School Board meeting: May 15, 2025

001Thank you. yeah Good evening. It's Thursday, May 15, 2025, and this is the meeting of the Council Rock School Board Directors. Mr. Tate is unavailable on the family obligations, so I'll preside over the meeting tonight. Dr. Zango. Thank you, Ms. Polley. At this moment, may I ask Mr. Stephen Belder, Council Rock High School South student, to lead us in the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Ms. Stratton and the Council Rock High School North Newtown Chamber Orchestra. Thank you for being here tonight. Madam Secretary, we're all called, please. Ms. Horner? Here. Ms. Stone? Here. Ms. Kahn? Here. Ms. Zosacki? Here. Ms. Pauley? Present. Mr. Hickey? Here. Mr.

002Roosevelt? Here. Mr. Hidalgo? Present. Mr. Tate is not here tonight. We have the Student Advisory Board tonight, is it? Both South and North? Okay. Go ahead. Good evening, everyone. Tonight we have a special presentation. Council Rock. North and South student advisory boards. We're gonna have the seniors only present tonight But prior to that we would like to acknowledge our underclassmen at both schools for the hard work and dedication they put in to SAB all year So when your name is called, please stand from council rock South the ninth grade rep Mia Lafredo 10th grade rep Daniel Thomas 11th grade rep our tour kiss For Council Rock North, ninth grade, Mia Burstein. Tenth grade, Lily Albuquerque. And our 11th grade rep, Olivia Esposito, is currently competing in the lacrosse game at Radnor for the second round

003District 1 playoffs. At this time, we'd like to hand it over to our one senior here present tonight, Lena Nikolenko, for representing MBIT. Hello, my name is Polina Nikolenko. I'm a senior at Council Rock North High School. I'm also a level 300 student in the Medical and Health Professions program at Middlebox Institute of Technology. This is going to be my last time reporting here, and while I'm sad that I have to leave, I wanted to say a big thank you to each and every one of you. Coming here for the first time without knowing what is going to happen was nerve-wracking, to say the least. But as the time went with... Every meeting, I felt more and more confident in giving my reports. I'm thankful for such a great opportunity and a chance to get

004out of my comfort zone and find more things that I enjoy doing. Thank you again, and let's move on to what is currently happening at Middlebox Institute of Technology. First up, this school year, our work-based education coordinators placed over 130 students with local businesses in our community. The work-based education program connects classroom learning with employment experience that strengthens relationships between students, families, employers, educators, and community leaders. Next, we are proud to announce that 15 of our medical and health profession seniors have successfully passed their patient care technician certification exam. This incredible achievement is the result of their hard work, dedication, and countless hours of preparation. Becoming a certified patient care technician is a major milestone that opens the door to exciting opportunities in the healthcare field. These students are now equipped with the skills and

005credentials needed to make a real difference in patient care. I was actually one of the students who got their certification and I'm now in the process of pursuing AKG technician certification. Next, three talented students from our commercial art and advertising design program were recently recognized for their incredible contribution to the Bucks County Veterans Treatment Program. Abby Wertz, Liam Stracillo, and Plova Gargarelli collaborated to create a powerful logo for the Bucks Veterans Organization, a symbol that now represents strength, resilience, and community support. Mr. Alva Hipple representing the organization visited MBIT to personally present a student with the certificate of appreciation for their meaningful work We're excited to celebrate the incredible accomplishments of Middlebox Institute of Technology Class of 2025 at this year's Senior Recognition Ceremony that is happening Tuesday, June 3rd at William Tennant High School

006Auditorium. The ceremony begins promptly at 6.30. This special evening will honor our graduating seniors for their achievements, growth, and dedication throughout their time at MBIT. It's an honor to reflect on their journeys, celebrate their success, and look ahead to bright futures they worked so hard to build. Finally, our 2025 Senior Awards and Scholarship Ceremony is on Thursday, May 29th at 4 p.m. in our cafeteria. This meaningful event is where we recognize the outstanding accomplishments of our graduating seniors. Each year, local businesses, industries, community organizations, and private families generously support our students by awarding scholarships and memorial gifts in honor of their loved ones. In addition to these external contributors, contributions, several of our MBIT programs also present awards to students who have demonstrated exceptional skill, dedication, and achievement. Thank you for your time and the

007opportunity to keep you informed about what is happening at Middlebox Institute of Technology. Good evening. My name is Jamie Gochman. My name is Steven Belder. And we will be reporting on the end of the year senior activity information for both the North and South senior classes. To begin, the South Senior Prom will be held tomorrow evening, Friday, May 16th, at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. North will have their prom on Saturday, May 17th, at the Crystal Tea Room, also in Philadelphia. Both high schools will begin senior yearbook distribution on May 30th. Both high schools will host their respective senior sunsets on Monday, June 9th. The South Car Parade will be on Tuesday, June 10th at 9 a.m. And the North Car Parade will also be on the 10th at 9.30 a.m. Both high schools

008will have their senior recognition night on Tuesday, June 10th. Graduation rehearsal will be on June 11th. And finally, graduation at Council Rock North will be held on Thursday, June 12th at 4 p.m. And graduation at Council Rock South will be held on Thursday, June 12th at 6 p.m. Now to you want to do good. Thank you. Thank you fantastic To continue, just give everybody, you know, we're going to share a couple words, Jamie and I. To continue my academic career in the fall, I will be studying ethics, politics, and economics at Yale University. Although my time there will last four years, I am confident that my learning will continue long beyond that, just as it will continue beyond my time here at Council Rock. Dr. Sanko, the School Board of Directors, administrators, and the many

009great people I have been blessed to address over the last four years as a Student Advisory Board member, this is my final report. I'd like to thank you for your willingness to learn about the stories and achievements of students in our great building, for your attention to my extra-lengthy athletic reports, and for offering me the opportunity to grow as a public speaker, student leader, and member of our Council Rock community. I'd like to thank the many. many remarkable educators, principals, librarians, lunch ladies, janitors, administrative assistants, and students that truly made my four years at South exceptional. Mr. Funk, Mr. Raddick, thank you both for your leadership of our student advisory board, and thank you to the amazing SAB members that I've had the privilege of sharing a microphone with. I guess it's time for me

010to share a few. Words of gratitude to you all. In further pursuit of my endeavors, I will be attending Lehigh University and majoring in applied economics under the 4 plus 1 accelerated master's program. I'm excited to explore the opportunities, relationships, and memories that await me there. However, the ambition and dedication that fueled my high school career and that will further fuel my college career would not have been possible without several notable individuals in this room. Foremost, I want to sincerely thank Dr. Sanko and the rest of the school board for their attention throughout the three years I was lucky enough to call myself a part of the Student Advisory Board. It is through your listening that I was able to cultivate the confidence that will help me navigate towards success during my time as a

011college student. It has been a privilege to sit across such admirable individuals who set the standard for hard work, dedication, and tenacity. Above all, I want to extend my immense gratitude for my principal, Mr. Raddick. I fondly recall entering your office as a sophomore looking for an opportunity to immerse myself into my school and its community. I will forever be grateful and proud to hold the title of Council Rock South's first Student Advisory Board liaison. But this position holds more than just a title. It is a symbol of your promise as an educator and a role model to grant your students every possibility toward exploring their interests and capitalizing on their strengths. It has been an absolute pleasure to learn and work with someone of your admirable character. Nonetheless, this meeting would not be complete

012if we failed to bless your ears with our long-awaited artistic performance. Tonight, myself, Stephen, and Polina will have the privilege of gracing you all with a performance of Good Riddance by Green Day. Let's move in, gang. If anybody wants to join in, please feel free. Another turning point before stuck in the road. Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go. So make the best of this test and don't ask why It's not a question but a lesson learned in time It's something unpredictable but in the end it's right I hope you had the time of your life So take the photographs and still frames in your mind Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial. For what it's worth, it was

013worth all the while. It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right. I hope you had the time of your life. Thank you and congratulations. Stephen, I will say this. When I first saw you in a stroller at Holland Elementary, you did not sound or look like that, nor did you speak like that. Congratulations to you all. Thank you for doing Council Rock, your families, your teachers proud. Go out and change the world. Good luck. Just in closing, really appreciate it. And Mr. Chiskevich and I were just saying that because of a cancellation during the year, this was a combined meeting, but maybe you would consider. Keeping this moving forward maybe the last meeting in the year or in May to have combined meetings was a lot of fun for both schools Thank you. That

014was quite the performance. It was so much fun, so We can proceed with a superintendent report. Dr. Sango Thank You mrs. Polly welcome and good evening to the board of school directors To the staff and to the community members joining us tonight and those tuning in like Council Rock YouTube channel Thank you to the council rock north Newtown chamber orchestra Led by Miss Abigail Stratton for kicking off our meeting tonight with their musical talent Thank you to our graduating senior representatives from the council rock high school north and council rock high school South student advisory boards for your joint report this evening Throughout the year our SEB representatives have done a fantastic job highlighting the many great things happening in our high schools and we applaud their contributions. To our graduating seniors Steven Belder, Jamie

015Gochman from CR South and Polina Nikolenko and Lena Nagel from Council Rock North, thank you for representing your classmates and your school in our district with pride. On behalf of the school board and administration, we wish you all the best as you prepare for graduation and the exciting journey ahead. May is a joyful and energizing time in our schools. As the weather warms and the outdoors become more inviting, our classrooms are filled with excitement of year-end learning and celebration. A highlight of the school year is just around the corner, graduation day for the class of 2025. As of today, our seniors only have 19 remaining school days. Commencement marks a meaningful transition celebrating years of hard work, growth, and resilience. For families, it's a joyful recognition of achievement and the promise of what's next. This

016year's high school graduation ceremonies will take place on Thursday, June 12, 2025. Council Rock High School North students will graduate at 4 p.m. At Walt Snyder Stadium Council Rock High School South seniors will graduate at 6 p.m. In the Council Rock High School South gymnasium Graduation ceremonies for students attending the Middle Bucks Institute of Technology and the Bucks County Intermediate Unit are also upcoming in the month of June. Those dates are Tuesday, June 3rd, MBIT Senior Recognition Night, 6.30 p.m. at William Tennant High School. and Monday, June 9th, for the Bucks County Intermediate students will be held at the Delaware Valley University in the Life Sciences Building at 6.30 p.m. We look forward to honoring all of our graduates and celebrating these milestones with their families, friends, and wider Council Rock community. While we prepare

