Mt. Diablo USD Board Meeting 3/19/2025 Part 2

001good evening everyone um you are joining the um second portion of the mount diao Unified School District Board of Education meeting I'm a re uh reconvening Open session today is March 19th um would you please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all and I mixed up the order uh I will now read the land acknowledgement which is item 6.1 uh we recognize that the Mount Diablo Unified School District sits on the territory of The confederated Villages of the Lan the ancestrial and unseated land of the bay miok and Northern yokut the successors of The Sovereign Verona band of contracosta County as members of the mount diao Unified School

002District Community it is vitally important that we not only recognize the history of the land on which we learn but also we recognize that the land we inhabit and learn on is the ancestral land of these people who are alive and flourishing members of the Mount Diablo Unified School District and broader Bay Area Community today we'll move on to item um 6.3 minutes from the last meeting Madam chair I make a motion that we approve the minutes for the regular board meeting of March 12 2025 second um so there's been a motion by uh trustee Mason with a second by trustee and Z to approve the minutes of March 12th 2025 please cast your ballot and the motion is adopted on a um one vote uh the one being trusty McDougall is absent from today's

003meeting both closed session and Open Session now we will move on to 6.4 approval of the agenda no changes Madam president thank you I move that we approve the agenda I'll second that we have a motion by trustee and zie with a second by trustee Mason to adopt the agenda as presented further discussion there is no further discussion the item is adopted on a 400 vote with truste McDougall absent um for the report out of action taken in close session the first one is 7.1 negotiations the board may discuss negotiations or provide directions to its representative regarding represented employees uh the board received information uh 7.2 discipline dismissal release or reassignment of public employees under government code section 54957 B1 in uh closed session by a vote of four to zero with no extensions and

004truste McDougall absent the board took action to approve the resignation of one employee per the separation agreement and uh for a report out on language of administrative res reassignments in close session the board considered the reassignment of two principles and one program specialist under Education Code section 44 951 and voted by a vote of four in favor and uh no extensions with trustee McDougall being absent to direct the district to send notice that they will be reassigned to a position for which they are credentialed at the end of this 2425 school year the next item will be uh presented by uh truste count item 7.3 conference with legal councel existing litigation the board met in closed session with legal council to discuss a matter of existing litigation pursuant to government code 54956.9 trustee Mayo recused

005herself by a votee of 30 in the matter of Douglas Scott versus Mount diaab Unified School District contracosta County Superior Court case number c24 d500 the board approved a settlement up to the stipulated amount and according to the settlement terms you and that concludes uh closed session public comment 8.0 the public May address the board regarding any item not on the agenda public comment will also be allowed on each specific agenda item prior to the board action thereon um the B public May address the board regarding any item within the jurisdiction of the Board of Education that is not on this agenda speakers must submit a speaker card to the board's secretary and the board president will call on each speaker to the podium as appropriate seven so um the presentations are limited to 3

006minutes each or a total of 30 minutes for all speaker uh or the three minute time limit may be shortened and we don't have to do that at this time so the first Speaker tonight is Brett halp oh good evening Bor it's good to see you guys again Dr Clark good to see you um all right I am honored tonight we are honored tonight to bring you uh Tales throughout the district we have with us hundreds of notes and puzzle pieces um from all of our Educators from every site uh in Mount Diablo Unified and we are here to give you a little um uh presentation on what would help our teachers and our students the most in the classroom so um I will begin with an educator from Monty Gardens students Thrive when counselors

007and nurses have manageable case loads to provide individualized care a nurse from Holbrook Language Academy please lower school nurse case loads I would then be able to spend more time at sites instead of one day per week and be able to follow up on all of the issues that come up not just the absolute emergencies that rise up in the moment we only have time to address the Five Alarm fires but there are many four alarm fires that continue to rage on because we don't have the time an educator at Olympic High School reject the cruelty of Mount Diablo's Health Care proposal no roll backs on full medical an educator from El Monte Elementary no combo classes students deserve full access to their teacher not half of the time in a combo class and educator

008from Shadelands preschool right behind us preschool special education classes should not exceed six students per session for a maximum of 12 students having the support of two Seas per session is crucial and we need more steps in place to ensure much needed coverage when seas are absent to ensure safety for our preschoolers an educator from Mount Diablo high school please continue to pay full medical and we desperately need smaller class sizes my current situation is period 1 37 students period 3 37 students period 4 37 students period 5 37 students and period 6 37 students and finally one more from Monty Gardens IEPs should be held during work hours or in a fair contract Educators should be paid for their time spent after work thank you all for listening and have a happy Wacky Wednesday

009the next speaker is Jane blous enow hello board hello Dr Clark um I have more lovely cards from people around our uh in our uh district and um I'll just start reading I work many many hours as a teacher including nights weekends and Summers I put my Blood Sweat and Tears into my job and my students I would like a fair wage and medical so I can continue to do so and I would like to feel like my district supports me I teach seventh grade English and history with smaller class sizes a fair wage and compens compensation for after sight worktime I could do more experimental exercises give indepth feedback for writing projects and other assessments I would also be able to better create a sense of belonging Foster more positive relationships which we're all

010looking for and give more one-on-one time I am a teacher who deserves a fair full Med a fair wage and full medical benefits my students deserve a highly qualified teacher in their classrooms in order to meet the needs of my students there should be smaller class sizes more support staff like counselors Librarians Etc to attract and retain highquality Educators we must remain competitive in our pay and benefit offerings many neighboring districts are increasing compensations and incentives making it essential that we evaluate how we can improve our own packages to remain attractive option for top talent investing in our teachers is investing in our Student Success thank you and this goes to you Mrs Mason the next the next speaker is Melissa IO beam hi U my name is Melissa AO beam I'm an ele school

011teacher in the district and I've been teaching in mdsd for over 10 years now um I'm going to read an assortment of cards that I've received from my fellow teachers uh dear mdsd board members we are asking that you work with to come to a fair contract teachers deserve 100% medical benefits and a reasonable salary please end combo classes it is not in the best interest of students students need smaller class sizes so they can get the support they deserve from teachers let's work together not against each other dear mdusd board I urge you to prioritize smaller class sizes as they are crucial for Student Success with fewer students per class teachers can provide more individualized support improve engagement and better address diverse learning needs investing in smaller classes benefits both students and teachers leading

012to Stronger academic and social outcomes offer a competitive salary to attract recruit and retain highly qualified Equity oriented Educators who deserve to be able to afford to live in the same Community where they teach it's expensive in the Bay area and we all know it dear mdsd board members mdsd students need the best this starts with you please support us we need smaller class sizes no combo classes teachers need benefits and so are their families all of these things will lead to a high quality education we must invest in our schools to ensure a bright future our students deserve the best and with the increased needs that students have we should have lower class sizes more counselors as at each site and nurses in order to keep qualified teachers in mdsd let's do what's best

013for our students dear mdsd board I urge you to support 100% family medical benefits this will help retain qualified experienced teachers as well as attract new teachers in addition smaller class sizes are essential to Student Success and please get rid of combo classes thank you thank you the next speaker is Austin dce or to dice thank you I apologize good evening Bor I'm a special ed teacher at Foothill Middle and I'm here speaking on behalf of Walnut Creek Schools teacher workloads have increased slowly over the years this is known as job creep to the point that this workload feels unsustainable and it affects our physical and mental health please help us by reducing our class sizes free health care is huge it brings better teachers to the district and is one of the factors that

014makes working here so fulfilling dear mdusd Schoolboard our teachers should not have to work so many extra part-time jobs just to pay their bills they just want to be awesome teachers reducing class sizes in mdy is absolutely crucial especially in elementary schools during these formative years young students need more one-on-one attention from the teachers which is not very feasible under our current student to teer ratio research shows that smaller class sizes lead to higher academic achievement from an SLP 185 days is 1295 hours 1250 of those hours are providing services 200 hours for therapy notes medical billing and sa data entry 235 hours of assessment 400 hours writing reports 200 hours in meetings 180 hours prep for sessions the actual total is around 2500 hours this is from a teacher at Northgate the science Wing

