001call the Board of Education Finance Committee to order a mr. Jin ski roll call mr. Gribble here miss Helen here miss ham here Cheryl you have a quorum excellent all rise for the Pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag until Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay so mr. solo and I'll I'll ask for your suggestion on this we have a public comment first I'm thinking we should waive public comment until after we get through or are there questions before we begin mr. group oh I don't have any questions at the moment okay great so then I guess we'll move on to agenda number two or I guess three which is a discussion of the 2019-20 budget and future 2021 considerations I guess mr. solo
002mr. Massie ah no I'll leave it to you yeah thank you at this point I'm going to present it screen and walk everybody through a quick slideshow and certainly you know plenty of time to ask questions at the end can everybody see that okay yes yes Thanks so again if you'd like on the bottom right-hand side if you click the three dots and you have screen sharing settings there are screen settings you can select spotlight in the it will enlarge the PowerPoint for the folks that are participating in the music in the meeting so this is an overview of our finances obviously the co vid pandemic has certainly shifted what we're doing and I wanted to provide a little bit of a historical context as we've talked a little bit about before for centuries we've
003been brick-and-mortar face-to-face instruction and for really the last six weeks we've absolutely changed all of that and it was really we were away from instruction for two days so we really turned quickly around to provide adequate technology to all of our students and staff who needed it and the families we have had a devise and instructional framework or frameworks to adequately provide remote learning for all of our students and we're continuing to evolve evolve in those areas certainly a lot of professional development navigating the legal and privacy considerations as well and and certainly address the anxiety that comes along with engaging in remote learning for all parties involved so and that's a monumental shift over the course of six weeks and while we're not perfect they think we've done pretty well I wanted to give
004this context as well because as we talk about finances I just wanted to you know we share that organizationally we are very lean in what we do we are beyond efficient to be you know third from the bottom in the dirt in terms of our per pupil spending so what you see there is total budget and the first column after the district name the second column is total number of students and the third column is amount spent per pupil so you know we're pretty efficient organization if that's where we are in spending and we're fifth overall in Connecticut in terms of our three through 8's back performance so we're getting a lot of bang for the buck future orientation is we start to think about the rest of this year in the beginning of next
005year there are two key there's like a fork in the road if you will and the one consideration is we provide for return to in-person schooling this August if not I don't think that's a great likelihood that we return sooner than August it's a possibility and that that'll be part of the conversation tonight so what would school look like in August I think we can assume that there will be efforts made for social distancing or protections ppes at the school setting if possible I that would not be shocked to see that that we're gonna have to revisit general and high-traffic sanitation relative to our past practices and the instructional design to support assessment and remediation so you know our students have missed you know some significant schooling if we're out through the remainder of the
006year there's certainly not the same depth and breadth that maybe that would be in place if we were in school and then the therapeutic supports to support some students that may struggle very much with that transition after being out of school for several you know almost half a year really March to August five months so considerations if we are to continue remote learning this August so I know nobody and I sure as heck don't want to even it pains me to say it but if we're doing remote learning again in the fall there will certainly be implications from a financial and logistical perspective to that so the fiscal considerations as we enter into tonight's conversation our board budget for next year is a 2.15 roughly million dollar increase over this year's budget there has been
007a projected a slight revenue increase for 2021 and in light of all this the board has been asked to consider any possible reductions that were retained and overall flat mill rate for Cheshire in 2021 so given the increase in revenue we don't have to go 0 we don't have to cut one point or two point one five million but if we were to accomplish a flat mill rate what would be expected of the board be roughly a 1.8 million dollar reduction in our budget to achieve a flat mill rate and this is accomplished through a combination of 1920 savings which we could carry in the carryover account address address some of that 1.8 million as well as potential 2021 reductions I want to just be clear that a conversation that we had had is a
008you know mr. Peres Jeanie mr. Griffo several you know administrative folks myself mr. Massey Anna mr. Kimball a couple of members of the town council there wasn't a directive that you will cut 1.8 million that wasn't the case it was what can we do to to get as flat as possible and I'm sure both bodies because the the Town Council has to look at the town budget they would need to come down about 900,000 so that's that's the charge if you welcome anticipated Cove in 19 save from this current fiscal year come through a myriad of places really substitute teachers over time transportation is a major area spring sports not having costs related to spring sports trash and utilities those are the marquee savings points and I'll get into some of the detail momentarily but
