001I'd like to call this meeting to order. We'll begin with a pledge of allegiance. But before we do do the pledge, I'd like to excuse uh Sylviana and Margaret. They are both out of town today and can't participate, but we have a full quorum here with the rest of the board. I'll 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. All right. Thank Thank you. The uh first item on the agenda is recognition of the Junior Leadership Academy and Mike, Beth or or Vicki, who would like to talk about that? So, we're going to watch a quick little video for about two minutes and then we'll get up
002and and do a short presentation. Sounds good. [Music] I am a balloon face with the air like I don't care baby alone if you feel like a room without a roof alone if you feel Like happiness is the truth because I'm happy. Clap along if you know what happiness is to you because I'm happy. Clap along if you feel like that's what you want to do. Here comes talking [Music] and give me all you got. Don't hold it back. I should probably warn you. I'll be just fine. No offense to you. Don't waste your time. Here's [Music] why. If you feel like dance, dance. I don't need no reason. Don't need control. I fly so high when I'm in my zone cuz I got that sunshine in my pocket. Feel that in my body when
003it drops. I can't take my eyes off it so the way we rock it. So stop under the lights when everything goes. Nowhere to hide when I'm getting you close. When we move where you already know it's just nothing I can see but you dance good on you. Just dance, dance, dance. Come on. All those things I shouldn't do, but you dance, dance, dance. Ain't nobody been so keeping the feeling. So just dance. So just dance. Excellent. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. You guys come on up with me. Thank you for having us. I just want to do a quick little recap and and let you know the Junior Leadership Academy, which is also known as the JLA, um has been running in the Blige area for 18 years. This year was the
00418th year. I was only involved in it about eight years, but it's just it blows my mind when I think of that. And I just want to thank you guys very very much for that support. um the program hasn't been exactly the same for 18 years because as you know we kind of have to change and and make sure that we are um serving the audience um properly. So it's it's we've tweaked it just a little bit but it's a phenomenal program. Um I don't know if you were able to see all the different activities. It wears me out to think of all the things that Mike and Beth do with these kiddos in just a two-eek program. It's it's phenomenal. Um, in that I just wanted to review some of the hot talk topics
005and then I'm going to turn the time over to them to talk about Junior Leadership Academy. Um, they have um activities such as the bottle rocket team building, keep a clear mind which is a drug prevention curriculum and it's also an evidence-based curriculum. They do yoga and mindfulness. Um, we go to the Red Hawk Ranch and it is a beautiful phenomenal experience there. Um they also go visit the elderly at Sulttera and then throughout the whole entire process they're learning about choices, coping and safety. So it's it's phenomenal. Um so many things that go on during the program. I could stand up here for an hour and talk about it, but I won't do that. I'm going to turn the time over to Beth and let them Oh, and let them run them from here.
006Mr. Shiml Tra, uh, thanks again for having us. Appreciate you all. Um, I'd like to turn it over and let these brave young people um give you just a just a bit of their experience. Um, Z, why don't you go first? Dig girl. [Applause] during JLA. We need some consent. Is it consent? Oh, yeah. Okay. All right. Come here. Come here, Alexis. Ask my boy. He's a good Look at Hi, my name is Alexis and I came tonight to tell you about the two weeks I spent in jail. We did so many things that are unusual. We held a hawk. We spent an afternoon getting to know some old people and we got to hear about their lives. We did yoga and it was really funny to see everyone trying so hard to do it
007right. We learned about the dangers of drugs and alcohols from some people who really know. We did lots of activities working together and laughing laughing along the way. We even spent a day at Red Hawk Ranch where I live playing laser tag playing and jumping house building water rockets and eating pizza. Thank you for making this time possible for all of us. [Applause] Anyways, you want to give her a try? Yeah. Yeah. this. We're going to go up and we're just going to talk together. You know, public speaking is one of the hardest things to do, right? It's super super hard. During JLA, we did a lot lots of fun things like learn like learn how to do multiple people activities and learn how to make new friends and stop and not do drugs. We
008helped build goal set build good self self-esteem learn to be a team player and learn to to be more to be more out outgoing and and fit into your own skin. We had a lot of fun here and we even learned about some people who have had times with drugs and they and they taught us to not do them. Awesome. Yeah. Um, just real quick, I'll tell you some of the comments from the parents. This is a pretty cool part about it. Um, we do all the fun activities exhausted by the end. I think Mr. Shiml and I I think the most amazing part is seeing kids unplugged from phones and computers and all that stuff. and I tried. But anyway, it's just phenomenal to see the relationship building, to see them laugh. I have
009one story about a young lady I've worked with for a while. And I haven't seen her smile. I haven't seen her engage. By the end of this two weeks, she was talking to other kids. She was having fun. And you could just see um a joy in her that we weren't able to capture in a different situation. And you guys all know school and education is so important, but for Mr. Shiml and I to get the time to hear the kids' stories, everybody has a story. And I think that that's what they walk away with. They hear from all different people in the community, they hear um even from us. Just a funny thing is they hear what a difficult um challenge Mr. Shiml was in education. So he got some paybacks from some of
