001[Music] Good evening. The Rear Ranch Public Schools Board of Education meeting for Monday, May 12th is now called to order. And if all would please rise for the pledge of allegiance, board member Miller will lead us. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Um JC, can you take a roll call for us, please? President, present. Vice President Morgan, present. Secretary Tyler, present. Board member Trip present. Board member Miller present. Okay. Thank you so much. We'd like to welcome everyone out to our um board meeting tonight. We have a nice full room here. We do want to recognize that we have Senator, State Senator Craig Brandt here with us tonight.
002We'll recognize him um shortly and so thanks for being here with us tonight. Um we'd like to start off our meeting tonight with some introductory comments by our superintendent of schools, Dr. Bu Copen. Thank you so much and we're delighted that you're here this evening. Um, as we mentioned just a moment ago, uh, President Gabriath will present the New Mexico School Boards Association Senior Achievement Award, uh, to Senator Brandt for his untiring work on behalf of Rio Rancho Public Schools. He helped the district this year and many years with key pieces of legislation that had a major financial impact on our district. In addition to many uh legislative capital outlay projects that he has um seen um funded for us, he recently assisted in obtaining funding for two of our math labs which have just
003been a tremendous success. In fact, we've had um LVSC in uh we have had the secretary of education in look at those labs and uh this year more money was put so more schools will have an opportunity to have um these math lab experiences. But um we we that has been just a tremendous success for our students. We hope eventually to have them in all of our schools, all of our elementary programs. But Senator, we're glad that you were here and and thank you for your work this past session. Okay. We had before this meeting a finance committee meeting of the board. Um we met to review the proposed 2025 2026 uh proposed budget. Uh in addition to the budget, uh there was a discussion of our bonds where we are in all of our
004bond projects and including looking at a 2025 bond uh which basically continues to fund projects previously approved by the board or projects that the board indicated they would like to see um see uh constructed in our district. In many cases, increased costs in construction and uh project expansions have resulted in continuation of some of the projects. Uh just briefly uh addressing the cost of of uh construction has doubled in some cases tripled and many of you in the community are very much aware of of those uh increased costs. So, they're making projects that uh we're we're uh funding with bond dollars uh more challenging every single year. And it has uh you know, it's not true just here, but certainly in in the Albuquerque region, but statewide and nationally, we have seen a you know,
005no abatement of increasing prices. And the one thing we don't know yet uh what the impact will really be will be on some of the tariffs uh and how that will also impact uh construction in general and school construction in specific. We have some uh DACA commendations and we have a lot of students here. uh Larry Davis, director of career technical education, will uh present the DECA state winners and talk about some of the um the other um other other student uh achievements in in in DECA. There were some um eight f first place winners, but there were a lot of other winners and a lot of others recognized that just want to mention a few um and uh we'll talk about some of the others during the presentation. Alanel Cesneros, uh, buying and merch
006merchandising operations research. Haley Granados and Jasmine Martinez, integrated marketing campaign event. Uh, Nathaniel Royal, integrated marketing campaign product. Devon Frescus, uh, integrated marketing campaign service. Lily Goodmarker and Laura Panon, uh, project management sales. And so these are all the very top awards. and but there were many other students who did well. But congratulations to these students and to all of the others who are here this evening. Be that is a really strong program in our district. We're very proud of that program. We also have in commendations Mariah Affranger, our director of student services will present a recognition for the for project Lionus. And Lionus, of course, you know, is from the Peanuts comic strip, uh, who loved his blanket. And, uh, this project provides very special handmade blankets to children in our community. It's a
007wonderful service project that impacts a lot of our students lives. And so, they'll share a little bit about uh, that project this evening. We have also other commendations. Uh, Felix Grego, executive director of student nutrition, will present certificates to some of the SFE employees. Uh, many of them have worked in our district now for at least 20 years. And food service is such an important part of our school services to both our students and to our families. You know, our cafeterias are kind of a social place and they create a healthy and a positive environment in our schools. And we are uh very pleased with how we've seen our our program grow. uh the last few years and um both in terms of quality but in terms of the number of students who are seeking
008uh to uh participate in our breakfast and lunch programs. So uh we'll talk a little bit about that and we want to recognize and thank those individuals for your years of service and your commitment uh to our students and and to your schools where you work. Got a lot of commendations tonight and that's really good. Uh our last commendation is for the Intel Reading for Miles program. Uh Intel has sponsored this for many years. We we thank them. This is a fun and supportive program that encourages students to read for pleasure and we congratulate all of our student winners. We have some slides that show the number of minutes read and the student winners and I believe they'll they'll show you those slides during their presentation. And then we have a legislative update and report.
009Uh Lauren Hatch, chief legal counsel, and Chris Bzano, government relations, will share the final um legisl RPS legislative priorities presentation uh with the board this evening. The past 2025 legislative session was a 60day session and u so many bills uh were of vital importance to this school district and so we thank them for their hard work on staying on top of those pieces of legislation and speaking on the district's behalf and just monitoring the process. Uh and we had some good things that came out of that and we're appreciative of their work. And then we thank the board members who were able to attend and advocate for our district during the session as well. And um it is uh uh it is uh it's important and and people appreciate seeing you there. All right. And
010then we have uh in our regular business we have a fine arts education act application for next year. This is a very important application. you'll be asked to consider approval um for uh FAEA application. It funds much of our elementary um programs and we have wonderful elementary programs and that's is um part of how we we we fund them and pay for them. Kurt Schmidt, our executive director of fine arts, will present the application and and talk a little bit about um about the application and what it accomplishes for us. I would just kind of put a plug in for this um Saturday uh the uh at Haydens Park. Much of the day uh our orchestra and bands uh performed in the park for the community starting with elementary early and then going on through
011the day. It was quite an undertaking. Was really impressed with what I saw. Um the uh the mayor attended uh in the beginning and spoke um and um started elementary. It's really kind of interesting to just see how students progress over the years, how their skills build and how, you know, they've just become increasingly talented musicians. But we also thank the community for showing up. It was a large number of people who came and most importantly we thank our our students, our staff, exceptional staff that we have and the parents who um who support these students. But it was a I I saw it as a gift to the community and it really gave the community a chance to to see the really fine work that u is being done in that area. It was
012all day. So I don't know Craig if some of you all have sunburn I would not be the least bit surprised but it was a privilege to be able to spend a little time there as I've had several places to go this weekend but that was just a real treat. We have our graduations coming up very soon now. Um, Cyber Academy is May the 16th, Cleveland May 19th, Independence in the afternoon of May 19th, and Neo Rancho High School on the 20th. So, uh, we're just about, uh, at the end of the year for our seniors. Are there any comments, questions, anything from the board? Okay. Thank you all. Thank you, Dr. Coven. Appreciate it. All right. We'll now go to approve our prioritized agenda and proposed time allocations. Madam President, this is board member