009so the total anticipated covin only savings is six hundred and fifty six thousand four seventy seven now unfortunately kovat comes with some costs to and if over the summer there's any loosening of restrictions public health restrictions we would need to engage in a significant amount of services and supports for students who needed them whether they be special at or otherwise or some enhanced but limited curriculum work that we anticipate costing two hundred thousand dollars the vast majority of which is support services so the net covin savings there is four hundred and fifty six 477 now the you see the asterisk these are only calculated if we were to return on june 1st if we don't return on June 1st and we're out for the remainder of the year we're talking about over five hundred thousand
010dollars probably you know solid fifty thousand dollars in addition which would be particularly around transportation but you know it's not you're not going to double this unfortunately so what we did was look at additional potential reductions in the 1920 budget where could we make significant cuts and you know resources this year to apply toward next year to get us closer to that 1.8 so we worked with our administrative team and identified some of these areas that would create roughly four hundred and ninety one thousand dollars in savings we have the reduced instructional supplies not hiring a security manager reduce the maintenance and repair accounts and as I said that gets us closely close to $500,000 so the detail I'm just gonna give a quick check in make sure everybody can still hear me everything's ok
011and you can see the screen I yes thank you so the detail of savings here what you'll see is the line items are to the left and as you head to the right you can see in blue the remote learning strategy impact the estimated impact of as of 420 assuming we resume by 6 1 so it's actually been updated since 420 but it was updated as recently as today actually so assuming we resume by 6 1 and then additional spending adjustments that maybe reductions that we have in these lines and then you see the total budget reduction at the far right so this will provide you detail Jeff while you're scrolling we'll just want to add a couple points for the board members the basis for this particular analysis is the actual expenditures through March
01231st of 2020 obviously we have almost the full month of April has elapsed so when I pull the next monthly budget report it will be through April 30th 2020 and that will give me some important insight you know half of March was normal operations and half was when we went remote learning and remote work mode all of the April payrolls we were in remote mode so I'll be able to you know get a much more refined analysis and do better projections you know so next to this report it'll be actuals as of April 30th 2020 and then I'll look at these projections again and it might affect column that's got the purple on the top that's the additional spending adjustment so the picture you know actually in my opinion the picture may get a little
013bit better with those spending adjustments that we could make but I will know you know much more by next week then would you mind sending board this document sure I know I'm sharing it you know trying to share it at a pace where you can digest it and kind of get a sense of it but I think it's helpful to have it in front of you as well again it's been said you know these are not cast in concrete but they are a pretty good estimation of the the overall savings so what you see in that on this final page at the bottom of the general fund account to the far right you see you know 656 477 and in kovin savings 491 to 83 in reductions and then for an overall one point you
014know one five million in reductions for this year which could be applied toward the 1.8 but again we're looking at a $200,000 reduction or for you know summer work and again it's it's difficult because so much of this is predicated on what happens with our directives from the state of the health you know district and everybody else the state epidemiologist so I think what we're trying to put together is a better picture of what the options are and what potential you know ramifications so reduction savings overview totals this kind of just walks through the the various line items that you're used to seeing those budget categories and where those reductions fall place where you're not seeing reductions in terms of savings is in that employee benefits line this is probably a good place to pause
015for a second if anybody has any questions I can open back up to the I'm sharing my screen for a second hi Jeff I guess I haven't I didn't see comments from anyone else yet so I guess I'll begin oh okay I think as a couple all right so the e the number your beginning number of the was two point one four six million if I recall as far as that was the that was the change in budget from last year through this current year to the 2021 budget year okay I'm out for next year because I could have sworn that we approved an increase of 1.9 million is that am i off on that because I could have sworn that's that's what it was there was still two point nine three percent but I
016thought it was one point nine million I I think it was two point nine was the superintendent's request and we reduced it to about two point one adder so that you think it was that high I don't think we we went over two million but the two million 146 is the approved port of ed budget increase okay all right maybe faint that have a better idea and so um you know Allah I'll let everyone else selves questions go and then I'll I'll follow up after so let's see who do we have here okay faith you're up go ahead okay it is showing a change of two point one four million in our two point nine three and I don't have the old budget in front of me or so but that's what's on there just
017a couple of points with the maintenance I think you were showing a ninety five thousand dollar decrease from our savings and maintenance just to be sure that was for the for the building itself and then I don't recall a couple minutes ago the equipment are we we're confident that the the structure of the building sounds the integrity of the building is sound we don't have anything ninety-five okay we're good yeah and you know nobody can guarantee any building you know God knows anything could happen you're struck by lightning but the the buildings are safe they're secure what that that does is just allow us to update some of the facility needs whether they you know repairs around the building stuff like that it comforts cosmetic but right now we don't have the same demand on
