001someone here who can take notes Theresa thank you so much is this meeting open to members of the public yes yes okay it's being streamed okay all right um so uh I'm gonna call this to order 6 31 now and we have two items on our agenda the May 2023 financial report and also an update on financial forecasting so with that I will turn that over to Mr Walston or Mr Spang whoever would like to pick that up yeah John if you can start with the the monthly update and then we can tag team the last week okay and um I'd like to introduce uh if I could Jody husina is with us tonight um some of you may know Jody from our adult ed program and um she's joined the finance department in the
002role uh that Eddie Miranda uh held most recently so uh Jody's uh online with us so yeah uh Ken if you'd like to uh turn to the financial report the next one see there there's our agenda there it is uh okay so um I'm continuing um when I started I I think a couple months ago when I started uh presenting these and I think someone's got their TV on okay and can you mute everyone except for John okay that's but yeah thank you uh so you know what I I try and do is um at least show the highlights um what I think are the emerging issues or um things we need to emphasize in the narrative and although it it looks like a lot there not um first paragraph I mentioned that um through
003May our our budget is uh pretty much obligated 99.7 it's up or a little bit from where it was the month before um most of our obligations have been um encumbered or set aside or even in paid at this point but I I mentioned there again uh the struggle we're having with health insurance claims um talked about it last month that they're up you can see the statistics there the first three months of the plan year uh they were 5.8 million in the last uh three months ending march they were 6.8 million that's a 17 increase and are it's worth saying again that um our we have a health insurance consultant slash broker and they've told us this is not entirely unique to Danbury but we do have um a larger number this year of
004what they describe as high cost claims those are individuals whose claims have been more than fifty thousand dollars uh you know we're self-insured we we pay the claims uh as those claims uh get up should they get up to 125 000 then there's an insurance policy that kicks in that pays everything above that um called this that's what's called the stop loss uh but that uh Corridor in between uh we're responsible and they they feel we have more uh than we've had in in typical years uh they have attributed that uh in part to uh the fact that during the covid periods uh people weren't uh getting the preventive care uh that they had in other years they weren't going to the doctor as much or the hospital and now that they are some of
005their con conditions are further along than they might normally be there's also I've seen and read about some medical inflation it's around part of that is due to the consolidation of hospitals and groups especially here in Connecticut that's led to higher prices so that's uh that we're struggling with um the other thing I I mentioned there in the second paragraph is the um you know our cost of covering vacancies and absentees adds absenteeism and and things of of that nature um it's it's been harder to find substitutes uh than ever before um as you know we use a service Kelly Services it does the same thing with a number of area school districts uh but we've still had to use our own teachers uh either by giving them extra courses for the year to teach
006uh you'll have to compensate for that or just plain what we call period coverage where a teacher has a free period and and we get her or him to come cover a class and there's a cost for that so we've talked about that uh during the year before but it's we still have struggled with method and then I mentioned too that um you know the city uh we have our budget approved by the city council 150 million but as I mentioned last month and again this month you'll see the number in a minute um the savings that we thought uh back in December uh we'd have when we got to the end of the year uh we just haven't had um mostly because of uh the health insurance that we talked about we're also faced
007with uh mandate from the state for a reading program those of you that also sit on the board's curriculum committee might remember the March meeting or Cara casemiro came and discussed this um Public Act 21-2 which requires that we have a reading program picked out and starting to implement it uh in two weeks or in July 1st so that that's been a drag on our resources that we weren't expecting but along those lines we've started discussions um and I'm very pleased with the response we're getting from uh City Oklahoma City officials primarily the City Finance director and and the mayor's office uh we uh met with him this week uh along with our committee chairperson Al Russo to talk about uh drawing down reserves uh to balance the budget and they were very supportive of
008that idea we're trying to sharpen our pencil a little more before we draw them down but the preliminary plans are to draw the reserves down uh in early August so I'm I'm encouraged by the reaction uh from them we also have the state budget was signed today by the governor I haven't seen the runs yet myself um maybe we'll report that separately when we see in the runs are are it's a term that's used for town by town State Aid by state aid exactly what you're you're going to get so uh well they should be out if not tonight uh tomorrow morning but at the bottom of the report there you'll see if you could scroll up a little um this appears in the next couple Pages uh it shows our 141 million dollar budget
009um we've spent uh 115 000 through May uh there's 25 115 million uh there's 25 million covered at the end of May but this week uh in fact uh Friday is what we call the balloon payroll for teachers and for other staff and um so a 10-month employees who Begin work in September when they begin work uh there are we pay every other Friday there are only 21 every other Fridays left in the year because we've already had July and August they're given a choice do they want their salary divided equally by the next 21 paydays or uh and this is a practice that's gone back probably 30 years or more um do they want their salary divided by and then when we get to the last teacher payroll of the year uh they get
010five checks and uh it's very popular uh especially with our younger teachers um that payroll will be processing it tomorrow uh for Friday but it it could be in the vicinity of 18 uh to 20 million dollars some of that coming from our people who are on grants not in the in the budget here but it's uh it's a big payroll for sure so that that'll use up most of the encumbrance along with uh some of the claims more health insurance claims in June and then just some of the bills that we've encumbered uh utilities some of the special ed bills some of the transportation services for the month of June um will use the rest um so at end of May we were projecting a balance of 479 000 uncommitted I use that word
011um I expect that we'll go down to Zero by the end of this month um in you know it was a very tight budget to start with what I've what I've said to people when we you know we asked for 152 million uh last year uh when we were given 141 of course you'll remember we used our Esser Grant uh for most of that difference uh so we wouldn't have to cut back programs and staff uh but it it didn't leave much we didn't leave ourselves uh really any room uh for things that might not go according to plan that's why when we see these health insurance claims come in it takes us right down to zero so that's that's the story of the general fund through May um Ken if you could just flip
012to the next page this is um the report the board is uh used to well there's that page I'm sorry um you can see the summary there by what they call major object salaries benefits uh supplies and over on the far right you'll see the the 479 thousand and then um Ken on the next a couple Pages that's our typical line by line uh budget you can see after uh transfers which we make uh during the year you can see we there's a little money left in the uh teacher line and then as you go down the list uh you'll see the line for Tutors or para Educators uh there's some unencumbered money there but I again I expect that to be uh used up so those are the line by lines um Kate I
013I could stop there I could talk about the grants and then we could talk about the whole report what's your your preference let's let's pause for a moment John and just see if there are any questions or any points that people are looking for clarification on okay uh members of committee do you have any questions anyone else have a question yeah Michelle yeah just a quick one the uh reading program mandate was that K to third grade K to three is well I think we we chose to do the K5 but was the Mandate like for K3 and then we added those two additional grades I remember having that conversation at one point I might look to my boss to answer that I believe that and so um Michelle I believe the Mandate is for
014um is for K3 and given that we're in need of a reading program if we're going to replace the one that we have um that's why I think part of the presentation and curriculum committee discussion was to go K-5 because we're in need of a new reading program anyway so if a kid is leaving the third grade and with this science of reading approach and then to go into fourth grade into playing that has already been deemed um insufficient uh it was thought best to to go K5 if you have a comprehensive program from the beginning to the end of elementary school right and what was the what is the Mandate what was the cost of our reading program just because it came up as one of these reasons that we didn't anticipate so the
