001Please stand for a moment of silence. Thank you. You may be seated. I call this meeting to order at 5:02 and board member Benson will be joining us virtually. Good evening, Mrs. Mrs. Benson, can you hear us? Can she can hear us? Yes, I can hear you. Thank you. Okay, good. Um, just a reminder, any citizen who wishes to speak on an agenda item must complete the sign-in sheet in the lobby prior to the public comment time on the board agenda. We will please stand for a pledge of allegiance led by Mr. Justin Wing, chief of staff. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all.
002Thank you. We will begin tonight by playing a video on board procedures and then read a statement. Welcome to the Mesa Public Schools governing board meeting. We appreciate your interest in the district. The five elected governing board members serve without compensation and volunteer countless hours. The president and the clerk of the board are elected in January. Under state law, the governing board may only discuss and vote on matters that are on the agenda for tonight's meeting. Agendas are posted a minimum of 24 hours in advance on the Mesa Public Schools website and in the curriculum services center. Copies of tonight's agenda are located in the lobby. The public may speak on any item of business on the agenda that the board discusses or requires the board to take action. If you wish to comment on
003an action or discussion item, please complete a request to address the board form before the item is discussed. The form is located in the lobby. Members of the public will be given a maximum of 3 minutes to speak once recognized by the governing board president. Please state your name before you speak. We ask that all speakers show respect and courtesy to others. During the second regular meeting of each month, the agenda will include a call to the public, which is an opportunity to speak to the governing board about a school district matter that is not on the agenda. Please submit a request to address the board form to participate in the call to the public. If you would like the board to consider adding an item to a future agenda, you may submit your request
004in writing to the board at least five working days before that meeting. The superintendent or governing board president will consider your request. Thank you for your attendance and involvement in tonight's meeting. This is an official official governing board meeting. The board has important business to conduct that is essential to the operation of the district. Everyone is welcome to express ideas or concerns to the board in accordance with the agenda. The poster in the boardroom describes positive behaviors expected and behaviors that cannot be tolerated. Please speak and act respectively and actively listen. Be kind. Verbal harassment, abusive or foul language, intimidation, and disruption have no place in a classroom or the boardroom. Please, no side conversations or reactive comments. They can be disruptive. It is the governing board's president's responsibility to maintain proper order so the
005board can conduct its business in an orderly and efficient manner. If you're disruptive or interfere with the conduct of this meeting, you will be asked to leave so the board can conduct the business of the district. We'll now move on. Um, Dr. Strom, will you please review the board calendar with us? Madam President, members of the board, we're obviously here today on July 22nd for a governing board meeting. Uh, on July 31st, we have our first day of school. We're back at it on July 31st. Oh, sorry, July 22nd's our next governing board meeting. Uh, please join us on Tuesday, July 22nd for our next governing board meeting. It will still be the summer start time at 5:00 p.m. and we will have an executive session afterwards for the governing board to know that uh
006July 31st is our first day of school. August 14th, please remember in August board meetings are shifting towards Thursdays. And so that's going to give the board some more time to prep throughout the week and get prepared for the governing board meetings on Thursday. And August 28th is another Thursday meeting at 6 PM. Remember, in August, we return to meetings at 6 PM, not the summer start time of 5:00 pm. Today is actually July 8th, and we're here for a board meeting on July 8th. Thank you, Dr. Stum. We are now moving into um public hearing at 506. I call for a public hearing on the 202526 budget and truth and taxation. At this time, Mr. Alexander, will you lead us through the presentation on the proposed 202526 budget and truth and taxation? Madame President,
007members of the board, I'm happy to be here. I had so much fun last time. I'd come back again for another uh discussion on this topic, but here for the 2526 uh budget. There'll be an action item later for asking you to adopt the budget and we're also going to talk about the estimated property tax rates. So, just quick timeline. We were here two weeks ago. I'm here today. um could be back one to three times during the years, but for sure uh no later than May of 26 with our final budget revision. Most of these slides I I went through last time, so I'm going to go a little quicker through some of these. So funding factors, the first two bullets there, we estimated on our proposed that we would get a 2% increase
008for M and transportation. Again, the state budget wasn't final then, but we um estimated correctly, and that's exactly what the state did uh for those two main funding areas. We're also sticking with the 1807 as far as a unweighted average daily membership reduction from October of 2024. The second bullet there are one-time approved items that the state uh legislature and governor did approve. Those are excluded from the adopted budget. We have to come back with the same amount from the proposed budget. We couldn't increase that. So those state aid supplement, the district additional assistance supplement and the free and reduced uh bweight. um those will be included in future revisions when we do get those amounts from the state but they are excluded from this uh budget. We had this uh slide last time. Big
009thing here is bond having zero funds for bond going into the current year and also adjacent ways $8 million with $5 million being additional funds for this year for uh needed projects. Now to the estimated assessed valuations and tax rate. I always say this estimated that's exactly what they are um with the data we had at the point in time. So our net assessed evaluation went up 3.8%. Prior years has been about 4.6 or 4.7 but still an increase in that net assessed valuation. Again this is the estimated tax rate. The the column there in sort of in the middle 2025 actual compares it to our estimate. You can see on the far right seeing whether the tax rate went up or down for the primary or secondary rate. You can see on the far
010right there lower left or lower right uh down 4124 on our overall tax rate and that includes the uh 11 1161 increase for adjacent ways. I had the slide last time tax rate history. were in the mid to low sevens for many years and the last couple years we've been going down to like the low sevens and mid6s. So this is showing that we're going to estimate a tax rate for this current year 2526 of 6.1137 6.5 was the previous year. Again just a history for you to see where we've been at uh on our tax rates. This is a new slide this year. This shows the details of that 6.1137 tax rate. All the components that go into that. This first slide shows it listing all the primary tax rates on the top and
011the secondary with DAG override and bonds on the lower part. The far right shows the difference between 25 and 26. A negative amount means the tax rate for that particular line item has decreased. So you see all of those have decreased except for the one item for adjacent ways. Um the main reason for that is we had zero last year. Um we did not levy last year, fiscal year 25, but we did in 23 and 24. There's a couple other zeros on there for the quasmire judgment and the cash shortage. The quasaire was one that affected all Maricopa County um school districts and the cash shortage is we had uh less cash than what we had budget capacity. So we were able to levy to get that cash amount and that happens because um there
012could be judgment or tax collections are low that year. Um so it's accumulation over several years that we may have those cash shortages that we levied for last year. This is similar information, but this is based upon a per 100k uh in a dollar amount. And it also has information on the far right as far as the source of the levy, why we levied it, or authorization to levy. The top three items are the truth and taxation items that go into the calculation uh for the truth and taxation hearing. You can see adjacent ways, dropout, prevention, and dg. Again, you can see that difference column all in the negative except for the adjacent ways. But again, $4124 is the total decrease based upon $100,000. And you can see on the far right, again, I mentioned
013that you can see the different sources, whether it's state or one time or voter approved. Um, that just gives the board some more information of how that levy comes about. And the last slide, just a summary of the tax points here. Um, you can see on the truth and taxation, I mentioned those three items. Those uh end up being about $11 increase on $100,000 assessed valuation. But overall, taking into account all of our tax rates, we're reducing it by about $41 per 100,000 or 6.3% reduction. So overall, again, a reduction of the overall tax rate and almost every line item was a reduction. And that is all I have on the adopted budget. Thank you, Mr. Alexander. Um, as a reminder to everyone, this is a public hearing and the board and superintendency will not
014respond to any public comments at this time. Later in the agenda before voting, we will have time for board discussion and consideration of any public comments. Mrs. Chaffy, has anyone signed up to speak during the public hearing? We have one person who's signed up to speak during the public hearing, Mr. Edsteel. Okay. Um, Mr. Still, if you would like to come up, members of the board, superintendency, my name is Ed Steel. I'm a concerned community member and taxpayer. Um, no new taxes, guys. No new taxes. You know, next year, what are you going to do? You're going to ask the voters to approve a bond. So you're you're increasing taxes today. You're going to come back next year. Want to increase taxes all while we're delivering failing academic performance and lowering our uh overall headcount
015here in the schools. You know, it's a hard pill for some people to swallow. I was also looking over the budget. Um, last year's estimate for carry forward for your capital budget was $26 million. Now you're coming to us and say we need to raise t we need to raise $5 million through increased taxes to pay for these adjacent ways projects that we have. Why couldn't, you know, again, I don't know, maybe it doesn't work this way, but why couldn't we have had a $21 million carry forward this year and paid for that $5 million last this past year? We're going to have a $15 million carry forward this year. Why can't we have a $10 million carry forward and pay for it out of this without raising taxes on our citizens? Um, they're they're
016tired of seeing that over and over. You guys want to raise raise taxes, raise taxes, generate more money. We have declining enrollment. We have terrible academic performance. You guys need to show that you're good stewards of our taxpayers money. And right now, you're not doing that. Um, you know, you can come to us next year and ask for this bond. Take that 5 million out of out of this this bond. I don't know what it's going to be. 500 million, 600 million, something in that order, I would bet. Um, the other thing is you've got a $600 million budget, 500 plus million. If you could find 1%, again, maybe it doesn't work that way, but find 1% in your budget and you would cover that 5 million without having to to ask the taxpayers to
