001recording in progress. of Crystal City School District will meet in special session 300 p.m. Monday, December 15, in the administration building boardroom 613B West Savala Street, Crystal City, Texas. Uh, honor roll call. >> Mr. Reosa, >> present. >> Mr. Sani Mr. >> here >> Victor Bon the third >> present >> Mr. Gabriel Espimosa absent Mr. Vince Martinez >> here >> and Mrs. Peggy Young absent. >> Okay, we do have a quorum. >> Re moment of reflection. Number four, a public hearing on 202425 report based on the uh school year 2023 24 data. Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas, Munes. >> So, at this point, uh, our business manager, Mir Strada, will present the school first rating for the 2324 school year as reported during the 2425 school year. Mrs. Strada press be back here. Okay,
002we're starting the first reading and all of that is based on this audit on I think 31st 2024. You can refer to that one and we should have a copy of the formulas. You want to go back and refer to this one more question. So for these we're going to present the 2024 2025 first ratings and all of these is based on the 2324 financial data. As you all know the 2425 audit is in process. So we're going to start with first the purpose of this release is it goal is to achieve quality performance in the management of school district financial resources. Number two, it ensures that Texas public schools are held accountable for the policy of their financial management practices and that they include those practices. Number three, it is designed to encourage Texas
003public schools to better manage their financial resources to provide the maximum allocation possible for their recon instructional purposes. And how the ratings are assessed as you know is A superior achievement B about standard achievement C meet standards achievement and F subst standard achievement please category says uh we have 21 indicators the first four are critical 5 to 14 solveny 15 through 21 are financial Slide this start with our first indicator. The first four you all know we passed the first four. Our first indicator was the complete financial report and data submitted to a TA within 30 days of the January deadline. Yes. Indicator number two. Was there an unmotified opinion in the annual financial report? Yes. Our goal is to have an unmotified opinion who wishes state clean audit number three. Indicator number three was
004the school district in compliance with the payment terms of all debt agreements at fiscal year end. We passed this indicator. Number four, did the school district payments to the teacher retirement place of work force internal revenue service and other agencies? is indicator six to confirm that the district fulfilled its obligations to the TRS uh TWWC and IRS pass this indicator number five was the position in the government activities column staying on net position greater than zero passing the number indicated number six now we're going to go over the number six solveny the first one was the average change in assign and unassigned fund balances over 3 years less than 25% decrease or did the current year's assigned and unassigned fund balances exceed 75 days of operation expenditures. As you can see indicator we fail and
005I give you a little bit of history there of the fund balances as you can see 2021 the fund balance was 10.6 26 2122 9.5 22 23 6.9 and the 22 24 we went down to a negative of 1.3 but as you can see this is only history for the 2425 the district as you all know made some changes the district took action during this year this is when the reduction enforce took place it was introduced and it was passed So we want to add more to the deficit to the 1.3 will help to build the fund balance and move forward. As you can see there the percentage between those percentage change in the final balance over the three years is 52.53 that's indicator or we can do the 23 24 expenditures minus capital =
006to the 28.9 we divide that amount by the 365 days times the 75 = to 5.8 A which is the fun balance 75 sub expense which we didn't have that's why we had to borrow during that year for the debt service indicator number >> before we go to seven for the record of >> 535 indicator number seven was the number of days on cash of cash on hand in current investment in the general fund or the school district sufficient to cover the operating expenditures excluding activities, acquisition and construction. At least 90 days must be covered to receive maximum force. And this indicator number seven, we also failed days, which gives us the.74 days cash on 10, which you can see is right here on the 30 the right side. So zero negative less than 30.
