001We had a science fair which I found to be very successful. Um, winter carnival and a little mention about that is winter carnival winter activities coincided with the start of the Olympics. And so what we did is we had different classrooms uh that would pick a country. They would kind of march out. They painted their faces. They learned a little bit about um those countries and then we had a bunch of activities outside. And despite the weather and it was cold that day, um I don't think I saw uh too many sad faces. I I just kids talked about it and adults alike about how great the winter activity in Carnival went um with student engagement. I I put this in as as a late um number here and I think it's worth noting that
002we have a 96% attendance rate and I think that is when you talk about student engagement and all the things that you're going to hear. Um, if students aren't in class, aren't in school, then they're not going to be learning and engaging. So, I think that's a number worth mentioning. Continuing with the strategic plan, information and communication, just a couple of highlights here. Um, if you drop off or pick up um your kiddos uh or your loved ones, you hopefully will see both Mr. Schaefer and myself. Uh, definitely in the morning, you obviously see the full faculty and staff in the afternoon. But the idea behind that is um we want to greet students when they come in and we want to talk to families and I could tell you how many conversations that I've
003had just in a quick drop off line of like hey it was a good morning or hey can you can you check on this and get back to me and it really helped to not only just meet the students but engage with families as they're dropping off or I kind of headed to work or headed where where they are just that little like hey I talked to somebody to kind of pass along some information and it's really been helpful as Christine mentioned mentioned weekly newsletters. Um they go out uh weekly, but what I try to do is pack them in um what has previously happened that week. Um some up andcoming events, highlights and stuff like that. And and I try to be consistent uh each week. And that those newsletters are also a part
004of our faculty and staff. So if they want something sent out or if there's something highlighted, they'll send that to me and I try to get that out to folks. Another part of communication and information is weekly data dives. So I I have tasked our administrative team uh our counselors our SEI U teams to take a look at disciplined attendance tardy um our multi-ter system of support which is incorporates our SEIS and that's really just taking a look at the data such as attendance rates um discipline rates those things that involve um administrative involvement or SEI. So we look at that on a weekly basis. I run those reports um and pretty adamant about making sure we're staying on top of that to help drive what we do in our building. Wanted to mention our
005programs that we have which is our counselors do a great job getting into classrooms and as hopefully uh folks are there lunch with a loved one again that was my first uh experience and I believe the number is somewhere around 571 folks uh visited the other day. Yes, for lunch with a loved one I think that was the number somewhere around there. So something to be proud of. Talking about culture and student wellness. Um some examples again the the attendance rate. Um a couple of things that we do within the building worth noting student assemblies. We have recognition assemblies something called caught you being good. So um students if they do something that stands out they get a little card. it kind of goes into this tent that they that they build and and we
006pull them every two weeks and it's just something to recognize. Anyone can nominate a student. Um and again, it's just something that they have done that's worth recognizing and they'll come up and and we'll celebrate those things. I think also worth mentioning is the students came to me to say, hey, I think it's real nice that we recognize students, but how come we don't recognize teachers? And so, uh, they themselves, the students, put cards in to recognize the the great work that our teachers are doing. Leader in me, just a buddy teacher system. Again, I I mentioned that a little bit and and we're a leader in me school, which really engages students and gives them u the ability to really advocate for things they want in the building and to be a part of
007those things. I mentioned our SEAL programming and our school culture and engagement group. Uh I wanted to mention that because they meet quite frequently and recently they proposed something to administration that was about um behaviors that they see on the bus and they came up with a number of solutions that they would like to have implemented. So when you talk about agency and talk about wellness and engagement when you have groups like that that are advocating for students and safety um that's definitely worth mentioning and applauding. Just a couple of the highlights of student achievement. Um, our annual school is a huge success. Uh, student programming, uh, performing, uh, you're a good man, Charlie Brown, to highlight. Uh, winter concert that we had, grades four to eight, dedicated student athletes that we have on and
008off the field. Um, we have a student that is on our school board, which I think is great. That's the first time that I have seen consistency with a student advocating and being on a school board. So, I think that's worth mentioning. Another uh highlight, five out of 14 of our eighth grade students participate in algebra courses at the Windsor High School. It's about 35 uh%. Our lighthouse leader in me, which is student leaderships, which I've talked about, Harvest Fest, a winter carnival buddy teacher. Couple other things uh to highlight. Um taking a look at our graduating students and where they're headed and where they've been. uh Windsor High School, Woodstock, uh Thatford Academy, Lebanon, Hartford, our current eighth grade student class and talk about um when we talk about budgets, right, and and what
009students need to do and take on some of that responsibility have raised over and I think it's over now $6,700 for the class trip. That's a lot of work and that's great for such a small class. um seventh grade and eighth grade students have been learning how to give back and serving their community as you've I'm sure you've seen folks out um and the invitations that you receive to to participate in our in our school um heart awards and this is something that we do and something that was new to me again but it highlights students through all grades given out by teachers. We have students and families come in when we do our assemblies. They stay after and we just do a quick little paragraph and highlight to the great things that our students
