001okay this is a call to order of the second regular meeting for October of the Bridgeport Board of Education today's date is Monday October 24th the time is 6 32 P.M we'll rise with Pledge of Allegiance foreign Albert bennahan Bobby Brown Erica Castillo President Michael macaron president John Weldon president and Joseph Lombard president yeah the core next is the minutes the last two meetings first being October October 5th 2022 special meeting is there a motion to approve so move moved by Mr bennahan second by Ms Allen is there any discussion or edits to be made I would like to make an amendment let me just find it is this an edit yeah yeah it's an edit it says microphone it's your microphone up sorry um it is on page seven it's the last paragraph Miss
002Castillo said as long as we have open dialogue we are likely to be most productive she said she said she felt strong armed into one way or the other in the past I believe what I said was um that it's better when board members do not feel strong-armed into decisions so I just would like the record to reflect that more accurately thank you okay thank you do you noted Mr clown okay any further edits all in favor all right I could be opposed any abstentions I'm staying there's Baptiste Perez of stains October 11 2022 regular meeting is there a motion to approve don't move by Mr bennahan your second second second by Ms Castillo are there any edits to be made all in favor aye any opposed okay any abstentions I abstain Ms Baptiste Perez
003abstains student representative reports do we have any student reps online okay just as long as I know they're there um so we'll we'll start here with the one closest to the audience you 'd state your name for the record the school you represent and if there's anything that you have to report um hi uh good afternoon can everyone hear me yep my name is Julia Estrella and I'm representing Bridgeport Military Academy tonight um just a couple of things going on in our school so October is a full month of events at BMA um this week all students will attend an assembly for Red Ribbon Week this is an event to inform students about the dangers of drugs um October 26 is our first ptso meeting we will be providing dinner to parents and discussing School
004concerns um also that same day we will have a FAFSA meeting for the seniors or any questions that their parents may have regarding FAFSA um October 27th is our school dance we will be holding a Harvest Dance for all students we're excited for that since it's our first major event at BMA since covid seniors and juniors are participating in PSAT and sat testing this week as well we're also having a pink out in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month half of the funds will go towards the breast cancer research foundation and lastly one of the major Cadet concerns continues to be the temperature in the building in some classes it's too hot other classes it's too cold um all of the hallway Windows have been bolted shut which were used previously to create a cross
005Breeze for hot rooms our principal lets us lets the school know that work orders have been submitted but this happens each year and the different temperatures make it hard for us to focus in class and that's all for me thank you thank you um you state your name in your school good evening Board of Ed members and Mr testani my name is Annalisa Valley and I am a senior at Aerospace Hydro Space Engineering Magnet High School for today's report we have had many students attend a college information sessions throughout the week as well as for the University of New Haven and Fairfield University um last week our students all finished the Reading Plus Benchmark we have held a spirit week last week concluded with a pep rally on Friday on Saturday we had a number
006of Volunteers in our recruiter at the stem Fest along with this week we are testing Juniors on the PSAT and seniors on the SAT and on Wednesday night we are holding our first open house from 6 PM to 7 30 p.m on all the Board of Public are welcomed and on Friday our Humanity teachers are taking students to see a manatee at the Westport country Playhouse called um from the Mississippi dust from the Mississippi Delta okay thank you I believe someone who can actually see this because I'm too close yeah it says Erica Pinto Erica Pinto okay hello good school here from I am Erica Pinto the student representative from aquaculture Regional High School to begin the report aquaculture held a recruitment night since the last meeting we had a hundred families registered and greatly
007appreciated the help we received in spreading the word we received great feedback regarding the genuine passion on display from our teachers and the friendly and informative nature of our students I also want to share some words from the Fairfield first select woman I would like to sincerely thank Emily Barnhart and the Bridgeport Regional Vocational agriculture school for their compassionate response and efforts to ensure that a several dozen goldfish which were being used for decorative purposes outside the fairfield's Independence Hall would have a new home in aquaculture's Hatchery we do appreciate it and feel very fortunate to have this wonderful School nearby lastly I also want to recognize naylani Acosta who has won the sock design contest for ffa's fundraiser thank you everyone thank you Latonia Ferguson Latonia Ferguson would you tell us what school you're
008from um I'm Latonya and well as you know and I am a member of the Central High School Board of Education representative um in our school we have a historic Heritage Month event we had every morning we had announcement to educate everyone on the different Latin American countries we also had presentations and different works of art and like just different Works throughout the classes displayed outside your school just to educate everyone about just the different Latin American cultures and just the difference between Hispanics and um Latin just like just educating them about the Latin Americans we also had a lot of college presentation this month with Southern um Roger Williams we had the University of New Haven came to Central we also had different trade school teachers educate our seniors about the different options that
009they have post um graduating Central High School this Friday we also have a Yukon trip where 50 students were um are going to UConn stores campus just to get a tour to get a feel for the environment since they have indicated that they would like to go to UConn for National Honor Society they raised with the student council they raised one thousand dollars to the stride Against Breast Cancer and students were all also participated in the stride walk Sunday on the 16th the National Honor Society this Friday is also hosting a blood drive with the Red Cross and the goal for it is 25 to 30 pounds of blood and then we are also having our PSATs and SATs for juniors and seniors this week Tuesdays and Thursdays and then on a other note um
