July 22, 2025 RGCGISD School Board Workshop

001Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for being here today. Um before I call the meeting to order, I would like first and foremost to present my new secretary, Claudia Gonzalez. She is exceptional. It seems like she was she came just right in. Thank you, Miss Robles, for training her. So, I just want to Miss Gonzalez, if you want to stand up. Thank you. Thank you. It's now 6:30 and we'll go ahead and call this board workshop uh to order. I'd like to acknowledge all the board members that are here. Mr. Vasilio Variel, Mr. Jesse, and Miss Paty Garcia, and Mr. Rene Pena. Thank you for being here. Um, Miss Gonzalez, any public comments on agenda items? Thank you, ma'am. We'll go ahead and go into finance. Okay, we do have uh for public comment on agenda

002items, we have Celia Sanchez Gara. >> Yes, ma'am. Right there would be fine. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. And thank you all for having me here today. And I'm I apologize for delaying a little bit. Uh, but I just am here. My name is, as you said, Wasilia Sanchez Gatsa. I'm the South Texas ISD board member representing region one as a TASBY director. So, I'm really excited to hold that role and I have some information here to pass out if you do not have not received it regarding regarding that. So, I am asking for your support and your endorsement so that I can continue to do the work that I've been doing with representing region one for TASBY. And this is something that I'm really passionate about. I have

003advocated for education and literacy for as long as I can remember. I've been serving on my local board for about 18 years now and on the TASBY board for six years and I have been holding an officer position also for a year. I'm also TASBY secretary treasurer. So, it's something I'm really excited about especially because we really need representation here from our area. As you know, region one, our kids across our region are under reppresented throughout the state, and it's up to us to make sure that we stand up and we have a voice for them, that everything that we do for is for our students. And that's something that I really appreciate all of you, this board, for making sure that you do what is best for students each and every day. And I

004applaud you for your work here at Rio Grand City Luya ISD. So, I can go ahead and pass these out. And I also have some information that I have from TASBY that I'm sure you all are very well aware of everything that TASBY provides, but this just shows a list. It's on their website as well, all of the different services that you can receive that you do receive as a member of TASBY. So I look forward to seeing all of you when we have our grassroots meeting as it'll be coming up so that we make sure that all the voices are heard because what happens in this district is unique to your district and it's different across the region and across the state. So, thank you very much. And I'll go ahead and pass um

005these out. And um I would appreciate very much if um if you would endorse me to continue working as a TASBY director and I appreciate all of your support. So, thank you again for all of the work that you all do each and every day for all of our kids. And again, um, I have a card as well that I can pass out with my number and you can call me or text me or email me anytime. >> Thank you, Miss Garza. >> Thank you, ma'am. >> For being here. Actually, >> yeah, >> it's actually part of >> Give them all your documents then. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Okay, we'll go ahead and move on to the next item, finance item A, presentation and update on tax ratification election. This will be an

006oral presentation by Dr. De Los Santos. Good evening, Mr. Vice President, members of the board, uh, Miss GarcA, members of the audience. Um, you all asked me to bring you an update. I think I was with you back in June maybe and gave you a little bit a little presentation on TR and the numbers and how the numbers would play out for you in terms of gains on the M side of the tax rate. I think I think Mileen passed out a presentation to you that >> I'd like to go over with uh they asked me to to uh stay away from the numbers this time. Just concentrate on what's the process, how do you get there? So what I presented and and by the way a lot of this is is legal. Eventually legal

007will take over and we're kind of out of the picture ourselves. So and then good luck. So uh basically what's what's a they call it a vader in state law is a vader voter authorized tax ratification election. We use short TR. I mean, everybody knows it as a TR. Uh, and what it does is it allows school districts to seek voter approval to increase the maintenance and operations tax rate above the state mandated cap. In your case, you have most of the school many I want to say 70 80% of the school districts across the valley are probably, you know, at the cap. They've already done their TREs in the past. Uh Rio Grand City has uh eight and three/4er pennies that are out there that the district can try to access through through an

008election that you can use to attract more state funds and local funds. What it does is increases what the state says enrichment pennies. That means that it's called tier two in the in the school business. And what it does is that they're very valuable pennies. They bring in a lot of money because they are calculated on WADA versus ADA. The ADA for the school district may be and I don't know exactly what it is. I'm going to guess that it's around 8 9,000 students. But your your WADA, your WA weighted ADA is like 13,000. So you get paid on 13,000 as opposed to 8,000 per head. So it increases the enrichment pennies. Our calculations indicate that the district uh if you were successful with evader and if you went for the max which is 875

009uh you could raise approximately an additional maybe between five and $6 million. I said 5.5 >> and uh what the good thing about that is if it is successful then you would that would be recurring. you would raise depending on your water every year the state would pay you the the amount you know around let's say around five between five and $6 million. So it's it's it's a part of your tax rate that in in effect you can count on from year to year. It's not a one-time deal if the election passes. So, and I had a footnote there for more specificity on the accounts on the amounts, uh, the district should before the election confirm our numbers because we're not TR consultants. We are bond programs and bond issue related consultants, but we know

010enough about the TR to give you a a head start. but maybe Mo Casey or other TRV consultants that may be out there and we'll we'll remain involved with you but but uh you really do need somebody to confirm for you. So how do you how do you go about evader call it steps to evader? Notice I put counsel there because in in the end he's he's going to be the one holding your hand if you go out for it. you're supposed to conduct an efficiency audit. An efficiency audit is an audit of your finances that is going to uh determine and then the state's going to look at it and they're going to determine whether you need the money or not that you're going to raise with that amount with a with a 5.5

011million. Now, in your case, we believe and council can affirm or not uh that you are eligible. you are exempted from the efficiency audit and the reason for that is that you're a district that is located in an area that was declared a disaster area by the governor in the last couple of years. Uh so anytime that he had according to the laws that exists, anytime that uh that you have a disaster and the governor uh issues a proclamation to that effect, you have two years in which you can do a Vader or TR without doing an efficiency audit. So that's a step that is a little cumbersome for school districts that you can that you can skip in effect. And the declaration of disaster was on May 23rd, 2025. And it was with respect

012to the to the flooding and the uh high winds that we had at that time all over the valley from Brazil to Roma probably or maybe even further up north. So that's one. The efficiency audit we believe is out of the pack out of the picture. Step two is that by law you can only have an election in November. You can't have May elections or any other time. So for the 25 26 school year, if you chose to go with Vener, then you would be uh having an election on November the 4th of this year. And the deadline to order an election for November, not only for a vader, but for any election that's out there, state elections, county elections, whatever. The deadline would be August the 18th. By August the 18th, uh you would

013have an order prepared by council, brought to you, uh which you would um pass. And if you did pass, then you would go out and uh in your publication of truth and taxation, and I don't I think you probably may have done some of that already, but the notice would need to include the pennies in the M rate that you're going to call the election for. If you're going to call it for the full amount 8 point 8 and 3/4 cents then uh you need to make sure that they're in the in the order I mean in the uh truth and taxation uh publication uh CFO might be able to answer that question. I don't I don't have their I don't know that you have most districts have based on preliminary uh appraisals. you don't

014get your prelimate uh final appraisals from the U appraisal district I believe until the end of this week uh Jana >> the 28th maybe >> the 28th of July should be the deadline. So at that time then we have more specific values to work with and so on. Now the next step would be uh that again council would bring the order and the agenda language to the board and they would prepare direct direction of all documents relative to the election timing and so on so forth just like a regular election when you have an attorney uh walking you through the whole process. Now what happens if the election passes and what happens if the election doesn't pass? Uh a successful vader or TR will generate like I said earlier uh additional revenues for the year

015that is approved and for you know it becomes perpetual becomes recurring. uh an unsuccessful TR would in effect revert the tax rate to whatever the pre pret and then the tax assess the uh what do you call them the tax the appraisal district no not apprais the the tax assessor collector uh would be responsible for notifying all of your residents that you that their tax rate is is going to be 8 8.75 less than what you announced and send out send out uh statements to that effect. Uh so if the TR is unsuccessful also the district could come back the following year and repropose a future or any November and repropose TR election. So it doesn't mean that it dies at least according to current law that it dies forever. Uh you can move on

016and try to uh convince the public. Now remember that the TR if it passes is for basically any legal use of the school district but most of the time they're used for the day-to-day operations. What happens? Transportation, uh, some cafeteria, much of it comes from the from the from the federal government, but transportation, instruction, teachers, teacher aids, uh, computers, buildings, and so on so forth, maintenance, and so on. All salaries, utilities, supplies, materials, and other general needs. Instructional, noninstructional. So, it's it's pretty varied. It just goes into your general fund, M general fund, and and pretty much the board can use it for any I I always say anything that's legal. So, very flexible. Now, if you're going to go out for Vader, uh probably the most specific thing that you have to do if

017it's going to be successful is be very clear as to what you're going to do with the money. I mean, the people want to know, oh, you're having an election and you you're increasing the taxes by eight pennies. What are you going to do with the money? Why do you need that money? Um, most school districts spend a lot of their money on salaries, you know, that teachers haven't caught up in a long time and other employees, instructional technology, safety and security. Those are the main topics. I just put them there as general topics. It all depends what are the needs of Rioc CISD, Rio Gruya CISD, excuse me. And uh or just to improve the fund balance, you know, if you your fund balance is a little lower than where you want it to

