001button. >> Whatever. row back. That's okay. I like it. fantastic four towns meeting. Um >> sorry. >> Um so we will call whatever boards and committees to order and then we'll get going. So I'll call the regional school committee to order at 9:04. Um, >> financial call to order at 9:04. >> Anybody else? Callum. >> Nope. Ever. Everest town council called the order at 94. >> Anybody? >> Where you go? There you go. >> Shoot. and uh she's very fin. >> Great. Okay. Excellent. Thank you all very much for coming. Um this is the same presentation of the um budget for F27 that we had at our Tuesday meeting. Now we will share it with you. >> Good morning everybody. I'm Tanya McIntyre and I would like to on behalf of Dr. Z welcome you
002all. Uh Dr. Z is still coming on medical leave and so she's not with us today and unfortunately for you all you get me but I'm hoping that's okay. Uh I am the executive director of student academic success, director of curriculum instruction and assessment. Uh just for background I'm from South Carolina. I moved here last year. Um, I taught for 25 years, high school mathematics, and um, then I got in a central office. This is now my 32nd year in education and I have two grandbabies. Has nothing to do with anything except they're three months old. And I'm telling you, I have two grandbabies. Their names are Leo and Heisen. So, um, welcome. And Shannon will be joining us virtually. Actually, I have to go to the other side so I won't lose my wonderful,
003uh, teammate there. Shannon, you want to say good morning? >> Yes. Good morning and um I am not feeling well and I didn't want somebody else to get sick but I needed to be present. So thank you for allowing me to do this remotely. Um and Tanya is going to walk through the first couple slides and then hand it over to me and we'll um walk through the presentation together. >> Thank you Shannon. Hope you're feeling better. And we also have uh several team members here as well. Um I won't call their names because they are shaking their head. No. So there we are. Um so good morning to you all. I'm not sure if you saw the uh regional budget hearing saying that right. Uh well we where we went through the presentation. So
004I'm just going to do some highlights for you. Uh Dr. Z always likes to ground us in the students that we serve. Students are the most important part of our uh work here. So for the region, can you see I'm southern and I apologize in advance for my my isms. Um so we serve about 1,183 students. Those students are um a wide range of needs have a lot um of strengths and interest and learning profiles. We have about 25% of our students are special education students. And it's important to know that our special education students are not monolithic. So what that means for us is our neurodeiverse students come with different needs. So one student might need more um alternative uh instruction, one might need differentiation, one might need something different. So, as you think
005about that number, I need you to think about the vast majority of students that are in special education have something different going on, which is why they have individual education plans. So, it's not, oh, let's just do this one thing. Um, it's important to also know we have a growing multilingual population, and that's just not Spanish. We have, I think, 44, 46 different languages across um our district. And it's important to know that their needs are have to be addressed as well. Um not only just like special education, it's not only because we're good people, but it's legal. We have to legally meet their needs. Um as we go down, we have 12% of lowincome students and uh we have 3% of our population that's dual identified. So they could be EL students and special
006education students which also brings a host of things that need to happen for them to make sure that they have access and opportunity and that is the thing as educators we have to ensure that students have access and opportunity to grade level instruction. Thank you Shannon. Um so as we go you're taking a look quickly at each school. So three comprises of the middle and high school. So even as we bring strengths to our uh region, there are very big challenges that we have around academics. And as you look at the um the the disparity, the disparity happens in um ELA and math as you see because those are our MCCAST tested um sections. And what we're looking at is there is a gap between um our high need students both in math and English.
007And it's not because teachers aren't working hard. It's not because students aren't working hard. It's just there is over the past decade, as you look at the region's scores. There's been this this divide that's happening. We have to ensure that our kids are ready for the regional schools. So, they have to be ready for middle school and high school. But also, we have to differentiate our instruction in a way that's going to take more collaboration, more work, um, stronger curriculum, those kinds of things to ensure that we can close the gap because it's not just meeting the kids where they are, it's making sure they get to where they need to be because if we only meet them where they are, they're going to get further and further behind. Um, thank you. As we look
008at the high school, that that trend continues. And I'm the new person here. You all probably have seen this data over the couple of years, but that's that thing still happens where our kids are still having this divide between our high need students and our general populations. And our job is to figure out ways to close the gap. And most times that's through strengthening tier one instruction. So, as you look at what we're doing, we're trying to align things so that there is a stronger coherence throughout our tier one instruction for all students. Um, a bright spot, Summit Academy. Shannon, will you go a little bigger? You know, on a little Thank you. Um, so Summit Academy is one of the bright spots. It's a program that we have designed for students with specific needs.
