WSD Board Meeting, Regular, January 12, 2026

001Okay, we're going to get started. Thank you everyone for being here tonight. I call the January 12th, 2026 school board meeting to order. It is 6 p.m. We are in the conference room C of the Fiser Administration building at 12121 West North Avenue. Miss Summers, please call the RO. >> Miss Pzinski, >> here. Mr. Bower, >> here. Miss Faul here. Mr. Morris >> here. >> Miss Himer Rolland >> here. >> Dr. Wley >> here. Mr. Wadier >> here. >> Thank you. We're going to move on to public comment. I'm just pulling up a policy that I need to read. You can go ahead and start getting in line. We will start in this room and then we'll be looking online. Just wait one second till I read what I have to read ahead of time.

002Okay. I usually get it before. Apologies for the wait. I'm going to read from um policy 0167.3 public comment at at board meetings. Members of the board value the input of students, parents, staff members, and community members. The board's regularly scheduled meetings provide an opportunity for opinions and concerns to be expressed publicly. The board values all comments and will respectfully consider this input in decision-making. The board will take public comment on both non-aggenda items and agenda items at each regular board meeting and may take public comment during special board meetings. The public comment period will occur near the beginning of the meeting and shall not exceed 30 minutes in length unless extended by the presiding officer or a vote of the board. Individuals must limit their comments to three minutes. Participants must be recognized by

003the presiding officer and will be requested to preface their comments by an announcement of their name. Public comments submitted to the schoolboard email address by 10:00 a.m. on the day of the meeting of the board will be added to the online meeting documents to become part of public record. Emailed public comments must include the name of the person or person [clears throat] submitting the comment. All public comments shall be directed to the presiding officer. No person may address or question board members individually or direct statements, comments, or questions to staff or other meeting participants. Board members are obligated to follow the Wisconsin Open Meeting Law, which requires advanced notification to the community of the board's intent to discuss and or take action on an item. If a public comment concerns an item that is not

004on the current meeting agenda, board members may not respond other than to thank and acknowledge the speaker for their input. The presiding officer may a limit the number of times a speaker may comment on the same topic. B interrupt, warn or terminate a public comment if the statement is too lengthy, directed to anyone other than the board presiding officer, obscene or disorderly. C. Request any individual to leave the meeting when that person engages in conduct which is disorderly. D. request the assistance of law enforcement officers and or security officials in the removal of a disorderly person when that person's conduct interferes with the orderly progress of the meeting. E call for a recess or an adjournment to another time when the disorderly conduct so interferes with the orderly conduct of the meeting as to warrant

005such action. F wave these rules with the approval of the board when necessary for the protection of privacy or the administration of the board's business. Recording, filming, or photographing board meetings is permitted. The person operating the equipment should contact the superintendent prior to the board meeting to review possible placement of the equipment and must agree to abide by the following conditions. A no obstructions are created between the board and the audience. B. No interviews are connect conducted in the meeting room while the board is in session. C. No commentary, adjustment of equipment, or positioning of operators is made that would distract either the board or members of the audience or otherwise disrupt the meeting while the board is in session. The board encourages all residents to be well informed about school affairs. Therefore, regular board

006meetings are livereamed and the recorded schoolboard meetings are available for viewing online in the district's website. Executive sessions and inservices for board members are not recorded. Okay, so that's the policy. Um we are ready to start with um with public comment in the room. Um we'll uh we have two people standing up. We'll go with those folks and then we will look online and then we'll check back um in each of the venues and see if there are more comments. So please feel free to step to the mics, tell us your name and what you want. >> My name is Sue Schmidt. S C H I TT. Um, I actually sent this letter to board members today, so I don't know if any of you got a chance to look at that, but I think

007I'll just read it and it'll state uh our concerns. So, my husband and I have been members of um Watossa for over 50 years. Our four children went to kindergarten at McKinley and two of our grandchildren went through grade school and middle school at uh Longfellow and Jefferson. Uh, one option that was missing from the list of possible options for the renovation for um, the schools is I think worthy of being listened to and it states as um, let me see. Okay, K through 8 um, programs have been very popular in parochial schools and they have not really been put on anything here. I think there are a lot of benefits to K through8 programs and so my uh and my husband both agree although he's not here right now um that I think it

008would be worth checking out to see um if you would have sixth grade, seventh grade, and eighth grade diffused among the nine grade schools. It would only be three other classrooms that would be used and because the students would be in so many different schools, I don't think it would be a huge deal. And just think of what it could do for um the possibility of using Longfellow and Whitman differently. Maybe selling one of the buildings. You could still use the sports facilities for at Longfellow and Whitman, but I think it's really worth checking out. And I'd be happy, my husband would be happy to talk to you about, I think, the many benefits of a K through8 program. I think the benefits would outweigh outweigh the risks. Um the older kids can mentor the

009younger kids. Um having middle school kids altogether has unique set of problems of its own and in this way it might be an option for a new way of looking at it. So, I hope that you might be able to kind of take a look at that and uh possibly respond to our letters that we emailed to you today and maybe be on a future meeting. Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay, comment number two. >> Hello. Hello. My name is Sue Kenosian. I live on 72nd Street. Um I spent my whole professional life as a pediatric therapist and my husband was a teacher um in Green Day also outcomes best outcomes for children is my whole life. Um we also have five generations, six generations living in Tulsa and five that went to schools here.

010We're huge supporters of the school and we really appreciate what the staff and all of you volunteers do. So, I'm here to address open enrollment and some of you received a letter from me as well. I read the state guidelines and I read the proposal for this year and I just want to voice my strong support of the proposal that and the prioritization as the law reads of siblings being able to um attend the same school once a child has already come in through open enrollment in one family. You know, I believe that we have an obligation to fulfill our commitments to young families once we've made that commitment to them in the beginning. And I know know this would have a huge impact on my granddaughter who now after all these generations, she couldn't

011afford to live in Watossa. And um my first granddaughter now her child is at Wilson and thriving. And it makes a huge difference to families when they are have that stability and the cohesiveness and the consistent educational philosophy and the camaraderie that comes from being ideally in one school but at least in one district. And even as a taxpayer, you know, I see it as an investment that I'm happy to make that wants to be say a family's in the siblings get in. So, um I just urge you to look at that 26. I know you're going to look at the 26 27 proposal today and supposedly um you decide by the end of of January. and I really um would appreciate if you would consider passing that as I saw it written. So, thank

012you very very much. And once again, thank you all for your service. >> Thank you. If you could bear with me, those of you who are still standing, we have two online. So, I'm go two two if that's fair enough. Um uh Jamie, um if you we could go to someone online. I believe that Dr. Murker's hand was up first, but I'll let you figure that out. Thank you, >> Bruce Mur. Do you have the microphone? >> Chris Mura, you'll need to unmute yourself. >> Yeah, I did. Can you hear me? >> We can hear you now. Thank you. >> Good evening. My name is Chris Murker. I'm a Watossa parent, resident, and taxpayer. And I'm running for school board with the 2030 slate. My comment tonight is about affordability and governance and what's happening

013right now to taxpayers. Last month, many Wawaossa households opened property tax bills that were thousands of dollars higher than they expected. People aren't confused, they're shocked. So, the timing and framing of the district's new secondary facility survey matters. The community is being asked to react to a 350 million to $447 million frame. while willingness to pay is effectively pushed to a later step. That sequencing normalizes a price range before the community has had a real affordability conversation. And here is the governance problem because it is now in writing. In response to a direct question about what happens if taxpayers do not want to spend more, the district wrote it quote has not developed or considered specific strategies unquote for that scenario and said it would be quote premature unquote to do so before reviewing survey

014data and recommendations. Premature to understand what the community is willing to afford or can afford for a decision this magnitude. That's not the standard of governance taxpayers deserve. Contingency planning and affordability guardrail should come first. So, here is what I'm asking the board to do as we move from survey to recommendation. And I'm asking this so taxpayers have a clear standard to measure this process going forward. First, state the affordability guard rail. If you won't name a ceiling, then name the rule. What conditions must be true before any proposal advances? Second require contingency plan. Now if the community signals limited tolerance, what is the alternate alternative pathway? Phasing, scope reduction, right sizing, repair first before options narrow further. And to be clear, many residents believe lower cost repair first options are no longer being seriously

015considered. Third, commit to scope, discipline, and option completeness. Do not bundle essentials with nice to haves. separate core needs from enhancements and ensure residents can evaluate a full range of options, including a true repair status quote variant with clear trade-offs and price tags. Finally, since the survey is out, commit to transparency. Publish the full survey instrument, the underlying cost assumptions, and the results, including written comments, so the public can see what their neighbors actually said. This community can debate options. What we cannot accept is treating affordability as a later inconvenience after expectations are set and trust is spent. Thank you. >> Thank you. We're going to move to our second um hand raised online. >> Sykes iPhone, do you have a microphone? >> Hello. Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. Good

016evening. My name is Carrie Sykes. I am the secretary of the TOSA PTA. I have kids at Eisenhower and Whitman and involved in those PTAs as well. I'd like to take a minute to talk about the incredible impact our PTA has on our schools, families, and community, and why we need your help to keep that momentum going. Many of the benefits our students enjoy, field trips, family events, teacher appreciation activities, and enrichment programs are possible because of volunteers who give their time through the PTA. These efforts create lasting memories for our children and strengthen the connection between school and home. Here's the great news. Joining the PTA doesn't require huge commitment. Many of our current members started by volunteering for just one event. Whether you can help with a single activity, join a committee, or

017even consider a leadership role, every contribution makes a difference. If you can't volunteer right now, simply encouraging others in your circle to get involved is just as valuable. We can include um parents and community members. It's about community and working together to ensure our students have the best experiences possible. When we have more hands and voices, we can do more more programs, more support, more opportunities for the kids and staff. So, I invite you to consider joining us. Be a part of something that directly benefits the children in our schools to together we can continue to make a positive impact and create those special moments that matter. If you have any questions about the PTA, um, our president's email address is TOSSA PTA pres, which is P rez atgmail.com. uh if you're not sure where

018to find any of the individual PTA information and also um in being on the PTA I will tell you that the administrators uh principles others have found it to be very helpful within the school communities. Thank you for your time. I hope you'll join us in making a difference. >> Thank you. We'll go now back to the room. Please step to the mic and tell us your name and what you want to say. >> Members of the board and administration, thank you for this opportunity to address you. My name is Seth Flanders. I am a Wawaossa resident in the Jefferson Catchman area. When I I wanted to come before you tonight when I saw that you were having part of your inservice on energy reductions, improvements, and solar. Uh in addition to other activities, I

019am a member of the Wawaossa City Sustainability Committee. Uh I do wish to make it clear that I'm speaking for myself and not for that committee tonight. However, one of the things that I can tell you is that we do prepare an annual report every year which details the savings that the city has gotten from energy improvements and specifically the solar installation that they've installed in city hall and elsewhere. If you look at the data behind it, in the past five years, the city has managed to reduce their power consumption, purchased power consumption by nearly 3 million kilowatt hours. This amounts to an annual savings of roughly $400,000. Now, this is solar plus other improvements, but solar is a large component of that. So, as you are looking, learning, and evaluating solar in the schools,