010we are also having an issue at Central where the bathroom are closing there are 1600 students in Central and we are having to use a bathroom in the main lobby and for the females or from a female aspect still no female security guard at our school currently so if there's an issue happening in the bathroom it's not appropriate for a male security guard to go into these bathroom and as a school it's kind of against your right to be closing the bathroom I get that there's a problem but there needs to be other measures taken to address the matter the matter other than punishing the whole school because there's students there that genuinely want to learn and by us having to leave leave our classroom and spend like 10 minutes waiting in line just to
011go to the bathroom it just doesn't make sense and we need to figure out a new um option other than just closing the bathroom thank you him that is all right thank you Mr testani if you would have someone from facilities oh there's two more students I'm sorry there's I think there's no I know but regards to what she just said oh I saw George look into that right right before read for debt um speak to Dr Graf it's an administrative it's not a facility okay who else do we have Eunice unisia my name is uniska Marseille and I will be representing basic high school so the school continues to encourage the student to join club and after some activities um the national writing project radar celebration has begun this series team Power Team of
012writing is inspired by The Great Outdoors and it runs from October 9th to October 23rd girls soccer team has several upcoming games the boys will be playing on the 25th against New Fairfield at 6 pm at the University of Bridgeport the volleyball team will have their last home game this Wednesday starting at 3 P.M student the Juniors and seniors are preparing for their PSAT and sat this week and on October 18th we've had our annual trip to UConn to get the student to um learn about colleges and what career path they want to choose um we've also had um help from people from out from outside um to help with the FAFSA this year and a lot of people has taken advantage of that and that'll be all for my report thank you are there
013any others that we missed Jose Marcis what school you're from good afternoon I'm from Fairchild wheeler iot um what's your presentations Josie narcisse Josie okay go ahead Fairchild wheeler I.T yes seniors have been meeting with guidance for college prep and comp um and completion of college applications seniors and juniors have been going to um College representations such as Yukon Wesleyan in New Haven we are having to pick out basketball tournament Friday October 21st um all the money will be funded for breast cancer awareness and we are going on a field trip November 4th to UConn to get a college tour okay thank you there any others you can see that's it okay all right uh public comment first we have Joanne Kennedy I'm sorry Joanne Kennedy are you here am icon yeah and even just
014two items um one is in reference to the letter that I read into um record a couple of weeks ago in reference to the superintendent um I'm not going to read it in full tonight but just wanted to remind you that the entities that are on here want the superintendent to reflect the community so that person needs to understand the community hopefully be from the community um understand the children the parents um that live here and are willing to serve um our children the way they should be served we want them to have the best education of course and we want them to be able to be comfortable with their superintendent and we want the superintendent to be able to be comfortable in the position live here and do what is right and do the
015due diligence for our children and the people that were on this um the entities I just want to read them into record again um it says in power the undersigned Bridgeport working family party where the Bridgeport NAACP Bridgeport NAACP education committee education committee Al Aziz Islamic Center Advocates advocacy for Gap elimination equity and education earnings and environment LLC Dumont Ortiz Connecticut Connecticut 23rd State Senate District make the road make the road um Bridgeport no make the road Connecticut Bridgeport Generation Now Greater Bridgeport egon's black Democratic Club Connecticut working family parties Dr T spelled 132nd Democratic town Committee Member a thousand women strong that being said we just want to remind you of all the items that we did um put in the letter we will resend it again if we have to to remind you
016that we need you to do your due diligence I just also wanted to report to the students mainly that are listening that there is a college prep program here in the City of Bridgeport it's called VIP I actually was a super chaperone along with my daughter um this weekend going to um Temple University Morgan State Howard University um Georgetown and the like for homecoming and we visited all those schools we had somewhere self-guided tours some were guided towards by students that we already have there so that is something that students parents would like to look into let me know we will definitely have the information for you next Board of Education meeting Yes Albert I will give it to you and other parents and students that are interested I think it was an amazing trip
017and the students were very well behaved we took four buses load four bus loads three high school buses and then sixth to 8th grade and a lot of parents came also so we had a wonderful time thank you thank you Dasha Dasha spell good evening Bridgeport parent um I'm actually here today in regards to a couple of things so a friendly reminder not too long ago I stood here and asked if facilities could address and review in regards to the safety of our children when it comes to active shooter bomb threats anything that has to do with harm within the buildings across the board that still has not happened and as a parent it's very very very very nerve-wracking stressful when you get a text message email stating that there was a threat at the
018high school I'm getting my daughter prepared to go to high school I know that we can't have safety all the time I understand that but there needs to be a plan in place that is communicated to the parents we need to know how do you plan on keeping our kids safe when they're in the buildings and the ironic thing is is that you have health and safety committee now the last time we were here there was the question who would actually cheer this board and it was it was interesting to me because no one wanted to cheer to board part of the role of the board of education is to have meetings I I'm still trying to look for the actual policy where it says do you have meetings once a month once every three
