001Roll call. Um, start off with uh Mr. Clemens present. Uh, Miss Pearson, present. Uh, Miss Thompson. Miss Thompson not present. And, uh, Mr. Bon, present. Mr. Bayon, I'm sorry. Am I pronouncing your last name right? Correct. Okay. Very good. All right. So, we will declare a quorum at this time. Um, looks like the first order of business is to review and approve the minutes from the regular board meeting held on January 31st. I motion to approve the minutes. And do we have a second? Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Uh, go ahead and vote on it. Uh, Mr. Clemens. Uh, yes. Um, Miss Pearson, yes. And Mr. Bonum, yes. And I vote yes as well. The motion carries. And the next item looks like it's an information item uh from Dr. Anderson.
002Go ahead and uh hand it over to you for the superintendent's report. All right. Thank you, Mr. Nimick. um the um uh report on the following pages. I I would like uh to as always um uh which is standard procedure in our board meetings to share with the board our enrollment numbers um and other updates of information that I feel is uh prevalent to to the board as as we um operate the district um in in in the best interest of the district. Um so the current enrollment as of uh March 19th is at 1473. Um we have about 158 uh applicants in applications in um progress. Uh however we're waiting for the parents to complete those applications. uh calls are being made, emails being sent, uh reaching out to those parents to uh try
003and get them to complete uh the process so that we can get the student uh in in in a seat. Um and then there's also 32 uh pending registar accepting the applications um whatever may be missing or another. Um and then uh the counselor entering the start date. We have six students which we're uh working to get those uh out of the queue and get them in in a uh seat. And then we have pre uh enrolled. Again, we have students that have applied that have been accepted that have a schedule and they just have not shown up uh to the campus for whatever reason that may be. A lot of the times um you know they they have applied at at our competition and and they may be on a waiting list. That's what
004I've discovered as I've traveled the state. they may be on a waiting list and before um they uh by time we get them completed and on board they have been called from the other schools waiting list to come enrolled. So uh potential enrollment could be 1719 if all of these pieces fell in place and um came came to fruition. Um our ADA is at 75.9% which is up from the last board meeting at 75.3 uh so 6% uh improvement and the student retention is at 60.3 uh down from the 65.4% 4% as of the last board meeting. And um if you look compared to last year, this time um we are down from January 17th when I last reported, but our enrollment is a little bit higher by four students than it was at the
005same time last year. So the trend tends to be uh about the same uh u fall in the same pattern as it did last year um enrollment wise. And as always, uh, the district continues to, uh, monitor the the budget. Um, as you know, as a board, I've we've come to you all with, um, cuts, um, that, uh, to try and address these things. Um, and so, uh, we continue to monitor it. Uh, the budget was built on an enrollment of 1680 with an average daily attendance of 79%. Um and so because it's not hitting those those target goals, um we we have made uh cuts and we have tried to scale back on on spending. Uh some of those things have been to uh freeze put a freeze on hiring. Um to um cut
006the travel um uh you know our academic team does a lot of travel and so uh to kind of slow that down until as needed basis and then there have been some riffs that have taken place. Questions about those items? Jennifer, bring it on. Um, the page for me. Get unmuted. Can you hear me? Yes, I can. Now, I'm sorry. I I didn't have a a question, but rather a comment. I believe on this report that it would be good to add one other piece of data when we look at this and maybe we misinterpret when we look or don't have the full picture but I think we should add the current ADA to this. I I know that when I look on at the current ADA that Tammy distributes that our current ADA now's
007I don't have that in front of me and but I think it's a little bit over,00. Yes. So, and and so I think if that were added to this and then also add with that the our budget is built on 75% of 7 whatever of certain number what is that ADA number that we built on so we can each meeting see where you know it is Mr. Clemens. It says that the 2024 2025 budget is built on a student enrollment of 1680 with an average daily attendance of 1327 at 79%. So, so that so it's based on 277. Yes. Okay. If we have with it that we're right now at 1110 or whatever it is 1132. Yes. And Okay. Okay. I'll start putting it in the when I put up here the ADA is at
00875.9. I'll just start putting the number that that equates to right next to it. Okay. Okay. All right. Um as far as vacant positions uh go, uh as you can see, um we have uh our our Mittman campus is uh minus a principal, which I will talk about uh later. Um and then two counselors uh three SCLs and two associate teachers. Um and so as you can see uh four campuses are at 100% uh down uh by one from the previous meeting. Uh one campus is um at 90% three at 80% and one at 70%. Fully capacities as far as staff capacity. And then as always, um the uh average teacher experience as far as certification, it's up the number of certified teachers is actually up from the last report. Uh it's at 53%. Uh
009the last report was, I believe it was 51% of our staff was certified. Um and so there has been a 2% increase in the number of staff that that is certified. And so as you can see by campus uh how the noncertified uh staff um looks compared to the certified by campus there. Then as far as additional updates, I did want to talk about uh President Trump's executive order that was signed on March 20th um of this year directing um u the Secretary of Education uh to to to take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education. Um this is being monitored. Um I've been on calls with the commissioner. Um, I've been on calls with the um uh uh charter division. Uh, we've been on calls with uh Dr. C