010are doing. And again, they are nominated by our faculty and staff. Talked about the caught you being good cards. Um and one other thing worth mentioning and this is something I'm proud of. uh as well is there was a grant uh thank you um by the burn foundation to get a book vending machine and and we're going to put that in the lobby and students can earn tokens to be able to get free books um through the good deeds that they do and it's it looks like a vending machine like you would candy or soda but it'll just be dispensing books. Want to mention a couple other highlights. Uh, I don't know if folks know this, but if you walk in our building, you will see a a a mini kitchen fridge uh food. And
011Mr. Schaefer said this to me today and and I really worth mentioning. Have you ever been in a school where you're walking around and you're seeing students eating fresh fruit and vegetables all day long and asking for those fruit and vegetables and I think it's really worth mentioning a great job by Ian and our cafeteria staff. And so they do a great job of of bringing that those foods to our kids. Get that out of there. I This slide should be bigger and longer uh because there's no way to thank everybody in our community, but I see John here. The H Heartland Rec Center, uh our Nordic ski program, obviously our faculty and staff, the public library, the PTO, uh our school board, kitchen staff, maintenance, students, community partners. All of those are reasons why
012we're here today to talk about the budget to to do what we can do for our students. And so definitely worth mentioning that picture. Our eighth grade uh class uh got to do um got to film and be part of uh the Senate and that was really a great trip and something that came through a grant as well. And I think that has ended mine. >> Good evening. Now the really fun part, the budget. I know everyone's looking forward to um so looking forward to this coming year. Just to kind of go over what our goals are. Can you go to the next one there? No worries. Um so we hope to maintain a staffing plan and program of studies which supports the whole child, you know, that aligns with our strategic plan there. Um,
013and so we hope to bring forth a fiscally responsible budget that meets educational quality standards, Act 73, class size minimum requirement, and considers the impact of this budget has on our community as well. And if we move forward, I'm just going to let's go back in time and all the the fund budgets we've already been through. Um, and so if we go back to fiscal year 24, um, these are the different cuts that we've made as um, through the years, the last few years. So on FY24, we did cut one full-time educator and then within 25 the playground addition that we were hoping to make, but then we were able to get funding through a grant to support those changes. So you will see some beautiful new playground equipment out there um to full-time educators
014um furniture upgrades as well as locker upgrades. And then moving forward f so this this year this current year that we're sitting in um the winter activities fund was cut from activities program um and I just have to another shout out to John in the wreck and his amazing staff um that really made the winter activities program happen this year um and was able to secure grants and stuff like that. So that is just like amazing. Um, and the activities that were included, um, that the kids are experiencing are like full. They're all they all can go skiing if they want. Um, they're all receiving passes, um, to Saskina 6. Um, but they can also go rock climbing, they can go swimming, they can go bowling, um, there's great activities just at the school itself.
015So, there's just an amazing program. Um so other things that were cut though were teacher supplies, um more furniture and fixtures, repairs and maintenance. Um we did cut one custodian um and then we cut a currently staffed PE teacher and a currently staffed K5 teacher. And so those total cuts um were three just for staff um were over 300,000. And so what we're looking at for changes for within this budget is we planning on cutting one full-time social emotional interventionist when so when he was saying SEI that's social emotional interventionist um and then we are hoping to add a half-time middle school math interventionist addition. So it would be a total cut of a half position within that budget. And I believe it's Larry's show. All right. So, uh you can find all the detail
016um in the budget book um by scanning the QR code. I'm sure there's copies uh at town hall and the post office. And um so this is where you would go to get the budget book. I'm not going to go page by page. I assume it's there. And uh it's been available online since October, November. Um next slide. The uh bottom line numbers, as you saw on the warning, is 11,814,613 for the FY27 H Heartland general fund. That amounts to a 5.24% total increase year-over-year, which would uh account for um a 5.26% uh homestead estimated tax increase. And one question we get often is, how much of my total tax dollar is made up of the SU? how much is high school tuition, etc., etc. So, this is just a graphic example of how much
017your local budget. So, about 42% is your K8 local budget. About 28% of your dollar is tuition, high school tuition in Hartland's case. Special education at the SU is under 18%, administration operations is under 10%. That would be the superintendent, the business office, curriculum, IT, etc. That's what we label administration operations. Um early childhood program is less than 2% and food service is a little over 1%. The primary drivers for the budget increase for 26 to 27 is contracted salary increase um for teachers and support staff. Uh teachers are under contract through next year and support staff are under contract through the following year. uh a benefits increase uh which we'll talk more about but that's basically um the biggest part of that increase would be health insurance and as mentioned earlier a significant factor
018for FY27 was special education increase um when it was adopted at the SU level some months back. So, a lot has been said about health insurance and I added a feature in the um budget book this year which shows that when the state law act 11 um which took which was passed in 2018 that uh health insurance which used to be negotiated at the board by board level at the SU bysu level just like we negotiate uh contracted wages it is now um uh negotiated at the state level. So, our boards and our superintendent have no real say over health insurance changes. And you can see what has happened since FY20 when this was passed. Um, for example, a gold CDHP plan, which is 80% of our plans. So, this is the vast vast majority
019of our the plans they can choose. They can choose gold, uh, silver, uh, etc. The gold is what most people settle down on. So, just to show you a family gold CDH plan of fiscal year 19 for a family was $19,150. And we are being told by VH High, which runs health insurance for uh Vermont um schools, that to uh budget for $43,920 for fiscal year 27, the budget we're working on. Um so that is a that is a family plan that has more than doubled since FY19. Uh the single plan used to be $6,900 and now um it is we are told to budget for $15,856 for a family plan. That cost is shared 80% to 20% for the uh employer employee. So we also pay the vast majority and we can't pay more
