BOE Meeting 4.2.2026

001After Mr. Fleener leads us in prayer, Ms. Hannah Campbell will lead us in the pledge to the flag. Could all please stand? Dear heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for all our many blessings, Lord, and we thank you for reason together here tonight to do your business, and Lord, for our community. We just ask you to bless it, bless our kids, and our teachers, and our staff, and and everybody, Lord, during this Easter season. And we're just so thankful for your son, Jesus. We just thank you for those that are getting tenure tonight. We ask you to bless them and their families' lives, Lord, as they shape these young minds, Lord. And we just ask you to bless them. In your heavenly name we pray. Amen. I pledge allegiance to

002the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Mr. Christian, if you'd like to introduce your students. I sure will. Thank you, Ms. McKinnon. Ladies and gentlemen of the board, my name is Aaron Christian. I'm the principal at Westview Elementary, and we're here to talk about project-based learning theatrical production that we put on at Westview recently right before spring break. This was a culmination of our 6th through 8th grade related arts scheduling, all those classes working together to pull the project off, and also with your support through the ISM grant, and approval for purchases of materials that were used in to turn this school play into a production. So, I've got some special guests I

003want to introduce. First off, Dr. Britton Allen. He's our STEM teacher at Westview Elementary. He's going to talk a little bit about the logistics that went behind the project. Then I've got some other special guests, some students that took part in the project both as actors and behind the scenes running lighting and sound. They're going to talk about talk about their experience with the project-based learning, as well as have a little performance for you tonight. So, Mr. Dr. Allen. So, again, I want to start just by saying thank you all for the opportunity for us utilizing the ISM grant for this production. And I emphasize the word production here because it wasn't just a school play. It was literally a production. We are so thankful for you to really just allow us to help have

004to work with Ambrose and have their awesome support in providing all those materials. And just wait till you what we what you see some of the little taste of their production tonight. One of the things that we did was we had a big long-term PBL. So, every related arts class had a designated job. So, the whole middle school school worked together to put on this production. My class is the CTE and STEM class, so my class focused on the audio, video, visual, sound, all of those different matrix what was into it, all the lighting capabilities, every little piece of lighting change, fades in, fades out. I had some other students working on spotlights. We had designated spotlight students in 6th grade who were straight up knowing when the cues were happening, and we did not

005have walkie-talkies, so it was just a trust thing that they were doing their job. We had our video production where students made background pictures for the play. And we also had some students just working with the audio system. And when I say that I was having an 8th grader run a 16-mix board all by himself within a week, [clears throat] I would legitimately mean that, and the confidence he had when he was like, I just saved the whole play because there was some squealing there, but I fixed it, and I did that. And so, watching those opportunities for them, and then even this just to touch a little bit more, we had Crockett some teachers there come down and see, and they were like, the alignment between the audio-visual CTE pathways, the manufacturing side, the

006production side, having the students actually build and take apart the stage. They were using those soft skills, those 21st century skills. And this whole thing was a combination of all of our related arts at Westview coming together, working together. Our music teacher was responsible for helping get the actors and actresses, you know, getting their lines memorized, and so was our librarian. Our art teacher helped their class all did the set design. And our gym teacher helped by allowing us to use the gym, and just helping with the sound and all those extra things. So, without further ado, I'm going to let the students speak for themselves because I can praise them enough, but when you hear it from them, it'll mean more. So, thank you again for the opportunity. Hi. My name is Sophie Tolley,

007and I played Willy Wonka in the Willy Wonka school production. Um I was told that I needed to put my experience in words, but that is impossible because it was such just an amazing experience getting to see not only the students grow in the character, but grow in themselves. Um I actually wanted to mention McKinley. I never knew this girl could sing. And when she got on the stage, oh my gosh, it was amazing. Um it was so nice cuz I have been a dancer for 10 years, and I've never done a single musical production before. Um this being my first one, if every single experience was like this in musical productions, I would do it over and over and over. Like, I cannot wait for our next one. Um I wanted to thank Mr.

008Shaw, my music teacher, because he truly he helped me learn so much throughout this whole entire play and semester. And I want to thank Mr. Allen because we would not have been able to do any of the mics, which was so cool. And the lighting, and the stage, and it just felt so real, and it was just amazing getting to watch my like childhood dreams come true. Um I I just loved being in this play, and I truly thank you all because we would not have been able to do it without this grant. Um so, thank you all so much for this amazing experience. Hello, I'm McKinley Young. I played [clears throat] Veruca Salt in the Willy Wonka school production. Um it was the experience I had, it was so surreal getting to do it

009because once again, I've never ever been in any musical play. I've never done acting. I've never really sung publicly before. So, getting that opportunity to do in front of people I'm familiar with was so fun, and it was so awesome to get to do that with people I love, also. Um Mr. Shaw, mentioning once again, he really helped us thrive to be our character. He really like pushed us to not be afraid to do the part we are meant to play. Like I'm going to mention mention Sophie. She like pulled together Wonka so well, made him silly like he's supposed to. Her actions doing it was awesome. Um Our tech crew was also amazing. They had the cues right on time. The music was awesome. The lighting was awesome. Violet, who turns into a big

010old blueberry, our lights turned blue for her, and it was it was really awesome getting to watch that and see that, and getting [clears throat] all the compliments after, and just getting the recognition from that was just awesome, and I'm really really thankful that you guys and everyone else at the school gave us that opportunity. Thank you. Um hi. My name is Levi Shelton, and I was over the lighting and stuff. Uh my I controlled the lighting, and I changed it to like the blue when it was like Violet was turning violet and everything, so I had to change that. And uh some of the other jobs were like my friend, he had to like control the volume and stuff on the thing to keep it from getting too loud or too quiet. And my

011other friend, he had to like cue the music and everything on time. And there are two spotlights on the top of the bleachers that changed [clears throat] with the colors and stuff. Uh Then there was this There's one more person that helped with like the background that like changed the background depending on the scene. Um Let me check his notes. And like it the spotlights helped like with the Oompa Oompa Loompa scenes, like it turned them orange to help like with that. And like when Violet turned violet and everything, that it helped turn that blue to help with that. It's awesome. They did a good job. Fantastic. Thank you all. >> [clears throat] >> So, I think they're going to perform >> to perform a little snippet from our production. All right. Awesome. >> [clears

012throat] >> So much. Thank you for watching. Very much. Go right ahead, Mr. Walters. I have had a challenging day today, and I just want to tell you just a few minutes of your performing and just being able to escape through you just made my absolute day, and I just applaud you guys. Good job. I'll take that. >> [clears throat] >> No. You know what I'd like to see? What would you like to I'd like to see that group perform at Jackson Theater. Yes. I'd be honored. >> that if we're going to have a theater down here in downtown Jonesborough, that right there needs to be on that on the list. I would love to do that. I mean >> That's absolutely right. I'd love Then next time you all have a make sure you

013send it to the board before we can come to this. Absolutely. We'd love to be there. >> [clears throat] >> The what? Anyone else? I'll go Jackson Theater. Doctor Doctor Gray? Is Doctor Gray? Okay. Do you have your basketball team with you? Yes. >> [laughter] >> I will say [clears throat] something else. The red-headed boy right there is going to be a good mechanic cuz I know his papa and his dad. >> [laughter] >> He wasn't listening a bit of it. He was running. He had to get out of here. Yeah, he was running. >> [clears throat] >> Good evening, ladies. Hello. How are you guys? Good evening. One for you all? Doing good. Now, coach Good, you can't hide in the back. You got to >> [clears throat] >> And coach, let you take

014the lead, anything that you would like to share and celebrate your team. I First of all, I'd just like to thank you guys for all the support that you guys have given us. Uh got numerous phone calls, people come uh text messages, emails, uh people coming in person and offering us the support. We appreciate that. Uh Mr. Suarez, everything that you do for us. Our administration at Boone has been great, and these these ladies right here are are our future. They'll be They may be up here one day leading uh nurses, uh maybe a president in here or or something. So, they're a great group of young ladies. They represented our school well, and uh in 20-some days, you know, six of them will be leaving, and that's that's that's hard for you know to

015part ways, but you know, we got six great ones who want to step in and move up and everything like that. I appreciate our assistant coaches, coach Long and coach Good, for the time that they put in in these girls did everything else. We just showed up, and we didn't we didn't wreck the bus, and we got them there, and they took care of business. Just thank you guys for everything. Congratulations, ladies. You know, a great season. Yes. >> [clears throat] >> Mr. Suarez, congratulations to you for winning the 3A this basketball. That's a quite an accomplishment, but I know it's more about the team, and I was able to be in Murfreesboro and saw you play in the quarterfinal game. You know, great effort. Tough game, you know, and and you know the team

016that you played, they ended up winning. So, there's some you know, consolation in that. But you played hard, and you represented your Daniel Boone High School and Washington County really well. So, thank you for that. Thank you, and like he said, thank you guys for having us up here and for all the support throughout the season. Um you know, I'm just glad that I got to play with these girls in my life. Y'all had amazing season. It was nice to watch you all this season. >> [clears throat] >> Y'all have any seniors? Six. Six. Out of this group? Just one right now. Got one playing softball, one sick, and two two working, and one out of town. So. Yeah. Appreciate you all having something to do. And we have no juniors. We have no juniors.

