001Good evening. >> Good evening. >> I want to welcome everybody here. Such a wonderful crowd in the audience tonight. We're really excited to get to recognize uh so many things happening in our district uh tonight. So, today is Monday, April 13th, and you are attending our regular schedule board meeting. So at this time, if you would like to join me in um a invocation for the evening. Heavenly Father, we come before you tonight with grateful hearts, acknowledging your hand over this district, this community, and each person gathered here. Lord, we thank you for the students that we are called to serve. Each one uniquely created with purpose and potential. We thank you for the families who entrust us with their children and for the opportunity to walk alongside them in shaping their futures. We lift
002up our teachers, our coaches, and our staff the greatest influence in the daily lives of our students. Strengthen them. Lord, renew their energy. Deepen their patience and remind them that their work matters far beyond what is seen. Father, grant this board wisdom and discernment as we lead. Help us make decisions rooted in integrity, grounded in truth, and focused always on what is best for our children. Give us clarity of purpose, unity, and spirit, and courage to do what is right. I pray for the protection over our schools, families, and our staff. And let all that we do bring you honor. In your name I pray. Amen. >> Amen. >> All right. And at this time, I would like to ask for Miss Maya Cobb to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. I got it
003with you. We'll do it together. >> Just say that. >> Um, attention. Pledge. I pledge algiance 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. >> And Maya is a junior at Wajala High School, and we'll be able to celebrate her and her team in just a few minutes. So, at this time, I would like to ask for approval of our April 13th uh board meeting agenda. I make a motion that we approve the board meeting agenda for April 13, 2026. >> Motion and second. Any discussion? All in favor? All right. Thank you. All right. Now for the great part of special recognition. >> Yeah, I don't know about y'all, but it just uh feels good
004to have the uh the energy of students in the room tonight and always a privilege. We talk a lot about excellence. Uh but we have so many great examples of excellence taking place right here in our district every day. Certainly a few examples of that you'll get to see tonight. So for the very first recognition, call uh Miss Jennifer Crawford to the to the podium to recognize the the Walla girls basketball team from this year. >> Good evening. Um, thank you so much for having us back here and I get to say again, um, we were here almost exactly a year ago and, um, it has been very exciting. Um, before we get to recognize this incredible group of young ladies and coaches, though, I would like to say thank you, um, to you, our
005our school board, to our district leadership team. um great teams and great programs like the ones that we are celebrating tonight cannot happen without your support and without your leadership. And so from our first class facilities to our um ability to be able to attract and retain um great coaches to your support on Main Street to your support at our at our basketball games, at our athletic events. Thank you so much. Um, I have seen firsthand over the past two years what excitement has been generated, what positivity has been generated in our school, um, and in our entire community because of these young ladies. And again, that all goes back to great leadership. And so, thank you so much for all that you allow us to do. Um, last year, many of the the girls
006that we're going to get to celebrate again brought home the first team state championship in Wahala High School history since 1942. and the first ever women's state championship. And tonight we get to celebrate them for bringing the first ever back-to back team state championship to Wajala High School. Again, um great success cannot come without great leadership. And so I am very excited to first welcome your South Carolina girls basketball coach of the year, which is coach Byron Winfrey. I guess I'll talk like this. Um I want to echo what Miss Crawford said. Thank you all for the support that you've given our program. Uh it's been very great um the last five years with this with these girls, especially uh I've had have one for five years. So um she was moved up early as
007an eighth grader. And so this support is definitely great. seeing your your faces at our games and the crowd and the community came together and did so many great things with that and honestly especially the upper state game. They I think our community really propelled us to that to get us to the state title game which was a great thing and a great deal and these girls they there's a video that we had in the locker room and it was hard for me to get my words out and and Gary made a good point. we were coming home and he was talking about how it was almost like you're giving your daughter away for for like for marriage because it's like our last time being together especially for the seniors and so that was a
008very emotional time uh for me as a coach because this group was very special last group was special as well last year but I felt like this time when it was over the girls were more upset that the season was ending versus being more excited about winning the championship and so that was a testament to the kind of group and the kind of team we created this this past season. So, I guess I'll Is it one by one or is it >> go ahead? Yeah. All right. Um, so I guess I'll >> I guess I'll start my seniors. Mayor Chapel, Miley White, Mac Chapel, Roach All right, my juniors, Jesslyn Kraut, Mike, uh, Air Road RH is not here. She's at track right now, so she couldn't be here. Ashlin Frick. All right, my sophomores,
009Khloe Jones, Mlin, one freshman this year, Chloe Ruffin, two eighth graders, Jacqueline Jones. He's been my right-hand man for the last three seasons. He's been on my staff for five. So, Gary Woodard, very special group of girls. Um, going back to back is very tough. The goal was never to win a title. It was always to be the best we could be each day. And, um, they did a good job of embracing that and not taking the pressure from last year. Um, I'm not sure what I'm going to tell my this year's team. So, we'll figure it out, though. We'll figure it out. So, is there anything else? >> Thank you all. I think what we're going to do is we're going to we're going to get our picture, but we're going to have the
010board come around once. Uh, and so, if you guys would have a seat for just a second, we'll bring you back up for a quick picture in just a minute. You know, when you have multiple state champions, it it gets complicated running traffic flow in here. And so, we're just hopeful that it gets more and more complicated as time goes on. But uh this time, I'll call uh Dr. Brandon Blackwell to the podium for uh the second recognition of the evening. Thank you'all for being here. So, um, we're here again for the fifth year in a row to, um, celebrate our wrestling state championship. But as Miss Crawford said, I do want to thank you guys for your support and what she mentioned about facilities alone. You know, if you go to other districts and
011and compare what we have in Okona County to to some other districts, we are very fortunate that we have those opportunities and facilities for our students to continue to hone their craft regardless of what sport that is. So, I do want to say again, thank you all for your support. And at this time, I would like to call Dr. Derek, Dr. Coach Derek up here. I'm not a doctor, but I I did need one about. So, Coach Strobble has been with us now for five years, and he has five state championships to go along with that. So, his leadership, he leads by example. He's there with them every day. He's there with them all summer. He and the coaching staff and a lot of the coaches on our staff are alumni. They they came through
012the program themselves. So, it's just a testament to the tradition that is West Wrestling. >> Um, again, we'll reiterate what what everybody else has said. Um, you guys give us the opportunity to to make our kids successful by, you know, giving us the things that we need in order for them to travel, to do things, um, to have the practice facility that we have now. Um, we're just so thankful. In fact, we just got on new wrestling mats today. Today was the first day that we got on them and practiced right after school. So, um, want to thank thank all of you guys for for everything that you do for all of our students. Um, our, um, our our team went 33 and one this year. We lost one of our well I guess it
013was like our third m fourth match of the season out in Georgia by it was either one or two points and uh like I said at the banquet yesterday. I think that was a good thing for our our our guys to you know to to get them going. Um we had 13 out of 14 state qualifiers, eight state placers, uh four state champions. We had seven wrestlers that surpassed 100, 150, or 200 wins in their career, which is amazing. Uh there's there's not many that can do that. And we had seven on on this year's team that did it. Um I can't say enough about these guys. Um as coach was saying, you know, it's hard to it's hard to win the first one, but it's harder to win after that because there's always a
014target on your back. So, um, you know, the effort and everything that these guys put in all since last February, um, really showed this year because we had a lot of lot of new faces on our team. Um, and just so proud of all the work that they put in and they're doing it again. Like I said, you know, we we've been working and we're getting ready to go wrestling in tournament on Saturday. Um, so just I I I can't say enough about these young men and and all the the work and effort that they put in not only in just just in wrestling but in school. Um, I think we had uh three seniors that are going to wrestle in college this year. Um, that that's that's amazing for for our program. So, thank
015you guys so much. And uh, if you guys would come on up. Yeah. Our roster our roster for JV and varsity is about 31 I think is what we we finished up with this year. Um obviously this isn't 31. We have so many of our guys that that do multiple sports. We have guys right now in track, multiple guys doing track, multiple guys doing soccer, uh, somebody doing golf, and I think we have a baseball player, I think. So, um, but again, this is our fivetime defending state champion wrestling team. Thank you. You guys hang around just a little bit. We'll get uh we'll get a picture. And you know, our focus and our calling and our responsibility is around the success of children. Make no mistake. But uh I think you've seen already pretty
016good examples that uh that normally when students are being successful, they're surrounded by some really supportive uh and expert adults. And so I want to continue along that and uh really call Miss Cassie Moore from Synica Middle School to the front of the room. Would you come forward, please, Miss Moore? What? I want to make sure I get this right. Miss Moore, uh, Miss Cassie Moore, really, uh, we we're we're celebrating multiple state championships, and this is not Miss Moore's first time in front of us either. She's making a habit out of this recognition as well. But once again, uh, librarian at Sica Middle School. She's been named the 2026 School Librarian of the Year by the South Carolina Association of School Librarians at its annual conference this past month. This is an extremely prestigious
