001To 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. >> I'd like to thank everybody for coming tonight to the board of school trustees school corporation. I'd like to call to order. First thing on the agenda is the convenience. Um start election of officers. Can I get a nomination for president? >> Nominate the >> second. >> All right. So I guess we need to vote on that. Correct. Any discussion? to vote. >> Doug, >> yes. >> Carol, >> yes. >> Vicki, >> yes. Amy, >> yes. >> Motion carries. No need for secretary. Vicky Harden. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> O. >> Doug. >> Yes. >> Carol. >> Yes. >> Vicky. >> Yes. >> Amy, yes. >>
002Yes. >> Motion carries. That brings us to our due ad. >> Yeah. So, um, per legislation, right, it says that the school board will be updated um by our fiscal indicators at the very the first January meeting of each year. Usually, I'm not the one that does this presentation. Um, but Megan is um is ill and could not be here tonight. So, I'm going to take a stab at the presentation for you. We usually go by do we call it DWAB DWAB is just the distress unit appeal board. Um they are the ones that um work with DLGF um with all of the fiscal indicators and really tells the organization um where they are standing. So these are the indicators we really um go by um our financial adviserss go by these indicators um to
003determine our financial health. Um, so I have given each of you just a PDF of everything that I've got up here, but I want to be able to show you up here. Um, anybody in the audience can see as well. It's a public website. Anybody can go to this. You can see that you can look up any school district um, and find the same fiscal indicators for that specific school district. Um, and we start with just basic um, information which tells us um, our 24 25. Oh, hold on. Let me get the right school. >> There we go. Um, this was 2425 the fall count at 1463. Our 2025 net AV is 2.1. Um, and this is estimated that's in the county. We come back to this dashboard. We take a little bit closer look
004at the trends in enrollment. And you can see just by looking at the graph, right, that um there is a downward trend. Um very few of these like this. The blue is um fall in person obviously. Green is our spring count number. Um on each one of these you can barely barely see um the spring virtual. So you can kind of see like 2022 23 we had 11 kids virtual um 23 24 it went down to five. Last spring we had three. So it just kind of >> on some need there. So >> um that is the current And this year the count is down. >> I don't want to say something wrong. I don't have it on the top. Okay. >> Okay. It's consistent with prior years. >> Okay. >> Take a look at
005fund balances. Um in the chart that's on here. There are a lot funds. I honestly I like to to go in here and uncheck all of these because really the funds that that matter to us the most are education, our operating referendum, our operational funds, our rainy day, and then it's always important because we are self-insured to look at the self- insurance fund. So that takes away a few of the bars and it does a a little bit cleaner of a look. But you can see um for 2024 reporting year um fund balance was at 5 million for operations. Uh education was at 4.3. Referendum was only at 3715. But remember our referendum ended um and that was what was left over from the prior referendum and then 2024 we did not get any new
006revenue for the operating referendum. Um rainy day has not changed. Um again typically it would take board action to spend any money out of rainy day or to put money into rainy day. So um that's very rarely rarely touched. Um and then at the end of um 2024, our self insurance balance was at 805. >> 800 >> what? >> 8005,000 >> thousand. >> Yes. >> Which has decreased a little bit. I mean, I I don't have the exact number off the top of my head, but um I think right now we're we're a couple hundred thousand less than that balance right now for that self insurance fund. So, it's really important, right? Like you've got to be able to keep that those reserves to be able to pay claims. Um you never know when a
007high claim is going to come up, right? So, you have to have a healthy reserve. We have had a very healthy reserve for many years. Um which us not to have to raise insurance rates um until last year. So when you see those reserves get get down to where they're at, that's you got to start protecting it. >> And what was the rate of increase? >> Do you remember? >> I would have to ask Megan that specifically. We made >> I don't mean to put you on the spot. I was just trying to >> get it in my head. >> Um we made some specific changes to insurance though, right? To our plans and 80% 20% some of the plans. Um, so we made quite a few changes last year to the insurance rates. Okay,
008thank you. Uh, the next one is our annual deficit against the surplus. Um, the right green is revenue coming in, blue are the expenditures going out. So, you're either going to have a deficit or you're going to have a surplus of spending for the year. Um the the deficit here, right, just for 2024 is is n about $900,000, right? So, that means we spent $900,000 more than the revenue that came in. What's really important for you to remember is that um these these are not everyday spending dollars that are averaged into um our our budgets, right? So, these could be one-time expenditures, this could be any capital projects that we did. This could be donations or grant funding. Um all of that has to be reported. Um but when you put all the money in
009and then you see what you spent out, it doesn't account for what's grant funded or what's this or what's that. So, um it's really important to know that The next one is our our fund um balances as a percent of our expenditures. So really this is our cash balance percentage up against the expenditures. Bless you. >> Um so if you think about it like well 2024 it's at 64.2. Um do or really they recommend to be able to have two to three months money in reserve to be able to pay which is anywhere from 17 to 25% um of a fund balance against your expenditures and we're at 64.2 So when I say when we have said we've got high cash balances across the board, that's what this is referenced to. If you think about