017No. I would So, these are all sophomores, and we have four sophomores and two freshmen. Okay. You have a bright future behind you, too, Andrew. Oh my gosh, yes. >> [laughter] >> You got time, right? >> [laughter] >> Just like Daddy, so I understand. Please let those that are not here convey our love and appreciation to them as well, please. Thank you. Thank you all for coming. Your commitment. Thank you very much. As a pioneer, this is hard, but congrats. >> [laughter] >> You got practice after the meeting? I Two Tuesday, we'll get in there. But thank you GUYS FOR EVERYTHING. >> [applause] >> CHASE, DO YOU NEED TO SAY ANYTHING ELSE? MR. ADAMS IS THE front ridge. Yes, Mr. Phipps. Mr. Phipps. He's got the big check. We'll jump into the future records. Yes.

018Okay, I didn't I thought it was the back. Okay. That it won't take that long. Ready? Hello, everyone. Hello, board chair. I'm Patrick Phipps. I'm the energy services supervisor supervisor with Bright Ridge. I'm here tonight to present Washington County Schools its annual Solar Schools Initiative Participation Award. This is the fourth year of your participation in the Solar Schools program through the community solar agreement where the school uh district receives 11% of the annual output from the Martin Solar Farm. This year's incentive is the largest one yet of $88,322.28, which brings your four-year total received to $294,425. So, thank you very much for participating in our Solar Schools program. So, I need to know who gets the real check and who can get who can take a picture with the big check. >> [laughter] >> I

019can take the picture with the big check, and I can take the All right. >> [laughter] >> You want to hold up one side of it once I get it clipped up the right way? All right. >> [laughter] >> One, two, three. Thank you so much. THANK YOU, GUYS. >> [applause] [clears throat] >> THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. >> [laughter] >> OKAY. YEAH. AWESOME. Looks like these are in after they move from their high school to here. We will follow the list. I usually do terrible at following a script. I want to focus and I'm going to try to do that. But, you know, as I mentioned earlier during the reception, you know, again, thank you all very much and congratulations [clears throat] for reaching a milestone. In the state of

020Tennessee, um whether if you're a new teacher to the profession, um in in a 5-year period, uh if your your four or five, you you've reached, you know, above expectation or significantly above expectation, which equates to a four or five on your overall level of effectiveness, your overall evaluation, annual evaluation, uh you you become eligible for tenure and the recommendation [clears throat] is made to the Board of Education and they take action. You come to us from another district and you hadn't previously obtained tenure, um it's a 2-year period of uh consecutive years of a level four or five and your eligibility in the new in the new school system in Washington County, you you earn that opportunity as well. So, that's in sitting in in this audience are people that for the past 2

021years, in consecutive years, have attained that above or significantly above expectation on the annual evaluation and their overall level level of effectiveness and based on the recommendation of the school principals and me, who who then makes recommendations to the Board of Education and they have everyone in this room received approval and action by the board. So, congratulations for your hard work and also for your commitment to your students and we look forward to you being in Washington County for a very long time. Thank you. Thank you for your hard work. What I'll do is um call the name and I'll I'll actually I'll try to follow the list. I'm just going to read if I can do that. Mr. Cannon, our board chair, um I will present I'll hand it to her and if you'll

022come up, she'll present you with your certificate. >> [clears throat] >> For Asbury, Ms. Serena Campbell. >> [applause] >> AND IF YOU WANT A PHOTO AND AND PRINCIPALS, feel free to jump in or you can sit there and and and be shy, which none of you are. Our principals that were able to make it tonight were here to support their teachers and and I appreciate that because they um they play a big part in um in supporting teachers through their journey [clears throat] uh and they make a difference as well. So, um thank you all all principals for being here and supporting your teachers. Um and we have now Boone's Creek. We have four Boone's Creek, Ms. Candace Barnett. >> [applause] >> MONA MONICA CANTRELL. >> [applause] >> Dana Woods. >> [applause] >> Is she

023going to make sure that Ms. Woods Whitney Howard. >> [applause] >> Now, we'll move into Daniel Boone High School. [clears throat] We have two, Ms. Ginger Ginger LUEN LUEN. >> [applause] >> KAREN NORTON. [clears throat] >> [applause] >> DAVID CROCKETT HIGH SCHOOL, WE HAVE ONE, JAMES WHITE. >> [applause] >> FALL BRANCH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, WE HAVE TWO, Erica Amos. >> [applause] >> JAMIE REED. >> [applause] [laughter] >> GRANDVIEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, CATHERINE WEBBER. >> [applause] >> TAKING PHOTOS FROM THE BACK. >> [laughter] >> AND JANETTE ELLIS. >> [applause] >> GRAY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, WE HAVE ONE, Summer Whitsel. >> [applause] >> JONESBOROUGH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, WE HAVE TWO, KIMMY BIRD. >> [applause] >> JORDAN MAUK. >> [applause] [clears throat] [laughter] >> LAMAR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, ARIEL FLANAGAN. >> [applause] >> RIDGEVIEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, WE HAVE TWO, Rachel Milhorn. >> [applause]

024>> AND STEPHANIE BREEDLOVE. >> [applause] >> SOUTH SIDE SPRINGDALE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, WE have four, KIMBERLY CLARK. >> [applause] >> YOU KNOW, I DON'T THINK I'VE SAID THIS LAST NAME, SO I'M ABOUT TO butcher it. It's okay. Christy Chase. IT'S ALL RIGHT. >> [laughter] [applause] >> UH GRACE BELCHER. >> [applause] >> STEPHANIE HAYDEN. >> [applause] [applause] >> WEST VIEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, WE HAVE THREE, Cheryl Richardson. >> [applause] >> WHITNEY TODD. >> [applause] >> KAITLYN EADS. >> [applause] >> WE HAVE ONE SYSTEM WIDE TEACHER, Tamara Caldwell. >> [applause] >> AGAIN, THANK YOU ALL. UH YOU'RE WELCOME TO stay as I mentioned in the reception, but we'll we'll pause for a second and if you wanted to sneak out of here, you're welcome to do that. You certainly are invited to stay for the rest of the meeting.

025You can make that decision. Thank you all. Have everyone have a great Easter weekend. We get to leave now? >> [clears throat] >> I need to take a restroom break. I kept going off. I tried to I did it. Good for you. I'm pretty good. Yeah. Thanks, guys. >> Thank you. >> [laughter] >> Yeah. See you next week. >> [laughter] [laughter] >> Are we all back? All right, we're going to call this meeting back to order. Um the consideration of the meeting agenda. If [clears throat] anybody does not have any objection, um there was an item left off and we will need to add I to the end of the agenda and that is our FY27 budget draft presentation. Does anybody have any objection to moving [clears throat] or to placing that on the agenda?

026All right, Mr. Fleming. I make a motion that we approve the meeting agenda with the additions, please. I second. Any discussion? Can we vote, please, Jennifer? Voting Kelly. I'm going to call that so I'm going to vote yes. And how will you say? Yes. I'll be voting yes. So this is our public uh comment time. We have two signed up for public [clears throat] comment. Um I'm going to go ahead and read the public comment period instructions and then I will um go ahead and call up the first uh name on the list. If individuals wishes to address the board, he or she shall sign up on the form provided before the beginning of the school board meeting to request time to speak. Each speaker shall be given no more than 3 minutes. Individuals speaking

027to the board shall address remarks to the chairman and may direct questions to individual board members or staff only upon the approval of the chairman. Each person speaking shall state his or her name, address, and the subject of presentation. Remarks will be limited to 3 minutes unless time is extended by majority of the vote of the board to vote. The chairman shall have the authority to terminate the remarks of any individual who does not adhere to the above rules or choose to be abusive to an individual board member or the board as a whole, including the director of schools. As a reminder, this is a time for the board to listen to public comment. Um Caleb Baldwin is our first speaker this evening. >> [clears throat] >> My name is Caleb Baldwin. Address is 290

028Dry Creek Road. And I'm wanting to talk about the changes that's wanting to be made to the middle schools and elementary schools. So where we live at, it is a 25-minute drive to Green Hill. So if you factor in that an average bus has 55 students on it, it takes approximately 30 seconds to 1 minute for the child to get on the bus and seated. That's going to put you over the hour mark that Tennessee state law states a child is allowed to be on that bus. So instead of having both middle schools on the other side of the county, why don't they split it one on each side? That way you have less bus time. It's more convenient for parents that does live on this side and all. That's it. Thank [clears throat] you.