020I want to encourage you to make that as an investment because if the city had not done that 5 years ago, we would all be spending $400,000 more per year. I think that the TOSA schools can make a similar investment and reap similar rewards. Thank you. [clears throat] >> Thank you for your comment. Please proceed. >> Good evening. My name is Heather Burke. I am a WTO resident and parent and I am running for school board as part of the 2030 slate. Our slate includes Todd Taylor, Dan Simper, Chris Murker, and myself. Our message is simple. Real stewardship. Tossins can trust. We're focused on the fundamentals. Restoring trust and transparency. Bringing fiscal discipline back to school board governance. and keeping the focus on strong student outcomes for every school in every neighborhood and for all

021students. We're here tonight virtually, as you just heard, and in person to listen, to show up consistently, and to take responsibility for the decisions that affect families and taxpayers. If you'd like to learn more, stay informed, or get involved, please visit tossa230.com. Thank you. Please proceed. [clears throat] >> I'm I'm Darren Cathling. I am Iwabos president. >> Paul, you might want to the mic up just a little bit or take it off just so everyone I want to make sure everyone can hear is >> you would think I would know how to use one of these. >> Um I am a Watossa resident and taxpayer. I am speaking for myself uh this evening and I know that this is wildly premature but I would just like to encourage the uh school board and the district

022administration not to pursue a facilities referendum any of the options on the uh survey that has gone out uh in 2026 at least. Obviously I think that the needs are real. I think that all of the plans are well thought out. Uh I share the affordability concerns of some of my uh neighbors and it is a bad choice in my view to have to make but one that all of you were obligated to consider the effect that a 2026 facilities referendum the tax impact that that would have on the possibility of renewing a [clears throat] 2028 operating referendum which would keep the number of teachers in the sizes of the classes of a community has consistently said that it wants having to choose between those speaking personally I would choose the teachers and the class

023sizes that is why I'm making this recommendation in the meanwhile because the needs in these facilities aren't going away I would really encourage the district to do some communication with the community around how school budgets work in general especially with facilities versus operating expenditures. I am worried about a persistent uh sense in the community that closing one or two schools just wipes that expense off of the account and doesn't itself cost money and it would be great to get some additional community education out there on that topic. There's nothing wrong with wanting efficiency. I think that is great. I think that before we see operational uh savings of any scale in this district, we would be talking about one high school, one middle school, four elementary schools. And so the kinds of zoning things building

024up, I don't know, three stories having 500 student elementary schools. Maybe that's something to uh consider as well. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Last call for public comment. All right, seeing no other public comment in the room or online, I'm going to close public comment. We always appreciate um don't want to move on without saying we always appreciate the comments that people bring and the thoughtfulness and the time that you put into being here and sharing your thoughts with us. Um, so we move to the consent agenda. Um, number three, um, I did want to before we jump into it, I did want to highlight, especially given the the PTA comment, um, that there's quite a few gifts on the consent agenda, want to um, offer a thanks um, as a board member

025to the many gifts. um you can see them by going um into the consent agenda for tonight. But just generally, some people are helping pay off the costs of of food that people haven't the students have um not been able to pay for their own lunches. Um some people some some organizations are giving funding that helps um our schools get projects done. Um and uh some of them are also PTAs or sponsoring um events or field trips. I don't know Dr. Means if you wanted to add anything else. I just I was really struck by how much giving is is happening. >> I believe the generosity continues to be overwhelming. Um and we're very thankful as a school system for the donations and as always we always follow up with every uh donator donor and

026thank them for their donation. >> Anyone else in the board comments about that particular one? Okay. So, make sure we >> No, it's just the generosity, the level of generosity, personal and um different businesses like wow, it really says a lot how people feel about the district. So, thank you. >> Yeah, it's it's really astounding when you look through the paperwork for tonight. So, >> yeah. >> Okay. So this is where we move to the the point where I ask board members um if there are any items on the consent agenda which you would like to remove for separate discussion and action. >> Yes. Go ahead. >> Can we just uh move adding for discussion please? >> Okay. So Miss Hor has asked for item M which is page job description >> the approved job

027description revision chief of pupil and family services to be um handled separately. Any other items? Okay. So um this time Roland has requested item M to be removed from separate for separate discussion and action. I don't see any objections. He do you want to move the rest of them? It is recommended that the school board approve the remainder of the consent agenda and I so move. >> Thank you. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Bower. >> Miss Summers, please call the role. >> Miss Pzinski, >> yes. >> Mr. Bower, >> yes. >> Miss Bach, >> yes. >> Mr. Morris, >> yes. >> Miss Rwand, >> yes. >> Dr. Worley, >> yes. >> Mr. Wier, >> yes. >> The motion carries. Okay, Miss Hmer Roll, please uh e off. >> Um,

028well, I have two things. one, I want to give Luke Pinion a very big thank you um for his service to this district. Um his leadership has created an immense amount of change for our students and families. Um I am happy that he is making a choice that is in his best interest for his life. But um just know that we will definitely miss you. Um and congratulations and good luck. >> Thank you. >> You're here. Um and then secondly, I had uh I had just reached out to Miss Elazoski to get an idea of what the difference um what was added or taken away for this job description. Um and her response was that the main changes were adding evaluation responsibilities for principles, more DEIA responsibilities with the elimination of the director of diversity

029and inclusion position, and some explicit language regarding discipline and suspensions. So, just so the community knows what the difference is um between our current job description and this job description um if it passes to me. >> Thank you, Miss Hammer, for asking that question and for sharing that with us. Very helpful. Any other board members have comments or questions related to them? >> Okay. >> Yes. May I think I want to thank Miss Himer for highlighting Mr. opinions uh tenure. This this will mark his final schoolboard meeting uh this evening. Uh he is slated to resign effectively January 20th next week, Wednesday 21st, excuse me. [laughter] That's right. We still have you on the 20th. Um he will be moving on and uh working in private sector. Uh we have as Mimar Ramen noted and

030as we've seen in this boardroom we've profited from his leadership uh under u as the chief of puke and family supports and um it's been a pleasure and an honor to work with him professionally and personally. He's just a a good human and an outstanding professional. We wish you the best of luck. um please let us uh K12 educators know what it feels like to be u private sector employee. Maybe you and Mr. Bower can give us some counsel on how that transition happened. But truly in all all sincerity, we appreciate your leadership. So thank you sir. >> I would just add um a thank you from the school board and also use the term font of information. um you have been able to answer so many things and when you aren't 100% sure you

031have researched it and given us a lot of really detailed and helpful. It was a pleasure to work with you on the policy committee. Um and I know so many other members of the school board have also profited from your um your knowledge response. Would you like to read M? >> It is recommended that the school board approve item M on the consent agenda and I move. >> May I have a second? >> Second. >> Um, thank you, Mr. W. Miss Summers, can you call the role, please? >> Miss Bzinski, >> yes. >> Mr. Bower, >> yes. >> Miss Bach, >> yes. >> Mr. Morris, >> yes. >> Miss Himer Rand, yes. >> Dr. Worley, yes. >> Mr. Wier, >> yes. >> And the motion carries. That was an opportunity. Dr. Roley, I like to

032quote a former board member. Mr. Meyer used to always say, "Begrudgingly, I'm saying yes." >> Oh, yeah. I was thinking about saying no, but this is about the job description. >> There are times where I may say no. And I think this would have been one of those times. >> We didn't get to actually say yes or no on the on the resignation. So, >> that's right. That's still coming. >> Okay. Um so we move on to number four strategic goal systems and structures letter A 2026 2027 open enrollment seat allocation discussion. And just a reminder as we go into this this is where we're doing some learning tonight. Um and yes we do by state law need to make our decisions um by the end of January. We have one more schoolboard meeting coming

033up. Um I'm also sharing that because for the community that's that's just a reminder the opportunity to reach out to us um give us input look at what the document is uh suggesting um and give us an opportunity to learn from you as well. Good evening. Thank you for your patience while we get the uh the slides up here. That's fine. Please take your time. Thank you both for preparing this presentation and for being here today. Oh, that was really cool, but I don't think it's what we wanted to do. Thank you, Luke, for finishing that up. Uh, good evening. Uh, I'm Sarah Zalazoski, uh, chief of talent, and I'm joined by, um, my esteemed, uh, colleague, Mr. L Pinion. Uh tonight we are presenting to you uh recommendations related to um our enrollment for

034the 2627 school year um and especially highlighting uh potential open enrollment seats. Um the process for um for uh projecting enrollment um starts way back in uh October and November uh where we um connect with our school-based colleagues to make sure that we're planning for student registrations in an appropriate time frame especially at the secondary schools. Uh we start looking at uh prior years enrollment to be able to um make some uh again predictions in the areas that are um less uh confirmed. for instance, JK and SK. Um, and then we start um working with our data team in terms of are we ready to go ahead and and do the roll up from Infinite Campus? When's that going to happen? When do we need it? And and then getting ready for all of that.

035So, what you're seeing here is the culmination of of many many weeks of planning um and preparing um as we uh look to establish um the JK and SK's enrollment. Those are where we see the most volatility um at grade levels. Um we uh based on the past several years, we've actually seen a decline in our JK enrollment from one year to the next. And so Mr. Eer and I um came to agreement that we would project a 5% decrease. That seems consistent with past numbers. Uh for SK, we t we typically do see an increase as students metriculate from JK to SK. And so we're projecting 12 125% of this year's JK enrollment for next year's SK. Um, as you know, we also establish uh class size ranges that we work with um based

036on grade level. Uh, these class size ranges uh consistent with the commitment made uh as we were moving into the referendum in 2024. They are the same class size ranges that we've used um previously. Uh the commitment was that we would maintain class sizes We also start to look at section formation and review the information with our principles. Um so at the uh administrative team meeting before winter break, uh principles had the opportunity to go ahead and look at uh their class sizes, the sections um and what the projections were. Uh principles um also uh have some flexibility in terms of looking at their class sizes if they would like to uh trade some staffing um in essence to either reduce um or to um uh have larger class sizes to not split classes. Um

037we give them that discretion. And so what you see as far as the recommendations this evening are based on splitting a couple of classes um in that uh principal flexibility um based on their review. Uh and predominantly those are in um again grades um uh SK through um through five. There are three sections that we split. Uh there's more details obviously about the section formation uh in the enrollment assumptions document that's linked to the proposal. Uh then we start applying the open enrollment formula. Uh and the open enrollment enrollment formula uh is um uh is that we use 85% of the capacity at each grade level or in each content area. Uh this year the class size that we chose um was the average of the high and the low on the range uh plus

038one. Um so that was the uh in the middle of the range, the number that we used uh to go ahead and base the open enrollment capacity. And then finally, I would highlight that we also see uh some dynamic enrollment happening. So for instance, um uh the data that I'm bringing to you this evening uh in terms of open enrollment seats is 13 students different uh than what I provided for you the first week in January. And that's because enrollment changes are happening all the time in the organization. Uh so while initially we thought we would be recommending 161 uh open enrollment seats uh for regular education in grades JK through 5 uh the enrollment recommendation that I'll bring forward at our next meeting will actually be 148 seats based on the updated enrollment uh

