Cedar Falls Board of Education Meeting, February 9, 2026

001Good evening and welcome to tonight's Cedar Falls School Board meeting. Today is Monday, February 9th, 2026. Um, as a reminder, the board leads and supports the district mission, which is educating each student to be a lifelong learner and caring, responsible citizen. Our board goals are listed on the agenda and also available on the website. Um, as a note, uh, Director Stzman um is attending via conference call. Um we will move to our consent agenda and I will take a motion um for approving that. >> So moved. >> Thank you Bent. And a second. >> Second. >> Great. Um just for everybody's awareness, this includes the approval of the agenda for tonight. uh last meetings, minutes, accounts payable, HR report, open enrollment, and um some emergent architecture professional service agreements. Any discussion? All those in favor

002say I. >> I >> oppose the same. >> That motion carried. This evening we have public comment and I will um give a small statement about public comment. Um the board recognizes the importance of citizen participation in school district matters in order to asssure citizens are heard and boarded meetings are conducted efficiently and in an organized manner. The board may set time aside for citizen participation. Uh tonight we have a member of our community, Latoya Mcccleintoch. McClinton, sorry. Um, we would just ask that remarks be kept to three minutes and germaine to district business. >> So, you may approach when you're ready. >> Um, hi, my name is Latoya McClinton. I am a parent of three children with the um, Cedar Falls District School. Um, one of my kids go to North Cedar, two of

003the other ones go to Holmes Junior High. Um, I've been going back and forth with administration building principles. I've been going back and forth with them regarding discrimination and harassment. Um, and in regards to this, I had to do a complaint with civil rights and my daughter been hurt two times since October intentionally. My daughter had to be rushed to the hospital just on January the 21st or 2nd. Um, constipated. I don't know where it came from. Me and her doctor is going through it now. Actually, she's going to have to go through a specialist and everything. The police officers been biased. Cedar Falls police been biased. They've been with the administration building in the school trying to taunt me and my kids. Every time I do a complaint, it's already it's always unfound. >>

004Unfound. >> The things that I'm saying that's going on, >> they come back and tell me that these things is not found. So, I came to meet with the board because this was my last step with the district. Period. I'm coming to address it to the board because that's not right. And should no kid be getting hurt at this point, that's that's hate. Cuz that's a kid. It shouldn't have never went this far. and and I got like 20 complaints in within the last three months including I did a review on the one the website and and and I'm study coming to a dead end. So I felt like this have to be addressed properly. So that's all I have to say. >> Thank you for attending this evening. >> Okay. Thank you. Um the

005next item uh is our communications and um James Pang will be our student board representative providing information. All right. How y'all doing tonight? Um I'm here to give a little update about uh what we've been up to in the last two weeks at Cedar Falls High. So um first thing we uh did was we set up a a bake sale. um slashsold roses as a part of our pedals for purpose um mission and the idea is to raise money for the University of Iowa uh dance marathon. That's um with the proceeds going to University of Iowa Children's Hospital. So um we raised some money with the um selling of the roses as well as the bake sale. And then on top of that, we're planning on holding a dodgeball tournament to raise funds as well.

006So with all those funds, hopefully we can make a nice uh contribution to the dance marathon um event. Uh in regards to student senate, we also have um a plan to volunteer at Windhaven Casino at Wind Haven Nursing Homes uh casino night on March 5th. So uh planning to do some great community work there. And then finally, um the volunteer club has done um two projects so far. We've uh created some tie blankets that we can donate to the Salvation Army and we've also volunteered at House of Hope and we've cleaned up another apartment there. So that's all I've got for you today. Thank you guys. >> Great. Thank you. >> James, personal question. What are your plans next year? What are you thinking? >> Oh man, we're seeing where the wind takes me, I

007guess. You know, um we got a >> Mr. woods laughed when I said that. So maybe I shouldn't have asked you. [laughter] >> Um, you know, it's still it's up in the air a little bit. You know, if you ask me in about [snorts] >> I'd say about two months, I'll give you I can give you a better answer then. >> I'll ask in two months. >> All right. [laughter] Have a great night. Thank you guys so much. >> And additionally, if somebody wanted to donate to the dance marathon, how could we do that? >> Um, good question >> here. How about I'll I'll talk to Mrs. Gardner maybe and then I think we can work something out there. Um, in regards to donation, we don't what we've done mainly is like, you know, buying

008and buying and tickets and such. So, um, I'll talk to Mrs. Gardner and I'll get back to you on that. >> That would be great. >> All right. Thank you guys so much. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you. >> Okay. All right. Have a great night. Thank you guys. >> Thank you. >> And now our director of communications, Janelle Darc, will give us the rest of the update. >> Yeah. Good evening, everyone. We'll um look at our presentation here real quick. One of my most favorite days of the entire year happened last week. [laughter] um all of especially in our kindergarten classrooms across the district. It was our hundth day of school and there are some fabulous photos across our elementary Facebook pages. So, I really encourage everyone to check these