007So we get a zero on this indicator number. Moving on to indicator number eight. So the measure of current access to current liabilities ratio to the school district sufficient to cover short-term debt and this is we score two maximum score is 10. This indicator measures whether the district has sufficient short-term assets at the end of the fiscal year to pay off its short-term liabilities. As you can see there our current assets is 5.1 divide we divide that by the current liabilities 3.4 4 and equals to the 1.4647 ratio. As you can see, falls over here on the bottom less than 1.5 greater than or equal to one. You got a two points there. Indicator number nine is the school district's general fund revenue services including facilities acquisition and construction. If not, was the school district
008number of days of fashion plan greater than or equal to 60 days? This indicator will also fail. We got zero out of 10 points. As you can see there, um the total revenue is 19.6. We divide that by the less facilities and acquisition concussion. It's a 28.6 Six equals to the revenue as a percentage of expenditures get a negative 31.36% or as you can see was an indicator 7 our cash on hand was a -4.74 days and number 10 indicators not being evaluated. We move on to indicator number 11 was the ratio of long-term liabilities to total assets for the students sufficient to cause to support long-term solveny. This one we got 8.510 for those students for 24 plus was 1,706 less to students for 2020 20,898 which equals to a 192. We divide that
009by the 1898 equals to10.1% which is the change in students during that year. Got eight points out of 10 this one. Moving on to indicator 11 >> 12. >> What the correlation? What is the correlation between future debt requirements and the district's excess property value? This one will pass with the 10 point of the 10. This indicator asks about the school district's ability to make the debt principal and improve payment. Total fund 599 which is a debt service or revenue 4.4. We divide that by the total revenue in the debt service 4.5. We multiply that by the long-term liabilities which is 35.4. Then we divide that by 100. We multiply that by 100 and divide it by the assets assessed property value which is 1.4 4 equals to the equals debt per $100 assess assessed
010value which is 2.34%. Maximum maximum score is 10. So we pass this indicator number 12. Moving on to indicator number 14. Sorry 13 >> 13. Okay. Was the school district administrative cost ratio equals two or less than the threshold ratio? Eight out of 10 points. As you can see there, our ADA was,462. Uh for the school districts with ADA size between ours, th00and 1,000 and 499 to receive the 10 points, the ratio needs to be less than or equal to 11.51. And the district's administrative cost ratio for the 2324 was 13.78. This ratio gives us 8.710. Moving on to indicator number 13. Did the school district not have the school district not have a 15% decline in the students to staff ratio over three years? Total enrollment to total staff. As you can see there,
011we scored a 10. Our total enrollment for the 324 was,716 divided that by the staff 321.20 our ratio is 5.342. For the 2021 2022, our total enrollment was,785. We divide that by the step of 306.34. Our ratio is 5.8. 827 students to staff ratio between those two the ratio is.8.0832 0832 the test is negative.805 85 TA's projections here we our indicator we got the five points the actual total ADA for the 320 2324,462 that projected ADA for that uh for that year of 131 equals to projected 88 we got a 045 ratio so we pass this indicator number 15 number 15 we comparison to university districts audit result in a total variance of less than 3% of all of all expenditures. Number 17 did the external independent audit report that no financial report was free
012of any instance instances or material within control financial in compliance of local state and or federal funds. You can see we passed the uh report no it reported no material weaknesses and number 18 the external independent auditor indicated was free of any instances or materials non-compliance for grants contracts and laws related to local state or federal fees. There were none reported in the audit report. will be passed this year as present number 19. did the school district post that require financial information on his website in accordance with the government local government code Texas administrative code and other statute laws and things that were in at the school district we got five points out of five did the school district administration and school board members discuss any changes in or impact to local country and it
013will be within 120 days before the district adopt budgeting the district if the district fails indicator 20 the maximum points and highest rating that the district will which is that be of standard achievement uh indicator number 21 school districts receive an adjusted reporting schedule for more than one fiscal year for overall allocation of foundations funds because of financial hardship as the ceiling. Uh when the district, as you all know, when the district receives an overended funding, you should be resulting from over projecting ADA, the district can still pass this indicator, the district pays back over allocation within one year period. And we got a we pass uh first rating disclosures, additional information required by the commissioner. Uh, A, superintendent's current appointment contract. B, reimbursement received by the superintendent and board members. C, outside compensation and
014or fees received by the superintendent for professional consulting and or other professional services. B, gifts received by school members. E, business transaction between school district members. get any other information trustees of the school district which should be useful. Um we have the first structure a superintendent contract uh I gave you a copy and it's also posted in the district website find it there. Next one is uh B reimbursement received by the superintendent and board. We have some activity for each of the board members and u outside compensation and our fees received by the superintendent. No activity there. And now we got our score in the next slide. Our score was a 68 for the 2425 ratings which is based on the 3 23 24 and we almost passed but 68. We need two more points.
