Board of Education Meeting 05/05/2025

001All right. Are you ready? Okay. It is now. Huh? It is now 7:04 and I am calling to order the regular board of education meeting for Indian Prairie School District 204 on Monday, May 5th, 2025. Michelle, will you please call the role? Miss Donahghue here. Mr. Kurubis here. Miss Gent here. Mr. Rising here. Miss Jane here. And Miss Deming present. We have a quorum. Mr. Kurabus, will you lead us in the pledge? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The next regular board meeting will be held on Monday, May 19th. We have several board salutes today. Miss Guns. All right, I do have two three district 204 students honored at the

002National PTA reflections level. The board salutes Mishka Patnak, a fifth grader at White Eagle Elementary for her music piece Shine, which won an award of excellence in the 2024 25 National PTA Reflections Arts Program. Varsan Raja, a sophomore at Matia Valley, earned a merit award for his film Discovering Color. And Anisha Campbell, a sixth grader at Cone Middle School, earned a merit award in music with her piece Imperfections Stay. For over 55 years, the Reflections program has encouraged students from AC across the country to express themselves through the arts. These three District 204 students were among 27 from Illinois that had entries sent to the National PTA for review. Congratulations on this amazing accomplishment. Dr. Tally named 2025 administrator and educator of the year by the DuPage Regional Office of Education. Yes. Before I say

003more, let's You knew we were we had to. I didn't know that. The board salutes superintendent Dr. Adrienne Tally for being named the 2025 administrator of the year and educator of the year by the Dwage County Regional Office of Education. Dr. Tally has shown strong and steady leadership since joining Indian Prairie School District 204 in 2020. He has focused on academic growth, student well-being, and equity for all learners. His work has helped raise student achievement and expand mental health support across the district. This honor celebrates his deep commitment to students, family, and staff. Congratulations, Dr. Tally. I think I have to blame Lisa on that one. All right. Um, Mr. Kubis, Neapville Writers Group High School Writing Prize. The board salutes NA Valley Seniors Alicia Bil and Daniel Serino for their outstanding writing achievements. Alicia

004was recognized for her poem, Home of the Resilient Olives, and Daniel for his short story, House at the End of the Universe. Each student received a $300 award, a certificate of achievement, and had their work published in Roulettes, a journal at the Neighborville Writers Group. Congratulations, Alicia and Daniel. [Applause] Miss Dumming, student ambassador, student election judge program. The board salutes students from Nua Valley and Wanzi Valley high schools who participated in the Will County Clerks Student Ambassador and Election Judge Program. These students generously gave their time to support the community and take part in the election process. Thank you for your val valuable contributions to our community. There's more. You want to do the rest of them? Okay. All right. Mr. Rising, I've got two. Do you want me to do them both in a

005row? Okay. Um, corporate sponsorship, National Merit Scholarship Winners. National Merit Scholarship Corporation released the names of the first group of winners of the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Approximately 830 distinguished high school seniors have won corporate sponsored national merit scholarship awards financed by about 124 corporations, uh, company foundations, and other business organizations. Two District 204 high school seniors were named this year's competition. AJ Taja Cavori from Matia Valley and Kavita Rajan from Nika Valley. Congratulations to AJ and Kavita. Neighborville Williams Women's Club Young Adult Art Contest winners. The board salutes the winners of the Neighborville Women's Club Young Adult Art Contest. Nua Valley sophomore Lillian Dylan earned best of show. Matia Valley senior Anushia Ketti won first place in the painting and drawing category while senior Rachel Lie was awarded second place. Third place

006was awarded to Wubanzi Valley Jr. Addison Frank in the same category. Uh the Ali Pyo Award went to Niqua Valley Junior McKenna Budell. The students artwork was judged on concept, creativity, composition, originality, emotional impact, presentation, and execution. I will say I went to this, it was all five high schools in 203 and 204. 204 cleaned up, which was great. Um, but the artwork was just spectacular and students from all three of our high schools were in the top award position. So, congratulations. Thanks, Jane. 2025 US Presidential Scholars. The board salutes the 19 district 204 students who were recently named 2025 US Presidential Scholar candidates. From Matia Valley High School is AJ Cavori. From Nika Valley High School, Neil Cha, Adita Rakshit, Andrew Wan, Andy Yu, and Alexander Zhao. And from Wanzi Valley High Valley High

007School it's Mancha Audani Sajjie Haric Krishnan Yagnesh Lokesh Anjali Madeshwaran Sanvi Mangati Rita Majjit Shri Mutya Vikram Narha Ana Nyak Wing Ingry Aryaman Ptoriia Pukriti Santo and Akshhat Shivachidara scholars are chosen for strong academics, top test scores, leadership and service. Finalists will be honored in Washington DC this June. Three of whom have now been identified as semi finalists from Wanzi Valley are are Sajjiv Harik Krishnan and Sanvi Manga Mangani Mangadnit and from Nika Valley Adita Rakshid. Congratulations to all the students for this remarkable achievement. Miss Dming, do you have one more? We are so excited this evening to recognize our students in the grow your own teacher program. The board salutes the district 204 seniors in the grow your own teacher program who have dedicated themselves to becoming the next generation of educators. The program

008is a cohort of over 100 high school students who participate in engaging in realworld experiences to prepare them for a potential career in education. The program is open to any high school student interested in an education related career. Our goal is to foster a passion for education and encourage these students to return to become teachers at Indian Prairie School District 204. When we call your name, please come up to the front to be recognized and remain for a group photo. Caitlyn Amato, London Ascu, Ava Gray Bower, Asher Booth, Robert Caswick, Samra Chi Ridel, Kelly Clish, Ella Debezzek, [Applause] Madison Dcastress, Matteline Frink, Caitlyn Fitzgerald, Kate Harris, Kendall Hatton, Olivia Hernandez, Michelle Herrera, Abigail Hervy, Megan Kesler, Nishita Monahore, Robert Matus, Ellie Panish, Samantha Phoamara Pasano, Arushi Potar, Addie Shimikawitch, Bella Seban, Avery Smith, Kayla Thomas,

009Samantha Vertolech and Molina Williamson. Did I Did I get everybody? Is there anybody that I missed? Come on, guys. All the students are taller than me. Congratulations. [Applause] I'd like to have one more round of applause for those fantastic accomplishments, including our superintendent. Okay, next up we have a representative report for Wabanzi from Emily Shield. Hello everyone. It's a pleasure to be here again. My name is Emily Shield and I am here today to represent Wanzi Valley High School. As a warrior, I'm proud to report that our Wanzi community continues to thrive and provide many outstanding experiences to our students. First, we have a few giant successes with clubs and activities. Our cyber patriots program had three teams place in the top platinum tier at the state competition. Our math team had two students take

010first at regionals in the oral competition and eight other students take first in written exam competitions from algebra 1 through calculus 3. FCCLA had 35 students advance on to state and at state they earned three first place medals, 12 second place medals and four third place medals. This gives Wanzi Valley FCCLA one of the top positions in the state. BPA had 290 members this year and 61 of them advanced on to nationals. This is just a few of our highlights where 56% of our student population is involved in clubs and activities and regularly showcasing excellent competing at local and national competitions. In terms of athletics, Wubanzi Valley spring athletics are cruising along with a number of our sports beginning conference tournaments and the IHSA state tournament. Badmitten wrapped up a successful regular season last week

011and will head into the state playoffs with high hopes. Boys and girls track and field have had competitive seasons. The girls will compete in their DBC championship on Thursday, May 8th. And the boys will host the DBC championships on Thursday, May 15th. Boys and girls water polo, lacrosse, and softball all look to compete to complete a successful 2025 campaign in the upcoming weeks as they head into the IHSA state playoffs. All programs have high expectations headed into the state tournament. Boys tennis is having one of the most successful seasons in program history and are currently undefeated in the season and most recently knocked off tennis powerhouse New Trier in non-conference action. Boys tennis, volleyball, and baseball are all currently in first place in the DuPage Valley Conference headed into the final weeks of conference play.

012All programs hope to bring home a conference championship in their respective sport. We look forward to finishing off the spring season on a high note in these remaining couple of weeks. Go Warriors. Regarding our acade our academics, we are currently administering AP tests. This year, we have 1,237 students taking 2,310 exams in 30 subject areas. In late April, the counseling department hosted junior pre-ol planning night. This was an evening event that reviewed the college search and application process. It was well attended by students and their families. We are looking forward to green and gold night this week and are excited to honor our senior student successes. That's all for the Wanzi Valley Board Report. Thank you and as always, go Warriors. Thank you. So, next up is our spotlight and this this meeting is for

013Builta Elementary. So, we are going to have a presentation by Adrienne Morgan, principal, and Carol Hes, the ELELLL teacher. Thank you. Hi everybody. Good evening. Hello. I'm Adrienne Morgan, principal at Builta School. And with me, I am Carol Hes. I'm an ELLL teacher at Builta. So, here this evening, we're here to talk about our school improvement plan. And one of our goals is our social emotional learning goal, which has a focus on belonging. We understand the importance of making sure that all of our students and our families feel valued and a part of our community. We want to make sure that all families have the chance to see themselves in our LMC books, read aloud, read alouds, lessons taught in our classrooms, and our monthly cultural hallway displays. In addition, we give our students the

014opportunity to share about themselves, their culture, and their families through school pro projects, which include students talking to their families about their different traditions, beliefs, and heritage. Examples of these include second grade's project of how I got my name, third grade's auto ethnography project, and fifth grade's culture project. Students also have the chance to share this information with their classmates. I'm kind of the introduction here to let you know why Miss Hess has our multicultural clubs in our building. Want to connect it to our school improvement plan. Our families also have the chance to sign up to decorate our front office display cases to share about their holidays, celebrations, and cultural traditions in their family. Carol Hess has been a very important part of this school improvement plan and our sense of belonging by hosting

015two important um afterchool clubs within our community and I'm going to turn the floor over to Carol. Okay. Thank you so much Adrian. So um how the multicultural club um continues um each year there's different parts of the club for different grade levels. So, second and third grade we are doing um some cooking, some dancing um anything that the children and the parents want to share with us about their culture. So, the students all the students in the grades second through third get invited um and they can participate in this activity and then along with the permission slip there is a form for parents to fill out if they want to come in and share. So, we have done so many things. Um here are some of the examples that we have done this year.

