001[Music] Good evening. Like to call this meeting to order. It is uh is it June 11th and this is our regular meeting. Uh would everyone please stand and join us for the flag salute? Pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Thanks for joining us. Um Jamie is not here tonight. She had another meeting uh fisheries meeting and Eric had a middle school promotion for his one of his sons. Um so I would like to report out on our close session. Um item 2A was student matter pursuant to education code 48918A. Um the board voted unanimously to um approve a settlement agreement in regard to O case number 20250650.
002And item 2B uh conference legal council existing litigation government code section 54956.9 D subsection one information was exchanged no action was taken. All right. So we'll move on to item three public comment on items not on this agenda. Yes. Thank you. Uh my name is Jay Hchner and I'll provide public comments on behalf of district employees who recently reelected myself and the members of our union leadership team to share their experiences, their questions, and concerns on matters of district business. Uh three weeks ago, the entire cause leadership team was reelected. Actually, five weeks ago now, the entire cause leadership team was reelected by CUSD employees. And as we prepare for another two years of service, the majority of our current district officials and senior administrators appear to misunderstand the critical role an employee union plays
003in the healthy operations of a public school district or similar organizations such as ours. Therefore, causes elected officers invite district leadership to join us for a transparent discussion uh pertaining to the basics of that relationship and how CUSD, its students and families can benefit from the opportunities that come with a unionized workforce. We could discuss how our federally legislated and protective role serves district students and families. How systematically including the professional experiences of all levels of the organization promotes sound and well-informed decision-m. How collective bargaining enhances our ability to accomplish the mission by enhancing our understanding of the critical roles that exist in the organization. How properly updated, clear, and easily accessible collective bargaining agreements bring clarity to the daily operations of the district. How clear contract language ensures that the needs of the organization
004are clearly understood by those who work directly with the students and the families. And how the agreements and provisions in the contract can be used to depersonalize conflict and efficiently navigate challenging scenarios. The employees of the district have clearly demonstrated that they do not wish to change the leadership structure of the union. Therefore, we enter into another two years of partnership, ready and willing to be the fully vested partners that the law not only allows but encourages. With the most recent clarity and direction provided by the California Public Employment Relations Board, the CPC, the Santa Barbara Superior Court, and with the recent factf finding settlement that resolves contract bargaining through the 2526 school year, an opportunity for a reset is upon us. It is an opportunity to move forward together, rowing in the same direction,
005minimizing legal conflict and expenses, and making decisions that are informed by the experiences of those who serve at all levels of the organization. Please consider what's best for students and their families in the community and raise your hand if you're interested in maximizing the benefits of that opportunity. Rather than simply occupying positions of leadership, are you capable or even willing to practice leadership? Leadership is a practice, not a position. Thank you, Mr. Ashner. Okay. Any more public comment not on this agenda? Jan, is this if this is for is this about family school? It's about my retirement. just a bit about family school. Okay. So, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Because those if if it's going to be family school, we can talk about those during um e but if it's your retirement, please go ahead. Okay.
006It's a little compilation of both. So, that's fine. That's fine. Okay. All right. Good evening, CUSD board members and Superintendent Diana Rigby. On the eve of my official retirement, I'm Jan Silk, by the way. On the eve of my official retirement, I wanted to be sure to personally thank you all for the opportunity to teach here in Carpia for the last 20 years. I so value um all the relationships with my colleagues, community members, and local businesses that grew over the years in support of me and my students at Carpentria Family School. It's been an exceptional joy to teach at family school. As you know, family school is a special place with a powerful and strong parent body. With students at the center of each experience, parents are constantly proving a deep commitment to the
007classroom and to student growth, not only in academics, but also through consistently engaging our students in compassionate communication, yoga, gardening, art, cooperative games, music, environmental education, creating musicals. as the California Coastal Cleanup leaders for the past 18 years at Jellybo Beach and the revered family Friday, a weekly gathering of the entire school body supported by teachers and parents leading activities of which students get to choose. With family school's 22-year legacy as a school, it is not only our students that have prospered year after year, family after family, committed to this unique school experience where they can grow and share their own gifts and talents. But I too have prospered, growing my own gifts and talents. We've been so blessed to all have each other. I feel really grateful. As you now approach budgetary decisions, I
008ask that you keep options open in this district so to offer choice in attempt to retain those families with diverse needs and unique priorities. Education is clearly not a one-sizefits-all, and Carpondria Family School is a beacon of light at the very heart of this community. Thank you for your hard work and your time. Thank you. Y Thank you. [Applause] Good evening. Uh Julie Sigret here and uh I'm here to ask Andy Schaefer if he's going to resign tonight. No. No. So you lied to me when you said that you were going to resign if you lost the court case. Is that correct? I didn't uh you emphatically said yes. I said if you lose this will you resign and you said yes. You did not hesitate. We've spent a million dollars since then. Yeah. Well,
009I mean plus you have to pay whatever it is that you're going to have to pay to him. These m you know this money could have been better spent on things like keeping teachers employed. Now, the first casualty of this craziness of spending 3.5 billion plus, you know, we see it in, you know, eliminating family school, but that's been a long time in the making. You know, you got rid of Leslie Gravitz, you know, she was doing wonderful and, you know, you said to me straight up, it's time for a change. You know, new blood, whatever. And uh in the measure U committee, you uh there was a whole plan for family school to have its own entrance and so forth. That got wiped out. You know, all of our input just got pitched out
010the door. We also said that Summerland School would require a lot more funding than was put in the budget for measure U because it would have to be from built up from the ground up. And that's what happened. It has overrun the budget by over $5 million. You know, how much money are we going to just keep wasting on things? I don't know that there could have been a better solution for Summerland school, move it to main school, retrofit that school. I don't know. But I do know that there are a lot of decisions where public input is just pitched out the door. You don't care what we think. You're just going to do what you're going to do. and you pursue the legal thing against Hodchner when I told you it was going to
011fail. It failed. I don't know if you're going to continue going in that route, but it's going to continue to fail. Why do you do this? You know, keep be genuine to your word. You know, you got to do a lot better. You got to do a lot better. I do not like seeing family school being removed. You told me specifically over the years, we are not going to remove it. We are not going to remove it. We are not going to remove it. This year, K1 gone. Next year, Jan's retirement gone. Two of three. And then what? Lori Lee retires. And hey, that's the end of family school. We solved that problem. I am just really torn up over this. And I want you guys to do a lot better than you're doing. Thank
012you. If this is about family school, we're going to have that discussion during the budget. I didn't I'm going to make comments during the budget as well. It is about family school. It's probably more broad than that as well. Okay. All right. Uh so, hello again. My name is Jessica Petrillo and I'm a parent of two children. One currently attending family school and one in incoming kindergartener who I had hoped would join in the fall. This is my third time at the podium talking about family school during public comment for items not on the agenda. And I'm not alone. Families and other community members have spoken at every single board meeting since February when we first learned about possible cuts to family school. You've heard us talk about what the school means to our children
013and our community. You've heard about the academic success, the kids who thrive in its differentiated model, and how family school has served as a critical option for families when other school sites haven't worked. We've shown up ready to collaborate. We've sat down with board members, talked through the budget, acknowledged enrollment concerns, offered solutions, and done outreach to ensure that more families know about family school. We've discussed class configurations, trying to find workable ways to include incoming second, third, and fourth graders. But after months of these efforts, and despite all these public comments and engagement, this item has never been placed on the agenda. We keep hearing that the decisions like removing second and third grades are being made through the budget process, but that's not transparency. Major changes to a public school structure should be
014agendaized and publicly voted on. And honestly, it's hard to hear enrollment framed as a reason to cut family school when the district itself has done things to actively discourage it. This year, family school was removed from kindergarten enrollment forms, and families are still in the dark about which classes will exist next year. These unknowns are driving families away. Very engaged families at that that want to stay in the district but feel that they're being left with no choice. I don't know if you're aware of the tearful goodbyes that have been happening or the uncomfortable conversations between parents and between kids saying they still don't know what their plans are for next year. You are you are our elected officials. We rely on you to make hard decisions, but make them honestly and with public input.
015I hope you'll see that there is a large community of engaged people who care about our public schools that are watching and should be part of the process. Thank you. [Applause] Uh hello. Uh my name is Jack Moore and I'm a parent of two students in the district. a daughter entering fourth grade at Carpentria Family School and a son entering kindergarten in Canalino's DLI program. I'm here to speak tonight about the challenges CFS parents have had with the lack of communication and transparency from both the board and the superintendent about the future of our children's school. Parents have been struggling all year to put together puzzle pieces about the fate of our children's school. CFS is known for having highly engaged families, but the district and superintendent have actively chosen not to engage with us
016at multiple points. The district could have engaged parents in the spring of 2024 to let us know there was lower than usual registration for CFS for this school year. Instead, potential CFS kindergarten and first grade parents were notified just weeks before this school year that there would be no K1 class. Over the fall of 2024, CFS parents were planning outreach activities to encourage families to consider signing up for CFS on their kindergarten registration, only to find out when kindergarten registration paperwork came out in early 2025 that the option to enroll in CFS was removed, effectively eliminating the K1 class. With the retirement of the 23 teacher at CFS, parents have been concerned that the district intends to eliminate this grade level as well. Parents have had little response to repeated efforts to reach out to
017members of the board and the superintendent about this issue. And despite having parents attend and speak at every CO USD board meeting since early 2025, have not had our school's fate presented as an agenda item at the board. The actions of the board and the superintendent have not reflected the standards of accountability our district and schools require as public institutions. That means that important decisions about things like the fate of our schools need to happen out in the open and not behind closed doors. To be honest, as a parent of a child at family school, I have little hope that this board has taken any of our feedback to heart or that a decision has not already been made in secret to eliminate our school. I believe deeply in the value of public education to
018provide all children an equal opportunity to a high quality of learning and appreciate the amazing options we have in Carpa. I have no doubt that my son will get an excellent education in the DLI program or that my daughter would thrive in the general education program at Cantalino Elementary. But I'm quite shocked by how easily this board seems to dismiss CFS and the high quality of education it provides. Over two decades, our dedicated teachers, educational assistants, and families have put tremendous effort into creating a strong learning environment and a community around CFS. and it appears it'll be eliminated without so much as an item on this board's agenda. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] All right. Hello. Uh for those in the room that don't know me, I am Angel Peda. Uh this year I've been
019lucky enough to be uh the student representative for Carbon High School. And um throughout this year I've seen a lot of things in this room. tons of people come in uh from the little kids that we have on all our schools and to even to adults and parents. It's been amazing. And I've been part of this district for supposedly 2,380 days now. And uh that's really really good. I've been here since kindergarten. And but the only thing that worries me is that today was the day where students could go back to the elementary schools and go visit them. I didn't go. Uh but I didn't I didn't want to go because I didn't like them or anything. It's just that they weren't there. Um unfortunately, I've seen over the past 12 years of my uh
020education that some of our teachers aren't the same teachers that we had. The teachers that are here only stay for a couple years and then move on. Um, unfortunately, I really want to bring it to you as I think many other students and faculty and I believe parents as well believe that other teachers should be staying far longer than the two, three years that they unfortunately are staying. But for many reasons, these teachers, they have their own personal lives. They have their own budgets. They have their own stuff that they have to deal with. And a lot of this is about pay. But I come to you today to tell you about the things that teachers have to do, the responsibilities that they have that the the weight that's carried on them. Unfortunately, sometimes isn't
021meant by their pay. Um I wasn't a part of Aliso or family school, but I was part of Canalino and um the middle school and now finally Carbony High School. And I've seen the weight that some of these teachers have. I've seen how they respect one another and how they can sometimes disrespect one another. But I come here to tell you to listen to your community, please. I've seen you guys do amazing things. All the stuff that you guys have done, all the good and the good sides that should be seen from students. But being here as a student member, I see what people say and you know, it changes how people view things. And I believe it changed how I view things. But I focus only on what I can truly say is that
022you guys have done really good job for being the elected members that you are. And I believe that you can do so much more with your elected power. And I hope that all of you continue being here for many more years and doing all the things that you believe is best for Carpentia United School District as hey maybe a couple of years, four, six, maybe eight, I'll be back here and I'll be under your boot, but I'll be here teaching and prioritizing education, which I believe each and every single one of you right there on the podium or right there in your in your seats for those who aren't here. And I believe that's what you strive for, education. Thank you. Thank you, Angel. [Applause] Okay. Um, we will move on to uh approval of
023the minutes from our last meeting of May 28th. I move to approve the minutes. I get a second. I'll second. Um, any public comment on our minutes from last meeting? Okay. Uh, let the minutes show that nothing either legally or administratively prevented the school district from agendaizing their approval of the impass factf finding agreement at the May 28th schoolboard meeting. At hour 14410, when board president Diamond attempted to explain the district's failure to approve and even agendaize the impass agreement, the public was treated to a fascinating display of saliloquay. But the minutes show that in failing to agendaize its approval of the impass agreement on May 28th, CUSD dropped the ball, seemingly quite intentionally, further demonstrating the two years of displays and obstruction that characterized the district's participation in the bargaining process that seems to
024mirror what's going on with Carpia Family School in that discussion. But the minutes show that the impass agreement could have been approved several weeks earlier had the district not arbitrarily and secretly removed previously agreed to terms before signing the agreement. Fortunately, union leadership caught the district's effort to strip previous commitments from the agreement, but not before six more days were lost and the intervention of the state factfinder was required. The agreement eventually finalized on May 15th was eventually finalized on May 15th, still 11 days before the last board meeting. CUSD was notified about the ratification process. It was notified that the outcome would be communicated prior to the board meeting and as assured, it was notified prior to the board meeting. More on all this later. Let the minutes show at hour 14149 that Mr.