019months once every six months because there's certain committees that don't meet facilities is one of them and that's my baby because you know what basic high school is my baby I'm an Alum and I want to know what's going on with the school so with that in mind I'm asking you as a parent as someone in the community as someone who comes to these meetings on consistent basis can we have these committee meetings on a regular basis can you give us policy or a form that says how many times you're supposed to meet because I would like to attend but they're always canceled or never scheduled thank you okay I had a Batista good evening I am I am here today to express the Bea's concern and frankly before we explain who these folks are
020who are with you but put their names for the record you're together as a group oh you want all the names yeah okay take the timer off though okay thank you my name is Emily Peroni I'm a teacher at Tisdale school okay Lindsay Cavalier teacher at Central High School okay Jody burnberg teacher at Tisdale School Century gamble school psychologist thank you and I was only fooling about the time um so good evening I am Anna Batista Bridgeport Education Association proud president and I am here today we are here today because we are disappointed with being completely excluded from the search and selection process for an interim superintendent as the largest labor union in the Bridgeport School District and as the representatives of the nearly 1500 individuals who work directly with our students every day our
021perspective on the qualities necessary in a superintendent must be viewed as unique and essential moreover as I believe you know during my two year plus as be a president we have worked hard to achieve and maintain a highly productive Cooperative collegial relationship with the superintendent and Central Administration a relationship which I hope we all agree has been beneficial to the board the instructional staff and importantly to our students while the interim will lead to school system for perhaps only a few months this time is critically important to an over stressed school district and an exhausted student and staff population we are only recently emerged from the covet pandemic and students and staff continue to deal with the emotional physical social and academic tolls of that pandemic every day the district has been experiencing an almost
022unprecedented Exodus of staff and before this year is over the board and the Bea will begin preparations for contract negotiation it is imperative that the next leader even a short-term interim leader have the qualities necessary to maintain stability and continue to move this District forward the next leader must respect the staff and and must in turn have the respect and confidence we need a leader with the demonstrated experience to step in and guide the district effectively immediately we need an interim who will make Recruitment and Retention of Staff a top priority and who views the maintenance of a respectful collegial culture Paramount it is critically important that the board be collaborative and transparent in this process that you ask for input from your largest Union Bea members are among the finest most experienced Educators in
023the state of Connecticut they deserve to be included in the selection process for their next leader yet with superintendent testani leaving in one week those fine Educators have no idea who will be leading them come November 1st so much is expected of them and they deliver on those expectations every single day tell them show them that you recognize that and appreciate that include us in this critical important process and let us help in the selection of our new of our next leader Sean Weldon thank you for celebrating our Latino culture at our second annual celebration we appreciate it and ultimate Ultra Dixon also and we are Bridgeport strong and we know we will get through this thank you it's public comment Spence with the Chairman's report move on to committee reports and referrals uh district-wide
024branding Mrs Brown uh we have not met yet uh Mr chair but we look forward to having a meeting in November contracts committee has not met since the last board meeting are there any referrals Beyond those already been made educational diversity equity and inclusion I will connect with our members after this meeting today and pick a date for hopefully next week facilities did not meet since the last board meeting are there any referrals here at no refill but uh do you have a date you know around what we can meet because I don't want things you know in 2022 is living it with a media thank you I will say sometime next week I don't know who else is meeting next week I don't want a conflict but I it seems like this week is
025kind of chock full in other meetings so based on what's available next week we'll meet next week all right thank you Finance finance committee has not met an interim one of the items that we're going to discuss today will be on the agenda um the next meeting is scheduled for November 15 2022. governance has not met since the last board meeting are there any referrals for governance okay health and safety that committee still needs to find a chairperson to get it I will be the chair of that committee okay I would like to be part of that committee to what I mean about this day but I already expressed my interest okay okay let the record reflect that Christine Baptiste Perez is the chair of the health and safety committee and Albert bennahan and Joe
026Lombard will be the members Personnel did not meet since the last meeting any referrals to personnel students and families Sophie and family was supposed to meet at October 20 but we have some difficult issue person I don't have the time to send the agenda and it's not fair to last moment it's an agenda to the main office okay but I really emailed my committee please your aim is round to see when we commit uh maybe then this month's not going to be so I'm going to book one in for the next month so we're going to do more prepare I believe maybe for November 17 because I know we're going to be soon vacation and we can meet so that's to fall forward I have every Thursday is going to be in Central High School
027at 6 30 PM okay thank you any referrals teaching and learning has not met an interim but we will be having a meeting this Wednesday October 26th at 6 30 pm at basic high school meet this year before after we got to add in my student family that I'd like to recognize that up really school and September 30 they have amazing open house with the parents the pack did amazing job the principal was a phenomenal hard to welcome they have more of 100 parents there and also I'd like to recognize that um dominican.com location here in Bridgeport they open a big Center here in Bridgeport 1021 Bridgeport a main street and everybody my parents they're very welcome they have to learn a lot of programs so they open for principal School medium is Bautista we
