001uh four of our committee members on so we've got a forum which is great we can move forward no uh the chairperson excuse me good afternoon uh chairperson call the meeting to order is six o'clock oh the finance committee meeting first thing that should be on the agenda call the meeting to order and at this time the we will select a chairperson for that committee a recommendation has been that we uh select Mr Nelly as chairperson and then once you guys select that then you can move on with your agenda okay sorry about that glad I did not see you on here seconded the uh the recommendation of Mr janelli for chair okay I guess any other any other recommendations none okay I guess does everybody have to vote you win Richard all right thank
002you add that to my Sion which I appreciate nice Kate Excuse Me Kate could you just take the minutes because we need to know that it was a consensus of the group please yep no problem okay and the the and the finance committee do do we have everybody attending it's my one either Kate Richard somebody missing Teresa Teresa okay she's on she's on oh is she I'm here I'm hi Teresa yep I didn't see your name so it's uh it's tough all right but I thank you you for giving me the honor to to lead this group um I hopefully that we can make this you know productive um and and uh and basically basically uh that's it I I did want to start off by I don't see John Spang on here we're all
003we're all here Mr Jay he's here oh is he okay I wanted to thank John for his quick and detailed response to my email to him that I I I did back in uh was December on December 30th and I asked John to send you copies of that response again today John had mentioned that last week he had given you hard copies um the purpose of my doing that was basically to bring us up to date we are we're we're we're comprised of a board that some of us are coming in Midstream and don't have the the knowledge with the history um or even experience in some cases as to what happened in the past so there were certain questions that from what I perceived to read in the paper and other things that sounded
004confusing to me that I I wrote to John for clarity purposes and thanked him for his response which I thought was very detailed and good um so that it brings every body up to dat and at least we operate from being on the same page so it's not as if I wrote him a note and he gave me the information and now I had all this great information nobody else has it so I I I i' like to be able to share things that at least I learn or gather with my colleagues whether in a finance committee or on a full board um to me I I I think some of the answers the questions in here are important and and and the answers are equally as important and I wanted to find out from
005you whether you think would be worthwhile to go through some of these questions uh where I've here remarked that I had additional questions do do you think that would be informative Rich yeah um I'm new to the board but I do not know who Michael Weaver is and I do not know who Kenneth Wallace is and their roles um okay I can't see Michael Weaver I believe is John spang's assistant is that correct yes yes yes Mr Spang is the Director of Finance I know him Ken Wallace Ken Wallace is our technical support uh he'll help us um with the zoom part of the meeting if we need assistance um sharing any screens that kind of thing um that's he he's there to help W can can is also the same person who streams our
006meetings our Board of bed meetings thank you no you're welcome so if you feel that there's no need to go through any of this further and and pretty much you comprehend the answers then I won't waste your time but I uh I'll ask you what your opinion is well let me start off by saying this you could read it at your leisure one of the questions I asked John was for uh basically a budget for the academy uh which he provided me in great uh great detail and when I was looking at that budget and the compilation of the numbers It came it it came to a total basically of some $13 million supposedly to open the academy for grades six through 6 through 12 okay and when I calculated I went through and I
007took down the costs for each grade level that is 9 through 12 and 6 through 8 and the only assumption I had to make I I was I allocated the benefits based on a percentage to the total and I I think I took 70% uh of the startup cost for the material and the other stuff but it was a small number essentially my point was when it came out for the 9 through2 cost it was like 4,600 th000 or an average cost of $4,200 a student when I and that's for 1100 students if I'm not mistaken and then there was for grades six through eight it was like 5, 255,000 uh um 5, 255,000 or an average cost of about 17,500 for some 300 students so when I looked at that and I said wow
008it seems like that is really disproportionate when you're having almost $188,000 a student to educate for 300 students that's to me just an observation and a statement the other thing which I think is more important is when I look at the budget of the $13 million and I'm assuming that with this year we have close to maybe a a million five or two million in the budget and maybe five or 600,000 from last year but let's say to make the numbers nice and round even uh in the past two years we're looking to absorb $3 million of the 1 $ 13 million has there been any conversation where we're going and the school is is scheduled to be open shortly has there been conversation about the additional $10 million which is going to be a
009bump into one of our financial budgets that we're making in the near future uh and I I asked that because that is a huge number and if it we don't have I think this is something where need we need some sort of an assurance that when this request comes from us on a budget that's necessary to open the the district for that much money that we be at least aware or assured that it's going to be there because on the 11th hour I don't know what Mr Walton's going to do if he doesn't have that that money and then he has to go to plan B or C or D is to figure out how to implement Maybe by grade level or over the course of time this particular Academy so again not being part
010of this board previously has there been conversations on that um we we talk about this year the $10 million Cliff relative to the Esser money to me this is another Cliff that's coming up and I I just find it uncomfortable to to go ahead without any knowledge of or assurance that this has been talked about and that we're going to be guaranteed the funding and I go back and give you some experience that I had years ago there was an addition put on a high school for some 55 or $60 million uh uh Mark Bouton at the time said that he would pretty much guarantee that he would pass this I think it was bonded he would pass the bonding but he came to a board meeting with that statement and said I can also
011tell you I cannot afford to staff that new addition so we knew that we were going in having an additional capacity and then we had to figure out how we were going to uh to fund it same thing happened ear years earlier when we opened the West Side Academy we had to do in stages because a lack of funding so again my question comes from some previous experience um and knowing that it's difficulty so can anybody shed some light on that rich could I could I take a stab at some of that first and I I don't have all the answers but um a couple things um you know uh one of the things about the Standalone budget that we have for theems and and the reason the U the cost is so much lower