010and his group and there's not much out there right now. Um, I do know that the proposal is to send the student loan piece back to the SBA um and uh basically return the other functions to the state. Now, what I have heard is that basically it would be uninterrupted um if if that they're trying to do it in a way that doesn't interrupt funding for title one or school improve any of those federal uh monies that we get. So, they're trying to make sure that there is no disruption or or slowdown in in receiving those funds. Um also, the accountability piece has been uh discussed a little bit. Um, basically, you know, there's the uh Every Student Succeeds Act, which is the national piece that looks at uh, you know, um, uh, the the
011the math and the graduation rates and those types of things. And, you know, you can make state accountability but not get federal accountability and then you have to do an intervention plan. So, those things are up in the air how how those will all be handled. Um, so one superintendent said that they didn't think that the federal accountability would go away. They think that it would just transition to the state to monitor that. Uh, because again, you still got to remember federal funds have to come to the state. So, um, you know, I'm sure Congress will want some type of, you know, um, strings attached to to that. So, um, but no one really has anything. Uh we were on the call with the commissioner yesterday uh from TEA and we thought he would say
012something about uh this business but he did not talk about it at all. So um if he if anybody would know it would be him. Um and so he had no insight on on this. He didn't even bring it up. Okay. Um I did want to share with you the TPCSA priority bills um which you can see there. Um, all of these bills that dealt with clarity and parity, the TRS, if you recall, I talked about the TRS, uh, where charters were paying a little bit more into TRS. The employer was paying a little bit more into TRS than the traditional ISDs. And so, they're trying to uh correct that. Um, there's a big push for facility funding. Some of you, all of you all should have received an email from from uh me. Um,
013I was uh sending a it went to the RMA email, but it was a petition that TPCSA uh had sent to us asking us to sign on uh to try and help uh get better facility funding uh for charter schools. And so those bills, there's a house version there which is by Chairman Buckley. Um if you don't know, uh uh Brad Buckley is a big advocate of RMA. He he is the house representative that came to Colleen uh and was very impressed by the work that we were doing and so he's a big fan of RMA um and so he there there is a bill uh by him uh that to help improve facility funding and he's also the chair of the uh education committee uh for the state legislator. So um and then there's
014also one by Paxton in the Senate uh to help with facility funding. So those are really uh those things. Now um I did want to talk about some uh things that as far as school funding. Um there is currently a bill house bill 1481 uh which was uh introduced by the representative out of Amarillo and basically um it would ban cell phones. You know that's that's one of the big things. Now we currently take up cell phones when the kids come into our building. So, uh, but it would basically ban them during the regular school day. Um, and it appears that a majority of the, um, the House is in support of it, uh, by partisan. So, this this this bill actually has bipartisan support in the House. Um, I don't know how it it
015it will go in the Senate, but the House has bipartisan support, which means it more than likely will go out of the House and over to the Senate. Whether they take it up or not, who knows? Uh then there's also uh House Bill number two u which uh basically the uh Republicans uh in the House have promoted it. It would put in $9 billion um into education and so um for school funding. So they're saying we want to give this bucket of money of 9 billion. Uh but there are several things tied to it such as uh teacher pay raises and some other things of that. But however, the um advocates are saying it still falls short because of inflation and rising costs. Um and so I just put that piece in there so that
016you would know. Um you know, it would have $2 billion for special ed teachers um as well as payraises and staff support. So, uh that's House Bill Two. And then the next bill is House Bill uh four, I believe. Can you scroll down, please? Thank House Bill 4 um basically um would uh do away with the uh STAR um uh uh test as we know it and uh it basically tighten accountability standards used to rank schools in district performance. So, as you as you aware, there was some debate in the last legislative session about doing away with the STAR test and just using things like giving districts s several instruments that they could utilize to monitor student progress and performance such as SAT, an ACT, um, and you know, or a district aligned, um, test
017or you know, they would come up with something else, but they just wanted to have a opportunity unities through various uh instruments to be able to assess students other than just one uh state standardized test. So how that looks, I don't know. Um I do know that there's also legislation in this in the legislative body that uh would prevent schools from using public funds to sue the the commissioner for, you know, this big lawsuit on the star test. If you recall, there's been this whole on the accountability manual and moving the chain. And so that's why they haven't released the star results, but there's a legislator that has proposed a bill that would basically um ban uh districts from using public funds to bring lawsuits against the commissioner as far as accountability and things of
018that nature. Who knows how that'll work. And then um there was an article that I wanted to share last but not least about the school enrollment uh declines and budget adjustments. And uh basically some school districts are are are you know a lot of school districts are experiencing a declining student enrollment uh which reduces the amount of state funding that they receive. Um and and so there is some legislation and some discussion that's going on you know that districts still have the same cost. You know, one of the hardest things to do is adjust your staff in the middle of a year because your enrollment is is is down or less than what you you um anticipate at the beginning of the year. And so, uh there there's fixed cost, you know, uh to run
019a building, the the rent or the mortgage is going to remain the same. And so, um, as you can see there, House Bill Two, uh, basically would help with that, and it would serve, it's a bill that proposes to have a funding safeguard. Um, it it basically has a 95% funding floor, meaning that a district's funding cannot decrease by more than 5% per year due to enrollment declines. Um uh and he added that districts still need to rightsize their budget uh but the provision of the bill is capped at 50 million. So there's you know so there would be some caps as to how much but it's basically a bill that would put a safeguard in place that says hey we understand that your enrollment may have declined but we're still going to support you