017award. It recognizes certified school librarians who've made exceptional contributions through the development of an exemplary library program. Miss Moore has served as a school librarian at Synica Middle School since 2021. And I don't think that there is anyone that's going to argue that that is an excellent program at that school. And we're very fortunate to have her here. Her passion for students, her passion for, uh, the library, her passion for books, all comes through in every single thing that she does. And so, uh, we just want to congratulate you. Thank you for the great work that you do for the district, but most importantly that you do for the students at Synica Middle School. We have uh just a small token uh to provide you with and would like for the board to come on
018around if you would at this time and get some pictures. Once again for this morning. >> Please come on up and get Yeah, >> that's actually row and perfect. There we go. >> Come on up. All right, we might need a few more of you actually to come in and um get on your knees because you're a little tall for our lady back. All right, I'm gonna take it tall. You're going to think for a minute if you want to say a few words. >> Hang on just a second. Hang on just a sec, fellas. Just a second, fellas. So, as we close out um a great evening of recognitions, I want to take a moment just to reflect a little bit about what we're witnessing here tonight. We've got all three of our schools
019here, our high schools that are or and our middle school that are uh doing phenomenal things. So from discipline, leadership and championship culture built by coach Strobble and the West Oak wrestling program to the heart, the grit and the excellence led by Coach Winfrey and the Wajala High School basketball team to Miss Moore and her passion for love of reading and the statewide recognition of South Carolina librarian. We are certainly surrounded by great examples of what is possible when passion meets purpose in our schools. And these are not just isolated successes. They are the result of a system that is working and the one that is a result resulting in investing in the whole child. At the center of all of this is our people. The greatest influence in the lives of our children. Those
020are our coaches and our teachers. Day in and day out. They show up with purpose, with care, and a commitment that extends far beyond the classroom. Their impact cannot be measured simply in test scores, but in confidence they build, the character they shape, and the futures that they help define. As a board, we are extremely proud not only of the strong academics, but also the athletics, arts, career and technical education, and other programs that shape character, build confidence, and open doors for our students every day. This is a personal moment for me as I graduated here in Okoni County, Wajala High School. In fact, I can say with full confident that it it was truly the teachers, the coaches, and the programs just like the ones that we're celebrating that helped shape my path uh
021for success. And so, what we're seeing today is that same legacy continuing uh stronger than ever. So, as we continue to elevate to excellence in our district in all aspects, we're proud to support the students and their families who choose to live, work, and learn right here in Okone County. So, we're not just educating our children. We're building futures. We're shaping leaders, and we are stewarding something that matters deeply to this community. On behalf of the board, it is an honor to serve you, to support this work, and to stand behind you, the students, the staff, and the families who make our schools so very special. So, we are very proud of you, and we are proud to serve you. So, thank you. this time. I know the fun part is over and it's time
022for us to get to work. So, feel free to go on about your evenings. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you. Just a second. >> All right. As our students make their way to the door, we're just going to keep on going. We have uh we have uh monthly recognitions of our schools where we bring our schools forward and learn a little bit more about some of some of the excellence that's taken place at those schools. And uh tonight is no different. We're kind of finishing that up for uh for this year and being able to uh learn a little bit more about the great work that's happening at North Side Elementary School and Synica Middle School. So, I'll call Miss Ker forward. >> Thank you so much for having me tonight. I'm Charlotte Ker.
023I'm the principal at Northside Elementary School. So, we're talking about our seniors graduating and having state championships and I'm going to talk about when they're first coming into kindergarten. So, I am so excited to be here and thank you again for what you do for not only our big kids, but for our little kids each and every day. It means the world to us. And um I'm going to share a little bit about what's happening at North Side with you guys. Oh, I'm the clicker. Look at me look for a click. So, one of the things that's very unique to Northside in general is we have a program that's called phonics fun and it's part of our related art schedule. And Karen Moore over here, stand up, Karen, and give a little wave. She is
024the teacher of phonics fun and everybody loves phonics fun day. And so, this is an opportunity. All of our students are learning structured literacy. So, it's phonics. Um, but Karen is about a week after and she does everything in a multi-ensory way. So, she finds out what are the kids interested in and she brings phonics alive in that category. And so, you can see the little basketball coach holder. I know that probably makes you get excited in some of those that were here for Wala basketball. So, they have to read the word or the phonics skill and then they shoot the ball into the basket. And so it's bringing what they love um alive in the classroom, but also getting those foundational skills concrete. Um and we have saw that as seen that as a
025success at North Side. Um this past year we have over 25 students or that are in the 90th percentile or above um in our first grade students which is great because we know that the when the foundation is strong that we can build upon that and make it even stronger over time. So you'll see them often writing with shaving cream and building blocks with words and um practicing over and over the skills that are very important for young readers and writers in a fun and exciting way. And so we're excited that is just in kindergarten for right now. We're seeing if we can get that expanded into first grade and second grade too where they're also working on those phonics skills. But we're very happy that Karen Moore um dedicates her time to doing that
026each and every day. So, thanks again, Karen. Peer Buddies. Peer Buddies is a program um that was brought by Ann Sutter and her and she was one of our speech pathologists. Um and now we have Annaise um and we also have Jess that are also speech pathologists that have really um just brought this program alive. So, we have 32 fourth and fifth graders that go through an application process to be a peer buddy at North Side. And if you know North Side, well, we do have a um special education population where we have some of the most um unique programs where um special needs students want to be included and are included. And sometimes it's hard for them to get necessarily pushed out into the general education classroom. And so these peer buddies push in
027to the special education more restrictive classrooms. And it is fantastic. So we what we do is those fourth fourth and fifth graders and remind me I think we had 60 plus applications that they have to apply to be a peer buddy. Um, and it it's an incredible experience from our youngest special education learners that are getting the opportunity to read with, to go on the playground with um, their peer buddies and really build a relationship. And one of them said, you know, although my peer buddy doesn't speak words to me, he tells me every day that he loves me with his eyes. And man, that is what it is about, building those relationships. and everybody feeling included at North Side. This year, our peer buddies are attending with their buddy to go to the Special
028Olympics. And so, I can't wait to take some pictures for you guys and share with you guys um how that experience goes for the peer buddies. So, we're very thankful for that. Um being a great program for North Side. I gotta tell you about Officer Justice Lee who's also working here tonight. Um, man, isn't it cool that we have a resource officer that his name is Justice? He he he um has definitely just brought the Cynica area um alive at North Side and goes above and beyond. So, he came to me very early on and he was like, "Man, we've got so many good kids around here." here. And he was like, you know, I'm not just talking about good at math and good at science and good at reading. He was like, we have
029those, too. But we have some kids that just have great character. And I would love the opportunity to celebrate those kids. And so our teachers, he sends out a Google form and our teachers get to nominate children that have just had exceptional character. Um, and so we as a leadership team sit down and we pick through and we look at the different qualities and each kid um, each grade level has the opportunity to have one and then there's an overall hero of the month and not only has he had the opportunity to celebrate them, but he's brought in local law enforcement. If you want to share some of the people that you've brought in to like >> Yes, ma'am. Um so I brought in a lot of leadership team and a lot of people that
030are heroes to me throughout um uh the law enforcement realm in Okone County. Um brought in from the first arch on shifts to um staff Charles Moy and different leaders in the sheriff's office. Um to our captain over uh C and school safety. So people that are mentors to me and are heroes to me I like to bring in so they can present the kids with those awards. It's been very special for not only officer Justice, but for our kids and their families, but also, man, those community members, they love coming in. So, um, it's very special. Um, you know, every year we think about doing it a little differently and then every year we're like, straight out of the mouths of our children. That is the sweet spot. Um, we love North Side and
031I could talk about North Side all day long. It's my favorite place to be. But when you hear it from them, it hits a little bit different. So, we have a short little video for you guys. And Kristen Heden made this slideshow look beautiful. And she also made this beautiful um beautiful presentation for you guys to watch. And Paige Lao, man, she works her tail off at North Side Elementary School. And I'm telling you that I would not be standing here today without these ladies and their support. um when they say that they support their principal, that is 100% true. So, I just want to thank you all for allowing me to serve and be a part of this community and be the principal of North Side for the last four years. It has truly
032been a gift and an honor and thank you for um letting me continue to support these Bobcats. We love North Side because >> I love North Side because I like to work. >> I love North side because I love my teachers and because I can draw. >> I love North side because I can work. >> I'm north side. >> I love North Side because I have PE art and music. PE is my favorite. >> I love North Side because it is so fun learning new things. >> I love North Side because it provides safety and breaks off of math and other work every single now and then. I love North Side because I love all the sweet teachers. >> I love Brook because of breakfast. I like North Side because of the people in it.
