001test Let's just Mr. Glover, are you with us? Hi. Yes, I'm here. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Glover. We were just making sure you were. We'll call this meeting to order. We had uh some technical difficulties, but here we go. Good evening, everybody. I would like to call this meeting to order. Miss Richards, may I have roll call, please? President Wade, let the record show that four board members are here in person and board member Scott Glover is attending by phone. Thank you. Please join me in a moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance. I motion to approve the agenda. Second. That would be Miss Van Hook. Seconded. Uh, all those in favor? I. I. Mr. Glover, how do you vote? I. Thank you. Motion passes five to zero. Miss Richards. Yes. President Wade.
002Upcoming events. Friday, July 4th is Independence Day and our offices will be closed. The next board meeting is on July 8th at 5:30 here in the boardroom. New teacher orientation is almost here. I can't believe it. July 8 through the 10th. And school starts super early this year, Thursday, July 17th. And that concludes upcoming events. Thank you, Miss Richards. President Wade, your new superintendent is going to take Higgley Adventures. Okay. Good evening and welcome to Higgley Adventures. We'll just pause for dramatic effect. There it is. All right. So, we're excited for the first one. We're excited to share some incredible public information and marketing department achievements. First, let's celebrate their success in winning the National School Public Relations Association Golden Achievement Award. This recognition truly highlights our commitment to excellence in communication. Next, our team
003received the publication and digital media award for the newsletter award for excellence with our Higgley highlights. This award reflects our dedication to keeping everyone informed and engaged. And finally, don't forget our achievements in photography and video. We earned the photography award of merit for our single teardrop publication and an honorable mention for our student spotlight video featuring recorder ens. These awards are not only show our creativity but our commitment to showcasing the talents of our students. These awards are a testament to the entire team's hard work and dedication. Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm. And we have the crew here today. And if they would stand up and are we doing pictures today? Yes. I don't know who's going to take it, but perhaps we can have a picture today to recognize our
004outstanding public information and marketing department. If they could come forward, please. [Applause] So, we'd like to invite them down to the front if the board can join them. And with Sherry, please. Oh, no. If you need me to be in the picture, [Applause] And tonight we we are officially going to say goodbye and thank you to a few people who are not going to be with us next year as this is their last governing board meeting. So, first of all, uh, we would like to thank our superintendent, Sher Richards, for over her 14 years of service to the Higgley Unified School District. Over this time, Sherry has served as the assistant principal of Coronado, the principal of Power Ranch, the principal of Bridges, the executive director of elementary education, the associate superintendent, the interim superintendent,
005and finally the superintendent. next year she can be the past superintendent of the Higgley Unified School District. Sherry, you've always led with a focus on providing opportunities for students and supporting teachers while building lasting relationships with everyone in the district. Very heartfelt. You stepped up when we needed you the most. Uh thank you so much, Sherry, and we will miss you. Sure, [Applause] we can do a pictures. Let's do some more pictures. Mr. Loenheiser, I told them a story. I said, "No more pictures." So, I guess we're changing it, right? Absolutely. I I think I think I think people want people want a picture. We'll do one more. [Applause] So, this is also the last meeting for our current CFO, Mr. Tyler Moore. And so we wanted to say thank you to Tyler for your
006four years of service to Higgley. In the short amount of time, you've made quite an impression on our district with your leadership of more than just our than just our finance department. You've worked hard to position our district for flexibility in these uncertain times. And for that, we're extremely grateful. For those of you who know Tyler, he leads with a focus on relationships. And you also know that he thinks he's much funnier than he really is. Tyler, we greatly appreciate everything that you've done for Higgley Unified School District and we wish you good luck in your future endeavors. We will miss you. Thank you, Tyler. [Music] [Applause] I think he's funny. All right. And that will conclude our um Higgley adventures for this evening. Thank you, Mr. Lotsenheiser. Uh Mr. Moore, I expressed, you know,
007the board's gratitude for you uh last meeting, and I would be remiss if I did not do that for Miss Richards. I know we have talked about it. I know I've expressed it before, but it bears repeating. We are forever grateful for what it is that you have provided for our district, especially at a time in which things uh you know were happening in a way that none of us had planned intent like initially. We are better for having had you and having all of the care that you've put into the district. There has been no point throughout this journey that I have been on the board that I have ever doubted where your heart is. And your heart is always in in it for students. And I think that is felt and it's felt
008in the decisions you have made and how you have led our district. And so I'm very much appreciative for all that you have done and I wish you all of the best. Thank you. Sherry started crying. So I started crying. It just happened. All right. Great. This will move us to the presentation of the fiscal year 2025 2026 adopted budget. We will now move to a public hearing to discuss the fiscal year 2026 adopted budget. Mr. Moore. Yes. Good evening, President Wade, members of the board. Tonight I'll be presenting the adopted budget. Um just a heads up, nothing has changed from the proposed budget. Uh but I will cover some of the legislative conversations that are taking place. For the large majority of this budget, it's the same that I presented at the last board
