001make a motion to call the meeting to order I second it thank you Bri Hy made the motion Teresa second it thank you very much tonight we'll get right to it as you can see what the agenda is we're first going to discuss the financial status of the uh seven month ending January 31st 2024 and then the second item on the agenda is the financial review of the budget submission to the the city that being said I'm going to turn that over to Mr spank and Mr we well thank you Rich um I'm gonna let Mike walk you through it um and Mike if you could mention it it's kind of um new and improved uh working uh carefully last week you'll see some changes and how it looks um you'll see when we talk
002in the narrative about things we reference the line item that's later in the report um and the report itself has those numbers as well as a new column uh for the most recent monthly activity and then uh Mike I think we did our first stab at the uh the top 10 list as well that came up last month so why why don't you walk uh folks through and we'll see where we go yeah sure it's uh yeah Mr janelli had some um feedback as well we were able to incorporate in here so pretty excited to uh to reveal the changes um Ken if you could just pull up the January report if there we go so this is just the uh the summary uh narrative uh year-to dat so ending January 31st there was a
003total of 67.2 million uh expensed of the $150 million budget that we have and then there was an additional amount incumbered of8 2.5 million so we have right now um a we're projecting at a positive $285,000 variance so still positive but that that number is slowly um approaching zero as time goes on the uh next paragraph you'll see here uh with the underlining um one of the changes we made to the reports you'll see uh below that we added the um general ledger account numbers which is that 102.0 number you see um as well as the title of what that account uh actually shows um and in this paragraph It's just calling out that there there are two items really um that are are kind of being offset so the teacher regular salary is is
004showing unfavorable um but that's offset because the the actual amount that was budget Ed um for the new positions um we budgeted in an account called enrollment Impact Staff and that is um typically is below but for this current report U Mr janelli you asked that we kind of put them under and over each other um and in a similar manner there's um a an account called uh tutor special ed which are special education tutors and the budget for that sits somewhere else so when you combine those they those items offset to a favorable $945,000 so what we're trying to do is for those accounts that are either largely positive or largely negative um for the reasons of being offset somewhere else we're trying to combine and collapse them so it's a little bit easier
005um you'll often hear me to refer to this as just geography where the expenses are hitting one area but they're actually budgeted in another the other item I wanted to call out was uh the account um transfers and special items um this item uh is the number that we're typically used to seeing all the way down at the bottom of the report it's a negative $4.7 Million number and that was um the anticipated savings that did not materialize and uh I think for now um for the purposes of this report anyway we're going to leave that so we can expect to see that for the remainder of the the fiscal year um and there are some some changes we'll see as we walk through the report but the last thing we just wanted to mention
006is that in October um the at the Board of Education regular meeting um there was a request uh for 200,000 to be um refunded back for the uh cyber C breach and about another 200 400,000 for the special education mandate um for disabled students that are age 21 it's now going to be age 22 um and those were approved um for the most in the most recent city council meeting so can I stop you there for a moment the additional monies that would just uh approved for us the 600,000 will be a special one time appr appropriation that I'm assuming next month since it was authorized I don't know how you're going to reflect it what he reflect it when you get the cash or when it was authorized but on the bottom of the
007$150 million budget it'll have another line number for those two items showing a one time appropriation and that should increase the 284,000 balance by by 600,000 so we'd be looking at some 800,000 positive toward the end of the year is that correct yeah the the um additional six um 600,000 will essentially increase as you're saying correctly will increase the $150,000 dollar budget so there will be uh favorable variance because the the numbers that you're seeing um below the 150 here which is the 67 million and the 82 those are are already have those amounts that expensed included in them so um there there will be an increase in the unencumbered balance correct and one other question if I made the the cost for the cyber security and the take one of the time the cyber
008security that money has already been expended I'm assuming or incurred on our part is that correct correct the other 400,000 for special a has that been inur it or is it encumbered uh I believe that that amount is encumbered um is that correct John it is uh probably more than half of it has been expended you know we're halfway through the school year and what's not uh is encumbered either to the out of district schools themselves or in transportation to our transportation provider thank you I I yeah one question I can't see okay I can but not everybody so if you have a question you know just be polite just mentioned your question I I really can't see the hands but I can see Teresa at this point uh the 600,000 is that coming from
009the reserves or directly from the city I'll answer that um yes to both the the reserves are on the city balance sheet and they're uh releasing those uh to us so so this is not the city giving us money they're granting us the uh okay to take it out of our reserves this is nothing this is not out of the goodness of the city council's heart no it's coming out of your five million whatever that number is 5 mil8 I don't remember the number but it's coming out the board reserves I think I I think that should be clarified in in that uh in this document that it's not that what should we clarified for then it's the two items were approved by the city and it's most re to from the reserve account oh