015at Northgate is overrun with rats and the classrooms do not have doors for the safety of our students and teachers please Rectify this we fear that a person could come onto campus and doors would help us feel more secure and keep our belongings safe the rats can also carry diseases and they are out of control because students lack adequate appropriate spaces to eat lunch students should not be subjected to sitting next to rat traps at lunch either good day our students need smaller class sizes so that they can learn test scores would improve dramatically thank you for your time thank you the next speaker is Megan bromhall good evening I have the distinct pleasure of sharing what my colleagues in the monument Corridor have to share and I had over 80 so I'm going to

016summarize it so I don't have to read off of all of them so I want to shout out yve uh oak grve middle and Cambridge for taking the time to write and I hope you all take the time to read these um over see so I've receiv received about 80 over half of them have asked for smaller class sizes in no combo classes especially at Title One schools give our students the tools for success and please stop making them fight for an education support stu oh that's all these these ones ask for uh student mental and physical health to be prioritized please lower case loads for our nurses and counselors and please employ full-time counselors at these sites so all students can receive Services these ones ask for more prep time so that we can

017prepare our lessons for our students and allow time for us to collaborate with our colleagues this one asks for high school librarians this one asks that you support your students in the music program help them pay for their in pay for repairs for their instruments so that they can create music please support our multilingual Learners and give them the intervention they deserve they deserve to be bilingual they deserve to be biliterate please support our students and Educators in the special ed Department please give us the time and resources to meet with our families during conference weeks weeks please give us 10 days we need Behavior Support to ensure the safety of our students and to make sure students needs are met please make sure they're in the correct placement to give them the best possible

018outcome please take a SC stand against the Trump Administration as it destroys the Department of Education please prioritize Multicultural staff as our PTO and farc speaking um students grow in population please have them be reflected in the classrooms stay competitive retain high quality Educators with full medical benefit for benefits for us and our families increase our salary to meet the cost of living so we can stay and teach here these ones ask for you to take care of us please take care of us so we can continue to show up every day for our students we are burning out education and Healthcare are the backbone of a healthy society and lastly I have an invitation from a science teacher at Oak grve Middle School dear mdsd trustees I challenge you to come to teach at

019oakrow for two days day two uh sorry day teach a lesson for each period Then on day to teach a lab then please decide what needs to be cut or added please experience what we go through daily thank you next presenter or is Danielle ik good evening um I am representing the Baypoint area so a lot of these are from Baypoint teachers including Riverview Middle School we are all pieces of this puzzle here's how you can support our students smaller class sizes for K5 at tile one schools more attention and resources are required for teachers to support multiple learning abilities in one classroom less behaviors allow for more academic Focus for a TK and K teacher special education help with special education students in our general Ed classrooms making testing students with special needs and

020serving them a priority so that they have timely access to the proper services and or placements that they need denying their needs are hurting them this is from an upper grade teacher smaller class sizes in the lowest grades to establish strong phonic and pre-reading skills and abilities please I've been with the district as a special education teacher for over 10 years and each year it's becoming more challenging to provide a safe learning environment for my students I often have to plead my case or highlight unsafe conditions or breaches of contract for my students to get what they deserve unfortunately we focus on reactive restoration instead of prevention which is both unsafe and unethical this year a student was removed from my classroom to welcome a student in midye without the proper support protocol communication and

021plan which led to numerous injuries to both students and colleagues before receiving support I am advocating for preventative measures not reactive restoration so that I can proide provide a safe thriving learning environment for for all my students from short acres teaching at a dual language school with the partner model continues to bring challenges we have double the students and half the amount of time to teach each group with limited resources and no Spanish intervention please re-evaluate the program and support our students reducing class sizes particularly in Title One schools will help mitigate behavioral challenges and enhance opportunities for personalized support and targeted small group instruction these are from Riverview I have classes with an abundance of MLL students that I have no ability to communicate with outside of using Google translate I need support to

022help these students succeed the district is going to lose people we are burned out behaviors are crazy and you're asking us to do more please reduce class sizes and promote teacher retention this is from a science teacher science classes need smaller class sizes to have an effective learning environment and productive Labs large class sites cause safety issues insufficient intervention opportunities limited space for collaborative BTC activities and overstimulating environments for students and teachers Title One schools deserve to be fully staffed and credentialed students need smaller class sizes in English and math 37 in a class hinders instruction thank you for listening and next is Mr Dan Dan Reynolds good evening board Dr Clark I have heard at different moments recently um administrators in the district uh say that smaller class sizes don't matter or that smaller

023class sizes don't have any impact on student outcomes so I would like to share with the board the beginnings of a list of studies that show that small class sizes do matter and they do improve outcomes for students a 2017 study authored by Michael gilrain multiple treatments from a single discontinuity and application to class size which says I show that smaller class sizes significantly improve student test scores a 2016 report from BD Baker D Ferry and DG sakaria mind the gap 20 years of progress and ret retrenchment in school funding and achievement gaps which says and I quote ample research has indicated that children in smaller classes achieve better outcomes both academic and otherwise and that class size reduction can be an effective strategy for closing racially and so economically based achievement gaps a study

024from 2016 by William J mathys research-based options for Education policymaking the effectiveness of class size reduction which says it concludes class size is an important determinant of student outcomes and one that can be directly determined by policy this is especially crucial for populations which are most affected by large class sizes such as lowincome and minority students the research brief outlines the benefits of smaller classes in terms of student achievement graduation rates and non-cognitive skills matys recommends class sizes between 15 and 18 he says that while class size reduction can be costly it could prove to be the most cost- effective policy in the long run and because I have just one minute left skip over the next one and I'll finish with this one a 2014 study from David Zinger class size and academic results

025with a focus on children from culturally linguistically and economically disenfranchised communities from 2014 in this research summary the author examined class size reduction and its effect on student achievement by analyzing 112 peer-reviewed studies and showed that the overwhelming majority of these studies found that smaller classes have a significant impact on student achievement and narrowing the achievement Gap the author writes noticeably of the papers included in this review only three authors supported the notion that smaller class sizes did not produce better outcomes so I would encourage the board and the administrators throughout the district to stop repeating the lie that class sizes don't matter they do next is um 9.0 Communications District organizations do we have a card at regular board meetings a single spokesperson of each recognized District organization may make a brief presentations um

026Mrs Linda Ortega my regular spot thank you good evening trusty Dr Clark members of the audience and Dr Clark we need to set up a coffee date so first uh I first of all want to start off I do not have anything new to share regarding hvx other than my members are still waiting to hear what are the district's next steps I also want to share that later in the agenda you will be hearing about the district's second interim report I just want to remind the public that a district this size the state of California only requires a 3% in reserves with a cap of 10% however after doing some calculations mdusd has about 49.9 9% and reserves so what does that mean to me and my members this is money that should be spent

027on our students today right now for years I I have heard that there will not be enough money for our students in the future years if the reserves are spent down well this is the future and our students need interventions programs Librarians counselors and this is just a few programs to me I'm mentioning that we are continuing to ask for providing these services will help achieve the district's lcap goals as an educator I knew when one of my students was struggling or needed extra supports when this happened I would request a meeting with the site care team to discuss how we can support a student this is the work we do as an educator we assess we collect data we discuss with those involved who could help the student all of this takes time work

028and resources until we find a solution this is money that I believe and I and my members believe is well spent on our students on another note I just want to acknowledge all the wonderful teachers of the Year nominees and all of the finalist I was especially impressed to hear the many accomplishments that these teachers have completed last week's um school board meeting I was I was standing in the back so impressed with what I was hearing many of these Educators have worked in this district for 10 20 plus years even up to 30 years many have multiple degrees and as mentioned Dr David bint is even a medical doctor who has been educating our students at Mount ala high school for years I heard over and over how dedicated these educators are to their

029students to their school site and their Community these are the Educators that make the mount diao Education Association or media these are my members and I am so honored to represent them thank you Dr Clark uh we have item 10 recognition and resolutions 10.1 is the resolution in recognition of Arab American heritage month thank you very much Madam president I have before you resolution 25-54 um in recognition of Arab American heritage month so whereas for every for over a century arab-americans have been making valuable contributions to virtually every aspect of American society including medicine law business Science and Technology government literature arts and entertainment and impositions of leadership at all levels so whereas Arab migrants to the United States brought with them their resilient Family Values strong worth ethic dedication to education and diversity in