039that we rolled up last Friday. Uh so there was a difference of 13 seats. Uh there is not a change in any of the special education numbers. So, as we look at the actual open enrollment seats themselves, uh you can see how we how we build the formula, we know what our projection is. We uh uh stamp that class size again, the average plus one. We know how many sections that we're planning on having for those students. And then by multiplying the class size and the sections required, that's our grade capacity. And 85% of that grade capacity is our open enrollment capacity. And so then you see in grades JK through five there are 148 proposed open enrollment seats using a similar similar formula based on looking at students who receive uh specially designed instruction

040in within special education. uh you can see what our current needs are uh based on each grade level what our capacity is and then the open enrollment capacity again being 85% of that we will we are not recommending um special education seats um nor are we recommending any seats for students who receive therapeutic services um based on um based on what we're at right now as far as um current enrollment. So when we look to see again what um what action we'll be recommending at the next board meeting um and based on the recommendation shared recently by DPI uh for the action that's needed we would be approving 140 or recommending 148 open enrollment seats with the breakdown by grade level and zero open enrollment seats for special education services including therapies. >> That's all

041we have for you. >> I would like to just add one piece. We've had several people each year when we run this formula and these calculations reach out about currently attending students and that language in policy 5113 which is referring to students who are under a tuition waiver meaning they have lived here and they moved and or students with siblings. There have been a lot of requests very well intended from different groups such as students under a tuition waiver or staff students, you know, children of our staff members or I know the ML department had reached out asking for sort of similar exemptions for different groups. Um, and unfortunately that's really not anything we can engage in for a couple reasons. One, the law is really clear. The board has a decision about currently attending

042aka tuition waiver and siblings and making that either a guarantee meaning they automatically become extra open enrollment seats as that happens throughout the year in addition to what's approved here which is not what our policy is. Our policy is a preference. The law says you have to do one or the other. So those are the decision points for the board under policy governance of 5113 of which ours reads right now. It is a preference not a guarantee. I would also um say that if the reason legal counsel is very clear that you should not make exceptions for other groups. Uh one the law doesn't really speak to that in any way as permissible and for two they were very clear that that would jeopardize any open enrollment appeals that go to the the department of

043public instruction. So once you start making exceptions for other groups such as children of staff or ML students um you are really opening the door to be um having appeals upheld and with a district that gets between 1,200 and 1500 open enrollment applications every year that could um cause a lot of problems down the road for any appeals that come to DPI. Um so I'm just trying to help the community, help our staff, help people understand why we keep repeating that we can't make exceptions for other groups beyond what the law allows. Thanks to both of you. Very helpful. We have an opportunity for um questions. Start with board members. Um then we'll just >> Yeah, you may go. I was also going to let the student board members know that they'll get an opportunity.

044>> I would just add two last things before questions are opened up. One, what Mr. Pinion shared around tuition waiver students is really important from a planning perspective. There have been some questions around why don't we continue to allow tuition waiver students to to guarantee that uh those seats as we've just mentioned today this evening we had 12 or 13 students enroll as resident students between January 2nd and today and so with the volatile enrollment that we have if we're unable to to stamp a certain point in time in which when students are coming in the system and not in the system u if we're not able to make that determination it makes it very difficult for Miss Elliski to identify the actual number of seats available. So that's the reason why we're we're making

045that that recommendation issue. The second thing I just and then I'll turn it over to you to conclude. Uh the the second thing that I would just want to state for the community say is that I've heard some people say, "Well, wait a minute. Last year you didn't take any seats. Why are you taking 148 this year?" Uh I think the board was very deliberate in your deliberations. Last year is stating that this would be a yearto-year analysis of where we are. Um and I know Mr. Ear will be talking to you about multi-year planning um budget planning in a few minutes here. But when we looked at the number of staff members we have and the class size ratio we have and you can see it in the charts that are that are provided

046here. If we didn't take advantage of the opportunity to take more students, it would be fiscally irresponsible. uh we have the capacity to take these students without increasing class sizes or creating more cost to us. So I just wanted to answer that question of why there isn't really a change. I think the board was always very clear of that you would take this on on a year-to-year basis. Missoski, >> thank you. I just wanted to clarify the um the additional 13 uh resident students um the time frame was actually December 12th to the 9th. So it was it was closer to a month. Um but again it it uh it surprised me uh to know how much the enrollment had changed again in those grade levels. So >> I would also just add that to

047to what you said Dr. means that by offering us this proposal, it is following the policy as written. The policy um each year is to look at what there's three different levels that we could be looking very systematic and as was mentioned before you can click on a link in the uploaded document um in board docs and you'll be able to see how how that works. Um, so just making sure that people in the community as you're thinking about this and communicating with us that you have all the all the pieces um as to how this is happening and and the thinking and the really hard work that that goes on behind this. This is relatively new for the district to have this much um datadriven decision making on open enrollment and I think it's

048really improved how we how we go about making this these choices. >> Yes, Mr. Wing. Um, I guess I'll start with >> combining the speed paints >> and [clears throat] regular acrylic. >> We're having a little bit of um sound from online so everyone can >> and >> check their microphone that's online to make sure it's turned off. Sorry, Mr. White. >> Go ahead. Phil pro. Um, so last year when we voted to take the minimum amount, I think that was still the right decision in my opinion. Um, and but I do remember talking about saying we needed to make sure we reflect on policy and and that we looked at it each year. Um, Dr. means has referred to these things as as levers. Um when I've asked for explanations on them and um

049last year we turned the lever off so that we could get a baseline and now we see I think at least my interpretation is we're seeing what it looks like given a little bit of a rest and what we could your formula comes up with what we could comfortably turn back on given two things. um post referendum and reorganization of of the sections we we realize we do have a little bit more room there than we um that we we knew about prior to that. And secondly, I I don't think it was mentioned um in this meeting, but my understanding is that the revenue from the state has gone up for open enrollment, which in this case for this year or for next year, what we're talking about with these seats, each one of these

050seats will be um a net positive to the district's balance sheet for that year. You can't really know about years after that and how long they stay. But at least for that school year, it it looks like both a a win for families and students in my opinion and also a win for us um financially at least for a year. Is that all is that all correct? >> That's my understanding as well. It's a the new um the new uh state uh amount for um open enrollment students is around $10,000 each, which is an increase of a couple thousand dollars per student. >> And in this in what you're presenting here, the 148 seats, that's a number of of additional students times 10,000 um that we can take on comfortably without increasing our expenses. So

051that and and that is why this number is is Dr. Willie had mentioned grounded in data as opposed to previous years which may have just been gut feeling. Um so I feel good about this this number and what you've set up here. Um thank you for tracking the data and uh getting a good handle on this. >> My pleasure. Uh I um one of the things I was able to include this year is that while while we're we won't um if approved, we won't place seats in classes until much later in the spring when we have a a more definitive look at our actual resident enrollment. Um but when we look at the change in class sizes, adding in the 148 um uh open enrollment students, the very minimal increase in class size um across

052our grade levels. So that is um that's an advantage. Um >> it's still within our range >> and easily >> quite low. Yeah. >> Right. >> Miss Rollins. >> Um I have a couple questions. Uh so I quick did the math. It would be about $1.5 million extra in our budget if we did approve um the 148 seats. Um because it's about a $1,140 increase that we're getting from state funding from previous years. Um my first question is so when you have the recommendations per so it's 148 total and then you have it broken down by grade do we then when the uh students are being placed >> does it have to stick to the the grade level and the total number? >> Yes. Okay. It'll it'll it will be um so in running the

053lottery um we would pick 27 okay JK students >> and the first picked would be currently attending and those with siblings. So that's the where the preference kicks in. >> Yep. Okay. Um second question um is how do you know approximately out of the 1,200 to 1500 open enrollment applications we get um out of those applications how many do have siblings in the district already? >> I don't have that number at the ready. Um >> okay >> from past years when open enrollment was we were fairly successful at filling those in terms of the number. I don't think it's that high, but I I don't have it ready for um Sorry. >> I'm just wondering because I think when we um when we approved zero, that was guaranteeing that those siblings who already have a

054a a sibling here on open enrollment, that guaranteed that they would not be able to join our district. Um, so I that's something top of mind when I'm thinking about what we are approving because I do think there's a ton of value in allowing siblings to be obviously in the same district for families and for the students. >> Um, just kind of like trying to describe how my thinking goes through when we're, you know, making this decision. >> Yeah, I feel good about where these numbers are in terms of how many families with siblings would apply. The only caveat there is it's fifth grade and under, right? So siblings applying for an older grade, >> there would be no seats, >> which generally has been the case in our district that secondary schools don't have

055some capacity. >> And the second caveat, I think, is that it's not necessarily the same school. >> Where you can, you do that, but people need to be aware that we're thinking districtwide. >> Yeah, we make efforts to try to accommodate that, but it's going to depend on the numbers and the class sizes and what schools have more room. Um and then finally, so I did ask I miss to send me um enrollment projections per school per class um because a concern that I do have with adding open enrollment students is that they're put into like one school in our district. So then we end up having like one school with with two students um who are open enrolled and then we have another school that has like 25% of their population are open enrollment

056students. So, I think about um we say that one of the priorities of this board is maintaining neighborhood schools, maintaining small class sizes. Um I think that's hard to do when um especially the neighborhood component when you do have like 25% of your um school students coming from outside the district. So, how confident are you at this point other not knowing the final numbers that that would not be the case that you would be able to put like one or two students or three um into different buildings? >> Um I think the maybe the best way to answer that is to describe the process that we would use to identify where would students would be placed. Um and so we talked about this at our in the sort of team meeting uh in December as

057well. So, so with elementary principles, we would have the ability in, you know, whatever whatever month is it, May that we would, not that you'll be here, but you know, >> um uh so in May, we'll go ahead and look at the um our actual enrollments um you know, with new JK and SK students and and students in other grade levels and say, okay, so of of our schools, which schools have the lowest average class size? What is the highest average class size? how how can we fill in open enrollment students so there's more consistency in the class size across the grade level. So when I looked at that preliminarily, um, yeah, it really was maybe one school had five students, one school had three students. Um, and I only looked at a couple of

058grade levels, but but that is in essence the process is to say, okay, we're um we know we know that we're not going to get anywhere near the top of our our class size ranges, but how can we make sure that there is um the class sizes remain as consistent as possible um across all of the schools by grade level? I would add two things to that. I think one one piece that will help that not only this year but every year moving forward are the boundary line changes that have occurred in the last year and one of which have gone into effect already. One that's coming in a couple years that will help balance and create um kind of less inequities in in terms of space and availability. and two, this board historically up

059until a couple years ago or your former board here in Wosa used to lock all of that in this January 2nd meeting by school with the other boundaries that were a little more unbalanced. So that is how we ended up with certain schools like Underwood that had such a high percentage of open enrollment. So I think you've done some of that work to rectify that long term as well. >> I haven't I like it's like >> Okay, while you're thinking I'm going to ask um one one question. Um, so we had uh I I think I understand this, but we had a community member ask about um the the decision to also look in June um which is something that I will say I encouraged and supported um because it does seem like this is

060really really far ahead and a lot of districts around us do continue um to look at opportunities um for for families while not risking the um the problem of the split classes, but if you could just you know make if we could make really clear or you could talk a little bit about um how that helps you um with this process to be able to do another assessment in June. You mentioned that there's 1,200 to 1500 people who sign up and um also that people will move out of the community. Um, so anything that you want to say about that because I think that it's it still follows the same rules and the same process in terms of what the boundaries are the 85% how the decisions are made but um that may not be

