001Good evening everyone and welcome to the January 27th uh regular board meeting. We're going to start with the uh pledge of >> allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. We'll now work through the agenda. Board, are there any proposed changes or modifications to the agenda? All right, hearing none, we'll move on to the consent agenda. The items on the consent agenda were sent to the board and posted online last week. The board has had the opportunity to review the materials and ask the superintendent any questions they have about any items on the consent agenda. The consent agenda for this meeting includes the 11326 regular meeting, the 12026 board workshop, vouchers and payroll,
002personnel report, surplus report, contracts, field trips, November financial report, January and the January enrollment report. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Move to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Second. >> All right. Has been moved by Julie and seconded by Mark. Any discussion? All right. All in favor of adopting the consent agenda as presented, say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Nope. Okay. Motion carries. Uh, bright spots. Dr. Kalahar, I'll let you take it away. >> Excellent. Thank you very much. Our bright spots moment at each board meeting gives the school board of directors and I an opportunity to highlight and celebrate uh district work that is happening um and the educational experiences and opportunities that we're providing for our students. And u welcome in everyone. Um, welcome also
003our uh, community members and students to schoolboard appreciation night. So, we're happy to have you here and we have some fun bright spots. So, uh, we'll start off with our uh, Win High School floral class. We have some teachers and some parents and some students here and we have these beautiful arrangements here for the school board members. Um, but yeah, we'd love to hear from from you about your experience in the class and uh, and yeah, tell us a little bit about that. Let's go. Right up here to the podium, please. All right, thanks for joining us tonight >> us here tonight. Uh my name is Hannah Schneider and I teach the floral um intro floral and advanced floral program at Wanachi High School as well as the horiculture program. And so my advanced students
004today made you some arrangements and then I just have a couple kids that want to say something. >> Excellent. >> Thank you. >> Hello, my name is Trenton. I am a secondyear FFA member which goes handinhand with the floral and horiculture program. >> Um I love the horiculture and floral program for multiple reasons. Uh one of those reasons is it gives uh students a hands-on experience on good information and it gives us uh product we are able to sell. Um like uh for the horiculture we do our plant sale that gives us all the plants and our funding for FFA. Um I this these classes have given me the experience uh that I haven't gotten in middle school or even at another high school prior to Wanchi High School. Uh this is a great experience
005um and we really appreciate all the funding we get for these programs. >> Thank you. Hi, my name is Noel. I'm also a secondy year FFA member. Um, and I actually got the opportunity to make Tucker's arrangement today. Um, and I love the floral program because I've always been interested in floral and flowers, especially the horiculture program. And like Trenton said, the opportunity to be really hands-on and get to not only work with the community, but also just learn all those like super cool facts about the ecosystem and how plants work together just in general. Um, and floral, I love being creative and um, being able to put all the different colors and stuff together. So, having that chance to really use those skills in floral is awesome and being able to make things like
006this for the community. Thank you. >> EXCELLENT. >> THANKS, GUYS. YEAH. Thank you all for being here. >> Yeah. And I'll just say these are beautiful. So, thank you very much. >> Yeah. Very cool. Thanks so much. >> I would also like to acknowledge um I would say probably for the last 15 years I've attended your annual plant sale and it is it's a gem for the community what you guys are able to produce. If you guys haven't gone, you need to go because it's nothing that you find in this alley. Um so, um good job, Hannah. Um and keep up the good work and thank you. >> Excellent. Yeah, thank you very much for being here tonight. Thank you for the arrangements. Uh what a great celebration of our school board. We appreciate it.
007Um also, we have um uh we have our ASBs here. So, we always get to hear from uh Wanche High School or Westside High School and tonight we have Orchard Middle School as well. So, um, go go ahead. Lion is on on our way. So, you got it. You take us. >> All right. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for having me here tonight. As we head into our new year, ASB has already hit the ground running. From promoting winter sports to planning schoolwide events and fundraisers, our focus has been on bringing students together and keep keeping school spirit strong. Our spirit team has focused on supporting and promoting our winter sports season. We kicked off the season with a winter sports kickoff during lunch to build excitement and school spirit. Since then, spirit members have
008consistently shown up to basketball games, practicing and building up the energy we plan to bring to our largest winter event. A major focus this season has been litterbox ASB's annual fundraiser basketball competition between WACI and Eastmon in support of the Makea-Wish Foundation, which will be on February 10th at our Wanachi High School gym. Much of our time has been dedicated to planning and preparing for this event, including visiting local businesses to collect donations, organizing the litterbox assembly and creating a spirit week leading up to the game. These efforts help increase participation, awareness, and schoolwide involvement. In addition to event planning, publicity has been a strong focus. We have worked to stay active on social media, ensuring the events are constantly posted and not missed across WHS media platforms. This includes promoting upcoming events such as
009litter box and panther palooa. We have al also focused on keeping winter sports visible and upto-date by posting themes, game times, and reminders. Promotions include creating flyers, social media post, and slides to displayed on TVs throughout the school to help spread awareness and encourage attendance. ASB has also been prepping for the annual Janice Brown talent show in February with all funds going towards supporting a community member. Additionally, we hosted Cocoa Cafe, an event we have not held since CO. This event gave students opportunity to enjoy hot chocolate and work on studying before finals, creating a welcoming and supportive environment for everyone. Senior Senate has actively been working on planning and hosting senior movie night, which is tonight, creating an opportunity for seniors to connect and spend time together. In addition, we have began developing the
010graduation timeline and preparing for upcoming required for the upcoming required graduation meeting. Our team has also been planning for graduation speakers and finalizing the list of CA candidates that will be presented to the senior class for voting. Alongside this, we have been collaborating with the senior parent group to plan graduation celebrations and events, as well as working to publicize these opportunities to ensure strong participation and awareness. Junior Senate has secured approval for several upcoming fundraisers, finalized the theme for prom, and began planning decorations. We have been in contact with the Wachi Valley College regarding plans to host prom at the WVC student recreation center as well as coordinating with our DJ. The sophomore senate has been working on finalizing plans for panther palooa including setting a day and communicating with participating food trucks and musical
011groups. This event will showcase student talent and provo provide an exciting experience for school community. Meanwhile, the diversity team focused on planning and conducting research um and planning the Martin Luther King assembly, identifying meaningful activities and content. This has al they have also began bl brainstorming future initiatives including a multicultural potluck that would celebrate the diversity of our school through our food and culture. Overall, ASB is starting the new year in full swing with strong collaboration, consistent promotion, and exciting events ahead. We are looking forward to continuing to bring energy, connection, and school spirit to our students and community. We look forward to seeing everyone at these events. And if you have any questions, I'll answer those now. And I know that was a lot, but they've been working really. We've been working really hard.
