001It's up and running. >> Yes. >> Okay. I'd like to call this uh [clears throat] budget committee meeting on January 5. Note that all committee members are here. Council Newton and Dr. Brown. Um approve agenda. >> So move. >> Second. >> All in favor? I I >> I don't believe there's any public comments and so uh let us begin with the 2526 budget. All right. Thank you, Mark. Rebecca, do you mind scrolling? There you go. Thank you. Uh so, first of all, Heather, thanks for subbing in. Appreciate that today. So, we got a full group of three board members. Uh Dr. Brown, thanks for joining us virtually. Good to see you. Um, feel free to let us know whenever you want to jump in. Just let me know. Happy to do that. >> Thank [snorts]
002you. >> Yep. Sounds good. So, the first agenda item is related to the 2526 budget, the year we're in, and how we are doing at this point. Um there [snorts] was some media attention prior to the winter break on the [snorts] topic of state specialed categorical aid. Dr. Brown and I uh met with Peter from the tribune and shared a lot of the information that you see in the notes there. Um so what has happened is in the late November the department of public instruction started making payments to districts based on a 35% reimbursement level. Uh that did cause alarms throughout the state of districts saying you know what's going on here. Uh the state budget was based on a 42% reimbursement level for which hence led to many districts being concerned about that 7%
003difference. Uh we had discussions with our board last uh last year. We knew it was never going to be 42% from the very beginning based on data that uh we were able to look at. So we budgeted 40%. So 40% versus 35% pretty significant number. Uh and so what we have done is we reached out to our statewide data expert who works with us on our budget planning model. He has downloaded all of the data across the state and is estimating that the DPI is being very conservative right now and it should be at 38.5%. So 38.5% well certainly not the 42% advertised in the state budget and not the 40% that we had budgeted [snorts] for uh but certainly much better than 35. So what we shared in here in the notes is our
004actual audited expenses in fund were 11.25 million. Uh we budgeted 4.225 million. So if we end up across the state at 38 12% we're actually going to be in a very strong position. uh we're going to be uh 4.33 million compared to our budget of 4.225 million. Uh the reason for that is in the end audited expenses for fund 27 um exceeded uh the budgeted expenditures uh which is increasing our total scope of reimbursement. uh in effect that happened all across the state. Uh which is why the reimbursement levels being driven down. Uh but because we use the 40% and because our expenditures were up uh we're going to still be in a strong spot with special ed categorical aid. Now, with that being said and done, I think as board members, as you communicate
005with legislators, I think reiterating the point that having whatever percentage the state decides to reimburse schools at as the fixed percentage fund appropriately is what schools across the state are going to continue to be asking [snorts] for. Whether it's 40%, 42% or 45%. It creates significant challenge for school districts who may have been planning on a 42% level and are now going to receive somewhere between 35 and 38. Um so from a legislative process I think that continues to be the request for schools is rather than uh prorating down the reimbursement to schools which has really been the practice for a very long time uh requesting that the state actually commit to a percent and then fund it appropriately. Uh we all know the resources are there in the state budgets. uh the resources were
006not fully allocated in the last state budget. They're there. They're available. It's just a matter of having that commitment upfront to fund special education at the appropriate level. So, I think this topic is an important one to continue to advocate for as board members. Um thankfully, our district in this topic is in a good spot right now. Um, the other one that I will say makes me more nervous is the one called highcost special ed aid. Um, Alli is going to start working on that really soon. The DPI has opened that process up. It's something that Ally and Tiffany and I have done uh multiple presentations to share with folks like how this works. It's very confusing to schools, but the reality of it is it's very similar to what you're seeing on the screen.
007There's a fixed dollar amount. The more districts that put in for it, the lower the proration goes. Uh, and again, it just shouldn't be that way. If the state is committing to a 50% reimbursement level for highcost students, it should be funded at a 50% reimbursement level. Uh, we've budgeted 40% for high-cost special ed aid. Uh it all is going to depend on what happens. I will say um the largest district in the state has not participated in high-cost special ed aid in the past. If they choose to uh we're going to have an issue. Uh there's no question we're going to have an issue as well as every other district that budgeted for these funds. So it's just something to keep in mind. Uh you may have read from the schoolboard association before the
008winter break uh there actually is legislation that has been proposed to go into this current state budget and fix this. Uh so as board members you may be hearing about that. I think it's an important thing for us to consider notifying legislators about contacting them and requesting that these reimbursement percentages be fully funded in this current state budget. Um, with that being said and done, uh, thankfully special ed categorical aid is not a concern for us and we're going to keep our eye on the highost aid as we move forward. Okay. So the next agenda item uh is related to uh our financial plan and the property tax levy. Uh so the one thing uh that I wanted to share with you on this topic. So what we included in the attachment was just a
009reminder that during the month of October uh when we approved the final version of the budget and tax levy, uh the board made a decision to basically underlevy uh what would have been allowed under the revenue cap formula in our referendum fund and made the commitment to fund uh over $2 million from an alternative source. whether that's refinancing, [clears throat] referendum proceeds, or IRS funds, one of those three areas. [clears throat] Um, Ally and I have been working with our financial advisors on this topic. It's actually a very complicated conversation. The reason why it becomes even more complicated is looking forward towards the end of November of 26. If the board has any interest in putting out a high school plan to the public, that also has to be factored into this plan. Um, so
