001you know, if anything needs to I don't believe that this is approved by the board, is IC plan that also lifts up classified coaching and evaluation paired with the expertise and leadership and capacity of Chief Brockman. Um when she started digging into what tools we used for classified, I think they were 20 years, 15 years old. Yeah, >> they were very old many many chiefs of HR ago. Um, so I do think even this at least five years, hey, what are you using? What are we doing? How are we evaluating classified staff is big steps in a much better direction than where we've been. And I wonder if >> actually yeah, can I just do a quick check? We're we got a lot of things to cover still tonight. Um, Jonathan, is it for you
002to get that revision up on the screen? I can't see it the every 5 years or can anyone else see the updated language because I'd prefer to see if we can come to agreement on it tonight since we have a very packed policy schedule all the way to the end of the year. >> I mean I I agree. I don't think we need to send it back to policy committee. I think you know I understand that this was for support staff. I feel like being their IBB rep has made me sort of feel like, you know, they get the short of end of the stick a lot. And I wanted to make sure that we were sort of saying like, hey, we're going to keep this up to date. we're going to make sure that
003you guys are being evaluated, that you guys feel supported, that you know, and so I think in the spirit I was think and I don't need the feedback on grow because I understand now that it's separate, but that was what I was imagining was a system that we were using to evaluate and how often we were going to like consider considering the strategic plan, considering our updates, everything, you know, our district, the future. That's where I was. I felt like the push needed to be made to our team and the board that five years feels like a long time. Again, that's two different boards. That's two elections on a board. And I think, you know, there's a lot of conversation around IB. There's a lot of We're doing a lot more than we used to.
004And that was my push to the team. I just wanted to make sure that I elevated that cuz to me as a evaluator manager person I think that you know like your tool is really important and I just wanted to make sure which it sounds like you guys are doing it annually any that's what I'm hearing from you guys we're doing professional development on the use of the tool annually with checks with managers and then some updates to the tools have been coming um I think in a really nice way in the form of like revisions that managers make themselves as they go through the cycle. They will notice some key components that are missing and then they'll submit um an updated tool and then all the classified leaders are able to review it. Um
005and so it just is like more of a continual learning cycle for us as we work through this. So, um, Katherine, can you reread the language because it's not I think Jonathan's in the document now. To be reviewed at least every five years. And what was your addition? >> The second clause was or more often if deemed necessary by staff or a majority of the board >> because I I don't have edit access right now. >> I can see the change in my >> Yeah, I do. Okay. I don't think we need to add our majority of the board because that's already technically it's policy if the board decides that that's but I'm fine more often if deemed necessary by staff. I feel like for me again would love to keep it shorter but I
006defer to the board's decision and the team if we want to maintain it to every 5 years. I feel good about the additional language from director Kenberg at least every five years unless recommended by staff and I would entertain a motion to approve the policy as amended. >> I make a motion to approve policy GDDO evaluation of support staff as amended. I second. >> Do we need to call a vote or just say I? Call a vote. >> I Hi. >> Hi. >> Thank you very much. Uh the next business is a budget 2627 update presentation from Chief Shikorn that will include general fund revenue and expenses roll up revised revenues and a legislative update. Am I on the right thing? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Okay. >> Sorry. I was just trying to get my
007lighting correct because it looked like I was like in some sort of a dark tunnel. So, uh, apologies. I ended up coming home. I just I'm not feeling really great. So, um, thanks for your, uh, flexibility there. But um I'm ready to go ahead and share my screen and we can just start into the presentation and then um take your questions. Oops, sharing is not turned on. It says so Jonathan I just uh sent a request to you to share so I could share. He's He said you should be good. >> Oh, okay. Let's try it again. Oh, perfect. There it is. Yay. >> Thanks. >> Yeah, you bet. Okay. Okay, there we go. And then let me see if this Okay. So, can you see that? Okay. >> Yep. Looks good. >> Okay, perfect.
008Okay. So, uh what we're going to be reviewing tonight is legislative updates, uh current budget assumptions, uh and the overall general fund for revenue and expenditures, including what's changed between the estimates and looking into a um an actual financial statement rollup that we're looking at this time. So, uh, and then I also have some voice over on these slides because the legislature, as you all know, continues to, uh, continues to work on, uh, all of the school finance act and the long bills. So, we've got some updates there as well. So, first I'll go ahead and um, have Anna start with uh, the budget themes. Well, this, you know, we had finance committee Monday and one of the pieces of feedback from director Ramirez um in that meeting was, hey, we really need to hear
009you all start talking about as this budget evolves, what are the priorities, what are the themes, what are the values? Um, and so this is an adjustment uh from what we shared with finance team and really uh Chief Shaquin and I really really appreciated that push and so added this and and as with everything with the the budget, we start with kind of vague estimates and um ideas and concepts and then over March and April and May, we sharpen and sharpen after feedback. So this is our first um first pancake of really trying to articulate the priorities and values and key themes with the board publicly. And so we're very interested to hear more from you and more in finance committee of are we in the right direction? Are these the right priorities? And so
010again, just really appreciate the push to to really be able to articulate this at this point or probably even earlier next year. Um so I would say the big three things that we see as we're pulling this budget together of course is starting everything ending everything begins with our kids. Um and really wanting to make sure that our budget is intentional about sustaining and strengthening programs that are supporting our students. really making sure we're investing in their learning environments and that we're making sure that they have access to meaningful curriculum that is high quality um and and researchbased and is going to going to really drive the impacts we want. So there's a lot of components of that that you'll start to see lifted up and as we start bringing forward budget narratives and those
011kinds of pieces that get into the specifics of different department budgets. Um, the other really key component of our work is right next to students is we know our kids are only going to do as well as our staff is thriving. And so we have a lot of commitments throughout the budget as it's been developing to support and sustain our staff benefits to make sure that we're trying to preserve um the the best benefits that we can afford that we are um really being attentive to trying to honor the steps and lanes that exist in our salary schedule. And as you all know and conversations um exist that that where we feel that we have limits and really having competitive salaries and benefits packages that we're being proactive um and looking at other strategies to
012address those challenges and needs. And then third, I would say the other big theme and value and priority that's coming up in our budget is balancing change. As our board and community is aware of, we are trying to mitigate and frankly we're really trying to slow the impacts of student enrollment declines as we are not alone in declining enrollment. And if you're watching the news, you see a lot of other districts and different ways folks are responding to declining enrollment. I think what we don't want to have happen is to feel that the rug is being pulled out from under us in terms of staffing and programs and um schools and their ability to function at a high level. And so we know that um there are a lot of shifts we need to make
013to rightsize our teams and departments. hand. At the same time, we want to really mitigate and slow that change to make sure that we're not overburdening our schools and really tying their hands behind their back in their ability to mitigate change and the pace of change. Um, so you're going to see areas where we've taken steps to address staffing levels and we still have more steps to take, but we're not doing them all at once. Um, and so those are components in our budget as well. And then I would say a big piece of that that balancing change is we know we're responding to dynamic environments. We're always responding to the dynamic needs of students and we have got to make sure that we stay tightly aligned to our strategic plan discipline to the initiatives
014that we've laid kind of set forth um and that we've committed to that we think are going to really have an impact in the long run over um in our ability to really close that achievement gap, opportunity gap for our students. And so we're we're trying to make sure that we are at the same time we're navigating a very dynamic environment that we are staying steady and consistent with our implementation and strategic plan. So those are some of the themes. They'll show up in the conversations and we'll keep tightening those up. Thanks Christie. >> Thank you. Uh so looking at the legislative update um and this actually uh was from April 8th. This was from a week um almost two weeks ago. Uh we just received uh some additional updates from the rural school alliance
015this morning actually. So I'll just voice over those updates on these slides but um the first one is is generally remained unchanged. The long bill and school finance act have been introduced as of that week and a half ago and that usually in indicates most of the work has been completed on the budget. Uh they're still working on deliberations. Uh they are waiting on additional economic forecasts. Uh but we just found out today that they are probably not looking at making any adjustments despite the potential of revenue declines uh from the state's budget uh in the future. There they have a fairly optimistic revenue estimate at the state and it looks like that's going to hold at this point in time. So that is a little bit of a change. Uh and the school finance
016act still does need some work but but it's getting closer as of now. So the good news is that the education uh was definitely spared from significant cuts beyond what the governor's proposal requested. So, that's really good news for us with the 30% phase in and the new funding for formula is anticipated and uh moving from a fouryear to a three-year student averaging which was included in the original governor's proposal. And um and taking off of the table the $ 1.7 million loss that the district would have incurred if they would have pulled the bond and mill levy override specific ownership taxes into the funding formula as a funding resource. and then taking it away from the district. They did not do that which was really super good news for us. Uh that helped us