018be, you set aside more money and any other any other thing that any other item that but it's got to be very clear when you move out towards the community with a public information program. And finally, um, you need to involve your community. They need to be informed, thoroughly informed if it is if it is to be successful. And so the district needs to make a commitment. It's not going to be in an order or anything like that, but it needs to be a commitment from the district that uh prior to election day, the district is going to prepare and execute an information plan. Um, you need to you need to have a schedule as to meetings that you're going to have, when you're going to have them, who's going to be the presenter, who's

019going to explain these are the projects that we need to do, and this is this is uh how we're going to pay for them, and so very very clear. Uh, we need to prepare the plan and and set the meetings, inform the community of the benefits. What are going to be the benefits for staff especially for kids of this of this money that new money if we get it? And the other one is inform the community of any tax rate implications that this election may have. And uh those those two item I mean this whole page here we can lend you a hand on. I mean uh we've worked with with uh school districts before. we can guide you through it and uh work with you so that you have a good PowerPoint presentation to

020make to be as clear as you possibly can as to as to what it is that you're going to do and what it is that uh that is going to be the impact on the taxpayer. The impact of the taxpayer is very important. You say you're going to raise eight pennies. You're going to I mean how much is it going to cost me? I own a house that's worth $300,000 and you need to be able to put that in some kind of a table that shows them what what is going to be out of their pocket. Uh some may not like any money out of their pocket. Others may say whatever. It just depends on each individual individual voter. Uh and then ensure I I reiterate ensure that you have all of your internal publics

021covered. Internal publiclix mean all of your personnel uh teachers I mean professional personnel, teachers, administrators, they you're going to present before all of these groups and then all of your external p uh public's covered. You're going to go out and and uh make sure that your community uh service organizations are included. You're going to hold some t town halls where people are invited to attend. Uh you're going to try to get into as many uh PTO meetings, PTA meetings, and so on to explain to as many people as will listen what it is that you're trying to do. So that's basically it in terms of uh the steps that you need to take to uh if you choose to move forward with a with a TR election. Uh the benefits of it, we always stress

022the benefits with uh with superintendents that ask us for help. uh is of course you know you get a substantial amount of money because the pennies that you're raising draw probably two or three times as much maybe three times as much as they would draw on the uh that your regular pennies draw for anything else simply because your W your water which is ADA but it has weights and the reason it has weights is because you have special ed kids regular kid is a 1.0. Special ed kid may be 1.5. Vocational education kid may be 1.3 and so on. So those weights bring it up bring your your attendance or your enrollment up considerably. And then the amounts that they pay you for those are considerably more than what they pay for a regular ADA

023person. So you end up that's what you can access. So if you have any questions, I'd be happy to >> I've got two questions and they're not directed to you, Mr. Los Santos. They're directed to Diana Robles and and Mr. Garson. >> Okay. Just real quickly, uh we tried to pass this in the past, but apparently many people, including some sitting in this board, believe that every or the majority of the money or every single penny should go to employee employee raises, not stipens. If this proposition passes, are we willing to give the majority of of the money to raises? >> You have to express a board question. >> Yeah, that's a >> Okay. Um, >> what is your opinion, Miss Gan? >> Mr. Varial, I know that uh, you know, I've been having these

024conversations with my cabinet and my opinion is and I think the very first time and I remember it going out uh, and I think it was not like Dr. Los Santos says it was not clear, it was not concise, it was not transparent. My understanding back then was that it was going to be a stipen. So that is something definitely that we want to stay away from. We are looking at raises raises for all since this money we will be like you said it's perpetual. We get this money on a yearly basis. So we are looking at giving back to our uh staff. >> Yes sir. because the some of the people sitting in this board said they wanted to give most of the money back to employees which maybe is what we need to

025do because we've stayed behind. >> Move it back. I'm sorry. Move it back to what Mr. V. >> Yeah. Because we've stayed behind in the past. If you look at what employee is, let's say a starting teacher at La Hoya makes and what they make in Rio Grandandy City. We've the gap has kind of widened. So maybe this could bring in the gap. I've got a second question and this is for everybody in general. I'm just going to say it. put it out there and he said, "Given the fact that many fathers, sons, daughters, wives, and husbands have either been rifted or or fired, is it a good idea to give to have this election with the current atmosphere that we have right now?" And that's for everybody. >> Good afternoon, Mr. Vice President, members

026of the board, Miss Garo, superintendent schools. Uh the reason, one of the reasons we're entertaining this TR, Mr. Arali, members of the board is uh as you'll see tonight, later on in the agenda, we do have the HB2 raises that will be allotted from the state for our and mostly going to our three and fouryear teachers and five plus year teachers with experience. and we're left over with $450,000 for the rest of the FTEEs in our district. This would serve as a I don't want to call it a supplement, but it's we're looking at increasing the compensation within one fiscal year for all employees. And that's that's the goal. Um so that that's that's why we want to do that. >> Is with the with the compensation be in the form of raises? >> Correct.

027>> Okay. Let me last last question and say the atmosphere we have, you think everything would be a goal then? >> I'm sorry, sir. With the atmosphere we have today, do you think everything would be a go that this proposition would pass? >> I I I I I won't be able to answer that, sir, but I know that uh the reason that I believe is even a better idea is because even the state's looking to pass legislation to not allow TRE in the future. So I I believe this is our last shot. Okay. >> This question for the Roles. What do you think would be different from what we did before to what we do that we're proposing today? If I may, I I want I I want to comment on that because I was

028part of the administration at the campus level when the last GRE passed and I think one thing that left the sour taste in in in employees mouth was that we were getting over $4 million year every year every after year every year after that uh once we passed it. But there were the current the the previous board was only willing to give a $2,000 stipen if I'm correct. uh the teachers were asking for a raise and I remember uh presenters there saying that that would be uh irresponsible of the district to give raises. What makes it irresponsible now to not give raises? I don't think there's anything out there that makes it irresponsible. I think that our administrators, I think that our teachers, our cafeteria workers, our janitors, everybody works very hard that I would

029favor 100% to be of this tax ratification to go to them. >> Mr. Pñena, if I corre correct me if I'm wrong, the proposition at the time was to give everybody between 4,500 across the board 4,500 to $5,000 stipen. And it was on Mrs. Robless recommendation that we should do it that way as long as we didn't get funded and we didn't get funded for two years. So basically uh employees missed out on between $9 and $10,000 over those two years. But the fact of the matter that that stipen was going to be given over and over and again but that was the idea of Miss Robles but it was not $2,500. It was about $4,500. >> That's not the way that it was presented to us at >> Mles. What was it? You tell

030me. >> That's not the way it was presented to us at the campus level. If I remember correctly, it was 2,500 for professional employees and a,000 for non-professional employees. And it was a onetime deal, not an ongoing deal. >> I don't remember the exact numbers. I do remember that it was my recommendation after I had attended the region one conference and it was uh the firm from uh O'Halen that presented the the TR option and at that point and it is no secret we are still struggling with our fund balance with our budget in a budget deficit. So yes, it was my recommendation to give a stipen the first year to everyone and then the following years it would be considered and depending on how we were doing financially. >> What was the major concern

031on behalf of the professionals? Jenna that >> what was their major concern with the professionals when we were addressing this issue at the campus? >> They wanted a raise. >> What was the amount of the stipen? Do you remember? >> I do not recall. >> What wasn't it? We were going to give every single penny of what we raised. >> The first year everything was going back to the employees as a psych >> the first year. Yes. But we don't have accurate numbers right now and I wouldn't want you to give out a number that's not accurate. So we can come back with that number Mr. Vad if you like. And I just like to make another statement as our CFO you do give recommendations but at the end of the day it is the

032board that approves what is going to go out for TR. Correct. >> Yes ma'am. >> Okay. Thank you ma'am. And just to add further clarity to that, the board only is approving taking the measure to the community. At the end of the day, it's the community who will vote on this, not the board. So the board's action is only to present the measure to the community. >> I was about >> But but like Mr. Deas Santos says, you have to present a a plan of action how you're going to expend the money. Correct, Mr. Los Santos? You want it to to to pass? >> Sure. And that'll be that's a recommendation, >> right? that'll be part of the resolution of how you're going to use the money and how you present the matter being brought

033forward to your community. But I my my only point is it's not the board's decision to approve or not approve the actual hike or not hike of the tax or whatever it is. It'll be the community's choice. So whether or not the climate is appropriate right now for this will be on the community's uh decision in the ballot box, not in the boardroom. The board will merely present to the community what their proposal is to do with the money and that's it. >> Uh this question is from Mr. Lopez. Can you give you give us your opinion on this please in your department in the minion department >> Mr. Vice President members of the board Miss GarcA um again I will go with with Mr. Pñena said right now uh in talking to the cabinet,

034talking to the superintendent, our biggest thing here, and I know it hasn't been said, is we're focusing a lot on retention. We're losing employees to neighboring districts. I'm losing maintenance uh transportation employees uh to better offers. So one of the biggest things that we're trying to do is we're trying to retain our employees professional and paraprofessional. So what is maintenance transportation um their conversations with me and and again I do talk a lot to teachers professionals they want to raise >> at the end of the day it's still it's a and it says right here voter approved right it's a vader so it's a voter approved so we say it's a good idea we can all make our own decision myself but at the end of the day the community is the one that's going

