NHCS Board of Ed. Finance Committee Meeting | Feb. 26, 2026

001I'm gonna go ahead and start. We have a quum. >> So, as soon as Jenny gets back from the spot, we will call the roll. >> Pat Bradford, >> I am here. >> Judy Justice >> here. >> Josie Barnhard here. Kim Clark, Paul Slavic here, >> Hannah Moon >> here, >> Philip Sutton, Charlene Thompson >> Jared Worthington >> here, >> Stephanie Walker, Rob Zapple, Eric Cradle, Amanda Kusiaak >> here, >> Lisa Wartzbacher >> here. >> Okay, thank you. Hold on. >> Natalie English. >> John Hennitt >> here. >> Christopher Riley >> here. >> Livian Jones. >> All right. Good. Then um as chair Pete Willore is with us today and I have asked him to lead the pledge of >> allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

002republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> We have an invitation that's recorded. >> Good afternoon. I'm Chaplain Brenda Schwarz with Warrior Family Ministries located here in Wilmington. Shall we pray? Heavenly Father, we are gathered together this afternoon as chosen people to steward the finances over our children's education. We ask that you provide this committee with the wisdom and the knowledge to make right decisions as they discuss budget needs in any other decision pertaining to funds. Continue to watch over, protect, and bless our schools, staff, teachers, and these committee members as they continue to be servant leaders within our community. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. >> Amen. >> All right. Hopefully, everyone has had a chance to um look at the agenda and I'm looking for

003a motion to approve the agenda. >> So, move. >> Second. >> All right. We have first and the second. All in favor say I. >> I. All oppose say no. All right. Next is approval of the minutes. I'm hopefully everyone's had a chance to read the minutes and looking for a motion to approve the minutes. >> So move. >> That's good. We have a first. Can we have a second? >> Thank you. First and a second. Approval of the minutes. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Okie dokie. Now, we have a very robust agenda, which is why I'm starting without people being here yet. Ashley's on her way. >> Yes. >> And um this is a really exciting meeting. Welcome back for the first of the year, everyone. Um we have a

004a robust agenda and it's going to end with a lot of fun. So, I'm going to ask you to hold your comments and keep your questions to a bare minimum so we can go through the material. And then Dr. Barnes has a fun exercise for us. and you know how much y'all love his fun exercises. This one is mindblowing and we're looking forward to it. So, Dr. Barnes, do you want to just introduce what we're doing today? >> Sure. I'm going to reorg reorganize the order just a hair. We're going to start with the budget conversation, the listening tour conversation and then we'll go into capital after that if that's all right with everybody. >> What you going to say? No. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> No, we refuse. Okay, good. All right. Some of

005this again, you guys as a group have a much stronger understanding of school budgets now than the lay person does. But this is part of what we did in the budget listening tour to try to educate the the general public about our budget because it is very complex. So, I'm going to run you through this. Some of this you already know, some of this will be new stuff. Some of you may already have seen this before. >> Okay? Correct. >> And let me just say that you're going to run down about 15 pages to where it looks like this. >> 15 pages in. >> And if you're more visual, you can see it up there. >> Yes, you can. >> All right. So, first things first, it's important to look at where we were a

006couple of years ago versus where we are now. I think that the most important thing to remember is this is our second year that we're in now of reducing 300 positions into out of the budget. Now, we could probably spend the rest of the time we have here debating on whether or not you where was fat and where was meat and where was bone and all those things. And this isn't an argument about whether or not we needed those 300 positions. It is more about this is the reality of the situation that we are in. We had to learn to live within our means and our means were declining rapidly. So go ahead. So uh you can skip that. You've heard me talk about culture before. I do want to remind everyone consistently about the

007work that we are doing and the fact that we are outpacing the state in 11 out of 13 areas. 11 out of the 13 things that the state measures. is we are above the state average and in some places comfortably above. The two areas that we are not above the state average is graduation rate and math one. Now this past year we got over the state average and graduation rate. But we're not over enough and quite frankly the number is not 100%. Which is what it should be. All right. When you look down there you'll see some other stuff. We are in the top 15 of the state in grades three through eight end of grade testing. Over 75% of our schools meet or exceed growth expectations. And you've heard me talk some about outperforming

008the Big 12. The Big 12 are the largest districts in the state. There are more kids in the top 12 districts than there are in the rest of the state put together. So if I want a hard and fast down and dirty look at how we're doing to most of the state, I'll compare us to the Big 12. And then of course um we're outperforming the Big 12 in most areas as well. Okay, just some things to look at. We are have the sixth largest teacher supplement in the state. Dr. Barnes, I thought we had the largest. Yep. For about 20 minutes and then someone tried to slip ahead of us. When you look at the county appropriation and supplemental tax, we are 13th in the state. And in local per pupil spending, which you'll

009see in a minute, of all 115 school systems in the state, we are ninth. Okay? And of course, remember at 3,200 employees, we are the second largest employer in the county. All right. Hit me. All right. Uh just more stuff about us. That's awesome. Um and then let's get into it. So what you see here is our total ADM over the last five years. Now ADM, you'll hear me say a lot, ADM is average daily membership. It's how the state funds us, it's how we get most of our dollars and money. The state will fund us next year on what we had this year. And the concern is if you look at the bottom row, we have lost several hundred students. So we are down to uh 23760 is the number that they will be

010paying us for next year which you have to understand is a reduction in the overall teachers and funding we will get from the state. All right this is just at a glance over the last several years again the percent of change. So we're down another 3%. Now I'm going to show you in a minute. Go to the next slide. I think this is really important data to look at. We have lost students over the last several years, but if you look at charter, virtual, homeschool, and private school, you're not seeing the level of increase in other options that equal the number of students we are losing. Everybody with me? So, you go, oh, they're all taking uh vouchers, they're all going to charter schools, they're all going to private schools. We're not seeing that. So

011it led us to kind of start questioning where did they go because our enrollment I mean I can go into every school and count them and the number keeps getting smaller and we've landed on two reasons why that is occurring. One is the fact that we pump out about 2,000 seniors every year but we only enroll about 1,700 kindergarteners the following year. So what you're seeing is sort of a lowlevel constant bleed of students because you're not in bringing in as many as you're losing. That is primarily tied to what you're seeing in the birth rate in the nation and concerns across the state with a decline in enrollment. And as much as I would like to hang on one second, as much as I would like to decry, you know, this is a voucher

012issue and those kind of things, it is not solely that because you're seeing these numbers stay static, but our enrollment is declining. So that's one of the reasons is the decline in birth rate. The other that we figured out is you're seeing Brunswick and Pender not decline as much as we are. So I think what you're seeing happen is kids are sliding over the border. parents still work in Wilmington, but they can more afford to live in Pender and Brunswick. We actually had a family appeal to the board uh the ability to stay in New Hover even though they had moved to Pender. And we said, "No, that's not how it works." And she says, "Yeah, but my kid gets a better education in New Hover than he's going to get in Pender, but you're

013not paying into that system." So, you're seeing some of those things happening. Yes, sir. >> You said first >> kindergarteners first. >> It it sort of tends to stay static after that. >> Yeah. Now, again, it it's a good question, right? Because you technically don't have to bring your kid to school till they're seven. And so, you did see a bump in COVID where there was a year where a lot of parents kept their kindergarteners at home, but that's long past happened, right? So generally the the compulsory attendance law doesn't really start until 7, but if you bring them in in kindergarten, you're then under that law after that. So, okay, this is just a rundown. Now, you guys, some of you know and some of you don't care. Before I came here, I was

014uh the HR chief for Nashville Public Schools, which is one of the 30 largest in the country. And I sat down once and asked the cabinet, the cabinet, right, the the people that are in charge of the whole thing, and said, "How many schools do we have?" And they all gave a different answer. Just for fun, go back to your school or go back to your wherever you go and ask somebody, "How many schools we have?" And you're going to get all kinds of numbers. This is the right answer. We have 45 schools. Three of them are prek, 25 are elementary, and you see the breakdown there. Early college technical uh high schools that is CEK, Wex and Isaac Bear. Specialty schools are JC Row, Lake Forest and U Mosley. And then you obviously know

015the rest of those. So that's the breakdown of everything there. I will tell you, go back one sec. We currently have some preK students that are in our pre-K centers. That's almost 400. And then there are some that are sprinkled throughout our elementary schools as well. All right, big bus. If you put every single dollar we earn, capital, federal, state, everything, $368 million, that is including every scrap and every dollar. That's the breakdown of what we get in state, federal, and county. Now, a lot of that money in that 368 involves things like capital requests, involves things like buildings. So, some of that money isn't liquid. You can't use it. But what you have access to really is our operating budget, which you'll see next. Go ahead. All right. That switch down to 310.5 million.