025Schaefer once again violated the Brown Act by interrupting and arguing with public speakers. After over 15 years on the school board, does anyone believe that Mr. Schaefer does not understand that he has a procedural opportunity to respond after a public speaker has finished commenting? Of course, Mr. Sher Schaefer rarely does respond when he's permitted. Instead, he chooses to interrupt, overt talk, and distract during the public comments themselves. But let the minutes show that Mr. Schaefer's interruptions provide little cover for his performance. Rather, they demonstrate his hotheaded contribution. And Mr. Schaefer, to be clear, not everyone in the community is intimidated by you. Let the minutes also show at hour 12020 that Mr. that Miss Riby recognized CHS science teacher Mandy Dit for being chosen as one of the Carlston Outstanding Teachers of America. Mr. Wit
026deserves every bit of that recognition and more. Perhaps next time when Miss Dit and the science department she leads propose improvements to better serve Carpenter High School students, Miss Riby won't reject each and every one before even reading the document thoroughly. Employees were not surprised to hear Miss Riby associate herself with the recognition that teachers have earned while simultaneously dismissing their experience, feedback, and suggestions when it's time for shared decision-making. Thank you. Okay. Any more public comment on or any comment on our agenda from last meeting? We have a motion and a second. All in favor? I I. All right. We'll move on to the approval of the agenda and consent agenda item five. And I would like to amend that to move uh E6 and E7 up to to just after E2. Um the
027budget presentation will be moved up a couple items. Um do we have any public comment on the agenda and consent agenda? Okay. So this evening, the consent agenda is again being misused to advance the business of the district without transparency or sufficient community oversight. CUSD is not permitted to push through items of significance which have not previously been brought before the public in open session. Therefore, union leadership asked that the district remove consent agenda item number two, the agreement between CUSD and Grand Canyon University for field placement affiliation for the next three years. Grand Canyon University, one of the largest Christian universities in the country, is classified as a for-profit school by the US Department of Education. It has also been involved in highly questionable ethical and legal matters. In 2023, the Department of Education
028fined the company $ 37.7 million for deceiving students about the cost of doctoral degrees. Also in 2023, the Federal Trade Commission filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the GCU deceived prospective doctoral students about the cost of its program and its poor profit status. The suit asserted that the Grand Canyon University paid 60% of its revenues to the for-profit Grand Canyon Education Company. Unsurprisingly, the university and the company had the same CEO. That was illegal. Beyond the questionable ethics and legality of Grand Canyon University, it's not clear whether students, student teachers and counselors will be paid or unpaid, not just in the current but into the future. In provision number eight under paid positions and employment, the contract states GCU may allow a candidate to maintain a paid position during student teaching or SC practicum internship
029if deemed appropriate by the district. Does this three-year contract allow the district yet one more way to lower labor costs by hiring student teachers and counselors who will study their craft at the expense of district students and families? Meanwhile, as CUSD fills open positions with unqualified student workers from this Christian university that again has been fined for behaving so unethically, the district continues to foster conditions that make it extremely challenging to recruit and maintain highly qualified and fully credentialed teachers and counselors. We heard Angel speak to that this evening. under such a scenario. And while CUSD's administrative authority would be increased even further, the achievement results of district students and families are predicted to fall even further behind. Finally, why haven't any of our board members asked about the implications of signing a three-year contract
030that ends with the provision in number 21 under the governing law that states the governing law is the state of Arizona, not California, folks. How will this drive up and complicate our legal costs if in the future CUSD is also burdened with similar unethical behavior on the part of Grand Canyon University? Please remove that from the consent agenda. Thank you. Okay. Any other comment on the approval of the agenda and consent agenda as amended? My name is Blake Kent. I'm sorry. I don't know anything about the relationship with GCU and the district. I was not aware that that was a concern. But I do want to speak as a current Westmont faculty member, which is another Christian institution in the landscape of Christian higher ed. Uh and as the son of two alums from Grand
031Canyon University, that that institution, in my professional opinion, is one of the least trustworthy institutions in this country. Uh when it went for profit, uh it violated all kinds of laws. get disrupted higher ed in a very dangerous way. Um, I have investigated and and and understand how schools work in different higher ed institutions. I've looked at hundreds of them in the process of looking for jobs being part of higher ed for many many years. And again, in my professional opinion, I think that that is a very problematic school. uh it and Liberty University uh in Virginia are two of the most probably problem problematic uh institutions in terms of uh the quality of education uh access to professional highquality instructors. They're very secretive about how they hire, who's part of their system. I was
032just talking to a friend this morning who had a student visit there about a week ago and he looked around and said, "It looks like students are having a great time partying, but like this is not where I would send my kid to get an an education." And I would just second that I would um that's probably the last school I would ever send my kids to. So if you're engaging in some kind of relation with GCU, I would encourage you to investigate them very very carefully. And if you have an alternative, I would encourage you to go with an alternative. Thank you. So I'm I'm I'm uh I don't know if you want Let me explain why it's on the agenda. We currently have an employee who is earning his teaching credential and um
033this was the uh school that he could um earn that credential from and is using the school to provide the student teaching. So it's only for his purpose that we are entering in this agreement so that our current employee can re can uh participate in student teaching and earn his teaching credential and become a teacher from being an instructional assistant. So this is not something but we're not entering into an agreement with them to provide student teachers or or to No, we're only we're only entering in it into it into the agreement to support a current instructional assistant becoming a teacher. So if it's as problematic as it's been reported, then um it's fine to pull it and we'll we'll report to that uh instructional assistant that they'll have to find another university. Yeah, I'
034I' I'd feel more comfortable pulling that from the agenda. Not a problem. Yeah. Um uh so I'd like to amend the consent agenda. Um can I get a second? I'll second. All right. All in favor? I I Or is this a roll call? Sorry. Tally, you want to do a roll call? Um Aaron, I I'm Andy. Thank you. All right. Okay, we'll move on to uh Angel E. Angel, this is your last uh student representative report. Um so maybe public comments first. Oh, we do. Yeah. Okay. E Oh, sorry. I'm sorry. E public interest reports, presentations, uh public comments. Thank you. Um, this evening the district has crammed seven items under agenda item E. Community members have used or used to have three minutes to comment on each item, but under recent restrictions imposed by
035the board, community members may comment for an average of 25 seconds per item this evening. Clearly, 25 seconds is wholly insufficient, especially if a speaker intends to share thoughtful commentary on the variety of issues contained under public interest reports and presentations. Therefore, can you please pause my time here for a moment and explain how the inclusion of the public hearings at item E5 and E7 change the speaking opportunities that exist under this evening's public interest reports and presentations? Public hearing will be a separate item. How how does that change? Again, if we could please pause because we're seeking a point of clarification here. How does that change the opportunity for community members to comment? You will have an additional three minutes to comment on the public hearing portion of the agenda at each of the
036public hearing portions. Is that correct? Because there are two, Mr. Schaefer, not one. Yes. Okay, great. Thank you. In that case, thank you. Uh in that case, our comments at the opening of item E will be reserved for the superintendence report which contains projected enrollment data for 2526. By the district's projections, the district's enrollment will decrease by 30 students. To the casual observer, this may be an insignificant data point, but when CUSD's enrollment data um but when viewing uh CUSD's enrollment data since the arrival of Miss Rigby, the data suggests something maybe more significant. The last time CUSD saw a significant increase in enrollment was in 2006 after Michelin Migley recruited. Superintendent Migley recruited 45 additional students and had begun to transform the culture of the district. But that was short-lived. A few of you
037fired Miss Miggleys and then hired Miss Riby to make CUSD your version of great again. Since then, CUSD has suffered declining enrollment in eight of the last nine years, down 74 students in the last year uh in her first year with CUSD, down 20 students the year after, down another 28 students in 2019, and another 32 students in 2020. Although we saw a small increase of 12 students in 2021, CUSD lost another 91 students in 2022, then another 94 in 2023. And in 2024, we dropped five more students and are now projected to lose another 30 by next year. Under Superintendent Riy's direction, CUSD has lost a total of 362 students. All while the number of families and kids in Carperia have has actually increased over the same period of time. While test scores continue
038to flounder, while legal costs have increased 700% annually and now exceed the cost of salaries for all classified employees, including food service workers, clerical, instructional aids, drivers, warehouse personnel, custodians, groundskeepers, maintenance, we could go on. And all while student enrollment has dropped 362 students during her tenure with the district, our school board continues to grant Superintendent Riby an extended employment contract of over $280,000 a year. Can you comment now on the budget or No, we'll have a we'll have a hearing for the for the budget and for the LCAP. Thanks. Okay. Any more uh public comment on public interest reports and presentations outside of the uh two public hearings? Okay. Uh now we can go to you, Angel. Thank you. All right. As uh you've said before, this is going to be my last student
039report uh since I'm graduating. Uh but yeah, we have a pretty hefty student report to give out. I'm sorry for missing out on a couple uh last ones, but on May 29th, 2025, CHS held its annual senior awards ceremony. Over half a million dollars was presented in scholarships to the class of 2025. Uh we personally want to thank all the foundations, the private donors, and organization organizations uh supporting the class of 2025 uh for the beginning of their post-secondary journey. Today, our graduating seniors participated in their commencement uh practice. Uh following the rehearsal, approximately 50 seniors made a special v visit to their former elementary schools uh and teachers and took a final ride on the swing set before they graduated. Uh tomorrow, June 11th, at the Carpenter Valley Memorial Stadium, 139 students will graduate
040from Carpenter High School. The ceremony will begin at 6 pm for those unavailable to attend in person. There is a school the school website has a link so you can watch it from anywhere in the world. Uh looking ahead for this summer, CHS is excited to host its first ever summer bridge program. Next week, 20 incoming ninth grade students and ninth graders and current ninth grade students will participate in the summer engineering program at Carpenter High School. This the following week, starting June 23rd, another 20 incoming 9th graders will attend a culinary summerbridge program at Santa Barbara City College. This marks the second year our future CHS students will benefit benefit from such an enriching program. Thank you. Thank you, Angel. Um, so would you like to tell everybody what you're going to be doing
041next year? Okay. Um, I have a couple plans, but the main one is in the fall I will be attending Fresno State to study agriculture ed uh education uh to become an agriculture teacher and educator. Um, preferably for California. I don't really want to move out of California since uh uh it's just different. I've only been I've lived here all California all my life. So I plan to maybe hopefully come back here to Carperia as you know it's a very beautiful place. A little expensive but uh I could always stay with my mom. Never went anything wrong there. So, uh, yeah, this fall I'll be attending Fresno State, and I have most of it covered, but I'm still looking for new opportunities, and I'll be pushing myself throughout the whole time there, uh, my four
042years. And I hope to transfer off to a different school and take the courses at the, uh, Ridley Community College, the Fresno Community Colleges there to get my GES done pretty quickly. Excellent. Great, Angela. That's great. and and uh you're going to be working you you got your state degree this year, correct? In FFA and you're going to work towards your American degree next year. Yes. In FFA, we I was able to get my state degree uh exiting my junior year and uh with two year two more years of just working on my projects, I'll be able to hopefully get my uh American degree, which is um really special. And yeah, it's going to be a lot more work than uh most students, but yeah, I'll be hopefully be getting that. That's great. Well, congratulations.
043We're we're really proud of you. Thank you. Thank you, Andy. Can I just say to that that awards of cere ceremony was wonderful. Um and I I think people should know that of the 139 students, 88 or so were gold sealbearers. Correct. which means they got over a four point. Um, saying that we have some mighty fine teachers in this district and who are working very hard for our students to succeed and do well and your class definitely showed. There were a lot of students that were going to a lot of different universities. Um, most of whom were staying in California. Um, but they're a great group of kids going to a wonderful high school. Yes. And I forgot one more thing and a little bit fun fact, but uh this year uh got two
044fun facts. Uh we are the first class ever to graduate on a Wednesday, which is a little odd, but it worked. And we are also the first class to ever have two valadictorians and two saludiatorans, which is incredibly well. Uh we have a lot of speeches to do, but uh I'm sure they're all going to be doing great when they're singing them. Yep. Great. Well, we'll see you tomorrow. Thank you. All right, we'll move on to item two, the superintendent's report. Great. And Angel, I'd like to personally congratulate you. We are very proud and we can't wait for tomorrow night with a great ceremony. And thanks again for serving as the student representative. You did a fabulous job. We really looked forward to your reports at every meeting. So, thank you. And I begin with
045congratulating the whole class of 2025. It is my pleasure to honor and recognize the distinguished class of 2025, 139 graduates. I am so proud of them and their accomplishments. Their dedication and hard work for these past 13 years have prepared them well for college and careers. I look forward to their contributions to our community and wish them all happiness and success that they deserve. I'd also like to congratulate the validictorians Kayla Monriquez and Richard RmIrez and saludiatorans Anna Morrison and Aiden Alcarez. And then I too would also like to share some comments about the senior award ceremony. Many CSH seniors were recognized for the outstanding academic achievement for the past four years. This year, over $500,000 was awarded in scholarships and grants to deserving students. Key scholarships included the mission scholars bridge the gap scholarship
046to Carol Bautista, Chamilleia Martinez, Richard RmIrez, and Valyria Zamora Susano. The Linda Fairley Carpandria Art Center scholarships to Evelyn Caukins and Madison Lane. and the Hades, excuse me, Handlesman Kaufman award to Jacqueline Santana Ramirez. Linda Fairley and Richard Finkeley have generously awarded $10,000 transfer scholarships to Natalie Gonzalez and Avery Alexander who are both committed to attending SBCC and the Promise program before transferring to a university. We are so grateful for these generous contributions from community members who are dedicated to fostering academic pursuits and future success to our students. Appreciation. I'd like to ask you to join me in recognizing principal Corno, assistant principles Newman and Sabennis and the CHS parent group for organizing all the wonderful senior activities and the senior flags on Lindan Aav and Karpav. I'd also like to thank CMS, Alisao, Summerland,
047Canalino family school principles, office staff, and parent groups for their fabulous promotion ceremonies. Congratulations to grades five and eight students and their families. Our next item is summer school, which will start this Thursday. Approximately 85 elementary students will attend United's Way fun in the sun program at Aliso. And then the special ed extended year program will be held at Canolino in the high school with 46 special education students. And the last item was our projected enrollment. Our previous enrollment last October of 2024 was 1906 and this year we're projecting 1,876 students. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we will move on now to item uh E6. Uh we're going to put that up up ahead of the four and five and we'll have a bud budget sorry budget presentation by uh Jason Calf. Thanks Jason. Okay.
