001Good evening. I'd like to call this uh Thursday's meeting of the board of directors to order. Would you please rise for the flag salute to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for stands nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all >> Tacoma public schools acknowledges that we are on the traditional ancestral and historical lands of the Pua tribe of Indians. We honor with gratitude the land itself and the Puallup tribe. This acknowledgement serves as a first step in honoring our nearest tribal neighbors and partners who have inhabited this region since time immemorial and to whom we give thanks for allowing us passage to the lands. We shall intentionally create inclusive and respectful partnerships that honor indigenous cultures, histories, ident identities, and socopolitical realities. General counsel, could you please call
002the role? >> President Stroer, >> I'm here. >> Vice President Mccelroy >> here. >> Director Keating, >> here. You have a quorum. >> For the record, Director Bombbrite is still out and uh director Leon is also out on just absent. Uh we are going to enter uh public hearing for the fin. What was that? >> Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Next, we're going to move into a public uh hearing section of the agenda. Do I have a motion? >> Move to adopt. >> Second. >> Moved and seconded. All in favor? >> I. >> All right, we can begin. So tonight uh what we are having is uh our first well is our public hearing for the budget. So what we will do is we will have a financial presentation by our CFO
003Mr. Rosen Medina and then we will do uh what is a little unique is is we will have a public hearing. So the members of the public that would like to speak on the public or the budget process will have an opportunity to do that. Uh and then we will go into what is typically the what the public would see as more of our normal part of uh the business agenda. And then you'll see there's a second portion of public comment and that would be for typical other items in the the um for the budget or excuse me of business items uh or other district business. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Miss Medina to give you uh our budget hearing information. >> Thank you. I have the wrong presentation. So
004Tracy, I may have sent you the wrong presentation. That's not good. >> It's attached to the agenda. So I know that. >> So on ours it has budget, >> right? It should be a budget hearing. >> Mhm. >> Presentation. This one says financial update. This is the last June meeting. >> And this one's an important one. Yep. >> Thank you. This one's an important one. So, we got we got to go with the actual presentation. >> Well, when we get to it, because I have it in front of me and I can share a little bit of info, um, I'm going to start out just by giving you a little bit of backstory on where we've come this year and where we've been, uh, so that you have some context around what our budget actually
005represents this year. And uh we will be presenting for adoption this evening the 2526 budget. I think it's important to note Thank you. Perfect. I think it's important to note that the budget is a plan. This is the beginning of the conversation. We're setting our expectation and our tone for the year and how we're going to spend and outlining what our expectations are and what we anticipate our revenues to be. And then it's our responsibility as we progress through the year to make modifications and respond to whatever we're seeing in our financial position during the year. Um, over the last three years, we've made a number of reductions. Uh, we started with a $10 million shortfall back in 2023. We cut $40 million last year in the budget, and then in the development of this
006year's budget, we eliminated approximately $30 million of expenses. It's our intent to drive our revenues, uh, our expenses to be within the revenues, but it's also our intent to ensure that we're working to support student needs. As I said, the $30 million shortfall has left us uh with a lot of reductions this year that we have to now address how we're going to provide services for those uh things that we've made reductions for and how we're going to make modifications in the way that we operate. Uh we also wanted to rebuild our fund balance. Uh as we've told you in all the years worth of presentations that we've provided, uh we're running tight on funds and we have been running tight on funds this whole year as well as last year. Uh so we made
007modifications uh primarily to salaries this year. We eliminated a number of positions over a hundred positions when we were said and done with our budget development. Uh and part of that is because of the continuing costs and and part of that is the fact that most of our resources are in uh positions and so when 86% of your budget is in positions you have to make modifications where the dollars are being spent. We are not alone in our conversation. We've talked to you a number of times about statewide issues is uh not even included on this sheet is Belleview School District announced last week that they were moving into binding conditions. Uh it was an optional move but still uh it indicates that they as well are having financial struggles and are looking to try
008to offset what those struggles look like over the next year. We've talked to you a number of times about what we're seeing as those um financial issues, lack of adequate funding from the state, inflation and escalating costs, uh federal administration shifts in funding. Uh we were notified a week and a half ago that we were going to be potentially losing a number of our title funds that support about $2.5 million worth of resources in Tacoma School District. Uh and so those are things that we will actually still have to budget. At the time of developing the budget, it was too late for us to try to pull them out and make modifications. They're included. If we lose those resources, we now have a budget issue moving into the 25 26 year. So, it's a flow
009a fluid activity that we're still engaging in. And as I said, it's a plan. Our plan was to have those expenses. Uh and then as we identify issues and changes, we have to make modifi modifications based on those. So that will mean that um and we will it is very likely that you know for formal actions if you choose to adopt the budget tonight that we may have to bring an additional adoption for you in August if the federal government withdrew those funds if they made official actions then we would have to because we are so tightly lean in that space and so in this landscape it is going to be so dynamic that we would have to make those kinds adjustments. Um so just be prepared as we go through and those um with
010the limited fund balance that we will have. We will we will be in a position that we will be coming and and having to educate folks to say and ask for those formal authorities to say here's the official modification that we will be looking for. Um Roz, can I ask a question around title funds because um I did attend a webinar that the um state superintendent held today around federal impacts, funding impacts and um there was um some helpful clarification on the title programs because title is such a broad and large um but and I'm I'm looking for my notes but um I can't find them right now, but I recall that um some of the programs that are being targeted through title are bilingual um specific to um bilingual programming and >> it's migrant
