001We will call the meeting to order here at 8:04 a.m. for the school committee finance and committee. Um, and we want to start with the B discussion schools. Great. Pull that up. >> So, while you're pulling that up, I want to thank Martha for uh coming early into the group about her summer rate increase uh that we support and you all supported and voted. Uh, this is for the uh traditional school year community before and after school program. want to thank Amy for meeting and supporting Martha around this presentation and this work and um all the good feedback that uh Martha got at her presentation of just the state of the state of the after school program at the school committee January which was a great news story continue to make some good work. So
002thank you very much. I'm just going to add to that too um just as to provide a little more context around that community schools program as it relates to the finances. So community schools um operates as a self- sustaining program of the Milton public schools. So they um have their own revolving fund. They do not they're not funded through the school's operating budget. Um and so the revenue received into the revolving fund um should completely offset all of the expenses tied to running the program. And so that's um any of the material expenses, curriculum expenses, overhead, and the personnel expenses related to the program. Um very recently um over the past several years in an effort to increase the um number of students that we could accommodate for the program um there was a very
003concerted effort to increase the number of staff. Um, and in order to do so, um, there was also a fairly significant increase to the wages or the salary scale that we pay the community schools workers. And I think that that's all to me that was all tied together and happened at a very similar time. So, we increased the pay so that we could increase hiring so that we could increase um the number of students that we were able to accommodate because we currently operate with a weight list at some of our locations. And so as a result of that um although we over the period of several years had a um s significant surplus in the revolving account that started to really um reduce what that surplus is and at this point in the current
004fiscal year we're operating in a deficit just in the current year. We do still have surplus funds in that revolving account that we're depending on to cover that deficit position. Um, but that is just something that we're very mindful of and that we need to address this year and in future years so we can make sure that the program continues to remain self- sustaining. So that's just more context around recent history kind of the program and some of the changes and how it's in impacted the budget. And then that is just all really important um considerations that Martha and I talk about when we're looking at the fee and the fee proposals for next year. And the just to clarify, the revolving account is um funded by or spent down based on the profitability of
005the program, >> right? >> Okay. There's no other ins or outs. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Yes. And um so we we when we're looking at the tuition fees for the upcoming school year, when do you feel more we structure rather than increasing um for the longest time our um tuition fees have been um way under in compared to many similar programs. So um actually if you pull the first um table um that shows uh I I did this comparison as of December of of uh 2025 uh and these are similar school um based programs and couple of nonprofit programs um comparisons. If you look at that green um line, that's breaking it down by the hour and um taking into account the duration of each program as well. Um so we we've been at the
006last few years at $5 an hour for a while now. This year we're at 683. Um you can see the nonprofit programs at the most expensive is um Belmont. Um it's a nonprofit before and after school pro actually after school program run before school uh 1206. Uh so we um that's for the after school program and then the early school program which is the second um table is even lower um than the after school as well. Then there's other fees associated with um the program. So we uh on early dismissal days um there's no regular after school program. We run a a program from 12 to 5. That's typically a 25 um dollars a day per per child. Uh we also offer for ACE and ESAP programs a 30% discount for siblings that many other
007programs don't. Um, this actually used to be as of three, four years ago, 50% discount. Um, and also we just started charging a registration fee as of last year, but most programs charge over $25 $30 per child um for registration fees. um in our school vacation camp program which is the last um chart is also currently that the vacation school programs because those are full day programs. They've been um closer to other in comparison to other um schools and other districts. But it's it's a big disparity if you look at what early school we're charging currently an hour and after school compared to um the vacation camps. >> Yes. >> Clarify question on the data in the before and after school tables are the hourly rates based on actual hours that they are open that
008each program is open or you just dividing by? >> No, they have it's >> different based on >> they by by the hours. Yes. >> Yes. And I have that information in a separate rule sheet. >> Okay. No, it's fine. I was just noticing variation in >> Yes. >> Yeah. Okay. >> There's programs that start at 2:30. >> Yeah. >> So, and close at 5. So, I put that into account to break it down to hourly rates. >> There's this note in the top right that seems a little bit cut off, but I sort of that essentially. >> Okay. All right. So that's just a kind of like a broad comparison and and many of these programs are school-based and they we run very similar um to what what we do here in so in
009the next uh page can I just see yes >> um the also the for the comparisons that's the rate that they're charging this year correct yes and so I think as we look at it and as we compare it I think It's fair to make the assumption that those rates will increase next year. And so it's apples to apples. If you look at our current and the other communities currents, if you look at what we're proposing, which is in many instances still lower, um we're we would be comparing next year's to this year. So just >> and how um I'm not asking you to I don't know this question could be interpreted as weird but like you have you have developed a very high quality program you spent time in school they talked about how
010does the quality compare across these programs like are most of these schools districts also running programs of the same quality that you are or is there more variation >> is there is a variation Yes. Yes. >> So, just to just to drive the point home, currently Milton charges in the let's just call it round it up in the bottom 20th percentile of rates, maybe lower, but we're probably in the top 20th percentile of quality. >> Absolutely. >> Yes. So, just to kind of give you a a little bit of history of what we've um or tition fees, what they've been since 2008. Um and you as you can see, they haven't really increased much since then. Um that's and this is just assuming after school for attending u 5 days a week. Um let's see
011at the top the increases um that we proposed every every year and there were some years um like in 2020 20 in 2425 where we didn't increase any fees because of the surplus that we we were um carrying over. Um and then obviously the last column is what we are asking and proposing um for the upcoming school year for these different programs. So that will be for after school, early school. Um we already talked about the summer programs. Um and thank you for um supporting that proposal and that is already in place. Um the summer camp and the extended day for the summer camp. Um, and so I'm also asking for the vacation program um to be fairly close to what we currently charge as in for the summer. It runs very similar, runs the
012same hours, um, it's full day program um, similar qual same quality um, curriculum staff and whatnot. So, it just makes sense for us to bring the vacation camps um up to what what the summer camp looks like. >> And also, we want um we're not even at $10 a year yet. So this is um obviously with we're going to continue reval re evaluating and and assessing um throughout the year where we are for the following year. So, our goal is to um get to at least $10 an hour by the the 27 28th year and hopefully with with that we can find a right balance so we can sustain um our program and long term and and as you mentioned the quality and what we currently offer. I also want to say we we're currently
013not operating at of um we are operating at full capacity in terms of students but with with staff we're currently still always looking for staff. So we're not necessarily like fully staffed at this point. >> I just comment I'm glad that you have that um >> that statement at the bottom of that page >> to just show uh the families in the community and school community that this is this is our goal that we're looking towards. this is I think it's going to be the right sizing of the fee uh for the organization to be um able to meet its needs moving forward. So just showing that now and getting people ready for it instead of not talking about it and then trying to land somewhere down the road we just let you know where
