001Moving on to open session agenda, we need a motion to approve the open session agenda for June 18th, 2026 as presented. >> Motion. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Okay. All of those in favor? >> Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Okay. >> Liberty High School sophomore, Grace Alexander, took home the championship title in the Misha [clears throat] Class 5 State Girls 100-meter dash this spring. Congrats, Grace. >> going to have to be for a good charitable cause. Scott Costen. >> Yeah. The next is public Uh we did not have anyone sign up today for public comment sessions. So we will move to district comments. >> Thanks, President Scott. >> everyone's summer is off to a great start. Um our teams are hard at work right now. We have multiple
002summer projects occurring along with cleaning of all our buildings. I did want to provide an update on eight of those projects and we'll have some new ones coming in July we'll talk about. Uh phase one of the the Frontier Middle roof project is about 15% of the way completed and is on track to be ready for the start of the school year. We have three playground projects going on Prairie View, Discovery Ridge, and Crossroads Elementary all set to begin in early July and also should be completed for the start of the school year. The auditorium renovation at Holt is well underway. However, the timeline may be strained a little bit or potentially could be strained a little bit is the theater seating arriving is kind of on delay. So it's a little bit later than
003we were going to be expected. Our hope is that to still have it up and ready to go though, but we're kind of at the mercy of the shippers. Concrete and asphalt repairs and replacements are occurring throughout the district. Uh specifically Liberty's concrete replacement is about 75% completed. Curbing is being replaced at this week at Holt, Wentzville Middle, Timberland, and Green Tree. Holt weight room renovation is on schedule. This includes new flooring, additional lighting, paint, and some new equipment. Uh we're replacing the softball field dugouts at Timberland. The masonry work scheduled to begin this week. Stadium lighting at Timberland was scheduled to begin in early July. Uh new ceiling grids and tiles as well as lighting are being installed in areas of Pearce Hall. That work is on schedule and also should be completed ahead
004of the school year. Uh the end of the school year brought a number of celebrations ranging from our field days to our transition walks. Those are always fun to watch if you've not seen one of those that your fifth grader going into sixth grade and then sometimes your your eighth grader going into ninth grade. So those transition walks are fun as well as the grad walk where our graduates go back. And on Sunday we graduated May 31st. Sorry, that's been two weeks ago now. On May 31st we graduated seniors from all of our high schools at the Family Arena. It's always a day filled with joy, pride and reflection. I think parents sometimes are a lot sadder just cuz their little babies are going away and the kids are super excited to see that happen.
005So it's always fun, full of emotion and it's really a great day. So we appreciate everybody and all of our staff members that were able to be there. It's always important to note they're giving up their time away from their families to go to graduation. And so I do want to thank them for being there. >> All right, thank you. Next is consent agenda. We need a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Motion. >> Second. >> You have a motion in a second. Any discussion? All right, we will go ahead and vote. All of those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Okay. Next is old business which is the second reading and approval of revised policy 0420, 2160, 2210 and 2220. We need a motion to approve policy 0420
006minutes Do they have to be separate? Okay. Sorry, I just want to clarify. We need a motion to approve policy 0420 minutes, policy 2160 interviews, interrogations and removals from school, policy 2210 entrance age, and policy 2220 compulsory attendance ages as presented. Do we have a motion? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Any discussion on any of these? Anybody? >> I will jump in. A couple of questions came from Director Wilson suggestions. We were able to adjust some of the policy to incorporate some of his requests. So, there there were the last board meeting questions related to that that we were able to address. >> Any other discussion? Okay, we have a motion and second. All of those in favor? >> Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next step in new business, we have the fiscal year 27
007budget and presentation by Dr. Beller. >> I got to memorize this fine. I'm just kidding. I will start by saying um we are statutorily required to have a budget adopted by June 30th annually. So, this is the budget adoption tonight. We had amended several times throughout the school year. So, that's kind of just process that we work through with with the budget. We will actually at the the meeting next week, we will do some final amendments to this year's budget and get everything in line where we actually were at for the end of the school year. So, we have to have one to start and then we amend it throughout the year and do a final amendment at the end of the fiscal year. Okay, so where are we where we at where we looking
008at going with our budget. So, just starting out looking at some uh projected balances, revenues, and expenses. Um our operating budgets, that's fund one and two. Uh projected balance, again, these are estimated based on where we we're at. Uh that number will change between now and and the final number we end up with at July 30th, but that's what we're estimating right now. So, as you can see, we are we are uh completely balanced almost to the dollar there. Uh just a surplus of 3,000 uh $335, and so uh just a slight projected increase in our budget balance for our operating fund for next school year. Uh fund four, our capital projects, estimation of of starting the ending this year with just under 48 million. That number will probably actually go up. Uh our bus
009order, we had a $2.9 million bus order uh that was we had budgeted for this fiscal year. The delivery isn't going to happen until uh July or August, so that will expense will be carried over into next fiscal year. So, uh you can roughly add another 3 million on top of that. Again, that that no those numbers are subject to change at the beginning balance. Uh we are projecting some deficit spending. This is what we've been talking about with our fund four, spending that balance down, getting that down um you know, around that $8 to $10 million range at the end of the fiscal year end of the fiscal year. We're going to do that over a several-year period, complete some of these deferred maintenance projects that the the district has. So, we're projecting that
010balance to be just under 37 million at the end of uh end of the '27 fiscal year. For our debt service fund, um again, this is one that's showing a large surplus. That number will uh likely change either through the passage of Prop O and the issuance of new bonds or another potential defeasance or prepayments of existing principal. We will do one or the other, just not sure what that is. These are actually scheduled revenue and expenses for fund three, but again, that number will change based on what happens with Prop O or defeasance where we where we land as as we get into the actual fiscal year for next year. Combined total shows us at a surplus of 4.4 million at at this point ending budget balance of just over 160 million dollars. All