017to honor our graduating seniors, we also recognize the ongoing efforts of the students in grades K through 11 as they approach the end of another successful school year. As of today, students in grades K through 11 have 23 school days left in the academic year. This is a reminder for parents that the final day of school for students in grades K through 11 is Wednesday, June 18th. This will be an early dismissal day for all students and AM kindergarten will attend. Tonight, we honor a remarkable group of individuals whose dedication and service have shaped the heart of Council Rock. At this time, I ask the retiree class of 2025 to please stand and be recognized. Please stay standing. Earlier tonight, we took time to recognize our retirees at a reception just across the hall. It

018was a chance for family and colleagues to acknowledge that these retirees will forever be part of the Council Rock family. All of our retirees have made a meaningful and lasting impact by helping shape the legacy of excellence that defines Council Rock. Collectively, this year's retirees represent an extraordinary 840 years of dedicated service, a testament to their commitment to education and generations of Council Rock learners. We are deeply grateful for their commitment and celebrate their legacy as they enter a well-earned next chapter. Thank you for all of your service to our kids and our Council Rock community. Congratulations. Last month we had the privilege of introducing several newly appointed administrators. Tonight we welcome Mr. Anthony Venziel who is being introduced as the next principal of Council Rock High School South. Anthony could not attend the April

019board meeting as he accompanied students on the senior class trip. Anthony joined Council Rock in 2021 and currently serves as an assistant principal at Council Rock High School North. He holds a master's degree from Drexel University. I'm sorry. He holds a master's degree from the University of Notre Dame and a certificate in educational leadership from Gwinnett Mercy University. Anthony brings more than 25 years of experience as a classroom teacher and a secondary administrator, having served in the North Penn and Lower Moreland school districts. Joining Anthony tonight are his wife, Christina, and his sons, Giovanni and Matteo. Anthony, welcome to this new role. And congratulations. You have already been board approved, but please take a moment at the podium. Dr. Sankar, had I known that I was going to be following the SAB music ensemble and

020speeches, I would have prepared better remarks. Good evening, everyone. I want to take this opportunity to thank the Council Rock Board of School Directors, Dr. Sanko, Mr. Funk. the rest of the district administrative team, along with the various staff and students that help facilitate a very professional, collegial, and welcoming selection process for the next principal of Council Rock High School South. I am both extremely honored and humbled by your faith in me. Although Mr. Radek has left very large shoes to fill, I am excited to get to work with the administrative team, staff, and students to build upon all the good work that he and his predecessors have established to make Council Rock South the great school that it is. I would be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to quickly thank and acknowledge

021all the wonderful people I have worked with at Council Rock High School North. For these past four years a special thanks goes to Mr. Jason Truskiewicz, Mr. Scott, Dr. Bertagni and Mr. Sparrow. You've been some of the best people with whom I have worked and I'm a better administrator educator in person for that experience. I will miss working with you all very much and will not forget all that you have taught me. You welcomed me as family from day one and that means more than you know. And lastly, to my family, my wife, Christina, who has supported me throughout this entire process. You believed in me more than I did. Your patience was more than I could ever ask for. This opportunity would not be possible without you. And to our sons, Giovanni and Matteo,

022I promised you that I have not forgotten about getting you yourself gear so you can wear them at the various sporting events. Just give Dad a little bit more time to get over to the school store or on the online store so I can get you those pieces of clothing. Again, thank you everyone and I look forward to keeping students first always as I begin this new journey. Congratulations and welcome to this new role Anthony. Boys, get your parents to take you for ice cream right now. Tonight we are proud to recognize two exceptional student athletes, one from each high school who have earned the highest honor in Pennsylvania high school wrestling. They earned the title of PIAA state champion. These outstanding athletes have excelled on the mat and demonstrated strong character in the classroom.

023From Council Rock High School North, Aaron Semet, coached by Mike Diglia, recently completed one of the most impressive careers in Pennsylvania wrestling history. This year, he won the PIAA AAA State Championship and went on to defeat the second-ranked wrestler in the nation. Aaron holds the record for the most wins, 18, in state tournament history and is a four-time district, regional, and state medalist. He finishes his high school career with 180 victories and has earned a scholarship to wrestle at the University of Michigan. From Council Rock High School South, Anthony Mutarelli, coached by Trey Blasco, became the school's 10th state champion. Known for his dominant style Anthony earned the title while setting school records for wins by technical fall and near falls in a single season Anthony's determination stood out on the biggest stage He will

024take with him his work ethic and his state championship as he will continue wrestling at Oregon State University where he is expected to make an immediate impact at the Division I level. Congratulations to both Aaron and Anthony on your remarkable accomplishments. and championship legacies. The Council Rock community is proud of your success and wishes you continued excellence in college athletics and academics. And at this moment, I would like to ask Mrs. Polly to join me at the podium. We have a certificate for each of you. Congratulations. Thank you. Looking ahead to next year, student registration for the 25-26 school year remains open. All necessary information, instructions, and required forms can be found on our district website at www.crsd.org. We remind parents that the upcoming school year marks the launch of full-day kindergarten in the Council

025Rock School District. Last week, we had a full house of parents and incoming kindergarten students attend the full-day kindergarten community night. It was exciting and energizing to meet so many families preparing for kindergarten in the fall when the class of 2038 joins the Council Rock family. Everything you need to know about student registration and our expanded kindergarten program is available on the Council Rock website at www.crsd.org. As mandated reporters, every Council Rock employee is legally and ethically obligated to report any suspicion of child abuse. All employees are current in their mandated reporter training, understand the procedures they are required to follow, and know when it is appropriate to contact 911 in situations involving student safety. Last month, an incident involving a Durham School Services van monitor was reported. While we cannot discuss personnel or police

026matters, We want to clarify some points that have been misrepresented in public forums. First, the monitor was not visible to the students when he was in his personal vehicle, which was parked approximately 50 feet away from the school van. Second, there was a delay of approximately 12 minutes between when the monitor was observed in his personal vehicle and the building principal was notified. Third, Durham School Services provided Council Rock with a written statement for the community that the van monitor, and I quote, was relieved of duty immediately and is no longer with the company. This differs from what Durham represented to the police as reflected in the probable cause affidavit. We acknowledge that incomplete or inaccurate information on social media has caused understandable concern within Richboro Elementary and the greater Council Rock School District community.

027We are always looking for ways to improve. To that end, and at Council Rock's direction, Durham School Services enacted a plan for checking every bus and van monitor before they assume a route. Durham's plan specifically arose from the incident at Richboro Elementary and will be shared with the community. We want to reiterate that it is that student safety is and will always be our highest priority the appropriate authorities are Addressing the matter and the district continues to take steps to ensure that our internal reporting processes are being followed with fidelity Please understand that while we are limited in what we can publicly share due to legal constraints Our commitment to transparency, accountability, and student protection remains firm. Some important dates. Tuesday, May 20th is Election Day. All schools are closed. Offices are open. Thursday, May

02822nd is an Education Committee meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, May 26th is a Memorial Day holiday. All schools and offices are closed. Tuesday, June 3rd, MBIT Senior Recognition at 6.30 p.m. at William Tennant High School. Monday, June 9th, Delaware Valley University, 6.30 p.m. in the Life Sciences Building. Thursday, June 12th, Graduation Day, Council Rock North Graduation will take place at 4 p.m. at Walt Snyder Stadium and 6 p.m. at Council Rock South in the gymnasium. Wednesday, June 18th, it's the last day of school for all students in grades K through 11. AM kindergarten will be attending and it will be an early dismissal. For those planning ahead, the start of the 2025-2026 school year for students in grades K through 6, grades 7 and 9 is Tuesday, September 2nd. The first day for all students

029in grades K through 12 is Wednesday, September 3rd. This is a reminder that for reliable, accurate, and up-to-date information about our district, please refer to resources, websites, and social media platforms managed by the Council Rock School District. We urge the community to be discerning in choosing where to obtain information and to be aware that unauthorized social media accounts use the Council Rock name to post inaccurate or misleading information regarding district matters. If you have questions about what you see, need additional information, or require a reliable fact check, please contact the district directly. Our contact information is readily available on our website at www.crsd.org. This concludes the superintendent's report. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Sanko. Solicitor report, Mr. Musil. Thank you, Mrs. Pauly. I just want to emphasize what Dr. Sanko said about the legal restraints

030around what we can talk about with the Durham bus aid matter. As you know, it's an item of active criminal prosecution, so we should not be commenting on it. We won't be able to comment further to the public. In addition, any related personnel matters, we cannot comment about in public. Know I've worked with the district and the boards of where we've taken appropriate personnel steps But that is not something we can comment about in public We've met several times in executive sessions since our last meeting. On May 1st, the board met to discuss personnel and safety and security matters related to the Durham Bus Matter. On May 8th, we had a long executive session where we talked about labor negotiations, personnel, safety and security measures, again, related to the Durham Bus Matter. We also talked

031about individual items of litigation. And then for informational purposes, the board heard about a proposal that you'll deliberate and vote on tonight about special education council. And then on May 15th, just before this meeting, we met again about safety and security matters. The board has our solicitor's report for the month and that concludes my public report. Thank you, Mr. Amuso. Before we proceed to public comment, I'm going to read the statement. Public comment is an opportunity for members of the public to address the board. We would ask that you limit your comments to no longer than three minutes. Please consider the fact that there may be young children in the audience or watching this broadcast live on CRTV when speaking. It is our goal to maintain a respectful environment so that members of our community