014we'd like to land and how we're incrementally trying to get there. I think it shows that we're being thoughtful and strategic and proactive with the communication. So thank you And no, obviously these were not numbers that we just kind of pull out of a hat. Um Katie and I did a lot of work on this um projections. Um so showing a little bit of history for the past three years of what our revenues have been, what our payroll costs um have been and other costs. um the overhead which you know in 23 24 um it it was more than what normally what we um we contribute to. >> Um so and and that was also in a way um it it really affected the way that we were running the program in covering the cost
015in covering salaries. Um so that that's also as a result of depleting that surplus. Um so this is our current projection uh with an overhead of 150,000. Um that will still bring us with a surplus of 300 uh about $300,000 for the next school year. Um and then in the next year we'll be talking about only like a $100,000 as a surplus carrying forward which is um K and I talked about three three months. Is that what you you told me? Three months that that's what we need to >> to make the program sustainable and to be um in a safe spot. Um that's any not anywhere near the 3 months um operational cost that we will need to be uh to have in in our account carryover every year. >> Any in what what
016is your comfort level with what you would like the surplus carry over for to be? I know the three month nonprofit kind of uh thinking is there three three months worth of expenses but is there is there anything do you want to do we want to target something more than that is that sufficient what is the comfort level um for both of both Katie and M on that >> I actually have that here uh in the spreadsheet so um based on on these projections we were looking at a 650 50,000. >> Okay. >> Surplus. >> That's the target balance or the target surplus >> the the surplus. >> So, but on a year-to-year basis, what do we feel comfortable with? I think you were thinking about not a we don't want 600 and then another
017600 to 1.2. Are we saying that we always carry or what's about a $600,000 balance in that account? >> Not not adding to it to make a 1.2. >> Correct. Yes. That was your question. And so that that's definitely a part of the process trying to figure out what are the correct fees to charge that we could charge that we would be at that break even point >> and then or right now seeing that we're not quite at that break even and we don't necessarily feel comfortable with what the surplus is. It's what do the fees have to be so that we're actually operating at a surplus so that we can make sure that that carry forward is at an appropriate level. And then we'd be able to look at what the increases, the fee
018increase year-over-year so that we're just operating at that break even point. >> And uh not to be too not to simplify this, but that's exactly what our families deserve. They deserve a rate that's uh low enough that we can run the organization and have a carry forward balance to ensure that we can run it responsibly and be strategic but not run it so much that we have a $2 million >> um car right it's always that balance for so thank you for explaining that >> yeah and also I want to say that um the previous surplus that we were carrying was is was a result of again not being fully staffed Um certainly two years ago the increase in salaries really helped um to recruit staff. >> Um but that was the result of what
019that surplus was. >> How many years does it take to get to a $600,000 balance? you know, >> um it pro it's going to have to be a multi-year process, I would say, just because >> um the increase this year or the increase that we're proposing next year is pretty significant. Um so, it's going to have to be a 3 to 5 year. I just don't think that it's um I'm thinking about like the families and the families are the ones that are actually incurring this cost. Even thinking about the families cuz the different pieces that we're proposing families that may have more than one student. Um I just don't think it would be reasonable to try to do it in one year. >> Yeah, totally. I was just I was wondering like I assume
020we will consider fee increases in 27 28. >> Yes. >> 20 like I I would I think we should just do a every single year that's modest match that matches. Yeah. Exactly. >> Mhm. >> Um Milton Community Schools is a nonprofit. >> Yes. Well, it is under Milton public school. Yes. Yes. >> Okay. It doesn't Okay. Um I was wondering about just other potential revenue sources like yes early childhood vouchers or if those are if you are eligible for those. >> Yes. Um we we actually were a part of the program in uh up until 20 2018 and then um made a lot of changes in um that unfortunately we weren't able to um meet. We are not we're licensed exempt program because we operate under Milton public schools. >> Okay. >> Um I've been
021looking at different um ways to fund the program and uh running grants and different things but it's still nowhere near what we really need to support the program. Um the voucher program um there's really not that many families uh with vouchers currently. So we do offer currently a tuition assistance that lines up with the EC um bachelor program. This exactly what they offer is what we currently offer. So any fees and which um so any anything that we charge uh related to the program such as uh late pickups uh no call fees um or um families are late paying their their bills, registration fees, all of that goes towards the tuition assistance. And we we plan on continuing that because we know it is a significant increase that we're asking for that would would affect
022some of the families. So we want to make sure that we continue supporting the tuition assistance and and funding that uh mainly we also work very closely with the residence funds. uh we are able to certain percentage and then they support families with additional um what >> the the other regular phone is just to be aware of uh conversations we've had we in this budget cycle for FY207 have um pulled out our service folks uh and then h are having them fund their um insurance. >> Mhm. >> And it was the uh the the community schools were part of that discussion. We said that we could not do that at this time because the revenue was not matching the expenses and need to have the the program get on their feet. So, as we look
023down the road of maybe adding a little bit to our tuition each year and to make sure we have that balance, we may also need to consider at some point in time when the town comes back and says there might be seven people, maybe eight max that are on insurance, it's not that many, but if they do ask for that cost to be absorbed by that by the community schools, we'd have to price that out in the future years to find out how we do with that. in and um so so just just just to say that future years. >> Yeah. >> And um another thing to mention is that we're um we were we started working on this very early um or actually last over last summer. Um so we were looking already at
024this current year where we could reduce cost. So in the past one example is that we used to bring seasonal staff. So students in college will come back on their breaks and then we'll hire them back for after school during their breaks. Uh we we can do that this year. Um our high school students will normally we have high numbers right now. We're not planning on hire additional um what we call CITs, counselors and trainings um because they're not currently in ratio. So we're really focusing on group leaders which are adults over 18 with experience. So there's different things that we we have been doing. Um and we work with third party vendors in up to last year we had about 10 different vendors and we cut down we're now three. Um and we're passing
025on that cost to families. before we were able to subsidize the the cost and basically charge like $5 a class to families. But now, you know, we we decided that that's no longer sustainable. So, we passed on that cost to the families directly, but we we're still able to offer some those extra curriculum extracurricular classes. Um, and then for the summer program as well, we're we're trying to reduce cost whatever is is possible. So this is in basically in summary what our recommendations are to will be to bring the afterchool program the ACE program at 8.87 per hour for the upcoming school year. Um the early school program bring it to 683 an hour. um the early dismissal from 25 to 3250 per child. And again, this this covers from school dismissal until 5:00 on
026half days, which I believe there's only two now in the upcoming school year. >> Mhm. >> Is that right? Um >> conference. Yeah, there's two. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um we're asking to change the sibling discount from 30 to 20%. Um our registration fee currently is per family. We're asking that it's um per child per year. So then this these fees go again um towards the tuition assistance uh funding. Uh that our vacation camp uh rates align with the summer um recently approved rates at 1173 an hour. Um this is a conversation for another time, but um we've been operating at a loss for our December vacation programs. Uh so we are considering um suspending the program as of next year and still continue our February and April vacation camps. Um, in what I mentioned
