001Good, good afternoon. >> Good evening, Mr. Clemens. >> I'm here and I'm I'm fine. >> All right. Good. Good. >> Okay, guys. The good evening. You know, uh that's going to be the new norm. The time is uh 6:05 and we'll I'll be calling this meeting to order. Uh first order of business is we're going to do the roll call. Um for the board and then I'll start off uh with uh Mr. Clemens. Are you here? >> I'm here. >> Okay. M >> Clemens present. Okay. Mrs. Thompson, Mr. Nimtt, >> I am present. >> Miss Pearson, >> here's the Pearson present. >> Mr. Ba, I'm present. Uh, we have a quorum. Um, obviously, you know, I I'll say the mission statement. We never say it, but uh it's empowering students to graduate. Uh, prepare to
002exceed all expectations. Uh, Jennifer, do we have any public comments? >> We do not have any public comments, sir. >> Okay, great. Awesome. Okay, we'll uh move to the review and approval of minutes uh from the board meeting, special board meeting last month, August 28th, 2025. Um do we have a motion? >> Uh Donald Neck, I move that the minutes for the meeting held on August 28th, 2025 be approved as written. >> Do we have a second? >> Robert Clemens, I second the motion. >> Okay, we'll move to a vote. Uh Mr. Clemens. >> Uh yes, >> Mr. Mr. Nimtt, >> I vote yes. >> Miss Pearson, >> yes. >> Mr. Bayon, I vote yes. Motion carries. >> Okay. Um, we will move to uh the public hearing. Uh, we have charter first. We have
003Caitlyn Holly who is the finance director. Uh, you're on the call, so we we'll give you the floor. >> Yes. Um, today, so we'll be going over the first rating. It stands for the financial rating uh integrity rating for the state of Texas. It's an annual rating that the state has a bunch of measurements um and indicators where they give you points on and it's for every single school in the state of Texas. Um if you scroll down just a little bit, we'll go through some of the sheets. So in here, this is just the background of what the first rating is. Um yeah, it's just it's required to be in the newspaper. So that's a listing of all of the newspaper um postings. Okay. So the first attachment, this is this current year rating
004and then following this attachment is the prior year rating. You've received the exact same score both years, um which is a 96. uh you've lost four points on the same indicator indicator number 14 um which is a very good score. Um the indicator that you lost points on number 14 is right here. So it's the um administrative cost ratio and it's um measuring how much you spend on your administration versus all other areas in your budget. And one thing that we're doing for this current year to kind of try to help get you additional points is just monitoring what's going through there and seeing what we can move into other locations outside of just the administration budget. But overall 96 is a really great score. And then if you keep scrolling and then this will
005be the same report but for the prior year. So it's the exact same score in all the same areas. And then, okay, this is um a requirement of the report just to kind of lay out what's been spent on all the board members and the superintendent for meals and lodging throughout the year. Um so, it's just a basic required report. You'll see it once a year. And then if you just scroll to the next page, oh, superintendent contract, that's also something we have to include in the report. Okay. And then this is um a summary sheets that we put together for y'all. It kind of goes through all the indicators and compares it side by side through the years. Um we left off, it starts with indicator seven. So the first six indicators are critical
006indicators. It's not you don't get points for those. It's just a pass or fail. You've passed all of them. Um so on this sheet, it starts with indicator 7 and it shows you all of the breakdown your total revenues, expenses, kind of every indicator with your information plugged into it. And then if you scroll, the one that's grade indicator 14, that one we grade just because it's the one where you didn't get the perfect score. >> Believe that's everything for the first report. >> Thank you, Kaitlin. Uh any uh comments uh welcome regarding the uh charter first public hearing. >> Yes. I um uh we um have a committee for finance and one of the requests that I did was that um beyond just trying to see where we can kind of uh put different
007areas basically and I think Caitlyn describes it a little better than obviously she does. Um I think we really need to look at to see what the cost ratio is against our students that are at you know in our attendance for it so that it makes sense that our admin is actually at par with the attendance enrollment as well. Um I am u not okay with just putting numbers here and putting it in another pocket just to make things float. I think that really needs to be seen. I've also requested that we see closely more into um departmental cost as well um being uh whether it's uh ESL sped uh you know obviously admin is one of them uh making sure that we have everything in line and can really uh not get into this
008pocket that we were in this particular year. Um I'm still waiting for answers as regard as to um and I don't think we talked about Akilin on this one. Um we were you know basically our our points against what we had the emotion we had for the last two years. Um those are the only two those are the only comments I have. >> Okay. Thank you Mrs. Pearson. Um any other comments regarding charter first public? Well, I would like to say that on the charter first and I think Mr. Clemens knows this. Um the 96 is is a very um not very many charter schools pull that kind of a rating um at all. And so um we continue to do that. I I think it's going to drop next year uh because Caitlyn from
009what our projections were right from Tammy. But um I think that uh it continues to speak in in such a uh tumultuous environment of of education that uh we are still able to to keep this kind of a rating uh financially. Uh so my hats off to to the staff that continue to participate in in in helping spend these monies and and helping us navigate things from state funds to federal funds and all of those things. and and so my appreciation. >> Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Any more comments uh regarding charter first public hearing before we move on? Okay. Uh we'll move to uh information items. Um Dr. Anderson, superintendent's report. >> All right. Um basically as always I would like to go over the um numbers. Uh I am proud to say that since
010this report as of today Jim gives me a report every uh every uh day we get a report. We're actually at about we're at 1500457 kids. That puts us at 31 and an ADA of about 1180. So that puts us at 31 kids below our goal, which this budget was built on. Our budget was built on 1212. If you recall, I I built the budget on, 1212 students at at uh uh 1555 at uh 78%. So it's 1213 1212. Um and so we're about 31 kids uh short of that based on our current ADL 1457 with 80 uh 81%. Um so uh we are um certainly uh going to be doing some initiatives which I have Dr. Evans on and I'll be introducing him in just a moment to share with you um uh that
011um um Carl and I talked today and usually we we've been continuously going up. Um so when we started uh the year it was uh kind of low at the last report I gave you guys. Um, and so on the 9:25 we were at 1429 and as of today um, which is 9 uh, no that's not 9:25. Uh, I put the wrong date in there. That was when did I do this report, Jennifer? Last week. Um, put the wrong date. U, but it should have been uh, 1429 last Thursday when I submitted this to Jennifer. So whatever last week was and today we're at 14 uh, 57. So, we're making great progress. Um, and um, so having that um, you have you have Jim's chart, but like say, you got to always remember because we
012try and get this to you all a week in advance, those numbers are a little bit behind. So, that's why I wanted to give you all the most current uh, uh, number for enrollment. Now, our our budget again was built on 1555. So we're we're a little under 100 kids shy of that, but our our ADA is higher than 78%. So it's it's starting to uh balance itself. So but again, I believe that we will uh have um higher enrollment um and and I'll be sure in just a moment of of what initiatives we have uh underway in that regard. um questions about the enrollment or the numbers. Okay. Then if not um as you can see as always we want to share with you the vacancies and the positions. We have six campuses 100%
013staff uh which is up from five. We have three campuses at 90%. uh we have one campus at 80% down from two and uh no campus is staffed below 70%. And so as you can see the positions that are uh affected by this it's uh we have some core elective teachers um that are uh pending or outstanding and so uh you know they're more specialized and so oftent times we have a little bit harder time finding those and filling those positions. Would you continue to go down, Jennifer, please? And then, as you can see, certified versus non-certified. Uh we are still doing very well. Uh over half of our staff is certified. Uh that's very uh hard for a charter school to claim that. And so, um uh I see you shaking your head, Caitlyn.
