001Now call this Brian and Pennis school district meeting to order. Let the record show that a quorum of board members is present that this meeting has been duly called and that notice that this meeting has been posted in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551. I wish to extend a warm welcome to everyone present. Ask that you please Turn off the sound on your electronic devices. We will now begin with the information items on the agenda and that will start with item 3A. Brian ISD selected for the Texas Strategic Leadership Program. Uh well, it's not on here. We do the pledge. I think we do. Okay. Okay. I just wonder. Sorry. Thank you, Mr. Stasnney. I'd like to invite up uh two guests today from Region Six Educational Service Center.
002This is David Manley and Jay Smith. And they're here to share some exciting news um about Brian ISD being selected for the Texas Strategic Leadership Program. Gentlemen, thank you Dr. Barara. Appreciate that. Mr. Board President, members of the board, uh Mrs. Carbine, we're so excited to be here today. As uh Dr. Barara said, my name is David Manley. um Texas strategic leadership coach from region 6 service center in Huntsville and I'm accompanied by Mr. Jay Smith who is also a Texas strategic leadership coach and performance management and data specialist. Uh so we're excited to be here today to welcome you uh Mrs. Carine Brian ISD and your leadership team to participate in the uh Texas strategic leadership. It is a tea initiative u that is provided for districts to help them develop to develop a
003academic strategic plan that focuses on the student experience. Uh it is a at the end of the day will be a three to five year strategic plan specifically targeting academics and that student experience. What you'll see or what you will receive, superintendents and their leadership team will leave the process with some tailored deliverables. One of those is a landscape analysis that will give you an idea or illuminate your current state of the district. You will also finish this two-year process with an academic strategic plan with pri prioritized researchbased strategies to pursue as a district. You will receive high level a high level plan of implementation as well as performance management of the strategic plan that you design and the systems will be aligned to execute the priorities that are identified in that academic strategic plan.
004Also forward movement on stakeholder alignment and change management. All of this work and your strategic plan, academic strategic plan will be aligned to the effective district framework. The effective district framework u was designed by tea with superintendent from across the state to identify and codify best practices and put those into six levers to allow districts or to support districts in aligning their systems to create rigorous and supportive learning experiences for their students in every classroom every day. On the right hand side, you can see that all of the work again will be aligned to the EDF. Those six levers are planning and performance management, talent systems, integrated student supports, academic experience, instructional capacity building, and finance and operations. All of this work is really part of lever one of the effective district framework. And that
005is the planning or creating the plan, implementing the plan, and then monitoring that plan and performance management of that plan over a three to five year process. Unlike most things from TEA, this is uh absolutely not something uh that uh you get a call or a letter from TEA to participate in. Uh this is an exclusive club. I believe the current quote from the Texas Education Agency and the commissioner is to identify for us to identify the creme de la creme of Texas superintendent to participate in this process. Uh so I can tell you that the competencies that we look for when when recruiting uh there is a full page of competencies provided by TEA. We just simply listed three on uh for this presentation. uh but it is an exhaustive list uh of look
006fors uh the skill set and the mindset of a superintendent who is willing to embark in this work. Uh and of course uh Mrs. Carine is probably the model uh of that work. Uh I fully expect at the end of this process that when TEA sends out this competencies page, it might have Mrs. Carbine's picture over in the corner. uh a as well as we look for competencies when we interview and and we start first start talking to Mrs. Carbine of course we also try to uh identify and make sure that the current board in that particular school district also has the competencies and the willingness uh to participate in this work. So what we found very quickly is a perfect marriage uh hearing from Mrs. Carabine and the relationship um and the transparency uh
007that she has created and the collaboration with with this board uh for sure meets all of the compet competencies also outlined by TEA. Again, there is a full page of look fors and we just simply listed three uh for the school board. That commitment to strategic governance is a big one and then engaged with purpose and of course most of all focused on student success. Once we've identified and we've recruited that superintendent, then the superintendent has to uh conduct an interview with TEA. And uh I would like to say that uh Mrs. Carbine's interview was amazing. Uh when all three of the people from TEA are shaking their head like this at every answer, that's a pretty good sign. At one point, um one of the gentlemen on the TEA call uh was so excited
008about her passion for the work uh especially for the the the passion for teaching and learning. U he made the comment that uh he was so inspired by her passion that he was he was wanting to apply from Brian ISD. And of course, I had to say, "You're going to have to fight me for that because I'm already looking for jobs based on that interview." Uh, it was also one of those deals where Jay and I, who recruited Mrs. Carbine, uh, to participate in this, it was kind of one of those proud moments where you could kind of sit back and say that was our superintendent that we recommended for you TA folks. Uh, but they were thrilled. She did an amazing job. Uh, I guess you already know that I'm preaching to the choir.