027earlier about tuition assistance, continue income based tuition assistance for families qualifying for free and reduced lunch in the allocation of those uh associated program fees towards the this funding of the tition assistance. >> Um, thank you for that summary. Could I just add to the December pausing? Um, it should be really noted that the the enrollment is down. Not many people are taking advantage of it because of the way that the holiday may fall or people go away. Uh people are with family, but that's the only week that the staff gets off all year. >> So they work the whole school year. They work the vacations. They do a summer program. >> So it's really challenging. I I really want to support your staff >> in saying that if we have low enrollment in >>
028um it'd be a it would be a very big support to the staff to be able to have that be passed as well. Just the only time to be able to get us a couple days off which is usually only three days. >> It it normally is three days and even though we um the way we charge for the vacation k is a is a set um rate for the three or more days. Uh many families don't bring their children the three days. So we end up with >> you know like 10 kids or 15 kids and way more staff than moving and so that's that's why it's it's really difficult to maintain that the summer vacation program will and also just want to point out that um I've been um doing some research and
029I asked if uh all the programs if they run on December camp but none of them do. >> Yeah. Um, thank you very much. Um, couple well I guess first overall I knew we were not in a great place in terms of our fees. This is much more concerning than I think I realized in terms of just because these are obviously very large even 10% summer filter. These are waring that um and it's you're still predicting that we're going to be at a deficit next year even with that. Um and we're only shining an overhead of 150. >> Yeah. And yeah, you dropped that by $100,000. So that's uh obviously we know what happened in 23 24. So that's an outlier, but yeah, that's >> that's a concern. Um so it seems like in order
030to do this, in order to get them up to $10 next year or the following year, if we'd be saying the 2728 school year, that'd be another 13% increase. We did a 17% increase this year. We'd be doing a 30 to 50% increase next year. And well, I'll talk just about half because that's the biggest piece, but a 30% increase next year and then a another 13% increase. So just I mean I see why you're doing it because again this number is getting shell set very tight compared to where it was. Um but that is that's hard. That's gonna be a lot for families. Um, >> could could I ask it to show another can we show the screen where it shows what the actual families pay? >> So, uh, this one >> is that
031it shows just for the after school program. >> Yeah. >> So, it's $3,686 for the whole year of after school care. >> Yeah. >> 180 days of school. >> Correct. >> And so, that family is only paying $683 at home. Yeah. >> So I think so when we talk percentages versus the raw number of that that's where I feel more comfortable >> saying that the dollar value the dollar increase from 683 to 887 feels a lot more comfortable to me uh when we frame it in percentages. I think that that that sounds like oh my gosh and it is but I think um I think we're still in the reasonable space for sure. >> Yeah. I mean I think you you were showing the comparison to other districts we're in the reasonable space. You're showing
032that the final and the revenue can afford operate the way we are. So I I I get that. I'm not I'm not trying to argue against the increase. just but putting in perspective that is an extra you know grand per kid essentially that families are going to be spending on this um and they again happen that's on top of a pretty good increase that we did this year in order to try and start this process again I appreciate how y'all are not trying to solve problem all in one year this is a three-year kind of three year plus uh smoothing process of bringing our rates more in line with what they need to be to operate our program um and I don't I don't have a better solution Uh so I guess I'm just opining
033on the the concern real concern that I think some families will have. Um yeah, again extra 600 bucks 50% increase in that impact on early school stuff is is a lot. Um just a question on your projections um for the expense stuff. It seems like this is a assuming a 6% increase in payroll and other costs. Yes. Is >> there reason for the 6% um number? >> Yeah. So, uh normally um we our salaries align with the unit um let's get confused unit D the par professionals um table rate um and the nonHRS uh table rate. So we looked at what the um increase every year potential increase year every year plus the step in between that's around 6%. So it's it's a sort of like a round number. >> Um and that is also
034assuming assuming that we have the same number of kids enrolled in the program, the same number of staff. >> Um again not even with full fully staffed. Um but these are just like very general projections. Yeah. So you could say I assume are you doing a similar like you're taking all your currents down assuming they're coming back rolling them up. >> Correct. So we could anticipate with some churn as you said you'll add that maybe this number it's a conservative number in terms on the higher side. >> Obviously again even with that even if there's some savings here we're still protecting a deficit. So it's but there there's an ability where maybe that's a bit better. Um >> so yes and and it's it is really unfortunate what happened in 23 24 with this community
035schools um surplus because that was we were counting on that to to continue getting up to um what we're asking today but instead of doing it >> for five years >> like yes we we wanted to do it at a longer term but again obviously that really um really affected us um in 2013 just a random thought. We don't have to get into it today and it's not for the short term, but um if it's allowed, it could be worth considering establishing like a separate friends group or Milton Community Schools, like a nonprofit fundraising arm that would allow you to >> raise extra budgetary funds through whatever. Um, and I like that you're focused on the sustainable path of like living off living off what you bring in. Um, but that can help just I
036don't know if other programs do it, but that can help just smooth >> smooth out bumps. >> It won't bring in a lot of money, but it's it's it can sometimes be. Yes. Um, I guess my only other question um would be as as we think about reaching that $10 like threshold for after school and what was the threshold for early school >> is 10 as well. >> 10. So the goal would be to bring them both up to 10. >> And that's why we're asking for a bigger increase for early school this year um compared to after school. is a 50% basically. >> Gotcha. Um, is there a reason why you want to align those things? Is the cost of early school not because there's not as many obviously programmatic uh offerings in early
037school like the chess and the things you talked about with the after school. I would assume the cost of you running early school is just different than after school. >> It is also the enrollment is way lower than what after school is. Um it really our numbers went down. I've been I mentioned this before with the breakfast program um being free. Now the number of enrolled students is is much lower particular color in Cunningham. >> Um and also in order for us to f um staff the program in the morning, we have to really make it work. It's basically one hour. >> Yeah. >> And so we try to um employ pair professionals so they can arrive at seven or before 7 o'clock. Mhm. >> and help out in the program and we match their
038pair professional rates. So that's that's the reasoning behind that. >> Got helpful. Um if we are to so again I just did the calculation on after school. I'm not sure what pushing this up to $10 in FY28 uh would look like early school, but that's a you know 13% increase. of any discussion of smoothing this out a little like evening those 2% increases a bit more to say hey instead of going up to 88 87 I don't know what the median but it's 840 and then you go up so you do like a$160 jump and then another$160 jump or something like that like just where' you how'd you land on the 887 for next year? Yeah. So for the um it's it's a 30% for the 887 for the upcoming year and for the following
039year to to get to 10 1060 an hour is another 18% increase for the after school and for before school is much much bigger. So it's 50 now and 47% following year. >> Yeah. So, when we looked at the numbers, when we were trying to um when we were trying to calculate what we were going to propose for next year, we really were looking at what the fee would be for us to be able to break even, >> knowing that um because I think for me this is really the important >> Yeah. piece of looking at it uh looking at the program overall and what do we need to charge in order to be sustainable. And so when we first plugged in the numbers that we're presenting to you today, um that was the initial
040kind of break even piece, but then we had to factor in the overhead and that's why we're operating at a deficit position. And so I think because of that um and because I do worry about this is a this is a projection and it's a projection that I mean at the end of the year we could be at $100,000 if we have any swings in the expenses >> because the um what we pay our employees are somewhat tied to what other employees are paid. um >> we could be at a deficit and we just that's just um >> it's not as often for us because then that overhead piece like that overhead is us taking um expenses from the school operating budget and assigning it to community schools and so we would have to do