011funds. Self-insurance fund, we we track this separately. This these are the dollars that the district pays in in premiums. Again, we are keeping those dollars now instead of paying those to the insurance company, and then we are using those proceeds to pay off medical bills, pharmacy bills on behalf of our employees. So, projecting that the spot that we're in with our healthy fund balance on our self-insurance fund, we are projecting that to be level revenue and expenses. Um Do I really think it's going to come out to the penny, to the dollar? No, but that's what we're we're projecting. Trying to keep We're not looking to grow that balance is basically what I'm what I'm trying to say. We've got a healthy spot there, so we're in a good shape. And um approved a 3%
012uh health insurance rate increase tonight starting 10/1, so. If you have questions, feel free to jump in at any time. Stop me, otherwise I'm going to keep keep going. Revenue sources, so we'll start just looking at our revenue sources. Property taxes, local property taxes of our operating levy operating revenue makes up about 43%. Foundation formula makes up about 31%. Interesting fact, I look back and I think it was 2017-2018, those numbers were equal. So, you know, less than 10 years ago, it was about 36% foundation formula and 36% in property taxes. So, that kind of shows you what the state has been doing is shifting the balance to the local taxpayers. >> So, you're you're saying the the dollar figure is the same. That would >> I'm saying the percentage of the revenue. Okay. So,
013the percentage of the revenue uh in 2018, it was 36% foundation formula and 36% property taxes. So, more of the share of it has went to property taxes and less has went to the foundation formula. So, in the scheme of it, we're receiving less of of our total funding from the foundation formula than we were. As a percentage of our total. Does that make sense? >> I've got a question about this specifically. So, I know um towards the end of the legislative session most recently, there was discussion that the um funding formula was not or the it wasn't being fully funded essentially. Um how did that impact us specifically as Winston >> I've got a slide. >> Oh, good. >> It's coming up. Starting out with our largest source, property taxes. So, uh 2026, this
014is a non-reassessment year. So, most uh assessed values will remain the same throughout the county. Our preliminary information from the county projects a 3% increase due to new construction. Uh again, we are we are continuing to see new construction. In my session, I I shared information over the last 3 years, we average about $78 million in new construction assessed value growth each year, which generates about a 3 and 1/2 to $4 million revenue increase for the district. Uh projected tax rate will remain the same. We're projecting that to remain the same at 4.5359. That will be approved once we get all the assessed value information back from the county. We will bring that to you in September for approval. That tax rate remains the lowest in WSD since 2009. Uh projected so revenue increase from
015uh property tax is about $3.9 million. And then the senior tax freeze, uh we're projecting that to increase a little bit this year. Probably some more people will qualify. Uh so that is uh an estimated loss of revenue of $870,000, which is included in all my estimates and all the the numbers that we have. So this this chart I think does a good job of showing the relationship between property taxes, uh assessed value, and your tax rate. So you can see in the odd number years, 2021, 2023, 2025, you're seeing bigger jumps in the assessed value in the bar graph. And then you see corresponding decreases in the line graph in the tax rate. And that's that's because of the Hancock Amendment, which drives down property tax rates but when uh assessments go up larger
016than the uh CPI for that year. So again, we're at 4 uh 459 or 453, like lowest since at least 2009. Okay, here we're getting to your question. Uh state foundation formula, there's two main variables when we look at the foundation formula. Uh weighted average daily attendance and it's a weighted average membership. Uh and it's multiplied by the state adequacy target. Those are the things that can really change. Our uh weighted average daily attendance WAM and is projected to increase slightly. That's not really due to an increase in enrollment, it's due to a calculation change. Uh so so statute calls for that. Uh this year it was 90% WADA and 10% WAM. Next year it's going up to 80% WADA and 20% WAM. So basically WADA is attendance rate, WAM is membership. That's the number
017of students you have. So when you increase that percentage, it will increase the total number, but that's across the state. That's happening in districts across the state. Uh that was put into uh statute a couple years ago. >> Tim, can I jump in real quick? >> Yeah. >> I noticed and Brian has done something how it's being phased going 90 10, 80 20, 70 30. How does that impact like what we're getting? Is that beneficial for us? Is that it not? >> It would be beneficial if the the SAT was fully funded. So what but what's happening is that change is costing the state more dollars in total revenue to fund the entire formula. Okay? So it's already shorted, it just causes it to be shorted more because you're because that number is going up
018and they're only giving you this number, so you just drives your SAT down. So it's really offsetting that. If If was fully funded, it would be better for us, yes. So, SAT, here's the answer. Um calculated SAT should have been 7145 for this year. All right, that's the amount that the formula says the state should be paying for basically for every student on weighted count. Uh we just got the information yesterday that actually came in at 6958. Uh this is due We've talked about this, but this is due to a shortage in cigarette, lottery, and gaming money that the state had in the budget that was not actually collected. So, if it's not collected by the state, they estimate receiving more revenue than what we actually received, they can only distribute the money they've actually
019received. So, that was shorted. So, that uh difference in those in the SAT resulted in about $3.4 million revenue loss for us. We didn't know about that until the spring of this year. So, that information really wasn't out there. We thought we were on track to hit the 7145 until we got the information February-March that there was a potential for a shortage. We look at next year. Um conservative estimate, probably realistic estimate uh for SAT for next year is 6830, which is another $5.7 million revenue loss. Uh the information from DESE today said the most optimistic number could be 6900 if all revenue was received. Um but I you know, I but built this budget on 6830, so it's a $5.7 million. So, over a 2-year period, that's $9 million in revenue that the district
020should have received through the foundation formula that we're not receiving. Does is the projection that the loss continues to compound beyond >> Yeah, good point. Um So, to get to 6830 this year the state has included a lot of one-time money into that just to get to 6830. Uh projections for next year state budget picture overall picture is the the state may have to cut up to $2 billion worth of expenses in next year's budget. Um foundation formula is one of the largest single line items in the budget. So, uh Yeah, there there's definitely a fear of of what could come >> Sure. >> in the future. We don't know what that's going to look like for the 28 fiscal year 28, but uh if I'm standing here today I am not betting on 7145
021for 28. So, there. >> Thank you, Governor. >> Well, if I went if the boat Right, uh PTO events at the casino. Yeah, right. >> And I have a question and I don't know if this is appropriate at this time, Governor, but the state funding formula is not being fully funded and so we're it's shifting most of it to property tax. But, then there's also a thing in Missouri wanting to get rid of property tax. So, what is the Do you know what the state's plan is? I mean, we're we're not going to have money our money sources are >> Yeah, that's that's a great question and and there's not a real solid answer for that. Um you know, they have a lot of uh a lot of things about ways to change property taxes.
