001Motion to reconvene to a public meeting at 7:31. >> Thank you, Diana. >> Do I have a second? >> Can I get a second to reconvene? Thank you. >> All in favor? >> Sorry if you said that. >> That's okay. >> All right. Can we all rise for the pledge? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right, good evening everyone. Uh, thank you for making it. I know we all had a wonderful snowstorm that we got through. Um, I'll just take a moment to thank all the town employees. uh for clearing the roads in an efficient and timely fashion. And then I'd like to thank all of our own employees,
002custodians, I'm sure teachers probably got in there, you know, administrator, staff, everyone, all hands on deck. It really uh was the only way to get through a storm like that. So, I just want to take this moment to thank everyone um who probably did stuff that was not in their job description to get the job done. Um, but it was it was a big storm and it seems like we all made it through. So, thank you. Uh, does anyone have any board announcements to share? >> Um, I'll just share that uh my son is moving up from the middle school into the high school next year. Um, so we attended that high school orientation. I thought they did a great job having the middle school students interact with the high school students. Um, so that
003was really nice to see. Um, I was also able publishing party at Cottage Lane and the students and teachers were exploring Canva. So, lots of really good things happening. It's it's just nice to be able to see all of it. >> Good announcements. >> So, we we have uh our two student board members, Jaywan Chay and Miriam George, who our first year that we've had students on the board. I've been meeting with them um and they've been coming to every board meeting and they actually have some thoughts that they'd like to share uh in terms of advocacy for public education and anything else. And it is Miriam's birthday. Happy birthday, Miriam. >> I'm going to turn it over to our student board members. >> All right. Miriam's making me go first. Good evening, members of
004the board of Yeah. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Never mind. >> Good evening, members of the board of education, administrators, teachers, parents, and fellow students. Today, I want to talk about three things that shape our schools every single day. Voice, funding, and the future. Who gets heard when decisions are made? How public schools are supported, and how students can be part of protecting and strengthening the education we all depend on. I want to begin by thanking Miss Luciano, Dr. Lavine, and Mr. Carbonetti, and the board of education for selecting me as an alternate student representative. Creating this role sends a clear message that students belong in this room where decisions are made. I am grateful for the trust placed in me and being able to represent the student body of the South Orangetown Central School District.
005Public schools across the country face serious challenges every day. Budgets are tight and we are asked to do more with less. Decisions made at the state and federal level directly affect what support we get in our schools. Recently, many districts have seen state aid cuts and funding limits that make balancing budgets even harder. Districts also work to balance enrollment so students are evenly distributed and class sizes stay within a healthy range. Research shows that when schools do not receive sufficient funding, students outcomes can suffer, especially for those who already face barriers. That is why I am glad our district has a plan in place to face these challenges head on. Leaders, teachers, and community members are working together to use resources responsibly, balance needs across schools, and protect what we value the most, quality education,
006equity, and opportunities for all students. We know it will take creativity, teamwork, and courage. But we are ready to meet the moment. As students, we don't just watch these issues unfold. We advocate for public funding. We speak up for fairness and we stand up for policies that strengthen our schools instead of weakening them. Our voices matter. When we talk to lawmakers, when we share our stories, when we stand up, we shape the future of public education. I'd like to thank the board, the administrators, and all of you here listening tonight for joining us in the work it takes to make our schools better today and tomorrow. Thank you. I want to preface this by saying Miriam's speech is going to be a lot better than mine. But building on what Miriam said, what I think
007separates our school district and makes it a great one instead of just a good one is the amount of extracurriculars and athletic opportunities that it offers beyond what's just inside the school curriculum. Unfortunately, these activities are the ones that are the most impacted by budget cuts and usually the first to go. Well, ironically, these activities contribute to the quality of the students education at the South Orangetown Central School District the most. Personally, I faced this issue last year when my friend and I qualified for DECA Nationals. Unfortunately, we weren't able to go because the district couldn't cover the cost of our chaperon, one of the teachers at Tavi High School. to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to to compete and participate in events and clubs that they want to. We want to make