041the reverse um and I just don't know that uh that could be an option for us. >> Yeah. So, so when we're So, this is the the the the quasi perfect storm of we don't have the money to have the offset be any less than that because we've actually had the offset be more than that. So, we're we're taking a Milton public school hit. We're only going after 150 offset overhead to in order to try to make this work. >> Uh and we're also worried that we're even going to make it work with that reduction. So, this is also an FY27, FY28 conversation for for Katie and I in separate from the schools because >> we're not going to be able to lean into that and and create flexibility in our budget there. So, um
042so I would say the higher the better quite frankly >> and and it's and I and I say that with respect to the families. I say that because our rates are so below market and and I and if we were at the middle or the higher end of that I would be more uh cautious in saying something like that given that you know next year even with that 30% increase at 887 that's only this that's the third highest of all of those folks we have an 847 and 886 >> 78 yeah that's so >> we're the third lowest on that and and like everything in life we need to we need to meet the budgetary requirements that that they will not exist without that. >> We talked to um Martha and I do talk about
043um outside of the program, what other options do our families have, right? And I think that that is why um it's not the reason why we have demand for our programs because our programs are amazing. Um, but we also have demand for the programs because it's not like we have unlimited options of other programs that are operating in Milton that families can access. And so we do talk about, you know, what does the family truly need? Do they just need an hour after school because it's hard to get to the bus stop or get to pickup or do they truly need the 3 hours? Um, and just thinking about what are some of the al the alternatives that we can offer our families as Melton public schools knowing that this could be significant and could
044be potentially cost prohibitive for a family to want to sign up. And so knowing that we do have um the CAS program and some of the afterchool programs at the schools that could be an option for the families if they don't want to have to commit to a threehour um time period and after school. Um just like kind of trying to think of some of those what are the other options? what can we do as a district to say like we realize that this fee increase is significant. Look at some of these other options that we have maybe that works better for your family. Um >> and and those options allow maybe some of those folks to go from a one or two day a week uh person to going straight to the after school
045sponsor programs that are not um community schools. That would, you know, we hear feedback all the time to free up space for the people who need five days a week. >> Yeah. >> To make their family and their their work life work because we do have folks that do it in a way that's helpful to them but not necessary. And then we have folks that call and say, "I just need five days a week. We both work. We both get out of our house every day. We go somewhere." Uh we heard that a lot about the bus this year and we heard that about the um after school program. So, uh, there might be some, um, other pieces of this that flow in that that might be helpful to folks, but there's no YMCA. There's
046no other programming in the town that supports other folks, which concerns parents greatly. We we trying to think through that as well as >> when I was doing research on other districts, um, 90% of the programs have wages. We all have all your presentation. >> Yeah, this is very Thank you. >> Yeah, very helpful. >> Sorry. >> Do we need to take a vote to recommend it? Mr. Money. >> Um, possibly. Um, yeah. Um, question is when do we are we expecting to take a vote on the 11th? We have we have yeah we have m on the agenda for >> so we could um think about the morning schedule for the morning but so we might not you might we were going to talk about whether we if you can't no problem >> yeah
047um >> I think she she said she has the one she has to should not miss the conversation anyway. So, um there >> Yeah, you comfortable taking a vote today? >> Yeah, we want to wait. We can do that, too. >> Hi, Amanda. >> I'm so sorry. I don't I've never done that, so I apologize. >> It's no problem. Um we just finished uh going over the presentation on the fee schedule. Mhm. >> So, um and then we were wondering if we should vote today or wait till next week. We John has some scheduling conflicts with next Wednesday morning potentially. Um >> without them and still vote on it, but ideally we'd take a vote as a finance committee before it goes back to a full school committee next Wednesday night >> say we recommend
048this for the school committee or not. >> Right. Do you have a preference on what we vote? I don't I mean again I know I don't know if you'd like to kind of watch what you missed and so therefore ask questions so I would certainly want to defer to give you the opportunity to >> be involved in the conversation prior to a vote. >> Yes, I I would love that if I could and I'm I'm so sorry that I just probably messed that up. But if if we could meet um to vote as the subcommittee on Wednesday morning if that still worked or does >> Yeah, we'll talk about I think on another further down the talk about the meeting next week just to see if we can move it to accommodate John or if
049we need to meet without him. But yeah, we'll both right now. We'll definitely take one next week regardless of course. >> Thank you Mark. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Be sure. Um, so, uh, other agenda items kind of under old business is the budget, um, process. just to give you all update on the timeline. We've talked about it a bit in terms of coordination over email. Um, but we have the confirmation of warrant committee meeting uh presentation to the full warrant committee uh not just subcommittee on the night of the 17th of March 7 p.m. as just to come in. We had a meeting last week if it weren't committee. It was um so had a meeting last week with their subcommittee to kind of go over burn budget stuff in
050a really two kind of follow-up questions and one document request. Um but otherwise seemed to be informed and that conversation kind of went well. Um and so next step is to come in front of them. We then also talked about trying to have a full school committee vote on the budget prior to that 17th. I think we're we've scheduled that the 16th. Um obviously have our 11th public budget forum >> committee and that night too we'll vote on fees. So may seem to be some of the pieces that are falling into place leading up to kind of final budget approval and then presentation warrant committee to get on the town more and then you were working with the PTO to see we're obviously in a tight uh time but as we talked about the last
051meeting if possible we'll see if we can have some type conversation presentation with families through PTO's um yeah obviously not sure but then follow PTO persons will be meeting with me on Monday afternoon. >> Okay. >> Any other >> When was that, John? When did you say you're meeting with them? >> Monday afternoon. I think it's at noon here in the >> Great. Um any other kind of timeline pieces we talk through? Not then maybe I'll jump back to the um other document you uploaded uh in the folder J Kitty which was the budget detail document. Is there anything to this is the document I think the warrant may had asked for. Um so we talked about obviously wanting to be able to share that to school committee members. Uh is there any kind of
052overview framing you want to talk through with that document? Sure. I can just quickly um so the line level detail just shows every single budget line um that's held within Milton public schools operating budget. The document has information on um fiscal year 25 actual expenditures. You can see the original fiscal year 26 um budget proposal. um some information on the FTE which is the full time equivalency for our staff. Um then the FY26 adjusted budget. So as you all know through the summer we go through the budget reccast process. So just kind of looking at previous year's actual expenditures and making adjustments as needed and that information is presented to you all in the quarterly report. So adjusted budget um is also reflected in the document. There's also information about revenue offsets. Um so the
053revenue offsets again are um any of the fees that we may charge that we use to offset the overall expenditure um from the operating budget. Some of the grants that we receive either state or federal grants. we have um special education grants and some teaching and learning grants um and uh the circuit breaker funding as well. So that information is in the revenue offset column and then you can see then um net net budget information in the net budget that total number is what we um request for funding from Mettown. And so that information is provided to you from both fiscal year 26 as well as fiscal year 27. Um and then there are just some notes that are just you know if there's questions the notes are always in an effort to kind of
