001I'm going to call the uh board education Udica City School District special meeting actual budget hearing to order. Can we uh all stand for the pledge of allegiance? Yes. 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. Okay. Can the clerk call the role, please? Mr. Jason Cooper is excused absence. Mr. Donald here. Mr. Joseph Hoba Jr. here. Mrs. Tamil N here. Mr. Braden Nana here. Mrs. Danielle Pula here. Mr. James Paul. Um, so we can then start the the budget presentation and hearing. So turn it over to you, Dr. Smith. Thank you. Good evening to the board. Good evening to our guests that are with us today and good evening to the
002viewing public as well as my administrators. Been with y'all all day, but still y'all got a good evening. So we are going to discuss our proposed budget for the 2526 school year. And with everything we do, we want to center our work around our vision. And really, our vision states pretty clearly, students will attain the knowledge, skills, and character necessary to become productive members of society. So too, do we acknowledge our mission, which is to provide a highquality education that is accessible to all students in a safe and orderly environment so that they have the knowledge, skills, and competencies necessary to be college and career ready. And so what you'll see today is a budget that's designed to mirror that intention of the mission and vision so that we can realize that th those that
003promise right there. The highlights for this budget that we really want to draw attention to is the expansion of our student learning and graduation pathways. We've invested structurally in the construction of a CTE wing on Proctor High School and now we are going to add the administrative and uh um teaching bodies to help bring that vision um into fruition. What it really is about is ensuring that our students have the skills and the the uh habits of mind to be competitive in the labor market postsecary or go on to uh college should they want to. And so it's an investment from this district and this community into expanding pathways and we're really excited about that. Along the same lines, you'll see that we are going to be intentional about strengthening community engagement. One of the
004things that I've noticed since I've entered this community is that we there's a need to position the school system in a way that is responsive to community needs where we look at our community members as partners in this work by galvanizing our assets in the community whether it's other systems leaders at the county or city level or other nonforprofits. So we are going to intentionally embed that within a framework of this organization so that we can coordinate that activity in a more efficient manner by having a department dedicated to that work. Similarly, we are expanding learning opportunities through our extended day program. I want to um acknowledge the work of of this team and this administration for getting that program off the ground. Our Raiders extended day program has um been implemented across all 10
005elementary schools and this year was the pilot in which we were able to provide social emotional learning as well as academic support for students across the district and was it's been marketkedly successful based on what we've received from um our stakeholders. Along the same lines, our longterm strategic planning, the district, in order to be successful and transformative truly needs a strategic plan, a multi-year plan that maps out the goals and activities as we're looking to transform the system. So we are going to embed that into this budget so that we can have the consultants help lead us through that work so that we can have the proper community investments, teachers, faculty, staff, community members, business owners, everyone alike come together in a UDICA united fashion to develop a multi-year strategic plan that will belong to
006the community that outlines some of the things that we're doing again in building this budget, you know, We are planning out um you know months ahead but to the extent possible we are building a budget that's going to link to student need to student data and student needs. Again we realize and just in my conversation with uh elected officials in the city at both the city and county level we we know that the 3 to 6 after school hour is a critical hour for our students. We know that based on the um student achievement that we've seen within the system that there is a need to provide that additional support. So to be responsive, we implemented the Raiders extended day learning. So that's what we mean when we say that we're taking a budget and
007we're building it around student needs to make sure that it's supporting um our our students and stakeholders. Again, you know, addressing the whole child through our social emotional needs, but also we're looking at the uh sustainability of the budget. Gone are the uh the days of the esser and curser esser funding that the government injected into school systems across the country. We are moving more towards a lean and actual budget in absence of those funds. So, as we're building this budget, we're also thinking about the long-term fiscal health and sustainability of the organization. One of the requirements is to present our budget in three parts. That would be the programming, administrative, and capital portion that we'll go through now. The first thing I'd like to point out is that 78.5% of our budget is focused
008on programming, which is directly related to students. As we work through the presentation tonight, you'll see that information. We are recommending a 290 $141,927 million budget for the 2526 year. That is an overall spending plan that we present to our voters in regards to um the budget vote. With that comes a 0% tax levy increase over the prior year. What that means is to balance our budget, the level the levy does not increase. How that impacts each individual homeowner is different based on a number of factors that go into that. This slide represents how that three parts are split out and it shows the stability from year to year. The administrative portion of our budget will highlight the differences from one year to the next. We've had some presentations throughout the year that have gotten