012So, >> sounds like it. That's great. Uh, you're probably headed to a movie here pretty soon. Is that right? >> Yes. >> What what what movie is >> um Surfs Up. >> Okay. Surfs Up. All right. and um the senior class had the opportunity to like nominate movies and vote on them. So, it was super cool. So, yeah. >> Very nice. Thank you so much. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Y >> All right. That was good. >> Okay. We'll jump over to Westside with Gwen Castello is here. Thank you, Gwen. >> I just want to say thank you for having me here tonight. So, my name is Gwen Costello and I'm the vice president of the Westside Leadership Club and our next wellness day will be in February 11th. It's called Skills for Life. So,
013it consists of car emergencies, car maintenance, basic first aid, basic house repairs and fire safety and um preparedness, hiking, camping and preparation. growing, howing, how to grow a garden, child and baby care, and so much more. We will have staff members, community members, and as well business owners who will be teaching the classes. Students will be able to choose five to 14 sessions that they are able to attend. And next week is our national school counselors week and we are excited to celebrate our counselors Heather Rosa and Jonathan Godina. They are the livelihood of our school and we really appreciate the work that they do for us and their families as well. So that is next week and on February 10th we will be taking a we will be taking three suburbans full of students
014to a field trip on Perry Technical Institute to Yakama. And it is a huge huge thank you to CTE pathway coordinator Mrs. Murray for putting all of the career connected field trips together for us this year. So, thank you, Miss Murray. And on February 13th, Sage Hills will be catering our high rollers lunch on. And this lunchon is for every student her who earned two or more credits each semester. So, Sage Hills sponsors this lunchon for three years each year for about 10 years now. And finally, we are very proud to announce Westside Jr. Maline Sutton has earned first place in quickserve restaurant management and qualified for the state DECA conference. Sophomore Skyler Simon received a top top six medal for her exam score in retail merchandising. And Kaden Carbajal represented Westside in quicks serve
015restaurant management and with a strong strong performance. We congratulate our team and thank our DECA adviserss, Mr. Brandt and Mrs. Day, for encouraging and helping those three students. And this brings me to the end of our update. If you have any questions, I would gladly answer them right now. Thank you. >> Great job, Gwen. >> Thank you. >> Uh, all right. And uh we we typically hear once a month from our high schools, but this uh this month we have our middle school. Orchard Middle School is here. So please join us and tell us what's happening at Orchard Middle School. Look at this group. I love it. >> All right. Hi, I am Maddie. I am Orchard's ASB advisor and just giving you some insight. Um today you're going to hear from eight out of
01610 of our officers and they were elected last year in the spring. So, they're all seventh and eighth graders. Um, they're excited to be here and try something new and hopefully we get more opportunities like this. So, I'm just going to let them go. >> Are we introducing ourselves? >> Okay. My name is Ariel and I am one of the presidents at Orchard Middle School. >> My name is Alexis and I'm one of your secretaries. My name is Caruso and I'm vice president at Orchard Middle School. >> My name is Eli and I'm another vice president at Orchard Middle School. >> My name is Theo Jackson and I'm a treasurer at Orchard Middle School. >> Uh I'm Max Meer and I'm the other treasure at Orchard. >> I'm Micah Barry and I'm one of the
017secretaries at Orchard Middle School. I'm Dean. I'm speaker. >> First we'd like to talk um first we'd like to talk about spirit weeks. This year we are focusing on making spirit weeks more inclusive and engage engaging for all students. We planned a broad range of themed days so more students can participate in ways that feel comfortable for them. In addition to themed days, ASB also organizes lunchtime activities and events during spirit week so students can have more opportunities to get involved, connect with friends, and show school spirit. We make sure to celebrate all the students who participate a not just competition we um winners so spirit weeks feel fun, positive and welcoming for everyone. >> Uh next we want to share about our school assemblies. Our goal is to create assemblies that actively involve both
018participants and the audience. Um we we include interactive activities that help build a sense of inclusion and school pride. We also use assemblies as a time to recognize hardworking students celebrating positive behavior leader and leadership across grade levels. Another important event we helped lead was sixth grade day on the first day of school. ASB students led two assemblies to welcome our incoming six sixth graders. We also join student groups as they travel across different stations around the campus, helping them learn more about Orchard, our expectations in our community. This helped new students feel more comfortable and connected from day one. We also want to highlight how ASB is giving back to the community. Before winter break, ASB helped put together food baskets for families in need. Orchard staff and students worked together to organize and
019sort boxes that were given to families. This was a meaningful way for students to support our community and show care for one another. Next, we would like to talk about student council. This year, we introduced the student council as a new leadership opportunities to get more students involved. Last spring, we had so much entrance in ASB elections that we were able to have two officers for each position. The student council now gives additional students who are interested in leaderships a change a change chance to participate, share ideas and support school activities. We meet as a student council at least once a quarter. Finally, we'd like to share an upcoming event that we're that we're excited about. ASB is hosting a talent show on March 4th. This event will give students the opportunity to showcase their