016That's really what you consider what we operate and live off of is $310 million. The state gives 60% of that. Feds are at six, counties at 33. back during our friends the Esser time that federal that little white part of the bus was almost 20%. And you'll see some numbers that calculate that in a minute. So, real quick, just to keep your eye on the prize, someone grabbed their phone for me, one of my AP students, and put in $310.5 million. 310560. Multiply that by.83. I love the way that Jos's engaged with the learning process. >> Thank you. >> What'd you get? >> $257,715,000 >> of that bus. $257 million of that bus is people is the cost of salaries, benefits, and retirement. and you guys experienced something similar at the county, I would assume

017that the bulk of your budget also goes to people as well. Okay. So, that's I want to emphasize that as much as we want to say, well, that's just a resource. That's what we have. It's not personnel. It's personal. These are people whose lives are depending on the choices that we make. All right. Go ahead. Let's get next. Okay. That was the bus two years ago. Go back one and forward one. See that? >> Yep. All right. Go to the next one. All right. This is just a rundown real quick of the overall revenue. And I think it's important. I'm going to come over here next to my friend a little bit because if you look at county every year they have increase on billion. However, seriously, >> I'll come sit back down again. I

018don't do as well sitting down as I fine. Thank you. Yeah, I know. Thank you for those of you watching at home. All right. My point being that over the last three years, you can see the decline in the grand total of funding we had. The year before I stepped into this role, we were operating budget of $350 million. We are now down to 310. If you think that doesn't affect children in schools every day, you are wrong. and you're not looking at this the way I need you to look at this. Okay. Obviously, the US government that last year uh or the last two years, you're seeing a decline from the ESSER funding and you also see the state decline from 193 to 187. Now, some of that is the decline in enrollment. I

019get that. We own that. We eat that. You know, if you have a 100 kids and then you have 80 kids, you don't need as many teachers as you did before. I get that. But a loss of 800 students doesn't equate to that amount of money. >> Okay. So, as you can see, when we talk about, you're going to hear me talk later, and you're going to hear me talk adnauseium about us having to choose between essential services. That's what the loss of almost $39 million does. Okay. All right. Questions at this point in time before I go forward? What a good class. All right. Yes, sir. >> Does that include SRO's and all the extra things that somehow always fall >> that does not come out of our line item budget. So those are

020in addition Yes. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And and actually you you heard if you came to our budget listening session that's a very clear message that we sent to the principles as well. SRO's mental health therapists nurses don't show up on this budget. I will also tell you if this if if the county chose to do what the state does with a loss of enrollment that would also that number would be going down instead of up. Now that does not stop me from saying these are what our needs are. But I think it is important to note that as our enrollment has declined your number has gone up which what does that do? What does that do to the per pupil amount per kid? >> It increases it. Okay. tag closer to 43%. >> That's

021her way of saying probably, but that still may mean you're not wrong. Right. She's terrific. >> But I think we could collaborate on that a little bit because I would like to know that number. However, just to know I'm working off the budget I'm working with. Yeah. >> I I get the difference. I'm totally respectful. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> You kind of point it out, but it's a little frustrating on the county side when you put all the numbers in. >> Oh, certainly. >> Especially when the hearing state 50 and they point at us and say you're only putting in 33 and jobs over there waving his hand crazy saying no we're putting in 43. >> Y >> we need to hijack your >> discussion. In no way is this indicating that someone isn't helping

022right at all. >> However, the frustrating part for our school system >> is the argument about who's pays for the water to put the fire out at my house doesn't put the fire out at my house. and and those arguments while needing to be had don't really help me in the ground level which makes it harder because the only people I can guarantee care about my kids are sitting at this table and and who will call me and talk to me face to face which makes it difficult as well. >> All right, I'm going to push on. >> Yeah, this is a rundown of what it costs us per kid per year. Okay. Now, if you read the making the grade report, and you really should if you hadn't had the chance, okay, it talks

023about a state number that is higher than that, it's important to know that some of the states money that they give out is for things like small county money, disadvantaged student money, um, uh, what's the rural, what's the other one I'm looking at? Um, small county disadvantaged student funding. And there's one more I'm trying to think of. >> Low. Thank you. >> Look at you. >> I've been here before. >> I got I I want to f I got to stay near the mic, though. All right. Um the state average is more like 11, a little closer to 12,000 a kid. But when you factor in things like that, that really exacerbates what you're saying, Mr. Zapple, is the state says we're going to pass those burdens on to the local government. And the argument

024about whether it should be 50 or 30 or 12, that's that's a state argument to discuss. Um because I will tell you it's a lot like when I used to go ask my mom if I could go to a party and she would say ask your dad and I'll go ask my dad and he would say go ask your mom. And a lot of of when we're reaching out for support, there is some of that back and forth say who's responsible for it. So this is just a rundown of what it looks like. All right. Any questions on that? Does it make sense so far? Yes, ma'am. Oh, how much we should get or whatever. Oh, that's what we do. That's what we actually get. >> Yeah. >> 8,000. >> The state average is more

025like 11,000 per pupil. >> But we get 8,000. Yeah. Yeah. But I want to explain that because if you read that report, you go, "Wait a second, I thought it was 12,000." No, it's it's 12,000 averaged across the whole thing. But for us, and it's also a little more difficult because we have to strike that balance. Okay. All right. Hit me. I'm gonna skip this because you're going to get to experience this in real time when we get to talking about the a lotment. So, we're going to skip that. Uh we're going to pass this one on to because you've heard enough about EC. The biggest thing we're talking about on this slide here is a reduction in funding based on sort of a perfect storm of events. One is that we are seeing a

026decrease in enrollment as is everyone. One is you're seeing that the cost of every individual employee continues to rise. Health insurance is more expensive. Retirement is more expensive. And when you're kicking in 25% of your yearly salary for a person for their pension, that can add up pretty quick. The third problem is that we made a commitment to stop using our fund balance to balance our operating budget, which means we said we're no longer doing draw out of our savings account at the end of the month to balance our checking account. Now, we can say we're all noble for doing that and we're doing it because we're good, solid, good financial people, but the real reason is is we don't have one anymore. >> Not anymore. So, that perfect storm sort of sort of reconciled

027all together to bring us to where we are now. I will tell you that right sizing is difficult. It is it is a hard thing to do and I'm not going to minimize the work that everyone has to do at this job. I lived in I worked in Aurora County prior to this. I worked in Union County prior to this and everyone else is if not in the same boat that we are in are becoming in the same boat we are in. I will tell you because of Ashley's work and Miss Sutton's work and the work that the board has been committed to doing, we are not in the place that some districts are. >> I could rattle off several districts that are millions of dollars in the hole. A few years ago, a county

028near to us had to go back and ask their commissioners for a million more dollars because they couldn't pay salaries to the end of the year. Gaston Countyy's $8 million in the hole right now. We all know about Winston Salem. And so these talks about whether or not we need to figure out how to become more agile and adaptable are going to have to happen as well. Okay, next one. Obviously, you know, we have six strategic initiatives. Those are targeted for what the data says is our biggest weak areas. I think the most important things for us are things like attendance, academic performance, graduation rate, and the things that we know that we can measure and are kind of our our main main responsibilities. Okay? And then you guys know a lot about the bond.