011workers. >> It's um title 2A which is professional development for teachers, teacher improvements and then title four which is where's it supports the same. >> Okay. So, title four is just an additional enhancement for uh teacher training. >> So, to your point uh director Keading, we our total title services are over $10 million. Uh it's pretty significant. And so, uh what has been indicated to us and it's just been indicated. It has not been a a final determination uh that is very uh targeted towards uh services in certain categories within the title programming. Uh it has been estimated somewhere between two and $3 million in the Tacoma public schools. Um OSPI produced a map. It is out there on the website where folks could see what those are. Um where the uh local impacts are
012individual districts across the state. Um you can see that some districts are impacted even more so than us because of uh for example migrate education is bigger in the uh eastern Washington and so the funds would be have a more significant impact in that space. So it's not even the sense of the size of your district. It's also in those categories where those fundings come from. >> So um we wouldn't be able to budget when we don't know what the impacts are in that space and that's the unknown. I thank you for all that. I think it's also extremely important to um continue to highlight the way that the federal administration is specifically targeting very specific populations and in punitive ways and this is just another example. So one level of uh fortunate information uh
013we have an enrollment that is anticipated to increase just slightly over the next several years. Um for us that's great news because at least uh we have a steady enrollment uh means a steady ability to project our revenues. Uh in other districts where they might fluctuate a thousand kids from one year to the next without having an understanding of what that looks like that becomes very challenging for them to manage their finances. Uh we are fortunate in that respect. So that top line is our our trend and you'll see that it's dipped over the last 10 years. We've lost about 1500 students in total. Uh we're anticipated to gain just under a thousand students over the next four years. So, >> so I want to pause this and look at uh uh projected 2025 and
014you see uh at the top we are just that slight gain of roughly a 100 students if that. >> Um but you see halfway down is is the red which is the middle school numbers. Um and so that's what it really becomes challenging is that although we are what we would describe as flat as a district. You can see we have growth in certain areas and decline in other areas. And so what we call is those are bubbles if you will. A bubble comes through the system. And that's really difficult when you talk about a school community because you have a bubble that is growing in one area and declining in another. And we are enrollment driven. So, um, when we get to the fall and folks are saying, "Well, you're cutting that program." Well,
015we're not necessarily cutting the program. There's just not enough students to drive that number of students in that space. So, just putting a a note that although we are flat, unfortunately, you can see that our middle school programming will be our middle school enrollment is declining next year because of that bubble is smaller. And you can see that going back to October 23 23 when that red number was in your elementary schools, right? And so and then you can see that that will ultimately hit us in 2027 in our high school programming. So when we talk about our our state funding concerns, one of them is the state funding gap. So this is the number of of staff that the state says that we should have based on our prototypical model and then the percentage
016of resources that they give us is considerably different than that. Uh that gap has been increasing it has been increasing since the mccclary lawsuit. Uh during mccclary the state invested a number of billions of dollars into education and over time they have eased off on that investment and so without that continued investment and continued growth uh while salaries and on our end continue to rise the state's not keeping up with their share of that burden. Additionally, all of our main expenses for utilities, fuel, um food, and uh motor view, no insurance, excuse me, uh are continuing to rise. So, other discretionary expenses just continue to rise. Uh we are seeing some of these start to taper off slightly, but they're still increases. It's not as significant of an increase. So where we've been experiencing inflation,
017the explation is uh not leveling off but declining. >> And Rosen, our books closed for the 2425 school year in >> August 31st. So when folks are looking at home and they're seeing that chart saying 23 24, the reason why you're not seeing 2425 is because the books are not quite closed yet for that. But we those trends, we are seeing the same level of trend. just to exemplify the state's burden as we see it. They may disagree. Uh what was invested in state funding in 2020, excuse me, 2019 2021 bienium was 52% of the state's budget. That was at the height of mcclary. McCclary had just occurred and investments were made and as time has progressed, we are now actually being funded at a lower percentage of the budget in relationship to where we
018were premlary. Now the state's budget has increased and so our revenues may have increased but all of our costs are increasing as though we were still getting funded at 52%. So with that we followed a typical pattern of process around how we've developed our budget and we used our budgeting by priorities process uh and we used our typical staffing model process and our administrative support models and made evaluations as to what levels of support we could continue moving forward with. made a number of modifications and shifts. We changed positions, shifted them into funding sources that provided us more flexibility and allowed us to capture resources that we weren't spending on those resources in the past. Uh, and use the board's expectations as a guideline as we did it. It's important to note that the district
019has a number of different funds. These are different checkbooks that allow us to spend on different activities. They're all defined in the state accounting manual. Uh we don't get license over what and how. Thank you. Uh the general fund is our operating fund. That's where most of what we'll talk about tonight uh will be discussed. However, there are a number of other funds that are displayed because we're required to tell you about them as part of our budget hearing. Uh the debt service fund is where we handle all of the principal and interest for the bonds that we've issued. The associated student body or funds that are governed by students for students. And then uh transportation vehicle fund is for the purchase and repair of yellow buses. Finally, the capital and technology levy is where