010the kids he's had through the years. Um, but just a cool time for us as teachers to see kids kind of try some things and be challenged and be active in the relationships that they build. But this is what some of their caregiver givers and parents have said. It taught them to remember who they are and that they can change the world. Hard things can be done. And you did it see better than me. Um, also um I'm just proud of my grandson. My child was able to make new friends and to learn to communicate with other children and adults, helping my daughter come out of her shell. This is the one young lady I'm talking about and see that she's an amazing, strong woman. It gave her something to look forward to. My child
011learned new problem solving skills while doing so. um by doing so was less frustrated. Um to tough kids have I better put my readers on. This would help. Um I taught kids to have good character, teamwork, kindness, getting along, health and substance abuse prevention. Last one. My child couldn't stop talking about it and was always excited to share what they learn. And because of our community, because of your support, Mr. Shim get to have a great two weeks and see the kids come alive and find out who they are. So, thank you. Is there any questions about Junior Leadership Academy? You know, no, but thank you. You know, I've seen the emotion and I felt the emotion uh from the Shimls and from you and they you are the reason this is a successful program
012and we are so grateful. It changes the lives of kids and I hope it never stops and I hope we're always a part of it. Anybody else like Yeah. What time of year did this happen? So we used to run a summer junior leadership academy for years and about four or five years ago. We tried the afterchool junior leadership academy and it actually worked a little bit better because of transportation for the youth. We usually have 25 to 28 that start and 25 to 28 that end because of that transportation issue. So we run it um the end of April and the 1st of May for two weeks after school again. Thank you so much. We approved this in the last board meeting but we wanted the presentation so we asked you to come back
013and do it here. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank you. The the next item, excuse me, the next item on the agenda is kind of a uh an emotional period for this school district and and we're going to just jump right into it. We're going to honor three individuals who have given much of their life and uh have changed the lives of many students and have changed this school district for the better. And uh we're going to honor Dr. Wright right now. We're going to honor Kimberly Dougell and we're going to honor Lauren Webb. And if you three will come forward, we have plaques to give you and we've asked and there are people that would like to gush all over you right now. So, we're going to let them give that opportunity. So,
014we're going to start with Kimberly. Those that would like to uh say something about Kimberly, we would uh love you to come take the microphone and talk to her. I got that. So, yes, I have something to say uh about Kimberly Dougdale. Mr. President, when you get a a moment, we're gonna do Kimberly first. Okay, perfect. Yes, you have to stand here. Look at Mike in the eye. Everybody right here. Actually, I want you to focus in on everybody that's out there because she has made a huge difference in the finance department and she's been a a pleasure to work for and with. So, the plaque that we're going to honor you with, in honor of Kimberly Dougdale, with heartfelt appreciation, we celebrate your 28 years of dedication to education. You began as a teacher,
015shaping young minds with care and compassion and continued your journey as a guiding force in finance, ensuring our schools thriving with stability, integrity, and purpose. Your strength, thoughtful, thoughtful leadership, and sound guidance have made a lasting difference in the lives of students, staff, and the entire community. Thank you for your service, your heart, and your legacy. You will be deeply missed and forever appreciated. But I've actually got another almost But if you'd like Oh, okay. Um, so real fast. Uh, good afternoon, Mr. President, Dr. Wright, and the board. Uh, today we are here to honor and, uh, the bittersweet task of celebrating someone who not only gave nearly three decades to education, but she also left uh, every place she's been a little smarter, a little stronger, and a whole lot better. Um, so Kimberly
016is retiring after 28 years in education. Her education started in Mesa and then from there she went to Paradise Valley to the Navajo Nation to Apache County to St. John's to Aendale to here at Blue Ridge. Did I get that right or yes? All right. Um, one of her greatest accomplishments was in St. John's where as the test coordinator for the district, she was able to change the school and she also just change the narrative for teaching students and basically the whole community. Uh, another one of her major accomplishments um was the Upwardbound mission uh or Upwardbound program. The Upward Pro the Upwardbound program helped students uh that were not able to to find their way to college. Um one of those students not only found his way to college, that student is now the
017sitting president of the Navajo Nation. So she has definitely changed the lives of many, many people. And that's about as far as I had memorized so far. so far. Uh, here at Blue Ridge, Kimberly wore many hats and as our CFO, she was so much more than just a person behind the numbers. She was a mentor, a steady hand, and an example of how to lead with both intelligence and integrity. She guided us, her staff, and taught us how to do our jobs, but to grow and to think critically and to let us grow in our own way. She also had a rare gift for financial magic, balancing the aging district with a fiscal tight budget. Uh, she is amazing in that regard. And let's not forget her creative understanding of work hours. This woman
018approves requisitions at 11:30 p.m. all the time. Uh, mainly because we put them in at 11:00 p.m. all the time. Um, she got along with everybody in the department. Well, mostly everybody. Let's be honest. It wouldn't be a department if there wasn't some dynamic personalities. Um, now, as Kimberly steps into retirement, she's not exactly slowing down. In fact, she's more ambitious than ever. She plans to hike the Arizona Trail, the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, and just about any other trail that would make you tired just by reading the name of it. Uh, and if that wasn't enough, she also wants to bike the Great Divide as well as bike the Eurovvo networks. Um, and if that wasn't enough, conquering the world with foot or bike, she also wants to learn how to sew.