010we can't just look at the two plus million that needs to be refinanced or uh or evaluated with how to meet those uh meet those costs. We have to look ahead to see if the board is going to move forward with a referendum in November. How would we fit that in? Ultimately, the board has had a recent, I would say, you know, five plus year practice of helping our property tax levy be consistent over time. Uh, and we're trying to factor that in when we're looking at this. On Wednesday morning, the facility committee's meeting and Ally and I are showing the facility committee some ideas related to this to get some feedback as to whether or not the facility committee wants us to continue down this path. But in the end, we are trying to
011balance the funds that we need to come up from October, the possibility of a referendum in November, how to use the IRS resources that are coming back, and ultimately how to put this together in an affordable manner for the community. So, we're working on all of that right now. Um, if you are interested in this topic, our plan is to present the high school conversation to the facility committee on Wednesday morning and bring this back to the budget committee in February. Uh, we would like our focus this morning to be on open enrollment 4K and budget planning. Uh, so we want to jump into that, but this topic's an important one. Uh we're going to come back to this in February and get the feedback of this committee after getting the feedback on the facility
012committee. U I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have on that one. If not, I'll move into the 2425 final audit report. So audits were due to the DPI by the middle of December. Uh, ours was completed after the December board meeting. So depending [clears throat] on when the audit firm wraps it up, we either can put this on the agenda for December or January. So it wasn't uh submitted till after our December board meeting. So what you see in your board packet is the uh results of the audit. Um, as a board member, you are of course welcome to dive into the lengthy report on the numbers. Uh but what I think is always [clears throat] the most important is really the communication or the letter that comes from the auditors to
013the board. That letter that letter states anything that has come up that would be concerning. A good example would be disagreements between the auditor and management. Other examples would be internal control violations or concerns that were found. um anything that they wanted to communicate with the board is included in uh that letter. So, as a board member, if you were deciding how much time to spend on this, that's what I would recommend you look at first. U that letter is not meant to be a letter to Ally and myself. That letter is meant to be a letter to the board. Um so, you're welcome to take a look at that. There's also something called a management discussion and analysis which is the intro to the audit. Um that's a highlevel summary of the year and
014it also looks forward to the next fiscal year. I'd probably say that would be the second thing I would look at if I was a board member. And then ultimately if you really want to jump into the numbers you're welcome to do that. That's why that whole report is there. Uh we do make this aware available to the public through our business office web page. Uh we'd be happy to answer any questions right now on this, but we're going to ask Rebecca to add this to the agenda for next Monday night for board approval. Ally, [snorts] did you want to add anything? >> No. >> I would like to just thank you, Steve, Ally, Dr. Brown. Uh I've read through the report the letters that uh you guys have done and also challenge. So thank
015you. >> Thank you Mark. Appreciate that. If there's no further questions, we're going to jump into item 6 uh 2627 planning. Uh this certainly seems a little bit more real now that the calendar is turned to January 2026. our focus on 2627 planning uh in the school year that starts next September. Um so a couple of things to keep in mind. Uh the one action item that is critical coming out of this conversation [snorts] right now is the open enrollment approval in January. So, Wisconsin state law uh was changed I think seven or eight years ago to state that school boards have to identify in January what what openings you're going to allow for the following September. It is a signal to the public about what is available or what is not. The concern that
016was happening is parents were applying uh you can only apply at three districts and then they were finding out all three of those districts aren't taking high schoolers. So they just used their application on three schools they couldn't go to. So the state responded by saying we need to do this as a board first in January and then publicly announce. We have talked a little bit about open enrollment in recent meetings. Um, it's fair to say that once the board has made that action, it has not been an area of focus for us to really communicate that out widely. It's just something Julie knows, Annie knows, people who reach out to us and ask. Uh, but our past practice has not been to like I would say proactively share that information beyond let's say the
017wani community. Uh so what we're going to talk about this morning and Miranda thanks for joining us for this discussion is tying together the responses for our 4K contract offer open enrollment planning and our staffing planning for 2627 because all three of those work together. Uh we we do have an idea to run by you um that does connect all three of those concepts together. Uh so we're interested in knowing what your thoughts are because the idea that we're going to throw at you includes both section planning for the elementary schools, open enrollment planning for next month, and 4K planning. So it kind of ties all three of them together. So, the first thing that we've done, Rebecca, if you wouldn't mind opening up the budget planning process for 2627, and we're going to go
018to I will say the one page that we want to call your attention to first. You can keep going. I'm keep going. All right. If you want to one more, please. Okay. Right here. [clears throat] All right. So with our preliminary projections for 2627, we are identifying a three section reduction in our elementary schools. So kindergarten through 4th grade, if you were to isolate kindergarten through 4th grade, we are looking at a three section reduction. So there's a couple of different ways to then problem solve through that. One of them is open enrollment. Uh, one of them is reduction in sections. We could just be reducing sections moving forward and hoping that retirements or resignations allow us to to fill that gap. Uh, but 4K is another option that we want to talk about and
019how those three FTE uh could potentially tie into [clears throat] uh 4K. So keep in mind as we move forward with the discussion on open enrollment and 4K planning that we have this topic here between K and fourth grade of three sections or three FTE staff members that we need to have a plan for one way or another by next Monday. Um so do you have any questions about this page? If not, we'll jump out of this and get into 4K and open enrollment and then we'll talk about how we're thinking of tying this all together. All right, Rebecca, if you want to bounce out of this. Okay. So, if you want to scroll down one more, Rebecca, and if you could just open up the 4K for a moment, and then I'm going to
