001Good evening everyone. Welcome to our virtual uh public board of education meeting. We called our meeting to order earlier in our closed executive session via Zoom. Um yeah, a little throwback to uh COVID days. We haven't done the Hollywood Squares uh in a while. So, um anyway, well, what a doozy of a noraster. I hope everyone who is viewing this um has been able to stay safe and and warm throughout um throughout this snowstorm. So, um Dr. Adhold, do you have um do you have any other comments uh official comments before we get into things? >> Thank you, Mr. Pew. I I do just have a couple thank yous uh that I'd like to extend. Um for to the members of the public, uh you can imagine uh 18 plus inches of snow, 30 in
002of snow drifts. Uh tremendous effort to clear schools, to clear roads, to clear our neighborhoods. Um I just want to thank the Department of Public Works for both West Windsor and Plansboro, the Office of Emergency Management for both West Windsor, Plainsboro, and the all the emergency responders as well as our our building and grounds team that just did remarkable work. Um by 8 o'clock this morning I had uh been in district and by 9ine I had toured all 10 schools. Um and I was pleased to see that with the exception of some cleanup our schools are prepared by morning to prepare to receive our students and staff um safely and uh we will be opening as all Mercer County districts will on time tomorrow morning. Um, we would just again remind uh parents u to
003uh and community members the importance of snow clearing for the purpose of sidewalks, the importance of making sure that our young ones, especially at bus stops, are being safe. Um, and that our student drivers are being very mindful of roadways and that, you know, with um some tighter roadways than normal, uh, with buses going into neighborhoods that we're all just very cognizant. We take our time. Lateness doesn't matter. Safety does. Um we want everyone to arrive safe and um and um we have every expectation that that will be the case. Uh want to send a thank you to to office of emergency management west u Tim Lynch. Uh Tim was uh supportive of uh giving us a proclamation of emergency so we could hold the meeting virtually this evening again with uh while our local
004board is is in in district. my administrative team that's on can come upwards of two hours away and wanted to make sure that we were keeping everyone safe and not putting people on the roads late. Um so we we did flip virtual um for that reason to just keep keep everyone safe and not on the roads late this evening in case we get windchills and we get snow drift um tonight. But again, we have every expectation we'll be able to open without incident tomorrow. We are tracking a couple different storms. Um parents might wonder what will happen. Will we lose spring break? Things like that. Um, in the past we've been able to work with the Department of Education when there is a graduation. Our graduation happens to be on Wednesday this week uh this
005year in June uh to have the graduation ceremony but the actual uh distribution of diplomas to be later that week. So you can have the ceremony but actually hand out the diploma. So, while the calendar itself uh would look like we're out of snow days, we probably have realistically a Thursday and a Friday. I'll be working with the county superintendent's office then uh to confirm that over the next couple days. Um but we are we will always follow safety standards and we're not going to make a decision to worry about spring break and sacrifice safety. So in the in the case that a storm comes in, we're going to take care of the people in the live time and then we'll we'll worry about the consequences to the calendar after that. Um I also want
006to thank Kia Bergman. Uh Kia is on as I said director of communication but to run a virtual meeting to set everything up just takes tremendous uh lift and all these different uh pieces that have to be put in place and Kia had an incredible process during COVID and was able to replicate that for tonight. So Kia, thank you. Um and uh tonight on the agenda we did have a finding performing arts uh recognition of our high school students both north and south that would have been recognized this evening. We have postponed that because we want to celebrate them in person. Um so we will do that at a later date. We've also had our student reps were supposed to be on this evening. We've postponed them to the March 10th meeting. Uh getting our
007student reps in person. Um, and then, uh, a big thanks to our musical, uh, theater folks, uh, who reached out to me yesterday who were coordinating with respect to concerns about getting our our students in. They were incredibly patient with me as I went in district to assess with our building and grounds team this morning. We did have they're actually at North and South right now practicing uh for the play and prepping because Thursday night we have kickoff for both uh of our productions for North and South. And because of different school-based events next week, Washington Seminar I believe was North and Disney for South if I remember correctly. Um we did not have the ability to postpone into next week or we would have lost some of our performers. So, uh, knowing that we
008really were trying to find a avenue to get them on grounds, uh, today and and just thanks to all the different adviserss who've been involved in support, uh, heard from both the the theater directors, um, strong advocates to get them in, but also complete understanding that safety was priority. So, um, you know, it's something that's special about our school community. Um, so with that, I'm going to turn it back over to Miss Mchuan. >> Thanks, Adhold. Uh great updates especially with regard to snow days and the flexibility and the um the focus on safety first. Next uh I want to move on and introduce and asked uh Dr. Chris Dr. Christopher Russo, assistant superintendent of finance to provide us with the preliminary budget presentation this evening. So Chris, I will turn the floor over to
009you. You are up. >> Okay. Thanks. Um, I want to apologize for my voice because as the day has gone on today, um, I've seem to be coming down with some kind of sinus uh, issue. So, bear with me if we can. I'm going to share my screen at this point. Um, go into the slidow. There we go. Can uh everyone see uh the slideshow? >> Yep. >> Okay. So, this is just, you know, a rough oversight of where we are with the 26 27 budget. Um, you know, we've been working on it for months. I, uh, and I was out for a while. So, so Dr. Gratold and Derek, my assistant who uh worked on the budget uh very closely uh have been moving this along and I thank them uh for moving everything
