001Good afternoon and welcome to the education board meeting. This afternoon this meeting begins at 4:34 pm. Ready, please. Armstrong member, Sintron member, present. Secretary Crchfield, present. Vice President Garza, present. President Ste present. We have no requests for comments on closed session agenda items this afternoon. At this time the table will be withdrawn to closed session. The open session will resume at approximately 5 p.m. Can't [Music] Thank you very much. We have some corrections to tonight's agenda . No corrections tonight. I know we have quite a few awards. It's wonderful to see you all here. Mr. Acevedo. I'll pass it on to you. Thank you. I'm going to ask Mrs. Carter to help us tonight. Tonight the school board recognizes district teams with the distinction of league champions for this sports season. You can lower the
002board for recognition, please. Staff, students, when your name is called, please come forward and stay for a photo. Representing beach volleyball coach Dennis Mora, Alison Ridle, Kendle Sendle Beach Volleyball. Congratulations, Adison Ridle and Kendall Slend, 2025 gateway league champions and the league's most valued athletes who worked hard, closing out the year by winning six of the last seven games, including the finals, with a pair championship after a 7-hour marathon. an incredible run. It may have shocked the league, but not coach Mora or themselves. Congratulations. A super cool season. The Mayer High School swim team , coach Mat. Please come in. Okay, let's make sure we recognize the team, and if the coach is coming, he'll come to the front. If we can recognize the swim team of Mayer, Katy Cons and Barch and Josh Price,
003if you can introduce yourselves, please come forward. Well, maybe we'll have to do it another time. I'm going to talk about retirees. At this time, the Board of Education would like to recognize those individuals who have served the Belfower Unified School District both outside and inside the classroom. Staff members who retired at the end of the 24th/25th school year include, please acknowledge Florian Musker, 9 years of service to the district. Mr. Mo, please come forward, with admiration, sorrow in my heart, and gratitude, Mel. Brilliant engineer, dedicated educator, innovation force at Belfower, middle school in mathematics, engineering, or mentoring new teachers. And this B you have given us a lot of support and wisdom as you move into retirement. We send it with deep appreciation and best wishes and congratulations as great as its impact. Another
004round of applause for him, please. Thank you for your service. Sir, we would like to recognize David Fister for providing 20 years of service to the Bellfower School District. Congratulations, Mr. Flitz, on your well-deserved retirement. Love of music, inspiring generations of students with your dedication and passion. We wish you all the best in your next chapter and hope you enjoy every moment. Congratulations, Mr. Fr. Next. We would like to recognize Sherold De Silles for giving us 21 years of service to the Belfower school district. Mr. Deciles has held many positions with great passion and purpose. Mother, daughter, sister, teacher, mentor, and scholar. Upon retirement, one defines a career of high standards and a belief in great possibilities for students. Its impact will be lasting, and its next chapter just as inspiring. Congratulations. Following. We would
005like to recognize Kathyn Kellahan for giving us 22 years of service to the Belfower Unified School District. Mrs. Kelhanda, after a wonderful career as an outstanding teacher, impacting her students and school community, dedicated herself to student success with her ability to form strong partnerships with families. We will need their commitment and collaborative spirit . Congratulations. Following. We would like to recognize Rose Romero for giving us 23 years of service to the Belflower district. Rose joined as an office worker in 1998 and is retiring at the end of June 2025. She loved this job delivering mail to everyone and keeping up with the district. She happily shared about her son and all her experiences in the volunteer work she did. Rose is a unique person and we are all happy for her and her new chapter
006in retirement. Congratulations, Rose. We wish you many more beautiful adventures. We wish you all the best, and thank you and congratulations. [Music] Next. We would like to recognize Michael Hunter for providing 23 years of service to the Belf Unified School District. Hunter has dedicated 23 impactful years to Belfar Preparatory School as a teacher, English teacher, and English as a Second Language teacher, and has been a very supportive person to other students. All the students want it. Her presence brought laughter, support, music, and mentorship to the school staff. His absence will be sorely missed. We wish you all the best in your retirement. Congratulations. Hey, one more photo. We would now like to recognize Cham Phillips for giving us 25 years of service to the Belfower Unified School District . What can we say about Tom
007Phillips that has n't already been said? Mr. Philips is not only an exceptional band teacher , he is an outstanding educator in every sense. He connects with students from different backgrounds, is valued and inspired by him, and understands the school culture and his wonderful work with the school band. It has been, uh, it is great the impact that has been made with initiatives like, uh, the all-star band 605, which had its performance in the Rose Parade, was something truly exceptional. It is clear that it will be very difficult for him to repay his contributions. They will be seen for many years to come. Congratulations. A round of applause for teacher of the year Tom Phillips from the Belfower district. Next, we wanted to recognize Mark Johnson, who gave 26 years of service to the Belfower
008Unified School District . Mr. Johnson has been a very valuable member of the Bellflower School team. support the school. The functions, the school functions run very well because of him, because of his attitudes, enthusiasm in the Summerset community. It's going to be terribly needed. He deserves the best, the best possible retirement. Congratulations. Now we would like to recognize Kather Gy for giving 26 years of service to the Belfower Unified School District. Mrs. Gy leaves with patience, inspires with passion, teaches with grace, and is very special. The difference that life makes in our students cannot be overstated. He believes in the potential for success in every student. You are a prime example of what an educator is. You embody the whole spirit. Congratulations. Following. We would like to acknowledge. Morag Rogerson has given 27 years of
009service to the Belfower Unified School District . After 27 years of dedicated service, Mr. Rogerson is retiring from Wrementary. She has truly been the heart of the school community, a constant, educational, passionate presence, and has been a great advocate for other teachers. He has demonstrated manipulative strategies for mathematics that have had a great impact on students and their contemporaries. She has been a champion of the voice of her colleagues, leading with integrity and a deep sense of justice. And we are very glad that it is not him, God. Mr. Rogerson will be returning next year as a volunteer, sharing his skills, his talents, and everything he can for our schools. Thank you for your commitment and your contributions. Woodrft is better for you. Congratulations. We would now like to recognize Belinda Guess for giving 27
010years of service to the Bellflower Unified School District. On behalf of the entire Ramona community, thank you for being a guiding light and mentor to every student you have taught. You have had her as a teacher with great pleasure. Congratulations, Mr. Gu. We were colleagues and they were at my school when I was the principal, and it's very special, but not for everyone. I don't want to stop, I just want to give them all a hug. However, we would now like to recognize Julie Vuchi for giving 29 years of service to the Bellflower Unified School District. Congratulations, Mr. Buchi, on a very well-deserved retirement after a credible 29 years of dedicated service, almost three decades, Mr. Buchi, a very compassionate presence for the transformation of the study of young students with all the skills you