028went there they did an amazing job so you want to let them know that the president is Miss uh Ramona antini and um one of those co-workers Jonathan Soto their work on all kinds of responsible thank you very nice okay we already did teaching and learning so now we're on to superintendent's report just one item I like to just um mention that on Saturday we held at Central High School um our first stem Fest in collaboration with 21st century Ed and stem Nola I want to thank Dr Morgan for spearheading this uh this work in the district many staff members teachers and others who donated their time and volunteered it was over 60 stations for parents and children to experience stem um it was it was an incredible day um everyone who came out including
029the parents had a great time I think we had probably over 150 families show up um again volunteers from Sacred Heart University and especially from our teaching staff was Paramount but thank you to Dr Morgan and all the folks who came out thank you Mr weldman for participating and uh actually making a contribution from your own family history so thank you and I was able to ride on a homemade hovercraft there's video all right any questions from Mr testani can you please clarify the comment of what I heard from public comment that your last week is next week you're taking some vacation time how much vacation time two weeks and when did anyone aside from notice today from the board find out about this so it could have been taken into consideration for planning for
030the interim I notified the board chair as I always do when there's time off provided a lead for the time off with his deputy which is typical how far in advance is that because we have to make a decision regarding the interim well he's on our payroll until November 23rd he's allowed to take a day or a week off as long as he provides a lead in his absence and he's done that what we do with an interim that's a whole separate thing and if we hire one in the meantime that person takes over the role of the superintendency you know that's yeah another subject come up um not the pension well two pinch pennies have we prorated your vacation time to the time remaining in your contract properly excuse me because you're entitled four
031to four weeks for the entire year and your whole allotment should be awesome less than two weeks I had some vacation carry over per the contract as well so when did we I don't recall approving a week of carryover foreign if you want to get into greater detail about this you can do that separately he's taking some vacation tonight it's not about carryover it's about what he's got available to him and he's using it [Music] is the chair yeah I just want to know this is anyone you say um I'd like to read I will report to the chair Mr John wendon it will be more transparency that you have a good at least a few days you're going to be with us have a good communication with the board because I know he's the
032chair of the modification what we are a team we would like to know you know exactly you know um I know you want to talk to the board and that sorry to the chair and the chair will you know send the information but it will be nice coming from you as a professional letting know us aboard the team that we are nine board members you know when you're exactly you're going to leave or you want to take vacation I would appreciate that if you can do that please sure you have a more than capable deputy superintendo there's no old business to conduct so the main event is discussion and possible approval of the 22-23 operating budget appropriation and budget Gap plan this is Marlene Siegel we present this is she online okay are you presenting
033a PowerPoint or anything uh yes not yet not yet but we're going to relocate ourselves so that we can see the screen foreign are you able to see the document not yet according to my screen it is being shared I think we need assistance from the technology department yeah he's working on it he's working on it thank you give us one moment thank you okay we can see it now okay so good evening everyone uh this is Marlene Siegel the Chief Financial Officer uh the topic this evening is the uh 2223 operating budget and the 2223 uh budget Gap plan I provided a document uh to the board in advance of the meeting the document on the screen has two tabs and the first tab uh indicates the 2223 operating budget so I'm going to
034take just a few minutes to explain the components of the operating budget the 2223 operating budget has a city component known as the city share and that is 73 million 040631 now that is up by 2 million dollars compared to the prior year so the city contributed two million dollars to the operating budget the state added to our alliance Grant fifteen thousand four hundred thirty four dollars this of course was extremely disappointing and extremely low we had expected an increase of anywhere between a million and 2 million uh we were anticipating approximately 1.5 million in our plans unfortunately the state increase was only fifteen thousand four three four and so the state Alliance Grant is 24 million seven six four five three one and the basic state ECS Grant which has not changed and has
035remained stable over the years is 164 million one nine five three four four our total operating budget composed of the city share and the state share is 262 million 506. and you can see on the screen that this represents a 0.78 percent increase compared to the prior year it's not even one percent the bottom chart indicates the historical record going back to 2014 uh 18 uh 1415 and um indicates that uh budget uh over uh I believe it's eight years has increased by on average 1.12 percent per year uh that is extremely low and the bottom trots illustrate the budget components in a bar graph as well as the state and city percentages and going back up to the top the city component is 27.9 percent and the uh ECS total or state share is
03672.1 percent going to move on now to the Gap plan the budget Gap at this time is projected at 18.5 million dollars this is higher than the amount I discussed with the finance committee uh we have been engaged in our uh first formal fiscal uh forecasting process which ends October 31st next Monday and so I will be completing the first fiscal forecast by then and uh posting it next week so the projected Gap is 18.5 million now we close the gap in the following way first we take into account revenue and uh savings for state revenue um I just indicated in the other tab that we received 15 000 434. and the city Revenue was an additional uh 2 million for those of you who were here last year you'll recall that we asked the
037city for eight million dollars in order to cover the cost of collective bargaining and the increase in the non-certified pension rate uh as as well as the increase in health insurance and other factors now we did a benefit from an increase in some grants in particular federal and state bilingual grants which increased by 325 400 dollars and our idea Grant which pertains to special education uh increased by a hundred eight thousand eight fifty four and our title for a uh Grant increased by 82 553 dollars however concurrently there was a decline in funding in the state priority Grant um and in uh title 2A title 2A is grant that pertains to staff Recruitment and professional development with a strong emphasis of course on teachers now I've included in the Gap plan the potential and I'm