014I'm telling the truth, then. I think that's Yeah, it's it's it's uh very hard uh to have that kind of staff at a charter school. And so, 58% of our staff is certified and uh and 42% none. And you know the the the thing about that and and we're working to try and get the word out too about RMA and uh the the place that is I was in Odessa in Midland the other week and we hired a special ed um person for Odessa and she shared with me her perception of RMA was that it was a place people said oh why'd you go there that's for bad kids and she said how much she was loving it since she came with us and uh to RMA and she says it's and she now goes
015out and tells you you guys have a bad misunderstanding about RMA. So, we're trying to constantly make it a better place to work. Uh Dr. Given and Carl and I have been traveling last week and we'll do it all throughout the district. We go we have roundts with the staff. Um we do a a gallery walk uh where they can uh share their ideas and thoughts on certain topics that we give them uh to and we discuss and and we're there to hear uh what what their opinions are of of of how we could make RMA better. And we discussed the uh staff surveys that Dr. the bgeois does for us. And so we're we're trying to get that input and we're looking for common themes or threads across the district. Once we've done all
016nine, we'll get together, look at the threads, the commonalities uh commonalities uh across the district and try and address those so that we we can uh move in the right direction. All right, Jennifer, questions about the certified or any staffing? Okay. And then you have House Bill 8 or Senate Bill 9. uh that replaces the STAR test. Um it was passed. Um it gives a shorter norm referenced assessment that will be administered at the beginning of year, the middle of the year, and the end of year. Uh basically the law outlaws benchmark testing. Uh they don't want uh schools teaching to the test. So that the whole thing is that if you're teaching the curriculum, the kids should be ready for these assessments at that time. Uh but basically uh one legislature said it's basically
017out outlaw uh benchmark testing and and testing to prepare the kid for the test. Um you know it was the biggest issue. People saying oh kids are all they're doing is being taught how to take a test all year long. So um how that pans out. We'll find out uh to be continued. Um but there are many ways that that these will be accomplished and we'll have more as the charter school conference comes about. But I'm sure that this will be uh talked about uh as well uh with the board. And then the last thing is the state charter conference on October 6th through the 8th. Uh we look forward to seeing you there. Um uh Jennifer is sending out invites that we may gather uh if you would like to participate. I I think
018that those are great networking opportunities and I would encourage every board member that's going to be participating uh to take advantage of those opportunities. Any questions about these things that I've presented before I introduce Dr. Evans? Okay. Then I will uh at this time I would like to uh introduce a gentleman that came to me by the way of Dr. Steven Bgeoa who you all are very familiar with. Um doc Dr. Evans. Now his name is when I met him he was Mr. Evans but now he's Dr. Evans. Uh congratulations to him. Uh Dr. Evans served as the director of marketing for premier uh and responsive ed for responsive ed high schools and you know they're one of our bigger competitors uh uh because they run the premier uh dropout recovery high school system and
019so I was introduced to uh m to Dr. Evans through uh Dr. Bajgeois and um he has changed my perspective on marketing. Um and I I found value in in what he uh was sharing with me. Not only has he been a friend and a partner of RMA, he everything up to this point that he has done for RMA has been free. He has not charged us a dime. Uh but his thing to me was Dr. Anderson, I believe that RMA can get to your goal of 2,000. and he says um and and and I I don't think it's an unrealistic goal. And so he has used his contacts and his connections uh to position us and to share with us. Uh he has a friend who works for an actual marketing firm uh that
020uh Jennifer uh that um is has been instrumental and he's pul pulled all of his resources together and it's cost us a little bit of money for these services but not his service to this point. Um and so I would like for you to hear from Dr. Evans and and years of experience. Um and so Dr. Evans, I'm going ask you to share just a briefly about yourself. Um and then share the initiatives that you have been working with carry on to uh change the direction of our marketing and and improve uh the outcomes which would lead to uh student enrollment. >> Yes sir. Well, thank you very much for that uh that introduction and uh just one thing before I dive into uh my professional experience. I just want to say that I was
021a uh was an Air Force brat and so my we traveled all over the world uh different countries, different states every three or four years. And so in that transition, it was difficult uh for me at at many junctures when it came to education. When I graduated from high school, I was not prepared for college. I had way too many gaps and an RMA would have been a perfect thing for me. uh but it just didn't exist at that point in time. And so my heart is there. I know that you know Dr. Anderson that people tell you that you know there's a perception that RMA is for the bad kids. We had the same kind of thing at at premieres as well. That was one of the major challenges that we had to overcome.