009And then of course after that interview with TEA uh comes the TEA approval. I will tell you that this is very selective process. You are invited to do this. You are recruited to do this. Only about 3% of superintendent and school districts in the state will participate in that in this program this year. Uh so you really are your superintendent, the leadership team, you as a board are the creme de la creme of districts across the state. And really what I would say TEA and the commissioner's goal for this work is they want districts to engage in this work with fidelity and as a result of that be a model for other districts around the state once you've conducted that work. Uh because Along with this, your student experiences are going to change in every
010classroom across every campus in your district and therefore student outcomes will change. So the goal is to select the very best in hopes that that work will become the model for other superintendents and districts around the state to follow. So kudos to Mrs. Carabine and her team and and you as a board. um a very selective group of folks that will be participating. What you'll get as supports with this work is of course you uh Miss Carbine and her leadership team will receive some executive coaching from us. Uh they will have the opportunity to participate in statewide learning labs where they will see some exemplar visits with the effective district framework. Again, everything that's done will be aligned to that effective district framework. It is a cohort model. So there's an opportunity to network and
011learn from others that are participating in this work across the state. You will receive and we will do a landscape analysis of your current reality of classrooms K through 12. And then probably the most important piece of this work that kind of differentiates it from other work that I've seen in the past is that planning and performance management support that will be uh a part of this process which will allow you strong implementation of your academic strategic plan and that continuous improvement model. So to speak to that data, I will turn it over to to Mr. Smith to speak to the data beliefs and the milestones that will be accomplished in this work as well as some of the systems thinking that this work is aligned to. So one one thing that he mentioned is
012that what we do to a landscape analysis but we also do some performance management. During that process we do collect data and one of the big things on this slide that we wanted to point out is that one of our big beliefs is that we want to make sure that data is seen as a flashlight. That it's not seen as that's used as a weapon that we're trying to shine light on something that you might not normally see or maybe see something in a little bit of a different way. We have several other beliefs, but that's one of our biggest one is that we want to see that this is a partnership and a process for improvement, not something that's um punitive or um something that's forced upon you by TEA. This is something you're
013act or asking to participate in. Um there are other ones that are listed there, but that's the one that I really just wanted to make sure that we talk about. Um, this is a little bit of a map that shows what happens throughout the two-year process. Um, the red line that's going across is is year one and the blue line right below it is year two. Um, it's got some months listed. It has some things that we're going to do, but the biggest thing to think of is that this is Brian's process. We have a framework that we're going to work in, but we're going to move at the speed of quality. We're not going to move on just to move on or we're not going to take our time because that's what we've chosen
014to do. We're going to move at y'all speed to make sure that we do what's best for the district. Um during the first year, one of the big things that we start with is seeing that current state, which is the landscape analysis. And then once we've done that, we'll identify priorities and initiatives to help um build a better student experience or to or um improve on the student experience. During that process too, we also do some performance management and that's building systems for data collection and um how we're going to see data and make sure that what we're doing is making that improvement on the student experience. Um again, the biggest The take away from this is that we're going to move at the speed that's needed for the district. It could be faster than
015what's up here. There could be parts of it that are slower, but it's going to be tailored to you guys. Um, another one of our our big items that we think about is that we understand that nothing is in a silo, that every single thing has an effect on something else. So this picture on the right hand side um is our our visual of that. We understand that if you're going to tweak something in talent that's going to change something in one of the other areas that we're going to work in. So whenever we do build this strategic plan we make sure that all of those things are thought through and we understand how one change does affect other areas within the district. And the the left hand side of this is our is one
016of our guiding principles as well. We understand that you have to have strong aligned district systems so that you can have that student outcome improvement. And then along the way there's the strong aligned campus systems and then there's the student experiences. So that's kind of a little little bit of TSL in a nutshell. It's again like David said, it's very selective. We um only pick one or two districts a year to work with and we're really pleased this year that one of those gets to be Brian ISD and then there's our contact information. Well, thank you very much. I'm going to just quickly say that we knew we had something special, but you kind of blew me away with uh with your comments about Miss Carabine and and like I said, I knew we had
017something special, but we we really look forward to u taking advantage of that with y'all's help and and uh I'm not sure the board's quite as good as you made us sound, but we're we're trying I was about to make the same comment, but we're trying to We're trying to be as supportive as we can as a group and and uh we're again this is quite exciting and I hope the community quickly understands as you said this is not something that uh let's go after Brian this is about uh bringing us in so that we can improve ourselves and and be a model for others. One one other thing that Dr. mentioned just now too is that the service center receives a grant for this work. So there is no cost to the district. This