020bounce back to enrollment planning and open enrollment. Uh so, as you all know, uh during the December board meeting, we did request that you approve a 4K, uh contract offer. Uh Miranda worked very quickly to get that out to everyone. We had a follow-up meeting the week after the board meeting. Miranda was in communication with anyone that had questions and we asked folks to respond to us on the Friday before winter break. So, you can see the responses on the screen. Um, as far as who uh is participating, signed up to participate, you do see the St. John's preschool. So, St. John's is going in the direction of a private 4K program. Uh really no different than their, you know, 5K through um their highest grades. Uh that's they're basically going to become consistent with
021the rest of their school. They're not going to have a public 4K option. Um and then Inspire did not provide a response. So you can see the third um site down. Uh no response was provided by the the deadline of last Friday and I still have not seen anything. Miranda hasn't either. Um so as of right now our assumption is that inspire is not continuing with us. So keep in mind uh we have some capacity that we want to address because of the loss of St. John's and Inspire. So, that's going to play into our thought process on this that we do have some capacity we need to make up. Uh, Rebecca, do you want to bounce out of this one for a moment if you want to go back to the middle part? Uh,
022okay. And so, can you open up the open enrollment one on the bottom? So, there's a lot here. Um, but I'm going to ask Rebecca to arrow over to the right and we're going to focus on the right hand side for just a moment and we're going to get your feedback on what this looks like. So on the far right hand side uh we are following our budget planning process which does reduce the three sections in grades K through 4. You then see the open enrollment spots that are aligned accordingly. What Dr. Brown, uh, Miranda and myself talked about over the break is the concept of reallocating those three FTE that are currently between grades K through 4 to a 4K option in each of our buildings. So, we know we have capacity that we
023need to solve. We know we have three licensed teachers that we um according to our current board policy on class size either have to reallocate reduce the sections or really seek to increase our open enrollment open enrollment capacity. So, I'm going to ask Miranda just to talk for a minute about licensing just so you all know how that works for 4K and and what might uh what might be we be looking for in that area. >> Sure. Um so for 4K you have to have um an early childhood. So lots of our teachers would have the um birth through third grade. Um nobody would just have a 4K license. I think kindergarten is the only license out there that is specific. some people have way back when. Um or they could have the early childhood
024which would just be the with the special one on there. So most of our elementary should be somewhere between the birth to third grade or the um possibly first to I think is it 6th or 8th is the other ones. So we just have to make sure they have that um birth to three places in there. So the concept that again we're considering on the far right is 3ft FTE and of course Miranda as our 4K administrator would work with Brian our HR director taking the lead to find how the licensing would work and who would be most interested in moving to the 4K level to offer a 4K option uh in each of the elementary [clears throat] schools. The thing to keep in mind with what our thoughts are related to this is they
025would be AM PM offerings and ideally we would be looking at families that are not seeking wraparound care. So Miranda when she requests interest from the families in the community with four-year-olds they will let us know as an example if they have an affiliation with let's just say Adventures and Learning. Um, our goal would be [clears throat] to look for families to come into our schools that don't currently have a need for, let's say, a wraparound care or a relationship with a center so that our centers can focus on the kids that they're serving and then Miranda would have a guide as far as how to place the kids in the school. Uh, we would focus on those that don't need wraparound care from the centers. Now, it's not going to quite work out as
026easy as that. Uh Miranda every year has to go through an extensive process to like place everybody. Uh it's a lot of work on her end. This just adds more to it. But in general, the goal behind offering something in the buildings is not to take away anything that our partners that just signed up with us are offering to their families. gets to look at a select group of families that this option in our building would work out for their own family's needs. So that's kind of the thought process behind it. Um and so in general if we go that route of asking those three FTE to move to 4K and we're going to have to have somebody move a building too. Um it when [clears throat] you look at the numbers it's not as
027easy as one our freedom teacher moving. Um we would be looking at instead of having our open enrollment numbers go up really high in those grades we would instead reallocate the FTE to 4K. That helps solve the capacity issue that's being created by two sites not continuing with us. Um it still does create an open enrollment spot. So if you look on the open enrollment column all the way to the far right, this is not eliminating open enrollment by any means. Uh it is just having the numbers be more reasonable. We just happen to have some very low class sizes in some of our elementary schools. Um so again the three concepts that we're connecting together is our budget planning has identified three FTE um that we need to have some type of plan for
028our [snorts] 4K interest or our 4K contract offer has resulted in us having a [snorts] capacity concern u in number three the open enrollment approval that needs to happen in January if we shift 3FT down to 4K Okay, the open enrollment uh numbers to the far right are much more reasonable in this scenario than the other one. So like if you go to the middle scenario just as an example and you look at full day kindergarten, that's 37 openings. So, if we were to keep all of the instructors that are currently in kindergarten in kindergarten, that's how many openings we would have. Um, it's very unlikely, no matter how much of an effort we would make to try to get this information out, that the open enrollment in one particular grade would get to that