017a lot. So uh the other good news is that the total program funding is similar to what we budgeted for. So it's not going to impact our budget where we need to look at additional cuts and that it is actually at this point going to provide an additional 375,000. Now there is some conversation around this last point on this slide. this 2.3% inflation retained for total program funding. The national is 4%. That it just really indicates that the 2.3% is probably not keeping up with inflation. Um they're still talking about this point at the legislature, but I don't have any other information than that at this point in time. So another um bad news or some bad news that we have which is moving the student averaging from four to three years is a funding
018cut. So that was in the original governor's proposal but it's still bad news and then all all new funding comes from state education fund savings. So they're taking some risks on their own budget and that that um state education fund is looking at being insolvent with within a few years and um it is also utilized for mid-year state revenue losses and potential in well instead of recisions and uh so it's taking away some of that buffer that is increasing the potential for recisions uh in the future. So that is not necessarily good news. Uh so and I've already talked a little bit about this really optimistic optimistic high revenue number that the legislative council is using by about $400 million. Once again, this could yield additional mid-year recisions unless the economy improves. Uh and but
019the second bullet point about the whether or not the SFA and long bill will require additional reductions. They are going to hold at the current rates which is good news from today. So uh they have also additional onetime funding used in the state's budget elsewhere 270 million. So they're using they still have a structural deficit in their budget but they are balanced uh for this year but a lot using one-time monies is pretty much the summary there. No funding for new legislative priorities and the voucher federal credit tax credit program system is um they're looking at putting that into place also. Uh so that what that would do is go ahead and um and allow uh more schools of choice options for people at a lower cost. So okay. So, what we looked at doing
020um for this current budget estimate is we actually included 15% phase in of the total program funding because about two weeks ago when we were talking to uh Colorado School Finance Project and other people, they were anticipating that that they weren't going to be able to afford the 30% phase in. So, now um actually this is this news has actually changed. And then looking at uh a three-year enrollment averaging is what we have in our budget assumption which is the same as the state. And then looking at the 5,286 FTE students for FY27 that includes 4,799 um RFSD current and then 550 charters uh students. And so what that means is that there was 5,412 students in our October count for FY26. So that's a reduction of 126 students that we're putting in into our
021budget. Uh for between FY25 and FY26, we had 220 student drop. So the question that is still out there is, is the 126 student loss enough for FY27? Now, the 126 student loss is based upon the demographers's information. So, that is the best information we have, but we're still looking at that pretty carefully and we're we're in the middle of running some numbers on that. So, um, we'll give you an update on where that lands and our recommendation if we're looking at holding that at 126 students for now or if we're going to look at the potential depending upon whether or not we've seen some declines currently for this year since October count, whether or not we should lower that number um and and make sure that we um capture the student loss uh for
022the next year. So additional budget assumptions uh we have the step in there for uh the staff and Medicare and parah at the same amounts and a 10 12% increase in the district contribution and keeping the plan design at PO9 which is the same um plan that the district paid for uh for 2025 2026. So looking at now we're actually at the first draft of the budget. So the first draft of revenues is 96.7 million and um the transfers those are transfers to other funds such as for the uh the internal charter schools for Two Rivers Community School and uh Carbondale Community School as well as for our grant fund and uh for our food service fund and for early childhood. That's all of those funds that are included in that $15.9 million number. So
023the net net revenue that we are looking at at this point in time is $80.8 million. Our draft expenditures are 82.4 million yearly a net deficit of approximately 1.6 million. However, we have to take into consideration that we have 1.765 million of these one-time carryover expenditures uh in the budget. So that our recurring potential available is 181,000. So that is the amount that we have available on a recurring basis based upon these current estimates. Now, looking at the um there's there's this note about this 156,000 that may be needed um for early childhood fund steps and health insurance increase. We're waiting on um some also waiting on some legislature and student count update estimates. So, I'm still working on the early childhood education budget to see whether or not they can fund their own steps
024in health insurance. If they indeed can based upon the tuition increases, then we can hold this at the $181,000 savings. And if not, I may have to bump that up a little bit, just so you're aware. Okay. So then I go into a conversation of what has changed in the first draft versus the previous estimate. Now, looking at the revenue, I did increase by the 375,000 for no smoothing factor currently proposed by legislature. it it's looking a little bit different. They would if they would um put a smoothing factor into the budget, that would be when they go into a phase in of the funding formula at 45% instead of 30%. So, um so we're not going to see that cut unless we see additional funding come through um through the phase in at this
025point in time. And I did reduce the um total program funding revenue by 729,000. And I kept that aside just in case with the phase in going from 30% to 15% which it looks like now that is not going to happen which is really really good news. Uh but we're still looking at the current enrollment to determine whether or not adjustments are needed. So we'll provide an update on that piece and um to see whether or not that funding is available. Okay. So once again looking at what has changed. Um there was a savings of 250,000 in the cost of a step because in my original estimate I included all the other funds um for the costs of salaries and benefits for the step um for grant fund early childhood and food service. But it
026looks like all those funds are going to be able to pay for their own step which usually doesn't happen because we're looking at tuition increases for early childhood which usually doesn't happen. food service is seeing some additional revenue, which usually doesn't happen. That was um some additional um benefits they put into the system as far as um the increase in um lunch form, student lunch forms, etc. That has um bumped up their revenue and the grant fund is looking like it's going to be able to hold also at this point. And it's the same story really for um health insurance. So, uh, so that's what that looks like right now. We found a savings of 44,000 due to a reduction in teacher positions because of subdays. Um, we can reduce the subdays budgeted because we
027don't have as many teachers in the budget for next year. And then there was 131,000 in other savings. Um, and then this is what that looks like just from a pro proform when you're um when you're doing the full reconciliation. Okay. Um, I'm not going to go through the general fund revenues unless the board would like to do that. I know we've reviewed this before and I've gone through all of the um, adjustments since the last version, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask those. So when we're looking at increases for expenditures then we have the health insurance increase which $8.90 step increase of 1 million50 and then the athletic increase um including the 2% for their step if you will of 60. We had um capital funding cliff cliff and tech
028mill fund funding cliff where we were expecting this to happen where our one-time monies ran out for our tech mill fund and now we're going to have to fund that through our general fund. We had additional five SSN paras due to students coming into the district um that are going to need those paras per the IEPs and um 200,000 for the cost of educational lanes which is uh yields 2,784 in increases. And then when we look at the the savings in the budget um were the other reductions we had an ASUS position reduction which is at the district level and nursing as well and then non-school other budget reductions uh that was 6.3% across the board reduction and non salary. Then we're looking at the uh subbudget for 44,000 we just talked about. We are
029also um reducing the amount available um because um we have more and more people that are not choosing health insurance just because of the increase in cost and um and so that is what that number is related to. And then there's other attrition of 38,000. Um and then looking at the school budget reductions, mostly due to declining enrollment, we did not change any of the student teacher ratios, but we did yield because of those reductions in students uh 17.7 uh net FTE teacher reductions 2 and a half FTE for front office specialists um school non-salary savings of 62,000 because of the decline in enrollment and um a Boseis reduction because of the reduction in number of students. there to yield uh 3,285 in draft budget savings. Okay, now this is going back to Anna to
030talk about strategic priorities. You bet. Thanks, Chief Shaquin. You know, I'm not going to say a ton about this, but we will continue as we bring budget components to you and start to develop budget narratives that go with a lot of the department budgets to lift up where initiatives um and investments that are directly tied to our strategic plan are showing up within the budget. So, as you can see, here is an initial breakdown of each of our priorities and some of the investments that you will start to see in individual budgets, department budgets, team budgets, um staffing plans, um and salary plans. So, just wanted to start, you know, as we started with that, um priority and that theme around balancing change. We want to be responsive to the dynamic environment around revenues and
031make sure we're maintaining consistent alignment to be investing with our general fund into the strategic plan. So these are some of the things um that when we get to the kind of updates at the end of the year on the strategic plan are uh connected to the budget. >> Okay, thank you Dr. Cole. So the next slide is looking at what would what to do with the potential available funding. Uh we do show that $181,000 surplus. Uh it it could be needed for early childhood education. So we we still have this need out there. And then also looking at that um 729,000 we have we're really reviewing closely all of our enrollment data just to make sure we've got that captured and um and it's dependent upon final budget verifications. This is all in flux
