Committee of the Whole: October 20, 2025

001I call this regular I call this committee the whole meeting to order on Monday October 20th 2025 at 6 pm if we could please take a roll call. >> Bridget Sandlin >> here. >> Katherine Potter >> here. >> Darling >> here. >> Stacy Salt >> here. >> Julie Jenny >> here. >> Jason Janzac >> here. >> And Minnie Hartman is not here. >> Okay. Next up we have the acceptance of the agenda. Items for discussion may be added to the agenda at the start of the meeting at the request of the superintendent or any board member upon majority approval of those members present. Does any board member have an item to add tonight? Hearing none. Next up we have public public participation. Um anything? Okay. All right. I will skip to the next which is

002the approval of the meeting minutes. Approval of minutes from the September 22nd, 2025 committee of the whole meeting. Does any committee member have any changes to the minutes? Hearing none, if we could add those to consent, please. First item for discussion tonight is the HYA superintendent search update. As many of you know, we have um attained uh HYA to do our superintendent search and they'll be giving us an update next with the slide. Jen, you're doing the flicker. Okay, you can move to the next slide. We really like to thank you for allowing us the opportunity to work with you and your community. Uh Ken and I thoroughly enjoyed the time we were able to spend in the district. Your stakeholders were very kind. Your your staff was very helpful to us. Um so it

003was really enjoyable time to get to know the community and understand a lot of things that we weren't aware of. So thank you. Um a lot of people will say well why why do you do all this stakeholder stakeholder engagement process? And actually HYA we really pride ourselves in that. We think that's one of the things we do really well because it's vital for the board of education to hear what your stakeholders have to say. Um, we also do it because we want to start understanding your community, the values. We want to understand if there are um any traditions, things like that that that we're not aware of and we wouldn't necessarily find on the website. Um, the other thing we try to do is really capture a diverse group of stakeholders. So, we we

004start out by interviewing board members individually. Um, so for the community sake, every board member participated in in that. We've interviewed administrators, teachers, support staff, bus drivers, students, and and community members. So, we felt like we had a broad array of stakeholders participating. And then we began to ask all of the groups, what are the strengths of the district? What are the challenges? And then ultimately we compile all that to help us with the leadership profile. Um, and after we've had all the strengths and challenges, it really gives us insight to the type of superintendent you'll be looking for. We can go to the next slide. So the the leadership profile is more than just a report. It actually is is targeting three things. Um, it targets our recruitment and the board's recruitment. We can

005really take this leadership profile report and what we're going to do tomorrow that we've already talked to Laura about this. The comprehensive report will be on the website tomorrow and then we will send that out to the applicants that we have so far. HYA will also put it on the website underneath the posting where the advertisement is for your district. So people that are looking for a superintendent position or might be wanting to change positions can read the profile and say is does this really match my values? Does match um the type of district I would like to work in? So it's a really critical point for that. The next thing that it does is really focuses on interviewing. So taking that information then when we work with the board before the board starts interviewing

006candidates we can talk about the types of questions you can ask based on what you heard from your stakeholders. So that's very useful for that. Then finally and I know personally I really use mine when I became a superintendent. Um, I read that report over and over and over again because it really helps with a 100 day plan and it really helps that superintendent to guide you know for the next 100 days and the future and it also can help the board when it comes to developing an evaluation for the superintendent. So it's just not a report for no reason other than stakeholder input. we do have purposes in mind for other things and it really was a a stakeholder-driven process. Um, as I indicated, we had broad participation and then we included the survey

007as well in that participation. And even though what we do is not a scientific report, when we're out there gathering this data, the thing that was amazing to us, and this isn't always the case, we had consistent themes with all groups. Um, people are generally happy with the district and that's a good thing, and they pretty much had the same themes throughout all of the focus groups and the survey as well. So that that's uh you know if you wonder why you don't have a big crowd here tonight I'm sure it's because people are not unhappy which is a good thing. And then once again we we really you know use the guiding questions about the strengths the challenges and the types of personal and professional qualifications um that the stakeholders would be interested in

008the next superintendent. I'm going to turn over to Ken now. Well, thank you. And again, this was a very enjoyable uh interview sessions with all the stakeholders. Everyone was very professional and everybody offered their candid thoughts, which is exactly what um we we wanted uh them to share with us. So uh so Jen, ne next slide. So I'm here to share the strengths and the challenges of carry 26. So the f first thing is all voices were heard and everyone seriously said we want to have an instructional leader and while we've done many searches before that was very loud and clear. We want to have a next superintendent to be an instructional leader to help us move our momentum. Um as many people said we were kind of stuck in the rut but the last

009two three years we have really made the momentum to get with the times and that was very very important and to all the stakeholders. They also said we don't need the next superintendent to give us more ideas. We have more than enough right now and we want to capitalize on what is working because it's going to take us time to do the things that we've just started and we don't want to go backwards. We want to move forward and that's also very very important. Uh like likewise uh they said we know we have challenges. Number one is we need to really improve on keeping our teachers first and foremost they said we've been hiring a lot of new teachers and that's wonderful but we train them and then they leave after a year or two

010and other districts benefit from that but they're leaving because of the salary structure that has to be addressed but we heard that across the board not with the teachers but with the paris the administration the support staff They also realize that you've gone through some very difficult financial times and they they know that. But they also said, you know what, we we've kind of waited long enough and as one person said, you know, we used to be the destination district, but now we are the stepping stone district. And so again, these are the hard conversations that we heard and it needs to be addressed which we think can be addressed with the board and the next superintendent on the same page to try to keep people because once again you spend a lot of time

011and money training newbies and then they leave. And so that's not really a very good costeffective uh analysis. uh parents said, you know, they're very very happy to be here. Uh in fact, many of them say this is a destination community. This is why we moved here because of the reputation of the Kerry schools and Kerry and District 26 is one and the same. We heard that from the village officials. Everybody wants to work together and the last several years there's been a great working relationship. when things happen, the right people call the right person and they get things resolved. And that has not always been the case and it certainly hasn't been the case in a lot of the searches that we have done. Also, they realize that we need to have more fiscal

012responsibility and they appreciate the information that the district has shared with the community in terms of how they're being very good financial stewards. The information is very clear. They appreciate that uh and they want to see that continue, but they also want to see the next superintendent to be one who's a partner with the central office, the board, and also looking at financial responsibility to make sure that the dollars are well spent. They also appreciate the fact that the board has spent and the community has supported this keeping the buildings modernized. and they know there's some schools that need to have a little bit more help, but they know also that you're working on that one right now. And again, that's also another very strong plus. And lastly, there's a lot of school pride here.

013A lot of school pride. When we interviewed the students, they actually they were very very supportive and they talked about well, first of all, we asked the question, did you know your last superintendent? They all raised their hand. every single one. And then they said he also knew our name. They also said we love being here because of the school activities. And they kept talking about the school activities and you know that's something that you don't hear about especially from junior high kids. Okay. But they love in the the Kerry school district and they also are looking forward to going to high school. See this is one of the same. So you have a lot of things going for you. So I'm kind of rambling. I'm sorry. But you have a lot of strengths. And

014so let's let's go on to the next slide. The challenges I just mentioned that you got to start working on keeping the staff. Uh the turnover is troubling to every single person. Um and but everybody realizes it. It's not because they don't like it here. It's just the fact that the salaries are not competitive. Yes. >> Did you talk to Mr. Daru about that? Because he made a presentation to us and really he had a nice pie chart and really for the people leaving here there are a diversity of reasons. And I think for you to stand up there and just say it's just because of our salaries is not very good. >> Well, it is. you're you're probably at least $10,000 less than what the surrounding surrounding districts are. >> But if you look

015at what our exit interviews show, there are a lot of other reasons. So just >> this is all we we're sharing with you what we were what we heard. Okay. And so >> but did you get that from Mr. Drew or just from teachers? >> No, we're hearing it from all across the board. Even the parents said, "You know what? Our parents, >> our teachers are not being paid like the surpring area." >> Did you talk to like other taxpayers within the community? Cuz you then you get the other side of that. >> We we talked to everybody that wanted to speak with us. So really, so again, I I'm just we're just sharing you what we heard. >> Okay. >> Uh second thing is student behavior. Okay. That that came across many different groups.

