001She'll definitely This is what I It is now 6:00 p.m. >> I will now call the Bo Valley Central School District's Board of Education budget meeting to order. Would you please stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag? I aliance 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. >> District's vision, as a reminder to all of why we are here, the vision of the Boat Valley Central School District is to become the best rural school in New York State. We will accomplish our vision by providing exceptional opportunities to all learners and preparing them to set and reach their future goals by embedding our core values into their student experience. Roll call. Mrs. Belle, would
002you please take the roll call? >> Tom Broadick >> here. >> Paige Carter Sult >> here. >> Paul Fenton >> here. Darlene Hooper >> here. >> Sarah Coleman. >> Deb Spalding. Jason Welch >> here. >> Satie Burgess >> here. Okay, attendees, if you haven't done so already, would you please sign in so we have an accurate attendance record? The signin sheet is located on the table by the entrance. Thank you for your cooperation. Library proposition discussion, Elizabeth Town, Westport, and Watams Free Library Association. Um we're very happy to have Amy McKinley here tonight who represents the Watams Free Library Association. She's going to provide us with some information regarding the proposed funding proposition. Welcome, Mrs. McKenley. >> Thank you so much. Um, I don't need to stand, do I? >> Just project. >> Yeah. Yeah.
003So, we're here. There's representatives from all three libraries of the district. Um, and we are asking to have this proposition put on a ballot at the time of the school budget vote, um, May 19th. And I I'm going to read the proposition pretty short. Um shall the board of education of the Boe Valley Central School District as pursuant to education law 259 be authorized to levy and collect an increase of $15,000 in library funding separate from the school budget. This increase of $15,000 will be divided equally among the Elizabeth Town Library Association, the Westport Library Association, and the Wadmree Library Association to support library services. If approved, the total annual library appropriation will increase from 40,500 to 55,500 and will remain at that level unless changed by a future vote of district residents. So, um,
004if this passes $55,500, um, what it would look like on people's tax bills would be approximately $7 per um 100,000 assessed value. So, um, that's the new amount. And, um, we, um, I guess, why are we doing this? Why are we doing it now? We've talked about doing this for a while and it always seems like, oh, this may not be a good year for this reason or that reason. Then we realize it's never a good year to ask for more money. And especially now, you know, when everybody's facing rising costs, but so are the libraries and um we just decided we really need to do this. Um the the Westport and WAM libraries um first received um library tax money in 2004 and we have not asked for an increase since that year. The
005Elizabeth Town Library um first received the library tax in 2018 and they have not asked for an increase since 2018. Um so we are hoping that you know the residents of um of the district uh value library services and will support this and we would be very grateful and thankful to have you put it on the ballot. >> Okay. Thank you. Anyone have any questions? >> Yeah, I have one. >> How how many of our students would you say you uh come to the library on a monthly basis? You have a figure of that? Which library is I? >> Well, each one of you. Each one. >> Yeah. Well, we we I can speak for one library since we are the librarian and sit there and bring people. >> Yeah. Um I don't have a
006count with students. And the other thing is that uh anybody in the district can use any libraries, >> right? >> Any of the libraries. And they actually do. So, we have people right now we don't have a lot of medium-sized kids in because of the houses are owned by older people. Um, which is true of a number of our communities in metown. They have a lot of kids, but but we we have some younger ones. Um, so but we have we have kids that come in regularly and do use the library. Again, especially the little ones at this point. Our children's room is pretty comfy and we have a lot of good books and you know people come and >> and we also have like a game night now twice a month. >> I'm sorry
007and um kids come. I was so amazed. I don't know four or five kids the first library started a weekly movie series that's for all ages and families. So we often get children. Those events would probably be really great. Um, if you pass them on to Bridget, she can put them in the newsletter for everyone to enjoy. >> Oh, that's a great idea. >> I do have some of that. Good. I'm not sure if it is you. Sorry. Yes. Okay. She has a lot. >> Good. I can I can speak for the Elizabeth Town Library and Karen Robel, the director of the Elizabeth Town Library. We provide tutoring three days a week. We have one student that comes Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays when we're open and does her homework. We also provide books to the
008Bokeet Valley Central School. In fact, I just your librarian Kirsten Kristen just got a book from our library. So, we do support the school itself and we're not asking money for salaries because we're both we're all way underpaid and there's nobody that could do our jobs and live on our salaries. We're looking to expand our services. We also have six or seven computers that are very active >> and they're open to anybody. You don't have to have a library card. >> Perhaps we could have some of that information. Oh, I'm sorry. >> Annie, could you tell us um what other services uh Westport and Watoms supplies? I know you do like, >> you know, Wednesday nights or Tuesday nights. >> Yeah. Well, we do Wednesday nights in Watams, which is um a lecture series in
009the fall and in the spring. Um we are doing uh game night. We are doing um a fiber arts gathering. We host folk groups. Um book association meets there and other groups that meet there sometimes too. >> And I also know you also do fundraisers too, so you're not relying upon >> Yeah. Yes. So, so the the tax levy is, you know, it varies for each library. Um, the part that we get is maybe 20% of our budget. >> It's less than 20%. Yeah. Most although we raise by activities or an appeal letter um and some grants, we raise most of our our budget. We don't receive none of our libraries receive very much in the way of cash or money from the New York state. Um people think oh well the state supports the
010libraries but it's a very minimal amount that we get from the state. So we raise almost all the money ourselves with. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> I just wanted to say perhaps we could put some of that information on our website. For example, the tutoring. I think that would be good for parents to know um because I don't believe there's anything out there letting people parents know that the tutoring is available. >> And also I had a question now is that um all three libraries have like an inter library loan so that the teachers can access books. >> It's it's through three counties. >> Oh it's from Clinton, Essex, Franklin counties. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. Each library is independent. There are 30 libraries in Clinton has strength library system. Um each independent but
011we all work together with the help of the system and we inter library books and make sure that they get what they need. Right. >> Wonderful. And I I would just add that we would, you know, as we get closer to May 19th, you know, we will have someformational flyers and posters um >> to distribute um and we'll be at the budget hearing night if people have questions. >> They will beformational flyers and posters. We're not allowed to tell voters how to vote. >> Right. Right. Greg. >> Well, thank you very much. Um, we will not be voting on this tonight, but I'm assuming that it'll be on the March agenda. Okay. And it's definitely a worthwhile cause. May I just >> Yes. Go ahead. >> Elizabeth Town Library is hosting a community forum on