015And do you have any questions? >> Do you have any questions for the presentation? No. Yeah, I just have a you know it's more of information for the public and things. Um what exactly is the first rating measuring from the district? >> The first rating on the >> Yeah. overall like what does it actually measure of the district? What does it tell the district >> for these years? As you can see, we failed most of the financial situation. >> Mhm. >> Most of the were based on the financial the one that we we failed. We were short on cash. First of all, the expenditures were greater than the revenue that we received. So, >> okay. just cuz you know >> they released the preliminary back in August and I've been reviewing them since then and
016going through them and doing research in it. You know what I take away from what the first ratings are is that it's basically telling the district how we're spending our money, whether we're spending it diligently or not, whether we're planning for um solveny um for long terms, whether we're living within the money that we're receiving, you know, living within our means, um and if funds are being used appropriately. So um you know what I take from it is it's basically it's a governance document right >> um for us as the board you know and it's not just the district that failed you know it's uh it's us as the board that has failed in my my understanding of it and what I take away from from reading of what the first is. Um, so it's
017just one of the things that I I I took away from all the research I've done. Um, so hopefully that we are doing things to move in the right direction. Um, you know, it was eye opening seeing the amount of money that was spent within those first years, how the fund balance dropped in a matter of 3 years, almost $12 million, right? Um, so in the future, how is the district um, moving forward to start building back our fund balance? I think that's the biggest thing, right, that that I can take from this is that we need to build back our financial, you know, >> financial >> fund balance. And we'll answer that. >> Do the does the I guess payroll exceed uh a certain percentage that the district can actually sustain based off of
018our M. You know, I think that's our biggest expense that we we know that's our biggest expense. Um so I think that's just one thing that that I >> so I think Vince as we as we have been able to move forward from the 23 24 school year I think it's very critical ma made a statement earlier in her presentation is all of the recommendations that we brought to the board table last year. Uh 2324 is the reason why 2425 happened the way that it that it had to happen. Uh and so in terms of uh what uh constraints has the district given itself uh to make sure that this does not happen again. Well, number one is we need to make sure that we are able to cover our payroll. So, one of the
019first things that we had to do was look at our uh revenues versus expenses and where we did have uh a negative where we were exceeding in expenses is where is the majority of the money going and obviously for us last year it was in payroll. And so very early in the year after our findings, we brought to you uh several recommendations that would directly impact the number of dollars that were going into payroll. And you all were gracious enough to grant us the recommendation. And so we begin reducing costs that way. We continued reducing costs the rest of the second semester up until June and in July. So that's one of the first things that we have to do is really make sure that we understood that we understood uh not only the local
020budget but the state how the state um funds districts and how adjustments are made throughout the year that impact what we present to the board as a budget. What we think is our operational budget. And then when the state comes in and because of deficit enrollment or deficit attendance, the state makes its adjustments. And as the state adjusts its aotments or its entitlements to the district, we also have an obligation to adjust our budget as well. And so I think those were some areas where we failed in 2324. uh those are I those are areas or components of the budget that we are very very much on top of uh as we move into uh 2425 and obviously 2526. So as far as that is concerned we are very confident right now in 2526 that
021the year is going to be a year that will be balanced in terms of our expendit expenditures. Last year was a harsh year. It was a very very harsh year but we made the necessary cuts in the necessary where we felt like we had to trim. We were able to make the cuts. It's put a little bit of strain on the district because we are working and we are operating with a uh smaller uh staff and everybody has felt the the weight and the pressure of that. We're making do. We you know we're still continuing the work. The work doesn't change. We just you know how we delegated it is different but the work is still is still do is still going. Uh what are we doing internally is we are tracking our numbers every
022day. Every day we look at attendance every day. We have not only uh our cabinet is assigned to campuses to make sure that we stay on top of enrollment to stay to make sure that we stay stay on top of attendance when we see a because for the last couple of weeks kids have been sick and our enrollment has or I'm sorry not our enrollment our attendance has really suffered and every percent that we drop averaged out after the end of the third marking period which will be on Friday uh every single one of those days that we have significant attendance dips is loss. >> So, >> uh that we have. So, you know, staying on top of of patterns and trends across the district >> for the attendance like especially in this winter season,
023do y'all account for that when you're >> uh so we had >> I'm sorry. >> You should >> shouldn't should >> should >> have conf well our numbers are picking up. So, uh, >> but you I mean this is expected to happen perfect pretty much every year like during the winter season >> the numbers go down and so we we make sure that first and second you know first and second marking period the numbers are very healthy the kids are coming back from summer they're excited to be in school uh then of course the the fall season comes in we start to get increases this year has been specifically hard because we've had the flu we've had uh COVID we have foot mouth disease right now going on at campuses. And so those are those
