June 25, 2026 Selah School Board Business Meeting

001is ready. >> Are we ready? Okay, looks like it's 4:30. Uh, everyone's here. Please rise if you're able for the pledge of allegiance and um remove your hat. >> Ready? Begin. United States. Okay, great. Welcome everyone here to our uh our our board meeting this evening, this afternoon. Uh we have a special board meeting for a variety of reasons, but probably the most important reasons tonight is it's our very last meeting with Claire and Charlie, two of the absolute best board representatives any school board could ask for. So, we're really excited. they uh each year are um are leaving our our retiring senior board members. Uh we've asked them to prepare kind of a report, a reflection on their time and experience on the school board and also in the school district um and to

002give us kind of some big picture um things that they see uh as as they leave on to uh on to their new adventures. So, we'll start with it looks like Claire has the remote. Am I right about that? Claire Richards has the remote and she'll start uh with her presentation uh and then she'll be followed by Charlie Miller. >> Okay. So, thank you everyone. Um my name is Claire. Um and this is my reflection on my time on the schoolboard and also as a student of the CEO school district. Okay. So, I have been a student of the CILA school district for a very long time and one thing that I can say is my time in the district has definitely been filled with lots and lots of opportunity. Um, I mean, as you

003can see from early age, I really took advantage of all those school clubs. I was a member of robotics and that was me in my first um FCCLA presentation in sixth grade, one of um our main CS CT CTSOs in the CIA school district. And um it has really been such an honor to just be such a huge part of the CIA school district and just um just learn so much both inside of the classroom and outside of the classroom. I mean when you think about curriculum and stuff that's very important but just as important is what students are being fed for extracurricular activities and their participation in sports. So that has been a huge part of my time as a student. Um so the board it has been such an incredible opportunity. Um, I

004remember just being so nervous when I first interviewed, but it has really helped me develop so many skills that um are not only like hard communication skills, but also like soft skills. Um, has really helped develop my public speaking abilities. Um, conflict management, I mean, you guys see it. Um, every time that there's public comment or people have a lot of issues and um, you have to know how to address that in a positive way while also um, use confrontation skills. Um it has really helped me think about like advocacy, how am I best representing other people's viewpoints who are um speaking to me and allowing me to be their advocate for them. Um and I have also learned just a lot about how decision-m is done. I mean it's been a really eyeopening experience

005um just learn about all the different levels of decision. I mean there's the board but then there's also state policies and federal policies. all those things that you're really thinking about when you're making decisions that are trying to do what's best for students. Um, and I really have enjoyed this part of it. Um, learning about the educational leadership and because my future career I want to um, work as Laura and I want to work in possibly government. And so it's been really cool to learn about the different systems. Um, especially I really like hearing about how decisions are made. I know there's been quite a few policies going through the board lately that you really have to adhere to what's going on at this state and federal level. And then also um it's been really

006interesting to learn about budget and policy considerations. I mean there's so many different people that are affected by the policies that you make. It's not just the students, it's staff members, it's administrators, it's community members. So how do we ensure that they are they are being considered in every decision or making? And then also the idea of how are we planning so that our students are benefiting best now but they'll also benefit 20 years down the road. So, um, some of my, um, favorite parts of like serving on the board and having a say in one has been the phone policy development has been really cool to just I feel like I've really got to see that from the start of how you develop a policy and getting different people's opinions on that, getting student

007opinions, faculty opinions, community members opinions. It's been really interesting to see that and then also give my perspective on that as a student. And then I also have really enjoyed listening to roundt discussions by the principles especially from the younger schools to learn you know what what are the differences in administration at a age where students are very young and developing versus where you're preparing students to become adults and take on the rural world. Um I also really enjoyed being a part of the senior panel. I really hope that there's more seniors next year and um a more broad variety of perspectives because that was a really enjoyable part and I think it was good for you guys to hear about just an encompassing view of our time from K to 12. Um I also

008really enjoyed the elementary school tours just um getting to see what those buildings operate like and then also I really enjoyed how um in every single meeting student concern is always built in. I mean, obviously you guys have so many different parties to consider, but student concern is really the forefront focus of um of the board and how are we making decisions that best benefit students. So, one thing that um we talk a lot about is enrollment. And when people are going to enroll their kids in a school, when they choose a district, right, they don't see all the incredible things that the students are doing. They don't see our district highlights that we're giving each week where we have students competing at the national level. They don't see our student sports teams that are

009winning academic championships. What they see is the OSPI report card. And this is the 2425 OSPI report card for the CEO school district, the 25 to 26 school years, not um and what this shows is that only 25% of our students are able to meet education standards. And I think that it is it is very dangerous to only look at these pieces of data to measure our student experience and how our districts are performing. But I also think that is very dangerous to completely ignore these points. So the question is how do we tell the community members that sila is a good place for students to go and there are teachers there who care. there are board members who care about students and students are getting a beneficial and rewarding learning experience. Here is what

010I see. Here's what I've seen um as huge places of growth and success. Things that the CEO school district is doing incredibly well. Um this is an example right here. Having student voices that serve on a decision-making board even if we are not the ones making the decisions adults here in student feedback is incredibly important and sila it's so unique and such um a blessing that we do have that in here I mean at the high school we also have a student government who helps make lots of important decisions and um they just recently implemented Thor's council who work on belonging and welcoming inside the school and I just think that that is incredible giving students as much buyin Because when you increase buyin for students and when they feel like they're get being heard,

011it just creates a more positive experience for everyone. Another thing that I have really enjoyed watching grow is CTE and CTSO expansion. Not only at the high school, it is greatly expanded at the middle school. And that is not just preparing students to be students. It's preparing them to go out into the world and to find what they enjoy doing and how they can grow their skills to make that a profitable career for them. Um, I mean, I've been super involved in FCCLA, which is one of the CTSOs that our school has to offer. It stands for Family Career and Community Leaders of America, and some of my biggest life lessons has been learned through my participation in that organization. So, I think that that is something great. Investing in CTE and CTSO is a

012great thing for students and CIA High School is one of the best schools for CTE in the state, the best at our size. Um, another thing is um, college in the high school classrooms. Um, those have benefited students tenfold. Not only the financial piece, but getting a rigor of a college classroom while staying in the high school. It's not like YBC where you're having to go off campus. you still get the high school experience while taking courses that are designed to be at a college level preparing you and also at no cost to the students. That has been an incredible thing for students. Um I I will be graduating with 70 college credits and I've never left the high school. So some of um my concerns for the CEO school district um one thing one

013way that I do feel that the CIA school district has failed me is I do not feel like the counseling system has been supporting academic wise um it was really hard for me when I was thinking of going on the next steps after high school to not have any really direction and I can't imagine how hard that must be for students who do not have the support at home. Um, if we're only concerned about our students while they're in school, then we are completely disregarding the idea of creating lifelong learners. And um, preparing students for life after high school does not just include CTE and focusing on those skills. Well, that is great. I just said how much I enjoyed that and that has been great. also have to consider that a lot of our

014students are collegebound and there's no resources for students if they have to take standardized testing to get into schools. Um there's no resources for them to think, wow, there's all these options other than just Central and YBC that are right next to me. And so I would really um like if maybe the high school could implement some maybe counseling just specific for academics because you don't get called in unless they see you truly struggling and that is I think defeats the purpose. If you catch someone once they're struggling then um how can you help them to succeed and excel in what they're doing. Another change that I would like to see made is I think that it would be very um important to implement weighted GPA at least within the high school. We've had a

015lot of talk about the differing standards in classrooms, especially within the college. Students are being measured at a college level. Yet an A in a college class counts the same as an A taking a PE class. And a weighted GPA are really beneficial to students who are wanting to pursue college, maybe a higher level college with a lower acceptance rate. If they want to go there, that GPA helps them to look more competitive while also honoring the work that that student has put in. Uh this is another thing that I think our district is already working on is moving away from device centered classrooms. I mean you guys know you see how hard having a device for students is. They get distracted easily. it harms learning and with co 19 it just bringing one-on-one devices

016into the classroom I think really put students at a disadvantage um because it's you don't have to think for yourself as much and um I think it's important to give students access to devices but um having one-on-one devices at any age younger than high school I think is very um dangerous and takes away more from learning than it adds. Another one is um like I said there's been so much implementation of CTE. I think we should also have an alternate route of students who don't want to go in a trade. They know I want to go to college. I want to go to a 4-year university and earn my degree. So we have the opportunities for them to say hey you can take these classes and earn credit for them if you're going to college.