016Um we made Brazilian cheese bread. Um I went to Brazil and I brought this back um and taught the students how to do it um as I lived um there for 12 days and learned a lot from the culture of with the people. And then we also learned about Italy. We did some paintings by Michelangelo where you can see a student laying on their back because that's how he painted what the Sistine Chapel. Um we made uh in Costa we took a trip to Costa Rica and made um ox carts and that is um one of their cultural displays. They used to in the olden times they would carry all of their things through town. So I wanted to show the children the transportation. They decorated their transportation and they got to decorate their ox

017cart in their culture however they wanted to do it as we um celebrated Dvali um with many treats from India. Families taught us how to um make different treats and then we also um made rangolies outside to welcome. We also learned about the Basant um kite festival from Pakistan. So you can see we've been very busy. Um and I could go on but um at this point I think um we also did tortillas in Mexico. We learned um Turkish painting um from a family. So we have been very blessed at Bila. The parents want to teach us. The children want to learn more and they constantly are saying can my mom come? Can they teach us? So, I wish that we had more time to extend the club all year long. Um, the little bit

018that we do do for the for the 12 hours. They just want more. They they wish to stay longer. So, then they the fourth and fifth graders said, "Well, what about us?" Is they would come to me and say, "I did your club, but now what about us?" And I said, "Well, oh, do you have suggestions?" That's how this was born of the club of the book club was born that way. And then they said, "We are getting all these new students, Miss Hess. How are we like, how do we help them?" I'm like, "Oh, well, here are some books." Um, Mrs. Defarno, our LMC director, has shown that these are some of the books that talk about in helping a new kid into the school system. Which ones do you guys want? And they're

019like, "Oh, we know this Kelly Yang. We want to do her." I'm like, "Okay, great." So we just ordered the books and we would sit and we would read and discuss it and how can we help in our school to what make new students feel welcome and what what can we do and it was so powerful just coming from them. So I was very proud to sponsor both of those. Well, thank you for sharing um all that you're doing to welcome um these uh the rich culture that we have in our community and um I'm sure these students are thrilled to be able to celebrate um showing off uh things from their background and their culture. So, thank you. We're excited we have the opportunity and we're excited our parents want to be involved. So,

020thank you very much for your time tonight. Um when you do the Brazilian cheese bread making again? Yes. Would you like an invitation? I'm expecting an invitation. Okay. So, next year I will send you. Please do. All right. I was hoping you brought samples. You know, I'm so I didn't even think I'd have time to like do out samples. And which country? You know, there was a lot that I gave and I there's a lot that we study and next time next time. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Next, we have our recognition of our Scholastic Bowl state champions. Thank you, Miss Don. Uh, Miss Donahghue. Scholastic Bowl, which is a uh requires teams of students to compete five on five against other teams, answering tossup questions and bonus questions on

021various topics from fine arts, math, science, history, and literature to current events in pop culture. The team meets weekly, participating in conference matches as well as tournaments hosted by the Illinois High School Scholastic Bowl Coaches Association. LA after placing second at IH IHSA state last year, Bonszi's team made it a personal mission to return this year and they did with a vengeance. They started off with another second place win at at this season's kickoff tournament with an 8-1 record. then led by seniors. Um the team went on on a tear with an undefeated conference record including the regular season with a 600- 110 score against notable conference rival Napleville North High School. Their path to the state series came with wins at regionals and sectionals over Bowling Brook and IMSA before finally rounding out their

022perfect 23 and0 season with a championship title at IHSA State defeating Stephvenson High School 450 to 410. And so now I'd like to recognize those who are here tonight. And when I call your name, please come forward and I'll uh we'll hand off a a diploma, a certificate to you. Um, Yan Yin Chat Padiha Vum Nerosima, Ish, Ishan Manor, Daniel Dimnoth, and those are the ones who are here tonight. And we're very happy that the city of Aurora recognized them as well and made a night a day every year which will be the Wabanzi uh Scholastic Bowl day. So we congratulate all of them. God. [Applause] It is now time for public comment and 60 minutes is allowed for public comment. Each person is limited to three minutes. When addressing the board, we ask that

023you respect the confidentiality and safety of our students and school district personnel. We also ask that those addressing the board be cognizant that this is an open meeting and is available to all age groups and as as such ask that you consider who the audience members are this evening and keep comments age appropriate. Public comment represents the voice and opinion of the speaker. There will be no feedback from the board members during the meeting but followup will be provided by an administrator as appropriate. Although this is not required, it is helpful for the board to know whether the comments and concerns we hear are being raised by residents. So, we ask that you state if you live in the district and if you currently have children in our schools. We have one speaker tonight tonight,

024Jack [Applause] Pi. Good evening, members of the board, Dr. Tally, and community members. My name is Jack Pie and I'm a student at Matia Valley High School. I'm here tonight to invite you to a student debate event on May 15th at Yellowbox Community Church. 20 students will compete in a oneon-one debate round with a guest speaker presenting before the final match. The winners of the final debate will receive a $500 prize each, and attending students will have a chance to win a $200 raffle. This event promotes leadership, critical thinking, and civic engagement. And we hope to fill 250 seats with students, families, educators, and community leaders like yourselves. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We are now moving to our consent agenda and superintendent report. We will start with the superintendent report. Dr. Tally. Thank

025you, Miss Donahghue. Members of the board of education, Indian Prairie community. I want to start my comments by thanking all of the volunteers who have given their time and energy to our students and schools over this school year. We recently had volunteer appreciation week and I want everyone to know that our schools are as good as they are in part to the great volunteers who spend time supporting our students and our organization. Last week, we celebrated Springbook Elementary School for having the most volunteer hours this year with more than 8,800 hours. We also celebrated Miss Katherine Iso with 355 hours of volunteer time, which was the most individual of volunteer hours. Finally, we celebrated the volunteer of the year, Miss Sarah Phillip Stevens. To the mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, businesses, and all who volunteer.

026Thank you very much. Next week is teacher appreciation week. I want to say to all of our teachers how grateful we are for what you do day in and day out. The daily life of a teacher is very complex with multiple layers. Thousands of decisions are made each day a teacher works in his or her classroom. From helping students learn academically and helping our students grow and develop socially and emotionally, there are a myriad of things that teachers do each day to ensure the success of our students. I put our teachers up against any in the state and the nation. I have seen our teachers in person and I'm inspired by what they do. Thank you. May 10th is school nurses day. Our nurses support our students and their physical health and support their emotional

027health. We have a cadre of nurses who demonstrate daily a commitment to our children and to each other. When our children are hurt, our nurses help mend them. When our children are not feeling well, our nurses provide a steady hand to help them feel better. Their work sometimes goes unseen, but it is so valuable. I thank all of our health care workers in our schools for the service they provide to our students and our families. May is Asian-American Pacific Islanders Month. It's a time when we celebrate the contributions contributions made by Asian-Americans in our country and for the world. Schools in their own way are celebrating this month. May is also mental health awareness month. As a district, we have continued our support for mental health through the work done in the schools and the

028mental health clinics we have established. We are still offering our free our free therapy sessions for students. I'm so proud of our third annual mental health symposium we had in March. We know that mental health is a concern that many of us have. I'm glad we continued to address this concern in very measurable ways. And finally, I would like the board of ed to approve the appointment of Mr. Brian Zerfus as principal of Nancy Young Elementary School effective July 1, 2025. He is replacing Miss Aaron Rodriguez who will be moving to a different school next year. Mr. Zurfus is coming to Indian Prairie from Keaneland School District where he currently the principal of McDole Elementary School. He has served in that capacity since 2022. He also has served as an assistant principal and an elementary

029teacher. During his interviews, he talked a lot about how he would establish relationships with staff, students, and parents. He wants students to know that there is someone who cares about them in their building. He wants staff to know that he will be there to support them in their work. Finally, he knows there is a need for strong partnerships with the parents. He is excited about this opportunity. He and his wife are here tonight. So, Miss Donahghue, I will turn the meeting back to you. I need a motion to approve Brian Zurfus as the principal at Young Elementary School as presented. As a proud prior Young Elementary parent, I'll make a motion that the board of education approve Brian Zerfus as principal of Young Elementary School as presented. Second. Any discussion? And Michelle, will you please

030call the role? Mr. Rising? Yes. Miss Gint? Yes. Mr. Kurubis? Yes, Miss Jane. Yes, Miss Deming. I. And Miss Donahghue. I. The motion passes. [Applause] Congratulations. Mr. [Laughter] Good evening. Um, first and foremost, this is my wife, Megan. Nice to meet you. So, we have the night off. We have a a babysitter for this occasion. So, um date night. It is a Monday night date night. You can't pass those up. But on behalf of myself and my family, I'm thrilled to be joining the District 204 and so proud of the opportunity and truly humbled um to not only be joining the district, but to be joining Nancy Young Elementary School. Um throughout this process, I've heard so many wonderful things about the district and especially about the school and its rich rich tradition of success