020talents, build confidence, and come together as a school community to support one another. Overall, ASB is focused on creating opportunities for students to feel included in our school community. Thank you for your time and for support for support supporting students leadership at Orchard. In honor um honor of school board appreciation month, we put together this poster to say thank you. Thanks, guys. >> Yes. Thank you, Orchard Middle School. Uh we appreciate uh your leadership, the inclusivity, and bringing the sixth graders in the right way. So, thank you for sharing with us, and we hope to have you in future uh future board meetings. Thank you, uh, Principal Royster, Assistant Principal Edison, and, uh, Maddie, thank you for joining us as well. Appreciate it. >> All right, that'll be a tough act to follow for citizen
021comments, but Kim, do we have any? And we don't have to worry about it. Um, and then goes back to you, Corey, for special presentations. >> Excellent. Well, thank you everyone. >> Have a great night. Mhm. >> That was great. Well, welcome to uh school >> the rest of the meeting. >> School board appreciation night. Now that our bright spots are over, this is still going to be a bright spot. Um, so, um, and I I'm going to I'll walk you through each of the each of the items that are on the wall here a little bit, but I just want to share some words. Um, each January, Washington pauses to recognize the extraordinary service of our local school board members. Uh, community leaders who step forward not for recognition, but out of deep belief
022in the promise of public education. Their work can sometimes be quiet and behind the scenes and other times it can be uh robust and filled with comment. Uh yet in each situation the work carries immense responsibility. School board members represent their neighbors. They listen with care and they lead with conviction ensuring our schools remain strong, responsive and focused on what matters most, our students who all just left. Um, school school board service takes courage and these volunteers sitting with me face complex decisions about learning, safety, staffing, budgets, enrollment like tonight, um, and long-term planning, often under uh, public pressure, and with limited resources. They also do this while balancing their lives, their careers, their families, their personal obligations, showing up meeting after meeting because they believe every child deserves opportunity, dignity, and hope. Their volunteer
023leadership is a powerful reminder that public education is a shared commitment shaped by community voice and strengthened through democratic responsibility. So during uh the schoolboard recognition month, we honor the time and the sacrifice, the steadfast dedication of our school board members uh that they give to our students, staff, families uh across our district. Their service helps protect the future of our communities by ensuring schools are places where every learner can grow, thrive, and succeed. So to our school board members, thank you for your brave leadership, your courageous advocacy, and your unwavering belief in the people that you serve. And so as you can see throughout the room we have several schools and departments that are sharing their appreciation with you. Um so behind you may have seen each of you has a framed picture from
024Louiswis and Clark. Um you have the rest of the portraits there from uh from Mission View. Over here we have a Westside poster uh thanking the school board. And then next to that we then have John Newberry Elementary and all the hands um that are supporting you as well. Uh then we move on to uh the first uh the first mission view entry over there on the fourth grade uh classroom. And then next to that is the flowers that are blooming is from Lewis and Clark and Pioneer has their poster over there as Bears um helping your the school board is helping Pioneer Soar. And then we have Sunny Slope behind Kelly. And then we have another Mission View uh kinder classroom there. And then if we keep going to the right, there's a Mission
025View TK classroom where the students wrote their names and it's super cute. You're going to have to check that out. All of our fourth graders spelling their names. Um, then there's a transportation poster and then another Mission View classroom. So, um, thank you for everything that you do. We appreciate you and your volunteerism and your deep commitment to public education. Love it. Um, and we have a we have a special treat for you after the board meeting that you can take your flowers to. So, we'll have >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Um, >> and next, that is your treat. Um, >> next we have two presentations from Executive Director of Business and Finance, Sean Fitzgerald. So, we're just going to introduce him once for both presentations. And, uh, he realizes that he he's the main event.
026He's got it. He's got it covered. He's ready to go. Thanks, Sean. All right, there you go. Thank you. It's buzzing. One second. Got to do our little test drive first. There we go. Perfect. All right. Good evening, uh, President Jackson, members of the board, and Dr. Kalahar. It's great to be here tonight to, uh, uh, present on two, uh, presentations tonight. The first one will be our legislative update. This will be the first of three and then followed by, uh, an update on enrollment forecasting. Uh so just to start off with our background, the state legislature is required by the state constitution to meet on the second Monday of January. Uh so this fell on Monday, January 12th this year. Um and so we have two se and then the legislature works on a
027bianium so 257. So they passed their budget LA during the 25 2025 regular session. Um and then they meet again for 2026 uh for the supplemental budget. Uh so first they operate under two sessions. The first type is the long session where they do um create the two-year budget. Uh this lasts 105 days. Uh so it goes starts in January and it ends in late April. Uh and then the second year which we are in is the short session. This lasts 60 days where they discuss the supple supplemental budget. Uh and then finally although the legislature is required to begin and end the legislative session uh based on the constitution they can also enter in what is called a special session after the regular session ends and those can last up to 30 days each.
