March 10, 2026 Board Meeting

001I'm going to call the San Isabel Union High School District Board Meeting to order Tuesday, March 10th, 2026. Roll call, please, Harry. Please note all members are present. Thank you. Stand for the flag salute. All right. At this time, is there a motion for the approval of the agenda? Second, please. I'll second that. ROLL CALL, PLEASE. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW

002SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS Hi, so starting off with ASB, we just had our winter formal, which went really well, and we had a pretty good turnout, and everything went really smoothly. So now we're moving straight on to prom. We already have a venue secured. Prom is going to be April 18th. A survey is going out to the students about what they would like to see at prom and possible themes. And then for ASB, March 19th, we are also hosting a movie night in the Little Theater, and we're reaching out to businesses for different advertisements for that. So it should be a really fun event. On Friday, March 13th, we're having a sports

003assembly where we're honoring the varsity spring sports in FFA. Next week. A few students are traveling to Ontario for a state conference. Pigs are coming really soon, so come by the farm to see them. And then a special congratulations to Travis Ramirez for being elected as the next FFA regional treasurer. Thank you. Always good news from our student board member. I have a lot to talk about tonight, and then we have a few presentations. First, I just want to let everybody know that we have been working on our master facilities plan. We've come up with a list of projects. We will be reaching out for a survey and opinion research, and we will also be reaching out to the public for info and just some feedback on them. So there will be an opinion or

004survey research going out to them. The sound of music will be our play. I wrote down here, and they told me to keep a straight face when I said this, but the hills are alive in the valley because it is the sound of music. And it will be Thursday, Friday, Saturday. That's the 26th, 27th, and 28th. That's 630. And then Sunday, the matinee will be, the 29th will be the matinee at one o'clock. So we're very excited. I was looking out the window today and I saw some nuns walking across the campus and I was like, oh, here we go. So that's exciting. We have a career and college expo coming on April 2nd. It will be from 10 to 1230. We're still looking for participants in a lot of fields. So if you have

005any questions, you can call the school and we'll hook you up with the career and college center. And we would love to have you on campus. Summer school is also coming. It'll take place June 2nd through June 26th on our campus. It's in two sessions. So there's session one and session two. The school day is from eight to three. Students will complete their courses through Edgenuity, but sitting in classroom with a teacher. So special education. So as you know, we're taking back all of our special education. hires, staffing, all responsibilities away from the consortium, and we are assuming those responsibilities. We are proud to announce that we are about 95% hired. So that's great. We're very close to being 100% hired. And tonight, I think it's on the consent agenda, but I just want to

006say that we found a unicorn. And Jennifer Conley will be joining us as our new director of special ed. And so we are just so thrilled with her over 30 years of experience in special ed. And truly, like, it is a game changer for our students and our staff. So we couldn't be more thrilled to have her. She's here tonight, so we'll have her stand up in a little while. She will also be helping with all the IEP transitions for the eighth graders. So even though she's not going to be fully ours until July 1, we are working out an agreement with SELPA because she's going to help all of the schools in the Valley transition. So we're going to hopefully just drag her over here and have her start transitioning a little sooner. Testing

007is underway. Our 11th graders are taking state testing. We are going to be ELPAC testing and our 11th grader, everybody's AP testing coming up here. So we're in testing mode and our students are amazing. And Kelly Carter does a good job of organizing it and having incentives for the kids and all of that kind of stuff. So we're thrilled with that. March 16th and Monday, Joe Marquez will be here. He is a really enthusiastic leader in the area of educational technology. He's a former director of Q, and he's currently a Google trainer and an adjunct professor at... Fresno Pacific. He's been a school IT director. He will be on campus on Monday, spend all day on campus on Monday seeing different groups of kids. And then for our staff meeting, it's a flex day. It

008starts, I believe, at 115. He will be basically doing AI 101 for all of the adults on campus, and that'll be the best use of AI models, prompt engineering. AI tools for teachers and students, including all the Gemini tools and some other things. And he'll be having like questions and answers, but teachers will definitely walk away with immediate things that they can use in their classroom. So that is happening Monday the 16th. I want to give a special congratulations to our girls basketball team. Just a fantastic run this season. We were. Several of us were able to travel to Fresno and watch their finals game. Gosh, they're just so tough and such great competitors. They lost by two points at the buzzer, but maybe not as important. or more important, but for sure as important.

009They were the CIF Southern Section academic champions with the highest GPA of all the girls basketball teams in the entire section with a non-weighted GPA of 3.86. So not only great athletes, but fantastic academic students. And they're all such good citizens. And one of the reasons that is, is because Jen Rasmussen, who's their coach, is just an incredible leader and role model for those young ladies. She carries herself. personally and professionally just very well and is an excellent role model. So congratulations to Jen Rass and her girls. Next up, oh, let me say one more thing before I call the next group up. We got news today, too, about some robotics success. As you know, Sandy Slobig is the club advisor, and we have a club, not a class, a robotics club. And we honored

010them at the end of last year. Remember, they brought in their big robot in here and everything. But we're happy to report that the robotics team had an excellent display of talent this last weekend in Port Hueneme Regional Competition. They took eighth place out of 42 teams, and they were in the playoffs. And they are going to another regional this coming weekend with really high hopes. So amazing for having a club on campus that's performing so well and just getting better and better and better. So that's phenomenal. I wanted to call up our ag teachers because they have some wonderful news about some of our ag students and they wanted to introduce them and we wanted to honor those students here tonight as well. So we have our two. I think we're good to go.

011Hi, I'm Heather Clement. I'm one of the ag teachers here at the high school. And I'm happy to introduce my colleague, Ms. Kylan Bray, who has been an outstanding addition to our department. Just incredible in the three years since she's been here. And I'm going to have her talk about her incredible success, her historical success with the vine pruning team. Team, would you like to join me up here so I can share a little bit? Bring the bowl, bring the banner. So I have coached a vine printing team for about four years. These three have been with me for three years. And Des joined last year. Louie Mathis, Bree Jensen, Des Stewart, and Casey Kaplan. We practiced with local grape growers. Coastal Vineyard Care helped us. Hall Group helped us up in slow. Mesa Vineyard

012Management helped us by allowing us to come out and prune and practice. But these students competed at three different contests, which is all the contests that California hosts, and placed at every single event. We drove 2,000 miles. Louie was first high individual for the entire state of California. And the team as a whole was first in the state. So they're the state champions for vine pruning, which is a pretty big, pretty big accomplishment. The students not only do a knowledge-based exam where they take a test and have to know the fundamentals of pruning, but they also practice and they prune in the presence of a judge giving a demonstration explaining how they do what they do. And then they also do some pruned vines for time. So they have to accomplish these vines in amount

013of time or they lose points. Louie, I think, missed 18 points out of the entire allotment, which is 400 points, which is incredible. It's a great team and a really powerful way to finish off three of their senior years. So I'm very proud of them. Can we take a quick picture? Congratulations. I was just going to share Jonathan. Oh, yeah, do that. And Casey mentioned during the student report that we had Travis Ramirez elected as regional treasurer, but we also had several students that were competing in the regional level speaking contest this past Thursday. And Jonathan Serrano, who just moved here in August, has joined our program, and he placed fourth in the region for the El Credo speaking contest, which is the Spanish speaking creed contest. And he will compete at the state finals

014in April, which is really cool. Very proud of him as well. We have amazing teachers throughout our campus, but our ag program just seems to be getting bigger and bigger and bigger, which is phenomenal. So a lot of fantastic skills that students learn through the program. On to some more student recognitions. Grayson Foy was our February student of the month, and he couldn't attend in February because he was playing basketball and it was his senior night. Tonight we wanted to honor him, but he can't come tonight either because Grayson is playing volleyball tonight. So we hope to be able to honor him in April, but I wanted to make sure that... make sure to announce that he was chosen by the CCAA to be one of two male athletes to be honored as the CIF

015Scholar Athlete of the Year. Their awards will be on May 4th in Tulare. Hopefully he's not competing in something because he's always competing in something. where they'll choose one male and female scholar athlete of the year. There's a total of 40 student athletes from 128 schools and CIF Central sections. So this is a huge honor for him, and he'll be a great representative for our school. So we'll honor him at some point when he's free to come. I wanted to speak about our first student, if Cooper Hawes could come up. Cooper's also part of FFA, so come on up here, Cooper. And why don't you stand right here, face the crowd while I speak about Cooper. Tonight we celebrate our Elks Club sponsored Student of the Month program, which honors students who excel academically and

016serve their communities. The Santa Ynez Valley Elks Club uplifts local youth by fostering a commitment to community service, a core value of Elks scholars. We are proud to support the Elks mission, knowing that today's scholars can be tomorrow's leaders in their community. It's my privilege to introduce our March Elks Club Student of the Month, chosen by our office staff and administration, Cooper Hawes, a senior... at Santa Ynez High School. Cooper is a dedicated and well-rounded student who truly represents the Valley of Santa Ynez Valley Union High School. I'll tell you, I'm going to talk about two boys tonight, but trying to get Cooper to brag about himself was very difficult. He's extremely humble. So I was like trying to pull out all of his accomplishments. So he has earned an impressive 3.8 GPA while also