035end up voting on those. >> You're ex exactly right. The community votes, but like Mr. Deosanto is saying, you have to present. I think you have to present to the community. Hey, we're going to spend 90% or 80% or 70% or 90% on raises and the rest 10% on whatever it is, but you have to present to the community how you're going to expend the money. Correct, Mr. >> Yeah. Well, >> which is that a good idea? >> It's a recommendation. I think that that would be the fair thing to do. The community is going to ask, what are you going to use? And I'll go back I'll go back to the the the the high turnover rate of employees. Uh we're behind everybody I think uh pay scale-wise. Uh our early hourly wage people

036are behind also. Uh I think that the the level of playing the game within the school district has gone up drastically. I think these people sitting out here uh feel the stress uh level where really I mean they're due to be up there with the rest of the districts in pay. Uh I think that not only them but their teachers that fall under them and everybody that operates the school and the district uh is is due for something this big. And I'll go back and say, you know, in my opinion, uh 100% of the of that uh uh tax ratification would go back to employees in any form of raises or salaries. >> That's fantastic. >> Thank you. Any other questions? Okay, we're going to go ahead and move on to item 4 C. I'm

037sorry, item 4B, finance reports. You do have them there as an attachment. If you like uh if you have any questions for Mr. Roles, feel free to ask, please. Item 4 B1, the tax collection report for the month of June 2025 is attached for your review. The report provides collections for the current month as well as on a yearto-ate basis. In June, the district had collections in M and INS totaling $159,455 for current and $101,440 delinquent and $125,293 in penalties and interest. Other collections totaled $34,243 for a grand total collection of $420,431. The next item, the budget balances. The first statement of revenues, expenditures, and changes in the fund balance is for the shell nutrition program. And in revenues, we have received 10,768,548. [Music] Total expenditures 11,529,470. We do have a negative net change in

038in fund balance uh right now of $760,922. For the general fund for the month of June, we received actual revenues of 102,586,93 total expenditures of 98,54,44. We have other resources for the sale of of property, $280,000. Other resources, $2.9 million and other extraordinary items, $18,000. Right now, we have a net change of 7,311,859. Debt service total revenues received in the month of June 11,236,172. Total expenditures $8,840,98 for a net change in fund balance of $2.4 million. The next item, the monthly check register, is presented to you as a report item on a monthly basis for the school board's review. Any questions that cannot be addressed at this meeting regarding any check will be researched and the answer and the answer will be provided to the school board after the meeting or at the next board

039meeting. The next item, the quarterly investment report. uh for the period ending June the 30th uh we had a beginning balance of 30,721,439 deposits $4,900 withdrawals $4.3 million interest earnings of $260,369 and an ending balance of $26,686,79. If there are no questions, we'll go ahead and move on to the next item. Item C, consider and take possible action on bids agreements up for renewal. Mr. G. Good evening. So we have a list of the purchasing cooperatives that we are presenting that we are a part of. So I don't know if youall have any questions in reference to that. They're listed on here. >> I have one question. Uh by boards when we are purchasing products from by boards uh basically there's several byboards. Do what's the procedure? For example, we want to buy let's say

040I don't know a truck a big truck or whatever and there's three or four by boards that have it. Do we get only quote from one or do we get quotes from several or what's the what's the proced not procedure but what do we have in place what do we have to do if we have a buy board and we want to buy a product >> so that's a really good question Mr. uh vatro currently the district when we came in did not have any procedures for that in terms of it being an actual book or being an actual policy and procedure manual since we came in we've been working with Miss Lobles in the department to try to establish a purchasing procedure manual so that the district can have those guidelines which it did

041not have before and so I know she's reaching out to the taso services to assist with creating that manual that manual will be addressing some of those questions such as how many quotes you need what thresholds are going to be where you need to get them how you document them. All those things we're going to start putting into place, but the district note did not have that for many years. >> So, so what do we do right now? For example, >> right now for with the district, the district was previously just able to go to buyboard and purchase anything on there without getting any quotes. It was actually pretty uh uh difficult and it was not a very good practice the district did that. So, that's why we're going to be implementing this purchasing procedure

042manual. >> Okay. So basically at the end of the day right now if somebody wants something they can just go to buy board and and just buy it >> based on the policies that were carried over. Yes sir. >> Okay. There are no other questions. We'll go ahead and move to item 4. Consider and take possible action on requisitions of datas policy ch local purchasing and acquisition. Are we still buying products without POS or what's this about ask? >> These are items that came in towards the end of the school year. So, they didn't make it to the last board meeting in June and they are invoices that came in after the fact. >> But did they have POS attached to them or not? >> No, that's what they're on this list. >> I do

043want to say though that they have significantly been reduced. I think we used to go through a few pages of these. So, uh, great job directors and principles. Thank you. If there are no other questions, we will go ahead and move on to the next item. Item 4E, consider and take possible action on requisitions 5,000 and over. >> I've got a couple of questions. We have one here for trans chiller. Uh a a quarter or a bid or something for a trans chiller. What? What's that about? At at maybe at uh Veterans Middle School. >> Is that uh is that for 17,500? >> I think so. >> Okay. Uh let me take you back a little bit here. Uh at Veterans Middle School, we have two chillers. Uh one of them is completely down. So

044maybe couple of months ago, we ordered a chiller already that they're building. That train is building. So that's the chiller that is completely down. The other chiller that we have at Veterans is so so but it needs a lot of parts. So right now we are going with a rental. We are renting one chiller and one pump through train and we've been doing this for some months already. Uh, and again, we're going to continue doing that until the the chiller that we bought has been built, which is going to be until mid November. So, the chiller that does not work anymore, there's still several parts that they can use. Uh, they can use fan motors, they can use sensors, valves, uh, some accessories, refrigerant accessories. So with this uh 17,500 it is the additional parts

045and labor to fix the the chiller that we currently have and get it basically up to new to being new. So when the chiller does come in and for 17500 with the parts that we have in the chiller that does not work and these parts we can get that chiller up to par. So if the board approves a 17500 within the next uh four weeks if they can fix that chiller we can stop with renting uh from here to November. What is the I'm I'm sorry, Mr. Just the rental cost that we are um that we are having to pay out money. >> The the rental cost here the last few months were at 17,800 a month. >> Wow. >> And uh Miss Gara is again credit to Mr. Pñena uh advised us to to

046reach out to him, see if we can get a discount since we've been renting for a few months already. and uh Miss Garca reached out to them and they gave us a $2,500 discount. So we went from $17,800 a month down to 15,300. So again, if board approves these 17,500 for labor and parts along with the parts that we have from the chiller that no longer works, uh train feels very confidently that they can get that chiller uh basically to to uh you know as new as possible cancel the rental. What would be the repercussions had we not rented that uh that portable uh AC >> if we don't rent uh the >> what were the possibilities that would happen to our building >> there's no way we could be using the facility we would

047have had to move our students to another campus >> so that was a reason why we had to because when you shut down ACS the rooms are are are get >> whatever they get in their mold whatever you want >> exactly basically we didn't have an option we don't have an option. We have to be uh renting the chiller in the pump >> just just for the community to know that it's not it's not a luxury. It was a must in order for the buildings to be maintained at a health I guess without health risk to our students and not having to hold back the beginning of the school year having to move students to other campuses because of the lack of air conditioning. >> My question is what's the price of a chiller? What

048what are we paying for that new chiller? Right now the chiller was about 354,000. >> Okay. Just real quick question. I know besides train other people make uh chillers. They're not uh that system has to have a train. >> The one that veterans we've gone with train all along. >> Okay. Like all I'm asking if if we needed one, we couldn't use another brand. Maybe there's another brand besides train out there. >> I'm I'm not sure. I I was not this >> But you understand what I'm trying to get at. In other words, if we need it so so badly and we're spending $15,000 and there's another chiller or carrier, let's call it carrier and is there any way that and I don't know maybe it has to be trained that needs to put in

049there. Have we explored the possibility? >> And we do have Yeah. And we do have carrier but we stick to what we have at that campus. So the campuses that we have carrier we buy carrier. At the campuses that we have train we stick to train. And for the most part, we deal with parts, but we do stick to what the the product that we have at that respective canvas. >> The only thing I say $15,000. If you look at 606 months, you're looking at about $90,000. And I I I know that maybe only train can be used, but I don't know. But maybe another brand can be used and we can save $90,000. And I I don't know if that's possible or not. >> Well, whichever brand we go with, they have to build

050it. Correct. >> So that's an automatic. Whatever brand we go with, they were going to have to build it. >> Uh Chris, I have a question on >> it's uh on Riverside Building Materials LLC. It says that it's for testing materials for diagnosticians for use on on student the Woodstock Johnson. I know that Riverside Building Materials is a is not a company that tells special uh docu any any type of testing materials or anything like that. Uh how did this happen that that we put Riverside building materials when it's uh specialled materials? >> Correct. That's just a typo on our end. So we have Riverside building on items that came through from maintenance. So, this one's supposed to be Riverside Assessment. >> Riverside Assessment. >> Assessments. Yes. >> Can I ask a question, Chris? What

051is EMS LQ? And it's for $17,000. Financial accounting system. What is it? >> That's a finance software we use to run all our purchase orders and do everything we do through. >> We've used that in the past. >> Yes. Okay. >> It used to be a LEO before. And the last question I have on this thing is we have Ring Ring Central and I'm I'm looking at Ring Central and they charge us quite a bit. Uh what do we get for the amount that they're charging us out of curiosity? >> It's a phone systems we have in place. >> Yeah. 150,000. But what are we paying rent or? >> We're paying the service per month. >> 150,000 for service. These are the phones that were placed in every classroom as per as per mandates. Correct.