010along and then as I was working virtually so thanks. So here we go. are our strategic goals. You know, we uh everything we do is grounded in the strategic goals. Uh uh you know, we embrace diversity u and uh you know, we build upon our tradition of excellence and we support our students growth as we know. And I'm going to do a little thing with my screen so I can see better because I could not see everything right there. Okay. And our strategic goals. First one is, you know, understanding all students have diverse needs and backgrounds um and approaches to learning and will integrate tools and structures to appropriately challenge enable students to realize their full potential. Uh we embrace a rapidly changing world and we will empower learners uh and we will you know
011uh yeah we will empower learners to assume active roles in their communities and proactively uh towards more peaceful just and inclusive and secure world. We rec we recognize that children need to to balance physical, social, emotional needs and will maintain a supportive culture of the whole child. And uh goal four, which uh is unique to to many districts, uh we've been working on it for years now, is West Windsor Plains Regional School District cultivate a diverse and inclusive community where members of every race, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, ability, regional religion, social, economic class, ethnicity, and national origin are welcome, value, respected, and celebrated. What's a school budget? School budget is a theory about our priorities for our students. We want it to be about our children and their goals for the future. However, in
012reality, it's very much about money. Decisions are made with finances in mind. Schools operate on a fiscal calendar July 1 through June 30th. Budgets are put together between December and February of the preceding year. Whatever is done, the board has to follow two rules. Tax revenue must be within cap. There are caps on the budget or within the cap's allowances called spending growth limitation adjustments. Uh, and revenues must equal expenses. There's no credit card. We cannot go in debt uh to run the budget. School budget, it is a planning tool. It has to consider contingencies. It manages risks. It must be fiscally responsible. It's a reflection of our community's values. And it must consider safeguards and buffers. So, what's the process and timeline? Because realistically, we start on the next next budget as soon as
013the previous one's approved. So summer and fall finance committee has preliminary discussions. Uh administration of finance has discussion of capital projects. Curriculum committee discusses program of studies. December we have a BOE retreat. We discuss how the current budgets going and what are some initiatives and programs uh that we're already running and that may we may want to implement going forward. Midyear budget review happens with the county office. That happens in December and January. this year happened in January where the county superintendent of schools and his office uh their office goes through uh we have discussion with them how our budgets tracking what are our finances look like and what are uh our initiatives and expectations for next year and where we think we stand financially moving forward. November through February, there's meetings with the budget
014managers, the stakeholders, the this, you know, the um the principles, etc., the supervisors, the directors, the other assistant superintendent. January to March, BOE public budget discussions. This is one of them. We'll share what's uh going on. Late February typically is the governor's address. Uh however, this year because it's the first uh first budget that the new governor will put together, her address is um has been backed up to March 10th. So, the school district should receive its state aid numbers on the 12th. Uh we have March xxxth in here because we did not know until an hour or two before the meeting tonight or a couple hours from the meeting that uh the actual uh date of submitt of the budget to the county office was was backed up one week that will fit within
015our March 24th board meeting. Um so typically it's March 20. This year, it looks like it'll be March 24th where the preliminary budget is submitted to the county superintendent. And then April 28th will be our public hearing and adoption of the budget. Okay. District accolades. Uh we take our budget very seriously. We take uh our our standing operating procedures very seriously. Um we have we run a very tight ship in the day-to-day operations. Um so we have been lucky enough to win the certificate of excellence uh for 17 consecutive years from ASBO International um which is uh a team of uh officials get together and review uh uh this uh submitt for the certificate of excellence and they have awarded us that award. the meritorious budget award for excellence in preparation and issuance of a
016budget. Again, the district has won it for nine years. And I have to thank my assistant Derek and u and you know my other assistant Bonnie uh who was on this meeting tonight for uh ensuring that uh the processes take place in these reports are excellent. Where does money come from? So there's various revenues. So we have local taxes, state aid, federal aid, grants, interest, tuition, budgeted surplus, reserve withdrawals. Budgeted surplus is money that's that was not spent in the prior year. It moves forward to the uh the subsequent year and we uh can reserve money typically for capital improvements and we do that and we use that aggressively to um improve our buildings. Important points uh on revenue. While expenses can and do change during the year, the main revenues for schools, taxes, and
017aid stay uh they do not. We cannot we cannot ask for more money if the expenses begin to rise during the year. Instead, we must spend less in other areas, cut staff, program, supplies, repairs, professional development, etc. There's no loans. We don't go to the bank. We don't have a credit card. What are the revenue restrictions? There is a 2% budget cap uh that says that within in any one year the budget can the tax levy can only increase 2% year-over-year. Now there are such a thing as spending growth limitation adjustments that uh you can increase above that 2% and they're typically for health care and enrollment increases uh of approximately 10% uh in year-over-year which that's almost impossible not impossible but doesn't typically happen. Um the district has additional taxing authority to collect uh
018debt service separately from the general fund. What that means is is we currently pay our g our debt service which is our mortgage through the general fund. We could pull that expense that debt out and ask for a tax levy separately. We do not. We combine that in our general fund. Where do the revenues go? Where does the revenue go? So, this is a long list. I typically hold my hand up and I mentioned five areas and I said after that's done, you could then look at supplies, textbook, and materials. But I'll go through a more more comprehensive list here. Salaries and benefits is a fixed cost. Health care fixed cost. Utilities is essentially a fixed cost. Repairs and maintenance. Professional services or technology and transportation are out of district. Tuition is a fixed cost.