017We should have more focus, more of a system, more of a structure. I think that set up like you have all those career trees behind you that show students the opportunities that they have through trades but they also have those same opportunity through going to college if they choose that. And then another one is just building to building um expectations. Uh obviously change is really really hard for students and there are different freedoms that you have as a high schooler and a middle schooler and an elementary schooler and those those differing of freedoms, right? That's a privilege and that's important for students to have those. But to also have expectations that don't aren't wildly different. So when students go to the next school, they're just completely in shock and they don't know how to operate

018because the expectations are so different. Device usage is a huge one of those. Discipline is another huge one of those. If you're used to being given lots of inschool suspension at the middle school and then it completely changes and you're not given discipline for those same actions, that's very very difficult for students. Okay, with all this being said, I want to leave this quote up here says the children now love luxury. They have bad mana manners, contempt for authority. They show disrespect for elders and love chatter in a place of exercise. I'm sure you've heard this in one way or another as kids these days. In my day, school was so much harder. It was so much harder for kids. But do you know who said this? Socrates says this in 469 BC. Cuz the

019truth is that this generation is not lazy. The truth is that every generation tends to look at the next generation as worse off than the current one. So, I want you guys to have hope for our next generation because like I said, there are great things going on. Um, we have students succeeded in so many different ways that are non-traditional. We don't just highlight students who are able to maintain perfect grades in the classroom. We have students who are being able to go into trades and we have students are who are ready to take on the real world. And I am just so grateful for my time in the CEO school district. Um, I will be going to Witworth University and I'm studying political science and um, law and justice on a pre-law tract. And

020one day I want to become a litigation attorney and I want to focus on proconsumer cases. Um, and I'm just so overwhelmed with gratitude because I am the person that I am today because of my time in the CEO school district. And that has been accumulation of administration and teacher support and my peer support and also serving on this board has been an incredibly huge honor and a very exciting opportunity that has helped me grow in unimaginable ways. So I just want to thank you guys for your time you spend and your dedication toward um making this school making this district um the best place possible for students. Thank you. Uh Charlie, while you're getting ready, are there questions or comments for Claire on her presentation by the board or other members here? >> Yeah,

021I I've got a couple questions real quick. Um you were talking about um greater counseling support, but then you're also talking about um college track versus trade track. Is that what you mean by greater support? like having paths laid out for kids that want to go to college versus trade school, but then they're not getting the guidance they need is that's kind of what I I thought I was hearing. But >> yeah, I really think that it would be helpful if we had a counselor at the high school who was just specific for college counseling and academic or maybe academic counseling um or just helping students to learn how to how their like credits transfer and really learn about all their options because um I mean the counselors at the high school are already so

022overwhelmed. they're not just dealing with the academic side of things. And so for me personally, it has felt like that has been a place where I haven't been supported. And I think I've only met with my counselor twice um through my time in high school. And um that was really hard not having uh someone who was reaching out to me because a lot of students aren't proactive in that. Even as a person who was proactive in reaching out to my counselor and trying to get all that academic support, that's not common for most students and students really need that kind of push behind them. So, I think that the high school should um initiate some kind of maybe not create a new position but designate that title to a certain person who um could really

023focus on that for students. >> Great. I appreciate that. The other thing that you commented on was regarding standardized testing and some guidance or instruction around that. Are you talking like to be prepared for SATs and things like that? Is >> I think that um the school should have opportunities for students who want to pursue that. I know when it came time for me to take standardized testing, I you have to do it pretty much all on your own. The school doesn't have any resources for that. The closest testing center is in Sunnyside. It's an hour away. And so I mean obviously that's not a huge area of emphasis for a lot of schools anymore for standardized testing but for some it is and students who need that they don't they're not going to know

024where to find it if the school does not provide that kind of pathway for them to do so. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Other comments or questions? >> Um I'm just curious how many of your college in the classroom credits transferred to Witworth? >> Uh all of mine transfer. Whit's funny. I think um Whitman maybe says that if they're taken off college or off high school campuses, they'll accept them and some will take all of them and some won't take any of them. So that's great. You're getting all of them. Uh for sure. Any other questions or comments? >> No question. I just wanted to thank you for dedicating so much time to us the last couple years. It's been a pleasure getting to know you and you're so well spoken and we think I

025speak for all of us. We look forward to hearing anytime you speak. There's always something really you're just you're very intuitive and we appreciate your honesty. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank Thank you, Claire, for the the the time you spent with us, for the time we've had you in the CIA school district. You're just a a credit to our district for sure. Uh thank you parents for the work that you put in uh as well. Um I it it really takes everybody. Um, and Claire, great job. Thank you very much. I found myself nodding along. Uh, we have another comment here. >> I was just going to say the same thing. It's been a great getting to know you. We're really proud of you. I think the word that comes to mind for me

026is poise. Like all the the public addressing and the speaking is is awesome. Yeah. Sure. Go do great things. >> All right, Charlie, thank you for waiting for us. Charlie Miller is our next uh senior um board representative with I guess we'll call this like an exit interview kind of thing. Charlie uh take it away. >> Hi, my name is Charlie Miller. I've been on this board for two years now. Um and I'm super excited to give this presentation today. Um oh my gosh, I can't say the words. I'm so sorry. Okay, so why did I choose to become a board representative? I wanted to learn the importance of student voice behind decision-m. Um, I remember two years ago, uh, Thoris Council had just started and I was a member of that my sophomore year

027and we had just started implementing student voice then and like really like having students spearhead different things and it was super cool opportunity to like go through and then I've also wanted to learn more about student voice within like clubs and sports like clubs such as DECA like watching student voice uh, bloom through that and also CILA uh, girls cross country. Um, Mr. Matson really lets the captains lead that and lead certain things. Um, I wanted to learn how the CIA school district functions. I really wanted to learn the different systems you had in place and how different school districts work together and how different groups in schools work together. So like how does the math department like work with the English department? Like are they friends? Are they enemies? Are they like doing like

028different things, you know? So I really wanted to learn how that functioned and I wanted to learn more about building leadership and communications. So, like I just said, I want to learn how uh the admin functioned in different buildings from SHS to Robert Lynn's kindergarten because I did have a little cousin growing up through the CIA school district. Um, and he's in uh John Campbell right now. So, I really want to learn about the leadership and the communication that went behind helping these children move from school district to school district. So, sorry, this is my expectation versus reality. So, my expectations when I first joined the board, attend meetings. it's really all I thought I was going to be doing. Uh, learning about school systems, which I did, and I was like, honestly, this might

029be a little boring, like maybe like maybe a resume builder, maybe, you know. So, that was the those are the thoughts I had coming into this position. Um, but in reality, I really made meaningful connections. I think the connections I made with Claire and the other board members have been really cool and we've been able to communicate even about the CIA school district and even with you guys, like the connections that we've made and the conversations that we've had have been really important to me and really meaningful to me. Um, I learned the importance of advocacy. So, I've I my whole life have really wanted to be an advocate for others. Um, that's really what I'll be doing with my career when I'm older is being an advocate. Um, so through this position, I've learned

030the importance of advocating for others, advocating for staff, for students, for people who don't have as public as a position. And then I've also learned to step outside of my comfort zone. Um, I remember my freshman year, the first presentation I ever had to give, I was shaking so badly, couldn't speak, stuttering, like it was it was bad. Um, so through this, I've learned how to communicate better and be able to be more comfortable in front of groups of people. Um, and it's really taught me that stepping outside of my comfort zone can sometimes be the biggest blessings in my life. Um, so my challenges and growth, I've had public speaking. As I just said, um, I was really scared to speak in front of board members and adults. I feel like that's always a

031really scary position to be in when you're a student. Um you can feel like you're inadequate. You can feel like you don't have the proper you sometimes you get like imposter syndrome like why am I here? Like why was I chosen for this? Um so that was definitely a challenge when I first started. Um but you guys have really embraced student voice and you've really embraced me and clear of just like being able to communicate with you guys. Um another challenge was representation. Um it was really challenging to try to include diverse student voice. Uh because I had my set group of friends in school as I feel like many people do. I feel like we all had to have our set groups. So then having to try to reach outside of that to get