009Um, it is a place where they can go and get credit recovery. They can make sure that they're getting their needs met. These are higher needs than just our general um SE population. And so these students work specifically in summit to continue a graduation plan and be on the road to success for postsecary. All right. Now this is no surprise to any of you but our enrollment is declining. Over the past 10 years our enrollment has dropped 13%. Now it's important to note that even as the enrollment declined our needs have increased. we have more as these students identified and their needs are like I said earlier are high and it's different. So there is going to be a point where we start taking a look at how does enrollment affect staffing but then also
010how does the higher needs affect staffing. So um over the past 10 years as the enrollment has declined in the region the staffing models stayed the same. So in a budget crisis in a budget um crunch what happens is not only do you all look at what you can do from your lens as a school district we look to see is there a point that we can realign what's happening. Can we realign our staffing to really meet the needs of those students that we have now versus what we've always done? And that's what we're taking a look at. It's important to um make sure we pay attention anytime there's a talk of cuts or um transition or any kind of deficit. It is a hard thing because those are our colleagues, those are the teachers,
011those are the people that are working really hard. And so what we try to do is to minimize um the pain point there, but still make sure that we're aligned to what's our current needs are and a sustainable model for the future. So, uh, Shannon, do I turn over to you now or? >> Um, I take over at the next page. This is just a recap. >> Yeah, I but I want to if you go down, Shannon to the what's working. >> I want you to hold on to this. So, in my classroom, I used to tell students, I said, "There's a lot that's happening, but there are things that I need you to hold on to. There are great things happening in the region. We have strong educators. We have amazing students. I need
012you to know that just because we're trying to realign what we need to do fiscally just to be responsible and sustainable does not mean there aren't great things happening." So, as you look through and you go through your day, because I know this is about the four towns, I want you to remember that we have students and families that are relying on us to ensure that what we do for them helps them get to the postsecary life they're trying to achieve. So, I thank you for your time and I'll turn it over to Shannon. >> Thank you, DA. Um so I have up on the screen the oper the draft operating budget for FY27 and essentially this is level services. There are um no reductions that we'll speak about um further in this presentation um
013excluded or included in these numbers just yet. Um so at the top we have our salaries and those are increases due to um steps and colas. Um and we have our substitute line and our contract line. Our contracts line is um end of or the extended summer programming for special education, our band monitors, um our um athletic trainer, things of those sorts fallen to the contracts line in regular um actually if we move down to the expense accounts um these are nonp payroll lines. So not salaries are not being paid from these lines. And I'll just hit a few um that have some increases here. Um so special education, we have an increase in um out of district tuition and transportation for those students and the the rates for the out of district placements go
014up every year and those rates are set by the OSC office. And in other programs from the last time we met, we've had an increase in here since the preliminary estimates came out from DESIE. Um so there's an increase to our charter and there's an increase to our um school choice assessment as well as a um estimate increase for our vocational tuition as well. Another spot um with a larger increase is within our central administration. Um that's largely due to our legal fees. Um but we also our audits have gone up each year. So we've accounted for that. Um we've and our um HR platform for uh rolling out the um records and our professional learning that is included in here as well. Um we have our we're entering our second year of our transportation
015contract. So we have an increase for that. Um our utilities are aligned with what our actuals that we're seeing for FY26. So we have increases in there as well. Um, food service is empty here because food service is fully funded by a revolving fund. So, nothing related to food services within the operating budget. We also have an increase of health insurance as you know it started out high as a projection and we're down to 8 and a half%. Um, we've removed the maintenance for the track and field because the town of Amherst has agreed to support that for the FY27 fiscal year. I've taken that out of this budget. We've applied 850,000 of school choice in this budget and our circuit breaker and IDA funds have also been applied within the special education expense lines.
016Um, in terms of the financial reality, we've discussed a lot of pressures to the budget like the obligated salary, um, in contractual increases, our health insurance increases, the rising cost of special education, transportation costs. Um, and we've we've been looking at all of our grants and revolving funds, and I'll speak a little bit more about this on a different slide to see how we can utilize those um to help offset this budget as well. So, if we move on to the next page, you're familiar with this sheet. This is the revenue sheet. On the left column, we have FY26. On the right column in blue, we have FY27. So, at the bottom of the previous page, we had a $39.9 million budget, and that's at level services with no reductions. Um, we have an increase
017for chapter 70 based on the estimate that came out at the state level. We also have an increase for transportation reimbursement. We don't know where the transportation reimbursement will land at this point. We do know we're spending more on transportation, so the reimbursement will be higher just off of that alone. Um, but we won't find out until well after the budget has been voted by school committee what that reimbursement would be. Our Medicaid revenue has remained steady, so we're not making any changes to that. And charter is also a very difficult um balancing act. Um, it can swing um very large from one year to the next. So, we're holding that steady. We have increased our interest revenue significantly um based on what we've received the last two to three years. So, this is a
018still a conservative estimate um but an estimate that I do feel comfortable with supporting the operating budget. The homeless and foster care reimbursement that has not been included in the on the revenue sheet in the past, but it is something that we have been receiving for the past few years. So, we are now including that. Previously when we had that um and received it, it would hit our general fund revenue and then would end up rolling into our EMD. But I just wanted to call that out because we are starting to receive that consistently. Um and then we have our END budget at at 800,000 is the width budget and 280,000 as a contingency. As you know, we are hitting our or we have hit our max in END. So, it's an important balancing act