022But it's not just for kids that that have behavioral problems or that sort of thing. They're really a lot of times just really good people that just for whatever reason couldn't connect the dots. And I was one of those kids for the longest time. So um it's it's it's near and dear to my heart as was the premier brand because of the great work that's being done and I think it's it's it's critically important. But from my professional experience uh from until 20124 I served in various roles with the marketing department of responsive ed uh the last uh eight years with the um sole leadership of that uh of that department. Uh when I first got started, it only had two people. It was me and somebody else. And we continued to grow it as
023we got results. And uh really kind of learned a lot of things the hard way. And so um coming on board and trying to help you um those hard lessons hopefully or all in the past and I can apply some of those learnings uh going forward that are going to be things that are going to help RMA uh begin to recruit a lot of students. So, um, since I left, uh, Responsive Ed in, uh, 2024, I have been working with other charter districts with enrollment activities and that sort of thing. Okay, Jennifer, I'm ready to to jump into it. Uh, I know I've got about six or seven minutes. I'll try to get through it as quickly uh, as I can. If there's any questions, please feel free to to to stop me so I
024can answer those questions for you. Uh, but as I came on board and meeting with Dr. Anderson and meeting with Carrie, we kind of talked about what that current landscape was as far as some of the enrollment challenges um you know that you were having. We kind of went through campus by campus and and took a look at things. We looked at the enrollments that were there. We looked at uh the environment and then I had some inherent know inherent knowledge because a lot of your campuses really aligned very well with some of the responsive ed campuses. So I had some really good ideas thoughts about what those environments look like. And as I sat down and started looking at it, I noticed that, you know, you guys, we talked about our goal of, you
025know, 1,700, but I think we can do better than that. And I'm just I I uh uh I'd like to uh to, you know, to try to do everything we can to exceed that. So, we talk about somewhere between 1,700 and 2,000. And I know 2,000 is a big number and it's a big stretch goal, but that's really what where my eyes are focused and trying to help the organization reach that. So some of the first things we started doing, we started looking at um you know what tools are actually there in order for us to be able to uh frame campaigns that are going to be successful. And one of the things was the uh the ISD list. And these are things that I use very very heavily at responsive ed. I use those
026strategies where um we would go ahead and mail to um individuals that were within a 19minute drive time because over time data showed us that we got 75% of our kids from within a 19minute drive time. So we worked with a software package called mapitude. We loaded all the ISD list in there and made sure that everybody that we were going to mail to was going to be within that um you know within that that that group. We also worked with uh with Jennifer and um with Carrie to get secure some nonprofit postage rates so that we could reduce the cost and be as efficient as what we possibly could. Uh my objective is to try to get as much mail in the mail stream we possibly can at the lowest cost possible. Um we
027did some um with the direct mail it's all convening into uh these enrollment fairs that we're going to have at the areas where we have these direct mail uh list. So open houses that we have uh called um um these uh enrollment fairs that I apologize it's not an enrollment fair it is an enrollment bonanza I think but we'll find out as we get down here. I apologize for that. But really, so yeah, the direct mail where we could, we wanted to make sure that we attacked uh that as much as possible. I also felt that we needed to do things um strategically so that when we even address the envelopes, we address the envelopes to the parents of student name. That way when it arrives in the mail, the parent is going to look
028at it say who is this sending information to my child? They're going to open it up. And that's really half the battle with direct mail, right? So that's some of the things that uh that we've done there and we have uh you can go ahead um if you don't mind uh Jen and going to the next slide for me. U we've gone ahead with the direct mail campuses and have got um these events planned for Amarillo, Corpus Christie, Colleen, Midland and Odessa. And so um that's where we had ISD list. Uh I believe that the ROI on that is going to be significant. Carrie and I had meetings today with those campus leaders and talking to them and all of them have said that they have had telephone calls and already enrollments from those letters.
029You know, there were people that were coming that were calling and and saying, "Do I have to wait?" You know, >> Dr. Evans. >> Yes, sir. >> Quick, could you just kind of share with them the uniqueness of the letter? It wasn't just a postcard that but the uniqueness of how you all did the letter. >> Yeah. So what we did is we we tweet and I think can you go down um one more slide for me. I think the so we talked you can go ahead with a couple more. I think that there's a an actual copy of the letter that that's in there but one of the things that we did is it is actually going to be on slide number nine. There we go. So what we did it was a a
030letter was two different components to it. Right. So, we were going to have the flyer that was going to be there to hopefully capture people's attention. It's just kind of funny in this day and age, even though we're talking about education, people just really don't like to read. So, we wanted to have kind of a crisp, clean flyer that Carrie helped or Carrie actually did develop. Um, and talking about things that we thought were going to be uh items that people were really going to pick up on. And the letter that we have, as you can see, it's very bullet pointed. There's not very much text at all. was really talking about the features and the benefits of of RMA. Uh we came up with the your journey, your pace, your graduation as a way
031to kind of talk to the people to get them to kind of see and to think about uh you know the the end of the of the road right which would culminate in the um in the graduation. So, you know, we tried to talk about, as you can see there from the flyer, the morning and afternoon sessions, the four hours, the recovering of lost credits, accelerated programs, uh the smaller class sizes, um and the fact that this was going to be a free initiative. And so, like I said, >> an enrollment showcase you were trying to >> There we go. There we go. There we go. And so, um yes, we we had meetings today with um all of the campuses. They all seem to be really genuinely excited about it. We uh talked to
032them about what it was going to look like from a perspective of uh Carrie creating a complete and total agenda that was going to take one hour. Uh they're also tomorrow will be getting a PowerPoint presentation to really assist them. And then we talked a lot about what happens when people come in, right? So when they come in because of this letter or because somebody told them about getting a letter, they come in that we're going to make sure that we welcome them um you know with a smiling face. We're going to have them to sign in so and capture important information, you know, like their name, their telephone number, their email address, and those things so that we can do follow-up marketing with them and not let anybody get away from us. So, um
033that's kind of what u what we're doing there from that perspective. But that's only a part of it. The real part of it or the the continued effort, see, this was going to be the piece to really try to get us off to a good start and to get some noise out in the community. But the other things that we're really talking about are going to be from a a digital uh perspective. If you want to go down one more time, um Jen, that would be great. And so, thank you. Um that we're doing these digital campaigns. And the digital campaigns that we're going to do right now are going to be um search and search is already up and it's already going. And we're also doing uh retargeting efforts. So when somebody goes, they