011have shown them in schools. PreKinder, thank you for your passion, your spirit of giving love, knowledge, and compassion to all students and their families. We hope he has a retirement filled with plenty of fun, enjoyment, and well-deserved rest. Congratulations. Following. We would like to recognize Maren Foot for 30 years of service to the Bellflower Unified School District. Mar has been a dedicated educator in the Belfire district for many years, serving in various locations and schools. He finished his career at Bfer teaching math classes at the middle school. He did a fantastic job at Mayf and we will definitely miss him a lot. Congratulations, next. We would like to recognize Pamela Simster for giving us 33 years of service to the Belfower Unified School District. After 30 unforgettable years teaching culinary arts at the Bellflower Middle
012School, this guy has finally laid down his spatula and moved on to a well-deserved retirement, empowering students with life skills, all with his smile and cookies. freshly baked . Belfar won't be the same without her. Congratulations on everything you have done for the students and the school. Following. We would like to recognize Lori Redstra for 37 years of service to the Belfower Unified School District. What we admire most about Lori is her incredible sense of humor that she brings to everything she does. As the first female flag football coach in Mefer, she made an impact by leading them to victory, becoming champions in their inaugural year. His leadership has provided this foundation, strong foundations where his contributions have been of super value. A special education teacher serving students in Belfower, she has touched the lives
013of many in our schools; her dedication and positivity have made a lasting difference in our community. Congratulations. Following. We would like to recognize Jur Moses for giving 37 years to the Belfower Unified School District. Judy Moses has been a teacher in Belfare since 1988. She was a second, third, and fourth grade teacher at Washington and Lindstrom Elementary. Julie leaves a legacy of love for her students by teaching with grace, heart, and affection. She has built a beautiful life and now it's time to have more time to enjoy it. Mr. Moes, congratulations on your retirement. The board would also like to acknowledge those individuals from the 2425 school year who were unable to attend. Francis Balboa, 17 years old. Matthew Berenda, 20 years old, Dan Camacho, 18 years old. Daniel Carichel 31 years old, Jeffre Caron
01423 years old. Lisa Cornel, 22 years old. Stephanie Dalton, 32 years old. Sandro de Hoop, 11 years old. Carol Fisher, 22 years old. Terry Fter 2 years. Lorry French, 26 years old. Paul Gy, 31 years old. E Gurrola, 30 years old. Larry Harston, 33 years old. Raven Herrera, 32 years old. Susan Helm, 40 years old. Florencio Javier, 21 years old. Kathlyn Johnson, 32 years old. Keith Landon, 34 years old. Michael Larson, 12 years old. Berry Lopez, 25 years old. Mike Lungren, 28 years old. Susan Lynch, 17 years old. Teresa Manricas, 41 years old. Jerry Miller, 21 years old. Kimberly Malot, 25 years old. Jeff Moore, 27 years old. Robert Nelson, 30 years old. Rose O'Brian, 32 years old. Janis Sparks, 30 years old. Julie Porter, 32 years old. Tammy McQuade, 38 years old. Jeffrey Savage,
01531 years old. James Stuart, 22 years old. Beverly Swansen, 25 years old. Tennis, 31 years old. Loren Thompson, 41 years old. And Joseph Weber, 9 years old. However, lastly, and not least, we will acknowledge someone special who is retiring after 31 years. Dedicated service to the Bell Flowers district, interim superintendent Lisa Acevedo. Tonight we have the honor of having several guests who want to recognize Mr. Garcia, first representing the office of Congressman Robert Garcia. Julia Arsfield and this case manager, case administrator as well. Hello, good afternoon everyone, thank you for having me here. My name is Juli, I am Robert Garcia's representative for the city of Belf. It is an honor and a privilege to be here as a part of it, to recognize and celebrate his outstanding leadership to the Belfower school district .
016It is, and it is in her well- deserved retirement. Thank you for your dedication to the students, families, teachers, the community at large, and as has been said multiple times, I know that you will all have a lasting impact. Once again, congratulations and thank you. They continue to represent Assembly Member José Luis Solache, this one in the office of Anesthesia Buzu, this representative of Assembly Member Anastasia Ocio, my name is, I am representative with José Luis Solache, Assembly Member in Belfower, and I am here with great pleasure representing him, and to Mrs. Cevedo, I give congratulations for her long tenure with the Bfar school district . I come from a family of teachers who understand the importance of education and progress and the importance it brings to the lives of students, and knowing that you
017have worked with them for the time you have been here, you have worked with your wonderful colleagues. I'm so glad you're here. We are all here to save you and everything you have done for the district. On behalf of Assembly member José Luis Solache, we would like to congratulate her. Next representative of the city of Belfower, this Mayor Mayer Chan and Councilman Véctor Sánchez and Wendy. Interim Mayor. Good afternoon everyone. This, I am the mayor for Bellflower, Victor Sanchez is a councilman and Wendy Bor is also a council member. Lisa had a wonderful career, 31 years, starting as a math and science teacher in middle school, became vice principal, assistant principal, superintendent, CEO of Callaps, and now interim superintendent for the Belfare district. A very big achievement. The district is better for you. Thank you.
018Thank you, and on behalf of the city of Bford, thank you for your service. We wish you a very happy retirement. Thank you so much. Well, Lis, I have to tell you something. I've known her, at least since I was in high school, 2004, at least. I just want to read the thank yous for everything that has been said today. It's true. His friendship, his dedication to the students, his dedication to the program, his desire to improve it with a smile, and what he did at the beginning of the school year, how he brought everyone together, brought us a good message. That's leadership. Changing the tone, the direction. It's hard to see, well , that he's leaving, but I understand. She's already set her time, she wants to retire, enjoy herself, my friend. That's all
019for now. Until next time . It's not goodbye. Let's see. Representing the city of Lak, council member David Arano Arano or rather David Arellano, excuse me. M. We're dressing the same. I put this on for you before we started. What definitely, as I heard all the years of experience leaving the Belf school district, one more round of applause for all the retirees, please, who are in this room. So once again, goodnight to everyone in case you've been living under a rock. David Ariano is my name, this is the Lakers board. Uh, I want to give credit to Mr. Elisa Acevedo. 30 years old. I thought I was 29 years old. I didn't know I was a teacher from the womb, but as a teacher, principal, vice-principal in several schools, supervising the Cup Apps program, as
020you know, I have Kups socks, don't ask me how I got them, but I do . And I am sure she has been a mentor to many people, especially as superintendent when the district needed her, she has made a positive, lasting impact on the families of Bellflower, one that will last for many generations. Personally, I had the opportunity to meet her even before I believe she had been elected. She showed me around Bellflower High, got me involved in the Bell Callups program, and gave me the opportunity to talk to her amazing students. I appreciate it very much. Thank you personally for your friendship, your affection, and your leadership. On this side, well, our famous proclamations that we have, no more on the part of the 2,000 residents and 80,000 residents in total whom it has
021served. Hey, enjoy your retirement, make new memories, you'll need them, you'll have a very special place in Lel's heart. Thank you. Next, representing K Apps CEO Arlin Wney, chief executive officer. Good evening, President Steer, board members, cabinet members, and interim president, Mr. Acevedo. It is with honor that I want to share a few words on behalf of the Caps team about someone who has changed our organization. You were our first executive. Caps was just an idea; Lisa needed direction, and you gave her vision. When she needed heart, you offered yours. You didn't just create a program, but a legacy of opportunity for students who perhaps never imagined themselves in college or in important careers, thanks to your quiet determination. She was a champion of equality and excellence, and in doing so she changed many lives.