031and achievement and I'm looking forward to continuing that on as its next principal. So, thank you all for the opportunity. Congratulations. Yes. Next, we move to our consent agenda item. I need a motion and a second for consent agenda items E through N. I move that the board of education approve consent agenda items E through N as presented. Second. Any discussion? Michelle, will you please call the role? Miss Jane, yes. Mr. Kurubis, yes. Miss Gent, yes. Miss Donahghue, yes. Mr. Rising, yes. And Miss Demi, I. The motion passes. All right. Next, we move to our action items. I need a motion and a second to approve the 2025 2026 school board meeting calendar. I move that the board of education approve the 2025 2026 school board meeting calendar as presented. Second. Any discussion? Okay. Michelle,

032will you please call the role? Miss Jane? Yes. Miss Deming? I. Mr. Kurubus? Yes. Miss Gint? Yes. Miss Donahghue? Yes. And Mr. Rising? Yes. Motion passes. We will now have an exciting presentation from Matt Shiffley regarding budget and forecast update. Yeah. No. Well, good evening members of the board of education. We did go just under two hours the last time we talked. So, I know we have some uh a group of students over here that's probably hoping we do it a little quicker this time. Uh but good evening. As uh as board president Donahghue mentioned, uh I'm here this evening to uh review our updated financial forecast and budget presentation. Uh this is a continuation of the discussion we started at the board meeting in February. It's in line with board policy 4-10 as well

033as strategic plan priority number four. Uh and I'll point out what we will be covering some things that are in line with um the vision 2030 document also adopted by this board. um also that part of that document that was priority number four. Um so the agenda for this evening is to first start with just kind of reviewing the highlights of that presentation in February. Um I'll cover some updates we've made to our our budget and forecast since then both for our operating and non-operating funds. Um, I do want to review uh the ISBY recognition status and some other financial metrics that we monitor in the business office and that I know our uh board has historically expected the district's budget to to meet. And so we will kind of cover those a little bit

034and talk about um how we are in line with with those uh with that status. We'll talk about our updated fund balance projections as well as a a recommendation for a transfer we'd like to include in next year's budget. and then I'll finalize that with a summary of the information uh next steps needed to adopt this budget and then we'll be available for any questions. Uh first just starting a review of February's forecast. Uh if you remember we did show that current year revenues are largely in line with budget. However, in expenditures we were exceeding the budget in several areas. Uh with with property taxes uh specifically we looked at how that continues to be the largest funding source for the district. Uh but we are benefiting from property values and um increasing as well

035as new property uh coming online in the district and we'll talk a little bit more about that this evening as well. Uh state and federal funding, we forecast that to stay flat uh really over the next five years. Uh we talked about some of the significant uncertainty facing both of those revenue sources and again we'll have some updates on that this evening. uh for the first time we were able to present non-operating funds that were in line with our safer, stronger 204 referendum. And so I know that was a um exciting moment for us to to finally show our community and our board what some of the long range financial plans look like with our capital project uh fund as well as the the bond and interest fund that supports that. Uh again, we'll we'll

036uh discuss that a little bit more tonight as well. And then finally, uh, we we emphasize the need to really discuss our fund balance priorities and some of the post-referendum capital needs, uh, that we're already starting to plan for. Um, so this evening, I'm going to start with our operating funds. As a reminder, we have six operating funds that are made maintained by the district, and these really are the funds that support the day-to-day operations of the district. Um, they are listed there. And I will point out these two funds or these six funds are not impacted by the referendum that was recently passed. Those are the referendums impact at least its direct impact is tied to the nonoperating funds. So this is the year-to- date uh budget to actual through March of 2025. And

037again, this is largely consistent with what we presented in February, which at that time was through December. So we're now nine months or or three quarters through the year end. And again, we're continuing to um to be in line with what we showed in February. Uh just want to highlight a few things really quickly. Uh again, as mentioned, revenues continue to trend favorably towards budget across um most if not all of our revenue areas. Uh but our expenditures do uh are trending unfavorably budget. And I'll point out salaries uh specifically are above budget by just over a million dollars. um that is a result of staffing levels being about 13 FTE or full-time equivalents above uh what we budgeted for for this current year. Also just highlight again as as we sort of a prelude

038to the fund balance discussion uh we expect to finish this year with with right around 38 38.8% of fund balance as a percentage of local revenue that is above our current target of 25%. So, as we we look at kind of the current budget and and we look at what we're projecting or forecasting for the next five years, this is what we presented in February. And I just want to um bring this forward and and remind you some of the key talking points we discussed then. Um first, we we did show small deficits for four out of the five years uh projected and and we spent a lot of time kind of talking about the context of these deficits. And so, while they're they're not significant, they do represent less than 1% of revenue each

039year. Uh I I do believe we need to address these and we have addressed these with tonight's presentation. Uh again, although they were small, they are structural showing as demonstrated by the fact that they're recurring every year. Uh as the board knows and and has always been sort of a a key trend in in the district and in education in general, there's really no uh no revenue options to close the gap. we have very limited control over our revenues and therefore when deficits arise it's important that we address them proactively. Um and then finally again we're going to continue to talk about some unpredictability at the state and federal level and going into a a multi-year forecast or even a one or two-year forecast with with projected deficits gives us less flexibility to deal with

040some of that uncertainty. And so here's tonight's forecast or or the most recent forecast that we're we're presenting from the from the business office. And again, as you can see, the big change here is that we're now projecting um balanced budgets across the next five years. Um I'll cover some of the the changes in the next sl uh sl next slide. However, I just want to emphasize that even though we're showing bud balanced budgets, our ending fund balance and specifically when you get to some of those later years is is pretty similar to to where we were with that prior slide. Still showing about 32% fund balance as a percent of expenditures. Um, and so I'll cover how how we're sort of able to to show a balanced budget e um across five years, but

041still have fund balance kind of end up in the same spot. Um so looking at at the comparison of uh just next fiscal year so just fiscal year 2026 between those uh those two forecasts I'll just point out a few things um key changes uh first property tax has increased from our our last forecast and that really is a result of receiving the final new property numbers from our counties. uh those came in stronger than we were budgeting and anticipating and so that has created a a net increase in property tax revenues. Um you'll see there's some reclassification between property taxes and other local revenues. Um we'll we'll talk about those in net of being about a $700,000 increase and I'll point out that that does continue going forward to all five years of the

042forecast. That is a permanent increase in property tax revenue. Um the second change we've made since uh we presented in February is really that we have added back some of the positions we were we were discussing uh reducing last year or going into next year, excuse me. Um so we're now looking at a reduction from the current year of about 10 FTE total. So we were talking in February about a number in the 19 to 20 range and we're now able to cut that in about half. um that doesn't change maybe some of the long-term staffing, but at least um has some additional FTE available for next fiscal year. And then the final change that we'll we'll cover uh later in this presentation, but just want to uh talk about is we are now recommending

043a transfer to capital for next fiscal year of $12.1 million. And the focus for the the spending of those funds that we're recommending is is um one-time funds to support technology needs. Uh this this does two things. First, it does allow us to address some of our uh technology challenges that uh our I know our CTO and and other administrators has shared with the board and the public in in previous presentations. Uh and the second benefit is it does provide some further stability to the expenditures over five years. So, it does allow us to address some capital uh needs now and upfront in a way that saves some long-term dollars, creates some efficiencies, and ultimately becomes a key driver to to balancing the budget over the next five years. So, I will move on to

044just share a little bit of detail about uh our revenues and again about some of the changes we've made since we presented in February. Um a reminder again that our allocation of revenues is very consistent between years and that property taxes represents over three4s of the revenue of the district. So although we spend a lot of time uh uh both both this evening and in other presentations talking about you know specific grants or or specific programs that that are funded through through other methods. It really is local property tax dollars that drive the revenue for the district. And so we'll we'll start there again. We've now received the final uh tax extension from both DUP page and Will counties. And I think overall what what we want to share tonight and what we're sharing in

045this slide is really a lot of good news tied to tied to receiving that information. Um as already mentioned, our revenue budget is now increased by about $700,000 due to strong new property development. Um property development that came in above our expectations and and even what we were hearing from the counties a few months ago. Um, also as a result of um, uh, strong growth in uh, property values for existing properties, we're now looking at the lowest tax rate uh, in at least at least 12 years of the district. And you can see here going all the way back to 20 um, 2013, you can see we're we're significantly lower than we were there, up to 20% of a decrease in just over a decade. our tax rate is now below five. So we've kind

046of um lowered it across kind of a significant barrier that that five number. Um you could see we did uh in 2014 peak at at just above a rate of six. So we've seen some significant decrease in that tax rate over the last 10 years. Um the chart in the lower right shows our EAV per pupil or our property wealth per pupil. And again, we've had 11 straight years of growth in that EAV per pupil number. Even in the last couple years as our uh uh student counts, as our enrollment has increased slightly, this shows we're increasing property value at least at the rate of of new students and um that are being generated by the new property. And then finally, the the final graphic I just want to point out tonight, as part of

047our safer stronger referendum, we committed to keeping the bond rate at or below 37 cents. The 2024 bond rate is coming in at uh just under 33 cents or 11% below the amount that was uh promised as part of that referendum. So again, I think a lot of good news as we're starting to receive the final information uh tied to our property tax revenue source. With that said, we do know that property value uh property tax bills uh started arriving in the mail last week. Uh and so this is also the time of year where we start uh hearing from residents either directly to administration or or to board members asking, well, you know, how how come my property tax bill increased by by x% when you're only saying that that the levy increased by

