001All right, I will call this meeting to session at 601. We'll start with a roll call. Jenny >> here. >> Glenn >> here. >> Merl >> here. >> Kelsey >> here. Blake >> here. >> Robert not here. All right. If you'll join me in the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, before I turn it over, I will just give a friendly reminder that we do not have public comment tonight, but thank you so much for attending. >> All right. Well, we're really excited to have this uh budget 101 present uh presentation from our new business manager, Kim Dow. And uh take it away, Kim.
002>> Wonderful. Yes. Thank you all uh for joining us tonight. I really want to uh thank our budget committee members who've joined us here tonight uh at our board work session. And so before we get started, um it's important to highlight the importance of our compliance with local budget law. So because tonight is a board work session and not a formally noticed budget committee meeting, participation is limited to our board members. Uh, however, uh, as I've shared, I'm more than happy to meet with, uh, budget committee members one-on-one and help help set us up for, uh, success in our upcoming, uh, budget committee meetings in May. So, so tonight's budget 101. Our goal for tonight is to we're going to highlight just a couple details of the budget committee's roles and responsibilities. We're going to
003talk about the 202627 budget process and timeline, some key priorities and focus and then some essential considerations in forecasting as we go through this important work. Our budget committee is made up of 14 volunteer members. We have our seven board commi uh board members as well as seven budget committee members who thank you very much volunteer for a three-year term and uh play an absolutely critical role in in uh ensuring our budget meets meets the goals that the board has set forward for us that the district has and that our stakeholders are well informed of what's going on. So the budget committee's charge is essentially to align the resources meaning the money that we have with our priorities and then help ensure transparency to our stakeholders. So the budget committee is going to receive a
004proposed budget that will have been worked on for months. We have been working on a lot of forecasting, a lot of projections and then a lot of historical looking at trend data trying to figure out you know are there areas that we can um maybe you know find ways to operate more efficiently and where do we need to invest. At that first budget committee meeting will be a need to elect a budget committee chair and uh that is something that the uh the committee will do just right as we get started and then you will be examining the proposed budget. Again this is the budget that's proposed by administrators, superintendent of course your department leaders. You're going to hear public comment. It is critical that we provide opportunities for our stakeholders to provide feedback on
005that proposed budget. If necessary, there could be revisions requested to that proposed budget. We're going to talk a little bit more about when revisions would be appropriate and what we can and maybe may not have the authority as a budget committee to do. And then the budget committee's main purpose is to approve a proposed budget. So there's three stages to the budget. We're going to propose a budget to the budget committee, 14 member committee. The 14 member committee is going to approve a proposed budget with or without revisions and then the school board will receive that approved budget and consider it for adoption. So the budget committee is responsible for a very careful review of the proposed budget. Now those of you that have done this before realize it is a riveting multiundpage document. Um
006but our goal as a district is to break that down and highlight key changes and how that is going to uh best serve our students and our stakeholders. But we ask our budget committee to ask questions and really understand the assumptions that go into building that budget. How are we coming up with projections for property tax collections? How are you coming up with uh what you think you might spend on X versus Y? So, those are the questions that we want to engage our entire budget committee with. We really need to discuss financial priorities and sustainability for the district. So, what's key today? What's key tomorrow? and how do we make sure that those investments that we're making today are going to be able to be sustained long term. And then of course the budget
007committee is approving that budget, but also approving the tax rate that each of us uh receive on our property tax bills uh to take uh uh into consideration our uh debts and things that need to be paid. It's important to point out the budget committee is not responsible for making individual personnel decisions and cannot make compensation decisions. Those are defined in other agreements with our staff and the budget committee is not responsible for managing the actual operations of the district or the programs itself. in the slides um which are linked on the board memo, there is a link to um the Oregon Department of Revenues local budget law document and it actually does outline um some of those keys. Also on the memo is a link to the OSBA, Oregon School Board Association uh budget
008committee handbook which has a lot of great resources as well. Our timeline uh is linked in the memo and and presentation as well. But our first official budget committee meeting is scheduled for May 14th and after a lot of discussion with our board earlier in the year on this timeline. Uh the second one is very quickly uh after that on May 18th and then a budget hearing which is the official board uh meeting at which the the approved budget is presented for adoption on June 8th. So, I really just want to point out these timelines are very very carefully curated. Uh, state law still requires certain budget notices to be published in a local printed newspaper. As newspaper prints and publication dates are becoming more and more difficult, we have to essentially start our timeline
009by calling the newspaper office and finding out when their deadlines are because there are specific numbers even that must be presented in each of those. So, this timeline is really pretty set in stone because we must make sure that we have supplemental, excuse me, uh uh sufficient time to get notices to the newspaper, get those published, and then should the June 8th budget hearing, which is the school board meeting, should there need be a need for a follow-up meeting to actually adopt that uh budget, we have to make sure that that can happen before the June 30th state deadline. And then most critical, that tax levy that is being approved must be to the county assessor's office by July 15th or as some districts have had, they do not receive property tax collections uh in
