CUSD Board Meeting 6-11-25

001It is 6 PM and the board is reconvening from close session. During close session, the board took action to approve I apologize. During close session, the board took action to appoint uh Dr. Rob Nye as assistant superintendent of services effective July 1 on a motion by Trustee Ward. Uh second by Trusty Verbbeth with Trustee Ward, Trustee Verbbeth, Trustee Seos, and Trustee Emory voting in favor and trustee Rawlings uh voting no. Welcome members of the public, board members and staff. Thank you for attending as noted in board bylaw 9324. This meeting is being video recorded and broadcast via a link on our website. The recording and broadcast may capture images and sounds of those attending the meeting. I'd like to remind audience members and speakers that it is not unusual for students and young children to

002be in attendance at our meetings or to watch the recorded broadcast. I invite you to model civility and decorum as we go about the business of the board this evening. While I cannot prohibit anyone from using unprofessional language, please think about the students and adults who are watching our proceedings. We invite you to show support for a speaker by waving your fingers rather than clapping or cheering. We'll begin tonight's meeting with Trusty Ward leading us in the pledge of allegiance. Trustee Seos will read the district vision and Miss Garcia will take the role. Our community and its traditions are deeply connected to our schools. Parents and community members partner with teachers to provide unique educational opportunities for students. Students value the traditions that built our community. Local businesses, the lagoons, preserves, and beaches are an

003integral part of our identity. Thank you. And we will now take role. Trusty COC here. Trusty Emory here. Trusty Verb here. Trusty Ward here. Trusty Rawlings here. Thank you. I now move on to part four, approval of the agenda. Trustees, are there any questions? I have a question. Um, Superintendent Schmidt, would it be acceptable to amend tonight's agenda for action item 7.2 to move to June 18th, 2025 along with the other assistant superintendent contracts? Yes. Thank you. Are there any other questions? Okay. Can I ask why you did that? Well, no. You could ask a question of staff at the moment. Oh, may I ask a question of staff? Yes, you can. Yes, superintendent. Um, why? I will. Thank you. Be glad to. So, uh, last Friday I was, uh, indecisive at the end of

004the day whether I wanted to post the assistant superintendent's, uh, contract or not. And in my short time, we've done it both ways. Um, I ultimately decided after an had put the agenda together, noting that we were going to post the agenda. That was my original plan. I decided I wanted to um, kind of protect the anonymity of the finalist, who we now know as Dr. and I I wasn't certain the way the vote was going to go, so I decided to do that. That was similar to what we did in November of 2024 um when you approved my contract. That was not posted to the agenda. So, uh what I forgot to do after I made the decision at the end of the day on Friday, right before Anne posted it, was to take

005out the reference to exhibit A, which was going to be Rob's contract. So, I feel it would be better now to fully post that up front. And since we were planning on doing the other assistant superintendent contracts next week, I thought that would be fine to do it that way. Thank you. Any other questions? Um, therefore, I'd like to make a motion to amend the agenda to move item 7.2 to the June 18th meeting, and all other agenda items would remain the same. I'll second that. Thank you. Any other any discussion? And I just wanted to add I had noticed the that there wasn't an attachment. So we had so basically what I felt is that if trustees didn't have the contract in front of them, how can we vote in you know one way

006or the other? And it it had a reference in the agenda item to say attached by exhibit A. And even if we just read the full contract, I'm not sure that that would be appropriate for the board to um to be able to vote on it even if we read through the entire thing. So that's why it was moved and that's why we thought it would be best to just amend the agenda there. Okay. Any other discussion? Okay, great. Miss Garcia, please call for a vote. Trusty COC, yes. Trusty Emory, yes. Trusty Verbath, yes. Trusty Ward, yes. Trusty Rawlings, yes. Motion passes five to zero. Thank you. We now move on to part five communications. Uh 5.1 report by Leyuna president. Please come to the podium. You will have five minutes to speak if you

007are here. Okay. Um next one would be uh we now move on to item 5.2 report from CUDA president. The report from the CUDA president. Yes, there is. Please come forward and you will have five minutes to speak. Good evening trustees and the board. Um, I would like to make an important clarification. Carlsbad Unified Teachers Association represents more than 90% of CUSD teachers. We are proud to be a diverse group of educators from various backgrounds and beliefs, and we respect the right to free speech, not for just ourselves, but for all individuals. Please note that other entities may have their own opinions and stances, and we recognize their right to express them. However, their views do not reflect the official position of the union. We do not appreciate the conflation of the two. This confusion

008only seems to be in certain areas of the community as we have not heard any concern from members regarding our official messaging which can be read on Instagram, Facebook, emails to members and in board speeches such as this one. One last mention regarding curriculum. One of the charges of the board is to approve curriculum for classes. I myself teach a class called AP literature. In AP literature, we study Hamlet. Uh we juggle things such as the difference between um justice and revenge. But in order to fully understand Hamlet, you can't just jump into this ex question of justice versus revenge. It actually stems from a very deep belief in um in Hamlet's case, Catholicism. Most of my students have no idea about the tenants of Catholicism, especially in the their beliefs of the afterlife. So,

009one of my lessons is sketching out what the afterlife looks like, how things might be there, how it might be different from their religions or beliefs. I do not impress upon them that this is something that they should too should believe in. I also make a statement saying this is a very surface level um going over because it is important to understanding why Hamlet hesitates, why he has four different saliloquies wondering if he's going mad or if he's going to go to hell. Um this lesson isn't found in the curriculum. It is found because teachers do what they do and they design lessons and activities in order to foster understanding for students. So there's not a lack of transparency when you don't see that lesson in the curriculum. It is simply teachers responding to the

010needs of the students in the moment and the needs of them um fully grasping. Those needs change. By the way, 10 years ago, most of my students knew more Bible stories. Believe it or not, I found myself more and more sharing the story of Adam and Eve, of Noah and the ark. And I don't do this to indoctrinate them. I do this so that they understand the literature that we're reading. Most of which refers to the Bible via illusions. So when you are looking at curriculum and thinking that there might be a lack of transparency in the lessons in the classroom, please understand that curriculum and lessons are very different and won't always be in what you are approving here today. Thank you. Thank you. I now move on to item 5.3, report from the

011CUC PTA president. Nope. Okay. And we now move on to item 5.4, report by the CEO of the Carl'sb Ed Foundation. Nope. Okay. And thank you. We now move on to item 5.5, superintendent report, Rick Schmidt. Very briefly, and I've thanked all of you individually and um here in this room. And I just want to uh appreciate getting to know all of you and celebrate all of your work and acknowledge all of your work. and thank you for putting up with an interim part-time superintendent for 6 months. I really have enjoyed the work and uh thank you for that opportunity. I'd also like to say that I'm not going to take my name plate with me um because at some point maybe I'll call back and maybe there's a interim assistant principal or interim principal

012if you need a little help. You got my number. Thank you. Um, now move on to uh item 5.6, public comment on non-aggenda items. This is the time that the members member of the public have the opportunity to address the board on any non-aggendaized item that is within the subject matter of the jurisdiction of the board. How many blue cards have we received on non-aggenda items? We have one blue card. Thank you. In order to allow speakers to present their comments and ensure we are able to properly attend to the business of the board per board, bylaw 9323, public comments will be limited to 20 minutes. This means each speaker will have three minutes. When I call your name, please come to the podium, state your name, and indicate whether or not you live within

013the boundaries of the school district. Our speaker is Terresa Wallace. [Music] Just a minute. [Music] Uh, my name is Teresa Wallace and I do live in Carl'sbad within the boundaries. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to address the board tonight. Um, I want to say that I attended the May 21st board meeting and I was disappointed and frankly saddened by the degree of lack of civility shown by particularly by Trustee Rawlings towards board members with opposing views. It was apparent that disrespectful that respectful dialogue and constructive debate were being stifled. Civil discourse, respect for others, and basic politeness are qualities that we strive to teach our children and students. The president of the board of trustees should certainly endeavor to model these qualities. Instead, the tone and behavior of trustee Rawlings was condescending, demeaning,

014and unprofessional. I don't know you. Maybe you had a bad night. But when you attempt to intimidate or embarrass other trustees in particular, in particular trustee Siosi and trustee Verbuff, you are in effect silencing and harassing their constituents and I am one of them. After the meeting, I talked with several other parents who had the same impression. We decided that we wanted to get the word out to a handful of people that we knew to suggest that the board have greater just simply request greater civility during the board meetings. I want to emphasize that neither trustee nor trustee Verbbeck initiated this. This was a grassroots effort started and organized by parents and community members that was a direct result of what we witnessed at the May 21st board meeting. Any attempts to indicate otherwise is

015spreading misinformation. Remember that two-fifths of Carl's VAD voted for one of these two trustees and they want them to be their voice on the board. They may not be members of a powerful teachers union, but they are parents. They are Carl'sbad residents and they have been great supporters of our public schools for years, even decades. Their opinions and their insights matter. They deserve to be respected. Intimidating and bullying is an abuse of power and it is unacceptable. I speak for the 30 plus residents that wrote in emails and probably more residents of Carlsbad when I say that we expect the president of the board of trustees to be an example and to act with dignity and civility towards all people. If that can't happen, perhaps it's time for a new board president. Thank you very

