July 23, 2025 - Maconaquah School Board Meeting

001[Applause] With that, I'll call the Mechanical School Corporation Board of School Trustee July 23rd, 2025 meeting to order. Roll call, please. >> Next question. >> Here, Andrew Adams >> here, Greg Bington >> here, >> Alan Wilson >> here, Beth Cheney >> here, >> Tim White here, Robert Dane >> here. Brings us to additions or deletions to the agenda. Yeah, we have a couple actually three additions to the agenda. 1.2.1 recommendations. Shannon Bryant uh for study hall teacher 1.2.1.2 uh Kellen Bullins instructional assistant at the high school. And then our resignation 1.2.2.1 Ashley Down our special ed um high school resignation. Time for your approval. >> Thank you. Hearing that, entertain a motion to approve the agenda as amended. So moved. >> Second. >> Discussions or questions? >> Hearing none. All those in favor signify by

002saying I. >> I. >> Oppos. Same sign. Moves into excellent education 2.1 issues bonds. >> Yeah, we're going to uh do a little bit of education tonight. Um we have some new people on the board. We've not issued uh who have not issued bonds before. Um we've been looking at some projects. We met with a small group of folks. We we have a priority list. Um and then Senate Bill One came along. So, um I've asked uh Chad and Steve and Eric from ICE Miller to come and kind of educate us a little bit on what that bond issuance looks like and then what that also may look like with a a tax rate and a payback uh time frame. So, gentlemen, the floor is yours. Am I up first? Okay. Good evening everybody. Thanks

003for having me. I was thinking last time I was here, I think we're here about 4 hours. I want to keep it to three tonight, but I did bring dinner. So, >> yeah. So, thanks for having us. Uh, yeah, I'm just going to walk through a few slides. Um, like Craig said, go a little bit over Senate Bill one, a little high level about what that's going to do, and then talk a little bit about your your uh your bond issuance. So, this particular slide, I think I'm I'm not sure that I had this the last time I was here because I don't think Senate Bill one, last time I was here, was completely passed at that point. Um, so what we're showing you here, uh, is one of the parts of Senate Bill One

004is going to reduce your net assessed value over the next six years. So, SEA1 is a six-year implementation of reducing net assessed values for homes. um the our one our 1% properties uh mainly uh but there also be some 2% property uh implications as well. So what I'm showing you here is in that first column where it says the average home value uh that is the average gross assessed valued home in MCA school district as of 2025. So 165,900. So remember we have our gross assessed value and that's the value that is assigned to the property by the assessor. Then in the state of Indiana, we have some deductions that kick in. And that brings us down to our net assessed value. So the gross assessed value should be somewhat in line with what you

005if you were to put your house on the market and try to sell it today. Your gross assessed value is somewhat close to that. The net assessed value is important to us because that's what we apply your tax rates to to generate your property tax levies. So I want to be clear that Senate Bill One does not change the way we assess property. It leaves the gross assessed value trending system in place. Okay. So that will continue properties will continue continue to trend in line with the market data. But what is happening with Senate Bill one is the deductions are growing over the next six years. So the deductions are getting bigger for for for our property. So, back to our 2025 example. In 25, the net assessed value of the $165,900 home is $73,688.

006So, Jennifer and I worked on your some of your budget stuff today. That's that's what we would apply your tax rates to is the net assessed value and that's what generates our tax levies. As Senate Bill One starts to implement over the next six years, I want you to just kind of see rough of the rough calculation in 2026 that one property is probably going to decline about 4% down to 70,000 and then down 3.8, down four, down three, down five, down six. So over the six-year implementation, if the gross assessed value stays flat on that home, the net assessed value will have dropped about 25%. >> And we wanted to kind of show you that baseline so you really understand what Senate Bill one is doing. Now, in 2026, my crystal ball says we're

007probably going to have gross assessed value trending again. And let's say in 2026 that one home grows by 6% in gross assessed value and Senate Bill one impacts it by four. We're still 2% to the positive. Okay. So, but we just want you to kind of see over the next year. So, I don't think a big we're not going to have a big issue in 26, but after that. Yes, sir. >> Okay. So, I I was thinking along the same lines. What is the trend over the last 10 years for the average home value? Um, that would be data I would have to pull, but I can probably find that. >> Interesting. >> Yeah. >> Would you be able to compare that to inflation during that time because the school was buying services and products

008at during that time? >> Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, our gross assessed values over the last four to five years have grown significantly. We all know that. Now, prior to that, I will say in the state of Indiana, probably the average growth was more in the 2 to 3% range kind of prior to um the last three or four years. Um and you guys even, we were talking about this earlier, Miami County had a year where you guys actually declined in assessed value and that was like four years ago. We didn't have any other school that we worked with that had actually declined in value that particular year. So, that was kind of an outlier for you guys. Um but yeah, that's probably data I could pull and send to you to to look at.

009The other thing that is happening in this next box is that in the past, well, farmland is assessed by a calculation that is assigned by the state. The state has a calculation. Every farm ground is assessed the same value in the state of Indiana. And in 2025, it was $2,280. In the past, farm ground didn't have deductions. So, they paid taxes on the $2,280. They didn't have a deduction, so they didn't have a net assessed value. Starting in 2026, our 2% properties, which are is farm ground, and then what they call other residential, which is really like rental properties and things like that, they are actually going to start having deductions in place. So, I just want you to see again kind of the same example. If the base value of the 2280 stays flat

010through the six-year implementation, a piece of farm ground will also drop by about 33%. Given no gross assessed value. So, they're going to start paying taxes. Your tax rate will be applied to a much lower net assessed value for them moving forward. Okay. All right. Um, next slide. The other part of Senate Bill one that is probably I I want I want to go back to state net assessed value that dropping does not necessarily equate to a revenue loss for the school district. Okay. But what is going to equate to a revenue loss is the other part of SEA1 and that is a new tax credit that is going to go into place for all 1% homesteads. Okay. So how the tax credit is going to work? Tax credits are different than deductions. Deductions lower

011the taxable value of the property, whereas a deduction is a dollar amount right off the bottom line of the bill. Okay? So, the tax credit language is this. A homeowner, so a 1% property will receive the lesser of 10% of their total tax liability or up to $300. Okay, so this is kind of a rough calculation of how we think the tax credit is going to implement McConnell schools. Um, so basically in the green box that I have down there below, these are all of your taxing districts and the assessed value of each one of the taxing districts. And your total AV net assessed value for 25 was the 607 million. You can see the tax rates for each taxing district. um the Bunker Hill town being being the high or I'm sorry, the Peru

012City annex being the highest tax rate there. And then what we're what we're kind of calculating right now is that your revenue loss from the tax credit starting in 2026 will be about 231,923. Right now that loss is applied proportionally between the debt service fund and the operations fund. Okay? So that will be direct property tax loss for mechanical law schools. Okay. So that does equate to weapon loss. All right. Questions about that? You want me to go back? Yes. >> What's your projection? Are you assuming more of the 10% or the $300 in our market? So what we did is in kind of in the math in the in the top section, we took some averages and we found that 30% of your NAV comes from the 1% properties. Um and that assessed value

013was 182 million and we found the average AV of the home which I showed in the previous slide was the 73,688. you had 24,475 parcels and so we just backed into assuming yes the $300 max credit kind of the most conservative way to approach it would get the $231,000 in loss. Yeah. So it we feel like that's worst case scenario. Hopefully it comes in a little closer. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Yep. Good question. Thank you. All right. Next slide. All right. So now let's get into the debt part. Um so this particular slide shows your annual outstanding debt current outstanding debt payments um through 2035. You can see that starting in 26 you guys have a fairly large what we call a clip. You just have annual payments dropping off. Um then you have

014another one in 28 and it's fairly flat at that point out through 2035. Okay, next slide. So, what we've done is we've we've just kind of backed into two different scenarios for you. Um, Craig has wanted us to kind of look at doing some smaller borrowings every year. Um, as you can see, for like the next 5 years. Um, and so the two different scenarios that we ran, we're really going to start switching from talking about your tax rate to now talking more about the tax levy because your NAV is going to drop over the next 6 years. And so maintaining the tax rate that you guys have still you guys have had historically um is going to net much less revenue if you maintain that tax rate. Yeah. So in 2025 the average school

015tax rate was a$13. So I think by the time we get to 27 28 29 that$13 could probably be a$125 dollar 13 at that point. Um every every school is going to have to raise that up uh to keep the revenue stream coming in which is opposite of what we've really talked about in the past. So now we really need to start talking about levy and that's kind of how we ran these scenarios. So in this first scenario um we are layering in doing a $2 million bond in 25 a $5 million in 26 a 2 million in 27 and then a 2 million in 28 and then a 2 million in 29. So smaller borrowings uh five years five years out this scenario maintains a level debt service rate out through 2030 and then

