001Go ahead. >> No, I'm just >> Yeah, your battery [laughter] come like [clears throat] >> [laughter] >> like all like on trial. Thank you everybody for coming out to our October 28th, 2025 regularly scheduled Elkart Community Schools uh school trustee regular meeting. Uh, at this time I will call the meeting to order. And if you please rise for the pledge of allegiance. >> 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. >> Thank you. You may be seated. >> Mr. Bernett. The Elcart Promise. >> The Elcart Promise. Every student is known by name, challenged and supported by highly effective staff, and in partnership with the community will graduate career, college ready, and life
002ready. >> Thank you, Mr. Bernett. Next on the agenda is our invitation to speak protocol. Each of you should have received a little pamphlet with the form to fill out. If you'd like to speak, please fill out the form and give them to Dora. Okay. She says she does not have any. So, I will quit going through my normal explanation of what to do once your name is called. Since your name will not be called, we will move on. Uh, next on the agenda, uh, we have the moment of pride. Zoe and Jasmine, please step forward. [clears throat] Um, good evening, President Scott, members of the board, and Dr. Rush and community. Um, I'm Zoe Brenamman. I'm a member of NHS, SSAC, Student Government, and lots of other clubs here at Elcart. >> I'm Jasmine
003and I'm also a member of SSAC, NHS, and many others. Um, on September 26th, we had the homecoming parade. It had a great turnout. It was, um, right before the community event. Um, October 27th, we had the homecoming dance. We sold over 800 tickets, which is pretty good. It's one of the greatest um, numbers that we've had in a while. >> Then on September 30th, we had the college fair. Um, we had many colleges and many students there. And, um, November 3rd is the Latino Education Summer College and Career Fair in Southbend. >> Um, on October 10th, we had senior sunrise at Lions Field. It's one of the biggest turnouts we've ever had. Our freshman organized the custody appreciation this year and they so on October 2nd they did a dinner for them and on
004October 3rd they did a breakfast um we've had lots of service going on within our school. Um on October 3rd during the pinkout game seniors collected $700 for the United Cancer Services of Elcart County. Um, on October 22nd, juniors had a campus cleanup where they cleaned up our school. >> And from the end of September ongoing up until not this weekend, but next weekend, FFA is volunteering and fundraising at Legends Screen Park to be more involved with the community. Our marching band on October 18th, they got gold at regionals. On October 25th, they went to the BOA in Indianapolis. They got gold at ISMA in Plymouth. And on November 1st, they're going to semi-state. Um for choir on October 2nd, the 10th through 12th choir um had a concert. And then October 14th, the freshman
005choir had a concert. And upcoming on December 6th, we have the magical dinner. For orchestra, we had a concert on October 15th and 14th, actually. And the one on October 15th was a packed house. Most of the empty seats that you see in the photo is because that's where the student performers who went to stage were sitting. And our last piece that we performed was eighth grade and freshman and the symphony orchestras all performed together but sixth grade and seventh grade were both there and performed. >> Um for athletics, boys soccer won NIC which is great. Um volleyball had sectionals and cross country also had sectionals. Um, four students, Roseell Robbles, Miranda Kamacho Flores, Payton Chanhol, and Dominic Turner were all regional qualifiers. And girls flag football. It was their first year this year, and
006they lost to Penn in sectional finals. Our volleyball NIC player of the year was Riley Drummond. She's a junior setter/pposite attacker. Um the she has many incredible stats including 78 kills, 26 aces. She's been a starter since ninth grade and in 2025 she had the most kills, best kill efficiency and in 2024 she was named NIC first team. The Elcart cheer team was awarded the sportsmanship trophy at the Northern Indiana cheer conference and the cheerleaders were voted the most kind and supportive. Our soccer NIC MVP was Miguel Galligos. Gallagos. Um he is a high school senior. He has 26 goals, breaking the school's single season goal record. He's team captain and he's team captain of the varsity team. And we have two NIC coaches of the year. First, we have coach Sheiley, the boys soccer
007coach. He's also the unified track coach. Um he has six sectional crowns, three regional titles, and three state championships in the past eight years, which is pretty impressive. Then our other coach of the year is coach Ross. Um this year marks 30 years of her coaching volleyball for Elcart. She has received 762 wins, 13 conferences championships, and nine sexual champion championships. And lastly, our upcoming events. On October 30th, we have track or treat. On October 31st, we have football section sectionals. On November 14th and 15th, we have the fall play. On November 16th, we have stuff a bus. And then we also have, which we forgot to add up here, Toys for Tots is going on starting soon. And tomorrow we have our Elkart community FFA national convention that our FFA is getting to go
008to. >> Thank you for your time. >> Great job. [applause] >> Right. Next on the agenda, we have Holly Connley in the Riverview Report. [applause] >> Good evening, President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Roush. I'm Holly Connley, principal at Riverview, and I'm excited to come and celebrate with you and share some of our celebrations that we have had over the past year. Um, starting out, I just want a little bit about Riverview. Currently with sixth grade moving on to the middle school, our enrollment is 363. We're approximately 32.9% white, almost 39% Hispanic, 17% African-American, um, almost 10% multi-racial, and 1.3 Asian. our mission. I really think this sums up, we have our staff back there, a lot of members of our staff, and this really sums up what we do for kids every day.
