001and lift people up to do better. >> To me, what being a king is just being your own person, being a leader. I think anytime you have an opportunity for them to be celebrated, um provide speakers, um provide presentations from co-side to the city of Columbus to the mayor's office to the deputy and the sheriff's department and just a number of administrators and people from the community who actually came out to support this event. ICE Mentors here, which is a partner of Columbus City Prep for Boys, who's coming and talking about character building, male etiquette, you know, how we treat the ladies, right? Uh, yes, ma'am. No, ma'am. >> My mom, she pushed me. She support me. She just tell me what I need to do to go on in life. The best mom ever
002I could ever have. >> Met with some of the younger kids, talked to them. Really, really find that to be really interesting. I've experienced many things and one thing I've learned is how to socialize and communicate in difficult situations. >> Being a leader, taking ownership of things that you have done. >> I am a king. I am educated. Right? Recognizing that these affirmations are imperative. The world already sees us one way and our goal is to control our own narrative, but there's nothing that can stop us from achieving our goals. >> You're not a follower because a follower can lead you into trouble and end your whole career. and I don't want that to happen to me. I want to move on and get a scholarship. >> He was picked for a reason and to
003really appreciate the others who helped you be in the spot that you are in now. >> I could be a role model by doing the right thing, showing integrity, being service-minded, correcting people when they're doing the wrong thing. >> There are other men here in high positions that are role models for these young men to say, "Here are the possibilities. Here is what you can think about post high school, >> and there's no way we can do it individually. The needs are too great." Um but collectively we can make a significant impact. I hope that the event grows beyond just region two just due to the fact that we're all not operating in isolation but we're coming together collectively to do what's best for kids because you know my favorite poet once said if there's
004no hope for the youth then there is no hope for the future. Um I eat Tupac Shakur. I'm smart. I'm a young man. I am an educated man. I am a king. Being able to remind themselves that when you're having hard days, when the assignments are too hard, when the work doesn't make sense, when you fail a test, we embrace failure. understanding that at the end of the day, I am a king. And that's the message that we hope they take with him. I've been with CCS for almost 15 years. When I first started, I was an instructional assistant for the ESL department. I did that for about eight years. Then I moved on to helping with first and third grade for a few months and then I landed in my favorite position, preK, and
005I've been there for about seven years. I chose to work in Columbus City Schools because it is the school district that is responsible for my education from K through 12 and is responsible for the education of my children K through 12. And so I have an affinity with the district and I wanted to come back and contribute because of the experience that I had within the district. I work in a special needs program. So some or one of the most rewarding experiences is just coming in working with our children who don't have language of any kind and teaching them American Sign Language so that they can communicate with us and seeing them verbalize when they don't have anything to begin with. When I get to have my pre-K promotions at the end of the year,
006you know, the kids are in their caps and gowns and they get to move on to kindergarten and it's like celebrating everything they've done all year. It's like it's a great moment every year. It's like I can look forward to having that memorable moment. I'm the first impression that our parents and caregivers and students have for CCS. I'm that first stepping stone for school. So I feel like I have a lot of impact. Like if I can make their first year with us great, then that sets them up as they continue on. So I'm a big believer in the impact of probably one of my most rewarding was when I received the Channel 10 classroom hero. I also um was a nominated teacher of the year in the Lynen area. Um and just watching children
007grow and go off to college and come back to me. So that's really exciting. I think the work that I do and the time that I put into each individual children prepares them for the future prepares them for whether they're going to college or not going to college just so that they become great citizens. >> You know I came here when I was 18 as an immigrant and you know the district I went here to the district. So uh as a student they helped me out you know ESL student who don't speak English. So I just felt like teachers were very helpful and and you know and it Now I just want to pay it forward. I just want to help other kids just like how my teachers helped me to be where I'm at
008today. You know, being the first person to graduate in my family was very hard for me to kind of grasp everything that went to it. But my teachers were there uh from day one to help every single minute. And one of my teacher even drove me from school to to the administration office to make sure that all my papers are in and you know all everything is set so that I can start school. the next Monday. So, I felt like that that was so important and how the teachers cared about the students uh their success and things like that. So, I just felt like, you know, hey, this is what I want to be. This is what I want to do, you know, just help kids like myself who need help because if it wasn't
009them, I would not be sitting where I'm at right now. >> The diversity um there are so many opportunities in Columbus um that other small towns don't give you. We have a lot of resources here, but just the diversity of the families and the people that live here. For the early childhood educator who's considering a career in Columbus City Schools, do it. We will come a rally around you and you start somewhere, but that is not where you end up. We will grow with you and you will be surprised at the amount of per professional growth and personal growth that you will have working with our children in this district. I can say it's truly magical. They love the taste of fresh produce just from the plant. Some of my student don't even know where
010some food comes from from the grocery stores. So they learn so many things when they garden. So they really want to be a part of it. Some of them at first they're really excited about it. But then there are others that say I really want to know a little bit more about this. So it's more than just looking and glancing at it. It's like, how can I be a part of this? Because I've seen it go from being just a seed and now it's growing and I want to be a part of that process. So, they they really take care of everything and do it all and know how to do it all and they have a lot of pride in that in showing whoever comes into our classroom what they do and how they
011do it and what they've grown. I think it's really cool that they're learning how food is actually grown now because so many places are using all hydroponics and so it's really opening their mind to see different ways that food can grow. >> Learning how to grow is really important and when you see it in person, it's a lot different than just reading about it or seeing pictures of it. And taking the fresh produce that you grow and then being able to cook it and taste it in your classroom, then potentially going home and requesting it at home, I think is pretty powerful of an impact. It tastes different because it's more fresh at the moment. And also when you pick when you freshly pick it and just go wash it real quick and then eat
012it, it's like it's crunchy and delicious. But when you buy it from the store, it doesn't taste normal. >> This is the best salad I ever tasted. This This salad This salad is so much yummier than my mom's own salad. >> Having like a fresh lettuce that you just picked is really It has its unique taste. It was my first time ever trying to kale. They looked pretty weird at first. When my friends told me to try it, I just I just took a bite and it was super good. Oh, it's so cute because they really have a new taste when they try like tomatoes from the grocery store. I mean, they don't taste the same as fresh from the vine and just their their brains are explo like normally they want to ask for
013ranch and they just pop it without it. So, that's amazing. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, [Music] hey. [Music] Green. [Music] Yeah, [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] In the spring of 2024, Fort Hayes was unexpected. ly without a choir teacher. The principal, Dr. Milton Ruffin, took it upon himself to teach the class. Their final project was to be a recording of a song written by Dr. Ruffin. We now present to you the result of their hard work. All right, let's uh let's do um celebrate. [Music] >> Ready? Go. We get the drop the jaw and sit up and [Music] ready. [Music] We can find a better tomorrow. And hope we can find a place. And hope we find love for each other. That's why we clap our hands and we lift our home. I
014can find a better >> I was pretty nervous. I'm not even going to lie. Uh I was nervous, but then again, I was I was very excited. Um I was like, it's my first time going record. Uh I hope I hope I don't mess this up for everybody. You know, all these thoughts in my head. Uh but at the end at the end of the day, uh I'm glad I did it. I have no regrets of doing it. I wish I could do it again. Sadly, this is my last year. Uh but yeah >> every day there is a brighter day coming where we all participate and we'll >> he treated us like he treats his college students. >> Yeah. Which was cool but at the same time it's a little little rough to meet
015those expectations. It was very challenging for us to get there. [Music] I listened to just the stems of the song every day for about two weeks before the recording session and then when I came in you know I we did about two takes of it. I think it's combin it was a combination of like the first and second take and looked at the digital audio workstation on his computer and you know uh try to make you know the drums sound as you know keen to the song as possible. There's a bright and there is a brighter day coming where we all participate and we'll [Music] cate. And so it's a it's tricky especially for people who are not used to recording, young students, uh people who it's their first time recording. They get nervous. There's
016really no audience to give you that energy, feedback, and that um appreciation for what you're doing. It's just an empty room with me. Now we stand at getting closer every day. There is a bright day coming where we all participate and we'll overcome that day. And we celebrate. And we celebrate. And we cate. And we cate. And we cate. [Applause] [Music] All right, CCS Cinema Club, welcome. My name is Leia Gersing and I'm here with, of course, Sarah Dur. And it's just us today. No special guests cuz we're getting into this movie. We're talking about Dune Part Two today. >> You hear? Am I still waiting for this thing to come on? Yes. >> Mercy. Technology. See, I'm faster than technology. >> Ain't that something? >> All right. Here we go. All right. Welcome this
017evening everyone to Wednesday, August 13th, special board meeting. Uh, Mr. Treasurer, can we call the role? >> Yes. Mr. Simmons, here. >> Missing >> here. Vice President Adair >> present. >> President Cole, >> I'm here. We have a quorum. Thank you, sir. Uh, can we stand for the pledge? >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. So, uh before we actually approve the agenda, just to very quickly walk through it, we will first uh have a tonight is is a very special evening. We've done this a few times uh where we convene as a joint committee. This is the opportunity for us to have a budget discussion. So, uh
0183.1 will be our budget discussion. and that is a presentation provided by treasure cook. We'll then go into uh throughout that with also 3.3 being board committee realignment. So we'll have the opportunity to actually have a rich discussion about the budget, the implications of the budget. Um and you know receive some thoughts from the committee about how to move forward. Um with that we'll go into exe excuse me we'll go I'm so used to going into executive session. Uh we'll go to 4.1 which will be adjournment. Um is there a motion to approve the agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved and seconded. Can we call the role? >> Yes. Miss Engles? >> Yes. >> Mr. Simmons? >> Yes. >> Vice President Adair? >> Yes. >> President Cole? >> Yes. >> Motion carried. >>
019All right. Uh Madame uh chair, would you like the opportunity to introduce your committee members? >> Yes. Thank you. Uh, President Cole, like President Cole said, this is a joint uh special board meeting, but joint committee meeting. And so this is our normal night for the ETRM committee. So I want to welcome the members uh of my committee that are present uh tonight. And so we have board member who sits on that committee. Um we have here tonight uh Cynthia Price. Um we have Kana Lount Brunell. And that's it right now. We might have another one join us. So hopefully so and we might have some that are on Zoom. So hi to you all that are uh watching. So that's who's here tonight from ETRM. >> All right. Uh for academics and facility alignment
020committee, I'm honored to recognize this evening uh Dr. John Kellogg. I'm also excited to have Dr. David Lavine with us and uh Mr. Tracy Robinson and of course my board colleague, Mr. Brandon Simmons. All right. >> And me too. I'm on that committee. >> That's right. We cannot forget our vice president. Um so I'm excited to recognize those who who are here with us this evening. Um with that we can move forward with the presentation. Mr. Treasurer. >> Yes. Hopefully my PowerPoint comes up here in just a moment. >> I'm ready for the PowerPoint in the back. Put a check this fingers crossed. >> Yeah, I think they're working on hopefully. All right, as we wait for that presentation to prompt, I definitely want to make sure I recognize again uh uh Mr. Steven Miller.