038emphasizing potential this means it may not occur potential for Savings in the special ed excess cost Grant which pertains to the out of District of students uh because the legislature um last spring included a provision that contains a measure of town wealth in determining the um reimbursement percentage when the state appropriation does not meet the amount of Grants payable so we don't know yet whether or not this provision will be applicable in in the current year um however there is the potential that it will benefit Bridgeport considering the number of out of District placements um if it does not happen then and there are no other mitigating factors then the gap of course would increase and we would have to cover that the additional amount now we're also utilizing uh Grant uh Revenue uh in
039title one which is remaining relatively stable in uh 2223 we will once again as we did last year uh apply one million dollars uh to Title One eligible expenditures in our strategic plan examples would be special education Resource Services or services for English language learners as well as curriculum renewal and we will continue to apply our resources in the Esser grants to meet supplemental needs in accordance with our approved Esser plans for example classroom Furniture so instead of utilizing resources that we would traditionally utilize for that purpose we are able to utilize the Esser grants thereby conserving operating resources we're also using Esther funds for increased special education and English language learner Services as well as technology and curriculum renewal now we are projecting that we may achieve the savings of up to three and
040a half million it could be lower due to our standard practices related to deficit prevention and though that means position control procurement control and internal controls and this enables us to capture the savings when there are unfilled vacancies uh covered by substitute staff because when a position is covered by a sub uh health insurance is in paid so that's one example of savings that are accrued now of course the goal is to fill vacancies in particular teacher vacancies and we certainly want our vacancies to be filled by certified teachers so I the entire District team is focused on filling uh positions um however in light of the continuing labor shortage uh it is prudent to project that we will achieve uh savings now we may not achieve three and a half million uh this year
041it could be lower uh but at this point we're building in three and a half million and we close the gap finally with um withdrawing the remaining funds from the savings on reserve in the internal service fund and so the internal service fund uh has had on um on deposit prior to the 2122 close um approximately 20.7 million dollars in three components uh the pre uh fiscal year 19 Surplus which was prior to the Connecticut uh partnership that's a two million dollars which we're striving to to hold um because we always need to have a reserve in the internal service fund to respond to contingencies um the second component was the 1920 surplus of six and a half million and the third component um was the 2021 surplus of 12.1 million and so um in
042the Gap plan um in order we would need nine million dollars nine million dollars and we would uh utilize six and a half from the 1920 Surplus and two and a half million from the 2021 Surplus I want to emphasize this as a projection um the actual amount may be higher uh it could be lower um but at this point in the year considering all the factors that I've analyzed um I'm projecting that it will be in the range of of 9 million and could potentially go higher now I want to provide a summary of the internal service fund because I just reviewed the funds that were on deposit prior to the close of 21 22. so at the close of 21-22 we actually were able to end the year with a surplus however during
043the course of 2122 we withdrew one and a half million dollars from the ISF to help balance the budget uh it was believed based on the data in the forecasting process mid-year in 2122 that we could potentially need one and a half million to balance the budget and so we had withdrawn one and a half million with that one and a half million in the budget we had a surplus of four million one four six one eight eight when we take into account the one and a half million that we had withdrawn the net Surplus that we added back into the ISF um was two million six four six one eight eight so to the original uh 20.7 we added net 2.6 million so that was an excellent outcome and as I've just indicated we
044are not projecting at this time a surplus for 2223 on the contrary we are projecting a deficit and it's it's a rather High number of um a number in the range of 9 million now food and nutrition services so the food nutrition services is a separate budget it is funded solely by state and federal um uh Grant uh funding based on claims for meals uh served and that budget had a surplus and that Surplus was approximately 6.4 million however as I have indicated in the past um the district makes a contribution to the ISF at the start of every fiscal year in July for the health insurance cost associated with retirees the um the internal service fund is the conduit for paying health insurance premiums for both active and active employees and retired employees and
045retired employees of course have a premium course year which is paid collected and deposited into the ISF but the employer share is not automatically deducted from a payroll because the the retirees are retired they're not on any payroll and so we have to make that contribution it's set up in an account in the operating budget and it's transferred into the iso now that contribution covers all retirees including food and nutrition at the end of the fiscal year based on the budget planning that we do with the food Nutrition department we move into the ISF surplus funds from the food nutrition budget assuming that we were able to end the year in in Surplus we try to plan for that the best of our ability uh we uh at the close we move funds into the
046ISF to pay for the food nutrition retirees which in effect reimburses the board of education for the funds that we already paid so um I'm deducting from the 6.4 million uh 1 million 250 000 to pay for the retirees and have a small uh contingency Fund in the event of excess costs for workers compensation which is also paid through the internal service fund so that leaves a balance of 5 million one seven oh five nine seven um in the food and nutrition account so that is um the amount that uh at the end of the fiscal year when we closed on August 31st and uh were able to have the city move the funds into our ISF that is the amount that we attract in our accounting records as available to food and nutrition next