010time and that definitely is a budget concern. So the priorities for our 2026 27 budget, our priorities, we want to be student centered. Students are why we're here. That's what we do every day. We want to increase uh access for our students. We need to attract, we need to retain our students. And we want a budget that can allow us to find measurable impacts to find out what is what is the outcome of th of those investments. Additionally, fund balance is a very important piece. This has to do with how much money is set aside in reserves for planning for future long-term stability. Again, we're going to be talking about why that's so critical and increased transparency. I'll talk a little bit about that. So, listing these is is one piece, but I really want
011to talk about why. Why are these the priorities that we're talking to you about tonight? So student centered really every budget decision should support our students learning growth safety and opportunity. Increasing access students learn best when those obstacles are removed. If they can't be present and engaged their their opportunities to learn are limited. Attracting and retain stable enrollment strengthens our programs, strengthens our funding and it increases opportunities. Measurable impacts. Gonna just say it. Comfort in how we've always done it should never replace an understanding of what works best today. >> Our fund balance financial reserves protect our classrooms and our programs during unexpected challenges. Long-term stability. Students benefit from consistent programs, staffing, and supports year after year. And then increased transparency. Clear transparent budgeting is going to help build trust and it ensures the resources
012reach the students where you as our budget committee intends. Every line in this budget that we will be bringing to you represents a choice about how we're going to support students. So when it comes to resource allocations, again, resources have to do with what do we have as far as money. When you see the budget and it talks about resource requirements, that's talking about how much money we need. Put this together to show you where does the money come from. State school fund far and away the biggest piece of income for a school district. Property taxes are a significant piece of income and grants are another large piece of our revenues. The other might be private donations. It might be um some uh fundraising efforts. Uh it's uh common school fun. There's a couple just
013smaller pieces that don't technically qualify in any of these other pieces, but this just shows you the importance of three major categories and where our funding comes from. But then where does it go? Goes to wages and it goes to benefits. Those are our big pieces. Transportation. If we can't get the kids here, then we have no one to serve. From there, we go into the purple slice contracted staff. Essentially, that's wages and benefits for people that we don't employ, but we partner with. WAMID ESD. We might have a nurse. We might have a behavior specialist. Expanded education. That's what we're going to partner with. WAMIT Career Academy or GED program with another another district. Again, paying for staff to provide education to our students. Substitutes. That's staff. So, we've got a little slice of
014the pie there for some reserves. We've got a little bit of supplies and materials. We've got repairs and maintenance, insurance and legal. We can't operate without insurance and uh certain legal costs, but I wanted to show this to show the budget really is focused on humans and we are in the people business. That is where the budget goes. And so this is just giving you a general idea of where those expenses are. Trends and forecasts. This is going to be absolutely critical for us to consider. This is an enrollment chart of North Marian School District from 201516 school year down to the green line of this year >> and what we're projecting for the next two years in orange. Unfortunately, it's a pretty static trend line and it's it's going going down. The next slide
015I wanted to show where we've been in our studentto staff ratio. How many students if we were to divide them equally amongst all staff, how many students are assigned to each staff member. Again, the green line is this year we did have a an increase in our studentto staff ratio. This this year, as you know, we went through a very painful reduction in force last year. I still want to point out it is important to understand that we have had different ratios in the past and we will continue to be looking at what we can do to continue to maintain the smallest class sizes we can to maintain the supports we can. But this is a key indicator of with our finances going to people. This is a key indicator of that. I want to
016show you this trend line. The blue line is our enrollment and the orange line is our staff to student ratio. So if we assume a ground zero if you will or zero point in the 2015 16 year and I'm just picking that year. I'm not saying it was perfect at that year. I just picked a starting point. If our students and staff ratio was equal there, the gap is continuing to widen and there is no doubt that student needs are changing. There is absolutely no doubt but the funding model has not changed. So this is something we look at to figure out if our enrollment has cumulatively dropped over 30%. But our studentto staff ratio is is still at just a 10% reduction. that does help provide some context for some of the financial strains.
017Not again, not saying that where we are is where we should be or where we were was where we should be, just defining some of the strains in in public education. And this is not specific to North Marian. Looking ahead, we need to plan for unknowns, but more importantly, plan for financial stability. This slide shows the enrollment by grade by school year back to 201718. It got a little too small if I put two more years on there. So, I apologize a little different lenses there, but you know, we really use this information to show that as with most public school districts, we are seeing declining enrollments. Birth rates are continuing to decline locally, nationally. And the state school fund is essentially a big pie. It's sliced up between all 196 school districts based on
018student enrollment. So an overall decline in state enrollment could simply mean less slices and bigger pieces of the same pie in theory. So that would be true if district enrollment was declining at similar rates. Unfortunately, this is North Marian's slice of the state pie. We were at approximately 0.336 or 0.337%. So this that is yes a fraction of 1% of the state school fund. However, we are now down to just barely over 0.30%. So our what's happening is the decline here in North Barian is outpacing that of other districts. So our slice is indeed shrinking which creates actually greater financial strain as student needs increase for us just the same as they are for everyone else. Many of our grants are also tied to this same calculation. So it disproportionately is impacting North Marian in
