001I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. If >> we could please remain standing for a moment of silence for Elaine Keegan Crowley, mother to Shelley Sesnney, ABA IA at the Clinton Elementary School. Thank you. We'll bring the board to the school committee meeting for February 9th, 2026. I will entertain a motion to approve the bills, please. >> So move second. >> Any discussion, questions? All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. We get a motion to uh review and approval of the minutes from the January 26, 2026 school committee meeting. >> So move >> second. >> Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? >> I. >> Oops. >> Thank you. Dr.
002Mario, I'll hand it over to you for the celebrations. >> All right. We got a lot of celebrations tonight. And I think we've got one group that's not just getting recognized, but they came here to share their story. So, we'll have uh Principal Fish come on up to start with our elementary recognition for tonight. All right. This evening, my principal heart is so pleased to recognize this group of third grade student leaders. We have Tommy Pasarino. I believe you want to call the name. Tanner Kenworthy, Drew Brick, Colton Hats, Aean Bayer, Mason Denafhrio, Ben. While I was in classrooms, I had the pleasure of witnessing these boys demonstrating our CES vision of developing empowered and expert learners. Tommy had a wonder about the letters that come with the Super Bowl. He began researching all of
003the Super Bowls that the Patriots played in and noticed they all have these letters. He asked his classmates and their curiosity grew among the group. They discovered that these were Roman numerals. The teachers of these students empowered them to research during their win time and see what they could learn from this wonder. In our curriculum, we teach our students how to think by noticing and wondering. And we expose them to tools so they can apply it to the things they wonder about in life. These boys started with a little curiosity. They used their tools and they learned so much about Roman numerals. They made these posters. They designed lessons to teach their classmates. They carefully planned out collaboratively the roles they would play in teaching. I observed them review the Roman numerals they taught the
004day prior and then introduce more Roman numerals for bigger numbers. Next, they had their classmates writing multiplication facts in Roman numerals. All of their classmates were fully engaged and excited about learning. Because of your expert learning and the leadership, you got your classmates excited about learning and applying it to third grade standards. I called this group to my office to tell them how impressed I was and their energy was contagious. By the way, they had a 35minut presentation for you all tonight, but I knew I knew Mr. Bailey I should keep it short. Thank you. >> I can't wait to continue to see how they enrich their learning this year as they discover more information about wonders they have like the Olympics, wars, Japan, and countries they hope to visit. They even had some wonders
005about the history of sports teams. I want to thank Mrs. Creby, Mrs. Lammansky, Mrs. Parker and Miss Valdita for creating space to channel their interests outside of the curriculum during win to continue their learning. Our vision is to develop empowered expert learners and this moment was the epitome of what we hope all of our students will achieve. Gentlemen, my principal heart is extremely proud of you. You just demonstrated leadership and that learning is fun, engaging, and exactly what we should do throughout our entire life as lifelong learners. So, keep asking questions, create a list of wonders, and discover all the things that interest you. So, they had a little presentation. We narrowed it down to they're each going to share a fun fact that they learned about Roman numerals and then they have a little
006test for all of you, but they'll help you. Okay. So, shall we start with our facts? All right. Why don't you turn and face your audience? >> Okay. Why don't we start? Do you want to start? >> All right. Go ahead. >> Did you know Roman numerals started in the kitchen? Did you know that when they first were writing Roman numerals, they would use a little they use a little rock and like it's sort of a hammer and then chisel it and break them. Uh the only number of rules can be found almost anywhere like clocks. They they number like the British monarchs, Queen Elizabeth II. Um on some old buildings it said date and Roman numerals and it just whenever like there's a number before like 10 100 or a thousand. So for example
00710 is x in normals and one is i. You do I and Roman numerals were invented in 19th century BC and were m were made by Italian shepherds to count their cattle. Um, if there's a line over a Roman numeral, it's um times a th00and and n is 1,000 and you put a line over its thousand. So, um, well done. All right. the test first because we need two people to hold the posters in case they need help. She >> serious now. Come stump. Come stump the old people. That's what this is about. >> This is not good. It's not going to go well. >> Oh, we have white boys. You just don't just don't wager a lot and then it won't matter. >> All right. >> So, first we're going to start with square
008root. What is a square root? So in Roman you're going to write the square root of 144. >> That's the answer 144. >> Uhoh. My marker is dry. >> Sorry. >> Me too. >> Can I borrow your marker from you know Mr. Stephy? >> Can I borrow your >> I don't want to be bullied here tonight. Is that right? >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Sorry. All right, your answers. >> All right, cool. That's it. We're good. >> We're doing another one. No more square root. >> Okay, thank goodness. >> Now we're just writing numbers in. >> Oh my goodness. >> I thought we had one more equation. >> Yeah. 16. >> Yes. We're having a fight. What is 1 million? >> Oh, wait a minute. I don't know what this one is. >> Look
009at the chart. >> All right. >> It says it on the chart. >> You have to This one is at somewhere. >> And this one is at the bottom. I >> think on the bottom or just go this way. >> Good. Give me one more square root. One more square root. >> What is the square root of 4,489? >> I'll give you a hint. >> I got it. I got to use her marker after. >> You can use for you. >> You can double >> you. >> All right. That was the first time we had this. That was stressful for me. >> Nothing is worse than open and Drew. >> All right. So, can we all kind of get together and we're going to get one picture of information? >> We're going to look right