010it this way, if if no new revenue was coming in, right, we have enough cash balance right now to pay up to 64% of any of our expenditures right now, which is I you would think 3 to five months is probably 25 40%. So this is a good graph. >> This is a really good graph for us. But it also like if you think about the the chart before and the deficit surplus like we do have a cash balance. So, say if there was something that was um needed, let's say it's a new gym floor, that would be a one time large expense that if we have the money in the cash balance that we could use that to fund that instead of doing a debt service project for it, we we could do that
011because we have the cash balance. But you also have to know you're expending more than the revenue that's coming in because we have the cash balance for that year, >> right? for that year. >> Is this the same as your gay fund? >> This is all of our funds put together. That's also really important to know. Um it's every fund that we have. So it's >> it's all of it. And you know that we can't spend anything from any fund. So, um, it is >> I just wondered if it's another different words for rainy day fund because that's kind of what it sounds like is that there's this money that can be tapped into if necessary. >> Yeah, kind of. >> Okay. Um, >> okay. You can see over the years past too, right? Like
012>> keeps growing. Yeah. And that's really due to a a few different things, right? Like the district has worked really hard even before I arrived to to save money, reserve money, um save in any way possible. Um to be able to build up those cash balances, but you also have to think our AV has gone up every single year quite a bit. And when our AV goes up, um we get more revenue in those funds. So, >> but also the cost of things go up too. >> Also, the cost of things go up. You're absolutely right. >> You want to say what AP assess value >> for folks who don't know. Yeah. >> Um this chart is really just the different types of revenue that come in. Um you can see where we have the
013most. Um this is the blue is uh from state. So that's uh funding that comes in from ADM or our enrollment. Um local tax revenue, you can see the um blue is the operating referendum. Um the green is anything from from our debt service um that we have there. You can see at the top in that gold is federal revenue. So federal revenue would be um gosh, those would be grant dollars for special education. um those types of of programs. Um you see at the very top there's federal stimulus revenue. Most of that federal stimulus revenue is uh pandemic um relief dollars. Um we don't receive much federal stimulus money anymore. So and then operating referendum revenue. This is pretty self-explanatory. Um, you see the sharp decline from 23 to 24 because that's we had
014to go a year without any referendum funding. When 2025 picks up, you'll see that it goes right back up. I mean, so the the message there is that even though we were a whole year or year and a half, is it a year? a year without any referendum funding that um you know we were still able to maintain everything that year, right? We were worried about the future years. >> Yeah. Because we we build up such a good cash >> I had a question about the one on the one before that's the colored graph and it says other local revenue that isn't property taxes. I guess I don't know what that would be. It's a very skinny line, but >> that be donations. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Or it could even be uh like
015fees, right? Technically, that's revenue that comes in. Um No. >> Okay. >> I I think about early ed, right? Like you have revenue that comes in because of fees, but those go right back out to >> Okay. >> What about grants? Do grants be in that? >> It just depends. You can see they're um some grants are state grants and some are federal. Um some are completely oneoff grants. So it just kind of depends on the context um of that funding, but it could be. >> And the one that says debt revenue, how do we get revenue from debt? I just don't know what that means. >> Tropy tax. It's part of the property taxes, right? So when when for example when we did this project, right? >> Gotcha. >> Yeah. >> But that's different
016than the regular property taxes or No, >> it's a part of our school. >> Okay. >> Tax rate. >> I've just never I don't think I've seen it. >> I think artist is gosh 14. Is that 14% I think our debt service rate is right now. That 14 is part of the 57 that makes up our total school tax rate. >> Okay. Gotcha. The only other thing um is to be able to review the summary of our investments. Uh the board policy I think is uh policy 6144. Um that just outlines uh what the board allows us to do with with investments. We have two. We have um the investments with our PNC accounts which have all of all of our banking accounts. Um and and Megan is would really be able to articulate this
017better than me, but it's it's like they call it a sweeps account. So once your account comes up to a threshold, right? They sweep it into this other account um and then that is there to be able to collect interest um kind of like an investment. And then if anything were to happen to our our current big account that holds all of the accounts. You have this piece over here that's not really connected to that. So, you could access it. Um the balance of the um interest that we collect off that this year has been is $29,69. In 2024, just to give you something to reference, it was 300 just about 355,000. So you can see what we collected in interest. Um and then the other big one is um our investment with Trust Indiana.