029level. When you go to the far right, uh if we do reallocate two kindergarten teachers to 4K, we will have no openings in uh kindergarten, but we will still in first, second, third, fourth, uh 4K, etc. Um so kindergarten would be the one because we're moving to teachers out of there uh and we're staying with the board uh class size policy where we wouldn't have the openings. But I [clears throat] want to pause for a moment. I want to see if Dr. Brown has anything to add about this approach of connecting these three topics or see if Miranda has anything she wants to share. So, Dr. Brown, do you have anything you want to start with? >> Um, thank you, Steve. Uh, job well done. Appreciate [clears throat] you. Um the the other piece that
030I would just like to add is in thinking about the um one 4K room in each of the elementary schools, I think it would be um a positive um for us to think for our parents to be able to think about um starting their children in a 4K building. Well, ultimately the goal would be for them to transition through that building until fourth fourth grade. Um and so I think that would be a positive um for us as we continue to move forward for parents to know and understand if my child starts at 4K um just using Prairie as an example um because that is their geographical location ideally um I think that's a great way to say to parents this is my child's school this is where he or he he or she will
031begin um and so they can start there um they can stay there and also succeed at that particular elementary school for um for five years. Uh so I think that's a plus um and something for you to think about as well with with one of those room with one room in each elementary building. >> I think the only >> and that's and that's that's my only ad. Um Steve, thank you. Otherwise, you did a great job. >> Thank you, Miranda. The only thing I want to add is we would probably not be putting that out into public that it's a choice to go to an elementary school just because a little worried that everybody might want to choose that. That again we would really be um when they fill out the form when they say
032no they are not affiliated with the daycare that that would be the option they get but they wouldn't get to choose it. So, I don't know your thoughts about that, but that's just we just want to make sure that >> everyone doesn't want to pick that and then put us in a whole different situation. >> Yeah. Because this plan results in one FTE at each of the three elementary schools. So, under no scenario does this plan result in, you know, 60 kids at Heritage going to Heritage Elementary School for 4K. And the other thing we have to keep in mind is we have to respect all of the partners that signed up with us and their business needs. And so our interest is not to, you know, have a student even if they live in
033the heritage attendance area if they're receiving services all day long for adventures at Adventures and Learning. We want to continue that >> because Adventures and Learning is one of our partners, >> right? So they would continue with adventures and learning for their 4K. And again, we don't want to create busing that doesn't need to exist. So it's important to keep in mind that Branda will have those parameters. Uh but she will be maxed out uh with a single teacher in each school with an AM session. So I think the point there is um ensuring equitable distribution of our students among our partners as a priority and then our schools as well in terms of the number of students which is the unknown um is the unknown at this point. Um but thank you for bringing
034that up Miranda appreciate that. So if you would have more parents that want that experience suggested randomizing or we going to do it like by a lottery because certainly there's some financial considerations for the parents with that option too. That would be an advantage for them versus going to one of the partners. So, I think again we wouldn't be putting that out there that it's a choice to go to the um elementary. It would be when they say we do not need wrap care. >> Oh, >> what is your home school? Do you know what I'm saying? Like it would kind of be like then >> hey this is what you got, not >> getting to choose that because otherwise it would have to be a random process and I don't want to hurt >>
035our partners if people think that's a choice. >> I I don't know. That was my first initial thought kind of with that. >> So, Miranda, in the past, has this been a question that you've asked when they were signing up for 4K about rap care? >> So, in the past, they get their top five choices, but I've never flat out asked about RAP >> because I don't have anything to do with RAP, >> right? >> Um, so I think though we're going to have to ask. >> Sure. >> Because if we put the elementary, I do think we will have more people wanting an elementary school over a partnership >> because the reason why I ask is just to a if especially if we're looking to move sections from you know 4day [clears throat] kindergarten
036to 4K is proposed is there number one a demand do you feel that we would be able to fill all those seats right not knowing I think is there is this like a high likelihood that you feel based on experience that we could actually fill these or is this kind of like an educated So last year we had 90 I don't remember the exact number. We had 90 kids that had no wrap care. >> Okay. >> So kind of just basing it off that. >> Got it. >> Right. That >> if we took those 90 kids and >> space them out between the elementaryaries. >> Okay. >> But again I mean we don't know how many kids we're getting. So the sooner we can start enrolling. >> Sure. Sure. >> The sooner we know. But
037>> okay. Just based on that >> is my my only other question then based on some of the data when we're talking about the 4K offers is that historically we've had a fairly low percentage go from 4K and continue on to the to kindergarten first grade right it was very very small numbers >> last year was >> just last year but other than that I think actually it was a pretty high >> okay because that would be my only other concern is that if we're decreasing enrollment numbers for full day kindergarten to increase in 4K. Are we only then perpetuating the problem in >> Well, and I think part of that group too, that um that focus group that we're going to be looking at for the following year is seeing again what do families
038want? Do they, >> you know, want in building? Do they want full day? Do they want >> Sure. >> Um so that could help us for the next year. But unfortunately this year, I think we're going in blind. >> Got it. >> Okay. because that's my only trepidation is to is with a zero open enrollment for full day kindergarten right I mean I think there's a high likelihood to your point that people may be difficult to hedge based on you know we don't know what we don't know right so we can't make no one can have that answer but that's my only concern about all this is going to zero open enrollment for full day >> so I see your question I hear your question. Let me just add this to it so you know.
