Wilmette Public Schools District 39 Committee of the Whole Meeting December 11, 2023

001I hereby call to order this Committee of the whole meeting for Monday December 11th 2023 the time is 8:03 a will the clerk please call the rooll Aaron Stone here John Caesar ready here Ann har here Bonnie Kim Allison pathless here Amy paling here Lisa Schneider fabes here I seek a motion to approve the minutes of the November 6th 2023 Committee of the whole and executive session meetings I move to approve the minutes of the November November 6 2023 Committee of the whole and executive session meetings may I have a second second motion has been made and seconded board members are there any comments errors or omissions to the minutes will the clerk please call the role John C ready yes Anne Hart yes Allison Papas yes Amy paling yes Lisa Schneider fabes yes Aaron

002Stone yes we will begin with facility development uh Mrs Kim unfortunately could not be here today I believe I'm turning this over to Mr boltim for 2024 con summer construction projects and bids all right so I just have a couple of quick slides and then let Joe add a couple comments and work can ask any questions if you like all right so about 11 days ago the uh District opened up the bids for summer 24 projects and just to review uh the work that we've got going on at four different locations that's included in in these bids uh at the junior high we have a partial roof replacement uh which is a little over half the square footage of the roofing at that building and then one uh roof replacing one mechanical rooftop unit which

003Services uh I think three or four classrooms plus the front office um um then one of the alternates is to replace flooring in all the first floor hallways plus an additional three classrooms and then some uh renovations to the only conference room at the junior high it's currently a bit of a larger conference room um and and what we would be doing is uh putting it installing a divider and creating the having the opportunity for the junior high to have two smaller spaces um which which would be really helpful for them over at M uh over the previous Summers we had been working on replacing flooring on the second floor which had all ASB bestus underneath the flooring um we've completed about 2/3 so the last third of the upstairs in the hallway would would

004get replaced and then there's I believe three classrooms on the first floor closer to the cafeteria side that um that would be the last classrooms at Mackenzie to get replaced and that flooring and then with the uh as bestus flooring underneath the Teachers Lounge on the second floor um there'd be some renovations to there currently the uh hallway wall at the McKenzie Teachers Lounge is kind of a curved wall and it sets back a good bit from from the the main hallway Corridor so we would be pulling that wall closer to the hallway lining it up with other other walls and making the the Teachers Lounge um larger at mcken and at um Ramona there would be replacement of one mechanical Rift toop unit which Services the front office area and then adding a water

005booster pump to increase water pressure we did something similar at high Crest this past summer and uh from what I've heard that that's that's been helpful so far so we're we're working on that for Ramona then at Central all the work is is outside the building replacing the black top um behind this behind the school where were recess and and activities are occurring and then while we have that up is uh running a new drainage system from kind of the center point of that black top area and then connecting it down the alley through out to the the U cities the city's connection currently the uh existing draining system is not in great shape plus it runs directly under the uh cafeteria so it can be a bit problematic so it's good timing to do

006both of those at the same time and here are the the cost so what our recommendation is 1 5.1 million the base which is the roofing and um some of the other components is 3.8 when you see the alternates uh the C's mean Central that's uh C1 is the asphalt and C2 is is uh some of the fencing work that goes with that R1 is at Ramona J1 is a junior high that's the hallway in three classrooms of flooring then alternate J2 and j3 are work in the auditorium and J2 would be um replacing the lighting and controls and a lot of the electrical work in there um as time has gone on it's it's been a bit problematic and then j3 would be to add some additional lighting um that could hit that could

007help light another part of the stage that we currently don't have so um J 2 and three would be a nice investment towards the uh auditorium at the junior high and then the only alternate that we had in the whole scope was j4 which was um another one for for the up Junior High we're recommending to reject that one um that's all I have Joe if you want to add any thoughts and open up for questions good morning that's a great Rec recap um just I'll add we had four bid packages uh we had a tremendous amount of coverage uh from competent contract rors uh we're really happy with the numbers they're extremely favorable um as Cory mentioned um almost half of the total scope is Junior High Roofing um within each bid package there

008specified allowances for unforeseen conditions so in the base bid we had 190,000 worth of allowance value to handle uh such unforeseen conditions if we do encounter them and then within the central uh site uh scul of work we have another $95,000 for un suitable soil if we encounter uh those types of conditions so um all in all we're extremely happy uh just as a reminder uh we did do a pre purchase for the two Rough Top units so that was done back in October so hopefully uh it's enough time to to get those shipped in time um that's all I'll say on that um but all in all we're extremely happy we built in that bidday flexibility like we talk about so uh we're going to recommend six alternates so we're going to great position

009again thank you board members any questions comments M paas yeah um can you just remind us what j4 was for so j4 was um so in the auditorium as we we broke down the was there's some large spotlights in the back of the auditorium that are you you move around there's one on each side and then also um some backdrop lighting that currently doesn't exist it would go on the back wall of the auditorium stage that would allow for um some additional effects that we currently don't have and why was it rejected as we were look so couple of things as we were looking at what we were looking to spend for um the junior high as we broke down and we're including it in the scope of work for this for this upcoming summer

010um the amount that we're ultimately recommending is substantially more than what we had initially thought um part of that is going back a few years one of the contractors that's providing the equipment and lighting for stages which is pretty specialized um they we had been in conversations with them for a few years and the numbers we had shared we were led to believe that that was including labor to install it all and as we got in with our engineers and Architects we realize that was not the case and um so what we're recommending is substantially more than what we initially thought but now that we've been in it um this is what we're comfortable with and I think there are opportunities to pursue that that last option you know over the next few years anyone

011else Mrs Schneider fabes um always exciting to think about top U just wondering do we have concerns with any supply chain issues I know we we were it's a really good question there was some concern it would be with the rooftop units and every year we try to um get those orders placed as soon as we can so again I mean we're October those that was that took place and um there is a much less lead time for these rooftop units than the chillers but again it's uh it's uh it's that supply chain with mechanical equipment that just we just hope so um that would be the only concern would be the rift toop units so right now for the scheduled ship date we expect the shipping to take place in March hey I can

012you guys hear me I L I didn't hear you but I think I understood the question so it was are we worried about the timeline right John did you have any questions no no I just was trying to hear what Lisa said anyone else and is there anything you need from us today no no the plan would be then next Monday night we would uh bring back each of the recommended um contractors for for board approval sounds like we're in great shape and doing everything that can be done so thank you so much thank you all right I think we're ready to move on to strategy Mrs Schneider fabes yeah so we are going to talk about strategic plan goal number three professional Community Action STS SCH thank you we have uh thank you everyone

013thank you we have Katie Lee and Heather glowaki will walk us through an update on um our goal three action steps so thank you good morning everyone um we are here just a reminder to bring your microphone yeah I was trying thought that I go thank tried okay there we go I'm also trying to see my screen um Heather GOI and I are the co- uh champions for goal three professional community and um we are going to share with you some action step updates that address the fostering of our professional community that values and supports and develops and retains highly effective staff so the first that you are very aware of is the district strategic advisory team um monitoring our progress and offering suggestions for the strategical retirement throughout the year this is year three

014of our strategic plan and so this team uh will be meeting three times this year we conducted our first meeting on September 7th which was a kickoff to orient the members on our purpose and review um the action steps and our second meeting which would be a progress midyear update is scheduled for February 8th we just wanted to to also recognize all of the daap members and thank them for um their work with us today or this year and District 39 um continues to seek feedback um regarding onboarding onboarding mentoring and support in their careers here in our District 39 um Community to identify themes using exit interviews surveys and focus groups uh we're continuing to do that uh we have collected some information last year and then this year we're continuing to provide those