061as clear in the community as it needs to be. >> Yeah, thank you. Um so um from a fiscal responsibility perspective um between now and you know whenever whatever date um uh we rerun the formulas um if there are enrollment changes um that then result in staffing changes. Most specifically if if we do have to add sections anywhere based on again changes in our resident enrollment. um from a from a fiscal responsibility standpoint, we want to make sure that we are um maximizing without having to add staffing or at least making best use of that FTE. Uh and so we will go ahead and rerun um that same model of the open enrollment projections to see if um again based on enrollment and staffing changes between now and June to see if there's a change

062in our capacity. Um, so we won't we won't be we would not run that to say, "Oh, we're going to have less seats now." Whatever we approve in January is is what is what we will take. Um, but we could potentially have more seats open again based on enrollment and then staffing changes. >> And our policy does um require and we have always maintained a wait list. So we are numbering every letter that we send out of my office um for the 1,200 to 1500 applications. So we would easily be able to go back to that should there become availability later in the summer. >> Great. Thank you for going over that. Yes, Miss >> uh our mic is not working, but I'll try to talk as loud as >> um Miss Brzinski, do you

063is yours reach far enough over that so people everyone can hear? >> All right. So, maybe the answer is uh obvious and I just missed it, but I was curious why there weren't any open enrollment seats allocated for 6th through 12th grade. >> Yep. Uh thank you for the question. So um uh when the enrollment projection is such that there are already going to be more resident students than the open enrollment capacity that means that there are no seats at that grade level. So if you look at grade six for instance our enrollment projection is 472 students. The open enrollment capacity for sixth grade is 451. So there's um so there are no seats at that grade level. >> Sure. Yeah. >> Yeah. Of course. >> Great question and an answer. Anyone else? Mr. Woody

064or I'm trying to see Miss Are you >> raising? First, >> can you um can you just for people who are um participating or viewing just remind us why there are zero seats available for students with special education needs? >> Sure. I can maybe say it in a different way than Mrs. Zazowski. Essentially, we have a weighted case load um service matrix, if you will. So we understand the needs of our students with disabilities and right each need looks different for every individual student and what we're essentially saying is we are staffed accordingly to meet those needs. Um adding more students with um special education needs would mean we would have to add staff. >> Okay. >> I would I would add to that. So, working with our um special education director, uh Stacy Clem,

065um we're basing the service capacity for special education service at the low end of our of our ranges. So, again, we we are planning to start the year so that we're not um so that that we have capacity to grow as we see over the course of every school year, uh we have more referrals and more students are identified for special education services than less. Um so we start at the low end of our capacity um by service area um and then we typ that typically increases over time. >> Okay. And so if a student comes to us as an open enrollment student and then upon meeting the student becomes special education services become u >> something that necessary then what do we what are our steps? So that is and this was a conversation

066we had in legal counsel right this is one of the really difficult parts of navigating this space um there is a long history of that area that space not having been paid attention to >> so it's something we're recently really like looking at and there's some things we can do to really on the front end get ahead of it in terms of the letters that go out to those that have accepted seats making that clear but the unfortunate reality is it makes it very hard to meet students needs when they qualify in that banner and we're saying really we don't have that capacity yet here's the law that is kind of dictating how this operates and many families across all of Wisconsin face that challenge and then refuse services so the child would stay in

067the desired district but then that creates you know hardships to really meet the needs um in general education. So it is a reality. It's one that we still have more procedures to work on to really make sure we're following it and tight. Um, but there's some opportunities for us to to really make that more transparent and very clear and work through that with parents. So that's information that we give at at the onset saying >> we we would embed that in the letters >> in those in those letters saying if it be becomes a case where special education services are needed >> if they accept >> if you will either need to if you accept that you can no longer be a student in our school district. >> That is the hard unfortunate reality. Yes.

068>> Okay. >> Just sort of follow up for community members who are expressing that >> yeah, >> we're bringing people in and then they're costing more. That's not what's happening. They're being given they have to be given a choice whether to accept those services. And this is not and it's not just Watossa. It is across the state. This is >> and in those cases we can we would invite the home district as well so that if they're qualifying, they kind of know this IEP would transfer over into the district. to have a right and that is equipped to serve you with their staffs. >> Wait, inviting somebody from that that home district into that meeting >> when when we're in those positions. Yes. >> Okay. >> Now, if they come is another thing, but invited.

069Yes. >> All right. We can do our part. >> Thank you. >> Yes, Mr. >> Mr. Bzinski, I think stole both of my questions. Uh but uh just to elaborate so that I'm I'm cleared, if if a student with an I already has an IEP, we wouldn't we would not extend an invitation. Correct. >> Correct. There are zero seats for students with IEPs. >> Okay. If a student once a student accepts and is is enrolled as open enrollment are for all intents and purposes they're considered they're they're here for the duration of their academic career if they choose to >> through graduation. Correct. Um you legally as a board could put in policy one reapplication period. Some districts do that at secondary. We do not in WOsa. Our policy allows it from whatever grade they

070enter an open enrollment they get to stay through graduation. So, if in year three a student is identified as needing um as as having an IEP and needing services, what I was hearing was that that student would then no longer be eligible to be in the district. >> That is how the law is worded. >> Okay. So I I I remember at some point and this was back when I first started as a board member hearing once a student is in the district student is in the district. It's a district that that person is a district student >> with all the things that come with that. So, I just want to make it make sure I'm extremely clear that that statement isn't necessarily true because what we're describing here is we've let you in, but

071there's still there's still things that have to be maintained. >> Correct. I mean, we we don't want to absolve ourselves of any ownership of owning all students regardless of where they live. So, it's hard to accept, but yes, the statement you made is correct. >> Okay. >> I mean, they they can't stay. is wouldn't have services. So they could a parent can turn down services. >> They could turn down services. Could they get those services elsewhere? >> They would. They that would be why they would. I mean, if they're turning it down, they're staying here and then we talk about our student support team meeting, child study teams, how do we layer on other types? But it's not going to be specialized instruction through an IP um or specialized services, but we would try other

072interventions absolutely like we do for all students. So, may I just use brass tax language to Mr. Wadier's question? A student is accepted in second grade as an open enrollment student, but at the time they are identified as a general ed student. >> In fourth grade, through the evaluation process, that student has now been identified as being eligible for special education. What you have stated is that that student that students ongoing enrollment in the district is now at risk. >> Correct. And if the family decides to accept the special education services, the district then has the ability to say we're unable to serve you. You have to go back to your resident district. Is that >> correct? Okay. I think that's what you're asking. >> It it is. And and the second part of that

073question is is that by state law or is that by our internal policy >> that our legal council says that is that is by design of the open enrollment law. >> So the so to just continue with this scenario if the resident district identified and said yes we'll pay you waossa the cost of this special education student then the student may stay. >> Sure. I mean that but it's typically what hap but typically what happens is that the resident district says >> no thank you we're not going to give you watsa the cost of educating that special education student you may send them back to the resident district and we will educate them correct that's what typically happens so it's not as if we don't want to educate the student that the resident district will

074then say no thank you we're not going to give you wallets the non-resident district the money to educate said child we'll do it ourselves and the reverse can happen for open and rolled out. >> So we would say the same thing to a student who opened and rolled out. >> Thank you. >> So that's the the nuance. >> To be clear, we don't love this this part of it. I don't think anybody does. >> But this happens statewide. This happens statewide. >> Now how well people are at >> Yes. >> procedures around it. Again, I'll be transparent. We have some procedures to tighten up and get better to be open and clear. So I think we'll we'll get better every year, but no one enjoys that. Before we go, one other just to add on

075that if somebody had this is another piece of law I believe if somebody had accepted um services and then comes through our district and doesn't tell us that >> we've navigated that as well >> that you would you wanted to share what so that everyone knows what happened. Another uncomfortable piece, right? They might not disclose that. We get a records request, it comes and then we're very sensitive about depending on the timing of when that happens, having that conversation and giving a window to transfer back. >> And just a reminder too um to Mr. W's question is a lot of this has to do with the fact that our capacity for um special education is at or above full. That's what the numbers are telling us. The zero seats are again um come from a

076very clear um formula that has been you know legally looked at and you know if we had the seats then we would not be in quite the same situation but this is a coming year where we don't have the seats and we typically don't have the seats. >> Not many districts do for special education for >> in general if people want special education services they're going to need to access them in their district. Yes, Miss B. Um, I just want to thank you for your transparency and showing us and the community the process that you've gone through to make these decisions. Um, and I think you provide so much data too to show that the the numbers you're coming up with are backed by data. So having um so everybody can see where these numbers

077come from that it's a year-to-year decision I think is really important for the community to understand as well. So thank you for that. Um it looked like you had >> Yeah to to that point I would say and it's working. We had two appeals last year. They were upheld. So the process had been looked at by DPI and they were upheld. >> Thank you Mr. Rosinski. So, I want to go back to the sibling preference statement from um and I'm looking at policy 513 where it talks about >> reference. >> Yeah. Application of space determinations. So, the sibling of a student selected in the random um where is it? The board shall grant preference to siblings of currently attending students in the random selection process that let me make sure I understand those like JK

078we have 27 open seats. We would first see if any of the people who have applications in are siblings of students who are already in our district. >> Correct. Okay. And if we have more than 27 siblings, >> then we would do like a lottery of those. But we'll first look at and say, "Oh, these people already have siblings in." >> Yep. >> We'll invite them first and then we'll do a lottery for the remaining seats. >> Correct. And then similarly, if it were SK and above, we would do that same exact process for students who are currently attending and moved out of the district and then had applied to open enrollment. So you're right JK it's their first year but if someone had already been here and they move they had moved out and

079on a retrition waiver they get that same preference as someone who has a sibling as well. >> Okay. >> Unless the that sibling needed special education services >> they wouldn't still be here >> or they wouldn't be a tuition student. But >> again, I know you don't like the law. [laughter] That is the law >> to clarify, right? Because the we keep say saying all, but really all with an asterisk after it saying >> as long as there aren't these attached pieces that I understand it's what we have to do. So sibling then tuition waiver then general applications and if just siblings or tuition waiverss decide they don't want to take it that opens up more. >> Yes, please do. >> You don't you have to be quick. Um >> okay. So if a student

080with an IEP lives in like the district and they were to move to a different school district, would they then have to leave the district? So if any student with or without an IEP moves out of the district, they get what's called a tuition waiver. And depending on the time of that move, they get either a current year tuition waiver. So say they're moving earlier on in the school year, they get to finish the current year. If they're moving and then the DPI has a matrix for the exact date, if they move past a certain date, they get an additional year. And then regardless of special education status, they would be required to apply to open enrollment if they want to continue their education in Motosa. >> Okay. If say someone's parents don't live together

081or divorced and one of their parents moves to a different district does that affect like how does that work? >> So there's something called the theer rule when it comes to residency and right to attend in a certain district. So the rule really means where that child lies their head at night is where they have a right to attend. So if they are laying there resting their head in both households they would have a right to attend in either district. Cool. Thank you. >> This is what I mean by a font of information. I also am starting to understand why working with other sorts of people might be really attractive to. It's hard to hard to stomach some of these policies. Um, anyone else before we wrap this up? Okay, we're going to call it

