001If everybody just wants to check their mics and make sure that auto make sure they're off. All right. Thank you everybody. Hello. There we go. Uh thank you for joining us here on our Monday, March 10th board of education work session. Uh, I would invite you all to please join me in standing and saying the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And thank you. Our first item is public comment or recognition of visitors. Recognition of visitors for any items on the agenda for any concern. The board of education welcomes comments from the public. Each person wishing to speak is asked to speak into the microphone, identify themselves, and respectively
002limit their comment to three minutes. All speakers are to conduct themselves in a civil manner. Obscene language, lielist statements, threats of violence, statements advocating racial, religious, or other forms of prejudice will not be tolerated. Persons wishing to discuss matters involving individual district personnel or students should present their comments and or concerns to the superintendent during regular business hours. Any takers for public comment? Okay, that was quick. We will move on to the next item here which is the consent agenda. We have seven items here. Is committee there before? Did I miss something? Okay, I did. Committee updates. Uh Christian. Um so two committee um one um related to OxPA and the second related to the uh schoolboard lobbying day up in Albany which happened a while ago but we haven't had a meeting since then.
003Um so OXPA um met last week and the subject of the meeting the discussion was about student representation on the board. Um it was actually pretty uh wide ranging discussion, positive discussion and uh there are several things that um whether we adopt a formal policy on this which is being required I think by July 1st or June 1st. Um several things that were kind of suggested. The first one is that what some districts have done is that they have one junior and one senior representative and the idea was that the junior would then migrate into senior and have some more experience and that you would have more diversity because it would be from different classes and I thought that was uh worthy of consideration. Uh the second thing is that what some districts in the
004area have done is they've tasked the student representatives with a research project to speak on something that is student related and to make a presentation to the board and they found that that focused their attention focused their efforts and gave them something to focus on through the year and I think that would be a valuable thing and they acted as sort of reporters and researchers and then usually twothirds threequarters of the year and they found that was very successful and then helped them you know really address the student issue in a concrete way. And um the other thing that came out is that in how they chose a student representative was it was usually an interview with the board and most of them felt that the student representative should be chosen some way by the
005students whether through an election um and Monbury has been had an example of this and they've had it for a long time or appointed by the student government or in some way through that with some let's say final determination by the board and Uh I think we'll probably discuss this since we're required to have a policy on it. But those were some of the points made uh during that session uh during that meeting. Ask a question on that because one um I guess one I I haven't if you say we don't have a policy on it, I'll take your word for it. I haven't done that research but um I think it's 2245. So we do have a policy. No, that's the the number that this and the model NISB policies policies but I don't
006think we have one. We just have had a practice. Yeah. My question is with the state law, and maybe you know or don't know, but hopefully this came up. Um, do they have to attend every meeting because we had them attend every other meeting. Is that something that we need to look at as well? I think it just requires all districts to have student representation on their board. Okay. Um, they would not be allowed to vote. They would not be privy to any confidential information, of course. Uh, but otherwise, and that there's suggestion that there would be some type of training potentially, although that wasn't specified. And I think the requirement by this is and this was a state I believe law I think this was like a law passed requiring it or a change
007from the education department. Um don't quote me on that. I'm not sure exactly what the source but there was a requirement to have a policy. And so some districts that did not have student representation to this point like Florida and Middletown have adopted it in anticipation of this requirement. And so that's why they were asking how other districts had fared and you know different districts that do have robust program and have had it for over 10 years they were inquiring the different models that existed. Sure. Yeah. Great. And if you want the on the lobbying day please. I mean I think this is fairly straightforward. Um generally the legislators were very in line with modifying the um deed bus either by providing more financial support or by extending the timeline and it seemed that there
008pretty much was a consensus across the board. Um, most of the leg, well, I should say all the legislators were in support of what NISPA has asked, which is for more local local flexibility on how to implement the cell phone ban that the governor had proposed and also providing resources, meaning subsidization um of the resources to districts to help cover some of the cost of implementing that. I know you they had that the the budget number that was proposed in the governor's budget, but they were thinking that it probably would be that that money under their understanding was to research it about what the need in the year one and there would be more money in subsequent years once that people had established their policy that there be more subsidization towards school districts on that
009front. So that's how they and they they were saying it's kind of nebulous at this point but that was their understanding by what was allocated in the governor's budget and other than that I think that they all were trying to get us as much money for all our districts as much as possible um across the board. Thank you. And by they you mean Senator Scufus and Assembly? Um I talked to saw four people. Uh Senator Rollson who represents not really our district but I was in the meeting with him and he represents uh Newberg um Valley Central and then across on the other side. Um Assemblyman Brian Mayer who represents Washington. Actually I think he represents a small little acre of our district where it crosses over into Blooming Grove and uh Scufus and Eis.
010Great. Thank you. Um policy committee. I don't think we'll need an update there because we are seeing the fruits of your labor later in our agenda. Yeah, I'll I'll jump on it anyway. Uh yeah, we we met uh 227 February 27th. Um two of our four members couldn't attend though. Um through conflict. So we uh we are not recommending any policies for adoption tonight. We're treating it all as a first reading. Um and those policies that make it through with no revisions and you know we'll put on the agenda next time. But anything that uh incites, you know, any significant revisions, we would just put on our docket for the spring. So, the policy committee itself could uh could weigh in as a whole, but yeah, everything else is uh is on the agenda for
011tonight. Great. Thank you. Just one quick followup. U yeah, the two I was one of the two member who couldn't make the meeting, so I emailed my review to Brandon and the rest of the committee. Great. Thank you. um visitation. Richard isn't here. Um yeah, I got his uh I got his report. Okay. If you want me to read it, you want me to whatever you want to do. But he did give me he did give me his report. Sure. Okay. So, Cornwall Central School District Visitation Committee report. Uh the visitations were January 14th, 16th, and 17th. And this was presented by Richard Shaner. The introduction. and the visitation committee recently visited each each school in the district to listen, observe, and better understand the success and challenges within our schools. The purpose of this
012report is to summarize the committee's findings and provide recommendations that can help improve our district in a way that benefits benefits both students and staff. Throughout our visits, we we saw dedicated, passionate teachers and staff members working hard to provide high quality instructions to these to their students. We also heard valuable insights and concerns about areas where improvements can be made to ensure that our schools remain a place where students thrive. So uh our goal is the visitations committee is to ensure that all voices in the district are heard and that we work together towards solutions that benefit everyone. Findings by school Willow Avenue school technology and I I ready implementations implementations teachers shared concerns that I Ready requires additional supplemental materials to take take it to a complete and effective curriculum. two, some teachers