009Um, we connect, persist, and reflect to ensure high levels of learning for all students. And this is the most collaborative staff. And so when I say we connect, we connect with each other, we connect with our kids, we connect with our families. um in persisting that team back there does whatever it takes for our kids. They don't give up. They keep trying. And they do that through reflecting on their practices, on their data, and adjusting. And it's not about them and their pride. It's whatever works. And so this mission really sums up what this staff is about. Um I love this picture. We we kind of do a I know kind of like Notre Dame does the shirt. We kind of do the shirt every year. And so you'll see there's a couple different representations
010um of it each year, but the best most collaborative staff um I I could dream of working with. And one thing I really want to highlight is our staff retention rate. And you know, we've really been keeping track of this since the 2122 school year. And last year or coming into this year, we're at 95% staff retention rate. So, we have one new certified um staff member in our entire building and we have one new classified instructional staff member. Um, everyone else has been here um for several or more years. So, I think that says a lot to the team building and what they're able to do staying together, working together, and learning alongside each other. our school improvement goals. Our first goal is to get 80% of our third graders passing I read. That
011is we we know how important that is, more important than ever. Um that they are ready and able to move on and pass that test. Uh second goal on iLearn, we want to increase our ELA passing percentage by 5% moving from 41.2 to 46.2. And then the same thing for math. we want to increase um by 5% getting up to that 56.2 mark. It's it's lofty because it's it's hard to get 5% sometimes, but this team can do it and and they have done it in the past few years. So our I read this slide compares 24 and 25. So in 24 our second graders passed 51% and then our third graders passed 75%. So that same cohort then the group that passed 51% this past year 89% of them passed. Um we were incredibly
012incredibly proud of them. And one thing I do I do want to point out our students we had a very large group of students join us in third grade last year. So they were firsttime Riverview students. When we actually looked at students who were with us, second grade, even just second grade on, so second grade, first grade or kindergarten, we were actually at 98%. Um, so a huge chunk of of that 11% were kids who were new to us. Um, some 3 to four weeks before the test, you know, took place. So I think that says a lot about the longer kids are with us, the better they do. Um, and that is strong tier one instruction from our K2 staff. They are they are the foundation of of those passing percentages. And then our
013third grade team obviously working together after you get that second grade data and really focusing on on what we need to do to get everyone else at that same achievement mark. [clears throat] Um, moving on to I learn. This shows our I learn from last year. The red is Riverview, the blue is Elkhart Community Schools, and then the yellow is the state average. And for our ELA, Riverview was above the state average in fifth grade and sixth grade, as well as the overall um combined scores. this disagregated data as well above the state average in our black, Hispanic and white students as well. Our e on this one 18.8% above the state average and then our free reduced lunch 10.6% above the state average. So again, especially with that EL, number one, a huge testament
014to our our teachers and what they do in the classroom and that tier one instruction, but then our EL staff is also incredible. Um, wonderful going in and supporting and making sure every kid has what they need. So very, very proud of that team. Um, this next slide shows individual the percentage percentage of individual students meeting their growth targets. And we're in the blue at 54.5, the states at 44.8. And not only are we above, but you can kind of see we're even widening that gap a little bit. So our kids who are meeting those individual targets is also trending um upward. Flipping to our math I learned from last year. This shows um that we are above the state average in third, fifth, and sixth. And then as an overall, we are above the
015state by approximately 5%. And one thing I want to point out, our sixth grade, so passing 63% on iLearn last year puts them in the top 12% of the entire state. So that is that is a huge testament again to them, but also to all of those teachers before them who really were a huge part in setting that foundation. Um, moving on to this the disagregated math data. In math, we are above the state average in all disagregated areas. Um, with the biggest margins being within our black students, we are 20.4% above the state average, 15.2% um, with our Hispanic students and 22.5 with our EL population. So again, really proud um of our team, of our teachers, of our students, and for really I mean really knocking it out of the park with this
016within our math. Again, our percentage of students who are meeting their individual targets, 46.8. We are 13% above the state average. And then sixth grade, they have a goal, kind of a separate goal where they have a target of 45.8% that they want them to meet by 2030. We've already exceeded that at 58.1% and right now the state average is 33.1. So almost double um that state average. Another area that we are really proud and as I reflected back on a previous board presentation attendance was actually an area we had for area of growth. So I was really I was really proud to get to put this slide not as something necessarily although we can grow in this area it is something we're really proud of. So our percentage of kids with chronic absenteeism has