019to ensure um that we do utilize those funds to support the budget and and review it year-over-year. Down here at the bottom, we have the assessments for each town. Um so, Amherst has an increase of 4.11%, Pelong 8.38%, Le 4.18, and Sheesberry at 1.42% 42% increase because the um at the end of FY25 we had more funds in END that allowed 151,000 um to be exact. The school committee um took a vote whether to apply that to the FY26 assessments or to focus it on the FY27. it was my recommendation that we um would adjust FY27 for a smoother cleaner process at that point. Um so down here at the bottom we've divided up the amount that these assessments in the blue column would be reduced for each um town. However, the amount in the
020blue t in the blue would be the base for next year. Um so with the reductions um or with these assessments, the reduction required of the district would be $1.1 million. So I'm going to talk a little bit about um what these reductions are, the budget adjustments and additions that we have here. So on budget adjustments, it's important to realize that these are not um actual reductions. These are a change in how we're funded. So, we have a summit teacher that we will move on to the summit revolving fund. The position is not being eliminated. It's just going to be funded from a different source. We also have the sixth graders moving into the middle school and there are going to be shared staff between the region and between Amherst School District. Um so we've
021been working through that with the Amherst um school committee and we have an estimated savings in the region because staff will be split between of $197,000. So that's also um being taken into account. We have a preliminary estimate of school aid of $175,000. This is a conservative number. I don't know where this will land in the state. Um I was hoping last year that we were going to see a large increase, but then they um ended up decreasing um the the amount we would receive from from the prior year. So this is still conservative and I hope that there's continued application for rural school aid um so that we would see an increase to this. Um, we're moving a salary intervention teacher to title one and that's a a a federal entitlement grant. We last
022year um there was a lot of discussion around our athletics revolving fund and we had to shift some of the operating or some of the cost for athletics onto the operating budget and that was our contract of transportation for athletics. So, I'm gradually going to start putting that back onto the athletic fund. We have seen a a big increase in our revenue collections um for athletics this year and that's um partly due to moving to electronic payments and um Georgia and Victoria have done a a great job in staying up to date and making sure that we are collecting those fees. Um we have a counselor that will um move on to a grant that we have available and also this there's a psychologist that will be moving on to the grant as well. I
023will say this psychologist is also an ad um but the ad becomes a wash because we're going to support it on the grant and I'll talk a little bit more about that on the next slide. So here are our budget additions. Um so we have um like I just said an ad of the psychologist due to the shifting needs of students that we see will um be needed for the upcoming fiscal year. We also have an ad for BCBA um and I cannot remember the exact um acronym that BCBA stands for. So Tanya if you remember that would be helpful. Um >> board certified behavior analyst. >> Thank you. Um so there is an increase in need for those types of services. So um in speaking with SSO our um Joanne Smith she is recommending
024that we have an an additional staff member for that as well. When we move down to reductions um the um the keeper Mackie did a really great presentation Tuesday night um around this part. So I will do my best uh to to relay this information. So we have we looked at um how many students are in CLA in in the classrooms and can we adjust teachers based on the classroom size and so we do have some uh departments that are running 36 to 48% and not the full section. Um so we can reduce and consolidate classrooms in that way. And it's important to know that um there's also some retirements that are coming up at the end of this year. So it's not actually um those people are leaving but no one will be losing
025their jobs in the sense of that um we also have a reduction of S of 1.0 know SE which is part of the STEPS program but it's my understanding that there were was a specific cohort of students um in the STEPS program that have made it on to um their senior year and there the students that that we can support the students that may have similar way forward within this model in other models. um because it is it is small group and um we would still have the supports other other places. So while we might not have the step specific program, we're able to meet their needs um and their needs might have been different from what the steps program was originally intended for. Um in our um counseling, unit A counseling, we have a
026reduction of 2.0. And uh part of this is we have a bright program within the middle school and the high school. Um and right now we only have three referrals for that for the Bright counseling. Um so we're going to move to a district model where there's uh one counselor for the Bright. Um and we're still working through the specifics of this, but this is what we're envisioning now. um and that if there are needs for um students, we can support them through our other programs. And while it might not be called the Bright program, we shouldn't hold to the name of the program, but rather that we're ensuring we're meeting the students needs through what we do have to offer in in other ways and being that it's a a low farming of students
027um to make to make this shift. There's also um a reduction in unit C para educators and this is um based on the current case load and student needs and legally mandated required services. Um and these positions are currently vacant within um the districtwide um specialized services there. Um Joanne, our current interim director of SSO, reviewed our case loads and what are the students needing the most. So there is um a reduction within our SLP um or SLPA actually to um reduce because based on the current needs that those needs are lower so we don't need that but however there is a higher need in terms of our psychological services. So hence the ad that you saw before for the psychologist which will be offset by the budget. So it's looking at what the current
028demand is for the student needs and making sure we're matching our services with those needs. Um we also have a reduction within committee action due to a staff member leaving and refilling with um a salary that is lesser. Um, so it's natural attrition that we're taking into account. Um, as part of uh non payroll salary people lines, we have um school-based program development segments. Um, and we're reducing those stipens. Um, and we can offset those a little bit with using title two funds, which is for high quality professional development. um needs of that sort, we can utilize title two for instead. There's also a suggestion in our unit B clerical positions across um the high school, middle school, and central office reducing their work days from 261 days to 241 days. Um and these days