047in 2122 we allocated as part of the 2122 food nutrition budget a million dollars for Nutrition Center equipment there were a need there were needs identified involving replacement of critical equipment such as Refrigeration equipment at the nutrition center and while orders were placed last year they could not be fulfilled due to supply chain issues and so um starting in July of 22 in the 2223 budget I allocated in that in that budget a million dollars so that the department could start ordering the equipment and once we close the 2122 budget um by September 1st we were then able um in in October to have the city move a million dollars uh into the 2223 budget from the ISF as a credit so that has been done and in addition um our new director of food
048nutrition identified needs in school cafeterias for serving equipment and other types of equipment to keep food at proper temperatures um and so we moved another million dollars out of the food and nutrition component of the ISF into the 2223 budget therefore at this time in the ISF we are tracking three million one hundred seventy thousand five hundred ninety seven dollars that is on deposit specifically for food and nutrition services and those funds can only be used for the food and nutrition program and we will strictly enforce this restriction in order to comply with the regulations governing the use of federal and state nutrition funds and so in summary on the bottom section in in blue summarizes uh the status of the Board of Education ISF excluding food and nutrition and so we added to our
049Reserves um three million eight nine six one eight eight so just to refresh your memory that included the net surplus of two million six four six one eight eight plus the funds from the food and nutrition balance at the end of the fiscal year that were owed to the board of ed for the um employer share of the health insurance for the retirees and um a contingency reserve for potential excess cost in workers compensation so that's the those are the components of the three almost 3.9 million dollars now the prior balance that I spoke of earlier 20.7 million that consists of the pre-fiscal year 19 Surplus the 1920 savings and the 2021 savings and now we have a third component so this is a new component that I haven't spoken about uh in this session
050yet and we discovered when we um reviewed the final status of the internal service Fund in terms of uh inflow and outflow for all the components of that fund uh basically health insurance payments Health premiums and um uh workers compensation that there was a three million dollar Surplus achieved in the prior year um interestingly both the city in their account and the Board of Ed in our account um realized a surplus now this is a very unusual event it has never happened in my experience um it was certainly welcome um it is not a Prelude to the Future it does not mean that uh 2223 will be another year in which uh there will be what I'm calling an internal Surplus in the ISF um perhaps there will be another Surplus but but no one
051can predict that at this time um nevertheless we are pleased that we're able to uh utilize um an additional three million dollars as part of the Board of Ed uh available uh funds in the ISF and so the final total um end of year 2122 as of the close on September 1 was 27 million seven three seven five oh six now the current projection or a withdrawal to balance is nine million I want to emphasize and re-emphasize and you will hear me say this um all all year that this number can change and most likely will change it will vary over the course of the year as we analyze data and get new uh information and it could increase could it decrease there's a possibility but in light of of multiple factors um which which
052I will explain after I conclude this uh portion of the presentation in light of those multiple factors impacting 2223 um I at this point I'm I'm projecting that the uh deficit or shortfall to be covered through withdrawal from the ISF will be in that range of of 9 million and so um if that were to happen and let's assume for the moment that it stayed at nine it didn't go to ten or ten and a half or 11. um we would then have a balance of uh 18 uh seven now we would anticipate at the end of this year um adding um hopefully 800 to a million dollars from the food nutrition budget again as we attempt to do every year subject to available funds uh into the ISF to cover the cost of the
053retirees so using the data on the screen you know that that 18 7 would go up by a million to nineteen seven um would there be another internal Surplus in the ISF as I indicated a few minutes ago uh that cannot be predicted at this time so we're not going to predict uh an internal Surplus um but but we can predict that using this example that we would have you know 1907 close to 20 20 million dollars now if if the Gap goes goes higher to 10 million or 11 million then obviously the available funds will decline so before I conclude I would just indicate that while it appears to be a large sum 23 24 will be a year in which due to a number of factors the projected monetary need will be significantly
054higher than 18 million or 19 million due to collective bargaining health insurance um most likely another increase in in the uh non-certified uh pension rate um electrical costs are projected to rise uh the transportation contract uh will have a substantial uh increase of approximately a million dollars and so with all of those factors combined um the number will be high I'm not going to discuss the number uh the this evening um but when we present the 2324 budget request you can anticipate a number that will be high and the amount remaining in the internal service fund Maybe that amount may be needed um to to close the gap in 2324 which means that the fiscal cliff could potentially arrive in 24 25 due to the historical underfunded status of the district which means that in
055each year the operating budget has not been adequately funded and the evidence is that on average over the last eight years the average growth has been 1.12 percent with 0.78 percent in the current year so I'm going to stop at this point and ask if there are any questions uh I had a question oh sorry good evening Miss eagle good evening for as long as I've been observing participating as a member of the board you've been holding this District together through the finances we're basically duct tape and glue um we've made Cuts every single year but for the covert years but for the covert funding and I see a lot of the tools are going to be gone come 24 25 school year there's going to be projected probably as realistically maybe a zero to