029Mary Grace uh Mary Grace Wooden. Ladies and school board members, my name is Mary Grace Wooden. We can all agree that every kid deserves the chance to learn in a fully resourced public school. As you are aware, school vouchers divert funding away from public schools and there is legislation in progress to double that harm by expanding vouchers in our state. The school voucher program takes taxpayer money that could be used for public schools to transfer to private ones. These private schools are not held to the same standards as public schools. They can choose not to accept students for different reasons like disabilities or backgrounds. They can opt out of the TNReady assessments. They don't receive A to F letter grades. They avoid potential hearings based on those grades from the State Board of Education and

030they are not included on the state report card. These private schools receive public funding without any public accountability, failing the students they claim to serve as we've seen in the testing performance of ESA voucher recipients when compared to their public school peers. All students should have access to programs that help them succeed and the HB2532/SB2247 voucher expansion has the opposite effect. I fear that this expansion will reduce funding and force our public schools to cut the programs that benefit most our students. Amendments to the bill just this week would greatly expand costs and harm by lifting the limit on vouchers, removing the TCAP requirement for ESA recipients, expand ESAs to 20 counties, >> [clears throat] >> and make it easier for wealthier families to apply. We already know that vouchers largely only help wealthy families

031who already could afford a private education and this expansion plans to make that worse. Another recent amendment if passed incorporates another unfunded mandate from HB793 and HB1711 requiring schools to report the citizenship status of students in order to receive hold harmless funding. Hold harmless was a promise to districts that vouchers would not drain our resources and it is unfair to now ask districts to spend additional funds and administrative burden to meet this requirement. Beyond fiscal concerns, asking schools to check immigration status puts unfair pressure on kids and the staff who support them by making them responsible for choices they didn't make. It creates fear instead of trust, adds unnecessary work for staff that doesn't align with our school district's mission, and could lead to the targeting of students. This won't just affect immigrants. Many US-born

032kids might not have documents to prove their citizenship, including those born outside hospitals, facing housing issues, survivors of domestic violence or disasters, and kids from low-income families. All of us with Public Schools Strong agree that this bill isn't good for students or the school workers who support them. We need to fully fund our public schools to educate all students, not just a wealthy few. Thank you for putting this resolution to oppose voucher expansion on your agenda. Speaking tonight as the representative for everyone with Public Schools Strong, I strongly urge each of you to stand up against this harmful legislation and vote to pass this resolution. THANK YOU. >> [applause] >> THANK YOU, MS. WHITTEN. THAT ENDS OUR UH PUBLIC COMMENT. Do I have a recommendation of the approval of the meeting minutes? So moved. Second.

033Thank you. Is there any discussion? Can we have a please, Mr. Harper? Mr. Adams, That'll be a yes. Thank you. All agree. Let me see if I can refresh my board. Sorry, Mr. Harden. Announcements, um April the 2nd, the County Commission will be here. That was today. Uh we had one item. Um it was the to utilize educational capital funds for the technology purchases that the You know, the timing was always off. We talked about it in the workshop. So, they did approve to move on to the budget committee. The district [clears throat] offices and schools will be closed Friday and Monday. Um the April the 8th is the County Budget Committee meeting. Um our joint meeting between the Board of Education and the County Commission is April the 14th at 5:30. And then the

034County Commission will be the 27th at their normal time. Our board workshop is the 28th at 6:00 p.m. Uh the top 10% banquet is April the 30th. CTE is May the 4th. Uh Asbury graduation is May the 8th. May the 11th is Teacher of the Year banquet. May the 16th is graduation at the mini dome at 9:00 and 1:00. And the last day of school is the 21st. So, do you want to go with your superintendent's report, please? Certainly, but I will turn it over to our student board member. Stand up, Cameron. You want the clicker? Yes, here you You have control. >> [clears throat] >> So, I went in a bit of a different direction for this presentation. I felt like I focused on a lot of statistics last time. This one's a lot

035more about heart because I felt like this school had a lot of that. So, we're going to just start out with their CTE U lab, which was absolutely amazing. I got to go on a tour of the school. So, they became uh Tennessee STEM school in 2023. Since then, they've only been moving upwards. So, they were able to fund that CTE lab, which focused on their STEM activities and projects. One of my favorite things [clears throat] I learned was that they have random project days. So, these are randomly announced in the morning over the intercom. The really cool thing about this is when I was talking to the students, they said that they didn't want to miss a day of school just in case it was a project day. So, you can really tell how

036much that means to the students. I did take some photos of their displays. However, I forgot to put them into the presentation. They were amazing. Uh I hate to say especially for middle schoolers because I was continually impressed by these students. So, I really wanted to focus on their student student leadership team, which started 4 years ago when they got that designation. Their first team focused on their access and engagement goal. This was just kind of starting up that CTE, getting that program going. The following year, they tasked themselves with the resilient resiliency and positive behavioral supports. Well, we'll see a little bit more of that here in just a second. And then, this previous school year, they set their or the previous school year, excuse me, set their minds to improve the academic proficiency

037in their middle school. I thought this was super interesting because I did see as I was walking through their school, they had little pockets so that you could see their academic achievements, a proj- or homework that they did that they got a good grade on, they could display that for their friends to see. And then their current team's focus is to build confidence through three focuses, which is empow- empowerment, comfortable, and non- non-judgmental spaces. So, some of their successes, there This is where the behavioral support comes in. So, the playroom is a place after academic or behavioral achievements students can go play. This I thought was absolutely outstanding. I wish that my middle school had that. And then, uh they have a restroom and problem-solving den. So, students who come to school stressed, get stressed

038at school, have a hard time trying to break into that space, can request to go to this room just to reset, get their mind back ready ready to learn and get back into the classroom. I thought that the engineering design process was super interesting because this was a problem-solving template created and designed by one of their students. I really wanted to focus on this [clears throat] year's team. I got to go to one of their meetings. So, I got to see a little presentation by them and just to shout out them. It was absolutely amazing. They presented on the high school and college level. I have I have seen worse presentations in my college classes. So, I wanted to give a big shout out to them. They spoke with confidence and they knew what they

039were doing. So, this year, they sent out the surveys to figure out what their students' needs and wants were. They wanted to focus on what they felt that their students needed. So, they designed a U matter week, which you can see their little flyer that they had created, kind of a dress-up type week, I guess, that you'd see in high school, but it had specific focuses to encourage students to step out of their comfort zones and come together as a community. And that school is a community. I mean, even just walking through the hallways during a class change, I saw how close everybody was, which I think is amazing. They created a student shout-out board where students can write down shout-outs to other students. This can be something as simple as so-and-so smiled at me

040in the hallway or helped me with my homework. Stuff like that, which again, is I think a great way to build an environment and a community, a support system. They held a parade to celebrate Edgar's completion of his cancer treatments. Just showing, I think, that they really are family. And they um their confidence and collaboration shine at an outstanding level. I don't think that I had that kind of community or support when I was in middle school, let alone the CTE that they have in middle school now, which I will always shout out CTE. I think it's absolutely amazing. So, that's what I had for you today. If you have any questions. Great job, girl. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. THANK YOU. MR. ADAMS, THEY'RE JUST MONTHLY REPORTS FOR THE board for your full

041awareness and public record. Any questions about the superintendent's report? Okay. Um is there a recommendation for the consideration of the consent agenda? So moved. Second. Is there any discussion? Can we have a please, Mr. Harper? Mr. Adams, Since that was done, how do you vote? Yes. All agree. Mr. Henderson, you might refresh your screen because that's what I had to do to mine. Okay. Um our discussion and presentation, um the envelope machine request. >> [cough and laughter] >> Yes, I think we had somebody here in support of the dance club. So, it was in the consent agenda and approved. Second. The um Are you going to speak to them? about the envelope machine request? Um Dr. Adams is here. The board had requested some additional information on the workshops on the envelope machine. Yes. Uh

042the request was to find out what it costs, and we did some digging. We uh on average the last 3 years, we we print 56,000 envelopes. At that cost of 500 envelopes a box, to do that many envelopes in a year, Kinko's is going to would charge us over $12,000 to do that many envelopes in a year. So, uh again, our recommendation going off the the cooperative with uh Uh RJ Young. Through RJ Young. Uh our recommendation is again is to purchase that machine. I know it's a little over $18,000, but if we're if we're looking to do 56,000 envelopes a year, uh which is an average of the last 3 years. So, how long will that machine last? Do we know? Is it like Is it like a printer like an Does that It's

