ASDB Board Meeting 11/13/2025

001I know it's after 4, but we're waiting on some tech technical difficulties to get some of our other board members on the phone. So, once we get them on the phone, we'll be able to start the meeting. Okay. Thank you for your patience. Hello. >> Hello and good afternoon. It is now 4:05 after a few technical difficulties and we are going to start the meeting of the board of directors. We're going to start with roll call which is something I always forget. Linda B. Sure. Happy to assist. Thank you. President Buchanan. This is Linda speaking and I call for Linda Bo. She's here. >> Brittany Buchanan. I'm present. >> Colette Chapman. >> Present. >> Thank you. Michael Gordon. >> I'm present. >> Hello. This is Clifford. >> Okay. Diana Harris. I think that we are

002still waiting for her to be able to connect, but we have heard that she is supposed to be connecting with us. >> Okay. >> Then we also have Bill Kaylor >> present >> and Earl Terry. I did hear the interpreter on the phone say that this was that Clifford was present. That's his legal first name. I do believe he actually does go away. >> Correct. So Earl, can you confirm if you're here with us? We just need you to acknowledge that you're present. This is Linda Bog speaking. Calling for Clifford >> Earl Earl's here. This is Earl. >> Wonderful. Thank you, Shauna Tamiko. >> I'm present. >> Excellent. Thank you. That's it. >> Thank you. Um, just a couple housekeeping items. Uh, we do have two deaf board members that are on the phone. Um,

003and they are using video relay. So, we definitely need to as board members and if anybody comes up to public comment, please be aware of um how fast you're speaking because we're going through the phone to an interpreter that's going to go to our board member that's on uh video interpreting and that's just a lot of time and a lot of relay. So, we're going to take a lot of pauses. We're going to be nice and slow um to make sure that everybody has fair access and has the ability to give feedback. Um, a second member, um, thing I would like to bring up is, um, interim board president currently. Um, I have to notify the board that I did have, uh, contact with our board member, Earl Terry, regarding policy BBD. So, this is

004my notification as interimm president that I did have contact with our board member uh Earl Terry about his attendance expectations for this for the board meetings. Um, per this policy and if none of you board members are aware, we will be aware now um you have to attend uh board meetings at least 50% of the regular scheduled board meetings in person. Should a ASDB board member be unable to attend over 50% of board meetings in person, you can request um from the president a waiver for that for remote attendance. However, if you miss more than two consecutive meetings when the circumstances surrounding the absences raise questions about the interest of the member and the work of the board, it is the board um president's discretion to contact that board member and ask if this is

005can be considered a resignation from the board. I did contact Earl Terry um a couple days ago and asked if he intended to remove himself from the board due to his lack of attendance and missing three meetings. However, I have not received any correspondence with him. So, pursuant to this policy, I just wanted to be able to notify you guys that this is a correspondence that's happened pursuant to the policy and I am awaiting a response. Moving on from that, we can move on to 1.2, which is a call to the public on agendaized items. I did get a couple um comments in my email. These are posted on the website for anybody. However, we'll start with the first one because I feel like some of these comments uh kind of gave that they are

006probably in person here. Um the first agenda item comment I got is from Anna Salazar. Anna, are you here? Would you like to come comment at the podium? Okay. Um, so her comment, uh, she wrote, "Dear members of the school board, I would like to highlight a critical need. Teachers require more support to do their jobs effectively. Educators are balancing increasing responsibilities from meeting diverse learning needs to implementing new curriculum standards, often with limited resources and planning time. One meaningful way is to help by increasing the number of curriculum resource specialists. Thank you for considering this as an important issue. Okay, the second agenda item. >> I want to make sure that I'm I'm still in the meeting, right? >> I'm sorry, I didn't um un hear that. Can you repeat? So, I I wanted

007to answer about the email for the meeting today because I showed up on the phone. Is that okay pres with you as president? >> I'm sorry. Which board member is speaking? >> This is Earl Perry >> and you uh we do not call. Sorry, this is board member Buchanan. We do not comment on um public comments in this part of the meeting. This is Earl Terry speaking. Okay, I'm going to move ahead with the next public comment. Uh, the next public comment comes from, and I'm sorry if I mispronounce your name, is it Loren Damoth? If you're present and you'd like to make a comment at the podium, this is your time. All right. Um, the only comment I have from Lorine is that she had wanted to sign a few words regarding curriculum, but

008she was non-specific in the comment. So, and it doesn't look like she is here. [snorts] Already clicked that one. And then last one I have is an agenda item is Dr. Colleen Green, if you're present, would you like to come up and make your comment to us? >> This is Dr. Colleen Green. >> Green. Good afternoon board. Uh my name is Colleen Green and I am the mother of two deaf children um who have attended programs here. Currently my son Brennan is a sophomore here and he's very proud of the school. He fought to get in here and I would like to discuss my concern about budget cuts around the sports program. Um, the sports program is very integral to my son's curriculum here. Um, and I believe it's also integral to the community as

009a whole because they interact with the hearing society as well during their sports programs. Um, this has been a source of self-esteem, um, camaraderie, learning about themselves, learning about each other, um, and really how to unify together, which we all need in this environment that we're in today in America and in the world. So, um I really want you guys to understand the importance of that and that if we don't have sports programs here, um that would be very horrible um not only for our children and for this school but for the community as a whole. So, I hope that you will consider that in your budgeting um activities. Thank you so much, Colleen. Diana, are you on the phone with us? >> Hi. Yes, I am. >> Welcome. We just finished um the call

010to the public and we're going to move on to information item uh 1.3, the superintendent's report. Superintendent Reichman. Good afternoon, acting president Buchanan, members of the board, Assistant Superintendent Cooper, Assistant Superintendent Katchov, and members of the ASV community. Welcome to our November 13, 2025 board meeting. This is our last board meeting of the year for 2025. The next time we come together, it will be 2026. Time has flown. You may remember at our last board meeting. I quoted a famous Chinese philosopher, Confucious. He said that the better person when they loose an arrow and miss the bullseye. That person does not cast blame on the weather or other people or the equipment. That person looks to themselves to figure out how to adapt to the weather, how to adapt to the influence of others and

011how to adapt to their environment and their equipment. And they practice and they get better and they loose their arrow again and aim to that bullseye. For us at ASDB, what is that bullseye? student learning. Of course, that is why we're all here. That is our purpose at ASDB is to provide education and support to all of the students who are deaf, heart of hearing, blind, visually impaired, and deafb blind throughout the state of Arizona. It's easy for us to become distracted by policy debates with the socopolitical climate that we find ourselves in with insufficient funds. All of those things are important of course, but whatever we do, we must always remember what our priority is. Our bullseye, our focus is our students early language acquisition, their development, their academic achievement, their social emotional growth

012and their college and career readiness. That is why we are here. So any discussions that we have about planning for the future, our core focus must be that student achievement and student education. We all know that the next two to three years are critical to ASDB. Not only ASDB survival, but also our long-term sustainability. >> [snorts] >> We cannot continue with the operations and a budget deficit. We are now on our third year and we predict that we will end our third year in a budget deficit. We will run out of cash reserves. We absolutely must find out what to do with our current systems because we do not have the resources to continue to support them as they are. When we talk about risk and actions that we can take, we could continue with

013the status quo. We could choose to do that. That might be the easy thing to do, but now it is becoming riskier to maintain the status quo rather than make changes. I propose that the time is now to make changes within the agency and we need to figure out what to do with our future. and how to achieve ASDB's survival and longevity. Why is that so critical? Again, because of our students, our commitment to our students, to their education, and to their supports. We must figure out how we can continue as an agency. We know that we must address the decline in student enrollment. That ties to the decline in birth rate. So, we can project that over the next future years, our student counts, um, we have an idea of what they will look

014like and we can plan for that. We know that our students needs are becoming more varied and more complex. We need to figure out how to best accommodate the needs of each and every one of our students. We know that our workforce continues to change. We have outstanding teachers and professional staff who have been here for many, many years. Some of them are approaching retirement. And we have a group of early career teachers as well and professional staff who have different support needs. We need to determine how best to support them as well. We know that our facilities are in continuous decline. We have talked about that multiple times. We have an outstanding group of staff who have worked diligently to repair the facilities that we have and they continue to do so so that

015we can keep our students and staff safe and comfortable in our current facilities. But our facilities continue to decline because we do not have sufficient resources to properly renovate those facilities. Did I just mention money again? We do not have sufficient funds [snorts] and we know that the socopolitical environment is going to continue to evolve and does will not have the same priorities as it once did. So, we must be able to address all of those things. So how do we do that? I would say we need to take a step back, look at ASDB as an a whole, as an agency. Break that down and re-imagine what ASDB can be. If we reimagine ASDB, what might that look like? In my mind, ASDB would become more malleable, more nimble, more flexible and adaptable and