029We're not going to burden you with that because you've heard a lot about this. But that will start ramping up after we get into the summer leading up into next fall because we want to make sure we knock that one out of the park. Okay. All right. I think you can forward through that and then I think Ashley, we are kicking it over to you. >> Any any questions? Anything in that not make sense? I mean, it doesn't make sense, but it doesn't make sense. All right. Um, so we've got a summary here for you. This is similar to what we um the same format as we've used in previous years. And so as you can see here, the total capital um recommended budget is a little over the $8 million. Um, and we've got

030it broken down into those different categories with repairs and renovations coming in at the 5.2 million. Um, technology at 2.3 million, furniture and equipment 300 I'm sorry, 238,000, vehicles 244,000 approximately to come up to that 8 million. And so we have three different funding sources that you would normally see on this screen. Um lottery is familiar, right? And then the county appropriation also um familiar to what you've seen in the past. Um a new column you see there is endowment. And so the group has talked about requesting from the endowment um an additional million dollars a year to help fund our technology needs. And so we'll talk a little bit more about that. And so I thought what we could do um is going into the details a little bit deeper. We've got some people

031here. Um Kevin Lee, if you want to come up to the table, you're welcome to if we've got some empty spots. So you'll have a speaker >> one on either side of >> Yeah. So you'll have a microphone. Um and so Rob, I'll let you go first if that's okay. But I did want to share with the group um the recommendation coming forward is 5.2 2 million. Um, however, the total requests received from schools and departments equaled 57.8 million. So, the team really scaled down to get to that 5.2 million. >> I also want to reference, sorry, that we are heading into a year where we are going to ask our public for a bond referendum of $320 million. I want that to be percolating in your head as we're talking about the capital requests

032we plan on making as well. Does that make sense? >> Because I'm if I'm going to go ask my mom for an increase in my allowance, I'm not going to also tell her that I need to borrow $250,000. >> Right. And certainly a lot of the things which I'm sure Rob can speak to as well that showed up on those that total request were things that we'd be able to use um funding from the bond for. So there's some duplication there. Yep. >> Yeah. And so, um, >> the only thing I would say too is I can take that down just a little bit more. Um, excuse me, the and I'll do that real quickly. If you will, on page five, mark out I'm sorry, Mr. Slovic, mark out the re-roof covered walkway at Williams.

033And on page six, mark out the asphalt repairs districtwide. Um, that drops that drops that 5.2 to down slightly to 4.867 677. So >> sure. Page five, the Williams project and page six. >> Yes. And page six, the district-wide asphalt repair and I'll explain a little bit more here in just a second. Um, so and I apologize these, as you all probably know, these are conversations we're having sometimes three or four times a day between myself and Ashley, Miss Brenson and Dr. Barnes. And so I think ultimately in adjusting some of the numbers, the most recent version of my things that I presented to Ashley included those and I didn't mean for them to, so I apologize. Um, so that being said, yes, I think there are a couple things on here with if the

034bond were to move forward, there could appear to be some duplication because some of these things have to do specifically with HVAC uh concerns. But part of the reason that they're on here is because if that bond moves forward, that money doesn't become available for at least another year. And we've got some needs that we want to address sooner than that and we'll need to address sooner than that. Um, so that's where you'll see some of that overlap. The other item, um, and the reason that some of those other two things came off, but the reason for whittling it down some as well, is the, um, these are not presented in a priority order, but I would argue that the last item on the list, which is the transportation hub, underground storage tanks, is our

035priority one. Um, and so we had we had some savings from the new handover project um that we were hoping to reallocate. We presented that to the county. Mr. Walker told me to take a hike. No, I'm just kidding. That did not happen. And that's so we have we I'm totally kidding. He he's always pleasant. Um, but we when that was not approved, we have made that our priority one for our projects. And so everything else in there is currently a priority, but if we are to go back through, which we often do, if we go back through and we discuss additional priorities, um, this would be bumped up to the top of that list. And so I wanted to highlight that because it's currently at the very end of the list and I wanted

036you all to know that doesn't make it our least concerning item. It was just a matter of how quickly I could get this revised and to Miss Sutton. Um, so that being said, the majority of the items in here, what we tried to eliminate and some of the some of the projects that we had were more district-wide projects. What we tried to do is eliminate some of those and hit things that were specific to individual sites. So, for example, you'll see Snipes Academy, Veterans Park, Freeman. Um, there are a couple of district-wide things and those are those are safety. So, the flashers control that has to do with uh traffic and access control has to do with adding locks uh to our mobile units across the district. Um Williston Middle is the envelope repair, new

037d uh boys baseball field dugouts at Tras. Um the roof maintenance is districtwide and that tends to be something that we fund with lottery money from the state. So that is typically um that's 250 every year I believe for most recent years and uh we typically use lottery money for those funds. So that's just part of our ongoing root uh roof sustainability. Um and then the other items in there fall under uh primarily under school nutrition and it just has to do with replacing some of our large freezers that our schools use in the kitchens. And I think that's a I I do have a couple of vehicle requests in that packet as well. Um, as you might imagine, we've whittleled that down, too. Um, we've got one activity bus on there for transportation that

038our schools use. And then we've got one maintenance van that we need to replace. We have other needs there, but those are two priorities. And so I just wanted to share with the group um my apologies did not get updated. We had both technology and um operations we had a meeting to discuss capital and the slides um insembly did not get updated. So of course in your packet did not get updated. So we will send out the updated spreadsheets um to you guys so you'll have copies of those. Um we we are calling out the changes that were made so you can make those on these but then you'll have a clean copy to refer back to. Thank you. Yes. Um so let's go to technology next since that's next on page nine. Um and

039the total request submitted from schools and departments was 9.2 million. Um and the recommendation coming forward is two approximately 2.3 million. So Miss Princeton if you would like to talk through those for us. >> Yes. Um so the first item on our list is replacing some desktops and laptops. We um Windows 11 I mean Windows 10 is going away. So we have to update all our laptops and desktops to Windows 11. We have some that we can't update because the hardware in them is too old. So, um that first line would be those. Um the second line is for some iPads across the district. Um again, the same thing. Gen five and six are no longer um are at end of life. Seven iPads are end of life in the next few months. So, we

040we need those replaced. We have iPads um in just about every school. And so we need to replace those. Um, in our sustainability plan, we are going to K2 classrooms having 10 iPads in every classroom. So that's what that iPad storage is for. It's for a cart with a power supply in it that the teachers can lock that will allow those devices to charge overnight. Okay. Um the carts for middle schools, middle schools have told us that the kids taking their devices home has um caused the repairs to be higher than probably what they should be. So some schools have stopped taking them home and they've kind of had some carts or they made do with some things created some some storage um out of other supplies that they had. So we need to provide

041some carts at the middle school so that way all the middle schools are able to keep theirs at school. they will still send them home on special projects and if there's a request by, you know, a student or a parent. So, they can go home, but they're just not going to send them as a as a daily activity anymore. Um, and then the last thing is for um phones, but I've actually took that out the list. So, that one is gone. We've actually are moving that one into our um sustainability plan. Yes, we're adding that to We're getting to where I'm adding that to. I'm not not giving it up. We're just moving it >> to the bottom of page nine. The last one. >> Yeah. >> So, the next item is the bicata guest

042and reunification as a 10-year license. We have um some software at these schools that we need to replace. It's basically your visitor management system. And so we need to replace those those at the schools so that way um they're able to operate better. The system that we have now um isn't as as good as it could be. They're not updating it enough for us. So we want to replace those at those those schools that are there that have the bata cameras. So the camera and the visitor management systems kind of go together. Um it does say reunification. It actually the guest the um visitor signin piece comes with the reunification. We're not buying that. That just comes together. >> The next item is the >> hold onification is the reunification system the rapid response system

043technology. >> No, this is ricotta and it's we're buying it for the it goes with the cameras and then we're buying it for the the guest piece >> guest login. So that's correct. But it it does come with reunification. But the reunification I don't think is aligned completely with the with no with the the system we use for when there's issues the whole the company. What's that? >> Thank you. It doesn't line align completely with I love you guys's um standards that we are using. >> Okay. So, um, the next item is for camera sustainability. That item is going to be moved as well. Um, taking that line off, right? >> Yeah, but we've moved the aotment though. So, the intercom sustainability plan um that is just we have some old systems. We kind of