032and this is really ear the earliest we've really ever to my knowledge I mean I know definitely since I've been here provided this type of a rollup of the budget uh so for everybody to review to give a lot of time for people to review the budget and to um get their input into it. So it's definitely not fully baked. So but it's it's getting close. So anyway, so to be determined. So looking at 2728 future outlook, uh there's still a lot of things out on the horizon we have to watch. Uh the federal funding unknowns, uh student enrollment, the projection to continue declining, uh F FRC is one-time savings that are we're going to need to um add that cost back for 2728. Uh increases um continuing for health insurance anticipated because inflation is
033not going away in that in that um arena. in looking at other inflationary pressures on the budget for utilities, uh things like that, uh a lot of the commodities, you're going to see I bet you're going to see increased costs this year. uh looking at all of the the things that I've seen on the market and um what the analysts are saying um so we are also losing funded student count due to averaging because we keep losing the number of years we can average first of all and secondly then we lose the students as we have gotten lower and lower um those average students go away so not only do we lose the students that we're actually losing for that year, but we also lose based upon the averaging as well. The structural funding deficit
034has not gone away and they definitely at the state level are kicking the can down the road. So that is something that is still to be determined and it underlines the importance of retaining an alternative funding source for recruitment and retention goals. So that's just something to note as well. Um I wish we could do more. Um, we've been trying to get tighter and tighter on the budget and the one thing that I really feel good about is that we have things everything captured number one and number two is that, you know, we're accurate and we're getting tighter and tighter each year, which is really good that um to be able to provide this level of transparenc uh transparency to our community. Uh timeline. Uh what's next? Uh so we're gonna you're going to see
035me a lot maybe not in person today but uh but definitely through June 10th we're going to have a lot of discussions uh between the finance committee and definitely at each open uh board meeting as well. Uh but we're also for the next meeting we'll give a provide a legislative update again as I have noted and some additional updates on the general fund and then um I'll also add in the 2526 projection. We're starting to roll that up also. Um looking at uh board questions and information requests which are um also rolling in which is really great. We're trying to make sure to get all of that to everybody timely and um starting to include other fund information and budget narrative. So, uh so anyway, um that is pretty much it. The budget calendar is
036linked to this uh present presentation also for your reference uh if you wanted to see any additional detail there. Okay. >> Thank you so much, Tisha Coin. And yeah, jumping to the budget calendar helped relieve my anxiety as I have, you know, as we gather questions. This is not a final action night. So, the board is invited to ask clarifying questions, identify where we need more information and more detail. Um, knowing that we're going to see this quite a few more times. So, to open up discussion, um, Director Kenberg, welcome to the evening. Why don't you kick us off? >> Thank you. Um, and thanks for letting me come in late tonight. Wearing multiple hats is not always easy. So >> happy to see you. >> I'm here. Um Chief Shcoin, thank you for this
037thorough update. Uh I'm grateful to see where the legislature is currently. Um and I feel like I always say this that every year we get to this point where we all sigh collectively after a lot of months of fretting. Um so it's good to be here and see that some of this is holding. Um I don't have a lot of specific questions on this. I think my questions really are around the things that are still in flux. I just went over the budget calendar too. Um, and I think in light of even public comment tonight, the one question that I do have is are we going to build in opportunities for public discourse? I know the board has been invited to all finance committees at this point and I feel like we have very good
038systems down now finally for the governance team and staff. Um, and I'm wondering, and this doesn't have to happen in this cycle, but I'm wondering if if there is any plan to engage the public in any way in these discussions, you know, more um intentionally than we have in the past. You know, I can I can tackle that, Chief Shcoin, and if you have anything to add, please jump in. Um, you know, I would say to right now, no, no, we do not have anything formal beyond these meetings and public comment. I mean, I will say that in part of our MLO exploratory process, we are now planning like a May, you know, we did kind of a road show in March. We're planning a another community road show in May that would refine our
039um kind of would refine the committee's presentation and proposal based on a lot of what we're hearing in the community. I think there's a general lack of understanding of how property taxes relate to school finance and you know that the it's very confusing but the fact that increases in people's property taxes and increases in the dollars going to the roaring for schools does not mean we're getting more money. That's a real fundamental misunderstanding that we need to correct. So there is opportunity upcoming in continued MLO outreach and information and education. Um, and you'll see because this has been a theme in the road shows we had in March that educating our community on school finance really matters. But we we right now don't have anything formal on this like specific budget and input on it.
040Um, Chief Shaquin, anything you want to add there? >> No, I I think that that's right. I mean, I think that having these conversations uh publicly a lot um whether whether it be in um additional meetings with the public specifically or here allows people to put their voice in the room during the public comment section. And um and I you know I certainly um appreciate if anybody um is wanting to you know reach out to us as well you know I mean that that's something that we can take under advisement but but some sometimes we have um these cycles where we um survey the the community uh on different topics but this seems like it's a bit more broad than that at this point in time. I appreciate that and I was just thinking in
041light of the your letter in the postindependent just wondering if there was anything else kind of in that vein but I do think it's important we continue to educate the public so I'm grateful I'm really grateful that we're seeing this now again this timeline feels so much better than it has historically so thank you >> thank you director after >> yeah I just had Um, one detailed question and then a couple comments. Christie, thanks for this. Um, on slide 14, I think. Um, says 44, no 13, sorry. It says 44K savings due to reduction in teacher positions from a reduction in subday budgeted. Can you just explain that a little bit more? Is it because or subday budgeted based on FTE? Is that why? Correct. >> A direct reduction. Okay. >> Yep. That's exactly right.
042And that's one thing that I did not include in the original um budget estimates that I'll make sure that in the future that as we increase or decrease teacher positions that we incorporate those um increases or decreases accordingly as well. >> Does that assumption hold true when you have teachers who to me it seems counterintuitive that the fewer teachers the fewer sub days? cuz in fact it seems like you might have a situation where teachers uh I don't know what the right term is but like would be would be um needing more days off because of the load that's being put on them by the reduction in force and so that could increase the number of subdays. You know um that's a that's a really great approach or question to that. uh the reason why
043that assumption generally holds true in this case is because our student teacher ratio hasn't adjusted. >> Okay. Oh, right. >> So, so that's that's the reason why number one and number two. So, that means that you have fewer classrooms and so as you have fewer classrooms that it reduces that probability of a sub by that classroom if that makes sense. >> Right. And I I think I've heard you say before Dr. Recall that class sizes are not increasing. >> Correct. >> Cuz we're just declining across the board. All things, money, kids, everything. >> Correct. >> Okay. Got it. >> We have not adjusted the student teacher ratio we use to staff our buildings. >> Right. Okay. Thanks for clarifying. Um and then I Yeah, thanks for the um like rapid response updates on the legis
044of everything coming out of the legislature. It's great to see that and it's seems very dynamic. So, thanks for staying on top of it. And then thanks also for the slide um 18 which we've asked for in the past. So, it's great to see how the budget's aligning to the strategic priorities. I don't have any other questions. Thanks Christie. Director um I got to do a finance committee amend. So, thanks team. I already saw this. I just wanted to ask a clarifying question because I went into the board update um for the deans of culture and it I'm reading off of the the memo. It just says we have not adjusted staffing for principal, dean or counselors. So that means can you explain what that means? >> Sure. Right now the principles, deans and counselors
045are for the most part not allocated based on student numbers. Um we just staff them per building. The only the only changes I would say are Glennwood Springs High School which has additional admin because the size of the school. So they have um two assistant principles, one principal and Bridges High School which because the size of school only has a principal. Um but those those positions are staffed per school and at least right now in our staffing models do not adjust with the number of students. And so as we roll into the next year, even though many of our schools are shrinking in size and the the the numbers of certified teachers has adjusted based on the number of students, our admin positions have not at this time. I will say there are working groups
046and admin uh probably certified IBB that are really looking at those positions as well as other positions that are staffed kind of per school and saying hey what's the point at which a school gets so small that those do need to be adjusted um and can we get to some agreements um much earlier next year that would impact how we staff our schools in 2728. >> Yeah. Um, but who who currently has deans of culture and what will that look like next year per how we're staffing? >> Yep. So, all of our secondary schools have deans of culture. So, middle and high schools. Um, some elementary schools have staffed a dean of culture, but they've done that out of the staffing that they have. They haven't gotten their number of certified teachers and a dean.