010okay we could put put note that there's nothing there's nothing there about being from the reserve account and I'm thinking it came from the goodness of the city's council's heart and it's not no they're not that kind you I mean I appreciate them releasing from the reserves don't get me wrong but I I just like clarification on this document yeah and and that's why I said to show it when John shows it below the line it's not an addition to the Appropriations just a one time a one time in Fusion similar to what you had mother time before okay we can certainly make that footnote so it's clarified thank you Mr chair may I ask a question and I see Wanita also has her hand up as well sure it's okay K I'll take you
011person one either okay thank you thank you um Mr chair I just want to confirm when we made the the request of uh city council for this money were we expect were we asking for it from the reserves or were we asking from for the city for this for these funds because uh and perhaps I'm wrong I I knew we had made a request of the reserves uh for initially $4.7 million and then we dropped that down to just over three million um I thought these other two costs were were uh requests directly to city council for those funds uh they they were both they were different uh one was for from our reserves and the other we asked for from the city Surplus I forget which one was which okay um I I was
012under the impression that the 200k and the the 400k requests were from uh City general fund our motion um from this committee actually was from the one was from the reserves one which what do you mean John that one of either the 400 or the 200 yes I I think if we look at my document I've I've replicated Verbatim what our motion was and that would tell us how what was said could dig that out and I I think that's a good point Teresa because it's contrary to my understanding which meant that it came completely from our reserves John and that is the 600,000 reduce the Reserve balance that that's what eventually happened that's how they that's how they put it forward to the city council that's what the council voted they didn't vote it
013the way we asked for both of them okay because next year if all things stay the same they'd be obligated to give you the 150 and not not the 150 plus the 600,000 is a word an appropriation you tomorrow for the U minimum expenditure requirement r no no no I'm just saying forget what I said so long as we're clear that it came from our reserve and Teresa you're clear on that so johal footnote it so that we could have that as a footnote um Rich 18 yes thank you um I um disagree that it should be a footnote I think that it should go right in the paragraph be very clear and transparent um that this amount was from the um approved to be withdrawn from the educational fund supplemental fund and this was
014from whichever other account okay but all right that that's fine it's a matter of presentation well we're talking about um making sure that we have a narrative to go along with the budget so let's be very clear and open and transparent with what we say and it does not need to be I don't think it needs to be a footnote it needs to be very clear where the monies and the amounts came from okay so in [Music] the unless you want to well okay take that into account for next month when it's presented on the financial statement we can incorporate that into the narrative points well taken all right let's move on Richard holler has his hand up okay Richard hey good uh good evening John and uh and Michael if you could kindly explain
015so if if I understand correctly our current salary incumbents Allin is running a positive 954k and you you have our yearend encumbrance coming in at about a 284k the um just to clarify sorry the the 945 $5,000 um favorable variance is a year-to-date favorable variance that is specific to only two accounts one is the tuition special education and is offset by the clerical substitutes um the 284,000 refers to um the entire balance of the entire general fund okay so kind of with that being said then where where is the variance for the difference of 670k you would have to look at all of the different that's what I'm asking that's what I'm asking for where where you know where where where are we struggling as far as against against you know year dat budget in
016terms of what what specific line items and in particular you know the needle movers whether they be you know health benefits Transportation whatever the case might be I I I would think Richard when they did involved in the detail of the report it should become evidence I mean we're only looking at a summary here so we haven't even got to the detail yet if you want to move on if you want to move on to the details you can go through it and perhaps it'll show up there you to up there okay thank you Ken if you could just scroll down to the the next page so this is the breakdown of the accounts this is the the summary so the large um buckets so to speak so salaries benefits purchase services so on and
017so forth the First Column you'll see is something new to this report this is month-to-date actual um and this is the actual spend for the month so for the month uh ending January 31 um and actually the top of that report says 2023 it should say um we spent 10,952 th000 the next column over um actually the next four columns were what we were traditionally used to seeing which is the budget the expenditures year-to dat of the 67.2 that I mentioned before and the uh incumbrance of 82.4 leading to our positive $284,000 variance and this is like I said just a summary the detail is in the report following this um by by account by line item for the for the members I had asked John and and Michael to insert a month of date
018column because I like to use that and I like to see the month of date because sometimes I like to play with averages and see how they compare to the month of date U and what my purpose is is collectively is to have a consensus at some point as to how we can improve this report so that we feel we get the information we're looking for from it uh so it's it's open you know for discussion at a later Point as suggestions as to other items perhaps that you'd like to see on the year and how you'd like toh to see it so this was the first the first go around the first draft showing the monthly date um I said I'd like to see monthly figures and year to date figures um the other