017completing 16 semesters of career technical education courses and a year of dual enrollment. coursework through Alan Hancock. Despite these accomplishments, Cooper is known by his teachers and peers for remaining incredibly humble, hardworking, and kind to everyone around him. Cooper has lived in the Santa Ynez Valley his entire life. His family moved here just before he was born, and he grew up alongside his three siblings, who also have graduated from Santa Ynez High School, and his sister, who's still a student here. Agriculture has always been a big part of his life. Through 4-H, Cooper has raised livestock and developed valuable skills in animal care, business, and responsibility. What began with raising a chicken? I could only imagine being his parents and saying, can I have a chicken? And then wait till you hear what this has

018become. I'm sure they had no idea. So he began raising a chicken and earning his first buckle. It has grown into a passion for livestock management. Today, he helps operate a herd of cattle with his friend, Louie. Who's here? Building both practical experience and strong relationships within the agriculture community. At school, Cooper appreciates the close-knit environment of Santa Ynez High School. He values being part of a campus where students know and support each other across grade levels. His favorite classes are Ag Veterinary Science and Ag Mechanics, where he enjoys hands-on learning and gaining practical skills he can use throughout his life. Outside the classroom, Cooper has been... Deeply involved in both athletics and student organizations, he has been a varsity water polo player all four years, beginning the sport back in sixth grade. Over his

019high school career, he earned second team all-league honors his sophomore through junior year and his first team all-league honors his senior year, and he was recognized as team MVP his senior year as well. In addition to water polo, he also played tennis from ninth through 11th grade. Cooper is also active in the fellow Christian athletes, the agriculture program, and the leadership activities that he's participated in, such as the California Water Issues Competition. We had a very lively discussion about that, Cooper and I, and state agriculture conferences. Beyond school, he has served as president of his 4-H club and a youth leader at his church, demonstrating leadership and service in multiple areas of his life. Cooper credits his parents as his greatest role models, sharing that they pushed him to do his best, supported his entrepreneurial

020efforts, and taught him the value of independence and a strong work ethic while being there to offer guidance and advice. The values Cooper tries to live by are simple but powerful. Faith, family, and friends. His family motto is accomplish, start something, finish it. He carries this mindset into everything he does, whether in school, sports, agriculture, or helping others. Cooper says he tries to contribute to the school community by simply being the nicest person he can be and by supporting others whenever possible, including helping the agriculture teachers to improve opportunities for future students. After graduation, Cooper will still leave on his two-year mission assignment, and he should be finding out any time now, waiting for the text to find out and click on it and find out where he's going. I think it's amazing that Cooper

021said he's never been out of the country, and I was like, well. That might be happening. After his mission, he plans to attend BYU-Idaho and eventually possibly transfer to Utah State University and study agriculture business and ranch management. His long-term dream is to manage a large ranch, build a family, and continue living by the values that have guided him throughout his life. When asked what advice he would give his younger self, Cooper shared, when things get hard, remember that it will get better. Be appreciative of both the good and the difficult times. Cooper is an outstanding example of dedication, humility, leadership, and perseverance, and we are proud to recognize him as San Ynez Valley Union High School's Elks Club March Student of the Month. Please join me in congratulating Cooper. We'll take your picture after

022the next one, okay? Awesome. I can't watch people cry. I can't look at mom. Like, it makes me emotional. Like, avert the eyes. Our next student, will Anthony Herrera please come up? Anthony. Come up, Anthony. The Student of the Month program is sponsored by Kelly Hunziger. This program provides an opportunity for faculty to nominate seniors who demonstrate outstanding character, achievement, and service as both students and community citizens. Each honoree receives a $100 award and is recognized in the local newspaper generously provided by Mrs. Hunziger. It is my honor to... introduce our March student of the month, Anthony Herrera, a Santa Ynez senior nominated and voted on by our faculty. Anthony is an exceptional student who has demonstrated dedication, perseverance, and a deep commitment to learning throughout his time in the Santa Ynez Valley Union High

023School. He has earned an impressive 4.1 weighted GPA while challenging himself academically with 12 semesters of advanced placement coursework. 12 semesters of honors courses, and three concurrent enrollment classes with Allen Hancock College. Anthony's willingness to take on rigorous coursework reflects both his curiosity and his strong work ethic. Anthony has lived in the San Ynez Valley his entire life and grew up in a multi-generational household with his mother and grandparents. As an only child, who spends lots of time with his younger cousins, Anthony is very well aware that they look up to him and that that awareness motivates him to set a positive example through his actions. Family plays a central role in his life. And he values the strong connections he shares not only with his immediate family, but also with his aunts, uncles, and

024extended relatives. Anthony says the one thing he appreciates most about Santa Ynez High School is its close-knit community. In a smaller school environment, students and teachers truly get to know one another, and Anthony values being part of a campus where people recognize and support each other rather than feeling like just another face in the crowd. Academically, Anthony has developed a strong interest in sports medicine and kinesiology, subjects that connect directly to one of his favorite hobbies, weightlifting. Through these classes, he has enjoyed learning more about how the body works and how physical health supports overall well-being. One experience that stands out to him is participating in teen mental health awareness training, which helped him better understand the importance of recognizing when others may be struggling and how even small acts of awareness and compassion can

025make a difference in someone's life. Outside the classroom, Anthony has been involved in a variety of activities. He is a member of our wrestling team for four years where he has demonstrated both discipline and determination. He also played football during his sophomore year and participates in the Lego Club, which he describes as creative and relaxing outlet. Beyond school, Anthony loves going to the gym and has contributed in the past by helping powerlifting meets, supporting lifters, and helping keep participants safe, showing leadership and responsibility within the community. Anthony credits his mother as his greatest role model. She has taught him the value of hard work and perseverance, reminding him that struggling is a normal part of growth and that there are always resources and ways to move forward. These lessons have helped shape Anthony's mindset, both

026academically and personally. The values Anthony strives to live by are hard work, curiosity, and the importance of family. He believes that curiosity drives both learning and future success, and that family provides the support system that makes personal growth possible. At school, Anthony works to contribute to his community by carrying himself with respect and maintaining a positive attitude towards others. One challenge that helped shape Anthony's perspective came during his sophomore year when he broke his foot and had to step away from wrestling and other activities. The experience taught him patience and helped understand that progress often happens. through small consistent steps. It also reinforced the importance of taking care of one's health and recognizing that success takes time. After graduation, Anthony plans to pursue a goal of becoming a radiologist, a career that would allow him

027to help diagnose medical conditions and contribute to patient care. He hopes to attend a four-year university and has already been accepted to UC Santa Cruz, UC Merced, UC Riverside, and Oregon State University. He is waiting to hear from UC San Diego. Anthony is especially proud that he will be the first in his family to earn a four-year degree. Looking toward the future, Anthony excited not only about his career path, but also about opportunities to travel and experience other cultures, including visiting places like Europe and Japan. One of his long-term goals is to give back to his family in appreciation for the support they have given him. When asked what advice he would offer to his younger self, Anthony shared a message, don't let others deter you, keep working hard. things improve and anything is possible

028anthony herrera represents the determination curiosity and character that we are proud to celebrate at san ynez valley union high school and we are honored to recognize him as our march student of the month please join me in congratulating anthony so let's take a picture sorry anthony we're going to take your picture And then one more thing as part of my report is we have Heather Clement here who's been helping us in our Career and College Center, and she's going to give us a little presentation on our CTE program. So take it away. And students, I'm sorry, you don't have to stay if you don't want to. You can tap out. Nobody will know. Maybe take extra credit. I know. You don't have a ride home. Good evening. It's my pleasure to share about our career

029technical education program at San Ynez High School. We truly are such a lucky place to have such a variety of opportunities for our students. I mean, you hear it probably every month when you recognize students of the month. They're just involved in so many things. And the fact that we have such a menu of options for our students just really makes this place pretty darn special. So I'm super happy to talk about what the heck career technical education is by definition and what we offer at our school. Do I need to be the clicker? Beautiful. Okay. So what is the definition of career technical education? It's combining core academic knowledge, technical and occupational knowledge, and try to provide our students a pathway to education and careers. So it's really a combination of skills, experience, academics,

030but also this professional skill delivery service that... these classes are offering our students. So regardless of what they choose to do after high school, they have all opportunities open to them. So what are some of the key elements that a CTE program has? It has to be standard aligned. So California has a career technical education model with specific standards that they need to follow. We need to provide a... coherent multi-course sequence so it's not just one off class. We're trying to provide a sequence of classes for our students so they're prepared. Our classes try to offer career exploration, work-based learning, and industry engagement. Very important that our students are getting all of these different angles. As well as providing leadership opportunity for our students, whether it's through a CTSO, which is a leadership organization based

031off of the career tech education provided. But also we want equal opportunity for all of our students to have the choice to do a career technical education class. or pathway. So why the heck would we even want this besides, I feel like the obvious, but how do we quantify why we know that this is so important? Stats show that there's higher graduation rates, lower dropout rates. So they're less likely to drop out of high school. There's strong participation, whether at the local level or even in the community. through these CTE classes. Lots of post-secondary enrollment success. So students are likely to either engage directly into some sort of post-high school educational program, whether that's a certificated program, two-year, four-year. a trade school, lots of pathways for our students that they'll start engaging in right after.

