10/17/23 Finance Committee Meeting

001limited screen that I can see and I don't trust the chat Louisa Brittain did I did I mention that you were here Louisa I hope so you did H okay all right welcome all at now 7:31 for our me monthly finance committee meeting you've got got my opening so I will turn it over to Kevin for some opening remarks sir good good evening everyone and thank you Mr Russo um so first I I I just wanted to open up by saying um how uh John and I had spoke at a previous board meeting about the um about walking the committee through the budget calendar so I just wanted to share with the committee that our budget calendar is an addition that I want to walk you through uh before the meeting is over uh but

002John if you can start us off with the September 2023 financial report uh which includes an overview of um our expenses um to date regarding the it breach um as well as um the anticipated cost incurred by the uh mandate regarding the special education legislation John can you take it from there thank you Kevin um uh Ken could you put the first page up of the that's it yep thank you uh so through September uh 88% of our budget had been um encumbered or expended and um what I've been trying to do the last few months is highlight U any important things that are going on in the narrative and uh of course the first one uh you know is the elephant in the room it's the 3 million dollar that we asked the uh

003city council for in August it was um referred to an ad hoc committee and uh a couple weeks ago the committee met um I I've put this on U as a separate discussion item too so we can get to that a little bit uh in more detail but um at the meeting uh this month the committee decided to uh defer a decision on our requests so um I'll get into that a little more at at that part of the agenda um also in there um and another uh agenda item for us is the insurance claim uh for the Cyber breach we talked about that um the last two months uh it's come up uh have some spe specifics um we're making a recommendation that we seek uh additional City resources to cover that um as

004well as um you've heard us talk about the special education mandate uh that changed uh late this year in the governor's budget where uh as I think all of you know uh we're responsible for had been responsible for servicing disabled youngsters uh from the ages of three right up through age 21 and the U that changed in June up to uh age 22 and I'll have some uh specifics on that but that's uh another unanticipated costs um so I've highlighted that uh in the middle of the report um and I also wanted to mention where we are on the city audit um when I wrote the report you can see there uh we had fulfilled as the terminology the Auditors used uh 61 of the 94 uh request for information um the Auditors have since

005uh withdrawn uh a few of those uh I think they felt they applied to the city not to us when when they originally put our list together um there were many similar things that some uh just didn't apply to us U so where we are as of today uh the number of requests is down to 85 and we've fulfilled 64 of those that's uh just a little over 75% I'm hoping we get to 80% tomorrow we had a very good day uh getting documents together today um and so those those will be going uh over right away um and there's a little um summary there um we've been doing that the last couple of uh months um you want to move to the next page K I just still on the general fund um this

006is a little different look uh than you've got and it's really because um it's the month of September and it's the usual grid that you see um those um line items are called major objects in uh Municipal accounting uh verbiage uh but as you can see uh at the end of September it without an um some ad add there um it would have looked like we had $17 million um un unobligated unexpended um and there there were just a number of big things that we had not yet uh reserved for uh some because um we just were it's a busy month um September we hadn't gotten to it yet uh others because they just weren't ready uh but I I've listed those and they're all um well there things you're familiar s the the biggest

007one is the contract with st our bus company um it it doesn't mean that we haven't been paying our bills because there's no incumbrance uh we've been paying them we just haven't put a purchase order on the books for the rest of the year um as a should an sta Bill have come in you know our usual internal controls would have kicked in matching and approvals and before any checks were written so there's that um there's also a number of special education outof District tuitions uh that are not U projected yet for the year u in the in the system uh but we have those at 2.6 almost 2.7 million uh we also have um I it's probably 25 High School age students who go to uh the vag program at shog high school had

008it for many years uh we get buil build for that we haven't set that aside yet um nor have we been built for it but it was a bigger item uh there's some money we um I call it the adult ed subsidy that we uh provide for the adulted program uh because uh at least their biggest Grant is kind of a matching share like the security grants you've heard about um the local uh district has to do a certain percent and then a lot of the uh state aid kicks in uh we just haven't encumbered that there's a uh if you remember this year uh the magnet school uh we had to budget a subsidy for them in the school budget because uh the state aid wasn't what it used to be and uh hasn't

009been covering the cost um the way it was uh the others quickly our electric bill um contract for nurs nurses uh some of the nursing positions uh we've had to a contract for that's a real uh labor shortage area some other utilities our liability and a big one uh the employer share of uh Social Security and Medicare we hadn't put that one on I expect uh all of those will be um worked into the encumbrance column uh when you see the report um next month uh and that brings that g gives you a whole different picture uh there's 4.2 million that's not obligated yet and um I I think it's important to look at that uh some of the things it's just not time uh to put them on the books usually you know the

010first month or two of the Year we're we're trying to make sure that things are in the right line items it um we're doing what we set out to do uh getting things ready for the teachers uh getting their classrooms ready and it's really not um till we get further into the fall and certainly when we start to talk about the budget that uh the emphasis comes on predicting June 30th so um there's things in there I'll give you a good example um you in the sport in the spring some of the sports programs U take it where umpires for example there's there's no reason to uh encumber that or ref free uh we've put a line in the budget we know what we're going to spend um we would probably you know sometime in

011the winter begin to set aside the the spring Sports um so I see a hand up uh Al should I stop or what what's your because I'll lose my train of thought you know all people um state aid isn't what it used to be for the academies could you give me a a 10-second valuation of that statement and does that mean we can start putting damber children in these acms as well as out District children well um the state aid for theem is on the uh construction and the acquisition and all of that the um you know there was I think we're one of five uh school districts that were given an 80% reimbursement rate for that project um maybe two years ago now and the way it work and course that's run by the

012city and um Antonio adola heads up the building committee they have uh they're the ones that communicate with um the State education officials and uh you know some expenses are eligible for the 80% Aid others are not uh but there has been no change in the um statute that granted us 80% uh reimbursement on the eligible expenses uh which they estimated so um from what I know uh that's that's unchanged uh as far as theem so those those other expenses will come out of our our bond or is that a question for they would the 20% yes would come out of the bond exactly okay that come all right Dan gar all right thank you y sure we didn't want to over complicate it I just wasn't sure which direction that statement was flowing from

013but thank you sure um Ken do you want to go to the next page um you'll see there um those are the different line items uh they make up uh the different make up the same total uh you saw in the previous page and uh these are the U the line items that we regular report on they match your your budget and all that um can if you want to just scroll down the next uh maybe it's the next page you'll see if you could stop there um some of the uh larger things that I talked about see that million uh 983 Social Security uh had mentioned that um the tutor line uh you know that's the line that we're having trouble filling positions tutors and Par Educators so you can see right there the

014money's um still not um uh obligated uh could you go down a little Ken um some of the yeah right there so there you'll see uh the transportation that's the STA line item I mentioned uh 5.7 plus the 1.5 million U you can see the tuition for the special ed 2.4 million there uh right underneath that um some of the vag uh expenses um and you go down see you can see electric uh for from the bottom so those are items that I I put on the the earlier page uh but you can see as you look at them they're just not uh set aside yet but you can also see um that we've been paying them as they come in you know electric for example we've um July August September uh you know we