020at this level uh this year and then next year it may adjust accordingly. Uh so you would still have to make adjustments the next year over. So those are the bills that are are pertinent uh and that's hot that's going on in the legislative body right now. As you know, it's coming to an end uh in May. So hopefully um some of these bills will get out. Uh some will, some won't. So it's it's just a matter. But I do know that there will be some kind of resolution uh to school finance u in this in this legislative body. questions and believe that that concludes my uh superintendent report for this meeting. Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Um I noticed that I forgot to check if there were any public comments. Uh Jennifer, have there been
021any public comments? We did not have any public comments, Mr. Okay, thanks. The nextformational item is uh Miss Padilla uh on the uh year-to- date financials. Good morning. Um my presentation starts on page 22 where I've summarized um some of the current information. Um but looking at that first chart on page 23, uh this is uh the enrollment data that we see by month. Um, as of this report, the highest day in February was 1,465 students. Um, I I just wanted to add to the to the comment that um, Mr. Clemens made. Um, sometimes uh, Dr. Anderson's information is is more current. He gets it um, he gets his information um, in in real time. We're looking at the financial data from a month behind. So if you see a little discrepancy slightly in the
022um enrollment or the ADA, it's just the timing of of what we're reporting. So this is as of February um where we're looking at uh average student enrollment. And on the following page uh is ADA. So uh for the month of February, we were at 74% um slightly less than this time last year. Uh and uh and also last time we we talked uh as we just indicated the budget was uh set at 79% ADA. Um so we're slightly under that target as well. And on page 25, uh this chart represents um foundation school payment revenue um that is received uh versus what we budgeted for. So you could see there um we budgeted 15.5 uh 15.4 4 million and we are currently at 14.1 million. And on the following page, this is our days
023cash on hand. Uh to arrive at this number, uh we break down annual expenses into a daily amount and then we divide that by the cash balance that we have at the end of every month. Um so as you could see from this chart, uh we have 90 days for the month of February. So if operations were to cease today, we would continue to pay current expenses for a total of 90 days. We have uh been using some of our cash balance uh to fund um we used it to fund the Midland campus um the Houston move um and also uh the Amarillo and Fort Worth projects that are going on. So that's why the balance um is lower than previous years. On page 27, uh, through the month of February, we have 11.39 U
024million in expenses and 11.52 in revenue. Um, so we're we're cutting that gap down um as we as we go further into the year. And on the following page 28, we're looking at our administrative cost ratio um for year five. This is comparing function 21 and 41 which are considered our um mostly our administrative costs and we're comparing that um going forward to overall district costs. Here we would score six out of 10 points uh with currently where we are as of today. And on the next page um is our estimated charter first rating. Um, if if we stopped everything today, we would uh score an above standard, which is 84 points. Um, as I just indicated, we are losing some administrative cost ratio points. Um, we're losing points on budgeted revenue to actionable revenue.
025Um, and we're also losing a little bit on our debt service ratio. And the following page is our income statement. If you could see uh there at the bottom, we are um recording a $65,000 loss uh for the month of February. So, if you remember um from a couple months back, we had um a little over 400,000. So, we are chipping away at that. Um we are 67% through the fiscal year and our overall expenditures uh show that we are slightly below uh where we expect to be um at 62% for the district. Our revenues um since we only record revenues for 10 months out of 12 um they are a little bit lower than we would expect to see. Um hopefully, you know, we were shooting for around $1 million this time of the
026year. Um but uh keeping our expenses um in check has really helped um align the income statement and minimize our loss. As of uh the February financials, we have acrewed uh revenue for 124 out of our 180 state. Yes. If I may. And now that number that 65,000 number doesn't capture the the riff that we had, correct? It'll show up in next month or throughout the rest of Right. Um the last RIFF that we have, they were paid through March. um uh up until spring break. So, uh we haven't fully recognized that at this point, which should come in about 2 to 300,000. Okay. Yeah, we should see the benefits of that. Um hopefully a uh in March, not so much, but in April, um we should definitely see a change there. Thank you. All
027other things remaining constant. Um looking at this income statement um function 21 uh 23 and 41 are slightly higher um which is our administrative costs as we talked about earlier. Um this is mostly due to increased payroll expenditures um in some cases due to turnover. Um you can't predict what the new staff will be on a on a scale. Um so um that leads to a little bit of a discrepancy in in those functions. Um and sometimes um there were some things in in the budget that um we just didn't know about at the beginning of the year. Um function 61 on here um is higher than we would expect to see because there were a couple items um Mr. Fred Brown and um also Volen Texas that we didn't include in the budget. So
028as you can see we um are vastly approaching the limit there. Um so we'll be discussing later on in the meeting today a functional amendment so that we can capture those costs um and continue to record those expenditures um as an amendment to the original budget. If we look back at February of 2024 the deficit for this time was 99,000. So we have made a slight improvement from that time. And the next page 31 is our balance sheet. Uh this reflects uh assets and liabilities and our net assets at the very bottom of the page if you yeah um is 15.1 million. Uh this number uh if you if you break it out into uh expenditures it represents 356 days of current operating expenditures where we currently are. And page 32 is the summary of