019comment I'm going to make is is the $4 million I don't know if you can see what I'm pointing to here the unassigned minus $4 million my suggestion would be conversation on this I'd like to see the budget numbers adjusted without that negative number because to me it distorts the the balances because you have when use the word inflated numbers in these categories and then you're taking it out at the bottom and you one L sum joh had prepare a budget net of these numbers and I think you read it across and you see the actual balances total should be the same that is the bottom number but uh looking at it line number by line number would be differences so again that's a topic for conversation to perhaps further clean this up a little
020bit if you want to go on go ahead sure K if you'll just scroll down the um following Pages um I believe uh Mr Holly this was your request was the um kind of a top 10 account so I did the uh five positive and five negative um so that the top section is those that have uh the most the five most unfavorable variances and the five beneath that it starts with enrollment impact are the five most positive uh variances and if there's no questions on that we could move down to the next page and then this Begins the detail uh Mr hly you asked although I think it might be hidden by our faces depending on how you have your screen setup um all the way to the right is the yeah there we
021go the year-to-date budget balance so this is by account the items that have that darkened box around them are the uh footnotes uh 31 and two which are called out on the um summary page uh there was some feedback that that um narrative or summary page that we use should call out the major items in here so that's just what those boxes are and this particular page uh is this particular part of the report is about six pages long and Ken if you scroll down to the bottom you'll see that you'll get get to that 256,000 I'm sorry $284,000 positive variance and the footnotes are are below Rich um I'm concerned at the low ballots and this is only February I mean this end of January uh that's kind of scary point we have no
022wi room but add to the six of the 284 add the 600,000 or 640 whatever that number is that we're getting from the the city so brings the number up to 800,000 800,000 at at this particular point I I think Dr casmiro should make a comment relative to whether she thinks a free should be in order at this point I'll let her answer that yeah Ian we started to have some preliminary conversations about a soft freeze just to see where we are to stabilize um that the low balance concerns me as well um I'm also cognizant of the fact that we've um a lot of the the freezing so a soft freeze would mean um our schools would uh have to freeze some of the supply lines that they have which were already reduced so
023before we send folks into a tizzy I'd like to continue to work with the finance team to analyze it thank you Point's well taken Teresa looking at the 284 would be serious because it gives us very little Wier room for margin of error the additional 600 plus at least gives us a little bit more of a breathing a breathing uh a breathing room put you know putting it that way uh but and and I believe that was possibly the the I'm not going to speak for John but went John and Kevin Went before the council indicating that they didn't feel that they needed the 600,000 I'm sorry they didn't need the $3 million but would like to have uh an authorization to draw down on it I think they were taken into account the the
024acceptance of the the uh 600,000 that they would get and and thinking the numbers would end up at the end of the year in the black is that correct yeah it's exactly right we uh we gave it a name we said the uh the $3 million that we had asked for in the summer uh we said it's very uh likely we won't need all of that um part of that is what Mr Holly pointed out in the salary lines we have a favorable Val balance there um because of our un mostly because of our unfilled paraeducator positions um unfortunately we still have um an estimated 50 unfilled par educator positions and if they're earning uh $25,000 a year uh there's a a million to right there so if you take that off the the three
025million you could say we we might need two million uh but what we ask for is uh the ability to draw it down as uh things occurred um and we're I think the jury's still out on that um they haven't said no to that uh they'd like to talk to us some more so I'm I'm modly encourage enourage that that may be the way they they do it these these reports are so detailed with the amount of line numbers um and and and I must admit it's confusing and as we go along and that's why I think it's important to get your Insight and opinion as to what you'd like to see I mean this the first time we put a month of dat figure I wouldn't mind seeing another sheet that backs this up
026with from July through through the current period at an add with each month the the month of dat total because it then becomes easy to take a look at the transactions and you can see what particular accounts might be vared this month or costs were up or down and and explain the reasons when you're looking at that right now it's a matter of I had conversations with John where I was taking year to dat actuals and comparing into the month coming up with variances but as John explained the first two months of the year July and August are very light so a lot of my numbers were on the average for less than what my acttion was so there are some idiosyncrasies in the way we operate and I to think the more information we
027have the better informed we are um we can always export this to Excel and and make it do pretty much what we want to do but as long as we keep working for that and we get to a better understanding of it I think that I think that's good gives us a better opportunity to understand the numbers and where we're going okay Mike John yeah so that that is um that is the last page of this particular part of the report and then the next page Begins the last part which will show our uh grants um I did change this report uh also um in that I sorted it by the total budget amount they were previously listed by their uh their Grant number which is the last three digits you'll see after the name