022Uh you know, eliminate personal property. There's you hear all kinds of things from politicians. There's no real revenue replacements that they're discussing in that. So, uh yeah, I I mean, it's that's that's the issue. That's that's the problem that's happening that >> And I know you don't know this answer, but it's like what are we going to do to educate students? We've we aren't getting any revenue. So, sorry. >> No, you're fine. That's That's It's a It's a concern. Um you know, we went from a a a time where the state was flush with cash and um you know, now we're on the back end of that and so there's going to be some cuts made. I don't know what that's going to look like. Um you know, hopefully hopefully revenue projections pick up next
023year. I mean, that's that's what we've got to hope for. So, um not a not a lot of good news here when we look into the future, especially like I said if I'm I'm betting I would bet 28 is worse than 27. >> Do we know or do we estimate like what it will cost per student in 27? That went like what it will cost actually per pupil in Winston Salem 2027? >> Or >> For us, what we actually spend? >> Yeah. >> Uh our actual expenses are four around 14 to 15,000 per student. >> Cuz I keep saying 20,000 per student thrown around by some people, but I don't uh see that anywhere else. >> Yeah. Uh based on the DESI report card, I'd have to get that number, but it's in that right
024around 15,000. And that's >> And that's what I saw too, so I just wanted to make sure I wasn't >> Yeah. >> missing something, so. >> There's there's some different ways you can calculate that, right? Cuz if you looked at our if you took our total expenses for the district and divided by our students count, you're probably going to get closer to that 20,000, but that's also in including all of our capital, all of our debt service. Uh the number that DESI uses takes that out, pull and it also pulls out some uh school lunch, some different things that are uh categorical things that are are you know, there's restrictions on. So, that's probably where that number's coming from is just doing raw math and and not really digging into the details of it. Okay.
025Uh and the good news keeps on coming. Um Prop C is a a 1% statewide sales tax, okay? So, this is this is uh collect you know, levied by the the state, collected locally, sent back to Jeff City, and then distributed out to the schools. Um this is the third year in a row the same amount is appropriated in Prop C. So, the legislature determines appropriation, and then what's either what can be distributed is either the lower of what's actually collected or what's appropriated. So, if they collect more than the appropriation, they can't distribute that because they can only distribute what's appropriated. So, same amount appropriated for 3 years. Through this year, there's been a 4.3% increase in statewide sales tax, but they haven't appropriated that. So, there's no growth in Prop C even though
026we know that the state is collecting more in sales tax. So, it was estimated earlier this spring that there's probably $190 million of sales tax that's been collected for Prop C that is not able to be distributed because it's not been appropriated. Don't know why that is. It's a you know, there's there's theory that uh maybe the legislature is holding some of that back, and it's going to help offset a a cut next year. I don't know, but it's that amount is staying the same. Uh an interesting fact, when we we the the St. Charles County CFOs did some math on this, uh we estimate that St. Charles County is collecting $12 million more in Prop C revenue than is being distributed. Because it's a statewide sales tax, you know, we're uh we're funding other
027parts of the state through that. And the tax that's collected here versus what actually comes back to the students here. >> I'm glad you brought that up. I was going to ask something about that Prop C specifically. So, if that I forgot how many million you said. Like, is is that evenly distributed across every district, or is that >> Per per student, it's uh estimated to be 1452, $1,452. >> Per student, whether I'm in Springfield or Columbia or Lake St. Louis. Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, it, you know, that's kind of what happens. Probably the same thing happens with with uh income tax. We're we're you know, St. Charles County is generating more than what's actually coming back here. The the suburban areas, the metropolitan areas contribute to throughout the
028rest of the state. Um projecting 1 million less in transportation funding due to lack of appropriation. And then uh projecting all other revenues to remain at or near uh FY26 levels. So, not a lot of revenue growth. Expenses. When we look at expenses, uh non-certified salaries about 44% of our operating budget, non-certified salaries about 17, benefits 21, and then our uh purchased services, materials, and supplies are are 18%. So, about 82% of our uh operating expenses are people costs, salaries and benefits. >> How does that compare to previous years? >> It it's within line of where we've been at for the last couple years. It stays in that 80 to 81, low 80 percentage. Uh, you know, the thing to take for me to take away from this, if you're looking at making cuts in
029a school district budget, and this is, you know, if you look at school districts throughout the state, that number probably ranges between 70 75 to 85 at each school district. It's it's the same thing everywhere. If you're looking at making major cuts to school district budgets, it's going to come from people. That's the only way to make major cuts. You know, we can't turn the lights off any more than we're turning them off. We can't You got to pay utilities. You got to drive routes. You've got to, you know, have some of those things. You can make some small trims in supplies and materials, and and we've done that. But to make major cuts, if you're looking at major cuts, it comes down to people because it's such a large percentage of your budget. That's
030the only way to get um to get major savings. You can trim some off on on the edges, but if you're looking at big cuts, that's where you're going to find it. Uh salaries for this year, we did a 3% salary increase for certified and non-certified staff. Didn't look to add a lot of uh staff salaries this year. We're with opening Samuelson, we have some new uh salaries there, but really not adding a lot of other positions. >> May I ask a question? >> You bet. >> Um >> [clears throat] >> with respect to staff, so I realize that like a standard cola is 3% pretty much across the board. I I guess what my question is is like when you're looking at the um the whole of the budget, that that giant document with
031all the numbers in it, right? One of the things that I noticed is that the four-year forecast is for a 3% increase annually. Um and a 5% increase for benefits, right? And then one of the things that I thought stood out to me was that we're reflecting non-certified staff growth this year at 11.8% against that like 3% number that we're targeting for the next couple of years. So, I my question is is that enough to plan for? And what I what I mean by that is is a 3% adjustment enough to retain our teachers? Is a 3% adjustment enough to make sure that our people have what they need to want to stay here? Because I I don't I don't want to think that we're planning our budget at a cola that isn't going to