016smaller. If we had an ASDB that is capable of adjust adjusting quickly and responding quickly to our changing student needs and providing a continuum of educational services that meets those individual needs of our students throughout the state. if we could meet the needs of our staff, their professional development and their future career growth. How could we do that? If we could we take money from the facilities and reallocate it to professional development potentially. But again, how? So, we need to think about a redesign of our system that would allow us to provide the best possible services to our students while at the same time considering our limited resources, the resources that we have available to us. Now, what I'm saying is that over the next year, when you come back in January, we will have

017significant decisions and significant changes happening throughout the agency. You will be asked to be involved with some of those decisions. But we start today. One decision today that you will be asked to approve is uh four legislative bills. I'll talk about the bills just briefly. If you recall in 2022 during our sunset audit, the Arizona Auditor General's report stated that we must develop a master facility plan. In order to meet our capital needs, we have to have a plan for funding those needs. We did develop the master facilities plan. We did everything that the auditor general asked of us. The very last piece that we have not done is to fund that plan. But how can we fund the master facility plan when we do not have the resources to do so? The state legislature

018is I do not believe going to give us the funds to do so. The state system does not have the money to give us either. So where will we get that funding to develop? We need to develop a capital finance plan. We decided to look at other state agencies and see how they were able to meet their capital needs. And it so happens that the Arizona Board of Regents, which is referred to as ABORE, has a Northern Arizona University um and Arizona State University and a University of Arizona. Um excuse me. Those three universities are under ABOR and they have an instate statute that authorizes those universities to receive private funding for new buildings and for the renovation of existing buildings. So, we took a look at that statute and pulled some of the language

019from that statute that we thought might meet our needs as well. We put together four proposed bills that we are going to review with you this evening and we hope that you agree with us and will approve those bills and then we will take those bills to the state legislature next spring in 2026 to ask the state legislature to give us the authority to receive private funding. The first of the four bills is really third-party financing. So, for example, if you were to purchase a home, you would get a loan and then you would pay monthly on that loan through your mortgage. And that loan would pay for your home until it was paid off. And our first bill would essentially be the same concept. We would get a loan, we would build a new

020building, and then we would pay monthly on that new building until it was paid back. So that would be private funding. The second proposed bill is a type of funding that is referred to as lease to own. And that means a developer can set up a new building and we can move into that building and then again we pay monthly uh on a lease for the next 20 30 40 years until it becomes our building. So again lease to own would be the second proposal or possible funding strategy for us. The third bill proposes a way of bringing in revenue If you notice, sometimes Arizona cars have a specialized license plate that might have uh a different logo or variety of language on it. So, what if we had a license plate that says ASDB

021on the plate? We could sell that license plate and earn some money that way. That is the third proposed bill. And the fourth is the state lottery. Some state agencies do receive lottery funding. So what if ASDB were to be added to that pool where we could receive some of the funds from state lottery? We can ask the state legislature to include us in that distribution perhaps. So, those are the four um ideas that we have had in order to try to figure out how to get additional funds for our new buildings that we need on our campuses and to renovate our current buildings. That is on the agenda this afternoon. As we go through the meeting, you will have an opportunity to uh discuss the bills and ask some questions of uh and Maria

022is here to respond as well. So, as I wrap up, I want to mention that I am very grateful for all of our teachers, professional staff, and leaders, as well as you, the board. for your commitment and your heart and your willingness to provide the best education and supports to all of our students. Thanksgiving is coming in just two weeks and that is my favorite holiday because it is a time that we can slow down and reflect and appreciate our families, our friends and others in our lives who we have around us. So I really appreciate all of you. So, thank you and I'm happy to take any questions. This is board member Buchanan. Thank you, Annette, for your um appreciation and uh recognition of the teachers and the staff that absolutely does all the

023work to make this agency run. and uh be there for the people that we support most, which is the children that we educate. So, we appreciate you as the board uh being at the helm of that for us. If there's no other comments or questions for Superintendent Reichman, we can move forward to 1.4, 4 um which is the assistant superintendent of agency operations and support services, assistant superintendent Shaina Cooper. Good afternoon, acting board president Buchanan, Superintendent Reichman, Deputy Assistant Superintendent Catchoff, members of the board, ASDB community, and staff members. Before I provide an update to everyone, being that it is the month of November, it's hard not to be thankful. Uh so I do want to begin by saying thank you to the staff and students who continue to work hard. I know with the

024current climate of dealing with the budgetary challenges, it has caused deep concern, frustration, and unrest across the agency. And while I understand and share some of the angst, anxiety, and feel the weight that our financial situation presents, these challenges are ultimately creating necessary strategic opportunities and transformational changes. As I've shared in my board reports the last two years, there continues to be ongoing work to address the financial challenges we have been facing with the AY's budget. This is all at the same time while we are actively engaged in the ongoing performance and forensic audits and also managing a period of elevated external political scrutiny. I remind everyone that these financial challenges are not new. The board staff, the community have been informed about these challenges for several years. Uh this has included sharing information on

025the declining birth rates, declining student counts, the need to address our aging campus facilities, rising costs for goods from services related to inflation, and also the agency not receiving adequate funding since our campus-based schools became a local education agency uh for the provision of FAPE following the passage of House Bill 28. 2863 in the spring of 2021. Additionally, we continue to have a hard time filling positions with qualified staff that we know provide special educational services and unfortunately we've had to turn to outside contractors, which is pretty costly since we haven't been able to internally hire staff. We've also had to take several measures to address what we see on the horizon. And as we've made clear, we know the decisions and the choices are really hard to make. Um, so as Superintendent Reichman mentioned,

026our financial situation going into our third year of using our cash reserves is not keeping at the pace of our revenues. So $3 million in expenditures this year is what we need to be able to reduce. Um, so I did want to go ahead and provide and share what we know is coming. Um, and also provide some information in terms of how discussions have been over the last several weeks with the senior leadership team. We've met with school principles, all of the program and agencywide directors. We've looked at opportunities to identify and reduce costs to help balance the budget. Um, opportunities to create several operational efficiencies were also identified. Um, we've also discussed opportunities for program changes, service delivery model changes. Um, and I know those conversations were hard. You can tell during those discussions,

027no one wants to be able to make the cuts, but we all know that it's necessary in order to make sure that we balance our budget. With that being said, we've also looked at opportunities to see if there is a need to reduce staffing levels because they are not keeping up with the student decline. Um, we've had to continue looking at ways to reduce personnel costs. As you've heard u many times before, personnel makes up a little less than 80% of our budget. So that is the biggest area that we need to try and adjust to align with current and projected student counts. We've also recently implemented a hiring freeze where we've eliminated all vacant positions for filled positions. We consider and looking at potentials for layoffs or a reduction in force. We've been looking

028at opportunities to make additional adjustments, modify staff work schedules. We've also talked about implementing furlows as well as doing salary reductions as well. Um, last but not least, in addition to payroll, we continue to look at new opportunities for funding streams as Superintendent Reichman, which also tie and relate to the capital facility needs. We've been looking at primarily only focusing on those funding strategies that are more missionritical that will ensure that we meet our contractual requirements as well as our regulatory necessities. Um so in closing, I know there's no way to really cut the budget um easily without actually dealing with the pain. Um I know we all actually care about our jobs. We care about the individuals in the jobs. So these conversations are difficult um to have as we look at our programs,

029how they impact our families, the students. Um but I do want everybody to know that the budget is a fluid process. So no final decisions have been made yet. Um but they are necessary to ensure that we continue to address the shortfall. Um, so without actually making the show farms, we won't ensure any long-term sustainability for the agency. And as Superintendent Reichman mentioned, we need to be able to focus on change. Um, and that is across the agency in in totality. Um, so I know in order to be able to make those changes, we need to be able to look at the agency differently and be able to focus on our students all at the same time. And in closing, again, as Superintendent Reichman mentioned, that the conversations continue to be difficult, but I want

030to make sure that during these holiday seasons, we continue to keep our family and friends in the forefront. Um, take the time to recharge. This next couple of months is going to be pretty tough as we continue to make those decisions. So, that wraps up my report. Um, I'm open to answer any questions or respond to any comments you may have. This is Buchanan. If there's no comments, Shen, I appreciate all the hard work that you put into the budget and running the numbers and doing all the work that you do to keep us running by the numbers. It is something that is not my strong point whatsoever. and I definitely appreciate that you bring such expertise and such dedication and passion to what you do for us as an agency. Moving on, uh we're