047They've gotten their numbers of certified teachers and allocated from that to a dean. Um, I think an exception being the Salt Middle School is really trying to manage the the programs that their students are getting access to and really trying to lean in on a Spanish language arts program. And so they've we've allowed um and supported their direction to for this year because of constraints and priorities to allocate their dean um FTE to a Spanish language arts FTE uh teacher because they're making that decision in their own local school about where their priorities and needs are. >> Awesome. So next for 2627 we're the assumption is everybody will have secondary will have Okay, >> you got it. Um I you know I shared some of my concerns with the with the finance committee. Um uh
048when we met I think at at the end of the day you know I I'm grateful I've said this before one that we have finance committee um but two that um that we have worked so hard to have this budget um presented to the board with enough time for the board to really dig into it and for us to really ask the questions and not feel like we're being rushed. And so my push to our team, to the board, um is really for us to make sure that we're taking advantage of this this time that uh I as a board member have not seen um and during my tenure. And I really want to make sure that um as much as possible that we're able to ask some of these really strategic questions on not
049only how we're investing in our strategic priorities through the general fund, but also what investment we're making into towards closing the achievement gap. And so that um is I think my only feedback. I appreciated the update uh Superintendent Cole on the strategic priorities and our investments in the schools. I think that's great. I think we should continue to have that conversation on what that looks like. Um and then you know my push again is just for us to make to as we continue to have that conversation um how also are we doing that towards closing the student achievement gap. Thanks team directors. >> Yes, I actually have kind of a lot of questions, so answer me as briefly as you can and hopefully I can get it. Um I I guess I don't have tons
050but um okay if I understand right I'm still kind of stuck on this whole governor's proposal from what I've looked it up and basically the school part of it is we're going to get $413 more essentially per student but we're going to have fewer students so we'll have less money. Um when I yeah when I looked it up I could couldn't quite get much more out of it than that. >> Okay. Now, are you looking at like I mean what is the governor's proposal? What does that really >> relate to or pertain? Okay. Yeah. So, so really what that is is it's a starting point for the legislature. So, the governor kicks off the legislative session early, if you will, and says, "This is what I think the budget is going to look like." And
051he puts a proposal out there before the legislative session. Okay. And so a part of that is the school finance act and all of the school funding. And so a big portion of that then is what's called uh the total program funding and as you indicated the per pupil revenue. And um and then I actually work with the state to make sure that we have the estimated number of students correct uh for the ensuing budget year so that the numbers that the state puts out there in their spreadsheet are uh congruent with what we're putting in our budget. So that's generally what the governor's request is. Does that help? >> I guess. So where's he getting it from or what's he motivated by or where are those numbers coming from? Is that a hard question?
052Yeah, that's a great question. If you could figure that out, you can make a million dollars lobbying right now. >> Oh. Oh, >> what is that guy? >> Is he basing it off of last year and then subtracting whatever he doesn't have? >> Well, he there's a lot of different laws and requirements uh for school. That's a really wonderful question and it's it's extremely involved but in trying and for the interest of trying to keep it as brief as I can and not getting too much into the weeds it is really first of all it is really based upon previous legislature uh decisions and amendments uh to the constitution that were passed by voters such as amendment 23 uh for the increase um in funding for school districts. So all of those kinds of laws
053and requirements are baked in to the governor's uh proposed request and then they're taking um the lobbyists input. They are taking uh feedback from uh a lot of different additional organizations as well as looking at their budget constraints and what else they have to fund to come up with what they where their priority is for education for this year and how much they think they can put towards education um at that point in time which is November 1st is usually when the governor's request comes out. >> Okay. Okay. So, they do this every year and they base it on whatever new legislation is around and sometimes it's changes a lot and maybe sometimes it doesn't. >> Yeah. You know, I mean like because they are they're always going to have a lot of the components
054uh in the total program funding like the inflation factor is going to be in there. They have some shape of averaging of students. They have they have cost of living factor and they and then they also um they have another group working on what actually is adequate funding for education because we're still falling dismally short of where other um states are as far as per pupil funding. So, we're still despite some of the um you know the the attempts uh before to try to get us to funding that is adequate, we are still not there. So that there's a push to try to increase education funding while the state budget is in essence shrinking because of other requirements on the budget such as Medicare and um and things like that that also are really um
055pressuring the state's budget. >> Okay. Thank you. And this 30% phase in that you did 15 to be um conservative. What? Like what are these numbers? What are we talking about? 30%. What would 100% be? >> Yeah. I mean, yeah. I I don't have the actual 100% right with me right now because I would have to look that up. But I if you wanted that, I could just put it into a board tracker. I'm happy to to put that out. But what the what the phase in is is that they had as I had indicated earlier there's there's different factors in the funding formula and I I've only named a few of them. There's there's free and reduced lunch. There's the English language learners. There is um >> special ed. >> Yeah. There's all sorts
056of different factors and and so that they have a new funding formula that was really trying to um I guess improve the funding for those students that were um higher cost or really were lagging behind or needed some additional supports. And so the phase in of the funding formula is taking the old school finance act 1994 fun formula and and um renovating it to a new formula. And they they um because the new formula has an increase in cost and additional funding that the district will be receiving, the state could not pay for it all at once. And so they were looking at originally I think phasing it in over five years I thought or six and then they then it was seven years and so they've been wrangling with how much they can afford.
057But generally they're trying to phase this new funding formula in over a series of perhaps six to seven years currently. >> Okay. Yeah. Maybe I'll put that in the board tracker and ask like, do we have any idea how much that money might be ballpark? All right, next one. Um, federal tax credit optin. I think I understand what it is, but I don't understand how it would really affect the schools. >> No, that's a really great question. Um so we are we're seeing a lot of additional I guess pressure from competition from other uh uh I guess schools whether they be private schools or online schools that is are really um all of those different options are competing for the same kids. So, as you have something like a voucher program that's put into place,
058it makes it even more affordable or more enticing for some parents to move their kids out of public education, which then as we all know could yield additional declining enrollment. So, that is the I guess the nexus. >> I'm not sure. It says it's like it's a tax credit that the individuals can then put towards scholarships. >> Yeah. I mean, I haven't looked at the 100% of the I mean, put that one in the board tracker. I'm happy to because I have the information around it, but I don't want to speak too much to it because I haven't done like too much of a deep dive on it. >> Okay. >> I'm happy to though because it's Yeah. >> Yeah. If you guys that can be my last question. Um yeah, thank you. And if
059you guys have any info for me, give it to me. >> Great. >> All super good questions. I sent you a quick link that's a good summary of the funding formula that they're talking about with the 30% 15% phase in um that I found to be useful. And uh yeah, so I will jump in a few comments again just appreciation for the continuity here. It's so helpful to when you broke down the original proposal to what we changed in this draft version of the budget. So, thank you for taking the time to do that. Um, my question was, how are the how's the attendance at the virtual meetings with staff uh asking questions about the finance? How's that going? >> You know, we have pretty good attendance. I mean, we've had I mean, I think
060earlier we had more uh people, probably two dozen that would show up and now we have a handful. and and when um they do show up, we also have Christina uh Vargas had also put out a um a form that people could ask uh questions that way that we answer online during the Q&A and we've had a few of those questions. So, I'd say that it's actually pretty good participation and we've had great questions from our staff. >> Yeah, thank you all so much for taking the time to do that. I know that's a lot, but it's really valuable um to stay transparent with our staff especially. >> Um okay, so Tammy, it's funny you mentioned the optin option. I have it on my notes to express disappointment in our governor's decision to opt into
061the federal tax program. Um and you just did >> and I just did. I should celebrate. No, our questions for staff. So my response, my comment for the record is that um in the state we need to strongly support House Bill 261292, which is at least trying to reign in the scope of the scholarship granting organizations that would have access to public money to make sure that they can be upheld to the same standards that we do in education, which is um non-discriminatory practices and making sure supporting students with disabilities. The idea is that we're taking public money into this voucher program that parents can send to other organizations that grant scholarships for tuition. Um, and we need to make sure that the public money has transparency and accountability attached to it. It's kind of
062the first baby step towards a voucher program. And you can look up um Arizona's education situation right now in their public schools if you want to see where that road leads. Uh, so yeah, there I expressed it. Thank you so much, Christie. Um 5 minutes of open discussion, but anyone who didn't get a question in has more need for information. Um the Medicare line on insurance that's just for over 65 like no where does the Medicare come in? So um we actually are required it's part of social security or well it's social security Medicare in um other businesses but we have parah in Medicare and uh so the the Medicare line is a requirement that the employer pays 1.45% of everybody's salary towards Medicare and we pay that to the federal government of their salary.
