0016:04 p.m. we'll call to order a special meeting of the Board of Education please stand for the pledge of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all we are going to to adjourn to Executive session to discuss a couple of matters uh but at some point within the next hour we have Senator fahe uh coming to address the board when that happens we will step out of executive session uh so as not to keep the senator waiting and we'll let her uh address the board and then adjourn back into executive session uh should we need to uh so at this time I'd ask for a motion to enter into executive session uh to discuss uh matters for pertaining to Collective negotiations
002under article 14 of the Civil Service law and also for the board to act in a quasi judicial capacity motion Jenny second Mike all in favor I uh oops I guess we are on we were in session today so I literally ran to my office to get the copies and um uh never sure how many copies we get also have contact info I can leave uh again Pat F he thank you for having me really appreciate this great to see familiar faces um and Brian thank you for accommodating me and thanks for um jumping out and my apologies with getting here a little later what I'm really trying to do uh it's something I've done in the assembly I spent 12 years there if you know a little bit of my history every year I
003would try to get out to my school boards before the budget passed because after the budget it's a little bit boring to say okay we got you this we got you that and um even though um now we're in the waning days and uh although there's still a lot of work to be done but things like the cell phone ban policy where I really welcome the feedback it looks like some of that is being worked out but the bottom line is it just really helps and I want you to know I'm here and I want to be of assistance um uh many of you know um what feels like decades ago I was on the Albany school board so I've also um so I often say I know how well paid all of you are
004or most of you are um so I I really appreciate you know all you do with uh volunteering and working and and caring uh about the schools and and none of this has gotten easier since Co I think things have just gotten so much more difficult so um so it's just great to see everybody back it was great to see all the students still here and I just welcome the opportunity to go through a few things and uh and if it's not breaking protocol I welcome your feedback or any questions that you may have so I'll just this is we have um actually it's like a 30 page PowerPoint we did a uh Town Hall last week we hope to do one in skincity another week or two and then one in Montgomery County I
005now represent uh good chunks of Albany County uh most of SKC County except the city and Nuna and then all of Montgomery County so we're trying to do a town hall in each um even if Again by then the budget may be done uh but this so so we got it down to for this group it's thousands the budget is thousands of pages as you know we've tried to keep it as simple as possible and just forgive me in advance if uh we did not cover an issue that you're care about and I'm I'm happy to take those issues so so just briefly you know there is an increase uh I'm focusing on the governor's executive proposal and I can just fill in a little bit on where where I think we may end up
006with the between the Senate one house and the assembly one house and as you know everything every word every comma has to be reconciled every dollar has to be reconciled before we adopt the final budget technically by April 1st um it's always at least a day late uh things are moving it seems uh pretty well this year but we're always a little bit late and this year uh one of the religious holidays Eid falls on the 31st so we're definitely going to be uh a little late I hope not much late uh not too late uh but there are some policy differences I think the cell phone ban is getting you know that's it's not as divisive as it's being played out to be but so briefly the Governor has proposed an increase over last
007year and I know you've gone up you can tell me the impact on that we expect we'll do a little better the Senate came in a little more as did the As did the assembly trying to make sure that districts are held um you know are held reasonably whole and that most districts are seeing a few per I know you're a little off from that oh yours is you're 6% correct yes so okay yours is even higher which is great not every District I've been before is seeing an increase but chances are we'll see a little bit more the um Universal free meals that has as you know gained in tremendous popularity in the last couple years even I didn't see this coming um but it's it's really gained traction and that's lunch and breakfast
008for everyone it is a huge undertaking I mean $340 million when you think of this as uh for decades been funded by the feds and I would be remiss if I didn't say while mentioning this we're putting in this huge amount to make it Universal it's been incredibly popular it pulls very well um but as you know we're seeing the legs knocked out from under us and um already USDA the US Department of Agriculture is seeing billions of dollars in Cuts uh some of those are uh directly uh impacting farmers and we're also of course seeing the um the executive order to eliminate the US Department of Education so uh we we do think this program will be impacted and I will say almost every day now uh the leader and others are saying we
009can't backfill so I don't know how we begin to back fill on some of these but this is one I am worried about I am watching uh while we all talk about Medicaid as big one which will affect everybody we won't know as much about that until September but this this one is troubling and we're already um hearing from farmers who are losing losing grants so just know we're doing what we need to do I don't know if we'll be able to backfill uh so just I feel like there's um there's this Cloud over our heads with the with the entire state budget this year which is uh not trying to be partisan I'm at a public event I'm just trying to be matter of fact we we are fa facing some uh serious headwinds
010to put it as mildly as I can put it uh High School um the early um uh the early High School um early college high schools or the Dual dual enrollment programs everybody's got a different name and there's many different programs I wish we provided more flexibility among all of them but the bottom line is uh I just served as higher education chair for the last two years in the assembly and I I like these programs to begin with but we uh long before serving as chair but I think these programs have tremendous success um we want to keep funding them there is an increase in there I would hope that that holds uh as we we need to do more we need to expand them and I W welcome hearing a little more about
011uh what you what you are doing here I know bosis is popular among a number of the schools in this area so bottom line is it's popular Bell to Bell welcome hearing your comments and I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to um ask Brian in advance of where you are I know a number of our districts even Kenne jary started this um last year I think uh uh Guilderland has done it Amsterdam has done it everybody's got it slightly differently but we are seeing a number of districts out in front on this which I think is fascinating uh the the reason it's um uh a divisive issue right now is one of the key policy differences the the budget numbers are always um all over but it's policy that often holds up the budget
012and I think it's just how we do it while allowing for local control but understand and I am one who thinks we need to move as far as we can and it's not just because of the focus it's not just the mental health or mental Wellness of the students I um I'm extraordinarily uh impressed with the early research I'm seeing on this and the early feedback that we are getting it's um uh every District that has started it in in the 46 Senate District is saying it's in one way or another is a game Cher and uh and for me the the most important well all of those are important but also the academic and uh um the academic gains of of minimizing in in as severe a way as possible the use of cell
013phones and it's no secret and happy to hear more again um from about the district but it's no secret that nationally we have had a very serious covid slide academically not just in math but certainly in reading and more so so we we have work to do I think this helps it's one of the pieces that helps put uh puts us back on track and again welcome hearing more everyone is also doing it there is some money for it I don't I hear very mixed things about the pouches I also so understand there's an app now that may help make this even more reasonable and more um more feasible for uh uh for implementing EV buses um I'm chuckling just because uh I was one who certainly supported them um I think we um you