043more like a printer. Yeah, um I mean, I'm I'm assuming it has some type of warranty on it. My My goal would be to get at least 15 some odd years out of it and not more. Cuz the one we have I think is almost 20 years old. >> Okay, so we have We have one. It's just It's over 20 years old, and it breaks down, and like everything else, I come and say, "Can't find parts for it. We can't do that for it. Can't find anybody to work on it." All right, so Mr. Piner. Make a motion we approve the the stamp the e-impress for $18,615.10 for RJ Young. >> [snorts] >> Any discussion? I'd just like to say thanks to Dr. Adams for bringing the additional information that we asked him to bring

044to us. So, we appreciate that. Thank you for having us. Appreciate it. Thanks. All right, can we vote, please, chairperson? Voting is open. All agree. The discussion of the trash compactors for David Crockett High School and Grandview Elementary. For that, I think the the board was trying to decide whether or not how we were going to portion that, whether we were going to sell the compactor Grandview for $6,000 and just put that, I guess, in general purpose, or sell it back to that company, and they would lower our payments down to $575 a month per compactor for the for the 5-year term of that lease. And again, that's our recommendation. It helps us out over the long term. And we do pay about $525 a month for for the compactors now. Mr. Piner. Make a

045motion that we approve going Is it Is it Compactor Rentals [clears throat] of America, or is it Pack Rat? Which is Who's the actual >> Compactor Rentals of America. Compactor Compactor Rentals of America selling them the compactor at uh Grandview. And get in the green room. I'll second. Is there any discussion? Who seconded the motion? Mr. Walters. >> Mr. Walters motion. All right, seeing no discussion, can we vote, please, chairperson? Voting is open. All agree. We have several purchase orders that were not available during our workshops, so they were not on the consent agenda. So, the first one is 29003, and it is for um the middle school football uniforms, and it is not to exceed $11,000. Is there a recommendation? Mr. Piner. Make a motion we approve purchase order 29003. Second. Mr. Piner. It's

046okay. Second. Please tell me when you're ready. Is there any discussion about the the uniforms? Is the $11,000 going to cover it all, or are they school chipping in to cover the balance? >> the expense from that account. Have we Have we >> had them helmets and the shoulder pads and stuff >> That's a separate expense. That's an annual recurring cost. I didn't know if we had them done yet or not. They have to be done in Yeah, it has to be reconditioned. They have to be certified every year. Any other discussion? Can we vote, please, chairperson? Voting is open. >> [clears throat] >> All agree. Purchase order 7718 from Lamar Elementary. Um it comes out of the ISM grant, and it's for a video podcast. It's the all the complete production studio equipment. Mr.

047Walters. I make a motion that we approve purchase order 7718 for Lamar Elementary. Second. Any discussion? Can we vote, please, chairperson? Voting is open. >> [clears throat] >> All agree. Gallopade. Um purchase order 7783. It is Gallopade textbooks for a renewal for grades 3 and 4. So, I guess that would be 6 from Lamar. I hope I'm not skipping this. $6,000 from Lamar. Is there a recommendation, Mr. Piner? >> [clears throat] >> Um if you'd allow, Mr. Chairman, I'd like to group purchase order 7783 and 7782 in the for the same thing. They're coming out of the same line. Both of them for workbooks. Okay, that'll be fine. And then Mr. Riddle second Is there any discussion about these two? Can we vote, please, chairperson? Voting is open. All agree. Purchase order 7652 for um

048Presentation Solutions. It's for the banner maker supplies. Um it's funded by the ISM grant. Is there a recommendation, Mr. Piner? If you'd allow it again, Mr. Chairman, I'd like to approve 7652 and 7761. Both of them are ISM grants. And 7720. And 7764. 7720. 7720, 7764, 7761, and 7752. That's five. 9, 10, and 11. If you look down at 11, it was I'll second. All of them are ISM grant funded. Who seconded? Any discussion? Can we vote, please, chairperson? Voting is open. >> [cough] >> All agree. Thank you. Uh purchase order 7788. That's our Benchmark Education. It is a subscription, and Mr. Piner. If you'd allow I'd like to make a motion that we approve 7788 and 7782. They're renewals. Both of them are renewals. Second. 7788. Which one? 7785, maybe. Okay. Question here. 7788.

049Is that Is that the software >> [clears throat] >> 7788 is actual materials. They They are actual materials. The Benchmark materials are our elementary orders and materials. Um so, it's it's actual textbooks and materials. The The The other one, that was >> [snorts] >> uh 7785, is an annual subscription online math resource. All right, any more discussion? Can we vote, please, chairperson? Voting is open. All agree. And the last purchase order is 7784. It's Code HS Online Classroom for computer science. Mr. Piner. Make a motion we approve 7784. Second. Is there any discussion? All right, can we vote, please, chairperson? Voting is open. >> All three. All right, we need to review the bids for the kitchen equipment at Gray Elementary and South Central Elementary. It is coming from the line item uh 143E. All

050right, we had a pre-bid put this out to bid for uh freezers and ovens at Gray and South Central. We opened those bids on Tuesday. Uh comparing all the all the different bids, our recommendation is go with the low bid from TriMark USA. >> [clears throat] >> I believe it was $80,943.88. Mr. Floyd. Was this Was this, I guess, already budgeted? I know it's coming out of ours, but I mean, this was planned for the >> The [cough] Mr. Flynn. Yeah, I'll make a motion we approve the TriMark USA LLC $80,943.88. I'll second. Mr. Wall. Is there any discussion >> [clears throat] >> about the bids? Seeing none, can we vote, Jennifer? Mr. Flynn. All three. So, now we're at the discussion of the process to develop a formal plan of action for the potential

051uh pre-K 5 and 6-8 school reconfigurations. Um Mr. Flynn. I'd like to make a motion that we move forward with the plan stages and schedule some meetings to where we can have our stakeholders at those meetings and move forward with that. Second. All right, opening up for discussion. I just ask that there be plenty of meetings and town hall meetings at each school to include parents. Um not just one or two to give them the options to to make sure they have ample you know, um they can't make every meeting, but uh they'll have at least give the option two or three at each school to have town hall meetings if possible. And I would ask Mr. Wall. I I would [clears throat] agree and I think it's it's certainly you know, worth clarifying is

052it Is it You know, folks have asked, you know, "What's the plan? What's the plan?" Well, there's not a plan yet, you know, there's just a [clears throat] discussion. We uh you know, we see a need to maybe make some uh some adjustments to improve academic outcomes and others for our students, what's best for students across the county. Um significant changes if we make changes at all, but I I would agree that we need to err on the side of having lots of opportunities for public input and that, you know, we as a board uh make time to you know, to be be available for those and hear folks out. You know, a lot of a lot of Everybody Everybody looks at, you know, "What's What's this for me?" And you know, we got to

053hear that and understand that you know, as we go down this road, which may be a long road, you know, try [clears throat] to figure out where we where we come out. Mr. Wall. Yeah, it must be stated that this is something that is not going to be occurring for the next school year. Uh if it were to occur, and that's a big if, uh we're talking at least the following year after that, maybe longer, because we would need to have those discussions that the other board members have already spoken about. Mr. Wall, question to Yes, we as a board make educated and researched decisions. Let the education and research begin. I I kind of like to know it's going to be [clears throat] oh, an expense to do it. Because to transfer Ridgeview and

054Grandview into a K-8, I mean, a uh 6-8 school, you know, the toilets and stuff's going to have to be changed and that that's I feel like we need to know uh an expense the expense of that, what it's going to cost to do that, so you know, so I ain't saying I'm against it. I ain't saying I'm for it. I'm That's what this is going to be for. Let's Let's talk about it and see what it is. And I think that's that's what the process is is for to see if it's feasible, to see what it's going to cost, um to be able for stakeholders to to voice their opinion. I'm not sure that just forms maybe needs to be done. It's possible you send out a Google form with some questions on so

055that people who, you know, work second shift or whatever who can't participate can have the opportunity to send some feedback in. Um I know that it you know, we shouldn't let allow it to be anonymous. They should have to put their name on it, but those things I think there's more opportunities in this day and age to get feedback than just from a forum. Of course, we need to have those, but there's other things that we can do to um get input from the community. Yes, sir. >> The same mail size going I need to say is student-teacher ratio. I want to know what that ratio is. You know, we've all sat here and said we'd like to see K-3, K-4 at a lower students ratio student-teacher ratio. We need to know that. I mean,

056I'm if I've got the 25 kids in a third grade, I'm against it, so I I don't think I would think so, either. >> I don't think our stance on that changes because we we reconfigure. For For me, it doesn't. I don't No matter where these kids are at, for me, low classroom size is very important, especially in that pre-K through third world. >> at. I don't [clears throat] want it to change. I want it to be low. Right. Yeah, first of all, I'd like to compliment Mr. Floyd and his meetings that he's having at each school. Uh I think that's very very positive to allow uh parents as well as teachers to attend these meetings and have an open discussion. Uh question, do you know how are they communicating to the parents of your