019Who knew? Um, so Kimberly, uh, thank you for your wisdom, your dedication, your humor, and your heart. I'm very happy to call you a friend. You've impacted more lives than you probably realize. And while we'll miss you deeply, we are thrilled for the next chapter in the story, one that is clearly not going to be boring. Uh so if everybody please put your hands together and wish us her on their next happy trails. Oh yeah. Over there. Okay. And put on the hat. [Laughter] Yes. I think someone else is gonna speak. Steve, you know, I also heard I also heard she was going to sail around the earth, around the world in a sailboat, her and her husband. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Happy retirement. Kimberly, you're going to be missed. You're going to be
020greatly missed. Okay. The next person we're going to honor is Dr. Wright. If Dr. Wright would come up here, this I think 10 years in this district, but a lifetime of education. 10 years in this district. And those weren't easy 10 years, were they? Not all of them. How many? What? Two of them might have been. Most of them were good. Most of them were good, but there has been some real trials and he's handled them. You're going to be missed. You have left this district in better shape than we found it. And uh we're forever going to be indebted to you and the leadership that you the quality of leadership and the standard that you set as the administrator to this district. So, thank you so much. Appreciate it. And and I would just
021invite anybody that would like to praise Dr. Dr. Wright in his nothing bad. Nothing bad. But anybody that would like to praise Dr. Wright just to welcome come up here and and say something. I have a microphone and I'm not going to give him a mic so he can't rebut anything. You got one? No. You got to stand here and look into my eyes. Does this say the same thing as the other one? So this plaque that we're going to present Dr. Wright with says with profound gratitude and heartfelt appreciation we honor your 34 years of remarkable service to education 11 of them as a steadfast and visionary superintendent. Your leadership has inspired excellence. Your heart has uplifted countless lives and your dedication has shaped a lasting legacy across our schools and community. Thank you
022for leading with wisdom, courage and compassion. You have left an indelible mark and you will be deeply missed. With their deepest appreciation, your Blige family. Thank you. I I I wrote something, too. This is weird. Um, so for those of you all that know me, I I tend to start with a hey y'all. And that means I'm probably going to wing it with whatever is coming out next. Um, and so when Megan and I were talking today, she said, "Are you going to write something down?" And I said, "No, I'm just going to start with a hey y'all and I'm going to wing it." And she said, "But I don't want to be the only person with a paper." And so I wrote something down, but I knew that you would you would want it
023short. Um, and I knew it would be hard to hard to do. So, after working with Dr. Wright for the past five years, I can honestly say that he's one of the best leaders I've ever had the chance of working with. On a personal level, he gave me an opportunity to grow in my career and make a bigger difference in the lives of others, and that's something that I will always appreciate. He helped guide our district through some of the toughest times, especially during the COVID pandemic. And he did it with a calm, steady leadership and a whole lot of heart. No matter how busy things got, he was always there, ready to listen, offer support, or just talk things through. We all knew he just had our back. What really makes Dr. Dr. Special
024is how he genuinely cares about people. He doesn't just lead, he connects with them. He takes the time to get to know folks, checks in and makes sure that everyone feels seen and supported. Many times he called me in the afternoon just to see if I needed anything, even though I knew he had more going on than I did. Um whether it was a big decision or just a regular day, he always put students and staff first. His kindness, dedication, and leadership have made a huge impact on all of us, and he's going to be missed more than words can say. We're all better for having known him and worked with him, and I wish him nothing but the best in his well-deserved retirement. curious about anybody that would had anything that you would like
025to say. You're welcome to come up and say that right now. I think Mike and I have made plans at the end of the summer to just get a bucket of worms and go sit on a lake and hope nobody calls us. At least that's his plan. That's my plan, too. I just wanted to thank Dr. right for his emphasis during his years here on our safety. He included all the staff, custodians, bus drivers, it didn't matter, teachers, aids to make the place secure and safe for our students while they learned. And that doesn't happen in a lot of districts. And then the other thing is just personal. the um my brother was at my house the day my husband died. And the next morning, Mike showed up to my home with a dozen roses
026and a great big old hug and tears in his eyes and said, "How many of your family is here?" Cuz Shemaine and I are bringing dinner. And my brother, who was an administrator in another district, was flabbergasted. He had never seen that kind of caring. And Dr. right to help me during those difficult times and I really appreciate it. [Applause] You can't sit down yet because you have to be the blunt of all this uh praise and adulation. All right. So, I'm a baby and so it's going to be really really short. I can't count the days that Mike would weep at his table, caring so much about what he was doing and how he wanted to make an impact. And then he would leave the room in pure control and strength. That is a
027very unique combination of a person. Sorry, I'm a baby. that truly loves everyone and will protect you no matter what. Because if we made bad decisions, he took the brunt of it and never once complained and never once actually told people who was really the problems. So to you Mike, the best thing that's been in this school for a long time and I know that you will have a legacy that's led because there's so many great leaders that are leaders because they learn from you. Thank you. Sir, anyone else? Shermaine, would you like to No, I'll I'll throw something in. Okay. So, I've had the privilege to work with Dr. Wright over the last 11 years. I've I also worked under the other two superintendents before Dr. Wright and they all have had their you
028know things that they brought to the district. But I can honestly say that Dr. Wright truly has raised the bar here at at Blige and um like has been mentioned it's we've had some difficult times but I know that through those difficult times that we would be able to get through it with the leadership that Dr. right? Had in our admin meetings. You could always count on there's an impre impression coming impersonation. Um he was the master of comedy at our admin meetings and that was great. It took it took sometimes the whenever the the craziness that we're dealing with, we he would answer with some humor and and then get us back on track. And um it's been it's been great finishing my career under your leadership and um the district is definitely in