015pay the bills each month just like just like a homeowner um I don't know do you want scroll down again Ken I think that's most of it um yeah there's there's the rest not too many uh big things in there but there that um bottom line that's uh that's the request of the ad hoc committee uh the 3,44 the number right above that uh those were the positions we moved over uh into the grant uh some of the grants especially the alliance Grant uh this year which went up uh so that that's an adjustment um why don't you continue Ken down there you'll see um uh the usual uh page on the grants um a lot of those are are just coming in and what I mean is um we don't uh put the budgets

016into the accounting system until we get the official award letter from the state of Connecticut you you'd like to think that they give you all the award letters in the summer uh so you know whether to hire people how many and that kind of thing it it just doesn't work that way uh we have an idea of we know what we've applied for for approval uh to be awarded we uh know whether it's a criteria has changed from the year earlier and what they approved um we know what the grants are for uh you know mo they all for the most part are special purpose grants or certain things you can do and certain you can't so we'll go ahead and um you know employ the people to most of the time it's it's the

017same people that were in the grant the year before Alliance is a good example of that um I think it's between 40 and 45 kindergarten teachers uh they've been in that Grant uh for many years and uh just because we don't have the award letter yet uh doesn't prevent us from um you know starting to do the accounting the way it should be but um I think if not by the end of October certainly by the end of November we'll have all of our grant award letters in and the budget you see will be uh reflective of what what we're going to get um you want to go down and another page Ken uh yep and there's there's the totals uh there School Readiness is a big one title one uh you've heard those those

018names before uh there's the magnet School Grant about a third of the way up from the bottom um just a couple years ago that was a million s something um so you can see that's just much lower uh than it had been um yeah so um that that's that's the report um I could you could take some questions now or we could you know I have the the three big items I I think we want to kind of expand a little bit on well John it looks like we're sored away at the moment I mean it's early in the budget right year and we have again I realize that 17 that $18 million is going is going to go down but uh we are on par uh where we are my question is we are

019where we should be at this point I would say uh I would put it this way other than the the two items that we're going to talk about um the plan that we laid down uh as the board budget is underway uh the way we planned it for sure yeah all right thank you and and the other numbers are the unfunded mandate for for 400,000 for the special needs children to age 22 and yeah or Cyber attack expens yeah I have a a separate p that um I think displays that a little better all right thank you I'll take questions from the committee Teresa I was just wondering is do we have a plan B if we don't get the money from uh the city for um for these uh the three million requests and

020the unfunded requests uh not not as of yet um we're we're certainly been talking about it um I I had expected a affirmative answer a couple weeks ago I was honestly I was surprised we we didn't get it it it's there are reserves educational reserves um so there isn't a plan yet uh can we have a tentative one by the next meeting um yeah I think we can talk about it absolutely yeah it we there's not a lot of room in this budget um I know I know but we gota do something okay yeah let's keep it on our agenda and Teresa as I had indicated in our uh last board meeting uh we we will not have a choice uh but to come up with a plan to reduce spending in order to fill

021this Gap um in the event uh the monies are not the request is not honored um and so you know team and I will be working on what that could look like and happy to discuss that we will probably need um a little time to do so but we will begin to look at uh with some spending reductions and I'm not talking about Staffing reductions because we can't afford to do that uh but some spending reductions can look like in order to uh make up uh this Gap sure thank you right but as of right now it's my understanding uh that the committee should have a decision what at this shortly after the um we've done our our bookwork for the the two years of the whole that we're behind and uh that we actually

022need the money for the June payroll teachers payroll and all that should be complete way before that would that is that March or April John when these audits should be complete right um so and John John I I I'd like to clarify the payroll question as well um because I I I think John when he had indicated previously um you know we have balloon payments for staff right and so this is this is this is just kind of a function of the finance office and the way our contracts yield at the end of the year right and I think and I think the point that John was making in a previous meeting um is you know we will we will be fine if if you look at the way money flows until that point and

023then when the balloon payments come we would need the remainder of the um of the reserves to meet those payroll needs what I'm suggesting is we make sure we address this Gap that Teresa is alluding to well before that uh we we can't afford to wait until June 30th I'm sorry June June 1st to know whether or not we had the reserve to in order to meet payroll uh so we we will not position the district for that one way or the other um so so so costs would have to be cut significantly obviously um to in order for us to realize that type of cut um and that's something I'll be working with with John and the team uh to see how we can actually realize re realize that Gap and now I think

024I think we're we're certainly on the the first agenda item but um the adog committee um Ken Ken can you please go back to the agenda thank you okay so uh the ad hoc committee wanted to see uh several things occur first um one is pro probably the hardest of all given the timing that Kevin just described um what he what they wanted to do was uh see how we did on our operating budget for the year uh the implic ation was that maybe there'd be some budget lines that ended up favorable um that they wouldn't need to go into reserves um you know the the timing of that uh we often don't know until uh March or a well take last year for example in February we started to see the health insurance go

025the wrong way but we really didn't know until um later in the spring and by then it's um you know there aren't many days of school left so they want but nevertheless they um it's in their right they wanted to see how things are going uh and then um the the logic escapes me a little bit um they uh mentioned they wanted to see how the two City audits uh finished um the first city audit is for the year ending uh June of 22 uh that's the one I just reported on uh we have a part of that requirement um the city a much bigger part uh and then if that's done on schedule um then the Auditors would like to start the audit for the year that ended June of 23 uh they'd like

026to start that at the end of next month and they talked about finishing that in the middle of March um but I I don't know how either of those things uh would affect our our spending our operating budget this year um what's going to affect our budget this year are the usual things that kind of happen but nevertheless um the outow committee said they wanted those things to happen uh before they reached a decision right John I got a slightly different takeen okay Kate and Michelle were also in the room with me but before they wanted they would act they wanted the 22 and 23 School audits our our district audits completed um and I didn't hear I didn't hear that they were looking to see if we any money left over from the the

02723 24 budget well there is no District audit it's a city audit we're we're part of the general fund um the one for our end our end of is not complete correct well of the 22 audit is our cheb balance is our checkbook balance for June 23 or July till July 123 no that's not closed yet okay why not well there it it t we're aund we're $200 million operation you can't it's not a check really a just a checkbook there are a lot of um entries and accounting uh way we do our health insurance is very very complicated um there Billings that have to be reconciled prior balance it's it's like any other big business so John I think John I think the question is though when is it typically closed and why is

028it not closed at this point in the school year yeah so uh t on a typical year um you know the the year ends June 30th and usually uh April or May uh the Auditors come in and begin to check the systems and do the sampling and see if they're reliable and see if things are going on uh then they come back the following uh November or December and do the audit and that's where they put the books together for the city which we're a big part of um do the cut offs make sure everything's balanced so in a normal course of things the June 23 would close in November of 23 or December now if I could I think maybe some of the confusion is uh the Auditors are have really three things that

029they're hired to do uh one is to do what's called a a single audit and that's simply a report uh with two pages in it one shows all of the state money that's come to the city and to the board and a second page that shows all the federal money that came to the city and the board that's item number one item number two is they audit our Board of Education yearend report that we make to Hartford we have to have a report completed into them by August 31st of each year or face penalty and if you remember in June of uh 22 the Auditors were still working on the year before and they did not audit our Hartford report so when the state of Connecticut said hey you got to have it audited or