044need to replace those. They're 20 years old. Um, that actually is coming out of lottery funds. And then our new line sustainability plan. Our new lines are our um it's the name brand for our interactive boards that we have at display boards we have in the classrooms. And we are replacing projectors such as what's in here. We have some projectors that are in the schools that are very very old. The image quality isn't good. Um we have smartboards that aren't so smart anymore that they're just using them for the projector. So we need to continue. We started with um ESSER funds putting them in every classroom. Um Hannah can definitely speak to it because she's got one in her classroom at Laney, but we need to get these into the classroom. So the two dollar

045amounts, the the phone one, the 225 and the 281 for the camera sustainability plan, I'm adding to that 147. So there's we can get more schools done for the new lines. >> And Don, let me interrupt you before you move on. And would you explain to our guests um why the intercom system is so important for close to half a million dollars? >> Well, I mean it is a safety feature, you know, um when they go down, if we don't have the parts and you can no longer get the parts, um then it takes an extended time to get them up and working, which means they don't have the intercom system across the district or across the school. we're able to put something in place where they can use the phones, but it's not as

046loud and you don't hear it outside or in the hallways. So, it it works in the classrooms temporarily, but it's not it's not this solution. So, we need to work on getting those replaced. And basically, we're going from an analog system to a digital system. Analog systems are more susceptible to lightning strikes, and that's pretty much what's happening. Yes. >> Any other questions related to technology recommendation? Okay. Next we have um for Oh, sorry. Didn't see him. And all of these are separate from the technology that's been put into the bond. >> Yes. the the desktop laptop replacement, that's the 520. The deadline for getting those done is January. So, we have to either get those machines replaced or they will be pulled out the buildings and we'll have less machines and all these are

047in our elementary schools. So, and the cost of laptops have um gone up considerably due to AI companies buying the the chips. Um the last pricing that we got the existing devices we buy have increased from anywhere from 100 to 200 per device. Um luckily the state does have a state contract that ends September 30th. And so if we can buy the devices before then then we will get that state contract pricing that is still at a lower price then it's it's a little bit more higher than what we've been paying but it's still lower than the $100 to $200 more. So um that's why that is our our top priority because we need to get those replaced. >> Okay. So, um, Kevin Lee's joining us today to talk about furniture and equipment requests. He

048is the director of purchasing. So, I'll pass it on over to you. Oh, I did want to add, um, the total request for furniture and equipment that was submitted from schools and departments was 343,000. Um, and the recommendation is the 238,000 you see here. Thank you, Kevin. So, just a little background, the state and the feds do not provide any funding for the equipment we're asking for, though they might provide some furniture and equipment money for other programs, but the these items aren't. And uh typically, if you go to a bond and we build a new school, the furniture would be in in that bond. And um my request is about 8% of the total request. So I'm hoping y'all can help out. Last year there was no funding uh for furniture and equipment um

049for new Hanova County Schools and um we used uh state contract vendors for all these purchases and they've gone through the rigorous um requirements of the state. First on the list, Ashley High School 25th anniversary this year. And u co coincidentally, the media center is 25 years old. So that was paid with the bond when the school was built. Um that media center is 7,000 square feet. Um and it houses the largest collection of materials in the county. They got 30,000 items. Uh about 7,000 were checked out last year, but that's not all that goes on at school. They're on track for 8,000 this year, Miss Thompson. Uh and uh so students, staff, family, all serve, use this facility, class meetings, testing, college information, the list goes on and on of how often it's not

050just kids going in there checking out books. It is non-stop being used for everything you can imagine. And the school is not asking to replace everything. 75,000 wouldn't come close to that. There all of the U mounted shelving on the walls is staying. A lot of the shelving in the room. What they're asking for is some mobile shelving that they can roll around and um tables and chairs that they can rearrange to handle all these events that go on at the school. Um so it it's a reasonable request. It'll give a fresh and welcoming environment for students, staff, and guests. uh and it encourages collaboration um in in the classroom and the tables will be whiteboard marker tables um those kind of things. So um my kids went there this one's close to me but

051they need they need it is uh the bottom line 25 year old me media center that is used tremendously. Now uh the next one on the list is Hogard High School. Hogard had um u was part of the last bond and they got a brand new gymnasium and they got a new cafeteria. Um but they didn't get classroom furniture as part of that and uh so that list his list was a lot longer than this but um I tried to get the focus on the classroom um affecting the classroom as much as possible. Um, so that's Hogard's list. Greatly needed. Um, I will point out that we built uh the latest two schools we built were um the um well, Porter's Neck, but Blair was demolished and replaced. We saved all the furniture we could

052out of there. And College Park was demolished and replaced, and we saved all that furniture. And I'm going to say 90% of that furniture that was in those schools went to other schools. And um we got a little bit left uh that schools can use in a punch um like new mobile classrooms if there's no funding for it. So that's hoged. Next on the list is uh maintenance equipment. It's custodial equipment, but it's for these schools. And the schools listed here are the ones. Last year, we didn't get any funding for this, so they're two years behind on replacing it. Our custodial staff, there's about 200 and they are maintaining 3,700 square ft almost 4 million uh square feet in our county. 50 buildings. They got they got a staff of 200 uh and they

053have 300 pieces of equipment. This request is replacing 2 to 3% of that equipment. Uh our maintenance team maintains the equipment uh tries to keep it in good working condition and uh it's a desperate need uh to keep these facilities up and running. That really should be 60,000, but we're going with 30 to get them caught up. And I actually have um I can tell you which schools are are getting the these machines if you need to know. Next, we have Lake Forest Academy. Um this isn't a huge number, um but um over the years I went to that school and saw a desk I have never seen before. Um we replaced a lot of that. They took part of the furniture from Blair. Uh their uh students are can be aggressive and um she

054wanted some heavier stuff so they couldn't throw it. Um she no she has an incredible list of the uh reasons behind it. Um, rocking chairs increase uh the effectiveness by offering the students the appropriate sensory and movement based option. She's got every if you have a question about what she's wanting to get, she's answered it here and I've tried to include it all. Um, and then last is uh on the list uh is Tras. So TRA um had a major renovation recently too, but they didn't get classroom furniture for the science classrooms. And um what they actually have right now is uh Murray, Mr. Sutton will remember that got some of the white top rolling science tables. These are the old school slate top really heavy tables uh that you can adjust. Um but they

055aren't working any longer. The the adjustments you can vouch for me. Um so and moving those was is tremendous and so they want that same flexibility to do that in their uh science classrooms. Um, so these are u marker top boards as well on casters that can be rearranged based on what's going on in the science classroom. >> Thank you. >> Any questions? >> I think we're pretty good on that one. >> Yes. >> I just have one question with the media center. Would it be similar to what High School has? It's like they can compile it into a grouping desk or like single unit. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, uh the the tabletops will have the marker boards. They can rearrange them. Same with the chairs and certain number of bookcases. Um they could

056they'd be able to rearrange, but primarily they're not disturbing the main bookcases. >> And Kevin, I have one um for TR. That equipment would move to the new TR when it is finally built, right? >> It would. Well, that would be y'all's call, but um um >> I don't I think that if the new tr is built, then that would include new furniture. >> Okay. >> So, this would stay >> n Okay. Thank you. >> But we would make sure we utilize everything we can. >> Oh, yeah. >> Okay. And um Dr. Morgan, you've spoken a little bit about vehicles. Um, I don't know if you want to go into any more detail. I believe the total request was 585,000 and the recommendation coming forward is the $244,21. >> The only other thing I would

057say is not specifically about vehicles, but to echo Dr. Barnes sent on that earlier is that I really do think in our efforts to go through and whittle down these lists, we have really done it with the mentality that we realize we're going for bond as well. Um and so we've tried to take that consideration and really eliminate things or defer things I should say that um we feel like can be put on the back burner momentarily. So I just wanted to mention that as well because I do think that is um that's that has been a real significant discussion point for us as a team as we've been talking. Thank you. And the only other thing that I wanted to add just for the group is we do have the long range plan. We