031going to go to 1.5, which is assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction report, interim deputy assistant superintendent. >> Excuse [clears throat] me. Good afternoon, Board President Buchanan, Superintendent Reichman, Assistant Superintendent Cooper, members of the board, and members of the community. As Superintendent Reichman mentioned, the next time we all meet for the January board meeting, it'll be 2026. 2026 will be a year of big decisions and changes throughout this agency. More importantly, after 2026 comes 2027. And as we all know, in January of 2027, which is just a little over a year from now, we will be back in front of the Arizona legislature like we were in 2023, asking the legislature to approve a continuation bill to continue the existence of the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and Blind. Many of you remember fighting

032for that continuation bill in 2023. Some of you on the board, a lot of you in the community actually went down to the capital to be in person and to help for that bill. In 2023, we did successfully fight for a continuation bill to be signed which approved ASDB to continue for four more years which is through 20127. It's hard to believe but those four years are almost up and it's time again for us to prepare to fight. And that fight starts with coming up with a sustainable plan for this agency which can get enough votes in the legislature to pass and ensure ASDB continues to flourish into the future beyond 2027. I bring this up because the changes we make in the next few months will affect the vision that we present to the

033legislature in 2027. Some of these proposed changes are included in the proposed legislative bills for uh this coming legislative session for year 2026 which are presented tonight for the board approval. As Superintendent Reichman shared, these four bills will allow the agency access to additional revenue streams as well as some additional flexibility. Assuming these bills are approved by the board, our hope will be that they're also approved by the legislature. But as the old cliche goes, hope is not a strategy. Hope is not enough. We also need to focus on what's within our control as we look at the changing reality of this agency and the changing context of education in Arizona as well as this entire nation. Passive resistance to changes within ASDB or strict adherence to some outdated processes will only put decisions about

034what happens to this agency in the hands of others, not in the hands of this leadership team or this board. In closing, I do want to remind everyone that change is not new to this agency. It does seem like every 10 to 20 years the agency goes through some form some form of transformation. For example, in 1987, ASDB's itinerant services were created as a way to assist students across Arizona who did not need the services of the two campuses but still needed access to trained VI or DHH professionals. Since 1987, itinerant services has since grown to be the largest part of this agency as far as number of students served. Currently, our itinerant programs are responsible for 52% of ASDB's total student count. In comparison, ASDB's birth to five early learning program serves approximately 31%

035of the students served by ASDB. PDSD serves about 11% of ASDB's student count and the Tucson campus provides services to a little bit over 6% of the total number of students served by ASDB. For another example of how the agency has changed, in 2018, the deaf mentor program was created as an additional early learning support to assist families with deaf and heart of hearing infants and toddlers to provide them with the opportunity to work with highly trained deaf and heart of hearing role models to begin acquiring American Sign Language. This was huge because as we know, data shows that the more supports we can get families when their children are young, the better chance they have to be successful later in life. A final example of how we've changed, and this is only one of

036many, but a third example of how we changed is in 2023, we implemented positive behavior supports, better known as PBIS, in both campuses. and has been so effective in our Tucson campus that they just won yesterday a statewide award for their implementation of that behavior program. So congratulations Tucson campus. These are just three of many many examples of how the context as how the let me back up on that. This is just three of many examples of how the context of Arizona changes. This agency has a history of changing with it. As the context of our family and student needs have changed, services at ASDB have also changed with it. This needs to continue as we look into the future. As I've mentioned at every board meeting this year, we are not here to preserve

037tradition for its own sake or to resist change out of habit. We are the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and Blind. We are here to serve students throughout Arizona who are heart of hearing, deaf, and have low vision. As we look at what ASDB's spectrum of services looks like in the future, we need to keep the needs of the families and students first. Thank you. Uh you all have my board report and I'm happy to take any questions. question. >> Go ahead, board member. >> Hi, this is Bill Orin. Thank you for your report. I I can't imagine the Yes, I can because I've been there. The pain of X number of kids divided by the budget gives us way too much money for way too few kids. Most recently, this past two weeks,

038I've been presenting at a at a national conference. One of the questions that we asked the the participants in the conference, are you providing all the services that your youngsters need? And almost 65% said, "No, we're not providing all the services that our youngsters need." They also said, "We don't have any more time in the day to do that." So, we can't change the clock. We can't change the calendar, but we can change the mechanism by which those children do get their services. There are many, many dynamics that go on, but we have people now who know that those youngsters are not getting what they need. And there's this gap. I'm I'm sort of uh reminiscing of a a World War II um video where we had this giant river that we got to get

039across to win whoever we had to win. But the point is big river we couldn't cross. ingenuity, strategy, and creativity got a bridge across the river that took care of that battle and ultimately the the war was won. That gap is what needs to be addressed because the need is there. And the only way that we know that the need is there is when we reach out not just to our staff but to the staff across the state. And I realize this conference that we did cut across many states, but I have found the same dynamics in Arizona in talking with teachers within this state as there were across multiple states. Teachers are asked to do too much with not enough time and not enough resources. And we can lament and the um the ongoing

040dilemma that we have for youngsters that go through our schools is um unemployment. and we say, "Oh, you know, 75% 70 75% of the youngsters that go through our programs end up unemployed." There was some other research that suggests that number is is much less. I call that a creative manipulation of statistics. There's another term for that, but that's the polite way to say it. But the the reality is um we can offer a whole lot more in a different manner as you have said change change kind of some of our traditional mechanisms but those dynamics need to be identified embraced and addressed and for all of us as we leave here well for me I'm retired but I did have a job every one of us that leaves here today has a job when

041those youngsters leave here either at the campus programs or our programs out around the state. Are we telling their parents that one out of four of them might have a job when they leave? Well, what are we going to do about it? Oh, oh, no, we don't. Oo, we do something about it. And and I applaud your efforts to dig in and get to it. But I think reaching out to more than just our own staff who are knowledgeable. I get the knowledge, but they're just as overworked as anybody else. We know what their their case loads are, their travels, especially our our friends in itinerant services. So addressing those dynamics to get that gap not just reduced but eliminated so there's a free flow of students in wherever it's campus based program they need

042it for the special services that they need. I know it can be done because it has been done and and I applaud your efforts and I'm willing to help wherever I can. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> This is board member Buchanan. If there's no other questions or comments, um, interim deputy assistant superintendent Shakov, I appreciate all the work that you've put in, especially uh since you carry the title of interim, but I feel like you've definitely been full-time with us, doing this without that title for a little while now. And I know that your attention has been very divided between all that is encompassed in your position. and I think that you've done an incredible job just balancing that and I just appreciate that you show up every day and um do what's really

043best for our students. So I appreciate that and thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um moving forward, we are going to move forward to consent agenda items and we're at 2.1. This is an action item and we are seeking the approval for the consent agenda consistent with board policy and that is going to include a couple things. It will include items 3.2, 5.1, 6.1, 7.3, 7.4, and 7.5. For this, I will need a motion and a second in order to approve these and move forward. This is >> I have a motion. Do I have a second? >> This is Linda Bo. >> All right, I have a second. All in favor say I. >> I. I'm just going to give us >> board member Earl. Do you have a vote? I >> uh hearing

044uh all eyes and no naysay policy passes. Sorry, item passes. We can move forward to >> Yes, this is Earl. I >> Perfect. Thank you. It passes and we're going to move forward to 3.1. This is an action item, approval of new district agreements. Um super superintendent >> [laughter] >> Um, would you like to talk about this or is there anything? >> Yep. So, good afternoon, board president Buchanan, Superintendent Reichman, Assistant Superintendent Cooper, and members of the board. Uh, we do bring forward today a what we're hoping for is an approval to bring on a new district agreement. This would be within our region 2 area and it's with the Sonorin Science Academy of Phoenix. Do I have a motion to approve this district agreement? >> So moved. This is Bill. >> And a second.