032diverse student voice was pretty challenging because I don't interact with those groups of people daily. Um but through the board I've had to step outside of my comfort zone and be able to speak with diverse groups of students. Um and that's where you get most of the information from me. Um and some growth I've had I've been able to develop stronger communication in my leadership skills. Um, before I was a board member, I really struggled with my leadership. I wouldn't really step up. I'd kind of be the person that like sat in the back of the classroom. Maybe stepped up every once in a while, but I really struggled with overall leadership. So, what I've learned, I've learned how different school systems work disciplinary, uh, fiscally, and then administratively. Um, I've really been able to

033step into like administrative positions like even in my church now, and I've learned that through here, which has been super cool. um disciplinary systems were something that's always kind of like I've wondered like hm how does like how does Robert Lince work that um and stuff like that and then I've learned some fun acronyms couldn't really tell you what OSPI means but it's fine um but I've also learned the importance of student voice and decision making um I believe that if you don't have student voice involved then you've missed the mark with school in general because school is about the children not about the adults so I've really learned the importance of bringing in students, bringing in the voice, bringing in the thoughts of students because if we're doing school for the adults, then what

034are the kids supposed to learn? Like we're supposed to be lifelong learner lifelong learners. So if we don't do that, then we've really missed the mark on that. Uh so what I want to see is knowledge of this position. I mean, I only got like two emails about this position. I remember my sophomore year. Um, and it was like I applied on like the last day cuz I didn't really have knowledge of it cuz I'm not checking my school email during the summer. Like that's just not what I'm doing. Um, so just maybe some more knowledge of decision because this has been a really cool opportunity and thing to be involved in. Um, and I believe that if there's more knowledge as position, then uh people from more people will apply for and you'll have

035a bigger pool of candidates to pull from that you believe will pull in the most knowledge. Um, yeah. Also, advisory changes. As you guys know, I love advisory. Um, so I don't know if you guys have already worked on it, but maybe changing it from like one day a week to maybe three days a week. Just some more opportunity for those who are really involved to be able to have some set time uh to be able to um work on their schoolwork. cuz I remember during cross country season I was out of the house from 7:00 a.m. to 900 p.m. And throughout that span of time, I'd have no time to work on my schoolwork. So maybe just having a little change there. So like, I don't know, like a 30-minute block, three 30 minute

036blocks, an hour and a half of set time to even do school work, that would be really beneficial. And then also increased rigor within classrooms. Um, I've noticed that in one of my classes, one of my teachers included attendance in our final score and our final grade. Um, I think that would also be really beneficial. And also just the overall grading system, as Clare talked about, weighted GPA would also be great. Um, and just overall challenging the student body would be great. So, where am I going? I'm attending WSU. I actually just had a meeting with my college adviser today. I am studying uh social sciences with an emphasis with like political science, sociology, and psychology. Um, and I'm attending, it's oh, attending WSU online, so it's going to be a global campus. Uh, this

037summer I'm also interning through my church. Um, I'm staying local and I'm probably getting a Chihuahua. Thought that was important to mention. Um, or you know, some sort of small dog. I'm really excited. I'm going to name it like Kyle or something. I'm so so excited. Um, and yeah, so I know you guys just asked clear about like what's transferring. Every all of my college credits are transferring except for EW 105 and 106 because those things didn't wind up. But yeah, everything else is transferring. So C school district really did a good job of picking college classes that will actually be able to transfer to colleges. Um, some advice for uh future student board representatives. I know uh our junior representatives aren't here. Um, so I don't really know who I'm talking to, but what

038I'd wish I'd known is I will have to communicate. Like it's really important that you communicate on this board or else the board's going to have no idea what the next steps are, what to do, um, and what to be involved in. Um, how good of an opportunity being a school district student board representative is. Um, like I have grown so much in this position and it's allowed me to really step outside of my comfort zone, really step up and level up in my leadership. And then lastly, if you aren't willing to share issues and there will be no solution, um I really believe that um if you're on the board, you should be solution-minded. Um if you see a problem, then you should probably figure out a solution to do it because the only

039reason you're seeing that problem is because you probably have a solution for it. Um so I want to say thank you guys. I thank the board members for allowing us to have this opportunity. It's been a really cool opportunity um to just be able to stand here even today like present in front of you guys, show you guys what I've learned and what I believe. Um, and I think for everyone who has given us the opportunity to do it, the people who are behind the scenes. Um, and yeah, that's it. >> Excellent presentation. Uh, questions or comments for Charlie from the board? >> Well done, Charlie. We're going to miss you guys. Thank you so much for coming in. I just I realized when I I got here and sat down and I saw you

040come in, I thought, "Oh my gosh, they've already graduated and you took time to come back and talk to us." So, I think that that's really very mature and we do appreciate that you >> So, you're officially super seniors. >> Well, you're also a entry- level freshman. So, you get to pick and choose like a dual personality. So, uh, I just want to thank both of you. Um, I mean, since the moment I I met you guys on in December when I became a board member, I I appreciated your feedback and I appreciated your your clarity on things. Um, because things have changed a lot over time since you guys were little through the system. And so it was kind of good to um see what worked right and what didn't work right and what

041you'd like us to focus on for next year and years on with regards to to college and trades and um the advisory. Uh I think that's all great stuff to know. Thank you. >> Yeah, thank thank you both. Uh Charlie, great presentation. I I think we are on an unbroken streak. This is kind of an I don't know what to do with this, but uh every student board representative final presentation has said something about rigor all the way for the last 5 years probably. Uh and and I'm torn by that a little bit just to deal with one of the issues. Uh because then we see the evidence of some amazing students uh who are going off after CILA and doing incredible things or or at CILA doing incredible things. So, something's working right, but

042also there's some meaningful signal there that we're getting for sure. I appreciate you bringing both of you bringing that up in your own way today talking about rigor uh throughout the system. Um, but especially I think um as you're getting ready to go to college, those are those are big issues. And I know last year that you both said something about the effect of I'm a little worried about how I'm maybe it was the start of this year about how we're going to do when we get to college. You're going to be great. you're g you we we we are so proud of you and have such confidence in your future that I I hope you carry some of that with you uh from us to you. So, thank you again for for all of

043your work uh for the district. >> Yeah, Charlie, great job. It's been awesome getting to know you. Um and then realizing that Amy is your mom, so I graduated with her mom. So, I just had just I can't I I know I can't help but root for you. So, um yeah, appreciate your contributions over the last couple years. Good luck to you. >> Great. Thank you very much for being here. Uh and as we said for the two years that you've been on the board, just incredible continuation and building on the tradition um of great SEAL students on this on this board. Uh our our next item um I feel like we should just go home right now, doesn't it? So that's pretty good. Our next item of business, unfortunately, our next item of business

044is not go home. Uh it's district guidelines for public comment. And did I see Mary? Did I see you sign up for public comment? No. And I don't I think that means nobody probably signed up for public comment. Okay, I'm seeing people shaking their head. I think we're good. Uh we'll move on then to item four, which is the meeting minutes. We have uh as usual two um sessions. Uh one is regular meeting minutes from May 28th, 2026. The other is the approval of study session meeting minutes um from June 11th of 2026. Uh, I'll move that we approve the meeting minutes. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Great. Uh, are there any uh questions or comments about the meeting minutes? Excellent. All those in favor of voting to approve the meeting minutes signify

045with an I. >> I. >> All those opposed and abstensions. All right, we'll move on to item number five. Uh, the consent agenda. And the consent consent agenda is fairly long here. human resources action sheet and payroll goods and services. I think Stephanie's going to give us an update on those items or Chris and Stephanie. >> Okay. >> Yep. I'll start with HR action. Um yes, we still have a few people coming on board with us. We've I think hired seven classified and uh seven certified and and a couple classified, but we have open positions out there. Um total attrition for this year since January is 50 total staff members um have left whether certificated, classified and administrative. So that's um quite a few but it's not an uncommon year for us is it Chad.