058had talked about that I believe last year in this meeting. Um and we were going to share the five-year plan with this group today. Um but it wasn't going to include we're right now we're in the middle of facilities um needs assessment. Um and so we should have the results back in the spring for that. But we could go ahead and share what we have. It just wouldn't include anything coming from that assessment. >> Yeah, I So, I will say we're we're nearing the end of that, but I don't have anything I can share out at the moment. I probably would in a few weeks. Um the we're having the vendor come and speak to the school board. Um I would say I think it's going to be at the April meeting, but we're going

059to work through those details as well in the next few weeks. that they're wrapping things up and by that point we'll have more information about what their recommendations are from 5 to 20 years out. >> Thank you, Dr. Morgan. I think with what we else we have to do today that it's good that we just skip that for now since it's not complete because we have some fun coming up. >> Is this rest? >> Um we go to Dr. Barnes but I can talk. Are there any other questions about the capital recommendation? So, yes, >> I I just have a question for clarity. So, the new number is 7,677,133. >> The total did not change. >> Um, whenever we whenever Dr. Morgan was speaking to his first part of the presentation. He had said to

060cross off the re-roof the covered parkway which was $199,000 and also to cross off the concrete asphalt >> which would bump the total down close to added back 400,000. So I just wanted to clarity is the total recommendation asked 8 million 15,000 or is it supposed to be 7 million? >> Let's shuffle back. Okay, >> because I I have it. We just didn't get it too. >> Okay, >> my total when I left office was the same that we just rearranged things, but the grand total is still the same. >> And then my other question is just for sake of clarity, I see the endowment for a million dollars. So, how does that equate to that total number? Are we saying the county ask is the 8 million or are we saying we would like

061a million from the endowment and the rest is coming from the county? How does the endowment piece fall on there? >> So remember um on the first page you see here you have um four different funding sources. Two of those being lottery. So um the county um ask would be $2,842. >> I'm sorry. Yes. Sorry. 4433. Um and then the endowment um >> would be a million. >> Okay. Of that bigger number, the >> eight. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Anything else before we move on? So it as as long as the committee is okay with this recommendation, we'll carry this forward to the full board. That that's our next step in the process unless there's something else the this committee would like to discuss before carrying it forward >> and I don't know if

062you want to vote on that. I >> just want to highlight the importance of the things that we went over that are covering in especially in schools. I know you guys had to make some adjustments, but on every single one of these, you keep reading comments that mention warrant damage, health concerns, safety concerns, obsolete, end of life. I hope no one ever starts to talk about me that way because um those are not words you want to hear. And I just speaking as if you've ever been in a leadership position on a campus, your everyday time inventory is spent trying to account for many things that are at this point. And so when we get to a position where we're talking about end of life for technology or furniture, it starts to hamper the logistics

063and the flexibility that we have in a building. So, I really appreciate that these are the things that were the focus point of of these item requests. >> And I will just make a quick comment when we look at the number of students that we have lost. if they're considering one of our schools and a brand new charter school or a beautifully furnished private school and they're seeing end of life worn out completely and so on, it's going to be harder for them to make the decision to choose public school because those things do count when you're first initially looking at a school. >> Any questions before we move on? I know you're fretting with something. >> I can see it. I appreciate the amount of detail I've ever wanted here. part of this conversation.

064>> Yes. >> That's correct. That's correct. Is this line >> in line with what I've been hearing? And it's in line with what I'm holding currently um to balance right now. >> Yes. >> And I didn't pick a number like 2.842 million out of my head. >> 433. anybody's counting. >> I also heard from various there's a much greater need and that they're downsizing their requests all along the line. >> So I really thank you. >> Well, and that is common for us. >> Do you know what I mean? But but at the end of the day, the county commissioners, this group did a lot of work to put a $320 million bond on the docket. And we have to be cognizant of that fact as well. >> Mr. Hint, >> do you need a

065motion from this body to to pass? >> Probably so. >> I think we have in the past. >> I think we do. >> Okay. >> Of all the questions, is all the discussion >> done? I don't think so. Yes, Amanda. >> I'll just say what also helps and I think um you also said that you have a facility study in the works. >> Yes. >> Um what helped last year there was the big 19 million surprise um capital request that came in. We and the county spread that over three years and that came in at that we came in at 2928 for the second year for this year. So that's where we were able to come in really close this year. So once that facility study comes in, kind of having a sort of two,

066three, fiveyear look for capital, we're going to be able to really come in close more often when we do that. So I think having that and then being able to get requests with two, three years out, we'll be able to do that a lot more often and make it a lot easier. So I think that's sort of what made it easier that we were able to come in like that. And our plan is going forward to not only have that information for repairs and renovations, but also for technologies to have those sustainability plans. So you see the layout and what those things are. >> Miss Bar, >> thank you. Ner, I just want to echo that on time under budget was not stressed enough. Um, but we on the school system side are really pushing

067and I'm I'm looking at Dr. Morgan here whenever we have projects to be on time and under budget. And so we saw that with about $1.3 million of savings. You heard it of the repurposing of the furniture that we have. So we are being fiscally responsible and continue the share partnership to understand that this is not just spending money to spend money. Um so I just want to echo and thank our staff for doing their job with Fidelity. So thank you. >> Yes, >> I do have throw one one thing out. Um, and just something that I don't know that everybody knows, but in case you don't know, uh, because of the state of New Hmer County right now, we actually lost some money that we were given before from the state. And I'm not

068saying that was right for them to do that, but we got money for to to help with our local uh, supplements. And uh because of the wealth of New Hmer County, the state has in their infinite decisions has said that we you know we were going to lose is it two 2.3 >> $2.3 million. And you know that's not part of the ask here. Uh but it is you know the money's got to come from somewhere because we don't want to go to our teachers and say hey guys I'm sorry but the state's going to cut you a good chunk of change here. So, you know, that is something that we have to realize too that the state has now said, you know, we're going to shift that to the county and you we we

069are not going to the county saying, you know, our superintendent and Miss Sutton have figured other ways to be able to supplement that money. So, >> we've done a lot of absorption this last year that may have gone unnoticed, but we certainly have, Miss Justice. I'm just repeat. >> But any loss of two or three or$5 million, where does 83% of that solution have to come from? >> People, positions. Mr. Madam Chair, I move um that this committee recommend the amended capital outlay request for fiscal year 2026 2027. >> So you're moving that this body approve the county appropriation in the amount of 2.842 and $433 and change to go forward. >> Correct. all these >> I'm >> right >> I'm moving I'm moving the recommended capital >> out the entire page okay let me

070state that again because I actually didn't realize that so we are moving that we accept this entire budget summary request from all categories state and and endowment and so on for the total of 8 point well just over $8 million >> all in favor say I I >> ah >> I would like to know >> it is $8 million. >> So So those items are still on or we Yes, they are. So for the um repairs and renovations, the um top number on the new document is the transportation because that's priority one. Um, and then the 77 $738,400 is next. Then $185,000. Then 188,500. So this should be going in line. I don't think these others are in a different order. Um, and then the chiller replacement at Freeman's 800, I'm sorry, 821,600. And then

071the next one's 58,500. Are they in a different order? >> Um, so when I add these up, I'm sorry, but it's comes to 5,26,265,000, which ties back to the original summary um that was in the packet. >> This one? >> Yes. Um, so up here, see that number didn't change. Okay. >> All right. So, to restate, we're going to we're we're voting to approve the capital outlay budget summary request totaling 8,15,718. >> Everybody good with that? All in favor say I. I. >> I. All oppose say no. >> That passes. I don't know what the quum is at this point. >> Okay. So we will move on. Okay. Our next section is um so we're going to skip ahead again. Aotment formulas. So if you go um to is section six in your agenda packet

072behind the presentation that we started with. Give you guys a few minutes to get there. >> Does it look like that? >> Yes. So it look like this. You're going to see two sheets of two collections of three different three pages of piece. You're going to want one that starts with something that's called state aotment and one that's called New Hburg County local aotment formula. Each of them is three pages. You're going to do yourself a service if you pull those out of your back end because you'll need these for the next activity. >> Chris, are they near the end? >> They're close to the end. I I just hold these for a second. >> I'll get them in their groupings first. >> It'll scare anybody out. >> Okay. I'm going to do something that's