017almost gone in half. Um, and that's the percentage of students with uh 10 or more 10% or more absences per year. And so that that's a huge piece. And then last year we ended the school year with an attendance rate of 94.26. Um, currently we're at 96.43 and we actually had a week and a couple weeks ago we were over 98% for the week. And when I checked one day, I was looking at the attendance and I thought there was a glitch in Power School because we had seven kids absent in our whole building. And so I thought, am I am I only on one grade level? And you know, kind of how am I looking at this? But tr truly, we had seven students out of our entire school absent um one day. And
018and our kids, they're at school, they enjoy being at school, they know their teachers. They're they're going to follow up. They're going to follow up with families, our teachers, our secretaries. They want, you know, our kids at school as much as anybody. And they're going to follow up and they're going to make sure that unless there's there's a true reason you can't be there that that you're going to be there even if somebody has to come pick you up. So very very important and proud, really proud of that because can't learn if you're not there. And that's and that's the biggest, you know, that's the biggest piece. So, the next part that goes along with our attendance [clears throat] is our engaged students and families. Um, and as I was putting this slide together and
019I'm thinking about really highlights of a school day, morning arrival is is a time really I would invite any of you to come in 7 to 7:30 in the morning. Probably one of my favorite times of the day when all the kids are coming in. I think it sets such a nice tone for for the day that's going to follow. And so if you come during that time and you'll see the two pictures at the bottom are Minds in Motion going on in our hallway, but you're likely to see Minds in Motion. Um you're going to see kids having one-on-one interventions when they're they're eating their breakfast. They're working. They're talking with staff. You're going to see visible administrators. You're going to see teachers, our social worker. They are out there interacting with kids. They're
020problem solving. they're they're connecting with kids and they're doing those things before the school day start so that when it does start they're focused on learning and and those things are kind of taken care of. Um, another thing we're really proud of with that the efficiency during that time, bell rings at 7:30. By 7:30, 7:31, halls are clear. Breakfast, I mean, kids are all through the breakfast line. We put about 200 kids through breakfast. They're in their classrooms and they are learning. So, and and it's a really calm time. It's not it's not intense. It's not, you know, rushing. It is calm and everybody getting set for the day. So, I really do invite invite any of you in that want to to come see that. Uh, another highlight, we had 49 incoming kindergarten students
021attend our kindergarten readiness in August. I think that says a lot about our families and their, you know, commitment to what we're doing. And it made a very smooth um, start to the year for our kindergarteners. Our music teacher does a handbell choir after school and they perform at all of our music events um throughout the whole year. They will at some of our assemblies and whatnot. Um we also another thing to be proud of. We have a family night next week actually and we average over 200 people at our family at our family night. So, we've got, you know, parking all the way down Wood Street and and lines out the door to get in. Um, really supportive families that kind of goes along with, you'll see in that bottom right hand corner, our
022family-friendly school, Riverview, was one of two schools in Elcart to get the family-friendly school designation. And one thing I really want to point out that we were proud of, our highest ratings on one of the surveys that they give um that's part of the application process, our highest ratings came from our parent group. And so knowing our parents, what they what they feel, sending their kids to us each day, what they believe, um we work really hard to foster those relationships. And so for them to also feel what we feel, we were really really proud of that. Um, this next part, any any of you that have ever been in our building, if I've given you a tour, [clears throat] I almost can can bet there was a comment on this because I feel like
023subs, visitors, anyone that comes into our building comments on the learning environment, the way things look, you'll see several hallway displays, you'll see kids working, but the feel, it's calm, it's student learning, student focused, classroom doors are open. If you pop your head in, you're going to see kids engaged learning um no matter what time you come. It can be 7:33, it can be 1:55. And you are going to see just really a nice calm but active learning environment. And so I think the other thing is, and we have our custodian back there, um it's clean. I mean, we really take pride in the way it looks because it's kind of like, you know, when it looks good, then it's set up for you to do your best work. And that's what we want to
024give to our kids every day is an environment, you know, that's that's free from clutter and so their brains are are focused on the right thing. So, really, really important to us. Um, as well as far as an action plan, collective teacher efficacy. So, not only do Riverview teachers believe that they have the ability to work together to impact all students, they [clears throat] know they have the responsibility to do that. It they know they are the most important person in front of those kids for six and a half hours a day. Um, they will continue collaborative learning as the most authentic part of the PLC process and knowing they always want to do better. They want to learn from each other. They want to support each other. Um, clear communication with students and parents.