019our slice of those funding streams as well. But you know despite challenges North Marian is extremely strong. I am absolutely impressed. Our staff are our number one resource. They have been pillars of strength after a really significant reduction to our prior staffing levels. But ongoing adjustments to changes in enrollment and our student needs will be critical. But we can be methodical and we can be collaborative and we'll continue to strengthen our financial stability both today and moving forward. This is showing that we are projecting an increase in our ending fund balance for the end of the current school year over last year. And these will need to be uh considerations that we continue to think about what does that ending fund balance meaning our savings, our carryover for the next year, what does that need
020to be and does it need to remain intact? Does it need to be used to help fund the next year? Those are the pieces that we continue to look at. So with that, I just want to be very clear that I believe North Barian's in in um a comfortable position, but we are we are declining in enrollment. We must continue to adjust to the funding that we have available and um take those priorities into account. What is really measurable? What can we find that is yes that is absolutely moving the dial for kids or you know maybe we've always done that does it have the impact that we really want it to so those are we have wonderful administrators who know our programs and we'll be you know able to help identify those things but
021I just uh despite some difficulties I think if we invest in those priorities we can bring kids back we can keep kids here and we can we can slow the trend. Uh, one of the things I wanted to point out a couple slides back on our enrollment by grade by school year is that um, for this school year, you know, at at the time this snapshot was made, 152 seniors and only 90 kindergarters, that alone is going to just naturally continue this trend line that you see our kindergarten grades are are just they're they're coming in smaller. So, the math is not going to change, but we uh we can continue to to adapt and and make sure that we are the school district that our students and our families choose to come to and
022make sure that that we're here for the long term. So, I appreciate everybody's time with that tonight. I hope it provides a foundation for what we're going to be bringing to you. um didn't get into a lot of technical weeds tonight, but wanted to set a foundation for for the approach on how we're how we're going to go with that. So, >> board members have questions. >> Well, not really. Not right now. >> Are there limits on the property tax? >> So, property taxes are quite interesting. So um there was uh measure five was passed a number of years ago which has created what they call compression on property tax increases. So um while values may go up uh more market values as they would call it assessed values are limited by measure five. So
023there becomes a compression ratio in which the values of the properties do not necessarily reflect the assessed value. For those of us that get the bill, we love seeing our market value one place and our assessed value somewhere else. for those who rely on those funds to operate. Measure 5 did create a significant impact for school districts and essentially reduced the pace at which property taxes could keep up with the costs of of school district operations. So, there is some really interesting um you know, accounting nerdy stuff that talks about the compression loss is what they call it. Um I don't have that available to me right now, but um our our property tax increase is typically going to be in the two and a half to three and a half percent um uh movement
024despite what the market might do. Um so and of course property tax revenue for a school district is directly tied to the checks that are written. So in an economic downturn, school districts actually receive less revenue when people cannot afford to pay their property taxes. So it's it's a very unique uh flux, but generally we uh receive approximately 95 and a half% of what is assessed in a any given year. Uh some of it some people choose to take the discount and pay the big bill in November. Some choose the one-third payments. But we receive the money as it is actually paid to the county. >> I was going to ask that on the 3%. How does that affect the school? Do you get the money when it comes in then or? >> Yep, we
025do. So, in a way then you hope you're gaining interest on the loss discount, if you will. Um interest rates have been phenomenal uh the last couple years. I am extremely concerned um for next year's budget. Uh we have been fortunate to be receiving about $300,000 a year in revenue and just interest. >> The rates I'm getting notices every couple weeks that they are going down. So that could be a revenue loss. You think about that. That's essentially >> free money as everybody talks about it, right? That that has been a great little boost, but that could be a $300,000 wouldn't be 300,000, but let's say we lost half of it. That's a $150,000 revenue hit just because of the economic conditions. >> Could you extrapolate a little bit on your pie chart when you
026had uh so it was property taxes? >> State fund. >> Yep. >> Do you do you know the percentages there or >> I don't have that Excel sheet open right now. I did not throw that's linked to my Excel sheet. how it >> essentially essentially you know we're we're looking at um yeah it's it's not on this one it's where it broke out property taxes >> the lumbar >> yeah there you go >> yeah if it was powerpoint it would tell us but I still use I still use the office suite no problem >> yeah sorry so I copied it in as an image >> I would just surprised the property taxes weren't a bigger percentage >> our state school fund is definitely definitely our largest um our largest piece in in that for sure.
027So >> surprised to see the grants take such a that's they're equal. Are they larger than the property taxes? >> So right with the with the uh growth in grants, so student investment account, high school success, some early literacy, um we have a comprehensive uh lit literacy grant this year. Um the the grants have grown really to be a critical source of operations for districts which is also concerning right because grants are not in statute like state some are some are but not all of them are are in statute like state schools fund. Some of them are tied to the corporate activity tax, which regardless of how we feel about it, but when they're tied to that, we again these the market >> really plays a bigger role in state schools um than I think
028uh we realize. Um so yeah, it's >> and Kim, correct me if I'm wrong, but you know, if a district were to receive, let's say, more money in property tax, don't they adjust your state school fund? >> So absolutely. So, I would love to share that with you guys sometime. I did a presentation on your state goes in and figures out for your state school fund, the full formula. They figure out what's your slice of the pie, but they make sure no district gets treated better, if you will. Um, so they take your slice of the pie and they say, "Well, how much are you going to get in property tax?" Okay, we're going to take that away from what we give you as a state so that the other communities who have much higher