015opportunities for staff leaving the district uh most often it's in the form of a survey uh with that fourpoint scale with some questions that are um asked uh consistently which is what has been satisfying and enjoyable what has been challenging and frustrating and what could have been done to retain you um also this year our new staff are meeting with Dr krie kisy um with some cookies and conversations at lunch throughout the year to have some personal contact focus group conversations um to ask uh our new staff what is it that what are the needs that they are um seeing fulfilled or what are some needs that they would like um us to consider in helping them be a for firm member of our our community um we continually um engage our staff on District

016or School level uh committee so that voices and expertise are represented and contribute to a collaborative shared decision making structure for as long as I've been in this District this has been a highly valued um focus and goal and purpose and as you can see there our district committees and opportunities um that are provided this year and then also School committees and opportunities um most of the district most of these committees that are listed are ongoing so you would have seen evidence of it from the start of the Strategic plan all the way um to current day and then some that are added on so you'll see the English language arts curriculum uh Review Committee schedule committee for 5'8 and a social studies curriculum Review Committee added we've also included a de District Council that

017PS representation from all of the district all of the schools um to really uh work together and correspond and articulate with one another what the efforts are throughout the district and to help set some um future action steps as well one of the other action steps related to goal three is to make sure that we're identifying the learning names of the adults in our community and so there's different mechanisms that are built into existing meetings to seek that information out so that as we plan for institute day or um speakers to come into uh administrative Council meetings for example that we're identifying the specific needs of the staff in those group and getting the instruction or the professional development related to the topics of interest and we've been purposeful in uh specifically with grade levels

018and Department meetings over the last couple years we've extended that to our administrative Council this year and identified things for Learning and then each sort of taken responsibility for figuring out how to implement that so for example um teacher evaluation was an element that we wanted to um brush up on if you will and so we have had someone from the Danielson group come in and spend the day with us sort of recalibrating and looking at our strategy for evaluation which ultimately will lead into prare a joint committee that will meet this year and reviewing our system and process and documents that we use for Teacher evaluation so really just looking for what the needs are the adult learning needs and then targeting a plan to address that culture and climate committee this is a

019new committee for us this year after Comey and Kelly Jackson lead our group and this is equal representation from support staff to WEA which is our teacher Union as well as Administration and it's really digging in on the new survey that we'll be using in five Essentials um and the how that relates to measuring what we've set out to measure so our key performance indicor indicators often tied to the five Essentials and so now we have a new survey tool we don't want to lose sight of measuring that so what in this new survey um what questions what information outcomes will be able to tie back to the key performance indicators that's a very specific um thread that we're looking at in this committee but it's much broader than that we want to we really

020are seeking to understand what the needs of our staff are within our school to be able to take action on it but we're starting with the the new survey and making sure that that's tied to our ke performance we've had two meetings so far um this next action step talks about essentially courageous conversation and this was feedback that we leaned through the strategic planning process through um work we've done in student services and listening to the needs of the staff and really trying to understand how do we support everyone when having a courageous conversation and so we started this fall when P 39 J their school year um having a speaker Sue Matt come in and talk with parents about how they can proactively and positively um engage in IEP meetings and different conversations about

021their students in the school staff really from a a partnership standpoint and Sue has a great perspective um that she shared with with the family that night we're also looking to support our student services staff in that same process how do they engage in a difficult conversation with the family in a productive meaningful way adding more strategies to their tool box that already exists but looking for for further development in that and that that came as a a result of Staff asking for some of that support so we're eager to implement that starting probably during the uh February Institute day we've narrowed it down to a few speakers and that make the final decisions knowing that it won't be just a one Moment In Time type of Workshop it need likely start there and then

022need to continue on with some followup work that we'll do with staff through the late spring and early summer and then our deib task force so um you heard Katie mention that we have sort of a district Dei committee now that is sort of tying in all of our all of the work being done at each of our schools this task force that I'm speaking to now is is very specific and it started last year and it's all related to the recruiting r u hiring and retaining of employees of color and so again it's a hybrid Committee of teachers and support staff board members parents and we um met starting this fall for our second year and we had made some I think really great Traction in this last meeting our our parent input has

023been invaluable in this process and so our we are expecting to be able to make some recommendations to Administration about how to improve some of our practices in in the area of recruiting hiring and retaining of color so more to come in that down the road but we have made some some good Headway early on this year we for some questions thanks that was great I just um was curious Katie with the exit surveys Is the participation are the participation levels usually pretty strong so I'll answer that Katie took the slide but really it's a process that I manage um strong I probably I don't know that I would say strong it we push it out to anybody that has resigned from sure from employment um offering both the survey like if you want to

024do it on the computer and not have to talk to anybody we're fine with that but also an inperson exit interview either Carri or myself or quite honestly any administrator but it usually follows to the Carri or I I would say very qualitatively maybe 30% Pi us up on it for not not a great participation they have both options which is great those who have something to share will um pick this up sometimes on both but but certainly those person I just want to follow up on on that question to are there any themes that come out of the exit interviews there are um I think I shared a few this past October and I haven't reviewed the the information since because I try to bring it together annually but in October we talked a

025little bit about how um like pre support staff contract finishing the reasons for leaving were really to pay and um how difficult perhaps the work environment was with the scheduling and some of that seems to have resolved since the new contract was put into place so um yes we do code the qual the open-ended questions for for um and try to determine if it's actionable that one reports in the culture and climate committee I think that's great kind of what happened in that first you're saying you're it's focused on the survey and but there's other things I'm just wondering is there anything more act like quicker actionable because I'm assuming that when does the survey come out February yeah it comes out in February and and I'll share that we also are engaging with um

026the uh csci leadership organization they're doing some training with with us with the team starting first with the team and then potentially expanding out to our schools on culture and climate the importance of it what affects it and they're going to help us really understand our data results both at a school level and at a district level and help guide some of those actionable items so before the survey is administered right now we're just learning about it and then um they're going to help us really understand the survey um and and make some action steps that will help us to affect the culture climate in our schools and at the district level as well we're really excited about that partnership um largely because we've had five Essentials for quite a while and um we' we've

027looked at it we've tried to make sense of it but um we aren't experts in that area so it's really nice to have a partner as we're making this transition as we're moving to a tool that we have a bit more confidence in um and just a new perspective on school culture and climate that we're going to have um two experts helping guide this work for us so anything yeah oh did you call on me I did I thank you I have three comments yeah I I think one is thank you for focusing on this it's really impressive um impactful so from my perspective um two is so I love the the kind of the I forget what you call it but for past the the focus on helping parents advocate for themselves I I

028wonder if there are you know things we could you know that maybe all parents you know those not involved past 39 you know could learn from that kind of lesson so and then number three for me um you know I really like the deib focus and wondered if there was place for uh I don't know about focusing but including encouraging teachers from underprivileged backgrounds in general like I'm I'm not a big fan of assuming that people of color from underprivileged backgrounds um so so I think by opening up the scope to just generally people of under privilege backgrounds joining the profession and encouraging them um that that might be something worth thinking about I mean it's not it's not an easy profession to enter from my perspective it's relatively low paid so it assumes a

029lot of you know parental and other support to start in on Career like this you know and then it takes many years to work your way up you know the salary scale and you know it's just not something that someone from an underprivileged background you know economically speaking um can easily pull off from my perspective to be a teacher with the uh you know educational requirements Interventional requirements I think what I'm hearing is expand the um our our considerations of diversity equity and inclusion to include other groups that um may also uh struggle to find a sense of belonging or support within our system yeah thank you Amy I might be able to speak to that but Heather because I'm on that committee um and then in any holes I think you're totally right John

030and I think the requirements to become a teacher if you're looking at a WEA job particularly requires a lot of education and financial investment in your career so I support that entirely I think at this point it would be hard to change T because we're about ready to present recommendations it's been a two-year committee but so that's something for us to consider in the next iteration of the committee uh to invest time and Research into but I do wonder if there will be things in these recommendations that will speak to that which will be coming later this school year thanks Amy yeah others John did you get all your questions asked yeah yeah three comments I am good else another Qui followup question with the culture and climate committee being a new one how is

