May 4, 2023 Governing Board Regular Meeting.

001And with led by the Desert Cove Choir. Thank you. Thank you so much to the Desert Cove Choir. That was fabulous. Thank you. Are there parents here? And can we give them another round of applause, please? That was just fabulous. Thank you. May I have roll call, please? Mrs. Baker? Here. Mrs. Greenberg? Here. Mrs. Christensen? Here. Mrs. Case? Here. Mr. Pantera? Here. Next on the agenda, approval of agenda, Dr. Bells. Thank you, President Case. Items approved by consent will not come up for discussion during the meeting, but will be approved when the agenda is adopted. This is possible since members of the governing board receive the agenda, along with backup materials, at least 24 hours prior to the meeting and have time to review and consider all items. Prior to the agenda being adopted members

002of the governing board or audience may ask that an item be removed from the consent agenda and brought to the floor for discussion at the appropriate place on the agenda. I'd like to offer the agenda as posted with the following exceptions. Move item G3 to items for approval. Does any member of the governing board wish to have an item removed? Does any member of the audience wish to have an item removed from the consent agenda? Item H3 is already an item for approval. That's already been changed over to the approval. Thank you. May I have a motion to approve the meeting agenda and recommended consent agenda items, please? So moved. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes unanimously. Governing Board statements. Let's start with Mr. Pantira? Ah, for

003me today. Well, hello, everyone. Welcome. Welcome to this board meeting this evening. I was thinking about Teacher Appreciation Week, you know, all the festivities and things happening. I remember a former student, or a student, Taylor Hervey in third grade, came in every day, and she brought me a mango for teacher appreciation. A mango, you know, ripe mango. Monday, okay, I get this mango from this kid. Cool, thank you very much. And I like mango. It's not my favorite fruit or anything. But she did that every day for the week. Comes Friday, I'm thinking, well, I ask her, what's the deal with the mangoes? Okay, you got a mango tree or something? And she says, no. She says, I guess you've never gotten a mango from a student before. I said, no, I've never gotten a

004mango from a student before, let alone all week. She said, that's because I want you to remember me. And you know what? It works. I'm remembering her. And we get these things. We get the, especially this week, there's all these specials for teachers and all kinds of education things going on. But I thought about what does it really mean to appreciate a teacher, educators. Last month I went to a funeral, a memorial for an administrator, Dick Ebert. Remember, know Dick? Yeah. And he was the first principal I ever worked for. Okay, very first principal I ever worked for. I came out of college at ASU, go Devils, and I had a lot of enthusiasm, I had a lot of creative ideas, but I was kind of lacking in some skills and methods. And he saw

005that right away. And he gently let me know that maybe I wasn't up to snuff right then. But he could have just given up. I'm a probationary teacher. He could, you know, give me a year and I'm gone. But no, he found a mentor teacher for me at that school. He got that teacher to work with me. They gave me a lot of skills, a lot of techniques, a lot of resources. I got through my probationary period. I learned how to learn, how to keep growing as a teacher. And it got me to thinking, well, what does it mean to really appreciate teachers, parents, administrators, everyone, to appreciate us maybe another way is, remember, we're human. Can we make mistakes? Okay. We don't want to lose a teacher just because they make one mistake and

006they're forced to resign or they get called in the carpet and fired by one small judgment of error. Talk to your teachers. Understand they're human. They love the students. They love their job. And they love helping you. So that's a great way to appreciate teachers. And keep that in mind. Thank you. All right. This is Greenberg. Yes, thank you. Last week, we had our final meetings of student voice and PV Pulse for the year. Student voice, we were able to meet not just with our student voice reps, but the new leadership or the incoming leadership at the high schools, student councils next year. It was really a fascinating meeting in that The students were asked questions in regard to our strategic plan and items that impact the students. And I know the conversation at our

007table was robust, as I think it was everywhere. So I really do want to thank all of our high school principals for bringing the kids together like that. And I look forward to continuing that next year. PV Pulse. I hope everybody starts putting it on their calendar. We did not have, as robust, a turnout. But we were able to, you know, have some pretty concentrated time with the parents who were there. And, you know, this is our former Bagels with the Board. If you guys want Bagels to come back, let us know on the survey. Maybe we can, the parent survey, you know, if there's like a, you know, other comments section, you can let us know. But it was still, it's a valuable way that we as a board and cabinet can meet with

008parents, well not one-on-one, but meet with parents and learn about questions, issues that they would like us to hear about. And finally, right before this meeting, I know most of us were able to run over to East West for the faculty art show. We have one more day. I don't know if I'm stealing your thunder, but... One more day, as usual, it's an extraordinary celebration of talent of our teachers. And when you see what they are doing, you understand so well how the art portion of Sights and Sounds is as extraordinary as it is. So I do want to thank our fine arts teachers. Actually, I shouldn't even say that. It's not just our fine arts teachers who have worked there. some original compositions that you can listen to. And if you have the opportunity

009to go visit tomorrow, I hope you do. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Baker. Thank you, President Case. I also had a chance to go over and see the art show. And if you get a chance, you should go and look at it. We have such incredibly talented teachers in this district. And it was really impressive to see all their work. I also wanted to... Say something for a teacher appreciation. I want to give a shout out to all of our incredible educators in our district. My kids have had some just fantastic teachers and I'm so grateful. As a district, we are only as strong as our educators. We have some of the best of the best and every single one of you deserves recognition. From the long days you all put in, to covering a

010class when a coworker needs a hand, to loving these students like your own, to the sacrifices you make, educators are the backbone to everything, really. Every great doctor, scientist, journalist, author, artist, at one time or another, had a teacher who taught them, inspired them, and believed in them. Our educators deserve far more than what society and politics have recently put them through. Education should never be a pawn in any political game. None of us would be here where we are without educators. And I hope to always serve in a way that makes our district a place educators want to be. My goal is to work to retain the educators that we have and to be a destination district for those who aren't here yet. So thank you to every single educator in our district and

011in our state. Thank you. Mrs. Christensen. I just wanted to echo Mrs. Greenberg's comments about PV Pulse being a great opportunity. I think we outnumbered the parents that were there, what, like 10 to 1, something like that. During the board meeting, we'd love to hear your comments to call to the public. But these PVPulse meetings are your opportunity to be able to talk to us and have an exchange dialogue. So I would encourage all of you next year when we start that up again. It was wonderful to hear Desert Cove Elementary. That's one of my favorite things. when we have kids come and perform for us. I would also like to do a shout out to the teachers for, and we get to do two weeks of teacher appreciation because I know that normally it's

012the first week, full week in May, and we kind of had a little bit of first week and second week. So we're going to celebrate two whole weeks for our teacher appreciation. I did appreciate going to the UPC Recognition Award this year. This week for the teachers, that was really fabulous. And my favorite part about that was to hear the kids and how just the special messages that they had for the teachers and educators. That was really sweet. I started tearing up a couple times. They were very, very eloquent children speaking about how the educators have touched them. And then also just say happy National. Day of prayer today and shout out to the faculty art show That is next door. So thank you all for coming today Thank you. Um, I'd like to make

013a few comments. I also got to go to student voice and Just visiting with these students gives me great hope for the future. They're so fabulous, and they just speak up and talk about things. They'll tell you what they like. They'll tell you what they don't like, and they give you ideas to improve something. It is just fabulous to be involved with Student Voice. It's one of my favorite things. And also, I was able to attend the UPC-sponsored teacher appreciation. The amount of time that went in to doing that, thank you so much. It was fabulous, yes. You spent hours doing that, so we appreciate that so much. 734 teachers and staff were recognized and not all of them came that night, but their names were read. And the students who read their letters, oh

014my goodness, it was so beautiful and amazing. And there was a young woman who sang. It was, it's right here somewhere, but it was on the other side. Thank you. Lilla. I'm not saying her name. She was a student, a fifth grade student. Oh, my goodness. She was, she was fifth grade, but her voice was 10 years older than she was. It was amazing. Yeah. Oh, tonight? Oh, good. Anyway, so I just. I can't even tell you how much I appreciate the teachers and the staff that has been in my own life and the life of my children in this district. It's hard to express my appreciation for the tireless hours that they give to education and what they do to serve the children in this district. I really appreciate the fact that UPC has

015taken this. mantle up to tell the teachers and staff in our district how important they are to us. And I just, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. That's really important that this is a continuing ongoing tradition. Also, the art show was wonderful. It's amazing the talent in this district from faculty. It's just amazing. And then those students, weren't they amazing from Desert Cove? So all of these things are positive and uplifting. And that's how I think of PV. I think of it as a positive place to be. And I hope all the adults in this room realize how important it is that we make this district positive. And I kept thinking about this positive energy. I'd go to some place and it would be uplifting and fun. And it just gave me

016hope for the future. We need to really emphasize that because the things you emphasize in this life are the things that... grow bigger. So would you keep that in mind tonight, please, as you make any comments? Okay, next on the agenda is awards and recognitions. Dr. Bales. Thank you, President Case. It's always a pleasure to highlight our students and staff for awards and recognitions. And at this time, Mr. Droege will emcee our honors. So I invite you to join me in front of the dais. Good evening, President Case, governing board members, Dr. Bales, members of cabinet, and attendees both in person and virtual. Tonight, we have several recognitions to share with you. This evening, we'll be inviting our honorees to the front of the room for recognition and their photo. When I call your name

017or when your name is called, please make your way to the front of the room. First up this evening, the Jerry L. Morgan Volunteer Award honors volunteers who display dedication and service to the community as exemplified by late UPC member Jerry Morgan. This presentation this evening will be made by Lori Berman. Thank you. Good evening. Thank you for having me tonight. The Jerry Morgan Award. he said, was named after one of our exemplary volunteers here in our school district. She was an active UPC member. And this is an award that we give annually to a volunteer in our district in her honor and in her memory. The winner of this also gets to make a donation to a school group or organization of his or her choice of $100. This year, the nominees are Jennifer

018Burns from Sonoran Sky, Pat and Charlie the Therapy Dog, from Roadrunner. I'd really like to see Charlie, by the way. Monica Snyder from Horizon, Madison Beattie from Greyhawk, Esther Kovacs from Palomino Primary, Melinda Turner from Wildfire, Lisa Hoburg from PV, April Alivar from Desert Springs, Glenn Burt from Sonoran Sky, and Christina DeMarco from Whispering Wind. A few quotes about our winner tonight. It was said, I hope this award will display the profound appreciation the community has for her contributions to the PV school community. She builds relationships with the kids, and they love to go and work with her and talk to her. It has been the greatest privilege to work with someone with such compassion towards her school. When seeking a champion to move a cause forward, one looks for dedication, perseverance, knowledge, and an

019open mind. That definitely describes our winner, I can tell you that. She's truly a champion who is competent, ethical, intuitive, and compassionate. Our winner has done a lot for us in the eight years that she has been in our district. She's been a UPC rep for North Ranch, Vista Verde, and Peavey High School. She's helped with the UPC gifted and special ed committees. She's been a liaison for families of two E students. Active in North Ranch PTA, Vista Verde Middle School PTA president and school council member. PV High School PTO Vice President and School Council Member, Pride of Paradise Band and Orchestra Booster Secretary, Community Legislative Network Committee Chair for four years, and Yes for PV Students PAC Chair for the last three bond and override elections. And I'm sure that's not all. I'm sure

020there's more. It is absolutely, positively my great honor to award this tonight to my friend, Lisa Hober. Our next two honorees are seniors who have excelled academically and are leaders on campus and within their communities. Both students have set a tremendous example in PV schools and have worked hard to earn a prestigious one-of-a-kind honor. Please help me in recognizing the 2023 Flynn Scholars from PV, from Paradise Valley High School, Gia Sager, and from Shadow Mountain High School, Stephen Rorick. The next recipient competed in seven rounds at the Speech and Debate National Qualifier Tournament and defeated semifinalists by eloquently debating both sides of this year's topic, Humans Are Primarily Driven by Self-Interest. Taking first place in the tournament was from Pinnacle High School, Taylor Beth. Taylor Beth was supported in her journey of excellence by Teresa

021Smith. Our next three honorees are influencing early childhood education with their commitment to creating a positive impact in the lives of young children. Recently, these students won gold medals at the Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America, FCCLA, Arizona State Leadership Conference. For their dedication and passion to early childhood development and education, please help me congratulate from Shadow Mountain High School, Alyssa Hastings, Elise Silverman, and Hayden Porter. These students were supported in their journey of excellence by Elisa Arroyan. Continuing with the FCCLA Arizona State Leadership Conference, our next honorees are influencing fashion with creativity and style. At the recent leadership conference, these students impressed judges with their beautifully crafted and imaginative clothing, demonstrating designer talent. Please help me congratulate FCCLA State Leadership gold medal winners from PVHS, Kira Merce. Carly Castellanos, Anisa Rivera-Nichols, Amarita Serem,

022and Kayla Lacerin. Our next group is quite a large group of honorees, so after I call your name, please congregate at the front for a group photo. Team Paradise Robotics qualified for the 2023 Arizona FIRST Robotics Competition as the West Regional winners. They recently represented PV schools in Houston, where they competed against schools from around the world and wowed judges with their impressive and complex robotics skills. Team Paradise has proven to be a formidable contender and a force to be reckoned with. Please hold your applause until I announce all of our honorees. From Paradise Valley High School, Abigail Neal. It is hard to hold applause, so if you're quiet, I can do it at the same time. Andrew Zetto. Ariana Decker. Azea Middlebrooks. Caden Laughlin. Charlotte Monick. Chase Zatarga. Dylan Birram. Ethan Mullins. Grant Porter.