015k-3 was the Mandate we added the additional two grades I'm just wondering what those numbers look like right and so John was that bill 3.5 I don't remember what the bill was uh just less than that the uh first tranche is a little over 3 million um and then there'll be some more uh training and staff development for a couple hundred thousand after that that was the K through three or is that are you giving me the number for K through five right now I'm wondering what that difference was to add those two additional grades um I have um if you'd like I actually have the proposal if if um Ken would like to put it up can that's the one that's called um uh two of two and if you go uh to the
016middle of that there's a proposal the state had certain ones you could pick from uh keep going Ken into the middle of that um you'll see keep going there's the so there's the um the public act itself that's the you'll see I highlighted the number 21-2 but if you go a little further Ken um in this in the middle there you'll see we have to make our decision uh by next month that's the material that went to the curriculum committee but a little bit more Canon and you'll see what I a little more you'll see a red there it is stop there here's the uh proposal we've accepted um from a company called the American reading company um if you look on the next page that's the first tranche uh is three million it's in
017that little box there there's uh materials of two and a half but on the next page six pages itemized yeah to answer uh Michelle's point you'll see uh grade ones through um five uh the literacy lab uh followed by some of the reading books and the core and things like that it's it's not broken out grade by grade uh but we could probably do that for you from this uh proposal tool kits and training and things like that I mean I was just wondering if if it was something that we hadn't anticipated and I understand why we you know would want it I was just wondering what the numbers came to just to add those two grades but because I know that we were looking I I believe it was Cairo said we would have
018done it to eighth grade if we could have so I just remember having that discussion I was wondering what that number looked like but if you could get back to me on that that'd be great yeah yeah I could even send this out appreciate it sure okay thanks so much okay any other questions Terry uh I was reading in the newspaper some of the schools were asking for a delay in implementing the reading program um is that something we had considered at all on that that's correct Teresa so some school districts were provided a waiver there was actually a waiver provided for the entire state of Connecticut um we did not go that route I can tell you that the state of Connecticut did not make it necessarily easy The District in submitting the waiver
019um but there was a waiver provided for folks um that doesn't mean it doesn't they don't necessarily have to still abide by or Implement some type of Science and reading program but we were prior to the Mandate we were in the market for a reading program anyway and we had just I believe we had just started to Pilot being a reader at our K and first grade levels and and then when the state came out with the legend when the legislation came out around the science and reading program we then of course pivoted you know through the process comprehensive process that we went through with the board and the various committees to land on the American convenient program plan so we we were already out there in the market looking for one um feel like
020we've landed on the correct one but you know one of the reasons we did not submit the way because we felt like what we had initially was not addressing the needs of our school community of persons thank you no you're welcome yeah all right um if I don't see any other questions John we Mrs Cooper uh not just a quick question because I sort of um skip part of John that 25 million on the first page where there's encompasses that pays for all our bills that we have as I as I foresee it that sort of piling up and that's what we're going to take that 25 million and pay those bill with and that's why we use the word encompasses right uh yeah encumbrances are either one of two things they're either orders that
021we've placed for goods and services it could be an order and we might encumber for example uh eversource for electricity for the year and then each month subtract 112 um or some of the special ed tuitions some of the um the STA bus money but the so they could be purchase orders um for services we just haven't uh incurred yet but primarily it's the first two numbers up there I don't know if Ken can make it any uh larger but particularly the salaries and what we do is that's those are the salaries uh that are going to be paid out this week I don't know if you heard me talk about the balloon uh payroll that it teaches it's an option in the teacher's uh contract that many of them take advantage of it it
022because it it allows them to have money in the summer sometimes yeah budget for it so you can see a big chunk of that is going to be gone by Friday and then right under that is uh what's left for our health insurance claims uh they've been coming in about uh last week I think they were five hundred and eighty thousand dollars they've been as high as 900 000 in a week so we still have uh four or five Mondays in June they take the money out on Mondays so so those first two lines are pretty much spoken for okay that's with that thank you yeah okay so Ken if you want to um go there's uh after that sheet that we showed at with all the zeros there's um a landscape page for Grants
023uh yep uh right after that okay yeah stay right there um so this is the uh same kind of sheet we've been showing uh all year the grant by Grant uh what the budget was what's left um what's encumbered on the very I don't know if someone needs to be muted again okay that's better thank you um the very first grant there the alliance Grant look at the big encumbrance it's 5.6 million uh I mentioned the uh some of the big teacher payroll will come from Grants this week you know our alliance Grant has I think at least 40 kindergarten teachers in it and uh so many of them have chosen uh the balloon payment so that'll go down you could see uh there won't be much left in Alliance which is our biggest Grant
024uh by the end of this month and and this is what it looked like on May 31st uh I know Karen some of the program people they've been making sure that the plans that we laid out for the the state to approve although many of those won't happen until the summer or the fall but all that money gets used up and that we don't send any money back um and that's it's an objective it's a it's a strategy uh We've uh I've gone out to all of the the program people that manage grants and said here's your here's your balance uh if your Grant is a one-year Grant uh make sure you use it up but a lot of the grants um are two-year grants I call them 24-month grants like the title one and
025things uh but if you have a 24-month grant that's expiring make sure you use that um so these uh these balances are are considerably lower uh as we speak they've been working very hard on those but what I'd like to point out um is Grant number 37. that's that's um sr3 uh that was the big one now it's the one that you know came in it uh we're starting the third year it came in at 25 million dollars uh you can see there's still uh 10 million dollars left um this will be a good segue uh into what Kevin talks about in a minute um of that uh 10 million we could take two million off the top right away we're going to need that for substitute teachers uh which I mentioned either the Kelly
026Services or the uh overloads or even the period coverage we think that could be 2 million next year and this is uh where we're going to account for it those costs are not in the school operating budget so that'll leave about 8 million um Kevin will describe what we want to do that will all be designated but um you know then that's the end of the to all of the Esser grants and as you look down if you go down another couple pages and you'll see the total of the unspend grants is 12.5 million but 10.8 is that single Esser Grant so uh yes there's a a million or so of unobligated grants many of those are 24-month grants so those those will be used uh eventually uh but there's not a lot of money
027anymore uh sitting I say sitting in the grant fund um if you went back uh two years when we had all three of our our covid or our Esser grants um that we had just received you would have seen a much different uh picture so that's um that's the story on Grant's happy to answer any questions about grants uh any questions from committee members to start I have a couple quick questions John um I know that there are some negative balances running on some of those grants uh could you speak to why that that's showing up yes um so uh Ken if you go back to the first page uh let me go to the uh Grant number and I'll also Grant number 42. those are um we'll call them Ed Services Grants those are
028programs that are run by Anne Mead for school after school school vacations and uh twice a year it's been the practice here to and Ann collects a lot of fee money she collects a lot of money from the state uh directly and twice a year we send in an invoice for these two grants for exactly what we've spent uh we didn't send it uh the first of two invoices in January we had our uh a change in our grant coordinator left and we had a month or so before we replaced it but we just sent her her invoice yesterday so those monies will come in and they'll be deposited in both of those minus figures will be taken care of um the if you look at the second page um well yeah the second page