009meeting. So I will um cruise through this pretty fast. Uh and then please ask any questions. So again, this is our our our budget timeline. Uh again, I presented the proposed on June 10th. We are presenting u there's been no change at the legislature um that has had us change from proposed to adopted. Tonight we're presenting the uh adopted budget. Uh we may be back in September depending on what happens at the legislature and if there's any uh implications for K12 that would be uh beneficial to our uh district in terms of revising early to gain additional budget capacity. And then we'll bring back our revision in December as we normally do to reconcile with our 40th ADM. So, the adopted budget highlights, again, nothing's changed. I do want to touch on the legislative conversations
010going on right now. Currently, the Senate and the governor had uh some sort of agreement. Um the House has a different budget and so right now we have no agreement at the legislative level and therefore there is no state budget and with no state budget there's no K12 budget. Um there's several conversations of different things that are being thrown out there that will benefit K12 and and but there's nothing permanent and there's nothing written down in paper that that is set in stone. So we are not including any of those assumptions in this adopted budget. Um as I said we can come back and revise and include those. Um but we're taking a very conservative approach um with the exception of the 2% inflation adjustment that we know they statutoily have to provide. With regards
011to the AAL, um we have seen two different versions, one of one of at a yearly exemption and one of a two-year exemption. So, there's some again conversations there, but again, we have nothing concrete um and approved at the legislative level at this point. Jumping to the known budget implications, as I mentioned, we're assuming the 2% increase in inflation level to the base level support. Uh we know ASRS is going down for 26. uh that will that will help benefit the district and employees next year. Um HUSC's budget implications, we are continuing to transfer 3.55 million for the leases. Um and as I presented in the proposed and now on the adoption, uh we're proposing um to adopt a $2 million adjacent waste levy which will have a 19 cent per $100,000 of valuation tax
012impact for one fiscal year. Uh here's the adjacent ways information. Again, I covered this last meeting. Uh the general uh theme here is uh we've levied in 2016 and 2024. Um we have a large project on the next slide that will that will need several million dollars of adjacent waste money uh to make happen. And so that project is the Williamsville traffic flow project. Um again, I talked about this last meeting. Um the conversations with regards to the town of Gilbert and the level of improvements that they want on Higgley Road uh are extensive and well past what we anticipated. And so, uh, these are the improvements on Higgley Road in a little, uh, zoomed in picture, but these improvements are estimated to be, uh, several million. And anything not on district property is adjacent
013ways eligible. And therefore, the levy that we are proposing to adopt in the tune of $2 million will help fund this project to hopefully start summer 2026. Again, no change in the adopted uh maintenance and operation budget numbers. The key highlights here is the adopted budget is 9.2 million down from what we revised in this current year. The main reasons behind that is we are projecting a 300 ADM decrease. That's a continuation of what we've seen. It's about 3% uh ADM decrease. We are including the override phase down because of the nove November election failure. Um, it does include the 2% inflation increase, the M transfer to capital, and at the end of fiscal 26 with the $9.2 million deficit, we anticipate having a budget balance carry forward of about $17 million ending 2026. With
014the proposed Mino budget, um, through this process, we have to recalculate average teacher salary. Uh some of the highlights of our average teacher salary is it's going up next year. A large reason behind that is our average teacher years of experience is increasing. Um it's currently at 9.7819 and the state average is 9.5323. So what that means is we are above the state average in terms of years of experience. Our our teachers have higher years of experience than the state average. And generally a teacher has higher years of experience has a higher wage. Uh therefore our average teacher salary uh is is in proportionately increasing by that. But we also the board did approve um in March an increase to the classroom site fund bucket and that was directly related to uh teacher pay as
015that bucket is um only eligible for certified staff. On the capital side, uh you'll see much of the same theme, a decrease from what we are adopting tonight from the revision. A large part of it is because of the what we're doing to to spend down that money with our capital needs within our district. So, uh we are being smart and trying to prioritize projects. We're leveraging state uh grants uh as much as we can. Um but the reality is we have a lot more capital needs than we do budget capacity. And so this will uh continue to be the theme as we um work through our budgets every year is that we're continue to spend capital dollars. Um but you'll see we do have an estimated $3 million budget balance carry forward going into
016next year. So we do have some contingencies in the case of something uh if something comes up with regards to capital needs. So, and with that, um, as I mentioned before, we can't the district can come back in September and do, uh, a revision pending there's any, uh, legislative things that pass that affect K12 in a I would say in a positive manner. So, if there's um talk of prop 123, there's talk of the one-time supplementals with regards to capital and free reduce being included in the K12 budget. uh if those do come to fruition, uh it would be advantageous for the district to come back, revise the budget to capture that additional budget capacity knowing the situation that we're in with our budget deficit. So, with that, I'll be happy to answer any questions.