048by a much lower amount. And so I just wanted to um talk through that a little bit. Again, we do talk through this each year when we pass the levy. Uh but but again, this is a good opportunity to to re-evaluate that. So, um, as a reminder to the board, the district, um, really only controls the total ask of our property tax levy, and that amount is limited to the consumer price index as well as any voter approved referendums. Um, the change in individual property values is something the district is not uh, directly involved in. that is assessed by township assessors and that's really what determines the allocation of how a large property bill um tax levy again for the district it's over $350 million gets allocated across district residents and businesses. What we have

049seen over the past several years and a and a trend that has um continued in this year, as we've seen over time, residential property values in this area are very strong and and property values for for homeowners continue to grow and continue to grow pretty significantly. At the same time, we see commercial and industrial property not grow at the same rate. And in some some cases, those property values are even decreasing a little bit. And so what's happened over time is is that that large pie gets gets kind of sliced up between all the taxpayers, more and more of that burden is being felt by our residential taxpayers. And so what what we're showing here with this graphic tonight, and um it's not the best because the the math doesn't work out exactly, but um

050we're able to estimate um that an average residential tax increase this year was about 3.6%. However, a commercial taxpayer is actually about flat or even seeing a small decrease of about 2%. And so even though the total levy increased by 3.2% which was below the rate of inflation, um you could see that that that impact's not being felt equally by those residents and commercial taxpayers. Um so this is a trend we've we've continued to see over the past several years. We actually saw I think a wider gap um last year even. So it's getting maybe a little better. Uh but again, I think this is this is a real challenge we have both in in articulating the um our our levy and how it works, but also in in just recognizing how that burden is

051being um felt by all taxpayers. Um what we can do about it at the district, I think again, we don't directly control property values. We don't control directly economic development, but I would continue our board and I uh continue to encourage our administration to encourage commercial growth. Uh work with our cities to encourage commercial growth that does not involve tax incentives. Um, and I would encourage our our community members who who are concerned about this as as well to sort of understand this challenge and again to work collaboratively with with our cities and and with our our folks in charge of economic development to to help tell this story and help tell why commercial industrial development is so critical in 204. Um, just moving on to the the state of Illinois. um update. Again, not

052a lot has changed since we since we spoke in February. We're continuing to follow the state's legislative session. However, a a budget's not been been voted or or or even really presented yet. Uh we do expect that by the end of May. Uh it gets significantly more difficult in Illinois to pass a budget if they do not hit the initial May 31st deadline. Um so, we are budgeting uh for relatively flat funds. So, we're budgeting for some additional evidence-based funding funds, but other funding to remain flat. And really, one of the challenges that that uh we're seeing is that even though the states made a commitment to uh fund EBF, um which represents 11% of our total revenue, uh they've not made the same commitment towards the categoricals, which represent about 4% of our revenue.

053And so the graph that's shown here is those categoricals and how they're being prrated or how the amount of revenue that that's supposed to be received by school districts is is gradually going down each year. And you can see some some pretty significant decreases starting with with fiscal year 2022 and we project those decreases to continue. There is one specific concern related to the categoricals I did want to make this board aware of tonight. uh I don't think it's going to impact next fiscal year, but could start impacting fiscal years 2027 and beyond. And I want to spend a minute talking about this because I think it's a really uh telling story about uh kind of how um how when when uh we don't maybe collaboratively solve a problem at the state level um over

054several years, it it kind of gets uh kind of grows and and and creates issues and maybe some unintended consequences down the line as well. So, um, we used to have about seven or eight categoricals, but a lot of them got rolled up into EBF when EBF started in in 2017. Uh, but the the founders of EBF are the people who really worked hard to find that. They were um they were on a a budget deadline, uh, a legislative deadline, and so they left a few few pieces of unfinished business, if you will. And one of them that they were pretty transparent about was needing to go back and really look at how some special education programs are funded. And one of the reasons that uh our private tuition categorical still exists is because they

055said this really isn't an issue we can solve on this deadline, but we encourage the state to to revisit it at a future date. Uh so here we are seven or eight years later. it still really hasn't been addressed as part of EBF. And there was an initiative a year or two ago um to say, well, in addition to funding private tuition through a categorical, we really should look at some um some funding sources for public school outplacements as well. So, uh on its face, this this made a lot of sense. uh it creates equity um amongst districts that are maybe using a public school outplacement setting and um as opposed to a private um placement out setting. And so so this legislation had has already passed. It passed in the last um last legislative

056session I believe. Uh where the challenge is now is that if that act is not funded and as of today it is not the funding source will be the same funding source as the private tuition reimbursement. And what that means is that the um uh aloc the categorical paration percentage which is already um starting to tick below 70% for that categorical um is expected to go down to about 40%. And so for a district um such as Indian Prairie which does not really use public outplacements uh this we would see that decrease in proration without really any additional revenue coming in for those public outplacements and we're estimating that to have about a $1.5 million impact for Indian Prairie. Um so that's something that's not built into the forecast we showed this evening. Um we're

057uh optimistic um that that there's some resolution to this, but at this time this is a significant risk outstanding for for the district and for how we uh how we fund some of those those private outplacements. Um but on that piece of good news, we'll move on to the federal revenue update. Uh so in February we presented some of the the headlines were we're sort of following and some of the news stories that were out and at that time we were focused on um whether the department of education was going to continue to exist or or uh what that would mean potentially for for Indian Prairie if the Department of Education was uh dissolved. Um and one of the the pieces that we talked about was well the federal revenue only represents about 3 to

0584% of our total revenue. So it well it's not insignificant. It's it you know we've tried to put that in perspective a little bit. Um what we've sort of seen uh over the last couple months we've seen that talk die down a little bit. But I just want to share some of the the headlines we've seen over the last couple months which um I'll argue kind of have a little indirect impact to the district. And that is things like tariffs uh which which I think all businesses and consumers are are trying to understand their impact right now. Uh we've seen significant uncertainty in the um interest rate market uh with with federal um the US Treasury rates increasing and then decreasing and and and moving around uh um pretty significantly. We've seen some challenges to

059the municipal bond um tax exempt status. And so these are all uh headlines we're following that that uh maybe maybe don't get the same shock value or that that that uh dissolving the department of education gets but could have just as significant impact on our on our financial operations. Um so with that said we are continuing to forecast flat federal revenue. Uh we don't anticipate seeing a federal budget bill until around the 4th of July. That's after the start of the fiscal year. Um and again we're we're following what that tariff impact could be. Uh we were fortunate that we've made some significant technology purchases already. Uh I believe the board was updated that we estimate we saved about $800,000 just based on when we placed um our large Chromebook order for the year. Uh

060but but again, we're not going to, you know, that that was sort of some good fortune that's not going to continue. We've also started to hear um increase for for other supplies. Uh received an email last week that the cost of baseballs is are going up and some other sporting goods. So, our athletic uh directors are are getting nervous about some of those operations. So, uh we're we're projecting to sort of uh see that information come come through here uh just as everybody else is as well. Um interest rates again we are looking at a significant bond issuance coming up in the next uh 60 days or so and so seeing significant uncertainty in um interest rates. uh our our municipal advisor said that the interest rates have not um fluctuated this this wildly um

061since since March of 2020 since COVID. So um again a real unpredictable time to to be trying to to issue a sign some significant bonds and trying to uh manage the interest rate market. And then the final piece which I don't think is likely to happen but um is currently in in some of in some discussion at the federal level and would have a very significant impact is the tax exempt status of municipal bonds. Um so again we uh are currently under the IRS tax code able to issue our uh bonds with a tax with taxexempt status. That means bond holders do not pay federal income tax on those bonds and as a result they they reward the district with a with a very favorable interest rate. Um if that tax status changes and and

062again that it's it's there's some proposals out there to modify it um that could significantly increase the cost of our bonds. And so that's kind of the transition then to talk about our two non-operating funds and really talk about again the impact of of our safer stronger 204 referendum and what we have uh planned here both in the the medium and long-term future. Um again we have two non-operating funds that are maintained by the district. Uh the focus is the long-term investment in district facilities. That's our capital projects fund as well as how we're going to repay uh for the for bonds and other investments and that's our debt service fund. there's very limited very limited recurring revenue available for capital and so capital does come um almost exclusively from these non-operating funds. Uh we've

063made no changes to our debt service fund um presentation. Again, the future issue amounts will be determined based on market condition at the time of issuances. uh with the next issue scheduled for uh this upcoming July, we are planning on presenting a parameters resolution to the board at the next board um board meeting that'll give us the authorization to go forward with that issuance. Um I did want to share this. This is from our municipal advisor PMA. Uh just kind of a good graph to to again talk about the variability in the municipal bond market and sort of all the things that we're monitoring as we get closer to that issuance. Um, again, some of the the sort of key key things we're looking at now are circled here, um, including inflation expectations, including the

064recent trade war or tariffs. Um, but you'll see there's a lot of things here that are out outside of the district's um, control really. Uh, including just our status as a as a Illinois uh, political entity. That does mean that we we pay a little higher interest rate than if we were at in another state. Um, again, you'll you'll see the the challenges tied tied to Chicago has an impact on on Illinois issuers. So, a lot of factors that that we're monitoring going into that issuance this summer. Um, moving on to the the capital projects. And again, we're going to show this in in two separate um charts. We're going to start by showing uh the bond finance capital projects. So again, we issued just under $15 million of bonds in um December and we've

065already received those proceeds. We are planning on doing a large issue, still planning on about $150 million in July. Uh and that will help fund the next couple years of significant capital work. And then we have two other financings planned um in 20 at this time in 2027 and 2029 as well. Again, actual bond issuances and expenditures will be updated as some of those projects are finalized. And I'll just put a little um a little uh uh sort of tickler out there for our June 9th board presentation where we will update our plans for Wubanzi, Niqua, and the Burquette campuses. So, we think that's going to be a pretty exciting day to share all the hard work our team's done uh over the last several months getting ready for these next uh significant capital projects.