063>> No that's good. And I guess the smoothing factor, that was another question. They they is the smoothing factor and the um averaging the the three four year averaging the same thing. >> It's similar. They're similar um concepts, but what the what the legislature is has tried to do and and they've well they they've actually created a work group to look at what's called a smoothing factor because when you get from three-year student averaging down to now the next reduction would be to two-year averaging. it gets to be so impactful on the revenues for a school district that it it can really take a school district south with its finances way too quickly. And so instead of doing that, now they're looking at a smoothing factor to take and to replace the um the averaging,
064but they haven't yet gotten there yet. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Yeah, you're quite welcome. >> Excellent. Well, our next business in order. We're all done. Sorry, I didn't mean to. >> No. Okay, >> you're all good. Um, is a discussion on policies JIC, CJ, GCS, and GD. Nope, sorry, there's one up here. Next business in or sorry, I'm looking around here. We're going to look at all of those. I'll keep reading. Yeah, GDA and GDAA. I appreciate the centering there. Sorry, I'm getting a little crosseyed. And I just wanted to know if staff had anything to offer um on the cell phone policy before the open board discussion. Yeah, I think that'd be great. I think some folks would love to hear hear your thoughts. Uh the memo, I will just note for those
065listening in, is very helpful. Um so please join us on the agenda live on the website, board of education. Follow the links and it's all in there for you to read. Yeah, glad you mentioned the memo director to Freddy. So, we won't say much beyond there's a ton of work that happened in this policy. We've been working on this since October, especially especially equity advisory council. And I will name that like three of the four seniors that you worked with and both of the the seniors who were unable to make it from Glenwood sit on the district equity advisory committee. So, they've been working on this policy all year. They did research. um they looked at sample policies and they really were the crafters of the first version that then went out to other groups.
066Anything else we need to add? >> Okay. I'd also just like to note for the record before we open discussion, the vast majority of comments tonight um that were submitted were in relation to the cell phone policy. So, another great snapshot of the community perspective on this issue. if directors or public wants to do some reading. Uh let's get started with director Ramirez. Thanks. >> Well, team, um I was part of policy committee when we reviewed this. I feel like we've already shared or I've already shared some of my questions. I did add after um we had our meeting just a sort of a push nudge, I don't know, um that the only section that could be potentially missing is transportation. I did review some of policies from other districts in the state and that
067was one section that they had where you know are cell phones allowed on buses especially if we're picking them up. So I just wanted to flag that for the team. I think you know that would be a good thing for us to know if there is an expectation. We want to take that back to the council or if there was a conversation that already uh was already had and I think I just wanted to flag it for this team. >> You know, I would I would say it'd be if the board has strong direction on that and then I would like to defer to um Director Hathaway and Dr. Park. I think right now a challenge with transportation is um monitoring and implementation would would be really the we did not um consult with bus
068drivers on this. It's a tricky thing what they're doing already. Um and so I think that was one of the hesitations. Other thoughts on that? I think the radical stakeholder groups that we talked about flagged enforcement as one of their primary concerns about the policy, not the policy itself, like as a general consensus that this is good for our schools and good for our students. But enforcement is going to be tricky and I feel like we've done a really nice job of having a template for what that looks like that's going to need to flex and check and adjust as we get into it. But I do think that enforcement on a bus is like a next level next step when in general the only adult is busy hopefully uh paying attention to traffic. Everything
069goes on beyond them and uh really the the only recourse is to is to bring the bus back or to write it up and address it the next day. It I I think it's something that we could explore if there was a great will to do that. But that is what I see as the bigger hurdle in terms of transportation. I think I mean I I hear you guys on enforcement obviously. I think all around that's going to be tricky. Um my only push to the team again would just be the consideration and exploration of it only because I do think we have had conversations or you know situations have happened with kids on the bus and so um that's a nudge more so than anything. I obviously whatever you guys I defer to you
070guys. I also feel like we got a lot of people in public comment that were very inspired by this and I feel like we could very quickly say, "Hey parents, do you want to ride the bus with your kids while we roll this out?" Not saying we should do that. I'm just saying it could happen. I could see parents, you know, wanting to be enforcement officers on the bus. Um, and hey, that's strategic priority, community engagement, parent engagement. So, just make wanting to make sure I flag that. That's it. >> Uh, Director Kinderg, >> I am in full support of us implementing this policy. I think that as to transportation, I would agree with staff that that feels very tricky and difficult to me. And I feel like hopefully less and less children will have
071cell phones in hand once we pass this and it won't be as big of an issue on buses. Um but I don't think that it is a great idea to try to do that now. I feel like it's it just makes it too big. Um I think your question director about off-campus trips outdoor ed is an important one. I feel like that those are the times when parents want that connection point. Um, and so I'm curious if that's been considered and then how we're dealing with enforcement and discipline in those scenarios. Like if you're, you know, we've got a football team back on a 5 hour bus ride, what are we >> Yeah. In the in the way that the policy currently reads, my vision for it is that it's on campus, which can um
072there are times that that onampus definitions include like those other activities. And so I think that it's going to need to be something that's really clearly stated in parent permission slips before you go to have those communication plans um in place, you know, like like teacher I I I imagine just with teacher communication for example on a field trip like here's the number that where you can reach your child, you can reach them through me. I have really high hopes for the parent square app that that's going to help a lot of this communication go on. Does that make sense? >> It does. Yeah. I would just encourage us to be proactive with communicating that to parents. I think that is where the worry comes in, right? Like >> my parents at or my kids
073at a play rehearsal during tech week and they're at school five extra hours a day every day the entire week and >> might get out at 700 and might get out at 9:00. So, I think getting parents back into the habit and kids into the habit of relying on a trusted adult to use their device or using the app or the other forms that we have, it's going to be a major cultural shift. >> It is. I agree. And I think, you know, I think the communication overall is going to be a real key to this, like as we launch into next school year, that every school, you know, um, really launches into an actual campaign to make sure that parents and and students are really educated about what this is going to look like
074and what they can expect. >> It's an example of one of the sticky pieces, but the clarification, I think, an after hours sporting event, it sounds different. kind of feels different than a school sponsored event like an overnight trip or a field trip. And so um because they're partaking in a school type of activity, that might be the distinction. Similarly to where we have behavior expectations that apply even if you are at on a field trip. Um but that's definitely a detail that we would need to clarify. >> Will there be an associated regulation with this for staff? And >> yeah, >> we we drafted and there was linked some guidance and I wonder if director Hathway you want to speak about the like implementation guidance. I don't know that would be a board regulation
075but we definitely already the team has started to draft. >> Yeah, I think it would be a board and just I was just curious if you guys have got gotten that far. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. >> Yeah. >> I've also we're just like going back and forth to me. I've also worked with um with school leaders, with deans of culture, with students um on starting a draft on on what response looks like to cell phone violations. And I believe that the policy refers to like this will be addressed in the matrix. And so this guidance will be linked into the matrix. And right now where it is is it goes and talks about um I think there was a concern that is a really important concern that we're not putting teachers in the position of
076being engaged in constant power struggles over cell phones. So, we tried to be clear about what a teacher's responsibility is and what a school leader's responsibility is with this and even give teachers some language to avoid power struggles to give them almost written permission to just to drop it before you get into an argument about it and to refer it pretty immediately to school leaders to take care of it. And um the remainder of that guidance kind of talks through like the uh what happens if there's one violation, what happens if there's two, what happens if there's three? And it it the general policies all start with bring that cell phone up to the office, students retrieving it at the end of the day, and then additional offenses would be the the cell phone up
077to the office and um families have to retrieve it at the end of the day and then continued offenses turn into like parent discussions and contracts and agreements and things like that. The general core of that part of it came because all of our schools already have cell phone policies and all of our schools already have like these lists of um uh accumulating offenses and how it escalates. And so this was really just a um general like synthesis of lots of that different work that the schools have already done into one overriding document. >> Director After. Yeah. Thanks. Um, when I saw the bellto bell description, I assumed that meant that anything after the bell but still on campus would be would allow cell phones to be present to do director Kenberg's question. So like
078club activities, sports activities, >> any of that you'd be allowed to, but maybe it's it sounds like maybe that's not fleshed out. And it's okay if it's not. I >> think that's right. Actually, I do I think that it's bell to bell because what we're interested in is like preserving teaching and learning, right? So, it's bell to bell, but the the original uh question that director Kenberg had was about field trips and school sponsored activities. So, that's like still vision that bell time. Yeah. So, it's within the same time even though it's in a different space whereas like an an 8:30 at night basketball game at Roing Fork High School, that's different. that's that's beyond the bell and people are going to behave differently at a sporting event. >> Yeah, I find that framing to
079be really helpful >> because it means that kids can call their parents to pick them up and that's important to parents. >> I agree and I'm glad that you brought that up and made that distinction because I don't think anyone here has the vision of like a student could not go to a basketball game for example. I'll just keep using that one and and get a ride home at 9:30 at night. That's not what this is about. This is about during school hours, which the field trip question, I think that's the better answer to it is that's during school hours. >> Yeah, >> that's school sponsored activity. That's still teaching and learning, right? >> Yeah. Um, my other question is, um, since has the district considered putting more landlines on campus so that kids have