030faith and Creed strengthening the fabric of our diverse Nation whereas Mount diabo Unified School District is proud to serve and employ Arab American students parents and employees and now therefore be it resolved that the mount Alo Unified School District celebrates the countless past presents and future contributions of Arab Arab American an to American society in the state of California recognizing and honoring the month of April 2025 to be to be Arab American Heritage Month Madame President this item is now in the hands of the board Madame President I would like to move to approve resolution 2425 d54 in recognition of Arab American heritage month and I just want to thank this board and district for supporting this resolution for a number of years now um and I'm proud to be a part of this team

031that recognizes all students in our school district um and I've as I've been out at different School sites I've seen more and more signs of that things in different languages things recognizing um students who come from different religions and how that might impact their school um so I'm proud to be a part of this District second so we have a motion by trusty count with a second by trusty and zway on the recognition of the resolution for Arab American Heritage Month Is there further discussion hearing none trusty Ooa yes thank you so this motion is adopted on on a 4 vote with trusty McDougall absent and support for trusty Ooa thank you 10.2 Dr Clark great um and I'm I was looking in the audience to make sure V Victoria was here and I see

032her so this is um Victoria oversees our adult education programs and does a fine job at that and and serves many in our community so I'm glad she's here to hear that the board is in support of this resolution so resolution 242556 in support of K12 adult education and recognition of adult education week which is April 6 through April 12th whereas the first recorded adult education class in California was held in the basement of St Mary's cathedral in San Francisco in 1856 the class was authorized by the San Francisco Board of Education to teach English to the Irish the Italian and Chinese immigrants John SWAT who was the first volunteer teacher for the class later became a state superintendent of Public Instruction so whereas the Mount Diablo Unified the Mount Diablo adult education successfully serves

033conquered and surrounding communities through its collaboration with with its Community College partners and community-based organizations although uh through the adult education system Mount Diablo adult education served 6,483 students in the Years 23 and 24 so whereas the state of California will Proclaim adult education week during the week of April 6 through April 12th so be be it therefore resolved that the Board of Trustees of the mount elow Unified School District strongly urges the governor of California Gavin Newsome and the California legislator legislature to rec ize the important role of K12 adult education in addressing the needs of our communities in the short and longterm and to increase access to programs and services for the most in need and not yet not yet reached members of our great state Madame President this item is now in

034the hands of the board Madam president I would move to approve resolution 242556 in support of quit K12 adult education and recognition in adult education week April 6 through 12th 2025 and I just want to say that my father having dropped out of school to go fight in World War II got his diploma in adult education and told me that the education was the one thing I could get that no one could ever take away from me second that so we have a motion by trusty Mason with a second by trusty count on the item 10.2 in support of K12 adult education and adult education week is there further discussion saying none trusty Ooa how do you vote Yes so item 10.2 is adopted on a 400 vote with trusty McDougall absent and uh support

035from tusty choa thank you Dr Clark 10.3 yes um Madam president I'm not going to read this whole resolution but this is um resolution 24 25-57 and this is authorization for individuals to update banking information and so um after Personnel changes um we realize that we have we have to um we need to add additional authority to make changes for our bank signatures so we're asking for approval of this resolution and it was in your packet I move to approve resolution 2425 d57 for individuals to update banking information I'll second that so we have a motion on 10.3 by trusty and Z was the second by trusty Mason uh Is there further discussion uh trusty Ooa how do you vote yes thank you so item 10.3 the resolution uh 24- 2557 to um to update

036banking information is adopted on a 400 vote with trusty McDougall absent and trusty AOA supporting uh board member reports let's start with trusty count all right we just met a week ago so I don't have much to share but um I did want to mention that um when I got to go read um for read Across America at Ren um Red Avenue Arts Magnet School um I chose a book about the current holiday of Ramadan um because I thought you know not everybody knows about this and um and how it may impact um students experiences and staff experiences at schools and so this was to a fourth grade class and um it was really great to um see how it prompted a discussion um about how the experience and the challenges of fasting every day

037no food no water for a whole month um is designed to help people empathize and feel a duty to care for those who are hungry and seeing the students learn about that and teach each other about that for for some people whose families are um observing Ramadan was just really really heartwarming and and beautiful to see um and just gave me a lot of hope so that's all I wanted to sharek you chusty Mason I came to Dr Clark's town hall meeting here in the boardroom last week kind of um giving support to all of us how to um cope with all the things that are we're having to address every day so the next night I was able to go to RI Vista for talent show which was much more uplifting and I have

038to say thank you to the parents and to the staff and to the kids it was a hoot you had pre we had a a a prek kid dancing to Thriller we had cheerleaders we had ukulele player I'm telling you there's a lot of talent out there in Baypoint it was just a very very uplifting occasion and I was very happy to be there and then last last night I went to the CAC committee and um got a very had a very interesting report on autism a lot of things I didn't know about it a wonderful panel that Wendy put together of people who have had experiences and shared those with us and um they also talked about coming up on April 22nd they're going to have I believe it's a sock hop next door

039and mon Gardens that everybody's invited to attend and support those folks and also I believe if I have the it was confusing because it kept changing the dates but the celebration of success is now the April 24th instead of the 17th because a needed change in schedule so it was a very good meeting it was very well attended and um a lot of my friends from Bayo was there so that was very nice that's it for mine custy Ooa just a brief report since graduating from Olympic last week I started a new job as solar swim engy working mostly with kids on the Spectrum I am a basketball coach swim instructor and fitness teacher with this new experience I am able to gain A New Perspective and learn patience with myself and others so far

040I'm enjoying it and it's been a great way to meet the new kids in coming in every day on an upcoming Wednesday I will be visiting o Grove and conducting another focus group I would like to see if there has been any changes since I last attended Middle School there I would like to gain perspective on what is there to offer for the student students and teachers the questions will be similar to previous ones from the last focus groups I'm looking forward to hearing from the students and Reporting back thank you thank you trusty and zy I'm back we're glad you are um what I wanted to share about was um two weekends ago um I attended the lit literacy And Justice For All Conference in Oakland which had a number MDD staff at which

041is great to see um I'm glad that that was supported and I hope that we continue to send people but one session I went to like the one I wanted and needed to go to um was led by Dr Jasmine Rogers she's a professor at um American University and in in Washington DC and she's a coach um for the science of reading um and the session was on black language and literacy um first I want to share this is a quote from Geneva Dr Geneva smitherman on black language a definition a style of speaking English words with black flavor with Afric Africanized semantic grammatical pronunciation and rhetorical patterns black language comes out of the experience of us slave Descendants the shared experience has resulted in common language practices in the black community the roots of

042African-American speech lie in the counter language the resistance discourse that was created as a communication system intelligible to speakers of the dominant master class and some of the things I learn in that why I'm I'm actually passionate about black language and passionate about the affirmation of black language because it is often in our education systems from the moment from Early Education on through um deemed like inappro in um incorrect English or and um upon adults we think that someone who speaks black language it's is ignorant or uneducated and among children black children when they come to school speaking black English um instead of being affirmed like other um multilingual children they are told that they're speaking wrong pronouncing things wrong that it's all incorrect but in fact as she said the way you speak is

043perfect the way we all speak is perfect um all language is good language all language is rule-based and we need as Educators to validate the language that children are loved in and that doesn't happen often for black children and we speak of in our in most districts but our district of course Embraces um the science of reading but the science of reading is also racialized there's very few people um if you Google it there's very few Black Faces around um uh the expertise of the science of reading and it's mostly based on white experiences which also can prevent the affirmation of black language and teaching children to read utilizing science-based practices um so the all the other stuff I want to tell you about this is about Dr patina love but Dr patina love is

044going to be the speaker at Casa next week and I don't know who among us is going to be there so I don't want to ruin it because it possibly could be the same talk um so we can all talk about it the next time because the gems and the inspiration and the motivation to as one of the cards said fight against what's happening federally um is there and to me it gives me it gives us I honestly feel like we have no choice but to do the things that she says and to behave in the way that she says um so yeah I'll end it there thank you did you want to recognize trusty Ora oh well I brought her yes yay high school graduate Now employing High School draft graduate you say because