029property taxes who might bring in a greater slice, their slice of state school fund actually goes down. um if we were to receive additional income from uh federal forest fees. So um I believe it's also Jewel Jewel. They receive so many so much money in federal force fees that they get zero state school fund >> because you they figure out what's your share of the state school fund and then they back out what you get because the goal is to provide equivalent education to to students regardless of other income sources that those districts may have available to them. So it is very it's it's a it's a pretty complex piece. uh teacher experience goes into that. Believe it or not, the longer your teachers have been in your district, the more state school fund you
030receive because every district essentially their salary scale is built on how many years of experience you have. You get paid more. So to equalize that playing field and have the schools who may be have more senior teachers or schools districts that may have younger teachers, you actually have an adjustment to how much state funding you get based on your teacher experience. >> Well, that's interesting. >> Anything else? Sorry, I was a little bit of a rabbit rabbit hole, but yeah, you're good. Yes. >> And to our budget committee members, no one's going to be offended if you get up and walk out, but although the rest of the meeting isn't too isn't too detailed, isn't too long, but you know, just putting that out there. Uh, so I've asked Diane to actually take the next
031agenda item because she manages the transfer in and out process. So, I'm going to turn it over to her. >> All right. Well, thank you. Um in the memo that I provided um it's just basically kind of what we have done last year and the year before that. Um I did some number crunching and our ins and outs are still in that you know five or six from October or from last year. So that's good. That's actually good. So a big drop um has not occurred which is encouraging. And as you heard from Kim are declining enrollment. So, we're taking um for the transfers in, we'll take students, I think uh 12th grade, we like to kind of do that case by case and kind of see where the students at. And then the transfers
032out pretty much uh reflects kind of what our neighbors are doing in Cami, um in Gladstone, in Beaverton, Burton City, Wesland, Wilsonville. So kind of took that approach to it or a recommendation. >> So essentially uh this is something that you approve every year and so at the March board meeting um we'll ask you to approve the recommendation on the transfers in and out. Correct Diane? >> Yeah actually technically if you want you can approve it tonight. Um, for me the sooner the better because then I can start processing transfers in and transfers out. >> Is the No, you're good. Is this criteria um closed except for an online public charter school or a hardship the same criteria and rubric that we've used in the past? >> Okay. So the hardship definition is defined in
033statute. >> Yeah, I see that. Is this our same process from this year? >> I mean, we have not changed our process. >> Okay. >> The only new language that you're seeing is on the online. >> Mhm. Because um we're not really able to deny them out. I mean, if we did, then they'll appeal at the OD level and they're going to be out anyway. And that's that 3% cap that you see. Sometimes they put a resource down at the bottom. >> Um because we don't have online options. And so >> wouldn't we also allow them to transfer out for home school? Would that just be unenrolling? >> Um I don't get requests for homeschool. Oh, that's not an approval process. >> Okay. >> But it's not that they would be denied if you wanted
034to home school. they would withdraw from basically withdraw and then technically legally they're supposed to sign up with the ESD as a homeschool student but that isn't necessarily enforced or monitored. We do get the enrollment of those who have enrolled in home schools through the have been so the WSD will say hey this is how many students are currently enrolled as homeschool students >> that are in your district >> that are in our district. Yeah, >> actually I have been tracking those um as best as I can and I will check with the secretary and empower school why they went out >> or if they went out and a lot of times they're not even in power school. So that tells you they live in our district but we don't know where they are. So
035they've never enrolled. >> So that's just a choice that family wants to make. >> Um I would say there's a handful of students that >> that's what's going to work for them better that were here. Yeah, really not a lot. >> Do we know how many are online charter students? >> Um, online charter we have about 82. >> Wow. >> But that's, you know, like last year it was 87. >> Mhm. >> So that's like that means only five more. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Yes. You should say >> how does it work with sports with homeschool students? Oh, I I believe that I heard there was something with a certain sport that we were only going to have a a student and it was a homeschooled student. Does the school offer full uh are
036they able to participate at North Marion? How does that work? And how does the school if they reside in our school district, they have access to play on our sports teams >> even though none of the funding comes to the school? >> Correct. >> Okay. >> Anything else? Would anybody want to throw a motion out or would you rather wait till the March meeting? >> Is this the policy that we just need to uh adopt or readopt >> is the approving the criteria and the the procedures for transfers in >> scroll up a little bit. >> Sorry, it's really hard to do both. >> So, it's it's this piece here, correct, Diane? Yeah. that we're this is that we're approving these openings um for um allowing students in. So essentially we're saying we'll take anybody
037K through 11 and we'll take it on a case by case on grade 12. Okay. >> That's essentially what we're asking for. Is that correct Diane? >> Correct. >> But no verbiage on the way out. >> I mean we don't really we take those on case by case and if they're uh we don't need your approval on on that's an administrative decision on whether to let them out or not. >> Yeah. Why is um grade 12 a case by case? >> It's so um often when we see like 12th graders trying to come into a school, they've been somewhere else and they're trying to come in, they're often credit deficient or having other attendance issues that may make graduation hard. And if we bring them in and they're not set up to graduate on time,
038um they will likely end up counting as a dropout for us. And so we really have to consider is this a good fit? Is this a student who's on track? Um there are things we cannot consider. Uh but um those kind of things we can take into consideration. Is this really are you trying to run away from a problem and think we're going to solve it? >> What can you not consider then? >> Uh you can't consider if they have an education plan like a special um like an IEP and you can't look at behavior. Uh so we can't ask for like well were they in trouble at their old school. Right. Is there anything else? Yeah. >> Actually, you kind of use that hardship lens. Yes. >> And I'll say that it's not uncommon.