032retain people. >> That's a great question. Um you know, when when I look at those future forecast I'm trying to be realistic on the revenue side >> Sure. >> and then make the expenditure side fit in with that to give give in a a range. Um you know, that's a that's an ongoing discussion that this board is going to need to have about what that looks like for for future planning. And um you know, I'm just putting putting numbers together and giving giving a you know, a realistic opportunity to look at how this could could go down the line. That doesn't mean that's the way it's going to be, but that's a great question. And it's a it's a 100% a realistic discussion that you as a board need to have and what's that look
033like and then what are the costs of doing that? And where does that come from? >> Maybe not the time or place. And and I appreciate your perspective and where you're coming from. Maybe at some point we as a board can discuss cost of acquisition versus cost of retention and the value of retaining versus just seeking to acquire. But I appreciate the info. >> Yep. Okay. Uh whoop. Health insurance. Uh so, for those new to the board we have be we went self-funded as a self-funded plan 10 1 of 2024. So, we are it's a basically a separate business that the school district operates. We pay a fee to Anthem and they administer our plan, so it's the same plan. People have the you know, same look, same feel for our employees, but the actual
034cost are being paid by the district. So, the benefit to us is if our costs come in lower, we keep that differential. It's not Anthem getting that. Anthem is only getting a small administrative fee to administer the plan. We have a separate bank account that we operate that all of our premiums go into and then all of those costs come out of. So, October through May are combined, we've received about $23.3 million in premium. We've received $2.3 million in pharmacy rebates. So, this is something when you become self-funded, you're able to capture those pharmacy rebates that happen. If you're a fully insured plan, those go to Anthem. Or those go to whoever is is is plan operating that plan. So, that's a that's a area where we've been able to gain some. And then we've
035had about $23.4 million in claims and fees. So, you can see we're we're a little bit more north of $2 million to the good through through May. Um beginning 10 1, we are going to increase an average of of 3. a 3% and so our 3-year average for health insurance increases is 3.6% which is really good in the health insurance market at this point. Um contribution will increase from 895 to uh, month. And questions? >> I have a couple. >> Yeah. >> Um, the first is, do you know, and I I probably should know this, the the like general or the historical increase in premiums over the years for Wentzville employees before going to self-funded? >> I I don't have that. I would have to I could get that. >> I was just curious to
036see. I know I believe it was higher than 3. whatever percent. >> were when the district decided to go self-funded before I started here, I think they were looking at a 12% increase and we ended up being at a a 3% for that first year. So, um, the the district was in a consortium of of other school districts and so I think the district was kind of carrying that consortium in in some manners, uh, because we were the largest, you know, and we're also very running very well, running very healthy. We have the same plan design that we had in that consortium. So, when we went to self-funded, nothing changed for the employees except for getting a new card. Still looks the same, still operates the same for them. They just have a different card,
037a different plan number, uh, than when than when we were in that consortium. >> And then in terms of the rebates, is that a um, like a clerical job for somebody within the district to manage or is that all done through Anthem? >> That's all done through Anthem. Yeah, you know, as far as going self-funded, there was some concern whether it would be a increased workload for our staff. It really hasn't been. Um, you know, we still write the same checks. Instead of making the check out to Anthem, it just goes to WSD health insurance and so it then it's deposited into our account. We do a little bit tracking, so there is a little bit of work, but it's it's nowhere uh, it it it I mean, it's been very well worth it. >>
038And what day and this is probably a little off topic from budget, maybe you don't know, but are within that health plan do we have like incentives for staff or family whoever's on the plan to like seek preventative care like get an annual physical that would you know, help keep our cost down or help keep their cost down or things like that. >> We do not have any incentives like that. There's been some discussion whether we need some type of wellness plan. You know, there's some some thoughts out there where they use a carrot or the stick on that. So, you know, it's like every plan. It's all those preventative costs are covered 100% by the plan. But yeah, we don't have a wellness plan. We are in the process of the clinic for our
039employees getting that established and going. So, that will be a an avenue a no cost clinic or low cost for those on a high deductible plan. Low cost for anyone on a PPO and no cost for those on the PPO and low cost for those on the high deductible plan. Um purchase services. This is about 10% of our operating budget. These are things like out of district tuition, contracted transportation, our property service professional, legal, audit, technology and our property insurance. You know, just budgeting kind of inflationary increases there. Nothing really out of the ordinary jump out. Our supplies is about 8% same thing looking at some inflationary cost, you know, fuel, energy cost. That's something that we've really kind of been keeping an eye on. Our um natural gas costs were much higher this year
040than last year. You know, good thing it's it's not a huge percentage of our budget, but it's something that we did uh budget for next year. Capital fund budget, our fund four budget. Planning to draw this balance down. Uh, like I said, a little over 10 million. So, this is the completion of the Timberland HVAC renovation. Uh, that's ongoing right now. We have the Frontier roof replacement, bus depart bus purchases, the deferred maintenance projects that uh Mr. Bishop was talking about earlier on our playground updates. Um, long-term planning uh Director Johnson, this gets to your question. Uh, you know, we have some operating revenue uncertainty. Our projections are assuming a 0% increase in state funding. Um, and then, you know, the concerns about the property tax legislation that's that could negatively impact district's ability to
041fund inflationary increases. Um, so, using that 0% using inflationary cost on our expense side, uh it takes our our fund balance as a percentage of of operating expenses from 27.46 in FY30 to 23.06 in FY30. So, that's something that the board will need to look at and continue to monitor uh as we go forward. Okay? So, our fund balance is what allows us to continue to operate. As we receive our property taxes, you we don't really receive property taxes until December, January, February. We have to pay cost all the way through as we get to that. So, it allows us to continue to operate without having to borrow additional dollars to cash flow during those times and we're having paying out payroll and not really having a lot of revenue come in. So, it's just