034get something on search, they see it, they interact with it, then we're going to turn around and hit them with another ad later, right? Just to kind of keep ourselves forefront on top of RMA and who we are. And so um so we're going to do those um those two efforts initially as well as social. So uh the vendor that we've selected, they're going to be using social um through Facebook ads that they've already they've already created. And if you could drop to the next slide, Jen, that would be fantastic. So, here's a an example of some of the digital campaigning samples that we have. So, these are not quite finalized. We kind of found a couple of things to make changes on, but this is kind of the the look and the feel that
035that individuals will see uh through the social advertising. Um, and so we're still talking about the same kinds of things. I know that from a responsive ed perspective and um the 4hour shift is something that was that we could never really get done universally at those premier campuses, but this is something that people asked about all the time. And so you guys have been talking about this for a long time, but I wanted to make sure that in any kind of marketing effort that we have that we continue to talk about these kinds of things because it's it's important. you know, the the smaller classes being able to graduate. And then um I met with Dr. Anderson um last week. And we also want to begin talking a little bit more about the personal aspect
036of of it. You know, the one-on-one attention that they're going to get, you know, that they're important as a student and and those kinds of things. And so those are um you know, the the next steps or the iterations that we're going to have in continued marketing uh efforts. Um, >> and you'll talk about the videos that we're in the process of trying to >> Yeah. So, I have been talking to, you know, video assets are really important, but I said people don't like to uh necessarily read and and we want to be able to find ways to capture um excitement, attention, uh create awareness through video adsets. And so I've been working with three different companies to come up with ideas and thoughts and suggestions and really trying to scope different types of campaigns
037that we could do that are going to be, you know, not only efficient, but they're, you know, they're going to be effective as well. Video can be very, very expensive. Uh, but I have really leveraged a lot of the relationships that I have with three different companies to really try to bring in some expertise and really get that first foot at the door. And then once we start seeing an increase in enrollment, then maybe we can come back and start talking about additional video assets and that kind of thing that we might need to to take a look at. Um, but yes, that is something that uh is already in the works there. >> And these videos would be many of the charter schools um such as, you know, I'll call one out, Evolution, you
038know, they have a video on their website of their superintendent uh talking about the school. It's got footage of classroom activity going on where students and staff are interacting. It's got some some, you know, clips from staff talking about, you know, uh how uh that school is different and and students that are talking about why they chose that. And so th those are the kinds of videos that we one want on our website, but we two also want on places like YouTube and, you know, out there and places like that. So when people Google, you know, uh, you know, graduate faster, these things will come up. So, >> no, that's exactly right. I remember my first video ad campaign that we did and it came from the valley and we did it in 2013 2014
039and it was a young young girl that got pregnant at the age of 13 or 14 and she had dropped out of school of course to take care of her baby and so she um her mother tried to convince her to come back to school to public school and she just wasn't just wasn't having it and so she ended up uh coming to Responsive Ed talking to uh to the premier high school talking to one of the leaders there and um ended up coming back to school. But one of the things that we did is we documented that journey of that young lady until she graduated. And that was an incredibly powerful story. And so as we continue to go forward, we'll be looking for those kinds of opportunities like that where we can talk
040about somebody that just walks into the doors, right? and then they go through their journey and then when they graduate and then turn those kinds of things into videos. Those are things that really speak to people, you know, and to parents specifically. So, yes, it can be very powerful. >> You're down to 30 seconds, Dr. Evans Lee. >> Okay. Um, very good. So, all in all, what we're going to do is we've got the um the direct mail campaigns which are going to lead to our enrollment showcases. Um and then we've also uh working with the digital assets to go ahead and to um to to back that up and to make sure that we're hitting all of the markets. And so um as I said it was encouraging today to hear that there's already
041been some movement that the campuses are receiving telephone calls and they're actually even getting enrollments already. So that was something that was encouraging to see and uh we'll just continue to to look at and to to monitor and to provide u regular feedback um to Dr. Anderson and to the rest of your staff. Uh this very last thing is that uh in order to measure the uh the digital effort, there will be a link that will lead to a dashboard. So we will be able to see every single campaign live as to how it's how it's reacting. And so if we have to make adjustments, we actually make them in real time. You don't wait for, you know, a week or two weeks or anything like that, but that you are dynamically able to make
042adjustments. So, um I'm excited about that. >> All right. Thank you. And Dr. Evans will be back with an update um next board meeting. Uh questions for Dr. Evans. >> Any questions? >> No questions. >> All right. I'll let you guys get to doing your important work and I appreciate the opportunity to to be in front of you. Thank you, >> Dr. Evans. >> Thank you, Dr. Evans. >> Be well. Be well. >> Then that concludes my report. Uh, Mr. Bon, I turn the floor back to you. >> Right. Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Okay. Um, we'll move to item B, August 2025 year-to- date financials. Caitlyn. Okay. All right. So, there's a couple graphs here for y'all to view. Um, the first one is your revenue and expenses. And you'll notice the revenue is kind
043of lagging behind only because the school year just started. So, you haven't had that many school days to earn the revenue yet. So, you'll see that um level out later as the year progresses. I'm also the bottom graph was the cash on hand. So, you're at 145. It's still great. usually stay between 160 and 145. So, you're still within that range. On the next slide, this is your budget, your budgeted revenue versus what the state has your revenue coming in at. Um, and this should adjust a little bit as we see the year progress and we start to track your enrollment numbers, um, attendance and all of your special populations. The next screen, this one, this graph looks a little bit um a little off right now only because it's the first month of the
044school year. So once we progress like the percentages in that 1400, you'll actually see a line and be able to track across the graph. But right now, since there's just one month of data there, um you just see those little dots there. Um but the information on there just the attendance rate is higher than what was budgeted and the enrollment is lower. Um so that's what that graph is illustrating there. Okay. So your charter first. So the first rating we went over at the beginning of the meeting. So, we always project it every month and kind of show you where you are currently. So, right now you're at a 70. You won't end at a 70. Um, it's just because your revenue hasn't come in. That's one thing that's causing you to lose points right
045now. Um, the administrative costs, you're losing points again in it as well currently. Um, your budget to actual. Um, so that is your budgeted revenue like what we looked at on the graph just a minute ago. your budgeted revenue versus your actual revenue you're receiving. And that's one of the reasons why later in the meeting we'll look at a budget amendment just to kind of align your your estimated revenue from the state with your current budget and get them in line where you're going to be able to gain the points there for that indicator. Um because all of that is reported in October. So that's why we're trying to take care of it now. and the balance sheet. Um, your balance sheet looks good. Uh, it shows your current assets, your long-term assets, your current