021Good evening, good sir. He came to us all the way from Central State. >> Nope. Nope. >> Wilforce right across the street. Right across the street and make sure black college. >> There you go. The first in the world. First in the country. Yes, sir. Um So, thank you. And then we have Elizabeth Castlin Turner. Good evening. All right. You ready to go? >> Yep. Okay. Good evening, uh, committee members, board members, and members of the community that are present here this evening. My name is Ryan Cook, and I'm treasure for Columbus City Schools. As board president Cole mentioned, we're going to be reviewing our budget and we're going to do that through the lens of our five-year forecast that was presented to the board in May. I apologize to those of you on committee
022that have seen this before, but we have some members present that may not have. So, I'm going to walk through the entire presentation uh so that everyone can be informed. So, before we dive into the numbers tonight, it's important to level set and understand that the forecast is a a painting of the future based on what I know today. Uh the facts and the figures, the state budget, etc. So, I prepare a forecast for the board of education and the community based on what we know today. And we do that looking out over a four-year period, including the existing fiscal year. Five-year forecast. It's viewed as a key management tool and it needs to be updated periodically. In the past, we've updated this in November and May. And with the recently passed state budget, we're
023going to this year be presenting it in September and then again in February. So that's a bit of a shift from the norm. In a financial forecast, the numbers only tell a small part of the story. For it to be meaningful, you really need to review the notes and the assumptions before you draw any conclusions or use the data as a basis for any other calculations. And again, those are online on our district website and through the Department of Education and Workforce website as well. Those are a critical piece to the forecast. They lend context to the numbers we're going to discuss this evening. The five-year forecast encourages district management teams to examine future year projections and identify when challenges arise. Obviously, we've just come out of a budget period with the state of Ohio
024and we're dealing with federal legislation around federal programming and dollars. I think it's fair to say that we do have some challenges that are here now and will continue to present themselves into the future. The forecast helps district management to be proactive and that's key. We want to take a look into the future and make decisions based on our finances today to try to protect the integrity of the educational programs for our students. Again, this is a key management tool that we update and discuss periodically. Why does it matter? It engages the board of education and our community in long range planning. It's a central point to looking at where we're at and where we want to get to and making sure we maximize the resources we have on hand to get there. Second, it's
025a planning tool. It examines where we're at and it allows us to either certify or not certify contracts that we we procure for business in the district. This is part of OC and we refer to this in my world as the 412 certificate. It enables the board to enter into contracts. The question I'm often asked by the state auditor's office is, do you have the funds to certify this? We're required for any contract of a half a million dollars or more or labor partner agreements to certify that the funds are there on hand. That requires the board president, the superintendent, and myself to sign off on. were required under state law. Last but not least, it's a tool for the Department of Education and the Auditor of State's office to examine the fiscal health of
026our district. Where do we stand? What are we seeing? Where do we think we're going to be? They utilize this tool to examine our financial health. The five-year forecast is divided into two sections, revenue and expenses. Revenues made up of two primary sources, state and local funding. The local burden approximately in May, again, we're referencing our May 5-year forecast, was 74% and our state share was approximately 22%. We expect that to shift over the new bienium budget towards the statutory 10% floor from the state of Ohio that's codified in our constitution. So we're going to begin to see, as I've discussed in several meetings, more and more of a burden pushed towards our local tax base to fund education in Ohio. The expenses are primarily salary, wages, benefits, purchase services, supplies, and materials. It's no
027surprise we work in a very people centric business. Approximately 84% of every dollar we spend goes towards salaries and benefits. 84%. In looking at our May 2025 5-year forecast, our cash balance is positive through fiscal year 2028. And as of July 1, we entered fiscal year 26. So we've started FY26. We forecast in May that expenses would begin to exceed revenue in fiscal year 25. last fiscal year. And in fact, they did. We closed the books on June 30 with deficit spend at Columbus City Schools of $22.4 million. Our cash deficit projected in May was projected at $54.4 million in fiscal year 29. So again, we've entered a period at Columbus City Schools of deficit spending. We still have cash in our bank, but we're beginning to spend more than we're bringing in. So, you
028can see on the charts I've got here, our cash balance begins to erode and shrink, placing us at an actual cash deficit in fiscal year 29 if we don't begin to use this tool to look at these challenges. A little bit of a tech lag here. Bear with me. >> Um Ryan, can I ask? I'm sorry. Can I just ask so um I just want to clarify. Could you explain again? I know you said this a little bit, but what is deficit spending? And then what is when we hit that 0% being in a cash deficit mean? >> Sure. So when we talk in terms of deficit spend, we are spending more than our revenue. We're we're receiving less revenue from our state and local sources than we're expending to provide an education here at
029Columbus City Schools. Under state law, we cannot close with less than zero in our bank account, if you will. So the challenge that I'm seeing on the horizon fiscally is we're projecting actual cash deficits. Meaning if we continue at our present rate of spending by fiscal year 29 we would have an actual cash deficit of $54.4 million. We can't place ourselves in that position. We would obviously have to take steps to remediate that as we navigate forward. And those are some conversations we're going to have tonight. But by law, we cannot close with less than zero in our bank. >> I think my clicker died. Next slide, please. Thank you, >> Mr. Treasur. If I can. >> Yes. >> That is not We're not spending on credit. I think people hear things a certain way,
030and I think it's important for them to understand we have the money. The issue is again that we're expending more because we're receiving less. >> Yeah, I think that's that's an excellent point. There's no line of credit. There's no financing that's been issued. the these are actual dollars that we have in the bank and we're spending those to educate our students, to transport our students, to help provide facilities for our students. Um there again, this is money that's in the bank and that's why this is problematic through my lens because we're now exceeding what our revenue coming into the state provides. November 24 5-year forecast compared to our May 2025 5-year forecast, our projected cash balances actually increase by 114 and 157.9 million, respectively. And you're probably thinking, wait a minute, you just said we're
031spending more than we're bringing in. I will revisit that here in a second and provide some more context. This is a snapshot of what we saw in November to where we're now forecasting in May. The line on the left, I'm going to call it the light gray, light blue, is November's forecast and the dark line is our May revision. Thank you. So, a summary of changes uh in revenues November versus the May 5-year forecast. our state aid. Um, again, we just completed a budget cycle for the bienium budget with the state of Ohio and we assumed a 66.67% phase in on the fair school funding plan. There was a lot of talk around input costs and I'll refer to this as the price of eggs equation. We've all seen the cost of things escalate around
032us. School districts haven't been exempt from that. In the fair school funding plan, there's what they call cost inputs that are designed to work in partnership with the state and local and provide inflationary relief as the cost of educating a student rises. We just closed the books on FY25. However, in the fair school funding formula, we are still funded based on fisc year 22 cost sets. So we are three full fiscal years behind on what the formula was designed to do on the cost of educating a student and I don't think any of us have seen a decrease in the cost out there. So the district continues to face rising costs while we're fixed at a funding level three actual fiscal years ago now entering our fourth. So it's problematic. Our state funding formula we
033projected based on our April 2 payment. That's our actual funding. We get two payments a month from the state of Ohio. So we constantly evaluate those and we hold the line as late as we can to preparing the forecast so that we can project those actual totals forward. >> I have a question. Um so it says no change in enrollment >> since 2022. >> We've had an uptick in enrollment. We have flatlined that >> in our forecast in May and predominantly the district has seen increases in EL students >> as we look at some of the policies that have been put in place at the federal level and we've had a lot of discussions with peers around the country and state. We fear that those could begin to see um a reduction in the number
034of students coming to Columbus City Schools. We don't yet know. Um I can tell you I've looked at our July foundation settlement. We're down slightly in enrollment, but that's not unexpected because it's summertime. There's just transitions that happen as as people move, change jobs, etc. But we expect a downward trend based on policy that's being implemented nationally. Um, obviously, if we would exceed that, that would help increase the revenue that we could receive, but right now, we're projecting that flat because we just simply don't know. >> And ma'am, I thank you for that question. >> Great question. because it's actually very very poignant. You'll come to see that as the months progress, particularly through September, we'll actually see even more of a pickup. We're expecting even more of a pickup of enrollment for students. Sometimes
035it tends to happen at a latter time because people are coming back from vacation or people decided to disenroll in one school and enroll in. So there are any number of things. Dr. Chapman will actually touch uh will speak on that just a little bit uh in the implications portion of our conversation. >> Yeah. So, as I get deeper into the presentation, I'll talk a little bit about why enrollment is critical in in our budget that we just had signed into law. Um, and some of the benefits that we'll see here at Columbus City Schools from that. >> And we have another question. >> Yep. >> Let me know if this is covered somewhere later on presentation. Um, is does the funding formula account for the money that Columbus City Schools has to pay for
036students that are not enrolled in Columbus City Schools any but live in Columbus? >> Yeah. So, open enrollment used to we used to be what I would consider a pass through is how they did that in the state. They have now removed us getting the revenue and the expense that is all handled off our books now. So, we we no longer have that on our books. So, that is a shift. I think that was two years ago or so, but that has changed. >> Great question. >> Um, we've updated the timing for a transportation penalty. Obviously, that's been a big issue here. Um, the district for the last several years has been receiving a penalty um for transportation of approximately $15 million. I would be remiss if I didn't note we are also investing additional
037funds to the tune of $16 million a year to try to offset that transportation penalty. So there's approximately $31 million a year being spent for a penalty and to address it. Again, dollars that are not impacting us directly in the classroom. >> Yeah. >> What's what's the transportation? So, it's related to the the transportation of students from our district, charter nonpubliclix, community schools. Um, >> Mr. Stuffle Beans here. Would you like to add any context or am I am I am I couching this adequately? >> Please feel free. >> Rodney Rodney speak >> and introduce yourself and then >> my name is Rodney Stufflebean. I'm the executive director of transportation. Um with the state changing the rules and implement implementing House Bill 33 in 2022, they implemented a process for non-compliance fines to be levied
038against the district for charter non-comp charter non-public private schools that feel we are not meeting the rules required to transport their students. There's a 30-minute rule. We cannot drop them off more than 30 minutes later than school starts. we cannot pick them up more than 30 minutes after school dismisses. Um, we have worked significantly over the last three years to reduce that. We were on track to have our best year yet. And as it stood in April, we had about a $1.4 million fine, which is a lot of money. But over the three previous years, we came down from about, correct me for that first year, I believe it was about 22 million that we won. Then we reduced that to about 9.7 and then 7.9 last year. This year we were on track to
039be less than $2 million. Problem we have is in that house bill there is no stipulation for the charter nonpubliclix when they file non-compliances. And as of April, they filed a bunch that started in August knowing that we could not go back and investigate them or correct them. And our fines jumped from about 1.4 to the current number where we're sitting at now. >> Yeah. So, thank you. Some additional context. >> Well, >> Mr. Where does that money go? >> I cannot answer that. >> Okay. Thank you. >> In addition to not knowing where the money goes, um, can you talk about late notification? So schools that may have known that students weren't getting picked up >> Yeah. >> did not contact us in in enough time. Can you talk a little bit about that?
