HUSD Governing Board Meeting Oct 14, 2025

001record show that there are four members of in attendance today. One member is absent today. >> Thank you. Please join me in a moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance. All right. I motion to approve the agenda. Oh, Miss Van Hook seconded. All those in favor? >> I motion carries five to zero. Mr. lotser. >> President Wade, members of the board, um thank you for allowing me today to talk a little bit about Higgley happenings. Just a couple things we want to touch base on within the superintendence report. First of all, we'd like to recognize Susan Middle School 8th grade student Trenton Mason who won his weight class at the East Valley Championship Wrestling Tournament in September. Uh from Mr. Pots and Mr. Keeling Trenton is a tremendous young man who models the

002Spartan values of respect and accountability. His hard work, determination, and leadership already won him Sausman's athlete of the week award week award during the first quarter. Trenton makes Sasma Middle School a better place and we are pleased to celebrate his success. Trenton is not was not able to be here with us tonight, but we would like to just recognize. So Trenton, if you're watching at home, thank well done and congratulations for winning your weight class at the East Valley Wrestling Championships. Thank you. Next, we would like to recognize that on Friday, September 26th, Williamsfield High School officially inaugurated its new uh CTE criminal justice lab. The ceremony welcomed a lot of different people uh while the students proudly explained the state-of-the-art facility and answered questions. They were so proud about it. It was an exciting

003milestone celebrated alongside of our students, staff, and our community. And I'd like to thank all of those who attended that day. Our vice mayor Bobby Buckley was in attendance. Two of our board members, uh, board member Van Hook and board member Glover. Thank you so much for being there on that day. Uh, the Gilbert Police Department was well represented. We actually had people from the Arizona Department of Education, their CTE unit there visiting and learning about it as well. We partnered with uh, DLR and Waltz Construction for this project and Chandler Gilbert Community College. And so what's really neat uh about the criminal justice classroom, it is truly state-of-the-art and it is one of a kind for Arizona. Um you can look at all the different pictures up there. But when we talk about the

004forensical labs that they have, we have a simulator. You can see one of the students at one of the simulators uh right there. Uh they have a mock courtroom and they actually do teen court within it. And so what a great lab and uh setup it was. They have a room dedicated to security and teaching the students how to do security through uh the closed camera TVs and dispatch as well. Uh a really interesting room with a unique name is called the blood splatter room. And so they have a room dedicated so that the students can learn how to identify uh blood splatters and where that came from. And if you ask the kids who were demonstrating that they loved it. There was an obvious p passion about how cool is this classroom. as well

005as you can see someone using the uh impaired goggles and tricycling. So, we're just so excited about um this opportunity that our students have to succeed in criminal justice and the lab opportunities at Williamsfield. And so, we thank the governing board support. And if any of the other members would ever like a tour, please, I would love to be able to show that off to you. The parents, uh students, uh we're very, very proud of what happened there. So, well, we're excited for that next opportunity at Williamsfield High School. That concludes the Higgley happenings portion of the superintendent report. Now we'll move on to upcoming events. So we're back from break and it's going to get nice and busy. College funding night at Williamsfield. Again, we're trying to support our parents uh for college readiness

006and so we have a gentleman coming in to discuss college funding and all the intricacies of that uh at Williamsfield High School on October 22nd. on the Thursday, October 23rd, we have our school visit to Bridges Elementary. Um that is for the cabinet and for the governing board. And what an opportunity that we get to go so that the Bridges students can show off their school that night on the 23rd. More than sad uh suicide awareness training here at the HUSD uh boardroom for any community member that would like to come. Uh we know that Tuesday uh November 4th is election day and that's an important day for our district. Uh Thursday, November 6th, we have the Best Buddies Talent Show at the HCPA. And uh that's a great great event where you're going to

007see a lot of proud students performing up on stage at the Higgley Center for the Performing Arts. Just a reminder, Tuesday, November 11th is Veterans Day. There is no school. And our next board meeting is Tuesday, November 18th at 5:30. So that concludes the superintendent report for today. >> Sure. Um, would you mind closing that door? The sun's like right in my eyes. >> Thank you. >> What are the odds? >> All right. Uh, thank you, Mr. Lennonheiser. This brings us to item 4.1. Uh, we will now move to public hearing to discuss the 2425 maintenance and operation override. Miss Rushamp. >> Thank you. Uh, President Wade and members of the board, um, if we can get the presentation pulled up. Perfect. Okay. So, each year we have to report on the override, any funds

008um that were spent for the override. So, what the override report is, it's per Arizona state statute 15-481.Y. Why we've listed the statute up there of what it entails. Basically, it says if we go out to increase our budget capacity above what our revenue control limit is um and we have asked for taxpayer dollars for this annually between September 1st and October 31st, we need to share um what those funds were spent on. And so we have been doing that every year. You would also have to do this for bonds and capital overrides. Our bond funds are gone. Um we have not had capital overrides. So that's why here at Higgley, we will just do the M override report. Okay. So, back in November 2019, that was when we went out to the voters to

009ask for the 15% increase over the RCL to increase our budget capacity. At that time, we listed these bullet points as what we intended to use the funds for. So, increasing teacher compensation, maintain and improve the elementary specials, lists them there. Um, also district athletics, uh, provide staffing to maintain average class sizes, support gifted, special ed, and all day kindergarten. Um, just as a reminder, we are funded at halfday kindergarten, not full day. So that is an extra cost to the district and also to provide education resources to the classroom. And all of this again can be found in the pamphlet that was provided in November 2019. >> So, President Wade, members of the board, um we went through and looked and said, "What percentage of the override was spent to those categories that matched

010what was in the pamphlet?" And so, the pie chart you see before you is how that determination was spent. Remember, this is for fiscal year 25, which ended on June 30th. And so we do have three months that we reconcile uh and then present it to you. So um that's this is 25. And so the total M override around for fiscal year 25 was that fully funded 15% and so that was a little over $14 million as you can see up in the corner of the screen there. Uh the number one thing that it was spent on was increased teacher compensation. 34% of that money was to do that. Uh that was a very concerted effort over the last 5 years within HUSD to increase teacher compensation because we know it's very important to attract

011and retain quality teachers and we want our teachers to stay in Higgley and we have been successful in doing that. When the override started we were below the state average in terms of compensation by $800 and now uh according to the auditor general's report last year for 24 we are $2,000 above the state average. Again, that was a very important uh point that we did and so we use those override funding to allow us to do that. Additionally, with that, our teacher experience index is over 10 years. Our average teacher has over 10 years of experience and so that's a great thing that has shown and the override was able to support that. You'll see the next category is maintain and improve elementary specials. 22% of the M overrides uh funds were spent to that.

012maintaining average class sizes. 21% of the override went from there. And then we go down to support gifted sped and all day kindergarten. 13% as uh Mrs. Rush Camp uh said a full day kindergarten is not fully funded, only half day is. And so we use those funds to make sure that we provide that all day kindergarten option for our parents who need it. And then finally providing educational resources to classrooms 10%. And so what we did is we looked at that override amount and we split um split it into those different percentages that you see on how we used it. In the bottom corner just leading into 26, you can see that we have that reduction. We're estimating that we have about $9 uh.2 million in override funding to be spent during the 26

013year. We we often get a lot of questions about override, especially some of us who haven't been in the district forever, just five or six years. And so this is just so people understand the history of the override as it's gone forth. In 2003, uh the district was passed a 10% override. That was the maximum amount allowed then. It was renewed in in 2008. It failed in 2012 and 2013. Within that time, the state has allowed now uh districts to go up to 15% for an override. And so that passed in 2015, was renewed in 2019, and that is what we're talking about today. We're that last year was the fifth year of that fully funded Mino override. It failed last year in 2024. And so if you take a look at this chart, basically

014it just shows you so that we're aware of what the phaseown looks like. Currently, we are on the fiscal year 26 phase down, that 33% reduction. That's the green uh column right there. So, we're anticipating a $9.2 million uh in M and and continuing to spend it on the categories and which we listed within that pamphlet. We know we have an override on the ballot this year. Should that not pass, then we would go on to year seven and you can see the fiscal year 27. We would reduce it by uh 67% which means we would still have override funds coming in but that would be a little bit less. We're estimating a little bit less than $5 million. And then in year eight we would have no more override funding. And so the loss

015between those years the fully funded year is 25 and then up to year eight uh would be the total amount of 14. And so that's a common question that people ask us about the override and the situations that have happened with Higgley and we wanted to provide that timeline for you there. So what we've done tonight, uh Sharon and I have just presented very quickly what the override how we've spent it and how that correlates to what we told the voters it would do from our pamphlet in 2019. And that is the uh extent of our portion of the uh public meeting. At this point, does any member of the public have any comments or questions regarding the 2024 2025 override expenditures? All right, great. I'm gonna take everybody's lack of enthusiasm. Do you want