010for the newspaper. Got the TV camera going and the newspaper. >> Where can we look? Right here. Right over here. >> Right here. Here. A one, two, three. Now, you got a few other paparazzi around. Everybody look over here for a second. Thank you. >> And now, you want to come back this way, honey? Buddy over here. >> Everybody got your picture? >> I think we're good. All right. Nice job, guys. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> All right. And the next group that my principal are so proud of is our meeting specialist. So, Shannon, Reagan, come on up. We are recognizing Donna Curtain and Carol Pillow as well, but both of them um are out today. So, they weren't able to join us unfortunately. But Shannon is here. So, we just completed our
011midyear data cycle and last week our lit had our last week we had our literacy data meetings for each grade level. In our data meetings, we are striving to discuss every student so that nobody is missed. And as you can imagine, at the elementary school, we have many students to discuss. Mrs. Reagan is one of our staff members attending the dyslexia institute, and she brought back a wealth of information to support the efficiency in these meetings. With her leadership, the two other reading specialists on the team were able to prep growth data for students and and draft out plans so that as we went through each student, we could easily map out a plan timeline for monitoring the students and following up. Their colleagues found this to be so helpful in a supportive way to
012ensure that every student had a plan for the next data cycle. I am so grateful to be able to lean on the expertise of this team of teachers as they consult with teachers and support all students. Because of your dedication and collaboration, we made plans for hundreds of students at CES in about 7 hours across the week. You are an asset to our school and your expertise and greatly appreciated. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> Congratulations. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Great job. >> All right. Well, good luck following that. Principal Stephie Middle School. Totally unfair. That is a tough act to follow. That's a tough act to follow. Um I am so excited tonight to celebrate um both a a member of the CMS uh educator family and also a fifth grade
013student. Um Tanner, who's the fifth grade student that we're going to celebrate this evening at the middle school? >> Conor Kenworthy. >> How do you know Connor Kenworthy? Tanner, >> he's my brother. >> He's your brother. I don't know about the history of this, but this is a Kenworthy night. I'll tell you right now, come on up here. We'll read a little bit about you. Congratulations. I'd also like to single out Miss Gardner for being here to celebrate her students. Awesome to you, Miss Gardner. This month, we're celebrating Connor, also known as Tanner's brother in fifth grade, Connor Kenworthy. Miss Low and Miss Gardner, Connor's teachers, described Connor as a responsible, kind, a responsible kind student and a student who always shows strong work ethic. They describe that he consistently completes his work with care,
014makes thoughtful choices, and treats classmates and teachers with respect. His positive attitude, diligence, and character make him a wonderful role model who contributes greatly to our classroom. We are so proud to have him in our class. Connor, congratulations. Congratulations. >> Great job. >> Congratulations. For our CMS educator of the month, we're celebrating our head custodian, Jay Sylvester, and his entire custodial team. With Snow and our recent forecast a few days ago, and Snow coming up in a day or two, I said, "Jay, under no circumstance can you come to school committee meeting tonight to receive the award." So, I hope that's the camera that's on. Joey, I hope you're home and your feet are up and you're resting a little bit. Jay and his team, Dennis, Tieran, and Jacob, have withtood record temperatures and massive
015snow accumulation at Clinton Middle School and record cold temperatures. And that's just in the past few weeks. And that's only outside the building. Imagine inside. 615 students and over 100 adults. Jay and his team keep the building looking clean, feeling safe, and always doing so with a smile. and a willingness to help. Mr. J. Sylvester and his team of Dennis, Tieran, and Jacob are the unsung heroes at Clinton Middle School this month. Thank you very much. All right. I know that uh principal Surerach is uh not in today, so I'll be giving the staff member of the month. But before we get to that, we're going to do the high school uh students of the month. And we have our computer science teacher that go math >> then math whatever the Miss Curry to kind
016of share a little bit about who we're recognizing tonight. Got it. my students >> not as many as the elementary school. >> I just want to say >> quiz is a lot harder. >> At the front end of this, if there's if there's a quiz, we're done. We don't think we'll be able to handle it. >> For for those kids, I was born the year of the Super Bowl. So, you can think of what that is in Roman numeral. It should be easy. It was all over the place this year. Okay. So, um, tonight tonight we celebrate a remarkable achievements of our students and students solve. That's a rigorous 4-hour virtual idealathon. Competing in a field of over 4,000 students from 100 schools, our participants apply their project lead the way skills to s high
017stakes real world challenges presented by industry professionals. I am a thrilled to announce that Clinton emerged as the winner winner for the pan mask challenge out of 40 competing teams in the category. The innovation innovative solution developed by Ariana, Astred, Ilana, Jaden and Victoria was chosen as the best. Their winning proposal leveraged artificial intelligence, strategic marketing, and creative incentives to streamline writer registration and foster a sense of community for newcomers. They will be honored at PMC next month to present their work. Beyond this competition, these same forwardinking students in collaboration with their think tank classroom have been instrumental in shaping our district's future. They are proactively leading the development of surveys to influence Clinton's AI policy, ensuring both students and teachers perspectives are heard. It is an absolute privilege to guide such gifted, proactive leaders.