040>> Absolutely. >> So um there is no stipulation in the House bill that tells them when they have to notify us of an issue. >> If they tell us relatively quickly, we'll address it, we'll stop it, we'll correct it. That's the whole part of our implementation process. So we don't get these kind of fines. Um, in that house bill, there is nothing that says they have to tell us within a certain time frame. And in this case, the majority of the fines that we saw in in April were as a result of August through about December and they held on to them and then they finally filed them with the state in midappril. >> Yes, >> I have two questions and one quick clarification. I just want to restate this because I feel like it's
041really really really important. >> These are students that do not attend who who have for whatever reason them and their families have decided that they will not attend Columbus City Schools. But for whatever reason, because of this bill, the Columbus City Schools are still responsible for transporting them in addition to all of the students that are attending Columbus City Schools. Is that correct? >> Partially. >> Okay. So yes, they are Columbus City students that do not attend Columbus City schools. They live within the district boundaries. The rule that states we must transport them is the of the Ohio Revised Code in conjunction with the Ohio Administrative Code 330183. >> Okay. Just wanted to thank you for that. >> Yep. >> Two quick questions. One, do either of you know what is the like what is
042the fine per instance? You want to say it or >> I can tell you what we're our daily rate would be. So the rate we're assessed at when we're in I would call it penalty status is $160,000 a day. >> It's substantial. >> It's so there is there is a breakdown to this and with I I can I can go into this and be very clear. >> Okay. So when we receive a notification from a charter nonpublic of a non-compliance, they report that to the Department of Education. and the Department of Education contacts us, that is our first occurrence. We have to provide a correction plan. We do not get fined. The next three are at 25% of our daily average rate of transportation, which is our daily average rate is about $161,000 a day.
043So, we get 25% of that for the next three occasions. Once we reach the fifth occasion, our funding is withheld 100%. Okay. But those are things that maybe happened in August or September that you found out all four or five times at once in April. Is that >> what I can say is the reason it went to 100% automatically for those ones that we found out in April is because we had already had notifications of one through four. We've permitted we submitted a correction plan and it's independent of what schools they are. It doesn't have to be for the same school. It can be for one. Just >> so one school files a complaint that's our first occurrence. We file that correction plan. We will use that through all the other complaints that we may
044receive but each complaint subsequent complaint we get from other schools falls into two through four of the 25% of the withholding. >> Okay. And then last question and I'll let y'all go back carry on with the presentation. Is there are there any mechanisms that the school board or the school system can use or has been using to remediate this outside? Like are there memorandums of understanding that we can create with these schools to get this reported in a more timely manner so that they don't build up like that? or is there any sort of mechanism that's in place outside of this one law that doesn't stipulate those? >> So, there's presently nothing in law that would compel um that early notification to us. I can say we have rules, regulations, and state law that mandates
045what we do, right? >> Um we've had discussions with legislature about this issue. We've raised the concern, but there is nothing compelling that district in September to report it then versus what we encountered in the spring. >> So, it's very difficult for us to assess what might be lurking out there from a penalty standpoint. And to Mr. Stuffelbean's point, it reared its head this spring and caught us off guard. We didn't even know it existed. >> Um, forgive me, but you're telling us that charter nonpublic schools. There's no revenue connected to the transportation that Columbus public schools has to provide for their students. >> They're funded from the state. We're we're not paying for their education. We're required to provide transportation, which is a cost to the district if if that if I understood the
046question correctly. >> So, we we do get a reimburseable amount for every student that we transport. Okay. for charter nonpublic. However, the cost to transport some of these charter nonpubliclix, so we get reimbursed the average daily cost of transportation for a student, which is about it's about $1,200 per student for the entire year. >> Year. Our costs for a lot of these charter nonpubliclix exceed $3,000 per student. >> Okay, that's that's what I want. >> Deficit spend. >> Yeah. Yes. Okay, I get it. >> Deficit spend. >> I get it now. Can you also talk about the $2500 appropriation that is provided if for some reason they are not >> absolutely >> transportable at all. >> So that will mean I'll dive into the impractical and ineligible. >> Okay. One of the tools that we
047used last year is we know it's a simple math question. We have x number of routes. In this case last year it was 475 routes. We have x number of drivers to do those routes. We're at a deficit automatically. We had about about 440 drivers at the beginning of last year. So, we're automatically behind. That has made us reach out to contractors to bring in additional help. So, with that being said, we took it upon ourselves through the use of the l the laws and the guidelines within the revised code and administrative code to run each student that we have as a charter non-public student through the rules for impracticality and eligibility. There is a section of the law that states that any student that attends a charter nonpublic school that is more than 30
048minutes travel from their school of assignment if they attended CCS to their school choice. If they exceed 30 minutes, they're not eligible for transportation. We are not obligated to provide that. If they do not exceed 30 minutes, then we are obligated to provide them transportation. We then work to evaluate each student based on six factors that the law states we have. Of those six factors, we answer every single one of them through a workbook that we've created. It works out with the number of students to that school, what type of disrupt disruption it does to our CCS routing, costs, a whole bunch of these different factors, the six factors, and it comes up with a cost to transport that student or those students based on the number to the school. And it's we we set
049a threshold that we feel is adequate that we would encumber should we decide to be able to do that. And then at that point we'll deem those students ineligible for transportation. We offer them a payment in lie of transportation. I'm sure you've heard that term a lot. Um they can accept that term or they can decline that term. If they decline it, they have an option to go to mediation through the state department of education and workforce. And last year we had a a significant number of those and we were very successful in majority of those. Um and we basically go we plead our case, they plead their case, mediator finds out all of the intera information, gathers, makes an informed decision, weighs in on that whether it be in favor of the public school
050in our case CCS or the student. If it's in favor of the student, then we are obligated to provide transportation. Are there any additional accommodations that are made available for students with special needs that have financial implications? I'm sure from a transportation standpoint, we do have I'm I You're okay, Rob. Okay. >> We we certainly would make accommodations if things are in the IEP, for example. Um and there would be a cost associated with that. At the end of the day, our job is to make sure we transport students and get them here for an education. And again, that would just be another added cost to make sure that we can transport students here. So, yes, there would be some additional costs potentially >> like visual impairment or wheel mobility, those kind of things. >>
051I'm sure all of those. >> Can we just for level setting remind everyone how much their current budget for transportation is? How much do we spend on transportation in a year? Oh, I would say our transportation budget is approximately 60 million. Um over seven over seven. >> Our um average transportation budget is over um about $75 million a year. That does not include the penalty. >> I was going to say if you throw the penalty in, we're north of a hundred million. Um, again, when you look at our district budget overall, $988 million general fund, transportation is approximately 10% of that. Again, a big chunk of that is the transportation penalty. Um, another slide I want to redirect to. We we continue to talk about transportation penalty and challenges that we face. I'm going to
052go back on that if you could please. Thank you. Go forward one slide, please. Thank you. So, we've run into issues. Uh, Mr. Stufflebele being talked about the transportation penalty and it not arriving until late spring. From the treasur's office, the department of education and workforce traditionally assesses this penalty at the end of the fiscal year. And what we encountered at the end of fiscal year 24 was they deducted our entire penalty on the last foundation payment of the month. And we have other deductions that come with that for retirement systems, etc. We actually didn't have the funds available in our foundation payment. So, we had to do a tremendous amount of accounting adjustments on our end to close the books, reopen and post things, excuse our expenses. So, I've been able to work with
053the Department of Education and workforce to collect that penalty in a rear so that we can avoid that situation as we move forward. But again, because of the size of the penalty and when they assess it, it just has a tremendous financial impact on our numbers at the end of a fiscal year. >> And just one more question about this. I just want to be clear. So this this penalty is paid to whom? >> This penalty, I believe, goes back to the Department of Education and Workforce, their general fund. I have no other knowledge as to where those dollars go. I've raised the question. I've asked it. I have not received an answer to date on it. So my assumption is it stays in the general revenue fund for the Department of Education, but I
054can't speak to anything past that. >> So not necessarily going back to the the schools that have >> We don't know. >> Not that I'm aware of. I I just simply don't know. Simply don't know. >> Thank you. >> Next slide, please. So, a summary of changes uh November versus May. I mentioned on a couple previous slides that our actual cash balance had increased in FY28 and FY29. And the difference between that 114 million and the 157 million that I explained, $18 million of that is a decrease related to the revision on our base annual increases in the 5-year forecast. The board of education made a decision to reduce the salary assumption from 2 and a half to 1%. We had discussions centered around that in public session with respect to the impact and fiscal
055stability of our five-year forecast. So even though our 5-year forecast showed an increase in our cash balance, 108 million of that is directly attributable to that change. The remaining 13.3 million is again us updating our actual expenses and revenues that we see and we pull those forward through the balance of the forecast. Next slide. Our revenues versus expenditures. The cash balance is positive through fiscal year 28, the next two fiscal years. And it's exceedingly important that I I note expenses exceeded revenue last fiscal year to the tune of $22.4 million. What that means again the trend if you look at our days cash on hand what does the cost of a district operation each day how many days in reserve do we have? Last fiscal year we had 138 days and we're projecting by fiscal
056year 2029 we'll have actual negative days on cash again a negative $54.4 $4 million cash balance on hand at our present burn rate, if you will. Yes. >> What happens if we get there? If these projections, if nothing changes over the next four years, what happens when you get to negative cash on hand? >> Well, legally, we can't get there. And what'll happen is the state auditor's office, the department of education, um we will go through fiscal watch, fiscal fiscal caution, fiscal emergency >> before then. >> Yes. They they they use this tool to examine where we're at. When they see this deficit spend, it begins to set off alarm bells at the department and then they really scrutinize this. They want information from me as to what we're doing. Eventually, Dr. Chapman and I
057will get what they call a corrective action letter from the state, meaning what is our plan to avoid that issue? And we have, I believe, 30 days to respond to that from what I've seen in the past. So, we would have to deliver a plan to the Department of Education on how we're going to not cross that threshold, if you will. >> Are we legally allowed to pursue other sorts of outside funding in the absence of the state and local funding that shortfall that we're looking at? And if so, what might that look like? >> Federal. >> It's a great question. Yes, as long as it's legal and ethical. Um, but I think we have discussions around that concept constantly. Um, there's things this isn't going to save us, but every little piece counts. Cell
058phone towers, um, ways we can monetize our facilities, etc. Yes, we can. I will say everyone's always looking for that. It's very difficult. Grants are always a significant source of alternative revenue. Um, we're going to talk about the status of some of our federal programs here in a slide or two. Um, but we're open to that. We constantly, Dr. Chapman, her team, my office, our team, we're always looking for ways that we can find additional sources to sustain programs. Um, again, at the end of the day, that's my main focus, sustainability. And that's truly what my goal and my job is as a treasure of the district is to make sure we're on a sustainable path and to position the board and our students for success fiscally. >> Well, please put that in the parking
059lot because that's actually going to be a part of today's dialogue. Yeah, put that in the parking lot. >> Next slide, please. So, ongoing risks. Um, again, this this is our May forecast that was prepared in the midst of what I'm going to say was the budget storm. we were facing at the time. There was a tremendous amount of discussion around House Bill 96 and the cash balance policy and how that would have impacted not just Columbus City Schools but districts as a whole and what we were staring at last fiscal year um with a cash balance a 30% limit on our quote unquote savings account we were sitting at 37.9%. So had that gone into effect, we would have had to take action on ways to mitigate that or with maneuvers with the budget