023Jackson Tribu. Jacob Silber. James Campos. James Gold. These students are supported in their journey of excellence by Jorge Ramos, their lead coach. This next well-deserved recognition is a PV Schools employee who was nominated by her colleagues for her remarkable efficiency, expertise, dedication, and impact in the area of human resources. Recently, she was named the Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association Support Professional of the Year. Please put your hands together for HR Tech 2, Kim McBrien. Our next recognition is the recipient of the Paradise Valley Education Association's Recognition of Professional Standards Award for Teachers. The honoree will be introduced this evening by Ms. Diane Siegman, PVA President. Good evening, President Case, Governing Board, Dr. Bales, and Cabinet. It's my pleasure to present the Props Award, Professionals Recognizing Other Professional Success, to Stacey Moultrie. Stacey has been employed

024with PVUSD for 12 years and is a third grade teacher at Cactus View. Here is the message her colleague, Amy Henn, wrote. Stacey always goes above and beyond for not only her students, but also her peers. I had the pleasure of learning from and working with Stacey for seven years. She helped me become the teacher that I am today. Whenever Stacey is faced with a problem, her immediate question is, what is best for our students? She ensures that all of her students and many students throughout the school come to school feeling safe and excited to learn. She is never afraid to try something new in her room and is always willing to share her expertise and experience with others. While Stacy and I work at different schools this year, she still feels like a part

025of my team. She goes out of her way to share resources and tips with me. She has taken her new teammates and many new staff additions under her wing and made them feel welcome. Stacy is positive, hardworking, and caring teacher who deserves all the recognition in the world. Stacy, thank you for being an amazing teacher for our future leaders. I'm pleased to introduce Stacy Moultrie, a professional promoting student success. Next is the Paradise Valley Education Support Professional of the Month. PVSEA President Ms. Michelle Courtright will make the presentation. President Case, Governing Board, Dr. Bales and Cabinet, this month we are recognizing Dina Morales from, she is an instructional assistant at Sonoran Sky. And she's only been with us about, or at Sonoran Sky about a year, but she's made quite an impact. She is a

026one-to-one, and she spends her day helping a student make sure that they have everything they need to be successful. But her actual superpower is she speaks Russian. And we have students in our district, especially one there, that are here from the Ukraine who speak no English. So she took it upon herself to go down and speak to that child on a daily basis. She not only did that, she reaches out to the family. and helps them navigate everything that's going on in the United States. She made sure they had everything they needed to be successful. She makes sure that the teacher can translate for the student. And these are the kind of people that we are looking for. We often talk about enrollment in our district, and this is how we bring people in. We

027have employees who care. We have support staff. We have teachers, we have administrators that truly care about every student and every family in this district. And this is how we increase our enrollment, by having employees just like Dina that do this just because it's the right thing to do, and that's what we do in PV. So it is with great pleasure that I introduce Dina McGrath for ESP of the Month for the month of May. Thank you. And that president case concludes this evening's awards and recognitions. Next on the agenda is a call to the public. We'll now have the video. Call to the public is about to convene. This portion of today's meeting allows the public the opportunity to address the governing board. Although state law does not require that the governing board hold

028a call to the public, the Paradise Valley Unified School District and its board have chosen to do so because we believe it's important to hear about concerns and issues from our community. While call to the public is not designed to be a discussion, the board is here to listen. Due to Arizona open meeting law, the governing board cannot respond to, discuss, or take any action on items brought up during this time. However, staff members may be directed to get back to you and address individual concerns. As a reminder, the point of this and every board meeting is to accomplish the business at hand and to be able to do so in an open and collaborative way. All in attendance are expected to observe meeting rules as well as rules of politeness and decorum so that

029we may serve as an example to our students that issues can be discussed in a respectful and civil manner. Excuse me. Tonight we have, excuse me, thank you. Tonight we have six people who have submitted comment cards prior to the start of the meeting. Each speaker will have three minutes for remarks. And those who have been asked to speak on agenda items will be recognized at the appropriate time during the meeting. As a reminder, we ask that you please direct your comments to the board. Please state your first and last name when you come to the podium. Our first speaker is Lily Grisham. No, excuse me. Oh, sorry. Other stack. Excuse me. Emma Martin. Emma Martin is the first speaker, followed by Eddie Jackson. Hello, President Case, Governing Board, Dr. Bills, and Cabinet. My name

030is Emma Martin. I am a proud 6th grade student at Desert Cove Elementary School. I am a second generation PVUSD student as my parents graduated from North Canyon High School. I am also a proud daughter of a teacher in the PV District. I am here today to speak to you about how much I appreciate the teachers and staff and the education I am receiving. It's not easy managing schoolwork, family, and friendships, but with the help of teachers and staff at my school, it has been manageable. I know that my teachers care about me as a person and not just what I learn about in all subjects. If I'm having a bad day, I can go to the social worker and or SEL specialist to work through any issues I'm having so I can have my

031100% effort in any schoolwork that needs to be done. For example, I was very sad when I found out my friend was moving away, so I was able to go to the social worker and talk to them about it, and they gave me a book to give to my friend talking about how we will stay close even if we are far away. Another example is a couple years ago, my grandma passed away, and my teachers were very understanding of what I was going through, and they allowed me to go talk to the social worker when I needed a break. I was able to learn about a camp through my social worker that helped me learn how to handle grief. Also, this year, my mother and I were in a car accident, and I had a

032whole lot of emotions going on. And my teachers were able to comfort me, as well as the social worker checking in on me every once in a while. I know that reading, writing, and math are very important, but sometimes in order to learn those things, I need to take care of my emotions before I can enter the classroom to learn. I am so thankful that I go to a school that understands how important mental health is to kids like me. Thank you for taking the time to listen to what I have to say. Eddie Jackson, followed by Lily Grisham. Good evening, Eddie Jackson. Imagine you have a friend with 70 income properties. Around 10 of the properties are losing money, and a couple are vacant. And your friend received cash offers to sell some of

033the poorly performing properties, but failed to pursue them. And then they came to you and asked you for money. Imagine if you could that gas was $5 a gallon, and all your costs were rising. and you were struggling to make ends meet for your family, what would you say to your friend? This friend is Paradise Valley USD. This district has previously closed several campuses. Foothills Elementary was closed in 2014, and in 2018, the district signed a sweetheart rental agreement for just a dollar a year. Air Libre was closed in 2019, and again, the district signed another sweetheart rental agreement for just a dollar a year. The district received an offer from a developer for over $3.6 million for this nine-acre campus in 2018, and they failed to pursue it. The district or the property is

034likely worth six to seven million now and the district received an offer for another property in 2018 for over 3.9 million and they failed to pursue that and now the district has eight additional schools with enrollment under 400 students The district is preparing to request another bond from taxpayers as soon as this November The district is failing to meet its fiduciary responsibility to parents, staff, and taxpayers. The district needs to present a good faith business plan to deal with the unused and underutilized properties before asking taxpayers to pay for more bonds. Selling district properties would bring in income for the value of the property, as well as additional recurring property tax revenue for each property. Some might say selling district property requires voter approval and the election could cost 400K. If I told you you

035could invest 400K and get a guaranteed $6 million return, would you do it? Of course. Cave Creek and Scottsdale have sold school properties. Cabinet? Put forward a good faith proposal to sell unneeded district properties. Parents and voters, if the district refuses to do so, vote no on the bonds. We will be posting a detailed report on district properties on parents4, that's F-O-R-P-V dot com. Thank you. Lily Grisham, followed by Lisa Holberg. Hi, my name is Lily Grisham. Woke is not a bad word. It means awakened, aware, enlightened, especially to social problems and injustices, to be well-informed, educated, thoughtful, and compassionate. Some people use the word woke as if it's supposed to be an insult, but probably they use it because they can't spell empathetic, educated, or enlightened. The purpose of a public education in public

036school is not to teach kids only what parents want them to be taught. It is to teach them what society needs them to know. The client of the public school is not the parent, but the entire community or the public. When a school, board, a library, or a state bans books, it is not a show of strength or to protect kids. It's a sign that they're ruled by fear, fear of knowledge, fear of opposing views, and fear of democracy. And I'm not sure where this parent should control what is taught in schools, because there are kids' mentality, but parents have the option to send their kids to a private school, and it should be at their own expense. No matter how hard some people try, we just can't choose to learn what we want to

037know and not what we want to know. We should learn everything, the good, the bad, and the truth of who we are as a nation. A quote from Marcus Aurelius, the opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them knows anything about the subject. Reading a book about Einstein won't make your kids smarter. Acknowledging that some kids have two dads or two moms isn't trying to make them gay. It's helping them learn about the world around them. A quote by Albert Einstein, three great forces rule the world, stupidity, fear, and greed. And education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think. Not a single kid has died in a mass reading, yet books are being banned instead of guns. I would rather see two men holding

038hands than two men holding guns. When you ban books in the classrooms but not guns, you're admitting that you are more afraid of your children learning than you're afraid of them dying. History is not there for you to like or dislike. It is there for you to learn from. And if it offends you, that's even better, because then you are less likely to repeat it. It's not yours to erase. It belongs to everyone. Diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, parents are against because they're afraid that white children will be made to feel bad. Banning DEI might score points in a culture war, but it won't erase the facts or the legacy of America's history. And that is acknowledging reality. An Oscar Wilde quote, the books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the

039world its own shame. And lastly, SB 1698, the Drag Show Bill, would add drag shows to a state law about dangerous crimes against children, would criminalize drag in the presence of a minor, and compares drag shows to bestiality, child sex trafficking, second degree murder, and sexual assault. But guess what? The men in dresses abusing children aren't drag queens. They're priests. Lisa Holberg followed by Lori Berman. Good evening, President Case, Governing Board, Cabinet members. You know, I can never. pass up the opportunity to just say a few words. So I didn't want to stop tonight, although I'm not going to go over time. I think the last two times I've been here, I have not gotten in everything in the time allowed. So I just wanted to take the quick opportunity to say how much of

040an honor it's been to be able to have the opportunities that were listed tonight. And what a surprise and how humbled I am by the award. But what I also want to offer is that the opportunity that I've had to give back to the district. pales in comparison to what the district, mostly the teachers and the staff have given to Jacob, our son, and my family. I really don't know where we'd be right now if it wasn't for Paradise Valley School District and the teachers and counselors and staff that have really truly become part of our family. So my heart just goes out to them. And to them, and I hope that a lot of them are listening because we love them all. I also just, maybe I might just have lied, but we also,

041Jacob and I had the opportunity to go to the Earth and Space Expedition Center. We've been wanting to go there. It was the former Challenger Space Center, and I believe it's something that was on the old Foothills Campus. It's an amazing, amazing program. Jacob wants to work in the space industry and he's headed there after graduation again because of all that PV has given to us. So I would encourage everyone to go check out the, it's now called the Earth and Space Expedition Center that is on the old Foothills campus. I think it's an amazing partnership. I think that our schools have a lot to gain from. encouraging students like Jacob to go into STEM engineering and work in the space field. I also believe that we saw when we parked there that it's an

042amazing resource center for many of the families in our district, as well as for some of the special education and physically challenged folks. So I was excited to be able to be on that property. you know, based upon some things here tonight, I just want to say, I think that property has been being used incredibly well and in a huge support for our community. So thank you. Lori Berman followed by Christy Williams. Good evening board members, cabinet, Dr. Bales. I'm Lori Berman. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I would like to thank all of you for your time and dedication to our school district. And I just want to add that we definitely need more student voices like Emma, who spoke tonight. This week, as you know, is Staff Appreciation Week. It happens

043to be my favorite week of school. I want to give a big thank you to our staff. Our teachers are amazing, creative, and dedicated to providing the best experiences to their students. Our administrators work hard to set up school communities that are welcoming, diverse, inclusive, and accepting of everyone. Our bus drivers, instructional coaches, aides, cafeteria workers, custodians, secretaries, assistants to the admin teams, etc., etc., are all part of the amazing mosaic that is PVUSD. When I envision our district, that's what I see. I see us as a mosaic that is beautiful, filled with various shapes, colors, and textures. Our schools are filled with amazing humans who are also various shapes, sizes, and textures. Those textures, by the way, that would be the equity piece. I want us to continue to honor the individuality of each.