014know we are spending billion tens of billions of dollars in this state let alone in this country on weather related disasters so to me it's I don't you know I'm I know climate change is not a popular topic these days um but we do need to do more in terms of our transportation policy I thought a lot of this made sense know that the bills that did ultimately pass were done in 2018 2019 pre pandemic pre-invasion of the Ukraine war which upended the entire International Energy market so we are nowhere near where anyone anticipated we be uh so even though I'm one who has supported this in the past I also am one who is very much supporting flexibility and giving more time to the districts I've been quite vocal about that doesn't mean I
015don't think we need goals it doesn't mean that I don't think we need to move there but the technology is not there the transmission lines are not there for for a number of the districts especially with u certain runs so there's there's some good legislation out there that it helps analyze this a little bit more but either way there's time we need time and I do appreciate that the governor has also mentioned that we need flexibility um just a little bit on the Senate uh the prek um I my children went to school at the Albany schools uh we were an early adopter of prek so we are penalized by that and I'm not sure what your exact reimbursement is but many districts are still getting uh I think it's $5,400 a year the Senate
016increases that which would bring you up to 6,700 if you're an early adopter some districts are already getting closer to uh $10,000 I'm again without um my cheat sheet doesn't tell me what you're what you're getting here uh so happy to hear more but either way the good news is we have raised this issue for many many years it is the number one issue in Albany for a whole host of years in the budget that and some of the charter school um funding issues uh we the only reason we haven't gotten more traction is because of cost money cost money every time we try to and there was more emphasis on expansion of prek as opposed to addressing the discrepancy among prek programs this funding disparity the good news is just really this year and
017last year we finally have most people understanding that it's it's beyond expansion it's more than that we've got to address this disparity with the early adoption and uh many of you may have read that even boresville is dropping their prek um program next year because of this this funding disparity which is quite troubling so uh Community Schools after school programs I can't say enough good things about after school programs Lov seeing students in the building even this late which is just terrific libraries we're trying to do what we need to do and uh mention the cell phones there I I will stop there I try to be as brief as I can I'm sure I didn't hit half the issues of concern the Bose salary uh cap uh that did make it in the one
018house actually I think it made it in both the assembly and Senate versions uh there's a lot of interest in trying to address that uh yes it costs money um uh but it's uh and money to you as well but we do recognize it will help with recruitment so I definitely support that uh raising that salary ceiling and then if appropriate happy to take any questions again here to introduce myself I also have um contact uh uh just a easy postcard um Brian I know you know how to um many Matt knows how to reach me Michael knows most most people know how to reach me so um but just to make it easy any questions if appropriate or comments on any of these I welcome the feedback just one question that I have just
019on the very last point on your second slide here so the the Senate one house modifies the executive cell phone ban proposal to among other things prohibit School suspensions for cell phone usage can you talk more to that yes uh that is one well I think we are going to find agreement there was some interest in making sure that students aren't necessarily losing you know out of school time so I think it's I my understanding is it's the way we Define suspensions that we didn't want it as punitive I have to look at the final language and again that's part of the negotiations but there is a concern that uh school time so uh my understanding is it's the out of school suspensions and or making sure that you know where students are not Cooperative
020um that it is that they're not losing class time over it and uh but I I will have to see what the final language is and I know a number of districts as with other um violations or other um uh issues of of discipline there is a there is a tiar and I think many of the districts have been very creative you know just uh asking the student to put it away ask then taking it from the student then having the parents come you know there is an escalation on violations or um uh the the uh disregard on this and I think but I think the the concern is that we don't use it as another way to knock kids out of school that's that's my understanding but I I have not seen the you
021know where we're going on the final language while this has been under discussion in our Senate conference that part has not come up come up uh in at least this week so I I think there's an effort to just you know it's it's more just sending a message we want to make sure that it's not a way to throw kids out okay yeah I haven't seen the language myself but um cell phone usage can uh look like a number of different things from just violating the do not take your phone out in classroom to much more troubling uses of cell phones and particularly social media so just making sure that that's not drawn too broad so it encompasses the more troubling behaviors that would actually limit a District's ability to take appropriate action to address
022those uh you know what I that would be what they're using or what they're posting especially when it's you know when it might be a red flag issue um you know addressing some of the red flag laws or era uh violations so actually that's a very excellent point I will double back and make sure I look at that language because certainly where you know we know um uh my youngest just graduated in 2017 that is really not that long ago and I didn't have to worry every single day uh about the um the the shootings uh and and and uh guns coming into the school so I I I will say the red flag laws I think it's something very difficult to measure but I think that that has been one of the most successful
023uh laws that we have used to try to address some of the postings on social media and other troubling behaviors so that's an excellent point that is absolutely not my understanding of what's intended here but you're no it's a it's a great point because certainly what's posted any types of of hate speech any type of bullying that is a whole different matter than when or where you have that phone out and and I don't think we you know I'm one who thinks we need to be aggressive on the bullying we we all know suicide rates are up not down and so yeah excellent point Thank You chair from taking the phone out in class video recording of of another student things like that so yeah those are good really good points yeah yeah and again
024there are exceptions in there the medical uh uh you know diabetic is my favorite one there are certainly exceptions and those exceptions will continue to be included it's just how you word it and then how some of this becomes interpreted so some of this can get very uh nuanced to overuse that term but you know even with the watches it all gets very tricky and um uh you know we've heard of uh mental health issues where watches are now being used to address mental health needs and how do you ban that and so there's a there's a lot to work through questions one yeah go ahead yeah uh you uh mentions about the flexibility about the zero emission buses and I know it's a Hot Topic you probably hear it at every event you go
025to uh have you heard raising at first because I know I'm going to hear about it um have you heard I know and it's great to hear about the flexibility do you know of anything of like an actual where she might the governor might have actually additional timeline because this is and we're at the Forefront of this right now and this isn't something where okay we can plan for one year this is a five 10 year process for a district like us we have we have about 30 buses plus uh every every you know every day that go out in a run so if we're replacing all 30 it's not something we can do in one year so getting knowing that this might be pushed back alleviates a little bit of our stress um I
026just didn't know if you heard anything about it right now the language that has been recommended and I should say one thing I kind of give kudos to um the school board associations the superintendent nice said I mean there's a whole group of uh the um education conference board a whole group have been beginning to raise this issue so it has it has renewed it has new momentum in so many ways this year with people saying wait we need we need some time we need some flexibility and I will say I've had to take on some of my very dear friends and colleagues to say it is not a matter of funding and I urge you to continue to do the same with your you know it assuming you shared that um that position I