025Something we're really big on is honesty. You have to be honest with kids and their parents so you can move in the right direction. And that happens with goal setting and those relationships with families. Um, and finally, just that commitment to professional growth. I have never worked with a team of people who they want to be better all the time. No matter how good they are, they want to be better and they want to help the people around them be better. They share their ideas. They share um the article that they read, the podcast they listen to and and really look at how can this help all of us for our kids. Um they are focused on long-term student learning and not that shortterm individual teacher data. And I think that that is a huge
026piece. Um kind of pride's out the door and it's all about the kids and their long-term growth and learning. Um I'm going to end with a quote from John Hattie. I know everyone is probably very familiar with him, but the greatest influence on student progression in learning is having highly expert, inspired, and passionate teachers and school leaders working together to maximize the effect of their teaching on all students in their care. And I just want to say I am blessed to work alongside the best of the best who prioritize this every single day. And that's it. Thank you. Please stand up. [clears throat and applause] You bet. Riverview teachers, would you stand up? >> Please stand up. >> YES, [applause] >> there's a few shy ones back there that we see you and appreciate you.
027>> Any questions? >> Good job. >> Thank you. >> Great job. The one question I had was on the uh chronic abnetism, how you were able to reduce it and you kind of went through it in phone calls. What's going on? Need a ride? We'll send one. Yeah, >> whatever it takes. Yep. They sure do it. >> And it does take that and that's evidenced in the uh the two-year reduction almost 50%. So, job well done. Well, and two, I thought it was interesting that you were doing this presentation, but even prior to that, you talked about your custodian, which Lori, and you were she was featured in the newsletter that went across the whole school system. And for those of you that don't know, this is the school and the way that Riverview works.
028Okay. The EL teacher wanted a desk, if I have this right, for a student with juvenile arthritis, >> and [snorts] they wanted to stand to be comfortable. So Lori took um legs off of a stool, put it onto a broken desk, and created a standing desk for this student. So like inside your school, it's everybody constantly working together. And that is no lie. That school is amazingly clean. And it's your expectation, too. Like like if I walk into your school, and I haven't been in there this year, but even last year, I'm like, I know exactly how I'm supposed to model my behavior when I'm walking down the hallway. There's zero question about that. But it's like collaborative across the whole school. Absolutely. You know, like and that's exactly like what you want. But also
029like many of my friends had their children in your school and it is the fact that the way that families know that expectation also and know that they clearly have that, you know, the backing of the teachers, the staff, the custodians, the art, the lunch the lunch specialists to know that their children are going to thrive. And I think that that's why the kids I know that's why the kids come to school. and your attendance rate is great because they're home like they're home during the day and Holly that's huge. I mean your your academic scores are phenomenal, but for the children to feel home is what we want out of our for our babies. So like great job and kudos to your staff members and how cool is that that you had a shout
030out for your you know custodian and all your other staff throughout the year over and over again. So >> she is amazing. She she finds us stuff at at garage sales and rumage sales and puts them together and somehow we have all if anybody says they need anything, give her a week or two and and she's going to she's going to find it and make it happen for you. And that is no joke. >> Yeah. And but for those of you that don't know too, like it's what your staff does outside the school after long hours and putting in things like you can even look at Jamie and the amount of hours that she puts into the athletic academics, you know, the the sports committees after everything she does at the school. So you guys
031are all around involved in Elar Community Schools. So I think it's great. I'm really proud to have you guys. >> Yeah, for sure. >> Thank you, [applause] >> Mrs. Wood. Excellence of Elkcart. >> Thank you, President Scott, members of the board, Dr. Roush, community members. I'm grateful for the opportunity to share the highlights in the areas of academics, arts, [clears throat] and athletics. First up for our academics is Riverview's first graders. They concluded their human body unit with hands-on activities exploring how the body works, checking heart rates, playing anatomy bingo, and creating Play-Doh body system models. At Mary Daily, Mrs. Bog's students strengthen their number sense by becoming hundred chart detectives, working with partners to find and fill in the missing numbers. At North Side Middle School, staff from the Elcard area Career Center visited
032college and career classes for a virtual reality career exploration activity. After completing a survey to match their interests and skills, students experienced VR simulations of various professions such as managing medical supplies or operating a fire hose, giving them hands-on look at potential future careers. In the area of arts, at the freshman division, culinary arts students put their skills to the test with hands-on cooking labs. Principles of culinary arts students made a variety of soups and homemade breads to conclude their unit on cooking methods. While intro to intro to culinary students explored six different ways to prepare fresh green beans that came from the school farm. And congratulations to the pride of Elcart on earning a gold rating at the Isma regional qualifier and advancing to semi-state. In athletics, Elcart cheer had an outstanding performance at
