02/25/2025: School Board Business Meeting

001e e e call this special business meeting of the Anchorage School District to order at 6: pm on February 25th um if you would join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I plge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which is standing one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice [Music] for thank you all members of the board and superintendent are present tonight [Music] and yes i' like to ask uh member Wilson if she'll read Our Land acknowledgement for us we acknowledge that we gather here today on the traditional lands of the denina people of the upper Cook Inlet for thousands of years the denina people have been and continue to be the stewards of this land ASD is committed to diversity and inclusion and it

002is with honor and respect that we recognize all indigenous people who live and learn in our community want to welcome you to our meeting and thank you for attending and supporting the work of the anry school district the board thanks students parents teachers staff our school business partners in the entire Community for your investment in our district with your time your talent and your tax dollars um this is a special meeting we will not be taking any public testimony tonight uh it is one uh that was called specifically to work on the budget with any amendments um many of you here tonight may remember that just a week ago we took extend Ive amounts of public testimony we do appreciate you coming back out tonight um with that we will move to approval of the

003agenda if I can have a motion Mr chair I move to approve ASD memorandum number 096 s the FY 2025 2026 preliminary financial plan and budget as amended on the recommended action is to approve the 2526 preliminary budget and authorize an upper limit spending authority of 800 86 m250 1088 and I'm sorry we actually need a motion to approve the agenda oh to let's start there we'll move to approve the agenda as listed second okay moved and seconded without objection we have accepted the agenda which brings us to section B and the first item is uh the motion if I can have your motion member Jacobs yeah thank you Mr chair um so move to approve ASD memorandum number 096 s the FY 2526 preliminary financial plan uh and budget as amended uh which has

004a recommended action of to approve the 2526 preliminary budget and authorized an upper limit spending authority of 886 m250 188 I second moved and seconded the budget is before us now any discussion or amendments member donway thank you Mr President um [Music] so in my last uh campaign to get reelected to Schoolboard I very clearly indicated I would support continuing the ignite program the budget before us today deletes the ignite program and I think there's things in this budget that are not as high a priority ofite program as uh I think the public would would think um so to restore the ignite program and to utilize another source of funding for it which um I have expressed before that the so-called Middle School model which adds an extra planning period to Middle School non-instructional period

005that costs US $ 3.43 million a year and doesn't provide any instruction um I would move an amendment that would discontinue this Middle School model which would be a savings of 3.43 million and restore the ignite program which is a cost of about um uh uh works out to a net Savings of about $381,000 so I move amendment number two do I have a second for discussion purposes I'm going to second okay moved and seconded the items on the floor member Don would you like to speak to it thank you Mr President um there are proposals that we will consider later tonight that uh May um if they passed would say if future money comes in ignite would be restored but this would actually change the actual budget real dollars not potential future dollars to

006make sure that ignite stays funded within our district you know I've been an elected office representative my hometown here for over 23 years and I've never broken a campaign promise and this was a a a promise I made during the campaign so I'm once again keeping my promise member hickin well I've kept my promises too I think uh I'm a strong supporter of middle school for a number of reasons I remember when it was adopted in the 90s and all the studies showed that academic results and graduation rates they all benefited we've added six GR to the Middle School to to all all the sixth graders in the Middle School um they uh have challenges the bottom third with social emotional learning issues you're around kids that are going a little bit crazy SE uh

007the seventh and eighth graders no offense and uh and the challenges they have and the teachers and the principes strongly supportive of this we said that when we moved them in there we were going to provide the support to make it work and middle school to me is critical so um I I wanted it to be a discussion I don't want to cut it short without that but I believe that middle school is uh a major impact on academic outcomes and for the benefits of the students that are really in um difficult situations where they're located so I'm going to oppose it but I wanted you you should have a right to voice your your um your support for it thank you member lesson yeah I wanted to use this opportunity to um give a

008little bit of a voice to one of our Middle School principls who wrote uh about the Middle School model quite recently and this principal said I strongly urge you to re to reconsider cutting collaboration time defines this collaboration time in the Middle School model as a vital support system for students and families and that leader then reflects that the decision to include sixth grade in the middle schools was made with the trust and support of the Community it was a bold move to expand our middle schools but it was grounded in the belief that we could provide our students with support and resources they need to succeed and the collaboration time is an essential component of this support this principle goes on to share that our sixth graders are in a critical stage of development

009they're navigating the transition from elementary to Middle School in a setting of in this case over a thousand students where they face not only academic challenges but also social and emotional changes the addition of collaboration time is crucial to ensuring that our teachers can work together to address the unique needs of these students it allows for targeted interventions differentiated instruction and an ability to monitor progress in Meal Time one of the ways that I interpret the Middle School model is directly supportive of our board goal for eth grade math proficiency so I will not be supporting uh this amendment at this time member bamy thank you Mr chair let the record show that I agree with member Higgins probably the first time ever anyway I'm joking we agree on more than we disagree um as

010a former Middle School principal uh I have probably fought half my career for to move from tradition traditional middle schools to um I mean from a traditional Junior High School to a middle school um because I believe that that is the best environment for our students I've also had to create schools that had exceptional uh programs for all students which would include our ignite students um and I hate that we are competing programs against each other that does not serveice well either so at this point I will not support it would take I don't know what it would take for me to get out of middle schools probably if I wasn't on the board maybe but um I understand that we are looking for money but we can't we can't cannibalize our all of our

011programs just to support to get a few dollars uh I think it's possible for us to if we can be patient and if we can look at some of the Amendments that are going to come forward tonight I think um I think that's going to serve us better than to be picking at every single and competing uh our programs against each other so um I would not I can't support the middle school getting rid of the Middle School model uh member Wilson I I appreciate that um member lessons read much of what was written by one of our Middle School principles who articulated well the the challenges that um and and the importance of the support that are being that the Middle School model provides to our Middle School staff and our students um particularly

012because we recently moved our sixth graders to middle school they need that additional support to provide um to provide what our our students need at that age that is if anybody has worked in middle school or with middle school students it is it is a a difficult transitional age for students and so it it is um it's a blessing that that have such amazing staff that work with those students they need that planning time it it's it's something that I'm not willing to take away from them because especially since the conversation tonight is already to take away so many of our potentially have the conversation to to have to take away staff to from those schools um to take away the middle middle school model in addition to the conversations that we're going to have

013would be absolutely devastating to our middle schools um in addition to the the potential if if we do not get that additional funding that we are desperately hoping that we get for our schools the loss of uh the potential loss of Staff the potential loss of assistant principles from those schools is going to be de devastating enough but to lose the Middle School model would be um would be way too difficult I I would absolutely not support this amendment i' like to also be in the speaking order to say I taught in the traditional Junior High model the Middle School model and the high school model um and I I think we would be a lot better served if we were able to push the Middle School model into our high schools and at one

014point there was actually some effort to do that but it's been about 20 years ago I think um but it it is a very vulnerable age where you students don't change physically they don't change physically and then rather dramatically and suddenly in a short period they do and some of those students are really ready to be in a big school with 8 or 900 other kids and function there and and other students are very much not uh and remember Wilson's point in particular that we have just put sixth graders uh recently we we've had sixth graders in some of our middle schools for quite some time but now they all are in Middle School school um backing down on those supports has really a widespread impact on every seventh and eighth grade sixth seventh and

015eighth grade student um and I should say I also had a son that was in the ignite program and I know what that meant to him when he found out he was accepted and would come home and talk about what they did each day um I all of these programs have a lot of value and sadly we've been in this position of of triage and have picked some programs that are working really well but we're trying to do the least damage to the least number of students and and that's kind of a sad way to build a budget so I too will be opposing it thank you okay yes member Don yeah I very much appreciate that if we had unlimited resources I think extra planning periods would be good in middle school and also

016in high school but now we're faced with choices of the least damaging budget revisions and to me the Middle School model is not as valuable uh because Middle School will continue without a non-instructional planning period but ignite will not if if this particular if this budget was the final budget and so that's why I think that ignite Rises to be a higher priority than the Middle School model thank you any other comments seeing none I'll ask member solivan to put it to a vote member Donley oh the reboot of my computer will not let me log in oh that that's a sign for it to swoop in um and M yeah we can do voice on this vote to start out with and then we'll be prepared Miss solvin member Higgins no member Wilson no

017member lesons no member Bellamy no member Donley yes member Jacobs no president hman [Music] no uh that Amendment fails 6 to1 um before we move on I just do want to say that representative colum has joined us for the night we have so few Representatives that join us I don't think to look around to recognize them at the beginning of the meeting thank you very much for being here with us uh member Donan thank you Mr President um and also real quickly I want to note that our student representative Josh Pac has joined us electronically another vital uh um very special program in our district that's endangered by this budget is the uh immersion schools um U restoring the the teachers in our emerging schools would cost about $1,520 th000 so I do believe just