027think it's very important that we communicate that it's not just money additional money and we are putting in the funds the funds are there at least for now and and um what's been recommended by many is two years for at least now right now that language is not in the budget it's not in the Senate version it is not in the governor's there are enough of us raising it that I'm hoping that's where we end up um I'm also I should offer if uh Nera uh the Energy Research Development Authority um who who is over seeing the school the electric school buses they have offered to do workshops and and other things if they haven't been available to you we're happy to make that but I think the two years is reasonable for starters um
028to give everybody a little bit of breathing room there's also a very serious concern that we will see a number of budgets go down this year because of the costs uh that are being asked um the the increases being proposed to address these buses so so two years is the number that we are hearing but I want to be as blunt as I can be it is not in the budget yeah thank you that I hope that helps yes it does and if I can ask one more um I'm just a little concerned you talked briefly about the universal free School uh meals um and you know we're very concerned with the what's going on with the federal government and those and uh you know we recently became C so everybody was able get free
029free lunch here which is awesome we love it yeah our spiked up on sales and everybody's getting fed we think it's great terrific you're all to be commended for that yeah and my big do you see this number changing because of what's going on you mentioned the uh 340 million for Universal free School meals do you see that changing in any way because of the what's going on in the federal no not not not now not in this budget um uh you know if it if it would change it would change by you know by know a few million here or there again I I um I think we have the same number in the Senate I I should know this and I I forget but I think we all have the same number in
030other words this has gained gained a lot of popularity but at this point I will say on virtually every issue that has come up where we've already seen some Cuts uh there has been somewhat of a hard no back to a number of groups Advocates or associ ations to backfill the cuts we are seeing and we know uh again with USDA uh some some you know um it's a bill it's a billion on um one of the Cooperative programs maybe it is c and a billion somewhere else um so already we're we're seeing and there was a new one too that's come up but uh I will say the governor to her credit did mention the other day that we will probably have to be back she mentioned September I will tell you I never
031have a great crystal ball on this but if there was ever a year that we were going to come back it would be this year and I was almost glad that she put it out there but right now even if there is this Cloud there it it the budget feels somewhat fictional in certain ways because we are looking at really serious ramifications of eliminating the US Department of Education uh while um the president has mentioned that we'd still have the student loans and we'd still have um some special education uh I you know in general it's about 7 to n% depending on the district uh no mention of title one I don't know how much you defend depend on Title One funding but how do you begin to backfill at one stat let me just
032let me simplify this and do one stat it's on the first page of the overall budget uh PowerPoint we have which again is uh multiple pages but one stat that we put on the front page is that our budget the state budget is $252 billion $252 this year that's where it is right now in the governor's the governor's proposal of that 252 96 billion of it is federal funding that is passed through 96 billion that is I still haven't bothered to pull out a calculator on it but it's close close enough uh my math may be rusty but it's close enough to 40% maybe a little less uh but give or take 35 40% we start to lose those billions now a lot of that is Medicaid as you know our budget is driven by
033two major issues education and Medicaid and and health care so uh meds and meds and EDS as we as it's often referred to and it's right here 37 billion of it is is um is uh just is just K12 a good few billion more for higher education so we any billions that start to come off how do you there's just no way so I um uh I'm not sure how many of you served on the board in 2010 uh I guess it was 2011 I think when the cuts came through maybe it was 2011 after the last major recession and um I used to know this Brian was a 10 billion that came out of education or three billion do who um who sered do you remember Gap when we had the Gap elimination how
034many map was it was it three billion that was pulled out it was a much smaller you know we had a much smaller state budget we had much a lot less in education I was not in the assembly I was not on a school board then um but it took us so I was elected in 2012 served in 2013 it still took us five or well almost 10 years to to fully address uh what was called The Gap the Gap elimination that Gap elimination was money cut out after the last recession so I I think about that every so often like that money you know school districts really suffered well everyone suffered for years on those cuts and um it's a long way of answering that this is do you see that as a possible
035situation this year I I I do I mean if you like I don't know how much of your budget is uh uh is Health Care funding and um too much yeah too much so everyone's is too much right so um you know maybe cooler heads or serer heads will prevail by September some people say by September is when we uh when Congress will be acting more acting on the proposed Medicaid Cuts but as you know they have fully adopted these targets they've adopted the budget that has the targets of uh 90 billion 90 billion in um in cuts to Medicaid so I mean uh so yeah we're I I guess um not to I didn't come here to be deppy Downer um I'm just trying to and I'm not trying to be partisan I'm just
036trying to be matter of fact no we appreciate that that it's uh um it's going to get worse before it gets better I mean that's all and um you know that said we are trying to you know raise this to everyone we are really trying to raise the ramif ation I'm encouraging people like this I just said today regarding uh on the floor of the Senate regarding the VA it was today is um Vietnam Veterans Day and I said to the entire chamber we really should be United this this should not be partisan why are we cutting 80,000 jobs out of the uh the VA the Veterans Administration so so I would I would hope Sor heads will prevail but for now it's uh it's very anxiety-provoking and I'm sure as a as school board
037members you know you have to have your budget passed by September so so we'll um we're g to we're right now we're adopting a budget with the money we have and and we'll have to address anything going forward sorry I can't be a little more optimistic than that but there's just thank you what was that that very uplifting thank you very uplifting yes I know I I really I've picked a all years to try to meet all the new school boards right um it is it's it's a it's it's been hard for me to get my head around that um you know I'm reading the news and uh and dealing with a budget that still shows no no recognition of what we are facing and I'm just really hoping that uh people will start to
038understand that uh uh special education is something that you know Decades of work right and um and you know Decades of work could could be really thrown out so sorry sorry regret your it's a good segue into my budget presentation a little bit just have one comment that I that I have to make as a Schoolboard member as a teacher as a parent that on the sheet one of the things that I have seen the largest change is the uh free School meals uh taking away F food in security for kids for parents that would never ever ask for it has made a serious impact in my life being a teacher seeing it every single day seeing my kids excited and getting into the food industry just because of things and people they talk to
039in the cafeteria and I know times get tough and things are easy to cut but as a parent as a Schoolboard member as a teacher I see that as such a super super important thing I I really appreciate that and I'm just just going to do a full disclosure here when when it first uh when the proposal came out for free lunches and when we that's a huge number by any definition you know although we can fight as hard over a $100,000 ad as we can over hundreds of millions it's just a huge number in the state budget so at first I I'll be honest I really fueled the skepticism I went okay most schools uh represented the Albany schools there was a concerted effort to take the stigma out of it and I thought
040oh my God we're we're spending hundreds of millions so that we can make sure Scarsdale the some of the wealth or you know some of the wealthiest school districts and the state can have a free lunch so I I had a hard time with this because I went that is a federally funded program and we're setting ourselves up for problems if we start to rely on so much State I on so much State funding I um always reserve the right to be corrected and to you know to admit my this has become so popular and I as much as I commend school districts for trying to get any stigma out of the lunch program the way it used to be the fact that um it has become so popular in school districts you know uh