082a wrap. Thank you so much. We'll be listening to the community and um back here to um vote on this um in our last meeting. >> So, this is the second of three conversations you've had at the board level. So when we come back to you on January 23rd, it'll be for action. Uh unless you have any remaining questions that we can answer, but it'll >> then we have to have action at night because at night so >> all right. So this takes us to B um action to approve the 2025 2026 revised budget. Thank you Mr. Becker for bringing us. This is an action item, but there's some content for us before we do the action. Okay. So, the the first thing I'll point out is um obviously well maybe I'm the only one,

083but I wrote this on the 2nd of January of this year, but I was still focused on 2025. So, there's a typo on the date uh that I want to point out. Um, those of us that still write checks, uh, probably do that from time to time at at this time of year also. Um, so, uh, hopefully none of this information is news to the board or in this case the community. We've been talking about, frankly, since I have gotten here about the importance of board revising budgets, uh, my role bringing revised budgets to the board for approval. Um, this will actually be the third uh, budget that the board will this year. uh we approved a preliminary budget or you approved a pre preliminary budget as part of our uh annual budget hearing in

084July. You approved an updated budget uh with the tax levy and state aid certification in October. Um subsequent to that, the board approved employee compensation including a roughly 6.32% increase for teachers. um that is about 3% higher than our surrounding school districts that generally gave 2.95%. So that required a further adjustment of the budget. Um and that's taken us some time to run uh all of our numbers and make sure we have every employee locked down tight. So uh you're now approving I guess this would be the third um um budget second budget revision third budget of the year. Um, and this is what we'll use going forward. Uh, when we look at our monthly financials, if I could just direct you to page two, and I'm going to hover my mouse over what I

085think is the most important uh, piece of this, and that is the surplus deficit. So, the column on the left here is the budget that the board approved in October. We were origin that that budget approval included a surplus uh or in this case it would be a fund balance contribution of about $1.2 million. We used you can tell roughly a million dollars uh of that plan surplus to enhance teacher salaries. uh that has resulted in a reduction of in this this change column a reduction of what would have gone into fund balance by about a million dollars. And so we are now uh I'm asking that you approve a budget with a surplus of roughly $190,000. So we're still in the positive but uh you know very tight uh for the year. I included

086all funds here. There's slight changes to a few other funds, but this is the one that generally the board and community are most in tune with and and frankly is the most important fund in the district. >> Any questions on the react budget? >> Thank you, board members. Yes, Mr. W. >> Um, I just like to say thank you, Scott. Uh, this this is all expected. Uh none of this is a surprise. Uh like we see Liz and myself, we you've been very transparent in the finance and resource committee meetings. You were very transparent when we were making the decision um to increase the teacher compensation and this is what it was going to do. You uh you had estimated at that time we're going to bring our surplus from 1.2 down to about 200,000.

087Um, so again, just reiterating, it's a it's a hard pill to swallow, but none of this is a surprise and um it has been laid out for the community and board members uh all along the way. So, thank you for that. >> Thank you. Questions or comments? Okay, Miss Hammerald, >> it is recommended that the school board approve the 2526 revised budget and I so move. >> May I have a second? >> Second, >> Mr. Morris. Thank you. Um, Miss Summers, please call the role. >> Mr. Bzinski, >> yes. >> Mr. Bower, >> yes. >> Miss Bach, >> yes. >> Mr. Morris, >> yes. >> Miss Rolland, >> yes. >> Dr. Worley, >> yes. >> Mr. Wadier, >> yes. >> And the motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Eard. We are going to move on. I'm

088just going to push right on through and we'll take a brief stretch break before the inservice. Um, we are going to move on to number five, board governance. Um, >> letter C. >> Oh, sorry. C. Thank you. I'm in a hurry here. Obviously, Steve, presentation of multi-year budget projections. Thank you, Mr. Eard. No wonder you're looking at me funny. Thank you for coming the slideshow. >> Looking at the screen because when it um >> Oh, yeah. >> I think you can chuckle because it looked like it came up correct and then all of a sudden it it went >> like in one of those hands or something. >> Um so we'll hope the rest of the slides are fine otherwise I'll I'll restart it. >> Um it's just the title on this one anyway. So

089um the uh sequence of the action item right before this and the projection are purposeful. Um it's important that we use the updated budget uh for the projections. So um that's what's been used here. I anticipated the board would approve, you know, what was in front of you tonight. And so that is what's been used as the baseline for the projections. If we use something other than let's say I had used October's budget with a $1.2 million surplus and cast that forward, that would have yielded completely different results. So, it's always important that we do these things in the correct sequence and and if we're going to change one thing, you know, update everything kind of down the line. So, um we began this last year or at least I did last year with the

090board um presenting a multi-year budget projection and and I know that this exact same slide was here last year, but I like to really ground uh all of us and the community in in what a budget forecast is versus what a projection is. So, um, at at you just approved a budget, um, that is, uh, a a solid one-year plan that we have, um, lots of control over. So, we very much anticipate, uh, landing the plane uh, very near what the board just uh, budgeted. We know exactly who our staff are at this point. Uh, we know exactly who our students are at this point. there's uh no questions about what the state budget is going to do. Um that there's very little variables within the current year. Uh a forecast uh in particular as

091you reach multi-year, so years three, four, five, um become much more variable. Um so what we're really trying to do is get a ballpark of what the budget is going to look like. Um they're they're I think near the end. Um, I give there's a five-year projection that has exact dollar amounts. Um, I'll probably say this again on that slide. There is probably 0% chance that if if if the dollar amount for salaries is budgeted at, I don't know, 52,86,14. There's no way it's going to be exactly that, right? Um, that should be about the right ballpark, though. But in December, we talked uh about approving assumptions used with this. And the key is using those assumptions to build out the forecast. So this is really a dipstick of where we anticipate to be in

092future years. And like you just did, we'll have once we get to uh the actual 2627 budget, um we'll have multiple rounds of probably approval by the board as we get more solid. And the same thing with 27 28 28 29 etc. [clears throat] So um just kind of um centering ourselves on the assumptions used. This is what we talked about at the last board meeting. Um this is the second year or or next next year's budget will be the second year of a state biania. So on the revenue side that makes things much more predictable um for the year 2627. the assumptions for 2728. So the the last four years of the projections, we're using current state law, but those things can change as the state changes its budget. Um, and we reviewed all

093these other assumptions uh at the last um board meeting, and I'm going to cover kind of the key ones relative to the referendum on the next few slides. Okay. So um beyond our normal operations or what's become part of our normal operations now is the operating referendum. So just as a reminder uh the vast majority of the operating referendum uh is being used to maintain class sizes and academic programs. So what does that mean? Keeping our teachers and keeping our programs, right? So uh attracting, retaining, and recruiting uh the the best teachers we can get. um $4 million has been reserved for updating curriculum materials and $8 million has been reserved for increasing teacher compensation above what it would have been otherwise. And uh throughout the fall, the board had conversations about what that meant.

094And the takeaway there is what that meant was the step cost is 3%. 1% additional on top of that is essentially what the board had promised plus an additional $8 million. So, we're looking at essentially 4% a year plus in total $8 million more. And I'll show you kind of how that plays out over the course of this five years. Oh, again. So, I'm talking about those things right here. So, relative to curriculum, um, this year we have about $600,000 budgeted of the $4 million. next year where the this preliminary budget will include $1.5 million which leaves $1.9 million remaining for the final two years of the referendum. Um it's it's hard to you know Nicole and I work closely on this together. Um I uh I guess I never thought that we would split

095the $4 million exactly a million dollars a year. Uh some people may have thought that but when you're adopting you know curriculum um some some cycles are larger than others um so that's why you see variance in the amount of dollars allocated there each year uh relative to maintaining uh you know the bulk of the referendum um as you've seen at Nauseium over probably all fall and again uh with open enrollment information today our class sizes are among the lowest in the region Um and relative to compensation for last year or for I guess the current year now um teachers receive just a reminder a 3% step movement an additional 2 and a.5% on the schedule. Um many teachers also qualify for longevity depending on how long they've been here as well as supplementary pay

096uh for hard to fill positions and specific licenses. All told uh the total teacher increase was about 6.32% on average. Okay. Uh, now I'm going to weave into how do we kind of costing out or showing that $8 million over the uh the course of the referendum. So um just as a reminder with the uh post act 10 kind of the starting place for negotiations or compensation discussions with teachers is the CPI per the uh Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission. Now you don't have to give that much to the bargaining group. Um but provided you offer at least that much um there isn't any kind of um uh what's stuck on my word. >> Correct. Yeah. Thank you. Um the yeah in the olden days there would have been um you would have been working with

097attorneys and and um it could have got to be very messy. So provided you you offer at least that there's uh no issues that way. Um again we uh and that's what most districts have done really since WRC came since post Act 10. Um again just a refresher of what we've done this year. So we're this year you know close to double um the CPI is what we gave our teachers. So I tried to come up with a picture. You know, we had a conversation maybe a month or two ago when when we were talking about or the board was talking about what teacher compensation would look like and the compounding nature of uh adding costs to the salary schedule for for ongoing people, right? Because when we when we add cost to staff, um

098that isn't a one-time cost. It's not like buying a library book that you don't buy again the next year. you are committing um that salary amount to that person uh presumably into perpetuity until uh until we part ways. So I I wanted to try and capture a graphic of what that compounding uh effect might look like. And so let's see oh my okay here's my mouse. So we can see um in year one this is the increase we gave teachers and this is what um the year one cost will be in total over the four years. So the increase this year with this compounding effect is going to I'll call it use up um roughly 4 a.5 million of the total 8 million. So that leaves then about what three and a half million over

099the remaining uh three years. And you can see then year two if I right this is the largest kind of scale and then year two is smaller year three is smaller year four is smaller because the compounding nature becomes less and less right the there's only three years to compound in year two years to compound in year three etc. So all this to highlight um what has been um forecasted here uh to yield the full $8 million is and this is going to be more transparent than probably any school district in the state um is a a total 4.8%. So that is 3% step plus the 1% and then we need another8% every year to fulfill the $8 million uh commitment. So this is what that looks like. And here's just kind of another the

100visual another way uh if that one was confusing. This in blue would show year one, year two, year three, and year four. Any qu I'll pause there for a second. Any questions on these graphics? That was super helpful. Exactly what I need. This is ahead, Mr. Wy. >> I was just going to say thank you. I was the one that asked for this information like two months ago and you got it prepared really quickly and um in a in a way that I think is really easy to understand for the board and for the community. So, I just want to say thank you for for doing this. >> Sure. >> I like doing this stuff. So, >> okay. [laughter] >> Little side task. And uh like we talked about in the FNR meetings too. Um

101the thank you Liz for requesting this. Um this shows the transparency and again a lot of people may just look at that $8 billion and think oh well it's 2 million every year every year. Um no it's a lot more complex than that. >> [clears throat] >> And I think the way you've shown it in the brown chart shows what we have and and then what comes I think you'll talk about it soon enough. What comes in 2930 is we don't we don't know. >> Um but this is this is us showing that this board has already basically committed half of that oper salary um of that $8 million. we've already committed it because it's going to be paid out over four that same amount over four years. Um so then each year it's got