012on what we're presenting for the 912 compared to the 68 Middle School is the large number of staff from the high school that will be transferring over so to speak what you see in the budget uh is the incre mental staff uh that will have to add in uh that year it and that that drives that number down the uh there isn't as much of a middle school staff that will be transferring from other schools most of that will be uh will be new now the uh the last conversation we had with them and it wasn't much of a conversation it was kind of one way uh was when we uh brought our budget last April to the then ad hoc committee and uh one of the members uh brought up exactly that point and
013he felt that um our conversations uh should be further along than they were at that point um now it's certainly we have to play a a major role uh in securing funding uh but really that is uh the province of the city council whether they uh do it through property taxes or through the existing Surplus you know they are fund balance or by uh reducing other departments uh you know their their job is to raise the funds and you know we're presenting what we think uh is the need uh however couple things it's not as if it's been uh ignored either um there have been a number of occasions uh where we've interacted with the mayor's office they know what our plans are we've worked very closely on the construction it it of course it
014it's no no surprise uh there but I um maybe I would also look to the superintendent um a little more than a year ago I think um Kevin started having some uh Community meetings to get support and to get people um interested and aware and and the the interest was not strong um we thought we were on the path and and I don't know the reciprocity wasn't there is that a way to put it Kevin do you think or I I think that's fair M Mr janelli can I share the um if it's okay with you I'd like to share the presentation I think that John shared with you and I think some of our um um sitting board previously previous board members will uh recognize the presentation uh this was shared by John and
015carara at a board meeting um please cover your eyes for a second while I run through this quickly to get to the beginning uh so this was in November of 2022 uh that was the same time there was a committee of the council um the education committee um where the same question was asked by that committee and that was um what is going to be the cost to open up the academy um and 912 um but also what would be the cost to open up 68 um and so we had around about five6 meetings starting in uh September of 2022 um I believe we ended in January sharing some big numbers we shared everything and and and I think monthly what we did was we reviewed the the physical plans of the building we spent
016another meeting talking about um the themes um of theem um and then you know we began to talk about what it was going to cost for transportation and we tried to break down all their respective cost uh before we got to the slides uh that you were about to see um so these numbers are represented in um our 2425 projected cost um but which which will move based on how much we get from the city now so these numbers were flat we I did not think um at the time when we put this presentation together um we made any um expect we had any expectations about enrollment growth we just talked about the Staffing that exists right now um and so these numbers that you see and this is for current danburry High School this
017is how many teachers are there this is how many teachers in danburry Career Academy um the other campus uh I'm sorry yes the other campus um and so this is how many regular teachers would be needed across the system and it would be seven new hires we would need for regular classroom teachers um and then for remedial meaning special um for remedial PPT I'm sorry recommended by PPT there will be one um and you'll kind of see 33 currently at the high school we would need um eight uh for um and John if I'm not mistaken this is this one is for the middle school and this one is for the high school this is the total that's needed and then it's three new hires um and then ESL is the same so this is
018currently at the high school uh we would need four at the middle school I'm sorry yeah four the this is what it is I'm sorry so it's twoes over at uh the west campus fourmies at the high school 14 total three new hires needed um counselors um five counselors needed um at the campus on the west campus 12 counselors needed at the at the high school 17 in total five new hires needed um and so going from left to right that's how this reads and so Danberry Career Academy on the west uh danburry Career Academy danburry High School um and then this is the total 64 needed on the campus with two aies 144 regular red teachers needed at the campus with fourmies yeah and and Kevin pardon me yes you know I don't want
019you to waste your time but in the details in the memo that John answered to me he was he was he summarized it was very clear my my point is is is as follows give or take a million dollars when this Academy opens up you're going to be asking for a round number of $10 million more over and above what we refer to as the the the operational budget that is correct okay saying all I'm saying as a as a board member or if I were the superintendent all right at this particular point I think we ought to shake the trees and make sure that whatever Target date you have that you're going to go into this school that's going to coincide with construction and I think it was a blessing that the construction was
020put back a year because I'm not sure we could have afforded to go in this time but it's something else but that extra $10 million that we're asking for over and above whatever your budget comes to is going to be critical and if it's not there then you're going to have to start figuring out what you're going to do I mean that that's an exercise for later date but I I I think and again it goes into the multi-year projections but I tend to think conversations like this have to be started so that you as the super superintendent and us as a board don't become blindsided you know we don't want to deal Mr to be clear we we've had a number of conversations about this um this November presentation is actually a board meeting
021um in November of 2022 uh we had several meetings with the education committee um of the council um and um certainly had u a number of conversations with um the previous mayor Administration and have already had a conversation sharing round numbers um with the current Administration um and you know we have no problem continuing to advance this dialogue because it needs to happen um I can't I can't um say that we're definitely we're going to get some absolutes on in terms of how it's going to be supported because I'm concerned about 2425 um but I I'm hearing you loud and clear that folks need to understand similar similar to this year another investment is going to be needed in the 25 26 school year as well I I understand Kevin I'm just looking out for
022Richard Richard if I may interject if you don't mind please so they've had preliminary discussions regarding the 2526 budget when we bring the acmy on I think for tonight's purposes we need to look at 2324 budget where we're going to stand as far as year end is concerned come June and whether or not you know we're going to get that that umbrella of $4 million and then where are we in regard to the operating budget for 2425 I love I love the fact that you look long term and you you want to make sure that you you know that you that basically that the city is aware of the dollars and cents that's going to be take that's going to be involved but I almost think we're putting a horse in front of the cart
023that I I agree Richard all I said let's look at 2425 budget yeah and then 252 come here soon excuse me excuse me Mr Janella your chair could we let one person we answer answer the question then move on Teresa had her hand up for a while Richard is talking and let Richard uh finish his question and then the answer and then we go over to Teresa so everyone whether they uh board members are listening can get at least some clarification and hear what the other person is saying yeah so could Richard continue with his question Harley and then we'll move on to Teresa yeah again I just I just feel that we're putting the horse in front of the cart discussing 2526 that preliminary discussions have already been made with the city that on