039That's how it's been for a while. >> However, this language materially isn't any different than what we were doing last year. >> So, with that, I will propose or make a motion that we adopt this criteria for the next school year. >> A second. So hearing a second, I'll just reread that that we are approving or adopting the recommended criteria and guidelines for transfers in and out. You still good for 2627 school year. >> Thank you. >> Yes. >> Okay. Second. >> Okay. Uh any discussion? Hearing none, we'll move to a vote. Look looks like we're uh more open coming in and we're a little more restrictive going out and I think that's probably to our benefit at least. >> You good? >> I am. Okay. Moving to a vote. All those in favor say
040I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. >> Thanks Diane. >> Diane appreciates that vote too. and get started. >> Yeah. >> All right. We have a a brief strategic planning update. Dez. >> Yeah. So, um as we presented last week, we are in the process of starting to um flesh out the strategic plan. Last week, our last meeting with the team, we brought to them some of the actual strategic um indicators that we would like to look at and kind of voted on where we would like to see our energy placed. So, I'm scrolling down trying not to make anyone too dizzy. So, right now, we are looking at things like performance indicator number one with student achievement. We're looking at strengthening student growth, proficiency, and readiness. Um, I will say we got some really good feedback
041on this one specifically, our initial um, wording was more about increasing our test scores, which is absolutely important. But what we kind of recognized is suddenly when we think about the strategic initiatives associated that with that, it was like how do we increase our test scores? and it was started became more um test taking strategies and getting more kids to take the test versus getting them more proficient in the skills that allow them to be successful on the tests. So, we shifted some wording to really focus on making sure students have the knowledge and skills needed to be successful on those tests. Um improving student attendance, access to rigorous coursework, and improving early literacy and grade level reading proficiency. specifically. We wanted to have that one in there because of the number of grants we're
042specifically receiving around literacy in culture and community. We identified improving school climate with sense of belonging, fostering pride, belonging and in community engagement, expanding and sustaining our community partnerships. And then for our talent development, recruit, retrain, and develop a high qualified diverse workforce. Ensure staff feel valued, supported, and connected. and ensure consistent and meaningful staff evaluation processes. From here, our next meeting, we're going to take each of those different strategic um performance indicators and we're looking at what data would we use to measure not whether or not we're being successful. And then our next meeting after that, we will start we'll have an opportunity to brainstorm what are the strategic initiatives that we could put into place that would help us achieve those goals. So, what are the different um programs we might want to
043look at? what are the things that are currently working that we want to shore up or find ways to scale them to um larger impact etc. Um so we're excited for the work we had. We had a really rigorous discussion at our last meeting. It was um I think the thing people on that team were really waiting for is to engage in a little bit of a debate about where do we really want to put our focus and I'm excited to see where we can go as we look more in depth at the data and the initiatives that we could do to put these into place. So right now I just like every time we kind of decide something I plop it in its spot on the in the document and we're just going to
044keep keep building it out. Thank you. >> Does this um at this point in the process are we still maintaining a pretty tight focus? >> Okay. >> Yeah, those three um >> I think if you go back to the very top with the wheel, I mean, we're still talking about the three things that matter most. We're talking about student achievement uh with the top of that circle. And then I think what's important is uh strengthening our culture and community. And then you do that by bringing in and maintaining great talent and those other things around there having strong systems having great accountability. Uh scroll down and leadership those things hold those things together. So it's still focused and then you know delving that out is really looking at what how are we we're at that
045point is how are we going to measure whether we're doing those things or not >> and then what are the strategies that we think we might employ to do that. So I I still think it's pretty focused. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> I just want to make >> I like where you know >> it's not leaving too far. >> It's not leaving this. So I think I think when you talk about the student achievement piece, there are like four pretty broad areas, but they're all pointing back to, you know, student achievement >> and all four also pointing to the things we're measured by the state on with our school report card and all the grants that we get. Those specific things have data points we have to be accountable to. And I think the culture
046and community pieces is really something that, you know, what I've in my year and a half here about strengthening the community partnerships, getting more the community more involved in the schools, uh, better communication with our communities, uh, things like that. So, it's it's I still think that's really important and it really goes to what Kim was talking about in terms of the budgeting piece is, you know, we need to make and celebrate what's great about North Marion and get and get more people excited about potentially bringing their kids here as well. So, >> well, I would just say excellent work. I love where it's going and I love the focus and I appreciate all the time and energy and effort that staff and volunteers are putting forth to create this strategic plan. >> Yeah. And
047then >> that feedback we've gotten from that team has just been like it's fun listening to people talk about where we could go and just the brainstorm the discussion last time you know every time we planned like oh we're going to 30 minutes we're going to be good and it's like 55 minutes later and the discussion's been so good though that it's hard to stop it you know you don't want to stop it because this is where that voice is so valuable so I really appreciate the work that the volunteer work that they're doing as well. >> All right, moving on. >> Yeah, we have a couple policies for first reading. Uh the sick time policy and just so on this one, we we've met with both unions about this just because we didn't want
048this to catch them off guard uh in talking about sick time. But there's a few changes want to highlight in here. So, um, the first one where we talk about, uh, where it says allow an eligible employee to access a minimum of 40 hours of paid sick time. So, part of Oregon has a sick time law. And so, part of it when that came into effect, districts had had sick sick leave for a long time. So, these kind of married together. And so, we just added the word a minimum of 40 hours so that we weren't so having to be we've got people with different levels. We just know that a minimum is going to be the minimum there. And then we struck out the front-loading piece of that because while our contracts uh require