046That's pretty um we typically in a normal year we would hire 50 to 65 people. So we're not hiring that many but we see that many leaves. we have reduced obviously. So, wanted to just um highlight that. I wanted to also highlight that we have a new middle middle school um assistant principal, Jere Jeremy Baird. He's on board with us. He's been on site. Um and so we've worked with him a little bit so far. Any others there, Kevin, that you want to highlight? Okay, that's it for the Oh, >> sorry. Just a question. Is that >> Yes. Jennifer Barrett's husband? >> Yes. >> Okay, awesome. I'll I'll highlight one on there. Uh Maria Pena, we hired as a new accounting specialist taking over my former role. Um we stole her from Yakma School District.

047So we're really excited to have her here. Good. >> Right. >> Um all right. Payroll goods and services. I'll just have I just have a couple um to note here. one is the curriculum associates paid in June 15th for 112,000 and then also Kendall Hunt um for 52,000. Both of those are for curriculum and curriculum related. Um one of them is for math manipulatives. So it's a it's just an example of those ongoing costs that we use those um MSOC dollars for that we have to set aside for those curriculum purchases each year usually. And one of those the I Ready is the curriculum associates. That's that $100,000 one. That's an annual subscription. That's all I have. >> Great. >> Questions or comments about either the HR action sheet or the payroll goods and services?

048I I'll just say as as a as a way of welcoming somebody. Madison Cune is going to be with us next year and that is fantastic news. we welcome her back to the CIA school district. Um uh and and are excited to have her join the CILA Intermediate team. Um all right. Uh our next item is uh item D on the consent agenda. This is a policy update and second reading of adoption of policy 3245 students and telecommunications devices. Um and this is a as I mentioned a second reading. Um I I if we wanted to have uh comment on that, maybe we could have a conversation about it before we do uh the official vote on it. Should we should we wait and do all of them at the end? And if there's a

049I know we normally take the consent agenda altogether. In fact, we will take the consent agenda al together. Uh does anybody want to have any discussion about the policy update prior to taking the vote for student and telecommunication devices? And there'll be more chance here in a second. >> It it sounds like the state's also going to adopt a policy very similar to this. >> Yeah, the governor has uh presented some his his position on it and is encouraging uh it will be whether he or his staff will be drafting some legislation to put before the legislature. >> So I when I when I first read about that, it it sounds almost exactly like we already got here. um if if they adopt a policy that that may not be as stringent as ours, is

050ours still going to be because I know usually how it works is we can't be looser than a policy, but we can be stricter. You can and I would expect that his position by the time it actually gets through the legislative session and decisions are made may look different than what he is presenting. >> Right? So, yes, if uh if if there is legislation um that the legislature puts in place and then he signs it uh and if it's kind of a a a baseline for all school districts and then school districts have the ability to go above and beyond that. Um that's definitely where I see ours going in relationship to what he's presented already. >> Yeah, that's what I see as well. >> Yeah, thank you. >> Yeah, I think they're calling it

051away for the day uh as the policy. is you put your phone away for the day. That's that's close to what our language is there. Um I I will point out that there um have been um some concerns voiced by people uh at in within the community about being able to reach students in the case of an emergency. Um and um there are exceptions in the policy uh for emergency situations that involve imminent physical danger or if a school administrator authorizes student to use the device and there are people who have 504 plans, IEP IEP plans and health plans. All of that language is listed as exceptions um under and that I hope hopefully that will make some of the people that are concerned about this policy feel a little bit more comfortable with it

052if it's adopted. Okay. Uh we'll move on to item E. And again, as I said, we'll have a a motion to approve and then another chance to discuss. But item E is travel. There are two uh two items under this. Both of them are leadership. Um, one is uh ASB leadership at the Mission Peak Camp and the other is an ASB leadership retreat in Ellensburg. Does anybody have any questions or comments about those overnight travel requests? One's at Eastern Washington University, I should say, and one's at Ellensburg. Look like great opportunities. Our next item is item F, which are donations. Um, one of these comes from the boys wrest or to the boys wrestling program, I should say. And the second is a donation to the FCCLA um, which is from Maggie Eussin in the

053amount of $2,000 um, for a nationals trip. Uh and then boys wrestling is a donation um from the CEA Storm of a uh some tournament expenses. >> Yeah, just clarify on that second one for FCCLA. Um Maggie is the originator. The donor is Viking Crew. >> Viking crew is donating. >> Excellent. All right. Any questions or comments on the donations? Okay. And then we have three four contracts. So we uh throughout the last couple of months uh at our business meetings have been approving first I think we approved the classified contract if I remember correctly um and now we're moving on to uh some of the district level um associate superintendent contract executive director for student learning contract executive director for special services contract and executive director for financial services contract. Are there uh any

054from the um um board's position? Any questions or comments? >> Normal and annual has to do. Anytime there's a revision to the contract and each of these do have revisions to it, you have to get they have to go before the board just like all the other contracts that you authorize. >> Great. Thank you. Uh all right. Um let's take the uh agenda items. Uh let's see. It'll be B through J. Uh and I move that we approve the uh consent agenda items B through J. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Great. Thanks, Joe. And uh are there any comments or questions about agenda items B through J? Okay. Uh without hearing any, we'll vote move to a vote on that. All those in favor of approving the consent agenda signify with an

055I. >> I. All those opposed and abstensions. Great. Terrific. Okay. Uh we will now move on to item six, which means I need to open a uh budget public hearing. Um so we will uh have a hearing here with a a brief explanation of the 2026 27 budget overview. Um, and then put a chance for public comment and then a vote on the resolution to adopt the 202627 budget. And I'll let Chris and Stephanie take it away from there, too. >> Do we need a start time for the hearing? >> Oh, uh, yeah, we can say 512 is when we can gavvel the I'll be official here. Gavl the hearing in. >> Perfect. Okay. Um, so this pres presentation is going to look a little familiar to you guys because we went over most of

056it at the study session earlier this month. Um, we've condensed it a little bit, so we're going to go through it maybe just a little bit quicker, but um, if you guys have any questions again, feel free to stop us and and ask that. So, and we have clicker issues again. All right. Um so yeah going back to August 2023 um we had a directive from the school board you guys to bring our expenditures in line with our revenues. Uh we had seen through our forecasting and through our year-end presentations that um we were going to start dipping into our fund balance um pretty significantly going forward uh due to a number of factors. that um your directive was to bring those in light and essentially close the gap. Um and since we had a

057pretty healthy fund balance at the time um we were going to use that to kind of soften those deep cuts through those number of years as we do that budget reduction process. Um so taking that directive that's that's how we prepared this 26 27 budget uh with all of that in mind and we went through a whole um budget reduction process like we've have in the past. Um at the end of the day this is the overall standing of the of the general fund budget which is our primary operating budget. Um, we project 67.7 million in revenues for next year and 68 essentially 68.5 million in expenditures showing a net deficit for the year of $732,000 um and ending us in fund balance of 8.9 million. And so we'll dive in a little bit here

058um on the budget challenges that we face and again we've harped on this ever since few years ago right on the impacts that we're having from enrollment decline is the big thing um since 2425 and through 2627 we expect to see 225 um lost student FTE and um also project that to future further decline as well and we'll talk about that with the four forecast that you guys have seen as well. Um projected expenditures wring rising at a higher rate than our revenues. Uh big big item here is the salary gap. Um we have a difference between what we're funded from the state for our our staffing and salaries and what we actually pay. So we we receive funding and IPD increases only on our state funded programs whereas our federal programs we don't see

059that increase um at all. uh inflation on MSOC. So we see a higher cost of those material supplies and operating costs than we see in funding as well. We receive from the state usually IPD applied to our MSOC allocation but uh like we've talked about before the actual cost of those MSOCs is increasing at a much higher rate. Uh specific specifics we've talked about insurance just overall supplies are a lot higher as you guys know. and utilities. Yeah. Another area is we're insufficiently funded in special education. Um this year for 2627 we project a deficit of over $1.1 million. Um that has to do a lot with student need. We are serving a little bit more um student FTE out of special ed, but those students are usually costing us way above what we're funded