032Of course, we have our students doing jobs right off the bat, whether they're in high school or right after high school. I'm thinking of one of our students, Oliver Derbianu, who I think I have a picture of later, who's working already in high school with diesel mechanics. And he's getting that hands-on experience. right now and getting paid right now. And he's just going to become even more valuable to our community. Students who do CTE have more credits when they graduate. They have more experience and they often have more college preparedness because they're taking those dual enrollment classes. So it's really just a win-win. across the board. Challenges are that CTE classes are expensive. So how the heck do we fund this? Through a variety of grants that are listed there. Those help support career pathways.

033college and career pathways. We want students to be engaged and understand these skills, but it's expensive. For example, an agriculture mechanics class, you're blowing through, you know, rod for welding. You have expensive computers for digital media. You need software updates. So the challenge is that they use a lot of consumables and you have to try to stay up with that industry standard. So luckily our district helps with those matching funds with those grants that I help manage. Plus we have community and industry support, which is fantastic here in the San Ynez Valley. So what the heck does it take to have an actual CTE pathway? It's challenging, if we're honest, especially for a small school because it's expensive. But we have pathways that we believe are tied to student interest. We also need to have

034the ability to have a complete pathway, which is two to three classes in our master schedule, which is challenging at a small school where teachers are wearing lots of different hats. And you have to find the teacher who can wear that correct hat. You can't just pull anyone from industry. They have to have a certain amount of hours and go through a vetting process to earn a CTE credential. And oftentimes those folks are experts in their field and want to make money like an expert in their field. So we're luckily we have that grant funding that we're talking about. Plus, you need those facilities that try to meet those industry standards. So students are not working with ancient computer software or materials so that they're actually competitive in the workplace. So trying to keep up

035with that, that's all that makes it challenging to start a CTE pathway. Not impossible, but challenging. These are all of the industry sectors that career technical education from a nationwide perspective recognizes. And I've put check marks next to the ones that we offer and a red asterisk next to the ones that were the one that we're working on. So let me get it's hard to read. Let me get you what we got here. So we have arts, media and entertainment. So underlined is the industry sector and underneath is the pathway that we offer. hospitality, tourism, and recreation, health science and medical technology, information and communication technologies. Again, that's the one that we're working on building. Ag and natural resources. You can see that we have one, two, three, four different pathway options there. Transportation and

036business management and finance. Not quite a complete pathway, but we still have a class that helps support student understanding. in that sector. So we have six industry sectors with nine pathways and over 25 classes. So pretty darn impressive in my opinion for such a small school. And even more proud of the statistic, I can't be, 80% of our students are enrolled in at least one career technical education class. And that just tells me that our students are graduating with real skills that they can put on their resume to be competitive in the college application process or in the workforce. Our students are going to stand out because they have these real experiences and real skills. So, so far this year, what have we been doing with CTE? Thanks to work with Jen Rasmussen and our

037counseling department, students have visited. So they've gone on field trips to these colleges. I'll point out that vine pruning. A lot of the contests happen at colleges, which is awesome because they're meeting the students who, you know, are taking the program and they're meeting the professors. But we have lots of students who are engaging with Allen Hancock and Santa Barbara Community College, of course. And then we have our folks in our backyard like Cal Poly and UCSB. But students are getting exposure to other schools by going and visiting. Not to mention, we also have college guest speakers come here. Huge list. Our students are so fortunate to have these opportunities to meet with people outside of our state, to start narrowing down what they want to do. It's difficult. As a senior in high school,

038you are trying to figure out what the heck you're doing in life. The secret is, is you don't know. And none of us know. But that's okay. You got to start somewhere and you got to go out there and try and you'll figure it out. You'll figure out what you're supposed to do. So lots of exposure to different colleges for our students. Lots of industry connections. Again, California or Santa Ynez High School is really lucky to have such an awesome exposure to these different industries in our area. The Hispanic Heritage Month program that happened in October, we got folks from Viticulture and Enology, Food Safety, Real Estate, Nonprofit, Education, lots of... direct information to our students who are interested potentially in those pathways. Electrical and Pipe Fitting Union always likes to come. UTI and WyoTech,

039so those trade schools come in and visiting, specifically our Ag Mechanics program and our Auto program. Of course, Allen Hancock College loves to come visit the Agriculture Department. came and visited to at least half of our agriculture classes not too long ago. We've had physical therapists, orthopedic surgeons, lifeguard professionals all come and speak to students in our class. There's nothing more powerful for a student to see what's possible and to see that person looks like me and I'm hearing their story and I could do that. That's really what I think when students start to light up and figure out. what they can do. Of course, we're also providing experience, and oftentimes this can be a challenge. Work experience. But we do have some students doing apprenticeships out there. I mentioned my little greasy friend there

040in the corner, Oliver Derbiano. He's really excited, just dirty, and he loves it. He loves it. And he has some real talents and skills. We have students doing plumbing apprenticeships. We have folks working at the Mathis Ranch, San Lucas Ranch. We have students who are employed with local landscaping companies or athletic training placements at Santa Barbara City College. I have students in my vet science class who foster dogs. And that's just something that they do as, you know, their love for animal science. And then, of course, we have students working in restaurant jobs throughout San Ynez Valley with our restaurant program. So students are getting real world experience right now. Plus exposure to the industry. So taking students on field trips, getting them outside of the classroom, outside of the Santa Ynez Valley and seeing

041the bigger picture. We had Mr. Withers take a group of 11 students to the Tulare Farm Show, which is the largest in the world where you're seeing the up and coming technology. And it's not just about riding on a tractor. You could be the. The computer person who manages accounts and information with like satellite data that are, you know, like it's insane what they're doing now with robotics and specific like satellite data collection. So students got exposed to that. We've had students travel to the Center for Employment Training in Santa Maria. And then we have a whole bunch of field trips planned, like Lotus Land for our horticulture class, Alamo Pintado Equine Center, the Cadaver Lab at the Santa Barbara City College. I would love to do that. Titan Engineering, the NHRA. So lots of

042things on the books or are planning to happen this semester. Really cool exposure for our students. And then, of course, preparation. How awesome is it to walk away with a diploma, but also you have your 10-hour OSHA certification? or your basic life support card, or your food safe handling certification. So things that can help students get a job now, but also on their resume as they enter the workforce later. So again, preparing students for the industries that they're interested in. So what are some of the wins that we've had for CTE this year? In my opinion, getting a little bit of our pathway cleaned up has been huge. You, I'm sure, have studied that dashboard for the San Ynez High School District, and I'm so proud that we're in the blue for college and career

043readiness, and I think that's only going to continue and get stronger. As we update some of our courses of study so that they're A through G approved, kids are getting college prep recognition for that. And they're getting their dual enrollment units. I want to say, Tori and I chatted, that we've added at least four dual enrollment classes with Allen Hancock this year. So students are getting ahead. Our CTE students are getting ahead, and they have those college units before they graduate high school, which is just awesome. My hope is that someday my daughter, Paloma, could have like an AA degree by the time she graduates high school. That would be awesome. Yeah. It'll save on college tuition. I'm also proud that we have a little bit more of a consolidated grant management. By being in

044this position of a college career and community coordinator, I have my eyes on all of these different grants. And I'm used to the ag grants. Luckily, they're very similar. So I can help the administration that have been kind of like... you do this one and you do this one. Who's doing the data reporting? I can help support like a unified front with that. So I'm proud that we're, I think, only going to get even more savvy with grant management and funding CTE programs. We're increasing our Pirate Pathway events. Jen Rasmussen really helped bring industries on campus so students could visit with these folks during lunch and ask their questions or sit in a class period and hear all about that specific career. I'm also proud to work with the counseling department and our admin about

045getting eighth graders on our campus instead of going around to the 5,000 districts that we have. and bring them here because that's where they're going to end up. And we had students actually get to share about the course offerings that they have as a freshman and give them advice. They got a campus tour. We could share specifically what the CTE pathways are. So our eighth graders are hopefully feeling a little bit more comfortable and plugged into our campus before they arrive here in August. I'm not reading all of those, but I just wanted to collect some of the things that our CTE teachers are proud of because teachers are busy and it's bragging about your program is like one of the last things that we want to do. But our programs are growing, they're becoming