020we handle all of our big buildings uh expenses like buying new buildings, building new buildings, buying land, uh and our technology levy which is technology related. So when we look at all of the resources that the district will have next year, uh the general fund is one component of that $724.9 million roughly 81% of that represents the operating fund in the general fund. Those are just revenues. On the general fund, we are presenting you with a balanced budget. Uh it's a little better than balance because it is helping to grow the fund balance slightly and that is a requirement that's set by the board policy. Uh we should have a 5% reserve requirement. Anticipated reserve requirement as of the last financial presentation that I provided you was less than zero. So we actually don't have
021a fund balance in reserve at this point in time. uh this plan helps to restore that. Uh I do believe that we will end in the positive this year. I don't know how much, but we anticipated a 5% $5 million um fund balance to start the year, which means that if we do if we are able to grow our fund balance by the $ 8.5 million listed here, our fund balance would be 2.35% when the year ends next year. for the revenues for the 2526 general fund only. Uh 74% of that comes from the state. 14% of that will come from local levies. Our local levy will be $82 million that we'll collect from taxpayers next year. Thank you Tacoma voters for your support. And then our federal resources are around 7%. Of course, that
022includes the resources that we were notified that we may have uh limited access to. So uh that could change, that could shift. And then we have local non- tax um which is collections from other school districts, things like that. Uh and then other taxes uh other costs, fees, so transfer from the capital fund for technology purchases, um donations, grants that come in uh oftentimes fit into the other category. That revenue is about uh $9 million more than it was in the prior year. Uh we did get uh an anticipated $13 million from the state, but we also had some revenues that weren't coming in. So we had to make revenue adjustments on our own internal estimates from previous years. And so that's where we're sitting right now. We want to build our expenses to fit
023within those revenues and ensure we have fund balance for emergencies. Uh right now we've adjusted our salaries and benefits from 86% in last year's budget down to 84% in this year's budget. Uh the remainder of that will be in contracts, supplies, a little bit in travel, and then uh capital outlay. And travel includes student travel for field trips and things like that. So $579.3 million roughly is where we'll see our expenditures. I'm required to share with you whether we are in compliance on material supplies and operating costs, and I can share with you that we are. The state revenues are $40 million. We will anticipate $48.4 $4 million of general fund material supplies and operating costs. That's not inclusive of uh m Moxs that happen outside of the general uh excuse me, I did say
024general fund, basic education. These are basic education. Uh so there might be more MSOCs that occur that are outside of the basic education fund, but this is just making sure that we're in compliance with the basic education side uh by $8 million. I am also required to share with you our four-year budget. Uh we build our four-year plan with the expectation that um our revenues are anticipated based on where we expect the state's funding to grow and our expenditures are forced in to be in line with that. So it gives us a guide of where we might see expenditures over the next few years. However, I will say that the complexity of what we do and how we develop budgets, there are so many levers that need to be pulled simultaneously. It's not a very
025useful resource for us, but it does give us a a measure and a guide so you have some awareness. Looking at the other funds, our debt service fund, we anticipate expenditures of 79.462. Uh that's what I said is used to pay for the principal and interest on our loans. Uh currently, we have $899.882 million of outstanding bonds. Uh we will anticipate selling additional bonds that we have authority for based on our 2024 bond sale or bond election bond initiative. Um and we anticipate doing that in 2027 selling some more bonds but we don't have a dollar amount yet because it'll be dependent upon the projects that are needed to be um purchased at the time that we go out for those bonds. associated student body as I said student related funds uh anticipated expenditures of
0265,114,986 transportation vehicle fund for the purchase and repair of yellow buses uh and now some some vans were also elig eligible to be purchased out of there uh anticipated expenditures $1,83,000 and then capital projects as I mentioned to build buildings by land uh do technology upgrades etc uh that is anticipated to have expenditure authority of $187,17,927. And this is a 4-year outline of our other funds as required by law. And then just to share with you, as our budgeting by priorities process allows, uh we have our um budget managers submit their resources and requests based on our strategic goals, our academic uh goals for the year. And so we then present this back to you as to how we've invested our resources. um compared to last year it looks a little different but if you
027look at the history of the last five years um I don't think that there's a significant modification to what we have invested in um some things have shifted around over the years like last year when we went from the TK added the TK program we took that out of preschool we added TK and so we did the same level of support but it ended up in a different category as an example so a lot of that is just a shifting of the resources that we have um and then just to speak briefly about fund balance as I indicated it it is at five uh below the 5% allocation requirement per the board policy it's our intent to bring that back up uh our board policy says that the superintendent and I will have a plan
028and we do have that plan uh our intent is to grow it by 1% for 2526 another percent for 2627 another percent for 2728 and our intent is really to do it a a lot faster than that. Um, but that's our initial outline of our plan. Of course, the fund balance is important for ensuring we have resources for emergency situations, our bond ratings, uh, when we go to sell bonds, it can affect interest rates, and so it's important for us to rebuild those resources. And lastly, I would just like to thank all of uh those that contributed to our budgeting by priorities process and our staffing process. It really did take a collective of everyone in the community and the v and the village of our staff um specifically the budget team led by Kristen
029Bell, Jodie Barry, Natasha Edward, and Denise Richards are all um Denise Richards, Denise Hall. I don't know. I got I'm going to Charlie Sheen's ex-wife. I don't know where I'm at. I got plans later tonight to watch some shows. Um so Denise Hall, my apologies to Denise. uh they work tirelessly. Uh they're doing it short staffed. We've we've eliminated positions in their department as well and and it's just been a herculean effort. So, thank you to them and then of course to the superintendent and the board and all of our budget managers and to all of those who provided input in the community. That would include our union leadership. uh public comment here at the board meetings has had impacts on the way that we've operated and communicated around uh the budget conversations and continues