029is a couple things the the fourth line down is called Health and Welfare 084 I don't it was called that years ago when the state used to give state aid for nurses who are assigned to non-public schools uh either private or parochial schools here in Danbury there's a mandate on cities and towns to provide School nurses to those schools what the city does in many places they'll say uh well we really don't know a whole lot about School nurses why don't you take care of it and we'll send you the money at the end of the year if you look at the mayor's budget you'll see uh remember there it had the Board of Ed budget and there were a couple other things on the page called education one is this Revenue we just send
030an invoice today over to the senior accountant in City Hall that pay for these non-public school nurses so that um that 66 000 will go away when they pay the other one uh on there as you look to the towards the bottom uh the magnet school and um we've talked about that we're actually uh this grant coordinators set it up as two grants number 130 and number 131 uh I just to keep to keep track uh Grant 131 is the revenue that the other towns pay us uh that send kids to our to our Magnet School AIS 234 000. I myself probably would have just put it on the grant above that that's the magnet that's the money we get from the state of Connecticut uh for the magnet school so much per pupil as
031long as we keep the right uh variance but what you'll see there is if you take those two together we have a deficit of a couple hundred thousand um now if you remember when we put the school board budget together for the first time we put a subsidy in the board's budget a balance this uh Grant what's what's happened is our uh our expenses have risen faster in the enrollment that we're getting from uh other cities and towns at least they did this year and last year we we attributed towards the to the pandemic uh particularly when we were closed in the fall of uh 2021 or 2020 other towns were open and we lost some students who would otherwise have come to us we're starting to get that back it's going to take a
032little while in the meantime we have to balance that Grant so those are the those are the ones with the negatives there's a there's one on the third page John and that's the leap yes that's a reimbursement Grant I think we've uh put in for that I'll check the um I know a lot of that spending uh came this spring and um you the way that the state uh replenishes what you spent so we were talking today as a matter of fact in um Kelly trutches uh warned us that there would be no money left in that next year if we had I think we were talking about using it for something else so I think that's spoken for but I'll check okay thank you um and then I just want to go back to
033something that you had mentioned before oh shoot uh I apologize I've lost my place so let's continue I'm sure it'll come back and I'll interrupt you thanks John hey John um that Grant um on the third page saved the music I see that is there's still money is that money all going to be used that um I'm not entirely familiar with that Grant but that is not a state of Connecticut Grant sometimes uh we'll put into the grant fund um grants from uh private sources like the bar Foundation is in there because we want to account for it separately keep a separate record uh just like this so um um that that balance was uh perpetuate or continue uh until we use it up or whatever instructions the the donor has given us but right
034so it doesn't necessarily have to be spent down by June 30th Jesse correct okay so it's something that could be rolled into next year right and we'll be yes it will be okay thank you that actually uh jogged my memory about the the question I had John which is um of the the grants that you've spoken about that were uh 24-month grants um can you uh are all the grants that are listed are all those at the end of their 24-month cycle or we still some of them no they're they're both and um often uh if a grant is in its second year or a month what I call months 13 through 24. uh we'll call that a carryover grant and you might see uh co uh next to it I don't know if that
035got yeah well you'll see at the uh bottom of the second page the Ida 611 the Ida is our our major special ed Grant uh the federal flow through Grant you could see co uh right before the number 72 so that's a that's a carryover um if you look up title four Grant number 26 that's a carryover uh Grant nine and we use the term carryover to mean again it's in the second and last year gotcha okay so there's some on here that are going to continue for another 12 months but we don't necessarily know what we call the title grants um at least Title One our big Grant that's a 24-month grant okay okay thank you any other questions from either committee members or uh Terry go ahead would it be too much to
036ask to show if they're in the last months of the grant or the last year or continuing on or is that too much to ask no no not at all I could prepare that tomorrow sure and John I'm wondering particularly for our bigger grants I mean the ones that we rely on are um mostly annual except for the relief Monies um and so Essa 3 of course is one that will end around this time next year can have that up on the board right now that's has remained 0.8 million dollars but maybe we can color code the ones that are kind of annual and the ones that are you know every two years and maybe that's something we can all begin to get used to yeah yeah sounds good yeah yeah that's a good idea
037thank you into John's Point not all of them are federal or state grants that we count on annually um and so like the one for Save the Music um or by the bar Foundation you know they may not always show up on this report because we're not those are not kind of automatics that we would get every year um so maybe we can find a way to you know show that one as well what's some kind of asset or something but I think it'll be easier for everyone to see good idea any other questions that's cool uh just a quick question uh and I would listen to John explain all the money however it comes grants Ohio but it comes through uh the Family Resource Center and me that money does not show up in
038our budget or where does it show up in our budget uh it it does not um you you'll see uh the grants that we manage through the grant fund and those are generally grants where the state Ed department requires us to um manage them a certain way uh meaning through their portal and uh requires us to keep track of things separately and report at the end of the year separately so when there are those uh requirements we use our accounting system in this chart you're seeing uh summarized uh that allows us to do that um that's the grants are the second of uh three funds that we manage and and one is the general fund which is the school operating budget uh the second is this grant fund and the third is the Ed Ed
039Services fund those are the monies that um Anne Mead in her operation manage um you know for parent activities in in student attitudes but no it doesn't it doesn't show in either of these two foreign can I ask why I mean shouldn't we know how much money uh or that's strictly between the state um you know I don't know the history to recite um I I never like saying this is the way it's been done I just don't know why um I I it's it's Pro I can think of a reason for doing it that way is um you know you don't have uh the money to start the year you make it you uh bill it as you go along you know for different programs and services um so it's it's more of a
040uh an impress fund I guess or a revolving Fund in in anything else but whether that was their thinking when these were set up I I just don't know thank you foreign just to follow up on that question uh but it was seems to me if we take tally on everything else and don't get me wrong I'm just asking a question because you know long as I've been on the board I've never seen if there was 50 million dollars from the resource center and maybe it's just the the labor that those programs that come in to that resource center but what I'm trying to say is if it's not a part of our budget we don't have a line item in our budget for that it should be somewhere along the line that we can
041look and say okay this program belongs to the resource center and this is the amount of money that comes with that program and how many programs there is that bring into dollars so what I'm hearing is we don't know that so John I need some clarification here when we talk about Family Resource Center what programming are we talking about can you clarify that um well it's it's certainly the programs that are um chalked up under um the the two uh the Extended Learning Program uh 36 right which is up here right and the Cottage Street um companion to that I uh number 42 and then there's also the uh you know the School Readiness uh program which appears here and and some of the other Grant programs they don't um my understanding is they really
042don't spend money um other than through these grants that you're seeing here um the payroll for example all runs through our payroll program um there's yeah it's more the the registration process and uh the billing and and those kind of things that are not apparent I'm not saying that money is being transferred I would you know I'm just saying that the programs uh how would someone new come on the board and look at this is a program ran through the resource center okay and and uh I'm just totally uh mystified that uh well um what I'd like to do is is talk with Ann um express some of these um observations and um let's see what she says um knowing her she has always pretty good records and whenever we've asked her things like this