016to do it now or do you want to do it when we talk about it? Uh, whatever. >> Um, the presentation states that the override was used for raises, but did we not um offer raises through the um CSF funds of 4% last year? uh last year was a combination of M and classroom site fund. This year, this current year that we're in now 26 was only using classroom site fund. So this report is strictly M. Okay. So this is this is 2425 school year. >> Correct. >> Okay. Um if I can get a breakdown of how much was override and how much because I I thought that the full 4% came from um classroom site funds because that's what we approved. >> Okay. Yep. No, I can definitely go back and Yep. I will

017find Mr. Moore's notes. >> Thank you. And then also on that um where the where it shows year six and year seven, is that flipped? Should it be 67 and then 33? >> No, >> cuz I thought year six is >> it's the reduction, not the what's left. >> Oh god. Okay. >> Okay. Yeah. So, we reduced by a third. So, it's where we put the 33. I kind of like to say it like this. Fully funded is 15%. Right. Reduction of first takes us down to 10%. Then 5% then zero. And so those are the those are the same things in terms of putting it forward. But the reduction is 30 cent 33% reduction and that's >> for year six and then Okay. >> Yeah. So board member Van Hook I did change that

018up a little from what Mr. Moore had done. We thought showing the money the funds that we would be receiving each year would be a little more clear than showing the reductions so that you can see what and again these are based on last year's ADM. So the numbers are going to vary based on what our ADM comes in over the next couple years as well. So they're just estimates, but yeah, we've figured it would be more clear to show what that budget number would be in those fiscal years. >> Got it. And do we have um the 100th day dam yet? >> No. No. >> In January 100 day is January, >> is it? Okay. Um but and but we do have the 40-day ADM. Um, can we also get those numbers as well?

019The most current. >> Yes. Thank you. >> That's it. >> Oh, go ahead. >> Oh, thank you, Madam President. I just wanted to acknowledge and thank Miss Rush Camp. This is She stepped into this role. This is your first public presentation. So, I wanted to thank you and congratulate you. You made it. You did it. Good job. Thank you. >> Thanks, Mr. Glover. All right. I motion that the governing board reconvenes in open session. >> Second. >> That would be Miss German seconding. All those in favor? >> I motion carries 5. This brings us to item 5.1 uh request to speak public comment. This is the last call uh for request to speak. And next on the agenda are the request to speak. If you could please play the video. Does it look like we

020have them already? Great. Great. Great. Thank you. >> We value input from our constituents. This time on our agenda has been set aside for anyone from the audience who wishes to address the board. Those that wish to speak should have filled out speaker cards which are due prior to the start of our meeting. Members of the board may not discuss, comment, or take action on matters raised that are not specifically identified on the agenda. Therefore, pursuant to ARS 38-431.01i, action taken as a result of public comment will be limited to directing staff to study the matter, responding to any criticism, or scheduling the matter for further consideration and decision at a later date. Also, we ask that audience members practice proper public meeting decorum, refraining from either negative or positive responses, including clapping or verbal

021outbursts to ensure fairness to all points of view. Those that refuse to follow these rules may be asked to leave. In accordance with policy beedh public participation at board meetings, if considered necessary, the governing board president shall set a time limit on the length of the comment period in order to ensure that each individual has an opportunity to address the board. The president may also set a time limit for individual speakers. Thank you for your cooperation. Okay, up first we have Gina Schmid. Over the last few months, I have spoken of the goodness of this Hegley Unified School District. I will continue to do so. Hegley Unified School District is a strong and vital part of our Hegley community. I have shared and hopefully you have seen and or heard many examples of the incredible

022people who make Higgley Unified School District the best of the best. Some of my new examples from my family are the end of the first quarter parent teacher conferences. It was engaging and insightful being in the classrooms and on campus. It was great to see student work displayed proudly on bulletin boards throughout the schools. I appreciate the detailed look into the time my children spend at school and the collaborative dialogue for their greatest good. Over fall break, my daughter participated in a creative camp at Power Ranch Elementary School. She enjoyed it immensely. This is an example of the unique programs offered outside of normal school hours in Higgley Unified School District. We also noticed that there were freshly painted safety paths um on the crossing paths at Chapperrell Elementary School that happened over fall break.

023Over the past couple months, other parents and I have spoken of the fact that brain science supports the necessity of elementary specials, music, art, and library. Music helps build connections in the brain. Art allows expression and play. Library builds literacy and media skills. Often specials are a teacher's favorite part of the day and the students part of favorite part of the day. There is science behind the ideal class size because of the connection needed for brain development. Students need to be seen, heard, and feel a part of their classrooms in order to be able to learn. There is brain science behind learning a second language from an early age. The Mandarin Chinese dual language immersion program is a unique and vital asset to our district. We must foster a lifelong love of learning as a

024foundation to success. Students deserve safe and up-to-date campuses. We must rivet our attention and interests on Hegel Unified School District and the goodness that it brings to our community. We must take affirmative action in supporting the educational opportunities available at every grade level in the district. The students and staff of Hegley Unified School District are worth the investment. The investment is not only in them, but also in our community. Strong schools add to the strength and safety of the community now and in the future. Let's continue to thrive. Please vote yes. Thank you. Up next, we have Dominic Ready. Good evening, members of the school board. Three years ago, I stood before you as a portrait of a graduate of Cornado Elementary, demonstrating how my teachers provided me with all the skills that you wanted

025in a graduate. Today, I stand before you again, not just as a student, but someone who has experienced firsthand the value of opportunities this district has provided, especially through the Mantrum program. Last year, I had the incredible opportunity to travel to China on a scholarship. It wasn't just a trip. It was a life-changing experience. I got to dive into culture I've been learning about for years, speak Mandrin in real life situations, and build relationships with people from all over the world. It showed me how important it is to be able to communicate across cultures. The skills I've gained from these opportunities have provided have provided me the preparations to deal with whatever life throws at me. And I want to be clear. I'm not here because I'm some sort of teacher's pet. I can count

026my student of the month awards on one finger, but that's the point. I'm a regular student who has been given a chance, and that's made all the difference. The mantrum program hasn't just been a class for me. It's been a door to new opportunities. What's frustrating, though, is seeing adults argue over something that doesn't directly affect them. It's easy to make decisions about the Mandrin program without truly understanding its impact on students. But but the truth is we the students are the ones who are learning from it. We are the ones who will be affected by whether or not this program continues. And I can tell you the value we get from it is immense. I know that resources are limited and tough decisions need to be made. But cutting the mandrin program would take

027away opportunities that can shape students futures. Mandrin isn't just another language. It's a way to connect with the world, to learn about other cultures, and to develop skills that will matter in a global economy. These are skills that will help students not just in the classroom, but in life. So I ask you to consider how much this program means to students like me and to many others who will come after us. It's not just about words. It's about the doors it opens, the people we meet, and the way we grow. Please don't take away this opportunity for future generations of students. Thank you for your time and considering the future of the management program. Thank you. Next we have Coran Regulski. Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'm the proud parent of

028children attending Higgley schools since kindergarten. All day kindergarten, thank goodness. and now my oldest is in high school. Our experiences at Coronado, Kulie, and Williamsfield have been nothing short of amazing. Every teacher, every staff member. Higgley schools have given my children confidence, curiosity, and a genuine love of learning. A couple of years ago, when our family grew drastically and we needed a little more space, we moved to a nearby district. We had to um we thought, well, Coronado was great. Surely a nearby larger district will be just as good. We were totally wrong. We quickly learned Higgley is different. The connection, the care, the excellence. It's not something you can take for granted. We noticed our children changing, learning less, losing that spark for learning that Higgley gave them. Within just a few months, we

029did something really crazy. We abruptly pulled them out and got them moved back into Higgley. Because when you find a school community that truly partners with parents like Higgley, that invests in every child, that feels like home, you do what it takes to get your kids back there. This experience also really deepened our appreciation of the power of public schools like Higgley Unified. Charter schools offer certain programs and promises, but public schools like Higgley have offered us something much bigger. Belonging, a shared commitment to all kids, not just some. also accountability, right? This very forum for voices from the community is a benefit of public schools. Good luck getting a charter school to welcome the community in to hear feedback, let alone a company that might buy an empty school lot someday. Yeah, right. Right.

030And here's the thing. Strong public schools don't just benefit families that have children attending them. They benefit everyone in the community. Yes, retirees. Yes, homeschooling families. Yes, everyone. Studies consistently show that communities with excellent public schools like Higgley enjoy higher property values. Just look on Zillow on your phone. Their algorithms that everyone relies on are heavily based on public school ratings nearby. Communities with strong public schools have lower crime rates, stronger local businesses, more civic engagement, and just a stronger local economy. It's what we all want. Do you or someone that you care about live or travel or play within the thousand feet of a school boundary? Well, you're not around a sex offender and that's thanks to your local school in your community. When our public schools do well, our entire community becomes safer

031and more prosperous. I'm here tonight to urge us all and particularly the board members to protect what makes Higgley so special and keep our public schools as strong as possible. Let's not make hasty choices to fully cut programs that would eliminate more enrollment like the Mandarin program or specials altogether. Let's get creative and build on the excellence we have. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have Travis White. Good evening, President Wade, members of the board, superintendent, and community members. My name is Travis. I'm a proud parent of a kindergartener in the Mandarin dual immersion program at Coronado Elementary. Um, to start with the socials, October is National uh, Principles Month. Um, and I want to thank Principal Griggs, even though he's not here, for everything he does to support the teachers and students at Coronado.

