001So first and foremost, thank you everybody. We will call this meeting to order. It is now 6:40 on this Tuesday uh even evening. Uh key is getting up the presentation >> and we're going to start with a salute to the flag. I pledge algiance to the flag to the flag of the United States of America to the standy. >> Thank you. Uh roll calls. Miss Matias. >> Thank you madam president. Miss Boens >> present. >> Miss Richardson >> present. >> Mr. Callahan >> here. >> Miss Roberts >> present. Mr. Tom >> present. >> Miss Cook Henry >> present. Miss Ivory >> and Mr. Right. >> Thank you very much. Can I get an approval of the agenda from June 30 for June 30th special meeting of board of directors? >> So moved. Second. >> Are
002there any comments, questions or concerns? Hearing none. Seeing none. All those in favor? >> I >> All those against. Okay. At this time, I will take we will be taking any public comments on agenda items at this time. If you would like to come and speak, we ask that you unmute your mic. you or raise your hand as uh state your first and last name and what burrow you may in. >> At this time, we'll take all comments. >> Um Aia Lewis has a comment. >> All right. At this time, Aia, you can step up and unmute your mic. Sorry, I'm just trying to get over here. Unmute your mic. Aia, you have the floor. All right. So Aia uh will circle back. Is there anyone else at this time? >> She's able to speak
003now. I just approved her. >> Oh, okay. Sorry about that. >> No problem. Good evening everyone. >> Sorry about that. >> It's no problem. It's fine. Um good evening everyone. Aa Lewis, Yayen Burrow. Um I did see the posts that the state did not pass the budget today. >> Yes. Um, I'm going to keep praying for everyone, um, that we hopefully get this budget passed soon. I'm highly disappointed. Um, but we're going to just keep pushing forward and keep fighting, y'all. I appreciate the work we're all doing. >> Thank you so much for speaking on that. Um, it's a lot of things passing, but just not that. How about that? A lot of things passed today, but just not that. >> Excellent. Thank you. >> Thank you. So at this time uh we are going
004to go into a presentation uh from our um our our our financial team uh Miss Debbie Malowski. She's going to present for us. >> Right. Good evening everyone. Tonight I will be presenting the final 2627 budget um for adoption. Um, I just want to start by saying that in this budget, we're re what we're looking to do is reinstate the positions that were eliminated in the current fiscal year. In addition, the staff needed to ensure that we're providing our schools with core allocations to provide successful outcomes K through 12. And in addition, our contractual obligations and new educational costs associated with the curriculum as we went through in the uh previous finance committee meetings. Um so as as you see here this is at proposed at a 3 point I'm sorry 4.351% increase. Um really
005the only changes from Thursday to tonight is that um the real estate revenue uh real estate tax revenue is down slightly due to the decrease from the original amount of 4.45% that was presented last week. at the um proposed budget. Um in addition, some savings on our curriculum by taking that over a three-year period instead of a two. So that that's why we were able to um get the proposed budget down to 4.351. And with this, this is the balance budget at at the proposed tax increase. Next slide. So this is the tax impact. And as you see at $100,000 at the current rate, the the tax is $3,286. With the new millage rate, it would be $3,429, which would be $143 increase annually at about 1192 a month. I have these two highlighted so
006I can show you um on the next screen the homestead um exemption and how um that will assist with the the tax burden. So on a $100,000 home, the homestead exclusion is a 23,210, which brings the millage rate down and the annual tax to $2,633. Um, and that can be calculated both ways. And these are examples. And then the same thing with the homestead at $150,000 assessed value. So, this is how you can determine the homestead tax credit. It is up from last year. It's at 795.87 and I believe last year it was um I think $15 less. I mean, yeah, less than it was this year. Um, next slide. And and really this is really about the homestead exclusion. This is how you can apply if you do not have the homestead exclusion. It
007needs to be your home primary home um in order to apply for the homestead and to get the credit. And really at this this is u the presentation. Um we did do this on Thursday. We did go through the budget. Um so I will turn it back over to Miss Hoff. >> Thank you very much. Um Debbie. Um Jen, we're going to move on to the uh adoption of the 2026 2027 general fund budget and then we can I'll turn it over to you after stating everything if that's okay. >> Yeah. >> All right. So uh this is to a motion to adop for the adoption of the 2026 2027 general fund budget. The recommended action is resolved that the budget of William Penn School District as presented totaling 148 million 971,97 be adopted having