045I brought a cupcake so Dr Clark well he joked when I brought this because he didn't know he didn't see me put it here and he didn't even know what it was but who would leave a box but me because it's what I do I bring treats I bring treats they know this I always bring treats but um I didn't get to say well I said on the phone I have no idea how well I was heard but so proud of you you are such an inspiration um just even now it's amazing that you're circling back to Oak grve you a student there you can go there and say look at me not only have I just finished high school and got a job and I'm on the school board and that's like that's not

046something that I know that for many children at um at Oak Grove that they're even imagining of and you're at DVC you know like you've got you've checked off all the boxes of what we should expect of everyone of of our children in our community and um and your path and Road may have been windy and bumpy but you did that and I'm so proud of you I sa you for um Dr Clark would you like to make your report now item 12.1 yeah Madame President um I really don't have a report this evening I've been sending home um several notices to our parents and just keeping them informed we are in um we are in very challenging times right now and uh in public education and and so we are um you know we

047are trying to be as responsible as we can here within the mount Deo Unified School District but also I just want to give another plug for the Friday newsletter that goes out every single Friday which I also write an introdu introduction to but just for the sake of we just had a meeting last week I will spare you all on on uh additional reports tonight so thank you all right let's move on to 13 uh item 13 consent agenda um the items listed under the consent agenda are considered routine and will be adopted or approved by a single motion there will be no separate discussion of these items however any item may be removed from the consent agenda upon the request of any board member and acted upon separately we have a card oh okay

048so um um Mr Reynolds would you like to speak now please push button there we go thank you I put in a card for item 13.5 review and potential approval of the destiny Library manager uh for the term of a year uh I think that just a good thing I would just like to point out to the board that this Library manager system which controls the checking in and checking out of every library book in the entire District all 30 of our elementary schools all nine of our middle schools all five of our Comprehensive High Schools as well as our numerous alternative education campuses for one year cost $555,000 that to me sounds like an appropriate amount to spend on a software system that is going to serve thousand tens of thousands of students having

049access to potentially hundreds of thousands of books thank you thank you so um does anyone like to pull an item I move that we approve the consent agenda items second so we have a motion by truste uh eni with a second by truste count on the approval of the consent agenda which is item 13.1 trusty Ooa how do you vote Yes thank you item 13.1 the consent agenda is approved under a 4001 vote with trusty McDougall absent and support from trusty Ooa uh we will move on to the regular business and Dr Clark would you like to introduce item 16.1 yep um we are extremely fortunate to have um to have such a dedicated and knowledgeable fiscal team led by Adrien Vargas and um you know again as I started this off we are in

050um we'll do those after we're in challenging fiscal times as a as a state as a nation especially in public education I've shared before about the um layoffs that are taking place all around us Pittsburgh Unified San Ramone unified uh lafette Union School District um we have West Contra Casta we have Oakland we have San Francisco we have San Jose um you know I could I could go on and on and so it's very important that um that we are able to file these reports so that we can track where we are finan we can actually get the facts out there often times I know that there's narratives that that happen and things like that but um but this is factual and this will go to the county and the county will write us a

051letter either approving approving this um interim report or not approving the interim report and so um so with that I'm going to turn this over to the team so that they can share um where we are as a district at this particular time financially and where we're going to be in three years so Madame President give you Adrien Vargas thank you Mr thank you Dr Clark uh good evening Board of Trustees so I'll be working through the second interim report and helping me tonight is Gustavo Aguilera he's the executive director of fiscal Services um so just a reminder we are required to do two reports we did first interim in December and that was as of October 31st second inter is our projections as of January 31st and that takes us all the way through

052June 30th um we're required to um provide multi-year projections for the current year and the two years after and then we require board approval and certification and then there are three financial reporting certifications positive means that you can meet your financial obligations for the current and two subsequent years qualified is that you may not meet Financial Obligations for the current and two subsequent years and then finally negative is that you will not meet uh Financial Obligations in the current year or two subsequent years so for Mount Diablo um we are self-certifying um as positive for the second interim report and that is that we are showing that we have the cash flow and most importantly that the district will maintain our fund balance Reserve in the third year out above the 3% minimum required reserve

053and so before we go into um the 2425 second interim numbers I just want to highlight the difference between unrestricted and restricted and so unrestricted normally is you can use that for any District use um with the exception of lcap supplemental that's used towards the students that generate those funds um and those are the uh projected uh budgets for those particular funding sources under the unrestricted expenditures and we also um track our transportation expenditures on the unrestricted side districts do that in different ways I've been in other districts where they track that on on the restricted side of their budget but basically those are earmarked for transportation services and as you can see the majority of our transportation services are related to special ed and transporting our uh special ed need students and then on

054the restricted side um we've talked about this um before but normally uh restricted expenditures are designated for specific programs or activities and so I try to highlight some of those programs that are in our restricted side of the budget as you can see our title programs are roughly 10.2 million and you will see a slide that Gustavo will present but that represents about 5% of our Revenue um and that's been a big conversation with the policies that are coming from the federal level like what could that impact look like um so we are at 10.2 million I will say that 1.2 million of that is CSI money so it's related to title one but it's additional funds that we get for particular schools um so if I had to say what our federal uh title

055program funding would be roughly about 9 million um and then you can see where the majority of our uh budget goes towards which is our special ed programs at almost 111 million uh you see that our routine repair maintenance uh we are contributing uh a little over 16 million there and then our after school programs which is elop and our Asus program um we have close to $22 million budgeted in the second interm report for those particular uh programs and then finally uh the one in green we are required to report that on our financials um so you would see that on the benefit side of the restricted side of our budget and again I highlight it because it it increases benefits but there is an offset in revenues that make it a net zero

056but we're required to reflect that in our financials and that's called stirs on behalf contribution so with that um I'm going to turn it over to Gustavo and he's going to walk you through the 2425 budget um and I just want to say that should say first interim budget not second interim budget uh Gustavo caught that this afternoon so all right Gustavo thank you Adrian um before I begin with the changes I would like to thank the board Dr Clark Mr Vargas um for the supporting the academic success of the students that we serve um I would also like to thank my fiscal staff uh the sites Department administrators and their team team for their effort and work for the second inter room report so the notable changes from first interim to Second interim um

057is the approach that we took um is very different from prior years uh we analyzed our funding revenue and analyzed our year-to-date spending um as of January 31st to help us determine if we are on track under spending or exceeding budget expectations um in recent years the practice has been to reconcile as of June 30th um this year we looked at our Trends and examined the budget through June 30th um so here are the following revenue and expenditures since uh first interim the unrestricted Revenue funding increased by 1.6 million uh and that's due to supplemental and TK funding for federal revenue adjustments were made by 2.4 million and that decreases due to unused tital One funds state revenue adjustments were made by 840,000 that decreas is is is due to unused K12 strong Workforce and

058Universal prek funds the local Revenue adjustments were made by 4.9 million and that's lar largely due to Medical Revenue and the uh special education California Children and Youth Behavioral Health uh initiative Grant so for salary and benefits adjustments to certificate and salary staff were made totaling a decrease of 5.6 million due to vacancy savings and time sheet savings um however benefits adjustments increase by 2 million overall um I do want to remind everyone that this is the district's First full year of having full Kaiser medical benefits um in the fall the district had the opportunity to have open enrollment um for our staff for books and supplies uh we incurred a an adjustment decrease in unrestricted of 600,000 for restricted expenditures um it is projected that 22.4 million of the allocated funds will not be

059utilized within the current fiscal year these expenses typically uh include carryover funds and multi-year funding allocations for Contract Services and other operating expenditures um adjustments in unrestricted decrease by 657 th000 the restricted uh expenses increased due to reallocation of funds from the books and supplies um and and again the the carryover is usually budgeted in books and supplies and then working with the sites and departments that's where we do budget reallocations um and for Capital outlay adjustments for equipment um were due to equipment replacement and kitchen infrastructure uh which netted in a decrease of 76,000 so at second interim lcf lcff consist of 95% of the projected 356.50 million unrestricted Revenue the restricted revenue is projected at 100 19.6 million totaling million I do want to point out again the uh 5% of the projected