031it determined um the makeup of that committee thanks that's a good question um so we asked each of our Union leadership teams to identify members from their group to participate um between that and also trying to make sure that every school is represented on the team um that that serve to make our competition along with our administrators as well so um again trying to keep it balanced but also making sure that this is this really is a shared leadership opportunity um where all three groups um employee groups within our district are reallying together anyone else thank you as always this is uh really informative to get these briefings all right we are now ready for school Finance Mr Caesar ready we have a robust agenda that I'm going to turn over to Corey I believe

032I think I think we're going to start with uh Kristen Swanson who has a quick update on SR three funds and um annually we need to review our Co mitigation plan um although I know many of us uh wish we didn't have to it's part of the requirement of the sr3 grant funds so we're here to do both of that with you and I'll turn it over to Kristen okay so thank you um yes we're going to do a brief little reminder history walk on sr3 or our Esser grants and um just do the presentation for our final year here so um as many may remember covid was here a few years ago and in response the federal government released a series of Grants to help support educational agencies in managing the effects of covid

033so there was the first one the Corona virus Aid relief and Economic Security Act the cares act and that ended in September of 2020 the next was the Corona virus response and relief supplemental Appropriations act which ended in September of 2023 and the final was the American Rescue plan which started in March 20 and ends in September 30th of 2024 so this was the biggest amount um that we had and we had to at the beginning of this grant we presented a three-year plan which we then amended last year because needs have changed as a result of of Co um here are the original areas that we looked at for the sr3 grant we used um a a chunk of the funding on summer school or we allocated it for curriculum writing summer work uh

034as well as social and emotional clubs for students at the 58 level to help increase that sense of belonging and address those social emotional needs students had we also used Varsity Tutors to help provide some um additional tutoring services for our students who were demonstrating um what they called learning loss as a result of covid we bought um variety of supplies and materials um we've used a lot of funding on professional development in terms of responsive classroom foundations um the a variety of different professional development activities we purchased the shade structures for all of the buildings to provide an additional learning space for students and we used some for our parent education events at this point in time we have $217,000 left of the the sr3 funds and our recommendation is to continue those um

035clubs at the 58 level that has been a very successful way to help our students feel more of a sense of belonging so we would continue to use funds for to pay for um salaries for that for our teachers to continue those clubs um to purchase additional supplies and materials in terms of curricular resources and to continue professional development activities primarily foundations but also with some responsive classroom and deib any questions about that um so when uh the essr funds are gone are we just imagining that we're going to continue all these things and fold them in I mean I know we don't need any loid structures but like some of the things like the clubs right that have been very successful who going to fold them into the budget uh some will be will

036be assumed by us and others will not so right the shade structure some of those things that don't aren't recurring I think one of the critical questions we'll need to ask is some of the tutoring and summer programming how we move forward with that if um we continue to subsidize some of that or um if if we find that we don't need it that was specifically targeted at some learning loss during covid and it may be that we don't need those supports to continue to be available so we we will take a look at each thing and we certainly will come back um to the board if we need to make some budget adjustments um I think the one thing for sure that we feel pretty strongly about is the clubs have been pretty successful

037and so we definitely want to see those continue one way or other any other questions the other um thing that we I'll will just share is we did update our covid mitigation plan we do have to do that um every six months per the Esser Grant so that has been updated for this school year and primar there's not a lot of changes because the last time we did it we don't we were already masked optional we did reference more the CDC in this one because that's what now iph and ISB is referencing or the CDC recommendations so anyone has any questions no otherwise I have a question yes uh do we have employees that have covid issues still from from the first round we do have people who continue to um test positive for covid

038okay oh and we follow the the the recommendation is you you isolate or stay home for five days and then wear a mask for 5 days we do continue to have people who mask on a daily basis at schools um or just when they're not feeling well or if there are people around them not feeling well that seems to be kind of more accepted and acceptable among everybody it's sort of a a choice and and nobody seems to be having a big issue with it thank you other questions okay now we're going to Cory right all right so now we will uh let Corey talk through the fiveyear financial projections and then we'll move right into the keep 39 financial review and fees yes all right so I'm going to walk us through lot of

039the assumptions that are built into the F the Baseline fiveyear projections um since there's a lot of different things I'm going to go over as I walk through all this uh feel free to ask a question if there's a specific area that someone has a question about all right so starting on the revenue side we're going to start with property taxes it's our primary revenue source so for the main Assumption of what do we use for CPI in this in this projection we have one year where we know that the applicable amount is 5% um then for the current calendar year um through calendar year 25 uh was able to work with some of our vendors and got Bloomberg CPI estimate which is a collection of Economist projections we've got 4.1 27 and then 2.3

040and then the last year is just a flat 2% um right now through 10 months and I think we find out another month of CPI either tomorrow or Wednesday we're sitting at about 3.7 I believe um so we're we're we're trending right worth the Bloomberg projection estimates um then as we move down to like new property growth that's another large number or large impact each year our 10e average is 15.5 million i' I've got some information here of what do we see over the last 10 years our low point was 6.9 that's probably the oldest of the 10 years back when um we were kind of coming out of out of a recessionary time and then the the high point is 24.9 so you see a range of you know that additional dollar value of

041low of 200,000 up to 746 so it can have a a really big impact um depending on when what comes out each year I will point out that as we think about you know what is like 0.1 or0 2% really mean in any given year if our overall operating levies is roughly $65 million so every time that CPI Factor changes by 0.1% that's worth about $65,000 um then our collection our historical collection net collection rate which is collections minus any refunds processed by Cook County is 98.6 uh so we've got that built into the forecast and just for reference if the collection rate were to change by half% positive or negative um that's worth about $325,000 a year now we're dropping down to interest Revenue so um for the first time we we've actually got

042some pretty substantial amounts projected in our interest Revenue I think it's worth pointing out that fiscal year 23 as rates were Rising rapidly operating funds collected 1.1 million in Revenue I've got them budgeted for about 165 1.65 for the current year and thus far we're we're tracking nicely for that and and what's really interesting is if Cook County had been on time with this second installment bills that 1.65 probably is 2 million or 2.1 million um but then we you know as I think about like how do we project out we're we're from my perspective we're kind of at a historical high and this particular line item well if I look back over the last 18 years which is including a period of about three years before the recession occurred um you see the average

043over that whole time is um just 410,000 annually so as I was thinking about like well what's the you know what's the best approach for us um you know what made me feel most comfortable was uh taking steps down year by year with interest Revenue knowing that's likely what whats to occur so for fiscal year 25 the the amount in there is 1.2 million then dropped it down to almost 700,000 then five and then the last couple years at 400,000 um which is close to our average a couple other things I I just I as I was gathering information I thought was interesting so in the last 18 years our lowest year for interest Revenue was fiscal year 12 and it was just $1,000 um that's when rates were like 0.02% you're basically getting nothing

044um and then just also for I think it's worth noting for six straight years from fiscal year 11 to 2016 the interest Revenue was below 100,000 um so that kind of the thought process at least for my perspective why we would pull this amount back and not just assume that we're going to collect a million and a half every year in interest Revenue uh our local fees which is another substantial budget line item in in the Ed fund and transportation um we we've Incorporated our current fee structures and our approach uh to fees um for for this Baseline um scenario our our keep 39 uh line item fee line item um assumes that the fee Remains the Same and that's based upon a count of 276 students our evidence-based funding um which is our primary

045State funding source uh remains flat realistically we get about what I've seen in my few years here each year that goes up about2 or $3,000 and then on the federal aid side uh keeping those federal funds relatively flat and with one exception is one fiscal year 24 ends removing um that eser funding as as that will not be available to us anymore then on the corporate personal property replacement tax side uh just a couple of notes the amount compared to fiscal year 24 budget is flat in the projections but I wanted to just point out some historical information so in fiscal year 21 that line item was 700,000 then in 22 and 23 the actuals were just over 1.5 million so we doubled all a nice jump up that always made me a little nervous