017cover that. Um, it's real easy to to default to let's raise taxes. It's hard to do the work and and sharpen your pencils and find the waste and and find creative ways for using the money, taxpayers money better than you're using it now. I'm asking you to consider that. Please don't pass this levy at this time. Thank you. Thank you. And we have no others signed up to speak. Thank you. I will now adjourn the public hearing and reconvene the regular meeting. This is a procedural item. Oh, I do. I'm sorry because I'm sorry. Since this is a public hearing, members of the public are able to speak on the proposed budget and truth and taxation without signing in. Would anyone who has not signed in like to speak on the revised budget persu? If
018you would like to, you can please come up to the podium and you'll have three minutes. President Courtney Davis and members of the board, thank you for restoring in-person meetings where we are allowed a voice in the public forum. I am Julie Sessions, a business owner. I ask that you vote against the levy as it may cause the community to feel nickel and dimed when it is time to vote on the bond. Please use the bond for the 5 million need. Thank you for your consideration. Oh, and I had mine on the budget instead, so you don't need to call me then. Okay. Thank you so much. Any others that would like to speak? Okay, thank you so much. I now adjourn the public hearing and reconvene the regular meeting. This is a procedural item
019and does not require a vote. So, we will move along. Um, this time in the agenda is designated for public comment on agenda items. Mrs. Chappie, do we have anyone signed up to speak? Yes, we have three individuals signed up to speak. Okay. Um, you will each have three minutes to speak and then Mrs. Chaffy, will you lead us through this agenda item, please? Absolutely. We have Mr. Ed Steel. Oh, and then Julie, you did not want to speak again, correct? Okay. So, we'll have just two. Ed Steele and Rachel Bostock. Hi, members of the board. Superintendency Ed Steel again. Um, just a couple of comments on the budget. You know, I think overall it looks good. Um, one comment I wanted to make, Dr. Stum, is at the last meeting you said you're going
020to have a line item budget for any bond proposal. And I appreciate that. I thank you for that. I think that goes a long way in uh restoring public trust and creating a sense of transparency for the district. So, thank you for that. So, look back over to the unrestricted capital outlay portion of the budget. Um, I noticed something glaring. And again, I'm not privy to everything that goes on. You know, I said this a couple of years ago. After looking at school budgets as much as I have, I can make one categorical statement. They are complicated. Right? Um, but here's what I noticed. uh the unrestricted capital funds for instruction went down 55%. From 27 million to 12 million that's that's teachers materials, classrooms, uh textbooks, things like that. I don't understand why that
021went down 51%. And then the capital outlay for administration went up 77%. You know, that's $3.8 8 million right there. Maybe there's a good explanation for it. But when the public, you know, this is all the public gets, that raises some some red flags, right? Um, again, I know you guys are working hard to to create better public trust, better transparency, and I do appreciate that. Uh, but there's still some things that that do raise the red flags. And if somebody would like to make a comment during the discussion part about those two items I brought up, I would greatly appreciate it. Hi members of the board. I'm Rachel Bostock. Um, and I just wanted to speak on the purchasing contract increase for the sole source project lead the way. I have a little bit
022of questions and concerns there. It says that through this program, MPS is able to purchase kits, consumable supplies, software equipment, professional memberships, and professional learning that is required for teachers who are new to this curriculum. It's being requested by the director of CTE. The last time I looked at that budget, there was over $9 million in there. I'm sure it's gone down, but I also know it will be replenished. I've spoken with that person twice in person and she told me that the reason we have CTE funding is because we have access to be able to approve this kind of stuff. I don't know why it's being requested out of the basic M fund which is regular operating for our schools when CTE has its own fund. I think that again when we're talking about
023budget concerns, that's a huge one for me and I don't appreciate it. Especially when we've said, "Hey, you're moving forward on all of these programs that cost a lot more money and you've said we're going to be fine, but now you're asking for extra monies from our regular operating systems to run all of these programs. If we can't afford these programs that are going to be pushed through in high school, then we should not be running them or we should run them out slower." Um, just quickly, I know you guys voted to not get Dr. Stum coaching for next year, but if it does come up again, I would just like to add that I would appreciate if we could maybe use a different firm. Um, considering the fact that our previous superintendent who has
024threatened students, parents, is a member of that firm. And I just don't think that's a good look. Thank you. We'll move on now to our um the consent agenda. All items on the consent agenda are approved with one vote with no discussion. If a board member would like to pull a consent agenda item, please do so now. I can't see Mrs. Vincent. Are we good? Okay. Thank you. Seeing none, we will now move into our personnel request. Do I have a motion to approve the personnel request, including the addendum? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. Any discussion? Seeing none, Miss Kirby, will you please take our vote? With a vote of five yays, we have approved the personnel request, including the addendum. Tonight, we would like to take a moment to
025recognize a former board member who recently passed away. Dr. Strom, I'll turn it over to you. Yeah. In memorial, we'd like to honor Wilfford Allen Cardone, a former board member. Wilford graduated from Mesa High, class of 1957. Carry on Mesa High. His career was marked by tireless work, quiet generosity, and an unwavering commitment to service, including in the Mesa Public Schools governing board role from 1985 to 1992. He continually sought to uplift others and improve the lives of other human beings throughout the city of Mesa. All of us in Mesa Public Schools thank him for his service. Thank you, and we echo that. Thank you so much. We'll now move into our consent agenda. All items will be considered as a group and will be approved with one motion. If a board member would like
026to spotlight or comment on a consent agenda item, please do so after the vote. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda according to the recommended action for each item? So moved. Do I have a second? Seconded. Thank you, Mrs. Kirby. Will you please take our vote? With a vote of five years, we have approved the consent. antigen items according to the recommended action for each item. Bear with me one second while I get to our action items. Here we go. Do I have a motion to approve the proposed 202526 budget? So moved. Do I have a second? I'll second. Thank you. This is a time for the board discussion on the budget. Do any of my fellow board members have any questions? Yeah, I have some questions on the uh truth and
027taxation. So, it's built into the budget. Uh you're asking for $5 million. What is the time frame that that tax would be in effect to collect the $5 million? Do we know what the property valuation is? We welcome Mr. Tyler Moore, our new chief business officer. Mr. Moore. Yeah, President Davis. Member Walden. Um, uh, during when you authorize a truth and taxation, uh, that Jason waste tax is levied for the fiscal year only. So, it's a one-year tax. Um, it's levied throughout the entire fiscal year. Um, and so, uh, one that's again a onetime tax to garner that $5 million. And do you know what the collection will be? uh is just gonna like is the is that amount that you're asking for that's going to be enough with the assessed values that you'll collect
028the $5 million in the fiscal year? Yeah, I'm not exactly sure what you're asking, but that will be based on the estimated assessed value that we got from the county assessor. Um the $1161 will be the the total amount needed uh to assess on the property tax base to garner $5 million of of tax revenue. And that will be levied in your typical November. They typically pull property taxes in November and April. So that that was my that was my question was is that yeah is that amount that you're not overolcting or or underolcting. Um on the public comment I I think Dr. Strong might have been taking notes but I did think it was interesting that was brought up uh two of the categories that were changed in the unrestricted capital. uh the 25
029million in the classroom that went down to 12 million and then that was a 51% decrease and then the 77% increase uh in admin for capital outlay. Does anybody is anybody able to answer those changes? Yeah. Uh Mr. Alexander and then I want to add on the portable side all the work we're doing on the portable side and the furniture side. Maybe that's what you're going to cover. Yeah, that was the second part of it. But um the first part of that question is related to the instruction. Um as I mentioned last time for the M capital outline classroom site fund, they moved some of the carry forward out below into one line item where the 15 million shows. Typically that was put into the body of that budget. Where we put our excess reserves
030was always in that top line for instruction. And so if you add 15 million to that top row, that would have been what the comparison really would be uh normally from year to year. So that's where we pulled $15 million out of that line as a carry forward because that's where our placeholder was for the most part for um carry forward. And and I think I know the answer to this, but that's because the forms changed. The forms changed. So we had to pull um $38 million out of the M budget and put it down below. So it threw all those percentages off over on the right. Um and Dr. Sham, you can address the other parts. Good. The the other the other thing that's occurring through Mesa throughout Mesa public schools right now is
031we do recognize that uh in 2005 we had 74,000 kids. Right now we have 55,000 kids. And one of the efforts over the course of the last year has been to take portables and remove portables. The cost of removing portables is an administrative cost and we knew to accomplish that we had to move money within our own budget from a capital portion that was allotted for furniture refresh throughout the district. a lot of our furniture is 30 and 40 years old upon original building of the school and move that money over into uh the administrative cost for removing portables. Now, there are long-term gains from that and that will help save the M pot of money, some utilities uh and the cost of maintaining these portables. So, there's benefit to the district to having this
032one-time cost come out of capital to remove portables. But what the downstream effect is the function code that that functions with is such that it moved from instruction furniture something that supported instruction to something that supports administration removal of portables and so that's a portion of it as well. Yeah. Um, I have a question on the truth and taxation because I know we did our hearing, but in the revised statutes 15-95.01 that talks about the truth and taxation, uh, it indicates that it should possibly be its own separate vote and not a vote on the general budget, but I know our district lawyer's not not in tonight. Can you address that? Yeah. So, it changed a couple years ago statute did where this had to be a roll call vote and Mr. Moore you I
033think you probably remember when this changed and so the we've got legal opinion on roll call votes and that roll call vote because we vote digitally and it shows each board member's vote that is considered roll call and so that passes the roll call test. Uh what doesn't pass the roll call test is all members that want to vote I vote I I and it oh by voice we can tell it was 4-1. and it's a 4-1 vote. Now, we don't know whether Miss Benson voted this way, Miss Hutcherson voted this way. So, recording it digitally allows us to say yes, we do have a roll call vote on this item. Mr. Moore, do you have anything else to add from your statutory knowledge on that? I would say it's just it's um the statute