029would uh the days that they were reduced would align with the current school breaks that are taken during the fiscal year. And lastly, due to reductions in physicians, we have to adjust the fringe to health insurance um to the staffing level. So with those, we know that um we would have a little bit less of health insurance um needed. So, I I think one other important piece that I want to hit before I turn this back over to Tanya is that within the reductions um there's no actual person losing their position that we were able to achieve this budget by moving funds um within the grants within the revolving funds by um reducing things that are being um that are retiring that are vacant and still being able to maintain um a a good education
030for the students. So, I think that's really important and a really difficult thing to do when you have a million dollar budget cut um to achieve. So, I think that's worth acknowledgement. And then Tanya, I will hand it over to you to do a final wrap up. >> All right, I'm back. Um, so what we hope for you today is to understand what we're trying to do is to not only think about our instructional programming and aligning services, but our school committee was very clear and gave us some directives around what their priorities are. And that's important. It's important to know that our school committee is focused and and working to ensure that students have high quality education. So they wanted to preserve uh student facing positions. They wanted us to make sure we're compliant
031legally with our federal and state guidelines. They want us to think about sustainability. So what you see is a collaborative effort between principles and uh APS and the district office to ensure that our alignments around cuts happened in a way that preserved what they were looking for but also paid attention to our enrollment and shifts in our delivery model. So as Shannon um you can go ahead now as Shannon goes through this list or as you look at the list um one of the things that u need to be in the forefront is that's what we try to do we try to understand how has our enrollment shifted how have our needs increased and where and how do we align those things so that we meet not only what our school committee charges us to
032do but also stays legal and ensure that we're in compliance with uh federal and state laws. So, I thank you all for your time. I thank you all for the work that you're doing and I um turn it over to Sarah Best, I believe, for questions. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. So, uh we'll have some clarifying questions. We can do for normal our we can have some clarifying questions and then we can um have our regular breakout sessions and come back, have a discussion and go on another afternoon. Are there any clarifying questions to start? >> I'm Steve Weiss with the Lwood Finance Committee. Um, I have a couple of questions about salary increases. These are found on page 18 of the budget book. Um, first of all, the payroll for school administration under
033this proposed budget goes up 16.8%. Could someone explain why there's such a large increase? >> Um, yes. Let me uh I'm just going to stop sharing this screen so I can look at what you're looking at really quick. Was this in the um beginning intro of it or were you looking at the actual line by line? >> This is on page 18 of the budget book titled the expense budget um FY2027 proposed budget general fund appropriation and the first part of it is payroll accounts. Okay, it is opening and I'm just going to go down to page 18 so I can be sure I'm looking at the right thing. Can I clarify? Did you say just central or all payroll? This is just >> this is school administration. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> I
034couldn't figure out which line I was listening. >> So the school administration would be the principles. It would be um the uh assistant principles. It would also be um I believe the deans roll up to that as well if I'm remembering correctly. Um sorry if we if you want to um if we could just come back to this really quick. I just want to pull up so I can be very specific. Um, and while I do that, if there's just another question, I'll come right after that just so that you're not sitting waiting. >> She's pulling up more information. >> Shannon, we ask all of our questions answers. Yeah, that's another good idea. It's It's just when it gets really specific into account lines, I take like I do have to go and look specifically,
035you know, you know what I mean? >> Great. So, why don't you ask your questions? >> The other question that I have on the payroll accounts is the almost 30% increase in the appropriation for substitutes. >> Yes. So that is because if you look at the actuals in the prior years, it's much higher than what we've actually budgeted. So I did an average of the last three years to increase those substitute ones because we are seeing um a an increase in needing substitutes with staff absenteeism. >> That seems like a large increase. Is there some reason why there's such an increase in staff absenteeism? I think that's worth looking into. I I used I didn't just take an arbitrary number. I used the last three year actual averages to come up with what the increase
036would be. Um as far as why we have that absentee death, I think that's something that we would have to look further into. Thanks Shannon. Um, when looking at revenues, the line for charter reimbursement, does that match what I see on the cherry seat and the difference? And so, could you explain the difference of it? It's significant enough. It's $400,000 difference that it's why. >> Yes. the the cherry tree historically um for what the charter revenue would be and for what the charter assessment would be never matches or is close to being what actually happens. Um so it's it's a bit of a false number for us to use that um as as what we think we would receive. Um so the the better way to look at it in my opinion is we have
037a sheet to um actually track um the students and by grade level and um it's it's a projection tool that we use to to determine how much we think we'll pay um and how much we think we'll receive. And charter's interesting because the first year you receive 100 um% reimbursement. the second year that student is attending is 60% reimbursement and then goes down to 40%. So it's kind of like this um waterfall effect and we have a an actual cell um document that we use for that projection rather than following what the chair does or provides. Um so then I have I have a follow-up request on charter when you produce the overall report if you would do a charter section that would show actuals for the last five the four years before this um
038student caps and net because one part is the reimbursement. So I think the assessment is in the expense line called other and I'm doing it for the public also to understand this is a there's a net outflow on the cherry sheet of almost $2 million you know for FY27 I'd have to go back to the other years. Um so I think it's it's useful information for everyone to have. to my and and then if the initial generation sheet isn't accurate, it would be good for us to see what we originally had in the budget for, you know, because if it comes in at higher, it's very helpful, you know, does that go into reserve funds or cash flow. So, it's just a it's a big enough difference that it would be worth tracking. Thank you.