029a a better spot than what it was when you took your the reigns and I hope the community at some point will realize all that you've done for the district and and also the community and the many things that the hours and hours that you sacrificed and and put into Blue Ridge. It's it's it's appreciated and I I'm grateful that I was able to work alongside you. [Applause] Some people don't know that he's up and working at 3:00 in the morning sending Texas texts to the board members at 3:00 in the morning. So, when things were on his mind, he didn't he didn't rest until it was put to ease. And never at any time was this district, the school district ever put in jeopardy by the decisions he made. He protected the board in
030this district like no other superintendent ever has and appreciate you. You're going to leave a huge hole. Uh wish you the best for the future. Uh you're welcome to come back and coach seventh and eighth grade football anytime you'd like to. That might be fun. Anyway, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Our last but not least and final recognition today is for Lauren Webb. Lauren Webb, I think his tenure in this district is longer than anybody. And actually, he was born right here. So, we would like uh anybody that would like to say anything for Lauren to please step. And I think Megan, you have something. Here's your plaque. Let Megan give that to you. Okay, I'll go ahead and start with the plaque that's being presented to Lauren. In honor of Lauren Webb, with
031deep gratitude, we honor your 24 years of dedication to education, your unwavering commitment to excellence, and your tireless leadership that has shaped generations. Thank you for guiding us with wisdom, integrity, and heart. Wishing you joy, and fulfillment in your next chapter. Your legacy will live on in every hallway, classroom, and heart with gratitude from your Blige family. And you're not off the hook because I probably wrote more than I should have. And I know how much you love this. So Lauren is a true example of what servant leadership is. Day in day out, he models compassion, character, and competence. If something needs to be done, he just does it. Lauren also has a tremendous amount of patience. He never hesitates to help when we don't know how or can't remember how to do something. He's
032already shown us how to do a million times. When I say us, I mean mainly me. I always joke with him that he enables us because we know he's going to help us again. And he does. And he never says a word about it. Lauren truly loves the students. I have always been so impressed that not only does he know all of their names, he also knows their story. The kids admire and respect him and know they can always count on him as a trusted adult. They love to stop by his office just to say hi or to grab a snack or a piece of candy. He provides encouragement and support that so many of our students need. Teachers and staff appreciate his unwavering leadership. He supports them and tries his hardest to make things
033easier for them so they can focus on their job. I wanted to share a few words about Lauren from some of our teachers. Jim Rice said, "He is a very compassionate principal." Rebecca Wood shared that Lauren was never the kind of principal that students were afraid of. When they had problems, they wanted to go talk to him. On many occasions, I had students ask me to go see Mr. Webb during class because the problems they were dealing with outside of class were too much for them to handle. Mr. Webb was a counselor to those in crisis. Tasha Hunt said, "Dear Mr. Web, congratulations on your well-earned retirement. Your years of dedicated service, unwavering compassion, and genuine respect for everyone in our school community have left an indelible mark. You've inspired me to lead with heart
034and integrity, wishing you joy and fulfillment in this next chapter. Sarah Bronkey shared a story. Once we had to bring Eddie along to a staff meeting. Afterwards, Eddie said to us, "I hope all principles talk about their students like Mr. Web. I don't recall the substance of the meeting since it was just administrative stuff, but I thought Eddie's reflections summed up Lauren perfectly. He is the type of principal any kid could ever hope for. Ed Bramky said, "Sarah and I used to visit Pinetop well before we ever moved up here. And no joke, every time we would pass by Blige campus, we would talk about how cool it would be to live up here and work there. We moved up to Pinetop around 2015, and Lauren took a chance on hiring me. He brought me
035in the junior high as an eighth grade English teacher. I am so thankful for the opportunity as it honestly has changed my family's life so much for the better. Lauren is not only the best principal I've ever worked for, but boss in general. He is the epitome of a professional while also being one of the most relatable and humble people I've ever met. We owe Lauren so much and are so thankful to have been able to be a part of his journey as well. It has been such a blessing and honor to work with Lauren. He has taught me valuable lessons and has been supportive every step of the way. Not only is he sorry, not only is he the best boss, he's also a dear friend. I know I speak for everyone when I
036say we wish you the best in retirement. You deserve it. We will miss having you around and your absence will truly be felt. Thank you for the lasting impact you have made on students, staff, faculty, families, and our community. I've got a mic right here, Mr. Merrell, if I may. I Lauren is the only person that is still in the same role with a different school, but he's a principal, and he was a principal when I got here 10 and a half years ago. Everybody else has been in a different role. There's a couple people that been here the whole time, but he's the only one that's been remained in in the same role and then progressed um within that. I I've not met a more positive, energetic person that can operate a backhoe, understands
037it, he understands his academics, and he can relate to anyone. You could point to any student, he could tell you their first and last name and something about them. And that was first from middle school and junior high through the junior high only principal and then the principal of the high school. And I begged him and thank you Cara for allowing him to to uh come back one more year. I promised tried not to be such a pain if he'd come back one more year. I tried to do well. I don't know if I did, but Lauren, thank you for everything in addition to being the best employee you've ever had. Uh you've become a friend, too. So, thank you. God bless. I'll I'll say a few words, Lauren, since uh Lauren and I went
038to high school together and and we knew back then that he was going to be a leader um because he led us in some interesting cheers during basketball games and football games. Uh no, but but uh the the word servant leader certainly comes to mind. He just just a great guy all those years and and uh I enjoyed working with them. I I thought when I applied to come back to Blige when Lauren became the principal of the high school I thought ah Lauren and I we go way back this will be this will be a short interview and he grilled me it was but very professional uh just really enjoyed my years working for you and glad I've got known you so long man Lauren you've set the by the bar high, too. And