008been pres printed and presented to the board and advertised in accordance with school code. >> Just said it. Be it further resolved that the William Penn School District Board of School Directors of Delaware Counties, Pennsylvania, hereby authorizes the appropriation and expenditure of funds as itemized in said budget during the fiscal year commencing July 1st, 2026. The necessary revenue for the same shall be by 4.351% real real estate transfer tax levied and assessed by a resolution imposing the same for the fiscal year commencing July 1st 2026 and by a school tax on real estate which is hereby levied and assessed at the rate of 34.29 29 mills on the dollar on the total amount of the assessed val valuation on all property taxable not to exceed the 5.2% index for school purposes in the William Penn
009School District Delaware County, Pennsylvania or at the rate of $34.29 on each $1,000 of assessed valuation of taxable property. At this time, uh we will open up the floor. Uh let's go turn the attorney uh meeting over to Jen. >> So we got to get a first and second. >> Yes. Can I get a second? Yeah. Thank you so much. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you. >> All right. And so I would say at this time, are there any comments, questions, or concerns? And Jen, you'll have the floor. I would like to speak after you as well. >> Yeah. I mean, I think we are here again. Uh we find ourselves in the unenviable position of not having a state budget. So, in fact, guessing as to what they will do, I hear
010they're working hard, but it is June 30th and it is our obligation to pass a budget whether we have a budget in front of us or not. I will say that Dr. B Coats has been a very, very good steward of our money. Um, our district goal is to have our students do better and they are. Um, that took some money. Uh, that took some interventionists. Unfortunately, we had to let them go last year. Um, and I I would love to have them back this year. I am supporting a 4.3 51. Miss Boykins. >> Yes. Um, with that being said, uh, I know that every year we have to make this decision and I understand it's very tough on our taxpayers. Um, I am in support of a 4.351%. Um, and I feel like we
011have benefited. Um, being the youngest on the board, I've had the opportunity to sit through times where we have a where we have had 0% increase. And now as I matured sitting in this seat, I have seen how the 0% increase has hurt us in the past. Right now we're at a point where we really are struggling uh with regard to um having a fund balance. Um I think about right now with bringing in another superintendent. Uh Dr. BC Coat is on his way out and with that being said, we want to ensure that our school district is somewhat stable for that next superintendent that is coming in. And if we start that superintendent off with a budget that we know he or she may not be able to manage due to the fact of
012our decisions of today, I think that it will hurt us in the long run. I do understand um I I feel I appreciate the information that Debbie has presented. I do understand how um it would how it be will be an extra $11 and plus on some people's homes that are valued at 100,000 um and more. I do understand that. Um, but I really am trying to fight and we are trying to fight to ensure that our kids have what they need every single day during the school. And with that being said, you know, let's start, you know, they the state still owes us $28 million from our lawsuit. You know, um, if we we fought to get that because we were um unfunded, fairly not fairly funded. And with that being said, I think
013that that is the bigger issue. if we had that 28 million that we were supposed to get on top of our budget, we would not be in this situation. So, I just asked the board of directors um if they could vote for a 4.351% increase due to the fact that one, we are in need of the money. Two, we want to make sure that the next superintendent that is coming in um is stable and is able to hit the ground running as we did with Dr. BC Coats. And three, it's our obligation as board of directors. One, we handle the money physically, financially, and responsibly. But on top of that, we make sure we provide for our stakeholders, which is our community, our students, and our teachers and our staff. And majority of our budget,
014if we think about it, is for our staff. We cannot fall short on paying our teachers what they need either. So that's my that's what I have to say. And I'm just asking if board of directors, please support me with that. Yeah, Mr. Callahan. >> Good evening. Uh, I appreciate what both you and Jen said. Uh, for the record, I'm going to vote no. Uh, I think prominently that we have reached the saturation point for taxes or are fairly frankly quite approaching it. Uh, second of all, obviously the state has not put any skin in the game by passing their budget. Uh thirdly, I think that these budget meetings where we pass these tax increases should be done in public and looking taxpayers in the eye instead of on Zoom. And and thirdly, uh at