016especially at the junior high school. Um that needs to be addressed. Do the kids feel that they're safe here? Yes. But there's also a bullying issue that has to be addressed again at the junior high school issue. Uh communication. Okay. Because you're small, everybody knows one another, which is a good thing, but it's also a challenge because people said, "Well, this is what I heard from this school, but I didn't hear it from this other school that my other son or daughter attend." Okay, there needs to be better coordination in terms of communication. Um, and then we heard also that the junior high school, they need to do a better job communicating what's going on, but they also realize there's been a there's a change in administration. So again, trying to coordinate and get the

017comm communication level all the same in a district of this size is really important because parents get confused. Well, this is what I heard at one school, but they said something different at their school or the other school. they said nothing about it and so the parents they just just give us a streamline communication and the second thing lastly is support services. um this is becoming very common across many of the searches that we're doing, but special needs students um need more attention. And so that came out loud and clear from the parents and the teaching staff that you're not doing the best job for special needs students. And people are willing, but there needs to be more emphasis and uh in in perhaps support services for special needs students. So we'll leave it and

018again that's very very common across many of the searches that we're doing right now. Uh next ch another question was raised from the support staff and the teaching staff was the the administrative structure. Um I guess there we we heard that there's been some new additions but the staff doesn't realize why there were more administrative staff hired. that needs to be more clearly defined in terms of what is their roles and responsibilities because the support staff, the teaching staff, they they don't know who to contact for whatever reason. Um technology, it's interesting. The parents said there's way too much screen time and not enough time helping our kids learn how to communicate, write, and to do research. too much dead screen time. They like the technology, but there needs to be a re-examination of that.

019We heard that very loud and clear from the parents. And lastly, uh this is very common unfortunately across the nation and know the searches that we're doing. There's a lot of political tension with our schools, in our government, and they're saying we don't we don't want to see it in our schools. You know, we want to see everything focused on what's going to help our kids learn better. That's number one. We don't care about the politics. We want to know what is in it for our kids and make everything politically uh neutral. And then we heard that also regarding the superintendent. We want him or her to listen to all sides but not take a position. But then when they take a position clearly defined, they listen to everybody and this is what his or

020her position should be on this issue. But to be politically neutral when listening to people. Um, next slide. >> That's your slide. >> Yeah, we're kind of we're talking about technology. [laughter] We're we're frozen >> here. You can look at my screen. Okay. Uh once again, they they want your next superintendent to be very courageous and ethical, very transparent, a communicator. They want to see him or her to be very very visible in the community. They want him or her to be very visible in the schools. They want him or her to know kids' names and the staff's names. And that's not difficult for a district of your size. very transparent, but also somebody who's an instructional leader, who has been a teacher, who can also in make make the staff say, you know, I'm

021I'm thus to be in here and we're going to do something better instead of talking about what we did 10 15 years ago. So, the next steps, >> no, leadership qualities. >> I think we got off the Okay. Uh again, visible, be very uh relationship builder. Uh get to know families, somebody who's collaborative, listens to all sides, once again, an instructional leader, and somebody who's courageous. You know, when things happen, you know what? He or she will say, "You know what? Enough is enough." How does what does that have to do with our kids? We need to focus in on our kids' education. and that's the only reason why we're here. >> Thank you, Ken. So, next steps. Well, tonight's a big one because this really helps with our recruiting as well. Even though we've

022been recruiting all along, ever since we've had feedback from the board as well as the other stakeholders. So, we we've been in the recruiting mode. We have several applications already. Um, but tonight, now that we have this, as indicated earlier, this will really help us zero in. So, from October to December, we're we're going to heavily be recruiting. And then we'll also be doing reference checking and and things like that. But one one change that we want to make known um to the public is originally we were going to bring the slate of candidates to the board in November. Um but with interviews starting in January, we felt that was too long um for the board to really have a clear vision of the candidates that we presented. So um the desire then is to

023move that to December 18th. So we would then present the board on the 18th. your board meeting has changed because of a lot of um school events on the 15th. So on the 18th, we would bring a slate of candidates to you and then in January the board would interview the slate of candidates that they've selected. We'll bring eight um candidates on the slate. That's our intent um at the board's request. Uh that doesn't necessarily mean you're going to want to interview all eight. that would that would be a very long commitment for the board, but um it will be our intent to to honor your wishes. And then the new superintendent would begin in July. And then ongoing updates throughout the process and we'll keep this transparent and any updates that you feel like

024you need, have questions, don't ever hesitate to ask us. And then we want to just remind the board, we work for you. This is this isn't our search. This is your search. We work for you and with you to really find the best superintendent who's going to meet your needs and the needs of the school district. And thank you again for the opportunity to work with District 26. It's, you know, we're we're really amazed at how enjoyable this process has been and and all the good things we heard about the district. It really helps us when we're trying to recruit candidates. And I also like to thank the staff again for their help and particularly Laura um Dorler because she she really helped us a lot in scheduling and we tried not to bombard her.

025We know she has a big job anyway and we we think we did a pretty good job of of that. But she's the one that can tell you if we did or not, but she was great. And so, thank you very much. Do you have questions? >> Jane, I just um I asked you before the meeting, but if you could fill the rest of the board in and the public um approximately how many pe applicants do we have so far? >> We're in the 20 range right now. Okay. Of applicants. Now, we have many that we have reached out to that uh we're waiting for and we've told them that we will um share with them the leadership profile and I think some of them are waiting to see that because they want to hear

026about the district more thoroughly other than what we had in the advertisement. >> Thank you. >> I have a question too um just regarding the feedback. So, regarding communication, um I understand there's a lot of email fatigue. Was there any insight as to how we can communicate better? And then also, do Briergate parents want to hear what's going on at, you know, Three Oaks, uh, if it just pertains to Three Oaks or is it just stuff that pertains to the whole district? Well, that's a good question and that was one of the questions that we did ask in the survey and they still prefer email as their mode of getting their information. Um, at least the people that participate in the survey um said they still prefer email. I think what we were hearing about

027communication is is it's just between the schools a little disjointed. Um I I think sometimes you know honestly there has not been one search and I've been doing these for over 20 years and not one search where communication didn't come up. >> If you can never have enough of it but I think what we heard more it wasn't it was communication about things that are going on that everybody in the district ought to know about and sometimes that doesn't happen. Um, I I guess I would probably suggest that the principles might have conversations with their PTO's and say, "What do you think parents would like to know about?" Because maybe it's okay, um, Three Oaks is having a concert and maybe I have, um, someone there, not my own child, but I might want to

028go. I don't know if that's exactly it. We didn't get details. Do do you recollect details about it? >> Same. Right. >> No. >> Um and then the other question I had was regarding the screen time. Was that feedback from parents mostly or um students themselves or teachers? >> It was primarily parents. >> Parents >> um and I and that's mixed and you see that a lot. I mean, that's the whole trend, you know, after um John Hates's book came out, The Anxious Generation, you know, everybody's reading it and everybody's trying to take away screen time from their children. They're going back to landlines in their homes. I mean, all this is nationally a big issue. So, I think we saw some divisiveness about it. It wasn't universal that everybody thought there was too much

029screen time, but enough that we heard it. And and they would say it's not just screen time at home with like homework related, but also they're saying in the classroom there's too much. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Okay. >> And honestly, a lot of that is just probably a hangover from CO. >> Yeah. I I could see in the communication where with some families, maybe they have, you know, a child in Oaknull, then they have one at Three Oaks, then they have one at the junior high, and they're getting bombarded by emails from each one of these schools, then they become very hard to deal with. You know, all these emails, you don't know what's what anymore. So, it would be probably good to look at that and see there should be some type of centralized

030master calendar or something where we're kind of putting that all together from all the schools. >> That's a beauty of a report like this. It can really give you direction on on the types of things that maybe you want to look at in the future. >> I also I also think this is a great first or second interview question um for whoever we're looking at, right? and and talking about maybe they have experience at at a previous district that was successful or faced something similar. Um and same thing with the Sandland's issue with with screen time and I would agree is like how do we you know what is their vision for screen time in the classroom things something along those lines. I these are lending themselves to some really great interview questions. Um which

031actually leads me to my question. I'm sorry Mr. Darling. Um do are are you writing the questions for us or are we crafting them? Is it going to be a close session where we come up with them together? What does that look like? >> Well, typically the way we do it is is we'll have a workshop with the board and that can be on the night that the slate is presented or it can be another night because it could get really long. Um, so that's up to the board. But what we typically do is give you some samples of questions that we might have picked up and then we have a discussion with the board about the questions that you want to ask. And sometimes then board members take particular questions. Depends how you want