009more granular with some of the information. So this year what we're looking at is a $ 1.4 million increase. One thing I'd like to point out is you will see some categories that are spread across all three parts of the budget. For example, employee benefits. That's we have staffing in all three parts of our budget. So the employee benefits follows as we go through these slides this evening. Um another thing to point out here is really the um community engagement portion which Dr. Spence was speaking to earlier is um included in this part of the budget as well. We'll move on to programming. So to echo what Kim said, the programming side of the budget really is what directly impacts students. So I just wanted to take an opportunity to talk about a couple of
010the lines where you see a shift. First, uh instructional instruction regular day. you see a $7 million increase and that's attributed uh mostly to contractual increases and the addition of afterchool programming and also the special schools line you see a decrease of approximately uh $230,000 and that's attributed to the school district contracting with Boseis once again for our summer school programs and the programming side of the budget we're looking at an increase of approximately $25.5 uh million and I'll turn it over to Mike with regard compared to transportation. So, a couple of highlights in here. Um, big increases, uh, 5.813730 million in the computer assisted instruction. So, in that is our 5-year tech plan year year 1. Um, also in there is new software. We have a new math series uh that the curriculum has
011picked out for this year. Uh, increased in software costs, additional softwares that we already have. And we also have a multi-year new copy lease agreement for all the buildings. And the aid ratio for that uh um portion of the budget is uh 98.4. And just to add some greater context, when Mike talks about the aid ratio, he's talking about the the the the ratio of funds that are reimbured to the district. So for every dollar we expend, we receive 98% on that dollar. So it's an expense driven aid. We spend the money to get the money back. I just want to clarify that for the public. Good point. And then transportation is another big item. So 6,137,098. Again, that's 90% aid ratio. And the increase in that is we increased the field trip lines. Uh
012we added 32 routes. We have a increase in bus aids and the bus per runs uh doubled from the original um bid from 22 23 and then you also have uh the the cost price index increase that is mandatory by the state included in that. Move on to the capital. So the capital uh is not a lot here. So the operation of plant the increase of 545,918 um so that is our our custodial side of the house uh that is contractual agreements increase in supply costs and then you got the uh maintenance of plant there's a decrease of 101 334. Some of that decrease is due to the the one-time shot that we bought the trucks from last year for the new maintenance vehicles for salting and plowing and grounds upkeep. There are increases in
013that contractual line too for contracts, service contracts, salary increases. And then we have a $100,000 capital outlay or that capital outlay is going to be the stairwell stairwells at Albany, the stair treads and landings and handrails. um they're well beyond their expected life. Uh the aid for that we get back on the following year and that's another 90% aid driven project. So again just looking at the budget on a year-to-year basis we show this here so you can see the continuity in service and programming. We've added some additional items to the budget but at large the budget has not changed dramatically. It's pretty consistent in the areas that we are funding and most of it is salaries and benefits to support student learning. Most of it is dedicated to the programming to serve our students.
014And here we just showed it by function and by object. You have seen the same slice of pie. So you can see where the break up the funds are. In regards to our revenues, we're highly dependent on the state aid that we've been talking about tonight and those different ratios that assist us with those expense driven aids. The largest increase for our revenues this year is instate aid. The breakout for that is 12.9 million in foundation aid. Typically, foundation aid is the portion of aid that comes to your district that there aren't any strings attached to it like the expense driven aid is for a specific purpose. However, in our district, we are do participate in community for excellence called the C fore program, which does um require additional reporting and some additional factors when
015we're utilizing part of that foundation aid. So really when you look at that overall state aid increase, 12.9 is in the foundation aid, 4.3 is in transportation, and 6.8 is in boseis, which are all expense driven aids. What that really means is we spend that money this year and then we get an aid percentage back on that for next year for that aidable portion of those expenses that we pay out. And just to to also add on that again we can't emphasize enough that we are heavily financed by the state very small local share $30 million in a budget that's $290 million. So within that the state has certain capacities for how we spend the money and how the money is spent. So there's very little where we're able to fluctuate to some extent because