030we're going to um there could be penalties we went out and hired a certified auditor to audit the 22 Harford report so those those two reports are done the third thing that the Auditors do is the city uh consolidated financial report and that's what they're working on uh right now for the year that ended June of 22 we're the biggest department we have certain uh authorities to spend that other departments don't so they they look for our information uh all anything to have to do with the year that ended June 23 is UN is not done it and you say November the end of November those books should be complete that checkbook should be well that's that's when they would normally uh come in normally yeah I have a I have Michelle had her hand

031up first Teresa then Michelle um yeah no I'm just a little confused here because my take when we were all sitting there was that there's really no fixed numbers that the city council or even the Board of Education can rely on based on the figures that have been provided by the administration that's I I believe you attested to the error in the number of the 4.7 million and that we all kind of came to an agreement that the best way to know where we all stand and where the budget stands is that these audits will let us know and come in right around that March 15 date which is typically when an Administration has to report to the board the mayor and the city council if there's going to be any Cuts in labor if

032a May 1 date is missed the city and the district goes into financial crisis that's where the issue lies we did not know about this shortage until I believe it was reported on July 19th formally to the city council so my understanding was that point of order please Michelle please my apologies to the committee um I had it is my responsibility to have the committee all answer questions first then it will be open to the rest of the board that is is my my mistake my error I should I have addressed Teresa's Teresa first so okay please do I'm I'm good okay ter well what about this year's uh State audit uh that was due end of August did we get that done no the the report was due at the end of August we

033prepared it uh we submitted it on time then uh later the Auditors are supposed to come in and audit that before the end of December and that's not not going to happen they're not even going to start until late November okay refile it and then they come in and check it you had you were talking all about last year's uh August and I just wanted to make sure that we get we did the this year's August thank you yeah that's all y all right my apologies John please continue sir um Michelle was there anything else before I comment yes um so actually I had the question in my mind and then I just forgot it give give a moment to recall it are there any other board members that have a question on this issue

034any other excuse me any other committee members that have a question on this issue I Mr I I don't have a question I sort of want to uh say to JN in listening uh down at City Hall that night I'm trying to understand why the committee the decided that they wanted to wait until November December to F finish or making a decision whether they going to give the board the reserve money and I think what to me looking at this from where I've set over the years if my understanding is wrong tell me this is a board of education money that has gone back to the city it's the reserve money that belongs to the board of a and I think to keep pushing it off pushing it off we're going to be into November

035the holidays Thanksgiving uh and and christas all that's going to come up so you're looking at the stretched out time where they're going to give you an answer in probably January and you know uh we know that this is a political little plot no wait a minute excuse me Madam Madam excuse me excuse me so uh John I just want to appreciate how you answered the questions at the meeting that night and I certainly want to say thank you thank you Michelle you want you like yes I I recall the question I thought that the reason that we had all agreed and voted on spending $100,000 so that we could get these audits done was because we internally the district did not have the 1300 man hours to get the work done and completed for

036the city because it was holding up a half a billion in bond money and that was the reason that kind of all these numbers are in flux with the three diff different financial planners or analysts directors with the two programs being merged there's several reasons with coid like there's reasons that this did not all occur but my understanding was because we kind of had been a kind of questioning the fact that it didn't look like we were going to make it to the end of the year financially it was brought up several times by members by city council and then only in July this is my understanding but as a group I thought both parties and everybody kind of in the room had the same assessment as well as yourself John that we needed to

037really get a better understanding of the numbers and that currently we could ride the storm with what we currently have and fulfill the obligations through to March and March would allow us to really get a better everything kind of comes into place um so that when we're actually working on that budget that would give us a great understanding of you know where we stand am I wrong on that so I I I just want to interject John before you answer I I I guess I'm concerned about the narrative from this last meeting our budget for the 2324 school year meaning this year right now from um August to June 30th is the budget that we presented last year right and so and so what what we of the 150 of the 150 that was the

038ask that's the number you're talking about right 150 okay correct correct and then as part of and and then as part of that ask uh prior to the end of last school year this was we did not make the board aware of this in July we made the board aware of this first to the finance committee uh making a request for the reserves um and if the committee recalls um we we had the board's approval we can't go to the city and ask for reserves without the board approval um and so first we had the board's approval first and and made the board aware of the request for the reserves and then it was heard and then it was actually heard over the summer um but you know to to know Avail of course and

039and and we're still here now which we you know and then and then certainly you know the council has its right to ask us questions and ask clarifying questions and that's kind of where we are now but I I I just want to clarify we didn't make the board aware in July we made the board whereare I believe it was in May and we got the board's approval for the request for the reserves um so so that and and that's where we are right now I guess what I meant was that that is when we found out publicly wait right point of order we can't keep jumping in here sorry I thought it was a conv no it was um also at the last ad hoc meeting the point was not made to the committee

040that uh that it was reserved money and and and why the money was returned because of it was not spent during coid um and there was other several other comments that were made during that meeting also Louisa Brittain you are a member of this finance committee you have your hand up thank thank you Al um okay so I I was not able to attend the ad hoc that evening so I'm a bit confused with all of this so John can you please explain to me where the line is that divides our responsibility to you know with the this uh shortfall the city's responsibility the the where these audits are falling into this because this is all new to me as well but you know we have our responsibility to fund our budget so where is

041that red line and what's ours what's theirs and why is this gotten all mixed together like it has I think you muted John the despite the fact that there are reserves for educational purposes and and the uh City Finance director reported those are at a level of $8.5 million at night even though uh they're earmark for Education uh they can only be released uh by the city council it they're the ones whove reserved them uh they're it's their balance sheet B Ved doesn't have a balance sheet where those reserves are parked so they um and it's well within their rights uh to um establish procedures and methods and uh approvals on releasing those reserves but uh they cannot be used for any other purpose other than educational reasons and that's where the his start to

042have the discussion um what what I think was going on and what was mentioned um it goes back to uh April when we were in front of uh the ad hoc committee on our budget and if you remember um we tried to present a budget message that was uh very different than they had seen in previous years we had a a book that uh tried to focus on the big items uh the financial Cliffs some of the enrollment increases and things of that nature and what we heard was that um that wasn't good enough uh that they would have preferred a traditional line item line by line school by School uh data and uh we then provided that the following week uh to them but uh when you heard heard the comment um we don't

043know what the money's being spent on that's what they were talking talking about that the book itself being summarized now when um one of the council members at the end of the meeting uh started to uh e Express his views that the 4.7 million savings was not in the book um I I didn't I didn't feel that was the place to correct him um it's it's clearly in our book uh we talked about it at the meeting and um I'm not sure why uh he didn't didn't see it there um but I what I Michelle I did agree with uh the chairman is uh the need to provide um this time around or with our next budget the traditional line item budgets and that's what I said uh we were do we would do um

044on on the first uh try so I that's where a lot of the confusion I think has come in place um but you also had um the the FI the city council especially the ad hoc is not pleased that their audits were not completed on time um you know it look we there's things we have to do and I know the previous Finance director uh cash shade on us uh at a point last year uh even calling it a school audit that's just not the case um it's it's a city audit and we're a part of it but um why the reason to to to say uh we don't want to give you the money till the audit audits are compl completed baffles me um the a we can't spend old money anyway the only