018as I built with the Middle School model that our emerging schools are more valuable than the non-instructional periods within our middle schools and so uh amendment number four which I will move in a second uh utilizes the funding from the discontinuation of the Middle School extra planning period to fully fund um immersion schools and with that I'd move amendment number four do we have a second wa find out seconded by member Higgins member donway if you'd like to speak to your Amendment you know our emerging schools I think they deserve to be part of the actual budget and just not a promise that if more money comes in we will restore the emerging school funding I believe that might be appropriate more appropriate for the Middle School model non-instructional planning period Then the 12 teachers

019are immersion schools are going to lose in the actual budget rather than making them contingent on additional funding coming in so that's why I believe amendment number four is a better choice member Higgins yeah just and put this in proper perspective I think this budget hopefully is not our final budget uh we'll get some money from the state the question is how much and then at that point we need to rank what the highest priorities are and which we reestablished depending upon what the legislature approves that I think that um um Telly lesons and call Jacobs have both presented a proposal depending upon the money how we would put it in the classrooms so I put start ranking the various odds and ends of what we're comparison I haven't been doing that because the budget

020we have and we have to address $11 million is um one is virtually impossible it's the worst assignment I've had on school board and I've been on a long time um and it's it's just not feasible it's hurting people and and so I'm not I just don't want to get into the ranking of one cut versus another let's hope we move past that but if we go forward with a budget Which is less than what we hope we get we're going to have to have a further discussion on what we cut and what we don't so I don't want to rule out anything rule anything in but when we do decide on it we have to talk about what's going to hurt the kids least and then cut there and then try to go forward

021and I strong supportive emersion program that's not an issue there in fact my motion will address that issue of the concerns that I have but I just don't want to get into try to balance the budget differently is that this is going to be the final budget because if it's the final budget I would want to revisit It Anyway any other comments sing member Don if you'd like to speak thank you for wrap up I just think that the actual budget should reflect the board's priority um the budget that we pass should reflect the priorities and to make the immersion programs contingent on additional funding come on coming in is not my highest priority um non-instructional uh periods planning periods are not as important I believe as our teachers in our wonderful immersion schools so

022I just think the actual budget should reflect that any other comments s on are we prepared to vote electronic we [Music] know okay okay um and believe if you will ask student representative P to cast his vote student representative pack yeah if you'll go ahead and put the motion on the screen oh okay um I mean to uh to vote we have not voted electronically in a very long time and it chose this Tuesday to make machines new updates because we know normally don't meet on this day so we're a little ragged on electronic voting but you should have it on your screen now if you're properly logged into board dots student representative pack no is anyone not seeing it on screen yet okay and that motion fails 6 to one meon thank you Mr

023President I appreciate your calling on me um so uh the immersion program um the immersion program um in this budget is being reduced by 12 instructors I think um that even some partial restoration of that would be advantageous so possible other source of funding might be the existing office of uh equity and Community engagement which actually the name's been modified for the third second third time now um so I can't remember all the additional words that got added to the name of this office or this department but that would be a savings U uh $419,000 and if we deleted the funding to the Coalition for Education equity which is a dues of 32,000 which I talked about every year here at budget time um this particular group actually Lo lobbies against the interests of the

024taxpayers in Anchorage and we're the only major School District that's a participant in that group and I do not believe we should be in that group lobbying against ourselves um and if you took an additional 1% in administrative Services function in the state codes 510 and 550 which are the codes that are non-classroom related administrative costs so to protect the classrooms um by that from any of that reduction the total reductions would be about 78 $82,000 and then we could use that money to restore half of the emerging instructors that the budget deletes which would cost about $760,000 so that breaks out about even and um so with that I would move amendment number five to restore 50% of the uh Emer emersion teachers to this budget do we have a second member Higgins is

025seconded uh member dony if you wish to speak to your motion thank you for the opportunity Mr President I can't remember exactly how many years ago it was about four or five I'm thinking when the uh office of uh equity and Community uh well actually at the time it was the department of equity and compliance was created that's the predecessor of the existing DEA I um Department that we have for the school district um I remember that night very well because the uh new director spoke to us about the intent uh of how they were going to pursue the goals of the the the department um it was very concerning because the testimony that night was that they would utilize uh modern critical race Theory to implement their goal um and even reference some of

026the more well-known critical race Theory authors we all know that critical race theory has its origins in Marxism and I believe in subsequent meetings I brought in their books and read quotes from them which I think were just outrageous and and I think very few people in this community would actually agree with some of the quotes that are contained in those those works so it was very concerning that this whole department originated and what I think was a uh really mistaken philosophy um so I really think that the immersion teachers are more important than this particular department now the reason it's $419,000 and not the full $700,000 that that department costs at this point in time is because there's a couple other things in there that I think are very worthy one of them is

027the volunteer coordinator to get parents into schools more and I support that so I've deleted that amount from this reduction and that can be moved over to the superintendent's office another was to uh American Sign Language interpreters um and I think they're very valuable so I deleted the funding from them from this reduction so they would be preserved um uh by reducing the department or eliminating the department for the rest of the savings is $419,000 um I think I've already spoke to the 1% reduction and the uh elimination of the membership for the Coalition of of educational Equity so I'll just leave it at that thank you for the opportunity member Higgins and then you know we're one of the top one hze school districts in the country and the most diverse in the country

028and this particular office of equity and Community engagement when you've got over a 100 languages out there including sign language which you got added you made reference to that but all of the other groups that we have in there is all geared towards success of students all students and um that uh Equity that there are going to be um uh connection there this is not um critical race Theory or some other type of labels that people want to put on it that's I think it's unfair and unrelated and we're not discussing the subject we're just labeling it and therefore it must be bad I disagree with that strongly I don't like labels and never did so in this particular case I think what we're doing is we're reaching out to communities we know that when

029we have families engaged with education results go up we know that when we have connections and there lots of different languages over 100 in the school district we have a lot of challenges with that and I'm not turning any child away it's Equity if you want to call it that but what we're really talking about is just Communications uh and we have to be engaged that way and so I'm not leaving anyone with a label I do not agree with that and I strongly support the fact that we need to we are responsible for every child's success and when we see a need and we're addressing it I think we're doing what needs to be done and I'm proud of that that the ASD is doing that thank you member Jacobs thank you Mr chair

030a question for the maker of the motion um I understand that there were some portions of the off of equity and Community engagement that were um deemed worthy and not chosen for this reduction the P the the portions of that line item that didn't meet that criteria could you tell me what those are what positions um would be affected job titles and then what the responsibilities of those individuals are on a day-to-day basis member Don was the best um summary of that I think would be by the actual name of the department the name of the department has evolved over time into the department of diversity Equity inclusion and Community engagement I believe the community engagement portion relates to the volunteer parental volunteer coordinator which I support and um I believe the inclusion might relate

031very well to the American Sign Language interpreters which I strongly support so I would reach the conclusion by that the focus of the remaining portions of that department are diversity and inclusion or Equity member Belling Mr chair could I follow up oh um oh that's right Jacobs yeah thank you Mr chair um I the analysis um is there a job title or um specific day-to-day responsibilities that you could reference so I could better understand your analysis as to how they met the the category of not worthy um that you reference when deciding what to include in this reduction and what not to include remember well I would defer that to the superintendent the specific uh details of these particular positions but one of them of course would be the director Mr chair I have no

032questions for administration um I was purely referring to the maker of the motion um because he referenced the term worthy and so I was interested in the analysis that got us to the point for making the amendment um with that said I have no further questions thank you member B me thank you Mr chair so this department has provided access to more Volunteers in our schools this department has reached out to more families in every section of the community and and and a lot of times in a lot of of instances it's it's families that we have not connected with before and that I don't know I I mean I was here the night when you still remember from five years ago member Donley what what that person said that is not this is not

033that this is a new superintendent this is really almost a half new board and so to um I can't support a a a a the motion because I see value for our students our families Community with the work of the department I also see value in being uh a member of the Coalition of educational equity and and to identify that program as being harmful to the community I I I absolutely totally disagree and I've been on the board not as long as you uh but but a long time and I have had nothing but positive student focused engagements with them and for us the largest District in the state to not have a a partnership with them I don't think serves us as a board well neither does it serve our community so I can't

034support this motion I do support uh our immersion programs we've got wonderful immersion programs and I think we can salvage it another way than to just pick at the things that obviously you do not like so thank you member Wilson so the office is diversity Equity inclusion and Community engagement and I'm I know there was there was question on on the actual title and I wanted to clarify that my my day job is that of a community outreach manager so on just the community engagement alone I I work for an organization with approximately 4,000 members and the community engagement aspect of that and the Outreach is is more than I can accomplish in a day and and I work more than 40 hours a week every week trying to accomplish that for my organization this

035office accomplishes Works to accomplish that for our not just our 42,000 students but our staff our families so the multitude of work that comes with just the community engagement part of that title I personally can attest to the amount of work is it it's amazing the work that they do the diversity equity and inclusion and and member Higgins stated we we have over a hundred languages I believe it's 107 languages spoken in this district and I'm I'm very personally proud of the fact that the Anchorage School District works so hard to reach so many of our families that speak different languages and these are not just first generation families my dad spoke very little English he was very successful my family has lived in Texas for many generations all SP speakers so I can attest