060commission, they would have reduced the amount of funding we get to hold us at that 30% cap, 40%, whatever the arbitrary figure was going to be. If you'll look at that top line, um the fiscal year cash balance as a percentage of our expenditures, which is what they were talking about, you'll notice 26, 27, 28, and 29. We are below the 30% cap that was proposed. That's largely because of the deficit spend the district is facing. We are now in a period where we're not adding to our reserves. We're beginning to deplete those reserves. So, that's a big discussion item here in just a minute or two. Alternative revenue sources came up and a big one is always grants. And I'm going to spend some time talking about federal grants. Feel free to ask any
061questions. I'll do my best to answer what I know. As we navigated the budget challenges at the state level, as we closed the fiscal year, I believe it was June 30th, I received an email from the Department of Education that our FY26 allocations were going to be put on hold. Never seen it before. Um, we're planning and getting ready to begin. Yeah, the fiscal year is closing and that comes in. >> Obviously, it made the news. There was litigation. this didn't just impact our district but there was tremendous uncertainty since then that issue has been resolved but I want to put a big asterk by that because there is through liaison at the federal and our elected officials we have conversations with there are active discussions about the potential of recision packages meaning this could
062be back on the table I don't know that it will but I don't know that it won't So, we had 15% of our federal grant funds impounded, frozen, whatever term you want to use for that. Those have been released. The totality of what we could face if federal funding goes away, the impact would be $136 million. That's our annual allocation for title programs, etc. I can tell you one program that that hasn't survived at this point, the funding source for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, WCBE. Um it that agency has now shut down. So again, that's going to place more fiscal pressure on our general fund. There's just a tremendous amount of uncertainty. We don't know what's going to happen. There are things that aren't necessarily in the executive budget at the federal level. I
063don't know what congressional appropriations may or may not have in them going forward. And then the question becomes, is there an executive order or unilateral action taken that places those funds at risk of further empowerment? Again, it's a risk. I don't have it reflected in the forecast because obviously I'm going to base it on what I know today, but it's it's on my mind because it's out there. And I can tell you another $136 million hit to our general fund would be devastating. I can't underscore that enough. >> Treasurer Cook. >> Yes. >> Is that that kind of analysis about we're we still uh we don't know about, you know, what's going on at the federal level still apply to the state? Uh when looking at this cash balance? I mean, it came out of
064the budget, but you know, it it still very much could uh reappear. Yeah, there are active discussions around that. Obviously, we know property tax reform is is a hot button. The governor has his work group out there. Um the governor made some vetos. My understanding is um everything is back on the table with respect to those vetos in this workg group. I don't know where they're going to land. I know that we have conversations with our electeds all the time and this is still a point of consternation with elected officials. I anticipate seeing some form of this in the future. I don't know what the percentage may or may not be. There are electeds that think 30% is too high. Um and again, I think we can make the case as we talk about our
065deficit spend projections below. Again, that's our our safety reserve so that we can continue to educate students and pay our bills every day. So as we face those pressures and they say you can't have more than this in the bank, what's the impact in the classroom that now Dr. Chapman and her team have to face. So those are the things we're analyzing. I'm very concerned about it. I do not think that issue is going to go away. Um because they look at that and again they look at it as a way to provide immediate tax relief. I have a difference of opinion on that. I think it creates issues as we talk about deficit spend where districts will have to go to the ballot more frequently and so as we have conversations around what's best
066how do we help people in tax relief I'm personally not sure that the math maths on that but that's a conversation for the elected officials and we will certainly advocate at the state house as we did this summer um voraciously >> towards defending that. Um, in conclusion, another ongoing risk, upcoming personnel negotiations, current assumptions reflect a 1% base increase. I want to say I've had this conversation with our labor partners. We, as a district, will unequivocably negotiate in good faith. We have to make assumptions in the forecast, and this is merely a tool to help us future plan. Again, I'm banging the drum tonight. Expenses exceeded revenues starting last fiscal year. We're going to have to look at budget cuts, new revenue sources, or a combination of both for long-term fiscal sustainability. So, as I
067get ready to conclude here tonight on our five-year forecast, to me, we've got to shift our thinking and and we've always been focused on cash balance, and I've had these conversations with the board in in open session. deficit spend. The trend is not your friend in this case. And what I mean by that, this last chart, and again, this is available online. Revenue over expenses. Fiscal year 25, we projected 27.8 million. We came in at 22.4. So, our forecast is extremely tight and accurate on a $988 million budget. We missed the way we need to miss. We were conservative, but we only missed by $6 million. We were within less than 1% on both the revenue and the expense side of the equation. So, as we look out into these future years, 25 was a
068deficit, 26 is a deficit, 27 is a deficit, 28 and 29. And you can see we go from a 27 million projection, 22.4 4 actual to over hund00 million deficits each fiscal year. >> It's a lot. It's a lot. And again, context to all of us Joe and Jane taxpayer having $300 million in the bank. That's a lot of money. That's what we're looking at today. But as you look at our financial forecast and we go forward and we're eating away at it at 90 to hundred million dollars a year, you can see why at the end of this forecast, it's problematic. So again, the lines above that, we have to look at what can we do to put us on a more sustainable path as a district. Dr. Chapman and I have conversations about
069this all the time. We met at the first of the year. I laid out some recommendations. We wanted to navigate the state budget, see where things shook out. Maybe we catch lightning in a bottle and we get lucky. We didn't. We all know that. It was no surprise. There were some big numbers being thrown at us as far as cuts on those initial versions of the budget in the House. My recommendation as a treasurer, we need to begin to write the fiscal ship. I've told Dr. Chapman that we need to make a budget reduction sustainably and ongoing of $50 million a year. And again, I think it's important to note as you look at fiscal year 2026 through fiscal year 29, that $50 million reduction doesn't fix the problem, but it begins to change the
070course and allows us to buy some time to develop academic plans, facility plans, and financial plans that reflect the impacts of those cuts. Make no mistake, I'm sure Dr. Chapman's going to talk about this. Those have real and devastating risks in the classroom for our students. Those are dollars that I'm recommending we need to take out of the system. I take no joy in that. I loathe it. I'm frustrated by it, but it's the situation we face as a district. And in order to put us on a sustainable path and not put more people and programs at risk, we have to begin to rightsize our budget. And that is my recommendation tonight to the board of education, the committee, and the community that we begin those conversations around a $50 million reduction. >> Thank you,
071Mr. Treasure, for uh your presentation. before we move forward. Um, well, what I want to do because there going to be plenty of questions coming and we're the floor is open for that. But what I do want to do is give Dr. Chapman the opportunity to discuss the implications of this. So, let's move our way right into uh section 3.2 of today's discussion about the budget implic. Dr. Chapman, thank you so much for being with us this evening. Talk to us about what's happening moving forward. Good evening, President Cole, board members, committee me members, and community members. Um certainly uh this May forecast and um just thinking about a $50 million reduction um is shocking, but it's not unexpected given that the Ohio legislature continues to unconstitutionally underfund public education. And the federal government threatens
072holding back grants and diminished future public education funding which we just talked about to the for our district that would be to the tune of $130 million. This is why you saw us fighting at the state house alongside our treasurer, our board of education members, even some of our students as well as our labor partners. $50 million is a big number to understand when you're thinking about our budget, what it funds, and what our programming and staffing and position costs. To put this into context, our recent operating levy added $ 38.6 $6 million to the general fund which included more than 300 ESSER positions and select programs to protect and enhance student and family supports. So an additional revenue $38 million that was about 300 positions and additional programming. So we think about $50 million
073in reductions. That's over 300 positions potentially as well as programming. Almost every single position that was added to the levy was an esser funded position that create what was that was created during the pandemic to respond to the significant needs of many of our students. What we've discovered is that in these needs there were exacerbated by the pandemic and are still present in our youth and our communities. Some of those needs were um the growing number of students who are chronically absent every day. That means they're not showing up for school across the state of Ohio. This is a continuing ongoing issue. mental health needs, learning loss, behavioral challenges due to the social isolation that continues to impact our youth today. And so, while the resources have decreased, the needs of our students continue to
074increase. Our students continue to show up every day being impacted by the challenges that began to surface and were exacerbated by the pandemic. And based on this May forecast, um, in the coming months, we're going to take a hard look at all of our spending, operations, academics, programming, and we have to identify resources that will need to be redirected to support instruction. We know that as a district we spend more on operations than our peer districts locally and nationally specifically due to facilities and transportation costs. And I'm going to talk about both of those. More than half of our facilities across the district are more than 50 years of age or older and have not been modernized. Given that we have so many small schools across the district, it is critical to understand the impact
075of small schools on our students, our staff, and our community, and also our financial landscape. Again, we have 48 elementary schools with enrollments of fewer than 350 students and 20 of our secondary schools, which includes both middle and high schools with enrollments fewer than 500 students. With so many schools, the every school gets at least one model is entirely too expensive. In CCS, we have about 46,000 students being served across 113 buildings. For comparison, another large urban district, Atlanta Public Schools, has about 50,000 students. They have 30 fewer schools than CCS. That's just a comparison of how we when we talk about we're spending more on operations, facilities, and transportation, which we have a very great good dialogue about our transportation costs. That's why our budget is being stretched so thin, particularly in the operations
076space. And that means we're redirecting resources from academics to support operations. And given the financial challenges that we're all talking about tonight, whether it's the federal um cuts that that are continuing to to plague us and haunt us or we're talking about being underfunded at the state level because the cost sets are still being um at the cost sets of 2022. We have to acknowledge the bind that it puts us in as a district and we have to look deeply at how we're utilizing our resources to support the entire district. Transportation, we spent a lot of time talking about transportation. Again, we're spending over $75 million on transportation. We know compared to our peers locally and nationally, we are spending more on our budget on transportation. Many of the districts across the state have gone
077back to the state minimum. We've never shifted or looked at the state minimum in terms of who we transport to school every day. We know that and during the pandemic, we had 200 more bus drivers. We returned from the pandemic. We had 200 fewer drivers. And guess what? We never adjusted our service delivery. We continue to do and provide the same level of service that we provided prior to the pandemic with 200 additional drivers. That puts a huge pressure on our team, which certainly has increased our costs and operations. While I am superintendent, our district, our community has my full commitment that we will continue to prioritize supports that focus on the classroom and instruction. That's why we're here. That's why we exist. Because of this, we have already started to realign and reduce our
078expenses for FY26, such as not backfilling non-essential positions and reducing the non-personnel budget by over 15 million. But with costs going up, there is very little left to reduce from the non-personnel budget. I'm also planning to reorganize central office to maximize efficient use of our resources. I want to be clear though, we're not going to find $50 million and central office positions. Once the board takes action based on these recommendations from the treasurer, we'll begin planning to inspect every aspect of the organization. I strongly recommend that the board committees dedicate and commit to including in their work plans for this semester additional ongoing conversations about our transportation efficiencies. We have to shift our resources. We cannot continue to spend over $77 million in funding every year on transportation in addition to the penalties. I strongly
079recommend that we continue our conversations and dialogue about school realignment. That includes looking at the number of facilities that we're managing and operating across the district, including our school lottery and open enrollment and school choice options. Our goal is to manage reductions in a way that minimizes harm to students, preserves the quality of instruction and maintains trust with our community. Preparing our students for future opportunities is at the heart of everything that we do. As education evolves, so must we. So must our practices so much our services as our services and how we deliver our programs. We must act with intention and purpose to ensure our students are ready to meet the changing demands of the workforce, higher ed, and our community's evolving needs. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you very much, Dr. Chapman.