008sure that the district and the the board gets the proper funding and support that it deserves. Thank you. >> Thank you, Jaywan and Miriam. That was excellent. Um I think we'll definitely continue uh speaking about funding and and we're glad to have here you here and your voices during uh these budget workshops. So thank you. >> All right. Uh superintendent. Sure. >> Good evening everyone. Thank you both for sharing your thoughts and hopefully they're listening up in Albany because we can certainly use an increase in state aid this year to help close our budget gap. So, tonight after our regular meeting, as Mr. Finn just said, we are planning to adjourn to a budget workshop. Um, I want to talk just also about the snow day uh and the two-hour delay that we had uh
009and start with a big thank you to our facilities and maintenance team. They were out um over the weekend and making sure that all of our schools were ready. Sidewalks were salted. Um even went above and beyond at Cottage Lane this morning clearing a path so that our kids could walk safely down the sidewalk at Cottage Lane. Mr. Finn was out with his snowblower on the other end. So, thank you for helping out. I know it's a it's really a community effort. I also want to thank our transportation department. They were out getting the buses deiced and making sure that all the buses were out of the snow uh yesterday so that they could roll when we needed them to roll. Uh Michelle Stevens even went so far with student buses to get vans where
010we couldn't have buses going to reach some of our students because of inaccessible bus stops and it was just a great team effort. Uh we're all back now and um hopefully very well prepared for the next storm which I heard is coming but I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. All right. I also want to talk about the transportation subcommittee that I have uh mentioned at our last board meeting. So we created a transportation subcommittee this year and we are meeting again in early February to continue looking at the two transportation studies that were conducted over the past 20 years. We are in the process of procuring and implementing the transfinder application that I've spoken about and that will help streamline bus routes and real-time communication with families and our schools while
011also looking at reducing route times and creating more centralized stops and reducing pollution and traffic on our streets. One of the things that became apparent after a big storm like the one we just had is driving around the district this morning and noticing how many kids can't really stand in the place that they're supposed to stand, where the bus is supposed to pick them up. And so we had certain situations where kids were standing on roadways uh or in streets. And so our buses were great in being flexible and picking kids up when they couldn't uh make it to their stops. But we're also going to be assessing now the entire district to make sure that our kids are able to stand in safe locations, including when we have big snowstorms like the one that
012we just had. Moving on to athletics, we also have an athletic field subcommittee that has been meeting and we're meeting again tomorrow to continue planning for the possibility of a multi-purpose turf field uh to be installed possibly at Tabsy High School. We're also still looking at SOS. We had engineers come out with Clark Patterson Lee. Um and we're looking at getting quotes um and the subcommittee will be presenting at an upcoming board of education meeting with our findings and recommendations. Moving on to clubs, TZ Model United Nations Club. We had 12 members of Tabenzy High School's Model UN attend the 25th annual Colombia Model United Nations conference and exposition and that was held at Columbia University uh January 15th to the 18th. The conference brought together delegates from around the world to engage in intense
013crisis simulations that cover a variety of topics, time periods, and regions. So, congratulations to those students. Also in athletics, on Saturday, January 17th, Tapenzee High School hosted their annual two causes one-day basketball tournament to raise money for the Children's Tumor Foundation and the Penguin Plunge. We had a really amazing turnout. There were multiple games played throughout the day. Thousands of dollars were raised for these important causes. So, the JV team and the varsity team both won their games against uh Woodlands, which is a number one class B New York State ranked team. And the JV team won 64 to 20 and the high school team won 49 to 29. Also, boys basketball, um, our team right now is currently ranked number four in class A. We are undefeated at 13-0. Just saying. And our girls
014basketball team is also ranked fourth in New York State class A. Our Tapenzee High School gymnastics team continues their winning ways and is the favorite for the sectional championships. Tapenzee wrestling has won their last four tournaments and they just won the Rockland County Championships which were held at Tapenzee last Saturday. And our Tapenzy High School cheerleading team has won three competitions and has qualified for nationals in Orlando, Florida. And they are leaving tomorrow morning. So good luck to our Tapenzy High School cheer team. Moving on to prek, universal prek. So, as you know, we opened up uh our first UPK class that we've had in the district um in many years. It's been a tremendous success. And when this class was created, we talked about plans to possibly scale and expand programming to offer more
