case and others will be doing to see about making some changes to how that cost of living analysis is applied to the School Finance Act. Um my recollection is for 43 districts were negatively impacted by this change. And what was really interesting is we all experienced increases of our in our cost of living, but because our increase was less than others increase, it's causing ours to decrease. So kind of not super intuitive, especially as we look at inflation holding to that 2.4

087and and upwards number. >> [clears throat] >> Excuse me. So, overall, the general fund revenue assumptions as compared to our amended budget, we believe we will be down 2.5 million dollars. And so, our school finance act um basically is is flat um 0.1 million down. Our mill levy overrides um we believe will be, you know, offset that about 0.1 million up. And then our abatements, that those are the property taxes that we're able to collect in the current year based on property taxes we couldn't collect in the prior year due to um homeowners challenging their valuation and whatnot. So, they were significantly higher this year in this tax year collection than we think they will be next year, which why we're seeing that decline. Um and so, those are the the big ones. State categoricals

088and grants uh categoricals grow by inflation. We're looking at that growing to the tune of about 1.1 million. Want to make sure I don't miss any notes. You [clears throat] have seen this slide before. Um this is updated with our 2025 mill levy override included in it, but you can see that gap between the actual amount for our mill levy override revenue and then the projected gap that we'll see because of most of our mills not keeping up with inflation. Our general fund expenditures are um we're budgeting for them to increase about 2.5 million dollars. And so, a lot of this you are already familiar with um school-based reductions really, truly based on the declining enrollment. Um 6.5 here in the ESC, the centralized office, 1.9 million was reduced. Our charter school um funding that

089they'll roughly be um flat for as compared to the amended budget. Um salary increases pending board approval, 6.9 million. This does not include the compensation that we'll talk about in the slide around the 2025 mill levy override. Um I think you've received an update already that our health premiums are forecasted to grow by 2 12.8% which is just about 2 million dollars. And then we have some other utility and inflationary increases. Um and so these are our ongoing budget changes. In our one-time budget, we are seeing a net increase of about 4 million dollars. A lot of that is around um some one-time costs around transportation and those bidirectional amplifiers offset by some one-time reductions here at this building, specifically a transfer that is made to the um instructional material fund. And so um like

090I said, 4 million for one-time expenditures, that's good. That's that's um sustainable, right? For the mill levy override tracking, um we are budgeting approximately 38.6 million dollars in revenue for next year. That amount is based on what we believe net assessed valuations are going to come in at which um I I didn't write down the number. I think we are estimating the net assessed valuation to go down 2% um and so instead of collecting the full amount that we could collect, we think it's going to go down a little bit. Hopefully we're wrong. Um but and we will update that in the amended budget in January. So, the bulk of that is on world-class staff, $26.3 million. Um Um programming for student support uh student support transition, CTE, dual enrollment, some other areas, um safety

091and mental health, 1.5 million, and um just under 4 million will go to our district-authorized charter schools. Um we do have a reserve of $3.4 million, and a lot of that is for the um the um elementary specials, which have been we'll hopefully get that going next school year with the bell time schedule that I I know you've heard about. That's been a a big challenge and a little bit more of a lift lift than the district thought going into it. Okay, reserve. So, as you all are well-aware, um we are required to hold reserves of 3% for TABOR. Um we also have multi-year obligations related to some um salary uh long um longevity uh payments, and then we have the board reserve. And so, board policy allows our unassigned fund balance to be between

0924% and and 8%. >> [clears throat] >> And so, we are in our proposed budget reporting compliance. At the amended budget, our unassigned fund balance was at 5%. Tw- For fiscal year 2027, we have estimated that to be about 4.8%. Um now I'm going to go through really fast the rest of the funds. I'm not going to spend a ton of time on it. Our um debt service fund is where we collect the property taxes to pay our our a debt. And so, we believe in the forecast that there's no need or reason to increase the mill levy rate at 18.665, so that'll come to you in December. Um, the interest earnings in our debt service fund are used only for the debt purposes, and the um, most recent debt issuance occurred in January of