018toilets and doors then things that break that we may you know we don't have people opening door handles God knows we may not have people touching door handles but the at this point I think we can safely say ninety five thousand dollars would be an appropriate reduction in that maintenance lack the other line that you are asking about is a twenty thousand dollar reduction and the maintenance and repair of equipment but again you know I think we're safe in making that determination given the fact that the there's much obviously less wear and tear on equipment now than their husband okay alright and then I'm so good and then with regard to the certified salaries I guess I'm I would have thought that the contract would have guaranteed those teachers so explain that one to me
019I mean how do you get the savings that comes out of that line is not necessarily generated from not paying teachers it's oftentimes you know this year in particular we had a number of pregnancies so women who were out for extended periods not collecting their salary and we were paying a sub at a lower rate okay I had a few more than anticipated retirements going into this year which you know if you have a few additional retirements and you hire somebody significantly lower on the pay scale that that's you know and it's a single person you talk about fifty sixty thousand dollar pickups periodically I couldn't I would never guarantee that it would be irresponsible but we had a few this year which really added now typically we do have some of that and we
020offset substitute costs but we're not going to have subs for 12 weeks so that's where you're seeing greater savings in the the teacher line item okay and so just one file apes' what impact has this had on retirements have you heard of more than what we've anticipated no no as a matter of fact I think it's been quieter actually well there's not a lot of talk of it right now but that's not wildly atypical at this time of year either you get kind of your early birds which I think we have you know for right now we budgeted three and then you're gonna get people come by June 1 who are like alright thank you sure and should I continue honor Adam you you okay yeah yeah go ahead we'll come back round let's captain
021did you have anything or your good okay all right go ahead Jeff okay so here's where we were so the anticipated net impact if we couple the koban savings the reductions that I just outlined the next item is cares act money now the federal government released money for education to all 50 states Connecticut's you know cut of that was a hundred and eleven a million I think it was and then they doled out their share to local municipalities by how much money they they receive in title one grant money and they said that local districts will receive eighty three percent of their title one a location which I believe is ours a 123 thousand dollars but it's oh the cares act money comes in and a hundred thousand dollars roughly now there are some key
022indicators that you need to be aware out there you that I was concerned that there were it would have books attached to it but it really doesn't typically they say you can only supplement you can't supplant your your services with this money you have to go above and beyond here they're saying you can you can use it in lieu of local money here they also are allowing us to use it any building which is also different than typical we only use it at Darcy so there's a hundred thousand dollars that we you know weren't necessarily counting on but could certainly use kovat impact costs as I mentioned two hundred thousand dollars the twenty twenty one budget issues that's a to be determined will take you know take a look at that so the overall net
023at this point is 1 million forty seven thousand one twenty eight so the twenty twenty one budget implications and options obviously any reduction we make here represents a sacrifice in programming our services that reflect the current circumstances I know that nobody on our board I mean if we wanted to make further reductions we would have done this months ago back in January so there's nothing on this list that people are gonna look at and go oh that's a great idea maybe there's you know some low cuts that aren't gonna hurt to the same degree others will but obviously nobody here wants to do any of these things so I also want to be clear that this list reflects the understanding that we return in the fall if we don't return in the fall we're gonna
024realize other savings such as transportation or potential staffing implications or there could be a myriad of other fact that will play into the fall our maintenance you know things like that so this is if we returned to school in the fall and what you'll see is the account number the item that you know we're looking at the reduction amount or revenue increase depending on the item and then they try to categorize the impact it has on our students there is a lot to digest here and I will you know certainly share this presentation with you as soon as you've done so that you can have a minute to flip back and and look at some of these things but I know this is a page that will probably generate a lot of questions and discussions
025so I can stop here if people have questions just that's quick which is I was actually asked this question before so it looks like in our initial budget that we had approved that we were including the three new special education positions and it looks like all three of those positions are on this list this is would that be a correct understanding yes you know two of those positions were half-time so you know we we have yeah there's a again no easy way to slice it the highs here these I wouldn't I think it's really hard to go there particularly with special ed but these are additions that we have and those were additions to this year's budget and I just put it on there be this this total by the way far exceeds $800,000 so