052So we do have to have these phones in place. Unfortunately, the grant only covered one year is my understanding and then after that the district will have to pick up that that money that bill. >> Well, let me ask Sam out there. Are the phones that we have today are they internet accessible or do they went through the internet or not? >> Okay. So the 150 is for the rent on buying the phones, the rent on the phone. >> Okay. The service through Ring. So that's Ring charges 150,000 to use their Ring service to be able to do the telephone. >> Okay. >> That's District White, Sam. >> District white. >> One last question. I noticed that we have a and this is for then real quickly. We have a Perez law firm legal consultant

053for bond uh council uh uh repurpose the bonds and things of that nature. Just real quickly uh and then I know that that when we go to an attorney, they give us an opinion, correct? >> Yes, sir. >> Like when Mr. Los Santos are here, when we're looking to take bonds, we normally go to the attorney general and they approve them. Did we when we repurpose response, did we contact TA or the attorney general to make sure we're because an attorney is just an opinion. The official is going to be TA or or or the attorney general. Did we do any of that? You know, >> so based on my conversation with Mr. Pettis, who's your bond counsel, he did reach out to the appropriate agencies to uh ask for guidance on how to do

054the repurposing, and that's what he ended up guiding the district with. >> Could I get a copy of where they they said it was okay for us to do? >> I can reach out to Mr. Get me a copy of the document. Yes, sir. >> One last one. Sorry about that. Something about TVs that we have some TVs I tell for Lagua or something like that. What is that plan? Okay. And they have like smartboards or things that What's the difference between what we had and what what the the TVs >> only >> do we have TVs in the rest of the schools? >> Not all of them. >> Well, well, let me just turn it around. We have we have those TVs in the United City High School and the early college. >> Oh

055yeah, I I'll tell you agree middle school. I was there for seven years. Uh some of the teachers still had to work off of those uh green erase board, those green chalkboards. They still had to work off of uh dry erase boards. Uh they had to still pull down the screen old school to project uh using uh the the monitors. So I think that man uh going to a new school I would expect you know to have something of that quality that lives up to the standard of the school. Uh it'd be who's us to bring uh that stuff from old Gria Middle School to put it in a new campus you know. So I think that uh whatever the case is Gria Middle School deserves it. Uh Gria Middle School uh was built with

056that in mind of being a state-of-the-art school. And I think if it's TVs that that they're requesting, I mean that's what teachers will know. >> So the TVs are for the Gria Middle School, not the high school. >> Okay, >> that's great. I just want to add something really quick. Um this was just a very last minute thing. It came to me that we had not planned on not even having projectors nor TVs at that campus. There was nothing planned. So when we gave them the choice, of course, we're going to choose a TV, something that we are hoping to bring the rest of the campuses up to par as well. as as we move along through the years. So I guess what do we need to work as in the other schools also I

057guess if there are no other questions we'll go ahead and move on to the next item item 4F consider and take possible action on awarding the following bids. RFP number 2525, copy your lease districtwide. Before we go on that, uh, Mr. Gera, did you provide the board the addendum number two for the bids 5,000 and over? >> We emailed it to Okay, so y'all did receive it. Okay. >> Just want to make that clear. So we have RFP 2525 which is a copier lease uh districtwide. I provided an updated um valuation sheet and of course with some documentation or backup documentation. We ended up ranking the top three and based off of what we had in the packet um after carefully reviewing with all the vendors uh talking to them and reaching out to the

058references um we ended up coming out with a different outcome if you would based off of the recommendation. So on here you can see the vendor that we have ranked as number one. Um, initially the pricing that was submitted had only the lease amounts if you would um not including the per copy click. So they had it but it was that it was going to be included as part of it but it was not. So then going back and doing the calculations based off of uh 2.5 million clicks which is what we run at our highest point at least from this past year. We went across the board and just did a monthly, yearly um to compare. So what you all see here on what I provided on the first page, it pretty much shows

059the different pricing between 24 months, 36 months, and 48 months of what the lease would be for the different vendors that submitted. We have six that submitted. Um most of the pricing is pretty high as y'all can see. Um our recommendation is to go with 36 months and the vendor that we have here uh to recommend would be Total Imaging Solutions which is actually the current vendor we have. So any copies you see currently at the campus departments those would be the same brand that we would be keeping. The only difference would be of course since we would be going into a new lease agreement they would come and take the current machines that we have and they would give us new models. Uh so they would be the same same thing, same speed, same

060everything. Um the only thing like I said that would change would be they would come and get these current machines which are already about four years old and they would give us new ones. They would be up to date. >> Are there no questions? We'll go ahead and move on to >> What is the difference? What was the difference what we were paying before, Chris, between what what we paid in the past year compared to what they're bidding now? Was there a big difference or no? >> It is somewhat of a difference. The only thing that I do want to mention is that this past year um we did not pay for leasing. Um the company did um honor I guess what we had in place and they were only charging us for the maintenance

061and service of it. So just the clicks. um what they ended up doing this year now the current company to move forward if of course we approve would be that they're only charging us on color clicks and not on black and white >> not okay >> so that's where we're going to see the difference of course it all comes down to um the campuses or principals teachers um the more color they print even if it's just one let's say the logo and that's how they print and color they're going to charge us for that. >> Yes. So, um, that's where we try and ask our teachers and our principles to, you know, if they don't need to make it in color, if they can do it black and white, um, because in this case, based

062off of our highest usage we had this past year, we would not be charged. >> So, basically, we need to tell our principles to be frugal with their copies. >> I mean, a lot of it, yeah, a lot of it is technology wise, technology based. So, I know we have iPads and computers at the campuses, so that would help. Also, I mean, it does affect their budget, so they know that. >> All right, >> we'll go ahead and move on to item 4G. Consider and take possible action on contract delivery method for campus pavilions both at Gria Middle School and Veterans Middle School. >> So, we have the conduct delivery method for the campus pavilions and we have two campuses, which would be Korea Middle School and Veterans Middle School. This project would be funded

063through the bond series uh 623 and we are proposing to go with a competitive sealed proposal which is a CSP. If there are no questions we'll go ahead and move to item 5A discussion and update on real estate matters relating to swimming pool property. Mr. Ramirz, >> item 5A. >> Yes, ma'am. Uh, good evening members of the board. Um, relation to this item, we were we had a conversation last time in executive session regarding real estate with respect to the pool area of facility that the district has. Uh the city had reached out and asked if the city would if the school would be willing to work together with the city to sort of revamp that area, make it more accessible and have uh a working agreement with the city and and the school with

064respect to how we use the facility and making improvements on the facility. in speaking to Miss Gassa and administration uh and considering some of the uh budget constraints of the district, Miss Gassa indicated that they were kind of maxed out already on what the money that was allotted for that and we couldn't do much more with it. Um, in addition to that, I don't think that we have a swimming program right now either, uh, that that we have and the area around the facility such like restrooms and just the general land just need more work in order to make it um, usable and, you know, uh, be able to use it, right? Um the city was interested in outright purchasing that whole area and uh basically owning the pool and the land in the area

065with the intention of uh essentially building a full-blown park in there. And um in speaking to Miss Garca and considering the money that's been put out there, considering the resources that have been invested, the district didn't feel like it wanted to give up the pool in its entirety. And so in other school districts and other cities, most recently in the PSJ area, we entered into a long-term use agreement with uh between the city of FAR and and the PSJISD that allowed for a user agreement of a facility that kind of benefited both entities and achieved both goals. Right? On the one hand, the city has an interest in pursuing the expansion of this facility to accommodate for a park so that the community can use it during offseason, during other areas, and get more benefit

066from it. On the other hand, the school would benefit from a use agreement if the improvements that were required were made that would then allow us to expand the use of the facility to hopefully bring in a swim program uh for our students and also be able to use it in the in the end of the year for school activities. And so we had some meetings with the administration in the city and talked about some uh proposals and what that would look like. And so what we've been kind of putting together is a proposal for the board to consider at the next board meeting as we uh put together a anou that sort of reflects the uh sentiment that I'm talking about right now. And so under this agreement we would be modeling under the

067PSJA and the city of FAR agreement in which both entities become legal owners of the uh facility which means we don't give up ownership we will share ownership but it would be governed by a user agreement and the user agreement and the facility agreement would outline how we pay for it how we how we divide costs when it's accessible to us when it's not accessible to us ultimately making it favorable for student use in the event that we expand our athletic services for uh swimming and stuff. In return for that, the city is willing to put up a multi-million dollar investment in the facility by expanding, including splash p uh splash pads, uh proper fencing, new parking lot, new restroom facilities, new changing facilities, uh fixing the grounds up to make sure they're safe to