017Does any member of the public have any comments or questions regarding the fiscal year 2026 adopted budget? All right, great. We will now reconvene in open session. Then next on the agenda are the requests to speak. If you could please play the video. 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, 01 I action taken as a result of public comment will be limited to directing staff to study the matter, responding
018to 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 outbursts 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. We have Miss Balsh. Can you hear me? There we go. Um, I just wanted first to thank uh, Mrs. Richards for
019your time in our district and um, working with you through meeting and confer has been fantastic and I wish you the best. Travel and enjoy your grandkids. Um, Mr. Moore, it's truly been an honor to work with you and see your way of thinking um, through meet and confer and I appreciate all that you've done for our district. So, thank you. Good evening, governing board members. My name is Heather Balsh and I've had the privilege of serving as a district employee for the past 20 plus years. I'm a proud member of the Higgley Education Association since 2018 and it started on meet and confer in 2019. In previous meetings, the Higgley Education Association has at times been portrayed as a political organization focused on partisan goals. But I stand before you today not as a
020Democrat or Republican, but as an educator. And that is the heart of what the association stands for. Supporting all educators in our district regardless of political affiliation. Through the mean confer process, educators and administrators come together as equals to engage in meaningful dialogue. This collaborative approach helps us ensure that decisions are made and informed from a wide variety of perspectives and these are made on the well-being of all of our staff here both certified and classified. Having an association that advocates for educators is vital. We encourage and value diverse viewpoints because it strengthens our ability to represent and serve everyone across our district. Tonight, I respectfully ask for your support in improving the memorandum of understanding between the district and the Higgley Education Association. Your support is a step forward toward continued collaboration and shared
021success for our entire school community. Thank you. I motion to approve the consent agenda items 6.1 through 6.29. Second, Miss Schultz. Seconded. All those in favor. I I I But I just have a couple comments. Can we get uh Mr. Glover's vote first? Yes. Mr. Glover, how do you vote? Sorry, I can you hear me? Thank you, Mr. Glover, President Wade. Uh, I just want to clarify uh 6.9 on the EVIT item that this is just an extension until until further negotiations occur. Correct. That is correct. Okay. And then um I just want to make sure I understand correctly with the attorney general's opinion. I know that one of the primary concerns was the potential um for overpayment and it seems as though in the opinion um it's the opinion reinforces that um CTE payments
022to member districts must strictly be limited to actual documented costs of services provided. Did I read that correctly? Madame President, members of the governing board, I don't think this item was pulled from the agenda from the consent agenda. Therefore, it wouldn't be appropriate to have discussion on it at this time. It's already been voted for and passed. Thank you, Miss McClenn. Which is part of the reason why I wanted to ask a question before we completed the vote, but if you can just clarify that for me later, that would be wonderful. Thank you. Since we just passed the consent agenda item, we would like to thank Meteor Education for their donation to the HTAP program as well as Mr. Watsonheiser has some introductions. Yes, I'm very excited today with the uh consent agenda approval. You've
023approved actually three new administrators coming into our district. One of them is unable to be here tonight. Miss Brandau unfortunately could not be here, but she's moving into the assistant principal at Higgley High School. But we do have two of our new administrators that I'd like to introduce. One of them you have seen before. That is uh Mr. Brent Brandenburg. Mr. Brandenberg, if you would stand please in the black. He is our new assistant principal of activities at Williamsfield High School. You probably recognize uh Mr. Brandenburg before. He has been a longtime social studies teacher in our district. then was the dean at Kulie Middle School and was current most recently the dean at Williamsfield High School before moving into this new role. So we are excited for Mr. Brandenburgg to take the reigns as
024the assistant principal of activities at Williamsfield. Next to him in the same aisle down on the end is our new dean of students at Williamsfield High School, Mr. Michael O'Neal. [Applause] Mr. O'Neal has been in our district for 12 years as a physics teacher, student council sponsor among other different roles he's played at Higgley High School and he is also a was a member of our HLA and so it's really nice to see how we're able to grow our own uh just like Mr. Brandenburg has come up through the ranks and is now moving into administration. We do have already joked with Mr. O'Neal that all of those Higgley Knight shirts and everything are probably not appropriate spirit wear at Williamsfield. So, let's make sure that we work on that. Okay, there we go. He's
025got his Blackhawk already. But congratulations to Mr. O'Neal uh moving into administration and becoming our new dean of students at Williamsfield High School. [Applause] President Wade. Yes, Mr. Glover. I just wanted to uh give a shout out to uh some of our new hires. I recognize two former students of mine returning to teach for us, which is really so nice to see. So, I just wanted to congratulate them and welcome them home. Thank you, Mr. Glover. This brings us to uh information item 7.1, school participatory budgets. Mr. Armstrong, you're up. President Weey, members of the board, thank you. Yeah, tonight I'm going to be introducing uh an initiative for this upcoming school year within our district. It is the HUSD school participatory budget. So introduction to SPB which is the school participatory budget. It's a