018Did they get two certificates? Jamie. Astrid. Who's next? I got Victoria. Adriana. In addition to this there, we also got a banner that recognizes that project that will hang. >> Yeah. No, not in the classroom. Outside, >> right? >> So, when you guys get older, this is this is what you're going to shoot for. Yeah. >> All right. Take one photo, guys. One, two, three. >> All right. Congratulations. >> All right. There's uh Mr. Jaru, come on up. So, our high school staff member of the month is Sue Jaru. I might seem confused. I know a lot of you probably think it's very confusing >> like Miss Jar, shouldn't that be a middle school for the month? >> Did she Did she retire? >> I did. >> But she's been back and she's been >>
019she's back and she's been helping us out. And most recently, she's been filling in for Miss Russell >> doing teaching uh over there, right up there, teaching biology. Um, now if you know, yeah, >> middle school reading with more of your strate with her speed and now she's doing a little high school biology and she's doing a great job for us and um the students have recognized that cuz she was actually nominated by a student. Uh said, "I think Mr. should be staff of the month cuz she was put into a really tough situation this year. She had to jump in and teach us when it was hard to catch up on what we were learning. But she managed to grade everything fairly and get it back to us on time. She kept a positive
020attitude the whole time and was almost always honest with us about where we stood in class. Even though things weren't easy for her, she made sure we had what we needed to succeed. So certainly we appreciate it. Thank you for uh >> Thank you very much. Oh, I got to give you one of these. >> Yeah. >> All right. See, I had to read. I was all just composed. All right. Let's have a That was one heck of a celebration we had. Let's have a round of applause for All right. Now, you are all welcome to stay, especially you guys that gave me the test because I think there'll be some budget numbers you guys might want to see in just a little while. Uh but um but we won't be offended if you don't.
021So, if you want to take pictures in the hallway or whatever you choose, it's great. Congratulations to everybody. I was nervous. I was nervous. Are you open to a motion to prohibit quizzes committee? >> I'm up to the motion and the book for a >> unless it's unless it's on the agenda. You're not allowed to >> Yeah. 3 days notice, right? At least 3 days notice. We >> need study guides. We need all kinds of stuff. Are you okay there, Kelly? You need help with that? >> Do you want to move that closer? Hi, Sue. >> Sue had Zach. She worked with Zach for a long time. >> Did she? >> We've all wondered where she is now. I know. Aren't >> you glad you came to this one? >> High school. >> I'm here.
022>> She hasn't come to our lunch. >> Are you not stand? >> No. >> Okay, I'll remember that. All right, that's fine. All right. Do we have any public comment this evening hearing? None. We will close public comment. Student rep, Mr. Bates. >> Good evening, everybody. >> Good evening, sir. >> All right. See what I got for you today. >> Okay. So, our student council has a lot of upcoming workshops and events. So from March 4th to 6th um eight student council members will be traveling to Hyannis Mass for the annual uh Massachusetts Association of Student Council spring conference. Um on March 18th, five student council members will be attending a leadership workshop at Worcester State and we also have a possible leadership workshop on April 10th that will be happening at Worcester Tech. Um
023the spring blood drive will be on Thursday, April 16th, and additional details will be provided as we uh near closer to that to that date. Um lastly, t-shirts and license plate covers are going on sale. Um so our inventory is fully in stock and can be picked up whenever if any of you are interested in purchasing. Um the shirt is $10 and it comes in black and white. Um, a license plate cover is $2 and it's in the Clinton Gales green and gold. Um, you can email uh Matt Russell if you have any questions. >> Uh, that's all I have for you guys tonight. Thank you very much. >> Thanks for the update. >> You're not going to stay either, huh? No. >> Homework. >> He's good. >> Okay. Yeah, we'll see you. Take it
024easy, bud. Anything from the CTA this evening? Nothing at this time. >> Thank you, PTA. >> Of course. >> Oh, >> you didn't bring a quiz, did you? >> You can stand right here. >> I have an official press release. >> All right. >> I'm just going to read it. And I got her this close to you, so you can see her cry. >> Okay. Ready? We are thrilled to share some exciting news with our local school community. Our PTA president, Rebecca Tolles, has been nominated for and officially accepted the role of Massachusetts PTA presidentelect. This nomination is a true testament to her exceptional leadership, collaborative spirit, and unwavering dedication to children, families, and the Clinton Public Schools. I mean, it's from my heart. Don't worry, it's from my heart. Those of us who work
025alongside her know this honor is welld deserved. She is not only an inspiring leader, but also a trusted teammate, a motivating force, a wonderful friend, and a devoted wife and mom. Her ability to bring people together, lead with heart, and keep the mission of the PTA front and center is something we are incredibly grateful for here in Clinton. As a board, we fully support her decision to accept the nomination and are proud to stand beside her as she continues to advance the mission of the PTA locally, statewide, and nationally. We look forward to working with her to ensure that our Clinton PTA remains strong while also contributing to the broader work of the Massachusetts PTA and National PTA. We could not be more proud of her and this exciting next step. At this time, no
026other members of the Clinton PTA board have been recruited for state level positions. We appreciate all of you and we thank you for being such a part of our supportive and engaged PTA community. >> Congratulations. >> Fantastic. It's a six-year commitment. >> So, she'll go in stages. So, it's two years as president-elect, two years as president automatically, and then two years as postp president. >> So, it's two years of training and I go to every um there's a conference every year in Virginia, then there's every national conference. So, I actually go to conference uh congress meetings. I work with Desi. I there'll be a lot that I can bring back into the community >> and I've already started talking with Dr. Meyer about potentially holding um state conference here in our community so that we
027can bring knowledge to the state of our community what we can do for we had like a brand new building we could >> about what we can do for our community as a whole. That's what it boils down to. >> Yeah. And that service is probably like a prerequisite is that you have to be president of the PTA and Clinton for that same six years, right? Like I mean probably >> we're working on that. >> Probably. So, you know, we were able to get some new people involved in our meeting this month and we had someone step up that actually was >> um able to join for the meeting that uh bylaws >> work on bylaws and we have a couple >> two years as elect, two years as president, two years as postpresident. >>