015in district seats for our families so long as space and funding uh becomes available. So, we are looking closely at our enrollment projections and the possibility of being able to open a second class at William O'Hafer in September. We are not um there yet, but we are certainly exploring that possibility um through the budget process and again through space. We have our final draft of the calendar uh that we sent to the board of education in your last board report. We have also met with cabinet with admin council which which includes all our school leaders and central office administrators our teachers union our PTA reps from from all the schools to review the draft calendar. Uh and we've also been consulting with Rockland County superintendent. The plan is to adopt the calendar at the board
016meeting uh at the next board meeting on Tuesday, February 10th. And we are also in the process of finalizing the South Orangetown community survey that we do every two years. That's the climate survey that we give to students, parents, and staff. And the plan is to launch that February uh late February or early March. And that concludes my superintendent report. And now we can move on to Anybody hasn't signed up? If you want to sign up, just making sure. I'm just making sure. All right. So we'll move to public commentary. Protocol for public commentary is as follows. All opinions are heard. Everyone should be an active listener. Each person is responsible for his or her behavior. Respect diverse perspectives. Be conscious of your speaking time and tone. A limit of 3 minutes is an appropriate
017time frame to state your issue. Speakers may not give unused time to other speakers. Issues of specific personnel, either positive or negative, cannot be discussed at board meetings. References, comments, or discussion that does or may identify a specific student or students by name or situation will not be discussed publicly due to FURPA law. Issues pertaining to specific students should be addressed privately with a student's teacher, principal, or school counselor in accordance with policy 1400, public concerns before bringing the issue to the superintendent's attention. The board reserves the right to close comments on an issue if the residents become unruly or disrespectful or if the topic is something that the board is legally unable to discuss in public. If an unusual number of people are attending to bring forth a specific issue, the number of speakers
018could be limited. Depending on the number of people wishing to speak during public commentary, the board reserves the right to reduce the time limit on each speaker until everyone is heard. The sole purpose of public commentary is for the board to actively listen to the community. Meeting protocol requires that questions presented to the board during public commentary will be responded to when possible at the board's discretion. Questions requiring investigations will be referred to the superintendent and will be responded to in a timely fashion through future board meetings electronic mail, mail, or telephonically provided the contact information is supplied on the public commentary signup sheet. Mr. Leon Jacobs. >> Good evening, Leon Jacobs. I just like to uh set the record straight for a comment that was made at the December 16th, 2025 board meeting. There
019was a derogatory reference to the previous board regarding the oversight for the building control system at high school. And I'd just like to make everybody aware that in the 2022 capital improvement bond project scope in the newsletter that we announced to the community as well as to the board meeting on October 21st, 2021, the districtwide classroom renovations, new HBAC and building management systems increase fresh air filtration, cooling efficiency. So the previous board did address the building management system districtwide throughout all the buildings including the high school. So the comment that was made previous board meeting on December 16th that the previous board overlooked the uh antiquated control system at the high school. So just like >> Thank you very much. >> Yeah. >> All right. We can move on to board presentations. >> Okay. So
020tonight we have Miss Espanel who's going to give us a state aid update. Hey, they can go first. Yeah, we have Palumbo Group and Clark Patterson Lee. That's fine. >> Thank you. Thanks for >> We have a good story to tell. Uh phase one uh of the 2022 bond is coming to a close. We are uh mopping up so to speak and finishing up some uh some uh final punch list items. Uh phase two phase two um is one year behind us now. We've got uh uh two more two more years coming and uh phase 2A which is the uh auditorium renovation at the high school and then phase three uh starting starting this season. I'm just going to zip through here. Just to recap, uh bond phase one uh covered these four schools. We
021had work in all four schools. Um, some ACM AC ACM removal, uh, renovation in 41 41 rooms at William O'Hafer, uh, new casework, new HBAC, um, new outdoor classroom at all four uh, schools, new scoreboard at the at the high school, bleach relocation, and again a new new outdoor classroom. Cottage Lane uh experienced 46 rooms overall of renovation, new HVAC system, casework, new electrical service renovation, uh and the former lobby. Um again, a new outdoor classroom and the middle school had the uh new outdoor classroom and the nurses station where we sit now uh finishing up phase one punch list activities. I wanted to point out too that finally uh even though we tried to schedule it in July, we had our uh Orange and Rockland electrical switchover in December. So, we just made it