046stronger, and we're just providing more and more opportunities as our programs continue to grow and strengthen. So where are we headed? What are some of our areas of planned growth? My goal by hopefully next year is to develop a CTE district-wide advisory committee, which a lot of our pathways already have, but bringing us all together so that we can make decisions as a district to help guide. like how our programs grow and getting equipment or funding, or we need industry speakers to come in or industry to tell us, what do you need? Like telling our high school students, these are the skills that we're looking for. So my hope is that it's just going to become a benefit as we continue to grow and strengthen. Also through the Golden State Pathway Grants, I'm working. along

047with our admin to develop a computer science program. Hopefully we can hire a teacher to get that program going and continue to build, especially if we can partner with Allen Hancock College. And super excited to continue to expand the patient care pathway. We've added a new class for... the menu next fall which is introduction to medical careers. Taylor plans to include more certifications and hopefully increase our partnership with Allan Hancock College for those specific classes. That's it in a fast nutshell. It's just a little. Do you have questions that I can answer? Or if you think of something, of course, email me. But really proud. I mean, like I literally teared up because these are kids doing things because of the skills they've learned, of course, through their families, but also because of our community

048and the classes that this campus office offers. It's just. It's incredible. It makes me hopeful for the future and really sad that when my students graduate who know how to back up a trailer better than me are gone. So I know I'm losing them. But we just have a great group of teachers who care about kids and getting them prepared for the future. So it's just a pleasure to work with the teachers and the admin and the district that supports this type of growth. Thank you so much. Makes me want to go back to high school. It comes with all of the things. That's the challenge. I would like to, I love your exuberance and I just think you made this so fun and wonderful. And sometimes high school is not that fun and wonderful

049for some kids. And so the career in tech is like a great way. And I love your. advisory committee, just with the community and your staff here. And I think we have so many like trades out there that not just the state aligned standards and academic portion of the career in tech. I just look forward to seeing it, hoping. coming up with creative plan of maybe getting the kids out in the trades and doing, I know that Kim has said that there's job boards out there, but are there maybe some apprenticeships or just visiting businesses would be wonderful too. Sure. Certainly. And we're super lucky that we have classes that are already like doing some of these things and it could only get better from there, in my opinion. Yeah. Yeah, thank you. This is

050really inspiring. Oh, good. I've had the opportunity. I'm on Partners in Education Board, so I've done some mock interviews here on campus. And I think three of the five kids that I interviewed were really engaged in CT. They're so much, they're very mature, very well-spoken. But I was just wondering how... I don't know if it's board responsibility, but just curious how the community can more support you on the private sector side. Yeah, certainly. I think starting with our advisory board is going to be kind of like our first lifeline to the community. Now that we can kind of unify and figure out what are our areas of strength and what are our areas of growth. And I think that the professionals in our community can help with that. And it's not just industry. It's also

051stakeholders like parents, alumni, administrators working together as a team, realizing where can we leverage some of the folks in our community to really strengthen this. And I think that's an area of growth for us. So it's something that we get to work on. Yeah. Well, thank you for making me look great. By being part of my portion. Sure. We're also going to be presenting this at the San Ynez Rotary on the 25th because they are interested in supporting us as well, particularly in this area. So we will be taking this show on the road. All right. So that concludes my presentation. So I guess now we're on to board. That's actually a great segue into. What I have to read to you all, it's pretty fantastic. I'm honored to share that San Isabel Union High

052School has been named a 2026 California Distinguished School. This recognition is a direct reflection of the hard work, dedication, and culture that everyone at the school has built together. Every day you show up for students, support one another, and commit to making this school a place where young people can grow, succeed, and feel supported. Because of each of you, our students are thriving. What makes SANE as truly special is the people, the teachers, counselors, classified staff, administrators, support teams, and community members who pour their energy into students every single day. Your commitment to students and to teach to each other is what makes this school exceptional. Today is a day to be proud. This honor represents years of work and shared belief, and you did it. It makes this recognition even more meaningful knowing that

053this is the first time San has earned this distinction since 2005, 21 years ago. That speaks volumes about the progress and impact happening across our campus. Thank you for everything you do for students and for one another. This recognition belongs to all of you. On behalf of the board, congratulations on this incredible achievement. spectacular I can't say enough it's uh it's a big deal yeah can you speak to that a little bit it's a it's a very big deal there were only four schools in the county recognized and only I think 400 schools in the state recognized. So it's quite an honor that we're recognized and it just speaks to the culture of our school and how hard everyone works. I went today to the cafeteria to tell them they started crying. So they were

054so proud. You know, I'm sorry, I'm getting emotional, but they feed our kids every day and that is just as important. is what happens in the classroom. And I get emotional when other people get emotional. And I was like, why are you crying? And she said, I'm so proud to work here. So it's great. It's great. So we're really pleased. And it is extremely well-deserved. The leadership, the teachers, the students that come up here every single month, just I think I'm blown away. And then next month and the next student. And you can't honor, unfortunately, every single one because every single one, and it's just seen here and felt here. And so it's just well-deserved. It was a pleasant surprise. I opened my emails this morning and I saw that. So congratulations to all of

055you. I saw the cafeteria ladies like crying. I was like. wow, this is a big deal to everyone, you know? So I'm very happy for everybody. Well, I'll just speak it for the board again. It starts from the top and then trickles down to everybody. And it's noticed by the whole community. Spectacular. Thank you so much. Okay. So does anybody else have anything they'd like to share? I just want to say I am looking forward to the Joe Marquez on AI. This is something that is so essential that I have a daughter who hates AI because she thinks it's cheating. And I keep telling her, well, it kind of is in some ways. But if it's used appropriately, it is the cutting edge of where our kids are going and people and parents and everybody

056needs to understand how to use it. So kudos to you for getting him to come. I'm going to come and sit there and take notes and everything. Yes, it's Monday. You're welcome to come and sit in with our teachers. I also invited our feeder tracks, any teachers that they might want to send to come. So it'll be 1.15 to about 3.30 will be his presentation in his AI 101. It's Monday the 16th. I got a couple things real quick. I'm attending the Santa Ynez Valley Economic Forecast or whatever that is on Friday. Anybody that wants to join me, it's always a good event. And then my favorite event in the county is the State of Vandenberg, where they hold that at Vandenberg. It's with the Lompoc Chamber and the Santa Maria Chamber. It's a great

057event, but I'm just wondering in the future. if we could try and get some students there to learn about, because they talk about the military side and what's going on there, but there's a lot of really cool stuff happening in the aerospace industry, which is really exciting. And it's not getting, it's growing. So it's a really good career path if you want to stay in the community. I just want to say, I grew up in Southern California with all the bases down there, Orange County and San Diego, and you saw military people, soldiers or whatever, walking everywhere. You saw them in their uniforms. And you never see anybody coming out of Vandenberg because a lot of them are, they aren't necessarily armed forces. They're civilian. And also, I think there's a whole lot of other

058things going on that I'd love to find out about. But I still think that that would be such a tremendous gift for our students. Absolutely. When is that, Brian? You can share it later. Oh, gosh. Both of those are when I'm gone. Yeah, it's too late to sign up. You have to give all your vitals and everything. But for next year, and I can help arrange that too. Absolutely. That's a great opportunity. Thank you. Okay. Well, great correspondence today. That was awesome. You do. I just wanted to do a shout out. I had so much fun at the women, the ladies. Sand volleyball. Is that how you say it? Beach volleyball. Oh, my gosh. That was insane. I just could not believe it. I would not want to get hit by one of those balls.

059But it was the strategy and it was the athleticism. It was just incredible. Lots of fun. That, again, whole thing over there is thank you to our community. and the support of our community. I also want to point out that Jennifer Conley's here. So I don't want her to have to sit through the entire board meeting, but she is here today. She is our new director of SPED after consent agenda tonight. And we're just so thrilled to have her. So we want to thank Jennifer for being here. And she wanted to make sure to come and let you know that she's just thrilled to be part of our family again. She taught, she was, she was a teacher here. And so she's coming home. So we're really excited for that. Can you come up, Jennifer?

