001Good evening. Tonight is Monday, April 7th, 2025, and we're present in room D205 of the Mount Lebanon High School for the discussion meeting of the board of school directors. Participation is also available via Zoom. Roll call, please. Mrs. Berdick, here. Mrs. Crabel, here. Mrs. Glacier, here. Mrs. Gellman, Mrs. Gensel here. Mrs. Goo here. Here. Mr. Hoffman, sorry. Miss Johnson here. Mr. Wyland here. All are present. Excellent. Uh the first section of tonight's agenda is the finance section. Uh and the first item is the treasurer's report. And I'm going to ask Mrs. Connelly to walk us through these items. The treasur's The treasur's report reflects cash transactions for the month of March 2025. The the treasur's report is a is for the month of March and it gives the beginning and ending balances of all of
002our various accounts and our investments such as CDs. The other part of our of the treasur's report includes the year-to- date expenditures and this is our projection by not line item but by by category in which we are updating the board on different um expenses and revenues. The good news is um we did a very very thorough overhaul of all the expenses. We at the end of March we were at the um beyond the 50% point almost to the uh 75% point of the year and were able to go through each um salary account number. It really took hours and days of several people collaborating on this. were able to save $476,000 in personnel in the 2425 school year. This is a about $150,000 increase from the initial projection of about $371,000. In the benefits,
003we are seeing that they were underbudgeted of about $44,000. We have some savings in legals fees uh under contracted services. We also have savings of about $28,000 from the transportation department's contract with our outside um company that transports for us. And there's also a savings in the tech department for telephone expenses and travel. Also from the facilities department, we are seeing a decrease or a savings of $254,000 in utilities and supplies that were projected. Also in the tech department, we have seen a savings in supplies in software as well. And then finally in the 900 category, other financing uses, we have a savings of about $70,000 that was budgeted that we do not need to transfer to the food service fund. So that is how we came to this projection of savings in the from
004the from the v it's a variance between the adopted budget and what we think the projected expenses will be. It's almost a million dollars or 990,000. Uh in the revenues, we have been looking at these all year. There haven't been much changes this month in the projected revenues, but because we did adjust the expenses so much, we are now projecting $24,000 deficit versus $750, which was um has been the trend the last three months. Are there any questions? No questions and comments. That's great work. That's $500,000 since our last meeting in in expenditure savings. So, M. Mrs. Berdick highlighted the point um during last month's meetings that the deficit that that that the administration has been working to eliminate as we reconcile the current fiscal year is almost entirely attributable to a shortfall in revenue
005um from um state, federal, and other sources. Um that our expenditures at that point were about a half a million dollars under budget. Um, and now that what close to a million dollars under budget net this year? Yes. 990. That's that's fantastic. Thank you. I think it's important to note too, Mrs. Connelly stated the work that went along with looking at our payroll. That's the first time that that has occurred and it's a really good practice because it does level set does give us actual data rather than um assumed data at least up until this point in the school year. So, thank you because I know that took you a really long time to do. Yeah, the the amount of uh attention to detail is very much noted and appreciated. Um the positive trend is
006very much noted and appreciated. Um and I and I know we have three more months where everyone in the district um all of the budget managers and staff are going to be working to reduce that uh deficit even further if possible. Yeah. And I'll just add, you know, this doesn't happen overnight, this work. Um, I know that, you know, since I started on the board, what 13 months, 14 months ago, this has been a big topic that we've discussed collectively every month in and out to try to really rein this in. Um, as Dr. freeze came on board. It It's been very much a a point of emphasis to not just have a responsible budget, to really understand where those dollars are going, where they're coming in. Um and it's great to see this trend,
007this move towards where we need to be as a district to be um you know fiscally responsible but also to really look into the future um to be uh much more sustainable. Okay. Additional questions or comments on the treasurer's report? Okay. Uh, the next finance item is the monthly list of bills. Mrs. Connelly, the monthly list of bills reflects checks authorized to be drawn from March 19th, 2025 to March 31, 2025. All checks have been reviewed by the administration. The superintendent re recommends approval of this list. Right. Questions or comments on the list of bills? Okay. And the next budget uh the next finance item is budgetary transfers. Budgetary transfers for April total $113,66 for facilities contracted services, utilities, PA system upgrades, bus maintenance supplies, salaries, and special education services. The superintendent recommends approval of
