001Um, I do have a a presentation to do first and she's helping me get set up. So, I'm planning for the committee the whole structure. You know, Rich and I have been discussing the best way for us to get out budget information in the best fashion. And although I typically would have shared um some nice Excel worksheets and I love Excel worksheets, the finance committee, I decided to go presentation style because of the makeup of the board now to provide some history and some background on our district. So every year our budget season presents its own unique challenges and this isn't any exception. Um I hope this presentation helps the board have a greater awareness as where we've been, where we are, and where we're planning to go. So, we're going to focus on the
002expenditures and the cost containment side of the budget and focus on revenues at the next meeting. So, there's going to be a lot of meat and potatoes at this meeting to hopefully offset maybe some of the conversations that typically would hit the March and April meetings when we do preliminary budget approval. So, it always begins with assessing our long-term and short-term goals of the district. So these billeted items are always what we focus on and strategize around when we're preparing a budget which is always focusing on the strategic plans and objectives finding an efficient education keeping all the current level of academic courses and co-curriculars at um um and athletics safe functional and clean facilities and that is a big task with two large high schools. contractual obligations, retaining and you know attracting the high
003quality staff members, meeting the mandates and also preparing a budget that's fiscally responsible. So the chart displays our district budget as segments of a pie. The largest segment of the budget being salaries and benefits of 67% of the budget. next largest areas and items we'll be discussing tonight in depth are also transportation out of district tuition facilities and also a piece of liability insurance. So to start with salaries, they're also the largest part of our budget. The blue bar represents the amount the district has spent on total salaries from 22 23 all the way through the projected next um school budget year of 2627. The purple line represents the the collective bargaining unit increase for each year and comparatively the red line is the actual percentage of increase in our total salaries. So the difference
004between the red and purple line is how we consistently produce salary increases annually by some cost containing strategies such as breakage hiring replacement employees on a lesser salary than the employee leaving. evaluating retirements to determine if a replacement of the position is necessary or if the work can be dispersed and retaining highc caliber employees by increasing the student population with polytech programs during a time of declining enrollment in the constituent districts. So the 2526 school year is still in progress and so is obviously next year's projection. So you can see that line kind of flattens out as we you know get firmer numbers when we complete the school year. But this is a huge budget challenge knowing that you know our revenues are bound by a 2% tax levy cap and also flat to declining
005state aid. So the next large next largest budget driver is health benefits. And it's important to understand some of the legislation that impacts our district specifically related to employee contributions towards health benefits. So chapter 78 legislation was implemented in 2011 and that requires school district personnel to contribute towards the cost of their health insurance premiums. The contribution schedule that the state developed is based on the employee salary which establishes a percentage and then that percentage is then applied to the premium cost to arrive at what is withheld from their paycheck. So chapter 44 was then implemented in 2019 and it was enacted to provide alternate health benefit plans that were already that are in addition to the already existing plans in our collective bargaining agreement with the union. The theory was to provide school employees
006additional plan options that could save both the employee and the district money by reducing the plan designs and the offerings. So however, at the inception of the implementation, it was very clear that all districts, most districts are now paying more for their employees that are enrolled in the chapter 44 plans. This is due to significantly less employee contributions for these two plans that were enacted, the EHP and the GSHP. And just another item to note, chapter 44 also requires the mandatory enrollment of all of our new employees and it does sunset in 2028. However, we're still waiting to hear if it's going to be renewed. So, the next chart depicts how these health benefit costs are incurred per employee. The blue line represents the total premium cost for the employee. The green line is the
007employee contribution out of their paycheck towards that premium. So, as you can see, this has remained nearly flat, only a very slight increase. and the red line is the district cost of the premium. It's also evident that the rise in the premium cost of the health benefits is impacting the district significantly and the employee contributions are nearly remaining static. So the district is fully is bearing the primary burden of these significant health premium increases and it's bound by state legislation. So that's the important part is this is bound by state legislation you know so and and collective arguably but so these are fixed costs that we don't have much control over%. So how does the NHV annual health benefit increases compared to the next largest insurer in the state which is the state health benefit