060from the state for special ed. Um the other part of that too is our staffing, the salary gap and also with our contracted staffing. Um we like our specialists, like our um occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, those kind of staff are hard to come by a lot of the times. Um and so we're having to contract out for those services which are usually costing us anywhere from two to three times what having someone on staff would cost us. Another area is substitute costs. 1.7 million um is what we pay for subsc. All right. So, comparison from the prior year from 2526 to 2627 budget. Uh taking a look at our revenues first. Um we see we project an increase of about $475,000 which overall is about.7% increase from the prior year. So very minimal. Um

061some highlights from what that results from. The big thing is decrease in enrollment. So we project an decrease of 109 students. Um estimate about $10,000 a student and that's just over a million dollars. It's supposed to be 1.09. I just caught that. $1.09 million. um that we would be losing due to that enrollment decline. Um decrease in food service projected revenue. Uh with that decrease in enrollment and also decrease in um food service participation is what makes up that $500,000 hit. But we do see an increase from our local levy and LEA local efforts local effort assistance. um little increases there and also for IPD for those state funded programs. And then this is just a um visual of that enrollment decline from the past three years. Um our 2526 student enrollment did end up

062at that 3,597. So that is a final figure there. But you can see from 2324 we have that decline down to 3,468 is what we project for next year. um totaling that 225 student um decrease there. And then a visual breakout of our revenues by funding source. We get a primary uh most of our funding from state aortionment. This is our general ed basic ed allocation built 55% of our revenues. And then state special allocations come from like our special education program, our LAP program, transitional bilingual, those types of programs make up 21% of our revenues. Uh federal make up 8% and that's like our title one, title two, anything title, migrant, all of those federal programs. And then local taxes and local effort assistance make up uh just over 13% of our total revenues.

063Um and just as a reminder, I said this last time, our levy expires in 2027. Um and so and remember, we have to pass a levy in order to get that local effort assistance. So no levy, no LEA, which would be a loss of about three million in LEA and six million in levy. Okay. And then on the expenditure side, um you can look from the prior year and we actually see a decrease of just over $21,000 um in total budget from last year to next year. Um and that is primarily as a result of the budget review process that we went through and um and the budget reductions that we made. We made just under $3 million in budget reductions. some of that coming from reallocating resources to maximize our revenue sources. Um, and

064we'll go over that here in just a minute. But the nutrition program also we have excess expenditures due to supplementing that program for our high school. We talked about this on um because when we reertified our C program, our high school did not qualify for to maintain meals at no cost for our high school students. And so we've made a decision to cover that and supplement that loss of revenue um with the carryover fund balance for our nutrition program. And so that's about $300,000 is what that cost. But >> and we actually were required to fund it last year based on the C um process for us to be able to uh apply early, a year early. They required us to carry the cost for the 2526 year to have all kids eat at no

065cost. For 2627's the year that we've made the decision to go ahead one more year and and support it with carryover dollars and then the district will need to make a decision whether they we move the high school to a free and reduced model and leave the rest of the district um for two more years after next year at the all kids eating at no cost. So that'll be a decision that needs to be made. And so this is just a summary of that you guys have seen before of that worksheet of the overall budget reductions that were made this past year um planning for the 2627 school year. Uh we reduced 27.2 staffing positions. Uh 11 of those were teachers, 2.2 administrators, and 13 classified staff. Um, and then there's a miscellaneous kind of

066collection of MSOC reductions down there, um, that you can kind of go through. Chris is going to go over another document that you guys received in your board doc. >> Yep. And I'm not going to go over the detail of this, but I wanted everybody to know that this is a new resource that's out there now. We had this Heidi Diner did a wonderful job putting together the information for us in this one-page flyer. It's posted to the website under the business services site under budget information, but it basically um shows and explains the things that are on these starting few slides about uh the reason how did we get here, what process did we use to make reductions and so on and so forth. We actually had 14 classified reductions and 13.2erts as Stephanie

067said. So 27.2 total. So, we will be um sharing this information. Obviously, it's on our website, but we'll talk about how widespread we want to basically and notify the community and let folks know where we landed with our reductions this year. Uh $3 million is 4.4% of our budget. So, it's a pretty substantial amount that we were able to reduce. And and again, with the positions being cut, as we've said before, they were all reduced through attrition. Nobody received a layoff notice. That was our interest. Kevin gave the directive. There will be no layoffs and we were able to do it through attrition. So, um we were very pleased with that. Okay. And then just a visual of our total expenditures by object. Um 82.9 of our expenditures is for salaries and benefits. Um last

068year it was about 84% where we were sitting. a target is about 80 to 81 or 82%. So we're making progress there um with those reductions, those staffing reductions. Um the remainder of our budget, 8.4% goes to supplies and materials and purchase services make up 8.6%. The other is travel because we don't have any capital LA this year. The MSOC disclosure requirement, we're required to disclose this every year. This will be the last required year for this. But um what this shows is the funding we get for MSOX for basic education. Um as well as the budgeted expenditures for those same programs. So it's showing that we are funded $4.6 million for MSOC and we've budgeted to spend 5.6. So it's it's showing that that funding is not sufficient. Even at our after all the

069cuts that we've made, we're still exceeding that allocation. Okay. So, all that said and done, the fund balance, um, we project a deficit of the 732,000. Um, of that, 300,000 of that has to do with that nutrition covering the high school um, meals at no cost. So, that 300 taking that $300,000 overage out of there, we're really looking at a $430,000 deficit. um bringing our fund balance down to 8.9 million or about 13%. And then we wanted to show a visual too of how we're closing the gap and how we've um pro progressed towards doing that. So we look at 2425 2526 which is a revised budget. So this is kind of where we actually think we're going to land and then 2627. So starting with 2425 in the green kind of towards the bottom

070we projected our actual budget was $1.3 million deficit. We ended the year at 1.1 that 1.09 million is where we ended um with a fund balance of 10.5 million 2526 we anticipate the deficit to be $945,000 instead of the budgeted 1.2. Um, so we see our fund balance at the end of 2526 being around 9.6 million or 14% of our budget or fund balance. Um, and 2627 with that $732,000 deficit, we're sticking at the 8.9 with 13% fund balance. So you you'll see that kind of closing the gap from the 1.1 to the 945 to the 732. So we're making progress. There's still a lot of room we got to close, but we're step stepping down there. But you also see our fund balance stepping down as well. >> Just a reminder on that 732

071really being 430,000 after taking the food service component out. So that's pretty pretty darn good process or progress going from the 945 down to 430 really. Uh we felt really good about u making that clo you know closing the gap by that much this year. Okay. And then looking at the four-year forecast. So there's some assumptions that we have to make when we when we do this. Enrollment decline. We project another 262 enrollment decline through the end of 2930. Um local taxes. We hope pray that we pass another levy, but we're anticipating that we do. We're projecting that we do it. Um state revenues, we increase it by one or two%. Of course, we reduced the revenues by the enrollment decline as well, $10,000 per student. Um, and then federal revenues, we kept the same.

072We don't know what that's going to h what's going to happen with that, if it's going to go down or up. So, we play we play pretty conservative on that front and just keep it at no increase. Salary salaries and benefits, we budgeted an increase at 3.5%. The IPD for um year three would be 2.4%. Um but that 3.5 includes IPD roles um step increases for staff and any increases in those um salary contracts for our labor groups. Uh reductions in staffing uh in response to that enrollment decline. We do um anticipate of course we're going to have to cut staff in response to that and we just have an estimated amount in there right now. Um, but it it does show a response to that. And then MSOX, we did a 2% inflation rate.