045>> This is Linda. I'll second that motion. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Diana. I. >> Uh. Motion carries. Next we're going to go to [snorts] 4.1 that is information item finance report. Um Kimbitrich. [snorts] >> Hi this is Earl. >> Hi this is Diana. >> Good afternoon interim board president Buchanan. Superintendent Wrightman, Assistant Superintendent Cooper, Assistant Superintendent Catchup, members of the board, and ASB community. You've been provided with our most recent board report that covers the financial data from September 2024 and 2025. This data was covered in more detail at our most recent finance committee meeting held on Wednesday, November 5th with interim board President Buchanan and board member Gordon. Also in attendance was superintendent and assistant superintendent Cooper and the director of our sped program department Sarah Bar. Sarah presented

046an overview of the sped department including staff responsibilities, students served, case loads, and budget. The total student count provided in the board report for October 1, 2025 shows, compared students as of October 1st, 2024. A total decrease of 137 students. All areas have a decrease while preschool increased by one student. When comparing the student count to September 1st, 2025 of 1799, the student count has increased by 16. As of October 1st, we had 585 equivalent positions which included 8.5 at FBC foundation for blind children. At that time we employed 659 staff. The new payroll system a3 calculates the based on the number of hours worked in a week where typical FTE is calculated based on the number of hours worked in the year. This change has significantly increased our FTE since 10 months staff are

047calculated as one FTE instead of 71 FTE. There were 66 vacancies across the agency at that time. However, since then the agency has implemented a higher increase, so there are no vacancies. The highlights of the September 2025 financial report show a total of 2.5 million 5 million higher than the September 2024 revenue of 944,000. The major difference is the increase in institutional vouchers, federal grants, and classroom site fund revenues. The increase in the classroom site fund is mostly due to the increase in the per pupil allocation from $792 last year to $842 this year. The BFY 2025 obligated expenditures of 15.6 million were 240,000 more than BFY 2026 obligated expenses of 15.4 million. The decreases are in salary and professional and outside services offset by an increase in employer related expenditures. The decrease in professional

048and outside services is from a decrease in contracted transportation for the students. The Arizona Department of Transportation fleet charges are now calculated and included in travel since we are leasing the fleet from ADOT. This increases travel while decreasing other operating expenses. The financial reports show a decrease in fund balance of 135,000 due to the utilization of existing cash to make payments for salaries and vendors. This concludes my reports of the agency's financial status and I'm available to answer any questions. Thank you. This bill I have a question. Maybe I didn't understand exactly. An employee that is a 10-month employee, which was considered a 71 FTE, is now considered a 1.0 FTE. Did I hear that right? >> Yes. So, before they used to take the total hours worked in the year divided by 2080, which

049is a full-time equivalent, and now they're taking the number of hours worked in a week divided by 40 hours. So that increases our FTE although our headcount has gone down. >> And is that not confusing for any other state agency that has people working 12 months out of the year? Because that would be a 1.0 FTE in any other state agency. >> Yes. Well, the 12-month staff, which most of the professional staff are 12 month, those are still 1.0 FTE. It's just the teachers used to be considered 71 FTE. Now they're showing as one FTE. >> I don't understand. >> I get it. I I know. I know. I'm [clears throat] just seeing somebody that doesn't know anything about what we do sees 12 months and 10 months the same and they're not the same,

050>> right? >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. >> Sure. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Thanks, Kim. Um I don't know if this is a question for you Kim or maybe for Shana or for Annette. Uh we have tried for this is Mike Gordon speaking. Uh we've tried for a while to increase the participation and census of members from the board to be on the finance committee and uh I know there's a couple new members and uh I was wondering what is the process for someone to join? >> Thank you. This is Superintendent Regman. Um, up until now, you as board members have self- selected to be on the finance committee. >> Correct. >> So, yep. >> This bill, I'll clarify because I had come across some information that suggested I needed to get permission from the

051board and I don't even know who that is. I mean, I know who we are, but I don't know who do I ask to sit on that committee because I said I would be interested in sitting on it. Now you're saying just come. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> This is where member uh Buchanan, thank you Kim very much. Um moving forward, we are actually at 7.1. This is a discussion and possible action item, approval of proposed revisions, additions to the Arizona revised statutes. Um, and we are going to bring Maria Murphy up here to answer all of our questions and our comments. >> Sorry to interrupt. This is the interpreter on everyone. Can you say that again interpreter? >> Yes. Could everyone on Zoom mute? It's really hard to hear in the

052room are further away. So, anything anyone can do to help would be amazing. Thank you so much. Okay, Maria, are you ready? Thank you. >> I am. Uh, good evening, President Buchanan, members of the board, Superintendent Reichman, Assistant Superintendence, and members of the ASDB community. Uh, for the record, my name is Maria Murphy. I'm the director of policy and government relations. and I am here to talk to you today about some um proposed legislative bills that we are looking to potentially take uh to the 2026 Arizona State Legislative Session. Uh before I go into the bills, let me just briefly talk to you about uh what our process was um in how we went about drafting these bills. So the the first part of the process uh involved a lot of research of the Arizona

053revised statutes first to try to find other state agencies and organizations who are perhaps um similarly uh situated to ASDB and um surprise surprise we're we're special. Uh there's there's not uh many that are a perfect fit. We looked at school districts and charters. We looked at the Arizona Board of Regents or ABOR. We looked at um Arizona Community Colleges as well. And in looking at those statutes, we determined that probably the Arizona Board of Regents was the most similar um for ASDB in that it was a statewide agency with locations all across the the state. Um after that we went ahead and started looking specifically at d at dissecting AOR's statutes to see what do we think are potential revenue generating ideas that could translate from abore to ASDB. I went ahead and held

054multiple meetings with our subject matter experts on that and that was Shaina Orin, Superintendent Reichman, Albert um to to try and and bounce ideas off of them. I began the drafting process after getting consensus from the from the subject matter experts and came up with a a some drafts After that, we went to I I went back to my subject matter experts to make sure that uh I I had actually accurately depicted what what we felt was best for us. Uh, I also went to the attorney general's office to make sure that they reviewed it and to make sure that there weren't any glaring red flags because the last thing that we want is to take something that's halfbaked to the legislature. And then finally after that, I sought out um advice and thoughts from

055other stakeholders, stakeholders in the in the legislature, um stakeholders in the governor's office, stakeholders with our partners out in the school districts, uh and and got thoughts and ideas from all of them as well. And so taking all of that into account now I'm going ahead and I'm bringing you uh all of these potential bills and I am happy to discuss those bills with you. I know that there's a lot there. Uh so if if you like I'm happy to take the bills one by one. Does that work? >> I think that would work. Yeah. >> Okay. All right. So the first bill that ASDB is proposing would actually be a change not to um title 15 but to title five. And what we would be proposing is um allowing access to the Arizona state

056lottery fund. So, this would authorize the state lottery fund to give an appropriation to um ASDB in the amount of no more than 80% of a lease to own or a bond agreement that would um be entered into by the ASDB board. So, are there any questions about that? It's it's a very brief bill. It's one paragraph. Yeah, >> go ahead. >> Uh, this is Mike Gordon. Um, Mariam, for all these four bills, um, first of all, thanks for explaining your process. That's really useful uh and important. >> Um, are there any projections as to what kind of revenue could be raised for for these separate bills? Uh, I know when we get to the uh to the third party and you're talking about acquisitions of buildings or funny I mean I remember from the

057uh facility report you know there at one point I think it was like 80 million or something like that that Albert put together. So when we're talking about trying to raise funds in a variety of different ways and I I commend that that's and that's how the world works, you know, trying to trying to survive without some kind of credit is uh is unique nowadays. So if you could kind of go into any of that if you if you have those kind of details and and that way also that that helps us with I know how much time you spend in Phoenix uh on the hill so to speak in in at the capital. So that's an important piece for us to understand your recommendations and your your uh your perspective. So anything you can

058share you know kind of the pragmatic aspects we appreciate. >> Certainly certainly. So um for the state lottery fund, the state lottery fund is stating that there obviously there has to be a general appropriation um by the legislature of at least 99 million that has to and then after 30 uh 3,500,000 goes into the Arizona competes fund which is a specific fund that goes um uh into the state lottery fund. we would essentially be getting in line and there are many other organizations that receive monies from the state lottery fund. So, uh other organizations would include ADOT, the Arizona Department of Transportation. Um ABOR is a primary recipient of um state lottery funds. the governor's office receives some small um amount of funding from the state lottery and then there are quite a few um

059nonprofit organizations that receive it as well. So we would be one additional organization kind of trying to get get in line. So would the state lottery fund generate a significant amount of revenue? Probably not. Um right now the state financial situation is such that uh the um JLBC which is the joint legislative budget committee is projecting right now a $67 million um a $67 million surplus after everything else is already paid out for the year. there's going to be a lot of jockeying for [laughter] that for that excess $67 million. Um, and I do not know with the financial situation with the budget situation being what it is right now that ABOR or AOT or many of these other organizations will take kindly to having maybe one more organization trying to to get in on

060the act in terms of state lottery funding. So that's what so that's what I can say about that specific bill. Um the second bill that uh I drafted is the special license plate bill. So the special license plate bill is a revision to title 28. That's the AOT portion of the statute that would essentially create a special license plate for um deaf and blind education and those uh any revenues from that would be placed into a special ASDB special plates fund that we would be able to use. Um the one caveat that I have with that bill is that that bill would require um either ASDB or another nonprofit organization to put up approximately $32,000 if the bill is passed um to cover the costs of the design and the actual making of the license

061plate. And then uh that $32,000 would have to be paid back to ASDB or to the special organization after the license plate is made. So basically all of the initial revenues of the license plate would go back to the organization that put up the money, that $32,000. So, um, the other thing to keep in mind is right now there's over 110 special license plates in the state of Arizona. There's a lot of them out there. Um, and to do a special license plate, you would have to pay a $25 registration fee. And then you have to keep doing that every year, $25. And then the organization would receive um $17 every year from that license plate. So, will it generate revenue? Yes, it will. Um, will it generate enough revenue? Probably not likely if you're