028that4 I just changed it to be sorted by the budget so you see your biggest grants uh first yeah hold on one second all right that's good one other recommendation I'm G to make on the other report you have i' like to see subpal after your accounting Series so that your 5100 series your salary is the subtotal act so would agree with your summary page and for all the other categories so then we have nice highend numbers and it's already referenced to see the categories for the summary and we can down and talk about them I think I gave you a copy both you a copy of something I developed again we can try that next time sorry uh Rich yes I'm having a hard time hearing um because there's some background noise what I
029was saying is I was recommending that in the future on if you go back to the line number for report Michael scroll up a little bit more Ken yeah yeah so these are broken up by the um actually the third part so you'll see these are the 56s so if I'm understanding you correctly I'll insert um a total so that all the 56s are sumed together that match that uh summary page before this right I I did that for December uh so I already have it done it'll be very easy to make that change yeah and then I think it makes it s because then you have you go from the summary you go to the detail report uh and you know I think we're getting closer to cleaning this up that we understand it
030the question is is there anything in here at this particular point that you should when you use the word put a watch on something that we should be concerned about it looks like the health insurance is is is favorable and running favorable but is there any anything in these list of accounts that you are worried about that that could be problematic Rich one of the things on my mind um is special education um and special education Transportation um there's little we can do about those um things that come out of IEPs but we have felt a little pressure um in the accounts and in the U purchase orders that go out in those two areas so we're we're keeping a very close eye on that internally to see what's going on okay do anybody have
031any other comments on the report if not then we can go to the second item on the agenda which has to do with the which the the budget that we're going to submit um it's my understanding that for tonight we were going to confirm since we didn't have last week a final answer as to the the capital budget item uh items put it that way or the $1.6 million that we added to the budget uh we didn't have an answer that night Dr Cas were you able to confirm for John with the city whether our capital budget was incorporated somewhere in in the city budget uh the fact that we couldn't find it um may have meant that they put it someplace else or was it completely left out we would justify to put in
032the the number for the computers that we needed so and John could confirm it's my understanding that none of the the items below the the Brick and mortar list made it into made it into for consideration there appears to be some projects that crossed over such as the ellworth roof replacement and some items such as that um but for but the items that we placed in the budget um that were of the nature of of Chromebooks uh copers security things that we considered essential uh did not make it in for consideration so we amended the $178 million to now to be precise to be 181 million 343 um I think it's 995 um do we have to at this point as the finance committee take that and make that recommendation to the board that that
033is the number and the details that we support and submit to the city or is it finished uh for what we did last week but I think since we had the confirmation tonight it sort of buttons it down that 18081 Million number is the firm number going to stay with that rich the uh the the agenda for tomorrow night uh the agenda item the motion is to adopt the budget at at that level okay whether that comes from you as a motion or I'm not sure well yeah it's just a recommendation of the finance committee since working on it that we recommend the full board toep the 181 billion I don't know if that's necessary in a formal motion or we just move on and and do it next night I'll leave that up to
034gladus she knows the Robert's Rules orders I work on bri borders Mr chair I see that Teresa has her hand up yes Teresa okay uh this is probably what I should have asked Mike last week that figure for The copier and uh replacement copiers is that the same figure we've had for the last two years trying to re um replace copers and it just keeps getting kicked down the road Teresa just to clarify you said Mike you were you were talking about Mike C Mike seelig okay sorry yes uh we've been able to replace a few copiers but the bulk of that money has just carried carried on to the next budget even when we had a full allocation last year that's correct so we're we're we're borrowing from Peter to pay Paul again um
035let me go back to my previous are you satisfied with that answer Teresa yes thank you Mr chair thank you um let me go back to my previous question is it necessary Mrs Cooper for us to make a motion from the finance department tonight since we have clarification that the Chromebooks were not in the capital budget that the finance committee formally recommends to the full committee the AC acceptance of our number of the 181 million 343 995 the recommendation would the recommendation will come from this the four the finance committee to the board on tomorrow night to accept that number of 181 mil3 and something and N something okay for the board to accept that okay that's fine so we don't need any any motions tonight is there anything more that has to be said
036on the proposed budget well I I just want to say about um it's come to my finally to my attention and I think Rich you pointed it out we don't have any JV teams at the junior high or uh sports teams at the junior high level and I think at some point point that should be a serious consideration um down the road um I comfortable with the way this meeting has has gone is is there any other information that committee members feel for any other board members who are on this meeting want to ask otherwise I'll ask Mr chair Wanita has her hand up thank you um let me also um add in that one of the items um that did not um get on uh from the city were the walls at King Street