073And with this, this kind of breaks it out by grade level for the enrollment, but it down in red, you'll see the total number of declined student FTE. In year two, we anticipate 75 decrease. Year three, 68. And in year four, 119. And that's when that big class leaves the high school. That 315 students that are going through there right now, I think is our sophomore class this next year. But um that's when they the year after they graduate. So that's at negative 119. Um then the very bottom you'll see the um staffing forecast and that's where you'll see we just budgeted a 10 um 10 certificated and 10 classified reduction each year. And of course we'll respond to the actual kind of scenarios as we get to that point. Uh so four-year forecast and

074um on here you'll notice there's a line to for projected budget reductions because as we go across like 2728 we see a projected deficit of 2.8 million. Uh the next year 4.6 million and the last year 7 million. So we're going to have to make cuts uh not only for enrollment decline but also to bring our expenditures in line with revenues. And so we bud we project a reduction of 2.7 in that second year the 2728 to bring our fund balance down to 8 point basically 8.8 million or 12.92%. Um overall that's a deficit of 106,000 for that year. Uh the next year and these are cumulative reductions just to note that. So you'll see 2.7 in that second year, 3.75 in the third year, which is at 2.7 plus 1,ion50,000. Um, so with that

075added reduction of just over a million dollars, we we get down to 7.9 million in our fund balance, 11% and that's a deficit of $93,000 for that year. And then the final year, um, another million, $1.2 2 million reduction because that's in response to that enrollment loss. Um our our fund balance goes to 5.8 just over our minimum fund balance policy of 8% and that's a deficit of just over $2 million for that year. >> Stephanie, why such a big jump on 202930? Is that just enrollment declined >> on >> for for how much where we'd be borrowing from the from the fund? >> Yeah, it's enrollment. It's that big class leaving us >> 109 the 119 >> continuation of very small classes entering the district and the bigger classes leaving us. >> Okay. >>

076And remember that this is all projections and it's all based on a very very conservative approach and taking the worst case scenario in each of these um and then taking into consideration things that we only can control and not those that others can control. So it doesn't it doesn't look pretty but it is reality possibly ping based on our best projections. So, two key things that'll be monitored each year will be obviously the amount of reduction that needs to be made to predict what we're our deficit balance will be, but also keeping in mind what our fund balance percentage looks like with our forecasting because we know we need to stay 8% or higher. And I know the board's had discussion before about trying to be higher than 8%, not just go right to the

077minimum fund balance. So that's going to drive what level of reductions need to be made. Um so in order to be fiscally responsible those things we have to keep monitoring in each year refine refine refine and get the projection dialed in so that we can achieve what you've um directed us to do and that is to bring our expenditures in line with revenues. >> Yeah. We provide the four-year forecast to you uh for two reasons. It's good to think about the future and and what needs to be done, but it's also a requirement uh that we present the 4-year forecast as part of the the whole budget package that we submit. So, uh there's two purposes to it. Um this is this is information that gets shared with OSPI and the state as well. >>

078And and we don't know what the state is going to do, if anything, uh funding wise, and that's why we don't project that there's any increases beyond IPD coming our way. Okay. And we've kind of talked about this already a little bit, but going forward going to need to evaluate our enrollment and staffing and adjust as needed as we've done and will continue to do. Uh we'll need to monitor fund balance and cash flow, making sure we can cover our bills, make sure there's enough fund balance there to do that. Um I know conversations have been had about the 8% too. So ha having that cash flow and cash ready to cover those bills is very important as we get closer to that 8% mark. Um if reductions are needed um we need to be

079able to see can we reallocate our resources? Can we move staffing somewhere to maximize revenue in one area or another. Um and then facility maintenance and capital purchases. We needed to keep that in the back of our mind too. um because we haven't been contributing to that capital projects fund for those big um maintenance things like roofs, HVACs, all of that. Haven't done that for the past few years. Um so keep that in the back of our mind going forward in our long range plan as a district as well for our facilities. Any questions before we go into the other operating funds on the general fund side? I I >> Yep. >> So you you talked about the special education. Um is the percentage of population staying the same? >> Classes are getting smaller, class

080sizes are getting smaller. So is is the the sped um number of sped eligible candidates going down as well? >> It's actually not going down. Um we're actually serving slightly more students in special education and our enrollment's going down. So I will say It's getting bigger then. >> Yeah. And and I'll say that CILA's known for the quality of a program offered for special needs students. I mean it is we have an outstanding director that oversees the program and directs the program. But we for years have had a really good reputation for the services we provide for special needs kids. So I think people if they have an opportunity they're going to try to come to Sea even if they don't live here. So the numbers are higher and enrollment's going down. >> Okay. The

081the other question I have is we're talking about the no cost meals that we're going to have to do something with next year. Um are we looking like at um a step down process or just taking that that total and say you get to pay full price or >> Fortunately there's not a step down process. So if we leave the all kids eat at no cost, we go to the free and reduced model. Um it's directed on what's what you basically what the cost that we charge students for free. Well actually the state defines what we get in reimbursement and then we define what our meal costs are. So I mean I guess sila would have an opportunity to look at the meal costs and say hey maybe we have x amount of dollars to

082help you're right help stairst step it and uh that yeah that is an option to do that. Now >> you don't get sticker shock. We do know though the all all the other schools are eligible for three more years of all kids eating at no cost. So we know that it's just the high school and if the high school's numbers come down and meet the or go up to meet the requirements for um all kids eating at no cost, we have the opportunity to reapply for the high school, but the the numbers aren't looking like that. >> The other part of that too is we're utilizing our food service carryover money to fill that gap right now. And if we we can only do that so long before that carryover is gone. >> Well, and

083and students will still receive free and reduced cost for lunches. So, if they're in a family in need, that way it'll still work. >> Yep. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Good question. >> Okay. So, moving on to the other operating funds. Um these other ones, ASB, debt service, capital projects, and transportation vehicle fund. Keep in mind that these funds, those dollars can only be used for those purposes within those funds. So, they can't be transferred out or used for other reasons. Um, debt service fund. This is the fund we use to service our debt, pay down our uh principal and interest on our outstanding debt. Uh, estimated revenues is 4.2 million and estimated expenditure is 4.3, leaving us with a fund balance of 1.5. So goal is usually to keep it around a million, maybe

084a little bit more um just to make sure there's enough in there to pay those principal and interest payments. >> Those do if I didn't hear it if you said it. So if it gets higher than the 1.5 and we want to dial it back, those those that amount goes against what we levy for the next year for taxes for patrons. So we're never going to take any of that money and put it in general fund. We can't do that. It's always going to go to pay off debt. Um, and then obviously if there's too much in there, we'll put it against what we're going to levy to collect. >> Yeah. And then these are our two outstanding bonds. The 2018 bond, which will pay off in 2042. Uh, we owe 37,40,000. Uh the 2022

085bond, which is our refinance bond, pays off in 2036 and we owe 17490,000 um with a total outstanding balance of 54,4530,000. Then taking a quick look at our tax collection rates, um the 2026 assessed value came in um and it was 7.4% 4% increase from the prior year. Uh which calculates our levy rate to $163 which is still below the $165 max that we advertised to voters. And then our bond rate is $1.17 for a total rate of 279. Um and this also gives you a good picture of where we've come from as for our total tax rate with our combined levy and bond. Uh 2019 was the year where they capped us at that $150 um for our levy rate and I mean we were upwards of $4 and we're down to the 279.

086So um pretty pretty nice to have that lower tax rate and we are kind of on the middle to lower end in the in the region for our total tax rate. Capital projects fund. I'm going to skip to this next slide real quick. Um, we project our beginning fund balance for this next year to be 4.7 million. This just goes in a little more detail than the previous slide. Um, revenues 1.28 million. Um, 250 of that is investment earnings. So, earnings on the money that we have in the bank. The rest of that's going to be a state assistance from our construction project. Um, and then expenditure side, just over four million of non-bond projects. And we break that out on the right. So we got parking lot striping bond fees that we budget every

087year and most of it's obviously our CTE edition the 3.8 million and we do budget capacity for those um building projects that might come up throughout the year. So there's 200,000 in capacity for there um bond projects we have 500,000 left for the high school field turf projects. So we'll be wrapping that up this next year um paying those last bills. And so the ending fund balance is the 1.3 million um at the end of next year, but we do see there's probably still another $600,000 for the CTE project um that would be paid out of the next year, bringing the total fund balance down to that 700,000 um mark. And it could actually be higher than that if the contingencies aren't needed on those projects. So that 700 is the minimum we're projecting that

088it will be. But again, if we don't need the the contingencies, that could be more. So, it's good. >> Okay. And then the last two funds, ASB. Um, again, we budget pretty high on this end because we budget capacity for students to do activities and spend the money that they fund raise. Um, we project uh 709 revenues and $677,000 in expenditures with an ending fund balance of 455,000. uh transportation vehicle fund. We project revenues of 270,000. That's that depreciation coming in from the state for our buses and then project uh expenditures of 477,000 for bus purchases for the next year. We have one on order right now and we'll probably purchase another one or something next year, but uh ending fund balance there is 137,000. And then along with the budget, we bring our fee