0154.9, there's no alternative to this. Okay? Uh and I'm going to propose in the future that the budget be addressed uh a few weeks before the deadline so if there are objections to it that we can uh discuss those and and work around them uh in case the vote goes one way or the other. There's still time to uh reconcile this. But uh that's where I stand. Mr. Callahan, you know, we've had monthly budget readings since February, correct? >> And I and I have to second on that because this was done very thorough. And one thing I want to say is is that um Debbie was very thorough in every single presentation that she presented at a budget meeting to ensure that we have board of directors would be ready for today. Every meeting she
016talked about the differences going from 3.9% there was even I believe a example of 2.5%. She and other staff members had the opportunity to speak on what we will be losing at what for instance if we go from 3.9 to I believe it was like four or five that will be $300,000 that we would be a difference and we sat down and we talked about this at budget meetings and u Mr. Callahan, I really what bothers me is is that what what you said. You said that I would like if we would present this earlier. I made sure that Jen and I spoke. Miss Debbie al so I asked for certain things after certain meetings. She emailed us after the meeting and and provided that information. Even went back and asked questions to ensure that
017her Jen's questions that she asked from the original meeting was answered. So, I I I really feel I take that personal because as the president, I feel like this is one of the most important things that we have to make sure that we have straight and I made sure that Jen followed through and with the with the leadership of Miss um Debbie made sure that we communicated this budget information. >> That may be all well and good, but if the vote in theory was no tonight, is there any time between now and tomorrow to discuss and rectify or make any adjustments? The answer to that question is no. >> Mr. Callahan will do another motion with another number and and and Miss Mosowski has shown us what we lose with every change. Right? So if
018you look at uh the document from last week's budget meeting, it says it says very clearly. So >> I was there. >> Okay. So, you know what we give up at every price, at every number, right? Because we did a 3.5 and a 2.9. We know at two 2.9 we lose staff, right? We lose special ed staff. Truthfully, that staff is responsible for our young people and not getting us sued. One person is equal to one lawsuit and it will be covered instantly. So I think we're being a a little I don't know pennywise pound foolish. We are tasked with educating our children. We have proof that our money has made a difference and that's that. Again, if we don't do this, we're asking our superintendent to do le more with less, right? And we
019swore we wouldn't do that ever again. Thank you. >> Anyone have Anyone else have any questions or concerns? >> I don't see any. >> How about uh the audience? >> We have to do a roll call ver uh vote first. >> Sorry. >> No problem. So, I don't see any more questions. I'm going to do a a roll call vote for the adoption of the 2627 budget. Mr. Right. Miss Hoff. >> Yes. >> Miss Richardson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Tong. >> Yes. >> Mr. Callahan. >> No. >> Miss Cook Henry. >> No. >> Miss Roberts. >> No. >> Miss Ivory. Did you say yes? >> I couldn't hear. >> Could you say that one more time, please? >> Miss Ivory, could you repeat your vote? I did not hear you. >> Yes. >> Miss Boykins,
020yes. Want to count the votes? We have one, two, three, four, five. Yes. One, two, three. Nos. The motion passes. Thank you very much, board of directors. Next, we're going to go on to the homestead exclusion resolution. 2026 Homestead exclusion resolution. The motion is to adopt the 2026 homestead ex exclusion resolution corresponding to the adopted 2026 2027 final general fund budget and authorizing the homestead real estate tax assessment reduction in accordance with the homestead property exclusion program act 50 of 1998 and the taxpayers relief act uh act one of 2006. So moved. >> Uh, thank you. It says it's more I'm sorry, it was more to it. It says um in accordance with the Homestead Property Exclusion Property Act Act 50 of 1998 and the Taxpayer Relief Act, Act One of 2006, the board of
021directors is required to adopt a Homestead Exclusion Resolution establishing the Homestead Real Estate Tax Assessment Reduction for the 2026 and 2027 fiscal year. A resolution has been prepared to correspond with the proposed final budget option under consideration. Only the resolution associated with the budget adopted by the board will become effective and authorized the applicable uh homestead exclusion for the eligible property owners. >> Can I get a second? >> I second that. >> So moved. >> Thank you very much. Um all those in favor No. Are there are there any comments, questions or concerns? All right. Hearing or seeing none. All those in favor? >> I I >> I all those against. All right. Hearing or seeing none. With that being said, that concludes our meeting. Thank you very much, board of directors, uh, for taking
022time out your day and everyone have a great evening. Thank you, Debbie. Thank you, Jenn. >> Be careful in the heat, folks.