039Sure. >> Hi Shannon. I was just wondering what the date um you used for the enrollment truth projections were because I think you're expecting one in February. >> Um the date of what I'm sorry >> the charter school enrollments. So, I have not actually received so I've been emailing the state for the Q2 report of the specific actual for FY26 and they're currently moving to a new system um called CHAMP and not on the security portal. Um and so I've been quite annoying to get those actual. So I had to just go on like everybody else and take what the preliminary estimate on the DESIE's website is. Um, I would have much preferred to have the actual enrollment though. >> Is that does that answer your question? >> Yes. >> Thanks, Shannon. Are there any
040further clarifying questions? >> No. >> Thank you, Shannon. If we could go back to page 18 of the budget book. >> Yep. >> This time under expense accounts. Yep. >> Um, two questions. Um, although they're similar. The, um, increases for special education, other programs, and central administration. Do you anticipate the same level of increase for the following year? >> Um, it's really hard to tell in terms of special education because it's all dependent on student need. Um and we do have um poss possibly up to three residential placements at the region for special education. Um so it's just really difficult to know I but if I had to guess I would say yes in terms of special ed um for other programs which is our tourist charter and vote um I have we have seen
041a trend of increase over the last few years. So I I don't think that we would see a decrease at this point. Um but also difficult to answer if somehow students magically come back to the district and from choicing out and from charter uh that would be great. Uh but I I I don't know the answer to that. um and central administration. I think we won't see as large of an increase because we're right now we're aligning with the increase for um the audits, the increase for our new um HR platform. We do we I did take an average of the last three years for our legal fees. Um if those tend to come back down, I it could possibly be a decrease. Um but I don't think I don't know that we'll see increase
042as high because we've taken into account um some of like we've increased the the some of the budget lines to align more with what we've actually been spending and they're lower due to the increase that had been increased in the past if that makes sense. And then one other question under expense accounts there is a significant reduction in contingency in the reserves over 25%. But that the lines over the last few years are wildly different. Uh could you help us understand better what this category is and what you anticipate going forward? >> Yeah. So the contingencies and reserves um that's where um we would have like a bucket for degree changes because those by contract um if a if a staff member does have a degree change and they and they switch lanes um of
043that sort, they're entitled to a higher salary. So we do have a bucket for that. Um we do have a bucket in there for professional leave and maternity leave when staff go out. Um there are also merit awards per the union contracts that we provide. So there's a budget amount in there. Um it's also aware over the past few years when we had er where er funds were held or decreasing the budget by that amount. So it's always a a wonky number. Um there's I also put an an estimate for what I anticipate the region to receive in um rental income from the Amherst School District because the Chestnut Street Academy is um going to be within the middle school. We haven't finalized that contract, but I wanted to make sure that it was taken
044into account in this budget. Um, so that that is a negative number within the budget that you know kind of is is funky and changes um what the total is and why the difference is um from FY26 to FY27 why you see a decrease there. >> One last question about that line. Could you explain why between fiscal year 24 and fiscal year 26 the amount budgeted for this line goes from $171 to 53,000? >> Um yes. So we don't actually when somebody so we save a bus like we save the money down below for what um for these contingencies that come up but when they're actually charged for instance if a staff member does have a lane change we're not going to charge that lane change at the bottom we charge it to the payroll
045line that they're um charged to and partly because when we do the end of year report we have to make sure that we report that person's salary in the right bucket um and same with the um merit awards, the merit awards that are in there, we move that at the end or they get paid out of the the person's salary line and we want to make sure that that is, you know, for the end of your reporting within the right bucket. When we reduce an account line um in the control accounts like what what was done in the past for ESSER, um we're just reducing the overall budget and that's an an easy place to put it. But then when we actually moved funds from the operating budget onto ESER, we had to move funds
046that are in different lines of the operating budget, not they're not sitting in this contingency spot. Um, so it's it's not that things actually get charged here. It's just where we put our contingencies and then the actual costs go to the appropriate line to ensure that we're um reporting it correctly at the end of the year. >> Thank you. Nancy Gman, love our finance committee. Um, when I looked at that document, I found it frustrating that the um percentage changes were left off. Um, was there a reason that happened and could those be uh included in the future? Because I found it very hard to interpret the information without doing all the calculations myself. >> Yes. Which document were you referring to? >> Uh, so the same one that Steve is is asking about the