018Give you a little bit of background. Um Brown County Schools started that in 2015. Um and that account was started at 2.5 million. Um the balance as of 12 December 31st this year is 4.9 million. Um this year interest was $23,054. Um last year's interest was about 240,000. So we've received less in interest this year than we did last year. Um and then those those dollars those interest dollars from the Trust Indiana, those get added to our education fund monthly. >> So it's allowed to for that. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Now, I some of the questions I have is like, can can that 4.9 million, can we take some of that money and put that into rainy day? I don't I don't know that anybody's asked that question. Um I don't know if it's
019smart to put it in rainy day, but right, if if we wanted or needed to be able to do that, could we could we um or if we needed to pull that money or some sort of cash emer like emergency on something right comes up um what is the process to be able to um withdraw that money what can you use it for? What can you not use it for? So those are the questions I've got out um to help answer. >> Okay questions are out to legal is that >> uh both. Okay. So the policy is this a new policy or this is >> you just included it so we can see it. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> And this just says where we are allowed to put in. >> Yeah. That's okay. >>
020Fin. >> No, we don't have to approve the policy. Um, you've done that at a prior date. It's not a new policy. It's not a revised policy. Um, it's currently board approved sitting in Neola. So, you don't have to approve anything tonight other than the president and the secretary of the board of finance and you already did that. So, unless anybody else has any other questions, I'm okay with adjourning. >> Can I get a motion? >> I'll make a motion to >> second. All in favor? Okay, that brings us to the regular agenda items. Like to call out meeting order modifications to the agenda board committee representative. Um yeah, we just have two uh modifications is to be able to add the Brown County Quality of Life Committee um Representative Amy Oliver and then a
021legislative leaison representative Amy Oliver. >> Thank you. >> Just that's just accepting the modifications to the agenda. >> Oh, can I get a motion to accept? move. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Vote. >> Doug, >> yes. >> Carol, >> yes. >> Vicki, >> yes. >> Amy, >> yes. Chenise, >> yes. >> Motion carries. That brings us to recognition of visiting comments from the audience. Anybody? There is no presentation tonight. There is no discussion item tonight. Can I get a motion to approve the amendment minutes of December 18th, 2025? >> Move to approve minutes from December 18th. >> Second. >> I'll second. >> Uh, any discussion? Vote. >> Doug, >> yes. >> Carol, >> yes. >> Vicki, yes. >> Amy, >> yes. Janice, yes. >> Motion carried. That brings us to action needed items. And
022this is the reorganization of the board. Can I get a nominee for president? >> I nominate Janice for president. >> Second. >> I'll um any discussion >> Doug? >> Yes. Carol, >> yes. Vicki, >> yes. Amy, >> yes. >> Motion carries. Can I get a nomination for vice president? >> I nominate Amy Oliver for vice president. >> Can I get a second? >> Okay. Any discussion? Vote. >> Doug, >> yes. >> Carol, >> yes. Vicki, >> yes. Amy, >> Yes. Motion carries. Can I get a nomination for secretary? >> I nominate Micky. >> Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Doug, >> yes. >> Carol, >> yes. >> Vicki, >> yes. >> Amy, >> yes. Jenise, >> yes. >> So, you do this? >> Yeah, I'll I'll read through the rest
023um because they're they're already named. Um, we have the corporation treasurer Megan Smith, deputy treasures Joe Ray, Christy Puit, corporation attorney Louis Capus, reporting secretary Bernard. If you want to go ahead and vote on those first. >> Yeah, you can take over officially if you're ready. Is there a motion to approve the um positions as Emily just read. >> Roll call. >> Any discussion? >> Oh, any discussion? >> These are the same. There are no changes here. >> Doug, >> yes. >> Carol, >> yes. >> Amy, yes. >> Yes. I have the recommendation to approve the meeting date, time, and place. Currently, executive session if needed at 5:00 PM and a regular session at 6 p.m. the first and third Monday of the month unless noted otherwise. Is there a motion to approve the meeting
024date, time, and place? >> So move second. >> Any discussion? >> Doug, >> yes. >> Carol, >> yes. Vicki, >> yes. Amy, >> yes. I have board compensation to be $2,000 per year, $112 per meeting, and $62 per special session. Is there a motion to approve the board compensation? >> Second. >> I'll second. >> Uh, discussion. >> Roll call. >> Doug, >> yes. >> Carol, >> yes. >> Vicki, >> yes. >> Amy, >> yes. Yes. >> Of uh the recording secretary compensation for $112 per board meeting and $62 per special session. >> Is there a motion to accept the recording secretary compensation of 1112 per meeting and 60 to per special session? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Discussion. >> Who is the recording secretary? >> Julie. >> Okay. >> I wasn't sure. >> Thank
025you. Roll call vote. >> Doug, >> yes. >> Carol, >> yes. >> Vicki, >> yes. >> Amy, >> yes. Jice, >> yes. >> I have the recommendation to approve the bid opening committee. Um, point the following as the Bron County Schools bid opening committee as presented. Is there a motion to approve the bid opening committee as presented? So moved. >> Second. >> I'll second. >> Discussion. Seeing none, we'll call vote. Doug, >> yes. >> Carol, >> yes. Vicki, >> yes. Amy, >> yes. Janice, >> yes. >> And then the recommendation to approve the board committee representatives as presented. Is there a motion to approve approve the board committee representatives as presented? >> So moved. >> Second. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote, please. >> Doug, >> yes. >> Carol, >>
026yes. >> Vicki, >> yes. >> Amy, >> yes. >> Janice, >> yes. >> Uh, we have a recommendation to approve a donation from Fruitdale Fire Department in the amount of $300 to Helmsburg Elementary. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Thank you. >> Roll call vote. Doug, >> yes. >> Carol, >> yes. Vicki, >> yes. >> Amy, >> yes. >> Janice, >> yes. >> Is there a recommendation? We have a recommendation to approve a donation from through the Brown County Community Foundation for $75,000 for early education expansion project. Is there a motion to move? >> Second. Second discussion. >> Thank you. >> That's from anonymous donor. That's wonderful. >> Um, is that new money or is that like part of an existing grant or new money? >> New money. Awesome. >> Any discussion?
