001Um, there is a sign-up form, um, by the front entrance if you would like to sign up for that. >> [clears throat] [clears throat] >> What's that? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. >> [snorts] >> I pledge allegiance 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. Our mission statement: Providing today's students opportunities [laughter] to become tomorrow's [clears throat] leaders. Um, to begin, we have a presentation by Barry. Yep, so I'm going to turn it over to Kim. We're basically going to just talk about, uh, the, uh, financial state and kind of go through some of the stuff we've gone over multiple weeks. Sorry, I should turn my own mic
002on. All right. Um, not much of this is new. It's stuff we've been talking about the last several weeks, um, and I won't bore you with every single detail all over again. Um, but I did just want to say how does public schools get their funding? We've got our bucket scenario, >> [snorts] >> um, so we have our education bucket coming from our per pupil or our enrollment numbers, um, and that comes from state funds. Our operations fund, which is funded by property and local taxes. Our debt service fund, also funded by property taxes and local taxes. And then ref tools can't have ref referendums, but Central Noble does not. Um, Senate Bill 1, property tax impacts, why are schools in this situation? Unfortunately, Central Noble, um, is just one of many, uh, student or
003schools in the state right now going through some pretty, um, severe financial impacts for the from this bill. You can see what Central Noble Senate Bill losses are, um, and including our lit losses. So, we have a total potential financial impact over 3 years in just over a million dollars. [laughter] So, consolidation savings, our best guess, which we hope is conservative, is an estimation of our savings is roughly $250,000 if we consolidate. This includes savings in utilities, savings in efficiencies, budget line item reductions. An example of this would be the full budget from Central Noble Primary for things like furniture, repairs, things like that would not be pulled over to Central Noble Elementary, um, and so we would be able to just automatically have some budget line item reductions there. Uh, so can CN wait
004a year to consolidate? Yes. Our operations budgets will be tight for all buildings with this option, but it is doable. Um, I'm also learning more and exploring more about Senate Enrolled Act 1210. This would allow schools to take some of the Senate Bill 1 losses from our debt service fund. I'm looking at historical data for Central Noble to see where Central Noble's comfort level is to you know, how how much we would feel comfortable taking out of there. Um, you have to have a bit of a cushion because if the county doesn't get all the money that they're anticipating, all of our all of our revenues from property taxes are just their best guess. If they don't get all of that money, someone doesn't pay their property taxes or they pay it late. And if
005they don't have the money to give, they can't give it to us. So, we have to have a bit of a cushion in case we don't see everything that we anticipate. Um, so again, going through some historical data there, but that, [clears throat] um, kind of Senate Enrolled Act 1210 would be a way to help us get through another year before a full consolidation. That's all I have, Barry. Sorry, I'm just turning it on. Is there anybody questions for Kim? Yeah, when do we know when the [clears throat] SEA 1210 for sure? So, we, well, Doc Wiley would have to submit a letter to the state by May 15th. Um, I have a webinar on a Thursday to learn more. Uh, it is it is a Senate Enrolled Act already, so it is something that
006is possible, um, and before May 15th, I mean, we would have our comfort level of where that where that would lie or what number we would be looking at. I think, Kim, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it would be a mistake if we didn't at least investigate it for our purposes. Uh, but it but I want to be clear, that doesn't do anything but move the debt from operations, the cuts from operations to debt services. So, it's not like that money suddenly magically reappears. It's not in addition to anything. >> literally just a change where the building's paid from. And we don't have anywhere near what we're going to lose as an option to come from that. Um, it would be a very small portion, but it would be [cough and clears
007throat] a help. And, uh, um, how close are we going I mean, how close is it, uh, if we do extend it for a year? How close in terms of >> You said you said the budget would be tight for all buildings. Like, how tight >> So, we would, uh, Doc Wiley and I have already talked about we'd probably have like a freeze on anything that's not necessary. So, a freeze on all, you know, we we're not going to replace furniture unless, you know, we absolutely something's broken and we have to have a chair here or something. Um, so just anything that would be unnecessary spending, we would put a freeze on on all of that. Other questions for Kim? Okay. I I do want to just talk briefly about this process again. You know,
008we had a we had a public meeting. It was fairly controlled and we had ideas about how we would gather that information, uh, and and we had that and we did get some really good information, some good questions, and and some feedback on that. Uh, tonight I I I felt like what I heard, one of the things we heard at that meeting was transparency and the ability to to have some public input. Um, and so tonight's idea is just one more chance for people to speak before the vote, uh, is taken. Remember, this part of this this this first meeting is public [laughter] meeting. We can't make any or can't make any decisions. The board can't vote on anything. Really, all they can do is hear what you have to say. So, that's kind of