037Primary School um I don't know from the past how the finance committee has looked at this but we know that we um are living in a time where safety needs to be at the top of our list and so I'm I'm a little uh taken a back that we're still sitting with school buildings with an open concept for learning in other words no walls and those are our babies that are in that building thank you thank you well noted we could bring that up on a sites and facility meeting the next time somebody had a question no rich I I was just gonna add we're we're um we're constrained um when it comes to Capital we can um we have a lot of leeway within our operating budget and even what we call operating uh
038computer student devices and things like that uh but uh capital and bricks and mortar is really the province of the the city council it's it's things like that are not an option for us to add into our operating budget as much as we need to um there there's a pretty clear line that's that's drawn u in the state statutes yeah I just um I just want us to make sure that as a board that we are uh stressing that that that should um also be of importance to the city I understand that that's their um thing but that's certainly that safety area uh Danberry has been blessed I believe that we have not had any serious uh safety concerns in our buildings and we want to keep it that way the points well taken ju
039and that's why I said we can bring this up at the sites committee to further push these issues uh has a watch it rich I'm sorry I just I just wanted to make a comment about the the capital um budget projects you know I I I think heading into this and and trying to get a handle on what that process entails um you know that was a little bit elusive uh to to me personally and I think to to a few others and so you know I I would recommend and moving forward you know considering that there's a lot of you know there there's a good list that was put together there was just on the brick and mortar building side there was you know almost you know five over5 A5 million dollars for the
040projects listed things that we need in the school system and clearly you know um adding something like that you know is not going to not going to serve us at this moment in time but certainly um you know if we could make an internal um prioritized list based on the list that was submitted and begin to incorporate those in and then build in some advocacy with the city at the same time so that we're present and we're advocating for some of the most pertinent projects um before they come to pass uh in in in advance I think would help our position um you know the how we didn't you know we get to a place where we don't know if something is even in the budget or not in the budget or on the capital
041list or not in the capital list is is disconcerning so you know moving forward I'm hoping that we can build in some um proactive advocacy along the the items that are on here so we can get these picked away because we do keep kicking the can down the down the road um you know with a with a sense of defeat as you know because we we know that certain levels of funding are are simply not possible so um that would be my recommendation that's well taken because and I think from my point the years I've been on the board I don't recall us really talking about the capital bu big emphasis has always been on the superintendent's budget per se so I think in our calendar for next year is that we devote the time
042to to prepare the budget and discuss it was as much this as we do with the operating budget so that we could you know make our statement and do the advocate the advocacy during the course of the year to support that um this was a a big surprise to me when I joined the board and found out about this budget and that's why I had asked for a copy of it uh I don't recall in the past it being an issue of you know most of the time we spent is been on the superintendent's budget so I don't know how that was done in the past but the points well taken and I think you know in addition to On's concerns we will address these issues you know as they come up periodically on the
043sites facilities meetings but we will then look for the agenda next year to do a more prudent job of following through and see what happens with the capital budget so doesn't fall by the wayside become you know 11th hour nightmare like we had to find out this time it it is an embarrassment hadn't Michelle brought up that point then going under a Mis assumption that everything was honky Dory later we found out that nothing was even given given credit to what we presented so we we' got to correct that as well Mr Holly are you able to put your mute your microphone please sure thank you could I could I just say something uh Mr janelli um and you know right now we're dealing with the budget and we're all concerned about everything that goes
044on uh concerning education and as we talk about things that are going on in our schools that we are not happy about things that could happen to our young people and I think it's very important that as we talk about you know the sites and facility committee can handle this the budget committee can handle this who can fix this I think we all need to advocate for what we believe in and I think I'm the oldest member on this board and if I can take time I advocated to the common counsil last week talking about safety in front of South Street school and if you know if it comes up again this month I'm gonna still go there and talk about safety you know they might get tired of hearing me talking about safety and
045and what they can do and what the police can do to make it better so you know I'm just saying this to every you know and I know we can't be every place every time sometime we just have to stand up different people and speak things and they are hear a little bit different so I just want to say that really quick pleas thank you that being said then I call for a motion toar so moved okay who made a motion Terry made the motion I'll second yes yes okay all in favor I I I rich bye thank you very much I'll see you all