020or less because we don't negotiate more or less. Um what would this mean for your uh tax rate? Um, as you can see, this shows the percent percent decrease or increase um in the homestead tax rate uh for Hartland. So, um there was a slight decrease in FY23 year-over-year and then you could see an increase of roughly 5% in 24 and went up uh significant increase in 25. Then there were uh the cuts that the chair outlined and then as we are approaching fiscal year 27 um it is still an increase although a smaller slightly smaller increase than 26. Um what does that mean for um estimated tax impact? Uh based on the latest from the joint fiscal office um and the governor's proposed buy down of $75 million, not taking into account income sensitivity.
021Uh $100,000 house, for example, if this were to happen, this is why it's an estimate. Um for a $100,000 house would be $128 annually or a little over, you know, 10 bucks uh monthly. If it was a $200,000 house, you would just almost double it. And then the same thing for a $300,000 house, you would triple it. And so on and so forth. And um that shows obviously this is the table that most people are interested in. What does this mean for me in my budget? Um that's the estimated tax impact. Um inside the budget book, I do show um a breakdown of how that tax rate is calculated. Um there's also income sensitivity forms um and a property tax calculator if anybody's interested um for uh understanding how that works. I guess so. Voting
022day, making sure everyone remembers that part important part um is the third and I will hand this back down to our moderator to um manage some questions. >> Um thank you everyone for your presentation. So we're going to start first with people here in person. Is there any questions from anyone on the budget? Martin I have a question about the SU expects. Is each town weighted by students or is it a set fee? Because the town of Hartland's fee seems higher than wind uh Weathersfield and Weathersfield now has more students than Hartland. Please and thank you. Larry, could you cover that question? >> Yep. So, >> it's based on uh the LTWM. Now, this is gets this is Vermont weights their pupils. And since it was equalized pupil and then Vermont changed it to LGWADM,
023the state number, that's what um they use to assess out the SU budget for uh administration operations, special ed, and early childhood. Food service is assessed out differently. So food service they assess out not based on LTWAM. They base it basically on the students in the building. Um whereas with LTWADM there's significant special ed costs um for um LTWADM because it includes all students not just the students in the building. Um so Weathersfield Heartland does have more students than Weathersfield. >> Can we get that population rate? Um so we don't it's not K through eight I believe they they still to this day have slightly more students although the gap is definitely narrowed. Um so to give you an example of the breakout using LTWADM. So we always the way we do LTWA is we
024go one year back. Um because by the time we pass the SU budget the LTWADM hasn't come out yet for FY27. So we always use we're always one year in the rears and H heartland according to the state >> has FY26 LTWM is 64 64119 Mount Scutney is 924.11 and Weathersfield is 566.36 so then we take that number we total it up that's 213166 of total LTWADM I'm sorry I didn't I never said what it stands for ltwm stands for long-term weighted average daily membership and uh and then we break out the percentages based on that. So for example, Hartland 641.119 sorry.19 is 30.08% of 2131. Weatherfield is 566 so about 80 less LTWM and that's they're that's why they're at 26. They uh Harland pays about three and a half% more than Weatherfield because
025they have three and a half% more kids. >> So we can't get a count through eight students and >> so so we have 398 students that are H Heartland students and that's preK through 12th and then Weathersfield has 350 >> preK 12 building >> 220 >> 222 >> Yep. 222 in the building. >> I I understand. But it's tuition. So that's different. That's a different cost. >> Yeah. >> And the way like so students are weighted differently being that like if a student's coming in as an English language learner, they're going to be cost more or special education student. And so that every student is not there the cost to educate them is not equal. >> Yeah. >> In K8 as of 2425, H Heartland was 295 and Weathersfield was 273. So if you do
026the math, I mean it sounds I mean it still sounds right with LTWM if it's that's 20 plus kids. And then if you add in 9 through 12, that's that's an extra 20 kids give or take. So it's so what I say I said 40 earlier. I mean, again, that's you're getting into the waiting with um with LTWADM. If this SU board could decide to change that anytime. So the SU board could decide um we don't care that H Heartland has more 9-2 students um in we don't care if they increase special ed costs because um they go to other high schools with increased special ed costs that get passed back on to Hartland um and therefore special ed SU special ed budget and they could decide to do only um what's in the building
027like like the way we do food service right if a student decides to go to Springfield High School from Weather field. The theory is it shouldn't cost them more of the SU food service budget because we're not feeding that kid in Springfield. Whereas a special ed, you are paying for that kid in Springfield. Come on up. >> Sorry. So we don't have to end the microphone. >> Sherry Clark, do you have a tracking system of our students when they enter high school? The number of students that enter high schools this meet the number of students that graduate four years later. Do you track them in any way? >> We do. We keep track of how many kids are in nth grade, 10th grade, 11th. we get reimbursed. The the receiving schools send money back to
028H Heartland if those students move on out of our district or never complete. >> Um any student that's enrolled in a high school has to you have to fill out a voucher and we get build by the high school. So if a student leaves that high school then we don't pay or we prorrate for the year how long they've been there. >> Yeah. I say as a voucher mom I have to fill that out every year of where they're going. Um because then they'll then the town will pay that. Yeah. Any other questions in house? Come on down. >> So you said um the average student cost was 19,000. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Let me look at the >> Does that include the state portion or is that above the $17,000 that the state pays?