066Uh so again, this looks a little different than when we presented in February, but this is our locally funded capital projects fund. Uh so again, tonight we're making a recommendation that with the next budget, we transfer just over $12 million into this fund to to help with technology upgrades. Uh the remaining budget, we would uh still as planned uh hold off spending and save to use after we have spent our referendum funds in full. Uh, I'll just point out that this this concept of sort of transferring to to the the capital projects fund, this is something we've done in the past. Um, most recently, this is how our elementary air conditioning project was funded. Uh, as well as some other building improvements as well. Again, I don't want to spend um too much time this

067evening on some of the specific technology capital needs. These were shared with the board um during uh during a update in the fall from our technology department. But again, the idea is these are a lot of this is work that that would need to be funded out of operations if we were not able to adjust address it through capital. And so this is a this is a proposal to start addressing some of these needs through capital. Again, hopefully getting the work done um done sooner and more efficiently than if we had to do it out of operations. And then this does create long-term operating savings for the district. Um so before just moving on to to the final discussion point about fund balance this evening I just wanted to bring this chart back as well.

068Um again this this shows that we're really um projecting a lot of capital work over the next u seven or eight years. And again we're very excited about the opportunity to um improve really every building in the district. The first time we're doing a referendum that's going to touch every single building throughout Indian Prairie. Um but those funds aren't going to last forever. Um and the bond payments will last about 12 to 15 years after the the funds are available for the projects. And so we have started thinking about how are we going to provide for the needs that come up after those funds are spent. And that's part of the the reason those local funds are those local capital funds are not being touched in the immediate term. Um and it's also plays into

069the discussion that uh of fund balance as well. So I just want to let the board know that we are cognizant of this and and again this is a period we really just exited. So we don't want to sort of repeat the challenge we had over over the last 10 or 15 years of not having capital funds available to spend but having the bond payments associated with them still being repaid. And so that just kind of leads us to our discussion about about fund balance. And so again we presented this in February just what what is our fund balance? Uh again, you'll hear um synonyms like reserves or net assets. Um our goal is to uh maintain a fund balance that allows for the financial stability of the district. And our current board policy and

070state recommendation is about 25% fund balance. And so with us at 39% um again we recognize it's it's it's not um it's not what I would call um extremely high or or um unreasonably high, but it is an amount where we can start having some strategic discussions about how we can use that fund balance to better serve the district and better serve our students. Um I I'll just make a comment again. um you know, fund balance is kind of the the Goldilocks discussion where we don't want our fund balance to get too low um to where we're not able to meet the the needs of the district on on a on a regular basis. Um but again, we also don't want it to get too high either because that is a sign that maybe we're

071not using our our resources in in the most appropriate way in a way that directly impacts um our our students and our our facilities. Um I was at a conference last this this last week and one of the um presentations that I did not attend although I was was tempted to see who was in the room was uh for districts that are at a point where their fund balance is so high their taxpayers can now challenge to have some of the money returned and that's known as the Miller ratio. Um and so my understanding is that there's 17 districts in DuPage County that have received letters from taxpayers saying that they're too high. um and they and they should be considering returning money to the taxpayers. And so again, we're not at that that level.

072That would be closer to to the 70 80 100% fund balances. Um so we're not not there yet. I don't want anybody to to perceive that we are. Um but again, we're also a little bit above where we have what we need to meet the the daily um you know, the sort of the annual uh cash flow needs of the district. And that's why again, we wanted to bring this conversation back. um this evening. Um again to but just just to kind of um you know preface the preface the discussion of the recommendation. Uh again we've we've shown this uh pretty regularly as part of our budget presentations. This is what our fund balance or or our cash position looks like throughout the year. And so um one of the challenges with being 80% funded

073by by property taxes is that um we only receive property taxes twice a year. So, um, in those months we we run large surpluses on a monthly basis, but in the other 10 months of the year, we're running pretty significant deficits. And that's what's shown by by kind of the the line kind of popping up and and reaching a real high point in September, but sort of gradually being spent down all the way until till June when we receive that that uh next tax installment. And so again, as we talk about fund balance, it's important not just to consider what that balance is at year end, but it is important to consider what that balance is throughout the the year. And so again, we've we've really adopted at the district the the uh ISB financial

074profile score and and the target of recognition status as as sort of the appropriate benchmark to ensure that we are um going to have adequate amount of funds uh to get us through the school year and and have significant reserves to deal with any unforeseen challenges. Um, you know, there's other indicators. Uh, for example, our our bond rating, and as we've presented in the past, we do have a strong double A bond rating. Um, I I would say that of of all the metrics out there, whether whether it's bond rating, whether it's it's the recognition status, they all seem to fall about at the same place in terms of the goal is a balanced budget, and the goal is to maintain that fund balance percentage of about 25%. And so our recommendation is to continue

075to target this recognition forecast and and to make sure we're going to hit recognition status throughout our five-year forecast. Um again, just just a little bit of the specifics on what that uh what that profile score entails. It looks at fund balance to revenue ratio. That's uh 35% of it. Um expenditure to revenue ratio is also 35%. So those are by far the largest components shown here. But it does also look at um the amount of debt a district has avail uh has outstanding both short-term and long-term debt as well as cash on hand. It takes all those components um assigns a score of one to four and then that based on that score you fall into the buckets there with again recognition being the highest status awarded. And so, uh, just what I wanted

076to show this evening to kind of kind of conclude the discussion is that we have, um, looked at our financial profile score and how it would hold up over the next five years if we move forward, uh, with with the forecast presented this evening. Um, so as shown here, uh, for last year, we did receive a 4.0 score or in recognition status. That four is the highest score available. Um, if we move forward with this five-year forecast, um, we would still expect to maintain recognition status, we get a little closer on a on a few of the metrics, which you can see there, uh, but we we would still obtain a score of 3.9 and obtain recognition status. Um, and again, this includes the impact of that $12 million transfer shown earlier, and this includes

077the impact of all our upcoming borrowings and the the capital plan we we've detailed. Um, this does leave us about $35 million in the operating fund balance. Our goal for that would be um in the in the medium-term over the next five years for that to be available for for contingencies. Uh, which is which is really the the main contingency or the main challenge we see is state and federal funding. So, that would be available there if there was um any delays or or um revenue shocks coming from either of those revenue sources. And then ideally that would be available for future capital needs again once once our referendum funds are spent. And again that would help close that gap we showed earlier between when our referendum funds are spent versus when the bonds are

078still being repaid. And so just to wrap up uh tonight with the next steps uh we will continue to update the board of education. Uh that includes the referendum projects update I mentioned earlier on June 9th. and it continues. It also um does include the the bond parameters ref resolution which we currently have scheduled for next board meeting on May 19th. Uh we'll have a preliminary 2526 budget available to present in July and we'll look for the approval of that budget at either an August or September board meeting uh that is required to be approved by September 30th uh for the 2526 school year. And then finally, as we do continue to um update the board on our referendum projects, uh we will also be updating our safer stronger 204 uh website as well, so

079the community can also see those updates. And so with that, I came in a little over 30 minutes. Uh so about cut cut out about half the time from from last time for any questions. Okay. Thank you. Um Mr. rising slide 10 please. Um very encouraged by this um the fact that we have lowered our property tax rate by 20% in the past 10 plus years. Super encouraging. Um I just want to reiterate again. I know you already mentioned it, but people have received their property tax bills and uh they have gone up. And I wanted to reiterate that we have lived to our promise that we made to the community that we kept the bond and interest part of the taxes flat. There was no levy on that. Um can you remind me what

080the percentage was that we levied on the operating side in December? Was it 3.4 four about was CPI or something like that. Uh CPI was 3.4%. Okay. So that if you can go to the next slide, um I reached out to one of the assessors that that is in our district and tried to understand that if 204 is only levying 3.4% 4% on the operation side and we are only receiving 3.4% from the assessor. Why do people's taxes appear to go up more than 3.4%. And you had tried to address that here in the slide. What I found was interesting is that what the department of revenue also looks at that directs the county is they look at median house sales. So if the house sales were 500,000 one year and it jumped to 560,000

081the next year, Department of Revenue says that the the assessor should raise the assessed value, whatever that difference in is in percentage. So it's awesome that all of our home values are going up in assessed values. What people don't realize, I think, is that while we're only leveling 3.4%, 4% their house values are going up and they're paying more on that assessed value. And then kind of what you mentioned here is when the commercial goes down or when commercial appeals that burden of everything that the assessor needs to collect, that burden falls more on the the homeowner. And yet 204 is still only receiving 3.4%. So, while it may appear that your taxes went up 8 9 10%, 204 is only receiving 3.4%. And we're still lowering the tax rate on top of it. So,

082um, then the next thing, slide 12, the categoricals. Do you recall the last time that they put money into the categorical estate? uh the they've put I would I would categorize it as they've put marginal amounts of new money into the categoricals over the last couple years. But I think you told us the last budget meeting they weren't going to put any money in the the expectation for this budget is that they are they are completely flat. Uh okay. Yes. So same amount as last year. Um flat. I think over the last couple years they've added slightly to it, but they've not added in a way that um uh keeps up with inflation or keeps up with the rise in costs. Yeah. And I and that's where I was going because you kind of mentioned

083the where the private the private outplacement for special ed um is going to cost us about $1.4 million. I I would love it if you could maybe work that up for I mean because if you look at special ed transportation used to be 100% reimbured. Now it's going to be down to what 62% in fiscal year 26 about and regular transportation went from 98% down to you know 70%. I I would love to see what that's costing us because what our costs are going up our contract cost transportation has gone up 9 10 some districts we've seen as high as 30% cost increase from transportation companies. Yet our money reimbursed from the state keeps getting lower and lower and lower and there is nothing for us to do to recoup that revenue. We can't say