019Support services, special education, you know, required by uh code and law. And then then discretionary spending happens. that supplies textbooks and materials. And then you have capital projects. And we typically we do about a million dollars a year in fac uh facility plant improvements through the general fund. And we do capital u reserve withdrawals for uh uh additional uh capital projects which typically go to renovations and repair. So the concept that we can spend what we want to spend that does not happen and that supplies textbooks and materials in a typical district is less than 5% of their total uh budget and some districts it's one or 2%. Excuse me 1 or 2%. So we buy those supplies after the fixed costs are uh taken care of. Appropriation. What are our cost drivers that we're
020seeing this year? Well salaries. We have the follow negotiated agreements. Healthcare, we um we mit mitigated risk by entering the shift at a 10.6% increase uh a full year ago. This will be year two. Uh however, there was a renewal uh ad to that 10.6% for year two to 18%. So, we're looking at almost a 28% increase in healthcare. Um we were self-funded for four years which really reduced uh the district's uh um reduced held steady the uh the healthcare line. However um due to uh uh various concerns high claims GLP1s etc. Uh there was cons you know uh the the exposure to possible uh large uh expenditures was too much. So we went into the shift uh which was the safest and most coste effective uh vehicle in which to place our insurance special
021education potential staff increases due to increase in special needs population providing in district programming and possible reduction in federal funding. Uh we were able to budget what we thought we would lose in uh the IDA individual with disabilities act. Um, and we're hoping to do the same this year. Special education tuition. Out of district providers may increase their tuitions by an amount that does not take into consideration the 2% tax levy cap. So, we're getting build by uh uh by nonp by yeah um non by private uh schools and you know in the 10 15% increase ranges basically the cost they're seeing not a 2% uh range which we have to stay within and instruction language arts and math resources uh uh to so they're aligned to updated standards MTSS and interventions strategic goals and
022respons Responsive classroom training are our initiatives going forward that are driving cost. So here's the deltas that we're seeing right now over the current 2526 budget. Uh ABM we're looking at a $200,000 increase. That's our custodial uh contract. Our healthc care as mentioned we're looking about 6.1 million. That is huge. Um insurance um property and workers comp about a $100,000 increase. Transportation CPI is 3.58%. We're looking at about a $360,000 increase. Uh I'll have you know Rick uh bus our largest carrier agreed to a 0% increase. Uh now realize over the last five years we've had to renew I I assume almost every route but their routes which they have about 75% of our routes uh at the latest rates. So and realize they we had to renew them when diesel fuel was six seven
023eight bucks a gallon. Um so they came in at a 0% increase this year but they have brought their um cost up to you know current um and Chris Chris for the good of the group CPI is consumer price index. >> Yes. Thanks. So uh that's at 360. We have buildings and grounds $100,000 increase at this time. administration. That's uh also PERS payments. That's pension payments on behalf of uh uh uh members of that of that unit which are our nonprofessional staff and our um non-certificated teaching staff, $100,000. Uh technology right now they're asking for $165,000. Now remember this is the delta over the current budget. Special education has a delta of 1.75 million at this time. uh we will you know obviously have more meetings and discuss that and see exactly what's leading to
024that. Um I mean we know what's leading to it but we'll look at exactly what's needed. Energy will absorb that through the EIPS through the additional solar and the savings to all our lighting windows uh new HVAC systems that are more economical. uh you know we'll that line will stay at a zero. Uh salaries of the of our uh negotiated groups uh would rise at 3.765 million and clubs and activities uh due to additional uh stipens um meaning an increase in stipens would be $100,000. Right now our delta over last year's budget is 12.74 million. uh that will require more uh meetings to discuss and to um to see how that um pans out because that is is a large number. So we will you know there will be more meetings to discuss that among
025the administration and we will be bringing uh what we um you know the results of those meetings forward. Our capital projects and these are projects using capital reserve which is money that we have saved. Uh, so we have a roof replacement at Town Center that we applied for a ROD grant, a regular operating uh, district grant. Uh, that's been in the budget since 2425, but that money will move forward. Uh, hoping that we would be able to receive a Rod grant. Uh, there was an a mistake on the application by the architect. Uh, we were not able to remedy that mistake. It was literally an attachment of a wrong uh, picture and diagram. and uh uh they did not allow us to change that and therefore we did not get it on the first round.
026High School North Audi because it would qual it would it will qualify once it's uh once they opened it up again. High School North Auditorium seat upgrades that's a 2526 project. We're actually uh reviewing plans now as we speak and that will be going out to bid um high school south robotics room. That's a 2425 project. Uh the uh proposals came in well above what we had budgeted. So, we're going to carry that money forward uh add additional money in to complete that uh additional electric upgrades uh which is uh yeah without getting into details that's uh just additional electric box. Um the athletic director's office and wait room at high school south will will receive HVAC upgrades as they're uh failing at this point. High school north culinary electrical upgrade and hot water. Uh
027this is for additional outlets uh around the walls and additional separate hot water heating system for the culinary arts room. Uh Mars Hawk replacement of a section of roof that's come you know to its useful life. Uh Woff replacement of cafeteria and HVAC and uh Wyoff uh Hawk Grover Village Dutch Neck D HVAC control upgrades. It's essentially newer upgrades. So, we're all in one um one control system, which would be Schneider and EIP 2 contribution for any uh uh EIP uh programs that we can continue on. And with that, uh that's the end of my presentation. >> Thank you. >> Now, I see everyone again. >> Yeah. Um if anybody on the board has questions for Dr. Russo, go ahead. I have a question. >> Chris, just for folks that are are watching at home,
028when you were speaking about the health care care increases, >> you mentioned the shift. Would you please explain that for everyone? >> Sure. That's a school's health insurance fund um that you know that's a a shared services of of school districts. Um and um yeah it so I'd have to share a little bit about you know years ago we were in the state health benefit system which their increase this year is 31% for schools uh and it's been 20ome in high numbers the last several years we got out of uh state health it's got to be seven eight years ago then we went into a private uh a private situation for one year uh then we went Um and we the the second year increase was dramatic. So we were able to go self-insured for
029four or five years uh which held costs uh flat for several years. And now when we realized that we were highly exposed uh and it was a risk to the district to stay self-insured. And what I mean by self-insured is we paid the claims dollar for dollar. Um what we did not have to do was pay uh for additional risk of the carrier because we were essentially paying it. We paid an administrative fee. But what we saw was our reinsurance amounts were coming in at 35 se to 75% increase on the reinsurance uh of high cost claims. So that was a concern. We jumped in the school's health insurance fund which five six years ago was not large enough to carry our population of of approximately 1500 employees. So they are now they do have
030a mass that they can uh that we are not uh uh you know such a large piece of their program that we would uh you know have the risk of of defaulting or they would have the risk of defaulting if something bad happened to us. Uh, so now we share our experiences with uh, my gosh, I can't think of the number of school districts now, but um, I want to say it's pushing close to 100 school districts now that we share our insurance experience and our um, our premiums and we purchase insurance uh, through the school's health insurance fund. That was a long answer, but I figured it was needed to show that we've been real aggressive at trying to hold down uh health insurance costs while still providing uh the program that that's required.
031>> Yeah, I appreciate that detail, Chris. Uh next, Dana. >> Hey. Um, I've been hearing some concerns from community members about um, federal funding and how much we are anticipating and how much might be um, we might be receiving like less than previous years or what does that look like for that? >> I could jump in, but I see Dave chomping at the bit so because he's right on the phone. >> Thanks, Chris. I mean this is um this is an area that we have to stay very vigilant with and the community members that are raising that to you are absolutely correct that we have to be very mindful. Um so we we have a couple factors in play here. Um, one is that about two, three weeks ago, um, the House of Representatives in
032the Senate, and maybe we'll hear something at the State of the Union tonight about this, um, agreed to a a bipartisan bill that essentially keeps federal funding flat going forward for one year. It's a slight increase about, you know, 20 something million in one account, like 20 something million in another. But when you're talking about federal dollars across all the states, that's minuscule. Um and and so the issue there's a couple issues at play and and it comes back to the one big beautiful bill signed July 4th last year. Uh the one big beautiful bill is a nine just under1 trillion dollar carveout uh that redu that shifts the balance sheet from Medicaid from the feds to the states. And that happens over a 10-year period. And the phase in starts in October of 26.