068be used, the barbecue pit areas, uh tearing down some of the facilities that are posing a uh a public danger right now that could fall or already worn out and are not no longer user used. And so that item will be brought to the board next meeting for consideration uh under anou. And if we're able to approve theou that will approve the framework of which we can work forward when before we begin any further uh work with them. So what we would be approving and would you be considering and you'd have this copy for the board meeting would be the memorandum of understanding on how we can work together with the city. So I am open to questions. >> Yeah. I think that's a great idea, but my question is how come we just can't

069give him a long-term lease for 40 or 50 years at $1 a year, things of that nature, is that we've never sold any part of this the main fort here has always belonged to the school. And I don't have, you know, we have agreements with the with the youth youth fair and we've had agreements with the the park, but my idea, my thing is it's not about charge them $1, but the idea of giving up ownership I and they can put whatever they want as long as it's a park and things of that nature. But what I worry about is that 10 or 15 or 20 or 25 years from now, what if they decide, hey, we're going to not make it a park. We're going to take, in other words, as long as it

070stays a park, hey, you get charged literally no rent. That's my what I believe should >> Sure. And and and that's a really good question, Mr. Viel. I think part of the concern is that because of the amount of the investment they're doing in the property to fix it, their legal team also has a concern with the expens with the expenditure of public funds and the city not being able to claim any assets with this. In this case, we wouldn't be giving up ownership. We would be sharing ownership of a very specific area within the fort. That would be that facility. And in exchange for that investment, we would share ownership of the area. Now, part of what theou addresses is going to be the that kind of stuff, right? They just can't make unilateral

071decisions to use it for something else. We can't make unilateral decisions to use it for something else. What this would be, it would be a 100-year user agreement uh that we would be entering into. Uh 100year agreements are very common in public settings when you're trying to establish a public purpose for a facility. And in this case, the user agreement would govern that the school will always have educational priority and access to that facility at all times when it's in the interest of curriculum and student enhance. >> Can you repeat that again? >> That the school will have priority for educational purposes for the facility when it needed in offseasons obviously right in the summer when we're not using it. um it costs to keep a pool open, right? You just can't drain it because

072it breaks the foundations and stuff. And so what they would be able to do is use it in the summers when they're not we're not using it, right? When we're in swimming, we would be allocated specific calendar uh hours that are belong to us and we would be sharing the cost and all of this. One thing that would benefit the district also is we would have no management uh fees on this because they would taking care of the day-to-day operation of the management in the area. Like I say, I think this is a great idea. The pool's been ready since I guess November of last year. It's been ready for a long, long time. But like I say, how does dual ownership work? In other words, in other words, you got two people owning it.

073>> Yeah. Well, you have two two public entities, not two public or two public entities owning it. >> Yes. And so that is a a a framework that's used across the state whenever there are uh public facilities that are being funded by two public entities. This is not something new to the public facility world. It is a new idea for Rio Grand City and for both entities, but it is a perfectly legal mechanism for this kind of project. >> I think that's a great idea, but let let's say down the future there's a the city wants to go in one way and the school wants to go another way. What happens in that case? >> So, that's a great question, right? One of the things that's being built built into the agreement and the user

074agreement is that in order to make any changes to the uh user agreement itself, it would have to be a supermajority by either entity. So it wouldn't be susceptible to election swings by any by any requires a supermajority vote uh from both entities. Supermajority votes uh are common and are legal. We see those for example when we're setting a tax rate and things of that nature. And so we would have that's one requirement to make sure that the facility isn't susceptible to that. In addition to that, the facility through the um dual ownership has a public purpose for how to use it. So it would be limited to the use of a pool park facility. If it ceases to be used like that, then there's a reverter clause where the district would automatically receive it

075and get it back. That is correct. >> Not a problem. >> So still on and ultimately favorable for students. we would still own it. They would make an multi-million dollar investment in the property. It would still be accessible to students and we'd have guaranteed usage rights. The best thing is that if for some reason they decide they don't want to do it, it goes back to the to the school. >> That is correct. If for whatever reason the agreement were to fall apart, it ceases to be used for the public purpose of which the agreement is being entered into. There's a reverted clause to the district. >> Okay. >> And all of this, we're going to start with theou. >> All of this starts with just theou. Theou would articulate a lot of what I

076presented to you today. Once we adopt theou, then the city will adopt theou. Once both entities adopt theou, then we would begin on the actual paperwork for something like that. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Ramdes. Uh item 5b, discussion and update on real estate matters relating to painuilding matters. >> So, I was just talking with Miss Jana about that right now. That's what we were here for right now. So, um, on the pain building matters, um, I was talking because there's a lot of questions that we still have that I still need to reach out to Mr. uh, Perez about, which is your bond council. Um, this facility was initially purchased with bond funds under Proposition A. In reading Proposition A, uh, the way I'm reading it, it's limited to school buildings and sites for

077school buildings. That facility is not a school building. That is a CNS child nutrition building. And so because it's not a school building, I'm not sure that that qualified as a proper purchase under Proposition A. In speaking to Miss Diana, she indicated to me she sought legal counsel from your previous board counsel, not your not your bond counsel. Your previous board counsel authorized the purchase of that building. Um, but again, the way I'm reading it, and I'm going to be talking to your bond counsel, because your bond council should be the one to make your bond uh decisions, uh, whether or not it was a proper purchase to begin with. If it was not a proper purchase to begin with, the district would have to reimburse that money to the bond from its general fund

078and then after it reimbures it, then it could put it up for sale. That's the first issue we have to figure out. The second issue is that Yes. So, Proposition A was approved by the voters, but in reading Proposition A, it's read it reads here for the construction, acquisition, and equipment of school buildings and the necessary sites for school buildings. And so, school buildings would be defined as school buildings like the a building of a school, not a building for a child nutrition center or a bus bus center. And so, that's why I want to seek >> Well, why don't you go to bond council and get a clarification >> and and and correct. And that's what and so my update tonight is that I'm going to be going to your bond counsel to ask

079clarity on that because I think that question should have been answered by your bond counsel at the time of the purchase. If your bond council feels that it is okay that that purchase was proper through Proposition A, we're good to go on that box. The next box is whether we are able to offload a building that was purchased through bond funds. Sometimes when you purchase buildings or you build buildings through bond funds, you're not able to offload them through the life of the bond. So that's the second question we're going to have to figure out that if we do if it was a legal purchase under proposition A and the second question is how and what is the mechanism to offload it since it was purchased through bond funds. So those are the questions I'm

080going to be working with Mr. Pettis on between now and your next meeting to give you all better guidance. So let me ask let's say for example you repurpose the monies from the bonds. So let's say we go out there and put the money and put it back and we repurpose it. >> Mhm. >> Then you can buy it with general funds, right? >> Sure. That is correct. So, so the the the issue would be one that if you if it so first first uh scenario if the purchase of a child nutrition building does not qualify as a school building then the district has to return the money to the bond and if it wants to repurchase it with that it has to repurpose that money in order to be able to do it and

081go through the same mechanism we went through this first time for the for the rep repurposing we just did. If however it is an allowable expense and your bond council says that you know what we can qualify the child nutrition building as a school building then the next question is can we offload the building since it was purchased through bond funds and so that's the next question we have to answer both of those questions excuse me I'm going to get answered by your bond council because it is not appropriate for your board counsel to answer that question. So, we had an opinion and the opin the opinion may be wrong, may be right. We don't know. Right. That's like I'm saying when we repurpose the bonds, I just want to make sure that that we

082got either an attorney general's or a TA because an uh an attorney's a position uh opinion is just an opinion. It could be right or it could be wrong. Correct. >> That's correct. Yes, sir. >> And then now to justify I mean not only do we have one uh child nutrition building, we've got two child nutrition buildings. So, how do we justify one from the other? They were both bought with bond money. both bought from this fund. >> Okay. But >> yeah, >> both facilities. >> Was it right or wrong? >> No, >> we don't know. >> It's broad. It's too broad. >> One was supposed to be a warehouse, the other one a child nutrition center. >> So I'm So I'm looking at your proposition here. So your proposition is what's controlling. And so

083your proposition says uses the word school buildings. That's the only question that we have. Well, school buildings, you know, we have warehouses that are school buildings, correct? >> Right. And so that's what I'm saying. I want your bond council to answer that question. >> Yeah. We have police department ready to protect ourselves. >> Yeah. >> So scenario one would be then let's say that they say, "Well, you're going to have to return your your your bond monies back into the the bond monies and you're able to sell it afterwards, but we may end up losing money cuz that building was for sale for the longest time. >> Not in great condition. After we answer those questions, if you are going to put it for sale, we still have the whole question about putting it on

084the market and whether it sells. >> But at the end, you can repurpose the money, put it back, and pay it. Right. Same thing, >> right? After we rep >> Exactly. I mean, not a big deal. >> We repurpose the money through sale. Correct. Nothing. >> No. So, the repurposing would be only after the fact if your bond council says that was not part of basically the money is parked there right now. >> Yeah. So I what I what I need is Mr. Mr. Pettis to give us his bond council opinion on the matter >> and their opinions, right? What we're talking right now is our opinions, right? >> Yes. But I would always advise a board to follow the attorney's opinion. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> And that's what I think Diana Roles did