034that you referenced um the the process in which you adopt the the adjacent wise levy is currently baked into the budget form process and that is um what legal is guided um districts on and and continuing that the attorney general provides districts these forms. So these forms with the truth and taxation notice and are provided from the attorney general. So, this is the process that's currently in place um and meets statutory requirements. Um but I know like other districts are looking at how they can change that or modify that, but this is currently the practice and it meets um all legal compliance. So, yeah. Well, thank you. I that one was kind of in the news this past week uh in some local East Valley news too of debate and different opinions about whether this
035needs to be its own vote outside of voting for the budget. Um, can I ask a couple more questions or you want to give someone else a turn and come back to me? All right. Okay. Um, uh, addressing the carryover, is there a reason we couldn't have used the carryover money for these projects? Yeah. So we are constantly understanding our solveny as a district and there are a lot of states that have solveny metrics that say you have to have 9 months worth of solveny or 12 months worth of solveny. Arizona is not one of those states and I know that these dollar amounts seem like high dollar amounts for a lot of people. They're very hard to relate to, but $40 million of savings in an M budget that generally runs $450 million is
036actually a run rate if all of our revenues deplete. And I'll tell you why that's a concern right now. If all our revenues deplete, we'll only have 2 three months worth of ground to pay our expenses. So, there's two two things to consider here. one uh 26 million to go into 15 million one year when we ran out of bond dollars. That that that that's a concern. And please recall we get funded at about $750 per student in capital. Charter schools get funded at about $2,500 per student capital. They don't ask for bond dollars and they don't ask for bond dollars because they can't. So the general fund provides them all $2,500. Our stop gap is to get the $1,800 are overrides and bonds, right? That's how we get our dollars back. But without bond
037dollars, we've seen our uh capital budget for ongoing expenditures reduce by $11 million in one year. And now we're sitting at $15 million headed into this season. And we do anticipate that that $15 million will de diminish again this next year and our solveny will decrease. And the real big concern to loop back right now on why you need to be solvent. People say, "Well, when's your re when are your revenues ever going to just dry up, uh, well, right now that's kind of what we're experiencing." And please know, I'm not speaking politically here. What happens at the federal level happens at the f federal level, but the facts are we had $4.2 million dry up within a week this week. And that's through the title two, title three, title four, and 21st century learning
038grants. $4.2 $2 million dried up and we don't know if we're going to get it. We had another $21 million dry up via the state because now that the federal government's uh freezing some funds, the state's worried about whether they'll have the funds to pay their bills and we're getting information from the state saying $21 million of title one money for Mesa public schools will be on pause for right now. So, you start to go, okay, when do funds ever just dry up for public schools? We are living in that environment right now. And that so at $25 million with budget carry forward of $40 million approximately in M and $15 million in in uh in capital uh is not as much money when expenses start to dry up. And so where are you comfortable
039living in a in an environment that has probably a little more variance than we're used to? And the fact of the matter is you need carry forwards to function like that. Now I just lumped M and capital together. Please understand why I did that because state law in Arizona allows us to take capital and move it to M and it allows us to take M and move it to capital and so you kind of have to view the holistic picture of those two things creating your solveny for running your school system throughout the district. Uh if you have further questions I'm sure others can respond as well. Thank you for that. Uh out of these projects are there. So the board got we didn't get a full line item of the projects. We got a
040snapshot of some of them. And so it lists the schools. I I don't think this was made public. Are we able to make this public? Yeah. Our our our efforts are going to be to make this type of stuff public. Uh Mr. Moore is officially on his second second full day in service to me public schools and he has been communicated with with Mr. wing that we are going to stand up quarterly citizen budget committee meetings um so that the citizens can be part of the budget process. Those will be conducted on a certain day and every quarter we'll come in and we'll bring our adjacent ways line item by line item to that public citizens group and pick through what projects we're trying to accomplish in that given year. So then we can bring
041it back to the board and confidently said there's been eyes that have been on this line item by line item adjacent ways budget. And then we'll do the same thing for the bond process through these quarterly citizen budget committee meetings. And then once we pass a bond, the goal is going to be to keep those citizen budget committee meetings going so that we can take to the citizen budget committee, hey, here's how we're going to expend our we're going to sell $30 million of bond funds this year and here's how we're going to expend them this year. and that line item by line item for our expenditures in a given year when a bond passes and a bond uh selloff happens uh we'll go to that citizens budget committee. So the answer to your question
042is yes we are going to make these public in the citizen budget committee process. Yeah I I think that would be good and I know uh Mr. Moore just started with us and Dr. Stum's contract was effective July 1 so we have like some some new eyes and and new people and of course Mr. wings in a new position, too. So, I I I'm glad to hear you say that because I think, you know, transparency is very important to the board. It's important to the public. I was a little surprised at at this because I I wasn't expecting this to come. And I feel like that if I knew that we were looking for $5 million that that would have impacted my vote. And so part of me is leaning against this right now because
043if this was something that would have been communicated to me last year, I would have changed how I voted on some things like, you know, we had a marketing contract. There's there's been some things that have have come up that probably uh could have been postponed or wouldn't have needed to be done if I had the lens of well, we're going to try to come up with $5 million for these projects. So, I know that the the law allows you uh there's, you know, certain categories and it says these are the categories that fall under truth and taxation. You're allowed to then to put that to the vote to get the property tax money to fund those projects. So, I understand that the law is kind of set up that this is separate, but in
044researching the law, I think it's one of those things where it's there for unexpected challenges, but it seems like for districts, it's become standard now that we just rely on it. So, even though we can take money from property taxes, is that what should be doing? Is that what we should be doing? And so I think with with your committee and and moving forward, what I would like to to see is that kind of long-term plan so we know, you know, here's here's the budget for this year. What are the what are the future plans? What future projects are out there that we need to be thinking about too where we're trying to to get money for those those projects. Um, that being said, uh, you know, in this spreadsheet, because it was brought up
045tonight and it's been brought up in the meetings that sounds like superintendent, he's going to come to the board next year and ask for a bond. Is there's no legal reason there's no statutory reason that you could could not use a bond or it seems like you would be able Let me restart that that you could use the bond for adjacent waste projects. Is that is that correct? Um you you you certainly can use capital funds, right, to pay for capital things. Uh it is not a typical practice. So yes, you are correct. Um so you could use bonds bonds to pay for adjacent projects. That's correct. So are there any projects that are because I don't have a complete list and it's not addressed in what we are given. Are there any projects that
046are a immediate safety concern like a bus route pickup or roadways that need to be done this year because there's a a safety issue with it or are they projects that could be postponed another year uh to see how the bond vote goes? Uh there are immediate need projects. I Mr. Kramer when you look at the spreadsheet line item by line item has categorized things uh as uh level ones all the way to level fives and he considers the level ones more immediate need. I will tell you the immediate need items add to well over $5 million. The problem with delaying things at this point in time and it's one of the reasons I'll tell you something Mesa's done wonderfully with the 2018 bond. uh Mason the 2018 bond passed this bond and went to
047work right away selling that bond and getting work done. Scope creep is one thing and then inflation is another and I've seen districts that have set on $400 million bonds and then they sell the bonds at 200 let's say they sell $200 million worth of bonds and they wait on projects for four years and now half the work gets done. half the work gets done because they waited on doing the work for three, four, five years where if they would have just sold the bond, got the work done right away, they would have gotten a bigger scope of work completed because those dollars came in and you have to use those dollars right away so you don't get hit by the inflationary bug. So there's all those variables going into place. The answer is yes,
048we have them categorized by level, level one to level five and yes, we are worried about the fact that we'll have diminished scope uh if we wait too long on these projects. Do you piggybacking on that if you don't mind? Um do you have any examples of some of those level one uh requ um needs without having the spreadsheet up right now? We can get you those for sure. We can ask Mr. Kramer to get you those. And without having the spreadsheet up in front of me right now, uh I can't name them off the top of my head, but we certainly can provide those to the governing board. Sorry, which one was one or five? Which one's the highest? I'm pretty sure he has it categorized as level one being the highest needs and
049level five being the lowest. And once again, that's me projecting a little bit. It could be opposite. It could be level fives are the highest and level ones are the lowest. Can I also add that the very nature of the adjacent ways is a is a levy that has no debt or interest tied to it. The bond would have uh interest tied to it. So um and and the very purpose of adjacent waste is to provide enhanced public rightaways um that would improve not only our parents or and our families but also our community um by enhancing these rightways and it's very restrictive on how you can use these funds um their um oversight uh with the school facilities board um and so there there I don't think the district would ask I'm only two
050days in without having the need of these projects in place and that is the vehicle uh through the adopted budget process in which districts you utilize this um funding source. So yeah, I was just wondering about the timing uh on it because this wasn't on the we didn't have a truth in taxation last year in 2024. We had one in 2023, but 2024 I didn't see see one. Yeah. Um last year because so Mr. Mr. Moore just commented on these are kind of pay as you go funds and you want to use them in that given year because they don't have interest associated with them. So last year we had a budget balance carry forward in the fund fund account that was enough to accomplish the year's projects and so we didn't levy last year.