046that we were going to see a drop back for fiscal year 24 our budget incorporates a number of 1.1 million which coincides with the Illinois Department of revenues estimate for that line item so that makes me feel a little bit better about keeping that line item flat um the 1.1 is you know roughly halfway between where we were before the large jump and then what we've seen as our high point now moving to the expenditure side um since we have uh settled contracts with uh both of our bargaining units uh for certified salaries we've got that incorporated in in here for the last four years the wa agreement and then we have an estimate for the the last year fiscal year 29 um what can always have like a a nice positive impact is number

047of retirements so I've listed here the number of uh known certified staff retirements following the end of the fiscal year listed so at the end of the current school year um I have 12 12 staff retiring and then you see 25 through 27 is a more typical number and then fisal year 28 we have nine um I think the the take as I understand it the people who would have put in for retirement for fiscal years 24 and 28 those were people who were putting in their notice in the last year of a collective bargaining agreement pretty typical across most school districts that if there is some sort of retirement in Son of available to teaching staff that in the last year of a contract is coming up someone's thinking about retiring they will typically

048put in not knowing how a new contract might shake out for support staff we've got uh two the first two years of the projections uh are per their bargaining agreement then the last three year just estimated uh same similar with exempt and administrative staff salaries tied to got that tied to CPI based upon historical practice our health insurance cost um assumption uh similar to what we've used in the past is is is 5% um still a little bit early to know where we're heading in the in the current year usually once we get to around February March is when Dr glocky and I will start to get information on how things were are going and what the renewals might look like for the next year in the purchase service realm uh the insurance primarily liability

049in and workers comp in the Tor fund um projected the increase in a range of 5 to 8% and then all other purchase Services I've got a range of 2 to 6% per year uh our supplies and materials which would include the various utilities electrical natural gas water um they're projected to increase by 2 to 5% and then I've got an assumed 3% for our um special ed tuition one caveat there is is we do see some fluctuations really just a reflection of what do what what kind of needs do our students have in any one year um that line andem could change several hundred thousand up or down um but but we were just assuming that flat 3% all right so the next assumption I want to I want to move over to is

050something that we look at a couple times a year so our capital projects fiveyear projections so if we think back a little bit to when we were doing the current fiveyear strategic plan coincided with kind of identifying what what projects do we want to accomplish through this this fiveyear window and you know thanks to some some positive you know Financial things happening for the district we've been able to tackle a lot of them and there are still a few that are on that list you know coming up in 24 a big one was doing that Junior High roof replacement and Beyond 24 the other two large items that we had definitely targeted for that window were replacing windows at the junior high and then adding classroom air conditioning to the first floor I think there's

051about 12 or 13 classrooms left at the junior high that we're targeting for the summer at 25 but as we look at our five-year um you know Outlook as far as capital projects maybe a little different than what I've done in Prior years I and I've referenced that sometime after after the holidays we get into the new calendar year um I'll be bringing back information and hopefully having some conversations about how do we want to prioritize what projects are available to us Beyond these last two projects at at the junior high that we're targeting um so as I've thought about you know how do I incorporate that into the fiveyear projections and and so what I've done is I've got some amount um as placeholders and as we we will you know certainly have conversations

052about those in the new year but this is kind of where where our Outlook looks right now and this is what's been incorporated into our our fiveyear projections okay so now that we've kind of talked about our assumptions here's our operating funds this is kind of this is our Focus every year this is the summary of our operating funds at a very high level um starting with the left hand column that's our boorder approved fiscal year 24 budget and we've got 5 years of of projection of projected in financial information what maybe doesn't come through on here is you go to that first column in the bottom left and you see that we're at 50.7 at the end of fiscal year 24 what that implies is a 51.1% starting fund balance for fiscal year 24

053so um as as you look through here you know I always gravitate middle of the page Surplus deficit row um you we starting at 5.7 million and then over on the far right it's it's to 3.2 those last two years reflecting that you know there won't be any keep 39 fees just not available to us as the state mandates all day kindergarten um so from from my perspective um what you see right there is um districts that did in a solid position we're above our our 40% Target in all years move to the next here's a uh graph that just shows the prior five years and then fiscal year 24 the budget year and then heading out to the very end so um as you can see you know we we certainly had some years

054where we were up around 70% we spent some of that down invested in our facilities and and more recently we've been in the you know mid the low 50% range with some projections to you know take us down into the 40s this particular uh slide shows uh revenues of the operating funds um you know visuals are nice you see on the bot bottom part um the revenue the revenue growth but in particular what what I always you know like to highlight for a community like d39 is looking at that graph on the bottom left um you know looking at you know over 90% is is local other local sources and property taxes um so you know by and large when we have discussions about the revenue side you know nearly everything starts and ends with

055within our d39 boundaries yeah we get some state and federal help but by and large that's that's where our funding comes from and then we go to the expenditure side similarly uh have the assumptions all those assumptions built into here and I like I said similarly to the revenue I gravitate toward the visual of you know 80% of of our our funds being tied up into the salary and benefits um which is which is to be expected then one last uh visual we usually show um here's a graph that just Compares operating revenues to operating expenditures the top part of this page you have five years of of actual data where the revenues see exp Ventures see our budget year um solidly in in that position again and then even looking out um it's always

056nice to look out and and know that even in those far out years where some of the assumptions start to to build up the revenues are still exceeding and and showing that E39 is is on a strong PA there are um s more pages of you know shows each individual fun I won't go through each each one of those most of our focus is is on the operating fund level um but I'm happy to answer any questions that anyone has about this John it doesn't look like anyone here has any questions are we okay to move on to the next topic I have I have I one comment and completely off the ball question so yeah thank you Corey for run walking us through that yeah I think your assumptions are are consistent with what

057what we uh agree with generally to be conservative um I always worry about things that we don't have control over like you know legislative mandates so um you know kind of like full day kindergarten and things that we can't really anticipate so I was curious and I I don't I assume you know because you know everything um how's the teacher pension doing like is the state you know gonna be okay carrying forward their burden into the indefinite future of funding that thing or is that ever you know going to end up on our books right you know what I mean in our financial statement someday you know it's so I think I've been in this industry roughly 20 years now and what's interesting is for the first like say 15 it always felt like oh

058this might this might happen and then somebody would throw out an idea and people get all worked up and then nothing would happen it has been e quiet on that front I don't I I don't have an exact number of years but even a little bit before Co started it felt like like it had like nothing I'm sure there's conversations continually happening like what are we going to do what are we going to do but I don't feel like there's been the same level especially when I have meetings with other business officials and some of the communications that I get from various sources that are you know whether they're monthly updates or quarter whatever doesn't seem like that's been a bigest conversation now that's not to say that TRS is like all of a sudden

059in a great spot um I think if I we're just go off top of my head I think they're only like 40 to 50% funded which you compare that to imrf which is you know 95 to 100% um so I I I think it's always a possibility for for for that to to happen um but it it has seemed to at least the talk about it has seemed to di down recently yeah and and I'll share just somewhat relatedly um at superintendent meetings there has been less conversation about the cost shift but more conversation about recruiting and retaining younger um employees to the profession and uh much of that discussion has um circled around the or two employees who who would be entering the field at this point in recognizing that some of those benefits

060that previously were available to teachers or teacher candidates are no longer available because of how um everything has been restructured and so uh I think that's a concern for us in in leadership within school districts throughout Illinois that um we're continuing to struggle certainly we tend to have a a really um deep pool of candidates for most positions um but those districts that struggle a little bit more are really starting to struggle a lot simply because the the benefits the pay um in the pension are are no longer attracting uh younger generations of teachers into the field and I would say the same would be true about administrative positions um many districts are struggling to recruit and hire um people into the administrative ranks largely for similar reasons so that's a topic of conversation me