080access to like a phone in the hallway that they could call their parents during passing period and see, you know, I can >> Yeah, that's such a good question. God, I remember being a high schooler and I know where all the pay phones are. >> The li my kids use the phone at the library. >> Really interesting question about the landlines. I mean, I will say one one piece that is going to be interesting and we're going to have to figure out how to navigate this. But we are launching a new communication platform, new to us, but like all over the country, hundreds of thousands of school districts called Parent Square. And what's interesting is parent square will pull any way that we communicate with a student other than face toface or old school phone
081call. Um anyway students communicate with each other. Um parents communicate with their kids, coaches communicate with kids all into one platform. Um and so there is a there is a very um there's a very clear pathway for a parent to be at home at 11 o'clock in the morning texting their child through Parent Square. a high school kid, maybe middle school, but high school students especially, texting their student through parent square saying, "Hey, your doctor's appointment doctor's appointment was changed. I'm picking you up at 2:00. Go to the front office." Um, or whatever they're communicating. And for the student to be able to pick that up on their Chromebook email, not their cell phone, but their email. Um, so there's gonna there is going to be this ability and for a kid to be during
082a free period or with homework time to be able to send an email that would go to their parents' text to say, you know, I got your message totally. So, there is going to be this um opportunity for that kind of communication throughout the day, but not on a kid's phone, on their Chromebook. Um, we're going to have to see how that works. Uh, it'll be really interesting, but it will be a component of this. That sounds pretty cool. >> It's a good push on the landlines, too. >> Yeah, landlines still work. They do remember their parents' number, right? Yeah. It's not that it's just nine. How many digits? >> 10 lines still work. >> 10 digits. Um, >> yeah. I mean, I think I can just because it said in in one of the
083documents that the kids can go to the office, they can use the office phone. I'm just thinking like are our our very busy office staff really going to want to be triaging all these calls? I don't know. Um yeah, what you just described sounds fancy and cool. So great. I think this is awesome. I'm I'm really impressed by the thoughtful stakeholder engagement here. I mean, it was coming our way because of uh the state legislature anyway. So, but I'm sure um I imagine it wasn't required to do all this thoughtful and important student centered stakeholder engagement. So, kudos for that. >> Director Nemo. >> Uh yeah. So, I read in here there the sen juniors and seniors were concerned about Chromebooks being able to do coursework and integrate with college applic. It was like where
084did that come from? Where's the idea that Okay, so I'm so glad you flagged this because I wrote this down that this should have been something I frontloaded or that should have been in the memo. This is why we do three reads. You will notice in the policy that it defines this is a bell-to-bell ban on personal technology devices as defined by smartwatches, cell phones, tablets, individual laptops. It bans all of that. Um, of course earbuds, watches, we're all thinking, "Yeah, of course." Um, a lot of our high school students, especially our upper classmen, end up bringing their own laptops to school. They, um, think they're a little zippier than our Chromebooks. They have more access. I think some of the students who are taking, uh, concurrent enrollment courses and using other information platforms report
085to us that they can't always access videos or, you know, there's some technical components with the district authorized Chromebooks. um the way this policy is written and so this is really important for the board to note with a belltobell digital shutdown of all personal devices means that we would say you can't bring your personal laptop to school you have to use a Chromebook um I will name that if the board passes this as written we will be we won't be able to do that and so one of the things that I do want to bring to you by the second read and it'll look for it in the memo is a more of a timeline towards compliance for that so what we've seen Aspen school district for example, do they did a bell-to-bell ban up
086just like this all devices requiring students to use the Chromebook issued. They upgraded their Chromebooks to be faster because of some of these these challenges. Some of the kids that are talking about uh college applications where you're working on all these different things and I mean you heard Hector talk a little bit about the overwhelm of that and sometimes our Chromebooks can feel clunky. So, in order to I think really do this one, we need to get more curious with the students like show me what's not working and sit down with Brandon Bodet who's in charge of tech and let him see it. Um, yeah, keep going. But we we need to provide more about what it would take money, time, resources to nail this. >> Yeah. And some of the a lot of the
087there are some challenges that are it's slower versus it doesn't work. And then there's some challenges where um for college applications and things like that, our precolgiate team for example and counselors recommend you build those applications with a personal email address because after you leave school, you're not going to have your school email and um personal email addresses or Gmail are blocked. So that's an example of a technical thing where how can we then um respond to that? And so um or like authentication codes come in through your phone. And so those are some of the technical things where um a student is like I I can't access it on my Chromebook because I need to log into my personal thing which I can't on the Chromebook. Um but we think that there are technical
088solutions. Um there's some cost as well. So, I do think the path because right now we have almost almost one to one. Um, but you know, we've moved some devices from uh high schools to replace some broken devices in middle or elementary or whatnot. Um, but we need to have time to plan that out and switch that. >> We'll bring you more for second read on that. >> Well, just so you guys know where I stand, I I'm fine with 100% banan all the way across. I mean, not to sound too old, but we survived it. And I guess, you know, for me, I'm just keep thinking about like the a big goal of this is to have kids interact, to have humans interact, the adults, the kids, and if you have to go to
089the office to call your mom or if the office needs to come to tell you, your mom called. Like, I'm just I'm all for that. So, I I don't have any concerns about um yeah, like the kids needing to be able to email their families during the day, but maybe I'm out of out of touch. Um I was thinking we could put desktop computers next to the landlines on the wall for the kids who need to fill out their college applications during school when their computer doesn't work. But no, again, I mean, I I think it's great for go-getters to want to go and um you know, do that stuff while they're at school. Um and you know, during the recesses, during the lunch breaks, like that's all when we want kids to be connecting
090with each other. So, I really fully support um as much none of it as possible. And yeah, and I just want to say like the whole thing where if you know, well, he did it, you know, this person gets away with it and then why did I get caught? I mean, that's going to just be so important that it is 100% across the board, nobody gets away with it. Just to well, for obvious reasons. Okay. Yeah, just following up on that. Um, I think making sure that we just have really locked in clarity about what is in and out. So, field trips within bell-to-bell, you know, like um after school play practices or, you know, there needs to be a document that's searchable and enforceable um for the whole community because everyone's going to have
091exactly those same questions and we want to try to take the weight off the teachers. One with the power struggle, which I think has already been done really well. I appreciate putting that weight on the administration. Um and it's just God, I don't envy you guys the first couple weeks of this though. Like, it's going to be a lot and I just want to recognize that. But the other thing too is just not answering a million of these questions individually in each building. So making sure that our resources are transparent and accessible and really ready. I mean I'm sure you guys are already there, but the communication roll out districtwide at the beginning of next year. Whatever we can do to get ahead of that um is going to be so important for sustainability here.
092Um I'm really excited. This this came from the state statute, sure, but our community stands behind it. We had a lot of um interest in this last year from a very bipartisan group of individuals in the Roaring Fork Valley who all signed a petition asking for this and really appreciate the effort that went into that and the understanding of why it's so important. And then something that I heard from I believe one of you all who is much smarter than me in these things. Another thing I want to elevate is the retraining of this community um of all of us to prioritize students learning in their classroom during the day above all of the interruptions and the checks and the double checks and the rechecks or the schedule changes or the this. Like if we
093believe education and achievement are the most important things for our students, then our entire community and all the parents who express concern about these things have to understand that this is supporting that and that it will feel uncomfortable because tech has been designed to make everything so damn convenient. Um, and so as we take that away, it will feel inconvenient and we just going to have to remind folks that the the goal and the outcome are higher than that convenience. Um, so with the communication push there, just really walking through what that's going to look like is all I had for this. Um, any other thoughts, comments, questions on any of the other policies that we had on this? Let's not forget there were a few more. >> I didn't even want to ask those
094cuz it's so late. >> Okay, never mind. Let's >> They're all on first read, so they're coming. >> Yeah, they're coming back. >> Okay, I'm gonna Don't ask. >> I don't know. >> Wait, which ones are second? Oh, the other ones are in second. >> Okay. >> I just want to know GDA number four, bus drivers. Why did we take that out? >> Oh my gosh. >> Isn't that network computing? That's the repeal policy. >> No, then you win. >> Sorry. took up the language about bus drivers because it said they weren't able to participate in our insurance and they are >> Oh, they do. They're all eligible. So, I look like one. Okay, got it. Thank you. >> Great question. >> Yeah. >> Anything else? >> That's it. >> Okay. Fantastic. Um, next business
095in order is a real simple one that will cause No, just kidding. Um, we're opening for questions and comments around the ECE tuition. Um, before we I mean staff discussion though, do I have a motion to approve the ECE tuition proposal as presented? >> Madam Chair, sorry. Point of please. >> It's 911. So I just want to just because of time we have so much to go through. So I'm just wondering if 10.1 or 10.2 two can be moved to a future agenda. >> I don't know if that that's a great question. Um I know we pushed 10.1 off a lot and we really probably should not push that one off again. >> And 10.2 is time >> as well for registrations for health insurance. >> Correct. >> I mean we're we're doing open enrollment.