089schedules to you to the board to adopt each year. Um overall, there's not many increases. The there's minimal increases for nutrition on the adult meal side. Um and all of these the total fee schedules are in linked in the board docs as well. So you can look through all of those fees if you want. And then um everything else is pretty much staying the same other than the minimum wage increase working. And then these are the rest of the documents that are linked in board docs for you guys to review. Um they'll also be provided on our website after adoption should the budget be adopted today. Um including the citizens guide uh to the budget that's out there. It's a good tool for the public to go and kind of learn more on a basic

090level how the budget operates and how the district operates financially. Um we'll also put the entire budget document out there including the revenue forecast, enrollment um forecast, and the presentation. Are there any uh questions from you guys? >> Great. Thank you very much, Stephanie. Uh we also have a moment here for public comment uh as part of the uh budget public hearing. Is there any comment from the audience? >> Any other further questions or comments from the board? >> Just have a quick comment. Uh I want to say thank you again for all the work you've done on the budget. Um like I mentioned in the past, it's really difficult. Um, what I really appreciate is like with our property taxes, um, it's easy for the government to go in and say and move the

091goalpost. So, when they're short of revenues, then they go in and say, "Okay, well, we're going to change the way we value your property to raise t and and raise taxes that way." Um, I just got my statement this week, so I'm seeing how much my payment is going up thanks to Ricky um on my house. Um, but it's it's tied to the taxes, not not to to Ricky. Um, and so I appreciate when you're looking at this and the way that you're presenting it, um, that you're not just moving the goalpost, but that you're looking at these numbers realistically. There are a lot of factors that could change in the future. um we could uh increase revenue in a lot of different ways, but um I I appreciate the conservative approach and I I

092think this gives us a real realistic um view of the future and I think you're doing a good job. >> Thank >> any other comments or questions. Chris, you are very much going to be missed and I want to say thank you for all your hard work. Um, and like Dererick was saying, um, every time I've come to the meetings for the last couple years and all the hard work that you've actually done with this, and I want to thank you very much, Stephanie, um, because like Derek said when we've got the little cards and it shows up in the mail and about your taxes and all of this, you know, and when it shows that this is how much your house is going to go up and this is going to go up this

093much, you know, but kind of how because I actually been watching how the legislation plays around with taxes and stuff, but It doesn't show the value of it until the legislation actually shows where it's not going to be done in legislation on your house until the deadline is January 15th of 2027 for this year's taxes for 2026. So, I want to say thank you for the hard work that you ladies have done because how much you guys have actually broke it down cuz it's not an easy job. Absolutely. So, I want to say thank you. >> Thank you, Mary. Any other comments or questions? All right, we'll take a vote on resolution 2026-14, the adoption of the 2026-27 budget. Uh, I move that we uh approve resolution 2026-14. Is there a second? >> Before the

094board votes on it, Dan, would you please close the public hearing portion of this? The board votes. >> 546. And we will now close the public hearing of this uh budget process and we will then uh resume the uh the voting on resolution 2026-14. I'll second or I'll again add my motion that we approve 202614. Is there a second? Great. Are there any other comments or questions? Okay. Excellent. Boy, after a lot of hard work and some painful choices, uh we are at the end of the budget process for 2026 27. All those in favor of approving the budget signify with an I. >> I. All those opposed and abstensions. All right. Great. Excellent work. Nice job. Nice nice teamwork on that for sure. I know. All right. We're moving on now to the uh

095administration portion. This is item number seven which is a series of resolutions A through F which we will vote to adopt or not to adopt here in just a moment and then we'll take item G which is uh superintendent contract for next year as a separate item. Um, I I'll just kind of mention that the resolutions 2026-8 through 2026-13 are procedural uh resolutions um for authorization of warrant signatures to invest funds to designated a district agent to authorize faximile sim faximile signatures uh and authorized signitories and designation of auditing officers. Those are what the resolutions include. Um, I'll move that we adopt those resolutions 8 through 13. Is there a second? >> Great. I heard Sarah and Larry right there. We'll see who Jennifer puts in the minutes notes. Um, and uh, are there any

096comments or questions about those first resolutions 8 through 13? Okay, great. Uh, and all those in favor of approving resolutions 2026-8 through signify with an I. I. All those opposed and abstensions. All right, we'll move on. So, those resolutions pass. We'll move on to the final uh item under administration before we get to our student board representative updates, which may be a little redundant tonight. Um, is a superintendent contract. Um, this is again also a yearly contract that the board takes up. Uh, and um, it's in here because the language includes a uh, an increase for IPD and for nothing else. So, I don't know if you remember, but last year we included some um, weekend and holiday uh, language in the contract to make sure that there was fair pay for additional duties performed.

097this year. No additional um language is being requested by our superintendent. Uh Kevin, do you want to say anything about that or have I covered it? >> Uh you have covered it. Again, it's like every other contract that comes to you other than this contract is that it's your you're the other party involved on this one. Um but in this contract, uh speaking from my contract, it's like Dan said, it's only the IPD increase. there's no other benefit increases across there. Uh and the reason why it comes to you again is because of that, but also because of the date changes as well. There are date changes there. >> Great. Other not nothing different. >> Thank you, Kevin. Um I'll I'll move that we approve the superintendent contract for 2026 through 28. Is there a

098second? >> Great. Are there any questions or comments about the superintendent contract >> from the board? Okay. Hearing none, I'll move to a vote. Uh, all those in favor of approving the superintendent contract for 2026 28 signify with an I. I. All those opposed and abstensions. Okay, that passes the super contract. Kevin, uh, I I'll just say from my own personal point of view, I really appreciate your, you know, sometimes they talk about in pro sports about home team discounts, and I don't I don't know if that's what we're getting here, but I really do appreciate your restraint in asking for language in your um, in your contract. I think we have one of the most transparent superintendent contracts in the valley. There's not a lot of extra stuff added to it to inflate the

099contract. pretty much what you see is what you get with your contract. And I' I've appreciated that from the start and I appreciate more and more uh the chance that we get I get to work with you. So, I I I thank you for your work on our district's behalf um and the care you put into everything you do for our for for your city and for for your hometown school district. >> And back at all five of you. Thank you. >> Thank you, Kevin. All right. I'm guessing there isn't a student board representative update. Have you floated the river yet? Have you gotten to do that? That's good. All right, that's summer update. Dog walking completed. All right, good job. Uh we'll move on now to the associate super. Thank you, by the way,

100again for your presentations. Move on now to the associate superintendent for district operations. We have uh enrollment update, financial status update, and the results of our audit. And we have some of that here in front of us here. And this is Chris and Stephanie again. Well, we I I thought about this to also our two biggest jobs by far as board members is superintendent, contract, and budget. And we're doing both of them here today. So, I um it feels like we're it's a big milestone for us today. >> Surprised it's not a packed house. Yeah, that's right. Right. >> All right. >> Enrollment, financial status, and SAO accountability. >> All right. I'll just do give you a quick enrollment year-end report. We've already talked about it in the presentation tonight. It's pretty short and sweet.

101So, we landed at the end of the 2526 school year at 3597 FTE on average. And remember, we're funded based on average uh for staffing allocations. We that's just under 15 over our projection which is good. This is about anytime you can land 20 or less or around 15 to 20 over is a bonus. You don't want to be under but so that was good. So that's equates to about $150,000 that we collect over what we we budgeted. So 2627 as you know we budgeted 109 um decline in enrollment. So, uh, we unfortunately are going to see a decline for a while probably unless we get a bunch more kindergarteners in and they start moving through the system. So, with that, I'll turn it over to Stephanie for the financial update and the SAO results.