013Tyler. I'll make a motion to approve the prioritized agenda proposed time allocation. Board member Jeff Morgan. A second. Okay, we have a motion in a second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Okay, motion carries. All right, now we will go to our commendations, which you had kind of a nice preview of all of our commendations as we went through Dr. Cleveland's presentation. Um, but I get to start our first one and um, this is a sweet thing. So, this is our excellence in student achievement award and I have it all wrapped up here. Um, and I'm trying to make sure I have my notes here open. Um, but it's just it's an honor and a privilege to recognize someone tonight. And that person is um, Senator Craig Brandt. want to come on up to the
014to the podium if everyone wants to go ahead [Applause] and I feel like I should be down there, but I'm going to do this from up here so I can see my notes and then I'll come and bring it down to you. Um, but uh, Senator Brandt, he has just been such an advocate for our schools and for the students. Um, not just here in Rio Rancho, but for students all over the state. Um we're lucky that he comes here from Rio Rancho because you know we get his ear often. Um we were talking about that legislative um session that just came forward and I had an opportunity to be up there. I think I was up there two days between conferences and then up there talking to to different and I was exhausted. I
015was totally exhausted and all I could think was man our legis how do they do it uh 60 days or you know whatever it may be. And so, um, just a little bit about, um, Senator Brandt. Um, he's a ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee. Um, he has served as the Senate, uh, Minority Whip. Um, and he's just been, I was looking at all of the different committees that you've served on, um, over the many years. Um, but he has, and that may, this may have changed with this last one. I'm not sure, but I know at least 16 pieces of legislation that you've sponsored has become um, become law in the state of New Mexico. So, that's pretty sweet. Um and many of those have directly benefited benefited us um our schools, our
016students um and all of those things. So, um, Senator Brandt has been a tireless advocate for, um, our students from securing capital outlay to ensure that we can support learning in our schools, um, to championing championing our career technical education, also our prek um, that we've been working so hard on um, and expanding opportunities for students to explore real world careers. Um, he has never wavered in his commitment to our youth. So, this award here reflects not only um legislative accomplishments, but the real and lasting difference those efforts have made in the lives of students and families in our community. And so, thank you so much, Senator, for coming out tonight. We'd like to give you an opportunity to speak, but if everyone would just applaud one more time for Senator B. Thank you, Madam
017President. Wasn't too long ago that I was sitting up there but over in the old boardroom. So, I guess it's been a little bit of time, but uh it has been such an honor to serve our community in Santa Fe as well as on the board. Um my passion has always been our our children and whether or not they're getting the education they need, I think our district has done a phenomenal job. We just need to get the rest of the state on par. Um, CTE has has become a a big issue and continues to be a big issue and and actually is spreading nationally uh as a major issue as as less and less young people are choosing to go to college, more and more of them are wanting to go straight into the
018workplace making, you know, 50,000 and up a year if they have the background and the the background knowledge that they need. And that's why I've been pushing it so hard for the last 16 years even before going uh to Santa Fe. Um you I've always most of the bills like you said are on education. I've branched out a little bit in the last couple of years. I've been working on some of our crime issues because those have become top issues in our state as well as working on medical issues. I've worked very closely with medical society in trying to get things passed that will keep our doctors here because we have an aging population in New Mexico. We need to make sure we have doctors for them. But right now, we're not a very hospitable
019environment for doctors to to come to and stay. And so those have been the things I've really been working on. But yes, my focus, as Dr. Cleveland will tell you has always been not just Rio Ranch, but what's best for children throughout the state. I always tell us, you know, I've been on legislative education study committee for 13 years and I'm still on it. And I always say we need to keep our focus on the children, not the adults. So a lot of times in our state and in other states, we want to focus on the adults and not on the needs of children. So I continue to try to bring them back to that. So, I really thank you for this award. I know it comes from the schoolboard association, but thank you for
020presenting it here tonight. Um, it is an honor to represent this community in Santa Fe. Oh, thank you so much. Thank you for being here. Really quick, I know Dr. Cleveland would be sad not to be able to say a few words. I know we talked, but if you want, some things don't ever change, right, Senator? I uh but really and truly, you know, it's been a long-term commitment. A lot of people have commitment, but it's short term. And uh Senator Brans has been a long-term commitment to education in our state and um we face some real obstacles and we're facing some right this year and it would have been I I don't want to over I don't want to understate it actually um without a couple of the things that happened. This district would
021have been very different difficult shape next year and he just got in there and worked hard to get that through for us. And so we appreciate that and that's not the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last time, but I really made the extra effort to help us uh with with one of the bills that really impacted our budget. But it's uh it's been a pleasure to work with you in in many different capacities over many years. And I don't think anyone ever questions your your um your hard work and and your dedication to our students. So we thank you uh for for that. And it's just a pleasure to be able to honor you for that today. Thank you. I'm going to come down and present this to you. You guys
022want to clap while I [Applause] All right, we'll go to our next commendation. Um, our next is going to be presented by Larry Davis, our director of career technical education, and we're going to honor our DECA state winner uh winners. I believe we have a few. Yes, there we go. Madame President, members of the board, Dr. Cleveland, good evening. U as you know, I support uh through career technical education as a director 18 different pathways in our district. Uh one of our most populated pathways is DECA. We've we offer that at both comprehensive high schools. Uh combined total of both comprehensive high schools, they serve 375 students districtwide. So, it's a very nice number. Uh I thought about uh talking about the awards uh for the students, but but honestly uh I think I'd be
023remiss if I didn't talk about the teachers and let them have the honor of introducing their students because the teachers, if I could have them step up, uh Christopher Aaron Kura, Christopher Kintano, and Mr. Raymond McKenna. Uh these individuals are true difference makers in our district. uh to to not only put those hours in during the day, but to work after hours. Um CT supports each program to the tune of about uh $15,000 this year, a little bit over that. Um but I want to double down on the experiences that they provide for our students because some students uh may not have the ability to travel, may have the ability to leave the state, but through programs like this and through our support of these programs, they get to broaden their their view of the
024world. And I I've sat on the stump of uh experiences like these help drive future career decisions and these teachers behind me uh do that and they set the bar very high as they they make it look easy but I know the hours that they keep. So uh I'd like uh for them to come up uh collectively and introduce their students for their accomplishments. Good evening. Uh I'm Chris Fringon. I'm one of the deck adviserss at Cleveland High School. Uh this is my counterpart, Miss Gria. Uh we're very proud of our students and what they did this year. Um we took approximately 87 students to state this year. Uh had about 124 actual DECA members this year from our students. Had the highest growth rate in the state of New Mexico and ended up qualifying
02537 of them to nationals. Um eight of our students ended up taking first in their event at state and four of them were able to make it this evening. We have Mr. Mr. Deon Fesquez, Miss Lauren Pon, Miss Haley Ganados, and Mr. Leonel Cisneros that that were able to make it this evening. Many of our seniors were at work this evening and unable to make it, but um thank you for having us. Yeah, thank you. [Applause] I'm Ray McKenna. I'm the adviser at Rear Rancho High School. Um we didn't have a slide, but that's okay. We won't feel slided. These are great uh folks here. Abe Abe Hoffman is our president this year. He's been in DECA all four years. He's gone to nationals all four years. Wow. This year he was a state champion.