008plan. So the blue line is the NHV annual increases and as a member of the school health insurance fund and the red line is the SHBP annual increases. So although we've re we've experienced very reasonable and predictable increases over the past few years, the health insurance market is very volatile going into 2026. And as everyone has seen, the overall health insurance marketplace is experiencing significant increases and we are no exception. The state health benefit plan is expecting a 33% increase for 2026 and an anticipated 29% increase in 2027. So although our plan increase of 20% that is projected for our next fiscal year budget is less damaging than the state health benefit plan is also massive and a significant impact on our annual budget. And again, we are limited to a 2% tax levy increase
009and a flat to decline in state aid, unless of course there are certain exceptions where you can go above 2% like a health benefit adjustment which we do anticipate due to these high level increases. So on the topic of insurance, I'll just have one quick highlight slide for um mitigating our costs due to in our liability insurance. We are a member of NJ Sig, New Jersey school's insurance group. So, just as we're in the school's health insurance fund, um this the NJ SIG is also a not for-profit entity and without the motivation of generating profit. So, surpluses are returned to our district or any district that's member if they're generated. So, our broker will shop or plan aggressively at our renewal to determine the lowest cost option and provide while of course providing the same
010coverage. So, we're looking forward to a year where this increase is not as significant in liability insurance due to the favorable reinsurance market currently, >> transportation costs. So, these costs happen >> if I can. >> Sure. Uh I believe wasn't there a fairly recent finance committee meeting where like you you had the broker >> I did >> attend who sort of projected out sort of where and I guess this is all the results of that various projections and uh the plans wherein versus what's happening to some of the other >> in the market in general. >> Okay. All right. two >> two slides ago, right? That broker was talking about health >> benefits, not >> he was talking about health benefits, not liability. Correct. >> I I I wanted to ask a question about that
011too because you told us we might expect up to a 30% increase. Is it down now thinks more like 20? >> We are looking at closer to 20% because we're in that school's health, you know, the school's health insurance fund versus the um state health benefit plan. >> Okay. At the time, we knew the state health benefit plan increase, but we weren't sure about our increase in our district. >> Sorry. Theoretically, if we have a relatively healthy uh group of of people who are range of the plan, we get more favorable rates than Right. That's another thing. So, that's like a a component that that's unique to us, right? We bring >> healthy less expensive. >> That's what allowed us to enter into the school's health insurance fund because you have to be a healthy
012district to enter it. So >> which is claims experience. >> The school health insurance fund is basically a self-insured program. But so as a district, you know, if you have a budget like we do, you can do what's called self-insuring where you you hire someone to manage your insurance, you know, on on claims and things of that nature, an Etna or a Blue Cross or Blue Shield, but you pay the claims out of your out of your pocket, right? But there's exposure with that. And the exposure is if you start getting really high claims, you know, you don't have you don't have the money. You have to find the money. um what the health the insurance fund is is a bunch of people doing that together. So a consortium. >> So you have >> and
013so we have the the power of the numbers but we're still able to um manage that without going to a private insurer. And so if if we have a healthier population like we were allowed in because of our health our population because of our utilization rates you know you know I learned a lot about insurance you know being in this job that more than I ever thought I would. Um, but you know, insurance companies charge you based on how much you use them. You know, if you have a high utilization rate, your rates go up higher. You know, it's not they don't lose money. Um, and so we're fortunate that we're in this funds. Um, we were able to get into it when we did when we had a very healthy population. Once you're in,
014then they have, um, I love Jim Fable's term. It's he calls it a collar and a cuff. um which is you know you if the average is going to be 20% and your your organization is doing really well as far as claims you might be 18 or 18 and a half but it can't go below that. >> And then again conversely if you are doing you have a high claim ratio you know you can go up to maybe 21 22 but they can't raise you up to like 30% and while everyone else is at 20. So the there's they have these like um >> buffers >> small little increases buffers there. >> So you're sharing it. Exactly. Which protects us from unexpected, you know, even more unexpected expenses. Um, but it also protects the fund
015so that they can actually, you know, divvy that um out to to protect all the members. >> Do we have to apply every year? Every year are we re-evaluated or is it every year? >> And what year was it? Because this came up when we were I was on financial facilities. >> It started in 19. So it was by the spring of 2020 we decided to start it. >> Yeah. because Horizon member the premium on that time a roller >> coaster. Yeah. So, thank goodness that you were proactive and got us in this >> and we've gone back and forth over the years with um between state state health benefits privately using Horizon or Etna and then SHIP and I think so far the SHIP has proved to be best. >> Good. Thank you. >>