027>> Doug, >> yes. >> Carol, >> yes. >> Vicki, >> yes. >> Amy, >> yes. Janice, >> yes. >> We have a recommendation to approve a donation from St. David's Episcopal Church in the amount of $500 to go towards down on lunch debt at Helmsburg. A motion approved. >> Second. >> I'll second. >> Discussion. >> Yes. >> Carol, >> yes. >> Vicki, >> yes. Amy, >> yes. >> Janice, >> yes. We also have a recommendation for donation approve a donation from Fruitdale Fire Department in the amount of $300 to Spernet Elementary. Motion to approve. >> So move. >> Second. >> I'll second. discussion. >> I actually like seeing these. I know we have to do them, but um I really like seeing the cooperation between the fire department and the elementaryaries and you know the
028churches and the elementarymentaries working together. I think that's really I think it's really great. So we're really thankful for that. >> Roll call vote. >> Doug, >> yes. >> Carol, >> yes. >> Vicki, >> yes. >> Amy, >> yes. >> Janice, >> yes. >> We have a recommendation to approve donation from McDonald's. for $250 to the Brown County Schools Middle School and High School Athletic Department. Motion to approve. >> Second. >> I'll second. >> Discussion again. Thank you. >> Roll call vote, please. >> Doug, >> yes. >> Carol, >> yes. >> Vicki, >> yes. >> Amy, >> Yes. We also have a recommendation to approve a donation from Brown County Shop with a Cop in the amount of $2,500 to the Brown County High School class of 2026 for their senior trip. Can I get
029a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> I'll second. >> Discussion. >> That's fabulous. That's a great >> and it's a really great event. >> Like a lot of people came out for it and um aside from an injury really, really well. >> Doug, >> yes. >> Carol, >> yes. Vicki, >> yes. >> Amy, >> yes. >> Recommendation to approve donation from Jane Huffman of $500 to the Brown County High School band department and 500 to the Brown County High School theater department. Motion to approve. >> Second. >> I can't. I gota jump in >> discussion. Appreciate this. >> Roll call vote. >> Doug. >> Yes. >> Carol. Yes. Vicki. >> Yes. >> I abain. >> Uh we have a recommendation to approve an amendment to the energy savings contract with performance services
030to include early learning center upgrades. Uh the renovation will be funded through the following sources. 500,000 from the Early Learning Indiana's Early Gears Initiative Round Two Grant. 000 from the Indiana Economic Development Ready 2.0 grant and 75,000 donated from the Brahing Community Foundation. Motion to approve. >> I'll second. >> Is there a motion to approve? >> Oh, I thought you said >> I do. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? >> Yeah. I excited for this to to be on the agenda tonight and for them to get started. if approved. Um Debbie Harmon has been working relentlessly on on this to be able to provide the infant room and do the reconfiguration of the early learning center for this to happen um and get approved and certified and all of the things that come with it.
