Board of Education Operations, Budget & Fiscal Affairs Committee Meeting June 18, 2025

001Ms. Mcmillan, please begin recording. The time is now fi… Excuse me, 533. Good evening, and welcome to the June 18th, 2025 Operations Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee meeting. I'm Zakiya going to McCants, Committee Chair and District 8 Board Member. Thank you all for joining us today. For those unable to observe now, the meeting is being recorded and can be accessed on the PGCPS YouTube channel for later viewing. Ms. Mcmillan, please call the roll. Ms. Goyne's McCants? Ms. Brown? Present? Mr. Briggs? Dr. Moss? Mr. Jackson? We have 3 present. Thank you. With a quorum present, the operations, budget, and Fiscal Affairs Committee meeting will come to order. The chair informs the public that the agenda will vary slightly tonight. Uh, the committee will address Agenda category 4.0 before 3.0. So if there are no objections, the

002committee shall adopt the June 18, 2025 meeting agenda as amendment. As amended. There being no objections, the June 18, 2025 meeting agenda is adopted as amended. Hold on, I think we were going to make a correction, I'm sorry. That went fast. You're talking about the agenda for today, for tonight? No problem. Yes. Okay, yes, I would like to… make a motion to amend that we switch budget and finance. So… or operations and finance, I think it was. So instead of financing going first, we're gonna have operations go first. Is that what we were doing? I just want to make sure. Yet… category that was item 4.0. Yes. Is moving before item 3.0. Um, I think because we have a small body, that's one of the things we can say. If there are no objections. We

003will approve it. Okay? Thank you so much. If there are no corrections, the committee shall approve the May 28, 2025 meeting in minutes as distributed. There being no corrections, the May 28, 2025 meeting minutes are approved. Um, there are no registered public comment speakers for tonight. And so, with that… The chair recognizes Ms. Howe, Chief Financial Officer for the Budget Update. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for this opportunity to come to you. Again, about a week before, we should be hopefully finalizing our budget for fiscal year 2026. Um, some things have transpired since the last met a month ago. And we're gonna have Director Siobhan Smith. To provide us an update on where we stand Right now, in our process. So I will turn it over to Director Smith. Yes. Can you guys see my

004screen? Okay. All right, so… Good evening! As Chief Powell mentioned, my name is Siobhan Smith, Director of Budget and Management Services. And I'm gonna just walk us through where we are in the budget. Um… where we are with revenue, and what is to come. So… And some of these… some of these slides. We're going to look familiar, it's just going to provide a little bit more detail and some updates from the last time we met last month. Um, so right now, we're currently in the month of June, and we are doing our final reconciliation. Um, this is an interesting year. We did not get a final state aid document, so our reconciliation is based off of the projections we already had In a previous cycle, plus any changes that we received, um. From the county.

005In addition, um, to our reconciliation, as Chief Howe mentioned, we are gearing up to present this budget before the board, um, next week. For adoption. The adoption will occur, and we'll go into a little bit more detail, but the adoption will occur on Thursday the 26th. Um, and then from there, we transition right into getting all of our documentation ready, um, for… certification, and all those documents that have to then be transmitted to the state. Um, in addition. It's not just preparing the budget, but we also have to load the budget, so it's us loading every… Um, FTE and expenditure line item into the budget, so that there is a budget to actually, um, execute come July 1. Um, and then, of course, we have to publish, um, our approved budget book. So, with that

006being said, and again, this may look familiar, but here are a couple of key dates. So today, we are having our final OBAFA budget update for FY26. Um, I'll provide you with our updated revenue amounts, and again, as I mentioned, we have yet to receive a final state aid document from MSDE. Again, on the 26th. The budget will be put forth before the board for adoption. Um, and then immediately after that Friday, June 27th. Um, we will seek signatures for, uh. The county transmittal letter, and also the board action summary. It will have to be signed by the superintendent, and then the county transmittal letter will also have to be signed by the superintendent and the board chair. In addition to that, there is an annual budget certification statement that has to be signed by

007the county council chair, the superintendent, and the board chair So, I will be chasing signatures. All day Friday So, Cindy, I am hoping to partner closely with you. Um, to help get, uh, board chair signature as soon as possible. Um, and then… like I said, and then we will have… We'll have to work on publishing our FY26 approved budget book. Um, and for further discussion, I did just want to notate that that budget book format will be the same format that we've had in the past. I am hoping that we can engage in, um. Useful dialogue to figure out how we may, in the future, update our book, um, to reflect things that the board would like to see. Um, but we'll have a conversation about that a little later on in the presentation. Okay?

008And these are really tight deadlines, so we're going to be moving as fast as we can to get everything done in time. So now we're going to walk a little bit through revenue. Again, these slides may look familiar. This slide, as you can see, not a whole lot changed. As far as from the requested cycle, except what's really important to notate is that in our requested cycle, we requested… there's some non-Blueprint grants on the restricted side that we requested the county to fund. On top of the minimum. Contribution, they did not, so we will have to use our unrestricted funding to cover that local share. Um, so our… unrestricted decreased from our requested cycle, whereas, um. They're restricted, we put it back in there, it increased. Um, it's a net zero change, but it does

009impact what we have available on the unrestricted side. Um, however, you can see that our county contribution is about $969 million, almost $970 million. Um, which is an increase. Over, um… the FY25 approved budget. Of almost $60 million. It is an increase. On the unrestricted side, now you're kind of seeing a little bit more detail, particularly Um, concerning our blueprint programs. So, from a major state aid perspective, um, on the requested cycle. We had about $2.5 million in projected revenue, um. But we are… down to about 2 point… $516 million… billion, excuse me, not million, billion, um, which is a decrease of $7.7 billion, uh, million dollars. In here, you will see this… this $4 million decrease. This $4 million is the funding Uh, pertaining to non… non-public placements. I don't know if you recollect,

010but… the share shifted, and so we anticipate more Coming out of the district's budget to cover nonpublic placements, um, and less coming from the state. And then this change, the $6.4 million change in revenue, um, it reflects We ambitiously requested that the county fund, um, our Office of Integrity and Compliance. As well as our, um… we have intention… we had a lot of different things in there, retention ponds, and I don't know if it was the entire Office of the… of Sustainability and Resiliency. Um, however, they did not fund it. So, we had to right-size the revenue to reflect the fact that those things will stay in our budget. Um, that gives us about a $14 million change on the unrestricted side. From the requested cycle. A $14 million reduction in anticipated revenue. Okay. From

011a total operating revenue perspective. Um, year over year, so we are seeing an increase. From FY25, to FY26 approved, um, of about $104 million on the unrestricted side. Um, and then we're also seeing… a decrease of $47.8 million on the restricted side. Which is a net change of about $57 million. Um, our expected revenues in total for FY26, $2.96 billion. Okay, so we're gonna kind of walk through, um. What is going on during this reconciliation? When we say reconciliation, um, we are still reconciling school budgets. Um, the schools finalized their budgets, um, and now we are reconciling. What was submitted, what we anticipated, um, balancing it against revenue. Um, we also have… updated vendor estimates, we also had to factor in tariffs. Um, we have seen impact of tariffs. Um, already, so we want to

012make sure that our estimates are taking that into consideration. Um, we have updated grant assumptions, particularly surrounding Title I. Um, and some other grants, um, but we are updating our grant assumptions. Um, to account for the change on the restricted side, we are still in negotiations with two labor partners, that would be PGCEA as well as Local 2250. Um, hopefully we are coming close to an agreement, however, it's still ongoing, and so… Because of our labor partner agreements, and we do have an idea of what we think From an economic perspective, those agreements are going to cost us. We are going to have to factor that estimate into our current budget. Um, talking about the legislative outcomes, again, such as non-public placements, um. The fact that that shift, it does have an impact on the

013revenue we anticipate to receive. In addition, um, we need to follow up with the county, because there was also a shift in teacher retirement, where there was going to be more of a county share, less of a state share. Um, and so we did not see that reflected in the county's budget, so we do need to follow up with them. There will be a subsequent reconciliation That will have to happen post-July 1, um, with the county. Um, but for now. Um, I did not see where that shift was reflected in the county's budget. The county did approve our budget, um, and then we have… an item called FY25 prepaid items, and what that is, is where we can, for FY25, in order to make space for some of these labor partner agreements that are going

014to be quite costly. Um, we're trying to prepay as many items as possible. A good example is OPEB. Um, you will see that also going to be presented in front of the board next week, is our, um. Financial review for FY25, which helps Uh, it's going to give us an opportunity to… prepay some of our, um, lease agreements. As well as OPEB, um, and some other things, and so… That will help free up some space in our FY26 budget to cover some of these increases that we anticipate, such as our negotiated agreements. This slide is just a reiteration of how our budget is comprised. Um, with… we still anticipate, once everything is all said and done, that out of the 2.6 billion dollar, um, revenue. About 67%, it still is at the school call center.

