School Committee - March 5th, 2025

001[Music] f okay thank you good evening everybody thank you for your patience um we are calling to order the Milton school committee's budget hearing for um today March 5th 2025 um we did experience and are experiencing a slight technical glitch we aren't actually able to be streaming live at this time with Milton access if you're listening on the zoom um and or and know anybody that's trying to access the meeting live please encourage them to to log on to the zoom so they're able to follow along otherwise the meeting will be posted the recording will be posted this evening um right after the meeting concludes um so thank you for being here um I see that we have a number of folks joining online we have a couple of people here in the room with

002us um we've called this hearing to order and the purpose of the budget hearing is essentially to um have the opportunity for an extended public comment on the particular topic of our FY 26 budget um which we will then discuss in depth um this during this uh regular meeting that we have following the hearing this evening before we will be taking vote a vote on the budget uh request for the Milton schools um so for public comment we ask speakers to uh introduce themselves keep their remarks to three minutes a piece I will let you know when you're approaching time um and hopefully if we have um a number of speakers that will allow us to accommodate everybody we will go we will push this uh for up to 30 minutes um past the top

003of the hour as needed since we had to start a little bit late so thanks again to everybody for being here um if you are joining us on zoom and would like the opportunity to speak can you please raise your hand at this time so we have have a sense of how many people are hoping to speak we will be sort of alternating um between our our either or both of you here to participate okay so um we will uh maybe invite you ma'am to go first you were here first um if you're here online to speak as I said please raise your hand so that we'll have the opportunity to recognize you when it's your turn um but we do appreciate yeah please come take a seat thank you so much for taking the

004time to join us tonight and welcome yep go ahead when you're ready thank you my name is Carol Moon and I have lived in Milton for 31 years I have raised children here who graduated from the Milton Public Schools so I obviously understand the importance of Milton education and I am in support of it I've never felt the need to speak at a town meeting before however today I am here because I have grave concerns regarding the school budget and regarding the staff that is putting it together I'm sorry all my data comes from slides that I saw on your website that says the 2024 budget was in a deficit of $3.9 million the 2025 budget is a deficit of $2.0 million and this coming budget 2026 is requesting $6.4 million a 2.3 structural deficit

005$800,000 to build back depleted reserves that were used in 2024 to close the budget Gap we have no reserves left I understand we've used them all up and that is due to poor budgeting in the past so much of the 2026 operational budget is in fact not operational but its Corrections for p Year's poor budgeting for example in 2024 the budget was for heat and utilities were for $330,000 less than actual the year before and the budget for 2026 is for the same as actual in 2024 do we not think that utilities costs has gone up there's no provision for that that's poor budgeting in the last committee meeting it was stated by one of the members of the committee that there are no areas of inefficiencies left in the budget to be cut however

006when I look at the budget line item by line item there are so many things that I just don't understand that make no sense why are we paying $79,000 for conferences and memberships and travel for the school committee the superintendent and two assistant superintendents why are the preschool teachers teachers included in the Tucker sped teacher salary how do you know which is which how can you make a clear budget if your light item line items are not clear why is outof District tuition increasing but the offsets are decreasing it makes no sense the cost of printing and computers and and copiers every line item for every school is blank 20 seconds blank so where is the where is the cost for that I understand we've already run out of money for toner this year how

007are we going to print educational materials we have no budget for it what is the a average classroom size on your website are I three minutes up yes but you can just wrap up on your website you state that enrollment is decreasing decreasing not increasing decreasing but we're already committed to 3 .5 million for renovation of Cunningham third and fourth floor for decreasing enrollment these are why I have grave concerns over the budget and the people who are preparing the budget they have failed in the last two years and they appear to be failing now they've issued a list of 60 to 70 staff members who are to lose their job is this a threat is are we being held hostage if we don't V go for the override we're going to have we're going

008to lose all these people this is a threat that is a threat those are threat tactics it's poor to be done by a school committee meeting this is why the community has Grave concerns okay thank you thank you thank you very much and I should have mentioned at the top that we don't respond directly to individual um comments however um I do I anticipate that some of the concerns raised are things that will be um addressed through the course of our discussion tonight so thank you um thank you again for joining us um okay while we wait to see if anyone is raising their hand online I will um welcome Mr Zulus up thank you for coming o ouch thank you thank you um concession to age um Mike zus 69 Fairbanks wrote I don't

009typically find it uh helpful to talk about the past however when discussing the past in the context of the present and the future it's important to be accurate and candid in discussing this year's override the school committee members and administration have described it as quote delayed or overdue and it's been said that the school committee uh made efforts for overrides in past years that Were Somehow thwarted by the select board none of this is true and it would be in the best interests of the community to correct it going forward now we've been publicly talking about the eventual need for an override for the last two or three years in finance committee meetings former member Beverly Denny and I talked about how Co had exposed and exacerbated gaps in town services and that eventually the

010town would need an override and would need to decide whether it wanted to have an override to continue to fill those gaps but just because we talked about it didn't mean that an override was overdue or delayed or that it was thwarted by the select board whether you have an override is based on two things the budget numbers and the choice of the community in the last few years the budget numbers did not warrant an override and the community including the uh the school committee unanimously chose not to do it now why have we not had a in the past few years because each year we've had enough money to provide the services Milton residents expected and everyone was on board with that the Town Administrator the select board the school committee unanimously warrant committee

011town meeting and no one presented prepared or supported an override budget once we got through the process and the budget numbers came in now I'll spare you a review of all the numbers for the past 3 years but here are just a few 3 years ago after we provided all the services we were able to put $1 million in our stabilization fund our rainy day fund the town provided services and no one prepared supported or an override budget and the school committee voted for a non- override Balan budget two years ago after we provided all the services we put $500,000 on the stabilization fund rainy day fund and the town provided services and no one prepared or supported an override budget including the school committee which supported and voted for a non- override budget last

012year many of us thought we would need an override when the budget process started but when the numbers came in we didn't the school department got over 99% of its needs-based budget over $67 million it was an increase of 99.4% or $5.6 million over $5.6 million which was the highest percentage in dollar increase in the last 20 years and probably in the history of the town the school department budget increase last year was higher than the two most recent overrides the school department received um $450,000 of its $1 million needs-based items the town provided the services the people expected and no one prepared supported or voted for an override budget when the numbers came in there was no advoc just there was no advocacy by the school committee for an override after the numbers came

013in and there was no delay and there was no disagreement with the select board now I can go through and maybe I'll come to another another public comment I have a few minutes to go through why we were able to not have an override last year and all the budget numbers that came in through the process um and I can do that another time if you wish I can come in I don't know if you have public comments another one I'll just run through that so you have that in Your Arsenal if you're discussing you can share you can also email it to us if you have the prepar sure I mean it's just it's just seven items that would that were surprising last year that came in such as you know we had our

014retirement fund which freed up $2.5 million of operational funds we had uh almost $850,000 of um of local receipts $850 increase in local receipts because interest income was higher than expected we had a health insurance Savings of $700,000 we had $3.7 million of free cash of which we used $1.8 million the reason we used $1.8 million is because we had a consistent predictable level of free cash for many many years of $2 million in three for many years sure um last few things we had an increase of trash fees because we increased it by a dollar that brought in an additional $380,000 of operational Revenue we had arpa money we used less than $400,000 of Aron money which would have ter termed out and finally as you know in the governor's final budget we received

015about $300,000 more in Chapter 70 money which we put to the schools so I'm going to need you to WP up and I'll I'll I'll finish up the point maybe in another public comment thank you very much thank you for coming okay is there anybody else wishing to speak need to be are either of you here to speak for the budget hearing no okay okay I see no hands raised online is that true Mark yep okay so um what we will do in that case um is move to adjourn this budget hearing portion of the meeting um our regular meeting begins at 7:00 um and so we will take a break um we need a motion to adjourn from this um and then we will come back for the regular meeting to begin at 7:00

016when it was post posted for um so would someone like to make a motion to adjourn from the open public budget hearing so move okay second Anna all in favor okay thank you if you're online and would like to stay I think we can keep the zoom open it's the same Zoom link correct um so okay so if you plan to stay to hear the discussion of the regular meeting you can just stay there um and we will come back at 7:00 all right hello hello again everybody um we are back for the school committee's regular meeting uh Milton school committee sorry sorry I got it sorry that was my fault sorry about that okay we're back um we'll call to order 701 p.m. the Milton school committee meeting our regular meeting for this evening

017um having concluded our open budget hearing open public budget hearing um at this time call to order our regular meeting uh 701 pm and begin with the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible Li and justice for all okay first we will approve the agenda for this meeting I know that um we will postpone approval of minutes we do not have those yet so we will do that next time are there any other changes to the agenda that anyone knows about okay so we will approve that agenda and move into public comment so obviously we just had our budget hearing that was intended as extended public comment on matters related to the FY 26

018budget um we also welcome public comment on um whatever topics are is are any of the three of you looking to speak get public comment tonight okay um if you're online hoping to participate in public comment can you please raise your hand okay I don't see any hands raised Mr Zulus if you would like to come up and complete your P your um remarks from the open public budget hearing you're welcome to do that for up to another 3 minutes I I appreciate it and I won't need 3 minutes um I was going back and forth with these is new for me so I'm still getting used to it um so just to to follow up uh Mike zla 69 Fairbanks wrote based on the revenues we had last year and the services we were

019able to fund there was no basis for seeking an override no one prepared or supported an override budget and no one including the school committee advocated for one after the numbers came in and the school committee voted for an non override Balan budget so if you're going to describe the prior Year's budgets in the context of this year it's in the community's best interests to do it accurately and candidly there was no delayed or overdue override and the and the school committee was not thwarted by the select board on the contrary the school committee's votes were all in agreement with the select board now this year is different this year is different than prior years the numbers that have come in as I understand it warrant an override this year from all accounts we need

020one and here's what I think needs to be said we will pass an override this year Town employees and teachers and most importantly students who've been who become aware of this issue need to know that this town will pass an override the residents of this town have never turned their backs on our employees on our unions and on our public school children this town has always stepped up and it we will again we will pass the override this year and the students and the employees and the teachers need to know that and they can Bank on it thank you thank you I don't see any hands raised online this would be your last chance if you'd like to participate in public comment online please raise your hand now okay I do not see anybody with

021the hand raised online so that will conclude our public comment and we'll move to the superintendent report all right thank you um so it's only been a week since we last met so not a ton of updates um one thing I did just want to put on your radar um so we've been doing the yrbs the youth risk behavior survey uh we've been doing that we in coordination with uh Milton Coalition we are looking now to align with Desi um in terms of the Desi timeline um we're going to have to to get onto the Desi timeline uh we're going to be doing the yrbs um every two years and it means instead of our next our next planned ybs um Administration is 26 we're going to be moving it to 27 so so this