039uh Ryan has a big job stepping into those big shoes. And uh but I'm sure he can he's capable of doing that and he'll carry your tradition forward and add his personality to it. So anyway, we've had three outstanding individuals that we've recognized this evening. This is their last official act, so to speak. Um that's sad. Um, I've gotten very comfortable around them and um, very confident in their abilities and I look forward to that relationship with the new superintendent, the new our new finance lady. She's sitting over there going crying to crawl underneath the seat. She'll you'll be you'll be wonderful, sophomor. So anyway, thank you all for that. We give them one last round of applause. [Applause] All right, the next item on the agenda is uh the consent agenda and uh that's
040items 2.1 through 2.5. Board, is there any item in that list that you would like to take out and vote on independently? If not, then can we have a a motion to accept the consent agenda as presented? I'll move to accept the consent agenda. We have a second. Second from Bridget. All in favor? I. I. All right. Thank you. Uh item number 3.1, recommendation to approve the proposed budget for fiscal year 2026. Kimberly, we're going to let you present the budget one last time. Sure. We're going to give you a really hard time this time. Okay. No, I'm just kidding. All right. So, this is the FY26 proposed budget. Um, and I don't have a clicker, so maybe Evander can. Thank you. All right. Yes, this is my last time. Okay. So, um, per people
041funding increase. Um, so the Arizona legislature has not finished their session. So in the past what they would do is uh essentially make the school districts wait until they had concluded their session and then they would release the budget forms. There is a statutory law that says that we have to have our adopted budget by July 15th. So what that used to do is we would be having emergency board meetings on July 1st or June 30th to get the proposed budget approved so that we could do the adopted budget within the time period that we have to do by statute. Thankfully through um lots of the alphabet groups which Dr. right and I are both part of um and lobbying groups. We have convinced the AG's office as a collective that they just need to
042give us draft forms with the amount that we were funded for this year so that we can at least get our proposed budgets out when the legislature closes eventually. You will revise the budget after that. It always goes up. So you will revise up. So this budget that I'm going to propose tonight is like barebones budget so that we can meet the statutory requirements of all of the timelines that we have to meet which are not negotiable. Um so what they do what the AG's office does is they just issue draft forms. So this budget's on draft forms. They're almost exactly the same as last year's forms. Nothing has changed in them because the legislature has not done their job yet and approved the budget for next year. Um, and we are on current year
043funding now, not prior year funding like we used to be. So, because we're on current year funding, um, we do have to wait until they approve their budget before we can move forward with our actual budget. So, there's a long drawn out history of why we're doing what we're doing. So, um, the amount per pupil is $5,13. That is for FY25. Like I said, that usually goes up in every year and it's about 2%. So, you can kind of think about like it's going to be about 2%. Our ADM um since I've been here um declined drastically when I first got here, but has leveled out. So, I just left the ADM as the same. And remember, that's not actual students in a seat. That is um our FTEES. So, not every kid has a
044full FTE um because of their schedule. Like in high school, some kids have a half FTV, our kindergarters are half FTE. That's why there's all those decimal points. Um because it's just a an average. Um and then I always estimate our carry forward as zero. The reason for that is that we don't we're not done paying our bills and we will not be done paying our bills until August 30th. So it's hard to estimate what the carry forward is. And so it's better to um estimate low on your proposed budget and then you will revise in December. Courtney will give you a revised budget in September. It will have the carry forward on it. It'll be on the new forms and it'll have all of the new things that the legislature has approved during this
045session, including the new amount per pupil. So, that's why we have such a decrease um from our FY25 budget to our FY26 budget because we don't have the um new number for the per student. We don't have our carry forward in there and we do not have any of the other extras that they will probably add like prop 123 to um this year's budget. So this like I said a bare bones budget. I also did not move our capital um over this year for this budget. If you guys decide you want to do that, Courtney can do that either in December or in May. Um depending on where you're at. Um you can make that decision then if you want to move how much capital you want to move over to ML. this completely legal.
046You can do it. Um we did it la we've done it the last year, two years we moved our capital over. So you just have to make that decision on your capital needs and um how much you need in M um to make it through. I predict the carry forward to be about 1.2 million just an kind of estimate at this point. I'm very conservative so that's kind of a low ball. Um our eminent our impact aid is going down. The reason our impact aid is going down is because we have less students that live on the White Mountain Apache Reservation. So impact aid is for Native Americans that live on federal land. Since we have less of those students, that's why that number is going down. We are in a hold harmless situation at
047the moment because we have declining enrollment of our Native American students. Eventually, that will decrease drastically. We have another year um where we're at hold harmless. Their hold harmless is at 85%. as that goes down, um that will go down. That number will go down as well. Um so that's something that you'll need to plan for. Um all of our other funds, whoops, like all of our other funds just um for education purposes, that's all our grants and um some things like that um that are just like random like forest fees and things like that. They're pretty much staying the same. There's a big argument about forest fees right now. Um, I do think that the federal government's going to get it worked out. Kind of this happens when you have a new administration. Um,
048doesn't matter what party. Um, there's always things are in flux, but usually they get ironed out and then we get our money eventually. So, I wouldn't worry too much about that. Um, so there uh is an M decrease. Um, our enrollment is flat and I would I would say that it's going to continue to be flat. um flat meaning it's not decre it's not that it's not decreasing it's just not decreasing rapidly I do believe that eventually there will be a big difference in our enrollment declining and it that has to do with the type of people that are buying houses in this community and they're not families and they're not families with young kids and so they're second homes they're older people they don't bring kids to the district they buy up the property,
049the real estate, and then therefore we don't have kids in our district. I do think that it's going to go down more. Um, but I don't think it'll be a significant um like drop off, but it is going to go down more. Um, I like I said, I did not move any capital money to em um in this proposed budget. Again, um Courtney and Jonathan and you all can decide what you want to do um in December or and or May. You have until May to to revise it. So, um you can make those choices. um as as you know more information um our federal grants are pretty stable. I know you probably heard in the news about Tom Horn and about how we didn't get some we're not going to get some funding and