026it was it's this isn't something where you'd have to say oh yeah we're gonna have to take all of this so I just wanted the full range to be visible the ones that are high are certainly they come at a high cost Catherine you had a comment okay can you hear me yeah oh okay so I see that we have two items you know that would generate income and the impact would be low but I guess my question is whether we should even think about that kind of thing if the town is so focused on keeping the mill rate flat and not increasing costs for you know the community so I just I I would just take those two things up list I hate to you know I hate to say your beer question I
027don't know if I'm the town side to be honest if they've looked at fee increases like cool use or anything like that or dog licenses I I'm not sure but you know certainly with your guys direction I'm happy that you know cut any of these items off the list or add anything if you think it's critical Tony you had a comment I'm just gonna say what Catherine beat me to it it's a good point yeah I think if if you know the town is trying to lessen the impact on residents you know what scope it's doing to the economy yeah you know yeah we don't a clear picture yet but you know for now it's just it's not a good picture I have a hard time increasing fees you know for our students so I
028don't think I would support that - assuming everything does go back to normal by August I don't I don't know well but I kind of questioned if we will actually see a full this full $30,000 from easily the forest activity which might be still intact that come to fall and I fully up and running for fall sports and we're just works now it's hard to tell it's gonna happen between now and then but I went for my eggs in this back at least two this basket slow speak know my opinion but drum in and I in it so you said that this total is more is more rain in hundred thousand dollars so it's not so the total so the end of this total after that but the is 1 1 million 82,000 4:16 so
029the special education I guess you thought occurs gonna have there to is with the months have been shut down at school even resumes the impact that's having our special ed kids plus the remediation or threat though for that to get them back up to speed or in this summer right imagine it might be increased support for special that get in the back into yeah look at the other thing that I the reason I I think the class size issue is higher than it typically would be I mean nobody likes the idea that their kids are put in larger classes right but I think what I guess heightens the concern now is the social distancing piece that's a factor that we never had to deal with before that I think you know that that reduced class
030size issue may become more more paramount issue for parents in our community under these circumstances so the special ed absolutely agree the the class sizes very unique concerns to this year and I agree you know and so the activity fees as well I mean certainly I can remove those off this list no I just make an observation at the end of day it's swetha comes down a whole budget prop but I know it's not easy putting this together but thank you for the detail that I said more when I get good the spreadsheet later thank you sure next Anna faith you have a question your muted sorry Thanks with the last bunch of process that you know I think the way at least I went about cutting it was probably the not the most astute
031way to do it but listening the conversation and I agree with Katherine I agree with Toni you know we certainly don't want to raise fees and we certainly don't want to pull for a special ed but we've just pulled a lot of money immediately out of the gate off this list so Jeff how should we go about looking at this I mean what do you what do you recommend I mean because I mean reduce textbook and software purchases and instructional supplies what we're of all of this right they feel it least well it's definitely in the areas that are identified as low yeah well the activity fees and stuff I mean I think we looked at that as more of a user fee but I also agree that you know it's it's tenuous to bank
032on those because you don't know what the future holds the three additional retirements as I said we we have one the likelihood that we get two more I don't think that's it's a bit of a gamble but I don't think it's a huge gamble I think we could we'll probably end up with six at the end of the day the school security manager is a position that we have not had I think we all agree like there's nothing on this list that you look at and go well that stupid you know let's just go with that outside of the three retirements you know there's everything here there's an impact so but the school security manager position is something we've done without we rely heavily on community service and support for that it's it's it's something
033that's there's going to be an impact I think we could survive a year without it and if things change dramatically maybe we look at something next next spring the hall monitor entry nan traps situation at Norton and Chapman that again that's gonna hurt too because we you know now you're losing a lot of efficiency in the office for people to be able to to work the doors and the man traps that provided that monies and like you know it's already in the capital budget we're already executing on those things that there would be an impact there everything listed in the yellow is stuff that represents a step backward and when I think about you know reducing staff professional development in a period where we're dealing with unprecedented educational challenges I feel like an imbecile even
034put it on there but the reality is I started at the beginning by sharing that we're a super lean organization you know that there you can't go around the treasure of public schools and find 50 grand and the seat cushions it just doesn't work that way so everything that is on here has a value the board the school system educational leaders all decided it was worth the value the challenges against the current times that's you know where we have to continue to monitor and and assess that now does the council say I you know the board doesn't want to reduce any of these items and as the council's support that knowing we've come up with you know 1.1 roughly already maybe that's the case but if if you absolutely have to you start with the