051This year the budget balance carry forward is not enough to accomplish this year's projects and so we're asking for a levy out of this. But uh what you don't want to do is carry larger reserves in adjacent ways uh and not accomplish the projects you're supposed to accomplish. I will tell you one other thing with bond dollars that's going through our mind. We have people in the construction uh side of our operations department and with bond dollars going away uh or having no more bond dollars, we we need to ensure that our projects uh keep pace with the the the employees that we have and we have needs in adjacent ways to accomplish these projects. And so since we aren't going to have bond projects going on, we also uh need to account for the
052fact that this is a probably a good time for the adjacent waste projects to go uh so that we can uh manage our own individual labor resources appropriately. So, uh, in looking at, you know, other districts, it has I I I think maybe, you know, and as we go forward with a budget committee and maybe it's a new mindset that we need to adopt is that, you know, this 5 million is is like 1% of the budget and that just because we can levy doesn't mean that we should always levy. Are there ways that we can avoid levy? This is a really old uh statute and I feel like maybe the spirit of it was probably along like unexpected problems that schools run into, not necessarily something that we rely on on annually. I I
053do think it's a a concern that, you know, we're constantly going back every year saying we need more property taxes and more property taxes. I I do like it better than bonds. Like I I think instead of bonds, it's like just just bill me for the amount I need to pay so I don't have to pay all that interest to some pension fund or something, right? Like why can't you just just say this is the amount we need and then bill it that way? That's that's we we save all that money interest, right? So, um, I mean, this is a little this is definitely a better way of doing it, but I I do feel like there's some concerns about, you know, our fiscal responsibility and as as board members, some of the things we
054vote on and that for me would have been different if I knew there was an opportunity to try to squeeze, you know, 5 million out of the budget. Um, the last question I have is on this uh desegregation tax in the in the budget. So, in some research on that, that's from 1990. Is there no end date on on that tax? Is it is a a tax in perpetuity? As long as the court order remains in effect, the answer to that is uh yes. Okay. Who who oversees that part of the tax? Is that um you said for the court order, is that something like whose court is that in? Like is it AG? Is it legislature? I I would have to look that up. We do have a courtappointed representative that monitors uh our
055program on a on a a systematic basis. So, uh I will tell you it does get monitored on how we spend the money. Okay. To that court appointee, right? Thank you. Thank you. Really quick on adjacent ways, like how much area do you know off the top of your head like that we're talking as far as across our district? Yeah, so Mr. Kramer's trying to finalize the data set so that we can be really in tune with the actual numbers in the district, but I think we're all pretty comfortable saying we have about 8.4 million square feet of space we maintain under roof and we have over 1,400 acres of land throughout the district that we maintain. And uh we have to uh honor the fact that that 8.4 million ft of space is going
056to slowly come down as we remove about 750,000 ft of portable space. uh uh but the acreage footprint which is mostly where adjacent ways comes in is going to remain at 1,400 square ft. We will be exploring with the governing board in the next election whether we want to take uh uh to the electorate uh the ability for us to sell off uh some of our parcels of land. That'll be something we consider over the course of this next year in in in phasing up for the November 26 election to see if we can reduce some of that square footage footprint. Uh, but for right now it's over,400 square feet of space or acres of land. Thank you. I believe Miss Benson has a question. Yes. Can you hear me? Yes. Talk really loud. It's
057kind of faint. Okay. What? Talk really loud. Is that what you said? Yep. Now we can hear you. That's good. Okay. So, this may have already been answered, but I'm not positive because I I'm not totally understanding uh the entire audio. But with adjacent ways, um if the board were to not levy or vote to not levy the 5 million for adjacent ways, is there another entity that would take up that uh funding the things that need to be fixed that are adjacent to our schools? The answer is no. What? No. The answer to that is no. Like I think you're probably thinking like building renewal grants through the SFOB. They're going to largely not, you know, the state has $200 million in this year's budget for building renewal grants. And we were already informed
058by the SFOB that that whole $200 million has already been applied for. And those SFOB BRG grants, building renewal grants are primarily for emergency situations throughout schools. So the answer the answer is no. There's not another entity that would be able to take on the adjacent ways budget. Okay. I'm sorry. I did not understand what you just said. Yeah. So, my my audio is not being clear. Was that a yes or a no? Just do a yes or a no. Is there another entity that would No. Pick up the slack or no? No. No. Okay. Thank you, Cameo. All right. So um then but those are areas around like their uh leadups to into schools um that need to be fixed and maintained. Correct. Correct. Okay. Thank you Cameo. And then um in uh I
059I know you answered the question that Mr. Steel had earlier regarding um the uh difference in unrestricted capital and why it looks like there's a greater amount for an admin. Um so I'm not going to ask that again. The uh and it's simply a a a if I understood correctly, it is simply a um a uh the way that it's put into the budget now. Correct. Correct. Thank you, Cameo. You're such a good transcriber. Um, all right. So, then the last question I have, well, actually, I have two. Uh, I have one question and a comment. So, um, Dr. Storm, I know you mentioned the um possible impacts on the district regarding the federal cuts that are um, currently frozen, the federal funds that are currently frozen. Are we going to be able to make
060up the the loss of those through M and our carry forward? At this point in time, we are planning for how to absorb those expenses in case this freeze becomes something that's permanent. Uh and I will tell you that uh we are learning more information next week in a July 15th meeting with the AD on what what their plan is and plan of attack. Okay. Uh and finally, please remember the employees that are in these grant funds because most of this is employees. 60 80% of the funds that we expend out of these grants are spent on people depending on the grant. Uh they have contracts with the district and those contracts we have to honor. We've signed contracts and so we're kind of in a position where if the freeze continues, we will be
061in a budgetary position where we have to find other sources of money. It presents a really unique problem, by the way, because once you cover things with local funds, there's often when with a lot of these grants supplement versus supply causes, right, clauses that require you to not put them back into federal funds once you cover them with local funds. So, there's a whole dynamic with that that occurs in this process as well, and it's going to be an interesting next couple weeks. Thank you, Mrs. Vincent, do you have any other questions? One more comment. So on our um M and professional development, the funds that we speak or that we spend on that um can you explain and share with us what kind of oversight we have in approving professional development? Uh I I
062know that professional development um differs based on um site and based on uh potential need. But to make sure that we are having professional development that pushes forward academic results rather than anything else. That's really that's really a Dr. Eastless question. Can you can you tell me can you share with us the oversight that the district has for that? Yeah, that's that's really Dr. East's clans. I will tell you that Dr. Elesss, uh, Miss Mesa, Miss Man, Miss Dr. Malerwine have required this year, uh, professional learning plans out of a lot of our schools. So, Dr. Eless. Yes, President Davis, Member Benson, we have, um, many procedures in place for the oversight of professional learning. Um, and depending on funding sources, there are also different requirements. So, for example, if title one funds are being
063used um to purchase professional learning um whether that's to pay stipens or substitutes or um consultants, that is overseen not only by the site administrator, but it's also overseen from um our director of federal programs, Amy Deator, as well as myself and our area superintendent who supervise those schools. Um for general maintenance and operations professional learning that comes out of site budgets, those again would be overseen by principles and then their their supervisors. But professional learning is always aligned to their school um integrated action plan and from that um continuous improvement process, the root cause analysis and comprehensive needs assessment. Each school has a professional learning plan and our superintendency um on the academic side looks over those and approves those and everything is aligned. Okay. Thank you Dr. Elois. And I just want to
064make sure that when we have professional learning that um we are because we are now required to sign our um at a station that no um DEI elements are within the district. I want to make sure that we're covering our bases on that. Yes, we are in alignment with all state legislation and governing board policies. Thank you. That's all I have. Thank you, Mrs. Hutchinson. I I really appreciate the discussion and I appreciate the questions and the u responses from um our administration. Um, I want to remind folks that that carry forward. Um, it has been um I call it the whatif. What if and we can't always anticipate what's going to happen. And when we have $4.2 million in federal funds dry up, that's a whatif. carry forward means that we are able to
065maintain services and academic services for kids and we do that through our people. I I really want to make sure that people know that when we try to squeeze a budget, Mr. Thompson, our former business officer, has mentioned that sometimes upwards of 90% of our budget is people and and we can squeeze only so much. And our people got got cut this year by the hundreds. And our carry forward allows us to make sure that the services that we provide our kids and they are academic services are maintained throughout the school year. Um a carry forward in 2024 we had enough carry forward and we didn't levy an adjacent ways tax. We did what our citizens have asked us to do. But at this time when we've when we're in a precarious situation when we
066we don't know the whatifs and our carry forward is has has dropped a bit because we've had to assume some of the expenses for cuts that have occurred and yet we still have needs. Um I think that the assessment is appropriate particularly when so many of the categories and our overall tax rate is going down. um adjacent ways. In my experience on the board, it it means that MPS is a good neighbor that when we have schools and so many of our schools are on major thorough affairs that access to schools are safe and that the public when they are on streets and they are trying to get to school or our parents or our kids are getting to school that they have a safe way to do it. Um I know that adjacent ways
067is not taken um to just do some type of project. It is a serious project. It provides local control. It allows us to be a good neighbor um in our city and it's as Mr. Moore said, it is administered by the school facilities board. So I I I believe that our administration has taken a look at this very seriously and and that carry forward could not be used this year. We have to in um ask for attacks here and and frankly it's being a good neighbor. it's being in local control of our situations that are more than 80 campuses um impact our community. Um and I would really urge my board members to consider the situation as explained by administration that we currently are in. Thank you, Mrs. Chaffy. Yeah, Dr. Stum or Mr. more.