022is something that Karen kahill has been kind of working on with high school staff and um in coordination with Milton Coalition so I just kind of wanted to give you all the the heads up that we're working to do that that will help to also bring in state level data and and it it absolutely makes sense to align with the Desi administration of that um so that's one thing that came up in this past week that I wanted to to share with all of you um the the one thing on my report um additional thing on my report is state and federal guidance update um I think weekly there are probably four or five emails I get um either from National sources or others that are talking about you know different kind of federal changes

023how are they impacting Massachusetts I think I shared earlier um that desie and the Attorney General are doing a lot of work to support districts throughout um the Commonwealth to interpret the some of the the federal changes um you read a lot in the globe you read a lot everywhere about what you know there's a lot of conjecture there's not actually sometimes a lot of um kind of fact one of the things that came in um recently was MIA guidance on transgend transgender students on biological males participating in female sports uh there was Federal activity and that um they confirmed U that you know the the Massachusetts um inter Scholastic Athletic Association Mia um is still aligned with federal law they were aligned before and they still are after those Federal changes so we continue

024to support our students in the same ways all of our students every one of our students in the same way that we we we have and will continue to do so um we also the other kind of question I think that people have right now around what's happening at the federal level is funding uh I know there has been increased interest um from reporters reaching out to districts asking you know what what do you do with your title One funds what is that going to mean if those go away U I have received guidance from um Mass the superintendent Association just stating that there's really nothing right now to act on the national body of superintendant aasa is is constantly lobbying um in Washington and and communicate out to all 50 states information about kind

025of what they're doing um what districts need to look out for so I I know this did come up in the context of our budget conversations previously I think maybe that was a question that that someone asked um either in a in in in a a smaller meeting or a larger meeting but um we still don't have anything actionable um Mass hasn't sent anything out in terms of guidance on on any kind of shifts or changes that we may need to make in terms of our budget those aren't working huh okay so that that is um that and I did want to um kind of close out my superintendent Report with um fairly significant news regarding me my position um and kind of where um some things that are coming up on the family side

026so I've got a statement here that I wanted to to read to all of you so I'm sharing this personal note over the last year and a half I've worked hard to learn listen and take action on behalf of the students staff and community of Milton together we have taken stock of the needs of our students and laid out a road map to build systems that will enable all students to stretch their learning and reach their full potential there's much work ahead to build these systems and while I had intended to be here and lead us through these changes family considerations mean that I will be leaving at the end of this academic here I'm committed to all the work we have in front of us over the next four months most importantly the work

027leading up to the override in April and May I will also be working closely with the school committee to support a strong transition for the next leader of Milton public schools there are so many people I'd like to thank individually for their support their leadership and their passion for doing the right thing for our students MPS staff every day extend above and beyond to ensure that all students are cared for and are learning at the very limits of their potential I continue to be inspired by the combined strength of our students staff and Community I look forward to continuing to support the MPS Community during this transition um and I want to thank you all for all of your support and your leadership over the last um year and a half that I've been here

028and um very much appreciate it and it is um a huge part of what makes this such a strong District so thank you thank you Dr Bros um I want to take this opportunity to say a few words on behalf of the school committee before we entertain a motion on this matter first um we we extend our thanks to you Dr Bros for leading our school district over the past two years we also recognize that uh this decision to resign comes at a very difficult time for the mton public schools so like so many school districts across the Commonwealth we are faced with a serious structural deficit in our budget with several major expenses Rising significantly and revenue increases not keeping Pace with those escalating costs we are working hard to end this year with

029a balanced budget and we're preparing for a critical override process that will determine whether or not we can maintain our current levels of Staffing and services with so much on the line over the next several months we are grateful that Dr burough has offered to remain a superintendent through June 30th we're also grateful for the strong leadership of Miss Katie Blake assistant superintendent of finance and operations whose financial management skill and transparent approach are more essential than ever in the context of this override that continuity will enable us to focus on the important matter at hand ensuring the fiscal stability of the Milton Public Schools earlier today the school committee met an executive session to review Dr Burrow's request and discuss the early termination of his contract at the end of this school year at

030no additional cost to The District in a moment the school committee will vote on that proposal if the motion is approved I'm hopeful that all of us the school committee the superintendent the district leaders and staff the select board and other partners in town government can commit to working together to pass an override that will ensure the continued success of our schools and our students there's much work to do to educate Milton voters about what is at stake at the same time the school committee will begin making plans to identify the right person to lead our district beginning July 1st and we will keep the community informed about that process the Milton public schools have faced challenges in the past and we will face others in the years ahead I'm confident that we will successfully

031navigate these difficult times through Relentless pursuit of Excellence for every student tomorrow and in the days that follow outstanding Educators administrators and support staff and all six of our schools will do what they do best provide students a tremendous educational experience we stand ready to support them every step of the way and at this time um I'd like to make a motion to accept the resignation of Dr barose um and and the terms agreed upon is there a second okay we're going to do this as a roll call vote um just to have it totally clear for the record Amanda yes B yes Selena yes Mark yes Anna yes okay and I'm a yes as well thank you that um concludes the chair's report um thank you thank you all and um at this time

032we can move to finance subcommittee which is really the bulk of our meeting for this evening um with much to discuss in Rel to the budget so Mark I'll hand it over to you thank you very much um so Finance we have a couple things wanted to provide a quick update on fy2 uh so we talked about it a bit on um Monday um but essentially that we are still working through the projected deficit um that is you know projected for the end of this fiscal year uh we are still at this point kind of waiting for the district dream to come forward with kind of a the full final plan to figure out how we close this Gap run into a few delays as it relates to some it access issues that delayed it

033from having the conversation this week uh but we are that is scheduled for next Wednesday to be discussed uh so that is a priority of ours next week you know can't can't waste time on that so um that's the update for fy2 uh for FY 26 we obviously have a few things to discuss in terms of talking about the actual budgets but I did want to share uh just the finance what we talked about in finance uh today uh essentially we were looking at the uh websit we know that communication with stakeholders is key we want to make sure as much information is out there as possible and so I'd just like to kind of direct folks to the milon website um in terms of the budget information that is there you give me a

034second I will see if this computer will allow me to pull this up Regina I appreciate the sharing of your laptop I'm not not a fan of but not really not my I know I'm sorry I should have done this uh all right well oh here we go maybe maybe [Music] not all right I don't want to waste everyone's time but essentially on the um website we have have a section on the budget information and I guess I will talk through for folks as to kind of some of the things we have made sure are on there and a couple things we want to highlight uh we have put the non override Budget on the website so that full thing is there in terms of you know what would be the budget if the override

035doesn't pass I know at public comment there was a reference to that feeling like a threat and I just want to ensure folks the in the audience folks watching that that is not at all the intention this is a fact of what we have to do we must present kind of what our budget would be if an override does not happen we are obligated to do that to present to the town in case the town chooses not to move forward uh with an override and we have to have a a budget which the school district will operate with next year in the case that an override does not pass uh at the town or if it's school um uh it does not pass at the town or if town meeting somehow does not enact the

036funding uh requested so that's one uh we also have our kind of uh override budget proposal that documents has all the presentation that uh Katie and Peter made all the way back in kind of November it has the line item detail if you scroll all the way to the bottom uh I think that was maybe some of the information that was referenced in in the budget public comment but that all is there every line item again I think it's 457 lines something like that um so folks are encouraged to go through that look at that the overall Town budget is there we have some other kind of uh presentations up there that we did to the select board a few weeks ago and the community Forum budget presentation we also have linked back to the

037district website elsewhere where we have all the budget documents from all past years so we just want to make all that information as as clear and available to folks as possible so it is there um we've also uh again shout out to Stephanie O'Keefe who's been um the communications lead on this and been working on the website to make sure that is easy and clear and adding to things as we um are getting feedback and as we're thinking about things uh added all of the kind of community budget updates that Peter's been sending out those are there for ease of reference um there's a link uh that had been added to the Milton Public Schools audit reports uh from the past three years uh we're still the current fy2 24 has not been released just

038yet but when that is released We'll add it there um so those are there for folks uh I also want to personally highlight the like the FAQ document we put together we have updated that as of really today or yesterday uh with a lot of the questions that were submitted through the Google form that folks have been submitting so if you submitted a question through the Google form please go to the FAQs hopefully we have answered your question uh and also if you haven't submitted a question or you have new questions questions the Google form is on there it's under the section said budget questions and there's a button that says ask your NPS budget questions here we strongly encourage folks from the community please submit them you obviously could also email us email The

039District staff but if you want to put it through this form we we do go through those uh and are trying to go through them more regularly to add those questions to the kind of end of the FAQ uh to have a running answer although maybe these aren't frequently asked questions at least ask questions and we want to make sure to answer as many questions as we possibly can uh another thing to highlight is meeting recordings this meeting will be up there past meetings where we've talked budget is up there just to make that uh easy and available for folks um one other thing we wanted to make sure to highlight that we have added is a joint statement that has uh been sent out by several of the state agencies uh the Massachusetts Association

040of school superintendents Mass Association of school committees and the mass Association of school business bus officials all three of those Statewide entities put out a joint statement on the kind of Statewide school budget challenges um this is is a trend that folks are seeing as we have stated before are seeing across UNP alties it is not just Milton issue it is a Milton issue but it is even bigger than that uh it is happening across the Commonwealth and so there's uh they have kind of a joint statement on that in terms of the pattern and the trends uh impacts uh that is happening and you know some of the work that they are also trying to do as Statewide organizations to to Advocate and figure out how we can better fund our school districts Statewide

041and not have all of that fall in the backs of kind of residential taxpayers uh which is is what is happening throughout many communities so um wanted to highlight that as well uh and then we'll continue to add more and more things uh to this web page we continue talking about you know what are some of the new um practices that are being put in place and trying to put that together we also have a document that the district is uh finalizing and hoping put together put on the website soon around kind of all the position ads since our last override those are questions that have come up through the community so as we're hearing these things we're trying to put the information out there because we want uh as much of the information uh

042to be kind of clear and accessible to folks as is humanly possible so those are some of the things we discussed today and and have been working on want to make sure to highlight that apologize I cannot share my screen to walk through that for folks on the zoom more clearly but uh before we move on any further anything else I missed that we were supposed to don't okay great so all of those are an effort to support the work of the override uh I appreciate the senent kind of at the End St stated by one of the public speakers around that the town has never failed to support one of these overrides before the positive energy that we will support this override we know how important that is to uh in terms of the