033>> I love North Side because I have a wonderful teacher. I love North Side because it has a ton of great teachers. I love North Side because it has so much rewards for what I'm doing. >> I love North Side because I have all my friends here and the best teacher. >> I love North Side because of the principles. >> North Side because the teachers are super nice. I love North Side because it has great teachers. >> I love North Side because of my teachers and they help me grow. >> I love North Side because my friends are respectful and responsible for pride and learners for life. >> I like North Side because you can make me friends and everybody's really nice. I love North because our teachers and principles inspire us to um become
034great learners and be educated. >> I love Nai cuz cuz it's a nice school. >> Luc because I love teachers. I love North Side because it has great food and great teachers and great principles and great academics. So, thank you again for just allowing North Side to flourish. It's a school that's wonderful and we get the awesome opportunity to have a a great feeder school to tell them it's going to be okay when you go to middle school because you get Dr. Corey and SMS. >> All right, come on up. Dr. Corey, that's a great segue. I won't muddy it. >> Yeah, I can't follow that video. I'll tell you that already. Outstanding job, Miss Ker and her team do a great job and we look forward to having all of those students with us
035at Senica Middle School. Uh we also have a lot of Senate success happening. Uh we have a few staff members that we'll recognize tonight, but a big thank you to all of the dedicated, hardworking uh teachers of Senica Middle and staff that are producing everything uh that I'll share with you tonight. I'd also like to echo thank you to uh all of the board members. you have invested in middle school education um very recently of course right there on Wells Highway in facility for Senica Middle one of the finest you will see around for middle schools not a renovated high school or something uh you have invested in instructional coaches and what that means in student learning and their work with teachers and uh locally with us incredible work of Sarah Lee Croy uh and
036I want you to know that those uh initiatives you will see are part of what I'm discussing today. I hope that you do and also that it's centered in our community uh because we cannot do that alone and much of these results are also you will hear uh that is a major contribution by our community here in the school district of Okone County. I'll echo what Dr. Kamman actually already said. But I appreciate those comments because she referenced the whole child and all that goes on. And um this presentation also highlights the importance of middle school education and that critical age uh for all of those things whether it be test scores, arts, sports, and all that contributes to a student and their uh positive self-confidence and where that may lead. Uh we have a
037few examples of uh a return on your investment and what is happening uh here at Senica Middle School and being on track for college and career. So we know that day comes with high school and beyond. Uh but you do not get there unless you are on track in the middle school years and it's our job um to catch those that are not and make sure that happens and that's happening more and more uh over in Senica. I have some examples here. Uh so if you think about with as defined by the education oversight committee that level of the state testing of being met and above that is students on track uh for that future success. um in college and career and an area like English over at Senica Middle School, the highest performance of
038that group of met and above students uh that we have seen in our school in over nine years. In an area like science and the important uh STEM area of science and what that uh need is for our community in future years from these middle school students. uh science uh being the best in over six years uh there at our school. An area where you have to intervene with students if they are not on track that group uh that would be in that lowest test score rating of does not meet that particular section of students being reduced by 20%. um uh this work by our teachers and uh through your support and the support of district and district leaders work uh is definitely paying off. But it's not just in those test scores. It's also
039in areas like the arts for the first time in several years. All Senica schools from middle to high school, all of the programs, your your chorus, your band, your strings, all of them having superior ratings by independent judges across the state of South Carolina. And uh we have reached that mark in Senica Schools of the Arts as well as our Senica Middle band under the direction of Miss McDow receiving their first superior with distinction in over seven years. Um that is once again your investment in the arts in funding uh where I've seen across the state some middle school arts programs being eliminated. Um and we actually excel in those areas and love that. Also preparing them for high school right there at the middle school level before they leave Senica Middle School and go
040on to Senica High School. 331 students receiving high school credits uh last school year before they even step in the door at Senica High. And several of those 331, it is in multiple areas. That's an unduplicated count of 331. But there's several of those students that are going to receive that in geometry honors, English one honors, uh a computer science class that gets them either halfway or all the way to the uh the uh graduation requirement for computer science. And that's happening uh right there in your middle schools. Uh Miss Shepard can come on up. Miss Shepard uh is our guidance counselor. She does amazing work and she does that through the community. And um we had 348 students participating in job shadowing. This is where oftentimes they might go to a family or a
041relative. But what I'm going to have Miss Shepard report about that I've never really seen done at this level uh in about four different districts is what she does for the students that may not have that family member bringing them to the work and they are at school and the types of experience through our great community partners what they provided those students Miss Shepard. So, one of the things that we really wanted to focus on this year is helping all of our students, every student, whether they have the family that can take the day off to help them job shadow or have them in the in their workplace was to ensure that everyone got handson realworld experience that day. And so, in order to support those students, we actually had our community come to us
042and they came in droves. They were so supportive with the best hands-on activities. We had drones flying. We had teachers going up in the lifts with the um Cica light and water. And the kids actually got to go from just being aware of careers to actually exploring those careers. And that's the goal of middle school is hey, you know, I want to explore what's interesting to me. And so they were able to look at those youth science results, which is our career and interest and aptitude inventory and then look and say, "Hey, I want to go see that. I want to be able to look at that person and see if that's something I'm interested in." But the thing that was um most eye openening is that we were able to get people from careers
043that are not traditional in our area. And that included um four who is an urban artist in Anderson. That is not generally someone who we would see in career affairs, but we wanted to make sure that we reached all the career clusters. And that included also um a music producer who came all the way from um Spartanberg to just speak to our students all day who were interested in music. But the most important thing to me was we had Voke Rehab come to um our school that day and it was for our nonverbal students and they helped our students learn careers that they could go do after high school as 10, 11, 12, 13 year olds. What can I go do? They're not there yet, but they had little stuffed animals and they were learning
044how to care for those animals. So, it was everyone got something that day and that was important to us. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Miss Shepher. >> And last but not least, uh I just want to provide you some some real details. Uh when you're recognized at the state level, um it's certainly a a huge honor. Uh, but really the added value that that you have with Cassie Owens Moore. Come on up, Cassie. I'll I'll go through just a few there. There's so many uh here. Uh but what she really does um we have a Senica High School librarian uh that is there uh because of the mentoring of uh Cassie um building up the adults uh but also what you see there in reader engagement when students can uh tell you
045that that there is something of interest of mine and there is a book for it uh that is going to increase those circulations. s um she seeks their input. Uh those decisions are just not made in an office. Uh and she does a phenomenal job. You see an area like grants for ebooks and audio uh to support students if if they want uh the joy of reading that way. Uh, for example, with your support and what you provide all of our libraries and tremendous support you give our libraries in in funding, about a third of that uh she's receiving in in one simple grant adding added value to what you provide and she goes above that for the students of Senica Middle School. Uh and and you see another one there, South Carolina Council for
046the Holocaust, 1.1 million minutes uh being read and then also artificial intelligence and where she's going with the Trailblazers Fellowship and her work of uh across the the nation uh with that and our students have been involved in that work. So Cassie, thank you on behalf of everyone and your tremendous leadership and we know we got a proud mom back there too. and Miss Stevens over two decades dedicated to that library as well that's part of all these. Thank you, Miss Stevens, for all your dedication. Uh thank you, board. I appreciate all of your support, not only of Senica Middle, but all three of your outstanding middle schools in this district. Thank you. And certainly thank you to to you all um because we're here to serve you. And certainly um Officer Justice, shout out