028So it's not just in case of if it you know the legislative session did go into a special session um it'd be 30 days and then they could have another special session that could go 30 days etc. Um so they have that option. Uh so again uh as mentioned before we are in a short session. Uh so the benefits of a short session is that 60 days moves fast. Um so we know what the you know if everything goes according to plan and they don't go into special session. Uh we tend to know uh where we're going to the state's going to end up with uh funding school districts for the next school year. Uh so that helps us make our budget decisions earlier in the school year uh rather than waiting until the end
029of April. Uh the drawbacks, well 60 days moves fast. So it's a double-edged sword. So again, even though they are having a lot of budget discussions this year, they're not going to be as substantive as they would in a long session. So they operate uh they have cut off, they have deadlines. Uh so things you know start off in um you know the respective house and senate committees and then they have to move bills through in the first two or three weeks before they move uh to the floor and then they have to go back and forth uh with between the house and the senate. So in that time they're trying to move through a lot of bills. There's not going to be a lot of discussion uh and tends to be more policybased. Uh
030just a recap of what happened in the 2025 session. Uh probably one of the biggest things uh for the school districts in general was in special education. So the enrollment funding cap was lifted. Uh so in prior years uh this has always been something that's caused me anxiety because special educa they've always put a cap on our special education funding. Uh and the cap was 16% of your overall district enrollment. And so we were always slowly approaching that limit. Um and then you know as soon as you reach that limit uh the state would stop providing funding for you. So you would have to look for alternative sources of revenue. Um in this case you know maybe additional levy funds. Uh but the state had you know had that strict cap. Last year it was
031lifted. Uh they also did a uniform funding system. So I mean I think they implemented this change um maybe five or six years ago. So they split out the funding system depending on uh how much time a special education student spent in the general education classroom. So the it was like greater than or equal to 80% if you if they were in a general ed general education classroom this district would receive greater funding uh and then less funding if they spent less than 80% of that time. They've done away with those requirements. They combine the two systems. So it doesn't m u regardless of student time in a general education classroom, everyone's going to receive the same funding. Um MSO, again, this is all, you know, materials, supplies, and operating costs. Again, year after year,
032um WA was and other school districts. Um this is always there's always a funding bill for this. Um part of the big three. Bill will go into more detail on that later, but always looking for funding increases in this area uh to keep up with inflationary costs. Uh there were several bills both in the House and Senate last year uh that had proposed um you know significant increases in an MSOC which would have been greatly welcome and then also talk of actually tying MSOC funding to an actual um inflation um inflation rate either IPD or CPI. Um however as that bill progressed through committees in the House and the Senate uh compromises are made and the funding was pulled back and so we did get some funding increases but not as originally proposed and then
033unfortunately there was no uh tying to in annual inflation. So they what is called kind of the back-end approach. So they kind of look like okay what do we have left in our budget that we could fund MOC and then just plug that in. Uh so anytime they're funding MSOC, it's not tied to inflation. Uh we also saw increases both to the local levy lid and some increases in in funding to local effort assistant uh assistance related to inflation. Then also as site I mean clean buildings energy act we're always paying attention to this. Uh there were some alternative metrics adopted uh with some financial hardship exemptions passed in that. Um other things uh significant items related to the district uh pupil transportation. So again a funding bill uh was proposed last year to increase
034pupil transportation. As you know we used about roughly $500,000 in levy funds to help fund pupil transportation and we would have liked to see this uh bill pass. So that would you know take away from levy funds and actually have the state funding pupil transportation uh changings. So proposed changes to the funding model did not pass. So the status quo remains. Uh there was a lot of talk last year about the simple majority bill. There was uh but unfortunately that did not pass either. So the the supermajority of 60% remains. Uh another area of contention sales tax and services. Uh so the legislature you know uh passed a wide array of tax increases last year. One of them was on services uh which also impacts school districts. Uh there is a bill this year uh
035to kind of carve out an exemption for school districts or at least to mitigate the impact of those taxes. Uh transition to kindergarten enrollment was capped at 2425 enrollment levels. And then capital budget there was cuts to planning grants and construction funding. Moving on to 2026. Um, generally, you know, going into the governor's budget proposals, generally we don't pay, I wouldn't say a lot, you know, pay attention to it, but the governor's budget proposal, you know, it's the legislature that's driving it. And the governor does release his annual budget in December, kind of his budget proposal in December. uh you kind of see where he's coming from, but ultimately it's kind of where the legislature is kind of driving the budget process. Uh but we did pay more close attention to his proposal this year
036because Governor Ferguson was actually proposing education reductions. And so some of our concerns are the elimination of the planned increase to local effort assistance. Uh this one is concerning because last year as I mentioned they passed an increase in this funding uh just to adjust for inflation. Um and the great thing about LEA is, you know, we rely on this funding instead of going out for a higher levy. And so we plan around this funding. Um and so it's kind of concerning that last year they're passing an increase and then this year the governor is proposing a roll back of it. Another area of concern is transition to kindergarten. Um, every year there always seems to be uh Olympia is always looking at limiting you know a few years ago there was a proposal to