046liabilities, and then your long-term liabilities. Um, and if you see at the bottom your uh net change or you're coming out positive uh 14 million almost 14.5 million, it's just really great. Here is your budget to actual. So on the left hand column is the original budget for the year and then the actual is what you spent through the end of August. So through August 31st. And this is where it's broken down through all of the different areas. Um and you can see the percentage. So at the end of August we're at 17% through the year. So we want to try to stay where it says percent of budget spent. You want to try to stay pretty close to 17. So, at the bottom, you're right under 12%. Which is great. Um, and then the
047revenue again, it's behind, but only because you just started the year. So, we'll see that catch up. This is your summary of finance. It's a report that the state gives us every month and it's um they'll show us what you're on track to be getting for the year based on our submissions of your special populations attendance enrollment. Uh what we did was we on the left hand column that's your August uh estimation and then on the right hand where it says September that's your September one. Right now there's no changes only because we haven't at the end of the six weeks we report all of this and at this time none of it was reported. So as we look at these in the future months you'll see a change. You'll be able to see if
048you've dropped in special ed funding or increased in that area and be able to track all those special populations and all of your funding. Um but this month it's all dollar for dollar. I just wanted to show you the format so whenever you see it next month, you'll kind of be able to read that and know what it's doing. >> And that's all I have for the financials. >> Thank you, Caitlyn. Uh we will move to facility update. Carl Good evening board. Um, that's new. >> Yes, it is new. >> Okay. Um, since our last meeting, there hasn't been a lot of changes, but I will give you an update on some of the things that have transpired over the past month. And, uh, starting in Amarillo. Um, hold on a second. sheet. Uh the
049new the new lease for the current building at 4106 Southwest 51st Street in Amarillo began on July 1st. Um as stated before, the uh former cosmetology school at 21 at 2400 Southeast 27th um has been purchased and that property has been listed with CBRE and we still have no changes there. Um, go ahead. We'll once again I just left the the photo so you can see the piece of property that we're trying to um get rid of in Amarillo. And then in Fort Worth, um, we have had some movement there. Uh, so our our lease once again began on September begins on September or began on September 1st. the the former church um was purchased in Fort Worth and that's been listed with CBRE. Uh there was a recent breakin which resulted in some vandalism
050and theft and in the past uh couple of weeks we have had an offer uh on the building and after we did the cleanup on the building the uh people that are made the offer have gone back and uh taken a look at it. uh they've not shied away um and they're working on their current on their offer uh right now even as we speak. Some of the things that we've done in the meantime is we've uh cleared some landscaping from around doors and entrances. We've also added some access barriers to the woodway side of the property and we've uh increased the the lighting on both pieces of property to help prevent uh any future vandalism. So, we've been taking care of that as well. >> And Carl to say the Woodway side is our
051side, the school side. So, what we what I found was I went up there the other week uh and someone had dumped a whole bathroom remodel uh right there by our park in inside our parking lot. So, I wanted those closed off so that cars couldn't have access to drive up in our parking lot. So, we we secured all of the entrances into the schoolside parking lot. It had four ways to get in. Um, and so we made sure that we uh secured those so that cars weren't able to pull up and park in there or anything like that or do any of that kind of dumping stuff anymore. Um so with that with that said um we uh following the board's selection of architect during the meeting on June 13th um RMA uh staff
052has collaborated with our attorneys to negotiate a contract with TBA Douglas um which is uh been finalized and we're waiting on Dr. Anderson's signature. Um, RMA staff has worked also with attorneys um to assign TBA Douglas a task overseeing design and construction for the new Fort Worth project on the Woodway side. And at our next board meeting, we will actually have um drawings, renderings, and um cost estimates available for the board to to review at that time. And so, Dr. Anderson, that uh concludes my All right, any questions? Uh call. Um you know, Mr. Nimick used to belong to that church. They did a number on that on that building. Um there's not I went in there and there's not a piece of copper up under those sinks. There's not pipe and plumbing. And I
053mean they they came in through the side where the light the seal light was put on. I guess where the light was for the symbol, you know, the unity church symbol and they had to run the electricity up. So they cut a square hole and apparently they climbed the tree, crawled up through that hole and got into the kick the sheetrock out on the balcony of that building. Um so we've we've had security there call supposed to be getting an alarm system on that building. Um, >> right. >> So that uh we can we can secure but until the alarm was on there, we had security there monitoring to make sure nothing else happened. >> Okay. >> So overnight, not all day, but overnight. All right. Any questions for Carl? >> Questions? >> Okay. Thank
054you, Carl. >> Thank you. We'll be moving to action items next. Uh first order of business would be to uh to do a board contract approval approval and ratification. Dr. Anderson. >> Okay. As always, we bring contracts that had to be signed under 49,000 uh and anything over or any new contracts period uh that haven't been signed or was close to a board meeting. If a contract's close to a board meeting, I ask the staff to just wait until the board meeting. So, Jennifer, if you want to scroll down to the sheets. Um, so we have uh basically no no ratifications, but just approvals. Uh, one, we're asking to uh approve. Um, now I I failed I dropped the ball on this contract, be honest. Um, with CSS. Um, and so I do ask the
055board to approve it contingent upon uh me having it vetted by our attorney, which the contract was written by Joe Hoffer. So, but I just wanted to make sure that it's in our in our best interest. But, uh I I've had conversations with Joe, so I know that he he he uh created and worked with them on the contract. But I will I still want his blessing before I sign off on it. But this is the uh contract um which uh is for uh 219 uh for the year at 18250 a month uh which is significantly lower than what we were paying in the past at 384,000. Um, so, um, I'm asking for your permission to approve that with, um, with once our our attorney has has had an opportunity to give me a written,
056um, email stating that it it looks good. And then, um, we have our TPCSA membership that we pay to the organization to be a member of TPCS, TPCSA, that gives us our governance policies that allows us, you know, the discounted rates to the charter school conference and all of those things. So TPCSA is the Texas Public Charter School Association and it's based on enrollment. And so uh this year it is uh $21,856 for RMA to be a member of the association. Are there any questions from me? >> Um just to clarify, we've already voted on this. We're just now just voting on the final contract for it, but nothing has changed. Correct. >> Yeah. No, nothing has changed. They they've providing our back office. Um, so they're >> so is a vote necessary considering that
057it's already been voted and approved. >> Approve of the contract though. The Yeah, it's a financial any anything of a dollar or more has to go to the board for an approval. And we hadn't had See, we've been under the old contract until this month of October. So, the new one kicks in uh this month. Does that make sense, Miss Pearson? So, but yeah, we've we've already approved the use of them as a as our company, but we we haven't brought a contract to the board because the services ended in October. So, now we'll start u I mean ended in September. So, in October, it'll move to this new contract till July. And this contract is good from October to July. >> Any questions? >> And then we do have subcontracts for ratification. Dr. Anderson.