048Well, first, um I always like to start my presentations, um with thanking the board for allowing me to do these. Um tonight, we're going to go over the 2526 proposed budget. So with this first slide, the core budgeting principles, um we've we've seen this slide a few different times through the various uh proposed budget presentations we've done. So unless there are additional questions, I was going to go ahead and fast forward to the next slide. Uh this slide here should also look familiar. What this slide represents is the 80 is the actual reserve percentage that school districts are required to have based on your ADA. Now, you'll see right in the middle there, there's one that's inside of the box. Uh because our ADA falls with between 1,00 in one and 30,000, uh the state
049of California requires that our reserve percentage be at least 3%. So, once again, 3% is the bare minimum that we're required to have based on our ADA. Um throughout this throughout this presentation um as the board is aware we've we had factf finding recently and um our consultant put together a very uh very detailed and factual oriented uh binder with some very informative slides. So we wanted to be sure that we included some of those slides in here so the board and the public could be aware of those as well. Um, so this first this first slide we're looking at here is entitled fact number five which was from the 5925 factf finding binder. So on that slide it said quote uh the district so this is for 2324 the fiscal year ending 2324 uh
050the district has the lowest unrestricted ending balance when compared with neighboring districts at 3.59%. It is significantly lower than the statewide average of 24%. So basically what what this statement is telling us here is that the average unified school district in California has a reserve of about 24%. So that's the average unified school district 42324 we ended up with about 3.59%. So when we look at this table here that was in the factf finding binder, you'll see at the very top where it says all unified school districts. Once again, that's the average for the state of California. So top right, the average unified school district has a reserve percentage of about 24%. And then about a little bit more than halfway down, you'll see a a bolded title that says comparative group. So that that's
051our comparative group that we're compared against for salaries and benefits. So the the comparative group is about 16%. So in the comparative group, the average is 16%. So their fund balance is 16%. at the end of 23 24. Then if you go down to the very bottom of this bottom of that graph, you'll see carpentry unified and on the far right hand side you'll see where our ending reserve was at 2324 which was 3.59%. So, I thought that was important to share with the board and the public so they can have an idea as to where we land versus where the comparative group is as far as fund balance and what the average unified school district in California's fund balance is. On this on this next slide here um entitled sample cost of district positions.
052Uh we've seen this once or twice before, but I think it's important just to highlight um the fact that there's a total cost to the district. So for example, um right in the middle there, if we're looking at custodian, so for next year, if we have an eight-hour custodian, um 12 months and his his or her salary is about $57,000, it costs the district more than that person's salary, um basically 100%. So in addition to the salary that the district has to pay, there are also statutory benefits, PERS, for example. Um and also the other significant cost is health and welfare increases or excuse me, health and welfare benefits. So in this example, the total cost of the district is the salary plus the statutory benefits plus the health and welfare and which is in
053the far right there, total uh total cost. So you'll notice that even though a custodian his his or her salary is about 57,000 the total cost to the district is about a little bit more than 97,000. And once again I wanted to highlight that because I think that's a part that sometimes people aren't aware of that in addition to salary we also have a a significant statutory cost and a additional cost due to health and welfare health insurance. Why is the health welfare less for the custodian than for the certificated? Sure. So what we're looking at here is example of current employees. So this this employee in the budget um that's his or her salary and according to the health plan that he or she has selected it's slightly less. So the these are just
054you you actually pull these from from uh your schedule then this this is not so that that's probably a Kaiser plan more than likely. Okay. All right. Thank you. I'll switch now to the next slide entire um history of salary increases. So here we just have a a really simple uh table of the salary increases starting in 2122 and going throughout through 2526. So in 2122 between both certificated and classified it was 2%. In 22 and 23 certificated received eight uh classified received 10 and 23 24 and 2425 those were um the years that were just concluded in our um TA with with costs in addition to 2526. So if we're looking at certificated uh the average on the salary schedule increase is 3%. um for classified it would be slightly higher due to the
055fact that in 22 23 they received 10% when certificated received um eight. So we just wanted to highlight the fact that over the five years on the salary schedule for certificated um comes in at about three. On this next slide here entitled our 25 26 staffing FTE sum summary. Um we just have listed here all the FTEEs that are funded on the unrestricted side of the general fund and also including the uh restricted maintenance department. So here you know we have all the t all the various positions that are funded um with unrestricted funds including uh people at the district office. So, we just wanted to put that out there so everybody's aware um what the staffing looks like on the unrestricted side of the general fund. On the next slide, um, entitled history of
056health and welfare increases, um, we have the history starting in 2122 and going all the way to what we're going to be seeing here shortly once we get our once we start being charged for the new rates um, in 2526. So, starting in 2020 in 2122, you'll notice as you just kind of peruse across uh the page to the right that for the past five years, we've seen a increase in health and welfare costs to the district. Um, also I would like to add that in addition to picking up this increase, the district picks up this increase automatically. So, for example, if we're looking at 2425 currently for a person who has the Anthem AD and they're a full-time person, that costs the district about $22,585. Now, that exact same plan for next year, which
057is going to be implemented in October 1st of 25, that that exact same plan is going to cost us $24,313. So that's just you. So this is just for one person. So districtwide, the cost of the automatic cost the district is going to incur going from 2425 to 2526 comes in at around $420,000 for the district. And so once again, that's a cost that we must automatically bear to fully fund this plan. And albeit I want to share once again that we do not receive any increased funding just to fund additional health care increases um in the district. So, I thought, you know, so we thought that was very important because this is a cost that we're seeing yeartoyear. Um, but yes, and we have to keep up with it and we have to keep
058paying it, but we want to highlight to the board and to the public that this is extremely costly to have um plans of this nature and to fully fund them because every year we're seeing tremendous increases in our health insurance. Jason, you might want to add that that 420,000 is approximately a 2% salary increase for our certificated staff. Yes. Um Um Thank you. All staff. All Yes. Yes. For all for that $420,000 districtwide for all staff that equates to about a 2% salary increase. So it is it is very significant and the district has to bear that cost every year automatically. on this next slide here um entitled fact 16 from the factf finding binder um fact 16 quote says the district spends the most on employee benefits so if you'll notice there um the
059first district listed is carpenter unified so it's us and per ADA so we spent about six $6467 7 per ADA on employee benefits. Now, once again, if we look at our comparative group, so we spend about 66,400. Our comparative group that we're compared against for this, they only spend about 4,600. So, we spend obviously more than them. Um and so once again, this this slide is highlighting the fact that we have a very rich, very expensive um employee benefit package um which the district once again must must pay for every year automatically. And again, that's 2324. Yes, thank you very much. Yes. Um I I should add thank you for bringing that up. Um these various slides uh that we've extracted from the factf finding binder are from the 23 uh 232 24 data um
060that is basically taken from the state certified J90 reports. Thank you for mentioning that. On this next slide here entitled fact number 18 once again from the factf finding binder um it says the district on average contributes more than other districts in the comparative group on employee health care. So once again this slide once again is is highlighting the fact um regarding our health insurance. So, um, as was just pointed out once again, these numbers here we're looking at are from 2324 from the state certified J90 that all public school districts submit to the state of California. So, if you'll notice um there's only one district um that that's ahead of us in 2324 that paid more for their health insurance and that was Ohio Unified coming in at 21748. However, we weren't far behind
061them. mainly close to7 $700 less at about $21,000 uh $21,83. So on this on this comparative group that we're looking at, we're second highest as far as cost for health insurance when compared to all of our comparative group districts that we looked at in fact finding. Um so we're coming in at about 21,000 for 23 24. If we go about middle of the way into the the chart there, you'll see one that says comparative group average. So the average on the comparative group, they spend about $14,360. So the average spends 14,360. We spend 21,000. Once again, this is 2324. So based on this in 2324, based on the average, you were spending about $7,000 more per employee on health insurance than our comparative group was. I think that's important to highlight because to me that's
062a significant number. And the and what can happen is whoever's in this comparative group, they have $7,000 more to do something with. So instead of putting it towards health insurance, they can allocate those funds somewhere else. And when you take that $7,000 and you multiply that by, you know, a full-time all the full-time FTEEs that that a district has, it's a very significant number. So um switching to the next slide here entitled five-year history of the unrestricted general fund. Um, once again, we're starting with 2122. And at the bottom there, you'll see the v you'll see the various reserve percentages for each respective year. And if we just kind of go in 2122, our reserve ended the year at about 9.6. In 22 23, we came in at about 6.4%. 2324, once again, this is
063where we ended it last year at 3.59. and 2425. Uh we're projecting that we're going to come in in about 2.1%. Uh largely the reason that's dropping below 3% is due to the salary increase uh that is before the board tonight um for the the 4% off schedule and the 5% um next year. That's the reason you're seeing this drop below three and the the projected budget for 2526 coming in at about 5.37%. But for the for the first four years there, obviously I want to highlight the fact that our reserve percentage has been dropping. Um and so that's something that we need to be extremely focused on because that's from a financial perspective. Um how we're how we're judged essentially by the state of California and the county office. As I mentioned on the
064second or first slide I reviewed, because of our ADA, we need to keep our reserve above 3%. that is the bare minimum that we need to keep it of keep it at to be um to have a a positive budget. So yeah that it will be below three for about a month right? Yes. Yeah. And then and then and then the this year is over and we start next year. Correct. Yeah. Yes. on this next slide here um entitled history of property taxes. Um this should look once again fairly uh fairly familiar. We've seen this um a few times before. Um it's going back to 1920 and we have the actual property taxes that we received for that year and the various percentage increase in the far right hand column. Um once again I want
065to highlight there were a couple years that um were aberrations in 22 23 and 23 24. Um, we received increases of about 7.55% and an increase of about 7.79%. Um, I believe several months ago we had a couple gentlemen out from the Santa Barbara County Tax Assessor's Office u to review um these and basically what's happened um what the projections look like uh going forward. And it's our it's it's my understanding um as well that based on our years before 22 23 uh we're and the input from the gentlemen that we had here that we're probably looking at 5% increases per year. So as I've said before in these various presentations that's what we're using as a benchmark and that's what we're projecting out each year and that's the reason you're seeing 5% represented in
0662526 26 27 and 2728. Now, once again, I want to mention the fact that these are projections. Um, I don't have a crystal ball, nor does anybody. Nobody really knows what these numbers are going to be. However, nonetheless, all public school districts are required to do these types of projections. And 5% um seems seems reasonable given the fact that back to 1920 through uh 2020 uh 2122, our percentage came in at about 5%. And also it sounds like the two years we spoke we spoke about that were 7% those were basically aberrations. Those were unusual for whatever reason. And so going forward um the district's anticipating and projecting that we're going to see 5% increases um each of these years. Now a couple times a year the district does get updates regarding what the property
067tax projections uh look like and those are called P1, P2 and P3. So, we got our P2 um just a couple months ago after second interim um and so which changed a little bit, not too much. That's the reason if you'll note here, the the revenues haven't really changed much. And we will not get our final number of property taxes for the 2425 year until August. So in August, believe it or not, we'll receive something from SBCEO saying this is what your revenue is for 2425, which I want to highlight the fact that that's after the year is over. So after the year is over is when they tell us how much revenue we've received. So us and every every other public school district in California are required to project out their future revenues based
068on what's reasonable um you know what the cola is and given the best information available. But when you project anything out into the future it's going to change. So I just want to highlight the fact that once again these are just projections. However, nonetheless 5% seems reasonable and that's what we're going to stick with unless we get information otherwise from the county office. on this next slide here, um, entitled special education. Um, once again, I think we've seen this slide a couple different times, but it's very important because it has a very significant impact on our budget. Um, and once again, this this slide here starts in 2021. And what this what this slide shows is the actual revenues we receive for special education, the expenses of special education and the difference and where that
069difference has to come from. So if we just go down to the last box that's kind of highlighted in a light orange color in 2122. Well, let me just start here. So in in 2021, the district received about $1.5 million in revenue for special education. So, we're only talking about special education. 1.8. I'm sorry. Yes, sir. 1.8. 1.8. Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you. I was looking at something else. So, um, revenues, we received about 1.8 of special education revenues only. However, our expenditures in that year were 5.5 million. So, our expenditures greatly exceeded our revenues. And so, that difference of about 4.2 million had to be made up from somewhere. And so what happens is the unrestricted general fund has to contribute funds has to contribute money to the unrestricted side basically to special education
070to fund that difference. So if we if if we notice at the bottom that you'll see the contribution has been basically increasing almost every year until we hit uh 2425. And just looking at this year 2425 which is second from the the right for special education revenues this year we're projecting to receive about $2.3 million in special education revenues. However, we're projecting our expenditures to be about 8.7. So that's a tremendous difference of about $6.4 million. So what has to happen is that unrestricted side of the general fund has to contribute $6.4 million to special to special education to balance the program. And I think it's important once again to highlight this because this this contribution here that we're seeing of about 6.4 4 million comes from the unrestricted side of the general fund. So
071this comes from the same side of the general fund that basically um we pay the health insurance from. We we are taking money from what we could do things with otherwise and we're required to make the contribution to special education and it's a very significant cost. So the I think it's worth noting that that um how the the revenues flow to the district, right? So, so the IDA federal monies that are are not fully funded, they're, you know, I think we get about about 10% of the or 11% of the of the guarantee. Is that about right? Um supposed to be 40%. Yeah. And um so that flows to the state and and it's based on average daily attendance based based on on the the population of the of the overall population of the district
072or of the of the state public school population. So that population number the the public school enrollment is declining statewide. So there's less money flowing to the state from the feds and then from the from the state it flows to the county office of education and Santa Barbara County's uh public school enrollment is on decline. So the the the county gets less money from the state and our district has declin all districts in the county obviously are declining enrollment and so we get less money um than we would have you know per ADA the year before. Is that yes pretty close to to how how it how the revenues are flowing? Yep. That's I would say um spot on. And and so um it's kind of a double whammy, right? So we're we're faced with
073with increased expenditures and less and less uh revenue uh that has to be covered by the by basically by our general fund dollars. Yep. That but but the but the trend I mean our our trend increasing number of sped expenditures sped students is mirroring that of the um the state and the county. I mean I think we're slightly higher. I think we have a slightly higher rate of of sped uh student as a percentage of the population than than the county but but I think ours is about 16% and the average is like 14 closer to 12%. But I think the significant factor but the but the trend line is is the trend line is similar but what's more impactful is that the nature of the disabilities that we're serving are much more significant and
074that is not only in our district but in most California districts that's leading to higher expenditures. Yes. Much more intensive uh requirements and they're federal requirements. though it's not we're choosing these particular programs is that it's federally mandated that we provide uh services that range from nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, um intensive mental health services as well as special education teachers. So with all those additional services um that are required and they're federally mandated yet the federal government does not support the cost of those services and so unlike most educational programs the revenue is declining but our expenditures are increasing. So the gap has to be supported somewhere and it comes from the unrestricted fund. Great. Thanks. Um, and just on on the far right there, you'll notice what we're we're looking at. We're projecting