016much. We now move on to part six, consent calendar. All matters listed on the consent calendar are considered by the board to be routine and will be enacted by the board in one motion. There will be no discussion on these items prior to the time the board votes on the motion unless there is a board request for one or more specific items to be removed from the consent calendar for discussion. Have any blue cards been received? We do not have any blue cards. with no blue cards. Are there any items to be pulled? Yes, Jessie Rebecc. I'd like to pull item 6.3. Item 6.3. Thank you. Um, may I have a motion to approve the consent calendar without uh item 6.3. Motion. Second. I have a motion from Trusty Ward, second from Trusty Verbbeth. Miss

017Garcia, please call for a vote. Trusty Ciosci, yes. Trusty Emory, yes. Trusty Burbat, yes. Trusty Ward, yes. Trusty Rawlings, yes. Motion passes 5 to zero. Thank you. And on item 6.3, trustees, are there any questions for staff to begin with? Trusty, did you have a question? No questions. I just have Okay. Are there are there questions from Are there any questions from staff for staff? No questions. Uh discussion trustee. Okay. I'll um give my reason for pulling item 6.3. Um I'm pulling item 6.3 this evening because the minutes from our May 21st meeting do not reflect the actual discussion and vote that was taken on item 7.6 regarding the revisions to AR 4161. We discussed and voted on whether we should provide additional paid leave to trustee Emory when she takes leave from her teaching

018job in Salana Beach to serve as a CUSD trustee. However, as we have now been told by our attorney, the changes to AR 4161 instead provided for additional paid leave for a certificated employee within CUSD to request compensation from another board, not for for a certificated employee in another district like Trustee Emory to request compensation from this board in CUSD. Therefore, I'd like to make a motion. And the motion is about correcting the minutes. Yes. Okay. So, I would like to make a motion that we amend the minutes to reflect the actual discussion and vote that was taken to state, it is respectfully recommended that the board of trustees review the board policies 3280 and 3320 and a request by trustee Emory for reimbursement for additional paid leave in accordance with education code 44987.3. And

019I need a second. I'll second that. Okay. I'm I'm not sure that it's appropriate um because the um the minutes of the meeting are supposed to reflect what occurred within the meeting. And so I'm trying to So, um where exactly within the minutes are you wanting to put that? Because it sounds like you're adding in things that happened after the meeting. So, I'm that's what I'm trying to understand. After the meeting or during the meeting? No, I'm saying that if if we're going to take into account what an attorney said after our meeting, then that would not be included in the minutes. So, that's why that So, that's why I'm confused on what the motion what exactly in the minutes are you asking to be changed. Okay. So, in the minutes, I have them printed

020here. It states where where does it state in the minutes? And what section? 7.6. Okay. Revision of board policies. First reading. Would you like me to read it? Um the section that you're asking that be changed. It says, "It is respectfully recommended that the board of trustees review the board policy 3280 and 3320." Correct. And approve a first reading and wave the second reading. Well, I it states what I'd like it to state. It is respectfully recommended that the board of trustees review the board policies and 3320 and a request by trustee Emory for reimbursement for additional paid leave in accordance with education code 44987.3. And are you saying that that that that happened on a recording or because I don't recall that that um that that's how it that that that was the motion

021in the second that was passed. So what the minutes state trustee Rawlings is that Trustee Emory shared that the policy allows for leave time, but it does not mean she would be paid or that her district would request pay, but that is not what we discussed. And so I don't believe that the minutes that are on record is what happened during the meeting. And so I'm making a motion because um I believe there's a discrepancy between the discussion and the written policy which was proposed in the AR 4161 which I also have here. So okay. So I I I'm I want to try to understand what what we're trying to change here because are you saying that it didn't happen or are you wanting to add to because it because what it says here it

022is respectfully recommended that the board of trustees review the board policy 3280 3320 and administrative regulation 4161 and approve as a first reading and wave the second reading which that piece is um those were presented in the agenda. they were attached with correct with changes and that's what was voted on. So, and there's nothing in here about that discussion. So, that's what I'm confused about the motion that you're making. Well, I think I'm I think I'm trying to be as clear as I can. So, the the minutes state trustee Emory shared that the policy allows for leave time, but it does not mean she would be paid or that her district would would request pay. There was a discussion that took place where I asked questions. So what does this mean? And um we had

023a discussion with um superintendent Aras and she to me the AC the answer wasn't accurate and now that we have legal advice that it wasn't accurate and so even trustee Emory attempted to explain the AR and her expla explanation wasn't accurate either based on our legal advice. Um, so I would like to add and but okay but but the legal but the legal advice was provided after the meeting. Correct. Correct. So, what I'm saying, okay, what I'm saying, it is respectfully recommended that the board of trustees review the board policies 3280 and 3320 and a request by trustee Emory for reimbursement for additional paid leave in accordance with education code 44987.3. That's what I'm requesting that we amend the minutes to reflect. Okay. Um, can I jump in? Yes, Trusty. Um, I hear you loud

024and clear in what you're saying. Uh, Trustee Verbth, I don't remember, uh, Trustee Emmery saying that. And I think I even asked her a question. I remember I said, "Trustee Emory, does this mean that we are going to be paying you?" And she said, "No, I I remember that question." Do you remember that question, Trusty Emory? Me asking that? Yes. because that that would have impacted my decision as well. And so I I wanted to be really clear on that point. And I did I I remember specifically asking that question, right? And I know we had an exchange also with um make uh sorry, Superintendent Aras about that as well. And there was a discrepancy of whether if her district made the request, if we would have to pay and who who could make that

025request. And it wasn't clear. But now that we do have I guess what I'm trying to say is that the information that was provided was not reflected in um in our vote. I don't believe that everybody understood what the vote was and I don't believe that the minutes reflect what we what transpired during that part of the meeting. So, I'm making a request that we modify those minutes. And if you don't want to, you don't have to, but I'm making a request that we modify them. I I wonder if um I I understand why you're bringing this up because you want some clarification around it and I wonder rather than it being a change in the minutes because I mean I I think this reflects like what happened and I don't think you could go

026back and change the minutes of a meeting but if if maybe you can request a revisit to this policy or the policies so We can if you want to go back to that conversation again. I wonder if that could happen instead. I mean we the second reading, didn't we? There was a motion on the floor. So um we we do need to direct it towards that. Trusty COC, the request was made at the end of the February meeting by Trusty Emory to have this come up for discussion and then when the information came back, that was the conversation that that was asked at the end of the February meeting was that she doesn't get paid time off. It's an issue as a teacher. Her district requires that a substitute be provided. Um, and so could

027we do that? We had this conversation about how other trustees on this board do have full-time jobs and that's not equitable. We had that conversation about if if we're open to the conversation if it's going to apply to all trustees equally and that was shut down and they brought it back and then the conversation was um but well we do need to go back to the the motion and the what's in the minutes. So, how how does that relate to what that what I'm hearing uh trusty verb asking is that we're documenting publicly that what the request was was to have the option of the district compensating her district so she could get time off to do site visits because that was the conversation and then how that that ended up going at the board

028meeting. I don't Okay. So you're saying that the you're saying that the minutes don't reflect that correct currently. Okay. And that they're there there's an error in the minutes that needs to be corrected or you're looking to add. That's the part I'm confused about. Okay. So you want more addition to the minutes to reflect that. Is that what I think want the minutes to reflect what did happen in its entirety. What was the purpose of the request? We understood at the time that the vote was taken that we were assured to Michelle's point that uh they could ask but we're not required to compensate. So we were not voting that we would compensate her district but that they could ask. Okay. Yeah. And that that's not what I heard in the motion. So that's why

029I'm I'm asking the question. Trusty Emory. Yes. I agree. I I fully understand that there's a discrepancy between what the attorney has now said and what we put forth here and I think this is great to have this as an opportunity for a certificated staff. So, I'd be a little hesitant to change that, but I also do not think it aligns with the new verbiage. So, I'm wondering if there's some amendment to that because I do remember speaking directly that, you know, it's really just more of a mutual agreement that there would not necessarily be money exchange. it would certainly not come to me. So, which is um what was um put in yours. So, is there a way to amend that that you believe or is a moot point because either way this does

030not um apply to me because it is applies to our certificated staff. I'm going to let um Trusty Verbeth answer and then Trusty COC. Go ahead. Well, that's why I wrote it the way I wrote it. So I I believe that if we add the clause and a request by trustee Emory for reimbursement for additional paid leave in accordance with ED code 44987.3 that that reflects what happened in the meeting. Trusty verbth I'm sorry trusty. Okay. And I don't think anyone was understanding money was going to you. I think we understood that the request initially was about you not being docked. your vacation pay in order to do site vi visits. That was the question that your district doesn't allow you time off to do site visits and I said I was um planning as

031I have this year to do all my site visits during my vacation. We do not get vacation pay. There is no such thing in our world and so it's kind of it makes and I want to make sure that we are not um we can't discuss the topic. We have to stay on the minutes which is the motion. So, um, Trusty War, I I'm to for what, um, Trustee Verbbeth wants to change. I mean, if we change that, that would mean that we're saying that we voted for what she wants changed, right? Okay. And I that's not what I voted for. Okay. And um so I I won't be supporting the motion. Um and the main reason why is because um most of our minutes are are snapshots and just very brief on on what