061I think if anything like yeah I now that Dr Crim mentioned that you know one thing that people have talked about at business meetings is that that tier two and when you think about even um some of the conferences that I've gone to where there has been conversations about you know the assumption is if if you're a lifelong teach teacher you graduate you work your years and then when you hit you know late 50s or 60 you you're able to retire well there's actually been sessions where you need to like work with those young tier two because okay well now the the age that you're eligible to collect your pension which is also probably not as high you need to be able to bridge that Gap and not everybody understands so it is it's a

062CH I mean I don't know what will happen but I know that that's I think there will probably be a lot of talk about what to do with tier two going forward well appreciate those thoughts something to think about absolutely thank you for the questions John it doesn't look like anyone else here has additional follow-up questions may we move on to the next topic let's do it okay um so the next topic is our keep 39 financial review and fees the board will remember at the last Committee of the whole meeting in November you started uh your review of these fees for um setting them for the upcoming school year for the 2425 school year we talked about a variety of options and the board directed some action from the district administrators uh one was

063to provide some additional research we uh provided that to board members um a second was to look at what needs to happen kind of map out those steps um for transition to full day kindergarten and how much time will be needed what's the latest possible date to um make that decision before we start um implementing and um so Katy will talk about that and then the final thing and and probably the most critical thing for today um is that the the board asked us to um make some projections on a variety of options those options include maintaining the keep 39 be as flat for the upcoming school year what does that do to the budget and the projections and um and all of that the second is to align the fees with um some elements

064of payback for the construction which is initially what the board set out to do paying back those um Capital Investments as well as covering the operational costs so if we step away from covering the operational cost meaning the board is subsidizing the operational cost but the fees go to uh matching the initial investment what would those look like for the next 3 years and then the final option is really looking at uh the board subsidizing subsidizing or taking on the remaining portion of the capital investment and instead having the fees match the uh operational costs of running the program for the next three years or some shortened duration thereof and so we have those options available I will um highlight for the board I know you've received this in your memo but we would need

065to know by April if we are to begin planning for full day kindergarten in the year following so by this April April 2024 that would be the latest date in order to get all the action steps needed to begin implementing full day kindergarten in the year following which is the 2526 school year so the same would be true for the following year and then the following year after that we know that by 2027 we must based on current legislation uh be prepared to offer full day kindergarten between now and then it really is at the board's discretion we currently have a a really um a a successful halfday kindergarten program it's complemented by an optional enrichment program which is an extended day program that's available within our schools for our families we've had some great

066success with that keep 39 program um but but we recognize that our community and and members of the board are also interested in exploring that transition to full day kindergarten and does it make sense to try and do that sooner so that's kind of laying the groundwork Corey has some information to share regarding the projections and the specific scenarios that the board requested us to cost out and then uh Katie has a a quick update regarding the steps that will be needed to transition to Bu kindgarten you're going to start us off yes ask one clarifying question I just want to make sure so if the board says oh we want to go to full day kindergarten as soon as possible as soon as possible it's in a year and a half from now based

067on all that has to get done that's correct okay and we would need that decision by April yep certainly the sooner the better um but if if we can have that decision by April we can plan to implement we believe we have ample time time in light of everything else that we're doing um ample time to be prepared to offer that um in the 25 26 SP year thank you hey can I follow up on Lisa's question so is that the fourth the fourth choice basically um right that's correct so um the fourth option that we'll talk about is um continuing with the keep 39 program for next year with a really rigorous SCH planning for implementing full day kindergarten in the year following thanks okay so give us the opportunity to walk through the

068scenarios that the board requested of us and uh for Katie to give a quick update and then we'll be open for discussion and ultimately this is really a board decision um each of us probably sit in a little bit different place um with regards to these decisions um but this is really a financial decision at this point and it needs to be a decision directed by the board our hope is that we can receive some direction today and then plan for an action item at next week's Board of Education meeting so that those fees can be set families can be notified of what the what the fees will be for the upcoming year and we can launch registration in January Cory yep all right so we have four four options and as we dive into

069them like as we're discussing uh the primary focus would be like you know getting some direction for what we're going to do for the 24 25 school year um even though that the information provided does have some assumptions um reaching beyond beyond just next year so option one that's kind of our status quo the keep fee Remains the Same the underlying assumption uh you know going back to the 6460 uh annual fee was that we would cover operational cost plus an additional amount that would allow the district to recoup that 9.95 million um construction investment to get the buildings up up and running an assumption is starting in 2728 uh you know no fees even even allowed to be charged so these numbers are similar to what we just saw uh in the Baseline we

070we're starting at you know 50.7 and then ending at 45. 76 uh perc option two is or can you just go back for a second we just look at that for a second sure I mean this is an important slide yeah cor I have a ask good question on this slide so to was the point really the bottom you know whatever line where you can see the impact over time yes yeah yeah I mean certainly the top uh seven lines there will be some changes in the numbers as I go through each scenario but really where I gravitate towards as that bottom row um particularly the farther right the last few years what what do we see as the impact as we as we page through each of these options yes all right so option

071two is is take taking a look and saying okay um this is a consider this like a 100% construction payback scenario um under this scenario yes kind of looking at things a little differently knowing that things have changed at state level for seeing some changes on us we're saying okay what what have the fees collected over the life of the keep program what would it take to get to um 9.95 million in in fees collected and then this is a little bit different way of looking at it in that no operational costs would be covered um under this scenario it would take dropping the fees for the last uh three years to 5,525 um per student and as we look at what that does now okay the first year is the same we see a

072slight drop in the next three years and then we end at 44.8% fund balance versus the 40 over little over 45 we had in the first option option three is taking taking a look at it from from a bit of a different lens compared to the first two and it really says okay what are the operational costs to run a keep 39 program for the next three years and so what we did was we estimated we we know what those cost are in in the current school year we know what roughly what the um Staffing in cost increase salaries and benefits will be some of the other uh miscellaneous cost with that we estimated those cost for the last three years and then developed based upon a 276 student enrollment what would that fee need

073to be to cover those costs that fee would be $4,398 for the last three years so in this assumption for option three we've got the fee set there for fiscal years 25 26 27 um you know starting off it it does dropped down a little bit so instead of being in the 44% range now we're at 4371 um for for option three and that is the covering the operational cost for the last three years and then option four is similar to option three in that um it's 4,392 but it's just for one year and then starting in the following year 25 26 we would have an all day kindergarten offering and really in the first two columns it's very similar but when you get to the last four is where you start to see the

074change and then go to the bottom right for the last two years and we have um operating funds ending at just over 40% for for each of those two years um compared to the the prior prior three years and then switch to let ktie Lee okay um you sorry I'm sorry um hey Cory does did the that last projection include you know the legislatively mandated full day coming in whatever year that is yes essentially the last uh the last option the last two options so option three and option four or 3B depending on uh how how you're timing it um the it essentially is just moving to implementing full day kindergarten 2 years earlier than is legislatively mandated okay so option three provides for the district to move to full day kindergarten in 2027 option

075four would mean that we would uh pursue a a much more rigorous schedule in that transition and accomplish the list that Katie started to show um over just a year and a half instead of over the next three years and we would be implementing the full day kindergarten program in 2025 two years in advance of what the state is requiring thank you slide to John so 40.8 right gets us really close to that line what happens in the out years even after that Cory I mean one of the things we want to always avoid is going back for referendum possible right and so does the line continue to slide Corey kind of and how fast do we approach kind of that that line in in option four here well um the projections that I did

076end at fiscal year 29 I know but like let's say I extended this out to seven or typically what you see in nearly any projection is that you would see things slowly like based upon the assumptions slow like a slow decline but the reality is um before we got to fiscal year 29 we're going to all make hundreds of decisions positive and negative some we control some we don't um even even before we get to you know two years from now we're going to make lots and lots of decisions that will um change things for me um you know what might happen Beyond um I guess I it's nice to know where we're heading but we will have made so many decisions we're if you think about it in in any case like we will