009the purpose of this. I I don't know I how many how many speakers did we have sign up? Three. So, um, you know, it's 3 minutes to talk, and uh, then we'll talk kind of talk amongst ourselves again and ask for the vote for the issue. >> [cough] >> Kim, one more question. Uh, if we close Wolf Lake school, what do we say that what are we projecting the savings to be per year? By closing the school. $250,000. And that would be a we hope that is a conservative estimate. We hope the savings is more than that. $250,000. So, I kind of add on to my original question. So, if we leave Wolf Lake open for one more year, uh, do we have money to cover unexpected things that would come up if something big
010would happen that we would need? Would we still be okay on that end with it being kind of a tight budget at that point? And that's part of my big push this year to try to conserve as much rainy day funds as possible, um, >> [clears throat] >> is to have those rainy day funds in place if we do have a true emergency. I know the geothermal has come up in conversation for the primary. >> [cough] >> Will that be okay for another year should that be the route? We would be taking a gamble there. Um, I have been having some conversations, and you know, we're coming to the end of that useful life of the geothermal. We're we're not there yet. I think they gave us about 15 years is what they said. We're
011we would be, I think, year 14 next year, year 15. So, we would be taking a gamble. Um, but it could go out tomorrow. I mean, sure, yeah. Yeah, the bottom line is that could have happened already. So, I think I think anytime we do and you know, you I think, Tyler, you asked a question about could we get through if we had unexpected emergencies? The answer to that is yes, kind of. I mean, you know, not not if we lost an entire building to to something, you know, if we had a fire or something like that, we would be in trouble. But, I think we have planned you folks have had you folks have been had pretty good foresight in terms of that rainy day fund and and keeping that at a reasonable number.
012We have a reasonable cash balance. It's not excessive, but we have a reasonable cash balance that we can use. What we have in rainy day would not fully cover a replacement geothermal, but, um, at At point, you know, if we would make it through half a year, and we've prepped as much as we can, it might have to up our our timeline a bit. I think we have to find a different heat source. Cuz a million dollars is ridiculous. >> Yeah. >> [clears throat] >> You won't be in the building for a million bucks, though. They'll redo the entire building, and it'll cost more than that, no matter what you do. It doesn't matter if you go to a four-star system or any kind of hot water system. You'd be a million bucks before you
013even look at putting in a better heating system. How much [snorts and clears throat] do we spend historically on maintenance for that system last 5 years, ballpark? I don't have that number just readily available. Um They keep putting it off. They did They did They've done some, but it really, I think, has been minimal. Say that again, Kim. I didn't hear that last comment. For it's historically, what have we spent kind of repair-wise on the geothermal at that building? And I would say it has been minimal in the last 5 years. Yeah. The cuts year by year just, for clarification for everybody. So, you had 2026, 2027, 2028, you know, the 300,000, 230, 260, whatever it was. Is that additional cut? Yes. So, that's 300,000 this year. We saved 250, but next year we get
014another 250 we got to cut. And then the year after that another 200 on top. Is that what we're saying? >> That's correct. >> So, our budget by the end of the 4-5 year period is a million dollars less than what it is yesterday. That's correct. Yes. >> [snorts] >> Do we Do we still have to deal with the geothermal? I'm assuming if we would close Wolf Lake, what does that do to the geothermal? At some point we're going to have to deal with it. I mean, is that correct? >> It's Yes. And so, we would we would clearly have to keep that building somewhat climate controlled. So, we don't We don't want to lose the gym floor. We don't want to, you know, have everything mold. Um so, we would have to have some
015climate control, but without students in the building, it wouldn't be quite an emergency situation, like if we had students in the building. So, we could um that would give us a little bit more flexibility to see what we could do, and we could have some a little bit more flexible options, like if our if our focus, you know, is kind of mainly gym floor, gym space, you could have some kind of localized options in that area. Um So, it would give us much greater flexibility in that case if it goes out without students in the building. Any more on the >> have next year's kindergarten numbers figured out for enrollment next year? Last we heard it was 62. That's early numbers. We always get more throughout the summer. Um that's [clears throat] about normal for
016us at this point in the year. Cuz we had 87 this year. Is that right? In kindergarten? Yeah. Uh Brad, what's the actual number? 70? Yeah, 70. It's right around 80. >> [clears throat] >> Okay. Are we good with 1, 2, and 3 in that section, Kim, or do you have more? Nope, that was That was all for me. Okay. And then moving on to the March 30th public work session review. Yeah, I I just wanted to highlight the fact that we had that meeting. We gathered some information that's since been published. Couple of the big themes were transparency, uh making sure that we listen to the public. Uh there were some questions regarding uh the Some of the same questions we're discussing tonight came up. Um and then there were some questions about um