047budget book. Um, and right now we're looking at page 18 as the >> right. So it just has the dollar amount and not the percentage, >> right? Um, which is very difficult to interpret what what the information was. >> Yep. >> Thank you. Great. >> Hi Shannon. Hope you're feeling better. Uh Lyn Grief from Ammerst Council and finance committee. Um, but have we ever done a comparison once we move to the new special ed model of doing higher special needs within schools as to what are we actually saving or compared to if we had tuition those students out that doesn't get into the philosophical issue of whether we'd like to keep them local. I want to be very clear that's a very important issue. But just the cost of yours because one of the reasons
048for that change several years ago was so philosophical in terms of keeping kids local but also eventually it would save money. >> Um so just to recap your question I want to make sure it was a little muffled in some spots from my end. Um, you're asking if we h like the difference between keeping students inhouse versus keeping them out and is it which one is more have we done an analysis or which one is less and does it still make sense to do it how we've been doing it? >> Right. >> Yes. Again though, absolutely stressing that going out does not philosophically meet that goal of >> um so we we haven't conducted a formal analysis with any types of reports to that. Um but I think it's important to understand the cost of
049of as what another district placement is for one student alone. um which can be upwards to $130 $200,000 for just one student plus the transportation cost. Um and sometimes if a student if we have multiple other districts that are going to the same place, we can save on transportation because they can ride the same van. Um but sometimes that's not always the case. And so when they're in a setting or in a program within the district um such as summit where we can have teachers and multiple students being serviced at a much lower number than receive than paying 150 to you know up to 200 $250,000. It it is cheaper significantly cheaper to have them inhouse and we only try to send them out when when we can no longer meet their needs within the
050district. Um, but if there is some formal thing to that that you would like us to put together, I'm I think Joan and I would be more than happy to do so. And I just want to say I heard you say not philosophically, but um, also we have to put the kids in the least restrictive environment for to meet their fate needs. So just want to give that caveat as you talk about that. Thank you. >> I was just going to speak I think >> I think I was just going to say I think the transportation cost alone, we were looking at it one time it was like $600 a van per day. So if it was one child, I think the cost was like $600 a day just to transport them. So just transport
051alone without paying the tuition, you know, would be a huge expense that we wouldn't have to do if they stayed here. And the only other question I have was the um HR platform. Is that a one-time fee? And if it is, could we look at our talents on their free cash and do a different request for that? Or is it not a one time the HR platform? >> Yeah, it's not a one time. Um, it's not a one time thing. It's it's carrying over year to year. >> Morning. Uh, AJ Cashy from the Shbury Finance Committee. I was wondering um if you could talk about sort of what process there is for disagregating the costs associated with the the sixth grade academy and how that um either gets compensated to the region or like I'm
052just looking at lines like facilities utilities I I assume you know some some portion of those costs class um need to be applied to the sixth grade uh academy. If so, how is that happening? And um or is that what the rental income is designed to do is compensate the district for those for share those costs? >> Yeah. So, um for for the rental, the cost of the utilities, um the facilities, um maintenance, things of that sort, that will be all a part of the lease. Um, so I haven't I have already reduced the budget for what I anticipate that'll end up finalizing around. Um, and then that money will actually go into a revolving fund. We'll have to set up a separate account and move a portion of the um, utilities onto that revolving
053fund. Um, so the revenue will go in that revolving fund and then we'll end up charging the utilities to that which will um, have a net effect. But for right now, I just have that amount in the control accounts until we finalize and know exactly how much it's going to be. >> So, so just a followup. So, is the amount of that lease being um calculated as a as a function of what share of those costs are going to um to proportionally be be applied to the sixth grade students. Is that how you're Okay. based on square footage. >> Great. Oh, sorry. >> Great question. Um, we didn't hear anything about the capital plan and the capital budget and what the assessments for capital will be in going forward next couple years. Are we going
054to hear about that at this meeting? And Shen and I have a followup on that question. There are a couple big ticket items um high school roof, windows, um and doors. And the question is both are they priced out in current dollars like 26 or you have projected expense. Second question is, are we applying for the accelerated repair program? Because that's when there's a huge jump for every town when those one is an $8 million placeholder and one is a $10 million placeholder. They have both. >> Okay. Uh so good point, Mandy. So I can actually So in the document that Sarah Res shared out yesterday at the end of the book, it's like going down to like 120 out of 130 pages, it does have the capital information on there. Um so nothing has
055changed in terms of the capital projects that we would like to ask for, but since we're here, I will just take the opportunity to share that. Um and again, it is in the end of the book um that was shared. So, for the capital budget, we um for the high school, we were looking for um the domestic hot water heaters replacement. Um those are over 20 years. Um and a adjustment to or a repair of the HVAC in the um room 2011 to a green 205 at the high school. um e-wing roof patching, which is actually something that one of our staff members can do, but we need to be able to purchase um the shingling for that at uh for the high schools. There's an additional funding for the design work for the girls