037eliminate TK altogether and as we know they put a cap on the enrollment last year and now the governor is proposing a 25% reduction in statewide in TK slots. Uh so again paying close attention uh to what the legislature wants to do with TK uh running start rate reduction so 1.4 4 to 1.2. So that would be less funding for running start. And then extension of school bus depreciation to 15 years. So again reducing near-term transportation funding when it relates to um purchasing buses. And then reduction to a couple of grants uh related to professional development for admin and principles. So areas of focus. Uh so this year um state budget um shortfall has been projected of $2.3 billion. So the legislator legislature is looking at cuts and not increases to cover this deficit. Other
038areas is the state income tax. The governor has proposed a tax on personal AGI above $1 million. Uh also of area of interest is what we call the big three. Uh these are areas where state funding is insufficient to meet current needs. So, special education, uh, pupil transportation and MSOC as I've already mentioned. Uh, again, TK again the governor's proposal to cut enrollment. And then looking at um, you know, we have the governor's proposal on an LEA roll back, but there's also legislation about both increasing LEA funding and increasing uh, the levy rate from two 250 per thousand to $3. And then another area is just unfunded and underfunded mandates. Um so according to WA was you know since about 2017 uh the state has passed the state legislature has passed over 100 you know
039mandates for school districts um you know whether it's finance or education curriculum etc uh that we have to comply with um that the state has not provided funding with. I mean, for us, you know, the biggest one is the clean energy clean energy act. You know, we're able to fund that because we have the assistance of our local PUB uh to assist us with that, but the state is not providing any sort of assistance uh to school districts uh to comply with that act. So getting down into detail for certain bills. Uh so we have House Bill 2160 and its companion in the Senate 58.83 83. And this re uh relates to SEB eligibility. And this kind of goes under the unfunded mandate uh bullet point in the previous slide, but basically the proposal is
040uh benefits eligibility in the sub program is presumed at the start of a school year if the school employee worked at least 630 hours in the prior school year and returns to the same type of position with any employer. Um so just the issue with this bill again, it's an unfunded mandate. assumes district will cover the cost without additional state funding and presumes the district is tracking potential employee hours from the prior year even if they worked at a different school district or different employer. Uh so a lot of the language in this bill right now is very vague and I think a lot of the discussion has been um around clarifying what you know what is going into this bill, how is it calculated, how is it being tracked. So that's the current discussion
041on this bill. Uh we also have Senate Bill 5918. So again, another MSOC funding bill. Uh so again, this bill would propose to increase MSOC by $100 per pupil or $100,000 per district, whichever is greater uh to help districts close the funding gap related to MSOC. Again, this would be a welcome bill. Um but what I'm hearing u just been uh on legislative updates from both WA was um this bill does not have a lot of traction. It seems in the committee it's basically the push back is you know we're in a budget deficit. We don't have the money to fund this bill. Uh so not a lot of high confidence in this bill progressing this year. Uh updating House Bill 2116 updating school enrichment funding. So I mentioned earlier uh increasing le beginning in
0422030 increasing the maximum levy rate from $2.50 to $3 per $1,000 of assessed value and then also increasing beginning in 2030 increasing the local assistance uh local effort assistant rate from $150 to $2 and then actually using um the consumer price index as our inflationary measure as opposed to the implicit price deflator. So translation that would be more funding uh because CPI is generally a higher uh usually operates on a higher rate than the IPD. Uh we have House Joint Resolution 4201 again lowering the bond threshold from the supermajority of 60% to the simple majority. We'll pay again another year we'll pay a close attention to see how this progresses. Uh we also have Senate Bill 6113 and its companion House Bill 2257. Uh so again this is leading to addressing Senate Bill 5814 which
043was the tax on the school district for professional services. So again this would be a welcome bill because it would provide exemption for school districts. uh so they would not be taxed on these services uh related to technology or professional development that you know before last year's legislative session we were not taxed on um as I mentioned um in the last board meeting in discussing minimum fund balance um at the time OSPI had a draft bill but now we have a house bill 29 uh for maximum and minimum fund balance for reserves so beginning in in the 203031 school year uh depending on your enrollment size. So we would qualify under the first bullet point 2000 uh FTE or more uh six so we would have to set aside 6% to 12% of the district's
044prior year state aortionment and then if you're a small school district of less than 2,000 FTE 8 to 34% um basically it's kind of and then OSPI is going to be calculating that amount for us and then it would be classified as restricted fund balance so again could only be used for certain purposes. is related to fund balance reserves. Uh 2551 house bill maintaining the financial solveny of school districts. Uh so for those school districts in binding conditions which OSPI defines as having a fund balance of 3% of its estimated total current year revenues. Um, you know, you can submit a proposal to uh Chris Reichdoll and um you can sell property uh to restore financial uh stability uh and prevent adverse impacts to student learning. >> Will would OSPI be able to mandate that
045or is it is it the district's choice to sell land or is it >> it would be the district's choice to sell >> force like fire sale on everything around? No, I don't I don't think this is uh Chris Reichd Doll uh exercising eminent domain. Um >> I was like Chris. >> Um no, the pro Go ahead. Sorry. >> No, no. Okay, that Thank you. I just was like that seems like maybe that's not where you want to go. >> Um no, a school district would propose like through a resolution. >> Yes. Um any questions about the bills at hand? So, the bond's back. >> Bond's back. >> Um, was the were the buses 10 years before? They said extension to 15 years for the transportation. Do you know what they're >> I do not