016you start to have some cliffs at that point and then a large cliff in 2035 and you can see how the different colors just kind of layer on. Now during that time as AV drops the tax rate is going to go up without a doubt if we maintain that levy. Okay. And then the next slide, same borrowing amounts, same timing, same everything except in this scenario, what we're doing is that we're shortening everything up. And so you don't have that early cliff like you did in the first page, and we are keeping your your debt service levy completely flat out to through 2036. Then you have a large cliff and then everything's paid off in 2037. But the borrowing amounts are the exact same. And so I think it's just talking through, you know, do

017you want to have some of those cliffs earlier on? And so we're stretching out the repayment schedule to do that, which does equate to paying more in interest and different things like that, but it gives you more flexibility up front with the cliffs. Or do you want to come back and say, "Nope, we've got a solid 5-year plan. We think this takes care of our needs, and so let's just layer it on quick." Um, and you just but you realize you're ti tying really thing every everything up through 2036. >> What would the interest difference be >> between the the two different scenarios? Um, we would probably have to run that we could run that scen we could run that calculation for you probably. I mean extending it out that much further with the smaller

018borrowing amounts. I don't think you're going to see a ton of different in the rate, but you're definitely going to repay more interest. And we could I could send Craig a graph to kind of break that down. >> I think that that's probably a that's what I'm asking. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Yeah. So, you can kind of weigh that option out. >> Yeah. I'll send that to Craig probably tomorrow. We can get that to him tomorrow. >> I think the other thing you need to look at there as well between those two is as he said, we do these projects. Are we going to need money to do additional projects between 20 before 2036? um the buildings are 1960s buildings. Are there those bigger projects we need to do that offset, hey, we're going to

019pay more interest for the long run. And that's something I think that this education piece is about is think through those >> because you lose your flexibility. Basically, >> you do. >> You lose all flexibility and you got to make sure you're getting everything done. >> Correct. So, you're going to have a period there, what, seven years, >> you're not going to be able to borrow money. So, the first scenario worked better. What you're saying, Rex, the first scenario works better. I'm not sure. I'd like to hear the numbers. Yeah, we'll get you in the hat to be back in the corner with no flexibility. That's when something will happen. [Applause] >> And then was there another slide on that? >> Yeah. Um, this slide just shows your projected total tax rate as a result

020of Senate Sen. Um, so layering in the debt that we talked about and you can just kind of see that that total tax rate is going to start to climb. So that's why we really wanted to show you this and how it kind of peaks out there in 2032. and then as you start to pay that debt. This would assume bringing no new debt on past the the previous slides. So that's why it's dropping back down in 2036 and 2037. We're just really trying to drive home the point when we meet with school boards and superintendent now tax rates are going to go up because we've talked about tax rate for so long. And so we just want as school as you guys start to bring on new debt, understand the rate is going to

021go up without a doubt. And and and I think even if we don't bring on new debt, we're going to have to look at that in that operations fund. >> Yeah. >> Because right now you have $6.1 million. Well, when that assessed value goes down, so does that $6.1 million. So I I think it's inevitable that that rate is going to go up um and is kind of what we've been fed by our state legislature um in in Senate Bill one. And it's it's unfortunate. >> Yeah. Um, and you know, we don't want our constituents to say, "Hey, we had a larger tax bill." I mean, they're going to see some flex in it, but maybe not as large as as what they had hoped. >> Well, if property taxes have been encompassing school levies.

022>> Mhm. >> Then, I mean, best case scenario, it all averages out tax. If property taxes go down, we still levy the same amount. Then the bill of the homeowner doesn't change. >> Yeah. Correct. >> Right. That's exactly right. >> Or minimal. Very minimal. >> In theory. Yeah. Correct. >> I'm sure it'll all work out just fine. >> But if we don't do something with the tax levy to raise the tax rate, then our operations fund goes >> to nothing. >> Even if we don't do any projects. So that's through whichever school corporation manages funds best will turn out looking like a good fund manager. Mhm. >> Or if you have a high assessed value. >> Yeah. >> Other questions for Chad. [Applause] >> With the I'm sorry, >> with the new subdivision coming in

023down the road that's that's going to be in a in a tip district, right? >> Where will their taxes still be figured even though they're not paying? Will will it also will their assessed value go into our formula to help drive some of these numbers? >> Yeah. So, with a TIFF zone, um there's two different assessed values. the base assessed value, which is basically the assessed value of the whatever was there before the tiff was established, that stays within your tax base. >> But all of the growth after that um does not come back to the school district until the TIF expires or sunsets. And >> we don't even capture the assessed value right out of that. No, the only way for a school corporation to capture the assessed value in a TIFF is through

024a referendum process. So, a school district that has a capital referendum or an operations operating referendum, they do capture that's part of that process. They do capture the AV and the TE. >> But other than that, no, you don't get any of the new AV until it sunsets. Yeah. >> So, our benefit from that will be en hopeful. But that doesn't go into the operation side. >> Yeah, it's on the other side. >> Side goes in the education. >> Good question. >> Yeah, great questions. You guys always got good questions. >> Timeline on when we need to move forward to get it. >> This guy, man. >> I'm sure he's got it right there in that folder. I can guarantee it. >> All right. I do. >> Here. Come on. I'll let you come up.

025And I have copies that I brought for everyone just in case you need them. And this is just for what would be the the borrowing that Chad first mentioned by the end of this calendar year. So this does not take into account um any of the potential future financings. And um while this slide is still up, just as a sidebar, I've been carrying my tax bill with me everywhere I go around the state. I live in Marian County. I assume that the uh tax bills are fairly similar throughout the state. But to to put a finer point on what you mentioned, Chad, and what the board recognizes well is the top of my bill on page one shows how many dollars I owe. It is not until we get halfway down page two that I

026look and find my tax rates for my various taxing authorities. So, county, health and hospital, library, transportation, township, school. It's not till halfway down page two that I see the rates. Um, and I think that's what a lot of the focus was on Senate Bill one was a recognition that the average taxpayer gets their bill, they see the dollars owed, they don't understand rates. local governments, us here in this room, we understand rates and have budgeted around that historically for a long time. Um, so my tax bill, even if I were to pay zero dollars more, if I just maintain the levy that I pay, it's going to match what Chad is showing that to just maintain that same levy just by sheer math, the rate is going to go up by nature one. That's

027just a mathematical equation. But there is definitely a world where this school corporation can just maintain the levy for future years as Chad was showing. You're not actually asking for more dollars in ensuing years, but just by way that the denominator changes, the rate is going to go up. Um, but I think it's an important point to note is that a lot of our clients are talking about just maintaining the existing levy that they've been asking for historically, not increasing the levy and still trying to continue on the capital projects, which I think is what we're talking about here. So, at the end of the day, not asking for more dollars from taxpayers >> when they open up their bill. >> Um, real quick, what is the tax rate in Marian County? Just for comparison,

028>> it depends on >> just just want to know. >> Yeah. Yeah. No, and it depends on So, I live in the IPS district. Marian County encompasses, as you know, a lot of metrop metropolitan school districts um with which have different rates. My overall rate is $1.95. Actually, no, no, no, that's wrong. and again that's because of the number of taxing authorities that I have. >> The school is just a portion of it. So my school tax rate which is attributable attributable to IPS is $136. Um again I have township city we have a rate for public transportation because a few years ago the city of Indianapolis ran a referendum for what they call the red lines like a new bus line. Um, so there's a a referendum rate for that. Marian County Library. Um,

029there was another referendum for Health and Hospital because a new um what was historically known as Wishard Hospital, now uh Eskenazi Hospital that got built with tax dollars, that's on there as well. >> So yeah, based upon the number of taxing authorities that I have, >> it's fairly high. Yeah. Yeah. >> Thank you. Go ahead. So, I digress, but I I just wanted to uh highlight that point again. So, again, now circling back to just what would it look like to do a borrowing this year. Um, this is a proposal. This timeline would be what it would look like to issue what we call general obligation bonds in this calendar year. So, a couple things to note out of the gates. There are two main vehicles um for school borrowing and McConnA has used both

030of these methods within the past 5 years. The general obligation bond which is the simpler, more straightforward method where the school corporation itself is the borrower and then we also have the building corporation method um which I'll get to in just a second as to why we might do that um in the future. the G the geo bond there's a statutory and constitutional formula and a limitation on how much general obligation debt any school corporation in the state can issue and it's based upon your specific assessed valuation. Um so it's it's a formula it is your net assessed valuation times 3% divided by now I forget divided by two something like that. Um, so it's again it's it's based upon your specific AV. Um, and it's kind of analogous to like a home equity line