077by the time we reach that point we will have renegotiated both of our bargaining agreements um you know we will have made other decisions you know larger larger scale decisions you know could relate to capital projects I mean there are there are many many different things um um so it it really likely means that between now and 2029 the board will be forced to make some more difficult decisions than you would have needed to make otherwise um the prioritization that you'll need to do for Capital Improvements moving forward will be um probably more restricted than what you would have been able to do otherwise so um thinking about today's meeting in particular as we reviewed the construction projects those are really important projects and I know if if you're an audience member a Community member

078out there a parent maybe listening to this they don't seem like really big deals within the maintenance of our schools and the ongoing operations of our schools all of those projects are really necessary to continue to offer the really strong programming um in safe healthy environments for our students and for our staff and so um all of those things are are necessary for us to continue to plan proactively so um Corey's right you'll make hundreds of decisions between now and 2029 so to project Beyond 2029 is really too difficult to do um but it's it's really nice that the board has this uh threshold that you're constantly trying to maintain because that does give you an eye on what decisions you can comfortably make and which decisions maybe you're a little less comfortable with making

079so uh the good news is even with option four you maintain that uh 40% fund balance which is ultim Ely the board's goal um between now and then you'll just have to make some really critical decisions about what projects are taken on and again whether that's capital investment projects uh facility Improvement kinds of projects whether it's curriculum reviews and updates which are costly Endeavors as well um staff contracts will be reviewed between now and then um and so it really is just a matter of how how you invest the funds that are available to us um but you are right right the goal I think of the board at this point is not to have to go out for referendum um our buildings are in really good shape but that's largely due to the really

080proactive and thoughtful investment that uh the board continues to make in our facilities so that we don't have to go out and ask for a CommunityWide referendum right I mean the last thing we want to do is make fiscally irresponsible decisions that put us on a bad trajectory and that's what I'm just trying to understand that no matter what choice we make are we being fiscally responsible I I also think this we're making a really important major decision uh here and soon we'll also be talking about other fees for things that are optional that the board has uh supported to some extent like transportation and lunch so I I think that'll be help for us later in the Academic Year and today we're just thinking of this you know that'll tie in as well in

081terms of these projections potentially yeah and the other thing I think the Board needs to just keep in mind is that as a district we are a district that's locally funded and so it's a matter of who is responsible for paying for what and certainly if it's a program that's available to all that should come out of our our our um General funding sources and the board has taken a stance that those optional um additional programs uh should be user fee based and so you can certainly change that at any point you can decide how much you want to subsidize those uh user fee based programs and you've you've made those tough decisions in the past and you'll continue to make those so um that includes lunch Transportation some of the extended day programs um

082some of the Athletics and um musical programs uh band and orchestra that are operating out of the district as well so thank you are we gonna jump into the financial discussion or are we gonna wait till Katie does what it takes to get ready yeah if if we could just the it's I think it's just one or two slides so it's just it's again just addressing what the board wanted to know about um how long it will take and what kind of work needs to be accomplished to transition from what we currently are doing to a full day kindergarten program which again they look quite different um there's some advantages to what we're doing right now some flexibility and and um and to transition to a full day kindergarten program there's some work that needs

083to be done so I don't want that to be overlooked I know for families sometimes it feels like my child is at school they're at school it all looks about the same it really in our world looks quite different and so Katie has taken the time to map out what those changes might involve Katie yes just to um share an idea of whenever the decision is made um the time frame is about a year and a half as it's been repeated because uh we value that you know the go transitioning from a half day to a full day is a really huge opportunity to reflect on programming um because there are additional pieces that would be added uh but I want to start with the fact that our district has had an academic half day

084program that has fulfilled all requirements and have met the needs of our uh students but I think the the additional time that will be provided offers new opportunities as well and so what we would uh need to do is establish a committee of teacher representatives and also administrators we always like to bring in the voices um they will represent and move along this project list um so that we can guide but then eventually we bring in all of our staff into to um transitioning to a full day program so uh simply you know as simple as adjusting the school day hours to reflect a full day attendance um we would also need to reflect on update any kindergarten scheduling for full day content area time allocations um it's an opportunity for us to think about

085what we offer as far as related arts um offerings in our kindergarten um school day reviewing the standards and the learning goals is really about prioritizing the learning goals um for the students so we have an opportunity to expand upon that as well um in all the areas so if you can imagine we would have to sit down in all of the content areas and do a full review and reflection uh it's math English language arts and for kindergarten it's really three strands uh the foundational literacy skills reading and writing and then social studies and science um that we offer um identify and um see if there are any needs additionally for curricular resources or support um or supportive resources um and engaging all kindergarten teachers and facilitating the planning process I think one of

086the most important things is to um manage the change for them um going from a half day to a full day and offering them time to gather together in those articulations and collaborations so we would want specific time throughout the year um to be able to do that so they feel really confident walking into the fall of whichever year you choose um saying this is a full day academic kindergarten and this is what we know to do um for our new students um we always Identify some summer writing projects because there are some items um that would benefit from some pre-planning and and so we have a committee of teachers who volunteer their time over the summer and uh work on specific projects that would really help um implement or ease the implementation into the

087into the new school year um and then if needed there may be some additional Personnel um that might be um required in order to help us with a f Day program that we don't currently have but we don't know that until we go through through the full program reflection any questions about this I just have a quick question sure um what time do the kids go through um after school like what time do they end is it the same time 3:15 um Monday through Thursday and on Fridays it's early releas so 215 so it aligns with our first through fourth grade schedule my question too in kindergarten right now kindergarten used to release prior to lunch um like a half hour earlier we adjusted it I think this year to release when the students who

088stay for keep 39 move to lunch the students who don't stay who are only here for the half day kindergarten program um they they are released home at that point so mirr is one through four yeah exactly yeah John I don't know how well you can see us do you want us to go around and say which um option we prefer there might be some questions I think Lisa has a discussion okay well that's what I I mean yeah I was thinking you guys great thanks John I think Lisa was going to start and then it looks like an and Allison have questions so I've been thinking about this right like we all have and and I guess John and I were here at at the time time that keep 39 was created and so

089I just want to give some historical perspective so and first I want to start with at the time we looked at the research right and the research hasn't changed that for a community like ours this isn't because we're giving our kids a competitive Advantage it's because we want all day kindergarten it's like something that that we want right that the community for decades has won and our job as board members is to kind of help represent the needs of the community and so that the time that we've created keep 39 I mean um was really different that Community sentiment was against spending in fact we had trouble getting through a levy which historically just sailed through and was in my mind common sense that if you don't keep up with inflation we're going to head

090towards that that line of having to go for referendum and those who were here at the time of referendum it was brutal right it wasn't a given and we were facing serious Cuts so for me I remember those days and as we get to the 40 line I'm like okay like warning right we need to be very careful because if and I'm not saying I know what we should do but I'm just saying we have to really be aware that if we make this Choice it changes choices we're going to make down the road that we don't know we need to make the community's changed in my mind when I look at we passed that big water project that was a bigger increase to my water bill than any referendum we've I mean any like

091just Levy we've passed and only a small percentage of the bill the The Village really benefited from that you know water reservoir project so it shows to me that maybe Community sentiment is changing and so for something like he where not everybody benefits the community would be okay with that I think members here who have children in d39 still probably have a better sense but if I just go by who's coming to meeting who's sending letters it's it's the parents of the kids who would benefit and I'm not hearing from anyone else that this would be a problem I think this is a smaller change right it's it's not going to impact your tax bill if we do so I just want to say I'm interested in hearing what everybody else says but I wanted

092to give you context that forever we've said if it doesn't benefit everyone people have to pay for it and and that's what we've been doing and maybe there's a hybrid right that instead of I'm just throwing option five out there I think we should for sure lower keep 39 these and maybe there's uh an option where we just do the operational cost and do it for two years not three I don't know but I do feel like public sentiment from when we created keep 39 and I roast my case thank you for listening um no thank you actually I was um going to say along the same lines of what Lisa was saying I just wanted to go back to some of the historical information which I think is really important and Lisa has mentioned