060revenue and is federal um of the combined revenue uh here's a breakdown of the general fund expenditures by Major object group The unrestricted projected expenditures are at 300 300 million 92% of the unrestricted budget is allocated to salaries and benefits the restricted projected expenditures are at 224 million the total fund the total general fund expenditures is projected at 527 million um on the following slide uh the pie charts will break down the these expenditures here again you'll see the 92% of the budget consist of certificated and classified salaries and benefits for for the UN unrestricted chart the combined chart um will show the unrestricted and restricted funds 90 79% of the over overall budget consist of certificated and classified um salaries and benefits um the decrease is due to the restrictions of the Revenue funding

061our school district receive which must be used exclusively for its designated purposes the general fund contribution had an adjustment roughly of $1,000 from first interim to Second interim here's a summary of fund 01 uh the table on the left shows the total revenue and the total expenditures which netted that's a um projected deficit of 50.7 million um you you will also see the beginning balance and the projected ending balance I would like I would like to note that the beginning balances are reflected in totals as it reflects a prior year audit adjustment um of 14.7 million to unrestricted and uh a negative 1.4 million to to restricted fund balance uh the table on the right shows the components of ending fund balance with Commandments and assignments um and now I'll turn it over to to

062Adrian to finish off the presentation thank you Gustavo um so I'm going to stay on this one for a little bit longer uh so the chart on the right um outlines um our ending fund balance components and the reason why I'm sticking on this because we have a resolution in the next board item that talks about the committed U allocations and so we're committing three and a half million for legal settlements um the primary piece of that is our Title Nine settlement um and then we are looking at um the conversion of our software program to a different uh software um and so far with one of the vendors for a mid-year transition our our quote so far has been about a million and a half um we are we will begin talks with the

063county as well because we're going to be looking at their software program um again as we let into this second interim report there were delays in terms of data coming out of the software so that's why we are here on the 19th and not on the 12th um so it just seems that every every time we try to fix the software that's been here in this District um and just a reminder that our software we we see in one other District in the state of California so we are one of two districts that run uh this particular software um so that allocation is set aside and then just the projected deficits um are part of the commitments which is a normal piece of our resolution that we have included also um I assigned a collective

064bargaining contingency because we have ta with at least two of our labor partners and so we will be doing the ab200 for the next board meeting um and that just represents the the what is currently out there which is a 1% starting July 1st 2025 and a 1% starting July 1st 2026 and so that's a contingency um like I said we've already ta with two of our groups um but that is in the components of ending fund balance and then the remaining 8 million is for the potential deficit as you will see in our fourth year and what that may look like so with that being said I will start um with the multi-year projections and just um as a reminder uh California ab2756 is the legislation that is requiring uh districts to show your

065current year and the Imp and the two subsequent years um and so that is part of the compliance piece in terms of when we do multi-year projections um this is the legislation that is driving that component of any interim report or budget report that we submit to to the County Office of Ed um I mean I I hear the conversation about our fund balance um I think that was the sole reason that we settled at 9% and the full Kaiser rate is because you know and as we've termed it is a SP a planned spend down uh of our fund balance and as you will see um in the multi-e we are spending that on average about 30 million um and then that you know we are still uh have the ability to have reserves

066above 3% which is the whole reason why we're able to file a positive certification for second interim um and also I will share um you know I think we do still have I mean we we still do have one-time funds in the learning recovery block grant educator Effectiveness the Arts music and instructional materials block rant and so in that um in our multi-year we are utilizing those funds um to Stave off what you're seeing in the surrounding districts so prior to me getting here that is something that the district didn't do is put one-time funds towards ongoing positions and so the fund balance is built up over time and even for us we had to spend down Esser for 2324 uh we utilized some special ed expend Fe in last fiscal year which was roughly

067about 7 million um and so that helped raise fund balance um so we are continuing to try to do that and utilize the one-time funds uh to get us over the next two years and then again multi multi projections or NPS are estimates they're not guaranteed outcomes um but they do help us assess our revenues and expenditures in our fund balance over three years um and just as a reminder there there are a lot of factors that change U even from first interim to Second interim you know that's your your enrollment uh your up percentage as I reported at first interim um and as you will see in here we were we are reflecting that our up percentage is a lot higher at 55.8% um and that's above the average of 48% so in the

068third year out we're going to reap the benefits of a higher up percentage so with that being said um the multi-year assumptions that are included is flat en rollment um and that's based off our current year seabeds enrollment which was the first Wednesday in October and so that is at 29,3 um we're using an ADA ratio of 93% which is an adjustment down from first interim based off our P1 report which was uh filed in early January so that's the reflection of our attendance through the first five months of the school year um so that was a small adjustment um our Cola is uh 2.43% and 3.08% in the two subsequent years and then again the higher up is being used as the Assumption in the out years and then you can see the increase

069in lcff year-over-year so it's going to jump about 5.4 million in the third year out and like I said that is related to the concentration funding or the 55.8% being averaged in uh federal state and local revenues they'll they're projected to be flat after we we remove onetime funding sources and then that's the breakout for federal state and local funds um we have a small or an adjustment on the unrestricted side and that's related to interest income and then those are the rates at which our special ed funding is based on in the two out years and then we are projecting about a $3 million increase uh year-over-year for the expenditure assumptions uh we're still utilizing the 1.56 step and column increase uh and as I stated earlier the unrestricted side of the budget does

070include shifting our unrestricted safety and counseling expenditures to restricted funding sources um but also this is offset by um increasing our TK instructional assistance uh to support our TK program as we move from 12:1 to 10:1 I think that's the ratio um and then uh again restricted certificated salaries increase because we are um accounting for growth and step and column benefits uh stirs is projected to remain at 19.1% and then we see a Pur increase to 27.4 and then a small bump of up in the third year out um we did remove the $1.7 million uh supplemental retirement program payment from this year's budget this was the last year of the five-year uh program and then overall benefits increase roughly about 3.1 million and 4 million uh in the two out years moving on to

071books and supplies um we see a decrease in 20 627 and that's because we're removing uh lcap carryover funds uh we're spending roughly I think it was about 38 million I think I showed on that first slide and so that's about 7 million above what we generate but we were required to expense any carryover funds for lcap supplemental so in 20 25 26 we're making an adjustment uh for that um then there's adjustments for restricted books and supplies a 7.2 million and that's primarily um related to uh the textbook adoption um and one-time funds and then contracted Services again we're seeing decreases in that um related to um El Cap expenditures and then um in restricted contracted services it's the removal of onetime expenses and it's primarily those onetime grants that I was talking about

072learning recovery educator Effectiveness Arts music and instructional materials and then Capital outlay we're projecting to be flat um after we remove the um expenditures related to the kitchen infrastructure grant that is currently in our budget so with that being said um here's our three-year second interim multi-year um and this is shown split by unrestricted restricted uh so you can see we do have a fund balance of 118 plus 118.7 and when you add uh the 14.6 that equates to roughly I believe 133 um and we are showing a projected deficit spend of 33.6 million or 33.7 million this year 29.9 million in the second year and 22.3 million in the third year out um and then just to get a sense of what our projected budgets are looking at we are projecting about a $

07385.8 million decrease in our unrestricted fund balance from this year to the third year out um again some of of that may fall to fund balance and as um Gustavo described um we I think we did budgeting a little bit differently for second interim um we we try to project what our expenditures would be through June 30th normally that process is done while we develop the budget and we call it estimated actuals um but we try to take our best stab at what is happening currently in 2425 to make those budget adjustments um so again this is a multi-year projection it's our best guesstimate with the information that we have now um the multi-year does not include uh probably two major uh proposals from the governor and that's that one-time block grant and the TK

074add-on to support moving to 10 to1 in 2526 and so at the May revise that may change but at least for now the county has instructed districts um not to include that and until we get closer to the May revise or even at that point depending on what is happening at the federal and state level um whether or not to add that but just to put that in context if if we get the per Ada amounts that they're talking about uh the one-time block rant would generate probably about 8.8 million million for the district and one-time funds and then the TK add-on would add roughly about 2 and a half million um and I believe that would be ongoing but again those are proposals that have not been approved um and we have not gotten

075the guidance from the county that we can include that in our multi-year so this is a a summary of the three-year multi-year so this is the combined uh unrestricted restricted and and the components of ending fund balance but as you can see we we are spending or we're projected the deficit spend in all three years but we are still able to maintain uh our 3% Reserve so moving forward um I'm showing you a slide um of what the fourth year uh potentially could look like if we if we hold with these numbers um and we don't have those proposals built in that I just talked about um we we could potentially be looking at a shortage of about 11.2 million but again we are going through budget development for 25 26 um we are doing