026process that is studentdriven. It is an innovative civic learning process designed to build student agency, collaboration, critical thinking skills while creating equitable opportunities for students to authentically contribute to their communities and civic life. SPB is at the same time a tool for citizenship, education, a tool for civic engagement, and a tool for school democracy. What it is also is it's a it's a initiative that is uh partnered with the center for the future of Arizona and ASU's participatory governance initiative. Why it matters. It's a actually a really cool design. um over 70,000 uh there should be another zero there. 70,000 plus uh students engaged across 10 districts and 70 schools, 160 plus schoolled improvement projects and then 10 current schools and school districts. Uh Chandler Unified and Queen Creek Unified School District are our two
027closest ones who also participate. And what it is is it's there. designed to empower students, the most important stakeholders in our community to act to be active decision makers within our campuses. Build or uh facilitate projectbased and experential learning, foster a sense of responsibility and belonging, giving students the opportunity to really dive in and own part of their their school community. Um we want them to be engaged and take pride in their school, especially when they see the outcomes of the contribution to the school improvement projects. It fosters a sense of responsibility and belonging within their campus. Builds essential civic competencies and skills. And then civic opportunity gaps. It's designed that to provide an opportunity for students who are not usually exposed to these types of civic learning opportunities to participate ultimately leading toward closing
028the civic opportunity gra gap for students. It will continue to promote a sense of community trust and a youth to adult partnerships. And then ultimately we'll also help improve the school climate. We're asking students to really engage and dive into owning projects that they're going to go through this entire process with. That's going to only continue to enhance and beautify their campuses. And there's nothing better when it's student driven and we take the adults out of that and allow students to really dive in and and engage in that. All right. So how does it work? Ultimately, it is learning democracy by doing democracy. Um, each school is going to create a student steering committee and it can be we're asking this year for it to be done through NEHS, NJHS, student council, any of those
029leadership uh organizations that are already out there. As it is our first year, we want to go ahead and designate a certain group to go ahead and pilot this program. But they're going to work with the entire school school body. um they're going to identify a process for and parameters for each phase. They're going to work closely with school administration and SPB sponsor which is also going to be a part of the NEHS sponsors. So any of those clubs that already have sponsors, they're going to be leading this initiative as part of that as well. Um and then each school is going to receive each elementary school is going to receive $5,000. Secondary schools are going to receive $7,500. And what this is is this is a goal for us to go ahead and say
030this is a hard amount. First of all, we're not asking students to work with PTO's or boosters to come together and say, "Oh, we want to we want to have this extensive item." Nope. We want you to go through the process of understanding you have $7,500. You have $5,000. Those are your limits. And they're going to be responsible for working with their SPB sponsor and their school administration to come up with these project ideas. Um ultimately it's going to it's going to be pulled directly from our district's capital budget with an approximate amount of $75,000. Um that's already been earmarked in our budget for the upcoming school year that was presented by Mr. Moore a couple of meetings ago. Um and so we're super excited and that's a huge shout out to to Mr. Moore.
031When I brought this up to him, he was like, "We'll get this we'll get this addressed and we'll take care of it." So it's a it's going to be an awesome opportunity. within that all phases of this entire project are studentled. The sponsor is there to support provide ideas. School administration is there as an oversight and then they're going to be working with with district office as well where you have a timeline that I'm going to be showing you, but it really is a part of that student ownership. So, you see the the graphic below. The steering committee is going to design the process and the parameters on which this whole process is going to look like. We want them to be the decision makers and that committee to be a part of that. Then
032they're going to collect ideas and that can range from a variety of different things, right? Um I will say I've seen this done and it really hit me. I'm going to take a moment here. really hit me because my own daughter participated in this in her district and I will tell you to watch fourth, fifth, sixth grade students come out and do this and speak in front of people that they don't know and have to work together, it's it was awesome. So, we're super excited about that. Um, so some they're going to come up with ideas um projects that can range in a variety of different things. It can be water filtration systems, water bottle filling stations, um printers. Some of the things that I've seen is a couple of the schools in my daughter's
033district, they went ahead and purchased equipment for students with special needs to use during class. And so it was it's it's an entire just that statement alone shows the entire community school event coming together to bring them bring them together. Um then they will go ahead and collect ideas from the entire student body. That can be as simple as a a sign up on on a wall in the front office. Come by, give us your ideas, but then it's going to be the responsibility of the steering committee to take those ideas and create proposals that they're going to then bring to school administration. At that point, school administration is going to review them and send them up to us so we can see them as well. They're going to pick five of these proposals, send
034that up to us, let us see it, and then we will okay it, send it back to the campuses, and campuses will then engage in the propaganda, the campaigning of check out these ideas. Here it is. Make morning announcements, assemblies, and then they're going to have to cast their vote. And that can be done in a variety of different ways. Um, it can be for our older students, it could be a QR code that they that the steering committee puts up, they cast their votes, but what we really want that to be is a single day where the entire student body comes together. Um, it's ultimately we would love to have the county recorder office come down on those days and provide opportunities for discussions while the students are voting on this particular idea. Um,