047to you, Okone's finest. We appreciate your work as well. Thank you. >> All right. Well, we are up for public comment. Do we have anybody signed up? All right. No, no public comment for tonight. All right. Um, moving on to approval of our March 13th uh, board meeting minutes. Do I have a motion? I move we approve the board meeting minutes for March 13, 2026. >> Second. >> Motion is second. Any discussion? All in favor? Thank you. And now for our only discussion item, uh, Mr. Shikling for our March financial report. Okay, we'll try to make this one because we've got uh it's a tough meeting to be on the tail end of it tonight. Um for the local revenues, uh the one thing I do want to point out is we are approaching our
048budget there for lo local tax collections. I'll talk a little bit about that for the year-end projection when we get into budgeting for next year. Um but all said and done, um the other um area where we're seeing positivity positivity is interest on investments. Um you know again the interest rate uh environment was uncertain. We saw it coming down a little bit and then the past month or so with some of the things going on in geopolitics uh rates actually bumped up a little bit. So um we continue to anticipate that going down but we budget cautiously for that. So that's good news. Um so about $9 million on the revenue side coming in. Um expenditures again are going to be about that average $11 million or so in monthly payroll plus utilities and so
049on. Um and then uh for the March dispersements uh you know large contract for food service management in the uh cafeteria fund you can see a dispersement of some grant funds there for weapons detection systems. So those have arrived um and we have paid for those and uh that accounts for uh the majority of the spending there. uh for the capital projects. Again, it's a ongoing work as uh that second phase of maintenance before we get back into shifting to saving for um the next Kiwi Elementary. So, any questions that I can answer? >> I do have one. So on the U capital expenditures, >> when that's all said and done and we have money remaining there, that'll just roll back into capital. >> It does. >> Okay. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Uh and you
050can see, for example, um there's one project in there that's Wajala Elementary roofing. Um when we establish the budget, we try to establish a budget that does have some contingency in it to make sure that we're not going to fall short. Um, so we do anticipate there'll be some unspent balance that just remains in fund balance. >> Any other questions? >> All right, thank you for that. Um, moving on to our first action item, policy J A- request for field trip, second reading. >> Yes, ma'am. Just uh to review, maybe not quite as interesting as some of our our uh previous topics, but certainly important work and policy work that uh that the board's engaged in. Uh you'll remember uh if you look at the form that's noted there in your packet, request for field
051trip, there was just a correction that was made as it referenced a policy there and we wanted to make sure that that policy was updated and correct. And so, uh went over that a little bit last month, but it's just a small correction on the the reference of that policy. And so bring that to you for for second and final reading. >> Do I have a motion for second reading on policy J A- we approve policy JE- E1 replacement field trip is presented by administration and second reading. Final approval >> motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? >> All right. Thank you for that. And now policy GCC-G staff leave and absences second reading. >> Sure. This is just a a reminder of a a a small adjustment that was made from
052half days to quarter days as we got some uh feedback from principles and teachers. Uh there were just some components of that policy that wasn't working in terms of implementation. And so our recommendation was to uh go back to the former policy just until maybe we work out some of those uh those items and kinks and make it make sure that it works for the folks at the local school because those are the folks that that that really need this policy to work. >> I move that we uh accept on second reading policy GCC-G staff leaves and absences. Second. >> All right. Motion and a second. Any further discussion, questions? All in favor? All right. Thank you. And now for administrative policy manual J. We did read through policies. This is going to be only
053for first reading policies J A-JI E J I F and J I G. I move that we approve the administrative policy manual section J policies J A through J IIE, JIF and JIG as presented by administration on first reading. >> Second motion and a second. Any questions, discussion? All right. All in favor? All right. Thank you. >> Now, as we begin to think about the next item, I know uh Mr. Shikling will get uh get settled into his presentation here in just a minute. But just wanted to offer maybe a little bit of a preamble uh to that uh to that conversation since this is uh our really our our first reading of uh of a budget that's uh that's coming up for next year. Uh wanted to make sure that you knew that our
054approach to building the budget really centers around this notion of balance. Uh on the one hand, we embrace the responsibility to honor the taxpayer and ensure that our expenditures are both necessary and reasonable, but we also recognize the importance of highquality schools, not only to our children and families, but to the success of our entire community. And so our efforts in building a budget proposal that you'll see this evening really includes the following elements. Number one, efficiency. Uh we've done a good bit of work this year to ensure that our budget is fiscally prudent. It's valuedriven and it's costeffective. Uh it's informed. We're still awaiting uh some of the final projections at the state level, but this budget includes the best available information that we have today in terms of revenue and expense predictions for
055the coming year. And it's also focused uh the items uh included that have been reviewed to ensure that they are effective in providing highquality experiences for children that they're impactful that they maintain the fidelity of existing programs some of which you saw exemplified tonight in the athletics and the arts and library programs and some of those uh but also in areas like uh safety and other co-curricular uh offerings. And uh it also allows us to remain and in some cases become competitive in compensation in each category uh for our employees. In short, we know that our ability to provide the education that our community expects will always depend upon attracting and retaining highquality people. Uh specifically tonight as we get uh get ready to to hear the presentation, I want to provide a few examples
056of some considerations in building this proposal. Uh you'll note uh first that we've responded to a recent decrease in enrollment uh by diminishing the total teacher count by 16 teachers for the coming year. Now this will not result in any projected increase in class size or any decrease in any programs. It's simply an act to rightsize our staff counts that reflect projected number of students that we're expecting for the fall. Next, we've recently conducted a district vehicle audit. Uh this has resulted in a decision to significantly decrease the provision of district vehicles in some categories specifically uh with a focus here at the district office. Uh we're also considering some adjustments to our structure for the provision of athletic trainers throughout the district which could save almost $300,000 over the next three years. And so
057these are the kinds of things that we've taken into consideration in approaching a cost-effective uh budget. Now, there are a few items that will represent increases in expenses for the coming year, and so I want to make sure that we're transparent about those as well. The most considerable is our effort to mirror the state's proposal for teacher raises so that they can remain competitive among the upstate districts. Uh you've seen some of this work in previous presentations over the last couple of months, but I did want to highlight that as it has it is the most significant. Next, in the area of safety and security, as we've continued to add safety measures, including weapons detection, the strategics badges, and and really many additional measures, uh, which I won't go into many details, schools will need
058assistance in supporting these efforts. So, we've included the addition of a safety and security position that will directly serve schools in the implementation of our comprehensive school safety plan. Uh, next, our support for elementary school behavior and order. This budget includes the addition of three classified positions that will allow each elementary school now to have a dedicated behavior support person to support students and teachers in maximizing instruction and minimizing disruptions to the learning environment. And finally, we've responded to the reality that a number of our coaches who you met two of of the most fantastic coaches that that we could imagine having uh tonight that they go above and beyond uh in investing in our student athletes work well beyond their seasons with no additional compensation for the additional time worked. And so this budget
059includes a process to compensate our coaches for the work that they do beyond the regular season. And this approach also mirrors that that is already in place in many of our neighboring districts. Uh these last uh three items are minimal in uh in amount and nature, but we want to support uh conversations that are transparent as possible as we begin our budget approval process for this year. So with that, uh I'll pass it off to uh to Mr. for our first reading of our budget uh proposal. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh Mr. Smith did such a good job. I I was lobbying for us to just take a vote after that, but I will I've got 32 slides here, so I'll do my best to make my way through them uh succinctly. So, we'll go