015Um, for our student-based budgets. 20% is in direct support of schools, sitting in, um, our central offices. And then we have centralized services. Such as myself, um… sitting at 13%. So we do think that that composition will remain about the same. And then lastly, what's ahead? Alive. So, even after the budget is approved. There's still a lot that has to happen. Um, like we mentioned earlier, we have to load all of our positions and expenditure line items. We need to prepare all the required state budget certification documents. Um, we still have to close out our FY25 blueprint reporting. Our FY25 year is our base baseline year, um, regarding Blueprint. Um, and so we need to take a look at that and see where we are. We know that we're not going to be compliant, but

016if it's going to set our baseline, we want to make sure that it represents the best numbers possible for FY25, and then look for FY26 to show their improvement. Um, this next bullet is broad, but there has to be a re-evaluation of our district-wide priorities, and basically all that means is what are their priorities, and what are we going to invest our dollars in? Because we can't do it all. Um, and we will definitely need to partner with the board to better understand where those dollars need to sit, what those investments need to look like, especially when it comes to blueprint. That requirement minimum school funding requirement, 75%. Must follow the student to the school. It's easier said than done, it doesn't sound hard, but the way our systems are set up, it is quite

017difficult. Um, and we tried that. Um, as Chief Howe likes to say, you know, we were… We're building the plane the same time we're flying it, but we're also finding that this plane keeps shape-shifting, and so what we thought was a plane. Then turned out looking like a spaceship, and then it looked like a rocket, and so we… We're… we are constantly having to morph Um, we did our best to try our hardest to set a base with FY26, with getting our schools at least a 72%. But that didn't work that well. We were being told, principals were telling us we cannot function this way, and so we had to kind of go back to Um, our original position, so the question is, well, how are we going to get to 75%? Um, and we're

018not gonna just be able to do it in a vacuum. That is going to require a lot of discussion and conversation. Uncomfortable conversations, and not everybody's going to be happy, potentially, with the outcome. We have to continue mapping every position and expenditure to a blueprint program. Myself, my team. We are working hard to try to get that that alignment, um, in place. Um, particularly for FY26, It's the reason why these next two bullets, actually, expanding the allotment method as well for every position, why is that important? Because we need to have it in place prior to the first payroll of FY26, Which is coming up pretty quickly. Um… So, we are working… we have a cross-functional team with our HR partners, as well as IT, to try to figure out the best way to get

019this done. Um, the mapping is manual. But ultimately, we need our HR partners to know As every position is going to be coded to a blueprint program. What position, we gotta start moving employees into those expanded positions. Um, and they need to understand what that methodology is going to look like, and who moves where. Um… We also have the issue where we have about a half a billion dollars sitting in central offices, but directly support schools. So, Blueprint requires the funding to follow the student. How do we get that funding out of the central office call centers into the school's call centers without interrupting… operations. How do we do that? Again, it's easier said than done. Um, and so that's going to require additional discussion. Publish our budget book. Again, that sounds easy, but it's

020not. It's not a button we can push. That is a… that is a heavy lift. To try to get this budget book, um. Completed, populated, and, uh, published. And then we want to have… Continual engagement with our board. Um, to ensure that we're aligned. Um, and that is for maximum advocacy. Um, we are going to want us to be on the same page, especially when it comes to the budget. If there are things that are concerning or confusing. Um, what is… what should that engagement look like? It's very difficult to do it in a board meeting, one that's publicized, also two that is um, timed. We just don't have time to have a real dialogue and a real discussion. Um, a real Q&A. So, I don't know what type of engagement that can be, but

021I think it's worth a conversation. Um, but then also, not just our board, but just key stakeholders, the community. What kind of… I would love to know, as we said, we're publishing our budget book as is. However, what kind of information would they like to see, and how would they like to see it? You know, financial information is dense, and it's… It's not a fun read, um… But there can be sound bites or things that we can post to the budget website, um, potentially Um, financial information that is of importance to the community as a whole. Um, but what… what is that? Um, and what should that engagement look like? Is that a survey? Um… I'm just not sure. And then finally. And this is in my own interest, just, you know, thinking about what

022the budget office, what that structuring, and not just the Budget Office, but other financial functions. Um, that fall under, um, CFO Howe. What… what should that look like in order to meet the demands of Blueprint? Blueprint is massive. Um, and it is taking a lot of time But we still have our day-to-day operations that we have to do, and so… how can I meet the demands of Blueprint while at the same time engaging with key stakeholders, while at the same time making sure that our day-to-day operations of monitoring, tracking, developing budgets Are still commencing. Um, what can that look like? So just having more conversation and discussion around what that looks like. Um, and with that being said, I will be quiet, and please, if you have any questions, please let me know. Thank you.

023Thank you so much, Director Smith. For explaining all of that. Um… Board members, do we have any questions? I see… Board Member Brown's hand is raised. Yes, thank you so much. Budget team, I feel for y'all. Um, I did… I had a couple of questions, but I'm gonna try to be mindful of my time. One of the challenges I know that you mentioned was, like, the student-based budget, right? Following you know, the per pupil… budget. My question with that is… you know, obviously, from a layman's… point of view. You're like, well, if you have 100 students. You should know how much money is going to that particular school, right? That's just me thinking from a layman's term. However, what I have heard from principals, if Hypothetically speaking, let's say… a school shuts down because of…

024you know, a capital improvement issue. They now take on those children. However. That money doesn't always transfer. Um, from what I've been hearing, and can you kind of clear that as far as, like. What should schools expect in the event of something like that were to happen? And if you could kind of break down… I know, as far as layman terms as you can. What that looks like when the money follows the pupil. So I can speak to that a little bit. And do I have, like, the minute and 7 seconds? I don't know, I'll just… I'll just kind of dive right in. Um, so when it comes to the money following the student. That is really from a planning standpoint. And so you think about, we get funded a year in arrears, so the

025funding is based off of the students for last school year 2024-25 determines our funding for 26. We then look at the projected enrollment for the coming year. And we build a budget for that school based off of projected enrollment. To the extent there's a huge disconnect between the funding that we got based off the previous year's enrollment. And the projected enrollment for the coming year There is an opportunity, and there's a waiver process that we could submit to MSDE if there's a huge gap or difference. Generally speaking, there are some puts and takes, but it's not material enough where you're not going to be able to still meet the needs of that school. Based off of minor shifts in enrollment. Um, that being said, you could have bigger changes due to boundary issues, or perhaps

026schools shut down for whatever reason. But keep in mind that typically when we move students because of a capital need that's tied to really a swing faith effort. The money is still staying with that student, because it's still the school. And I'll give you a real live example. We've got Suitland that is going through a process right now where we're going to have to move for the students to a separate building. But it's still Suitland, so the funding that's still there to support. The budget for that school still exists, regardless of where the students are sitting. So that is, um, a really kind of a… the way the process works. Um, you can't have an exception process if needed But for the most part, the funding does follow the student. Um, from a planning standpoint,

027but you don't make changes for it during the year. Because obviously we have students that transfer, they move schools. That's not gonna impact your budget, where you're literally moving it throughout the year. Um, but to do that from a really a planning standpoint during your school budgeting process. Thank you so much, Chief Howe. I do have one, um… just question for process, because of time. This was originally two budget items… not budget items, two agenda items. And it seems like the presentation has been, um… You all combine both of them together. Does that mean, then, that we would get 4 rounds of questions, or is it still only 2 rounds? We'll see what… I think that's up to you to decide, but I'll just kind of follow the lead of… Of the board. Thank you.