024top of the operating budget and the wish list for 20 for 242 but we're going to need a minimum of $10 million to open up the Academy I would rather for sake for this for this meeting for tonight let's look at where we stand 2324 where we're feel we're going to finish in 24 and then look at the 2425 budget because from what I've seen from from Mr won that you know he has added wish list he has added you know positions and support staff in terms of a wish list taking it even above the 168 originally proposed yeah okay Teresa I'm sorry I can't see your hands so somebody who can it's yeah yeah I understand I um I just want to point out as a uh the past two year member of the
025finance committee uh we were originally told that we were just going to open up the uh two acmy on the west side and not take care of the junior high and not until this year's uh proposal for next year's budget that we learned that everything was going to open up at once uh and and the move in the whole schat I just want to point out it was originally we were originally told the only two um two sections of the academy we're going to open at the West Side okay that's my take great so Richard I wasn't looking to get involved in details on this all I was looking to do is I preface the point was to bring up existing members and to Kevin's point and you reiterated they had discussions on this and
026I'm satisfied with with his answers in addition to listening to to my concerns so uh that's fine thank you the the uh the the other thing brings us to The Current financial statements um and John don't take this the wrong way but I don't understand anything on the statement as to what it means I know you gave a narrative as to the cost of the Kelly Services the police department and something else but and that's hard to see the statements but when I look at the statement I I I see a variance of $3 million and I see everything else zero zeroed out and if in my one of my comments to you was the definition of an encumbrance but so what can you tell me what this particular statement is supposed to mean and
027again don't take it as a derogatory because I'm accustomed to looking at statements that have variances on it and then looking at variances that are up or down explaining the variance this shows no variance except for two items which to me concludes that you I mean forget what it concludes but it doesn't have any significance to me and if you can enlighten me and I'd appreciate it uh if it's uh okay I'd like to have uh Mr Weaver walk us through the report um before he does so rich um what I'd like to point out is probably uh two years ago now uh the then finance committee um asked that any uh minus figures be taken care of on a monthly basis so we we started to um take care of those each month and
028that's why you don't see any variances now what you say take care of what do you mean well let's say a number were showing slightly negative um and another one were were positive uh they would want us to transfer from the positive budget line to cover the negative budget line on a monthly basis um there's two views of that that's a stupid that's a stupid statement them to have recommended to you well um I mean it it it makes this report absolutely meaningless absolutely meaningless it it makes it I don't know I don't know what $3 million at the end of the year shows I mean normally I look at that number as an indication as to whether the part of money we have is going to be positive or positive or negative and and
029again these board members you know at least I was told that I was financially responsible for a deficit in into spending you know if the city doesn't bail us out so you know to have me write a check for $300,000 to cover my share of a negative balance it hurt my checkbook substantially but I think we're willing to uh whatever your the committee's preference is uh we can do it either way but it it's it's I I assume that you were told that because I don't think any professional would make any heads or taals out of this particular statement I mean I I I I couldn't out of it you know it couldn't make any any sense I can go through and give you an analogy of a couple of things but since you've agreed
030to go back and have the variances I think those variances are important because if it shows a a negative variance then you know we have a problem and we can explain what's creating that now in in the mechanics of the the the mathematics if you got a negative variance and you got positive variances and they offset it's sit back inside and say okay the pluses and minuses agreed but that net of pluses and minuses or as we get closer to the year end make us aware in what our financial position is it also gives us the opportunity to look at line numbers and categories or line numbers rather as to what expenses are going out of whack relative to the budget uh assumptions that you have so everyone Frozen so you know I don't have
031to explain it to you you're a financial person but my suggestion is going to be to go back have the variances show and then we deal with the explanations to the variances okay understood we can do that and you could take and then you could take the rest of the meeting to go through the report Mike do you want to walk through the highlights sure um and and yes we're happy to uh change the report um however uh best uh suits the the board but um this is the first of several documents um in the presentation and this is just a a highlevel summary um one just showing what the overall variance uh of the general budget is um and then additionally we'll take this time to call out any significant items um that that
032we think are um of of note um so you'll see here um through December 31st which is the end of the calendar year we had spent 56.3 million and of the $150 million budget and in addition to that 90.6 was encumbered um leaving us with the the balance that you noted of 3.1 it's also noted Below in that boxed out uh column um I'm not sure uh Mr janelli I think the the original question came from you about incumbrance so for for the benefit of everyone here um the way I like to think of an encumbrance is um um money that's um earmarked if you will um to be spent so uh if you can think of it that way um there are uh three things we wanted to to call out um this month
033one is the uh post-pandemic labor struggles as many people are seeing um not just in danburry or or in education but around the world in many different sectors um it is increasingly difficult to find um Staffing as well as there appears to be rate differentials all over and we're um very familiar with that that that's the case here so the first thing we called out is just the the number um of teacher absences and and power for professionals have increased in addition to the the rate per day or per hour the next item which is the third paragraph based on let me ask you a question based on the narrative so regarding the the increase in the costs on the the the daily rate and stuff like that which you feel is is important significant
034significant enough to highlight where if for looking through the details would I see such a an indication the reader should be able to follow the narrative to the report right and and I think to uh a portion of your your point before that when the variances Are all uh zeroed out it could be difficult um typically when I see issues in labor um for for us you usually will see um if it's if it's if you're under a staff you'll see a positive variance in labor and benefits and that's often um countered by a negative variance in uh like aemp fee or agency fees which for us is Kelly all I was saying is based on what you're showing me as a narrative as I as a reader couldn't identify anything that you're talking about