008these transfers. questions or comments on the transfers? I have a question. So, when when we make a transfer from one budget category to another, um is that uh a one-time transfer or it I know it is for that for that year and for that purpose, but going forward, do we do we budget differently to not require transfers, but rather have the money um allotted for that we're we're anticipating requiring? Um yes, because we don't allow any of our accounts to go to zero, these transfers are necessary and this is the first year of doing zerobased budgeting. So there have been a few tweaks, but all of this was accounted for. Um so going forward, we have better data to predict 2526. Other questions or comments? Okay. And then uh the public and the board heard
009a uh budget uh a budget overview uh at 6:00 p.m. which will be available online, but we still have the um discussion meeting presentation of the proposed final budget. I saved it for you. Okay. The 2520 26 proposed final budget is being presented tonight. There are um several slides that I want to go through and the first one is this revenue slide. This slide represents um three two fiscal years. One is the 2425 adopted budget. The second column is the 2425 estimated final revenue budget and then the preliminary final revenue budget that will go into 2526. So we often in when we talk about budgets like to compare yeartoyear but rather than comparing the 2526 proposed budget to what was adopted back in last year at this time we're looking at the estimated final. So,
010this goes over all of our local and federal state and federal revenues. And in we're expecting $121 million of revenue in 2425 and in 2526 $125.1 million of revenue for an increase of $4 million or almost 4.1. We did a base budget presentation in March for 2526 and I'd just like to go over what has changed since that presentation with the revenues. So since the 2526based budget was presented in March, the changes made include the following. Local revenues were adjusted based upon the 2425 projected revenue numbers that we just reviewed in the treasur's report. Also, social security and retirement revenue was decreased due to the decrease in salaries because uh to decrease the deficit, we had to make a lot of changes to the salaries in terms of um retirements that we're replacing, covering sabbaticals
011and reassignment of staff. This is an overview of our federal funds. So although our federal funds only equals $559 almost 560 in the general fund, the district actually receives a lot of federal funding. It's not all listed in the general fund. So I do want to go over these buckets with you. Idea 611 and Idea 619 funds support special education. These dollars equal about $942,000 and they're passed through to us through the local IU. So we book that on the general ledger under local but it's actually fun federal funding that is being passed through to us. Also we receive medical assistance dollars. These are federal funds that support health rellated services that students get at school. These include medical health res medical health related services such as physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, and nursing.
012That's about $250,000. We also receive title one, two, three, and four funding. Those dollars are all booked to the general fund. These funds um provide various services within our district. Title one supports low-income students and public schools with highquality educational programs. Title two helps prepare, train, and recruit high-quality administrators and teachers. Title three is a federal program that helps our English learners. And title four refers to federal funding called student support and academic enrichment. This supports our schools with money to support a well-rounded education for all students. Finally, we get $644,000. That's the projection for food service through the United States School of Nutrition Services. Food service is considered a separate budget on our books. It's not part of the general fund, but I do want to make a note that this funding is federal
013and it's very important to our program to provide uh free breakfast and free and reduced lunches to um students who are in a low socio socioeconomic status so that they can receive those meals at school at no cost. So this budget includes a proposed tax increase to the act one index plus exceptions. First of all, our current millillage is 029305. A millage increase to the act one index would be four a 4.7% increase to our millillage which equates to 013771 mills with a revenue impact of 34 million to the district. Plus the approved special ed exceptions equates to 0.002724 mills with a revenue impact of almost $750,000. If approved, the projected new millage for 2526 is mills. This is in addition to the uh 0.0016495 mills in projected revenue of about $4.159 million. The grid
014at the bottom of the screen just gives different home values, average home values in Mount Evan School District. When you apply the millage increase of 0.16495, this chart breaks out what it means to the taxpayer by month and by year. So, of course, um a a home value of $200,000, the tax impact isn't as great as a home of $500,000, but it breaks it down by by month and annual expense for you. This next slide talks about the 2526 expenditures and it also compares the expenditures from the 2425 adopted budget, the projected 2425 which we just discussed in the treasurer's report and the 2526 preliminary final. The 2425 expend estimated final expenditures is about $21.2 2 million while the 2526 preliminary final expenditures is 25.1 million. That's $3.8 million more than the previous year. And