054answer some questions that may come up for the individual budget lines. Um so that's kind of more information on like the formatting and the content of the document. I think I also attached a summary of the revenue offsets um in a separate document that should be attached so you can see what the utilization was for 26 and what the proposed utilization is for 27. This document um was created based off of the budget um that we had proposed on I believe that was February 10th and that was previous to increasing the circuit breaker utilization. Um so that's one piece that I wanted to note that we have had follow-up conversations on increasing that FY27 number for the special education circuit breaker reimbursement from the 2.6 six to the $3 million. And so the impact in
055the in that first document, a line level document, um I don't believe the the impact won't be to that to the total number. We're still targeting that 3.7% increase. The impact is just going to be how we readjust that within the line items that are contained within. And so, um, I think we've made some other proposals in adding back the BCPA positions and, um, reinstating the director of equity, inclusion, and belonging to, um, full-time again. And so, um, some of those changes um, are still not reflected in this document because it this document is based off of that February 10th kind of proposal. Will you be updating this document near future? >> Yep. So, I can update that and resend it, re-share it if that's helpful. Um, but again, just keep in mind that um
056it's not going to it won't change another bottom line of my workplace. We are still at that 3.7% increase. just kind of again. So I >> Yeah, I think if you could um just to avoid >> Yes. >> confusion and especially the war committee for passing this on. This is something they've talked a lot about. >> Yeah, please. >> And some other things. >> How Oh, sorry. How is the table sorted? >> Um it is that's a great question. I believe it's sorted by the account number, but I I I would have to double check. Yeah. >> Would it be possible to sort it in some other way? um like either by like account type or by I don't know what the you know the net budget number or something like that just cuz right
057now it feels it's like random but it's sorted by some arbitrary number right >> so as you scroll through the lines you you know in one line you're looking at medical equipment next line you're looking at foster care transportation >> um so I maybe there's no good way to do that, but it's just it's just kind of hard to to read through it that way. >> Sure. So, how would you like me to >> Are these the columns available for sorting? >> Um, we can Yes. So, we could sort by So, I believe it's sorted by um >> the account and there's the account string. There's multiple segments to it. So there's probably like six or seven segments. I believe that this is sorted by the function area or functional area. >> Um but we
058can sort it by um like the desi object code which would be salaries and then general expenses. And that's kind of how um the quarterly report is more organized. So the quarterly report is all of this information taken at a level, right? because this is dense and this is a lot and I think that's where um you know this was shared pretty widely last year but it it's it's a so >> that's why I wonder if when when when so there's different depths that people go into the budget that this is the depth of a warrant committee line by line thing that that they that we always want to make sure we're presenting in a way to be very very clear um what we're doing but the cost center of that you do at the
059end of every quarter >> for the person who's in the middle might not be wanting to go all the way down that's that's organized in a way I think that walks itself through in a way that that might make uh it easier for folks to follow but that just you know I it's not my work to to organize so I don't know how that works but in my brain I always go right to the cost center one >> because that just all that information feeds up to that so that's the executive sum Right. Those when you said cost center, is that what you're talking about right there? >> So those are like the salaries or the first three and those are kind of lump together and then the general expenses are the last three and
060that's how the information again like with the quarterly reports we we report by the major cost centers and then under each cost center it's broken out by check those. I mean what would be I don't know that I don't know what the warrant committee so if this is verbal for that though but like how I think about it would be like I think about it almost likeation >> yeah that's the cost center >> okay so the cost center >> and then maybe object code with that cost center we could group by cost center and then sort by object code >> so it's the same format as the ly report. >> Okay. >> Which is how the original budget back in November was presented. >> Um that like original level service budget was presented in that
061format. So um I can put a sample of that into the folder and if that looks like something then that that kind of like makes more sense. Um >> I I tend to agree that makes sense to me. I don't know if that makes sense will make sense every war committee member of I guess a >> question for you just something I hope would be easier is can we just provide it as an Excel with these columns all this data you have here obviously and then those two extra columns and then they want to sort it by cost center they can sort by cost center they want sort by object code they can sort by object code but it just kind of takes off the need for you to have any kind of further work
062of sorting it based upon individualized status but yeah >> so I so I the whole um and I maybe this is what you're aiming at as well when try I think we have a couple of different u objectives that we're trying to do at the same time >> we want to make it as clear as possible >> we want to give people the ability to see things in a executive summary way and if they want to dig into the detail that they can connect the dot to the detail >> um in Um the so uh so so I agree with Dr. We want to let them have a document they can read on their own in their own pace in their own way to come up with the same conclusion that we are which is
063all this makes sense and this is the percentage etc. When we start to give folks the ability to to get into the spreadsheet then they're starting to look at it through different lenses and I want if that's helpful for them I want it to be helpful I just hope that it doesn't generate more questions and and I don't know what your experience has been with that. Um in so I'm open to any of that whatever works and I appreciate Mark you putting up that that up there as an option. So Katie does have to have a different flavor for everybody on the wing committee of trying to how do we provide this? I mean how does it make sense? How do we move it forward and if we let the spreadsheet go out for folks
064to be able to to organize in a way that makes sense for them that might just be the easiest way to I would defer to Katie for that. >> Yeah. My thought is just like you with one of the ways people might want to look at this is look at percent difference. What are the places where the percent difference r's increasing? So being able to to filter to see that clearly versus Katie making one where by that or again in like >> what's the biggest change between kind of maybe in a dollar amount or something like all all those things there are different ways in which you can kind of cut stuff up that the data is all here in a PDF. It's just a much more manual process that we would be requiring folks
065to kind of go through to to do that work. Um, so again, I don't think there's additional information. I just think the tool of the the Excel makes it so they hopefully they can answer some of the questions themselves versus I can't figure again I can't figure out the structure of this. I can't read and I don't know where what is going on here. I do think that again this this overall summary is very helpful. I think this is very helpful. Um I like the idea of the spreadsheet. I think it will certain questions. Do you think it will create any questions >> in um and also Katie when we think about this uh in the uh when we were able to move into FY26 or when you were we had projected budget that was
066then supported by an incredible override by the community and then when we had some vacancies we you you have the resets of the adjustments in Q1 and Q2 um And and then there was some uh were there any changes in any lines that were just kind of restructuring how the money is represented that might be confusing to folks like such and such is in this category now because it was easier to I think you had a couple of those as we went from Q1 to Q2 and I'm just not sure where how we want to codify that for folks to understand because I could see someone saying why is there a 36% increase in the budget line? um that UN B member was always you know we now we spread that UNB member across the
067four elementary schools or something like that there might be a couple of those that people when they do sort of the mark by what's the biggest difference and they might see a line we just want to be able to come up with what that answer was and why it's >> it's not a financial change it's more about how it's represented change >> how it's reported >> yeah and that might be what your notes are for and that might be carried notes you have a sense of how Jay is thinking of structuring the meeting next week and maybe have a chat with them. >> Yeah, >> I I assume I'm assuming it will be similar to kind of what we've done here, but uh it's a fair question. Double check with them. because this um just