035as a a a high point or as my friend likes to call it a needle mover for the month uh I don't see any evidence I can't see any of that in this report that that's all so understand so but that's that's fine and you know you can go through the restk of the report but you know other than telling me how much you spent for the period of what's it five months uh I'm not really interested in uh in that because without other data it it has no significance to Me Maybe the other committee members uh to but that that's my opinion okay Mr Janita has a question want go ahead okay um one of the things that I'd like to unless you tell me that it's of utmost significance um in the paragraph
036that you talk about the absences and you're zeroing in on teachers and parap professionals um and I'm wondering if people who hold our administrative positions are included in those numbers our salaries do roll up all into the same line um but specifically the large majority of uh openings is in uh are in teachers and power professionals I I understand but um it says not only the number of absences for teachers and Prof and I understand your the next sentence talks about subs and you may not get subs for your um administrators but certainly um since that is a key point that keeps coming up in reports I would appreciate that either you use the term professional Educators professional staff members because it appears as if the arrow is always pointed at at uh the teachers
037noted John and and uh and Michael let me make a suggestion for for thought for you it might be beneficial that in your detail of the lines that you resume putting the account codes in and I say that only because in a narrative if you're talking about a specific specific category you can bracket that and and just refer it to the line number so again for the ease of the reader to know what you're looking for rather than to have to scan down you know six pages of of of a document um that's that's a good suggestion we can do that and then at some point between us i' like to get together with you and this might be nitty nitpicking with the other people but I'd like to through the definition of encumbrances U
038sure they they uh and again to the rest of the people this is stuff that to me because this is my my background and and John could relate to it um it's important that at least we're on the same page as to how things are are calculated it makes your life easier at the end of the day to read this stuff but would would you like me to write something up that's succinct and brief or you want to talk about it now or what's your preference no I mean basically you gave some description in your response to me but I have different examples that I'd like to go through with you so you know we'll do that offline okay that's really getting to the weeds and we don't have to you know take anybody else's
039time with that that stuff all right go ahead uh the second item we wanted to call out was the new Union contract for uh the police officers um we contract with Danberry Police Department to have staff um inside the school as well as uh uniformed officers um on on kind of an extra Duty basis um outside of the school the new contract um John I think you're a little bit more familiar with this but that um they are now going to be compensated at a higher daily rate um so that is that is going to be an incremental expense for us yeah yeah correct it's a um it's a 4H hour minimum uh for the extra Duty and we um I think we were under budgeted uh to start with we were budgeting uh $50,000
040for the the three officers to be outside at uh arrival and dismissal and we think that could be slightly more than a 100,000 this year so it's a a line that's in trouble and that's why we want to bring it to your attention the the new Contra Mike can for for our next report could you have some numbers to support that paragraph I think it will help certainly Associated yeah thank you Kevin that was going to be my next uh yeah it it'd be good to since you had the numbers I mean can estimate it with the contracts it'd be it'd be interesting uh to know so you know what the magnitude of these dollars are you talking so I I agree thank you thank and just the last thing to call out um was
041the um City's annual Financial audit uh the financial audit for the the statements ending June 30th 2022 um is still in progress um John and I had a meeting with uh the city as well as our Auditors again today and we've been meeting on a weekly basis just to continue to move that ball forward you know we were told at a council meeting at the same time that they authorized $100,000 to be that is the council authorized $100,000 to to be provided so that they could hire Consultants accountants to come in to complete this project and then Dan Dan uh Garrick I think his name is the finance director for the city said and almost guaranteed that this report plus a good part of 23 would be done by Thanksgiving and I assuming he thought
042was talking about the Thanksgiving that passed and not the one that's up and coming so I mean this is the biggest joke that I've heard in two years the the the entire last year was finger pointing as the Board of Ed problem the city problem and it it's still not it it still not resolved which is which is unbelievable absolutely unbelievable am and maybe we just needed more people to be able to speak up and and and talk about this I don't know what happened to the 100 Grand uh whether that money was actually spent or they're still complaining they can't find accountants I mean there are plenty people out there with financial ability to go in and do audit work you don't have to be a genius to to do sched schules and to
043do reconciliations and stuff like that of of the Mr J you have two questions one from Teresa and I think also from um Mr Holly Teresa um thank you Mr chair I agree with you 100% this audit business we were promised November this is ridiculous and I'm making my voice known to the councel as well this this is terrible I'm glad you're irritated Richard uh Richard from past experience you know me that I look to concentrate within what I refer to as needle movers things that have a significant impact on the $150 million operation budget we haven't got there yet I understand but you know we're we're moving toward that so to your to your point where you're looking for you know clarification in regard to the variances right if it would be possible for
044Michael and John to possibly prepare keep it simple what are our top 10 expenses against that 150 and where do we stand against them on a year to date as well as an incumbrance line yeah because honestly those 10 major expenses probably and again John Michael perhaps you can you can correct me if I'm wrong but are probably 92 possibly 93% of the total operating budget so it doesn't leave a whole lot it doesn't leave a whole lot of play I mean we've got we've got to look to concentrate on those NE and again in my opinion those needle movers that $100,000 for school resource or for that matter Police Department is a drop in the bucket when you're looking at a you know 2425 budget of 178 million and why why why why are
045we spending so much time on it yeah and also John to that point I was going to to continue before Rich asked it is there anything that you could add to the current financial statement based on your knowledge of the numbers that you feel are items hot button items to put it that way that you earmarked as as a watch item and and also to to Richard point that or to use his uh terminology needle points is there anything currently that you could make us aware that you feel based on your experience are some costs that are you're concerned about so M Mr janelli John Mike um I have on the screen to to Rich's point about um the big needle overs and um here what you're looking at um are our categories and our