009out. The uh creativity and um on the right there, those are the um young ladies that are at the entrance to Orchard Hill Elementary. If you can see, that's Mrs. Marchani and um Oh, I'm blanking on her name on the right. Loader. >> Miss Loader. Thank you. uh they dressed up and even changed their names that day. So, you really need to um go on and check that out. Lots of really fun things the students got to participate in. And this is one of the classes from Hansen Elementary, the whole class. Uh moving on, just wanted to do a quick shout out to our school counselors. Last week was National School Counseling Week and you see all of those wonderful smiling faces there. They are we have great school counselors across our district. You're going

010to hear from a few of them a little bit later in tonight's meeting. Uh I don't think I can understate how much our school counselors do and all the different roles they play um in their buildings and across the district. So a big thank you to all of them. And also wanted to give a congratulations to two of our robotics teams for the first tech challenge. We had the Carnivorous Rabbits, which I just love these team names by the way, and then the Saber Hoof Tigers. They're both headed to the FDC Iowa Championships down in Iowa City um at the end of February. And that the team 6420, which is on the left there, they earned the first place connect award. And that's actually students from Pete Holmes and the high school. And team 7880,

011which is the one on the right. Those are students from Pete and Holmes, and they took home the runnerup sustain award. So, congratulations to both of those teams. and and this was a great thing to be able to celebrate. Last week we had 12 students attend the first ever Hawkeye Community College high school automotive skills contest. And um we had two teams that participated and our teams got first and second place. So the team of Aiden, Liam, and Kaden got first place. And Kaden also was first place overall. You can see him on the right. And then the second place team of Colin, Jared, and Mason um were just slightly behind them in points and um received second place. And that's Adam Riley that is the instructor of that and it was um it's congratulations

012to him as well. And we had our women's wrestling team um placing at state. They had their state tournament last week. We had Annie Rarrett with fourth place, Lauren Wit fifth, Joby Conway with fifth, Destiny Hopper fifth, and Lena Schaefer eighth place. Congratulations to all of those girls. And we also actually had three wrestlers that qualified at regionals and the team had their third consecutive regional title. when they competed in regionals to get to who would go to state. So, congratulations to all of those wrestlers. And then our men's swimming were district champs just this last weekend was held in Debuke. And then their state swim begins this Friday, February 13th. So, make sure to follow along on Facebook and Twitter X to see um everything that's happening and when um and who what athletes

013will be competing for that as well. So, congratulations to the men's swim team. Also, then this last weekend there were two school records set. the 200 medley relay and then Sam Weaver in the hund breast. So congratulations also to that relay team and to Sam. And then of course the gold star nominations are still open through February 20th. So we really encourage everyone to scan that QR code. You can go online to goldstarteer.com and make your nomination. There are many, many deserving teachers across our district. So we really hope we can get some great nominations and then have some teachers recognized coming up for that in April and May. And our high school is undertaking the amazing performance of Lay Miz. They're going to be presenting it at the high school on March 5th, 6th,

014and 7th. We have separate Facebook events for all of those performances. You can go right on the Facebook event and click to get your tickets through Bound. Um all I have heard is amazing things about um how the production is going and um the rehearsals. So, I'm really looking forward to that and hope we have a good response from our community to come out and support our students. Make sure to follow along. We still have a lot a lot of postseason still to happen with basketball um coming up of course and then men's wrestling of course swim now um this weekend and then coming up of course all of our spring sports. And I added this in just to give it a try. So if you're watching this on TV on YouTube, you should be

015able to scan that QR code and it takes you right to a page to um if you'd like to be added to our district e newswsletter. something we typically send out twice a month with updates, announcements, information that I present on these evenings as well. But you can be quickly added to that list and get information. Um, anyone across the community that would like to be added can just scan that and then add in their information. And there's where you can follow along with everything happening. Any questions? >> I think the only thing that I would add is that I don't think the tickets for lay miz go on sale until the 16th. Well, that is very good information to share. >> And it's about two weeks out [laughter] is what I'm told because they

016are reserved seats. >> Oh, general admission. Oh, >> that is good to know. >> Very good to know. >> So, the um auditorium seats 8:25. >> Yes, >> these are the things I know. 8:25. >> Wonderful. Thank you, Susie. >> We'll have the pit in then probably. >> Every seat's great in the auditorium, too. Excuse me. It's the theater. That's what it says out front. >> Theater this time. >> Okay. >> Perfect. Thank you for that update, Susie. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. Well, now we get to the January financial. >> Yeah, absolutely. We'll go ahead and pull up the report this evening. Um this will just be a brief review as um as you know later on in this evening, we'll take a deeper dive into the district financials. So, just a quick review as