036to the fact that our families aren't just first generation immigrants that speak other languages our kids coming through our schools aren't just first generation kids that are learning English these are families that are an integral part of our country and our econ economy as my family was and so the Outreach that our district does to reach out to those families to make sure that they are educated so that they're so that their kids can be successful in our district I'm very proud of that so that is is part of what this office makes sure happens this the work that they do and that's not just multiple language it it's it includes our s sign language students which I'm I've been incredibly happy to see we have our interpreters that are available for our students for

037our families that are hard of hearing we have our interpreters that are available for our families that speak other languages this is all incredibly important stuff for our families for our kids to be successful and that's why I'm sitting here is to make sure that our kids have the opportunity to be successful so no I I'm absolutely not going to support this amendment because I do absolutely believe that our office of a divver excuse me diversity Equity inclusion and Community engagement is incredibly important to our district our kids and our community member lesson I cannot say anything more eloquently than member Wilson just before me so I appreciate the thoughts that you've shared and I will not be supporting this amendment are there any other comments seeing hearing none I'll ask you to get member

038packs um I'm sorry member Donley just pres I was just making sure that nobody else wanted to talk before um I appreciate the debate um as far as our partnership with the uh the [Music] the the equity uh group um Fairbank School District's not a member the Kenai School District's not a member the matso school district is not a member and even the Juno school district is not a member because their focus is not on the interests of urban taxpayers Point po of order Juno is a member of the Coalition did they change yes oh they must have just joined okay well last year they weren't a member so that's well that's interesting okay thank you um the usage of the terms diversity and Equity uh are subject now to a federal prohibition that potentially

039endangers our District's Federal funding and I think we only have to look to the actions of the University of Alaska here I think it was last week when they're now renaming um any of the an entities they have with those terms in in them so the university has recognized the seriousness of having a a bureaucratic organization labeled with those terms as far as potential loss of federal funding I think we should take that seriously also I think there's a lot of excellent diversity programs and programs uh for inclusion throughout the uh School District's bureaucracy and I'm not seeking to remove those I support those um but I do think this particular office is particularly problematic not only because of their really questionable origin and also uh new federal guidelines that have come down thank you

040seeing no other microphones L up um I'll ask you to get member P's vote and put the question on our screens student representative pack no that motion fails 6 to1 we move to our next next item member dony thank you Mr President um I think uh every well I don't think I know that every survey the district does of the public and our parents one of the very top concerns they have is class size uh I'm very concerned that this budget significantly increases our class sizes I I believe it's four uh students across the board I know that my twins who are in high school um they've got classes with over 30 kids in them already uh I think it's just catastrophic to increase class sizes that much in this district and I would like

041to see that one of our priorities as we examine this budget to find less important things uh than class size and try to hold the class so I've tried to research a series of other things that that I think are less important than class size because that is what parents are telling us is one of the top two or three most important things to that so once again I go back because it's so expensive uh even one uh it's referred to as PTR uh people teacher ratio even one uh PTR is very expensive to uh re replace um I tried to find enough cuts to to accomplish uh that uh get it down to a three increase uh with other reductions in the budget so I came up with discontinue the Middle School model the

042extra planning period uh deleting uh one non-title one Elementary Staffing excess of the Matrix for elementary schools um uh defunding the office of equity and compete well the full name um uh excluding the sign language and the volunteer management portions of it uh reducing assistant principles in high schools by four um leading our membership in the Coalition for educational equity which is $32,000 deleting funding for membership in the Council of great City Schools which is $488,000 deleting funding in the Alaska Association School boards which is $32,000 and deleting membership in the National School boards Association which is $8,600 and then an additional 2% reduction in administrative services in the coded 510 and 550 functions which once again are non-classroom related administrative functions um that totals about million which is enough to reduce the class size

043increase in this budget by one so that would reduce the PTR from four to three in this actual budget and I would move amendment number six to do that do we have a second seconded by member Higgins member Donley do you wish to speak further to Mr President I think I explained it I appreciate the opportunity member Higgins yeah and and again yeah we I like the fact it will we're having a discussion and we're sharing the views that we have and how we think it's best for kids and we can disagree without being disagree able and I find that um valuable thing we have a lot of reductions in this budget and and the bad news is our budget is so bad that you can't make sense out of it the good news is

044that when we get finally get a budget we can look at what we add back in and of course we got a proposal to do that and look at what we may not add back in so I I'm open to have a full discussion of saying wait a minute we identified these Cuts or these good Cuts but when we get to some of these we need to understand what the facts are when I was in the working uh two weekends ago with the Alaska state legislature meeting with people and they talked about cutting administrative costs well we've got 6% administrative cost nonprofits are allowed to go 10% that's 33 million what are you getting for 33 million it's not just a school board and the superintendent we've got Human Resources we've got Finance we have

045um it for the computers we have critical need in those things things and we've been cutting those and if you look at it over the last 10 years we've increased classroom sizes we've cut everywhere all over the place within that so it's always easy to say let's just take a a brush and and cut more but I I I'm seeing evidence of of of real limitations on what they've placed in the budget within that um you know for the for the various uh groups here I'm not a big fan of the Council of great City Schools that's not a secret uh but they do provide a valuable service when it comes to audits because they get an audit done we pay for top people in the country to come in we pay their transportation pay

046them for them and nothing more try to find any audit for that that can go in and do purchasing curriculum uh special ed we got a lot of things out there to do so I'm not in favor of these cuts and when we but I am in favor of saying they're good for discussion once we get a final budget if we get additional money um I hope other than the the the amount that's identified in the um change that has been proposed by um uh for adding the additional money money into the classroom which I appreciate a great deal but um this is this is a discussion that needs to be in my opinion done later I'm not diminishing it because of the fact that um I disagree but I do think that we will

047have the opportunity in the future to discuss it and and appreciate your passion for wanting to do it right now but I just don't think it's a wise thing to do member Jacobs yeah a question regarding the I'm assuming we're looking at the red Amendment on the screen noting about the assistant principles in particular a question for the the amendment sponsor um at our last meeting I think I specifically asked Administration to confirm and assure the board that um further reducing building leadership wouldn't um simply create a redistribution workload where teachers were asked to to take on more responsibilities for Less pay um and they couldn't provide us that assurance and so I think my question for the sponsor is what responsibilities are are our teachers being at risk of of being placed on them

048[Music] and do you propose um a further amending our budget to compens them for handling quasa administrative responsibilities thanks uh member dley if you wish to respond thank you Mr President well once again um these are tough choices um the what I'm suggesting is an inverse to reducing class sizes maintaining these more administrative functions and then hoping that we can restore class sizes with additional funding I think we should minimize the reduction in class sizes in our actual budget and then if we get additional money go back and restore some of these choices here that are represented in this amendment the we're faced with I totally agree with President Hollman that these are all difficult choices least 90 90% of them are super difficult choices but I do think that class sizes should be the

049priority and then we come back if we get additional money and restore some of these other things Mr chair could I follow up uh yes thank you I appreciate the response by the sponsor um I didn't hear an answer to the question um I specifically am trying to to weigh the um extra duties that may be um added to the responsibilities or a classroom teachers at the expense of um reducing an ft and building leadership um simply because the duty have to be done and there aren't enough building leadership present to do them so um if there's any information that can be provided as to what else the teacher might be asked to do um on the off with the off chance that they may see a smaller class size um during their their normal

050responsibilities to navigate that would be helpful thank you m w yeah I actually had a question for the administration what is the cost of a PTR minus one reducing PTR minus one in my mind I had a different figure than what's on this paper is this reduce it across the board at one yes it's a it's to do what the amendment says uh it would entail to reduce um K12 PTR by one that's typically see just give me a second it's generally in about the $7 million range I think from let me recalculate it really quick and I will tell you my working memory was 7.1 is that yeah but the higher we go the less value you get for each PTR and that's kind of the what I don't recall at the original PTR

051is about seven so the math doesn't add up in the amendment as it stands um let's see no it's pretty close it's actually a little bit less than 5.3 million it's around five so okay all right thank you the lower you go the more that uh PTR increase is going to cost any further comments seeing the comments did you want to wrap up thank you for the opportunity Mr President I I would fully hope that if there was additional State funding that some of the uh reductions that are contained in this amendment would be restored by the by the action of the board but I would think that class sizes are should be our number one our very top priority I'll ask Miss suvin to get member Pack's vote and put the the vote on

052our screens student representative pack yes and that motion fails I six to one moving forward member dony thank you Mr President appreciate the Lord's time here um last year uh well traditionally this board has tried to keep class sizes lower in our lower grades or K through 4 especially because the importance of our K through 12 or K through 4 students learning to read and it's just such a crucial period of development that really screams out for lower class sizes um and last year I did attempt to do budget amendments that would focus on K through four class sizes and so I'm back in this year with thinking about that also so um if we can't do it across the board then I'm hoping we can at least you know focus on it for our