043impact for our kids so um obviously I think the the next thing to potentially discuss is look at the FY 26 budget proposals and and vote on those that's it for the finance committee update do you want to share those slides I'll see if I can if not the committee members have them so we can at least I can talk through them and then we can share them to the website afterwards do you want me to join the zoom meeting and then you may a co-host and then I can project you know that's might not be a bad idea if you want we can apologies at home for the technical delays so I can maybe just Begin by saying um sharing kind of what we're going to be presenting so we're going to start by

044discussing the FY 26 new level service budget um I'm happy to call this something else we talked about this at the end of our last meeting and essentially this will be our level service number we haven't changed the total amount of the level service but we've made a few reductions and a few additions to this budget um as we would in any kind of budgetary process before adoption do you want me to just start talking maybe yeah I'm probably on this so the the changes we we talked about this in our last meeting um of of adding some of the most significant needs and and looking at some reductions that we're not Staffing um we did do go ahead and do that um our reductions from Level service from what we shared as Mark mentioned

045in in our final um draft in November was family liaison and um the elimination of the neck program at kott and it's going to be a redesign of that program U which we have been we we made that change at the high school this year um and next year will be Pierce and um kott at the elementary level and that's a districtwide program um so the combined savings from those two reductions is roughly $400,000 which U provides room for the addition as we again as we talked about last our last meeting the ELA curriculum the elll support which was the 1.4 FTE okay there it is and um $50,000 for U professional development training curriculum development for the ELA curriculum the next slide is our original slide for um our level service budget which outlines

046the budget impact of the different budget actions and our cumulative total at 73,5 73,000 9 14 so that that's it for level service it was a very small change so that that's all I'm presenting on the level service budget you want me to continue to the non- override budget I mean I think we should probably take them separately we need to vote on them separately okay um and just to be clear about the the difference between these two budget proposals which is this one is what we are requesting and recommending um and the non override budget is what we will have to fall back on in the event that the override does not pass right so I guess to me it would make sense if we just pause here discuss this as as needed make

047sure everybody feels clear and comfortable with what this request entails before we would take a vote um on this budget request and then we could do the non override separately does that make sense to people y questions uh could you just clarify uh where the family layes on position is coming from is it coming from a particular school is it a it's a districtwide position um it was filled and has and um the person previously in that position retired mid year so it has been vacant so it's currently vacant right now and we would be looking to to to move some of some of what that position did into other positions it wouldn't just be one person taking on all that work and then can you walk through a bit of the the elimination of

048the nick uh neck program just like what what does that mean um my understanding is that's for students with autism does that mean those students now need to go outside the district no no so we're essentially neck helped to to provide a lot of support in building that program and my understanding in a lot of districts as neck goes in and helps to to establish a program then steps out and and the district continues um we you know Danielle and her team feel have have a a plan to utilize our own staff to continue with that curriculum so it it's not going to be uh like a c change for the program that many of the same Services many of the same structures the same curriculum we are purchasing the same curriculum for the program

049will continue um it will provide us with a little more flexibility in terms of the structure of the classroom and um you know neck has has specific ways that that are with their staff that they're required to follow so we we will be utilizing all of our learning from neck and will'll also integrate it into the needs our students have and and so it might look a little bit different based on what what those student needs are um it will give us a little bit more flexibility so this funding is the elimination of essentially kind of like a and this is Contra service Pierce and Elementary too that number a Pierce and the element okay so it's like a contracted service where they were coming in to provide additional support with the establishment ofr staff

050too so some of that cost is sta is Staff it's not just like a a contracted service it's contracted staff too it's both okay but we don't imagine the elimination of that would reduce the capacity to serve the number of students yeah that we're currently serving or reduce the materials or uh equipment available to the teachers who are providing those services so oh um I actually just had a question um on slide two we um talk about like I can see the math like we reduced these level Service uh program ch um programming and positions to add in the other positions so just looking at efficiencies as we talked about last week but then I just wanted some clarity on the next on slide four where we talk about due to the neck elimination redesign

051we were able to add in these positions like the math how to how like is not quite adding up for me like I was just wondering how that um we could maybe talk about that when we get to override okay all right cool yep just um math wise right the family leas on elimination that's 434,000 the other ones is 44,000 right so does that mean our total request is actually decreasing by 30,000 or we is that going Katie and I talked about that earlier and and kind of both agreed that it would make sense just to leave the number where it is I don't know kid if you have any further so the elimination of the net program because we are going to have to make some shifts so the overall contracted service is actually

052um more than the 350,000 that we're showing as a realized savings but it will require us to purchase some of the um materials we will have to make sure that we have adequate Staffing for those classrooms and so this negative $350,000 that is at this point in time just an estimate it's not the ex the exact number of the payment for that contracted service um so I think although the numbers don't match I think it will overall um be kind of a net um when we look at the budget and then there are some other budget lines that will need some slight adjustments going into fiscal year 26 so my proposal was just to leave the level service budget number the 9.44 % increase that we had initially talked about okay thank you I know

053excuse me I it probably goes without saying but I think um it will be really important to explain that the name it's it's it's almost like the name of the program is going away like the provider like because they've been I don't know 20 years they've been here and so just to ensure to make sure people understand that it's the sort of the consultative administrative and program programmatic piece of it but it would still be an ABAB based or similar classroom with the similar structure with the similar supports so I think just when people hear like neck would be going away that it means that whole program is it's just really neck is the provider neck is the one who's come in and consulted but I think we've had it for so long but we

054have staff who understand the program and can implement it so just just from a messaging standpoint especially when people feel like oh you're taking away my my kids program that that will be yeah important well and similar with the family liaison I mean you did clarify this but just to reassure the community that the services provided by the former family liaison will remain they are just being decentralized out into the schools and so I think that's important when we think about these reductions within level service um and sort of our rationale for pursuing these efficiencies within level service is to find ways that we're able to maintain the level of service that we have provided more efficiently in order to meet these really pressing needs which essentially are allowing us to respond to State mandates

055and so that's another piece that we you know I wanted to make sure we frame for the community in this discussion because when we talk about these additions to level service I mean first of all we've we have mentioned this previously but those elll support 1.4 FTE are in order to bring us into compliance ratio wise with the larger population of students in District requiring elll Services right and so that is um it's it is our effort to respond to something we are required to do um those are Services we are required to provide and if we don't build them into the budget even though they're not level service um that we've currently provide we we would have to cut elsewhere to accommodate that right and so that that is important and then the ELA

056curriculum just reinforcing the fact that we know our current curriculum does not meet Desi standards um and that is you know something that we have known we need to address and so I think just making sure we're crystal clear for our rationale to bring these pieces into the budget these are not wishlist things we want to have these are things that actually um we are required as a district to provide um and so um I don't know what further discussion we want to have I know we did talk about this in more dep last week but um I just think we want to make sure that we're able to communicate that broadly um and then a question that I or not it's not a question but just a another in the spirit of like really

057underscoring what we've already discussed um and Katie in terms of slide three in the chart um just because we did hear it in public comment um in the budget hearing the idea that um you know this presentation of our level service budget is based on actual costs um in a way that previous budgets were not um could you possibly just speak to that again I know you've spoken to it previously but just to like remind all of us kind of the high headline of how you went about building this level service budget that was a new approach sure so um when looking at the level service budget for fiscal year 26 um it is very much um going through each one of the lines individually and looking at a number of different factors so we

058start by looking at what our total expenditure was for the last fiscal year of known actual costs so that was fiscal year 20 for and so in looking at that we also take into account any changes that we may have for overall utilization any changes to confirmed rates so when I think about for example The Substitute Teacher line knowing that we had modified the rates in November of 2023 um so when we have a modification of the rates and an increase of utilization just just making sure that when we are putting forth a request for the level service budget for the upcoming year it's based off of all of those factors when the budget is initially created for this year we very much went through and um went through that exercise for many of the

059lines and looking at the actuals from fiscal year 24 we identified a number of different lines that in the past we had been carrying forward the same budget number and we had not been carrying forward what the actual expenditure was and so in um several different instances we identified that and we tried to correct it to the best of our ability for fiscal year 26 now that does still leave a period of time where that's not encompassing any of the changes that happen in 25 and so that is also a part of um the work that we're doing for this year just as we talk about the budget deficit and making sure that as we look at the current fiscal year we're also thinking about what impact will those changes have on the upcoming year

060in the budget that we have proposed so that is a lot of the work that we've done and some of those adjustments are shown although they're shown more at a summary level in the level service budget um kind of the budget impact lines that summary truly is um a combination of the 400 and some odd budget lines that make up the school department operating budget um thanks I don't know if there's any believe that makes sense yeah I I really appreciate the way you know based on our last discussion having gone back and found those areas where we can kind of produce without uh making reductions in staff so I I um I appreciate the thought that went into this um to kind of put forward this new level service budget um I do have

061a concern that I didn't have we didn't have this information when we discussed it last week which is and I just would love some clarity from you in terms of um you know if this is the the number that we're putting forward what happens getting into FY 27 at the end of the year for next year like are we able to cover the costs and what are our options uh and I'm hoping you have some recommendations on what the best way forward is for that sure in looking at not in looking at this budget specifically but looking towards the future I think um and in reference of this budget so when we look at our outof district tuition expenses are increasing those rates increase because there are um the tuition rates are set are set

062by the state by the operational Services Division and so we truly when we talk about um costs that are either mandated or costs that we don't essentially have control over that is an example so as those tuition expenses are um increasing we are in the FY 26 budget and in looking forward we are making an effort to reestablish a balance in our circuit breaker um Reserve fund and so what the circuit breaker fund is is it's state funding um from the Commonwealth for um expenses tied to special education and so because we had used all of our circuit breaker funding from last year best practice is that you are utilizing funding from the previous year because it is a reimbursement program and so in the 26 budget we um reduced the amount of that Revenue

063that we are utilizing to offset the overe expense for the budget and so that because a reduction in Revenue offset has the same impact to the budget as an increase in expense you can see that impact here but in moving forward we will continue to utilize the reserves at that level and that will give us the ability the ability to reestablish that Reserve fund and so why that Reserve fund is important is it allows us to take into account and to pay for un any unanticipated expenses for special education and I think what has happened previously and what happens to districts is um sometimes if we have lines that aren't funded appropriately in the budget and then we have areas where it may be a mandated expense or an expense that is dictated by um

064either a students individual education plan or a students 504 plan we know that we have to pay that expense and that money has to come from somewhere and so in some instances we end up utilizing funding from other instructional lines to cover those expenses and so um we are just realigning our practice starting in 26 but certainly moving into 27 to try to make sure that the budget um I think in thinking about the budget it's not going to be a 2 and a half% just knowing what our contractual increases typically are but we are making an effort and making sure that we're creating a budget and a budgeting model that is sustainable increases predictable increases from year to year okay so when you say that it's not going to be a 2 and a