028Uh, Vice Chair Briggs. Okay, thank you so much, Committee Chair. Um, Goins and Kantz. Um… First, thank you for the presentation, um, um, to both of you, Director Smith and, um, Chief Howe. Um, I wanted to kind of double down on the question that was posed by Board Member Brown about, or at least I think you were speaking to the 75%, um, that follow, or the dollars that follow students to the schools. Um, can you speak more about some of the challenges in getting the 75% of students, and then what… Where are we at right now? What is the percentage? And then another question I had, um, and this might be more for Director Smith, is you talked about the non-public place… non-public placements. Can you speak to this issue more in the amount of

029the budgeted impacts? Okay, so I can start off with the first question around the challenges of getting to the 75%, and where do we kind of stand. So we're still… going through the process of finalizing all of our changes. As we were working through the budgeting process with the principals, with the associate supes, and the IDs. Um, during the budgeting process. Um, there were some changes, as Dr. Director Smith mentioned before. From where we started with the allocations, and where we had to adjust based off of input from the team. Um, and it really was trying to balance out schools that maybe had a little bit more flexibility to reallocate resources to support schools that were in need. Keep in mind that one of the changes that we experienced during the budgeting process Was the

030plan reduction, or the anticipated reduction in Title I of 20%. So what that did is some schools were not only dealing with the reallocation process tied to SVB, tied to Blueprint. They were now also dealing with fewer dollars that they may have received previously to Title I. And so they were looking to see how they can maintain the same level of support between the two different pots of money. And so there were some adjustments that we had to make in certain cases, depending on the school. Um, of trying to keep those schools full. So during that process, there were some schools At a minimum, we were trying to get… Like, 2%? Ms. Howell, I don't… because I want to make sure that you know that we can't really hear you. It's like your sound's going

031in. I think because when you look down, I think… your sound is, uh, cutting out. Okay. I don't know if that's better? Um, but so we started at a base point of 72% at a minimum for all schools. Um, well, for all calls to at least be at 72%. Some are greater than that, but we didn't want to have any schools below that. So through that adjustment process. We… there were some cases where some schools were maybe lowered from 72 to 71 to 70 in an attempt to make sure that we were supporting those schools that needed additional resources because of Resource reallocation decisions that had to be made because of Blueprint, or because of lost funding for Title I. We will now, however, be going through sort of a second round post-July one, and

032this is a normal part of our process, but it's a little bit more involved this year, because now we do have further guidance from MSDE of what those Title I reductions will be. We plan for 20%. It's going to be more like 9%. So that's a good thing. The reduction was not as steep as we initially anticipated. It's still a preliminary allocation, so it can still change. But we are now going to be working with the school's team to then… now let's… re-evaluate additional changes that will be needed to support the budget. Realizing those reductions might result in some resources now being funded off of Title I, since it's more dollars available for that process. So it is an evolving process. Um, most of our schools are… Um. In the best place where they need

033to be for 26, based off of the collaborative process that we went through. There are still a number of schools, for sure, that are below that 75% threshold. And this is our second. Year into a third-year implementation to get all schools to the 75%. And so that's part of the work that Director, um, Smith spoke to earlier. Um, over the summer that we will be engaging with our school leadership team and our academics team to talk further around some of those resources. Investment decisions, whether it's looking at our specialty programs or our specialty curriculum. Um, other supports that's needed for special education. You know, all those different components that goes into a school's budget that impacts that minimum school funding percentage. So as we're preparing for 2027, We've now had these decisions around what adjustments

034we may need to make. In order to support that continued shift. To get those schools to 75%. Um, and then I think I had another question around the non-public piece. I don't know… Directors, do you want to take that, or do you want me to… you can… Yes. I can. It's really so… Previously, the state would provide 70%, and the board or local, we would have a 30% share for non-public placements. For our special education students. Um, but after legislation, it shifted to 60-40. So, we… we have a higher increased share now, um, of 40% versus 30%, and that difference is about $4 million. Um, that… are going to shift from a state revenue source to a local source, and so that's… that's the impact. That was super helpful. Thank you to both, because that

035made a lot of sense. Thank you both. Um, I see our colleague Dr. Moss has joined us. Dr. Moss, do you have Any first-round questions for the budget team? Um, no, but I'll have second round. Sorry, I'm getting situated, but I'll have second round. No problem. I did have one question of my own for first round. You mentioned way at the beginning of your presentation, Director Smith, that you still hadn't received something from MSDE Can you explain a little bit more… about that, like, obviously that's a… That's something that has not been normal in the past. When do you normally get that? How is that affecting the reconciliation process so far? And then what are we expecting to change going forward? Yes, so, and then Chief Howe, please jump in if I misspeak, but I

036believe in the past, we usually get it around May. Maybe around mid-May, um, the final state aid documentation, um. That tells us what the county minimum contribution would be. That should be what the county ties back to, um, that's what we reconcile and balance to. Um, and not having that calculation, um, we are just relying on, um. Our own projections, as well as what the counties predict, and since they don't have it either, their projections Um, how it impacts us is, I mean, at the end of the day, once the… once the board adopts the budget. That's the budget. Um, however, when or if that state aid document comes out. We may not be aligned, so we may certify a budget that doesn't align to the state That state aid document, um, that outlines what

037funding we should be getting from the state, um, in particular, and the county share of it. So, it just… it potentially could just provide a misalignment. We gotta move forward. They didn't change the certification date, um, so we still have to submit. All of that information, but we're going to certify a budget that may not align to that documentation, if that makes any sense. Yeah, and I'll just jump in and add a little bit more to it. Um, Director Smith is correct. We usually receive the final state aid document. Around mid-May, after General Assembly closes. Um, we do have a pretty good idea of what the revenue projections are going to be. Because it's all tied to a formula, and that formula is tied to student count data. And we have our student count data.

038Um, however, we know that we were anticipating some changes, because in some cases, that suited down… we had some differences And what the student count data should be. And we were told, oh, it'll be reflected and corrected in the final seating document that goes to the local boards, it goes to the local county, so they understand their local share regarding adjustments. So when you don't get that. The county has to move forward with their budget, and they have their number based off of the city document that we all received in January. So, to the extent there were any corrections or not. Or any reconciling items that would have been reflected in that final document. The county doesn't have it, and we don't have it. Obviously, the county has approved their county budget, which includes our

039budget. Um, we will go through the process of having the boards, uh. Having the budget approved by the board. Which will be inclusive of what the county has approved, but there will also be additional changes we make to the budget primarily on the restricted side, because the county doesn't have as much insight into our restricted funding, so… As we've gone through, we've refined our, um, assumptions around our grant applications. What that budget's going to look like. We will process those changes, and that's what gets adopted or presented to the board for adoption next week, then that budget is transmitted back to the county. And they do a final vote to kind of reconcile what the board has now approved compared to what they approved. And that becomes, like, their second adjusted budget. Um, to the

040extent that we ultimately get a state aid document. At some point, we will certainly validate what is, um, finalized in that state aid document and see how far away it is from what we already adopted on both sides. To the extent it's material, and I don't anticipate that it will be, but if it is material. There could be the opportunity to go back and have the, uh… the budget modified. Um… But if it's not substantial. Doubt there's going to be much appetite for either the county or for the board to go back and re-evaluate, um, and having the budget readjusted. But it will be a reconciling difference, so the state will have loaded into a lot of the reporting tools revenue that's tied to a steady document. That all LEAs did not receive in time

041to reflect into their adopted budget. And we're the last county in the state Don't have the board… to have the budget approved, so we were hoping we would actually get the document in time still. The other districts have already passed their budgets with what they already had from January, but here we stand on June 18th, and we still don't have it. So, unfortunately, it's just going to be a reconciling item to be determined. Thank you so much, Chief Howell and Director Smith, board members. Um, any questions for Round 2? Yeah, thank you all for bringing this together. Um, I think you all just answered a question for me. But I do want to do it for the sake of the public around… the, um, budget book? So, I think I totally understand why we can't

042have a budget book until July 26th now. Um, and so I would assume it's because we still have another round with the council, there's still some… other pieces out there. Um, and then the final question I have, if you could address this, is. The current budget that we have outlined, does it include our labor partners? So, the first episode of the budget book, so yes, we will have to publish an approved budget book, but we can't even We can't even get started on that until we have the approved budget. Um, but that's what's something that we'll be working on all throughout the month of July. To get… to get… get posted. Um… So, the public can anticipate a published approved budget book, hopefully by the end of July. Um, and then as far as… You

043had a second question. I'm sorry, it just completely… Yeah, it was with respect to, like, where we are with our labor partners and where we currently are with them. Is that baked into the budget? As it stands. So the two, um, negotiated agreements that are finalized and complete, which would be our… with Local 400 and our SEIU and, um, ASASP, That is factored into the current budget. In addition, even though we have not yet finalized negotiated agreements with PGCEA or Local 2250. We do have a good estimate of what the economic proposal is going to cost us. We will factor that into Um… into the budget. Um, so… that will be a factor into the budget, which is why we are trying to make space in the FY26 budget through prepaying as many items as

044possible. This year to make space for next year. Um, to account for… to absorb a lot of that massive cost for the negotiated agreements. Yeah, I appreciate you, and final question. Um, I can't remember. We got $95 million out of our fund balance. Where does that leave us with a fund balance? Um, sitting in, and then can you project on how much we might put in fund balance this year? Based on unfilled positions. And if you can't answer the second question, I can put it in the tractor, but… Yeah, so I can speak to the fund balance component a little bit, and that is something that's difficult to project during the year as the year is taking place. For 2025, Um, but we had an assumption to use fund balance of $120 million. For 2026,