012Saturday from 2 to 3:00 p.m. It's led by JJ Main from Platsburg. at each library is having one of these forums and the we'd love the community to come in. >> Okay, great. Great. Make sure that that's on our okay so people will know about it. Any other questions? So, so um uh we so we know that that the law is is that this has to go on this will go on the ballot if we request it and I think the board accepts it. Is that okay? >> But it's a resolution. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Well, we won't make the resolution until next meeting, right? That's the point. Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. Any other questions? >> Thank you very much. Thank you. Appreciate I know it's a busy time. We'll just >> Okay, next we're
013moving on. Um Dr. Meyer, would you like to lead the discussion for the budget? Okay. Number seven, our 2026 27 budget. >> Yes. Thank you. Would you mind taking one passing down? Okay. So, uh our our um budget meeting, I know, uh at our regular meeting in January, I did give a little little teaser of some budget information, but this is technically our first um formal budget meeting. Uh today we'll take an overview, look at the budget, talk about the tax cap, look at the executive budget proposal, um the foundation aid, and I'll look at our revenues expenditure projections for next year and some of the budget highlights. So that's on the agenda for tonight. Um, so as far as questions go, uh, what feel free to stop me and ask questions as I go
014or you can wait till the end of the slide or the end of the presentation. Whatever works best for the board is fine with me. Um, so the budget overview, so this current fiscal year, uh, our budgets right around $16.2 million. Uh, and this is in all school budgets are in three main areas. there the the capital administrative and programming. Capital that's typically facilities and maintenance type work. Uh administrative that's leadership and operations. Um all of and anything related to the board comes out of administrative for example. Uh and then programming that's of course the instruction uh student services all all that. So, those are the three main areas and we'll see things um broken out in those three areas uh as we continue with our budget discussions. The expenses, right? That's what the district
015spends and the revenue, that's the money coming in. Uh our funding sources are three funding sources. We have state aid, uh we have federal aid, and we have local taxes. The reason that that is uh circled there is that's what we're talking about. We have very little input on state aid, very little input on federal aid. Uh but we uh as as a school district uh can talk about the local share of the taxes. Um and of course we need a balanced budget. The expenses and the revenue uh those must match. Uh the budget vote is May 19th. And that is sort of the overview of the process. So, let's talk about the tax cap. So, the tax cap, there's a um there's a big formula down here on the right corner. I'm going to
016blow that up on the next slide for you, but basically the the point of that formula is just simply so so you can see that there's a lot of lot of numbers that are going into that formula. uh often you uh not so much anymore, but when this first came out, people often talked about this 2% tax cap and that I I don't believe that there has ever been a school district in the state where after running the formula, it actually came out to be exactly 2%. Uh 2% is simply one of the numbers that goes into the formula. Um so, uh two numbers that that do change every year. uh the tax base growth factor for us this is 1.0039% and just as you can imagine when you multiply anything by 1.0039 it's not
017going to do a lot to change that number so that that's a very low number for us this year. Uh and then the adjusted growth factor of 2%. Um we also you have three options as a school board. We can go below the tax cap at the tax cap or exceeding the tax cap. uh we uh I fundamentally believe that we always go with the tax cap and that's what all the preparations uh that you'll see this year are leading up to. So this is the this is the formula um blown up a little bit. Uh and uh the really just the thing that I want to point out here is this number right here. This 1.02 that allowable levy growth factor that's the 2% that we talk about. That's it. So there's all these
018other numbers that are going in uh to this formula. So when you work all of that out, you end up with the final number. So again, like I said, it's very unlikely that it's going to actually equal 2%. So our tax cap projection for this year based on that formula is 4.24%, that is the at the cap number. Uh in the uh upcoming slides, we'll see how we get there. uh the increase that is an increase of $363,237 uh to the levy. Um if you look at our history uh going back to 2020 2021 that was a 4.15.98 2.28 3.08 2.57 and a 3.06. What you should notice here is that um none of those are equal to exactly two. and uh they they change every year and it's just based on um how all
019of those numbers fit into that formula. >> Were all those uh Okay, those are actual tax caps. Sorry, those are understood. >> Thanks. >> So, the other thing to understand is our our budget timeline. So during the school year, we're really uh looking at um a a three-year process. And what I mean by that is uh so when when we um so right now, so let's talk about the March 31st date. So, our teachers for next year are completing their um completing their requests or the requisitions, getting those numbers to their principles and they load them into this uh to a a program we have that's very similar to Amazon specifically for educators. It's on state contract. It's um you know the the lowest price out there is a system called ED data. In any
020case, uh they load those in. Those need to be in by March 31st. Although as I'm looking I feel like we we just agreed to extend that deadline slightly as I'm looking for that first Friday. >> Yeah. So I I think we extended it by about a week but in any case um so end of March it be end of March beginning of April the teachers get their spending requests in for the following year. Um by August 31st the admins and the and the athletic spending that all that needs to go in there. Of course, a lot of times those numbers are uh uh change a little bit based on hiring and you know what happened over the summer uh positions that need to be replaced or potentially attrition that took place. So a little
021bit a little bit more time for the administrators being August 31st. Then by December 31st, we really try to stop all spending um in the district. Uh you know over the course of the fall certainly things happen. you know, new teachers were hired, for example, we might need to um purchase a few things or some of the items that were approved. Uh we try to get all those purchases completed by December 31st. Doesn't always happen, but that's our target. Then by February 28th, that's when um that's when uh we ensure that all the spending requests have been absolutely completed. That's that's like our our um our absolute stop date. Uh so really anything purchased for this school year from here forward would either be the result of some emergency, something that you know was just
022unexpected or if it was related to a grant. Grant grants work a little bit differently, right? So so any of the purchases that you see moving forward were either like pre-planned um to happen uh or um or something unexpected happened to have them happen after uh the end of February. So then starting in March, then our business officials looking at our fund balance projection for the end of the year and then most of our grants are on that July 1st to June 30th deadline. So then the grant spending is completed June 30th and of course as I mentioned the emergencies. So we're we're always looking at multiple years of budgeting at at one uh particular time. So what does the timeline look like in New York State? So in January the executive budget was released.