029Because if you take 19,000 times 200 or 300 kids, you don't get 11.6 million or 11.8 million for the whole budget. Yeah. Right. For the Right. Yeah. Exactly. So, um I'm trying to figure out if that 19,000 includes what what's the state average that the state pays because the state pays a certain average. >> Yes. So if they go to a different high school or even our kids in school, they they pay a certain what above that are we paying. Are we paying between the 17 to the 19 or we paying 19 above the 17,000? >> So you're asking what the state making sure we understand the question is you're asking what the state says they'll pay for high school. >> Yeah. Or for any kid >> for any kid. Exactly. Exactly. >> Yes, please.
030>> I have no idea, but Larry probably knows. >> Thank you, Larry. Sorry to bother you so much. >> Like the all knowing Oz over here. So, um, okay. So, there's, if I go to the high school tuition part of the budget book, there's a statewide average. Okay. And I know this is going to get complicated. Hartford, let's pick Hartford. Hartford can charge whatever they want to charge. Handover can charge whatever they want to charge, especially Handover. Um, and, uh, with Hart, with Vermont high schools like Hartford and Windsor, uh, Woodstock, etc., if if they're plus or minus 3%, they have to return it back to the local district. That almost never happens, but if but they are supposed to. Um and and sometimes they do. I shouldn't say never. Uh they they we do
031a stat book and we report back to the state and based on the number we give money back or we don't. Um you're talking about the state average because there are some schools that are uh um independent schools like um I'm going to get it wrong. Is it is it Sharon Academy? There's certain schools where you you only get the um state average. Other schools like Fedford Academy, again, they're not beholden to that. So, they can charge whatever they want. And these charges are are much higher than the $19,000 per student. Um so, I think we're confusing the per pupil rate of spending versus high school tuition. So, we're saying it takes 19 change to educate a kid within H Heartland, but Hartford High may be charging us >> $24,150 >> to to educate our
032high schooler. >> Yeah. >> I was under the assumption the state has a certain number because of act 60 that each district, each school gets so much per student. And then if you spend above that, that's why the homestead rate is higher than the nonholstead rate. >> Oh, so it sounds like what you're talking about is the um excess spending threshold. >> Yes, please. >> Yes. So the that's the excess spending threshold for FY27 was set at 17 um $16,470 >> and and and actually this might help if I share my screen here. Can I share my screen? >> Um >> that's where I'm trying to get at. So we spend $19,000. So are we spending $3,000 per kid more? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yes. So the excess spending threshold >> and I know
033this is hard to see. I understand. Let me try to blow it up a little bit. Um so this is this is the property tax rate calculation that is in the budget book. I start with the total expenditures. That's the budget. I minus the offsetting revenue. That gives me the net spending because we don't want the revenue included in that. The LTWADM, that number I spoke to earlier with Martin is 645.85. that is higher if you look at the Weathersfield version of the budget book online is higher than Weathersfield and Money is the highest. Then they take that number that 11.6 they divide it into 645. That gives you what H Heartland spends. If there was no excess spending threshold Hartland would spend 17,983 but there is an excess spending threshold. The excess spending threshold
034is 16,470. The difference between 16,470 and 17,9 is $1,500 per student. What the state does is they penalize Hartland by taking that 1,500 and they add it to the 17,93 to give you that $19,496 and that's what you pay your taxes on. >> Welcome. Yeah, just so and so the challenge in H Heartland is that that that original average per pupil does include high school students and the cost to educate them is really out of our control um because it's the tuition set by each school which we have to pay and that goes into that. So essentially with in the context of school choice with with tuition set at an unregulated rate basically we have to continue to take away from our K to8 education to fund high school. So I think that is really
035a challenge. We've tried to do that year over year over year, but some of those costs that rise are really outside of our control and we would be required to really really shrink our K to8 offering um to to keep that under the excess spending limit and then we are penalized twice. So that that's the real burden that we carry in the on on the school board is trying to get to that level would require a really really really significant changes in our K to8 education um offerings. I mean to add that we did kind of do an exercise of like what would it take to get below the spending threshold and we no longer would meet the educational quality standards for that the state puts upon us. So we'd have to get rid Yeah.