026And then we have Courtland Flores. Another thing we get to do is if our if our uh chapter achieves certain um benchmarks, we can send students to nationals to go to leadership conferences. So both Courtland and Tyler got to go to leadership. Oh, and Sophia Romero, they got to go to conferences and then Aubrey Darte uh and Mila Huber also uh competed at nationals. So we had a total of 22 that went to nationals this year. We had 88 that qualified for state and 64 of them made finals. Um a lot of them were first year students and there's only like four slots in the whole state, but uh we still did very well. very proud of our kids thanks to CTE. They uh help us with funding a lot. Uh we do a lot
027of fundraising and our school store and everything. But there were a number of kids on the trip this year that have never been on an airplane. They've never traveled out of New Mexico. They got to go to Orlando, Florida where there's 21,000 people at this conference and they met people from all over the world. They had great experiences and hopefully they learned a lot. There you go. right answer. We thank everybody for your support. Um, DECA wouldn't survive without all the support that we get or would just be just another class or something. But, um, Larry Davis does great stuff for us and the the board approves our trips every year. We appreciate that. So, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, teachers. And I think you can see why I wouldn't have done
028justice to all their numbers and everything. They do a phenomenal job and we're just so incredibly uh lucky to have teachers like this in our district. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. I want to give Dr. Clin a moment to be able to Well, firstly, I want to apologize for not having your slide. I assumed you were coming the next week, but I didn't get it. So, uh so there was no slide intended and we're just so glad that you were here and um but to all of you, congratulations. You know, we have a lot of programs that have just been powerful year after year after year and Becca is one of those and we're really proud for your accomplishments and uh it is great to go and meet other people from other places and hear
029what they're doing in their organizations and you kind of come back fired up to to do even more in your own in your own organization. So, congratulations to all of you and uh it is a program that we're very proud of and want to continue to support because it really does make a difference and really does prepare you for things in your future. So, um we're just so proud for you. Thank you so much for coming this evening. Yeah. Thank you. And then I have something real quick. So, this is our state champ. Is that am I understanding right? Yeah. Your state. Okay. I'm going to totally put you on the spot. Is this totally okay? Um, my club puts me on the spot all the time and everyone say there you go. See, it's
030for I just can you represent. Okay, because we can't go through everyone just sake of time, but can you represent? Maybe just talk a little bit about your experience and and maybe even just some of the things you're doing in the future. Uh, yeah. So, uh, as Mr. McKini said, I've been in DECA all four years at Rio Rancho High School. Uh, I've met a lot of people in DECA. Um, that's where I learned one of my greatest passions is helping people. uh these guys. I'm the only senior here from Rio Rancho today, so I can speak for all of us that it's been a joy watching a lot of these guys grow up. I guarantee you Courtland. I went to Orlando the first time with Courtland in 2022. He's grown up tremendously. I'm super
031proud of them. Um Cleveland, it's always nice to get to get with them. Uh we don't see him too often, but whenever we do, it's always so fun and we're always like, "Oh, hey, how you guys doing?" Uh we had the Chick-fil-A competition last year uh that Rio Rancho did win. Uh yeah. Uh and then at nationals, you know, you get to meet so many people. Um you meet people from other countries. Uh Canada is always a big one that's there. China's there. You just get to meet so many people that help you find out who you are. Uh and on the edge of branching out like uh Mckini touched on and uh our wonderful Captain Wonderful touched on earlier today. Uh that uh you get to meet so many different colleges. um my college
032that I'm going to Florida GF Coast is not really there, but uh it's helped me branched out and it's getting me ready to move out and meet new people at college because it's in Florida. So, um yeah, and then on the competition aspect, you know, it it's pretty hard to compare prepare for this. Uh the projects only get they only get three spots in an event. Um the what I do, the role plays, you only get four spots in an event and you have to be top four and there's a lot of kids at state. So, it really does take all of these wonderful adults in the room here to get us prepared and it really is um all of our experiences are a testament to you guys. Uh I want to thank all of
033you guys for approving our meetings. Uh I know I look forward to the competition aspect a little more than most of my club. Um but still going to Universal in Orlando with these wonderful group of kids is always an amazing treat that I'll miss after I graduate this year. Um, so really thank you all for supporting us and hopefully you continue to support CTE programs in the future because they really do make a difference. Yeah, we will. That'd be good. Thank you. Thank you for doing that. Yeah, and we do we want to thank all of our sponsors for everything. Dr. Coven was just saying how great I got to know that. Thank you for your work because you don't have this kind of organization if you don't have strong sponsors who are dedicated, hardworking
034and and nicely keep pushing uh students to just get better. And so um I I did want to specifically thank the uh the sponsors as well. Yeah. Thank you guys. Should we do does anyone Okay, I don't want Cleveland to get mad later, but I didn't do Is anyone really want to come and talk? You're welcome to. I just don't want anyone to be like, "Oh, that bird doesn't because I love both." Okay, you're good. Okay, so last, can we get a photo a photo with everyone? I know we have a lot of parents who are here. If you guys want to come up here, we can get a photo with all of you guys. Then we'll stand up. Yeah, you should be doing symbols. You're more important than I am. All right. Thank you.
035Thank you all. Right. [Applause] Okay. All right. Our next commendation for the evening is project linus. So Mariah Aen Traanger, our director of student services will present. I've gotten really careful. Come on up, Emma. [Music] Good evening, President Gre, Dr. Cleveland and members of this school board. I'm going to be brief and I wish I was as well spoken as that amazing young man. Um I'm going to introduce just real quickly the four amazing school counselors who actually took an idea that Janna Chenalt brought to us I don't know if she's in the house this evening two years ago and these four ladies helped make it a reality. they committed themselves to working with our RRPS students and their families um in order to give them a safe and caring space to share their feelings
036around the grief that comes with losing a loved one. So the four counselors who made this possible are Lisa Martin from Rio Ranchto High School, DJ Ortiz from Martin Luther King Elementary School, Charity Stoworthy from Eagle Ridge Middle School, and Jennifer Dugen from Ernest Stapleton Elementary School. And I'm going to ask Lisa to come to the front to present the award to project. [Music] Okay. So, I'll make his brief. On behalf of our grief group, we want to extend our deepest gratitude for the beautiful blankets you so love and leave our students. Each one is a tangible reminder of the kindness and comfort you provided to our students. Your thoughtful gift brought warmth, but it also brought physical and emotional support to our students. to every member of your group. We want to thank our
037our heartfelt appreciation to you. Um and it means so much to know that there are compassionate individuals like your group reaching out to support others and on their healing journey. Thank you for wrapping us in your care. And on behalf of all of us, we want to present this plaque to your group. [Applause] I am just going to say one more thing just because I think it shows the impact that your I'm not going to use the mic but our director of nursing Lynn Wheeler um told me this evening that I I was getting ready to come over here that her two children when they were five and nine were given a blanket when they had to adapt evacuate their home um during the day in the year 2000. They are 31 and 35 now
038and Lynn still has those they she was just so grateful and she's going to bring them in and show them to us. But that really does demonstrate the impact that you have on our family and our community and how long you have been sharing that joy um with others. And we have our two darling students here today that have been so patient um during this meeting. So we want to thank you guys for coming because we have loved having you in our group the last couple years. Thank you. Do you want to say something? Dr. Cleveland, do you want to get a picture anyone of this since we have one? I'm hoping we got some in the we come up here and let's get everybody's okay with that. We come up and let's get a
039photo of of all of you that created blankets and uh staff who supported the program. What if we as a board Why don't we as a board go down there and take a picture with them? So, you can stay right there. We're going to come to you. So the ladies wanted to also mentioned that they have donated many blankets to not just our group but Independence High School. Correct. Independent school and Oh okay. We have Can you do it? I can't. [Music] two. Thank you. Yeah. [Music] It's kind of sweet to see generations, you know, that were represented right there. But anyway, we want to just thank them again for coming in tonight. We appreciate it. All right. Our next um our next will be our SF staff recognition. So we have uh Felix Rego,
040our executive director of student nutrition here. Good evening, President Galbreth, uh Dr. Cleveland, members of board. Um thank you for allowing us to be here. Typically it's to come here and do a little bit of business. And so last time we were able to pass the uh contract for SF for an additional four years. But um it's nice to be here to to represent and and kind of talk a little bit about our our cafeteria staff because they are the foundation um of our learning for our students. You know, we all know that a student um with an empty stomach is not as successful in the classroom, but if they do have a a full stomach, then they will be successful in the classroom. And so, um, it is my pleasure to to be here
041to, um, recognize our staff that have been with Rio Rancho Public Schools, um, for 20 and 25 plus years. Um, so, you know, they've spent their careers here. Um, they've probably fed the majority of our families, our communities, and so, um, they make a big impact. And so, uh, when I had a conversation with Dr. Cleveland about two months ago. She said, "Well, it's you have a student nutrition department and even though they're contractors, you know, they all are part of Rancho Public Schools." And so, um, what I went ahead and did is I asked admin and I said, "Well, do you think you could pull me? Is there a roster of of of the years of service for our staff?" And so I got the Excel spreadsheet and um with awe I pulled the
042spreadsheet and I sorted it right um by dates and and so I saw 29 years and then I kept going. I'm like wow there's so there's 12 of them. Um almost all of them are here this evening and so I'm going to try and make it quick. Um they've been at work some of them 5 in the morning 6:00 in the morning preparing breakfast and lunch for our students. And so, um, and another side note, um, the the typically the 1st of May is superhero, uh, cafeteria superhero week or day. Um, and that was May 2nd. And so, we're able to give them some goodies and recognize them. But, I thought it was important for us to, um, bring them here today, um, and recognize them with the certificate. So, I'll call up, uh, all
043of our cafeteria staff that are here today. And they range from cafeteria staff to managers to assistant general managers. So, And I got our uh senior general manager for SF, Rex List. A lot of you see Rex around. Uh he's he's got his, you know, head down typically and ready to to serve the district at all times. And so uh we'll go ahead and present these wonderful ladies with some certificates and then maybe we can take a picture and anything uh that you all would like to add as well. So um let's see here. Um I'm going to do 20 to 24 years. Um, so when I call you, grab it and then stand right here and then we'll take a picture. Okay. And I don't like pictures, so I'll be We're just doing pictures.