033So New Jersey has about a one to2 billion and it's I say that because it's estimated at this point. So it's 1.5 to2 billion um structural deficit. It's estimated that a year from now it should be about $4 billion structural deficit. So we're spending more money as a state than we have coming in in revenue. Uh take that into account with the federal dollars that we're anticipating about hundred billion dollars a year phase out off of federal no longer funding to state. The states are going to have to make some decisions where they put the federal dollar. What happens when they lose that money? So where does the Medicaid money go? It goes to um the uninsured. It goes to um elderly care. It goes to mental health. It goes to child um you know
034un uninsured or underinsured. It goes to hospitals to offset procedures. It goes to our kids that don't have health insurance. Uh it goes to some aspects of food insecurity. It it goes to veterans. Um so the states themselves are going to have to make a decision if they choose to fund it. or or fund some of it. Assuming that the states do, here's the risk. If the states choose to fund the gap that comes in Medicaid for their portion, the risk to the states becomes not only do they have a structural deficit, so they don't have enough revenue to cover expenses, but then with the additional shortfall of Medicaid, then they have to make a decision where what do they change in their funding? And to me when I look at it and and this
035is 24 years as administration, 17 years at at central office uh teaching doctoral school finance for the last 10 years, right? So when I look at this, I go there's three pots. One pot is pensions, one pot is uh direct state aid to schools and the third pot is public health uh public benefits for uh the public sector uh retirees as well as um folks that are state workers, educators, police, fire, whatnot. So there's three sectors that I think they're going to go out they're going to have to and it can come to others but those are the three big ones. If direct state aid to schools comes off the table, that's the danger, right? I mean, it's danger in all of them. All the categories are horrific, but also not providing medical benefits is
036horrific. So, the state's going to have to make some decisions. I don't envy the new governor who's coming into a structural deficit, a growing structural deficit and uncertainty with federal aid. Um, and so the risk for us is bigger than the 2627 budget. I think the Armageddon budget is the 2728 budget across the state. Uh we were just recently at the national conference. Um and and I was going through a a certification program and had a chance to meet the head of advocacy for um the uh superintendent association national and I asked this very question that you're getting asked Dana about about what is what's the risk and what what could happen and what could be something that changes this. And when I I posed the question at first the answer was well we just
037don't have enough factors. So, I pushed back and I asked, "No, but like let's talk about this for real. Like, this is what we're facing. These are I just laid out what I just said to the to the audience." And the comment was I said, "What changes this so that I'm not in a position as a superintendent, my board's not in a position where we're decreasing programs and opportunities for students?" And her answer was, "Regret." I said, "You're telling me regret changes this?" She goes, "When when the impacts of the federal aid and the impacts of the one big beautiful bill start getting rolled out at the state level and the federal so the federal balance sheet getting shifted to the states and as that happens the only thing that they believe will change the
038trajectory and force the legislation not to allow go to 10 years of implementation but to pass a bill and try to change this before 10 years is regret." And to me, regret is the worst answer I've ever heard because that means a decimation of programs. Now, it will look different in different places because every district is in a different place. I mean, financially. So, but the risk for all of us, educators, parents, community members, district to district is the decrease or the impact of how the the roll out of federal dollars. It's also there also is a movement out there at the federal level to look at IDEIDA differently. That's the individuals disabilities and education act differently. Right? So that's our special ed funding from the feds. So as a district we've taken some precautionary
039steps to try to mitigate against the loss of federal aid um for other reasons. But at the same time, the costs are um so high, the health care increases are so high that it's it's you know, we're talking almost a 30% annual increase in healthcare. And that's not because our employees are spending any differently than the trend across the sector. It's because the health care industry is broken. And so, you know, we have a broken health care system. We have a shifting federal system. We have uncertainty at the state level. and we have uncertainty in our funding formula. It it is a cause for concern that as a district we've been able to weather for years because of we've thought s we've thought in multi-year budgeting. We have not looked to make short-term decisions at
040the sacrifice of long-term decisions. But some districts, many districts that have been losing state aid have gutted their programs. And we don't have to look too far. We, you know, we can look to Bordontown. We can look to South Brunswick. can look to East Brunswick. Can we look to Robinsville? Our neighbors north and south of us have all been decimated. And so we don't have to look too far to say like this is happening in real time. It's happening in Robinsville in real time with a referendum coming up in uh two weeks, three weeks. Um and so I think the summary of Chris's presentation can be really simple. Everything costs more and funds cannot cover expenses. That's that's where school districts are at right now. It's a seven-word summary. Boy, you have your hand up
041there. >> Thanks, Dr. Adhalt. I I you what you just said is what I've been thinking about and I know a lot of other residents have been thinking about just um you know, I think uh Chris mentioned that healthc care this year is 28%. Is that right, Chris? if I'm 28% increase and then um we have 12.7 million um increase from last year's budget to this year's budget that's proposed at the moment. Um and then you look at the 2% cap plus the 2% is what um the cap that we're currently at. And I'm thinking as a parent and most parents like you think about programs because we have seen things about Robinsville and like the other communities nearby. Is this something I guess that our students or parents kind of need to think about
042uh or worry about um in terms of budgeting because I think Chris had said there's like one to 5% that goes to programs that most people know about, you know, like the afterchool programs, the the clubs, the sports, and all that kind of stuff. Um I I guess is it something at this moment? >> We're not there yet. We're not there yet. we're we're we're down the road from that conversation if the formulas don't change in the funding formula. So, I mean, there's going to be a big push to change the funding formula. Um, and it it's one of the governor and one of the commissioners um priorities is to really look at this. Um, I would say that, um, we're not where Robinsville's at. And before we got there, we would take evasive actions