0932025. We're estimating that we will go out for the next issuance in April of 2027. So, you'll probably start hearing us talk more about that need in the winter as we start planning for that. That will not have any impact on the 18.665. Um, the appropriation for the debt service fund is 194 million. Then we have our capital project funds, so we have two separate funds that are for capital projects. We have our building fund, which is where the bond projects are are budgeted and paid out of, and then we have our capital reserve fund that's a general fund transfer funds that as well as some revenues from tenant lease payments. We get some cash in lieu oil and gas royalties, um, and and uh, a few other small small items, some interest earnings. And

094so all of that is used for the district's capital needs that are not covered in the bond. Those appropriations, you can see right, um, building fund 123.5 million, that's the we spend that first issuance of the bond, and then capital reserve at 39.6 million. Our We have um, we're adding one Oh, I don't see it on here. Um, we have two four five special revenue funds, so grants, nutrition services, base, pupil activity, and athletics. We are adding um, another special revenue fund for Medicaid that is currently tracked in our grant fund, and we're pulling that out of the grant fund and tracking it separately, primarily because it's it's kind of a grant, but it is treated a little bit differently. And so, in order to have it a little bit more transparent around what the

095fund balance is with that and available resources, we're going to pull that out and and track it separately. And it's been a great partnership with the the team that oversees that. And so, these appropriations um are listed [clears throat] there. And so, one of the pieces I'll I'll note is on the grant fund, we that that is the most estimated because we don't know what grants the district will receive. So, we base it on prior years, base it on what we're hearing from the federal government and some other items with the state, but that is um absolutely it uh the most estimated of all the estimates we have in our proposed budget. >> You you mentioned there the PARA on behalf >> Oh, and in that in the grant fund, um the state has um

096allocates an amount of money to PARA on district's behalf. And so, while we never see that cash and we don't pay that bill, we're required to record that within our financial statements, and that is captured within the the grant component. And so, that amount fluctuates um and is determined at the the legislative level. Thank you. So, that was I know that was really fast, a lot of information. Um this goes hand in hand with later on you all will you have an agenda item tonight for our monitoring report 2.3. So, keeping that in mind, what questions do you have on the proposed budget? >> I don't know if it's a question so much as possibly a concern what with what we've been following with the Department of Education and the relocation of grants and possibly

097redefinitions of how districts might access those grants. Is there a concern is there a concern that we might be ambitious in utilizing previous years to calculate future grants offered or does that make sense? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Yes. And the good news is for the grants that we have certainty on that are not going to be continued or even maybe not certainty but high probability as a as a cabinet team back in the general fund you'll see that there were some one-time spending decisions to continue funding those grants that we know are going away. And so that is a great use of reserves so that it gives the the district a runway to make priority decisions because that's when we get into the game of would you rather and that that's where fund

098balance can be really huge. Um additionally for the grants that we're anticipating that we don't know we're going to get there aren't hiring decisions tied to those because they're on the like we hope we'll get this but we we don't necessarily know we will. >> That's a great question. Um I I kind of lost the thread on I know we're we're at three-year averaging now. Is that going to shrink like I know it was a moving target so we're also looking at our state rep. >> So I So I can tell you more about that. So a last-minute bill that went through an amendment was to get rid of the language that we would go to two-year averaging next year and instead we'll go to a smoothing factor and I'm hopefully I'm going to tell

099you this exactly right when I I might have it all One of the percentages I might have off. So, next year, we will not have averaging anymore. We will go to a smoothing factor, and in that smoothing factor, we'll get the better of October count or 50% of October count, 30% of the prior year student count, and 20% of the 2 year before student count. If If that's not So, or there's one more. Or I think it's 75%. We get 75% of the prior year number. So, we get the best of one of those three. Are you glad you asked that question? >> Yes. >> Well, I have follow-up questions, but I don't think it's necessarily for you. Like, how do we decide that these are the three best? But, that's a state level sort

100of >> There was actually a committee that case and others put together um at the direction of of um legislation from last year that put forward the proposal for this smoothing factor. And um that is what was agreed upon as the best alternative to averaging. >> They're called fiscal notes. >> [laughter] >> I I have to say you know, in years past it's been very tense during school finance act time being here. This year being in the fishbowl I kept wondering why I really wasn't so panicky. Um because I think part of it was, you know, the state budget had to trim $1.4 billion, but the commitment was to protect public ed, and it kind of looks like we really did protect public ed at the expense of other things, but I'm I'm grateful that