022Your leadership has been personal for many of us as a mentor, guide and role model with integrity, passion and unwavering commitment . This, for my part, I am very grateful because it has touched me deeply and I know that our work will be impacted by the work you did and left us. We want to give you this glass vase/sack to show that what you can show is blossoming, that's you. You are like someone who has created flourishing, and that flourishing in people will be greatly missed in your retirement. Mr. Acevedo, I would like to invite all the Caps instructors who are here. H Next representing Belfar District Personnel Committee, Chief Executive, Mr. Frank, Dr. Frank Olmos. Good night. I want to express my gratitude to all the people who have shown me so much love
023and appreciation for what you have done for us. Lisa, I had the opportunity to work with you at least a little bit, right? At least I'll remember those memories later. It is an honor and a pleasure. On behalf of the personnel committee, I would like to present you with a certificate of appreciation for dedicating 31 years of distinguished service to the Belfar district. With heartfelt appreciation for your dedication and excellence, your legacy of leadership will impact and continue to impact future generations. Thank you so much. Now representing technical and career education, Guil Casan, director of secondary and technical education. Good night. It is an honor to recognize an interim superintendent, Lisa Acevedo, who is retiring. She has been a champion for technical education in the Belfower district. for his leadership. Students have had access to
024learning for the real world. They have completed their pathways and earned their medals for the work you have done on behalf of the high school. This, all the CT teachers have a box with all the medals that have been offered in Belfower. Each medal is a door that Lisa helped open, a path to purpose, a better future, and more variety because no one has done more to move forward. We are also going to give the CTE in the district the sociable award for being the one that has completed the most work in CTE. Congratulations, Lisa. And we wish him all the best in his well-deserved retirement. Now, first point, Belf Teachers Association, Vice President of F. Good evening, Superintendent Acevedo. Board members, members of the City district on behalf of the Belf Teachers Association. I
025want to honor and thank Lis Acevedo, interim superintendent, for so many years of superior leadership. Before becoming superintendent, she had some difficulties with the district, but she never stopped being a very ethical, strong, and humble director; she didn't bend to pressure to please others. He upheld his values, his integrity, and showed us that leadership is about character, not position. This did not end her story; her persistence, patience, and hard work allowed her to return stronger, not bitter, and write her own story. When he took the leadership, we were at a crossroads; we needed healing of our culture. She faced them with clarity, passion, and a very deep purpose to achieve it. He gave us transparency, respect, and human connection. He was not a leader who led from a distance, but rather he collaborated, made people
026feel good and safe , and brought together people who are not opposed to each other, but are essential, with unity, with staff, with families. It restored the faith that we are all stronger together. He made tough decisions when he had to regarding personnel issues, but always with the idea of keeping the district moving forward and doing what was best for students. Under his leadership, people mattered, not politics. The administration was no longer encouraged, but it was admired. His legacy is one of healing, growth, and high standards. It's a way of leaving a district that's ready for the future because of the work you've done. This chapter ends, but the story you helped write continues with strong staff, policies and ideas in place and with our trust in one another we will continue building. Thank you,
027Superintendent Acevedo. We are very grateful and wish him rest and pride in all that he has accomplished. Memories with great meaning, and now memories with his family. Congratulations on your retirement. representing California School. Employees Association, President Michelle Quar and Communications Officer, Anthony Ramirez. In the last meeting we had a conversation about how difficult it is for me to speak in public. So I want you to know how important you are that you made it possible for me to come here to the podium. I want to say thank you, thank you very much for all your hard work with us, the respect you have shown us. Well, I had a problem or something, something good happened, no more texting and calling. You reply, we appreciate the respect you have shown to CSA and to me and
028my team. We greatly appreciate it. I wish you all the best. This isn't something for your office; this is something for you to enjoy in your free time when you retire. Thank you so much. Representing the PTA council, communications director Elena Rinski, and PTA president Lida Rivera. Lisa is thanked from the bottom of our hearts for her years of dedication to the staff, families, and students of Bellflower. On behalf of the PTAS council, Linde Morgan, the president who could not be here tonight. Thank you for your unwavering leadership , your commitments and contributions throughout your wonderful career, honoring the lasting impact you have made on our schools and community. We would also like to call your family Paul Acevedo, Blake Acevedo, Nicole Caldwell, I did n't tell everyone we need to talk, but well, I
029just want to say, I'm so proud of you, I want to cry. I can't speak much in public either, but I'm going to say a few words. I am extremely proud to be sitting here listening to all these people saying all these beautiful things. I see when he gets home, I know what he brings home, I know of his dedication, his heart, his love for children. I know that you do everything for those children. Extremely proud of you and you. Thank you for what you have done for our family Nicole Blake and for me. We love you. Congratulations! Of course, it can be done . He says, "Please, a very nice couple will be accompanying you. We would like to introduce you with certificates from your teacher, Jan Han, who couldn't attend tonight. She wants
030to congratulate you and thank the administration for your service to the students and the community. On behalf of the cabinet, Dr. Smith would also like to say a few words . Thank you. It has been an absolute privilege to work alongside Interim Superintendent, or rather, Lisa Acevedo. During this important transition in our district, Lisa has brought a steady hand , with great confidence, calmness, and a deep understanding of our school system at every level. But her impact goes far beyond her role. After a wonderful career at Bellflower Unified, she has been a leader in a wide range of positions with compassion, commitment, and unwavering dedication to the students, staff, and the entire community. Her institutional knowledge and student-centered approach have left a lasting mark on the district and the people it serves. Aside from the
031entire leadership team and your cabinet, I am very grateful. We give you our deepest thanks for your decades of dedicated service and wish you nothing but the best for the future from the bottom of our hearts. Lisa, thank you. Yes. [Music] If you want, at 6:15 you can take me off, at 6:15 you can take it off, like over 20 minutes. Just enjoy your coffee. [Music] Thank you. We don't hear anything in the booth. We don't have audio in the interpreting booth. Ah. Would you like to say a few words, Miss Cevedo? Someone, please give her a microphone. Audio engineers, if you can give her a microphone, please. And in total, our retirees for the 2425 school year have impressively dedicated 1,441 years of service to the district. The board thanks each and every one
032of you for your dedication and your efforts to keep you united with a purpose. Congratulations again, and give yourselves a round of applause. And Madam President, I would like to allow my colleagues here to say anything they would like to say at this time. Anything , anything at all. Bad, no. First of all, congratulations to everyone tonight. Usually, when creating this video and going through so many photos, I realized that I do take way too many selfies with Lisa, but it's like my love language, photography and making videos is my love language. I love who you are, and thank you for being who you are because we need who you are and who you were back then. You were and are the right person to lead that, and sad. So, there were a few times
033this year that I wanted to apologize when you came because there's been so much work, and you gave it everything you had . And I've told you this before, but I believe in a sense of poetic justice, but, uh, your whole journey in the district—I think Dan mentioned that we had lost this at some point, that you were supposed to be here—and the fact that you came here and that it's your happy ending—I think of movies as just a perfect ending to a great career. So, thank you to you, thank you to your family for supporting you, because she's been able to do so many amazing things. I know we are committed to continuing to do them here in Belfower Ward. Thank you. Thank you, uh, Vice President Garza. Thank you, President Lisa, what can
034I say? When I first came into this ward, I saw you from afar, but even then I could see that you had everything a great leader has, so I feel we were so blessed that you came here when we needed you. You have truly unified our ward, you have given your effort, your work, and so many hours that we as a board are eternally grateful to have your support, the cabinet's support, and that you were able to do all of this while having a family and other obligations, and simply unify everyone in our wards so that we could all come together so we could move forward. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for bringing us all together. Thank you. Uh, my central female, I know you know I like to cry, so I'm