043she said um very good information I yeah I'm not doubting that Jessica yeah yeah I'm not doubting that yeah thank you okay just for clarification in the minutes so the question is how do we know what is or what grants are under I know me is that correct and if we come across other programs we could say that they knowing what we know that they should go through and me is that essentially is I I heard um questions about the programs themselves she runs uh a number of different things she might have eight or nine uh different programs they're they're all fantastic uh parent University things like that uh many of them should keep separate accounting of uh and I I think that's I mean I think it might be interesting to see what are
044those programs how big are they yeah what's coming in what's going out um that's what I think would be helpful why but if I heard you right I don't want to presume that's that's what I'd like to ask her and what those programs are we we see these names but it might help particularly the newer board members um you know what is School Readiness yes John if we have some specific questions and is going to jump into meeting she's on the invite as well just in case oh good I I just so she was listening the whole time I just spoke um glad I complimented her okay but I you know excuse and manager chairperson you know my my comment was only as we go down the budget and if you get uh information from
045you know Community people and as we talk about the budget and how certain programs relate to our budget uh and how do you explain uh the dollars that is associated with the programs what are the total dollars that are associated with the uh resource center and and that intakes and I heard John say you know payroll and all that comes through the main office I sit on the board you know Mrs Cooper I'm searched uh could you ask that again that last part I missed it I'm sorry I lost the connection there for just a moment you know just to know the programs that come along with the funds that come along with you know I know she does the program at the Dome um you know that program but I guess what I'm finally
046trying to say is this does not show up on our budget okay so it's not a part of our budget that's what I'm trying to get some clarification on um okay can I ask a question real quick sure go ahead Mr Wilson so I as Ann is coming in I just want to clarify the question just to make sure we're all talking about the same thing here um I think John I think I heard John explain a couple of different programs um that run out of the Family Resource Center like School Readiness right EOP right and so all of those things are itemized here in the um in a report um but I I think I also heard some questions about the line that's right now line 7017 Family Resource Center um and is the
047question clarification about that line item and what um and kind of what's coming out of there I just want to make sure I understand the question because I heard a couple of different things one number one I can't I can't even read read and see where it says so you know uh maybe I can uh send uh Ann a question tomorrow sometime because I can't even see uh the the uh writing and can you um I I think Teresa had a question I think Miss Cooper had a question I just wanna make sure we can have the questions ready for when Ann gets here just make sure we're asking the same thing and we're all clear on what the ask is well well my question to me you know and I'm not trying to be
048rude is it is these we have uh another part of our educational system that defines and the program we hear the program is does not show up in our budget that's my only question and why they do not show up on our budget right so John when you said it wasn't showing up on the budget can you help explain what that means well what we're seeing uh in the grant page in front of us you see some of those programs probably six or seven where we're accounting for the spending uh there uh but you're you're not seeing uh really the other side of that um what is it what are the revenues how do they okay break even that kind of thing um in yeah hey John are you talking about specifically zero one seven
049yeah or uh things like Family University or that comes to mind right but that but that's not a specific Grant that's a program that's functioning out of that office right correct all right so and maybe you can help them clarify and John maybe it'll be helpful if you can just catch and up on your statement and then she can kind of jump in and go from there right yeah um so in the the question that came up as we went through the grants um I was asked about some of the grants that are showing negative balances um so I mentioned what we were you know our invoicing procedure for like the Extended Learning Program uh and so on and some of the other grants but I um I think there was a feeling that you
050know the the third fund if you will though with the general fund the grants fund and uh ed services fund that that that wasn't showing up somewhere didn't do a good job answering questions about your program son okay let me let me try good evening everyone it's good to to see you and I've been following along um yeah not a problem um since the beginning so as John said the district has three separate funds the general fund the grant fund and then the ed Service um fund they um the Ed service is just like the general fund it is held through the bank we use the same general accounting practices um all expenditures go through the finance office department for whether it's a general fund the grant account or the ed services all goes through
051and goes through the approval process so let me let me try to help you with this so the Family Resource Center grant0117 is specific to more streets Family Resource Center okay and you will see on that line we're granted about 101 and change from the state every year we've encumbered salaries already which is left um some uh minus of twenty six thousand to help augment that Grant some of our parent fees in the ed Service Center account will help balance out some of that twenty six thousand dollars as well as if you look further down on the sheet you will see Family Resource Center Esser 2 Morris o49 and that rest of that 16 000 or part of it will be moved to make sure that that Family Resource Grant 17 shows a zero balance
052come the end of the end of the month or by mid July once we've done all the paperwork um you'll see other grants that are underneath me as well um the Ed the extended school hours Grant o35 is a grant that we receive from the state and it's called it has what's called restricted funds and so when we put in a request to the state for funding like that it's very very specific of how that money must be used and so that Grant will be totaled out zeroed out by the end of the month go now to School Readiness Cottage Street 42. and this grant right now this year is used for both of our Cottage Street and our new Osborne building and so that Grant started off um and instead of the zero it
053should have 499 744 dollars showing as a starting balance and I I spoke with Mark Mike the other day our grants coordinator of getting that fixed but the grants that we receive in many of the cases for the programs that we run come with various languages that say that parents must match what the state is giving their children so for instance in the School Readiness we receive 8 942 dollars per child the parent has a co-pay fee that's determined upon their income upon enrollment those fees go into the ed Service account okay other fees that go in to the ed Service account are our 21st century grants and you'll see 108 118 119 or all of our I think I got them all 117 in there 118 119 are all our 21st century grants they
054too have a parent pay uh fee that helps cover those as well um and that money is in the ed Service Center also what you will see is for our students in both programs the School Readiness and the 21st century programs we bill out to the state subsidy CARE program called care for kids and receive quarterly checks to that are then electronically deposited into the ed Service account um other grants that and monies that come into the ed services account may be donations to the um District but there most of them are all very Project Specific and they're smaller grants and they all have a designated line just like all of your grants do or grant numbers just as your grants do here in this particular document that John's showing you um the I don't
055think anything else that would help you understand so what John does and his office does is um every six months they bill us back for the salaries that were used um that came out of their general fund they bill us to the ed Service Center and then through the process they're reimbursed out of our ed Service account to the general fund to pay for all of the um staff so that School Readiness staff it is um our before and after school and it's all of our 21st century programs as well I hope that helps a little bit with that definition of how that works this was as John said this was a system that was set up when I came on board in 2008 uh We've made it work for all these years but the
056money that is in that ed services is very specific of how it's supposed to be used by the different programs that it helps fund um other expenses that are taken out of all those programs are program supplies rent um for Sacred Heart any contracts that we have with people for our after-school programs such as karate um martial arts uh soccer tennis um things like that so that's what that account is used for I'd be glad to take any questions that anyone who might have my yeah Larry Terry had her hand up first please Joseph sure wanted to ask if would it help us in reading the grants to have them uh segregated you know under like the family resource grants uh versus other or is that too complicated that would be a John question on