031So um yeah, it says that it is an amendment to the energy savings contract. So, it's also important for the board to know that we did not have to take this out to a separate company to bid out the work because it is part of our guaranteed energy savings contract that we have with performance services. Um, they have worked alongside us um at the ESC um for a really really long time. I don't know what it dates back to, but um >> so any anytime you have a project that benefits the energy um savings. We the board approves an amendment to that energy savings contract um to be able to do that work. So that that's why it reads the way that it reads. >> Total cost of the project um will be $125,000 again
032funded through those three revenue streams right there. >> So that's the entire amount then. And it's so we'll then have preschool >> a preschool room two preschool or one preschool. These two in two two toddler rooms but different ages. Okay. And then an infant room. >> Correct. >> Space for parent development too. >> What are your toddler age groups? >> Sorry. From well the kids can be only um a certain number of months apart. So they'll it'll probably be like 12 months to then 22 months and then it's 22 to 36 months. >> We will basically cover birth to five with and the facility. So, there'll be a place for every eight. >> That is awesome. Have those of us who have had kids in Brown County appreciate that when there was no infant care
033at all and very little preschool and toddlers. So, thank you Debbie for your many years of working this. This has taken a long time. So, >> yeah, there are some um age that will not be addressed in this first phase of this. Um, so just know it is it's a next phase project is the Hback needs to be addressed in that end of the building. >> I was going to say it's not the whole building, just the early learning center. >> There's more grant money available for >> in the next year. >> Great. >> Well, congratulations. This is exciting. Thank you. >> Yes. >> Carol, >> yes. >> Amy, >> yes. Yes, we have a recommendation to approve the first reading of the following board policies starting with PO2410 the revised policy audio video and
034digital recording meetings through policy PO4362 resend policy and anti-harassment. Can I get a motion to approve? uh session. This is a first reading. First read, so we'll do it again. Does anybody have any questions or feedback on any of those policies to consider before the second reading? >> Doug, >> yes. >> Carol, >> yes. >> Vicki, >> yes. >> Amy, yes. Jice, >> yes. Moving on to the consent agenda night items. Um, none. None. Personal, none. Or personnel, none. Separations, none. Appointments, none. Transfer, none. Superintendent. >> Yeah. First time we've not had personal. >> Yeah. Um, yes. I have a few things. First of all, our kids come back tomorrow. Um, so super excited to welcome them back. Um, staff came in today for a half day workday. Um I haven't tal been able to
035talk to the principles to get any feedback. We have not had this day in years past at least since I've been here. Um kids have come back on the day that everybody comes back. So just be anxious to hear from staff um what their feedback of of the day um was for them since it's it's something new. So excited for kids to come back um tomorrow. So, uh, I think another really important announcement that came out today is that our homecoming game, um, that was scheduled for Friday has now been rescheduled for Thursday. Um, so people can enjoy the IU game on Friday and not feel conflicted between two awesome events. So, um, >> what if you're a Purdue fan? We still >> I think you're an IU fan. Friday night maker, but I'm not
036I'm thinking that boat is still >> It's okay. It's okay. I want to um express a very sincere gratitude to um our basketball boys and girls um coaches. Over the break there were several tournaments or several games and um Mr. BS, the athletic director, had received several different um recognitions from my HSA um specifically calling out our coaches and our kids and the team as a whole um for excellent sportsmanship. And um it's like we got a whole handful of them within like 24 or 48 hours. And >> every once in a while you'll get one like it comes out of the blue, but um I have not witnessed in a school district. I've gotten so many in a short >> I saw that on the >> That's awesome. >> So, that's always a a
037really proud moment um for kids and and for our whole coaching staff. So, I want to congratulate them. Um >> fly. >> Yeah. Um I also at some point would love to have you go down to see the weight room. Um they finally have finished the floor. Um, and there's some branding that's gone in there. It looks completely different. Um, this has been in that weight room floor has been an ongoing project for years. Um, and it's finally come to fruition and Mr. Bruner was able to get quite a bit of new equipment that was donated um, with our branding on it. So, um, it looks really, really nice. So, if you get an opportunity um, or want any one of us to take you down to the weight room, we'd love to be able
038to show that off to you. And then finally, I thought this could be a really cool opportunity to show you um some renderings of the high school restrooms. As you know, that was a part of the um one the the bond project that was in conjunction with Vanurren um part of the high school projects were in it. And so this is a little bit more exciting than HVAC in the gym. So um Sarah Sarah and I wanted to to show you what the bathrooms will end up looking like. These are the that are in the commons and then also the the restrooms that are in the 100 hallway. >> Um, and you have Oh, no. Here, I was going to say I have a copy for you that you can have. Um, these are just
039a list of the materials. I'm not going to read through any of those, but >> here's the picture. Um, it looks massively different than it did um a week, two weeks ago. >> We should have before and after pictures. >> Yeah, we have some before pictures, I promise. Um >> but you can see like this this wood back here is tile. Um it's all modern features, a very nice clean look. Um it is ADA accessible. The height of the sink and everything was was accounted for. Um you can't tell that in this picture. Um but it is. So that's the big picture. This is um walking into the restroom. It almost looks unrecognizable, right? Um >> we really wanted to address the tile. You see the orang-ish tile there that's leading into the restroom, but
040that's the tile that's across the entire commons. >> Um we know a future project would be to build a connector, right? And connector is probably going to feed into the common somehow. The common space is um a large space and it has a lot of opportunity to re-imagine that um for kids and so we know that's going to happen somewhere down the future and we'll address that tile when when that project gets addressed. But >> nice. >> Yeah, it looks really nice. And then this is the 100 hallway. You can see Mr. Rick ball saying hi to everybody right here. It's not really a door. >> Um you could see that this wall here. Um they're doing kind of the same concept we did at the middle school to be able to have that same