032to do that. But it's it's both. We'll provide you some ideas, but then it really boils down to what you want to ask. And and usually each individual board member has something that is really important to them that has stuck in their mind after reading the report and they want to make sure that that's included. Um there have been a few um superintendent that have left under kind of odd circumstances have been in the news and stuff. Do you know why some of these people maybe have left their previous district or want to leave their previous district that I mean that you filter out? I mean, I guess we don't want to pick up somebody else's problem. No, we dig deeply to try and and figure that out. And you know, Ken, you can jump

033in on this, too, but our network's pretty big. and and when people leave unexpectedly, we usually know why or we have some insight to it. Um it's a variety of reasons. A lot of times it's because there's been a change in the board of education. So perhaps the board that hired that superintendent is no longer the board and the new board might have a different vision. Um that that's really common. So that doesn't mean that the superintendent wasn't effective um or an efficient successful superintendent. It just wasn't a love fest anymore honestly and and kind of knew it was time to leave. Ken, you want to jump in on this? You know, >> I'd be glad to. And again, if if if we are presenting a slate where the candidate had some challenges, we will

034share that with the board. We'll share with the board everything we know about that candidate on the slate. But again, it's up to the board. If you want to interview them, great. If not, nope. They're off the table. Okay. Like Likewise, we highly recommend that when you do the the three finalists, usually it's three finalists that you offer to have a third-p partyy investigative background check on them. Every search that we've done, every board has done, we want to have a background check on the final three. It cost you an extra money, but it's like a title insurance. You don't want to buy a house without taking out title insurance. You want to know everything about that person because that is really what you're looking at. And sometimes the reports come out that this and

035you can't find this information on just a Google search. You might find out in these third party background check that the person has some serious financial issues. That's happened many times. And so the board said, "Thank you. That's not for us." So again, when we get to that stage, we're talking now about January and February, we would highly recommend that the board look at a third party background check to give you a complete background on that person. Social media, print media, financial, anything legal, uh, a lot of times is academic. Sometimes the person will say they have a doctorate. They do not have a doctorate. and that takes them off the list, too. Something that we would not know unless the board conducted a third-party background check. I will also add one more thing that's

036just happened in the national news the past month. A board in this de mo Iowa, okay, they hired a superintendent that was not an American citizen and Homeland Security arrested them. And the reason for that was the the the board did not authorize to have uh an investigation on legal status. That's something that HYA cannot do, but the board only because the employer can only ask for that information did not do yet they were advised. So again, these are things when we get down to that last final straw, we will recommend the board do the following things. Again, it's like title insurance because when you're hiring our next superintendent, you do not want to be embarrassed and neither do we. >> Yes, thank you. That's that's a good reminder. Yeah, it's only the district. It's

037a federal law that only the district can determine citizenship. So, um uh any of the firms that we use to do due diligence, they can't ask that. in the due diligence that HYA performs um are you you're not confirming the the degree of the candidate? >> Yes, we are. >> Okay. >> Yes, we have all the degrees confirmed. >> All right. Very good. Thank you. >> Yes, absolutely. >> I wanted to go back to the support services feedback that you received. Is there anything like specifically um other than students um needs they aren't getting enough help? Were was there anything like more specific about that or what they wanted to see from the next uh district leader? >> Well, two things that pop into my mind were behavior issues um and not enough support staff.

038um you know like teaching assistants or support staff in um classrooms where inclusion was occurring. Um that >> that's that's bottom line, right? >> And was that coming from all groups, teachers, parents? >> Um primarily parents and staff. >> Okay. Not um students really they did talk about some behav students talked about some behavior issue but they didn't talk about that. >> Was it students who brought up bullying? >> They did bring up bullying. >> Was that universal across the grades across the schools? >> Primarily middle school, junior high. >> Okay. Um, and then the keep and retain staff and fixing the salary structure. Um, that's that's been an ongoing thing. I feel I've been hearing that was a thing when I ran uh in I think 2019 uh that our teachers are underpaid. And

039we heard that. We heard that when we did the last superintendent search and we were receiving feedback and we got that from not only the our underpaid staff um but also you hear it we I hear it out in the community. I hear it from parents too. we know. If if you're on the board and you don't know, well, it's like I wasn't surprised at all to hear that that was number one. And I'm sorry, but what what did you did we get any feedback on what they want the next leader to do about it? Well, I mean, we all want >> I mean, it is a year of collective bargaining. Um, right. >> So, you know, it's obviously a topic that's going to come up in negotiations and um but I I might add

040too, it's not just teachers, it's support staff, it's administrators, it's superintendent salaries there. Other districts in the area are higher. It is a legitimate I mean guys, we've all heard this. It is legitimate. There's a lot of time that goes into finding and training and then they do leave. So, um yeah, just having that come up repeatedly is this is not a surprise to me. Well, and I can say one of the things we we know some extremely talented um assistant superintendents that we have talked to about the position, but they are already at a higher salary in their district cuz an assistant superintendent and probably wouldn't make the jump. >> That answered my that answered my next [snorts] question. Thank you. When I heard that initially, um, my thought was our contract negotiations dictate

041salary. So that's why we go into negotiation process with our unions, etc. Um, we're also talking about recovery from 15 years ago that we've never made up for. We are all aware that we've never bounced back from the cuts of 2010, but we also, as I when I talked to the two of you, we also can't be fiscally responsible and expect to make up 15 years in one or two contract negotiations. It would be fiscal suicide for us to do so sitting at this table. Um, so I just I I want people to understand that as a board, yes, we go into these negotiations each and every time trying to close that gap. We we see it, we understand it, we know, but it's not something that we can force all into one contract that

042is a four, three, four year contract at a time. um that both sides are coming together in good faith and trying to come to a solution that doesn't bankrupt the you know the district. So I just I wanted to be transparent about that because it is on all of our minds. It's why I joined this board because I I feel that we should be paying our staff our teachers better. So that was what motivated me to run. it is that the teachers union understand that as well like we can't close that gap uh quickly or >> that was a conversation we had the last I mean we had that at the last contract negotiation that >> and they understood that so >> I mean I don't know that that's communicated to teachers or community that

043their reasons like it's >> all we know is we're 10,000 less but why and as communicated and what's the plan going forward that may not keep a teacher here if they're like I can't I can't hold out for three or five more years until you get up to speed but if we communicate why I wonder if that would be helpful. Yeah, I think the trajectory, you know, is important for all of your staff to understand. There's an attempt, but it it can't be done overnight. And that that is the challenge. And we certainly recognize that. >> Yeah. I think there's not one board member up here that if we couldn't automatically make that up and make everybody whole that we wouldn't jump on that. Like I don't think there's anybody here that if we could

044do it without, you know, not having a future for the district that we wouldn't. >> Yeah. I mean, that's really hard for staff to understand because they they don't know the big picture of finances and understand, you know, how much goes into it, how complex it is. Um, so you know, maybe just really having um some type of good document to explain things would be useful. >> All right, I want to go back. >> It's our strategic plan. Okay, >> this is definitely the retaining the keeping and retaining staff is that is that is um there and we have we've really kind of left it our admin have come up with great different ideas to um retain staff and move people into different positions that are hard to fill and all of that. So yeah,

045that forward that feedback of keeping the forward momentum going is is good. >> Yeah, I was just going to piggyback on that and say I think this is probably going to lend itself to another few great questions uh based upon the upon the um that oh my gosh, I forgot the term that you used. I apologize the name that escaped me now, but the the profile that you're creating. Uh but I also moving that momentum forward. We were in this process three years ago and teacher pay was way down the list of things of of problems that needed to be addressed in the district and now we're we're moving right along and now these are I'm not trying to dismiss them at all but these are these we've come a long way and to keep

046that momentum forward going forward I think is going to be key. Um and I hope that gets expressed uh in the in the profile that let's keep going. We we've got some things to fine-tune. Um but we are in a different position than we were 2 3 years ago. And um we hope to find that right candidate to fit that spot that's going to address some of these issues that we're talking about already, but also keep us going and not come in and totally change the trajectory one way or the other with the district. >> We've certainly heard that across all stakeholder groups. >> Love that. If there's no other questions, I think we'll let you guys. >> Well, thank you again. >> Thank you so much for the presentation. Thank you. Pleasure. >> God

047bless you for dealing with all those kids on Zoom the other night. So, we were thinking of you. >> Well, you know, I think they would have stayed on another hour. They had people listening that they really wanted to say some things, but they were great. It's always fun to talk with students. Me, too. Thank you. >> Thank you. Have a nice evening. >> Next up, we have the review of bills. Um, did anyone have any questions for Mr. Shepard? Brief one. >> Mr. Shepard. Uh, my question is on page feel very echoey. Um, two of 18 of the record. So, three of 36. There is a February payment for the building demolition. Did that just are we reconciling something or is there a late payment or I'm just wondering why a February invoice made