046I know I know our director of transportation is watching right now. So, I will reach out to our tomorrow and get you an answer for that. >> Okay, cool. Thank you. >> Just I have a quick question. You may not know um but if the state mandates our minimum fund balance and so we maintain just their lowest minimum, does that impact potentially our credit rating and whatnot for like bonding or anything? Because now instead of being responsible and choosing our own limit, we are now forced to have this restricted fund and if we choose the lesses the the least amount of the restricted fund now it looks worse than if we had a higher restricted fund. I >> Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, um, just looking at the face of it, yeah, I
047mean, it could possibly if we're changing our reserves based on a state mandate, I mean, you could definitely make the case if we're presenting that to Moody's that we're operating within state law. U, but it would definitely be a change if we were to be more conservative or wanted to hold on to more reserves. I have a question and you might not know the answer or you may or may not um and it's not related to this >> um but um if there is a federal shutdown because of the budget >> um would that impact us uh for this year? >> Uh it would depend. Um, you know, I haven't heard anything about what areas would be impacted. And I say that cuz last year we were kind of getting regular updates about where and
048when we could be impacted in certain areas. It seems right now um that's kind of an unknown. Um and so it's just going to we're going to have to see what what gets passed and what doesn't get passed on Friday. Yeah. Um so next board meeting so again this is the first of three. Um hope have a next uh update on February 24th and give you an update to see where these bills are progressing and then kind of a final presentation on March 24th. Uh hopefully we'll not be in special session and that the legislature had passed a supplemental budget on March 12th. All right, any other questions? All right. Thank you. All right, moving on to our enrollment forecasting update. Uh so just some background. Um again the data uh we've been having uh
049these conversations on a regular basis and this is just showing um what we've been discussing in the last 12 months. Um so again we had a large you know the last update was on October 28th u kind of did an in-depth analysis of our enrollment as of October and updated our forecasting. Uh and then again I present a lot of our uh enrollment data during both our official and preliminary budget and then in March you know we heard uh from MGT our demographer uh formerly of Davis demographics and then last year at this time we had a board workshop on our 2425 enrollment. Uh so again consistent and regular updates on enrollment both at our regular board meetings and workshops and then just future enrollment uh updates. Uh so I confirmed with Marcy her uh
050our demographer with MGT. She will be coming on March 24th to present her updated numbers and then you know kind of consistent with our cycle uh provide more in-depth uh enrollment analysis and forecasting uh in June and August and you know update our numbers from budget to actual in October for 26 27th school year. Uh so background again state funding is primarily driven by enrollment and makes up about 75% of district funding. Uh and as you are aware our budget FTE drives our state aortionment funding from September through December and then it's adjusted on actual enrollment in January. Um our historically September is our lowest count of the year uh just because we don't have running start hasn't started yet. And then October is historically our highest count of the year. And then overall generally
051uh gradually declines um throughout the school year. And then again the focus is on our actual like bas basic education transition to kindergarten alternative learning. We do discuss running start and open doors but the focus is on those other areas because those are the ones driving our funding and the other funds are passed through. Uh so just kind of a reminder slide. um when Marcy comes next in um in March, uh you're going to notice um differences when you're reviewing her report uh versus what I you know what I present and kind of the biggest reason is I use FTE full-time equivalent. She's going to be using our headcount. Uh so you can see on the right hand side just the difference you know looking at the October 2025 data you can see just the
052variance uh between our headcount and FTE is about you know 251 FTE and again that's just due to again full-time equivalent is how much time a student is spending in the classroom. So a student could spend, you know, you know, a partial amount of their day in the classroom and be counted as a 0.5 FTE, but based on the headcount, they be would be counted as, you know, a full 1.0. Uh, so that's where you're kind of seeing those differences. I focus on FTE because that's what drives our funding. Um, one of the things that MGD, MGT does, I look at the school enrollment. They're focused on enrollment by residency. uh sort of looking at where students are, you know, the vicinity of where they live, where they reside, and whereas the school district is
053looking at what school they're going to. Uh and then MGT projections are based on the total. So again, on the right hand side, they're going to be using that total number. You know, district, we're going to be breaking out running start, open doors, TK, BEA. Um but ultimately it is the same data source and the numbers are different but the trends are the same. >> Sean, can I just so school versus residency does that mean that if someone's in our boundary but going to Eastmont she's going to count them as ours? >> Um that's a good question for her. I mean I would say she's definitely So now I'm thinking back some of her prior reports. So yes, and she would identify that students are like, yes, this student resides in here, but they're actually
054outside of the school district. Okay? >> You know, or they're going to a different school within our in within the district. >> Correct? Uh again, a familiar slide just comparing birth rates and kindergarten. Uh so as we can see, we're in the 25 26 school year. Um, again, we don't have 2025 birth rates. Um, you know, it was nice, you know, hopefully we'll get those in the summer, uh, like we got our 2024 birth rates just in time for the budget hearing. Um, but this is the most up-to-date data we have available from the Department of Health, uh, related to birth rates on the top line. Um, so again, paying attention, you know, there's this correlation between birth rates and kindergarten. And so in 2425 to 2526 we see that decrease in the birth rates.