023We're going to go through that in a minute here. Uh we are expecting a legislative budget. Those have come out as early as late February. Um and as late as, you know, middle end of March. Uh hard to say um when when it's going to happen. Uh and again, we don't really have have any input on when that comes out, but the sooner the better. And then the idea is that the once the legislative budget comes out, then they their leaders meet with the executive, it's the governor's office and her team and they have an agreed ontime budget by April 1st. Um, uh, Governor Cuomo was pretty adamant that April 1st was was the deadline that that all budgets would be approved on April 1st. And while a couple years he missed the target for
024the most part, uh, he hit it. uh that has not um always been the case. So we we do what we can with the numbers that we have and uh and um because our timelines don't change even if the state doesn't have an ontime budget for us. Okay. So again, I know these numbers are very small. You have one of these in front of you and I'm going to blow it up on the next slide. So there are two things here. there the the item the on the left this set of numbers up here and again you don't need to see any of these I'm just demonstrating this for you this was our current school year the 2526 school year below is the 2627 school year this is how we get our information from the
025state as you can imagine getting it getting it on top you know one on top of the other is not a great way to look at that information so the council school superintendent provides one of the best services uh of the year where they put those side by side for us and that's what you have in front of you. So uh there are a couple of these numbers here this is that that spreadsheet blown up just a little bit um if you look at these numbers the and if you see the arrows that I have um on the right of these numbers and the pink box that I have looking specifically at the change. So there's a dollar amount change and there's a percent change. So for foundation aid in the executive proposal there's an
026increase of foundation a for us of 1%. Okay. Um as a reminder we are on save harmless uh based on our enrollment um that goes back to the early 2000s. Uh so for us to get off of safe harmless we would need to literally double our enrollment. So that is not something that um I expect to have happen. Uh the other thing and this is later in the presentation but uh nearly twothirds of the district I think it is is actually 66% of districts in the state this year are on save harmless. What that means is that they do not follow the foundation 8 formula any longer. They get this 1%. Just as someone who's been doing this for eight years, if 66% of the districts aren't on a particular formula, perhaps there's a problem
027with the formula. So, in any case, uh so so we so we get our 1% uh this 1% is higher than we've gotten in some years, some years it's been flat. Uh all that safe harmless does is it ensures we will at least get what we got the year before. So it guarantees a zero percent. It guarantees you won't lose money from the year before. So you know some you look at 1% and you can say only 1%. Well, I always think that's 1% more than I thought we were going to get. Um so you look at the dollar amount that's $49,363. Okay. So that that's what we're looking at. Um, then as you make your way down this slide, uh, and if you certainly if you have questions about any other numbers, I'm happy
028to address those, but but the ones with the arrows, those, uh, um, I just wanted to point some of those out. Uh, the numbers with parentheses around those, those are basically negative numbers. We're getting less. Uh, so you'll notice the transportation aid, uh, the summer transportation is a separate line, which is why it says transportation aid without summer. Um, so we're getting uh about $9,000 less. Um, the uh third arrow, the operating reorganization incentive. This is what we know, right? That we're we are um going into year year nine. We're in year eight right now. We're in year eight of the merger right now. >> We're in year seven right now. Going into going into year eight. So, so moving forward, we are um we we are we'll get $65,784 a year less each year
029moving forward. Um and and we know that we that that was the plan all along. Um and so that that's that merger rate, but we are still getting uh 460,000 in merger aid. Uh continuing down to arrow number four, that's our our Bosey's aid. um up slightly uh $28,000 the public excess cost uh excuse me excess cost high cost aid. Uh this is where you know depending on whether you're looking at the percentages or the dollar amount and you look at that and say 400% increase. That's amazing. That's $12,000, right? So great. >> Why did that go up so much? >> Um I I I I really don't know. um that that would be a question that uh Aiden wasn't able to make it tonight, but that's Aiden question. I would never dream of putting
030Melissa on the spot, but if there's anything she wanted to weigh in on tonight, you're welcome to weigh in on. >> I am still learning this whole process. So, I'll I'll let him answer that. >> Um the Okay, so okay, so down to error number six. So the universal universal pre kindergarten the one of the reasons I always like to talk about this is that this is based solely on enrollment. Okay. So the state will allow us to have more students than not that we even have room for but that live in the district. >> So that always looks like it's going to be this massive increase. And that and that would be great. An extra $75,000 that would be great. But we need to fill those seats, which we have yet to have. We
031have two classrooms, which is awesome, but we've yet to fill our prek seats, which is this is one of the um one of the big complaints across the state is that it always looks like you're getting more aid, but you really don't because you can't fill the seats and so it's not really money that's there for it. Does the UPK that covers preschool and preK like the younger group and then the older group? >> The three and a four-year-old. >> Okay. Yes, it does. Okay. >> Um we we also have a partnership with AAP that is it's I'm going to I'm going to say unique. I don't at least at the time that it was set up, it was the only partnership quite like that in the state. And I believe that is still the
032case where the way that it works, we're able to use some of our funding. AAP gets similar funding. >> So, uh, we we're we're almost, I hate to say double dipping, but but but but almost has that feel where we're able to sort of combine our resources and um and use that for for our preK program. So, it's been a great partnership. Um, okay. So then when you get down to the bottom, uh the the total aid. So again, so it looks like there's a 1.5% increase with $102,000, but because this is because of what I just said about the prek, you'll notice the next line is the total excluding the universal prek because um because that that can be such a deceiving number across the state. So if you pull the prek number out
033of it, it's really only a point4% increase to our state aid. Only about $27,000 increase to to state aid. Questions on this chart before we move on. >> Can I ask you what percentage of our um incentive aid merger incentive aid do is used in the budget? >> Zero. So Z I I say I'm going to say zero dollars. And the reason I say that is if you look at so where are we here? Um so like this current school year $526,000 right? So we have already this fiscal year put more than $526,000 in our reserves. So that's why and and that is true for every previous year of the merger. >> Is that what you're going to do with the next budget for next year as well? So that that that would absolutely be
034my recommendation moving forward is to continue to continue to do that. Uh I I think that you know one of the best things that could happen when so the merger rate is always says that that um it's lasts 15 years. Okay, that is slightly not true. It lasts 14 years. The way the the way the schedule works in year 15 it's your last reduction meaning that you go from 60 whatever $64,000 down to zero in your 15th year. >> So I don't think you get funded over 15 years and you fund it over 14 years. >> Right. >> In any case um >> so every year in the past we've we've put in 100% of our incentive aid into a reserve >> yet. Yes. However, you know, the the the dollars that come in as
035from from the merger aid, those aren't like specially marked dollars. You know what I mean? We're putting more in our reserves every year than we've gotten from the merger aid. I think you said that correctly. So it's on the revenue side and then our on our expenditures we have this a million million dollar excess and that's what's put in. So it doesn't look like it goes from incentive aid into the reserve. It's kind of calculated based on the revenues and expenditures. Does that make sense? >> But if if if someone were to argue, well, how do you know you didn't spend the merger rate and you're putting the foundation in in >> Right. No, I I realize it's revenue. It's revenue, >> but I'm saying I was just wondering like down the road we're not