022on into uh 2025. So, we're happy to see that happen. Um punch list activities at the other two schools as well. Again, just taking you through the photos of uh what phase one entailed. Uh this is the new uh entryway to Cottage Lane. Huge huge uh uh improvement. Have some classrooms. Music room also beautiful renovation. Rainbow Schaefer classroom. Middle school nurses station came out beautiful and of course the uh outdoor classrooms. So substantial completion was last August 23rd. school closeout is currently underway. Uh finalizing uh uh just just the the smaller items as we get through it. We got through phase one with a lot of help from the district and support, a lot of patience. Thank you. Um it's a uh uh really nice to uh to put a pin in it. Uh real
023happy with uh the way the classrooms look. Phase two, we started in 2020 24. Um, we did, um, I'm sorry, 2025, we did 23 rooms in the 400 wing. Uh, the HAC systems, new data lines, um, the, uh, weight room boiler replacement. Actually, wait room is this summer. Um, nurse's office renovation, you just saw pictures. Um, punchless activities now for, uh, for 2025 work. And with eyes toward 2026, we're currently working on a protection plan and the pack and move plan for uh for the summer. We're moving into the uh uh the 300's wing and doing the um uh the wait room work as well. Some of the work we took care of this summer, the 400 wing. This is the new nurses suite at the high school and of course the boiler room. For
024phase two, uh, we start June 26th with a substantial completion of August 24th this summer. Phase 2 A is a high school auditorium. We have uh as always limited ACM re remediation, electrical upgrades, stage renovation, upgrade to the production lighting, sound booth, uh accessible seating, aisle lighting that currently sits with uh submitts and upfront documentation from the successful contractors. Um field work begins on the 26th with a substantial completion of December 22nd uh occupied uh probably right after the uh uh the Christmas holiday. Phase 2A again starts the 26th finishes up December 22nd. Phase three, we have third floor HAC renovations. Um, SOS athletic field, renovation of 18 classrooms, walking path, um, admin suite um, at uh, TZHs. Approvals are received, bid process is complete, and contractors have the uh, submittals underway. Project gets underway
025June 29th with a substantial completion of August 25th. That's all I have questions. >> I just want to say thank you. I know it's been uh quite a long road and we're in the midway through the project. We are happy now with phase one. I know there's a couple of issues that need to be resolved and we're looking forward to this summer. It's going to be a lot of work at the high school and really all across the district and we're ready. >> We'll earn our money this summer for sure. Uh and thank thanks again for your faith in us and uh uh and in your vision. This the the way the classrooms look is all because of the board and the community. It came out really nice. >> Thank you, Mike. Thank you. Appreciate
026it. >> I'd like to say a lot of hard work before any of us were even on this board because these projects take years to develop and uh we have one of our previous members here. So uh I'd just like to thank all previous boards for their hard work too. All right, our next presentation which will lead us into the budget workshop is we have Natalie Espanel, our assistant superintendent for business and operations, who is going to provide the board and the public with a state aid update. >> Thank you, Brian. Um, Dr. um good evening board. And so here we are and we'll start gathering all the information you need to make some budgetary decisions. Um, what did I do? That's not me. >> John. Okay. So tonight I'll provide a state aid update
027and other revenue factors that help frame the budgetary process. Here we have the South Orangetown vision and mission. The vision is to elevate, engage, and inspire through personalized and exceptional educational experiences that ensure all students achieve to their fullest potential. Our values are to challenge our students with the highest quality education, to foster an inclusive school district community based upon respect, responsibility, equity, and global citizenship, and to provide a safe and nurturing environment which prepares every student for future success. So, the agenda for tonight is uh going over public school funding, federal funding trends to South Orangetown School District over the last three years, the universal meals update really based on participation, um the executive budget notes, the key ones relevant to budget, the legislative priorities for the Rockland County School Board Association. Um, we'll
028have our state aid runs as issued on the 20th of this month and our draft tax cap calculation. Also, another review of our fund balance at 6:3025 and our um and a little bit about the reserve plan that I developed. And again, we'll reiterate some key budgetary dates. So here you'll see the trend in federal title funds to the district. Back in the 23 24 school year, we were allotted almost $400,000 in title funds altogether cumulatively. Um under the student succeed acts federal funds are allocated to districts for the purpose of providing an equitable education among groups of students. funds are allocated based on specific factors such as poverty data and student count. Title one which you'll see on the chart uh to the right to the left hand side provided the most funding is