073going to make Hannah cringe a little bit. I'm going to allow you to pick your own groups >> for this project. What I need you to do is to group up in either a pair or a triad. >> But I don't want you to >> Let's Let's go ahead and focus children before we get lost here. This is why you shouldn't let us group. >> I know, right? Amen to that, sister. So, I mean, I'm sorry. Yes, ma'am. That's correct. Um, I need you to group up. No principles together, no outside non-school people grouped alone together. So, break yourselves up with a community member and a school person together, >> but principles can't be together. >> All right. So, go collect yourselves in a group. >> So, you three, >> two or three. three of

074us. >> Um, >> and >> two and two. >> Yeah. >> All right. When you have your group, let uh Jenny know so she can give you your packet. >> Give it to Ashley. how interesting that we grouped in groups of three. All right. All right, Mr. Zapple. This half of this exercise is going to speak to what we were talking about a little bit ago. What you're going to see is two different ways that we all lot students to schools. If you look at the one that says state aotment formula, you're going to be using this mostly at first because this will share with you what the states allotment formulas are for the district and for schools. Everybody with me? So you're going to want to have these three pages together. Now, as you'll

075see as we go through this, there is no way that we can use solely the simply the states formula. So we'll talk about the local a lotment formula as we get to that point. But let's go ahead and take a little walk through your handout. You're going to see uh Can I have one? What I've done is created for you just a random elementary school and I think we called it yesterday Hollyville Beach Elementary. Okay, you'll see there that there are a certain number of kids in each grade level. Everybody with me so far? All right. If you look at your state dollar aotments, if you look at the second page, see where it says category classroom teachers. Okay, I want you to start with the first box and you are going to put down

076just the first column. There are 66 students in your kindergarten in Hville Beach Elementary. How many teachers will the state give you to run that kindergarten? >> 3.6. So in that first box, I want you to put 3.6. Now, someone go ahead and ask me, well, does that round up to four? >> No, Dr. Morgan, it does not. In fact, the state when they do this does not calculate by school. It calculates it puts all the kindergarteners in the entire district together. and gets you a percentage. It does all 12 and then rounds up once to the nearest teacher level. Does that make sense? >> It does not round every individual grade level, every individual school. All right. So, for the first start, you've got one, two, three, four, five, six, kindergarten through fifth grade.

077Tell me what your teacher allotments are. >> Add those up. Round that one time and put it in the total number of teachers spot in the bottom of that box. >> I'll do it with >> Dr. So you weren't here yesterday. What am I looking at you for? So what we're going to do here is the state mandates it says we are legally allowed to have up to three. So in kindergarten the max you can have in class is 21. So um we're I think we're 66 students. The max we have is 21. So we have to have four logic 216. So if we're we haven't done this part yet, but we're going to do four and we have to divide it. 66 students class there would be 16.5 students in class. Does that make

078sense? >> So we have to >> round three more students. We're We're selling at a faster pace. We're an AIG student over here. >> No, he's he's no no cross scribbles, but 3.6.3 + 4.1 + 3.2 plus 3.1 >> 22.3. >> So when we add these two.3 so we will get allotted 22 teachers. class in third grade. The class size, second number, break them down those levels and tell me with me. >> 21 in the kindergarten class. So, we're going to have to have four kindergarten boxes. We have to have four here. No more. So, let's see. How many? >> 69. And then first grade. four classes there. So four teachers there. Second grade the maximum in the class is 20. How many students that we need four teachers there, right? >> Four teachers >>

079says 20 kids in class. So we need four teachers. >> How many? That's 17.5 >> fourth and fifth grade. I guess there's no cap. I thought you wanted to draw. John's working. >> All right. By a show of hands, how many teachers are in your kindergarten class? >> In your kindergarten. >> How many teachers are in your kindergarten? By a show of hand, how many are in your kindergarten? >> So, this is 25 class size. >> Four. Three. >> Four. Kindergarten. Four. Everybody got four? >> All right. First grade over here doesn't have any. >> Everyone's got four. Do you need more time? >> I can uh This is only one school. You got 44 more to go. All right. Does everyone have four in K1, two, and three? >> Okay. How many have three

080in fourth grade and three in fifth grade? >> Yes. >> All right. Believe it or not, folks, this was the easy part. >> That's the easiest part. Now, for teacher assistance, >> yeah, buckle up. for teacher assistance. If you look at the first page of your packet, you see where it says >> teacher assistance. >> They will provide you two teacher assistants for ev No, sorry. >> Two teacher assistants for every three kindergarten classes. >> 21 students. >> Will you stop doing that? You did that yesterday. They will give you two for every three kindergarten classrooms. How many are in our kindergarten classes? How many kids in each class? >> 21. >> The state only says that a class is full when it's at 21 students. You may say to me, but wait a second,

081but they all lot you at 18. Why would they say a class has to be 21 to get a full teacher assistant? It's a good question. >> Good question. So, what you have to do to find out how many TAs you get for your kindergarten class is take the number of kindergarters, which is what? 66. >> Divide that by 21 because you have to have 21 kids to make a class. And what number do you get? >> 3.14. >> Five. >> So, you get 3.14 TAS for kindergarten. No, because you only get two for every three classrooms. >> You get two. So take that take that number 3.14 and multiply it by 667 >> 2.1. >> All right. So you get 2.1 for kindergarten >> for first grade and second grade. You get one for

082every two classrooms of 21 students. So take your first and second grades together which isundred and 138 >> 137 >> Divide that by 21 then multiply that by 50%. >> Because you get one for every two classrooms >> for third grade. Take 70 divided by 21, multiply that by a third because one for every three classrooms in third grade. Now add all those numbers up together. Round it and tell me what it is. >> Here's a hint. Don't use a pen. >> 6.4 4. Is that the number everyone else gets? >> Yes. >> Rounds down to six. Okay. Oh, but wait a second. The state doesn't give teacher assistant money in positions the way they do teachers. They give it in a dollar amount. Our teachers make an average of a dollar more an hour

083than the state uses for the average calculation for teacher assistance. So that six is actually five. So, you have five teacher assistants. The next step for you to do is you see where it says schedule? I want you to take those five >> and tell me where they're going during a day. >> What their schedule is. >> Where is it? >> It's right there. It's It's Look bottom of the first box. See where it says first box? See where it says TA and then it says schedule? for the whole school. >> Four first grade classes second. So, where do you want the Mr. So when you have one TA per grade level, what do they just move around? >> That's crazy. >> Yep. >> All right. What' you guys do? >> We said, well, I

084said, I'm sorry. >> That's why group projects are bad for grading. >> Fourth and fifth grade get nothing. >> Concentrate on >> That's pretty much how it goes everywhere. Yeah, >> that's what they got. >> All right. How many of you in the group put all of your TAS in K2? >> So, third, fourth, and fifth. You're on your own. >> We have we have one in third grade over here. >> You have one in third grade. >> You care to comment on the BG's in third grade. >> But let's >> Paul, you've got I mean about this number of kids. >> Yeah. How many none ectas do you have? >> Four, right? >> Yep. >> This I'm not dummying this up. This is actually what it is, folks. Okay. All right. To exacerbate this

085problem, just so you're aware, when the things got so tight with special ed, we actually have taken all the third grade aotment. When you see that allotment of one TA for every three classes of 21 students, the entire third grade aotment that the state gives us, we turn over for EC to use for TAs in EC classrooms because the funding has gotten so small. So that's why he ends up having four instead of five. Okay, now let's talk about EC. This is a little confusing, so just hang with me for a second. Okay. The state will fund us at 13% of our population for special ed. So I'll just give you exactly 13%. So how many total students are in your school? >> 425. Multiply that by 13% and that's going to tell you how