036going to be getting that incent, >> right? So, so even already um the so the total amount of merger was uh roughly $6 million, right? Um we have already put $6 million since we merged put $6 million into our reserves. So I would say that B, you know, based on efficiencies and based on, you know, for a lot of reasons, we've already funded the reserves for the full amount of the merger incentive aid and we will continue uh >> basically 50% of your timeline. >> Yeah. Yeah. Continue to do that. Um but but in fairness, that that was the plan. That that was the goal, right? Was to not spend that money uh right away. And we while um don't want to be careful how I say this, but we were a little bit lucky
037that CO happened when it did because we had that additional revenue coming in for all the the co money and we were able to stock a lot of that away as well because we were again operating more efficiently. So we were all that kind of happened at the same time. Um, so, so I I think that we, you know, that that's probably the single great the single best thing that we've done as a district with from a financial perspective is stocking the reserves uh the merger money and that that co money and that's based on how we've been able to operate more efficiently since merging. >> I do have an answer for you on the high cost base. >> Okay. Um he said it's because of a chapter 66 placement student. He said a special
038ed student was out of district and placed in our district. So we got 100% reimbursement on the student. >> Okay. Thank you. >> That's a two from Keysville or Platsburg. >> No. So that's likely like a residential placement. So a student that's placed um outside the district like a residential facility. We pro we probably did I had a question on that. Transportation aid we probably don't know how the state calculates that I'm assuming. Right. Just seems odd that that would have been it's it's not a lot. It's less than $10,000 but seems odd that they would reduce that given >> inflation. I don't know if the G I don't know if they have analysts that looked at gas price gas price indexes and thought it was going to go down this coming year. Maybe that's
039what drove it, but um doesn't feel like the transportation costs are going to come down. >> Yeah, I would speculate agreeing with what you're saying. I would speculate that we've driven less miles or that we're projected to drive less miles this year. >> That makes sense. >> Than the year before. So we're getting less a because of the fewer miles that we drove. But 100% speculating on that. >> But there's no part of that transportation aid that's for electric buses, >> right? Yeah. Okay. Uh so just um just looking at our Bosey's region. So if you look at the districts that are on save harmless in the lefth hand column, the 1% stay minimum. We had two more districts join us this year. uh one was northeastern and I don't recall one was we had
040two more join us this year uh if you look at the districts that are not on safe harmless that's the percentage they are getting in foundation aid so beeping town 4.6burg 8.7 center act 1.4 Mariah 3.6 So that means that their enroll enrollment has increased since 2000 uh I want to say it's it's 04 I want to say uh 2004 um is the year that that's based on I might be off by a year or two but it's the early 2000s looking at this I would be willing to bet that Sarinac is going to join us next year on on that list. uh usually once they get you know around um around that number they uh they they join us the following year. So not a lot of districts left and like I said twothirds
041of the districts in the state. Um so I I don't know what's what's going to happen with this but uh it gets talked about um fixing the formula. Um so we'll see what that happens. Again, I know you can't see this, but you have it in front of you. And I have I have each section blown up on the upcoming slides for you, but the top part is the local share, the middle section of the state aid, and the bottom part is kind of the other. Uh so we look at the top part first. This uh talks about the um uh real property taxes. So the tax levy this year uh for 2016 to excuse me for for the upcoming budget year uh is 8,99,741. You see how we get um uh um some other
042smaller amounts here. uh 12,000 uh here. Um we get uh some some interest based on um based on some of our reserves and some of our other money uh just interest on that of over $100,000. And then we do get some uh donations throughout the year and we still are collecting stumbage um at uh for $30,000. this next section here, the the state aid section. So, this is some of the numbers that that you just saw. Uh you should recognize some of those numbers. And um I did not bring my binoculars and was expecting that to be a little bigger. So, >> can I just go back to that? What is stumpage? >> Yeah. So, it it literally is for cutting down trees on some property. And I yeah it it's not ever like a
043ton of money but we get a chat or something every once in a while and we say thank you very much. >> Okay happy to spend. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> All right. >> Um okay. So uh then looking here. So you see the uh foundation aid um and sort of the two columns highlighted with that green rectangle there. um that is comparing this current fiscal year 2526 to the executive budget proposal 2627. Um so you can see some of those numbers side by side but you saw many of these on on the last slide um just just sort of a different view here but that total state aid uh is um in the bottom right corner $6,613,747. Um and then the final section down there. Um again looking at uh some of the incentive
044the only number there is that's the merger aid the uh reorganization incentive aid. You see the change uh $65,000 plus uh and that gives the whole total for the uh budget at 16,360,975. So that's how we um get to that revenue the total revenue number. So then that brings us to expenditures. Any questions on revenues before we move on? And you can certainly ask them. >> Uh, now we haven't talked about our fund balances yet, right? I mean, the $6,000 that on our audit or $6 million on our audit that was said was too much to be into that fund. Where does that go? >> Yep. So, a a a huge chunk of that went in in October. October. October went I know we were at Lake View campus. must October. In October, uh you
045moved a bunch of that money, about $1.3 million you moved into reserves, uh and a big chunk of that was from that fund balance. Um >> yeah, >> and on the sale of property up in Platsburg, what did we receive back on the investment that the school sent up there? >> The situation And where is that located at now? >> So that would come in on the uh that would come in on one of the Boseies lines, I believe. Do you know? Can you can you ask that? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. We just get it for the next meeting. That's what I'd like to know. I mean, that's got to be a pretty good chunk the way everybody was talking about it. >> Yes. Um >> and that could be in >> I
046mean >> I Yes. that we're going to get money back, but it's divided by 16 districts based on the size, you know. So it it's going to be some money for sure, but um >> so are we going to make sure that our fund balance stays within that 4%. >> So that's so I would if we can have that conversation when Hayden's here, I would prefer that. I know the biggest reservation that Hayden has with keeping it under 4% has to do with the summer months because the last um bit of money that the school district has coming in I believe is in March is the last check that we get and we don't get another one until taxes are collected in November and having to cover payroll over the summer. Our 12-month employees, believe
047it or not, they want paychecks over the summer. I find it to be just ridiculous what they demand data over the summer. I'm of course being facitious. Um but so I know that that's one of his biggest concerns is being able to cover payroll for that entire time. However, uh many small districts um like Putinham for example being the smallest they're 4% they keep that at about 100%. they their their their numbers are so the smaller you are the bigger that number tends to be and I believe that as a result of before the merger Westport and Elizabeth Town had their numbers in the neighborhood of 10 to 12%. I don't think that I so because we're a little bit bigger now, it does not need to be 10 to 12% and that's what we
048talked about in October and that's why we got it down. I believe right now we're in the 7 to 8% range and I am comfortable moving that anywhere the board would like it to be as long as we can pay our bills. >> Well, I just thought um I remember Dr. Tim's recommending because we've been cited on that year after year >> or not keeping within that 4%. >> Um, >> yeah, I >> level >> and maybe taking that extra money and putting it into a reserve ahead of time rather than waiting until the end of the the year and having that much excess of money in our fund balance. >> Yes. And so every whenever that happens for me whenever we get that report from the auditor we do need to update our plan
049on how we're going to address that and based on the conversations last year that so this year is the first year we've done a midyear transfer and that was one of that was one of the um you know it basically was after the um taxes came in and you know we kind of got through summer we realized what what was left you know then then we were able to move um some money from there. But I I I understand absolutely understand uh and would welcome the conversation when when Hayden Sarah just would hate to miss anything uh that that he would be concerned about. >> So our reserves are not mentioned here or anywhere. Correct. >> No. So uh so the fund balance and reserves uh are will be talked about at the March meeting.