015I'm going to talk with you about how we got there. Since the 2526 base budget was presented in March, the changes made to the 2526 preliminary final expenditures decreased by $1.5 million. We went into the budget and we were able to decreere decrease certain expenses and here they are. Healthc care expenses were adjusted for a 5.7% increase and dental and vision premiums were adjusted to be a three 3% increase. In March those were check projected to be 10%. Due to attrition 4.8 8 positions were not filled. Reassignments of teaching positions took place and we're covering sbaticals with existing staff versus hiring local long-term subs. Six period stipens have been used to offset additional staff. We have reduced stipens to employees. We have reduced our overtime budget and we have also reduced our travel for professional
016development. Some costs also came in lower when budget managers negotiated a second quote with vendors which we asked budget managers to do. So that was good news. So these are the driving factors of of expenditures. Again our salaries go up every year. So that is assumed to be 3.5%. Health care will increase 5.7%. Dental and vision 3. The Paser's employer contribution rate was certified at 34%. So for every payroll dollar 34% is is budgeted for Pasers. Our bond payments are not adjusted for refinancing. So they will remain steady. We are going to purchase a curriculum for ELA K5 science K6 math grade 6 and program resources for K5 IST. These are all included in this year's budget for a total of about $665,000. We also assume that there will be an increased tuition for special
017education outside placements between 3% to 11 and a half%. 10% increase to Parkway due to increased enrollment there and Parkway tuition increases. Also, we expect our charter school tuition to go up 3%. We know that our uh contracted service for our transportation will go up 3%. The good news is that all of our department and curriculum expense budgets are flat or below prior year. So, our department heads and our budget managers did a great job keeping them flat. Also, we have budgeted for about $119,000 worth of capital projects within our buildings and grounds budget. There are key risks and opportunities with this budget. The risks are that interest rates can be affected by future federal actions that can impact us both positively or negative negatively depending if interest rates go up or down. The Pennsylvania
018school employee retirement system has a rate impact of always increasing through 2034. So we have to prepare for that. Our health insurance rates are expected to increase each year as well. Transportation and tuition costs are expected to continue to rise. And the will also be a continued impact of the common level ratio, also known as the CLR, on our real estate tax collection and refunds. And we have a few open litigation cases due to commercial property tax appeals. And federal revenue is subject to approval and is under discussion at the federal level. depending on decisions there that could come be directly uh impacting our federal revenue in our district. There are also opportunities. The state funding for basic ed, special ed, and grant funding will not um it could be higher. That won't be decided
019until the end of June or July. We will continue to pursue grant opportunities. We will create uh a strategic and comprehensive plan for our future and that will be our roadmap to build intuitive budgets based on past data and future needs of our school district. This slide represents a multi-year financial projection takes the current year and progresses us through the next four years. As you can see right in the middle of that slide is a red number. That's the projected deficit for 2425. If we do not reduce that deficit, $24,000 will be taken from our assigned fund balance. We want to stop doing that. That is um our revenues don't meet our expenditures. So, we have to borrow from our savings. In the 2526 budget, there is a zero um draw on fund balance and
020in the subsequent three years, we will budget that we will always have a surplus because we have to start uh increasing our unassigned fund balance because we've drawn on it so often over the last 10 years. So overall the budget summary is that the 2526 proposed final budget is balanced and it does not use fund balance or furloss to balance that this budget. The proposed budget will leave Mount Lebanon's fund balance unchanged to ensure the 2526 proposed final budget does not rely on the use of fund balance. The district considered all options including reassignment of positions, program modifications, attrition, capital projects, and purchases. The 2526 proposed final budget is balanced, but there will be some adjustments in May when the certified real estate values are issued by Alageney County. In addition, PTE will issue the
021homestead farmstead exemptions, and we will build that into our budget. Proactive planning underscores the district's commitment to ensuring the long-term fiscal sustainability, aligning with state rags, and our dedication to transparency and responsibility for financial management. And then this final slide uh outlines our timeline. The budget forum was tonight. The on April 21st, the proposed final budget adoption and vote will take place. The budget will be on our public website for 30 days and it will also be in physical display in the administrative offices and the board will take a final vote on May 21st. There any questions? Well, thank you for that. Um, and just an additional plug um to members of the community here or um tuning in that the budget forum slide deck had about two dozen additional slides including um 10-year history