043with making recommendations to the board of education and the public with respect to looking at our tax base because uh, we're really proud of the programs that we offer. We're really proud of the services that we offer and our students do incredibly well. And that's not um that's you know I don't say that without an understanding that we have incredible families that support public education and we have incredible educators that are incredibly well trained and are dedicated to our students. So it's it's we are um a district that has tremendous pride in our our students and our product and the outcome and the services that we can provide. Um we are advocating for shifts in formula. We are advocating for fair funding. Uh we were underfunded for a long time as a district and you'll
044see on some reports it will say that we are over we are over aided. I'm sorry we're um there's something called like your local fair share that we're o we we're over our adequacy meaning that we spend more than the minimal but partially that's because I I I have a different definition of local fair share which is underfunded for years. We were underfunded for years. So our tax payers paid more our taxpayers pay more to maintain the programs or to ensure the programs. So we're really over over local o uh over local fair share mean essentially means our taxpayers carried a higher burden to ensure the programs continued for kids. So you know we're we're definitely um we're not in a place where we're talking about athletics or talking about elimination of programs but we
045are being very mindful of our class size. We are being mindful of our enrollment. You know, we have seen a declining enrollment over time. Um, and since COVID, since about 2020, we have seen a slight dip in enrollment with the loss of some of our international population, the Zoom based economy, and folks being able to flip to Zoom like we are right now. Um, you we're not necessarily seeing um the same kindergarten projections as we had now four or five years in a row. actually five, six years in a row. But we're also very mindful that we have 3,000 residential units coming in and we're not sure yet what we're going to get seen hit with that those numbers as those units are opening. Um we are seeing some fundamental shifts with how um the
046grade level impacts. Some of those communities, some of those new housing units are getting little ones, but the reality is is we're no longer starter home community. you know, when you start seeing uh new condos, new town homes, new single family homes, anywhere from 750, 800,000 would be like a steal in WWP to some like 1.2 plus million. That's not a starter home, right? That's folks moving in with children. And so, it's very hard to project elementary, but it also means they're moving in usually with children. and maybe they have a newborn or maybe they have a three-year-old and we get a kindergartener out of that, but we're getting more hit in the upper elementary, middle school. Um, and so it is a shifting dynamic that we're mindful of. And so we're watching enrollment and
047we are uh again concerned with 3,000 units coming in over time. What could the hit be? What could that look like? Um, what could that look like? So we have to then also guard against to build a new teacher into the budget just one teacher starting salary 65 benefit package minimally 25 to 30. So you're talking a h 100,000 for step zero teacher with single family coverage. And when I say 25 35,000 you got to realize that it's bigger than healthcare. It's healthcare. It's dental. It's healthcare, it's dental, it's prescription, it's it's uh contributions to FICA. It it's it's bigger than just a health care plan. So when you have to factor in the cost of one person one, now if that is a family package, that's a family benefit package. A family benefit package
048is currently 48,000 going to 62,000 by January of 27. 62,000 for a family benefit package. the system is fundamentally broken, you know. So, so when you talk about the budget and you talk about the impact, we have to be mindful of looking at our staffing. And so, you know, there are retirees that we haven't refilled. you know there are slight slight class size increases and you know I get push back on that but my push back is I'm maint I'm trying to maintain the continuum of the totality of the program offered to all students and being very mindful that sometimes that means that you have to tweak the enroll the the um staffing ratio because the staffing has big-time cost. You could have four staff could be half a million dollars in the budget. >>
049Yeah. Um, I I actually just made a note too. I just wanted to um thank you for that, Dr. Art, the bigger picture. But, um, for Chris, I just wanted to say thank you because I know every year I've sat through this budget discussion and you guys have been very nimble, especially with the healthc care um part of it, just looking at what is the best option for for our um for our district and our um community. And I appreciate it. Even though the shift is like 28%, it's still better than what um the other options are, which is crazy to think about. But I just want to say thank you to you and your team for always trying to figure out the best um student for the uh the district and staff. >> Yeah.
050And I'd like to say thanks because um it's something our group prides ourselves on trying to find economies. And one I think of is with with energy. Um eight years ago, our utility spend was over $3 million. our utility spend now is about a million and a half. So, we've been looking at ways, you know, and that's what we pride ourselves on. But anyway, thank you. >> But, but Chris, I mean to that, that's a real credit to Chris and his leadership team. And that's a real credit to the board and the finance committee of days gone gone by and the referendum and the EIP and EIP for the good of the 29 people online is the energy savings improvement program round one and now we have a second EIP going on. We have constantly
051been trying to reduce our energy footprint, but we've also, it's twofold. It's one, it's because we believe in the importance of decreasing our energy footprint, and two, because there's a financial savings that we can now spend monies on other things for students um because we are because we are reducing that energy line. And I see Liz with her hand up. >> Thank you, Dr. Russo, Dr. Adald. Um, in previous years we have also talked about transportation related impacts. Uh, can you speak to that a bit as to what we might also be facing? >> Chris, Chris, you got this one. Yeah. >> Yeah. Um, well, you know, the good thing this year is Rick is coming in as the majority of our costs. Uh, the CPI went down to three, you know, 58% consumer price
052index. Uh, so that and some additional runs. Um the increase is 360 anticipated increase right now and it's a pretty I mean it's a very tight estimate. We're there um is a $360,000 delta year-over-year. Um so you know compared to last year where it was over a million dollars compared to the year before where it was pushing a million dollars. So this year transportation is much tighter with respect to a large increase. Um, you know, we're still seeing challenges with with the with the dual language immersion program with getting students back and forth across the district. Uh, you know, we're looking at additional activity buses that come up. So, it's nothing that's uh, you know, would quote, you know, break the bank in in in one move. We're also looking right now, we we've got
053a grant, we've won a grant for six uh electric buses uh that we're trying to see if they're actually feasible uh that and that would fit within our budget and could help us be more not only more um you know environmentally friendly, but would it be a cost effective and more efficient to run them than than what we're doing now? Uh that's a cost study that we're still doing. Um, and we don't have that answer yet, but um, transportation is not a large driver this year. >> No pun intended. >> No. And that's part partially because with transportation, it's based on a formula. um and and increases for consumer is it's based on like you heard the 3.58 for CPI but that's based on a mathematical formula that comes out of uh code that basically