032Um, and I want to sincerely thank all the volunteers for spreading the word about the importance of voting yes in the upcoming override election. Research shows that increasing teacher salaries directly improves student achievement, lowers dropout rates, and promotes educational equity. Well-paid teachers are more likely to stay in positions, providing stability and experienced instructions to our children year after year. It's important to note that while charter schools in Arizona are not required by law to hire teachers with traditional certifications, public school districts like Higgley do. This ensures that our children are taught by qualified, prepared educators. I commend the district for earning the certificate of excellence in financial reporting and keeping administrative costs well below 10%. However, teacher salary increases are only going to get more challenging without additional override funding. As we approach the vote

033deadline, I urge each of you to think about what this override means for our students, future committee members, leaders, first responders, and citizens in our community. This is not just about budgets or numbers. It's about investing in their success and giving our teachers the support they deserve. Voting yes on this override ensures that we keep our schools strong, our classrooms full of dedicated teachers, and our students equipped for the challenges ahead. Let's show that we value education and are willing to stand behind our children's futures. Please vote yes before the deadline, October 28th for mailin, November 4th for drop off, and encourage your neighbors and friends to do the same. I want to thank Miss Yarm for recently sharing a story on her social media about how little the M override would cost each resident.

034I agree with you. When we think locally and come together as a community, we can truly be the change we want to see. Thank you. All right, that concludes our public comment portion. This now brings us to uh item or the consent agenda. I motion to approve consent agenda items 6.1 through 6.13. >> Second. >> I'm going to do uh Miss German seconded. All those in favor? >> I >> There we go. Motion carries five to zero. All right. This brings us to our information items. We have up first information item 7.1 JLC, Student Health Services and Requirements. This is our first read. Miss Johnson, we're looking to you. >> President Wade, I'm going to refer to Mrs. Fulton. Now, can you hear me? >> Okay. Good evening. We're going to look at JLC, the

035first read. I'm not sure if we're putting it up, but I have my copy here. Here we go. So we were given um reference from the ASPA to change this and add some things. You can see at the top there are everything in black that we know. Those are the things that we kept there. The red is what I took out. Administration of immunizations in conjunction with the county health department and in compliance with Arizona revised statutes. Um we don't administer uh immunizations. So, we took that out. Providing preventative health information there, the treatment of school-related injuries, illnesses, and recommendation for follow-up care. We left that. I took out screening clinics for selected physical impairments. We do our vision and hearing, but that doesn't necessarily fall under a physical impairment when we're looking through the

036state guidelines. So, I took that out. And under that we added EFG with on the request by a student's parent or guardian each student sorry each school district or charter school shall provide health care credentials of each individual who provides routine health care to students in the school health office on request by a student's parent or guardian. Each school district or charter school shall provide information describing the types of emergency response training, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation training that the school district or charter school requires school employees to complete. and G. A school district or charter school is not required to release the personally identifiable information of a school employee or individual who provides routine health care services to students, including the employees or individuals address, salary, social security number, or telephone number. >> Thank you. Do

037we have any questions or comments from the board? I I don't mean to put you on the spot, but how do you feel about this policy? Do you think it's kind of hitting the nail on all the head, like all the different ways that you could kind of perhaps support and protect the student and um and the district? How do you feel about this? >> I like the policy. I think that we have several policies that in one way or another integrate each other. This is a good example of things that we do. what was taken out I obviously don't think should be there because we don't do that and so I think that taking that out was a really good idea because we're putting on the persona that we do and we don't so

038I think that's good >> great so the expectations what the district provides is you wanted to keep very clear on that okay I appreciate the red lines okay thank you >> thank you very All right. This brings us to 7.2 JLF reporting child abuse child protection. Second read. Mr. Walker. >> Good evening, Madam President, members of the board. Uh before you tonight is the second read of policy draft JLF. Um last meeting it was brought forward for the first read with some recommended changes from uh our policy advisory based on some changes brought to the legislation from Senate Bill 1493. Um in addition to that, board member Van Hook had requested to add some more clarifying uh criteria to the policy which has been added uh just to delineate the two. The original uh first

039read with the changes is noted in blue and then with the updated uh amended changes is in green from this for the second read. >> Do we have any questions or comments from the board? I just want to say thank you for um adding um some of these changes just to strengthen the policy. For clarification, Miss O'Brien, as far as I understand it, nothing that was added seems to change the implication or what needs to like what we're responsible for, what the obligations are of staff and how we go about that process. Am I understanding that correct? >> President Wade, board members, yes, I reviewed the changes provided by member Van Hook and I provided feedback um to Mr. Walker, but there was nothing in conflict with the statutory requirements. >> President Wade, um I

040am so grateful kind of for the clarity of this. Sometimes I feel with policies they get like, you know, you get lost in translation a little bit. So, I'm so grateful for that add the additions for the amended add-ins. So, overall, well done. Okay, this brings us to 7.3, our annual financial report for fiscal year 2025, Miss Rushamp. >> Uh, thank you, President Wade, uh, members of the board. So also this evening um we are going to review the annual financial report. We also call that the AFR. It is a document that takes our expenditures from last year and puts them into a very large spreadsheet um breaking them out and it is required to be reported to AD by October 15th which is tomorrow. So we will get that uploaded and then we will

041also get it uh on our district website for everyone's uh view. So what is the AFR? Uh this year the auditor general they send out the forms. It's a form that uh the school districts in the state of Arizona have to use. Um there are four plus forms. What they did this year is they took the food service AFR which typically had been its own report. They have now rolled that into the large AFR. So we will now be sharing four instead of our typical five reports that uh Mr. Moore has done in the past. Again, um, per Arizona statute, it must be uploaded by October 15th. For Higgley last year, ended June 30th, 2025. We had over $175 million of expenditures. That's including all of our funds that we use. Um, we also had

042over 366,000 accounting transactions. So, that's our entire general ledger. Um the AFR again will take and break down into the different categories um of the expenditures. So there are several seven categories that the auditor general calls out and we wanted to provide these for you just to make it a little bit easier especially when we're reviewing the um the spending reports. So the first category is instruction. That would be anything related to working with the students. Whether you are a a teacher, a parah, a subteers, um classroom supplies, going on field trips, athletics, um that would fall under instruction. Student support are those that support the students, not necessarily with them in the classroom every day. So counselors, aiologists, speech pathologist and such instruction support again they are supporting the students and teachers. So it

043could be um teachers, mentoring teachers. Um we have our curriculum development, media specialist, the instruction related technology uh that we provide and then for administration that uh covers a large area. So superintendence, principles, uh the finance department, it also picks up payroll, uh purchasing, warehousing. Uh we have a print shop here at Higgley. So it would include them human resources and then administrative technology services. So those items that are supporting the administrative staff um and the principles not necessarily the students. That's where the breakdown comes from under instruction supportive instruction related technology. We also have plant operations which is uh equipment repair, building maintenance, keeping the building safe and comfortable for the students and staff every day. Um and property insurance, food service, um pretty much speaks for itself and as well as transportation. So,

044President Wade, members of the board, uh we wanted to give you those uh glossery of key terms because I think it's important because there's a lot of times a mis disconnect when you hear the word for instance administration. You think, oh, it's just the principles and the superintendent. But please understand it encompasses so much more than that, including our finance department, our HR department, our our administrative assistants. And um when you hear instruction, it's not just the teacher. Again, there's so much more than that. And so the auditor general will break down uh the report and give us percentages uh which was what we've done here. And so when you take a look at again this is fiscal year 25. This ended on June 30. And so this is how we spent our money last

045year. And so you'll see the majority of that was spent. 58.4% was on instruction and classroom support. Uh the next highest one right after that if you can look and I'm sorry we couldn't make the colors exactly match that but we I hopefully you you'll see it by the name plant. So maintaining our buildings we know how important it is to have safe secure and up-to-date buildings and so 11.5% of our budget was spent on uh plants and supporting the plants and supporting uh what happens on the campuses so students have a clean and safe environment in which to come and learn. The next uh highest category was 9.7% was spent on administration. Uh in the state of Arizona, typically it's above 10% or well above 10% is spent on administration and we are below

046that mark at 9.7% of our overall budget. Uh following up with that, we have our student support at 7.3% and our instructional support 5.3%. U sometimes the state looks at instruction, student support and instructional support together to say what are we doing to support the kids directly and adding those together. The auditor general will come out with a report. Remind me again uh Sharon when the report comes out. >> It will be mid to late winter. >> Mid to late winter. All right. We'll get the report from the auditor general that will talk specifically about where we are especially compared to our peer districts. Then you'll notice that we have transportation at 4.5% and food service at 3.3%. This is great to look at one year, fiscal year 25. But in order to give you

047a frame of reference, what we've done is we've we've put in a chart so you can see where we were in previous years. So you can see the changes that have come back on what we spent uh fiscal year 25. And so you'll notice uh when when you look and read this chart, if you take a look at the fiscal years, that's four of them together. Then you see the instruction classroom. If you move across the side, you'll see where we're at. The change from prior year is in terms of the true percentage of the big picture. Not necessarily a percentage change along the row, but more just what's the change. And so it's very easy math for you to see. Uh we went from uh 57.8% spent in the classroom in 24 to 58.4.