045we have an assumption that we would use an additional $95 million. Um, our plan for 26 is still at $95 million. Um, but as we close out 2025, you know, we'll be in a better position to know how we ended For this year. Um, we do, um… have the ability to, um, understand where there might be some savings in our Current operations for 2025. And as, uh, Director Smith referenced earlier, that's… that will be coming to the board in our upcoming financial review. On June 26th. Um, where we will outline an opportunity to realign some of our budget for 25 into different categories. To accommodate other needs that have come up since the last financial review. As well as to prepay. Certain items that we were planning for 26. To pay those down early in

0462025, rather than to have that savings fall to the fund balance. Thank you so much, Chief Howell. Board Member Brown? Yes, thank you so much, Chair Gwenz-Mcantz. Um, my question was regarding the unrestricted funds. I know that in the presentation, you all stated that The restricted funds tend… like… that money is starting to decrease. But the unrestricted funds are starting to increase. Could you use unrestricted funds to reconcile restricted funds? Because there is a concern if there are specific things that we need to take care of. Would we be able to use those unrestricted funds, and what does that look like? So, we definitely anticipated, with the burn-off. Or the pay down, or the spin down of our… and expiring of our COVID relief grants. That there were certain items covered by those. Restricted funds

047that were going to shift into our general fund budget. Um, and as the per-pupil amount in each of those different revenue programs for Blueprint revenue programs are increasing from one year to the next. It does give us the capacity and the ability to cover off on, you know, higher negotiated payroll costs. That's our largest expense, for sure. But you think about some of our other operational costs as well, it is a challenge to absorb everything that's on a grant into your general funds budget. But some of the areas where we've increased that spending includes our technology, one-to-one devices, which were paid for Um, by the COVID relief grants. We've got a lot of operational costs, building services. Um, uh, maintenance repairs, some of that was… work was being funded by cover relief grants. That's being

048absorbed. Into the budget, we've increased our spending for, um. Behavioral health supports for our students Particularly for those schools that are non-community schools. There's a behavioral, um, component tied to the community school's grants that provides the support to those schools. But for non-community. We had mental health clinicians. In all of our schools. So for the non-community schools. We are still providing the support for that, which was previously funded by our COVID relief grants. That now is being absorbed and pulled into the restricted budget, so we have… I mean, to the unrestricted budget. So we have been working From the very beginning, when we received those grants. On a plan to how we were going to acclimate some of those key requirements. To be able to sustain that on a going-forward basis, so being able to

049make space and our unrestricted budget, but also having to re-evaluate priorities to the extent that we didn't have enough increased funding. From a revenue side to do that, we had to then decrease costs in other areas to make sure that we could support some of those key efforts on a going-forward basis. Um, any other board members for Round 2 before I ask my… Last question. No. Um, mine is more of a Overall, like we've said. Y'all have said a lot about… how much there is to do, where all of these things come from, and there's been a lot of conversation about the very manual process. Um, to get all of this… accomplished? What is it that we… at this point, need to make sure that this process, and specifically talking about need in terms of

050manpower or systems, et cetera, in order for this process to run more smoothly next year. Or at this point in a couple of weeks when you start to reconcile all of this. Yeah, that is a great question, um, and it's not an easy fix. And so, with the work that's come with Blueprint that's impacted all districts, um… And as it's evolved, and we're understanding different requirements on what's needed. You know, we've all been faced with moving this work forward with the infrastructure that you already have in place, whether that's resources, whether that's technology some of our other LEAs have already made investments in a new ERP system. Um, we had to prioritize our… a student information system first. So that has now been done, and so the ERP system, which is in our 26 budget,

051is next on the docket, and that's a system that will benefit the district as a whole, not just on the budget side, but it's an ERP, so it will impact All of our accounting work, our procurement system, our human capital system. Our payment system, we would use it for everything. That's a phased implementation, and that will take several years. I'm sorry to cut you off, Chief Howe, but just for the public listening, can you, um, explain what the acronym ERP stands for? Yes, at Enterprise Resource Planning Tool. Platform. Um, and so that is a… basically, it's a system-wide platform that's used to support an organization's overall operations from technology to human capital to finance. And so, um, it will be several years. Before we get to the benefit of being able to leverage a planning

052tool. That's tied to a new ERP system that will help make our work easier. Um, as you can imagine, when you're having an implementation of that size with so many different uses. We're having to prioritize the phase, uh, implementation. Of that system. And so, based off of our preliminary conversations that we've had with our Um, uh, with technology team under Dr. Zuckerman, and obviously our other partners that utilize… that would utilize the ERP system. We've prioritized payroll and benefits first. Um, accounts payable would be kind of the next tranche. Um, and then finance would… well, the budgeting piece would be kind of in the second third, so we're going to try to tier it a little bit, where we start maybe in the second, um, phase of it, or into the third phase of it.

053But budget is not first. We've got to take care of payroll. There's a lot of, uh… opportunities to streamline that process, for sure. Um, when you consider the number of employees we have within the district, over 20,000, Um, in, you know, even considering our retirees, it's just a lot that's needed to kind of get that process started with payroll first. Um, payroll on human capital, because the two really kind of go together. So that is in phase number one, so we're not even going to get the benefit Right away. So in the interim, it's the challenge of… How do we keep doing what we've been doing with the team that we still have? Um, using the same manual. Antiquated systems that we have. With the same stretch team. That is now faced with the other

054requirements tied to blueprints. It is… it is really a heavy lift, and that is really the challenge that we've been faced with. Um, so, a couple things. We do have a budget tool that we use for student-based budgeting, and our IT team has done a great job in being able to kind of really um, modify that to support the changes that we need for Blueprint. Um, so we will continue to leverage that, um, expertise. And that tool, the expertise of the IT team, and that tool to continue to refine it. To help streamline our process even more for next year. Um, but internally, as Director Smith spoke of, we're also looking at stamina changes that will be made for 2026. Relating to the structure of the budget office. Um, we do have in the proposed

055budget positions that will be in place to help support the schools with regards to The implementation of Blueprint, the monitoring of Blueprint. Um, and those are resources we haven't had in that capacity before. Our team spends a lot of time supporting the schools. Obviously, we have a lot of them. Um, so with that work being redistributed, um. At a certain level to support the schools, or provide different capacity within the, um. Other positions within the, uh, budget office. To be able to strategically focus our efforts around continued blueprint implementation. And budget enhancements. Um, try to do all that while you're still focusing on your day-to-day. Um, is… it's a… it is a lot. So you have your process improvement, you got your day-to-day, and then now you have this new component, which we didn't have

056You know, this time last year, which is the blueprint implementation. And the requirements mandated for this year that we didn't necessarily have last year. Um, so we're planning through it, um with what we have, knowing it's going to be a phased approach. Um, and it's really just trying to align with, um. The priorities for the district align with the priorities for the board, and how we can make sure that we're in the best position to be able to focus on the day-to-day, be responsive to board requests, and support the community Um, and also think about how we can make the information more youthful when it comes to the outcome of all this work, which shows up in the form of some sort of budget document, whether it's a budget book. Whether it's a board action

057summary. Um, that's really useful for all stakeholders. Um, we are also looking at having a consultant to help with sort of reimagining, um. The content of our budget book, so we'd love to engage with the community, with our stakeholders. To receive that feedback, as Director Smith mentioned earlier. Um, so we have several irons in the fire that we're focusing on for 2026. Um, but I guess the number one support will be getting through this 26 budget, hopefully getting the budget approved. That will include implementation of this new ERP, that's certainly a piece of it. Um, and then for us to continue to look at the restructuring of the budget function to better support the planning of the work On a going-forward basis. Thank you so much, Chief Howe and Director Smith, for your presentation and

058answering our questions. Uh, today. Um, moving now to item… 3.0, well, 3.1. Uh, the chair recognizes Dr. Coleman, Chief Operations Officer for the Blueprint Schools Phase 2 update. Thank you, and good afternoon, Board Committee Chair Goins, McCants, members of the Board, and the community stakeholders who were present. Uh, the Office of Alternative Infrastructure Planning and Development is responsible for supporting the construction and ongoing maintenance agreement for our public-private Partnership, or P3 schools. At this time, Director Sean Matlock will provide an update on this ongoing effort. Mr. Matlock? They're, uh, they're having difficulty seeing me, it's my fault. For some reason. My system's not working very well, so I apologize for my camera. Bring up the presentation. What I'm gonna do is be an overview, just a quick overview of P3. An idea of how we're

059going about putting together our package in schools and designing them. And then we're gonna go into, um… a little detail. Uh, on what… on the projects, how we're executing. All those things currently. Um, could you bring up our presentation? Okay, Sean, uh, Mr. Man, like, just so you're aware, your audio is a little choppy Um, so, um, anything you can do to make it a little clearer would be great. Director Matlock? Okay, can we, uh, load the presentation? Try to go on camera, and I have… I have the presentation part that was already ordered. Wonky. Okay. Uh, and… and uh, Director Matt Locke, you're, you're, um… your audio is still, uh… choppy, so if you… Yep. So… Uh, pull up, if you can share the presentation. I can't hold onto the moment. Can you see