054is a 24 month it's an 18-month look back you have a six-month gap from like January backwards so it's jo June to 18 months back of the prior year you look at the rates and the consumer price index and you get an average increase for the regional transportation rate between New York and uh Philadelphia, which you can't find anywhere um because the number does not get published. And then the uh Department of Transportation releases a CPI renewal rate. I think it was about a week and a half, two weeks ago. And so we're all like waiting for that number because if that number was to come in at 4.58 that could be the difference of 150,000 and that could be you know two positions uh in the service association one and a half positions in
055the in the education association could be multiple um clubs and activities. So those numbers matter when the rate when those rates come out and Dana I see your hand. If I can jump in real quick too, I just thought of something. Uh and and and uh you know probably why the question was asked Mr. Chi. >> Yeah, exactly. In the last eight years, you know, because of uh fuel costs, etc. and renewals of routes, God, I hate to say it out loud. I almost don't even want to, you know, the budget went from 9 million to 18 million essentially uh over the last eight or nine years. and that's based on econ uh on factors that that you know that we cannot control. Um so I see why that would be a pertinent question and
056you know why you'd ask it this year. It's not a driver at this point. >> Thank you >> Dana. >> Um okay um we saw EIP 2 on your presentation. Can you I can you just elaborate a little bit on that for um >> Yeah. Yeah. >> people that might be in the audience and >> first I'll take a crack at this and tell me if I get it wrong. Uh the EEP you start bond you we EP is the energy savings improvement program. basically go through a whole study uh where you look for uh energy efficiencies and then you can bond money based on the anticipated savings u of of inputting um uh upgrades. So solar co covered parking lots is going to uh yield x amount of savings. So they they do all
057these calculations and they determine this is your bonding authority and it's one of the few places that you can bond money as a school district. It's maybe the only place you can bond money as a school district where you do don't need to go to the public because it's so regulated with the state approvals and it's like two or three rounds of state approvals. Um so when we do the uh EIP 2 you see a contribution because the projects are being developed but the bond payments are already due. Um and so we're we're we have to pay the money before the actual as the construction's happening. So you haven't actually realized the savings but you still have to pay on the on the loan. So we we have to pay our bond payment at the
058same time. So there's a contribution that's going to come out of capital reserve which is monies that were previously designated for capital cost and capital increase and and so we need to make an allocation for that to cover the payment of the bonds. The savings will follow. So as Chris said, we went from 3 million to 1.5. We should see that 1.5 either hold or slightly dip depending on energy costs over time. Chris, did I miss anything or misrepresent anything there? >> No, that's pretty much it. Thanks. >> Um, can you just maybe elaborate a little bit on the the projects that are coming up for ESD 2 like >> well the projects >> parking lot thing. >> Okay. Well, what the only piece that's that's being finished now because the uh the actual HVAC
059projects at Hawke Hulk has a new complete HVAC system. Grover over the uh gym has uh four new rooftop units. village has new boilers in it um because of projects and Grover has a co-generation uh program uh that's in it one unit and what that means is is uh you know the uh the the spent water the warm water goes to help heat the uh help the the heating system so it's a co-generation you're generating uh not only you know from the unit running not only the heat of the unit but then the water from the unit actually heats the hot water uh in another area. Um what's to come this summer is is carports over uh high school south uh uh student parking um the parking lot at uh Mars Hawk. Uh carports over
060high school north uh teacher parking lot in front of the stadium. Uh carports uh community middle school on the left as you face the school. Uh that parking lot will be covered with solar carports and behind Milstone River School, the two parking lots back there will have solar car ports uh installed over them. And little side note, as soon as we can get a rod grant to complete the roof at Town Center, Town Center would also have uh solar panels going on top of it. Um we ran into some just I I have to go there. I'm sorry. ran into some problems with PSCG and JCPNL uh in getting additional projects approved because of uh space on the grid. Uh had we been able to get those projects approved, eight of our 10 schools would
061be uh electricity energy uh self-contained that you know they would be producing approximately 100% of their electricity. Now we're going to be at five or so uh 100% uh uh electricity u made on site generated on site. >> Thank you very much. >> Yeah. So so I think I think the summary really is that you know we have challenging um financials when it comes to the larger state and federal landscape. we have some unknown factors and we're hoping to learn a lot more on March 10th, but then that's our next board meeting. Um, so it's really nice to see 24 members of the community join us virtually. Um, you can watch virtually, but you can also attend in person on March 10th. Um, and that's the governor's presentation. Uh, we will get our state aid
062allocation uh publicly announced on the um on the 12th. Um so we're we'll be watching the 12th and then we'll come forward with a tenative budget presentation on March 24th. Um so you know right now we're you know we're in very much in the budget build. This is a prelim preliminary presentation that Dr. Russo put together and he and I will will do that um on the on the on the 10th um and the 24th. Um we'll continue to build on build upon this. Um but you know the ch the challenges are are are incredible when it comes to you know when you think about health care uh costs alone and this is there's you know I'm Chris has had roles at uh head of the insurance association for NJIG for uh New Jersey and
063he's been the head of ASBO New Jersey ASBO associate school business officials. I'm the president-elect for our state association for superintendent. you know, we're out there advocating constantly bigger than WWP and for our colleagues, but we're also then very attuned to what's happening out there as a result of that and and there's no district I know that's not looking at a 20 to 25 to 30% increase in healthcare. Um so the field the but this is also municipalities. The municipalities are getting hit over 35% on on their healthcare increases. Um, you know, the the plans are getting crushed right now and it's really going to require some fundamental redesign uh in order to try to get us uh in a different position, but that's bigger than WWP. Um, that's a statewide uh state issue and
064federal issue. Um, so, you know, time time will tell how this plays itself out. Uh, our job, our responsibility is to ensure that we provide the best program possible for our students um and our families. um you know at all costs and you know we're constantly looking at efficiencies as you've heard Chris talk about efficiencies in energy uh shifting of health care plans I've talked about cons uh looking at our staffing ratios uh we look at our programs and try to make decisions uh very mindfully about where we're spending dollars we're constantly thinking of opportunities uh we've we've changed um uh different ways in which we do different aspects of our insurance folks um that may not always be on uh these calls or just not attuned to, you know, we have a $230 million