018is um just a service that we provide as part of our service center work. Okay. Well, we'll wake up in a few minutes here and realize this was all a dream, but any will be really happy about the cost. We can tell you how outstanding Miss Carabine is, but it's so good to finally have others all the way up as high as TEA to know that, too. And so, thank you for what you've said about the board. Um, but we we've said and I particular, she's like this angel that just got dropped out of heaven for us in our district. But what you're doing for us is what one test, one day of one year, the STAR test is supposed to do for districts. evaluate, give all these grades out, tell parents how good or
019how bad the district is going to to do, but what you're doing is it's like, like David said, it's just unimaginable that we are blessed enough to get to do that because that's what you're going to do is evaluate, help, and give feedback. So, thank you. Absolutely. We really feel like after meeting with Mrs. Carbine and Dr. Yara and her team that uh and I said it when we walked out of the I think I said it to you guys. I really believe at the end of the year year two or the two-year process that they will be the model for others to follow in this work. So, that's that's pretty strong. And it it certainly doesn't stop with Dr. Dubara. We know we've got a lot of folks in in our district that are
020really making this happen and uh and Miss Caroline would be one of the first people to say that that it's yes, she's she's doing a good job, but we I don't I hope she wouldn't argue with that, but she but she's got a whole whole lot of folks out there. So, we want to be sure we're uh recognizing that uh this afternoon. So, I would just like to say thank you as well. I mean, we our teachers, everybody works so hard and with everything going on in education right now, the whole voucher thing and everything else that we all know about. It is uh it's great for other people to know like Miss Waller said to recognize that we're here to serve and I just think the world of BISD and we appreciate you guys
021with with for this honor. Thank you very much. We're excited to work alongside and learn alongside Dr. Mine and our team. Okay, any other questions or comments? Well, again, thank you and we'll we'll be look forward forward to a good two years. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, our next item is uh and then information item strategic plan update. Dr. Merrill We appreciate the opportunity to come back. We've been in a few a few of these meetings talking about the work of the strategic planning and it fits really nicely with the conversation and the presentation that you just had. It's uh going to be part of the work or the slide the clicker. Um, so again, we started this work at the uh, I guess probably right when we got back in January and we convened
022a committee and you're going to see some similar slides. Uh, again, we've shared this, but we want to come back and kind of give an update on uh, the work of the committee and where we believe it's going and where it's taken us. So, we're very, very excited. I've got Mr. Bobby Griffin here as well, uh, who y'all have met a few times and very excited to have him in the community again. uh vast experience not only in architecture but also working for public schools and making sure that um their interests are always represented uh taxpayer kids in the community the whole work and honestly just a great guy to be with. So I'm thankful for that as well. All right, we've uh shared the committee. We put nearly 50 committee members again in this
023space. Um we've got table captains, district uh employees that are uh committing to being here every Thursday. It's been a wonderful group to work with. uh just truly pleasant individuals, but they're a wonderful representation from across our district. So, some of them have kids, some of them don't have kids. Some of them in our district, they've already graduated, some are new. Most of them have been here for a few years. Um but all representing Brian ISD um from across multiple campuses. Again, a diverse cross representation um and they bring various perspectives from the community, which is what we wanted from the design up. We wanted to make sure we had the community's input as we began this conversation. Um, so we're thankful that they come and uh they've been meeting really every Thursday. We've had
024seven meetings. Uh, we've met all the way since March the 20th and uh ongoing. You'll see that we still have uh two more dates left and then we've even talked about additional dates in June. Um we love being doing the work and so if it extends into June that won't be a problem but nonetheless the group has made great progress in what they're doing and um the presentation that we just heard said nothing is in a silo. We would agree with that. Um we're going to show some slides in a second that you'll see the work that is coming with our um Texas strategic uh leadership partnership and the work of this committee is going to be well represented by uh the the the charge that our board's given us and the board goals and
025um uh just the the vision. So we started and the the agenda topics are what you'll see in front of you. We had uh departments sharing out kind of the current state of athletics, career and technical education, fine arts, safety and security, uh technology, transportation. They were wonderful and put slide decks together. Um and then talked about not only kind of what we see as a district, the historical perspective on the district and then maybe even some um needs that they had. We did a facility condition assessment. Y'all were a part of that. We went in and looked at CEK and CTE districtwide and then we looked at Merryill Green uh Brian High School and Merryill Green Stadium. We did a deep dive into those. We did a a facility assessment across the board. Uh
026but we did a deep dive into those three entities to make sure that we were um really comprehensive in our approach. And then we brought in a demographer and again y'all were a part of that conversation and the demographer came in and presented to the board. uh we did that last I think board meeting and then they presented to uh the strategic planning committee this last session where they talked about the the same presentation the kind of uh different scenarios and then obviously the the stable uh nature of the district is is kind of large largely what they talked about this work grew organically and over time the committee began to ask questions on we're seeing the needs we're seeing the state We see the facility condition index. We're seeing the facility assessments. They're talking