065half% increase are we looking to you know use use onetime funds to cover the difference in okay so and so I think that's another um another important point that we've talked about in some of our finance subcommittee where I've been talking about during some of our school committee meetings is looking at ways that we can um cover expenses and we're not okay covering them using um kind of more of like that onetime approach that we're making sure that we're creating um an overall sustainable budgeting model and so one of the ways that we've talked about being able to cover some of those costs is as establish establishing a special education Reserve fund and so a reserve fund we would have to have a well- defined Financial policy um a reserve fund has to be uh

066voted and approved by both the um school committee and then also the select board to be able to utilize those funds and that would be that would be funding that would help us offset any unanticipated again um expenses for special education and so those funds typically allow you to cover expenses that were unknown during the course of a fiscal year and then it also gives you the opportunity to build those expenses into the budget in the future so I hope that helps I'm not sure ask a quick question because I know the special tuition the out of District tuition so I was it whatever it was two years ago three years ago where it had that huge increase is there a more typical increase that you that we see from year to year so is

067that is that what's that's built in assuming the same number of students give or take at this percent increase is where we'd be going and when we look at those tuition lines we truly do look at each one of our students um and a number of different factors historically before we had the 14% increase that it was just it was this um something that it was every District in the Commonwealth um having a 14% increase knowing that we're operating within kind of the model of prop 2 and a half was just so impactful to every District um but previous to that the typical annual increase that was set by um operational services division was 2 to three % um and then after that it was a um a large you know double digit increase and

068then it was another year of a significant increase and so this year it's 3.7% that was the tuition increase that we were made aware of in October so I'm hoping that um it continues to stabilize and we're not getting those really significant increases um but again it's it's set by the state so so that's really good to kind of clarify for anyone listening to that we have we were setting good budgeting practices so that we're not you know dealing with deficits and uh having to use any type of onetime funds to and get into the habit of doing that so we're trying to move away from that from what you're explaining right and uh set kind of working within what we have and then you know kind of reconfiguring as we go and just improving

069our budgeting practices so that you know we don't we're we're changing kind of our mindset and our habit as we're looking at the budget uh year-over-year and getting into that you know and some of the areas that we had or one of the areas that we had talked about previously was utilities and utility expenses and when I think about utilities um although the rates in the utilization does fluctuate so it is difficult to get an exact amount um that's something that is um and even categorize when we report our expenses to the state that's something we would categorize as a non-instructional expense and I think when we look at our funding and the way that we're funding our school department our Focus truly is our instructional expenses so if we're not funding those lines appropriately

070you're essentially having to impact other areas that may be instructional in nature and that is truly what we're focusing on we want to be able to make sure that the lines are clearly established for the reasons of purchasing high quality instructional materials and funding teacher salaries and everything um the utilization can stay in the lines that are discussed in appropriated and not redirected throughout the course of the year yeah I think that's a really good point um and agree kind of all the the pushing or questioning you you have done and are doing tonight too around the need for us to have kind of clear budgets when I I think about the budget especially relates to like our role here within milon I think the budget is how we clearly communicate to the town like

071this this is what it will cost us to provide this type of program to our kids within this town and the past two years we have not done that right we said it was going to cost us X in fy2 24 and it costs us actually $38 million more than x and then we came into this year and we say hey it's going to cost us y and B on the quarter 2 report projections it's going to cost us $2.3 million more than why and so like that's not fair to the town to say hey we can provide it for this much and then come back and keep changing that right that's not clear for the town that doesn't create trust with the town but more importantly than that too it it to Katie's point

072the the way in which we're you know shrinking that within the current fiscal year is having an impact on students and and Ling and kids and that is like the key reason we are here so it's vital that we are diligent and clear and transparent on on how we are what the costs are so the town can be clear with us on like what level of cost they are comfortable with and if not then we can be clear about where we need to cut and what what we need to cut as we are unfortunately needing to do to a significant extent within the non- override budget but that's definitely been a a line of communication that has not gone well from the school budget side over the last kind of two fiscal years from my

073my perspective um but you know I yeah so anyways I appreciate kind of what Kitty what the team has done in terms of bringing stuff together the great questions asked at finance committee and um the push of like just how do we do this how do we do this better to make sure we have a number to all the points you're making that we can trust feel good about and feel good not just about FY 26 but feel better about the and I think too um for us to stand behind what we're supporting right to make sure that we've completely understand what it is and can defend it right like and say like we we looked at all of this we looked at you know where are some areas that we can make reductions that

074don't have as big of an impact and like kind of reconfigure some of those things what are some of the things that when um you know when we're asking the community to to support this like what are they getting in return right for it is I mean at the end of the day we're it's it's a lot it's a big ask and we have to you know and we're asking for support but it's a big ask and we we acknowledge that and uh I think at the end of the day we want to be able to you know look at our own inefficiencies where we're doing that we're looking at what uh what are we providing what is what is what are they getting um and then also just you know at the end of

075the day like our staff our teachers um are what make our district and they are so important and uh you know to kind of preserve those positions as much as possible and then you know um is was the intent with all of this so I you know I I'm glad that you were able to kind of answer my questions you know because again I think as we stand behind something that we're putting forward we want to be able to defend it and so I think um I appreciate the thought that went into this and I know it's a lot of work you know for all of you and uh just you know I appreciate all the great questions everyone's asked and clarifying and appreciate having the crossposted Budget Finance meetings by the way just for

076more clarity no it's more work for you but uh but I do appreciate all of that so thank you for for all this work excuse me add something and I know we're and I don't know at what point we'll talk about it if we're going to talk about it I know you talked a lot about sort of processes procedures sort of changes you know um best practices moving forward but I think the other thing is understanding that each year you sort of not you look at it with completely fresh eyes but to a degree you do I mean there are things that carry forward but in the way that for example with either the neck program or something like that like are there things that we're like oh we've been doing this do we actually

077have the internal staff to do it that we don't need to hire a program or is there you know I think every year it's important to look across the districts and and have those conversations and say because I think it's just very easy to kind of like you know kind of hum along with the same stuff versus um recognizing not only I mean obviously it's from a budget standpoint but also just from best practices are we doing the right thing is this does this still work does this still fit is this still the right way to do it so I think you know I think going through each year with you know kind of with that lens is important and just but also knowing you know but keeping in mind it really is on those

078two fronts because I think the budget is you know we just really have to be so careful with it that making sure that we are looking at it that way each year so I think that that will I think it's I think it's helpful and it feels just a little bit different but um but I but I've appreciated sort of looking at it and being able to talk about where the improvements can be made what are the processes that are being put in place you know you know and I'm sure it has a there are probably different ways of doing things but I think it's probably helpful so yeah and I think that comes back to like the best practices like and I know all of you have sat through many site Council presentations and

079requests budget requests that we're never able to really meet and they get pushed off and so on and so forth so I think Amanda what you're saying and kind of just looking at this is how we've done things maybe we've reconfigure some things and that opens up you know an area that we can fill from our needs-based budget and kind of looking at it that way so we're not every year turning people away in terms of their requests and you know I think it's I I I love that you mentioned last week that the principles are engaged in those conversations and bringing them into those conversations early and this is this is clearly a team effort you know and it goes beyond this table so um I just appreciate that those conversations are being had

080um and just like you know as a as a district we're all kind of just getting into that mindset and I mean I'm definitely learning a lot so I appreciate everything you you guys have taught me and uh so thank you I think this point was I think the three of you have just made sort of versions of this point but it is our role at the school committee to advocate for what the students need and that is that does not mean we're not also listening you know to members of our community who may be raising questions about the overall number of the override we are I know we are listening to them and I know that the select board does have a different role um than we do but our role is to advocate

081for what the kids of Milton public schools are needing and along with that to advocate for our staff and um so I I feel like that is what we're doing with this request and we are being responsible um and careful as you said Amanda you know in how and how we're going about that so um you know it is a little bit of a different approach than we have been used to taking to level service but I think that as you've said it's it's it's a sensible approach like even override as side just in general um but especially sensible in the context of this overy where we really need to um sort of make this case for like why this amount because what it will allow us to do y for for our students yeah

082I think if I could um just take your comment a little bit you know further or makeing maybe just focus on how important it's going to be for the collective bodies that we work with to understand that as our practices are getting better and our review of the budget will take in sort of into consideration where are their opportunities to change things around or move things around and be able to address what we have typically categorize as needs which sometimes makes it feel like nice to haves as opposed to necessary steps that we need to do in order to continue to improve what we give our kids and so that will require for folks to not be looking for us to present a budget that is status quo or that every line item looks exactly

083the same it's not and we need to have that ability to say well you know we've like you're proposing now we've had this intermediary for x amount of years we've gained the knowledge and now we're ready to carry carry on and still be able to deliver the service but we can do it in house and that is going to result in savings that then provides us an opportunity to meet these very critical um you know needs that we have that we can't postpone um and so I think but it does require a shift in thinking from the other bodies that we work with so that we're able to come to the table with shifts MH the number may stay you know within the parameters that we've established but that there is that ability to um

084make additions um in adjustments as needed I think that's a different way of thinking and I have to say the um to your point uh Selena and just kind of adding on that this level of detail that we've kind of gone through this process you know this time around is is so necessary and something that we should continue to prioritize in future years because I think for us to really really understand it it needs to be given its due diligence and um I think you know I think we we owe that to the community we owe that to our staff like we we owe that to everybody so I just I just want to just say I really really appreciate I know there are a lot of things for us to discuss too but I

085I really think that this is so important that we're giving it its time that it needs no I think well said uh I'm excited about the ability for us to take steps forwards for our kids uh while listening to concerns raised by other boards around just how do we make sure we get to yes because we're going to talk about the non override budget here in a sec and as I said last week like that's it's just a terrible thought that that is a possible outcome of you know the experience our kids will have next year and so we we got to get to Yes uh and so glad we are we're able to find those ways to still invest in our kids and still take steps forward for next year um if we're not

086adding reeven Beyond kind of the level service amount so are we ready for a motion on this [Music] piece okay Mark do you want to run these votes sure I just got to pull up the Motions on which is G be out here uh uh I will make a motion to approve the level service budget in the amount of 73,5 73,9 144 second great all in favor and now we will move to the non override budget spr so I I um shared with you all and we shared with the community too our our proposed list um for the non- override budget um since that time and and I just asked a question about adding positions back this is four positions we're adding back um which is roughly the addition so we initially on the initial

087list we had the Pierce number forck so this is an additional 250 okay so that's kind of okay how those numbers work yeah um we did kind of hear loud and clear from from you all and from others that uh intervention positions are so critical to the obviously to The Learning Experience of students to any kind of system that's going to uh be responding to additional needs that can't happen it's just it it was an obvious add back so we were we were glad that we could add those four positions back in um so those are no longer included essentially that these positions are no longer included on the non override list um I've got some slides here that break down I I do have the original chart in the folder so if you want