065budget um with over 1,400,500 staff members with about a billion dollars of depreciable assets. We are very much a business organization as much as we are an education association uh organization. So we have to be mindful of the finances to ensure that the academic expectations uh the the clubs the activities the musicals the musical opportunities all the stuff that makes schools what meaningful for students continues. So, you know, we are very attuned to the financial side because we know that that then translates to the opportunities we can provide to our students. And when you see 17 years of consecutive years of uh Asbo International's recognition, there's no district in New Jersey that's done that, right? You know, there's no district in New Jersey that's that's had success both academically and financial the way that we
066have over that time period. Um, that being said, that's only as good as how we do next year. Um, so if next year comes and academically we start to slide and we obliterate programs because the money isn't there, that's not acceptable. So we're constantly um we're constantly staying attuned and and making sure that we're mindful of of the opportunities for our students. And then ultimately that that requires us to be very mindful of our staff. Um so with that we'll end the presentation. Thank you for all your questions. Um and I think that brings us if I remember Grayland to first opportunity for for public comment. >> It does. Uh so um I'll read the statement. Um earlier the Google forms for ring comment um or to get on a list to make a verbal
067comment was open uh and available to the public as a link. Um let me read this. The board invites thoughts and reactions on agenda items and items of concern from members of our community who are present um uh and whether it was uh presubmit a written comment uh or on the list to make the verbal comment. Each participant is asked to give his or her name and address prior to making the statement which will be limited to three minutes in accordance with board policy 0167. All statements shall be directed to the presiding officer. This public comment period shall be limited to 60 minutes. So Dr. Adhole, do we get any submissions for this evening? >> Um, I just confirmed with Kia and I just checked both charts. There are no written submissions and there are
068no requests for the first opportunity for public comments. So, we do have no public comments for the first round. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh, so with that, uh, I'll close this public comment period and turn it over, uh, to our, um, uh, committee chairs. and I'll invite Liz to give us a report on administration and facilities. >> Thank you. So the administration facilities committee met on February 18th at the central office in the evening. All committee members are present. Uh the committee first reviewed two policies and regulations with regard to the grading system P policies and regulations number 2624 as well as the policy and regulation for homework PNR 2330. The committee review the recommended updates to the above to these policies and regulations. The purpose of the updates is to have our policies and
069regulations reflect updated language and to identify what our current practices and expectations are. These policies and regulations are recommended for first reading at tonight's meeting. The the committee has uh also had a second reading of the two policies and regulations. The first one P0142.1 nepotism. This is an existing policy that is being recommended for readoption without any material revisions. It is being updated to better align with the New Jersey administrative code. The second policy is the employment of the school the chief school administrator. This is also an existing policy with minimal material revisions proposed. The committee had reviewed these policies and recommend them for a second reading at and approval at tonight's board meeting. The committee also received an update on athletics from Miss Sinata. This was an overview of athletics at both the high
070school and middle school levels. The overview included highlights from the winter seasons of winter track, wrestling, basketball, fencing, and swimming. The committee also had the opportunity to review the upcoming 2027 2028 academic calendar and recommends that it be presented for approval at tonight's board meeting. The committee also reviewed the EDP extent day program rates for the 2026 202027 school year. Uh and the committee recommends that these ex these rates be uh approved at tonight's board meeting. Finally, the committee also reviewed job descriptions for a few positions which are instructional assistant for DLI, instructional assistant for ELLL, and the instructional assistant for special services. The committee recommends approval at tonight's board meeting of these uh job descriptions. The changes made were specific to the particular qualifications and to reflect what is actually required for each position.
071The committee is scheduled to next meet on March 17th at 7 PM at central office. Thank you. >> Thanks, Liz. Uh, does anyone have a question for uh Liz or ANF? Okay, so next I'll invite Schwa to provide us with uh the minutes from the curriculum committee. >> Thank you, Grayen. Um the curriculum committee met on February 18th. During the meeting, Dr. Gold described CQAC, which stands for the quality single accountability continuum, which is New Jerseyy's process for monitoring district performance and compliance with regulations. Uh Dr. Gold explained that the district submits evidence across five areas, instruction and program, personnel, fiscal management, operations, and governance. And the state monitors district performance for continued certification status and/or required improvement actions. QAC monitoring occurs every 3 years, and the district is currently undergoing that process. Uh moving
072on to our action items. The committee recommends approval of a district membership in diversity council on global education and citizenship with Kain University for the 2627 school year at a cost of $300. The curriculum committee recommends approval of the community education spring and summer 26 youth and adult programs. And additionally, the committee recommends uh the following overnight field trips for High School North robotics team to Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania from April 15th to April 18th. The cost of the trip is approximately $400. Also, the robotics team to George Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas from April 28th to May 5th. The cost of the trip is approximately $1,000 per student. And then the high school health occupations students of America to Indianapolis, Indiana from June 16th through June 21st. And the cost of that
073trip is approximately $1,600 per student. And then for high school South Model Congress to Ruckers University in New Brunswick from April 9th through April 12th. The cost of the trip is approximately $450 per student. The committee will next be meeting on Tuesday, March 17th at 5:00 p.m. Thanks, Retha. Does anyone have a question for curriculum and instruction? Okay, thanks. Um and so I'll invite Dana to provide uh meeting minutes from finance. >> Thank you, Grayen. Um the finance committee met on February 18th and first we reviewed um several agenda items. Um the monthly including the monthly financial reports. The administration affirmed that no major accounts are overexpended and that sufficient funds are available to complete the year. The committee reviewed the following motions on the agenda for approval. Approve a professional services agreement for auditing