027about all of these factors and they begin to start start to use the word bond. Um and they really started to ask could we move into more of a bond steering committee. So could we move from our strategic planning committee into a bond steering committee? And um the work is very similar, but it's not exactly the same. And so if we were going to make that transition, we needed to spend time talking about what that looked like internally and then obviously with the group. And that's a huge consideration as we we take that into um obviously into a session like this. But they knew that we had talked very early on about the facilities and infrastructure, which is a large portion of what a bond committee can do. And so we we talked about it,
028got buyin from the group, and uh Borne was the bond steering committee. So, uh, you'll see up there again, it is designed very similarly to what the steering committee was. You would want in both cases a broad cross-section of parents, student staff. All of that is is a very true statement for our uh, strategic planning committee. And then they work uh, with an advisory capacity administration regarding long range planning and then future bond. And so it dovetailed very nicely with the work that we had done. And it had again organically just risen up. they had said time and time again like hey we're seeing the needs we're seeing um the the various presentations and are we just stopping there or do we take it to the next step and so out of that again was
029born the bond steering committee and so with that is sort of again the change comes some additional responsibilities yes with the strategic planning you get to cast vision you get to ask questions you get to do a lot of that work but nonetheless it takes on a completely different consideration if it's a bond steering committee Dr. Dr. Mel, if I may interrupt you for just a second. I just wanted to be kind of clear. So, all of the people that we had on our strategic plan or most of them, we're all taxpayers. Everybody on there. So, everybody has skin in the game. It's not just, you know, I want I want the public to understand we didn't just pick people that that would say, "Hey, let's find a way to do this." So, you I
030find it very encouraging that we have fellow taxpayers that are concerned, not just wanting to spend money because we can. I appreciate you making that point. Thank you, Mr. Gonzalez. Yeah. when we come back to this, they're they're citizens of Brian ISD. It was important that they represent this community, uh that they live in this community, and we're not having someone outside of our own town making decisions for us. I think that's critically important. And again, as a taxpayer that lives directly in the middle in the city of Brian, I have a vested interest as well. So, uh, absolutely. And all of the information I I I have the link or show this slide coming up. All of this has been made available to the public. We've posted on the website. We've not hidden. We've
031been in here a couple of times. We've shared it out. The work has been broadcast uh on various platforms. They knew the strategic planning work uh was happening, but we didn't we we uh were excited, I guess, when they started seeing it and they knew that could we take it to the next step. And so that's really where it came from. And again, um when that became a possibility, we circled back around and said, "Okay, great. strategic planning work had this charter. If we're going to take on a different charter, this is what it would look like. And so again, they're reviewing information that was already part of uh the work district facility needs, enrollment trends, and educational vision, prioritizing student needs, developing a fiscally rep responsible plan, Mr. Gonzalez, which is the very thing
032that you just touched on. They work with the bigger picture. They're providing input regarding district facilities ability to support education in this community, providing insight into what the broader community might support, serve as ambassadors for the process and any proposed plan, and then hopefully have fun. All of which has has happened. But um if they're going to take on that work, then that becomes part of that conversation that we have. It would be interesting talking about what Leo just said again, it'd be interesting to take a vote or take a survey at the next meeting. How many children and grandchildren, oh gosh, are represented on that committee and how how many committee members are Brian ISD farmer students to just showers vested interest including students. We have three students uh from different campuses that are
033sitting on that and they provide uh insight that is uh so so valuable. But I I agree grandparents, parents, former uh graduates, people with gra students, former graduates, it is a u truly a diverse representation. So it just shows how much the committee has their heart into it. Absolutely. For sure. Thank you for making that point. And so truthfully, this is a slide that would kind of show the process. We started with strategic planning, goal setting, public school, all of which are necessary factors. Again, we don't work in silos. there's overlapping work from um we come back to I think it's this slide here you'll see many of what that work that they just presented is going to cover and then our little piece of the pie is definitely there and they said look we're
034seeing this we want to take it to the next step and so we said okay let's let's take it to the next step and so this is that that process that takes place where it goes from strategic planning to we've got valuable information and what are we going to do with that and that committee's work of vested citizens said we would like to strongly consider. And so then we begin to bring in presentations. Um we begin to use tools in our toolbox to be able to talk about what costs would look like. All of those things capac all of those conversations demographer capacity um to develop a plan. And so again, we recognize the committee recognizes they don't call for a bond. That's the work of the board. But yet their job is to take