045thing we can spend is on our current year budget so um I think they were just adding some of their dissatisfaction uh with the whole thing that was my takeaway anyway now um the the red line if if there is one um our our job is to um you know present the educational needs as best we've identified it and the city council's job is to finance it uh given what uh they can and and they can clearly say to us you know here's the we can give you and and then we have to decide what to spend it on so um that's that's how I see what was happening any of the committee members Louisa your hand is up or you just never took it down I I have one last question just to um

046the comment you met met uh that you just made John about them about the Audits and they're displeased about the audits um the fact that that we're be that the city is behind on the audits is it there's that responsibility of something we did is that why these audits are behind is it something that the the board the district something we're doing that's holding this that you know as a matter of fact when um the prior Finance director uh made it look like we were the only ones behind um they were behind too I would I'd been copied on some of the emails from the Auditors to them saying where's my stuff um so it's been gone but let me tell you the numbers as of this afternoon uh I told you we've uh completed

04775% or 64 of our 85 items uh the city has only completed 33% of their 230 items uh they have 153 to go so that that tells you who you know who's the biggest part of this it's it's not us I answered it thank you thank you Michelle your hand is still up um I will put it down that's new to me but I'll put that down thank you all right thank you Teresa um did they hire they they put aside $100,000 to help with the audit any word on that I know they had uh they'd been talking to the Robert Half which is a a famous um search firm or Head Hunter firm for accounting types uh they had someone they were very high on bringing in and they at the last minute found

048a full-time job um I know uh they've had people they've interested in learning more about but I I don't know where they are uh today I can tell you two weeks ago they hadn't found anyone yet so it's still on our backs for the 22 fiscal year well we we have 21 it y right so I I just want to clarify if I can um there are so we are looking to complete two audits this school year it's 2122 and 2223 um and it's my understanding because I asked some of the same questions that the committee is asking and and I asked John like what and I didn't just ask him this question yesterday but what why is the district why is the city behind um in the audit process and it's my understanding it

049dates back to the pandemic and the entire audit process in the entire audit process was behind post pandemic and then last year being the first year post pandemic where everything was done remotely instead of us right and so and I'm going to put it on us as in the eye with Danbury public schools um I I'm not familiar what happened with uh the city the city of Danbury um we had a we had a really challenging time submitting materials in this uh remote platform right and so um us along with the city um the process was just slower than it typically is and so with Scott Scott who's the gentleman who facilitated the meeting regarding the audit I believe John I believe it took eight months and this is not all because of us it's

050also because the company was doing the same work with other districts and cities and that process just for one year to begin to catch up took 18 months and so Scott when he came in to facilitate that last meeting said listen I essentially need an intervention right because the only way we're going to catch up is if everyone's aware meaning you know representatives of the board representatives of the council um and that the city and uh the um danburry Public Schools like the only way we're going to catch up is if we're ramping up on both sides um and so yes there was request for hund $100,000 to bring on additional help I think what you're hearing from John is the $100,000 wasn't for for Danbury public schools to have additional help the $100,000 was

051to help with the audit process in which Danbury public schools was offered some of that money to help identify heal help get this done in a timely fashion and so the the first 2122 audit is it's projected to be completed I think the timeline the expectation was it would be completed by the end of November I think there would be a little break and then we would come back and do 222 uh 2223 school year um and so John has had a and I prefer that we focus on our side of this for the audit John has identified a number of different Consultants that are able to plug some holes on a couple of different days of the week and so some of those people are retired um former Finance directors uh some of them

052are you know Auditors themselves and John has had a different kind of collection of folks coming in to help us and I think what you're hearing from John is there are a number of more requests there's a dashboard um and so the the Auditors put there's 100 requests for Al Russo and I and there's 50 requests for Teresa and John and we we we have less than half of the requests from the Auditors than the city of Danbury does and I think that's what John is trying to say and and not only do we have significantly less requests from the Auditors we're also submitting our requests at a much faster Pace than the city of Danbury and I I think that's what what you're hearing from John so him and the team are doing everything

053that they can to help you know help close the gap so that we can finish this budget and I think what was frustrating for me me to hear at the council meeting that day this is not as if the only reason we're behind in the audit is because of danber public schools because if there was we wouldn't be racing to hand over $100,000 check to fix it number one I think we need to just come to grips with that um and and then two um it's what you're hearing from John is there's so many more requests than it is for Danbury public schools and yes if we had all our information in it would just be one actor right now who has to submit documents but but it's both of us and we're behind because

054of the pandemic and then when the Auditors did come in we ended up submitting work to the Auditors in a fashion we had not ever done before because typically orders would come in come into a district come into the city ask for all of the books to be on the table if there are any requests you don't have them you would go back and go get them they would be there probably for a couple weeks and it would be over with and instead it was you know this this different platform that we had never used before now that we're heck of a lot more fast with the system were able to start submitting these documents in a timely fashion and and and frankly as you're hearing from John we're doing pretty well and I think

055Scott uh when he meets with us again I think he'll be reporting that thank you Mr Su thank you Mr Russo all right committee members tra I'm sorry Kate Kate no no that's okay Teresa can go first if she's got a question no I was just gonna say that uh it was my understanding I didn't attend the last ad hoc committee but the one before uh or and the council uh approving the $100,000 to hire an outside uh accounting firm to help wrap up both the city and education budget for the fiscal year 2022 that was my understanding yes if I could comment on that and um yeah and they certainly uh tried to do that uh but what they found after a couple weeks were that the firms that were capable the firms that

056understood Municipal accounting and accounting how to put it together uh they were all flat out assigned in different uh customers we did find a firm uh that's interested in helping us with the second part the 23 audit uh but I know Dan told me the people he talked to they just they didn't have the Manpower just the wrong time of year thank you for the followup that's that's all I need uh yeah I just want to I just want to ask a quick question here because one of the things that came up at that ad hoc meeting was you know what is this additional 3.7 million request for um and I know that they specifically asked about like what line items uh you know had not had it would fall under so is are you

057going to to be putting together um you know a a budget that reflects that one like 153.7 which would include the 3.7 so that they can see the line items where those monies are distributed so when we when we put the budget together um the savings if you were were not assigned to the several line items that we had it was a um almost a plug figure at the bottom um and so I describe it as a revenue problem um we we have to pay back that plug um to get to 150 the um you know our budget doesn't balance we we plan to spend 153 and we only going to get 150 so it's not a particular line item now when we put our plan together um that was talked about we would show

058which line items you know would be reduced and and Kate if I can and Kate if I can and I I I understand what you're getting at um and I just want to make and I just want to clarify the ask um what what I think what you're hearing John say is we put together a budget that's that adds up to 150 million and because we anticipated a savings that was not included in the budget some of those things that we included in the from the cost savings the expectation was as an example we were going to pre- purchase transportation we were going to pre- purchase um copy machines we were going to pre- purchase Etc and so however those those those items are not in the budget because the expectation was was we going

