001Evening everyone and welcome to the board of school trustees project and second preliminary determination hearing on Wednesday, April 16th, 2025 here in the uh Pamela Smith boardroom. I'd ask each of you to stand with me for the pledge of allegiance, please. 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. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is for the bo the board to hold a project a preliminary hearing on the proposed project. If you're interested in speaking at this hearing, please make sure you have signed the sign-in sheet at the back of the room, which should include your name and address. After a presentation by the administration and its adviserss, there will
002be the opportunity for the public to make comments about the project. At the hearing, we will ask each of you to limit your comments to three minutes on the topic and and limit be limited to the proposed which will be limited to the proposed project under consideration. The notice of this preliminary determination hearing was published as legally required. The first preliminary termination hearing was held on April 9th, 2025. At this time, I will ask Amy Corsaro, our bond council, to explain the purpose of this hearing. Amy, hello. Look at you. Thank you for having me. And there you are. Pursuant to Indiana Code 2026737, before a school corporation may spend more than a million dollars to build, repair, or alter a school building that will be financed by a lease or bonds. It must hold
003a public hearing at which explanations of the potential value of the project to the school corporation and the community are given. Similarly, pursuant to Indiana code 61.1 203.5, a school corporation must hold two public hearings and adopt a resolution to preliminarily determine to issue bonds or enter into a lease for a project which has a total project cost in excess of a non-control project. or if the school corporation has a debt service fund tax rate above a certain amount. These public hearings and the adoption of resolutions are the very beginning of the legal process. These resolutions establish the maximum financial terms for the proposed project. Thank you, Amy. We will now hear from Dr. Brown about the process of determining and communicating the project to the community and the need for this project and how
004this project meets the needs. Dr. Brown. Good evening. Tonight we stand before you not just to present a project but to share a story. A story of our community, our children, and our unwavering commitment to their future. This year, we've dedicated ourselves to aligning every action with our district's heart, student achievement, valuing every individual, and a relentless pursuit of staff and student well-being. It's this very heart that brings us to the critical issue at hand, the need for a comprehensive early learning center. Imagine our dedicated teachers, the very backbone of our educational system, facing the heartbreaking choice between their passion for teaching and the impossible reality of inaccessible child care. We've witnessed firsthand the loss of valuable educators driven away not by a lack of dedication, but by a lack of support. This isn't just
005a district problem, it's a community crisis. The data paints a vivid picture. Our successful $750,000 grant awarded in the winter of 2024 wasn't just a win, it was a lifeline, allowing us to launch a pilot program for our employees of three birthtoree classrooms that immediately filled to capacity, proving the desperate need. Our community survey echoed this urgency from 349 community respondents. 58 of them reported a collective loss of 158 work days in a single month due to child care issues. Additionally, 120 of the 340 n respondents anticipate needing child care within the next two years. Families are driving 50 miles to find highquality birth to three child care, highlighting the stark reality of Jefferson County's childare desert. Brighter Futures Indiana identifies 1,119 children under the age of six in our county who may be in
006need of care. And a recent housing study funded by the Madison Economic Development Commission projects 630 new housing units by 2030, signaling a future surge in young families. However, our elementary schools do not have the space to accommodate any growth in enrollment or additional programs. We are at capacity in our schools as we identified in our 2023 facility study. But amidst these challenges, we see an opportunity. An opportunity to build upon our proven success. Our existing preschool program isn't just good, it's transformative. With students consistently outperforming their peers by 20 to 30 percentage points on key assessments, we have the knowledge, the passion, and the data to create something truly exceptional. We envision an early learning center, a beacon of hope born from the vacant EOS site, a place currently representing disrepair and a safety