075for 2526. Um, once again, our our revenue is about 2.3. It's it's projected slightly to to decrease from what we're receiving this year. Um, and there we're projecting to spend about $ 8.4 million. And we're for 2526, we're projecting still a very significant contribution from the general fund of about 6.1 million. On this next slide here, um this is a a pie chart of the total general fund revenues. Um and you'll notice there in blue the biggest piece of is devoted to property taxes and LCFF revenues. So the district receives about 84% of all of its revenues um from property taxes. And so we just wanted to highlight there and you can see that the various breakdown between federal, state and local revenues. This next slide here um entitled the total general fund expenditures highlights
076uh once again in a pie chart the respective general fund expenditures uh by percentage. Um and so there kind of at the bottom left you'll notice that the first line is entitled salary and benefits and so uh district-wide salary and benefits um cost of the district that that is about 79% of the entire general fund. Now when we take that line which is employees and also we include the respective uh third party providers that we have to uh pay um for various services and their costs are in the services and other operating line once we include district employees and the third party uh contracted employees we have to pay um that comes in at about 85% of our entire general fund budget once you add those two together, which once again is a very significant
077cost. And as we've shared uh several different times, and I'm sure the board knows, um salaries and benefits consume by far the majority of uh the the budget. And here we're looking at about 85% when you consider the third party contracted services as well. On this next slide here, uh this is fact number 13 once again from the factf finding binder highlighting numbers from uh 23 24. It it says the district spends more on a per student basis on certificated bargaining unit than the comparative districts. So you you'll notice there um on that first chart um we're kind of almost right in the middle. And so per certificated non-management salaries per ADA uh we're coming in at about $6,599 whereas based on the comparative group they're coming in at about $6,464. So with that I'll
078advance to the next slide which is which is similar. Um however this fact number 13 addresses um classified um it states that the district spends more on classified salaries on a per student basis than other comparative districts. So here um you notice that we're represented at the very top of this chart. Classified salaries per ADA is $4,59 and based on our comparative group uh the comparative group comes in about $3,132. So once again, this slide is highlighting the fact that we pay more on a per ADA basis uh for classified salaries than our comparative groups. On this next slide here, um it's entitled the unrestricted revenue budget assumptions. So, uh, what we're doing here is we're we're just basically showing the revenue from this year and where we're projecting it's going to end up in
0792526. So, you'll notice at the top at the far right there, that's our revenue from our second interim from 2425. So, at second second or excuse me, estimated actuals, which is basically second interim, we're projecting our revenues to come in at about $26.3 million. Uh but and here's where we have the the increases. So we're gonna project a property tax increase of about $ 1.5 million. You'll seeing that represent there. Uh we're seeing a slight reduction in EPA, which stands for education protection account revenues of about $13,000. Uh that's attributable to a couple things. I would say the first thing it's attributable to is de declining enrollment. With declining enrollment, you have declining ADA. um and also a slight reduction in our unduplicated count. So that's the reason we're seeing a slight reduction in um
080EPA revenues there, but it's not really that significant. Um below that, we're we're going to project a decrease in local revenue about $166,000. That's mainly attributable to two main things. Uh, one is the excess stirs payment that we received this year, but that's not ongoing revenue. So, you wouldn't include it in the 2526 budget. And the other the the rest of the the decrease in revenue is basically attributable to um interest income due to the TR. So, as the board is aware, uh we're going to get a TR for the 2526 year for cash flow reasons. And we won't know exactly what that interest is until uh until the fiscal year starts. So, for example, this year we didn't know what that interest income was going to be until the county posted it to our
081general ledger. I think this year it hit sometime in in August. So hopefully in July or August, we'll know what our uh interest income is going to be due to the TR. And once we receive the information, I will, you know, input it into the budget. And so when you see the budget next time at first interim, you'll see uh an increase in local revenues due to interest income from the TR. But at this point, we really don't know what that number is. So that's why you're seeing a reduction. And to be clear, we get trans every we we basically have a TR every year. Yes. And TR trans is like a line of credit essentially operating line of credit that that because our revenues come in at two two distinct periods of the year
082and that isn't quite enough to cover our ongoing cash demand. Yes. Yes. Um we get our for through property taxes we get the line share of our property taxes in November and then another big uh allocation in April. So because basically we only get paid twice for the most part as far as as far as property taxes is concerned twice during the year. Uh we get a trend to smooth out cash flow. Um and like Mr. Schaefer mentioned, you know, it's my understanding we've been doing this for years. So um it's it's not unusual um to do this at all for cash flow reasons. It's just basically for us since we're property taxes, it's kind of like a cost of doing business. Um, so right below the decrease in local revenue, uh, we're projecting a
083a slight decrease in this bed contribution of about $122,000. So when we net all of those items I just identified up, um, we're projecting a total change in revenues of about $1.5 million to the positive. So we're expecting our revenues to increase about $ 1.5 million. And so below that in the bottom right you'll notice that we're projecting our 2526 unrestricted revenues to come in at about 27.9 million. So this slide here covers the unrestricted revenue um assumptions. On the next slide we go over the unrestricted expenditure assumptions. So um once again at the top right there um we're starting with our second interim expenditures which the board saw a couple um months ago and so at second interim we are projecting expenditures to come in at about 27 million. Excuse me. We need the
084slide changed. Oh I'm very sorry. Okay thank you. I I'll start over. Um so in in the top right here um you'll notice there's a $27 million figure. That's what our unrestricted general funding expenditures look like at second interim. And then below this, we're going to see changes. So the first change that we're projecting are the staffing reductions. And there in parentheses, you'll notice that we factored in five certificated FTEEs and in 10 instructional a 10 instructional assistance. Now below that um we have the illustration of how this how this works because we have two different things happening at the same time and they tend to net each other out. So for example ours from the staffing reductions from the five certificated and 10 IAS we're projecting those reductions to come in at about $1.2
085million. So that'll be a reduction of expenses. That's why it's in parenthesis. However, due to the 5% increase, we're going to see an increase in salaries and benefits. And so, right below that, you'll see the $1 million figure. That is the increase to the unrestricted general fund due to the 5% salary increase for cause. And then, so what's happening is we have the staffing reductions, which is pulling expenses down. But then starting 7125, uh we're going to see an increased uh salary and benefits cost due to the 5% and that's a million dollars there. So those two are essentially kind of washing themselves out because one's a plus, one's a minus. And so they're and they're netting out to that the net staffing reduction you'll see there below of about $189,000. And that's the reason
086that you're seeing that $189,000 represented in the far right hand side right below the 27 million figure. So once again, this is kind of a unique situation where we're reducing expenditures, but also in the same sense, we're increasing expenditures. And that's, you know, this is happening at the same time. And so they're they're kind of netting each other out. And that's the reason we want to, you know, set it straight and kind of highlight it here for the for the board and the public so they can see what's happening. and the five certificated um staff that's through attrition and that's uh two two FTEEs at the high school uh one at family school, one at Aliso and one at Canalino. So that's the that's the staffing reduction section there. Uh below that you'll notice there
087the next item is professional services in parenthesis contracts reduction. So, we're projecting reductions there of about $683,000. Um, below that, we're, as I've gone over in a couple slides, for the health and welfare benefit, we're seeing an increase there, and we know what that is and why it's happening. Um, so for the unrestricted side of the general fund, we're we're projecting a an increase of about $223,000. How? However, you'll probably notice that that that 223 isn't the total cost of the district because the total cost comes in about 420,000. So, what we're looking at here is just the cost to the unrestricted side. And so, the remainder of the cost for health and welfare is going to be seen on the restricted side of the budget. So, this is basically half of our total uh
088health and welfare cost increase. And then below that, uh we see some slight slight revisions to books and supplies. Um, we are including another line item for a vehicle replacement. That's specifically a new van. Our vans are uh quite old and we need to um start replacing those. So, we're allocating $55,000 for a van replacement. And then we have our usual indirect costs. So when we net all of those figures together, uh, we get a total change in the expenditures of about $504,000 to the negative, which means that our expenditures are going to be reduced by $54,000. So when we take the 27 million, we reduce the 500,000, we're projecting our unrestricted expenditures to come in at about $26.5 million. Now, this slide here entitled projected unrestricted fund balance and reserves kind of pulls together
089the past two slides we looked at but more of in a summarized fashion. So, starting at the top, we are looking at our projected estimated actuals um ending fund balance. So, we're projecting our ending fund balance to come in at about $896,000 for the 2425 fiscal year. And then below that, you'll see that we have the projected unrestricted revenue of the $27.9 million that we just spoke about. And then below that, you'll see the unrestricted expenditures of $26.5 million that we just went over on the previous slide. And so the net change between those two is $1.3 million to the positive. So we're expecting our our fund balance to increase by approximately $1.3 million. And so we're looking at for the for the unrestricted general uh unrestricted ending balance for the general fund for 25
09026 to come in at about $2.2 million. And the percentage- wise that would give us a reserve percentage of about 5.37%. On the next slide, um this we're looking at the entire general fund, but it's broken up into its distinct components. As I've mentioned before, the unre the general fund has two distinct components. One is unrestricted and that's represented in that first column that you see there. Uh the other component is called the restricted side and that's where we keep all of our restricted revenues and restricted expenditures. And then the third column over is just adding the two together. That's why we call that the total general fund. So this is just kind of a snapshot of the entire general fund broken apart by its components. So just looking just downwards on the unrestricted side
091unrestricted column we're once again we're projecting total revenues of about 35.6 million total expenditures of about $26.5 million and then below that you'll see a figure that's um in parenthesis um $7.7 million and the the label next to it says contributions to restricted programs. And you'll notice that that number 7.7 on the unrestricted side is the same number that you see on the restricted side of the budget. So what's happening is um there are a couple programs that need um that don't receive sufficient funding to support themselves. And so the unrestricted the unrestricted side of the general fund has to contribute to the restricted side. And in general, the two main programs that make up the $7.7 million are special education and routine restricted maintenance because we don't receive any funds, believe it or not,
092for routine restricted maintenance. However, we have to have it. So, that's that's basically what's consuming for the most part that $7.7 million that you're seeing there in the unrestricted side. So, if we just keep going down, we're seeing um that we're projecting about $1.3 million of revenues over expenditures. Our beginning fund balance is the $896. And once again, we're we're seeing that ending fund balance on the unrestricted side of about $2.2 million. And so, right below that, you'll notice a box that says components of ending fund balance. So, inside that $2.2 $2 million is sits our minimum 3% reserve. And so for us that for 2526 that's at 1 million or excuse me $1.2 million figure. And then the undesated fund balance number that's $979,000. That represents the amount of funds that we're projecting to
093have above the 3%. So that's above the $1.2 million. Um, just going down the restricted side quickly. Um, so we have our total revenues of $6.5 million. Once again, total expenditures. I'd like to highlight that you'll notice that on the restricted side, we only receive we're projecting $6.5 million of revenue. However, the expenditures that we're projecting come in at about 14.6. So that difference there between the revenues and expenditures has to be made up and it's made up by the unrestricted side of the general fund making a contribution to those programs on the restricted side which once again mainly is special education and maintenance. That's what's that's what's um that's what the contribution is mainly composed of. Um so we're projecting an ending fund balance on the restricted side of about $1.6 million. Um and
094once again for the entire general fund uh we're looking at total revenues of about 42.1 total expenditures of about 41.2. Uh we have um excess of about 948 and we're projecting total ending ending fund balance for the general fund to come in at about 3.8 million. However, once again I want to highlight though even though we're projecting our total general fund balance to be $3.8 8 million. What the state judges our fiscal stability by and the county office as well is the number that's listed on the unrestricted side. So they only will effectively financially make decisions based on our reserve percentage. And once again, they only look at the unrestricted side of the general fund for our fiscal stability and our positive certification. on the next slide here. Um, once again, this this is a
095very important slide uh because all public school districts are required to do multi-year projections. And then in those projections, you're required to do the budget year and two years out. And the reason once again that we do these projections is that we take the best information we have at this time and we project out our revenues like I've gone over and also we project out our expenses. And we do this uh exercise just so we can have an idea where the district is heading financially. Uh that way if somebody sees a problem in the outy years, you have sufficient time to take corrective measures to hopefully mitigate or eliminate that potential issue. So going back to the slide here, you'll notice that the first the first column here is entitled estimated actuals or 24 excuse
096me 2425. So at the very bottom there, you'll see that our reserve balance we're projecting to finish the 24-25 year at about 2.1%. And once again, this is uh factoring in the increased salary um costs due to the recent settlement which the board will see in a couple items later um on the agenda. So So those numbers have been factored in and that's that's what we're projecting after we factor in those costs. Um, and then in 2526 is the next column over. You'll see there's the reserve uh balance of about 5.37 which we've seen on a couple other slides as well. And then we continue projecting out uh 2627 and uh 2728. And I do want to add that for on the revenue side of the house for these projections like I've gone over in
097the previous slides, I've incre I've included the additional 5% in property tax uh projections. I've included those increases in these numbers. And on the expenditure side, I've also included costs um due to stepping and column and cola that happened kind of automatically just due to cost of living so forth. So those those variables have already been factored in and when we're when we've done that for 2627 we're projecting 9.28% and for 2728 we're projecting uh 15.1%. Uh but I do want to highlight and that's why I've have stars indicated there that once we hit 2627 we'll be back uh to bargaining to bargaining again. And so I do want to highlight for the board and the public the fact that there are no negotiated salary increases in 26 27 and 28 because we'll be negotiating
098again and once we do those percentages and the respective expenditures and salary benefit costs will change. So I just wanted to to highlight that for the board and just just as a kind of to pull it all together in 2728 we're projecting 15.1%. However, I just want to mention the fact that if we go back to kind of the first first couple slides we looked at uh with regard to unified school districts, the average unified school district in 23 24 had a reserve percentage coming in at about 24%. So in 27 28 if we're looking at 15 that's still fantastic for us. But once again, in comparison, um, the average unified 23 24 once again came in at about 24%. I I think I'm glad you pointed it out because I I was going to
099as well because, you know, that isn't a very large number. You know, when with a with a budget that isn't is very, you know, our budget's not that significant. So that that amount of reserve can be used up rapidly very rapidly with with unknown uh expenses. So, you know, I don't think any of us are comfortable would be comfortable uh had this this, you know, we've fallen below 3% for half the year, but because it's, you know, we're pretty much at the end of the year. Um, it's it's uh, you know, it's it's doable. Um, but even 5% is is much lower than I'm comfortable with. And I think that in and in in years past that's why the board um that's why we uh you know passed a a resolution and a policy to
100to maintain a 10% minimum reserve. Yes. We knew that we would fall below the 3% for the salary. We we we had that discussion in negotiations. It was intentional. It was int I know it was. Okay. Yeah. No, I know it was. I'm I'm I'm trying to acknowledge the fact that I'm we're aware of it. It's just we're still not comfortable. So, um this slide here for the military projection, this is the last slide I have for this presentation. Um I'd like to open it up and ask the board if you have any additional questions. Any questions? Okay. here. Um so you know we talked about the the loan basically. Yes. So if we we're maintaining a 25% um any reserve reserve we wouldn't need to take that loan. That is excellent point. Yes. um
101if we had pro you know 24 25% reserve we would have sufficient cash in our fund balance and there would probably be no need at all to get a trend you're exactly right so the tran we're basically paying prime plus a little bit yes I think I think the in addition to paying to paying back the principal and some interest there are you know train issuance costs and I think for this year they came in at about close to $175,000 that's interest and and uh and and yes, like fees. Yep. Interest and fees and all the other issuance costs that go along with issuing a tra and all the hoops that you know very not an not an insignificant amount of money. No, that's about a 3/4 3/4 cola or less. Yeah. Cost of living.