035going to try not to, but I just feel so grateful for you. We met when my daughter was doing collapsible art, and I think she was one of The three girls who were cadets for the fire department, and you made sure that whenever those girls wanted to give up, you were by their side. You didn't leave them alone. So, for me as a mom, knowing everything you've sacrificed, not being there with your family but being there with the families of the district, thank you. I also want to thank you for allowing me and giving me the space to grow and for supporting me as a new member of the board . The way you made sure I did what I had to do and the clear and open conversations I was able to have with
036you, no matter what question I had, you made sure I learned the truth. I appreciate how you did it in such a passionate and loving way that no one could say no to you. I am eternally grateful, and you have truly shown so many generations what a strong leader looks like, how to listen, how to take the steps, how to do it with compassion, love, and care, and that is something very solid. So, thank you very much, I truly appreciate you. I appreciate you. I'm not going to say much because I think you've already spoken, because I think she's my therapist. I think you already know how I feel about it. You were the best choice. You really were. One of the things you don't see is that she also brought our board together, and
037sometimes it 's quite difficult, to be honest, and she brings out the best in us. She even yells at me, Bran yells at her a lot. Not so much at me, but she really brought our board together, she brought in incredible people, the executive cabinet, some of whom I already knew. Buny, we just appreciate you so much. I would have made her amazing on day one because I felt she was the right person, and we're so grateful to have had you. And also the lasting effect, as Arlen said, she's really been a mentor to so many people, especially me, so thank you so much. Okay, so since everyone's crying, we're going to take a 10-minute break and we'll be back around 6:15. Please go get some cake and drinks outside, and when we get back
038we'll continue with The regular agenda. Thank you. Okay, let's begin the meeting again. It 's 6:27. We have a public hearing on the Local Control Plan, also known as the ELCAP. We have an agenda. And also on the LCF formula, which is the budget proposal, we have two presentations here with Ms. Cebedo. In fact, we have both presentations. We'll conduct one, and I'm going to ask Ms. Carter to begin the presentation, and then Ms. Arques will take over . That's for the Local Control Accountability Plan. I'm going to share some information for those who may not have had the opportunity to be here with their elders when we went through this in detail. Although we gave input, we also gave the public the opportunity to contribute during this hearing. This shows us the ELCAP's timeline,
039and where we are is June 2nd, and on June 18th, we'll bring it back for approval. The ELCAP is a district plan for its Improvement. It's a state-required accountability tool. Each one has to have goals, actions, related expenditures, grants, and align with the eight priorities. Now, how are the recovery funds going to be spent? They were included in this plan. Bellflower's CAP has four goals aligned with state properties. A draft has been made available to the public for review, and the public had the opportunity to submit support via email. We have received zero emails from the public. The CAP has also been made available to Leco for pre-review and input before it is submitted. Finally, since it was done in May, there have been a few revisions to it. The analysis of each goal was
040updated to identify any material changes between planned and actual expenditures. In fact, some specifications were included, such as identifying action items in the narrative descriptions to better assist the reader. And they saw a few missing outcomes, so those were added to this version. The estimated costs for the learning recovery grant were also included. The three measures we talked about In May, they were added to goal number three. The rest of the presentation is about the budget, and I'm going to pass this on to Ms. Arques. Thank you, Ms. Carter. Everyone can hear me well, right? I'm going to go over the 2025-2026 school year budget, which goes along with the ELCAP we've submitted. I want to talk a little bit about the guiding principles when we're talking about offices, school campuses, and basically what we
041take into account to develop the budget. We want to develop it using trend analysis, an assessment of current ages, and a budget to talk about solvency. In doing this, we emphasized student learning, professional development, and goals, and making sure that equity is achieved and also maintaining the vision of equitable access to high-quality academic, social, and applied learning. My agenda for tonight is to review the state economic review and the budget development performance. The state consistently... There's something that's given to us in January regarding what they're anticipating the budget will be. Then in May, they come back to review it again, and this is supposed to... We need to present them to you for approval, and I think we're almost 100% done before the state completes its budget cycle. So I'm going to talk a little
042bit about its development in journals and updates. I can talk about the 2025-2026 budget, our multi-year projections, and the next steps for the board. So I'm going to start with the state economic summary and the budget developments and updates. I didn't choose this picture, but the state is like the red balls, and the student is the one holding on while the state swings the pendulum. I don't know why that picture was chosen , but we're holding on while the state figures out how they're going to fund it. Remember, California, through our funding control formula or state-category programs , which make up 90% of the budget, has significant impact on the decisions made in the state. This takes quite a bit of presentation because it does impact how we move forward with our operations as a
043system. So, what do we hear in the state budget updates ? Let's hear some good news for 2023, 2024, and 2025: estimates of California state employee income tax contributions are a very large part of our budget. They were more than projected in 2022. The bad news is that we heard that in 2025, those estimates have dropped by almost $7.5 billion. The state is going to see the impact of personal income taxes not coming in as much as they thought, and it's going to fall somewhere, it's going to fall somewhere else. The state's income tax rates are higher than other states in the country, but the construction delays due to the fires are causing unemployment. This impacts the state because the rates are around 4.2% nationwide, and if people aren't employed, they don't pay taxes. This
044market downturn, the stock market, has impacted state revenues because workers are the biggest beneficiaries on whom we depend for funding. California is on the stock exchange, and volatility in the stock market does have an impact on the state of California. If there are cuts to key federal programs, it will also increase the pressure on the state to fill the gaps or see what the state can do to maintain the programs in California. These are things that impact the state in the economic summary. What did I hear when I went to the review in May? Well, quite a lot has come up . Under version 98, the state funding model had a reserve fund, and we were able to put money into that reserve, but in 2016 the fund ran out, so there are no more
045reserve funds for the 1998 provision. We're going to see how that will have an impact because 1998 guarantees money for education. The reserve fund was just, well, we have something, let's say, in the stock market for later, but it does require contributions to education, and we're going to keep an eye on that. The state will continue to maintain reference funds for the Schools. The way it works is that the state is going to hold onto our money a little longer at the end of the year. The state needs to know that the fund balances have enough because one method the state uses to delay payment is to give us the money in the next fiscal year instead of when we earned it in June. The state has this certain... positioning of certain funds, and as
046conditions worsen, the state is going to have to see how to fund those basic programs and see how it impacts other districts all over the place. Um, problems in the state budget unrelated to funding. Um, uh, the state has to see how it can do two things at the same time: how to fund school districts and hope to fund education in a certain way. So I'd like to make a note to someone in the audience whose cell phone is ringing: please put it on vibrate or turn it off completely to respect the presentation tonight. Thank you. One of the impacts on the state is that the state is requiring a 10-to-1 ratio for transitional kindergarten. We heard that was coming, but there's concern about whether the funding for... Being able to do that also accompanies
047the requirement. That will be impactful. At this point, we've managed things with the fine-tuning that's coming and the proportions we need to have for these classrooms, and we're going to continue seeing what revision happens in the end. The state did expand the implementation of universal meals, free food for every student, all students, and some ideas behind the ELOP program, which is an expanded program for learning opportunities, after- school and before-school programs. Those were in the state budget. Also, a little bit about how it might affect the Bellflower Unified School District budget, on my budget assumptions. I do this every time, every year, every term. When these budgets change, so do the criteria for having these categories. The money that comes from the state is about 90% of the budget, about 75% of that budget comes
048from local control, funding formulas, and that's based on many of these factors. Up above, we're seeing a decline in enrollment for the year 2025, from 9,633, expecting 27. 28 out of 911 students, a 1.28 decrease, not like other districts in Southern California, but it's what I 've included, it's what I'm going to use, that's the information we're going to use. Given that information, if we lose many more students or manage to gain more students, the amount of money we receive will change. That's why I think it's important to show you these steps , because I don't have a crystal ball when it comes to the budget. I have criteria and assumptions that I use to develop the budget. So we have the average daily school attendance, which is 88, and we have funding for 88.