055And so we saw a corresponding decrease in our enrollment. Um previously I've been showing you um you know October data put us at 381 with the methodology. It's showing kind of an gradual uptick in our kindergarten enrollment and thinks we're going to finish at you know 386. So up five FTE. Um but as we can see for the next few years we're seeing a gradual decline continuing decline in birth rates not as substantial as prior year but still a decline uh before back increasing with the 2024 birth rates which are factoring into the 2930 school year. And again just for comparison you know we're projected to finish at 386 and looking at at Eastmon's kindergarten they're at 397. Um just a slight update again, another familiar slide um that we've seen as recently last week
056or last board meeting, excuse me. Um the only change here um is that there's been very little change between kind of updating the October enrollment to the actual projection. So we're still seeing the overall decline between 2425 school year up to 2930. Um previously it was at 884. just updating the numbers still puts us just a difference of about 3 FTE. Uh so again things are um remaining consistent in the projection realm. Again here are the same numbers um just in just a breakout by grade levels. Again continuing to pay attention uh to the decline in the 500 plus FTE courses as they move through elementary. Then they get to middle school at the sixth grade level. And then we see some of our larger classes uh seventh grade and beyond. As they move through
057into high school and graduate, they are being replaced uh by smaller kindergarten classes. So again, you know, 26 27488 versus 376 at kindergarten. You know, 12th grade and 2728 is a 500 versus 369. So again, we're seeing this decrease in enrollment just because graduating classes are leaving which are larger than the incoming kindergarten classes. Again, the only change here is basically with our year-end projection for 2526, you know, with our October data, uh was showing about a decrease of 86 FTE from prior year. Uh that's gone down to 114. Um that was kind of expected. Again, it's, you know, aligned with historical trends that throughout, you know, we peak in October and then our enrollment gradually declines throughout the school year. And then again, just kind of updating looking at the numbers in a different
058format and seeing the impact at the different grade levels and our school levels. Um, again, not much change from what you've previous previously seen uh for the next five years. And again, we have our long-term enrollment forecasting. Again, subject to change. You know, again, the focus is on the first um you know, again, those five years we've been looking at in detail. Uh but again, if we were just assuming we had stable birth and capture rates and we had consistent 400 FTE at our kindergarten levels, uh we would not see enrollment stabilization until the 203738 school year. And again, even if we had a stable and continuous um enrollment class each year, again, it's just those larger classes moving through the system and graduating until we reach some sort of stability. And so again, this
059is a long-term forecast and we'll be updating it, you know, as we get more data, but I probably wouldn't see a significant change in this data until next school year as we get more birth you getting um the 2025 birth rates and see how that impacts our capture rates and the birth rates. Those are kind of what are primarily uh driving this long-term forecast. Uh so if we saw an increase in those over the next year, um you know, the slope would improve. Uh but it it's going to be it's still going to take some time for the system to you know process and move through to the smaller classes. So in summary um again forecast 2526 enrollment projected to decline during the school year but overall forecast remains unchanged and then enrollment decline during
060the school year is normal and consistent with historical trends. Um, again with birth rates, you know, we're seeing some stabilization at our birth rate level in the 2829 school year, but it will take uh several years later uh for overall enrollment to stabilize as graduating classes are replaced by smaller kindergarten classes and they move through the system. uh looking at capture rates um you know based on the methodology we saw a slight increase in the capture rate just based on the methodology by 76 to 77% 1% generally translates to 5 FTE and then again projections are conservative so we're not factoring in any sort of possible growth scenarios we may be implementing um you know at the end of the school year for beginning of next school year so again this is conservative um you
061know and once the scenarios kind of come into place, we can provide updated data. Any questions? >> So if I when I talk to principal jelling at Valley and she says, you know, I have a wait list for next year, we're not adding that into the projections. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> Yeah. And I will I'll add as just a comment. Um, and this is, you know, the work that Sean does with our enrollment projections is great and his methodology is is sound and it's spot on. So, we appreciate all of that. We are working very hard on combating that curve and doing everything we can to increase uh FTE and enrollment and uh to reach out to our community and um see what the needs are and what would bring people uh to our
062district. So continuing that is the good work. That is the um you know the competitive edge that we want to have as a school district. But um I think thank you for clarifying that. >> Mhm. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thanks Sean. >> Uh okay. So we've got our special presentations down. Uh we have an action tonight. Uh resolution number 126, a resolution to transfer funds from the general fund to the capital projects fund for the Wachi Valley Technical Skills Center. Do a motion to approve this resolution. >> Move to approve resolution number 0226 transferring capital transferring funds from the general fund to the capital projects fund for the Wachi Valley Tech uh skills center. >> Do it. Do it. Let me say second. So to do okay >> crushing it. Nice work from everyone
063here hearing from your legislative representative. >> All right. It has been moved by Julie and seconded by Caroline. Any discussion? >> Just for clarification purposes. Is this 0126 or 0226? >> 0226. >> Oh, sorry. That was >> No, the motion was correct. It's just the agenda says 01. >> All right. Apologies. >> From the actual resolution. 0226. Nice work, Julie. And good catch. Um, I would I would just reiterate this. We talked about this last board meeting. This is not we're not spending districts money. This is we're putting money into the capital budget uh capital fund to allow us to draw down um to pay for the the um construction and then it will be reimbursed to the district. So, we're not spending district money. We're just this is a placeholder until the state pays
064us back. So just for everyone out there in TV land. >> So all in favor of approving this resolution say. >> I have a further comment. And just my for clarification, this is the only time we need to >> approve this and make this transfer correct because then we'll have like a rolling system or this automatically approves us to make these transfers back and forth as needed potentially. >> That's correct, Sean. Right. >> Yes. >> Okay. Okay, thanks. So, all in favor of approving this resolution, say I. I. >> I. >> Any opposed? All right. Motion carries. Uh, moving on. Our next order of business is the superintendent report. >> Excellent. Thank you very much. I had some fun experiences last week. One, uh, Eric and I were able to go, uh, last Wednesday to