044of our people within our PVUSD community, staff, students, parents, families, and volunteers. We need to continue to be not only accepting, but also inclusive and help everyone integrate into the mosaic of our community wherever they wish to be. With staff appreciation week at a close tomorrow, I encourage everyone who is here or who is listening online. To support our teachers and staff by continuing to demonstrate equity throughout our community. We honor growth not only in our students, but our teachers, staff, administrators, and district leadership. Thank you. Christy Williams. Governing Board. Good evening, President Case, Governing Board members, Dr. Bales, and Cabinet. I am the very proud principal of Echo Mountain Primary School. And I want to start by telling you that I work with some of the most amazing, dedicated people ever. Each and every

045day, they give their hearts and souls to nurture, love, and educate our students at Echo Mountain. We serve an amazing community that sends us the most loving kids. Ms. Rankin, principal at Echo Mountain Primary School. Echo Mountain Intermediate School and I work very closely together with our staff to serve this community. But we can't do it alone. So I want to acknowledge some amazing communities that we have here in our PV school system. First is Fireside. For years, they have donated dinners to our families. And when I say it's a complete dinner, it's the turkey, the mashed potatoes, the rolls, the pies. One year, it even had the new kitchen towels to go with it. It was just, it's amazing. This year, they also donated books from their book fair. I don't know if it

046was proceeds, books, but boxes and boxes of books came to my school to be added to my library. It was beautiful. The next community that I want to acknowledge is the Greyhawk community. For many years, they've been contributing holiday gifts to our families. The generosity that we see is amazing, and it's year after year. Last year, they started a new tradition at Greyhawk, and they generously donated gift cards for my teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week. Ms. Rankin and I create games and challenges for our teachers so that they can share a few laughs together and build ourselves up after giving so much. This year, Greyhawk delivered more gift cards than I could have imagined, and gifts. We can't wait for next week when we get to see all the smiles on our teachers' faces and

047the joy that they get to experience this generosity. I shared with two poets on my campus, Ms. Shelby and Ms. Brazier, a little bit about the kindness that has been extended, and they wrote these words. The poem is called Thank You. It's not the things that are remembered, but the sweet kindness that is rendered. We appreciate all the lovely gift cards. To all we send our sincere love and regards. Full of gratitude that warms each of our hearts. Of the kindness of strangers that is off the charts. Words can't begin to express what is felt for the wonderful gifts that we've been dealt. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you again and best wishes from your Echo Mountain friends. Next on the agenda, Dr. Bells. Thank you, President Case, government board members, cabinets and guests.

048In PB Schools, we engage, inspire, and nurture students through high-quality instruction, meaningful educational opportunities, and dynamic learning experiences. Some of those experiences will take place during one of our many summer school learning opportunities. From the arts and physical education to math and science, there is a learning opportunity for every student. Summer school registration information can be found on our district website by visiting our newsroom. And yes, with enthusiasm, as mentioned earlier, we did have a beautiful faculty art show, an event that hasn't been held since 2019. And our staff was very happy to bring their hard work and expertise and place it on display for us this week. Those interested in seeing the staff's work, it will still be on display tomorrow during business hours if you'd like to stop by and check it out

049for the final day of the event. But kudos to our faculty staff who are tremendous. artists in their own personal time that carry over to our classrooms. Next week is also School Nurse Appreciation Day, May 10th, and we're proud to celebrate this and special day that recognizes the hardworking, dedicated professionals who serve as school nurses. Every day they help ensure that the health and well-being of students throughout our schools and district, they go above and beyond by serving as a source of support for our students and teachers alike. Join PV Schools as we show our gratitude and say thank you to all of our dedicated, hardworking school nurses. As partners on our students' journeys of excellence, PB Schools values the input of parents and guardians. One of those ways is to collect input through an

050anonymous survey called our Parent Guardian Satisfaction Survey. It was sent to families this afternoon. This survey is better used to understand how academic climate, social climate, parent engagement, school communication is perceived in our district. We appreciate and valid... and value candid responses as they will help us through decision-making processes as we empower every learner for a lifetime of success. The survey takes less than 10 minutes to complete and is available until May 19th. In PB schools we work to utilize our resources wisely and one of those is our partnership with Phoenix PD and Scottsdale Police Department through the school resource officer grants. This means that recently we jumped at the opportunities to apply for grant funding and that's certainly the case in regard to the SRO program for next year. Our principals along with student

051services worked hard to secure the grant that will provide three years of funding to support school safety efforts. I'm happy to report that because of this work our district has received grant funding for 17 school resource officer positions, 10 counselor positions or social worker positions. These 27 positions when filled equate to over an estimated three and a half million annually that support school safety. This might not be all though as we are still awaiting the outcome of several school grant applications. We are however hopeful that these pending applications will also result in additional funding to support school safety efforts. And so, Sergeant Wilson, thank you for being here and to your team that helps us keep our school safe. As was mentioned earlier, many of you may have heard that we've announced on PVBeat, the

052podcast, the district podcast that we launched a month ago, that we did create a school closure and boundary review committee. This has been formed and tasked with analyzing our enrollment, our school capacity, and boundary data to make recommendations how to best utilize our resources. The committee values input from all members of the community as they work towards their ultimate goal, ensuring that collecting feedback will be a part of that district process as a common practice in PV. And we can find out more about the process by listening to Episode 5 of PV Beat. At this time, we're also going to recognize our administrative intern management graduates. PV Schools takes great pride in growing our own leadership and capitalizing on the capacity that we build within our employees for leaders. For more than 40 years, we

053have been identifying, developing, and nurturing aspiring administrators in our administrative internship and management training program. Each year, we select a small group of teacher leaders and provide them with experiences to continue to prepare them to be administrators in our district. Tonight, we would like to recognize this year's AIM class and at this time ask them to stand to be recognized. Take a good look around as history tells us that you will find and see many of these faces helping lead our schools in the future. Would our AIM graduates please stand up and be recognized. Special thank you to cabinet, but particularly Dr. Jarris and Mr. Long who lead that leadership training program. Lastly, join PV schools as we celebrate our teachers as mentioned. Next week we also will continue to recognize our teachers on Monday

054through Friday as Teacher Appreciation Week and our district has the very best. I know there was some confusion this year with how the celebration fell on the calendar but we won't complain about celebrating teachers over two weeks. Teachers are the backbone of our educational system tirelessly working to ensure that every student receives the best education possible. They are role models, mentors, and inspirations to our children, molding them into confident, skilled, and empathetic members of our society. I'm blessed to be the superintendent in a district with such phenomenal educators. On Tuesday this week, the United Parent Council helped celebrate teachers, coaches, and staff in a very special awards ceremony. And to help summarize the event and share some photos and video, I'd like to invite Julie Blumenreich to the dais. President Case, governing board members, Dr.

055Bales, cabinet and guests. I'm Julie Blumenreich. I'm the chair of the United Parent Council Teacher and Staff Appreciation Program. UPC strives to support and advocate for all families in PV schools with goals of ensuring our kids have a healthy and safe environment, quality educators and curriculum. and access to opportunities and services that will prepare them for successful productive adult lives. One of our best known programs is our annual teacher and staff appreciation program. In the three years that I have chaired this program it has grown every year even during the COVID years. As students and parents are eager to recognize the outstanding efforts of their teachers. In another record year we received 1,563 nominations, some in English, some in Spanish, that were translated for us by our language acquisition friends. And then we reached out

056to VIPs and principals at some of the lesser represented schools and received another 45 nominations. And these are not just teachers. They're also coaches, instructional assistants, custodians, nurses, counselors, and many in other roles throughout the schools. This resulted in 731 recipients with at least one recipient from each of the 45 schools and programs. Principals and parent volunteers at each school delivered to each recipient a letter from our UPC president. They each got copies of any nominations that came for them and a lapel pin that they can proudly wear. And as you have heard mentioned during some of the governing board comments, and again by Dr. Bales, this past Tuesday night, for the first time, UPC hosted its first standalone in-person ceremony for the recipients. We were joined by Dr. Bales and all of the cabinet,

057I'm sorry, many of the cabinet members and the entire governing board, except Mrs. Baker, who is out ill, but we're happy to see is able to be here tonight. We also had two former governing board members in the audience along with many of the recipients and their principals. We had amazing student readers sharing excerpts from some of the letters. And we were delighted in the fabulous emceeing of Shadow Mountain sophomore Ava Montgomery and the incredible vocal performance by Fireside fifth grader Lila Guglielmo. And somehow Dr. Jarris and Mr. Long were able to read through the 731 names all within an hour. So that was amazing. If you missed it, consider joining us next year. We want to thank everyone who attended on Tuesday night and all the people and organizations who gave us so much

058support. We at UPC are so proud and appreciative of all the PB schools, faculty, and staff. We know even with over 1,600 nominations coming in, this is just a sampling of the hard work and tremendous contributions made throughout the district. every day far beyond the 700 plus names that we're about to share. And we want you all to know how much we appreciate you. We invite you now to view a short video listing all of this year's recipients and enjoy Lila's beautiful rendition of what the world needs now is love, sweet love. Congratulations to all of this year's recipients. Thank you. And that concludes my comments for this evening. Thank you. Thank you, UPC. That was a quick turnaround on making that video. That was wonderful. Thank you. Next on the agenda is items for

059approval. Dr. Bells. First up is consideration and approval of the non-administrative certified personnel action items moved from G3 consent agenda. We recommend President Case Company Board members as presented for approval. We have one comment by the community, Lily Grisham on G3. Yeah, hi. I was looking at the certified board action and how many teachers, how many positions are resigning. And there's over 34 positions that are resigning. Out of those, 16 are elementary school teachers, three are middle school teachers, and five are high school teachers. And I just thought, that's shocking. That's I mean is that did I get that right is that how many people are reason I mean are resigning and then my other issue was I noticed on here the salaries and and I don't understand Please explain why the middle school PE

060teacher Not full-time. It's making sixty nine thousand dollars Whereas the next The next person that is not even close, $50,000, is a full-time high school history teacher or full-time kindergarten teacher. There's an elementary school PE teacher that makes $7,900. So why is a middle school PE teacher not even full-time making $69,000? I don't know. I mean, Is that right? Is that right? Yeah. President Case and governing board members, just a point of clarification. We do average about 200 to 250 teachers a year, about 10%. So we're on track to do that again this year. Is that correct, Dr. Holmes? That is correct. And so we're on the same pace as usual. And we do pay our teachers according to their salary schedule approved by the governing board based on their years of experience and their

061education. So it does vary. So the PE teacher in the middle school must have been here for like a lot of years. Okay. All right. May I have a motion to approve consideration approval of non-administrative certified personnel actions? So moved. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes unanimously. Next on the approval, items for approval, Dr. Bells. Yes, item H1, President Case, governing board members, cabinet and guests. Tonight we present for approval recommendations, three candidates for new leadership roles. And I'll turn it over to Dr. Holmes to make those recommendations on my behalf. Thank you, Dr. Bales. Madam President, members of the board, Angela Morgan is currently the administrative intern at Palomino Primary School in her 12th year in public education. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in

062elementary education from ASU, a second Bachelor of Arts degree in special education, also from ASU, and a Master of Arts degree in administrative leadership from Grand Canyon University. If approved, she will receive salary benefits in accordance with PVP bargaining agreement, and we recommend you approve Ms. Morgan. to be the next principal at Palomino Primary School. May I have a motion to approve the recommendation to hire Angela Morgan for the position of principal at Palomino Primary School as presented? So moved. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes unanimous. Congratulations, Ms. Morgan. Congratulations. Wow. That's quite the cheering crowd you have there. Would you like to introduce anyone? Welcome to your new position as principal. That's wonderful. Madam President, members of the board, Christian Allen is currently the Dean of

063Students at Paradise Valley High School and in his 12th year of public education. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Health and Sports Science from the University of Louisville, his Education Specialist degree in Administrative Leadership from Longwood University. and is master of arts degree in health and physical education, also from the University of Louisville. If approved, he will receive salary and benefits in accordance with PVP bargaining agreement. We recommend you approve Mr. Allen to be the next assistant principal at Paradise Valley High School. May I have a motion to approve the recommendation to hire Christian Allen for the position of assistant principal of Paradise Valley High School as presented? So moved. Any board member wishing to make a comment? All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes unanimously.