017just generally the process we went through to get there. That That That people weren't necessarily hearing what was being said publicly. Um so, there was some pushback on that. Big A big thing was class sizes. That kept coming up. Uh there's some there's some discussion There was some big discussion about uh if we consolidate, will class sizes get bigger? And I've tried to be out in front of that by just saying, you know, there's no intent of cutting certified staff members. Um and if enrollment doesn't go up, and we don't cut staff members, I'm not really sure how class sizes can go up. We'll probably have some bubble classes, absolutely. And we'll probably have some smaller classes, meaning, you know, like like this year we have a particularly small group of second graders. You know,
018that that class will probably stay small unless we get a bunch of new ones. Um so, you know, we'll probably have to modify as those kids matriculate through, we'll have to modify those those classes. But other than that, that's really all I wanted to say about March meeting. And then And then those comments are still following. They're still out there. Okay, we can move on to public comments. Um I do want to remind speakers um to state your full name, and um that they are limited to 3 minutes. Um we'll start with Jody Jordan. >> [cough] >> Good evening. Most of you know me, but for those who don't, I'm Jody Jordan. I'm a kindergarten teacher here at CNP. I work for Centerville schools for over 20 years. I stand before you to discuss some
019talking points that are weighing heavy on my heart, and I'm sure all of yours. First, I'd like to discuss the changes, especially the topic of tonight, whether we should close CNP and rethink the building for school for here at Albion. Changes of this magnitude, especially those involving room assignments, renovations, and program movement require significant time, planning, communication to carry out successfully. Attempting to complete this level of change in 105 days from today is our first open house. until we welcome smiling faces into our buildings for the '26-'27 school year, presenting significant challenges at this point. There is a domino effect that comes when you move this many classrooms, packing, relocating materials, setting up spaces, adjusting schedules, and preparing staff. Each step depends on one before the other. And when it's rushed, small issues can come
020can quickly become large disruptions. There are also important logistic risks to consider. What happens if the renovations are not completed on time? What if spaces do not pass inspection? These are not minor setbacks. They are directly going to impact our ability to open our schools smoothly and safely. Most importantly, we need to think about our students. When they walk into our classrooms in August, we want those spaces to be ready, organized, welcoming, and prepared for learning. Not in transition, not unfinished, not a construction zone. And first impressions matter. For example, our future kindergarteners have already toured our building, entered our classrooms here at CNP. We are trying to maintain and even increase student enrollment. Having this much upheaval in such a short time may make us appear disorganized as a community. A rushed timeline puts
021that at risk. This is why decisions of this scale are typically made in such an earlier part of the year. An ideal plan would have been in place at the beginning of the year of the year, allowing time for preparation and communication. Moving forward, I strongly encourage us to consider a phased approach. This allows us to reduce risks, support our staff, and ensure everything Every change is done with intention. Because ultimately, it doesn't It's just not about change. It's about making them well. Something else to consider, we'll also have to maintain the CNP building as we talked about, conducting security tests checks, providing Wi-Fi to run security cameras, maintaining the functionality of the building the building. And it will cost us money whether regardless whether classes are there or not. The long-term effects of these
022decisions and the way we handle them affect the community in the long run. Thoughtful planning and decisions are what truly affect the community in the long run. I ask you to consider each aspect of time and not rush into making these decisions. Hey, sorry. Sorry, Jody. Sorry, Jody. >> [snorts] >> Thank you. Um Miranda Klaus. Good evening. I am Miranda Klaus, a kindergarten teacher, mom of seven, farm wife, 4-H volunteer, and a member of the Wolf Lake Agendas Committee. I understand what it's like to sacrifice for the community you love and serve. I want to begin by saying I commend each of you for your effort, dedication, and leadership on this school board. I stand before you today to ask you to consider keeping Centerville Primary open for another year. Our budget has been created
023for the '26-'27 school year already. And although it is not a perfect scenario, it exists with CNP's expenses already figured in. Remaining in status quo for one more year would give us time, which time is a very valuable commodity. We'd have time to ensure that construction projects were finished before the start of the school year. We'd have time to set deadlines for potential re- reconfiguration. And most importantly, we'd have time to form committees to address the issues our school corporation is facing. Our American community is full of creative, out-of-the-box thinkers, people who deserve to be heard. By implementing true work sessions next school year, we would create an environment where the idea generators have the opportunity to bounce ideas off of and brainstorm [clears throat] with people who have different skill sets, like financial expertise.