059to pre- purchase from those savings and so and so now given that we didn't realize those savings uh we will you know have to come up with a plan plan be just in case these this Gap is not um realized as requested and and figure out what things could be cost I'm sorry could be cut and reduced to the number of 3.7 in the event we don't get the reserve so we will figure out a way to find out what we will have to have less of in the event we don't get the reserves and that's something um I'll need a little time with but that's certainly something I'll be prepared to come back to the committee then eventually the full board okay so just just so we have a sense of the timeline there

060Kevin um because I think part of my concern is as we get further into the school year and more of our budget is encumbered uh obviously becomes harder for us to find those those cost savings um so what do you anticipate the timeline being for for getting that information in front of the board I I anticipate we will be back in front of the board in no the last board meeting in November um our our full budget our full um our regular board meeting in November um and then you'll see in our budget calendar when we get up to number five um I think it will kind of coincide of with some of our requests for the 24 25 SCH school year budget and make sure we have some answers to to this year's budget

061as well to to close this one out meaning this $3.7 million gattle I just know I'm going to need a little of time to come up with a plan yeah no no I mean I think that makes sense I just want to make sure you know especially as we start to head into budget season for next year that we're you know we're we're making our lines clear where they are um especially given like the drop off of that Esser funding and what that means in terms of a financial cliff you know we really need to go into that with an accurate sort of picture of you know what our what our costs are going to be and what we're going to be faced with giving up um should that that initial uh draw down not

062happen but then also you know going into that budget cycle being able to paint a picture of you know these are the dollars that we've had supplemented in our budget by federal funding that are no longer available to us so you know there's there's separate things that we're we're faced with um you know possibly losing because of that drop off I don't want those two things to get confused that's that'se I I totally agree I totally agree which is all the more reason to bring closure to this year's budget um and so I I'll start that work with John and make sure we can clarify those things for the for the committee in the full board okay thank you thank you Kevin thank you Kate glad as I may inadvertently cut you off before did

063you have anything else to add No my only question and final question to John is have you received any type of communication from Mr L or whoever's that that adal committee uh leader is and I assume it's him uh when will you be meeting again have they they scheduled another meeting uh they have not I thought I saw something for November John um I I did okay I believe we have an ad hoc committee meeting in November gladus okay okay uh Michelle um did I see yes um so John I know that I think you know what Kevin said what first of all what Kate said I think was spot on right and thank you for for you know saying it so eloquently um but I was just wondering I know that we're all working

064hard and you are all you know going back and forth and we've you know got 75% of what we need to provide to the um city or whomever is doing the audit but the numbers those the numbers that the city is waiting on has to be provided by the board of edge so that they can complete that bigger scope so although they're not as far along it is we need to provide the numbers the district to the councils or to whomever is doing the um audit so that it can get done quickly so I think we're all working together and it's not like one's done a little bit more or less everybody's working hard but the information that's what everybody's looking to get together and I think everybody in that room agreed that that's what

065we're just looking to do so that we spend our dollars wisely and we know where they're going that's it correct right so by May Michelle U thank you you're uh I believe you've just confused the Board of Education with the school administration well what I'm trying to say is that the the district has to provide the Board of Education those numbers as well as the city council all of them but the board of the district itself without getting all of the figures together the next 25% that are needed not going to allow the city to finish their part of the of the work that needs to be done and that impacts the entire city as far as our bonding okay and where we are that's what I'm saying well St Al if I could just

066um put a point on that too what I think Michelle is talking about uh we had a uh status update meeting with the Auditors and the partner was uh describing exactly that um it was about two weeks ago and what they were looking for are documents known as trial balances particularly the general fund but we have three that we manage uh and administer and and he was right he said without those trial balances from the school district they couldn't go forward uh those were provided uh a week ago Thursday uh to both the city and to the Auditors so that um requirement has since been met um and because it was so important well that's great to hear because I didn't hear that update so thank you all right sir anyone from the the committee

067anyone from the committee any additional questions on on this agenda item from the committee first from the committee first see being none any other board members question final question this agenda item glad no all right thank you anyone else anyone else Michelle I think he want some no I just thank you for your hand just her hand just went down okay yeah no just thank you everyone for your time and your questions I appreciate it John and Kevin and and Kate you know depiction was great thank you everyone thank you thank you all right so item two has now been complete item three the security breach issue uh Ken could you put up the first page of that second set I sent you there it is okay and I think you saw this U uh

068a last month uh these are the expenses we incurred U relative to the uh the breach on July 18 and um I don't expect any more and I I'll tell you why in a second but let me just walk through them fairly quickly um the two at the top there uh Surefire cyber and Lewis bris boy uh those were two firms that our insurance company recommended uh we hire uh the first one um brought technical expertise uh to the situation and the second one is a law firm with a specialty in um in breaches Lewis bris booy they're a a national law firm and together uh the contracts were 83,1 and as I note there they the our policy has a $100,000 deductible so of course they came out of uh the deductible then we

069had some uh equipment that we um felt we should purchase uh just to make us more secure than we had been um Precision is a company that um works on our systems periodically um and they had they had to rebuild what's called our hyperflex I know Al do we want to mute someone here or yeah I heard from someone okay um so they rebuilt our hyperflex um we had to buy uh some storage as we were rebuilding everything and and we had back things up off site so uh we're were able to bring things down onto new equipment but the uh storage that was in terabytes that's how big that was um aor uh were some um some protective licensing uh for our Windows machines and those that use Microsoft um we needed to U

070Get some new licenses there which we did and uh Sentinel one that uh by the way is what we were that that was the followup question from last time I took me a while to answer uh but that's a um a monitoring uh piece of software uh that go when on all of our workstations uh that constantly looks for things that might be coming in or or shouldn't be there um but our our insurance policy does does not cover uh equipment or software like this um so um that's why I put not covered uh but the last thing the credit monitoring and that's a requirement uh of companies organizations when they're breached um you have to offer uh the people that may have may have been affected uh credit monitoring service um and what's happened

071in the last probably three weeks uh no one has signed up for it we had a big um surge in the beginning I think the first week there might have been three or 400 and then 150 after that it's gradually uh gone down um and it cost uh A180 a month and you can see there there were 10 months to go uh when we started it so the math comes out to 12,000 so the whole thing um adds and that uh went against our deductible too uh so the whole thing uh comes out 202,000 and what we're recommending especially since the conversation uh we just had uh that we seek an interim appropriation from the city in the same manner that a year ago if you remember when we had the problem with the high

072school gymnasium floor when we had the leak uh our insurance deductible there was 250,000 uh you to you made a motion uh to ask the city for the deductible so that's uh half of what we'd be doing here the same thing um in that case uh once the city got the request uh they uh decided it would be better coming out of our reserves uh which it did and we got the money and that that was kind of U in the back of my statement earlier that you know um we it's up to us to point out the needs and then the city City decide how they're going to finance it whether it's you know Surplus reserves or transfers and things like that so we're we're asking you to um approve a request uh for

073additional funding uh questions Al I think you're muted I'm sorry I thought it was wise I mute myself momentarily yes okay so you're looking for a recommendation from the the committee tonight to bring back to the board for a full board recommendation is that what you're looking for that's correct that would be the the step all right for okay uh would someone like to make a motion Teresa I make a motion that we approve the it requests to the full Board of $2,274 to be asked is it for from the city reserves is the wording need to be fine tuned a little bit Teresa from the city reserves do I hear a second I'll I'll second that but just for clarification is that that from education reserves held by the city or is it from