064Congratulations, Mr. Allen. Congratulations. Would you like to introduce anyone? Thank you. Welcome. Excited to have you. Madam President, members of the board, Mariah Barber is currently the Dean of Students at North Canyon High School and is in her ninth year of public education. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in history from the Colorado State University, her Master of Arts degree in special education from the Ohio State University. You got to get these things right. And her Master of Arts degree in administrative leadership from Grand Canyon University. If approved, she will receive salary and benefits in accordance with the PVP bargaining agreement. We recommend you approve Ms. Barber to be the next assistant principal at Paradise Valley High School. May I have a motion to approve the recommendation to hire Maria Barber for the position

065of assistant principal of Paradise Valley High School as presented? So moved. Any board members who wish to make a comment? I will. They dot the I in Ohio. Okay. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes unanimously. Congratulations. Congratulations. Do you have any friends and family here with you? Thank you. So happy to have you. Next on the agenda is Dr. Bells. President, case company, board members, cabinet, and guests. And tonight we present for the second reading and for approval, recommended gifted curriculum and resource adoption, Dr. Corson. Good evening, President Case, governing board members, Dr. Bales, cabinet and guests. Tonight is in fact a second reading for the K-6 gifted curriculum resource adoption. As a reminder, this adoption results from a committee process of teachers, administrators and parents evaluating

066multiple curriculum resources and considering community feedback from a 60-day public viewing. The curriculum being recommended tonight are for all K-6 ELA and math comprehensive and content replacement gifted classrooms. As a note, we updated the list of curriculum resources to include the specific units for the document-based question project, which reflects the units that were available for community review and eliminates two units that were not under consideration. Karen Brown, our Director of Gifted Education, is here to answer your questions, and we do recommend approval. I don't know. May I have a motion to approve the recommended gifted curriculum resource adoption as presented? So moved. Are there any board members wishing to make a comment? Yes, Mrs. Christensen. Dr. Corson, you did mention that there was two items that were removed because there was a question last board

067meeting, and I just wanted to assure, I did see the list, and so I just wanted to make sure that that was the case. Ms. Christensen, that is correct. We listed the specific units and we deleted the two units that are not part of the curriculum recommendation. Thank you for that clarification. Last week, a parent made a comment of how much she appreciated the gift program and how much her students were benefited from it. So I appreciate you getting curriculum that is challenging for the gifted students. Thank you very much. Any other comments? All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Any abstentions? Motion passes unanimously. Next on the agenda, Dr. Bells. Thank you, President Case, governing board members, cabinet, and guests. We present for approval and award contract 23-15PV job

068order contracting for general contractors. This is a re-bid of the job order contracting services contract which is redone every five years. There is a total of 15 firms being recommended for award. The purchasing department, in collaboration with 1GPA, processed the request for qualifications, evaluations, and subsequent price negotiations with the short list of firms. Out of the 15 firms, four are new to this contract. There was previously 15 different firms, Edge Contract, Constructions, FCI Contractors, Kinney Construction Services, and Wilming. These are the four new ones. This contract is in-depth and took a great deal of time. Job order contracting contract expires May 16th and we present for approval as Berrigan is here to answer any additional questions I should say by audio by audio. She's out of town We have one public comment Kerwin Franklin Hi,

069President Case, governing board members, and Dr. Bales. I am simply concerned with the sitting school board members that receive donations from individuals who are owners or spouses of the listed contractors. Those donations were not by residents in our district, nor do they have children in the district. While there are not yet laws against it, there is a code of ethics, and I would suggest that you abstain from the vote. Furthermore, it's unclear if there are three or more approved contractors approved for each type of work. I believe that that ensures competitive bids going forward, such as roofers, if you have one roofer or do you have three roofers approved so that you can continue to be competitive moving forward. I therefore ask that the list be reviewed to assure there are multiple contractors for each

070type of item and all board members who receive money from any of these contractors recuse themselves from the vote so there is no suggestion of impropriety. Thank you. May I have a motion to approve and award contract 23-15 PV job order contracting for general contractors as presented? So moved. Are there any board members wishing to make a comment? Mrs. Christensen? Can we get clarification on what was just presented? I'm not sure. Were board members... Were there board members that received money from these firms or from? I don't understand. I was just wondering if we can get clarification on that item. President Case, cabinet and board members, as was mentioned in the comments, there is nothing illegal. Are there any other comments? Is there any clarification we need to have from Ms. Berrigan? Ms. Berrigan, did

071you hear any comments that you felt you needed to clarify? I would just reiterate what you said. We can't hear you. We can't hear you. Erin, can you take me off mute, maybe? Can you hear me now? Yes. Okay. I think Erin needed to take me off mute. Thank you. I would just reiterate what Dr. Bales said. I'm not aware of anything illegal in the process. If there's a specific question, I can try to answer that. Mrs. Christensen? So I don't think that it, even though it's not illegal, but it doesn't pass the integrity test, maybe, or smell test, if you will. And I think that it seems like the individual that spoke was wanting for certain members to recuse themselves from the vote because they did receive donations during the election. May I make

072a motion to we have a motion on the floor to approve? Okay. I have asked about different contractors and what I've been told is it's very hard to get roofers who can do it in designated time periods who have enough manpower to take care of that. I don't know. That was the answer I was given on that. So. Mrs. Case, my apologies. If I may just interject on this one, this is not the roofing JOC. This is a general contractor JOC. Oh, this is a general. Okay. This is general contracting. Okay. Thank you. So we have a motion on the floor. Are there any other comments? Maybe just a discussion item. I know that we've discussed these types of items before. It's the recommendation that Rudy Martinez has picked these individual firms. And this is

073an item for approval, not an item for discussion. I just would encourage you to stay to the topic as it was presented so that nobody's violating open meeting law. Mrs. Christensen, President Case. How are we violating open meeting law, Dr. Bells, if we're in session? the topic was presented posted as an approval item for general contractors and you're starting to discuss other items that are not posted as part of that. I'm just encouraging you to try to stay to the what was posted. Okay, so let's go ahead and have a vote on this. And I asked about this also, did the, weren't the general contracts expanded this time to some new ones that we did not have previously? Yeah. President case coming board members and cabinet guests. There's 15 on this general contracting list. There

074was 15 on the previous five-year contracting list, but this is a different group of 15. There are four new ones that I named in the recommendation. Right. There's four new ones. I just wanted to bring that up that we're having new ones on it. So there's four new ones that weren't on it previously. So we have 15, four of them are new to our district on this approved list. Okay. So all those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Nay. Any

075absent, um, absent tension? No. Abstentions. Thank you. Um, conducting is not my forte. Okay. Motion passes four to one, four ayes and one nay. Next on the agenda, Dr. Bells. President Case, Governor Board of Representatives, Cabinet, and guests. And tonight we present for approval the fiscal year 22-23, budget revision number two. Ms. Berrigan. Thank you, Dr. Bales, President Case. Can you guys hear me? Yes. Fantastic. Okay. Before you this evening, we have the revision for the budget. We are required to do two budget revisions annually, one in December, which we did, and then this one by May 15th. And if you can click the next slide for me, Dr. Bales. One more. There we go. The presentation outline for the evening is I'm just going to do a quick review of the timeline of our

076budget process since we do have new board members. Even since the last budget revision in December. I'll briefly discuss the changes to the maintenance and operation and district additional assistance budgets as well as changes and the overall budget impact. I will just say the budget revisions are really sort of a technicality in terms of sort of the bureaucratic paperwork that needs to be done from this angle. We. Continue to have updated budget. Throughout the year, and because of the changes to, and the final changes don't even happen until after this fiscal year is over in October or September timeframe into the next fiscal year. But this is just a reminder of the timeline and there's different colors here because we're generally working on 3 different years at 1 time. So this is just an example

077of this fiscal year's budget process from July 1st through June 30th for fiscal year 2223 back in January up through April, May or June, just sort of depending on the year of last year. And it ended up going up to June. The state determines the budget capacity for fiscal year 2223. By June of 2022, we propose our budget for the 2223 school year and school districts prior to July 15th. They're supposed to adopt their budget for the upcoming school year. We do both our. Proposal and adoption in June, because we don't have a July board meeting. By October 15th in 2022, we were doing our annual financial report. So that's an update and an actual reporting of all expenditures that occurred and a comparison to the budgets that were set for the year. And that

078was. For fiscal year, 2122, so we're in the fiscal year 2223 timeframe and we were updating the annual financial reporter, finalizing the annual financial report for the prior fiscal year. December 15th, as mentioned, we do our 1st, budget revision. So that took place for us in December of 2022 and then this year since January up now through we're in May and. Very likely through June, the state will determine the budget capacity for fiscal year 2324. So now we're already talking about next fiscal year while still in this fiscal year. By February or March of 2023, we have our annual comprehensive financial report for the fight for the previous fiscal year, which had been shared with the board. And then on March 1st of 2023, we have the Arizona auditor general school district spending report for

079the prior fiscal year. And I reported out on that in a prior board meeting as well. Then again, as mentioned by May 15th, we have to do this final budget revision for the year. Sometimes there are more budget revisions if the state is making changes to the budgets within the fiscal year, but we haven't had that for a couple of years now. So this needs to be completed before May 15th of 2022 and hence the revision this evening. And next slide please. We have changes in our maintenance and operation budget between the adopted in the main revision. There is a decrease of a little over 5Million dollars to and a decrease in unrestricted capital of almost 1.8Million dollars. Just want to remind everybody that when we adopt the budget. In the June timeframe, we always

080adopt the budget a little bit higher than than we're expecting for. And that's because we don't want to lose out on any budget capacity. And I think I do have that on the next slide. Go ahead on to the next slide for me. Dr. Bales please. So, our average daily membership decreased this year by approximately 826. So, that number, as mentioned, isn't final until the following fiscal year, we will have a final in the September October timeframe of this. Calendar year 2023, and we'll make adjustments on next year's budget to capture any increase or decrease that those changes may substantiate. So this number will still change. As mentioned, the is higher for the budget adoption so that we can capture all of our override capacity and our tax rate. And then the base level amount

081when we adopted the budget, because we adopted the budget before the state had completed their budget. And you'll remember, we made an assumption at that time that the base level amount would be 4858 dollars and 69 cents per. And the actual budget revision, once we knew what the state was putting into the base level amount was 4775 dollars and 27 cents for. We also experienced a teacher experience index decrease from 1.0083 to 1.008. And then there, we were expecting a change in the special ed category listed here with. Et cetera, and that weight moved from an estimated point 3179 when we proposed and adopted the budget. Once the budget was finally complete by the state to a slightly lower weight of 0.29. So all of those things make up the changes and the difference between

082the budget adoption and revision. And next slide, please, Dr. Bales. I think that's it. Any questions from the board? Any questions from the board? We have one comment from Nicole Kluge. Hi, my name is Nicole Klootwyk. I have two boys in the district, one who's already graduated, so three boys, lots of fun. I'm a numbers person. I'm just, I've never given you guys my background. I used to work for KPMG, one of the large international accounting firms as CPA and an auditor. I've worked at Dial in their corporate accounting. I'm currently working as a controller for a a good-sized family-owned business that does business internationally. So anyway, it's sort of my thing when I see numbers to look at them and see what's going on. And one thing that I see is going on is

083in M&O, in account 2300, which is general administration, it's page two of the attachment on the agenda. So you guys can all look along if you like. You see the general administration has a head count of 12, which is the same as last year. This is our district administration. This does not include principals. And you see that the total amount of spending from last year to this year went up 30%. That covers salaries. employee benefits, purchase services, supplies, and other. I dug into it and looked at last year's report to see where the difference is coming from. The difference is coming from purchase services and supplies. Currently, we have budgeted $1.1 million there. We spent about $300,000 actual last year there, it appears. So this $700,000 appears to be discretionary. And just for a reference

084point, I took that amount, this $700,000 increase, this 30%, and I divided it by 2,262, which is what I think we have as teachers, instructional staff, support staff, people who help kids. You divide that out, and that would have been an additional $307 per year for those teachers. Doesn't sound like a lot, but considering we only gave them $551. it would have been nice. So my question is, what's the $700,000 and why is it so important? Thank you. Ms. Berrigan, is that something that we need to dig into visions? Because I don't have those numbers and things in front of me. We can know the details. Yes, we can dig into it and I'll verify this, but I'm almost certain that I know what it is. We had an override this year and there are

085additional costs when we have elections. That we share with the board when when we make those decisions, and we are already incurring. In fact, just today there were 2 that went through. for election services for the upcoming bond as well. Those actual expenditures probably won't incur until next fiscal year, but they're showing up in here. That's probably the bulk of that increase as well, just like with some of the other staff. I think there ended up being a total between What we did at the beginning of the year, and then in the middle of the year of a 3% increase to. To administrative costs in terms of salaries and benefits that account for part of that as well. But I can verify that I feel pretty confident that the bulk of that is election fees.