031of credit. So you have a maximum figure and you can borrow off of that, but there's a limit. Um, and when you pay that principle back, you regain that capacity back to issue bonds in the future. So, as Chad is modeling, um, you know, kind of those repayment schedules on future bonds, it could be that we issue a general obligation bond in the I think your current capacity is around $2 million. So, in this model, we'd be limited to borrowing $2 million in geo bonds. Once we pay that principle back over time, we regain that capacity to issue additional geo bonds, which begs the question, what if we run out of geo capacity? That's when the building corporation mechanism comes into play. Again, school corporations across the state use that model. Mechanical has done that

032recently as well. It's just the the second option for what you do to issue bonds if you didn't have any geo capacity at that time. >> Um I do also want to highlight though too both of those methods the sole form of repayment for school corporations for bonds is property taxes which is why we're talking about assessed valuations. why Chad did the presentation that he did just a few moments ago. And that's in stark contrast to many other taxing units, cities, towns, townships, counties. They have a lot more tools in their tool belt. They can issue local income tax. They can have tiff um be the source of repayment for bonds. Um a lot of other taxing abilities. School corporations do not. Um so this is what we are bound by. Uh this is what

033we are limited to and that's why we have these methods. So with all of that, the question of timing and and the steps. So um there is a notice and hearing process and anytime we borrow more than $1 million as as a school corporation, we are required to have what we call a project hearing or a 1028 hearing. So in this assumption here, you're basically looking at um two months worth of board meetings. In this example, the first would be having that project hearing at your August as soon as having it at your August meeting. Um, so we would publish a notice, put it on your website so the public knows that we're having a hearing on that. And in this example, we would conduct that meeting in August. Um, again, we would present on

034what are the needs that you have? Um, what is the financing going to take care of? Again, in a $2 million borrowing, what needs would you be tackling and how does that uh, you know, address the educational needs at your various buildings? Um, then we come back and have some preliminary bond action. So, preliminary bond resolution. We also have a reimbursement resolution, which is basically just like a reservation of rights if you have expenses that are urgent. So, if you had um a a boiler that you need to prepare for the winter season and had to get parts ordered and owed money right away, you could do that before you actually close on the bonds and then reimburse yourself out of the bond proceeds. I'll also point out when we talk about even coming back

035in September for final bond action and all those scenarios, what we're doing with the steel team and Chad is working on what we call not to exceed parameters or kind of worst case parameters. So when he showed that prior um those prior charts on how far you could potentially extend out, the maximum according to Indiana law for school bonds is 20 years. So you could technically go as far out as 20 years. how you choose individually how far you want to go out. You know, again, maybe based on how many interest dollars are owed and where you find that balance in length versus interest owed, etc. What we would do in the resolutions is build in those worst case scenarios. So, you would have the possibility to go out as far as you were comfortable

036with talking about uh going, we wouldn't actually have to lock in the actual sale parameters until the bond sale date. So, we'd be in contact with Mr. turn and with you guys um leading up to that process and making sure that there was a final structure that Chad would present before he went out and his team went out to sell those bonds. We'd want to make sure again that you guys have maximum flexibility. So even if for example we talked in August about a bond resolution that showed 15 20 years of possible maturity, it's not locking you into that by any stretch of the imagination. It's just again we talk about maximum parameters or not to exceed parameters what we would typically see within those resolutions. So then after August in this example, we'd come

037back and have more notices just checking additional statutory boxes. The other piece that we would have in this would be the additional appropriation hearing. So if we follow along in this example, page two, we come back in September, we'd have our final bond resolution that has more specific language on things like what the forms of the bond would say, who's going to be our paying agent to assist with the repayment of the bonds to make sure the bond payments get made on time, etc. Um, and we'd have the additional appropriation hearing that is not for DGF approval. A lot of additional appropriations are subject to DGF approval because this is a bond issue. This is more just an FYI to them. Um, because anytime you do a borrowing, it's above and beyond what you had

038budgeted for a year prior. And it's going to be in the year in which you expend those dollars or receive those dollars to to be able to expend. So, we want to make sure we have that appropriation hearing. Meanwhile, all that's going on in the background, we're going to be working with Chad and his team again on putting together the offering document, which we call the official statement. Kind of similar to like if you think about in the corporate world, like a perspectus. It's basically a um a description in the front half on here's what we're going to do with the bond money. In the back half, it's a lot of McConnA specific data. So, what's your historical enrollment data as well as your projected enrollment data? Um what are your various fund balances, etc.

039Um that all goes out to potential investors that Steiffle works with on a regular basis. Um we would also talk about if there was a recommendation from Chad and his team that we get it rated. Um some there's kind of a break even point on because a rating cost money. Um does the cost of getting a rating create a a net benefit in getting lower interest rates at $2 million? That's probably going to be on the borderline of whether that makes sense or not. So we'll have that conversation >> often in the background while we're undertaking this board action. And then this is again this is just a lesser. So in this example, we could feasibly price bonds on or around mid-occtober. We typically close about 3 weeks thereafter. So we have a bond sale.

040It's again kind of similar to closing on a home. You kind of write in what we call a bond purchase agreement and we'll say 3 weeks from now we'll actually get the funding. In the meantime, we'll have a lot more signatures for you folks um on closing certificates and whatnot. Um that's all the process that then requires us to collectively input the information in the gateway so that you can in future years starting next year um get approval from the DGF for repayment of those bonds. So that's kind of it in a nutshell. [Applause] Any questions? What's the realistic rate in today's environment? >> That's a Chad question. Realistic rate in today's environment for >> right probably around on a bond issue of a couple million probably about 43 >> 4.3%. Okay. And again what

041we would typically do in these resolutions is we would not write in 4.3%. We put something higher just so that >> five maybe capture >> just to allow some cushion for that marketplace. And again, it could come to a point where if those rates get too high and you say, "This is too many interests. We don't want to do it right now." We could let and and take time to let the market perhaps settle down. It's been the the spring was kind of volatile. >> Yeah, spring was pretty >> from the political standpoint. >> It's kind of calmed down, I think, in the past few weeks, but yeah, it was it was a pretty volatile spring, so we had to we had to delay some sales. Do >> you see any advantage to delaying a

042year or two? I mean, prices go up. So, >> yeah, it's a good question. Any advantage to delaying? Um, I have friends at at at my law firm who work in the corporate sector in like real estate. What's interesting is that they deal in pretty thin margins sometimes and a lot of times if if there's a certain interest rate and it increases by just a handful of basis points, they put everything on hold. I would say with our school clients, your needs aren't going away. Um, and so to be able to fund those needs still at a reasonable interest rate, which historically we're still seeing, this is a pretty good interest rate market. Is it the all-time low? No. Um, but certainly lower than 089. >> Yeah. Um, so just my perspective right now, is

043it still a fairly good market looking at it longitudinally? Yeah, I think from a construction standpoint too, I mean, I know we talked a lot about terrace and different things like that. What are construction costs going to do in the future? Are those going to go back up some? I think there's potential for that. Um, you know, if you delay projects, you always have to think about that as well. >> Okay. >> Anybody have any other questions? >> In your additional notes, what is 2025 DS tax? >> 25 debt service tax. Um, yeah, sorry. We do abbreviations a lot. >> Oh, yeah. Um, and that's important to us because that's I'm glad you raised that because that's another good point for me relative to school corporations across the state. In 2023, the last time we

044had a a budget cycle, a budget session with the legislature, they created a new regime by which if you are a school corporation who has a tax rate above 40 cents, and this is actually going to be significant for the next couple of years, again, I'm glad we given that graph, but because of this graph, um, if your school corporation has a tax rate above 40 cents, no matter how much money you're borrowing, you have to go through what we call the controlled project process, which means means a lot more upfront. Instead of just having a project hearing, we'd have to have what you call preliminary termination hearings. Not one, but two. So, two separate hearings to talk about your needs, to offer comment, etc. And then a waiting period of 30 days to see

045if any other process would apply. Um, that in 2023 encompassed roughly half the school corporations across the state who had a debt service tax rate of above 40. So, their legal process dramatically changed overnight by this passage of that bill and that's still in effect to this day. Um, so one thing that we're going to monitor going forward for you and all of our school clients is what is your tax rate going to be doing in future years and is that going to change your process dramatically? um you know that that's another reason why you know at 31 cents in 25 we're well below that 40 cent threshold but it's only going to probably be a handful of years when perhaps you get above that 40 cents and you falling with the increasing number of