016the money is spoken for in these particular categories. So I just want to highlight that that point. And the other thing on this slide is the allocated fund balance is really the district savings that we're allocating back into the revenue side of the budget to assist us with balancing our budget for this year. And we are also um putting our one of our reserves back into our budget as well to help balance those expenses. That's considered kind of a oneshot revenue. That's not a renewable revenue. When we talk about property taxes, state aid, those are revenues that come in every year into our budget. When the district is allocating their savings, we spend that money. We don't get that back. Again, you see the pie chart for contin. So, here we have the proposed capital
017project for $120 million. Again, the building aid ratio is 98%. Some of the improvements of district-wide improvements will be safety and security upgrades, exterior window and door replacement, infrastructure and upgrade finishes, and the data network. uh other upgrades which are usually mostly mechanical uh boiler replacements, air conditioning and assembly spaces, technology upgrades, uh Proctor High School interior finish and programming renovations. And then on the exterior sites, uh, uh, exterior light, uh, LED lighting, uh, exterior signage, reader boards, and, uh, outdoor, um, learning centers, which we don't capture in the $64 million project. This uh, this slide represents the cost summary of the local tax impact. And as you can see, the tax levy impact um, we estimate is zero. uh 98 cents of every dollar that we uh invest in uh our capital projects come
018back to us through state aid as as Kim mentioned. Um so the goal here is to have to have a smoothing technique so that we don't see big spikes and big dips in our budget. Can you talk a little bit more about that? We talk about the smoothing that stabilization. Explain that why we're doing this why we're going out again with the projects. So the goal for what are we trying to prevent? What are we trying what we're trying to prevent is a tax increase, right? Or or not being able to balance our budget. Um and pulling from important programs. So by doing that, that kind of takes that that element out out of it because we know where it's going to be at all times. So the investment over over what period of time
019that these investments are going into into use, it has I mean there's a lot of work that goes on to it. It's a year-by-year thing. And so you take a look at when you're borrowing, when you're making those payments um in return, and you compare it to when you're doing your investments. And so it was determined 120 million would be the right number. So when we're talking about that, of course, we're we're saying that's what the project is, but based on the approval by the state education department, what's coming out of pocket for the district is how much? 2%. 2%. So that's why we keep rolling it so that we don't end up being caught where we're we're going to end up having to foot the bill for more or we're going to end up
020not being able to keep our buildings correct. And it's it's it's a multiple year. So we're not going to be spending $120 million in one year. It's a it's a rolling we'll be borrowing intermittently. rebanning um because you don't want to you don't want to borrow 120 million and leave it in a bank. Correct. That doesn't do anybody any good. Um so um you know we're pretty careful about monitoring that. Thank you. The next slide just talks about the propositions that um our taxpayers will see uh at the voting booth. First one of course is the budget for 290 million which Dr. Spence has has explained. Number two is the $120 million project. Um I know that uh previously um uh our our construction manager has explained the different projects and I know Mike Herrera
021has explained the different types of projects that will amount to 120 million over a period of time. And then our third is the funding for the Udica Public Library. We don't fund them directly. Um they tell us what they need to collect in taxes. Um and because they're within our jurisdiction, it goes on the ballot. Um this last slide for me has to do with the annual election. Um we've changed up two of our polling sites. Um mostly due to the reimagined church has got some renovations and some things going on there so they can't be there and the Westside Senior Center was able to help us and we really appreciate them coming uh to to help us. Number two, City of Udica, the Shepard Place Firehouse, they're going to have renovations this summer or
022excuse me, this um yeah, this spring and this summer. And so, uh we reached out to Municipal Housing Authority and they they're allowing us to use Gilmore Village. Um the only other thing I want to mention about this, we're really excited, we've mentioned this before, we're changing our our voting system to the Bold system, which you normally see at your county and state elections. Um and that's going to be with the tablets. So, it's going to it's going to run, I think, much more efficiently this year. I know we we had some some issues last year. it was quite late and we anticipate that we won't have those issues this year. Okay. And and lastly, you know, this budget really is about supporting students. It's about supporting programming. The budget each year will increase as
023costs escalate over time, the cost of human capital within the organization, the cost of goods and services. But really, as you will see, there's a greater continuity in programming from the previous year and the upcoming year. and it's really about our ability to service our children and be responsive to uh student needs. So that's our budget presentation. Thank you. [Applause] Uh okay, so we're opening it up for uh either questions or public comment. If you have any questions or public comment, step up to the deis, introduce yourself, and um fire away. First of all, um I'd like to thank you guys for um replying to my email and answering the questions. I got through most of it, so I can see it was very well thought out and very thorough. So, thank you for that.