033the NICC competition. The varsity team earned first place in the HCCA 3A 4A game day division and the junior varsity team also finished first in the HCCA JV game day division. The program was recognized with a sportsmanship trophy, an individual jump off champion, and a jumpoff finalist. Elkcart varsity girls volleyball went six to one in the NIC this season. Coach Ross was named NIC coach of the year and four players earned all NIC honors, including Riley Drummond, conference MVP. Their hard work and teamwork made the standout session. and some of our future happenings. October 30th is our track or trade at Rice Field. November 4th will be our synchronous e-learning day. November 9th is the Elcart Area Career Center openhouse. November 11th is Veterans Day program at Westside. November 16th will be our Stuff Azone
034Martins. As always, please share be sure to follow our district and school social media pages as we share each day the excellence of Elcart. Thank you. [applause] [clears throat] Next, uh on the agenda, we have the consent items. Uh do I have a motion? >> So move. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? Yes, we have donations of $4,600. Two of the donations are going to the gold level at the Elcart area Elcart Area Career Center for the [clears throat] sponsorship. That is Jacob Care of Kelsey Burke Holder and Marson International care of Joyce Borger. And then we also received a donation from Waypoint Community Church out of Mbury for our Bristol Elementary, $2,000 to be used for their pride fund. And then the Elcar Athletic Club gave $600 to continue
035the development of our soccer team. So at $4,600, we were blessed again by our community. >> Thank you, Mollins. Do we have any other discussions regarding the consent agenda? Seeing or hearing none, all in favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes. Old business. Under old business, we have contracts. Miss Rhodess. Good evening, President Scott, members of the board. Dr. Roush. Uh, the administration presents the following contracts here for your final consideration. Uh, network solution maintenance agreement. Thank you, President Scott, [clears throat] members of the board, Dr. Roush. On behalf of safety, security and risk management, the administration is recommending approval of a project agreement with Geoc. >> Thank you. Do I have a motion uh for the contracts as presented? >> Motion. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Do I have any questions
036or discussion regarding the contracts? >> Seeing or hearing none, all in favor? >> Opposed? Motion. Contracts pass. Thank you. Under new business, Mr. Thorne, we have uh additional contracts. Thank you. Uh on behalf of the Alcaderia Career Center, the administration is presenting for preliminary consideration a proposed agreement with Beable Education, Inc. >> Thank you. Were there no any initial questions uh for Mr. Thorne tonight? >> All right. Don't no questions tonight. As always, uh, we know how to to be in touch with any questions we have prior to it coming back. So, thank you. Um, next we have the Health Joy LLC contract. Mr. Thornne, >> thank you. Administration requests authorization to enter into a two-year agreement with Health Joy LLC for the implementation of the Health Joy benefits navigation platform. The cost of this
037agreement will be paid out of the self insurance fund. >> Thank you. Do I have a motion? Motion. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and I I have a second. Do I have any questions or discussions regarding the Health Joy contract? >> Seeing or hearing none. All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> This is Ross. The 2026 budget adoption. >> Yes. Good evening, board president, board members, community. Uh this evening I seek approval for all seven of the reol uh resolutions that are in your materials including the 2024 proposed or advertised budget also titled form four in your materials resolution for appropriations and taxes. In addition, I also request that you um adopt separately the bus replacement plan resolution, the
038capital projects fund plan resolution, the resolution to transfer amounts from the education fund to the operations fund, the resolution to reduce the proposed budget as needed, the resolution for a tax anticipation warrant, which allows us to leave interest expense in our budget. And this gives us a little more budget flexibility. Um the tax neutrality resolution. Um essentially this shall reduce the total property tax revenue for the operations fund and the amount equal to the debt service approved for the school pension debt service fund. So with that, Mr. President, I would ask that for board approval for the slate of these seven re resolutions. It's fine if we um the motion does it as a slate rather than individually. I think I did hear you say individually. >> Um >> do you want them as a
039we can do it as a slate or is that fine? >> Yes. Yes. Thank you. >> Do I have a motion to uh adopt the 2026 uh budget adoption and the resolutions uh that were just mentioned by Mrs. Ross? >> A move. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. I have a motion. I have a second. Do I have any questions or concerns from the board regarding the 2026 budget adoption? [clears throat] Hearing or seeing none. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. 2026 budget [clears throat] passes. >> Thank you. Um, next you're still up there. So, we have the financial report. [laughter] >> [snorts] >> Thank you. Um, all right. It's my pleasure to present the financial report for the month of September. And speaking of um, resolutions to adjust the budget, this