076what we can to to minimize what that number may look like um and you know as I say you know if those onetime funds do get approved and they flow through our budget I think it would be very minimal to what we might be looking at with the adopted budget and again the fourth year will become our third year when we come in the first meeting of June to present our proposed budget so I show this to you now because this is how it's trending um based off what our current budget holds and the budgets that are sitting with our sites and departments and so this slide highlights just the deficit spend and as you can tell you know we we are getting better with the deficit spend but I also think that has to

077do with the higher projected lcf revenues and the um up percentage being as high as it as it can but we are still uh utilizing flat enrollment and then this slide basically shows the other funds and as you can see all other funds are projected to have a positive fund balance um and then the building fund we we are uh working on another issuance and so we are projecting the April 23rd Board of meeting where we'll be bringing uh documents to um address the the last issuance of measure J as well as the same time we're going to be looking at refunding some of the bonds related to measure C to um to achieve some cost savings and uh additionally just staff time because there's a lot of time that goes into issuing Bonds in

078terms of all the work uh that needs to go behind a official statement all right and then um just think to think about again I've talked about the state budget um the county and and school Services of California um and fmat are talking that that the wildfires may have a financial impact and then again it seems like day-to-day things change with the federal policy changes that come down and then that go in the courts uh we we did get impacted by the first letter that came out uh back in February we had about roughly about a half a million dollar Grant um so we are in limbo about that because I just read an article today that a judge ordered Trump Administration to reinstitute those uh funds but those are the things that we have

079to address or be you know cognizant of um again we have the expiring and spending down of onetime funds which we are doing in our multi-year um and then we have not finished uh our collective bargaining with our other units um like I said we have two Tas that we'll be bringing to the April 16th board meeting um and then the other thing is the enrollment and then student absence rates I mean we like I said at the first five months the trend is roughly 93% but again with what's happening at the federal level we we don't know or see that impact um and what's happening at our school sites our second uh P2 uh Ada report will be filed in the beginning of May uh so we'll start looking at that data towards the

080middle of April to late April um just to see what our P2 will look like and whether or not we hit that Target of 93% and then uh just the rising cost of pension rates health benefits and then insurance is going to be a big one as well just due to the wildfires and then the um ab2 claims uh that districts are getting and then here's a budget calendar timeline so we're in March and so we continue the work in budget development and that goes all the way through basically the end of May um we do have the governor May revise budget um coming out in May so he'll put out that by May 10th I believe and so we'll get an update on what the proposals look like for 252 26 and then we

081will be back in June um to do the public hearing on the lcap and the budget and then the subsequent approval of the budget and elcap for next year uh one other thing that I do want to mention is that we have the intent of bringing back the budget advisory committee um however uh we we had a very low response and i' I've figured out why we've had a low response thanks to our Thea president um she kind of pointed out like some of the members probably expired in terms of their term um so we have to work on that so you're probably going to get an email uh from our fiscal Department um in terms of nominating a a BAC member um and then hopefully we'll be bringing these nominations for approval in the

082board meetings in April on the 16th and the 23rd and then we'll reconvene the budget advisory committee meetings so with that I will take any questions so um shall we do the public comment first board members uh the first is Mr Dan Reynolds thank you hello again board uh Dan Reynolds uh I was a teacher in the district for 16 years and currently as the executive director of the mount diao Education Association I'm a CTA staff staffer I have been trained in school district budgets I also provide trainings in school district budgets I have worked with dozens of school districts on the labor side assessing their budgets I have some facts for you it is a fact that in 201819 at second interim you were presented with a report that said that you would have

083a $32 million deficit that year it was an $8 million deficit was off by $24.8 million it's a fact that in 1920 you were presented with a second interim report that said you were going to have a $15 million deficit that year it ended up being a $1.3 million deficit it was $4.5 Million off it is a fact that in 2021 you were presented with a second interim that said that you would have a a $7.9 million surplus you ended up with a $41 million surplus your second interum report was $33 million off it's a fact that in 2122 you were presented with a second interim report that said that you were going to have a $5.5 million surplus it ended up being .5 million and it was off by $35 million it's a fact

084that in 2223 you were presented with a second interim report that said that you were going to have1 million surplus it ended up being a $52 million surplus and it was $41 million off last year in 2324 you were presented with a second inim report that said you were going to have a $30 million deficit last year so in March this day a year ago you were told that that school year you'd have a $30 million deficit you ended with a 7 $17 million surplus it was $47 million off you're being presented with a second inter report tonight that says you're going to have a 50 million doll deficit this year if you look at the facts of the history of the reports that you as a board are presented at second interim you will

085see that they are off by $24 million $14 million $33 million $35 million $41 million $47 million the second interim reports that you receive do not prove to be accurate and what they do is they project these terrible deficits that scare the public into thinking that the schools aren't going to be able to be funded that does not become the reality the reality is that you have over the past several years amassed 200 and4 million in your beginning fund balance money that you took in in previous years and didn't spend on students the lawyer that you brought to the bargaining table with media said at the bargaining table to Meda that multi-year projections are never accurate the reason he knows that is because not only is he a district side lawyer he's also a sitting

086Schoolboard member who sees multi-year projections and he knows they are never accurate the spending at second interim is the district spending through January 31st of this year so a fiscal year that runs July 1st through June 30th you're 7 months into a 12month cycle you didn't start the timer but I'll only go for for like another minute CU I don't I don't want to um disrespect the three-minute time 7 months into your 12-month budget cycle you should have spent about 58% of your Year's budget because we're 58% of the way through the year at January 31st when this second interim report looks at your finances and if you look across your second interim it shows that you are actually spending at a number that is $41 million below 58% of that projected expenditure so the

087$50 million deficit that it says you're going to spend this year if you actually look 58% of the way through the year should we have spent 58% of our dollars which is a roughly accurate thing because you are going to spend some money in the summer that you're not spending now on Capital outlay and other things but you're also not paying salaries for all of your people in the summer because most of them you've paid already the budget in this district is much healthier than the second interim shows and tremendously more healthy than the multi-year projection shows there are dollars in this District now and in the future to meet all of your obligations and do more to improve the educational outcomes for our students it is not accurate for you to worry about the

088sky falling especially when you have a 42% uh a number in your beginning fund balance equivalent to 42% of your expenditures and the state requires a 3% Reserve thank you Mr Kip penovich you're next thank you good to see you good to see you all um by the time we get here there have been at least nine projections for the budget because two years prior there were three two-year projections out last year there were three projections for this year and now this second interim is three more so by the time we arrive here there have been nine opportunities to kind of project what's going to happen I've gone back and Cat kind of cataloged all of them since 1819 up to present and the one thing that I noticed is that something happened between 19

089the year 1920 and 2021 I only had two years where I had all three at the beginning there but whatever was going on for 1819 1920 when I took all of the projections in terms of the fund balance they were off by an average of $10 million and that means they ended up being $10 million more with the UN audit actuals than what was was said you or projected since 2021 through last year 23 24 the average that the projections have been off is 525 million so from one year to the next things have gone further astray five and a half times I don't know what would be going on there I will say that in the second uh first and interim uh first and second interim budgets for example books and supplies are regularly

090over budgeted by tens of millions of dollars which makes the projection look worse and then with unaudited actuals it gets dialed back within those numbers there there are a couple values that I do want to point out though since 2021 the amount that we spend for services and other operating expenditures has doubled from $38 million to $76 million of that $ 38 million do increase and these are all from un audited actuals 19 million of that goes to sub agreements for services and 11 million goes to Prof incre these are the increases we've gone up $19 million in sub agreements for services and $11 million for professional consulting services and operating expenditures we've also happened to go up about a million dollars on travels and conferences the thing that worries me about the sub agreements

091and professional consulting stuff is I don't view that as classroom level spending I view that as managerial spending and I think you get better bang for your buck when you spend your money closer to the kids not further away so I don't know what's being spent there but it has increased dramatically over the last three or four years thank you we have another speaker perhaps thank you um the third speaker is Linda Ortega back so I just wanted to um we had some documents that we prepared for you and when Dan stepped away he forgot to prepare um hand them to you so I just wanted to make sure it's clear we do have documents talk about what we have analyzed these are your numbers and then we wanted to share our presentation with some