044We have Yumi Trailer. She is at Eagle Ridge. We have Karen Winn. She's in Rio Ranch, Ohio. uh Amy Rodriguez who was at Rio Rancho High for a very long time and now she's an assistant general manager with us. Linda Thompson, she is at Enchanted Hills Elementary School. Tennis Simmon and she is at Rio High School and Patricia Rodriguez and she is at Joe Harris. [Applause] So, uh, 25 years of service or more. Um, first we have Joanne [Applause] Moan, Kathy D. Harmo. Um, Kathy wasn't able to join us. She's at Mountain View and she's the manager there. So, she's been there um quite some time, 27 years. Um, we have Linda Valdez. Uh, she currently is our assistant general manager. Thank you, Linda. [Applause] Um, Abel Reyes. Um, he's one of our drivers. He's
045at all of our schools. Um, he's been with us, uh, 27 years. So, um, unfortunately, he wasn't able to make it tonight. So, thank you, Abel. Um, we have Gail Kinones who's at Eagle Ridge. She's the kitchen manager at Eagle Ridge. So, thank you. And last but definitely not least is uh Ria Perry. And um Ria is at PUA and she does a really good job at PUA. So, thank you Ria. 29 years have come up here. You want to get us in it or do you want Sure. Yeah. Okay. Do you want to say anything before we go down? We'll have you come up and get a a photo in just a second. I I said a little before. We so appreciate the job you do and some of you I know because you
046said my children, but um we we do appreciate your hard work. You are very much a part of our district and uh we we do um acknowledge just the important thing. You set the tone for our kids in so many different ways. Many of you start with breakfast and then come in with lunch. It's not only a place to eat, but it's time to talk and socialize and that warm and caring environment that you provide in your in your schools. It really matters a lot to kids. So, thank you so much for for the good work that you do and thank you for staying with it so long, you know. Um it's it's a hard job we know and uh we we're thankful that you have been part of this for for at least 20
047years. So, thank you all for coming tonight and letting us honor you this evening. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [Music] Thank you. All right. Got it. Okay. [Music] just think you guys will get to be in the book for the 60-y year anniversary of your ranch public schools. We'll have to put that one in there. Thank you all so much for being here. We appreciate it. Um, so our next is the intel reading for Miles and Amanda Ball, our uh Ranch Public Schools lead librarian at MLK Elementary, will present. Hello. Good evening, Dr. Lein, President Galbra, members of the board. Thank you for having us, having me here tonight. Um, we wanted to recognize Intel in our third year of working with the Intel Reading for Miles Challenge. Um, they have been encouraging
048our second graders to read for the last three years with this fun challenge where they donate bikes and prizes to encourage the students to read for um we did two weeks this year for a two-eek period of time. We had about 580 students across the district uh turn in reading logs for that twoe period. So that's pretty awesome that we're reading and we'll go on. We read a total of 230,557 minutes. Um the second graders read during that twoe period. So we had winners at four winners at each school. At Queen Delorte they read 8,49 minutes. At um Zia Zul they read 16,886 minutes at Inchan Hills 21,570 minutes in Stapleton 8 thou 83,110 minutes at Joe Harris 16,275 minutes at Maggie Cordova 8785 minutes at Martin Luther King 13,892 minutes at Questa Deloul 10,74
049minutes at Rear Rancho Elementary. 15,645 minutes. San Die Vista, 8,61 minute at Vista Grande. Oh, I don't have their total on there. So, I'm I missed that one. Sorry. It's probably on my spreadsheet and I forgot to add it. Sorry about that. And that's our last one. But you can see all of our happy kids with their bikes. They were so excited. Um, and Intel Encouraged with bikes. They also gave us little uh pencil toppers for every student that had logged any minutes for the first week and little uh squishy balls for any student who had logged minutes for the second week. So really encourage those kiddos to be reading. Um and so we just wanted to thank Intel and our liaison over there, Raquel Leon, for um helping us continue this program and really
050encourage our students to read. Ah, thank you. Thanks for coming, Dr. Thank you so much. Do you want to say anything? Well, I that's okay. I I just wanted to thank you for your effort in coordinating this uh for for us this year and you know we nobody has to tell any of us. We know how important reading is to children and the more they read and the more they read for pleasure the better students they are and the better readers they are. So uh getting kids excited about reading is it it's important but we also thank Intel for stepping forward and giving some nice incentives for our students to to read. And so we thank you. We thank all of the coordinators at the building. Um, congratulations to the kids and, uh, and thanks
051so again, especially to all the staff who helped with this. So, um, th this is wonderful and we hope that we can do it again next year. Thank you. Thank you so much. [Applause] So fun. You know, I find that if we can, no one want the kids don't read as much as they used to, you know, but if you have programs like this that they can see how fun it is to read, then it just can really launch them into some good practices. So, um, so now we'll go to our reports. We have just one tonight and it's our legislative update. We have Lauren Hatch, our chief legal counsel, as as well as Chris Balzano, um, our from government, our government relations. Madam President, members of the board, Dr. Cleveland, I am Lauren Hatch.
052um here to uh talk about the legislative results with our top gun. Here he is right here, Chris Bazano. When I was in K12 school, I really loved the visual arts programs. And one of my favorite things to do was to uh our teacher would have all these magazines and we'd have to cut out pictures and make these collages out of them. And I've learned that uh working on legislative matters is very similar to that project. It takes a lot of people's work and you gather that together until you have a coherent picture in the end. Um I do want to thank our delegation echoing what Dr. Cleveland said. Um we have a very good uh set of legislators that care about Rio Rancho public schools and have been able to get themselves on some
053very key committees um and they look out for us and they make sure that we have the funding that we need and they listen to our concerns about legislation both for and against and we very much appreciate that. I appreciate the work that the board has done this year um and going up there and making the case for for us. It's it's very powerful thing. Also, Dr. Cleveland. I had the u distinct honor of of fing her up there uh quite a few times for her to testify and and that makes a huge difference. And then also Chris Bzano, our guy on the ground up there. His work is invaluable because he is there in those conversations that we're not able to be at because we're busy doing our work uh back here at the
054district. And I I really very much appreciate it is a team effort that produces the results that we get. Um, and so we are going to talk about uh kind of where we're at. I'm going to turn the time over to Chris. We do have a presentation and then we'll be uh we'll stand ready to ask answer questions. [Music] Good evening, Dr. Cleveland, president and members of the board. It's good to be here with you. Um, I was just thinking when I was sitting there that this upcoming fiscal year is going to be 10 years that I've been with Rancho public schools and I still remember when uh Gary retained me uh I was just starting. I only had two years in and I do appreciate um the opportunity every fiscal year, every legislative year
055to be uh to be there and representing Rancho public schools. Um and I want to echo what uh Lauren uh stated. Thank you so much for being there each one of you Dr. Cleveland uh on the last hours of the last days of the session being over there waiting patiently um and as you know the quote and the roundhouse is hurry up and wait and we did a lot of that and I know each one of you also reach out to our delegation work with your relationships um up there and today I uh I'm very excited to report to you the work the results of the work that we uh were able uh to do together as it takes an effort uh cannot just be myself up there but we were everywhere uh where we
056needed and uh this is the result. Um lastly I want to just uh say thank you for your patience uh on as we were preparing to give this report. I felt that you'll be uh uh much more effective waiting until the governor uh finalized and signed everything and then we could take a look on House Bill 2 and see really what got vetoed, what uh passed and then provide a a final legislative report to each one of you. So, uh let's go to the to the presentation there. I just want to recap a little bit of the the dates. uh session ended on March 22nd. And on April 11, just a month ago, uh that was when the governor office had the deadline uh on uh signed bills and vetoed bills. Uh legislative finance committee
057already started um their budgetary hearings and meetings. So the budget for next fiscal year already beginning the conversation and this week they actually having the first hearing uh happening right now actually and to carry. Um so they the other interim committees that we monitor throughout the year will begin uh on May 15. The work preparing the work agenda for the interim committee or the interim session before the 30-day legis there. Just to remind you July 1st the fiscal year starts October 17 as our caplay deadline uh when opens so they can we can submit deadline December 13th uh I stay in touch with Lauren with everyone in the team so that we can track all those things something that to think about in November if we're going to do our legisure reform with our delegation
058and present uh what um we're going to be requesting for the 30-day session uh in committees or interum session what I like to call ends on December 16 of this year. Last slide. So on your uh final legislative uh report um probably saw that on your folder there that is uh the final legislative report includes everything that the governor sign it that we were tracking. Uh everything that we were tracking that she vetoed uh all pocket veto and also legislature that did not pass the legislature that made it to the governor's desk. that is the governor's desk report which is what is on her desk. Uh not only will we track but everything everything that made it there you can go to that PDF file and you'll see the report and then you receive also