102to be a little bit less that that we have on the table. So just to make it complet perfectly clear I think um what is requested as as the chart here um I hope it makes sense to everybody. Uh it it I still anticipate it being a very generous compensation package. Um CPI last month I think was 2.5 or 2.6. So we're still clo we'll still be close to double. Um provided CPI stays something like that. >> Anyone else before I move on? >> I just had a question. I don't think that you have the information handy. Um, do we understand how that would rank us relative to our peers in the metro Milwaukee area? Uh, a couple years ago as in the runup to the referendum, we were in the lowest cortile of pay

103in our area. Do we have an understanding of what that would look like uh throughout the process of this referendum? >> I'll let Sarah take it if she >> Yeah, that's fine. Um, is the microphone unnoticed? Um I am in the process of securing uh current year comparables um because we had not adjusted teacher salaries until um till November. Um we didn't have any comparables to share uh with area school districts. Um and so now I'm looking at what not only um our average teacher salaries are based on years of experience but also starting and then is salary. Uh so I'll have a better idea uh once I get that. Um I suspect our salary increases were about double uh what most other school districts were um for this past year. >> So clawing our

104way up to the median. >> Yes. >> A little bit past. >> Yeah. >> Okay. You can proceed, Mr. Ear. >> Thank you. So, uh a few conclusions before I get to the kind of the numbers. Um I think I've talked about this before, but I'm just going to kind of keep repeating it in in as many ways as I can really for the community at large. Um, our biggest financial challenge is what I'm kind of thinking of this three-legged stool of trying to balance low class size. Um, quickly increasing teacher pay and our number of aging buildings. Um, and and you know, sometimes people might say, what what is so different than years past? Um, I I think what is different than years past is uh, as mentioned, we were in the lower quartile

105of teacher pay. So, we were able to do uh things um and in many cases build fund balance that then perhaps could have been used for something else. Um that we don't have we can't do that anymore. Right now, now we have three competing interests that all um are warranted. Um but it's getting increasingly hard to do all those things. uh wi-i which is why we're we're facing some of the challenges we are now. Um I I don't know why um maybe it would be easier for me to not say these are the challenges uh and kind of put my head in the sand u and ignorance is bliss, right? Um I think there's some in the community that would say, "Well, how come we've never heard that there's a facility issue?" or um why

106why do you all of a sudden need money? Uh to >> like maybe this is where you were going with it. >> Well, the reason is because it has been ignored, >> right? >> For dozens of years, we just especially with the buildings that that that leg was just ignored. No, nobody bothered to do anything about it. And that's why we have these huge huge numbers for deferred maintenance even if we just wanted to keep things as as they are. So um it's it's something that is I'm glad glad we've caught it. It would have continued to get worse because really it [clears throat] maybe confirm this that's essentially what was happening for many many years. So may I paraphrase? Thank you Mr. Eker for li lifting this. I I I said something similar when

107I meet every month with the PTA leaders and shared that the path of least resistance would have been for our leadership team to just ignore this. Past boards did take some uh courageous steps. There was something called the facility advisory council that was formed in 2017 2018. The FAC did create a comprehensive plan for facilities back in 2017 2018. At that time, there was an identification of $350 million worth of needs um in our district. And the bottom identified issue was that there would be seven new buildings constructed and there would be heavy renovation at Eisenhower Elementary School and Madison Elementary School. based on tax tolerance. The board at the time said, "We're going to do this in phases. We're going to do this work in phases." And phase one would be the 2018 referendum,

108which was approximately $124.9 million. But the need to construct a new Jefferson, a new Roosevelt, a new Washington never went away. The need to have heavy renovation at Madison and Eisenhower never went away. What the FAC never did in totality is to tackle what we were supposed to do with our secondary schools. Hence the creation of the secondary ad hoc committee because that plan was not fully created. If you fast forward, the 2018 referendum passed, but the concept of communicating a phase two and a phase three around the ongoing needs of constructing a new Roosevelt, Jefferson, and Washington, heavy renovation at Eisenhower and Madison that based on co leadership changes at the board level, leadership changes with the district level, though there's no one's fault that kind of went away. I want to bring it

109back to the slide that Mr. Eker has shared. So when we decided as an institution to not compensate teachers as healthy as we are doing now, when we chose to move away and to invest in low class sizes, our ability to do episodic facility improvements went away because we weren't building that that fund balance anymore. then taking away our ability to episodically address capital improvements. That's what he's trying to say here. And so I understand that there are people who in the community so way would say, "Wait a minute. Why are you talking about these things now?" What we are suggesting to the community is that this plan was already put in play when the FAC in 2017 2018 identified the goal of building seven new elementary schools and having heavy renovation at Madison and

110Eisenhower. What we're simply doing is just continuing to refine a plan that the community already put in place. But the community cannot have low class sizes. the teachers be among some of the highest paying in the metropolitan area and not have a long-term investment plan for aging or what we like to call vintage buildings. At some point, you have to address it because the last time we addressed the secondary schools from a facility standpoint was technically in the late 70s when the board decided we're going to close the third floor at East. That was the last time we had a comprehensive plan and I don't know if you can call that a plan uh with our secondary schools. So I think Mr. Eker I just want to pivot back to you. I think that is

111what I'm trying to paraphrase. That's what you're suggesting that we can't continue to have this three-legged stool and not have the conversation. >> Sarah, >> I'm sorry I hit any nerves. See me too much. >> It's okay. Did you have a question? >> What year was that that that closed the third >> third floor at East? It was the late 1970s. I don't we don't have a specific date, but we know that the the in the late7s they they closed the third floor due to declining enrollment in the 2017 uh figure of $350 million. >> That's in 2017. >> Yes. >> Which would probably be closer to a half a billion dollars today. our our intolerance for costs has actually when you talk to architects and construction people, they will say now that dollar amount

112has gone up. That that was a bargain um for to build seven new buildings and to do heavy renovation at Madison and Eisenhower. If we would have done that work in 2017 2018, that would have been a bargain. Now, it will be obviously hired and I I want to know and it's still and I would encourage people to go out to the secondary ad hoc committee web page, take a look at the book that Dr. Marble wrote in terms of the the state of the instructional facilities at our four secondary schools. we're in trouble um because of the inaction to your point of the last few years and when I say few years I mean the last four and a half decades of not investing in those secondary schools at some point you have to

113invest in those facilities we that that came to that came home the roose with the elementary schools and again I don't want to ignore this the the FAC identified the need to build seven new buildings. So, at some point there's a there's a plan in place that said we were going to build a new Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Washington that we were going to do heavy renovation. And Mr. Levante can speak to this more in February that we would do heavy renovation of Madison and Eisenhower because the infrastructure of those two buildings are so strong that we didn't see the need to build brand new buildings. Um, but it does require heavy renovation nonetheless. And again, I don't want to lose the the main point that Mr. Ecker is trying to say with point number one,

114which is you can't do it all um and not identify the need that there's there's an injection of more resources needed uh to to make it work. >> Okay. Number two, um so what you're going to see is small financial shortfalls over the next three years and then uh for anyone that hasn't seen it yet, uh on the community side, uh a big dip when the referendum goes away. Um, I hope that's not a surprise to anybody. When a community passes a what they call a non-recurring referendum that has a shelf life and when that shelf life expires, uh, every school district that passes such a thing is faced with the choice of either completely changing how they do things uh, or going out for another referendum, right, to extend the referendum. So I also

115want to highlight as part of this that that we will have that in three more years roughly and our board and community is going to have to make that choice. Do we again do we want to keep what we have or do we want to change what the district looks like the programs we offer the people we have and in order to not extend the referendum. Um, when I started here, uh, as soon as I knew a referendum was on the table, I I knew that this would be something that would be asked again or, you know, presumably asked again in four more years. And if that referendum, I'll tell you right now, if that ref if there is another referendum and that referendum is non-recurring and it's for four years, it's likely the community

116asked for another one in eight years. uh because that is the cycle the state has put school districts in >> and what's the alternative Mr. Eer if the referendum don't pass hypothetically >> and there's not state money >> right and not depend so yes to Dr. Ry's point, if these referendum, these non-recurring referendums don't pass and there isn't a change in state funding, then what is the alternative if they don't pass? So, um, you really have two options. You could, I'm not sure how the legality of the first one that I'm going to give. Roll back everyone's raises, right, to what they were pre- use of fund balance, I suppose. um because presumably the district could afford that under the under that revenue limit. Um the other option is reduce staff uh to the to

117the point that you roughly 16.1 million worth of staff. So we'll ballpark that as 180 teachers or 180 staff members, but the bulk of our staff members are teachers. So just kind of round numbers. >> I ask something real quick. Yeah, >> with the like in the next three years it says district administrators will recommend efficiencies. What would like some examples of that be? >> Yeah. So, thank you. Um that's something we should be doing every year. So, I just want to highlight that. Um so, one of those things is for instance open enrollment. Um, and the way that that I Sarah and I have always talked about that is at least I look at it as like when a when a plane is full or not full, but but if that flight is going

118to happen, you might as well fill up the flight. Um, so that would be one efficiency, adding students. Another might be um, you know, annually we're looking at, do we have the right size staff? Perhaps we have maybe we have more playground assistance than we need because enrollment had declined somewhere. Um we're we're looking for always looking for efficiencies and things like staff development. Um every time a position opens, we're evaluating whether that is something we should uh fill or not. So those would be some examples. >> When we do contracts, we look when we have an expense coming up, we look and make sure that we're getting the best price that we can. and competitively look at options. I mean, it's a con, like he says, constant process. It's a good question. >> Um,

119I I'll throw one more example out there that that where where it gets um challenging at a school district is every program we have impacts at least one student and it might be the most important thing for that one student and frankly could mean nothing to the remaining 6,999. Those are the most challenging things. I I was at a district um where we chose to shut down the Japanese program. It only had six students in it, but the amount of people coming to every board meeting to advocate for the Japanese program because of how important it was to those six students, financially speaking, the best decision was to shut down that program. Um, but it certainly didn't come without emotion and and impact on those six students. And those are the challenging recommendations that happen

120sometimes. >> And Mr. Hecker, I I don't want to be labor this conversation, but it's healthy for our community to hear. I have a few questions that are purposeful. Generally speaking, how large is our district budget? >> Roughly 100 million. Thank you. Round numbers. >> And of that 100 million, how much of it is dedicated to staff personnel? >> Uh 75 million to 80 million. So 75 to 80%. >> Mhm. >> And so when people generally speaking talk about efficiencies that are non-personnel related, that equates out to what percentage of the overall budget? Well, so the easy math would say 20% or 20 million, but a lot of that is actually is locked up um in things like utilities, which isn't you don't really have any flexibility over or um snow plowing. Uh, so the

121actual discretionary dollars I'm going to estimate is probably 5 to 8% of the total budget, you know, and and so then you're talking about things like um yeah, we wouldn't have to u replace Chromebooks as often as we do for instance. Of course, that would have an impact. >> Um we um this might be news to the uh committee that's going to meet right after this. We make several million copies each year, uh, paper or packets for kids, right? We could discretionarily decide we're not going to use paper anymore. We're not going to buy textbooks. What's funny is those um those are some of the most emotional things and they and they carry pretty low dollar amount, too. So, in my opinion, it's like we're it's why rock that boat because yes, it's discretionary, but