016So, just just for the clarification because of that meeting we did have. So while 20% is much bigger than 2%. It's less much bigger than 30%. >> Yes. >> Okay. Is it is it kind of getting solidified now or are we still haven't we really don't know? >> That's our broker estimate for right now. So has the shift actually issued their renewals for the year? No. But that's what's coming out of the ship as far as what to plan for. And and when is that kind of when does it get locked? >> It'll most likely be after we adopt preliminary budget. Usually it's April. >> So we just have to go with our preliminary estimates for the best. >> We have to plan for the worst. But >> yeah, >> hopefully. >> Okay. >> So
017transportation they have been rising significantly past few years. You can see that on this bar chart. um why it's been caused by the bus driver shortages and that really drove up the cost the hourly rate for bus drivers. It's also an increase in the cost of gasoline and the significant cost costs and increase in buses. So what are we doing to contain the cost? We do our best to renew renew our routes at CPI when it's possible because that is significantly cheaper than rebidding a route every year. We coordinate our transportation with Hunter County Educational Services Commission. So, we stack our routes with neighboring districts. This provides significantly reduced route costs since bus companies can then complete more routes efficiently among the participating districts with them. We're consistently reviewing regular and special education routes to
018determine if there are further efficiencies to be gained in route planning and remapping. And as we'll discuss shortly, we're also mitigating out of district placements. So this our district will save significant funds related to tuition with those but also with the associated transportation costs with those district placements. So these routes are significant in cost and also typically only transport one student. So looking forward to future cost containment. The utilization of bus waiverss um would be a cost savings and reducing the number of students that need to be transported and we do have a policy um that supports this if we do move to that. Um, this would have been a great idea to implement in conjunction with the waiver of senior parking fees to gain participation. However, alternate options will now need to be explored.
019>> Can I can I just add something to that just because we have a lot of new members and I just want to point out in the past because of this has been a constant issue. Katie's done um we've had like independent studies outside of the district to to look at our routing and everything to see if there's any efficiencies that could be and we basically are have the most efficient as you could be >> as efficient as we can be. Yeah. So that has been looked at year after year kind of >> keep looking for lowhanging fruit and finding >> it's a I mean it's all taken >> given the size and the you know the diff between it's just a sending districts know it too. It's one of the largest geographic in miles
020from >> in order to cut a bus. It would make the other routes so significantly longer in time that it's just not feasible. So again, unless you were to have students that wave their seat on that bus so that we then consolidate the the routes. It's really only feasible option. >> But the waiver is really the only way a waiver is really effective is there's some kind of incentive for it, right? And so that's what that's what our issue has been over the years is because somebody can say, "Well, I'll wave my seat on a bus, but then three weeks later they could resend that waiver and then you have to have a seat on a bus for that kid." So you have to be careful what you do with that. And that was one
021of the things with senior parking that we thought about was, you know, if you, you know, you get free parking if you wave your seat on a bus, >> then we cut bus routes, right? Um, and so that's something we're going to further bring to the board consideration. >> I I ask Yeah, I endorse that. Um, it's a new board. >> Yeah. >> I think what we should try to get what what in my opinion we should have done in the first place is ask for some optionality before we just went down that road immediately. So, um, if you're willing to give us the board, the new board some optionality to think about, um, >> we will. So please >> without doubt >> consider I I would say we should consider that student parking can
022be on the table again >> the board decides >> we're just not going to tackle in January but it's gone >> with options attached >> yeah it wasn't going to be right now as as the board decision stands right now that it was not going to be implemented until 26 27 correct right >> that's correct >> so you're saying theoretically if everyone who got a parking spot they're seeing on a bus, we would see significant transport or some sort. >> Well, let's say, you know, again, our total income from student parking, I think we talked around $38,000. Um, you know, if we were able to save one route, that would save $35,000. >> Oh, more than 50,000 about 50,000 now. So, um, so even if we could save one bus just by half of the