013expressed that the online learning modules that uh take significant time to to complete limiting direct teachers instructions. And number three, the decisions to adopt I Ready over Go Math was made as part of a pilot program. However, some staff felt that the more opportunity for the input would have would have been beneficial before a final decision was made. Get this open here. There we go. Board of Education visibility staff expressed interest in more opportunities for the direct engagement with the uh board of ed to share their experiences and um feedback. Some staff shared their sh some staff shar uh shared that they were unsure whether emails sent to the BOE were being received directly or whether they were filtered through uh through other channels other channels first there is a desire for BOE visits to
014be more informal organic allowing board members to get a well-rounded view of a daybyday day-to-day operations of the school recommendations. Provide additional guidance and professional development for I Ready is best in uh integrated into daily instructions. Two, create more informal opportunities for BOE visits to increase transparency and open communications. Three, clarify how BOE communications is handled to ensure all me messages are reaching their intended recipients. Now we're moving on to Cornwall Elementary School. School climate and communication. Some staff expressed the need for more consistency in policy enforcement, particularly in those areas where such as attendance and professional expectations with staff. two as a few staff members noted that the responses from building leadership to emails and inquiries sometimes take longer than expected which needs to be addressed. Moving on is technology and uh digital learning
015similar similar Willow Avenue teachers shared the I Ready implementations present challenges and requires additional resources to supplement instructions. I'm wondering if this just isn't better shared via email with the board. However you want it, man. I just got it and I'm redoing what he what I was told. Okay. I do want to bring up one thing that's on here that was the important one and that was the concern at um CES on the class sizes, space limitation, the use of classrooms um and how they're being utilized. We witnessed a class that was being held in an extremely tiny room uh not conducive to learning at all and it was students that do have some special needs. We also saw a classroom that was being held at the bottom of a stairwell. There were carts there
016and the supplies were in the carts for the teachers to instruct those students. So those those were our concerns. The bottom of the back stairwell I I think you came down with us over there. Oh, okay. Were there weren't students there? No, but the carts were there and they were just being dismissed. There was about three students. I did not see that. Yeah. So th those are some concerns um at CES and I I would just I feel like this is wholly inappropriate and this is something that should have been shared with the administration and been addressed then um I feel like it's an ambush from a person who wrote it who's not even here to discuss it. It was it shared with administration Terry? No, it was not. I don't I don't know. Did
017Richard share this with them? No. I will say that I was under the impression it was shared. I did not know that we were going to read the whole report this evening because I am on that committee. Um so I think that um we can certainly go back and do a highle summary because I think it's worth some of the observations are what they are but I think it's also worth mentioning that while the feedback is valuable and it's insight it provides some insight and some direction we only spoke to a very small number of people in the building and so I think in fairness to the administration and to everyone overall not you Carl specifically but if as a committee we're going to say you know the climate or the culture etc. I think
018we need to talk to more than a handful of people to jump to that conclusion. I think we heard it. We brought it up. We're aware, but I don't think we can say that that is a um widespread sentiment. It might be, but I don't know that we can say that it is at this point. I got the report and when I got the report, I kind of figured something was going to come back. So, what I did is I made some I made some copies. So, if you guys would like to have copies of what I got, I sure at the end of the meeting. Yeah. At the Yeah, I got them. Yeah. I I will just say past practice including last year when Richard was also the chairperson of this committee was after
019visitations were made a round of visitations in the fall or the spring that the committee chairperson and potentially other members of the committee sat down with the administration and discussed these issues you know to make sure that concerns are heard and uh potentially addressed. Um, which isn't to say that they shouldn't be shared to the broader group here, just that to Christine's point, a condensed version was shared um, rather than reading an entire report. No, thank you. Um, so I'm not sure why that meeting wasn't set now when it has been set um, in previous years with Richard, but um, he's not here to answer that question. So, um I don't know if Terry if you did you have something to add. No, just that was that was our expectation is that we would have
020a chance to hear and respond and make sure that the board was hearing kind of some next steps as well if they were already in in progress. Yeah. So I will uh if Richard you watch on the replay here I would advise you to please set a meeting with Terry and bring your committee members uh that you choose with you and uh have this discussion and we uh provide a condensed report to us later. Um on to facilities committee where I am the chair. Uh we have not had a meeting since our last update. Uh we're working on scheduling one with Palumbo Group to update um timeline for this coming summer. Uh, audit committee. Christian, I know that you're gonna say we haven't had a meeting because I'm on that committee. Um, communication. Brendan, uh,
021no meeting since the last time. We should be scheduling a meeting soon. Um, kind of have a wheel stuck in the mud on a particular initiative, but then we'll have to be planning the, uh, that plus our end of year budget uh, push, which is coming sooner than later. So, u more to come at the next meeting on that. Thank you. Uh we'll move on to the consent agenda. We have items uh purpose of the consent agenda is to make more effective use of its time by adopting a single motion to cover those relatively routine matters which are included. Any member of the board who wishes to discuss individually a particular piece of business on the consent agenda may so indicate and that item will be considered and voted on separately. Um we have items
0222 through seven this evening. Can I have a motion? So move to second. Second and then who would like to pull an item for um discussion? Bass. Uh number four. Number four. Christian. I would like to pull three, seven, and eight. Three, seven, and eight. Are there eight? I didn't uh There's nine. Yes, there's nine. Um, sorry. So, I said two through seven. So, let's try that again. Can I get a motion on two through nine? Second. Second. Second. Um, anybody want to pull anything other than 3, 4, 7, or 8? So, we will then vote on items 2, five, six, and nine. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Um, I'll go out of numerical order because we'll go to Bass first and then we'll go to Christian so you can do everything
023together. So, Bass item four, which is approval of the student calendar. Yes. Thanks. Uh Jim, I I just have a comment that uh I just want to I mean commend, you know, those who put the calendar together and specifically for restoring, I would say the Columbus Day on October 13, 2025. Just to remind everybody, last year it appeared on the agenda as the fall break. It didn't mention Columbus at all. And we did talk about it. I mean there were some reasons why that happened but uh I have myself to blame because I did not review it in time and it was too late when it came to my attention that uh it's not called Columbus Day. So again uh kudos to putting Columbus Day on the calendar. Thanks. Wonderful. Any other questions? I I