080Um here's where we are in terms of this evening's discussion. Um, as we look at possible budget reductions, it's really important for us to remember that these types of budget decisions, these types of f financial decisions that we're looking to make also impact students and in many instances directly. You heard uh, Treasurer Cook mention that 84 cent of every dollar expended in the district goes to salaries and benefits. 84 cent of every dollar. That leaves us with 17 cent on every dollar to have to delegate to non-personnel matters, things that impact buildings, things that impact uh transportation, things that impact open enrollment. We're going to have rich discussion ongoing tonight, but ongoing about these matters. Um our dialogue and recommendations will greatly assist. So whatever comes from tonight because the endgame of tonight is for
081this committee, this combined joint committee to accept this evening's recommendations. I'm not trying, this is not a moment to force anyone. This is not a moment to push some sort of agenda. It is not. This is an earnest moment, an opportunity at a critical point in our operations life, at a critical point in our enrollment life to make some very difficult and tough decisions around what cuts really mean to this district and who they impact. and how we work with the community to ensure that there's there's much more of a a lesser reliance as much as we can, a lesser reliance on uh our local taxpayers, us at the table included. Um so with that in mind, uh let's move forward to our board committee realignment discussion. And um I want us to really think
082about several questions. I want us to really give some very serious thought to several questions. Um there are a few at at bear here. The first I want us to really give some thought to and you can write them down. Are we using enrollment trends and data effectively when making academic decisions? It's important for us to understand not only what enrollment is and needs to be, what we have capacity to educate, but also what what is the profile of a child in the district. You heard the treasurer and at some point you'll hear Dr. Chapman allude to it as well. You heard Dr. uh you excuse me, you heard uh treasurer Cook uh talk about, you know, this enrollment and and federal funding. If you've been paying attention to the decisions that uh the that
083Mr. Trump has made in office as it relates to education, title three funding is very re very realistically on the chopping block. Now watch this. An important growing segment of our student body are encapsulated in that funding. That is English second language students. You asked about it, Mr. Miller. And you hit it right on the head. You did. This is something we need to think about as we're thinking about enrollment, as we're thinking about the type of student that is our profile student. Do our grade bandru structures and curriculum pathways align with how facilities are being designed and used? is what we're actually doing in a building pathwaying a student in a particular way towards graduation in a way that they can meet seal requirements in a way that they can actually meet preparatory requirement
084for college for military for workforce for business ownership. Are we how are we using our resources from a facility standpoint to accommodate that type of learning and on a grade band forgrabband basis? You've heard Dr. Chapman speak uh throughout last year and this year about careermies. You've heard her speak throughout last year and this year about mathematics and how we're working to try and empower equip students, equip students to be prepared for the rigor of work coming forward as they prepare to graduate high school. Third question, are we directing budget resources towards instructional priorities such as highquality learning materials and technology that expand access? Where are we thinking about that? Where are those opportunities available? The relationship between our resources, highquality learning and uh technology that comes with that. Are we hiring and developing staff
085whose skills match our vision for student learning? And are we providing meaningful professional development to help them succeed? I know in many instances we have worked very diligently with our teacher community to ensure that they have those things available to them. We also work with our classified employees as well, our CSEA uh union members to ensure that they are properly equipped. I think that there are gaps and opportunities that we can further engage. Um, but moving forward, do our policies, board member, do our policies, whether in grading, assessment, or discipline, support both rigorous learning and a positive school culture. At the end of the day, what makes a school the place to learn, what makes an environment the place to be, what makes the party the party is exactly how we welcome people here and
086how we treat them when they are here. We've got to think about this from that perspective as well. And what does it take to invest in that space to encourage success not just for our students, but also for our employees as well. You see, we as a board care as much about them also as we care about our children. We do. Um, so I'd like to get this conversation started with we we've heard where the where the finances are with things. We've had an opportunity to get a 10,000 foot overview of where what the implications of 50 millions $50 million in cuts could be. Um, what we know is at stake. But let's get to the first question at hand. Are we using enrollment trends and data effectively when making academic decisions as as a
087question to the community? As a question to the community and committees, um where do you see us having to be able to close gaps? Is there is there something that you'd like to see us do or or think about consider as committee work moving forward as work in collaboration with our treasur and superintendent? Where do you see us having the opportunity to identify that and then begin to close gaps? Mr. Yes, before we do that, I just can I just level set a little bit about some of the things that ETRM has discussed >> because we we have had a a year of rich discussion and actually digging into a lot of these to understand cost. So, ETRM is you know the operations, the money, the resources and so um the committee has been fabulous.
088So, thank you all to the members that are here tonight and those that couldn't join us. Um we over the the last uh school year we did a lot of education about understanding and taking taking deep dives into school finance. Um we had a deep dive into transportation which we had another one tonight. Um we talked about the ESSER uh wrapup. We talked about the levy promises and >> tell them what ESRE is again please. I think everyone it's the federal money we got during co >> um we talked um about we did a whole thing about our facilities and we did a lot of uh looking at demos and trying to talk about what do we do with those assets that we have and and future planning. We did deep dives into understanding the
089cost of special education and um English language learning and understanding why those costs were increasing. We also started to look at cost savings through green initiatives um and uh we sent proposals you know to the board to think about those things. We also took a deep dive into uh understanding prek um and and what is uh funded there. That's a huge grant hit um and we know that for Dr. Chapman universal prek we know that that's a huge thing. We didn't talk about that right this second, but when we don't have grants to do that, that impacts the ability for us to provide free prek services to our community. Um, we also learned more about WCBE. Um, we heard the treasurer talk about that and how that is also grant funded. Um, so those are
090things that we took and and and other things. So, we've done a lot of that kind of learning in our committee. All of that is on the website. Uh and we great participation. My committee members always ask the best questions. Um and so I just wanted to kind of level set that we have done a lot of work to set up this because quite frankly we knew right and that's why we took some of those deep dives because these decisions as Dr. Chapman outlined are very challenging when we talk about the needs of our students and where we need to go. So, in addition to the president's questions, just to kind of level set the work we've already done >> because it has been quite substantial from um our the ETRM committee side. >> Well,
091thank you for that. Thank you for that. Um Mr. Simmons, you have some thoughts. >> Yes. Thank you, President Cole. Um I was actually I was hoping to hear from the treasurer. We spoke a little bit earlier before the meeting about an enrollment bonus we're receiving as part of our funding. Could you touch upon that for just a quick second, please? >> Sure. So, as we look at the state budget as a whole, um, we're receiving an approximate $18 million reduction from what we received last fiscal year. In our forecast, we're going to show an uptick of $15 million. And that's because when we forecasted this, we were looking at the House version versus what was finally approved in the Senate. One of the provisions that made it through in House Bill 96 is I'm
092going to call it an enrollment bonus because it's one-time funds. We're not going to project this out across the forecast because in FY26, if our enrollment is on an upswing, we could receive an additional $1 million from the state. In year two of the bienium budget, FY27, again, if our enrollment continues to grow, and we don't know, we could receive an additional $14 million. It's important to note though, that's one-time money. We don't know if it's going to materialize, but as we have discussions around enrollment, that's critical. Let me provide a little bit of context with respect to what $14 million is for the district. As we look at that state budget and all of the additional revenue that we're going to receive, an average payroll in our district is between 28 and $29 million.