053a through four students who really need smaller class sizes this budget as before us right now increases class sizes across the board they through 12 so if we were to discontinue the extra plan planning period in middle schools that would give us about $343 million to utilize and the latest numbers I had from our CFO was that to reduce our K through four class sizes by two students to bring the PTR increase from down from four to two would cost about 3.4 million so eliminating the extra planning period in our middle schools would actually pay for at not increasing our teachers as much in our K through 4 classes by two teachers I think that's a priority to me that's just an absolute priority um I think that's more important than additional planning period in

054our middle schools and accordingly I'd move amendment number seven to do that is there a second seconded by member Higgins discussion remember Higgins well U first of all sometimes we agree on little pieces of of it and this is one of them um we know that improving the classroom sizes in K through three can make a tremendous difference I remember a study um I think it was in Philadelphia area where they put a lower classroom sizes just on K through3 and they got 90% of the of the impact is lowering classroom sizes in all the gr so we agree that that's one that doesn't dismiss the importance of middle school to me but it means that when we get to a discussion of Staffing and how we do it we need to have an open

055B open listing of different options we have and let's push those issues for discussion because I do agree with that portion of it the K through three is critical for for success and they they show is that the success continues on after that but I am not um supportive of matching up where those funds would come from if we do it depending upon if we get additional funds uh and I would want to wait until we have that full discussion once we know uh we get the additional foney from the state but uh and then if we get the money and we go with the uh Amendment that's being proposed and it lowers classroom sizes and different grades and throughout it we can have a discussion then as to how that might factor in because

056that gives us additional money in addition to fully funding what we've got but um at this particular point in time I'm not going to support this discussion because it's something that's premature but I do agree that low classroom sizes in K through3 is really important member Wess yeah I wanted to contextualize this particular group of students who you're proposing to pull the Middle School model from that would be this this year's fifth 6th and seventh graders who will be next year's sixth seventh and eighth graders back in the spring of 2020 they were kindergarteners first graders and second graders when you look at State and National Data the these are the students who lost some of the largest um amounts of learning and they are still lagging and I think it is absolutely critical as

057we move closer to their graduations that we maintain structures that are supportive of their needs and we also heard from um an educator uh we've gotten a lot of testimony recently and this educator recently wrote in about uh that Middle School planning period uh which which is often called an extra planning period but the educator explains we track student and family contact struggling students plans for helping those struggling students agendas and much more um we all know that nth grade especially the first sem semester of 9th grade is imperative for graduating and especially graduating on time Middle School collaboration time allows interventions to set students up for success in 9th grade and helps increase our graduation rates and decrease dropping out so again I believe the Middle School model is directly supportive of our board

058board goals and in the next year will be especially supportive of students who still have lost learning and need to recover from that thank you putting myself in the speaking order so the part of me just wants to impose a $5 penalty every time someone calls it extra planning um but I do want to make the point that there are duties during that period and and they are distinct from the personal planning time that all of our uh staff our classroom educator staff uh receives um and and that's often overlooked I think when people are talking about it there there are specific things that we expect teachers to do and the Really remarkable part of it is that we actually give them time during the contract day to do it as opposed to the many

059things that we don't give our teachers contract time to perform so I I do want to interject that point any other discussion or comments member donaly thank you Mr President I guess I'd just say that um I think that the actual budget the budget we actually have enough money to fund should prioritize class size and we can the board if it chose to do so if there were additional money coming in res you know restor the Middle School model the planning period um so it's a matter of choice which one's more important than the other and I fully acknowledge member lesson's um concerns about those students that were caught in the pandemic uh the non the years where we close down our schools I I worked against that really hard and I was proven right

060over and over again and it was a 4 to3 vote to get our kids back into schools even um so I I completely acknowledge that as as a very significant you know matter um and this could be added back in uh if additional State funding uh did appear any other [Music] comments saying none I'll ask Miss solvin to get member pac's vote and put the question on your screen student representative Pac no and that motion fails 6 to one moving to our next item member Jacobs thank you Mr chair we'll move um Jacob's lessons Amendment one which contains attachment a second moved in second pardon me uh member Jacobs would you like to speak to your motion sure I can start with some comments um first I want to appreciate and acknowledge the effort both

061from Administration and helping us confirm that uh the facts and figures uh did match up with reality um as this is an important Amendment but also want to acknowledge that um our finance chair member lesons was integral in making sure that we were prioritizing um the the right Cuts specifically as it related to previous budget years um the amendment before us would invest a conservative uh portion of what HP 69 promises to provide ASD uh if it's adopted as written uh the um bill would provide well north of a $1,000 BSA increase um we are planning and proposing um a list of priorities to fund which would address much needed classroom instruction investment and restore programs that our community finds valuable um if only $1,000 BS increase were provided and um I'll point the board

062to the specifically to the um attachment which indicates that there is a significant decrease in the PTR which restores levels of service to 2016 uh which just so happens to have been the last time the legislature saw fit to adjust the foundation formula to account for inflation would provide funding for uh charter schools which have been a priority certainly of late um it would invest in new dollars for instruction through high do re for um and math for tutoring for students um that certainly aligns with the Alaska reads Act and the focus on um State assessments and math uh would reverse cuts to the gifted and ignite program uh as well as holdback teachers reductions in special in elementary education reversing cuts to our language immersion programs which are certainly world class and luxury that

063we need to ensure we can provide our students um whenever feasible uh would provide a correspondence allotment increase would reverse uh cuts to the wayy school uh and reverse Elementary per professional educator Cuts would reverse um cuts to preschool teachers and would reverse cuts to the battle of the books program and secondary summer school um would reverse cuts to Librarians and Elementary nurses would reverse the cuts that were proposed to Middle School sports and uh our in Reading interventionists uh which again align with the Alaska reads act would restore the high school sports that were proposed for potential reduction in hockey gymnastics swimming and Diving as well as the Dome facility would restore uh necessary principles to meet our re ratio approved uh across our district as well as Library assistance and allow us to

064invest in a counselor uh to student ratio which begins to approach uh the nationally recommended but certainly falls short of it um and then also addresses additional Staffing for our special education and and de student program with that said um you know I haven't been able to support an amendment that's been made thus far tonight because um I am not inclined to harm um one subset of our students to benefit another um our job is to support all students and I I trust that Administration has drafted a budget which we know uh may not be final but if it is this is a attempt to best serve every student with the resources that we are given um we certainly could look to um reduce in another line item of our budget and deal with the

065additional workload that that will put on our teachers in a short-sighted attempt to uh put a Band-Aid on um on a serious wound that exists due to legislative in action um but I'm not interested in that shortsighted behavior um I think true leadership looks like in this case answering the call that we've heard recently for a plan that would demonstrate that classroom instruction continues to be our Focus would wisely invest resources in programs and in reducing class sizes that we know uh benefit student achievement and would provide the necessary supports that our teachers ask for uh to ensure that they can be successful and so um I think that this uh proposed spending plan for additional funds um is is wise to attach to our operating budget uh answers uh the requ question that we've

066received specifically as to how resources will be allocated um puts to rest that conversation and will hold us accountable to ensure that those um resources are wisely spent um the the one area that really the this amendment I believe doesn't address specifically is the cuts to Administration and those will stand with this proposed amendment if we choose to adopt it um we will continue year-over year to be one of the most efficient districts in the state in terms of the percent of our operating budget that is allocated towards District administration costs um and that's worth noting um it doesn't set enough certainly in the halls of our Capital with that said I would be interested in hearing other feedback and we be glad to answer any questions member Watson thank you I wanted to begin

067by echoing member Jacob's appreciation for the support that we've received from a number of Administrators and presenting this package to the board so I sincerely appreciate that partnership I think for me this amendment is about making sure that our schools work for our kids that they serve the community well and that at the end of the day they improve student outcomes this is what this amendment was designed to do it prioritizes sending dollars back to classrooms it prioritizes making new investments in areas of acute need specifically that high does reading and math tutoring for students who have been assessed as below or well below Proficiency in grades 4 through 12 and for whom quite frankly we don't have a whole lot of supports um it makes a few new targeted investments in elementary counselors in

068alignment direct alignment with our board goals goals and guard rails it reverses all of the major cuts to kids and to classrooms and the people that serve them and their needs um that are proposed in the FY 26 budget it does what needs to be done to serve our kids' needs but it's not a magic wand right we are not re we're not changing anything here we're going to be passing a balanced budget tonight and unless somebody's got $71 million in a suitcase somewhere in this boardroom um I don't think that we can make that happen so this is a promise it's a guarantee in fact it's a directive the language in the in the attachment reads that the Anchorage School District administration shall amend the 2526 financial plan and budget by making the Investments