030to do so as well as our budget advisory committee and uh everybody else that's participated. So, thank you for that. And finally, we just have facts and information out on our budget website. The F195 document, if you really want a page turner, is sitting out there waiting for anybody to review it. That's the formal document that we're required to submit to the state and that you are technically approving this evening. assuming you do. >> And I just want to echo my thanks to the team. Um it's it's a lot of work. Uh when you look at that F 195, it's uh there's a lot of uh a lot of pages, a lot of lines, a lot of numbers, and then there's a lot of hard work behind each one of those. Um this has not
031been an easy year. Uh it has not been an easy budget to build. Uh there is uh I'll just leave it at that. You know that, members of the public know that, the team knows that. Um, I want to echo what Rosen said. We We're not done. This is a key moment if you choose to adopt it tonight. Uh, but you need to all be prepared that we will continue to have to keep on moving forward with this financial times. Um, we will probably be bringing you modifications in the future. um as we move see what whether it's the federal or the state and the impacts in that I want to thank all the folks uh once again that have recognized how difficult this is uh and have tried to come up with solutions alternatives
032um and they've been helpful family members staff members have written have called um ideas sometimes plans uh but we've been able to bounce ideas back and forth and also create shared meaning and a lot of those have been done in respectful manners and that's uh that's not lost on me and so I'm extremely grateful for those that have participated as well. So thank you. So we'll uh answer any questions about the presentation and then you folks will uh we'll turn it over to public comment for that point. >> All right questions >> no questions or comments from the board. So, we'll go ahead and move to agenda item 2B, which is uh public comment section for the financial presentation. Do you have any? >> We received one request specific to the budget. Uh Carl Madden,
033please. >> Carrie, excuse me, Carrie Madden. >> Thank you. Uh my name is Carrie Madden. Thank you for having me here tonight and listening to me. We are all well aware that Washington is not adequately funding public education. For the last several years and several times this year, I myself have met with legislators and fought for increased funding and I will continue to do that. However, I also believe as I have spoken about several times before here that some of the fault lies here with the district for the extent of this deficit. But at this point, it's done and we have to deal with it. So, the question has been how. Your staff and community have given suggestions for months. Your own advisory committees first priority was to keep cuts away from classrooms. And yet,
034it seems that's where most of the cuts have been made. We asked for creative solutions, but you chose, as Roslin said at the May meeting, the easy cuts. Those of us with direct student support, and many of the lowest paid. Many districts in Washington are facing deficits, but not all are choosing the easy cuts. A district in Kenowick is moving to a 4-day week to address its deficit. Bellingham's district administrators have taken a freeze in their pay at the 2425 rate. They are also each taking four furlow days next year. These are all things that I and many others have urged you to consider and we do not feel heard. What I have been looking for most is transparency. If these measures have been considered, tell us. Tell us what creative solutions you have considered
035and why you don't believe they will work for Tacoma. Without that, it just feels like you're ignoring us and continuing with what's easy. >> Thank you. >> That's the only comment related to the budget this evening. So, we're going to keep this thing real rolling and close it public hearing and move back into our regular agenda. So, at this point, the budget hearing is closed. Agenda item number 3A, which is uh recognition of staff, students, and community, state holidays, and civic observances. >> Yes, we had one legislative recognized day of observance this month, and that is the 4th of July, Independence Day, which has come and gone. I hope everybody had an opportunity to spend some time with their loved ones. >> Thank you. Agenda item number four is the superintendent report and there is
036not one this evening. Do you have any other comments though? >> No comments tonight. >> Perfect. Next up, staff report to the board. There is no staff report to the board this evening. Uh next agenda item, members of the public wishing to address the board. I just want to confirm that we do have some blue cards for that. >> We do. >> Okay. School board members encourage public participation. Your civil input is appreciated. Board members will not respond to your comments during the meeting. The superintendent or designate will follow up with you after the meeting if action is needed. Instead of speaking at a meeting, you may also send an email to the board at board tacoma.k12.wa. us. Please contact the board office in advance of the meeting for disability accommodations. Uh public comment guidelines
037under board policy 14:30. public comment. The board president may terminate uh terminate an individual's comments when the allotted time has passed and may interrupt a speaker to require the same standard of civility that the board imposes on itself. Examples of uni univil comments include comments that are liabus or slanderous under a legal standard or an unwarranted invasion of privacy or an obscene or indecent pursuant to the Federal Communications Act or any rule of the Federal Communications Commission. Violate school district policy or procedure related to harassment, intimidation, bullying, or discrimination. incite an unlawful act on school premises or violate a lawful school regulation or create a material and substantial disruption of the orderly operation of the board meeting. The board me the board as a whole has the final decision in determining the appropriateness of all
038such rulings and can maintain order by removing those who are disruptive. However, the board recognizes the distinction between univil discourse, which it will not tolerate, and comments about the board, the district, andor staff that are negative yet still civil in nature. The board will exercise its authority to maintain order in a contentneutral manner. Option one is verbal comment which we have the blue cards here for this evening. The general counsel will call your name when it's your turn to address the school board. Please speak into the microphone and you may have up to three minutes to share your comments or if there are large number of speakers. Time may be limited at the president's discretion. Option number two is written comment. Uh we didn't have any written comments submitted this time. So I'll pass it