024Obviously, we need to increase enrollment to prove that keeping the Wolf Lake campus open is beneficial to the corporation. One way that we could do that is by pursuing some options that have been brought forward, like an outdoor school model, micro-schooling, and offering pre-K as a service to our families. These topics and many more would make great committees. My hope lies in working collaboratively to harness our community's collective strength, creativity, and determination. Together, we can ensure that our school not only survives, but thrives. Thank you for your time, consideration, and unwavering dedication to the success of our students in this community. Thank you. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Darcy Fish. Hello, I'm Darcy Fish. I am a third grade teacher at I believe I didn't really think I was going to talk tonight. So,
025I have no paper prepared. I'm just shooting from the hip. Um [clears throat] I love everybody at Prairie. I love everybody at the elementary. I've worked at both buildings. Um in my opinion though, I think the BMV just needs to be pulled off. Um we need to consolidate. We need to save the 250, and we need to start healing as a community and as a school corporation. There is so much right now that if we work collectively together, we can heal. When we continue to separate the buildings, we're not working together. Okay? So, again, I have nothing else prepared other than in my opinion, I believe that we need to consolidate to work together and to start to heal. That's all I have. Thank you. That concludes our public comment. Comments from Barry. Uh just
026just to address um a couple thoughts. Um you know, before you in the next session, you you can make some decisions. Um I would just say Turn your mic on, idiot. I I would just say that um as you all are aware, this is this comes with a cost, no matter what we do. Uh the financial cost uh of staying open for a year, the the personal cost of the people that have to move and the work that has to be done if we don't [cough] do that. Um I'm sorry, if we do move. Um and I'm I want people to understand that I think everybody up here is aware of that. Um and I think we've heard what people have to say. Um one thing I do want to be clear on, this this
027has weighed on this community uh the I I've been here 4 years, and it's literally been kind of under the ground for those 4 years, and I believe it's been here longer than that that that discussion's being being had. Um and I I just at some level we have to do something. And I I I have told people many times now that I'm to the point I I honestly am to the point where I don't have an opinion. I really just want a decision, because then we can plan. Um and that's that's kind of where I am. Um I I will save my thoughts on a recommendation for the next meeting. Um but I I feel like um all the people that spoke have good points. >> [cough and clears throat] >> Um and I
028am well aware of all of those things. I I know that you don't know me as a community member, but I I have a good sense for how painful this is for everybody to even consider this. Uh and the last thing I wanted to do was come here to be the superintendent of a district that has to close a building. Um but I'm also looking at the financial situation that we are in, and we have I don't know. I went to meetings, and I listened to my predecessor say many times, we're going to have to do something. And that time has come. At some level, we're going to have to do something. The timing, we can figure out, but we're going to have to do something. How much the two [clears throat] ladies that spoke
029before Darcy were talking about construction being finished. How much are we talking? I know we've got to do some stuff for the early learning that we talked about last week. But outside of that, what are we talking about to be ready for kindergarten and first grade to come over? Uh really not not much. Like I mean, there's some flooring stuff, there's some things like that. But I have been around schools, and you have too. You You know how it goes. I mean, one one contractor for not being able to get something done, and you know, that's that's potential problem. It's 100 days, and that'll go fast. Um but you know, can it be done? Yes. Do would we have a plan if it wasn't going to be done? Yes. Would that also involve some things
030that people may not like? Yes. But we can do that. I mean, it's it's not like it's I want to be I want to be clear. It's not like we haven't thought those things through, but I'm not going to come out and say, if we don't get this done, this is plan B. Right? Because idea is plan A is there, and that's what we'll try to do. Uh but it's not like we had I It's not like I haven't thought about, well, what happens if we can't get the doors and [cough] we can't move pre-school. [clears throat] Okay, we go to plan B, but plan B also involves some other things, like where do we move those kids to? Cuz we got to move them. And that also means that the kids that we're going
031to the classrooms that we want to move in June may not get moved in June. They may get moved in July. And and that presents problems. So, in some regards, the phased theory is not necessarily bad. It does buy us more time, but that also creates its own set of problems with cash flow. Mrs. Powell asked a couple things that I was kind of curious about. Pre-K, you already offer pre-K. That's done in the elementary campus, correct? What's the plan for that if you consolidate? Well, I mean, we we would still we would still have it, but she's talking about a pre-K to to increase that revenue and increase enrollment. And I don't know, I mean, that would take some work. And every every bit of research that we've done so far, uh that money