024do see that it says Columbus/indigenous people's day on this version. I do recall the conversation from last year as well though, Bass. Um I also would like to point out since we're we're discussing the calendar, I wouldn't have necessarily have pulled it, but um I'm I still am in favor of February break. Um I think it's beneficial. I know we go by Bose's normally um but there are other school districts. I think uh Middletown and Tuxedo kept February break this year and some others. And it is workable if you don't have two weeks off for Christmas, um, New Year's, whatever holiday you celebrate in that two week time frame. Um, you could pull the two in the beginning of the week and you could pull one perhaps on the second, which I know another school
025district did, and you could make that up and still keep your February very valuable February break in the middle of winter when when uh people need a break. That's my two cents. Terry, would you like to Yeah. Uh there's uh I've made the joke that's not really a joke. People want both. Um so everyone wants a long winter break and everyone wants the February recess. So there's um a push and pull there. Uh the the push uh for the calendar committee and and myself and the superintendents when we were developing the calendar is we just know what happens when you pull the one day or two days of winter break. No one comes. Uh same thing with the second there there will be 20% of our kids here uh in school. So um that that's
026kind of the balance that we're trying to strike. And the other thing that I let my committee know is you know my own wife wants February break. So I'm I'm unpopular with that in my own household. Um, but trying to strike that balance of the three-day Thanksgiving that we have that some other districts don't have, the longer Memorial Day weekend are are just kind of where we Others have a half a day before uh Thanksgiving instead of that full day as well to make up for that as well. I did I did take a peek at other calendars before I opened my big mouth. Um, okay. Okay. Any other comments on item four, the 2526 school calendar? All right. All in favor? I I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Okay. On to item number three. U
027Bosey's board candidate resolution. Can I just take seven and eight just first as a group and then I'll get back to three? They're your questions. So, I'll let you tackle them in the order you uh feel. So 78 have to do with the creation of a reserve fund and since I'm just peeked ahead at the budget presentation and since there capital reserve fund a capital reserve fund did I what did I say a reserve yes a capital reserve fund and um since I'm to speak ahead at the budget presentation since there's an extensive discussion about reserve funds I think it might behoove us to make this motion after that presentation and we'll be just more informed and so I would think that perhaps voting on this later after that presentation might be a a better
028way to proceed. And um I'm not Dr. Mer about this, but uh um there are some points I would like to make on this, but I think it would be better just after the budget presentation, which includes discussion of our reserve funds, including capital reserve funds. Um so I'll just say for myself personally, what we're doing here is we're authorizing uh capital reserve needs to be approved uh by the voters. So, we're authorizing as a board to put this as an item on the upcoming budget vote for the voters to approve. So, ultimately the voters will approve whether or not to open a new capital reserve. Um, our current capital reserve is full. Um, and all this is doing is voting to establish um opening a piggy bank specifically for capital projects. It does not
029encumber any funds into that reserve. It just says, "Hey, let's open a piggy bank." So, just just so it's clear for the public. So I I have enough personal information to vote on that right now. I'm not sure. Okay. So here here how the presentation will change concerns on it then why I think that it might um and as you know Jim because we have just talked about this before that I suggested that we do need to create a capital reserve fund because it's full and it's likely that we are going to have a surplus because we budget more than what we spend for obvious reasons and um that since our unallocated fund balance is full and our reserve funds are full that means that we will have nowhere to put this money and so
030there has to be somewhere to put it and therefore the creation of reserve fund is credential. Uh my concern about this is that given that we are right up on the cap, you know, right up in terms of like our budget and our revenues, um that and I've brought this up before when we made the allocation to or we made the vote to put the money into the reserve fund and usually in the fall that we might want to have a discussion about how we might allocate some of this money towards some of the priorities and needs that were identified rather than defaulting and putting it into the capital reserve fund and having that part of the budget discussion. But I'm also concerned about that the line in the resolution that says the surplus will
031go into this fund and I would want to have perhaps a broader view on that about that can be used for different things since we're kind of talking about we have no leverage here when we're talking about the budget but we're also expecting given the previous years over a million dollars in terms of what will be left over and rather than spending it necessarily on the capital reserve there perhaps are other priorities that money might be used for before we create that perhaps the language in there could be clarified or concerned and that that's my point on this and that's why I would like to push it on the other side of the discussion or presentation about the reserve funds. So it's not my understanding that we're forced to use it. Um perhaps you're reading
032the resolution different than I am. John or Terry if you want to answer that um specific question. That's correct. Uh so this is just the establishment. It's going to put it forward to the voters. Uh and then how we fund it will be determined later on. Um we will have the option to put uh any surplus from our revenue or expenditures into any one of our restricted reserve accounts uh including this reserve account. Um if it is established and then if we do establish this reserve account, we can use this money um towards the capital projects uh and all the list of items that we have raised as priorities in terms of improving our school district. And we also still have our outstanding building condition survey that has yet to be um turned into us
033which will have additional um um issues that will be brought to the district that need to be addressed. And so having this reserve account would allow us to address those as well. Thank you. Yeah, that's my understanding. Um and I will say, you know, this past year, actually I guess this school year, but we voted on um with surplus from last year's budget to put 100% of that figure into capital reserve. In years past, we've put it into um ERS reserve, TRS reserve, tax certiary reserve. So, we've put it into different reserves in past years. Um it just so happened uh in this past year that 100% of it went into capital reserve, but that's certainly not um a guarantee. So, um any other questions, comments on this item? I had a a question actually.
034um help me understand the right when I think I I know all of this then I realize maybe I don't the the difference between seven and eight. So seven refers to just the reserve fund and then eight refers to the capital reserve fund. So I'm guessing those are two two fund two different funds two different purposes. I know capital reserve fund is everything we just talked about. It's really more about seven. They're both capital reserve funds. So um this this information comes directly from our bond council. or bond council writes these resolutions for the school district in accordance with New York State standards for this. So seven actually has to come before eight uh in the operations of this. So seven is you as the board members creating this or authorizing this to go to
035the voters and then eight is what the voters will see on the ballot is uh that language for them to approve. And it just happens that the legal language that came down from the state or wherever refers to it in that in that capacity of reserve as a reserve fund not a capital reserve and then you get to distinguish what type of reserve fund it will be. Got it. Okay. So, um I'll just move on to uh three just quickly and I guess we can vote on three, seven, and eight or um since we're on seven and eight, we'll just take a vote on those and close those out and then move on to three. So all in favor of seven and eight I I any opposed? Any abstensions? We have one abstension from Mr.