050things like that. Again, this is typical and it's just cyclical in my experience of almost 30 years like it works out its way out in the end. There's usually not sharp um withdrawals of funds. this thing at AD right now. I'm sure you heard on the news about how they're not going to fund some of our um equalization. We'll eventually get our money. We're solvent so we don't have to worry that we won't get our money like immediately. So, we have plenty of um cash that we will be fine until they get it worked out. We'll get our money eventually. Um okay, so we have a I talked about impact aid and that is um Native Americans that live on Native American land. Um, and that is a program that's just for um, students that
051come from federal land um, to a public school. Um, it could be a military base as well. I know Mr. Grace when he taught in Texas um, lived at lived in a district that got a lot of impact aid from military bases. So, just so you know, because impact aid is military and federal land, including reservations, it has a huge huge lobbying group. So it's very stable because of the people that the money is going towards. For instance, military bases. So I wouldn't worry too much about um that money fluctuating other than our declining enrollment. Um there were some minor um adjustments in title one. It was very minor. Some minor adjustments in um idea basic which is our sped grant but not anything significant. Um we are going to levy for adjacent ways. Uh
052Courtney will do a public hearing for adjacent ways at our next board meeting. Um that is called a truth and taxation hearing. Um and she'll talk more about the adjacent ways. One of the biggest projects that we need to do is we have got to get that bus loop in the back by the soccer field paved. So this is what this money is for. So this money is only for places where buses or fire trucks would go. So we have a project we need to get that the bus loop in the back pave. We can't keep it mud like that. Justin's here. He can probably tell you all the nightmare stories about that. We do need to get it paved. And we have um some drainage issues in our adjacent ways at the elementary school
053that need to be fixed as well. So, this money will go towards that. I don't know how familiar you all are with paving projects, but they're very expensive. So, this will not get you through those two projects. But, um this is the max that we can levy for that. And we do really need to get those projects done, especially the drainage project, paving project at the elementary school because of the condition of the foundation at the elementary school. It's important. Lauren Lauren can run the the Lauren can run the backho. Yeah, we did levy for adjacent ways in this fiscal year. I we have some new board members that um helped pay for part of the roundabout at um the rec the redoing of the roundabout at the elementary school and the new um crosswalks
054and things like that. So it pays for any of those ways that um a firetruck or a bus would go on. All right. And you can see um even though we are levying for um adjacent ways, our tax rate is going to go down. You can see I have a history of our tax rate here in Blige. It's fairly stable. Part of the reason why it goes up is when you go out for a bond, then your tax rate goes up. So, our bonds are are phasing down and so that's why our tax rates going down. All right. So, here's the steps. So, tonight's the proposed budget. What will happen is uh we will get the adopt we will get the proposed budget um posted. Um we will get the hearing notice posted. Um, so
055and we will get the truth and taxation hearing posted as well. When you come back in July, you will need to have a meeting for truth and taxation. Then you'll have to have another meeting for a public hearing for the budget. Um, and then on the agenda, you will adopt the budget. It nothing legally can change from the document that I provided you tonight between now and July 8th. If you want to revise the budget after July 8th, you're more than welcome to revise it as many times as you would like. But because it's open to the public and posted for the public for the next month, nothing can change. And like I said, if you want to change it, you can change it after. Um, you just can't change it between now and then.
056Um, and then that's just so that there's transparency for the public to see what's on the budget. I will say this, these forms that you're looking at, I know it says budget, but it's really just a formula that AD gives us. And I know there's all kinds of spreadsheets, pages that we have to fill out and work on, but the bottom line is is that it's essentially a formula from the Arizona Department of Education. And the numbers on the front are the numbers on the front unless you have a change in enrollment or they change the funding per student or if you move money around from capital to M. And when you add your carry forward, the whole meat of what's inside the budget um can be talked about or or moved around, but essentially
057it is what it is. Um and then the the fine-tuning of the budget can be the actual budget can be done um inside it. All right. Are there any questions? Do we already have a quote for that paving project and things like that? No, Roger's working on that with the paving company. Um, he we'll probably use Sunland. That's who we normally use. Um, we don't have a lot of companies that want to come up here. So, it's kind of just the what it is. He should have a quote by the time you have your public hearing so that Courtney will have that information. Okay. And are there are there requirements that these companies have to have gone through to in order to do a project for a school. Yes. Every company that does any kind
058of capital project for a school has requirements that they have to go through and meet um that are school specific. Yeah. And that's why there's not very many com that that's part of the that's not really a problem. Part of the rub is that they've got to meet all these qualifications to do work at a school district. So it limits the pool of people that are willing to come work at a school district. Thank you, Courtney. So, we need to u if there's no further questions, we need to u a motion to accept the budget as presented for year for 2026. Motion second. Second by Bridget. All in favor? I. Thank you so much. Thank you. We're going to miss you as you're walking around the world. You might want to come back and work
059after that. I'll be exhausted. Right. All right. Next item on the agenda is 3.2. Recommendation to approve the housing units ground lease agreement. Dr. R. I'm going to turn the time over to you and and whoever you have here to help. Yes. Allison has a presentation I believe she'd like to make. And I just wanted to add a thank you for Allison almost eight years of dedication on this project. She's been working on some version of getting the funding and organization put together to run this project and just does not take no for an answer. I think this is about the third or fourth iteration and it finally came to fruition because simply she is persistent and she had a vision and would not let it go. So, it's been a joy working with Allison