058Oh, do we? Okay, >> we do. Yes, sir. >> Okay. >> And uh Okay. Yeah, we have the Ascender um software which is our PIN system through region 20. Um and so all of these are dealing with the ascender um which is our uh student um management system. Uh so this allows us to take attendance. This is our business office software that allows us to enter our requisitions and follow the approval process. Uh this is where student information is kept. This is where our PES is submitted to the state. Um so all of these are the things that communicate with the state. Um uh all those reports that Caitlyn showed you just a moment ago that had the whole state of Texas thing on there. All of that's pulled from this software system here. Uh
059and and we've been using it for many years. So, these are uh all of the pieces um that um come come with that. Um go back up, Jennifer. No, go go go back up. You jump. Okay. And then um so those are the pings uh things there. Any questions? All of those are broken down cost of uh go back up to number one. I can't see it. So, we have the 18,000, the 27, and the,900 uh for pings. you scroll down. >> Then uh we have Edaphoria um which uh Dr. Given uses that's uh the software that we use for teachers to do lesson plans, monitor the students progress. Uh Edgehoria is used across the state. Just about every school in the state uses Edgehoria. Um, and then we uh uh purchased the TICSS bank
060uh test generator uh which um allows for our uh course subjects such as math and science and ELA and social studies um as part of our instructional uh process. And then uh the learn key um which is also um a bundle of uh videobased um uh assessments um u uh coursework, excuse me, assignments, not assessments, assignments um that u our students use. And then we have the Texas Curriculum Management Program co-op. Um and Dr. Given, did you want to talk about th those uh last ones there? Uh the ed the the seven and eight. >> Yes. Uh, it's uh it's very much like Hold on, I'm sorry. I'm looking at my computer. It's it's the one that has all of our test bank as well. It's a curriculum based program to provide us with curriculum
061for our students and for our staff. It helps us build out u uh tea to line assessments. And then, okay, am I looking? And I see Edgeoria. Can you is are we looking at >> number eight? The beacon subscription and help desk. >> Edgehoria beacon subscription. It's just the updated version of of Edaphoria. They have revised it and it has uh streamlined some of the reports that we have with Edaphoria. As you can see, it says Edgehoria beacon subscription. >> Yes. And then uh turnkey is also used for special ed and for CTE for cert um >> certification. >> And then as you can see it looks like got a typo there. Jennifer it should have been nine. Number nine is uh Dr. Shayen Reading Reic. Um, as you may recall, uh, the board voted
062to, um, offer EpiPens uh, uh, injectors, um, at our campuses. And so, in order to do that, because we don't have nurses on campus, we had to get a, uh, if you will, um, uh, for for each campus to have that. We've used Dr. Reic uh, for about three years now. Um, and she does this for many schools. And so that allows us to have those uh epipens on on campus um should we need those uh in case a student has a a reaction to an allergic reaction? Any questions, comments? Okay. Then if not, I return it back to you, Mr. B. >> Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Okay. Um, do we have a a motion on the action item? >> Uh, in search on Dr. Anderson. >> Yeah. >> Again, Mr. limit. >> Uh I'm
063uh able to keep up a little bit better today since I'm not driving anything except my own computer. And uh the uh contract for uh charter success, you have to get that approved by the attorneys before you sign it. But I don't think we have a copy of that. So would you insert that for the next meeting in this maybe this same part of the agenda so that >> Yes, that's fine. Jennifer, you we didn't put it in here. >> It is in here. Yes. Did you want to take a look at it? >> Uh I didn't see it on my copy, but >> yeah, we uploaded it cuz we we got it. Um so it may not been in your most recent, but yeah, we had a we sent a a uh we updated
064it uh because I I it was my bad. I was out most of this week and so it was in my mailbox and so that's why I had Jennifer to put it in. So, it should, but we have a copy here. Um, uh, and we can send it out to you guys. Um, >> yeah, you'll send that since. >> Okay. So, Jennifer, if you'll just email that in a separate attachment to the board members, that'll be fine. >> Yes, I can do that. >> All right. Yes. But, uh, Mr. Cleans I will have Hoffer and I and Joe and I've talked we talked when he was up here and he he did tell me he was working with them to get it get get the contract you know to where it need to be. So
065um so he he gave me his insurance but I just want him to say yes this you know I've vetted this this is good. >> Okay. Um, >> uh, Donald Mimick, I will move, uh, the board approve the contracts listed in exhibit one and ratify the contracts listed in exhibit two. >> Awesome. Do we have a second? >> Rose Thompson. Second. >> Okay, great. We'll move to a vote. Uh, Mr. Clemens, >> a vote. Yes. >> Mrs. Thompson, >> yes. >> Mr. Neck, >> yes. >> Miss Pearson, >> yes. >> Mr. Bayon, yes. Motion carries. Okay. We'll move action item B. Um consider and take possible action on board resolution for compliance with Texas Education Code section 11.005 prohibition on DEI duties in section 28.002 certain instructional requirements and prohibitions. Dr. Anderson. >> Okay. So,
066uh, this is one of those things the state legislators wanted parents to be on so that they could see how each board member voted. Uh, so you have to you have to vote individually as I or nay. Um and so basically this is a provision of Senate Bill 12 which basically wanted each board member to certify um by by roll call uh that the district is committed to adhering to the state laws prohibiting uh the assignment of duties related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. meaning we do not have any diversity, equity, and inclusion divisions or or or or assistant soups or directors of DEI or any of that. And so, uh, basically that's what this uh this um um resolution says. Whereas Texas Education Code 39008 requires upon open enrollment charter uh school superintendent to
067certify to the Texas Education Agency by September 30th of each year that the open enrollment charter school is in compliance with section 11005 of the Texas Education Code prohibit prohib excuse me prohibition of DEI duties with the section 280022 of the Texas Education Code. Um and whereas the Texas education uh code 12104B3Z specifies the section that section 11 1.005 applies to open enrollment charter schools in Texas education uh code specifies that it applies to uh open enrollment charter schools. And whereas the board of directors held a public meeting on September 25th, 2025 that included an opportunity for public testimony on this matter and for which notice was posted on the school's internet website at least 7 days before the date on which the board meeting was held. And whereas a copy of the board meeting