122it is some of the things that impact people the most or they see the most. So, very little of our dollars outside of staffing is really even able to to be eliminated. We will always look at something like our insurance coverage, um like our property insurance, can we get a better rate? Uh things like that, but we know we have to have some kind of insurance. So in other words, if I may summarize, I'm hearing you state that when people talk about efficiencies and at the core, we are talking about how do we prioritize what personnel do we keep, which program programs do we keep, and why? >> Yes. And I don't think that's just us. That's probably every business or every system. My guess is Freeder does the same every year, too. And I'm

123lifting this up for community sake board discussion sake because typically you'll hear the concept of the b the district the district needs to be more efficient with its funds. when you are running an operation I don't want to call this a business because we serve people but when you have an operation in which you are serving people mainly through the investment of personnel and that personnel represents 75 to 80% of your overall cost that the discretionary efficiencies as you stated is more in the space of 5 to 8% of the overall budget and so if you're going to reduce the budget it does mean at some level there that means it's going to be a reduction of people and services correct and please I don't want anyone to lose it now those in the community

124who will say well we can find efficiencies what you're in essence saying is here's what we are prioritizing here are the programs that we believe should be maintained here are the people that we believe should be uh retained and kept and these are the people that we believe should be reduced for when we use the word transparency which I hear often if we're going to be transparent then identify what you prioritize if you're going to have that conversation in the public square then it is important for us all to hear so what do you prioritize and what do you want to keep because there are parents and students and staff alike who are wondering when you use that language which can be coded language it is important for us from a transparency standpoint to share

125what is going to be. Thank you, Mr. >> I think I've got just two slides left here. So, um here's a a picture uh of our overall budget. So, just to kind of highlight the columns, uh this left hand side, this is the budget the board just approved. So, in blue, uh this column, top half is essentially revenues, bottom half expenses. you can see uh what our anticipated surplus or deficit is and then down here and this is orange on my screen uh the beginning fund balance and projected ending fund balance. So those are kind of the key spots. Okay. So then we have uh next oops uh next year FY27 the following year FY28 the following year FY29 we have essentially uh projected a balanced budget each of those years um which you can

126see I mentioned small variances um and some of this is due to just the amount of curriculum we plan on doing next year versus the following two years but essentially a balanced budget projected uh for the next 3 years and then when the non-recurring referendum drops off you can see we have this significant spike in um anticipated deficit. So again hopefully that's not news to to anybody. Uh this is what that looks like in terms of just fund balance uh over the next several years. So this is the current year FY26. Uh we anticipate at least preliminarily we might be asking the board depending on again curriculum and a few other things for a little bit of expenditure from fund balance but getting that built back up at least to where it is now. I'd

127like to get it built up more but for our purposes um showing you know we're going to be balanced. And then I want to highlight the the the graphic shows a negative fund balance. um that that's not legal though, right? But I I have to have a way to to kind of put a picture to what happens when the referendum goes away. So again, it when the referendum goes away, there's going to be those choices of uh either pass a non-recurring or reduce our expenses at at the very least by 6.7 million. That would give us a 0 fund balance. So really to maintain your fund balance, you've got to reduce it by the full, say, $17 million um in order to keep some kind of fund balance. And the following year, you'd be reducing

128expenses again by at least an inflationary amount, 3 to4 million, probably every year into perpetuity, something like that. So, um, I guess the the main takeaways here are, uh, let's remember we have a we're very good shape with our budget this year. Our projections are very solid, I think, for next year and particularly because we have a a state budget. Um, I I'm as comfortable as I can be three and four years out. Uh, but that is where there's more variance typically. Um, it is useful in my shoes to already know what we have to budget for teachers. So, that makes it at least easy. Well, well, maybe not maybe not easier to manage the budget. Um, well, it's actually pretty easy to manage budget. May maybe it doesn't allow us as much flexibility in

129the budget, but we do know exactly what we're going to need to spend so we can work around that. Um, and we know that we're going to have to either ask for more money or make significant changes to the district by 2930. >> Yes. >> So, [clears throat] from what I'm hearing, uh, we have three options. it's either it's either continue a referendum cycle which I know affects everybody who is a is a resident um and the other two are I'll take from more from the private business sector looking at our footprint our buildings and and where our costs are with with staff um it's either state or consolidating either we get more money from the state it's just out of our hands hands and out of our control. But we have to find a

130way to consolidate our those resources of of labor is that is but like you said in the beginning this I don't I want to make sure the significance isn't lost. the amount of discretionary money that we can move around is is less than what we what you even have on there or that first year that we would would balance negative without if we if we're not going to touch anything having to do with labor costs. So in the in my experience uh and and I and I do have a good amount of experience in mergers and acquisitions you come with buildings and staff that's spread across small parts big parts of the state. um you like to keep that local footprint but at some point you have to start consolidating things because you can't sustain

131that kind of a footprint forever. So, I'm not I I'll say the uncomfortable thing, which is at some point, I don't know when, but at some point we we either need to get more money from the state. we need to make peace or we need to make peace with continuing those operating referendums or we need to reconfigure or or and that's my way of saying consolidate so that we can make better use of of the labor and reduce the overall labor dollars. That's that's my opinion. Um and if there's anything I'm missing from that equation, uh please let me know. that that's essentially right. I I would just I I just want to be clear um because I think some sometimes and I've heard this in other school districts too. Um if you just closed

132a building and and the building itself, yes, there depending on the building, there could be more or less costs, but typically those that that avoids cost in the future. If if we were to I'm going to pick a school we don't have. So that um >> Thank you. uh South Elementary School, if if a district were to close South Elementary School, that would avoid future capital costs. But if they just put if they maintain their staffing footprint, the ongoing operating costs doesn't go away. So in T you would if you removed that non-existent school you would also be removing an administrator administration and support staff and likely you would you would be taking certain certain staff and redistributing them throughout the rest of the buildings um accordingly and and therefore that's what I mean by

133consolidation >> or you may not need to you you may be able to maintain class sizes at a larger building without needing to take all the staff. Um, I'm not advocating that's the right decision, but but that is the difficulty in the number of buildings we have and the footprint >> and all and and also want to have our teachers as the highest paid and have lowest class sizes. That's that's where um these these interests become competing >> and and that's exactly why it's very difficult to continue to hear people compare us to the the Elro district because while they're comparable in size and budget and everything else we have a ton of buildings that Mr. where there if I may weigh in checker. So I would say nearly 20 years ago the Elm Brook

134school district made the decision to have a larger elementary schools and they closed schools and they said we're going to consolidate to your point and we're we are going to invest as a community in larger schools. They also said and we're going to commit to having adding a cost of transportation. Now let's look at walltosa. When the FAC theh facility advisory committee came together in 2017 2018, one of the non-negotiables as part of their work was we're not closing any elementary schools. That came on the heels of a 2005 decision that the board made in January of 2005 to close then Wilson School. Five months later, the new board was elected and reopened. Wilson Elementary School. Our community has a history of not engaging in this community that this conversation of closing a school very

135well. And so the FAC's decision to have none of us were here administratively in 2017 2018, but that committee made a commitment of a non-negotiable in their deliberations was not to close an elementary school. That was clearly part of their deliberations. And so the as the old saying goes, the dye was cast that we were committed. Now to Mr. Ecker's point, you could look to close elementary schools based on the way that we're distributed. You would that the consolidation that Elberg engaged around, we're not able to do so unless you extend and create additions to elementary schools, which will cost money. Um and so and and the four elementary schools that were built were not built >> to create the consolidation that is that is stated. So I think a lot of opportunities people may

136ring their hands and and state that there were opportunities missed but the current governing team you the the dye has been cast. Wilson W. STEM, Underwood, McKinley, and Lincoln were built in a way to allow for the conversation to consolidate schools and they were built larger. You could have that conversation. That was not the case. Uh, and so this this the fixation of let's close an elementary school or two, it doesn't solve the issue. And what I'm hearing Mr. eer say is the savings of clothing an elementary or two isn't as robust as people may believe it is financially and so th for those two reasons and it may be debated but for those two reasons you cannot forget the fact that in 2018 if there was a need or a a an interest to

137consolidating our buildings the opportunity to have that discussion was in 2018 18 when the four new buildings were built, but the size in which those schools were constructed, the the consolidation that people are looking for isn't available in our district. And I want to be very clear and even if you did consolidate in Wala Tulsa, there's still then the cost around transportation. And so whatever savings you believe you're gaining, you it may be immediately consumed by the new cost which this district hasn't assumed in decades. It's the assuming the cost on transportation because now you would have children crossing railroad tracks and going to other areas going beyond the state statute of when uh the two miles piece. So, so I think I I want to be very clear. A lot of this a lot

138of the decisions that were made in 2017, 2018, they were justified. They were discussed allegedly. Uh again, we weren't part of those conversations, but it's my the way that it's been relayed to me. This these were conversations that were clearly stated. Um, and the the community has a history of seeing when you discuss closing schools, it doesn't go well. Um, it I I I saw it firsthand in 2005. I saw it again few a few years ago when we just conceptually talked about it. And so while there are interest in the community among some to have the conversation from a public policy perspective, we've we've seen that it doesn't go well and that that there is while there are some people who are very interested in it, there are others who are not interested in

139it and and regardless of the interest or non-interest, I want to just draw people back to the reality of in 2018 when that referendum was passed, the opportunity to consult consolidate was lost when we constructed those four elementary schools and they were not constructed in a way the way that the Elbrook schools were constructed where they were larger buildings. >> Just just a couple things to that. Um those larger buildings would have then might not have fit into the referendum pass or the footprint or the spaces. >> That's right. >> And we actually are in the midst of a secondary discussion which could be about consolidation. Um, we don't have what the committee's sending us yet. And as board members, we've pledged to wait to hear input and data before we, you know, leverage our

140choices um or make recommendations to the community. Um, but this that is one piece of this conversation is the possibility to look to the future um at the secondary level. But thank you for outlining what has happened with the elementary. I think it's super helpful. you can always do. I mean, you could we could undo it and go forward, but I think what I'm hearing you say is there's a lot of loss in that people were thoughtful as best we know in the past and thinking through what's right for the community. Yeah. So, thanks for raising that. I'm going to see if there's any other questions. I'm going to make sure we're checking our time here. Um, so we do still have an inservice and a couple other action items before the inservice. So, just

141everything should be on the table, but think about your um questions and answers the time. Yes, this time we're roll. >> I'll be really fine. >> That's fine. >> Um so, I just uh would like to appreciate the board members and um Scott for this conversation. There's a false narrative um by some in our community that the board doesn't have long-term conversations about our uh financial future. Um and that's just inaccurate to say. We have a CFO who is clearly um looking five years out and a board that is engaging on a regular basis on what we need to do um to have a balanced budget every year. And I just want to highlight that Scott said that like this is projected, but we will have a balanced budget every year. And what that looks

142like is really up to the board and the community to decide. Um, do we want to have this extra 16.1 million every year? If not, then we need to be really honest with what those cuts look like. Um, and I've asked Scott for this information. I'd like to see what would the teacher salaries be like in five years had the referendum not passed because we would they wouldn't have received raises this year. About 180 positions would have had to be cut um if we did not have the referendum passed. So, I think it's really important for the community to keep that top of mind um and not let this become uh normal that we just have that $16.1 million. Um so, talking I mean, we talk about what we can cut and what we can

143make efficient all the time. I encourage any community member to reach out to a board member or to reach out to Scott um or Sarah to ask where are we looking for inefficiencies because I promise we're looking at them every every meeting in finance in the full board meeting when I meet with Demand um every other week when I meet with Scott. So, it's just it's a false narrative that this board doesn't take our stewardship of funds incredibly responsible. Um, and always just ask questions. I think we try, you know, we try to be transparent, but you can always reach out and and ask the people who are looking at the numbers and the experts. Ask Scott, ask Sarah, ask them um what we're doing to make sure we're as efficient as possible while serving

144our students in a way that the community has repeatedly told us that our students deserve to be to to be served. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> I don't have a question, but one last comment just to Mr. records uh the slide here and primarily for the the community when we talk about all these pieces out here we're not alone so this isn't a waosa thing and Dr. remains in this board and the previous board parts of the previous board have talked about exactly this spot this moment right here that we're at. So we have a three four-year timeline for beyond the emails and the phone calls to this board. When you're talking about this next election or the next two elections, it has to go to the state level. We've said that big number.