032happened and that that's why we rely on the audio and the video for the expanded piece. We can um uh the technology exists where those can be made into transcripts and all of that. And so um I do believe that the minutes are are not inaccurate um and that um any additional information needed I think can be found on the uh video. So that's why I won't be supporting the um but I again again I don't I don't believe that there's an inaccuracy and I didn't hear you say that it's inaccurate that you just wanted to add information and I believe that any added information could be uh gleaned from the video. Any other discussion trust? So, I do believe it's inaccurate and I do want to state that as the clerk of the board,

033my responsibility is to sign off on the minutes of the meeting and I cannot sign on these minutes unless we amend them to reflect the actual vote that was taken on 7.6. So, I cannot I'm just stating that if the minutes are not revised, I I won't be signing off on them as the clerk. Okay. Any other discussion? Can you repeat the motion on the floor, please? Yes. It is respectfully recommended that the board of trustees review the board policies 3280 and 3320 and a request by trustee Emory for reimbursement for additional paid leave in accordance with education code 44987.3. Miss Garcia, please call for a vote. Trusty COC, can you clarify what the vote is for? It's in support of the motion that was just read. Yes. Trusty Emmery. No. Trusty Burbath. Yes. Trusty

034Ward. No. Trusty Rawlings. No. Motion fails. Two to three. Thank you. I may have a motion to approve item 6.3 of the consent calendar as stated. So moved. Emory. Second. Uh, first by Emory, second by Ward. Any discussion? Miss Garcia, please call for a vote. Trusty COC, no. Trusty Emory, yes. Trusty Reb, no. Trusty Ward, yes. Trusty Rawlings, yes. Motion passes three to two. Thank you. We now move on to part seven. Uh item 7.1, appointment of superintendent Andrea Norman as secretary to the board of trustees, effective June 16, 2025. Trustees, this is a discussion action item. I will now hand it over to Superintendent Schmidt. Thank you, President Rawlings. Uh this Friday, June 13 is my last day with the district. Uh this agenda item seeks approval of the appointment of Dr. Andrea Norman

035as the secretary to the board for the remainder of the 2025 calendar year effective Monday, June 16th, 2025. Thank you. This is time for public comment. Have any blue cards been received? We do not have any blue cards. Thank you, trustees. Are there any questions? No questions. May I have a motion to appoint Superintendent Andrea Norman as secretary to the board of trustees for the remainder of the 2025 calendar year effective June 16th, 2025? So moved. Second. Motion by COC, second by trustee Emory. Is there any discussion? Miss Garcia, please call for vote. Trusty COC, yes. Trustee Emory, yes. Trusty Burbette, yes. Trusty Ward, yes. Trusty Rawlings, yes. Motion passes 5 to zero. Thank you. And uh we now move on to item 7.2 which has been moved to June 18th, 2025. And we now

036move to uh item 7.3 presentation and public hearing proposed annual budget 2025 trustees. This is a public hearing and information discussion item. I will now hand it over to Miss Susan Okonnell. Thank you, President Rawlings. So I will just briefly go through the presentation. You can either ask questions as we go along or save them for the end. The pages are numbered so you can base your questions on the numbered pages. And just um to be clear um our protocols are to ask questions at the end. Okay. Thank you. So to begin with tonight's presentation, I wanted to highlight a few of the themes you'll be hearing about more as we present the 2526 proposed budget. Probably the most significant change from a year ago is we have now fully completed this transition from state

037aid to basic aid. And that is a funding model, as you know, where the district retains all of its excess property tax above its LCFF entitlement. There's still a great deal of financial and economic uncertainty due to the many unknowns in our federal policy. As you know, the federal uh fiscal year runs October 1st through September of the following year. So, um in that regard, um preliminary things will begin to leak out as far as the budget is concerned, but nothing will be in stone until that October 1st deadline. And only four times in the last, I think, 27 years has it been passed on time. So it's not quite like the timeline we have to adhere to. Uh however, just this afternoon there was a what's called presidential proposal made and of course that

038still needs to run the whole gamut of approval process but nonetheless it gives us some insight into what is to come and I'll touch upon that as we go through the presentation. We've also seen lower revenues statewide as you know as well as significant increases in the cost of health care. That too will be reflected in our budget. And finally, as always is the case, the ending balance will improve upon closing of the 2425 books in the next few months. When we bring a proposed budget forward, it's our best guesstimate I would call it as far as what our revenues as well as expenditures are projected to be in the following year. But as far as the estimated actuals, the ending fund balances for current year 2425, we won't know those in their entirety until

039the budget is actually closed and presented to you as unodudited actuals in September. Uh let me go back. So the general fund summary on this page there are a couple of the numbers that were transposed that wasn't necessarily affecting the estimated column or the bottom line but uh in the copy that um was attached to the agenda. Tomorrow when we post the actual PowerPoint, the copy that you see in front of you will be included in what is posted on the agenda for the public. Um the general fund summary itself summarizes both the restricted and unrestricted budget changes that we experience during the funding cycle. And first interim is usually when we true up. So once we close our books and actually know what money we spent, then first interim is the first opportunity in

040the budget cycle to do the true up to the budget. And that's where you usually see a pretty significant jump in your combined revenues um just in terms of actual dollars received. That also includes at that point carryover, which you wouldn't see in an adopted budget. First uh stirs on behalf is also not calculated adopted budget. So then it becomes added after the fact. Impact of first interim is an increase to revenue and benefits of about $6.5 million. In second interim, there are increases in special ed services, contracts, settlements, and new grants added such as the K16 strong workforce 16 estimated actuals is always a placehold there is placeholders for certificated salaries and supplemental that are usually reversed after first interim and weren't. So we did those now and then POS for materials are closed

041or reduced and budget shifted to services stirs on behalf donations and other re local revenue are recognized upon receipt and not at adopted budget. So all those things combine um to justify why from adopted budget which is again a guesstimate to estimated actuals which comes near the end of a a fiscal year oftent times varies pretty significantly. The next slide shows the peak of revenues during COVID and a relatively flattening of revenues ever since that time. also reflecting in the expenditures or revenue the expenditures exceeding revenues as we spend down the remaining onetime dollars that we are literally at the very end of the 2526 proposed general fund summary shows you the estimated unrestricted estimated restricted and combined and compares that to what we're proposing but in both categories unrestricted and restricted for the upcoming

042school year and the differences are in the final column. What this shows is a spend down of remaining one-time dollars. The contributions in red are when we make the move from uh unrestricted to restricted budget for certain purposes. is the largest contribution we make as a district is to the special education program which is woefully underfunded. Um then you see the change in fund balance. The beginning balance that you see across the chart particularly in the combined columns is what is remaining after unodudited actuals take place and your books are virtually closed. So then when you see the ending balance, it's what is remaining after your re revenues and expenditures um are taken into an account. So what you see on this slide is the 2425 estimated combined. It's our best guess as we've gone

043through budget meetings with all the sites and they sit down and tell us here's what we've spent. They have their budget in front of them. Here's what you've spent. Here's where you're in the red. We give them an opportunity to kind of shift funds within their budget. And then this does two things for us in building a budget. A it tells us are there areas where there's money sitting that has remained unspent and if there are you can either reduce budgets at estimated or those budgets are naturally reduced when you close your books and then they are reflected in first interim. So generally when you close your books it's coming like I said a true up and so at this point in time we're showing what we think's going to be the case when the

044books are closed and you're never perfect. It also be gives us insight into where we might have to raise budgets in order for the sites to be able to meet their needs the following year. So that's why those budget meetings are very essential. But what this shows is overall the revenues from one year to the next has increased by about $5 million. The expenditures have increased by about a half a million dollars. And if your beginning fund balance is a 7.186, it's showing deficit spending or your 2.970, which is a significant decrease in decrease over prior year, if that makes sense. And I'll show you more of that as we go forward. When we put our budget together, we based it on some general fund revenue assumptions. And generally this uh these assumptions come from

045our LCFF calculator. They also come from um guidance that we receive through um school services, the May revis. This gives our average daily attendance that's calculated for funding purposes on a rolling three-year average, but actual ADA is estimated at 10 point 10,195. Your unduplicated pupil count is at 27.87% that generates your additional concentration dollars. Your local control funding formula COLA statutory COLA is 2.3%. And there is actually a base decrease since the May revise. The property tax assumptions in our document are based on a 3.6% increase and that is a result of this assessed values that we receive currently which we base our percentage on. So based on a a kind of a um 9 10year rolling average, the 3.6% increase, we talked a little bit about it in the past that in nine years,

046there's only been one year that it came in below that 3.6%. So we don't anticipate it based on our assessed values being any lower than the 3.6%. the federal funding and that that was um confirmed again in this presidential proposal um maintains title one funding as is. I will include it the document from today in in the board update on Friday and it's a good read because it gives you some insight into the thinking as the the the idea is to reduce the size of the education department um in DC. At the same time, I think you get the idea that there's a lot of programs that will be will remain uh somewhat sacred to the tune of title one and special ed funding. Um, it eliminates adult ed, which does not affect us, and