035but for our younger ones, our K1's, K2s, they can go ahead and have a ballot that they fill out and they put it in a box and send it up to the front office and the steering committee gathers it from there. Um, and then at the end, the winning projects will be announced. The timeline, man, I thought that was a little bit bigger. I apologize. The timeline is as follows. We're looking at August. Uh the steering committee will be formed at at the school with its sponsor, school administration, kick it off with an assembly, morning announcements, get people really engaged that that steering committee who's part of already one of those leadership programs. We what the goal should be is for them to ask other students to engage as well. Just because they may not
036be a part of any, we still want students to participate. Um, so if they're not a part of the steering committee, students who aren't are going to have an opportunity to still participate by voting and providing their ideas. In September, the steering committee will brainstorm ideas, gather the input from the student body. October and November, steering committee will meet with school administration to discuss the proposals, research vendors that will be used, and then the top five uh proposals are due to the district office, i.e. me, on November 21st of of this school year. The school administration already has a list of vendors that we want them to use through the district and was provided by our finance department. Then in January, it's going to be the promotion campaigning of the proposals to the entire student
037body. The steering committee will pick a date in February where voting takes place and then the winning projects are due to the district. And the reason why we're asking them to be due in February is because we want to be able to have the opportunity to say here are the projects that we're looking at and ensure that there is no correlation to anything that we are already providing. Even though we're going to see those proposals, things can change within those few months. And so we just want to finalize that before they go ahead and announce the winner. And then on April 7th, our goal is to have each campus do a quick presentation highlighting their top three proposals and announce the winning project to cabinet, the governing board, and the and the attendees of that
038board meeting. And I think that's going to be an awesome opportunity for our students to get in front of you, to get in front of cabinet, to get in front of the community and have that opportunity to to dialogue and talk about what they've learned. All right. How is it connected to academics? I mean, this is really election process, civics, financial literacy, campaign character. It's all embedded in one and it's bringing it to action. It's it's live. There isn't a everything that they're learning is is corlayed directly to what we are uh what we are teaching our students and how to live a civic. And when we talk about our portrait of a graduate, we want them to be responsible citizens and this is a great opportunity them to be able to take this to
039the next to the next level. Um the SBP process is is one like no other. It it isn't a simulationbased program. It's an actual program and an opportunity for students to engage in that. Um and we hope that the process has a transformative impact on on how they contribute to their community and in the long run. This is the first year we're doing this and I want to remind that so what we learn is from this we're going to gather feedback. I will gather specific feedback from students, from administrators, from the sponsors. I want them to go ahead and let me know what their thoughts are and how we can go ahead and improve this year after year. Uh and then that way we can implement those suggestions as we can uh in years to
040come. And then during the process, we're going to encourage uh steering committees and administrators to take pictures and promote this. We want we want our students to and our families and our community to understand what this looks like and what's going on within our schools and this great opportunity. and also communicate through any other means uh or modes of communication that our district has. And at the end of it, what we want is for our students who aren't just a part of that steering committee, but those who were also engaged in providing their proposal or their ideas and voting to see that project be done by the end of the year and out. Um, and it's going to be really interesting. And I was talking to a couple of high school students who participated in
041this in in a different district and they it really opened their eyes to say, "Hey, 7,500 bucks, you think it's a lot, but when it comes to school purchasing, it is not a lot." So their statue that they wanted went from 3 feet to maybe 17 in of their school mascot to be put in front in their front office. So it it really is an awesome opportunity. And with that, I will take any questions. President Wade, Mr. Dmstrong, um I love this idea. I love connecting um the real world experiences to um what our kids are learning. I just I I want to make sure each school when you say that the proposals are whittleled down to the winning project, each school will get that. We're not getting rid of any schools along the way,
042right? No. Every school it's this is the entire district. Every school is participating. Okay. Now, ultimately, future thought when we think about $5,000, some future thought that I have after we do this for a couple years is do we maybe split schools up and provide them with a little bit more, but I want to see what this looks like as we continue to move forward within our district. I love that. Um, and how are are can all the kids apply to be a part of the steering committee? I noticed in one it said NHS and um in parentheses, but all kids can apply to be a part of the steering community. Yeah, we're asking that those leadership clubs kind of we we asked them to take this on a little bit and try to engage
043students. This is our pilot year and instead of us making it its own program right away, asking those leadership committees to go ahead and elicit other students to get involved, but they're going to be the primary steering committee as well. So if there's a student in fifth grade that isn't a part of isn't a part of NJHS or NEHS but they want to be a part of it then yeah work with the sponsor and the school administration to figure out how they can get on. Okay. Perfect. And um in one um point I thought that we had talked about previously uh this being done by spring break. So kids that were outgoing would get to enjoy that. Is that still the Yeah. So, the the end date is what did I say? 27th. February 27th.