035three additional retirements and then I think you probably work more into the yellow area for some combination to get to whatever the magic number is and then ultimately you may have to go into the orange and hopefully not the pink Jeff I've several questions sure related to account number 113 which apparently positional so beginning with class size increases is that a way of saying staff reduction yeah what's that that looks to be three positions within those two line items right there Elementary and half team yeah the half team is at the middle school I apologize for not providing greater detail there and the high school would also be a class size increase somewhere one position at the high school okay and then eliminate elementary WLI Spanish okay so excuse my ignorance is that was that
036fifth grade or sixth grade for that one was that uh sixth grade okay and so the retirements that you have so we we had budgeted for three you're saying we have the Wow so we're at four right now yeah and does that include the and we was in the hood was that not official or does that I was like oh crap did I just say something I shouldn't have you're okay is there on the administrative salary schedule the difference between the first step and the top step is not anywhere near as broad as it is on the teacher salary schedule okay don't realize the same savings with the administrative retirement that you do with teacher retirement right and so I'm so were we going to fill her position or where we gonna have like an
037existing assistant or an existing principal cover is that a potential for a year or something like that yeah we've spent a lot of time tracie huh see myself in Marlene Solano have spent a lot of time evaluating that because it's oh it really is this question you have to look into at the time you know the times the challenge there is that as you know it Darcy school we have it ranges from birth through kindergarten the skill set in the needs of that population are incredibly unique developmentally these are the students through who many of whom have the most significant challenges in our entire school system and their families have very unique needs the the capacity there is highly specialized and so when we evaluated that the cost-benefit analysis mistakes made at that level are
038significant when it when it comes to the development of the student and as well as financially so you know we really want to make sure that we hire somebody who has that specialized skill set to be able to address those very unique needs at this time now if we fold that ultimately years down the road if we fold that building into another then we would really need to have a an assistant or somebody who's really well skilled like a Robin and Kerri overseeing that piece of it but we definitely evaluated you know the day to day operations there and and looked at different options even bring back a retiree or something at a part-time but you know leaving that building uncovered is just not something I would recommend I thought I even can't even put
039it on this list I feel good conversation okay is is there more to your presentation yes okay then I will are there any more questions right now all right seeing none go ahead so this is a the overall so the total of the low you can see the reductions there 245 revenue was the 35 so we'll take that off the table but then you see the medium reduction impact as well as the savings related to high you know one of the things we talked about was that the reduction in staff in increasing the the students in the courses in the classroom you know second-to-last this is overall Derby red general ed classes this is elementary classes and they tried to give you an example here of if we cut a teacher the places where we
040would probably be looking to do something like that are in those elementary grades highlighted in yellow that that would be the end result after a reduction in you know these are are certainly higher than our historical averages I know the personalized learning task force is emphasized trying to keep our class sizes low you know we look at the ratios and and this is it there's not an easy choice here necessarily and what we would do is if indeed we did have to make a reduction in this in this pool I would wait until as late as I could in the year to look at the numbers because enrollments change through the spring and then you know we'd be looking to see if there was a place where it was the least impact least negative so
041here's Cheshire high second most number of students per teacher in the dirt that that middle school is about a third of the way from the most number of teachers so as I said we're a lean organization is not like a lot of fluff there if we're at the top of the Derg and students per teacher we have the lowest ratios then I think you know that's something that I I would look at but that's why I listed those those possible reductions as high impact so here's kind of my rough plan for the budget presentation and on Thursday overview over in an you know certainly appreciate your feedback on this overview of the original proposed 2021 budget you know providing a little bit greater detail discussion of the carryover account the 2% review and that's the
042board policy that was adopted not the last meeting but the one prior review of kovin 19 savings like we did tonight review of additional reductions like we did tonight and then review of potential 2021 reductions like we did tonight now again I you know I really appreciate your feedback and I want to pause again for discussions and questions on everything that I've shared Jeff I guess I'll kick it off again I'm just looking at the that those classroom projections that you just showed yeah for I looked like there would be an uptick in grades four or five and six for next year but it also looked like that potentially there was a population drop after that so with which could you potentially argue that we would almost be like one year early in a position
043reduction anyhow if we're if if we're reducing at least one one position at the elementary level if that was my understanding from your from your reductions that it looks like grades K through three looked like they are all under 20 even if you enacted the because in reductions would that be correct yeah I know you guys have taken a you know snapshot look at this as we cruise through but I can kind of help you see why those numbers look smaller it's it's strictly because there are more sections so what happens is you consolidate these down into five classes instead of so and then the numbers go up so we we would probably you know see that like here you don't see it as much but these when you have five sections here we cut