028We've got things in the works um that the board will oversee to delegate to a committee and we're working on it. We're working on things. You guys do a great job. >> Awesome. Okay, congratulations. You get tonight. That's it. Status quo for everything else. And I cannot believe you handed him your phone. >> Good for you, Becca. >> I'm still I'm still going through the pictures getting away with it. >> I'm still going through the pictures. >> You can go through all the pictures you want. >> We got basketball video. Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> That's a tremendous honor. Good for you. >> Amazing. Good for you. Congratulations. >> Do we have anything from CPAC? this evening or LPAC. >> Okay. All right, >> Dr. Meer, over to you. >> All right, staffing updates. It's
029in there as a placeholder, but I don't think we have any for you tonight. Uh, the next one was social, emotional, and physical wellness. Um, this one was up. The main thing that I wanted to highlight here was the um if you behind after the strategic plan ones there's sort of this Massachusetts local wellness policy strength checklist. So uh the wellness committee has been going through this. What you have to do is every 3 years you have to do a trienal assessment of your policy and your implementation. Uh so the wellness committee at their last meeting a couple meetings ago we went over the tool we did some self assessments. At the last meeting, we uh kind of came to our consensus scores on them. Uh if you go through you'll see there's some things
030we're not really concerned. Most things have been implemented. So when it comes to implementation, we're okay. But some of them um are not explicitly listed in the policy um that that are required to be. So we will be recommending some changes to the policy subcommittee uh just to address some of those. Um, but like I said, it's not we're we're pretty comfortable that we're doing the things that you have to do. It's just uh just weaken the policy to make sure that we give ourselves credit for doing them, I guess, and and make sure that it's codified that we have to do. So, uh, but that was pretty much uh the big update I had for social emotion, physical wellness, which is sort of reporting out from the wellness committee there. Uh, community engagement. Uh
031the big thing I'd say, I didn't put anything in here for community engagement as backup, but the update I would say is that we just had a marketing committee prior to this meeting and one of the big things we were talking about was the uh website and parent square. So we are working on implementing parent square. Uh we think that's really going to help improve our communication uh allowing for uh easier posting and sharing of information, allowing for easier translation of information and uh we're really in the process of it. Our communication and our website should sync up. So we're in the process of uh we're looking at different templates or themes for the uh or I don't know if it's a theme, the design I guess for the uh website tonight at the marketing
032>> um uh meeting. So we have that uh we're getting that to the parent square design team on Wednesday and we'll be moving along with that process. So we're moving moving there try to approve that. Uh the 2627 school calendar is in your packet. Uh you'll notice there's a few different things here. The two things I would highlight uh to start the year if you note down on the bottom uh there is a note that says prek orientations August 31st to September 3rd. No prekk September 4, first day of prekk September 8th. So because we're kind of doing that thing where we're we we started we're starting earlier than normal. Uh what we're going to do is we're going to use that week in there that we might typically start prek and K. We're going
033to actually push it off one more week uh for everybody, but we're going to bring them in sort of for like uh partial classes for sort of like orientation sessions so we can try to get uh everyone accustomed to all the routines and where they go in sort of a smaller increment. So, I thought it was a really good plan that they came up with. We met and reviewed it. I think it it'll really help get the year off to a successful start cuz I know that that first day when all the kindergarters show up is always a little bit uh a little bit crazy. So, if we have an opportunity to maybe kind of split that into two halves and kind of get some good orientation in there and get them in two days
034that week as a half group and then we'll start officially with everybody that Tuesday. I think that'll be effective. Um, and then the other thing that you might want to not that that I would point out is there's a whole bunch of half days at the end of the year. Um, and if you notice that's it's all after the last day of prekk. And typically what ends up happening is sometime in like May the high school will come to us and say they want half days or whenever they come April they want half days for those days anyway for uh finals. But the main reason why I said I think we want to make them district-wide this year is because essentially if you're in grades four through eight, you're going to need time. We're going
035to be packing. Uh we're going to be getting everything ready to get out of that building at the end of the year. So, uh, the idea was if the high school, if we're already doing half days in 9 to 12 and we're already in preK and K is already gone and 4 to 8 is all going to be moving and then that only leaves grades 1 2 and three and even of them, some of them might be moving around because once fourth grade leaves the elementary school, you're going to, you know, you're not just keeping like an empty wing, you're going to reconfigure. So, uh, basically it' be half days for the district instead of just the high school. uh just and really that is to facilitate the moving and packing up that building because
036we want to get we really want to you know if we can get out of there if we can the the demo guys will be itching to get in there. So um so we want to make sure that we're getting out of there as quick as we can. So I know this has been uh reviewed by our administrative team. I know it's been uh looked at by the the CTA. So, at this point, if you wanted to uh if you were comfortable with it, you wanted to approve the calendar for next year, we could entertain a motion for that. Or, um, if you if you have any other questions or comments or things you want me to look into, we can do that for a future meeting. It's the pleasure of the board. >> Motion
037to approve the calendar as revised. >> I'll second. >> Okay. Any discussion, concerns? >> Okay. All in favor? All right. >> Thank you. All right. Oh, that was the calendar. I wrote that under the wrong line. Okay. All right. Uh FY26 quarter 2 update. So, um we've been looking at, you know, quarter 2 is sort of a checkpoint we're at right now. Pretty soon we'll be able to start working on our quarter 3 checkpoint. Uh just kind of get a sense of where we are with the budget. Uh right now we're looking pretty good. Uh we're actually trending um a little bit uh under um we're we're okay where we are right now. Uh so the you know it actually says right now the official print out it says we have $16,000 available um after
038circuit breaker and school choice is applied. So basically we're right on budget right now. Uh some of the things we're looking at today, I think that will be a little bit further under budget because there's some recoding to grants that we'll be doing. So uh some of our salaries, some some salaries are uh mixed. So it's like part in a grant, part in a general fund. So we haven't coded anyone over to the grants yet. If they're in a mixed salary that the grant won't carry the full thing. So as we recode those over later in the year, that should give us a little more cushion. But we feel like we're trending right on right on track. We are continuing to keep track of the uh pending the uh special education tuition, special education transportation.