047it basically eliminates title three and migrant ed, which is a very small percentage of the overall LCFF, and for us, it's it's ballpark less than $80,000. So, that will not be a significant amount. Um there's also a plan to consolidate um many of the grant programs that come from the federal government into somewhat of a lump sum similar to a block grant. All this is yet to be you know it has to go through the whole budgeting process and approval process and votes and whatnot. Um so that the the work will begin on that now. Uh we'll know more in July and hopefully more as the year goes on. If there are any significant changes to the budget, um we have first interim to make those changes. And as far as local changes with our

048own budget adoption, we always have our 45day reise after the state adopts their budget. Um as far as state funding goes, I should have written this out. This is the learning recovery emergency block grant that's included in the state budget. Prop 28 is also still included as well as transportation reimbursement. Um so we'll talk a little bit more about the impact of the learning recovery emergency block grant as we move a little further. Local funding acknowledges a decrease in SULPA which is our specialed local plan area and uh our group is Nixie North County Consortium for special ed gifts and donations have been removed and will be recognized as we receive them in the new year. May revised proposals included again the learning recovery emergency block grant. This is just a slide that I wanted

049to bring attention to because special education is our lo largest area for general fund contributions. I wanted to dedicate a slide to it just to acknowledge that NIX our local plan area um allocation is decreasing when they receive a pot of money. As their overhead becomes greater, it it begins to dilute what's spread out among the districts in the SULPA. So we're seeing that happen as costs of doing business are rising. The SULPA funding is based on total ADA unfortunately not on the number or the severity of students with disabilities. So for instance in Carl'sbad it says here state district and Selpa ADA is declining while the number of students served in special ed is increasing overall. What we're seeing in Carl'sbad is our percentage of special ed students is dropping in Carl'sbad actually, but

050our costs are still rising. So, it it it speaks to the level of service that's now being required by many of the students that we see in the district. Um, special ed contribution this year has into going into next year has increased by more than 2 million. So part of that 2 million is addressing the lower funding that we're expecting to receive. So that has been accounted for in the budget. The next slide, let me go through here way. Okay. This slide highlights the increase in revenue during the TR due to the transition from state aid to basic aid or community funded status. there is a slight decrease in federal dollars. Uh and then local numbers reflect actual versus lower numbers until donations are actually received and in the books. The LC this is a

051slide just to kind of show you the LCFF projection scenario where CUSD transitioned to basic aid in and will likely remain. So, as you look across the the the blue uh columns from 2425 on, where that yellow line representing your property, local property taxes, um is exceeding what we otherwise would receive under our LCFF entitlement. And that kind of shows where we teetered in 23 24 25. We weren't certain until P2 when the actual tax revenue came in following the April tax payment deadline. We were for sure 2425 now 2526 with the adopted budget moving forward in the two outer years as well. We see no reason why um we won't stay in with revenues um increasing each year in local property taxes somewhere in the ballpark of $5 million uh4 to5 million uh going

052as high as six to seven in the outer years. These are the assumptions we used in terms of expenditures. Um I won't go into all the detail but these are the predominant things that go into building the budget for the following year. Um step and column as teachers move forward on the salary schedule. Step increases for classified salary increase of staffing. um books and material supplies when you see the um pie charts um basically reflect uh greater amounts after carryover is recognized and known. I just want to highlight health insurance rates have increased for classified staff 11% and we're currently negotiating uh looking at a couple different um CLA uh certificated plans and and that will probably be hopefully a savings but we've built in about a 10% increase for those as well. So those

053are the assumptions we've used. special ed services. Um we're looking at added um uh added support in special ed. One of the things that we've been able to do in this budget is continue to maintain positions for the elementary counselors added during COVID. Um, we've reduced the student to TK adult ratio to 10 to one despite the fact that we're not receiving any additional funding now as basic aid. Uh, we will maintain the the uh middle and uh elementary school MTSS teachers. Our plan is to add two additional counselors pending receipt of one-time learning recovery emergency block grant funds in lie of the addition of two high school MTSS counselors or teachers based on board direction at your last meeting. Um, and then I would say that, um, decrease in special ed transportation is one

054thing to celebrate because we were able to add a position um, and work with our current provider to really consolidate routes and reduce transportation costs ever so slightly, but nonetheless something to be celebrated. Our proposed expenditures are here across the board. They've increased from where we're closing our books in 2425 to proposed budget by 2.2 uh million in certificated salaries. And that's basically due to the fact that we're aligning um positions with where they're being charged uh as closely as possible. So, in some cases where we had um our more expensive veteran teachers um paid for out of one-time dollars, we're now moving those into the general fund and paying the temporary teachers out of the one-time dollars to stretch them as far as we can. um classified salaries you see an increase of about

0553.3 million and that's due to the fact that we have created positions thank you to director Austin for um working with the special ed staff and looking at all the sites and the number of agency instructional aid positions we fund to the tune of close to almost $9 million. So in identifying where those services can be brought back to positions in district, we've shifted those costs from agency services to actual classified positions. So as we fill those, we'll be reducing the the um corresponding agency position one for one and we'll be tracking that very closely. So you see an increase in classified but a decrease in services of nearly $8 million. Some of that is incorporating these reduction in agency aids. Benefits that $5 million increase is strictly the increase from one year to the

056next in benefit costs. Books and supplies are down slightly. Those will go up once carryover is realized. and then your capital outlay and other outgo or just for routine um operating operations in the budget. The general fund expenditures by object. So it breaks it up. You can see between certificated salaries, classified salaries and benefits that makes up the bulk of our budget. When you move over to general fund expenditures by function where you're identifying it by the different areas, um, instruction and instruction related services make up the bulk of our budget as it should be. And so that's just kind of a visual reflecting that. Uh the next fund talks about the ending fund balance districts able to meet its minimum state and board required reserve for current and two subsequent fiscal years. As you

057know, the board has adopted a policy that raises the the uh ending fund balance um reserve for economic uncertainties from the mandatory 3% for a district our size to 5%. We're able to meet that unrestricted general fund re re uh flex a surplus and the restricted general fund also re flex a surplus which is the your carryover which will be recognized at first interim. anticipated savings should grow as we close the books for 2425, but we do believe we've we've gotten them to be about as close as we possibly can at this point where we we reduced a number of the budgets prior to bringing this budget to you based on expenditures and incumbrances um earlier this month. Anticipated savings. Oh, I mentioned that and um the request was made in January uh that the

058economic stabilization account which we had $3.124 million in would be renamed to read LCAP board priorities. Um, when we worked with the county on making that change, the uh stabilization, I think it read stabilization arrangements where a 3.124 was, that is in stone. So, we're not able to remove that from ending fund balances. It's a line item that comes in the Sachs code. What we were able to do is move the dollars out of that line item, move it under committed, add a committed line item that reads board LCAP priorities. And as you'll see in your exhibit A uh page 13, it actually goes into detail. You can see on the document itself where it now says board LCAP priorities with the 3.124 assigned to that and it's committed with your approval of of uh

059the agenda item next week when we bring the budget to you for adoption. So, I just wanted to mention that. Um, I could bring back a picture of that as well and I'll include that in my Friday update. The balance in excess of minimum reserve requirements, it's must be a part of the public hearing where you're showing the public the balances in excess of the minimum reserve requirements. So, this is our 2526 budget. The general fund balance, we don't have a form 17 special fund balance. The total assigned and unassigned ending fund balances is the 12.6 with your minimum reserve of 5 or your your uh economic uncertainties. you are left with a 7.391 balance that you have to substantiate your need for having excess reserves above and beyond the required reserve. And so we

060are required in the bottom portion to list reasons for fund balances in excess of minimum reserve which we have put board policy to hold economic reserve at 5%. So that's part of it. The charter inlue property taxes is another set aside. We recognize the property taxes because we have received them until we actually begin to start making payments to the charters of the inlude taxes. We're setting it into reserve until we create a line item for that specific purpose. And we're working with the county to do that. And then finally, the remainder of that balance of 7.391 is held in additional reserve for unanticipated needs, which for us really would be our holding account should some of these federal dollars um either be delayed or not come in the form of a reimbursement. And we

061would have to make changes to our budget at that point in time at one of the budget cycle, first interim, second interim, depending on most of the federal dollars we receive are in the form of reimbursement. So you actually provide the service and then you're reimbursed for proof of service. So chances are this wouldn't catch up with us until second interim, more than likely. And then finally, this is our restricted general fund ending balances. And and if you could see a multi-year um balance sheet from precoid to COVID to current, you would see historically a a chart that would start flat, go up to a peak, come down for the peak, and go flat. And that's exactly where we are. We're flattening out now. We're down to our remaining ending fund balances in most of

062those. And those dollars that we have are what is allowing us to continue our MTSS um middle and elementary teachers and moving forward with that learning recovery emergency block grant which we believe we will receive now. And finally, our combined general fund projection. This basically shows current year and the two outer years which were required to um indicate to the county office that we're able to meet our obligations. This shows our restricted dollars, our unrestricted dollars and the effect it has on our ending fund balance leaving us with reserves of approximately 8% 8 to 9% across the board. You see the 24.6 6 in 2526 the 24.009 in 2627 and then finally in 2728 you see the 24.5 nearly. Um, the gradual increase in excess property taxes is what will provide stability for the district

063as long as it's in tandem with calculated spending decisions in conjunction with statutory increases in the overall cost of doing business. And so if if uh if not for the the five to roughly $5 million incremental increases in our excess property taxes, uh you would see our reserves dropping significantly because we continue to spend. Um it's pretty much flattening out though. We're we're we're we're we're to a point now where we're getting closer and closer that our revenues and expenditures are in line with one another. And so next steps, tonight's public hearing on the proposed budget will be followed by the public LCAP hearing. Uh on June 18th, staff will present the 2526 proposed budget for adoption along with the 2526 LCAP. Following budget adoption, we'll await the governor's final budget prior to July 1.