060Jennifer, come up. You're fine. You're fine wherever. I know it's impromptu, but. Yeah. I've already been sending her emails. Can you give some advice on this? And Jennifer, I just, you know, the. I hear sometimes scuttlebutt and you've helped a lot of students and parents in our Valley at different schools. And I just wanted to do that shout out. I don't have any, any hiring power or anything, but I go, I just was like really excited to hear that because it's, you don't always get positive with special education. And that's really says a lot about your skills and your compassion. We're glad you're here. Well, that'll conclude our board comments correspondence. We can move on to public comment. I have no public comment request. So now we can move on to the approval of the

061consent agenda. Is there a motion for the approval? Yeah, I'll motion. Thank you. Second. Second. Roll call, please, Terry. Mr. Johnson. Aye. Ms. Noble. Aye. Ms. Grace Velasquez. Aye. Mr. Lapamini. Aye. Mr. Robinson. Aye. Consent is approved. Congratulations. I love it. Okay, so we can move on to the action items. Our first is the 2025-26 second interim budget and 25-26 through 27-28 multi-year projections. All right, welcome. I don't know about you, but I feel like I was just here. I don't know what's going on, but I feel like literally like last meeting, I was just telling you about First in Room. So it is flying by this year. So tonight we're going to review the 25-26 second interim budget for the district. The second interim report reflects the district's updated financial position as of actual

062January 31st and incorporates updated revenue projections, negotiated settlements, and revised expenditure estimates. The district is presenting a positive budget, which means that we are certifying that we are able to meet our financial obligations for both the current, well, for the current and the two subsequent fiscal years consistent with state requirements. Sorry, I'm navigating. They're not talking tonight, so. Okay, so tonight we're going to review the budget reporting documents just a little bit more in depth since we have a new board member. I won't lament the facts, but we are going to review them a little bit. We'll go over assumptions and how they've changed and how they play into the budget. We'll review revenues and then expenditures, and then we'll talk about our ending fund balances with regard to reserves, our multi-year projections, and then

063future planning considerations. So we'll start with our budget documents. So with every budget iteration, we put out a number of documents as well as this presentation. But the two most important documents for review at each budget iteration are the SACS forms on the left. Those are the state forms. And then the analysis of changes on the right. That is a district. created form so the sax documents are the documents that we have to provide to the county and ultimately the state and they organize our financial data by fund and then they provide comparisons between our original adopted budget prior interim budget and current updated projections so for Second interim, you'll see the original budget. And then the board operating budget is our first interim. Actuals to date are just that, actuals. And then projected year

064totals are the second interim or the current year, current iterations model. And if you look up there, the red at the top in these SACS forms points to what is the budget reporting period. Are you first interim, second interim? Is it original budget? So that you know what budgets you're looking at in columns A through D. And then you can see that our original budget will always be column A. And when it's original budget, it will also be column B and C, right? So depending on the iteration, the budget columns change, but they will always be represented on the SACS forms. The previous budget projection for us is first interim there in that navy color. And then in the top on the right in the orange, that tells you what fund or what form or

065title to the form that you're looking at. While we really only talk about Fund 01 when we talk budget iterations, we have a number of different funds, aka forms. We have Fund 08 for, you know, student body ASB. We have a Fund 13 for cafeteria, Fund 14 for, like, it goes on and on, right? But we don't. necessarily talk about those funds unless there's some sort of like, oh my God, we're going to have to borrow money type thing. But in general, the other forms are our funds are either self-sufficient or they're there for just a limited purpose and you can't overspend them like for construction or something to that effect. Those funds remain for their use. They don't really affect Fundo One, so we don't talk about them, but they still exist. And when

066you click on the SACS forms, each budget iteration, you'll see. hundreds of documents, a number of forms. So it is important to recognize what fund or form you're looking at. And then once you get out of all the fund forms, you'll see form cash, form MYP, form whatever. It just sort of labels what you're looking at. And then the columns D, E, and F, they are the comparison columns. So they compare the difference between your previous budget model and your current model and they do so both in a percentage and in a dollar form. So you'll see our projected current model in D and then the difference between first interim and second interim in columns E and F, both represented as a dollar amount and represented as a percentage there. So again, those are not

067the super fun, easy to read documents and you kind of get bogged down and all of that. So the most important document I would say for us for very easy digestion of what is it I'm looking at and what does this really mean would be our analysis of changes. And our analysis of changes, again, is limited to fund or form 01 unless there's a reason that we would need to look at another one. And it is broken down both. so that the colors identify red bad green good and then it is also identified with if on the left you see the categories labeled with letters so the categories on the left you can you can see like revenues LCFF is a if you're trying to figure out okay I see that a had a overall

068$21,000 increase. And then I look, okay, I see the restricted, I see the unrestricted, but why? If you follow that A down into the notes on the bottom, unrestricted and restricted AA, it'll explain that, okay, so you see in restricted, there was no difference in the restricted revenue. So under restricted A, it says no change. You see that there is a difference of 21,000. I think it's 532. My contacts are not really doing it tonight. If you want to explain that change, you go down to the unrestricted A and you see that the major changes are outlined out there. Now, I'm not going to explain like a $5 increase or a $10 increase unless there's some rationale behind bringing it up. But I do explain $1,000 changes like 5, 10, you know, and upward changes

069so that you can understand like where did these swings come from? So when we're looking at budget, this form is going to be your go-to for what changed and what should I be looking at or where are my questions going to be centered, basically. Okay, so with that, we'll move into our second interim budget. And the assumptions for each budget period are updated prior to creating the budget model itself. So our assumptions for second interim have been updated to include all the different changes in revenue allocations, expenditures, those types of things. But I would say the biggest assumption change for us or update so to speak was our negotiated settlements so when we came to you with first interim we knew they were coming we knew they were coming but we just didn't know what

070they were now that we're at second interim we know what they are we can see them reflected in the budget so that's one of the major assumptions that have been updated the rest of them the leroy green schools act the negotiation i mean the uh reserve the infrastructure all of those things remain the same from first interim no change but it is part of the assumptions so we bring it up just in case there are questions Looking at our combined revenue, both restricted and unrestricted, the district is projecting approximately $19.3 million in revenue at second interim. This represents an increase of about $314,000 or approximately 1.7% increase compared to our first interim projections. These increases are largely driven by adjustments in state and local revenues, along with updated grant allocations from different sources. If you

071look at the combined restricted and unrestricted, it includes both grants as well as state and federal dollars. So breaking it down, looking at just our restricted revenue, our restricted revenue, these are the revenues that are basically, while they all sit in the same checking account, pretend they all have their own checking account. So each... Every restricted pot of money has its own income and its own expenditures that are coded to be just in that little account. If they overdraw, so to speak, you have to pull from your savings, which is your unrestricted. And generally, you want your restricted accounts to take care of themselves. There are some that just don't. restricted maintenance, we have to meet some things. So we have to put money in there because there is no revenue source for restricted maintenance,

072but we are required to spend a certain amount that we have to make sure that we track. So we have to take it from unrestricted and make it restricted so that we can properly track that we're spending the right amount. But there is no restricted monies that come in from the state that they say, here is for your maintenance. Just on that unrestricted though, do you plan for that to have it sitting there something differently than that? Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's planned as a transfer out or a contribution. So it is reflected on the left side and it's like a negative on the unrestricted and a positive unrestricted so that it balances each other out, but that it shows as an expenditure. And it's not taken away from something else, I guess was my

073question too. It's kind of already there. kind of going, say, for maintenance, for instance? For maintenance, it is 100% already there. And for maintenance, just historically speaking, it was always in unrestricted general fund forever and ever. And then we got Prop 51 funds. And because we got Prop 51 funds, it triggers specific expenditure of a specific, I think it's the 3% of general fund expenditures for routine restricted maintenance. And not only do you have to... prove that you've spent 3% for the next 20 years after receiving these funds, but you have to code them separately and they have to be in a restricted account. So we just basically take everything that we paid for previously in maintenance and unrestricted and coded it restricted to meet that requirement. The alternative was to add an additional expenditure

074of 3% and try to figure out where to spend it. So that didn't really make sense. So, okay. So I have a question on this. Yes. Are you changing? You're probably going to explain this, but where did the other state revenue come from? I am going to explain it. What a great segue. So let's see. The other state revenue was 136. So 111, 727 was awarded in a CTEIG grant that was unexpected. So we applied for it, but it's one of those things where you could get. $10 or you could get hundreds of thousands. So that was something that we hadn't received in the previous year, but had received in years prior. So it's up and down. So that's where most of that came from. We also had 24,800 additional allocation from our learning recovery

075block grant from the state. Now that's awesome. And I'm so glad that they gave more money, but it is something we will not be spending this year because the allocation, the increased allocation triggered some additional LCAP survey and reporting requirements that we there's no possible way that we would be able to do a good job and get all of those things identified and done and written and in the plan without making somebody's head explode and I won't point fingers at Tori or anything but it might have made her head explode so I promise not to spend that money this year and we're going to spend it next year but we have to record the revenue in this year because that's the year that we received it. Related to the federal revenue, we just had a

076$3,000 increase in Title I allocations, and for the last couple of years, our allocations have gone up. So I'm not sure if that's people pulling out of Title I so they have more to go around because Title I has been going down in general. So I'm not entirely certain, especially considering our ADA has gone down as well, but we are reaping the benefits, so I'm not going to complain. And then with regard to the other local revenue, we received... a $8,151 K-12 Strong Workforce Grant. This is another one of the grants that Heather Clement is working on for us. I believe this is round eight. We qualified for around five and six, did not qualify for seven and qualified for eight. And that's no fault of our own. It's just they pick certain pathways. So