036Yep. >> That would have to be a town decision. >> This is all very change in the next couple years. >> No one knows. >> I believe you've answered my questions, but I'd like >> Can you step up to the microphone just so the online people can hear you? Well, >> if you could Give me a more simple answer. So, what is the all-in cost of educating a H Heartland pupil and how much of that is paid by the town of H Heartland and how much of it may be offset by other revenue. And when we talk about educating a pupil, are we talking about the actual number or the weighted number? So are the that 19,000 was that for the 272 or is that for the 600 weighted average? >> That'sed average. So it's
037actually 17,000. >> Yeah. So our our weighted average that's on the on the ballot at 19 plus that has our penalties kind of built into it. >> 80% property tax funded um which is quite high as well as other states. We we rely very heavily on property taxes to fund our education system which is a real challenge because it puts our kids in the chokeold of rising inflationary costs. >> Yeah. And so on the literal number of students we have in school the actual cost is quite more than the 19,000. I understand the costs are not equivalent at all across students, but it's more like it's closer to 40,000. Okay. Okay. >> Can I just say one thing? No. I I think if you're going to do the math that way, I would encourage you
038to subtract special education from the total budget because I would say if your question is a kid that shows up to H Heartland Elementary School in the morning and spends then nine years going to school there in the absence of receiving special education um which consumes a very very large amount of the budget. So I think most of the kids that are going to K8 school, it's not a $40,000 per year exercise. So I think I think that is where the weighted average actually is really important because it it is designed to capture the likely expenditure on a student being educated in H Heartland. It it helps to offset the exceedingly high cost of special education which goes to very very few students ultimately. I agree. >> In previous years when we didn't have like
039the individual like when when we had the special ed cost buy our school, we had years that it was just like up and down and up and down. you'd have a few kids move in or a few kids move out and our budgets wavered drastically. So having them in the SU has stabilized that even though I mean the the cost is is is huge. Um that really hasn't changed but the up and down momentum of it definitely has. Folks that are online, if anyone would like to ask a question, please raise your little digital hand. >> What is the percentage of students? What does that look like? Because as a taxpayer, you know, I'm wondering, should we fight this budget because it seems really high or do we really have this need for special is
040>> so I can So yeah, just let me answer your question just because you weren't in the microphone. I want to make sure that people heard you online. Um so the question was and make sure I get this right was what was the what is our cost for special education um overall for and what how many students are considered with in our special education program within Hartland. So there's 96 students that are are considered special education students within Hartland. So within so I can I'll I'll switch my little special educator hat on. Um so when a student qualifies for special education, it's a process they have to go through through lots of evaluation to see where do they need the help. Then it's actually a legally binding document that happens where you say this is
041what help this student needs. Um this is what the services they need. It's not they're not going to get those services in the regular classroom. I mean they may get it structurally in the regular classroom but they need specialized instruction with somebody to get to meet those needs. Um and so that's where you end up having higher costes because it is specialized education um within that. And so it's just something once you're in once they have what's called an individualized education plan, an IE plan, that's a legally binding document that then the school is like, "Oh, we have to follow this. This is what it says this child needs to succeed in education. We are obliged to follow that." So you can't really just decide, oh, we can't. We're not going to do that anymore.