029finance which is dated February the 10th. Uh this report reflects the six weeks attendance period uh for cycle three which is um from November 4th to December 19. Are there any questions on the financials? Okay, thank you. Good morning everyone. Um we'll get started with the facilities update. We'll bring you up to date on some of the uh items that we're working on as far as facilities goes uh since the last board meeting. Go to the next slide, please. So in Amarillo, our current lease expires um on 6:30 2025. We have been negotiating an additional uh 3 years of leases with um one year with two additional one-year uh leases coming up. And later on in the um in the presentation, we'll uh be presenting to you two two items. One is the uh lease
030extension for uh 12 months for the Amarila location with two extensions to follow that. And then also we will be uh presenting to you a resolution to um refinance our current loan with Frost Bank um so that we can take advantage of some lower interest rates and uh until we decide what to to do with that property. So, if you want to go to the next slide, and these are the terms uh that we'll be looking at for the new lease. Um it's kind of a a standard 2% annual increase. um in Amarillo. Uh this is actually um going to increase our our monthly payment uh to 11,1627 for the uh for the first year. Let's go ahead and go to the next slide. And then this is the the terms that we will be
031looking at for Frost Bank to re um finance our current interestonly loan to a um interest and principal loan which will carry us for the next um 5 years uh with a 25-year amateurization uh at uh 6.74%. Go ahead to the next slide. and just some photos of uh our property that we had purchased in Amarillo. We'll go go ahead and scroll through those real quick. I just put those in as a reminder and we'll go down to Fort Worth. So, in Fort Worth, uh very similar situation. Our lease expires in Fort Worth on 8312025 and we've been negotiating an extension. Uh once again, we're asking for a a one-year extension with two one-year uh extensions uh available to us after that. Um once again, that those are all based on a 2% increase. And
032uh we will also be refinancing our principal only I mean our interestonly lease for this property with a u principal and interest uh loan so that we can um move those this property forward. So go ahead to the next slide. So, in Fort Worth, our lease actually will um increase to $16,117 uh per month, which is a a 2% increase. Um and then go to the next slide. We'll also be asking the board to approve the um the loan refinance. Once again, it's a a 5-year note with a 25-year amateurization um based on 6.74%. And we'll go to the next slide. In Houston, um once again, we've uh closed out our lease off of Airex Drive. We've moved into our new facility on uh 500 Century Plaza. The construction is complete there. We've had some
033difficulties with the fire marshall in at this location. Uh we're currently working off of a temporary certificate of occupancy. Uh we had an inspection this past Wednesday um where the fire marshall uh declined us the uh permanent certificate of occupancy based on um our evacuation maps um in each of our classrooms. Uh those maps were approved during her last two visits. Uh but this time she seemed to have an issue with them. So, um, on April the 10th, we'll be, uh, changing those maps out and, uh, having one more final hopefully final inspection with the fire marshall in Houston. Yes, Carl. Um, yeah, I believe Mr. Clemens has a comment. Yes, Mr. Clemens. Oh, you're muted, Mr. Clemens. No, go ahead. I'll hold my comment for a minute. Go ahead. Okay. Um, so in Houston,
034uh, as as we said, we're still working on getting that COO. Uh, moving on to Midland. In Midland, our current lease there uh, expires on 5312025. as part of our original um lease with them, we had negotiated three three-year extensions. And so um RMA has decided to exercise uh the first of three three-year options. Um and that has uh been signed and executed and uh it's just an extension of our current lease. and we'll go to the next uh in in San Antonio due to some budget constraints uh we're proposing that we uh close our office in San Antonio. The lease there expires on 6:30 2025 and um we have uh an option to extend for one year at $2,135. However, uh we would like to to not extend that lease and save ourselves about
035$25,600 on that location. Um and we do have to give them a 90-day notice. So, by April 1st, we will have to let them know that we're not going to extend that lease. And we when we originally uh got that location, it was so that we'd have a place to register with TEA as our headquarters. However, um I believe that the use of that building is very uh minimal. Um there are some people that will meet there. Um you know, and one of the benefits of having that was those conference rooms like when we met downtown Fort Worth at the board meeting. Um we get that benefit. But um for $2,000 a month, I don't know that we get our money's worth out of it. And so, uh, we would propose to make, uh, the
036Fort Worth, um, uh, campus, the the registered TEA, uh, location, um, to get mail and everything and then have it, uh, Jennifer would, uh, be the one responsible for disseminating that, picking it up, and getting it out to wherever it needed to go. So would our staff just work from home or San Antonio staff? Say again. Would our San Antonio staff just work from home? That's where they've been working from. We've just had that building just for the to say we this is our office address for T. Um I did have a question for Carl. I was waiting to go through. Yes. uh the uh Midland location that's a a three-year lease and have we already extended or is it ready to extend or So we we have already extended it um as part of
037our original lease with U Midland we had negotiated uh three three-year extensions and we have finished uh the first uh three years of our lease uh will be finished. Um let's see, Jennifer, can you go back to the Midland? I think it's back one. Yes. So, that one will u end on 53125. And so, we are just going ahead and uh extending our current lease for another 3 years. And we have up to uh three of these three-year options available to us. And is this the location that's in the in the Alamo at High Baptist Church? Yes, it is. That we at least originally had intended to buy that location and for whatever that that didn't take place and and it appear that the lease has been a better option for us as far as