064If there are any significant changes that would substantially affect our adopted budget, we would enact our ability to do a 45day revision if necessary. That would be in August at our next board meeting. se uh following the 18th September 10th is when the unodudited actuals the actual closing of the books and where we ended up for 2425 will be presented and then finally in December will be your first interim report which the is the budget as of October 31st and that's it. Did you time me? Did I go over? Right on. Sorry. I I think he did very well. Um this is the time and place designated for public hearing pertaining to the proposed annual budget 2425. Have any blue cards been received? We do not have any blue cards with no blue cards. Trustees,

065are there any questions? Trusty Emory? I do. Um just you mentioned on slide five um going back to the you know the site estimated funds used um and if they're not used it basically will establish their budget for the next year. Is there a practice of from some sites of spending that down so that they will keep their their budget which I know you know does happen and has there been discussions about you know going forward? Great question. And actually, as we meet, we start our budget meetings and they run April and May primarily. We start with the sites and then we finish with the departments. And as we have their budgets up on the board, we can actually go through them and see where money has been allocated and not spent. But more often

066than not, there's line items where money has been spent and not allocated. So, we're able to give them an opportunity to move their balances around first to correct the red areas and then to really indicate where they have money to spend before the deadlines, the cut off dates for stores orders as well as we've moved to a lot of Amazon as well. And so, we encourage them, we are upfront with them that these do not carry over in most cases. So once their donations due, but once the budget allocations um aren't spent, we capture those and they go back into the bucket for allocations for next year. But that's a great question. Thank you. Other questions, trustee verb? Um on slide two, you mentioned um reflecting board priorities through the allocation of resources and in

067there is included current class size ratios. Could you speak to what our current class size ratios are K through 12 and what we're doing to help reduce class sizes if we are at all? I would just say that in current budget, we are maintaining class sizes as they currently are and other than the TK program which requires us to go to a new 10:1 adult to student ratio. Um we are making that change at TK but not we have not touched class sizes uh K12 I will defer to you for the actual class sizes. Yeah. So in um elementary for uh kinder through three we do a 24 to1 average. Um that is um aligned to the grade span adjustment that we need to maintain that average and that's for each site. Um at grades

068four five we do a 28 to1 um average per site. Then moving into middle school it's 34.5 um average and high school is 36 um to one average. um as well. Thank you. Thank you. Other questions? Trusty Ward. Thank you. And I shared this with you earlier. Uh the um if you could speak to the MTSS support and the training as that one-time funding goes away um and how we're going to sustain or and transition that work as we move forward. Dr. N. Sure. Yeah. Thank you. Um, part of the purpose of the MTSS teachers was temporary in nature to begin with. So, the thought would be that they're providing for another year additional staff development training as it relates to tier one instruction. Um, they're continuing to do that um at a site level

069with the understanding that those positions are incumbent upon one-time funding. So when the funding goes away, the hope and the intent is that we'll still continue to train our teachers on um university design for learning as an example and other MTSS supports. However, uh those teachers will be uh left on their own, if you will, to provide that good quality tier one instruction in the classroom without the support of the MTSS teachers. I know that many districts are starting to phase out their MTSS teachers over time. We've just been very uh conservative with the implementation of them and we're allowed we we've been fortunate to have that for one additional year at least with our uh K8 support. So, we're excited about that, but we know that there's an end date in time. Um, and

070ultimately that is going to fall on all of our teachers to provide that differentiated instruction in the tier one classroom in the gened setting. So, so follow up, trusty word. So, as um those teachers are taking away, is it possible to continue to work with your principles since they are the since they are the instructional leaders on campus to possibly continue that work um to support maybe during staff meetings and so they can still touch on all the support that teachers have read or received in with UDL or MTSS? Yes. And we'll continue to do that. We've been working with principles as well as the MTSS teachers this year uh with Placer County to provide uh UDL training uh specifically for our site leaders. So that's the intention is that that would continue. Great. Thank

071you. Trusty CSC. Yeah. Could you uh give some clarity on uh slide two? Um, you indicated that we have significant financial and economic uncertainty due to federal policy and its impact on California foreign trade, tourism, and immigration. I'm not clear. We've we've been told that our federal funding is kind of limited and that we're basic aid. So, I'm I'm not following this is really um themes for the state budget. So in the 2526 state budget that that is being considered in Sacramento currently, there are many um um unknowns. We're we're somewhat insulated being in as a basic aid status and more information came out this afternoon after this was already posted that kind of confirms what we've been told around the title one and the special ed dollars but it statewide it has more to

072do with their general fund. So if foreign California um gets a lot of their dollars revenue-wise in their general fund from trade, tourism and and you know those two things if they go down then the overall revenue statewide goes down. And in terms of immigration with the issues that are um that the state is dealing with on the immigration level, uh attempting to backfill where where federal dollars may not um flow into the state all jeopardizes the overall general fund at the state level to which education is a part of. So these are more state themes that are running through their budget talks currently, not so much our district, but themes for the state 2526 budget. Other questions or did you have a a test? Um I just had a question about when you're talking

073about the um assessed value of homes on slide six um that you're you have I fully understand that 3.6% 6% estimation, but when do you get the final? Is that at the end of the September? Is that at the end of Yes, it's in the fall. And so we'll more or less have a pretty good idea. But as you know, now that we're funded property taxbased, um the two times a year when your um property tax payments are due is really when we have an updated number. So you never fully know their projections all the way along until you actually get the payments themselves. And so it was well after the April 15th um tax deadline that we actually had a clearer picture of what our 2425 revenue was going to be. We won't even

074know what that final revenue is until sometime in July. Okay. Thank you. And I have a followup on that. Um the 3.6% 6% increase on based and um with the subtraction of the charter schools enrollment, where did we actually end up as far as over what the um state projected uh cost of living adjustment was, which was 1.07? Uh approximately 2.7 million. But what how about in a percentage? So like like right now we have 3.6% 6% increase based on the 2024 calendar year. And the tax increase, you mean in a dollar amount? No, I you state here property taxes um we we're looking at a 3.6% increase and the state um was at 1.07, 07. But because we had to subtract the charter school, what was our what was our new dollar increase overall

075once we subtracted the charter schools based on a percentage? Because right now we're saying it's 3.6% increase. So the when you get your assessed value um if we that 3.6 six increase is projected in your tax revenue. I'm not sure what the 1 point okay the the if we were in LCFF the cost of living adjustment from the state was 1.07 of new ongoing dollars the cola and we're looking at 3.6% increase of new ongoing dollars. I don't know what the percentage is. Okay. So, so amount it was 2 or you said it was 2.7 million that we took out for charter schools. No, no, no. That 2.7 million was the difference current in 2425 between our LCFF entitlement and our property taxes. Nothing came out of current year for inlude to charters. That doesn't

076begin until July 1. Thank you. You answered my question. So, we received $2.7 million of new ongoing dollars that we would not have received if we were LCFF. Correct. Thank you. That's my that was my sorry question. I know we we went around. I wanted in a percentage, but you answered it. Okay, Trusty Ward. Y So, um on Thank you for sharing the great work that Director Austin is doing. Um that's so great. That's a lot of money, too. So, that's fantastic. Um, I have a couple questions around this, but in regard to the agency aids and the aids that we have here on is do they get paid more? I'm just curious. The agency aids get paid more. Yes, they do. So, that's why they're Okay. And then um are we looking at other

077structures within sped just because it is so financially impactful or other ways to provide services? One of the things that um to save us money is usually done when your costs continue to rise and it it's time consuming, but uh Director Evansson has worked at um doing what essentially is a an IEP audit. And what you'll find is if you go IEP by IEP, as new ones are written, if you compare the services that are written into an IEP with the discrepancies that are identified through assessments, they should match. So your your accommodations or whatever you're providing by way of services should be generated based on uh identified issues through your assessment process. when they don't align, then the IEP team is called back together again and you actually write an IEP for the student

078based on uh the needs. And so as you go through that, you identify things like transportation that might have applied at one point and no longer does. You might have, you know, services written into an IEP that no longer are based on actual discrepancies when when the assessments are given. So you can reduce services, but it's a tedious process and a timeconsuming one, but one that he has he has continued to do every opportunity that he has. And I'm glad that you mentioned transportation because um on your slide um I don't know what number this slide six. Is it a followup? No. Okay. Is there another question before we go into another topic area? Trusty Rebecca. Um, have we figured out any costs related to extended day kindergarten? Um, my understanding from just talking to