042We can't anymore or something like that. You just have to kind of follow the rules of that. But it is an extensive process. It's not like, you know, somebody walks in and says, "Oh, I think this kid needs special education." It's a very extensive process to become into the special education process. >> What is the total special ed budget? >> I was going to say, do we have that on a post-it or does Larry >> our all knowing Oz Larry? I feel like because his head's floating. >> Yes. Well, do you want H Heartland's portion of special ed or do you want I can give it anyway? Let's let's go down to that portion. So, Hartland's portion of the special ed budget. So, we the SU special ed assessment um is 2.99. So, Hartland's portion
043is is 1.83 83 of the um I'm going to do some math of of the total uh 243. So it's almost $8 million is special ed at the SU in Hartland's portion. >> Again, >> it's almost $8 million in 1.8 of which sorry two million is at Harland. What's H Heartland's share of that 8 million >> said >> 2 million 80,000 >> Weathersfield share is 1.837. So about 170,000 less and Mount Scutney is almost 3 million. 2,000 away from 3 million. So Mount Scotty pays an extra million. It is I believe it says right here 17.63%. >> What >> does that help? Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> So, in the budget book, and I know it's hard to see without color, >> but online it's all color. And um you could see the difference. This
044is the SU assessments, and the general fund is basically administration, operations, and special ed. Um, so let's set ECP, which is early childhood program and food service aside for a minute. And this shows from fiscal year 23 to fiscal year 27, how much of the SU budget has gone up between special ed and non-special ed spending. Um, you know, administration has averaged in a 3% increase uh every year, while special ed is about a 7% increase, but as you can see in 27, it is a much more significant increase. Uh for example, the SU general fund budget is up 16% but 14% 14.6% of that 16% is special education. Less than 2% is administration and operations. >> Why has it gone up so much? So uh I can't so if you look on the special
045if you go by the detail uh if you go to general fund under by account you will see that we are spending significantly more in um out of out of uh district placement. So, the there are some students that have such significant needs way beyond the IEP process that was laid out earlier that uh they are placed elsewhere, but they they still live in one of our member towns. Um, and those costs can be very high. Now, what's important to understand about FY27 is those costs were there in 25 and 26 in the actuals. Uh, but you didn't see an increase in your assessment in the actuals. We were able to keep it tight to the budget because of increased revenue from the state. So, for any student that is over $67,000, the state, let's
046say a student, for example, uh in special ed costs is over $200,000. Anything over that $67,000, um the state reimbures the SU at 90% over that number. So there's a re that's why we haven't increased the assessment in during the budget year during the actual fiscal year under the actuals even though costs have significantly gone up. That 14.6% accounts for those students that are already here and have been here for the last couple fiscal years. We just haven't had the opportunity to budget for them which we are doing now. So on the revenue side, there will be an offset. Um, and that's but that's where we are. That's so I can't get into specific students, but there are some students that cost significantly more than $200,000 and we still have to pay for that even
047though the state later on in the year, which would be next fiscal year, would reimburse us for those costs at at the tune of 90%. Unless they move out, but then we don't have those costs. >> Got it. Thank you. I'm just wondering if the general trend for children, the number of children that need special education is going up, and if so, why? And is anybody looking at addressing that side of it? >> More there are more needs, more students are qualifying for special education. um across the state. It's a great question. I think there's a study being done right now to No, no, we're not the only Vermont has high yes. Um so I'm certainly happy to relay that question to the special ed director and and have her reach out um to help
048answer it. But I mean, we we hired a new special ed director this year. She's really putting some procedures in place to try to um you have to meet certain requirements to be um to um what's the word I'm looking for? To to not just qualify, but I mean there we have students No, not that one. Um to uh be assigned a one-on-one. So, some students have one-on-one support all day long in the classroom and out of the classroom. And so, um, she's put parameters in place for for qualification for those services or that level of service that we're implementing now. And, and the tricky part is to bring down special education costs, you have to change IEPs or you have to have students move out. And you're always having um transitions of moveins and
049moveouts. But um and we want students to graduate off of IEPs, but as they're written, we have to provide that level of service. And that means people. I mean, let's be real, those are those are positions in our schools. And um to to lessen that number, we really have to look carefully at the services of each child and meet those needs, but also think about um things in a different way. Could this could this um service be met in a small group instead of one-on-one? So, those are the conversations we're having ac across the state. But, um, I don't I don't have a specific answer. I think kids are coming to school with more needs. That's just a fact. Um, from preK on. And we're trying to meet those needs. And the schools are not
050just educating. We are providing mental health resources. We are providing uh food security for for many families. we're we're the you know we're providing um a lot a lot more than schools used to be required or asked to provide and we are happily doing that but it costs money um and so some of the costs you're seeing in the budget reflect those needs of the students that we're serving >> and uh to piggy back on what Christine is saying the next chart underneath the chart I just shared shows that it's not I I have the Vermont on the left so so the blue chart part on the left is only Vermont and ident. So, it's not just our SU and you can see there's a 456% increase in mental and behavioral health positions in Vermont
051school districts. This isn't nationwide. This is an SU. This is Vermont. 456% increase in these positions over three years. And then I broke that down to the right to see what would that look like um by function. With psychological services, we break all our spending out by function and object and every. So, you know, for the auditors and for for you for transparency and psychological services spending, the orange is the actual that we've spent for psychological services. The green is the budgeting and this is only 22 through 25. I wanted to show it side by side with Vermont so it would be obvious that what we're seeing at RSU is not atypical um for Vermont and uh you could see now why didn't the assessment go up by that amount by the actuals because there