057how his reports are generated out of the accounting system I I think we could right now they're just in numerical order um there's no reason why we can't put them in a different order a little extra work but can be done well keep the numerical order but just group them under a specific areas that might help and uh thank you uh Dr mead as well um I think Gladys was asking wanting to know more about the grants that you have in case we come across a program that might fall under your monies instead of our monies I think that's what Gladys was asking no I I just wanted uh to and I see where I'm at because number one I didn't go over the complete document so so coming out of the Family Resource Center
058is the answer where she explained that Mars Street 049 and I'm just going to throw out these number if they're not yours and just tell me oh 49 or 42 040 and oh 35. okay yeah yeah but then further down on the second page and and so I think what we need to be careful of is using the term Family Resource Center because that's a specific title labeling the Moore Street Family uh Resource Center so what I try to use is the the term Education Service Center account because then that it's just easier I think to understand and that's all of the other programs besides the o17 and the o49 um that are underneath me uh trust fund o52 058 and then all of the the 21st century grants as well okay okay so and
059I I'm sorry Kate um I just want to follow up on something that hand just said um and can you clarify 017 Family Resource Center and what that's for because I I think to the point you just made um the way this reads it gives the Family Resource Center the way this reads it's as a Family Resource Center is its own school with its own budget you know separate from the rest of the district and you know you have funding that it's not particularly clear what it's for so can you just explain what the First Resource Center is for I think you should just explain the moral Street one but maybe just differentiate between the two okay so explain the more Street one and then so 017 is the first community resource center 017. and
060that is another Family Resource Center at S2 Morris 4049 okay yes okay so the Family Resource Center 017 is a grant that comes out of the state department of Ed that we apply for yearly and it has um a whole bunch of different things that have to be done in it one is reverse resource and referral it is also uh play groups for families it's a home visiting model where our parent educator goes out and does home visiting it's things to support the school during the day such as language interpretation and translation student support during the day and then the second Grant the o49 was an Esser Grant okay out of the Esser funds that they felt the frcs needed more funding to be able to do more programming for students in school to close
061the achievement Gap caused by the coven pandemic and so we applied for that Grant and that's where that 24 000 came from and can you explain why it says Morris because it's specific to Morris Street School yeah yeah that's that's what I mean when I talk about restricted when you apply for Grants very rarely do we have any what we call open operating grants an open operating Grant is like I ask for five hundred thousand dollars and the funder gives it to me and says and you use this money however you see fit that happens about two percent of the time we'd like to see more of that but it doesn't happen um all of these the majority of the grants I would say 95 percent of my grants right now except for donations especially
062in the ed Service account are all restricted grants and what that means is the state or the funder could be the federal government issues a request for proposal and in that in in that proposal they're very specific about how the money may be used and you write your program or your proposal to those restricted requirements and when you get that money you sign off that you will continue to use that money in the way that the RFP um was specific about it um and you report on that on a quarterly or on a um a quarterly monthly none or monthly right now thank goodness but on a quarterly or yearly basis you have to report out on the money as well as there's a whole data component in that 21st century grants that we have
063to do as well as outside evaluators come in and evaluate our programs in the district I'm sorry there's there's a lot to this so I appreciate these questions and then be able to help everyone understand this Jesse did you have a question yes um hi Anne my name is Jessica how are you nice to meet you I'm not so I'm not sure if this question goes to you or John so as I'm listening to all this and obviously I'm new to to the board so what I'm trying to figure out is anytime a program is funded from these funds are there any programs that make a part of the of the main budget out of the general operating fund correct no am I right on that John yeah I agree uh they're separate they're totally
064separate okay yeah so I guess a way to kind of quantify that a little bit would be is the majority of the things that are funded through ed Service are our before and after school programs all of our parent University and our parent programs they're all enhancement programs to support the day-long academic activities out during out of school hours right and just that makes sense thank you Jesse I I I'd like to also add and it's you know and then and now it begins to get a little complicated but so like for example we have our family Liaisons who help deliver some of these um deliverables that the grant is calling for right and so you know a lot of our board members have attended um a lot about programming whether it's you know helping
065uh families learn a new language or um how to better understand how to navigate the school system um it's our family Liaisons who are helping to facilitate but they may or may not be entirely paid out of these grants they might be paid out of General operating fund or a different brand but at the same you know just like Ann is but she's still working to help facilitate the grant if that makes sense um it's not as if we have a whole different set of people working under this grant it's folks outside of the Grant and in most cases um helping to execute the grant um I hope that helps and it doesn't confuse it more Terry so there is a wash between the two or our lines are blurred uh with grants help and
066regular Staffing help I'm not sure I understand the question to you so I'm just going to make sure so so the grants or help are facilitated by people we're being who are being paid through other budget lines it might be better for me to explain it this way so for example um we have the Ken can you go to the actually Ken you can stay on this page so the fast food challenge 056. and Ken's car said he just called things can you're right there yep and so fast food challenge is um a grand a grand that we applied for from the state and it's really about trying to get students participating and filling out their financial forms at the highest financial aid forms at the high school but the folks who are going to
067help execute that Grant are our guidance counselors oh guidance counselors are paid at a general budget right but our grants help to supplement what happens in schools the vast majority of our um staff is in our operating budget and Alliance but it's the folks in those big budget I in those big um General operating budgets that help execute really all of these grants and so um this team has heard um Cara talk extensively about how the bar Foundation is paying for the work with the Academy's work well Cara and her team are executed the vast majority of the work but we but we're leveraging those funds to help move it right and so you know as as an example so I don't want to suggest I was trying to just trying to add some clarity
068around it um but it's it's the team the people who you see every day who are executing these grants these grants are not big enough outside of Alliance really to help you know help to really staff people Alliance Title want to really have big grants that we lean on to staff to staff folks um but the vast majority of these other grants or just things that we help to leverage to move before school program after school programming and that's that's the vast majority of the grants that Ann is talking about whether it's School Readiness uh whether it's after school or before school um you know and that's what when she's talking about 21st century those are middle school students who are getting after school support ELP is our extended learning program for before and after
069school programming um but it's you know it's our folks who are executing these these grants vast majority of them anyway I hope that helps a little bit I think that was very clarifying thank you um before we move on any other questions and Dr Mead thank you for your for everyone and going over that with us very very welcome Terry did you ever end up yeah I got a question about Salvatore Plumbing um if is the school going to pay that bill or is it the city going to pay that bill do you know John yeah um Plumbing um you know we we regularly meet uh with representatives of the teachers union uh once a month and and um it's a good way for them to bring up their concerns uh unfiltered uh meaning directly