050>> Okay. >> So yeah. So those aren't aren't part of tonight's presentation. >> Okay. All right. >> And you can withdraw from those reserves anytime you want. >> No time. >> That's one of the dangers of putting >> time. Well, so some of the reserve >> require >> generally speaking, every reserve has its own set of rules. >> Some of them require voter approval, public voter approval to remove the money. Some require board approval to remove the money. And some um let me let me let me stop there. I I I think that's it. I I I think you would at least need board approval to pull out from from any reserve. Uh so it's not just as simple as the bank. It needs to be a very thoughtful >> Yeah. >> decision to put
051into the reserve. >> Yeah. And >> sometimes it can kind of get locked up there until you repurpose a reserve which also sometimes may even require a vote. I don't know about >> Yeah. So we um the let's capital reserve for example. So, there was a uh Westport in Elizabeth Town had a capital reserve. Um, every reserve when you set it up, you put a limit on how much money can go into the reserve, but then there's also an expiration date. And again, every reserve has a limit on what that can be. I I feel like I usually see 10 to 15 years for reserves, but I'm sure there are different numbers. Um, so if we set up a 10-year capital reserve, um, so when Westport and Elizabeth Town as their capital reserves were expiring,
052uh, there was a public vote to move that money into a new Bokehead Valley reserve, which is what we have now. We increased the limit on that and, uh, extended the the, um, the expiration date. >> Uh, >> so by starting the new reserve, you're starting the time clock over. Yes. Yeah. And in in theory, right, you could just keep doing that, but you need voter approval every time >> to to do that. >> Um, okay. So, let's talk uh expenditures and then we can certainly continue questions. Okay. So, looking at your expenditures and you do have this in front of you as well. It's this lappy house. >> It's looks bigger on the screen and it doesn't. Yeah. >> So, um in the first column you have the current school year and in the
053second column you have the proposed budget for next year and then of course the last column is the difference between the two. Uh the red numbers in parenthesis that's a decrease overall decrease. So our Bosei services you see uh there's an increase there in the Bosei services. Um the uh debt service a slight increase in the debt service. Um the fuel uh and the buses again small increase there. The uh health insurance. So these numbers um were uh we took our best guess on what the health insurance rate would be to have this ready for you tonight. We had our health insurance consortium meeting this morning uh ended today around 3:00. Um so that that will be updated and be slightly adjusted. We weren't too far off in um in what we projected, but there
054will be a small change >> to that. >> On our health insurance, is there an employee contribution or is we the district pay for the entire policy? Uh, no. There's employee contribution for for everybody as far as I can't think of anyone that that wouldn't have a contribution. Even our um there there there may be some retirees from a from a way back that that have no contribution but >> contractual, right? >> It's all contractual, right? >> It's all contractual. >> Um, that's a good question. Then the uh our FSA as a flexible spending account that no change there and our HRA um the HA so we're seeing a a reduction there in of $16,000 um Medicare reimbursements uh increase health insurance buyout increased or health insurance buyout um the uh crime liability insurance slight
055increase there of $15,000. And then our ERS, that's our employee retirement system contributions, those are up uh about $12,000. The TRS, the teacher retirement system is down $22,000. General fund salaries down 271 almost 272,000. >> Can I ask is that because we didn't hire people or because >> Yep. No, good good question. So, uh, some of that is, um, we had, uh, some employees that were, um, the the way that they were hired, they were they're basically being moved to the special ed line for for next year, which >> Oh, instead of a general, >> yeah, which is in if you see the other toward the bottom, some of that is offset by some of that money is moving from there, you know, from one spot to the other. >> Okay. Um but but but
056there is a um there is a a decrease there um in in the salaries based on some of the retirements that that we do have. >> I was going to say are there any cases of attrition elimination? >> So uh we there's a couple positions that we do believe um we still have room for attrition for but not that are retiring this this fiscal year. Okay. >> Uh social security is down. Uh our equipment is down. um significantly. Uh that has to do with the bus purchases. Yep. >> Okay. No, that's right. >> And then materials and supplies is down uh quite a bit as well. >> So the total expenditures is down over $100,000. >> So the other includes what? Special ed. >> So the other uh so includes um really really two uh
057two big chunks here. um the special ed needs um and some of those are uh the salaries as I mentioned other is um we're expecting um some out of district placements uh and then there's a >> does that mean that we're sending kids out of district or getting kids from out of district in our >> that we are sending >> okay >> yeah as a result of a cse meeting >> yeah no fine I just want to know whether I know what you're talking about >> uh and the the capital outlay uh project. So that that's that's a um project. This is um uh again this would be great uh for Hayden to speak in a little more detail on this, but basically the way a capital outlay project works is it's a it's a
058small project that you can happen in the district and you do get a back on that. So, for example, um you know, if we wanted to uh um change carpets in some of the room or you know, something of that effect, something that's like a little bit of a smaller project where we've certainly done that. We've need to do that in some cases, we pay for that and that's the end of it. If you do it through a capital outlay project, you can do it and get the aid back the following year. So if you continue uh to do those then they um you know then then the aid offsets the project the the following the following year. >> I have I got one question I mean maybe I'm out of line asking this one.
059Uh now the elevator needs repair from what I understand here. Is where is that going to come into play in the new budget or hasn't it been been able to get bidded out to find out what it would cost for that? >> Yeah. So um so that's a good example, right? So that to fix the elevator capacity that needs to be fixed, we would need to incorporate that as either part of the capital project or a separate project that would absolutely exceed the $100,000 capital outlay limit. >> Okay. >> And well, I guess we wait until next month. you I know you have some some other requests that are coming in that that you've talked with your teachers and your staff and that they want things done and but it'll it'll again it'll be one
060of those thing that's under the $100,000 cap. Am I talking out of out of the wrong side of my mouth here? And this is from your maintenance service. Mr. Wright had mentioned something about uh doing some work and it was going to be about $100,000. >> Yeah. So So that that's what he was talking about. So, kind of putting a few little projects together to get to this $100,000 number so we can get the aid back on it >> for that. >> Yeah. For for the capital. >> Okay. And I mean that's just approved by the board. I mean it's not it's not a vote from the public. It's just those $100,000 jobs are just approved by the board at that case. >> So sort of so it's that being that it's would be part
061of the budget, >> right? Okay. Ultimately, it is approved by by by the public, but but it's not a separate like you don't vote separately on the $100,000 capital outlay. It's just in there. >> It's just part of the whole budget. >> Yeah. Okay. All right. And my other question is uh >> Oh, I'm sorry. Can I say one more thing? >> Yes, sir. >> But >> Sure. >> You have to finish the work during that fiscal year. Like you can't you you know, you can't say, "Well, that's great. It's was approved. We're going to push it off for a couple years." If you have to finish the work, you need to get it done. >> Okay. And one more question. Uh I see a Tyonderoga bus here. Uh three three days I think a
062week or somewhere around that. What can I ask what they're here and do we get reimbursement for any teaching that we're they're getting from us or what? >> Sure. So um so I believe that the Tyonoga bus is here for new visions only, right? Is that the main? Okay. >> So, so we we we we rent a classroom to Boseis. >> Okay. >> Uh for our new visions medical program which is they walk from here to the hospital and it's >> Oh, no. I thought that was always a great plan. >> Yeah. It's um I know Tyonoga Scrum Lake Keen has students that are here. I'm sure I'm missing some districts, but it's mostly the southern uh districts that are sending the students here for for that new visions program. Um, >> yeah. >> Okay.