060over again the district has these principles of fiscal management we review every every time to make sure that they're guiding some of the decisions that we make uh and justify our philosophies and how we build a budget and um try to pair uh the intents that we've got for program and services with the money we believe we'll have to fund them. Uh we'll look at state funding versus local funding. really two of the the two um largest uh pots that we've got for funding and really we have very little other than that. A little bit of tuition here and there or federal support um but predominantly it's coming from the state or it's coming from our taxpayers. Um we'll do a budget breakdown for instructional functions. This is what the state codes as uh 100s
061colloquially and then support which is 200s. and then we'll go over the final budget summary and what our request would be of the county council when we u bring that across the street next week. Um so again the principles of fiscal management uh we've seen these a bunch of times should be relatively familiar. Um the overarching concept here is that um we try to design the the programs and services we want to deliver to the community and assign to them a cost. And then we look at the revenue streams that we'll have to support those and we want to try to make sure that those things are accurately paired to one another. Um, again, you're always going to try to budget on the side of caution or conservancy so that if there is some sort
062of misalignment, the misalignment means we have a little bit of money left over, we can put into a rainy day fund or put to good use rather than come up short and then we have to make some decisions to remedy why we're short. That's the situation we don't want to find ourselves in. So that's the matching principle. Um, you know, one of the things that we've got on here every time is the BOD's bond rating criteria. And again, this is a agency that looks at municipalities and public school districts and it assigns um uh metrics that determine what is fiscal health. Um, some of those are within our control. So how we manage the budget, how we match the revenues and expenditures, how much debt we hold, uh, and how we pay it down. Some
063of those are structural factors. So things like the property wealth in our area, the income per capita, um the liabilities that exist for our pension system that we have to record, but we don't manage or change the rules to the pension system. So those are beyond our control, but that whole picture puts together this evaluation. And so these are some of the tenants that we try to employ when we're establishing a budget. Um going through the state for funding formula, again, a lot of these are slides that are recycled. So the the state um tries to take uh assess the average daily enrollment of pupils in the state um assign to that an intended ratio of teachers and then assign the value of what does a teacher cost. And so in doing so, um, the
064state assigns a minimum, you know, they take the minimum salary scale, the the benefits that would come from the state retirement system in FICA, and they assign to that a value. Um, and then they multiply that by the number of positions that should be staffed for the number of students that exist, and that's the pot of money to be distributed. uh and we'll talk a little bit about uh you know how that's impacted us over the years. But one of the things that is a a real phenomenon is the number of pupils that are in the traditional K12 environment versus charter school whether online or brick and mortar is changing and so that is having an impact on that total available pot of money. Um once that's determined then there is the um application of
065what's called the index of taxpaying ability. Uh, and so that is simply a measure of the property wealth of a school district in in its geographic boundaries versus how many students statewide there are. And so, you know, if you've got 3% of the state's students, but you have 7% of the property wealth, the state expects you to contribute more. If you have 5% of the state students, but 1% of the property wealth, the state kicks in additional aid. And so there's a a proportional formula that calculates that. Um again this is a this is becoming a little bit dated u but this is the last uh iteration of that that was shared with the finance officers out of the state finance office. And so you can see that AON has 1.3 roughly percent of the
066student population of the state but 2.3 to 2.4% of the state's prop assessed property wealth. um districts like a Greenville or a Pickkins, you would see a closer match there. So, you're really close to seeing 75% coming from the state, 25% coming from the locality. The rankings on the left hand side there would show that out of 73 and I think now it's 72 districts after a consolidation um we're 68th in terms of receiving state support. So, that we have a much larger local expectation than many of our counterparts. Um, for the state budget projections, there's something that I wanted to display. I know that this can become a little bit uh difficult to visualize because of the size of the text on the screen, but I always find more value in taking something directly
067from the source rather than trying to distill it in our own chart. Um, and so what I think it's important to show is the the top um the top cutout there that says budget planning 2526. So this is still live on the state's website. This is where you can go look at projections from the past. That is what the projection was at the end of the budget process for us uh last year around May to June. So the total takeaway was we were going to see 50 $51,38,000 in state support. That's the bottom line. Now, if you juxtapose that to the current year's budget planning, that FY26 allocation, that's indicative of what we're currently slated to receive. So, the final tally on the year before was you can expect 51,38 by our projections and now
068we're slated to receive 49,4 946. So that is a that is a deduction of about a million dollars 1.1 million and that's not the first time that we've seen that. So part of that is yes we have had an enrollment that is moderately in decline versus some districts in our state that have had increasing pupils and so the funding will follow them. Um but another part of that phenomenon is charter schools are disenrollments as well. Um and again those are statewide so we're drawing from the same pool. It's just our slice of that pie is getting smaller from when we take that measurement to when we actually receive them the funding. Um so this is now the projection for 2627. Um this is again a duplication of the bottom just just made larger now so
069we can view it. Um, and so what's what's going on here is uh I presented to you uh I think in the fall about um recommendations made by the the revenue and finance office of the state and one of them was to take some of the pupil waiting mechanisms in particular um CTE and gifted and talented and extract them from that funding formula. And so in what you're seeing here in that highlighted area is the change that was made. The CTE waiting is going to be dissolved, meaning career and technical funds are going to be taken out of our general aid and they're going to be provided through a separate stream, which is our state Kate funding. And the reason that's important is because when we're looking at our general fund projections, we're going to
070see that we're actually projecting our general fund aid to go down or remain flat, best case scenario. Because what's happening is there's there is a fairly substantial bucket of aid that is now coming to us in a non-general fund through a state grant and that's intended to fund CTE. So what will also happen is we'll see some positions from Hamilton career that will be taken out of the general fund and they'll now be grant funded through this state stream of funds. Um and so where where you're seeing that is the very last line um where it says uh 30 the revenue is 3529 career and technology. You can see that that goes from roughly 350,000 up to 1.3 million but that is not recorded in our general fund. So where you can see regular state
071aid to classroom, health insurance, um retirey insurance and aid to classrooms, EIA, those are general fund aids. Reading coaches and career and technology are in separate grant funds. So when they're they're shown all as a projection, it looks like there's this increase of, you know, a million.6 1.6 million. Really, we are seeing 900,000 or so of that in a separate fund that's not general fund. And on top of that, the remaining 700,000 is based off of a reduced number that's a million dollars less than what we thought we were getting. So it's actually year-over-year it's less. And so that can become a little bit difficult to navigate when you're looking at what the revenues are. But I'll I'll try to walk through that when we get to the revenues. Um, so in summary for state
072aid, we really have seen two consecutive years where between what what the state says to budget for, we already reduce that in anticipation. You know, we take a defensive position. Um, but then we have received ultimately a million dollars less than what we were told to to anticipate. Um, so we'll continue to budget conservatively for revenues um that have a potential to be variable. um and the declining enrollment and shifting Kate funds ultimately are going to lead to a very different looking revenue picture in the general fund. So it's the predominant support of this budget in the general fund will come from local share um not state share. Um under the local share um I'm going to try to display three different data points in similar graphics. So I think they'll have some impact as