068Sometimes we get into these numbers and it can feel really complicated. So, I want you to explain it to me like I'm in seventh grade. If I own a house with a market value of about $250,000, how much would I pay in taxes that support Mesa Public Schools, including the levy for adjacent ways, and how is that different from last year? Okay, this is going to be a rough approximation just so if we have fact checkers out there. So assessed valuation, market value are not the same thing. And it is very possible that a $250,000 market value home could be closer to $100,000 of assessed valuation. So the answer to that is the $652 that you see uh for a $250,000 market home, which may be closer to $100,000 assessed valuation home would roll in
069at $611 this year. Your tax amount would be $42 less. So just because your market value of your home is 600,000 doesn't mean that's what you pay taxes on. You pay taxes on the assessed valuation and it's typically a lot less than the market value. So please understand that. So the answer is $42 less than the amount for that market value $250,000. And if your assessed valuation is a little higher, right, the differential will be a little bit more than $42 less. It'll be towards that side. Now, one clarifying factor, state law uh caps the increase in assessed valuation on a home at 5%. Very purposefully. They don't want taxes to just go through the roof because assessed valuations go through the roof. But if you make a change to your property by adding like
070an 1100 foot mother-in-law do doicile and uh all of a sudden you've added property value to your property that valuation could grow by more than 5%. So, this is why we're super cautious in this world to guarantee how your tax rates going to fluctuate because we don't know what happens on every individual property across $4.2 billion of assessed valuation. But in general, you will see on that $250,000 market home taxes go down, the tax amount go down. I don't know if that counts as a seventh grade level, but I I will take it. I'll take it. Um, I appreciate the express support of a bond as well as Dr. Strong's explanation of our current fiscal situation. I can see that without a bond to support our buildings and our maintenance, our operations budget could be
071significantly impacted. I also want to make sure that we keep the tax rate as level as possible because I think that that is predictable for our community members. And so I appreciate that we are at a historically low point even with this levy tax. um we are at a historically low point in Mesa taxes and I want to make sure that in the in the chance that we pass a bond that we won't see a huge spike. So, as a governing board member, I'm committed to trying to keep that tax rate as predictable as possible for our community members because I think that's good for Mesa. It allows us to invest in our schools while making sure that we are keeping that burden as fiscally responsible as possible. As federal and state funding is more
072unpredictable than in the past, I do feel like this is a conservative approach in our budgetary decisions. Um, as a district, how are we prioritizing what's uh what we need to have versus what is nice to have. Um if through a very conscious budgetary process that involves meeting with all cash fund managers and grant fund managers throughout the whole entire district so that we can understand the whole comprehensive picture of all funds across all fund and grant managers and help them realize that we have certain priorities in this district. right now. One of the most difficult things we know in Mesa public schools that to have great outcomes for kids, you need great teachers. And to have great teachers, you have to have really solid compensation and benefit structures. Mesa has been blessed over the
073last 20 years, 30 years to have boards that support that. It's going to be, I'm just going to be frankly upfront with you, in a declining enrollment school district that is dealing with no bond right now, it's going to get tougher and tougher to be competitive on the compensation and benefit side of things. This year, the our employees and our associations through the meet and confer process were actually very understanding of our budgetary position, and as a result, they approved or they worked together for the board to approve a one-time stipen, not an ongoing raise. But eventually, in order to attract the best teachers in Ama public schools, we're going to need to make sure that we prioritize the needs versus the wants. And the needs in this district are to make sure we continue
074to stay staffed with the best possible teachers, which means we continue to emphasize the compensation and benefits package. Uh on the M side of things, on the capital side of things, I will tell you that that's part of the citizen budget process to make sure that hey, they're always taking needs versus wants into considerations as they review line item by line item. And I know that'll be new, but it's something Mr. Moore is prepared to work through along with Mr. Wing so we can get feedback from the citizens on what our needs versus our wants are. And then finally, I will tell you I really have I 15 years in, I have difficulty with that conversation. Uh, I know that there's some people that will take wants and prioritize them over needs even in the
075state of Arizona, but I think in the state of Arizona it happens less because we are the 49th funded state in the nation. So most districts ask for what they need because of the fact that we're in a limited funding state. Um, and so you don't see a lot of districts doing a lot of frivolous things just for the wants, right? you don't see the big massive $300 million complexes for athletics going up if you've ever been in Texas uh going up because we just don't have the ability a to plan for that in our general budget nor go out to voters and ask for that as a want in the district. So uh I do struggle with that question because a lot of what we deal with is being you know in a chronically
076underfunded state for for public education. Any other questions, board members? Yeah, I have a couple more questions. Um, so in this work worksheet with the projects, uh, so it doesn't it's it's hard to doesn't really say like what's critical. I mean, you have a numbering system, but it mentions crack, seal, and recote, pave asphalt, and concrete. So, that's about all I have. I uh from past meetings know that some of the adjacent ways are things like the the bus pickup lane. Um, is there a way for this vote to get delayed one more meeting so that we can get more information about these projects to help determine if they're critical or not? If they're related by critical, I mean related to safety needs like crack and resale the street. Maybe that isn't that may not
077really that doesn't have anything to do with safety or necessarily what's what's critical. Uh, I've never in 15 years of district office had a board vote on budget go beyond the statutory schedule. Well, no, I should not have used the word statutory there. Beyond the auditor general's suggested schedule for approving vote, Mr. Moore, do you know if that's in statute because July 15th is district must adopt a budget prior to July 15th. Yeah. And then our next meeting is not till the 22nd. Okay, that answers that. Um, so you know, a lot of people are looking at the budget and costs in general like are really high and we've had huge inflation and wages haven't matched those levels of inflation. So I'm sensitive to uh that feeling that we're just continue to get nickel and
078dime not not nec not from the district but just in general, right? Because costs have continued to go up without wages going up. But education uh going back to like 2008, I I went to a training with uh and Ken Bennett was presenting. He was the Senate President and he said that we had the same amount of kids in Arizona back then as we do today. So it's about one 1.1 million kids in Arizona. So there hasn't been an increase in kids, but the amount that we've spent on education has doubled. So we have twice the budget with the same amount of kids. So it makes you wonder, well, how did we get anything done back then? But then, of course, back then our proficiency scores were much higher. So just looking at that really
079basic data, it kind of paints a picture that it seems like we were doing a better job back in in uh 2008 in in education. And this isn't specific to Mesa, but we have twice the budget and the same amount of kids. And that's where I feel like what districts need to be focused on going forward is is having that fiscal discipline where we're really looking at the the critical needs of the district and funding those things first. This past year, a lot of money was spent um leading up to the changes in our high schools. There's been a lot of money spent on travel. I went to multiple presentations where teachers and principles said that they went all over the country. um you know we had a new marketing firm and you know new
080marketing money and that's the kind of stuff where if we have critical safety projects those really should be funded first. These other things kind of take they take away from that and it takes away from the seriousness of the issues when so much has been spent on things that are that are outside of of the needs of the district. Um and then my my question is you know Dr. You talked about the difference with charter schools, what they get from the general fund versus the public schools, but we get over $7,000 per student. So, we do get a lot more money in general than the the charter schools get. So, I know you said out of the general fund, but but on the number of students versus how much we have in the budget, it's
081over 7,000. I think it's when you look at the total, it's like $14,000 a student. So, so when you're looking at numbers produced by the AG or by even the NCES, National Center for Education Statistics, the spend per student accounts for all funds that come into the district. And so, yeah, that does account for bonds and overrides and all those things. The the comment that I'm making is if bonds and overrides dry up because we can't garner enough support from our uh local electorate, then you'll quickly see our spending be beneath charter schools. And when you see us beneath charter schools, the natural next question for me becomes, hey, we'd like to be funded on the state general fund just like charter schools are. And we've in fact ran bills with the legislature suggesting that
082like we'll never bond an override again if we can just hop on to uh uh this the state funding formula for charter schools because that's guaranteed money, right? That's guaranteed don't have to go out for a vote and in comes the money. So, uh, just so we know, yes, I understand the numbers once you account for bond and override, suggests that public schools get more dollars per student, but accounting for the fact that those two variables, bonds and overrides, are not necessarily guarantees for public school, you you could quickly see that go underneath if they can. And that's what rural school districts struggle with a lot because rurals struggle passing bonds and overrides. And now they're underfunded in comparison to the charter schools. [Music] Okay. Thank you so much. Any other questions? All right. I
083appreciate the discussion tonight. Um, seeing no other questions, Miss Kirby, we please take our vote. With a vote of 41, we have approved the proposed 202526 budget. Do I have a motion to approve a $200,000 increase for project lead the way? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. Any discussion? All I'll all I would like to ask the question on um it looks like this funding for this is coming out of M. Um and the question in the public comment time was asked about why is that not coming out of CTE funds. Is there any explanation regarding that? Yeah, there's there's two things I need to address here. One of which just hit me on the dis here. uh there's a discrepancy between uh the memo and what's in the board agenda.