070from the teachers to the superintendent myself uh Mike jobber and Rich Albert and um in the beginning of the year uh we they brought up a number of uh serious Plumbing uh situations that needed repair they were almost embarrassing honestly to to hear them and we just could not get um the city the city didn't have the staff or the time or the priority to take care of these things and after you know uh and being brought to our attention and then a month later being brought to our attention again um and maybe the third month we said that's enough um we're gonna take care we're gonna fix all the plumbing problems that the city hasn't fixed um and use our repair budget for it so um most of that work has been done by
071Salvatore uh we're pleased with it I I think Kevin might agree with me uh the teachers are are satisfied with the initiative and the effort we took and glad we took it and um but it's uh it's just something we we had to do the teachers were right the repairs needed to be made and excuse me I had to step away for a minute uh Teresa I heard you asked a question about sales Plumbing before I stepped away John did you have an opportunity to talk about the list that the city and I there's like a list that the city in us we agree to who's going to handle what and because there was an agreement about Sal coming in to do work for us uh but that was something that was negotiated with the
072city was my understanding yeah I didn't I didn't I didn't mention that I Know Rich jobber you know Works closely with them the city um wasn't um uh they wanted the work done too honestly but they just didn't have the the manpower to do as much of it as needed to be done right away it had reached that point right and so and so Teresa you know we it was actually a discussion with the city and and our side um about bringing salons and so um oh it wasn't specifically him but it was an outside service to help address some of the outstanding items uh that was existing in the district and so I I think uh there's some type of list good dating back to the 70s where I guess the city agreed to
073handle this work and then as attendants we agreed to handle this work and uh John and Mike sat down with the city sometime I feel like it was in the fall beginning of this school year uh to revisit that list and from that meeting came okay you know it would be a Greek it was agreed upon that because the city can't doesn't really have the capacity to handle all of all of the requests specifically to Plumbing ones um that we could go out and try to identify and find someone to address some of these outstanding and outstanding items and John did you answer the question about who pays him yeah we've we paid for it we at least uh our budget for repairs yeah thank you okay one final call any questions remaining on this
074okay so I think we're done with the the May Finance report um I'm looking for a motion to make a recommendation uh for this with the for the full board at the next meeting Terry you wanted to make a motion I so moved thank you may have a second please thank you thank you Jesse uh all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye well can you just clarify the motion again please yeah you missed it yeah uh make a recommendation for approval to the full board at the May 21st meeting acceptance of the uh the the May 25th sorry the may 2020s we can excuse me make a motion for acceptance of the May 2023 financial report thank you okay thank you all um so we do have a second agenda item on
075here and that's the financial forecast I'm not sure who would like to take over that conversation I'll start John if that's okay um and good evening everyone I think John really began to address some of the items that I was going to talk about um but I'll I'll speak in a little bit more broad terms and that is um as we move forward toward our 23-24 school year um we we have to we we continue to be mindful of the financial cliff that's ahead of us and and so because of that um you know and despite the nine million dollar funding that we received in the city um we we just kind of have a responsibility to really begin to um tighten our respective uh budget belts across the district um and so with that
076uh we've taken a closer look at all of our individual budgets across the schools um wherever we've made hires of course we're going to continue to try to make sure we can bring folks in at the lowest possible salary possible to try to find some um cost-cutting opportunities there we have we're continuing to monitor our enrollment at the elementary schools for for our board members who have been here for a while and then for our new board members we typically try to keep our Elementary classes particularly K one and two at 22 per classroom and then at 345 we try to keep those classrooms no larger than 24. um over the last couple of years particularly with during the height of the pandemic we hired additional teachers at the elementary level I think was close
077to 10 to help reduce class size so that we can spread so that we can spread out additional teachers are also hired at the high school level with a couple of support staff hired at the middle school level but it was really an elementary level and high school level that was continuing to get more teachers post pandemic and now and as we continue to um as we continue to experience declining air so monies um You Might Recall doing cares and then after two with those 10 elementary teachers we hired um we simply just did not backfill certain positions so and that at the end of last year we had reduced by six six or seven I'm sorry I think it was seven teachers um I'm sorry six teachers across K5 this year we had the
078opportunity because of again declining enrollment and when I say declining enrollment I mean static enrollment at cake five um we were able to reduce four additional sections at K5 and um and so with with that um we were also able to and so um the board members might not be aware our families will watch might not be aware but if we are classroom teachers by contract everyone is contracted to have one lunch per day and then also get at least a prep period per day and we spell those preps with what we call specialist teachers so when our students if we're teaching when our kids go to gym I'm sorry physical education whether they go to art or they go to music that's when our classroom teachers get their contracted prep um and so um
079because as a system we've we have reduced four sections in a system um our math um showed us that we did not need as many specialist teachers to spell those preps uh because over the last two years we have now reduced uh K5 sections 10 um and um until this year we had not reduced any teachers from our specialist Department meaning meaning music art or PE um and so with static enrollment at the elementary and trying to get back to pre-pandemic numbers we are averaging closer to 23 um and 24 but mostly about 23 and our K one and two um and then in four and five um averaging and keeping it staying to the number at around 24. um and this is across arcade five schools um some of the savings we are looking
080to experience and um some of the savings we um will um experience now at K5 or about six positions um and we'll we'll have that that detail for the board and I'd like to provide that detail for the board at our 621 board meeting um but but also began to talk about some realities that we are facing um if we don't come close to the full ask um uh when budget season comes next year um I you know we do have some good news to share and that is on the governor's budget was released last week uh we're still waiting for the details and what exactly that means for Danbury um but the board Might Recall um several Advocates uh whether it was uh the mayor and I last year going up to Harvard and
081then this year going up to Hartford um there being requests about of our local legislators to Advocate on behalf to accelerate the funding for Danbury um um the the bill has not been finalized yet five zero zero three uh but but the good thing is we've been heard in that the governor's the governor I would suggest the governor has heard the outcries across the state and it's been 150 million dollars added in education um in a Governor's budget and so we've been asking for Clarity on exactly what that means for us here in Danbury my argument has been it always will be the acceleration is is really supposed to address um exactly what we have here and that's our English language Learners um and part of that um part of those additional money is supposed
082to address the resources needed for the population that we serve and and we have we have the greatest percentage in the state of Connecticut and so my position is our kids are here now we don't need we don't need to wait several years for an acceleration um and what what we did learn is that the the model is going to be accelerated just a little bit this year it looks like we perhaps might get a marginal increase some an increase that we typically would get in Alliance and so ECS funding will be increased to the city of Danbury but we're not exactly sure what that means for our alliance funding and so John and I are still trying to get some clarity around that but we do anticipate that will go up a little bit
083more um the following year 24-25 we begin to see a bigger bump um and so typically we get about 1.5 to 2 million dollar increase for a long-term Alliance um that sounds like a lot of money but because we have so many positions in there with contractual obligations the contracts for obligations typically eat up the the additional monies that we get every year but 24.25 um we are expecting to get um a bigger bump um uh you know more in the four million dollar range and from the initial estimations that we had put together 25-26 uh we could be looking at a six to seven million dollar bump um and so there's certainly some good news ahead in that regard um of course again John and I are still uh trying to get some clarification