04988 is the number of students who attend school every day. So if you're looking at 963 in 2425, on average, 9,048 children attend every day, and that's how we get paid every day. However, during the time of COVID, the State did vote and put into effect that they were going to average us out. It's a 3-year period for ADA funding, but it allows us to have a retrospective view because if we lose enrollment, the ADA was better in certain years, so they let us average it out to have higher funding. So, the final ADA funding is what we're looking at. The last column shows 2728 average daily attendance of 8549, but they're paid for 86.22. What it says is that they start putting those numbers together because we don't have those years like we did
050at the beginning that helped increase that ADA funding. Now we're getting closer to the point where we'll be paid when the children attend school. We're going to focus quite a bit on school attendance and work on that issue. The final factor in funding is the cost of living, the CLA. I want to explain that here later on the slide; I'll give the full explanation. The adjustment that the state makes is basically a calculation of additional money that we're going to receive. Sometimes it's not additional; sometimes the CLA is zero. The main thing in the CLA is... What everyone needs to know is that even if you're not at a 3.5% drop due to decreased enrollment, your money is going to decrease anyway. If you get 1% interest on the dollar, we've lost students and we're
051being paid for fewer students, so the money is still going to decrease. This year, with 1.08% interest in Colombia, we've lost about 9 million dollars compared to last year. It was a big impact, and because the economy is flattening, we haven't earned that money in the coming years. We have to look at our expenses; we're not going to receive more money, we have to focus on spending. State retirement for teachers, public employees, and staff are not part of the calculation, but it's something we assume because it's what we pay for the system for classified and regular teaching staff. That tells you where our money is going. I'll talk about that later. This is what I want to show you. The unrestricted general funds— the budget has two areas: the restricted general fund and the unrestricted
052general fund. Restricted spending doesn't have as many restrictions on how it can be spent. Quite a few different programs that have many requirements. When I say restricted, many have heard Title I, Special Occasion, or grant. When you hear grant, it's on the restricted side; on the unrestricted side is where we have more leeway to work on things. These are the inputs. What I did this year is compare how we're going to end 2024-2025 with the 2025-2026 budget and talk about the change. So there's reasonable news: we 're not giving more money, but we're not losing much money, but that will be put into context on the next slide. And why have we had changes? Well, the funding control... local, this, is because of the ADA and the money we receive, less funding for next year.
053And the contribution, contributions and other services are contributions that we make to programs that do not have their own funding, such as those that are underfunded. This special education program is extremely underfunded; it would be a restricted program. We need to take unrestricted dollars and convert them to restricted dollars. And in the other area is the routine maintenance program . Uh, by law we have to allocate 3% of our budget to maintain the schools. These two cases have resulted in increased contributions for this year's budget. Look at that, 113 and 112 million. So here are our expenses. We anticipate spending 129,000 in 2425 and 156 million in 2526. Those are the changes in the columns where we had a small change in money coming in, a big change in our expenses. I'm going to explain
054a few. in works and benefits, eh additional days. On both sides of the house we have 1.5% I have for the 2 years what happens in the 2 years. The following year we added extra days for professional training, that's impressive. Like all districts, we are experiencing higher costs, and if they are increased in terms of personnel and stars. This increases well-being and health. These are costs that everyone is feeling and increasing. It's a fairly common increase. It's something we can monitor and see these expenses, services, and other operating costs. I put increased contract costs; it should have said increased service costs. The truth is that we have public services, but we also have a few increased contract costs. The contractors we work with will also have higher expenses and costs, just like us. We also
055have the supplemental retirement network program here . Remember that we're going to save money on salaries and benefits because we can hire teachers who aren't so expensive. It was as if they were those who had a supplemental retirement program , but we had to create an account for them for their supplemental retirement program. So there's a cost and expense analysis there. We also had capital, it has to do more than anything with the Mayfir fields, we also had other transfers, transfers when we started spending less money from the restricted funds, we have more transfers. We talked about indirect costs and what comes from the restricted side to the unrestricted side. So, when the restricted money is decreasing, we won't have indirect costs associated with this, and therefore we'll have a smaller credit line here. Now
056I'm going to talk about restricted funds revenues, and what you're going to see is a change in restricted general funds revenues . Uh, they have decreased. We are using the ester funds. Uh, what's left of them. We have until September 30th to incur them and we have until June 30th to spend it. So all those funds are going to run out. Something funny. I actually went and checked that we have 7.7 million for this year for the federal and then I returned 1900 in 2020 or something like that. We're in the same range. Now, probably because we have all the extra food stalls and all that, we've gone back to what we had before. There should have been some increases, but these federal funds also depend on the number of students, so there were some
057decreases, but we have still returned to the funding levels we had before with respect to federal funds, and other state funding. We have an adjustment here because I'm anticipating that after we see what we have left in the balance, what we have left over, uh the local thing was a big change, we had only approximated 6 million, but we are budgeting to spend 3.6 million. If you remember, I think it was in October, the board approved the Cal Shape plumbing project grant. Let's start with that project about the promeria, which is very good for schools. We're working out the details right now, but it's increased revenue, but also increased costs. So the contributions of these services are exactly what you see on the restricted side, just like also or restricted. So we have about 8.5
058million less in revenue this year, but we have almost 10.5 million less in expenses, as those one-off fund programs disappear, the expenses also disappear. Bell Flower did a very good job of seeing things that could be done with those one-off funds that could impact school systems, but they were not continuous. Many of my colleagues in other districts hired a lot of people, and it does make it very difficult to change and reduce that. So we did a lot of things regarding whether they can go and see the playgrounds , whether they can go and see the technology; there's a lot of work there per hour, but since these funds are disappearing, we were able to transition back and decrease these expenses as well. So these are good things. So, where do we spend the funds?
059I saw the goals of the superintendent's board and was happy to create something, to have found some connection. Here I saw a culture of connection and I saw that we listened to money for modern spaces. Uh, for example, the Abed rooms and the library. We also maintained and invested in wellness centers. Also the expectation of being ready for life and career. The personal standards emphasize the AG jobs, right? We simply put people in schools for the sake of putting it there. Well, we increased the number of classes, those that were needed, and we see it from a different point of view. We also had the advanced allocation tests. We are seeing improvements to the program base so that students have more access to these exams. We also had over 500 graduates from the strong family
060associations and community factor . That was the program to get the family involved. It's a great thing we did for the community, and we also have personalized support from students. Uh, no combined classes in both classrooms. We're planning to talk about multi-year projections again next year. This is simply an image from 2024 to the year 202728. And this is the point I wanted to highlight about the tail. On 2324 we had about 123.3 million, since we received the tail of 107.8. And we lost a little bit of student attendance and student enrollment. We are anticipating 113.4 in revenue and from there it stays more or less like that because the tail is small and the decrease is also similar. The expenses we are anticipating look like this. I've talked about some of them. The difference