085last time. So >> to your bar to your board council, not your bond counsel. >> Yeah. >> Correct. Any other questions? Okay. Thank you, Mr. >> Go ahead and move on to item 5C. consider and take possible action on interlocal agreement for tax assessment and collection with city of real grande city. Mr. Getter is it consider and take possible action on interlocal agreement for tax assessment and collection. No. Okay, >> that's that's simple. We're just >> Okay, then no questions on that. Let's go ahead and move on to item 5D. Consider and take possible action on bond for safekeeping of government property for ROC. That's for the ROC. >> That is correct. That is something that we do have to have. No questions. We'll move on to item 6A. Dr. Selenas, consider and take possible

086action on amending the 25 2025 2026 compensation plan. Item 6A. We do have a pass out that's that's been handed out by Mr. Lopez. Thank you, Mr. Lopez. We do have uh six reasons to amend the compensation plan tonight. One is employees recommended approved by the board at last board meeting. And there's two ways, as I mentioned in the last committee, there's two ways to budget for a position. Either the employee takes a vacant position that was in the fiscal budget balance last year or we opened a position and we budgeted for midpoint. So these employees have been uh budgeted for and you can see at the far end that they've either surpassed the midpoint or surpassed the employee who was there previously. That's section one. On section two, you're going to see administrators who

087have been assigned additional departments. We do have administrators that have taken full departments aside from the department that they're running and those adjustments are on section two. Positions not on the compensation plan. That's on the section three. We're looking for those positions to be added to the compensation plan for 2526. Assistant principal at the early college office clerk early I'm sorry, uh, early childhood academy and office clerk early childhood academy attendance clerk at early childhood uh, early college high school. And we're looking at a secretary clerk at PE athletic department. On the next section, you do see a reclassif reclassification of a position that's at no cost. is just moving the FTE from section one to section two, department A to department B, and the last section are positions to close. >> Are there any

088questions on that first five sections of the amendments to the compensation plan? >> So, what page are we doing? Let's start this this first page. >> Oh, right after the >> right after sheet. >> Right after the cover sheet. There are no questions on the first five sections to the compensation plan. The last section that we're bringing tonight, and I did include the PowerPoint that was issued to the board just to explain what HB2 brought. And the the main points that we want to touch here is obviously uh the we were awarded funds from the state for teachers with uh two and three zero to two years was no funds. Three and four $2,500. Five or more was $5,000. And that's what that PowerPoint I just included just for for your for your information. And

089on tab A, it's labeled tab A. This is the recommended compensation for the 2526 school year. As you can see the breakdown, it has tab a on it. Just so you can follow me at that Excel sheet. You look at uh first of all the first section we have full-time employees who are teachers 0 to2 years experience. We have 94 allotted FTEEs at $1,000. Teachers at three or four years experience. As you can see, there's an HB2 mark on there. That means this is allotted from the state. We do have 66 teachers who will be receiving $2,500. and the five plus years of experience. Also, you see an HBT HB2 tag, which means this money will come from the state at $5,000. All other RGC GISD employees, we have 1,132 employees and that will be

090$1,000. As you can tell, we did remove the CMP or your 101 employees. We have a total of 129. That fund was removed because they obviously they're they're selfunded at 101. And uh so we at the bottom what I did is I included the 02 years experience which is coming from the district and all other FTEES from the district. You add those two up, you're looking at 1.2 million aside from the HP2 allocation. However, if you look at the bottom, we did mention that there's 45 cents per student on the HP2 from the state. That's a total of $450,000. You subtract those two and we're looking at a total of $776,000 that the district would be uh bringing forward to have this compensation plan for the 2526 school year. And at the bottom, we went

091ahead and and just to be transparent, we did include the fringe. We multiplied at 18%. So the total will be $915,680. >> Questions? Can I ask? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. Just real quickly so I can understand correctly. Zero to two years is $1,000. Correct. >> Correct. >> Okay. zero. Uh the three to four years is $2,500. Correct? >> Yes, sir. >> And five plus is $5,000. >> Correct. >> Okay. This is all them. All this money was provided to us by the state. Correct. >> Except the 0 to2 only three and four and five plus. >> How was it again? >> Only three four years of experience for teachers and five plus. >> Okay. So the zero zero to two no money was correct. No money. No money. Okay. >> That is correct. >>

092Okay. And uh so admin well let me let me start off. So basically we're giving I I know we're giving these people the 94 people a thousand that's coming from the district. Correct. >> Yes sir. >> Okay. But the the 66 and the 562 that's money that's been allocated to the state to our school to be giving these raises. Correct. >> Yes sir. >> Okay. But we're not giving any additional money right to to those two categories. We're only getting what the state gave us. >> That is correct. Okay. >> Let me ask another question. Uh when you say other employees 1132 uh at $1,000 would that would be our auxiliary and everybody else or what is it? >> Every employee from uh admin one to admin 7 pay grade to auxiliary one auxiliary 6

093and par one to par six. >> Did the state give us any money for this? >> No sir. They actually, correct myself, the HB2 HB House bill 2 did a lot 45 $45 per pupil which totals to $450,000. >> So basically we're talking about $600,000 that the district is having to put in. Correct. For that category, >> our total total, Mr. Red, would be 776,000 plus fringe at 18% 915,680. >> Okay. So that that's for our pair of professionals, right? >> Everyone. Yes. every every full-time employee >> and the state kind of puts about half of that money. Correct. And we put the other half more or less. >> Yes, sir. They the 450,000. Yes, sir. >> Okay. So, basically to get to to three and four years and five plus years, the state provided

094everything. The zero to2 we provided the $1,000 from the district and the pair of professionals we provided half and the state provided the other half. Correct. >> More or less. Yes. >> Okay. >> Administrator, sir. All all they're included in the all FTEES 100 1,132 employees $1,000. >> So the administrators are getting $1,000. Yes. Across the board. >> So principles and as I said are getting $1,000. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. The state didn't provide any monies for administration, I guess. >> No, sir. They they the only employees they ear earmarked was the three and four and five or more teachers and the $45 for all other per pupil for all other employees. >> Is this pretty much set in stone already, sir? >> That's the recommendation from administration. Yes, sir. >> Okay. So, principles,

095assistant principles, administrators, just $1,000 >> as of as of right now. Yes, sir. We do have an item on the on the agenda that uh uh we we we sat with the superintendent. Uh she made it clear that, you know, this is what we saw and uh we do share your sentiments or that it's it's >> I'm just saying you you have schools like like River Grand City High School, you have Lagu, you have schools that have thousands of kids and you have, you know, things of that nature and you know, it just it's tough. >> Yes. But if that's the case, that's the case. >> Yes. And and we do have an item coming that that we we did see this coming. So we want to, you know, supplement what what the what the

096state gave us. Try to make it as good as we could. And then we do have some initiatives for for those people you mentioned. Yes, sir. >> Okay. When was it the last time we gave a race to administrators, Dr. Do you remember? >> An actual race, not not stipen, none of that. >> They believe it was >> What was it? What was the question? When was the last time that we gave a raise to >> We gave $2,000 last time. Last last year. >> Yes, sir. >> I think we gave it to everybody across the board administratively and and teachers, >> but that was a raise. >> That was a raise. Yes. >> Yes. >> Were you done with that item, Mr. S? >> Yes, ma'am. I am. >> Okay. If there are no

097other questions, we'll go ahead and move on to the next item. >> 6B. consider and take possible action on Texas teacher evaluation and support system timelines. >> So every year we bring in the appraisal timeline. This is appra test is the appraisal for instrument used for all our teachers and every year we bring the timeline just for approval. Uh this is standard operations so respectfully recommend approval. >> Let's go through all of them. Okay. They're they're pretty standard. >> I'll go ahead and name them all. >> All the t tests. >> Yes ma'am. Okay. Item 6 C, consider and take possible action on Texas teacher evaluation and support system appraisers. These will be the list of you have the list of the appraisers. Item 6 D, consider and take possible action on student learning objectives,

098SLO timelines. Item 6E, consider and take possible action on Texas principal evaluation and support system timelines. Item 6F, consider and take possible action on Texas principal evaluation and support system appraisers. Item 6G, consider and take possible action on non-T test non-TEST timelines. And that will be it for timelines. Do we have any questions on those? Okay, let's go ahead and move on to item 6H. Consider and take possible action on task B, local policy update 125. Item A, BDAA, local officers and officials duties and requirements of board officers. >> You want me to go through all of them, name them all, or you? I believe, Miss Garcia, as per legal's uh >> okay >> recommendation, we're looking at leaving out A, B, and C. >> Okay. >> While we square that off, >> uh these

099are updates recommended by TASB, and we're looking at uh item just D. 6D for the record. >> Okay. Are we also taking items he off or just >> just 60? I'm sorry. Is it 60? Yes, 60. Just 6D. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. And that would be FD local admission school safety transfers. >> FD local. I didn't include in your packet. I know it's a lot of reading, but basically we have a school safety transfers and the policy was reviewed and and and and looked at the word bullying and the term bullying was added to FD local and it's it's requiring data. It's not given an option. It's it's a must a data for the incidents that occurred with bullying on campuses to look at these uh transfers from campuses. And just for context members

100of the board, the reason why I'm recommending that A, B, and C not be included and be removed is because over the last three months, we've been working on your governance framework. Such as, for example, we have a board workshop before the board meeting. Uh our next uh government framework uh conversations we're going to be having are going to be this your committees, your board officers, and all those things. And so these are going to be coming to you in the next couple of weeks or months as we continue building your board governance framework. So instead of just using like a cookie cutter one, I want to create one that's specific to us. >> Thank you, sir. >> Thank you. We'll move on to the next item. Item 6i, considering take possible action on TIA