084of what um this 150 million dollar budget means uh for Danbury uh but just just some um and just some kind of basic math uh for the committee that might help everyone kind of appreciate what's happening um you know towns like Bethel towns like Brookfield as an example um don't receive the funding that we received from the lines and so if we're going to if our monies are going to be escalated it means at the same time money is for places like brookfields and Bethel are going to de-escalate and so um as we are understanding uh this 150 million dollars um it will begin to keep Bethel and Brookfield whole so that they don't lose money as we're in getting additional money and then we will go up 25 and then we will go up
085my understanding is 56 to 58 in terms of monies we received from ACS funding again ECS funding is one number and then we need to dig a little bit deeper into ECS number that the city receives to know exactly what that means for us and again John and I that's something him and I are still um looking into um and so and so yes the financial cliff is real and I think it's going to be necessary for us to continue to have ongoing dialogue around that um John and I uh plan to start our budget season very early next year um probably as soon as October we will be pushing the middle school and high school um to have projections down as well to make sure that their numbers are a lot more accurate to
086inform our budget numbers going into the season um and um you know and I think it's going to be very important for us to also partner and get some feedback from the city um just kind of get an idea of what they can or cannot board what they have a tolerance for because honestly waiting until April May or March is is going to be difficult for this community if we have to lay off as many people as we think we have to but you know um you've heard being mentioned this summer before and that number is um 8.5 million dollars just in salaries dedicated uh to staff members that have been hired over the last few years um two million dollars from esser2 was folded into the 23-24 million 24 23 24 budget indeed we
087have not had to deliver on a lot of the commitments that we had initially made like Furniture like Brookfield um you know during the pandemic because because it was because a lot of those mandates were relaxed um but but now that those monies are expiring um and Jesse and just so you're aware uh during the at the height of the pandemic you know we're working to just kind of re uh review for everyone who's watching tonight uh during the pandemic when we hired extra staff which is what a lot of a lot of what a lot of districts are doing across the state um we were not just hiring extra staff for social distancing we were also hire an extra staff because our enrollment was continuing to increase and so we didn't have the money
088necessarily to cover for the enrollment growth and social distancing not at the pandemic and all of its mandates and expectations have been relaxed we we look back and you know we look back now as and you know over to look back over the last two years and the reality is we've needed that money for enrollment growth um and now that the social distancing expectations have been relaxed we're still sitting on particularly at the high school because over the last few years the bubble if the board remembers particularly this committee we had over a thousand a thousand students at Rogers Park last year we've had a thousand over a thousand students at Broadview last year and the same again this year so a couple of years ago those big bubbles were at the elementary school now
089with the middle school but of course we've experienced growth at the middle school and the high school at the same time um and and I mean frankly it's it's where our relief monies have the vast majority of those monies have gone in that Staffing and so that's why we're finding ourselves with this financial clip of 8.5 million that we're facing next year and so we will continue to kind of walk the board in the committee through some of the challenges ahead of us as John had explained earlier um you know back in November December of last year on this school year sorry but in November December uh you know we had quite a bit of people and I think you might remember the number was 40 plus paraprofessionals uh vacancies uh that we're experiencing um
090in kind of a um kind of a modest um claims insurance claims in a system at that point and so our initial projections going into January 2023 where we're gonna we're gonna be really good shape at the end of the year and we expect it to be able to pre-pre-purchase a number of things for 23.24 um and that was part of our strategy as part of our nine million dollar ask however and what John is explaining um we we're not export we're not experiencing experiencing as much of the cost savings strategy that we were hoping to realize um and we did not have a reading we did not have an answer for the reading program so we were hoping to address the reading program with um our se2 grant that did not happen because of
091Staffing in there and it just made the most sense to do what we're doing now and that is um use this um and and go to our Reserve giving us an unexpect expense um and so so that's that that's why if you've heard that strategy strategy this evening uh so between the um insurance claims and although although we're saying unexpected we did expect um an increase in insurance claims because people didn't go to the doctor 1920 and 2021. um and during that last budget season you know we had talked about that reality we anticipate it's going to come soon um and it certainly has started to come this year so I just wanted to provide that kind of forecast for the committee and we will follow up at the board meeting and just kind of
092give a more in-depth kind of overview of kind of what's ahead for us thank you Mr Watson um John did you want to add anything to that before we open it up for questions uh very briefly so uh before we ask for new money we're going to do as much as we can to tighten our own belts um we've uh reduced uh some of the per pupil allocations we've given to the schools uh by a flat 30 percent and we're allowing the school principals and program leaders to tell us uh where they want to take those reductions um they know best uh what they need what's important what they can do without um so that those decisions are being made and then when we spoke with the city this week they suggested in their right
093we take a closer look at our some of our utility costs that we budgeted we budgeted those uh in January when uh prices were high when inflation was high since then they've come down a little the city purchasing agent has locked in for both the city and the town some of the electricity costs for next year and so we agreed we may be able to lower those budgets too so showing some as much austerity as we can before we go and ask for additional money although from the reserve um following up on that I I know that we're still having these conversations about the audit process um can you give us an update on that so that right we can see how that factors into this whole situation right um so there's there's some confusion
094uh between uh the two years and I I just need a half a minute to explain when um City Auditors are hired by the um the city council they're hired to do three things each year one is to do the city's annual report you've seen me it's uh 400 pages long it's uh kind of a profit and loss a balance sheet they come in and audit the report that the city has prepared the second thing they do is they do what's called a single audit report uh there's a page for all the state money that's come in from both for the city and for the Board of Ed and for the federal money that's come in for the city and the Board of Ed everything from Casino money to airport money to our Title One
095and everything it's a single page called the single audit and the third thing they do uh we as a school system have to report um every year in by the end of August what we've spent our budget on and our grants on in any City it's called the EFS um it it breaks expenditures but down by location whether they're for special ed whether their salaries benefits and so on um that has to be that's the third thing the Auditors do for the year that ended 2021 the Auditors hadn't done the city report they still haven't they hadn't done a single audit but in December of 21 they came in and they audited our EFS that went to Hartford everything was on time end of story but they had not uh this year in December they
096had not yet been hired for the 2022 school year so in December when they should have come in and audited this report we got an email that said you better tell the state we haven't been hired we're not going to do the report that's uh again in the 2022 that's what caused us to go out hire our own auditor get the report done and submit it with the with the blessing of the city Auditors and the city finance department but that's the piece that we did but what's um what's dragging are these two reports for 2021 now um in May every day uh things we thought we were all done we thought we'd been done for months the Auditors came into both the city and to us and said we they wanted to do some
097more checking some more testing some more work um and uh Ken if you could put that middle report up the page one or two what's happened since May 10. and I'll show you exactly what they've asked us to do they've asked us the Board of Ed to provide 20 uh 39 additional documents or records um they uh Ken did you get that are you putting that up for us okay well you you'll see exactly what they asked for um John I just want to make uh the one that saw one of two that yes and John I just want to make sure the committee understands there are actually two different Audits and budget years that you're talking about I I just want to make sure everyone understands that correct and I'm going to show you