035all this information as representatives of this community and say like this is our thoughts on it. We've been meeting for seven times. We'll have meet uh for a total of nine when it's all said and done, possibly even over the summer. And they're doing their own homework. They're studying uh I mean honestly countless pages. We gave them the 262page document that our demographer gave us. We've given them um all reports they could possibly need and or want to review to help us make decisions because again to both points of our board members, they're vested in this community. Brian, do they become does the strategic planning committee become the bond steering or do we reappoint? No, they're they're just naturally we we had a formal conversation with them last last group where we talked about what
036that would look like and then transitioning over um them going from just uh sort of strategic making recommendations to a fullout uh bond steering committee. Um and again overwhelming if not unanimous support for that understanding that work has naturally and organically for some people they might have started there and known that this could potentially go there. for others. It just sort of happened over the the sevenwe process. Thank you. Again, phases of facility planning and bond steering. So, we we've determined needs. We've looked at the current uh conditions. We've met with stakeholders. We're collecting obviously all of our assets, providing all that information. We're reviewing facility condition indexes, reviewing costs. And the goal would eventually to bring a presentation or recommendation to the board, and then for y'all to make a consideration, and then um
037determine if and when that would happen, if a if something would were to be called. But again, they're looking at all the projects knowing that this is ongoing work. the same way that strategic planning uh Mr. Griffin's made this point. We we've known it as well. It doesn't stop. It doesn't always lead to a bond referendum. That's not always the case that something would happen. Um the strategic planning presentation before it's not going to lead to a bond referendum. We we will do this probably in a couple years and and we will present out and it may not lead to a bond referendum. only as it kind of organically naturally happens do the committee members say hey I think with everything that we're seeing we need to consider the following option it does not always
038do that in this case it did every two to three four years we need to constantly be doing this evaluating just the state of the district that's part of the natural process of being in administration and leading work so um I'm thankful for that and then we'll develop proposed plans or projects and obviously make some presentations I shared this already. We've got this on the website. We're open and transparent. Uh committee members, all of that is there. And so, we definitely think that we want to put this out to the community and we want them to be a part of it. And so, whether it leads to a bond or not, we want them to be educated and transparent with what we've been presenting. Any questions? I already interrupted you enough. Thank you. I appreciate
039uh I just want to commend you on the process, your team. Um just seeing the engagement of department heads, campuses, input, feedback um through the administration, bringing all that information in front of our committee. Um the committee is incredibly engaged, which has been impressive. They are uh they're asking difficult questions. Um there's some difficult work ahead. that there is uh but just to see the engagement and and just the input and feedback from all parties uh it's been it's been fun to watch and be be a part of. So I agree. Yeah, it's a fun group and the work is meaningful which I appreciate very much so and I think they appreciate that as well. Well, other questions. It is uh from my perspective also been extremely well done positive. So, thank y'all very much
040for that. And that that guy that didn't talk very much sitting right beside Yeah. has been played a big role in this because we uh know that he is adding a great deal of credibility to everything that's being uh talked about and discussed and and there's nothing more important in a bond than having good credibility. So, we appreciate one of the things that I would say and I I have it written down. I I would feel remiss. One of the large takeaways has been the work of our maintenance and operations department. Mike Cullen, Robert Ura, uh Rick Scott, um Ron Cooper, go down the line. Every man, woman, everyone has done such a phenomenal job in maintaining our building. Uh and I appreciate it. And and Mr. Griffin joined us and as I shared at
041the beginning, he's you know, he's he brings a whole different lens in making sure the very things that you talked about that our interests are always represented. that I've uh gotten an education uh walking around with them in the buildings and talking with contractors and making sure our warranty requests are being honored and that everything is is really taken into consideration. Um and being able to speak that language is is very very important. Again, uh the rep representation that you talked about, having people that live in this community that write the tax taxes, all of that paying the same bills. Um and he does that. And so when he's there, he's taking those things into consideration knowing that it's his it's his dollars at work as well. And so, um, it's been a been a
042blessing to have him. Um, and I'm very very thankful, uh, for his presence. And so I he's man a few words. Uh, but I'll let him say something. I'm clearly not uh I'm not as I bet he'll say it when he needs to, Brian. But that that's all I care about, Mr. Griffin. I know you'll say what needs to be said. So that's right. Yeah, we're good. I like it. Okay. Great. Well, thank you'all again. U and we'll be hearing more about this in the future. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. U budget update. Uh Mr. Baw and uh Norma Friddle. Is it that pronounced? Friddle or Okay. Fiddle. We just got BAR right. So you'll have to give us a little time. It's Friddle. Yes, sir. Thank you. So, I've uh brought Miss uh Friddle
043up so that y'all can uh see her. She'll be, of course, uh taking over this seat in a little less than a couple of months. So, we're busily working on budget and all things uh finance related. uh to get up to speed. We wanted to take a minute today to uh go through the presentation that uh actually most of which was had gone to the uh the campuses uh Miss uh Miss Carbine and and uh almost all of cabinet uh split up and and we've been uh doing our our road show as we've called it the last couple of years just to try to get uh the information in front of as many people as we can, as many staff members and get uh uh valuable feedback on what they think uh could be possible.