038cost and and purchase. Is that am I right on all that? Uh yes, that is correct. our our lease for Midland um is is very reasonable. U we pay about $10,000 a month. I think it goes up to $11,000 uh as which is only like a Oh my goodness. I I'm I'll have to get you the exact numbers. I don't need that. I I just wanted the board to kind of hold this information in their short-term memory bank and somewhere later in the meeting, I think this may be something we talk about again. Thanks. Okay, you bet. And that's it. Any other questions or concerns um with facilities? Okay. Thank you, Carl. Having heard no uh no further comments or questions for Carl, we'll move on to the next uh action item which is board
039approval ratification of district contracts. Uh Dr. Anderson. All right. We don't have uh too many uh today. We just have two ratifications. the San Jansento College um a contract for the um uh graduation um uh ceremony um which was in the amount of $342. I think Jennifer uh we have the request wrong uh because Miss King's not in Pasadena. Yes. Yes, sir. I just saw that. That is from Dr. U Megan Buch. Yes. Yes. Um and then um the um other one is for the Wagner null u in Odessa and um Mittland's uh graduation uh venue um for their u uh graduation. So we've approved those two um and signed those and we asked the board to ratify those at this time. Okay. Do we have a motion? I'll make the motion. I move the
040board to approve the contracts listed in exhibit one and ratify the contracts listed in exhibit 2. Do we have a second? Motion. Okay, we've got a motion and a second. Uh, we'll take a vote. Mr. Clemens, yes. Miss Pearson, yes. Mr. Bayon, yes. And I also vote uh yes, the uh action item passes. And looks like that's all that we have for that action item. Next uh is on page 81. It looks like this is the adoption of the updated RMA uh board policy series module one governance. And uh again, Dr. Anderson, the um we met u Mr. Nimick and Mr. Clemens and I uh and Jennifer, we met to uh discuss the uh module one uh governance policy. Um and the committee uh is recommending uh that it uh be approved. Um however, there
041was some discussion um about the boundary piece. Um and so um one of the the the biggest part of this policy uh the change to this policy because there was weren't a lot of there weren't hardly any uh real substantial changes to the policy from the previous approved policy. Some things were moved around and renumbered uh which you can see. Uh but the big discussion was um about the uh boundaries um uh that that we have um because we don't have open uh boundaries but you know chapter 100 uh um changed that and said that charter schools no longer have to uh apply to you know provide services to to uh other areas. you can just do open boundaries and take kids from any school district in that surrounding area. And so, um, we we
042had a discussion on that. And Jennifer, um, if you could pull up Carl's document. Yes. Give me one second. I'll pull it up for you. We the board dis uh the board policy committee had discussed and we wanted to know uh the number of students from uh the the districts that we um you know the uh from the various districts around and we came to conclude that there are some districts with that we could just add um Mr. Clemens had a good point. He said, "I don't see that, you know, we would have kids coming to us from 50 miles away, you know, to come to school at RMA." And so, uh, one of the discussions was maybe we just need to look at adding some some districts or yeah, expanding our our, uh, district
043boundaries to cover some more districts. And so we went through and we looked to see um which uh ISDs that we may not have been serving that was in close proximity. And so that that was for Colleen Florence ISD and Celo ISD. And then down in Leach um we had uh Ropes ISD and Wilson's ISD. Um and in Houston we felt that everything around that area was uh pretty uh s sufficient. and then um uh Berles ISD and Carl um I'll let you kind of chime in to give some more insight. So with the um the state of Texas has as Dr. Anderson had said has has done away with uh geographic boundaries. And so if we uh at RMA decide that we would like to maintain geographic boundaries for our district, that's uh totally
044LEA uh local education agency decision. So that would be up to us. Uh we provided Dr. Anderson with a list of our current uh approved geographic boundary ISDs uh as well as a list of ISDs that we might like to add to this. Uh during our research, we also identified approximately six kids uh if we decided to not do um open boundaries that uh we would have to um that would lose a seat uh in our organization. And so, uh, it would only affect, uh, up up to six kids, uh, that we've identified at this point. So, with that said, um, does the board have any questions regarding Yeah. So, Miss Clement, you're muted. You're still muted, right? There I go. Uh, also we we discussed I think the attorneys perhaps pointed out that if
045we go to no boundaries that conceivably we could have a high cost special ed student sent to us from a long way off. And that sounds uh a little bit far-fetched, but open enrollment charter school, whatever is our boundary, uh we're obligated to take the kids if they show up. I don't think we can do like these private schools are about to get a huge chunk of our state money. We can just say they're not suitable for our school and not take them. We can't do that. So, if we make our boundaries unlimited, then we take what comes. So that was that was part of my reason for re um addressing the districts that we cover now. We had had a uh audit several years ago and were found that we had a number of
046kids who were like now we have six who might be out of out of attentive zone. I would yeah anyway just to check our attendance zones and make sure that we're covering where our kids are coming from. So that was my logic on the approach that I think we're talking about. Yeah. My question would be um would the efforts be fruitful in trying to recruit six kids and then not only that but thinking about them being so far away, how would that affect their attendance um or their longevity within RMA? Um, and is there, you know, does that would that make sense for us to even put in that effort and time and making sure that we are now recruiting six kids versus focusing on retaining and recruiting within the current districts that we have.