088to look at it that way you can um I've broken it off into slides just to make it a little bit easier to share here um so in terms of District leadership these are the positions just to be clear these are the cuts so District lead cuts to District leadership cuts to districtwide support everything from this point forward is what will be cut yes the next one so the next slide is is District wide support so can I ask so family leison we're talking about that from a level service perspective that that wouldn't be refilled yes as well so does that work the same way as a cut here do you know what I mean like are we no J it's just being cut in both scenar the next slide is districtwide [Music] Services can

089you explain number one so um in the level service budget we had um included funding for a facilities so we are supposed to have a defined extraordinary maintenance account um and so there was funding in fiscal year 26 for the extraordinary maintenance account for $25,000 and so we're essentially saying we're eliminating that funding and then number three would be not doing that reserve the circuit breaker reserve it was a reduction of how much of the reserve that we were so we had said that we were going from the 2.8 to 2 million yeah um so it was just a reduction of how much we were we go from 2.8 to 2 um one I did have a question on the the bus that was added is that something that by increasing what we charge families

090like we can kind of offset that or no um no just because of um what I believe is going to be the proposed increase because of the new bus contract um and I have some more information on the numbers around that when we talk about the fee schedule for next year do we have a sense for the theater clubs Athletics and extracurricular stiens you know what percentage decrease that is and you know what is our best case kind of guess as to the impact on student experience related to those things we don't have I don't have the percentage it's $200,000 is the dollar amount um a lot of that is stiens okay so for clubs for different activities sorry go Ahad sorry um the budget for fiscal year 26 just specific to clubs and other

091Student Activities was um 212,000 so it's essentially eliminating all but 12,000 um plus um 55,000 of the stripin that are funded from outside Revenue sources and the fees that we charge our families so does athletic stiens include like coaches as well or is that like how does um the athletic stiens are the coaching yes so hope this cut or eliminate the theater and cl and reduce Sports offer across the District of getting to the student impact yeah like and to what degree this is not a complete reduction of Sports at all it's a reduction of some of the clubs that we offer it's probably a shrinking of some of our teams um I mean we had a long conversation around other positions that support Athletics and this is not a a like we're not offering

092Athletics anymore this that's not what this is but it's a reduction in Access yeah and these these programs are mainly affect the student in middle and high schools right cuz the elementary school usually have townwide R programs should I go to the next one next one is the high school essentially this is one one teacher in most disciplines so the impact here I think we talked about last time would be an increase to class size and potentially impact to course offerings be challenging and then Pierce which is a elimination of a team which results in the same problem right with larger class sizes yeah M and it's a real step back because we just got yeah we work so hard to get that in place to respond to a need that was so demonstrated so

093clearly so this would be a huge step back was two years do you have a sense of the number of what the increase in size class sies for the incoming sixth grade which is a large class yeah it would be significant it be 20 can't remember the exact number but it was the had mid 20s probably yeah we're going from four teams to three teams back to yeah yeah we have four teams at sixth grade this we it to three or back back to three and are there four home rooms in team what's that are there four home rooms in each team pods kind of within three teams yeah yeah so there's 350 kids it's 29 kids per class and I think the current fifth grade is 370 something for the librarian position and I

094know this um get is relevant additionally at the elementary level but can you help so one librarian and how many Librarians are there at Pierce currently there's one yeah exactly so what we're talking about is just eliminating the librarian position at the middle school as well as the elementary so Y and what's the technology coach this across Pierce and the high school is it an instructional position or is it a it's a it's a position that supports technology at both levels instructional tech technology now that6 Elementary Spanish teacher reduction of the elementary level Y what is that in terms of the student experience so it means building out schedules and principles you you know obviously we're part of this conversation and talking about this and and um either looking at longer periods as opposed to

095two two during the week having one longer period or re rescheduling you know there's a lot of like timing in terms of getting to buildings and and making all the pieces fit so they they felt like they could figure that out um I have a question about the French reading specialist didn't you just saw a slice for adding we added one that we added one back so we have to St yeah we had eliminated all of them which was 2.4 so we we've added one back so now the reduction is 1.4 okay so how does their number of preschool positions how does this impact how does that impact preschool in the full like the full day and half day preschool does that change the full program does it just change the number of students that

096we can and just because I know there are probably numbers with like both with kindergarten and preschool yeah that is that position is the the Tucker preschool position so it's the the fulltime one the full yeah the districtwide program so there wouldn't be a fulltime so and that's what the two preschool instructional assistants and the preschool teacher are are they're the full time they're the full day yes yes yes and they're only 18 spots so there would be no full day full day okay right how does this does this impact for the kindergarten um I know they I know we have to offer kindergart like how does that does it impact the the size or it's just the the amount of support that a teacher has with the kinderg guard class with the reducing the

097number of kindergart needs yeah it's going back to the way it was before that was an Esser funded addition so it was historically at 08 and it increased to 1.0 okay and that's why the 3.2 is a cumulative FTE it's not 3.2 people okay because of the different session is it because it's going from 1.0 to point8 so it's a02 reduction for those employees got EMP gotcha okay the people keep their jobs they just are no longer full time they yeah do they work the same hours no theys and how many Elementary School library do we have right now we have one so there would be no Elementary School library so we would have no Librarians can we go back one second similarly can I ask about the custodians how many custodians do we have

098for the elementary schools that um I can try to find that okay um so is that are they Shar is like do building based building Bas there's they're they're building based but we can also based on need reassign and and and no to so that's that's you know we have a custodian at elementary and one at the high school of reduction here so this would be kind of reviewing all of our custodians looking at need and yeah yeah so just I just feel like I need to say one thing looking at the depth of these cuts which is just so staggering and would be so catastrophic um I want to just remind myself of two things first of all it is important as we discussed at the top um and are now able to share

099the joint statement you know that was shared with us masss masc masbo you know it is important to remind ourselves of The Perfect Storm of conditions outside of Milton that impact us as well and that contribute to to this situation and also um you know in terms of the perspective that was shared previously around um sort of the last couple of years for Milton in terms of whether we needed an override didn't need an override I think it's just important to be candid that you know this we don't get to this level of necessary non override proposed Cuts overnight um and it is true that as a school committee last year for example we did ultimately vote you know for a consensus budget once it did become clear that um an operational override was not

100something the select board last year was willing to consider for the F you know variety of factors that they had to Think Through um and and yet yes we have been talking about the need for this because we are in this position now as a result of using one-time funds as a district and as a as a town to fund our operations so I just I think that that's just something we need to be honest about and you know had we a year ago been having this conversation I uh you know I think but correct me if I'm wrong we might not be looking at quite this staggering catastrophic like extent of a list um but it's it's the kind of a thing that does snowball um over time am I am I misunderstanding something

101with that I would also just because it's it's it's like two things could be true at the same time I mean is part of the situation that we have here but we did not end up in this place no um just from last year to this year so no and I just wanted to kind of follow up on what you just said is this didn't happen overnight this you know deficit and all of these things that we have had to kind of deal with the last couple of last two years um I also do remember that we all decided to push for an override last year so I just you know we did and uh you know um so I think just some clarity here now we're we're you know in this situation and we're

102really pushing for one but I think we we all kind of learned a lot from this process of what it means to just you know Kick the Can down the road in this instance and I think the difference this this year with this budget planning that we're doing that in past years and our practice has been let's just get through right now you know and I don't I think that's what come put us in this situation and years of doing that and I think just you know um unhealthy budget practices and I think you know we unfortunately had to get to this position to really evaluate our process and improve that process and you know um um we we can now look at this and just learn from right you know past practices and improve

103our practices but I think as school committee members we always advocated for you know supporting the needs of our students and our district so um I think I think um you know um I I do want to clarify that I remember us advocating I would also emphasize though that but it's the drivers are more than just you know definitely could have done used better budgeting practices for sure obviously we've talked about that um a lot but also the fact that our 2.5 hasn't kept up with inflation that's the cont I think that's a very important context and that and this is why I think when you look at across the state the common wellth we're not alone in this situation and I think that context is also very critical I think yes as a school

104committee we need to take responsibility for what could have been done better but there are drivers that have been outside of our control that are real and I think that's also a very important part of the story that I think needs to be emphasized again and again obviously now we're protecting or creating it more more of a a buffer so to be able to weather that but I still think we're not going to be you know in the clear and I think that's important in terms of managing expectations into the future that you know the fact is we are constrained by this amount that does not keep up with the cost of things so I think that's that's real I totally agree I think it's a huge point I mean we 4% has been the

105average uh rate of inflation since our last override 2.5 does not equal four and again this for this next year the non override budget is 1.5 not two we're not even getting 2.5 so there are some years where the other needs such as this year it's health insurance right like out strip actually what can go towards other things so um you know I think that is great Point s definitely well said I agree with you I agree with part of what the comment said of like I don't like to spend too much time talking about the past but we 100% talked about needing an override last year uh 100% we're told uh no hold off we're not interested in at a certain point oh it's too late we're too late in the process it's not

106going to get through so not going to do it so just I just want to make sure that's said but um you know I I think it's to your point of two things can be fair like delaying the override save people taxes this year like that's like that is true the longer you delay the override but it has made the request bigger this year we filled the hole with one time cash now we need to create sustainable cash that's just the math of how it works I do think it's like and I guess just also to your point on the like other towns situation like there have been other towns who did overrides two years ago who are now needing to cut like who are now needing additional overrides and so like we are needing

107an override and we have not had an override in nine years like it is well beyond the time and I think the other piece I would really want to name for folks is that this total override number this reduction and the total Town override non I'm sorry non override number let me be clear the non- override number with the reductions that in it of itself is not cuts that then creat some like further sustainable budget at a lower rate it is only being funded with $3 million of free cash onetime free cash and so unless we get $3 million of onetime free cash next year plus 2 and a half% we're going to be making cuts on top of these 66.2 Cuts next year so like this is not we are not talking about a

108non- override budget that like sets us well into the future it doesn't it decimates our schools and it decimates uh many other Town departments and it will do the same thing next year too so it is vital that we get our town on strong solid footing financially we have delayed that request for many years to uh the benefit of taxpayers to having lower uh tax rates but it's just it's time to have the the conversation that we this committee I know was hoping to have last year but we're having this year so again appreciate all the statements yall are making on that point I know this is something that came up at Finance but I'm wondering if we could Circle back to it just underscore for the benefit of any public listening this point about