044or where they think there might be some uh additional uh room for uh for some savings or some efficiencies. So we always start of course with our our board goals u you know support high quality instruction uh retain our high quality staff maintain a healthy fund balance and of course safety and security is high priority and some of this you all have seen you've you've uh seen it multiple times perhaps. Uh we'll also go through a little bit of a a legislative update as to where we are today uh and and what we think may happen going into the future. Uh of course these are the the legislative timelines for the last couple of years. Uh we've talked about these we always you know brought it forward to uh just to let everybody know you
045know where we are the struggles that we're we're looking at. And of course you can see on the very right side uh the January 25 legislative session is in in session now. Um they uh have just passed uh the governor signed the uh education savings account. Uh we'll cover that a little bit more as we go and just bring forward some uh information from other districts. Uh you could go out there and Google uh at this point a lot of districts are having struggles just this just the same as we are. It's a statewide issue, not just Brian ISD or Berez County or anything. And you can see some of those. We've we've talked about many of them uh the last couple of years that uh it's a very challenging time in in public education
046financing. Then we'll just talk about uh the the types of funds in the public schools just to be sure we're you know we're dividing them uh keeping them separate. Of course our local funds is the main funding source for our day-to-day operations. Uh includes our fund balance which we uh have to maintain the 60 to 90 days operating costs. bond funds, debt service we call it, or interest in syncing and of course that requires voter approval. Uh it's used for capital projects as uh Dr. Merrill has just uh said we uh transitioned to a bond steering committee. So you know we would be talking in that area and that would be funds that would be uh strictly for that and then grant funds of course is the uh additional funding but basically for designated purposes
047generally uh supplement uh the uh things that we already do not not supplant those and of course we can't go without talking about the cup uh just to make sure that you know we know uh we get 6160 per student uh with 100% attendance and then uh that's sets our our size of our cup basically or our amount of state funding and then our local property taxes uh fill that cup to a certain amount and the state uh makes up the rest. So uh if we go then further if we talk about if as local property wealth or our property values go up uh which we just got our uh preliminary values from the appraisal district uh last week and and values are going to go up. uh the tax rate will depend on what
048the state sets our our M rate at. But even if the funding goes up from that additional property uh tax increase, the state will then reduce our funding. So our amount of total funding would remain the same or the cup remains the same size in that analogy. U you've seen this one before we go through uh you know no basic aotment increase but inflation has increased. Uh so the size of the cup has not really changed over the years. Um then you can see down in the bottom left there of course the if the legislature had accounted for the inflation since uh that would approximately be 15 to 16 million in revenue. I think that's even last year's slide. So it would be a little bit more than that. And then some examples of uh
049you know we've been uh bombarded with you know school districts have plenty of money. their uh you know their 15,000 per student or whatever has been said. But examples like this where the underfunded mandates make it difficult uh to uh deal with some of these things and you see transportation for example our aotment for uh the current year is of just under 1.5 million but the cost to operate our buses transportation fuel maintenance all those kind of things is about 6.2. So you're underfunded on that one. And then safety and security is another one. Uh the state aotment is 521,000. Uh the cost for our uh uh SRO's, our school resource officers and our uh safety security officers to have an armed guard or an armed person at each campus. Uh that alone is uh
050over uh over a million dollars. So that's actually SRO's is a million. Safety and security uh officers is almost another million. So uh and then the additional cost of some film and some other things that we have done. Uh so you're underfunded on those things. So that that money has to come from somewhere and basic allotment or some of those other aotments will make up some of that. And then of course we've talked about this one, you've seen it. Uh still this is a slide's been going on for a couple of years, but basically we're in the same boat that we were. Uh we have record inflation. We had the end of the ESSER grants finishing up uh last year and then no change in the basic aotment and it's equal in some real uh
051difficult financial challenges for Texas public schools. Then we get to the legislature uh what is going on right now. Um so actually you've got House Bill Two is one of the one of the finance bills that was out there uh that was amended and passed by the House and you can see there's some some changes in there. It was originally uh to be an increase of 20 uh $220 to the basic aotment. That actually was changed to $395 uh increase in in state comped or the state compensatory edotment. That was actually moved to the second year bianium. So that would not affect this year. Increase in the teacher incentive allotment was also moved to the second bianium. So, they've made some of those changes, but that then has been uh pushed over to the to