032have an equal opportunity to address the board without interruption. While the board welcomes your ideas and will consider them in deliberating an issue, we may not respond to your comments or questions. So this part of the public comment is agenda items only. I have two people signed up. Fran Haller. Good evening. My name is Fran. Could you please sit at the table there? Oh, I didn't know. Thank you so much. Good evening. My name is Fran Haller. I live in Newtown Township. Regarding the engagement with Whistler Pearlstein Law Firm, I may have missed it. If there was an explanation as to why the board is changing law firms, could you please explain why there was a need to change? Is this new law firm going to represent the school district in all of its legal

033needs, including special education cases? Did the previous law firm represent the school district in all legal matters, including special education? How many special education cases will this new firm be taking over now? Are there any current special education cases that the school district has that will be remaining with our former law firm until they're completed? Another question. I know it's a lot of questions. How much did you budget for this new law firm for the first year? As a comparison, What was the hourly rate for the former law firm, and what is the hourly rate for the new law firm? And my last question on that, were any other law firms considered by the entire board? Now, regarding the Council Rock Education Foundation giving money to Council Rock School District, if I understand the agenda

034correctly, there are two different items. G is a donation specifically for $50,000 to Knights for Knowledge, and H is for an innovation grant. I don't see a specific amount stated except for, quote, an approval to accept the innovation grants in excess of $45,000, end quote. Can you tell me what this innovation grant, or is it multiple grants, is going to be used for? Also, please tell me if the Council Rock Education Foundation directs the Council Rock School Districts and how they are to use the donation to the Knights for Knowledge program. And if the foundation directs or has any stipulations for how the school district must use the grant money. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Haller. I also have Lori Katz on the agenda. Good evening. I'm Lori Katz from Northampton Township, here to request

035transparency on our district's finances and priorities. First, legal concerns. In 2023, the board replaced Eastburn and Gray, who charged $160 an hour, with Rudolph and Clark. You promised two attorneys for the same rate, but now we pay $250 per hour for one, which is a 73% increase. Please explain this. Next, I believe Michael Clark told the public that there were no special education cases, while we find out that there are over 20 active cases. Now our solicitors are proposing hiring an outside firm, Whistler Pearlstein, for support in these cases. Is that also at $250 an hour? Was this the negotiated rate? Another concern is the solicitor is supposed to disclose all the executive sessions to the public as required as part of your job. Our solicitor forgot and had to be reminded by board members.

036That's troubling. Second, Policy 605.1. This policy is curiously in every school district represented by Rudolph and Clark. It lets the district challenge property assessments to raise taxes. It's legal, I guess, but questionable. Will you reject it here, solicitor, and explain why it was brought to the table for our school district? Because the taxpayers want to know. Third, taxes. A 2.9% tax hike is proposed. What is the board's final tax going to be for this budget? Is this about students or projects like building restorations? Our motto is students first always. How is that defined and who is defining this? Fourth, costs. In 2018, we spent $12,000 per student. By 2023-2024, We spend over $20,000, which is an $8,000 increase per student. So we have about 10,000 students times an increase of 8,000. That's $80 million more,

037while test scores and proficiency rates remain flat. Post-COVID, we were told... Specifically, no recuperative education was needed in Council Rock. My kids needed six months in another school to have the students catch up to the students that didn't go virtual. Were standards lowered in Council Rock? How did this cost increase benefit the students when proficiency rates remained flat? Who's driving this agenda? The board, the administration, or the solicitor? So to recap, my questions are, why $250 per hour for legal services? I'd appreciate your... Thank you. You're over your three minutes, please. No, I'm actually not because I timed this. So if I get interrupted, I'm asking for my recoup. It's not when I sit down. So thank you. I'll continue. Why $250 per hour for legal services when Eastburn and Gray charged $160? Please explain

038the two-attorney deal. Are there zero special education cases or over 20? Clarify tonight. Amuso, did you or your firm recommend policy 605.1, and if so, why? Because the taxpayers want to know. What is the board's final tax rate going to be for this budget? And why did per student cost jump from $12,000 to $20,000 plus while outcomes stagnate? Thank you for your courtesy. You didn't time it so well. You are four minutes. But thank you for your comment. Approval of the minutes of the meeting of the board of on April 24 2025 could someone please read the motion I Move to approve the minutes of the meeting of the school board directors held on April 24th 2025 This is gone. I'm second, please Second mr. Hickey are there any objections? Okay, you can unanimously, I

039guess, minus Mr. Atteet, right? Okay, thank you. We move to the Education Committee, Committee Report, and Ms. Khan, yeah. Thank you, Ms. Pali. Good evening. The last Education Committee meeting was held on Monday, April 28th at 7 p.m. here at the Chancellor's Center. I will highlight a few items. Ms. Bethann Dobosh from CREF was present and provided an update, including the anticipated newest innovation learning grants, which were awarded to teachers. There were actually, I believe, 11 of them. This will be used for the upcoming 25-26 school year and totaling approximately $46,000. The board will be approving acceptance of these grants this evening under the Finance Committee, along with the CREF grant. for $50,000 for Knights for Knowledge program to continue here in Council Rock. Thank you and congratulations to Kraft and all the teachers who

040applied and received a grant. Looking forward to seeing those grants in action next school year. For full-day kindergarten, Dr. Sank already stated in his superintendent's report that we had a full-day community event on May 6th last week, which was highly attended. A big thank you to the administration, the teachers, principals, staff who attended to make it such a successful event. They did a great job organizing. There was lots of... fun, both chaotic and good, but all great with the little ones starting kindergarten. And thank you to all the community members who attended that evening. Kindergarten screenings this year was presented. The process will look a little bit different in that it's going to be a little more thorough and detailed. Every school will have a day in June to offer kindergarten screenings for the community.

041This will be shared and communicated to all our families. This will actually help principals to balance and create classrooms for the upcoming school year. There will be a make-up day offered in August for any families who missed it. teachers will be offered a three-day professional development for the summer Academy over over the summer to discuss and learn about the hiring process screening process excuse me curriculum report cards scheduling and more the hiring continues for a couple of the remaining positions We also discussed the high school change and later start times briefly. The invitations have been sent by Mr. Funk to prospective committee members comprising of principals at both high schools, guidance counselors, curriculum coordinators. curriculum coordinators, supervisors, teachers, staff, students, parents, and more. The committee is planning to have a kickoff meeting on June 4th.

042We look forward to the updates next school year as the committee begins its exploration and work this summer. And finally, under special education, there was the discussion of the expansion of the autistic support program, which will be at Richboro Elementary School in Soul Finestone for grades kindergarten and first grade beginning next school year. The purpose was to send students closer to the neighborhood school and also on their natural sending pattern and path here in Council Rock. Conversation and planning started well before Richboro Elementary School and Soul Finds Elementary renovations were completed. Also, we'll be welcoming eight to nine students additionally from the early intervention program from the intermediate unit. There were about, I believe, 16 to 17 students that were affected that are currently in kindergarten and first grade that are from Holland Elementary School.

043They will move to either Richboro or Soul Finestone based upon their residence. The new incoming students will also be at Richboro or Soul Finestone. Remaining students will stay at Holland Elementary School until they matriculate out. Discussion of the communication, meetings, and transition plan for these families continues as well as the... preparing the school buildings and staff to ensure this smooth transition for this population of students. Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 22nd, here at 7 PM at the Chancellor's Center. That concludes my report. And I now move to approve consent agenda items B through L as contained in the attachments to this agenda. Can I have a second, please? Second. Are there any comments or objections, Mr. Roosevelt? Just a question. The grants for Knights for Knowledge. It's okay. I asked Mr. Roosevelt.

044I didn't hear you. I saw it first. Sorry, Joe. Yeah, Dr. Oberman, there are a few items in here that are attributed to you just for the edification of the community. If you could take some time to go through several of them. I believe there are two, possibly three, that are regarding nurses and or healthcare. Yes. So you could start with that. Potentially requesting that E be pulled from consent. So ENF, Beata, home health care, and critic care contract, these are services that we use to staff nurses if it's a substitute service. So, you know, we use these two services in the case nurses are out or, you know, we need to staff buildings. So it's not something we pay for unless we use. So from my understanding, the school district uses several of these

045because in some cases we might call. Bavada they don't have anyone available so then we go to the next person on the list So it's nothing more than a subservice for nurse for health services is this currently a need in Council Rock do we have a shortage or where would the Nurses need to be called if we needed them from my understanding. It's mainly if nurses call out sick So it's a day-to-day type Substitute service and that's the reason for two correct and is there any particular reason on these two? That's a good question. Sorry to put you on the spot. No, it's okay. I did as much research as I could on these. From my understanding, these have been reliable sources of nurses for us in the past, and this is kind of why

046we're sticking with them. Okay. And then there are some others that pertain to other contracts for education, perhaps for settlement agreements or for... Or once again, if we need it, correct? Correct. Okay. Is there anything that you can add to some of these other items just for maybe a brief blurb? Sure. So Dr. Kyle Walsh. Agenda letter I. He's been with us working with our student population for 15 years from what I understand. So he works primarily with our autistic support classes at the high school. He goes in roughly once a week to do group or individual work, working on social skills, conflict resolution. I spoke to Dr. Walsh last week just to get a sense of his services. I also spoke to the teachers as well who have found his services over the years

047to be very helpful. Thank you. Mr. Hidalgo. Thank you, Ms. Pali. So the grants, they were mentioned in the education, but they're going to be voting, and we're going to vote for them in finance. Would now be the time to ask clarifying questions about the grants, or should I wait until finance? Now I'm getting a nod. I think when we vote for them. All right, I'll wait then. Are there any other comments or questions? So you want to pull something out, or you're OK? Yeah, if we could just vote separately on E, that would be great. Okay. Would you like to? All right. I move to approve consent agenda items B through D and F through L as contained in the attachments to this agenda. Second. Ms. Horner, second, yeah. Are there any questions on

048these specific items? Any objections? Okay, that is unanimous. Mine is Mr. Tate. So then we have to read the motion for E separate. Would you like to read that for E? Sure, I can. I move to approve consent agenda item E as contained in the attachment to this agenda. Subject to audit. Need a second? Second. It's hard to second it. Would you like to discuss this further? No, it's, I just have, I think just moving forward, the reasons don't need to belabor this forum. I'm just happy if perhaps another organization, I recognize the need for nurses. seriously, so the objection isn't got to do with that. And I recognize the need to have two companies just to ensure that we do have staffing. I just have an issue with this one company, which doesn't need