069detailed in attachment a they are not ranked in order of priority they are grouped Al together because all of our students deserve the in M our correspondents deserve students deserve an investment our Charter Schools would receive their their share of the statutory increase to the base student allocation it's the right thing to do I encourage the board to support it and I appreciate member Jacob's emphasizing that the administrative reductions which are currently in the budget before us remain there are still 42 administrative positions and roughly $4 million in other administrative cuts which are not walked back in this package the risk to the district remains it still requires us to spend our fund balance down to that 5% level so there's a lot of sports analogies that you could use this is the Hail Mary

070if I've ever seen one um but again it's the right thing to do and it is my hope that if the board adopts this amendment it will signal our cleare eyed intent to align every dollar we possibly can with our remarkable students needs so I would appreciate additional feedback from the board actually before I relinquish the microphone I will say I don't think I've ever seen as much community support for an amendment a proposition before the board we have received two 300 emails I don't really know every time I checked my email there was another batch of two or three dozen and they were all deeply deeply supportive of this amendment thank you member Higgins thank you um I'm totally supportive of this and I know that when I was at the went to Juno

071with Lobby in um at my funds I didn't use any ASD funds um but when we went there we kept hearing all kind of speculations or reasons why maybe we shouldn't fund it fund Ed public education maybe the money won't go in the classroom maybe this maybe that this addresses that concern I think it would have been directed for Education anyway it would have been directed in the right ways but let's stop the speculation let's let's uh um lower the voices for discussion purposes and we are commit it to that the the testimony to me was um 4 hours the last board meeting with that good and bad okay four hours wasn't the best part but what we heard was all the things that parents and the students here appreciate that we're providing through the

072school district and we're supporting that we're responding to it we're we're showing you that's our highest priority and I think that's what we should be doing and so um U I'm totally supportive I appreciate the work that went into this particular Amendment or this action to to do it and I know it's all looking contingency but I think we're sending a strong message and we can try to move away from that speculation that is trying to um um oppose the BSA that we need thank you member P me thank you Mr chair I also want to thank the makers uh the writers of the motion I want to thank the administration um actually my own thought of how to come up with an with the U an amendment I put them aside once I really

073looked at what uh this amendment does it does prioritize instruction it prioritize supports to to instruction but most importantly I believe it represents what this community values for its kids we've heard hours and hours and hours of testimony and everything on this list has value that we that we that this uh Amendment would bring back it is not about uh um competing programs against programs and I hate that's that's the part of this whole experience I know we can't afford everything but I also don't want to say one program is more important than another so we can just do these for this kids and something else for the other kids we have to look out for every single kid so this does not choose among um our our our even in a climate of diminishing

074resources it does not choose um I do worry about the work that we ask uh administrators to do but we've got a team of exceptional uh people and they will make it work and if that if it doesn't then we'll have to we'll have to come back to it at some other point um because that it's a lot of work um and then my my last comment is just around our strategic plan and our gos and our guard rails this puts puts um the focus back on um on those goals in our our goals in our guard rails and so I do uh member Jacobs member lessons and the administration all the extra time it took um I think I'll sleep a little better tonight but I really want to sleep really well until like

075May 30th when I know we have we have had we know what the the legislature is going to do and we can we can uh come back and revisit this with this guidance so I thank you member Don oh thank you Mr President I had a couple questions for the makers of the amendment um this amendment makes the restoration of the list of of budget items uh contingent on the state providing an additional $71 million what happens to this list if the state doesn't provide 771 million maybe if they provide $55 million what happens to this list I think that's a great question my sense is that this refers to that specific proposition but I would hope that it would serve as a guide for us to easily understand what certain Investments cost we have

076board policy 3000 which specifically says I think no fewer than three times that we need to align our investments with our goals that we want to see achieved with early reading with math with graduation rates so I would hope that the board abides by its board policy in investing any dollar increment that we receive should that should that come forward but this this doesn't speak to a $100 BSA increase or a $300 BSA increase or a $680 BSA increase it speaks to what would happen if we received $1,000 so just to clarify if there wasn't 71 million or more approved then this resolution would be ineffectual it wouldn't increase any wouldn't fund any of these items that are listed I think that's a technical um truism but I but I believe that we as a

077body would come and grapple with the recommendation that would come forward by the superintendent at that time were the ways that superintendent would recommend that we invest those dollars in classrooms in programs in our board goals that's that would be my expectation okay um so the delegation to the superintendent that appears in this resolution is not effectual unless there's at least $71 million increase yes why does the amendment delegate power the budget power to the administration why can't the B board just come back and do what you just described uh B based on any additional funding it it a point of order it doesn't delegate that it specifically says that the administration shall amend the budget by making the Investments detailed in attachment a and it doesn't say as detailed by the board but this

078is a board resolution should it be adopted that is directing the administration so that is not a relinquishment of board authority whatsoever this is a specific line by line direction for how the board would like to see that investment made member Jacobs did you want to com to the to the I guess the series of questions just to add context um you know we've heard secondhand um from testimony to our meetings that um additional resources are coming um House Bill 69 passed out of House Education through a a motion to discharge um and then pass through house finance um unanimously I think we without objection and the House minority has now twice attempted to move that bill to be discussed and brought to a floor vote um there hasn't been any significant discussion as to

079what the figure for the base student allocation increase should be um with that said you I think Al I won't speak for member lence but I I was hesitant to include the full amount just recognizing our state's fiscal picture um a $11,000 BSA increase is certainly not only um politically within the realm of possibility because it's the right thing to do for students um and the plan that we have to invest in programs and class sizes that would benefit anchored students U makes that case very clearly as to what the need is um but also from a practical standpoint resources either are or can be made available to uh to fund this bill and so um you know in a hypothetical scenario um you know with no staff support um we had we share one

080administrative staff between us um and personal lives that include at least for myself per a full-time employment and for many of us who are are full have families and other full-time obligations um there isn't it isn't feasible to draft any number of different scenarios but this is this matches a scenario that's both realistic uh politically palatable um as well as answer a direct question um that this board has been asked and so um if in a hypothetical scenario where less resources were allocated one of the first things I would do is is ask us to circle with um our team and wisely continue wisely re allocating resources as they're appropriated but um I I think I think hopefully that addresses the question thanks getting back on the speaking order member Higgins and then member Don

081uh member [Music] Donan yeah member lesons I I I appreciate your interpretation of the language um as not ating the board's Authority but it actually says that it says guidance from the board to the administration to amend the budget it doesn't say the board will amend the budget it says the administration will amend the budget member Donley yeah that's because I'm board members are not in charge of preparing a 400 and something page document the administration prepares it and brings it to us for approval under board guidance I I I don't want to go into our cfo's computer I can understand that well Mr President I wish that was just worded differently because as it's worded now it raises um a concern about the appropriateness of Delegation of powers but I'll accept member lesson's interpretation

082of this Lang language but there is an additional constitutional concern because it's certainly a Prohibition on the delegation of legislative authority to the executive branch and that's pretty clear um but there's also the principle of legislative entrenchment which is commonly known as one elected body cannot bind a future elected body so this amendment would have no binding effect whatsoever after the April elections here in municipality because at that time there will be a new board and this board cannot bind a future school board on a budgetary matter so unless this funding occurred before the April election and the swearing in of the new board even if everybody got reelected it would still be a new board it's unconstitutional to bind a future board um so I have to imagine that the only way this would

083work is if it happened before new elected the new election occurred and the new squaring in occurred because otherwise it would clearly violate the principle of legislative entrenchment which is has been confirmed by United States Supreme Court cases to apply to elected bodies in the United States so that's a concern I guess I can interpret it as saying it only applies in up till the election period of time because I'm finding trying to find a way that is constitutional because I actually support this list of report of of suggested Restorations I'm trying to way to justify that my support for the what it does with the Constitutional concerns and my oath of office to uphold the con you know follow the Constitution um so maybe with those caveats you know it's going to be something

084that I can support but I want to raise those that there's no way this is binding after next election it's just not actually I'm going to put myself into the speaking order on this because I did have a similar concern about the language um but it is mitigated by the fact that there's a very specific document that we may approve tonight that details the changes it's it's not a cart launch to the administ ation to make changes they want I am going to move that we strike the word amend and substitute the word change such that it would say the School District administration shall change the 2025 26 financial plan and budget by making the Investments detailed in attachment a um which obviously would only be in effect if we passed this document tonight I'll

085pause to see if I get a second before I speak further yeah I'd second that Mr President I'd point out that it appears in two places in the resolution um early on and also subsequently in the paragraph that reads there therefore should the legislature approve permanent statutory increase etc etc it once again is used the terminology amend which is exclusive power of the board I'm not seeing where the second mention okay that's that's a are you read if the legislature were to successfully amend statute no it says the Anchorage School District administration shall amend the fin on the first page or the second the second page second to last paragraph that I believe that's what president Hollman is referring to oh well then it command also appears on the first page I thought that's what