060it? Yes. Uh, if you can turn it into presentation mode? I don't know if I can. I was trying to do that. Hold on, just give me a moment. To sit in presentation mode? Yeah, let's just go ahead and proceed. We don't want to hold people's time up, so please just go ahead and proceed. No doubt. So, um… Eventually, probably do P3s, just primarily to do meet certain goals. Um, part of it is to Accelerate delivery of capital plans by leveraging private sector financing. We're trying to achieve operational efficiencies, like life-saving lifecycle costs. Remove the risk of future amendment deferral for maintenance. Um, utilize the private sector for innovation to get better risk management and incentives and the performance. Of the construction? I don't mean to interrupt, but… Sean, I don't mean to interrupt, but

061I don't see the presentation. I'm not sure if others are able to see it, but I'm unable to see the presentation. Okay, hold on just a moment. I'm wondering, um, Dr. Coleman, if it's okay with you, if you all can switch your two presentations? Get some support to… present for Director Matlock. I think we should. I appreciate that. So, um, let's move forward to… Uh, the next item, if we could, uh, the Department of Sustainability and Resiliency. Is focused on implementing the Board of Education-approved Climate Change Action Plan. We appreciate the opportunity for Director Dorothy Morrison to provide updates on what has been a busy and productive year of her team. Thank you, Dr. Coleman. Good evening, board members and members of the public that are listening in. Um, as Dr. Coleman said, I'm Dorothy

062Morrison. Let me just make sure… can everybody hear me clearly? Yes, we can. Awesome, okay. So I'm not sure if Cindy was going to pres… um, she was going to project my… presentation, if not, I could try to… just try to scare my… okay, she's doing it. There we go. All right, so… Okay, so I realized that there are new board members, um, amongst us, so I thought it might be good to just give some background context on how the Department of Sustainability came to being. So, what I'll do in this brief presentation is really just give a brief overview of DSR. Talk about the drivers for its creation, as well as the Climate Action Plan. And then I'll just highlight a few successes that we've had with implementing the Climate Action Plan. Next slide,

063please. Next… next slide. Okay. So… the… thank you. So, the department was established in October 2023, so fairly new. And there you have the mission, uh, the Department of Sustainability and Resiliency facilitates the journey towards a more sustainable and resilient school district and society, in partnership with local state, regional, and national stakeholders, as well as the public and private entities And, um, sustainability, uh, for those of you, I know it's, uh, sometimes it's a buzzword, but… In essence, the approach that we're taking from a school district perspective in achieving sustainability is a very comprehensive approach. And under that umbrella of sustainability lies multifaceted, interconnected issues, which includes climate change preparedness, natural resources conservation. Waste and pollution minimization, clean and renewable energy development, economic prosperity, and promotion of healthy, thriving communities. So that's a lot. And

064we are a small, as I always say, we are a small department with a MITE mission, so… next slide, please. Okay, so in terms of the drivers for establishing the Office of Sustainability and Resiliency, United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Federal targets at the time that the office was, um, created. Maryland State goals, Maryland is a very progressive state in terms of environment and sustainability, so they have various legislation that have been passed over the years which require us to pay attention to things like sustainability. Prince George's County government, um, also has a climate action plan. And lastly, but certainly not least, we have the Climate Action Plan for Prince George's County Public School System. Next slide. Okay, and again, for the newer members, I just thought it'll be helpful to give a little bit of

065background on how the Climate Action Plan came about. So, in March of 2021, the Board of Education I brought together an interdisciplinary focus group of about 20 to 25 stakeholders. And within a year, we're able to develop the Climate Action Plan, which consists of about 58 action items. Well. Um, eight priority areas and 58 action items. In 2022, of April. The board formally adopted the CCAP to begin implementing these 58 action items. And then a year after that, in October 2022, the Department of Sustainability and Resiliency was established to champion continued implementation of what's reference in the Climate Action Plan. Next slide, please. And here you have it. These are the 8 priority recommendations. Um, you can see it, but I'll just quickly run through it. They include things like, um. Incorporating climate curriculum. And

066training and partnerships building carbon footprint reduction. The buildings that we obviously all inhabit, that's one of the greatest sources of carbon pollution, so reducing that. It's one of the priority areas. Renewable energy source commitment, so that just means things like solar, geothermal, fall under that category. Low-carbon school transportation, this includes electrifying our fleet. And potentially using alternate vehicles, whether it's propane. And similar, um, alternative vehicles that are not… I'm sorry, alternative fuels that are not as polluting as the diesel engine. Uh, food waste reduction, minimizing food wasting schools, sustainable material management and procurement. Climate Resilient land management, and, um, leading by example, which is just, obviously, we have awesome leadership, uh, that came up with a climate action plan and continues to be supportive of that. So, next slide. Okay, so what I thought I'd

067do next here is really just touch on, you know, some of the I guess, accomplishments that we've realized over the… the past couple of years. Um, we were able to develop a sustainability principles document, which is something that was Socialize among multiple stakeholders, and it serves as a guiding principle for us as we do the sustainability work. We have been able to, um, complete curriculum audits in various academic spaces to look at how we can incorporate climate change into existing STEM courses, such as, you know, geography. Biology, because those obviously are related to environment and climate change. And these are just some of the areas where we have been able to enhance the curriculum, so it includes Junior Achievement Division, the Howard B. Owen Science Center, and the Schmitz Outdoor Education Environmental Center as well.

068Social studies and health. So these are just naming a few, working obviously closely with Um, the academics department to… to help further these goals. Integration of climate change, education, and environmental justice into teacher training over the past couple of years. We have been able to have these, uh, trainings that go towards, um, credentialing for our teachers and professional development, so we continue to do that. I cannot really see the last bullet, but I think it's cut off, but annually, we are hosting we are hosting the Student Environmental Alliance Summit. It's usually a two-day summit, starting off with an outdoor experience. Day 1 and day two, it's an indoor experience where we invite various speakers, potential employers. That might be able to mentor our students and provide internships for our students. And that's usually day two.

069And we also have, um… a large number of vendors who are also always supporting us. Next slide, please. Oh, thank you! Somebody was able to pull that up. Thank you so much. So here it is, and all of this is available on our website, which I will provide at the end of the presentation, so… Next, please. I do… I don't know if folks wanted to take a minute to read it, but we probably don't have time. I was told this has to be, like, about 8 minutes, so let's… let's get on with it. Um, so the area of reducing carbon footprints in our buildings, so this, again, some examples of some of our successes. Um, we have policies in place that require all new construction being built. To be at a minimum of leads, silver

070standard, and what does LEED mean? Um, LEED stands for Leadership in energy and environmental design. So, things like green roofs, things like LED lighting goes towards, um. A lead silver standard, which is really a global, um, it's a global rating system, and it goes from silver through platinum, so it's silver, gold, and platinum. So platinum is the highest, but we aim towards meeting a minimum of a LEED Silver Standards. So, conducting building audits so that we can identify our energy management, um, improvements, LED lighting, we're retrofitting Um, our incandescent light bulbs with LED lighting, which are more energy efficient. Hvac upgrades to, again, more energy efficient, um. Hvac systems and weatherizing our buildings. In terms of funding this effort. We have applied for and received over about $3.6 million in school decarbonization grants Um, and

071we are also applying for… what is known as the IRA tax credit, so this was, um, incentive from a prior, I guess, administration, which, it's my understanding, will continue. For nonprofits, especially schools, to receive, um, a credit back if we pursue things like, you know, energy efficiency, um, upgrades and things like renewable energy and solar, so we are definitely applying for that. And it's been estimated that we would receive, um, $3 to $5 million, and this is just for the Eleanor Choa building, so there's a lot of money to be realized under this program And the last bullet, which I can't fully see, but… Are we able to kind of slide it up a little bit so we can… Let's see, there you go. Wow. Okay, let me see if I could find the… It's…

072are folks able to see the full slides in there? Because I'm only seeing it's sort of cut off. Let me see if I could minimize my… Okay. Cindy, is that you advancing the slides? Is that simple? Yeah, it seems like some of the things were cut off, but… Um, let me see if I have a hard copy here, just to kind of take a look at that. Give me one moment, I'm trying to make it fit. Okay. The last bullet talks about the potential to consolidate administrative offices. Uh, to support, uh, savings around, uh, building maintenance and energy efficiency. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Coleman. So, so basically, the thought there was obviously looking… we have about 60 intervene cereal offices throughout, and those are not very energy efficient, so to the extent that those can