086That's where purchase where it would go under purchase services. For the election of November 22. for the actual costs from the election of 22, but also putting in POs for a potential bond election. We, in terms of preparing for a potential bond election, we have legal fees and things like that, that we have to start to put in. Thank you. We'll provide the board that written explanation tomorrow and we can afford that to you as well, Nicole. Thank you very much for that understanding. Are there any other questions on the board? Yes. So we. overestimated the budget is that correct i'm trying to wrap my head around because i know i talked to dr bales about this earlier today there's barrigan here yes absolutely yes thank you dr bales mrs baker we do each year

087this has been the practice and most districts do this you overestimate the budget when you propose and adopt the budget so you don't lose out any budget capacity if you have an mno override or district additional assistance overrider both Okay. And that's for this school year that we're currently in? Yes, it is for the current school year. So we can't use this money to take back any sort of furlough days or anything for next year for the teachers? Is that what I understand? Correct. There's no new money. Okay. I wish. Thank you. Okay. I just wanted to clarify. Thank you. You're welcome. Yes, Mrs. Christensen? And then as I keep delving into the wonderful art of school finance, I'm finding out a lot of interesting things. So it is also my understanding that there's different

088buckets, which we understand. MNO is where salaries, expenses, teachers, a lot of... That's where we pay our teachers and that's the bulk of it and that's why that's the largest part of our budget. But I am understanding also that things can move around as long as you don't go over the total amount that you budget for the year. What I'm understanding as I investigate, you can move things out. So for instance, in M&O, you dive down and you'll have salary, right? And then there's some other expenses within M&O, but it's my understanding that even though we have a budget that's approved, things can move in between the different categories as long as it stays within M&O and as long as we don't go over. Is that correct? Ms. Berrigan? Yeah, Mrs Christianson, I'm not sure

089I know exactly what you're asking, but let me try to respond based off of what I think you're asking. We, we have a general budget set and that budget is always going to be set based off of. Historical expenditure, so generally most generally the prior years expenditures plus any changes that we're expecting. So, if it was. you know if we had spent a million dollars on teachers in M&O last year salaries and we knew we were hiring another hundred teachers of another million dollars we could budget that at two million dollars and likely expend at that two million dollars so we always try to match the budget at what our actual expenditures are going to be but yes there are revisions throughout the year and they may change from object and function code to different

090object and function codes But you are correct, Mrs. Christensen, that 85% of our budget is salary and benefits. And of course, the next largest expenditure is utilities. But within that 85% of salary and benefits, as long as the item that is maybe designated for this person's salary and that person's no longer there, it can go to another M&O expense. Okay, I'm just trying to get an understanding of how I know it's very complicated. So I appreciate your detailed explanations. I know I always ask you a lot of questions on finance, but I know that you do a good job, but it's board responsibility to ensure that we are spending money wisely. So that's why I ask a lot of questions, not to be difficult, but just to get an understanding because it is a very

091complicated process. So thank you for the for answering those questions. I do have one more just in terms of this what was presented tonight. I noticed there was some large percentage differences and in some of these and were there any were there any that were significant that you can explain to the board on why the percentage change was so large because I see some of the percentage decreases are some of them are over 100%. Yeah, I think sometimes when you see the large percentages, Mrs. Christiansen, sometimes they're the smaller budget amounts and you change them by a little bit and it ends up being a large percentage. And that's not always the case, but sometimes the case. If you would like a detailed explanation of the different increases or decreases, we can try and work

092on that for you. I don't necessarily know all of them off the top of my head. And I would reiterate to this is the budget and based off of where we think expenditures are going to land for this year. We try to match that budget up where there's. Probably to me, the more helpful comparison is when you look at the in October, which is the annual financial report and compare that and there's a comparison line on that report. The report looks very similar to this 1. to compare last year's expenditures to this year's expenditures and see where things landed. To some extent, this budget, you know, we have our budget balance carry forward that we carry forward each year, somewhere around $14 million. So there is in this budget some places where, you know, money

093is listed as a budget, but we know we're not necessarily going to expend that full amount because we do carry forward the $14 million in budget carry forward. And no problem with the questions. I'm happy to answer those questions. That's what I like to do. Happy to meet with any of you at any time to discuss in detail the budget. Understood. Before the part of the meeting, I did ask, I do have a copy of our AFR, the annual financial report, and I couldn't find it. And Dr. Bell wasn't able to help me. So I was wondering if maybe if you can tell me what area in the. In that AFR, I can do a comparison because it really helps me get a baseline. It's difficult to talk about numbers when you don't have a

094historical reference. The annual financial report is found on ADE's website. That's the Arizona Department of Education's website. We also have links to the AFR on our website. I have a copy. I was just wondering where I can find that. And I have like a hard copy. Is that a different AFR or do I need to see that? You have the big copy. Is that what you're looking at? Did I just see you? Okay. That's not, that's actually not the AFR. That's the comprehensive annual financial report. So that's like the 140 or so pages of everything. The actual AFR, the annual financial report is on ADE's website. that I just mentioned and it looks a lot like this report. I believe it's page one of the AFR that shows M&O and it's labeled very clearly just

095like this. So you'll be able to look at last year's AFR and compare fiscal year 2021 to fiscal year 21-22. When we release the fiscal year 23 AFR you'll be able to compare that to fiscal year 22. It'll be right on that page. Thank you so much. And so that May 15th date that you gave us, is that the final budget? Or it was my understanding that if we... We've approved the final budget in June, but are we? No, this is the final budget. This is the final budget, but all those final expenses roll out throughout July, August, and September until we close the books because there's just things that, you know, services aren't necessarily completely paid when the fiscal year ends on the 30th. The June conversations are different about proposed budget for the

096fiscal year that begins July 1st. conversation on this is for the budget that ends June 30th. Okay. Thank you. No further questions. Yep. Good. Are there any other questions from board members? I've always had lots of questions on the budget. I appreciate your Mrs. Berrigan, your way of explaining them. Thank you very much. So may I have a motion to approve the revised number two version of the fiscal year? Did we already do that? We already did that. You already moved that, right? We already did. Okay. So may I please have a roll call vote? Mrs. Baker. Aye. Mrs. Greenberg. Aye. Mrs. Christensen. Aye. Mrs. Case. Aye. Mr. Pantera. Aye. Thank you. Motion passes unanimously. Next on the agenda is gifts and donations. I want to review a few of the donations. We appreciate all

097donations given to our schools and our district. And I'd just like to go over a couple tonight. Desert Cove PTO gave Desert Cove Elementary School $12,573 for school use and Xers Play Ball Drops and Agora Premier. Both soccer goals. So it looks like they donated soccer goals and pads and that move around. That's what I understand from this. And also at Shadow Mountain High School, Donna S. Davis and Alan R. Knight donated sheet music, books, and CDs with the amount value of $1,700 to the band program at Shadow Mountain High School. We appreciate all donations. May I have a motion to accept these? Thank you. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed, say nay. Motion passes unanimously. Next on the agenda is items for discussion. Dr. Bales. Thank you, President Case, governing

098board members, cabinet, and guests. Tonight, we present some exciting opportunities for our students to earn some fabulous technology certifications for free. Dr. Corson and Professor Billings will be presenting. PRESIDENT CASE, DR. BALES, MEMBERS OF THE BOARD AND CABINET, TONIGHT I'D LIKE TO INTRODUCE TO YOU JEFF BILLINGS AND HIS TEAM FROM OUR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT WHO WILL SHARE INFORMATION WITH YOU REGARDING A PROGRAM CALLED PLAX THAT OUR I.T. DEPARTMENT IS SPEARHEADING FOR STUDENTS. PROFESSOR BILLINGS. GOOD EVENING, PRESIDENT CASE, SUPERINTENDENT BALES, MEMBERS OF THE BOARD AND CABINET. My name is Jeff Billings, your director of IT, information technology. With me are two others in IT, Karen Mensing and Betsy Reeder. Karen. Good evening. My name is Karen Mensing, and I've been a teacher in PV School since 2007. I have considerable experience launching and supporting digital learning

099programs, including Frost and WIT, and supporting and facilitating dozens of online teacher workshops. Good evening. My name is Betsy Reeder and I work in the Information Technology Department. I've had the pleasure of proctoring many students taking professional exams, earning industry-recognized credentials. These are important certifications that these students have worked very hard on. And seeing the joy and satisfaction on those students' faces when they earn a professional certificate is probably the highlight of my year. Excuse me, I guess I'm supposed to work this technology here. PV's strategic plan calls out a steam focus on our students' journey of excellence. To bolster that focus, the IT department developed an opportunity for any high school student to not only learn, but be professionally credentialed in information and technology skills so heavily sought. We call this opportunity this initiative.

100Plex for professional learning experience. Our purpose tonight is to share with the governing board what Plex is, describe the professional pathways for learning and certification. We'll then present the student support being made available and provide some important key notes. We'll then close with any questions you may have. Okay, at its core... Plex initiates a desire to develop a technical hub for high school students in PV to learn deeply in exploring future technical career and collegiate areas of interest. Online content becomes accessible and students can complete a series of technical courses leading to a professional certificate. That's important. Plex leverages a partnership between Google Coursera and PV. Google authorized, authored, excuse me, and authorized courses and professional certifications on a variety of technical topics are hosted by Coursera, one of the world's largest online learning platforms.

101Coursera currently houses courses and content for over 275 organizations from universities to corporations. Coursera and Google recently launched an initiative to train and upskill technical skills the world over. PV's IT department has a very long and storied history with both Coursera and Google. The IT department reached out to Coursera and Google contacts, and we applied for and received $150,000. free licenses to a variety of professional certification. So to a variety of technical topics where students could complete several courses leading to professional certification. Plex to us, to me, all of us, offers yet another motivation to enroll in and graduate from PV. The journey of excellence and the development of world-class thinkers is real in PV. So on the slide before you is eight pathways leading to certification provided for our students. Seven require no experience.

102I've completed several of the courses and pathways. They're good courses. They're modern content, solid rigor, and are fun to learn. To highlight a few, I'm just going to point out a few. Project management, where one learns how to manage projects both with traditional and more modern agile methods. Business intelligence, where they learned advanced skills such as data modeling, visualization, and dashboarding. Digital marketing and e-commerce, to manage digital marketing campaigns, attracting customers, and measuring performance through analytics. Here. I'd like to emphasize the importance of family support and encouraging students as it is a key factor in their success. Additionally, accessible internet at home and a quiet learning environment can greatly improve student learning. PV is providing students with a Chromebook and technical support will be provided by the IT department and Coursera. Instructions will be easily

103accessible and online office hours will be available on a regular basis. The most important factor is that the student must support themselves in this journey. Professional certificates are not easy to obtain, and they shouldn't be, but PV students have already been successful in a number of course completions with pathways varying from 120 to 200 hours of focus and hard work. The learning process is self-guided and driven by the student's own determination. With the right mindset and perseverance, success can be achieved. Plex brings the opportunity to earn professional certification but also new levels of career development, such as Career Circle, a portal connecting employers to those holding the credential talent, tips on resume building, and interview preparation, with professional certificates being directly flagged in the search interface. The Plex license allows the student and family the

104savings of approximately $300 to $500 per pathway, but we're also excited to help our students beyond high school. Once a PV graduate, always a PV graduate, wear that distinction proudly. The Plex license will stay with the student even after high school. Whether that be a job, pursuing higher education, or upskilling a career, the current and future pathways and certificates will always be available through the student's free Plex license. We plan to message and market our high school students, letting them and their families know they should consider enrolling. Students and families will receive emails with directions to enroll in about a week. Schools will inform the student body after the email has been sent, and Plex will be marketed through PV's media channels. Plex will continue to grow, and it starts this summer, the summer of

1052023. The Google Pathways and professional certifications have now been approved by ADE for career and college-ready standards and CTE funding. The IT department plans to work with curriculum, instruction, assessment, and CTE in assessing the viability of teaching. The pathways is credit bearing high school courses. If done, an additional 1.25 bonus points could be given to a school's A through F labeling and CTE funds could be used to support the student certification exams. Thank you for your time and we are open to any questions you might have. Are there any questions or comments? Yes, Mrs. Baker. First of all, I just want to say thank you. This is an incredible opportunity for our students, and I'm always excited when we can help students achieve different pathways into their future. And so this is amazing. I just

106wanted to clarify, did I hear that we cover the license fee for the students? The license fees were awarded to us by Google and Coursera. Okay. And the fee stays. I need to add, I just heard today, another course pathway was just released in cybersecurity. Oh, awesome. Okay. Thank you. I wanted to bring that up. Yeah. Any questions down here, Mrs. Greenberg? I also want to say thank you. I love when we are able to provide these opportunities for our students, and I realize we are just starting. Is it possible to expand this to former students, for example, if down the road we have some alums who might want to participate? All of my bosses. I mean, I realize, not like right immediately, but as we become... We try to automate a lot of things

107in IT, so if you... Sometimes we're successful, too. The licenses are ours, PVs, what we want to do with them. The world needs technically skilled project management, business intelligence, automation, design, UX design, cybersecurity, you name it. And the world needs it, so why not? That's not my call, though. President Case, Mrs. Greenberg, government board members, I think as a cabinet, we'd be delighted to talk about it and consider it. I think that once a PV student, always a PV student, and if they have a PV diploma, I think it's worth considering. But let us take a little deeper look into it. Well, yeah. Okay. I was raising the issues. Thank you, Professor Billings. I'd be happy to go get some more. Mrs. Christensen? Thank you. This is as a former IT project manager this really