029for improving the basic educational programs based on poverty factors and student count. Title two we have um is to support effective instruction through training. Title three is specific to English language learners and title four is for providing a well-rounded education, improving school conditions and use of technology. Um so as the data shows so South Orangetown has had a decrease in the allocation of ESSA funds within the last two years allocations have decreased by 50%. So here we're looking at universal free meal participation and I want to highlight that while the state has put forth um the universal free mills program it's also a challenge right because we never know where it can land with federal funding and anything they may limit. So, I'm proud to say we're able to uh break even, actually a little
030bit on the positive end of our operations with the school meals. Reimbursements for breakfast is under, but the lunch reimburseable is actually sufficient to cover the negative impact that the lower rate on the breakfast meals. Um the current executive proposal is for continuing the program and this chart shows an increase of approximately 68% in participation in breakfast comparatively to the same months from and a 19% for lunch uh participation. And again, the district is sufficiently funded to support the CP program as reimbursement exceeds the cost of the school service program. So, I was able to view the webinar provided by the Rock County School Board Association on January 12th and their priorities included um they were in support and advocated adjustment to the regional cost index for Rockland County. The regional cost index informs of
031the cost of living in the area and used as a factor in the foundation a formula. Currently, the index is 1.314 while in comparable areas such as New York City and Long Island, it is 1.425. This differential differential can bring an additional foundation bring in additional foundation aid to the districts in Rockland County. Specifically, it's estimated to result in approximately 1 million in additional foundation aid for South Farm. Um they've also discussed states for zero emission and the zero emission bus mandate. The recent rock study recommends that the state will be on the right cost of this initiative to transition each local school district to an all electric bus. There are various fiscal and operational concerns from just funding um how long the battery may last on the road just from so very infrastructure may
032not even be supported. So that's another >> also something our transportation subcommittee is working on. >> They also are in support of creating an exemption to the tax formula for school safety expenditures. These expenditures consist of payments for SRO officers, security officers, cameras, any infrastructure needs for safety purposes. They've also discussed support for mental health resources such as grants for the purpose of training school guidance counselors and other life professionals. Here we have some key notes on the school funding from the executive budget. The foundation a proposed increase the foundation a proposal increase of 7 779.5 million which would bring the total funding to 27.1 billion across districts. In the prior year we saw that the foundation made formulas updated for all metrics that they use. They were using an old census census um source
033but they updated to the area income and poverty estimates um which is a program by the US Census Bureau which provides annual estimates of income and poverty statistics for all school districts counties which is just a more current um data source expense driven aids remain the same there's no change to the formula so basically every district is assigned a ratio an a ratio based on the expenditure category So those have remained in the executive budget also proposed support for universal school meals and as Dr. They also propose additional support for fork program. The proposed support for full day prek for all four year olds of state by the start of school year 2021. Here we have presentation is the update on the school runs that were issued on the 20th of January are indicated in
034the 267 column and for comparative reasons we have the amount as budgeted for this current school We see that the total amount budgeted this current school year is 17.7 million. Um after the state aid runs were issued last year, the state aid office sent Dr. and myself an email indicating to budget for some amount for foundation a saw enrollment data on record would indicate that we weren't getting as much as they showed on the one. However, with current state aid run shows that we're back up to about 18.5 million. So this year we'll be able to see unanticipated state aid revenue which will drop you know to come balance eventually when we close out the school year. So right here you see an increased budget to budget of 2000 71%. >> And Natalie, can you
035say that again? Sorry. We need to go back about the go three sentences back. >> So the recent state and what they do is they also revise the reports from time to time every few months. They initially pushed them out in January and then in April then in November and they constantly revising the data. Um so the last run which was issued on the 20th of January which shows a projection for 26 27 also shows their current data for this current year 2026 and it's showing about 18.5 million which is more than we have 17.7 so that you know 600 or so 600,000 ends up being unanticipated revenue and will net operating results. So it'll go to fund balance. >> Okay, I understand. So this chart actually shows the data for us including the projection