048That's where we get the change of 6. And so if you'll take a look at that, you'll see that instructional support increased by 0.5. Uh student support increased by 0.1 very close. Administrative costs went down from 10.4 to 9.7% of the overall budget. Plant services declined from 11.9% to 11.5%. Uh transportation you can see from previous year went down by 0.2 2 and then food service hit the magic stayed exactly the same 3.3. So that's a comparison when you look at previous years to how we've spent the percentages for this year on the classroom spending report. Now for a little bit more detail I'm going to turn it back over to Mrs. Rush Camp. Okay. So first we will look at the budget controlled funds versus the cash controlled funds. So the budget controlled funds

049are typically generated from ADM our average daily membership. So our students that are attending um that would be for the maintenance and operation our M fund which is 001 our capital outlay fund 610 and then our federal and state grants those are funded based on um district demographics um what we may qualify for uh the needs of our students perhaps in sped that's how um those formul formulas uh are determined to see the budget that we will get. So, here's looking at M and this is looking at a five-year comparison going back to 2021. And you will notice 2021 the M budget was just over 95 million and then you'll see how going up to about 24 it was increasing. Well if you remember during that time that was the COVID time where we had

050ESSER one two and three we also had stabilization grants. Um there were a couple other COVID uh grants that the district got. So we had a little over $20 million. So what Mr. Moore had done during that time was tried to put a little relief on the M uh budget and we were using the ESSER funds for items that we were allowed to use them fund for. uh we did not put in salaries as far as putting in new positions that we knew we would not be able to uh retain once we had lost that funding. So it was uh the one-time funds. So that is what allowed that carry forward to climb up to 2023. Now that we have fully exhausted all of our CO funds, you're noticing the decline now of our carry

051forward going down. So for 25, uh, we're going to carry over just over 21 million. As a reminder, fiscal year 25, that was a fully funded M override. Um, so going into 26, it's going to look uh quite different, but we dropped um our budget went down basically 1% as far as um our carry carry forward for what we plan to carry over into next year. And I should just make a note as well, while we have everything that we know done in finance, our auditors will be here in just under two weeks uh to go over everything again. So if they find something that changes at that point, we would have to go out and revise our AFR. This is the capital summary. So I have kept um the same format that Mr. Moore

052had used again looking at five years um starting in 2021 what the state has allocated what we have carried forward you'll notice um from 21 to 23 we were carrying over more funds that was in preparation of the Higgley High School building edition that was done there were some bond funds that were left to support that and then also So capital supported that. So um that's where you will see the carryover funds higher and you will also see for M the transfer in 23 we had a one-time allocation um that we were allowed to put either in M or capital. So we chose to put that in capital to also help support the new build. So for 25 now we're down to what we get for our district additional assistance any funds that we carry

053forward. This year we we anticipated carrying forward about 7.55 million when we are going to actually carry forward about 6.9 million in capital. Uh, M we transfer every year. As a reminder, we transfer a minimum 3.55 million. That is to cover the cost of the two middle school leases that we have. They have to be paid from capital. So, M picks that cost up by at budget time. We move those funds over to capital. So, they are available to spend. And then for our cash controlled funds, these are funds that the money is not derived from the state. So it is generated, the revenue is generated from um either fees uh tuition cost in the case of such preschool. Um and these funds every year will roll. So, it's just like your typical checking account.

054Whatever you have at the end of June 30 is going to be your balance on July one. They're not controlled by a budget. So, looking at food service, um they have remained pretty stable. Our food service fund, the items we can purchase out of that are controlled pretty much by AD. If we want to purchase uh food service equipment, there is a list of pre-approved food service equipment items that the district can purchase without having to get ADM's approval. And then there are other items that we have to ask first. So, we have been replacing serving lines. Um we did an upgrade at the Williamsfield uh in their kitchen. So, uh that was part of why that fund has dropped. a couple hundred thousand. And then the civic center, that is actually what we would

055call refer to as our rental fund. So we had increased rental fees going into 25. And Mr. Moore, this is another fund he has been trying to build up just to help offset some of the cost. So when we have people coming in to rent our fields or rent our buildings and the wear and tear, we can use some of these funds to now go in and uh make any necessary repairs that might be required. And that then takes a little pressure off the capital fund for our community schools. That is our preschools and it's also community eds. So, kids club, uh, community ed enrichment, those types of things. That was another, uh, area that we had increased the tuition for preschools, trying to get their fund balance up a little bit, um, because their

056overall expenses every year are just over $6 million. So, that's for both preschool and kids club. So to be able to maintain that um and to also be able to add additional items they may need, we have been trying to get that fund balance increased which going at as we end this year um we have been successful with that. And then for indirect cost those are generated from federal grants. So you will notice again during the COVID time 21 22 23 we had additional dollars come in which allowed then for the district to claim indirect cost which pays for oh helping with accounts payable paying invoices related payroll paying staff that are being funded from that um electricity for the rooms. So all those types of things are indirect cost. Um so that's why you

057have seen that number go up. Now that the CO dollars are gone, we will see that start to come down. Um but that is also a fund that the finance staff are paid from because pretty much everybody in finance touches the grants one way or another. And then these are the main cash funds that we oversee here at the district office. There are multiple other cash funds um that are overseen at the school site such as the auxiliary tax credit, student activities. Um the schools oversee those um with the oversight from finance and also um auditing of their their spending as well. So, President Wade, members of the board, when you take a look at the budget, there's a couple different takeaways that we, you know, want to highlight and move forward. And so, with

058that budget balance decreasing, the MEO budget balance carried forward decreased, uh, due in part to less revenue because of declining student enrollment, you know, as well as we we obviously the reduction of the override as well. But we want to understand with declining student enrollment means declining ADM, which means declining money that we get from the state. I think one question we commonly get not just from governing board members but people in the community is tell tell me about the carry forward and how is the carry forward used and what's going to be done with the carry forward and a lot of times when we say carry forward uh people get confused I like to use the term savings account because is it our district savings since we didn't spend it it goes into our

059savings uh for this carry forward and um Mr. more had come and said, "Hey, governing board, at some point we'd love to have a discussion about what would be a policy that we would set a limit and say where would where do we want the carry forward to be?" Then as a district, we have a target to shoot for on how to spend down the carry forward. Now, listed not within this presentation is we know here in 26 um if you went back to the March 4th meeting, Mr. more presented a budget that was $9 million less than what we had currently done in 25. And we know that we reduced by about $5 million in terms of a lot of different reductions. We called it phase one reductions, but $4 million that we needed

060to reduce, we're going to take out of carry forward. That's why we have a savings account. And it slowed down the decline of what we needed to reduce. And so when we come back to you next year and and present the 26 next October, you'll notice that our carry forward is going to be down. We're anticipating down to about 17 million. And so what we'd like to do is have a future discussion about what does the governing board where do they want to see the percentage of savings for us to have uh a fund balance? What our carry forward? There are a lot of different views out there about we need to make sure we have six months worth of payroll in the bank. Different things like that in case something happens because remember we

061still have this aggregate expenditure limit from our state legislature and with the carry forward we have right now if that was put into place we would be able to pay our staff for the rest of the year even if we were not getting any more money because the state still has that now they've waved it but it's not completely gone yet. One of the things that we have done with that in anticipation of that carry forward if that is not waved some districts will have to furlow and not pay their people we have it saved up so that we will be able to but we'd like to have a future discussion I think as we look at that especially when we're talking in terms of declining ADM and a possible decline with continued override money

062about where we can save that money. When you take a look at our evaluating our cash fund balances, obviously we have raised rates. So, you've seen the increase due to the increased rates and tuition as well as we're trying to rent our facilities as much as possible. And then we're going to use that fund to maintain. Um, as Mrs. Rushamp talked about the civic center fund, the more that we can have in there, that's going to help offset the fact that we're not getting what we need in terms of capital. the state is providing us a a capital amount, but in order for us to maintain our buildings, uh we're spending more than that capital amount, which is why you're going to see the carry forward in that go down. Civic center funds can help