068in terms of what he had previously shared or what he was envisioning of the subcommittee of the school of the war committee schools small working group kind of being the ones come and present this request for us for us to come and present which is not quite what think I've seen some other departments at this point um but uh fair question it's my rambling statement so I I can follow up with them this week just try and more clarity on what we are going to be doing versus what this sub members are going to be doing. My initial thought is like something similar with John with additional information that's maybe more monetarily focused on committee as they're March but also um add on the list which brings us a bit to the next budget um
069agenda item just I think for next week we should start looking through some draft slides and we should start compiling that like a draft presentation for one committee together over the next week um in order for this group to be able to talk next week about those slides be about 10 days and knowing what the warning bay wants be very helpful with that presentation. So uh point taken like >> in um to be a little bit proactive if this is more work then uh wildlife um do we do we have we already sent this doc to the war community now that we've seen it together do we want to send it to them um in order to have them uh would it be helpful for us to give them any information in advance so if
070there's any questions about what they're looking at over the weekend this weekend and give them like a hard stop on like Tuesday that if you have any questions give them all to Jay and then Jay gives them to all of us so we have time to maybe respond to something before that >> presentation >> that might that might be a helpful tool but the communication line be really clear because we continue to Kenny continues to get emails from different folks individually so it would be nice if we give them the spreadsheet or we give them whatever we give them generic ly. >> Yeah. >> At a certain point in time, maybe by Friday. It could just be the the Excel spreadsheet, however Katie wants to do it. >> And then say if you have any
071questions, please do so by Tuesday and give them all to JJ will order it to this group and then we'll try to proactively answer any of those. Um so we're walking in prepared for and that means the presentation could be the presentation, but we could have an FAQ at the end that just kind of answers anything that they need. Would that be helpful to you? >> Yes. Yeah. >> Want to saddle this with questions that we couldn't be answering beforehand? And on behalf of them, they need to read the material first. >> Yeah. No, I think that's fair. What is is next end of day next Tuesday kind of the helpful cut off? >> Well, my first question is do we want to give the spreadsheet in its entirety uh without any context? Just say
072is the budget. uh if you have any questions, we we'll be doing, you know, in in an ideal world, we're going to do a presentation for you. It will have slides that encompass what's been already presented along with some detail related to the the detailed budget. Uh we're also giving you the Excel, Excel spreadsheet to sort as you may want to in a way uh that is helpful. And as we build our presentation, we really want to know what questions you have so we can pull that into our presentation for you 17. Uh so if you have any questions or thoughts that you want us to consider or add to give us you know by Tuesday I would say Tuesday to give us six free days to get it done. Um it it feels like
073we're doing this in six you know eight days this this again it feels like we're rushed. It feels like we're compacted in time and there should be more of this happening over a longer period of time. So this machine work as quickly as we are. Yeah. >> Be my recommendation. >> Yeah. I remember when that was the plan. >> That was the plan. >> Yeah. And and so now here we are, you know, you know, changing pivoting incredibly uh since January 7th. Still meeting the deadline, you know, because this this budget that K's had in place has been in place for a good amount of time. >> Mhm. and it still has to be reconciled with whatever has been taking place over the last two weeks. Are we going to have that's why the lines
074don't match at this moment because we're waiting to solidify that so all the back of the house work can be done to match the number. So if we're staying with whatever we're staying with on the 11th, we'll hear from the public on the 11th. Um if there's any shifts um we'll have to address that. the community should know that whatever we give them will be as close to exact as possible given the fact that there'll be feedback from the public which we want to make sure we give them time to do that and there might be some disconnected pieces to that time but to Katie's point the number is the number we're only going up by x% the money's the money none of that is changing this is just the moving parts and I think
075the public having feedback to that would be helpful one more time um but for the warrant committee uh for the select board um they asked us to meet a number we met at >> Yeah. Yeah. We should be how we get there is really a function of the school committee you know governing and overseeing the school department and what that looks like along with the public feedback etc. So we are, you know what I mean? So that to me it's I that this is, you know, we we need to hear from the public. That's the most important next step. And if there are any shifts from that, then we want to make sure that we did that and listening to what they have to say about. But then after that, please make a decision. We
076we're at 3.76 that the number doesn't change. I view this I've never been a warrant committee member but I view our role at warrant committee 2 as being assuming the warrant committee is going to recommend this budget to town meeting making sure that they can you know fully make that recommendation with whatever analysis they do >> and can just make that with confidence. So I I don't I don't know if you know sometimes they just have questions out of curiosity to help them individually understand it. I think whatever they need whatever information they need in order to feel confident their recommendation answer questions at town meeting feels important but will be called and answer those questions too. >> Agreed. I mean maybe Mark up to you but like maybe before we ask Katie to share
077a spreadsheet with committee talk first. Yeah, I mean I >> I mean I think sharing the budget detail I'd be in favor of sharing even just the PDF for now as soon as possible just because they've been asking for it and to your point I want to give them time so they can look at it. They can ask our questions so we're not >> kind of dealing with this um last minute um and be respectful just as professionals so they they need some time to review a very dense long documents under some lines. Um, so yeah, so I'd be in favor of doing that and then following up with Jay. I think it this makes me again just think of I think it'd be helpful if the subcommittee of the schools almost have a presentation
078to the rest of their war committee colleagues before we even came in to like help educate them because I I think that was the purpose of those groups is yeah they should be kind of really leading their work and as they're coming in tying the bow around this within slightly different context based on those questions and to your point I've given Our budget is aligned with what the town administrator is saying. It's providing us as you know for any other department have concerns where we're at. It's a much different situation than the over last year. >> So, you know, maybe an override, no override. This is pretty clean. >> Yeah. Um, but I I like your point of we can try to set a deadline with them of of Tuesday. So, I I can do
079that. I can share this PDF with them. >> I know they have just a couple other questions that have been sent a couple weeks ago. Um Jay sent over a couple weeks ago that y'all are still working on or maybe you replied to and I just hadn't seen the email yet. Um I see that I didn't see the questions. I saw his kind of presentation. I don't see any questions. >> He had had the was the questions on the FTEES which potentially answers. Um, and then he had the question on the certain on the revolving accounts kind of like funds which I think you had the different documents we already had of like just what those balances were 24 25 26. >> Um, I sent over yesterday the history for the revolving funds for all
080of their revolving funds back to fiscal year 16. I think the question was more about 26 27 28 but uh for the robing funds we usually don't project forward it's usually we're just using the history so I was hoping >> potentially having the you know 10 years of history would be helpful. >> Yeah that >> great okay >> and then there were the two questions that we got last Thursday which you we met and you answered the one on the middle school elective. Yeah. >> Staff member that I just need to write out. Yeah. The class size. >> Yeah. That was the only >> So that's committee requests. >> Yeah. So I think with that then we emailing them if we should be called up. >> Okay. >> And date. Yes. See what else happens.