047So, I I think the um the six kids that we're talking to are from the Pasadena location and um if we add the additional districts, they would be covered and they would be able to remain in our district. Uh, and we do have RMA as a whole covers a lot of ISDs across the state of Texas. And um, so I I would say that uh, even if if someone from Lach ISD wanted to attend a Pasadena school, I mean, they're still on our list of geographic boundaries. So, uh, they would still have that option if if we chose to to go with geographic boundaries. And I would throw another thing carry out in there that Miss Pearson brings up. You know, sometimes a probation officer may tell a student, you need to get enrolled in
048a school. And if that student lives 60 miles away and enrolls with us, like Miss Pearson's saying, attendance may very well be the issue. but just to get the probation off of my back, I'm going to just, you know, I can go to this school. So, we we we we do look at I think attendance plays a part in in that. So, that's it's my recommendation um to the board that we just add these boundaries that that are listed here. And the other thing, and Jennifer, correct me if I'm wrong, we don't have to we don't have to apply anymore to expand our boundaries like that. Um, we just have to have a what is it? A resolution, Jennifer, is that correct? It It's a resolution. Yes, a board resolution. So, it's not contingent upon
049TEA approving these like it used to be. It's now the board just we would bring back a resolution at the next board meeting to add these boundaries to our uh list. I agree with that. So if anything I said you can conrue as disagreeing with that that's exactly my recommendation also. Yeah. Okay. Any other questions or comments before uh we entertain a motion? Um and then there was the other thing Jennifer what what was the option one and option two that we we was that addressed in in its entirety? Yes. Uh option one was uh the the boundaries as they are. Option two was the open boundaries. Okay. All right. So then that that was that was so we didn't have any other obligations. So yes, Mr. PMIC we could unless the board has other
050questions about the like I say the other changes were pretty much just renumbering things and and moving things around and as for today's action item um it's really just approving what you had just mentioned moving the numbers around etc. As for adding the the new ISDs, that would be a resolution for the next board meeting. Is that right? Yes. But we will go with option one. We have the policy finalized because it'll be option one, which is to keep the boundaries. And so we'll just come back next board meeting and expand the boundaries, which the policy would still be in compliance. I move that we accept the policies amended and presented today. and I'll second the motion since I was on the committee. So, having a motion and a second, uh we'll uh take a
051vote. Mr. Clemens, yes. Uh Miss Pearson, yes. And Mr. Bale, yes. And I vote yes as well. Uh the action item carries. And that's all we have for that one. Looks like the next one's on page 244. And another action item, uh, Dr. Given, this is approval to ratify and submit the 2526 instruction materials aotment and text certification form. Dr. Given. Yes, this is we're asking that the board ratify that uh for the 2526 school year that our curriculum is aligned with TEA requirements and that all of our courses cover 100% of the TEICSS and also that we are in compliance with the uh student I mean with the children's internet protection act and we are any questions or comments? We'll entertain a motion at this time. You scroll down to the motion. Trying to
052find it myself. Believe it's page 244. There you go. I move that the 202526 TI certification form be ratified and submitted to TEA. A second. Having a motion and second, uh we'll entertain a vote. Mr. Clemens, yes. Miss Pearson, yes. Mr. Bale, yes. And I vote yes as well. Action item carries. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Given. Looks like the next is page 270. Another action item. Um Jim, this is presentation and approval of the camp campus turnaround plans. Yes sir. Good morning. Um, yes. So, this is presentation of our turnaround plans and although RMA made significant improvements in its accountability performance for the 2024 school year, um, all RMA campuses are identified for continued comprehensive support and improvement because none of the campuses achieved a six-year federal graduation rate of 66.7% or higher, which
053is the standard for the sixth year. And the federal graduation rate, just as a reminder, is unlike our alternative state accountability uh rate because it doesn't include does not include the continuers, the GED recipients, and the dropouts in the numerator. And so with that said, all campuses developed a two-year targeted improvement plan to improve their graduation rates. And these plans were reviewed by the board and approved in January. And now to expand on those plans um and to strengthen the core educational practices, campuses have developed their turnaround plan. And in this plan, each campus defines milestones and monitoring efforts that they're going to implement over the next two years to implement the selected strategy for improving RMA's graduation. And so with that, unless there's questions, it's requested that the board um approve the turnaround plans
054as presented for each one of our RMA campuses. Okay. Thank you. Uh any questions or comments? Otherwise, we'll entertain a motion. I move to uh you know I move uh the board approve the campus turnaround plans as presented for the 20 2024 25 and 25 26 school years. I'll second the motion. Thank you Mr. Clemens. Uh we have a motion and a second. Take a vote. Mr. Clemens. Yes. Miss Pearson. Yes. Mr. Bale. Yes. And I vote yes as well. Action carries. Thank you. Looks like the next action item is on page and this is Miss White uh about the approval of memorandum of understanding of Texas child health access through tele medicine. Miss White, good morning everyone. Um, I would like to tell you about TAT is the it's a program that's used a
055Texas mental health program. Um, Miss Ortiz, will we be sharing screens today? Yes, your There they go. Thank you so much. There it is. Yes. So, THA is um the mental health program that is offered through the state of Texas in collaboration with five different service areas. Um most students in the state of Texas at this point in time are using this um tat mechanism in order to receive some mental health services. The numbers that are included here, there are this many students um being serviced across the state. At this time, 915 um school districts are using TAT along with um 7,000 campuses being enrolled and 75% is a total proportion of student um lives covered by TAT. They're doing the mental health evaluations via um technology. They have a high satisfaction rate and u