041from rural urban uh poor districts to wealthier districts uh and and as you just said the P it polls I I seem I'm forgetting the numbers but it there was a recent poll about it and I want to say it was like 809 90% like off the charts for a poll which is huge and then I should also add we've gotten better about this it's not the school lunch and would love to hear more from you on this it's not the school lunch that even when my kids were there it it is uh the nourish New York the making sure that we are funding our farm so the fact that it's locally grown it's not the apples that used to be the smaller than a cupcake um that that we are also helping our Farms
042supporting our farms and having much healthier meals I mean it's just been a winwin win for New York Farmers for students with I mean I just so and the backpack programs and s kids home over breaks with food it's absolutely amazing the things I see and it makes such a difference well if I can just you know urge you to keep saying that to your teacher groups keep saying it to the Schoolboard uh groups to the I mean you need to the more um encourage your parents because it it will be I you know it's number two for a reason on this chart because the polls um are really showing this this was a worth yes the federal government should be funding this this should not be this I mean that is a even by
043New York standards that is a huge number that has to be backfilled that means it's something I mean look at what we're doing on prek you know we're not prek um yeah look well prek we're still trying to fund we are still not doing anything near what we need to do on after school funding so the point is when we're doing something really big in one area we're not catching up elsewhere but I I'm sold I'm so if kids aren't fed you know kids aren't going to do the after school program they're not going to show up at school they're going to cause Behavior USU they're going to pull their cell phone out a lot of it stems from that really does I I I really appreciate this and I couldn't agree more would I
044love to see us do more in prek and more on after school and more on of course but I I feel aund I really had you know I have to have it's my position to have healthy skepticism about everything when I see it right but this is when I had to be convinced o over for wealthier much wealthier school districts and yet hugely popular and I and I think this is going to be a bit bone crushing if we have to see this um take you know take such serious head so please uh I I urge all of you to be to be serious ambassadors for this program as well as some of your others uh all we can do is try to um I launched a podcast he had done one six years ago
045and I think we had five listeners and I launched another one to just to um to talk about the federal cuts and local impact I'm trying to just say give local stories of what this means and we actually had a farmer on a couple of weeks ago to just give give the impact of what it means what some of these Federal actions mean to Farmers so so anyway thank you thank you for the um keep saying it anyone else last call Senor I just wanted to say you and I had an opportunity to cross paths a couple times through various legislation legislative lobbying days and with very different groups but um considering that this is one page of a thousand I I have to commend you and many of your colleagues for being so supportive
046of what we unquestionably consider to be the most important thing uh if our students aren't educated everything else doesn't happen but um I I would say almost always when uh my colleagues or myself walks into your office it's like you're Clairvoyant you're talking about those issues that you recognize we recognize are most impactful to our students in our community and unquestionably been championing for them we're very appreciative for that I I um I very much appreciate that it is not easy and I drove my office crazy trying to get thousands of pages down into uh and we will email the entire PowerPoint if it's if it's helpful to you so that you can see it it will soon be old or out of date when we do pass the budget for but for at least
047the last week for the next week it's good can I take a uh can I just indulge another minute of your time I welcome and Brian you've heard me or superintendent sorry uh you've heard me raise this I I welcome any feedback on the um uh uh the the elimination or the um uh the um oh why am I suddenly struggling the Regents exams uh that is something that state Ed is doing via Blue Ribbon commission I um I have a lot of reservations about it again I know we need exceptions I know we need um I know we didn't do enough to address the needs of um uh those with students with disabilities and I'm now the disabilities chair I should add um but I I have really reservations on where is where is
048the accountability going to be in the system especially in um I came of age when we had a I didn't uh come up here I I'm from Chicago um but I came of age during a two-tiered system a two track system and so I'm I'm just concerned at a time when we're seeing um the death of expertise if you will on a national level so I welcome the feedback on this and welcome I you know it's not a budget item so it's not on the list but I welcome additional conversations on it and even if you support the um the optional use of the regent exams I'm also very concerned and and I by the way I love CTE I just I'm just worried about where's the standards and even if you do support where
049stad is moving I also welcome your feedback on Readiness because I've read and I am concerned that this is a re that I'm I'm worried if we're not careful we're going down the track of where we were over 10 years ago on the common the implementation of the common core standards where you know the rather Infamous line was used that we were building the plane while flying it and we saw how disastrous that was so um and how troubled that was so I I really I don't know if there's any quick comments and um but I I'm nervous about this and and uh I have to decide whether to you know begin to raise it more I know it's got a lot of popularity but I I really welcome the I don't know if anybody
050has any comments today or what where folks are on it but that's so funny sorry so funny that you bring up the two- tiered system I likened back to 2000 2005 where students could would be region bound region diploma bound and other students weren't and the door was closed to them because the school could and there was no incentivization to ensure that every student made it over that they limited the RCT which was the region compens compens tests and uh went with u low pass for the actual Regent exam and some other things so they kind of closed the Gap so that schools couldn't self- select changing a child's Destiny and not allowing him to graduate with the Region's diploma that was my immediate thought when I looked at the Blue Ribbon commission recommendations in
051spirit in essence with um the thought of uh opportunities and access to Pathways really celebrating those seals that have been created uh integrating CTE in the programs that is exactly right because we're not hitting the mark on preparing students for the workplace either I think that they're just going to have to be extremely thoughtful about what those checks and balances are to ensure that we don't go back to a two class system where we know you're going to be a region student and the other person's not going to be and I made that decision when there in sixth grade yes yes I I I appreciate that and that's another great example I I remember those days I was just leaving a school board at that time and um so I you know are we prepared
052and and again to hear and read those who are saying not I know we have a couple of years uh or a year and a half whatever it is before that begins to hit but I am very concerned so I welcome I welcome the opportunity on this I just want to make sure we don't repeat some serious mistakes and that and when I say accountability it's not just accountability for the district and what the district is doing it's accountability for the student I mean we want to make sure all students reach a bar and and we know we've had the covid slide everywhere right um so I anyway so lots of lots of reservations uh but not this is not a slam on CTE because I um God know you know I you just healthc
053care alone we need we need those professions so okay I really appreciate the Indulgence of time and appreciate all the um thoughtful questions the comments and the the feedback and uh and I really thank you for your service to I welcome the opportunity to be back any time and to or or to have you in uh to the capital the door is always open please thank you for your time tonight Senator and for the information thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you we never I guess we never really came out quaza judicial activity and Collective negotiations Jenny second Mike all in favor I all right we're on okay we're here for a budget Workshop this evening for the three-part budget budget I'm going to turn it to Jesse thank you thank you