108gets me excited especially when I hear Python and the project management tools and It this is wonderful a wonderful addition to our district. I wanted to get a understanding How many licenses did they? Did they donate to our district? Thinking of sustainability long term I Articulated for 150,000 Wow. OK. That is amazing. And I'm working in the same situation with Microsoft right now. I haven't told Dan yet. And is this targeted only at the high school level or middle school as well? Is it just at high school at this point? Yep. I would defer to the curriculum and instruction lead on where the appropriateness of this for middle schools. Right now, it's high school. These things are hard. Yes, they are. But they're good. Okay. One last question. You know, with the rise in artificial

109intelligence, are we putting any safeguards in order to kind of protect our students from, you know, the AI? I know AI is very exciting, but also, you know, it comes with some concerns. Are there any safeguards for that? Yes, ma'am. Short answer, cabinet recently endorsed that the recommendation of IT and they discussed it. Two particular standards, one is the NIST. The federal government just came out with an AI risk framework and we've adopted that framework. Karen is serving on the first cohort for AI, practical, I don't even know how to say it, practical uses in the instructional classroom, pedagogy, and all of those things. Sorry. And I'm serving in the first, with my boss's permission, in the international cohort. that is trying to speak to responsible, transparency, accountability, all of these things. In AI, there

110are real issues. It's a very powerful tool. This summer, we will have a small group of WIT students that will be building artificial intelligence models, and we will be talking ad nauseum about ethics with parent permission. Thank you. Yes, absolutely. Thank you for that. I also wanted to mention that at the beginning of this year, January, the four teachers that are in the IT department, we started trainings. So we have put out these virtual trainings for teachers on how to use AI correctly, appropriately, how to look for... Cheating you know because it's not like Google or something where it runs through those same things so we've already started professional developments, and they've gone really well One more chin chin young curricular to a ela specialist She's heading up a district Currently right now To guide

111us in the use of AI and she's given me a whole list of things I've got to hurry up and get done for so Okay, Mr. Henter. Thank you. I remember my time on the Data Governance Task Force. We've always been looking at security in the district in many levels. I know there's something always been going on. I'm not surprised that you're already looking forward ahead to possible problems in the future. I know about these certifications. Years ago, I did A-plus certification for computers. And it is pretty intense. It's pretty challenged me as an adult to do that. So these are the same kind of licenses. That's a big deal. I'm really supportive of it. I might have missed some of these things that I might have mentioned this. Now, when they take these classes,

112they get credit for graduation. Is it for credits or is this something in addition to I miss that part? This is we are on the front edge of this. You can imagine. But we are going to be working with the CTE department and the curriculum and assessment instruction. And hopefully with Dr. Corson's or my new boss advice, Gene, hopefully we'll be able to bring something to you in November. All right, thank you. I just thought I might have missed something on that. Now, this is going to be all year. It's going to be during the summer, too, or just during the school year? What? Yeah, it's self-directed. So it could be during the summer. They move with their speed, self-guided, self-directed. Is that what it is? Self-guided? Okay. All right, thank you for that. Good

113job. I just want to make a comment. I have a son and a son-in-law that graduated with a master's in IT. they have been able to advance in their careers because of their certifications. And it's really helpful what certifications you have. And the more certifications they have and specific ones too, then they get hired because of those certifications. And this is an amazing opportunity for our students. And I'm just grateful for thinking of this and for expanding it and for bringing it on to our district. This is amazing. Thank you so much for these ideas. This is fabulous. Thank you. Turn the time over to Dr. Bales on the bond survey. Thank you, President Case, governing board members, cabinet, and guests. Tonight we present a follow-up to our most recent bond survey and committee recommendations.

114Ms. Berrigan and I will tag team on this one, and so she will begin and take us through this presentation. Ms. Berrigan. Thank you, Dr. Bales and President Case. We have come back together to share some information with you regarding a final meeting with the bonds committee as well as some final survey information. And go on ahead to the next slide Dr Bales for the agenda. We're going to just review the committee members. We shared this with you back in March, but want to make sure you're reminded of our committee members, the topics that we covered the results of the survey, the options that we reviewed. We have a little new information on restrooms this evening that Dr Bales will share and then the final recommendation from the committee. Next slide these are the members

115as you can see, we have representation from all of our groups, including parents, our education support professionals, our certified staff. Directors principles and assistant principles and community members and appreciate everyone's time and energy on these meetings. We had 4 meetings at 2 hours of peace and then a final meeting that was scheduled for an hour, but went fairly quickly and was only about 40 minutes. This is a list again of all of the items that we covered. We talked everything from what bonds and overrides are just because everybody came to the meetings with different levels of experience and understanding on those. What are bonds and overrides in PVUSD are, our historical election data along with other districts' election data, the needs assessments, what an election pamphlet looks like, the tax impacts, the election calendar. We

116went over the initial survey questions and results and in our final meeting, the 2nd survey questions and results, the different scenarios and then at that time a recommendation. Next slide please. So, at the end of the meeting we had with the governing board back in March, the recommendation were to narrow it down to consider scenarios 2 and 3. this was the recommendation from the committee to the board that we should probably survey again in the March or April timeframe and then that we could possibly reconvene the bond committee to review the survey results, which we did. And then present a final recommendation from the bond committee to the board in the May or June timeframe. And here we are in May and the board agreed with the recommendation at that time. And so we moved

117forward with proceeding on a survey and reconvening that bond committee and next slide. I think we're going to start to go into. Oh, yes, these were the scenarios. The reasons we stuck with scenario 2 and 3 were because those were the most votes from the bond committee. We had 16 and 12. 16 scenario 3, which is 340Million dollars and 12 votes for scenario 2, which was 375Million dollars. You can see that many of them didn't have any votes and scenario 1 had 5 votes. Next slide please. As a refresher scenario to the 375 million dollar scenario with 12 votes that that 1 covered the majority of the facilities needs assessment that we have, including potential land. If we needed a new school, the majority of our technology needs assessment covered all of our transportation needs

118assessment in terms of yellow buses and then the full furniture and equipment needs assessment as well as full security in front of school beautification. Next slide please pros and cons as there are with each of the scenarios, the pros are that it captures the majority of the district's needs assessment and it maintains the current election schedule. Some of the other options we looked at would change the election for the district. Cons are that it doesn't address the site wants, but none of our scenarios addressed the site wants. The needs were so large that we never even got to a point of getting to the wants of the school sites. However, I will say that for many of the school sites, what they had on their wants list did match up to some extent of what

119we had on our needs lists as well from facilities. It does scale down the facility and technology needs assessment, and it would increase the tax rate by $0.06 or $6 per $100,000 of assessed value, which would be about $17 for the average PV homeowner per year. Scenario three is for a $340 million bond, and that covers the majority of the facilities needs assessment, though a little bit less than what scenario two covered. It also takes a little bit off of the technology needs assessment, but still covers most of that. Does the full transportation needs assessment? It does scale down the furniture and equipment needs assessment from 20Million to 16Million between scenarios 2 and 3 and then the full security in front of school beautification remains in there at 24Million 750,000. The pros and cons for

120scenario 3 on the next slide that captures again, the majority of the district needs assessment. It puts us closer to other district bonds, bond requests, or what we're hearing for bond requests for 2023. You know, $340 million even still is a lot of money, but 375 is certainly more than that. It does maintain our current tax rate, which is one of the most important things I think that we can do is try to maintain a tax rate that is reasonable for our community. It also maintains our current election schedule. The cons again doesn't address the site wants, but many of those are on the district needs assessment. And it does scale down the facility, the furniture and the technology needs assessments. Okay, and now we will go into the 2nd set of survey results and

121go on ahead to the next slide. Please. Dr. With the methodology, there were 409 high efficacy voters that were reached with a margin of error of plus or minus 5%. All of these surveys were completed by phone and they were a live person survey and they were completed between April 10th and April 13th. The demographics that were reached were 49% male and 51% female. So pretty even distribution there in terms of the age under 30 was our smallest category at just 2%. Oh. Under 30 at just 2%, and then our largest category was 65 plus, and then followed quickly by 50 to 64 at 30% of those who responded to the survey. And this is fairly consistent with the age of the voters in the district. Next slide please. In terms of owning and renting

122from the demographics, 85% of those surveyed are owners and 11% are renters. Some people refuse to answer questions, which is fine. So that was at 4%. In terms of how long they lived at their present address, we see that many of the respondents lived in their address for more than 10 years. That's 67%. Next slide, please. We also ask about involvement in the school district. We can see that our highest percentage of respondents at 33% were parents or guardians of former PVUSD students, followed by folks who have never been a parent or guardian of the student in a district, and then 21% are current parent or guardians of a PVUSD student. In terms of political leaning, we had liberal at 18%, moderate at 28%, conservative at 37%, and 16% refused to respond to that political

123leaning question. So, for some general questions, you believe the paradise value unified school district is meeting the needs of its students. 36% said yes. 23% said no 42% were ensure likely many of those 42% don't have somebody currently in our district. So they don't know the answer to that question. Do you believe the state currently provides PVUSD with adequate funds for repairs? Only 24% said yes, 45% said no, and 31% were unsure. Do you think that property taxes in your community are and then the response is being too high too low just about right or unsure. We see that 52%, the largest percent of respondents was 52 at just about right. Uh, too high 32%. Too low 3% and somewhere unsure at 13%. Overall, this improved over the time we had our last survey and

124the support for a 340 million dollar bond is at 59%. We generally like to see that getting close to 60% before we consider going out for a bond and we're right there. 24% at no and 18% at unsure or refused. We then asked about the support for a slightly larger bond since that was our second scenario at 375 million. You can see we lost 12% going up to a $375 million bond. That's down to a 47% support for yes. Well, we need 50% plus one in order to pass a bond. So that's a little bit of a harder sell to the public at 375 million. Next slide, please. We also asked them about the importance of various things. We provided some clarity on the security upgrades, as we discussed in the last board meeting, so

125that they understood those were capital-related items and not personnel-related items. That remains at the very top of the list for people at 76%, understandably so, followed very closely by technology. So Professor Billings, I'm sure, is happy to see that support there. Classroom repairs and improvements are also very close in that mid 70 range. Also playground upgrades to meet our ADA requirements, American with Disabilities Act requirements. Bumping down into the 60s are the replacement for furniture, fixture and equipment, athletic field improvements and purchasing of more efficient buses. Rebuilding of schools has around a mid 50% for both middle school and elementary school support. And then building a new elementary school at 41%. That one is often going to be lower because folks generally know that that's only going to affect a certain area. And usually those

126only around that area are in support of that. So we see that weighing off in terms of importance versus non-importance. Next slide, please, Dr. Bales. Okay, on the next set of, I think it's 6 slides, you will see that chart of the support for a 340Million dollar bond that pie chart off to the left just to remind everybody 59% were at. Yes of that 59% when it relates to involvement within the district, we see that almost 37% of those who said, yes, are the parents or guardians of former, but not current students. Followed by 29% who have never been a parent or guardian of a student in the district and then 26% who are parents or guardians of current. Students, and some of that is related to the actual number of respondents that initially fell

127into that category. Next slide. This 1 is support by residency. So, again of those 59% that said, yes, 64 of the 64% of those were in the district living in the district for more than 10 years. And the other categories between 10 and 14%. For less than 2 years, 2 to 5 years and 6 to 10 years. Next slide in terms of age of the 59% who said, yes, 48% of them were 65 years of age or older. And 31% at 50 to 64. 40 to 49 at 10%, and this chart also sort of follows the respondents that we actually has fairly comparable to that. Next slide please. In terms of ownership of the 59% who said they would support the 340Million dollar bond 84% own and 14% rent. Not all of these will add

128up to 100% because sometimes people have word those who refused to answer for this. Next slide in terms of by political leaning of the 59% who said, yes, all fairly close between the conservative liberal and moderate percentages. 31% of that 59% were moderate 30% conservative 27% liberal. And again, a large refused population on this question, which is typical. Support of the 340 million dollar bond by gender. It looks like a bigger gap than it really is. But the scale on this 1 is a little more narrowed in 51% of them are female and 49% male that matches up exactly to the percentage of respondents. By gender. Then we asked, would you vote for the 340Million dollar bond if you knew some of the following and the 1st, 1 is that the district undergoes an annual

129financial audit to ensure bond funds are spent as promised and on time 65% said they were more likely to vote for the bond. If that was the case, 58% were more likely to vote for the bond. If they knew that all the funds would be spent in the district that. That the bond is held in. 55% so they would be more likely to approve the bond if it would not increase the property tax rate 54% so they'd be more likely to approve the bond if they were investing if they knew that investing in good schools generally increases property values. And again, 54% said they'd be more likely to vote for the 340Million dollar bond. If the district is actively applying for state grants to help potentially pay for some of these projects, the good news

130about all of those things, all 5 of those. Those are all things we do. So, in terms of having support and folks being more likely to vote for things, we're able to say to them, these are things that we're doing and that will make people more likely to vote for the 340Million dollar bond. Next slide please. So, we kind of ask the final question based on the additional information. Would you vote to approve the 340Million dollar bond? That support remains high at 58%. And then the next slide. Again, asking, would they support a 375Million dollar bond? The percentage didn't change there. In other words, going through all of that information and learning a little bit about the district as they went along through all the questions. We didn't gain any support for a 375Million dollar

131bond. Still just at 47%. And the final question, because we happen to know that city of Phoenix is going out for its own bond this year of 500Million dollars. We asked if it would make people more likely less likely, or have no impact if we were going out for a bond as well as city of Phoenix. 36% of people said no impact. 35% of people said it would be that they would be more likely to support and then less likely at 6%. So unsure and refused at 16 and 7%. Thank you, Ms. Berrigan. You're welcome. I think you're next, Dr. Bales. I'm going to let you take a break and catch your breath. Those are a lot of slides so far. I appreciate your patience with us. But it is important information to discuss tonight.