023seniors not take >> Right. Right. I'm just I didn't Yeah. I was just trying to really understand like how big an impact that would have. >> Yeah. >> And it comes down to that incentive, right? And so that incentive is well, if I save 75 bucks for the year and I give up my thing. Well, if you you know, part of that waiver would have to be that well, if in the middle of the year you come back and say, "Oh, well, I don't have a car anymore. I need a bus or or I want my bus seat back just in case my car breaks down." Then you got to pay the 75 bucks. >> Yeah. I'm just wondering, do we have we asked students in the past to wave the you know, whether they
024want to wave or not? >> We have not. has been something we've talked a lot about, but it's a again there's a lot of complicated nuances about it. Um, but I think we're going to try. >> The legislation is still fairly new. I don't think this is very long. >> And the senior one would be an easy one. You know, underassman would be a little harder unless we want to. Yeah. Not that it can't be done, but it's just a little harder to >> All right. So, the next couple slides I had the privilege of working with Jeff Pabowski and um what are out of district costs? I think that's important just to talk about what does that mean? If a student has a need for a specialized learning program that can't be met in
025district, they may require the enrollment in a special school that specializes in the need of that student. So these schools require us NHB to pay tuition for that student to attend, which is a cost that will far exceed the cost of educating the student in district. So it also requires our district to provide individual transportation to that school. So again with the help of Jen the data on the chart displays the reduction that we've seen annually and the number of added district placements which is the light blue bar. The dark blue column is the tuition revenue generated by students that we are receiving from other districts into our district special programs. So these are programs that we created at NHB and they are highly sought after and other districts are now showing increased interest in
026sending their students here which provides our district funds to offset the cost in running these programs. So what are the reasons for the success in the special programs at NHK? So again, I would say it's the amazing special services staff that we have here and the administration. But Jen gave me these three other points as well. Program expansion that's happening at the special student needs that will evolve and change. There are now several programs that meet the specialized needs of district students and have been adapted over time as you can see here and that are listed. Um, collaboration among sending districts is a key to success in transitioning eighth graders into north authorities. The articulation happens frequently, so our student services department begins to determine upcoming needs of seventh and eighth graders. And on a
027somewhat regular basis, we receive eighth graders into our programs on a tuition basis from one of our constituent districts. This also helps to acclimate those students prior to high school. And also a commitment to inclusion. And NHB has a consistent focus on educating students with the least restrictive environment. So as you can see here, this is just another chart that she was providing to us that is really great comparative look of NHV placements with students with IEPs. So the first bar you're going to see is nationwide. The second one is statewide. Third is a local pool of districts and then the fourth is NHV. The dark green bar represents students with an IEP in general ed classrooms over 80% of the day. The light green is 40 to 79% of the day. Those IEP students
028are in general ed classrooms. Red indicates IEP students in general ed classrooms less than 40% of the day. And orange represents a separate setting and blue is for parentally placed in a private school. So you can see here that the special programs created in NHV have a primary focus in the least restrictive environment keeping more students in general ed settings with peers far exceeding all the peer groups shown. So, thank you again, J. So, I'm going to transition over into capital projects, which is usually one of the largest expenditure items that we have in the district. Um, so there's going to be three different ways that we've been able to use kind of district um non-district funds or other people's money, let's say, um that are not taxpayer funds over the last five years. So,
029first we had the referendum of 2022. So, just to give everybody a highlight and a debrief on kind of what it was and what we included in there. Um, it did not incur any long-term debt, but allowed NHP to receive over 30% of our project costs with state aid funding. $6.5 million of projects listed in the slide were completed. And with the approval of our constituent districts, which we thank you, we were able to submit these projects to the state and receive $2.2 million to execute the projects. They were completed under budget and remaining funds have now been returned to our capital reserve account for later use on other projects. Referendum campaigns really require a significant board involvement and the time spent communicating the benefits of those positive referendum votes. The communication of our board
030was successful in 2022 and was well worth their time and investment due to the $2.2 million of the state aid funds that were required. >> So before you leave, this is where I get to talk about Katie a little bit. Um so you know again this just to explain what this was um this was you know Katie gave up this idea which was um if if we um go out for referendum for these projects the state will give us 38% of the money back. If we didn't go out for referendum if we just said we're going to take this money from our capital reserve and we're going to pay for the projects it would have cost $6.5 million. Okay. You said we do is float a one-year bond. So, we've incurred minimal interest, but hardly