086he was refer I I said second I didn't know really what order we were real oh um okay with that clarification I I agree and do you still wish to Second it yes okay um moved in seconded amend is a technical term and that is the authority that the board has uh and I can see value in not even appearing to delegate that but we would authorize them to make changes and and I think it also um shows a higher level of commitment than simply making it a resolution we will expect the administration to implement these changes at the moment they feel confident additional funds are coming um and our our normal process of course is that when um the legislature does change an amount of money after we've done our budget the administration would

087develop recommendations and come back to us uh but this would give them a little bit of lead time they'd be able to respond more quickly I think and more effectively uh if that amount of money does reach the level that triggers uh the the stipulations in this so I'll put the amendment before you for discussion at this time if anyone wishes to speak to it member Wilson or oh um member Donley and then member lessons thank you Mr President um I just want to make it clear to the public that this is a very strange contingent budgetary provision it's only contingent on this state actually approving $71 million or more in additional Revenue um if that doesn't happen if it's $70 million this resolution doesn't take effect um I think some of the changes I

088I really support this list of additions uh to the budget if the funding was available but I think some of these ought to be included in the actual budget we passed tonight and not in a potential future change to the budget because I think they rise to a higher level of importance so that's my number one concern Amber lessons um I have no objection to the amendment the amendment changing the word amend to change I don't know if we're at the point where a friendly amendment can just be accepted but I'll let us vote I also have no objection to a friendly Amendment okay we will vote on this but thank you any other comments Signa and I'll ask Miss solivan to put the vote on your screen if she's ready because there's a little

089bit of technical work that has to be done anytime we do a surprise a men not like this one and if you will ask member pack what his vote is student representative Pac yes and by 7 to Zer the amendment is adopted and we can continue discussion on the motion member [Music] Don thank you Mr President um so I'm considering moving my amendment number one I need to modify it to make it so that it's fits with the amendment that was just passed um so when I actually moved that I will I will attempt to orally modify it to conform with amendment that the board just adopted uh member Donley would you like an ad ease for a couple of minutes yeah thank you we'll take a 10 minute at EAS thank you e e

090e we'll call this meeting back into order at 7:39 p.m. we have all our members back in their seats and we had just pass the amendment changing the word amend to change and we are back on the uh Jacob's Wesson Amendment to the budget does anyone wish to speak am Wilson I just wanted to say that I I support this amendment um each cut that we have to move forward with this evening take something away from our students as every cut since I've been on the board and previous to me prior to me being on the board has taken something away from each of our students and being able to restore all of what's on this list would be amazing I I I like to try to keep my glass half full and I believe

091that our community members will continue to encourage their legislators to support education funding and support an increase in the base student allocation so that our Educators our students our families can know what's what's coming next year so they can be prepared in a positive way so they can know that their students can have the resources available to them not just the Year this year but next year and plan for that every year I I I hope that our legislators will support that BSA increase and and I look forward to being able to restore any and all of these cuts on this list I also want to reiterate what member lessons and member Jacobs have stated is every item on this list shows the commitment of this board to make sure that our funding is going

092to our students to their academics to their their experience and so again I will support this amendment anyone else have a comment will say I also support it um I I do think if there is a an level of funding from the legislature this provides a a clear road map enables the administration to begin moving quickly uh member Donley's point that it's not completely binding is well taken although I would offer that the the next board is not bound by this budget even they can make alterations during the year as he'll advis as that might be as they go along but the amending the budget is something that happens um it is I say to the the public that's watching and listening the the calendars of the legislature and the school board fiscally things just

093don't match up and they have not yet had time to do what they have to do and yet we're compelled to do this now by Statute uh in order to give it to the city uh for the actions that they have to take so it it's not anything anyone would intentionally design and the process of doing a budget waiting finding out a somewhat different number is a very common one it's been going on for a very long time uh and then the administration normally comes back with recommendations for adjustments and I'll say I I think the district has gotten better at Trying to minimize the disruption over the years uh there was a point where every non-tenure teacher was laid off every year until they were tenured and the that worked because there were thousands

094of people waiting in line that wanted to have a job with the Anchorage School District that's no longer the case and so part of looking at this I I think uh the budget that got proposed to us by the administration some of it is just based on not dismantling things we think we won't have to dismantle that are very hard to put back together versus dismantling things that are important to us but relatively easier to put back together uh but at the same time every time we go through this iteration you lose some things uh people decide to transfer out of a program that looks like it's going to be cut people people get tired of it uh if you're an ignite teacher and you've worked really hard and you feel like you've got great

095results seeing your program put on The Chopping Block is extremely depressing and and it makes you want to go do something else that you feel is supported and will be there and that you can actually build on so it every every bit of this disruption is harmful and uh at at this stage of the game there's not a lot of positive that comes out of it but I do think that this amendment States rather clearly if the funds are this is what we'll do and we do want to make that clear to everybody so if no one else has their mic um oh sorry uh member Pat did you have a comment yes I did Mr President um I did just want to add in my two sense real quickly as a student representative um

096despite you know however direction or whatever Direction the legislature goes um it gives me some peace that you know this board has this current board at least um is considering fully supporting students no matter what occurs um to the best of their abilities and that to me is some level of assurance and I think that I speak for a lot of my peers that are thankful for that and I'm I'm voting in favor of this my advisory vote well member pack having indicated his vote I'll ask Miss solivan to put this on our screens for us to vote and we are voting on the uh Jacob's lesson Amendment as amended e and the amendment passes 7 to zero that brings us back to the main question as amended and I have um member dony thank

097you Mr President um I still have an interest in getting middle school and high school sports into the actual budget versus the list of items the board will fund if additional money comes in and to that effect U I'm going to offer a modified amendment number one which has a a series of reductions that we've I've already articulated in other amendments so I'm not going to just repeat all those but the bottom line is that I'm going to add the following language to it um that it be modified to be consistent with the previously adopted budget revisions and include all proposed reductions in the list of items to be funded by Future additional funds so with that language what I hope I have done with this is just reversed these items with Middle School and

098high school sports so that middle school and high school F Sports would be funded in our actual budget that we're passing tonight and that all these items would appear on our list of what we would fund if additional funds were provided by the legislature so not to say we're not going to fund those but to put them on the future list rather on the current list so that we can ensure that middle school and high school sports be continued and with that explanation I would offer a amendment number one is there a second okay not seeing a second the motion fails we're back on the main question as amended member Higgins microone please people like it when I'm silent um I want to address the issue of the imersion program I I got to tell

099you got a lot of testimony from a lot of people and some of them made mistakes of put their phone numbers on the emails and they got some phone calls uh and that was really educational to me I got to tell you when you get into a discussion like that I learned something that I didn't realize I didn't realize how dependent we are in other go governments that of providing like the French teachers we're going to be using them for Spanish and others and of course they have to go through a uh process of getting a Visa you have the timing issue so it's very critical so all of our delay and funding from the state impacts all of our operations we're trying to hire teachers we're trying to get this but it's especially bad

100for the imersion programs with those programs that we are getting people from abroad with where we have to have the Visas with timing here we're going to be uh jeopardizing continuing the emersion program if we don't ensure that somehow they can hire them timely it's going to push that back and that's a big issue to me um and and so I want to make sure that we're not delaying unnecessarily or not unnecessarily but for any reason uh if we delay this then we're basically uh undermining the emerging program and he on programs you can start stop and restart you have to maintain them to be successful so I'm going to make the motion as follows I move to direct the administration to proceed with the hiring of seven immersion teachers three French three Spanish and

101one Chinese in anticipation of additional State funding being appropriated in the event additional State funding has is not received the administration will propose additional reductions to fund the teachers for FY 26 I want to be supportive of the immersion programs I realize we delay this we are damaging the emersion programs in a way that they may not be able to recover and so I'm making this motion thank you second moved and seconded um I'll put this to the superintendent and his staff to give us some feedback on uh the cost of this and uh if we were to proceed with this and additional funds did not become available what kind of difficulty you you foresee in trying to adjust the budget to cover it uh Mr ATF could you confirm the cost of seven Emergen

102teachers and then Mr Lang can you confirm um how this amendment would or would not um Aid in the processing of these teachers the cost would be about $883,000 so I'll use the example of the the French immersion um we have anou with the French government um they effectively do head hunting for us and look for uh qualified teachers who would be interested in coming on a 2-year exchange to work in our immersion program and um once they've curated a pool of candidates then we start our interview process and then ultimately if we select one um then we would offer them a contract and they would start the Visa process there are parts of that that we can start without having any funding secured so principles and um you know uh Brandon lock and World

103languages can always work with the French government or government of other nations and start that process and even interview um what they without funding to support it where we would have to stop short is actually offering them a contract so if we made the commitment to offer them a contract then we would at that point be obligated to find the offset funding for that $883,000 thank you comment from the board uh member Jacobs yeah thank you thank you Mr chair um an informational question then um do to Administration do you need Administration direction to or direction from the board need board direction for the administration to um plan on the legislature appropriating adequate funds um to maintain our current level of service and our imersion program in the budget book do we need to add