073be consolidated. We'll be, um… in a great place to realize some savings, which would then go back to the school system Um, in terms of helping our students out, so… Next slide. Did the presentation just disappear off the screen? We're still working on it still, or…? There we go. You might… you probably could just do a slideshow, and then that would sort of… maximize it. So this is just really a visual… for everyone to see the Eleanor Choa indoor environment. The Eleanor Choir school came online, I believe it was last fall. So, August 2024. And… we're not on the right slide, Sydney. Let me see… Can we keep going next, keep going. Yeah, no, I think she was trying to accommodate your request to move it to slideshow, and so… so she… it went back,

074and I… yeah. Yeah. Oh, okay. But that's okay, we'll get, we'll get through it. I… I… yeah, we'll… That's probably… Okay. Okay. Alright, so this, this slide right here just… just shows what we're doing in terms of developing renewable energy. Like I mentioned before. Things like, um, geothermal energy, we have about 11 schools, and I will have, um, Director Matlock correct me if I'm wrong in any of these numbers, um, rooftop solar, we have about 5. Um, we're building these schools to be EV, which stands for Electric Vehicle Charging Ready, for all the new school construction, and we're also partnering with some utility companies Um, to obtain community solar. Next slide, please. Okay, and so decarbonizing our school transportation. So, we all know that Um, diesel engine is not the best in terms of, um,

075emissions. Especially for students that may be suffering from things like asthma. And so, the electric school buses obviously have zero emissions, so it's really healthy for our students, but they are expensive, right? So, it's not something we can turn over in a quick In a quick second, it's something that's going to take years for us to… Um, totally electrify our fleet. But some good news is that we have been able to secure about $9 million in federal grant awards to purchase 21 electric school buses to date. And we have been able to secure $3.5 million in state grants for 8 additional buses. Uh, these buses need to be charged, obviously, so we are working on a, um, a Gamalikan bus lot, which is, um, here in Bowie. To develop a microgrid and charging infrastructure that

076will help us charge up to about 50 buses. And… the last bullet just speaks to us being able to partner with Parks and Recreation to increase walking and biking spaces. Because that helps, obviously, we all know that active transport is really the best. If our students, if they can, if they live within a certain distance of the school, if they can walk to school, that's actually a healthy option. So that's another area that we are working on. Next slide, please. There we go. And so, this slide speaks to what we're doing, or our successes with our food waste reduction. So, we are able, from the recycling perspective, during the school year 2023, 2024, we were able to divert approximately 3 million tons of waste from the landfill. And with regards to our composting program, in

077school year 23-24, We were able to, uh, pilot 29 schools that did composting, and we were able to compost, uh, 306 1,992 pounds of food waste. And combustible. So, combustible is essentially a just, um… materials that can biodegrade when they do go to the landfill, so things like your cardboard, uh. Utensils, or I should say serving, and then our… there's certain compostable utensils. That decompose in the landfill, as opposed to some other materials, like certain plastics that do not. We are hoping to up our number to about 45 pilot schools in FY25-26, so that's this coming year. Next slide, please. Okay, um, evaluating our land for climate resilience. So, we all know that with climate change comes extreme weather, so things like extreme rain, snow. All-cause flooding and stormwater runoffs, so we have, to date,

078been able to do an inventory of all our stormwater management systems. And we're looking at ways to identify areas that may not be working very well. And to work with certain partners, like the Clean… Clean Water Partnership and others to help rectify those… those… those areas. We are also working with a host of partners, such as the Department of Natural Resources and KC Trees. To plant, uh, trees in our schools. Because, um, as we know, trees will provide shade Which is, um, desired in terms of, uh. Our students not necessarily having to be in extreme heat. Um, so we are definitely… I think we planted up to about… Um, I want to say roughly about 68 schools this year. So… so yeah, so that's… that's, that's kind of, um… a good thing, and we also

079know that trees are carbon sequesters. What that means is, you know, it absorbs the carbon dioxide, so it helps us to minimize our carbon footprint. Um, we're also looking at, um, doing community gardens, and obviously using that as a teaching tool for the students. Um, there, and we can go on to the next slide. So, um, as you all know, I mean, the Climate Action Plan is… We, Prince George's County Public Schools, have received a lot of awards and accolades for having a plan, because it's very… Uh, forward-thinking. Um, it's very progressive, and so… We are… have been recognized in multiple fora for that. However, it takes money. It takes, as you can imagine, it takes money and funds to actually implement those. So I thought I'd have the slide here just to let folks

080know that we do have challenges amidst trying to be more sustainable We have challenges, and I just listed a few here, such as the, um, the federal, um, funding uncertainty that would definitely impact our fleet electrification grants that we've been getting from Federal agencies such as the Environment Protection Agency and the Department of Energy. So, um, so yeah, some energy efficiency rebates, which we've been having for just installing energy-efficient appliance, so that's going to be impacted as well. Um, the tree planting program, we got word last week from Casey Trees that they're going to have to pause Um, with the tree planting as well, so that's, that's, that's sad, but that's the reality that we live in currently. So, um… other incentive-supporting school projects. There's a host. A slew of them, which, you know, for

081the purpose of brevity, I'm not… I didn't necessarily list them all here. Um, I just want to let folks also know that we are partnering with Director Matlocks and his team to look at alternate funding, whether it's from… philanthropic organization, we're definitely taking advantage of all the state grants that are out there. And then we're also just looking for just in-kind partnerships, so partnering with the Department of Environment, for example. To work on, um… just a slew of different projects, and we're also working with, um, EcoAmerica in the areas of trying to provide the curriculum and education piece of the Climate Action Plan. So, with that, I think this is my last slide, um… Next slide, please. I just want to make sure Um, well, this… I just put this here just to say that

082in the face of all these challenges, we… We have to remember that it's important for us to educate, inspire, and empower our young folks, because They will be the leaders of tomorrow, they will be doing the March for Sustainability, making sure that they have a planet to live in, you know, in the future, so… Um, I just… that's why this slide is here, really just to, um… To, um, help us sort of resent and say, well, we still have to do this work, even though it might be harder, it might take us a little bit longer, but that's okay. We just have to realize the importance of the work. And then the last slide really is just, um… Next slide, please. It's just a slide that tells you, um… hopefully that QR code works. But

083anyway, this just… Um, provides the website for the Office of Sustainability and Resiliency, which we are constantly trying to build and provide information. On various opportunities, and it's also a way to contact us if you want… if you have questions, but the general public has questions, to go on our website, and try to cut send an email, and it will come to the Office of, um, fully known as DSR, so… I think that's it. Hopefully, I did it within… within 8 to 10 minutes. Any questions? Thank you so much for your presentation, board members, do you have any questions? Uh, starting with Board Member Brown. Yes, thank you so much for your presentation. I actually had two questions, but I'll yield If we have a second round. Um, my first question was, how much does

084it cost to have a lead silver standard school. Oh, gosh. That would depend. It's hard… I couldn't give you a number, but I have to say that There's different… there's different categories that you would have to look at. So if you have a green roof, you'd have certain points, right? If you have… Um, energy efficiency appliance, that's another point. So it will depend on the extent to which you would have to, you know, you want to… I guess, incorporate the various Aspects of the lead, so I can't throw out a number, you know, just depend on, you know, what you want to do. But I can get that. If you want specifics, like, say maybe an elementary school and a high school. Uh, just a ballpark, if I wanted to build… well, I know Jason's

085raised his hand, I think he might have some insight. The cost will be obviously different. Yeah. Oh, gosh. It's definitely in the millions. It's… go ahead, Jason. Yeah, it's… it's part of our educational standards, so every building and every school that we have built probably since 2000 has been LEED silver equivalent. So, basically, it's factored into the design of the building. So there's no extra cost added to be LEED Silver. Additional, right? It is how the buildings are designed Now, with the different standards and what we're doing as we go forward with looking at more, um. A net-zero approaches. And other techniques as solar and other type of things to bring down carbon emissions. Those should offset some of the cost over the life of the building and geothermal. Uh, which brought back close to

086$5 million for OCHOA, which is the first school that we have with geothermal. Uh, that's the goal, is that we will design, uh. Very focused on sustainability and, uh, trying to meet, uh. Strict, uh, lead requirements and net zero requirements, with the expectation that there will be both operating savings, operational savings, as well as a potential state and Lord willing, at some point, federal. Uh, rebates and, um… Uh, and, uh, I guess grants that come from that. Uh, but there's no… So, one thing that we do not pay for is to be LEED Silver. Period. You have to pay for a test. Like, they come in and do the full assessment. We stop at LEED Silver Equivalent, which is the same, we just don't get the big plaque that you see on buildings when they