063support that through our rentals. And so that's an important way that we can supplement that capital. Classroom and instructional spending. This is really important to us because we know this is why we exist is to support the classroom and to support the kids, to support teachers, to teach kids. And we want to continue to make sure that we have maintain high spending in those areas even while enrollment is declining because that's the emphasis of what we need. And then as kind of mentioned in the capital, this declining capital budget, we know that what we have in terms of carry forward and what we're getting from the state and we have the leases that are built into that already that we're going to spend more than what the state gives us. So we need to be

064very specific about and and focused on what we can do. You know, at the same times, we have to have reserves in there. A good example is you improve approved earlier in consent, $313,000 for us to fix the chillers uh that are happening at Williamsfield because we need to make sure we have quality air conditioning for our kids when they're at campus. Was that anticipated? No. But we had to make sure we had the money in that. And so, unless additional funding comes uh for capital, we need to be make sure we're very specific about it. So, um, those are just some takeaways and I think some f further discussion points that we can have in terms of how we're managing the budget and going forward. And before we go into questions, I do want

065to thank Mrs. Rush Camp and her team for working diligently on this very very uh important that they've been really striving to make sure that we can pinpoint everything we can. they are highlighted for how we do the auditors come in and they said you had done excellence within your reporting and that's from Aspo International and that's not a rating that everyone gets but we have been able to do it to make sure that we are following procurement rules procedures and being transparent in how this comes out from our budget. So with that uh Mrs. Rush Camp and I would be happy to answer any questions or uh take any comments that you guys have. Go ahead. Any question? >> I I don't. So, you're all right. >> Okay. Um on this presentation um I

066I kind of have a comparison between the numbers that we're seeing here uh for budgeted dollars to um item 6.7 that we approved in the consent agenda. uh the uh August financial uh report that we approved in the consent agenda showed a budget balance of 23 million. Um, but we closed 2425 M carry forward with 21 million. And I'm just curious like why there's that difference um with uh sorry from then uh the 23 million with the carry forward of 21 million. Yeah. So there's there's a difference of about 1.7 million and I couldn't figure out why there was that gap. >> So are you talking about what's in the consent agenda? The >> Yeah, the the uh fiscal year 2526 August report um shows a budget balance of 23 million. But then when you

067look at these reports, we show 21 million um in the carry forward for full year 2025. So this report is from 25 fiscal year 25 which just ended. The what's in the consent agenda is from fiscal year 26. So we've started with a new budget. Um we have not because we are just finalizing this this week. I mean we have still been adjusting it right up through well yesterday Mr. Moore was making some adjustments on Sunday even because he was working on capital assets. So we have not done a final roll yet from fiscal year 25 to fiscal year 26. Now, because these are budgeted funds, the carryover will get corrected, but um we have to stay with what we adopted on June 24th as our fiscal year 26 budget until we go back out

068for another budget revision, which we'll do in December. Um this is the allocated budget that we have right now. >> No. And and I understand that. I'm just curious because we closed out with 21 million where the additional money that is now showing in that carry forward came from um because you're looking at the 23 million in the budget balance, right? >> Yes. >> Yeah. So basically what that is is that's just saying of 117 million that we started July 1, 2026 with we have spent 11.7 million we have encumbered 82 million and so we have 23 million left to spend from whenever this report was run through June 30th. >> Okay. >> So they're two different numbers, >> right? But the but the M carry forward from last year obviously moved into 25 26

069years. >> It will. Yes, it will. When we do our December revision. Yes. And that was kind of like what I mentioned too with the capital. If you if you went back and you pull the June 24th uh budget reports that we did, we anticipated carrying over $6 million for capital. uh we are actually bringing less in. We did this in the beginning of June because we did not change our June 24th budget from our uh re our preliminary budget that we did early June. So at that point we still didn't know how we were going to end because we keep spending until August 29th. So you will see that picked up though in December. We cannot we we can't change it right now because it was adopted in June. Um so we cannot change

070it until we go back and take it to you again. But it will have the final number of $21 million on that and that's where you will see that then come over and it will change that $17 million number. And the 117 includes the reduction of that $9.2 million. >> Correct. >> Okay. Um let's see. Um my concern is ADM obviously decreased um which should have reduced the M limits. Um but our M still rose uh when we look at 20 full year 2025 uh by about 234,000 um and effectively we maintained a flat budget between 24 and 25 even though we have fewer students um and and less revenue. Uh so it's the fact that we're spending the same even though we have less students is a bit bit concerning for me. Um because

071that we should see that reducing as we're you know our ADM reducing. Um but that's not the case when um when we look at the budget um our M reduced by a couple million. Um but when you when we're budgeting our budgets increasing instead of going down um do you have questions? Well, I either I'm misunderstanding you or that's not a factual statement that what we're talking about is 2025. We did decrease our budget for fiscal year 2026, which is what we're a part of right now. So, this finance that we're dealing with is for previous budget, the one that ended in June. So again going from June or financial fiscal year of 2025 which is what we're talking about to this upcoming we did budget for less. Now we have talked about repetitively that

072that budget has a little asterisk because things happen and we may end up getting students or we may lose students or things may happen in general and that's why every year this budget is important because this shows us what in fact did happen when everything you know shakes out. But we did budget a decrease with that loss of ADM for this upcoming school year fiscal 2026. And that it sounded like to me that you were saying we did not do that from 25 to 26. So I just want to make sure that that's >> Yeah. No, you you are misunderstanding cuz I'm talking about 24 to 25 our budget increased and the last couple years at least our ADM has reduced. Um and our reduction going into 26 is based on the 9 million due

073to the override. Uh and here I I'm just talking about M. Um and it's not necessarily because of ADM reduction. It's because the override reduction that we have to do in year six, which is why we went from 126 to 117. Um but that's just a concern I have. uh students drop, our budget should should be reducing at the same time. Uh but between 24 and 25, our budget actually increased. Um, and then when we're looking at the key takeaways, um, I am glad that you guys put in there that, uh, you know, the M budget balance decreased partly because of ADM reduction. Uh, and there's a I think that there's a misconception that it's because the override, you know, the whole thing is because the override failed and that's not a fact. Um, and

074the um I was curious about the policy. Uh, but you clarified that already. Um, and then the civic center rentals. I um I did have uh a few parents reach out that they they were being told that like cheer rates were going up because the override failed and and I just want to make clarify that that that's not why cheer rates went up. It's because we increased rates um for activities. Um and that that has nothing to do with the override. Um and then I was curious if we saw any um reduction in the sorry I got to find that slide. Uh the community schools because we increased the rates. I'm just curious if we saw any parents like pull out um their students because of the increase in rates >> would not be on

075this >> uh President Wade uh board member Ruin Hook, I will ask Mr. Armstrong to speak to the preschool. >> Yeah, actually we have not seen a major decrease at all when it comes to because of the rates. There's other factors that play into it. In fact, one of our our centers is at about 86% and the other one is at about 80 I think it's 83% 82%. Don't quote me, but it's relatively high and it's right around where we were last year. >> Great. That's great to hear. And then one last thing on this is uh you know I did see that uh you know we're taking advantage of uh like grants and um you know requesting funding through the state facilities board and um I like that we're doing that uh to you

076know be able to obtain additional funding uh without burdening taxpayers. So that's wonderful. Thank you. >> Uh for clarification just so I make sure I'm understanding and again I still may be misunderstanding what it is that you're expressing Miss Van Hook as far as going from 24 to 25. We budget as far as ADM our staffing based on expected students. So we if we have a situation in which we know that we're most likely going to lose let's say 100 students and I'm clearly making up numbers from 24 to we get less FTE essentially that we do for that which means we have less staff a lot of times we don't feel it because we have natural attrition people retire people move etc so we may not hire as many that year as we do

077in other years in which we expect to see a growth so while it is true going from fiscal year 2025 5 to fiscal year 2026 and we had a larger uh than I guess desired is the best way to say it. Uh ADM loss we budgeted for it. We budgeted for a loss we estimated about 300 as part of that and we have discussed that when it came to the 9 million that we had to cut from that budget and what of that is a result of the ADM as well as what of that is a result of just the override starting to sunset in general. But for those every year, based off of how many students we have, we budget staff according to what our classroom sizes are. And that's why when you look

078at some of the classroom sizes and you see some of the differences at schools in terms of you have, for example, and I'm going to use Gateway because it's the one I go to and I talk to you about all the time, Mr. Heheiser. So I apologize in that they have uh goodness three or four three kinder classes with 28 per which is high and that's unfortunate. When you look at that as a parent of a kinder or anybody who knows education you go oh good lord that sounds like a very difficult situation to be in. But ultimately, because we're two or three students shy of what would be needed in order to get the ATM for a whole other contract, we're at the 28 students that we have per. So, it's not that we

079don't account for those budgets. It's not that they're not there. It is something that happens. It happens before we even get presented that budget because every year we do staffing based off that. That's one of the reasons why we love the 10-day count so much and it's so important because we often have been understaffed for what we know, but until they arrive, the state says we will not provide that for you. They have to arrive for 10 consecutive school days before we go. You're right. This is a crisis. Just to at least clarify that portion. Yeah. I I'm I don't know if you looked and compared all the files that we received. I'm strictly talking about numbers and and it's clear based on pres this presentation that between 24 and 25 our budget increased and