104this language I guess is my question right now in this this format in this document based on my understanding uh of the facts it sounds like we can proceed with most of the steps except for offering the contract to the teacher so if the board felt it prudent to be able to complete that step um this amendment would support that effort however what we need to discuss is where we would find the $883,000 um which has a domino effect and implicitly assigns priorities to which um program should be re stated so that that's the one issue I'd like for the board to discuss and with that said uh Mr chair could I ask for a a two-minute recess please we will recess for two minutes here's the problem I have been on School Board e

105e e this meeting back into order at 758 um it has been brought to the chair that this motion is out of order and that that we're compelled to present a balanced budget and in essence this motion rides on unspecified revenues and if those revenues don't appear it relies on unspecified cuts and so I I am ruling that as it exists if we were to pass this it would actually create an unbalanced budget and that's unfortunately the the Balan budget thing is what makes this all so hard um so that is my ruling is chair and if the board if the body would like to take it up member [Music] Higgins microphone please I do have a substitute motion that I'm prepared with and I worked with the CFO and regards to generating it so

106I'll bring that up now give me one second to pull it up I can find it in sent easier wait a minute the ruling of the chair just point of order the was it your ruling that the motion was out of order that's my ruing so do we need to vote on that um only if somebody unless you're challenging it if it's unchallenged then this meet this motion is out of order Okay so that so it's out of order okay let me find it real quick so Mr President I would suggest that member Higgins be given the opportunity to just craft a new Amendment and start fresh the one difficulty with that is we did put a deadline on Amendments of noon this past Saturday yep we did um the question would to the board

107would be are they willing to extend that courtesy to place this amendment at this time I have a question I think he gave notice that he was going to offer Pat did you submit I thought you submitted something on this subject matter he did have a submission by Saturday that was not fully in the form of a motion and so uh what's on the paper before you was uh language that he modified after being able to talk to staff yesterday so um this would be allowing a substitute I I offered uh that we would let it be a placeholder uh even though that intrudes on the open meetings act a little bit public wasn't able to actually see the language of it um so the question I would put to the board is there objection

108to allowing member Higgins to substitute a different Amendment at this time on the same subject matter yeah on the same subject matter Mr TR guess I would like to see the amendment first thank you okay um any other objection or modification if not I'll ask member Higgins to present okay I move to amend the budget to restore seven teachers Three French three Spanish and one Chinese at language emerging schools at a cost of $883,000 and to increase the estimated attrition to fund them can can you repeat that please sure I moved to amend the budget to restore seven teachers Three French three Spanish and one Chinese at language emerence schools at a cost of $883,000 and to increase the estimated attrition to fund them I'll second for discussion okay it's moved and seconded I would

109ask the budget director for clarification if attrition is so point of order Mr chair um I'm just gonna say that I the reason why we had our our very um planned intentional process for Budget amendments was that we weren't asking for definitions like attrition and asking our CFO to Define on the Fly what that looked like for our district um we don't have the opportunity to research and weigh in on this um I tend to be pretty deliberate and like to take my time looking at matters I'm being asked to examine this proposal without that opportunity to research so I do object to this amendment as worded given that it it it um does not adhere to the public notice and um opportunity for the public to weigh in like all of our other amendments

110did thank you member wson are we debating the motion before us at this point in time um I'm going to say at this point in time we're we're debating whether or not it should be allowed then I will hold my remarks so Mr chair I I don't I don't I'd have to look at the Robert sches handbook I think I raised a point of order that the motion is out of order because we've established rules for operating tonight I think it's your purview as chair to determine whether or not this amendment is out of order given that we set a special set of rules for tonight's meeting this this is a marvelous place to be um I I'm going to say that if we had followed that strictly it would be out of order for

111those reasons um and that is part of why I ask if anyone objected to extending the courtesy um and and I think once we once we say we're going to hear the amendment then then we're obliged to to take it up on its merits that if we simply weren't going to hear amendments that had not come in earlier that would be a valid objection um I I do admit this is uneven territory um but that is my ruling is that we will hear it and of course Mr the ruling of the chair and I'm sorry did you I'm appealing the ruling of the chair okay I so there is an appeal to the ruling of the chair um it will be put to the board for a vote and my rusty memory of Roberts doesn't

112tell me if that's debatable if no one objects to debate if anyone wants to weigh in on it um and then we will vote on whether to uphold that ruling or reject it Mr Dragon speak to I I I'd have to look up and so we could take a recess to figure out if it's debatable but if we're allowing debate I'll just say the reason why I'm rejecting is because um I needed to hear the amendment to determine if it was substantially similar to what you previously allowed and this is very different from what was just set into record um so that that does violate the process that we laid out weeks ago um with adequate public notice for the opportunity for the community to weigh in um so that's why I object and I

113would ask the board to support the uh motion to overrule the chair would anyone else like to weigh in member Don well in addition to the Parliamentary question rules question is the substantive question and this endangerment of our imersion programs uh immersion programs from the timing required to obtain proper teachers with these expertise is really significant um I I'm very concerned about that that we're by the delay point of order are we talking about the amendment or are we talking about whether or not we are going to even move forward to discuss the amendment so I'm I'm a little confused here can I get some clarification please I I will say this does need to be on the topic of objecting to the amendment as a technical issue so you're limited just to a debate

114on how Robert's Rules work and not the actual substantive impact on on theun community whether the chair should be overruled yes well the reason I think the chair should be sustained is because of the potential serious negative impact Upon Our immersion programs thank you any other member B me so I think we can probably say the same thing I I understand that the immersion uh uh teachers are in a but all teachers this is this applies to all of our teachers right so I don't know I need to where are the three Spanish where are they where I don't remember were they do we do we I don't even know that I know about the French immersion teachers two of them I don't know about three I've not heard about so I anyways point of

115information I just I want to make sure we're we're speaking to and we probably should hold a vote on if no one has any comments on the on the parliamentarian question we're deciding do we want to overrule the the the ruling of the chair oh is that what we're doing so to then at the moment this is discussion just on whether the qu the ruling of the chair should be overturned oh okay then I I'll do member Higgins anyone else if not um I'll ask Miss solivan Mr chair I would ask you to find a yes and a no vote please yes um check with member pack and put it on our um screens uh yes vote would sustain the chair I'm checking with Miss solvin to make sure I'm getting it [Music] right okay

116we're going to say a yes vote would overrule the chair a no vote would sustain the chair anyone need any other clarification and it will be on your screen in a moment oh gotcha okay um because of the limitations of board docks uh it would have to be moved and seconded in order to do an electronic vote uh this is an objection uh about a ruling of the chair so it's not normally seconded we'll do a Voice vote on this I one last clarification before we vote so yes would be just in simple terms if I was to vote Yes then that would mean that we that that member Higgins would not move the amendment forward if I was to vote no then yes he would move the amendment forward in layman terms yes correct

117okay thank you I got a differently that a yes vote a yes yes vote is to overrule the chair who is going to allow the amendment so a yes vote would stop the amendment from coming to the four and overrule the chair and a no vote would sustain the chair that's correct and Mr President consistent with that maybe you could State the question as shall the decision of the chair be reversed and be no but but that is exactly what you you're saying right yeah a no sustains to chish the record I was going to word it differently from the beginning but member Higgins if I got the simple if you vote no I get a chance to go forward with the amendment that's all that really matters uh and so if you want the

118amendment to go forward you you vote no correct everybody on board okay um Solan will call the role member Wilson yes member Bellamy member Donley no member Jacobs yes member lesons yes president hman no and to know the the chair just voted to override himself no actually I voted to sustain myself I I got that right I got that right okay um that motion passes fails so the the chair has been overruled and we will not consider the amendment tonight thank you sorry that things got worded a little backwards there but this this is what live television looks like thank you we are back to the main motion as amended and the Flo is open for discussion member less oh so what we see in front of us is no longer that's okay but really

119we're speaking to the original motion which is to adopt the FY 26 budget as amended through the board's unanimous adoption of the Jacob's lessons Amendment Cor correct great and the four is back open for discussion on that so I just want to briefly say that we are bound to pass a balanced budget the revenue that we have available does not meet the expected expenditures we know that we would [Music] need to maintain the same level of service next year therefore we are spending reserves we're going to need a super majority of the board to pass this budget because we're going to exceed our board policy regarding fund balance which establishes that we shall maintain an 8% level and this budget is conditioned on spending down to a 5% level so we're assuming substantial risk and

120then we begin to make cuts after we spend our reserves and those cuts are to classrooms those cuts are to sports and activities those cuts are to programs they are cuts to Personnel who will keep our kids safe who will give them access to information and will'll help them grow that's the budget before us I will support it because that's what we have to do at the end of the day the district needs an off operating budget but this is not a surprise and I've been anticipating this vote if that's the right word or I've noted it in my mind since about the time the 33rd legislature gaveled out last at start of last summer I appreciate all of the advocacy that this board has engaged in we unanimously adopted a joint resolution which established