046school corporations who have to go through a separate process that's longer and and has more steps. So the 27 or 28 borrowing could potentially get above 40 and then Eric will have to tack on a few more months the process. >> Right. Right. >> And that's been a that's been a a tough learning curve. Um especially for school corporations who, you know, aren't doing major things, aren't doing new construction, borrowing tens of millions of dollars, but just because of your size, anything you do is is going to have a more dramatic effect than perhaps larger school corporations. That's something we're um continuing to monitor and and having to educate our clients on. >> Now, on the flip side of that piece of legislation, that same legislation says any school that their tax rate is over

04770 cents, the project must go to a referendum. And so, while you guys are nowhere close, we have some clients that they're in that 60 cents range today. So, they're they're going to be you're just going above that control project threshold. they're going above the referendum, but that's that's a whole different that's a whole different conversation. So, >> uh, a positive for you guys is that you're nowhere close to that. >> Y >> and one other thing I'll mention as we look at the additional notes, another thing that Senator Roan did was um, and you may have heard as a talking point the restriction on what was called backtoback bonds. Um, so going forward, one thing we'll want to monitor, and this will be a talking point when we weigh the pros and cons. You

048know, we're talking about um future flexibility versus how much we're going to pay in interest, for example. Another consideration is the restrictions on GEO bonds like we're talking about now. And if we for example were to issue these bonds inside and have amorization inside of 5 years, then at the end of that bond issue, we the school corporation would be restricted from doing a similar geo bond issue for a period of one year. Um, so that's another new thing that we're having to plug in and navigate and think through as we talk about long-term planning is how much should how long should these bonds go out and would that create any future restrictions in in the coming years on being able to use this mechanism to borrow. >> So if we couldn't go geo then

049we'd have to go build corporate >> right in and then off here. >> That's right. >> And combine them. Yep. >> And then could a building corp borrow in multiple years, back to back years? >> They could. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> And to me, just thinking through the differences, the down to me, one of the downsides of the building court is just the added cost because you're talking about not just schoolboard action, but building corporation action. And here we're just talking about a handful of resolutions and notices and and couple of financing documents with the building corporation financing. We're talking about lease documents, mortgage documents. It's just so much more documentation. You know, at the end of the day, again, it's the same source of repayment. It's all property taxes. >> Um, but

050it's just a much longer legal process to be able to get funds at the end of the day. So moving forward board um if it's your wish if you remember um that project list uh the first very glamorous project replacing pipes in the basement or in that crawl area um putting those above um above at the high school that is the first project um Mr. D and I have been in contact with an architect. We'd have to have probably an engineer um come in and size those pipes, put that project out. But if it's your wish, uh we'll go ahead and move forward with that. The second phase is locker rooms. So that $5 million phase is locker rooms, and then it rolls into a phase of different HVAC uh projects. Um, and I I

051I hate to say it, but as long as I've been here, it seems like we've done HVAC projects, but it's a it's a must and it's something that the stuff they put in today lasts 10 years where the stuff they put in 1964 is lasting 50. So, um, those are going to be ongoing cost. So, if it's your wish, we'll go ahead and move forward this process. Um, we could potentially push it back to September. Um but um plan on August's and then if that doesn't pan out then we'll we'll move into September. >> Are the locker rooms at middle school? >> So it' be high school um there are four locker rooms there that we looked at are original everything. Um and then two at the middle school. So the what were the pool

052locker rooms have not been touched. The other ones had. That was a priority list that uh myself, Miss Kentner, other principles, and then three board members set in on over the last oh 6 months or so to look at and say, "Okay, these are things that they're not wants as much as they are as as needs, especially that first phase, that piping, one of those pipes goes uh as heating, cooling, as well as some domestic water, it means we close school." >> I think we need to look at the whole list. You you have it in your inbox, but I'll show you. >> I know. I know it's in my inbox. I think we need to talk about the whole list and look instead of uh trying to recall it. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >>

053Do we take bids then on these projects? >> Okay. >> Yeah. Basically, this this go around with especially with the piping in the high school. That's going to be our first project with it, which I think everybody's kind of agreed that did the walkthroughs. Uh we would employ an architect and engineer group to come in, do the actual size up on it. They they would actually do the bid process, bring the bids back, and then we would vote on it at a board meeting to go yay or nay. And then there would probably be a project engineer more than likely in this project just to oversee to make sure we're getting what we're paid for and and it goes according to oil and then if something's wrong within the process then they're there to help

054correct the process. So um a project of this magnitude we can't as many as we've done in house this isn't one that we can do in house or probably any of them that's on the list moving forward. um we're we're going to have some soft cost in getting engineering and stuff done this time around. So >> So I guess the question would be do we want to have do we want to do this discussion as part of next board meeting? Do we want to have a a work session before the board meeting? Do you have sorry but that's an important question >> just prior to that maybe do you have estimates like on a napkin for that piping cost >> we have gotten estimates on a napkin and that's about it from a from a

055>> so 2 million is >> 2 million is probably the whole thing >> correct >> okay >> and that's fairly straightforward so >> you know that was 2 million a year and a half ago. So, we hope that we're still in the bull market, but we all know where that goes. But again, if you put anything out for competitive bid, who knows, you know, in this day and age where we end up, right? So, um we're hopeful. I I at least I'm hopeful. Um I know it's hard to ask taxpayers for more money and they want to come and see what you did and well, we'll pull a few ceiling tiles. I mean, other than that, I don't know what else to do. Um, we were down in them them tunnels and I mean it's

056pretty scary down through there. So, um, as far as what goes on. So, >> bring up the Titanic. >> Yeah. >> And Alan to kind of follow up what you said. The reason why this makes sense to do this first is unit vents in your classrooms to have those tied in. Really need that piping element ready and new. >> Same with your locker rooms. I was I'm mostly concerned with the next five billion. >> Yeah. And I and I I share your concerns. I don't know where because it always looks like >> sometimes these projects when we have leftover bond money and stuff, you know, we really I don't want to say we don't have a purpose for things, but we need to really look at, okay, where do we go? You know, where are

057we going to go? >> There's there's the rock, pebble, and sand theory, right? You got you got a bucket to fill and you're going to put big rocks, you're going to put pebbles, you're going to fill the sand. >> And the the rocks are the ones that take big chunks out and then you can't do much with what's left. >> And so we're we're trying to we end up trying to find things to do that fit, right? It seems like that's the way it feels anyway. But I I don't have any complaints with how things have been done. We can we can probably I know we've discussed that priority to list before. I think we can probably do it during the next board meeting if that is your wish. If if you would rather have

058a >> I would rather have I'd rather have a work session sometime early next month and let's go through the list again >> and kind of prioritize things over again and then that way >> if these guys are going to come back with us in and out in August with this moving forward then and it looks like to me the trigger dates are 6th >> the 6th of August is the first trigger date. So, we'll we'll try to get something lined up for the next couple of weeks here. Um, everybody kind of shoot us some dates on when you're going to be in town, when you're not, and let's let's go through this and hammer it out so we get it. It's been I agree with Allen. It's been 6 to 10 months since we've

059looked at that list. So, let's bring it back out, talk about it as a group, let the public come and talk about it. Um, and then that way we'll be in line. if if this is the way we're moving forward, uh these guys can come back and we can start to process and maybe hit a good bond market in the fall. >> And let's make sure the list is up to date. I mean, >> it's been it's been a while. I I know that you look at it often. >> Yes, sir. >> But, >> and I'll I'll resend that. When I say it's in your inbox, sometimes those get buried. So, I'll resend that to you all as well. And those are prioritized out to that right column. That's what we did. >> One more

060question for you guys, too. I know it always it always changes numbers on referendum and when you don't have to have a referendum. Is there still a dollar amount or or is it all based off that 70 cents? >> Yes, it's both. Um yeah, so there still is a dollar amount. So for you guys for aqua um to be able to go through what we call the the non-controlled process um in this calendar year, you'd be capped at $6.6 million or thereabouts of total project costs. Um, anything above that and up to $10 million would be subject to what we call the petitioner monsters process, which is just kind of overlify kind of a clipboard race between yes people and no people. Anything above $10 million would have to be subject to the referendum process.