102Yes. Um, I I think, you know, again, I I I appreciate the fact that you included the the um the data that that we used in factf finding um because it's solid, you know, it's it's all coming from the state. Correct. It's it's not like we're it was being cherrypicked. Um, and the uh it was surprising to me um that the um I mean I knew knew we spent a lot more um uh on health and welfare than than uh you know on our benefits than other districts. Yes. But um I didn't realize it was that much more, you know, and it I think it's interesting to note that uh the only district higher than us is Ohhigh and I believe they got taken over by the state and and those benefits I think have
103been reduced. Yeah, I I am not sure. And I know that Santa most of the rest of them have a have a a fairly uh um I I believe that there's a a cap on the district contribution and and you'd note that our ours has gone up from 24 23 24 has gone up almost $3,000 um from this point. And most districts in our county um the average contribution is about $18,000. Yeah. for next year and we're at 24. Y so it's a $6,000 difference and then and then just once again just to highlight that so that difference is something that we are allocating towards health and welfare whereas other districts can take those funds and allocate them somewhere else. Typically that's allocated towards salaries. Okay. Um you guys all good? No more questions. Okay.
104Thank you. Okay. So, we'll move on to uh item E7 um a public hearing in regard to our proposed budget. And I would like to open the hearing uh to public comment. So, if you have comment on the on the budget, uh please step up to the podium. All righty. Thank you, Mr. Calf. Uh the budget presentation tells the story of overestimating expenditures and underestimating revenues. And slide 12, if you'll please go to slide 12 for us, that would be helpful. Uh is a perfect example of this. CUSD did this when it decreased otherwise realistic projections for property tax in January 2025. Slide 12. Instead of recognizing the increasing revenues trend over each of the last five years and projecting a 7 to 8% property tax revenue, CSD lowered the projections to 5% and then
105by doing so it pulled approximately $4.5 million out of the pro projected revenue stream. Then the district alleged that there was no money for employee salary increases in valuable programs that directly increased achievement such as the district gate program or the previously robust Carpenter of Family School program that actually still delivered the highest achievement data in the district while being underfunded on a per pupil basis by over 40% less than the state average. Bravo to the family school. Yes, these projections here are unrealistic. Carpondria's property tax revenues are anticipated to come in well above the average Santa Barbara County revenue projection. Every metric in the county suggests the south county as always is driving up averages. That the south county has shown strong sales growth in the first half of 2025 is also an indicator.
106February was 54% higher than February of last year. March was 61% above last year, March, and May sales are 41% higher than the year before. The California Association of Realators compares counties in the state, and Santa Barbara is by far the leader, specifically boosted, quote, by the Southern Santa Barbara County, Santa Barbara, Monaceto, and Carperia. But this is the game our district officials play, underestimating revenues and overestimating expenditures, and it serves to mislead the community about the actual revenue CUSD anticipates receiving. As a basic aid district, CUSD does not have a revenue problem in comparison to our operating budget. CUSD is in the top 4% of the most robustly funded school districts in the state. Although more revenue certainly wouldn't hurt, CUSD's problem isn't revenue based. It's expenditurebased. And it is a direct result of
107the 700% increase annually in legal costs under Miss Rigby's tenurship with the district with specifically $3.5 million squandered in the last two years trying to silence elected employee leadership, representatives, and voices. Miss Thomas, could you please join us at page five? These numbers are about as accurate as the rest of the propaganda and cherrypicked. Certainly cherry pooked. Thank you, Mr. H. This is a shame. Three minutes. Thank you. So, I'd just like to clarify that the 5.23% is based on the county P2 reporting. Those are real numbers. um it's not an average and and uh those who were in attendance during the assessor's presentation, Mr. H. Hotchner, M Miss Ferguson, Mr. Stout, all had the same information we did. The assessor said, "Do you know they're they're not projecting any more than 5% increase uh
108for us." So, um, these aren't numbers that we're choosing. These are numbers that the county is telling us to use. Okay. So, any, uh, further comment on the public hearing? Good evening. My name is Rachel Kent. I'm mother of Caspian, a first grader and really an TK. And I'm speaking to you as a family school parent. I've spoken here before a couple of times over the last several months along with some of the other parents that are here tonight. Quite frankly, I'm surprised and disappointed that there hasn't been a formal agenda item about the planned budget cuts that will end up eliminating the family school. This is unacceptable. Making a choice not to hire a teacher for the second and third grade class is not purely a staffing adjustment. It's eliminating grade levels at a
109public school. This kind of major program programmatic cut needs to have a separate agenda item with public input and a recorded vote. When the staffing change happened last summer and the K1 class was eliminated, my family was directly impacted. We were told two weeks before the school and reassured by Principal Cano that this didn't mean the family school was closing. Now it's almost one year later and rather than gearing up to be back in a family school class for our two sons, we are making completely different enrollment choices. Trustees are elected to lead with vision, not hide budget cuts behind closed doors. I ask you to make the choice to lead with integrity, transparency, and the kind of leadership we want to model for our kids. You may choose to approve a budget tonight, but
110if that budget includes removing teachers from the family school without reassigning a teacher in their place, the public has a right to challenge how that decision was made and whether it violates the Brown Act. Please do the right thing. Thank you. [Applause] Good evening. My name is Alyssa Margolan and this is my daughter Zuri. She and her brother have attended family school for the last three years. I'm here tonight to speak in support of family school and to voice my significant concerns with the way in which the school is being clandestinely phased out. As many others, my children and I have shared here before. Family school is an incredible place, a unique school of choice that has fostered a rich and multifaceted education for generations of Carpandria families. In an increasingly fractured world, family school
111teaches what is possible when we view each other as brother, sister, cherished neighbor, not through lecture, but by living these values. This was so apparent at our beloved Jan Silks retirement celebration on Sunday when decades of her past students and families honored her. My family came home so deeply reaffirmed that this is exactly the right place for us. These are the values of community and of friendship with which we choose to raise our children. We're so grateful to have had family school as a choice for our kids. Every child and family deserves an option like this. As my daughter's option to remain at family school as a third grader next year has been taken away, she continues to ask why we there won't be another teacher hired to teach her class. All our children continue
112to ask why their school isn't being allowed to continue. And we still don't have sufficient answers to give them. Dozens of letters and emails that we've written to Superintendent Riby and the school board have gone largely unanswered. The only explanations we've received were offered in unpublicized meetings held quietly in classrooms and merely referenced an exaggerated cost for running family school in claims of run low enrollment. Despite amending the budget representing family school, we've not received a clear alternate budget or other explanations for why CFS needs to be eliminated in order to meaningfully cut costs or boost enrollment. Our children deserve thoughtful, trustworthy, transparent leadership. They deserve to have open, honest communication and public discourse modeled for them, especially around issu is issues of great importance. However, the process of phasing out their beloved school has
113lacked accountability, transparency, and integrity. Families have received little little clear communication, and this discrepancy has left us and our children confused, heartbroken, and destabilized. The future of their education continues to feel insecure. It's clear to them and to us that their emotional and social well-being have not been prioritized throughout this process. This is highly concerning not only for our children at family school, but also for every child in our school district. It's raised a red flag cons regarding whether CSD will be a reliable and robust option for our children as they move through elementary, middle, and high school. Our children and our community deserve honest answers, transparent, law-abiding processes with opportunity for public engagement and input, integrity of leadership, and school communities that value and protect their social, emotional, and academic well-being. Carpentry deserves much
114better than this. Thank you. Hello members of the board. Uh I'd like to once again comment on the future of Carpentry Family School and particularly as it relates to this proposed budget. The budget presentation tonight shows only a budget for one FTE teacher and one and a half instructional assistance for CFS. A budget that effectively eliminates the 23 class at CFS. One line in a budget table is not sufficient public discussion when you're eliminating an entire grade from a public school. The proposed budget buries this sweeping change hoping that no one will notice. But CFS families have noticed and we've been very clear on the impacts on our children on the diversity of public schooling options in our community and have taken away a high-erforming local school. Parents have previously proposed to the board that
115the vacancy in the teacher and the 23 teachers role be replaced to maintain this successful school. We've proposed solutions for moving students into CFS to maintain appropriate class sizes and propose supporting that through our own community engagement to welcome additional students. But the board has never provided any public response or meaningful discussion of our proposals. The board and superintendent have only made their position clear on one point. This budget has repeatedly tried to place blame on our teachers for the current budget situation through increases to their salary and their health benefits. But it's clear to working families in Carpia these salary increases were much needed as the cost of living here is skyrocketed. The state of California recently announced that the threshold for a low-income household in Santa Barbara County is now $98,850, a full
116$20,000 more than the average teacher salary in our district. Paying teachers and other staff a fair wage should not be used as a a distraction on this issue. Families in our district have waited for months for the board to provide a clear response on what you intend to do with the Carpentria family school. I urge you to take your responsibility as public officials seriously and provide meaningful comment on the record about the future of our school. I'd also like to point out to the public that three of the five board members terms are up at the end of 2026. Over the course of the next year and a half, I think it's important for carpans and the board members themselves to be asking whether this is the right group of people to trust with the
117future of our children's education. Thank you. [Applause] Hi, my name is Kelsey Wit and my daughter Lendel is a third grader at Carpanderia Family School. My son Dave was supposed to be in the K1 class this year. He spoke at one of one of the past meetings saying that he'd really like the chance to go to family school. Family school has had people speaking up at every meeting since we figured out for ourselves that you're trying to cut entire grades from our school. Your handling of this matter has put us into a vulnerable situation. So, here I am compelled to tell you how this is felt and asking, are we really not going to fight for the things that make Carperia special? Is this situation bigger than family school? This shows us the way your
118board handles things. And the way you're handling this is making us wonder what else is being handled wrong. It's making us feel like we need to fight and get the word out because you're not. There has to be a way to preserve a program that has been so beneficial to this town. and the students. It seems like you're secretly making decisions that simply make your job easier instead of focusing on the betterment of the community. I really believe there is a special symbiotic relationship between the elementary schools that give students the ability to find their place in our community and a place amongst their fellow students. If you cut family school, you'll be cutting off a limb. I have seen many instances where students have transferred from one school to the other in order to
119find the right fit for that student. Cutting off the ability to navigate a new environment for each individual student's needs is cutting off a great resource. A school of choice is such a benefit to our community in so many ways. The fact that we've had to do our own investigative work to find out what is happening. And along with the fact that this past year, we didn't find out until the week before school was started that our child was not actually going to be in family school or with the teacher he'd already met. Well, that was handled wrong. My son would have liked a chance to consider other options. The people should have had more of a chance to stand up for this program, but you've not given that to us. This year, the continuing
120secretive nature of these decisions is still disturbing. Give us a chance. Please do the right thing and make the difficult decision to save family school, no matter what the circumstances. When we put our minds to something, we are capable of more than we think. The children deserve better and the community deserves better. This cut doesn't even solve all your problems. Thank you for your time. [Applause] Hello again. I'm Jessica Petrillo and I'm a parent at Carpondria Family School. This is my fourth time up at the podium talking about family school and second time tonight. So, these comments are really much more focused on the budget. Um, but I appreciate all of the public comments that I've heard from my my friends and fellow parents so far tonight. I understand that this budget Oh, well, I
121also I just want to point out one more thing. I appreciate the budget presentation. I do want to point out just some areas that were more gray for continuity. Um, the highlights on the staff salaries and health costs were very clear. The first bud budget presentation that we saw in January also had a column for the legal fees which I found hard to see here and it just was hard to track those between. So if the goal is to be transparent about that and stand behind those decisions, keeping those for continuity would be helpful. So I understand this budget includes staff reductions through attrition. But when that results in eliminating entire grades, second and third at a public school, that's not a routine staffing adjustment. It's a major programmatic cut that is being made without
122public agenda, discussion, or vote. Family school is a high-erforming, community- centered program where students thrive. It's an important option for families across the district, especially for kids who haven't found success in more traditional settings. This is a program that should be supported, not quietly dismantled. When you look closely at the budget, the cost of keeping those grades at family school is negligible. The only expense are for teachers and classroom aids. That's it. And for that small cost, the district provides a well-performing, inclusive public school open to all, a cost-effective, high value investment. We can see on page seven of the budget presentation that the plan buried in this proposal is to staff family school with just one teacher and one teaching assistant. That's a fundamental change to the structure of the school, and it should
123not be left to a general board vote buried inside a 300page district-wide budget. That's not transparency and it's not good governance. We've also heard enrollment cited as a reason for these cuts, but the district has played a role in driving those numbers down. This year, family school was removed from the kindergarten enrollment forms and families still don't know which grade levels exist next year. If enrollment is low, it's not because families don't want family school or to stay in the district. It's because the district has actively undermined confidence and access. That's not a justification for cuts. That's a problem the district created. Cutting these grades is not sound budgeting or good policy. It's short-sighted. So, here's my ask. Do not approve a budget that includes eliminating grades at family school. Instead, follow the nocost solution
124that has been brought to this board repeatedly by parents. Reassign a teacher to replace Jan's position and keep the mixed grade model where it's already proven to work at family school. And if the board is still considering eliminating grades, that proposal must be brought forward publicly. Agenda is discussed and voted on. The Brown Act requires it. Hello, good evening. Um, first of all, kudos to all the passionate speakers and as well as datadriven ones. I fully support Jessica's comments as well as it pertains specifically to the budget and I wish that I could spend more of my time tonight just talking about and boiling down some of the budget concerns that is in this proposal. The last time I spoke here was in February and it was on the topic of preserving and refunding CFS.