046um General budget and I I don't know John I'm just wondering if everyone would be uh they'd benefit from just kind of hearing the thought process around uh number one this is everything that's unencumbered and this is the anticipated balance to date um salaries and benefits of course our biggest needle movers in the district maybe you can start with those two uh and then if there's some questions about anything else maybe we can talk about those as well yeah sure thank you that's a a good chart and yes um Rich there is something I we'd like to bring up um from the chart you're seeing here um we're not unlike any other uh Public School District most of our expense is in uh Staffing uh Staffing and benefits um usually three quarters or more and
047we're no exception so that that's where you you find the action um what's uh what's new this month uh in addition is that we've U been really scrutinizing our grants and um Mike will get to that in a minute but what we uh we're able to find we believe uh is some room in the grants uh to move some U budgeted items some actual expenses out of the budget and into to uh the grants and still meet the guidelines of the grants and as a result um if remember a month ago you weren't seeing a balance uh like this but the $3 million unencumbered uh is very close now to what um the ask if I could call it that in front of the the ad hoc and we'd like to uh maybe change that
048a little bit I'll explain in a second but uh there were two grants in particular that we found um unfilled positions or extra uh budgeted and approved by the state for salaries that that were not uh needed we we had hoped to fill all our positions in September and October but as as Mike mentioned the labor market is is stubborn uh so uh the first grant is the uh the sr3 that you you keep hearing about the one we're trying to move um into the budget for next year uh we felt there was um was it a few hundred, there Mike six or 700,000 that uh if we didn't do anything if we didn't fill the positions um nothing else changed uh that money would have gone back uh to the state of Connecticut so
049we've taken uh some expenses out of the school budget and uh reclassify them as Grant expens expenditures uh we did the same thing uh with our title one uh grants uh we have several uh call them the title grants um there's Title One there's title two uh there's some non-public portions there's some uh Grant balances that were carried over uh from the previous year that's pretty U common uh districts that don't spend their whole Grant can carry it over for another 12 months but we found found some capacity there so between those uh two moves uh we think we have a an unencumbered balance that uh quite possibly uh could hold until June now it's it's early uh I think we're almost at the halfway mark in terms of U 180 school days so a
050lot could change uh if we learned anything last year it was that that things um changed quickly uh but the uh idea we'd like to uh raise with the uh uh with the ask is perhaps having that uh City uh condition that or in other words make it subject to release that if we are to run into any unexpected uh situations or um if we're successful filling some of these necessary positions that would they would uh release a portion uh of the $3 million as needed now what that would mean is going back to them on a uh when things occur explaining uh supporting and things like that perhaps through the finance director uh maybe not the full Council but uh take a chance that maybe we can eek our way till uh June 30th
051without all of that money so and uh you know back to the original point that all comes from our our two big accounts uh salaries and there's some benefits that go with it so that's that's something new this month so John let me see if I understand you're saying that best case scenario that with the adjustments that you've outlined it may be it may best case may be that at the end of the year June of we may we may be able to squeak by with without having the need to dip in to the reserve and in the event to whatever extent we have to that you would like to on request take down a portion of that this year to fill that void is that correct right there there are some uh positions that
052are U I hate this they're all important but some are are mission critical for example um we could desperately use uh another Spanish teacher at the elementary level um and if we're successful um that could be something we'd like the money released for things like that I don't expect there' be a lot like that um but it does cover us u in the event or a a sudden uptick in health insurance like we saw last year right Mr J that that is correct exactly what you said that's absolutely correct that that's what John is saying so in summary the deficit of $4.7 million previously 1.7 was basically resolved due to however you made that resolution budget cuts right cut and and and the additional $3 million through additional Maneuvers would may make us whole let
053me let me go one step further I'm confused on the issue now I don't want to complicate it because there's another 200,000 and 400,000 that enter into you mentioned the ad haaka I don't want to to confuse it with that but in the presentation of the budget that we received on January 31st I forget the page number but there was a slide in there which made reference to reserve of $5 million what I mean we I'm getting confused that as to the magnitude and and the amount of reserves uh is it three or five in terms of what we're looking for well um you know one of the questions you asked and I don't know if Ken Wallace could put it up the um the second set of materials called the answers to the budget
054questions um if you could it if you look at the second page I think it it makes it pretty clear um there are three uh requests in in front of the ad hoc committees there are actually three committees uh one is the three um it's the other report Ken the one that's um like this it just it went around late this afternoon um there there's a request for $3 million to um for the operating budget for the unrealized savings and that's the one we're we're now uh going to talk about having it conditioned or subject to release right uh there are two other smaller ones uh one relates to the July uh uh cyber breach and the expenses we incurred uh mostly uh for the deductible in our insurance policy we have a there it
055is if you just go to the second page Canen uh that you could just zoom right in on the the middle of that there are the three um different uh requests uh I was just talking about the middle one we had $100,000 deductible U for the loss and then there was about another $102,000 of um improvements uh security things that uh we absolutely had to do uh to keep our our system safe and to be able to reopen um we would like that money um we needed our technology budget just to have a lot of uh extra capacity um to do that kind of thing so that that we would need and then uh at the top there is uh you know the special ed laws changed in late June long after our budget was
056done um now requiring Service uh to disable students up to their 22nd birthday uh we have some U students like that uh that we didn't expect to uh provide service to and uh we think that'll be uh $400,000 so uh we feel a change in the law mandate after the budgets were all said and done uh might be a reason to uh for an interim appropriation U but it's that third one there that we we now U you know it's almost February um I don't think the labor Market's going to improve right away uh so we're feeling a little um more comfortable unfortunately saying those positions probably will remain open to the end of the year but John you still haven't answered the question is it I'm sorry is it 3.6 million versus five million