057meetings that you are having? I mean, the schools are reaching out. The first phase of that was a small group to target and just to, you know, for full clarity, the the meetings that have been initiated are specifically about development of the 5-year strategic plan. The process I've I've basically posed one question, asked the participants there to um respond to that question and and it essentially is uh what do we want our graduates, when they graduate Washington County High School, what kinds of skills, experiences, and qualities do we want all graduates to have been exposed to and you know, and and developed? Um and that, you know, as as this board does and as we do as a school system, you know, we focus on what's best for students. You know, we when we make

058decisions, we start with the student. What How's that going to impact them? Is it Is it best for them? And so, in developing the next 5-year plan, the intent was is to ask that question and get our community's thoughts on that. So, the small groups have have started and they're, you know, connecting with the PTOs and PTAs and the chair groups. But the the soon there will be a a community-wide survey that would will ask in everyone to answer the same question, and we will continue to have forums for for individuals that couldn't attend some of these meetings, just more meetings >> [clears throat] >> uh for that purpose. And then if we you know, we initiate this process, we will have multiple meetings going on. But in the meeting, in my base agenda has

059been focusing on answering that question and and I I basically set up and provide what we currently have as a strategic plan, and the big big items, the priorities, and then ask the the participants at the meeting to answer that question and I and I I try to be quiet and and take notes. Um and [clears throat] and then after we get through that that exercise in the agenda, I have I have made sure to make time for open questions about anything. And of course, in the last few meetings, it's been about the the the the information and the and the the idea out there about a process by which we're going to research a pre-K 5 6-8 grade configuration. And and I've, you know, I have very limited information to share with them. I

060have the reinforce that if it were to be decided, it's going to require uh community of input. It's going to require a lot of lot more research. And then also um it it will require that that we just maintain focus on what's best for students. So, you know, it it it's going to require time. That's the other thing. There were some information out there There was some information out there that it's already been decided and it's going to happen in August and and that's impossible. It In addition, it's that's just not the way this board could do things or or myself. So, 2 years I did put out there. I said once a decision [clears throat] was made, I think it's a it's it's probably a 2-year process for transition. Once a decision's made and

061that could be 2 years from now. So, it is a long there there's there's a long time that's in front of us in in that conversation. But the conversations I'm having right now is specifically about listening and developing the the next 5 years of strategic plan. Uh and and that's what and the timeline would be to present to the board after input and then our team looking at all of the input and crafting, you know, what what the plan should look like and then presenting a draft to the board for consideration and final approval in September. August, September, probably more realistically September. And I believe any parent who's not able to make their schools' meeting can go to a different school. That it's it's not close that and then and again, we'll put a community-wide

062survey out one question, open-ended. Um and we will we will, you know, coordinate and also review all that information and compile it. And then and we will offer additional, you know, opportunities at schools if needed. I mean, we want to make sure because different times because right now they've all been at 5:30-ish. There's been one that was at 3:30, one at 5:00 and and two at 5:30. That was the time working with the PTOs that that they they felt like that would be best. I'm open to any time. We probably will offer some breakfast opportunities maybe here or or else other places will offer some lunch opportunities for for for parents that might be best for them to come and engage in the conversation. And then we'll offer some additional evening opportunities, too. We want

063it to be a good robust conversation about, you know, how do we improve our school system and how do we stay focused on what our graduates need to, you know, what experiences, what skills, and what qualities that we we need to all work together to help develop them to give them the best chance of success after high school. But that's a pre-K through 12 process. It's not just about high school and high school graduates. It's about all the journey getting there, too. What what kind of skills, experiences, and qualities do we need to develop in that 13-plus years that some students are with us. Some Some begin at 3 years old. And in our early pre-K program and and until they're 18. So, what does that look like? Thank you. And I would just ask

064our public that you don't put all your eggs in the social media basket. Uh if you want to know what's going on and you want to know the truth, come to a meeting. Don't don't get tangled up in the social media web of everybody's opinions. That's not always truthful. And if you really want to be involved, you really want to know the truth, show up. If you don't mind me asking a question for clarification, like just focusing on this transition, how are we like what are the goals for this transition in meeting long-term graduation goals? Well, you know, it's really it's really right now a question. Would we better serve our middle school students if we had a consolidated school each of the feeders into the high schools? Would we have and we would be

065able to provide stronger programs for all middle school students that consistently those opportunities available to all middle school students. Would we be able to better utilize our resources and also support teachers some of our teachers and some of our small schools get isolated. So, would they have a better opportunity to to support student success in a team? You know, so really it's about a question that this conversation going forward will be focused on finding answers, you know, answering that question. Would we better serve our middle school students if we were had a had a 6-8 school that all of our 6-8 students, our 11-14-year-olds, went to. And would we also better serve our elementary students in a pre-K pre-K 5 setting if those teachers and principals and and staff would be able to focus specifically

066on the elementary level skills and and needs. Okay, so then a follow-up question. With the CTE being implemented implemented into [clears throat] like the middle schools, which right now are the K through 8 schools, would we focus most of our CTE resources into the middle schools so that they kind of have a more evened out education going into the high school? That's part of that question about would we better be able to strengthen the programming and opportunities for students. Definitely, this board as as any board in Tennessee should consider and had and this board has considered and has supported those those CTE STEM career exploration opportunities absolutely should continue to be offered to our middle school students leading into our high schools preparing for high school. So, yes, it would be an opportunity to um

067consider strengthening and making sure every middle school student has that level of quality. And do you think that you would start implementing bits and pieces in like RTI time starting in the elementary school so that they can you know, dip their toes in and then can almost just like step by step get them to high school, get them out, get them into a career. I think the the career exploration you know, at least being aware should begin as early as kindergarten. And just so in in that happens. I mean, that happens now. Our elementary classrooms talk about careers and you know, our elementary students ask questions. So, yeah, it would it would definitely be something we continue continue to do in our pre-K 5 if that were the case, you know, as it is currently

068done in pre-K 8. God, you're hot. Do you know that? [laughter] Where do you go school at? I go Crockett. >> All right. >> [laughter] >> I just want to be crystal clear. The motion is just to move forward [clears throat] with the talks, move forward with the information gathering. That way nobody has any misconceived notions that tonight we're going to you know, move forward and we're going to do this. All the details Mr. Urban pulled some up, Ms. Hannah pulled some up that you know, details. There's literally probably hundreds of details that's going to have to be worked out on a list that we are not even started, but we need to continue the conversation. If this is where we want to go, we at least need to listen like you said to to

069improve student outcomes is the reason all nine of us are here or 10 of us are here. >> [clears throat] >> And we need to look and see how we can best serve our students. It may not happen, may go forward, may happen, but we just need I want to be crystal crystal clear cuz sometimes I'm not very good with my communication as my wife says. But I want to be crystal clear that that's what this motion is. It's just continuing talking about it and moving forward. I I just like that little side note. This this you know, this is important to every family. You know, as as we as we [clears throat] feel questions as we discuss things, we need to we need to engage. Share what we know. Yeah, Ms. Ms. Baldwin Ms.

070Baldwin, she's here tonight. I applaud her for coming here and she I think she stepped out, but her presence her concern about her children. Certainly hope whatever school her kids go to the principal will follow up with her and thank her for her input. Maybe we could remind these a little bit at least what we're having. I think I have another question. But will students be involved in those Conversations and definitely an opportunity to share their voice in the surveys. The survey will go out to students as well. High school students, middle school students. >> [cough and clears throat] >> Anybody else have any questions All right, then Jennifer, can we vote? I need a second. I'll second. Thank you. Um I hope you all have the opportunity to look at the resolution [clears throat]

071opposing school vouchers. I know that we almost do one of these every single year and I think it's very important that we continue to voice our opinion in opposition to school vouchers. So, [clears throat] if there are recommendations Can I make a motion? >> a motion this item? And speak to it. I'll give you a second. Second. Mr. Urban, Okay. I brought this resolution forward for us tonight cuz nothing gets me any more hot under the collar than we talk about vouchers for private school education. This board last year along with many other school boards across the state took a position against the voucher program now called the educational freedom scholarship program. Now, the governor, without any proof that it's produced positive student outcomes, improved educational quality, or provided a clear benefit to Tennessee students

072or taxpayers, wants to double the funding of this program. It will cost an additional $150 million. That's $150 million. That's $150 million. That's $150 million that could and should be used for public education. I truly believe it'd be premature to allocate any additional funding to this program until the legislature addresses more pressing priorities in public education. Now, I'm not asking that we end the program or defund the program. That's not what legislators who are against this program are wanting to do. Just asking that we pull in the reins of a soon-to-be runaway horse. Just as the citizens of Arizona, where their legislature is spending over $1 billion on their voucher program, which began only 4 years ago. That horse for them has long run away. Before this program is expanded, we need to see three