024Um I do have a couple pages of questions if you need me to stop in between and I can just email them to you guys. If it's too much, just let me know. Um my first question is with the federal government closing out all COVID monies to schools was the district able to expend all ESSER funds you understand the f the fully uh expensing of all grants is a concern for the auditors and was a finding in the external audits. So that's my first question. I don't expense you know expect answers today. Number two, I'm not I'm not sure that that relates to today's budget hearing. So, if that's something that you want to, you know, provide us with later, we'll get it to you when we Okay. I just figured with funding and if
025if it was spent or used or not, if that's going to offset anything. So, Mr. Potter, this is uh this is about the general fund. But so, if that question, you can just submit that through email, but this is about the general fund. Now, okay. The public doesn't vote on federal funds. I just want to make that statement. The public votes on the spending plan for the general fund. So that's not a revenue source that comes in to use it. It's not what the public uh votes on. So that's what I'm saying. So it's the the general fund like the general operating budget. The federal funds are zone beast and cersea and ARP assets is own beast that you can email a question but if you have questions about the general All right. So is
026a grant question. Okay. What's not applicable? Oh okay. All right. Let's see here. Um, let's see. Ah, here we go. In the budget, what has been added to help improve the graduation rate? What are we changing or adding to the high school to improve importance? Are you hiring any additional staff or reducing class sizes or providing more AIS to help the students? Do we offer AIS services in science and social studies to help students while taking the course? English and math have the lab a lab period for AIS. The others do not. Do you only get AIS after you fail the regions exam? I I I think it's in the I think that the response to that question is in the uh document that we've distributed throughout the community about AIS. Well, when if we're
027going to get into the details on operational issues, again, this isn't really the forum for that. You're more than welcome to communicate to the administration. Yeah. And ask whatever questions you would like to have asked. Well, no, I understand that, but it's about a budget to help further our school district, and these are questions that could help answer those questions on how we're moving the district forward with the extra funding. Well, I'm not I'm not able to respond to that other than it sounds like a question from the board's perspective about daytoday things. Mhm. Which is the administration's purview. Mhm. So, aside from the fact that we're doing what we can and anybody that wants to provide any backup on this, you know, we have programs in place. We're I'm assuming that the the administration
028is taking steps and doing things to address issues and concerns. Yeah. The the the question you're asking the better question is what's attributable to a graduation rate. Mhm. And so when we look at this scientifically, we're looking at multiple variables and the question the art of regression is how much of X variable is contributable attribut attributable to this particular the impact on X right the graduation rate. So it's a multitude of factors and more complex. So I wouldn't do it justice to give you an answer right now that just yeah I don't expect answers more of a comprehensive plan but the part of that work that you're talking about will be in our strategic planning as we're going after that we're coming together as a community to look at that and we'll be looking at
029the internal system so it's not just an X oneizefits-all. This is a larger part of a larger comprehensive and more complex uh plan of action and and these questions just so you know I don't need answers right now. I'm literally asking them because there's line items in the budget. It just says dollar amounts, but it doesn't say how we're effectively making a change to improve what's going on, you know, in the district. Yep. This is just a spending plan. No, no, I understand that. But the spending still has a result of graduation, right? That's our end goal at the end of the day is improving and getting graduation rates, page eight and nine in the response references. All right. Thank you. Um, I know you guys touched on the consultants a little bit um with
030this question. What consultants are included in the budget and what role will they play? Currently, um we have Dr. Davis uh helping out Patt Patty Service and Chuck Mowers and Jim Salamy. Um again, just just a question on how the consultants are going to be playing a role to really um help with the budget and also help moving the district forward. In this uh last year's budget, many positions were not filled. Are they included in this year's budget? Do you have a plan on hiring for them? You haven't hired a director of secondary education or a director of fine arts. Um, all vacant teaching positions being covered by current staff uh TA TAs clerical and security. It is my understanding that you are negotiating with the UAA to hire additional APS. Are the new AP
031positions in the budget? Um, how many? Where are they going? I just want to highlight that point. I think you raised a good point. It's one of the things I've been talking about since I've entered this community is we do have to get better at filling those vacancies, which is why I always emphasize we have to be the best stewards of the district. You know that we have to tell a story to make people want to come to our district to to look at this as an attractive place. And when we're not doing that, it makes it that much harder for me to get people here. So, it's a communal effort. It's one thing that we're doing as a community. And part of that will be um within that strategic plan, how do we strategically
032go after that? And it's a part of our rebranding as we're looking to, you know, get these positions filled. But I definitely appreciate your thinking there. I mean, we're we're aligned. Appreciate it. Uh CTE third floor there were we're um they are going to say, uh where is it? Here. Um on the third floor, um there was always three floors and I've I've asked several times about it. I know there's extra funding within the building project. Um, do we know how that's going to play a role in our funding in the future um with the budgeting, with the faculty, with the maintenance and upkeep? Um, no one's really discussed that through the meetings um or budgets. We don't have we don't have a third floor, Howard. We have two floors. No, no, I I understand.