036Brunelli. Um six yeses. So that motion carries. Um item three. Item three is the U Boseies board candidate resolutions. Um there are three candidates running for three vacant seats on the U Boseies board. Um Christian uh so this is just a statement more than a question. Um I know some people have interactions with the candidates and I just wanted to say you know quick word of endorsement for those people who are not familiar. Uh William Boss has been I think on school board since perhaps the 70s if not the the 80s. And Christine I see you smiling since you know him as well. Um he's an incredibly dedicated person. He is a person who is a voice on Oxa and has always been helpful and active and I think that he's a a worthy candidate
037and Mr. Edwin Estrada um also has been very active and been on the Middletown board and uh I think is a true advocate for vocational education and I think anyone who knows him knows about that as well as let's say the students of the county. I will say I'm not trying to diminish the third person. and I'm just not as familiar with them, but I think that these are worthy candidates and I would encourage uh you know us voting for them, nominating them is that's the motion right now. Great. Thank you for that. Um item three, all in favor? I I Any opposed? Any abstensions? All right. Thank you for that. That brings us to the end of our consent agenda. Brings us to uh new business non-consent agenda. first reading of BOE policies. Um
038I will list those policies per document. I will not read them all right now. Um so again to Brendan's point um none of these were put as a second reading um because there was only two out of four members at the last committee meeting. Even though a lot of these are minor changes and typically would go straight to a second reading and evaluation as they're just updating existing policies. Um none of these are new policies. They're all updates on existing but they are all first readings. Um so let's get a motion and then a second and then we will pull out any individual policies that people would like to discuss. So can I get a motion some of and a second from Tiffany and then um I guess I will go first and tell you
039what policies I would like to discuss. Um, I have comments on 0310 board self-evaluation and 011, which is sexual harassment. And um, I know that we're also going to have discussion on filling board vacancies 21 50. Any other policies that folks would like a comment or discussion on? Bass, I just want to go back to what I mentioned earlier. Uh I don't think we're ready to vote right now. I mean, I just emailed my review like two or three hours ago. So there were Yeah, most of the policies you didn't have comments on. So I would assume that you are ready to Well, to have comments on each of the four batches. Yeah. Yeah. No, I know. Yeah. But I'm saying most of most of the policies though, individual policies you didn't have. So, let
040me just restate the plan. I can tell you where I had my comments. I I I I don't want to speak for you, so I feel free to do so. I'm just restating what the the what we're voting on. We wouldn't be voting to approve any of the policies. This is the first reading. So, if something comes through with no changes, we can say, okay, we we approve that, we pass that through to the next meeting where it can be approved. Okay? And if there are any policies where there is substantial input, then we would remove them. We wouldn't push them to be approved at the next meeting. We would put them on the docket for the policy committee for the spring. So I'm saying for the the the polic individual policies where you don't
041have comments and if those are then then we can push them through not approve them tonight but push them through for approval that next week. Okay. Yeah. So sorry where do Okay. So, we left off with Bass saying that he has other comments, I guess. Where where are we on the policies that he has comments on? Are we gonna So, do you want I mean I have them in front of me, Bass. You have them in front of you. I mean, do you want to state it? Yeah. Microphone Bass. Sorry. Sorry. Yeah, I have definitely on the sexual harassment. I have on the board self-evaluation. Uh I have more I have on the alcohol and drug testing of drivers. Uh and I have uh I don't know if it's under opioid overdose graduation requirements. I'm
042looking at it right now. Thank you. Yes. Yes. Yeah. And I'll double check those best just to be sure you didn't miss. So that's what four policies and most of them are what you said or two of them are what you said. So two of them are what I said. Yeah. Um Brendan, as it's your committee, do you want to I have on board officers? I would say that Do you want to kick those back to committee? Do you want to discuss them? I would offer that you make your comments on self-evaluation and yeah, my comments are minor. So may maybe we'll take you want to take those four or five policies and kick them back. We can certainly just remove them. Yeah, absolutely. And then put them on. So let's remove let's remove so
043we're just we're going to remove 0310 zero which is the board self-evaluation we're going to remove 011 which is sexual harassment what other policies are we removing uh the board I don't think you had a comment on 2150 did you no no I I have board officers I mean my comment is like when board president uh attends a committee, he shouldn't be voting. I mean, uh, I think it goes under 2220. Okay. So, 2220. So, what I'm s what I'm looking at here, Christian, is policies to pull to kick back to committee to not vote on at all tonight. Yeah. Not comments on policies. So, 2150 we can comment and discuss tonight. 011 0110 2250. You said uh, sorry. 8414.5 alcohol and drug testing. We're going to pull that, right? And uh 4770 graduation requirement.
044Okay. So 2150 I think should be sorry. I think 2150 should also be kicked back to committee because it didn't go through the committee process even to get to this tonight. But it went through the committee process last year. So last year is a different board and is a different committee and it doesn't carry over when you reorganize. Okay. So we can have that discussion in a moment. Any other policies pass? I believe that's all. Okay. So four policies total for me. Five. Five. Sorry. I've got 2220 4770 and 8414.5. Yeah. And 0310. Although I think that that comment was small enough that we could probably address that here. The board self-evaluation. Okay. So, we'll discuss 0310 and 2150 and see where we end with those two. Uh, so we've got four that we're going
045to pull totally. Can you just repeat because we went back and forth? Yes. So, here's what we're going to pull totally and not vote on tonight. 0110 2220 uh I guess the 0110 sexual harassment 2220 is board officers 4770 graduation requirements 8414.5 alcohol and drug testing. We are going to discuss 0310 board self evaluation and 2150 filling board vacancies. any other policies that people would like to discuss? Okay. So, let's discuss uh 0310. Um Bass, your comments on that or board self-evaluation. Okay. Selfal. Yeah. My my comment as Brendan I mean alluded to ve very simple. I I'm questioning kind of I mean the whole policy is like half a page is like small paragraph and I agree yeah we have to really evaluate ourselves but how would you enforce the you know I mean
046the the policy uh and what if uh somebody is found uh in violation of the policy what do you do with them you put them in jail you know so so the policy the way it's written it's kind of it's yeah nice paragraph But so what I think it's that we have to initiate it as a board but whether people participate is yeah I I I I did mention kind of I mean I proposed the policy before my two years ago and I was criticized for the same comments I just made right now like it's not clear how do you enforce it? I mean you know what do you do if somebody violates it? I think we we force hard labor with Walter's crew. So, education law section 2112 allows us to fine someone who
047refuses to or fails to perform an official act on a school board up to $10. All right. So, that is what our authority is. Um I think does not include hard labor. Um but since I'm the one who suggested the changes in this policy from the previous policy, um I have some comments on it as well. Yeah. All I'll just throw in my comment was um I think the changes are are good. You just um I'm questioning the timeline. So it says conduct self evaluation by the end of January. To me I think it'd be more fitting to do it in the springtime as the year is complete. So that timeline seems off to me. It seems like would be conducted by the end of you know May or June. So um so this this
048is a logic and the logic was that and last year we conducted it I believe at the second in executive session at the second January meeting which means the instrument had gone out I think before in late December. Um, I think January gives it's like a mid-year pause and it gives us a chance to reflect and actually make changes if we are in the wrong direction that are meaningful. And if we put it off to further in the spring, yes, it might be more accurate, but then well, we're kind of at the end of the year. Plus, as we all know, the spring is full with budget uh uh discussions and matters and therefore it kind of gets lost in the middle of that. and I think it would be better to finish it before