041tile go all the way up to front floor to ceiling and have the water fountains. Um they did have to make adjustments to this restroom um for several different reasons. Um >> the entryway was a big sticking point to be able to move because if you notice if you're ever in that 100 hallway, you can't see in anywhere for the boys bathroom, it's a direct like you walk into a wall and direct right versus the girls bathroom has a has a different entry >> point. So they tried to match them so that they were the same entry. >> So they're the Which doors are they? >> Are they the blue door on the left or they the brown doors? No, those are classrooms. >> Yep. Brown where Emily's right here. >> Y Okay. And there's
042a maintenance there's a custodial closet in between. That's why that's why you're seeing three. That's what I wondered. I was like that doesn't count. >> The girls bathroom is on the end. Yep. and the inside those fixtures and everything will match um the comments. So, >> and is that um more stalls or is it the same number of of >> They're the same number stalls, right? >> Yes, I believe so. Yeah. >> Yes. To the number. >> Okay. So, it looks like they made two handicap accessible in the girls and one in the boys. Look at the bars. I can see the bars. I hope they remember how to place the toilet paper. >> We've already spoken about talked about it. Yes, >> you got to bring Carol in to consult on the on the
043on the group. >> We don't need We don't need anybody on the floor. >> We got it. We got it. So, I thought it was just exciting to show you a picture of of what that's going to look like. >> And when is it completed? The goal is the commons is done leading up right to spring break and then at spring break they demo the 100 hall. >> So that way we're only down one set of restrooms at a time. >> So right now we're being strategic in utilizing our auditorium bathrooms >> here um before school and during lunch and after school and then during the day we're isolated to just 100 hallway during passing periods and class time. So, so the 100 hallway will look like that also as far as the materials and
044the colors. >> Yes. >> And will they have will both sets have the vape detectors in them or is it just one? >> Yep. >> Already done. Yep. >> Cool. >> Yep. >> And there are doors on stalls, right? >> Yes. Yeah. Yep. There sure are. >> Sometimes there have not. I walked into some high schools recently that >> some of you legislator >> update. Um, so I'm gonna take a minute because the legislature started as I should say restarted today. Um, and it, as you probably know, they did two weeks back in December, uh, completely focused on the issue of redistricting. Um, so those two weeks are coming out of the spring legislative session, which would have gone to March 14th. Now, this will session will only go to February, end of February, I
045don't know the date, but um, is only a two-month session. And just as far as the big picture of that, that means that it's got to get through a committee, three readings a vote to get to the other house in a month or less. And then it goes to the other house and it has to do the same thing there and then maybe go to conference committee before the end of February. Every single bill that passes, it is an incredibly short timeline. Uh there are fewer bills to consider and they're not budgetary bills. We only do the budgetary bills in odd years and not in even years. Uh however, there are just a lot of bills to deal with and we'll have you know a lot of the same discussion about those types of things.
046But it is uh it's an interesting time and as I said today was the first time they have reconvened. Um not all the bills are filed yet so we don't even know what all of them are. Uh one one chamber the last day to file bills was today and the other chamber I think it's on Wednesday. So, some bills could still be coming down the line, which means we don't know what all the education bills are. Um, back in December, they did do a committee hearing on stricter cell phone policies. >> And that was that, uh, right now the policy is you can have them not in the classroom, but you could have them in your locker or in between, right? >> Not out during instruction. >> Not during out instruction. This one would be
047what they call belltobell where um basically students and they're saying put them in the little uh the little things that like lock them up that we would have to buy by the way um for every single student. So then when they walk in in the morning they would put it in a pocket and you'd lock it up and then they could have it again at the end of the day. >> It is called Senate Bill 78. If you guys want you guys probably need to follow it because it's gonna it's going to affect your lives if it passes. Um, so that is uh the odor went to committee and now it's going to go to the house. >> So where is that where is that container that gets locked up? Is it something? >> It'll
048be something you do when the kids come in in the morning. >> But where does that so who's in charge of that container? >> That's what schools would have to figure out. So some schools currently >> where students would start out let's say in a home room environment for the first 15 minutes of the day that's where it lives and then the last 15 minutes of the day they end in that same class but it requires an opening mechanism of some kind dependent on what you purchase as a district to be able to open each one individually. It's not like I mean it's usually a magnetic feature of some kind. It's very tedious. >> Yeah. It's a consuming process. Yeah. >> So >> the um looking at what uh Katie Jenner who's a a secretary
049of education um has been talking a lot that I notice about um regulating social media in general, the effects of social med. Um, so they're definitely trying to address that. As I understand it though, this cell phone policy though comes from schools that they say they this is what they want because it is just such a a distraction in class. So, um, again, last year we had the one that that had some sort of a halfway and now this would be sort of the full uh cell phone ban. So, we'll see what happens with that. And again, if you guys have strong feelings about it, you know, we can get you up there to testify. I mean, I think it's really important for them to hear both sides um for against or here here's and
050I'd also be interested in the amount of money it cost, right? Because they are again going to give us an unfunded mandate of you need to do it and I'm sure those things are >> physical study. >> They don't have to do a fiscal study for the bill. >> A physical study. >> Fiscal study bill. >> They will. I don't know if it's been done yet. I just meant us like what would it cost us? And I'm sure there are different companies you can buy those from and what your procedure is. So, but it just again is something you must do it this way and I I understand that of course everything is in your phone, but um it's also just something else for for high school teachers and middle school teachers to deal with.