007concern. This center will be more than just classrooms. It will be an oasis of growth, providing 23 nurturing classroom spaces for children birth to five. It will consolidate our successful preschool model currently serving 182 children in 13 classrooms, expanding access to high quality care for our youngest learners and freeing up much needed room in our current elementary schools. This isn't just about bricks and mortar. It's about building futures. It's about ensuring our children have the best possible start and that our dedicated staff can thrive in their careers. It's about investing in a community where every child has the opportunity to thrive. And here's the most remarkable part. We can achieve this without placing an additional burden on our taxpayers. Upcoming debt repayments in 2026 and 2031 create a unique window of opportunity, allowing us to
008make a tax neutral investment in our community's future. We've seen the transformative power of our preschool program, and we know our children deserve the best. We have a sight, a need, and a path to success. We urge you to join us in writing the next chapter of our district story. a story of hope, opportunity, and unwavering commitment to our youngest learners. Let's create a legacy they will carry with them for generations. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Brown. We will now hear from Jason Tanzel, Bacon, Baker Tilly Municipal Adviserss LLC, our municipal adviser, about how the proposed project will be financed, as well as information about the effect on the typical property taxpayer. Jason, welcome. Thank you very much and thank you for having me at tonight's meeting. My name is Jason Tansel with Baker Tilly
009and we represent the school corporation as your municipal adviser. Now that we've had an opportunity to hear about the needs of the project, we will review how the school corporation could pay for this project through the issuance of a property taxup supported bond in an amount not to exceed $28 million. It's important to keep in mind tonight that we are establishing maximums and these are maximums that we cannot exceed but we can come down from. They include they will include items such as the borrowing amount, the repayment term, the maximum interest rate, and the maximum annual payment. We have a presentation here before you that will illustrate how this school's current debt service structure will allow uh the a potential to bring this bond on while replacing payments as they come to their maturity. And
010I'm actually going to skip this very first slide because it's very difficult to see. Uh but we're going to going to go to the second slide here. Our second slide is a graph that shows the current bonds that are outstanding of Madison Consolidated Schools. Each bond is represented by its own color. And you can see that there are currently six bonds outstanding and annual payments are approximately $5.3 million. You can see that next year in 2026, payments are decreasing to about 3.5 million and that all debt of the school corporation is repaid by 2031. It is this declining debt service structure that would allow the school corporation to potentially replace these payments without increasing above these 5 this $5.3 million annual amount in 2025. Here is a summary of the maximums that you will find
011within your resolutions tonight. A maximum borrowing amount not to exceed $28 million. A maximum repayment term not to exceed 20 years per bond issuance. The current estimated interest expense is $18,9,000 and that is based upon a 5% interest rate. The maximum interest rate that you will see within your resolution is 6%. The maximum annual payment you will see is $5,395,000. The 2025 debt service tax rate today is 36.22 and the 2025 debt service levy which is the dollar request from Madison Consolidated Schools is $4,644,000. And today, assuming uh that there is no change in assessed value from pay 25 to pay 26, we would estimate that this would not have an increase to the debt service tax rate. And moving forward, we would not anticipate an increase over this debt service levy amount of $4,644,000.