092documents you are you saying that in order for someone to give something to the board they have to bring it up for everyone in the public so so so I will take responsibility for that so if I need to present the same documents that you've present us okay we can do that thank you thank you Miss Ortega did you wish to speak further okay thank you all right member of the board do you have questions of Mr Vargas or questions about the interim report I don't know about question I have a comment um thank you again for your very thorough report um you know you can look at the glass of half empty or half full and when we're sitting in the time when we don't know what funds we're going to have tomorrow am

093I really glad that we've not been willing to go right to the limit of what we think we might have that that rainy day comes we're going to be able to not probably provide everything we're going to lose but we're going to be in position to at least continue to serve the kids that need the service the most and I'm so thankful that we're not having to lay off our teachers and close schools and if we're a little off I'd rather be off on having more money than we didn't have enough and we'd be facing layoffs and closing schools right now so it's a complicated thing it's not easy to do but we're doing our best to make sure that our most vulnerable students are going to be able to serve no matter what goes

094on outside of this boardroom thank you count do you have questions uh yes so um I wanted to ask about the um the Ada assumption you were saying it was adjusted down to 93 from 93.5 five and that's because of our actual um attendance over the first half of the Year correct okay um so one of the things that we could potentially work on um going forward is is our attendance though I hear what you're saying about um there could be reasons why some of our students are not attending school potentially in response to what's happening at the federal level um so we'll see in our P2 which you said is in May when we'll see our next numbers on that right so we'll work on the report and it's due usually the by the

095first week of mayay to the County Office of Ed thank you yeah I know there have been so many efforts to improve attendance I mean we even saw walk and rolls to school day and all the different ways that that we work to uh to get our children to school um looking at um to see what slide I'm looking at here what number I'm just looking at the myp assumptions where you show the federal state and local um losses uh declines the 2.3 million Revenue uh 2.3 million Federal 7.8 million State and 10.5 million local those are all decreases um is that um related to the what they call the Esser Cliff so it's the ending of all these different one-time funds from the federal state and local level so for for all three of

096those it's for expiring grants because we have spent all our Esser funds so that is no longer in the budget if we do it's a small amount um but I believe we this is all related to carryover funds in federal programs as well as state programs and then the biggest one is our local and I would say the local one is a little bit more difficult to do because when sites uh get donations or when we get big grants that are not uh state or federal I mean the practice has been to budget all of it fully and then you spend it down and then what has been talked about at un audited actuals then you see what actually happens and it is kind of the numbers it could be 50% difference because the practice

097is that you will budget the full amount so you can either track it differently um but that has been the issue that I've come across in in most of the districts that I've worked in that that's just the practice and so you see the shifts that are being discussed right now okay um and then um you talked about the um the new method that you've used this year um that's different than past years um do you feel like like we do hear this every year um that our uals are very different than our projections um I'm thankful that they're at least in the positive direction so that we are not closing schools as um many of our surrounding districts are um but do you feel that um with the new type of projections that you're

098making that that may make us closer to um projecting I mean from my perspective I mean I I hear I hear it the discussion as well and so when we go through it I I'm probably on the other side that I hopefully it is not more than what we are or at least what the variance would look like look like at un audited actuals um is very minimal um I will say for me I I mean I focus a lot on unrestricted um because that's where the reserve is coming out of um but I learned a lesson last year with that Esser funds and the switch of the 7 million because that impacted uh the unrestricted side of the budget so taking that into account that's what I was working on in terms of the

099second interum and utilizing the one-time funds and you see the shifting of security salaries and expenditures to a resource that could support that on the restricted side of the budget as well as um counseling expenditures that are going to a a one-time funding source because we have to spend it down over the next two years and then um and then we so to answer your question yeah we we went through that budget and I would probably say I'm on the other side like maybe it's too tight um because we are looking at incumbrances as well which is something that does not show up uh in the second intern report it has actuals to date but it does not show incumbrances which is things that um we will pay for in terms of position control salaries

100and benefits and then again the the hardest part to judge is our open purchase orders because everybody has the idea what they're going to do and then you know we have a purchasing deadline that's coming up and then they start putting all that stuff in um and then what usually happens is they don't spend all their all what they thought they were going to do um with their purchase orders or they they try to spend it down and they get the product after June 30th and unfortunately that hits next year's budget right yeah um and I know some of our Revenue came is coming from medical currently which is actually funded by Medicaid through the federal government and so that's another funding source that could be disappearing um I just had one more question and

101that's the um on the very last page the fund summaries um the Deferred maintenance fund balance um it's the budgeted net change is bringing it very you know almost to zero it's at 134 um th000 but um is that too low for a deferred maintenance fund is that where do we want to be with our deferred maintenance fund so the Deferred maintenance fund the the district two years ago started transferring over about I think it was $5 million to new facility projects and so that got taken out of the budget last year when we went when we presented the ab200 for the 9% and the full rate of Kaiser so that's just spending down the 10 million that was allocated to the Deferred maintenance fund over the last or in those particular two years and

102so you you see that dwindling down as we finish up those projects so unless we you know know make a transfer out from the general fund like what was done in the previous uh in those particular two years then that that fund will diminish to zero until we do that again okay that is all of my questions thank you so much questions this is uh an action item with that I'll move to approve the district's positive certification for the second interim report I'll second that so we have a motion by trusty count with a second by trusty uh Mason Is there further comment I just want to say once again I'm so thankful that we are able to give a positive certification because um we have been in a much more difficult place in the

103past and that's part of where one of these uh expenses were finally paying off this year uh in terms of the retirement fund um so I'm glad that we're at least this year with a positive certification thank you trusty Ooa yes so item 16.1 the second interim report is approved on a 4001 vote with truste uh McDougall absent and with the support of trustee Ooa Madam president if I may um uh Mr Vargas I just I want to Echo um gustavo's um thinking of not only you and Gustavo but the fiscal team this is um School budgets are extremely complicated and I know that um you have spent your career in the fiscal office of school districts and so um so you bring to this position a great deal of experience experience and um and

104again we have had many conversations trying to um trying to pin down the budget and every time I come back from a county meeting and I hear about the Carnage that's around us I come back to Adrian and say are you absolutely sure that we are where we are and um and he assures me EV every time that um he never like gives a solid answer is always around assumptions because there because again it's assumptions and we have things going on in this District that are very vitile when it comes to um declining enrollment possibilities that we struggled with before aging facilities um you know ongoing you know ongoing negotiations um you know a changing Community things of that nature and so um so I really appreciate the work that that you all have put

105into this and that you put into to doing your work each and every day and really taking ownership of money that is that is designated for the students of the mount Unified School District so thank you thank you and I'm really glad that we have the financial um software conversion in the budget because I know that that has been creating headaches for our staff um for quite some time to be trying to struggle we've tried the updates and thank you for trying the updates um but and I know it won't be easy to convert over that's going to be a huge process um but it is a necessary thing that we have to do so thank you for making sure that can happen 16.2 we do have a card on 16.2 shall we have the

106presentation first for the present speaker or the card speaker's fine I don't have a Mr Dan Daniel renolds renolds thank you superintendent Clark I encourage you to brush up on the brown act which does not say that a member of the public who wants to present information to the board must bring copies for the public attendance at the board what it says is that anything presented to the legislative body becomes a public record becomes a public record which has to be made public available item 16.2 is a resolution to designate certain General funds as committed fund balance the resolution itself lists four items legal settlements of roughly $3.5 million financial and HR software conversion $2.5 million deficit spending for next year at $29 million deficit spending for the the second year from now at million

107the district is responsible for committing funds like this because uh one of the reasons being that state law requires districts to not have ending fund balances or reserves above 10% and one of the ways that you can avoid that while sitting on $214 million and having a beginning fund back bance that represents 42% of your total outgo is by committing those funds not actually spending them but committing them and so a resolution like this commits those funds including committing it to a deficit in a future year that won't exist and committing $2 and5 million do for financial and HR software conversion and uh Sharice I know you just mentioned that you are happy to see that they are looking at converting that software um I mentioned earlier that software that we use in our library