039to you for the first verbal comment. >> Thank you. We've got six people wishing to speak today. The first is Alan Schlee, followed by Tamar Brown L. Um, my name is Alan Schby. Uh, I teach fourth grade at Blitz Elementary and have been a Tacoma school public teacher here uh for 5 years. Uh in my five years, I have had uh three different principles and five different combinations of assistant principles and principles in Blicks. Um you've already heard from us. The last two meetings we've had community members from our Blicks booster club um speak to you about um you taking away our assistant principal, Dr. Darius Mensah. Um so you don't need to hear my opinion on you know how we feel. Um, what I would like to know and what our east side community
040I believe deserves to know is what was the process behind this adman change and what does this board do in general and what is the process in general for the exempt employees that like administrators like assistant principles and principles that you tend to move around from building to building. What is that process? Who decides these things? What questions are asked? And do you and since this board approves those things, I would like to know what research and community input you have for that. and what ideas and thoughts are gone into those decisions that are tough and hard. And if it is just numbers, then we we feel like an eastsided community needs to know and deserves to know and have a longer conversation about if it's only numbers, we need to talk about equity and
041what our district trumpets as one of our major core values, what we teach every day and what we at Blicks Elementary practice every day. Since 2021, the 2022 school year, we have reduced the number of suspensions due to behavior by 17.5%. That's based on OSPI numbers. That's doing the work. That's serving every student every day. Yet, we need to know and we deserve to know. And transparency was the word that was come up in public comment earlier today. And I appreciate the person that brought that up. We deserve a trans to know what the transparent process is for this because it affects our students. It affects our staff and it affects our community. We deserve to know when an exceedingly effective administrator is being ripped away from our building and our students and our community,
042especially one with the majority of students of color and a vulnerable community. a vulnerable community that gathers to discuss how to deal with the pervasive gun violence against children in the community. When we come to those meetings and we come together and talk about those things, no one brings a calculator. This is about more than numbers and the effects that these decisions have on all of us. I'll leave you with this. Dr. Dr. Mensah would speak at our student le announcements every morning and he would say this. Be kind to yourself and others. Thank you for your time and attention. I yield the rest of my time. Next we have Tamar Brown L followed by Jesse Green. Good evening. My name is Tamar Brownell and I'm here again not because I want to be, but
043because I must. The grievance and complaint process I've endured by Tacoma Public Schools continued to be plagued by retaliation, pro procedural neligence, and administrative indifference. I've made my concerns known repeatedly. While the district has remained silent, the public has not. The public is watching my bravery, persistence, and dedication. And let me be clear, you cannot silence me or the growing number of voices who continue who will stand with me. The district's lack of movement will not only will continue to amplify our message. The silence you've maintained on this matter will not bury it. It will only continue to grow louder. Due my ad advocacy, I've reached other victims who have come forward with their experiences. There are currently four active cases filed against Tacoma public schools in the Pierce County Superior Court. Each of them
044mentioned the same administrator, Ariel Becker. In addition, I have a pending claim before the public employment relations um commission, the PERC, that have accepted and is awaiting the district's response. Currently, I have pending public records request that continued to be delayed by months. I was subject to an unsubstantiated investigation for 2 and a half years. Even though the district claims the matter was closed in January 2024, the investigation was prolonged until April 2025. And the final determination was never sent to me. Instead, it was actually sent to my twin sister, who has faced third-party retaliation because of the district's neligence and shifting their scrutiny onto her. She became entangled into this matter in June of 2024 due to no fault of her own only because of her relation to me. And despite these serious concerns,
045I've filed a harassment, intimidation, and bullying complaint against Forest since November 2023 that the district has yet to investigate in a rogus in violation of due process and board policy. I will not stop until this neligence is addressed. I will exhaust every grievance, every appeal process, every complaint process available to me because my my presence here is not performative. It's a reflection of the legal, ethical, and professional failures that continue to take place under the leadership. I'm here to say that at the end of this, somebody's going to have to give me an honorary attorney degree because I'm studying. I will continue to be in every law library that there is that the Pierce County Superior Court offers me and continue to take on this district until I find an attorney. Thank you. Next we
046have Jesse Green, followed by Becky R. Thank you. Uh my name is Jesse Green and I'm a proud parent uh to three Tacoma public school students, one each at Silus, Mason, and Sherman. We're incredibly proud of our neighborhood schools, but I'm concerned that the district and Mason Middle School missed the mark when it comes to the dress code. TPS policy 3224 states that dress code enforcement should be equitable, avoiding disparities based on race, gender, body type, and many other factors. That the opposite is actually happening. Early this past school year, our seventh grade daughter, who is also an ASB officer at the school, was dresscoded for wearing leggings and a very normal t-shirt that came down to the top of her pants because if she were to raise her hands over her head, the slight
047amount of her stomach could be visible. In no circumstances would anyone find what she was wearing to be inappropriate or offensive in any way. As such, our daughter decided with the support of the principal to use her position as an ASB officer to attempt to modify the dress code. She and some of her fellow students proposed changes that eliminated the strict ban on tank tops, measurements on shorts, and the prohibition on showing any midriff at all. Essentially, they were requesting to wear clothes that would be completely appropriate in any other setting. At one point, a Mason teacher that's on the SCDM committee told our daughter that eliminating the measurements on shorts could be a problem because girls would quote have their booties hanging out or that they could only wear tank tops if they wore