052the Senate uh where they'll take a look at it. Now, the Senate uh Senate Bill 26, the teacher pay uh they they came out with their version of funding and they put it into um just the uh basically a teacher retention aotment. So, they targeted uh increased funding uh for teachers. But you'll notice they're uh they have 2500 for each uh classroom teacher with three to four years experience, 5,500 for each classroom teacher with more than five years. So nothing for the zero to to two-year teachers and then nothing for u anyone else uh bus drivers, uh custodial, food service, all the other things, instructional aids, all of those kind of things uh that are necessary to to run schools. So that would be a a difficult uh challenge with that. And so then the
053legislative update uh where we have of course you all probably are aware uh the educational savings account that was signed by the governor over the weekend. Um and that of course creates the the accounts where there's potential for uh $10,000 uh to students. There's roughly uh $1 billion set aside there. So it's for approximately a 100,000 students across the across the um across the state would would be on that. Um and then as we go forward so into the we talked here about uh and of course we know we've talked to all the campuses about these things. So this is information that they've had or seen. So I just wanted to make sure that you all have seen the same thing. But this we just kind of laid out for them what the the teacher
054u increases would be and that there wouldn't be anything for anybody else under that Senate bill. And then a reminder for everybody of the retention stipens that we did in 2024 25 uh you know $1,000 uh new teacher signing and then the 2% for uh September and December and a May stipend as well. But that was approximately $6 million. Most of which we were able to fund with uh the ending of the ESSER grants. We had about $5 million that was uh indirect cost that we could use and we did put on there is due to no action at the state level um and in consultation with TASBY and we've also talked to Tasbo last week uh that it's really difficult would be to make any recommendations regarding compensation or potential stipens uh for next
055school year at this point. and decisions and information will be forthcoming. So, in the discussion with um Amy Campbell, who's presented to y'all from uh TASBY, and Amanda Brownson, who's also uh presented to y'all uh from Tasbo last week, their best um best estimate of what will happen with the legislative session is that the House Bill Two, which has the basic aotment increase and some of those other things that would be um uh more discretionary funding for the school districts, will go to the Senate. They feel like the Senate will strip out most if not all of the basic a lot increase and they'll plug in some of their language uh with more targeted increases for teachers or you know specific groups uh as opposed to um leaving in basic aotment for uh school districts
056to use discretionary and then that will have to go to committee a joint committee of both houses. they have to uh agree on work that out before it can ever go to the governor. So, we may still be, excuse me, we may still be a ways uh from deciding or getting any information on that. But, we would hope now that the uh uh uh the the education savings account has been signed and that's on that the governor would uh put some emphasis behind perhaps, you know, funding the rest of the of the uh public education funding. And these are some of the items we've we've talked about before, but we you know brought these to the campuses as well that uh some of the streamlining the budget things that we've done there. 23 and 24
057we did uh some items 24 25 um also uh some of these reductions and in different areas and and uh you know efficiencies and streamlining so that we could uh trim the budget as as best we could to try to make that uh go further. And then of course at the end of the of the session with the campuses we had um feedback and input had the QR code there. They could scan that and they could enter um whatever ideas whatever feedback they felt like was beneficial or or helpful or you know or complaint or whatever it was. But they could they could put it out there and we you know we reviewed all those. We did um over the last couple of years we did uh find some ideas in there that that were
058helpful. Uh and you can see some of the ideas there that they in general terms that they came up with to uh you know filling vacancies internally or streamlining staffing um consolidating programs perhaps and some of the resources looking at um you know master scheduling uh some of our software resources and just try to uh review everything and make sure that we're utilizing everything as as uh as best we can. And then this is the budget timeline where we are. Uh you can see we've started uh with budget estimates in January and then we're currently in in May of course. So uh we have put preliminary campus and department budgets out uh with the idea that those could uh uh those could could be decreased possibly if if there's no more funding coming at all.