052is an revenue offset if the money is tied to students IEP costs then uh over $67,000 up to 90% we're still on the hook for 10% over for every dollar over at 67,000 and we're on the hook for the full first 67,000. Um, but that's why it doesn't look the same for the assessment, I guess, is my point. And by the way, that's just one function. That's just psychological services. That's not occupational therapy or uh speech, etc. >> And thank you. If I could just ask one more probably really dumb question. So, does Medicaid or something to do with the human health services not cover any of those costs? >> Do you get some Medicaid person? Yes. >> Oh, I can't hear her. >> Yes, we do bill Medicaid for reimbursement. um and and we
053see those um numbers come in and it's it's it is something but it is um not nearly the cost that we that are associated. Yes. >> Thanks. >> I'm I'm good with my answers to the questions if you put them in your minutes. But but Larry, one question for you was with that state reimbursement, how budgetable is that? Did that go away and all of a sudden we have a contingent liability coming back on the town? Um, and and then when we're talking about special needs children before what I was getting at is how many are cognitive, how many emotional behavioral, how many physical, it sounded just from what you touched on there that we're seeing much, much more of emotional, behavioral as opposed to cognitive and perhaps physical. And I will say not every
054kid checks checks a box. Lots of times it's it's a mixture of of all of them. >> Yes. >> Yeah. And and I just wondered if that changed it, you know, is the IEP process in the qualification process for for meeting the needs of a special needs child. Are they constant across the state >> or are they're not? So, a different >> Yeah, we don't make up the rules of how a student qualifies for special ed. Yep. >> Thank you. shows the um the sort of academic metrics like reading and math by general population relative to IEP just sort of obviously misses a whole lot of nuance but captures that in general kids on IEPs are struggling more in the basic cognitive functioning of reading and math relative to the general population of students and
055that might be helpful to to show from our special director. Um, so this is the whole SU. It's not broken down by district, but uh, intellectual disability 14. Uh, deaf and blindness less than 10, multiple disabilities less than 10, developmental delay 52. Traumatic brain injury less than 10. Autism spectrum disorder 33. Hearing loss less than 10, speech or language impairment 21. Visual impairment less than 10. Emotional disturbance 16. I think that was what you were >> getting at. Um, >> yep. Orthopedic impairment less than 10, other health impairment 74, and specific learning disability 83. That's the breakdown. So, and within like those are all the categories that the state basically allows us to check off essentially as like where where could they be having struggling within the school system and other health health impairment um
056can be something as simple as like they broke their leg and they can't get around and they can't go gym class. I mean there's like simple things or it could be um attention deficit disorder can also be falling underneath that. So that's why 73 seems really strange as like other health impairment, but that's usually why that falls under there. >> Come on down. >> Last question. Thank you for your patience. >> So last year the state bought the budget down by 182 million. This year they're guesstimating 75 million. You're assuming you're going to get to 75 million. So that's why you showed us a slide. I'm hoping you have in your process it's all going to come back how you're going to address that situation because that is going to be one huge situation. The
057special edge is only about a third of your budget and we'll give you 40%. So there are more ways to make this budget better for the taxpayers. And don't get me wrong, both my kids went through the school. It's a great school system, but there comes a time when we have to start weighing what what what can be done and what can't be done because people in this town are getting to the point where they can't afford it. You said $128 per 100,000. If the state decides to do nothing, it's like $228 per $100,000, which now makes a $300,000 house almost a hundred bucks a month. So, I'm hoping that you folks have a plan of how to go forward with this. Act 73, from what I've read in the news, hasn't caught on fire,
058and a lot of towns have fought it. So, I really don't see that going anywhere. And school choice is great, don't get me wrong, but we need to reel it in and maybe pick three schools for our kids in this town and stay at those three schools. And maybe they know they coming in, maybe they can help us with the price. So just food for thought. I hope the board is really have on top of their on top of it because taxpayers at this point are are at the and it's not your fault. I get that. But you you guys have families, lots of kids, expenses. At some point, we got to make that hard choice because people at their houses are making these exact same choices. Yes, it's only $128. That's $10 a month.
059What do I have to cut to make sure I make my taxes? So, I'm hoping that you folks put it on top and I thank you for your patience tonight. >> Thank you. >> I was just going to say, is there anyone else on the line though for questions or comments? >> We're good. Then I'll let >> um I really appreciate your comment and I want to just sort of share that um we really do hold that very sincerely. Um you know I say to people like I didn't move back here for school choice like I moved back here to be in H Heartland and if people if people start leaving Hartland that undermines my whole value of me having my kids grow up in this town right so I totally hear you. I think
060my hope is that by that the tuition that the high school tuition dynamics will really change for us. Um I don't know how yet, but I I do see the way that year after year that has really driven um driven us into this excess cost. You know, there's things that just are so far out of our control. The health insurance spending, you know, my other hat is, as many of you know, I'm a physician. I feel very guilty all the time when I see what my day job is doing to, you know, the costs of healthcare in America, right? It's all all of that, it's all interconnected. Um, but I think, you know, the only other thing I would say is, you know, I ideally we continue to advocate with our state legislators to say,
061um, you know, put in place things to protect towns like ours from these costs that are outside of our control. And I would, you know, very strongly advocate for finding ways other than property tax to fund education entirely, right? Nobody can use a shingle on their house to buy groceries, but you know, looking for there's there are creative ways to raise revenue or turning to more income tax if it, you know, but but so I I just want to thank you for being here and and reassure you that we do hold this very um challenging situation with a lot of um sincerity and Uh, I'd like to make a comment and it's not specific to the school budget or uh what's been discussed tonight, but the larger school funding crisis in the state of Vermont.