065Lewis and Clark's parent evening. Uh we watched his parents and a few students uh all worked through uh different stations uh with the principal and the dual language coach and our multilingual coordinator and they were moving through different uh groups and stations based on the dual language advisory committee work. So mission statements, vision statements, what is the seal of biiteracy and how do students get that? Um and then like just global aspects of bilingualism, biculturalism and biiteracy. So it was it was a great evening. Um, and so that was wonderful. Uh, last week's, uh, monthly superintendent advisory council meeting, uh, ended up, uh, it was a little bit poor planning. We had all of our Westside students and two Wanche High School students because they had their fourth period final during that week. So, it
066was great that they were prioritizing their education. Um, uh, but we still had a great time. We reviewed, um, the, uh, the board meeting on January 13th. Mika Campbell was with us when we had that board meeting. So, she gave her highlights of the meeting. Uh we al also summarized a list of student engagement activities uh around the bond and how we can engage our students um in that process. And then we uh briefly discussed a plan to potentially create a student bond assembly that they can take uh not only to the high school but also to the middle schools to uh further engage students in that process. Um, and then I saw the most unique final last week uh at the uh at the PUD's main boardroom. Daniel Deal's energy management class uh was
067given a challenge, the clean energy challenge from the PUD uh where each uh student group had a budget of $500 million and they had to build a clean energy plan around that. Uh they had to build the plan, they had to include the property where the plan would be um uh implemented. they had to go through the permitting process and cooperate with local governments involved. Um so those students were really uh living big six number six real and relevant learning. It was and so the three uh the three um presentations that were uh voted on by the classes the best actually presented to the PUD. So it was super fun. Uh we also had a restructuring committee last night. Um, and so we went over some of the items that the restructuring committee had brainstormed
068in December uh about how to potentially uh do some restructuring and some stackable ideas for the district. Each team went through not only the pros and cons of these ideas, but also how much I each idea could potentially save the district uh financially or how much it could drive enrollment as well. So, we had a great discussion. Um, and we're working on getting that group uh ready to present to the board this spring. Uh, we had some we have a community volunteer and we have two staff volunteers that are ready to present. So, we're going to work collaboratively to get them here. So, that'll be excellent. And then just a reminder, Thursday uh is our next migrant family night at Wanche High School in the new commons. Uh, and uh student threat assessment coordinator Hunter
069McClody will be there. She's going to be talking about worrisome behaviors on social media, substance abuse, and gang awareness at that meeting. So, please join us. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Corey. Um, that leads us to board communication. Caroline, do you want to start us off? >> I don't got nothing. I've been >> very slow. >> Go easy. >> Yeah. >> Julie. >> Yeah. I don't have much either. I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that January is almost over and we're halfway through a school year. Um, I do want to say thank you though to all the students and the administrators who helped the students put together these beautiful posters and and flower baskets and whatnot. It's it's humbling and it's what we do this work for is for our students.
070So, I I very much appreciate it. So, thank you Mark. Uh just a reminder that the high school is putting on the importance of being earnest. Tickets are not on sale yet, but mark your calendars for March 12th through the 21st. Yeah, I attended the multicultural fest couple weeks ago at the it was actually a little over a week ago at the museum um MLK weekend and I saw the performance from the Louiswis and Clark Florico dance group as well as Mariachi Wanachi. It was a really well attended event. Um and I love to see um you know a lot of the main performers were students from uh our school district. Um and Martin, our former board member, was recognized for the Uplift Award. Um there was there was three finalists and um they couldn't
071decide among the committee, so all three of them received the award. Um but I think Martin, you know, was a great example of um the work of a school board member that's retired. Side note. And then um I want to uh just highlight um a community concern um just again um with our um with just what's been happening in our country and um and I think um there's a lot of anxiety right now given everything that's happened the last several weeks. Um, and just I know we talked about this um, probably a year ago. Um, but it feels like what we talked about in the information that that um, public schools, higher education was putting out doesn't really apply anymore. Um, because now it seems like there's no limits. Um, and I think it's important
072that we as a school district acknowledge our community. Um, obviously we can't promise to keep him safe or that we're going to keep uh ICE uh agents off of our schools. That that was um a law back or it still is, but is it being applied? Um and so there's a lot of fear. I actually had I was at Starbucks the other last week and a teacher said, "Hey, can um can ice come onto into our schools?" And the reality is that I don't know how to answer that because I don't know what rules apply anymore, right? Um so, you know, just remember to check in on your neighbors. There's a lot of people that are can't walk their kids to school because of the fear. Um it's very clear that they're targeting large events
073um or events where people congregate. Um, so I think it's important to just kind of send a reminder to our to our our not just our families and our students, but also our employees that, hey, um, you know, we're here to provide support, uh, whatever that looks like, community resources. Um, and just to check in on your neighbors. >> Thanks, Maria. It's a good reminder for all of us. Um, I somber now. I'm like I went to the SACE meeting uh with the other six uh high school students and Corey. Um but you know I I'm continually impressed by the um engagement of the students. Like you know they have opinions. They're happy to share them. They're participating. They're coming to board meetings. Apparently not this one though. Um but but uh I really appreciate,
074you know, I think as we move toward finding ways to incorporate student voice, I think having um at least that superintendent advisory council set up and and feeding kind of some thoughts into the process is is helpful and I'd look forward to finding other ways where we can get them either here or presenting more often. Um and then I also want to say echo what Julie said. Thank you for all of our amazing artwork and I'm especially excited about the um portraits down below and I can't wait to look in the folder behind me. Uh but other than that, I think that's it. Thank you everyone and um meeting is journed.