145The state has a $4 billion surplus. Dr. Beans, is that the number? There's a lot that we can be doing as citizens, as neighbors. We talk about that. We are just one of 249 school districts in the state that have gone to referendum. I said that's more than 60% of the state that has to go find in this that 2030 31 period and we're one of the non-recurring. There's what a dozen or so that are recurring that know that for them to even exist they have to do that. So depending on where you live and we're fortunate enough to be in a place that doesn't have it in it's not like our our sister communities next to us aren't there. Ellen Brook has had a $62 million referendum. West Dallas has a $62 million or

146$76 million referendum. There are communities all around us that are have the same things going on. What we are at and what we're looking at here, one of the biggest pieces is we are fixing the things of yesterday year that didn't get done decades. I bought a house that's 126 years old. It look and we are the third owners. There's a lot of things that I would have made different choices. It's a wonderful home and it's in the place that I wanted to live and wanted to have the school district here, but you have to budget and plan for those things in the future. If I just turned a blind eye and stuck me in the sand like I've watched some of my neighbors in both my old neighborhood and new one, the house falls

147apart. The foundation has to be looked at. Your walls have to be looked at. Your roof has to be looked at. Same thing that we're talking about here with deferred maintenance, with operational costs, with curriculum costs, with all these things. We can't push those things on three, five, seven, 10 years down the road again and again because for this generation, we got seniors going out now, but the seniors four years from now, we're going to have bigger problems. 8 years from now, they're going to have even bigger problems. That makes me nervous because I've got a 10, five, 10, 8, and 5year-old. So, I'm going to see all this no matter what. I'm not going anywhere. It's I'm I'm here in this community. I support and serve this community as many ways as I can.

148But I look at this that it's never been more important to make sure that the things we do and the sacrifices and the investments that we make are the right ones for this three-year period and then when we get to 2930 that we're not waiting until then. And Mr. Eckert's done a phenomenal job. The transparency that we have now that we did not have three years ago gives me a lot of just confidence in what regardless what this board looks like of where it goes because we have not only the leadership at the district level, the leadership from a financial lens, but the leadership across the board and the support of the community members when people do say yes, sometimes it's a small amount of people that are the squeaky wheels, but I believe that

149when they get into the facts and the data, they'll see these things that we see from these seats that there's a lot of care, a a lot of responsibility, a lot of ownership that goes into making sure that we don't have these shortfalls, that every one of our students from K4 through 12 have the tools, the responsibility, the teaching staff, the curriculum, all the things that this community has said that they require. It's not an option. It's not a preference. They've told us over and over again, year after year, this is what they require. And so, that's the commitment that we've made. And I'm happy to see that we are making and and committed to upholding those commitments to make sure these things happen. So I appreciate everything that you've given us, Mr. Dord, because

150it's it just shows the amount of time, energy, and effort that the districts [clears throat] put in in your investment to be here to do this that we never had before. >> Mr. Morris, thank you for the statement and I think it clarifies things and summarized the discussion we had along with Miss Himer Rollins statement. I would just encourage the community to go off to the secondary ad hoc school committee uh ad hoc committee uh web page. You'll see there's a document called analysis of learning spaces. It's called analysis of learning spaces. So when I reference the book that Dr. Marvel wrote, it's literally a book. And and so what is highlighted in that book is none of want to haves. It's not things that we would prefer to have. What Dr. Marble is and

151I think this is the intersection between what Mr. Fountain does and what Mr. Ecker does and what Dr. Marble is charged to do. What she is sounding the alarm around is we can't continue to ignore the learning spaces of our four secondary schools. that if you we believe we're doing a disservice to a child who really, for example, really likes culinary arts. The the the culinary arts space is not an industry standard space. We're doing a disservice to children who really likes science. Our science labs are from circa 198384. And I'm think I'm being kind. >> I'm being kind. And so, while some people may may ring their hands and say, why are you discussing this now, Mr. and I had this conversation earlier today. That's the equivalent of your partner saying in your household,

152I think it's time for us to get a roof estimate. And when the roof estimate comes in, you get angry with the spouse or the the the partner for getting the roof estimate. We're just doing our due diligence. Now, can we explain why this issue wasn't addressed 30 years ago or 40 years ago? We can't. But we would be negligent and be guilty of malpractice if we just continue to say, "But we can just not do anything." We we believe that doing nothing is not an option and that deferred maintenance is not going to improve the learning space for children. And so that means the community has to has to come to grips with a conversation. I don't want again I don't want to get us too prematurely down the line, but I think the

153slide that Mr. Ecker showed was so as a community we have to come to grips with if you want to pay teachers top dollars have the lowest class sizes in the metropolitan area and address your facilities something is going to have to give. And then the last thing I would say is and I like I like the the statement it's just not accurate to presume that the district knew or didn't know that there will be a need for us to continue to come back to the the community in 2028. That's just not accurate. We we when we went to referendum in 2024, we knew since we're having a conversation about long long-term planning, we knew that we were we knew that we would have to continue the conversation. So, it it it is disingenuous to

154say, well, boy, they're going to come back and ask for more funds. Yes, if you want to maintain the level of staffing and and programming that the current students have, we have to have the conversation or I would and if we're if we're going to really have the convers I don't want to lose this and I'll I'll I'll end on this note or those who are making that statement should be transparent and say so here's where this here's the $16 million that I've cut because or here's how I propose that we're going to advocate at the state level for the additional $16 million. Otherwise, if you're not doing one, which is identifying the $16 million that you would cut, or B, identify how you would advocate for $16 million, then the only other option is

155C, which is the referendum. So, if we're going to if we're going to talk about transparency, it's a two-way street. And so, be transparent of what you're going to either cut, where you're going to advocate, or how you're going to support an ongoing reform. >> Thank you. I'm going to move us forward. We have several other budget discussions coming over the next six months as we start the cycle again. Um so thank you for everyone who's shared. Um I'm going to ask us to move on now to number five board governance letter A 2026 Wisconsin schoolboard Association delegate assembly resolution recommendations. Believe this comes from the um LAC. >> Uh it does not. >> Um >> oh it comes from the state. >> State. >> Yes. Thank you. The WB. These are that's where >>

156yes um >> okay may I start we have to decide we basically have to decide where we want our representatives that we're also going to name tonight um where we want them to stand on each of these resolutions >> administration uh Dr. early board members administration's taken a look at the resolutions and have given recommendations uh to those those resolutions to help guide that person's uh work. So that's all I would add. >> Yeah, absolutely. So the uh WASBY is holding its uh annual convention here in Milwaukee at the end of the month. uh there are several this is the time period where they approve new resolutions and they change their own uh policies to mimic what is going on in their member states. Uh they've sent us 11 um recommendations that the uh administration

157has provided their re their suggestions and how we should uh vote when that happens. um or 12. Actually, there are 12 options. >> Um I'm planning on going anyways because I think WASBY uh conventions are actually quite useful uh in terms of not only networking and seeing what's going on in other districts, but also just to uh make connections across the board and learn things. Um so I would be happy to be that uh designate unless there is anyone else who is not only going but also interested in taking on that. I think we're get I'm getting into B at that point. >> Yes. So with a there's not an action that we need to take, but we want to raise awareness that we've had those um recommendations from the uh administration um board members

158and review that and comment next. When were the recommendations sent to the board? >> You can look for it and just request >> or maybe we just say let's let's res. >> Yes. >> Will we be voting on this next meeting? >> Assembly is next. >> Oh yeah. Okay. >> So we just went to make them but they're not attached to the agenda. But we we will send them out so you're aware of them. Um and again it's more of a guiding document for the delegate. >> So if someone had any specific comments that we would want you then the Senate to use. Yes. >> So that you could the administration may then change its suggestion if there's enough board members who have concerns. Is that >> if there's enough uh concerns then I could

159I would then >> hold a special. Oh, >> I don't think you would have to have a special meeting. I think I would then just >> work to >> work with the delegate to >> that's what I'm suggesting. So, don't send it. It's not a conversation, right? Emphasizing with open meetings rules is not a conversation among board members um outside of the boardroom. It is feedback to Dr. Means what um if you haven't had a chance to look at it yet. Um, and we'll make sure that everyone has that. Um, is is that good for A? >> Okay. Process-wise, um, and then we'll move to um B. And yes, this is an action item. Um, so Mr. Bower has very kindly said that he's there and he's interested. Um, I'm there. I am not very

160flexible on the 21st which is the day. So it's a Wednesday that with the person would need to be available is typically where they saw it on the agenda. Um I'm planning on being there for sure the other two days. So I'm not looking to fill that role. Is there anyone else who's going um who is looking to fill that role? >> Yeah. >> So >> can I go ahead? >> Please go ahead. It seems like we have a good good we're thankful be thankful that someone is able to do this. Yes. >> Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Bower. It is recommended that the school board designate Mr. Bower as the school board delegate to the Wisconsin State Education Convention on for January 2026. And I so move. >> May I have a second? >> Second.

161>> Give that to Phil. He got in there real quick. Mr. Morris, thank you. Um, Miss Summers, please call the RO. >> Miss Presenski, >> yes. >> Mr. Bower, >> yes. Miss Faul, >> yes. >> Mr. Morris, >> yes. >> Miss Hammer Rolland, >> yes. >> Dr. Worley, >> yes. Mr. Ro, >> yes. >> And the motion carries. >> So, um, number six is we're going to adjourn at the inservice after which we'll take a break. Um, it'll be fairly short just so people know is we do have speakers for the first part of the inservice. Um, I also want to make sure the community knows that the recording will end at the end of the general board meeting. We do not record inservices as per our policy, but people are welcome to be in

162the room to listen um and observe um the content of the inservice um with the board members. Uh so um the time is 8:21 p.m. May I have a motion to adjourn into inservice? >> It is recommended that the school board adjourn into inservice and I so move. >> Thank you. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Bower. Miss Summers, please call the RO. >> Miss Prosinski, >> yes. >> Mr. Bower, >> yes. >> Miss Bo, yes. >> Mr. Morris, >> yes. >> Miss Himmer Roland, >> yes. >> Dr. Worley, >> yes. >> Mr. Ward, >> yes. >> And the motion carries. We will start the inservice at 8:35 or so. This