063All right. Thank you. That's all. I didn't know if it' be something we'd have to add into the budget or >> Okay. >> Um, okay. And I think I have one more. Do I have one more for you or is that >> I think so. >> Yeah. Okay. Great. Um, so then the last sheet I have for you is sort of what I would consider to be the kind of the highlights thus far in the planning process. Um so again looking at the uh that increase in the BOC service uh so 97,000 of that is um in the CVT budget is due to additional prect students um and that's based on an increased 5-year average there. Uh we also have an increase in $70,000 uh dollars to um accommodate the new CTE center. So, if
064you remember, so that $70,000 that was the public boat, right? There was a public boat for that new facility in Platsburg. >> Um, so that that uh that's where um a lot of that money comes from, the $70,000. >> Um the the reason here, these are Hayden's notes that you'll see here. So, the uh for example, the um the fuel prices, we're hoping that those remain stable. um we're on a state um uh no longer on a bid but on the state contract that usually does help with keeping those numbers a little bit more stable. Um and especially with some of those you know it's happening recently um stability in that market is pretty important. Um, and then if you look at uh you see a couple of his notes, they do say tentative. Um,
065and we're just waiting on uh waiting on some um some a little bit more information before we can finalize those. But those are the estimates that we're working with right now. Um any any questions on that overall before >> can you pass on? I really appreciate this slide that summarizes the the reasons for the changes year over year. I think that's >> this kind of answered some of the questions I had. >> Yeah. >> Um just a couple more slides for you. Uh so again that 1% increase of foundation aid more than 60% of schools in your state receive that minimum. um no real significant increases to any of the other aids. We know that merger aids dropping. Um uh and that funding stops in 2033 2034. Um we talked about prek being deceiving. Uh
066the electric school buses. So, I I do w without it's hard for me to talk about electric school buses without just really committing to that rabbit hole, but I'm going to do my best here and just say this that it does appear that there is some movement um from both sides of the aisle on this and we are hopeful that they will push it back. I think that just about everyone is agreeing that this is probably a great initiative, right? this is probably great for the environment, probably all these wonderful things, but no one can figure out how to pay for it. And that's like a today problem. So, I'm hoping that there's going to be some movement on that. I'm hoping that there's going to be uh that um I'll stop there. I'm hoping
067that there's going to be some people have enough energy to support it. >> Yes. All of those things. >> Uh again, a budget vote May 19th. Um and this is the uh TRS and ERS. So teacher retirement system again down to 8 uh.24% from it was at 9.59%. ERS is up 17.6% from 16.5. Those are the estimate estimated increases and decreases based on the information that we have at this time. Uh and then our budget priorities um our student opportunities and experiences are actually let me say this uh we were not expecting this. The Oasis grant um was announced uh and it is due midappril to submit. So that is very exciting. um we still need to write the grant, get approved for the grant and all those things, but simply the fact that that
068it came out and the it is a very quick turnaround, but we are um going to, you know, that's one of the things that we're going to like drop everything and and get that get that done. >> Did other school districts in the area get that grant as well? >> Peru uh did last so they were on the same cycle that we were on and in the whole Wow. Okay. >> Yeah, Beakman Town has something that's similar um but um structured very different structured very differently than than ours is um but this the same type >> of uh of um so student opportunities and experiences. So very very hopeful um that that can work out for us. and uh just tremendous benefits for everybody. Uh academic programming and sport um the transportation and the buses
069um you know certainly we'll continue to talk about those and then our uh maintenance equipment um as well. Uh we'll get some more information on those as we move forward with next month. So what um what we'll see uh in the upcoming months. So, we'll certainly get an update from the legislative uh side of things. Uh revenues and expenditure update. Uh if there's any update to the property tax cap fund balance projection uh update, if there's any Bosey's budget update now that the health insurance is um is is finalized. Those numbers should be really final uh next month when you see them. Uh we'll just with Hayden here, we'll confirm the debt service numbers. I noticed that I put fund balance projections on here twice just to make sure for Mr. Fton that I don't
070forget those. Uh sorry, I don't know why that's on my twice. And then uh the reserve report update. Um so that's what you'll you can expect to see in March there. >> Yes. >> Sorry. Uh for both. >> Yep. When will we have to start paying that? I mean when this is for the new building up in >> July 1. >> And what are we paying? How much that's already incorporated into the >> So Yep. Yep. Uh and that that's where that that increase was about 160,000 $167,000 more next year total of 2.7 million. I mean we So the Boseis line always looks expensive and it is. However, the value for the Boseis dollars is incredible. It's incredible value and then on top of that, we get aid back the following year on top of
071that. So, so it it's a big number when you look at budgeting, but I think it's money well spent >> and the good thing is they always get good publicity in the paper about what they what Bosey's done. I mean, and that's excellent. I feel, you know, >> I think a lot of people support majority of the people support it. >> Yeah. Well, it enhances all of our programming in the whole area, you know. >> Yeah. >> Nobody ops out of it. >> Say it again. >> Nobody ops out of it. >> Oh, that's a good question. >> I don't think anyone ops out. I mean, there there are certainly districts that have more of a partnership as as you can imagine. Um, >> you know, the smaller school districts tend to rely a little
072bit more on the Boseies because the bigger districts can do a little bit more in in house. They just have more resources. But I no one no one helps out. >> Yeah. Yeah. Now, I have something I'd like to >> um I have some thoughts that I would like to share regarding this year's budget formation process. And I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer, but these are things that are very concerning to me. And this is based on the information that I gleaned recently from our financial advisor, Dr. Rick Tims, who recently presented um a presentation entitled the long-term financial analysis of the Boat Valley School District. As a recently merged uh rural district, we have benefited greatly from our state merger incentive funds. Those funds have allowed us to enhance programs and operations
073through these transitional years and put a substantial amount of money into our reserve accounts. However, those funds are decreasing with each and pass each passing year and will be gone entirely in seven short years. At the same time, our enrollment has been steadily declining while our expenses continue to increase. That combination raises serious long-term sustainability concerns. And as Dr. Rick Tims recently advised us during his long-term financial analysis of the Boquet Valley School District. The difference between our revenue and expenditures keeps getting greater with each passing year. I was actually hoping that he would be here tonight for tonight's meeting so he could explain this in more depth, but hopefully he will be coming to one of our meetings in the future. The question before us is not just how to balance next year's budget.