087come in at, say, LEED Silver. Um, and that's totally fine, because there's a scorecard, uh, as Director Morrison said earlier, of points that we meet that qualify for LEED Silver, and that's… I want to say that's almost a baseline standard for all schools in the state now. Is to be LEED Silver equivalent. I did have another question, but I'm gonna yield to the chair. Can I… was… could I add something to that? I was just… Can I add something? To what? Oh, I was just gonna say, so it's essentially, it's baked in. Sure. But if it's out of curiosity, just kind of wanting to know what a particular building's size and, you know. What it costs, that's fine, but it's baked in as, um… Associate Superintendent mentioned, um, it's now a state requirement for all

088state buildings to be, um, LEED Silver minimum, and I know the school system has been exempted from that law for a while, but It's now becoming a requirement, like I mentioned earlier. Um, about the drivers of having an Office of Sustainability. It's the state standards as well. Thank you so much, Director Morrison. Uh, board members, do we have anything else? Seeing none, Board Member Brown? Yes, thank you so much. The reason why I ask is because I looked at the projected budget for capital improvement from the county council. Right. And I'm thinking, is that gonna be enough, number one, right, to… build even one building, right? Um, and then, how long does it actually take to get a return on your investment? Because if we're taking Ellen Ochoa as the example, because we saw the

089pictures, we saw the slides. Um, how many Elenochoas can we get from this budget? That's been… I think it said $46.2 million was the projected budget for capital improvement Not including all the schools we have to fix. Not including all the other schools that we have to make sure that we're in the phase with. Um, and I know I'm probably going into Shayla Jackson's territory as well, but… Um, those are the kind of things that kind of concern me a little bit, because Yes, we're getting these grants, yes, um, there's opportunity to get money, but how long does that actually take to see that return Um, assuming we will not be receiving federal funding. Yeah, those are definitely good points, and I could tell, and I don't, you know, hopefully Director Matlock can elaborate more

090on this. Um, looking at, like, alternate funding, like, sort of the P3 model, where we may not necessarily have those fundings in the budget. But if we could look at a P3 model where, you know, we don't have to come up with any upfront capital. So we have a third party do that, and then we sort of pay incrementally, kind of, you know, akin to, like, paying a mortgage. So, um, that's some of the ways we're going around the budget shortage issue. But I'm quite sure, um, Director Matlock, when he does his presentation, he's probably going to go a little bit in depth, um, into that, that that process as an alternative to financing. And Board Member Brown, thank you for that question. What I would add is that we have to keep that in

091mind as an operations team as we consider implementation of the entire climate change action plan. It is an aspirational document that doesn't necessarily align to the resources that are available or not available. To the school system. So whether it be LEED and how we, uh, have to kind of manage that with our capital. Or if it's around the electrification of our bus fleet, or any of these other areas, we have to really run to ground what is actually feasible, given the resources that we have. Thank you so much, uh. Chief Coleman, was that the end of your statement, or are you just stopping because of the bill? Thank you. Um, so seeing no further questions from board members, uh, Director. Thank you so much, Director Morrison, for, uh, bringing that. I know several of our,

092uh, fellow board members have very strong opinions and are fierce advocates for our, um… our Green Schools work, so I was so thankful for you for, uh, bringing this information to us. Director Matt Locke, are you ready to present? I'm sorry, I cut you off. You were about to say something. And for the community. No, I was just saying thank you for the opportunity. Absolutely. Director Matt Locke. Yes. So, why don't we just get to it? Um… The, um, um… slideshow up. I think Nate, um, I think they have it now. There we go. All right. Um, so, um… First off. Before we do P3s, it's primarily to basically bridge some of the the funding problems and… that we've had in order to bring in more schools more quickly under… on a budget that's more

093predictable. And manageable. If you can advance the slide, please. Next slide, yeah, next slide. Next slide. Alright. So, what we're dealing with right now is 15 to, uh… Most of our transactions now are 30 to 2 years. Uh, and allows… over from the far side. Director Matlock, your sound is still in and out, so I don't know where… Yeah, where you are… Yeah. Did he drop? And, you know. I would say go ahead and, uh, just go ahead and step up to Washington. Yeah, so, yeah, I… Yeah, I will… so, what is a public-private partnership? It's really the arranging of the public, uh, entity in a private sector developer, uh, that comes in with the ability to bring financing. And to accelerate delivery of projects, uh, under specific responsibilities and contractual, uh. Requirements. Uh, we

094have, uh, through… through now two phases, a 30-year, um, uh, program, which is known as a design-build finance and maintain. Structure, where we have entered into an agreement where a developer, uh, specifically for Phase 2, PEP, uh, the, uh, Prince George's County Education Partners, uh, has advanced or progressive education partners, uh, has brought a team together that have designed the schools, they've gotten the financing for the schools, they're building the schools. And they are… will maintain them once they are delivered for 32 years. Um, and for that, uh, we only pay for, uh. Construction, uh… as it happens, so there are progress payments, and then once the schools are delivered. We pay, uh, what is known as our, uh. Availability fee, uh, which is like a mortgage, monthly payment, that, um. We pay, subject to

095the school being available as contracted. So, if the elevator is down, there's a deduction. If there… so… so that's how this, uh, construct works. Uh, it is not privatization. These are still PGCPS assets. They… there's no right of… of, um, entry by the developer. There's no right of any type of recourse, uh, against the schools. They are contractual issues, but there is no way that they can take a school back, uh, per se, or that they dictate what happens in the school. Um, next slide, please. Uh, so this basically lays out the structure I just said. It was roughly an $800 million deal to deliver 8 schools as part of Blueprint Schools Phase 2. Uh, PGCPS, adds no money to this transaction. Uh… 20… 27 million a year is provided by the state of Maryland.

096Uh, the, I think, 42.7 million is provided by the county. For the next, uh, 30 years. So, PGCPS, there's no budgeted obligation within this, uh, agreement, uh, for these schools for the next 30 years. We manage the project, we manage the contract, we manage the schools, we make payments, but PGCPS does not put money into, uh, the escrow account for payment of the availability payment for these new schools. It's… all funding is from the state and the county directly. Next slide. These are the partners, uh, we can go to the next slide. Uh, and then the next slide. This just kind of gives a layout of some of the standards. So, what happens in this process? The developer is building the schools as we dictate. So, we provide the educational specifications, we… that is done

097by the Department of Capital Program and approved by the Board, uh, Maryland, uh, State, uh, Department of Education, uh, and they're adapted per school, um, as we would normally do. So, there is no difference or change to this, uh, process that we would normally do. It's just accelerated because we have all of the money up front to build the schools. That's the only difference Between this delivery model, uh, and our traditional build is the speed of delivery. Jason? Jason, can you all hear me now? Uh, from a standpoint of design, etc. Yes, Sean? We can. Okay, um, I'll take over. Um, so, next slide, uh, if you go to the next slide. Um, so we're building… we're building these 8 schools, and you can see Uh, the geographical, um, dissemination. Um, this was originally, uh,

098designed to deal with overcrowding as a primary issue. But it's also designed to deal with some of our structural issues. We had 3 of the schools that are involved in this program. Um, we're structurally failing, and… had to be replaced. And so, two of them were added, um, later to the project, um. After we had started planning all this. So, next slide, please. So, you can see here, here's the early engagement that we have, and how we've staggered the work. So we're delivering them in 3 tranches, basically, A, B, and C. Two schools will be delivered, uh, next summer. Three, uh, four schools will be delivered the summer after that. And then two schools will be delivered in the summer of 2028. Uh, next slide, please. And as you can see, we've had early coordination

099with all of the permitting agencies. So we've been meeting with Deep High, we've been meeting with the fire marshal. And then CPPC, and we've been organizing ourselves around so that nothing holds up We have a regular meeting, a weekly meeting, with these groups. And oftentimes, somebody will say, oh, something's sitting. We haven't seen it, we thought we sent it through. They'll say, wait a second, let me find out And before the end of the meeting is over, they put the paperwork through, and we've got the permit rolling to us. So, and we're building on a rolling permit basis, so we're not waiting to have the final building permit before we start We're starting with our fine grading and steel structure, and working our way up. So that's why this is a very important thing. Next

100slide, please. So, um, we… this early design, what we did was a progressive, and so we were all involved in developing the budget for these schools. Uh, this is a collaborative process. And, um, that's how we were able to get a budget that was manageable and met our affordability limit. Next slide, please. So, um, we have two prototypes. I'm gonna go quickly through them. One is an elementary prototype, and the other one is a K-8 prototype. Hyattsville is a special, uh, one-off. It's not… gonna be similar to any of the other schools. So, if you can go to the next one. Next slide, please. And so, this is some of what you're getting from a sustainability standpoint in this design. Um, as you can see, we've got, uh, solar. We've got, um, um, um… the