040is exactly where I kind of want to start today on my first slide. Let me get in here. So, for 2025, um, we should have done by now a revenue adjustment. I'm realizing it has not been adjusted. So, it's been kind of skewing some of our our numbers. So, what we have here for you, um, you'll see our receipts in the education fund in that first column, followed by the second column. You'll see our 1782 budget column. That's the budget order we're anticipating to receive for the 2026 proposed budget we just passed. So, once we get that, there's some adjustments that are needed. So, that's what's going to be in that third column, like, hey, we didn't get what we advertised and proposed, so let's deal with the adjusted budget. Um, so that's where we
041are tonight. And I'd like to start here under the 1782 budget column. Um, you'll see our receipts. We anticipated revenue from local sources and primarily from state sources, which is primarily tuition support. We anticipated or uh advertised 99 million in receipts. So we uh also budgeted expenditures in the amount of 90 million in the education fund plus 9 million of transfers. I'm still just going down that 1782 column. So had that went according to plan, we would be at a net revenue or net expense um a net revenue of $45,000. didn't quite go according to plan. I've uh put in here where we've our expected overspend for the budget and the education fund. Basically, based on our our spending uh per month, about 7.5 million. With that said, when we kind of factor that in,
042our net revised expense is negative -2.5 million, but we had a beginning cash balance in this fund of 3.1 million. Not ideal, but it could have absorbed our overspend. Okay? So, we would have ended with a projected cash balance in this account of a positive 604,000. if we would have received everything in that 1782 budget order. Okay, now for the fun part, the adjustment. So local sources is primarily made up of interest expense and that and so actually the adjusted budget is the things I adjusted so far are in that kind of pinkish red color. So you can see those have been adjusted. So receipts, local sources down to 1.2 million. Why? Less interest expense. we've got less revenue coming in a unable to collect all the projected interest revenue. So that's going down and
043then state sources primarily a function of um ADM loss and some other smaller factors where we're only expected to receive just rounding up 92 million. So in total receipts we're expecting about 93 million at this point. So right there you can see a big difference right about six million. Um total expenses we just keep those constant for this scenario. Let's move on down to net expense. That would be negative about 6.5 million. Add in our overspend. We're down to revised net expense of a $9 million deficit. that go that eats up our cash balance and the projected cash balance in this fund would be about a negative6 million. Now we're not stuck here. We're going to for example we haven't uh if you look at transfers transfers to operations we haven't made all those nor
044are we going to be able to. So I'll present that to you. Um we should be able to have that ready for you next board meeting what our adjusted expenses look like so you can see things a little more in balance. But I wanted to show you this in phases. Um, so another thing that I want to point out is looking at it this way, you see our net expense of or our deficit due to loss revenue about 6.5. You can kind of see why the education fund is in so much trouble. Yes, it's a function of not receiving the revenues we anticipated and also a little overspend. So you put those together, you can see how we got to where we are. It was not just overspending, but it's a function of uh not
045getting the revenue we anticipated. So I hope that helps kind of explain our situation um in the education fund. I do have one last note on here. Um because we are overspending in this fund, it's highly likely we may need to seek additional appropriations. Um so I'm just just put that on the back burner and we will look at October expenditures and pretty soon have to make a move on that uh so we can get that processed by soon. Okay. So the rest of the slides are a bit easier than that one. [laughter] So this is our traditional um kind of presentation here our monthly expenditures of our education fund. So this is um total receipts that kind of second column there in the education fund about 8 million in receipts followed by you can
046see our expenses there in that second column and that third column is our total receipts uh year to date in that fund followed by the totals for each expense item. Um just kind of looking back at this you can see our largest expense are wages and benefits. Um on average on a two pay month average so some months we pay three payrolls. So I'm just averaging the months where we pay two payrolls our average expenditures um are about 6.9 million in wages and benefits. This month we're at about 6.7 as you can see here. So we are spending less than average. So that's good news. Um you will see later in the presentation some of the mitigation efforts we've put in place to bring these numbers down and get in in balance as quickly as
047possible. Um another um good piece of news is our wages and benefits um have decreased versus this time last year um over $300,000 in the education fund. So last year, this time September, it was $300,000 higher. So that's good news in this fund as well. Um two of the largest declines that make up that $300,000 um decrease are full-time teachers uh $180,000 less and teacher substitutes $120,000 less. And just overall total expenses um are also down. We average about $7.5 million in expenses in this fund a month. You can see we're down to about 7.2. So some of the things that you'll see later are starting to take effect in terms of some of the savings initiatives that that have been put in place. So that was the good news. But before we uh move