086many special ed kids you have. >> 55. You have 55 special ed students in your building. If you look at the state formula now again let me explain one thing you see in parenthesis it says one separate setting that means you have eight students who are in a what's called a max service program ISCS SDA something like that you have to staff that room with one teacher and two TAs for eight students so when that 55 eight of those kids are separate in the entire day all Go back to your state dollar aotments. Ready? >> Look at page three. >> And you'll see where it says >> children with disabilities, schoolaged. You see that? >> One more page >> says cateorical a lotments at the top of the page. >> See where it says $5,365

087per funded child. >> So take your 55 and a quarter. and multiply that by your allotment, which is $5,365. >> And what how much money do you get? $295,000 >> $79. >> All right. If you look at your aotment sheet right here on the second page on the bottom, it will tell you the average cost of a teacher and a TA for salary, benefits, and retirement. Yeah, Jared's got it. It's in the back of the work sheet you're working on. >> You see it? It's actually the third page. >> Well, oh, sorry. Third page. >> I want you to go ahead and build out your EC program using that amount of money. >> Realizing for that separate setting, you need one teacher just for those eight kids. >> You can't you have to have two

088TAs in that EC separate setting room. All right, let's add >> I suppose you could take one of your regular TAs and shift them over >> the top, two, >> look at the handout that you're writing on. Now we're >> No, go down. >> The average teacher cost that we pay 917 instruction. We are teacher 1,700,000. Oh crap. We got to have a resource teacher for self-contained classroom. >> Yes, you do. We only have $9,000 there. >> Yes, you do. >> So, one of these teachers is going to have to show that. So, that means one teacher has 55 kids or one kids. >> It's not allowed. So, we got to pay for another teacher. >> We'll get to that. >> All right. >> How many of you landed >> on two teachers and two

089TAs? Is that where we all got? >> Yeah. >> Anyone notice the problem with that? >> For which one? >> You got 47. >> You have one teacher covering 47 resource kids. >> That's not going to be allowed. But just hang on to that thought. Okay, >> we'll come back to that. >> We that I'm understanding it. So 47 kids isn't a classroom of fifth graders. 47 kids is spread across six different grades that reading, math, science, social studies, lunch, recess, >> PE, and everything else at different times that you have to accomplish. >> The other 47 children would be considered resource where they get support, but they're not pulled out of their class necessarily for a long period of time. >> Okay, just put a pin in that because we're going to come back

090to it. Okay, let's go down to the next one. Instructional support. The state has an aotment formula for instructional support. You'll find it on page one. >> No, you won't. You'll find it on page two. Someone tell me what it is. Instructional support. >> 417.15. >> One teacher for every 417.15. Instructional support covers counselor, media coordinator, instructional coach, and social worker. You receive one for 417 students. Oh, not one of each. Just one. >> So, we have to decide if it's the media coordinator or the counselor or the instructional coach. >> You have one aotment. Where are you going to put it? >> Counselor. Good question. So in this situation different that everyone is worried. >> And this is a simple one. >> What's this? >> You sent it to us and said you wanted

091>> Oh, no. I just wanted it sent to everybody. >> Got just I'll point out that it's there. I think. >> All right. >> Real quick, I'm going to circle the room again. a team. What uh what' you pick? >> I think I would probably pick either media center or counselor because I got to have that counselor considering the situations. >> All right, so you picked a counselor. What did you guys pick? >> Counselor. What' you guys pick? >> Counselor. >> Okay. So, we all picked counselor. So, none of you have a media coordinator, a social worker, or an instructional coach. Okay, next enrichment teachers. >> Hey, you know what? We've got f if we get our budget approved for furniture in the media center, we'll let the furniture just deal with the >> All

092right. >> For some reason, I think the state's too embarrassed to put this position aotment in. So, I'll give it to you. Enrichment teacher for elementary is art, music, and PE. You get one allotment for every 191 students you have. You get one teacher for every 191. So arguably what do you get? >> You can look for it. It's not there. You get two. So I need you guys to write down whether you're picking art, music, and PE. You can have two of the three. >> Well, do we have to have any? >> You're required to have the Oh, sorry. What are you talking about? >> No, you can send your kids out. Recess can count. You'll just have to have your teachers do >> PE, >> right? Teachers are legally required. >> I'm just

093telling you the way that the rule works. >> In fact, the rule doesn't mandate teacher time. It mandates as much as is available in ability to ensure student safety. Do you really have your like core teacher say I'm going to teach? Like is that like allowed? >> You have a requirement to teach PE. You honestly don't have the same requirement to give teachers the same amount of planning. >> The general statute says is what deemed appropriate for safety of students >> with a goal of a certain amount per day but not required. All right, we're going to circle the room. I want to know which one you did without. Which one did you drop? >> We're going to talk to a neighborhood school about splitting. >> All right. So, we heard we're going to talk

094to a neighborhood school about splitting. What do you guys want to do? >> We drop music. >> Drop music. drop music. >> Okay. Anyone else think they will try to split with another school? >> No, we we already >> All right. All right. Next one. AIG teacher. If you look at your last page, categorical allotments, >> $1,49259 per kid for 4% of your ADM. So take 4% of 425. Multiply that by your dollar amount and tell me how much you get. All right. Divide that by the cost of a teacher and give me a percentage. >> It's about 30%, isn't it? >> 27.8. >> I I'll give you 30 just to be a nice guy. >> You get 30%. Now, >> is it accurate uh that 4% of our students are listed as AIG? >>

095Do you want to take a stab at what our actual number is? Just a hair over 20% of our students require AIG services. We get funded for four%. >> And 20% of our kids are in need of services for AIG. So let's continue on. All right. Assistant principal. >> I will give you this one again. It's on page two under position allotments. The state will provide you one month of an assistant principal for every 98.53 kids you have. So >> that's months of employment. All right. What number do you get? >> 4.3 months. >> 4.3. >> Don't forget that's 4.3 out of a 10-month assistant principal, which isn't the entire school year either, but okay. >> Four. So, you get basically 40% of an assistant principal. >> And I'm going to skip the last one

096just in order to get us to the next part of this. Okay. Does everyone agree in this room that you want to have an art and a music and a PE program? >> Do you all want to have an AIG program? Is it allowable to have one EC teacher teaching 47 kids? >> No. Do you want a full AP? All right. Now, let's go on to the second page. On the second page, what you're going to see is the part that gets hard. This is the easy part. And folks, this is one of the easier schools to do. Imagine a high school. You have to balance all those different classes. So, all right. Don't talk about the teacher behind your hand, man. >> You said this is the easiest school to do. I was like,

097well, real school, >> right? And these Paul, are these numbers coming out pretty close? >> Yeah. I mean, I'm not wrong, am I? >> All right. On the second page, I want you to put down in the first column what the state allotment was for each of those areas. So, general ed teacher was what? >> 22. General ed TA was what? >> Five. EC teachers I think was two >> and ECTAs was two. Instructional support was what? >> One. >> Enrichment teacher was >> all right. And then put the percentages in for the rest. Now, >> for the next 10 minutes, I want you in the second column to put down what you think that school should have to actually run. >> Okay? I want you to put down what that school needs to open

098its doors tomorrow. Everybody with me on that? >> In the third column, >> are you guys already working or you thinking? Hang on, let me get to this last part. In the last column, you have to calculate how much money those additional things cost using the average salaries at the bottom. Okay? >> So, if you want a full AIG teacher, you're going to have to pay for 60% of it. Calculate that number and put it in the third column. >> All right. 10 minutes for 10 minutes. >> First thing that I'm going to do We've got that next meeting coming in. I'll do that as soon as I get that. >> Uh why don't you just send it directly? I don't think there's any right now. I'm just redirected here. We're requesting two more. I

099can't function with 47 kids. >> See my brain. I see this. So >> one more DC one more DC teacher one more teacher. AI depends on >> 49% by 5:00 it's going to We got about seven minutes left, guys. >> Today it's warm and rainy. So this becomes the question of the logistics of the school. I can build a master plan to probably just zero out instruction. However, front office and I'm working my next bonus by That's >> I need another You have like a part. They still use the money. It's hard to talk. >> All right, folks. Hey Jared, I just got a call from a music teacher. Says she wants to talk to you. >> I don't know what I The mic was off. >> We've been Ohio for your job. >> The