056locker room and the adult bathroom that's within the high school. Um the middle school um elevator needs to have an oil change and we've learned from the high school that oil change is about $10,000 or so. Um so that's a capital request and that's only done every couple every couple years. And then the uh electrical service upgrade at the middle school um which is updating the main breaker and it's original to the school and it's really difficult to to have replacement parts. Um there's also at the middle school the wood shop door um that needs replacement as well and funding for continuous needs for ADA work that arrives during or throughout the school year which is a total of $497,000. Um I on page 129 of the document that was sent out yesterday, it has
057the capital plan forecast for the next 10 years. Um, and this is something that, um, I put together in conjunction with D, the director of operations and really going through what we anticipate in the in the next few years here. Um, but the I won't go through this specifically, but you can see the projects listed to the left. Um, then on the last page of the budget book, it has the assessments for this year. Um so for fly 27 I have separated out the roof project and the track and field project. Um in terms of the vet assessment that was something that was brought forth by um Sarah Marsha who also collaborated with us for the capital plan. Um and just because these were two big projects that the um community supported I thought it
058was important to to show those separately. And then we have the debt for all of the other projects um listed under FY21 to FY26. Then um so this is a total of um 944,000 with AERS at 761,000. Pelum at 29,000. Helms is significantly less than the others because of the cash payment for the uh middle school roof. And then Lever's at 86,000 and Sheetsbury is at 67,000 for a total debt support for FY27. Um so that's just a brief overview and thank you Joe for bringing that up. Um Kathy, I know you had other questions and um if you could just briefly repeat what your question was. Actually, I heard you better without the microphone. With the microphone, it's being really muffled and I'm trying really hard to >> Is my voice clear right now?
059>> Yes. >> Okay. So, if you're looking at Alge trying to anticipate in terms of a plan, you have two big expenses. One is high school roof at 8 million and then it's windows and doors at 10 million a couple years later. And if you go down to the town share, that's when the big jumps happen. So my two questions about those entrance was one the $8 million is as many of us will remember is less than what we just did for the middle school for part of the roof. So, is the 8 million in current dollars or have you already anticipated what the cost will be or are you planning on going to the accelerated repair program and this would be the region's share of it if we got that? And the same question
060then is for the 10 million. is the 10 million assuming we're in accelerator repair and that's our share or and andor is it in what is 20 $32 you know the the year that is put in and I'm just looking because if you go down to the town share there's a huge jump in each of the years those come in so trying to think in advance of how to avoid that would be great in terms of the capital plan so it the I just line that up with big jump is those two big ticket items when I look down the columns. >> Yeah. Yeah. So these are placeholders and we put them in there to give you an idea that this is something that's coming down the line and but it is something we would
061apply for a grant for and it and it might not be in FY30 that it happens but it might be um I forget off the top of my head when the high school group would qualify for MSBI. It might be an FY30 and that's why we listed it in there and then we would start applying for that. Um and and so that's an estimate. I know that the middle school roof um estimate was at 10 million. Um but I do think that I'm hoping that the bids do come in less um than that and I I I think that they might just giving some things that I have been hearing. So but this 8 million and this 10 million right now is an estimate without the MSBA. Um but if we will certainly apply for
062the MSBA. So that is inflating um the tariffs portion because of that. >> Thanks Shannon. Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um so it does not include MSBA. Is it possible that the roof and the windows and doors might go in under the same application? And are there other things that would go in under the same application? That might be a yearby-year issue because whether or not they're eligible, that's just a question for down the road. The other question is in both the middle school and the high school, I think you've already clarified that the middle school is solar ready. Correct. >> It is not. Okay. All right. My next question. >> Sarah, um, was I have to say I don't I heard you at the beginning, Lynn, but then it was really
063muffled, so I'm not sure if there's a question I needed to answer. I know Sarah Best shook her head and then you responded. The question was I thought we clarified middle school solar ready but I'm hearing no >> whether it's solar the middle school roof is solar ready or not Jim solar >> ready. >> Yeah. So there's a portion of the roof that was required. So a portion of the roof needed to be solar ready for the new MSBA requirements. So there is a small portion that would be solar ready. Yes. but not the entire year. >> Have we begun an application process for any reimbursement for funds from any of the opportunities that >> No, we have not. So, just to add to the solar readiness question, the the portion of the roof that