074City reserves that would be the board of the the education reserves correct correct I just want to be clear about that that's all John John can you clarify yes um the city also has a a surplus and that's that's from where most uh new money comes from because uh quite frankly the other departments uh don't have Reserves like we do um you could call it the city Surplus uh the community chess the fund balance it has different names um that's different than money these 8.5 million uh that was set aside from prior School budgets into a a reserve so we have access to five million of that John that we do we do right U when we don't have access to 8.5 we have access to to A5 million of education yeah well I think

075what we what you heard from Dan Garrick uh that night was part of that five million has to be uh held on to because of our Insurance's self-insured uh it was between 2.5 and and three million but our calculation showed that if and he agreed uh that were the three million uh released uh there would still be about 900,000 uh call it undesignated after the release so I think that that's probably what they would look for to see if they had the money uh to afford this okay but that is a so this so this would come from our reserves not the city reserves that that's how I heard your recommendation if others did that's what I heard okay do I hear a second okay have you been clarified yes thank you second okay motion

076by Teresa second by Kate from the subcommittee all in favor I I El Russo be the third I how about Louisa Louisa I four okay motion carried any any nay let me just is there any nay out there that I I have missed motion carried all right the the finance subcommittee will will bring it back to the board for the board uh to vote on with with our recommendation that we ask the city for 200 2,274 out of the reserve uh to cover the data breach okay next item on the agenda uh Ken could you put up the last page okay I'm gonna uh probably need some help from the superintendent on this one but let me just uh describe I'll set the table um as I mentioned early the um the Mandate changed uh

077for educating special education youngsters uh up to age 22 uh uh we um had some students last year that were 21 we were expecting uh to age out if I could use that term um and now they're not um talking with our special ed director um Kelly Tres um what she identified is tuition expenses um unanticipated of $240,000 uh there are two um type I call them type 2 mini buses those are special ed yellow buses uh for these uh students uh at a cost of $70,000 a year and then there are some other uh supplies materials things like that she mentioned um iPads or something uh they use uh for a total of 400,000 I don't know uh Kevin is there anything you'd want to add to that or right so I so so

078first I just want to provide a little bit more context around the legislation and the kind of spirit of the legislation because I I think the spirit of the legislation is a good one in that I'm 21 I'm 21 years old and if I turn 22 on January 3rd all of a sudden I'm plucked out of school no longer receive Services my education's been interrupted in the middle of the school year and so because previously we only required schools were only required to provide education up to the 21st birthday so at any point during the school year when a child turned 22 um they were pulled out of school and so now uh we have to at the minimum um educate them until the end of the school year however those costs certainly these these

079costs were not planned during the 22 during last year for this year's budget and so we did not account for the students remaining in out of District programming uh for the 23 24 school year and so this breakdown what you're seeing is um an estimated cost of keeping those students in these outo District placements um our out of District placements are costly um and for those of you who have uh been to some of our campuses uh where we meet some of our more media um students and we actually keep them in District um you don't hear enough about this this work with Kelly Tres and her team and what it takes to keep students in District um but this is only a couple of students and when they're sent out it comes at a

080significant cost to the district um and so this is evidence of that transportation in some cases one to one um or just two students on a bus with a number of different staff members it takes um to help educate uh these children and so those are the numbers that you see in here reflected um Kelly could certainly give um a little bit additional information if necessary um short of you know providing any identifiable information requiring to students Mr Russo I think Teresa has a hand raised I don't know if anyone else does Teresa how many students are we talking about um we talking about three students I believe so that that gives you an idea what the cost is for an entire year for summer by children John was it three or four I I

081I believe it was it might have been four okay maybe one not for the full year Okay Kevin if we spend more above our allotment what is the possibility of recovering what do we recover 80% above a certain number uh great question so um there's a a state aid called excess cost state aid um not to be confused with ECS which is our general state aid for education but it sounds like it but it's very different it they call it excess cost that probably should be called high cost state aid and when you have a uh outof District tuition that is above a certain amount then you get about 70 to 75% back of the incremental above that amount the amounts vary from school to school uh the way they're calculated is you take your

082per pupil amount which um is part of that Hartford report I was talking about each August they they look at what you spend by the number of students and come up with a per pupil we're close to $166,000 and they and but that could be be very different bethl New Fairfield you know and so forth they multiply that per pupil amount times 4.5 not sure why but that's what they do and in our case they get a number of say 85,000 or something like that then any tuition amount above that we get 70 to 75% back and some of these are indeed above that I call it a benchmark now the the state that state aid is a current year state aid most of them are not they're the next year uh we apply for

083it in both December and May and it it comes right after that um in Dan the city of danur is like most Connecticut cities and towns uh about two-thirds of the Connecticut cities and towns when that Aid comes in it goes directly to the city treasurer it's treated like any other state aid uh about a third of the towns give the money to their school boards uh they make them budget for that anticipate that state aid but both ways are acceptable so I think as uh if this is received favorably by you and the board and we do go in front of the council uh we'll have for them the amount of state aid that they'll get back based on this so their their net cost will be less than 400,000 but we need the

084400 to to get that okay thank you thank you for clarification John sure any other any other committee members with questions on this issue any other committee members Teresa what do they expect then we would get back roughly he you know I didn't have a deep conversation with Kelly about what makes up the 240 and how many were above the Benchmark um I I could get that I could have that estimate if I could follow up with a sure y John does that mean you don't have an idea of what the number would the city would receive back if they were or if we would have paid this 4 which we have to like what the return would be the reimbursement would be I think that's what I'm hearing I I don't know the the

085breakdown of the students that are in the 240 some could be over some could be under okay uh Mr chair may I ask a clarifying question please by all means Kate thank you um I I just want to clarify something John um my understanding is that when we receive those excess uh special ed uh reimbursements from the state that those go to back to the city they do not come to the board of ed is that correct they do not come to our district that's correct I I tried to say that I probably messed it up I I think you did I just wanted to clarify that though um because my understanding is that um in previous conversations I've had with um uh Mrs trus that that number can sometimes be as much as a

086million dollars for our district more that's correct thank you any other Committee Member before I go to glattus Teresa so so this is so we're going to request this amount from the city reserves and not from our education reserves I I didn't hear the motion the question was question from the question from Teresa I hear background question from Teresa was that we're going to request this money from the city reserves not the board of the city school district reserves that your question Teresa yes the only comment I would make was what we did last year um we asked it from the city Surplus and it was the city officials that made the decision where it would come from um okay oh so it's okay so we're leaving it up to them but they would whatever

087the case is and we applied for State uh refund it would go to directly to the city uh correct thank you any other committee members member glattus your hand up now' uh my question being we all that have been on the board a long time or knows that you know out of District placement is very expensive to the district my my question I think I may have asked this last year if say we have six students that we have placed out of district is that any point within a year's time that some of those students say maybe three or may might be two will not have to be place out of districts again and is there any type of of savings for us as a board H and John you might not know that but