081Okay. Points a really good one. I'll follow Jay on just how that structure should feel so we don't waste time and then once I have that I can move back on that drastically change what we think the draft presentation should what I originally think. >> Okay. Uh Amanda just want to make sure does that all sound right to you? >> It does. I think my one um question and maybe this is sort of a adding just a layer to it is maybe reaching out to the subcommittee and asking sort of what you would raise the question of are they going to do a presentation to the warrant committee. So maybe reaching out to them first, like reaching out to Julia or somebody and asking sort of what their process is going to be because then
082that might inform to your other question like does it wind up being a PDF or do they need the full Excel spreadsheet? you know what you I guess sort of because I think that's where I'm just trying to understand what would be the most useful and do they need the whole Excel sheet to manipulate like just sort of reorganize or is that PDF enough based on what the subcommittee is going to do. So I think it's just really having a sense of what the process is going to be for them for presenting their recommendation or their their thoughts around the school budget. So maybe Julia or um one of the can answer that but otherwise I think it sounds good and definitely getting a deadline in would be helpful. >> Okay, I can reach out
083to Julie too. That's >> so so as we spoke at the last budget commission meeting on Monday. Um and just to reinforce uh in these in these meetings from a timing and budget calendar perspective the dialogue that we're having in August and September uh of next year. Let me start over. The dialogue that we had in late December, early January of this fiscal getting ready for the work that we're doing right now should be happening in August and September. Any adjustments that should be made to the budget because of the revenue forecast, the expense forecast not meeting the needs of any department should happen in October, November. The budget is then drafted whether that's a draft one. Uh but the full budget which Katie had will be done prior to and commented on by the
084public and brought to PTO's in December, maybe a little bit into July into January. The fullline budget should be given to the warrant committee in mid June and there should be meetings that happen in early February where we're doing this right now. >> Yeah. >> So that's the calendar. Um and I say that because I really think it's important for the town to uh and we've had this conversation. So this isn't a new conversation. It's not a judgment. We have to get on a budget calendar that allows the Walmart committee to have sufficient time to review the data they need to review because we want them to make a strong recommendation. We have to meet early with assumptions on what our expenses are for schools, police, fire, etc. and what the revenue expenses are in
085big assump you know with a lot of assumptions but big chunks. So we can actually see are there any big pieces? There's already big deficits that we need to worry about and there should be an ongoing calendar conversation so we're not rushing and contracting these conversations. It feels like we're not meeting with our PTOs. It feels like the orange community is going to feel rushed and they are being rushed. Um it feels like we're being rushed cuz we are. Um and so I really hope that we get into a systematic calendar approach to this work. Uh so then all parties involved including the public can have real clear insight into what's being discussed, why outcome, what the impacts are to the negative and to the positive and how we can make this budget process be
086uh tied up in the month of January before February break. All this should be done in the in the warm commission after tomorrow is to get together. So that would be my suggestion and we're working towards that in that budget commission committee. I'm not late plans for our calendar. >> Next year will be different. We will do that next year. We will we will do that next year. >> I think can I add something? I think having some and I know I've I've said this before and and maybe there's more clarity than I think that there is. Um, but I think having clarity around the role and maybe how that calendar, how the budget coordination committee impacts the calendar. I I think that's where I'm a little bit confused on how that might have impacted
087things as well or are there assumptions maybe that conversations are happening there that like I just don't know if if moving forward if sort of the the role of that committee is maybe solidified a little bit more and there's some clarity around it and then understanding maybe how that um influences or impacts the calendar as well because you have all of those different you have you know, you have representatives of the select board, the warrant committee, the planning committee, everybody's there. And so I don't know if if that is going to influence that that timing either. I don't you know, I know this is the first year that that committee existed. Um, but I, you know, I think just having I'm just wondering how that might support or influence that timeline as well. um if
088there's some clarity around what the role is and where they're where they have impact or feedback on that or discussions around it. So I because I do feel like that added a layer a little bit that felt like conversations were happening there that maybe because it's new there wasn't the the understanding of how that information would funnel back. So um I don't just food for thought as we move forward on how to have clarity around that piece. I think you're absolutely right. I think that the the newness of that committee uh added a gray area. People thought we were all communicating, but we weren't sure what was what the functions were were actually taking place. I think that the that committee should act in in parallel uh and in service to the process, but the
089calendar should be the calendar that what we've learned this year is that we need a calendar that we stick to and we have important conversations on certain months of the year to prepare for the next fiscal year. And I think um I think that they can coexist and inform each other, but I don't think we need to stop what we're doing and Nick shouldn't stop what he's doing and the police chief shouldn't stop what he's doing, right? we should all be working our budget according to the calendar. Uh and hopefully the the budget uh commission committee, if I'm saying that correctly, is always keeping the high level of how do we want to organize ourselves? What's the timeline of information that we want to get, receive, and talk about so we can be clear with
090the public what our fiscal year looks like for the one that we're in, for the one that we're moving towards, and then what's the three-year plan for that. They should always be at that highest level. And I think that that commission or that committee will only have about a a two or three year run before it becomes if the routine is set and the in the in the outline is set and the structure is set then that committee should really not exist after about two or three years. >> Yeah. I don't think it's mandated to exist in perpetuity. >> I do think now just now that I'm processing your earlier comment, I do think the timeline that you laid out a minute ago um it feels right. I haven't had a chance to think on
091it too much, but I think it is even more aggressive than the timeline we have mapped for this year. >> Like >> it's pretty similar. >> January be ready by January by January. >> And I do think that that was like that was the intent that we had laid out at the beginning. >> Yeah, we filmed a warrant committee. >> Okay. Well, then maybe we were just off track from that very quickly. Like I we just didn't get we didn't get actual revenue projections there until January >> and you were saying we should have gotten them in October. >> Well, we got revenue projections from Nick in like October, November, but what we didn't get was the >> corresponding expense conversation that has to happen. >> That that's that's where I think that the >>
092we were working under a set of assumptions that we were moving along and that we were getting our budget detail according to the 5.2 2% increase and then when when we got the the uh the need to adjust to that to the what the reality was we need to know the reality at least at a high level in September. Are we looking at a cut year? Are we almost there? We can kind of wait to see how that goes. Are we asking the heavy department to do a level service budget and then a little less than service budget which is tradition, you know, some people do that every year. You know, just give me a level service and then give me 5% below level service just in case. And so you're carrying both those but