044February 27th is when the it's due. April 7th will be presented to you guys and then hopefully we can have everything purchased by that time so that it's done and it's there by by the school year end. Okay, perfect. Thank you. Yep. Y President Wade, Mr. Armstrong, this sounds like a great idea. Um, but I see dollar signs. And as far as uh participation, so you're saying that schools don't get to decide that it's mandatory that every school participate. We're asking every school to participate. So if we figure 5 to $7,000 per school, uh, that's a $75,000 of our capital budget. Yeah. Total. Okay. um how will we uh measure the success and the achieved goals in the process such as school climate um and critical thinking skills. Yeah, I think school I think those
045goals are going to be achieved by how the students react when their winning project is is promoted and brought to the campus. Um, we're going to elicit feedback and we're going to see what they have to say and ways to improve. Uh, climatewise, I think it it's in it's in itself that we're asking students to take a single a dollar amount and purchase something that's going to beautify or make their campus better and that's going to help increase this the school climate and culture within that campus. And how will the sponsor be selected? Let's say nobody volunteers or is somebody gonna Well, school administration is going to be working with those leadership uh sponsors, those club sponsors, and they're going to be asking one of those club sponsors to participate and be the steering committee
046for this first school year um that we have the program. They're going to be the ones that going to be it. And will that involve like an additional stipen for them to take on that role? Well, if it's already a part of their their committee that they're running, we're we're embedding that so there is no additional cost currently and they're going to be able to use that club sponsor to help provide this initiative moving forward. Okay. And then how will we also ensure that because there's obviously going to be politics involved like just to ensure that lines aren't crossed politically. Uh I'm not sure that they're I don't know what you mean by policy just the whole civics process and the voting and and things like that. Um just to ensure that it is in
047fact studentled and that sponsors don't um get involved in any any way to push them a certain way or not you know we have we have policy that says student or teachers can't be exhibiting what they believe or anything along those lines when it comes to politics. So this there is no in my eyes there is no politics. All students are doing is understanding the civic component and engagement of understanding what the voting process campaigning process looks like. There is no red, white, blue, green, anything embedded within that. So I that's how I'm I don't see any politics being embedded because it's a project. There isn't anything beyond that. Okay. All right. Thank you. Yes, President Wade. Um, uh, Mr. Armstrong, uh, yeah, I just want to emphasize, um, and just hear that reiterated again.
048So, obviously, there's going to be adults really proactive in this process and they're going to be compliant with the district policies, ensure that there's safety and liability like typical. Yep. Okay. Thank you. Look, Mr. Armstrong, this speaks to my civics's heart, right? I mean, I taught government for the entirety of my career. Um, I think projects like this are are remarkable. I'm also grateful that we're doing it at the elementary level as well. I think there are, if you ever talk to any student on a campus, I think they're really quick to let you know the areas of need or the things that are focus. And so I often uh genuinely love the ideas or the things that students come up with because at the end of the day, they have a perspective of the
049world that we do not. And so I'm always grateful for that. Um, is there any opportunity for us like during some of this to go like see some of their again that would be just for my civics nerd heart uh at the end of the day because I just think it's really cool in terms of or at the very least like I know that's going to be part of their presentations I'm assuming um in terms of like how they voted and all of that jazz. But I think I think it's a really remarkable program and I'm I'm excited to see how it goes beyond that. I'm excited to see how after this first year we can improve and you know make things better as we continue. So now, now, President Wayade, don't don't grade me
050and evaluate me on this project. This is the first year now. All right. We we're going to see how it goes and have some fun with it, but I think it's going to be an awesome opportunity. I I agree with you. I think it is a fantastic opportunity. So, I I look forward to seeing how it will play out. This brings us to action items. We have 8.1, approval of the adoption of the fiscal year 2025 2026 proposed expenditure budget. Do I have any questions or comments from the board before I uh call the vote to so everybody is aware this vote is going to be taken by a roll call vote? So um after I motion, please state your vote when your name is called. President Wade, Mr. Moore, I just want to clarify
051that we're having to do this again um due to my request to get legal opinion that last time it wasn't done properly. President Wade, member Van Hook. No, this is part of the process. So, at the adoption, we do a roll call vote. Um the the comments and suggestions that you had clarifi like we stated the process that we were following already. Part of well, he said part of and that required the publishing of the of the notice. Although the notice was published on June 7th and we had our meeting on June 10th and the law says at least 10 days but not more than 20 days before the hearing. So if at the July 10th meeting that was considered the hearing, we technically weren't in compliance with the statute considering it stated that we
052needed at least 10 days. Um so plus The the issue that I brought up initially was the fact that we didn't take excuse me we didn't take a separate vote on the levy. We took a vote on the levy with it being part of the budget already, which I have concerns with because let's say I agreed with the budget, but I didn't agree with the levy. And we're being forced to vote either yes or no. And if I didn't agree with the levy, my only option would be to vote no on the entire budget. And I don't think that that's a fair process. So, um, you know, I know that we voted yes unanimously on the budget, including the levy at the last meeting, but I think going forward that uh we should be given