05688% of the families report that teach is doing great services for their students which leads to a big number of 4 million students over four million students being serviced um by tat. Next slide in the state of Texas. So tat is a free service. It's free which is a really operative word here. Um paid for by the state and does not require any insurance. They offer virtual and um targeted mental health care with licensed clinicians across the state. That's core mission is to assess, treat, and refer Texas students to appropriate mental health services. And we're really excited to be in collaboration in working with them. They will assess students that have been referred to them. They will give um additional resources to families who may not have insurance and make sure that care is provided
057um under the TAP programming. Next slide. What they do, what That actually offers is they do an assessment of students that are referred to them, give them um a brief intervention if necessary and coordinate care in the community and also offer an up to in some instances for um four meetings over the phone with a student. Next slide. We would like to finalize our last campus um being underou with tat. The other catchments, they've already been set up the last one to be added and that would make all of our campuses have a collaboration with tat to and to be involved with them and get the services. And we're requesting that the thisou be signed and reviewed by the board today. Any questions? I will say this is very exciting um opportunity for the for
058the district and and I appreciate Miss White's work on getting this um in place uh with Absolutely. district. Thank you. Absolutely. The mental health of these students is so important and I think this sounds like a great uh program. Yes. Very fantastic. Thank you. Open open open to a motion at this time. I move the board approve the memorandum of understanding of Texas child health access through telea medicine to allow RMA students access to see a licensed therapist or psychiatrist through a secure video chat. I second. Having a motion and second we will vote uh Mr. Clemens. Yes. Yes. Miss Pearson. Yes. Mr. Bon. Yes. and I vote yes as well. So the action carries. Thank you for your time this flight. Thank you. Look like the next action item is on page 322 and
059we've got Tammy. Is that right? Yes. Thank you. Okay, Tammy. On the review and approval of financial amendment for the 25 budget. Thank you. Um I prepared a budget amendment for your review today. Uh this is not the final amendment for uh the fiscal year 24-25. However, I brought this to you today because function 61 is at capacity for allowable spending. Uh function function 61 uh is labeled community services and this code is used to um capture expenditures for activities uh other than regular public education. uh specifically the reg the relative costs at RMA for this function is for the consulting fees for uh volen Texas and also for Mr. Fred Brown um who has provided a consulting to the district. These items were not included in the initial RMA budget and we are asking
060for those additional amounts today. Um on this page, um I you can see I've projected um an additional $27,000 um down there at the at the bottom under community services to be approved today. Um and since um I had to bring this to you today, I thought that I would also include three additional revenue items at the top highlighted in yellow as well uh that were also not included in the original budget. The first one is being a local revenue of um $7,800 for the year from the Fort Worth Woodway Drive location. Uh there is a tenant in there um that was in there when we purchased the building and they're paying us $600 a month to use that facility. So that revenue is shown there. And then uh right below that is TRS on
061behalf revenue. This is a new requirement from the uh Texas Education Agency. It is really for reporting purposes only. There is a zero net cash effect of this revenue and expense reporting. Um and TEA defines this as um this code used to classify revenues uh from matching teacher retirement paid for active members of our charter school. A charter school contributes matching funds for personnel funded from federal sources and if applicable statutory minimum funds for qualifying personnel. The charter school also provides certain employer contributions for the retired teachers health insurance plans. That's TRS care. And the state provides all other matching funds on behalf of the members. That is the amount that TEA is asking us to record with this TRS on behalf payment. The amount that the state provides in excess of what RMA is
062providing is what is being recorded here. Um an equal expenditure amount should also be recorded using uh object code 6144 um TRS on behalf payments for the expenditures. So it's a little definition um of why TEA asked us to start recording that last year. Uh we did not have that information prior to the board approving the budget for 2425. So, I went ahead and included that today. Um, and that last little amount amount under it, the $600 is for revenues for the school breakfast program. Um, this amount is a 30 cent allocation that is being provided um from the state of Texas for all reduced meal qualifications um that we are recording this year. So, those are the four items that you can see highlighted in yellow that I have reviewed and I'm asking uh
063the board for approval today. Thank you, Tammy. Any questions or comments? Okay, having heard none, uh, I would we would entertain a motion at this time. Move that we accept the budget amendment as presented. I'll second the motion. Uh, with a motion and second, we'll take a vote. Uh, Mr. Clemens, yes. Miss Pearson, yes. Mr. Yes. And I vote yes as well. Action item carries. Thank you, Tammy. Looks like the next one is Carl again. Um, this is consideration of and possible action regarding selection of stall. I'm not going to go through all of this. New legal counsel. Carl, I'll let you take it over. Yes. Um so the administration will pre be presenting to the board uh with the selection of um legal council um proposal for uh the firm of stall su chabara
064friend and cohen llp administration will also request the delegation of authority for the superintendent or his designate in uh the negotiations and execution of agreement. So, uh, Kate Davyy, who has been our financial attorney for quite some time, was current or previously with the firm of Graves Dherty, uh, she has moved to this new firm. Graves Dory, who was our our previous legal counsel for financial services, um, did not have anyone that could pick up that work. So, we're asking the board to approve the move to um Kate's new firm of uh Stool, Seville, Chavari, Friend, and Cohen. And so, with that, uh recommendation is to request that the board consider approve the selection of legal counsel to assist in the RMA projects. I uh I move that we accept the recommendations as uh stated
065in the uh board document on the screen. I'm not going to read all that. It's too small a print. I'll second the motion. Uh, having uh a motion and a second, we will uh take a vote. Mr. Clemens, yes. Miss Pearson, yes. Mr. Balon, yes. And I vote yes as well. So, the action item carries. Thank you, Carl. Move on to the next item is on the next page, 325. And um this is uh the administration will be um presenting to the board with the proposal uh proposed lease amend amendment uh for the Amarillo campus located at 4106 Southwest 51st Street in Amarillo, Texas. Uh the administration will also request the delegation of authority for the super superintendent's designate to negotiate execution of the agreement. Uh this is the uh lease extension for one year