093So over a 2-year period, the state just gave us half of a payroll for context. And it all hinges on enrollment growth. Yes. >> How much enrollment growth? >> Like what what's the threshold to get the bonus? >> I don't have that metric in front of me. Um I can get that. We project it based on the LSC estimates and they're looking at our trend of growth that we've had and again that assumes that it continues. Again, as I noted, our July enrollment figures are down. I think that is some seasonality with respect to just the time of the year. So we're hopeful that as we get closer to the start of school, we'll see an uptick again in our enrollment. We know there's a lot of economic engines firing in the area. We continue
094to see the benefits of that. But again, even if we receive that, uh, it it's simply not enough FY22 cost sets, etc. But that to answer board member Simmons's question, that is the monetary relief that we're anticipating from the state over the next two-year period. So, thank you for that, >> Mr. Treasurer. M madam superintendent at this point in time um we are somewhere around 47,000 students enrolled I'd say between 46 and 47,000 students. Yes. >> Yes. >> With that in mind, what do we have the capacity at this point in time today if we had a a rush of children that were to come to us? I experienced that one year as a board member where there was a local charter school that closed and actually notified students and families that day that they
095were shutting down. Um if we had such an influx, what do we have the capacity to actually educate? What is our number our capacity number to bring students back to reclaim children in the district? I would say we have we just talked about our facilities and over half of them are underenrolled. >> So we have many seats in many of our buildings. We have the capacity to support more students. Um given that you know it's been probably over a decade since we've even made decisions to um think about aligning our enrollment with our facilities. These conversations are long overdue. So yes, we're certainly thinking about enrollment. We certainly have the capacity in many of our buildings, over half of them, to increase our enrollment, but we also have to looking look very deeply at some
096of our buildings. We may have 150 students there, but it was a it was a building that was built a hundred years ago and there's no physical space in the building to increase or welcome more students. So because of the age as well as the condition of our buildings as well as just the experience, right? I mean when you walk into a building that was built over a hundred years ago, you really can really understand that this is not the type of learning envir environment that we would want for our students. So this is an opportunity for us to think di think differently and think very deeply about how enrollment, the age and condition of our facilities, the number of facilities that we have, how we realign those resources so that we can maximize the
097resources that we have for instruction and supporting our students and their daily experience in CCS. >> Yes, ma'am. >> To that end, Dr. Chapman, there's been a ton of talk in the community over the last year and maybe longer about consolidating schools and whatnot. Where do we stand with those conversations with those plans um right now? >> Yes. So, um again, as you mentioned, we've had lots of conversations about what we call realignment and um we had a facilities task force. They made some recommendations to the board. Um, back in June of last year, the board um took some additional time to visit those sites, look at additional data before voting. I think it was December of last year, the board voted um to close three of our buildings and um and two of them
098would be relocated. And so that the process all this year we're working on finalizing the plans to transition two of those buildings. We provided an update and we'll continue to provide updates at the board. But the first two buildings that will be transitioned will be Broadley Elementary School and Mhler Elementary School and that will be for F school year 2627. >> And what's the budget impact of that? So when we the initial plans that were presented to the board, if the board um were to vote and accept and move forward to um closing or consolidating all of the schools that were on the facilities task force list, the beginning at a soft estimate was about $10 million. And so that really think we think about the what the cost the um operational costs as well
099as you know staffing all that goes into again these were many of our buildings that have outlived their lifespan meaning these are buildings that were over mostly all of them were over 50 years of age or more. One of them was over a hundred years old. And so if you just think about um the expenses to maintain a building that um you know is a hundred years old, it's really it it really wears on the budget. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Simmons. >> Yes. Thank you, President Cole. Um when I think about our um enrollment, I think about our funding as well. Um you know, we're approaching becoming a district that is 90% locally funded and 10% state share. Um and so when I think about what you know it was asked earlier what options
100for additional funding do we have um in terms of you know we can do a levy or bond or private donations but if we want to get more money from the state treasurer Cook what do we have to do with this current funding model? >> Yeah we need to grow our enrollment. So our state share per student is again approximately $4,500. There's some weights with special ed funding etc. Transportation that comes with that. Again, at the end of the day, it's increasing our enrollment. Um, obviously, a great problem to have would be our facilities are bursting at the seams. >> Not not we're having to close necessarily facilities, but we we have the capacity to serve more students. And at the end of the day, that's what our revenue is based around. So, it comes
101down to that simple calculus of >> more students. >> And the more resources we have, the better we can deliver academically. Right. >> Absolutely. So our ability to deliver academically for our students is now directly tied at least in respect to the state share funding is now directly tied to our enrollment. >> Would you? >> Yes. And I think that's true. >> All those resources that we receive are going to be what Dr. Chapman and her team have to your point for that academic achievement. Those are the technological tools, the the textbooks, the supplies, the materials, etc. all of that 17 cents on the dollar before President Cole spoke of as well as the 84% with staff because we have to get students here. We have to feed them. We have to educate them. >>
102Yeah. >> I also want to remind us too that even when all things are equal, we're still not being funded at the levels of funding that we need to educate today's students. So, this is fiscal year 26. The funding that we're receiving from the state is based on the inputs for 2022. >> There's a gap right now. If nothing changes, if our enrollment doesn't increase, we are continuing to operate on less resources to serve today's students. Right? So, I want to name that. In addition, I also want to name that when we increase our enrollment and we um President Cole talked earlier today about students who need more supports, our ESL students, over a third of our population are ESL students now. And when we think about what they need, they need more than what
103the the base costs that we're receiving from the state. So it costs more to educate these students to provide them with all of the supports that they need on a very condensed timeline. >> So when we're talking about serving our students who need and require more supports, are we given the funding that we need to educ to to educate today's student? No. Are we given the funding that we need to educate students who have additional needs or require more supports? Absolutely not. And so we have to be mindful of that. So yes, ideal world if all things were equal and if nothing changed, we need to advocate right now today for adequate fair school funding to educate the students that we have today. Certainly next step we want to think about growing our enrollment, but
104as our enrollment increase so do the expenses and we are not getting the funding that we need to educate our existing population. let alone a future of growing or increase in population. We talked about title three funding. We receive funding from the federal government to support our ESL learners. We believe that funding is at risk. If that funding is compromised in any way, shape, or form, that's going to be a bigger burden on the general fund. So, that means that we're going to have to carve out, we're going to have to stop doing something. We're going to say, what can we scale back? So we continue to provide our students with the resources that they need. That is a challenge. And so we we have to make sure that we're thinking about the whole picture
105and at the same time where the state is continuing to allocate more resources to support um the voucher program, >> right? So that means they are getting more funding than our public school students. >> Thank you, Dr. Chapman. Um, President Cole, your f that first question was um you about enrollment and our academics and and data. Are we using enrollment data to drive our academic decision-making? Um, and so I think from hearing from the treasur about how um enrollment is now directly tied to our financing and hearing from the superintendent about how our ability to deliver um for our students relies on those dollars. Um I think I and would be good for our board if um one of these committees were to look at establishing um some sort of enrollment goal for our district.
106I know the academic and facility alignment committee earlier this year you guys had someone come in um and you had presentation from an outside vendor about how that could possibly go. Um but when I think about our district and the trajectory over the last 10 years in regards to student enrollment and what that would look like in the next 10 years, um I'd like to see a district that that is larger again. And because we do have the capacity, at least on our website it says we have the capacity to serve about 69,000 students right now. Um and while we might not have staff on hand for all those kids, right, that is um you know, heating and cooling and space for keeping lit and maintained. Um and so I think that would be my
107just my personal recommendation is that one of the committees look at establishing some sort of enrollment goal for our district. >> That Thank you, Mr. Simmons, for that recommendation. That sounds like that would fall under the AFAC committee, academics, facility and alignment committee. Mr. Miller, >> thank you, President Cole, and uh thank you, uh, Superintendent Chapman. Uh, this has been very educational. Um just from a perspective of a vice president of institutional advancement for a small private college uh all across the country uh enrollment is down. Colleges are closing for funding. Um title three is we're counting it like it's it's not going to be here. And that's going to affect a lot of people. We have every day on our campus an enrollment meeting. So we have an enrollment plan that we put in
108place and we have been in place for the last two years and we've increased our enrollment by 100%. Now it creates other opportunities which will create the same opportunities for us. I'm sure that we'll put an enrollment plan in place. Uh but to your point for facility uh and faculty alignment you know you get more kids then it cost costs more you got more transportation you got more got to feed more so we got to increase our dorms we got to buy you know bigger cafeteria more professors all those same issues. So also from my purview as we all have our own purview uh and uh as a uh son of a retired Columbus public school administrator always understanding that our public schools are critical for the success of our community for our country. I
109don't know if somebody in Washington feels the same way because the department of education is under attack. uh which affects K through 12 and higher ed. Higher ed has had to really reimagine its uh pedigogy >> uh because of these future considerations. I think we need to totally reimagine how we deliver service uh inside of our academic facilities, how we deliver uh academic uh training uh and in in a couple of ways. Uh some time ago, we had a program uh where we provided mentoring for high school students here in Columbus. Uh it was through Big Brothers Big Sister uh which I was uh participated as uh African-American male board member for that committee. Uh but it was partnered with one of our local corporate uh partners. Um, it was probably uh a a program
110that was really one of the best in in the whole country, but it died on the vine because the corporate partner pulled out. Now, I believe that moving forward, we have to engage corporate partners to continue funding and support for our school system, but also provide them with pipeline employees because that's what they want. and not advocating that well you have to go to college in order to work here. Uh I'm on a committee uh in another part of the state uh the EWC uh which has identified you know in a multi-county area that there's not going to be enough employees for this growth that's happening in central Ohio, southwest Ohio. So when I say re reimagining our educational model, are we still delivering traditional educational products, programs, classes uh that we've had for the
111last hundred years? Yes. Do we need to change that? Yes. Um but I think our corporate partners play a larger role because they're the benefactor. Um also we all know that the technical revolution AI is here and from a cost reduction teacher instruction you know we have to take advantage of technology to reduce costs and increase um our outcomes for our kids. Also we want to educate kids that don't necessarily have to go to college. You got HVAC plumbers, electricians, construction. They're begging for employees. So, but I also think they should pay the way for some of that. Uh whether it's facility support, uh offsite, uh partnership, financial, uh remineration, uh and of course the grant piece is is big. Traditional funding models are out the window. Uh, are we planning on providing the district
112with a um development uh plan person to go out and get money uh for the district? I know somebody that's done that. Uh, and I know we need to continue to do that on a larger scale because um, charter school funding is increasing, public school funding is going down. But we have to go out and continue to support, advocate, you know, for federal and state level. But I think we have to do more locally in this marketplace because we have some community partners that are really, really interested in education. But if you don't ask, you don't get. >> I thank you for that, Mr. Miller. Um, we do have a department of partnerships and engagement, family engagement um and have made some considerable gains in that space. But you raised some some very uh persuasive
113arguments particularly around um pedagogy and you know aligning that to opportunities outside of public school and partners who are outside. U Mr. Granger, you know, you are here as that CTE expert, um that person who understands this space very well. Um and then I want to transition to Vice President Adair for for some other considerations for her side of the table. But can we talk a little bit about where their opportunities and what a fact the committee should be focused on in the CTE space? >> Absolutely. Thank you, Mr. Poland. It's a pleasure to be here. It's my first meeting, so glad glad to join the committee. Um, yeah, I'm with a group called Drive Ohio. We're focused on these advanced technologies like electric vehicles and batteries, drones, large electric air taxis, and all the
114manufacturing that goes with it. Um, I had the pleasure of starting my day at Northland High School with teachers from several different >> Excellence >> all over uh the Northland area. We had Spanish immersion there. We had Avalon Elementary represented. Uh we had um uh Woodward Park. and we're doing a a year-long work-based learning project uh where the high school students in the engineering academy will be designing pieces of equipment that will go into our educator toolkit that's shared statewide. So, we're excited about this and we're trying to also lead by example with this project because I couldn't agree more with the opportunities for corporate partners to get involved. The growth in Franklin County is astounding. I've heard uh presentations from folks at United Way and others talking about both the opportunities, but the challenges
115beyond just education into housing and all that. So, as a community, we're we're dealing with a lot, right? But the opportunities are absolutely there and the partners are out there and couldn't agree more that let's let's reinvigorate those discussions to find ways to get partners involved. That could be time, treasure, talent, or all the above. And I think there's a lot of opportunities and models for that that we can follow. >> Beautiful. I thank you. I look forward to uh the work that we can continue in our space to do that. So, it sounds like enrollment is one of those spaces that we want to take a very serious look at. In addition to that, uh pathways, I'll I'll assign that idea of CTE and other things, college space readiness to pathways for students. Um
116I want to pass the ball. President Cole, excuse me, if I may, I would love to provide an update on all of the amazing programming that we have had an opportunity to expand in CCS just in the last year, please. >> Um, in alignment with the comments from Mr. Miller, Mr. Granger, um, our CTE enrollment has expand um, expanded significantly in the last two years. >> What does CTE mean? >> Career and technical education. And so >> no old school vocation. >> Okay. >> So when we think about uh two years ago, I think our enrollment was at about 5,000 students. Now we're able to serve over 11,000 students. >> Some of the feed feedback that we received from our students is that they wanted to have access to that programming at their neighborhood school.