042something that we'll have to continue to monitor. Uh, 23% is not in in a desperate range of any manner, but it's just something once it starts going down, it is hard to reverse. So, you you just have to be careful and and monitor that. Uh and again, we have some some things that are outside of our control from the revenue side that we'll need to monitor and then adjust expenditure side is accordingly. >> And to your point, some of those things are out of our control. Like what is what the only mechanism for us to increase revenues would be to increase a levy, correct? >> Yes. On the revenue side. Right. >> Um given the uncertainty, has your opinion of reserves changed at all? And if so, like do you have any thoughts around what
043we should be considering as we're budgeting given that we don't know what revenue is going away? Does that question make sense? >> Yeah, it does. Um you know, I if you're asking if I think we should have more in reserves, I don't necessarily think I mean cuz you know, even if you put $10 million more in there, you you know, you can burn through that in 1 year. So, it doesn't solve the problem. It could be a temporary band-aid, but it doesn't solve the problem and you have immediate needs for those in the capital side, too. So, it's kind of a the weighing if if we were in a a great spot on the capital side, you know, then maybe yes, I would say, "Let's let's build up our our operating fund balance." But with
044$700 million of capital projects that we need to to do, you know, is it better to allocate those resources there immediately and fix those needs, take care of our existing facilities? Can we gain some operational efficiencies by doing that, putting in new HVAC equipment, replacing roofs that can have some energy savings, you know, so there's some of that that's a trade-off like said I that hasn't really changed my opinion on what we should be doing on fund balance. >> Yeah, helpful. I I guess I asked the question not because like I'm interested in um >> [clears throat] >> the money that's being allocated or or that that we're looking to allocate to improve the quality of our buildings, right? I I'm only thinking about this from the perspective of broad-sweeping cuts to things, especially when
045your budget is primarily people, um make me feel a little ill. Like I don't love that thought. And so if there's a way that we can think about this, you can't we don't have a crystal ball, so I guess not, but I'm I'm just kind of spitballing really to try to understand what's the recommendation from somebody in your position as to whether or not we should be thinking about reserves more or if it's better to go ahead and spend the money now so we don't have to pay more for the same things later. >> Yeah, and it's kind of a catch-22 like said it I mean the the cost are the cost. >> Yeah. >> You've got to keep buildings and so it's it's it's a balance and it's going to be a balance, you
046know, and um I mean we're we're sitting here trying to project what's going to happen 18 months from now, right? We could have a lot more information that could we can make a much better decision at this point next year for for the following year and and so then we you know, it may be a different position that I say, all right, let's let's do this because we know we can stave off one year of cuts and potentially see the light at the end of the tunnel and get us through one bad year where we can put some things in reserve. So that could definitely change as as things change as more information becomes clear and what the future looks like. >> I appreciate it. Um capital projects so as we look at going forward,
047you know, one thing that we do have is that fund balance and in capital. We're looking at, you know, 10 to 11, 12 million dollars per year in deferred maintenance projects. That would spend down our fund for balance to about 7 million dollars by FY30, which I, you know, for me, that's a a good spot to be. We shouldn't be banking money in fund for a large, you know, 30 million dollar balance in fund for. We have enough to cover things, you know, projects that come up, but and again, if we didn't have all the facility needs, it might be a different story, but identifying 700 million dollars worth of needs, we need to put our our money to work and complete some of those, knock some of those off the list. And so, you
048know, we'll be bringing that to you once we get through the end of this fiscal year, we'll have an idea of where that actually stands cuz we'll make an end of the year transfer. Um and so, we'll have some more discussion about that and what that looks like for the summer of '27 and beyond. Uh debt services in in great shape um and will allow us to either reduce debt or issue new bonds. So, summary, uh projected operating surplus for '27, '28, and then looking at a potential deficit for '29, '30 due to state revenue concerns. Tax rate projected remain the lowest since 2009. Um tax levy projected increase, 3% increase for salaries, and we just continue to monitor the legislative changes that impact revenue. I We all have to be on that. And we
049have to get the word out to our our constituents and um you know, let people know what the impact is. Several questions already, but anything else? I appreciate this discussion. It's much better when we have a back and forth and I'm not just the one talking, so I appreciate that. >> I was just curious, Tim. Do we know, I know for the revenue side you said 43% come in property taxes. Of that 43%, how much of that is from like personal property tax? Is that included in that or is this >> It's It's included in that uh personal property >> or a smaller percentage? >> Personal property is 25 million uh total is is uh I don't know what that percentage I'd have to do the math. I just know that 25 million is is
050is our personal property revenue. Uh I don't want to I don't want to guess at the number of what the total number is for property taxes, but I could find that for you. >> Any other questions for Tim? No. >> We do need a motion to approve. >> I was just about to say, yes, we need a motion to approve the 26-27 budget as presented. >> Motion. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any other discussion about the budget before we vote? All of those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. And next up is the bond facility presentation. >> I'll be taking that and Josh and Matt Derman are over there and feel free if to jump in. You may have to get to a microphone though. So,
051we had a community engagement event prior to uh the board meeting today. We will also have one prior to the July board meeting. Um today's community engage- engagement event and this pro pro discussion are going to be centered around uh Holt High School and Wentzville Middle School. And what they're looking at is pro pro as our schools in our community. Uh we did the comprehensive facilities assessment. This This kind of quick review of what we've talked about. Uh we identified in critical facilities $309 million. The district's annual capital funds budget is projected to have 42 to 92 million over the next 5 years. Tim talked a lot about that. Uh to help address this funding gap, the WSD is allowed or has outlined a potential phase bond plan. Phase one is Propo. Urgent triage, so