054guys that's one way to start any more claps I get um so tonight uh we are going to talk about you know all all these budget presentations we have all these meetings all come to this one night we're pulling everything together this is the total budget uh that the uh district is going to propose to the board tonight um legally we have to do it in a three-part budget uh so you'll see that in our presentation tonight so first off I'm doing a little differently than I've done in the past I'm putting it out front so this year we're going to be posing a uh $ 56 million 60 56.9 million budget it is a a $2.3 million increase and we'll get into a little bit more about where that's coming from I do like
055to point out this that 77% is program um which is instructional side of things uh revenue is 51% from the tax levy or the local share uh and about 39% is from the state aid so the big budget drivers as I like to call it um this is what really moved that that increased the budget uh first one is the summer school um we had many any discussions around uh bringing the summer school back in after those grants were stopped funding those Federal funding um so this will be a this is for all the summer schools uh for the Elementary School uh summer school program Middle School and High School uh that increase will be right around 150,000 question yeah a lot of questions and I know that Jean told us last time but for
056those who I know wanted to watch tonight could you one time remind us of the difference between the cost of what it took to run Discovery Camp as was last year do you if you have those yeah so those numbers people are asking what's the monetary difference is it mostly for the elementary portion yes the elementary okay so it's basically about 250,000 to run it last year last year yes okay and then this year for elementary only Elementary we're looking about 105 five okay thank you that was a clear question so yeah thank you I think last we talked about this last time too and I had asked if we were to replicate the Discovery Camp again this Summer that we ran the past two years what would it cost and I think you told
057me roughly double the number here yeah it would be so we reworked it it would be right around 200,000 it would be $200,000 to just for the elementary school okay yeah so that does not include uh 25 5,000 for the middle school and also another 20,000 for the high school so is it still accurate to be around $300,000 total to run the a Discovery Camp type program versus including all of them yeah well yes yes okay because I think the difference is this summer the enrollment would be about half of what it was the previous two years yes that's correct okay um the other thing we also have to think about is how much work is being done across the district over over the c um these large capital projects that we're doing um we
058we are in the process of really getting in on scheduling things for the summer and there's a lot of work to be done um having those additional classrooms could have effect on the capital project so that needs to be discuss thank you for making that so clear to everybody that's no problem what people want I'm glad we got it out of the way first no people just asked for a reiteration ABS thank you yep uh and with this whole presentation if there's anything you need clarify please just just let me know um so the probably the biggest impact uh of this budget was contract obligation salary raises um uh we were right over and there is some salary just to be clear there is some salary in that 150 so really the contract obligations for
059the whole thing would be about about 10 1.2 so that is a large portion of our budget uh next is health benefits we did see unfortunately a 20% in our pharmaceutical pric uh uh premiums year-over-year and also about 99.5% increase in our health so and we are looking this is a casik wide and casik is our Consortium that we're in with other districts a lot of other districts are seeing the same issue um the market as one of you are probably dealing with uh everything is going up uh we're working on ways right now with the units to try to eliminate some of the costs on some of these specialty drugs and some of these other drugs that are out there right now uh but right now those two the health benefits and the contract
060are significant increases on this budget time's up all right uh is there a question no okay um next talk about uh retirement contributions um so we did see a increase in ERS which is the Employee Retirement contribution uh last year it was a combined rate of 15.2% and next year at 16.5% um so we are looking at about a $120,000 increase year-over-year uh for the um ERS contributions um TRS was a lot smaller uh because they did go down um they were at 10 uh 10.11% and then next year they'll be at 9. .5% uh but because of salary increases we did see a small increase to those too so together we are looking at a $153,000 increase for two of those uh and finally it's the debt uh we are looking at the debt
061for our Capital um projects and for uh purchasing of our buses uh per the schedule we did go up a increase of about 171,000 these are again are just a big tiet items there are smaller items that were up and down within the budget any questions on those so now I'm going to kind of break it out uh all those budget drivers are broken out into these um so the first off uh bringing into those three categories first off is the administrative expenses um so here we have um the administration administrative and clerical staff uh board costs tax collection business office legal and AUD auditing costes Central printing Central data processing and boting administration costs um as you can see here uh there was the driving force for this change uh was uh contract obligations
062and benefits which you're going to see a a pretty common theme throughout these slides any questions on those so next is the capital expense um this is basically uh building grounds and maintenance of the building um and our debt schedule is also in that so you see that debt increase is driving a lot of that uh contract obligations have gone up too as well um and uh benefits for this areas uh last section is the big oh Mike you got a question yeah I'm just a little confused if you can clarify this for me sure you Capital expenses um the it it's 7.89 Million last year and we're proposing 8.4 million next year um what what are we doing that's costing 8.4 million or is this paying bonds portion of it is bonds a majority
063of it is bonds but it also it's the building grounds it's uh all the the funding for that um but majority of this would be our debt it's it's our debt the capital expenses is mostly debt it's debt but it also has stuff with building grounds running the buildings yeah okay that kind of Stu none of the building and ground staff wanted picture I didn't want to do it to them that's no one offered up when I was walking around my camera so yeah uh so finally it's the program expenses uh this is the largest one this is the instructional side of things um as we mentioned in the beginning uh adding back those Summer Schools uh contract obligations is is a again a larger section in this uh retirement contributions here as well and
064then uh uh the benefit sections of this so um this is going up about uh 1.7 million any questions on that so that was the expense side and I quickly go through the revenue how we're going to pay for this side so this is the state aid uh again the biggest section being the foundation Aid which is that Top Line um we did see a significant increase in this uh about 88.8% um and a 1.2 million which was great to see um I did not expect to see anything near this amount um so this was a large increase to that the other ones here are expense driven AIDS so what that what I mean by that is uh based on an amount of uh expenses that we incur this year we will get Aid based
065on that uh the following year um I adjust this a little bit different uh from what the the governor has in her budget because the governor has estimations I put in a more accurate number where I feel like these expenses will be so the revenue tends to fall closer to these numbers so again the big driving thing we did see an increase in revenue from state aid for 1.6 million with majority of that being the foundation Aid increase questions on that next is the tax levy um what I like to show with these tax levy uh think is looking at the Historical where we've been at uh First Column there is obviously school year second is what the cap uh would let us go at and then the third column is what we where we
066actually went at and I know you guys have heard me several times talk about the importance of really looking at going towards the top of the cap because it's the first part of the calculation going forward so you can see sometimes we haven't gone in the past gone to that Levy and I think that's going to have an effect us on the future when we don't see these large state aid increases um I did the did update the tax levy a little bit since the last time we met um we did figure out that we had a little bit more debt than we expected so that had an effect on the tax levy limit so uh tonight I am um going to recommend that we go at the full cap at 3.56% which will be
067a little bit over $1 million increase up to 29 million watching also the reason for that the the pilot and L of taxes that are coming on and how if you don't get out how that could in the affect negatively affect you in the future if you were to go out lower yeah so if we decide to go lower than that a we we will have a large cap uh pilot coming on board next year and uh that large pilot has an extreme effect on our being able to calculate our tax levy limit so what it will do is it will decrease it uh to a point where our tax levy limit will be negative um and the the higher we go up on this year will kind of dampen the blow for for next