059uh your list with caplay and that list of caplay are the names of the legislators now so we can track who helped the school district and made those those appropriations. So that came up about an April 25th. That's why it took a little longer because again I wanted to give you the final uh updated report on that. And then we have House Bill 2 which is our budget and all the breakdown for public education and public school support. Everything is in detail on that PDF file as well where you can go through it. Uh and if you have any questions beyond what is there, please feel free to contact me. I'll be more than happy to provide that. Next slide. There we see uh a little bit of statistics on the session. Uh 1,328 pieces
060of legislation were introduced. That's bills, memorials, resolutions. But look how many were signed. It's a really low number. So at the beginning of the session, we all uh get a little excited with all the bills and everything that is coming up, what we support, what we don't support. And it really takes a whole team to identify every legislation and kind of know already okay this is not going to go anywhere where we should focus on it. Um but it shows there uh that uh it's really low a low number that makes it into the books of law. Just give you a perspective. Next slide is just a overview since we have been a firm overall with our clients when it comes to state budget that's incurring funding. Uh so to give you just an idea
061on that, next slide. This is just to give you um if you you know where do I find the budget? What exactly uh is everything there condensing legislation? Those are the three pieces of legislation. House Bill 2, Senate Bill 425, and House Bill 450. That's um where all the money is. Um and again, if you have any specific questions about budgetary state matters, just feel free to reach out. I'll be more than happy to um uh go on that. Let's go to the next slide and figure out what was the highlights. Uh House Bill 63 was the biggest one there uh on debate and working together negotiations. That bill uh was uh the public school funding formula. Uh we work on increasing the basic program unit. Um also had other things related to at risk
062indask for charter schools. uh did created and transfer some money for English learner program units as well and provided whole harmless provisions on the formulas and the changes that were made it. Um you probably saw in the SB 163 the tribal regalia that was all over the everywhere it was talked over and over again. Um, see, come back here. House B 156, uh, educational salaries. with that. Um I did add this to your house bill 2. Uh so that you are aware that um just an observation here with the increase of SL salaries. We just have to make sure that the the the funding right now assumes that we calculate the 4% average first, then we do the tire increase, not the other around. because if we try to do the tire and then the
0634% we're gonna fall short on our budget and there's some school districts that have done that. So just an obstacation I put that on house bill two analysis so that way we are aware on that um on the detail there on the language. Then we have um house B 195 with a school nurse salaries entire and minimos. Uh that pretty much creates a system for the school nurses with minimal salaries at the same rate as teachers. Appropriation as well. Um we're made it to that through Senate Finance Committee. Uh House Bill 532 uh requires each school board to develop and adopt guidance for student water safety. That's another one that um passed. Governor sign it. Next slide. And then we have the SB11 which was the cell phone uh bill so that the boards of
064the school districts that they have to create um uh a policy on that. I know we I believe we already have a policy set on that. That's now in statute. And then SB 82 with public school cap. changes some of the changes that um um some of the provisions that were there was to reduce the local match um for schools. Um so everything that we see there in a way uh for school districts in general it was a good year and the session. Next is the capital outlay projects. Um there you can see again who who appropriated the funds for our projects, what we were able to secure. We had a very successful uh session. So uh you got the PDF file with the detailed list, but I just um put that there for the
065presentation so that way everyone can take a look and see the the the work that took for everyone being up there and securing the funding. Let's go to the next slide. Next. Okay, let's see one more. [Music] One more. Keep [Music] going. There. That's the big one. Uh this is not easy. Uh we again with the effort of each one of you, Dr. equipment. Um our team there uh on the late hours on the last days of the session to secure $3 million and also the work that happens after the session of our we we do like anything is a chess game. We have opponents that were trying to convince the office to veto that. We had to work on deliberations with the office of the governor to protect that in state statute so didn't
066get veto as well. Um, Lauren had a bad experience uh on understanding how the pieces work together. Um, what did you say about the how you learn how the session works with the pieces of paper and you put out together? I learned different. I learned through how to make sausage with my stepfather in Germany, you know, and that's what reminds me is a is an experience. You don't want to know what is in your hot dog somewhere in a round house. I had that's how I I compare to it. Uh, you know, it's hard to be there on the late nights with everyone. We are in the business of people and everyone's tired and everybody's there and trying to do the best they can with what they have and here we are. Uh, special appropriation.
067I want to thank Dr. Cleveland uh for being there uh when it needed to be there uh and uh we were able to secure that. Let's go to the next. This is just what we should forecast and see what is coming up. Um some of that I already already mentioned. Um uh when it comes to interim we're going to be traveling and monitoring the legislative education study committee in affairs committee senate finance committee I'm sorry uh legis finance committee and um one observation there you can see the two last bullets there is a forecast for a special session. So right now, as you can see by reading the news and watching, there's two scenarios that are folks on around the house are discussing. The first one is that the administration will cut funds and nothing's
068coming to the state and we're going to have to get in a special session because we we need to have a budget balance. It can go deficit. So we went through that before you you you some of you are familiar with what what happened when they reverted funding. Um there is a possibility if we go to a special session that five to 7% of the reserves from everyone doesn't matter school districts every agency will be revert to make the state budget and trying to balance um uh with the cuts that are coming from uh the federal level. Uh the the second scenario is that those cuts that are happening at the federal level are just so that the funding would be allocated to the states and then the states make the decision and what programs
069are best for the states. We don't know that yet. Um that's why there are targeting October to have a special session um a little few months just after the fiscal year to kind of have an idea okay what's going to happen when it comes to cost how does it it's going to impact the new Mexico public education department and school districts here in our state. So we we are monitoring that. I just want you to be aware um that that might come up. Um we are monitoring to see if a special session uh will happen before the the beginning of the summer but that's it's related to crime. Um not really school districts. So don't no need to uh you know what's going to happen this special session but the one you need to watch
070is the second one after the school year. And with that for any questions that you may have. Thank you. Okay. Thank you Drip. Any questions or comments on anything? Excellent. Excellent job. But I do have a question about crime. You know, recently I've been reading reports about uh a lot of guns in school and the media has been covering that. So, will there be anything in the crime session that relates to crime that's going on in schools? You know, so that may be something that we may want to look at in order to get more safety dollars. Just a thought. Thank you, Chris, for all the good good work and the whole team. Thank you, Lauren. Okay, we'll keep going down. Jeff, I just need to go back to the slide that showed all of
071the the bills that were submitted to be passed. The highlights highlights. Yeah, keep going. The one You're right there. Right there. So, so the total number of legislation was 1328 and then Rio Rancho got one. How many of those were just total for Rio Rancho? Were we at 50% 80%? That's kind of what I need. Um, so if you sit there public school, we track 142 out of the 1328 that you see there are 1,328. Okay. Okay. Got it. So, yes. So we we we look we we look at all of those bills as they are introduced. Okay? And we decide is this something that's going to impact reim public schools. If so, we put it on a tracker and we start watching it. We look at the committee assignments. We look at the amendments
072and we watch them as they continue on or as they die. And then uh in the end we have a list of of stuff that's passed. It's going to impact the district and we prepare to implement those things. So 142 for Rio was tracked. Correct. And then the highlights that I That was it. That that was it on education that made it to the governor's desk and it was signing. Those are the the ones that she signed. So which is even last. Right. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. That's kind of what I was asking. Yeah. Okay. All right. All right. Yeah. Okay. It's kind of crazy how much goes through. There's other bills that that impact the district in a general way like as an employer. Okay. Uh as a land owner, other things like that.