073things: transparency, accountability, and measurable outcomes. We have none of them yet, except with TCAP scores in those three initial cities, Nashville, Memphis, and Chattanooga, that have shown voucher children have not performed any better, and in some cases have performed worse. Now, to top it all off, the legislature's considering a bill that would allow private schools that accept these vouchers to not be required to even give the TCAP to their students, which is still being required to be taken by our public school students. >> [clears throat] >> I think they're afraid to see the results. Now, what do we need in Tennessee? Well, first, Tennessee currently ranks 44th among the states in per pupil school funding. Sustained investment is needed to bring our public schools to a competitive funding level. 44th out of 50 states. Let

074that sink in. That's abysmal. Second, teacher compensation remains a serious concern, with Tennessee ranking 38th nationally, 38th nationally, in average teacher pay. Improving educational salaries is essential to recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers. Right now, teachers who work in Tennessee can move to South Carolina and see their pay increase by an average of $2,000. Teachers who work in Memphis can make a short drive across the border and make $3,000 more in Alabama. Now, if the teachers who work in Bristol want to walk across State Street to Virginia, they could see their pay increase by an average of $8,000. And to top it off, those Chattanooga teachers can simply drive across their border into Georgia and receive approximately $9,000 more. Now, I've only mentioned teacher salaries, but I truly believe we also need to address salaries of

075all the school employees, all the school personnel, both certified and non-certified. So, before expanding vouchers, let's address public school funding along with being sure that it's delivering on its promise and not just handing $7,000 to families already enrolled in private school. Thank you for listening, and I hope you will all support this resolution. Thank you, MR. HODELSON. >> [applause] [applause] >> CAN WE VOTE, PLEASE, JENNIFER? ALL AGREE. OKAY, so in this folder is the resolution that we all need to sign. So, before you leave this evening, would you please make sure that you um see the purple folder and sign it with the pen that is attached. Mr. Hodelson, [clears throat] would you like to sign it? Yeah, I've got something else. And that is to the general public that is out here, feel free

076to contact our local legislators in regards to this matter if you have not done so already. All agree. >> [applause] [applause] >> PINKS HAD SAID THAT IF WE DIDN'T have Was it Nashville in our school system, that we'd be ranked 10th? Yeah, if we if we if we took out our larger districts, the urban districts, yeah, we would be nationally in the top 15 states in academic outcomes. Wow. Yeah. That's important. There's there's a lot of students, you know, in Memphis, there's over 100,000 students. Nashville, there's 85,000 or so. >> got took over, right? It's Shelby County now. Well, it they consolidated, it's still under the you know, under under control of of the Shelby County. Is it still Is it in control, or is the state still in charge of it? There's portions they

077The state took over portions at one point, and that wasn't very successful either. I I just thought that was interesting when they said when he said if they didn't have that county in our school system, we'd be 10th. And I thought that was very interesting. Um there's a policy on our agenda that needs immediate attention. It is a law change in Nashville. And so, it is policy 1.609. So, um it would be appropriate to waive the first reading and move um on to and pass on second reading, Mr. Cleary. The recommendation we approve policy number 1.609 on second final reading. Second. Any discussion on the policy? Can we vote, please, Jennifer? >> [clears throat] >> Okay. Mr. Cleary. I have something else. I put my hands on there. You can just show the awesome. All

078agree. There's a few overnight field trip requests that can be lumped into one. Um Mr. Waters. Uh make a motion that we approve the overnight trips H .1 for David Crockett High School, grades 9 through 10, Washington, D.C., and H .2, M Crockett High School, April 20th through 23rd, to Franklin, Tennessee. Second. Any discussion? Can we vote, please, Jennifer? Thank you. All agree. Thank you. Um this is where we added the FY27 budget >> [clears throat] >> um Okay. But Ken, And we >> [clears throat] >> you know, we we discussed this at a workshop, but as was indicated, we really need to bring it to the actual meeting. Um So, I just want to run through and remind of the overview and discussion. There's also a couple things [clears throat] based on some questions

079that if were asked that um we have not included in the budget, and at the end I have that that dollar amount, those dollar amounts for those. So, you says reminder, and and and going back to my comment earlier about as I'm going out to schools and connecting with the parent organizations first round, and then everyone else progressively. Uh these currently are four uh strategic priorities that we we you know, are our pillars that we we attach our decisions, our action plans to. You know, we focusing on every student every day, the success of every student [clears throat] every day, investing in our people, um partnering with our stakeholders, um and then also when we make decisions and and to utilize our resources, access our resources, seek resources, we want to act responsibly. We want

080to be good stewards of those public resources. Um so, just an overview, some factors that that we've kind of discussed. Uh we are in our third third year of meeting the state requirements. Uh in our case, we're trying to get to the the minimum uh salary schedule that the state requires for our beginning teachers and throughout our our salary schedule for our teachers. The minimum required by this next fiscal year in the state of Tennessee for all districts is is a a minimum uh entry salary of $50,000. Um and so, we're we're currently behind not there, but this next budget year is as we've been taught, we have to meet that requirement. Um and then we also have had discussions that we do when we when we raise the salaries of one group of employees.

081You know, we have a total of over that exceeds 1200 employees. So of our 550 plus or minus classroom teachers, the other are very variety of our non-certified staff. You know, our certified administrators and non-certified administrators. Many other employees, our bus drivers, or you know, all of those folks are are are in there, too. But our requirement is teacher salaries. That's a state mandate, but we also have all of our other employees that support what happens in our classrooms and are part of the success of students every day. We we have every year we have anticipated health insurance increases and that we we built in 5% of that. You'll see in a minute a 5% increase. We we want to always continue to maintain the level of services that we we have provided and continue

082to provide, if not improve. But at minimum we want to maintain. And then the health supports. That's both physical health through our school nurses, but we also provide a lot of support wrap-around services for for students for mental health. And then our our commitment [clears throat] to high-quality instruction materials to ensure every classroom, every student, every teacher has access to that support and those materials to do the work they need to do every day. So on the salary front, every year when we end a year and we start a year, we move forward, there's a an automatic built-in increase. Of sustaining the same level of employees, the cost goes up the next year. And that's what I you know, I just call annual scheduled increases. This is the step and level you know, on most

083people's salary scale. We all know that you move from one year to the next unless you've topped out. You know, it moves up. You you have a a built-in increase. For us, this is what the built-in increase looks like for moving one year to the next. It's you know, it's it's almost $560,000 in our teacher schedule. So all teachers just moving from one year to the next is an annual cost of that much. Our classified staff, our non-certified staff, that increase you know, is is $115,000 almost $116,000. And then for the management, which are the school and district administrators, certified non-certified, that group is smaller, the number smaller, so $77,000. That's just moving from one year to the next. The next is the health care increase. You can see that's that's pretty substantial. A 5%

084increase would result in a $500,000 increase in that benefit across the board. And then we also got notice that Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System, they they publish annual increases >> [clears throat] >> at the board contribution piece. And this year the estimate we received equates to $480,000. So all of those are just moving from one year to the next on with our salaries and benefits. Next is the built-in or the the increases that I refer to as improvements. Everybody usually refers to those as raises. That's the amount for that amount for that improvement. And right now that built-in in the budget is only targeting that state required raise for teachers to meet that minimum threshold of the state minimum salary schedule. And that and what we have done over the last 3 years, we set a

085target 3 years ago and to hit that 50,000 we knew we had to at least do $2,095 flat rate across the board, everyone on the schedule to to hit that minimum amount. So that's what we built in this year. That equates to >> [clears throat] >> 4.36 [cough] million dollars. That's just the raise required by the state for the teachers. Right now there's not any included for any other employee. So fixed costs, non-personnel expenses, just kind of list those for you. You know, those are kind of the based on actuals. Mr. Hill has put in the increases. You will notice in diesel fuel there is that that's a negative, so that's a decrease. But the others, the natural gas for buildings, for facilities, and then we have our propane, you know, expense for our buses,

086our transportation shifting you know, from diesel to propane. Our university school in our agreement, they get their state funding formula as well, but they also get a portion based on the enrollment of our local funding. So that's the increase that has been estimated on what they would receive. And that goes to the university school. [clears throat] The adjustment there you see a negative for the trustee. The the trustee gets the an automatic specific commission of all the revenues that we had we received, but we budgeted I believe Mr. Hill it was we we set the budget the amount a little bit higher, so we're adjusting that down in this year's budget. >> Correct. Based on the last 12 months of Based on the last Yes. Just to point out, you all did extend or or

087renew the contract with the general tour service, but at this going forward this next [clears throat] year there was no increase in that cost. Revenue factors. Our funding is is built around you know, state and local funding. Our base funding. TISA is the um is the state funding formula that requires a 70% 30 that required it establishes essentially a 70/30 split between the state and local share. What's what's reflected there is just the state portion of the the state funding model of TISA. So we've been notified in our estimate for March, that number is $51,441,981. The local part, the revenue from sales tax and property tax, what we built into the budget is the an increase requesting an increase based on the trend of the local option sales tax revenue. We budgeted this current year