080then when you calculate what our budget was at the full year to the nine and subtract the 9 million reduction we get the 117 million. So, um, strictly numbers, uh, I'm not talking about classroom sizes or anything like that, just financially, year-over-year budget. Um, these are the numbers and our budget increased. Uh, and I don't remember how many students we lost between 24 and 25, but it only makes sense that if we lose students, we're losing revenue. That means our budget should decrease with that as well. That's all. Pres, President Wayne, board member Bam Hook. I I think the other part when we look at budgets and increasing overtime, you have to remember the state does increase the amount that we get per kid per student and that is state that it's what the legislature

081does. And so some of those increases could be due um to the fact that I think the minimum that we're allowed to get is is 2% from the uh legislature and I believe over time we we do get that additional 2%. So, if we lose 2% and get an additional 2% um from the state per kid, that that could end up being washing. I don't know those specifics, board member Van Hook, but I'm just want to remind you we do get a little bit more every single year. We do know inflation increases greater than that, so our spending power goes down, but that's a different story. So, thank you. >> Didn't we also have a one-time fund last year? I don't know what it was called, and I remember Mr. more talking about it and

082what it was, but there was a state thing that was a one-time thing and I feel like that also matters going from year to year as well. I don't know what it is, so it doesn't matter. But at the end of the day, any more questions on this? Thank you, M. Rush Camp. Moving on to 7.4 2025 2026 HUSD goals. Mr. Lotser. All right, President Weey, members of the board, tonight what I'd like to do is present for you what uh we looked at within cabinet and as a leadership team and my specifically as a superintendent to goals for the 202526 school year. Some of these have already been in action. And so what we'd like to do today is I'd like to present what I'm going to propose. Uh you'll notice there's no action

083item on them because I'd like to have feedback from the governing board to take a look at these uh goals and um and then ultimately uh next meeting come forward and present goals to you. Why are the goals important? I think it's important for us to have a direction about what uh we are going to focus on for this school year. Personally, this is what you will evaluate me on. And so I'm giving you these goals to evaluate me and my performance as a superintendent. So thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity to do this today. Uh the first thing I'd like to mention and and starting uh basically starting at the beginning of the year there has been a theme amongst us of community and within that theme of community there are

084three different tenants that as administration and superintendency we have been talking about hopefully ad nauseium because that's what our goal is to be able to let you know that we're focusing this year on theme and the three tenants what's Higgley's role within our community and what pathways do people see within our community about HUSD how are we developing community among our employees at the site and district level. Uh that's that interpersonal relationships about coming to work for HUSD and how are we supporting professional learning communities on our campuses. And the reason why I put this theme in there is because this is what was important to us going into this year. And so then when we designed goals, we looked at goals that are going to relate to these themes. I don't want divergent thoughts

085coming out here. A goal that's trying to measure something that we're not focused on. So the idea is that we bring those things together and present them as goals today. And the goals are going to be reflective of our strategic plan that was put in place in 2022. So here we go. Here's our strategic plan. For those of you who uh don't know, this is these are what we as a district came together in 2022 and said this is what we're going to work on until 2027. We have four uh strategic anchors. Teaching and learning, student success, highly effective personnel, communication and community relations, and finance and operations. For the goals, I looked at each one of the strategic anchors. There's going to be an overarching goal for each of them. And then we're going

086to look at one of the specific indicators that's listed and say we're going to focus on that one this year. Doesn't mean we're not going to do all the rest of them, but we don't want to have I I I think if I put them all together like 16 or 18 goals up there, I think I don't want to boil the ocean. Let's be specific on specific things that we can do to help improve our district and make it continue to make it the best around. And so what I'm going to present to you tonight are what we've already started implementing in terms of our theme and our goals based upon the strategic plan. So strategic anchor one teaching and learning student success overarching goal 2% growth on our standardized tests. That's what our goal

087was last year. We want to see our kids improving on the scores. The measurements that we do have, we do have state assessments. This is a way that we can measure over time. And so I think it's important for us to recognize that that metric is something that we can continue to work on. And then when we look at what we are asking our students and how we are preparing them to succeed, the state tests are what are going to help show us that. Okay. Indicator 1.5 um talked about sorry my eyes supporting a collaborative culture using data and researchbased practices. So this is where the first part of the theme comes in place continued implementation of professional learning communities at our campuses. Our it has been a really focus of Higgley that we allow

088our teachers opportunities to work together to support students collaboratively and using different uh methods in order to support each other and support the students. how we started measuring this already. This was presented to administrators at the beginning of the summer and we said when you come back in July, you're going to present to district administration your site PLC logistical plan. And the reason why we call it the logistical plan is because the number one reason why people say PLC's don't work is time. We never have enough time. How can we meet where's time coming? This is especially true when you get to high schools who do not have Wednesday half days consistently. So we asked each principal to come up and say what is your PLC logistical plan? When are you going to provide a

089time for your teachers to meet? By doing so then now as district administration we have oversight of the principles to make sure that they're giving their teachers time. If we're saying this is important, let's make sure we have dedicated time for teachers to meet. And so that's something that we've already done and already started implementing. And that goes along to the third tenant of our theme. How are we sorting uh supporting PLC's? We know that each campus is a little bit different within their implementation. Some campuses are like rock stars and they've already been doing it for a long time. Some need a little bit more support. So they have some freedom there. However, we want to make sure that they have time. So that's what our goal for teaching and learning student success would

090be for strategic anchor one. Strategic anchor 2, highly effective personnel. Uh this is very near and dear to me. Okay. So we have a we have a survey that goes out in the spring. Uh we do a climate and culture survey for our district departments and for our sites and on there there's a question that talks about employee satisfaction. Are you satisfied for your job? We're in the 80%s right now. The teachers respond yes. Okay. So what we want to do is we want to increase it. The reason why I put 2% on there is because we're already in the 80s. If we were sitting at the 60s, I'd probably come to you like I want a 6% or 10% improvement. But because we're already high at the 80s because we have been supporting our

091teachers, we want to see that increase. And so that will come in the spring. Uh typically it's right after uh spring break. We send out that climate and culture survey. So the indicator for this one is 2.3. Ensure employees feel valued and supported through meaningful feedback and interactions. So how have we asked our administrators to then already start supporting that? So again met at the beginning of the summer. We gave them a task. When you come back in July, I want to know what your plan is to develop camaraderie and community amongst your faculty and staff at your sites. be specific about the things you're going to do. And so I think it's important that now as district administration that gives us something that we can oversee and hold principles accountable to how are we

092building that community on campus because we know that if we have teachers who work together, like each other, feel valued, supported, and respected, then that attitude and behavior is going to uh go into how we're supporting our kids in our classroom. And ultimately, that is our number one job to support student success and learning within the classroom. So that's highly effective personnel. Strategic anchor three, community and community relations. The overarching is increasing community awareness of district pathways and opportunities. That district pathways is important. Higgley, when you take a look at our our district, we want students and parents to understand that for their success, if you're a Gateway Gator, then you're a Kulie Cougar, then you're a Williamsfield Blackhawk. There is a pathway for success and opportunity that we provide in the district. You're a

093Bridges Bobcat, right? A Sassman Spartan, you're a Higgley Knight. We want to emphasize the fact and let parents, especially the elementary parents, know that there is a path forward that is going to provide success for your student and give them limitless opportunities for success postsecary school. And so our indicator is establishing relationships in our community to enhance student learning opportunities. And this cross-campus community building events is what we've been focusing on. So hopefully in status you've seen some of these events that we've done. And I and I need to give kudos right now to our high schools and our middle schools for really coming down and trying to get involved with the elementary schools so that the elementary has an idea of, hey, this is where I'm going. Some wonderful examples have been honestly at

094some football games. Shout out to Williamsfield as they hosted a theater school night where not only was it it wasn't necessarily about just the football, but we had cheer, young cheer out there. We had we had band performing with them. We had color guard performing with them. Students wear a t-shirt. They got to come in and experience the game. But what a great way to kind of build that culture and know that, hey, you're a future Blackhawk when you're coming through. Higgley High's done exceptional with that as well. Um they invite each of the schools, different schools on different nights to have honorary captains. They get to go out at the football game and get to be recognized. And uh I'm sure you guys saw the pictures and status of the kindergartenner from Power Ranch

095who was just thrilled to go out on the field with the he had the best blue mohawk I've ever seen and get out there. But what a unique experience for that. I got to see a Santan kid as I was standing with Mr. Marcato on the sideline. He went out was really excited and as he's leaving a former Santan student who's on Higgley High's team ran over to us said, "I got to talk to this kid. Hey, this is going to be you in a few years. You're going to be up here on the sidelines playing football for us. Those are the connections that we want to see. We want to be excited and have our kids excited about the pathway pathways that we can go through. We've had cheerleaders and other leaders uh from