044it down to four and fourth grade fifth grade and sixth grade so when we're looking at turnover like that we're typically looking at like we got 289 here what's that incoming kindergarten class look like for the following year and that's where we use those Nasdaq protect projections to see in terms of our staffing does that make sense right now yeah absolutely and it looked and so from a from an educational point of view it look like you're you're reducing the the the number of classes in grades four or five or six is that because those classes could tolerate so yeah hired class numbers yeah developmentally you know when you're talking about 20-something nine year olds it's a lot different than 20-something twelve year olds and so you know that's what we're you know that's why
045is the students matriculate up the sections tend to be fewer and the class sizes tend to be a little bit larger okay thank you other questions and then you know certainly any feedback on the plan for presentation on on Thursday I'm hearing from this group that there's a consensus to cut out the activity fees should I cut it or leave it for Thursday I think you should just cut it personally sorry sorry Adam okay I would also agree with that I don't think there's any need to raise fees I agree I think I would hold out and see what they suggest but don't put it in not yet if they come back really I mean you know I don't think that's gonna be the case but we can always adjust afterward if we find that
046is the case so you know I I agree that everybody else I it doesn't really matter what the town does because they can't tell us to add or change our fees that I add so I'm not really predicating this one I mean I do it's just for our side street for what's going on the community it's just I think it's good not to do this right now at the end of budget process whatever come of it if it's a very fourth case scenario where things are so tight and we have no choice to look at this I think we bring it up with a town but I don't think for Thursday so between today and Thursday are we supposed to sort of give you our thoughts on where we see the reductions do that collectively
047by Thursday but you know I think this is good - give me your gut reaction any sort I'll take any sort of feedback but I think what's probably gonna happen is Thursday I'll give this presentation they're not going to give me you know immediate feedback either and I think after Thursday's presentation we perhaps have a Finance Committee meeting of the whole middle the we go a little later into the spring it starts to crystallize a little bit more about destination here and then we'll be able to better hone down what it is we're looking to do and I also you know I absolutely respect that there are very difficult decisions that have to occur on both sides of the street here and you know I in part get paid to advocate for the educational needs
048that we have in our community and as I said I really cannot think of a time that has really been more challenging in education than what it is that you know our kids and our communities experiencing right now you know I don't want to pick on and anybody but you know the street maintenance is going to be the street maintenance yeah that hasn't changed as a result of Kovach you know what's changed is you know the way that we do our job has fundamentally changed dramatically over a six-week window for our kids and you know just to have the resources in terms of staffing special ed supports I appreciate you guys recognizing that rolling into next year it's good very important and perhaps more so than we've we've ever seen so I think we've we've
049done a good job to pull together that million-plus do I think that we can probably pull more yes and we just got to balance that with the needs of our kids in community um Jeff's just so understanding what the what the increase is so we had started at two point one as it improved 2.1 million as an approved the increase and we're gonna attempt to carry over about a million or was it more than a million about a million no more a million no and then we're and then where were you identified an additional million that hopefully we wouldn't tap into entirely correct so it's that just island I think the best place to see it is on this slide here where you can really see the the totals so this is the overall ko
050vid and kovat and other reductions from the current year and then the cares act money we do have those costs that we're going to incur over the summer that gets us to roughly one point one neck so we can carry that all in to next year and the reason like you carry it into next year so you can cut next year by a million forty seven thousand 128 and not not feel it right if we need to go beyond that like we talked about the retirement savings we talked about the the security position there's another two hundred thousand right there so now your to net one point two four seven you know I don't know what the impact is on the increase I don't know what the fiscal impact and it's ultimately I guess up
051to the town council to decide is that you know to that five hundred and fifty thousand dollars is that going to be the deal breaker do we need to squeeze it down further and if so then it's up to us I guess to look at those other items and where is it where is it going to hurt us the least in light of what we're dealing with and currently that maintains the increase to the medical benefit Trust Fund Roy believe we built in 300 or 350 thousand as a restoration to the to the trust fund is that correct is that I'm guessing that still remains in there right the we did build that in and we're not taking it out you because in a pandemic we're just concerned about you know two or three ventilator
052issues and we're toast you know if we're not careful so the and yeah we have the stop-loss coverage and everything but it's it's pretty easy to max this out the other issue we have is our stop loss will probably be going up a little bit you know I certainly been could elaborate on that till the cows come home we give you every detail but you know just a we think that in light of the health circumstances in light of our where our current balance lies there right now retaining that is important but then again you know we'll look at this next month as we get more claims data maybe we could shave some money off maybe we can't but right now we think it's it's prudent to hold that 350 right yeah I agree with