079teachers, they're going to be needing to add supplies and share technology. Do we is that factored in any anywhere here? I have not done anything with regards to that yet at this point. just additional staffing. Yeah. Um and just in regards to the pilot, right now we're still doing our normal staffing. Um we'll look at that again to see if um numbers are showing that we need to add staff in order to keep the classes um you know closer to the average, but right now um they're staying within that district average, even lower. Um but we'll continue to monitor that all summer because numbers change. But um we've talked about um just what other supplies or furniture is needed. So we're working with the various departments on what furniture we already have that can be

080um done. But um how about noon duties that will help relieve the teachers for lunch? So I think right now they're the teachers have been helping with lunch. Yeah, right now we're looking just to see um as a principal's advisor schedules if they'll need any. Um so we're right now in that planning um period. Other questions? Jesse White, thank you. Um so back to the transportation question on slide six, you mentioned or it's mentioned on under state funding the transportation reimbursement. Does that pertain to special ed transportation? Okay. That's currently the only transportation we provide. Oh, yeah. That makes sense. Other than our athletic transportation. I know that. Yes. So, um does so the reimbursement that we receive from the state covers all of the Okay. What portion is that? About 80%. 80%. 80% of

081prior year expenditures. Okay. Trusty Ambry. Thank you. Uh going back to slide 11, when you're looking at the um certificated salaries um and then the proposed budget, uh you were not currently forward negotiating, correct? So that any negotiating would be done retroactively for the No, it would be forward for the next year. It would. So it's already in the progress of being and that's been taken into consideration within the proposed budget. Oh, no. Okay. No. Okay. And then I did have a followup on that. When you're um when you're saying that we're going to see an increase in um uh in the certificated salaries, are we also accounting for retirements and um and veteran teachers leaving the district while new teachers are coming in to replace them? This is based on the information that we

082had at the time the budget was prepared. So we've removed um for 25 26 any retirees and then this actually reflects those that we had budgeted for at the time of so so budget preparation. So when So are those positions at step one column one that you're budgeting for or are they at the at the position that needs to be filled? Are they are you budgeting for them to be paid at the same level as these are actually filled positions. Okay. I guess what I'm saying, you would have vacant positions, I'm assuming, if you have one person leaving at step 25, let's say, and um and are you budgeting for that a person coming in at 25? Are you budgeting for the replacement to be at step one, column one, or where are you budgeting

083them to be? For any vacancies, we typically base them on a certain line item on the salary schedule. What is that? Usually, it's just the average. Yeah, in the media. Thank you. Other questions? I have several. So, unless do you have some? Okay. Um, so, um, going back to, um, slide three and I and I appreciate you answering a lot of my questions in advance. So, um, um, and you had said that, um, the adopted was the best guesstimate, right? Um and that um and but we have a combined ending balance of 17 million and that our estimate is at 27 million approximately. Um so I understand that would be a guesstimate. Was there anything that happened that there was a a larger windfall or or why why were we so off um on those?

084It really isn't off to just go across the bottom row under your combined columns. So when we do our guesstimate for 2425 and the budget was adopted this time a year ago, we had an ending fund balance coming in of 25.7 million. And then a because our expenditures were greater than our revenues as we're predicting closing the books, there was a discrepancy of 7.8. And so that brought the ending fund balance down at the time to 17.9 million. Then what happens is you actually close your books. So you work over the month of June and July and close your books and every single line item in your budget has finality to it. You've either spent it or you haven't. So sometimes you overestimate your expenditures because you're not sure how much you're going to spend.

085And you certainly don't want to underestimate. So once your entire budget of that basically general fund which is your 01 account once that is all closed then by first interim not only does that true up your dollar amount which you see jumps from a combined revenue from five 154 million to 164 million. So, it's jumped 10 million. And that's my question. Was there something significant that occurred? Was there more dollars that the state gave us or did the property taxes uh get increased more than we anticipated? So, that's a little bit of all the above. So, primarily it's it's a budget that wasn't spent. So, part of that 10 million is money that was not spent in 2425. So, your ending fund balance grew and your ending fund balance grew because you didn't spend as

086much as you thought you were going to spend. Then added to that our basic aid status and the additional 2 million $2.7 million and then add to that a slightly more in revenue than we were anticipating and all those together combined to the $10 million. Then as you move to second interim, you've got your contributions now and your carryover has all been added in there. And so your 166 million is very close to where you think you're going to end up at 167. So your biggest jump is the true up from estimated or your adopted budget to first interim. Thank you. And then the followup on that would be on slide five. Okay. that um when you stated that we would be deficit spending in this upcoming budget, wouldn't it be true that we're actually

087deficit budgeting because we're we're underestimating what we are going to spend when we when we're guesstimating and and just as you explained, we end up spending less than what we budget. So, we're kind of overbudgeting. So, wouldn't that be true with this budget as well? Could be. Okay. Thank you. Any other follow-ups? Because I have a few more. Okay. Um, you had talked about the different programs that um that we anticipate being funded, including the emergency block grant. Um, how about universal meals? Are we anticipating that that will continue to be funded? We are. And and what's interesting is the federal revenue that we receive in form of reimbursement um for universal meals which is really a state initiative is only about 13 to 14% of the revenue we take in. The predominant amount of

088revenue we bring in for nutrition is through state funding and the governor has committed to continue universal meals. Um we are that is as you know a separate fund from general fund. It's their their own self-fund and so we're in a very good position in terms of reserves in that fund. Between that and what our nutritional services brings in, we could weather uh existing without federal reimbursement for at least two to three years before we would face any type of reduction perhaps in offerings or services. And isn't it true that prior to universal meals that oftentimes nutrition services um was in the red um year? Every year we made a contribution. So this is since universal meals have um has gone into place our nutrition services has been in the black since that self-sustaining. Great.

089Excellent. Um the difference between Okay. the difference between on this piece where it's the estimated combined at the 27 million and then the proposed combined of 24 million. Yes. What happens to the 3 million or where are we where do we see that going within the budget or being spent on? So, if you could see up there that our expenditures are greater than our revenues by $2.9 million. And so that 2.9 million reduces the beginning fund balance of 275 down to the 246. And that's just based on proposed budget. And so once once the um books are closed on 2425 which will be sometime this summer and presented to you in September those numbers under 2526 proposed combined will change. How significantly we don't know. It depends on what is still remaining in the 2425

090budget when we close it. Is there anything in particular that that we're looking at spending more than what we are this year in that amount? I think the the increases in expenditures are almost 100% attributed to increased benefits. Um, typically we build in about a 9% increase in benefits and when they came in at 11 for classified that's part of the difference. So really the changes from expenditures this year to next year is $5.5 million which isn't significant. So we're hoping that that $2.9 million once the books are closed shrinks in terms of the effect on the ending fund balance. And we anticipate that um if we're able to negotiate on the health benefit side that we could see a reduction in that and therefore that could be wiped out hopefully. Great. Are there other

091questions? I still have a few more but um trusty verbth. So, I'm dreaming and I know I am, but if we happen to find any extra money, could we fulfill my request for MTSS teachers? We're certainly going to look at that as an option, but again, you know, one of the things that we'll do in September is true up the budget and figure out if our actual expenditures that we spent. So, if there's some money that comes out of that, we'll bring that back to the board and have considerations at that point in time. But yeah, at this point in time, we're looking like we're spending uh more than we're taking in at this point in time. And I would say that we'll pay particular attention to the budget that's adopted statewide. And if any

092of the one-time dollars are replaced in a different, you know, pocket of money or um that's certainly one of the first things that I think the district will look at in terms of being able to support the high school as well. Well, and I did ask multiple questions that might help with that, trusty verb. Um uh and I'll just ask them all and and I'm going to say that you said yes and if you would just confirm so we don't have to go through um question after question. But um I did ask in the um prior to um the meeting um are we able to cover the cost for the additional counselors prior to receiving the grant in order to begin the hiring process? Now the answer was yes. Um, will we be posting the

093Oh, that one. Um, could the surplus be used to pay for the additional counselors if the grant does not come through? And the answer was yes. And that slide 13, that was a significant surplus, by the way, which could probably be more than just um no. I um they weren't able to be um posted prior to the meeting. And so slide 14, I also asked, can you describe what the 1.8 8 million is in the slide um on 14 which we talked about and um and that was for it is the remaining balance in the unassigned unappropriated ending fund balance and then would a portion of that be could be used to pay for the counselors and the answer was yes so and and just confirm that those that's accurate correct thank you um and

094so um your question was could they be right I said could they be and and in each in each um request in each area that those that the answer was yes. Um so I just wanted to clarify that and then um so then my question would be would we be able to change that? Would we have to change it on this slide deck or would it be in the LCAP if the board decided that they wanted to um start hiring for the counselors and be able to cover it until the grant comes through? There isn't anything that you would need to do. We're already recruiting for counselors because we have positions to fill. Correct. Correct. And so once that recruitment goes and you create a list um those you know that list will exist and

095we're fairly certain at this point in time that that learning recovery emergency block grant is going to come through. So there'd be no reason not to move forward once we have firmer details on the budget which will be, you know, we're talking about um by the end of this month. So we're in good shape, I think, for that. So So just to confirm the district's intent is to is to hire the the two counselors and in hopes that the grant's going to move forward, that we're not waiting for that grant to come forward. Correct. Well, the the positions are based on those dollars coming in, but because we can now confirm with pretty um a fair amount of certainty that those I would not hesitate to move forward. And if for some reason we had