024are attendance issues uh that do impact and we hope that we've made significant impact on the front end of attendance first and second marking period so that we know that this is going to happen in December. So we know that this is going to help us push through and so right now we're looking at about 93%. >> But that that expected that's included in the budget. >> Yes. Yes. you know miss and and as I mentioned you know this is part of this is a a t of governance right and as and as a board you know our finances are governed by us right as the board and that's one of the most important things that we do as board members but yet in the year that I've been a part of a board member
025as a board member I have yet to see a budgeted versus actual budget so you're saying that you guys that the district you're saying that the district is managing the money and and you know tightening their their belts but yet we have never seen month-to-month budgeted versus actual we haven't even seen a year end 24 25 budgeted versus actual budget you know I mean expense you know the only time that I've seen it has been whenever we get the the um the audit you know and it's the first the first couple of audits that I've seen everything's a negative we over spent on every single little thing but as a board you know it's a failure on us because we are not but we are not seeing what the district is spending monthly know I
026mean and it's been over a year that I've been on and I haven't seen one and I've asked for them multiple times you know and and you know that's going to help the board make decisions and and where we're going >> and the meeting that we're having that you said on financial uh meeting is that something that will be discussed or recept >> a finance committee >> finance committee meeting >> uh we could present Senate there, but for what Vince is asking for, you would need the whole the whole board and the finance committee is a committee of three. >> Well, maybe we can set set up a meeting for the whole board. >> No. And I'm just kidding. So, I know that you asked for it like recently and we did present it. Uh,
027but because we're closing the year, a recommendation from Mr. Velasquez is that we wait until the audit, which >> is when we close >> 20 officially the 242. I know I request reports that I requested to be on the agendas a while back. You know that should be in there. Our monthly budgeted versus actual what we're spending monthly versus what we're budgeting. >> Is that a problem? >> Yeah. >> Budget to actual. >> Yes. You're correct. Uh the reason we're still holding it is because we're still making changes to the last year's a uh books. We're still getting uh ghost invoices as you call them. still getting all the invoices that we have to >> but that's like the official closing of the year. No, but Vince is asking more like on a monthto-month basis
028budget to actual you're talking about you're looking at that question through the lens of an audit and Vince is asking monthto-month budget to actuals >> expenditures versus revenues. Yes. or it's budgeted expenditures versus actual. >> Yeah, the report that we used to give you before. >> Yeah, it's uh still I think the expenditures are still >> but but at any time you can run that report. It it's not going to be reconciled. We get that. It's it won't be fully reconciled because you still have bills that are coming in. But at any given time, can you run a budget tax? >> How long we run a report? Well, I think that's a very important document for us to >> maintain governance over all the finances. If not, >> the possibility you run into the same
029issue. >> Sure. >> So, is it possible is my question to you >> run the those reports, but we have to run them at the end of this month for the >> and they will so when you do I just just so that there's clarity at the table when you do will they be fully reconciled at the end of the month? If they reconcile the months they will be but that month needs to be reconciled in order to run those reports >> once they are reconciled. Uh I have a difficulty understanding that part uh simply because if I may sir uh >> yes sir >> if we do a monthtomonth but we're going to compare budgeted expenses with actual expenses um unless we did something tremendous our budgeted expenses are going to be greater than
030the actual expenses for that month. We have we all understand that right? >> Yeah and that's the goal. Okay. Well, yeah. I mean, that's the way it's going to be unless, like I said, unless something extreme happens for the budgeted monies for that particular expense. Uh some extreme happens and we had to go to that and uh uh draw >> and zero it out. Uh but uh it's something to look at. U uh attached to that would be uh a monthly uh uh estimated uh actual budget because I know that uh we have our our revenues >> and eventually we're going to compare the the the expenses for that month >> and at the end it's going to show a reduction in the in the in the in the u revenue because we're deducting their
031their expenses. Uh that might not be that accurate because we might still have Are we doing um uh actual pay or acrruel? We're doing acral we use acrew uh accounting. >> Yes. >> Okay. Then it would be accurate. >> It will show what we incur the expense and it is something to look at. But we just got to keep in mind that uh here we have expenses every day. >> Every day. And some are short-term and some are long term. >> I understand that. It's just every company, every large company doesn't. I mean, it's not a hard report to run. think I mean it's should be >> my main concern has been and to me uh first of all and I'm not putting the admin I'm not putting the administration under the bus I'm not
032telling you but uh I believe that the boards have been here uh made the proper decisions based on the information that we were giving and the one area that we uh >> I've been trying to find a word for this um >> I think this is the one he's talking for whatever reason somewhere along the line the accounting of it uh misfired so it it accumulated and then we had to >> we had the adjustment >> we got the whammy >> correct >> okay and I know that that's something that uh we eventually are going to fix 100% % because we're paying more attention to it, which to me is the main thing because that's going to give us actual uh highly uh uh approximate revenue effect and that's going to help us because the
033other part I think we've done pretty well in expending what we thought we had. I mean uh so uh that that will help us at least the board because you guys see see >> I think it's happening now I mean but I understand what you what you want at this point in time uh I'm going to close the uh the uh >> the hearing uh it's already uh 6:05 uh number six uh I need a motion to adjurnn. >> motion by Sammy. Do I have a second? >> Second by Gabriel. All in favor. Okay. Motion carries and we're done with >> Thank you, Mrs. >> Recording stopped.