125To be clear, I'm not a parent of a child at CFS. I am a parent. Maybe someday my kid could go to CFS. that would be a wonderful option and same for anybody who looks at Karp as a place to raise a family. That doesn't seem to be the case. That's not what the budget shows. I was not expecting the first impression I received when I was here in February being here amongst teachers struggling for fairer, not even fair pay and an ongoing budget crisis. Sorry, I'm trying to get this mic. I talked in February about policy and how it was bad policy to downsize and discontinue CFS programming, one of the highest rated and most beloved school programs in the county. If temporary low enrollment is the challenge or it's been cited, closed door
126explanation, then a solution surely exists. There has to be better problem solving. It's what we teach in school, certainly what's taught in CFS. Budget cuts are not solutions. They're simply directives. And I think that you all know that. Therefore, I'm disappointed but not surprised to address you all again tonight after making a formal request earlier today via email to you all to agendaize this matter. And tonight, I'll talk about process. I'll speak directly given how indirect the board has been in communicating CFS's fate. in plain terms, despite continuous communication from members of the public and CFS teachers and board members and board meeting participation and providing alternate recommendations for budget savings. The CFS topic has never been put on the agenda, nor has there been any request for public feedback. You've essentially sought to bury
127the fate of CFS in this revised budget. An opaque line item amidst reduction titles and budget assumptions. I like details. I've tried to find them. It is hard if not impossible with what you've presented. If you want to downsize and shutter CFS, then please at least be direct about it. Same goes for anything else policy related. Outline your vision for what you see for education in in our town, in our county. Qualify and quantify your policy decisions and communicate them in an open form with the public. Anything less is disingenuous. It's covert at best and in this case worse so you expose CUSD to even further legal issues as you risk a Brown Act violation. Why can't we talk about CFS as an issue? I mean, you can hear it in this room. Thank you.
128Hello. My name is Pepper Binkley and I'm a parent of a third grader at Cart Family School and a first grader at Canalino. We're here to talk about budget. The bottom line is important obviously, but I want you to invite I I want to invite you to think holistically. The first item in the proposed budget states students and their learning are at the center of decisions. Students and their learning are at the center of decisions in the budget proposal. The board's handling of family school challenges this statement. I want to highlight some dates. We moved to KARP in August 2024. One of the reasons was family school. The week before school started, we heard that the K1 class was to be eliminated due to low enrollment, but also budget. No mention at this time of
129closing family school. Then CFS heard of budget cuts in January 2025, reducing teacher numbers due to enrollment, essentially the same issue as August 24. Riby came to a board meeting at CFS in February and said their proposed solution for budget cuts was to eliminate the 23 classroom after Jan's retirement. Still no mention of closing family school. CFS parents and kids spoke at the budget meeting in February. all mention that it looks like family school is closing. Still no transparency or accountability for budget from the school board. Still no mention from the school board of family school closing in the next year. Since then, it's been whispers on the street among parents. Parents making contingency plans. Kids wondering if their school is closing. My third grader saying the district hates family school. We are new to
130the school district and have been blown away by our kids teachers Jan Silk and Rolando Rua, our principal Luis uh Kintero and the community. That said, the handling of the proposed elimination of the K1 then two, three, and presumably four or five classes at family school and the closure of family school has led us to pull our oldest from the school district next year. We want to give him the stability that he needs following a diff difficult move this past year. We've had a lot of tears this year and we've chosen to move him. Our daughter is staying. If one of your proposed concerns is student retention, you are failing. No matter the outcome, the handling of this issue has been a stain. Your job is to be creative with the budget to honor students
131and their learning at the center of decision-making. Thank you. [Applause] So, is that uh anybody else have public comment for the hearing? Okay, thank you. I'll close the hearing. Um, a couple things I would like to um address because I think they were mischaracterized. Um, I met in good faith twice with your parent group. Um, and it was an open invitation to the entire population of the family school. So to say that it was a clandestine, secretive classroom meeting is very disingenuous and misrepresentative. Um, we've had multiple discussions here at at this board meeting about the budget and they haven't been secretive. They we've we and we haven't made a decision about the family school. And I've made that I think I've made that very clear in both the meetings I had with the parents
132that a decision has not been made. I said it was all dependent on our budget and and fortunately our budget is looking better. Doesn't mean that things are going to go back to normal at the family school, but a decision has not been made. and for for that that um very pointed and and and you know almost insulting uh accusation to this board that we're doing things secretively and closed doors behind the scenes is I think it goes against everything that I've represented to you I think most of this board as well but one of the things that that has really kind of bothered me about some of the proposed those solutions is that is that you're essentially asking us to to discontinue a class at another site in order to reassign a teacher at
133the family school. And that's not fair to anybody as well. Excuse me, sir. Watch your language. And it it it that's exactly a reassignment of a teacher. And and and so I I I just want, you know, I I'm happy to meet with everyone again. and put it on agenda. Yeah. We're not We're not with our family. Why isn't it on the board agenda? Answer that question. Why has it never been a board agenda item? It's it Okay, so this isn't going anywhere. I I was I'm I'm trying to address some of your concerns. I'm happy to do it with the parent group. Um I think any one of us is. Um but uh as far as the closure of the family school, that decision has not been made. And and has. Yeah, there's one
134central concern. It's the it's the agendaizing it. It's making it public form. That's what everybody's communicating here. Okay. I appreciate everyone's comments. Um and we are going to move on. I think we have to um we have to actually approve the first reading of the budget. Is that correct, Monica? It's just the first reading. You're not making any decision today. Okay. Just the first reading. All right. Thank you. Um, okay. Andy, may I clarify for a moment? Yeah, please. Please. So, appreciated you coming to speak with us. And I actually You can You can step up to the podium. We so appreciated you coming to speak to us at family school twice. And I actually came up and thanked you publicly in one of our meetings. This is my fourth time speaking at these meetings.
135When my second or third, I came to publicly thank you and that's all I said at the podium. We really appreciated it. When you first presented us with a budget representing family school, it included school counselors and several other line items that aren't a part of our school budget. So, we asked you to go back and take a closer look. You came back and presented us with different data, but it still didn't provide us an any clear understanding for why our very small school budget that accounts only for teachers and teaching aids who will need to be accounted for whether our children are at family school or a canolino classroom on that campus. We never understood and received clear understanding for why cutting our school helped solve budget problems. And so when I say we
136had these meetings that happened in a small setting, they weren't public. They weren't announced to the public. We came to know about them at family school, but this wasn't an item for the public to engage in or for there to be public discourse around decisions that are impacting our whole community. Thank you. Appreciate that. Add one thing. Also, it's my understanding that there will be mixed age classrooms, more mixed age classrooms at Canalino next year. So, again, you're this should be a public discussion. There are I I personally, because I have a kid at Canalino as well, um have friends who don't want their kids in mixed age classrooms. They have intentionally chosen to have their children at Canolino so that they're not in mixed age classrooms. And that is the solution for for the
137problem is to create more mixed classrooms at Canalino. So again, it's a you know, pulling the public, pulling the communities is important and it creates a discourse where we feel safe and taken care of and our students feel like they're heard as well. I don't want my kids saying they hate us. Well, I we certainly don't either and I I don't know where that's coming from. So, so I I think it's I think um it's important for everyone to understand that there are mixed age classrooms in all our schools next year because of declining enrollment. That that is the the reason why we have mixed age classrooms is declining enrollment. But but that is the reason that you have them in Canalino and Summerland, right? No. No. But Summerland and Carpentry Family School are built
138on a mixed age pedagogy. It is a different way to teach and carpentry family school is set up. It's set up and has been successful teaching mixed age classrooms. So you're going to put teachers who are not used to teaching mixed age classrooms in charge of mixed age classrooms. I mean like it's it's just not it doesn't make any sense. Andy, I respectfully I also as perhaps the only non CFS associated person here, just to to your point, I was not privy to a meeting with CFS, nor were other members of the public. I would have attended if I had known such a thing. So, I'm I'm trying as a member of the public to be engaged on this topic because it does matter to me and other carpentry citizens. I I appreciate that and
139I and I we've probably having this back and forth like this is not as productive because this is not it can be but it's not the way that that a business meeting is held. You know a back and forth is is something we can we can discuss. That's what the inerson meetings with one or two board members not with an entire board. So so where we can actually have a discussion. Um, but I appreciate you all speaking tonight and I and I and I I think we all taken your comments to heart and I just want to reassure everyone that no decision has been made. Um, the budget is, you know, as you see, the budget's a difficult thing and and um, fortunately, it's the trajectory is is more promising than it was looking. So,
140you know, I and I don't mean to give f any false hope, but I I just want you to know that a decision has not been made. So, I I hope you can reass you know, that gives you some reassurance. I'm sure it doesn't give you total, but um you know, and I'm happy to come and meet with with I think any any of us is happy to come meet with you all again and um and we can continue this discussion. Okay. Thank you. on the agenda. That's what we're asking. Not making a decision is actually harder for Thank you. Thank you, guys. We're going to have to decide what to do with their kids next year, harder for families. Okay. Make a decision so that they can have a contingency plan for We're not
141going to make a decision right now. It's not on the agenda. We're not going to make a decision. So, so um we're going to move on to um the uh LCAP and we're going to get a item future agenda. Oh, we need a vote. Okay. So, can I can I get a motion to approve the first reading of the budget? I move to approve the first reading of the budget. I'll second that. Okay. Any more discussion? All in favor? I. All right. Okay. We'll move on to the item uh E3, the LCAP local indicators presentation. Every year we're required to present our local indicators and um the indicators are actually how we share the measures in progress of meeting the requirements of the local control funding formula. Uh the state has eight priorities and there
142are several priorities that are included in the local indicators. That's on the next page. It's whether we've appropriately assigned teachers, implementation of state academic standards, parent and family engagement, school climate, and access to a broad course of study. The other indicators four, five, and eight will be presented in the LCAP. Our first indicator is the measure of appropriately assigned teachers across the curriculum um areas and also includes having appropriate materials and safe, clean and functional school facilities. This has not changed. If you'll move to the next slide, this has not changed over the year with the exception of we have less total teacher mis assignments from 2223 to 2324. um we have 90% of our teachers are um assigned appropriately. The 10% that are not assigned, it's due to two major reasons. One is we've
143hired DLI teachers that are still working on their B-clad. And as I've reported before, we have special ed teachers that have been in our district for years that now need to re they need to attend classes to receive a specialized certification for working with students who have autism. And they're still working on that. The next priority is the implementation of state academic standards in content areas. and they've uh rate them according to where you're at in your district, whether you're exploring that content area or it's full implementation and sustainability. And this hasn't changed um in the last three years. We're still at full implementation and sustainability for our all of our core content areas. The next area is the district's progress in making sure that our instructional materials are aligned with the adopted academic standards
144and the frameworks and that again has not changed. We are fully implemented. The next um priority is related to identifying areas for um policies that support delivering instruction and making sure it's aligned to our academic standards. Again, this has not changed in the last three years. This is also um adding additional uh content areas CTE, health, PE, visual and performing arts and world language. And we're still not at sustainability for health education related to um the health programs at the elementary level. We're still evaluating those programs. The next item is uh related to professional development and this is really based on uh professional development funding. In the last few years, we've not had enough professional development funding to support uh sustainability, but we have implemented um professional learning for individual teachers as well as for
145groups of teachers and content areas. And um we will continue to uh look for professional development funds to provide sustainability for our teachers. The next priority is related to parent and family engagement in which we have full implementation of sustainability and that has been similar uh in the last two years. We looked at the strengths of our um family and parent engagement. We looked at the healthy kids survey results show that 93% of our parents report that they feel welcome at their um students uh school site. We continue to focus on family engagement is a priority. We provide many opportunities for families to participate. Uh we have uh monthly lunchons with families and students. Each site has a coffee with principal. We have a variety of open houses, back to school nights, uh specialized content
146nights like math nights for families. So we continue to focus on developing activities in which we can bring families back to schools working with um students. And then uh our area that we continue to uh look at for growth is increasing the participation of underrepresented families specifically their participation in site decision making uh opportunities like parent groups and site council and the ELAC. Our current stage of implementation remains the same and it's a full implementation and sustainability. Uh we're still looking for more professional development funds to support professional learning to teachers in this area. When we look at our uh family engagement related to student outcomes, 96% of parents report that schools encourage parents to be active partner in their child's ed uh education. I've also um earlier shared those different opportunities, parent teacher conferences,