053the option to vote for the levy separately before it is included in the budget. So, that we have that option to vote on the budget and the levy separately. Um, just the thought. That's all I have. Thanks. I just want to clarify, member van hook, that the notice of truth and taxation is before the the adoption of the budget, not the proposed the proposed budget um is not the the time in which you need to have the notice posted. So, we ran that notice uh more than we needed to all the way through the adoption. Um the 10 days prior is 10 days prior to the adopted budget. Um and then I know I I mentioned to Mr. Lensider that this is the typical process in which adjacent waste levy is proposed as it's included
054in the budget forms but if if you have a different preference that I said in future years that can be brought up in a separate proposal um before the board be before it's included in such process. President Mr. more so by us having to vote on the levy at the last meeting. So the notice didn't have to go out to the community 10 days prior to that. No, statute states it notice needs to be 10 days prior to the adoption of the proposed budget. Okay. Thank you. All right. I motion that the governing board approve the adoption of the proposed fiscal year 2026 expenditure budget as attached. Vice President Tiffany Schultz, how do you vote? I. Board member Anna Van Hook. I. Board member Sarah. Oh, sorry. That's right. My bad. I motion that we
055vote the governing board approve the adopted budget of the proposed fiscal 2026 expenditure budget is attached. That's on me. Second. All right. Thanks. I want to give that one to Sarah German. So, we're just going all around, you know. All right. Miss Schultz. Hi. Hi. Thank you, Miss Van Hook. Hi. Uh, Miss Gar, I. Mr. Glover, I. And I am an I as well. Motion carries 50. My bad. I'm tired, everybody. 8.2 approval of our between Higgley Unified and Higgley Education Association. Any questions or comments from the board before I motion? President Wade. Um, I have uh consistently voted no on this item each year as I remain concerned about the need for anou with HA which is a branch of both AEA and NEA. I've observed how radical and highly partisan this um this
056unions are. These unions are they promote, donate to, and support candidates mainly from one political party which concerns many teachers who do not want their dues used for polit political purposes but are afraid to speak out. I believe that less than 15% of staff are currently members. I also believe these associations often prioritize their own organizational interests over those of students. I've even seen photos recently of our HA president's participation in recent protests at the Capitol. Given these factors, I do not believe it is appropriate for such groups to have so much influence over the operations of our district. That's all I've got for now. President Wade, I'd like to kind of echo what board member Van Hook kind of said. um we really want to take these opportunities to really take the politics out
057the classroom and really um you know we don't need this extra stuff that just causes these extra ties and then political influences and ex etc. Thank you. Um so a couple of things I wish to express or ask questions on. Um, first I struggle with the statement that just because they are a member of a union that somehow this is some partisan relationship that creates an inability for us to have a working relationship. The fact that we have teachers who may be members of a m a union and decide to exercise their political right and their first amendment right to show up at a protest is irrelevant to this decision. Much in the same way that we have current board members who participate in partisan things outside of here, we are free citizens who get
058to choose to do that one way or the other. To sit here and say that this is somehow not okay for them but okay for us is is not acceptable. Part of the reason that for the three years I've been on the board this has come up each year and it's something that we have done for quite some time is because we have seen direct benefit from this relationship. Part of that benefit has started over the fact that our staff is here a lot longer and we retain our staff more and part of that reason is because we with our staff work together to try to make the decisions that are in the best interest. I also am grateful to our Higgley staff because they made decisions to forego their own salary in terms of
059taking some of that last uh raise that we gave a year ago and instead of just taking it all for themselves said that certified teachers uh certified staff need it as well because they are just as important in the classroom and the learning environment for our young uh minds. And so I think that is fantastic. At no point in my time on the board have I seen or experienced anything that I would argue shows the HA is doing some sort of radical anything other than they have sit and conversations with what we hope to do as staff what we hope to do as an administration and figure out what is the best relationship within. Um, so I'm grateful that it helps keep our staff, especially as we look at what cuts we are going to
060make. If this continues in terms of having to make these types of decisions, this relationship is going to be vital because the people who are going to feel it the most are staff and that's who felt it the most. the last time we had to deal with this and if you recall and for those maybe we can get that in status in terms of that and I don't know how accessible this information is but the last time that we did not have an M in place and we had to start making cuts we should look at what our staff retention was because every single year that I taught here half of my staff it felt like were brand new faces and that matters it matters for longevity it matters for our students um and it
061matters overall for community so I think it is important um I also uh do not know the exact percentage, but I do not believe 15% is accurate. I believe that it is greater than 15% of our staff are members of the HA. Um, but again, I also think that percentage is irrelevant because it does not matter what percentage are members of it. All all staff get the benefits of what the HA does and negotiates. President Wade, as I've mentioned before, negotiations can occur withoutUS and um yes, they do have a First Amendment right, as do I. Um and I have absolutely seen AGA members behave in a very partisan manner. Um which is why I've been hesitant to support this. I motion that the governing board approve the memorandum of understanding between the Higgley Unified