093it before which has been very helpful for all of us who weren't here during those decisions um and you know my appreciation for those decisions and where that has led us to today and you know the fact that we need a year and a half we'd be in a much different place if we hadn't done you know the work that has been done with keep and the investment and the Capital Improvements um so how grateful I am that that work has been done um and we've also learned a great deal over the past few years which is excellent and you know just looking at the numbers again this is this is not a project that will benefit the entire Community if large specifically however we have learned that you know our participation rates are around

09498% I think so really it does benefit everyone who is entering District 39 or there is a great interest for every student for them entering District 39 so I think that that is a you know major consideration here um couple of thoughts that I have one you know April for decision for 2526 I would hope that if we are leaning toward that decision that we could make it earlier and that that would be helpful because it is a lot of of work obviously um so you know if we can put that on the board to make the decision any sooner and if that is helpful um I certainly support that um and I agree with Lisa that the fees should come down um in thinking through this I feel like the the real adjustment when

095the fees end is when the transition is made in school in the classroom that those two should be tied together if we can bring the fees down and then for instance if we offer in 25 26 that's when there is no fee because that's when we have made the um change in the classroom um along those lines I would hope that we could be you know we have the ability to lead and not wait for the Mandate if this is the direction that you know the state is requiring um I I think we have you know the resources and the ability to you know get there before the actual date at which it is legislative yeah I actually it was a question sort of about the historical thinking so I think that that that was

096um answered the only other um question I had was um you said that that current p939 kind of the requirement you mean like I don't know if there are like statutory requirements for defining what kindergarten is or not but I'm sorry not keep 39 but our kindergarten okay oh our half day kindergarten program um we have uh you know standards that right so the keep 39 was created in house um you know when Once We Were uh given the given the goahead um we sat down with our kindergart teachers and a committee and created that k39 programming and wrote down what we valued what our students would um really benefit from and things so that's a fully enrichment um and extension program a question um you may not know this yet but is it clear

097if we are required to offer a half day program also once we offer full day right um so you'll remember we talked about this a little bit um at the November meeting currently uh State Statute state requirements indicate that we will need to make available a halfday kindergarten option the way in which we do that is what's a little blurry to us right now because in learning from some of our um colleagues some other districts both locally and across the state everyone's kind of doing that differently okay um back in the day I hate to say back in the day but you know five six seven eight years ago when when people were starting to move toward full day kindergarten at a more robust Pace um it was very clear from the state that you

098had to offer a an actual all all standards of kindergarten must be available to those who enroll in a half day kindergarten program now it seems more and more districts have moved or are moving to full day kindergarten in the way in which um families choose to access a half day program if they do looks a little different from District to District so um again it's a little blurry but right now they're saying yes we have to make available the option the other thing to keep in mind is that kindergarten is actually not a mandatory grade within the state of Illinois um so the standards which are the academic standards aligned with a kindergarten program it's all a little murky because the reality is uh School enrollment isn't mandated for a kindergarten age student first

099grade you must be attending school or or participating in some kind of school program kindergarten is is really optional we recognize that for most families throughout the state it's actually not optional most families enroll in kindergarten um but it according to the state is not a mandatory grade of enrollment did am I saying that correctly Katie or can you clarify that not a mandatory um grade Within a public school so that's why you will see um you know preschool programs or businesses that offer a kindergarten program um so it's not a mandatory exactly what you said Lisa does anybody else need a two break I'm you can do a two minute break like a rest break yeah thank you sure oh that's think we're ready okay we're resuming the discussion of options and preferences so

100I uh appreciate Lisa's historical perspective I think that's really important and um I just think it's important to remember I know there's a lot of comparison to other districts and their fees versus ours just a reminder of how much construction was necessary to be able to house these programs and just appreciation uh my appreciation for previous boards planning so that as an said we're able to have these options uh and I guess personally I am drawn toward the idea of number four um I like the philosophical shift toward thinking about covering the operational costs and um I know we don't need to make a decision now and I don't think we should it's there huge considerations to get us ready um so I don't know if it's one more year or two more years but

101I agree with an that we can get ahead of where it's required that's where I'd like to see us and uh to your point Lisa about our fund balance I agree as it gets closer to 40 in the coming years it's concerning and I do think it will be important to continue have conversations about other feeds of things that are optional that we have been subsidizing maybe we'll continue to keep it the same but maybe not you know I think we have to look at this in conjunction with other decisions we make to make sure we're careful stewards of our balance moving forward Lisa um I do want to say the one thing I liked that an said was that if you do look look at the percentage of children who are enrolling in keepi

102it is almost everyone and that helps me in terms of the precedent that we've always had like I can justify this as not a change in president when you frame it the way framed it I was thinking the same thing but the whole Community benefits from kids having a robust kind an experience anyone else can I can I yes go ahead what do people think about the twoyear versus one year reduced to be I mean having kindergarten start in 20 25 25 versus 2026 offering full B kindergarten so if I go if I'm looking at Option four it would be 2025 the way it's written here 2025 and 26 the same as 4,392 and then starting all day K with no fee in 2026 wait which option was that it's option 4 a when Lisa

103is proposing oh I'm I'm proposing something that's not on it's not on here like a hybrid so but option three is starting in 20 Lisa so I understand what you're talking about so today though I thought we were we were talking about the fees and then we're delaying talk about when you know when that is an option the board could decide today um well you're actually directing us on on what you want to vote on next Monday um but but you're you're deciding today what's going to be the action item for the upcoming board meeting so that could be just establishing the fee and you're going to delay the implementation date of full day kindergarten until a later meeting what needs to be determined today for sure is what the fee is that you're going

104to vote on on Monday at the board meeting um but the board if you're ready to say we're want to move to full day kindergarten in the year 2526 you could certainly direct us accordingly but we need to know that at the latest by April did I just John I wonder if it makes sense for us to make a decision about guidance on the fee and then continue the conversation about timing yeah that's where I was gonna go we get more feedback doesn't it impact though the percent of the fund balance though depending on what year you start so I don't know they seem kind of tied end to me I also just wonder what more information we would want right like what's going to change if we punt to April I I'm in favor

105of doing a package deal just in terms of understanding kind of our Runway and the financial ramifications of what happens this year as well as out years I am also in favor of if we can decide today doing that if we had consensus about just the fees but not the rest I could see putting it off but I agree with Alison that they're they're tied up or they're tied together I think they should be yeah but we we do need to figure out the fees at a minimum so do we have board opinions about that so far I've only heard people talking about three or for I don't know the same fee which are the same fee so I don't know if there are people who are really more advocating for I we could break

106it up so are we good with the reduction of fees yeah option three and option four have the same fee charged for keep yeah is the um operational cost the board would be subsidizing the capital investment in both of those scenario what I'm confused I thought that the keep fee in option three and option four are the same it's just it's not the same as it is today it is a reduction it is ruction it's right the board would start subsidizing the capital investment in both of those options right do we know how much of an impact there would be if we did option three or four but didn't start it until 2026 versus 2025 or 2027 right because option three is 2027 and option four is 2025 right do we know so we didn't

107run that calculation but I see Cory just pulled out his calculator so we'll see if he can do a very rough don't hold him to it kind of estimate um here in just a second and while he's doing some math I will follow up on the question about half day kindergarten because I did pull up school code um it school code right now as it um as it reads says that until the year of 2728 the board May establish kindergarten with halfday attendance or full day attendance however if the board establishes full kindergarten it shall also establish a half day kindergarten program so between now and 2728 that option must be available um what I wanted to clarify is that beginning in the 2728 school year each board must established full day kindergarten we know