031any. Um, by doing that, by the voters um, affirmatively, you know, um, voting for the referendum, we were able to get the 38% from the state and then take from capital reserve and pay off that bond in one year. So, it really only cost us $4.2 million, $46.5 million worth of work. But again, there's a lot of work behind the scenes that has to be done to make that happen. You know, this is the hard way to do it. but the better way to do it financially for the district and that's how we've been able to this is one example of how we've been able to contain cost so that when the taxes can only go up 2% and everything else is going up 20 and three and a half% you know the reason we
032can contain that is because we're doing other costs saving initiatives like this and her office is always looking for ways to do this so I think there's more examples coming up but she's going to fly through things and I know >> um the second way that we've used kind of other people's money in 2019 We had an energy savings improvement plan. An EIP is another way of saying it and is supported by state legislation that allows a public entity to implement an ESIP that can be self-funded over a 15 to 20 year period. And of course, in accordance with that legislation, this started with a full energy audit to assess our buildings for areas of energy efficiency. The audit inventoried all light fixtures, boilers, HVAC units, etc., and provided data on the age and efficiency
033of the units and also potential cost savings provided by replacing those with new fixtures or equipment. So the audit is then verified by an independent engineering firm and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities or NJBU. This data allowed us to take the next steps of acquiring financing for a two-phase ESIP project. The first phase addressing inefficient lighting that would be upgraded to LED light fixtures. So LED lights were installed inside and outside of the schools. We installed drstratification fans with UV lights in select areas with high ceilings. Upgraded our building management system software, replacing old pneumatic controls with new automatic temperature controls and also a ceiling upgrade in the high school cap new the north high school cap as well as installing a new ventilation system in the cafeteria. So the second phase was
034roof mounted solar as you can see in the pictures. The district entered into a solar PPA or a solar powered purchase agreement. The district now purchases clean renewable energy produced by the photovoltaic systems at a substantial discount through this long-term solar powered purchase agreement with New Jersey Resources who is the financer and long-term owner of this system. So in summary, the EIP reduced our total energy consumption, electricity consumption and provided solar energy for a portion of the remaining energy consumed. So the first chart you're going to see on the left, the electricity usage in 1718, which was our base year for calculation. um is also compared to the last fiscal year for 2425. So we consume 450,000 less KW per year and the remaining consumption is approximately 40% of our building usage is generated by
035renewable solar power indicated by the red orange section of that bar. So the solar power is at a fixed rate with small escalations divi defined in our solar PPA and it's at approximately 1 cent per kilowatt hour whereas the market rate right now is approximately 19 cents per kilowatt hour. So this translates into our annual electricity bills in the next chart chart number two and the baseline is the top bar which was the NHP total utility cost for 1718 baseline. At today's utility rate if the EIP was not done electric cost would be approximately $930,000 annually per year which is the second bar versus our actual which is $529,000 the third bar and a difference of over $400,000 annually in electricity. So those are the dollars and cents behind. >> So So currently 40% of
036our energy >> 40% of our energy is solar. >> That's awesome. >> So that is something that we've been looking at is what do we do for the rest and there is a lot of options right now that are soon to be expiring and something that we're looking into. So the third way for capital projects that we've used other funds is the utilization of grant funding. So I have this in a very brief synopsis but in 2022 we became aware of the grant for school and small business ventilation and energy efficiency verification and repair grant. So the timeline shown on the right hand side of the slide describes the process of when we became aware of the grant funding and how quickly we had to move in order to secure the grant application quickly. So
037Honeywell which was our district esco you may hear that term. It's our energy savings company that we work with. Completed our full energy audit in 2019 and was able to take that information and translate that into a comprehensive grant application that then um turned into a $6.5 million recommended energy improvements and submission. So the application was successful and the figures shown are the real results of that grant. Over $6.5 million of repairs or replacements were completed in several areas of both North and Vorhees high schools and recently finished just this past summer of 2025 with the cost to the taxpayer at $1.6 million. So the other portion 4.9 was funded by the New Jersey Clean Energy Grant or the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. So if you'd like more information on this grant, there's