049to go further. So I'm happy if this passes. I just can't vote for it. Thank you. Okay. Any other? Anybody else? We're all called, please. Mr.. Hidalgo yes, mr.. Roosevelt no Mr.. Hickey yes, miss Polly yes, miss oseki Yes, miss con yes miss stone Yes, miss Horner. Yes, okay So it passes seven Bucks I you representative so psyche okay So the IU has not met since our last school board meeting. We'll actually be meeting on Monday, May 19th. So I don't have an update this month. However, I will reiterate what I said last month with a slight update. I had mentioned last month that there's real concern at the IU about the future of their Head Start programs, which currently serve 362 students in Bucks County. This program has been funded through five-year federal grants

050since 2015. And the current grant expires at the end of May. The grant application that they filed on January 2nd for the next five-year grant cycle has not been approved, nor has there been any communication about the status of their application. Head Start programs employ about 75 people, and without this grant funding, the program will be forced to close. The IU is trying to work with federal legislators to get more information. And then the update since last month is that the funding has been extended through the end of this school year. So it's not the current cycle. It ends in the middle of May. And so there was concern about, well, what are we going to do until June 18th or whenever the school year ends? It has been extended through the natural end of

051the school year. We do not have further information about the next five-year grant. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Zakey. You have questions? Yeah, Mr. Hidalgo. Just one. You said 400 students in the county. How many of them in Council of 362? How many for Council Rock? Will we be able to figure that out? Now I would have to ask the Bucks County Intermediate Unit if they would be able to Define that for us because early intervention. They're not school-aged students. So we wouldn't know where they're going to enroll Just where they live, but you don't follow it that way. Okay Thanks any other questions? Good evening everyone and first of all congratulations to all the SAB seniors who give their presentations on a monthly basis. It sure makes our job a lot easier and as

052you can tell they are very good at public speaking. That being said, Ms. Nikolenko, she covered most of the things that I was going to talk about so especially my thanks to her. With that, a couple other things that we either voted on or discussed. We had our executive council meeting on May 6th. One of the things that we agreed upon was an agreement with the teachers through June of 2031. We also renewed the services of our solicitor, the physician, and our business manager. The 11th annual Philanthropy Today breakfast and award ceremony was held earlier this month. This is actually a student-led program awarding grants to various community groups. Ms. Horner and Dr. Sanko were in attendance from Council Rock. I believe they were probably the only school of the four that were represented, if

053I'm not mistaken. In addition, the National Technical Honor Society welcomed 60 new members from MBIT. Please remember, as these were dates that were given earlier numerous times, but just keep in mind that Thursday, May 29th at 4 p.m., the Senior Awards and Scholarship Ceremony will be held, and the Middlebrook Institute of Technology Class of 2025 Senior Recognition Ceremony, similar to our graduation, will be held on Tuesday, June 3rd. At William Tennant High School at 630. It's a wonderful event if you get a chance to go. Our next meeting will be June 9th. And that concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you. I don't have a report for Kraft. Mr. Tate is not here. So we can proceed with the policy committee report. I do have a report. You have a report? I would be remiss.

054And Mr. Tate would probably be very angry if I did not mention. that the golf outing on June 23rd at Jericho National. So I just wanted to put a reminder out there for any of you who have not been here for the last 11 months and have missed his report. Thank you. Thank you, but someone's going to steal your thunder because Ms. Stone has a report for us. Ed did actually give me a report, and my second item on here is the Krefft golf outing. On June 23rd, which is filling up quickly, but there's still room for some more foursomes. And they also welcome single golfers and pairs. So you can visit the CREB website for more information. The CREB Innovative Learning Grants that you heard about earlier combined. With the $50,000 grant to continue

055Knights for Knowledge, make this a record-breaking year for the partnership of Council Rock with CREF. And this marks the greatest level of support that CREF has ever provided to our school district in a single year. Also, Ed wanted me to remind everyone that if you're looking for a meaningful way to say thank you, an end-of-year gift is a perfect way to honor a teacher, staff member, or administrator for their outstanding dedication to our students. Simply visit the CREF website to donate, and we'll send a personalized card to the honoree, letting them know about your thoughtful recognition. And I have one little tidbit that I wanted to bring up that I noticed that there's a House bill in Harrisburg that was passed, House Bill 1030, passed to make Hershey's Kisses the state. Candy and I understand

056that this was a now was brought to the attention of Harrisburg by eighth grade students several years ago, and they're now graduating So be fun if that does actually pass the Senate I don't know when it's going to go to the Senate for a vote, but it passed pretty 145 to 40 or something like that in the house anyway, that's just a little aside, and that's the end of my report That is correct, Ms. Stone. Those students began this journey in eighth grade, and they have spent an awful lot of time and energy. So we're following it closely and hope we can come back and say that the state candy is now Hershey Kiss because of our students. Wonderful. So we'll proceed with the policy committee report. Ms. Stone? Yeah. Yes. The policy committee met

057on Monday, May 5th, to discuss several student-related policies for first and second read related to health, safety, and some other issues. Policy 212.1 is on academic integrity, although it implies the use of AI. because this is a hot topic for both its positive and negative uses, and it's being carefully considered by administration, is not specifically addressed as of yet. And I would also like to thank Andrea Mangold, because I think she has a specific relationship with, is it MIT, on artificial intelligence. So hopefully soon you'll be able to give us. impart some knowledge to us at some point. So I can give you an update. Oh, OK. We just met this week, and we have draft guidelines that are almost ready to be shared with the board and a stakeholder group. What we decided to

058do was use the MIT model as a framework. And there are lots of school districts across the country who are treading very slowly into putting guidelines around the use of AI. Probably most likely because how do you define AI? It's very nebulous because everyone has a different definition. So hopefully we'll be able to move that forward and have something in the hands of teachers and staff and parents by the fall. That's our goal. Thank you. Thank you. So we have first read policies up for a vote regarding weapons and terror threats, as well as policies on student complaint, student dress, and student debt policies. I know there have been some questions on the details of student dress, and they're specifically addressed in student handbook materials and are administered at each individual school. So with that,

059I move to approve consent agenda items B and E for second read and consent agenda items F through K for first read as contained in the attachment to this agenda. Second. Second. Are there any comments? Any objections? A pretty lengthy discussion during the policy committee meeting. So we can mark that unanimous, please. Minus Mr. Deed. So Facilities Committee report. Ms. Horner, thank you. All right, facilities met on May 1st. As the discussion of the district master plan of facilities continues, the focus remains on plans for the district on the Chancellor Center, Newtown Elementary, and Maureen Welsh Elementary renovations, Holland Middle School, small addition, and the South Stadium. No decisions have been made as there are still many unknown and unanswered questions. Our next facilities meeting will be Thursday, June 5th. On tonight's facilities agenda for

060approval is the full-day kindergarten furniture purchase, many maintenance and service bids, several change orders, a letter of assignment change of ownership of the Schrader Group to Hoard Copeland Mott. Mr. Schrader will be staying with HCM for the foreseeable future to continue to work with Council Rock District. I move to approve. Consent items B through O as contained in the attachment to this agenda. Thank you. Can I have a second, please? A second. I think I heard Ms. Stone the loudest. Any questions, comments, objections? Okay, that's unanimous, and thank you. Finance Committee report, Ms. Stone? Yes. So the Finance Committee met on Thursday, May 8th, and some of the highlights are we had Mr. Kevin Karpuk from Cornerstone providing a cash management update. And for the first three quarters of our fiscal year, the district has

061earned approximately $5.5 million. and earnings for the fourth quarter are expected to be about $1.5 million, bringing our annual expected earnings to be about $7 million, which is above what we had budgeted for for this year. So in developing our budget for the upcoming fiscal year, we're anticipating budgeting $5.5 million again. And because the district does not speculate in the market, Mr. Karpuk is fairly confident in our projections, and I'd like to thank him for his diligence. He comes every quarter to report at the finance committee meetings. The MBIT budget was reviewed, and we will see an increase of a little over 1%. due to an increase of about 17 students from Council Rock into the program. And remember, the district pays a percent of their total budget based on percent of students from Council

062Rock to MBIT. And currently, Council Rock has 193 students enrolled. And we are thrilled to be receiving $50,000 from CREF for the Knights for Knowledge program, which is rolling into its third year, if I'm correct, right? And we will also be accepting the $46,000 in innovative grants from CREF. And we, of course, thank CREF. And that's for several grants. I don't remember exactly how much for each. And a big shout out to Giant Supermarkets for again making a donation to the district's food service program this year in the amount of $10,951. Finally, and most importantly, we have a proposed final budget. The word final is... Not is taken loosely in this case. It's proposed, but it's not the absolute final the budget not only includes costs for full-day kindergarten, but for additional needed teaching positions

063And we should really thank mr. Rapp and his team for working diligently on this budget that allows us to improve our educational programs improve our ability in getting the best and retaining the best teachers for our students. And while other districts are increasing taxes up to the max of 4%, which is the index, we're anticipating that increase to be closer to 2.9%. So well below what we are able to... increased taxes. And that is less than half a percent more than what was budgeted last year. So our anticipated expenses are about $292 million. Last year they were $279 million. So we're looking at about a 4.5% increase in our expenses this year. As a reminder, we work under the premise, or Mr. Rapp and Finance Department, they work on the premise of conservative budgeting, which

064means that we're going, they will underestimate the revenues a little bit to be cautious and overestimate our expenses. So that allows us to run the budget with a slight deficit. So, and this year we were able to. not, you know, we were able to stay under the budget and not have additional deficits. So our next meeting will be on Monday, June 9th at 7 p.m. And we will now go and hold on. So I move to approve consent agenda items B through R as contained in the attachment to this agenda. Second? Second. Okay, Mr. Zakey, second. And I'm sure there will be discussion and questions. Mr. Hickey? I had to wait until the motion was made. Can we pull O, please? O. I had to do it separately. Which one are you pulling the other