093you're talking about them all the time in parallel. So when we get to with January where the numbers are higher, the revenue is clearer and the expenses are clearer and then the gap is or hopefully the no gap is clear then you're prepared to actually function at that level and you're aware that that might be the case as opposed to walking along thinking 5.2 and then having to move back to you know well 3% and6. So it just it's just moving forward together, eyes wide open, having full conversations, you folks. And if I can just I think the piece just experiencing it last year and then going through it this year just being mindful of like the impact of the operations of just being in the present year and talking about the next year. When
094we're having these conversations and having conversations about positions that are tied to people, it impacts those people pretty deeply. And so it was really difficult last year because of the scope. We were talking about staffing physicians, but it continues to be difficult and it's it impacts administrators and it impacts teachers. And so I think the more that you know we keep on talking about the timeline and the appropriate timing. It's we're trying to do so and I don't want to speak for the superintendent but really the intent in keeping that and doing so is so that we're not impacting the principles and the operations of the building and teaching and learning in the current year, >> right? like we just want to make sure that all of that work is happening so that people can
095focus on the task at hand and making sure that the classrooms are are operating and not having to worry about oh shoot I don't know if I'm going to have a job next year. >> Um and so that's just some of you know seeing that last year and then unfortunately seeing a piece of that this year. um >> assistant superintendent Katie Blake because he seen a lot in two years and in the 18 months of her tenure here. >> We just want to I think you know we try to support just trying to support the process but also not only the process of next year but like there's a lot of really good work that happens and it's unfortunate a lot of people to worry about like am I going to have a job next
096year? Yeah, >> there's a lot of private sector um like research that shows I forget the exact numbers but the magnitude of broadly like for every 10point decrease in employee engagement there's like a corresponding x point decrease in profitability >> um or increase and you could you could like that is absolutely going to be true in a system like Milton it's not profitability it's learning or it's performance or productivity or whatever it is. Um so yeah, I think I think that risk is is very we presented the budget uh slides that we had done last week. Uh we in in part to the whole staff yesterday we had a full day professional development. Uh we started with everybody in the auditorium. We did an update on the work that K and I are doing as
097uh the uh two-year interimm team and what next year will be looking like. And uh and then we said we had to have a budget pause so everybody understood what we're doing and why we were doing it. And I think it was met with um appreciation that they understood what was going on and why and that we were trying to make sure that we trying to have a sustainable budget um uh strategic approach to that in order for them to not have to worry about it. Mhm. >> And they they want to do their job and want space to do their job and do it well. So, uh so it it's complicated but the I think the more time we have to talk about it and in the set in the timeline that we just
098talked about um we would always talk at a high level if we thought the budget might not be that the expenses might be over the revenue would always just talk about that big picture. We wouldn't get into them right because we wouldn't want to worry anybody until we actually had to. So, in my past experience, it's always like, well, we're about 400 short, >> you know, what would you do with that? Well, we're not going to, you know, we're working on what we do with that, but we wouldn't share that until maybe after the holidays and we would get into the if we had to reduce what those positions would be, uh, or if we wanted to add in any year, what they would be, what to do. So there's there's a there's there's some
099um strategic tact for lack of a better term that we would always use on behalf of the employees that we work with, but that doesn't mean we can't we don't need we still need to move to work. >> Yeah. >> Um be mindful of time. Uh it's 9:30 almost. Um our next scheduled meeting is next Wednesday at normal time. John cannot make that time. potentially um most likely. Is there a different warning that folks might be able to to meet the I think the primary goal of next week's meeting again would be to try and finalize um some slides for the planned warrant committee presentation on the 17th >> and and a vote correct >> and to vote on the fees uh yeah for on the fee plan for Milk Community Schools. >> I could
100I could do something on the um morning of the 10th on Tuesday morning. I don't know if that works for anyone. >> I I have a JLM that starts at 7:00 a.m. I can end it at 8. Then uh I can meet on Tuesday morning and I can also meet Thursday and Friday. The only issue with Thursday, Friday is again I think that works well for the warrant committee. That doesn't work well for the fee votes. Again, we could go in front of the full school committee and say we just haven't taken a vote. Um >> I can do Tuesday. I just I will be in the car. If you do Thursday or Friday, I could do >> I I can't do Thursday or Friday. I'm I I'm on a flight Thursday. F I leave
101Thursday morning. I'm fine doing Tuesday morning and >> well, but Katie, if if we work together and Katie, if we want to just if this is really going to be about how do we want to frame the existing slides we have with any additional slides with some of the feedback that we're getting from the wiring committee and you guys want to workshop some of that in this meeting to get ready for that and then Katie and I can then again meet on Thursday, Friday. I don't have to be here for that because I will work with it prior to it getting to Wednesday and hear the feedback and then work with it on Thursday, Friday. So we don't have to upset it for that. Um so my footprint or my thoughts will be in it.
102I don't want to not be involved in it, but I don't want to disrupt the process either. Do you >> mean that if we did to that point if we did Tuesday and we kind of workshopped it and voted? Well, I'll give two options. We could do that or we could meet if you wanted to meet Tuesday. I just think it would be great to have a vote beforehand for the um for the fees before like as opposed to going to the full committee. Um so, you know, whatever. If we wanted to meet Tuesday and vote and workshop it and then share feedback with John and Katie if that worked for everybody, we could do that or we could just meet briefly. If you wanted to vote and then you could I don't mean to
103throw in another meeting and meet later in the week and I could just give my feedback separately. I >> think John is proposing that we meet without him on Wednesday. >> Yeah. So >> Okay. Okay, that works. >> Wednesday. John's not here. um beginning of it and at the end. >> Yeah, I think that if he's comfortable with that, I think that >> Yeah, I am. >> Gotcha. That works for me. >> Um All right. So, we will have that meeting next Wednesday, then we'll time. >> Um anything else that we should have on that agenda for next week, the more committee slides and vote on school fees. Is it are we going to reviewing the proposal for the other fees >> for the budget as well? >> You should. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >>
104And it happened without you. >> Yeah. I mean, I I'll plug myself right into it. >> Okay. Yeah. I mean, you figured out that, right? >> There's a demo that outlines kind of >> there's different options. >> Okay. >> And how it relates to the budget proposal. So, next week will be uh FY207 um on committee presentation and also FY27 fees discussion. >> Yeah. >> Okay. if folks are able to review those fees um the memo in advance and send ad any um questions just as as a it's going to be a lot to try and get through and I guess any robust discussion on that and the slides like that. Um okay, anything else? Not >> no I guess I I want to say out loud just because we're recorded here uh to reinforce
105the fact that this is really hard to talk about fees. I mean, we talked about the community school fees going up and wouldn't you say it's really intimidating and when you do it by dollar, it doesn't seem that bad, but it is a $1,000 increase for families to have after school care. >> Uh it'll cost more to take a bus, you know, rent the facilities out to our pocket rent department or to travel basketball, which will then be a $20 charge for families. It's uh it's not un uh it it's um it's it's hard to do that to the families that already voted. It it um it's not unnoticed that this is going to be challenging for folks to actually have to navigate as a family on top of everything else that everybody's working through.
106So, um and yeah, I'm just not a big fan of fees, but I understand why we're doing that. >> Um there's nothing else. I'll take a motion. So move. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Um, all in favor roll call vote. Amanda. >> Yes. And yes. Thank you.