108iies right that software that that exists at more than 40 sites across our district serving tens of thousands of our students and H tracking uh hundreds of thousands potentially of books and other titles that software costs $55,000 a year this software is 45 times more expensive than that and so I would encourage the board to consider if it's something that maybe you're going to use for 45 years and that's why it's 45 times more expensive or if it's going to be used 45 times more often and that's why it's 45 uh times more expensive or if there are truly much cheaper options especially because when you were told about the cost of the software earlier in this meeting it was projected to be 1.5 not 2.5 million but again you're committing These funds so that

109you can meet state law and not have an overlarge Reserve but still be able to sit on hundreds of millions of dollars instead of spending them on the children of this community Mr Vargas would you like to make your presentation so I don't I the presentation is the resolution and the uh itemized four items and again um I guess the one thing I will say is that this uh commitment is a it's a district decision that we're making where where actually the cap is not in a effect for the 2425 year because the governor tapped into the rainy day fund so um I brought that up at the adopted budget but hearing the feedback at the adopted budget we we continue to do the commitment resolution um because it's been happening with the district but

110is not a requirement um it could actually sit in the assignments it could sit in undesignated um but as the multi-year goes through through it's still going to pull from fund balance and it and the it won't change what the projected third year looks like but it is here for you um and we are continuing the practice even though that law is not in effect this year and they're projecting 25 26 for that not to be in effect unless the governor deposits more money in the rainy day fund okay so you're saying the action of this resolution is not an actual legal requirement it's something that has been brought forward because it's been a past practice just in terms of trying to be transparent about our plans for these funds correct thank you very much

111okay well I'll make a motion to approve resolution 22 25-55 designating certain General funds as committed fund balance second so we have a motion from uh trustee Mason with a second from trustee count on 16.2 which would uh designate certain General funds as committed fund balance there further discussion seeing none um minute I want to make sure I don't close my system down uh trusty Ooa how do you vote yes thank you congratulations we have committed funds for the uh for committed fund balance item 16.2 on a 400 one vote with trustee uh McDougal absent and support from trustey Ooa item 16.3 thank you Mr VAR thank you thank you do I have uh uh M Miss Allen and Miss filios coming to talk about our spsa good evening Board of Trustees in February we

112brought the majority of the school plans for student achievement to you for approval and we tonight we have three additional schools coming forward for approval um who for various reasons were not part of the first deadline um for two of the schools um they made some revisions and needed Quorum at school site Council and for Mount diao Elementary the school worked on the sipsa and then um we waited for uh principal Harris to be back from leave and then um to get approval when she returned so we are presenting the school plans for student achievement for Mount Diablo Elementary School Shore Acres Elementary School and uh Osio Valley high school and I would like to thank uh principal Sarah Harris who is here with vice principal Miranda Romo from Mount diao Elementary and principal Peter

113Crutchfield who's here from Osio Valley High School ready to consider this I would just say since since the principles are here would be happy to hear anything that you might want to share with us this evening about how your plans are going putting them on the spot yeah clearly they don't they weren't prepared to speak but thank you just gener give some general information anything in general that you want to share about your plans so good evening uh superintendent Dr Clark and good evening to the members of the board of education so uh we were very pleased and happy that we were able to establish a COR for for from our school site Council and we are also pleased that our our plan we feel that is uh is very powerful and it's working for

114example the California accountability plan for all schools which is also considered the California data dashboard we made great strides uh great strides in English language arts math uh the performance English language arts math and then also uh our uh suspension rate has declined and so uh we've done great work and um thank you thank you Mr Crush field I know it's so as a parent myself I know it can be so hard to even get parents together at this meeting right uh to to even have a site Council so congratulations even on making that happen thank you good evening me members of the board and Dr Clark um I had twins so that's why I was on leave so I just wanted to like make that clear I was having babies um but um one

115of the things alongside my amazing new vice principal Mrs Romo is we really had to shift gears around um looking at data and looking at data with a growth mindset perspective Mount di Elementary as you know is a very high achieving school but I think in the midst of doing the great work we were leaving the students that needed help behind and so through the help of all the district initiatives around star data mclass kind of piloting all these new programs and some programs that have been at our site for a number of years we finally can conscientiously work with our staff and provide to press professional development opportunities to really allow them the space and fored to have those tough questions to have that cognitive dissonance going on between the grade levels where I

116think for a long time they were just status quo and we have a successful campus so let's just keep doing what we're doing um but we're making really concerted efforts to challenge them and push the limits and really look at the numbers to help our students all of our students all 745 of them um achieve to the the limit that they feel is in their best ability so we really tried to highlight that in our sypsa plan this school year thank you thank you so much that's great to hear oh and also congratulations osia Valley High School um robotics I hear you won the the team won the Regionals just yesterday or something very recently congratulations thank thank you I just wanted to make a comment I always everybody knows I'm a geek I read

117all this stuff and I need to go visit Mount Dao Elementary I haven't been out there but for ignatio Valley as uh someone who's always been involved in schools I've been to to IV the the robotics there's tons of staff there there's tons of kids there there's families there they're celebrating there they're eating together they're all buying in that's what schools need above all else I believe and the same thing with Shore Acres I've been to a couple family nights there I've been to a elac meeting their parents are there they're wanting to do a volunteer projects they're involved with what's going on in the school those are the things that really resonate with me and I'm sure the same things happen in Mount dable Elementary I'll get out there and check it out but

118those are the things I'm seeing as I'm visiting schools is a total pulling together of the families and the staff and the administrators and I'm very proud of things I'm seeing in these not so fun times question for their hard work and our staffs well one more congratulations since their plans in front of you but um Oso Valley High School's plan is expending CSI funds but congratulations to them based on those dashboard indicator improvements they are exiting CSI and no longer eligible so wonderful all right well with that I would like to approve the 20242 school plans for student achievement for Mount Diablo Elementary School Shore Acres Elementary School and osia Valley high school and I'll second that so we have a motion by trusty count with a second by truste Mason further comments trusty

119Ooa how do you vote Yes so for item 16.3 for uh three school plans they are approved on a 4001 vote with um trustee McDougall absent and Trust support of trusty Ooa item 164 uh point4 is uh changes of board policies for us to consider uh among this list uh we re uh were presented with items AR 131 12.4 and Exhibits 131 12.4 1 and 131 12.42 at the last meeting and the question is whether you'd like to approve those three at this point in time move to approve revisions to ar1 131 12.4 and Exhibits 131 12.4 1 and 131 12.42 as presented I'll second that so we have a motion to approve um revisions for AR 131 12.4 and its two exhibits um the motion was made by trusty and Zi with the uh

120second by truste Mason uh trusty oo how do you vote Yes I just wanted to note for the public that the um exhibit E2 um is the Williams complaint um form that is standard um but one of the things that I think the public may not be as aware of is that um uh starting July 1st um they that our schools need to make maintain at least one all-gender restroom for students um so that's uh something that will be a new requirement but this is also a place where um uh people can report if um our restrooms do not have adequate um menstrual supplies for our students as they are as they need to have and I know it's a struggle to be providing that but we should be making sure that we are doing

121that at all our all of our school sites thank you so um the three AR I me sorry the 13124 which is an AR and the two accompanying exhibits are adopted on a 4001 vote with trustee McDougal absent and support from trusty Ooa the uh 16.5 there are also um policies that were presented at the last meeting to con consider at this motion I mean at this moment um who would like to make a motion I'll make a motion to approve the revisions to BP 3540 as presented second so there's a motion by truste Mason with a second by truste and zeri on the approval of the revisions to board policy 3540 further discussion trusty Ooa yes you and the new uh board policy 3540 is approved as presented on a 4.41 vote with trusty

122McDougall absent and uh support from trustee Ooa we don't need items 17 a meeting extension um and are there we'll move down to item 21 uh requests for consideration at a future board meeting is there are there any requests at this time all right um just want to report to the board that Kelly Hoover will be coming in the next couple of weeks to do a to do a report on the on the Arts programs and share relevant information and data surounding um our efforts to to use Ab um AB 28 so thank you there've been a lot of concerts going on right now um with that we will adjourn the meeting at 802 p.m. thank you for attending we have some documents to sign today