039Uh was actually in a long meeting today where we were talking about that process and really looking at how we're you know encumbering that money and I think they're doing a uh you know Amanda and special ed team are doing a nice job of trying to um really capture those expenses and and make sure that these reports uh year-to- date reports are are pretty accurate. So, I feel like we're we're trending uh in the right direction looking and trying to use some of this number these numbers as um guideposts for when we look at next year's budget. What are things that we think are you know over overestimated? So, one of the things that I know um in here is if we were to look at, let me find where it is. Uh student transportation.
040So, it's like the uh if you start at the back, it's like the third page back. Student transportation account 3,300. Um you can see that from McKenna Vento transportation and special ed out of district transportation. Both of those are going to be substantially overbudget. Um, and those are ones that we can't uh, you know, we can't evento. Those are ones that kind of a lot of times we don't know. It happens when someone either, you know, becomes homeless, gets displaced, and then they have a right to continue to go to school here or or even the flip side because it's a cost share. A lot of times if someone were from another community were displaced and moves here, we have to trans they get transported back to our home district. So, we have quite a
041few of those. Um, that is one of those ones that it's it's over. We're estimating right now that it's going to be over by 144,000. We do have some money in grants in uh title one and title 4 that we did set aside uh to help offset some Kenny Vento, not that much, but that's another one of those recodes that'll happen at the end of the year when we kind of know uh we haven't applied that yet. And the sped out of district transportation is uh is trending a little bit over as well. quite a bit over. But um and those are just I mean that's just it's the actuals, right? So we make an estimate based on the best we can and then as we get the placements and we figure out uh where
042things are uh that's what it comes down to. So those are one of those are some of the things that we're continuing to monitor. That's part of like I said we had a big meeting today where we were going through and updating you know all those daily rates for this year and for next year to make sure that uh you know it's one thing when these things kind of change but then it's another thing we got to make sure that we're capturing them in the next year's budget. so it doesn't become a a problem. Um, which is what we've been trying to do. So, uh, so that's kind of the update on quarter two for this year. Like I said, I think we're we're pretty much in in seem to be in, uh, good shape
043for for not going over budget this year. I mean, we'll be over in certain areas, we'll be under in others, and at the end of the day, I think we'll be okay. Um, I think Annette, did I did I misspe on anything or does that sound all right? All right. And I should make Annette. Annette's one that puts all this stuff together for me and keeps it uh keeps me on track here. So, u and then we've got um so getting into FY27. Uh when we get to budget version A, uh the governor's budget came out. So, in here there's preliminary cherry sheets. Um and the uh you can see the education uh the chapter 78 aid is in the governor's budget was listed at 22,950,000 uh 682. Last year it was 218 and change.
044So it's about a $1.1 million increase. Um probably lower than we had hoped. Uh it was a little lower inflation factor than we had hoped. Um, we're hoping probably more something in the5 range. Um, because we did have an increase in enrollment, not huge, but our foundation budget did go up. Um, you know, it's hard though. It's, you know, you look with some of the other surrounding towns and across the state and everyone got that. It's hard to no one's going to cry over the fact that we only got a million dollar increase. No one's going to not going to get a lot of sympathy, but um, you know, it is what it is. So, we'll build the uh we'll build our budget based on that. Um but then I tried to put in after
045that there's some sheets here so you can kind of see a little bit of u how they they come up with the foundation budget. So when they do that they look at our foundation enrollment and then each kind of category has with a dollar amount that the state uses. So if you say okay we have you know 161 full day kindergarten kids we have 768 elementary kids and then they go through and they calculate sort of the cost by function code um of of what it costs for each one of those uh students. So then based on that they build what is your foundation budget which is basically what they're saying this is the amount of money that you need to spend at a minimum uh to kind of meet your obligation of providing a
046a uh equitable education. Um so then basically from the foundation budget they go ahead and they calculate what's the amount of aid your town is going to get. So the next page talks about the chapter 70 uh determination. So when they do that, they actually look at statistics from your town. So they look at your uh like income uh the property uh valuations. Um they look at the f so the FY27 budget is uh 38 million. Um the maximum local contribution would be uh the uh like 82 uh 12% of that. The target is basically based on your uh year before. Uh that's what they want you to that that income from before they want you to that's their target they want for your local contribution. And then they figure out the percentages of it.