068notice is attached here too as exhibit A uh to Oh, you're going too fast. um uh to this resolution. And whereas during the September 25th, 2025 board meeting, the superintendent presented to the board of directors the compliance information captured in exhibit B to this resolution. Be it therefore resolved that a majority of the members of the board of directors at a lawfully called meeting pursuant to the Texas Open Meetings Law hereby adopts the following resolutions. Section one, the board of directors hereby resolves to approve the exhibit B compliance information presented by the superintendent at the meeting of the board of directors held on September 25th, 2025 and finds that Richard Milburn Academy Texas Inc. is in full compliance with Texas Education Code section 11005 and 280022. And section two, the superintendent is hereby directed to
069certify compliance with the education code sections 11005 and 280022 by submitting a completed certification form to the TEA in the manner means directed by TEA. The board of directors understands that TEA must post the completed certification on TEA's internet website. So would you go down Jennifer exhibits A and B? Yes, I will show this is exhibit um one which shows the agenda and of course as you can see here under action item um B we do have where we were going to uh present this resolution to the board. And then in the next exhibit um this is also the compliance certification um that states that we are in compliance with um the requirement I have to say so we are voting prohibiting DEI correct. >> Yes. >> And we are in your day understanding what
070DEI means legally. Yes. >> Yes. And we are unearned understanding what DEI means to our community and to our school. Not from a governmental standpoint, but from a unity standpoint and diversity standpoint. Correct? >> Yes. >> And we are all together united in believing that we are one regardless of race, gender, anything that we believe in, >> color, above anything above the sky. Yes. Yes. >> Yes. >> I believe I believe if we don't adopt this so that we are rendering our charter correct we don't get any money. >> Right. >> Correct. This is what I'm saying. But I want >> exactly what you're saying. >> This uh is infuriating to say the least uh that in this day and age we have to talk about something to that extent. understand that uh the aspect
071of DEI um is a hot topic and what it means uh in a political sense and what it actually means uh from a standpoint but I am fully against I'm going to be very very very clear any sort of discrimination within our community or within our school um and regardless of what we vote today I want that to be understood I and I understand that in not voting accepting this for twisted to be say that's something that we fully may not believe in or believe in or afraid to uh vote for or against um to be in a situation basically is it's just appalling. So I want to apologize to our community. I want to apologize to our school board members and to our students and teachers and staff uh for this. But I want
072them to know that we are committed to respecting one another at all cost. >> Very well said and I I concur. >> I concur. >> Very well said. >> Then at this time if there are no comments from the board I would say Jennifer we have to ask if the public has any comments regarding this resolution. If there are any are there any public comments from from uh about that would like to speak on this res the adoption of this resolution. >> We did not receive any public comments regarding this resolution >> and it was posted seven days before the meeting. Correct. >> Correct. Yes, it is. It's on our website. >> Okay. >> And it was posted last Thursday. >> Then Mr. Bon, if you want to call for a vote for me to
073be able to submit this to the agency, then I will hand it over to you. >> Absolutely. And and and Miss Pearson, I echo those sentiments as well. Uh do we have a motion? >> Jennifer, do you have the motion? >> There you go. >> Yes. >> Thank you, Jennifer. Do do we have a motion? >> Yeah. >> I move that the board approve the board resolution to comply with >> You can't make the motion, Mr. Know that. Thank you. >> The motion is on the screen. I believe somebody had a question. >> Do we have a motion? >> Rose Thompson. I move that the board approve the resolution to comply with the requirements for the Texas Education Code section 11-005 prohib on the DEI duties and section 28.0022 certain instructions requirement and prohibition. >>
074Do we have a second? I'll second uh Clemens. We'll move to a vote. Mr. Clemens, >> uh, >> yes, I vote yes. >> Miss Thompson, >> I vote yes. >> Mr. Neck, >> vote yes. >> Miss Pearson, >> yes. >> Mr. Bay on I vote yes. Motion carries. Moving to uh the 20 2025 26 proposed budget amendment. Caitlyn. >> Okay. So tonight I'd like to propose um adopting a budget amendment. What this does um it goes back to that first rating that we looked at indicator 10. it watches what you've budgeted for state revenue versus what you actually receive for state revenue and you have to stay within a 10% variance um to get the full amount of points. So since we've started the school year and seen that drop in ADA from what it
075was originally budgeted for, I think it's a wise move to go ahead and lower that revenue to reflect that drop. Um, and if you still have increased enrollment, you would you should still stay within the 10% variance. Um, this is just kind of getting you closer to what you actually are. Um, the decrease is around 450,000 and you'll see that on that where it says ASF and FSP revenue, that's your state revenue. You'll see that drop on those two line items. And then below you'll see the drop on um well it's so the drop on the expenditures corresponds to the same amount that you're seeing in the revenue. Um and it affects line items 11 uh for instruction. Um 23 uh 41 which is your ad administrative cost which will also help with that admin
076cost ratio having that lower. and then your um function 53 >> and that takes into account the doing the way of our business office staff Caitlyn to get it down. >> Yes. So, um when we cut the revenue, it was kind of obvious which expenditures we could pull out because those two positions were already budgeted for. So, we pulled out those two positions that were in function 41. Um, and then the other thing was the CSS cost since that was lower like you mentioned earlier. That's where it hit function 11 23 and um 53. So those line items were lowered as well. >> So that ate up most of their 450,000 costs, right? >> Yes. >> Okay. Good. Now, my question, Caitlyn, is as if if if our initiatives, our marketing initiatives work and this