077every round, it's a different pathway that they focus on. And for whatever round we didn't get, which I think was seven, we didn't have that pathway. Therefore, we couldn't apply for funds because we just weren't eligible. So that's a kudos to Heather for gaining some extra dollars for us. And moving on to the restricted side of the house, our LCFF sources overall are revenue in unrestricted increased 0.9%. So not even 1%, but still an increase is an increase. Our LCFF sources, this is really code for generally for us. property taxes. There are a couple other things like transportation revenue included in there, but generally this is our property taxes. We received $21,532 increase in prior year tax collections. And these are things that we don't budget because we don't budget for them to go back

078and recoup funds. So it's always zero and halfway through the year, it becomes 20 or 50. We know there'll be something, we just don't know what. So it was an additional 21,000. And then we had a change in state revenue and the state revenue was an $85,000 increase in our home to school transportation. So our home to school transportation reimbursement is based on prior years. So as we move through our more expensive years, our increases and our reimbursements are going to be higher. So that's why that's higher because we moved from prior. contracts to current contracts. The contracts went up. Our revenue reimbursement goes up. We should expect and are planning for an increase in this reimbursement also with the inclusion of SPED in-house because that means that instead of paying for our transportation under

079the really technical geeky, I'm sorry, but I'm going to do it. Instead of paying under a services 5,800 to the consortium for services that we get from them and then they code the cost to transportation and they get the reimbursement. Now that we're bringing it in-house, those codes are going to be recoded so it's actually going to show up in transportation, which will create an increased revenue. It's not something we didn't plan for. We know it's coming. We just don't know how much. So it depends who you ask as to how much and whether it's happening. Whether it's happening at all, yes. To what extent? We just won't talk about it. It just depends. But yes. Very politically correct. Corrective Elysian. Yes. Okay. And then the other local revenue consists of 47,672. higher than projected

080for interest. And that is because our balances came out higher at the end of last year. So we have higher balances in our accounts that are earning more interest. So therefore, the interest has gone up overall for the year. We also had a $20,000 increase in athletic game management revenue, which sounds awesome, but just remember that that is tied to $20,000 increase in expenditures. So for all the people that you see working volleyball, soccer, football, all the people taking tickets, walking around, all of that, athletics pays the district back. So we pay them on payroll. That's how we have to do it. And then they collect. the funds and those funds sit in their athletic game management in ASB. And then they reimburse the district dollar for dollar for those costs. So exciting, but it

081means there's an expenditure. So it really balances each other out. Yeah. Okay. We also had a minor reduction of $5,000 in facilities, rental fees, collections. So the increase in other local revenue is mitigated by that $5,000 decrease, but that's to be expected. It goes up and down. Okay, so moving on to expenditures, looking at our combined both restricted and unrestricted expenditures, they increased approximately, oh, I was all, no, they did not. They increased from 18.6 million to 19.5 million at second interim, which represents about a 4.8% increase. The primary drivers of the... Combined increases include the negotiated salary settlements, the associated benefits associated with that settlement, and then several targeted, mostly restricted program adjustments with regard to the CTE money that we didn't know that now we have to add the budget for those types

082of things. So breaking that down, looking at restricted expenditures within our restricted programs, our expenditures increased 9%, which is approximately $170,000. The largest restricted expenditures that we have still remains our salaries, benefits, and supplies. These expenditures align directly with the grant programs and the instructional initiatives that they support. So while it sounds bad for me to say, hey, we had an increase of $170,000 in restricted, but then remember, in revenue, we also had $100,000 in a CTE grant. We need to put the expenditures in for that. We got an extra $10,000 for K-12. We need to put the expenditures in for that. The increased revenue when it comes to restricted things are generally like you get $100, but you have to spend your $100. You can't just keep your $100 and do nothing with it.

083So when you see those increases on the restricted side, you tend to see the increases on the restricted expenditures in that same manner. Where you would see like... with our Golden State Pathways. We got a million dollars. We're not spending a million dollars on Golden State Pathways in one year. So with that, you would see the influx of the million dollars the first year. And then each year you would see like a deficit for that because revenue is not coming in, but it's still the balance is there because we need to spend it down. So the restricted side of the house is a little bit different where when there's... When there's deficits, they're purposeful, they're intentional because you have to spend down your grants. So they're not as scary when you're looking at the restricted

084side of the house in general. Okay, so the biggest single increase, again, was our certificated salaries. That was a $94,000 increase, $3,000 of which was related to Title I, and the remaining $91,000 was related to the CTEIG grant program spending plan and updates with that. Second largest increase was for capital outlay, and this is $49,871, and that is because We're focusing on safety and we're focusing on making sure that our maintenance department has the equipment that they need without having to wait for rentals to perform the work that they need to do. So we purchased a man lift. There was also a really devastating workers comp injury at a local school district in our county. there was a fatality where a man lift would have avoided that. So we were just being proactive given the

085fact that we have the ability to do so, adding these extra layers of protection for our staff. Yeah, it's a one-time cost. It's well worth it. We also had a $21,000 increase to benefits. Those are proportionate to increases in salaries with statutory benefits. And then our materials and supplies increased by about $11,000, again, due to adding the strong workforce grant and those types of things. So we added the budgets in. Moving to the unrestricted side of the house, our unrestricted expenditures increased 4.3% or $720,000. This looks like a crazy amount, like it would make your head explode, but it is intentional. It has everything to do with settlement of negotiations. We knew that this was going to bring back the deficit, that type of thing. So it sounds like a big number. It is a

086big number, but it is intentionally and well spent on our staff. They're all negotiated settlements and the proportional increases in benefit costs. There was very small operational adjustments for fuel supplies and maintenance needs across the remainder of the departments, but that was only about $16,000 of the increase. The remainder is the negotiated settlements and the resulting benefits. Okay, are there any questions about revenue or expenditures before we move on to what that means for us, bottom line type thing? Okay, so we'll move on to looking at our unrestricted ending fund balance. And again, we could look at, you know, the combined, but again, the restricted side of the house is kind of its own demon. We don't really need to worry about that side. And that's also not. something that you want included when you're

087making decisions as to what is the fiscal health of the district because the unrestricted fund inside of the house is what is our operational, it's our day-to-day, it's what is not confined by you get and you spend type things. So we knew again that negotiated settlements would cause the deficit to return. At first interim, we projected $151,375 operating surplus. That was because we intentionally did not put placeholders for negotiations. So we knew that whatever we put in was going to be an accurate reflection. After incorporating updated revenue and expenditure projections, we're now projecting a 450,621 operating deficit, which is actually not that bad because we have to consider the fact that our deficit used to be a million dollars. We also generally do not realize the entire deficit when we get to unaudited actuals because

088you have to remember that our budgets contain safety nets. And we do not always spend everything in every department that we budget, but we have to have the budget in the event that something comes up and we do need to spend. So the projected deficit is $450,000 with all of that in mind. Do I think we're going to book a $450,000 deficit? No, I do not. Will we book a deficit? Most likely. It will not be $450,000. So with all that said, the deficit reduction plan is working. It is working quicker than we expected it to work because everybody has been on board. Departments are not spending just because they have budget. They're only spending things that they need. And we're being thoughtful in the requests that we approve and those that we do not.

089Even with this adjustment, with this deficit, the district maintains an unrestricted ending fund balance of approximately $7.1 million. So when you look at it from that perspective, we're not sitting in a difficult situation. Can I just ask, so the deficit, the $450,000 is related to the salary increase in benefits for the most part? For the most part, yeah. For the most part, but then we picked up more in property taxes. So is that? negate it or not? I mean, it doesn't negate it because it's already included in there. Any negating it would do would already be included in these figures at second interim. So the major increase in property taxes we saw at first interim, it's already included in those figures. So, you know, it's in there. So, okay. I'm going to make sure I'm

090on the same page and I am not. Okay. So Looking at our ending fund balance, we have $7.1 million ending fund balance at the end of the year. That's what we're projecting. That's not bad at all. When you look at the state minimum fund requirement for districts of our size, the state minimum requirement is only 4% of your general expenditures. The state minimum fund amount in dollars is $793,807.17, which means the state has determined that we have $6.3 million in excess revenue. Okay. Using very basic calculations of total expenditures and transfers out divided by 12, we would need an average of $1.4 million in our unrestricted balance monthly to pay our bills. It means that we have approximately 4.5 to 5 months of operating cash when we look at our current reserve balance of $7.1

091million. The state mandated reserve is based on state funded status and trying to use 4% as any type of target or determination of our fiscal health would be reckless and dangerous for a basic aid, $793,000 won't even pay one month of our average expenditures. So it's very important for us to look at that in perspective. Is $7.1 million great? Yes, it is. Is $7.1 million a lot when you're looking at monthly expenditures? No, it's 4.5 to five months of our expenditures. That's important because when we look at our unrestricted ending fund balance in relation to our board required reserves, we currently have a 16% board required minimum fund balance of $3 million, which would leave us with an excess reserve of $4.1 million. If the district were to drop to the board required minimum reserve