047And what they're trying to do is get that percentage. They're trying to constantly work towards the shifting. Their goal is kind of to get the towns all to kind of hold the appropriate share, right? So, they're trying to get you closer to kind of holding what they view as the as the share based on your town's numbers. Um, so the required contribution for FY26 was 14,700,000. the preliminary contribution in FY27 um would be 15425 um if that's with the based on the municipal growth factor of trying to get our our percentage down and then they added uh the added increment towards the target. Sorry. So actually the very bottom line 26 has FY27 required local contribution is 15 million 572690. All right. So Steve just you hold there for one second. >> Yeah. Sorry I
048know. >> No no you're good. You're good. Um so required local contribution they're saying is 155 actual on line 10 they're saying that the target local contribution is 17. >> So that's kind of like where they they say they would want you would be >> where they would want you to be. >> Yeah. >> And then the maximum local contribution is is like the 31. So they're saying like 82% is the maximum like is the percentage. Is that what they're saying? >> Yeah. I think the way it goes is I think everyone's guaranteed some some portion of aid. Yeah. >> Yeah. Got it. And then last year it was >> and now this year it's like 15. Yeah. >> And then this year it's 155. >> Yep. >> Okay. Got it. So, if you look
049on the the next page, uh the chapter 70 summary, um I kind of drew in a couple little arrows of my my high-tech way of highlighting that change. Um but what you'll see there is the uh the required district contribution. So, the required local contribution um from FY26 to FY27 went up $862,43. Okay. So, if you remember last meeting, we were saying how we haven't asked for more money from the from the town. Okay. But it's very clear. We need to be clear here about the numbers that we're talking about because the money that I'm mentioning when I say that is money allocated in the budget to be under the control of the schools. Okay. But when they talk about your net school spending here and your require it also calculates it also includes the
050indirect costs which are basically costs for the schools that don't come through the schools. The biggest one of those is health insurance. >> Okay. So um typically where the local contribution goes up is through the health insurance increases. So because you have to kind of I mean if you don't we are above the minimum that's minimum spending right so the even though they want us to go up 862,000 town doesn't have to go up 862,000 we because we're still above minimum. Um but obviously if you if you don't do it for long eventually you won't be or you'll be at minimum or eventually you won't be. Um, so this is a long-winded way of kind of getting to the number that we're that we've penciled in for budget version A that we're hoping to kind
051of work for at least in our preliminary budgets here is a is a local share is is basically asking the town for that 862,000 to be allocated to the schools this year because it looks like insurance is going to be a zero. So there's not going to be any increase in the indirect spending. And then so in order for the town to kind of like keep making contributions towards it that you're not going to pick that up. And if anything, even with 862, it looks like we're probably going to have less staff positions next year than this year. Um, and we're now we're working on trying to make those as painless as possible, looking at retirees and vacant positions and those types of things, long-term subs. But the uh but even looking at it looks
052like the you know basically our number of I you know I know that there are people who are getting town insurance where that will not be getting town insurance next year that so it's like not only is it that it's going is it a zero but it's every every person that signs every the town share for every single individual that's on it is like $20,000. So, every one of those people, every subscriber that's no longer employed is $20,000 that would that would be a savings. So, um not that that's, you know, I mean, that's when I was in a regional school district, that was much more of a driving factor when you were looking at certain things, but um but I'm just saying from a talking standpoint, you know, that there's not going to be
053that sort of increase on the back on the back end for the school spending this year. So I I would like to think at least when we go through our initial u proposal that I would like to pencil this is the increase that we're going to request for the town from the town um because and it's not an arbitrary number. It's the number from here and um and then we we'll work with the town to see what they can do cuz I think that if we get that number I think that we can come up with probably a budget version B that I think will be um palatable. It'll be something that we'll we'll we'll it's not going to, you know, be significant cuts to programming or anything like that. It'll be um things that
054we can uh we can manage um that way. So, so that's my goal. Okay. Um we do have Oh, so the next page was actually showing you where we are like over and under compared to minimum spending. Uh we've come a long way since 200. Is it FY10 or FY11? I think it was when the override might have one of the overrides might have been needed because it was we were actually below we >> Yeah, we were below uh net school spending. We're actually at.6. So, I had to to adjust that. So, um, we're we we are, you know, we are over malleable spending now and a lot of that's because of, um, you know, a lot of that's what's helped us, I think, with that is the student opportunity act funds that have come
055in and the fact that the town has been, you know, earmarking that education aid for education, which is good. Um, I do think that you're going to start seeing that sort of, uh, you know, it's going to be harder to kind of make those as we go forward. Um, but that's that's where we are. So, any are there any questions on that? And I guess >> perspective though make sense like I mean from your perspective it makes sense to bill you'll see them from both both sides of it. >> Let me withhold judgment on that. >> That's fine. I understand it >> and I'm not opposed to it yet but >> y >> cool. I think we need to start I I think I think for us Oh, sorry. I don't mean to cut you
056off. I I >> when we do these calculations, net school spending and municipal contribution and all, we're not nothing about the cost of the new school and the burden on the taxpayers is factored into those numbers. >> Correct. So while it this the formula is the formula, we have to be cognizant of the the tax burden to the taxpayers of the millions of dollars that are going into that new facility that don't count as a use. >> I'm not saying I'm against what the format you're presenting. I'm just >> and I I just think and I think we got to start somewhere. So I think it's good I think it's a you know I'm not making up a number out of thin air. We're saying >> this is the number. this is where we got
057that number. So I think if we do that as a target and then and then I don't know how that's going to play out in the you know we haven't had really conversations with the finance committee yet to know if that's the number we come in with what does that look like in the overall landscape of town finances this year >> right and I think well I think it's also important to always be able to delineate between capital expenditures capex >> and and opex and you know capex is we're going to go build a new school or we're going to put $4.5 million downtown for sidewalks or what have you. That's a capital expenditure that we are going to take bond over 20 years or whatever it is. That doesn't change the fact that the