012The final two rows are uh debt ratios also required to be provided within your resolutions. the current and proposed annual debt service by the divided by the most recent net assessed value of 0.41% and the direct and overlapping debt of the school corporation divided by net AV which is 6.68%. And here on our final slide you will see the proposed repayment term of this $28 million bond issuance. If the bonds are issued in 2025, you will see that it will first hit the tax roles in 2026 and then again you will see that the term not to exceed 20 years is 2044. This is represented in those blue bars and you can see that in 2026 and seven and eight those payments are not anticipated to increase above the levels in 2025 and there are
013step downs in the future in 29 and 32. Uh that would provide some flexibility to the school corporation in the future to potentially replace these payments. Again, this concludes my portion of the presentation. I'd be happy to answer any questions uh at this time if that is correct Miss Corsaro or should I are we is there somebody else who needs to speak okay thank you any questions see none thank you sir we will now open the public hearing remember if you would like to speak please sign in on the sheet which is located at the table in the back of the boardroom As I mentioned earlier, we ask that you state your name and the address. Limit your comments to the proposed project and financing. Keep any comments to three minutes and avoid being repetitive
014if possible. And we have the sign-in sheet here. It looks like our first uh person to sign in as a guest is Amanda Harson. Amanda, good evening. My name is Amanda Harson and I am the chancellor at IvyTech Madison and I thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I am here to express my full support for Madison Consolidated Schools proposed Erling Learning Center and share how IvyTech stands ready to help contribute to its success. There's no question through the data and through the surveys that access to reliable highquality ch child care is one of the most urgent needs in our community. Our community continues to face a s shortage of early childhood educational professionals and that shortage affects not only families, it impacts our workforce, our economy and our ability to grow. IvyTech Madison
015is deeply committed to being a part of the solution. Just recently, IvyTech Community College has received $21.9 million grant for the entire state from the Lily Foundation, and our campus will receive a portion of this targeted funding to train and credential new and current early childhood educators that could staff your future center. This investment will directly support workforce pipelines for facilities like your proposed and all of the others in Jefferson County. With this support, we'll deliver child development associate credentiing to help prepare new educators. Our campus is planning a full-time role to ensure we're equipping Madison's child care centers with skilled workforce they need, not just for the project, but for long-term success. We know that the early learning center being proposed by Madison, like Dr. Brown said, is more than just bricks and mortar.
016It's about expanding access and from and success for children from birth. We're proud that this initiative will build on the strong foundation you've already established with your preschool programs. With your leadership in this investment, we can make a generational impact. On behalf of IvyTech Madison, we're ready to stand with you as a partner in preparing the early childhood workforce your families, our businesses, and the children deserve. Thank you for your commitment to our community and thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this vision. Thank you. Thank you, Amanda. Our next speaker is uh Holly Robinson. There she is. I should say Dr. Holly Robinson. It's okay. Good evening. Oh, thank you so much for having me. So, Holly Robinson, 1645 North New Jersey, Indianapolis 46202. Um, so I am here tonight uh as a
017pediatrician uh as a researcher uh and now as a founder of a program here in Jefferson County dedicated specifically to serving infants. Um we all know through other presentations that child care is critically important. Um it was you know barriers um to having child care was named in our state survey as number one to work. Um, but what's most critical to me and what I believe is a critical undersourced part of the community is high quality child care and it's what helps our communities thrive. Um, we now understand more than ever uh about how human brains are built. Um, the foundation is laid in those first few years as those neurons fire and wire together. Um, and that is only done through the relationship with caregivers. that firing and wiring doesn't happen in front of
018a television. It doesn't happen in front of a computer. It only happens when babies are in a reliable, consistent, and loving relationship with the people that care for them. So, while child care may be somewhat available in the community, it is critically important that that care be high quality. And I know that's what the early learning center uh seeks to do. What that does down the road, it leads to emotional regulation, curiosity, longer attention span, trust. Um there is really good evidence that even at 3 months old, a baby can already show if it has not received reliable consistent care that it will already show signs of mistrust of the world. um know if anybody's seen a brain but it's really we we are so happy that baby brains are so plastic which means they