101um we're coming out okay. I kept checking with Regina, is this going to work for us? Is this going to work for us? Is this okay? Because at the end of the day, I got to vote on it. So, thank you though. And um all the other years, you know, all the information you've given to us has been really helpful in understanding a very complicated process. So, thank you. >> You're welcome. Um I heard on the case call last Friday that the state is projecting they're going to have to cut another billion next year. So, while we were Well, we were protected in this budget cycle, next year's going to be tough. >> Yeah, and if certain initiatives pass, it'll be even worse. Thank you. All right. Um to public comment for proposed financial plan

102and budget for fiscal year 2026-2027. >> No one has signed up to address the board regarding the proposed fiscal year 2026-2027 budget financial plan. >> Okay. They had the opportunity. Okay, on to classified negotiations update. Um I see Mr. Griffin and Mr. Williams scrambling over there. >> Good evening to the board. Um President Goldstein, um Deputy Superintendent Fobert. Um my name is Tim Griffin, and I serve in the role of Chief Human Resources Officer, and I'm here in good company. So, >> Hi, good evening. I'm Paul Williams. I'm the president of our classified association. >> So, tonight we're here to just really share in the update that summarizes um the recently concluded negotiation season for um our classified educators here in Adams 12. I inherited a wonderful relationship and it was a it was a

103just it was a great season in negotiation and as in years past, it was very collaborative and just mutually respectful process um between the district and the classified association and we were very happy to be able to lean in to great investment to our classified educators. So, today we're here to kind of really highlight a few things that we did this year mostly centered around the celebration and an investment in 5B and really collaboratively thinking about a schedule that honors our classified educators and in a sustainable manner. And so, there was a lot of thoughtful conversation meaningful conversation that was able to really lift us to a common agreement and that's what we're most proud of this year. So, Paul let you highlight anything you would like to talk about. >> Okay, thanks Tim. Just

104like Tim, I'd like to thank Tim and his team and and the district just for being collaborative with us and and engaging in the negotiation process. We had another successful year and and we appreciate that and our vote came back at we only had two no's this year so that's great. Anytime we only get two no's that's fantastic. So, it was a success in in that so just really appreciate you know the district and and everything that you do for classified employees and um I guess you guys have most of the stuff in your packet and you've had a chance to look at that. I think I'd probably just open it up for questions for you to for any kind of clarifications or any thing you would like more information on we can do that

105but for the interest of time I'll just kind of leave it up to you. >> Anybody have any questions or comments? >> Just want to say thank you. Um know how hard the work is and I appreciate being a part of a district where things run very smoothly when it comes to negotiations. >> And I'm glad to see Sorry. I'm glad to see you know that we're take utilizing some of the mill levy override money towards our um classified educators as Mr. Griffin said and that's how I like to think of our classified staff as not just staff. They help They're instrumental in the quality of education that kids receive in addition to teachers. >> All right. Thank you, Paul. Don't go anywhere, Tim. Because now you're going to be joined by Steve Lash, president

106of the District 12 Educators Association for a summary of the certified negotiations. >> Hi, good evening. Deputy Superintendent Fobert, President Goldstein, and all of our distinguished board members. I'm really excited to be here to present a successful negotiation season on behalf of the District 12 Educators Association and our certified educators. This was a especially interesting year to serve in my first year as president. There was a lot of learning to do along the way, but we certainly wanted to express our just huge appreciation to our community for their vote of faith in Adams 12 in our district. As you all saw in the budget presentation, sizable amount of work and and amount of commitment going into our salary schedules, getting us much back on parity with with a lot of our neighboring and competing districts

107in those regards. So, we're really excited for that. A big part of what happened through our process in the certified space was around a total restructure of our salary schedule that takes a a a a large contribution to to be able to pull something like that off. Um our salary schedule was the existing one that I've been on since the '90s, and this was our first major restructure that we've done. Uh we even out our steps so that the steps are equitable. Uh we had a huge variance across time, uh many different ways that that salary schedule was pushed, pulled, dragged um along the way and changed in many ways. So, we're really excited about those outcomes. We also made some some meaningful change back in uh temporary leave just in how uh days are