049that we frontload like teachers with sick leave, we have might have summer student workers. We're not going to frontload summer student workers with hours of vacation or hours of sick leave. So by striking that language doesn't change what we do, what's in our collective bargaining agreements. it the way this was is we would had to do that for everybody including summer student workers. So that's the reason for the strikeout there. Um and Kim if I misspeak on anything you please uh feel free to jump in. So this next piece here is um we allow employees to carry the maximum number of eligible hours of sick leave from one year to the next. So unyear unused sick leave just rolls over from year after year. And so now some districts you I looked at some different
050policies in different places. Some school districts do cap the amount of sick leave that that can be used in a given year and our district has not done that. Um and I don't think that we should necessarily consider doing that. But one of the things we've we've talked about we've talked plenty of with our our uh associations about is um we also don't necessarily have done an effective job of directing people towards protected leave under state and federal laws. And so what what we're trying to do here is when an employee does go beyond what their annual acrual is. So if they get 80 hours of sick leave as an example, if they go beyond that, that does this policy doesn't shut that off, but it does allow us to start looking at attendance and
051attendance concerns and and and actually trying to get people employees that if they are under what I refer to as a qualifying event for FEMLA or OFLA get them that protection and then they can use the unlimited number of hours that they have acrewed. Um, but right now we haven't the district hasn't necessarily directed people towards those protected leaves. And I re uh view those as a shield. If somebody is on a protected leave, their benefits, their attendance, the the the district uh doesn't I mean they've they've been approved under a federal or state program. So we're not we're not going to address attendance concerns, things of that nature. So that's what this language is aiming to do. We've had good conversations with the associations about it. Um and um they don't have they don't
052have any concerns with this. And so it's really a a more of an attempt to try to raise some attendance issues and also try to um try to direct people towards protected leaves. Well, does that shift the liability from a salary expense for the district to the insurance payment for the leave? >> No, we still are paying for the leave. I mean the if an employee is on a protected leave, um there's two pieces. The the insurance as the health insurance, is that what we're referring to in that question? the the um paid family and medical leave insurance which I realize the district pays premiums for. But the question is whether the way we were allowing leave before we were just paying the salary same they would be working instead of maybe I misunderstood that
053the thrust is to get them under the insurance not necessarily insurance it's under under a protected leave program. So, if someone has a qualifying event, um I'll I'll use me as an example. When I was working in Tiger Twitz and I got rearended one time and got was out for two weeks and immediately my district called me and said, "You need to be on protected leave, you know, so you need to be you're cover your your event covers you for that and or this leave will or this the federal or state program will protect you." Okay. And our district has not had those practices of if someone has a qualifying event of having them sign up for FEMA or OFLA and then all of their job protections, their benefits are all protected. So, this is
054really trying to implement the the the programs that are already there. >> But doesn't that insurance then pay some of that expense? >> Potentially. um you know you're talking about paid leave Oregon or paid family medical leave >> which is actually another piece to FEMA and OPLA. So FEMLA and OPLA are job and benefit protections. They do not cover any pay leave Oregon is pay replacement concurrent with FEMA or OFLA >> but that's through the state not the >> and that is >> it's a whole different process. We pay we pay we and the employees uh both pay premiums every on every dollar uh to into a basically a trust and then if an employee qualifies for paid family medical leave they will then receive pay from we actually use an equivalent plan third party
055um or you know it could be from the state if a district went that way. So employees may be receiving pay from paid leave Oregon. They may be using their sick leave from us also and they may still be on a protected leave. And so we're just we're really trying to align extended leaves with the the protection that that employees deserve so that if things you know turn for them or something that we can't call and you know have any kind of attendance conversations. is it's hands off to an employee if they're on FEMA or OFL >> and this is very actually this is in alignment with how the state and federal laws read um from a different industry this is exactly how it is carried out >> and one of the things what I've
056explained to both associations about is let's say someone has a you know bad situation happen and I'm aware of their situation and they have a lot of sick leave and they are using their sick leave and because I know their situation, I'm empathetic with that and so then I'm like, "Yeah, we're not going to we're not going to bother them." And then another employee has maybe excessive leave and maybe I'm more suspicious about that. Um, and so then I start to try to employ an attendance standard to that. I I can't do that. I can't be moved with empathy on one employee and be suspicious on another employee. I need to have a set standard by which I decide I need to to take some attendance or if they're protected and a protected leave know
057that hands off. >> It doesn't really matter what you think of that. >> It doesn't think it doesn't matter what I think. >> I mean really all we're doing is following the law. >> Yeah. >> I mean it's pretty simple what we're doing here. >> Yes. Yeah. >> Is there a maximum number of hours in >> people that were a thousand hours of sick leave? >> Wow. generous >> swear they like they just don't get like >> I will tell you and it you know when you get into PERS and stuff you it's a benefit and so I was told as a young teacher like don't take your sick leave unless you're dying like literally dying and you save it and come to school sick and so that's a lot of it right people just
058they they save it they just don't use it come to school like They wouldn't do it if >> so if you are a a tier one or tier two uh you it is part of your purse calculation. >> It can be one of your purse calculations. >> Okay. >> And that's the other thing they told you. All right. Let's move on. >> All right. So, another at our last uh board meeting, we were talking about uh ending fund balance, and Kim referenced that today in her presentation. And so, this is standard OSBA policy. Um, and so I wanted to show you a couple things that we did a little differently here. And so, I just kind of threw out the bracketed language there. So, the board directs the superintendent to manage the currently adopted district