109the percentage increase um sort of as a different way to think about this amount that's being proposed um relative to the dollar figure um I think that is a helpful point to also um keep in the mix of the of the discussion because it is about being able to you know continue to provide these Services um that's what each of the overrides that Milton has had in the past has been about um because it's been so long the dollar amount is like higher than we've had in previous override years but when we consider the percentage increase that it represents can you you want me to share my screen walk us through that or or at least talk if not share the screen just at least also make that point if you could just reference it

110with the the override number that we're requesting so that we have that because that wasn't in here yeah or so the override number we are requesting only matters as it relates to like how it connects the whole towns the whole town level service number and this is just to be clear for anybody looking there's a document put together by the town uh staff really appreciate them sharing and this is some of the stuff that again hopefully the select board will be going through uh because this is like property impacts things like that um so the override number of the 9.5 million which is the level Service as for the town as a whole the percent increase from fy2 is 12.58% and again this is other information that was put together by the town 1991 and

111dollar amounts are a certain amount but the percent increase the tax base was a 10% increase in 2010 it was 11 and a half% increase so 9.9 in 2002 so 12 and a half is larger it is not double like anything we've ever done there's some framing I think to your point that seems to be like this is completely out of the realm of possibility what the town has ever considered before and that's that is not the case based upon the information that was again provided by kind of town staff and and this only goes back to 1991 prior to that okay yeah thanks who fcy feature oh but I completely appreciate you know what the another former speaker's Point regarding it it doesn't it does not feel good to be in a like you

112know I I I will only speak for myself I feel like my I'm backed into a corner like staring into the abyss of all of our kids like education being just dramatically negatively imp impacted um all of our kids and my own two kids you know at the same time so that really does not feel good I I I think we all have our own experience with that and it's very troubling um and also here we are and you know if we're moving towards having to approve this um non- override budget request you know this is something that we just have to do we we are required to do it and the town will move towards um the override vote with essentially like two options whichever option the select board ultimately puts on the ballot

113and then the other option and this is what the other option represents for the schools and then there will be versions of the Abyss for the other departments too um but that is you know that that will be something very important for all voters to understand so they can weigh their own pros and cons when they choose you know how to vote um in terms of like what the um what the conses consequences would be for either a yes or a no for them personally and for the town so um yeah just but I I I do think just to acknowledge that we don't take this lightly it does not it is not something any of us want to be in a position of having to do but we are going to have to um

114approve this proposal can I can I just ask a question so can I ask a question now or to um so we have to approve the non override I mean cuts the cuts the cuts we we have to identify particular we have to identify what the cuts we have identified would be right but is there are V we have to like any other budget vote we have to vote to then submit that to the warrant committee for review to go to the town warrant it would be an item on the town warrant for review potential action depending on what the townwide vote is on the override and then what town meeting decides they want to do based upon the town's action if the town votes in favor of the override town meeting can vote to

115allocate those funds for our level service requests and the townwide level service requests town meeting could also vote to allocate something less than that if they wanted they could actually enact our cut budget if they wanted or if the town as a whole rejects the override request then we have to have a number that goes to town meeting that could be funded within next fiscal year that is not contingent upon an override being passed so that's why both budgets have to be created and both budgets have to be passed over and so as a committee we have to vote to say that's this is the budget we want to pass over in these two scenarios so are there only two scenarios then there are only two scenarios that we are putting forth technically a town

116meeting town meeting can make motions and amendments and whatever they want to suggest they cut or change or you reduce and those are motions that could be discussed there like any year like for instance like select board when they have their and this is just a clarifying just so I understand the process if they have a discussion and they come back with you know a slightly lesser number than our level service yeah new level service budget that we're proposing do we kind of know what we could potentially like just a compromise right at that point where we're figuring out how to work because this just seems like yeah an extreme option it's like it's either this or the other but there's not really a recommendation of if you had to go slightly smaller yeah no

117no no it's it's a great question so if the select board similar to I think our situation last year right we voted for a number select board said they could not fund it based upon the mechanisms ultimately they got some more money and they got closer to us but we still yeah we voted at our budget hearing for one number and then we actually came back and voted for a different number uh later on I think maybe a month later okay um So based upon the select board's decision if they have a decision next week that is different than the level service amount this group can consider anything at any time and could consider a that's different I i' assume we'd kind of have to because of what you're saying and the fact that it

118would make the I mean our vote here doesn't affect what the override request ask is of the town right that is something that is only comes from the select board they will they will make that but we have an opportunity to go back and kind of just look through yeah I think our ask the line items again and just just make sure that it's you know like again yeah I think that would be in my opinion that would be important for the communication with the community on what does the this whatever number is that the select board is is going to set if it's something different than 9.5 what does that mean in terms of the school department budget in terms of cuts or ads or whatever else okay so we'll cross that bridge if

119we come to it essentially we provide a like non like a like a a budget like this last year where we because there was no con because there was no proposal for override it wasn't contingent upon anything other than town meeting approval we never got this far in the process last year and is the the vote on on the number or the number and the plan do you know what I mean so are is one is one say something change thoughts let other other things were looked at and there was a way to change the the recommend I hate the word recommendation because we're not recommending that this happen but the proposal put forward to get to this number are do we are we voting on the list of positions do you have or are

120we voting on the on the number that we're saying we are coming back with this number only because like does that give you the ability to continually just relook at it but also understanding that there are other things that have to happen I don't know I guess that's my question do we have to vote on I think other people that have been through this process can maybe share more um but as Mark said with this budget this is a budget that's then going forward with all these items to the warrant committee and other bodies so it's more than than a number it's the actual budget and the positions within that budget is my feeling yeah I guess I I always understood it as scenario planning right maybe this is just my misunderstanding right that this

121is worst case scenario planning we had to do we have to we were told to do right we were not negotiating the amount because obviously in good conscious we would never put forth 62 Cuts Like here like that it's just we I wouldn't um so it was more like we were told this am and we needed to do this exercise of what would it mean what would it take for us to get there and put it forth as this is worst case scenario but not something that we are in supporter there's a difference IDE a difference right yeah um yeah and I understood we had to vote on the number I just didn't know if the the rest of it just understanding like it's usually a bottom line budget if that if that informed that

122at all well the motion language that we have here is talking about we're approving the amount which is not an amount we chose it's an amount that we were provided right [Music] but I mean I I see what you're saying yeah um so does the warrant committee look at this before select board votes on it next week is there a or no it just goes okay so I I guess I just am hesitant to put forth to to sense something that says this this body could live with this decision yeah because I feel that I can't live with this decision right so it's my in mind you I I can vote whichever way right and it's my ability to say there is no way we can do this yes we've done the exercise because we

123were asked to do it but this would just be detrimental to our kids I I totally like I said I totally understand going through the exercise because it's important to do I do get where what you're saying because I also don't want to in the future say the full school committee did vote to approve this number to be put forward as mentioned earlier tonight so I do agree with that to say reluctantly submit yes I mean Peter Katie or Mark can you provide any Clarity on this process as far as like what is actually required of us to do um because I I think I thought I understood that this was something that we needed to submit and we can't formally submit it if the school committee has not approved it yeah we can't send

124we can't go to the warrant committee and say hey here the here's the non over budget here the not override Cuts all the things we walked through without knowing that it's agreed upon by the board right because otherwise we'd be representing the board at that meeting without actually a vote of the board the select board need that us to make that second Motion in order for them to select a number no this is not tied to the fact that the select board is meeting this is tied to the fact that it's our budget hearing and this is usually when that is made and the warrant committee needs information in orderers start reviewing that and then obviously bring us in for meetings of that uh I mean they're doing they're working on it now I think

125generally the warrant my understand warrant will close at the end of this month so so it's like this month is when they they need I have a question just asking could we hold off on this motion till select board votes on a number and then whatever that number means that they pick and if we have to make adjustments at that point would that be the cuts that we can put for or so that would be the change to the budget we actually just voted for okay would be the level Ser like if we wanted to if select board came back and said they're doing yeah something less than 9.5 that would affect that none of that affects the 68 yeah right because this is just the number we have to yeah it's like the number

126that should the town vote not support the override there has to be a budget number yeah and just just to the point that as as dire as this list of positions is and as like inconceivable as it is to have no Librarians for just one example um this is the list that you have put together with input from your team yeah to represent the like the to to mitigate the harm as much as possible with the level of cuts that do need to be made so that is the way in which it is a recommendation on that level um and I know that you've taken a lot of time to go through that and decide which positions unfortunately would need to appear on this list in instead of other positions that would have an even

127worse effect on student outcomes right so I mean that is how that list came to be and so in that sense it is it's it's the district having some say in like how that harmful impact would be absorbed um not that there's any way it wouldn't be harmful yeah that's helpful no and I and I do understand and I appreciate it it's just I didn't realize that this was required a formal B that's a clarification on my part I do understand that this is the exercise we had to go through that you've done an excellent job of looking and trying to mitigate as much as possible the direct impact on kids is just looking at the list again and going through it once again line by line it just hits you yeah you know um

128it just yeah but again I just understood it more like scenario planning not necessarily sort of a vote but I understand I don't want to fold off and keep the process from moving forward because we need the process to move forward and we need to I think emphasize to the select board that a cut of this magnitude would just be so hurtful to our town not just our schools but our town and I think that's important um but I do understand that we need to keep the process going MH so when we present this number level service budget number to the warrant committee do we have a chance to present to them the whole list of positions being yeah I hope they can see the big impact yeah of this budget and it's it is

129we you know we're talking about the lens of students [Music] um since you know that's that's our charge and like to what you just said about it's Al these are individual professionals who would be losing their jobs working in Milton so that's also a catastrophe as well um for for those individuals their families and our community so um I think you at one point said Mark the you made a point about how this would you know not just be a problem for next year but for a generation of our students um the opportunity to build back from this it would just take years um if we ever were able to regain sort of the level of services that we are currently providing with with these positions that would no longer exist so it is I

130mean I'm sure anyone listening into this conversation can sense just the heavy weight of this moment um it's really tough um I can make a motion I do I just one more thing as anybody watching I think you know uh select board chair Richard Wells made this plea the other uh week when they set the the date but like we need we need folks to mobilize we need folks to get out there knock on doors and like do everything they can and get get activated participate uh in whatever groups are are kind of supporting this effort to support our our schools support our town uh departments uh support kind of Milton's future here and so like please please uh know that that's that's just vital and I am thrilled that we were able to move

131the timeline up because the impact that's going to have on uh our staff uh having that certainty earlier I am very concerned about just The Running Room we have just because that it it's very tight and so we we have no time to waste at all all with that um kind of mobilizing and I'll just volunteer myself if anybody is like wanting to ask questions about this and wants to get a group together to ask I'm happy to share my own I can't speak for the board none of us can but I can share my own personal understanding and thoughts on this and like just we we got to get the information out so folks have questions let's let's answer them we talked about the stuff on the website email us reach out please uh