073Okay. But specifically our education business. Those are the key ones. And you'll see us over the next month or so. We'll be we'll be bringing policy. Okay. Got changes for you. Yeah. Thank you. Very good work you do. Thank you, sir. Really really appreciate that. Thank you. All right. Be Oh, I just want to thank both of you. I was very interesting to be back up there again and see kind of the craziness that goes on during the session, but I sure do appreciate your work and very grateful that you're helping us. Thank you, Jessica, Tyler. Yeah, thank you all. And like you said, definitely a team effort, but the leadership and Lauren, I know you stepped up um a lot this year and and helped coordinate things. So, we appreciate the work that both
074of you guys did and of course, thanks to Dr. Cleveland for being so involved because it's easy to kind of take a backseat to that and she never does that. And so your ability to um and willingness to be there at the long hours and to testify on the bills that affect us is appreciated and I I hope the community realizes that. So thank you very much. Thank you. And I I just want to echo what everyone says, you know, being up there and watching it all work and Dr. Clayton was up there. I don't know how many times you were up there with with Warren and just going back and forth. I feel like even one time you guys came here and then just went back spring break. Yeah, it's spring break. And you
075know, and just being up there too and watching Chris do his work and how he knows everyone and he manages to get everyone in the right place at the right time and it's it's just really impressive. I don't remember if I talked about this last time, but as I I sat with Dr. Coven as we sat around the table with some important people up there and I was just I was actually in I was in awe of her the way that she knows how to to speak to people and that she understands all these different processes and um it was just it was impressive and I I just wanted to sit there and learn from the ways that she's able to go through those things. So I want to say thank you for for all
076that. Um but thank you. Thanks for giving us a great update here and letting us know on that cell phone one. I need to look I know I need to look back through it but we don't do we need to make any changes on that or is our policy sufficient reviewing that right now okay recommendations on what to do I think our the policy that we have is is probably along the lines of what they're there's some specific things that the statute says you have to include and and certain things that like exclusions that have included as well so I have to make sure that's captured okay well thank you anything else from you guys or Dr. Cleveland, I'll just I would just add one thing. I you know, appreci real sincere appreciation to both
077of you for the amount of time and effort that you put into this. And you know, as Lauren said, you know, he and David would go through and look at all of them and then they would determine if they were appropriate or not. And then they bring them to cabinet and then the cabinet would take a look at all of them and decide which ones were more pressing. And and of course, we were always saying how, you know, what's the impact of this financially or what's the impact on this for our students and our families? and then to track them all the way through. And we appreciate Chris calling and saying this is the time we need some some support. I also want to again u thank our business community on that 3 million because
078they stepped up and turned those letters around in a day and got them and I have absolutely no doubt that many of those letters from some of our key businesses in this metro area had an impact on on that policy committee and the governor's office. So, uh, we appreciate them for doing that, but someone has to do the dayto-day and and, uh, it it's just, thank you for all that you do and Lauren for for keeping us all on track here. Um, and and for cabinet for putting in the time, um, to to to look at it. It is an interesting process and a frustrating process. Don't know anyone that would be better, but I'm sure there are times you think there has to be a easier, better way to get this all done. But
079I'll tell you what it reminds me of. It's kind of like going up and watching the sausage being made and and just how it all goes through all of these, you know, and uh and and then it come it comes out. But the couple's bills I I just can't stress enough how critical they were to the financial well-being of the school district this year this coming year. So I thank you for for all your hard work and uh um the the thing that's just so amazing is that it starts now again in earnest in the summer and uh one of the discussions is uh that maybe we need uh to uh have more um show up more at some of the um the interim committee meetings by region not statewide. So that's something that maybe
080we we need to pay a little more attention to. Thank you both for all your hard work. Thank you. Appreciate it. We've been clapping for a minute, so I kind of want to but we're good. Thank you. Um we'll now go to our um public comment. And so um this evening we have one public comment that will be here in the boardroom. Um we also have um well tonight we do not have any public comment that came in through our online um option for people to to be able to give public comment in that way. So, we'd like to invite up um Karen come and not come on. Do you have to you know I and I told JC I wasn't going to say it right by the time you got up here. So before
081you start just so you know JC has a three minute timer and so when that ends then then your time will end but it starts when when you start. So we'll go ahead and turn the time to you. My name is in the district. Um, this past Thursday, my six-year-old sustained a head injury for another child at school. Um, this other kid, they were in line in the hallway. He picked up a doors stop and flung it at my kid's head. Head wounds bleed a lot, which scared the crap out of my kid. Um, earlier in the day, this same child also caused the rest of his class to miss a quarter of their zoo field trip because he had a meltdown on the bus and they don't have enough adult supervision to be able
082to manage this child. Um in speaking with the vice principal on Friday morning, she said that um children with behavioral issues um you know it used to be one kid, you know, per grade, right? There was one or two. Um and it has gotten to the point where it's one or two per class. And I know that my kids teacher has been here to beg for help. I'm sure there have been plenty of others, but um there's not enough help for these teachers. And a teacher's job is not, you know, they cannot be a behavior manager for one kid in their class. They've got a whole class full of kids. And so, how many more kids have to sustain injuries before we do something? And I I mean, I'm happy to get up here and
083be mouthy and be a squeaky wheel, but I'm I'm also willing to do the work. Like I I mean, our senator seems to have stepped out, but you know, I'm pointing in line in the right direction. Like, how do we get help for our teachers? so that all of the kids don't have their education disrupted with behavioral issues. What do we do? What's what is what is the answer? Like I know this is not on the agenda, so you're probably not going to respond here, but um I'm not just asking rhetorical questions. Like there needs to be like an actual answer at some point. Yeah, you're right. We cannot respond back to you tonight because it's not on our agenda. Um, but is there a way to get this on the agenda? Like how does
084how does that happen? What is the process here to find some help for these teachers? Yeah. So, I still can't really talk back with you. Yeah, we'll do that. Leave your number. I can get a hold of you. I'll be glad to get back with you. I love that. Who do I leave that? Yeah, we have Tracy right here at the front. So, thank you. Thank you for coming. Yeah, I said I'm I'm happy to do the work. I'm happy to talk to whoever I need to speak to. knock on doors, bully people. I'm, you know, I'm good at being mouthy, but I want to get help for our teachers and our kids. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for coming in. I usually do say that at the beginning. It's always kind of
085awkward because if something's not on our agenda, we can't re really respond back to it. But we do appreciate all the public comment that that comes into to our boardroom. And this is definitely a topic that we do talk about and we'll make sure that we talk about here. We've talked about it a lot and it's very complex. I'll be very glad to get back with you. Thank you. Okay, moving to our consent um agenda. We have a Madam President, this is board member Tyler. I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Board member Jeff Morgan. A second. Okay, we have a motion by Jessica Tyler. I'm going slow for for JC over there. And a second by Jeff Morgan. You got it. Um all in favor? I. Any opposed? Okay, motion carries on
086that. Okay, we'll now go into the business portion of our meeting for tonight and we'll start with considering the approval of the Fine Arts Education Act application for the 2526 school year and Dr. Kurt Schmidt, our executive director of fine arts will present. Thank you, President Gworth, Dr. Cleveland, members of the board. Um, very brief presentation uh today. Uh I'm asking I'm presenting about the fine arts education act and asking for approval to submit the application to the state which is due May 31st. Um so first of all what is the FAA? Uh it is a as you see a legislatively appropriations designated to ensure art music or other fine arts at the K through six elementary level. Some state or some districts have grade six as part of the elementary. We have a middle
087school but this will cover some of the funding for sixth grade. It also uh this this is this uh program is middle is is submitted to the state yearly. What FAA is not uh there's a major cons misconception that is a grant probably because um we do have to put in paperwork and there's a there's an application for it. However, it is not a grant. It is uh funding that runs through the SCG as the rest of our Minnesota. It is not granted. I just want to make that. Um as I said, however, an application does have to be submitted and probably there in lies the conclusion. So yeah, uh how the how the money we get for the FAE is determined is through this formula is the unit value which uh next year is