048a strapless strapless bra because if a boy saw a bra strap, they wouldn't be able to control themselves and not get distracted. The message that my daughter took away was that it's a girl's responsibility to dress in a way that ensures that boys act appropriately. We were shocked to hear such antiquated, sexist, and victimlaming comments from a teacher in a position of authority over decisions like the dress code, particularly in light of the district's policies to the contrary. I'm here today to ask for your help and support in creating a dress code policy that utilizes reasonableness and common sense and not an over over sexualization of middle school children and antiquated stereotypes about gender roles. While some may say that the dress code is applied to everyone regardless of gender, the strict measurements and accepted
049fashion of today mean that girls are the ones that face the consequences. In researching the issue, we found that Seattle public schools has a very well-written and equitable dress code that allows for kids to express themselves appropriately, but also give schools the ability to ensure a safe and effective learning environment. We've submitted that language to the Mason SCDM committee, but they declined to make any changes. I've emailed all of you the link to the dress code for review, as well as an article about the harms that dress codes can cause. Lastly, I want to point out that over the last few months of the school year at Mason, it was well known throughout the school, whether directly communicated or not, that the dress code was not being enforced. I would drop off my daughter at
050Mason and I would see countless girls wearing very normal and appropriate shorts and tank tops and that nonetheless would have been violations of the school's dress code. The results of not enforcing that dress code, uh, you may be surprised or not to learn that nothing negative happened. Kids still learned, boys behaved appropriately, girls dressed appropriately for school, the sun still rose at the beginning of each school day, and kids were treated with the dignity and respect that they deserve. I appreciate your consideration and I encourage you to adopt a district-wide policy that promotes equity and creates a learning environment without the antiquated baggage of the past. Thank you. >> Next, we have Becky R, followed by Carrie Madden. It's me again. Hi. Um, so to suggest that people donate money to the co the Tacoma
051school board is absurd. While normal citizens of Tacoma are struggling with a minimum wage of 1666 per an hour, any quality of life beyond surviving is a near impossible feat. There have been many times when CEOs or executives of bigname businesses took a pay cut to provide for their employees. I think the reason people are disappointed in you is that you still had raises raises in the tune of $10,000 plus dollars per a person this year and still found the time to suggest the people of Tacoma invest money and uh invest money to support the school system. I understand stepping back from your salaries would cause some discomfort in reducing your salaries. You also would have to make some sacrifices as the pe as the people of Tacoma have already done. This would mean cutting
052back trips such as Japan and DC as well as cutting back within your household like many residents of Tacoma are currently doing. Some instances where cutting the salary of CEOs help companies are during the co co9 pandemic, the initial stages of the pandemic. Many companies, particularly in hard-hit sectors like hospitality and aviation, saw their executives taking pay cuts to help businesses navigate the crisis. There's also a comp company performance issue as well as symbolic versus substantial impact, which I agree we just talked about. Um, so I ask you, why are you asking the Tacoma citizens to donate to a deficit they did not create or to vote for a new tax or a higher tax? You are responsible for leading our school district to success during your employment. Why not take that cut to provide
053your employees and the students with the opportunity they deserve. We should not have to dig your mistakes and lack of preemptive thinking out of the hole. It's time for you to take accountability. It's human to mess up, but what you do after is what speaks volumes to your character. Saying sorry goes a long way, especially in this situation. Next we have Carrie Madden followed by Ingred Aparicio. Hello back again Carrie Madden. U thank you for having me here and this time I won't be talking about budget or cuts or anything thankfully. Um for the past few months I have been listening to the proposed Belltobell cell phone ban and for the most part I'm very much in support of it. However, I am addressing you all tonight because there is something that I would like
054considered. I work in a high school access program, which is a mostly self-contained special education program. As we prepare our students for life outside of high school, one of our biggest concerns is promoting independence. One of the ways that we do that is to encourage students to use the tools that they have at hand before seeking out an adult. One of the tools is their phone. We teach them to find out how to spell a word, how to write a sentence, or use their calculator. For students with limited verbal ability or who struggle to memorize, we teach them how to find and show others their address or their emergency contact. Whether that is the case of an emergency or if it is filling out a form or a resume. Typically, I'm a very strong proponent
055of consistency in expectations from building to building and classroom to classroom, from gened to special education. So, I really to be honest do not know what the right answer is with this. Um, I just mostly wanted to bring another point to be considered. Thanks. Our final comment tonight will be from Ingred Aparicio. >> Good evening. I am Ingred Aparicio. I want to take a moment to share how much of the an impact beyond the belt to come up public schools and jobs 253 have had on my life. These programs have given me more than just an afterchool opportunity. They've helped me de um grow, develop leadership skills, and gain real world experience that I'll carry with me into college and my future career. Working with young students has taught me patience, communication, and how to
056lead by example. I've learned how important it is to be part of a supportive community where people encourage you, believe in you, and help you grow. That support motivated me not only to keep showing up but to keep volunteering even after my time in the program officially ended. These experience experiences have helped me grow not just as a student but as a person. I've learned to speak up, take initiative and believe in myself. More importantly, this opportunity shaped me more shaped me into a stronger, more thoughtful leader and person. And I feel now I feel more prepared for my future and excited about what's what's ahead. Thank you drops. Thank you to drops 253 Beyond the Bell and the board and everyone who supports this these programs. I truly appreciate the opportunity you've given me.