056maybe a couple million dollars left in internal service fund with a giant giant expenditure coinciding with the exploration of as their funding and all three rounds of asset funding so do you do we have any plan for this looming catastrophe that's coming uh so there are um components to to your question uh number one uh yes Esser funds will end in uh 2024. and um at this time uh without any knowledge of of the federal government planning to um allocate additional funds um we we have to plan for the end of those uh services so starting next year in the fall the district um would need to basically create the Exit Plan um so that the the various positions and the various Services uh would be phased out now there there may be um some
057funding to to a minimal degree I would anticipate uh perhaps in in other grants that could could maintain a um minimal services but certainly we would not have uh the the funding to maintain services amounting to uh 40 million dollars which is the approximate amount that we're spending you know in each year um the second second point is um as I indicated uh there was news this morning and there's an article many articles on uh in in in the uh in the news about the um National report card and it's clear that um students are going to need additional services and additional time to compensate for the loss of achievement that occurred during the pandemic uh period so um again whether or not the the federal government or the state will make additional Appropriations is
058unknown um the final point I would make concerns the operating uh budget and so in a worst case scenario with the end of Esser funding and and all of the wonderful services that we've been able to provide we would return to uh and and without uh potentially uh savings or significant savings remaining in the internal service fund we would have um a a high budget Gap um which is compounded due to years of an underfunded status and um I think in order to address that over the next in order to look ahead to to that eventuality um uh two years approximately two approximately two years I think um it was part of the budget cycle it would be important to Advocate as you do every year um with the state legislature um and to take
059every possible measure to try to um uh also Advocate with with the city uh so that the revenue appropriated in 22 23 24 is at a much higher level than in the past right this is this is uh Bridgeport is the largest city or next the largest city um currently in Connecticut uh we know that our peer districts are generally funded at higher levels and Revenue additional revenue of two million dollars from the city and and 15 million from the state is totally inadequate to meet the needs of our district and and let us also remember that we have a high percentage of students in special education and that number is growing and we have a high percentage of students in the English language learner category which has grown substantially over the last year thank
060you any other questions okay sorry um Miss Siegel you had mentioned at the beginning of this presentation that the state ECS funding um came in at 15 000 434 but that the expectation was that it was going to come in in you know around 1 million to 2 million um my question is to what data we were deferring to and expecting that that funding would come in at one million to 2 million then resulting in in actually 15 000 like that's it's so off you know was there a historical data that we were deferring to there or what what happened um to the best of my recollection um I believe the uh State biennial budget had had specified uh approximately um one and a half million in each of the uh two years uh uh
06121 22 and 22 23. so I believe that was the basis for the original expectation however when the state uh passes a biennial budget um it doesn't mean that they cannot as part of the budget session in year two modified the original plan um I believe that it was modified due to lower enrollment not only in in Bridgeport but in in many districts throughout the state uh it could I believe the entire State as well as other states in the United States um had enrollment loss during the pandemic okay thank you yeah so I think that was a critical Factor the the enrollment decline uh throughout the state and and I also think that um the legislature probably took into account the availability of Esser funding yeah I was going to add the governor's budget
062took into account um large federal dollars that districts received and delayed the increase to ECS allegedly until after the federal dollars were going to expire and we would be made whole at that time but as you know that could change dramatically given political climates yes uh my name is Siegel uh this is Joe Lombard I was just curious about what are the types of things that caused that Surplus that both the city experienced this year and we did that you've never seen before what types of things the three 3.1 million dollars would contribute to that right so um we're speculating that it happened because there was um a lower expense Factor for the retirees and or uh lower costs for workers compensation um I can't comment on the reasons why there would have been lower
063expenses for workers comp um but but that is is a possibility um and in the retiree uh sector you know it's possible that uh the um that the cost factors for the um premium course here uh changed on the basis of the What's called the class of the individual so uh class one is single class two is um married class three which is usually not applicable to most of our retirees would be married with Children and so the premium cost is higher as the class moves from one to two to three so if there was a dramatic shift from class two to one that could have been a factor causing a savings thank you chair Mr van Han yeah I have a question I mean say good this is Mr bennahan how are you good
064how are you thank you for asking I'm going to ask a question and I will go clear and to the point because I know some parents they trying to understand your budget but I will go clear like they want to understand more about your great information I appreciate that but exactly how much money do we exactly we need to be sure the future of our kids we don't do layoff the location of our children be okay because I would not like to hear or we had I know because there's any sense of information about 2023 is going to be a lot of time for us I know we always fight we always argument that we always go to the meetings we always talk to the city council we always talk to the Bridgeport we go
065to the Hartford but um I'm getting tired you know of the board member we get tired parents get tired we always doing this every single year every single year we go through about this but my question for you exactly how much money exactly we need to be sure reasonable is cool be okay at least few years in our staff and then the education for our children be okay I just want to know the amount because I like to be working for now yes for next year meaning 23 24 um I'm I'm still analyzing and making a determination as to the projected monetary need so I don't want to commit to a number tonight but I would indicate that for 23 24 the number is probably going to be in the range of 24 to 26