039Um, anyone that is current [cough] open [clears throat] enrollment student in 4K right now is assumed to be able to continue. >> So the zero would be brand new. >> Yeah. So um, all of the current 4K families would be able to continue because our practice has not been to require reapplication. So the good news is the current 4K families going into 5K would not lose their spot in Wanuki. Anyone new would uh because the board policy on class size says we have to be under 20 in order to take kindergarten students. And you see under this scenario we'd be at 20.25. Uh and again the thinking behind this one was the board could move the investment which is known in those three positions to 4K without having to add another position. With that being
040said and done, it's completely a board decision. Like if you wanted to move two positions down, have open enrollments at 4K and post a job. I mean anything is possible at this point. We just thought the I'll say most conservative approach is to move the three teachers down. Uh but I do understand what you're saying about we would be eliminating anyone from having kindergarten as an entry point for next year with the exception of the 30 plus that already chose us this year. >> So if let's say what are we at 36 or something? If only six or 30 chose us would those six openings Um the answer would be no. However, you as the board get to make that decision. So what Miranda is saying, which is a great point, thank you for bringing
041that up. Is if we do believe, let's say six to 10 of the current 4K students won't continue with us. These numbers assume they all will. So we've taken all of them. We've moved them up. So, as a board, if you wanted to hedge that a little bit by saying, "Let's have five spots or let's have 10 because we don't think all the 4K students are going to continue with us." You can do that. Um, you're not going to be criticized for opening up a spot that someone can take. It's the other way around. We can't go the other way, but you could certainly go that way. So my my other that's a great point, Miranda. I appreciate it. My only other question that I then have is historically do we know how many open
042enrollment spots um have been used for full day kindergarten in the past? >> Yes, we can definitely look that up. Um typically because we assume 4K families are they have their spot to continue. >> Yeah. uh it's been very limited the number of openings in full day kindergarten. So it's been very low um definitely in the less than five or 10 category. It is generally well understood in the community broader community that to in order to get into Wanuki schools as an open aroma student you need to start in 4K. Um so it's pretty well understood from folks that that's their path to get in. Uh because if we've got openings in 4K, we automatically allow you to stay for 5K. So most families that are planning ahead, they call and they ask and we
043basically tell them, you really need to consider us for 4K because there may not be options for 5K. Uh but we could certainly get 5 to 10 families. And if the board looked at past practice and said, "We know we're not going to get all 30 some of the 4K kids coming next year." There's nothing wrong with changing the zero to five or 10 or whatever you're comfortable with. >> Could Julie ask our current 4K families or myself? And I mean, most of them I assume know >> that they just came, >> you know what I mean? And just get a rough. I mean, not that they're committing, but if anybody kind of knows. >> I think I heard you offered to do that by next Monday night. [laughter] >> But I just mean like
044would that help? Like if you kind of know like everyone's staying or everyone >> we have to decide next Monday, right? >> Right. We'd have to time to get that in. >> Do you feel comfortable going with a 6 to 10 openings? >> I mean, I'd love to hear, you know, Mark and Heather, your opinion. I would I would rather hedge and have you know to your point five or 10 or six to 10 openings and if Miranda if you can source that information right then >> we can ask >> even if it's incomplete right it be better to know you know especially if we if we don't get a full response but we find out there's 10 or so folks that say no right then it then it could help I to your point
045I would feel personally more comfortable if we hedged and had some spots open to allow you know, enrollment. >> We know that without a doubt there are families in 4K that already know >> they work in the Wanaki Industrial Park. They're from DeForest. They're uh four-year-olds going back next year. >> I think if Miranda had a fast way or Julie had a fast way of reaching out, >> I bet we could get some pretty fast responses from people saying, "I already know I'm going back to my home district." and we could get a pretty decent number to you. >> Um, and it would then make sense like if Miranda learned she thinks it's five or seven because we're at the 20.25, you probably only want to use the number of families that we know aren't
046coming back >> to then factor that in. >> So, I think that's a good idea. >> Okay. >> Sorry for the additional work. No, it's >> No, I think if we just send a quick Google yes, no. You know what I mean? Or undecided. And um I have Julie running the the report quick to get the emails of the people. I think we could send it out yet today and hope that we get some people there. >> Okay. >> But I think as a board like the things that we just would want to make sure you're okay with, obviously we have [cough] never run 4K in our buildings. So from the day that we started 4K, um it has never operated in our elementary buildings. This would be a change in practice. Uh we are
047recommending it because we do have a capacity concern now for next September. >> Uh you know is going back to the financial numbers that we all looked at. We do not want to set oursel up for a capacity problem next September. We would like to set ourselves up for a situation to be able to meet the needs of all of our families. uh prioritizing of course the centers that have partnered with us and our in-person operations. Um I do want to also mentioned that the policy committee is meeting this month. Um this whole conversation will prompt a conversation on transportation. Uh we're going to have to have it. Um I'll give you an example. St. John's is asking, "What are we willing to do for their private 4K program?" Uh, by Wisconsin state law, a