065by that the final buzz? Oh final budget? Okay? I also have some questions about Items F&G, but I will wait because I know mr.. Hidalgo wanted to speak on that Okay, should we pull that out first? Oh? Okay, all right. I'll redo the motion after if mr.. Hidalgo has some Is there anybody, anything else anyone wants to pull out of consent? All right. So we make the motion to take out. Okay. I move to approve consent agenda items B through N and P through R as contained in the attachment to this agenda. I second. All right. So questions, comments? Mr. Hidalgo. Thanks. Thank you, Mr. Hickey, because you probably do a better job than me asking the same questions, I guess, is. I just want to say thanks to CREF for a $50,000 grant for

066Knights of Knowledge. That's really huge. To answer the question from the public comment, the 11 grants that are given out to the students is the $46,000 innovation grants that they do every year. Teachers get excited about that, and you see it in action, and that's good stuff. My question would be, and maybe it's more of just a clarification, the money going to Knights of Knowledge, I'm pretty sure we probably used federal grant money in the beginning, and then I'm guessing that the CREF is now covering the costs that, or trying to cover some of the costs that we use for that. Just like a little more detail on that, please. Thanks, Mr. Hildog. I'll let Mr. Rapp answer this in more detail, but essentially our ESSER funds, we have exhausted them, and CREF is willing

067to donate that money to help offset the cost. So, Tony, do you mind adding to that? I believe that the total cost we're estimating to be about $150,000, so they're covering a third of it. We do not have the federal sources that we used to. I know we're looking at the continuation of the Knights for Knowledge program in the future, whether or not we want to move that towards something else. But again, it's about a third of the cost, and the majority of our cost in Knights for Knowledge is always going to be personnel. So any of that grant will go towards personnel costs. Okay. Thanks again. We all support that we are here during a pandemic and this is a solution. We're using to try to You know Rectify what happened so but just

068leave it at that. That's all my question for now. Thank you Mr.. Roosevelt Yeah, I also have comments for F and G and And o o has been pulled separately, so I'll hold my comments from that regarding F and G this This school board or at least one of nine members really appreciates donations that go toward education whether it come from an organization like cref or whether it comes from a PTO or whether it comes from an Individual or a group of individuals. This is something that is very much appreciated And when we are looking at budget items of rising costs and either flatlining revenues or slightly increasing revenues Little bits like this really help especially as it comes from a organization that targets something specifically where they have a buy-in or they have a

069need. It's wonderful. I think it helps this board understand what the community finds important within the district. So I just wanted to comment about that. Regarding the item F, the donations for Knights for Knowledge. specifically and the G, the innovation grants. This year, I think we changed protocol in that there was wonderful prize patrols going out with big checks and balloons and making a big deal to all the different teachers to present this. But that's happened, and now the board is... Going to vote on whether that's approved or not which puts I believe or one of nine Puts the board in an awkward position if we vote no we're effectively canceling all that prize patrol and You know this this would have been something nice. I think in the future the board should be approving

070things before prize patrol goes out with the specific to Knights for Knowledge. This is a program that I have supported. This has been something that this administration came up with to counter learning loss, which is a serious thing that I think that as years go by we recognize that this impacts some students more than other students, but the depth and the breadth of this is significant enough and I appreciate this administration for stepping forward. and coming up with an idea on how to counter that. But I also have some reservations and concerns with an organization outside of the school. administration and board that is directly contributing towards salaries and or curriculum. I think this is something where we should be partnering a little bit closely or on or finding some other area that contributions could

071be made. So I'm not requesting either of these be pulled from the consent agenda. I'm just thinking because I think that they're good programs and moving forward, I support the programs. But I'm hoping that moving forward, we can work with a great organization like CRAF a little bit closer to sequence this so that we don't end up being putting the cart before the horse. Thank you. If I may, Mr. Roosevelt, I could talk to, and I mentioned this at the education meeting, I think, we did get out of cadence. CREF provided the innovative grants to us, and we just need to be tighter in our communication. They set up their prize patrol. I mentioned I was part of some of them. I went out to celebrate. I couldn't make all of them. But you're absolutely

072right that it was out of sequence and we'll make sure that that's tightened up for next year Thank you, and then regarding items and We're down to n This is an engagement letter Between the district and this law firm. There's no subcontracting And there was an email, I believe, that you were going to prepare to indicate that your firm isn't receiving any sort of payments through that. Have we received those? That's correct. I think I've said that in an email and an affidavit, I believe. But yes, to be clear, you are engaging Whistler Pearlstein as special education counsel. It's a joint proposal of our firm and the administration, but this is directly between you and the law firm. We have no... We get no financial benefit from it. And also to be clear, there's a

073rule of professional conduct that says, you know, if there's going to be any fee splitting, we have to notify you. And there is none. And that's why we have not notified you. But to be clear, we are getting no financial benefit whatsoever. Thank you. I think that an item like this is important. It's difficult when your law firm first came in, you represented that you could handle just about everything, which was more than the previous law firm did. And I do commend you for recognizing that this is an area that another firm either can handle better or maybe handle more completely or whatever the situation may be, which we can't necessarily discuss here. and doctor sancho that you have expressed that there is an immediate need for for this type of service um and this

074is an engagement between that firm and this district so we as a board we as a district would be the client and thank you i'd and then the word There were a bunch of public questions that pertain to this, and I don't know if, Mr. Musso, if you want to address some of them. Absolutely. So, first of all, there was a question about rates. You know, Whistler will charge the same rates as we've charged, which is the same rates as Eastburn and Gray. So, for special education, which is what this is about. Eastburn had established kind of a multi-tier structure. So for general special education, it's always been $250 an hour for partners and $200 an hour for associates or more junior attorneys, and then $125 an hour for paralegals. So that's general special education.

075Once somebody files for what's called due process in special education, then that... Kicks off a much lower hourly rate for all attorneys of a hundred and sixty dollars and then you have the same rate for paralegal So that's that's the rates that are in the engagement letter with Whistler That's what was our rates and that was Eastburn. So that's it's always been the same I mean Lots of public questions about this number of cases yeah we're we're proud to say we did have it down to zero due process cases at one point that's no longer the case it never stays that way for long so there are I want to say six or seven probably active due process cases right now there are many more that we do list on our report that are due

076process cases but. You know, you're always engaging with families, and we just simply report that to the board. So we do have multiple cases now. And look, I appreciate Mr. Roosevelt's comments, as I think we've talked about in executive session. From our perspective, it's a change we've had in personnel and some interest that Dr. Sanko had for some additional expertise. And we worked on this together and realized this is definitely the best solution for the district. Whistler is an excellent special education firm. They handle special education in some of our other districts where the solicitor and they have some real expertise that that will benefit the district and so we were we were happy to do this. So mr. Roosevelt yes peter and i worked on this together. I just read the solicitors report i

077don't know the number of cases but i did want to make note that in board docs under public comment is that engagement letter with the rates outlined in there. Thank you both. Mrs. Zaghi? I was just going to ask how the transition process for the active cases was going to go. Sure, it'll go smoothly. We don't really intend to keep any cases. I mean, we'll work with Whistler on that. I mean, there was a piece of federal litigation about the age that we just got dismissed. I don't know whether we would keep that if there's an appeal. But that's probably the only item I think we would keep. I know Amy Brooks will be the partner that will be handling it, and Amy and I know each other quite well. So I believe there's a

078meeting scheduled tomorrow with Amy and special education. So I imagine it will be a relatively quick, seamless transition. Ms. Kahn? Thank you. I just wanted to clarify that the – I guess with Whistler, Pearlstein coming in for special education, that, you know, I think Dr. Sanko provides a weekly update to the board members each week. And it was mentioned briefly that there was some consideration. And it was at the executive session that it was presented. And Mr. Musso, I was not present at the time, but with the rest of the board members. So this was something that administration found a need for and found an expert. And I appreciate that the solicitors, our current solicitors, also saw the need for it and willing to work with the other law firm. And that it was on

079for board approval this evening for the contract approval engagement letter. However, it was not. Board decision it was something that we're supporting administration and the needs of the students and if this is the best need for the students then you know Obviously as a board member I would support that thank you Mr.. Hickey Yes, I also appreciate Mr.. Musso his firm seeking out help when needed like you said it's somewhat immediate Supposedly, it's a very reliable firm. We haven't had that much time to research it, but we'll go from there. I guess my concern at some point comes with, I'm going to say as a general term, with bandwidth. When we originally went with Rudolph and Clark, I mean, one of the big selling points of your firm was indeed special education. And that is

080now taken off the table as it has been. If we approve it, we'll now go to Whistler-Pearlstein. In addition to that, like I said, from the time that you guys were engaged with the district, last year there was a change of, I want to say ownership, change of name where your firm essentially split. So we go from hiring a firm with special education expertise to that firm splitting in half. And now we're siphoning off the special ed part of the business. So my concern, like I said, is I know you represent many other entities other than Council Rock. It becomes to me a question of bandwidth and a little bit of an item of concern on my behalf. But like I said, I do appreciate the fact that you at least sought help where you

081need it and that we will be covered going forward with special education. I'm not sure who it was but one of the speakers tonight did indeed mention about the fact that when you first came that we would have representation at our meetings by Both mr.. Amuso and mr. Clark and it's been some time since mr. Clark has been there and like I said it just runs into a concern like I said about the bandwidth of The solicitor that we're servicing and hopefully it won't become an issue in the future. Thanks Sure, just a couple comments. I mean, I think we were just assuring when we talk about two people in a meeting just that you wouldn't be double charged. So, you know, whether there's one or two of us, you won't be double charged. And

082you're right, recently it has been one. And again, related to some of the personnel matters we talked about before. Just to be clear, our firm didn't split in half, essentially. I guess two people left our firm, neither of which had anything to do with special education. The special education was some different circumstances that we've talked about. We did have one person leave. But again, that's why we were happy to work with the administration on this. But other than that, well, first of all. We're very happy with the results we got for the district and special education. I think Whistler will absolutely continue that. But we are confident in the rest of what we've done. I work closely with Dr. Sanko and Mr. Spring and Mr. Rapp. And I think, again, I stand by our expertise.