073you you kind of look at the way this the charts land. Um the first one is a measure of that property wealth we're talking about. Um and again you have to remember that we're saying property wealth. So this is industry, this is lake homes, this is boats, this these are the the properties that can be taxed. Aone has a very high property wealth. And so the highlighted and this is straight from this the fiscal affairs office presentation to superintendent and and um finance offices. Uh the in the amount that a mill generates. You can see Charleston Ory very high, Greenville very high. But many of the school districts um in our state the value of a mill does not generate very much. And so if you were to say we need additional support for schools,
074it would take an increase of many mills to generate that. Um if you look at a con, we are now upwards of a half a million dollars for what a school mill generates. Um so when we go across the street or we have conversations and someone says, "What's the value of a mill?" It's it's over $500,000. Now um so you know juxtapose with you can even see you know some of our local counterparts um some of the and Anderson 2 and three are more towards the right end of that spectrum. Um what's interesting now is when you take that in consideration and compare it to our student income wealth. This is student poverty as defined by the federal federal poverty limit. Um, so this is not free and reduced lunch because reduced lunch is going
075to be a multiplier above the federal poverty line. This is percent of students that live under the federal line for poverty. Um, there are four districts that have a higher percentage than a so that is a very disperate tale of property wealth versus pupil wealth. Um, so I think that that's, you know, interesting and there's a link down there so you can see where that was sourced from. This is part of um the US census and that informs the distribution of federal grants in the state. So that's we review that every year. It's usually on a a two-year lag. Um, and so here is the metrics be behind our local tax support or tax effort. This is tax rate by county school district. So um we are actually Pickkins went through a reassessment recently. Um
076so we have the distinction of being the second lowest millage rate. Um you can see that that 180 to 220 is a fairly common spot for many of our counterparts. Um but again a different tail in terms of the funding mechanisms and level of need of the community versus the existing wealth of the community. Um, so in summary, we have some of the highest property wealth. Um, I apologize for the formatting here. This is done in Google slides. Sometimes it doesn't convert and there's odd spacing, but um, highest property wealth in the state, second lowest tax rate, um, and one of the highest percentages of students in poverty. So there is there is need and you know if you look through academic literature of course um there's near a 1-1 correlation in terms of educational
077outcomes and and resources needed to educate students when there are families that live in the low soioeconomic status. Um so now I'll take you through the the tax collections as we have seen them over the past five years or so. Uh and again the process here is the school district will make a request. We view that request as a dollar amount sum that is necessary to fund the programs and services that we seek to deploy to our community. Um when you can see the difference between what our request to the county has been and the funds that have been collected and again that process is a monthly remittance. So the the county does the collection and then remits to the school district um via bank transfer x amount of dollars. Um we've seen a positive
078variance in the amount that has been collected and remitted to the school district absent the 2425 school year. Um and that was a school year where um we made a substantial request um for an increase and we said you know we we are hopeful that the amount of growth will be able to contain that request and you can see the millage rate went from 108.6 to 110. Um so that was the first time in a in a while that the millage rate had an increase. um that uh for the subsequent year, now the current year, this was the year where we um divested a capital mill uh in order to maintain that 110 point tax rate. Um and so the district's budget request is an NA there uh because there there was an initial request
079and then the agreement was there's not actually going to be a number request. The millillage will be 110 and whatever value that millillage generates in tax collections, the district can have that. Um, and so what we've got right now is our collections through the month of March. We do have Marches recorded now. So the finance report only ran through February, but we know what Marches are. Um, is 58.8 million. And the initial request that we had made last year was 59.2 million and that was the request that was declined and then the 110 military was put into place. Um so we are anticipating at this point that we may collect near near 62 million which would be back into that positive territory um by uh maybe even 2.5 million or so. Um and so the
080the moral of the story there is from our perspective conversations that are based upon a mill rate are difficult. From our perspective, um, we believe that we have demonstrated a history of requests that are constrained and that are responsible and fund the budget and the services that we want to put forth. Um, and so that is what I think we're going to try to seek to do moving forward. Um, and so I'll get into the full revenue side and what we're requesting. Um, but the goal here is to bring forward a request that coupled with the picture we've painted for state aid funds those programs and services we would like to fund. Um, now we've gone through the easy part. The easy part is defining what we want to provide to our community and how
081much is it going to cost. Now we've got to do the part where we figure out how we're going to pay for it. And that's both a local and a state conversation. And that can lead to us having to make certain decisions on the other side. Um so the operating budget again 88% of it is personnel. Um if you include the contracted cost of our substitutes which we contract through Kelly Services um you're really looking at 90% personnel. So there um when Mr. Smith uses the the word efficiency um I have seen nothing more efficient than our school district in terms of um inputs other than personnel um salaries. The goals as we've articulated in a couple of presentations about our comp compensation analysis um we want to increase teacher salaries based upon their placement
082on their salary schedule that um provides us a direct competitive improvement with our surrounding districts. And part of that is that graduated approach as we went over you know their distance from the state minimum and where we have the largest amount of teaching staff for classified pay. Um, most cells are are close to a 3% or more take-home pay. Um, some of those should be more after step movement. Um, there are some targeted positions, namely transportation facilities, where we find that a larger effort is needed to try to pace our um, counterparts and so there may be 5% or greater increases in some of those areas. Um a couple years ago we went with a program of uh compressing the administrative pay ranges a little bit to incent folks to try to pursue leadership. Um
083that also comes with a a requirement of two years of positive employment reviews. So that was the majority of our administrators last year. There are some who may have started last year who would be getting into their second year moving forward. Um but all increases in that area would be commensurate to the dollar value increase on the teacher scale. Um one of the things to note about benefits is last year near the end of the budget cycle uh the state clarified that there was going to be a 4% increase to the employer contribution to healthare. Um healthc care starts in January. So there's six months of the cycle that's going to be the old premium. Six months that's the new one. We did not. So that really was a two or three percent variance for
084us. We did not go back and make a budget adjustment or amendment at that time. So you will see increases in health care that are a little bit inordinate compared to the salaries and the other benefits because we're playing catchup for that. Um on the non-personnel side, um what we tried to do here was to put in both a dollar value of these various contractual or supply items, but also a percentage just to keep in perspective. You when we talk about running all of these great facilities, um fields, all the things we've got going on, the the lights and the internet all combined is only 3% of our budget. Um so we are maximizing our utility and investing in people. Um I think Mr. Smith did a great job of outlining the noteworthy expenditure changes.
085Um, you know, really the the change to the footprint of teaching staff is commensurate to the change in our student population or enrollment. Uh, it's not any change to the programs or services we're trying to deliver. Um, one of the things that you know is a kind of a there's fixed and variable costs. One of the things that you'll see is whether it comes to nursing supplies, library materials, utilities, whether you have 19 students in a classroom or 17 students in a classroom, you're still going to have a school nurse, you're still going to have a principal, you're still going to keep the lights on. So, some of these things are going to be the same costs or increasing costs regardless of what the student population is. Um, I think that's important to note. Uh,
086but Mr. Smith covered a number of the things that we're looking at here that would lead to either cost cost avoidance um or that may uh add to our expenditure footprint. Um so in the expenditure budget I'll cover this in um chunks as we've done before not going through every single function item but kind of broad encompassing groups. Um this is general K through 12 instruction. Um you can see here that salaries and employee benefit growth is tempered and the total increase to regular schools is 2%. Again that's not because we are investing the least in direct student instruction. It's because there is a large component of career and technology funding that is moving out of the general fund. Um this is also where you're going to see some of those positions reached through attrition.