132because we need we need folks to be informed uh and with that long-winded preface I will uh with heavy heart make a motion to approve or maybe just submit the amount of 68 m233 68 for the FY 26 non override budget is there a second second can we amend the language to submit sure yeah you submitted you you amended it in Midstream but just read read it back through uh motion is made to submit the amount of 68 million2 33,6 for the FY 26 non override budget to the town no is there a second second all in favor that's unanimous thank you unfortunately [Music] oh do we have anything else under Finance um the fees we do have the fees share the screen Kat all right so we're um just to provide framing we have

133FY 26 fee schedule uh this is something we really have not talked about at Finance we not had time with the FY 26 and FY 25 budget uh pieces uh we are talking about it today because there's a time crunch folks need certainty on some of these fees that are going to take effect this summer and so um just want to name for members that Finance has not taken a vote or really considered this in any detail so we're just going to be doing that as a whole committee tonight so probably that it away um so we are going to discuss the fees um that we need to take action on um that are more time sensitive so for tonight's conversation it's um there are recommendations for changes to a transportation fee and it's um

134just adding aate fee for families that register for uh Transportation after the established deadline um recommendations for changes to our summer school um enrichment fees so updates for um milon summer enrichment courses we are looking to establish the fee um or establish a fee for the beyond the bell academic services that are um offer during the summer and also memorialized the uh fee that's charged for the bridge program and so that fee has been charged in previous fiscal years um but it was not listed on the fee schedule that was reviewed and approved by the committee so we just wanted to make a note of that and just to include it as it is something um a fee that we are charging our families um and then the last recommendation for updates that we'll talk

135about for tonight is an update to the camp Cunningham fee that is charged U for the camp program that runs during the summer and then also to establish a fee for the camp Tucker program which is a new program um that will begin this summer at the Tucker school um and looking at some of our our future meetings there are a number of other fees um that we can review and discuss but I don't have information on those tonight those include high school student activities um High School athletics Community Schools so the fees that we will be reviewing tonight are specific to the summer programs but we also need to review and discuss the fees that are charged for the school year programs and then also um talking about us memorializing with a note on

136the fee schedule for um our process for determining the free reduced and waiver process so um and ensuring that um all students have the opportunity to participate in these programs and realizing that there may be for some um Financial considerations and so um just in an effort to streamline what that process looks like and also memorialize it because right now I think um there's different considerations and different reductions that are taken um with the fees depending on which fees we're looking at so the first fee that will um that we'll talk about tonight is transportation fees so I just in this presentation there is a lot of information around um the actual program itself so for this this is just outlining um what Our obligation is as a school district so um transportation for our

137students that participate um in our programs here in Milton is a state state mandate so any student in grades can through six who lives 2 miles or more from the school that they are that they attend we are required to provide transportation at no cost to those students um we also provide additional services and we provide a fee based transportation system which is an option for students grade K through six who live less than 2 miles from their school and for all students in grade 7 through 12 regardless of the distance from home to school and so the proposed fee for tonight is just um a $50 per family late fee added to the current registration fee for families that register for transportation after the established deadline so in the past the established deadline has

138been June 30th I anticipate that it will be the same uh deadline for for this year and so um the purpose in establishing that fee and we did look at comparable districts and there are a number of districts that do charge a late fee or a s charge on their fees that for those families that register after the fact and um the purpose is not only to increase Revenue but also to incentivized families to register on time so that we can ensure the roots are done in a Tim in efficient manner so it certainly helps with the process of making sure we're Gathering all of that information and then when we're looking at the bus routs we want to ensure that the system is transporting um the largest number of students possible in a safe

139effective and cost effective Manner and so in order for us to do that uh it's really important for us to get that information on time um and so that is kind some of the background um or the thoughts that we had when we started considering adding in a late fee for transportation so if you go to the next slide it just gives um just more information so you can see the fees uh for the previous fiscal years so the actual transportation fee is staying the same but again we're just adding in that late fee so um just specific spefic to transportation fees and of course when we talk about the budget so our yellow bus transportation expense we cont contract with a third-party vendor and so the total budget projected for the upcoming fiscal year

140is over a million dollars and so the fees that we collect from charging for transportation fees is not covering the entire expense of Transportation I I think sometimes there's some um confusion around that it is only offsetting a portion of what that total expense is and so um what we had built in the budget for this year was a revenue offset of $290,000 and that is based off of how much revenue we've collected in previous years we built in a similar number for next fiscal year but with the establish ment of this new fee we're looking at um an additional $7500 in Revenue that we would be bringing in next year and that's just based off of some of the historical information on how many families registered late last year so that's the information on

141um the transportation fees sorry since this is a law required right do we get any funding for providing no we don't so it's um transportation is actually an unfunded mandate the uh transportation funding that is provided by the state is for Regional School school districts um but is not for municipalities so there is no funding provided by the state um I guess I totally understand why we're doing the $50 fee I think again anybody who builds Transportation Systems changing those is is challenging uh after you've kind of initially built them and then it's impactful to everybody else who's already on the route of you got to change time of pickup or potentially location things like that um so I appreciate that I think also just naming the 2500 our our goal for that is that

142is actually zero right we have no no late registration fees we're not actually building we're actually creating incentives to push families away from late registration so this is should not be seen as like any type of income generator similar just based on kind of the other budget challenges we are dealing with like this is meant as a deterrent there likely will be some revenue from this hopefully that shrinks over time even uh as families realize what the timeline is and and it would be helpful operationally speaking to not have them pay this because that means they register on time and you'all can build efficient uh routs early and communicate those on that just want to make sure that's yeah that's a that's a really important part too is we do um we do want our

143families to register um when that information is passed along before the summer starts um because we want to make sure that each student is assigned the appropriate stop and so we just in considering some of the safety concerns and some of the challenges that come with um the transportation system we just encourage our families to um to register on time do we know what that deadline is for the current year um so previously it was June 30th so I would imagine that we would keep the same June 30th yes why don't we consider increasing the fees per students for because we haven't increased at all in the past three years and projecting the future year as well even for people who are renting apartment we they the rent increase almost every single year and even

144for MBTA passes it increases as well so when we looked at the transportation fees we looked at a number of other districts kind of um comparable districts and districts that are close to us in location and so um the rates there is a range of rates that are charged for transportation fees and um when I reviewed those these fees are somewhat um they're within the range um but I just wanted to be um when we look at some of the other fees that were going to be increasing this was kind of an initial step in saying okay we are going to um address it in this way for this year but I didn't want to increase all of the fees at one time and so I think it really was looking at the entire list

145and saying okay it makes sense to do this for this fiscal year and then certainly for next year we can take a look and say okay we have the escalation in gas prices our contracts increasing all of these factors are taking into account and last year we increased our extracurricular fees so this year we're going to look at the bus so just me just kind of making sure that we're balancing not increasing them all at one time any transportation you questions um this is just a suggestion because thinking about Community School we do sign up right and then um the fee was monthly deduction from our family account do you think maybe in the future we can look into that kind of more flexible building um so when if we do increase the fees for

146transportation is not a one-time charge it's more like a monthly charge and also family who children might be um signing up for after school clubs or other stuff they might not need the transportation for the season right for the spring season or for fall season whatever then we still have that flexibility of giving this available seat to a student who is in need MH um even for a short period of time MH MH obviously it will create a lot of work for the person who is in charge of this m whole project so if we had capacity on the buses at the secondary level there are ways that um if we had excess capacity on the bus on the buses um we could establish a ticketing system where the students could potentially ride and just

147purchasing um we used to have in other districts they have books of tickets and then they can just and they would go on it's only it's a very specific like our students at the secondary level from say 8th to 12th grade and they have to be able to go on a bus that has an existing route unfortunately here we don't even have enough capacity on our buses for all of our families that register on time and so we have the um past several years and I know there was a bus that was recently added um but the several years we've um we've had a wait list and on the no non override budget um there is a reduction of one bus that would essentially eliminate that addition that we just made and so I just

148don't know that there would be a way to provide that flexibility just given the number of students and the capacity issues that we have um for the fees the way that um Community Schools is able to um charge the families free fees on a monthly basis there is actually with the system that they're they use there is a fee associated with that um that the program is incurring so Community Schools covers the cost of that fee for the families and I think it's 4.6% um and so for us um that wasn't built into the budget to be able to incur that fee so it's something we could look at in the future if we wanted to kind of provide that flexibility but for now the way that we're charging is just um based off of

149the financials and how we're able to do that thank you for the explanation reports so this is a pretty dense slide but this just provides more information I'm not going to read through it but there's information in each one of the programs that's classified under the summer school an enrichment fee category these are the programs I know that um families will be receiving notification soon saying that um enrollment is open so we wanted to make sure that we had a chance to talk about those fees tonight so um the programs that we're making recommendations for um include our Milton summer enrichment program which is um our classes taught by our staff in art music stem a number of areas um offered 8 to 12 Monday through Friday during the summer and um Milton summer enrichment

150is a self-sustaining program meaning all of the expenses are covered by the revenue that they receive um we'll also be talking about the be on the Bell which is the academic program offered during the summer um prior prior to covid there was academic Support classes that were offered it wasn't referred to as the beyond the bell program but it was very similar um in the format um in the classes and the students um and that was $250 and so we are making a recommendation to establish a fee um tonight previously beyond the bell was um funded through Esser but we do not have that funding available to us um and so be on the Bell uh when we talk about it as an academic program it is separate from our extended school year program um

151that is running for our students the bridge program is um a program for our Rising ninth graders and there's more information here and then we also offer Credit Recovery which is um the Milton summer school program um at the high school and there's more information there is a link on the presentation um I know within the high school handbook that you can see a full description of the summer school program so those are the different programs under uh the summer school enrichment bucket and so if you can go to oh sorry Mark um so this is just an overall list of the different courses um so Milton summer enrichment is broken up in the two courses for courses we also offer courses for preschool age students and then there is a family cat um and

152you can see the rates so just as a note the MSE fees increased at a per day rate to reflect reflect the addition of two days for the upcoming summer so last year the program was for 18 days this year it's going to be for 20 days so it looks like a pretty significant increase but we essentially took the rate at a per day and then made sure to update it to um reflect the addition of the two days for this summer and then as I had mentioned previously the beyond the bell program um was previously srf funded but we're recommending that we reestablish that fee um for this upcoming summer and then the bridge and Credit Recovery fees would remain the same for the upcoming summer and you can see those Fe is listed

153there um so for the if beyond the bell was 250 before like so the so for example the I guess beyond the bell the bridge I won't touch on the high school credit recovery program yet but do those will those fund the programs or those that fully funds it okay it's um so the way that the program is structured for beyond the bell it um they do such a nice job having it be around the same time as msse so our students can attend beyond the bell but then also attend msse and so they can be here from 8 to 12 and so that being said many of the staff are here for the same period of time as well and so um the revenue that we received from both MSE and beyond the bell