100music teacher just pass. >> Sorry. Um >> fine arts. What is nonarchal person? >> All right, I'm going to drag you guys back and make sure we >> we sort of process accounts. >> All right. Is there any group that actually got to a actual number? >> Okay, be aware that any number that's above what we already calculated, where does that money come from? >> Our county commissioners. >> So, whoever's got a number All right. >> Hey, just in his defense said >> he said so we would need $49,885 for all 45 schools. >> And I said, "Yeah." Paul said, "Yeah." >> All right. So, what number? >> All joking aside, folks, what number did you guys get? We need an additional >> We need an additional $565,2420. >> All right. 565,000 is the number

101to beat, ladies. >> 4 million. Oh, sorry. >> Hold on. We're brainstorming. I'll >> take that one. >> Every idea is a good idea. The assistant county manager came up with that number. >> Our budget officer came up with what number? >> 4.75 million. >> Okay. 4.75 million. What did you guys get to? >> 870,000. >> 870. >> 1.1 >> $453,533. >> Okay. That's >> I was very I was with a different group today. That's a number to beat. >> So 456,330. >> Wow. >> All right. So >> we went >> arguably Okay, hold on a second. You guys at 400,000, did you did you still end up splitting art and music? >> Yes. >> Did you have a full-time AP? >> Yes. >> Did you add another EC teacher? >> Yes. >> Yeah. See,

102this this is where we have to recognize the fact that the county is supplementing the state numbers. >> Even if it's only $450,000, this is one of the smallest schools we have. High schools, Laney High School is four times this size. Does that mean that they need four times $450,000 to get their job done? >> So part of this exercise, I think, was really to share with you as we go into the budget next month or next time we meet, we're going to be presenting to you the budget we're bringing to the board. I need you to remember the frustration that you felt here. And I'll tell you, even in a perfect world, even when we had SS for funding, you didn't have $4 million to spend on an elementary school with 425 kids in

103it. These are real numbers. And I want you to recognize that this translates to real children. Okay? And all joking aside, we cannot our job isn't to decide the argument about who should be giving us what money. Our job is to do what is best for children. And I think we can agree that that's becoming harder and harder with the funding sources that we have. Does that make sense? >> Okay. Thank you for doing that. I'm going to need yours immortalized. Can you sign yours, please? >> I would like to point out >> you're making my day. >> Details details. Amanda, >> I think you are still hired. So after doing the math is 1.9. >> Okay. Way better. >> And I think we did this exercise with the >> cut the budget in half.

104>> We did this with the board and the cabinet. And I think that most of us ended up in the $650 to $800,000 range with a couple ranging at 1.1. So those numbers between 600 and a million is really pretty accurate of what we're already adding. for sake of just and I really didn't use your school as the example, Paul, but it's a good balance, right? Do you have uh full art and full music? >> Yeah. Do you have two resource teachers? >> One. And how many separate setting teachers do you have? >> Three. >> Do you have a full-time counselor? >> Yes. >> Do you have a full-time media coordinator? >> Yes. >> That's where that million dollars goes. You'll also see the problem isn't really as much classroom teachers as it is everything

105else. Now, could Paul have said, "Well, I'm going to jack 30 into my fourth and fifth grade classes so I can have a full-time art and music." You can, but those are decisions that we have to make when I talk about how we're having to choose between essential services. This is what I'm talking about. >> Can I >> please what other thoughts from you guys? Yeah, >> I do want to point out that while this is is very true, we are living with six different schools that only have half of an assistant principal and many of our schools are sharing an art or a music teacher. We have PE teachers that split in some occasions. We have uh we have a lot of people in our buildings that serve two different schools not because we

106we want them to but because we are operating at a line where we are just doing what we have to do to meet state requirements in some cases. >> Any other thoughts from the group reflections? I have a question. >> They cap it at 13% and that's the number they give us. Five 5,300 per kid. >> And we've been pushing what's called a differentiated Go ahead. >> The state has already piloted a tiered EC funding model and that's on our legislative agenda that would openly support this. that would for county we would receive consistently roughly $2 million more dollars to service EC kids if they adopt it um that had been slated to be adopted when the budget was adopted and as you know the budget has not been passed on the state level so

107I believe that's the biggest pressure point in the tiered funding model if that does get passed that would alleviate a lot >> I do have a reflection Dr. barns. Um, one of the things, and this is this is not an easy move from one month to another to do, but looking at the numbers for us to maintain consistent staffing and to maintain the resources while we have a shrinking population, and it's been a thousand over the course of four years. So, it's not a dramatic decline, but we haven't we haven't changed the numbers of our buildings. And so if we're saying we want to maintain the staff, which is 83% and we absolutely do, maybe it's to re-evaluate because seeing these aotments, the more kids we have in one space, the more we have aotted

108from the state. And so this is something that I think it requires more long-term planning and part of the bond um discussion is we are increasing some of our core capacities of our buildings and so um >> so that we can address that issue. looking ahead to this is to say, you know, when we're trying to be flexible and say we don't want to cut opportunities for our students, the only other way that we can reflect and do things differently is to look at potentially reissuing re reuse of space, too. And I think I mean it's it's going to behoove us to do that. Otherwise, we're potentially going to have to cut resources for our students and >> making sure we're utilizing our spaces the most efficiently we can. And when you have a whole

109bunch of schools that are half filled >> and that's called redistricting in this county that's for some real >> it is. However, I do want to be transparent that I'm we're trying to make sure we're doing the best job with the money we have. >> Absolutely. Okay. And I'm gonna take control of the meeting again because we've got maybe five minutes and another group is coming in. Um, if you'll think about your calendar for a second, there's something on the agenda that that I had Jenny send you and it's I think it's important that you read and it's the North Carolina school accountability system. There's a new task force that's formed and they're going to be meeting throughout this year. They're going to have a recommendation to the state at the end of the year.

110And when we took our group, Hannah, you remember this? We went and we're sitting in the senator's office and he said, "Well, we have to change the accountability formula before we can change um the funding formula." And I was like, "What do you mean accountability formula?" Nobody would ever tell me what it meant. Well, that's what this is about. And we sent you that article as a link. But the accountability formula has to do with grading and it has to do with, you know, the A to F scale. 80% of the school's letter grade and the remaining 20% is um growth and that's how we measure. And they're talking about changing that. So, I want you to read that and maybe you guys want to contribute some comments to this task force um so that

111when they make their recommendation at the end of the year, this could get voted on by June of 27. Um so, I want you to be familiar with that. >> Yes, >> it is. It is printed in the package. Okay. It's printed in your package, too. We sent you a link um three or four days ago and now it's printed in your package. So, I want you to to be familiar with that. The task force has meetings all the way through to December 17th starting in April. Um so next month, well almost a month. Um and you you just want to keep up with that because I couldn't find out anything about it and now you know it's much more understandable. Now we need to plan our next meeting. It's challenging because our board is

112going to have two budget workshops in March. So we're looking at Jenny. We're looking at March 26th for this committee to meet again at 12:30 and I need a majority to say they can make that date March 26th because when do we have to be done by Dr. Barnes Ashley? >> Well, we hope to carry to full board for approval or recommendation April 1st that first April board meeting. >> Well, that only gives us one more meeting before that date and that would be the 26th. Does the 26 fall before or after agenda review? >> Um after. >> So would we need to have this meeting prior to agenda? >> No. >> 12:30 is the normal time this group has been meeting. >> Today was an anomaly. So, we'll just have this last meeting before

113we take our recommendation before the the board actually votes. Um, so all cool with that and I'd like for you guys to be looking at April. I think Jenny's going to send you out a couple of suggestions for April so that we can come right back to it. Um, but the calendars are filling up really fast right now. All right. So, anything else? Anything else going once? Anything else going twice? Thank you, county, for your insight today. Um, we didn't deliberately pay prepare you the way we did, but I'm glad it worked out that way. Um, so that you experience the frustration that we experience. And with that, I'm going to turn this meeting. Thank you very much, everyone. >> What was Amanda's number again?