061>> Okay, >> that's that was the numbers I was thinking, but I know it changes it seems like day to day. So, thank you for that answer. So, okay. Well, if everybody's good, then send send some dates when you can or can't be here and then let's let's um >> if you send those to me, that'd be great. I'll try to send out [Music] this seem to work the best. >> I'll go ahead and say now I'm I'm going to be out of the country at the end of August. I'll be gone for the next four 90% sure. >> The end of August. Okay. So, we can have something the first >> Yes, please. Thank you. >> Yeah, we can do that. >> Okay. >> And I apologize for having that. gone. >> First week

062of school is the first week of August. I mean, I don't know. >> It is. I can make things happen for me. >> Okay. >> Can we please not make it the first night of school? >> No. August 6. >> I'm usually in bed by 7 o'clock. >> Okay. Any any other questions while they're here? Hey, gentlemen, I appreciate you. Thanks everybody. You have to leave >> and I did tell them that they are free to leave because they have long drives home. So I appreciate truck out. >> Thank you all. >> Thank you. [Music] [Applause] Thank you. >> Safe travels. >> Thank you. >> Okay, back on track. Uh let's go. 3.1 Approval of minutes from regular meeting dated June 25th, 2025. Entertain a motion to approve the minutes as written. >> Some moved.

063>> Second. >> Questions, comments? Hearing none. All those in favor state by saying I >> opposed. Same sign. Motion carries. Uh brings down the financial business 4.1 4.2. >> Yeah. Ask for your approval payroll claims listing check dated 73 of 25 amount of $376,0006141 check dated 718 of 2025 amount of 370,889.38 and then accounts payable register from 621 of 25 to 718 of 25 in amount of 1,930,46.35 ask for your approval as presented. Okay. Hearing personnel report, I'll entertain a motion to approve it as given. >> Sorry, correct. The financial. >> Well, the financial. I'm sorry. I'm already my brain's already done, so I apologize. Financial business. I'll entertain a motion to approve the financial business. >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Questions, comments? I know there was a few questions floating around. Everybody got

064their questions answered. So, okay. Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I oppose. Same sign. Visitor comments. >> I believe there are none. And there are none. >> Okay. Now we'll go to the personnel reporting. >> Yeah. Recommendations. Uh Kinsey Rush, substitute cafeteria worker. Angie Garza, part-time cafeteria. Mona Arnold, substitute cafeteria. Michaela Hughes, boys track and field coach. Um Heather McCrae, assistant wrestling coach. Zack Sparks, boys assistant soccer coach. Ashley Ehayes, seventh and eighth grade girls cheer coach. Tammy Hersburg, career specialist. Uh Faith Hatcher, seventh grade uh volleyball coach. Taylor Spence, substitute bus driver. Jackson Edwards, band technician. Uh Shaina Bryant, study hall teacher. Kellen Mullen's instructional assistant. And under resignations, Sydney Robinson, cafeteria. Annisa Mosman, cafeteria. In the back, Stacy Hasel, instructional assistant. McKenna E, girls, ed tennis coach. Patrick

065Redmond, Ark and Fax teacher, as well as tennis head coach. Um, Hannah Place, instructional assistant. Ashley Down, special education teacher. Under miscellaneous Josh Lidle termination of the head custodian ask for your approval as presented. >> Okay. I entertain a motion to approve the personnel report. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any questions or comments on the personnel report as given? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Oppos. Same sign. Brings down the old business. Uh this will be the adoption of the policy update. We read the first reading of it. Um within this um D250 is rescended in the policies and C125 uh repeating that tonight because it didn't get written the way it should have been correct in the previous month. So we'll have a first reading

066on C25 tonight. So with that, I'll entertain a motion to approve the policy updates. >> So moved. >> Second. Any comments or questions on the policy updates? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Brings down to item 8.1, facility update. [Applause] been pretty busy. Um, besides custodial staff trying to get their breaks in and vacation time, we have the list that's coming to you now is everything highlighted in yellow is what's been completed. Most of that stuff has been in house. Uh, the only thing that we have left that's going on right now would be the lower gym. They totally have it stripped and ready for our water uh base to go on. And then the Lions will be another company that will follow them.

067So we should be completed by a week from this Friday. And then the football stadium, the handicap seats will start uh handicap railing will start next Monday and should be done by the 1st of August. So we're moving right along. Um we uh had our staff development uh lunch in. Allan will be happy to know we had Italian roast beef >> this year. So, we stepped up the game a little bit and u our guest speaker was Danny Mr. Harts that retired from the Mac Elementary and uh we had an um we had talked about a month before our last board meeting and I I told him kind of I wanted him to hit on the importance of custodial staff and maintenance staff and we talked the night before he he came the Friday after

068our last board meeting. We spent about an hour on the phone talking. If you ever had a chance to have him speak, the energy that comes off of him when he walked in there was amazing. Um, he talked to the staff a lot about the importance of the go to to person, which is usually your staff. Usually your staff, your custodial staff knows what's going on, what needs to be done, and and so he uh spent a good half an hour with that staff at Pipe Creek, which uh was a a good kickoff to the end of June for us. Um we uh every building has all their uh HVAC uh filters changed, ready to go, dated. Um all the floors except I think we think uh the middle school added one floor today on

069us to have a done stripped and waxed, but all the other floors are done in every building. All the rooms are put back together and so they have did remark. It is so much fun when you walk in these buildings right now. Uh to see the staff and the joking around. Sometimes I even have to leave because I worry about some of the pranks they pull on each other. But you know, um I'd like to take a minute. Uh the art room is completely done. >> And uh that was this is it completed. Now we're waiting on two more stainless steel uh racks that will be in on Friday. But that is the new art room. Above you'll see the black cabinets. Um I talked to Mr. uh the art teacher uh Josh today and

070he's going to surprise the staff one day and let them know when he's coming in to see it. I kind of have that date, but I don't want to let them know. But so he's going to come in and surprise them. He has not seen it yet, but you can tell you have your LED lights, you have your whiteboards up now. You have your your new uh classroom tables. We were able to just put new tops on some tables that we had to save money. So, that was a big plus. But, uh, so they're the staff in house did the ceiling tiles. They did some painting. They we hung the upper cabinets, all of us together. We did the dry the uh dry erase boards. We put those up. We uh we did as much

071as we could. Pretty much the flooring was in the lower cabinets were done by a company. So, that's kind of where we uh where we let them take over. Um, my outside crew right now is working on outside building lights. I think uh I looked at probably Jennifer has a better idea than I bet you we've probably changed 500 inside light bulbs this summer. >> And they've did about every classroom there is to do in every cafeteria. So, now we're working on the outside and that should be completed soon. Um, we are ready to send our boiler heat exchanger down. Uh, guy Whimber gave us a very good price at $1,100, I believe. $1,100. They will we'll have it on the trailer on the 28th, their trailer. They will have it down there on the

07229th to Lock and Bar in Tennessee. It is disconnected right now and ready to go. Um, so that's a outside work. We had a a recirculating pump that need to be replaced at Pipe Creek. That's done. So, they have been uh between that and the storms and cleaning up a tree that fell at Pipe Creek. Everybody's been pretty pretty uh busy. It's it's just a it is a fun time to watch them work at Mac Elementary. They have it down to science. They're doing all their rooms together, four of them. Um same with the middle school. uh the short the what's different this year is and I think Craig could to could verify this every building has had a program going in it this summer whether it's STEM whether it's daycare whether it's sporting activities

073these people have worked hard and worked around these schedules to make sure things were ready to be open I think Todd has did many under the sink uh replacement of guts that were old so they worked around them daycarees and sometimes it might mean they came in at 4:00 in the morning and they could leave by noon. So, any questions for me? I'm going to slide out of here. I was on vacation today, but I'd like to go watch great niece play softball. So, I'm going to slide out of here. >> How many people are on your staff this year compared to last summer? >> Uh, we have 21. Um, we did not replace when Tina went to the middle school. >> Mhm. >> We, uh, had an unusual situation when we interviewed for Pike

074Creek recently. Very seldom do I get three good candidates. I just is hard to find. And we had two good ones. So, we went ahead and took one on board. So, when Vicki retires or Christina in January, they've used a lot of time this summer. >> So, it made them short over there anyway. was helped us also with Josie that we hired for part-time a admin. I've given her a list and gave it to all my head custodials. So when she gets done early here, she's been saying, "Okay, I'll go check in with this school and help them today." And she has an extra list. So that's really helped us with her being parttime and and I I think it's been a big plus. So, >> we have a head custodial staff member in each

075building. >> Yeah, we have one that left in the high school, >> but uh that group I've been working with them and I check in with them every morning and do the personnel requests of time they want off and then we go over their list of what they're working on together. So, um the last week before school, I'm probably going to pull most every one of us from over here. It's pretty It's pretty dusty at the lower gym. It's going to take probably at least every one of us to clean and to get that ready. That was painted if you remember. And uh so we're going to go over there and do some wiping down of backboards that are dusty and bleachers. So the last week we're going to probably at least 15 of us