052that's the red area. So, when we talked in the the community engagement and we've talked before in the March work session about how red sis what red was determined in the formula that was utilized to do that. So, what we're saying is the growing enrollment and other discussion may be that growing enrollment is paused, but only temporarily. Um acting now allows the district to take care of our existing facilities before the next wave of growth puts added pressure on our schools. Now, the question is, what is that growth going to look like? When you look at demographic studies that have been done by St. Louis University, the average family size is decreasing. Uh but at the same time, we're putting in thousands of new homes. So, trying to evaluate and determine what that's going to
053look like, that's going to be the idea of our demographic study that we're going to have done that's going to help determine what our next steps are for redistricting and things such as that. The phase approach begins in 2026. Uh it would make sense for it to be a 4-year window. Uh with Senate Bill 1002, which is something that our community should be aware of, which is awaiting signature from the government right now. Senate Bill 1002 involves strictly St. Charles County. It changed the board terms from 3 years to 4 years. It put board elections for any type or any type of school election in even numbered years in November. So, what that means is in the past, you could have run a bond, a tax increase, or anything like that at any point in
054time during any year during an election cycle. There were certain percentages needed depended upon the election. Now, it's one time per year every 2 years that you'll have that and our boards will be 4 years long as opposed to the three with the rest of the state. So our phased approach takes that into account now. 2026 is the first. If that prop O passes, your ideal situation would be in 2030 you're discussing what the next bond would look like and that would involve the Timberland feeder pattern. 2034 you're looking at continuing on of the Timberland feeder pattern and then the Liberty feeder pattern. 2038 Liberty and possibly some of the North Point and beyond. So those are 4-year cycles. What we intend to do with prop O is prop O if if passed, the three
055major initiatives are Heritage, Wentzville Middle, and Holt High School. They would start in the summer of 2027 is the idea. So that's that's really the idea. All three would run simultaneously. They have about 3-year windows to be completed. Heritage Elementary Okay, I apologize the TVs are not keeping up with it. They're frozen so we're trying to unfreeze them. So you can follow along online it sounds like but they're not working in person. So what we're looking at right now then is phase and I'll try to do my best of explaining it. Phase and and all of this again is available in the board packet. It's also much of it was given in in the work session. Phase one bound funding 185 million. Heritage Elementary build is 65 million that's a rebuild. Holt High is 65
056million. Wentzville Middle renovation and addition is 50 million. Safety upgrades is 5 million so that would include cameras, safe defend, window film, guard houses, etc. Wentzville Middle addition would include a storm shelter and additional classrooms. Holt High School and in the presentation it spends a lot a lot talking about specifics when what we intend to renovate. So, I'm going to hit the highlights of that. Hold high, you would have major mechanical system replacement. It's a high priority. This is a significant portion of the renovation phasing. So, this includes chillers, boiling air handling units, related distribution and system components. Uh building envelope improvements, electrical and life safety system upgrades. So, electrical going to the circuit breakers, removing fuse boxes. Uh life safety upgrades, uh you may not know it, but Hold High is grandfathered in. It
057doesn't have a fire suppression system. This would include now renovating that to put a fire suppression system in. Plumbing infrastructure replacement, we did the bare minimum that we could do in that most recent. We the the areas that were completely corroded out and causing the backflow that was going into the locker rooms area had been replaced. There's many more plumbing infrastructure needs. Fire protection sprinkler system, I spoke about that. Interior renovation work, uh you can see that's your general, your flooring, your carpeting, your ceiling ceiling tiles, your uh bathroom stalls, your doors, uh counters, things of such as that, toilet partitions and everything else. Site work and utility improvements, that would be patch and seal the pavements, replace and install concrete and sidewalks. Uh update the site lighting, uh new gas service line into the
058building, new site water service as well. Uh building envelope includes those exterior improvements. That's replacing exterior windows throughout the build I said lenders, windows throughout the building, uh complete tuckpointing, waterproofing and sealant repairs, roofing replacements 107,000 square feet, uh install new exterior doors, card access, etc. Uh renovation work, we talked a lot about that already, but it's the toilets, the floors, the the doors, um etc. And really the key here is the updating complete all the ADA accessible improvements that are needed. Uh is in addition to renovating elevators. Mechanical systems, we spoke about that. The HVAC, chillers, boilers, handling units, mechanical work again considered a major priority. This is for Wentzville Middle now, so I apologize. We went over to Wentzville Middle with building envelope uh interior renovation work. You can see some images of
059what that looks like. Uh mechanical systems, a lot of the same issues that we see at Hold existing in Wentzville Middle. Uh the electrical systems, you can see some of what they look like right now and the age of them. Uh plumbing systems as well, updating that to include more than three urinals. Uh fire protection, again a complete fire suppression system throughout the building that does not have one. Uh site work, same things [clears throat] we're talking about. New concrete sidewalks, storm water detention needs, uh upgrading of site lighting, new gas lines in, new site water, uh and ADA access. We're also obviously looking at that building addition, the storm shelter and auxiliary gymnasium. So, you can see an idea of what that would look like. It would serve there. The current auxiliary gym would
060turn into additional classroom spaces as well. Uh the timeline for this, these projects would require the additional funding sources. We talked about Propo and what we're asking for at that point in time. Uh what happens if? So, I get that question a lot. Propo passes, what's going to happen? Urgent school repairs begin. The projects identified as red, urgent triage will begin. Safety upgrades including safety or safe defend would occur. The district needs in phase one of the bonding plan would be met. Your tax rate will remain the same. Your current property tax will not change. Future improvement plans would move forward. Phase two of the plan would be brought to the community in three to five years. Redistricting would occur upon phase one completion. It likely would take three years for completion of phase one.