036for next year. And you can factor in the revised numbers for 2526. And you see the red line is the total projected state aid. So it's at 18.4 million. And then the the white line is the foundation portion of the so you see that kind of decreased even though it increased budget >> and just to draw your attention to this slide in the public this is our challenge. Uh you can see for three years we haven't seen any real meaningful increase in state aid and you can see in years prior that we were able to rely on that to help. Over the years from 22 to 25, the state was catching up to fund foundation aid. And so that has now been um resolved. And so that's why some districts are on formula and some
037are harmless so that the true data doesn't cause and foundation rate. We're actually on formula. So that's why we'll see more differential and more um a greater chance that that it may actually decrease. So at this point in time with the data available, we have a draft a preliminary tax levy calculation. Um this chart here is off of the state controllers website which they have the data showing the inflationary factors compared to their levy growth factor. it has been consistent at 2% for the last five years. Um while inflation has surpassed 2%. You'll see for each you have you know the very very first row under 2022 shows 2.3%. Which the inflationary factor used for the tax calculation is the lesser of the two. Here is the controllers office tax cap formula and um actually
038the layout is a little bit more confusing than it really is. What what it does, it takes your prior year, which is this year's tax levy. It backs out all the exclusions. Then you get to your tax levy and then you add any new exclusions for this year. >> I'm going to rely on the students in the order of operations. >> So here's the draft calculation for the 2627 school year. So our current tax levy for 2526 is 91.1 million. Um the growth factors the growth the growth factor assigned by the office of tax that the state office of taxation of property um is for the school specific to the school district is 1.0036 um which is 36%. So that's the first factor we take against our tax levy. Um then we back out prior
039year pilots. The pilots are payments of payments in L of taxes. So those are certain arrangements that development corporations have with the town um for the purpose of being of the community asset and um developing jobs for the community. So being of assistance to the community, they have this pilot agreement which is another tax basis instead of the regular tax levy. Um, we also back out the capital tax levy from the current um to arrive at our base. Last year was 3 1 million. Um, so that takes us to an adjusted prior year levy of 88.3 million. We now take the growth factor as assigned by the controllers's office of 2%. And then we add back the pilots that we are expected to receive for the 2627 school year which is $81,650. Then we calculate
040the tax levy exclusion. So that's really the portion that makes it a draft because it's we're pending information from both as we get a portion of their capital expenditures. Um I'm also just working with this advisor to kind of sw the exclusion amount that we factor into the tax. So the preliminary tax levy is 93.4 million which is an increase of 2.54%. The exclusion includes the 2 million uh that's usually a transfer to capital budget. >> Can you say that one part again? The two the 2 million doesn't go into the calculation of how much you can increase the tax. The 2 million is part of the capital tax levy expansion >> that white the last white >> so that you know with conversation and during workshops that's eventually the board is agreeable to and
041then we propose it in our budget to the community >> but if you essentially and then one other question sorry to go back the so just so I understand the state aid thing is that you're saying right now you have 18.03 million from the state but you're anticipating that that number could go up by 500k later in the year >> where did you show me that >> so the 2526 school year that the red line indicates 18.4 Oh, I see. Okay. Yeah, >> that was actually issued on the the executive one. So, they provide current year state aid and then the projected for next year. >> So, the projected for next year can also is projected lower, but it also can be changed as well. >> It can >> and that that has happened in
042the past later on in the budgetary process, but right now we're dealing with >> I believe that last year. So, >> yeah. >> How many years is that? >> I'll get you. >> How much? >> So, here is the fund balance as audited on 6:30 2025. Our operating results were 114 about 114 million in revenues with expenditures at 109.7 million. So, we had in excess of 4.4 million which um we were able to add to fund balance. So some of the reserves were increase as a resolution and um and our unassigned fund balance remained at 4% as well. Total fund balance increased from 32 million to 36.5 million. So with this I developed a fund balance plan that I shared which is also for providing a limit to each of the reserves. So we fund
043the state ERS and CRS which are for funding the contribution to the state for retirement for teachers and um civil service employees. I put in the plan fund up to three years because some of the reserves do not um the cap is is excessive. So if we state a cap for funding it at three years, we calculate what the expenditure for three years can be and the board also can revise that plan to what they feel is more reasonable or if they want to increase over that. Do you do you have that number or do you know what that number is for three years for each reserve? It's in the plan but I can we can go over it. >> I don't have it here. Yeah, that's in the the fund balance plan that um