022of instructional data um financial data and um other context for our budget including comparators on cost per student to other local districts um and comparing our budget um growth to inflation. So, just a lot of more helpful information to sort of understand where we are um and where we're going. Uh and that will be available on the budget uh section of the website. Um personally, I just wanted to say thank you to Dr. Fes, to Mrs. Connelly, to Dr. Davis, and Dr. Shulo and to the 50 plus budget managers across the district who I know have been working diligently for months uh on presenting a balanced budget to us. Tonight the board set the goal of uh adopting a balanced budget that does not rely on the use of fund balance that does not furlow
023our staff and that does minimizes the impact on our student experience and outcomes. Um, I would say that this not only minimizes the impact, but the fact that we're able to make these investments in curriculum and program resources, new curriculum and program resources um, in our core subjects, ELA, science, math, um, in in IST is going to actually improve the student experience, which is something that I could not have believed was possible when we were sitting here a year ago um going through the difficult budget process. Um the fact that we have no furlows and we've minimized attrition from 30 staff uh through retirement and reassignments um last year to 4.8 this year. Um, I mean, I know there wasn't a lot more to go, but it just speaks to um the real not just
024the commitment to responsibility and sustainable planning, but putting in the work to bring us a zerobased budgeting process and all of the internal controls and processes, all of the data that we're sharing that is thorough and transparent. um on a month-to-month basis and a real understanding of what where our money is coming from uh and going to and to be able to achieve a $1.5 million decrease and balance the budget while meeting and exceeding the goals um that we set out for it. and to show us a multi-year plan that begins to build the fund balance back sooner than we even projected when we looked at the multi-year plan last year. I just I want to say thank you for everything that you've done for the district and for our kids. Other questions and comments?
025Sorry, that was a mouthful. I think we all share the same uh sentiments as you, Miss Flecher. Uh, and there was just something else I wanted to bring attention to when we were talking about curriculum. The just looking at the breadth of curriculum that we were able to accomplish this year, I am so very grateful. So, thank you Dr. Schulo for leading that work because I'm looking at that number and I know what it took to get there. So, I greatly appreciate all the work that you did behind the scenes to get us to that space for us to have that. So, I just wanted to give you a little shout out myself because impressive. So, thank you. And as we tend to do in these budget conversations, I do want to point out the
026the burden that is always placed on our local community um outsized by the contributions of of the state and federal government. Um, we continue to as a community uh burden more than our fair share of uh budget dollars and um as a board, as a district, we're very limited in how we can bring in new revenue. Um we will continue to fight for better funding both at the state level and the federal level. Uh I know that uh the board shares that commitment as does the administration and uh you know the work that's been done is is excellent but we do need more support from the state and federal level. So, um, we'll continue to do this work, but we all collectively need to continue to push, uh, our state legislature to make better changes
027to the funding formula, um, particularly for those in need, uh, special education among them, um, so that we can continue to have a bright future. Any additional comments, questions? Okay. So, just as a reminder, uh the timeline is there. The board will vote next meeting uh April 21st on uh the proposed final budget. It will be on view for 30 days uh both on our website and in the central office uh for public comment and then the board will take a final vote on the budget on May 21st, which is a Wednesday uh this year to allow for the 30-day period um that the state has for the budget being on view. uh and it will be essentially the same budget though Mrs. Connelly highlighted the few additional pieces of data not including the state
028budget um which we will not have uh that we will get before um finalizing the budget in May. All right. Um the next section of our agenda is human resources. Uh throwing it back to Mrs. Connelly. The personnel report details personnel appointments, changes in assignments, leaves of absences, resignations, sabbaticals, and retirements to be considered by the board. Questions or comments on the personnel report? Okay. Uh sorry, one. Yeah, go ahead. Is the uh window for retirements is that officially closed this point? I know it was extended. Was that through the end of March? April 1st. April 1st. Yes. Yes. And we had um one more, but it wasn't a retirement. It was I guess an early retirement. It was a resignation, but he had he didn't meet the 25 years for the retirement incentive. Yeah.