060and others to make this happen. These units are something that's going to set us apart. So, the principles ought to be buying her a drink and a and a dinner because it's going to be easier to hire when you have housing from kids right out of college. Allison, I just wanted to thank you for your efforts for everything. Thank you, Dr. Marks. Um, uh, President, uh, board members, Dr. Marks, staff, um, it's it's just a honor to be here. I'm graduated class of 98. So, this is my community, my school. Um, I'm Some of you guys know the Antony's. I'm the oldest of the Antonies. So, some of you might have had Jeff or Johnny or Ashlin or Adrien. Um, and it's just it's a privilege to give back to the community that gave me
061so much. Uh, so, um, I am going to have Scott, our developer, come up and give this presentation, but before we go there, it has been a long time that we've been working on this. And if it wasn't for um everybody you're honoring tonight, including two others, uh they had such an impact on making this happen. It was it's a crazy idea. And from the beginning, Dr. Wright's like, "How do we do this?" And Mary's like, "Yep, let's figure this out." And Kim, the same with the finances and like, "How do we do this? What can we do?" Bosley's been a huge help. Lauren actually took us around and showed us areas and and so it's the incredible team that you've had here. Um is the reason it's coming here, the work that we've been
062able to do, how uh they impressed the uh our partners. We have partners across the state that are part of this that said, "Yeah, when we showed up at Blige, you guys had the town there and you had the whole the whole group at Blige there." And they're like, "We don't see this in metro areas. We don't see the involvement, the engagement, and the support." And so that's just something to really be proud of. And it's been able to allow uh my team, my partners the ability to do this work. And and when we got the funding, it was just like, wow. Dr. Wright was one of the first people I called and I was just like, you're never going to guess what we can finally move this forward. So it was just a pretty
063awesome time. Um it also wouldn't happen without um the developer here, um Scott Vulk. uh his brother Kevin Bulk uh had this idea a while back and we connected on it and it just seemed like it fit. You have incredible individuals in the school that are retiring tonight and they're leaving. You have to find a way to bring incredible people back in and this is a great way to increase our teachers in our community and have them stay in our community. So with that, I'm going to hand it over to my BFF now, Scott, and he's going to take you through this presentation. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you, Allison. um didn't know I was going to start off today by just being humbled by the the speeches you all have received before, but obviously very
064very privileged to be in this opportunity to to help the team help us provide this project. Um so essentially what we're looking to do is taking school land in in Arizona, convert it into teacher housing. So being able to leverage existing land that we have and the team has as a community and provide that for affordable teacher housing in in the future. One of the things Allison has done a phenomenal job on that she briefly passed over is everything she has done to go out and get the funding through organizations through foundations to provide us the opportunity to go out and create this. This doesn't exist without the work Allison has done, working with other companies, communities, organizations to get it done. So, thank you. Um, essentially what we're doing is taking a plot of
065land off of Penrad owned by Blue Ridge School District and parceling out a portion of that for tiny homes for for teachers. So, instead of providing more of a apartment complex, we felt it was important that each teacher gets their own unit. So this is just an initial concept that we first started doing. Um we had great partners with vitalist helping us get some initial funding to start doing some renderings, look at what we can do with the site, start doing some massing on on what goes where. Um but ultimately looking at eight tiny home units for for the teachers and am I talking to the right should I be am I talking to both people like you told me? I don't know about turning a bunch of circles. Yeah. Um but again looking to
066have covered part um a nice outdoor deck. The units are what we're doing is we're taking shipping containers manufacturing them into housing. Each unit has a full bathroom, kitchen, living room and bedroom area. So trying to make them as as comfortable as possible. Um this is a little bit more developed overview of what the site looks like. So these are the final civil drawings that we're having and moving forward with. Um, again, dedicated parking, dedicated unit for each teacher, privacy fence in between, so everyone has their nice little area they can relax. One of the nice things about this property, it is southern facing, so in the winter there's a little bit of of solar gains just from the the sun, and in the summer it stays a little cooler. Um, I don't know if
067you have been any of you that have been to the property, but it's it's pretty good views outside. So, it's going to be a pretty awesome area, especially in the summertime to enjoy and relax outside after work. Um, just high level kind of renderings of of how we we see this looking. Um, opening it up to the teachers to to kind of put their own touch as as far as how they want it to look inside. Um, again, kitchen, bath, trying to make it as as comfortable as possible. One of the things that that we changed here in the in the latest iteration is we had showers, right? It is a tiny home. It is somewhat constrained on space. Um, but we were looking at things and we actually had opportunity to put a bathtub
068in. So, kind of like the idea of PP a little help a little more relaxing after work. Um, this is the initial kind of concept drawings just some init um ideas of how it could look and then as things developed been able to build it out kind of provide something more. Again, this is all renderings. renderings always look a little bit cooler than it does in real life, but we're hoping to match this as much as we can. And that's that's kind of what we're looking doing. Are you thinking about about 400 square feet or less? 320. Yeah, 320. Any questions? Will they be constructed with a low maintenance so maintenance won't be a huge issue in the future? Absolutely. A lot of the materials we're looking to use, a lot of appliances we're looking
069to use aren't some one-off bespoke product, but kind of more funible, something you can get at Home Depot if there are any issues. So, the intention is to try to keep it as low maintenance, as kind of simple to perform maintenance on if if anything goes wrong. So, it won't have to be painted every year, new roofs put on it every five years and stuff like that. No, absolutely not. Cool. And that's to to us one of the things we really like about the shipping container, right? I mean, it's it's based on with the C10 steel and the overall construction. I mean, these these are outside in saltwater on the seas for 20 years being picked up, put down, slamming against each other. It's a very robust structure, which is one of the reasons we