066million dollars all right missy good thank you very much I appreciate it now now if I may I I just want to take a moment in to um mention some factors because it's related to your question uh some factors that are impacting the 2223 uh budget and will also impact the 2324 budget so first of all we've discussed the increase in the alliance ECS Grant as being only 15 434 dollars not one and a half to two million as in Prior years so that means that we started 2223 at a lower initial resource level than in Prior years to cover our escalated costs so clearly we have to use resources from other fund sources to fill that Gap the second point I would make is that our average teacher salary is increasing Beyond turnover savings
067So currently our average is 76 000 to 2 uh six and we do have almost half of our teachers at the four highest steps steps 13 14 15 and 16. so um the average salary is increasing obviously we want to retain our teachers of course um but why is it increasing beyond the turnover savings particularly in the current year because when we build our vacancies in the current year we employed many experienced teachers to fill those vacancies there aren't many new teachers graduating from college who are entering the workforce for the first time so we're hiring when we have an opening a vacancy we're hiring experienced teachers so our starting salary is higher than uh in the past also Transportation costs are increasing in 2223 by 6.72 percent in year one of the new five-year
068agreement would we transport this was the best percentage that we could negotiate considering the inflationary factors and the labor shortage um and and all of the other post-pandemic or or I should say pandemic related factors uh special education costs are rising again across multiple sectors whether it's out of District services or speech services or occupational therapy or one-to-one power support um in in all of those areas costs are rising and um at our Fairchild wheeler magnet campus um enrollment declined by 30 compared to the prior year the Suburban enrollment declined by 20 compared to the prior year in summary there was a loss of Revenue in the state Magna Grand and in Magna tuition combined of almost three hundred thousand dollars and add to that the escalated costs and we now have a deficit in
069the High School magnet Grant of 1.7 million increased from 1.2 last year so uh we have an additional shortfall compared to last year of half a million dollars and that is due to the loss of the Magna Grant revenue and of course the uh escalated uh costs so those are some of the factors that are impacting the uh 2223 budget and finally looking ahead to 2324 we have to take into account growth in the electricity rates uh fortunately uh Ken flato at the city level was able to negotiate and lock in below Market rates through December 31 2023. so he locked in rates at around 8 cents per kilowatt hour however um looking ahead uh he has alerted us that um he's hopeful they'll be able to have a two-year renewal at 13.3 cents so
070from 8 cents we're likely to have to contend with uh 13.3 so that's more than a 50 percent increase so in 2324 we have to build in an increase in the cost of electricity of about um approximately a million dollars now I will be conferring with George Garcia this week um on his plans to conserve um electricity so there may be measures that are being taken or can be taken to mitigate this negative development from the fiscal perspective but at this point I wanted to share some of the factors that result in in higher costs um for a new fiscal year thank you thank you my secret for information okay anyone else there's Baptiste Perez I I have a comment and it's more from just a common sense perspective thinking of uh parents families and
071keeping it very very simple uh Miss Eagles what you're saying is the deficit sounds and appears to be projected so high that we will not be able to maintain all of our schools being open is is that a simplification of what the budget looks like that we may be now preparing for potential school closures if we don't get the money from the city and state that we need to to balance our budget there is the possibility that for 24.25 the district would not have sufficient operating Revenue to maintain um critical or core uh services and Miss Siegel I know you broke it down with electricity with the 15 increase which is approximately a million dollars uh do you have other facility costs like gas um you already hit electricity gas I'm trying to think of
072other costs like what's the overall facilities increase uh that we're looking into because it's nice that it's itemized with like electricity being 15 percent uh maybe this is actually something I should we should break down for our next uh Finance meeting is like a breakdown of all facility costs and the increase that's being projected uh do you have an overall projection right now for facilities no I do not have uh course factors this evening for uh gas and uh water um and um you know any of the other utility lines but for electricity it's it's 50 percent not 15 it would be a rising according to current information from uh eight cents per kilowatt hour to uh 13.3 and uh that would occur in uh January of 24. now on an annualized basis that would
073be an increase of approximately two million dollars um for for half the year it would be a million dollars and that's why I mentioned a million in 23 24. now there are conservation measures underway and um George Garcia in the facilities Department uh has projects on underway that were approved by the board previously um with uh United Illuminating for the installation of various energy efficient projects it could be energy efficient lighting as an example um so uh he will be briefing me this week on uh those projects the outcomes of those projects and uh his projections for for savings that could mitigate the negative impact of of an increase to some degree may not mitigate the entire impact but it could um be very helpful Misty when is that meeting with Mr Garcia um it's
074it's this week I'm meeting with him uh let me just check uh that is uh Wednesday afternoon okay miss you can you please have a report to present at the next finance committee regarding um utilities cost the outcome of that meeting and projections for the budget yes thank you no further questions sure okay does that conclude your presentation Missy yes yes okay are there any further questions is there a motion to approve the 2223 operating budget appropriation and budget get plan is presented by the CFL somewhere by Mr bennahan is there a second second by Mr Lombard all in favor aye any opposed and he opposed any abstentions abstain I also would like to abstain hey Ms Brown and Miss Castillo staying abstain you're being no further business is there a motion to adjourn Ed
075by Mr bennahan second by Miss Castillo all in favor aye opposed any abstentions time is known as 7 57 p.m thank you