053that I thought that that amount was well at the time sufficient to at least you know hold us together we'll see what I guess when when April comes in we'll see that's I don't then I don't think you reported on April yet right as far as medical benefit yeah right okay so so look like that the potentially that the council will is looking at only giving us an increase of like 200 right okay yeah unfortunately my computer's on the older side and if I download it everything will freeze for like four minutes so I as soon as this meeting is over I will download it and sanity thank you and just one final question for me anyway um so you will you will present the you will give a high-level presentation saying what we could
054potentially withstand without enduring a major decrease in services to the to the students and but we see as far as the line item detail that's you know that's really none none of their concern that's why we're here tonight to sort of go through that detail it's really sort of up to us to decide after the fact or whatever the council decides to allocate to us was that correct uh yes but I I would build on that to say that in every year that I've been superintendent and even prior to me they've asked for well they want like you guys a sense of what are the ramifications if we do make further cuts there's a matter of fact that meeting Monday it was like well you know we don't want to care about sports and music
055you know it what what items you know might there be so you know I think they're probably going to want to see that same slide I just showed you with the low medium and high to you know it's funny that they said they don't want to hear sports and music and that's where I was gonna go I mean there's there's so many community sports programs are there any that are low participation in the in the high school or middle school well you know I unfortunately maybe have a little bit of a bias toward this you know the role that athletics play in a student's life the mentorship that they received from our coaches I think that you know you guys heard it front and center in the winter with the girls ice hockey you know
056it's it's that's one that is as important the same way the theater is the same way music is I mean I always have said that we we graduate people not transcripts and I think we would be doing a real disservice if we got to a point where we were focused on just the 3 R's and not everything else that comes with a you know comprehensive educational experience and I don't think you're saying faith to be clear-cut all sports not at all you're trying to find a measured approach but I and I think the rationale on the part of this member of the Council was that you know it's it shouldn't be just a dog whistle for people either to fire up and upset everybody who's a sports parent or something because you know they come
057out in droves sorry I'm just saying duplicative sport that's the only look I played sports all through high school and will defend them to the end of the earth but you know if we're you're gonna hear we all have to sacrifice now and where will that be that's my only question so yes okay thanks I had a one last comment I I agree I mean I in all the years we've been at least I've been in the board and Katherine is the next senior one in the group here I don't think we've ever ever had really targeted anything from you know in terms of oh it's reduction we have to go after this group or this account I think we always look at it as what are all the options on the table you know
058good I said I could you know from low to high impact as you laid out so and again I don't think we've ever targeted anything for sake of targeting something but I think all options have to be on the table I don't know what the talent is going to set for a budget if it's $300,000 and fit based on the list you provided which those things will be painful that's great that's worse than that I like look at everything and that includes sports of music so be it we did this a few years a few years ago I believe we had a me it was four years ago we did it the total cost us four hundred things and I think at that time which numbers are dated if the board decided to cut off
059sports which we're not gonna do I think was like 1.30 or 1.4 million total savings which just as real this is not going to happen but it might be helpful to have information down the road that you know if we're really getting pushed or squeezed to near zero and if you look at some of those things you know to your point Jeff you know we those things add value I agree 100 percent the collaboration of team building the personality growth that our students get from those programs is key I don't think Danny's changed those numbers I could be wrong but again it not be a bad idea to have a number available but as far as acting on it you know I just don't see it yet again if something is worst-case scenario worse than
060the numbers he gave us I think they look at all options I don't think we're there right now that's all Catherine go ahead so I think that when we're thinking about these potential cuts when we talk about and I know we're not really talking about cutting sports and music and whatever but I would find it really hard to send kids back to school after this pretty traumatic half year and then have the things that really I'm not gonna say they like it's better than studying but you know I mean these are important things to these kids and so I would feel really uncomfortable looking at those kinds of cuts and I don't I don't know that it will be actually necessary you know I think the plan that you've come up with Jeff is really
061pretty it's it's a very reasonable plan and hopefully that is what it will take for the Town Council but I think it's gonna be really it's gonna be really hard to figure out what more we should cut in light of you know how we need to support our students and our teachers you know coming back to school so that's all that's just my thinking at the moment that's what keeps me up Jeff but just the the revisit athletics just for a second as you know I won't call it unlikely but I'll say potential the potential of the cancellation of fall sports does that would that let's say you know you know we're obviously not really unless things got terribly bad well let's cross our fingers that we would not unilaterally advocate to cancel fall sports