059budget in a way to strive. So, here's where I I kind of play with the wording here is that that we are striving for an ending fund cash balance of 10% of the total adopted general fund revenue. The ending fund cash balance may not be less than 8% of the total adopted general fund revenues without a resolution from the board acknowledging the district's ending fund balance is lower than board policy. So, I've seen I've seen some different things with this one. Um, and so, um, that's what Kim and I came up with. >> What is the present policy? >> We don't have one. >> Anyway, our discussion >> digging for our previous discussion say though that we wouldn't be well, we were like four or 5% if I remember. We weren't meeting. >> Oh, we're
060not meeting this. >> Not even close. >> Yeah. >> At one point I think when >> we were down to like three and a half, weren't we? would agree to this policy then we would need to at the same time >> resolve to allow >> yeah I think you you know if the board adopted the policy let's say next month and you know make a resolution that it's ackn it's basically acknowledging that we are outside of the board policy and so if the current ending fund balance is 3% 4% then you know we're acknowledging that piece >> if it's on here or not one of the footnotes says Some are five to 15, but others are 3 to eight. And we're probably within that range. >> And the hard the hard part is in that
061footnote, it starts talking about whether it's of total budgeted revenues or general fund revenues. And so, you know, you really get if you start thinking about there's there's general fund is our our money that we can decide essentially what to do with grants. that is considered restricted revenue. You are given it and you can only use it for X and Y debt service money or um student body funds. There are there are revenues in our budget that I you know we we talked a lot about this and how you do that. Your general fund is the money that you have available to utilize or save as you wish. Grants, you're going to use it or lose it. you know, student body funds, those are their, you know, the funds for the students and debt service,
062debt service is debt service. You're going to be making your debt service payments. And so, you know, this having this this discussion is important to make sure that we understand the difference between to a a total adopted revenues >> percentage or a general fund adopted revenues percentage between general fund. So it's a slightly lower lower number that we could comply with meet the >> the revenue number it would be slightly lower than our in instead of $41 million of revenue. It's and I was just looking it up. I'm not going to quote it off the top of my head but it's much lower than that. So you know we're you know that's where a 10% strive for is more achievable. If we said 10% of total adopted revenues, then I think that would be a
063difficult >> if you take your pie chart and how many things you can actually actually adjust. There's limitations to where you can get to and I think 28's the number last year. >> I was going to say I don't 28 and we know what our number was right now. We're not >> Yeah. >> there. So, we're far from there. Um >> 271. So, yeah. So, what about our mystery transportation money that we won't know till May of 2027? Where would that fall? >> That's a great question because technically according to the state, I even reached out to them and said, "Can I put that somewhere else? Can I take it out market somewhere?" >> Exactly. And they said it it really has to stay in your general fund per um you know the guidelines. And
064so when we say 10% and we may know that we have 300 and some you know thousand that or roughly 300,000 that we may have to pay back. >> Yeah. That it that is why maybe being a little bit more generous and trying to strive for a 10% um is important. I do think a public acknowledgement if we get below a certain threshold is important to help avoid um slides, if you will. I mean, I, you know, my history, I went through very difficult time with another district and >> being aware of the trend lines in things is absolutely critical. you know, one year can, yes, you can absolutely turn things around in one year, but when the trend line is is setting up the warning flags, you know, I think I think it requires
065a transparent communication to our stakeholders that this is a conscious decision that we do need to do this because the roof fell in or somewhere or you know, I mean, there there are times where a choice must be made. >> How does it work then if you're trying to adopt it mid budget? like when's the right time to start this process? Because if you've already formed a budget and then you're later coming out trying to come up with a goal percentage to stay within a threshold, how do you do that with a budget that's already baked? >> So, I think that's why we made sure to have a strive for and acknowledge when we >> choose not to. So, that would be something to consider. Um, the timing of adoption. I guess that's an excellent
066point. um that >> I I will tell you that part of this is to know >> how to build the budget for next year. >> Trying to say how much do we want to have in the bank on June 30 of 2027? How much of that ending fund balance to build a budget for next year? We need to know the end goal >> because you have to work backwards on it really to do it. We have our resources. Where do we need to end? So, what do we have to work with? And so, that's why this is here for you today. I want to thank you for bringing this budget forward that I also did not know existed. So, this policy, >> so, you know, in our other times where we've brought first readings before
067you, you've given me feedback. You know, we don't need to do a full-blown spreadsheet like we've done before when we've had 40 policies. We've got two policies. My gosh. >> So, Jenny's having PTSD over there. >> So, uh so if there's feedback on either of the sick leave, uh sick time policy or the fund balance policy, uh let me know in the next week or so. And otherwise, we'll bring these back as as they are here for adoption at the March meeting. >> You said these are boiler plate setup OSBA essentially. >> The fund balance almost is entirely. I mean, I played around with that stripe. I didn't find anybody that had that striving language. I mean, the key part for me was having a board resolution at some point. So, there's a line there
068that the board has. So, that's I I hadn't seen that elsewhere, but that's kind of some conversation Kim and I had. The sick time one is is mostly boilerplate with again a little bit and I did have run that by Elizabeth Ple as well, just to make sure that I was not encroaching on any kind of um issues there. And also a reason why I ran it by both unions before, which is not normally what I do, but I didn't want that to catch them by surprise either. So, >> okay. Yep. March. >> All right. Well, speaking of what happens next March is I get my uh evaluation. So this year I I essentially followed the same template that I used uh last year. And so when we're looking at um when we're looking at