088uh lower $6,800. our 80 and 120day average uh which is 8,36 students for next year multiplied by the fine arts education act multiplier 0055 and yields roughly over just over $3 million. Uh I did check the finance and this does this is the amount that has been reported on our 9105. So it is my calculations and math are correct. So, I'm glad to see that uh the budget does uh support salaries for elementary K5 uh art music teachers. They'll later uh stipens for elementary band and orchestra programs. Also for content leaders, stipens for content K through five, professional development for fine arts and general education teachers. uh instructional materials and supplies K through six, transportation for students in the arts and instruments and equipment for fires programs again K through six. It also helps support
089our partner many partnerships uh specifically with the Santa Fe Opera the Kennedy Center uh our arts integration workshops that we offer. We offer roughly four to six uh per year for mainly general education teachers. Uh differs per workshop. Some are some are more elementary based, some are middle school and secondary based. Um those arts integration workshops are funded by the FAEA. Uh student produced operas at the elementary and middle school level. Um that's also part of our partnership. It's simply the uh center opera, not the Canadian center. In fact, if you're free on Wednesday, oh, I know there's an appreciation dinner on Wednesday night, but we also have a student produced opera um performances uh Wednesday night. It's a culminating experience for those students. Also, our partnership with National Dance Institute New Mexico runs movement
090classes for fourth graders at four of our elementary schools, Maggie, Questa, and Sandy Wa. So the staffing as I mentioned earlier the funding for FAE funding helps fund the salaries for 11 art teachers and 13 music teachers at the elementary level. Uh we have as you know we have 11 elementary schools. Uh two of the larger elementary schools double up with music to help again with the specialist rotation. Um, and as I said, at least every every elementary school has at least one art and one music teacher school site. Uh, the teacher salaries um at the sixth grade level are not funded through FAA, but they do the the fine arts education act does help supply them with uh materials, equipment, etc. Professional development. That's uh six art teachers at the the middle school, 16
091music teachers, and one theater teacher at the at the sixth grade level. And I'll stop question. Okay. Thank you. Um Dr. Co, do you want to add anything for just I think as you put this is critical um to supporting our our elementary programs and so thank you for the hard work and putting us all together. And um we've had a couple of legislative issues that have threatened this money. Um last year was it last year or two years ago almost was gone. Yeah. It's really helping us progress to get that multiplier the 055 multip. So it it it is critical and it uh has helped support our program. So we're very thankful for it concerned if we ran it like everything else through the regular formula we'd end up getting less and less and
092less of it. So um but anyway that that was my only comment. It it pays for a lot and uh we've had to watch diligently to keep that funding at the same level. Thank you. Um Gary T, you have any questions? Y'all have questions? Um we had a question over here, but it wasn't really for Dr. Yeah, we'll ask later. Yeah, discussion. So, he don't have anything. In other words, we'll ask for the we'll ask later. I don't have anything. Thanks for your work. I greatly appreciate it. Thank you. Okay. You still were not paying attention. Yeah. No, we we were we just identify something from the agenda that was a little awkward and and and we need to ask later on. That's okay. Okay. Now I'm very curious. Okay. Um All right. Beth Miller,
093any no questions. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. And Jessica Tyler, anything questions? I'm just checking the application and one of the you know me. Thank you. I'm just checking the numbers. Oh, I know I clicked on the wrong document. Hold on. Let me reopen this. Do you want it on the application? And I think it says I'm assuming it's you're talking about all teachers that we have in our programs cuz K through six because for fine arts for music teachers we have 29 teachers listed. One for theater and then 17 for visual arts. So that's a total of what 18 and 29. I didn't think that those numbers were reflected the same in the um PowerPoint, but I might just not be doing my math correctly. That's okay. That's my only question. Yeah, just
094I would just double check um the numbers on the application to make sure. Those different categories. No. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It has total number of students. Um yeah. So each one that you're looking at is just Oh, I'm not sure what it says, but it doesn't ask for a total number of teachers. It just asks for each individual one. So I think yeah, the other thing about the application is that they they ask for enrollment next year, but nothing. Yeah. Oh, that's okay. That's good to know. Yeah. Does that figure does that help, Jessica? Sorry, I'm just doing my math. Give me one second. Okay. Yes. No, it does add up. Sorry, I just um the numbers were broken up differently, so I just wanted to double check that. I'm sorry. Yeah, no. Yeah.
095No, I thought maybe we had additional teachers and then we were just getting funding for a portion of it, but um it was just the way they're listed out their application was is a little funny. To clarify that the the sixth grade teachers um finance teachers receive funding for their sixth grade students, but the teachers aren't funded. But the teachers aren't correct. And they supplies those same middle school teachers teach. Correct. Gotcha. Thank you. No, I'm sorry. No, you're totally good. Anyone else? Any questions or anything else? You want to go ahead? Sure. I will make a motion to approve your fine arts education act application for the 2025 2026 school year. Board member Jeff Morgan. I second. Okay. And we have a motion by Jessica Tyler and a second by Jeff Morgan. And all
096we can do all in favor on this morning. Yeah. All in favor on this. I. Any opposed? Okay. Motion carries. 5. Thank you. Point of procedure. need. Yeah. Yeah. I have it right here in front of me. So, I'll make sure that we get it done. Thank you. All right. Our next is to consider the approval of the 2526 budget and Mike Baker, our chief operations officer, will present. Oh, good even good evening uh President Galworth, Dr. Cleo, members of the school board. So, uh we have reviewed the the 2526 budget with the finance committee and so I would like to do just a quick review of uh that budget. The total revenue estimated for 2526 is approximately $253 million. Out of that, the SCG is approximately 230 million. Other sources of revenue uh for
097example, user fees uh and taxes come to about 4.4 million. Our beginning fund balance is just under 16 million and our CTE and uh reduction in class sizes is approximately 3 million. So this budget uh essentially represents uh keeping our current programs pretty much at the same level as we currently have now. uh last year or this year actually we did face a shortfall in revenue but there were three major changes that really facilitated this budget to be able to maintain those services and certainly as you heard uh Chris Bzano um speak Dr. Cleveland, Chris and Lauren Hatch going up to Santa Fe. Uh the many times that they did to support specifically um House Bill three which significantly increased our SCG. the uh $3 million for the CTE uh startup helped a lot and
098also we received our transportation um funding which uh is probably an increase of approximately three to three.5 million. So those three things combined had a significant impact on the revenue picture for 2526 fiscal year. uh board policy requires that we have a a reserve which is $6 million which is in the budget. On the expenditure side, you can see that most of our expenditures are salary and benefits and the total expenditure match that revenue. salary and benefit cost is approximately 197 million and schools and departments come out to approximately 56 million. So we do present a a balanced budget. Um this particular year we had a number of mandatory budget additions that were required by the state legislature that include a that includes a 4% salary increase for all employees at 6.8 million uh increase
099in medical premiums for both the district and the employee just under 10%. Dental premiums increased for the district and the employee at 4% and property and risk insurance increase just under 17% uh for a total of mandatory additions uh just over $9 million. um the major initiative that we've been working on for many many years uh and we'll see the um the opening of Riot Tech um in August. The first year operational cost is estimated at approximately um $1.5 million. Uh this particular year we saw just over a 5% increase in our SEG and as you know the SEG is really our bread and butter when it comes to um our budget. Those are the highlights of the 25 and 26 budget. I will stand for questions. Okay. Um Dr. Cohen, do you want to
100add go to the board? Okay. I'm gonna go to might have questions. And I'm gonna go to this side first just you know because I'm always over here always Jessica Tyler have any questions. Okay. I don't either. Thank you. Thank you. Well that was fast. Uh Gary Tr I I just want to add a comment and um the first part of my comment is to thank the governor Kathleen Kates, Representative Kates, Senator Brandt, Senator Block, Representative Hernandez, Representative Colin. I ask my board members to help me thank somebody I may have forgotten, but I would also like to plead with them as Chris Pazano just talked about the uh possibility of the special session in October that if we do our short federal funds that uh we take it out of money that we've been