019will uh start to rewire um but it's not always possible and when it is possible it requires a lot more time and a lot more resources so and I think those of us who have been around children um especially in you know our elementary schools we we see that and we know that's really critically important and now what's even more interesting is all of the research on epigenetics So that is now we understand that any of our relationships and our experiences when we're young um will actually change our DNA and we will pass that on to our offspring. So I think um Amanda mentioned generational and it it truly is generational not just through our environment but it actually changes our DNA. So I know Madison has demonstrated great success in the preschool program. I
020mean, it only makes sense that this starting earlier, starting at birth, building that foundation that is so hard to change later, um, will only amplify that. And so, our program, Infants and Bloom, is just super excited and fully supportive of this early learning center. So, thank you so much. Thank you, Dr. D. Appreciate it. Our next speaker will be Dora Anam. Anam. Did I say that right? Dora. Anam. Anam. My bad. Animated. Perfect. Good evening and thank you for having me. My name is Dora Anam. I'm the CEO of Bethany Legacy Foundation. We are your local health foundation and because we are focused on the overall health and well-being of Jefferson County, we look at issues in this community on a macro level. We just completed a deep community-led initiative to build our strategic plan
021and uh through a lot of listening sessions uh that was had a lot of uh community partners uh child care was undeniably at the top and when I define child care in this case it's really around affordable highquality child care and with emphasis to potentially having a 24 access uh 24-hour access for all three shifts of families that are working. The issue was defined through a study as um really a workforce issue. When families cannot afford reliable child care, uh parents, especially mothers, are forced to reduce hours um which weakens our local businesses and specifically lower income families are disproportionately affected um and which perpetuates gener generational poverty and businesses struggle to fill jobs. In that case, um I think Dr. Robinson touched on this. Early years of a child's life are critical for brain
022development and currently we have limited access to quality child care um which again affects lower income families. But child care is also could be an economic engine and attract reliable and having reliable child care is one of the factors that parents consider when they look to move to an area. So from a workforce and vibrancy perspective, it's really critical. And having a safe, nurturing childcare environment really contributes to mental health and well-being for both children and parents, which is a top priority for Bethany Legacy Foundation. So essentially, we see the benefit of having a facility like this uh as checking many boxes and we call it sort of a force multiplier. supports working families, enables parents to work and contribute to the economy, boosts school readiness, especially kindergarten readiness. Um, high quality care, builds cognitive
023and social skills, and prepares for the future, attracts young families, is appealing to new residents and talents, helps mental health stability, and reduces stress for caregivers, and fosters healthy childcare environments. So from our perspective, we are 100% in support of this initiative because child care is not a luxury. It should be part of our infrastructure at Jefferson County. And so we want to work together to build a system that works for parents and families and children. Thank you. Thank you, Dor. Next, I'd like to invite to the podium our mayor, Bob Courtney. Good evening, board. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and represent the city of Madison in full support of the investment that you're proposing here tonight. Uh last year I was honored uh to be invited by uh education secretary Jenner
024uh to join Mayor Jensen from Noblesville to represent the state of Indiana in a policymaking fellowship with the Hunt Institute that focused on early learning. And what was so powerful about that fellowship uh was learning about how critical we are as a country and particularly as our community in the need for uh better delivery and access for affordable child care and the powerful return on investment in early learning. Over the course of a lifetime, what the statistics show is that there's no greater investment that we can make right now than in early learning. the return on that investment in human capital is greater in the years between birth and five years old than any other time throughout their lives. So I applaud you on taking this bold step to do this to make this investment
025at the sacrifice of other investments you could be making over the course of the next 20 years. Uh city of Madison's also been making critical investments to overcome chronic deficiencies uh that have existed for decades, particularly housing. It was mentioned here tonight that uh we have done our own housing survey. Dr. Brown, I think you mentioned it. And over the course of the next 10 years, we believe uh and we are planning for the construction of approximately $100 million of new housing in the city of Madison. That is going to bring in greater population. It's going to fuel our workforce and it's critical that we have capacity in our schools for the children that these new families are going to bring to our community. So we are fully in support of your investment. It is