101RGCGISD ambassador performance pay framework. >> Thank you, Miss GarcA. So early June, superintendent of schools uh made it real clear she wanted a a design on a performance pay for campus leadership and there was two caveats. Make it uh performance-based and make it budget neutral. two very difficult things to come up with and I want to thank Miss Bonitz uh who's who's with us at the office of human resources who did an outstanding job I believe did an outstanding job and she did have assistance from our curriculum and instruction uh I don't want to name I don't want to leave anybody out but curriculum instruction has been very very helpful so we have before you is what we call the ambassador performance framework and the and we're not going to call it the principal incentive

102aotment because it has not been vetted through the system that the state requires so she renamed it and I and I I love the in the ambassador performance framework. And as you can see on your handout, um we're looking at state tendencies and and and when you look at tenencies, they give you predictions of what may happen. We're not telling you what the future may bring, but basically the state is saying we're going to do away with compensation schedules that say if you 5 years experience, 10 years experience, you get this and this and this. That's out the window. We're anticipating in the next legislative session, which is two, three years from now, we're looking at strategic compensation basically. So that and it'll connect to item N coming in the future. But I I want

103to say that this was again performance pay for campus leaders, principles, assistant principles, lead of instructions, campus facilitators, any campus leader. Okay, just want to start with that. And again, the tendencies are saying that we are the state is moving towards strategic compensation. No more of the pay scale, no more of the pay structures. Okay, so with this in mind, we wanted to address that. And also I'll talk about item N in a minute. and how it's connected to that. So, let's look at the ambassador performance framework. And this program basically it recognizes we want to recruit and retain our campus leaders. Right now, we have a shortage of assistant principal applicants and we want to look at that and carefully and we want to be strategic with our compensation. Now, what we're looking at

104is we're going to key on instructional leadership. As you can see, the instructional leadership effectiveness 20%. 25% I'm sorry. Student outcomes very very very obvious at 40%. The instructional framework we're looking at 20% and operational effectiveness at 15%. I love the committee threw in a 1% for um >> what's the word? Out of the box >> kind of like >> something out of the box that are our campus leaders successful. Yes, it's there is other exceptional. I love that one. It's my favorite and it's a 1%. But, uh, it is other exceptional actions. Now, in your packet board, there is the detailed rubric on how we're going to measure this. I'm not going to put that on the PowerPoint. It's a lot of information, but it is available for you to to look at, but

105that's the breakdown that we have that we will be measuring and it's aligned with Test and it's aligned with what the district's uh instructional strategies and and frameworks are. So that's the breakdown for uh the measurement of that competitive compensation. On the next slide please let me ask a question. I know in the past we we we thought about doing things of that nature but I think you kept telling us that performance base you couldn't give monies depending on how they did and how now you can. >> Yes sir. >> Because before you couldn't. Uh well what and and that and I guess I I'll let the the the what I was going to say was her other objective the superintendent's objective was make it budget neutral. So what what Miss Bonitz and her and

106her committee did is TIA I'm excited to mention it for them is 95% of our teachers 95% of our teachers. So with that allotment 10% is administrative. That 10% part of it will be funding this year. >> So it's budget neutral. nothing will be coming from the district. So I guess to answer your question, Mr. Harel, as as the TI expanded, our a lotment increased and we're able to draw from that to reinvest back into the campuses. >> So So we can give principles, assistant principles, deans of instructions depending on their performance, >> they they get extra pay if they do well. >> That's correct. >> Because before they there was something about not being able to do that. >> That's correct. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. But but I think the state is leading

107towards that type of compensation now performance based. Yes. Uh like TIA they're probably going to do something for principles assistant principles and eventually the state coming along with something like that. >> Yes. Our prediction in three years you will no longer see step scales anymore. It's going to be it's going to be strategic. Yes. Which will lead to the other item that we'll talk about in a minute. >> Um so um >> that that's basically it. And if you look at the next couple slides, let me take you to the to the to the big one here. And these I won't go through it again board if you're really interested. And of course, Miss Gossson made it real clear if this does go through. Uh we'll be presenting to our leaders so they're aware how

108they're going to be uh looked at and and and and evaluated for this strategic compensation. And I want to make it clear this is aside from what HB2 was brought tonight. That's totally aside totally different. Um and then we can go to the next slide please >> before we go to the number scale. Uh this this uh uh is performance based on the principles, assistant principles, deans of instruction and facilitator. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> And as you can see score ranges we're looking at uh fivepoint scale and you're taking of course all the uh the the the instructional leadership, student outcome, school improvement, operational effectiveness and if you take that follow that formula you're going to get a performance rating. And if you're a master, it's a score range of 4.5 to 5. It's

109a $10,000 stipen. Exemplary score range 7,500 recognized 3.5399. $5,000 stipen. And developing would be a $2,500 stipen. Again, this is each leader, not only the principal. Okay. >> What What does de developing? Developing mean? >> Developing would be from the score range from three to 3.49 49 on our rubric that it's on your board packet. It it tells you exactly what the indicators are on what we're looking for. And I love this because our campus principles, I don't know if if they would not or not, but this is kind of what they do with our t test in the classroom. Uh so now it's at a different scale, different and again the the objective from the superintendent early June was I want a competitive strategic compensation package for our campus leaders, for all campus leaders

110that's budget neutral. And uh I again I thank Miss Bonitas and her staff for for bringing this together. That's not an easy task. She was able to put it off within her and her and her committee within a month. I'm very happy about that and uh we're excited. Um again going back to what we presented with the compensation plan. We do understand that $1,000 is not it's not much. However, there's we're trying to figure out ways to to increase >> compensation compensate for the leadership effectiveness. How do you quantify that? Can I ask? on the leadership effectiveness who who who decides how effective a leader is or things like that. >> So once we we have the rubric down and and again I'm not going to go through the whole rubric but as you can

111see the breakdown that we have the right we're looking at 25% and we're looking at instructional leader walkthroughs you know um just just as they do and teach us with the classroom uh as as a as a campus leader walks into a classroom they know exactly what they're looking for whether it be the the lesson the te being taught whatever it is that they're looking for. We're going to be looking for that as far as the campus leaders and coaching, staff retention and strategic planning and cultural building. >> I want to go through these student student outcome, but that'd be the test for >> star and >> yeah, student outcome star based >> and other assessments that they use at the elementary level. No, >> I'm not on the curriculum side, so I'm sorry if

112I'm off a little bit, but what I see is the state the same growth >> growth show growth. >> Sorry to interrupt you, Dr. But the detail if you want you want to look at the details we do have them in your board book and it begins on 127 and it tells you exactly under student outcomes the 40% for example we'll be looking at targeted intervention programs 10% it specifies it academ academic data monitoring 10% closing subgroup uh gaps 10% accountability final rating is a 10%. So all of that is is within that. Uh >> last one I have operational effectiveness. >> Operational effectiveness. Yes sir. We're looking at family engagement feedback. That's that's huge. As we all know former teachers budget oversight. You know how as as you may be aware the superintendent did

113increase budgets for the campus. So we're looking at budget oversight culture climate and check-ins. And we're looking at student attendance. That's huge. You drive that and that'll help the overall general fun. have have and I think I don't know who would answer this question but do we have a team developed already as to who's going to be doing these observations uh on on our leadership teams? I do the principles. The principles do the the assistant principles and their deans of instruction. But I won't be the only one making this decision. I will have a team that based on correct my observations we will come up with what level they are at. >> I mean even though it looks developing recognizes exemplary and masters the developing koker 3.0 to 3.49 it's it's tough to get thereough

114uh if you haven't been in a campus lately. Uh yeah, I mean you got to hustle there. >> Yeah. And and and and when Miss Bonito brought this to us, the first thing I thought was, you know, some of us coached before and and you do want to win. That's the goal. However, your goal is to create great young men and women. And if you win, if you win along the way, then it's a double win. Same thing here. Our principles obviously we're trying all campus leaders, we're trying to incentivize them with more money. However, the student production is what's key. >> So let me pose a question to both of you. Let's say we have the early college and we have the magnet middle school and the elementary. Those are your brightest kids that

115they do well basically. So their outcome is going to be a lot better than let's say another campus that doesn't have that. So how do we negotiate that or how do we how do we how do we mend that together? In other words, you've got sets of kids that are going to do tremendously well and now you have campuses that that that are going to have problems. How do we how do you negotiate between >> Great question. Yeah, if if I may. I mean, go ahead. >> She allows me to listen to curriculum once in a while. So, I think I can answer that. >> In my opinion, from what I've heard, it's harder to grow a child who's done well. It's like winning a state championship. It's harder to defend it than to actually

116do it if I'm not mistaken. So, to grow a kid who's already done well, it's harder to maintain that and even grow even. >> Now, one thing to consider, Doc, remember that now through through our STAR exams, each campus carries a weight. So, we can base it on those weights that each campus carries. I think that that would be a fair practice than have holding everybody at that high expectation. Whether you're a small campus or a big campus, you're still held accountable for that that weight that you carry as a campus for the district as a whole. >> Great idea. >> Yeah. But by the same token, you have those nice campuses. They do real well, but they don't have much growth because they're already on the top, right? Correct. So, it's a catch, too.