101geothermal prop, um, uh, heating and cooling, and we have the high performance, uh, enclosures. And items like that. And these are all going to make the building most, uh, less expensive to operate. And provide better climates for all people inside the building. Next slide, please. So, this is, uh, Margaret Brent's design, and this is one of our prototypes. Next slide. As you can see, this is the general footprint of the school. And you can see that this general design that you see is the design that we'll have for all of the schools. Next slide, please. It's, uh, this is… the primary is a two-school… a two-story building. Um, there's one, uh, and they're all adapted into typography of the location where the schools are located. The first floor, you have your lower grades and your

102special education. Next slide. And on your second floor, your older students, uh, will be on those floors in your upper grades. Most of the, uh, of the… Specials, programs, or con… and the cafeterias and the gyms are concentrated in that central big area that you see in the middle. And all the classrooms go out on wings. Next slide, please. And here are if the adaptive, um, site, the schools adapted to the three, um. Elementary school sites that we'll be building. Um, Brent, Fairwood, and Templeton, and you can see how they're laid out, the same general design. Next slide, please. Brandywine is our prototype K-8. Um, and it's gonna have roughly 1,600 students. Um, and um, and the other one, Frost, will have 2,000. Next slide, please. This is the general layout that you'll see for

103Brandywine. As you can see, it's separated a little bit. The general areas from the academic wing, so it's separated by a bridge. And that's how the K-3 rates are a little differently designed. Than the elementary schools. But you can see all the fields, and how it's laid out generally. For the, um, for the students. Next slide, please. Again, we have our academic wing at the top. Uh, and we have our generals, um, including, um, two gyms and all the other specialty areas down at the bottom. Next slide. And the older, uh, students will be on the upper levels, but in this case. On the, uh, on the right-hand side of this design, that will be mostly, uh, that will be where the, um, the… A middle school student, 6, 7th, and 8th grade will be.

104Um, and then on the, on the left-hand side. That's where your elementary students will be. Next slide, please. So, to give you a construction update. Um, let's move on to the… we've had 4 schools right now in construction. So, next slide, please. Um, and so, basically, the way the program's gonna do, as we just talked before, we're… we have this into three tranches. A, B, and C. Um, right now, construction on Margaret Brent Templeton and Robert Frost, uh, Margaret Brent and Templeton being the A group schools. And Robert Frost being a B group school, but it's the largest one, so we started early on it. The work, uh, there is… right now we've got steel going up in some of the schools. Steel decking in some of the places we toward the foundations, so everything's

105moving quite, quite well. Um, and we've… and our Group B schools were right at 95% design documents. Um, and they'll, uh, they're all going to be starting construction this summer. Uh, some of them have already started construction already. Uh, next slide, please. So, Margaret Brent, this is just a general construction update, and we'll be providing this to you, but you can see there where steel is going up on the site. Where all the work is there, um, on that site. Um, and, uh. We're just… it's moving like gangbusters. Uh, next slide, please. And this is Templeton, as you can see. Um, this was all of the MEP work that's been put in there. Uh, and, uh, finishing all that work there, all the erosion controls are done. And I think at this point, there are

106pictures that I didn't have at the time, but we're also starting to wreck steel there as well. Next slide, please. And Robert Frost, also, um, all the MEP work is being done there, um, and… Uh, we are now getting ready to start again with steel. On that side as well. And that'll probably be closer to the end of the summer then. In the early part of the fall. Next slide, please. So, we also have been involved in a lot of community engagement to get input from the community. On the slide… Um, so that's involved in a lot to try to get the feedback. We've had, like, uh, different, uh, types of town hall meetings. Uh, we've had, uh, we've met with various architectural boards for the communities, like Fairwood. Um, and, um, and we, you

107know, have the groundbreaking events, which we're gonna have two other additional ones this summer for, um, uh, Brandywine and for, um, Hyattville. Next slide, please. And this is, uh, just a picture of some of the people involved in community engagement, including, uh, Associate Superintendent Washington. Uh, next slide, please. But in those meetings, we have transportation there, we have all types of people there, our designers. Architects, everybody's involved, trying to give every… trying to answer as many questions to the community as possible. We also have our project planning committees, which meet, uh, basically on a bi-monthly basis. And they're there to involve both the community members. Um, the school staff and faculty, the parents, and in some cases, the students. And, uh, we try to keep the groups small, but we do meet with them on

108a regular basis. And that supplements our community town halls. It also gets us the ability to answer some operational questions. Some community-based questions about access. Buffer zones, um, parking, um, all that sort of thing comes into that. And, um, we've also, um, received several awards. Uh, one which I picked up last, um, this Monday night. Um, and, uh, which was the deal of the year provided by Proxima. Um, but we also received some deals for the design of the building. Um, by, um, by A4LE. And so, it's been… this project has been very well received by both the finance community. And very well received by the construction and design community. And, uh, next, uh, I guess now we're available for questions. Chair Goins McCants, are you…? Yes. Oh, can you hear me? Yes, um, I

109see… Associate Superintendent of Washington, your hand is raised. Is that to add to something that, Director… It's just to add, uh, two points that we forgot to mention. I forgot before Sean came back on. Uh, one, uh, this, uh. Engagement is governed by a project labor agreement. Uh, that was a requirement, uh, prior to moving forward with this agreement. Uh, and also, um, and I'm sure, uh. Director Matlock can provide more guidance on it. This is also a part of this project that allows for public investment. That we have built in, uh, to engage the public, uh, over the next, uh, year to 15 months. Which we'll be engaging with many of you, uh, in the coming months as we go forward. That's another, uh. Component of this, uh, project. And that's all I had

110to add, so… Thank you so much. Um, so we'll start questions with Board Member Brown. Thank you very much. Thank you so much, um, Director. Matlock and Associate Superintendent. Washington, wonderful presentation. Um, I can always count on you all when I have questions, so thank you so much, and congratulations on the award, um, definitely well deserved. I had two questions. My first question… Um, you guys mentioned names for the schools. Are those names… solidified… Okay. No, ma'am. Uh, so there's… there's a process for naming them. Some of the schools are, like, uh, you know, they're… we're just replacing them. Um, but some of the schools are new, and so there'll be an… there'll be a commission Um, that'll be set up to review the names. Um, that's actually not handled by my office, but… Um,

111they will get in there, and they'll meet with the community and everybody, and determine what names of the schools they want for these particular schools. Perfect, and then my second question, I know, um, it was mentioned that you all are are in charge of, I guess, the construction piece. Are students involved in building the schools like they did as far as, like, our homes? Do we have student and scholar engagement when it comes to that, or… is that, I mean, I'm assuming it might be too dangerous, but I was just curious if scholars had an opportunity to be a part of the build. I'm not aware that there are, although we are using union labor And the unions do have apprenticeship programs. I don't know if any of the… I believe that probably that we'll

112have some of the students working on this program through those apprenticeship programs that are PGCPS students. We've requested it, so we'll see what happens, but there's no reason why these students couldn't work on this project. And again, labor, um. Most of the labor unions we're talking about do have some sort of apprenticeship program, and I believe they are working with our CTE program. Perfect. Yeah, that's what I was gonna add. Um, there was, when we were, uh, finalizing the agreement, uh, there were conversations with the, uh, the developer and the builder, MCN Build. Uh, the, uh, Metropolitan, I think, uh, Washington, Baltimore building trades, uh, and CTE around, uh, ways to bring students in. The biggest issue is insurance. Students have to be, I believe, over 18 to participate, uh, and so that was something

113where the unions were utilizing and looking at how their apprentice programs can be utilized, uh, because there was no direct track from, you know. Uh, 10th and 11th grade CTE students to be on the job sites. With that said, uh, we, uh. Do and have encouraged the design firms to offer up opportunities for students, uh, and internships, and I know in Phase 1, uh, Stantec did that, and since this will be running, uh, the next 3 years, it is our expectation that, uh. Perkins Eastman, uh, would provide that opportunity for some students that would like to look into architecture as well. Well, I'm putting a plug in. Bowie High School has a CT program that does architecture, so… Okay? We do have… we do have one student that's going to be visiting with us this

114summer, and I'm going to… she's going to be working with both, um, uh, director, um. Taylor's Jackson's, um, um… uh, program and my program, and we will have her, uh, um, work with our architects, at least for a couple of weeks. Thanks. Board members, do we have any additional questions? Seeing none, thank you all so much for all of your presentations today, and Answering all of our questions, and… Working through all of the technical difficulties that we experienced earlier. Um… With that being said. This is our final meeting of the school year. Thank you all for your continued support and engagement throughout this year. Uh, the chair informs the public that the Next, virtual operations, budget, and Fiscal Affairs Committee meeting. For next school year will be on August 18th, 2025. Please continue to check

115the Prince George's County Board of Education website for meeting information and updates. So on behalf of the Operations, Budget, and Fiscal Affairs Committee, have a great summer break! And with that, the June 18, 2025 Operations Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee meeting is… Adjourned, as the time is now 7-19.