061This may mean redistricting could go into effect as early as 2029-30. In the interim, soft boundary adjustments may be made to temporarily ease overcrowding at several buildings. If Propo does not pass, urgent school repairs will be delayed. The buildings and safety needs identified the district will go unaddressed at that point and will continue with our kind of our band-aid approach where we're updating as we ever have the ability to. The district will continue to make small repairs and funds as funds become available. Delaying these projects will likely cost taxpayers more in the long run as we noticed this year in the increase from last year's estimates. Tax rate will still remain the same. Uh future improvement plans will be frozen. All future plans upgrades for phase two and three will be put on hold indefinitely
062and redistricting likely would occur quicker as we wouldn't need to wait for um building renovations and reconstructions to be done. It could go into effect as soon as 2027-28. Uh we will plan to discuss Heritage Elementary at our July board meeting so you can hear much more information about Heritage with that. And with that, any questions? >> If we don't pass this and start making the upgrade I'm sorry. If we don't If we don't pass and start making the upgrades to the buildings as as discussed here, uh what happens as these types of things continue to deteriorate given the budget that we just talked about, right? Are we going to have to get in Can we foresee a situation where uh critical or urgent problems at the older schools take away from required and needed
063maintenance at the newer schools? >> Yeah, you would absolutely see that type of a situation. So, what you have is your most urgent needs would be required. So, if it's a chiller goes out, that you know, at that point you're going to either dip into reserves or you're going to you're going to continue to deplete. So, what we talked about here is the capital improvement and Tim talked about spending that down. We've already identified what those projects are. So, there's a plan in place to utilize that capital money and so that's why we're able to say this is how much it'll go to, and this is where we want to keep that. When you do that, when you keep it at 8 to 10, that's under the assumption that you're doing the larger projects and
064you can't could that you can't pay for out of a capital improvement budget. >> And that's under the assumption that you're doing things according to a plan, not because something broke. >> Correct. >> Fell apart. >> Correct. >> All right, so I had one just in terms of in relation to which we've talked a lot a lot about tonight, which is SB 1002, and this this prop is going on an August ballot. So, obviously, if hopefully it pass, we have enough time to then do the majority of this work cuz a lot of this work needs to be done when students aren't in session. If this was done in November, is that enough time from a November election to turn around and do things that coming summer, or are you now waiting almost 18 months?
065>> Matt, I'm going to kind of defer a little bit. We spoke about this before. Um, if you can come up to the microphone, I'm going to have Matt McDermott come up. The answer to that is no, it would not give enough time for renovation projects like we're talking about. That would delay that anything like that in a November election until the the next summer. Uh, if you want to add to that, Matt. >> That that's correct, Brian. So, we need a solid 6 months to do all the drawings for the three buildings, get through the permit process, building permit, fire permit, get everybody involved, and get through that process. So, solid 6 months. So, if November passes, it will be extremely tight to get construction to start in June. It might be construction starting
066in August, and then we'll have to work through some a little more challenges with school in session versus getting that started in June and getting temporary partitions up and working through the phasing and getting a jump on that. So, when the kids come in August, it's already set up. If we're trying to set that up in August and the kids are coming, it's going to be a little more challenging. It can be done, but it's going to be very challenging and very tight. It's a great question. >> And just again, thinking out loud here timing-wise. So, if for Prop O does doesn't pass this time, the next opportunity given SB 1002, if the governor does sign it, we would not be able to ask for something until November 2028, where then that puts us out
067to almost summer of '29 to address some of these major issues. >> Yes, that's accurate. >> Okay. >> What's the average annual increase of cost of materials, cost of labor over the last couple of years? Can you Can you ballpark that for us? >> Sure. Well, I can definitely tell you as in January of this year, between now and that, it's gone up 6.6% in materials alone. >> Yeah. >> So, just factor that. >> So, is it too far of a leap then to say that like if if something were to happen where we're not able to make this happen on the August ballot, and then we have to defer for that period of time and we're years out, we're going to we're talking about something that's going to cost a significant amount of money
068more very likely than what it would cost if we did it now. >> Well, absolutely. >> statement. Okay. Yes. And hopefully at some point the gas prices do drop because that affects asphalt, trucking, deliveries. That would be helpful, but >> And I mean, I would say it's hard to project out in the future. We We talked about that with the budget and things like that, but I think what you should see is what what we're trying to tell you is it it there's going to be big decisions for this board to make when you look at long-term budgeting and you look at long-term facility planning and you see a flat budget growth and an increase in costs. And I you know, I think when you're looking at budgeting that you have to understand we all
069understand that's that's a challenge that we're all going to be facing and that'll be a discussion that the board this board and in future boards are going to have to consider. >> And just to go back a little bit to Shawn's question just to make sure I understand and make sure that the public understands if this doesn't pass and then the the things at at Holt and and and Wentzville middle have to be put off that's then [snorts] going to put off the the Timberland feeder things further off again and that's going to put off Liberty feeder improvements off again. So it will affect the entire district eventually by putting thing by putting maintenance off because we still haven't dealt with Holt and Wentzville middle. >> Correct. I mean we've set up a phasing in
070the facility needs and we've used again data to drive that. Matt explained it in the March meeting. We can go through that again if need be at some point, but yes, the answer is those are the the the areas that we've determined as the most critical needs right now need to be met. Like they just need to be met. It's that it's that simple and if they're not met then you defer and you determine what your next course of action and you determine again we're going to go back then into capital improvement and say how do we flip what we had planned for somewhere like Timberland. You would defer that to meet the immediate need that's there at Holt even though it may not permanently address it and then that pushes back the deferred maintenance
071which again causes that to become worse for the wear. It's like not repairing your car. You just keep driving on the brakes until the brake pads are gone completely and now you're in the rotors. So at some point you you know, you've got to look at it like what is that going to be? Uh Matt, anything to add to that? I mean >> You're right on target. >> With regards to redistricting and capacity planning for the schools, does the condition of uh Holt and Wentzville Middle would it decrease capacity at those schools if we go into if we have if Prop O doesn't pass and we have to immediately go into redistricting, would it >> It won't decrease, no. The the seats are still there. The the issue is you know, again, we talk about
072learning environments and things like that. No, it would not decrease. I mean, the need for a redistricting still absolutely exists. Uh the only reason that we've even talked about delaying a redistricting is it would make sense because you don't have to get temporary trailers, you don't have to do portable classrooms and things like that. The space is available, the phasing and we'll talk about that with Heritage, but the the phased approach of how we would do the renovations and the reconstruction would allow for us not to have to do that and to basically like at Wentzville Middle, the best example is you build the storm shelter and the additional classrooms and then you start moving students into the additional classrooms. The lack of space wouldn't That's not going to change. Like the same space is
073going to be there. Classrooms won't cease to be used. They just you know, you're going to have two electrical outlets. You're going to have failing systems. You're going to have HVAC units. You're going to have talking about schools that got to be canceled because the AC goes out because we're still repairing the old system that's there. You're talking about the plumbing that continues to go further down the road. We'll have to patch it immediately and figure out how we get through a school year and then we get into the summer and we dig out parts of floors and just do it in phases like that is on an as needed basis. And then again, what you're doing is deferring the maintenance projects from the other buildings. Thanks, Mel. Hey, will you turn off that mic?