048the September rule? [snorts] >> I believe that was a a payment. We had received a late invoice that was wrapping up services from that particular group. Um I will have to go back and and look at the specifics, but uh uh it strikes me as that would be the the reason. um whenever we have construction projects and you'll notice this for uh the Briergate or even when we've uh done work at Three Oaks um that we have it's taken quite a bit of time to officially close out projects. I think the the most recent Three Oaks renovations we just closed out completely last year and that occurred what 2020 and 21. Um so I believe it was a final payment for services rendered. Any other questions hearing? None. Uh, we're good with Go ahead. >>

049One quick question. The freezer monitoring, that's 462086. That's per month. >> Sorry, I threw you for a loop here. GS automation. Oh, sorry. Page six. >> Page six. So, that I will have to look at and get back to you. Um, for the longest time, >> uh, for the longest time, our freezers had no monitoring service at all. And we had a scare uh, last year where the freezer temperature got up to about 50ome degrees and we were left scrambling trying to get food to another location. Um, most often districts will have some sort of monitoring service that would alert uh, in this case, Mr. Martin, um, to some sort of catastrophic failure. Uh but I will look at uh whether that's a monthly cost um or if that was the initial install. >> Okay.

050Thank you. >> Okay. Is everyone okay with putting that on consent then? You can put that on consent please. Next up we have the treasures report. Mr. Shepard. >> Right. So I I'm happy to report that at least for the month of September, unlike uh the previous month, we did not find any errors uh in this report and we didn't have any issues uploading our our data. So uh everything came through looking uh right exactly what we would expect uh uh for the the month of September. So let's dive in. As far as our revenues go, um you can see that our total revenues are creeping up. Uh the historical trend I not I I've never agreed with this number. we never have 84% of our our revenues by this point. That occurs later in

051the year. Um I think that still has to do with how we used to to book our property taxes where we were recording them all uh in the summer months. So it looked like we had uh all of our revenue at that time. Uh you'll see our local revenues at 80.34%. Uh again, uh that uh is right around where we would expect to be um especially as we wrap up the uh receiving most of our property tax revenue. Uh and our state revenues are lagging behind because we still haven't received any uh funding for transportation uh as of yet. I believe those payments should be coming uh this month. Uh but those payments have been uh uh somewhat tardy in being received. As for our expenditures, um, again, the trend is exactly what we'd like

052to see. Our total expenses are are are trending below uh the historical trend. Much more confident in our expenditure numbers because there hasn't been anything uh silly with how we've allocated those type of expenses uh in the past. Uh salary and benefits are trending below the historical trend. And of course we know that this is always because uh it catches up when we do the summer acrruel uh the following summer and all other objects uh is trending lower uh than where we were uh before. I went back and looked at previous year uh and that was an area where we had actually been uh exceeding the expectation in the past and that has to do with uh contracted services. uh we are seeing a reduction in the amount that we're paying for outside services specifically

053uh within transport the transportation fund. So you'll see that with the the cash flow slide at the end. As far as our month-to-month fund balance, you'll see that we're running uh very close to where we were at in the in the past. Uh and we are scheduled to be [clears throat] running slightly ahead of where we ended up uh this past year. Uh this slide again is useful to see the percent change uh from the the prior year monthto date to the current year monthto date. Uh you'll see that it said our revenues were down by about 3%. Uh the big item here is the federal revenues. Uh for the past couple years and I think since I got here uh the district saw an increased amount of federal funding. Uh at one point in

054time I think the district had received five or $6 million in federal funds alone. Uh this year we're projected to get about 1.2 two uh million if if that uh and we do anticipate that that number is going to continue decline uh in the future and you can see that in this slide uh where it's u less by about 79 uh%. >> Is that because ESSER is done or is that because we're the federal government is refusing to pay some title two title three money? >> So that's a combination of both. Uh ESSER was a huge component of it especially ESSER 3 which I believe the district had received about 3.2 2 million overall. Uh it also has to do with uh uh some of the the lack of funding in in in title. Uh

055keep in mind that our budget for this year did not factor in any revenues for anything but title one and IDA. We are hearing that uh for the next fiscal year, fiscal year 27, that uh um it's not looking very u promising for title funds. uh IDA funds we're still um fairly solid on, but uh as far as title funds go, uh those are those are not looking promising at this point with the uh the current federal government. Uh when we look at this slide, this slide just shows the variance between our budget and projections. Uh and you can see overall we're right around the the ballpark. the local revenues is always off because it has a an issue accounting for the the large portion that we receive in the the spring and and summer

056months. But again, when we look at the how previous years have fared, we're not seeing too uh anything that jumps out of the ordinary. Uh same thing for debt service and capital projects. Uh the one thing I will mention is we went ahead and we executed the the bus lease transfer. Uh, keep in mind because of the the rules of the great state of Illinois, um, we can't just transfer funding from one fund to debt. It has to, uh, I I equate it to, uh, going on a trip. You have to connect uh, catch a connecting flight somewhere uh, in order to get to your destination. So, keep in mind for the uh, bus lease, we had to move that those funds from the transportation fund to the education fund and then from the education

057fund to debt service. So, we executed that uh this past month uh which also brought down the projection from the transportation fund. Uh I believe last month we projected that there was going to be a $900,000 deficit. It's not uh and we said that's not going to be the case. So, when we look at the the cash flow uh slide, you can see that at year end we're projected to run a very uh minor uh surplus. Uh you can see how the the operating funds are are shaking out. um operation maintenance that 615 that really matches up really with where we are are budgeting. Uh we had budgeted a a significant deficit within that fund for this particular year. Uh transportation you can see how that uh projected deficit came down remarkably and I imagine

058that will continue uh to come down. uh it could come down as soon as uh when we look at October especially if we receive any funding for the transportation claim uh and the model continues to adjust for the fact that we're not spending nearly as much in uh contracted services for transportation and of course uh fund 50 IMRF social security this was also another planned deficit uh year um so overall I'm very happy with how our budget is is shaping up um I am going to ask that the board uh keep this operating fund summary in mind for our next conversation when we talk about the tax levy because this is going to tie in very nicely uh to that discussion the investments and I'm I'm sorry we need a bigger um we need a

059bigger screen uh but this is the uh amount of investments the district holds uh if you have a hard time seeing that right now the district currently holds about $13 million worth of investments that are staggered over time. The highlighted uh uh section is what we just placed uh this month uh which equates to about 3 uh 3.25 million uh in new investments that are going to mature uh in early spring. Uh this was strategic on our part. This is the high water time for our our our cash on hand and rather than have it sit in our our bank accounts, uh we felt it prudent to start investing some of those funds on a short-term basis. uh to see if uh we can maximize our our earnings for the the district. So uh as

060you can see from our investment chart, we have these maturing uh in in phases uh so that if we need to use the the funds as they mature for capital projects, we can. If we don't, we can look for other investment opportunities. Um I have toyed around with uh seeing where our cash uh balances are at the end of this month and we may invest slightly more. um to to try to maximize those earnings. But overall, the the district really should be proud that we have the ability to uh have this type of investment to try to earn uh a little bit more to to help uh our programming. Uh as far as our capital improvement, uh this is the referendum funds that the community authorized in November of 2024. Uh you can see that

061after our summer projects, we still have a healthy amount left in there of uh 12 a little over 12 million. Um, we earned $42,000 uh a little over $42,000 in interest for that shouldn't be for June, it should be for September. Uh, and uh, the September construction payments uh, were $482,000. Uh, and we are going to see some more invoices show up for that as we go through the uh, the next couple months. >> So, just to clarify, that $42,000 is for the month. That is that is not to date. That is the for the month of u the month of September. >> September. Yep. Great. With that, I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. >> Could you, Mr. Shepard, further explain the title funds and what they're used for, um, you

062know, at the risk of them being cut by the federal government even though we still have the federal mandates in place. like can you walk us through given that we've got a tax levy presentation coming up and two more things. Um can you walk us through the the impact that these title funds what what are they used for in the school? What are they used to support? >> Sure. Well, and I may look to Mr. Rivera for some assistance with this, but I'll give it uh the first crack here. Uh, title one are are funds that are allocated from the federal government to help uh our low income uh and uh uh really target uh student uh improvement in student scores amongst that that population. And generally uh we've gotten about $220 to $300,000 for