076will spend a whole three to five days over there. Uh on the August the 1st I had had Craig's permission. Uh Missy drives a has her CDL license for bus driving. We're going to go down to East End and at noon and kind of close out the summer with that with them to give them a little bit of a treat at the end of the year. So that's what we're we're aiming for on August 1st and then they'll slide right in. I I will have my hit custodial meeting with them uh about 3 days before we start and we'll kick off. I I feel confident. I think we're further ahead because I I have some staff that's having a hard time telling them to go home because they're they take great pride in what they're

077doing and they're they're into I good note is I don't have a school right now that I think if you guys remember last year Mike Chisel was about the only one that could wax strip floors. He has taught somebody each school now. So, we have somebody that that's made a big difference this year. We've moved quick on it because you guys got to remember you take out every classroom, desk, everything. It's a lot of work. And then they bring things in, wipe things down as they go. So, if you see them out and about, it's a good little uh thing to say something to them. Since you're leaving for the evening, I just like to say thank you to your crew >> and what they done in that art room. I mean, I remember when

078we all walked in there a couple years ago, it was like walking into a dungeon and it's like we're doing art in here, you know, you couldn't even see. It's like, and I really appreciate the work that I got turned over for little money. It it wasn't a lot. Um, and I think when you see somebody like Mike Chisum that gets to take part of something that it's not his daily routine, couldn't have believed how some people are just proud to get to do something besides clean to make a difference. >> I mean, that ceiling tile, we had that whole room done in two and a half hours besides PL painting the grid on it and stuff. So, you see them out and about. So, it' be nice for you guys to say something to

079him. >> Have a good night. >> Okay, that brings us up to item 8.2, donations. >> Yeah, two donations on the list. Uh, network for good, 2934 for the girls basketball donation, and then multiple donors for $520 to athletics. Um, ask for your approval as presented. Entertain a motion to approve the donations as given. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any questions, comments? >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppos. Same sign. Motion carries. >> Item 8.3 C125 policy update. This will be the first reading. Mr. Hearing, what what did we miss or what? >> Yeah. So IHSA ruled that we can now accept transfers for athletic reasons. Now there are all kinds of rules to accepting those. There are different rules for different grades. Um but that's why that

080is marked out now. So um let the recruiting begin I guess is what they started kindergarten. >> Okay. So anybody have any questions on that with the one change? We'll bring it back next month and vote on it. Okay. Hearing none, we'll move around to Skyward upgrade item 8.4. Yeah, I'm going to have the tech folks uh talk to you a little bit about Skyward. As you know, um where technology gets you is they start um with a product and then when it gets so old, they stop updating the product and you can either buy their new product or switch to somebody else's product. So Trevor's going to kind of talk through Skyward and and this mass migration over to the new Skyward. >> Yeah. So this was I believe since you guys just kind

081of a few of the bolted points and then any questions that you guys all have. Um currently we're on the version of Skyward that's SMS. It's their original version of Skyward. Um we always joke around that it looks like it's from the ' 60s or ' 70s when you go in and look at it. It's it's outdated. Um because of that they've come out with Skyward cumulative or they abbreviate it to just Skyward Q. Um this is their new version. Uh their act or their main points to this version are creating accessibility for everyone, taking away extra clicks. Everyone has the ability to look up information in there. Um and then also just streamlining that that process for everyone. So finding data, finding information for everybody. Um so we went through it. I try to

082talk to every group that uses Skyward on the back end. So, I talked to secretaries, I talked to teachers, I talked to guidance counselors, um, and really showed them all here's how you're doing this process in SMS. Here's what this can look like in Q. And overall, that feedback that we got from everyone is without actually having a demo to try out that what they're showing looks like it would be very beneficial towards everyone. Um, I'm in it a lot, so I wanted to make sure it wasn't just a thing that I'm a little biased on and would like to make my life easier, that it's a justified cost for everyone there. Um, currently in the state of Indiana, 100 corporations use Skyward. So, the rest, most of them are Power School and then there's

083a few trickled in there of other smaller ones. Um 34% use cumulative. 11 more of that 100, so that would go up to 45% are transitioning to Skyward cumulative this summer. So they will be on cumulative starting this 2526 school year. Um a lot of that comes with Skyward will be setting a sunset date which just means SMS will no longer even be an option. So trying to get out ahead of that when 55 other schools are transitioning over and we can't get the proper support to make that transition in time. Um it would but you're going to run into things with that many people transitioning. So that was kind of the big push to doing it now as well. Uh there is a onetime migration fee. I told Craig earlier 108. So I overestimated

084a little bit there. So it it is 10,589. That's a onetime fee only. That is moving all of our current data for 10 years. So back to 2015 up until 2025. They will bring absolutely everything over. Every schedule that we have, every class, every student, every teacher, and then all of the reports that we have built out as well, they will help migrate all of that stuff over. Um, now yearly you're looking at about 36 more 36 cents more per student every year. Um, looking at our current enrollment, 1,887 students begin the year last year. So about $679 annually after this one time initial movement migration piece. So that will still be hosted through is corp. They host us now. that doesn't change information for parents. Their login all stay the same. They basically just

085are going to see it as an update when it comes through. Um, our next steps, we've met with our Skyward representative, Caitlyn Krueger. So, she's waiting on us for this board meeting today. As long as you guys agree to this and we proceed with that, we'll reach out to her. Our timeline roughly would be June 2026 we would go live with Skyward Cumulative. I would work with them all throughout the school year on migrating everything over. Um every step of it before we move on to the next one has to be verified that all of our information has been processed and moved over. Um trainings will be available that they have they'll meet with us. I will also host for each security group in Skyward to make sure they're getting the information that they need.

086Um, as well as get them early access so that we can make sure Mr. Durk has brought up in January. You know, we need to make sure that schedules are ready to go. So, courses will be brought over. If we have it done before then, it'll migrate over with it. They'll just bring it over. If not, then they'll meet with us and make sure that that's ready to go. Um, once we do that, we're going to get to that piece. >> Um, that's kind of the quick rundown. I didn't know if anyone would have any questions or not. >> Did you say Skyward is not supporting the system now or they won't be? >> They won't be. So, we don't have that day date from them yet. There are states that have already gotten that

087date. Um, they will give us a 2-year heads up in order to get to that. Um, but we've already started noticing there's things that we've asked for features to be added into SMS that they say, "Hey, this is a feature that it's in cumulative. We're not going to add it to SMS." So, part of that is their push to get people on there, of course, but it is going to be something that's that's coming sooner or later. >> And we don't move to this and they sunset us out, then we're going to a whole new platform, right? And the cost of that would be >> Yeah. So you have the option still to go to cumulative before that sunset. So but that could go up. I know I mean what four or five years ago

088when Justin asked about it. I mean that price has gone up since then. It's how it always goes every year. So it could become more. It could be your sun setting. So maybe they can knock something off. I don't know. But if you're looking towards a whole new SIS system, then you're talking six figures of something like Power School or something else. I mean, when they moved from their previous system to Skyward, now you were in a six figure range. So, it's it's a substantially bigger cost to move to a whole new platform. You're also going to have the time and headache for everybody to change >> to change everything over free learning. >> From a parents perspective, >> it rolls you I think you answered this already, but >> the information that's already in

089I mean we really only use it when we register our kiddos and everything just rolls from the pasture and you kind of just like make sure the information that all stays. You don't have to reinput. >> Yeah. So, I mean, once registration comes around, you'll do it again, but it would just be a newer look for parents on there. Um, the other nice piece, and OIL uses it. Nigel's daughter goes to Oakill. He's big on their app. Um, the cumulative app is you can do a lot more with the cumulative app than what we have now. We don't recommend our app too much to people because there's not a lot you can do with it. Um, as a parent, you can completely register through the app. So instead of coming in needing a device for

090internet, now those people can do it through their phone and it's a much more seamless process on that as well. So it's to a parent, it's just going to look like a big visual update where things are a lot smoother. So they won't lose any information, their child's information, their information will all stay where it's at. So, >> I guess you answered your question, but I guess from your perspective, bidding this out to a different vendor is not an option. >> We could if you guys would like to. I do. Um, hearing from past years of when we bid things out and then reaching out to other schools as well when they've made changes. Uh, it is a substantial cost difference. So, I mean, it can be to me looking at $10,500 to six figures,