057They've made a lasting difference in my life. Thank you. >> Thank you all. That concludes public comment. We're going to move forward to agenda item number seven, which is a consent agenda. >> I move to adopt. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. All those in favor say I. >> It passes. Uh, moving on. Agenda item number eight, policy matters. There are none this evening. Number nine, financial report. The district's next regularly monthly financial report will be presented on August 28th, 2025. Monthly financial statements can be found on the district's website at tacomaomaschools.org backdance. Agenda item number 10, curriculum and instruction. There are no curriculum and instruction items. 11, business matters. Uh 11 A, approval of Washington information processing cooperative purchase order from October 1st, 2025 through September 1st, 2026. >> So this agenda
058item is uh our software licenses with Microsoft. And uh what this allows us is to do is to get a basically a larger grouping pricing through a cooperative where if we did it independently we wouldn't get that same processing. Um and so um we actually heard this suggestion as well from community members. So if those are out there um we um this is one of those tools that we have been trying to explore to help us get more effective pricing. So the superintendent on behalf of the chief technology officer recommends the board of directors approve the purchase order agreement between Washington information processing cooperative with the Tacoma school district number 10 for the purchase of Microsoft licensing October 1st 2025 through September 1st 2026 for the an estimated cost of $367,36646 funding source technology levy
059fund. I move item 11 A. >> Second. >> It's been moved and second. Questions or comments about this one? >> Hearing none. All those in favor say I. I. >> There's nobody left to be opposed. So, it passes. Uh, agenda number letter B, approval of amendment number four to the district's memorandum of understanding TSD-21-092 with Parks Tacoma and the Trust for Public Land and amendment number one to interlocal agreement TSD-23-175 with Parks Tacoma. >> Uh, just wanted to start off by thanking our partners at Parks Tacoma for contributing additional money to this project. We greatly appreciate it. The chief operating officer recommends that the board of directors approve amendment number four to theou TSD21 and its subsequent amendment number one to the interlocal agreement tsd-23-175 which contributes additional 200,000 for a total of 450,000 to
060the large green schoolyard project. >> I move item 11B second. It's been moved and seconded. Questions, comments, concerns. >> I I think just like humanizing this agenda item, it's about community schoolyards. Um, so I think all the acronyms and things like that, I also got lost. I was like, this is not what I thought it was. It's the community schoolyard um initiative. So yeah, >> and unfortunately the federal government, we had a million-dollar grant and the federal government pulled that grant at the last moment. So for those that don't know that where Larchmont is, it's in the very south end of town. uh and have never been there. Um it's a it's a a wonderful part of the community. Um but there is no playground down there. There is where there is our playground in
061there, but there's not a local park that is close in there. So partnering with the parks to enhance this area is really a great opportunity to do that. And so we're extremely grateful in that. And so to have the parks come in with the trust for public land uh when uh the federal government chose to withdraw their grant uh when we were in full stakes of planning and implementing and uh uh equipment already being ordered. Um we are extremely grateful both to the trust and to parks Tacoma and to the TPS team for executing. So hopefully you'll approve it. >> Solid. Well, that's been moved and seconded. We had one question. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> None opposed. It passes. >> Thanks, Chris. Uh we're jumping into other business. Both of
062these uh we'll do a roll call vote for. Um starting with the approval of Washington intercolastic activity association membership renewal and the schoolboard resolution for the 2025 2026 school year. So the WIA is a membership organization which means that every school district has to become a member uh and is governed by the school districts in order for our students to participate in recognized athletics and activities by the WIA. And so we have to uh pay and do a membership fee to do that and for our students to participate. This is that action item that allows our students to participate in WIA recognized athletics and activities. The superintendent on behalf of the director of athletics and activities recommends the board of directors approve the renewal of the WIA membership for the 2526 school year funding source
063athletics and activities. >> I move item 12A. >> I second. >> It's been moved and seconded. General Council, can we get a roll call? >> President Ster, how do you vote? >> Yes. I >> Vice President Melroy, >> I. >> Director Keading, >> It passes. >> Thank you. Uh, letter B here has the adoption of resolution 2161, which is the adoption of the 2025 2026 budget. >> The chief financial officer recommends that the board of directors adopt resolution number 2161 providing for the adoption of the 202526 budget. >> I move item 12B. >> I second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Anybody have any comments or concerns before we move forward? >> A comment, not a I don't know. It's not a concern. However, budgets are really difficult. Our budget is huge, massive, one of
064the largest in Pierce County. Um, not just for schools, but like for any company organizing itself in the city limits of Tacoma. I think it's really important to note and highlight you've been showing up at a lot of meetings, Ross, throughout this year. Thank you for your time and dedication showing up. I think that's like the first step in transparency. The comm's department has been putting out statements on Facebook, on Instagram, it's on our website. If you have questions, comments, concerns about the budget. Please use your voice. We want to hear your feedback. Um, I just really want to highlight that in the passing of this agenda item, especially as we understand the federal government is doing what it wants to do. Things are changing at a rapid speed and so we have to keep
065up. If there is another motion in August that we have to take, we have to take it. Um, but I feel confident right now and it's not like a concern. is just highlighting. There's a lot of efforts on our end to be as transparent as we can about the budget. Utilize the website, utilize the QR codes. If you need language translation, our our district tries to do that as well. Um, so there's been a lot of conversation about the budget throughout the year. Um, there are people here today who have concerns about the budget as well. So, I just want to highlight like all the effort throughout the year and that effort doesn't end at today's budget hearing. I assume we'll see you a lot this coming school year as well. Yeah, we're committed. One