057or three million versus five is is in the budget presentation it was it was noted $5 million right so John John let let let me start on this um and and Ken please leave this up here thank you for for finding this and putting this up for us the the request that's up here to 3.6 um is the request that is Still Remains from last school year um and then we made an additional request uh because of the Cyber attack um and the change to the special education law um so the board uh prior to the end of last school year on behalf of the board we submitted a request of three million 2,274 additional that brought us up to the 36 um given the um I'm not really sure whether to call it a
058delay um however you want to call it uh but it was made clear that no decision would be made on this request until after the election um and then of course once November came um there was really no action or activity um or a any movement toward meeting um until January we as a district could not continue to plan as if we were definitely getting the $3.6 million so since then we have made Moves internally to further reduce and slow down spending so that we did not drive the district into a deficit um and so um anticipating that we can come very close to ending the school year in the black um we are planning to now um instead of in the event we don't again we planned we are planning as if we are
059not getting those monies and so with $5.8 million in reserves our request is as a strategy for the following year use five millions of the 5.8 Millions toward the 28.9 that's a part of the entire ask um of the district okay all right so you okay so your the your your theory put put it that way I can't think of right right was to use that as a source of Revenue to to cut down on the $28 million ask yes okay all right so I got you all right again it was confusing in terms of the methodology as to what created here so thank you very much and for that meason and for that reason Mr janelli we um took it out of the slide um so you know to to help avoid that confusion
060um how how the city um addresses the $2 28.9 million ask is really up to the city obviously um and we we know we have $5.8 million in a bank if you will sure okay uh thank you for the answer it clears things up it is Teresa Teresa has her hand up yep I'm sorry Teresa go ahead Mr Jay Mr Jay there's a um on your screen Ken can you stop sharing for a minute Mr Jay on your screen over in the top right hand corner it says View and it looks like a waffle yeah if you press that everyone on your screen should come up if you press gallery and then you'll be able to see everyone on the screen so top right hand corner it says yeah I look for the B out
061of time every time I use this machine I get disconnected so uh it's okay all right we can do it another time yeah glattus doesn't mind being a mediator that's great thank you go ahead Teresa thanks Kevin no you're welcome thank you thank you Mr chair one question on those sped uh figures one how many students does that 400,000 cover and did we ever get a firm uh estimate I mean this these seems to be estimates as opposed to actual uh costs for these students at this point in time I mean we've been throwing this figure out for a while and we still don't know it's still an estimate I uh my last conversation with uh uh Kelly truess our special ed director um it it was less than five students and the components of
062the 400,000 include uh outof District transportation for two of them uh at a cost of $70,000 each now one of the reasons it's still estimates is you know we're we're almost at the halfway mark we still have another U half a year to go uh there could be days when uh those students don't go to school and we don't have to pay or uh something changes like that so that that's ongoing and then as I understand it there's also a student uh who's in District who requires U additional supports and there's a allocation of the IND District supports for that student also so um it's a handful um not many and and John you said you said roughly $70,000 for transportation but I'm assuming I'm assuming tuition is extended as well for the AO District
063placement uh 240,000 okay for everything else and then some supplies I think are in there U Ken I I I think to Richard's point I that's the highlight of want to stay on the kind of the macro things that that would be our our message great one other question when you look at the budget as you prepared uh if you can go back and show that screen just the very first screen you have where you have the budget and the encumbrance and all that stuff you know the summary and the report okay I'll find it right there yep exactly the the adjusted budget okay it it's it's now 150 however previously and this may be because of something I I wrote to you previously the the the numbers the gross would be let's say 153
064and there was a negative number of3 $3 million I what you call it unadjusted that that unassigned to bring it down to the 150 if this to me if it's adjusted back to what reality is makes more sense because as we get to the expenditure and the encumbrance we'd be able to see if this you know if the variances hold holds true so um exactly and and the other way to um I think look at it this is what you're saying is um we can't spend the 153 until we have it right till someone says yes this is what we have and it's what we have to live within so yeah I just wanted to point that out that was a in a presentation of this uh of these numbers so I thank you for
065considering uh that adjustment okay so that basically you know I I hope the the next meeting we'd be able to get into more of the details and needle movers as as Richard calls him so that we can have a pretty good understanding and handle on on where we are uh but you know again yep I I don't know what planet these other people were on who told you to do that but it was something else Richard if I may uh John could you so the the other purchase Services of 20.8 million that is trans is is that Transportation it's mostly mostly Transportation yes that's um more than $10 million um I think that's just uh that's regular Ed and special ed uh close to 11 million the other big item in there is our out
066of District special tuitions I think that's uh $4 million if I'm not mistaken this year so those two things alone are are 14 million yeah okay so if if possible rather than grouping it like that would there would there be an opportunity to just show the top 10 expenditures yeah I I like that idea yes um and I think once we um say it this way take the transfers away and and look at the line items uh what's up and what's down I I think it'd be easy to pull out the top 10 that'd be very interesting to do but but you'll see those um on the next page you know we only only have 112 line items uh that's not a lot for a district our size uh so you'll see those big items
067right there they they jump right out so yeah W has her hand Mr Janell go ahead oneita hi a question for uh superintendent Kevin um on your slide I don't know as you move ahead did you have something um a slide on school spending requests by schools uh you mean on the presentation itself the one you had yes the presentation that you're showing now did that uh this right so this is part of our monthly financial report the presentation in terms of the budget uh captures program request um so uh K5 68 and 912 and it's it's broken up that way okay of new request for next year for uh Rich janelli number 13 the question for your requests uh for John said provide School spending requests by schools and um I didn't see that