074The real question is whether our current structure is sustainable once our incentive funds expire. Dr. Tims provided us with concrete examples of options that we should be considering. Have any of these recommendations been implemented? And most importantly, the one question I think we really need to ask and our district really needs to consider is this. If we do nothing different structurally as far as consolidating into one building or internally through the thoughtful consideration of ways to reduce expenditures, what year will we be facing a financial crisis? As Dr. Tims indicated during his presentation, it is not that far away. I believe that it is our responsibility to address this proactively, not reactively. Our goal must be long-term stability so that our students, staff, and families can rely on consistent programming and will be able to
075avoid crossdriven decision, excuse me, crisisdriven decisions in the future. I believe based on the information provided by Dr. Tims, who is a leading expert on public school finance and education funding policy in New York State. We need to formulate a multi-year sustain sustainable plan that aligns staffing, programming, facilities, and employee enrollment trends. And we need to begin that work now, not wait until there's a financial crisis. Are we doing any of the recommendations that Dr. Tim recommended? Uh yeah, that's so great. I'm glad you brought that up. So um the information that we received from Dr. Tims and especially the recommendations, those were general to all districts. If you go on the Sable Valley website that has his presentation posted on their website, it is the same recommendations for that district as it is for
076ours. That's those are the recommendations. It's general in nature, but let's talk about those. So uh he says to stay at or very near the tax gap. We have done that to rebuild and maintain our reserves over time. Our reserves are if you compare our total reserves to our total budget we have the high that is the highest ratio in the region and one of the highest in the state. Um he says to reduce the resilience on appropriated fund balance to balance the budget. This was a this was a common practice happening nearly every year in Westport before we merged. This happens in districts across the state. We have never done this in Pokeet Valley. We have never used fund balance to balance our budgets. We've never needed to. Uh and you talk about decreasing
077the year-over-year spending. So, if you look at our expenditures for next year, those are $15,000 less than they are this current year. Again, we're reducing those because we are because we have those plans. We have the transportation plans. We have the bus first plan. We have the plans. We have that in place. So, we are reducing spending at a higher rate than we are, I don't want to say, losing money through incentive, right? We're getting $65,000 less. We're reducing spending by 105,000. That's significantly more reduction and I still plan to put money or to recommend that we put money into reserves next year. Uh so the the one piece that that I will absolutely I will stand right next to Dr. Tims and agree with him that we have no idea what is going to
078happen with the state funding. Are we going to get 0% next year? We're going to get 1% next year or we're going to get 3% next year. We don't we have no idea what the legislative budget's going to come out. They legislative has never come out with less than the executive has come out, but that doesn't mean that couldn't happen. It's an election year. I would be shocked if that happened this year, but it couldn't. Uh so, we don't know that. I I think that that's criminal that that school districts don't get some advanced notice. I don't know why they can't plan that, you know, a few years out, but, you know, uh they they haven't let me run the state and solve that problem yet, but maybe one of these days. Um so I
079I have no idea how to um how to anticipate what the state is going to do other than plan for 0%. And that's really what we've been doing. We plan that we're getting 0% year after year. And if we do get hit the 1% or 2% or a couple years ago we got 3% which is incredible. Um then what we've done with that money every year is put that extra directly into reserves. We have not spent that money. Uh, I I would I would say that most boards of education and superintendents across the state, if they had the opportunity to trade financial situations with us, they would do it in a heartbeat. We are in an incredibly strong financial situation. That being said, do we need to get into one building? Absolutely. I tried pretty
080hard to make that happen and it didn't and that's fine. and we have another capital project that we're looking at and if that can get everyone to one building then that's great. I absolutely agree that we need to get into one building. That is when we can be the most efficient. Uh but we have been we have been losing positions through attrition since we merged. We have a handful of positions that we can still lose. Uh, but that's one that's one of the things that I mean we one of the I'm going to say promises that we made before we merged and that I think is so important is we we we cannot cut these positions outside of the outside of attrition. It just isn't fair to these to these teachers to do that. >>
081We agreed upon, right? And so and and yes and so when those opportunities come up and we can do that course of nations. >> Yeah. Yes. Absolutely. And so when when um but when we get onto one campus I believe there will be more opportunities for that uh where where we can look to do those things. But we have absolutely been I I I will I guess I will say this way that this current year we have put more in reserves this year than we have any year previously to that. That's because we are operating more efficiently this year than we have in previous years. So I I hear what Dr. Tims is saying. I think very highly of Dr. Tims. I anytime he presents around here, I typically go. That's why I invited him
082in so you could hear what what he had to say. But his big concern is from the New York State side of things. And we we need to control what we can control. And I believe that we are doing that. I think that we have these long range plans in place. I think that we should absolutely um bring some of those back up. We can talk about more formal our reserve. Here's what our reserve plan has basically been at this point is when we find that we have extra money, let's dump it into reserves. And we've been hitting the capital reserve very hard in anticipation of this capital project. We can absolutely look at a more formalized plan. that is something other than dump money to the capital reserve. I absolutely >> Well, there were
083other plans that you talked about as well that maybe that would be something uh that we'd all like to see. >> Well, he's he's coming. You've invited him. >> Oh, I don't even mean Dr. Tims. I mean uh >> the like you're saying the reserve plan or >> I don't know if you said an educational plan, but you said like three different plans before. Um, but are the other thing is uh are we considering any other revenue streams? Like I think that's Dr. Tenz's ultimate point is like what do we do if the state drops out from under us? >> If it drops out for everybody, >> right? Oh, yeah. Certainly not just us, but um well, if we do get into one building, then we would have the other building for sale, >> right?
084>> Well, yes. Um, but like I'm thinking more long term as far as like the electric buses keep coming up in my mind. Um, and I know that hopefully that all pushes down the road, but eventually there the road will end. Um, and you know, do we talk solar now or other revenue streams that could help us along those lines? and you know I don't want to say and electric buses but like what other revenue streams can we um my point to the situation >> I was trying to get across is we need to look long >> term >> I don't think we need to look just >> what you make on on a percent on our our revenue >> what's saying uh yeah that what number was up there >> but Yeah, I'm going
085to say like 2%ish, but I do think that >> And what does that equal in dollar bills? >> I think I had it up there. >> You did. It was one of the line items on revenue like it was pretty good for what we have in our balance. >> Yeah, it ranges from there like 45,000 um down to 33,000 >> depending on the reserve. >> Yeah, we've had months that were >> That's monthly. That's per month. Okay. >> That's per month. >> Yeah. Correct. >> And we can maintain that with >> Yeah. >> So we're doing all right. If we can maintain that expenditure equaling or less than our income on it. >> Yes. But so let's so here right if you look at it this way that that I don't know if you can
086see this on this on your sheet that I can see that 6.6 million. That's what we get from the state. Right. That's the concern that that if that money like starts to significantly decrease then >> I I don't think we have any like great answers for that. I I would also like to think like that 6.6 million if that were to go away I cannot imagine that that is going away at once. I think that that is a slow a steady decline I I think is manageable. I would hope that if the state is going to would if the state ever did something like that that it would be part of a long-term plan from the state's perspective that the districts could plan out. You know, you look at um the uh that that that
087co year um when Cuomo said that uh you know he's slashing a huge percent one I didn't forget what it was now like 20% from the budget and then federal dollars came in to supplement that. So there was effectively a 0% change for districts. But like that I mean we we had a plan. We had a plan for that. It it was a terrible plan. You know it was we're cutting I mean cutting so many things but we had a plan. We had like 10 different options on how we were presenting that to the board uh for for their consideration. And thankfully that lasted for about two weeks and then you know then the federal money came in and we didn't have to do that. So yeah, I I I do think that um I
088do think when you know when when we merged we there were there were excess bodies from but but that that's what happens when you merge and I think we've done a very nice job through attrition to to um cut that down. Uh, and you know, one of the things that that I would hate to get into, and some districts have tried this, is you know, could someone make the argument, well, hey, you know, we uh Zoe's here, so let's pick on Zoe. We we don't need two sixth grade teachers. We could probably get by with 1.7 sixth grade teachers and and and and have the least senior teacher. You know, I I'm >> I would have the hardest time >> presenting a plan like that. But on once you start having less than full-time employees,