068year so what will happen is uh if we don't go at right now I'm calculating at and still very early that next year our tax levy limit will be right around um 1 to 2% negative so that means our we would have to get a super majority if we wanted to go above that and if not we would actually see a reduction in our Revenue but if we if we decided to go a little bit lower than that because of the calculation that could increase is that what you were looking for the explanation yeah basically explain to people if you get in the negative you could get theoretically you could get to a point in the negative by not going out high enough where when you need to go out you're back at zero yeah
069and you would need a super majority to go above it absolutely and again my big my biggest concern here is is is the unknown State funding uh I think we had a presenter tonight that's was very concerning some of the things she said but she was very honest about it um I don't I don't expect to see this level of state aid funding going forward um and there's only one other there's two ways to stop that right lower expense or raise taxes so if if we handcuff our ability to get to a certain level that we need it could really hurt us in the future previously the tax cap the annual Levy increase was lower than 3.56% in a in a prior presentation yes it was it was yeah so what I like what I
070mentioned is debt is one of the things that can swing it in one way or another y so after reviewing with our fiscal advisers uh we noticed that there was some additional debt that we had to put into the calculation okay will this number change again or is this the number that we with this is it so to the extent anybody's watching this meeting and is going to be reporting on what the tax levy increase may be disregard any prior numbers that we may have discussed as a board this is the number yes and this is the number you'll be voting on at the next board meeting okay just toid any like me to present something different okay if the let's say the budget does get done on time you know the state budget and
071we get more money from the legislature would that affect this could wouldn't that be able to bring it down some right but that wouldn't affect the tax cap calculation it would affect what the board would like to see it come out at gotcha right and and Jesse you was saying about um next year a a pilot thank you y that a pilot would be coming on it was going to be quite a huge pilot that would knock us down to maybe zero or minus one% or whatever but that pilot would also add in absolutely yeah we would getting additional 1.2 million yeah so would be kind of above that negative 1% right so overall Revenue yeah we'd have to look at it yes but we you also have to remember you have to think about
072the future right because this will going out at a certain level and it's something we we will do uh much more discussions about it next year right um but it is a good point to bring up because it is going to be a concerning thing for next year um and also I don't want to get ahead of myself uh once we have final numbers I can definitely you know present that to you but yeah um you are correct our Revenue will be going up by that piloted amount and and the piloted amount the year after isn't like a drastic drop no we have that and I believe it increases uh a little bit every year it increases yes oh wow yes this is this is a great thing for the district don't get me wrong
073yeah okay what what is that no this is uh I believe it's electric from Camp oh yeah that one okay see all those orange trucks out there yellow trucks yellow trucks that's it once now you start looking 144 has been coming down for a while yeah along the along the railroad tracks mostly I don't I have no idea nobody say say name of the what's it KW something KT K Ki was I've seen that yeah that's it that's are they yellow I guess I didn't not Bri orange yellow they're running mostly along the through here mostly along the railroad trackroad track there's there a few railroad tracks yeah there's a few uh other districts that are getting similar but I think we're the hours a day work yeah okay any other tax levy questions okay
074uh so I always do this every year but I also uh this would be the impact of that uh 3.56% on a I always do a $100,000 home I I realize that around here there's not too many $100,000 homes so if you were were to put this to uh 100 if if 300 then triple it 400 four times it um this there's a lot of assumptions in here um we're taking all the assessed values from this this current year and also the equalization rates um I also like to point out why New Baltimore is so much higher than everybody else uh they have a much um so what they haven't done a reassessment in a long time um so their Market values of their homes are are very low so what the state does is
075they assign Equalization rates to certain areas to try to equalize what the market value is in that area um so that's why you see the the higher increase there any questions on that just to be to to help be clear for you know the people out there that are watching because it is this is not anything we have anything to do with this is up to the town the town assessors so this is also like you said just an estimate right now SLE until August usually once you get all data from the assessors right yeah I mean if we if if you hypothetically if you saw a large increase in your assessment you could see it go down yeah so these are very um ballpark estimates yeah but again and just making a point so
076everybody knows we don't control this part absolutely it's out of our control yeah any questions on that uh so quickly I want to review some of the other Revenue in the fun back balance um so the big ticket items here on on this one are the pilots so right now uh we did see a slight decrease in our Pilots um from last year we did have one um that came off so in other words they no longer are doing pilot payments but what the benefit is to that is that that company now is on the assessing roles for August uh so hopefully generally that will help raise our assess values of the of the area and uh technically lower taxes for everybody um the other the big section of the local revenues is interest on
077uh on our bank accounts we are still getting pretty significantly good rates for that um so we do we are estimating about 500,000 in that for next year um the other section there is fund ballots and I I would like to point out that we we with this budget that we're putting out there right now um I'm estimating that we will use $200,000 less than we have in the in the in the past uh because of these large state aid payments and um and lowering some of the expenses in some areas we were I think this is a good Avenue to try to lower that fund balance I think this will help in the future uh and you can see uh the use of fund balance don't give me let me uh clarify that this
078was this would be the use of fund balance to balance our budget so in other words we're at a deficit of be be able to get enough revenue from state and local funds and other other funds to be able to balance our budget this fund balance will balance it um in the past we've used uh 2.5 million and more uh this year I proposing uh dropping it down to 2.3 perfect that's my next one yeah so all the money sitting in reserve account earns interest absolutely does that money does that money that we earn in interest does that go to our can we use that for operating expenses or does absolutely it's in our budget okay so that doesn't have to remain in the designated Reserve fund we can take the earnings off of that
079money absolutely yeah yeah and that that's a benefit of having additional reserves right so you can make a little bit more interest on it yeah absolutely yeah um so here's and I apologize I wish I tried I messed around with the slide a lot to really because I think to try to really so so people can see it um but if you remember in the past this is our kind of our crude fiveyear uh balance Pro fund balance projection and and if you remember in the past when I showed this that last or the fifth year we were actually out of money um but because of what we were able to do uh with the fund balance and kind of uh some of the additional Revenue that we got this year state aid uh we
080looks like we kind of pushed that out if I were to do a a 10-year fund balance projection we would still be going negative after this but we were able to kind of push it along a little bit further by by lowering that fund balance this nature the Beast I mean there must have been a point in time where it was equalized it hasn't been going down forever how do we how do we correct that curve right because we see where it's going and at some point yeah some need we have some more certainties in things that's really what it is right if if I knew for the next five years I was going to get 3% on state aid or 10% on state aid I could balance it better but right now I don't