032comes from Title I. Uh Title I budgets generally are being cut. Uh they The state went from 6,000 students who could qualify to 2,500, I believe. With what kind of pre-K? With pre-K. Um and so that, you know, I I I I don't say that as a bad thing. I think we should explore it. Are we not getting those funds now for the pre-K program that we have? >> No. So, we we use a YMCA pre-K program. So, we don't we don't we don't get I mean, we get money from the Y, but it's it's actually a trade-off for services we provide. I don't see Mrs. Lemon here, but how is the micro-school stuff we talked about? >> She She had a couple meetings. She got some students interested, but they were all internal students.
033So, nothing from out of town, nothing coming in from there? No, I I actually I'm going to give Mrs. Jordan a pat on the back here. You think the one thing that has probably the least amount of hoops to jump through to good grow would be some outdoor kindergarten stuff. Cuz I think we can grow some kids there, and I think we can get some from both districts. But again, I I want to be clear. Adding five, seven, eight, 10 students is not going to That's not going to make Selby. It'll help, but it's not going to make Selby small. Could we not do the outdoor learning here? Yeah. Oh, yeah. We can do the outdoor learning here. And I think Mrs. Jordan prefers to do that, actually. So, back to the pre-school. We don't
034get those funds. Right. If we're talking only about money here, but we do get an opportunity for students who may not otherwise educationally get to pre-school, they get to attend pre-school, which serves our community in another way. Correct? >> Correct. I I listen, I'm a huge pre-school fan. I We We the number of students who come to kindergarten completely unprepared is unbelievable. >> [cough] >> So, I would be a huge proponent of anything we can do to get any kids prior to grade K in our buildings to at least figure out what school is about. A- All I'm saying is from a strictly monetary sense, I I'm not sure that that pre-K's are being cut. They're not being added. Parents Parents to fund it. Parents would have to Yeah. Correct. Correct. And and and parents
035that we I mean, those are not generally generically unfairly, those are not necessarily the kids that need to be in pre-K. Thank you, Mrs. Jordan. I've worked with I have done a little bit on micro-school, and she's pretty much done it all on her own, and not having, you know, a whole lot of support from anybody else. And I I the thing when people say community and these great ideas, but we've had opportunities to do things differently and they either go away or they don't continue or they don't get pushed. They're not The things that we're currently doing aren't bringing more students here, right? We do some of these things already, but we're not pushing more of them because of those things. So, to make that pivot in anticipation of that >> [cough] >> pivot
036that saves, I don't see it right now. Down the road, all those things that we do could be done here if somebody wants to push it and do it, but we've had those opportunities. You've had them about time if we were going to really push it and it's not contributing in the way that you know, monetarily, in the way that it needs to. Just talking off the cuff. I don't have any opinions right now one way or the other, to be completely honest. Just The thing that I have issue with is the fact that we needed a referendum to stabilize what we needed. We still need a referendum to treat the people here that we need. I got frustrated that I see like example our band teacher winning awards. So, how do we keep a
037guy like that here? How do we keep good teachers that want to do opera and change something different without getting the pay that they need. We pay garbage here. And like the community said no, we're not going to pay our teachers. And that's frustrating. Now we might have to shut down a school one way or the other because the healing process needs to start. We need a reset of some kind and I don't know that it's one or the other or it's and both. Like we need to reset. We need probably have to consolidate. We need a referendum to bring the education to a whole point where the people that we can get here and stay here, right? Or we can attract talent from other places and they look at our school and they don't
038The first thing they do they go to Google and see what we pay and they're like I'm not even applying there because I can go anywhere else because I don't know if you know this, but there's a teacher shortage because everybody pays garbage, right? So, they come here and they look here and they The applicant pool is like we're hiring people in August with one person apply, we hire that person. We don't know if they're good or not. I don't discount that they're good humans. We've got a lot of good humans, but not everybody here is excellent educator. Like they need some work. They need to learn how to do things. You have to have funding and PD and resources to train up those people. You need to have administrators that can stay in a