068um come forward and um you know I I don't think I requested that of him so um okay I I saw the information but the only reasons that I I don't think because as you and I had previous conversations I look at that as putting the cart before the horse um but but that was for 23 24 anyway um we are coming up to our next um 2425 school year um if John if I could please um or you can tell me where to go to find it um the per pupil based allocations for uh the 2324 school year I see the one for the 2425 you provided that yes um and um I we did have a conversation and I am still looking for the um School sending requests by school okay could I
069uh just ask for some clarification um we we can do this for sure I just want to get it right um in the uh answers to the budget questions uh Mr janell's number or the number 13 um that did come from a board member not Mr janelli um we summarized what the schools uh had given just so we could get you something right away but right below that uh we showed the uh School and we call them base allocations they're per pupil for example uh great plane uh for 236 students at $49 A student got 11,564 hay toown double the size same amount per pupil are are you looking for those new totals or are you looking for what the principal has decided to do with the monies that they've been allocated uh two things
070um for the per pupil base allocations y you you've supplied that for 2425 yes I am looking for the prior year to see if there was a reduction okay in that and um as far as the um SP the spending requests I believe each School submits a budget yes and um online what um so I did not want to see them combined I was looking to see individual schools okay um if I could just answer the the question we can do ex we can give you exactly that information uh but the per pupil amount which is uh how we equalize things you know we have one per pupil amount for elementary one for middle one for secondary um we did not increase that amount this year as a um as an austerity measure we knew
071it was going to be a difficult budget year so rather than increase that say by inflation that $49 per pupil at the elementary that was the same last year but what changed was their projected enrollment so if thought they were getting 400 kids last year and and next year we projecting 410 they would have gotten more 49 more dollars for the extra kids but the the amount per kid stayed the same and can you U it's um help me understand where the cost per pupil amount comes from well it was uh really to run the school uh the different things that happened primarily uh to spend in the classrooms for teachers might need supplies or if you get a new teacher or something like that or who determines that amount who determines the 49 the
0725775 uh the 85 the 6650 that that was my recommendation of course I ran that through the cabinet uh so I'd like to think it's a joint decision before we uh released it um that's where it came from okay and so on the next page John still looking at the allocations yes um I'm not sure how we how you determine the cost per pupil and I understand said you're running it you know by the cabinet um but it appears as if we're um we're basing it on equality rather than Equity so that's that's one concern we can talk about later um and then we have our our alternative schools right and um I'm not sure that basing the allocation on numbers gives enough money to run to do what they do right so um in
073July this past July uh these per pupil amounts were reduced by 30% from what we had originally uh uh adopted and voted on as a budget cutting uh strategy uh part of that million six you saw that we cut to lower the request for the from the ask from the city we thought we had to tighten our own belts first before we asked the city for any extra money one of the moves we made was we reduced everybody's discretionary or departmental monies by 30% now then we went to build the new budget kept those levels low where they were uh just in order to hold the budget budget down for next year and so um just an opinion so um at the expense of our students we chose to reduce by 30% what was allocated
074per building um and so um yes going forward perhaps we need to be looking at um reducing positions and not staff because we certainly the paper says that we have a hundred positions that are opening open that we have we were unable to fill this year um duly noted thank you thank you so John I want to thank you also to to recap the my intent is to have financial statements so that when you come up with with the narrative highlighting your concerns of costs uh that the details would be supportive and also breaking out the the big categories uh that are lump together with M the items in there would be a lot easier to to comprehend uh so thank you for that and to the rest of the people I I do urge
075you to read John's comments to me that information is is to me important it adds to your understanding as to what you're looking at and basically how you evaluate the numbers so um the next thing on the agenda I saw was a presentation I'm not sure Kevin whether you're was your intent to go through the presentation again since we're going to do that tomorrow no Mr janelli I just wanted to make the board aware um that we've used this extra time meaning instead of like last Wednesday to this Wednesday um in the board packet um the board received um the additional recommendations as Rich Holly had recommended um and so the things that I talked about in terms of um AIDS in kindergarten classrooms um additional um uh supports for classrooms across the schools particularly
076bilingual support um those requests were folded in to the presentation in a way where it's folded into our bottom line number um and so I I think last week we had presented it where it was kind of an additional page and so I just wanted to bring to the board's attention to the committee's attention um that the updated presentation and I'll just put it on the screen quickly so you have an idea of what I'm talking about and um it was nicely done well you broke it out into slides than thank you thank you um trying to trying to do this in a way where it's accessible um for our families for our staff and everyone know I'm a pain in the neck I had to go through and check off each one to make
077sure that the slides calculated well that's that's what we need that that's what needs to be done so I'm just gonna share we did add a couple of pages regarding um and this was a a slide that we had talked about last year in the meeting with the previous board and it's really about a return it's a really in a return on investment slide um so this is something that's new in the presentation Next Generation accountability um some of our previous board members Might Recall us this is essentially our report card um and our next Generation accountability index you'll see our scores a 67 you'll see me some of the other districts who had higher scores like Norwalk and Norwalk at a 69 um East Harford also at a 67 um this includes growth for
078students um um our overall scores for graduation um scores on our SAT it's a little bit of everything that helps to compile this accountability index score um and so you'll see I'm sorry I'm sorry no no it's okay if it's possible I remember the first year I left the board you had put this in IID asked you to put this in yes I was trying to find that copy my feeling is it was a a lesser cost per student that's right and a less uh a lesser evaluation number in in in theory if that's the case it does show but not necessarily a fact that additional spending could lead in particularly in Danbury could lead to better results and in this case here shows that the return on investment your money is invested very wisely
079and prudently relative to what we're doing to our I say competition but dur distance right no no no doubt about it Mr janelli and um you know the the point of this slide and and I'll just walk the board through and the committee through a couple of additional slides that we've added is we feel strongly that we've been responsible stewards of um the board and the city's monies um however there cannot continue to be an expectation uh that my staff can on the on on the backs of teachers and admin um can continue to move and have these kind of results ad s um with with a population of students who require more support um and if we're talking about reducing we can't expect that we will continue to have even this level of um