096the high schools and the middle schools go down and help with assemblies. Again, the idea that we're building this community together. And so this cross-campus community building events, this is what I've tasked Mr. Fields and Mr. Armstrong with leading. So when we have district meetings now instead of being siloed by level, we have all the principles of feeder schools get together and they're a group like what can you guys do second quarter? What's happening? We know trunk or treats are coming up, right? We know that there's community events coming up, haunted houses, haunted hallways. Those are just the ones I'm thinking of within the next few weeks. How do we get the elementary kids involved with their um people at the middle schools and the high schools? So that's that example of cross-campus community building

097events among the students and our focus there. Finally, we have finance and operations. Um, the overarching goal and no pressure Sharon, but we have got this recognition of excellence in financial reporting by Aspo International because our auditors come in and take a look and make sure we're doing right. And the expectation is that we continue to do that and provide uh that we're following the rules and we're being transparent in what we need to do. And if there are any questions or concerns, we'll address that from the audit. They're going to spend a couple weeks here at the end of this month, I believe. >> Yeah. >> A little less than a week. >> I'll be here a little less than a week. >> Okay. But it's in a couple weeks. So, our auditors are

098coming here to to to go through everything that we've done. And so, indicator 44 is what I'm looking at this time. Ensure district policies and procedures are accessible and implemented consistently and reviewed regularly. So, an example already that you've seen, we've already brought a bunch of policies to you. We're having policy discussions with you as the board. And the goal for that is to continue then when policy updates come through we will get that we will get that to you so you can have discussions about changing the policies to meet the um the needs from the state as well as lead our locals. Additionally we know and we've had this discussion I think a couple years ago we have the ASBA they provide policy services and we follow the ASBA manual. There's an alternate to

099that. That's our insurance company. the trust, they have model policies and I think one of the things is continued discussion with the governing board members and myself about if you want to make a transition to the trust model policies because we know that commitment is a six month to nine months to a year-long commitment to do that. But that would again continue to focus on policy development here at at the local level making sure that we're following the rules of what we want to do. So for each one of the strategic anchors, we have that overarching goal and then implemented uh underneath them are looking at each one of different indicators. And so you know I'm I'm going to finish this before we get to questions. We've got a theme out there that's together we

100got this. I don't know if you've seen any of my Higgley minutes, but that's how we end the Higgley minutes. That's why how we to have our discussions uh when we're internally because we do know that it takes a village. We kn know we do know that we are part of a group larger group of the whole the governing board the superintendency the administration the faculty the staff the parents that as a community of Higgley that we are rallying together again what's the number one goal that we have to do the very very best for our students we can support what can we control we can support control supporting our teachers making them feel valued respected giving them the resources that they need to be able to make sure they're there they're the best every

101single day for our kids so That's the purpose of the goals today and I'd love to be able to have any questions or comments or anything as we look uh I'm I'm more than happy to to go through those with you but thank you for your time. >> President Wade, um first of all, I've seen so far how with the feeder school programs this year and the difference in the community spirit and I I love it. It feels very small town in a place where we have school choice and it's sometimes difficult. kids don't, you know, have that school spirit. I've seen that and I think it's great that you mentioned the football night. That's great. But I've also seen it um in various other ways. I know I've taken my kids to Williams Fields

102trunk or treat since they were little. So maybe that helped them want to be a Blackhawk um when they were very little, but I know with the school choice it's difficult. So I appreciate what you're doing very much with this and I've seen it across the board um as well. And then I have um another question on as far as the um professional learning communities um feedback from teachers and from admins. How how are we getting that? I know you know principles are coming up with plans and creating this but making sure they're supported because sometimes you know talking to your principles about these things isn't easy. So >> so you know how are we getting feedback from teachers? Uh we will get obviously on the climate culture survey that's going to come out in

103the spring when we look at it and and we do rely as a district on our administration making sure that they're having the discussions with their teachers and providing them and then the goal is then when we get back together and we have meetings that are led by our um executive directors, right? To be able to get feedback from them to look nothing's going to be perfect, right? And there are some changes that have been been in place that are a little bit different uh than we've done it before, especially at our high schools and talking about required time directly after school to do it. And you know, honestly, I lived it as a principal. It's very hard when you have everyone on campus who you're coaching or you have a lot of other different

104responsibility. You're sponsoring a club after school or before school, a lot of different things. So, how can you make sure you have dedicated time to do that? Well, we know our teachers have a professional day as well. And so if we're going to make this important, then we need to let them know, hey, we're going to set aside this team, even if it's from 2:15 to 2:45 on a Monday after school, that it's important. And then we'll rely on that feedback coming back from us. And if there needs to be changes that need to be made, we'll do that. I think this the principles have flexibility, right, to address when when situations or issues occur and how can they be flexible on that and then they can share that as long as they have a

105good reason, right? That's where the flexibility what we don't want to happen is for it to be ignored and gone away because this is a priority of what we're asking our principles to do and our teachers to do. Um we just did professional development yesterday on the first day of professional development. Part of that was a district thing talking about uh a rubrics and standards and um common formative assessments because that can be used within the PLC's. So we're taking time from our professional development to help growth grow what's happening within the PLC's. So sorry before you continue, can we also I mean get either to include in the survey although waiting till spring I don't think it matters one way or the other. I am curious because this is the first time we have

106as a district after fall break created that day for teachers to come back and especially considering the delight of the start of the school year with what felt like a shorter summer in terms of where they're at. staff definitely had less days before meet the teacher night and before you were there on campus with students. So I I definitely would like to include that at some point whether that's part of that survey or something else. Um because that was the reason we created it essentially. And so I'm I'm just interested how that went. Sorry, Miss >> Yeah. And I haven't had a chance to talk with ED services yet on how that has gone or anything. Um but uh if there's some feedback that they've already received, I'll be more than happy to share. No,

107no, thank you. That's it. Thank you. I appreciate. >> Yeah. Um Oh, go ahead. Uh Okay. Well, uh I just some people that maybe watch the meeting. Uh sometimes we're quiet and we don't have things, but I just Mr. Mr. Lsonheiser and I met for an hour and a half yesterday just to talk about all of the things that were on the agenda. But some of these things and I just wanted to call out um where was it here? Oh, in in the uh how the climate and culture survey the importance of people seeing you. I just want to commend you because I know you've made an effort and it's you know sometimes it's easy to be in an office and it's hard to be out on different campuses every day. Um but you've made

108a deliberate effort to be out there. Um, people do need to see you. It's intimidating when the superintendent's there as a teacher, as a staff member sometimes. Um, but it's meaningful and you always run into those people who are just going to tell you some things that maybe you do or don't want to hear. Uh, but it's very helpful, I think, for you to be there and and the the cabinet as well. Um, so I appreciate that. And then I also wanted to echo what Miss Schultz said. um kids being able to see their future in Higgley is just so important and uh I love that it's become an emphasis and I think we'll see the rewards and the the satisfaction and and the joy um and the excitement about you know going on to

109middle school and high school and uh all that. So just want to take a minute to say that. >> Thank you. Um you you mentioned earlier uh I forget what slide number it is um but you know and I and I see this a lot in education researchbased and um I'd love to be able to see like what the research is uh and because we don't often see what that is um but we say researchbased a lot um when we talk about strategic plans and and education in general. Um, so I'd love to be able to like meet with you and be able to understand what what this research that we utilize is um >> remember you're talking specifically about the PLC's. >> Uh I don't remember what uh it was in the beginning. Um

110yeah, I think so. Um maybe anchor one or anchor two. Um somewhere along there you you mentioned researchbased. Um and I didn't write what page it was. >> Oh, it's one I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt. It's 1.5 you mentioned in the indicators on three. >> So that's anchor one which is the PLC's then. Yes. And then the PLC PLC process. Yeah. It's very common and I could even have our experts on it in the room to help you >> understand that. >> Thank you. Um also uh we put you know we have maximize academic and social emotional growth um and I want to ensure that um you know that's obviously like one of our major priorities is to improve student uh achievement um especially in the course subjects and and that we're not

111just um teaching our students to pass tests and and I've you know, conver these conversations that they're actually absorbing what they're learning and not necessarily learning just to test. Um, which is very important to me. Um, and uh, so yeah, so improving um, student achievement is crucial. um and even being able to get to where we were before CO um and you know 76% in science uh would be would be great to get back there. Um and then on page six, um we have, you know, working on community awareness and establishing relationships. And I've talked about this before, but I think I think it's important that we um figure out a way to learn why uh we have families leaving our district uh so that we can make, you know, necessary changes um to turn

112that around and be able to retain more of our students here. Um and just to understand uh the reasoning behind it. Um stop me if anybody else wants to say anything. Um on page seven um we have the continue recognition of excellence um in financial reporting. Um, and I've I've mentioned this before um in other board meetings, but uh you know I I I'm concerned that we we utilize this recognition to um to advertise um but the fact that we have to pay $1,300 annually for this award, like I I have a little bit of uh hesitation there because I I feel like if it's a true award, then we shouldn't be uh paying an annual fee of,300 um for the recognition. Um >> well, let me clarify real quick. It's not for the recognition.