102>> Okay, so financial update for the month of May. Um, 75% of the way through the school year or fiscal year, uh, we've received 71.5% of our revenues. So that that difference there, we're lagging a little bit, but that's mostly because of the aortionment pay schedule. Um it slows down in the months of April, May, June. Um and then picks up in July and August. And we also have a short pay going on for LEA um in the state. The legislature didn't have enough authority in their budget to pay for LEA in the months of May and June. So they'll catch us up in July. So that's why you see a little lag there. um expenditures. We've spent 72% of our budget for the year with an ending fund balance of 9.3 million and that's

103roughly 13.6%. Uh on the flip side of that, uh one fund I'll point out is our transportation vehicle fund. Uh we did pay for the second bus that we received this year. Um, so our ending fund balance there right now is $47,000 and we will receive the aortionment depre or the depreciation payment in August. So we'll see that go back up at that time. Okay. And then the audit report. This is the accountability audit report. We had our financial and federal single audit earlier this year. So you guys have already seen that report. This is the accountability um audit that they do now every two years where they take more of a approach in auditing our internal controls and in processes. Um in the report you'll you'll be able to see what what areas they

104took a look at this year. Um they looked at accounts payable which they always do every year for our dispersements. Um ASB high school and middle school that's always a hot area for accountability especially on the fundraiser side. They also looked at our student store at the high school again. Um and then supplemental contracts, um use of restricted funds, um they do a financial condition evaluation as well. Um now that we're in the environment that we're in as part of the accountability audit, uh open public meeting and then inventory is another area they looked at. Um overall the audit went really well. um no major issues other than the the management letter that you'll see later on in the document um in reference to our student store inventory. Um and the way and the reason

105that's on the management letter this year is because it was also included last year and they didn't fully implement the changes. So we have a plan going forward to address that. Um so next accountability audit that shouldn't be an issue. Any questions on that? I >> think so. >> Just real quick, um I I think that's pretty standard in audits, right? If you have you find a problem in the first audit, it doesn't get brought up until it happens twice in a row, right? >> And so that's what we're seeing with the ASV inventory, which is like candy bars. I mean, >> yeah, >> I'm not real concerned about it. >> Yeah. Um so last accountability audit the student store inventory was included on a management letter as well but in in conjunction with an

106issue at the middle school fundraiser and the reason it didn't get escalated up to a finding this year is because they did see improvement on the middle school side. So that issue was resolved but the inventory wasn't completely resolved. So luckily it stayed at a management letter level. Um but again we've we've have a plan in place a process in place that we're going to implement going forward. So, we'll monitor it very closely and they will look at it again this next accountability audit to make sure that those changes have been made >> and it's a great learning opportunity for our students who are involved in the inventory that there is oversight that needs to happen as well as our staff who are responsible for that and and yes Derek I understand yes it's probably

107a few candy bars here and there and maybe some other things but uh >> it is uh it is something we're responsible for and the auditors look at it it is a hot area when you have students handling money and product And so, uh, we need to make improvements there. And, uh, it's nice to see the middle school stepped up a little bit, but we can turn our attention on the high school and get that cleaned up as well. >> Even though it's ASB money, ASB money is still public money, and that's why we got to make sure that that doesn't happen. >> Yeah, I didn't I didn't want to minimize it. >> No, >> I was just trying to say it's not a major issue. >> Is that Is that consider concession stands as

108well? Is that part of the student store? >> Yes. Okay. >> Yeah. >> All right. Great. Thank you. Other comments or questions about the uh associate superintendent for district operations report. Thank you both for that. Uh we'll move on now to the superintendent report. We have two written reports from um uh one is about the athletic report for the year and one is the facilities report for the year. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this, we take we we alternate years. So, uh, next year athletics and facilities will present to us publicly. Uh, and this year they're giving us a written report. The, uh, board has, uh, PDFs from both the middle school and high school for athletics. Uh, and Frank has provided a written facilities report as well. Is there anything that

109you want us to look at in particular there, uh, Kevin? Um I guess I would say the number of students involved is a good thing to look at. I think that's healthy when you have the numbers that we see um being involved and the diversity of the programs uh that we have available for students. Um and then there's some obviously because we have the number of students I think uh the athletic directors put it in that it's a challenge as well. the more students you have, the more facility needs you have, the the more coaches that are needed. But those are good problems. The more kids involved in and whether it's athletics or the other activities is a good thing. >> Great. Thank you. I I hope uh all the board members will have a

110a chance um if you haven't yet to look at the athletics report along with the facilities report. And we'll move on now to the superintendent update. I have one thing for you just as a reminder and mainly this is just for you Larry is that you've been on the schedule of having two meetings per month and the months of uh July and August only have one meeting a month that just the regular business meeting at the end of the month. Other than that that is on the 23rd of July. >> Great. Okay. Uh we are now uh moving to the board of directors communications for tonight. Uh are there any board members that would like to communicate? Uh, I would just like to say having be the newest member been here December. So, it's been

111a a great learning curve and I appreciate Chris and the thoroughess which you do everything and answer my questions which might seem trivial to you, but I just just don't know what's going on. So, I'm asking questions. So, I appreciate your patience with it and the the thoroughess when you're prepared to come. I appreciate it. >> Yeah, Chris, we're going to miss you so much. I I wrote down I typed something up earlier so I could read it to you because I but just quickly I wanted to really say how grateful I am been on the board a decade now going I'll start my career here months and you from the beginning have just been so gracious and so helpful and kind and tolerant of questions. Seriously, from day one, I I remember walking into

112your office and just feeling completely overwhelmed. You you were able to just you just dumbed it down. So, like public school finance is it's crazy. You make it seem it's just so not easy, but understandable. And I appreciate your patience. And you said something a little earlier about maybe nagging somebody from another school district. And I think in a world where it is so like loyalty just just doesn't exist in the workplace anymore. Employers really that loyal to employees and employees, you know, we're looking out for number one. And for us to be so fortunate to have 26 years, it's just unbelievable. We love you and I'm gonna miss you so much. You Uh, Sarah, thank you for saying all those wonderful things. I second all those things, too. Chris, who was the first superintendent

113that you worked for? >> Jerry Jenkins. Then Yep. Yep. And then Shane Steve Chestnut. There we go. There we go. Well, I mean that that's I guess what I wanted to say is that, you know, uh uh we do see a lot of change uh in our school districts and to have somebody be as rockolid as you have been for 26 years. Um and and to do it all with the professionalism that you have is just it from from a from a professional point of view, it is just a thing to behold. But my my own relationship with you started with um uh working on bond and levy committees with my wife Amy. And we both uh like Sarah said, we both love you and are going to miss you greatly. Um and I I

114I think of the trust that gets placed in our schools with people's children and with their money. And uh there's no greater place to put trust than I think in your in your leadership over these 26 years. Um, and uh uh Stephanie, I uh you have big you have big shoes to fill for sure. I I I told Chris at at one of one of her going away parties that she's absolutely irreplaceable and she is, but if there's anybody that can do it, Stephanie will be able to do it. So Chris, you're you're leaving us in excellent hands and I appreciate that that planning part of it as well. But man, I just don't want it to end. So, um, I'm I'm really glad I got to know you through this position because you're just

115just outstanding person. So, thank you. >> I'll keep it short and sweet because you know how I feel about you, but definitely want to second what Sarah said when I first came on the board. Um, you're just very accepting and became a quick friend fast friend, you know. Um, and like seconding Dan and Larry, just your expertise is palpable and we are in such a good position compared to other districts around here because of your leadership there and I just renewed my Elks membership yesterday. So, I'm looking forward to you whoop you whooping me a couple times over over your retirement, >> asking if she can play through. >> Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. >> Move it along. You know, Chris, I I don't know you on the personal level that some of the other board

116members do, but uh I've always I always look at the government and want the government to take good care of my tax money. And you've done that for a long time. You've left a great legacy and a great heritage for CILA. Um not just the community, but also the school district and our children. Um I want to thank you for that. Um, but I also know that I have a great degree of confidence in Stephanie in part because of the training that she's received from you. And so I think we're in a great place. There's some sad realities about what we're going through, but 100% um, thank you for what you've done. You've left CILA in a much better position than probably most other people who have served as you have. Thank you, Chris. Uh,

117and I'm I'm glad you had to sit here and listen to us say all those nice things. You Oh, man. All right. Uh, we are now going to move to our final item on the um on the agenda, which is a closed session. Uh, so I will I will say that we're going to be out of here for maybe 15 minutes. Yeah, probably 15 minutes to review collective bargaining update. It's 607, so we'll return back to our regular session. Uh, 15 minutes plus 607. The board has chosen to extend to another 15 minutes. All right, we are back now. It's a little later than we thought it was going to be. It's 6:37 and uh the meeting is now adjourned.