048on to the next slide, you'll see our ending cash balance looks kind of good. But just remember this fund has not been able to transfer any uh make any transfers to the operation fund. So it's a little bit um um not as good as it looks but better than last month. So those were our education fund expenditures. Here's our cash flow for the education fund. Um the green bar there represents our receipts each month. the red our expenditures. Uh that blue line is the trend of our cash balance and our cash balance as you can see is trending upwards over the prior months. However, we're not quite at our prudent range. We'd like to be about 12% cash balance. That would put us about that red dotted line. A little bit over 10 million would
049be ideal. that would cover at least, you know, a a payroll. Okay. Um, moving on to our operations fund. Here are our expenditures for the operation fund. Um, you'll see in that pie that uh wages and benefits also comprise the bulk of this fund. And just a reminder, this fund includes transportation, custodial, some administrators, even fuel, just the operations of the district. And if you take a look at the expenses, wages and benefits actually um custodial and transportation make up the lion share of that expense at 800,000 in wages alone. Just so you can kind of get the idea of what makes up the operations fund. So that would be custodial transportation make up the bulk there. [clears throat] Um so good news on this fund. Um the average total spend in this fund is
050about 3.2 million per month and as you can see on this slide we're at about in that September column we're just shy of 3.1 million. So we have um a savings there of of over $100,000. Um, and over September last year, this time we're down $10,000 in this fund. So, you might wonder, okay, why do we have these negative um uh net expenses? Well, you probably know the answer now. It this fund has not received the transfers from the education fund. So for this month, yep, went negative 2.9 million. Overall, just move over to the right. This fund is down or in the negative 8.9 million. But the fund started out with a $7.5 million cash balance. So that got eaten up, for lack of a better word, and that's how we're at the 1.3
051uh negative cash balance. But um last thing here before I move on, the good news is we got some mitigation efforts in place here. Our geo bond was received in October. So you'll see that reflected in the next board report of about 6.6 a little shy of that 6.6 million to help uh support this fund. Um and also our tax revenue. We should be receiving our second payment in December. The tax revenue payments hit about June and December. So, we're looking forward to that as well. So, this fund should end the year and and at least balanced. >> How much are you ballparking for [clears throat] our December um tax property tax receipt to be >> yes about 10 to 11 million? >> Okay. >> We received 55% of the tax revenues in June and
052we get the rest the 45% in December estimated at about 10 to 11 million. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And here's the uh cash flow for the operations fund. You can see as um that tax revenue um kind of shows up in June. You can see that big that green line. And it's traditional for this fund to kind of eb and flow based on the tax revenue. It'll dip and it'll come back up when we get our next payment. Moving on. Uh here's the status of our rainy day fund. No action or no activity here in this uh fund this month. So we are still at about 6.7 uh million in our rainy day fund. And so here are all the funds um together. Um here's our uh cash flow. So this is your
053education operations and your rainy day. The operating referendum and that footnote is is done. It's over. So, but we're keeping that there for historical purposes. So, [cough] overall you can see the balance is holding, but we do have some challenges as I spoke of. Um, this is from our partner policy analytics. They kind of help us with cash flow projections. And just if we just look at 2025, um kind of coming in line with what we just talked about, a potential $10 million deficit uh eats away at our cash balance significantly and we're looking at an ending cash balance uh of about 10 million this year. Um about 7 million of that, as we just saw, is rainy day. So, and that is adjusting each month as expenditures come in and the revenue comes in.
054And so, uh, you saw this slide last, uh, board meeting. And so, here are some of the savings initiatives, some in place, um, for some time, um, curriculum [snorts] um, savings, administration, and building level savings. Um, what's added here is, um, the district footprint slash uh, consolidation assessment is a another savings initiative. So, as requested, um, we were able to put some numbers to these savings initiatives. Um, so here's some of our PD and curricular savings on that first line, uh, estimated uh, so far this year. And you can see in the notes a little more detail there. Um, we reduced central office and building level staff. And you can see the the months of payroll that were compared in the notes. So overall we were down 575,000 across all funds. Before I just shared
055with you we saved about 300 in education fund but this is across all funds. We looked at added pays and extended contracts. Those are down when you compare August September last year over August September this year. and some other items [clears throat] of import for a total uh estimated savings so far um of $2 million this year. >> And that concludes the monthly finance update. Um, love the detail, love the, you know, the savings initiatives and, you know, putting a number to those so we can see exactly where that, you know, falls in line. So, that's that's very helpful. >> Any other questions or comments regarding the financial reports? >> Thank you for being so honest about your side notes, what the needs are. >> Okay. Insurance update. Sure. Thank you. So, our insurance update.