092of $3 million, which means if you were to be like, we are only keeping our $3 million or we're not in distress until we get down to $3 million, spend it down, do whatever, we would still meet both the state and the board reserve requirements. However, because we spend approximately $1.6 million per month, the reserve would represent less than two months of operating cash for our district. At that level, we would have far less flexibility to manage revenue timing issues, unexpected costs, and we would increase the likelihood of needing to borrow short term with the county or the state. Basic aid districts on average or in general carry between 20 and 30% reserves. A $3 million reserve represents 16%, which isn't even the minimum recommended balance, minimum balance for a basic aid district. We actually

093hold a higher reserve at the $7.1 million, but our recommendation at this point is to bring the minimum reserve number set by the board resolution to a higher amount and change it back to a percentage rather than a static number so that we don't have to keep revisiting it. We recommend a phase-in approach. a phase in approach to get us to a total of a 25% reserve target. 25% equates to about three months of operating expenditures and is a conservative middle ground between where really flush districts are at 30, 35% and where you're, you know, you're betting on being able to carry your reserves. So we do not get paid every month. We get little bits here and there monthly from federal Title I or from the transportation reimbursement. We do not get paid every

094month to pay our bills. which means that any money that we have left over at the end of the year must float us a minimum of five months operating expenditures and a maximum of six months. Sometimes we get like a million to $2 million influx of property taxes in November, and sometimes we get nothing until December. So at a very, very best case scenario minimum, we need to fund and have cash on hand to fund five months of expenditures. And again, we're using average 1.6 million. It's not 1.6 million every single month. Like July is quiet. There's not very many people here. It's different. But that is an average. That is a good way of measuring it. So just keep in mind that our $3 million reserve, we are going to be bringing back a

095recommendation for a gradual increase. The reason for that is if we were to get up to the 25% right away, what that looks like is a money grab. We are not trying to money grab. We are not trying to make it impossible to go to the table and negotiate. We have the money right now in our reserve, our ending fund balance, to say we want to go to 25%. That, in my opinion, would be the wrong way to go for a number of reasons. A gradual and implementable... gradual implemented change from like 18%, 16 to 18 to 20 to 22 to 25 gives us time to get there, shows that it's not a money grab and also gives us time to utilize other debt reducing measures to reduce our deficits. So I think that we'll

096be bringing that back in the next month or so to get that before you guys. And just a question that 25% would then give us enough reserve, but also to keep our programs. at where they are growing and give us the flexibility of that. Barring some crazy change. And again, we have sped that, like I will be the first one to tell you, it is an uphill learning curve for me with regard to all things in the sped world, even fed spining, fed. good gosh, sped finance because I have never done it. And I've had the luxury of 10 years of saying that is not my job. I do not need to know that. Now I do. And now it is. So barring anything that I do not understand, know, or something that's coming down

097the pike. Yes, this incremental gradual increase will allow all of our programs to stay. It will allow the property tax increases to help fund this buffer. And it will allow us to still go to the negotiating table and do right by staff without it looking like a money grab and, oh, sorry, we can't do anything. And still meet our deficit reduction plan because we're ahead of schedule on that, but we still are committed to meeting that. Correct. Yes. When did the $3 million? approval. When did that happen? Or when was that set? I guess 1718 ish. So it started with no minimum, and we had quite a balance. And then we went to, I think it was a 30 or 35% reserve. And then when we went to the negotiating table, it was said that

098a percentage changes, we don't like that the number changes, it's complicated, I want a static number. So at that time, 3 million was a larger piece of the pie. And then it stayed at 3 million for a while. Who was the one that was confused by it? The staff or the board? I think the staff was led into confusion by their representatives for negotiations. I think our staff is... quite savvy, but when their representatives are telling them something that is not as clear as it could be, it creates confusion that wouldn't be there otherwise. So from 16 to 25. Four or five years? Yeah. Yeah. One, two, three, four. Yeah. Four or five years. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a great idea. Yeah. And it's slow. It's another step in the right direction, but it

099still gives us the flexibility to do all the things we need to do thoughtfully. Yeah. And then at 25, that could be in perpetuity until somebody decides. Exactly. You really would have to have some sort of crazy difference in. political climate or finance structure for schools for 25 to not make sense for basic aid. So this will place the district in a place where they don't have to worry about that pending fund balance. Correct. And I like the percentage better because it goes with the inflationary rate and all of that versus the static number. Exactly. Exactly. Okay, so looking at our unrestricted multi-year projections, all I can say is give me grace. This is the first time our multi-year projections have shown anything with regard to having the SPED department on staff. I added the

100revenue I think and expect. I picked brains of people to make sure we had everything we think we can expect, moderate amounts. We also added salaries and benefits to the best of our ability. Every single day, this number changes. Every single day, we finalize hiring and it changes. Whether we're adding a position, oh, we don't really need that position. Oh, yes, we do need that position. Do we need that stipend? No, we don't need that stipend. So every day, even multiple times a day, that number changes. But it is in there. So it is the first iteration in our multi-year projections where we are looking at what that impact could look like. So if you look at it, we currently have a deficit. Oh gosh, that did not look pretty. It looks pretty here. Sorry,

101yeah. We're looking at our deficit this year of 450,000. We're looking at a surplus of 231 next year and a million the year after. That's a lie. I can tell you right now that's a lie. The reason that is a lie is because we do not build in placeholders for negotiated increases. That can change if you all decide, no, that is crazy. I want to see it. We like it because it gives us a more accurate reflection when you add it in of what the impact is, but also it's... It is deceiving because you know there's going to be something. So we can talk about that. And if the direction is, you know, we'd like to see something, I can absolutely put something in. So we can talk about that. But we know for a

102fact there will not be a surplus in 26-27 and most likely will not be a surplus in 27-28. What I actually expect to see is a slight... increase in our deficit, 26, 27, as we work through SPED getting on board and figuring out what staff do we actually need, if there's any cooling in staff or retirements that is available to us in those years, and then we'll start to see it even out 27, 28, 28, 29. So the benefit that we do have kind of built in and unrelated to special education is in 2728, we have our debt services payments done. So we are we have been paying for 20 bajillion years for the stadium refinance. And it's like 300 $280,000 $300,000 a year. So in 2728, that $300,000 is no longer an expenditure, and

103it hits back to leaving that revenue. So that is just an an added insulation bonus that we get to help us, you know, defray the costs that we know are going to be there. So it looks great. It's. Not that great, but it should be okay. I do have a question on the surplus deficit. And just maybe you've gone over this and this just so much. So we're negative 450 now. But then we went into negotiations knowing that we could afford it. Can you just? So at first interim, we had a surplus showed. I can't remember what it said. 200 something thousand probably. It showed a surplus. But we knew that we were saving money. holding onto that because we knew that when we get to negotiations, it's not going to be there. It's going

104to be a couple hundred thousand dollars, at least when we get through negotiations. So now that negotiations is settled, it has been, you know, however much, I think it was like six or $700,000 that now we see hitting in our expenditures. So when you see 26, 27, what you see happening is we have all of our expenditures for 25, 26 for everyone's salary and benefits. We also have like, Everyone moves over a year and all of that in there. But what you see is you see the increase in property taxes of about two and a half percent, three percent in there. But you don't see the increase for negotiated settlements balancing. So what you see is an increase in revenue without that offset for the negotiated salary benefit increases that we know are going to

105happen. We just don't know what they are. So I can guesstimate. I think it's 2.5% increase in property taxes, which you see in 26, 27, and 27, 28. But without adding the negotiated increases, it's an inflated surplus because we know we have an expenditure that's going to be at least $500,000 each year that is not hitting them yet. So I guess, oh, sorry, Chris. My question then is, Not to take away from the teachers because we had a flush year with the property taxes. So we said, yeah, this is great. We can afford the salary increase, but then I feel like the deficit is not, it's still there. So is that being fiscally responsible? Yes. And I'll tell you why. Okay. That's what I want to know. It is, yes, it is fiscally responsible because

106it's conservative. It's kind of doing like a step down thing where we are trying to tackle multiple things at once. So we are trying to make sure that we take care of people at the same time we reduce our deficit. So we are allowing the property taxes to increase. We are. capping what amount of those increases can be used for staff. And we know that the deficit's going to keep coming back, but it keeps coming back less than it was the year before. So the deficit started at a million and then it was like, okay, now it's gone. Oh, wait, no, now it's seven. Okay, no, now it's gone. Okay, wait, now, no, it's five. You know, so like, it's more of like a stair approach. So it's conservative. Now, if we were to like,