051So um again looking at what uh the secretary of education was talking about um talking about academic recovery um a lot of things were coming back from COVID and um trying to get those things work you know back to where they were and get our test force back up. Um it is a I know we talk a lot about declining enrollment in Brown County but I always remind people that this is a statewide problem and it is actually just heard a story today. it is a um world problem. Other countries are also having severe declines in in in having babies and so therefore lots of things that our our civilization is based upon is certain number of people and we're not having those number of people. So it isn't just a Brown County problem. We
052are all doing that. I know Monroe County has certainly has a sharp decline as well. Um and then again a concern about the growing um unease was the word she used about kids use of technology and um what to do about student disengagement. How do we keep kids so that they you know want to come to school and feel that it's important. Um some of the successes that they are talking about of course is last year we had increases in early literacy. They said a 5% jump in test scores in reading and there's more to do. Um, but they have been struggling to move the middle school literacy test scores and those have just really kind of been stuck since CO I think. So that is again not a Brown County problem. It just seems
053to be a a middle school problem. So um and then the last piece is that um a renewed push for STEM and math uh that a lot of kids don't get the math proficiency that they need and talking I think I would look for in the future something like the science of reading doing the same with math and they're they're listing something that I I've certainly always noticed is that um that a lot of teachers are not comfortable with the math and so in order for them to teach it so they really probably need more foundation to feel the skill that they need. And um so they're talking about that and and additional state support to do that. So we'll see if that happens. Um one other thing that we're looking at, you may have
054heard of is called the Indiana, I'm sorry, the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance, the ILA. And um that is something we're watching. Um although it does not affect us yet, it could affect us in the future. And and everybody's watching this as a test case. In Indianapolis, it is Indianapolis and Gary are the two places where there the most charter schools and innovation schools and voucher schools, like just many, many choices. And this group has been um pulled together in Indianapolis to try to manage the physical facilities and transportation across all of those different kinds of schools. So that you you wouldn't have this school would have their buses and this school would have this, but you would just have one big bus system that would do all of the schools, whether they're public or private.
055Um, and then the idea of that is then that the school board for each corporation would focus more on classroom outcomes and sort of take away that piece, which, you know, kind of sounds good in that way, but of course I'm sure the devil's in the details there. Um but the concern for us is that how that would then translate to um you know a a county like ours where we only have one corporation um or uh I do notice in um the Chamber of Commerce state report is again talking about consolidation for schools under 2,000 um to you know try to reduce management costs. So all of those things are out there. Um, but I was really pleased that Katie Jenner, Secretary of Education, said um that we should not just use enrollment as
056the only metric that we decide for smaller schools. You need to look at um you know, what are we offering? Um what is the culture? You know, uh again in our case, it's also geography. You know, to get to any other school system would take half an hour to an hour. So, um those are some of the metrics to look at. But I know you'll hear the letters IA a lot in the news and it's kind of like what is that? >> And I always have to look it up again like what is it again? But it is something that is very controversial. There are they have passed the first level of that. So we're going to be watching that to see what happens. Um and then I just wanted to talk about some of
057the goals of the um uh organizations that I work a lot with um for education policies and lost here. Um mostly the issues are about um the schoolboards association that we belong to the ISBA. Um I'm on the legislative committee there and we've met this summer to determine what were our legislative priorities. What are the things we are going to ask legislators to focus on? They're pretty general, but they also give us something to look at that this is this is our goal that we'd like to see and how can we how do bills meet that and that and maybe it's a bill we don't like and how can we get it closer to what our goals are. Um last year or well over the last eight years the Indiana General Assembly has passed 308
058new K12 education laws in eight years. Um that is an average of 38.5 new laws per session and the high volume of in enacted laws require significant implementation and compliance as well as administrative reporting duties. With more than 1500 pages of state laws and regulations to comply with and regulatory environment takes a focus away from our why of elevating student achievement outcomes. So, the Indiana School Board Association wholeheartedly supports continued efforts for regulatory relief um beyond what has happened in the past and have a couple of regulatory things they would like to get rid of. And I was just commenting in our book of policies that we're looking at, a lot of them are crossed out. And I'm assuming that's as a result of other regulatory things. They said you don't really need to count