058operating expense to operate the schools or the DPW or wherever are going to continue to increase. So, I think as long as we can be clear in explaining it and root our logic in something that's simple to consume, then that's going to be our best chance at having people either support it or at least ask intelligent questions about it because, you know, build a building or not, operating expense is still going to sway because the money that's going to come back through the federal and the state is changing. And when it changes, that means the burden's going to be pushed to local. Whether that's today or tomorrow, we're going to have to plan for it. I I listen one of the >> my point is that opex and uh >> oh it all hits the
059taxpayer >> it's all paid by the same want to keep the equation it's being paid for by the same >> it doesn't I guess what I'm saying is it doesn't change the need on either side of the ledger it just means we're we're paying it either way >> for sure >> the um you know one of the things one of the things that I'd say that has been you know the last couple years I know I mentioned this but we've had um you know a few large sort of uh out of district placements that have been uh sort of unpredicted, right? And uh so we're trying to make sure we we account for those now in the budget, right? So like last year we counted for them in the budget, but we didn't really change
060the funding. We were like, "Okay, well, we're just going to we're going to up the circuit breaker." And now this year we got to build it in and we got to do that. So that was sort of the unexpected. That was kind of the wrench in my budgeting when I was looking at thinking that we probably had uh a smoother transition going into into the next year. So, that's what we're really working on. Now, one of the things we can be hopeful for, I think, is I think the state recognizes that and the state is looking at a way of um trying to help all districts with funding because it is one of those things. Like I said, we can talk about how we might have to cut some staff or do whatever, but like
061I said, no one's really going to feel too sad for us because we're getting a million dollars in in aid. there are towns that are getting, you know, 75 bucks a kid. So, uh the uh you know, so the the state is trying to look at what are some of the more equitable ways to kind of help all of the districts. And one of the ways that they are looking at doing that is by trying to uh at least make every effort to fully fund the circuit breaker reimbursement and to fund the circuit breaker transportation reimbursement because that way all districts kind of get to uh get some relief that way. So, um so that's something that they're working on which hopefully um you know as we hear more about that in the governor's budget
062that's something that could help us. It's still it's not going to be it's a and we would start getting maybe some of that money in next year's budget. We don't we don't really know enough of it to kind of budget it yet. We normally budget a year behind, but then it would help us the year going forward. So, >> Steve, year-over-year contribution, additional contribution that came like we're talking about a $1.1 million number this year. Um, >> last year 144, right? >> Yeah. >> So, I mean, so just in in the regard of the the the year-to-year business, it's we're down 300,000 compared to last year. Go ahead. >> If we were thinking about building a budget to level fund, we're down 300,000 just from the start before anything happens. >> Mr. Chairman, if I
063may. >> Yeah, of course. >> I think it's appropriate now to start uh planning and finessing the idea of stabilization for special needs cost. >> I think in order to get something like this and that approved, we should get numbers together. like letting the finance committee uh be aware of that even though it's a there'll be a warrant article. Yeah. >> Um >> building that into those >> still coming from that same pot and to make them aware of what we're looking for. >> Okay. >> Uh I think is important. >> Yep. So we'll continue. I know we were looking at the stabilization fund already. We'll try to get and try to maybe quantify the the need for it a little more to kind of show like what those out of district tuitions have done
064over the last like three years. Um cuz it was really I mean it's really our out of district tuition this year is I think it was like 1 1.3 maybe uh out of district tuition increase from last year about 1.3 million is is just out of >> district get to work and that fund is >> so well and that fund's not going to fund it all the time but what that fund is going to do is it's going to make sure that we're not in one of those situations that you see in the news where like it's mid year and I got to lay off staff because we don't have any money because we got hit with something right it's that it's that stable stabilization fund. So you don't have to dip into those types
065of things, right? So uh year over year it's not a sustainable source. It's like another version of that circuit breaker kind of but um with a little more um you know more of that insurance policy. >> Steve at the Steve at the state level is there any like if something happens that's completely out of the blue and it's astronomical like backbreaking right is there is there a relief fund that the state has >> apply for extraordinary relief? We've done it. We've tried to do it more to phase your way into it because like you didn't know that was coming. >> So there's a way like if your costs were significantly it's like a certain increase over what was budgeted 25%. So if you go over 25% you can apply for extraordinary relief. So I think
066we've we've applied a couple years. I don't think we actually ever got any. Did we didn't quite make it when they looked at us? But okay, >> if we get those increases we we try. If they're going to look at it, I'll let them look at it. >> Mr. Chairman, just a question. Do we have a number for what the most costly uh surprise special needs, you know, midyear or post the beginning of the fiscal year after we've already planned the budget >> this year was 273,000. >> Okay, that those are important things. >> That was year two. >> This year literally out of state into Clinton 273,000 >> and they don't happen all the time. That's why you can't budget for them. But the stabilization fund will allow us to have a budget for
067that. And if those things don't happen, the money stays right where it is. I think it's really important for >> I wouldn't have known that number, but we met on it this morning for like So, uh, but anyway, yeah. So, that's those are what Yeah. >> conversation's timely. >> Um, all right. So, then there's budget version A in here. Um, I wouldn't spend too much time on budget version A. I mean, what we did with budget version A, we we went through and we we talked to the principles. We had them meet with their, you know, talk to their staff and kind of peel off some things that we thought weren't like uh necessary. Not necessary, but like could either be deferred or maybe were more in that kind of I can live another year