101saving the last few years in the state of New Mexico and we plea and beg him for that and but we thank him for this wonderful thing they've done for us taking care of our kids. So, thank you. It's good. I don't have anything. I can't remember who else. So, yeah, I feel like you I think you got everyone a great job helping our kids. Yeah. Yeah, they did do a great job. Dr. Clovin, do you want to add anything else? ju just every year is a hard year for budget and and I I think you know it's uh you you look through it over over time you see how very hard the process is uh to to make the things go to make money go as far as we need it to go and
102to utilize it as effectively as we can. And so I want to thank um certainly Mike and David and Heather and all of those that worked on the budget as well as the the cabinet who spent a lot of time looking at the budget as well uh trying to do the very best we can with what we have and using the money wisely. And so it's a it is a challenge and I know people think this might be kind of strange thing to say but every year when it starts you kind of have a pit in your stomach you know just fear of what it's going to be like this year. Are we going to have enough? are we going to be able to to do what we need to do for kids? But um
103it isn't a perfect budget and one of the issues that was just raised is something we're continuing to work on our parent. But um I I just want to thank everybody who put the time and effort into the budget making it work. And um understand too that it now goes up to the public ed department and they can also recommend changes. They don't usually do that because I think we do a pretty good job with our budget. uh but they still have the ability to ask for uh reconsideration or changes as well. So you just you know need to know that could be a possibility. Don't think it's it would be terribly likely. But anyway, thank you to everyone for all the hard work on the budget. Thank you. I mean you know and that's
104just since we are talking about this and we're talking about you know us trying to put these numbers together and we had that public comment earlier and we've been talking about you know what happens up in Santa Fe. Um, but with all those things, there still is so much more that we want to be able to put in that we cannot put in. And every year we go up to Santa Fe and that is why we are up there, right, is to secure those monies. Uh, because we do see what's happening in this school district and we want to make sure that our teachers and our students are safe. And so, um, so I'd echo with that plead with with Gary Trip that, you know, there's still much more that, um, that just needs to
105be done. And I know everyone's heart's in the right place, but there is action that needs to come behind that. So, so thank you for that. Um, anything else from you before we go into motion? Okay. I I would just add that the board spent quite a bit of time prior to this meeting in the finance uh committee meeting going over some of this information as well. Yeah, thank you for bringing that up. Yeah. So, so we ready to move? We are. with Jeff Morgan. I make a motion to present the approval of the 2526 budget. Gary Trip, I'll second. Okay, we have a motion by Jeff Morgan and a second by Gary Trip. And let's go ahead and do a roll call vote on this one. Vice President Morgan, yes. Secretary Tyler, yes. Board
106member Trip, yes. Board member Miller, yes. President Gilbert, yes. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate it. There's a lot of work that goes into that budgeting and so we appreciate everyone who put all that hard work in. Um so our next is going to be um ITB number 2025-022 FAC Vista Grande roof replacement and David Mhel our executive director of finance will present. Thank you president me school board tonight Mr. Michael could not be here with us so we had to go to the bench. It took me a moment like wait it's not Michael Madrid. So I'm not gonna be I'll try to be as eloquent as he is this I am here to present invitation to bid number 2025 022 FAC for the Vista Grande roof replacement. So, um, as an ITB goes,
107we, uh, evaluate based on the lowest price, uh, for all of the operators as opposed to an RFP, which, excuse me, has other qualifications that are evaluated. So, um, and Mr. Baker is here to talk about some of the scope of the work if you're interested in that. Um, I am not a roofing expert nor a procurement of roofing expert, but I'm here to to, uh, present the ITV and the results. So, um, the district received six bids in response to this procurement solicitation. Uh, DKG and Associates, uh, Incorporated, EPX Construction Partners, Franklin Construction, Natural National Roof Company, Pioneer Roofing and Construction, and Wiser Electric LLC. Um they there was an evaluation committee that looked at at the the uh the bids that were offered and um out of the six we recommend uh the
108award going to DKG and Associates Incorporated. Uh a couple of points here to note is their relevant experience doing uh roots. They they have worked with APS, South Public Schools, their data center, charge school remodel, uh the Del Norte and ES elementary school roof replacement, AO del Coastal Elementary School Group, and the Tum Carry School REO project. All significant projects and um and uh so the company is well versed in doing this kind of scalable work and type of job. Um the evaluation rubric is uh included in in the U ITB here and um Mr. Madrid and I went over this just so a point to note here is that um all but one of the uh biders had a either had either a resident business preference or a veteran resident business preference certificate. So,
109and uh we'll note that Pioneer Roofing did not have the resident business preference or the veteran resident business preference. And so, based on all of these guys, the uh the additional awarded points based on that um preference and based on that uh DKG came out as the lowest bidder. So, we are here to um to uh invite the the board to vote to award the ITV to DKG Associates Incorporated. Okay. And I hope that that was pretty That was good. That was Thank you. Yeah. Dr. Clayton, do you have anything? It's just good to see so many really good quality biders on this on this job. So, um that and a really good bid. So, uh thank you and pass that on to Michael as well. Yeah. and board. Any really hard questions for David?
110Thank you. Unfortunately, take a motion. Member Tyler, I'll make a motion to award the invitation to bid number 2025-022- FAC for Vista Grande roof replacement to DKG and Associates Incorporated. Board member Jeff Morgan. A second. We have a motion by just a second by Jeff Morgan. And all in favor on this action? I I Any opposed? Okay, motion carries. Thank you. We appreciate it. Thank you. Okay. Um I just want to go over a couple things on the advanced planning coming up and if Dr. Coburn has anything on that, she's welcome to. I'll ask her. But um so this Wednesday, I think Claudia went around and made sure you talked to everyone for for this Wednesday. But um I just want to really What? Except what? No. No, I didn't say Oh, did you not?
111I'm just hearing things. I think it's time for the meeting to end. I'm hearing things in the boardroom. Um so, um just I want to put a plug in for this um staff appreciation dinner. If you can please make it a priority to be there. It's really um a great opportunity just for us to really honor our teachers. Are we also doing a hall of honor that night as well? We are. Um and so there'll be a good number of folks that are there for that. And recall it's our retirees. It's also other recognition across the district for staff and um and in the Hall of Honor. So, it's it's all three. We're getting so large now. As Scott said, we ran we ran out of one location, we moved to Cleveland. We're about to
112run out of space even there. Uh but it is always a good turnout. So, for those of you c who can make it, that'd be great. Uh but it is a nice evening and we will be honoring the hall of honor Joan Bibbons um longtime um secretary um EA in the district and Mark Leonard uh who was one of our original teachers at the start of of the district. So uh those are our two hall of honor individuals that uh and they'll be bringing some of their family as well. So, we got to have a big crowd and it's a huge it's a huge undertaking and Claudia does a wonderful job with it. It's a nice um it's a nice event and again it's a Cleveland we've had to move is Cleveland in the gym.
113Is that where it's going? In the cafeteria. Okay. That's what I was trying to make sure I go to the right spot when I get there. So, thank you for that. And then of course we have all of our graduations that are coming up. So, this Friday will be cyber um academy that will be at Cleveland. Um, then we'll have Rio Rancho. Um, no, I'm getting this. So, on the 19th will be Cleveland's um and Independence and then we have Rio Ranchos on the 20th. Do we need parking permits from you for those upcoming? Do you have them or should we do my desk? Okay. Okay. No, it's okay. I just know sometime it's like mayhem sometimes over there. So, um, and then of course we have some, you know, Memorial Day coming up, the
114last day of school, and then there's the, um, the law conference coming up. Is there any questions on any updates since there's so much happening? Any questions on the upcoming calendar? Just one comment for the board to know that next year we will not be able to use the event center and so it will look like that we will be um next year it will be an evening event um because uh the state is is making us move to the end of May before seniors can be released. So a graduation date will change and the event center was already uh booked by the time we learned that that was going to happen. So a year from now our graduation will be a little different. So, I just wanted to give you kind of the heads
115up unless the state wants to change that. Okay. Um, so with that, before you leave tonight, before we um we'll adjourn here in just a moment, but I need every board member's signature um for the um for the budget. So, please do that before you guys leave it. It's right here on my desk. Okay. All right. And so, with that, our meeting is adjourned for tonight. Thank you.