069these slides that are in green with the visionary district leadership. So these bullets uh are from the KOSA which is the superintendent group and the OSBA which is your group. Uh these are kind of the bullet points that fall under these each of these. So this isn't words that I made up. These come from an evaluation handbook. So under and then so under each one of these slides. So we'll go to the next one, Dez. So I just instead of having a lot of words, I chose to use images. Uh and I'm not going to belabor a lot of this. It's just to kind of show you the work that I'm doing that aligns to that previous one. So under visionary leadership, the big bulk of that work is working on the strategic plan. So
070>> move on to the next one. So ethical and professional norms standards. So things that I have done to address that this. So we have an administrative handbook um that really outlines how we conduct ourselves as administrators um and and set some guidelines there. And there's more handbooks to come that fall under some other areas. So we'll go ahead and move on to the next one. Inclusive district culture. So here's some things that we're doing to address that. So we have an early literacy program. We have summer programs um within our you know this this wheel that and puzzle that you see that's our that's been our focus for this year while we were in between having uh not having a strategic plan and I think that when you look especially at that supporting language
071acquisition and the later levels uh language development uh really go to that inclusive um that and standard on inclusivity. instructional leadership and improvement. So this is you've seen this one from every single principle that's come before you has referenced this this year. Um we the educator effectiveness was the implementation of our new teachers uh uh evaluation uh rubric and evaluation system again supporting language acquisition is a measure as a key component of our um our academic achievement um goals. And then with our collaborative teams is really getting our teacher teams working together more collaboratively which they are doing uh almost on every uh early release Wednesday communication and community relations. So we've developed a greenhouse there on the right which is an internal place that we communicate with staff and put a lot of resources.
072We've just started a staff newsletter that we did you've got received a copy of that. Another one's coming out this week. Um, and in general, I try to keep you all up to up to date communication wise, keep our staffs up to date with things that are happening in their building. Uh, so communication is something that um I'm I'm proud of and think that we do a pretty good job, but it's also one of those areas that you never you never arrive at the mountaintop of communication. So, you can always do better in that area. Effective organizational management So, we have a new employee handbook. We ratified an agreement with our classified union last spring. We're in the middle of of negotiations, which although we've only had one session, it's been, uh, positive and productive.
073And I look forward to reaching agreement with UNME this spring. And so, um, those are some things that I've worked on >> and all the job descriptions. >> Yes, thank you. All the job descriptions. Uh, yes. So, we have we've have all new job descriptions for our classified folks. All new job descriptions for our licensed folks. They are on the website. Uh the administrative, confidential, and supervisory positions are coming up as we finalize them. And a big one that we want to finish up this year is our for coaches and adviserss, people that are doing clubs and things of that nature. Effective financial management. um you know trying to align those budgets to district priorities uh district resources and regular updates to the board which I appreciate Kim being able to do for us. So
074and there's just some examples of some things that we've brought before you related to that area policy governance and advocacy. So, uh, so again, I keep you guys updated on regularly on board updates, probably more than you want. I've heard Merl say that I have increased his reading quite a bit since. >> So, he said that last year to me about the amount of reading that he's had to do since I've gotten here. >> Slides there. >> So, and I just took a clip of the instructional materials policy that we brought for you this year and just even tonight bringing in new policies. So I think policy work really uh is important work. I know sometimes it can be the afterthought in some places but I really think it should be the forethought because it
075really solidifies things. Before you actually go and enact anything you should be establishing policy for that for whatever you want to be doing. So >> that's it. So >> I'll just add to it that since you've received this documentation I don't know what time is it? 7th. >> I may or may not send out the eval form today, but I'll probably definitely send it out by tomorrow night. And again, there's like a hard date on that. It's anonymous. It's going to be sent to your North Marian emails and then we'll have it come back. So, if I blanket email you like, "Did you do your evaluation?" It's really because I don't know. I'm not going to go down IP address rabbit holes. So, I I will say I expect it to be done, too. >>
076Just throwing that out there. >> She'll call you. >> Well, that's all I've got unless there's questions. >> Anything? >> And Blake, did you see the phone last year? It's Microsoft. It It has tons of information in there. It doesn't have anything to do with the subject that I have really enjoyed watching North Marian varsity basketball. We had a great win and then we had one we should have. >> Just so close. >> And then we had a good win last week, too. >> Yeah. >> Just enjoy it. >> Well, and I plan to go to Stton tomorrow night to watch the last watch that game. So, Thanks, Lauren. All right, so any other board action? We're all good, right, Diane? Yes. Okay, we're going tojourn, but I need to read the executive session. >>
077And before we adjourn, really quick. So, the board will now be going into executive session OS192.6602D. The board will now meet in executive session according to OS192.662D to conduct deliberations with persons designated to carry on labor negotiations collective bargaining for UNM code according to Diane three times OS192.6602Z 6602Z. Content discussed in executive sessions is confidential except as provided by law. Board members and the media are instructed not to disclose information obtained in an executive session except when specifically authorized to do so. Do so or as required by law. Members of the media may attend executive sessions except in these these specific instances. del deliberations with persons conducting labor negotiations, expulsion hearings, or those pertaining to confidential student medical records and litigation involving the news media policy BDC executive sessions. The board will not be taking
078any action on the content discussed tonight and will adjourn following the executive session. We will take a twominute meeting, a two-minute break before we go into executive session.