084One of which says CTE funds and one of which says M funds and so we will dig into that and make sure it's funded out of the place it's always been funded out of. Does that make sense to you? So, uh and we'll circle back with the board and board status to tell you how it was funded last year and how it's going to fund this year. But I think the more relevant question right now uh on on that may center on the fact that uh as we continue to live into a district that's declining in enrollment a little bit with budgetary kind of constraints happening, we're going to need to work with all of our fund managers and grant managers to help them understand that uh we at all turns the corner are going
085to try to protect our M pot because our M pot of money is what pays for the vast majority of our employees. And that's going to that's going to mean that we're not living and most of our fund managers and grant managers understand this. That's going to mean that we're not living like we were from 2016 to 20 when Ducy uh helped get past the 20 by 2020 uh law to increase uh uh our proposition to increase teacher pay. And we're not going to be able to live like we were during ESSER funds to increase uh things through ESSER funds and federal monies that came in. And that means that we're going to probably question at every turn of the corner whether M needs to be paying for stuff or not because we've got to
086protect M to offer the highest and most competitive compensation and benefits packages. It'll be a little adjustment for Mesa Public Schools. Uh but first thing we're going to do discovery on the discrepancy between the two and we will pay for it in the same way that we paid for it last year. Second thing is uh we need to ensure that our fund managers and grant managers continue to realize that protection of M right now in our current budgetary system is going to be of utmost importance from Mr. Moore, Mr. Wing and myself. Thank you. I just agree. I think right now we have to be so protective of our M&L fund and so whatever we can do to protect that we'd appreciate. Uh any other questions? Board members. Um so so we're not sure how
087it was paid for last year yet. We're we're actually so here's why I'm being cautious. Uh in board planning uh I mentioned to individual board members and uh the board planning president that we thought it was paid for out of M because that's what one document said. I'm getting information now that it's likely CTE. I would probably guess that it's more likely CTE because most of the time and I said this in board planning most of the time these are paid for out of CTE. But I don't want to publicly go on record until I see it in visions with my own two eyes because we have a discrepancy issue right now. Does that make sense to you? So So if this passes tonight, we'll be looking at the CTE budget to pay for out
088of CTE. Yeah, we're I'm highly likely I'm highly likely confident that this is coming out of CTE. And so that would mean that if it passes tonight, we will continue to pay this out of CTE like we did in prior years. Okay. Um, and just a comment too on on being competitive and and I agree with you. I mean, we want to have the best teachers and staff and I think uh the district's done a really good job at increasing pay over over the years and uh even increasing the starting pay for teachers. But I also think that part of that is going to be the working environment of the job. And I do feel that with our new leadership that we will be able to have a trickle down effect where if we have
089strong leadership that that will fall over into the classrooms where I think our teachers will have a a better experience with the district and and will want to stay because we, you know, we talk about teacher money, the teacher pay a lot, but I I know teachers that have have left jobs and taken pay cuts because they left the working conditions of the job. And so a a big part of it is isn't just pay, but having that job satisfaction. And so I do have high hopes with our our leadership and the increased uh focus on on accountability and classroom performance that I think we will be able to see that we can get and retain those those good teachers. Thank you. Um I'd like to piggy back on your comments. I couldn't agree with
090you more. Um but what we also have to make sure is that our our teachers have the tools to do the job that you know they got the resources and and um and that is absolutely essential that they feel supported not just um with their own finances which are extremely important. They've got families to support. They are members of our community. They are they are the backbone of our community. But um but they've got to feel supported um professionally. they've got to feel supported um to grow as professionals, but also that they have the materials and that they have the facilities to be able to teach. And that's I think that's part of the working environment that board member Walden was also talking about. Member President Davis, if I could for a second, this is
091one of the reasons you hire uh talented people with a lot of skills already developed. Um Mr. or more. Did you happen to look that up in visions? Yeah, President Davis, member Walt, uh project lead the way was paid for from CTE funds, both uh the 596 and then uh 260, which is a federal Perkins grant, which is also related to CTE. So, um I may be new, but I do know my way around the accounting software. So, thank you. You've you've passed your test tonight. Good job. Welcome. Just kidding. Any other questions? No, I'm just I'm just glad a member of the public brought it up. I think it's great when um the public can help hold us accountable. Agreed. All right. Thank you. Um seeing no other question. Um so does Project Lead
092the Way support solely CTE? Um, member Benson, Project Lead the Way is CTE AD approved curriculum and it is also being used now in themies um as a supplemental resource to some of the the curricular resources for our academy courses that align with some of the same objectives such as STEM and um engineering. Okay. So it it's good that it's being paid for through CTE funding if that's primarily who benefits, right? Y absolutely. It protects our maintenance and operations funding. Thank you. Yep. Thank you. Any other questions? Seeing none, Miss Kirby, will you please take our vote? With a vote of five years, you've approved the $200,000 increase for Project Lead the Way. Next, do I have a motion to approve a contract increase of $250,000 for Tyler Technologies? So moved. Do I have a
093second? I'll second. Thank you. Any discussion? Yeah. Can we get a um relatively quick explanation as to what the um ERP pro does, why it's important, and um what would happen if we did not approve this? Yeah, President Davis, member Benson, this is the main accounting software for the district and this is prudent. I mean, this is imperative to how the district operates on a daily basis with both improving uh warrants for vendors and payroll. Mr. Moore, can you provide a little cl a little clarification about the move to cloud and why we're needing to spend some money on this? Yeah. So, President Davis, member chief, uh this is a initiative that is being um pushed down from Tyler Technologies, the vendor, not not me. Um uh and so, uh they are moving to cloud
094much like a lot of software packages. Um it's to provide um a little more ease of use um and uh a little more safety with um having a lot of our financial information on there, personal information. Um the cloud software is also a safer uh platform for the district to be on. Um, but this is initially being put on by the vendor. Uh, and with this software being in use, I think in Mesa for several years and around the state as the main financial accounting software for schools, uh, we're kind of backed into a corner a little bit. Um, and kind of need to follow along with with how they're, uh, pushing us to the cloud. So, member Chaffy, uh, we'll get, uh, thank you, Mr. Mo, that was wonderful. Uh, one of my downfalls
095in these first two days is we did did ask last week of Mr. uh, Sanders, CTO, uh, for a little bit of the business analysis and I should have shared that with Tyler yesterday. That's my fault, Tyler. So, just a few other things. Uh, we have to maintain right now for the desktop version all our own hardware and that's going to sunset in 2027. In other words, we'll need to replenish the hardware. That's about $75,000 to replenish the hardware. We have to have Microsoft licenses for those boxes, uh, those blades, those servers, and for their operating system, and that's about $25,000 annually. My whole point being is when you move to the cloud, there are cost offsets, uh, of moving to the cloud, and I should have shared this document with Tyler yesterday so that
096he could have this information. We asked for it last week from Mr. Sanders, so my apologies. Thank you. Any other questions? Seeing none, Miss Kirby, will you please take our vote? With a vote of five years, you've approved a contract increase of $250,000 for Tyler Technologies. For this next item, um, do I have a nomination or volunteer to be the delegate or alternate board member for the delegate conference on September 6, 2025? May we nominate? Yes. Oh, well, I would like to nominate our board president, Courtney Davis, uh, to be our delegate. Thank you. Do I need an explanation or we just go with You're doing a great job? You're kind. I think that's fine. Any um other nominations? Do we need a delegate and an alternate? We need an alternate. I'd like to nominate
097Marcy Hutchinson as the alternate. I plan on attending the conference, so I'd be happy to be the alternative if President Davis could not attend. Any other comments? Okay. So, do I have a motion to select Courtney Davis as a delegate and Marcy Hutchinson as alternate for the 2025 Arizona School Boards Association Delegate Assembly to be held September 6, 2025? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Any other discussion? I appreciate the nomination. Thank you. Um, seeing no other discussion, Miss Kirby, will you please take our vote? With a vote of five days, you've approved Courtney Davis as a delegate and Marcy Hudchson as alternate for the 2025 Arizona School Boards Association Delegate Assembly to be held September 6, 2025. All right, moving out of action items into our discussion tonight, um Dr. Stum will
098present on progress monitoring goals towards the board's goals. So, I'll turn the time to you. Madame, members of the board, we will try to move through this in a diligent manner. Uh first of all, although not finalized, it'll get finalized in October, the four-year graduation rate for Mesa Public Schools is right now trending towards 84.37%, up approximately two uh 2.6% from the prior year. Uh we just set superintendency goals. We do need to come back to the governing board, by the way, to set governing board goals. Uh and we do have a goal that in the next two years, Mesa Public Schools will have a 90% graduation rate with 5% increases over the next couple of years. um we are seeing good impact from from several different uh uh mech mechanisms throughout the district and
099improving this graduation rate and we're so appreciative to high school principles and to be honest with you getting kids graduated is really a pre-K12 experience. So it's all principles and all teachers and staff throughout the district who are helping us keep students engaged in the process so they can get that diploma from Mesa Public Schools. In ELA, uh we saw 40% of our schools increase uh their proficiency by 2% this last year. Uh that is an increase from 33% in the prior year. Overall, 56% of our schools had proficiency increases this last year. In mathematics, we saw large increases this year. We had 51% of our schools experience at least a 2% increase in proficiency and 13% of our schools had an increase in proficiency for 64% of our schools having uh some sort of
100increase in proficiency this last year. Both those numbers are trending better than they were in prior years. And uh we are appreciative to the school improvement process to help ensure our principles uh maintain their uh RCA root cause analysis and their CNAs, their comprehensive needs analysis for how to get standardsbased instruction happening on every campus no matter the modality of delivery. in goal uh in in in terms of our goal of at least 20% of our students who did not demonstrate proficiency increasing their proficiency level by at least one band. So this would be a minimally proficient kid becoming partially proficient, a partially proficient kid becoming proficient. Uh so uh we saw 24% of our kids this last year in ELA increase their proficiency band by at least 1%. The district average in prior years
101this has been set on district average or historical data. Uh and the district average is 20%. This year in the superintendency goals we're bumping that to 25% of our kids uh increasing proficiency by at least one band. And in math we did achieve the goal this year with 20% of our kids increasing their proficiency band by at least one band this last year. So our kids that are below proficiency uh are are showing increases better than they than we did in the prior year. Um, our pass rates in ELA, we are at this year a three-year high. Uh, we had a 37.6% proficiency across all standardized exams. So, what this does, it combines your uh doubleASSA scores, which is your state standardized exam for grades 3 through 8. Your ACT Aspire scores, which is your
102state standardized exam for 9th grade, your ACT scores, which is your state standardized exam for 11th grade. It combines them all and says how many kids passed their test over how many kids uh took the test. Please remember passing the test in the state of Arizona is not aligned with being literate. Passing the test in the state of Arizona is aligned with being college ready for your for your first year college class. Um so the the kind of literacy level the literate level is called move on when reading and that bar is really a lot lower than the pass bar in the state of Arizona. And so we we know that on the mower side of things about 95% of our kids are above the mower bar, above the literate bar. Um and we have
103to work with about 5% of our students on either retention in third grade or improving their outcomes in fourth grade through our tier 2 and tier three intervention processes. So uh we did have an increase of 7% this last year in proficiency and we did have an increase in math of.5% and we still have some work to do on both those categories in future years. and the request from the governing board and my goals uh has been a 5% increase at school levels and we hope that enough schools achieve that 5% increase that it translates to 5% district increase as well. CCRI uh we don't even submit our CCRI data until July 31st. So we're organizing that data right now and so we'll come back to you in September and talk to you about CCRI.