081know so I have to be conservative with it right so and also some of these huge driving costs like I'm I'm able to do um like salary increases and project that stuff out that's easy to do that's understandable healthare benefits stuff it's hard to predict so I have to be conservative with it and that will continue to really push it down and the only way to really correct it is is to be more less relying on your fund balance so right now we we use it what 2 point well we're proposing 2.3 um and if we use it less if we're able to balance it where the revenue and expenses match then technically that would stop it mhm right um but right now we're not there so technically you've you've pushed it out another year
082based on the previous ones but you the reality is whether it's five years six years seven years unless there's a huge influx of money from the state there's going to come a point where a future board is going to have to make some major decisions because it's going to come to the point where there's not enough money to keep doing what we're doing is that what you're saying Absolut it's going to hit a point okay um yeah unfortunately you've been saying this though yeah this no this is not something new no no uh going cap every year helps it will help us get to the ability to be able to tax more if we need to right we have to be fiscally responsible obviously uh and I'm a taxpayer just as much as everybody is
083here and I don't want to be taxed more so uh we're doing everything we can to prevent that um but we also have to look at the expense side of things right there's some things that in the future we might not be able to maintain um but that's that's a balance that we need to have to be you know fiscally responsible to our tax players but also responsible for the children in our care so it's a difficult Balancing Act but doing these projections and really looking at what we're seeing in the future and listening to the our our you know our Senators that come and visit and listening to what they have to say and what what's happening is is extremely important some more clarification there Mike it's not clarification it's just a concern that
084can't be resolved so I mean are is this across the board uh scenario that all is common to all school districts I don't like seeing a graph where it's a constant decline every year until it falls below zero and then we're in we're in negative territory and if it's an inevitable outcome that troubles me that we can't take some steps to ease the curve but is this something that's affecting all districts I can't speak for everybody uh I can I can speak for the few colleagues that I've spoken to and it is a concerning thing right I mean the thing is like health insurance and other costs just keep increasing and if we're handcuffed on the ability to raise taxes and the state's not willing to additionally help these increases that you know we don't
085have a ton of control over MH it's kind of a train running out of control unfortunately but again I I really strong to really look at these fiveyear projections and be able to say hey these are our concerns and plan for it and I know I've had a good great couple great discussions with the finance committee about like future where our Reserve should be and where we like to be and some of the future concerns we're always keeping an eye on it yeah to the extent we can do anything obviously to intervene before it comes too late you know I feel like every year we talk about this and this is the yeah this is not going to happen overnight this is thing that's going to be many years in the process the problem is
086once it starts it's hard to stop it well once you get to a certain point it's irreversible right and absolutely feel we're it it's like a snowball it just gets bigger and bigger or I always like to say there's like a hole right especially when you start really using a lot of fund balance to fund your budget right the all of a sudden the hole gets bigger and bigger and bigger and it's hard to fund it I feel like it's not a right now thing but I like very soon we need to hit this head on in some meaningful way so it's not every year we're not looking at the same graph where it falls off the cliff I listen I would love that I just don't know what we do but right I mean
087basically what what we need to do is is really buckle down and make sure the revenues are matching what the budget is the budget needs to be um more streamline where we're where we know exactly what we're we're getting um but the the problem is with the unknowns it's hard to build a budget that doesn't fit every you know that really covers everybody's needs so it's it's a balancing act and one of the things with these projections and I've been looking at these for years and not minimizing the problem because it's you know sometimes we come up against it really bad and then you have to have massive Cuts or whatever he can only do so much as he said in the beginning with projections so this is like almost a Dooms I call like
088a doomsday kind of it could be much worse actually this is where I and I usually do this is I usually have three sets of graphs usually have best case scenario a lot of state aid local funding is great pushes it out way out right doomsday we lose we get you know cut halfway through the year we lose some federal funding we have to take that out of the budget all of a sudden that's a lot smaller we're dive bombing quicker right that's say it's usually not this quick in reality because once you get into the next year some of these factors change hopefully to the better and then this pushes a little bit differently but you know Jesse said the key point which is once you put a tax cap on which happened years
089ago which I understand why they did it your costs continue to go up again there's just it's just going to be a Breaking Point at some point but next year you know we already talked a little bit we expect a lot of retirees next year potentially that's a place that could help somewhat you know depending on what you feel don't feel and just just the general savings right in in when you have retirees so that could help modify just right he can only reject it gives us idea that we have to think about things absolutely wouldn't freak too much about it yeah no I mean again it's not this isn't a a right now right we're going to Sol this ton want you guys I want to make sure you guys are informed of what
090I see going forward right and to the extent we can develop plans I know you're on this but this is just my ab I'm working through this myself we have if this was my household yeah I agree picture I be like all right what do we need to do today to correct this curve going forward I think what we're doing today with reducing that from the 2.5 to 2.3 is is a big move I think continuing to look at being able to reduce the Reliance on that uh will help this so if we were able to eventually uh you know eventually get to where our revenues match our expenses that would really stop this so and again that's not something we're going to be able to do overnight it's something where we're going to chip
091at chip at it um but I think that's a big move for us yeah any other questions on that I'm sorry to scare you guys it's not my intent um so is there any other questions on the budget because now I'm going to jump back I'm going to jump into uh the security project that you guys will add in a little bit more detail on all right so last time um Mr St spoke about a capital project that's going going to be on the proposal for the on the budget vote um and uh you ask for a little bit more detail uh so this is kind of the breakout of uh what what we expect in that project uh so first off we're going to do some window film uh hardening and that's going to
092be in the vestibules and all the buildings uh we expect that cost to be 300 uh 33774 uh kind of a small section of this whole project uh next was the door hardware um if you remember in the current capital project we I doing we're doing a lot of those um we're doing a lot of the electrifying of the classrooms uh and instructional spaces this will do majority of the other ones that are not included into those projects um and we're also going to replace some of our door Hardwares and what Bill kind of mentioned our last one some of them are very complex and we took some pictures of the ones that cost a quite a bit of money to replace uh but it does increase the uh Safety and Security of the building
093next would be uh the Panic hardware and door prop um again the door props notifications AR exterior doors uh we we currently don't have anything for this but this will set alarms to uh notify certain individuals of doors are left open um the majority of this money is a lot of bit of the cabling cabling is very expensive expensive uh and the the cost of of doing that throughout the building the other one are emergency push buttons this isn't exactly what will be there but it will be something similar to this we'll have these uh throughout the building uh in key areas if there's something that that needs to be a lock down they'll be able to pull the box here and hit hit the button or pull something which will lock all the the