087Um, so you know, while it says there's a 1.1% increase in salaries, that does not mean our staff are receiving 1.1% increase. It just means there are other offsetting decreases that temper that growth. Um, this is about 640 uh staffing positions. Again, there's always an eb and flow with vacancies that need to be filled in student enrollment changes. So within one to two FTE. Um, but that's what we're budgeting for right now. And we anticipate there could be seven to eight positions moving into the state fund for career in technology. U for special education functions. This encompasses um everything from um orthopedic vision and hearing speech to um behavior or physical disabilities. Um it also includes preschool what we call PIP um students 3K. Um here we have seen an inability in some instances to
088fill difficult positions that require a lot of lensure. Um so we have had to rely more on contracting. Um so there have been some changes there but the contracts are generally holding fairly stable. Um you know again it says there's going to be a reduction uh we anticipate a reduction of two FTE special education. We're going through the reeval re-evaluation process right now. So that could always change. We never when it comes to special education, we never really pencil those things in in perpetuity until we know what we're going to be seeing. Um we also have in this area um the behavior support personnel would be installed in that function 128. So all in all with a a three and a half% increase to personnel costs um is fairly frugal considering all that's going on
089there with the es and flows. um other instructional functions. The predominant growth here, there is a larger number for salaries. Predominant uh phenomenon here is this is where the 4K grant would have spillover to our general fund. And so SURDP is again another state fund. It's a grant fund to support our 4K programs. Uh and again, whether we have 16 students or 19 students, we're going to be running a classroom for those students. So where the state might look at that and say, "Well, you've got a slight decline in enrollment, so we're going to again lower that funding per pupil, we're still running classrooms because we're not going to turn away 17 kids because we're not a full at 20." Um, and so what happens is every year we have seen a little bit of
090a bleed where the SERP fund can no longer contain all our staffing positions. And so this year there are I think one and a half or two positions that are coming out of SERP that are being budgeted forward into the general fund. So that's why that number is a little bit larger there. Um, now for the support functions and I do need to clarify. I think uh in last month when I was doing an overview of the budget um both in writing and and verbally made a comment to the effect of these are not classroom teachers and I think that was received by some folks as being kind of dimminuative, you know, or uh diminishing what their role is in the school district and that's not at all what was intended. So just trying to
091articulate the way the state pays for things or the state requires us to record things as expenditures. So where these are support functions under the budgeting lingo, it does not mean that these folks don't provide educational value to students and that they have any reduced importance. Um so I think I if if there are staff that heard the presentation and perceived it that way, this is a formal apology for that. Um here you've got counseling um which includes career counselors, school counselors, um school health which also it's not only school nurses but there are other health services we provide to students and you'll see there part of the percentage growth is because um sometimes students come in that have health needs that you know the IEP says they need an adult to be with them.
092They need an adult for this service and so we provide the adult. So you're going to see that there has been an increase there because those needs have increased a little bit. Um the other thing is psychologists are frequently interchanged with idea federal funds. Um so depending on the composition of the idea grant versus what we've got in our local funding, you may see a little bit of movement here um of a you know one staffing position here or there, but that could be $100,000. So um the year-over-year changes here are what they are, but they're not indicative of massive personnel changes. Um other support functions here this is curriculum supervision. So these are more you would think centrally sourced functions for professional development. This is the board the superintendent and then all building administration
093also falls into that 233 code. Um this is about 144 FTE. Um and again modest growth. Um not stepping the uh administrators has an impact there. Um we also have uh reclassified. So part of what you see here in growth for library is aids that have been had been called administrative were moved to the library function. Um we also had done an RFP for audit services. Um Stansel uh Kulie Estep and Stamy um have decided they're not going to work with schools moving forward. Um and so we did an RFP that has realized some cost reduction there as well. So that's for the uh general building and administration operations administration. This is finance buildings and grounds transportation. Um and so there is some of the growth in contracted services there. Um is the ongoing cost
094of the strategic system. There is a maintenance cost and a licensing cost there. Um and in some of the salaries and benefits there you are going to see um larger larger than average increases for transportation and facility staff um to pace our counterparts as well as the installation of that security position that will be out there serving schools um working with um scheduling uh the drills that need to be completed doing the weapons detection. Um so that's why there's a little bit larger cost here. So again, it it without that background information, you might assume that, you know, oh well, we're we're spending all our money on operations. Uh not necessarily. There's just things that are changing all over the place that lead to some different percentages. Um lastly, these are just other functions. Um
095a lot of these are transfers out. So the bottom line, the 367,000 is our support to the buildings for their pupil activities. Um that's all all levels, although larger contributions at the high school level. Um you can see a a fairly substantial change um in the salaries and benefits. Again, not only are we doing market-based increases for um the stipens that support our extracurricular folks. Um but we also are going to pilot that initiative to compensate coaches for coaching in postseason play. Whether that be um we've got a scale that would look at you know one week, two week, three weeks. I think four weeks is the longest extension that the high school league has uh in their athletic schedules. So all that all said and done to go into the summary um when you
096look at salaries salaries are closely tracking CPI. That's with some changes, some some deductions, but we looked at how much can we afford as a whole and how can we distribute that in the most impactful way. Uh employee benefits is a little bit higher because of that health uh component we talked about. Um contracted services is largely just going to be utilities. Uh we we did budget a 5% escalator for utilities. Nothing's getting cheaper when it comes to energy. Um and so all in all, that represents a budget growth of 3.25 25%. So the state the state puts out the fiscal affairs office puts out a metric each year that is the combination of consumer price index and a specific population growth for each geographic area. Um so we received ours consumer price index of
0972.63 plus population growth of 1.55. So the expectation there would be if you're living within your means, you would have a budget increase of no more than 4.18%. This is also the factor that is applied to tax law 388 that says if you were going to seek an increase in millillage, you could not increase it more than 4.18%. Um so I think we're proud to say that the budget that we've brought accomplishes all those objectives, but is substantially lower than the 4.18%. Um on the full revenue side, there's a little bit of a history here. So you can see budget performance to current. Um the only reason that I included this much detail is for the uh visual of the request for the advorum taxes, which is what the requests we make across the street.
098Um so two years ago, we saw that that was that 55.6 million. We collected a little bit less than that. Last year moving into this year um we requested an increase of 3.55 million which would have brought it up to 59.2. Um we believe that based on collections at a flat millage rate we're going to be close to 62 million. So our ne our request for next year would be an increase of 4.35 million. Um that would be really about 1.7 million more than what the current collections are projected to be. Um and so, you know, given the history of what we've seen um over the course of time with our requests, we believe that this is commensurate with growth. We believe it's responsible. Um it meets our needs and objectives without uh any sort
099of frivoly. Um and so that would be the request that we would bring across the street if this budget is approved. Um and you can see the revenues match again on that formula aid and the EIA, those are the two classroom aids. Um we are projecting a reduction of about $500,000. Uh we we do see an increase in the tax relief fund and we do see insurance relief because insurance will go up so our aid will go up. So that's what accounts for the roughly $4.5 million in growth on the revenue side. Um that's all 32 slides uh 31 and this is the 32nd. Um so I am happy to answer any questions you might have. Anybody have any questions? I know I've got a couple, but you'll see anybody who has any before before
100I do. All right. So, just a couple things. Um, you talked about how how our um our district, you know, has a higher expectation of local support than a lot of other districts. So can you can you explain a little bit further about what the 60% >> sure >> covers and what it doesn't? >> Yes. So in that context we're talking about the state's formula for funding schools. Um and they're they're very specific about there's this many kids, the ratio is 11.2 teachers and so if a teacher costs $75,000, this is how many teachers we're funding. When you see the formula and when you calculate the formula, the formula does not say bus drivers, it doesn't say electric bills, it says teachers. So, not only is our local share expected to be close to it's
10160% from the state, 40% from the locality, um but not only is that share um expected from us, but that's only for teachers. We're 100% for classified staff, um many of our support staff, um all of our contractual or other obligations, um with the exception maybe of some of that tier tax refund money that comes through from the state. Um and so even in that context, that state funding is calculated at a minimum teacher pay scale. So if our teachers are paid above the minimum, which they are, or they have an average experience of greater than 12 years, which they do, that further tips the scale in terms of local funding necessary. >> That makes that makes sense. >> All right. And then what is leading to the continuous discrepancy between the initial state projections