147back- tochool nights, open house and again our focus will continue on uh increasing participation from underrepresented families. The next item is related to uh specifically for decision making seeking input from parents for decision making and we have full implementation in building the capacity of uh principles and teachers to engage families in any um advisory groups that are making decisions at the school site and that's related to parent groups uh school site councils ELAC DAC as well as our district-wide parent advisory council. And at the next um evaluation of input for decision- making, we looked at uh the healthy kids survey in which 77% of parents report that schools allow and welcome parent input. We'd like to increase that uh response rate to 90%. So we'll continue to focus on um specifically underrepresented families in school
148site councils and the parent support groups. The sixth priority is related to school climate. We annually administer the California healthy kids survey to students in grades 5, 7, 9, and 11. And we look at uh their perception of school connectedness, academic motivation and their perception of school safety. And our expectation is that more than 90% of students will report that they're connected and motivated and feel safe at school. And we meet all that um meet those goals with the exception of seventh grade in school connectedness and academic motivation. That's lower than reported than the other grades. So, we'll continue to um monitor the progress of middle school um in those areas. And we've identified that as a need that the seventh graders reported a lower rate of school connectedness. And our area of strength is
149that uh for the rest of the grades we have um a high rate of school connectedness, academic motivation, and safety. And then uh specific strategies that we put in place to increase uh continuous improvement for school climate is that we uh continue to use the positive behavioral intervention strategies at the middle school level. We have a social schools uh curriculum at grades seven and eight. We offer or um hold assemblies for student recognition. We have early release time for teacher collaboration to monitor student progress and adjust instructional practices. And then we've increased our extended learning opportunities after school. We have soccer, volleyball, fishing, skateboarding, surfing, and cooking. The last priority is related to the access to a broad course of study. And we use our um student information system ARIES that tracks our course selection
150and enrollment for all students uh particularly students with exceptional needs and their unduplicated student count. And all of our students have access to all of the courses that we provide. And there's no difference across the schools or student groups. And we don't have any barriers um for students to choose uh the the courses that they wish to participate in. And um there's no need to change our actions because we've been successful in encouraging students to choose the courses that they wish to take for that school year. Any questions about local indicators? Okay. So now we'll move to the LCAP which um shows the indicators for uh student outcomes and student achievement. And you'll recall that last June at this time uh you approved the al the LCAP for three years, the goals and the outcome
151student outcomes for uh 24 to 27. And those goals uh reflect our five district goals in student achievement, student well-being and parent participation, college uh readiness and careers, college and career readiness facilities and uh special education student uh achievement. This report tonight uh merely reflects the progress of the last school year because that's the latest uh state data and then we have some local data that's more current from this school year. So we begin with reminding you of um for this particular goal one to increase uh student achievement we focused on particular activities that were implemented at the elementary level at the middle school level and at the high school level. And then um our outcomes are identified in goal one for a student achievement and what we looked at is our current outcomes and
152for the state data it's 23 24. So um for the CASP the 24 data indicates that we showed growth for English language arts in all grades fifth, 8th and 11th. Those are our exit grades. Uh we also showed growth for English language learners, economically disadvantaged and students with disabilities, those disagregated student groups. The gap between white and Hispanic students have decreased. The gap between economically disadvantaged and non-econ economically disadvantaged students has also decreased. And then for our grade third grade star reading level, we're at the grade level that we expect for students and that's at um fourth grade. By the end of their third grade, they're reading at fourth grade. This is local data that is current and we use a a Renaissance star reading which is an online assessment that uh specifically measures uh
153student growth in specific reading skills. These are the skills that they've mastered. So that is decoding skills and reading comprehension skills. The expectation is that they are at their if they're in kindergarten then the expectation is that they'd be at that grade plus nine months. So it' be K9 first grade would be one nine, second grade 29. So you'll see that when you look at uh Aliso, Cantalina and Summerland that most of our students currently are at and above grade level based on the star reading. So that's for decoding and um comprehension. And then our next uh goal is related to uh math achievement again for 2024 data. So that's the CASP the statewide testing. Um students met or exceeded the standard in all our three exit grades. We showed growth uh in economically disadvantaged
154uh students showed growth. Students with disability showed growth. Our gap between white and Hispanic students have decreased. And the gap again between economically disadvantaged and non-economically disadvantaged students have also decreased. And then although our math uh grade level, our star math for third grade decreased 0.2, our students are still at the expectation at 3.9. And then if you look at the current data which is this school year and again it's similar to Renaissance Star Reading. This is Renaissance Star Math and it's online assessment that measures uh math computation skills and problem solving skills. And again our expectation is that uh for math you're at that the grade level plus nine months. So you would be at 1.9 to be at grade level. And you can see that or above. And you can see that most
155of our grade levels, most of our students are performing at or above grade level for math at this point in time on the STAR math test. Our next goal is uh continues to be with achievement, but it focus focuses specifically on English language learners and we saw progress with decreasing the long-term English language learners. However, we still uh need work with our reclassification rates and our English learner progress. For student grades, we showed an increase of 8% for the GPA for middle school and 14% for the GPA for high school for all students. In our next um the next uh slide is still related to student achievement and um the we see the percent of teachers appropriately assigned that's increased by 3.2% 2% and we've met both we've met all the goals for the um
156access to in instructional materials um full implementation of all our academic standards and 100% of our students have access and are enrolled in a broad course of study. Our next goal uh refers to student well-being, a positive school culture, and partnership with parents. And these are the specific actions that we implemented to reach that goal. And then the progress we've made for the first year is that um our goal was to have more than 90% of students report that they were connected, motivated, and high expectations. And for this school year, 2425, we've met that goal and we'll continue to focus on ensuring that more than 90% of students continue to report that they're connected, motivated, and have high expectations. as well as school safety. Um, more than 90% of our students report that uh, schools
157are safe and so we've met that goal, but we'll continue to implement activities to ensure that 90% of students continue to report that data. What's disappointing is our average attendance um, at school events has decreased for parents. So we'll continue on focus we we continue on implementing activities and encouraging parents to participate in the activities that are specifically um held for parents to um enjoy at the school site with their students. And then our attendance rates have also um been disappointing. Our average daily attendance has um decreased 0.5% and our expectation is 95%. And our chronic absenteeism has also increased.5%. So it's going in the wrong direction. However, we've met the goal for our expulsion rate and our suspension is the same. So we need to continue working on increasing uh student um attendance in
158school. Goal three is directly related to uh graduation and students being ready for college and careers. These are the strategies that have been implemented and then our annual report indicates that our graduation rate has increased.1%. But we still um expect 100% of our students graduate. Now our our class size is small. We have 139 students graduating of which four students uh are will not graduate tomorrow but they have been enrolled in adult debt and we do expect them to complete their uh GED but they are not considered in the graduation rate. uh we've increased our our students meeting graduates meeting the UC and CSU requirements and we've also increased student enrollment in AP honors and dual enrollment. We've also increased our graduates who've met the UCCCUS requirements and completed at least one CTE pathway. And
159we've also increased the number of students are earning the state's seal of biiteracy. Our next goal is related to safe facilities that are updated and well-maintained for student and staff. These are the strategies that were implemented at each uh level. And then uh we use the healthy kids survey to uh monitor students and staff and perce and parents perceptions of cleanliness and uh maintenance and our expectation is more than 90% of students staff and parents will report that schools are clean and well-maintained. Um although it's increased for students, we still are not at 90% um for staff. Parents, 90% of our parents reported that. And then for the MeasureU projects, we're proud that the Canal Learning Center was successfully completed in December and that we're in the planning stages for the TK and K building
160at Aliso. It's at DSA and we expect to uh begin construction next fall. Our last goal is related specifically to the disagregated group of students with disabilities and we focused on increasing their performance on the CASP for math and ELA. the these were our um strategies that we implemented and we're happy to report that both in math and ELA, our special ed students increase their performance, but we still expect um a higher performance rate. We're going in the right direction, but we've not met the goal yet. But again, this is year one of three years. So overall I'd say that the progress is been uh very good and we continue to um need to focus on our disagregated groups of students and particularly for them it's uh their increase in English language proficiency as well
161as continue supporting their math and English language arts performance. Questions? No, I was just going to say last night at um the Canolino promotion ceremony, those students that gave their speeches in Spanish and in English, it's um you know, they're making progress. I mean, it's amazing how adept they have become at both languages. It was exciting to see um many of the fifth grade students who've been in DLI since kindergarten. Yes. uh present their report in Spanish and it was very illiterate. Yes. And what I like is there there's no sense of an accent with you know it's pretty impressive. Um, what do you attribute the the lower parent um uh attendance in in events to because I noticed that that was a thing at the uh after prom party this year. it was it
162was difficult to get uh parent contributions um and also uh just participation and so which is you know one of those things that's usually not hard to do. Yes, I think uh we need to change the way we're uh outreaching to certain parent groups. we can't continue to do what we've done in the past and so we have to look at different ways that we are going to motivate parents to participate. In the past it worked and we had a number of parents part you know we had uh a number of parents participate particularly in the high school. Yeah. And that's declined. So we're going to have to look at different ways of encouraging that parent participation and not depend on the same few who participate over and over and over again. So expand our
163outreach. I think it also has to do with um in the previous years we were able to uh fund social workers with our COVID money and we really depend on the social workers to develop relationships with our families and this past year we did not have social workers. So I think that that was part of um the reason why we didn't have uh certain groups of parents participating. Okay. Anybody else hearing? Good. Okay. Uh, all right. So, I will um open up a hearing on our LCAP. If there's any public comment on the LCAP, please step up to the podium. Okay. Okay, so once again to provide any thorough analysis on the LCAP document in a threeminute public comment seems unrealistic. The LCAP contains 105 pages and thousands of data points. But upon review, one
164theme became rapidly clear. CUSD's internal measuring tools such as teacher assigned grades, GPA, or school awards are in conflict with the district's external measuring tools. the ones that exist such as state assessment data, college acceptance rates, ed code requirements, and routine K through2 safety practices across the state. So with this in mind, union leadership will provide a few observations until our time runs out. Where the LCAP addresses connectiveness between CUSD and families in the community, it seems that CUSD's conclusions do not tell the whole story or even most of it. On many occasions, CUSD has been implored to better understand why so many families in the community forgo their access to free public education. Why do so many families choose to instead spend significant portions of their income to send their children to alternative educational
165environments? If the district's connectiveness scores included the rapidly growing number of community families that do not consider COSD a viable educational option, the district's cherrypicked connectedness scores, which are already less than remarkable, would be considerably lower. It's also observed that the LCAP contains none of the reasons cited by CUSD families who rated connectiveness low. Perhaps our district officials could learn a lot from those who don't share their unique experience, their privilege, or position in the district. Examples of conflicting academic achievement data can be found throughout the LCAP as well. For example, a closer review of just pages 35 through 37 is pretty revealing. The district reports that between 2324 and 2425, there's been an 8% increase in the number of students enrolled in AP honors and dual enrollment courses. The district reports that uh there
166was an increase in the number of graduates who met UC and CSU requirements and at least one CT pathway. Yet on the same pages, significantly conflicting data is found. For example, the graduation rate has dropped. There's been over 5% drop in college and career preparedness. There's been a drop in students completing completing at least one CTE pathway. There's been a 10% drop in students even enrolled in CTE pathways. Or the high school dropout rate, which doubled last year, has shown very, very little change. Another area of conflicting data can be found when examining school safety and cleanliness. After deep and unnecessary cuts to the district's custodial staff and campus safety personnel at the end of last year, parents, teachers, and support staff increasingly report concerns associated with school safety and cleanliness. Yet, the district's LCAP
167reports, quote, there were no substantive differences. Your time is up. That's a shame. Thank you. Okay. Any more comments on the public hearing portion of the LCAP? All right. I'll close the hearing and we will take a vote on the first uh reading of the uh LCAP presentation. Can I get a motion? I'll move to approve. I'll second. Any discussion? All in favor? I I Okay, we will move on to F for policies and uh uh first reading of board policy 5131 conduct. Board is asked to approve the first reading of the updated board policy 5131 conduct. Um board believes that all students have a right to be educated in a safe and positive learning environment free from disruption. Students shall be expected to exhibit appropriate conduct that does not infringe upon the rights of
168others or interfere with the school program while on school grounds, going to or coming from school at school activities or using district transportation. Any public comment on board policy 5131? Seeing as none, uh can I get a motion? I'll move to approve board policy 5131. I'll second. Any discussion? All in favor? I I. All right. Um, move on to G business operations facility and warrants. We're being asked to approve the warrants for the period of May 23rd through June 5th in the amount of $350,000 $350,829.71. Warrants are issued once a week on Thursdays. The report format shows check check numbered, check date, payee, brief account description, payment comment. I'm I'm sorry to interrupt. We need public comments on G. All any Okay. I'm sorry. Thank you. Any any public comments on G, business operations facilities?