062asking my opinion. Then the next bill that I drafted was >> I'm sorry, board member Buchanan. I um I have a question on that one. >> Yes. Um the 32,000 you said is upfront. >> Yes. >> Then gets returned. >> Yes. >> Correct. Is that only if we reach past the 32,000? >> Correct. That's only if we um manage to generate over $32,000 in license plates. I'm just going to do some quick math really quick. So we get 17 back. So, we would have to have 1,882 people to make to choose our license plate in order to make that 32,000. >> Math is not my forte, but I I trust >> if it was $17 that we get back. Okay. So, we need approximately even 2,000 license plates out there in order to even reach

063beyond and get just our 32,000 back. Okay. >> Yes. >> Thank you. I just wanted to clarify that point. Yes. Board member Linda >> and this is board member Linda V. >> Just to echo kind of what President Buchanan Buchanan said just to break even we're looking at 2,000 in sales after that. Is there any sort of projected estimate? Is there any buzz out there of how many dollars we're actually talking about? Board member Boveve. Uh, I I have not done that research. I I don't know, but if you like, I can research it and get back to you. >> Okay. I was just curious. Thank you. >> Certainly. And um then the third bill that uh that we drafted uh basically discusses it it adds quite a few definitions and gives you as a

064board additional powers and duties. And the most important thing is to be able to give you the authority to secure indirect or third party financing for facilities to acquire um facilities. Excuse me, not just acquire but acquire by purchase, contract, lease purchase, and to be able to hold or dispose of property. um to be able to accept grants uh subsidies or loans from a federal agency, to permit the board the authority to borrow monies to acquire or improve, and to also obtain lines of credit for cash management or liquidity purposes. So, um, this particular bill, I think if you are asking, you you haven't asked for my opinion, but but I'm just going to I'm going to go ahead and give it to you anyway. I think that this out of all of the bills

065is probably the most important bill because it grants you, the board the flexibility to acquire third-party financing to be able to purchase, to be able to dispose, to be able to obtain lines of credit. I think um that granting the ASDB board the flexibility to do these things I think would be huge because right now to a certain extent I think um wi with our statutes the ASB board the ASB board is slightly handcuffed when it comes to revenue generation and I feel like if we can get this particular bill across um this is in my opinion in is the bill that could potentially have the greatest positive impact for the schools. And then finally, the final bill is the um capital improvement the lease to own um agreement to which um Superintendent Reichman explained

066pretty well. It would just allow ASDB the opportunity to enter into leaseto own agreements. Again, it's about that flexibility. So, I think that lease to own in conjunction with being able to obtain lines of credit to be able to secure third-party financing. I think those two things together again could be game changers for ASDB. And with that, do you have any questions for me? Yes. >> Hi, it's Bill. The lease to own, that's talking about building on campus by some entity, then we would lease back from them, but continuing to maintain this campus as the the ground upon which it's built. >> It could or but I don't believe that it would preclude us from um going someplace else. But yes, it would it would allow for this campus. >> Okay. And it seems I

067recall several years ago that Valley Bank was a a finance source for the buildings that are currently on campus. I realized that was a generation or two ago obviously with where we are with some of the buildings. But I think that's what we had done at that point. Okay. >> Yes. So, uh, so for those of you who are Arizona longtimers, you may you may remember that during the last great recession, um, the capital and the legislature and a lot of government buildings were leased to own to be able to generate revenue for the state. So, this is it's not unheard of. >> Yeah. Thank you, [clears throat] >> Maria. the the um the third party arrangement bill that is would also be in conjunction conceivably with the lease to own option. I I what

068I would like to see is to try to run both bills >> and see if we can get them both across the finish line because I I think that while both of them would be helpful, I well, while one of them would be helpful, I think both of them would give um ASDB maximum flexibility because then you can lease to own, but then you also have the ability to take on that third-party financing. um to get that line of credit so that you can get the funds to lease to own. >> Now the um the lease to own certainly addresses capital improvements or or capital uh needs. um the third party and certainly the lottery and the the license plates, those kind of seem like they would be uh operational deficit uh focused whereas the

069third party could be could be considered to be used for operational deficit but also for capital improvement. I mean, that would be line of credits. That would be uh working with a bank presumably or a private funer, I suppose, but uh to be able to just obtain credit and being able to have the board authorize that and be able to uh to be involved in that decision-m. >> Yes. So, under uh under that bill where it talks about indirect and third-party financing, it does specifically say for capital improvements >> for the third party capital. Okay. >> Yes. for capital improvements. [clears throat] >> Okay. Thank you. That Okay. So, the first two are kind of for operational more so than or conceivably. >> Yes. Yes. So, so they're so I I think that they are

070are smaller amounts that would be revenue generating. >> And then the the final two are capital improvements. >> Thank you. >> One last question. This is Bill. So presuming these get passed in the legislature, do you have a timeline for when they would be considered? And then let's just assume for discussion purposes they're approved. So then does the procurement go through some myriad of state agencies for architecture and whatever all that building stuff is? What's the projected timeline if it's approved that we or have you even done that? You may not have even done that yet. I so what what I can tell you is that typically bills become effective um 90 days after snee die or the adjournment of the of the legislature typically that is sometime around September and then once it becomes

071effective that's when we could start moving into a potential procurement process to talk to uh creditors to talk banks etc and then um I I would probably defer refer to Albert to say how long a process would take. I think I think we would want to try to figure out what exactly the plan is, what we would like to do, what we think is the most feasible um as well as the most fiscally responsible and then we would uh do a project timeline. Does that sound accurate? Okay. Yeah. But but yes, if this if this were to pass, we could start having those conversations around September. >> And this is board member Linda Bove. Those last two bills, are those in your experience the state >> are they receptive to that? >> Do they see

072that different? Do they see that we're different than a general state agency? What does that kind of look like comparatively from your past experience to current? Is it unusual or is it fairly common? >> Linda, you're asking me to look into a crystal ball. [laughter] Um I I so what I can what I can tell you is that the legislature even in just the 10 years that I have been doing this has changed. priorities have changed and I but what I think what I hope will go a long way is that the legislature will see that we are trying we are looking at all the options here. Um everything is on the table and we're doing that because we know what our mission is. We are laser focused on ensuring the education of deaf, low

073vision, blind, visually impaired and heart of hearing children. So I think I hope that they will appreciate the fact that we are looking at all the options and we are not afraid to try to be creative to try to think outside the box. Now, what will the legislature do? I have no idea what the legislature is going to do. If I knew I would go buy a lottery ticket. Um I'm not sure if if it will pass or not. But what I know is we have to try. We have to try something because nothing, as Superintendent Katchoff said, doing nothing is not an option. Hope is not a strategy. So a question the challenge here I see is can we convince the legislators to their mindset for the future of this school and this agency

074based on what we've seen in the last four years kind of the sunset audit the way we've had to fight for this um do you feel like their mindset has changed how how are we going to convince them that we're working hard, that we're working very hard, that we're doing what we need to do. How do we convince them of that, not just for getting other outside support, but getting other outside entities involved as well? >> That's a really great question, Linda, and I think we need to do the work, and the work is going and meeting legislators one- on- one and talking to them. sending emails, making phone calls, going to committee meetings and talking about this, getting as many legislators as we possibly can to come down here and take a tour so

075that they can see the status of the campuses for themselves. So there's there is no getting around the fact that we and when I say we, I mean everybody in here, we all have to do the hard work and the heavy lifting. So I'm just I'm just one person and I try to do what I can, but um I I need everybody's help here. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Uh those this is board member Bikinan. Those of you on the phone, do you have any questions, comments, or concerns for Maria regarding uh 7.1? >> This is Co. I have no concerns. Board members Terry and Diana. Do you have any comments or concerns? >> Yes, this is Earl. Um I Yep. I've been listening to all the options and I like three

076out of four of them. Um I but I agreed with what the discussion has been thus far. Um and I think we just need to keep exploring all the available options for right now. Hi board member Buchanan. If there is no more questions or comments or discussion, um this is a possible action item. Uh we can have a um well, I guess I should clarify, Maria, you're looking for us to move this so you can go ahead and with these bills to the legislature in January, correct? Okay. >> Yes. Yes. >> Can I ask one more? >> Yeah, go ahead. >> This is Mike. Um, Maria, in your opinion, do you think there is strength in having four bills try to go through? First of all, I'm assuming sponsorship seems kind of likely. Do is