084we're going to stop transportation altogether. We have to find that loss in revenue that we're receiving somewhere within our budget. So um you know and that's nothing we can recoup even if we can levy 3.4% because where our transportation is going up 9 or 10% 3.4% 4% really isn't helping us. Um so I would love to see those numbers when you have a chance of just what that's going to be impact on us um you know kind of in next year and if they keep that categorical money flat. So that's all I had. Thanks. Oh sorry I'm um Miss Jane. Thank you Matt. Uh you always do such a good job. uh giving us a comprehensive review of all the variables at play. And today I thought what was particularly notable in your presentation is

085helping us discern what we have control over and what we don't. Um helping us understand what's leading to all the uncertainty, but also how we can be proactive. So overall, thank you for that. Um let me see here. Um, if we could go to slide five real quick. Um, we had an increase in purchase services. Um, and I think you mentioned this in one of your previous presentations. Can you remind us uh provide some examples of what's leading to the higher costs? Sure. The la the the largest driver of that variance is uh purchase services. These are uh generally speaking uh uh thirdparty contractual services provided for um you can think of them in lie of of services being provided by our staff. So there are uh um specifically in the special education space some

086some service providers we're using in lie of hiring um district employees and so that variance has been caused um by uh well primarily an increased need of those services. So, so again this this can be things like uh speech language pathologists, psychologists, OTPT um even even um um CNAs has been a or our um some nursing uh services has also been an area where we're we're using that as well. So we're seeing increased demand, but we're still seeing some challenges hiring and and um um filling those positions with with employees. And so that that's what's created that variance. uh we've had that I'll point out we've had that variance for the last couple years but uh it was traditionally offset by a positive variance in salaries and so this is the first year that we've

087really had both the um um the the trend of of purchase services exceeding budget as well as the salaries exceeding budget and we also had grant money or some funding to offset some of those costs if if I'm correct during COVID or years following that is that right? Yeah. Yeah, that that's a good point. Um it I I would have to look I don't think that's the primary cause for this year specifically but but that is true that uh you know some when we were running u specifically with the esser programming we we were receiving uh for a while it seemed like uh um every couple weeks we' we'd receive a new new state grant or federal grant funded through user dollars and um that would create a um a variance on the expense side

088but it would be offset by by some additional revenue. Um, so again, I don't think that's what's what's causing this this year, although there may be some small pockets of that. I can check. Um, but that was definitely something in past years. Okay. Um, moving on to slide seven. Um, really happy to see a balanced budget forecasted and also the explanation of um, how we could be comfortable at a 32% fund balance. I I needed that explanation. And so I really appreciate that. Um on slide eight, I also appreciate us being able to hold on to some of our full-timers um and finding a way to do that. Um I know we're always looking to try to keep our our full-time positions. I guess my last question uh goes back to what board member Rising

089ended on with slide number 12 and the concerns around that. um drop from 70% funding to possibly a 40% or 62% or 69%. Um I know there's so much uncertainty on how we might fulfill the gap of a potentially a one and a half million um dollars of what what how it might impact us. Do you know of a path to resolution around this or what's being done or what we might find out in the coming? Yeah, I I that might give us more clarity. Sure. I I we're not going to get more clarity tonight. Uh but but but some of the but I'll I'll talk through some of the paths forward. So, um to be clear, this again some of the unintended consequences this um by passing this act if it's if it's funded,

090it creates it's a it's a win for districts across the state. If it's not funded, it creates a winners and losers. Yeah. Scenario. And uh what we've kind of found through some discuss some discussions and just just some comparing data is it generally speaking it's the smaller um um smaller districts that are winners with this because they're the ones that send a lot of their students to the public um to the public outplacements. That's that's generally the use of co-ops. Um so so they're actually kind of you know even if it's only 40% right now they're getting zero. So, they're kind of okay with that. Um, it's the larger unit districts that are supporting um that have the the capabilities internally to to support a specific subset of students, which which we do through our

091self-contained programming. Um, and then when we're not able to do that, that's when we look to to the private placement tuition. So, um, this is kind of creating a a winners and losers scenario across the state. And I think it's been um uh at at some some discussions I've had with with the unit districts is where this this issue or this concern has really arisen over the last couple months. So uh you know specifically with our association with Luda is I think where uh our best chance to to get some um legislative understanding or or potential relief is is going to come. Uh I think you know I don't want to I don't want to uh you know speak too too out of turn or too too much in hypotheticals. Um you know the reality

092is we want to provide the best solution for for the students needs. Um whether that is a um an internal placement a public placement and an an out placement whether that's um you know in their current home school. I think, you know, our goal is is to provide the the right solution for that student in as least restrictive environment as possible, right? Um, and it's legislative, it's legislation like this that sometimes makes that challenging because um, and again on on the the other side, there's districts that correctly said, look, we're um, you know, we have the the students with the the same needs, but because we're not able to serve them internally, we're not, you know, we're not benefiting potentially because we're not able to access that private tuition placement. We're not seeing the f

093financial. So that's where I I wanted to start the story with the real solution is how do we tie the revenue to the student need on the front end um and not have it be about where they were placed. Yeah. Um again not not something that that we're going to solve tonight but I think uh potentially if you know through this if if we're able to advocate effectively maybe maybe there is some solution there. Um, you know, and we could, with that said, we could look at at at joining a cooperative. We could look at partnering with with other cooperatives if if if the finances just become so um, you know, make that a necessity. But those are um those are all paths that that that in some ways are are options, but uh I

094think the first thing is really just awareness because this is an issue that that's kind of come up a little bit over um pretty quickly over the last couple weeks. So, I don't know. Dr. Tally looked like he was going to say something, but no, maybe not. Okay. All right. He was he was ready to save me if I misspoke, but okay. Thank you. Thank you for answering that. Um, that definitely helps me uh understand the situation a little bit better. That's all. Thank you, Miss Dming. Interesting enough, I had that uh I wanted to start on uh slide 12, but this the same one. So, but I think you may have answered um and I I don't want to go down a path where and you're kind of indicating that maybe we don't really

095know because I was going to ask what are our options if um you know private placements and and I'm certain we don't that that probably you you explained you gave us some explanation. So, um I hope that it doesn't I just hope that it doesn't come to that. um slide five and um where we were looking at um the 13 FTEES do can can and I don't know whether it's Dr. Tally or can you share a little bit um where those where we wound up with those 13 above budget from um what we had planned. Yeah. So uh one one source um maybe the primary source was uh core classroom FT at K5. So, uh, as our enrollment, uh, has, um, grew grown a little bit, uh, you know, and we we did with the

096focus on trying to still maintain our our lower class sizes we put in place a couple years ago, there was on the need to add some some core classroom, uh, FTE. Uh, one of, you know, some of that is based on enrollment increases. Some of that I I'll just call unlucky math. So there are certain numbers uh certain cohort numbers where uh um you know where I'll just 60 60 is the one Dr. Tally always use. I I always use something in the se um but yeah 60 is a tough one because you know in some two classes of 30 uh is is really high. Um three classes of 20 is is a little low. And so when when you but we don't control if 60 kids show up to to a you know second

097grade uh uh to to become second graders at one of our elementary schools. So some of some of that variance can just be between years um um just just how some of the numbers fall. Uh you one of the things to to kind of ensure that we're maybe a little bit better prepared. we've we've budgeted for some additional core classroom at K5 again this year above what even maybe the enrollment um forecast would project. So so you know we're trying to kind of um you know adjust a little bit uh and and kind of learn from um from that discrepancy last year but that was that was about half of it. And then um again really student specific needs on on the special education side. Um I I would say would probably be the second

098second largest cause and I think that's that's most if not all of that that 13 you know from a um a standpoint of that focus on uh what our students need and the educational um that academic aspect the ability to provide what we need um for our students is is so critical. And it's interesting because we've been looking at for a while we looked at a drop in numbers and we've seen just a little incremental. It's not huge, but we've continued to see a little bit of growth um more so necessarily than we thought. So yeah, I I I mean I' I'd say one of the things we uh we had a period as you mentioned from 2012 to about 2019 or 20 well really about 2021 where our enrollment decreased slightly each year and

099we were able to sort of reallocate some core classroom FTE to fill um some of the emerging needs we've seen over the last 10 years in the special education space, the social emotional space, and then in the EL space. And so, um, we kind of got, um, you know, a little used to that as as being a source for, um, for some of those added positions. And then over the last year or two now, we've seen increasing enrollment. It's like, well, wait, we we don't we don't have that ability. And so, that has, uh, you know, that's made some of the discussions and and challenges as we go through budget, as we go through through staffing um, a little challenging. But I think it's also led to some really good conversations across levels and uh

100at at the district level about um really ensuring our resources are being allocated as efficiently as possible and making sure that we are um student specific in in how we're we're allocating resources. And I think uh um you know overall we'd we'd love to have uh you know more staff. We'd love to have more uh more funding, but but I think we're doing a pretty good job of allocating what we do have. Um it I one of the things that I'd be interested in seeing um in discussing as we get into budget um further discussions is really as we prepare um on the the meant to continue looking at mental health resources. Uh there was some information that some of the K through 12 uh mental health um support res financial resources might um drop

101and wondered if that was anything that was going to in would specifically impact us. um if and just wanted to see um you know in the budget forecast um you know where we might stand from a mental health um yeah if you're referring to like state or federal funding for that I um we're not anticipating any any changes to our funding and I think our our staffing in those areas is relatively consistent for next year. Okay, perfect. Thank you. Um and then um you know slide 11 I thought was we've already mentioned it but the ability to let's see slide yeah um if there's anything you know that uh I don't know and maybe this really says it but that can help us continue to really um advocate for uh and share the need for