059this here and count this here and count this here. let's just do it in one place and try to reduce some of that burden on the folks in this room in particular. So they have a couple of um suggestions for that and uh one of them is actually about the accounting procedures and when I was at this meeting they indicated that um the Indiana uh state board of accounts has been contracting out with private accountant firms to do the accounting and they school systems are paying huge amounts of money for that. Um, and it has just gotten out of hand. So, they are um trying to address some of those types of things that are the things that are kind of we all don't see as a public, but um that's something we certainly want
060to do. Um the we also would like uh and are encouraging the legislature and I think it might be a year this could happen is that currently if we are not using a school building or it is considered quote underutilized um a charter school could come in and buy it for a dollar and um that is burdensome to everyone. And so I I have heard some noise that I think we may get a change in that. So that would be good. And um I was going to say if there's anything else obviously property taxes uh from last year and and what was then SB1 or Senate Bill one is now um SEA Senate enrolled act one and we're still talking about that and so there are some suggestions for changes to the base AV and
061uh those types of things. So couple of suggestions there. Um, and then also we were very concerned and I know I've talked to Debbie about this about um on my way pre kindergarten program um and our vouchers. Um we were all very very concerned about the fact that that money has gone away that our families are not able to get the the child care and the preschool that they need. And I think the um what is the waiting list? 27,000 families are >> that's on that's just the CCDF. So the onway prek they they created,200 seats and so many providers stopped providing to on my way prek because of all the requirements that are there. So we still do take on my way prek. So we have a couple families that actually just got >>
062on my way prek recently. Um but that's only one age group. That's foury olds that are going to be turning five years. So >> as I understand it as well that they there were like I think there were 4,000 seats and now there are 1400 seats. So they also just reduced the actual number >> uh because some of those were paid for I think with co money and that money has gone away. So um but that is just a real hit to families >> and so um we're definitely going to be trying to get more and more um focus on daycare and preschool. Um and then finally, the Indiana uh Coalition for Public Education is an fabulous um legislative action group, and if you're not following them, I would recommend it. It's ICPE. And their
063legislative priorities are certainly match with my own um mostly that Indiana must invest in traditional public schools and that funding must keep up with inflation because that has not been happening. Um, and I will say that I've noticed that um that some of the senators and house members have been saying that there was an increase by 5% to K12 schools and that's in their publicity. Well, we're not getting 5%. 3% is going to other types of schools, charters and vouchers. public schools that are assigned 2% but as we know out of that 2% um what do you say 7% has to go to our curriculum because we now have to pay for that. So in essence it's not 5% going to public schools it's somewhere around 1 to one and a half%. So always look
064at the numbers look at what they're saying to you because that makes it look great in a year that was really tough and other things got cuts. Um, so there was there was an increase, but it is much smaller to public schools than it was. Um, number two, public funds. Um, we'd like to no more expansion of vouchers. I think in my field and and and the way folks that we believe in in schoolboard association and other places, we'd like to see vouchers go away, but that's not going to happen. But try to stop the expansion of that um because taxpayers just can't afford that anymore. Um, we also want to see accountability from those schools. I don't know if people know that, um, charter and voucher schools receive millions of dollars of taxpayer money.
065They don't have a board that's publicly accountable. Uh, they don't have to show their books. They don't have to do anything. So, millions of dollars are going to these organizations with private uh, they're private corporations, with board of directors that, you know, may not be able to know. So, it's um, just important that uh, we we really I really This is my personal opinion and ICP's um legislative priority that schools receiving tax dollars should be locally controlled, represented by publicly elected school members who ensure schools are accountable to the communities that they serve. Um, another one is that any tax dollars spent by K12 schools should be publicly accounted for and overseen by elected officials, which I think is similar. and that K12 schools that receive public funds should teach historically and scientifically accurate curricula
066that is open to the public in order to prepare students for careers and be good students in democracy. And finally, um all children from PK to their senior year deserve fully resourced, inclusive public schools led by educated and experienced teachers who have a voice at the table in educational decision making. Um, I thought those six points were just a really great summary of um, where I think a lot of people are in the education field about what are our priorities and where would we like to go. So, I just want to share that. I don't have any news yet on what's happening on the bills other than the cell phone bill, but um, two weeks from now um, we'll definitely have some news. So, thank you for listening. >> Any questions for >> Thank you
067for getting it. >> Nothing else. Do we have a motion to adjurnn? >> I'll take a motion to say all nine. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> All right. All those in favor? All those in favor? >> I I >> Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. Sorry.