066of our infrastructure pieces is you'll get budget updates every month, right? And where are we at, where our updates in addition to that, if if information is uh additional information is needed, we can come more often. You know, um we oftentimes don't know what questions folks have if they don't ask us as well. So, you folks have known that we will answer questions as well if they ask us the questions. Um public comment is not a place for questions, right? is in that space. And so if folks reach out to us in a space and they're saying, "Hey, let us know more about this, more about this, we're not in a place we can follow up." And so if there are comments and you'd like us to follow up, we can follow up with in
067individuals from public comment. Um, it's important that we answer people's questions. If people have specific questions that they have, great. Let us know what those questions are. >> You can ask them at tacomaomaschools.org. >> Solid. All right, we'll move into roll call. >> President Stroger, how do you vote? >> I. >> Vice President Mccelroy, >> I. >> Director Keading, >> It passes. >> Thank you. Moving forward to our closing items, uh, board comments and reports. >> All right. Um, I mostly have been since our last board meeting, um, just in a lot of federal relations meetings trying to continue to monitor and assess the, uh, unbelievably uh, rapid changing landscape through the federal government. Um and so trying to keep up with all of that information to be able to help guide direct ask direct
068questions, reach out to um our congressional delegation and other folks within federal agencies to help mitigate the impacts. Um, so, uh, I've also been working as the, um, for those that don't know, I chair the Washington State School Directors Association Federal Relations Network Committee, um, which is made up of school directors all around the state. Um, I've been, um, an active member of this committee since I joined the board in 2019 and then been the chair for, um, this my second year as the chair. Um and we've been working to try and assess with other um boards around the state or other colleagues around the state about what are the impacts they're seeing um from these uh the federal um not not always just financial impacts, right? um trying to assess what are the um
069uh the variety of impacts of different policies and um agendas that the federal administration has in relations to public education um diversity, inclusion, access, um immigration. Uh just trying to get a l a broader understanding so that when we have this information, we can take it um to our congressional delegation as well as our legislature um to help help people be as informed as possible about how the priorities of this federal administration are shaping and impacting um the our students, our staff, and our communities. Um, so it's um been a big lift um and not uplifting work to say the least, but it is also extremely important because if we know what we're dealing with, then we're better equipped to address um that. And then um the last thing I'll say is later this month,
070Superintendent and I will be meeting with uh the speaker Jenkins again to talk about budget and um what the legisl what we are continuing. It's we're not asking for new things, but the continuation of what we're asking from the legislature in order to help um mitigate the the rising costs and financial impacts of the state and uh the federal government. So, um I feel like that's just going to be what I'm going to be doing for the foreseeable future. So, that's all I got. >> Um I don't have fun. Um, I could say fun things. The community is a really fun place to be during the summertime in Tacoma. I want to highlight, as I usually do, that is summertime. Those are your neighbors. Those are our community's kids. Make sure you're kind to them.
071Try to open doors. Make eye contact. Kids want to connect. They want to connect in community. Um, I am a Girl Scout leader and I'm also a coach to some middle school age girls. I hear a lot. They have lots of questions about what's going on in the next school year and when's the next late night and who's playing basketball and where's the next park event. So, there's lots of things going on. Check out Parks Tacoma. Um it's public, it's on Facebook, um on Instagram and then also on those websites. There's a lot of things going on in our community partner spaces. So, on top of our Tacoma late nights, thank you Tacoma City of Tacoma for their investment in that. Um it's in our schools, it's in our buildings, it's all around us. There
072are events for kids, especially uh middle school and high school age students who are looking for ways to engage in community. Um and then I think I had a question for you, Superintendent Garcia, and then I forgot about it. So, um I would say that it's summer time. Please get outside. Please drink your water if you're hot. Find somewhere cool to sit down. Um there are cooling shelters throughout the city as well. Check out Tacoma Pierce County Health Department for some information on that. If you want to get involved in community this weekend, there's Porchfest, there's Pride, there's a few other things. Um, other than that, thank you all for coming tonight. Oh, I know what it was. Um, President Schroer is going to announce like all of our next upcoming meetings. And I just
073want to highlight something that the school board is regulated by the state and that there is a cap on how much we get paid per year. We get paid about $4,000 and that's betit. So all of our time and dedication to community is basically on our own free time because I ain't getting paid to be here. But I love the work that I get to do as a former preschool teacher who gets to join you all. He's going to talk about um our upcoming meetings and there's this thing called a board retreat and I just don't want anyone to ever get confused that we are out here spending millions of dollars on retreats. Most of our board retreats happen inside of our district buildings. Um, we had one at Boss one time. We had one
074at Gadroni and we have very lowcost meals that are under $20 and sometimes we pay for them ourselves. So, I just want to highlight that our board is doing a lot of work and our work is unpaid unlike all the other boards happening in the city of Tacoma. And I just want to highlight that before we go into all the next year and all the great things that we're going to do um and all the policy work that we will be doing. Um, so I want to thank all my board colleagues for doing this work very much on your own free time, especially Director Keading and the amount of meetings that you take. Good lord. Um, I do not envy you, but I appreciate you all very much. President Schroer, you've taken a lot of
075heat this year for um, just being a black man sitting in that seat. And I just want to highlight that as well. There's a lot going on in this community, good, bad, and other. But for the most part, everyone here is trying to serve students, respect students. And I just also again want to highlight a board retreat for Tacoma public school board happens in our school buildings. It does not cost anybody any money and we are the lowest paid elected body in the city limits. Received. With that, I will announce the next uh round of free board meetings. Uh August 14th, 2025, uh we will have our board retreat. Uh the location has not yet been um identified, but we will have that there. August 28th, 2025 is the next business meeting here in this
076space and September 11th, 2025 is our next board meeting after that in this space and the legislative rep's birthday. So, we will if you see balloons and lava lamps and all kind of stuff, that's the reason why. Uh, and with that, uh, the last agenda item here is for me to adjourn. So, we're out of here. Thank you.