062Most of the discussions like tonight are about taxes. I can't afford this. I can't afford that. very little uh discussion is uh is had related to the revenue side of things. Okay, there's obviously not enough money coming in. Now, that's not a schoolboard issue. That's more a town government issue. It's more a state government issue and it's really speaks to a need for a throughout the state of Vermont a change in the paradigm, a change in the whole attitude towards growth. If there were an increase in the tax base here in H Heartland and the pain was and the pain was spread more widely, that would be a whole we'd be having a whole different discussion tonight. So, how do you do that in a in a rural town? Well, obviously increasing revenue from a
063commercial or industrial tax base ain't going to happen because there's no infrastructure, there's no town water, there's no town sewage. So, it's highly unlikely that there will be uh a factory or two that uh are built here in H Heartland to generate uh commercial tax revenue. So, it's back to uh homestead revenue. It's back to property tax. And uh like everybody else, you don't want things to change. The bucolic nature of Vermont, the bucolic nature of H Heartland. Oh, I want it to stay like this forever. Well, then you're going to watch your taxes go up year after year because they to a large degree throughout this state and it's been like Martin, I'm a news hound, too. Um, something's got to change and people don't pay enough attention to the revenue side of things.
064The state of Vermont needs more growth across the board. Industrial tax revenue, commercial tax revenue, and if there were I don't just throw out some numbers here. If there were 50 more homes here in H Heartland that were paying whatever amount in annual taxes, well, that's going to make a little then that's going to ease the pain. So, uh this is, I guess, for the the taxpayer and the the uh citizens to think about in H Heartland throughout the state. Well, it's time for a change and it's a change in attitude and maybe um we should welcome more people into the small towns here in Vermont that uh would be willing to pay taxes, etc., etc. So, just a thought, you got to have more come in than you got going out. I'm not a
065graduate of the Tuck School of Business, but I I understand that principle. Oh, thank you. I've been thinking about this for a while, but I call it share the burden. Do we pay for health insurance just for those that we employ and then their families get it elsewhere? I mean to me to me anybody that gets health benefits from taxpayers first priority is the employee their families or the second income that comes into this into that household should have it from that their employer you know but if they're choosing all of the health benefits from a taxpayers's aspect then maybe those percentages of what we're paying should change a little bit. >> Yeah. As >> when you got two incomes in the same household, >> but there's access to benefits elsewhere. >> Yeah. Employees can
066choose their plan. Some some we don't. Um some of our employees don't get their health care with us. >> Right. Right. >> They get it elsewhere. Um you can choose a family plan. You're you're paying 20% of that plan um the employees. But again, >> it's not a policy that we're following. >> It's negotiated at the state and we follow >> what the state says. >> So that's what I mean. It's not just locally. It should be all the way all the way up through federally regarding >> Yeah. >> percentages that taxpayers are paying. >> Yeah. Thank you. Great comment. We do have an online question. >> Um Moira, I believe. >> Yep. That's me. >> Um Moira Ripley. Emma town resident and first I so appreciate all that all of you do the board
067members are volunteers and the rest of you um all together I really appreciate all the work you do all year long my question is not about the budget um I'm interested in the reading and math scores the performance and I'm sure you also are wish that the percentage of students who met basic proficiency level didn't just hover around 50%. And I'm wondering which students go into that 50% given that Hartland has a significant number of special ed students who qualify for special ed status which is fine. Do those students do do they um uh complete the same assessments and do their numbers go into the numbers that you report? They do. >> Okay. Well, that may feel a little less >> they are included. Yes. and and um we >> we definitely look at our
068data regularly and and talk about strategies to improve the data because you know our goal is everybody 100% of our kids are proficient in English and math. So we're we're trending in the right direction in most cases which is good news. Um we have strong strong teachers and strong interventionists and a strong um administrative team who is really become very data oriented and um instituted data practices. So our teachers are looking at the data regularly and talking about first instruction right that that's um most important. So yeah great question and yes our special ed students are included in that data. >> Okay thank you. Yep. Anybody else? Anyone else online? I'm going to hand this down moderator to close. >> He's already packing up. >> I'm exhausted from all the work. It's just I just
069want to thank everyone for coming and remember uh town meeting. I believe it's March 3rd and the polls are open. Martin, what >> 7 o'clock >> till 7 o'clock. So, please come out and vote. Thank you so much. Thank you, school board members. Thank you, administration. Everybody have a safe evening. Drive home carefully. Good night.