049budget season um begins which would be usually in February. The second thing we did is I mean so my my motivation on this was that to make sure it gets done and because it's in our board goals and you know not just this year but in previous years and we thought about just in a sense setting a date and also giving someone responsibility but not necessarily a punishment for failure would help ensure that it does get done in a timely manner. And we felt asso uh associated with the or at least I felt associating with the office of the vice president of the board would be give them a specific responsibility and also allow someone to initiate the process and know that they have the timeline to get it started. perhaps cajul people to get
050it completed and perhaps organize it and not put it an additional duty on the president because the president already has more than a few specific duties and the vice president only has duties in place of the president or in the president's absence. So that was I guess my my logic but I'm open and I think Brendan we discussed this that we're not hard we weren't committed to a particular person. And it was just a matter of making sure there was some accountability by just designating people with the responsibility and designating, you know, a timeline to maybe perhaps persuade us to get it done. I Yeah, I think that's a summary of the discussion. Uh your question was my question. Um I did find myself persuaded by the notion that um well one geez one thing
051Christian did not mention um but I think we mentioned it that night which that having it mid year allows us to do something with the information. You know we're only aboard for a year. We we always change by losing and adding new members. So um having it at the end of the year could actually be too late for us to do anything that nine to do anything with the information. So, um, the more we talked about it, the more the January touch point, uh, seemed right. And, uh, it's typically a slower month. We actually have time to do it. Uh, and then, yeah, about the the person throwing out the vice president, uh, is you got to somebody has to be in charge of executing it, and it was just, hey, let's put an aim
052on it and we can discuss it if uh, people have other ideas. So, I agree with all that. I will argue to make it even more robust in that the reason it was a board goal last year is because it hadn't been done in memory. Whatever that time period was just hadn't been done. So John Edelin as our president last year said we should do a mid-year check-in. So uh I'll propose that we do something similar that we do the superintendent review. I agree with the logic of the mid-year check-in is we do a mid-year check-in as a board and say here's you know our review of your goals. Um and then we also do an end of the year review. So I would argue for board let's just do both. Oh yes. It wasn't
053I don't think anyone intended in place of it was just a matter of that the initial as we did last year initial self-evaluation and then a final evaluation at the end of the year. So I'm in agreement with that. Oh okay. So that's not reading this. It's not clear to me. Yeah. So that check I'm hoping that there should be a midyear check-in and also a final evaluation at the end of the year. Great. Any other comments on that? Um so I think uh that's sufficient. I'll leave that in as a first reading and and Brendan if you just want to update a sentence to say we'll conduct you know a meteor check-in in January and a final evaluation before the end of the school year. Um, I think that's a minor change and doesn't
054change the spirit of anything and we can have that as a second reading at our next board meeting. Uh, wonderful. Next item is 2150. Um, Christian, I know you have comments, so I will give you time for those in a moment. Um, all I just want to say is this came up last year in our review and um, we just read it and said, you know, it's not really clearly written. It's not very robust. So, we just reached out to council and we said, "I'm sure there's state law on this." Um, we found some other policies of neighboring districts that laid it out more clearly. Um, and the policy um that's here is the text from our council um that raised that of our last meeting last year and we just didn't have a chance
055to get back together and vote on this year. Um and for whatever reason, the committee just forgot to include it in the first batch um in the fall. Um Christian, your comments? Um, so let me just start with a question because this might make my comment shorter. Uh, since you are the author of of this or you're the one who passed it on or perhaps you're passing on from council in your mind in the last sentence of the revised policy, who is the district superintendent in referencing this policy? Sposies. Okay. So this uh so I think that is not clear. Okay. And I think that needs to be made clear because the state law clearly says that it means a supervisory district superintendent and I think that absolutely needs to be in this policy to
056make further uh to further confusion. Um fantastic addition. Okay. So my concern though is I there was also in the discussion that somehow there was a duty or requirement to do it and I'm not sure that so here's the thing about keeping it in our policy. Our board has no jurisdiction over the BOSI superintendent. They have that power from education law and there's no need for us to specify in our policy because we cannot require the Bose superintendent to do anything. It's their judgment about the operation of the board in that supervisory capacity. And so I don't think that needs to be in our policy even I mean if it is in our policy needs to be specific but if it's it really doesn't need to be in our policy because we don't control the
057subject of the policy. So I'm it says the superintendent may fill it doesn't Okay. I think the may the work there that you're is after 90 days where there has not been an election and there's a declared vacancy. Yeah. Just so just for the public and and I I mean it sounds like we're in agreement on what the state law is. So, uh there's really two options for the board if there is a vacancy on the board for resignation, any other reason, uh death, removal from office, uh refusal to serve. So, uh the board by a majority vote of the full board, so five members may vote to appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy. Uh and that person would only be appointed until the next regular election. Or the board may call a
058special election to fill a such vacancy within 90 days after it occurs. And that person would not serve until the next regular election but would serve the remainder of the term of the person that they are filling um uh the vacancy for or the third option is if the vacancy remains unfilled after 90 days the supervisory district superintendent I think we can add that word may fill it by appointment. So is that your understanding of state law? That is my understanding of state law on that point and I have some other points about the policy. Uh so that that so we're agreed on that point but I have some other points I would like to do to improve the policy. Okay. That are se that are not connected to that at all. Okay. Okay. So
059generally in this policy um in most other school districts that have this policy they either include in this policy or have additional policies that talk about the standard for what is refusal to serve. And so what that is defined and that's also defined in state law and either that sometimes is policy 20 this is 2150 but either one's numbered 2130 or 2140 about refusal to serve and what that means and what grounds district uh school boards have to remove someone. And the second thing is they establish a procedure or guidelines for how they will fill the vacancy which means for example last year the library board had a mid-year vacancy and their procedure was to ask the person who did not get appointed with the most votes and offer the position to them and then
060if that person refused to the next person the next person which would seem to reflect the you know the will or the intention of the community um we could adopt that in this policy. policy which I think would take out the arbitrariness and the capriciousness of it rather than leave it in the majority of the board. I think we could have a system where uh we can put out a notice and conduct interviews, which is how I just had this conversation with Joe Flareity, the longtime president of the Mining Board, and he said basically what they did is when they when he did actually have uh removed the board member and filled the vacancy, they put out a public notice, they conducted interviews, there was a board vote or we could respect if the board
061member creating the vacancy is able and in good standing, meaning like they're not being removed. move for reasons to respect their wishes or suggest a person to replace them if they're not able to serve on the board. And I think we could improve this policy by uh reflecting what we think should happen so that any board that has to encounter this in the future has a guideline of what we think the process is and therefore that we're not making up the procedure on the spot. Since the law basically gives us that we could decide the member by having a juggling contest or drawing straws, I think it would be better to kind of set forth how we would go about it and how future boards should go about it and also what is the grounds