033We have two floors. So talking about a third floor, sorry. Talking about a third floor isn't really constructive because we only have two floors. No, I I understand that. Okay. But you're not letting me finish. It's my time to speak, not yours. Absolutely, Howard. Speak away. He's interrupting me every single time. Continue. Continue. I know. I get it. What is the true cost of the RED program? How much are the salaries, benefits, supplies, food, and transportation? How is the RED program meeting the needs of all students? Do you plan to grow the program so we can get more help as needed? Yep. So, I just want to speak to that. The the RED program this year was a pilot. It it was into uh it was a in response to the data that we looked
034at, but also for the town halls and you attended one of those. I appreciate you for coming there. And so it was the will of of the community and it was the an investment from the administration to provide the access. So what we're doing this year is we're studying the RED program. We're looking at the areas that were deficient, the areas that were strong in revising the program for the future. So it's a it's a living brea breathing thing. It's it's it's we're studying and learning and then we're hoping to expand. That's the goal for for uh next year. And and the reason for that question is because I know there's been a lot of u talk within the budget where it's busing or you know administration wherever the case may be where they need
035extra funding for the program but it doesn't outline how much we're actually investing into it and and how we're being a catalyst to actually move it forward because I know in the December meeting you had a concern for budgeting and funding for the program. So that's why I was asking that question. Thank you for your answer on that. Um, as far as uh what staff are we hiring for the new engagement department? Uh, what are the total costs for the new department? That's a question that So, we're looking to hire I believe it's about two administrators and the dollar amount I'd have to look and I'll get back to you through through email. So, we're looking for to to start there with that department. Okay. Awesome. Appreciate it. For school safety, will you be hiring
036more security personnel? In the past, there was a higher rate of employees coming out of corrections or police. Will you go back to that? Uh, I I don't think that that's pertinent for this. We're just talking about the spending plan. That's an operational question. All right. Um, this year you will be moving 11.3 million in the fund balance, almost 13 million uh the year prior, and 1.7 million in ER ERS reserves. There's a limited amount of fund balance available. What is the long range plan to have these funds balance to balance out the budget? So that's a question that we will discuss at a later meeting and we discuss the reserve plan with the with the board. Okay. Awesome. It's in draft right now. Awesome. Thank you. Athletics looks like a smaller increase. Um I
037I don't know how that could be with the coaches raises and supplies like with the supply cost and the funding that it's addressed. It's it's in um can you explain uh the budget line transfers to capital and transfers to fund mean? What are they paying with? I noticed last month you uh we keep making transfers from the transfer to capital line but never expense anything from it. What is that used for? So um we're talking about this is the purpose of this meeting is for the 2526 budget. Y but I I just want to just say generally having worked on districts in New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, having also worked in New Hampshire budget transfers within a budget that's normal activity within a budget. you of course you want to limit it as much because
038remember we're predicting months ahead. So that's that's a normal activity. However, um with that being said, we're focused on the 25 26 and it's just the overall spending plan. Gotcha. Now, similar to business and you notice things might change. You had the money for the towels, but now you need more ink. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. And and the only reason why I I asked that question is because I know there's been a lot of meetings where we're saying the coding's wrong. So, I didn't know how those budget transfers could affect future spending. So, that's the only reason why I asked that. I I believe in the uh FAQ that we sent out that you received a copy of um it's the second item in there. Okay. That talks about budget coding. Yeah.
039Okay. So, if you'd like me to read it to you, I'm happy to do that. Yeah, I'm sure I can read it. Okay. Um, let's see. Um, what measures are in place to reduce the health care cost to all employees? I believe that that is addressed on page uh page seven. All right. Awesome. I appreciate it. Thank you for your time, guys. Oh, thank you, Mr. You're welcome. Thanks for coming in. Anyone else? Is there anyone else that'd like to ask any questions or make any comments? Okay, I'm going to close the uh I'm going to close the budget hearing and I need a motion to adjourn the meeting. Move it. Second. All in favor?