132And as Ms. Berrigan summarized, I think the data is clearly leaning towards a no tax opportunity to maintain the same tax rate. Certainly, there have been significant increased costs due to inflation. over the last couple of years. And since we last passed a bond, the same scope of work is considerably more expensive. Jill, if you'll remind me, I think in some cases we have 30 to 40% increases in supplies and labor costs than we did in 2019. Is that correct? Yeah, we're looking at anywhere between 20 to 40% of increased costs on construction projects. So planning for future projects over the next four years is a very difficult challenge. As you can see, there's a lot of needs in the district. We've done a needs assessment. And one of the things I want to make

133sure is clear with the board and the community is if we don't need it, then we don't spend it. For example, there may be new schools in this bond, elementary, middle school, and possibly an elementary rebuild. But we have to watch enrollment, land sales, and developments in the north, and yet we are examining our facilities usage and boundaries with the committee now through the fall. In the end, if we don't need it, we won't spend it. This benefits the taxpayer. As summarized, there's a lot that is included in this to maintain the district and taxpayer-owned properties. We know that maintaining our taxpayer-owned properties maintains the values of our homes as well. What is included? Interior and exterior painting, flooring, concrete, lighting upgrade, going to LED to save money where we need to replace systems. Roofing,

134asphalt, those parking lots, they get used up and worn out. Sports courts wear out. Emergency power upgrades. Kitchens, security access, plumbing, and restrooms, just to name a few of the things that we've done over the last four years with the bond to refresh and maintain district-owned taxpayers. Property. Now, while all the areas I just mentioned are repair, replace, or refresh, We are interested in considering a new bathroom footprint for our middle and high schools due to much anecdotal evidence and concern from our administrators and teachers over the last few years with an increase in vaping, vaping such as nicotine and marijuana, and our lack of staffing to provide adequate supervision. Therefore, the following slides show a glimpse of new footprints to improve line-of-sight supervision. and offer more single space for privacy and for opportunities to

135reduce vaping and supervision issues. This is an example. of some gender neutral restroom renovations that have a short wall along the hallway, provides the opportunity for a supervisor in the hallway to see whether or not, whether one student enters a single stall restroom, improving supervision. Now, please keep in mind that the examples that I'm providing for you are just that. Every renovation is different. Every building is different. So we can't assume that, you know, any one of these examples would would be an example applicable to all sites and all spaces. This is a different example that gets us that same goal of pushing single-use restrooms and privacy. This is another example. This is something that architects have been doing around the country to address these issues. Since our state passed some medical and recreational marijuana,

136we've seen significant increases in that use at our secondary level. These are real issues to us. While we don't have hard evidence in our discipline reports to show you when we give you that report every 10 days, we don't show you where it happened. The anecdotal evidence is kids have anxiety about going to the restroom for all those mischievous reasons that happen. And so parent feedback, student feedback suggests that this might be an area that we could address with new bond dollars. Another example, you've seen these in many restaurants across the valley. They're becoming... more and more common. Now, I did mention that we're looking at, you know, this consideration 7-12. This is the group, the age group that we would have the most interest in providing some gender neutral restrooms in. Here's some examples.

137high school student restroom renovation to we currently have a site you know that has 32 existing male restrooms 17 existing female the renovated gender neutral site would be 29 so that's just one example at a site sinks you know increase in this case but here's the key to this and The typical refresh that we had in the last bond for restrooms had a cost to it, but the renovation is between $200,000 and $300,000 for that previous refresh experience. If we consider a different footprint, it considerably increases the cost of that restroom renovation. And so an estimated cost for some of these examples that I shared with you in previous slides is about $580,000. So it's two and a half times more expensive to change the footprint. But, you know, it may be something that we

138consider in the next bond. I think that the question that I have that is posed to cabinet, to our community, and certainly feedback on is, you know, do you share an interest in changing the student restroom footprints where possible in grades 7 through 12? If so, we would. planned differently in terms of how we allocate some of those money in a bond proposal. The bond committee has unanimously recommended the $340 million bond to go to the ballot. Based on your comments, questions tonight, we would come back to the board on May 18th with a recommendation for the board to vote on. and to hold an election. But at this time, my team and I would be happy to answer any questions. Certainly, what's posed to you is, you know, some recommendations around $340 million bond

139that doesn't change the tax rate and some different footprints for restroom renovation 712. In this case, I'd be happy to answer. We have one public comment from Michael Laney calling you now. And you have been on the bond committee, correct? President Case, governing board, Dr. Bells, and cabinet, pleasure to see you all again. So yes, I was on the committee, the bond committee, and I was at all of the meetings. And I just wanted to take a moment to let you know about my experience on it and what my views are. So after attending every meeting, listening, participating, seeing who was commenting, et cetera, from what I saw, we had great participation and activity. I felt that everyone was looking out for what was best for the district and our kids. We had open and

140frank discussions about the direction of the district, the work needed, the work done, and what we felt the residents in the district would support. There were many proposals floated, some much larger, as you've seen, and some much lower than what will be recommended. All of them were discussed in detail, their potential election success rates along with where the money would go. We may agree or disagree on how these funds are being spent. You, as a board, may agree or disagree with how they're being spent. Approval of this bond doesn't have any effect on those discussions. Those discussions will and should continue to happen so that we can improve how the money is spent. What I hope we can agree on is that this bond is a local way to fund our school infrastructure. We all

141know that school funding has issues. The state and federal government both implement things out of our control. This bond puts finances directly into our local control. It is a tool, and when used correctly, can be a huge benefit to our kids, and specifically, the environment they learn in. As a person, and what I consider a constitutionalist, I have never supported increases in taxes. In fact, I've always voted against those as well as bonds or anything that took away money from my family. Having grown in experience over the years, I see how local bonds like this can be useful. This is a tool controlled by policies set in place by our board, U5. It is a way to fund schools locally. I am 100% behind the recommendation of the committee. I hope you come to the

142same conclusion that I did as you look at what will be recommended. I hope you see that it is the most reasonable decision. Though it may be more in total dollar amount than past bonds, it won't raise the percent per dollar. In fact, it's a cut if you compare it to the increase of costs from 20% to 40%. It's my wish that the five of you can show a united front so that the members of our district will see your support and like me choose to support this bond and Mentioning like you have right now with the bathroom with the bathrooms and the way you're coming up with a solution. I am actually excited to see that you can come together and Come with up with a solution that will work for everybody. So thank

143you. Thank you very much for your informational words that you gave us. Thank you. Are there any comments from board members? I had a question on the, you talked about the examples of the restrooms and then the vote was unanimous about this 340. Was that unanimous vote? The committee did not discuss restroom changes. We don't get to those details. Yeah. From what he just said that I think that's, yeah, that made that clear. I thank you for that clarification. Any other comments or questions, Mrs. Baker? First of all, I do fully support the bond and whatever the committee recommends. I think that we definitely need those dollars in our district. But I want to comment on the gender-neutral restrooms. First of all, as a female who has stood in many a line, the fact that

144we have 29 stalls available to us instead of 17 is pretty incredible. But also the vaping and the bathroom issues with kids with anxiety and ditching school and hiding in the bathroom is a problem across our entire state and probably the country. I think that we have an opportunity to be a real leader in how we address these issues in our schools. And as a mom of several children who have... held going to the bathroom all day because there weird things happen in the bathroom there's really no privacy I mean you can see right through those cracks I think this also alleviates anxieties around our kids going to the bathroom also as the mom of a kid who likes to hide in the bathroom because she has anxiety and I know she's not alone I

145think this would also help with the students who are using it as an escape from the class. And so I can definitely fully get behind these gender neutral restroom innovations. Are there any other comments? Yes, Mrs. Christensen? I agree with some of what Mrs. Baker had indicated because I know that I've had parents come and I've been very vocal about the bathroom situations, especially in the high schools. And I've had parents come up to me saying that their daughters will not eat or drink all day long so that they don't have to go into the bathrooms. I have a boy and he doesn't even like using the restrooms unless it's by the private one by the choir. And so so I do think we need to address this issue with the bathrooms in terms of

146the bond and the survey When we did a sturdy a study session earlier this year I just felt that some of the questions were a little bit deceptive to the to the voters for instance it If you take a look at the conservative and moderate voters, we're about 65%. If you ask most of those and say security, you're going to, and I know that you can't get an SRO with bond money, but. for a lot of people in that category when they say security they they're thinking oh we're gonna we're gonna get more sros or we're gonna you know and so that that to me when i looked at the questions and we didn't have them listed here that was a little bit deceptive um because we already have single entry we already have um

147fencing around our schools we we in previous years we've instituted the glass for protection and so for 65% of those individuals that said security issues I just want when we do another service I want them to know that this is not an armed guard this is this is other types of security issues so that might change The survey. The other thing that's a little bit deceptive is that it's not a tax increase. Just because the percentage doesn't increase doesn't mean it's not an increase in your taxes. Because I'll take my... example in my home, our property values have increased significantly. And I'm looking at how, and I'm happy to, you know, we go to support PV schools and our tax rate, but it goes up every year because my property values have been going up.

148And unfortunately, you know, we had some unfortunate situations where our income has gone down this year. And so for me, it's, you know, I see. big increase expenses in my own family. So while I do support dollars in the classroom, education, some of these things, I think it's also very deceptive to say that it's not going to increase your taxes because it kind of depends. It kind of depends on a lot of different situations. So just because the tax percentage doesn't increase does not mean that it's not an increase in some people's taxes. The other comment I will hold off on, but those are the main discussion items I wanted to. Mrs. Case, may I address a couple of those things? Yes, please. Thank you. I thought I had mentioned it. Maybe I didn't. We

149did make the security question clear this time in terms of the fact that it was related to capital items. And not or salary related items. We didn't discuss. That it would be related to personnel, so we, we mentioned different security measures. So just want to be clear about that. And secondly, what I said in my presentation, or should have said in my presentation, I thought I said this in my presentation was that the tax rate would remain the same at 48 cents, not the actual dollar taxes that people pay. We have no control over the change in people's property value or their total property value as it relates to the property value in the district at any point in time. What I'm saying is that the tax rate remains the same at 48 cents or

15048 per $100,000 of assessed value. Just want to make that piece clear as well. I would never say people's taxes aren't increased. I try to be very, very careful about that. Excuse me, Mrs. Berrigan, can you give us an example of, let's say, a $300,000 home, what it is now and what it would be? Oh, gosh. Off the top of my head, I don't know. So $48, I have it somewhere. So, the 48 cents per 100,000 dollars of assessed value, somebody may have to do the math for me, but the average assessed value in PV is around 285,000 dollars. Don't panic. That doesn't mean that's the value of your home. If you were to sell it today, that's the assessed value of the home. So, 48 times 2.85. Is about what that would be on

151an annual basis for bond. So the tax rate of this proposed bond is the same exact tax rate which we had on the previous bond? 48 cents. That is specifically why we went for $340 million. And Dr. Bales may remember better, but that is my understanding about why the district went with $236 million for the 2019 bond in November was because it also maintained the tax rate at 48 cents. That is correct. Okay, so the tax rate would not increase with this bond number? That is correct. Okay, thank you. I appreciate the fact that we have kept our schools in good condition so that it is a good place for kids learning and that they have working air conditioners. That's very important in Arizona. And all of the things we have done is to save