102and what we're what the actual aid that we're receiving? part part of that is one of them is based on a snapshot from the prior year. So it's based on at the time the initial projections come out, it's the starting enrollment from the prior year. By the time the final projections come out, it's the final enrollment from the final year. And so there there can be an attrition of students throughout that time. Um I think that's part of the contributing factors but not all of it. Um I think we have seen statewide a number of students exiting the public system at large moving to homeschool or charter school. Um and while there are no charter schools in Okone right now um when you have less students in that calculation that says this is the pot
103available the pot gets smaller. Um I don't recall which district it was, but it was somewhere around the Colombia, you know, area, capital area. Um where I think they said that they were anticipating a $25 million shortfall and cutting 40ome positions and that was predominantly driven in that locality by students moving into the charter schools and then the funding will move to support them as well. Um, so right now that is a phenomenon that makes it really difficult for us to say how close to these state projections will we be because all that movement over the summer gets recalculated. Um, and then that's what you get next year. So I think one of the most reassuring proposals that came out of the fiscal affairs office and I don't think that it is currently being adopted
104would be to freeze the budget and not do mid-year adjustments. So, at least the school district would be able to know what they can rely on a year at a time. Uh, but I don't believe that's going to be included. >> All right. Thank you for that. And then I know we've we've heard the importance about Moody's bond rating and and their criteria, but if we're not if we're not borrowing money to fund operations, is that how does that impact that re relevance there to? >> Sure. So yes, when when we when we finance our capital projects, that's through the 8% local law and that's that's bond refer or not bond referendum. Um that's uh local government bonds and those bonds are going to be issued based upon what our credit rating is. So like
105going to buy a house, buy a car, uh investments in capital. Um but like like the credit rating for any of us, the credit rating is not only a depiction of debt capacity. Um but it is a depiction of fiscal management and responsibility. And so some of those Moody's criteria are not only about how much cash balance do you hold, but it they are about how often or by how much do you run a a surplus versus a deficit. Because what those bond rating agencies want to know is that you're responsibly managed so that you can maintain your payments over time, not just that you have the capacity to borrow more money. Um, so I think a lot of times those those ratings are an indication to the community of the fiscal health and management
106of the entity, not just to get a better credit or better interest rate if we borrow money. >> Gotcha. Okay. And last one, I promise. Um, you know, oftentimes we we hear throughout the communities that we serve the district is very topheavy, etc., etc. It can you can you tell us tonight or maybe get back to us if you don't know this percentage, but what is our percentage of administrative cost part of our budget? >> I can I think the I think it's important to define administrative and make sure that administrative is an applesto apples definition. Um, I think a lot of times that is thought of as building administrators. >> Um, there is and I I'll I can go back. I'll I'll prepare something for the board. Um, I want to make sure I
107have the most recent data from the state's fiscal portal. Um, because they do report the objects of expenditure that we have put up here um, by district. And so you can then parse out this district has this amount of their budget in function 220 for example. Um it's not going to be a everyone records things a little differently so it's not going to be perfect but it can be a general depiction. Now the last time I looked at it um you know principal ships assistant principles generally you're going to have a finite a finite amount per building. Um, I think where our district was an outlier on either side was the cost of special education, which prompted the Gibson report. Um, as a as an outlier on the excess side. Um as an outlier on
108the um less than average expenditures close to a standard deviation below would have been that curriculum support um professional development um kind of the middle management of district personnel that are serving teachers in buildings. Um but I I will go back and I will see if I can get the most up-to-date data and put something together as a visual for that for you. >> Great. Thank you. Does anybody else have any questions? >> No, you did a good job. >> All right. Well, thank you for that. >> My pleasure. >> And welcome to Miss Ren tonight. It's her um first night on the job, I guess. >> All right. Well, I'll turn it over to you for superintendent report. >> Yeah, I'm reading the room and sensing that brevity is probably in good order here.
109Uh but uh but I will say uh this that uh you we're very fortunate to have uh Mr. Shikling. What you've just heard is is a pretty wellthoughtout, wellfounded uh set uh of detailed in in this report. Uh as you know, Mr. Schickling and his family will be going back home uh to Buffalo at the end of this school year. And so, uh, you've been gracious enough in recognizing the importance of not having, uh, a gap, uh, in CFOs to allow us to go ahead and bring on Miss Ren. So, I do want to introduce Miss Brandy Renan. Uh, if you're weren't convinced before tonight, you should be convinced by now that school finance is pretty complicated. And so, she brings an absolute wealth of experience. She's been doing this for well over a decade
110in a district uh most recently just about the same size as as ours. We've had the pleasure of having her here for about a week now. Her insight and input have already been uh really really valuable and so would like to just introduce her formally to the board uh and look forward to some great work ahead with Miss Renan. Um, also, uh, just as a followup, I hate that, uh, that Miss Moore, uh, didn't stay, uh, but understand that that she has an early morning, uh, tomorrow as well, but that not only, uh, do we recognize her as the state librarian of the year, but this is, uh, National School Librarian Month. And so, we know that all of our librarians bring great value to our kids and teaching them and and really encouraging them,
111instilling within them the love of uh, of reading. And so just want to give a shout out to all of our librarians. Uh today what you're going to see here is uh it's attached to our our website and available to all of our community, but it's our testing calendars. You know, within the next couple of weeks, we are going to begin uh an awful lot of assessments that come up at the end of each school year depending on what grade and uh and what subject area. And so just want to make sure that our community is aware that that's posted. uh if they have any questions, probably the best way uh for them to get additional details is to reach out to their individual school and school leaders. And so just want to make sure
112that the board was aware that that was coming. So I have a few other things that I'll save for another day because I I know that we still have work to do. >> Okay, board member comments. >> I just have one really quick. I just wanted to report out that last week uh the five of us made a journey down to Colombia at 5:30 in the morning to uh get a little education on edomics. I think I said that correctly. Uh we thought we were going to learn about how they do the budget for the state of South Carolina. And what we found ourselves doing was uh split up into a room about twice the size of this one with board members from all across the state. Each of us was with a different group
113and we were tasked with solving problems. Uh and we started doing math problems at about 8:30 in the morning. Uh which you could tell I wasn't real excited about that. But uh we did learn how to ask questions about the budget and how to work through questions about the budget. What would we do if we had to cut uh $600,000 from the budget? What things would we look at? How would we approach that? Uh so I I told Mr. Smith, he'd be happy to know that we all were trained in how to ask more questions. Uh so, um just wanted y'all to know that that we made that journey and this board is very, um attentive to learning all that we can learn about the best ways to serve our community and do what's in
114the best interest of our students and get the best outcomes we can. >> Absolutely. And I echo that. But first, I need to make a correction. After a lengthy presentation, I forgot to uh go back to first reading approval of our fiscal year 27 general fund budget. So, if I could have a motion on first reading. >> I make a motion that we um approve FY27 general fund budget. I miss first reading. >> Second. >> All right. Motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? All right. Thank you. Sorry about that. >> I'll I'll own that. I still have my new superintendent card and I'll play I'll play that card. >> All right. Um again, thank you to everybody for your attendance and always glad to have students and our coaches and teachers
115and all the people that are are important to us in our district here um each night. At this time, we will move into executive session for personnel matters, employment recommendations and changes, professional contracts for the 26 27th school year, superintendent evaluation and contract, and school property search. So, at this time, if I can have a motion to move into executive session. >> Motion to move into executive session. >> Second. >> All right. Motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? All right. Thank you. We shall return. Thank you. question. Are we going to get Okay, we are back in open session. So, at this time, I would like to ask for a motion to approve uh items discussed, personnel items, employment recommendations, changes, um professional contracts for the 2026 2027 school year, superintendent
116evaluation and contract, and school property search. >> Um I move that we approve the personnel items, employment recommendations, and changes as presented by administration. Second. >> All right. Motion in a second. Any further discussion? >> Madam Chair, you you'll know that there are going to be three different motions on uh on on contracts just because of some of the nuance that's involved. >> It's okay. We got first. >> You vote. >> All right. So, motion and second. All in favor? All right. >> All right. I move that we accept the professional contracts for the 2026 2027 school year excluding West Stoke Middle School and instructional services as presented by administration. >> Second. >> All right. Motion and a second. All in favor? Okay. >> And then do they vote in this one? >> It'll be
117probably you or Dr. Sloan will make the next motion. >> Yeah. Okay. I move that we accept the professional contracts for the 26 2026 2027 school year for West Middle School and instructional services as presented by administration. >> A second. >> All right. Motion in a second. Any discussion? >> All approved. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> That was Denise recommended and second. Yes. Yeah, I was going to ask you. Thank you. If you ask me, I'll say >> I wrote it down for you. >> All right. Now, a motion. Um, well, there was no action and anything else was >> That's correct. >> No, ma'am. >> No. Okay. >> Now, a motion to adjurnn. >> I move that we >> second. >> All right. Motion to second. I'll approve. >> Thank you. >> Okay.
118>> Sandra and Amanda. >> I'll certainly hope everything Their families.