048school board is required to provide home to school and schooltoome transportation only. Also, a school board is allowed to issue what's called a parent contract instead of a school bus. So, a with this new uh 4K private program, you as a board are going to have to also weigh in on how do you want to service that from a transportation perspective. Madison Country Day School, we issue private parent contracts. We do not operate busing for Madison Country Day School, but we're responsible for it. We have the right to issue a parent contract and that's what we do. Uh it's significantly less expensive than trying to run a bus throughout all of Wan Key for Madison Country Day School students. Uh the question that St. John's is posing to us is what are we willing to
049do with their 4K? Uh and also you have to keep in mind we're not required to transport any students to an alternative daycare location. So, that also needs to be something we're going to have to talk about in January. As we've talked about before, we currently allow a family that lives north of Prairie, so let's just say Dane to leave Prairie School 10 minutes early, loss of instructional time, transfer over to Arboritum, and then get on a bus to go to Inspire. I think we have to ask whether or not we want to continue that practice. That's a big question for the board. Um that's going to impact a lot of parents and a lot of families. Uh but we have to make a decision on that really quickly as families are preparing for next
050September, either for the following September or maybe the year after. Uh but the most immediate one that [snorts] we have to answer is St. John's. Are we going to provide busing? And if we are, are we going to provide busing to daycare sites? Are we only going to provide transportation to and from home? If that's the case, would we exercise our right under state law to do parent contracts only? Um, we've never done that with St. John's. And you're talking decades worth of history here. Um, so that is something that during the policy committee meeting in January has to be discussed and it directly ties into this conversation is really transportation services. And now we're going to be offering our own program um that does line up with a possible scenario. Again, if the board
051approved that, we could potentially be doing a midday run to grab our three schools and St. John's. So there is a possible synergy there if you're willing to do that. But they are asking that question. We're going to have to have an answer to that as they're going to be communicating with their families about what that looks like. Um so back to this uh are you okay with an in-person 4K program? Are you okay with reallocating three sections? And are you okay with in general what it looks like on the open enrollment to the far right of the screen? uh or do you have any further questions, concerns, modifications you want us to consider before next Monday? >> I do have a question about placement for those 90 that just needed a half day. Any
052are they were they placed in just certain centers? You don't have to tell me which one. Are they spread across the >> um [clears throat] currently they're spread everywhere? >> Okay. >> To try to meet everybody's capacity and then if they need busing within the zones. >> Okay. So like if they're arburidum like I place them within the arboritum dayc carees >> if they need that busing. So no I try to do it as equitable as possible to get everybody their numbers. >> Okay. I mean [snorts] and I do worry about loss of revenue for providers. Um especially since they just signed this contract with us. Um and that would be my hesitation cuz some of them rely more on the half day than others. And I think we kind of chatted that again we
053will try to fill the centers >> but you're still pulling those kids that would have been with >> Right. but there's no room for them. I mean if we have we I mean there's 40ome kids that even if I filled every center to capacity they would not have a space. >> Okay. So there's more than >> Yeah. If you look at that one I mean >> we can jump back to that. That's a good question. So Rebecca, would you mind bouncing out of this one and going to the 4K one? this one. >> Um, yep. If you could just blow that up a little bit. [clears throat] >> So, again, we're guessing numbers, right? But like we have space for only 200 kids. >> Okay. >> Without adding anybody. [cough and clears throat] Do you
054know what I mean? So, like with the loss of Inspire and the loss of St. John's, we're down to 200 spaces. And that's everybody going to capacity. And >> not everybody necessarily wants that, but that's filling every current contract for 2627 to capacity. >> Okay. So, if we do go this route, there'll be I'm assuming there'll be an explanation just to providers so they don't panic. >> Yeah. And again, I think we want to fill the the daycare providers first. You know what I mean? And try to >> get them the revenue they're hoping. >> That makes more sense. Does your plan B uh >> well so that's one scenario but then you're also talking >> so plan B was me just begging people like what could you do before we had this and I
055mean one person said if we could find a teacher >> we could maybe add just a morning and then someone else said if you can guarantee me >> okay >> 18 we would hire another so that was before we had chatted. It was just like what >> you know what else could I do to try to find more space? >> S we were looking at not doing plan B but doing the the three additional sections. >> Correct. >> Okay. And if so if we did that then are you looking at still at 228 or you anticipating more? >> We have no idea. I mean what we're >> how many kids we'll get. >> Yeah. the open enrollment number if you again look on the far right column uh it was increased from the year before.