096>> Yeah. >> Um >> okay. Thought I would ask but we all read the memos. I know which one we can push off the agenda, but see >> I can seed my questions on everything to save two minutes. >> Well, let's let's move into both of those. We do have to get through them, but just staff be or uh board members being mindful of like are we asking for actual changes or is anyway let's try to keep it as as focused and prioritized as possible. Dr. Dr. Cole, did you have anything you wanted to offer on EC before we open? >> I would just say lots of thanks to Director Kenberg who helped us in response to board comments, lower the tuition increases, redistribute them more broadly across all components, look carefully at comps, and
097bring back, which was something we heard a lot from staff and her general support from the board, the staff sliding scale. So, those are the key changes in response to your feedback, staff and community feedback, and Director Kenberg's um support and consultation through this. Is there anything else, Director Kenberg? >> Yeah, Director Colberg, do you want to jump in with comments? >> Um, no. I mean, you'll see in the the tuition rates that have been brought back forward. One of the things that we want to do is recognize the true cost of care. It's very expensive to provide infant and toddler care and to reflect that in rates to help educate the community. Um also felt it was important to bring back a sliding scale so that families were able to plan. We know that
098we provide assistance from a number of avenues but not having concrete numbers is difficult for people and it it makes it hard um for people to engage in the systems. It's 9:15. I'm getting real tired, guys. Sorry. Um, those were the those were the big things. I think that where we've arrived is is a good place to be. >> Director Nemo, >> I I trust you guys. I trust the experts. I mean, I'll pay attention to this and Yeah. But great job. Thank you. >> I did I have one question. Can I ask one question? Maybe >> I'm I'm curious if we don't we might not um in a typical year how many of our staff fall into these various categories and if we don't that's that's okay. I'm just um I'm trying to remember
099the exact numbers. I feel like there um could be a board tracker. I know that what we contributed to this was about $160,000 this year. I want to say it's 16 families. >> That's what the memo or the >> I thought it was in a memo. I thought it was in something. Mhm. >> Um and I think we're anticipating it's going to be about the same. >> Okay. >> Does that help? >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Uh Director After um like director NMO, I trust the experts on this and I also think it's really nice that a negotiated agreement was arrived at. So, thank you for the hard work on it. I don't have any questions, Director Ramirez. >> Thank you, Director Kenberg and team on this. I appreciate bringing back the sliding scale. Um
100just to clarify the sliding scale is the same for BAL and all the schools. Okay, great. >> Correct. >> Um and I think just because um you know we've had so much feedback on this and there's just it's it's been um I think just an investment from all communities to make sure we had this conversation, we took our time with it. I really appreciate that. I appreciate that we took it back, but I think just moving forward, it would be great to have it come earlier because I was thinking of like the timeline for us. Um, so that way we don't all feel crunched for time to get this passed. >> Thanks. I appreciate all the engagement, especially from Director Kenberg taking um the time to do the research and help support these numbers. Just
101if you are interested too, this is noted in um the slide in the budget update when it's 2026 27 general fund first draft. Note 156,000 of this may be needed. No, that's different. Sorry, never mind. But what I'm trying to bring forward again, it's late. Is that we are going to have a whole slew of of difficult choices. This is one. We are making one right now that will impact others. and we just I know staff has really worked hard to try to find a way to thread the needle of the board's direction and the reality we're all facing. So, I just appreciate that. >> Did we get a motion to approve this before we open discussion? I can't remember. I can I can make a motion to approve it as presented. Do I have
102a second? >> I'll second. Are there any further comments or amendments? >> No, just why are there why is BALT separate? Basalt offers year- round care and the other programs offer school year. >> I can't tell. Okay, thank you. >> Uh, can we call the vote, please? >> I >> motion passes. Thank you very much. Next business in order is the approval of health insurance collaborative solutions team benefits recommendation. Before we open discussion, do I have a motion to approve the health insurance collaborative solutions team benefits recommendation? >> I make a motion to approve the health insurance collaborative team benefits recommendation. >> Do I have a second? >> I second. >> We'll now have two minutes of discussion for each board member and five minutes of open discussion if needed. Director After, do you have
103questions or comments? >> Um, just no questions. I mean, my comments are just that, as everyone knows, the prices are just so hard to swallow and they've gone up so much. And that's that's not a comment on this memo or these this district's numbers. It's a universal comment. And just um on the way here tonight on the radio driving from Aspen, I was there was a story about the cost of insurance going up because of GLP1s and other expensive healthcare. So, um I'm just so sorry that we find ourselves in this situation, but I appreciate all the hard work that went into keeping costs as low as possible, which I know feels brutal to to staff. I don't have any questions. Director Ramirez, um I just want to encourage the team's community to read the
104memo. I think it's important. I think we've we're continuing to have conversations. I feel like I've shared my comments and concerns with our team just in regards to our budget money what this looks like health insurance the valley um I you know I think even from our update today um I think it's really important for us to maintain our conversations on the healthc care committee to what the future is going to look like for us and you know I would just encourage the team to be strong and brave and have the hard conversations like our kiddos mentioned, our students mentioned today earlier rather than later because I think we are all aware as adults in this valley that things are not looking like they're all going to get better. So, just wanted to make sure
105I flag that for our team again. But I support this. Director Nemo. >> Um, I totally understand Dr. Ramirez's concerns and I trust that Christie and Anna and everybody involved are are really keeping that in mind. Um, and I just want to I can't remember if it was during one of the Q&As's or what, but I remember one of our staff said to asked Christie, you know, basically she was saying, "Are you willing to take any risks for us, you know, for the sake of the staff?" And it was interesting, you know, and Christy, I mean, she is. And I I can see like this is a risk that she is taking because she really values the staff very very much and is hearing them and listening to them. And so I think everybody's eyes
106are really wide open about this and it's scary. That's all. >> Director Glenberg. >> Yeah. Yeah, I sat on this committee um again this year and I think that yes, we're taking we're taking a risk risk to fund this again. And I also think at some point point we're going to have to face the reality and we are going to have to make tough decisions around health insurance if we continue on the financial trajectory that we think we are on. Um, and so it's hard and it's not just our district having these conversations and I'm happy we got there again this year. Um, but I also think that as board members we need to remember that there are potential legislative things that could be done that could help correct this and we need to think
107in advance and leverage our positions to push those as well because that's the only thing that I see as an off-ramp to this problem. Um, so just wanted to to flag that I don't think that this is sustainable much longer and also we need to be looking at how to impact it from a way that is outside of our control. >> So agreed. >> Thank you. And finally, just a recognition that this committee um commits a significant amount of time across all of our different staff groups to bargain and find a way forward. Um, Chief Buffman has worked very hard to try to bring forward the best options available and keep those conversations moving in light of reality. Uh, this is part of our bargaining process with all of these groups. And, uh, we just
108appreciate the amount of time that's put into it. Um, because it's not easy to look at what's on the table when it's that difficult and decide what you're going to pick up. Um, and our district has just committed to working through that process collaboratively. And I I just I'm really glad we got here. So, I don't have any other questions. Uh it was a it's encouraging to sit in the room and hear people having difficult conversations in a respectful way to get to this point. Most of the time we have a motion on the table to approve um this title, the Health Insurance Collaborative Solutions. Are there any further comments or amendments? Will you call the vote? I >> I >> motion passes. Thank you. >> All right. And that's it, folks. We're all going
109home. Our next business in order is to approve Director After's resignation, which would become effective at the end of this public meeting. Before we open discussion, do I have a motion to approve Director After's resignation effective at the end of the public meeting? >> I make a motion. >> Do you move that the board approve Director After's resignation effective at the end of the public meeting as presented? >> I second. >> Thank you. >> Um I would ask board members maybe hold comment. We have a couple of approvals to do. Let's discuss um on the resolution of appreciation if we have comments about director after. Uh so would you call the vote please Jonathan? >> I motion passes. Uh the next business in order is to now approve um a vac a resolution to declare