044was presented, >> but we can reshare it and it has it has each reserve and how much and the recommendations. >> So on this slide, ERS >> ERS retirement contribution. The second one after taxert is 2.5 million. That's the amount induced in the reserve right at this point. 500,000 was assigned to this current year's budget. That's why it shows on the next line. This was at 30. It's still included in the plan in the fund balance. It says ERS retirement contribution for subsequent years expenditures 500,000. That's now part of this year's budget because that was part of um >> I have other concern though I'm not concerned with I maybe it's the budget workshop but the 2 million annual transfer to capital does that get divied up into each one of those pots or just
045goes all the side? The >> transfer to capital actually goes to um it doesn't go to the reserve. It doesn't go to fund balance. It doesn't go to this um list of accounts here. >> It goes to the H fund. >> So the budget is based on the A fund which is the fund that all the tax payers go into and say they transfer the capital means we have assignment. So let's say just for as an example we say that two million transfer we're going to use it for um new playgrounds across the district. We assign a purpose to it and we always have a purpose for the two million. We won't put two million in the budget without having it itemized as far as what it's going to be used for. >> So it
046immediately goes into planning and use on the reserve and um when we have positive operating results, we then propose to the board um you know you can fund the capital 500,000 more or excess funds into which do not have a purpose until the voters authorize for us to use the reserves. So it sits in the savings account specifically for capital. We go to the future capital projects of 15.8 million that's of savings specific for capital improvements. Now if we want to as an example use it for the fields we will put a proposition to the community to the board and then to the community to use x amount from the capital reserve for specifically for groups. Now we have authorization to move it and to pay any expenditures. >> Yeah. I feel like that one
047account is like big because you just saw a del group. If we really want to do massive work we just issue bond then you might. So the last one had 18 million from the reserve. >> Yeah. So the $49.9 million project was $18 million out of the reserve, 32 million to the taxpayers, and we've already replenished the Yeah. Yeah. >> And since summer 2027, we're wrapping up phase three and all of the phases of the capital bond. We're drawing down on the last part of the the bond. So that expense whatever we have to pay in principal and and interest for 2627 is factored in the capital distribution. So anything related to capital expenditures for next year is part of the >> and who told you you had to do it at 18. Why where
048did that number come from for >> back in 2021 >> yeah it was a recommendation that we would >> sorry >> I'm just trying to think about what the what you would have been in the future. It was to have limited impact on taxpayers but also to do the project. We had money in the reserves with a plan to replenish. >> Sure. Yeah. I see. Okay. >> Instead of an entire bond being 49, >> right? >> So this is just an overview again of the bud budgetary process. Um we're having our first workshop today and um May 19th as we proposed jumping to the end for the voters to go on and here are some key key dates. Our budget hearing is on May 12th and um the board will adopt is scheduled to adopt
049the budget on April 14th. Um and on March 10th I'll provide a preliminary um budget budget um presentation and within February we'll have better. >> Thank you Natalie. >> Can I just ask you one question? I know we'll talk a lot in the budget workshop, but um regarding those electric buses, have you um you spoken to the uh Rock, you know, the electric company or our bus company? >> So, I did speak to um student bus. Okay. And actually on the budget's already valid will be once approved by the board. A three-year contract because a multi-year contract has to be included on our budget newsletter so that it's transparent to the community. A three-year um agreement with them instead of a year-to-year. It'll increase with the CPI as indicated by NASA every May for transportation
050um because it'll provide them some sustainability to for efforts towards the mandate. >> So >> they're looking for some kind of fiscal sustainability and at the same time we're able to secure transportation. I mean there's a lot of uncertainty with it. >> So that's I mean they've expressed the desire to change over >> and I had more review the um the addendum to their agreement and to the bid specs. So the language s indicates the language has to include that they will follow the mandate. >> Yeah. And they don't have a choice. >> Yeah. And then the electric company has to be involved. >> So I have not reached we have with the architects um they've done studies for a vehicle, an electrical vehicle. They've submitted it for approval and This is part process even
051though we it's still like we're not 100% sure on where we would want to have it. I mean they've assessed different areas of our schools but um that's where are we required to actually submit the the electrification plan. >> So we're going to charge buses on our property. Well, we have to provide a plan. >> The plans that uh were presented to us as far as building electric bus charging stations, one was here at SS, one was at Schaffefer. We asked them to go back to the drawing board literally. Um, so I'm not comfortable with them sending those plans to the state, but the idea that we would be building electric charging stations anywhere on our campuses with a 22 square mile uh radius, um, it's a long way off. So, we're looking for the