029Thank you. Okay. Um the next section of our agenda is our facilities section. Um first up on that is a uh review of the proposed lease fees. I wanted to begin by welcoming our acting director of operations, Jeff Kaiser, who's over here. I'm going to do this folder for him this month and then next month he gets to take this one over. Um for this month we are um updating our proposed fee schedules for the 2025206 school year. The first item is the proposed lease fee schedule. The board has asked to approve a 4% increase in lease fees for the 2025 2026 school year and I recommend the approval of these lease fees. Any questions or comments on the uh lease fees schedule? I guess I I just want to say also thank you for
030keeping that um just say this now because it's across the board keeping these reasonable for uh members of the community and essential programs that use the facilities. Absolutely. Our next item is Mount Lebanon extended day program summer lease for 2025. The board is asked to approve a lease agreement with Mount Lebanon extended day program for summer 2025. The term of the agreement is from June 16th, 2025 to August 1st, 2025 with fees totaling 13,36216 for use of the following spaces in the Mount Lebanon High School. Nine classrooms, a section of the cafeteria, language cafe, tennis courts when available, and lockers. This is a 4% increase from the 2024 summer lease, and I recommend approval of this agreement. Questions or comments on the uh summer program lease? Okay. The next one is the Mount Lebanon extended
031day program leases for the 2025 2026 school year. The board is asked to approve a lease agreement with Mount Lebanon extended day program for the 2025 2026 school year with fees totaling 36,43652 for use of spaces in all district elementary school buildings for before and after school care and at Hoover How Jefferson and Lincoln elementary schools for kindergarten care. This is a 4% increase over to the 2425 rates and I recommend approval of this agreement. Questions or comments on the extended day leases? Um I have a quick question. So there's been some concern um voiced within the community that there that this fills up so fast that there's not um as much availability as perhaps the community needs. Um, so do do I I see we're raising our fees for uh what the contract will
032include, but is there any change to space or we don't staff it? They staff it, but is there any ch change in space or anticipated change in availability for that program? There isn't. The space that is provided is all that we have and we don't make a determination even if we did have space as to whether or not they would add additional rooms. that would be up to them. Um, but at this time, this is all the space that we have to offer. Thank you. Um, I do have a question because the narrative notes that there's um kindergarten care at Jefferson, but I'm not seeing that broken out on the agreement. Oh, I guess yeah. So I guess that's a question to check into for um yes before that is correct. Jefferson does not have
033the kindergarten program. Okay. So the three other schools correct the narrative is incorrect. Contract is correct. I will fix that. Got it. And I will just second the concern about um as someone who used kindergarten care and extended day for many years. Um you know it is obvious that in Mount Lebanon the the need for full day. Um you know kindergarten care for kiddos is exceeds what uh we're able to accommodate in our buildings. Um, I know there are other programs that are available. We had to scramble for one of our kids because we didn't realize that you had to get on at like midnight and do all of these things. Um, as well, but um, you know, just noting that we we understand that this is a private program that leases space from us.