077goes way up, we're still going to end up outside of this 10%. This is a catch. This is one of those gotcha things that the state has in place that if you're 10% above, you you lose points. If you're 10% below, no, if you're more than 10% above, you lose points. So, if you're 12, 13, 14% above, you lose points. if you're 11, 12, 13 points below, you lose points, percentage point. So, it's it's it's a no- win um on this thing, unless you just have a steady, you know, it works well for schools that have like middle schools, like elementary and middle schools, cuz they kind of know what their feeder school, you know, they know what's in the fifth grade coming to their sixth grade campus. So it works well for them because
078they have a a a number that they can budget on whereas we don't because we get kids from everywhere. Would that be correct, Caitlyn? An accurate assessment. >> Yes. Yeah. And um this is built um this is still not as low as what your ADA we're seeing now. So there's still room. um if you do get more kids, you're still like um I don't know how to explain this. You're still kind of in the middle. So, it's it's very conservative. I feel like it's a it's a good move um >> for right now. I'm just saying if we get to that 1700 enrollment, then we're going to still be out of compliance and lose uh points. That's why I was just letting the board know. >> Yes, that's correct. I believe we will take the
0791,700 and surrender a couple points. >> Oh, I agree. I agree. >> Okay, Jennifer G. Perfect. Okay. Thank you, Kaitlin. Uh, do we have a motion? >> Don Nemik, I move that the board approve the budget amendment as proposed for the 2025 2026 school year. Do we have a second? >> Robert Clemens. I'll second the motion. >> Okay, we'll move to a vote. We'll move to a vote. Mr. Clemens, >> vote yes. >> Mrs. Thompson, >> yes. >> Mr. Nimtt, >> vote yes. >> Miss Pearson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bon, I vote yes. Motion carries. We'll move to item D. uh consideration and possible action to adopt a prevailing wage rate schedule pursuant to text uh Texas government code 2258.022 in connection with all construction projects authorized by the board through the 20 2026 2027
080school year. Carl, >> yes. Um so this action item is uh to consider any possible action to adopt a the the required prevailing wage rate schedules um for Fort Worth location um to to go along with our our project. The last time the board um approved a prevailing weight wage schedule was in 2023. And so I request that the board adopt the most current prevailing wage rates for the counties where um the charter's properties are located and those those wage rates are set by the Department of Labor. >> Thank you, Carl. Do we have a motion? Donald Neck. I move that the board adopt the most current prevailing wage rates for the counties where the charter's property is located or may be located in the future published by the United States Department of Labor in
081accordance with the Davis Bacon Act and its subsequent amendments in connection with any construction projects authorized by the board through the 2627 school year which shall be updated as new rates are published and that only the base wage rate shown in the applicable wage rate decision be used unless federal funds are utilized in connection with the spec specific construction project. >> Do we have a second? >> Rose Thompson. Second. >> Okay, we'll move to a vote. Mr. Clemens, >> a vote yes. >> Miss Thompson, >> yes. >> Mr. Neck, >> yes. >> Miss Pearson, >> yes. >> Mr. Bay on. I vote yes. The motion carries. We will move to item E. Uh, considering a possible action regarding the regarding the delivery method for construction service pursuant to Texas government code 2269.056 for the Fort
082Worth campus renovations project. Carl? >> Yes. So the background is um consider a possible action to select um the delivery method for construction for the Fort Worth uh project. Uh our recommendation is that the board delegates authority to the superintendent and their design to choose the delivery method. In the past, we've uh used the uh the lowest bid method. Uh and in the case of our Midland project when we were unable to get uh adequate bids, we switched or it was actually an Amarillo, we switched to uh a different method which we came back to the board to to approve. So with that said, um we're just asking that the board uh allow the superintendent to choose that delivery method based on uh what we're seeing on the ground with contractors in Fort Worth. Thank
083you, Carl. Do we have a motion? Rose Thompson. I move that the board delegate authority to the superintendent on his or and his designate to select the delivery method for construction service for the Fort Worth campus resolution project that provides the best value for RMA pursuant to Texas government code 2269.056. >> Uh, hold on, Miss Thompson. Your camera's off. So therefore, you can't do make the motion. You have to have your camera on during the entire board meeting. Miss Pearson, Miss Yes, you have to. It's part of the law when you have a virtual meeting. Okay. Now, Miss Thompson, you have to make the motion again, please. I move that the board delegate authority to the superintendent and or his designate to select the delivery method for construction service for the Fort Worth campus renovation
084project that provides for the best value for the RMA pursuant to Texas government code 2269.056. >> Do we have a second? >> Donald Demick. I'll second. >> Okay, we'll move to a vote. Mr. Clemens, >> vote yes. >> Miss Thompson, >> yes. >> Mr. Nimtt, >> yes. >> Miss Pearson, >> yes. >> Mr. Bayon, I vote yes. Motion carries. >> Thank you, board. >> Thank you, Carl. Okay, the time is now 7:19. We will enter executive session now. Mr. Bayon, I'm going to call you real quick. Just one moment. >> Okay. I was just giving him the script. Board members of what to say. >> Okay. The time is now uh 7:27. Uh we have a journ from close session and there were no actions taken. Okay. We will move to uh okay open yeah
085back to open session. Jennifer, any public uh comments? >> We did not receive any more public comments. >> Awesome. Thank you. Um upcoming events. Okay, so we have the 2025 Texas Public Charter School Association uh conference like Dr. Anderson mentioned earlier from October 6, Monday, October 6th to Wednesday, October 8th here in Houston at I think at the Marriott Marquee if I'm correct. >> Correct. Yes. And we have the regular board meeting to include the annual financial and compliance uh report uh Thursday, November 13th. Any questions before we adjourn? >> No, thank you. >> Okay. Uh meeting adjourned as >> Thank you all. Enjoy your night. >> Have a good evening. Thank you everyone. >> Thank you. >> Good night. Thank you. >> Thank you staff for staying on with us. Thank you. All right.
086Bye bye. >> Feel better, Miss Thompson.