102us just to see more economic development- that commercial side of the house. Um as we're talking with, you know, legislators and council and um county personnel, this that this is really so important to be make sure that we continue as you've already stated, you know, the tax impact, but really see how that shift has occurred and the ability to see more commercial development coming. Yeah. Um, I I'll work uh with our team and I I'll just uh I meant to mention it the first time around and this gives me an opportunity to mention I have a great team member um Sharon Wordac whose uh daughter was actually honored tonight as a grow your own um who's uh really really gotten a chance to dive into some of this data. Um again, this isn't information we

103receive. It's it's housed at the county. So, um but but it is public and so um it's just really through through you know sort of uh you know good work and and really just getting uh you know getting familiar with systems and just putting putting the time in you know we're able to to start um accumulating some of this data. So that is something we'll continue to to put together. Again, tax bills came out on uh Thursday um May 1st and we were already able to kind of do a sample of of residents throughout the district, businesses throughout the district to kind of get get some of these numbers. So, uh yeah, I'm I'm uh I think we'll be more capable in the than we have been in the past to kind of really put

104data behind it. I think it's a story we've we've told. I think anecdotally we we hear it whether it's from our residents or or um or from our businesses, but it's something that we, you know, we are able to put some data to if we're kind of given the time and and uh if there's an interest. So, we'll continue to do that. There is. Thank you, Miss Gunce. Thank you very much again for your presentation. Um, I I really do appreciate the fact that, you know, on slide 13, you touched on the the effect of the the tariff increases, you know, everywhere from technology to sports equipment and how that might affect everything. Honestly, you answered most of my questions throughout your presentation. Uh, but one thing I did just wonder on slide 11, and

105I think this is just as I'm still getting to understand, you know, taxes, commercial taxes and such, what would account for that very small decrease, but still a decrease in the commercial tax? Yeah. without um again without being uh being privy to all the the information that that our assessors are seeing. Um it you know board member Rising shared a little bit about the the mechanics of it. It it it's complicated. I I would say it it is tied to general market conditions though. Okay. um you know challenges are um you know I don't think there's anything uh necessarily um wrong with it or or inaccurate about it but but the reality is that commercial properties are still struggling a little bit uh you know uh the off you know that includes office space and

106we've we've seen obviously a change in work patterns that's impacted the office market uh that in that includes um you know commercial storefronts that includes some of our big box retailers that um you know continuing to to be challenged by Amazon and and different spending patterns. Uh you know there there is there is the reality that that commercial taxpayers tend to have um a little bit more sway with the assessor whether that's through through appeals and and other things to um to keep that number a little lower. But I think, you know, that may be some of it, but I I I think most of it is just the just the reality. And again, that that speaks to um you know, the need to to really emphasize and focus and do what we can as

107a as a school board to support our local economic development. Absolutely. Yes. And I apologize, I stepped out, so I must have stepped out during that part with Mr. Rising. So, sorry for the repeat there. Um, but I did want to reiterate also what board member Jane said. Um, it is at least one piece of good news, you know, that we were able to instead of reducing by 20 FTES, 10. So, I I feel like we should take a win where we can right now, especially with so much uncertainty. And I just really want to thank you for all the work that all of you do, especially right now when there is so much that we don't know, so many unknowns as far as funding goes. So, thank you, Mr. Kurbus. I've got uh three

108points. One, I think there's an opportunity for us to make our operations more in line with uh board policy. And I'm struggling with page five where our expenditures exceed our budget amount. The board policy that is referenced at the beginning of the presentation talks about the amount budgeted as the expenditure in each of the funds is the maximum amount that may be expended for each category. So I know we've operated this way for a long time but our expenditures are exceeding our budgeted amount. So ultimately it it washes out because we're fortunate enough to have revenue that balances it and 4 million as a percentage isn't a large part of our budget but it's 4 million. Um, but I think the process is really what's important so that we mirror it more in line with

109the policy is that when we exceed the budgeted amount of expenditures, we need to have something done or in place where, you know, I'm not suggesting we have a whole budget hearing and adopt a new budget, but if we if the policy and law says that we have a the budget and that's the most you can spend, and we spend in excess, then we need to develop a process that makes it more clear rather than page five of a budget presentation. I don't think that uh is enough. So, I'm not proposing any solutions. Um, you know, I've looked at this practice for the last 10 years and haven't raised it up, but it's it's striking me now as I'm seeing all this red. Um, so I I invite administration to take a look at that

110and see if there's ways to make it better. Page seven. Um, so I just want to point out you have uh projected budgets in revenue for the state EBF, evidence-based funding. So going out for the next five years, our expected um revenue from the EBF is going to go from 43 million to 45 million. In each of those years, the state of Illinois is going to put in 350 million, 350 million, 350 million, and we're going up a million. Is that about right? That's That's about right. Yes. Okay. Thank you. And then this transfer page eight. I'm I'm trying to wrap my head around the transfer to capital for technology. Um, at the last presentation we talked about, you know, setting aside maybe 42 million for def uh for future capital needs and contingencies and

111setting aside 12 million for deferred operational supports for a total of 54 million. And now I'm hearing a different recommendation. Um, you know, kind of what's going on, uh, what's happened since February. Um, how's this better? Um, you know, I know I'm just raising this now and I didn't in advance of the meeting. Um, but I think the transfer to capital is important. I see value in it. Um, I think it's something we should do, but from my perspective, it seems like we're struggling with coming up with the number and the the earmark, so to speak. Um, you know, I've sat and received we've had a consultant that gave us information that were hundreds of million dollars in deferred maintenance is needs to get spent. So, I recognize there's a need to set aside money

112for deferred maintenance. Um, but why technology? Why a contingency? So, give me reasons on why we should bucket it, why we should just not just throw it in the capital account and kind of the dollar amount. I need some more um information to to have a justification of that. I'm hearing two different things in two different presentations and I need some more. Yeah, we will we can bring that back uh next time. I will uh uh just just emphasize the last uh um and and that the numbers are different. So I um that point is taken I'm taking directionality stuff. I mean it's but we are talking that that 42 million that you mentioned earlier that that's sort of this last bullet point here about the 35 million um which uh our our recommendation at

113this time is um still to maintain it in the operating fund but with the hope that that at a future date it would be available to be uh transferred in for capital needs. The concern is just with some of the um uh revenue uncertainty at this time. Just just don't feel that fiscal year 2026 is necessarily the right time for that that transfer. That would make some sense to me if the dropping the the 35 million would drop us down to 25%. That's that's ratio. And we all get a little nervous with being that close. So I that's the that 35 million is is the amount that after that $12 million transfer and after we run out the next five years of a projection that 35 million is is the excess above 25%. Um but

114yes, if if the the general direction that we that we proposed this evening is um is in line, we'll work on on some some specifics for for when the budget is is presented as a tenative budget in July. Thanks. Thank you. So, thanks for everybody for all of the questions and comments. Um, I um always look at um the slides that talk about the overall forecast and operating funds. And I like to look at the state and federal to see what changed. And you actually increased like federal a bit like a half a it's not a lot but it's just still I was a little curious like why given all the stuff going on at the federal level that you increase that. Yeah very very perceptive. Uh the one federal program we are um we

115did increase from last time slightly and do have small increases annually on is the the food service program. Um so that and that's just the uh projected cost of of the meal reimbursement rate keeping up with CPI. Uh there are corresponding increases on the expense side for those as well. Um so that that is the that the specific uh increase noted there on the state level. I um we've had a little bit of a busy couple weeks as board members. So, um I haven't followed this as closely as I would have, but I know that the city of Chicago was down in Springfield lobbying for um their revenue and their um needs and also has been lobbying, I think, to change to be tier one again or or be treated like tier one. Did anything

116come out of that or uh not not that I'm aware of? No. No. I mean I uh you know this is sort of a uh the good news is that uh uh so far at least the state has seemed to to hold true to the the commitment that the EBF is going to be funded and that there's not going to be um significant additional funding streams added that their number one commitments to EBF and that they're not going to look at making changes to EBF that may uh cater to to CPS specifically. So, that's that's kind of the good news. Um the bad news, as you could maybe pick up, is also that as as board member Cruis mentioned, that 350 million commitment DBF still only generates about 4 to 500,000 of incremental dollars for

117for Indian Prairie. So, um so be better than it than it could be, I guess, but still not not really moving the needle for our district. But I know we're considering writing a note to our legislative friends about our needs just like Chicago's lobbying for their needs. But um more to come on that. So I I do appreciate the presentation. Um, I like that you went over the federal and state issues as well as um repeating the tax implications and how important it is for our district to continue to lobby for commercial non-tax incentive businesses in our group and how it's uh a little bit frustrating to see how much burden is pushed on residential taxpayers. Um but that was I mean it was interesting to see the numbers you had on the slide that

118everybody missing everyone pointed out um because we hadn't we've talked about it before but we never saw any numbers like that that showed us so that was um very important and um you know the whole transfer to capital and uh I think that was a good discussion also to see um what more we can see there. So, thank you very much for the information and um let's see how our budget continues here. Thank you. Interesting times. [Music] Do any of the students need us to sign anything? No. Okay. Okay. All right. You guys go go sign and then we'll keep we'll keep going. Okay. We will now review the results of the official canvasing for the returns from the Dwage County Election Commission of April 1st, 2025 school board election presented by Dr. Tally. Thank