063for title one. Um for title three that is EL correct? Uh and that goes towards our EL programming. It's a smaller amount. Uh, title four is professional title four is title two is professional development. I know it's one of those titles and title four is is for advanced learning. Uh, and those are the predominant uh title funds. Um, overall while it comes out to a relatively when you look at our budget overall the amount that we receive in title is is a smaller segment of our budget. When you add it all up, it comes out to probably uh $350 $400,000 if we're allocated everything that uh uh that we should should get. However, 400 to $400,000 is a significant amount of money when you're looking at at at programming. It could mean the the end

064of after school assistance uh uh groups uh tutoring school. >> It could have an impact on on summer school. uh we have paid for some of our interventionist uh via title funds. Uh so these funds really go to to help boost our our programming in these areas. >> If I can also elaborate on that. >> Um while yes, the title funds are allocated based on number of free and reduced. We have three schools. We don't just the the funds aren't specific towards the students who qualify for free and reduced. We do schoolwide programming which means the funds benefit all of Oaknull. They benefit all of Three Oaks. They benefit all of Deer Path. Those are our three title schools. So yes, the qualification is based on the number of students who qualify for free and

065reduced. But since we do schoolwide programming, it will impact all students across all grade levels in all three of those schools. Um Title One specifically pays for just to make it a little bit more concrete. >> Absolutely. um many of our software programs. So things like uh reading eggs, math seeds, branching minds, I Ready um things of that capacity um come out of title one for those particular schools. Um things like Scholastic Magazine um come out of title one, right? We also look at let's say for example uh under title two it's all of our professional development for our staff. Um it's also in the contract staff um have at least one conference to attend each year. We use title two funding to supply that. So that way if a teacher wants to go to

066some type of conference that comes out of title two funding. Uh substitutes we pay for substitutes out of title two funding for those three schools as well. Um when we look at title 4, we look at things that are related to SEAL or advanced learning. So anything that enriches and so things such as um DESA SECA because that falls under SEAL um in addition to uh funds that go towards our gifted and enrichment programming. So if they need additional materials, it comes out of title four funds as well. Title three to uh Miss Darlene's point and I should say title one and title three we have uh administrator and staff allocated within those funds specifically for summer school. Um title three also it benefit it it helps our EL program and our dual language program.

067Uh that's how uh Miss I was say Osmic Kramer that's how Miss Kramer um is able to supply certain materials or professional development specifically tailored to e or for example diffit comes out of title 3 funding it's specific for e students differentiation but really everybody benefit everybody has access to it so it's a lot of instructional materials and people uh and and software that we use on the day-to-day basis >> so what I hear you saying is that there's really not an aspect of school life or district life that if this the federal government decides to eliminate all this title funding which seems to be the talk uh there isn't an aspect of school life that would not be negatively impacted or we'd have to pull the money from elsewhere >> correct >> in order

068to sustain that. The other thing that I would mention that also goes along with the federal funding um that would touch all of our our school buildings, all of our students, is there's been some talk that uh uh the school lunch program could be uh affected as as well with the reimbursements that we receive uh from the federal government to cover free and reduced costs. Appreciate the clarification. Let's hope that that cooler binds prevail and that we keep our students at the forefront of what we're doing with funding. Um, and by we, I mean the country, not just obviously the seven of us sitting here. Um, so I appreciate you clarifying that for for us as to what that all means and what impacts we might and decisions we might have to make moving forward

069should the federal government decide to pull all this funding. So, thank you. >> Can wait. Can the government just pull it? >> Take it like what? Do we just give it back? We spend it. We What are they going to do? I believe >> do we have the we've got but we have the funding that to get us through this year. Okay. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Next we have the Mckenry County Mutual Aid Agreement. Dr. Thomas. >> Thank you. So the McDade Alliance is what they're calling it. This is actually an intergovernmental agreement that the um superintendents in McHenry County have been working on with the ROE as well as with Sedum. So it is a joint effort by all 18 districts,

070the ROE and uh Sedum for mutual aid if there is a crisis situation somewhere in the county. The idea behind it is if there is a crisis somewhere that the other districts are willing to help and jump in. It could be anything like providing staff for counseling, providing buses to help transport kids to another location. Um, it could be any number of things and really it's it's in a a major crisis situation is what we're looking at. It could be a natural disaster. It could be a school incident. It could be all kinds of things. Um, all of the superintendent in the uh county are in favor of it as is sedum. Uh, and it is the ROE who is actually um organizing and spearheading this effort. the um the there's a very very minimal

071cost to the programming. It would be this year it would be $250 to be a member and it is for things like the materials that we might need for communication, training materials, things like that. Um ongoing yearly fee would be no more than $400 a year for the length of the agreement. And again, it's just for materials and things. Professional development would be provided. there would be a crisis team that's put together uh with the district. Um really in every way, shape, or form, it seems like a a great idea to really coordinate and cooperate across all of the county to make sure that there's assistance needed if something should happen. >> Any questions? >> Has uh the district attorney taken a look at this and just our our attorney has not, but we can

072certainly have them take a look at this. Um we uh several other districts have had their attorneys look and they happen to share our attorneys. So um we were given an opportunity to also give feedback as districts um and still can give feedback, but this was the final agreement that we came up with, but I'm certainly happy to have them take a look. But I do feel like our uh our attorney has looked at it through other districts. Um so I'm not sure that we would necessarily >> need to do that. >> Lean on Mindy. >> I don't know if I don't know if that's worth the cost. >> Well, it is. You know, there are things in there about, you know, not holding any anybody liable for anything. Um >> yeah, the liability is

073really, you know, should we have an incident in Carrie and um another district chooses not to send support because they aren't able to send support. So Fox River Grove may not have extra counselors they could send to us if we needed it. We don't hold them liable for not providing that support. So it really is more about districtto district or co-op. We're not holding each other liable that the liability just falls under our own insurance policies. Um, but there's no penalty or uh liability if you don't uh participate in a specific event because you may not have that capacity in your district >> and there's no I I was trying to read through this. So there's no So if we provided something to another school at great cost to us, there's no we we're not

074obligated to get it back in any way from them. Is that correct? Right? So, we couldn't if we sent a fleet of buses and it costs overtime for drivers, we couldn't recoup that money from them. There may be other places we could recoup the money. For example, we might be able to put more into the transportation claim depending on who is being transported and where and things like that. So, it it doesn't allow us to basically charge the other districts for support we provide, but it it doesn't prevent us from accessing reimbursements from other sources that might be available. Would it say their insurance or ours cover this where we would get some reimbursement or it's just like a courtesy? >> It's designed to be more of a courtesy, but I think it really really

075would depend on what the incident was and whether or not there would be >> uh a need to seek uh insurance reimbursement. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Was there any minimum number of districts who like must sign on and participate in this? There's not a minimum number of districts, but in uh one of the only times I've ever known this to happen, all 18 county districts actually do support it, which is which is good. >> Okay. Wow. Okay. Any other questions? Are we good with consent? Consent, please. Okay. Next up, we have the 2025 tax levy. First look, Mr. Shepard. >> All right. So, just getting a a deep breath here as we uh get ready for for this presentation. Um, just keep in mind before before we really dive into this, just just keep

076in mind uh in the back of your head that uh that slide from the treasures report where it had the operating uh funds and that the various uh uh projections of where they're going to end up at because that's going to be key to the discussion especially when we get to u the the allocated amounts that we're going to recommend that uh uh that we submit our our levy for. Uh so the hope for this presentation is like always uh to kind of walk uh the board and the public through the process of the the tax levy, explain what the tax levy is uh and why it is so important uh to this district like uh uh all the other districts uh in in our area. So of course we know that uh uh goal

077five of our strategic plan that was adopted a couple years ago now uh is fiscal responsibility. uh that we have been tasked with maintaining a balanced budget which I am pleased that uh we have done so uh every year. Um we are being tasked to deliberately budget for recruiting and retaining exceptional staff in a highly competitive market and we know that that's an area that uh is a constant uh uh focus for us uh and create a proactive capital improvement plan that addresses current needs and financially prepares for the future building needs. and we're actively uh working on that as well, both uh short-term and uh and long-term. Mr. Martin is is already uh starting to take a look at what a a long-term capital project planning process is going to look like once our