052state, and you saw in the presentation, if you saw the legislative webinar, there's a lot of advocacy for um, the state to fund this transition. And there's advocacy from lower Hudson Council superintendent, Rockland County School Boards, Westchester, all across the state because it is just not a reasonable expectation to ask districts to fund building monstrosity charging stations, $400 and something thousands per bus. And we're challenged here. You could imagine some of the districts that are upstate with much more rural um and bigger geographical areas to cover. So, we're doing our due diligence. We're not just doing this by ourselves. We're working with Rockland districts. We're working with lower Hudson Council superintendent. We're all in this together. School boards are talking and working together. And hopefully we're going to see some meaningful changes and legislation that
053will help us realize um whether or not this is really feasible and if it is, how are we going to how are we possibly going to fund it? It confuses me because of the districts that like ours that have the busing off of our property. Right now they want to bring it on our property and then I think about the not only the logistics but the legality of having somebody else's vehicles on our property. I mean talk about a nightmare. >> Yeah. And these vendors don't just work for one district. In many cases they're servicing multiple districts which makes it even more complicated. So >> thank you for the additional comments. Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. Um any committee reports? >> Sorry, I'll I'll quickly do the facilities committee. Uh on January 14th,
054we had a facilities committee meeting. Just summary of notes. Emergency resolution passed for heating issues. CPL is working on scope documents. Phase two at the high school science rooms. getting a quote for operable non-motorized panels. Uh phase 2A at the high school auditorium ACM testing to be performed during April break instead of February per principal's requests. Uh no HVAC work in phase 2A. Phase three field construction. We have a plan not to use field for one year to allow project to settle and not disrupt warranty terms. May need fencing around perimeter of fields while not in use. district requested irrigation design. Uh the super superintendent requested a quote for that. Infield grass of baseball field is a priority for irrigation. Multi-purpose field plan. Uh we have potential vendors Shaw and or Lantech. Um setup meeting
055with subcommittee to review plan. district is flexible on construction schedule being during the school year in if necessary fence around property may need to be added to the project. Projects for the May 2026 vote amount to be determined and approved by the board of education during budgetary development recommended to be spent on infrastructure and safety needs. And then we have the high school fitness center. The athletic director obtained at least three competitive quotes for the weight room equipment to provide a replacement plan for the athletic equipment and potential for lease to buy program. And that's all for the facility committee notes. >> Thanks, Steve. And we have a a safety committee update. Mino, >> um we are working on the cameras and enhancing camera updates. We're still working on the Verizon cell cell tower improvements
056and we are scheduling for late February, early March to have another active shooter drill. >> And we also had a presentation from uh critical response group which is a mapping company. They map not only schools but all different um organizations across the country. We're very impressed. They presented to lower Hudson Council superintendent. They have a contract with Rockland County Boseies and they came and presented to our school safety committee. So we are in the process of uh working to see if we can procure um an agreement with them. And what that will do is really enhance our maps so that we have clear unified location data uh and the ability to coordinate and communicate quickly um and make decisions during an emergency. So, we're very happy that we're going to be moving forward with a
057a mapping company that will enable our our first responders as well as our school administrators and staff to be able to to know where everything is in the building. Um, one of the examples that was given during the presentation is that even during uh major operations, even at the highest levels of government, oftentimes they're using, not often times, always they're using paper maps as opposed to trying to get digital maps to to figure out where to go. So, um, we're looking forward to adding that to our security. >> All right. Um, does the board have any discussion for the agenda items tonight? Second case, Okay, there's no discussion. We can move to make a mo a motion to approve consent agenda categories 8 through 11. >> Do I have a motion? >> Motion. >> Thank
058you, Katie. I have a second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Tracy. All in favor? >> I. All right. Any new business before we move to the budget workshop? Anyone want to know? Okay. Motion to adjourn the meeting to a budget workshop at 8:28 p.m. >> All right, we're on time, so we'll take a quick break. We're just going to set up a couple tables around here so we can all sit