080um of outcomes for students um if if the needs are greater and we are about to reduce more um and so just for some clarity for everyone who's watching right now uh we spend and you'll see um along with Meridan um lower perent student um than than quite frankly anyone in the state of Connecticut and despite those numbers you will see um $21,000 uh for uh Stamford they're at a 65 on the index um and then the green is I'm sorry the green is Stanford and they are at 65 on the index uh West Haven is spending um seeven a little over $117,000 per student at a 66 so they're certainly closer to us but again they're not spending nearly as much they're spending that we're not spending nearly as much as them and so
081that that's the the point of this slide I wanted to bring the board's attention to um just a couple more slides we also put our durs in um and so this is kind of the comparable districts in our demographic reference group we do have a definition of demographic reference group that you not see in the other presentation so we thought it's important that the board had this um multilanguage learner enrollment growth us compared to our other districts as well this is a count since 2017 to 2023 that's what the growth has looked like us against other districts across our durg um and um this is the general operating budget for danburry for Norwalk and Stanford and I know often times um um you know our community even some members on our board um frown at
082the comparisons on norw and Stanford uh but but in but our socioeconomic profile these two districts are the closest to us than any districts in the state of Connecticut Norwalk is at a $226 million General operating budget Stanford is at a 3113 General operating budget um so I I just need the board to understand and be mindful our families to understand and be mindful the city of Danbury to be to understand and be mindful this is what it it should be a heck of a lot closer to these numbers in terms of a general operating budget and then our um our grants should be the supplemental and and uh the the the the supplemental uh positions to help support the general operating budget um so you'll also see that slide um and then we added
083in um some additional um information uh regarding our grants and so these are the big major ones at the top um and then a little idea about um ideally what these things should be spent on um so we did the lines idea Title One Two 34 state by L and you can see the Awards coming uh from the state um the federal and state grants and then behind that you know we tried to provide a py graph um as well and you'll kind of see a breakdown here of all of the grants and then you'll see a breakdown by category so this is including all of them $41 million in salaries $3 million um I'm sorry salaries and benef $41 million staff development 3 Etc um and then you'll you'll kind of see a kind
084of a roll out of Grants and general fund I know this is something um this the ex the previous board in this board has been some questions about that obviously if there are some additional questions um you know we can provide even more information at subsequent meetings but I just wanted to make sure um the committee and the board just aware of the updates that were made because with the additional time we just thought it would be appropriate that we add this now and not wait another meeting Kevin can I ask you to go back to the probably the second slide when you get the the enrollment the uh what the one for the multil language and the special absolutely right it if no this is not the is this the one I was looking
085at and and so this one I'll explain it quickly our multilanguage Learners the enrollment growth since 17 I'm not looking at the growth go back to the very beginning sure per people spending this is the return on investment it's right it's right after your it's right it's right after enrollment okay second slide operating budgets nope okay maybe it's a different presentation um you have a a slide that says enrollment shows that oh okay am be in the beginning of this one this yeah the very yeah it's the one after that oh this one yes okay consider and think about this if you do a pie chart and take the combination of the multilanguage Learners and you take the add to that the special ed and you do a pie chart to the total population I
086think it'll come out close to 51 or 50 2% I think that's a dramatic statement to be made as to what this district and possibly the average classroom is made up of look like okay to to understand what a teacher is up against in turning to teacher class and it also supports your need for funding in these particular areas because they require more resources okay we we can definitely do that I like that I think that would be a good slide because it's essentially putting this one and this one in one slide right this is regular Ed this is multilanguage well this is everyone multilanguage and special ed but we would make a py graph that in includes everyone we can definitely do that yeah just take the the the projected numbers add them together
087as a total of the 12,000 whatever it is okay to demonstrate the the total and then as the email I wrote to you I I find that missing in in the current version we have the the the missing gaps is where you you account for 18 18 million of the 28 of the new ads so it's not clear to me as to what all of the increases are and then we need a buildup to what the 178 is similar to what you had in the presentations of January 31st it just completes the picture uh it's like it's a just a void the way it came across this way without having that information okay okay Teresa has her hand up yep hi Terry Teresa thank you um I'm one of those previous uh uh finance committee
088members questioning the comparison to nor Ro at Stanford I do want to point out they have larger populations what would be more beneficial is the proportion of the education budget to the the rest of their uh overall City budget um we certainly have a smaller population in as a whole as taxpayers and then Norwalk is what and Stanford they're way over 100,000 people um so I disagree with that comparison thank you okay and is is my last I'm assuming Kevin we're finished with the presentation yes aspect my my last comment is uh I would like the committee members to think and and to provide to come up with a list of particular reports that we would submit to the administration that we'd like to see I can give you an example is is an idea
089of reports on the Enterprise funds or maybe Kelly Services also to have a calendar associated with that in terms of when we think we could expect them in addition to reports that the administration wants to give us and a calendar of dates so that we're working together and we know what we're going to be looking at relative to certain meetings coming up but it's not to inundate you with with work you know we'll go down and and and see which reports are are meaningful reports but it it just something that there's other information out there that might be good to be looked at year after year you know if that little uh and it doesn't fall through the cracks based on who's in office at that particular time so all right that for me includes
090you know my my comments relative to to this meeting I hope it's been productive uh does anybody else have any comments thank you Richard thank you staff executive board appreciate your efforts yep okay um then Mrs Cooper I don't know does the chair ask for motion or do you make a motion make a motion to close the finance committee meeting second that all in favor oh sorry hi okay