108allotted to staff. No change in number, just the way that staff can access them. And so, we're excited about that. And then we also, as a culmination of our um Title 1 um pilot work that we've been doing over the last few years, uh came up with a compensation structure that I think is really great and is going to really help with retention and uh recruitment in our uh title schools. So, a couple of very um important changes that we made. I want to take a moment to say a heartfelt thank you to the board members, to uh Amira who's not here tonight, and to Paula Battistelli for uh her first year on the board, who took the place of Lori Goldstein. And I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to Lori

109for more than a decade of our um of of helping and negotiating in our space. Um you brought so much energy over over years. And if everybody knows, our bargaining in the certified space takes Well, this year I counted, it was 49 hours. And the reason it was 49 is because we didn't hold people an extra hour. Let's say we would be spent 50. So, so we're really excited for the amount of time that it takes and the the great work that our entire committee puts into that. And uh really pleased with our results. Uh we reached a 95.5% approval, which was uh a marked improvement over the past couple of years. So, um a real vote of confidence from our certified educators, too, on all the work that was done. Thank you very much.

110>> I just passed the mic to Steve to introduce himself and he's all done. >> [laughter] >> Um, um, I I again I I want to just stamp in on appreciation and collaboration with Steve and DTEA. Also, um, Paula, Lori, and Amira, um, for the for the intro base, um, strategies process. Um, again, there's nothing magic about that process. It's really dedicated people that come to the table ready to talk about tough issues and be able to come out with the best outcomes for our educators and for the students that they serve. And so, I'm very proud to be a part of that process and coming into this in this first year with Steve, it was definitely a honor, um, to be a part of that. And I thank you all for your service and

111participation within that process. So, um, outside of that, I think we'll open it up for questions as, uh, Steve already did a pretty complete overview of what we were going to highlight today. >> Uh, Steve, you mentioned, uh, the approval rating, uh, has increased to 95%. What what what was it before? I'm just curious. >> Um, it was it was in the 70s last year. So, we had a little bit of a tough bargaining year last year, um, in general and there was a lot obviously, uh, through all through a lot of, uh, the budgetary issues and things like that. I think there were a lot of issues that were that were pressing in on that last year, um, but this was a marked improvement, for sure. >> And I I always want to wait

112till I hear what real says what they want to say before I jump in. I just want to say, you know, in the different circles that I run in, uh, whether it's board or association, we are definitely the crown jewel of, uh, bargaining. And, you know, we all read the paper this year on some of the things that happened around the metro area, and I hear things all the time about other places, but I I really am so proud of this district, and so much of what this district is is based on when we went to IBS in what, 2013, 12, 13, somewhere back there. And even to this day, the person who was the board president at the time, Mark Clark, and I are very good friends. And he and I still brag about

113how we got there, and we still get to present at times together about our journey, and we'll be doing it again this summer for our our local rotary at the request of the firefighters of Westminster because they too are going down this road because we just tell everybody how awesome it is and how it works. So, thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> All right, on to Initiative 195 and Proposition NN. You have in your packets two things. One is a fact sheet on Initiative 195, which Christy Hargrove spoke to during public comment, and it breaks it talks about if what Well, first of all, Initiative 195 is a citizen-generated initiative where signatures have to be collected, and the way it works is I believe does Is it a Is it going to be

114an amendment, or is it probably It's a proposition. So, it only has to pass at 50%, and it needs a certain number of um signatures to get on the ballot. And it's very simple. What we'll do is cause a form a graduated income tax where the majority of the folks in the state will see a decrease in their income taxes and a small percentage of people who make over 500,000 a year, which a lot of [snorts] us don't, will pay more in their in their income tax and it will also generate more money dedicated toward public school. And you know, we all know that we have a 3.45 to 4 billion dollar deficit in the state for adequacy adequately funding public education. So this is this is citizens initiative and Great Ed Colorado is the