121our interest in asking for an inflation adjustment to the base student allocation going back to fy1 our assembly Partners also passed that joint resolution in early January on an 11 to zero vote but we're still waiting on our legislative partners and our legislative Champions and so I appreciate the Union ious vote that the board made tonight in support of the amendment regarding how we would direct the administration to invest a $1,000 increase to the base student allocation I think it's a wise decision but I'm still not happy about what passage of this budget itself begins and what it represents because our kids will not be served well by the budget that we have to prepare thanks other comments member Don yeah thank you Mr President I want to thank the members who seconded my amendments

122earlier tonight to allow there to be debate on them I'm grateful for that um I've tried to shift the priorities of this budget to uh reducing class sizes or holding down class sizes as much as possible I fully acknowledge that this is a terrible situation we're in trying to balance the budget at this point of time not knowing what we're going to get for additional state revenue um but I really felt that uh class size immersion ignite these were all things that should have been within this actual budget and not on the list of things to fund if we got more money um and I proposed ways to accomplish that and I'm I'm disappointed that that those weren't included in this budget proposal also Sports I think sports are really important um so I think

123there was a way to do it I think it was consistent with what our parents and Community have been telling us where their priorities and um um I I think that there are other things that should have been on The Next Step list rather than those additional comments member Jacobs thank you Mr chair um appreciate the comments and support of um the amendment I I helped create um tonight and appreciate the board um in a pretty unique way publicly declaring its intent to continue prioritizing class from instruction and programs that are Community uh Community Values um I'll say that I think it's telling that even even the Amendments we discussed tonight discussed a a section of the the total operating budget which I mean is a fraction um it really was working around the margins

124at best um there isn't a sustainable way to move forward without substantial legislative action and if um that isn't clear uh for those who have been following the process um to this point I'm not sure um how else we can better articulate that message but we certainly will continue to try with that said I am extremely extremely grateful for everyone that we we truly have received hundreds of hundreds of responses just within the last 48 hours um that have been um uplifting in the the work that we've been doing to continue to prioritize classroom instruction and our valued programs um like language immersion and ignite and our Sports at the middle school and high school level our Librarians our nurses um the folks who make our buildings work and um I would ask our community

125join us in the next phase of advocacy which is um connecting with elected officials and urging them to get the job done we need to make sure the goalposts stop moving at this point um we've we've been asked to provide um clear intent for uh future budget allocations um that question is asked and answered um we we have publicly available data based on our current budget we have um extraordinary amounts of accountability and education spending in our state and U the information is there to make an educated decision uh we now need to uh work to confirm who supports public education in our state and then uh to make sure that legislation passes um with those that do support it and so uh that will be my area of focus in addition to my normal

126board work and uh the other responsibilities I have personally and would ask our community to join us during that process is it truly will be your voices that make the difference thank [Music] you member Wilson I I distinctly remember last year during our budget season conversations I believe it was a super attendant that said we we have no muscle left to cut we're we're cutting into bone now and then this budget truly is is removing limbs I mean it is it is if this budget truly was to move forward without the legislators legislative assistance of additional funding and increasing our our base student allocation we're we're looking at an elimination of almost 200 teachers 200 all of our Middle School sports part of our high school sports decreasing our nursing staff in our schools to

127halftime I mean how do you predict when there's going to be an emergency in an elementary school is it going to be in the morning is it going to be in the afternoon our Librarians who are a vital part of our schools I mean that's just the start if you look through the budget cuts they're they're beyond deep this year so I I really I I hear member Jacob's asking for our families for our public to Advocate to their legislators and and and I I really really implore you to do that because there is not one student there is not one staff there is not one Community member that will not be affected by this budget in a negative way and that is not okay that is not okay for our kids and I've had

128to sit through some really really hard budget cuts before but this this is this is ridiculous this is horrible so I I really I I I hope and pray that we come back and say we have been able to reinstate much of what's been cut I I absolutely hope that we are able to do that member Heins yeah um you know this I've been on the board a long time and this is perhaps this is by far the worst budget process I've had to go through it's it's just um um there's no way to make sense out of it the budget being proposed by the administration was the only one they could do for all practical purposes um so um I think the amendment to be able to dedicate funds to this to the classroom

129is a good one and I applaud that and I move forward with it in regards to concerns that may be out there from the emerging program now that that amendment was derailed some explanation is is appropriate um I didn't know about this issue as big as it was until Friday morning talking to somebody then I delayed talking to a director because I was uncertain what the administration's view was about the process to reach out to others and I reached out for that for information to try to do it diplomatically and then get a response and then finally went forward anyway and at that particular point there wasn't time to get in touch with the CFO to be able to pull the rest of it together and that's why this happened the way it did um

130I'm I'm I'm very uh comfortable at least that the superintendent has identified that they can move forward and if we run into a time frame with that I would hope the superintendent would come forward if it's because the legislature Waits until June to finalize something I have been on the void when we had to send out layoff notices because we didn't have the budget uh within a given time frame of the beginning of the new year now some of those rules have changed but it tells you how late they can run so um I hope that that will not have successfully derailed uh filling that for the emerging program or damaged the emerging program and I like I said will encourage the administration if that's an issue to come forward and let us know uh

131in filling it but I think they can probably address it in some positive way but I'm going to approve this uh support it because we really don't have much of a choice with the legislature the best you can do to support your programs and we had a lot of people talking about it is to call your legislators Now call the governor let them know where you stand I was here in 200 I think it was 14 when Great Alaska schools went overo going after with the legislature and we got an increase then because of it I think we need the same impact from the public and raise your voice loud um but I will support it and I appreciate the the nightmare of what we've had to go through any other comments seeing none I

132will make my own uh I have been involved in this for a long time I first started working with the anry school district in 1994 and so this this process gets very familiar and it's still surreal after all these years um you see boards pass budgets and and you I'm sure some of you are just wondering how we could do that but we are sitting at a moment where we don't know what we don't know yet um when this starts the Administration has to pick a number that has some basis in fact and it is the case the legislature has never decreased the BSA um and at times we've had a governor that advocated for a certain level of increase and the administration could look at that number look at the disposition of the legislature

133and make a reasonable statement they can expect this much in the way of funding uh the governor's budget has minimal extra funding over the BSA and the thing is that the BSA is only funding us at about 80% of what we have this year and that's part of the re the the gap between the BSA and the district we've been running has grown as the BSA itself has stayed flat so it would be a huge step and most of these Cuts would come back if we simply get this year's funding again with a couple of percent for inflation because I think everybody recognizes some things have increased in cost over the past year uh and then if it goes beyond that we can do more and uh I'm certainly hoping that it does but if

134we can get the BSA aligned uh to what the cost of the district is with the expectation that inflation will be addressed on a regular basis this part of this discussion goes away we know that we'd be able to come back and run the programs we ran this year and next year um and then we we might look at the efficiency of those programs or how effective they are and possibly make changes to others but it would be about Improvement it wouldn't simply be about trying to meet a number we're we're trying to meet a number that is very much below what we had from the state for this year and um yeah I don't think anyone likes any of the cuts that are in this budget um and it's painful to vote for it

135as a as an educator it's painful but also understand the reality that we're out right now uh the legislature has not yet had time to do their job uh the governor seems to be changing his mind on what he might do uh again that's not a number we can actually put in a budget in on we do have to wait and in the meantime u a lot of people will sit and wonder uh how things are going to turn out with that said um this does become something of an interim budget until we find out what the real numbers are so painfully uh I will vote in favor of this as well if there are no other comments I will ask um Miss svin to put it on your screen for a vote um because

136this does uh assume a fund balance of 5% if this budget passes I will ask someone for a motion to suspend our board policy to allow uh the draw down to 5% that does have to pass by a super majority of five out of the seven votes um the budget itself only needs four votes to pass but to approve a reduction in fund balance for the budget that would take five votes so if there are no questions I will ask Miss suvin to go ahead and put the budget before you as amended student representative pack yes yes e and by a vote of six Y and one day this budget has been adopted Mr chair I would ask that the vote for adoption on as memorandum 0 96s also be considered as the super majority

137vote required to satisfy board policy to spend the maximum allowed amount of fund balance I'll ask if there is any objection to or making that assumption hearing none uh the vote on the budget will serve as an indication that the board has authorized uh 5% fund balance rather than our our board policy stipulation of 8% are there any further comments or questions to come up before the board we have no other items on our agenda if no one wishes to speak I would entertain a motion to adjourn member Don um thank you Mr President and I wanted to wait till they we got done with our budget business to raise this but um at our last meeting uh a member raised some concerns about and named some uh legislators by name and I was just

138wondering is that consistent with our I'm not sure that question has ever come up um and I can't remember the precise quote right at the moment um someone say there was no objection made at the time I I would have to go back and review the recording to um see if I thought there was something out of line about it I just would appreciate some guidance going forward because if that's our policy I I I want to be cons okay I can't think of policy that directly addresses it um but I I could research that and come back with something at a ligher time thank you any other questions or comments seeing none do we have a motion to adjourn move to adjourn moved and seconded we are in adjournment thank you for