061between 2024 and 2025-2026 is shown. We have several plans for 2025-2026 and this also impacts the budget. And we're going to end up with either a deficit or a surplus. We are anticipating 15.8 million. We made some adjustments to the 2728. So, how do we undo this cookie ? Basically, those are the restricted funds we have. The unrestricted funds are as follows: we have our ending balance, what can't be spent, which is for our reserves, also the warehouses where we keep our items, anything we pay for in advance, or anything we have like a bank for CF accounts when we have to write checks to small banks. These are the restricted funds. They can see how they have changed over time. The board of directors in this budget year is going to ask us to
062allocate money, but we have already committed it for deficit expenses and also for some programs, facilities and improvements, such as the Mayfelds, so we have already committed or allocated some of those dollars. Then we have reserves required for economic uncertainty. We are required to do this and they don't stay and what is not assigned is what remains, that they do not fall into any of these categories. So the biggest impacts on unrestricted general funds, well, I already talked about this, is the lack of state revenues, a lot of the money, there's about 9 million dollars and there hasn't been any recovery from that time, so imagine losing that every year, starting this year we're not going to have access to this money anymore. the queues. [Music] I think I brought you a 2.4% tail, but
063I don't remember the exact figures, but now we're at 3.3%, but every time the state lowers the tail, it also takes something away from our income, so we're aware of it, but there's nothing we can do. We have a 2% decrease in enrollment and with the queue we can barely reach par. We also have increased expenses, higher costs related to salary and benefit increases, 1.5% salary increases. We also have costs associated with supplies and contracts, costs increased by poorly funded programs, such as special education. Uh, also in total here we have 30.6 million in the year on what are not well- funded programs. The state gives us so much money. The program we have to do to support the children costs us 30.6 million more than what the government gives us . This would be
064a good place to find some help, to try to get the state to listen. It's been huge, it's not going to change, it's not going to disappear, but if it's what it costs to support the students who need it most in special education, then the state and federal government should be looking at ways to support us with this. We had the approximate one-time funds associated with the M Fairfield project, 25 million. Considerations in the district. What are we doing now that we've created a budget? What are we seeing? We are seeing professional development. It's something that was asked about, requested long before, looking for ways to find and improve attendance at the high school level where it's most visible. We are expecting attendance to increase. We will monitor underfunded programs, such as special education and
065transportation. Transportation related to special education students is only funded by the state and federal government for 60% of what we spend. We tell them what we spend and they give us 60%. So basically they're saying, "You get 60% of what you spend here, you pay the rest." We're going to monitor rising expenses, such as retirement, health and welfare contributions, the increased cost of contract expenses, utilities, we plus 15 schools and other offices and school sites, we're all going through the same thing. So , what are the next steps? Well, at the meeting on June 18th we will adopt the 2025-26 budget and the CAP. After that, we're going to approve the unaudited assets from September 2035. We're going to approve the audit report from December 2035. And at the same time, we're also going to
066conduct the first interim update for 2025-26 at the December 2025 meeting. Why is this meeting important? Because I already told you what my criteria are for developing the budget, since I arrived in October. In fact, we have a registration that we're going to use; it's called CBEST. Uh, that's where we report how many students are enrolled in schools and it will have the most recent income and spending trends. So if the state changes anything at the last minute, those are the things that will be reflected in our first interim report. We can bring you more information. So, if we don't continue with the second interim report, we'll be right back where we are now. So it would be a complete cycle. That's all. Yes, thank you very much. At this time I would like to
067declare the public hearing open. If anyone in the audience would like to talk about this topic, Ser, you are welcome. If you tap the ball, you will see, you will see the light. Thank you, John Paul Dreer, Bellflower High School Class of 1980, former district employee and also worked for Bellflower in ordinances. Look, from Cap, I heard some things yesterday that could be possibilities. At Golden Showers we made these golden retirements that we made to save money on the salary scale. Also, a cost-effective sustainability program for bond grant funds. If we introduce a new bond, we have four votes. Hopefully we'll get it on the ballot quickly. We have a green sustainability plan to address utility costs, to reduce costs, to save money. We also don't know what's going to happen with the federal funds.
068Things are crazy in Washington. We need to find other ways to save money that do not impact the classroom, and as far away from classrooms as possible. But as for the side of operations to save money, in order to still meet the students' success goals. I can answer after the public hearing closes . You can leave comments. Would anyone else like to talk? Michelle Cuellar. Nobody. Well, at this point I'm going to close this public hearing. Is there any board debate? I would also like to mention that we had a golden retirement; we had 37 people retire. I was going to let him know about this and that he has good ideas about it. It's great. Colleagues, anyone else? Kurt Crfield. Yes, thank you, Madam President. Thank you very much René for the presentation. Thank
069you to the staff for answering all the questions I submitted today. Thank you. Faith long list. I appreciate it very much. There are a couple of things I'd like to touch on. I'll say a couple of things and defer to colleagues to be clear about the costs of living on that level in terms of income. Basically, queues and registrations decrease by 2% each year. The tail has to be higher than 2% and we are at par, that is, each school district is not the same for each 1% tail. As you can imagine, the funding is a major issue; a large district loses many more students. There's no exact formula for how much one can say if the CO is at three and we only lose 3% or 2% of students, that we're going to have
070more funding, right? This is a 3% tail that allows us to have balance or have an increase, even if it is small. And in the budget there's a part where you answered the question, but there's a part where it talks about the registration fees, but you talk to Patch. I think those numbers are higher. Can you explain what that is? Because it seems they had them lowering their enrollment figures and their numbers were higher on page 86, I think, in the budget. 86 the budget are different numbers. And that I got the information a little mixed up. Well, when I closed the slide, I lost the budget information, but for the numbers, those are the numbers that are C numbers, they are numbers that we ultimately report to the state of California. These are the
071October numbers that say, this is the enrollment that we are going to say they had. What you are looking at is on page 86. I'm going to return to the topic. He's putting it on me again . The budget was developed with different numbers than in the past. Well, the budget was developed using different numbers from the past that may have had lower enrollment numbers and in anticipation. From my perspective, what I assumed was perhaps on page 86 we are talking about ADA, not registration. That's what he's talking about, because I want to make sure ADA numbers are in line with the license plates when they were budgeting; I had a lower ADA number. They are not in common because we were coming out of COVID. The years shown on this budget page 22 23
07224, nobody knew how we were going to recover from a 3% downturn during the COVID years. There was considerable reluctance to budget more than the anticipated decrease. Uh, in many years in my previous district there was a very common 2% 1.9 decrease, but with COVID many districts reached 3 3.1%. Unbeknownst to them, many people were leaving their district, many students were leaving, and that would calm things down or continue with that trend. All I can say is that I wasn't here to develop those budgets. It could have been a more conservative approach, saying that those were going to be the amounts at a low rate. As you can see from the 2526 budget, I want to show what I anticipate it will do by looking at a couple of years of trends of 2% 1.9%.