096to true up how those were funded, that would happen at first interim. Thank you. That's that's what I was Okay, very good. And that's all I have. Any other questions trust you? So, um, when does I I know that principles for high school there were at the end of the year were already working on master scheduling for the courses for next year. Correct. uh one is that like firm where they couldn't actually add another course because um having visited uh the campuses something I've heard that an intervention math class like an intro to algebra course would be really beneficial. Um, and I and I'm thinking about that because uh, Trusty Verbth brought up MTSS teachers and I'm thinking what would be more advantageous for high schools to really support students and my understanding is that

097like an intro to algebra has shown a lot of success in that course when they have that first before they go into like algebra 1 and then algebra 2. So, and it's looked at like an inter an intervention, right? An intervention class. So, is that something that could be are we talking to principles to see if we can provide them with that support when they're talking about that type of course intervention? Uh yes, we are talking to principles uh continually. uh high school principles typically as well as counselors are typically building that master schedule and getting it almost completed before the end of this school year. So, they'll come in uh and make minor adjustments to that master schedule um in the fall, but typically it's pretty locked in. Now, that doesn't mean that we

098couldn't add a um a class if if we received some funds, but we would work with the principles on what that would look like and they'd have to pull um students out of other classes to load them into those particular intervention classes. But we could certainly look at that uh if funds become available and we're always having those conversations with each of our principles. Okay, that'd be great. I had a followup as well on that. Um and which I thought I was done but I'm not. Um so when we're saying that we're looking at the 24 million as the ending balance and that we do anticipate even based on estimated at the 27 million that that's going to be larger. Say that again. Okay. So at the estimated on the estimated we're looking at a

099potential 27 million of um ending balance. Okay. Of ending balance and it goes to 24 and then you're looking at the the proposed budget to be 24. And you had said in an answer to my question is that we even anticipate that there going to be more than 27 at unoduditeds once everything's closed up and everything's ready to go. Is that accurate? More than likely. Yes. Could the board make Could the board ask staff that anything above that amount of the 27 million that that be committed to algebra 1 intervention MTSS social workers those types of things. If there's if there's a difference between what we've been presented here as the um as the estimated and in the unodudit actuals we end up with let's say 30 million. Could that could the difference there be

100committed to some of these items we've been talking about? I would say that would be difficult to do just because as you close your books and any of that those dollars that um are not necessarily spent in 2425. Those are also the competing dollars for any type of negotiations, for any type of additional staffing that we find ourselves having to add um for whatever reasons for special ed purposes for um increase class sizes at a particular school. um any type of uh you know, our TK is expanding and that's not being funded any longer. Um there's a lot of um a lot of needs that will need to be addressed as we move forward. And I will say this, I am not comfortable even though a reserve of 24 million um is looks like a

101lot. The average district in California above 10,000 students that's a unified district, the average percent reserve is 24%. And I know that and we're we're teetering right around um considerably less than that in terms of our unspent ending fund balance. So I would hesitate to commit that any increase because that's exactly what will go into the next year's budget to help trim the fact that we're still spending more than we're bringing in. So, what we want to be able to do from a balanced budget standpoint is get those two numbers of revenue and expenditures closer to being the same instead of your expenditures outpacing your revenues. Again, that's my question is is that if we're doing better than what you're proposing, that we continue on the path of what you're proposing and that the the

102dollars above that could be partially committed to some of these other items. That's my question. It if that I mean that's possible, correct? It it yes, it's possible, but I wouldn't I wouldn't commit them for that purpose because then it would really tie the district's hands in terms of um using those dollars for any other purposes. It would be difficult. Any other questions? Trusty Warden. Um so thank you for all the information. And I forgot to say thank you for your presentation as well. So it's very well done. Uh I also just want to um say or pose it as a question that um I know there's a lot of a lot of wants that we are asking for but I hope that you will also um consider speaking to the school sites and the

103staff and um making sure that whether it's an MTSS teacher or an intervention class or social worker counselors that it's really what they really need right now for their students. So, just want to make sure that you I'm almost there, president, that you will um will you be communicating with the site staffs to ensure that you know if if something is brought to the board that you know that it's definitely something that's going to be used effectively on their campuses as well. I will say this that as part of every budget meeting all our principles bring their wish lists with them and on their wish lists are um off ratio sections to address for instance at valley you have to address the the um village system and so it's not strictly done by just you

104know you're entitled to this many teachers so we have those conversations s and in fact there are offra ratio sections um provided for intervention already um and some of those have been able to be provided outside of the school day in terms of support services. So we listen to what the principles ask for and build that into the budget wherever possible. And so those remain high on the list, I would say, of of what the high schools need. And as they get closer to filling their sections with their actual students, there is still wiggle room for adding um what's necessary for them to be able to offer with a three or a trimester schedule that at at Sage Creek that requires some off ratio sections to make that work. And so we we it's at

105budget time that we add what we think we can at that point. Isn't that accurate? Okay. Any other question? Have to just check and make sure. Okay. Discussion. So, um, what I heard staff say and, um, I'm hoping that when we get into the LCAP that we can, um, you know, lock that down, but that, uh, we are committed to the counselors and that we do anticipate the the money. So, I would like us to, um, instead of in our documents to say that only if the money comes in that we kind of look at that as that we're committed to doing that and we're confident that the money is going to come in so that we can start hiring. My concern was is that when I saw the in the documents that we're looking

106at that only if the money comes in can we hire the counselors that we wouldn't be in a position of hiring until after the budget passes and and after all that money's confirmed. So, I just I wanted to throw that out there to to um that that's what I heard staff say and that that's what I was I was happy about that that we were able to cover at least that commitment that we've already made um instead of it being a maybe because then we would be behind on for for hiring. So that was my um I just wanted to throw that out there that that's what I heard went in answer asking the questions. And then the second thing I wanted to say is is that um I do think that there are lots

107of areas that we can look at to um uh you know to look at interventions or social workers and those types of things. And I think we will see that in the unodit actuals because when I went back and looked over the last 5 years, there was definitely a significant difference in those two numbers as far as the guesstimate to the actuals and there always is. And so again, I think that that's where there's there's space to look at th those uh those dollars as potential u potential abilities to give back give that money back to our students. And so I just want to throw that out there and that's why I asked those questions. And you also asked me a question if we'd be posting those as temporary and we would because regardless of

108any of those funding sources that you mentioned, they're all one time dollars. Yes. Right. And so it would be important that that those be looked at as temporary until which point we feel that we could move them. Right. And I will say that that was how we started with the elementary counselors and those those ended up being permanent because the board prioritized elementary counselors um within the budget and they moved from temporary to permanent. So there's I think there's wiggle room here especially when we look at the line of how much more we're going to be bringing in above um above what state dollars would be. And again my my biases is that money goes back into the classroom. So I just want to throw that out there as part of a discussion. Any other

109discussion? No other discussion. Okay. Then um because this is an information item, we're not voting on this. So we can move on to 7.4 2526 LCAP public hearing and stakeholder input. Trustees, this is a public hearing and an information discussion item. I will now hand it over to Dr. Ny. Thank you, President Rawlings. Trustees, just give me one moment while I uh get the casting door to work. Okay. Uh good evening, President Rawlings, trustees, and superintendent Schmidt. Tonight, staff's pleased to present the proposed LCAP for the 202526 school year as well as public comment. This is an information discussion uh item. Staff has made some minor modifications since the board meeting in May that include the following. We have incorporated the two additional temporary counselors under goal two of the LCAP which is on pages

11044 and 45. These positions are outlined in the action section and are currently contingent upon receipt of one-time state funding in the language. Uh both exhibit A, the proposed LCAP budget, as well as exhibit B, the one-page budget, have been updated to reflect that revision. The full draft of the 2526 LCAP along with the actions proposed budget summary have been publicly available on our district's website since May 27th, 2025. We established an e email where we elicited feedback from our community on the plan. To date, we didn't receive any comments or suggestions. We also met with members of SDCOE, so San Diego County Office of Education last Friday who reviewed our plan. They made some minor non-material changes, minor changes, uh, which will be incorporated in the final version to be presented on June 18,

1112025. We weren't able to incorporate those because we met with them late Friday afternoon. The documents needed to go public obviously. uh but we will incorporate those uh non-material minor changes at that point in time. I think we talked a little bit about the MTSS teachers. I did just want to uh reiterate we did receive some uh trustee questions around the MTSS teachers. Just to confirm the intent of the MTSS teachers positions was always to provide temporary targeted support using one-time funds. These roles were not designed to be permanent. Over the past two years, we've invested heavily in highquality professional development and instructional resources through these MTSS roles. The investment continues into next year, which we're excited about, ensuring that the knowledge and practices are sustained through coaching our professional learning communities as well as

112site level implementation. And then we continue to actively be focused around building capacity across all classrooms through universal design for learning as well as strengthening tier one instruction, ensuring that we provide inclusive and effective teaching practices for all students. And I know we also hit upon a little bit the special ed uh things that we're doing to reduce costs. I was going to chime in and just say we also are doing some things proactively uh in regards to special ed and and cost around that. Strengthening our tier one instruction and some of the things that we're doing around MTSS really provides um different differentiated instruction for students and this sometimes leads to reductions in initial referrals for special education. So that's one huge advantage that you see by being proactive. Another point that I would