154would make that program completely self- sustaining and the same with Bridge um bridge is not self- sustaining so that is revenue that we've received but the stiens are funded through the operating budget is it a one day thing cuz I I know about the Middle School transition um camp at the end of June and or in the beginning of August beginning of the school year changed so now within the school year and now it's within the school year yes right because of this year um I remember Dr fish mentioned that when the eighth graders in Washington DC the fifth grader will be visiting right so how is it similar or different from bridge is this is the first time I heard about Bridge me to is this a one day thing no it's multiple days

155over the summer the students yeah you probably you can feel fre the program that Dr fish was talking about is fifth to sixth grade and it was offered two times one after school in June one before school in August mhm to provide a most I think a social and a little bit of an academic opportunity for students to get used to like what is what is it like as he shared like that program has overhauled and now it's within it's in the spring yes this this program is for students going into ninth grade to get additional support in the summer and it's an opportunity for counselors and administration at Pier to talk with students and and provide this service so so that the transition to high school is is stronger and there's also as you

156can see here there's also more of a an academic Focus to that and that is one of the things that we've heard and we've talked about as we've been retooling pierce the the Pierce transition we've also been talking about what does it look like what does an analogous program look like going into high school so that's something that that kind of leaders are talking about right now and and Karen is is kind of thinking about as as we hear from parents about you know the transition from Pierce to the high school was was smooth in these ways and in these ways you know academically it felt like this and so those are things that we need to respond to so can I just ask a follow-up question then so and I I it sounds like

157a great program that's not me saying this but we're just like I just want to make sure you know as we're talking about looking at the budget really closely is this something that looking forward that there's more you are we pay are it does it cost us a lot to run it versus program and is that something is that is that something if we're going to run it then we do something that covers the cost more because it's not you know or is there a way to have have this similar programming embedded or doing it the same way that they do it Pi it just seems like as we're looking at things like we're making Cuts in one way and then we're promoting this program that we can't fund so that just I guess is

158where my question would be I mean I would bring that back to the work that is going to need to be done around the instructional framework and then determining for additional time what does that look like what what is that in the summer is it after school is it are you taking certain things away during the school day to to provide additional support to students so those are all the things that you we we tend to do those things peace meal that's like tense of the approach let's add a program to do this thing or this thing and we don't look at we we have to look at the whole system because right now it runs what's the link yeah I might be four weeks I believe so mhm for six hours four weeks each

159day and it's offered to certain students who are identified as people who will benefit from it not not for everybody who wants to take it correct and so this isn't a new program not correct I'm just saying in terms of an analysis of it right right so I just I'm just like coming off the last conversation that's just where my yep especially as we're looking at fees that's why I was asking similar like with be on the Bell if we were charging 250 prior to covid but you're saying the staff is already there so it's not this funds itself with the fee yeah in my mind but any discussion of the fees it's a balance of right individual fam responsibility and our Collective responsibility as a town to support the things that we know are

160important to support all all kids um and so I think that's just a conversation with any like if this is I targeted at kind of I don't know if the term at risk is the appropriate term here but like kids who we are concerned about their ability to succeed in high school and you know be on a good path to graduate then like our high school graduation should be a priority of the entire town regardless of the family's ability to pay or decision to opt in similar to beyond the bell of if we are you know from the slide saying we're identifying these are kids who like need additional academic support they are falling behind be great if we could provide that during the school day we don't have extended school time or things like

161this is that option like we should my perspective It's Our obligation as a school system to ride that for the students who need it regardless of the family's ability to pay so I however we are living in some fiscal realities and need to have some financial offsets and it probably also helps I know for certain things just are the kids going to show up and having families have some type of financial contribution to have some incentive to actually show up on the day like those are things that I talk about with folks within my own school um and I'm sure conversations they've had but I think it is that that constant balance of just what is the individual responsibility versus what is our Collective Community responsibility to these kids I think that's really well said

162Mark and I totally agree with everything you just said and you know in addition I appreciate K you're flagging the need to Circle back to the reduce waiver process to memorialize that to clarify that so I feel definitely this I understand we need to take a vote to approve the fees themselves to be able to publicize you know the opportunities um and I also hope we can kind of come back to that piece as soon as possible in order to provide that Clarity for families for you know this next couple months as they're considering the opportunities making sure that you know no kids who would benefit from beyond the bell is not able to do it because you know because of that fee so I think that's that's like the important next step of this

163discussion um any other questions on the school summer school enrichment fees I feel like I'm belaboring a point but I so do we know the diff what the difference in cost would be like what's the difference that we have to make up for the for something like the bridge programming is it minimal is it like we're charging 50 but it costs 300 or do you know do you have any idea of that number um I don't but I can find that information I can find that and bring that back to the committee yes M thank you m so for the last piece it's the Community Schools programs just specific to the camps that will run over the summer so um the camp Cunningham program and then new for this summer the program that will be

164running um at Tucker school so Camp Tucker and so they um the director of Community Schools Martha sandal has done a wonderful job um just preparing all of the documentation that and information that she is going to share out to families about these programs and so that will be sent in the near future but this is just a snapshot of all of the information um that you'll be sharing out just around capacity and um the structure of of the programs um and just the differences um and the students can register for two weeks at Camp Cunningham and then do two weeks at Camp Tucker so if they wanted to kind of be able to experience um the swimming portion over at Cunningham and then the stem components over at Camp Tucker they can do that

165as well um so the for the fees um for cam Cunningham and cam Tucker it's the same fee regardless of which program um you can see the fees listed here so there is a fee for the camp Day program as well as an additional fee for for any of the students um that will be staying from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and so so and then there's also a column showing the information for kind of staying from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. so the camp fees did we did increase the camp fees 10% over the 2024 rates um and so the increase was done knowing that we needed to keep the program selfs self- sustaining or self-funded so our community schools program is self-funded um and it operates um by bringing in Revenue into a

166revolving Fund in which we assign the expenses too and so when we looked at some of the program changes in the past Camp Cunningham had um annually run at a deficit meaning that the expenses were um more than the revenue that they brought in and we were able to cover that overage by some of the revenue that we made um through other Community Schools programs and so as we're looking forward to next year and looking at the fees that we're charging for the programs and looking at the expenses that we're projecting out um we truly do want to ensure that these programs are self- sustaining and so in an effort to do that um we would have to increase the fees by 10% to make sure that we're operating kind of that that flat um

167amount if I remember right like for the past couple years when we heard heard from Community Schools they have shared with us that they have a a lost reserve of money that was not span because they have a hard time finding directors and also um people to help out at the at the the after school programs whato ever so right now we are a shrinking is shrinking because remember that also um what the pay went up uhhuh yes um and then we've also been drawing right proposing to draw from from the and they have increased Staffing successful increasing capacity to Serv awesome it's good to know and I just did a calculation it for for section two 10 days $746 divide by 10 days and then divide by the 7 hours is like $10.65 per

168hour it's still with in day dayare right or having a Babys fun yeah cheaper than a lot of s camps yeah yes account hates me in January sign up for this um can I just say that Tucker that's not something I'd heard we were going to do the Tucker C that's great cool yeah that was very positive too yeah yeah we're not a big town but that's a that is a significant drive when you're trying to go on your way to work the summer like being keeping giving kids the option of staying with a school they feel comfortable fantastic well I think there's so much focus on Cunningham Park and like yeah just like that's you know what I mean like that's kind of where so it was really cool that they just kind of

169like rethought it and it was I think it's it's now going to be like a consistent thing that we do which is great any other questions on the Community School I would so this is really just a note to think about next year and I know we're here and now we're doing this but I do know that for um for summer programs like a lot of other programs and opportunities come out a lot sooner um so I know that you know I'm imagining there are folks who've already made plans for their kids for this summer who are just now like learning about these opportunities and it's like it's okay we're doing our best I'm sure there will be good you know and some people know about this and they know to wait for it but

170even if and I could have missed it I definitely could have missed it but even if there's messaging we send out that says like we are having these camps and the enrollment comes out in March or something so that people can of know this is an opportunity and they don't feel pressure to sign up for something sooner it's just stressful because you don't want to miss the spots and no you're like waiting kind of like it's January early February um so maybe if that's something we can think about next year tell you this when you have kids this early set your timer 10 minutes before lock in to refresh refresh you only you miss that window once you learn that the hard way don't do that again speaking from experience anyway yeah but this is

171great thank you for bringing us so we need a motion now are we ready for that I can I can make it okay uh make a motion to approve the proposed FY 26 bees as presented second all in favor is that unanimous uh thank you uh last part for the finance uh and apologize for taking all the time here but uh approval of vendor warrants we have one vendor warrant to approve I'll go ahead uh make a motion just thinking my head for this one out do you recall 33 33 from Gale feel like I've done better on that but anyways I'll double check that um and forward it out as as we've done uh but I'll go ahead and make a motion to approve vendor warrant 33 amount of $597,500 52,900 45 cents payable

172on 21325 is there a second second all in favor thank you for C that concludes the finance subcommittee reports okay thank you Mark you all have been up doing a lot a lot of work um this next item is going to be very quick I just want to report to you all from the capital Improvement planning committee uh this committee met February 27th and the update of sharing is that um we did at that meeting approve the FY 26 capital budget recommendations for the town um that was totaling 5,143 th500 um for total capital budget recommendations $75,500 of that is for bonded items um for us the school department the re relevant um items that are included in this request which will be going to town meeting um include a generator for the Tucker school

173um Paving and curbing at our um campuses and then um for bonded items rooftop units upgrades and improvements as well as end user devices Chromebooks so those are the items that were included in the capital request on behalf of the school department um and that's that update for you all um any questions on that so that just uh brings we're as we mentioned at the beginning we're not approving minutes today that will happen next time in terms of other next meeting agenda items um we will talk about as we mentioned earlier the process going forward for how we'll be identifying the person who will come in to lead our district um beginning July 1 so I think that's something that we will need to discuss at our next meeting I'm not um you know we

174will need to probably see how things play out with the override the number and um that may or may not be something we are continuing to discuss I'm not sure what other major items we may have on our agenda for next time um this is two weeks from today we will have policy will have met UMC and Facilities okay so I'll add those on policy and Facilities any other things people know of now you can always let me know um but we'll add those pieces and then Peter we can talk about what additional pieces since I know we've sort of been prioritizing the budget reasons and figure out what we may want to bring back um okay so with that I think we can just entertain a motion to adjourn 9:37 so okay I'll second

175that all in favor okay thank you very much thank you [Music] he f [Music]