062but does the potential for that originate with the CI a C or does X would that begin with a directive from the governor but has there been any thought process on how something like that would begin or when we're notified up yeah yeah there's definitely a hierarchy that starts with an executive order from the governor the governor issues an executive order that falls sports we're not going to be played then that would trump anything the CIA C did now that's unlikely to come from the governor the governor is more likely to declare schools closed or not then he is to wade into the athletic territory the CIA C then provided schools are open would be the next level of authority should they choose as to whether or not athletics you're played as they did this
063past winter canceling the playoffs and then we're out of school and they just put out a statement no sports will be played until June first and then they still won't have a playoff so that's that next layer of authority the the next layer beneath that would be us to have the capacity to say that we're not going to you know allow sports for whatever period and I'm sure that would be on the grounds of health I mean ultimately we could do without any grounds fiscal or otherwise but you know I know that we wouldn't do that so we're looking at health we would be the next layer after after CIA see there there is the state the Commissioner has asked regional service areas other ours being aces as you know to formulate commissions to study
064the return back to school and they've asked for the verse a diverse group of members to be on that committee and I was asked to serve as the suburban superintendent representative today for bases so you know I'll probably gain more information through that process that I can relay as it would relate to our transition back to school but that won't start until next week and that a quick comment you know my god so it's where you mind everyone that as of today foreseeable future we don't have a vaccine or cure for Chloe with 19 and there's still I work in the it's funny out of my comics can still go to central health care but we're actually health care data related we work with a lot of these pharmaceutical specialty drug companies their trial data
065etc etc so we do a lot of data mining and help payers figure out what works what doesn't work I'm very sure more that's the case and knowing that it's still not clear in front on the CDC froze folks that had the virus and then Noah over folks that had the virus and developed antibodies whether or not they'll get it again just don't know you don't know it's gonna be it again you've got the B movie or it could it happen again so where I'm going with this is again this is my my nothing concrete it's my personal best case scenario welcome back up in the fall maybe sooner I doubt it but if all I got imagine there'll be some guidelines published by to stay up Dini ologist that's not the CDC on contact
066with in schools large all reservations hopefully it's not too intrusive but we're might wear my fear is going is the fall the cold weather virus potentially comes back I think there's an impact of sports not just weather schools will open or not it's also going to be what happens with this virus every sturgeons on this fall so I think it's not just the governor and CIA C but also state to the analogous the CD num so forth so we just don't know I hope I really hope this is the end of it but the reality is there's no vaccine and from staying it's at least 12 18 months before see something concrete so anything can happen so I think the impact on sports would be that and that necessarily cuts but if something does slow
067down or sports have to be held back in there if that even happens then you know that I'll see at that budget that at that point in time before we just don't know so I just pursued ear across you know on the activities and quite frankly I'm also wondering if the state show any guidelines on contact with in the classroom you know now that we have his face but if still have to maintain a certain distance from each other it's going to be a little tough at doing summer classes as we saw burn school not as Asian can meet or so big here so it comes out next three or four weeks on that if anything and just so I'm understanding just one last time was my brain I guess is a little slow today
068all of the reductions that you have identified would more than cover the amount reduction requested from the council correct you've identified more than enough so that we wouldn't have to choose all in order to make that number that they want right we can you see almost all to get to the number they want almost all okay yeah thanks are there any other comments or or concerns is there is there anything left of in it go for it just one small point the on the agenda for Thursday night we are doing capital budget as well so we'll just have a couple of slides in there about the capital budget because remember the council this year is approving capital budget and operating budget all at the same time a capital budget request is not large for next
069year it's about five hundred forty thousand but that is part of the discussion for Thursday night two and there is one public comments for both for me absolutely if it was from Mary Burnham no address but you may know it off the top of your head she said in my opinion reducing class sizes and special that after the amount of learning that we will have been lost due to distance learning is a terrible idea students will need more support not less class size matters mr. Kummer yeah or do that yeah officer any other comment on any of the issues on our budget all right seeing none and I guess that's the are only public comment is there are there any other issues to be discussed all right seeing none I guess I would entertain a
070motion for adjournment I moved to adjourn the meeting I second there's a motion for adjournment all in favor aye aye all right this finance meeting is adjourned thank you everybody