062for things that are not death or illness or change of address that are pretty clear. Um, couple thoughts. One, uh, juggling is very difficult. I taught myself to juggle when I was like 10. Um, I think this policy in front of us, I agree with some of your changes to beef it up. I think the policy that's in here is an improvement over our current policy. I would advocate that we vote on that as part of the first reading tonight and that the changes that you're making to enhance it even further continue in the policy committee to make it, you know, I don't let's not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Let's make an improvement which follows state law which is more clear than our current policy which is not very clear
063and then continue to improve it as we move along. So if I can add make that even more tactical request and tell me if I'm wrong. We uh we vote on it tonight. um it gets put on the agenda next time for approval, but then we still add it to the spring policy committee docket. Is that what you're saying? Yes. But I I think what you're talking about and I I would be two different policy. So you mentioned um you mentioned um what is uh refusal to serve being a separate policy and then I've seen other districts and I I want to say it's Srmers I believe has an extensive like 21st step process. So we've got you know policies and then we have some of them have companion regulations. So ours is like 2150
064and they have a 2150R that's very detailed. Um to be honest with you I thought it was a little too detailed. Um, but I think that the policy committee should consider adding a 2150R and adding, you're saying the refusal to serve definition is an additional policy, Christian, or an addition to this policy. So there are districts that break it out and they're kind of in a sense complimentary policies and usually the numbers are 2130 and 2140 and then there's other districts that fold it into 2150 that have it all in one place and they do include those paragraphs to those points um to basically flesh it out and have it in one place rather than let's say in two different places and therefore that it might get overlooked and I think that's just a matter
065of where we can go back to the the policy committee. I think we can come out with a policy and I think we can I mean my preference would be go back to the policy committee and then present it at the after the spring policy committee meeting. Um if people want to vote on it I mean obviously we can vote on it. Um my preference is to to pull it like the other policies, send it back to the committee and then have this full text and then vote on that full policy because I don't think there's any urgency to pass this policy tonight. Well, you don't need it until you need it. Yeah, there's no urgency until there is. I I think the uh I I like the idea of passing if we know that
066if we're all in agreement that this is the foundation of a future policy, then to me, we should pass we should vote on it. Um and then go the route of like with the addition of the word in three of prior to district superintendent. Yes. And then have a uh you know an ancillary policy, however you want to phrase it, that builds on it. But it locks in what we know is an improvement over existing policy to because to that point, we don't know when we're going to need this, but it would almost by definition be an urgent need. I I sorry, I'm just going to say I agree. I think voting on uh the changes tonight are are prudent. Um and usually they're unforeseen circumstances where something like this would be unfortunate and would
067occur. However, we could certainly make it policy committee which I am a part of um and make it more robust to reflect some of the changes some of the changes that Christian is um suggesting improving it tonight in no way limits us from improving it further in the future um okay um so we will leave that in so we've removed four um we have made updates to 0310 the board of self-evaluation and the 2150. I I won't go through those updates because they will be in front of us in text for the second reading um and adoption at our next meeting. Um but I will trust that Brendan faithfully has captured them and they will be correct on our next agenda. So um let's take a vote on the first reading of these BOE policies
068less the four policies that we pulled. Uh the 0110, the 2220, the 4770, and the 8415. All in favor? I I All opposed. Any abstensions? We have an abstension from Christian. Everybody else is in favor. Uh that motion passes. That moves us on to Mr. Frink with his budget presentation. Take it away, please. Okay, we should be good. Okay, thank you. Um, and welcome uh board uh board of education budget presentation number three, March 10th. We'll uh jump right in. Striving for excellence every day. Again, um, as you're aware, we start with our vision to frame our focus on what we're doing here. We are, we envision a school district in which every staff member is a source of knowledge and inspiration. Every building is a place of safety uh, and support. Every leader is
069a pillar of integrity, and every student is a source of pride. Um, I like our picture up there on the lefth hand side with the snow because based on today's 60°ree weather, hopefully that might be somewhere in the distant past, but we don't know. And then our smiling faces. Terry doesn't want to do any more um singing snow day songs. Uh, robust agenda today. I won't read this uh verbatim to save us a little bit of time. There's a little bit of repetitiveness built in here from our last budget presentation. And I just want to make note of our smiling faces of our staff here as well. I know I mentioned our students, but we have uh an incredibly robust and excellent, efficient, and shining star staff. That starts with our school bus drivers and
070our cafeteria workers and custodial workers, our teachers, and our teaching assistants. Everybody runs all the way up to our our superintendent of schools. So, with that, we'll jump right in. We'll do a little bit of review of what our goals were at the last meeting that we talked about. lowest possible tax levy um but stay within the uh property tax cap, maintain our current programs, continue to support and grow instruction. Um we did our rollover budget in the last meeting. We presented that and I'm going to turn back to that in the next couple slides. And then we asked ourselves kind of what's the next steps after that rolled budget and we came out with those those Rwords re-engage, request, re-evaluate, redistribute, reconcile, readjust, and realize success. Okay, that keep moving forward approach. So, we've
071talked about this as well. Um, our budget development process ongoing year round. Um, you've seen this slide now. This will be the third time going around. So at our last meeting we talked about our preliminary and I'm going to use preliminary and revised budgets. So here is our preliminary expenditures that we rolled out at the last meeting which was $93.4 million compared to the previous year of 90.2 difference of 3.1 million. Um we still have a number of open items um that we have to nail down as we go throughout the budget process. A lot of this is special education related, but we do have our contract negotiations that we have discussed. So, fast forward to the next slide and I can kind of toggle back and forth with respect to our revised budget approach.
072Okay, instead of a 93.4, we are at a $92.7 million budget. Compared to last year, that's a $2.4 million increase. Our open items are still going to stay the same. Okay, as we went from our preliminary to our revised, we're two weeks away. We've had some change. Um, we worked on that with our district administration. So, right there, I'm going to pause and how did we get there? How do we get to this revised budget? So, we talk about teacher attrition and attrition is teachers leaving the profession and in this case retiring. This year we have 10 total teacher retirements, which is significant. Five of those teachers we can replace through the traditional posting and hiring process. We're going to replace five of those positions. The other five we reexamine those positions and they can
073be filled by redistribution of staff due to enrollment or program shifts. By doing this, there's no teachers or staff who are cut or eliminated. and we have not impacted our instructional programs. Okay. So again, attrition teachers leaving the profess profession this year retirements 10 total five replaced traditionally five replaced or backfilled through a redistri uh redistribution of staff on our revenue. Our preliminary revenue came out at 90.6 six and that was a $3.1 million increase. We were using a 3% property tax cap uh three uh sorry 3% property tax levy increase of our 3.08 our state aid we've we've kept the state and our miscellaneous revenue. We still don't know what state aid's going to be with respect to our revised expenditure uh revised revenue $90.3 million a difference of 2.9 from year to year.