104There are good indicators that we're going to have a good year with CCRI. Um but uh we just are not at a point where we can confidently speak on CCRI. And in service learning hours, we measure this in synergy. We've went from 180,000 uh hours to 221,000 hours. And 100% of our schools met our service learning goal. And this is important uh because uh our very promise says to get kids ready for college, get kids ready for career. And by the way, we know that getting kids ready for college and career are often the same type of metrics. But then the third prong's like super important to our community to Mesa public schools and that is getting kids ready for community. Are you going to be a community contributor? And so this is a measurement
105that we put in place for kids being ready for community and being a community contributor. That is it. I hope I flew. And any questions from the governing board? Thank you Dr. Stum and those involved putting that together. Board members, any questions? the CC. That's is that the goal that we added last year? That's the newer goal. Is that right? That is the newer goal. It's sorry and I need to continue to work on spelling out acronyms. That's the college and career readiness index. And uh yeah, it is something that's probably really aligned to our portrait of a graduate because it's so comprehensive. It's measuring kids whether they get certifications, work-based learning, yeah, whether they pass the ACT test, uh yeah, whether they pass AP exams as well. But there's so many factors in that
106CCRI metric that it's probably uh our most aligned component to portrait of the graduate. Yeah, I remember that last year because I wasn't sure that we needed to add it because we had a discussion that we were going to keep the goals the same and then the next week the next meeting we had come back and we had added this goal and I wasn't sure about it. But as I've learned more about it and looked at where our high schools are, it does it it makes a lot of sense that this goal is in there. I think actually uh our board president that was something that you had brought up to add and it it uh that's why I wanted to make sure I had the acronym right because I remember the discussion very well
107because it was newer. Um but it's it's it is what you said a good indicator of our of our goals of what we want out of our kids. So, I would think that um you know, I think we're going to and I'm not going to speak for the board, but would like to see the continued academic proficiency goals in there, the graduation goals, and then keeping keeping this this one too once we once we get the data, but I feel like um it's it's going to be a good one to keep. Thank you. Any other discussion? Yeah, I'd like to um um uh really applaud the efforts of our high school communities that 100% um of our high schools met the service learning goal and and I think by setting that goal um it became
108a a challenge and I know that um there are certain campuses and Mesa High comes to mind that it's a part of their culture. services a part of the culture and and it's um it's very important that our students are ready to serve our community and I and I and I really want to applaud the high schools for for making that an element of being a graduate of Mesa Public Schools. Um I'd also like to um applaud all of our schools in in not ensuring but making possible a a better opportunity for kids to graduate. The graduation rate has been has been increasing every single year. Um this is extremely important not only to our community but but to individuals so that they are able to seize opportunities that they are afforded in their lives.
109It it's it's the pursuit of happiness and having a a high school graduation um completion um is the first step in making sure that you're ready to seize opportunities. Um, I I also want to applaud the efforts and but I would like to learn more about those school improvement efforts that I know our um our area superintendent have have have um implemented with various school communities um because the data is is is is good. I mean it's it's great to see it going going in a positive direction but the most important aspect of data is the why. We need to know the story behind the data and and I am really looking forward to um perhaps changing board goals that now align with our superintendent goals where individual schools are meeting proficiency goals because I
110believe it will be easier to tell the stories of what each individual school is doing to meet the needs of their kids and and and and learning from each other how we can be better preparing kids for that graduation. Um I I really look forward to that that story of the resources, the preparation, the rigor in instruction. We keep hearing about first and second tier instru, but but what are the schools doing? That is really what we need to know so that we know what to support and what to maybe let go if it's not working. Um so that we are supporting our teachers the best way we can and so that staff also knows how they can support instruction. Um uh I'm I'm very encouraged by this data, but I'm also encouraged that we're
111going to to change the way in which we can hold um our communities accountable and making sure that kids are able to seize opportunities later in life. Thank you. Any other discussion? Yeah, Dr. strong. Well, first let's see, Madame President, sorry, board member Hutchinson, thank you. I appreciate that. And I I think that this these goals show a lot of of good news. It shows some good progress and it shows some things that are working. And I would love to see that kind of breakdown on our outliers on schools and and what's working well. Dr. Stum, in looking at this, what do you feel is not working well when you look at these numbers? This is this is the age-old how to teach math uh question which is it's often more important to tell kids
112what doesn't work in a situation than it is to tell them how to do a problem. So I enjoy the question. Uh I I will tell you one of the most difficult things in public education right now is trying to fit everything into uh an 8 hour sorry it's not even eight for us it's a six-hour day and not having what uh the principal uh Robson Robson Robson I always say that backwards the principal Robson would say a zoom focus that's the term she uses is a zoom focus on what we need to accomplish because we're trying to accomplish too many things. And I think sometimes in public schools, we need to understand that there's standards that the state sets and we're meant to at a lot of levels accomplish those standards, those components. And
113that's what we have to dial in our focus on. And that the hard part about that narrative becomes that doesn't mean we're not centered on the whole child, right? It doesn't mean that we don't have value in understanding where a child's at on any given day to help them engage in the learning process. But it does mean that we need to make sure our time is structured in such a manner where we can really zoom focus in on what the outcomes of the state's expectations are, which are these kids can read, write, and be numerate when they get to the third grade level, to the eighth grade level, and then on to the high school level. And so I think one of the things I'll tell you doesn't work is focusing on too much throughout
114an organization. And you need to really help principles dial in their focus and say, "Here's what we're focused on." You can get there in a variety of different ways. You can get there in a Franklin model. You can get there in a teaming fashion. You can get there in a variety of different ways. But here are the outcomes we're focused on. And these are really important for our school district. So what doesn't work is too much of variance in focus. Yeah. To piggyback on that, how does that apply to tier one instruction and and how does that relate? Yeah. Uh and Dr. They're useless. I am Listen, uh, one thing I learned in getting my doctor degree is how little I really know. And you you read these experts that focus in on this really
115thin slice of knowledge and they really know that thin slice of knowledge super well, right? They know it really well. And so as I read more and more experts, more and more research articles on certain concepts that I was studying in the doctoral process and the dissertation process, I really learned like maybe part of this whole process is understanding that, you know, I don't know as much as I think I know and I need to constantly be a learner. So I'm going to respond my way. And if Dr. E is you want to add anything that from your perspective or any of the area superintendents want to add anything from their perspective, I will tell you how's that d how's that come back to t tier one instruction? I know what doesn't work is constantly
116approaching kids from a deficit model. And that is if if we're constantly trying with a fourth grader to backfill skills that are at a kindergarten level, then when they get to fifth grade, they're just going to be ready for first grade work. And when they get to sixth grade, they're just going to be ready for second grade work. And I know this is super difficult to do. It is an art form. And I taught for 13 years, and I never mastered it. I need everyone to hear this. I never mastered it, but I was trying to constantly improve my practice to get better at it. How do I focus on the concepts that I needed to teach in that class that I needed to teach and backfill skills all at the same time so that
117the kids had a 100% guarantee they had access to tier one content on grade level or accelerated and their tier 2 and tier three time didn't distract from them getting access to ongrade level instruction. So, in terms of tier one, I know what doesn't work, and that's constantly backfilling skills that are below grade level. We need to remediate through acceleration by keeping kids on pace and moving them forward as opposed to constantly focusing on a deficit model of, oh, this kid doesn't have this skill, so let's spend two hours working on this skill over here. And I know educators out there, I know that's difficult. Please hear me. That's one of the most difficult things about learning in the learning space is to accomplish that task. So, please hear my empathy and my voice as
118I say that I I think that's something that's really tough to do. Dr. Eless. Yes, Madam President. Member Tiffy, I also 100% agree with that. I also think um specifically at the elementary level where they have multiple preps to teach for multiple content areas and going back to the instructional time and the amount of focus that needs to be spent on reading, writing and math specifically um while they have all these other things that um they have to do. So for example, the recess legislation and what that looks like in a master schedule during the day sometimes will interrupt that tier one instruction. And so we're working with our leaders on really um in the in the guardrails that they have based on our legislation and and the requirements of the standards, how do they
119best utilize that time? And then coupled with that, what is the content knowledge that they need? Um, we know many of our preparation programs touch on multiple areas, but do they truly understand um how mathematics for example progresses from that vertical articulation from K through 12 and and the skills um and the concepts that build upon each other and then like what Dr. STM said um not going backwards, but how do we help them to differentiate which is super difficult and challenging um with 20 to 30 different you know levels of learning and really needing to keep pace and keep um the rigor at the at the academic standard level. And so all of those things play in into um how do we ensure that we're meeting those um requirements, aligning the instruction to the
120standards, and then really putting in the time to the planning um and and planning for instruction and how to best utilize the time that they do have and then maximize that instructional time. Um, so for example, when we're thinking about those foundational literacy and numeracy skills, where do our teachers strengths lie and how do we continue to build upon those strengths so that by the end of third grade, we've got kiddos exactly where they need to be to move forward. And then continuing that along the way as as the content gets more rigorous and um really making sure that our teachers are prepared and have that professional learning that we talked about earlier that is aligned to their strengths and their needs just like we expect to do for our students. I have just one