107say we want absolutely the deficit gone right now, it would impact students, it would impact teachers, it would impact programs in a negative way that I don't think we need to because on one side we have a deficit. It is a realized book deficit. We are spending more dollars than we are bringing in on an annual basis in revenue. That being said, we also have a savings account of $7.1 million. How do you look at people and say, we can do nothing? We can do nothing for you. We don't care how hard you're working. Our savings account needs to keep growing. And because we aren't making all that in a year, we're doing nothing. So it's a balance. So it's books and number lines. I mean, where it's real, but you've got this little kitty

108over here that in potential pitfall, you can cover the cost. Yeah, we have a very... solid savings account that allows us to make slightly more reckless decisions, if you want to look at it that way, with regard to negotiations. Not reckless, but understandable. Yes. Right. You see what I'm saying? Yes. That absolutely clarified that a lot for me. Thank you. Any other questions with that, with regard to that? Okay. Do you have a question? Well, I was just going to say, so the reason why we're seeing this yearly looks like increase. is because of negotiations being every year. Correct. If there was a contract that was three to five years long. Correct. Then you would be able to have projections that were more closely related to what we were actually going to see. Correct. Going

109forward. I just wanted to make sure everybody understood that. Yes. Correct. Yes. Absolutely correct. Did you have? I, this is not. about deficits. So it's more a question I've had as I've heard things throughout the night and, you know, about grants. Okay. Is there a percentage of how much we get from grants? And I know it changes. Oh, I'm sure there is. It's like, you don't know right now. Yes, there is. Yeah. And I, well, I'm just curious, how much do the grants, you know, add to our school? And then I'm also wondering who? This is just curiosity. Who's responsible for writing grants and getting these? You know, I want to recognize that and also see when we're... Mostly Heather Clement. So like it's been, you know, at times there have been group efforts like

110Tori and I wrote the Golden State Pathways grant and miraculously they decided to bet on us and give us a million dollars. So it really, really varies because really you kind of have to have an understanding of what it is you're writing about. So Heather is a content expert when it comes to CTE. And most of the grants we're seeing right now are CTE grants. So she has been writing those. When there's a grant related to public safety, we pull in, you know, Jasmine and her team. So like if there's a grant for whatever it is, we try to pull in the experts. So we do not have a specific grant writer, but the closest thing we have right now is Heather Clement because she's sort of. spearheading all of that for us at this

111point in time. So are there other grants that would help us fund these areas that we need to bring attention to? So there's always grants. There's always things that we could find and search for. What I will say, though, is at some point for a district our size, it gets very, very complicated to spend these grants the way we're required to spend. Because what we're looking at right now with the Golden State Pathways, we have a million dollars in Golden State Pathways. We also have like $20,000 in Carl Perkins and we probably have like $17,000 in ag. incentive grant and then we also have the k-12 which is geared towards ag and auto so with all of that What do I spend first? Okay, so I spend this one because this one's gone by this

112year. I spend this one next, and then I spend this one. But there's only so much a district of our size can do because we can't hire new people every time we have a grant because then we'll be firing them when the grant's gone. So yes, there's always more grants. Yes, they could potentially be beneficial. But at some point, there is kind of like a saturation. And right now, most of the grants seem to center on CTE. And we are... well saturated in that area. So it's just getting creative and looking where we can find things here and there. Yeah. Going back to the deficit. Well, first of all, thank you for a master's class in budgets. This presentation is amazing. I've seen you give a lot of them. You're at physics level, we're shapes

113and colors, so I appreciate that. I kind of just wanted to reframe the budget thing for my mind. I mean, the deficit. This is a very purposeful thing that you're dealing with it. So it's intentional. It has a long view. So every time we see that number and for members of the public. It's not scary. I mean, if I looked in my checkbook and saw loud porn, I thought I would freak out. But it is very intentional, and we have a plan to address it over the long term, right? Right. We have no signs of fiscal distress. A deficit technically would be a sign of fiscal distress, but not when you're looking at a savings account of $7.1 million and a deficit of $400,000. It's just not. It's not mission critical, which is why we've

114taken the more intentional approach to address it because you can't let it grow to address it strategically. Thank you so much. Of course. I'm going to add to that and give you a little history. So when we first got on the board, the deficit spending was such that if we had kept on the same path. then that savings account would have been gone, I believe in three years. I think it was three at that point. So a gentleman's name that we worked with was Scott Siegel. Yes. Scott Siegel. I thought you were going to say Turnbull. No, it was Scott. I was in the audience for his presentation. Yeah. And he gave us, he came with a presentation for us and we chose a path and that path has been brilliantly followed. by the leadership.

115We have a buy-in to our staff is really, I mean, this is their home. They generally, when they get employed here, they generally stay. So they have a lot of ownership. If they can see the purpose and the process, and if we don't do things like extreme things that don't make sense. So to your point, yeah, there's a deficit, but we also have seven. million. So to do something extreme wouldn't make sense. So the reason that we have staff support and buy it is because we've made these intentional decisions. Perfect. Okay. So the last thing is just looking at out-year planning. We have three buses that need replacement. We just got the estimate for the replacement for the bus that was rear-ended, and it was like $40,000, $30-something thousand dollars. So that was gnarly. Thankfully,

116insurance will cover all but like $5,000. Some district does have a new bus rolling around here in town. It's an electric bus. Yeah. Unfortunately that. Yeah. We don't qualify in our district boundaries are so large. It would be a headache. We don't want to deal with. Yeah. Yeah, so we do need to look at our bus replacement. There are ways that we can look at grants. There are some grants. Most of the grants target electric buses, but because we don't qualify due to our geographic boundaries, we may still qualify for clean diesel grants. So we are working with our bus company, CPT, who has graciously accepted. our requests for them to help us look at grants and help us write them. So we're in the process of looking for those right now. We are doing

117a great job of, but we still need to maintain our deficit reduction plan in all of our decisions. We need to be mindful and keep in mind that negotiations for 26, 27 and beyond are going to look different and they're going to look a little higher. So we have received the impact of negotiations for special ed through shared services and direct costs, but it has been based on lesser amounts than we're going to see. So now they're all included in our salary schedule. They're all included in our bargaining agreements and all of that. So we just need to be mindful that negotiations are going to look different. There are stipends we have never seen before being placed because we have to, you know. We have to meet the needs of our district and our staff.

118So just keep in mind that it's not just normal negotiations for the next year or two. They're just a little bit more complex until we get into the swing of things. Again, that kind of speaks to the ongoing special education department integration, what that looks like, revenue coming in, expenditures coming out. What does transportation look like? What does everything look like? It's all going to be a learning curve. And then we do need to address our minimum fund balance. We will be bringing a board resolution either the next board meeting or the one after. And then we do have multiple deferred maintenance needs, but we have a plan for those. We still have Prop 51 funds for some of them. We also are looking at leveraging previous plans and additional bonding capacity through prop funds,

119not the district's bonding capacity. There are roofing needs and other needs. I mean, if you really want to get down to it, there's a ton of needs, removing portables, all the things that we'll be looking at in our out years. Okay. Any questions that we haven't addressed? Awesome. All right. Thank you, guys. I appreciate it. Always a master class. Yeah. She really takes the complicated and makes me think I know what's happening. But she does a phenomenal job of making it very relatable. Thank you, Alicia. So is there a motion to approve the 2025-26 second interim budget in 2025-26 through 2027-28 multi-year projection? So moved. Second. I'll second. Roll call, please, Terry. Aye. All right. Mr. Johnson. Got an aye. Ms. Noble. Aye. Ms. Grace Velasquez. Aye. Mr. Lefamini. Aye. Mr. Robinson. Aye. Motion approved.

120So now we'll move on to the public hearing on excess reserves 2526 through 2728. And this is just one of those regulatory actions that we have to go through with each budget iteration because, like I explained, that the state only requires a 4% reserve. We are required to report out any reserve in excess of that 4% amount, but because we're a basic aid, we are not subject to any of the spend-down limitations that state-funded districts may be. So while we do have to report out, there is no mechanism by which a basic aid can be required to spend down their excess reserves. Okay. Yeah. I'll move to approve the excess reserves for 2526. So that'll be, yes, the funds and excess reserves. Thank you. Second, please. Second. Roll call, please, Terry. Mr. Johnson. Aye. Ms.

121Noble. Aye. Ms. Grace Velasquez. Aye. Mr. Levine. Aye. Mr. Robinson. Aye. We just did. Motion approved. Thank you. Thank you all. Now we can move on to discussion. Any discussion items? I don't think we're good to go. Did you have anything? No. How about a board matters? Any problems with? I think Sherry was going to miss a meeting. Oh, a meeting. Okay. I'll miss the 2nd June meeting. Yeah, and that's when we cannot move, if I remember correctly. Correct. Okay. We'll make note of that. And at 7.20, go right ahead. We're glad you were here, by the way. Go Pirates. So we can actually we're going to leave so you guys can leave. We're going into closed session at 721 and take a little break in between.