169Yes. Thank you. This evening, the district's reports or the district reports $23,384 spent on its factf finding effort. Uh certainly this is just a portion of CUSD's expenditures claimed by Miss Rigby's anti- labor lawyer friends in LA, the F3 law firm, making their total take for the last 12 months approximately $725,000. Thus far, the district reports having spent approximately $23,000 on services associated with the district's factf finding preparations and participation. We suspect it cost USD more than that. But even if CUSD's cost stopped there, the union with just one teacher and one union representative managed to carry the day at the cost of approximately $600 to $800. Just to give you a point of comparison, $600, $800 is what we invested in getting the same agreement and you all invested at this moment on the
170record $23,000. And we are pretty sure that's darn low. Where the union sent two individuals to the factf finding, CUSD's team included nine. The district factf finding team contained the most senior executive analyst from school services of California, a private consulting firm that claims to have quote the strongest legislative team in Sacramento. What must that have cost an hour? We haven't seen that bill yet. Did the factf finding costs on the evening's warrants include any of the costs associated with the attendance of the three highest paid administrators who were there, Miss Rigby, Mr. Calf, and Miss Lopez. There were also three very well-paid lawyers from F3 FA law firm. This firm charges approximately $475 per hour per attorney. And as an aside, how many hours did these well-paid lawyers spend cooking up that factf finding
171binder? A true work of propaganda that you're now throwing all over the community that compares the district's generosity to other districts based on average daily attendance when we are a basic aid district whose very low student enrollment makes comparisons based on average daily attendance look grossly inflated. And you all know that, but you cooked it into the book and now you'll share it with the community. As we look at the items contained on the district's warrant report and assume that the district officials do the same, are any of you asking if the rest of these expenditures are any more or less effective? You know, we're hearing about hardships and lack of money and programs closing and schools being shut. Are any of you asking the rest of if the rest of these expenditures are any
172more or less effective when compared to the district's factf finding team? Perhaps you should. Thank you. Okay. Can I get a motion to approve the warrants? I'll move to approve the warrants. I'll second. Any discussion? All in favor? I I Okay. Okay. Item two is a contract with Top Epoxy Flooring for epoxy flooring coating in the central kitchen storage room funded through the kitchen infrastructure and training grant. The cost is $6,312.50 and will be paid with restricted kitchen infrastructure and training grant funding. Can I get a motion? I'll move to approve. I'll second. All right. And I believe this is for the new storage area um that was recently done which is going to be very nice and a lot more a lot more efficient kitchen. All right. All in favor? I. Okay. Uh item
173three is a subcontract agreement between the district and Eminem concrete contractor for tree removal and concrete replacement at the high school. And this is to remedy a uh tree that's been lifting up uh some concrete sidewalks. Will include demolition, new concrete walkway, tree removal. Uh two vendors were contacted. Uh and the low bid, one was at 24,814, the other was at 17,972. And uh we're being asked to approve that bid from Eminem concrete contractor. Can I get a motion to approve? I'll move to approve the sub subcontract agreement. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I I. Okay. Uh move on to item uh H, measure U. Any public comment on measure U? Okay. Okay. So, we're being asked to approve um approval of uh McGilly um for the demolition of the Aliso Canolino Old Portables.
174And the district had a job walk. I think we had four or five attendees. We received two bids, one from McGilly uh and one from EJS. Uh and Miguel Ray came in low at 322,379 versus EJS at 411,000 even. So we're being asked to approve the contract with McGill Frey. Can I get a motion? I'll move to approve. I'll second. Okay. And this will be paid for with major bond funds. All in favor? I I. Okay. We'll move on to item I, personnel. Any public comment on personnel? All righty, it's the peak of the hiring season and it's coming to a close and the and guess what the USD's personnel report reveals? Another administrator has been hired. One teacher at Aliso has been hired while another one retires. And the district has also hired one
175new sped teacher, but has lost two sped teachers, further exacerbating CUSD's inability to provide either consistent highquality special education services and or program. While the district quietly announces or announced extraordinary changes to how special the special education program will be implemented at the secondary level in 2526. It didn't do it publicly. It did it with teachers at Carpenter Middle School. This evening's report contains no hiring actions for classified special education instructional aids, or for that matter, no classified employees were hired at all. We fear the personnel report continues to serve as a clear indicator of the self-imposed hardships USD continues to create for itself by refusing to invest properly and legally, by the way, in the district, teachers, and support staff. Item I also contains the approval of the impass agreement. And well, in summary,
176I mean, it it's it is about time, isn't it? As shared earlier, this should have been wrapped up weeks ago, and it would have been had the district's lawyers paid $475 an hour, not arbitrarily removed portions of our agreement without telling anyone. We're to assume you weren't aware of that, right? Although union leadership foiled the district's attempts to remove previous commitments from the agreement, the resolution required the intervention of the state factfinder and an additional 6 days. The agreement was eventually finalized on May 15th, still 11 days before the last board meeting held on May 28th when CUSD again dropped the ball, failing to either agendaize or approve the agreement. Must have been a tough pill to swallow, Mr. Schaefer. So, the approval happens this evening and as a result, employees will now have to
177wait until June 30th to receive any of the additional compensation they earned during the last two school years. Again, to be absolutely clear, nothing either legally or administratively prevented the school district from agendaizing this approval of the factf finding agreement. At the last schoolboard meeting, CUSD was notified about the union's ratification process. It was notified that the outcome would be communicated prior to the board meeting and the outcome was communicated prior to the board meeting. Union leadership commends the patience demonstrated by district employees. We continue to show up day after day and serve the community regardless of the insults, the games, the unethical behavior exhibited by district officials and the lawyers who do their bidding. Thank you. Okay. Um, talk about insults. A rose is a rose by any other name. I'm glad we're turning
178over a new leaf. Um, so can I get a motion to approve the personnel summary? I'll move to approve the personnel summary. I'll second. All in favor? I. I. Okay. Item two, I2 is uh AB1200 disclosure for the 23 24 and 2425 and 2526 salary increases for the uh C US for cause uh local 2216 represented employees in accordance with AB1200 AB2756 and GC 3547.5 public school districts must bring a disclosure of proposed bargaining agreement to the board for approval. The agreement outlines the terms of the agreement costs and future year impact. Board is asked to approve the following salary increases for all uh cause employees uh cause local 2216 certificated and classified represented employees. Uh the certificated and classified salary schedules will be revised to reflect an increase of 5% effective July 1st, 2025.
179Certificated and classified unit members will receive a one-time offsced sum equivalent to 4% of their base salary for the 24-25 school year. This payment will be extended to members who retired during the 2324 and 2425 school years. Beginning with the 2526 plan year, the district will contribute the maximum allowable contribution not to exceed the district contribution to the district paid plan to an individual HSA account for any eligible unit member enrolled in the HAS 5000 health plan. Certificated special education teachers shall receive an annual stipend of $3,000. All currently employed instructional assistants will be moved to step 13 effective July 1st, 2025. The 202425 salary increase is is approximately 820,15 and the 2526 salary increase is approximately 1,91 uh,849. These increases will be paid from general funds, restricted funds, and other funds. May I get
180a motion to approve? I approve AB1200. I'll second. And I'm grateful that that we've uh negotiated a fair salary increase uh for our employees um and looking forward to a positive uh environment moving forward. All in favor? I I All right. Uh future agenda items, any public comment? I I'll be very brief. We see that the proposed budget presentation tonight that eliminating the two three family school class is indeed under consideration. We have appreciated the onampus meetings we have had with Superintendent Riby and Andy Schiffer. I know you know that because we have thanked you multiple times at this podium. I was really surprised by your reaction, Andy. Now that we are entering the end of the school year and votes on the budget are taking place, we are looking for clear answers. We ask
181you to put the proposal to eliminate grades from CFS on a future agenda as a standalone item so we can have a public discussion and a recorded vote. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Um, at approximately 12 of the last uh I'm sorry, this this evening, union leadership is going to return to a concept of transparent remuneration for CUSD board members. For those unfamiliar with the term, board remuneration can be any form of transparent compensation provided to a board member that recognizes the sacrifice and/or compensates them for their service on the school board. At approximately 12 of the last 24 schoolboard meetings, union leadership has requested a transparent examination of remuneration either offered, received, or considered by the school board. and employees shared their belief that some form of transparent remuneration could help address the obvious
182challenges that CUSD is facing when the highest positions uh responsible for decision-m clearly do not understand or share the lived experience of the vast majority of district students, their families, their economic experiences, and their cultural background. Oddly, the board has never responded to our request to place remuneration on a future board agenda. It seems the board likes things just the way they are. That being board participation only from those like yourselves who enjoy a level of economic stability that most of the community do not. It frees you up to spend your time this way. Union leadership thought it stopped there until we filed an information request to examine what quote less than transparent benefits schoolboard members might be receiving. And in the process of reviewing the information produced by the district, we found a few
183interesting irregularities. You'll see at the time the district never agendaized remuneration and the community thought that board member participation was based purely on a voluntary basis. And at that time that we all thought this for years, Mr. Schaefer has been quietly receiving the district's health care plan for he and his family now for many years. According to the records we received, Mr. Schaefer paid for his health care plan according to the same schedule as district employees until 2023 24. In that year, only after the union started making waves about its information request did board member Schaefer actually pay the bill. Approximately 11 months into receiving the cycle. Um the date would be August 9th, 2024. Every year before that, you had paid monthly like every other district employee. And then there was one grand payment
184at month 11, which makes it certainly low. We're looking forward to your explanation. By the way, it certainly makes it look like you received the health care plan for 11 months before dropping a dime on it. And maybe maybe that was unintentional. Maybe you knew what was going on. We don't know, but we look forward to your explanation. Certainly, you should be explaining what's going on here. Um why would you be, Mr. Schaefer, provided payment options that are not provided to others who purchase healthcare in the district? or is this simply an accounting error that um that somehow the the paperwork just looks off? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Hosner. I appreciate that. Got to dig for lies anywhere you can. Yeah, exactly. Put it on the agenda. Okay. Uh nothing else for
185future agenda items, board calendar, anything, Monica? Nope. Okay. Tomorrow's a big day. It is. Tomorrow's a big day. So, it's a big day. So, I want everybody to remember that we're at Liso at 10:00, right? Middle school by but is at 3, but you're going to be there earlier, right? And then the high school at 6. So, we come early, right? And we're all there. Yeah. Right. Okay. That's a big day. Yeah. Big day. Most important, the positive parts of it. Okay. Any uh board announcements? Um, I was just going to say that um, there have been a lot of activities going on of which I've tried to participate in a lot of them. My favorite is coffee with the principal. Goodbye. Good night. Um, which are great and I I I would encourage parents
186to participate in those. They're all before school and you can sit and ask your questions of the principal. Um, as well as other things that we go to. I think that's a good way to participate and see what's going on in this great community. And I think the majority of the people in this community do know that our schools are good good schools. Agreed 100%. Sally, thank you. Uh I'm looking forward to the the promotions and the graduation tomorrow. And we have uh you know that I I just like to reiterate the about the um uh awards senior awards ceremony. Um it was it was really kind of neat. I was sitting up in this in the bleachers um in the corner and watching all the parents and the the the the reaction when when
187Mr. Corno announced the total value of all the scholarships this year was was almost stunned silence because half a million dollars for our little tiny high school is is quite an accomplishment. Um and it and it's I think it's a testament not only to um our programs but especially to to the students and the work that they put in and um and the and you know just the dedication that they've they've had and made and the generosity of our community and the generosity of our community. Yeah. CF gave at least 80,000. Um, and I'm sorry I didn't say this before, but like the mission scholars, um, of which we started, I don't know how many years ago. I want to say five. Five. Yeah. Um, I think there were two. There were at least eight
188this year. And that scholarship gives each that each of those eight students $8,000 a year. Yeah. Which is pretty phenomenal. again in our small school district that the community is really stepping forward and and giving back and and I know that um there's been some you know discussion about having two validictorians and two solidarans. Mr. Cornneo has a algorithm that he's been working on for a long time and it's so accurate that to have two ties like that is remarkable, you know, after four years of school and it and it's really only fair to to to do it that way. Um makes us proud. It makes us proud. Yeah. Yeah. So, um that's great. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. So, with that, I think we're journed. Thank you. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]