074services. Approve the second year of a three-year interlocal shared services agreement. Approve cooperative purchases over the bid limit for food service. Approve a licensing agreement for Zoom video conferencing. Approve the disposal of obsolete equipment. Approve the cancellation of one bus route. Approve two transportation quoted routes. Approve staff professional development travel and expenses. Um, next, the administration reported that state aid notices will most likely be delayed until March 10th, approximately two weeks later than usual. As a result, um, the board may need to adjust its March meeting dates. I think we kind of covered this in the presentation. Um the budget calendar was shared with the committee. EIP 2, this is um the energy saving improvement plan um program. The HVAC projects have been completed with final adjustments currently being made to the control systems. The
075district is still awaiting state approval to begin operation of the co-gener generation heating unit at Grover Middle School. Once approval is received, the unit will be placed into service cafeteria. The food service program continues to show improvement. The number of lunches served in January increased by 2,165 compared to January of the previous year. Breakfast breakfast served during the same time frame increased by,23. The number of serving days was the same um January 2025 and January 2026. The average daily number of meals served in January to students eligible for free, reduced, and New Jersey income eligible programs increased by 29 students or 6% year-over-year. At the elementary level, breakfastes served in classrooms increased by 153 compared to the previous January. 76% of those meals were served to students eligible for free reduced or New Jersey income
076eligible programs. New vending machines have been installed in the high schools and middle schools and offer items that are New Jersey smart sack snack compliant. Um transportation was discussed uh earlier. the um interlocal shared services agreement. We um we will approve tonight on the agenda the second year of a three-year interlocal shared services agreement for a station manager to provide video recording and broadcasting services. In other business, in the recent solar renewable energy credits SRE sale, the district sold 102 class one SREs at $24.50 50 each totaling 24 $2,499 and nine SRIs at the at $185 each totaling $1,665. The total proceeds from the sale were $4,164. Um the finance committee will next meet on Tuesday, March 17th. >> Thanks, Dana. Do we have any further questions for finance? I know we had we threw
077a lot out finance tonight. Seeing that. Okay, cool. Uh that means uh we can move on to the voting portion of our meeting. So, can I get a motion for administration items numbers 1 through 12? Uh Liz and Pua, any questions or comments? >> Okay. So, time for a roll call vote. >> Okay. Okay. We'll we'll start with Miss Chenier. >> Yes. Miss Sha. >> Yes. >> Hold on. Excuse me. Miss I'm stuttering all of a sudden. Miss Sponsel. >> Yes. >> Miss Misty Sebastian. >> Yes. >> Miss Krug. >> Yes. >> Miss Maliga. >> Yes. >> Mr. O'Brien. >> Yes. >> Miss Shetty. >> Yes. >> Miss McKill. Yes. And can I get a motion for curriculum and instruction items numbers one through four? Uh Schwatha and Ly, any questions or comments? >> Okay,
078time for roll call. >> Okay, we'll start with Miss Shetty. >> Yes. >> Miss Maliga? >> Yes. >> Miss D. Sebastian? >> Yes. >> Miss Chenier? >> Yes. >> Miss Krug? >> Yes. >> Mr. Mr. O'Brien. >> Yes. >> Miss Shaw, >> yes. >> Miss Bonsel, >> yes. >> Miss Mcuan, >> yes. >> Can I get a motion for finance items numbers 1 through 11? Dana and Paul. Any questions or comments? >> Okay, we'll start with Miss Krug. >> Yes. >> Mr. O'Brien. >> Yes. >> Mi Miss Spastian? >> Yes. >> Miss Chenier? >> Yes. Miss Kroo. Oh, sorry. Double. >> I I get to vote twice. No, only one. >> Five, six, seven, eight. I actually I hand wrote my minute vote by hand. Normally, it's typed up and Bonnie types it up for
079me. Miss Sha, >> yes. >> Miss Shetty, >> yes. >> Miss Bonsel, >> yes. >> Miss Mcuan. And did I miss any >> me? Uh, yes. >> Miss Malika. Yeah, >> there we go. Thank you. Motion passes. >> Woohoo. >> Uh, next, can I get a motion for personal items number one and two? Uh, Janta and Sharon. Any questions or comments? Okay. Uh, ahead, Chris. >> Okay. We'll start with Miss Shaw. >> Yes. >> Miss D. Sebastian. >> Yes. >> Miss Chenier. >> Yes. Miss Krug, >> yes. >> Miss Maliga, >> yes. >> Mr. O'Brien, >> yes. >> Miss Shetty, >> yes. >> Miss Bonsel, >> yes. >> Miss Mchuan, >> yes. >> And before we move on uh to the next motion, I do want to acknowledge a bunch of retirements, seven retirements to
080be exact, that the board just approved. Uh first is Diane McGovern. Uh she is our high school north learning disabilities teachering teacher consultant who is retiring after 25 years of service to the district. Then we have Cara Ray village teacher resource specialist for curriculum and instruction and she is retiring after 29 years of service to WWP. Next is Vincent Majio, community middle school science teacher who is departing WWP after 34 uh years in the district. Next we have Joseph Bosio, a high school North social studies teacher who is retiring after 24 years of service to WWP. Next is Dorothy Scranton. She is our district-wide teacher resource specialist for instruction and intervention who is also retiring and uh after 29 years of service to the district. Next is Kathleen Wagen Blast. She's the assistant coordinator of
081transportation who is retiring after 17 years with WWP. And last but not least, we have uh Karen Degrusio, supervisor of accounts at central office who is retiring after 19 years of service to West Windsor Plainsboro. Uh so congratulations and thank you to our retirees for your many many years of service. I didn't do the math. Sometimes I do the math for a total count. Um but um yeah, I think uh I think uh the numbers speak for themselves. So thank you again um and good luck on your next chapters. Uh next, can I get a motion to approve the board of education minutes from December 16th as well as January 27th? Uh uh Dana and Shretha. Uh all in favor say I. I >> I >> And do we have any abstensions? >> I abstain
082on January 27th. >> I also abstain on the January 27th minutes. >> Perfect. Thank you. And do we have any board leazison reports? >> I'm sorry, Grayen. I abstain on December 16th, not the 27th. >> Ah, very cool. Noted. Thank you. Thank you for the correction and I didn't see any anyone with their hand up for leazison reports. Do we have any new business? Seeing none. Uh well that takes us to our second opportunity for public comments. So I'll read this statement. The board invites comments from members of our community who are present uh online who put their name on the the list. Each participant is asked to give his or her name and address prior to making a statement which will will be limited to three minutes in accordance with board policy 0167. All
083statement shall be directed to the presiding officer. This public comment period shall be limited to 15 minutes. Dr. Adhold, do we get uh any other takers for the second opportunity? >> Just confirmed, checked the spreadsheets and heard from Miss Bergman. There are no um registered comments written and there is no one uh listed for for speaking. So none. >> Thank you. Um with that we can close this second opportunity for public comment and uh move to adjourn. So can I get a motion to adjourn this evening's meeting? Uh Ly and Sharon. All in favor say I. >> I. I. >> Perfect. the eyes have it. Uh, thank you all for for joining us virtually and and thanks to all the people who uh who called in. Good night. Thank you. >> Thanks for your flexibility
084tonight to the board. Thanks everyone.