056So our goal is to fill our partners and our goal is to fill our three sections and that's how we um thank you Rebecca to the far right uh if you look at the open enrollment number that we have there uh once Rebecca gets there for the 4K line um you can see that it's got 70. So our goal is to seek 4K students. Our goal is to fill the centers and our goal is to fill those three classrooms. Okay. >> And that's why we have 70 up there for open enrollment. Okay. >> Um in the end, Heather, we appreciate your point. Dr. Brown. Brand and I were talking about how important it is that as we communicate this out, our goal is to make sure every single partner that signed an agreement with us
057meets their needs first and then to look at how do we place kids in our buildings accordingly. So, as an example, the open enrollment [clears throat] students uh when as Miranda is looking through this um are certainly going to be placed in a partner site before they'd be p placed at like Heritage for a resident of that attendance area that doesn't have wraparound care. So, Miranda is going to be basically trying to figure all of this out. But in the end, our goal is to make sure everyone that did commit to us is going to be able to meet their requests with what they're looking for. Uh, and so that's going to be Miranda's job to figure that out. >> It's like a puzzle with no edges normally, honestly. And now they'll be just missing
058pieces. >> I can only imagine. Yeah. And when you're thinking about a moment um and those 40 kids from Inspire, I mean are is that all factored in there or you cuz like you if there are 40 kids at Inspire that are district kids that decide to stay at Inspire, is that part of any of that numbers? >> So that's going to be a very interesting conversation as we go through the next couple of months because families may choose to try to do both. Right. So, you could choose to do if you're a family, try to get into our 4K program in one of our elementary schools and ask us again if we provide the busing to all alternative sites like we currently do for us to then bus you there for the afternoon or
059vice versa. So, I as Miranda said, we're kind of going into this and this is really a new space for us. I'm expecting we're going to see things from parents that we haven't seen before. Um, basically or from centers before and I think everyone is trying to navigate this challenging space of how do I maximize what's available from the state. Uh, whether it's parents thinking that or centers thinking that. Uh, but I could imagine a situation where it's not necessarily a family is at Inspire, so they're not with us. I certainly could imagine we might get requests for people to do both. >> And the only thing that I and Inspire, you do have to be there all day for him to >> Okay. Okay. >> So, like they wouldn't have that option, I don't
060think, unless he were to change his mind. >> Sure. Yep. So to to Heather's point about supporting our partner sites, do you think that as you communicate this to them, could there also be a almost like a marketing social media communication campaign that helps to cuz I know we talked about at the last board meeting, right, where Andy can help support them in getting the word out, supporting their, you know, 4K enrollment in conjunction with, right, cuz in the contract contract. It said we had to review and approve, but maybe we could help support that, right? Especially with the reach that we have to offset that, knowing that, hey, we're going to fill those community sites first, but it could assist them and then also inevitably assist us in filling those sections. >> Yeah, I
061[clears throat] think that was our plan. We just didn't know who we were promoting. And now that we know, I think we can kind of move forward with that with Annie. And >> Sure. um get that out there again. We right we normally start enrolling today, >> but we're not. So, um we just got to get that date out there and I think then we can start >> promoting a way to get people to start enrolling and then >> cuz most people enroll that first, you know, 6 weeks cuz they want to get it off their plate. >> Hi, Rebecca. My vote to the agenda. So, the action item that we have uh that we're going to have in front of you is really uh open enrollment uh which is next Monday night. We're really
062tying in that to the 4K program. So Miranda is going to be uh waiting and if a recommendation like this is approved by the board, Miranda will then be able to move forward after next Monday knowing the open enrollment spots. We'll be able to communicate internally. Um, so Brian will be able to start working with our principles on knowing that we're going going to be creating three 4K uh positions knowing that we're going to be uh reducing to kindergarten three positions and reallocating. So we're going to be able to start moving forward on all of this um after next Monday, but the action really is going to be related to open enrollment and where you want to go with that. we will get the information on 4K. Uh but really that's the action item. So
063you don't see an action item on 4K. The action item is open enrollment. Rebecca, do you mind scrolling down a little bit? So any questions at all regarding those topics? Does this make you want to make a recommendation? If you want to make a recommendation, you can. Uh if you don't, we can just go into the meeting mentioning that we spent this time reviewing it. I mean, I based on all the work that you all did, I feel comfortable um making a a motion to recommend the reallocation of the three uh kindergarter sections to in facility 4K. Okay, second. I'll second that. Uh, all in favor? >> I oppose. >> Do you need anything on the open enrollment numbers right now or No? >> Uh, no. So, we'll get the Miranda's going to work with
064Julie on that and we'll get you an update for fundamentally kindergarten is the one that is in question. Um, >> so I know this the 4K has been the big thing with the open enrollment, [clears throat] but I also saw that as the 46 there or I think it was 4 through 8 there could be some lower sections. Is there any desire to increase the open enrollments for those where the where the numbers are down from the year before? >> Yeah, I appreciate you asking. Uh, let's jump back to that for a minute, Rebecca. Perfect. Thank you. you want to grab that up a little bit. Uh, so I appreciate you bringing that up, Mark. So to [clears throat] mention something about the middle school. So if you look uh look to the far right
065and if you wouldn't mind looking at the 9th grade enrollment and again this is next September, it's only 318. So the eighth grade class leaving the middle school is small. The seventh grade class is typical uh bigger group at 340, but the middle school is receiving uh one of our last larger groups that are coming through. Um there will be a need to adjust sections of the middle school. Um, typically that is done a little bit later on in the budget planning process where you can all see more of the complete picture. Um, it doesn't have to be done, but it typically would be done because of the number of students going into the middle school. Right now, um, you would see that we've got 11 spots in seventh grade, zero in eighth grade. The