08821 million. We're we're trending way above that and we're we're requesting the county commission to consider raising that based on the fact that we are bringing you know, we are receiving more than 22 million dollars in local option sales tax revenue. We just haven't been able to budget that. So we're asking to budget an an additional million dollars out of that revenue. And then the the estimated current property tax right now you can see is 13 million 552 792. The local responsibility based on state law, it's called maintenance of effort annually moving from one year to the next, they have a responsibility requirement to match that funding. And the local's responsibility for Washington County Schools is 37 million, a little over 37 million dollars. So that's how much minimum local funding they're responsible [cough and

089clears throat] to to provide. Just as a reminder, I mentioned that TISA, Tennessee Investment Student Achievement, that's our funding model. We shifted from what used to be called BEP, Basic [clears throat] Education Plan program. Different funding model, essentially same thing. State provides some money, local contributes some money and it funds your school system. As you can see in the governor's budget, that number actually that's wrong. >> [clears throat] >> This year is 7295, not 775. That was 2 years ago, I'm sorry. But it is seven this year's amount that's in the governor's budget to increase the the per pupil base amount to $7,530 per student. That is an increase from this current year of 7295. As you can see it's $235 per student in the formula. The weighted funds. So is another piece. We have

090specific learning unique learning needs. There's 10 categories and those are funded um based on the base fund of 7530, but different categories for example, economically disadvantaged students I think it's a 25% of that amount. So for every student that we have that meets that criteria, our funding is 25% times the number of students times 7530. That's how they calculate that. Direct funds don't require any local match. We receive those directly from the state of Tennessee and it's and I'll show in a minute what those categories are. It includes CTE, third grade, fourth grade supports, things like that. Outcome funds are based on testing outcomes in certain grade levels. And those we don't budget those money that those funds because they don't come until the middle of the next year. So next year's outcome based funds

091would be based on this year's spring assessments. And then the calculation would be made and the distribution has usually been in December or January of the next school year. So we really it's not a it's not a we don't know how much, so it's not something we can budget at this time. That's the specific amount just for your awareness. When you break down the base funds and the weighted funds, the direct funds, how much we receive. And as I mentioned, K-3 literacy, fourth grade supports, CT career technical education, and post-secondary testing ACT. Every junior in state of Tennessee is required to take the ACT. And and then seniors, we have a senior retake the next fall, and and that is the ACT as well. >> [clears throat] >> Um but you I've restated the maintenance

092of effort number again uh for what's required minimum requirement for our county for the Washington County School System. So, all of that to get to the totals. Right now, um in the in the budget that you you all have discussed at the workshop and and what's being presented, uh the revenues that are projected are uh $96,410,046. The planned expenditures, everything that's in the budget with every the highlights and things I've shown, the salary increases, the the fixed cost increases, the the insurance increases, the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement, and just as a reminder, in this year's budget, we utilize fund balance to balance it. So, it includes also that money, the reserves that are injected to this year's budget. So, that comes out to be a total of $103,235,223. That is a gap, deficit gap, gap between

093revenue and expenditure right now of 6.8 million $225,177. Um So, before I move into that, any any questions? I I just have a quick question on the revenue factors. Mhm. So, it says current FY27 maintenance of effort, that's the minimum they're they're giving us, or that is what they're >> That's in the in the TIS TIS formula, they list what Washington County's maintenance of effort is, and that's straight off of the March report. >> So, that is what they're currently giving us. [clears throat] No, that's what they have to meet >> That's what they have to meet. in projecting to next year's And so, to next year's budget. Where it says local, where it says local sales option, that's 22 million, and then the estimated property tax portion, Right. [snorts] that is what they're telling

094us they're going to give us, is that or is that is Right now, we budgeted 21, we're asking for 22. The local that that local that property tax amount is is what we have right now. It could change, it could be increased based on the growth of the property tax revenue if if the county gives that to us, but that's what we have right now, that 13 million. And then there are other local fees and funds that kind of round out that total where they meet the third the maintenance of effort, but that those are the large buckets of the funds. Under the water and sewer, where it says 3% estimated increase, but it doesn't show anything, is that because we just Uh that's my fault. Oh. That's I mean that's that's that's my fault.

095That That's wording that shouldn't be there. I apologize. It is zero right now. Okay. That's what we presented to you at the workshop. I added uh something shouldn't have been there. My fault. The line item's correct, but the 3% estimated increase is not not not there. Okay. Good catch. Thank you. So, this is that bottom number um includes like I you know, what we projected and and Mr. Allen can can add to it. In that six or so million dollars that [clears throat] we injected into this year's budget using reserves fund balance to balance the budget, we we project that we will not use all of that, and it's going to probably it will be in a in the neighborhood of 3.5 million. That's why it's less. If it was if it would if we

096used all of it, then that gap would be of course six I mean nine million dollars. >> [clears throat] >> So, the 6825 is basically the state raise for the everybody and the teacher 2500, and the middle you know, the the other things that had to be moved around, that's minimum 6.825 right there. Right. That's That's all of those other fixed cost um increases and the the salary only, the step and level increases, and the required teacher raise. Okay. >> [snorts] >> Now, the what's the fund balance that we are recommended to carry by state controller? The that is making the recommendation each year that we carry a two-month fund balance. Is that where it comes from? So, there's just guidance that says during That's where they target us at helping balance. It's not a

097state law that Right. The state regulation is, and this is where sometimes the conversation gets a little bit off track. If we if our board if the a board, this board, any board has a fund balance of less than 3%, then basically [clears throat] the board does not have any control over how that money is used. Money above 3% allows boards to target needs and utilize the fund balance, whether it's to help balance in next year's budget or capital purchases and projects or other needs. But when it gets to 3% or below, the board no longer has any options. Those funds remain in fund balance. That's you know, so you we have heard we only need 3%. No, that's the minimum state required amount if the board, you know, before the board doesn't have control

098those funds, so to speak. So, the board then, listening you know, per the comptroller's Tennessee comptroller's report, indicated that government bodies should should maintain two months operating expenses as a fund balance. The board has passed a policy to that effect, which, you know, is approximately 16% of your overall uh budget. revenue figures. So, in our case, that equates to around 17 million dollars of a minimum fund balance to 16 17 million to meet your board policy. My understanding is Johnson City Schools keeps that amount, correct? Yeah, we modeled that language exactly after Johnson City Schools. Sorry, Mr. Bowman. No. Jump in. And yet I don't remember hearing people from the Johnson City Commission complaining about that. My editorial comment. Uh am I correct in saying the uh Washington County Commission carries a three-month fund balance?

099I think their policy says four. They went up to three months. Per your four? Four. I think they went up to four. And they go I think their policy says four. Why? They went up to three, they went up to four. Okay. Mr. Chairman. So, my question is if at this 6.8 gap, if we make up the difference that we're short out of our fund balance, if we drop below what our policy says is we should keep as fund balance, So, we're right at this projection is still three months out of getting actual data from I haven't got the Most March's revenue is not in yet, but the projection right now is we'll land somewhere around 16.7. That will change as I keep putting in real data in, but that's that's the projection. So, basically

100you're going to be at your fund balance threshold per your policy. So, that means you wouldn't be able to have any Well, any gap that you use, if that happens next year, you'll be below your policy. And once again, if you will, go into what problems are created in May and June if you do not have an adequate fund balance. So, the revenue cycle each year, the fund balance will actually build when we get property tax the large months of December and February. And there's other months that are that still come in, [clears throat] where it's flat flat, but it doesn't come in evenly. So, what you see is our fund balance in the bank goes up, and it reaches its highest point in March or April. May, we don't get TIS, so that's five

101a little over five million a month in revenue we don't get. So, that runs a deficit in May, and then in June, because teachers are contracted 10-month employees, 90% of 95% of them want to be paid over 12 months. So, for July and August, that money comes from this current year's budget, so we book all of that in the June report, send three months of payment to the bank, the bank holds that payment. So, we have in essence three months of payroll for all certified staff, which accounts which accounts for 75% of the payroll expense. So, um So, you have three months payroll Yeah. in June. Last June, our expenses were all everything the payroll plus all expenses were around 16 million dollars just for the month of June. So, that's our heaviest month. Long

102story short, last May and June, we ran a deficit of roughly around 13 and a half 14 million dollars. So, whatever you have in April is probably going to be about 13 14 million dollars less by the time you get to June 30. That's probably a long-winded answer to your question. It's okay. Thank you. So, what's our options when we drop below our policy? Uh well, I mean you know, the board you know, it board always can suspend a policy. But our policy says in 1 year then you can drop below what what's been what is that but then you the next the next year should it should be corrected. That's what your policy says. So, for example, this year if if you were to go below that then there would need to be a