073Thank you, Vice President Garsa. Thank you, Madam President. I have a question about ADA funding. We've been talking a bit about how the State has funded us in that program over the past few years. We have taken an average of the last 3 years. What do we know, let's say, to make that permanent? They haven't said anything about making it permanent or not, but I think it's getting closer to averaging it now. The first time they did it was in 1920. 210 was the first year that, well, March 2020 was when we had all the attendances before the children were sent home in March. We had a decent year of attendance. In 2021 they suspended attendance, so we didn't take attendance. That year we were allowed to use the ones from 2020. Imagine having two
074good years of attendance. When we returned to the classrooms in '21 -'22, I think I'm saying this correctly, attendance dropped, it dropped quite a bit. That's when they realized that if they only paid us for attendance, it would hurt us a lot financially. So that's how they came up with the 3-year average. And what did it give us? Two fabulous years and one bad one. Those two great years were maintained. But as we move on to the next year, one figure emerges, one big year comes out, but there is still one. Well, the trend is that as those big years fall, the 3-year average will drop to what we're actually receiving. In any case, the ADA and the state will have to make a decision. They can keep it at the 3-year average, but how
075much is it helping districts and what other changes could they make? Before COVID, the practice was to take the highest of the last two years, the current one or the previous one, but in an environment where tuition fees are falling, the previous year's fee is taken because it is always better. That's the method they used before. There may come a time when they consider the 3-year average. It's not good for us. They may look at the previous year or other efforts to help school districts, because nobody is really winning in this environment. Do you have any further questions? Well, Kurt Kchfield. Yes, thank you, Madam President. Thanks again for answering all those questions. I know there are a couple more you were going to answer later, but I realize this new budget point gives me
076the question: What is a subscription service? I'm going to look into that because I don't know if it's a budget item that perhaps didn't fall into another category. I'll look into that. We'll see if we can change it and if it belongs to another dividend category. That's why we left it. I thought there were more details about that, but thanks, this already answered this question, but uh, the one for adult education is 35,000. We don't get funding for adult education, but we don't have a program, or well, if you want to talk to the program director, but we do have a program that comes from Summerset, where there are existing resources and we have a teacher that we pay, and it doesn't come from those funds, it does n't come from those funds because $5,000
077really doesn't cover the funding of a teacher for that program, but we use the budget for supplies and purchases that comes out for that program. It doesn't have enough funding to support adult education, does it? Because that's what confused me about the small zero budget for salaries, it was only for materials. So yes, it is material, it is material because the district pays for the teacher's time from its general fund . Well, I'm passing the baton back. Well, I want to thank you again for doing this. This is probably the best presentation I've ever seen as a board member. Thank you very much. Now I understand it much more and much better. So regarding contracts, we've been able to go back and assess what's being implemented, what we're currently using. I know we've said this
078before, but to see if we're having duplicate contracts or if we're fulfilling the contracts, some of which are expiring, and whether they're efficient. That's one of the changes I implemented ahead of time, and I said, "Well, I'll take the view this year for the first time to see what changes I make." One change was for contracts and how we bring them to the board and how we implement them. That won't be the kind of mass hiring we do. They can be things we use or don't use, or things like this or that . It was great to see if it was good, if something needed to be used , because it's already in the general funds. But I can explain, we need a certain program, we want to approve it after we've used it, and
079if we have to do that instead of the way we used to, like approving all these possible contracts and uses in bulk. In doing that, we look at each contract individually, the funds, the source of funds to see if it is the best fund for financing, because everything is within the software programs, it was different when it was in the general budget, but now it goes through other routes giving me the opportunity. I review every contract that comes in; it gives me the opportunity to say, well, yes, we should do that. How did that look last year? The staff says, "These are the payment rates from last year. If I have any doubts, Alma has the same opportunity. I'm also talking about Alma because we've been working, well, with everyone here, but particularly with Alma,
080on the special education contacts. We've talked about what we want to see when we need to know what the rates are that we'll be charging. That way we're going to take a good look at the contracts to see which ones we need, which ones we want to bring to the board for approval, so we have them when we need them and do n't have any delays in services for the students. Well, thank you for that answer. If I may add something, you mean, any contracts that come to the board are the ones that are absolutely necessary, and we're not going to see, say, if I go to your office and ask for a list of contracts or the current list, we're not going to see contracts there that aren't necessary. That's right. These are the
081contracts that people are requesting with funds that we've allocated. It's a key component. We've allocated funds for these contracts, and these are the things that are being considered necessary by the cabinet and staff for our district to be able to do What we have to do. Thank you, Kfield. Thank you very much, Madam President. Well, to be clear, any contract that comes before the board is approved retroactively. No, we try to approve contracts before the date they start, but in the event we can ratify a contract with the Board of Education. The way they did it, they didn't have to ratify much because they had massive approval. It's not going to be unusual that now they will have to ratify a contract that we had agreed to start with. It's something that maybe has been
082done before, you've seen before, that kind of thing. It happens quite a lot with—she just looked at me, gave me permission. It happens quite a lot with the special education contract. We're negotiating the costs and rates with non- public special education agencies and non-public schools. We're negotiating the rates and costs, and we don't let them send those students home when we're negotiating the rates and costs. We say the contract is going to start in 7/8/2021 to serve students, but we've negotiated the rates and payments through mid-August, so we're going to show it to you in September. It does n't mean... Which is something we haven't done before, or haven't tried to bring to the board, but we have to stay current with student services and the contracts for services we have to provide. We can
083say that, but we ca n't avoid it. What are the limits? A conservative approach: do that only when necessary, in terms of whether it affects the proportion, the professionalism of services. Well, for me, that would be the criterion. I would try to limit it to contracts you've seen before so you're comfortable with those vendors. If you have a new person, I could say, "Well, look, let's wait, shall we?" For the students, that's what I can't stop for. If they have to provide student services, they have to do it, but it's a one-day thing. We can do this in September, let's say, because we took the contract in August. So, something they haven't seen before, there is a limit on the costs of the contract for educational code or not. board policy. No, well, I do
084n't know if we want to get into such a predicament either, because non-public agencies and unpublished schools can be big contracts too. That's the nature of it all. To provide clarification if the contract is a large contract from the board of directors, but we deny the service, they would only pay up to what they have used up to that point. It's not as if the district is committed to paying a certain amount of one and not having the option to profit from it. So pay for a few weeks and finish a year only being responsible for the portion of services that were given and nothing more. Because I know that there have been times when the duration of the contract, I know that I saw that there were some limits to the contract in which
085one can participate before it is ratified by the board of directors. I just want to know about this, but I know when we got the big contract it was something without much coordination and we had to do it quickly, so I feel like I need to familiarize myself a little more with this, but there were talks of having access to those contracts. So, this is part of the new system that they are starting. I think we saw some of this at the board meeting before the activity meeting; they sent it and I have a new file for the June 18th meeting , but everything will be in the same place, it will be well stored in Google Drive. In the same place there was a section in the budget where we reviewed Yes, to operate
086as the independent financial system . I know we call it a long process to work with Wico. Can you just give me a summary of why you still say yes? What's the difference there? Because it causes a little bit of confusion. We think this is independent of the county system. The county system is called Best and that's the software they use. It's something different. We were fiscally independent before, which means we weren't on their software; we had our own, but we didn't report anything to them on their software. So all they should have had from our point of view were audit reports or interim reports that you sent them, but there was nothing in their software. What we're changing is that we're going to report in their software, but we're going to do it through
087what's called a district interface. We are going to maintain our financial system that many are already used to; it's called Business Plus for those who use it and are seeing it today. We are going to maintain the financial system. We're going to have to do what we have to do with our system, but we're going to have a file interface to the system so that we're basically giving them the same overview of our finances, and they're going to run our accounts payable checks when we have to pay a supplier. In fact, he writes the checks, he handles the expenses. The payroll files will also be processed through them. So the Best system will see what we have in the system, but it will have some continuity to have the services, people, and systems that we
088use now. So, it has more to do with the system you're using than with the supervision. Correct. The supervision will still be carried out. Ms. Cebedo, can we have the link in the Friday memos so that we permanently have this link to the contract, so that if a member of the board wants to attend, they can simply go to these contract meetings every Friday? Yes, I think we can. I'm going to talk about someone regarding that. Vice President Garza. I'm going to ask a question that I don't want to ask, but I think I should . In the worst-case scenario, if this continues to be a trend where we don't have enough funding and we no longer have the same type of state funding, what would you recommend in this situation? So, we started to
089find out without implementing any changes. They are simply to gather information about this and educate ourselves. Uh, we would like the table to activate to start looking at our expenses, our pattern, we cannot change what the state is giving us. That change, we can't make any changes, so we're going to look at the revenue and look for ways in which maybe we can change some of the spending patterns, things that maybe we can do that don't impact the classrooms. That's the number one goal, to get anything we want out of the classroom as much as possible and look for areas where we can possibly change things that we 're spending funds on. I will continue. I think it was one of the first things I talked about when I spoke about the first interim report.