113just add is we did add u through our sim for cesace uh grant we added an eldosa um and he's fantastic. He supports language acquisition for multilingual learners helping address what we have seen in our district as an overidentification of specific student groups for special education. So through his work, he's able to work with our teachers on identifying is this a language acquisition issue or is this an actual learning disability and work through that and that reduces the number of students that we have in need of assessment as well. So obviously there's that reactive approach where we're looking at our transportation. We're looking at um our case loads and our aids and switching from agency aids to um aids inhouse. But there's that proactive approach that we're trying to take from a special education and

114instructional services um point of view and that's incorporated in our LCAP as well. So with that, I'll turn it back over to President Rawlings and happy to answer any questions that you have. Are there questions trustees? Trusty verb. Thank you for that. Um I would like to refer to the goals and success indicators um that are provided here in our agenda that say revised for on April 15th because I don't think they've changed correct since April 15th to May to now. Correct. The overall goals and success indicators no those have not changed. So I have a question about that. Um, we had a discussion. Um, I thought we voted on it uh that reflected that we we're going to keep the original success indicator 1.4 um regarding the band standard not met on SBAC. And

115so I don't see that reflected in the revised success indicator goals goals and success indicator page. Can you can staff clarify why that was taken out and replaced with the current 1.4 and 1.5? Yeah, maybe. Um I'm sorry. So you're referring to this document here. Is that okay? The document we initially were discussing was revised on March 26 25 and success indicator 1.4 was taken out by staff. Your recommendation was to take that out. Yeah. And we had a discussion about whether or not it actually measured something different and I believe the board voted on keeping it. But then I know that Trusty Ward made a recommendation to add an additional success indicator which in today's exhibit is 1.4. Correct. And yeah, this is and I've just noticed this, but this is not the correct

116exhibit. So staff's going to need to make that correction as we post this publicly, but this is the incorrect exhibit. So I apologize for that. Okay. So sure it is reflected and I'll I'll just say that uh we publicly posted a draft of the entire LCAP which does have that accurately reflected in it but this is the wrong exhibit. So I apologize for that. Okay. And I'm sorry I didn't bring it up to you beforehand. No problem. I'm sorry I didn't catch that beforehand. And and I do need to procedurally step back a moment. Um I jumped ahead a bit. Uh but this is the time to place um for a public hearing pertaining to 2526 local control accountability plan. Have any blue cards been received? We do not have any blue cards. Thank you.

117Trustees, are there any additional questions? Uh trust. So I just want to clarify. I don't have the other document pulled up. So we we left that success indicator in. Is that correct? Yes. that band the accurate no the in the new LCAP uh the correct success indicator is is put in there yes so I know that we uh I'm trying to recall exactly what it was but it was to keep uh the one for the low performing students on ESBAC and that we measured that for over um four cohorts of students so Yes, that was accurately captured in the correct exhibit. So, I will make that correction when it's posted publicly. I apologize. Are there other questions? Um, I did have a question on the is it possible on the actions and services on exhibit

118B since I did hear that we um instead of saying where is it? Instead of saying the counselors are um contingent upon the um the emergency block grant, can we say that that we're going to do the positions as temporary and just leave it at that? Is that possible? And do I need um board consensus for that? I would say you need board consensus for that, but yes, we can reflect that change. Okay. Then, um I did want to ask that um are there any objections to um having staff remove the contingent on the learning recovery emergency grant and just state that these positions would be temporary? Are there any objections? Can you show me just show me so I can um the last the last section positions are contingent where his um um there

119it is where it's highlighted. So instead of saying positions are contingent upon receiving one-time learning recovery emergency block grant that it would just say uh positions will be temporary. And I'm I'm just asking if there's um objection. I'm going to object. I want to leave it as is. Okay, See, I think can we instead of saying they're temporary, can we say for one year because that was what the emergency block grant was providing? Sure, I'll say for one year. That So, um, so I'm saying are there any objections to saying for one year instead of temporary? Can I ask a question on that? Sure. What I understand because we want to do the hiring ahead of time before the money comes in. Is this how this would normally be written in such a case or

120would you normally like you said like have a pool and a staff and people ready to go but not sign contracts like how would that typically look? I believe that's fairly typical to have a pool where you would inter you know accept applications and even interview and then offer contracts based on receiving the funds. Um, I would still recommend we do that, but I think that, um, you know, my reluctance to do so prior to this is I'm a little bit more comfortable in that it's in both the Assembly and the Senate's funding bill, and it's just coming down now to what the governor is going to sign. So, so anyway, so I I've asked if there's objections to that addition. So, I've heard one objection. Are there any other objections? Um, I think I'm

121going to object to it. I think we can just leave it as is. Okay. Any other objections? Okay. There's only two objections. So, if we could make that change, that would be great. Oh, sorry. That was also in I didn't hear anybody say objections. So, okay. You raised then there are objections then. Okay then um okay that won't be happening any other discussion. Okay then uh we will uh move on and let me see. Okay. Uh we now move on to part eight, communications. Uh um I'm sorry, governance team reports 8.1. This is the time for trustees to provide a brief report if they've attended committee meetings where they represent the district. Are there any governance team reports? No governance team reports. Thank you. We now move on to item 8.2. Trustee requests for information

122from staff. Trustees, are there any requests for information from staff that have already been discussed with the superintendent and have been recommended to bring to the board? I have one trusty war. Um, let me say my disclaimer here. As a reminder, trustees are prohibited from having a discussion tonight on these items per the Brown Act. When making a request, please indicate the purpose of the request and whether or not staff has provided an estimate of how long the request will take to accomplish. Okay. I'm requesting that staff explore the possibility of adding a classified position to support school counselors in working with students who require additional assistant assistance with social emotional learning, engagement, attendance, and relationship building. I further request that this item be brought back to the board for review, including presentation of the

123financial implications as part of planning for the 2627 school year. I understand that the job descriptions are developed and approved through the personnel commission. The request is that staff provide an overview of the potential roles responses and estimated cost associated because that would be a request for an agenda item, not information. So, um I just want to verify that that's what you're asking for is it be brought as an agenda item. Correct? No, because I and I was working through this with and I spoke to staff about it, but I believe it's the personnel commission that has to make that decision. They have to create the position. So, they have to approve it. Right. But when you say bring it back to the board, are you saying that you want that to be on the

124agenda for discussion for the board or do you just want it in a Friday report? Um, well, I I think it should be brought back for us to review that. Okay. Then that would be an agenda item, which would be the next section. So, I'm going to ask you to hold off for a second. Okay. Because it's not an it's not it's not just information from staff. It's it's agenda. Okay. Are there any other information requests from staff? Trusty Emry, I have one. I've not brought this forward, but based on our discussions that we just had during this, I'd be curious to um have some information in one of our following Friday reports around those discussions you've had with the principles and the need that each maybe one sees at their school and like top

125ranked priority. Um just to see if um you know going forward if there is the funds and looking at either intervention or MTSS, what does that site specifically need? We actually put together kind of a list of all of the um asks and so I'd be happy to share that. That'd be great. Thank you. And I just have to make sure that there's no objections from the board. Any objections for that information? Okay, great. Thank you. It doesn't indicate whether they got what they asked or not, but it's the list of asks that kind of a running total of ones that were and then we in most cases applied a cost estimate to those for purposes of our discussions. Even better. Thank you. And that that satisfies your request. Okay. Okay. Okay. Any other information

126requests? Okay. Then uh moving on to 8.3 trustee requests for future agenda items. Um, and uh, I'll read it again. Trustees, uh, there are any requests for future agenda items that have already been discussed with the superintendent and have been recommended to bring to the board. And uh, I know there is one, so um, at least one. As a reminder, trustees are prohibited from having a discussion tonight on these items per the Brown Act. When making a request, please indicate the purpose of the request and whether or not staff has provided the estimate of how long the request will take to accomplish. And I'm just going to ask ask trustees did they hear and understand the request that uh Trusty Ward made under information. Okay. Are there any objections? Okay. There's no objections. So did

127staff understand the request as well? Yes. For the agenda item. Okay. Any other requests for agenda items? Trusty W. Yes. Um, I'm requesting that the revision of board policy 6115 on ceremonies and observances be made consistent with the CSBA model language, added to the agenda, and that staff present present the draft policy for review and discussion at an upcoming board meeting. Thank you. And are there any objections? No objections. And uh does staff understand the request? Yes, we do. Thank you. Okay. And any other request for agenda items? Okay. Thank you. And I'm going to take a um point of personal privilege and Rick, on behalf of the board of trustees, I wanted to uh thank you for all of your efforts and helping us through uh this um uh difficult time and uh helping

128us uh you know get through all of the all the budgets and and all the issues that we've had to go through and uh we truly appreciate your time and dedication to our district and um we we will keep your name plate uh uh in the in the cupboard just in case. So I appreciate you and and thank you on behalf of the board. Thank you. Okay. And it is 8:07 and the regular meeting is now adjourned. Our next regular meeting will take place on June 18th at 6 p.m. at the Carlsbad Unified School District office. Thank you.