039spot for a long time to grow the system, right? Like it's it's completely broken. The whole thing needs a reset here. Like it's just I don't lose a whole lot of sleep. I sleep pretty good. My wife will tell you I fall asleep in like 30 seconds or so. Way too fast, but like these things keep me up. Still love education. I see it all over the country, but like here specifically teachers aren't taken care of. And it it it just takes me off. I'm just so frustrated with the outcome of the referendum. And even in the public board session that we had, there wasn't a lot of support. There wasn't a lot of support for it. So, for us to go spend the money to want to do it, try to get it done
040in the fall and to spend 40, 50 grand in lawyer fees and all these things to try it again for us just to fail. >> [laughter] >> I'm being honest, I don't know why some of y'all stay. That's just the truth. You'll make 10, 20 grand somewhere else doing the same thing. No, why do that? Just I don't I don't I don't want that to be the case, but like the people [laughter] in the community need to hear that because that's the truth. How many I'm Raise your hands. How many of you ever once in a while get on the Indiana look like what else is out there? Yeah. Robbie did a first Jared did the first survey. I'm going to do another one. In this In this room, if you were to see a
041referendum on your voting ballot next year and you knew it was going to teacher pay, who all would support it? I don't see any. >> of you are paid teachers by that referendum money? Yeah. You can't vote. >> [laughter] >> Yes, they can. Well, I mean yeah, but How many people's property taxes went down? Because of Senate Bill 1, how many people went down? How many property taxes went Your neighbor's property taxes went down. John, how's yours? Mine went up. And not just a little. And not just a little. >> [clears throat] >> Yeah, keep hearing our property taxes are going to go down. This is why for I get a school letter. It's not always awesome. A lot of it is at the state level, political law. It's We're kind of stuck between a
042rock and a hard place, you know, they're trying to make the property taxes go down. A, they don't go down and B, [cough] we're asking to [clears throat] raise them to pay our teachers. So, I mean I don't know what what we can do, frankly, down with Well, when it's going down 250,000 every year, close to 400, gets to 250,000, what do we do next year? What do you do the year after that? What do you do the year after that? I think there's a sandwich that tastes too good coming down the road here and I don't see a resolution for it without a referendum and I'm not sure the community is for it. So. So, I'm not sure what we're trying to force through the government Senate Bill 1, but it's definitely going to
043kill a school like ours. That's just a fact. And the first time around it was an education with the community and I've said that before. Like you know what it is. All of this was was transparent beforehand, but a lot of people didn't pay attention or didn't come or didn't show up or didn't see it for whatever reason, but it's been out there enough. The next time maybe it goes the right way, the way it needs to go. But that's that's another gamble that we have to think about. Do it again this fall is going to cost us money we don't really have. So, it needs to be a sure thing. The hard part is also with the referendum something I played back to myself many times is you know, the families that don't have
044an attachment to our school, the families that maybe younger families, it was mentioned at the last meeting. You know, those folks that voted that have no attachment to our schools, but was for solely their personal finance, how could transparency, educating or anything, you know, have those no's turn to yes's? You know, what could we as a school do to turn a personal finance decision into a yes because I personally feel like I don't want to say that our community wasn't supportive. I don't want to say we had internal sabotage. Even though I feel a little bit of that. It's not a fact, but I feel like I don't know how to turn those other no's into yes's because I want to believe that the people that are involved in this school in some way or
045form were the yes's, right? I want to believe that. I don't know how to get the others. That's where I fall with it and I don't know how to risk, you know, a potential salary you know, a a teacher salary to say and gamble on those no's. That's That's where I lose sleep. On the flip side of that same coin though, we have a lot of young families that are struggling to pay their bills now and we're going to try to saddle them with more property tax. I mean a lot of the families that come to the school can't afford to put food on the table as it is. Can I ask how much can we transfer from that fund to ops for 15%? 15% is the [clears throat] max. Yep. So, that's that's the
046other thing that people need to hear. Like if we do it, we we make a decision to try the referendum, and we legitimately have a conference in 3 weeks. I have no idea where these people stand on any of this. But if we would try to pass that, >> [clears throat] >> like that Ed Fund we can transfer 15% of that to ops, which helps offset the SB1 stuff that we're currently fighting. So, it helps take our teachers to a level where they should be paid. Also allows us a little more cash flow to offset those things that Brian's talked about over the next 5 years. They'll offset some of those things like taxes and things like that. Ops fund is also how we pay our support staff. They're the people that are definitely underpaid.