077there strength with four bills or is that a uh is does that open the the positive opportunity to say well let's have the two bills the capital ones which are more substantial and do you think there's strengthen four or do you think that might be a deterrent I know you you wrote all four so >> yes um so [clears throat] >> you understand my question >> yes I absolutely absolutely understand your question. It's a good question. Um I think that there's there's pros and cons. That having been said, uh four bills for one organization, especially a small organization like ours, is a lot. Mhm. >> And one of the things that I want the board to keep in mind is we run the risk of we don't know what the legislature is going to move

078forward versus what they're just going to sit on. And what I would hate is for the legislature to move forward the special plates bill, but not move forward third party financing or um you know or or the the least to own, >> right? >> Which are the ones that have the greater chance of generating significant revenue to actually be able to >> give us the solutions that we're looking for. So that so that is a potential risk that we're that that we could be looking at if we decide to run for. Um the other risk is that when you start looking at um changing other people's statutes, meaning like the state lottery fund, then you're giving an opportunity for potentially ADOT, ABORE, and all of these other organizations the chance to stand up and say,

079"No, no, no. There's already not enough money as it is. now we're going to let one more organization in. That's something to think about, too. Um, but I also understand why the subject matter committee said, "Maria, draft four bills because we want to look, not look, but we want everybody to see that we are looking at all the options, the whole gamut on the table. We're exploring everything, but it's it's up to you board what your appetite for risk is. And you also need to look at cost benefit. And I can't give you a an answer on that. That's something that the board needs to make its own decision on. >> This bill, I'm all for all four of them. I I think it's we we hit them with everything that we've got, but I

080think all four of them are incumbent on us having solid student need data to walk in and not just say, "Oh, our buildings are falling down." We know specifically there are students in the state that are not being served at the level they should be in order for us to continue that mission. Not only just the children that are on our campuses in Tucson or Phoenix, but also around the state, all those other areas where children are not being served. And it's important for them to understand that 65% that we got in our conference is that's huge. That is huge. Um so they understand then they're going to meet it maybe what appears to be a hidden need. We need to put it out in the open and we can do that very clearly and

081I think that's going to be a piece that'll be important for them to have. >> I I completely agree, Bill. And that's part of the process of making sure that we're doing the work. >> Yes. Yes. Given that, I move that all four of these be approved uh as written. Is that okay? Did I say that right? >> Yes. >> I'll second that motion. Mrs. Linda. [clears throat] >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Mrs. Earl. I. >> All opposed. Hearing none. Uh motion passes. >> Thank you. So it um I know that >> Excuse me. This is Diana. Apologies for the delay. I have This is Diana. Can you hear me? >> Yes. Board member, we can hear you. >> Uh this is Diana. Hello. Hello. >> Hi Diana. This >> Yes.

082>> Okay, great. Yes. Hi. Yes, this is Diana here. Apologies for the sound issues, but I am talking sign language interpreter and as I'm listening to the discussion I want to say that wow it's great to have all these perspectives and after thinking about the four options I am really not comfortable with submitting the license plate one or the lottery I really think that we should hold off on those because looking at the bigger picture I think that the lease to own and the um and the other one are really important for our meet. it was um maybe it was bill two and three but um anyways at any rate so you know I really would like the legislation legislators to focus on those you know the lottery and the license one could certainly submit

083later but those two that could generate more or you know what and I guess what I'm saying is hold off on the two and continue on with the most important of that that could get us the most and further. Um, board member Diana, would you like me to register a vote as a nay on the motion? I excuse me. Apologies. I No, I don't. I just wanted say that. Okay. And I think this was an issue with the technology and the interpreter. You We needed this comment before the motion. I think there was a conflict in timing and that Diana was trying to speak where the motion occurred. >> [cough] >> Okay. Um >> Diana is saying is is the motion occurring right now because then I missed it. >> Uh this is board member

084Buchanan. Uh Bill board member um Bill did put forth a motion to approve all four bills for Maria to take to the legislature. Um and we >> Oh, then okay then I you can correct then you can document my vote as um a nay. >> Okay. Thank you so much. I am sorry. I am trying to give enough time for technology to catch up. I will try to be a little bit more cognizant of giving a little bit more time after that for you. I apologize. board president Buchanan, may I make a comment that just what happened here with technology is what's happening with teachers out in the field. We have time here today to rest with the technology. We got a little extra time. We can sit around. All these people that we have

085here that are supporting us in technology are super. When you're a teacher out there all by yourself and your technology fails, your lesson stops. And for that child that day, that lesson stopped. And it is so critical for us to understand that while we all kind of joke, oh, my cell phone died, when you're on a lesson with a child, they don't get that again. That day does not come back. And we can talk about making up the lessons, but that's the kind of stuff that's frustrating teachers out there, whether they're teachers that are employed by us or teachers in local school districts who are also serving these children. So it it really bears bears a good deal of our attention to understand statewide what's going on and why technology while it's neat and it's

086nice and in most cases it's comfortable it doesn't work every time and for us we can take a few minutes and wait for a pause in this but out there they don't get that time again and it's critical for us I think to understand it's a teachable moment. Thank you. Um, this is board member. >> Yeah, this is board member. While Linda speaking here, well, I appreciate Bill uh what you just said. However, um technology and what we've just experienced today um is sometimes the only option. Um especially for our deaf folks who are out in the field. Um they may not have a backup plan or a backup option. Um, I know this may seem off topic, but since you brought it up, um, it actually makes me think that maybe it would be

087beneficial to have a Zoom call rather than a bridge line for board members who are unable to participate in person to be able to see in real time what's happening rather than through the use of multiple interpreters. Um, that is something that I would propose to Superintendent Reichman. Um, that I would request that we be able to have that for access purposes. Um, and so that we could see our constituents. Um, also to be able to see our board member peers um, so that everyone has access. Um, and just to clarify, while our hearing folks may be on the phone, participating by bridgeline, calling, cooking, doing other things in their household, walking around, um, not to try to be offensive while I'm walking around giving you this real life example, we don't have equal access

088because of that being our only option. >> So, that's right. >> Thank you for that. >> This is Superintendent Reichman. I would recommend that we move on uh to 7.2 at this time because we do need to comply with the agenda as written. This is board member Buchanan. Uh I appreciate both of you guys's input and uh we'll definitely get back to that. It is uh 5:44. We are about 15 minutes past a break. Um I would like to take about a 10-minute break for our interpreters and everybody. So, I would like to see everybody back at Oh my gosh, I can't do math. 5554. Thank you. 5:00 p.m. and we're coming back. We are now at um 7.2. I don't know if that was me. We're at 7.2, which is a discussion and action

089item. The urgent approval of revised policies GCC and GCCF. Maria, >> there I am. Okay. Thank [laughter] you. Uh good evening uh board president Buchanan, members of the board, superintendent Reichman, assistant superintendent, members of the ASDB community. Um you have before you the uh red lines of the policies in question, GCC and GCCF. Uh I do want to note that we are asking for urgent approval of these policies which would um basically approve these changes in one read rather than the typical two read. And with that I'd like to um make myself available for any questions. Those weren't Board members on the phone, do you have any questions? >> Um, Diana has a question. >> Go ahead. >> Can you hear me? >> Yes. Oh, >> okay. Hi. Yes. Again, this is the interpreter and

090I wanted to say what actually happened with 7.1. Uh there was a motion to move the I'm sorry, mayor. Uh there was a motion to move uh all four of the bills forward. Um there was a second. All board members approved except um you came in with the last comment and then wanted your vote registered as a nay. >> Okay. Does that mean it passed or not for the interpreter? I'm not sure. >> The motion did pass. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Diana, do you have any questions about 7.2 those policies? >> No, I do not. No. >> Thank you. Board member Terry, do you have any questions about those policies? No, I do not. >> Uh, board member Chapman on the phone. Do you have any questions? >> No, I do not. >> Thank

091you. We're going to try and do like a just name everybody so we can go through and make sure everyone's getting access. Anybody else sitting here? Do you have any questions about these policies? >> Fantastic. Uh, we will need a motion to have these approved and a second. Board member Buchanan, I'm sorry. Uh, >> Go ahead, Maria. >> I believe that we first need a motion to suspend the two reads. >> Oh, okay. >> And then do a motion to uh to approve the policy. Okay. Board >> the two reads. Yes. Um I will second that >> this bill. I'll second. >> All All in favor? I >> I >> board member Diana. >> Perfect. That carries. We'll now need a motion to approve these policies and move forward with them. >> I'll move the

092policy be approved. [clears throat] >> This bill. Thank you. >> This is Shauna. I'll second that motion. >> All in favor? I >> It carries. >> Thank you. >> All right, board. That's going to bring us down to uh 7.6. This is a discussion and action item. Uh this is the election of the 2026 board officers. Um percent of this to policy. We do this at the end of um kind of like the end of the calendar year, which would be this meeting. Um the way that this has worked in the past uh in my experience is uh the board will put forth the names that they would like to nominate to positions. That board member will accept that or deny that uh nomination and then the board is going to go ahead and vote

093that person into office. We are voting for a board president for the 26 year 2026 year as well as a board secretary. So, I will give the board the floor and um we'll make sure that we have time um set aside for the people on the phone to have uh be able to have all the interpreting done so we can get get to that end point. Um, okay. So, for board secretary, do we have anybody Does anybody I'm sorry. Would anybody like to nominate someone for secretary? Or would someone like to nominate themsel for secretary? [laughter] I'll nominate Linda. Continue as secretary. Miss Bill, >> I guess I um this is board member Bikini. I guess I should outline that um Linda has been acting in the capacity of secretary per my request per meeting.