064is being prepared for solar is from what I can tell not going to be done in a cost-effective way because the cost of adding steel dunage to the top of the roof basically erases gains long term of solar power. Portions of the auditorium roof may not need that additional dummy structure. Um, we also have not seen plan for the auditorium roof. So, there's more to learn about there. >> Okay. Excellent. Thank you all very much. So, it is now 10:05. So, how about at 10:20 we come back here and finish up and then we can have our So, be back here 10:20. How you doing? >> How you doing? You did. All right, everybody ready? >> Thank you. >> So, thank you all for taking the time to discuss your sounds. Are there any um
065any final thoughts anyone would like to share um from your from the breakout sessions? >> You want to start Mandy Joe Hanny Tommer. Um, we talked a little bit about more about capital than the operating, but we did want to say that in generally the operating proposal this year was was we were pleased with from just the presentation itself. Um, how it was presented. Uh, the seems to be that there's a restructuring that will provide a lot of the same level of services and that it was very thoughtful. um for operating. There is a concern about the the statements that the bases on how the FY20 8 budget I guess it would be for assessments would be calculated on something that is not paid this year because of that EMD adjustment. um concern for not
066just Ammeris but the four towns because the way we tend to build our budget is what based on what we for the next year is based on what we actually pay and are assessed not some number above that. So there's just a concern about that that might need a little bit more discussion in the four towns regarding how this looks going forward given the EMD sort of decreased assessment for capital. Um we have a lot of concerns about those out years particularly starting in FY30 with the large numbers. We understand that things are not really known right now, but we need to begin our our thoughts are that we need to begin discussing as soon as possible and figuring out alternative funding sources now. Um talking about the plan now talking about what is eligible
067when it first becomes eligible. Is it the whole roof? Is it the roof plus all the windows? Or is it only a portion of a roof such that if the schools would want to do the whole roof at the same time but only a portion qualifies? we don't end up in the situation we ended up this year. Um and so starting that planning discussions now at both the region and at four towns is something we would we would welcome in terms of how we can afford that but also what what would be on those plans particularly for the large projects. Did I miss anything? Um and and just in that same context, Shannon, um this current FY27 capital list, um is there a need for a piece called capital planning and roof assessment? Not sure
068where the Gail report was for, but trying to think of getting ready for that accelerated repair. So it that wasn't on the list. Do you need to have something like that on the list? Susie Moer's very income. I want to thank the uh regent for this presentation. There was a lot of detailed information that I feel we can bring back to our citizens and put on our website this report so that it takes some of the um angst out of the changes that are ahead. Thank you. Um, first of all, I like to thank Shannon for a wonderful presentation. This is the most pleasing service and brought all the government together and did a very very good job and I thank you. uh from Pal's perspective, I'll just give you the overall between the increase
069here, the increase in the elementary school budget, and now the the elementary school budget and the town budget is all level funded for last year. There's no increase in the elementary school. The town's paying they're paying taking their increase out of their school choice account and the town is level funded. we have a separate article to bring it to a level services. We'll see if the town agrees to that. But my point in mentioning this is that we have reached the point in taxation. Our and I've said before our increase of two and a half% is 135,000 this year. The budget increases that we've gotten included the 101,000 year and the 100,000 n for the elementary school and the town will put us close to 270,000. You can see the town of Pel is already
070in a fiscal constraint. We'll go for override next year. Our tax rates already up to 1872. If these increases continue, pill will be looking for a partner. Um and that's the future we're looking at. So, thank you. One other quick uh request. I've asked I'm trying to get the numbers for grade 13. For some reason, we have five people in grade 13 and I have been unable to find any where I could what how much longer each of those five are there and that's adding to our numbers in the school. And uh so we know they're there like they're 22 years old, but I just haven't get that. If someone could get that to me, I'd appreciate it. Thank you. >> Just for clarity, grade 13 is for special students who receive services beyond grade
07112. >> Thank you. >> Phil Carter, Le Finance Committee. Um we will defer to Pelum on this uh operating budget. Um tell them to live with 8.4% in their assessment. If you say you can live with that um we will we will we will go along with a 4.2% assessment in our uh increase in our assessment. Um I am personally very surprised if you are willing to live with 8.4% increase in your assessment. If you say that you need cuts in the regional school budget, we will support you in that. We will go along with that. Um, but if you say you can live with an 8.4% increase, we will go along with a 4.2% increase in our >> Great. Um, so I think this might be our earliest form we have ever had. Uh,
072so I just want to say thank you again to Shannon and her team. Um, this was an excellent budget presentation this year and I know they worked extremely hard. Um, so thank you. Um, and thank you for talents for coming and meeting with us again this morning. Um, and I'm going to say the regional school committee is adjourned. Thank you. finance. We're a journey. Thanks, Kathy. I was worried it was going to be our longest