074>> Moving next to the first reading of policy 7132, the selection of construction manager at risk. Any [snorts] thoughts or discussion around this policy? >> I do want to note in no way, shape or form does this policy say that we're going to use a construction manager at risk or anything like that. This is a recommended policy provider that we adopt this. So, it doesn't mean that we're looking to doing this. It doesn't mean anything else. It's just a recommended policy adoption. >> Thank you. And then there is the first reading of new policy 2651 and new policy 5226, e-bikes, motorized scooters, and other non-licensed motorized vehicles and devices. Go ahead. >> Yeah, I just wanted like we are not saying that they can't have these on campus. They just can't be riding them on
075campus, correct? I just cuz I know I we're going to get a ton of questions on that. >> Correct. So, what it's saying is what we're seeing is and I would say this, if you go to our campuses, you're going to see a lot of e-bikes and things like that. There are significant safety concerns. The city of O'Fallon's put an ordinance in place now. I don't know where Wentzville's at with that. What we're saying is if your child rides an e-bike to school, they can still ride an e-bike to school, but once they hit campus, they have to walk the bike on campus. So, they're not allowed on campus at any point in time for that. Um it's really to reduce the liability for the district and and really again, the of injury. I mean,
076you're hearing more and more and more about how these these are causing some problems. Uh our goal is not to say you can't ride them. That's up to a parent. Our goal is to say we're going to keep our campus as safe as we can. When you hit campus grounds, you need to walk. >> Have we squared the definition of e-bike in this policy with those in the municipalities around? Cuz I know O'Fallon has kind of a tiered list of what's considered an e-bike versus not. >> We're calling it We're making it more broad than O'Fallon's. I would say ours are non-licensed motorized vehicles. We're just saying you can't drive a non-licensed motorized vehicle instead of trying to say it's this classification, it's that classification. It You can't It can't be ridden or driven during
077school or on school grounds. It can be walked, but it can't be driven. >> So So something that would be okay for the city of O'Fallon would not be okay on campus. And >> Essentially, yeah. And something that would not be okay for the city of O'Fallon may be okay to at least walk your e-bike on. Yes. I mean, in the city of O'Fallon, quite honestly, what we're seeing it'll be against the the city ordinance for anybody to even ride them to school. So that's part of what we're talking about. But from our standpoint, it's We're looking at the safety. We're not trying to mandate what you do or don't ride. We're saying when you come on campus, you need to walk the the the motorized vehicle. >> And just for clarification, Brian, I think
078I read through there you specifically called out that this does not restrict like golf carts if parents want to drive their kids up in golf carts. And also doesn't restrict anything that um a student with a disability would need if they need any type of assist assistive technology >> Correct. >> transportation. >> Absolutely. >> Is there an implied cost or a consideration [clears throat] for the implied cost of policing this? >> Is there a consideration? So, ultimately, what it Yes, there is a consideration cuz it is, you know, A, we're going to have to come up with a code of conduct. Part of that, which we've already started talking about, what does that look like? B, the the implied cost would be we already have supervision out. And if students become familiar with the idea
079and the expectation, they would typically rise to meet that expectation on something like this. The idea is not necessarily to be punitive. The idea is to really enhance safety. So, you know, could it raise or could it be an increase in the short term? Yes. Uh I think it's like anything else. You're evaluating and you determine is the is the juice, quote, worth squeeze? Do you want to keep doing it? Uh for me, without getting into specifics, we've had multiple either close calls or incidents at campuses that have resulted in injuries. >> Yeah. >> And I I think it would be negligent of us not to consider how do we make those environments safer for students and staff. >> Yeah, I definitely agree. I think um where my head goes is is it is it
080worth an investment in the near term to add additional staff to police, right? So, that you know, kids uh muscle memory is built faster. Does that make sense? >> Yeah, I think the bigger issue you're going to see is not necessarily during school hours. I think, you know, a lot of times kids are going to walk that anyway. They're going to do what they need to do once they hit campus. The concern that I think we're seeing we've had a lot of property damage >> Oh. >> from e-bikes. Uh so, if you look at we've caught kids riding on turf fields, uh baseball fields, um practice fields, which require and and Josh can kind of speak more about what that's looked like from his team standpoint. There is a great deal of cost that's going
081to that for repairs on those types of things. And so, the police side of it that I think could be challenging is we're saying they're not allowed on campus at any time unless they're locked. That includes outside of school hours. And so I think that's a unique thing, but that's that's one of the things we're looking at again. If you've been to some of our schools after school and you see the activities going on, it it's you're very It's a nerve-racking environment if you're a driver. >> Yeah, there there >> So. >> Yeah. All right, thank you. >> Any other discussion about that policy? Okay. All right, final board member comments. Anybody have any this evening? No board member comments. All right. So we need a motion to adjourn open session and go into closed
082session for the purposes of personnel and legal. >> Motion. >> Second. >> We have a motion and second. Roll call, please. Director Way. >> I. >> Director Wilson. >> I. >> President Scott. >> I. >> Vice President Marsh. >> I. >> Director Schultz. >> I. >> Secretary Rosenthal. >> I. >> Director Johnson. >> I. >> Motion carries.