078buildings are are all up to speed at the end of this uh two uh three-year construction period that uh uh that we are in. So, just a review of the the levy calendar uh and how all of this works. Tonight is our our first look of the the tax levy. Um and we will provide updates uh if needed uh between now and the date that it is ultimately scheduled to be adopted. Um at the November 10th uh yeah November 10th committee the whole will provide an update if needed. Uh we are scheduled to uh adopt this on November 17th. Uh and on the 18th we'll finalize the paperwork. And of course we know that uh the levy needs to be submitted by the last Tuesday in December. We always uh make sure that it is

079submitted uh ahead of time so that we're not uh uh risking any any funding for the district. Um we know that in the spring of 26, that's when the county clerk will actually release the finalized tax rates and tax computation reports. That's when we find out how much we're actually going to get. uh in May of 26, we start to receive the tax dollars. Uh and this is the the tax levy that ultimately helps fund uh for the most part the fiscal 27 uh school year. So it uh it it's very wonky how how we have to do it in the state of Illinois where you use the preceding December CPI figure. Uh you create your tax levy, it's it's gathered the next summer for the next fiscal year. Uh so it always operates in

080a lag compared to the the economics of the the time. So what is the tax levy and how is it calculated? Uh the tax levy is what the taxing body is officially requesting. So when we submit our tax levy, it is our official request for how much we think the district is going to need uh to uh sustain our programming for the fiscal year 27 budget. What the taxing body actually receives is called the extension. And that's why if you go to the county clerk site uh for their finalized reports, you will see it say uh final tax extension reports for 2024 uh which was this past year. Uh the district's levy is determined by the following factors. Uh what the district received in property taxes the prior year. That's the prior year extension. Uh

081the CPI, rate of inflation, that's perhaps the key figure here. That is the driver of what a district can can ask for in which in this case it was from the December of 2024 which was 2.9%. The equalized assessed value of area the area property or property values u we have to estimate this figure based on estimates that we received from the county. The final figure is not known until the spring uh and any new property or new growth or new improvements uh in the area. uh this is not factored into the tax rate calculation but is factored into the overall amount received. That really is the only other avenue for the district to increase uh the amount over the CPI figure. So again key information for this year uh prior year extension last year

082we uh received 20 27.5 million a little over 27.5 million. Uh our prior year levy what we asked for was 277. So you can see we asked for more uh than what we actually received and we'll talk about why we do that here in just a minute. The 2024 CPI figure was 2.9%. Our EAV uh is estimated to go up about 7.9%. We we may increase that to 8% based on uh uh updated figures from the county, but we feel pretty comfortable with that figure right now. Uh and the new construction figure is estimated to be at 1.6 million. That's actually about $400,000 more uh than what the estimate is from uh both Lake and Mckenry County. Uh and we do that because we we want to make sure we're not leaving anything on the

083table that could avoid compounding losses in the the future for for the district. Uh the district can expect to see an increase in operating fund revenue of and I clearly did not finish my sentence. I'm leaving you hanging there. It's going to be about 3%. uh these figures affect our operating funds and do not include debt. So again, how does I think I've shown this the last couple years. How does this all work? The highlighted figures are the the key figures that you would need to figure out what the district could reasonably expect. So how does this all work? You take the prior year extension, you multiply that by the CPI figure. Uh you then take that figure and divide it by the EAV subtracting the new property. That gives you the tax rate. So,

084we're projecting that our operating tax rate will be 2.88%. All right. To calculate what the extension is going to be, what we think we're actually going to get, you take your property value base and you multiply that by the tax rate. So, the district can expect to receive 28,354,469 the following year. >> Quick question. You catch your breath because you're flying through this and I love it. um the EAV, the EAV, does that account for the TIFF and the TIFF value? And if that new construction exists within the TIFF, like those town homes on 14, uh does that count as the new property or is that still as net zero? >> So remember that the tiff, those funds that are growing within that tiff district stay within that tiff district for our purposes. whatever the

085property value was uh at the implementation date of that TIFF, that's the the property value that we use for our >> So, you use that in the calculation. You've pulled all that property out and >> all this this number does not include any of the new growth that is occurring within the TIFF district. >> Thank you for clarifying. >> Uh keep in mind the district will receive uh those revenues, but it will be um 21 years from now. Correct. I think that's uh how long the the new tiff has been uh in effect. So again, this is the the process that repeats each year. So we go through this every year around this time. So I always like to show this slide as well because I've mentioned that the the key the key point here

086is the CPI figure, right? Uh a lot of times you you can listen to people in our community and I hear this within my community up in the Wakanda school district as well that oh my my tax rate you know um went up or or you know why is why is the amount that I'm paying going up my tax rate went down. Uh the tax rate in EAV uh really in the grand scheme of things they don't really mean much because we'll see in the preceding charts that when your tax rate goes goes down that's because the property value went up. Right? If your tax rate goes up, that's because your property values went down. It's kind of built there to kind of offset uh each other. The main driver for growth of revenue is

087that CPI figure uh and and that's why that uh the December CPI figure is so so key uh in our calculations. Um this chart just shows the history of of CPI and you can see CPI has has bounced around. The historical average is actually about 2.5% and that that's really what we use in in our projections. Uh you can see uh coming off the 2022 and 23 uh years CPI was extremely high because we are a tax capped county that means we could only ask for 5%. Even though CPI was I think as high as uh 7 12% at at one point we could only ask uh for 5%. Uh, the other thing that speaks to me in this chart is one of the questions I always hear is, well, the district has has been

088running some pretty healthy um surpluses over the the the last couple years. Um, and there there's really a couple of of reasons for that. I I'd like to think that it's because of the the the great work that my business office is doing in being financially sound. However, uh it it really is due to the fact that yes, we have been financially responsible, but we saw an influx in revenues not only from the federal government, but we also had an influx of of of revenue because of the high CPI figure. So that CPI figure far exceeded the rate of of our expenditures which obviously led to some pretty hefty hefty surpluses. Why is that important? It did boost our fund balance uh which is good because our fund balance is is what's it's like our

089rainy day fund. It helps us sustain our operations in the event uh that uh uh things really take a turn for the worse economically and it allows us to try to maintain our programming without draconian cuts. However, uh just because you have a large fund balance doesn't mean you want to tie in reoccurring expenditures to those those fund balances. So, uh, we've done a nice job of building up the district's rainy day fund. Uh, but because CPI is starting to come back down, uh, we are anticipating that the size of surpluses going forward are going to be reduced dramatically. So, just to illustrate my point with the relationship between EAV and C or EAV and the tax rate, you can see the historical EAV here uh, from 2009 to 2025. you'll see that 2014 was

090the low point that coincides with the the housing crash because remember this all operates uh um you know behind whatever is going on economically and you can see the historical tax rate uh and how that correlates with the AV. So while the EAV was low in 2014, property values were low, the tax rate was was was higher to try to make up for that. So why is the tax levy so important to our our district? Uh our district receives almost 81% of its revenue from local sources. Uh 70% of this is directly from the property tax. This source of income provides the resources needed to maintain our our programming. Uh the district can ask for funds uh in the following areas. The education fund which is our largest fund, operation maintenance, transportation and social security

091IMRF. These are known as our operating funds. Uh and that's why we include them on uh uh on our cash flow chart. They're the the the funds that drive the district. It's important to note that capital improvement uh is not funded uh not not funded via this method. There is no direct uh revenue source currently for capital improvement. Uh which is why the the community uh supporting our referendum efforts in 2024 was huge because otherwise the board would have been tasked with finding um revenue for a capital improvement projects from one of our our other funds uh which would have uh reduced uh what could be spent in say the education fund or on&m. uh debt service is also something that uh is not uh uh impactful of uh you know our tax rate that

092is determined automatically by the county and is based on the amount of debt that uh we currently hold. So our estimated 2025 tax levy, this is the the amounts that we are proposing we ask for. Uh and the big change here if you go back and look at what we asked uh in past years was we uh uh increased the education fund um but it did not get increased by as as much. And I went back and looked uh in the past the education fund had been re um increased each year by about a million dollars. um one of the years I think 2021 to 22 it was increased by 1.2 million uh and keep in mind that that has to do with the fact that we were anticipating a a much higher rate of

093revenue uh and we would not have wanted to put that into say IMRF where we could face tax challenges uh uh or u transportation where we also had faced tax challenges the logical area to put that would have been in the education fund to continue to boost that fund. Well, now after a couple years of strategically running deficits in some of our other funds, we needed to reduce the amount that we had asked for in the education fund and disperse that uh between a couple of the other funds. We're asking for more in operation maintenance uh by about $400,000 uh from the the past. Um that that $2.6 6 million figure looks pretty reasonable based on our uh historical trend of expenditures year-toear uh and does take into account some of the uh increased expenses