068without it, that type of stuff. Um, the main thing I'd say we pulled out for budget version A was a lot of technology. Um, it was like $270,000 for like a phone system upgrade. Uh we pulled that out. But actually um this week we worked with uh Christan and and Mike Ward uh were able to apply we applied for a um a uh community compact IT grant uh through the state for we applied for $179,000 um for the phone upgrades. So basically we yanked them out of this budget. We knew we were kind of looking at it. this grant came about, we tal we reach out to Mike and um we're able to get that grant application in. So, I don't know if we'll hear about it or not, but we're trying to look and
069see if there's a more creative way to fund that. That is one of those projects that like our our phone system is kind of end of life. They're not really supporting it anymore. Um we do have a few that we would be able to start. Um you know, like it it's not we don't have to do it next year. It's like we're going to have to do it in the next couple years. Um, but there's there's some phones that we could steal from the middle school cuz when the new middle school comes that'll get all new phones that's built into it. Um, but it's not all the like classroom phones. It's like the phones and like the main office and stuff, the ones that control everything. So, um, so we are working on that. U,
070but that grant application was submitted. So, I think that was a a good step in the right direction. Um, and we went through and just kind of looked at some things. Another big one that was in there was like iPads. uh we can get another year probably out of the iPads we have and then kind of look at it phasing that in. Uh Chris was talking about even some of the other options that you know Apple does do some like lease options with the iPads that are almost interest free leases but it's a way of kind of spreading it out so it's more of a even cost every year instead of those larger ones. Um so anyway I think we ended up cutting uh bringing it down about like a million dollars. So, if you
071look at it right now, our increase in the general fund would be approximately $3.5 million. We're anticipating a chapter aid increase of uh 2 or sorry, $1.1 million chapter 70, which means we would need a local contribution to go up $2.4 million if we were going to meet this. We're not asking for $2.4 million from the town. But if we said, hey, what if our target was $862,000? So that means our difference right now is 1.576 million. So our goal is to present a version B that's going to show you how we're going to find that 1.5 76 million and we're working on it and I think we're pretty close. Um but it wasn't ready to be unveiled. But I think I can get you something budget version B. I think March 9th is our
072next meeting. um where we'll be able to I think get into that number uh with the 862,000 that I think is going to be uh workable if we can get the town to work with us on that and then if we can't when we go through the finance committee then we'll have to we'll have to look at what the contingency plan would be from there. All right. Uh, so our next steps, you know, that's kind of where we are looking at staffing. Um, those types of things just to see. We might, uh, I know I emailed you guys something about we're talking to and talked to union a little about maybe looking at even offer offering potentially like a voluntary separation agreement just if anyone was looking at uh, leaving something like that just to
073kind of uh, get if there was, you know, just so that if someone is looking to leave and there's something we could do to maybe help that. um help them if that's what they want to do uh rather than involuntarily separating from someone. Uh we just want to look at all the options we can just to try to make it as as painless as we can. Uh one good news uh not great news but the federal government did sort of finally approve in their sort of mini shutdown and then spending bills they approved the uh education budget for FY26. So the and in the federal world that FY26 brings it to like September. So really our FY27 entitlement grants are in the federal FY26 budget. So it looks like I haven't got exact numbers yet,
074but it looks like that they're predicting everything to be approximately level funded for next year, which is better news. You know, last year remember we were worried were they going to be funded at all? Right. So they're looking that it looks like things are going to be more level funded. So that's that's another that's a relief that at least that's not dangling out there. It is a budget consideration we have though because obviously if we're carrying staff in in those grants salaries increase that kind of stuff. So we just got to make sure what we can hold in those but we're working on that. So um so I think we're doing all right. And then the last or second to last page here is just a summary that um uh and put together shows you
075a little bit of difference of sort of the what's happened historically last few years with the required contribution chapter 78 uh those sorts of things. So all right uh it's a snapshot. We'll keep getting those. I think we'll I think the next budget will be a little more serious approach of something that might be uh uh when we could we could at least entertain conversations with the with the town. All right. Any other questions on that? All right. Um two real quick things. Special education uh DSCTFM updates. That's our tiered focus monitoring. Um the so this is just it's just a letter that we got that just said we have no further progress updates required. So basically we've we submitted our corrective action plan and we are we're good. So it was just buttoning that
076up. Uh it was like one thing that was mostly timelines that we were cited on for special ed and we kind of cleaned those up with the training. Um and then the last but bullet we always have there CMS building project. uh that is still uh trending on time and uh if anything they were still well with the snows I know wreaking a little bit of havoc now but they still have the section that's tented in. They're still moving along plugging away and uh uh so still kind of ahead of where they thought they would be on the schedule and um still trending under budget with everything coming in. So things have been going well. I was uh I'll probably walk the site tomorrow. I walked the site last week and it was uh you
077know, it's especially when you go in that tented in area, it kind of feels like you're really in a a building now. You know, it's uh it's getting getting real every day. It gets a little more real. So, even just seeing the lights at night, I think looks kind of neat. So, um I think it's neat. I'm sure there's someone who doesn't sure there's some neighbors that don't like it or something, but >> I haven't heard anything. >> That's good. I haven't heard any complaints either, actually. So, um All right. I think that's all I have. Thank you, Steve. Uh, advisory committees. Looks like we have some I know we just had a safety committee meeting recently, last week. Um, marketing was tonight and looks like we have a couple meetings here that are scheduled
078out 311 and 41. So, all is fairly quiet on that front. Are there any questions, concerns, or thoughts on any of the subcommittees or any topics within those subcommittees that anybody has any concerns about? Good. Okay. Anything under old business? >> Business. >> Nobody has anything under new business. >> Okay. I will I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Second. Very good. Thank you.