088you know go ahead I'm sorry I well I can comment on the state aid piece uh and then maybe the superintendent could com comment on our objectives and things but um that's why the state aid is done twice a year in December uh you put in a a claim that says what you've spent so far and what you expect to spend the next uh six months then in uh it's either late May or early June I think late may you put in put in what your final cost actually was and that could involve both if you had a student who was outplaced for half a year and then placed back for half a year and uh those two component pieces add up over the benchmark you're going to be aided on that it doesn't have

089to be the same thing all year or and you can move students so but on on how often we do it I I'll let uh Mr Walston talk about that thank you Jeff any other questions and and Miss Cooper to to your question about um you know the possibility of bringing students back into district and out of these out of District placements um those decisions are um left up to the PE Personnel team right so this is made up of special education teachers mainstream teachers so it is always our goal to make sure our kids are in the least restrictive environment but oftentimes students only reach th this most most restricted environment because the team has decided that that placement is most appropriate to meet that child's educational needs and it could be for a

090number of reasons it could be for medical reasons it could be for emotional reasons it could be for academic and emotional reasons it could be a number of different things um and so if if the team deems it appropriate that we can meet that child's need back here in the district absolutely um but I I I'm thinking that all of the work that it takes for a student to qualify for an OU of District placement it's not likely we're going to have a lot of students coming back into the least restrictive environment because we just don't in most cases we just don't have the resources to meet the child's needs I I don't know if that helps thank you Mr wson yes it does help it does help okay now you're welcome Miss are we

091ready for a motion from the floor who ask from the city for $400,000 from the city reserves not so moved okay do I hear a second second second by Teresa no no that was Louisa that was Louisa second my apologies your hands been I know I know sorry I caught you yawning did you catch me I'm lebanes I Ed my hands all right a second by Louisa all right all in favor hi hi hi so we have Teresa we have Kate we have Louisa and we have Al four eyes for the motion to bring that back back to the school board excuse the the full board all right motion is carried I can't see the agenda do we have anything else Kevin uh the spend down or the budget yes there is one more item

092and that is the budget calendar um Ken is going to he's just set it up so I can share my screen oh excuse me for interrupting the motion was to get the 400 from the education Reserve City Reserve or city reserves take it back to the full board correct me if I'm wrong Kate take to the motion will be to take this uh take it back to the for the full board to vote on getting that uh that allocation that needed money from the city Reserve from the city reserves okay since Ed thank you I'm sorry since Eddie EX money going back directly to the city thank you I'm sorry Kevin I'm sorry no no not a problem at all okay before we end I know we have one more another item but I want

093to thank you all for maintaining your your attentions to the these issues at this late hour all right okay Kevin item number five okay here we go thank than you Ken and so just want to remind the board we are to submit our budget request the board's adopted budget um and shared with uh the mayor's office and the council's office U by Wednesday uh February 14th um our hope is to have this in front of the in front of the board and adopted no later than um January 31st which is our last last board meeting of the month and I just wanted to review the budget calendar with you um with an effort to start a little bit earlier um so that this board as currently constituted constituted has an opportunity to get an idea

094of what the requests are going to be for 2425 uh we understand that there's um not we will not have any board meetings in December um how nonetheless you will see significant activity from my office and a finance office nonetheless uh particularly with our community um and you know we'll certainly cover the John and I will cover that in our community relations meeting um at our November meeting um and so I just wanted to walk the committee through the calendar for this year um you will see starting with September 6 a lot of things are already in motion um and so if you don't mind I can go through this and then Circle back with any questions that you might have um our capital budget preliminary discussion and um often times I know there are

095questions about uh the difference between capital budget items and items that uh we handle as a district and so any big budget items that uh the uh the city of Danbury would be taken on we have discussions with them this time of year and then this would and then they would build um our capital projects within their budget and I'm not talking about specifically things that would be discussed um as part of The Binding effort but just their their annual capital budget um items and so there will be a discussion through sites and Facilities uh later on in the process um but the important thing is and as you see here um it's beginning to have those preliminary discussions now um September 11th the cabinet and I began to talk about the budget calendar itself

096and trying to map out a plan to make sure that the uh board is well positioned to make a recommendation and have an approval by the end of January and um and then you'll see here September 27th um the budget calendar discussed with the board and that at that meeting I just gave an update um that I will be sharing um uh sooner rather than later a calendar and which is what's happening now um October 3rd I reviewed kind of an overview of the plan with the admin Council that means all of our administrators because there's significant um action that is taking place currently in which our chief of schools will be meeting with our principes K5 across the system um also be meeting with our Middle School principles and shortly before this month is

097over um um our assistant superintendent will also be meeting with um principal Donovan and our athletic director and so that's what's happening we gave this Overview at October 3D um about um actions or activity they it should anticipate um um and you'll see here at the bottom something that we did for every school in the district is provided some um an enrollment forecast as well on our documents um and John can you confirm have the principls already received their enrollment forecast for 2425 or we just have them on our side right now uh they have uh they received them at the admin council meeting okay all right thank you and then for um which is kind of where we are right now um October 26 through the 27th which is really the remainder of this

098month and you'll see significant activity that's happening now and the people who are kind of responsible in terms of deliverables um and so uh between our assistant superintendent chief of schools um chief of operations chief of Finance uh they will be meeting with principes athletic directors uh supervisors of of various programs um John will be meeting with Dan uh I'm sorry meeting with Dan and our and chip salvini regarding the athletic budget um recommendations for new curriculum programming we'll have those conversations certainly with um Cara casemiro but prior to that she will be meeting with her team um Staffing supplies equipment operations purchasing Etc um Mike um seelig will be having some initial discussions and his facilities meetings coming up soon but prior to that he'll be meeting with Rich jobber Rich Torres and Gina

099Gina Jasmine um with with those respective Department departments um any minor project and special maintenance needs that we can handle on our side uh certainly will be discussed um and uh we will be asking Mike to review that with us uh to make sure we've kind of addressed um all of the minor projects that we are aware of and that we can fold into our uh budget request for next year um and and and oftentimes and I think and Michelle knows this very well in her role with our uh sites and Facilities team um any routine summer projects certainly will be reviewed as part of that process you will also later on see of course see any staffing requests uh whether it's K5 68 or 912 um and so that's why those enrollment projections are

100so important and so when our chief of schools and assistant superintendents are meeting with principles U they will be sitting with them regarding those requests and beginning to talk about what those staff and requests might be for the following school year um projected out of District program enrollments and cost for students with disabilities um and so Kelly and her team will certainly be giving us an idea of what this means for 24-25 particularly in light of the legislation um and so it these things will be discussed later on at one of our committee meetings with carara and Kelly will join us in a finance committee meeting um or Andor um and you'll see later on we have a workshop where we can present uh so it could be a lot of um cute an opportunity

101for questions and answers um and so Finance meeting uh October 17th of course that's tonight reviewing the calendar tomorrow um is our community relations meeting and um we want to start talking about some budget projections for next year which include adult education uh which is part of our um not all of it but part of it is um impacted by our general budget um and also want to have a discussion about our family Liaisons as well any impact or non impact on our budget for next for the foreseeable future and our no November meeting with cison facilities uh the expectation is um Mike Mike will be leading discussions regarding budget projections uh for facilities technology and security and also share some feedback uh for enrollment expectations uh for 2425 um there's I will um and