062District Governing Board and the Higgley Education Association outlined in the attached document for the 2025 2026 fiscal year. Second. Second. Oh, thank you. I'm going to I'm going to give it to Miss Schultz just because you refer. Sorry about that, Mr. Glover. All those in favor? I I Mr. Glover. I I All those opposed? Nay. Nay. Motion carries 3-2. This brings us to 8.3 approval of payment procedures, ratify vouchers and salaries for fiscal year 2026. Any questions or comments from the board? President Wade, I one of the questions I asked if um the information posted in board docs and I was told yes, it's posted, the warrants are posted in board docs, but the issue is the descriptions on the PDF files aren't very descriptive. So, it's hard for people to know what the actual
063um voucher is for, what the actual warrant is for. Uh that's one concern. Uh I also abstained from this vote last year because I think that this takes responsibility away from the board. Uh if if the issue is related to salaries, then maybe we just do salaries. But to do an open-ended uh approval of of something like this, I think um is too much considering most of our invoices are or should are or should be um net30. So that gives the board enough time to approve expenses and I think that um it shouldn't be involved in this process. Um, and as I said, salaries understandable. If there's uh payroll that needs to be made before our meetings are coming up, um, then that's fine. Uh, but anything beyond that, I think is board's responsibility. Thank
064you, President Wade. Yeah, I I don't really like the broad brush strokes with things. this is the specific duty of the board and so I really don't like to give that away. So it's kind of a backhanded something but yes I'm not a big fan. If we can kind of narrow it down, get more specific that would be great. For clarity this is a process that we have done for quite some time. Other districts approve it in this way just because the nature of our meetings and how they have to be scheduled and those types of things to ensure that payments can go through so we can continue to function. Is that correct, President Wade? That's correct. Yeah. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't confusing it with something else. I motion that the governing
065board approve the resolution as outlined in board policy DK for the execution of warrants between board meetings for fiscal year 2026. All go ahead. Second. Thank you, Miss Schultz. Seconded. All those in favor? I I Mr. Glover, are you an I before I move to the naysay? Yes. I Okay, thank you, sir. Uh, all those opposed? Nay. Nay. Motion carries 32. This brings us to item 8.4, appointment of student activities treasurer for fiscal year 2025 2026. Any questions or comments from the board before I motion? President Wade, the way that it was written, it looked like we were um asking two individuals to oversee this, but in the clarification um to my question, it stated that it will just be the uh one individual um that will be moved to oversee this. Uh another question
066I had dur during the answer part it said previously CFO position will now be called executive director of finance and operations and I had also asked what the financial impact of this designation would be um not only for the new individual overseeing the fund, but also the financial impact of um changing the title from CFO to executive director. Uh President Wade, member Van Hook, there is no financial impact. It the position is title change but not pay grade change. Thank you so much. And that applies also to the um overseeing of the student activities fund, the person that's going to take on that role. That is correct. Thank you. All right. I motion that the governing board appoints the executive director of finance and operations and the director of finance is the student activities treasurer.
067Miss Van Hook sent second seconds. All those in favor? I I I Mr. Glover I Oh, sorry. I No worries. Thank you. Motion carries 5. This brings us to future agenda items. Does anyone have any requests for future agenda items at this time? I do. Board member German does. Uh President Weed, um there's a couple things I wanted to bring up. It seems like sometimes it's hard to kind of get some words in. So, I didn't know if we should do kind of a um add an agenda item as a board me member minute. That way, board members can kind of say some uh recognize some things they saw in the district or some concerns that they had or anything like that. Just allow a little time for board members kind of feedback. It would
068be voluntary. Um but just I didn't know if we had any insight on that personal point of privilege. Okay. said it. I was going to bring up another item. I've been kind of uh speaking to some youth in the district and I I didn't realize how um the bathroom situation. A lot of people are having to kind of adjust and make accommodations. And it kind of broke my heart a couple of the gals that shared kind of their personal experiences. Um, but yeah, I really kind of want to uh bring up a request kind of a discussion about a possible policy proposal on students bathroom access. What's hard is there's a very loose um standard when it comes to uh safety and privacy when it comes to gender. And so this loose standard is people
069are kind of running with it. you know, smart Alex or Lucy, you know, just people with a sense of humor. But what's hard is I got some insight, some feedback from some some young ladies who had to basically plan ahead when they went to visited the visit the restroom. Um they had to plan basically be strategic and when they go um make sure that they perhaps had their boyfriend waiting outside because there were a few occasions where um they were uncomfortable and it kind of made them on edge or they had to make sure that somebody else was going into the bathroom with them or this really broke my heart. um they just didn't go and they just went to the bathroom when they got home. And I just it really kind of gave me
070some insight on how we aren't really providing safety in a vulnerable place, especially for some of the women in the district. And I really prioriti sorry, Mr. Sherman, I believe that you're on future agenda items and you have every right to ask for this to be discussed on a future agenda, but we're going a little beyond my comfort level. So, it I I apologize. I could have No, no, I just This is my last board meeting with you. I just want to make sure we end on a good note. So, I think I think you've asked for the board to have a policy discussion regarding bathrooms, which is your right as a board member to request And just to clarify, personal appointment of privilege and bathroom policy um from Miss German. And then I'd like
071to um add policy GBB um and policy JL if from a couple board meetings ago that was discussed. That's all. Thank you. All right. I motion that we adjourn this meeting. Second. Second. That would be Miss Van Hook. Seconding. All those in favor? I I I I Mr. Glover. I Motion carries 50. The meeting is adjourned. Please, for those of you who are here, join us in cake in honor of Miss Richards and Mr. Moore and Miss Melan because they're not going to be here either. Everybody have a great day.