110a vacancy for district B which will again become effective at the end of this meeting. Um, for those who are listening, before I ask for a motion, please note that the resolution includes um information about how to apply for this vacancy. And there is further information linked in the board memo and will become available on the website after tonight's meeting. And we want to encourage our community to engage broadly with this opportunity to influence the future of our district and contribute meaningfully to our students well-being and learning and achievement every day. It's not an easy lift. It's not an easy job. Um, but we have a lot of information out there and we are going to try to get it out as broadly as possible. Um, and we'd very much like to hear from anyone
111who's interested. The timeline that's described in there is that applications and written interest are due on May 20th and that the board will have a discussion around that um 20 on the May 27th meeting and interviews with selected c with select candidates and we'll make our final decision on the appointment on June 10th. As a matter of procedure, this is appointed by the board. Um it is not an election but all of the discussions and decisions do need to be held in public meeting and so we will adhere to the highest level of transparency and accountability in this process and welcome any comments um from the community to that effect. So do I have a motion to approve the board of education resolution to declare a vacancy for district B? I make a motion to
112approve, sorry I got lost in the document. Uh approve the board of education resolution to declare a vacancy for district B. Do I have a second? I'll second. Are there any intervening motions to amend? Hearing none. Call the vote, please. I >> I next business in order is an approval of the board of education's resolution honoring Betsy after. Do I have a motion to approve the board of education resolution honoring Betsy after? I move that the board approve the board of education resolution honoring Betsy after as presented. Do I have a second? I second. Jinx. >> We'll now have two minutes of o discussion for each board member and five minutes of open discussion. Um, >> can I start? >> I was going to send it right to you. Thank you, director after. >> Thank
113you. >> Appreciate it. >> Um, I'll try to keep it alive, Jonathan. Um, thank you. Uh I thank you all for the opportunity to have spent the last two and a half years in the trenches with you. Um including Dr. B, Jonathan, Amy, and the rest of the team. Um it's been a real privilege to have been entrusted with this role and I regret not being able to see it through. Um I was telling Anna when we spoke last week that I feel like being able to have this position is a real privilege and What I mean by that is that you have to like there has to be something in your life that allows you to give extraordinary amounts of time to a voluntary cause. Um, and I think for me that privilege was
114having a real supportive family and flexible employer that would allow me to just like disappear in the middle of the day for committee meetings or um or school visits or quick check-ins plus lots of time in the evening. Um, and I lost that privilege. Just in my sense. Yeah, I'm good at I do this all the time. So um you know it's a it's a privilege and I I think we all have experienced that and we all have something in our lives that gives us the ability to give time to something that you know it just takes a lot and we're not compensated for it and we are but um Oh thanks and I'm sorry I can't keep it But um but I'm glad to have had the experience with you guys and I'm grateful
115that you're for the orchid and the chocolate and the the send off. Um and I think most importantly the the schools just you know you it it's a lot and you guys need a fifth member who can function and I can't right now. Thanks. Thank you. >> Your resignation letter was really well written and it just made it very clear what your family's facing. >> Yeah. Thank you, >> Director Nemo. >> Yeah. >> Also, we don't have to do like a round rob. >> Okay. >> Who has who would like to offer thoughts? I expect you to show up at board meetings when there's something intention in intense, you know, come and be speak and support us. I expect to see you out the world. I expect to see you around the school. So, you
116know, you're not leaving the community. >> Yeah. >> And um I'm going to call you for um advice. >> Okay. >> Are we are we really doing? It >> is late. You guys can go home. No, I I think you know it it is uh so such big work to be in this role and I have appreciated so much your willingness to have integrity to be honest to say the things when we've needed to um and to just be willing to share your thoughts and be okay with discomfort and I've really appreciated that opportunity to share with you as a board member to be your colleague on this board to see you when we've been out at events together. I think it's been really important for us to feel that we are a collective and
117that we are five and that all of us are different and have different opinions, have different lived experience, but I've always appreciated that you've been so willing to um be like all of yourself, a mom, all the hats you wear, you know, advocate, environmentalist, all of the things that you do and still be uh willing to come here and work and uh work with the board and um you know commit to the things that that you the committees that you had to do and all of the things and wear all the hats and I have so much respect for you just and you know being able and like I said to you on the phone like you're a mom we're all moms we all understand you and my my um heart is with you guys.
118My prayers are with you and your kiddo. Um, I think it's just so incredibly important that you as a mom have the opportunity to, you know, feel that where you need to be is with your family and that we value that and respect that and I hope that we would do that with any anyone on the board. But, um, I so appreciate your ability to recognize that and also, you know, we're going to miss you. It's going to be a a big uh lift and um you know so happy that we got to experience this together. >> I don't think I could say it better than that. But the one thing I will promise you, Betsy, is that I will continue the fight for having kids in school more days, not less. about that. Um,
119and just, you know, echoing everything that Jasmine has shared and what's in the resolution. It's been an honor to get to serve with you and I likewise support you making the decision that's best for you and your family. At the end of the day, that's where we're needed most. And um, this work is important and it is big and also it's not the most important thing in the world. So, um, we're going to miss you. It's going to be difficult to feel that and I'm going to miss the levity that you bring to situations and and I will bite from being >> um I'll I'll use my time to read the resolution after we pass it. Um motions on the floor for a resolution and support of Betsy after. Are there any intervening motions to
120amend hearing? None. Can I call the vote? Hi. >> Hi. >> Whereas Betsy After has served on the Roaring Fork School's Board of Education for two years and four months representing RBS, CR, CCS, BRHS, and CMS with distinction. And during her tenure has contributed meaningfully on numerous committees while dedicating extraordinary time, energy, and care to the student, staff, and broader community. and her community- centered approach, thoughtful leadership, exceptional networking abilities, and rare capacity to distill complex issues to their core have earned the deep respect of colleagues and stakeholders alike. Whereas Betsy has made a lasting and positive impact on our schools by consistently placing students at the center of every decision. And through her work with the Colorado Verbose, she championed efforts to ensure that every student is prepared for success in school, career, and
121life. and her leadership during challenging times was marked by compassion, steadiness, and an unwavering focus on student safety and well-being and more days in school. Helping the district remain resilient, ununified, and forward-looking. Whereas Betsy provided steadfast, insightful leadership during periods of significant financial and organizational challenge, including complex health insurance matters and leadership transitions. Board President Lindsey Drady said her questions, experience, and keen insights have played a key role in many of the challenging and complex decisions we make. The time she and her family have dedicated to the work of being a public servant for our schools and communities has made a tremendous positive difference for students and families throughout the Roaring Fork Valley. Whereas Betsy was instrumental in the development of the Roaring Fork School District's new 5-year strategic plan, bringing clarity, focus, and alignment
122to the governance team. Dr. Anna Cole, Dr. Anna Cole, superintendent, added, "Her unwavering commitment to strengthening schools that meet the needs of all students was instrumental in the development of our new strategic plan and helped focus and align our governance team. We miss her grounded, practical, and community-minded leadership and her depth of experience in governance, communication, and problem solving. Now therefore be it proclaimed that on April 15th, 2026, the Roaring Fork School's Board of Education publicly affirms our appreciation and our gratitude for Betsy after. >> Do you have to quit to get something like this? >> Yes. >> What if it doesn't happen if we serve your whole term? >> My god. Thanks. Thanks, guys. Okay, >> thank you. That was >> We should just have one of these for >> I would that's a
123good idea. Just put it in the >> I would entertain a motion for a journey and having um directors submit appreciations and committee reports via email over the next few days if they feel relevant to this discussion tonight. Is there such a motion? >> I'm sorry >> to adjurnn. I make a motion to amend the agenda and adjourn. Now, if directors have significant updates or appreciations that need to be shared, they can share those via email over the next couple of days. I heard the one you want to share. We can connect on that. >> Yeah. >> Well, you told me to do it. That's why >> I know. I know. It's me. It's all me. Do I have a second? >> I'm second motion. Do we call on that? >> Yes. Yeah. Do we?
124>> Yeah. >> Okay. >> You can do it all in favor. >> You're going to enjoy this. >> Oh, hi. >> I The time is 9:37. We are now adjourned.