094that we've seen say in custodial contracts and and whatnot. Uh we are also uh increasing the amount that we're asking for in u municipal retirement and social security. uh we are sk slated to run a pretty hefty deficit again this year in that fund and we're getting to the point where I am not comfortable running those type of deficits within that fund uh going forward. So we need to uh start easing our way back into fully funding that particular fund. So the education fund the amount that was dumped in there is coming down. uh operation maintenance is going up along with social security and municipal retirement. The wild card here um and there there are many wild cards moving forward, but the wild card here for the levy picture is in transportation. If the state

095comes through with transportation claim funding, we will be perfectly fine. If in the future the state starts to cut back and continues to cut back transportation fund um reimbursements, uh that is going to be area we're going to have to again reallocate the tax levy even further to make up the the gap. And uh currently the amount that we receive from the state for transportation is about half our transportation budget. The other half comes from uh local sources. So you you can see how moving forward as CPI is starting to come back down to earth that we're we're kind of having to reallocate our our sources to those funds that we've been trying to draw down over the past couple years. Um but it does divert it away from uh the education fund. So you

096can see how it still breaks out. Uh our estimated 2025 tax levy has a large majority of our funds still going towards our our education fund. Uh and that's the fund that directly impacts our our students. Uh 9% goes to operation maintenance transportation at 4.6% and social security 1 6% IRF would be the other. So I wanted to share this slide. This slide is new this year. I wanted to show you how all the revenues for the education fund, including property taxes, are allocated within our largest fund, the education fund. So, when you take all of our revenue sources, local, state, and federal, uh, and disperse them into our current expenditures in our our education fund, this is how it it breaks out. Salaries and benefits account for almost 80 81% of of our expenditures

097within the education fund. uh the remaining go to purchase services, supplies, and materials um that go towards enhancing our our programs. So, you can see that uh I think and this this speaks to the good work uh Miss Rivera and her team and and Dr. Thomas and student services that we we really do a nice job of limiting the amount that we spend on supplies and materials and purchase services. We we you know those are areas that can get districts into trouble when you're when you're purchasing more supplies and and services than you need. Uh but we really do a nice job of keeping those costs down. A large majority of our our revenues uh go towards salary and benefits. uh our debt history. U you can see how uh the district's uh debt has

098uh spiked on this chart, but that is because of our capital improvements uh and uh we are currently on uh that are currently ongoing in the district. You will see uh this uh chart uh come down and then go back up a little as we issue another round of bonds in 2026 and then from there it will start coming uh back down. you um broke out 2024, wouldn't part of the year been zero and then part of it had the big jump in debt? Yes. If you would have broken it into say half years, yes, and I know where you're going with that, that the district was debtree. U and it's something to be proud of. Um, and uh I I happen to think that uh that responsibility that the district showed in the past

099with managing their debt probably allowed us to to be successful with our referendum in 2024. So I I appreciate you bringing that up. I just was dealing in in fiscal years on my chart. I I don't mind our debt because I I think that we paid it off responsibly and then we had really good reasons to ask for the money and um and you know we appreciate the voters giving it to us. >> Absolutely. >> So this is always uh the the slide that people um seem to dwell on the levy impact on uh taxpayer. Um, we have a variety of range of of housing values here. And again, these are just estimates for the D26 portion of the the property tax bill. I can't I I don't control what the park district or what

100the uh that the high school are asking for. Uh, but this is just uh uh the impact that D26 will have and we have it broken out by year by the year and by by month. Uh and uh again it equates to uh a total the district is in total asking for about 3% more uh than what we received uh in in the past. Uh and I'm just going to get on my my soap box here for just about 30 seconds if you will you will let me here. Um I know that as a property taxpayer myself uh this is something that uh um I don't it doesn't bring me a lot of joy when I look at my property tax bill. But I do understand that this is the funding mechanism in which the

101state of Illinois has given us. Uh this is the way that uh we fund our our public schools and uh provide the uh the resources we need to educate uh our biggest investment our our children, right? Uh and so until the state of Illinois can figure out a new and more equitable way of funding education in our state, this is the system that we have to operate on. And as your business manager, I would be doing the district a disservice if I was not trying to go out and capture all the available dollars that are out there for the benefit of of our students. So thoughts on the future. Um and I will try not to uh um filibuster too much on this because I have quite a few thoughts on on where uh we

102could be going. Um CPI is not anticipated to rise to level seen after CO although with the way the things are shaping up I we just don't know what CPI is going to do and I'm very eager to see what the CPI figure for this December will be. Um, we do know that uh uh a lot of the experts out there are saying that it's leveling off, that CPI is not going to uh it may not go up dramatically, it may not go down dramatically, we may just be flatlined at this point. Um, either which way, our revenue is tied to CPI, and our budgets for the future are looking at uh a CPI increase of 2.5%. Uh, could it be higher? Yes. If it's higher, the district could receive more uh revenue. If it's

103lower, obviously the district rece would receive less. Um interest rate and CPPRT revenue will continue to decline. The district has done a phenomenal job in maximizing its power, interest earning power. Uh the CPPRT uh was scheduled to go down this year. In fact, our budget for this year was supposed to be uh $250,000 and I think we got almost $400,000. We are not going to get that every year moving forward. It's going to be more like 175 or or 200. So, tying annual expenditures to any of those revenue sources uh would not have been responsible because we need to tie our expenditures to revenue that we know is going to be there year after year. Uh the increase for the education fund we know is going to be smaller each year over the next 3

104to four years as funds are reortioned to other funds that have been allowed to run deficits. I'm going to show you a chart here in just a minute that's going to demonstrate this particularly after um we uh we complete our building renovations. When we complete our building renovations, that does not mean that the capital projects stop, right? Uh they will just be on a much smaller scale. And at that point, it would behoove us to have that long-term facilities program where we're continually looking and re-evaluating um our facilities year after year uh and getting into a rotation of repairs. So that way we're not in a situation where everything is failing all at the the same time. That's going to require resources. And keep in mind those resources do not exist um from another source.

105we would have to find uh somewhere else from one of our operating funds to fund capital projects after our our referendum funding is out. The other thing that I'm going to continue to encourage this board when you're talking with your your your colleagues in the county or if you have the chance to talk with uh legislators from the state uh is the idea of that countywide uh sales tax, facility sales tax. Uh that if in place would have brought in for this district uh $1.5 to $2 million annually that could be used for capital improvement projects. All right. That that steady revenue would allow the district not to have to raid one of its other funds to for long-term capital improvements. Um there's a process to implementing that facility sales tax. I have a feeling

106um we uh the business managers in the Mckenry County may be approaching all of our boards very soon to talk about getting that process started. Um but this would be an avenue that would be that would allow us to fund those those projects without rating one of our other funds which is the ultimate goal. Um we also know that new property potential for the future is limited. There's not a whole lot that can be developed uh uh in the the village of of Kerry. Uh and what we do know can be developed does fall within the tiff district which we will realize um 21 years from now. [gasps] uh the new compensation packages. Uh and this is where um the the board and uh through collective bargaining, we're going to uh really have to work

107together uh to come up with that uh that package that not only balances our need to be competitive, but also realizes that uh we have we have a budget. We we have to be fiscally responsible because it's not going to do uh our staff or students any good to slide back into uh future m past mistakes. uh and the district will need to find new sources of revenue for capital projects after our bond funds are spent. So what do the next five years look like? You'll see that uh for FY26, FY27, and even FY28, we're just kind of humming along, right? That's that's exactly what we'd expect to see. But then afterwards, FY29, FY30, that that is just so weird to to say, FY30 and FY31, uh we start to see uh the the trend

108line go down. Now, that's not unexpected when you're looking at long-term projections. However, this projection assumes that uh uh salaries across the board are going up 3%. Uh it also assumes that uh uh CPI uh is 2.5% uh moving forward. Uh and very limited other sources of of revenue. It also factors in a fund balance transfer or fund transfer for capital improvement after FY28, which is why you start to see uh the the the line trend start to go down. So the the main message here is that we're we're doing the district is on good footing now. However, there will be challenges uh in the future because of the impending revenue uncertainties that we see at the the state and federal level. uh but also what uh what uh source of of revenue is going