047So, don't hear about a bus screaming deal with 80 kids all over the school every single day. We're cleaning up the puke in the hallways on a daily basis. The whole thing needs leveled up. And the thing that we have to do as a community, if you want this place to be at a level that it needs to be, you have to hire the finest and the best teachers possible. That means pay them well. You have to pay your administrators well so you get the best and the brightest when we have transitions and new things happen. If that doesn't happen, then we get whoever applies, whoever's left in the applicant pool when the others was a paperwork smash. How was principal here? You had a couple of really good hires in August, right? But it
048was two people, right? You got lucky, but it could have gone wrong because that was your only option, right? >> [snorts] >> Anything else, team? I I just want to say one thing. I'm I'm overjoyed as a general body of teachers. And I'm overjoyed with the work that that folks do. But I will say and I continue to say, we have to invest in PD, professional development. Teaching is hard. It is so freaking hard. And it gets harder every day. And and I get it. And I don't know I I In some regard, I'm I'm very sympathetic to what you folks have to do. >> [snorts] >> But we have to find ways to compensate people because it is so hard to do. And and I, you know, I don't I don't want people to
049walk out of here. I mean I've been blessed to work with really good teachers and really positive administrators who really care about kids in the community. But it gets harder and harder every year and Jared's right. What I What I 15 years ago I used to get 30 applicants for our elementary job. Now we get We're lucky to get two or three. And and it's It's Part of that is central mobile, but part of that is all over the It's all over the state. All over the country. You know, there's just very little respect for teachers. Sorry, it's way off topic, but what Jared says that I just want the teachers to know that I'm happy with what we do as a general rule. Yeah, I don't I don't I don't I'm not I'm not
050trying I don't I don't I'm not trying to slight anybody with they do. I'm just I don't know. It's just It's just the way it is. Yeah, it's the way it is. Your kids come home and the teachers [laughter] and the teachers that they can't quite figure out they get the speech from me like got to figure it out. How do you How do you How do you work with these people that you might not like sometimes and I might not agree with the things that happen in the classroom, but like you show up every day for my kid whether they like them or not. And that's that's who we have here. And they work hard. >> [snorts] >> Anything else, team? Yeah, I just think one other thing that we need We also have
051to think that since we are you know, in the money crunches, you know, I think we're thinking about doing a referendum we have to be pretty darn sure that it's going to pass if we're going to throw another 40 to 45 50 grand at that. Cuz if if it doesn't then again [cough and clears throat] we we've taken that money away from away from the kids. You know, if if it doesn't pass. And so that's I think that's probably a little bit and again I can't speak for anybody else up here at the table, but I think, you know, when I look at that I think that's some of it, you know. Are we willing to risk you know, 40 to 50,000 dollars taking away from the kids to possibly get something that may not
052pass because of the wide gap that it didn't pass the first time. You know, I and I think that's a hard decision to swallow and I think you know, that's kind of a tough decision for us up here, you know, that we have to look Is Is it worth doing that or is it not worth doing that? But I But you know, I know, you know, for my sake if you know, we're going to move forward and that's going to be something that we're going to do, we better be darn sure that this thing's going to pass this time. Cuz if it doesn't I don't think it's worth trying again cuz we've already spent oodles of oodles of money taking that away from the kids for getting nothing in return. >> [clears throat and cough]
053>> Anything else, team? Meeting is adjourned at 5:41.