094So she um has not taken on the interim secretary title. So this would be a nomination for you, Linda, as secretary. Thank you, Bill. However, um I believe that my term is actually expiring in the year 2026. Unless some sort of situation were to change. >> She's a board member. >> Do I need to call the governor and ask her if you can stay on? [laughter] >> I know that's out of protocol, but what we'll just go ahead and say, [clears throat] right? >> This is Superintendent Reichman. I would just like to say, Linda, your term will not be completed until 2027, January of 27. >> Oh, so you do have a year. >> Oh, in that case, [laughter] I will accept. Board members on the phone, uh, do you have any comments, input, or

095would you like to move forward with voting on this? I'm sorry, the board member that just spoke, could you repeat? >> Did anybody catch that? >> So, um I know that somebody was nominated I believe with I'm sorry. Could board member, could you repeat that, please? Okay, I'm sorry. So, this is Diana here. I want to clarify which position are we actually talking about right now? the president or the secretary. >> This is board member Buchanan. We are currently taking nominations or a vote because we do have a vote on the table for SEC the position of secretary. We had a board member nominate a board member both as secretary. She did accept the nomination. >> Okay. Great. Thank you. >> Would you like to cast a vote for a board member both to become

096secretary? >> Yes. I >> uh board member Terry. >> Yes. I >> board members present. Uh in favor of uh board member V becoming secretary for the 2026 year, please uh say I. >> I. [snorts] >> Um motion carries. >> Uh board member both. You are now secretary for the 2026 school year. >> Wow. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Uh, next up the >> I appreciate that. Um, for president, I would like to nominate board member Buchanan for the 2026 year. >> Says board member Buchanan, I will accept that nomination. >> Great. Someone could repeat because Some people are further away from the mic maybe or the phone I mean so it's hard to hear. So anyways if someone could just repeat what was just said. >> Sure. This is board member both speaking,

097Linda speaking. I want to nominate our interim president Brittney Buchanan um to be our permanent president for the year 2026. This is board member Buchanan. I will accept the nomination. Um if there's no other nominations, comments, or concerns, especially with those on the phone, we will need a motion and um a vote for that. This is Gordon so moved. >> May I second? This is Linda speaking. >> I second. >> Thanks. Um board member Diana and board member Terry, we will um take your votes first. >> This is Earl. Hi. This is Diana. Hi. >> Uh, those present >> I >> so moved. Um, thank you all for the nomination. Um, [laughter] I am happy that you have faith in me to lead this board and um, serve the agency and I look forward to

098serving you all in the capacity of president of the board um, for this next school year. And I just I uh, I don't want to use the word hope, but I do hope that I can be um, a good representation of what um, everybody needs here and the families that we serve and the children that we serve and the people that we serve. and that I can help lead this agency forward into um what is might be a daunting year coming up, but I will persevere and I will persevere along with all of you and I look forward to working with all of our leadership because I think we have a really amazing team right now. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you. With that um we are going to move forward to 7.7

099which is the discussion action item where we set the calendar for the 2026 um regular board meetings. Um board members you do have a proposed calendar in board docs and if we are good with this calendar we can move forward with that. I will take any comments, concerns, changes, proposed changes. Otherwise, Diana, go ahead. As you know, I was hearing here at the at one date we actually have meetings on the same day which is November 12th, but I think uh maybe someone will change the schedule or not. I don't know if you can move forward, but just so you're aware that I wouldn't be able to be there at that time. Um, one moment for the inter. But I do expect support and can move forward with that. Just a comment for everyone to

100be aware of. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, are we able to change the date for that if she so she can attend or >> would we like to just move forward with Yeah, this one. >> Okay. >> Or this is board member both. Um, or we could potentially change the location um change the date or a location if that makes attendance more feasible. This is superintendent Regman. I did want to inform the board if there are changes to the date and or location, we will have difficulties reserving the space, specifically the BPAC that we are in now. Um, Laticia has already reserved the facilities six months ago for this coming um year as well as in Phoenix at the SPACK. So, we could change that date. Um, but just a heads up, we might also

101need to change locations depending on theater availability. >> This is board member B. Thank you, Superintendent Reichman. Um, I definitely would like to be able to have our ACDHH deaf representative able to attend. I do think that that representation is vital um as one of the organizations that is per the governor's office required to serve on our ASDB board. So, just a thought followup. Um, Annette, could we have since there is some time before November, could we allow time for that investigation to see if a location or date ch date change is possible for November 2026. We can look into that. Yes, that is a possibility. >> Thank you. Um, so we can do a um we can table we would like this to be tabled until for investigation into possibly changing the November 2026

102dates. >> Board member Diana, go ahead. Thank you. >> All right. I really don't want you to worry too much about that November date because our because my other organization has not yet approved their calendar and I believe it could be easier to change theirs versus ours considering our meetings our meetings are on Zoom and These meetings are in person and we need to reserve a space. I think leaving would be the best plan of action and I will discuss with the other organizations um modifying. >> It says board member Buchanan. Thank you so much for that input, board member Diana. Um, so we can take a vote um to just approve this calendar for next year. >> Yes. Um, can I make a motion to accept the proposed calendar dates for the 2026 year

103as proposed in this agenda item? >> This is Shauna. I second that motion. >> All in favor say I. >> I. This is Earl. I >> This is Diana. I >> fantastic. Motion carries. That is our board calendar. Um, next I have 8.1, which is the call to the public on non-aggenda items. I do have two calls to the public on non-aggenda items. Um, first I have um I am really sorry if I mispronounced names. Grao Attendo, are you present? Would like to come down and address the board? >> Okay. The second one I have was via email on the non-aggenda item. Um, it is Sher Brown. Sher Brown, are you present? Would like to come address the board? Good evening everyone. My name is Sheri Brown. I'm the counselor in the high school and

104I totally understand we're in a really hard place and there needs to be change and we have to look at how to do things differently to address our budget shortfalls. But I think it's extremely critical that we are very careful that we don't impact our student services anymore than they've already have been, especially here on the Tucson campus. Um, because to dilute or tear apart our existing services and programs aren't going to be beneficial in the long run. And I certainly know the auditors or legislators don't want us to cut to a point that we're not providing quality services. And so that's a really delicate balance. Um I know it's hard for administrators, but those of us who are doing the work day in and day out, we are I had mentioned back in March

105when I spoke to the board, we were at bare bones then and there have been even more cuts this fall. And you know, taking away necessary resources and implementing hiring freeze on much needed student positions creates a ripple effect that really directly impacts students, but it also weakens our current services and programs rather than strengthening them. And so I want everyone to be mindful that yes, there's money to be cut and things to be but we we're taking it from the student level. And again, I I don't have a magic wand, but we have to look elsewhere in other places because again, why we're all here is for the students. and teacher burnout, low morale, stress and fear from all the emails and information has created more problems. And I think it's really important that

106administrators come and talk face to face with staff to have discussions, real discussions about what's going on so staff can and meeting in small groups, not big meetings, to have discussions on staff concerns and things because we don't want to lose the staff we have. It's really hard, as you can see, to retain or recruit qualified staff. So, we really need to take care of our current employees and provide the support they need, but also communicate and include us in this process. I mean, this information on the board meeting is helpful, but many people are home resting for the next day at work because we have limited resources from K to 12. We have one administrative assistant to take care of of an entire school, elementary, middle school, high school. I I can't even begin

107to say the changes that we've been dealing with, but we we need to be heard. We need support. We need that feedback and opportunity to have our voices heard and to get clarification what's going on. Um, I like when Maria was talking, we talked at break about the legislator. I really think bringing students, having students tell their stories because we're not a business of education only. We change students lives. I've been here 32 years. I've seen the changes that we create for these young people and it's extraordinary and profound. Our legislators need to hear this and know what we do because our numbers aren't showing that. But we do change lives and it's it's an amazing thing. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, moving forward, we're at 8.2 discussion and action item, agenda items for