121other question. Dr. Melerine, as you look at those increases in graduation rates, what do you think has contributed to that and what is the goal moving forward to really move the needle on that as we set those goals for the next few years? or President Davis um member Chaffy. So this has been a process that has it was started four years ago when we when we came together um our secondary or speaking specifically our high school leaders coming together as a team and working together to build a team. So everybody's expertise was able to be shared within a room. So the sheer the the um efficacy of the room increased by everybody sharing their knowledge. So you had you had things going on at Mesa High that were working for Mesa High but weren't necessarily
122going on at Westwood. And they would share that those ideas and they would curate similar environments that they would see working at each other's campuses. That was that's one aspect. It's the it's basically you know uh just creating a team where everybody felt comfortable to to share and and grow and learn from each other. The second is there's been a very strategic approach uh to looking at when kids leave, how are we finding where they're going and how are we clearing them out of our system. A lot of people that talk about some of our our data don't they do not realize that if a kid is enrolled in Mesa public schools 10 days into her freshman year and disappears they still count against our graduation rate. When you look at our perseverance rate, Mesa
123public schools are in the high 90s. When you I talked to a principal from Red Mountain, he couldn't find three kids that didn't graduate from senior year. So what we have done is we've looked at that we've created very intentional systems to put in place to find where kids go and clear them out of our system. On top of that we've we've increased our progress monitoring. So we are looking at indicators earlier and we are doing it as a as a team. We've created a system within our team. Most schools used to operate independently and so something would happen at Mountain View and something different would happen at Mesa High. Now we come together and we have a we have a very um a tight system on when when is a kid how do we
124identify our at risk kids when is a kid falling falling deficient and we've been able to address that earlier than years past. Um on top of that we have worked our teaching and learning department led by Jennifer Eckles has been very instrumental and and you know I you know I I look at myself as a teammate. She's definitely the expert but we have been very instrumental at being very strategic in the type of professional development we have delivered our instructional leadership teams which is another addition that we didn't have four years ago. We've created instructional leadership teams at each campus and that's a that is a cognitive diverse team that brings all aspects of education together. You have pedigogy specialists, you have content specialists, you have you have leadership, you have counselor, you have all
125that and and so we've been very focused on delivering really intentional uh professional development to our instructional leadership teams that then go back to their schools. And I use the word autonomy a lot. Dr. Stum and I had a conversation today. So, I'd just like to be clear on what I mean by that word because I think we're very close to what we both believe is autonomy. It's an autonomy within a framework. It's not a free-for-all. People get a voice and people have some choice, but that choice is like it's not whether or not you teach the standard. It might be how you're teaching the standard. And so we've we've given the schools some autonomy that they can lean into their strengths and take the professional development that was delivered to their instructional leadership team
126and again all schools are in that room in that instructional leadership professional development and they go back and then they've slowly began to improve first best instruction which we're calling we call tier one. We also um have we we it wasn't lost on me that we've been able to utilize um a a credit recovery program that helps. We have a very um our poverty rate is increasing. Uh we have we have some very marginalized community and with that comes struggle and in struggle. Kids can't always they don't always have the same supports at home. So we've been able to build a credit recovery program that wraps around kids that can provide the kids the supports they need. But um so that's like five things I can think of right off the top of my head.
127But what I would what I would share with you is this is the work of our comprehensive high schools and our and our leadership teams and our instructional leaders teams at that that school working collaboratively and working together to problem solve and come up with you know different ways and to approach the same problems. And I and I and I again I'll go back to and I'll keep saying it forever. It's it's the power of a team. It's the power of cognitive diverse team where people bring strengths and they they feel comfortable enough to share and help each other. I tell this story all the time. I knew we were on to something when I saw the Westwood um APS walking into Mesa High a few years ago and I call over Chris and I'm
128like what is going on? and they're like Kirk Thomas and Mesa High's got a really good um and it's their gold academy which is a which is a tier 2 environment for behavior and academics and he he had a really good structure going. So Westwood went over there to learn with that. You know, you don't get there if you don't like each other. You don't get there if you don't have humility. You don't get there if you don't want to learn for each other. So, I think I'd say it's just the power of team and I've just been lucky enough to um curate the environment that that team could work within. Thank you. And by the way, we'll hit our 88%. We're not done because the block schedule's coming. That's going to give our kids
129more opportunity to get to get um credits. And so, we'll hit 88% and in two years we'll hit 90. So, thank you very much. Thank you. And I want to echo, I know that there's principles still working tirelessly to help these kids graduate. I know a couple of the last couple weeks have finished up and so I appreciate the efforts that our teachers and administrators are continuing through the summer. I believe Mrs. Benson had some questions or comments. Is that correct? Yes, there you are. Thank you, President Davis. I'm maneuvering between the live stream and the um meeting uh just because of audio. So um one quick thing that I wanted to um mention as I'm looking at specifically the goal for proficiency the um now we didn't we did not achieve the 70% however
130in math in particular uh the number of students that or schools that achieve 2% or more growth was up by 35%. So that's some good work that we're seeing at those schools. Right. So, um, focusing in on what's working well and replicating it. Uh, and I'd also like to mention, uh, I love that Dr. Strom, I think it was Dr. Strong that said, um, or Dr. Eastless, the, um, content that, um, elementary school teachers are the the variety of content that they need to know. Um perhaps professional development in expanding that knowledge base would be beneficial because I I truly believe that our graduation rate starts in elementary school. We don't need credit recovery, massive credit recovery if we have kids that are um getting their proficiencies in place before they even hit junior high,
131before they hit high school. so much more difficult to backfill that the older that the our students get. Um, and I did think I do think that Dr. Malerwine mentioned the um, uh, being able to put people around our students that are in um, less than ideal environments. I love that. I love the idea that we um, provide supports. What I what I don't want to see happen is that we expect less from those kids, right? We need to set the same high expectation and as Dr. Strong mentioned the not um I don't remember how you worded it, the deficiencies, not teaching to deficiencies, but setting the expectation and then how do we how do we get those skills? Uh and I I'm looking at a 35% jump in the number of schools that were
132able to at least achieve 2% growth. Uh I'm I think that that works happening. We also have uh we it looks like the goal was not for um achieving an increase in proficiencies. Uh so I just wanted to make mention of that. I I I like the results. Um I'm kind of mixed on the results that I'm seeing. However, had to have been hard work put into getting a 35% growth in math. So, can you speak to that? And um one concern I have is with a decrease in funding, federal funding for our ELLL supports because our ELLL population has significantly grown, we aren't going to see that growth if we cannot get those students who do not have English as a first language uh proficient early. Does that make sense? Can you hear me?
133Yes. Sorry, I was probably rambling a little bit, but are we we're we're making a plan. I I wanted to compliment the growth in uh math in particular. Uh and I assume we're replicating. We're talking amongst schools and saying, "Hey, what worked for you?" Yes, President Davis and member Benson. Um this is Dr. Eastless. I have been working with um our area superintendent and our site leaders. We have um really pushed forward how to implement our um adopted resources, our SAVIS instructional resources in math um and really looking at the progress monitoring of how students are doing on um both our formative and our benchmark assessments. Um, we've been working with and have had the the opportunity to have a consultant um who was part of the package of our professional learning along with the
134adoption of of our SAVIS materials who has been here 100% of the time for the past three years um with Mesa Public Schools to support the implementation of those resources and we have aligned a lot of our professional learning to that specific content knowledge um for math and we will continue to do So, um we are pleased with the growth, but we still have a lot of work to do. And so, we'll continue replicating that and working with those schools who have had higher increases and um also looking at what they're doing in terms of what their instructional coaches are supporting, their instructional leadership teams, and um really listening to the teachers and and what's working and and what other supports they need. Um, in regard to your question regarding our um, students learning English,
135we've also had a very targeted approach to how we support those learners in our schools the past three years as we have restructured um, what the staffing model looks like. And so we have uh, kind of a formulabased um, approach in terms of support regarding certificated staff that are highly trained in supporting English learners um, specifically um, at the earlier grades especially, but also continuing up to 12th grade and with our ELD itinerate um teachers who work to support the instructional leadership teams, the coaches, and then most specifically those students and and those um those schools that especially have the higher amount of of e learners there. So, continuing to work and align our professional learning, our funding, etc. to to those needs and to the strengths of what's working. That's excellent because we we
136do have to get our students that are English language learners up to speed as quickly as possible in order for our ELA scores to go up. There's they're hand in hand. Um and I I really want to make sure that we are not lowering any expectation with our schools that are um high poverty or high minority because uh that that brings down our overall district average and there's no reason that kids just because they have challenging circumstances at home cannot actually learn. Yes, I agree. And I also want to add too um with our students that are learning English, we have seen an increase over the past couple of years um with our newcomers that are brand new to um the United States and more specifically newcomers at the high school level. So we're also
137looking at targeting our um professional learning and supports for those students specifically um who may come to us in 10th, 11th, 12th grade um from schools outside of our country and just learning the language. So, we've been working a lot with our high school teachers as well um in in that area, too. So, and absolutely not lowering any standards um for our students that come with challenges or um barriers based on language or poverty. Thank you, Dr. Sorry, Mr. Vincent. Go ahead. No, that's that's fine. I'm good. Okay, thank you. Any other questions, discussion? Okay, thank you so much Dr. Strom and uh superintendency for that information. We have come to the end. Do I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, Miss
138Kirby, will you please take our vote? With a vote of five, yes, the meeting is adjourned at 658. Thank you so much for being here tonight. Enjoy your