066for our amarillo project that we covered earlier in the facilities update. So, uh, with that said, the the we request that the board consider and approve, uh, the proposed lease amendment for the Amarillo campus. I move that we approve the lease amendment as presented for one-year extension with a two-year option. Is that correct? That's correct. We have a motion. Do we have a second? A second. Thank you, Mr. B. A motion and a second. Uh, we will take a vote. Mr. Clemens, yes. Miss Pearson, yes. Mr. Balon, yes. And I vote yes as well. Uh, unanimously, the action item carries. Thank you again, Carl. Uh, next item is on page 331. Um, and just as we were uh uh just finished with the the Amarillo location, we also need to extend our lease in Fort
067Worth. And so the administration will be presenting to the board uh with a proposal proposed lease amendment for the Fort Worth location at 6785 Camp Buouie Boulevard uh 200 Fort Worth, Texas. Uh the administration will also request the delegation of authority to the superintendent or his designate to negotiate the execution of this agreement. Um with that, the board request uh or we request that the board consider and approve the proposed lease amendment for the Fort Worth campus. Okay. Thank you. Uh unless there's any uh comment or question for Carl, we'll entertain a motion. Uh, I will move to extend the lease at 6785 Camp Buouie Boulevard, number 200, Fort Worth, Texas, to August 31st, 2026 under the terms and conditions outlined in the proposed 7th amendment that provides for such extension. Do we have a
068second? A second. Thank you, Mr. Clemens. Uh, we'll go ahead and vote. Mr. Clemens, yes. Miss Pearson, yes. Mr. Bale, yes. And I vote yes as well. So that action item also carries. Looks like the next item is on page 331. And so, um, as mentioned earlier in the the facilities update, we need to, uh, refinance, uh, our Fort Worth, our new Fort Worth prop, I mean, our new Amarillo properties, um, from a interestonly loan to an, uh, a a a principle and interest loan. Uh to to move this forward, the administration will be requesting that the board uh approve a resolution uh refinancing the loan related to the educational facilities um construction uh for the Amarillo campus. administration will also request the delegation of authority for the superintendent designate to uh work on the
069negotiations and execution of uh relevant documents. So with that uh we request that the board consider and approve the proposed resolution for refinancing of loans related to the educational facilities uh at the Amarillo campus. Any questions or comments? Go ahead. I I have a question. This loan and the uh next loan that we'll have at the Fort Worth location both there for five years or is that it? It's a five-year note with a 25-year amateurization. Okay. Currently, we're at an 8% interest late rate on the interest only and it will drop it to a 6.74 if I remember correctly. Okay. And um do we have an option to pay this loan off early if we choose to ask that in case we have some drop back to 2% interest rates or something. Can we are
070we locked into this for five years or um for Amarillo? We are we are not uh there are no penalties or you know for for paying it off earlier. Uh in Fort Worth there there is some. However, uh Ryan at Frostbank uh tells me that if we decide to uh get rid of the property or uh move forward with construction or refinance that Frost Bank, if we did it with Frost Bank, they would be uh happy to drop those. Okay. I I just the uh uh financial world right now interest rates could go up or they could go down quickly. So just wanted to ask I'm in favor of both these so move that we accept the uh Amarella presentation and contract. Thank you Mr. Clemens. Do we have a second? A second. Thank you,
071Mr. Bon. With a vote in a second, we will take a vote. Mr. Clemens, yes. Miss Pearson, yes. Mr. Bayon, yes. And I vote yes as well. Action item carries. Thanks, Carl. And one more for you, Carl. Similar action item for the Fort Worth uh issues. Uh, let's see. Are we on that page? We are. We're already on that page. Okay. I'm sorry. Uh, so, uh, very similar to the to the previous resolution. Uh, the board we're asking that the board approve a resolution to refinance our our current um interestonly loan in Fort Worth to an principal and interest loan. Um, once again, it's a 5-year 5-year note with a 25-year amateurization um reducing the interest rate from 8% down to 6.74. And so, the administration requests that the board consider and approve a proposed
072resolution uh for for refinancing the loans related to the educational facilities in Fort Worth. Thank you, Carl. Uh, I'll go ahead and make the motion. And I move that the board approve the proposed resolution of the board of directors of RMA approving refinancing of loans related to the educational facilities construction and renovation at the Fort Worth campus and the extension or execution and delivery of certain documents related there too and containing other matters related there too which includes all the delegation of authority as set out therein in greater detail. Do we have a second? A second. Thank you. Uh go ahead take a vote. Uh Mr. Clemens. Yes, Miss Pearson. Miss Pearson, you're you're on mute. Yes. There we go. Uh, and Mr. Bale, yes. And I vote yes as well. Action item carries. Thank
073you, Carl. Thank you, board. All right, it's now 11:15 and the board will adjourn into close session at this time. 1219. We are reconvening from close session and I believe we have an action item from our close session. Pearson, we do I move to authorize the superintendent or there's a need to collaborate with an agent regarding the Woodway throwway in forward the 27th Street property in Amarillo and to consider lease options for the Pasadena campus. We have the motion. Do we have a second? A second. Thank you, Mr. Clemens. Uh we'll take a vote. Mr. Clemens, yes. Miss Pearson, yes. Mr. Beon. Yes. And I vote yes as well. The motion carries. And it looks like next uh public comment again. Are there any public comments? There are no public comments. Okay. So, we can
074go ahead and adjourn the meeting. It's 12:20. Uh our upcoming event. Um, we do have a a virtual board meeting on May 15th at 10 a.m. and then of course our annual board meeting is coming up in June. Uh, is there anything else before we formally adjourn? Yes. Uh I do want to also uh if you're interested board members um in uh attending a local uh graduation uh then uh meaning in your city uh please uh let Jennifer know so that we can get your regalia uh to you if you if you're in need of that. Um I will have her send the dates out uh to you uh after this meeting. Uh Jennifer, if you would send that out. Dr. Given has that uh information. Um, and we can, if you're interested, just let
075Jennifer know. So, uh, as we prepare the board programs, I mean I mean the graduation programs, we can get you listed in there. Perfect. All right. Thank you all for your time. Uh, have a good spring and we'll see you in May. It's 12:22 and meeting is adjourned. Thank you all. Thank you. I'll send a close session. Mr.