059Um if they do come with a windfall, there could perhaps be increased. it. Um and then we'll continue on with that. Uh we get to June. Uh of course our our noon meeting in June is the uh actually the final day of the legislative session and then June 16th we'll be back in to adopt a budget. What we've talked about a little bit with TASBY is we could be looking at a situation where we adopted a budget. Um, and if there's been no decision uh for sure by the governor, we could be looking at doing uh an amendment after the budget is adopted in July or August if they uh uh you know came forward with some additional funding and and uh and some of that we we can do that. Normally they'll if if
060they do something like that, they'll make a special uh circumstance to allow you to adjust the uh the pay and things for the for the staff and and specifically make it uh TRS eligible and that by law because that would technically they would need to make some kind of uh uh special adjustment or um say that that's possible because if not otherwise it would not be uh it would not be allowable after the after the budget is adopted. And really that's where we'll be we'll be back again in two weeks and hopefully uh we'll have some more information. We're working on um scenarios right now just to see so we can have uh two or three scenarios with whatifs uh happen and and uh see if there's any any kind of uh movement on the
061legislative side. Well, unfortunately, I I didn't hear from you and I haven't seen it anywhere that we're headed towards funding by enrollment instead of ADA. That's not in the cards. Doesn't sound like. Yeah, I haven't heard anything about that at this point. I mean, we've we've talked about we've talked about it. We've asked for it. Um, you know, but there's been no no discussion as far as I know on the legislative side. Well, those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, it's would be a much fairer way to at least to fund us because of the uh uncertainty of attendance in and the fact that we have extremely small amount of control over over attendance, but that's that's the way it is. And but if that's not the case in what charter schools
062or who is it that charters are uh funded on enrollment? Yes. And then of course the vouchers. I don't believe there will be any kind of tied to uh reduction in that 10,000 if you're you know not in attendance that day. So I I appreciate your comment. I just want to remind everyone that we hover around 94% attendance rate for the district. So if they funded us based on enrollment that would be about $7 million more for us to run our school districts. So we have uh begged the lawmakers to consider funding on enrollment. I was there when Ruthie asked point blank asked the commission and he's like, "Oh, no, never, never, never." Little frustrated. Of course, our devoted teachers and staff, everybody that works for the district, one of the only careers that signs
063a contract and has no idea exactly what they're going to be making. Well, thank you very much. uh always appreciate the very thorough report and uh Norman, we appreciate you learning as you go here and I'm sure you're learning from the master. So, okay. Well, I guess we'll move on to public comment. Uh citizens may make comments on topics relevant to district business. Uh they should be limited to three minutes and any concerning specific students or personnel will be heard in close session. Uh do we have any no public comments? Uh consent agenda. We have a couple items there. Uh and please check that. If you want to remove one of those items for discussion, you may. If you do not, I will entertain a motion. Mr. Stazz approval of all the items listed on
064the consent agenda. Second. Motion made by Mr. Gonzalez, seconded by Miss Benford. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. I. All opposed. Unanimous. All right. We have uh looks like I think just one action item. approval of the over 50 for over $50,000 expenditure for the school safety and security audit. And I think we have Mr. Bau back along with uh Rich Himl. Yes, sir. Thank you. So, we um I have Mr. Himl here to answer answer the difficult questions on this one, but uh this is the one of the uh things that was put in the legislation a few years ago. Um I'm not sure how many of these we've done, but uh by by uh education code, at least once every three years, um each school district has to conduct a safety
065and security audit uh of all facilities. So this doesn't include just the campus, it's it's all facilities. Uh we've had region six do this for us uh over the past few and we've uh received very very uh high standards on that. They then they will come uh after it's completed uh they will discuss to the board and of course go to close session to discuss any issues or anything they find. Uh you may remember we just did the uh district um vulnerability assessment which was uh a separate and above uh these audits that that have been on the books a few years. Uh but this is something that that is required by law. Uh and we uh have contracted with region six to do them as they uh are are authorized by TEA to do
066that if I'm if I'm correct. Yes. But the the scope of it is is uh basically reviewing checking everything from our fences uh door mean all the things that we've done uh security vestibules the the entire district basically and then uh bringing a report forward to the board. Any questions? Entertain a motion. I move approval of the school safety and security audit for the 23 20 is that 25 audit cycle or 23 26 threeear cycle 23 26 okay 23 26 audit cycle to region 6 in the amount of 55,000 as presented. I have a motion by Mr. Brian and I heard a second from Miss Waller. Any discussion. All in favor say I. I. I. All oppose. Passes unanimously. And now we'll move to close session. We have several things that we will probably be
067talking about uh including possible employment of a district employee. uh possible discussion of public school student where personally identifiable information could be revealed and also consultation with attorney regarding the legal requirements and financial terms of the Jetai tax incentive program. Uh they will discussion will be allowed in close session under chapter 55.074.0821 and 087. No voting will take place in the closed meeting. Any action the board wishes to take? Discussion in close session will occur after the board reconvenes an open meeting. The time is now looks like 12:54. The board reconvened open session at uh 2:36. Uh no action was taken in close session. Uh I believe we have consideration of approval of recommendation for the principal of Mitchell Elementary. Uh Mr. Dazzy, I'd like to make a motion to approve the recommendation of Jess
068Jessica Payey as principal of Mitchell Elementary. Second. All right. Motion made by Mr. Bryant, second by Miss Benford. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. It's unanimous. Uh, next item is consideration of possible action regarding superintendent's recommendation to terminate probationary contract at the end of the contract term of a classroom teacher. Mr. Stazzney, I move that the board of trustees terminate the probationary contract with Angela Tucker at the end of the contract term in the best interest of the district and direct the superintendent to provide notice of this action to the employee in accordance with state law. Second. Motion made by Mr. Gonzalez, seconded by Mr. Denver. Uh any any discussion? All in favor say I. I. I. Opposing none is unanimous. And there being no further action. We are adjourned at where are
069we? 237.