026complimentary to ours and what uh Dr. Harson was stating earlier with with IvyTech. We we need to make these bold steps. The city of Madison is making these investments and and we are partnering with you to make the investments as well. So I support you fully. Hopefully the community will do it. uh there's no greater opportunity than now for public support of this initiative and that is really what is going to break down the barriers and make this initiative really viable for for accessibility and affordability which is critical. So thank you. Thank you mayor. Would next I'd like to invite Miss Jane Mr. Jane Williams to the podium please. Thank you. Hello, I'm Jane Williams and my address is 5567 North State Route 62. So, I'm speaking tonight to voice my full support for the
027proposed child care investment proposed by the Madison Consolidated Schools. I have several reasons um for supporting it, but um I do want to say that my family owns a local manufacturing company, Royer Corporation, and our corporation is blessed to employ many excellent employees that have families and desperately need quality child care, and we want that for them. In addition, I have two grown children and four of my seven grandchildren living in the area, and I really believe they're going to reap the benefits across their lifetime for quality child care um for our youngest citizens for all the reasons that have been stated already tonight. So, I want to say that um our community is so blessed to have Dr. Teresa Brown leading our schools. Um we feel like now is the time. She has the
028vision. She has the energy. She's proved it. She surrounded herself with superlative staff. The child care programming she was able to implement at the junior high in such a short period of time was really amazing to us. We feel she deserves our full support as she tackles this key issue for our community. Um Royer has already reaped the benefits of the excellent child care provided by MCH MCS for their employees. Um, one of our very key employees is married to an MCS teacher and they have utilized the child care located this year at the junior high school for their infant son. And his dad describes, and I got a quote, "His experience has been totally awesome. Our son is always happy to arrive and happily reaches for Miss Tracy every morning. The facility is beautiful
029and always spotless. The staff is highly professional and we get thorough paperwork daily describing his activities. I leave relaxed and ready to work. So, we believe that highquality, reliable child care will help attract and retain highquality employees as we know it's already attracted highquality teachers. Madison is currently benefiting from energetic city and community leadership that is helping to bring many new amenities to our area, including, we hope, a state-of-the-art community center to serve all ages. These new amenities along with comprehensive child care led by the schools will take Madison and Jefferson County, we think, to a new level and improve the quality of life for everyone. So we very enthusiastically uh in support Dr. Brown and the entire school board in their efforts and we urge all citizens to do the same. Thank you. Thank
030you. Thank you, Jane. That concludes the uh people that have signed up. Is there anybody else would like to speak? Okay, seeing none, we'd like to thank you all who participate in the hearing. We appreciate your time and interest in the projects and the future of our community. Please note that this is just the first step in a legal process. The board will continue to work with the administration and its professionals to look for efficiencies to conserve tax dollars while meeting our educational needs. And I'd like to invite Amy back to the podium, please, to uh summarize the project resolution. Thank you. The project resolution is required when the school is planning to spend more than $1 million per building. It contains the estimated hard and soft construction costs and the cost of issuance and
031establishes the total project costs. It also contains the estimated tax impact. Thank you. Entertain a motion and a second to adopt the project resolution. Make a motion that we approve 25102 approval to adopt project resolution. Thank you. And do I have a second? I'll second with a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Okay, seeing no discussion. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes 50. Amy, would you go ahead summarize the preliminary determination resolution, please? The preliminary deterine determination resolution is required when a school is planning to finance more than a certain amount for a given facility. It contains the total project costs, maximum annual payment and lease term and other financial terms such as the estimated principal amount and the tax impact. Thank you. Could I have
032a motion and a second to adopt the preliminary determination resolution? I'll make a motion to approve 25-103. With a motion, is there a second? I'll second. With a motion and a second, there's any discussion. Seeing no discussion, all in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Amy, the next resolution, and it's the last resolution, is a reimbursement resolution relating to the financing of the construction project. This resolution permits the school corporation to reimburse itself from bond proceeds for any cash which it might spend on the project prior to closing the bonds. It is required by federal tax law in order to preserve the school corporation's ability to reimburse itself. Thank you, Amy. We'll entertain a motion uh and a second to adopt the reimbursement resolution. I make a motion to um approve
03325104. Thank you. In a second. A second with a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Seeing no discussion. All in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Move on to adjournment. Unless I missed a page. No, we're good. That happens sometimes, but not tonight. Yeah, I'm on a roll. All righty. We'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. I'll make a motion to adjurnn. A second, please. I'll second with a motion second to adjurnn.