083But this was one area where we agreed with the administration due to the personnel changes at our firm. rest assured that everything else continues to you get excellent representation. Ms. Horner. Thank you. Thank you, Mr.. Mee so for clarifying that and dr. Sanko Thank you for your timeline of how this request in details of the special education considered consideration As my oversight duty as the elected official I did reach out to Amy Amy Brooks last Friday afternoon She seems very knowledgeable of special education law and understanding of the dynamics between families in the district Also spoke to several other solicitors and constituents who expressed she also does specialize in special education law and she's very knowledgeable in special education law and I think it's doing best for our district to make sure we do have

084somebody that does represent the families and the district And I also want to thank for I did see tonight We did receive because I did request to make sure that there was no referral fees and we were making sure that this is done properly Any other comments? We have the budget pulled out. Can we vote on the consent items? Do we have to do a roll call on that? If there are no objections, we can call that unanimous, Mr. Tate. So now we need to... Ms. Stone, would you like to read the motion? I move to approve items. Item O as contained in the attachment to the agenda. Second. Second by Mr. Hickey. All right. I'm sure there's discussion coming. We would like to always order, please. Mr. Rapp, could you just share with the

085public why we're doing a initial approval of a budget and what happens in between now and next meeting, please? Sure. So this is what's called the proposed final budget, where we put together a budget where it stands now, and this is nothing in this budget is final. Nothing that we approve tonight will be final. This is only the proposed final. By state law, we're following the state law where we have to have this posted at least 20 days before it's approved, which is anticipated to be at the June... Board meeting and then we have to Post in the newspaper that it's going to be approved ten days before it's actually approved So this is our us putting the budget together for the board to approve a proposed final budget It doesn't mean that it's the

086final budget. There's nothing set in stone with this budget We plan to have it available on our website and in our lobby at the Chancellor's Center by next week so that we have the more than 20 days before it needs to be approved and we will advertise it at least probably at least 15 days before that meeting as well, so we're just making sure that we follow the rules of the of the state and we're doing what every other school district is doing. Does that answer your question? Any other comments? Mr. Roosevelt? Thank you. Mr. Rapp, would it be fair to say that this vote for the budget is a procedural and a compliance? Vote so we are the board is voting Whether the administration can move forward with that timeline like you indicated but

087the board reserves the right and the administration reserve reserves the right to change either percents or values as Needed or as the majority wishes that's absolutely correct Thank you. Also, another question that I've got on this is, do we still have a five-year projection? On the budget, and I'm not asking for it now. I know that you've been very busy with doing this, and I think that you've done a wonderful job, you and your department, of pulling this together. But between now and next meeting, I don't know if we could look at a five-year projection as well, along with the before the June meeting. Is that something that could be done or something that we're still kind of doing? I know that we had a five-year a few years ago. Yes, so I can produce

088a five-year projection. As you know, we switched to a different financial software for doing our projections, and I've been working on, there's a lot of variables that go into that, so I've been working on making sure that it's right, but I can provide that at the Finance Committee meeting on the 9th. Wonderful. And just to make sure that there isn't any confusion in the community, the budget that you have given each one of us today could be characterized as a proposed final budget of a tax increase of 2.9 with a $6.5 million deficit. I think is that right? It's a 2.93. And a six point seven million dollar deficit since we met on Friday there were a couple you know we're as I as I said before we're going to be tweaking this budget. Back

089and forth between now and next month we want to make sure that we get the best numbers to support students as we can and I'd also like to add that that that two point nine three percent increase we've tried to limit that as much as we can it is. As you can tell by the six point seven million dollar deficit is well below the increasing costs that the district that the administration really has no control over. But you know which between head contractual increases for contracts that have been around and you know both both for employees and for third party vendors thank you and. This time of the year, typically a board member makes a comment along these lines. Mr. Tate from leadership did a wonderful job of doing it at our last finance committee

090meeting of indicating that. That when this in the fall ish when the budget is sort of done the district Experiences a surplus that that typically resolves the deficit that we're posting but right now we're at the end of our cycle where we're complying with the state to post the budget, but there are expenditures and revenues that the district still has coming in and that in the past I guess historically has resulted in a I guess I'll call it a surplus. I won't define it categorically whether of what type is that is that right? Yes, we often have a surplus There's two kinds of surpluses obviously there's there's the surplus when compared to the budget and then the actual surplus so we have a six million dollar deficit and we Say we Did our expense our

091expenditures are greater than our revenues by a million dollars at the end of next year? the actual would be a million dollar the the Deficit would be actually a positive five million based on based on the current deficit I will say that we usually have a deficit somewhere in the two to three million dollar range This is a six point seven million dollar deficit the last time we had a deficit that large we actually did The district did Have an actual deficit at the end of the year it wasn't as much as was predicted But it did there was an actual deficit, so I want to make that clear. We you know and we do have We this this this proposed tax increase that we have in the budget right now is only for covering

092the costs of employees and third-party vendors and supply, you know, the general cost. It's not for really any capital items other than computers and Chromebooks for students and staff. Thank you. I think Mr. Hidalgo is first. Thank you, Mr. Rapp, for doing this. I just will make a quick, I think my comments at the last finance meeting were speaking of the normal 2% baseline, and I worked in 0.5% for kindergarten for the second year, so I'm at 2.5% because I have to keep taxes reasonable, and we have to live within those means. I would say each percentage tax increase is about 1.7, going to 1.8 million now. So let's just say 800, half a percent to get closer to where I'm thinking is about $850,000, about half of 1.7 million. Okay, like a half a

093percentage would be worth around eight hundred and fifty to nine hundred It's close. It's actually over 1.8 million now, so half a nine hundred would be about nine hundred thousand. Okay, so nine hundred thousand dollars so and right now so when we look at What we're baking in with with certain things that we're doing right now where you know we're collective bargaining and stuff like that work the eight hundred and fifty thousand nine hundred thousand dollars into the negotiations this is not Talking specific about anything just to say that in general we have Crest better worry about next year right so we're this isn't the end and then we have the capital improvements I just do You know do a tax increase to increase it because we're going to you know need it versus Increasing

094it when we need it because as long as I've been on the board we've always increased the taxes and then gotten Surpluses and that's helped us. You know be able to do things and I understand that but from the Representing taxpayers of course students first always and the taxpayers were students at some point we have to take care of of Our budgets and keep the purse strings tight so I still Say basically and if it's not through what's the easiest thing which is you know negotiating deals? Then then how else can we keep within our our limits? So I'm hoping There's some magic you can work with the numbers because remember back in the day we used to also do like a 3% surplus or 3% over budget and a 3% shy on the on

095the Revenue and it end up equaling out if you remember Hearing about that from anybody There were certain things back in the day. It was it was beyond It was all the way back when I got on the board. But we used to always, same thing you're kind of doing now. We're not doing zero budgeting. We're doing deficit budgeting, so to speak. Yes, we are doing deficit budgeting. We do we do try to do a zero based budgeting meaning that at the end of the year We try to base as many of our budget items Not at the end of the year But during the budget process we base as many of our budget items on on what we expect to spend next year rather than what we spent last year and and that's that's

096just so that we're not oh so that you know, we don't want to fall into the trap of Always doing the same as last year we we we we expect everyone every department every building to look at their budget and this determine what they need to what they need to buy rather than oh well we always bought this so let's buy it again next year which is you know very important part of of trying to keep the budget down I'd also like to add that when we first started looking at this budget we started with a fourteen million dollar deficit and we have done a lot of work. to bring it down to the 6.7 that it's at now. I guess my fear is, as the business administrator, I don't want to have our deficit

097be over $7 million. We do have a credit rating that we like to maintain. you know, once we start getting into spending huge amounts of our fund balance on deficits that will hurt our, that could hurt our credit rating, which will cause interest that we pay on our bonds in the future to be more than it is now or more than what we end up getting in the free market right now, which we, you know we we we're trying to you know do this capital plan and the capital plan is important and maintaining our buildings is important which is you know we we talk about that that that extra money that we get every year every every All the money that we get extra, we try to move into the capital reserve fund, which we

098use for building upkeep. And that is the intention of that is to keep our buildings as up to date as possible and stave off the situation where we need to do a renovation for as long as possible. But sometimes we have buildings that are just past that point or getting to that point just because of the number of years. So I think we. In administration, we try our best to be as cognizant of reducing spending as much as we can in recognition of the taxpayers and minimizing their increases. But, you know, there's costs that we can't. We just, you know, we tried to negotiate. We've negotiated with our transportation vendor, and we've decreased their annual increase by half a percent. I know that doesn't sound like much, but when you're talking about $19 million, that

099is a decent amount of money. Also, when it comes to budgeting for the contract that we're negotiating right now, that's a very difficult proposition because... And you know follow the the way is that we were not allowed to budget in the in the payroll We're not allowed to budget for their increases for those teachers. We budget status quo and we put an additional amount into the into the budgetary reserve to cover that increase In addition to a budgetary reserve amount, but we try to we try to keep that um you know To as best as we can and we certainly don't want to be in a position where we ended with a contract where we go over that amount but I think we've we and we have made adjustments to that amount in order to

100Look at where we are where we think we're gonna land with the contract But I can't be 100% assured that that's where we'll end up so we're you know You know we We are you know doing the best that we can with that so I appreciate that you covered a lot of territory. Something that jumps out at me, like raise taxes or our credit rating goes down. But I mean, look, you're doing a great job. You're covering all the bases. I don't have a complaint, except how do we lower that? And I see you get every chance once in a while. So I think I have to dig a little bit deeper with you or Andy to look at that number and see if there's some way to get it down to where I would.