108the next regular board meeting um that is scheduled in January. Um, is there anything that anybody right now would like to put on the agenda for next meeting? >> This is Bill. I don't know if it's an agenda item for the meeting. I'd like to know how study sessions are scheduled, who schedules those, when they're scheduled, what's the process for getting those in place? >> I'm sorry, I missed the first word that you said that you were >> Study sessions >> or study work session? >> I Okay. Can you repeat what your concern is? >> I'd like to know what the process is for scheduling a work study session. Study work session. I don't know what the term is. work outside of this that the board meets to I guess discuss a particular topic or

109topics without making decisions that comes back to the board. >> So the board sets uh the work study sessions um usually at a board meeting uh we can uh bring up a concern that we'd like to have a study session on and then we can direct that to happen for a certain date. Usually our study sessions are scheduled within the months in between our board uh meetings. So technically you could our next one could be in February with a specific topic that that gives the subject matter experts time to be able to gather whatever information you're asking for. >> So that the next interim is December. So there's nothing that could be scheduled for December. >> Yes. Um we could possibly schedule something for December. I was just trying to be cognizant of >> No,

110that's fine. >> The holidays and you know everything like that for everybody. So >> So who schedules those? Uh, we do. >> Well, we is kind of generic, but who's the Wii? [laughter] Does do we as a board have to vote on scheduling that or is it you or is it Annette? I I need to look at the the protocol for doing that. >> And Annette, would you like to make a comment? >> Yes, this is Superintendent Reichman. >> I would just say that you don't have to do a vote for that. If you want to, you can go ahead and do so. Um, but if you want to schedule a work study session in February, we can certainly do that. I know that for the new board members, uh, you have missed the, um,

111spring work study sessions that we hosted and during those sessions, we focused heavily on our budget and our capital needs as well as our strategic plan. We can um give you an update on the budget in February as well as the capital needs if you'd like. That's certainly something we can do. Um and if you'd like to do that, we would just say pick a Thursday in February at 4:00 and we will um make that work. It would be in Phoenix. >> Yes. This is board member Linda Boove. I like that idea to have um we will have a refresher for us and also for new board members to understand exactly where we stand uh since our last session. Things have changed. So I think it would be critical a good time to reserve that

112in February to learn about maybe that would help support whatever you need. So are these are these sessions? This is Bill again. Are these just one topic sessions? You can only talk about one thing or or what? >> That's correct. >> Yes, this is Superintendent Reichman. Yes, that is correct. They are typically over one specific topic. Um and they tend to be about an hour and a half long. Um at most two hours because most of us um don't generally last longer than two hours in these meetings. But um those types of meetings have been uh very productive for the board members and for us as well because there can be a lot of discussion during those meetings and um I might recommend yes an update on the budget as well as our facilities needs

113or capital needs um and we can provide that update on uh on those two topics And that would just give the board a better understanding of the decisions that we have to make um in 2026. >> Good. That didn't answer my question. So, I appreciate that. Um we've got a finance committee that talks about budget. We've talked about budget here. I appreciate there's budget problems. I suspect they're going to be budget problems for some time to come. It seems like there needs to be some other discussion about dynamics associated with the sustainability of the school. It's just like you said, superintendent, that in order for us to be sustainable, we got to have some actions that increase our level of services to students, whether they're on campus or or in the regional programs. So, I'd

114like to know a little bit more about what actions are being taken to expand our outreach to local school districts that maybe aren't participating at this point. And again, I'm coming from a real specific point of view, and that is in talking with teachers out there that are not ASDB teachers. They're struggling with case loads. How are we going to go about addressing and reaching out to those teachers to say, "We have something to offer that we can get with you. How do we get to that point so that those discussions occur which then builds us data to go to the legislature and say of course we need new buildings but we got this huge need in the state that's hidden and I want to get that that need unhidden and make it public so

115that the decision makers in Phoenix understand it's more than just we want to survive. I I don't want to survive as a as a board member here. I want to see services to those youngsters and those teachers out there that are struggling every day. I mean, we heard our our counselor here say, you know, people are are kind of burned out. Well, yeah, they are. And and for a good reason, uh bad things, but we understand the reason. Uh but there are a lot of teachers in the state that are going through the same things. And what kind of relief specifically can we get to them? How do we get to them? And and I'd like to see a board discussion on that so that we have some direction from us to say here's where

116we move. And again, the budget's okay, but to hear Thank you. to hear us say we need more money. Well, of course, everybody needs more money. And everybody that goes to the legislature is going to say we need more money. We need to have data and information that is drilled right down to the school district level across the state that says this is how we're going to serve those underserved or unserved children. Now, how how do we get that kind of a topic on on an agenda? And I I appreciate the hour to an hour and a half. Um, and I don't work, so I'm retired. I got all the time in the world to to spend on the topic. I know you don't. And so, I want to make sure that that's an effective

117and efficient meeting, but I also want to make sure that something comes out of it that we can say that's a target that we're going for. Does that make sense? >> Yes. This is Superintendent Reichman. We can study a work study sess schedule a work study session in February and the topic is up to the board. You can pick a Thursday um uh and just let us know pick which Thursday works best for all of you. >> My recommendation as I said is that we focus on the budget and um our capital needs because the budget um supports everything that you were just talking about, Bill. um without the budget, without the financing, um we are not able to do anything. So, we do have to have a thorough understanding of the budget first before

118we start talking about our plans for the future. >> We're going to look at the same topic on two different sides. My projection is we don't wait for somebody to tell us what our budget is. We tell somebody what we need in order to provide services. And those services are clearly defined based on who's unserved or underserved in the state. That to me seems to be a more important direction and counting pennies again because now we're just shifting deck chairs on the Titanic and that doesn't seem to be terribly productive. I'm not necessarily interested in sitting through another budget meeting. Not that the information is bad. I appreciate what you're doing. I mean that's very clear. Um, but if if we're not going to get any more funding, obviously we need to come back with

119some information that says how do we how do we change our perception in the state with those underserved or unserved school districts. >> Okay. Um, this is Superintendent Reichman. I would just say that Maria Murphy um has just described um from her years of experience with the state legislature um the um state legislature has changed significantly. There are some members of the state legislature who are not interested in additional information. They are not interested in meeting with us. So we what we can do is provide information um to the state legislature and we can do advocacy and we have and we will continue to do that. Um I'm I'm just saying that some state legislators have less interest in hearing our expertise and knowledge. So, we have to adapt to the new reality and figure

120out how we are able to use the resources that we do have more effectively because we don't know if the state legislature will give us any additional resources. Even with the additional information, um, additional research and data that we can present, we just don't know. We don't have a guarantee. Um, as before, >> excuse me, President Buchanan, members of the board, Superintendent Reichman, Deputy Superintendent. Um, I'm Assistant Attorney General Vicky Bergen, and I'm >> I'm sorry, one second. Can you put your mic up a little bit? Sure. Thank you. And lean in a little bit. Thank you. >> Is that better? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, I'm Assistant Attorney General. I'm hearing echoing. So, um, I'm Assistant Attorney General Victoria Bergen. And I would just like to caution the board that at this point we

121are starting to delve into um off the agenda item that we're talking about right now which is you know future agenda item agenda items that you'd like to see be in future meetings and I we're starting to delve into more of a topic that's not the agendum item right now. So, I would advise that we move on and with this agenda item and if there's anything that needs to be put on future agenda items, let's address that and then move on so that we don't divert off of the agenda. Thank you. >> Help me understand how we do that. I'm I'm not understanding what >> the issue is that that the discussion that is going on right now is getting more in depth into the actual discussion of what you may want to discuss at

122a another board meeting. So we need to stay away from the actual discussion and just move and list what we want to be put on the next agenda. >> Okay. Thank you. >> This is board member Buchanan. Um okay. So we can we can have a a work session in February and um Alaticia will send out a poll on what day is going to work. I personally um will request that we try to do it on a Wednesday just due to my personal work schedule. Um and if that works with the board that would be amazing and great. Um and we can um do it on something relative to the finances. Um, other than that, um, if there's anything that you would like on the agenda for the next board meeting, uh, which I've heard

123no commentary, I'll give the board members on the phone a minute to be able to voice if they have anything, but, um, we can move forward after that. So, board members on the phone, do you have anything you would like to put on our next agenda? >> This is board member Terry. And then board member Terry, do you have anything you would like to put on the agenda? >> This is Thank you. Um if any if anything comes up uh between now and um then please just email me or uh Superintendent Regman and we can get that on the agenda. Um next action item is 9.1 which is adjournment. I'll take a motion to adjourn the meeting and a vote. I move that we adjourn the meeting. This is um board member Linda Bove. This

124is Shauna. I second that meeting that motion. >> All in favor? I >> I remember Terry. Board member Terry, would you like to cast a vote to adjourn the meeting? board member Diana. >> Fantastic. Meeting is adjourned. >> Meeting is adjourned. Thank you.