098this uh two ways but what you'll see here is you've got to go down the list um you'll see a break in Gray a subtotal of 15 things on May 10th and as you go across you see uh what they asked for the status meaning whether it's fulfilled or accepted fulfilled means that we gave it to them we dragged it into their portal we've fulfilled the requirement uh accepted means they've looked at it they've blessed it they've announced it to be good to go so you can see uh the dates they created the request May 10th in our case the day they wanted it back on May 15th now there was a weekend in there so there were three days they wanted it back but then you see as you go across the day we
099fulfilled it um the day they've accepted it uh some of the things they still have not accepted although we've submitted and in the name of the auditor and the auditor who accepted it they did the same thing with the city they gave them a big list now what what comes below that we thought that would be the end of it but almost every day that's gone on since they've asked for new things and you can see there each day going right up into this week I'm sorry into last Friday uh the things that they asked for you can see the days that we sent it back whether it was accepted fulfilled and so on a total of 39. right now we have um of the 39 which we've sent everything back uh 10 of them
100have not been accepted uh we'll get an email every morning saying whether they've accepted something or whether they're have something new to ask so the 39 uh 10 are still waiting for acceptance and also of the 39 25 of those have to do with grants now what I've noticed is a a heavy emphasis in interest in the Esser grants um I I don't know why that is but uh it's noticed now compared to our 39 the city has been asked for 51. and of the 51 things that they've been asked they've submitted everything uh there they were asked for they're waiting for 13 items to come back as accepted so between the two of us uh 10 and 13 were waiting uh to come back now um if you could Ken there's also another uh
101if you could go to the third page I just wanted you to see stop right there this is what it looks like when we go into their portal they'll have a check mark on the far they've grouped things into categories financial reporting accounts receivable Revenue and if there's a green check on the left that means they've accepted it as you go down if you see um you look down on the orange exclamation point that means it's it's gone in uh but not accepted yet so this gives you a exact uh look at what we're looking at what the things are and what I'm seeing also is they're doing um it surprises me is they're continuing the sample things um remember this was from the covid year of the second of the covet year two days
102ago they said to us well you have two teachers in the Esser Grant and it looks like they got paid a lot of money why is that and we that was one of the things that came we had to answer it uh the two teachers are Rachel carnaza and Jennifer Vanderpool are guidance counselors and they um they picked um they were on this balloon payment program I just talked about on June 16th of 2021 they received the equivalent of five checks one got 13 000. the other got twelve thousand so we said back to them this is what happened it's in the contract that why that's why the amount is high why they picked those two uh why they're still looking at this now two years later we just don't know uh uh two days
103before that they said we wanted to see uh the employment contract of Rich jalberg for that year so we've got the contract dragged it into the portal we don't know why they were asking for that they also asked about a person who was terminated that summer of 2020 in August and said we want to see the termination letter and the payroll right after they were terminated I guess to see if we shut off the payroll did we do it right it it really wasn't a termination it when we looked it was a guidance counselor who had resigned to go to another school district that summer of covid and um there was no termination letter there was a resignation letter which we accepted uh graciously and they got paid in the next payroll because as you
104know guidance counselors come in and work three days in the summer to check transcripts make sure kids are on track for graduation that they need to change their schedule that kind of thing so it's been a lot of questions like that that I find they continue to sample um from a long time ago so we're we're hoping they've asked all their questions but just neither myself nor I think the city can say for sure and and if I could Kate I think the confusion is coming because people are aware that we had to go out and hire an audit firm for our 2022 EFS and they're wondering why if we hired an audit firm and did everything why are we still answering questions uh they're two different years they're two different uh reports thank you
105John um a quick follow-up question uh in terms of the questions that you're seeing come through from the Auditors is there a pattern here or are there questions that you're seeing come through that that are giving you a sense of what they might be looking for if or is this like just sort of run at the middle questions you would expect well no what what I've noticed is you know we probably of all the money we spend probably 25 percent is Grants um 75 the school budget but it looks like two-thirds of their questions have to do with grants um and I I can't I don't know why but I I do know there was some uh you know well-publicized uh problems in the city of West Haven recently with how they uh not manage
106how they did not manage their Esser Grant um by you know experience has been when one District gets in trouble uh we all come under new rules it's just how it is so that that may be someone but they haven't said um they don't uh we don't talk to them anymore everything comes by email uh in the morning I I haven't had a verbal conversation with them in three months Terry uh John do you expect that we're going to have to hire our own auditor again for the state report for this past year well the next one would not be due till December of uh 20 until this December and I I think everything will be the ship will be righted by then thank you other questions from committee members about either the the forecast
107or the audit or any other financial matters any uh non-committee members will go ahead um the state monies for the for the Cardis building read something that the state is giving us less money for the Cardis building um I I saw the same reports um I haven't seen anything yet from the the city engineer they make the applications um with the Department of administrative Services I um I'm also interested in what's going on I just don't know thank you any non-committee members have any questions for our finance team here Mr Wilson so I just want to add to Teresa's question um and seriously I think this helps to answer your question because I I did two here and see about see the news as well I think the issue was around the assessed value of
108the property um and um and so we were seeking reimbursement um and so you know I'll just use the number I don't remember how much it was assessed for but let's just say the Carter site was we let's just say we purchased it for 100 100 million that's not the real number but let's just say we purchased it for 100 million um and um the assessed value was 80 million and so we're only going to be reimbursed on the 80 million 80 percent and so um there's been you know advocacy to help address that 20 million dollar or whatever that that Gap is um so that this so that we can make up for the assessed value uh we were able to make up some of the assessed value when I say we I made
109a collected wait because John and I were now part of this um but some of those some of that percentage assessed value was addressed um hopefully more of it could be addressed because you know it it's not directly us but of course any monies that impact the taxpayers ultimately are also going to impact us as well um and so anything John and I can do to help anyone who's advocating for or legislators who are working on our behalf any cooperation that we can provide certainly we will do so of course the same with the city but that that's my understanding it's the assessed value issue um you know the state is only going to give us 80 of the assessed value and there was um some adjustments made we were able to get some of
110those monies but not all of it and you know I hope there'll be another opportunity uh made again next year and hopefully we'll you know gain some of those those monies back but the taxpayers of Denver thank you thank you Kevin thank you okay any other questions from committee members or non-committee members here all right uh I just want to thank uh Mr Wilson Mr Spang and Dr Mead for uh and and Jody husina thank you for for coming to our first Finance meeting here um but thank you all for for coming to discuss uh what's going on with our financial situation I I know this is going to be an ongoing conversation certainly leading into uh the next budget cycle but uh beyond that as well um so I appreciate all the information you
111brought to us this evening and I hope we'll be able to share some of that with the full board uh next Wednesday with that in mind uh can I have a motion to adjourn please don't move thank you Jesse and may have a second please Terry uh all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye thank you so much