066concept there is the 16 uh sections that currently are sitting in seventh grade is what we have and would remain. Um very likely you would add two more sections to eighth grade during the budget planning process. Um so just to be clear the board has looked at this both ways in recent past. So, as an example, what I mean by that is if you approve as a board the far right zero openings in 8th grade, but in February you approve Brian to go hire two more eighth grade teachers. Once you've done the zero, that it's done. There is no changing it. Um, if a parent wants to appeal and say you just hired two teachers in February, they will not win. The DPI is clear on that. you're looking at the information in January based
067on what you've already approved. Um, there will be no openings. Um, and we have had that happen before. We've also had situations where the board has looked at something like this and has said, "Let's add the positions now. Let's add open enrollment spots now." Um, and so that is uh another thing that you would need to look at. That's the one school, Mark, when you ask a question about the various grades. That's the one school where we anticipate in the budget planning process, we would ask you to consider adding two instructors. Uh when you look at fifth grade uh and sixth grade, um we feel good with those class sizes. And again, you could see the optimal board policy is 23. [clears throat] Uh you can look to the left. Uh we're really really close
068to where the board wants to be in fifth and sixth grade. Um you would have to add another teacher in fifth grade to really get those numbers up. Uh but because of us being in a good spot already, uh you don't see us recommending that right now. We know in seventh and eighth grade though, we're not going to be in a good spot. We've got two large groups together and we are anticipating coming with a request um for two FTE at the middle school in the very near future. That may or may not affect your thought process with open enrollment. Um, obviously if you asked Ally to change the eighth grade sections to 16 right now, that then means that if you go farther to the right, the spreadsheets now going to open up a
069pretty decent number of open enrollment spots for eighth graders. Um, so that is a decision one way or another. Right now, the far right, just so you know, is based on the current staff we have, which is why we've been focusing on that. and then moving the three elementary school teachers. Um, but you as a board, if you wanted to frontload the decision on adding two teachers to the middle school, uh, then you would increase the number of open enrollment spots in seventh and eighth grade. So, thank you for asking, Mark. I did mean to bring that up. So, is that something you would like us to make a recommendation for before Monday or is that something that would be for a broader discussion Monday night? Do you think? >> Um, Dr. Brown, thoughts on
070that? Should we ask >> Go ahead. >> Thanks for asking, Mark. I'd like for us to consider it as um further discussion at the board meeting next Monday. Sounds good. >> So, not an action item for to for today. >> Sounds good. >> Thank you. >> And then again, we're talking sectionings. Yeah. When I looked through the budget itself, the the preliminary, I thought I saw plus4 FTE for 7 through 8. Uh where are the other two? You're looking at two at the middle school. What are the other two for? >> Yeah. So in general when you look at the total FTE and the ratios that we have currently and then you look at what the student population would be that's what the math generates. Um it doesn't really work out that way every year
071when we go through the process for really grades 7 through 12. Um the scheduling process ends up resulting in Brian trying to figure out how to piece together a 0.25 25 of this position or whatever it would end up being. It sometimes results in overloads. Uh I would say it's a much more complicated process in grade 7 through 12. What is less complicated is really the seventh and eighth grade situation as far as the two instructors and the number of teams. Um that's more clear. When you look at the high school though, in general, the high school population is going to remain the same. So the 12th grade class graduating this May is small. The 9inth grade class coming in next year is small. So in general, the high school itself will not see much
072of a change. Um so other than student choices and [clears throat] what they sign up for, which could result will result in changes, I think the high school is in a decent spot with just total numbers. So I think the area of concern is going to be seventh and eighth grade and the two teachers and then honestly Brian's process which is a puzzle piece with no edges as Miranda said. Brian can take that one too to try to figure out all the sections and the scheduling and how that works out. Um, and [clears throat] the one other point I'll make is we have to also note that the financial analysises that I was working off of, um, this is a unique variation that ended up presenting itself. and Ally and I would need to go
073back and rework that a little bit because this scenario results in fewer $5,000 payments because we're serving a group of kids in the district. The three instructors, again, if the board approves this, are being reallocated. We don't need to hire them. So, the financial situation's a little bit different than what you've seen before. So Ally and I will work on getting that updated, but it's actually a more positive looking picture if you move with the scenario on the far right because the staff is already there. Uh we never removed them in the first place. So they were always there. So you're moving them to basically serve students in 4K and saving the $5,000 payments to meet that capacity. So, we have to rework it a little bit, but I will say it's a more positive
074picture than the one that showed a slight deficit with all students being served in the community. So, just keep that in mind. Other than that, uh we are going to ask to meet in February as we mentioned. Uh if we don't address the middle school topic now, we'll want to be talking about that during budget planning. We're also going to want to talk about long-term financing and the conversation around whether or not um the board is looking at a referendum this upcoming November. getting that question out to the public both operational and capital and what that would look like and how that would impact our goal of solving the two plus million dollar issue related to the tax money. So we're going to save more time for that next month. Anything else anyone might want
075for future agenda items? [clears throat] I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. So move. [snorts] All in favor? I >> thank you very much everybody. >> Y thank you. Appreciate it. Thanks [clears throat] for coming in.