115one of the organizations behind this and are um proposing this initiative. The other one is proposition NN, which was a referred measure by the legislature, Senate Bill 135, and that would um only happen in years where there's a TABOR surplus and it's a very complicated format, but it would also generate funds for public education. Um this one like I said was um a Senate bill and it had to be passed by the Senate and the House and it doesn't have to be signed by the governor, but it will be on the ballot. It's called Prop NN. And so what we've done in the past um when there have been initiatives on the ballot for public education funding is that we have discussed um supporting them or or not as a school board and then it

116it basically it's an endorsement of these. And the in your packet, we found a I thanks to Lisa Weil with Great Ed, we found a resolution that melded the two together. Um and can think of it as a one-two punch here. Um and um for you to look at and to think what about what you want to do with it. So, do we have any comments or questions about this resolution? Well, no, it's for us to have comments and >> [laughter] >> Okay. >> No, I think it um I know it seems like uh the graduated income tax is out of nowhere, but I know it's been really thoughtfully studied um by the Bell Policy um the Colorado Fiscal Institute, um Great Education Colorado. So, um I would encourage folks to um also look at

117that. And then there was a lot of thoughtful um discussion um cuz this will be the third year, I think, Gina or Lori, uh that we will be in a billion-dollar um so, next year will be the third year we're in a billion dollar that we have to cut um from the budget. So, um I know it I just want to plug that this has been very thoughtfully thought out by um a lot of folks. So, thanks. >> And all I mean, what I will say is that well, we need some sort of solution. Or what we keep coming back to is a cycle of mill levy overrides and bonds and mill levy overrides and bonds because the educational [clears throat] funding at the state level is inadequate to provide for the needs of our

118district or any district in Colorado, to be frank. Um 3.4 billion from two different out external organizations looking at how our uh school is funded. 3.4 billion from one, 4.1 billion from or maybe 4.5 billion from the second. They clearly demonstrate that we have a problem with our school funding situation in Colorado, and I don't think people fully appreciate how tenuous the situation is. Um so, I'm happy to see people coming up with solutions at this point. Um I think perhaps these will protect public education. I don't know how well they will go towards solving the larger statewide issue of we need to find some way to cover a billion dollars this year. We need to find a way to cover a billion dollars next year. Um we're uh we need to dig ourselves out

119of that hole somehow. So, that's all I have to say. >> So, I'm going to check with Kathy here. Typically, what we do is we introduce things one meeting and we vote on them the other. And this has been put on the agenda as a a discussion. Uh >> It's on next week's agenda. Okay, you'll have to change the data on it then, too, on the draft. So, at this point, what you need to do is decide if there are anything you want to do to tweak it um and let um Stephanie know by what, Monday? Yeah. And then we will um discuss supporting it next week. Okay? Okay. All right. On to operating limitations 2.11, closure consolidation repurposing of schools. Um we are going to um consider the revised closure consolidation repurposing of schools

120policy. If members are prepared to move forward, we may take action on it. So, I have it in here as um recommended action. Um it will some I I recommend I will entertain a motion to adopt the operating limitations 2.11 closure consolidation repurposing of schools policy as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Are there any comments about the proposal that was um that you had a chance to look over from last time and make any changes. We [snorts] all know that this is going to be a very emotional topic and there's going to be a lot of um it's going to be hard decisions. Um but I think that honoring that um the expertise of the people employed by this district to make the recommendations to us is a good way to approach

121this and uh we'll support them. Well, first we have to vote on it. >> I guess they're ready to vote. >> [laughter] >> But it [clears throat] looked like he was going to say something. >> Director Anya Welemba. >> I. >> Director Battistelli. >> I. >> Director Goldstein. >> I. >> Director Marshall-Petersen. >> I. >> Okay. It is passed. Thank Okay, on to CASB resolutions. Um I put this on the agenda because um because of the way CASB is set up and we propose resolutions. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't, but people do and um I think most of you have seen part of the business parts of CASB to see where it's debated and and these are actually um important because it gives CASB the direction, gives their lobbyist Matt Cook the direction to

122come down to the capital and lobby. Um and if we don't have a resolution on a proposed piece of legislation, it CASB can't lobby for it because it has to be approved by the CASB body. Um so if you can think of anything, if one of you at a time wants to talk to me, maybe we can come up with something based on some of the experiences that I had down at the capital this year of what we need to advocate for, we can go ahead and do that. Okay? Um we have until um July 24th, so it might involve giving up some of our summer vacation to talk about this, but um we can we can we can do this. So, keep that in mind. Next on the agenda is the CASB alternate. Um