089it is a revolving door. They are they get hired and they're looking for a job the next day. So So we look to attrition the full positions when we can or perhaps find ways to share those with other districts. These are all things that uh that um you know conversations we've been having. There is a huge conversation happening regionally about regionalization and how can we share these districts. And what's nice for us is that all these other districts are having these very difficult conversations this year about um about how are they going to cut $2 million out of their budget or $1.5 million and all these all these huge numbers. And so they are in need of districts to partner with and I'm standing there with my hand up saying what how can we do
090this and how can you give us a little bit of money to to make that happen? But those plans aren't you know they they haven't yet had the conversations with the board. They haven't yet made the cuts. They haven't yet they don't yet know what their needs are. But we're in a position where I think we could probably help some of these districts and get some revenue in in doing that. um that that doesn't mean, you know, I don't want to say, well, you know, there's 15 available seats in this classroom. Let's fill every classroom. That's not necessarily what what we're saying. But is there a way to work together to to try to make something happen that can be that can benefit everybody. >> Okay. I think also though if with that the population
091is being lowered here all the time now and I mean even in our on board report from uh the school boards they're saying people aren't coming to the north country because of the pay scales there's not a there's not enough pay here >> in the housing problems and I mean that's another thing that's one of the things I was concerned with I don't want to see I don't want to see this school. So, you know, I just want to make sure it can stay on track and, you know, do a fine education like it always has. >> Yeah. And, um, Mr. Lou here, so he sends an enrollment report every time there's a change in enrollment in the district. And our enrollment is it's up this year. You know, there might be a week where
092we lose a student or lose a couple students, but we are up this year from from previous years. Not a huge amount, not enough where I'm saying we've solved the enrollment problem, but we're up, you know, we're we're up and and and that's I think that's great. Um >> we're losing quite a few this year, though, seniors. >> Oh, that's a big class. >> That's a big class. Almost 40. >> Sure. Uh yeah, and you know, you get these bubble classes, you know, that that come and go and and that's one of them. And yes, I Yeah, I agree with you. Um so uh >> every you know every time that student population decreases but we don't know what preschool prek kindergarten next year is only probably eight >> let's hope that's coming out that
093part of this >> well but so when when you look at our contracts at the elementary level right we we have contractual restrictions on on on you know what what what triggers a second classroom um you know to happen there. And when we get to the high school, that's where you know we often have these conversations that um does it make sense to run this particular class with X number of students whether that's 10 or five or or three or whatever. And sometimes the answer is yes, that absolutely makes sense. And other times the answer is no, probably not. Let's see if there's another way that we can make this work. And but that's an example where I think we can maybe get these other districts involved who maybe had to cut their AP teacher
094and we can say hey we are offering that come take it with us >> Mrs. Hooper. >> Yes. >> We only have one person that we should be hearing from and we haven't heard from her yet. One of our students if we could ask her. You >> do you have anything that you would like to contribute? >> Um I didn't reach out to her. >> Do you have any money you would like to give? >> Don't feel like you have to. Just if there's anything >> if you have any questions. I didn't answer anything. >> See, can I can I can I ask you this question? So, uh, talk to us, well, I guess it's it's not a question, but talk to us about, um, AP classes and college level classes and what you know
095that you're taking or that your friends are taking and what they're graduating with and how that's going to benefit you moving forward. >> That's a good question. >> Um, I'm in APsych and I'm an EP US history and they're incredible and we then have college credit and I am also in the French bridge course. which also gives us college credit and it might not fully transfer but we still get that and it looks good for colleges and it's a great opportunity to even have just two AP classes rather than none. >> Great. Great. >> Great. >> Yeah, we we we do have we have students that are graduating with, you know, 15 20 college credits that you're talking semester worth. >> And you talk about the monetary value of that. Yeah, >> that is this
096is the cheapest way >> to get college credits is in a high school setting. >> Period. >> How early can they start taking them? >> Yeah, they want their college. >> I think you can do is it eighth grade or AP and um and and bridge classes? Is that both? They're kind of the same thing basically. Um, but the earliest age I've seen so far is 10th grade at least this year. It's funny because I actually was working on a big report for that as during this whole meeting. So I have most of the AP counts and classes right here in front of you actually. Um, but yeah, 10th grade can actually you have the list. Can you just read the list of what we're offering? >> Oh, okay. Okay, we got English 12, AP
097English literature, AP US history, Spanish 3, marketing one, public speaking, environmental science, calculus, elementary statistics, uh AP government, not to be confused with AP US history, French 3, French 4, French 5, and world cultures, and AP psyche. >> And those are all college level credit courses. >> Yeah. Can you give us a number of students? Um, it's not totaled, but yeah, I have the list right here of everybody signed up. Uh, just give me like one second. >> Sure. Yeah. So, while while he's doing that, I'll I'll say this that pre- merger, Elizabeth Town and Westport had some AP classes and had some college level classes, but when you combine those, the list was a fraction of what it is now. This list is amazing. And this is the kind of thing where we are
098trying to figure out how we can get some of these other districts to to take advantage of these but get some revenue in in doing that because I you know whether we're talking five or 10 or 15 however many years down the road when there are financial concerns you look at that list and you say do we need all these things it's at least a discussion item and it would be nice to say well they are essentially paying for themselves because we're bringing in these other students >> it's a lot better revenue option like you like you said earlier, you know, compared to say a 1.5 position or a a 1 whatever position because it's never 1.5, you know, you're splitting that with another we experienced that at Westport, right? You're splitting that talent with
099another with another school district and that person is tra traveling and there's a lot of lost a lot of lost time in there for both districts. I'd be really interested in like the AP C the AP courses that we offer and that students elect to take the you know there's always value in any any any kind of any kind of class and and learning that stuff but do do we really do we do we track after after they graduate you know whether or not those those went towards towards credits at a at a college that they that they then enrolled in for their degree or were some of those just a good a good class to take that they didn't really get to to use afterwards >> other than the knowledge >> lot depends upon
100the school and lots of >> Yeah major is >> yeah as an engineering degree person some of that stuff like would not have helped me but >> I never went to college so I don't know but wouldn't the language credit significantly help so you don't have to take like French >> well I'll tell you I hadn't graduated >> and uh when I graduated high school. From here, I had a semester of college under my belt. Um, when I graduated, yes. >> Uh, I only had one additional credit from a summer program that I did outside of this school. Everything else was here. When I graduated college, I had an extra semester under my belt still. I was able to use one for an elective. It may have been my major. There may have been several
101factors, but you know, knowing whether we're using them after graduation or not may be helpful. >> It might help us to guide our decision on >> the counselors and kind of guide those students on, hey, this is this is this might be an option that you'd want to consider over over this other >> AP course. My question was, if you wanted to offer some of these courses to other schools, could you do it through Zoom instead of having them travel to >> take a course? So the short answer is is yeah yes it wouldn't I mean it wouldn't be zoom be something you know something similar but there there there are um legitimate distance learning platforms through through neric and that gets very expensive very quickly >> but there's also a way to you know
102get like one or two students at Willsboro one or two students at Keen just to jump on but if you were going to do like at scale, you know, where say we had, you know, 50 students joining us from all across the state, we would need to use something like NAR to make that make sense. But if it was a couple students from our neighboring district, we we would figure out how to make that work with the technology that we have. >> Yeah. So, just >> Yeah. And that that was really weird. Um so part of our superintendent meetings that we have um monthly we talk about regionalization as one of our topics every month and this is really came up today. We were having conversation on how to make that work. Um so yeah
103I'm I'm I I would be surprised if you know two or three years down the road we weren't at least doing that in some capacity um with some of our neighbors. Okay. Are there any other questions for Dr. Meyer? >> Okay. Anyone in the audience have any questions? >> No. Nice discussion. Oh, very interesting. Okay. All right. Then number eight, next meeting. Okay. Uh we have a regular meeting on Thursday, March 12th at 6:00 pm at the Lake View campus. And I believe we have one on the 26th, another budget meeting, and that would be at the Lake View campus as well. And do I have a motion to adjurnn our meeting? Okay. Thank you, Paige. And a second. >> Second, thank you. All in favor? I opposed. Okay. Motion to