119you, Miss Donahghue. No action is needed uh to be taken by the board but we are required to review the canvas of the election results from DuPage County which is our primary county and these results include Will County. These results are in board docs. I will now review the results from the election and ballot order. So Lori Donahghue total number of votes in her favor 11,456. Allison Fostic 10,279 votes. Susan Taylor Dimming 10,767 votes. Sapna Jane 9,765 votes. and Allison Albert 6,362 votes meaning that Miss Donahghue, Miss Fostic, Miss Taylor Dimming, and Miss Jane were the winners of the uh board election. And now I'll turn it back to you. So now I need a motion to approve to appoint Dr. Tally as president prom for the special organizational meeting until a new board president

120is elected. I'll make a motion. Dr. Tally's favorite time of the year or every two years. I'll make a motion that the board of education approves to appoint Dr. Adrien Tally as president prom for the special organizational meeting until a new board president is elected as presented. There a second. Any discussion? Okay, Michelle, will you please call the role? Mr. Rising, yes. Miss Kent, yes. Mr. Kurubis, yes. Miss Deming, I. Miss Donahghue, yes. And Miss Jane, yes. The motion passes. I now need a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. All in favor? I opposed. Okay, we are. Yeah, you can put me as a second. If any current members would like to reaffirm your oath, you will please join us now. I'll go to the podium over there and then and everyone will need to

121stand. Those who are going to be able we need to read the first part. [Music] So please raise your hand and um follow along. I state your name do solemnly swear to or affirm that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of member of the school board of Indian Prairie School community. We don't have a copy. Oh, you don't. Hi. Can we just say our name? All right. So, hold on. Let's Let's try this again. I state your name. I SA J do solemnly swear our firm do solemnly swear that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of member of the school board of Indian Prairie Community Unit School District in accordance with the Constitution of the United States in accordance

122with the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the State of Illinois, the Constitution of the State of Illinois and the laws of the state of Illinois to the best of my ability. to the best of my ability. I further swear I further swear that that I shall respect taxpayer interests. I shall shall respect taxpayer interest by serving as a faithful protector by serving as a faithful protector of the school district's assets of the school district's assets. I shall encourage and respect I shall encourage and respect the free expression of opinion the free expression of opinion by my fellow board members by my fellow board members and others who seek and others who seek a hearing before the board a hearing before the board while responding by by while respecting the privacy while respecting

123the privacy of students and employees of students and employees I shall recognize that a board member I shall recognize that a board member has no legal authority has no legal authority as an individual as an individual and that decisions can be And that decisions can be made only by a majority made only by a majority vote at a public board meeting. vote at a public board meeting. I shall abide by majority decisions. I shall abide by a majority of decisions of the board of the board while retaining the right while retaining the right to seek changes to seek changes in such decisions in such decisions through ethical and constructive channels through ethical and constructive channels. As part of the board of education, as part of the board of education, I shall accept the responsibility I

124shall accept the responsibility for my role in the equitable for my role in the equitable and quality education quality education of every student in the school district. Every student in the school district. I shall foster with the board I shall foster with the board extensive participation of extensive participation of the community the community formulate goals formulate goals define outcomes define outcomes and set the course for and set the course for Indian Prairie Indian Prairie I shall assist in establishing I shall assist in establishing a structure and an environment a structure and an environment designed Designed to ensure designed to ensure all students have all students have the opportunity to attain the opportunity to obtain their maximum potential their maximum potential through a sound organizational framework through a sound organizational framework. I shall strive to ensure

125I shall strive to ensure a continuous assessment a continuous assessment of student achievement of student achievement and all conditions and all conditions affecting the education of affecting the education of our children our children in compliance with state laws in compliance with state law I shall serve as education's key I shall serve as education's key advocate on behalf of advocate on behalf of students in our community schools students in our community schools to advance the vision of to advance the vision of Indian Prairie School District Indian Prairie School District. And I shall strive to work together And I shall strive to work together with the district superintendent with the district superintendent to lead the school district to lead the school district toward fulfilling the vision toward fulfilling the vision the board has created. The board has

126created fostering ex excellence for fostering excellence for every student in the areas every student in the areas of academic skills of academic skills knowledge knowledge citizenship citizenship and personal development and personal development. You may be seated and congratulations. Congrats you guys. Thank you Michelle. Yeselle I did get a couple. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. Michelle, will you please call the role? Mr. Rising, here. Mr. Kurubis, here. Miss Donahghue here. Miss Jane here. Miss Deming present. And Miss Gins here. We have a quorum. Uh, it's now time for public comment for agenda items. For agenda items, 30 minutes is allowed for public comments and each person is limited to three minutes. When addressing the board, we ask that you respect the confidentiality and safety of our students and school district personnel. We also

127ask that those addressing the board be cognizant that this is an open meeting and is available to all age groups and as such ask that you consider who the audience members are this evening and keep comments age appropriate. Public comments uh represent the voice and opinion of the speaker. There will be no feedback from the board members during the meeting, but followup will be provided by an administrator as appropriate. Although this is not required, it's helpful for board members to know whether the comments and concerns we hear are being raised by residents. So, we ask that you state if you live in the district and if you currently have children in our school. Are there any speakers? No. No. Okay. Nominations for president. Nominations are now in order for the office of president. I hereby

128nominate Lori Donahue for president. Um uh Lori Donahghue is nominated. Are there any other nominations for the office of president? Hearing no further nominations. The nominations for the office of president are closed. I need a motion that the board of education vote the lone candidate for the position of president for the board of education. I I need a motion. Oh, I need to turn your mic. I I you nominated. Now I need a motion. I need a motion that the board of education vote the lone candidate for the position of president for the board of education. I move that the board of education nominate um Lori Danahghue as president. Do I have a second? Second. Lori Donahghue being the only candidate nominated for the office of president. Michelle, will you call the role? Miss Jane,

129yes. Miss Gint, yes. Miss Deming, I Mr. Rising, I. Mr. Kurubus, yes. Good. The vote is five in favor, one abstension. By receiving a majority of the vote, uh Lori Donah, who is elected president of the board, and I now give up by power. Yeah. Well done. Okay. Nominations are now in order for the office of vice president. I nominate Allison Fazdik for vice president. Do you want me to make a motion? Oh, Sapna Jane. Oh, okay. Sure. I know what's going on. I nominate Sapna Jane for the role of vice president. Okay. Are there any other nominations for the office of vice president? She's got two. Okay. Just a backup. Um, okay. SNA Jane is nominated. Okay. Hearing no further nominations, the nominations for office of vice president are closed. I now need a

130motion that the board of education vote the loan candidate to the position of vice president. Make a motion that the board of education uh approve Septan Jade as vice president as presented. Second. Any discussion? Okay. Michelle, will you please call the role? Mr. Rising. Yes. Mr. Mr. Kurubus. Yes. Miss Deming I. Miss Donahghue. I. Miss Gint. Yes. And Miss Jade. I abstain. Yeah. The vote is five to five approved, one abstain in favor of SPNA Jane being vice president. Congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you guys. Okay. Nominations are now in order for the office of secretary. Okay. Glad I do nominate Allison Fosdic for I promise. All right. Um Allison Fosdic is nominated. Are there any other nominations for the office of secretary? Hearing no further nominations. The nominations for the office of secretary are closed. I

131need a motion that the board of education vote the loan candidate to the position of secretary. I move that the board of education approve Alison Fosdic as secretary of the board of education. I second. Michelle, will you please call the role? Mr. Kurubus, yes. Miss Jane, yes. Mr. Rising, yes. Miss Gint, yes. Miss Donahghue, yes. And Miss Demi, I. So there's give us six of us in favor. Six to zero. and Allison Fazdik is elected secretary of the board of education. Uh, now we have the appointment of the Illinois Association of School Board Governing Board Representative. I need a nomination. I'll make a Oh, do you make a nomination or can we just make an appointment? Nomination first. Appointment. Nomination. Nomination. I'll nominate Katie G as IB governing board representative. Are there any other nominations

132for appointment of the Illinois Association of School Board Governing Board of Representative? Hearing no further nominations. The nominations for the appointment of Illinois Association of School Board Governing Board Representative are closed. I need a motion um that the board of education vote the loan candidate to the position of the appointment of the Illinois Association of School Board Governing Board Representative. I'll make a motion that the board of education appoint Katie Gats as the IASB governing board representative. Second. Michelle, will you call the role? Mr. Rising? Yes. Mr. Kurubus? Yes. Miss Dming? I. Miss Donahghue. Yes. Miss Jane? Yes. and Miss Gint abstain. So the vote is five, four, and one abstain in favor of Katie Gunce being the majority of votes is appointed to the Illinois Association School Board Governing Board of Representatives for the

133Board of Education. Congratulations. All right, we got through that. So I want to thank everyone. Thank you all. And um I also want to thank Miss Deming for being my excellent partner and vice president. So now I need a motion to adjurnn. No motion to recess to executive. I will make a motion. I will make a motion to recess executive session for the appointment employment compensation discipline performance to dismissal of specific employees, specific individuals who serve as an independent contractor in a park recreational educational sane or specific volunteers of the public body or legal council for the public body including hearing testimony on complaint lodged against an employee, a specific individual who serves as an independent contractor in a park recreational educational setting or a volunteer of the public body or against legal council for

134the public body to determine its validity. However, a meeting to consider an increase in compensation uh to a specific employee or public body that is subject to the local government wage transparency act may not be closed and shall be open to the public and posted in accordance with this act. Second. Any discussion? Okay. Um Michelle, you have to call the role. Yeah. Mr. Rising. Yes. Mr. Kus. Miss Donahghue, yes. Miss Deming, I. Miss Jane, yes. And Miss Gitz, yes. Okay, we are approved to go back into executive session. Thank you. Well, congratulations. Thank you for walk.