091>> be six figures, >> right? Now, I haven't reached out to Power School personally and asked them for a quote on what that would look like. So, I mean, that can always be done to get that specific a concrete number of what that would be to present. >> Is Skyward the big player in this space or is Power School >> second biggest player in SIS besides Power School? Power School is the big one the most used and then Skywards right after. Yeah. >> And if you went with something else then that means all of the things have to be redone, right? You can't roll what we already have into a new system. >> Yeah. With not going through I don't know what it looked like last time. >> They don't play well with other companies

092now. >> Yeah. So it's it's generally going to be a lot more on top of training staff and everything else like that that you're looking for a longer transition time as well as more from even parents as well. >> So I trust the June 2026 date I I ask a question. What happens if that date slips to July and August time frame for next week? >> So they have openings they tell us openings that it would be completed by that June 2026. So, we work all throughout the year to move everything over. Um, their July slots are filled up, so they have other schools that they'll be doing this coming year as well. So, they're working with them, too. And then they also had August, but with us starting that first week of August, we

093didn't want to get that close on doing things. >> Um, so it should be a process that as I work on it with them throughout the year, we should be knocking things out. So, it that June's pretty set on and once we sign, she'll have a more concrete kind of step-by-step plan of what we're working on. >> Thank you. >> All great questions. Great questions. Any other questions? >> Thank you. >> Okay, with that, we'll entertain a motion to approve the Skyward upgrade as presented. >> So, move. >> Second. Any further questions? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Opposed. Same sign. Inventory contract. >> Yeah. In your packet, you have a contract from Asset Control Solutions. This was um prompted by the last couple of audits. We've been dinged

094on um having that proper documentation for those assets. So, um, Jen reached out to a couple different companies, um, and we landed on asset control for price and I think also ease of use. So, you have questions, she definitely be the one, um, can answer those questions, but ask ask for your approval of that contract. >> Okay. Thank you. I entertain a motion to approve the inventory contract. >> So, move. >> Second. Any questions, comments on this? >> If we had a previous contract with another uh company, why would we get dinged on our audit? We've not had it for six plus years. We have an audit every couple of years. So, if we can't present that documentation in the format that they want, they ding us on our audit. So, we couldn't present um

095the documentation. And it's ongoing. So if something leaves the inventory, it's got to it's got to come out. If something goes back into the inventory, it has to go back in. So we didn't have that documentation two years ago and then four years ago, we didn't have it either. No. >> Okay. >> Any additional questions? >> Yeah. So I mean, we also will have incoming assets. So is this a I read as much of it as I could. Sure. Is this a process where we can tag things and somebody's going to be in charge of tagging it, inventorying it? Yes, that is correct. So, we'll have the tags they will give us. We will tag the information, keep it on a spreadsheet. I give that information to them at the end of each year. They

096update the information for us >> on a spreadsheet. >> Well, I mean in a database. >> So, yeah. Sorry. I'm a I I work with spreadsheets all day, so that's my lingo. >> Sorry, I didn't mean to jump on. >> Yes, but it it would be a cloud-based database. Okay. that we um I think they use through a SharePoint type process. >> Okay. >> So, we're able to go in and access and update that information. >> Anytime. >> So, that's the self-maintenance process which they they'll let us do for only $1,750. >> Yeah. So, it would be more we would be able to do all of that and and they they have to make the update in the system, but I I I put all the information in there and then they just update it.

097There's I don't believe there's a fee for that. So, >> one other thing, >> the maintenance would be if they were to come back and update in house. >> So, there's not a fee if we self-maintain it then? >> I don't believe so. I can double check on that, but my understanding That's what I was saving that there >> ongoing self-maintenance update of online fixed asset by McLaren School for this available for >> I think what the plan is is we have that database and then we maintain it ourselves but not have them put the information in the cloud base and then it's just a database like we keep inhouse here >> if that makes sense. >> Yeah. I mean >> may not be explained $1,000. >> Yeah. No, I'm not saying we would do

098that. I'm saying we have the initial information and then I update it myself in our own database here. >> All right. >> In a drive. >> So for their cloud storage is what she said. >> If we choose that we want them to maintain our cloud storage then yes there would be that yearly fee for them to update. But if we just keep it ourselves >> all right >> in a drive. >> Thank you. >> Yes. I know several years back we got talking about this because I think it was driven from the one school that got hit down in Henry County, I believe, with a tornado and they couldn't figure out where half their assets was cuz they didn't know what their assets were. And that has always been kind of worrisome because if

099we had a catastrophe of fire, flood, anything, you know, that could come through and we lose a bunch of assets. We really, unless we can go back and start pulling bill, sales and titles and stuff, we really don't know what we have. Um, so this here would be a two mouse collects and we got a sheet of what got destroyed in the high school or whatever building. So >> like what's an example of something that you inventory like on a large scale and a small scale? So for audit purposes, anything that's 5,000 and above, we have to audit. >> Okay. >> But I it is my understanding and I'm still learning about this at our corporation, but it's my understanding at the end of each school year, they are teachers in the buildings are to

100give their principles what is in their rooms and what is their inventory. >> That is something that I would like to start collecting and also adding into that. Um, I think anything 500 to a thousand or above is something we need to keep track of. Um, I also know that the lunch cafeteria keeps track of all their inventory. It has their own inventory and maybe that's something that we can combine all those things and have for insurance purposes as you're saying. >> So, so within the last school year, principles all all recollected the database. So, how many chairs or desks do you have in your room? So, we have that inventory. It's in a it's in a Google Drive. Okay. >> Um Chris does a great job and those new computers come in and then

101more importantly, I think where we got Dean does some of our audits when they go out. So, we have serial numbers for those things. When they come in, we have them and when they leave, we also track that as well and they get recycled. So, uh, the bigger ticket items, those $5,000 items. Um, you know, there's not as many, but you know, you go looking around and some of the equipment that we have. I mean, it's I mean, we have a laser engraver. That's $5,000 for a laser engraver. Some of the stuff in the some of the stuff in those shops is maker spaces. Um, the STEM lab that we did several years ago, a lot of things that are expensive in there. So, those are things that they'll come on site. They'll tag, we'll

102have an inventory of it. We give that nice new inventory to the auditors and we get that check box. That's what they're saying. >> The bus repair barn, all the tools that are in there and equipment and >> you know what he carries on his truck as far as that goes. So, >> you know, um >> it's been a long time coming, I think. So, >> that's why I will be a lot more comforted when the next time you're doing a surplus sale, too. >> Yeah. Make sure that solves something we should >> Yep. >> Any other questions, comments? Hearing uh all those in favor of improving inventory contract signify by saying I >> oppose. Same sign. >> Motion carries. That brings us down to item 8.6 internal control. >> Yeah. So again, um from

103from the audit, um one of the things they say we're lacking in that audit is some internal controls. Um, we've talked about this as a board over the last year or so. Um, when Jen came in, I showed her a template that came from CCHA Church Hill. Um, we've kind of looked at that along with the one that came from Oasbo and those are recommendations as to what should happen um in in a lot of different situations when it comes to internal controls. So, um, she's put that together uh as well and ask for your approval of the internal controls and procedures manual. Okay. Entertain a motion to approve the internal control manual. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Questions or comments? >> Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I >> I

104>> oppose. Same sign. Brings up 8.7 lunch prices. >> Yeah. So in front of you see the uh lunch prices. And as a reminder, um what this is determined by a lot of times is um our free and reduced population. The state comes out to us and says, "Okay, this is what you need to pay um as a percentage of the kids who are on free and reduced." So they want it to be within x amount of dollars of of what we're getting reimbursed uh from the USDA on. So those are your lunch prices for the year. Not anything that Julie Ler just said, uh I think we're going to charge 275 for Pipe Creek or Mac lunch. was those are dictated to us by the state and federal government. >> Okay. Entertain a motion

105to approve the lunch prices as presented. >> So >> second. >> Any further comments or questions? [Applause] Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> Oppose. Same sign. 8.8 head start contract. >> Yeah. Contract we do every year. Um this contract is the same uh year in year out. Um aside from dates, uh last year I don't believe we had anybody in Head Start, but we do have that agreement in case we want to send somebody to Head Start. And that is that's housed in uh Token Up at >> Arrol Chapel, I believe, um is where that's housed. So asking your approval of that and we'll get that sent back to them. >> Okay. Entertain a motion to approve the Head Start contract. >> So move. >> Second. Second. >> Any questions

106or comments on the head start? >> Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I >> oppose. Same sign. Item number nine, superintendent comments. Yes, board. Um, few things. One, thank you for allowing me to take a little time with my family the last couple weeks. Uh, it's super neat. I don't post on Facebook here. Watch my wife. She posts all kinds of stuff. So, we saw some bears. She wanted to get out and pet a bear. I told her that wise. Um, but it looks so cute and furry. Well, that's still not wise. But, um, super neat stuff. I got to spend a little time with the family and and I do appreciate that. Get away a little bit. Clear your ahead. Um, a few other things. You should be getting some