102at our October 23rd cabinet meeting we will be talking about theems of danburry and middle school and doing a cost analysis which will include utilities cost transportation and Staffing Etc um it was important and it's it's it's ident highlighted also um on the superintendent's goals to make sure we have a separate budget budget for theems of danburry model and the middle school and so I will be having those initial discussions with my team to make sure that we can have something available for the board uh to consider as part part of the 20425 budget request as well uh we anticipate uh we will be working on this you know from October when this month started through the first week of November and our goal right now is to have a draft of the presentation to

103the board U by 11:10 or the week of November 10th and distribute that to the to the four boards um so that they can have that available for our finance committee meeting on Tuesday the 14th um and so here you'll see draft budget presentation which will include our enrollment projections and staff and requests for the subsequent for 2425 school year um and then you'll see facilities projects technology and security um of course that's just kind of paraphrasing or capturing what you would have heard in committee committee reports at our November 20th meeting um and I I put version one here um anticipated that there may be some adjustments particularly after getting some feedback from the board um and our capital budget presentation to the board um the the the requests to the city are due

104to the city planning Department by the end of November um and so certainly we would have had some discussions with Antonio and his team but we want to make sure the board is aware of those capital budget um requests and share those as well um particularly given you know the board's activity and getting feedback from our principles and staff about you know the various concerns around the community we want to make sure we're making you aware of the request that we are submitting to the city and then of course the ones that we can try to handle ourselves as a district uh and almost done here and then moving on for November capital budget due to the City Planning Department by the 30th that's what I was just talking about uh but really for the

105end of November through the month of December um and I I would like to make sure we have an opportunity to talk through this through community relations and that is the activity that you are seeing on the screen um and so of course I'm talking to my admin team and walking them through what the requests are uh for the 24 25 school year this is really going to be representative of discussions that they had previously with their supervisors U but then have discussions with some of our collective bargaining units including the teachers and admin um and so John and I we will be looking to do that in December um I have an advisory um Council um sub I'm sorry superintendent advisory Council I'm going to also make sure we're presenting to them um and

106then a number of different Community groups that you also see up here uh to make sure that there's some opportunity for feedback and engagement with our parents throughout this throughout the community as well um and then in January uh we will return to action and um if there are any updates to the uh budget presentation um we'll have an I'm putting in here version two anticipating version two uh by our board meeting in January uh we we do have a finance committee um of course January 16th if the board has an appetite for an additional um board work shop I'm a board Workshop or workshop on this we certainly understand um but then we have right now a committee planned for January 16th and and then of course uh for January 24th we have an

107opportunity for discussion or adoption um at our last board meeting in uh in January and if the Board needs additional time um then we've um have a hold for a board meeting for January 31st and in the event we need additional time and then you'll see that year as a kind of hold for the calendar again this is if the board has an appetite for a meeting or if it needs one at that time this will give us plenty of time to make sure we realize the deadline before February 14th and then in the remainder of the calendar you'll see John has kind of outlined what the process then is for the city um where um the city council ad hoc committee they review the budget U the Board of Education um and I um

108are at the council meeting um typically answering questions on behalf of the 24-25 budget and then there will be typically a vote on an adoption of the operation and capital budget in May and and and then of course um in the event um the final budget that is adopted does not meet our needs we may needed some some further discussion in May and so um dates to be determined certainly on that U but I just wanted to make sure I walked the board through um you're going to see an opportunity to see some requests in November before the Christmas break the holiday break um and then of course we'll be back in action in in January as well for additional presentations as we typically receive them and that that is it from my side Mr

109Russa I'm sorry for interrupting you Kevin no no I'm fine I see Teresa has her hand up Teresa how do you determine enrollment uh project enrollment figures yeah thank thank you for asking that so um the one of the more difficult ones to project is kindergarten um and so we can typically we really have to rely on historical numbers in addition to the demographers projections um but one through 12 um we project uh we also rely on demographers numbers Teresa but we also look at um simple rollup and so if we have 900 kids in grade one um at the minimum we are expecting 900 kids in grade two um if we have uh 900 um eighth graders at the minimum we are anticipating at least um 900 new ninth graders to danburry high school

110and so when we do those projections it's really about rollup um um in in addition to looking at the demographers projections for for the district do you have any idea right now how it looks like uh well well well I can say you know just kind of based on where we are right now um and and and and hope these numbers remain stable not because I don't want more people to come to Danbury but because I'm worried about the resources we have already um but but right now our K5 enrollment has stabilized these last couple of years um so if the committee recalls we have not had requests for K5 teachers last we did not have K5 teachers requests for last year as part of the budget um our growth has been primarily at the

111secondary level u meaning middle school and high school um and so um the growth that I'm anticipating um would will will continue to be starting at the high school um and um you know the middle school is to be determined um because again our enrollment has really stabilized at the elementary school and because of that from the last couple of years it's starting to stabilize a little bit at the middle schools but that's hard to say because you know we can get we can get a spurt and over the over the registration and all of a sudden we need more teachers but uh hopefully that does not happen I we we will have um additional numbers at high school next year based on the projections um and so we're anticipating around 3,800 students at Danbury

112High School next year um and given the Thousand students that are at uh Broadview the 9900 at Rogers Park and the close to 750 at Westside who was at capacity Broadview overc capacity and um you know we don't want Rogers Park to be at 900 but that's certainly almost 100 less than they had last year uh but all of those numbers are up for the system which means it's more numbers for Danbury High School um so our our biggest growth we anticipate to be at the high school next year and fingers crossed that it's going to stabilize at the middle remain stabilized K5 and hopefully stabilize at the middle school but we shall see thank you thank you sircome any other committee members with questions committee Members First please no other committee members I will

113entertain questions from other board members that are on board tonight any board members with question no board members of any additional questions any final comments Mr walson so um thank thank you for the invitation Mr Russo um I I just want to Circle back and uh share with the board I know we have a rocky road ahead uh given um given our declining uh Federal monies uh that will be expiring um in June of 2024 um the team and I will be uh looking to number one talk about All the Monies that will be coming into the district and when I say money's coming in uh further clarifying what the acceleration looks like for Danberry um in the 2425 school year um further further articulating um and really talking about all of our grants and

114making the and making it clear to the board U what revenue streams are coming in the district what we can spend money on what we cannot um just so that the the committee and the board has a full understanding of the monies that are coming in to use as resources um and and and and um as I had uh discussed earlier um having a detailed plan around um this plan B uh that Teresa was speaking to in the event uh we do not get the uh reserves U as a request so my team and I we will be working on all of those things um coincided with our 2425 ask um but we we will make sure that we find a way to make this clear to the committee clear to the board in a

115way where our community and the board can digest this information and make sense of all of it because there are a lot of moving parts right now we certainly understand that thank you sir thank you all right committee once again I want to thank you for your your time for this late hour and your patience U it allowed me to attend a PTO meeting at King Street School of King Street PTO uh if there's nothing else I will entertain a motion to adjourn for tonight raise your hand Reon so moved hi second oh thank you all thank you all Kate and with a second by Teresa all in favor I I I anybody else want to stay another couple hours I hear