056Um, we're pleased to announce that we're exploring an expanded Anthem network for um, Elcart Community Schools. We're also exploring partnerships that will enhance and expedite our claims processing. Um, to this end, our loss ratio is still um, uh, well at 82.9%. Um, on the next and final slide is a little bit more detailed. Um on the right hand side you can see J uh the months last year versus the months this year side by side. And just about each month this year we've outperformed the plan last year. So at this time last year our loss ratio was about 103. That meant we spent more than the premiums that came in. Um so our plan was more costly and you can see now we're at 82.9%. And that includes our insurance plan update. >> Questions or
057comments from the board regarding the insurance plan. >> Thank you, Mrs. Ross. >> Thank you. >> All right. Well, at this time, I I normally would turn it over to Dr. Huff. He's not here, so I think we should all have the opportunity to talk about him. [laughter] Um, let's see how long I'm sure he's watching. Let's see how long it takes him to text. >> [laughter] >> Um, no, I will I will >> give you the floor, Dr. Rish and is sitting in his place. >> Yes. Thank you very much. Uh, we wrapped up parent teacher conferences last week. So, I'd like to thank the parents, guardians, and staff for taking the time to connect during conferences. Those conversations truly strengthen our partnership in supporting every student's success. So, a big thank you to
058everyone uh involved in parent teacher conferences. Um again, uh athletics recognition thanks to the two MVPs and the NIC coaches of the year in volleyball and soccer. The uh Elcart High School student spotlight is Miranda Kamacho Flores. Over the weekend, Elcart High School senior Miranda Kamacho Flores ran a personal best of 222 at the New Prairie Regional Cross Country meet just a day after performing with the Pride of Elcart at the Bands of America Super Regional in Indianapolis. On top of that, Miranda was recently named NIC allconerence academic in girls varsity soccer. It shows great dedication and excellence. So, way to go. Some upcoming events. I know um you've seen a number of them, but again, uh let's not forget about the track or retreat at Ricefield from 5:30 to 7 on October 30th. Uh
059Monday, November 4th will be a synchronous e-learning day. Students will join live lessons on Google Meet starting at 8:15 and ending at 11:15. Links will be shared the morning of through Parent Square Seesaw and Canvas. If you have any questions, please reach out to your school principal. Uh November 3rd to the 22nd, all ECS schools will take part in a district-wide food drive. A wonderful opportunity for students and staff to give back and support families in our community. On November 9th is College Goals Sunday from 2:00 to 4 at Elcart High School. Uh this is a great way to get free help filling out uh your FASA. So please take advantage of that on November 9th, College Goal Sunday. And again, hats off to Riverview, Principal Connley, your staff, your custodian, everyone involved. Uh you
060do uh have a wonderful school. The the data shows it. And I just say thank you uh for all that you do to make our students successful. So, thanks. And that's all I have. >> Well done. Thank you. Um, do we have anything from the board? >> It still exists, >> Kevin's Corner. I'm going to stick with featuring our custodians like we talked about last week. We're going to talk about it again today. Say thank you to custodians. And I learned something that we have this unique staff of people that go around the school district that are very specific to things like HVAC, um, plumbing, electrical. So when something goes wrong in the building, these key people are called and that is all they do is take core care of our buildings. And so we
061forget about how quickly and efficiently this group of men and women respond. So on top of saying thank you to our custodians who do such hard work as they prepare for events like college the college event the Elcart area career center openhouse these custodians have to set up tear down on top of everything else that they do on a daily basis. I learned key terms like there is a brown call, there is a green call. I now know what those mean. if you don't ask a custodian because they have to stop everything that they're doing to take care of our building while still making sure their daily activities are taken care of. So from Kelly's Corner and the Elcart School Board of Trustees even though they're not participating in Kelly's Corner, I'm forcing them to.
062We say shout out to our collective staff of people HVAC, electrical, plumbing that take care of our buildings and our custodians across the district. Thank you. >> Anyone else? It's always hard to follow Kelly's corner. [laughter] >> It's [clears throat] gonna get harder. Yeah. >> All right. We have anything else? Uh, meeting journ. Thank you [clears throat] everyone for coming out.