107emails in your school email. One, ISBA registration. So, you everybody is registered. Does anybody have an issue with that on those dates? Has anybody looked at it? And >> we do have on one of those dates the ambassador program is doing something. Are you changing that or no? >> It will be changed. >> Okay, good. because that was one I really wanted to attend. So, >> yep. Um, and then you also should get a registration from the Weston for two nights >> because everybody got knows. Does anybody need that? >> Does anybody can't go at this point? And we can check. >> Did we get emails from the West? >> Yeah, >> you should have. >> If you didn't, let me know. >> Might have deleted it. I don't know. I don't think >> I

108don't have I don't have it. So, >> we'll reach out to them and >> I'm sorry. >> Nope. No big deal. >> Okay. >> Um, opening day, August 5th, just right around the corner. 7:30 to9 breakfast in the cafeteria. The A program is is serving that breakfast. It should be delicious as usual. So, >> August 5th. If you can be there, please reach out. If you can't be there, reach out to Montana and let her know. But it'd be nice um to have the board there to start introduce the board and and um just a few quick things in the morning and then we'll we'll be out. So it's supposed to be 7:30 to 9, but usually we're out there by 8:30. So yeah, if you can do that, please do so. Also, first day,

109uh we started tradition several years ago of having folks in buildings. So 3 2 1 go. What building do you want to be in? >> Okay. out. >> Mac out for me, too. >> Okay, that was the fairest way I could do it. >> I think I think you tipped off. >> I did not. >> No, I actually, >> okay, we got Pipe Creek back. Anybody want to go to middle school or high school? High school. >> Go middle school. >> Okay. >> I saw one there. >> You got one in every building still. >> I did. up on Pike Creek. We got families coming in both directions of the building. >> Perfect. Perfect. >> Okay. I'll do high school, too. Um or admin building if you need supervising. Take that day off, right? Okay.

110Looks like we got a full I appreciate you guys and the and the principles appreciate that as well, especially that first day. I can remember as middle school principal with people crying they couldn't get their lockers open or you know just holding a hand at Creek and walking a kid to class. So that they need that day one. So definitely appreciated. Um nobody asked the question. We did recommendations. Hey what what do we still have open so we and I hesitate to say who we had last year somebody asked that question. They had like three resignations but um facts and art there is an offer out uh right now. Um, so Redmond turned his resignation in July 4th. So there is a and there's a plan if that doesn't work out, I do believe. Um,

111we have an instructional assistant for a kid at the high school. That instructional assistant is tied to that kid. Um, so that's through an IEP. And then athletically um, boys tennis has been pretty difficult to find. So that's a tough one. So that's kind of where we are um with open spots at this moment in time. >> So there's no one for boys tennis. >> Rex, did you play brothers boys tennis? >> I did. I'm not going to. >> I kind of looked at you when I said that. You looked down. >> No. >> Uhhuh. It's that kid in the back of class when he looks down, you know. >> Yeah. So I know they're they're working hard. They have a couple leads on it. Hopefully we can we can find some So, um, >>

112so special ed high school, we got to fill that, too. >> Yeah, that that will be posted today. >> Okay. Or today? Tomorrow. >> Yeah, I think it's in somebody's contract. All the coaching positions can't be filled. Superintendent's got to fill in. I remember reading that. I saw it. I saw it. Good thing Mike and I track through all the principles is all their duties as assigned to the superintendent down the hill. Hey, you want to pull up enrollment numbers real quick? We'll talk and this will be real brief. Um or we'll scroll to the right. So, we we track this every year. Um and we're right on course where we should be. We ended the school year with 1785. Um right now we have 1441 fully enrolled. We'll probably get an influx because schedules

113come out. So, they don't get their schedules unless they're enrolled. So, those schedules come out at the end of the week. Um, so we'll get an influx of folks at the end of the week. Last year had likeund 10 150 uh kids enrolled that day. So, we're right on track where we've been in the past uh to get up to hopefully I'm hoping we get that 18 1815. So, we started the school year last year with 1815. Um, on a positive side, out of district applications that have been approved, if I'm going to take a guess, >> 180, >> you're off. >> Is he high or low? >> Higher. >> 210. >> 321. >> Wow. >> Oh. All right. >> So, that's a good thing. Um, if you notice, we posted some Facebook ads. If

114you've ever been scrolling through Facebook, it's probably hit you and there's a video that plays. Um, I think that's helped that a little bit. Um, so we'll continue with that um, moving forward because that seemed to be a lot better than the postcards that we have sent out. Um, I think last year we had the 270ish mark. Now with that said, we also have several students new corporations that applied like 160, but remember we live in a transient population. So what we hope is 160 comes in and only 120 leave. So we have a good net on that. So, we're hopeful that we'll be at that 1,800 mark uh moving forward and um we'll kind of kind of go from there. >> You know, the age range for the new students all over the place.

115>> All over the place. >> Yep. All over the place. So, >> will people show up day one not register? >> We've had people who are not registered who will get on our bus >> just because it stops. >> Because it stops out at Eagles Point >> and they'll get on the bus and they'll get here and we don't have any idea who they are. Mhm. >> Yeah. That and usually that population flux so our count day is in September. So we'll see it'll go up and it probably will drop a little bit towards September um is what we've seen in the past but um that's trenic trends. I mean um if you remember typically we lose 30 kids a semester. We didn't lose quite that much or quite that many last last year. So

116that's good. That's a good trend. Um, and we just we'll just keep fight for kiddos. Um, and hope, you know, when the subdivision comes in down the road, they are having big families. >> So, that's what's registered now. 1441. >> 1441. >> And you're hoping to get to 1800. >> Mhm. >> Okay. >> But that's typical where we are this time. So, we still have several days. >> But that 1441 includes your out of district. >> Correct. It is. And how many kids do you like typically show up unregistered on the first day >> or not fully registered? So these are just fully registered kids. Yeah, >> we have several. >> I mean like do you need our help on day one in any schools to not >> where do they go? >> Not to

117process those those kids. A lot of those kids are not fully registered. They may have been here before. So we already have a schedule in the system for them. >> Okay. >> And if not the counselor is the only one who can put a schedule in the system for them. And some I mean we've had kids that just go with their buddy to class and Yeah. kindergarten or first grader is a second or third time in our school already. >> Yeah. >> In and out. In and out. >> Yeah. So, you know, we know it's a transient population. We know that they're high needs kids and and uh we're going to we're going to accept them in with open arms on matter. So, that's where we are in enrollment. Um, I will send out the

118priority list again. Uh, and I will send out with that list some dates that if you can uh make happen, we will make happen. >> Are we still accepting out of districts registration? >> The deadline for that was July 1. >> So, now if a if a kid there's a caveat to that. So, um, sometimes a kid doesn't know they're outside the district because there's some real funky lines >> up in Peru. Like you can live on one side of the house and be Peru, >> on the other side of house and be us. So, we'll work with those families obviously um in those situations where they didn't necessarily know. And you know, even even some of the stuff out in that end of the county, it's a cook address. >> Sometimes those people don't

119know. >> I had somebody contact me with three kids last night. I told register, but they're moving here from Fort Wayne. So, >> yeah, that's >> So, is that that's different? >> It's it's different than >> Okay. >> out of district >> cuz they being move in. >> Correct. >> Any other questions on that? Okay. >> All righty. Let's move on to There's no principles. We kicked all them out. So, you have anything, Heather? We're trying to hide in the back. >> We have our smoke out training tomorrow. So, that's going to be exciting. We're filling one of our buses. That's a parked bus with smoke and um the driver has to find the the child mannequin and drag it to safety. >> Nice. >> Did we order any buses or >> Not yet. >>

120Okay. >> Awesome. Board member comments. Alan, >> nothing. Beth, >> Trevor's gone, but good job, Trevor. >> I mean, especially explaining IT stuff to some of us who aren't real IT savvy. So, thanks, Chris. >> Tim, I'd say it sounds like you and your team were well prepared. Craig, >> nothing. You got nothing. Okay. Well, Craig said everything I was going to say. So, he keeps looking at the notepad. So, I really don't have any we got some work coming up. So, with this bond stuff, I know a lot of it's pretty dry and we'll get through this stuff, but we'll we'll persevere through it and make it happen if that's the way we're going to go. So, uh we do have an exact session after this, so everybody hang out. And other than that,

121I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second. >> Second. >> All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I.