117>> Yes. Sure. And the big one here, uh, board, um, is that we didn't want to wait around for PIA to come around and for us to get vetted and all that good stuff. She said, "I want it now and I want it budget neutral. So sir, here it is. Great deal. >> Any other questions? We'll go ahead and move on to item 6J. Considering take possible action on region one for distance learning consortium DLC package. >> We respectfully ask for approval. We had this we've had this program for a couple of years and uh this is where we use we used to have the district had tip uh days and we used to upload videos that uh it I I personally like these uh assess uh accessibility to these videos because we don't have

118to be pulling teachers out. For example, Miss Benitas come to me and said we're looking at uh having some videos on t test you know so on and so forth. So it's just something we want to continue with region one. There are no questions. We'll move on to item 6K. Consider and take possible action on Texas Impact Network strategic staffing and scheduling technical assistance. >> So, another tendency the state is giving is not only strategic compensation, but they're telling us you better we're giving you money. You better use it wisely. So, what we're doing is with the Texas Impact Network, they're guiding us on a grant-f funed uh support system. And what we're focusing on this year is as you understand and even the federal government said we're holding monies from uh from after school

119uh tutorials. So what we're doing with the strategic comp with strategic staffing is as you may know our teachers some of our teachers are designated most of our teachers are designated and if you run the children who I don't know what hit stands for but I know these children need the through 14 16 need a certain amount of instruction certain you know criteria that our our curriculum people follow and if these children are scheduled throughout the day with our teachers that are that are um >> designated you you brought you brought that up so let me ask you Miss Gasta How are we handling our where we at? Because uh Donald Trump is withholding title one, title two, title three, title four, and that represents a big amount. Any ideas where where we're at or

120where we're going to go or things of that nature? >> Yes. Uh that's a great question, Mr. Riel. I know the superintendent brought us in, the CFO, and and and their cabinet during the summer, and it was a great concern. So, what we the plan is um and and and and I thank Miss Miss uh Miss Robas for coming up with this plan. We do have 20 employees who are currently not in Title One Part A because the federal government made it clear they're not touching those funds. So, we're moving employees from migrant and bilingual to title one part A. That's 20 employees and 10 of those teachers I'm sorry, 10 of those employees are teachers that are funded through bilingual or migrant. So, uh, the PL it's it's a total of a million dollars

121for those 20 employees. What we did was we moved those 20 employees to title one part A. Now, you're saying, well, what's the wiggle room there? We did have some. However, it's going to impact the summer school budget. However, if you do recall, this is the first year that we're in an ads school year. We're 180 school days for children, which means if we hit that 180 day and we and we and we show that ads at the at the end of the school year, the state will assist us with summer school. So that's why we made the reallocation of a million dollars from title three bilingual and migrant to title one, which the federal government made it clear they're not touching title one part A and looking to save that money with the extended

122school year. >> So you're saying that we're getting the title one part A? >> Yes, sir. Mhm. >> Have do we have confir confirmation of that? >> Yes sir, we do. >> Okay. >> We got to make informed decisions. So we make sure that we look at everything before we make, you know, we >> the magazine articles tell you that we're not it's still being withheld. So >> the articles that we have received from TA TABY, if you received any other article that I might not have, Mr. forget it. I would like to see it uh again because we do want to make these informed decisions and based on what we have received from TEA. This is what we've done. That's the plan. >> Okay. >> The change in the formula of the attendance is

123that's what you're saying that will create that additional package at the end. >> Correct. >> Yes sir. The the states and actually now they're looking to change their rule that they made many many years ago Mr. Solis. The state required you to the children to report 180 days. They did away with that. They came into the minute system, >> meet the 756. Now they're saying, "Okay, if you do the 180, we're looking at ads, extended school year, and we'll we'll compensate you for that." But then they're saying, "We're going to get rid of that and go back to the minute." So >> either way, we're we're looking at ads. And that's why we made this decision to move those those funds to title one, >> which funds are are our summer school. Yes, sir. >>

124So we're not we're not going to have a migrant program, I guess. Right. Not right now. >> Well, the programs as as our discussions, the money's been relocated to title one part A. However, the programs are continuing. It's just uh the proactive measure that we took is just we're we're we're playing the game. Like I said, we're not going to get anything. Correct. >> And we've prepared for the worst. >> No other questions. We'll go ahead and move on to item 6 uh L considering take possible action on teacher mentor aotment budget and training proposal. Uh the teacher mentor a lotment was a was a a grant granted to the district and then I again Miss Bonitas this was state recognized so I thank her for that. We want to continue this and again this

125would be budget neutral. It would be $750 for our mentors and we have stories both from our mentors and from our first year teachers. So we'd like to continue this program and it's $750 per per certified teacher and again this would be budget neutral because we are looking at the TIA aotment paying for this. We'd like to continue pick pretty much pick up what the what this program uh had for the last couple years. Very important for our first year teachers. No questions. We'll go ahead and move on to item 6 m. Considering take possible action on task v ballot for representative endorsement and we already had Miss Sylvia Garca uh speak uh before we began the meeting. Let's go ahead and move to item 6N. consider and take possible action on application for cohort

126for strategic compensation. >> So, this is the item that ties into the principal uh aotment that we showed you. Uh on this item, we're respectfully asking permission to apply to be considered as one of the cohorts for strategic compensation. Right now, there's 10 districts in the state that are that are that are being assisted. Uh we want to get into the mix and get their their guidance and their direction on how to move to a full strategic compensation. I know we've thrown a lot of goals around and then we even talked about within the next hopefully four to five years have the first $100,000 teacher. So, we do want to apply. Hopefully, it'll work out to where we can u join the cohort, be chosen by the agency, and there's two requisites. Number one, have

127a principle in a lotment. Hopefully, that'll that'll pass. And have an expansion of TIA, which we mentioned earlier is at 95%. So, it's check. >> You got to meet those two criteria before you get even that cohort. Yes, sir. Okay. We're ahead of the schedule. We're ahead. >> Yes, sir. >> The way it looks right now, we're on the right track. >> Yes, sir. We're we're we're seeing, Mr. Pñena, that the state saying this is good the way it's going to be. So, we don't want to lose time. Get into the cohort, start learning what the strategic compensation is, uh what it entails, how it is, and and and move away from it. >> Okay, there are no questions. We'll move on to six. Um O consider and take possible action on agreement for ambulance

128services for all football games at Joar Sanche Stadium with TransStar Ambulance. >> We recommend uh bringing the agreement with TransStar. We worked this last year and the agreement is attached. We respectfully recommend approval. This is for obviously we want this service at all our home football games. >> There are no questions. We move on to item 6P. considering take possible action on purchasing insignia software. >> Attached in your packet, you'll see the purchasing of insignia software. That is on page um 162, >> I'm sorry, yeah, 162. And uh this the total amount is $13,000. Insignia is just the the the library services textbook management streamline resources pretty much our textbooks being streamlined. Uh we have this and it's paid through EMAT, so we're comfortable with that. No further questions. We move on to item 6Q.

129Consider and take possible action on using book taco. Reading is delicious. >> So this is a a decision that we we want to support our librarians explored several plans and they're looking at book taco as a replacement and we do agree with this. We're respectfully submitting for approval for this program for our library services. >> No questions. Uh we move on to item 6R. Consider and take possible action on ESC1 library cooperative renewal. >> ESC library cooperative. This is pretty much our driving uh force through our library programs and we do get a reduced cost. It's up it's a very expensive program cooperative to be part of but we do get a real good price of 34,000 compared to the 300,000 that would normally cost. >> Recommend approval. >> No questions. We'll move on to

130item 6s. consider and take possible action on using an Albert IO assessment. >> Albert is uh the Albert IO is used for student growth and AP courses. Again, we're looking at approval from last year. We're looking to bring this platform um that aligns with with our AP program like to continue their services. >> There are no questions. We move on to item 6T. Consider and take possible action once licenses for 2526. ICV pretty much drives our all our CTE courses. Uh again, we've been using ICV. It's very successful. You hear a lot of great stories from our teachers and administrators. Again, we're recommending approval. >> Are there no questions? >> Okay, we move on to item six. U considering take possible action on Renaissance Myion renewal. >> So myion again, this this is uh it's

131this program will be funded by EMATS and uh right before I don't know if I'm allowed to say, but I'm going to say it. Uh, Miss Miss Benitas told me we're about we received 2.1 million on EMAT. So, we're excited about that. Um, and this is a program that Mayion program is in elementary schools. Uh, heard great things about it. So, we'd like to recommend that. And again, this is funded through through our EMAT which was increased. >> So, it's great news. >> Great news. >> Yeah. >> Are there any questions? Okay. Okay. If not, we'll go ahead and move on to item seven, um, a, approval of board minutes, and you have those attached. Item A1, regular board meeting, June 10, 2025. And item A2, special board meeting, June 17th. We do not have

132executive session. We do. Uh, Miss Gonzalez, do we have any public comments on non-aggenda items? No, ma'am. Thank you. Uh, this is, um, I guess item 10, closing business. This ends our budget workshop and just an announcement, we do have our regular board meeting next Tuesday at 6:30. Thank you all and have a great evening. [Music] That's the whole point.