103plan to replenish that for the next year. Or or change policy. >> Or change the policy. And of course that's been discussed. And and always everything's up for discussion. But right, that's also another option. Because you know, you didn't have a policy prior. Uh I think it's good uh fiscally responsible to have one. Uh and it also aligned with our sister district too. It's something they had already implemented. Um but uh again, yes, that's your option. Those are your options. The next two slides are based on some questions that were brought up at the workshop. >> [clears throat] >> And it and it is about what what would it what were the cost of certain uh increments of raises for the other categories of employees, our non-certified staff and then our our system management or

104our certified non-certified um supervisors, managers, so to speak. So, Mr. Hale's put together uh a response. So, we were asked to do what does it look like under flat rate? What does it look like under percent? And you that table and you have a copy of this in front of you as well. >> [cough] >> It shows you. So, essentially [clears throat] um anything additional would of course add to that gap. And remind me what you did last what what we did last year. Was it 50 cents on the non-certified staff and 1,000 for system management? Is that correct? Yeah, we started out you know, a dollar proposed in 2000 flat for uh the the system management and we and the board ultimately backed it down, you know, had to reduce it to 50 cent

105And the 1,000. And 1,000. Yes, sir. Thank you. There'll be more workshops, I guess our budget We have to present it by May 1st, is that correct? We we have to present a passed, you know, an approved budget board budget to uh Mayor Grandy by the 1st of May. We we have a date we have future in the month of April we have scheduled meetings. Uh you know, I just want to keep this on the radar and and and the board could take formal action tonight, but you don't have to. Uh but we do want to work towards >> [snorts] >> formal action to meet the May 1st deadline. You know, certainly any feedback would help us go back and and and and run through additional scenarios and make changes based on those. But you

106have a copy of this. Those are the those are the numbers. The next one is another thing that has been ongoing in discussion the last few years. Um and and our ADs, Mr. Stover, our ADs have looked at uh and others uh you know, comparing some of some neighbor school districts and there's a misspelling. Oh, Grayville City Excuse me, forgive me. >> [clears throat] >> I I I I made it >> another E. I made it European, I guess. Sorry. Um but anyway, um those are the kind of neighbors we looked at uh just because of mainly because their data was accessible. Some of our districts don't really provide very accessible uh supplement schedules. >> [clears throat] >> Um so, in all case I mean, when we looked at all of these together and we

107kind of look at an average on average across the board, our supplements are about 50% >> [clears throat] >> of that average. We're below. Now, with the exception particularly middle school, but even um with the exception of Carter County and Hawkins County, uh everyone else is significantly above our supplement. Is that just high school or is that High school, middle school. Carter Hawkins County in high school is above us, but in middle school not so much. And Carter County is is not above us in anything on supplements. But you know, it it's just kind of getting a benchmark. Uh we would anticipate like our city schools to be higher than ours, but as a whole, walking down all of our current supplements and even proposed like the middle school golf, um it's we're we're we're

108half our supplements are half of most of those districts. About the same number of supplements? Uh we we we we can tell there are some that have more assistant coaches when you compare sports, paid assistant coaches than we do. Um yeah, there's some differences in some of the bigger sports, there's some noticeable differences in the number of paid supplements. But then when you get to some of the smaller sports, it's not not that big of a gap on paid supplements. But both high head head coaches and assistant coaches ours are about 50% >> the gap is. >> less. Yeah, our our both head and assistant. Did we have we added uh middle school golf supplements? I know that's been discussed. >> That'll be I mean, based on all the conversation, uh regardless if we change

109the schedule, we'll need to add that for next year. It'll be a a minimal amount based on our current supplement. Yeah. >> Okay. But yeah, we want to formalize that and make sure that it's in the package that you all formally approve you know, in in June, basically May May June. Mr. Could I ask to request a 25% increase on this on supplements and see what that figure would be? That's why that last I did a hypothetical. If we were to double our current supplements, that would increase our total allocations that you know, total expenditure from 471, of course double that. Um 942. Uh so, you you basically could take 25 you know, add 25% to 471, that'll tell you the cost of increasing all supplements by 25%. So, it'd be about another 20 >>

110About 120,000. >> Yes. Yeah, just under 120. Yeah, it'd be about 120 each 20 each 25%. Uh Go for it. I'd like to I I don't want to make a motion and we you know, do anything cuz I don't I I really like to know where we stand on April 14th when we have the joint meeting and have this information in front of them. Not that I think anything's going to really be earth-shattering, but I think it would be nice to let's see where where we're at on that. So, just comment. Yeah, I don't want to make no kind of decision till after the we get together with the commission. Mr. But keep in mind though, April 14th to May 1st that's 2 weeks. Well, we'll have to have it. Well, I know, but I'm

111call meeting. But I'm just saying I didn't you know, I [clears throat] kind of like to meet before the meeting. I I would like to >> get our heads together. Uh just don't budget all along. And then go into the commission joint meeting prepared >> with knowledge of what We're thinking. And then we got 2 weeks to get our budget together to present to the mayor. That's my thought. Mr. Foster. Yes, and um contrary to what I thought I heard you say, what I don't think we've got another meeting between now other than the joint meeting with commission between now and to the workshop. Prior to the workshop. >> Yeah, prior to May 1st. So, the workshop as we noted, it's it's our regular scheduled workshop, but we can we we would plan on calling

112a special called either before or after we typically the board does it before the workshop to take action on the budget. So, that would be the date that you would take action with the thought of getting it to the mayor by May 1st. That we have to do this thing. Yes, sir. By the end of May. Yes, sir. Hopefully before. April 15th also starts early voting. So, the joint meeting and early voting, you know, tax day It's it's on the 14th. Could we meet on the 13th, the day before you got one of your I I I do have I mean, I I do have Okay. What about an hour before the workshop? I don't know that we'd have enough time to get everything together if there's any questions of that >> Well, I thought

113we was going to talk about what we're going to talk about the commission. Yeah, that's what I'm talking That had to be next week if they had it. Well, I mean, cuz you'd be gone 13th, Jerry. He's got I'll be gone. know. be I've got scheduled meetings with the parents. What about the 9th? April 9th? I can't do that one cuz I work. 7th? 7th or 8th? You got a meeting on the 7th anyway, don't you, or is it just like Wednesday we're open. Okay. Yeah. Wednesdays are open, but you know, for obvious reasons, those aren't days I'm going to try to schedule parent meetings. But I mean, I know that we've met earlier like at 3:00, 4:00, and I don't know how that fits into everybody's schedules, but I know we've done that before

114if that's something that you're you want to look at. On the day of? No, I'm I'm just thinking or the Yeah, 7th, 8th, whatever. 7th he's got he's got one of your meetings in, don't you, Jerry? I'm what I'm doing. 7th in there? I have one at South Central Yes, at 5:30. I think we need at least like like at least two or three days prior to the day of the meeting. Do we do that? You know, we we make a decision or take some action. This building of course reflected in what's presented to them. I I suggest 6:30. I suggest 8:00 cuz that'd help Jerry out on his schedule. At least Wednesday's open. Well, if I don't have to I schedule with those parents, so I would I don't want to cancel them. Right.

115Okay, the 8th is Is the 8th Is that adequate time to advertise? What time? >> just time to put put public advertising on it. Give notification. We still have to advertise. Did you say 9:00 a.m.? I'm sorry. You threw a time out. You threw a time out and I grabbed onto it, so. I mean, I don't Everybody's work schedules we just kind of need to look at what time I can do 4:00. You can do what? 4:00. 4:00. How's 4:00? Okay, how's 4:00? 4:00? 4:00? 4:00 on the 8th. I think we have a winner. Jennifer, did you get We called it a workshop, correct? Not a not a meeting for action. It's just a discussion. >> meeting [clears throat] for action, just discussion. We'll be there at B Square. And that's Any any questions, comments,

116suggestions, guidance? Good place. Yeah, thanks. Yeah, thank you, Carver. Thank you, Sarah and Brad. Thank you for everything. See if Paul is going to be able to grab him a Big Biscuit. Okay. Okay. Brad It's loaded. It's loaded. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, we got to do this We got to do print friends. That's right. Jared, can you get that? I think fire there for us. Print that. [clears throat] workshop, it was also mentioned about having a meeting regarding the TCI and working out some details for them. We haven't gotten any any I haven't received any information on that third LOI. When when I do, then we can discuss that. Okay. When would we vote on this budget though if we have At >> At the at the latest the board needs to vote on it

117on that workshop in April 20 6th 6th 7th. >> to have a called meeting before? Yeah, we'll we'll advertise it as a special called meeting just for the budget, and then after you adjourn that, you would roll into your scheduled work session. Okay. Anything else? Cuz that is the last item on our agenda this evening. Okay. Thank you, Jerry, for your hard work.