152money so that if our community passes this bond, which we haven't taken out to vote yet, if it does go forward, then... this money helps to keep more money in the classroom because we're not using M&O money to fix a broken air conditioner, to fix a parking lot, a structure, or to paint a building, or all those things. This helps keep money in M&O. Is that correct? Yes, President Case. a great understanding of what bond can do for a school district. When you maintain your systems, when you are able to update them before failure, then you do things that help affect savings in the M&O expenditures. So that's always a goal. And it's a privilege for us to be able to do that in PBUSD. And we always thank the voters for their previous support

153in these measures. Thank you. I just wanted to qualify to make more understanding in that area. Are there any other comments? Mrs. Greenberg. Yeah, I don't want to keep extending it, but I appreciate all of the information. I think supporting a bond that maintains the current tax rate is an excellent way to go. As we know, costs are up everywhere, so this isn't going to cover everything, but I think knowing how we've used the money in the past, we've used it very wisely. I do, you know, as Mrs. Baker said, I think the potential scenarios on the restrooms, I do see that as a safety and security issue, whether or not that's where people's heads go. It very much is. And it's a health issue if, you know, kids aren't using the restrooms now. So,

154you know, if we can start incorporating that into the discussions of how the money would be used if the bond is passed, if we ask for it and it's passed, I'd like to see that happen because I do think that. You know, having been on this board a long time, having asked the community support bonds and having spent so much money on the visible security that we have and some of the invisible security, you know, having a discussion about bulletproof glass was nothing I ever thought I would have to do as a board member. I do appreciate that. you know, perhaps we are able to look at these other ways to help support security and safety in our schools. So that would be where I'd like us to go. Just on this agenda tonight, they

155did... There was money that we approved to take care of doors, and that's also a security thing. Those doors are special doors that have automatic closers, et cetera, et cetera. So there's many things we continually upgrade that have to do with security. It's not a one and done. It's continuous because things wear out and have to be. redone and have more security issues and there's special locks and keys, et cetera, that go with those things. Did you have anything else to say? No, Mr. Pantera. Okay. Next on the agenda is consideration of issues for the Arizona School Boards Association Legislative Committee's consideration 2024 political agenda. And we have... public comment from Catherine Millward. Are they still here? Yes. Good evening. I'm Catherine Millward. Education should not be political. Reading, writing, and mathematics are concrete skills

156that need to be learned to be successful in life. Therefore, I was confused by your adoption of a political agenda. U.S. students' test scores are the worst they've been in decades. Students are on average two years behind grade level. Many cannot comprehend what they read, write incomplete sentences, or do sums. These are all skills that they need to be successful, productive members of society. But instead of focusing on what can be done to help our students' dire circumstances, you're adopting political platforms that espouse social-emotional learning and using the e-qual system to get school board members on the ballot. ASBA also wants to defund charter schools whose test scores, by the way, are much better than students in a lot of larger district schools. Maybe our focus should be on visiting these schools to see what

157their best practices are and how we can implement them in our classrooms. Perhaps instead of adopting political agendas that focus on affordable housing for staff and fully funding preschool, we should focus on the fact that our students are not learning any history. That old adage of those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it is very true. Many children don't appreciate what we have in this country because they are not taught of the sacrifices so many people have made to give us the freedoms we enjoy today. Our freedom is a fragile thing that will disappear if children don't understand how to keep it. Our children and their futures should be your top priority. Politics and political agendas are secondary. Thank you very much. Barbara, I don't know how to say this, Pegania, I would

158not have finished. Thank you. Good evening. I just focused on one area of this agenda because when I saw repeal any program that gives public funds, so on, so on, you have that in front of you, I thought about repeal. That means cancel, revoke, recall, scrub, just do away with it. And I just thought of how many children would be affected if we did that. And if you would allow me just a brief moment for a word picture. I was a PE teacher and a tennis coach at two different high schools in this district. And when we had an opponent that we really wanted to meet, beat somebody who had been competitive in the previous match, what we would do is we wouldn't seek to beat them off the court, but we would practice harder.

159We would condition mentally and physically to accomplish what we needed to do on the court. This actually made us a better team. Well, I just wanted to compare it to what the state school board wants to do. That this is the priority, but they need to win in their own arena, which is the classroom. So instead of doing away with something that maybe is successful, maybe they should compete with that. make it a priority to do better in the classroom, and then the parents would have a bigger option. So you could fight for that opportunity, and it would make you better, make them better by trying to improve to compete with them. And I really appreciated a statement. That was by Stacy Moultrie, one of the teachers that was honored tonight. And when she was

160presented with a problem, she would say, what is best for our students? So I thought that was just a good way to end this. Thank you. Thank you, Kerwin Franklin. Make this really quick. As a parent and a taxpayer, I'm 100% against our school being involved in any political agenda. This is the reason why an alternative organization was formed during COVID to combat asthma. I'm against any money being paid to this organization or any that is pushing a political agenda. I won't even get into the ridiculous items they listed in their agenda. Our district should be focusing on increasing academic excellence of the children you serve rather than playing politics with your time and our money. Not only do I urge you to vote no on any political agenda, I urge you to walk away

161from Arizona School Board Association and stop funding them. Give your support to our kids and families and strive for excellence. Next comment from Wendy Mahler. Good evening, President Case, board members, superintendent Bales and cabinet. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I agree with Kerwin Franklin. I don't think we should be participating in this aspect political agenda. It puts you in a position of picking sides. And we know that we have a diverse population, both conservative, liberal, whatever, but it's forcing you to pick sides here. For example, ASBA wants to provide full-time funding for preschool, but yet at the same time, they're going after ESAs and STOs. So it's... Why does ASBA want to take away competition in education to bring excellence? It seems like ASBA wants a monopoly on education. Not to mention, they

162want to increase the compulsory school age up to the age of 18. Why? Also, in this entire agenda of theirs, I don't see anything about academic excellence, nothing about academics. It's all about finances and supporting policy that protects school district employees and students from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Really? Is that what you guys want to be a part of? What about religion? I think this is very divisive. And then when it talks about school safety and security, it's not talking about police officers in schools. It's talking more about mental health. So I just would like to say I agree. I would not support this. This doesn't reflect the values of our entire district. I think you should step away from this. Thank you. There were no other comments. I

163would like to ask each board member, solicit your top five priorities from each board member. So if each board member wanna comment, what would be your top five priorities? And while you're thinking about that, may I say, you made a comment on this and let me just explain this. For years and years, the American Indian, Native American Indian tribes in Arizona have requested that they pass, they make it mandatory from 16 to 18 years old because there's such a problem on the reservations with kids graduating. And that is what that is there for. And I agree with that fully. It also says... or attainment of high school diploma or GED before the age of 18. So if you get those things before 18, that's fine. But that is what that is there. They have asked

164that to make that part of the state. And they have requested over and over for those students in the reservations because they drop out of school and they want to keep them in school. And I totally support that. So I just wanted to say that while you were thinking about your ideas. Any comments or anyone? Yes. Okay. So. First of all, there seems to be some misinformation that I heard. This isn't like a political agenda, Democrat versus Republican. This is a political agenda around education, around what is best for public schools, which we are a part of. It has nothing in it that says we're going to support Democrats and their bills, or we're going to support Republicans or their bills. This is good policy actually over politics. It's just called a political agenda. Because

165this stuff is dealt with at the legislature, which is politics. So I just wanted to clarify that. And also comparing us to charter schools is like apples and oranges. Their test scores are better because after the 100 day of school, they get rid of any problem children and send them to the public schools. Yes, it is. Actually, first of all, this is not your time. It's mine. And second, it is 100% your time. Excuse me, the audience can't comment during our, you had your opportunity to comment. Thank you. Okay, so I also have my top five priorities. My first priority would be around funding and lifting the AEL. Education shouldn't be made a political pawn and the AEL is making it that. So that's one of my priorities. And that goes with the maximizing the

166state funding for competitive salaries and funding full day kindergarten. I think that's three on the adequately and equitably fund district schools. My other ones are eliminating the ESA and transparency for all institutions and individuals that accept public funds. Say that again. The eliminating the ESA repeal. Tell us which category. Oh, I'm sorry. Now I'm under require public accountability for taxpayer dollars spent on education. Okay. And that's the repeal any program that gives public funds for private schools that is not in the public school's best interest. And then the establishing financial and academic transparency for all institutions and individuals that accept public funds, which I think is the first one under require public accountability for taxpayer dollars spent on education. Okay. So that's your five. Does anybody else have, Mrs. Greenberg? Would you say which category

167it is? Sure. Thank you. I have two under adequately and equitably fund district schools. My first would be revise the school finance formula. And then there are the now what four points under there. So that would be one of my priorities. My second under that one is the next one, which is amend the AEL under preserve and strengthen local control. Oppose any legislation that intends to lessen or curtail legal authority of locally elected school boards. That would be the second last bullet point. Second column under improve outcomes for all students. Again, the second last bullet point, which is state standardized testing shall not be used for any purpose other than a year-over-year measurement of student growth in the tested subject. Rethink and redefine the role and purpose of standardized testing and develop meaningful assessments and

168other measurable outcomes. And then my last one is... One that Mrs. Baker had under require public accountability. Where is this one? This is the first one, established financial and academic transparency. Those are my five. Okay, thank you. Mr. Pantaro. So we're supposed to pick five out of all of these? Yes. Oh, okay. First of all, when people talk about politics and education, everything that we do, I mean, we're all elected officials right here. That's politics. All of you addressing us and listening to us, that's politics. This is a political process happening right now. Okay? So it's there. We can't avoid it. We can't avoid the political process. All our monies come from outside us, the legislature. They're the ones we need to talk to, and it's better to talk to them with a united voice

169to get their attention. Having said that, I like to have my glasses. The maximize the state funding, that first bullet point right there under equity fund, that first one there that I'm talking about. All right. And, of course, lifting the AEL and increasing that, make sure it's a permanent thing. I like preserving local control and allow school districts greater flexibility. the divestiture or use of taxpayer-funded assets. That's like the third bullet point there. Do you see what I'm talking about? No, not yet. Which one? Under preserve and strengthen local control, that third bullet point. High school district greater flexibility? Yeah, the third. Allow. Yeah, allow school districts greater flexibility. And the gesture and use of taxpayer-funded assets. Right. And then improve outcomes for all students. That's the state standardized testing shall not be used for

170any purpose other than a year-over-year measurement of student growth in the tested subject. That whole thing. I like that one. Improve outcomes for all students. It's like one, two, three, four, and five. Seventh bullet point, I believe, in the second column. Okay. Pick five. I got to pick five. And school safety and security. I like the third bullet point. Arizona school boards shall call upon all state, federal, tribal, and local officials to address the causes of increased self-harm and violence at K-12 schools. I got to pick five. That's the five. I like all of these, but those are the five that stand out to me. Okay. Would you like to pick your five, Mrs. Christensen? Thank you. Yeah, I just like all of these. I will pick three that I do like of my own,

171and because that was one of the options. I would like to increase academic achievement and test scores as the number one, and then prioritize dollars in the classroom as my number two. empower parents to direct the education and upbringing of their children as number three. As a Latina, I really appreciate the ESAs. I have a lot of friends that live in South Phoenix and some familia, some family members, and they really appreciate the ESAs because they can't afford to send, a lot of them can't afford to send their... children to private schools and this has been a real equalizer for the Latino community. And so I really appreciate that we do have that here in Arizona. And I think a lot of I appreciated what a lot of the community members said because how about

172no political agenda in the schools. So and as Tony indicated, there's a lot of politics and I agree and I don't align with any of these. That's why I chose my own three. Thank you. I would like one of mine to be that increase at 16 to 18 years of age, because I think that the Native American Indian area, the tribes, they have requested that for years, and I would like that to be one of them. I would like the required public accountability. That first one established financial and academic transparency for all institutions and individuals that accept public funds. I cannot tell you how carefully our district does funding and everything is accounted for. And there's questions asked. You go to other schools, that does not happen. They accept public funds and there's no accountability

173anywhere to the degree that we go through. So that is a big one for me. It doesn't say in here, increase academic performance in Arizona. And I agree with Mrs. Christensen. That is always my number one. Anything I do on the school board has been to do that. And it says it in different ways, but I'd like it to specifically say that, and it doesn't. There's, I can't even find it right now. It's the one where we want them to fund any mandated, where did I find that one? But mandated. Your local control? That's under adequately and equitably fund district schools. Yeah, which number is that it's? six seven eight maybe Unfunded mandates administrative burdens. Oh yeah that has I can get behind that one, too Oh that that has driven me crazy because for

174years there have been mandates given But they have not funded the mandate and that's a difficult one for me So that's what I'm going to say. Are there any other comments? No. We have to turn this in by the 24th. Okay. So, but the next meeting, we have to vote to include these by the next meeting. So we'll reach out to you to finalize those ideas. It'll be an agenda item. Thank you. Okay. Before we adjourn, I would like to remind you that the next regular board meeting will be held on Thursday, May 18th at 7 p.m. May I have a motion to adjourn? So moved. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed. See, we are in total agreement. Thank you.