074What did we do here? We were able to drop down our property tax levy to 2.5. So from 3.0 to 2.5. That gets us $1.3 million. Our state aid again staying the same and our miscellaneous staying the same. So waiting for those state aid figures which ideally come in April, we hope, but could come as late as late April and into May. Heat up Heat. Heat up here. Heat up Heat. Heat up Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up Heat up here. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat up Heat up here. with our silos. That's what all I have here today. We have March tonight. Uh, April 7th, April 24th is our budget adoption. Uh, our
075last opportunity to adopt the budget and then our May 20th budget vote. I know I'm not getting out of here without questions. So, uh, pass. Thank you. Pass. Thank you. Thanks for another great presentation today. I mean, very clearly illustrated. Yeah, it is. But I think I'm far from it. I can hear you. Okay, I'm going to repeat. Uh, thanks for the great presentation today. I appreciate that. Um, two quick question just for clarification for me and for anybody else who maybe is asking the same question. One is the $5 million reserve maximum kind of you know ceiling just who I think we talked about it before but um when it's this u let me rephrase is it subjective or objective I mean that that's what I'm saying kind of who who says it's 5
076million not three not six and how we come to that conclusion it should be 5 million Okay. So, you're talking about the capital reserve that we established. Is that correct? So, yeah. Going back to these two capital reserves, um that is I believe a limit that is set for us for the district. Um I don't believe by New York State we can go more than five million in funding over the course of time. So, um, by New York State's guidelines and standards for capital reserve funding based on our district size. I believe that's how that's set up. Great. Yeah. Thanks. I I'm trying to figure out whether it's subjective number kind of just because I said so it's 5 million or it's based on some other factor. I believe there's a qualifying factor of the
077size of the district. Yeah. Okay. Uh, thanks. And, uh, my second question is u again hypothetical. If we get sued, uh, the district gets sued and you got to really come up with the money going to your silos, where would the money come from? Perfect. Great question. U, if we were to experience a lawsuit, hopefully we would have some insurance that would cover it. Um, because we do we are covered by a number of different insurance policies. But let's say again, hypothetically, worst case scenario, we end up with a large lawsuit that would come from our unassigned fund balance that for [Music] So, um, at the beginning of your presentation, you said, you know, the 25 26 budget goals are lowest possible tax levy, maintain current programs, and it actually meeting those goals over the
078long term. And let me just put out the logic here. When we have a budget going up by 4% a year, the teachers contract which scheduled for 2% a year and you increase the tax levy at a lower rate. Eventually that's going to push tax levy. Now we're more or less assuring that we're going to have to increase the tax levy by a larger amount some point in the future. And so the point is that this might solve the problem for this year, but I am concerned that what will happen in the future is that we will have to take larger and larger and the longer we put off that day of reckoning um the larger the cuts will be when they do occur or we will have a larger tax levy that we'll have
079to approve. And I'm concerned about that because the one thing we won't have in the future is a time machine to come back to this point in time. And I'm also, you know, it's nice that the tax levy is now down from 3 to 2.5%. But there was also a raft of district needs and your first presentation that will go unressed. And it seems that having a slightly higher tax levy and one thing that was pointed out to me when I went up to Albany is that we are the only district in Orange County that has not used their full allocation of UPK money from the state which is about 40 children who are not going to get UPK and families because we've decided to lower the tax levy and that seems to be not
080putting students first. And this is mostly a statement, not really a question, but I asked you at the last meeting where we stood a terms of per pupil expenditure um relative to the other school districts in the county. And we were dead last. When I looked at the New York State report card and it seems that we are perhaps not spending as much as any district in this county, many of them not as wealthy as we are by, you know, the numbers that you would get for the area. And it seems that if we have an opportunity to use the tax levy space given that in the last three years we have been significantly under that this would be a good opportunity if there are needs to maintain that so that we don't have the
081shock in future years. So I'll address um a few of those. So we uh decided to look at the deficit and come up with a recommendation to the board. So I would love uh talk amongst board members because this is just a recommendation. You all set the final tax levy. You decide what to do with uh the fund balance. All of those are are completely in your purview. What we decided to do after the last um uh meeting which uh Mr. think articulated was let's take another hard look at our current staffing what our needs assessment was meet with um uh schools and and departments and figure out what we can do on our part to bring this uh down. Uh so at my direction uh based on the history of Cornwall I directed Mr.
082think to bring the tax levy recommendation down from three and all I did was look at past history. Anytime we approach 3% in Cornwall, we've we've come very close to not having a passed uh budget. So that was that's from me um as as the recommendation uh with regards to the uh needs assessment. So every year we're going to have needs articulated by our teachers, our staff, our administrators. that's going to happen every year. But we also have a reality check conversation to say this might not be the year that we're going to be able to address these needs. So again, I'm asking you what is your priority as we go into the 25 26th school year and that's how we came up with what can we handle uh through attrition looking at enrollment of
083programs uh things of that nature so that we're not cutting um any uh any staff. So, this is a recommendation. Again, you're the board of education. You come up with where if you want it to be 31, raise your hands and and uh put the tax levy at at 31. We felt that it was our job to provide the board with some runway that you would have some room to make some uh recommendations, whether it be UPK, whether it be funding another teacher, what have you. Those are hard decisions that you're going to have to make. But at the end of the day, um we were facing a 322k deficit and we we did our job to uh bring that down without um in our opinion without any staffing uh leaving our district and being
084able to maintain the quality of program that we have. Um I I would beg to differ that we are wealthy. Um, I think most of us raising children in this district love our district very much and I'm very uh proud that m all five of our children have been dragons and are dragons. However, I think 3% is outrageous. Um, and I for one appreciate that it's been brought down. I would like to see it brought down even more as a taxpayer. Um, but I I would like to to think that most of the people that I know who are raising children in this district would not look around and say what what inflation has had happened in the last year. You know, eggs are $9 a dozen. I don't think we would look around at
085this point and say yes, tax us more. Um, I for one won't and I wouldn't advocate for that. Um, I'm I'm thrilled we were able to get it down to 2.5 while maintaining our very high standards. I appreciate your work, uh, Mr. Fank. Um, I'd like to see it come down even more. Quite frankly, I don't think that we're wealthy right now. I think between, uh, the cost of living and inflation, um, right now, it's not the right time to to hit us with high taxes. Thank you for that. Uh, anybody else? Uh, I just have a quick comment question. Um, not to put you on the spot here, but maybe for next time. Could you just provide us with the math? Like what is the average homeowner's difference on these different tax increase possibilities?
086Yeah, we can do that. Thank you, Christine. Brendan, yeah, I just want to add one uh one data point. So, Christian, you you you always mention or you have mentioned at the last two meetings the lowest cost per pupil in the county, and that's absolutely right. But I think that is only one side of the story and and that's not really how people calculate their tax burden. While it's true that we have the lowest cost per pupil, we also have just the highest aggregate taxes per household in Orange County. We just we pay the most in property taxes. And you mentioned last time um you know the history of Cornwall boards that have always been penny pinching for lack of a better word. It's not a coincidence there. We've all generation after generation have been
087dealing with the same underlying issues in Cornwall which is we have a lot of uh space in our in our district that we cannot develop on uh that is not bringing in business revenue which is not the case for other districts. So, you know, it's not coincidence that many boards have come to the same conclusion. And I think one thing that Terry pointed out correctly whenever we have gone a little bit higher in the tax levy, our budgets have passed in the low to mid-50s. And that too is a difference. It is true, Christian. Uh in the last 10 years, it is. In the last two or three years, we've had a very good run of it, but prior to that, they were very close. uh including one failed one um you know within this
088generation. So I I think that while the lowest cost per pupil stat is important and I think is uh a credit to the whole district for getting the most out of that money, if we are having a conversation about the tax impact and our ability to raise taxes and to uh ask the homeowners to shoulder that burden, we have to look at it from their perspective. They wouldn't go into it and say, "Wow, my taxes are going up to 3% and I'm going to be paying $15,000 a year, but we are getting the most out of our dime." Uh, it's certainly more than than other districts. That's just not how they would make that calculation. Thank you for that, Brendan. I know Christian, you're itching. Um, I am going to go back to you. I