034It's a wonderful program. Um but we do understand that the need for kindergarten care does outstrip um the available of spa availability of space in our buildings. Our next item is proposed facilities rental fee schedule Monday through Saturday for the 2025 2026 school year. The board has asked to approve a 4% increase in Monday through Saturday facilities rental fees for the 2025 2026 school year and I recommend approval of the lease fees. Questions or comments on these fees? I have a quick question. Can I ask? Yeah. Can you hear me? We can. Yes. So for all the facility lease agreements like do they include some type of disclaimer um requiring that If they publish they have any public materials that they state something about how the event or whatever it is program isn't sponsored or
035endorsed by the district I did not okay I I'll I'm going to restate the question I believe what m Mrs. Galman um asked whether the the this agreement uh for lease fees as well as I think the Sunday fee agreement includes um either in this schedule or in the agreement that um outside groups have to be clear in their public materials that their uh program is not sponsored by or supported by the school district. Um, I personally have not reviewed this agreement, but I know Joselyn has, and that would be language that we would typically be looking for. Um, so we can double check on that, but I I feel confident to say the answer to that is yes. Thank you. Okay, our next one is proposed Sunday facilities rental fee schedule for the 2025
0362026 school year. The board has asked to approve a 4% increase in Sunday rental fees for the 2025 2026 school year and the superintendent, which is me. I forgot to say I recommend this um I recommend approval of the lease fees. Okay. Questions or comments on this fee schedule? Okay. Okay. Our next one is proposed stadium occupancy license for the 2025 2026 school year. The board has asked to approve a recommended 4% increase in stadium lease fees for the 2025 2026 school year. And I recommend approval of lease fees. questions or comments on the stadium lease fees. Okay. And finally, finally, Mount Lebanon Aqua Club agreement 2025 2026. The board is asked to approve the agreement with the Mount Lebanon Aqua Club with a cost increase of 4% for the term beginning September 1st, 2025
037and ending August 31st, 2026 in the form presented. and I recommend approval of this agreement. Questions or comments? Okay, the next section of our agenda is focused on curriculum and instruction. Um, first up is a proposal for science materials. So, the K5 curriculum science pilot team started to research silent science materials last spring and at this time we are asking the board to consider to approve a proposal with Amplify for the purchase of a six-year agreement. It says eight. We will modify it to six for science materials for grade K through five at a cost up to $325,432. The resource will be on display for 30 days. It can be viewed by contacting my office and the board will vote on this item at its May meeting and the superintendent recommends approval for this proposal.
038Excellent. We had a wonderful presentation from the group that led this um pilot project last uh last month. I'm glad they came to a choice successfully. Uh questions or comments? Just to again reference that discussion last month, that presentation um that is available still publicly and it was a great presentation. It shows the the work and time that goes into making these instructional decisions. Um it's really interesting and also just very gratifying to see how much work goes into making those decisions. This isn't simply picking something off the shelf and hoping for the best. It's very deliberate, very thoughtful. Okay. And then we also have a textbook adoption. So, in accordance with section 8003 of the Pennsylvania School Law, the following basic textbooks are listed for adoption and are being recommended from the respective departments
039and administration. The textbooks are available for public review beginning April 8th, 2025. You can contact myself for secondary uh to to review any of the the novel or you can as Dr. Schuler had already talked about you can contact him for the elementary series. Uh and the two resources that are listed is a seventh grade novel the inquisitor's tale and then Dr. Schuler already talked about amplify as a science material. Excellent. Uh questions or comments on these items? Okay. And again, just to reiterate, um, for folks, uh, in the public, these will both be on view for 30 days and, um, contact either assistant superintendent and we'll vote on them in May. I'll ask a question really just very quickly. So, the the Inquisitor's Tale is a book that has been was piloted last year.
040Oh, that was okay. Got it. Love that book. That's It's great. Yeah. And it's replacing a a book that was in the uh curriculum and then There Were None by the All right. Uh we're now up to questions or comments from residents. This public comment period is open to residents and taxpayers regarding matters of concern, official action or deliberation which are or may be before the board. All comment commenters should begin by stating their name. Comments are limited to 3 minutes and we'll notify commenters when their time has expired. Questions requiring follow-up will be referred to the administration for a later response. I should note there are question cards if you have um a question for a later response to leave your contact info with us. Comments by public participants are their own and should
041not be assumed to be the statements of the district. The Mount Lebanon School District is committed to providing a safe, inclusive, and welcoming school environment that recognizes and celebrates the diverse identities within our community so everyone feels a sense of belonging. Uh do we have anyone who wishes to make a comment? Anyone online? All right. Um, I did want to announce that the board met in executive session um this evening uh for purposes of an update on a legal update. Legal matters. Yep. Legal matters. Um, upcoming public meetings are next, uh, sorry, not next week. We'll be on spring break. Uh, Monday, April 21st, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. The board's regular meeting will be here in room D205 of the Mount Lebanon High School and via Zoom. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? Second.
042Okay.