101You just want to stick to my guns when it comes to the tax increases. Thank you. You have Ms. Kahn first, and then Stone. Thank you. I guess just for a clarification and explanation, I know we've been talking a lot about this, and we will continue to do so until the final budget is approved in June. But I believe, correct me if I'm incorrect, Mr. Rapp, that... This proposed budget right now, this includes the 10.3 additional teachers and staff for the upcoming school year. I'm sorry, for Lou. The two middle school literacy specialists? Yes. Yes. So I just wanted the public to know as well that we've discussed it in finance, but so it includes 10.3 positions, with the exception of 1.5. The rest are teachers. Two middle school literacy specialists, four elementary literacy specialists,

102a 0.8 teaching position at Council Rock South, and two... teachers at Council Rock North and those are all based upon their needs and specifically what they've asked for at those buildings I believe and in at North the two teachers I believe science for increased Students signing up for financial literacy so those are all based upon the needs from the school so that's budgeted and that would I think we had discussed in the finance meeting that's about the 0.5 tax increase. I know Mr. Hidalgo is looking for a 0.5 decrease, but that would be... eliminating Positions that are that are needed and we've all discussed as board members You know what are the needs and of our of our students in our district and we've also talked about how structured literacy not only is you know

103Something that we are focusing on here in the district, but also across the state with house bills as well I know mr. Rapp you've talked about a nine point six million dollar increase in non-personnel expenses That's not under our control and options that we have in part of the budget. $13 million or 4.66% increase, which you've already discussed and we've talked about many times, and contracted services such as the transportation or custodial that we just recently renegotiated. And then I know we've talked in past about goods and supplies generally being up 30%. So when we talk about this budget, I know that you've worked really hard and you've gone back even from our last... when we started looking at the budget from the 2.99 to 2.93, that you've really gone back to all your departments,

104and I appreciate that, and all the other departments going back in and kind of sharpening their pencils to see where they can make costs. But at this point, at a 2.93, we're really talking about a 2.93 tax increase, which provides a 10.3 teachers, which provides the second half of that two-year 0.57 increase for the full-day kindergarten, and that will be the final increase for full-day kindergarten. that allows us to have all of that and still maintain some sort of, I guess, competition with the expenses on the rise. So I appreciate that. And we have to consider, do we eliminate programming at this point to get to the 2.5? I guess it's kind of my thought process in putting that out there as we make this decision and continue our conversation. Thank you. Thank you. Ms.

105Stone? Yes, thank you. I thought maybe this is a good time to remind homeowners who may be on fixed incomes, as I am, that the state of Pennsylvania has the real estate rebate program. So those who have limited income can get anywhere from, I believe, $300 to $1,000 back on their real estate taxes. Maximum is now $1,500. Up to $1,500. Thank you. And the same dollar amounts can be obtained back from Council Rock specifically. So whatever you're eligible for... With the state you're also eligible with Council Rock and you can be applying for those for that rebate through the state now and you must apply and Get approved for the state rebate in order to get the Council Rock rebate But look carefully at the requirements because There is income limit, but they only consider

106half of your social security income so it you may be eligible And I think that's an important thing to to look at 300 to 1500 dollars times two and With that can I ask because we I know we did this last year for every half percent tax increase what does that mean to the average homeowner in Council Rock? Give me a second I can I can pull that up. I think we had numbers for that last year when we were looking at is a 1% increase for an average assessment is $67. That would be a 1% increase. $67. $67. So if you're really tight. The average assessment in of Homes in the district. Okay. Thank you very much This is a key and then mr. Hickey Okay. Thank you. I wanted to thank Tony and

107his team. I know doing a budget for an organization as large and as Vast as the school district with 10,500 students is a complex process I know it's not easy and I appreciate how diligent you and your team have been Really looking at those numbers, and I respect and appreciate the fact that you do go back to everybody and say, you know, how can we tighten our belts a little bit? Or just because we had this last year doesn't mean you need it this year. You know, I think we all appreciate that. None of us want to see you know our taxes go up as homeowners. You know we I understand that We all want our tax increase however our tax increase shakes out this year to be as low as it can be as

108long as we're keeping students first always and I recognize that most of that budget is fixed costs as Miss Khan alluded to my question is I guess my question is you you mentioned that you know this is not the final budget This is the proposed final budget. It's going to change maybe not a lot, maybe a lot. I'm not sure between now and when we vote on it in June. And you also mentioned that it would be posted on the website for 20, 30 days, 20 days, something like that. So my question is, as we go through this next 20 or 30 days, and as you firm up these numbers, will the website be updated? Yeah, we can do that. As we make changes the first step will be so that we now put the

109budget into the state system and that's what gets the printout of that is what gets post not print out but a PDF of that is what gets posted on the website as we make changes maybe like weekly between now and then. we can post a new and updated budget on the website. I certainly don't want to further burden you and your team. I know last year, so transparency and communicating all this to the public is important. Last year, we had a public budget forum. At the minimum this year, I think it would be great to have the updated numbers on the website if we can do another public forum, as I know it wasn't very well attended. But, you know, such is life. I do think it's valuable. Thank you. Mr. Hickey. Like everybody else

110said here, I appreciate all the work that you have put into this. And I'm glad I pulled this out so we could have this kind of discussion because. A lot of senior citizens don't look on their, you know, may not use computers to look at this, and hopefully maybe they're watching on TV so they get all this good information. I mean, for example, one of the things that you did talk about that I, you know, that I particularly liked was when you said that we're going to be adding, or possibly adding, literary specialists to the elementary and the middle schools. However, there are a lot of nebulous things that are still out there, the least of which that you just talked about is, you know, we have our largest group of personnel who we still

111are in negotiations with as far as their contracts. So we don't know where that's going to head at this point in time and how that will affect the budget. But as far as personnel is concerned also, and this is a concern that I brought up before, we're actually adding more than, the proposed is more than 10.3. personnel because This also includes the personnel that we're now adding for the full-day kindergarten isn't that correct? Yes, they're included in this budget and that number is how many I believe it's 17 teachers and 17 I specialist Psychologist and a special education teacher, so that's 25 so so we're actually adding 35 personnel to To our budget. Yes. So, you know, for those who say we don't add personnel, do add personnel. The number is not 10. We're actually

112adding 35. And it's a matter of where we spend that money. And I have a question. I don't know how this can where this goes as far as this is concerned. If we don't hit our number that we're projected to hit as far as registrations for full day kindergarten. What happens to that 25 number? Does it go down or does it stay at 25 and we just find other places to put those personnel? So from a hiring standpoint, one of the things that we did in order to mitigate that situation is we posted for anticipated positions. So as we interview. There's an understand we're interviewing and we're looking to hire based on the proposed numbers with a caveat and explanation to anyone that we're interviewing that the posting is an anticipated position. And there could

113be a chance that that position may not be needed based on our enrollment. So we're hiring based on our need. At the end of the day, we're hiring based on our need, not based on the projected numbers. So if I could just add to that, excuse me, I think in summary, Ronnie's saying of those 17 regular ed full-day kindergarten teachers, if we don't hit the number based on our forecast, if you remember, we built our forecast off of a longitudinal look at first grade enrollment. If we don't hit those numbers, we wouldn't fill those positions. In other words, we wouldn't have the need to spend that money on a staff member. But unfortunately, we won't know that until after we pass our budget or not, correct? Not necessarily, because our enrollment, although we have open

114enrollment all year long, our enrollment deadline for staffing or for enrollment deadline to make sure students go to their home school is June 1st. However, if students enroll with us after June 1st, we don't turn them away. We enroll them. It's a good question. Yeah, and like I said, unfortunately, we have to do things before, you know, putting the cart before the horse sometimes. But to Mr. Hidalgo's point that he made, I know in the past, and if you could get those numbers, that would be wonderful, where you did give projections of 2% to 2.5% where we would fit. you know, as a five-year projection, you know. So seeing those numbers would be very helpful for me. For me, this is a pretty drastic jump. We've gone from 1.9 to 2.6 to 2.9 in the

115span of two years. And as Ms. Stone alluded, as a senior citizen here, for me, that's very concerning. When you say two to two and a half percent, are you saying an annual tax increase of two to two and a half percent? Yes. Okay, thank you. Thank you for, I'm sorry, I didn't understand before. So yeah, I can look at doing that. One of the advantages of the software that we purchased that I talked about, that was for, to be able to give the board an estimate of where, We were where we may end up at the end of the year based on prior years. And we can we can you know we can try to work that out with different with different increases again I'll say and I. Part of the part of the

116issue is if you look at what the act one index is that's based on costs of teachers in the state the increase of teachers over the years, so that's really based on what other You know what what all the districts in the state have been paying and certain areas get a larger Increase allowance than then council rock does because We're also in the position where we're very You look look at percentages of local versus state revenue where one of those districts that are our local revenue in our budget has to be Is is much higher than other districts? Who also qualify for more into the act one index and you know there's a thought process? And I'm not saying that this is what what I'd recommend we do is that the act one index actually

117is What you should be raising taxes by every year? I'm not saying that I'm saying that's that's a philosophy that exists but You know when we try to keep our costs down as much as we can and we do go back several times to the well to reduce the cost and and there's some other areas where I not other but areas where I know and always tends to be where the business manager works where we make the biggest cuts but but. You know we'll continue to try to do some other things that we're talking about that that will reduce that number But you know it's still that that six point seven million dollar deficit scares me for I don't want to be in a position where we ever actually take a loss But we when

118we have to budget you know we talked about conservative budgeting we may end up needing 17 kindergarten teachers You know word gets out and maybe word hasn't gotten out to some people I don't know but um you know and we end up getting that that type of enrollment so Where we need those 17 teachers? One final question if I may I hear it's all the time what happens if we don't what happens if we reject this proposal right now the proposed budget We'll need more meetings That'll be the first thing we'll need to schedule. I would need to go back to the drawing board, put together a budget more within the constraints of what you're, you know, you would, I would ask you for constraints, go back to the drawing board and put together a

119budget that would. Definitely be where we're looking at we're looking at programs and what programs we need to cut I mean that that's really the only You know we're at the you know we can continue to cut some things But to get you know depending on what you want and we might be looking at cutting programs, and then we would schedule another meeting hopefully within the You know within a week to have this approved at a special meeting I would say that our We need to have this motion that we're asking you to approve, or this budget that we're asking you to approve tonight, would need to be approved in order for us to comply with the law. It would need to be approved by June 10th. So we would have 20 days of display