089want to give everybody an opportunity first. I just want to thank everybody. I think this has been a really good discussion um and a way to you know disagree without being disagreeable. There's differing viewpoints on how we construct parts of the budget and this is you know our important job as a board is to have this discussion in a nice civil manner. Um I just want to commend everybody on how this has been going so far. Um I think everybody except for myself and Carl have had an opportunity. So Carl I'll see if you Carl's gonna pass. Um, so I'm going to ask the question, the five teacher uh positions filled by redistribution of staff or enrollment in program shifts. Can we have details on that, please? Uh, so the two that have been completely
090solidified are at the uh elementary level. um some early intervention um uh staffing that we added uh back with uh the federal funds um would be um reallocated to uh classroom teachers. Uh the other three teachers would be at the middle school um and high school level. Uh and then one that we're still looking at with regards to enrollment in our special education program. uh those are the other three uh positions and those are really looking at um numbers they shift every single uh year. So for example at the high school level uh our students are um registering for courses for next year. So however that um pans out we have it narrowed down but depending on where our students vote to uh take their courses for next year that's where one of the positions
091will occur. um a change in enrollment at the middle school uh for programming is um that other uh position and then we're having ongoing conversations um uh with one more department. So, we're really confident based on where we are with um enrollment bubbles and things of that nature with uh shifting those positions around and still being able to um provide high quality instruction for our students. Uh great. Thank you for that. Um, so I will um just make the comment as well to add um to echo Brendan's sentiments that we it's difficult when looking at our town because we just really don't have any industrial base or you know large commercial base in this town as we all know uh as far as taxpayers go and really a lot of the tax burden um it's
092almost exclusively born on the back of homeowners. Um, so that's important to keep in mind that other towns in this county have large industrial commercial facilities uh that that bear a shoulder of that burden. Something that's beyond our control as a school board, but something to be mindful of. Um, so I'll echo Brendan's sentiment there and say, you know, historically speaking, large tax increases um over 2% have had difficulty passing um in this town. So I would I would just echo that sentiment. Christian, so let me just address the data aspect that people are asserting these facts and I would glad gladly share that with anyone here. If you were to regress the tax levy increase against support for the budget over any time frame the last 20 years whether you want to just look
093at the years under the tax cap error the full length of 25 years or even in the last 10 years uh the number where you get close to 50 and you take the best fit line of that is significantly above what you're asserting and if you'd like maybe we can present that because I think that's the most objective way to determine what have voters in Cornwall supported. Secondly, my concern is not to let's say tax high. What I am saying is that by taxing low, you're making a higher tax lo increase to maintain the same pro uh same programs inevitable and that at that time that will be a much larger increase and its will be harder because we have not increased it to the level we've done now. So this is if you want
094to keep the tax levy low, we have to do something now for the future. Perhaps my children are in kindergarten and prek right now. And I don't just want a good school district this year. I would like to have the same school district in 13 years when they're graduating from it. Secondly, as you people have mentioned, a lot of people here, the main thing in Cornwall is residences. And therefore for a lot of people their main asset is their house. And as Dartmouth economics professor William uh Fiscal has analyzed school taxes function as a capital expenditure on your house that your wealth of your asset increases because you spend and the school helps to anchor the price of your house. And you can just do that simply by comparing two houses in let's say this
095district exactly the same design built in the same year roughly in the same location. and look at the actual sale price of those houses. So, this is encouraging people to be good stewards over a long period of time because while we could lower the cost this year, what you're going to see perhaps if we ever fall from the number one rating in the county that what you'll see is a wealth loss by across the town because our school districts perhaps are not going to the same quality when all of our peers are spending more. And so, that's kind of a short-sighted way to look at it. And I think that I would like us to think in those terms over a longer period than a single year in a single budget. So what I would
096say is the analogy that since we're talking about farms, I can lower my budget this year by not fixing the roof of my barn because you know what? It'll probably last this year and then perhaps next year, you know, it won't fall apart. And then when it does, then we have a hole in the roof and it's a lot more expensive. And you know what? I don't have to be figurative about that because that literally happened in Cornwall in recent memory. Um, in terms of the middle school's gym roof, we have two buildings that are over 100 year or at or over 100 years old. That's a fairly old school building. And so an investment perspective is we put money in to lower the cost in the future. And if we look at past Cornwall
097decisions where we've gone lower is ended up costing us more when we didn't take the lower cost option in the past. So I think a better perspective on this and part of the reason for our strategic plan is to in a sense not only plan on what we need to spend on but how we're going to have a smooth revenue increase over time to address those needs and those programs that I think um most of the people in this district want. And I think that is a better way to look at it in terms of everyone who's a homeowner knows you can put off repairs on your house. You can go a few more years on replacing your heating system or investing in new windows or better uh replacing a roof. And if you do
098that long term, it ends up costing you more money because the advent the inevitable repair is going to cost a lot more than the the maintenance year-to-year, which is what I see keeping the tax levy at a low manageable but smooth increase. Not having, let's say, a tax levy at zero when your tax levy cap was in over four, I believe, in that year and 1.25 and 1.75. And I've made this argument before, but we can look at and I've made this analogy and Mr. Frink probably knows it well. What happened in Carmel last year and our revenue growth over time is lower than Caramel's. And we know what that happened in Carmel in terms of cutting a deep cut in their educational program, but they did it with one of the highest per pupil
099expenditures in their county. So perhaps maybe that was right sizing. It's not for me to say, but we're doing it from the lowest spending. And we are mostly talking about this in terms of spending being too high and too low. And also what happens when you don't spend for it in the school district and a parent then has to spend more money for tutoring or some other activities or rely on the PTO to make donations to make up for we're not spending as a school district. That doesn't actually lower the overall cost for our community. And I think we need to start maybe perhaps looking at this because this has been a long-term concern. And I'll just finish with just one thing because as I said last meeting, I've been reading old, you know, Cornmall
100locals and looking at letters to the editor about everything about every school budget going well back into the 1990s. And I'd like to go back because what did adults do when I was a student? And there was a year where Cornwall's tax levy increase was 10%. And this is well before the tax levy. And the Cormal local surveyed a bunch of local residents and there was one woman who was clearly either in her 70s or 80s. And at a 10% tax levby increase, she said, "Of course, I'm going to vote for it. Everything for the schools." And that is the attitude that I think made us into the school district that we're proud of. And it would be a sad thing if we don't honor that legacy. Thank you. I appreciate that long explanation. I'm
101still hard now. Uh, thank you. Just give me one moment. I I just feel the need to to qualify something really quickly. I think, you know, Christian, to your point about supporting a legacy. I think as a district, we do support the legacy of supporting schools. That doesn't necessarily mean it has to be through tax dollars. And I'm not landing hard on either side of the argument because I want to see some more facts. Um, but I I I take exception, I think, to thinking that the only way to withhold a or to um uphold a legacy of really having a community invested in the schools is only through taxes and increasing taxes. I think our community shows that a lot and all the time without necessarily a tax increase. Thank you. Um so I
102think what we'll do just to um continue to work here um again I appreciate all the thoughts shared by everybody here at the DAS is we have another presentation next meeting on March 24th and the budget will really start to take final shape then um and we can sort of really continue that discussion and go around and go do we you know all right is 2.5 where we want to stick do we want to increase um you know what other options do we want to look that. But, you know, I think you know, Terry, you really said it of, hey, we felt it prudent as an administration to make a recommendation, but ultimately you at the board are sitting here, that's your decision. Um, so I think it's best to pick up those nuts and
103bolts at our next meeting. Would that make sense to you, John, since you're putting it together? Yep, absolutely. All right. So, I think we'll finish this up for this evening. Thank you uh for the presentation, John. Thank you everybody for the discussion and um we will continue our budget work next time. And now I will try and find my agenda. I think public comment is next. I don't know where I put my agenda. Um public comment. Any takers? Okay. So, no takers for public comment. And that will move us to adjournment. Can I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? We have a motion from Carl. And we have a second. Second from Christian. All in favor? I I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Thank you all. We will see you in two weeks.