117And so prior to our model was very centralized. Students had to leave their home school and go to Fort Hayes or Columbus Downtown High School. We have been adding programming to almost every high school across the district and so students have access to CTE career and technical education programming at their home school. We have seen an increase this year. We're as also adding we just received um accreditation from the state to add a pharmacy tech program. So we're continuing to expand those opportunities at all of our high schools to provide those experiences to all of our students. In addition, we have been working for the last couple of years planning and beginning to design and redesign that secondary experience to establish and launch careermies at our high schools. And so that means that we're thinking
118about what does the freshman experience need to look like. So we're spending time with the ninth graders to make sure that they have exposure to all the career opportunities. We are aligning these pathways to all the in- demand highskll pathways that for the job opportunities our current based on our current labor market in the city as well as the region. These are also pathways where our students it aligns well with the Columbus promise. So when our students graduate, if they want to continue their learning at um Columbus State, they can do so with a scholarship on the Columbus Promise scholarship. they can earn a two-year degree and then extend their learning at a higher ed institution. And so we are thinking very deeply based on all of the economic growth, based on all of the
119demand in our region as well as based on the needs of our students. Our students are telling us they want more hands-on learning experiences. They want more career connected learning experiences. They want to have access to internships. They want to have access to work-based learning experiences while they're in high school. It is our hope and our academic promise to ensure that our students are not only graduating with a high school diploma, but they're graduating with a resume that speaks to the career connected learning experiences that they have been able to garner while they're in high school. And so that's where we're going. That's what we're doing. And I certainly welcome every business leader, every community member that I have talked to about this strategy. They are all fired up. They are excited about it. And
120our business community is more than welcome to provide open their doors to provide those experiences to our students as well as to our staff. And so we're really primed to begin thinking about how we provide more experiences for more of our students. We know that when our students are engaged in hands-on learning and the career, the CTE programming, our students excel on all metrics that we measure. They exceed our graduation rate. They graduate on time. They have higher GPA, higher grade point averages, and they're engaged, right? Because they're choosing a pathway that resonates with them. They can see the value in it, not just for now, but also for later. We don't have to convince them to come to school every day. They're there before the staff saying, "I want to learn. I'm ready to
121have that experience. I'm ready to talk to um the industry leader. I'm ready to go on that work-based learning field trip. And so these are experiences that we've learned based on feedback from our students, they want more of it. And so every time we open another CTE programming, the the program is filled. We have to open another one. And so this is also a time where we have to think about CTE funding. That's also at risk, right? That funding comes from the federal government. They're putting stipulations on that. So, if that funding isn't going to be constant, it makes it difficult for us to plan for future programming and program expansion. We already have the data and the stats on what's working and who it's and how it's we're getting results. We know that it
122it's a value ad to our students, to our families, to our community. But the the X factor that I want to make sure that we stay focused on tonight is how do we ensure the sustainable funding and revenue to continue to replicate and expand these programs that are working for our students. >> I thank you for that Dr. Chapman. That is a wonderful transition into the ETRM question. Um so Madame Vice President you have the floor. >> Can I hear what you're asking me? Let me Okay, I let me let me call the question. >> Okay. >> Um, which operational decisions, maintenance, schedules, transportation routes, staffing have the most effect on equal access to learning or more importantly have the the greatest effect on our bottom line in a way that your committee moving forward
123needs to give some some counsel to the to the uh board on what to what to decide on. >> Yeah, thank you. I mean, I had I had it right here. I just want to make sure that was your question. Um, I mean, obviously transportation is a huge uh question. Um, and I think looking at that more holistically in terms of what we need to make recommendations to the board and it might be something that actually the academic we might need to do some joint sessions on it too because it starts to also call into question our lottery process. And so we need to look at those two things very holistically. Looking at what if any board policy needs changed and basically what is the core values of our community to be quite honest. Um
124because we are above state minimum on who we transport. We do that for a variety of reasons. Some of it because our kids aren't coming to school. Some of it because we allow high school kids to go, you know, anywhere in the district. So we really need to understand what that budget impact is um and I think make some recommendations to the board on that. We also need to explore and continue to explore alternative funding. Um, and that comes in all sorts of ways including uh land and and assets especially after schools are not schools and what do we want to do with those whether that be re redevelopment um with educational purpose um or sale um we need to continue that. We've started that in our committee. Um, and we're working with the, uh,
125community engagement committee on some of that as well. Um, I do think it's important as we, you know, continue to talk about, you know, 84 cents of every dollar is on our staffing, um, making sure that our administration has what it needs from the board around ensuring we have very strong staffing plans and understanding, um, staffing models. Um, so exploring that because obviously we need our staff because we that's how we deliver our our product but just making sure and that goes along with our our guard rail about having equitable resources which resources are our staff. So ensuring that that board guard rail is also thought through. So in my mind those are the three big things that I think that the um uh ETRM committee I think one of them I think transportation will
126bleed over into uh um academics uh for sure. Um but I think those are the big big three that we need to address this semester. >> So just as a recap, open enrollment, transportation and staffing models personnel >> and alternative funding. So I kind of put transportation and and enrollment lottery together. >> Okay. >> I think for our qu for you for for academic I think it is a separate question because it's about the academic programming but I think for us it's about it's really playing into that transportation question. >> Yeah. >> Awesome. Are there any thoughts as folks have heard about considerations? Yes ma'am. We'll start from there and walk our way back. >> Mr. um staffing. I would suggest being a part of Columbus City Schools for about 33 years, 32 years that
127every school has a multi-ter system support specialist or two two individual teachers. that would help the teachers in that building learn how to adapt to different learning styles of students, ELLL learners, um multi-level learners, um students that are higher in excelling, you know, with your um balori classes. So I would suggest that in the SCOP model where for the ELLL learners that they have at least one teacher in every building to help the the the ELELLL learners come in and get adjusted to uh the school in what's available for their parents like I have a parent university also to help the new coming parents to learn about the school and the resources and the community and the reach out. Um, also to have like a attendance specialist. I was uh speaking with a couple of
128teachers in Florida and they have a attendance court at their school. So instead of having a going downtown to an attendance uh committee for House Bill 410, they have attendance court in their in their in their school at night. It's held between, you know, 5 and 7 and and parents are welcomed and and not only with hey, we're going to get help you get back to school. here's the model that we're going to help your student reach the goals that they need to reach in order to achieve and salvage the year. also having more programs in your school which we can develop these in our school ourself plus um I don't know if they cost I know city year cost we have an agreement with city year um community and schools I know a number
129of schools that have community and schools which is another outside resource um I understand that we have a number of restorative practices um technicians that have been trained dispersed them and also dispersement of services. If a school is doing well, has a you know a 3.0 um Ohio on the um what is it the um >> you mean stars? >> Yeah, star. If they have three 3.0, No, let's look at their resources and say, "Hey, a a community a an elementary school that's struggling with a two, let's let's look and see what they can share their resources." Sarah, what what's going how did they get that 3.0? What kinds of things are they doing in literacy in their school and and and and um even student engagement that could help that 2.0? So teaming your
130elementary, your middle, and your high schools together. And I know we have our sections. We have regions, six regions, but you know, they're we have some 4.0 schools, 4.5, and they need to share their resources and share their ideas with other schools. I'd like to see more of that happening. >> I thank you for that. I thank you, uh, Mr. Mill. Um uh just one question. Uh we talked about 84% of the budget revenue goes towards salaries. Um and you mentioned uh the best practices of Atlanta City Schools and Columbus public schools uh with them having us having uh them having less buildings than we do. Are there other best practices that we can look at to try to reduce that 84% uh to to free up some more uh additional funding with schools of
131our size around the country? >> Yes, certainly. Um it was a couple of years ago we worked with um a partner that analyzed our data and that's where we got these comparative stats on the number of buildings that we have, the number of staff that we have. And one of the glaring factors that they called out for us is that when we have so many small schools, it's not just a number of buildings because when you have a small school, it actually costs more money to fund and operate a building with only 150 students. Because if the building has 150 students compared to a building that has 500 students, the building with 150 students still needs all the same resources. They still have the utility costs. They still need a principal. They still need a
132secretary. They still need a social worker. They still need a counselor. They still need a custodian. They still need food service staff. And we still have transportation costs. And so at a time where we've talked so much tonight about our funding, we're not getting the state share that we need to educate today's students. That's a gap. State shares at the 2022 funding. This is fiscal year 26. That's a gap. We're not going to be able to close tonight and we're not going to be able to close with future budget reductions. In addition, we talked about transportation. The reimbursement from the state is about $1,200 per student. It costs more than $1,200 to transport one student across the city. That's a gap. And when you think about we're transporting 30,000 students, there's more funding that we
133have to add to the general fund to be able to transport our existing um student body. And so when you think about the number of small buildings that we have, we know it costs more to operate those buildings. The age and condition of our buildings, more than half of our buildings are over 50 years of age or more and have not been modernizing, that increases our operation cost. Transportation increased our operation costs as well as this the staffing related to the number of buildings that we have and the number of small buildings that we have. So when they analyze this data, they pointed out to us very clearly, these small schools are draining your budget. It's not because there isn't great programming going, but it costs more. We're actually spending more on the small schools
134than we are on a school with 500 students. Does that school need more resources? Absolutely. They have more students. They have more students that are showing up every day, >> right? And so they analyze our data, our expenditures, our staffing, our the number of facilities and provide us with those comparative analysis analysis compared to districts in the state as well as national comparisons. So they've already given us the data which points at the why we're here tonight of having these conversations. We have to think differently about how we're staffing, how we're serving our students, transportation, all of things have to be considered. We have to put them on the table because, as we've discussed, our revenue isn't increasing and the state share isn't increasing. Even with an increase in enrollment, there's still going to be
135a gap because we're not getting the funding that we need to educate um our students at today's cost. We're getting funding for every child, but not at today's cost. And so, the price of gas has increased since 2022. Our funding doesn't reflect that. The price of benefits and salaries has changed and increased since 2022. Our budget will not reflect that. So, we have to make adjustments today to be able to get to those out years that our treasurer mentioned in the May forecast. >> I thank you for that question. What we're what we intend to do as AFAC that committee is first and foremost work on identifying a student profile. I think it's really important that we're clear about what type of child we're actually enrolling in our school and then we're able to have
136that cross uh cutting conversation with ETRM about the cost dynamic of that and what that looks like and then we can collaboratively make a decision that joint recommendation opportunity to say this this is how we should think about this moving forward in terms of the realities of cuts or opport opportunities for savings if that makes any sense. Uh let's go to the next question. >> I have a I have a bunch of questions but I want I want to all of them. I want >> I want to make sure we we accommodate folks. >> Dr. Chapman, you said that we have a capacity for 11,000 students in some sort of CTE um program. Are we at capacity with participation at the moment? >> So that that's not our capacity. That's the number of students that
137we're currently serving. And so we're each year or really we're adding more pathways and so that means we're serving more students. I mentioned we're um adding a pharmacy tech program this year. So that's more students, more um access that will be provided and expanded to more students. >> Is CT prime are those CT opportunities primarily focused only on the high schools? >> Actually, and we're expanding them to middle school. So, middle school and high school. And I'd also want to note that um we are the Columbus City Schools is the career tech planning district for our region. And so we also many of the students in the suburban districts come to Columbus City Schools to access our exemplary CTE programming. And I also, if I can just throw one more nugget in there. Um, I