120and 10 days before the end of the year, the fiscal year, to approve it. We have to we if we have to go back to the drawing board we can keep working at it until we come up with a budget that you Proposed final budget that that you would that that the board would consider through The end of the is by June 10th Otherwise we go past June 10th without doing this we are going to violate state law And what happens if we don't pay us a budget by the state law? I'm just curious for example Just is there a penalty of fine do we I? believe the biggest Thing is you're risking the state the state funding any state funding that we receive it at risk And we were brought to shut down. We

121wouldn't have any money to pay anybody That's July, but still it's So there are real consequences. I mean, very much so. State says they're supposed to pass a budget by June 30th every year, too, and nothing happens to them. They created us. So I just just just wanted to know. So there are real consequences if we don't pass it. So it's in our best interest to at least to make this procedural move tonight to pass it along, whether or not we agree with the final numbers or not. Yes. Are there any other comments, questions? Ms. Stone? Just a final comment is, yes, I am on fixed income. And I am concerned about my taxes, but I'm also concerned about education in this community. I have grandchildren that are in this community that will be going

122to the schools. So I really, what is more valuable in America than educating our kids? And the second thing is that having the best educational education in this community improves my real estate value. So I'm willing to pay that extra 1% $67. towards getting this budget passed and paying our teachers to get the best teachers we can and the best educational program. That's all. Thank you. Mr. Roosevelt? Thank you. Tony? You did a wonderful job explaining that. And I don't mean to put you on the spot again, but I think this is a good moment since you brought up a relationship between deficit, credit rating. And so I'm curious to know if you have this information available tonight, that would be great. But if you don't, an email would suffice or even if it's ready

123for the next board meeting. The question is what is the maximum deficit that the school board can carry while maintaining the current credit rating that we have? That's one question. Are you asking a budgeted deficit or an actual? Deficit whatever would impact the credit rating I mean that I I don't think there's an answer that I could give on that I know that we we have our credit rating is is very good. It's basically the This the second best credit rating that you could have We could never achieve the best credit rating because we would need to have a fund balance that's much greater than we should ever have. So we wouldn't want to try to even achieve that credit rating. But there's no, it's a formula that's based on, you know, it would have

124to be actual losses and it would have to be over, you know, depends on the amount from year to year. So I don't think there's any way that I could give you a... A solid number on that you know it's you know every time that we go out for for a bond there's a lengthy process that we go through with the with the rating agency where we provide them with a lot of information and then they interview us and and we spend a lot of time doing that and then they make a determination on where our rating will be. We're not privy to that formula so we wouldn't be able to give you an advantage. But I will tell you that when I talk to them, one of the things that they point out is

125that we are in a good position should, we're considered to be in a good position with the funding that we have available. between our tax base and what we have available as fund balance to pay our bills. And that makes us a lower risk credit customer. Thank you. So to sidestep that, as it's a complicated formula that we're not privy to, is there a deficit number that would make you more comfortable? And if there is that number, what would the tax rate be? to accomplish that. And then once again, this is, if this requires a little bit of preparation, I understand completely. But thinking about that relationship of credit rating, thinking about potential future boards and or this board, looking at master plan issues, maintaining a good credit rating is important. So I was just

126sort of... Curious I imagine many people in the public were also curious about that so it is there a deficit number that you're more comfortable with Ensuring that the district doesn't end up in an actual deficit in the fall and if so What would be the accompanying tax rate? to accomplish that well When you when you look at you know as I've said that several of the but pretty much every budget meeting that we've had Our state money is not You know, what we get for retirement from the state and what we get for Social Security from the state is dependent on what we pay. So that's something that's always going to change depending on what we pay out to employees. Most of the other money that we're receiving from the state is not increasing

127at the rate it was increasing before. So if you really think about it, that's actually a budget cut because costs go up and the things that we use our state money to pay for are not. Our state money doesn't go as far to pay for those costs. So with the situation that we're in now where the state is concentrating on giving money to school districts that are not in as good a shape as Council Rock. I'm comfortable. I would be more comfortable. I guess with a six million dollar deficit Which would be about a three point three percent tax increase? I'm but I'm not but I you know we can live with where we're at now. Which is a six point seven million dollar deficit I certainly as I cautioned before I don't want to

128go above seven but You know and and this is not this is not a problem. That's unique to council rock many other districts in the county are budgeting larger deficits and normal But you know we trying to find that fine line between You know respecting the taxpayers and keeping their tax increases as low as possible and cutting cutting the budget but keeping keeping where we need to be for students which is most of that's the reason that we're here which you all know I mean you're all behind that. So. Keeping that up is important. So I think we're kind of at a point where we're in that fine line right now, where we're close to where we need to be. And I just talk about personnel. As our organization's motto is students first always, the

129number one thing that affects our students besides all the curriculum and everything else are the teachers that we put in these buildings. And I think we need to make sure that we're paying appropriately to bring in the best teachers that we can for our students. Thank you, Mr. Rapp. You said that wonderfully. Thank you. Anybody else? So, Mr. Rao, from what you know, are the other, most other districts in the area going close to 4.1, which is the Act 1 index, or they're deliberating about that? I believe most, that there are other, I know there are school districts whose, and I'm not advocating for this again, whose policy is that their tax increase every year is the Act 1 index. Again, I'm not advocating for that, and there are a few of them in Bucks

130County that do that. I know that most of these other school districts are at the Act I index, and we're trying to keep it away from the Act I index. I would submit there's another school district that does have a balanced budget, so I don't want to make it seem like every school district in the county is in the same position that we are with a deficit. But you know you know we're trying to again. We're trying to get to that fine line hopefully The state you know I hear things from the state that there might be some relief coming to the district But it's not going to be budgeted till if it if it does happen which I've heard this kind of thing before If it does happen it won't happen until well after

131our budget is is finalized Great, thank you, so I just want to I think everybody has covered pretty much all the main points. I just want to explain, because I heard someone saying earlier that we are spending money for restorations. So this budget does not include anything like that. It is when we issue bonds. and whose rating is going to be affected by our deficit, that is when we will end up paying for a capital improvement, like renovations or if we want to do anything with our schools or even with this building. This is a pure budget for our expenses, which is pretty much the salaries, the Chromebooks for the kids. When everything has increased, expenses have increased over 4%, and Mr. Rapp is proposing 2.93% increase. It means that it's a very lean budget.

132So nobody likes to pay taxes. Nobody likes to raise taxes, but we have to think of if we don't. what is gonna be the effect on the students and the education. And I know this budget is a preliminary, so it's not gonna, we're not really voting on anything final, but let's keep that in mind as we keep deliberating and Mr. Rapp will come up with probably more defined budget by next month. So with that, can we vote on item, is it O? Yeah, on the budget? Could you do like roll call? Mr. Hidalgo? Yes. Mr. Roosevelt? Yes. Mr. Hickey? Yes. Ms. Pauly? Yes. Ms. Oseki? Yes. Ms. Kahn? Yes. Ms. Stone? Yes. Ms. Horner? Yes. All right. All right. So we have a preliminary budget. We don't have to, I don't know, do. extra meetings

133to create another one. So thank you. So next we have public comment for non-agenda items, but I don't have anybody that signed up for that. So unless if somebody has changed their mind and they want to make a public comment. Okay then. We have new business. Ms. Horner, please. So it's been a bit since I've talked about the Starborough Cafe, but since we're getting to the end of school, I do want to mention for the month of May to celebrate all of our first responders and public service workers, Starborough is offering free coffee, hot tea, and hot cocoa. They are open Tuesday through Friday, 8.30 in the morning to 11.30. I highly recommend to go by on Fridays. Tomorrow, they make their own breakfast sandwiches. as well that they have right now is they have

134some fruits, vegetables, plants that they have grown themselves. And it's really, they get excited to tell you about everything that they have done. So I welcome everybody to stop by. Excellent. Anybody else? What about old business? I'm not sure if it's an old business, but I just wanted to clarify. I won't probably do it justice because probably Ms. Bethann Dobosh would do a better job. But I just wanted to clarify. I know Kraft does these intervention learning grants every year. And I think I agree with Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Hecke that brought up maybe it was a little out of sequence this year. And I don't think it at all had anything to do with intentions. These learning grants, innovation learning grants that our teachers and students actually receive through craft and generous donations from

135various stakeholders and community members, they directly impact our students. I mean, I know last year when we went through the cycle, I was able to attend some of the prize patrol events and then follow through this year and see those grants in action. And it's really meaningful. I mean, they vary from, you know. kindergarten, STEAM. objects and manipulatives all the way through high school. You know, whether it's beautification of high school and it includes a club or a teacher with it, a calming card. I know this year one of the grant winners was this kind of on-the-go broadcasting thing that students can wear. It was an elementary school at South, so they're part of the news broadcasting student. Team I guess at this elementary school. I can't remember. I know miss Oseki was with me.

136I maybe help Yes, but for news broadcasting So I know these teachers they you know go above and beyond they apply for these grants I know the process. I know mr. Dobosh has presented before there's a committee They go they vet the process they you know are fully vetted in that process to ensure that these programs or these initiatives are You know definitely going to enrich the educational experience for our students, so I just wanted to explain that and it was I believe this year 11 grants and they're pretty spread out like I said all from elementary all the way through high school for a variety of different things from gardening to calming carts to steam projects to newspaper or news broadcasting I can't name them all but just wanted to again thank Raph and

137any of the constituents and community members that contribute to that and thank you for all the teachers for applying and going above and beyond thank you anybody else I just want to make a quick comment. I went to the community event for the full-day kindergarten, and it was one of the best events I've been. There was like, what, 500 kindergarteners to be and their families. The excitement. the energy and I must say the presentation that Ms. Crawford put together and all her work behind this project is amazing. She's a rock star. I could see these little kids, they had so much energy and they were listening. Little five-year-olds probably, they were paying attention and listening, but then they couldn't wait to go next. door and play. But thank you so much, Ms. Crawford, and you

138and your team, Mr. Sanko, Dr. Sanko. Fantastic night and job so far. Excellent. Thank you. So if nothing else, we're adjourned. Thank you.