038a a whole lot more behind the scenes. I did a pretty comprehensive presentation in September of 2024 and I would just direct you to that presentation. >> And again, just to reiterate, that was something that came quickly, right? It was one of those things like, you know, here's an opportunity. It's going to expire two months from now. Do we have the board support? The board supported it. Katie ran on it and was able to get, you know, again, $5 million that we would have not been able to get. So, um, just again, she puts a lot of work into making sure that we find these savings in the shoes and when we do, sometimes they're fast acting to explain it, but you know, >> so last but surely not least, is our partnership with Hunter
039County Vocational, the new building that you're going to see right outside of our window. Um, our partnership has been in effect for almost 10 years. You can see on this timeline just kind of like how things have progressed. beginning with the first on-site full-time academy program for Hunter County Vocational. So, prior to that academy, Hunter County only had part-time programs. Um, and it required students to complete their core curriculum in their home district and be buffed to the vocational school for a few periods of CTE classes. This resulted in significant travel time and lost instruction time during the day. So the full-timemies currently biomedical, animal science, computer science, and environmental sustainability offer students a full day in one of our high schools. They complete their core core curriculum classes at either north or CTE periods
040are on site as well. So this allows students to be a full-time vocational student while remaining in our building full-time. So 2019 2020 we worked closely to develop land leases and agreements to support Hunter County vocational in in applying for their securing their children's bond act to construct their first vocational building devoted to full-time CTE programs. So they were subsequently awarded that grant and although there were many challenges along the way it included significant building cost increases during their bidding process. they s they successfully completed their north campus just opening in this past August of 2025. >> And again, I can speak quickly on that. You know, with all these partnerships that we enter into with Polytech, um we did with a student first, you know, lens. Um but also our enrollments were declining and
041we saw this as opportunities to keep our kids here in our school and also bring students from other u high schools in the county to our district and and keep our enrollment flat because you know at if our enrollments are declining we we'd have to reduce teaching staff. We have a great teaching staff. We don't want to reduce our teaching staff. So the only option was to figure out ways to increase enrollment and or keep it flat at least and that's what we've been able to do with our partnerships. So that's exactly speaking to this slide. So over the past few years, the declining enrollment um shows that the partnership has provided the stability for our student population. These students are full-time vocational students attending our school on a tuition basis as I'll discuss in
042the next slide. So the first chart shows the Vorhees high school population with the largest piece of the bar as our district enrollment for Vorhees and the smaller pieces are the academy students attending their programs. So you can see it kind of helps level out. At the top of the chart is our two um total student population in the the school. The second chart displays the North Hunter population which is the green piece in the north section along with the orange bar which is the biomedical academy students and the blue section which is the new north campus building students. So these programs are only just the beginning and we anticipate these programs to eventually have four four cohorts of students which is freshman, sophomore, junior, senior. So on both charts, the total enrollment per building
043is stabilized by the addition of these programs. So how does this partnership equate to funds in our operating budget? North Forge is responsible to pay Tun County vocational for every student that we send to their programs for full or part-time. So that expenditure can be significant due to the increased interest of our students wanting to attend CTE programs. So the first bar is an example of how much North's North Wars district spent on vocational tuition, our expenditure for our students to attend their vocational programs last year. The orange are the NHB students attending their full-time programs and the blue is the cost of our students attending shared time programs. So in total, our annual expenditure to pay for our students to attend their programs is approximately $3.4 million per year. However, this expenditure is offset
044by our partnership with Hun County Vocational. So, they pay us a portion of their tuition revenue for every student attending their on-site academy programs as well as the north campus buildings. So, the second bar represents the offsetting revenue that we've received from Hunter County Vocational for those student um amounts. So, displayed in the green bar is approximately $3.1 million annually. So, as you can see, the expenditure that we would be paying for our students to attend county programs is significant. However, our partnership with them has provided a way for us to contain those costs and see the benefit of those programs. >> The data you have here is from last year, >> correct? >> So, it doesn't reflect the north building yet, >> correct? And that will lower the >> it should provide us more