113It's for the audit. The results of the audit are what provides us with the recognition. Not everyone who gets audited gets this recognition. and and if the state would provide monies for us to be able to pay for that audit, yes, I would be more than happy to do that and go there. And I think it's really important when you talk about auditing and the scrutiny that we are under. I I would challenge any business, private business outside there to be under the amount of audits and scrutiny that we are as a public school district and what we do with our finances. And so, you know, I we we want to make sure that we're being accountable to our community to make sure that we're following process and procedures correctly, which is why we get

114people from the outside of us to come in who are experts to say, here's exactly what you do. Did you do it wrong? Did you do it right? And and I think the strive for my finance department has always been, let's do it right. Might not be easy, but let's do it right. But the fact that we do have to pay for them to come out, it's because the service, correct me if I'm wrong, is not provided directly to us from the state. This is something that we need to make sure that we're doing to complete that audit so that you as the governing board get the most up-to-date information as it's coming through so you know financially where we're at uh coming from and so that our community does as well. You know, great

115example is the discussion that we had today after the presentation of the AFR, right? There's still a lot. School finance is not easy, right? There is so much to it, right? And there's so many things that have to go through. And so for us to have a collective group of experts that work, but then have other experts come in and take a look at us, that's what I want our community to demand of us. Hey, we want experts to come in and check and see, are you doing it right? And so please understand that to get them to come here, yes, we do have to have have pay for them. Yes. However, the payment does not mean that we get that award or not. It's how we have performed that's been allowed to. And so

116I just wanted to clarify that remark. >> Yeah. Well, the the description on the on the voucher says uh application for recognition of excellence. And so um so are you saying that ASBO is the one that audits us? No, we have an independent person that comes in and then we pay for the application depending on it. Correct. Is that correct? >> So, why are we paying ASBO? Uh why why is the who are we paying the $1,300 to if the recognition is from ASBO? >> Can you help me with that, Sharon? Uh, President Wade, board member Van Hook, we do we pay for that certification, but that is making sure so our auditors are Heinfeld and Meech, that's who we have contracted with. Um, they come in check everything those documents then get reviewed as

117well by ASBO which is an international. So we we take the audit then submit that with the payment to ASBO >> to verify that. Right. Yes. >> Yes. >> So So but but we are So we are paying $1,300 to ASBO for Yeah. So So it's not we're not paying the $1,300 isn't to pay for the audit. It's it's the application fee >> afterwards. >> Thank you. Um okay. And then um indicator 4.4 um ensure district policies procedures are accessible. Um here I think it's also important to um that we add an indicator for enforcement and accountability. Um because that's we can have as many district policies and um but if we don't have the enforcement and the accountability uh then that's when um things fail. and um to align I think with with our

118best practices uh for policy efficacy. I think it's important um whether it's adding um another indicator or adding verbiage to to that one. Um but I think that enforcement and accountability measures should be included there. Um, and then as far as the as the I know we signed a four-year contract with ASBA and at the time we discussed um, you know, possibly moving over to the trust and I I don't remember if it was we signed it in 22 or 23 or 23 or 24 um, the 4-year contract. Um, but I would like to visit that conversation again. um because the cost savings was pretty large. That's all I have. Thank you. >> I was going to move on. So, should you have something? >> Sorry, Madam President. It's just for the people. We didn't

119have a natural break for people. So, I feel like some of the people are being polite here. Could we just take maybe 30 seconds or a minute? I in case anybody wants to leave or anything. >> Sure. I mean, would you like to do You can call a recess. >> Okay. I would like to call a rec just a one minute. >> All right. I have >> Let's have a one minute recess, folks. We do. You ready, Mr. Glover? All right. Thanks for that one minute recess, folks. It was important. We're going to move on to uh we can move on. >> Yes. >> Okay. Great. We are on action item uh 8.1 approval of EB safety program second read. Do we have any questions or comments from the board before I motion? Great. Okay.

120I motion that the governing board approves policy EB safety program. >> Second. >> Okay. That would be Miss Van Hook. Seconded. All those in favor? >> I That would be four because we have Miss Schultz not here. Motion carries 4 to zero. Item 8.2, approval of GCQF, discipline, suspension, and dismissal of professional staff members. Second read. Any questions or comments from the board before a motion? >> I just wanted to uh President Wade just touch base how we're kind of feeling about this. I there was kind of an aspect of follow-up and compliance like monitoring like touching base like recircling back and I didn't know if if this policy if how we feel about it if it's if it's good and gets to the point if it's enough. Um from my understanding there was like

121a sentence or a couple words. Sentence seems generous. >> Two words. >> President Wayne member German. Yes. It was two words. No action. So we removed the no action part. The other came from the recommendation from ESBA and that's the state board of education piece on the I think it's the second to last page that was added um about uh the district having that relationship and getting information from the state board of education. So that's all the changes that were in that policy. >> Okay. Thank you. We good then? Okay, great. I motion that the governing board approves policy GCQF, discipline, suspension and dismissal of professional staff members. >> That would be Miss Van Hook seconding. It would help if I could spell all those in favor. >> I I >> I motion carries 5

122to zero. Next we have item 8.3 approval of IKF graduation requirements. Second read. Do we have any questions or comments from the board before I motion? Okay, great. I motion that the governing board approves policy IKF, graduation requirements. >> Second. >> I'll give that one to Miss Schultz just cuz I heard her first. All those in favor? >> I. Motion carries 50. This brings us to item 8.4, Four, approval of JLCD, medicines, administering medicines to students. Second read. Any questions or comments from the board before I motion? >> He was just scrolling, so I was giving a minute. >> Okay, great. I was letting you scroll, you know. I motion that the governing board approves policy JLCD, medicines, administering medicines to students. >> Second. >> All right, I'm going to give that one to Miss

123Gar. would help. All those in favor? >> I. Motion carries five to zero. This brings us to item 8.5, approval of fiscal year 25 annual financial report, AFR. Any questions or comments from the board before a motion? >> Uh yes. Um on this report the M fund um ending balance is 31 million. Um so I'm confused as to why ending 2024 M fund um ending balance is 31 million but the other document that we had has 21 million President Wade board member Van Hook. So the 31 million is the cash balance which is different from the budget balance. So because M is a budgeted fund if it receives revenue it is revenue that cannot be spent. So our funds are held at Maricopa County and every month they give us interest. So, we take in

124roughly $800 to $900,000 a year of interest that we cannot spend, but we have to put it in our general ledger. So, we have the cash, we just can't spend it because we don't have the budget. >> And is that line item I didn't see a separate line item for the interest? Are we not able to? >> No, because we can't spend it. You won't see a line for that. You will see it in capital. capital is allowed to spend the interest that we get and so is um like if we have uh adjacent ways we can spend that interest. So it is something they've been trying to get changed so to allow us to be able to spend it but so you've you've seen years of accumulation of funds such as that that we

125are not able to spend. >> Okay. And and what happens with those funds? it the >> sits in the bank >> just with the county. >> Okay. Um All right. Thank you. >> Thanks for that question. Actually, I did not know that little bit of delight. Wonderful. All right. I motion that the governing board approves the fiscal year 2024 2025 annual financial report and attachments as presented. >> Second. >> Um I'm going to give that to Miss German. All those in favor? >> I. >> Was that an I? >> Yes. >> Motion carries 5. >> All right. This brings us to future agenda items. Does anyone have any requests for future agenda items? >> President Wait, I would like um to review the our field trip policy. Okay. >> And so discuss that and have

126that brought forward and look at that. Anyone else? Um I would like to um review our booster and PTO policies and then um there was a a statute um HB209 [Music] uh regarding um at the start of every school year a school district has to provide parents and guardians with uh Arizona Department of Education link to certified water safety. I'm not sure if we're already doing that um or not, but >> board member Van Hook, you said HP 2019. >> 2019. Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. All right. This brings us to 10.1 executive sess session pursuant to ARS 38-431.03A88 discussion or consideration of matters relating to school safety operations or school safety plans or programs. I motion that the governing board adjourn to exit or to executive session pursuant to ARS 38-431.03A88 for

127discussion or consideration of matters relating to school safety operations or school safety plans or programs. That would be Miss Van Hook seconding. ABH second. All those in favor? >> I I >> I. Motion carries five to zero. For those of you who came out, you are welcome to stay. Um otherwise, drive safe. All that jazz. Okay. Um, we are on 11.1 reconvene in open session. I motion that the governing board reconvenes in open session. >> Second. >> Okay. I'm going to give that to Tiffany because I have only written your name once tonight. Seconded. All those in favor? >> I. Motion carries. 5-0. And this brings us to adjournment. I motion to adjurnn this meeting. >> Second. >> That would be Miss Van Hook. >> Seconding. All those in favor? >> I. Motion carries. Have

128a good night everybody. >> Good night. >> Okay. >> I know.