094doors in case of emergency on all four of the buildings that's a great question I try to I try to get all the questions out um I don't believe it's all I think it's majority it's a good question I I don't know I don't I can't speak to that yes or no but I can definitely give you a followup at the next one okay um if if it is a majority we're talking all four buildings it be majority of the doors at all four of the building yep uh the last section is for our audio visual alerting um so we have uh sometimes when we go into lockdown it's hard for people to realize what's happening inside the buildings A lot of these other schools have these um alerting or these lights uh that will
095alert if something's going on in the building and to please stay away um so that will be located on all all of our buildings also we are going to finalize being able to use all these digital uh speakers that we have um I got into a long conversation with Bill today regarding this and he kind of made my head spin but my understanding is there's a lot of old cabling for our PA system and what what we need to do to is either we need to do new cabling or or kind of do a like a conversion where we can use some of the old stuff uh to be able to get to this new type of PA system where we'll actually be able to broadcast uh digitally as well so you'll be able to
096see like if they were making an announcement for lockdown there should be a you know a you know a reading on that clock on the left hand side there um this would be really key and some of the um rooms that might be a little louder like a cafeteria or gym uh where they'll be able to see that as well as if they couldn't hear it so are your yeah absolutely great Point Tech question sure for the alerting where is is it being proposed to being put for Becker because they have a pretty long driveway in comparison to the other campuses I good question um most like is it generally it be it will be in an area where will be visible for everybody it wouldn't be it would be more like this isn't a
097huge light it's a smaller light so it it's more to it's not going to you're not going to see it from the road okay it's more like you're coming from the parking lot to be able to come close to the building if that is going you'll be able to see it um and to say generally that means hey just wait there's something going on in the building just cuz they're a little unique given that're they're so far from the road it's something we can address and obviously we'll have a communication out to the to everybody I got you um about this so everybody's aware what what it is and what the purposes of it um and we'll have signs up about it as well yeah like I've seen it at East Green mush or something
098it's like if light is active yeah do not door will be locked and no one will but the Panic buttons will they be connected to police dispatch I believe it all that those are is to lock down the building just on Prem on premises okay I think it was I think it was the door props that buil said could notify the sro's yeah you could send that to whoever you would like TR make sa not necessarily all the doors the ones that are visitable in the front of the building like unless it's after hours wouldn't really make any sense but the ones at the back of the building would make more sense yeah yeah so yeah I'll get some clarified on the door props okay so overall this is the breakdown of everything um so
099what I mentioned there is about 1.5 uh with General Capital project speaking to our Construction ruction management company and our architect generally we look at about 10% of architect fees and other fees associated with capital projects and then uh construction contingency of about 20 20% um all of these items are on on contract so we would not need to go out to bid so these are pretty good numbers as long as we don't get stuck up at s for a long period of time uh where they might have to give us the contract changes in some form or another so um this would be a pretty close amount of money what we be spending Lor that's correct yes uh we won't so we we are proposing using $750,000 uh from our capital reserve for this
100uh that will be able to kind of help us with the cash flow in the beginning of this project well we'll we'll have a better understanding of where that might change so we might not need to borrow as much as we're proposing here usually goes quickly through S no sorry wrong Pro sorry no that was the $100,000 project okay never mind yeah sorry no increase to taxpayers that's correct if if you were if we would go out with the the 750,000 of capital reserve and just so people are aware this all came from as a recommendation from the security audit we had last year correct yes sir yes if those Panic buttons don't connect to dispatch um is that just something that we could explore maybe to see if there's equipment even if we won't
101connect it to kind of future proof it because there was a a laot p pass a couple years ago that requires school districts to adopt a policy on Panic buttons but didn't specifically require a dispatch connection but at some point in the future there could be a requirement yeah uh we can absolutely look into it yeah yeah I don't believe it does um but even if the even if whatever we put in would support that in the future if we ever decide to move to a direct panic button dispatch if we can buy the equipment now that might support that capability in the future might that's a great and then we could maybe incorporate that 20% if there's some additional fees to it yeah absolutely any other questions on that so this again will be
102there will be a additional proposal on on the bud on the budget vote for that a little bit over $2 million yeah no problem yeah I apologize we should have done a little bit better job of breaking out the uh um the cost of that yeah no it's very helpful thank you uh so last I want to talk a little bit more about the the other proposal that will be on the uh the ballot um I did find some pictures of what these buses are going to look like um so those three micro birds or they call them Vance but they're not actually Vans uh they're just smaller buses so again we're looking at getting these these buses to reduce some of the maintenance costs because right now we have larger buses that are taking
103students um and they're not filled so we do need to take them to these out of District runs and these private school runs uh but we'll be more efficient and more cost savings with these smaller buses uh I will say that we are looking into grants uh as as everybody knows there's a lot of grant opportunities for these EV buses uh so if I'm we are able to get grant funding uh for that that one van that 10 person of Van that's on this proposal uh that will we will not be spending as much that 10 passenger EV thing that comes in national school bus yellow right oh yes that is not the color that it will be I apologize I couldn't find one that was okay any other questions on on those will be
104ready for us I know that there I talked to the salesman the other day and he said there's it's a 10mon um wait time on it so uh so we may not be able to use it next school year at least not to start with I'm hoping because once the budget goes past we just sign a letter that it's passed okay and then they order it okay so even though we don't have to wait for July 1 to order it we can like right in May the next day that's one of the things that I do I say hey we're to go May that doesn't necessarily mean we can start school year with absolutely you're right there's a lot of lot of ups and downs with these companies the optimistic that it comes early absolutely
105okay any other questions on the buses so that next steps is the property tax CT at next uh next meeting which is April night and what that is is you guys approving uh the budget uh and what I like to call the expense plan for next year and also be on there the uh 3.56% increase on the tax levy any other additional questions not related but um maybe I'm the only one that cares much about this but for the budget vote um is there like signage or could we put out information to people that want to vote after they drop their children off how they can go around we can work on we can definitely figure that out you into the past that has Beena I would like to leave the middle school and high
106school when I drop off my child and go vote for the bus but there you can't go through there which I get the buses are there and the children's safety but maybe if there was some kind of signage that showed you I don't go the other way so I so what we can definitely do is some we've been uh Mr sham and myself have been working a lot with the PTA and um and PTO regarding like sending Maps out to where best traffic flow locations are that would be great we can absolutely work with the communication to get that out to everybody and and we'll put signs out during the budget vote like we always do there's usually something online that shows the map like when you come in off the road off the back
107it shows you to come in and go left and go around yeah I I can't drive through the bus garage midd school I'm just back out down under yeah because the problem is that that that's where the buses are there's there's I can't really think of another way discuss something with that parking lot oh it's changing pts oh really yeah never mind part of the project yep part of the project thanks Jesse all right thanks a lot guys appreciate thank you [Applause] I appreciate it