108that and may is inserted as part of the half day kindergarten program so things are a little bit different again between now and 2728 as of 2728 then then it becomes optional to offer the half dayer Garten program so that's really helpful for us to just clarify that in in the upcoming years even if you as a board move to full day kindergarten we still uh must make available a half a half day option again what that looks like um every district is answering that question a little bit differently um but it is good to clarify that as of 2728 um it becomes optional to make available a half progr okay than guys can I Cory was gonna try and answer sorry John Corey was gonna try and answer someone's question about the now proposed

109option five which is kind of breaking that in half and in running a fe-based enrichment program for two years and then transitioning to full day kindergarten one year earlier than the state is requiring of us okay so that that that's part so that's 25 oh sorry 26 27 would be what here yes okay right so the 4392 uh per student fee um at 276 students is roughly $1.2 million in in fees um so the difference between option three and four originally was two years worth of that fee you're essentially if you look at the very bottom right of option three 43.7% and then going to the bottom right 40.8% you you end up halfway in between so that's 42.3% um that's the difference by extending that Fe for two years instead of one or and

110again that's a very rough estimate knowing that there'll be lots of decisions to be made between now and then um so I just want to say that makes me feel a little more comfortable bit above the line and it gives the district even another year to plan for all day K but I don't want to die on The Sword I'm just saying it just it makes me feel comfortable because I don't want to you know 10 years from now have the board sit there and go oh that decision was the one that pushed us the edge right it it started that slippery slope I think we've we've had a history of being fiscally conservative um in our moves this feels more in line with that John was waving his hand frantically U okay okay hear

111me out here so do we have a consensus that we should lower the B by this $2,000 because it sounds to me like we do we totally do okay and then okay well that was that was pretty easy and so number two which I think is harder is the okay when would we want the district to implement full day and I'm I've heard 26 27 25 26 2425 no 24 25 the table oh off the table okay so I guess is okay okay it'll take them a year and a half to get ready okay okay okay sorry that was the part I want so then we have we basically have three choices for when you know the legislatively mandated when 2728 and then the other few years oh man I vote we defer that decision

112personally I'd like to think about it some more what John what more would you want to think about like what are the factors do you need more information or just more time to percolate you know I'm I'm slow Lisa I want to think about it some more well here's an option I mean they need the decision by April we don't have to wait till April yeah we don't have to wait do it in January yeah with that more time and then Bonnie would be here and and maybe it could be helpful Corey do you have a a sense of I know there's some decisions that will be coming up and some reports that will be happening um at the December board meeting the January board meeting the February board meeting as you kind of think

113about what other information would help the board to make a well-informed decision about this transition can you can you share some of those reports that might help them if you're someone like John who wants to percolate a little bit more uh yeah well I definitely I guess possibly January but more likely February would be a big month of of having some conversations uh about capital and some of the other the other operational items um you know in my head I had been thinking February or March for those but C certainly by February I don't want to promise January because not everything is entirely up to me there is some Reliance on other other parties for assistance so um but I think we could certainly if that was the direction they wanted to go January February

114um start to have very you know conversations and um have have some rough ideas of of what what amouse might look like how does that feel to the administration like us deciding that piece Now versus them I mean the sooner the better first of all but second of all we are very comfortable with the decision as long as it's made by April that we will have ample time to uh plan for the transition um there are other projects that we're working on between now and April anyways so would we be able to get a jump start for sure um but would it be a significant jump start probably not because we've already mapped out what our January February March um activities and committee work will be looking like so that jump start is not super

115significant right it's not like we're going to call teachers together in January and get them working on this because they've already kind of they're already set on what they're going to be working at they would like to know like clear I'm sure parent would love to know as well Katie did you have something else to add there exactly I was just nodding in agreement with you um you know we would want representatives from the kindergarten teams and currently with I don't if you notice the Committees that uh we have at the district level we're pretty sparse right now with availability so even if we wouldn't be able to get a jump start right away but again I was just noding ferociously that everybody would love to know anytime at any point in advance or by

116April and I I think you answered this this question um I mean I just look at our strategic plan and everything that everyone has on their plate right now and all of the committee work that's being done and so adding this um you know you do feel though that it is ample time a year and a half um and that it's not um you know going to put unnecessary that would put unnecessary pressure additional pressure on the administ a year and a half versus two and a half years I just good question so every time we add something to the plate of our administrators and our teachers it's added pressure so we I appreciate you're asking the question because that is the reality of the work we're doing and we're already asking so much as

117part of our strategic plan um that said having mapped out kind of the action steps that need to be taken this will take priority if we get direction by April this will this will take priority and it may mean that some other things move just a little more slowly as a result of making this a priority but I think we're comfortable with the the April deadline knowing for sure so so it sounds like we all agree lower the fees next year's fees will be $ 4,392 right is if everyone is in agreement with that direction I'm seeing nod around the table and also online um we will make that recommendation at the board's meeting uh next Monday and the board will have the opportunity to vote in favor of that or vote it down if

118you wish um and then we'll begin planning accordingly and we'll we'll communicate that address out so that will be the we we will recommend the fee for the keep 39 program for the 2425 school year to be $4,398 Cor and then how oh yeah go ahead I I just want to make sure um people have the information they feel like they might need to make the other decision when so just so Administration can prepare to John's Point wanting more information kind of are there more things that people want well I'm wondering if what Corey said about some presentations happening in February that sound is February a time to revisit the timing but but I'm ask that people do people want well maybe this sheet for 26 27 the one that results in the guess of

11942.3% in this SCH and that may include decisions that we make in these winter months right that might help us see that better well other thing that we'll be folding in um to the projections are the decisions that you'll make on Monday related to the summer construction work um so some of that um will be helpful but really as we get toward February we start looking forward to some of the planning for the upcoming school year and Beyond so what happens administratively in December and in January is we start to do some needs assessments we start to look preliminarily at what Staffing might look like for next year um what our projected enrollment will be and and what what we need to plan for in those regards so by February March we're starting to really

120see um the budget skeleton of it come together so I think that's what Cory is is referencing so um but between now and January if there are other things that you think you know this would be really helpful if I could see these data let us know um and if not before the January Committee of the whole meeting at that time or will prompt you again so that we can make sure that we're kind of ramping up toward a decision being made if it's in February that'd be great if it's in March fantastic if it's any later than April that's not fantastic so maybe we make an agreement that if we can't decide by April it's decided for us that it's that the change is put off at least a year it would have to

121be yes right like like one more year like it could not be the F the fast we that's right we need a decision by April in order to implement full day kindergarten by 2526 school year anybody else okay this would be the opportunity for the public to address the board um seeing no one here we will move on to Old business is there any old business um new business I have a couple things one of which is on our agenda um so I received an email from a constituent um informing me about a sustainability committee upon which in the community upon which a representative from the nutrier school board sits um if somebody on our board is interested in joining that committee please reach out to me and we will make that happen let me

122a clarify committee no let me sorry let me clarify there the neutr high school has a sustainability committee we in in District 39 have a sustainability committee I think the Community member was pointing out that for Neutra High School there's a board member liaison who serves on that committee for our committee we don't currently have a board liaison that hasn't been a request made um of the board uh at least not in recent years uh but we do have a sustainability committee it meets um with some regularity and reviews a variety of topics and so this Community member was simply highlighting that difference for the board and and um wanting to ask the board to consider uh sending AAS onto our our District 39 committee so some additional information has been shared and thanks for

123that because I was clearly confused um so if you want to sit on the d39 sustainability committee reach out to me believe that's that um the other issue is that the Ed Foundation was supposed to meet Wednesday we did not have a board member signed up for that that meeting has been moved to tomorrow night at 7 pm on Zoom so if you are able to go to that reach out and we can get you the zoom link Zoom link for that um is there any other new business then having no further business we need a motion to adjourn the committee of the whole meeting motion to adjourn the committee of the whole meeting May I have a second second um motion having been made and seconded um will the clerk please call the role

124John ready yes an har yes Alison paas yes Amy paling yes Schneider PES yes Aon Stone yes um motion carries and the meeting is adjourned and the time is 10:02 am