090I'm going to continue looking at ways I can use some of the restricted funds for things we may or may not be doing right now, and that's just going to extend the general funds. But we've had to look at the expenses and see what we can change. There are things, for example, public services, that we cannot control. There are things like retirement costs that we don't have to control. Health and well-being are constantly increasing. So these are things we can look at and negotiate in other areas if we want to consider making changes to this type of health, welfare, for example. But we need to focus on our core operations, the money we're receiving and what we're spending. Thank you, CG. Crchfield, uh, the scribe not CRF. To talk about this, thank you so much
091again for the things you've done, because I've seen a lot of changes and I appreciate the extra help in understanding what we 're seeing. This is one of my favorite meetings because it's where we carry out the estimates, the approximations, to see how accurate we are in the months. So in 2023 we are at about 9 million, from there we are 30 million who are not and then we do not Latino for 30 million. So I know that if we look at that projection over several years, it looks very bad. And I think it's because they don't want to take a position, count on money that might not come in, have conservative accounting principles, and yet, the truth is, it does look negative when we look at 5 years, and the question that Miss Garza
092said comes to mind: well, what do we have to do? We have to act now because it looks quite frightening. But if the pattern continues, that 5-year projection would look very different. So the question is, how far do you think we're going to go wrong this year? I am not taking more than the estimate I gave. Those are the projections I used to do this, so I don't know. This budget meeting is because I'm not going, that's what I think it will be and then that's what I think it will actually be. The estimated figures are the figures that I have not worked with on with the team. Then in September, when we return to the current numbers, we can have this conversion when we close the books and see where we ended up. But
093no, I don't have to give numbers tonight, I don't. I know that this year, due to the capital, I think they are much closer to me. I've spent all night doing this. I think that with these changes we'll be closer, but it will be interesting to see how it's done, because the question is, why does it look so awful when it's like this? Oh, I have one more thing, the cafeteria funds, and he explained to me what the appropriate amount is that we are allowed to keep in the cafeteria. Because I saw some of the policies and I just want to make sure when we're talking about the lower-spending plan, what's the target or goal we're trying to reach, because I know there's a limit we can have on this account, so we're spending almost
094half a million here on capital expenditures, but we're budgeting half a million that won't come back, but if it's not happening and even at this rate it would be very difficult to reach the right amount. So that's what we're trying to do with this account. We are trying to reach the right amount. This year we're going to have to do the same form that says we didn't reach that point, but what we're trying to do this year is talk about cafes in particular. Um, we had some challenges in the cafeteria, uh, that the nutrition funds can't cover and the general funds have to cover it, and because of how we are with the general funds, the budget we don't want to spend, that's why we're looking at how we can improve the cafeterias, such as
095using some of the one-time funds called KIP funds, and we're also looking into installing air conditioning in the nutrition services, but it won't happen this year. So for some of these things, we're spending less quickly than we're anticipating. We have some really good ideas, but huge ideas that sometimes make us say, "Okay, what can we do with these funds?" We are just starting now; we didn't include it in the budget year to make improvements to staffing, certain ideas, and the way we do business in certain schools. We're looking at meals per hour to see how we spend the funds, the number of meals per hour that a site provides to studios for students based on how many meals they give per hour. without being more staffed to do it. So in the meantime, in the
096middle of the year the director has an absence, a leave of absence, so it has been quite interesting, as we have an interim director to keep the person on top of things , so that the cafeteria fund continues and these improvements also need to be made. So it's been a great learning experience for me to see the other ways we can do things, and I really think we're going to be able to make improvements in the cafes; we're just going to look at it in a different way, and that's why what you saw is exactly what you saw. We are spending more this year. Yes, we are decreasing the balance. Next year we don't have plans to decrease the balance, so it was increased again, but we're looking at different methods, staff, we're looking at
097unique things we can do, warehouse work, things we can improve, so it's something more general that takes a little more time, but I have a goal in mind to keep doing it little by little to have a reserve so that both cafeterias can have, because when I do this work I tend to look at many different school districts, I look at their interim reports, their budgets to see what's happening and many of the school districts are running into areas where they're going to have to start using general funds to support cafeteria funds. So I'm here walking a very fine line to make sure we don't have too large a balance, but one that's adequate for when it's needed. And yes, I appreciate that. Could you perhaps find that number and pass it on to the
098board, the amount allowed because and I thank you for finding ways to pay for the air conditioners in the cafeteria. That's a great thing. Visiting Pile the other day, we found a way to find accessible funding for some problems they have in the cafeteria. I know you already know, but it's good to use the funds for improvements that will affect the students. The ADA is funded by the district; we ca n't use nutrition funds for that. It was discussed previously, but we're looking at how to improve that. Thank you, Vice President Garsa. No, any other questions? KK Chrisfield. I thought I was going to have something, but yes, I want to thank everyone for their great questions. They make me feel better, even though I'm sick today. Well, yes, sorry for the delay. I think
099one of the worrying things is how much work needs to be done at our facilities. We've talked about it before, but we could go ahead and have new facilities, because our costs in the future with facilities that are deteriorating, I think the construction of the Mayfield fields, I want to address the safety concerns at all sites, facilities. I'm asking that, colleagues. I know we've talked about having a master plan for improving the facilities we have. Is this something we can do? Well, it was a 5- year plan, I don't necessarily know where it is now or where we are. This is year three, or I think we've almost finished part of it, but we want to make a new master plan for the facilities. The FMOT director wants to hire someone; I want to know
100that we'll need them for future years, other arenas to see the capacity in the schools. Uh, sorry, I took you at your word , sorry. This is something we're going to need, and the more up-to- date information we have for the community and the school board, the better it will be for all of us if the principal is already looking into finding a firm that can develop a new facility improvement master plan . When can't you submit it? In the new fiscal year, as summer time passes, July begins the new fiscal year, but starting from then on we are looking for a seller, a contractor talking about the field, the Mayf fields that are being fixed. I'm looking for someone. You can keep us informed, or when you find a seller and when you think
101we can do it. Vice President Garcia, I'm sorry. Well, meanwhile, I know that we have facilities listed in the report of old facilities; there's something there that still comes up in this new plan. We can look at it to see if very simple things like the maintenance of the fields are done, the buses that needed fixing have already been taken out. Most of those things we've already done. I've seen it in the memos, but let's go back and see if there's anything tangible we could start updating or working on if you give us a future memo on this topic. Colleagues, colleagues, I don't know if you feel the same as me in that there are some things we could do. There are simple things that could be implemented in the master plan. Yes, in the
102old master plan. I'm not even sure what we've completed when they send us updates , because there were five columns, um, 5 years. KF. Yes, thank you, Madam President. I think listening to the original plan wasn't very complete and there are things we could still address and we should, and René took me at my word, took me at my word, but speaking of the master plan for facilities, looking at our projections and what we want to do with the school facilities, uh, look for a bonus, uh, having that done sooner, I don't know how long it might take and I don't want to be insensitive about the work that has to be done, but the sooner the better with that because there has been a desire to do many things. Well, being in Pile yesterday,
103I feel like, well, I want to see quite a few other facilities to see what things need to be fixed in the future and also make strategic plans, something that the enrollment committee has been looking at to see what we can do with the facilities in these next couple of years, to have a master plan that tells us the status of the facilities, and even at this moment there are some facilities that could be closed, or if we invest money in something that might close in a couple of years. In other words, if we make different moves in the district, if we make the same moves for classrooms, investing in those facilities, but perhaps it is this school where perhaps we shouldn't be investing so much money, things that we need to know now to
104save money in the future as soon as possible, if reasonably, if it can be done . Thanks, Brad. While I was asking, it's 6 months of interest for fund 13 that they would like to have 3.5 million to 4 million and right now we have 6 million, a little more. That's what we're doing, that's what we 're working on. 10% of the district's expenses or no more than 6 months of expenses for 6 months for the cafeteria, which spends about 11 million dollars, so 6 months would be like half and that's what they want us to have or the figure they want us to be below. Anything else, colleagues? Well, thank you very much for the presentation. We have a major action 9.1, approval of the settlement agreement with Iswansen district. Any comments or questions?
105A motion to approve 9.1. I make the motion. I second. Seconded. I second that. Vice President Garza does the supporting. Vote. Um, Mr. Kfield, yes, Mr. Stuart, yes, Mr. Gar, yes. Hey, does anyone have any board questions about information issues tonight? Informative topics. If there are no objections, the board will return to closed session. No action will be taken in open session. We closed at 7:38 pm. Thank you. [Music]