138talked a lot about the programming and the pathway or increase in enrollment. Our CTE program last year on the state report card earned 4.5 stars, which is almost an exemplary report card because the again the programming that we're providing our students matches their needs, their desire, and their interest. And they are showing up. They are showing up. They are excelling. They are exceeding the expectations in graduation, credit completion. They're graduating on time. Um uh last week we had our summer graduation and 23% of the students were early graduates, not graduating late. They were graduating early. And so we know that the programming that we're offering when we're able to align um the programming and pathways to the needs of our students um our students excel on all the metrics we exceed the expectations and our
139students are even uh graduating early. >> I love that. Thank you. I board member Simmons sub uh suggested uh proposed um a recommendation that recommended that's the word I was looking for recommended that um that the board looks at an enrollment plan like a >> a goal >> a recruitment plan a goal yes goal >> I given the political environment that we are currently living in that is unlikely to change in the next four years at least Um, one thing that we do know about the folks in Washington and the folks down the street um, at the state house is that um, increasing workforce education seems to be a priority or that's what they say. And so that sounds like a really good advocacy opportunity um, not only for us but also for community members
140who are interested in supporting uh, Columbus City Schools if at all where when and where possible. I also think that um that enrollment goal and however that gets rolled out, I would like to just add an additional recommendation that we really highlight those CTE opportunities and the growth in that space, especially given that you said um that that we're expanding into the middle schools and possibly looking at into elementary schools. feel like that's a great way to court um our corporate uh partners and potential partners in the community um as well as get people excited about something different that Columbus City Schools is doing that makes it a more attractive place to uh consider sending their children. So just would like to add that to the >> Yeah. And when we think about um CTE
141and career connected learning for our elementary school students, we focus on awareness. And so that's where you'll hear a lot about career day, career fairs. Um and then when we get to middle school, we want more exposure. Um last year we had a pilot with um I know I can where we provided the middle school students with um the AI goggles and they got to experience various careers through the goggles. It was like a 3D hands-on experience but through using technology and then when we get to high school those experiences should be more hands-on. It should be where they're have opportunities to go into the field into the workforce and we have our industry leaders are invited into the classroom and we really want to be thinking very deeply about again how we expand those
142opportunities so that every student across the district has access to those experiences. >> Love that. Thank you Dr. >> I thank you for that Dr. Chapman. Yes, Mr. J. >> Just to quickly add on that I know I can program was fantastic. I was fortunate enough to present to several of those students at COSI, maybe like hundreds of those students, and we had a follow-up event with our partners from the Educational Service Center of Central Ohio at Sherwood Middle School. We had a drone day. Some of those students, it stuck. They were they walked up to me. I didn't care that they didn't recognize me. They said, "I remember someone talking about this when we were at COSI." All the dots connected. And >> later that weekend, I read about the cuts to Americanore. >>
143Yeah. And it directly impacted the I know I can program. >> Absolutely. >> If we want to cut through all the noise, we got to talk about jobs. >> We got to talk about jobs because there was also we I totally agree that there should be improvements in uh a continued expansion in the middle school career correct connected learning and there were some cuts to career exploration funding in the state. >> Yes. >> Absolutely. So, we just I know they're working I I've I've talked to some folks that are advocating to get that sort of you know managed through uh and that's good that needs to happen but if we talk about jobs and I love the comment about u parent university I love that thought and was just talking with some educators in Fairbanks
144local schools earlier this week they were helping us brainstorm on like a family toolkit you know are there ways that we can because some of these parents and family members may also benefit from some of the same learning right >> absolutely absolutely's connection here with enrollment, right? It all it's it's it's I know I know there's lots of concerns here, but there's also reasons for optimism. >> Opportunity of adult ed, too. I forgot to mention about that, too. >> We have we have quite a bit of >> Yeah, we make you make engineers in middle school. You don't make engineers in high school, >> right? >> You're correct. >> Um Dr. Chapman, thank you for um really highlighting the CTE program here in Columbus City Schools. Um, I also want to uh say I'm honored
145I've been able to actually assist in writing a lot of those programs over the past three years. Um, I'm a recent Ohio Ohio Ohio Department higher education workforce senior program manager. So, in my former role, I worked with all of the Ohio uh OTC's, Ohio Technical Colleges as well as post-secondary institutions. So, career centers um those are our K through K through2 institutions. Um, in regards to uh uh alternative funding, we understand that funding is under attack. It's on fire. Um, but there are different pots of federal funding that's directly tied to CTE and that's directly tied to ADP, which which is adult diploma programs. Um, that funding is, I believe, separate from what we're fighting up the upward hill, you know. So, as well as I would say broadcasting and advertising the great things
146that students are learning in CTE, but also looking at those alternative fundings in those different pots, um I've worked with several different schools throughout the state of Ohio and they've secured funding able to actually build new facilities for the um CNA because STNA is no longer a credential in the state of Ohio. Um but they've been able to secure funding to actually have reconstruct facilities to hire people and also um expand in ways where we're actually educating our community. So our parents um our community members um I think it's important when we talk about funding and CTE, but also think about those other federal pots that are not as readily being touched or under a fire that we could tap into because other schools and institutions throughout the states are. So we have to catch
147up in that in that realm. We're already doing the work. We're already having students graduate who are in line for these in demand jobs that are coming here in the state of Ohio. Um we have Google, you know, Intel's been paused, you know, but we have a lot of different corporate uh corporations coming here into the state and Columbus City Schools should be producing those employees. >> So, I think we need to really look at those additional pots of funding and really look into ADP programs. um uh in a different way. So that's my piece. >> Uh I thank you for that. Um I want to make sure that we do we settle on some business that really brought us here and that key is is that you had the opportunity to hear about uh
148cuts, hear about our budget, hear about a hear a recommendation for $50 million in cuts. And that's as we understand it now. That's as we understand it. Now, I'd like to entertain the idea of uh you know offering someone offering a motion to accept the recommendation >> for 50 million in cuts. Yes, sir. >> Thank you. Um I'd like to motion and move that the board of education accept the treasur's proposed 15 million budget reduction. Um and >> our joint committees >> joint committee joint at the board. >> Yep. joint committees recommend to the board. >> Yeah. But you're on the right path. You're on the right path. >> I don't have that one. I'd like to withdraw. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> I'll make a motion that the joint committees make a recommendation
149to the board of education at its next meeting to approve the 50 million uh figure that the treasur has proposed. >> Second. >> Motion and seconded. We call the roll. >> Yes. Miss Engles. Yes, >> Mr. Simmons. >> Yes, >> Vice President Hadair. >> Yes, >> President Cole. >> Yes. >> Motion carried. >> I'm >> Yes, sir. >> So, just a quick question because we're still committee. So, our committee members should have the opportunity to vote as well. >> You had that. >> Yeah. If we had if you had accepted >> that's that would have been correct if we had went with my motion. >> For the record on this Elizabeth >> yes >> Mr. Miller >> yes >> as a member of committee Mr. Simmons >> yes >> and Mr. Cole >> yes >>
150you're miss you're missing two Mr. You have two more. >> Oh, I see you. >> Mr. Price. >> Yes. >> All right. Motion passes. >> Thank you. All right. The other piece is is I want to close out level setting and I thank everybody for the opportunity to have this discussion. Again, this is not the first and this is the first but not the last engagement. We're going to continue working together on this. Um, from the academic facility and alignment committee, what we're looking to do are severalfold. First, the conversation around realignment. Realignment. This committee is responsible for the closure andor consolidation of schools. We are also responsible for aligning and the idea of creating academic alignment with our facilities. We will be discussing that in detail. We will also be working on the enrollment
151situation and having conversation around that. That gives us a deeper sense of the types of students that are coming to us. Um gives us a deeper sense of the direction that we need to go in terms of consolidation, what that looks like with pathway, curriculum, all of that. will discuss those things. Um, ETRM is looking at and ETRM is uniquely tied to us. We have a we have a very tight relationship between committee because albeit we'll discuss a lot of the same things. We're discussing it from our perspective. Hers is also from the audit and the finance perspective. So a lot of the cost analysis, a lot of that staff identity in terms of cost analysis, all of those things will be discussed in her committee and if if required for us to do another
152joint engagement then we will actually take that take the initiative to do that work as well. Did I miss anything madam vice president? >> Transportation. >> Thank you. transportation as well will be >> alternative funding >> and alternative funding will be a deep consideration in this space and another example of alternative funding could be how we monetize our assets. This is a very recent set of dialogues and considerations that we've really brought to bear in the last couple of years. So we want to make sure that we're in that space as well. Um is everybody clear? all minds are clear about what direction we're moving forward in. I thank you if if that is. Yes, sir. >> Um, President Cole, we have a board policy regarding the closing of school buildings, determining which ones were
153to be closed. So I think if we were to have the academic and facility alignment committee look at that um then I do believe the board would need to see to it to deal with that policy beforehand. Either wait until policy and governance comes back and then accept their policy changes or um consider suspending the policy to allow the committee to do that work in a quicker motion. But whatever direction we go, I do believe that that would require a policy change before any recommendation could be made to the board of education and before the board could take action. >> Uh thank you. Yes. >> And to elaborate on that, the um so so uh what board member Simmons alluded to is that the policy and governance committee has been for many many months looking
154at the policy surrounding the closure of school buildings. And what the policy and governance committee did the last meeting was actually kick that over to the academic and facility alignment committee to review the policy, provide feedback and take that back either to the board or to the policy governance committee depending upon actually our recommendation was open-ended depending upon what uh the committee thought would be appropriate. So it's great that you're saying that because that's the next step. >> Yes, it is. >> But the policy needs to be dealt with before the committee were to make recommendations to the board. I would just like to add though >> the chicken ca the egg came and the chicken will hatch in this this committee. >> But aside from future policy considerations, we certainly have some recommendations that
155have already been provided to the board that are in alignment with our current policy. So there are decisions that we could revisit today based on our current policy if we wanted to take another look. And then certainly we could take another look after we consider whether or not we're changing the policy and then how we would proceed given those additional policy considerations. So I just want us to know that there are there's certainly room and space and opportunity. >> I understand what you're saying, Dr. Chapman. Are you suggesting that we bring back prior recommendations that the board did not adopt in December and bring those back to the table in the future? That is absolutely an option that we should consider given the information that we have discussed and the and the >> and all
156of the considerations that we have before us. >> So you're saying the schools that the board declined to close in December need to go back on the table. >> I would say that that's an option. Certainly that's the at the discretion of the board as to whether or not >> I think any school that the committee discussed >> it any school that so it >> that the task force discussed >> it would be the discretion of the board to bring back any school that um they've already voted on. Certainly, we would be looking at the votes that if they would be able to increase the number of votes to move those schools and those decisions forward, but again, we currently have a policy in place. We followed that policy with the previous process and so
157we could certainly consider additional conversations and realignment work right now today given the conversation that we've had tonight. >> And should should there be necessity, Mr. Simmons. >> Mhm. >> We can still have that conversation >> in the as committee >> regarding what? >> Regarding if there's a consideration at all or if there's something presented to us to consider around cost to consider around uh necessity to close a building, maybe those those elements of that decision could be actually sent to us to discuss via committee. And they're always they're never taken off the table for the board. They're never taken off the table for the board. But if we wanted to do a deeper dive into something in a way that we could give a rich recommendation to the board to take action, there's multiple
158opportunity and avenue to be able to do that. Yeah. I thank you. Um all right. If there are no further uh comments or things to consider, uh is there a motion? >> Motion to adjurnn. >> It's been motioned. Motion is seconded. Call ro. >> Missing? >> Yes. >> Mr. Simmons? >> Yes. >> Vice President Hadair? >> Yes. >> President Cole? >> Yes. >> All right. This special board meeting and joint committee has ended. Everyone get home safely. Thank you so much.