109to be used for maintaining our facilities once they're completed. Also the big uncertainty of what compensation is going to look like for our our employees moving forward as as well. So bottom line 2025 estimated tax levy uh we're going to ask for 28.49 million which is 3.44% over last year's extension. Uh keep in mind we could ask for up to 5% but we we know that we're not going to get 5% so we are going to ask for a reasonable amount uh uh to make sure that we we capture all revenue that's available to us. Uh we do expect that the amount that we receive is going to be about $979,000 over the last year's extension. Uh and uh total levy request is going to be about 3.15% more than received the prior year. Um,

110we'll probably come in right around 3% when you factor in new property. With that, I'd be happy to answer any any questions. I know I threw I flew through that and I gave you a lot of information. Um, but we've really tried to refine this uh as we've gone through each year. >> I think you've done an excellent job refining. Um, this is kind of a budget PR marketing thought that I'm having. So, it's it's not a very well-formed thought as I'm working it through, but um you broke out the education fund budget to really show how much we're spending on salaries. And we've already heard tonight that spending on salaries is always going to be a concern that we have as a budget. So, my first question is why did you break salaries and

111employee benefits down to two pie charts? Because from my perspective, that's one spend. Um, and the reason for my perspective it's one spent is because whenever we are engaged in these bargaining conversations, there is always this problem of some districts publish what the salaries are. Subdists publish salary benefits and it's really hard to compare what we pay versus the ne next district over. So thought one is I almost think you should combine those two just to show how much of our funds are actually spent on things that are in paychecks, things we don't see, right? That's salary, that's TRS, that's all that's insurance, it's just an employee spend. And the secondary part is the question of have we ever looked at other districts budgets to see what percentage of their budget they spend on salaries

112because maybe we don't match them dollar for dollar, but maybe we outspend them. May it like we are all limited with our resources for funding. I think that is the number one thing I have learned sitting on this board for so long is that we are subject to property tax. That's where our source comes from and Carrie is subject to the problem where we are mostly residential and not um business. I'm looking for the proper word. So ju that's my thought. It's not a very full fully formed thought but it's a question of have we looked at those percentages just to have another data set or a different perspective on it. We have not dived into uh other districts budgets at that level. Um we do know with a fairly high level of certainty that

113uh uh the the largest expenditure for for all of the districts is salary and benefits. Uh and the the percentages are going to be similar. Some districts do spend quite a bit more on on purchase services and uh uh supplies. Um but it's not something that we have really dove in and looked at. I do know in talking with my colleagues in the county that uh many of the districts in Mckenry County um are looking at uh budget pictures uh that are actually fairly bleak uh starting in year two or three um in a five-year projection. Um whereas our our budget is not looking um nearly as as bleak um when compared to to other districts budgets. But, uh, be happy to to be something that I could look at, uh, and and find out

114more information. >> Yeah, I right. I have no idea if the thought's going to go anywhere, but I think at least from the PR spin of it when we're talking to our our district, um, you know, we hear the same thing. I don't know if it's true that we are underpaying dramatically. I we certainly know we don't pay certain positions the same way competitive districts do. That doesn't mean we have to agree with the way other districts do it. And we may sit here and think we're still making the more responsible choice. But I'm just wondering if we're spending more than 80% of that fund that is 80% of our budget. What is the real percentage? And is there something to learn there comparably where it's a PR spin of like maybe we are paying

115under but we are paying more more of our budget goes. It's just a curiosity. So that was that was my number one thought sitting here. Otherwise, I I think my position is going to be generally what it is every year, which is we're going to have to ask if we get to the happy conversation where possibly we can talk about an abatement. I love those conversations. I understand why we have not done it recently, but we've certainly done it at my time on the board and giving money back always feels a little better. >> And I would be um that the board when it comes to abatement, right? um the board would have a lot more flexibility to do an abatement if we had that countywide facility sales tax because there are two things that

116you can utilize and you could see why I'm so so big for this. Um there there are a couple things that the school district can use those funds for. One of them is capital improvement. Uh but the other one is that you can abate those funds back to the taxpayer. Uh and we are currently looking at um of those revenues that would be generated from a countywide sales tax, how much of that is generated from people that are traveling through the county up to Lake Geneva or going through the the Randall Road Corridor um by I90. Uh I'm willing to bet that a lot of the revenue generated is coming from people that are coming to our county because of all the things that are are here to do. um which is going to uh

117benefit property taxpayers because a if we're using it for capital improvement, we're not asking for our property tax uh payers to put up a larger bill or we could use those funds to provide an abatement. So, it does give the board more flexibility. We just have to get it in place. >> I'm going to piggyback off of Mrs. Hartman. I think also information that would be helpful is if we're going to make the comparisons to other districts, we also need to include in the conversation sales tax revenue. It's a big difference driving to Crystal Lake and seeing the amount of sales tax that they take in and driving into carry and seeing that we don't have but a few strip malls compared to them. And and that's the one nice thing about that uh the

118the countywide sales tax is that it's a sales tax countywide. It all goes to one fund and then it's allocated by student. Uh so if you it it has nothing to do with the the the tax that's generated in Kerry or or whatever. It's a countywide effort. Then it's distributed by the number of students that you have in your your district. So, um I I like the idea of people spending um say from I don't know Kain County coming up uh through Mckenry County spending their money here on all the fun things to do. Then that money benefiting our our students countywide. >> So what they're proposing though is that would that be taking money out of the county budget already though and replacing it with that sales tax? >> No, it would be an

119addition. >> Okay. I just don't want to have another mental health uh referendum scenario. This this would be uh an addition. Yeah. If uh it gets to the point where we think that there's a serious movement for this, we would be uh providing additional information to the board. Uh we might even bring PMA back to have a discussion about the inner workings of of that. >> Um and I did have one more question I wrote down actually. Um these get all carried away with your conversation. um the numbers that you presented, the budget that you presented, we're taking into account the solar energy savings that we're going to be capturing. Correct. Like for this upcoming levy year, we are not uh because we don't have the any savings realized yet and I didn't want to

120include those in a particular budget. Moving forward, yes, that could be uh in play. that will be in play once we have an idea of what the actual savings will be, >> right? I mean, it will be in play and that we're talking about the 27 school year. I mean, it'll definitely we have to have an estimation though like what's been proposed. >> We do. However, um I I just feel um in looking at what we're asking for form. Um, I feel more comfortable asking for what I think we would need to cover that fund now. Um, knowing that we do have those savings coming up once we actually experience those savings and they're not just estimates. Uh, yeah, we could be dialing back the on and m fund and it could be going back

121to the education fund. So, just because we're dialing that up this year doesn't mean that's going to be a continual ramp up year after year. >> Didn't want everybody to forget about that. There's going to be some big savings coming along. All right. Thank you. >> And this presentation will be on the website. >> I believe it already is. >> Okay. Because I just wanted it to say, you know, um I gave a watered down version of this to my PEO sisters at our last meeting and it lasted for 45 minutes with questions and I mean it was really watered down. I stole some of your [laughter] your slides and stuff, but I think when people read this and go through the numbers, they kind of Nobody likes their taxes go up and everything, but

122at least they see where we're coming from and and stuff. And I, you know, I hope some of the um community members will read that and if they have any questions, contact one of us or contact the administration because it it is a lot easier to um you know, accept when you kind of understand it a little bit more. So, thank you for all our hard work. >> Mr. Shephard, I just have one request and um is it would it be possible to break down what we're um what we're asking for by student like the cost per stu like the cost the district of what I'm going to just start over. Can we can I see the cost per student for the district? Can would it be possible to break it down that way? because

123I I'm I want to explain because I when I look at the when I'm speaking to people in the community about the uh tax levy extension and the taxes um it's it's a lot easier to explain to somebody with especially when you're speaking to somebody with a child in the district. This is how much it costs the district to educate your child from the energy to the salaries. >> Yes. And then this is how much you're paying. >> So your taxes do that on the report. >> And then you've got three. >> Yeah. So that uh that information is um Yeah, it's on the the report card. Uh it is also going to be in our audit report uh that the board will be receiving any any day now. So, >> the report card goes

124live at the end of this month. You're you're right. It's always the end of October. >> We don't have that. >> Um, and uh I can when I bring this back to the the board for the the final look, I can include the a slide that just shows uh uh what the total cost per student is. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments? Thank you. That was great presentation. Uh, may I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? >> So moved. >> Second. Katherine, I think. >> All in favor? >> I. Yes. >> Yes. >> Before we close, I just want to note that Mindy Hartman arrived here at >> 6:03 p.m. >> We've heard you talking the whole time. Meeting adjourns at 7:45 p.m. Have a good evening, everyone. No.