123Amira has been the CASB representative at the CASB business meeting. Um she is more than happy to continue doing that, but is there somebody who wants to be an alternate? Okay, we're going to Well, do we do we have to vote on her? Is there anybody else that wants to do it? Okay, uh or we can vote by acclamation. But um Alexis will be on it. Um we can all attend the fall conference, and it's actually a good conference to attend. This year, I think they're having it in Breckenridge. Um and it's in September, and it's a you know, it's always good to learn what's going on in other school districts, too. Okay. On to the proclamation of LGBTQ+ Pride Month. I will entertain a motion to adopt the proclamation declaring June 2026 Pride Month

124in Adams 12 Five Star Schools as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. Is there discussion? Okay, we do this with pride every year. Um we will vote to see if we want to do it again this year. >> Director Anyanwu Iloka. >> Aye. >> Director Battistelli. >> Aye. >> Director Goldstein. >> Aye. >> Director Marshall-Holston. >> Aye. >> Okay, uh minutes. I will I will entertain a motion to adopt the minutes of the May 6th, 2026 work study session and regular board meeting as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. Okay. Go ahead. >> Director Anyanwu Iloka. >> Aye. >> Director Battistelli. >> Aye. >> Director Goldstein. >> Aye. >> Director Marshall-Holston. >> Aye. >> Uh D, monitoring reports. First one is internal monitoring report 2.3 financial planning and budgeting. That's you, Gina. Gave you a

125break there for a minute. >> There's a motion to do for >> Oh, uh oh. Yeah. Here we go. I will entertain a motion to acknowledge that the board received a monetary report as of May 27th, 2026 for fiscal years 2026, 2027, 2027, 2028, 2028 and 2029 and finds the superintendent's interpretations are reasonable and supported by data that is relevant, justified, and complete. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. So, um I did not put together a presentation specifically for this because the prior presentation you saw just a little while ago covers the um proposed budget and um supports the monitoring report. So, in all of the areas, we do report compliance with the board's requirements for building our budget. Do you have any questions about the monitoring report? >> Once again, thank you.

126Um I think because you are so transparent in the work you do that it makes it easy for us. >> Actually, I had one question back from the presentation when and I don't need to hear it again, but the flat >> thing or the softening, whatever we're calling it. >> Smoothing. Great. Great term. Um is it whatever is the most amount? Okay. I mean, >> Yes. And a quick correction, um I knew I was going to get a percentage wrong, so the best of the last piece where I said 75% it's actually 97% of the prior year. So, a little bit better. >> Okay, call the vote. >> Director Anyaonyeabo. >> Aye. >> Director Battistelli. >> Aye. >> Director >> Goldstein? >> Aye. >> Director Marsh-Holson? >> Aye. >> Thank you. [snorts] Okay, on to

127the internal monitoring report 2.8 management planning. I will entertain a motion to acknowledge that the board received a monitoring report as of May 27th, 2026 for the period July 1st, 2025 through May 27th, 2026 finds the superintendent's interpretations are reasonable and supported by data that is relevant, justified, and complete. >> So moved. >> Second. >> So this monitoring report is our management succession planning and it feels appropriate that I am here to attest that our superintendent has uh deputized myself and our chief academic officer Meagan Cain has his successors and has duly prepared us to act accordingly. >> And you have acted very well accordingly. Director [snorts] Anya Mwebo? >> Aye. >> Director Battistelli? >> Aye. >> Director Goldstein? >> Aye. >> Director Marsh-Holson? >> Aye. >> Okay, we're almost done. Um consent agenda. I

128will entertain a motion to approve the personnel actions as listed as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Director Anya Mwebo? >> Aye. >> Director Battistelli? >> Aye. >> Director Goldstein? >> Aye. >> Director Marsh-Holson? >> Aye. >> Okay, uh next meeting is next Wednesday and it is our last meeting of the school year where we do everything we have to do to comply legally and that looks like we're going to be able to do it.