070like to use it as kind of our foundation for the tiny home. Is there any um because obviously those are kind of like for a single person. Is there any thought of of maybe putting two units together like if a couple came up or something like that? Is that a possibility? Right now with the design baked, it is just based on single single occupants or a single couple. Okay. May I add um Mr. Grenell, we do have three family units now, right? And so that was our idea to take the existing ones that we've converted and make four family units. So we have eight single and then four family units. Thank you. Great question. Yeah, I think it's an awesome cont concept and u should attract some highly qualified people. It's it's going to be
071great stepping right into the education process. Any other questions, comments? Do do we have a a program in place, Dr. Wright, for how we will make those available to teachers? I'm assuming it's going to be a discounted if there's rent. I mean, how are we working that into it? Yeah, the the numbers are going to be we're going to make it as favorable as we can, meaning just a nominal fee for them the first year and then um the it'll be up to the new administration to figure out how they want to execute that and what the second and third years look like. Typically, there's a staging and you know, you're guaranteed housing for two or three years at a certain rate and then availability after that. So, I think there's there's still work to
072be done on some of the practices of how you want to roll that out, but hey, when when these get done, I think you'll have actually 14 units, which is really pretty cool. Um, but those are some things the administration will need to to work out in advance. So reviewing the lease agreement, it was between the the Blige School District and Sik Greavves sit who's going to be doing the leases for the teachers. Who's in who who is that going to be doing? It goes through us. We will have a standard lease that we'll have them complete and it'll be an agreement between the teacher and the school district. Okay. I I would also add that this lease has been vetted by our legal with a fine tooth comb several times. So, it's we've got
073it we've got the district protected, the taxpayer protected, and the tenants are all protected as well. So, how many times have you had your hopes up, Allison, and then had them dashed? Hundreds. Hundreds. It's like a salesman, you know, you have to go around, you have to ask, you know, hundred thousand people and then eventually you get those yeses. Um the the it's the the money part is the hard part. The community part because of who we are in our community and being rural, I mean, we have each other. That's never an issue. Um when we did this project, we were working between two school districts and um uh because of Dr. right and his team. Um it really things started to favor Blige and so we really turned things and focused our attention um
074solely on Blige. It just the barriers were eliminated um very much by um the partnership that we have here. And so it's just it's meant to be. And what this is going to do for Blige, it's gonna it's going to lead by example. It's going to show other school districts what's possible, what's capable. And I think that's pretty neat. I think it's a great positive idea and I'm I'm glad it's gonna What is the end date on this? When when will it actually start construction? Right now the the end date is end of October. We're trying to beat that and bring that in as much as possible. Make these available as soon as possible. So we got to actually put teachers in it this year ideally possibility. The grant says the 31st. So, um, the
075existing building, the old love kitchen, the old bus barn, whatever it used to be, nothing's going to change with that right now. Not right now. Again, going back to the money, we have um we have a lot of I do a lot of grant writing and a lot of partnerships. And because the town has been such a great partnership, we just um submitted a grant to to Hod Odum Tribe. They they um put out a grant 12% a 12% grant of what they get from the casinos back out into the communities. Um it there's a lot in this work and in what I've been able to do is it takes advocates and so people have advocated for the pro like because of teacher housing and people hearing about it and the people that we knew
076they advocated for us to get funded by a different foundation and some other funding out there. And then the same with the teacher housing, people are just talking about it and talking or I'm sorry, the child development center, people are talking about it. And so a friend of ours with the children alliance uh connected me to someone from the tribe and said, "Try to apply for this." And so we got with the town. The town said that they would put $750,000 in their budget. Now, that's half of the cost of the child development center that we're working on, but we already have the renderings. We have everything. We just need the dang money. Um, so that's the hardest thing. And and one thing that, you know, doesn't stop is we just don't give up because
077it's going to be there eventually. And, um, it's all about being flexible. If it, you know, if anytime something changes, we figure out how to do it. And I I know Dr. Wright and I have had these conversations a lot, but there's the three nos. No, not that way. No, not with you, and no, not at this time. And so it's just a no not at this time, but we have ev that as soon as we do get the funding and we have some we have another grant in July hopefully coming up with the state that can cover the rest of that funding if we get it from Dakota. Um hopefully that will happen here in the next year. I'm just you got to be positive. Put it out there, you know, those affirmations. Yes,
078we're going to get 1.5 to get that done and put the programs in and make it happen. That's the goal. And so hopefully um that will happen. appreciate your presentation. Appreciate your diligence and work. Uh it shows that you have roots here and you care. Uh or it wouldn't be here. Thank you very much. Anything else you'd like to say? Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you board. Is there any questions or So next item we next thing we need to do is a vote on item 3.2 as it's been presented to us. We have a motion to uh to accept item 3.2 as written. I'll move a motion. Second from Bridget. All in favor? I. All right. That that is that's complete. Next item on the agenda is call to the public.
079We'd like to invite anybody that would like to address the board at this time to come forward. State your name. Um give us a little presentation while you were here. We'd like to limit your comments to about three minutes. um can't see that to anybody else. And uh if anybody'd like to do that at this time, you're welcome to grab a mic and come up here and address the board. We can't act on it. We can suggest the staff maybe look into it, but um going once, going twice, three times. Thank you. Okay, the next thing uh we will have our u regularly scheduled board meeting on July 8th at 5:00 pm at this and I do believe we'll probably have a hearing before that shortly before that on the budget for to its approval
080next month. Um we'd like to invite everybody to stay. We're going to have a little celebration. We've got some punch and cookies and stuff that uh have been pre pro provided for us to celebrate Dr. right and uh Lauren and Kimberly um for the efforts that they've given us. We can stay and rub shoulders with them for a little bit little just a little bit longer. So um what I need now is a motion to adjurnn. Have a motion from Michael, a second from Bridget. All in favor? We are adjourned. Thank you. This meeting is officially adjourned.