045revenue back as a tuition credit. So, you should see that green bar come up and then hopefully they would start to almost balance it in equality. Yeah. >> So, say you had a student that was a going to be a Bory student and they go to the either the computer computer academy or the environmental science academy. Is that like a wash in terms of the money back and forth or is it still >> because we still have to pay them their full tuition rate which is like $10,500 >> and they're only paying us back >> and they're paying us back a credit of X amount that we've decided upon depending on what program that they're in. Could be 70%, could be. >> Okay. So it's not a wash, but there's still kind of it's still
046a loss sort of a loss to us, but >> Yes. Yeah. And but again, we're not paying the teacher for them either. So they have to pay for the teacher, they have to pay for the equipment for the program. So there that's what that anywhere from 24 to 30% difference is that that's their revenue source and then we get the rest of that back. >> I think what's one of the things that Dr. Rjek said first was it's the student first. you know, we we're even though this is money losing, let's say, not quite offset, it does give our students that opportunity that they would have would not have had. I I just yeah curious about the economics of it if you know if then you encourage do you encourage students to >> you know
047>> so and that was again our original idea was we wanted to keep our students in district you know we didn't want our students to leave our building because they wanted to pursue a 4-year you know biomedical academy somewhere else >> get on a bus >> yeah and and and so you know and and I think it by having the programs in our district there are students you know, that might make a decision on whether or not they're going to be in one of themies based on, well, if I'm in the academy, I'm not going to be able to play play lacrosse at North or something like that. >> If having it in district, they might say, "Oh, yeah, I'm going to do that. Take advantage of that >> because they can stay in district."
048If they had to leave, they might not decide to do that. So, I think that's the advantage that we've had is it's good for our kids. Um, economically, you know, the numbers don't lie. It's good for us economically as well. Even though there might be a few situations where if we compare just this group of kids, we might be losing a little bit of money, but we're gaining money over here. And so it sort of offsets. So we're we're in good shape on both sides really. >> How many uh or non students, how many students are we bringing in from other districts all said and done across the four grades? >> Approximately 55 to 60% or usually 40 students already that are attending. >> I was going to say I think 40% of the outside,
049>> right? and then it's from central or delva or south, right? It's really it's within the county. It's not >> it is but we're starting to see some people from out of the county because they're offering things that now aren't being offered in others. >> Yeah, that's the county vocational system has its own set of rules, right? Like if Hunter County right now, we sent students to Somerset County for a dance program because we don't have one in Hern County. They're developing one in South Hunter. when they do that, those students that wanted to pursue it the performing arts academy would have to go to the one that's in county because we offer it. Um, and similarly to that, we offer some things like an environmental and sustainability academy that Mars County might not offer.
050And if a student, you know, on that fringe of Mars County wanted to come over here, they do. >> And is this representative of all the programs? So the like full-time programs both schools of full-time program and the and the share time. >> Yes. This is districtwide. >> Okay. >> And that's that blue and orange part here. You can see the the smaller part is the share time. >> Yeah. >> And that's again that's it's that's only a junior senior program typically. So that's why you know you can see smaller numbers there also. And again students are hesitant to do that because they're out of their home school for half a day. You know, it's important enough to some kids to do it, but it's it that bus ride you waste 20 minutes there and
05120 minutes back every day, too. So, when we keep the kids in our building, that's better. >> Okay. So, just to wrap up, hopefully you're asking how can we do more of the things that you're seeing on the slides. How can we continue to make a significant positive change in supporting the students, keep as many dollars in the classrooms as we possibly can. Um, so we as administration need to know that we have your support. Strategic initiatives and planning is required of us through administrators to continually produce these types of results. So, it requires the board support of these initiatives as they're being presented to the board for approval. Our initiatives are only impacting this district if they're supported and encouraged. And it takes several administrative hours, if not days, in some instances when we
052bring one contract or one resolution to the table. So, when it's voted down, it's wasted time, it's wasted resources, and a wasted opportunity. So, we're extremely proud of this district and we've provided a balanced budget annually, generating surplus every year to fund capital projects, all without making significant program cuts or staffing cuts. This is largely due to the several cost containment measures shown tonight and the previous support of the board of ed. So, next month, I really look forward to discussing the revenue side of the budget along with the progress support of the capital projects that we have going on and I look forward to working with this board this year. >> Thank you. You're welcome. >> Thanks, Katie. Thank you for