017to where we were with Janu end of January. Uh for our general fund, we had a little over revenues of $4.8 million with expenditures of $6.6 million for total cash investments of $16 million, $227,314. Uh we did have our management fund uh utilized for our uh property tax, our property insurance, casualty insurance, as well as workman's comps. You'll see those balances associated to our management. Uh you'll note our save. Uh we had a little over $1 million in revenues. Part of that was obviously our our monthly save that we receive. Um, but it also included our uh CFU um rebate from the high school, a little overund uh $38,000 um associated to that. And that was uh regarding the energy savings with the with the high school. And so that was included in those revenues

018associated. Uh you will also see a negative expenditure in our save. uh that was due to the fact of some expenditures that should have been actually in Pebble um and so there was just a transfer in those expenditures accordingly. So it does reflect a negative of that transfer to show um show that accordingly uh within the uh cash um total cash investments of a little over 17,156,876. Uh we do have our pebble. uh our pebble is utilized currently at this time uh for the construction of those funds are flowing through for the construction of the natiatorum which is completed but there are some finishing items as well as our Shields Tiger Performance Center of revenues of a little over 937, uh $225 of the majority of that in our pupil or most of that um

019was the donations received from the foundation uh for the payment that we received for the the Shields Tiger Performance Center and the Natiatorum. as we continue to move forward with that with those expenditures of a little over $570,000 for total cash investments of 13,479,620. We have our debt service. you'll see those uh minimal activity in that uh the majority of that revenue is our is uh interest with then uh expenditures associated to the um uh the use of the um bond agencies um for that $800 for total cash investments of $4,555,229. As we move forward then uh you'll see those remaining funds are student activity and where that balances accordingly of a little over $82,62. um our agency funds and then our enterprise funds which our enterprise fund is our nutrition um which is uh

020the revenues associated to that would be um 800 or excuse me 287,377 with those expenditures accordingly about $286,000 for total cash investments of $3,855,800. We have our student coffee shop as well. And then the rounds out with the River Hills Consortium as those flow through dollars as we've talked about previously with a balance of $20,284. And then the last two screens or the last two uh images um would be where we are to date as of our certified budget as of last year uh during March periods of time where we sit on those balances and as we look at those and we move forward with the next screen um if we need to make adjustments accordingly as we're talking about budget here in the next couple months. So any questions that you might have in

021January? Just two comments real quick. If we're able to go back to the first screen where it talked about the pepleum and the save dollars. I think this is just for in the future for board awareness as well as community awareness. Uh we've talked about this in the past. We did receive a $3.1 million inflation reduction act u grant through the federal government for the construction of the new high school and that'll be utilized for uh the Tiger Shields Tiger Performance Center. Those are dollars that because of the new high school when it was built, those are used back into that site. So, uh that'll be used for those. And then within the 10-year physical plan equipment levy planning document that we have, uh the two big projects that are coming up are the Peton

022Homes pool fillin and remodels. Uh and those are set aside for approximately uh 7 to8 million each. So you will see there's going to be dollars that will be coming out in the near future from both the save and the ple. Those should be coming to the board probably in May, maybe June. Uh so that's just for future awareness. Those have been talked about for multiple years and now that the new editorium is open, those are ready to move forward with. >> Excellent. I was actually going to comment on that and and maybe draw awareness that those two items in the consent agenda were basically kicking off the planning for that. I think the community might uh benefit from being aware that that that effectively is kicking off now. >> Yeah. So, we have to

023have an agreement in place so we can start moving through uh the planning and the organization of the design components. Um, and that's what that agreement was for. So, we can move kind of into the next phases of that process. So, yes, thank you. >> Any other comments? >> Okay. Um, the financial reports will be put on place uh for audit and file. Thank you. Um, next we have Monica Buer representing the Cedar Falls School Foundation to give us an update. Thank you for having me and thank you for serving on the school board. When I was asked to come tonight, I started thinking about what I could share and I realized pretty quickly I would not be able to share everything we do at the foundation. So I started thinking about what you as

024school school board members and me as an executive director might have in common. And one thing really stood out. We both look at a lot of numbers [laughter] and the numbers are so important. But tonight I'm going to invite you to look at what of a few of our numbers represent and what they help make possible. So to do that I'm going to ask for some small participation. [laughter] There's been a trend online called pick a card adventure and we're going to do something like that, but I've changed it to pick a number adventure. So, the number you choose will be what I share. Here's how it'll work. I have three slides to share and each slide has two numbers on each. If I call on you, all you need to do is choose one

025of the two numbers [cough and laughter] on the screen. Are you up for it? >> Sure. >> Thank you. Sure. [clears throat] >> Excuse me. >> Director Gruber, [cough] would you like to start us off? >> Am I saying the number there or just like one or >> just say one of these numbers? Yeah. >> 246,816. >> Thank you. That is the lifetime amount that the foundation has awarded in classroom excellence grants. Wow. Since 2008, the foundation has awarded grants. They're available to any staff member and can be team or individual applications. Rather than emp emphasize the things that were bought, I'm going to share a few testimonials on how these grants made our staff and students feel. An elementary student shared. I feel smart. I feel confident that I can do it. A staff

026member commented, "The grant has helped make our ideas possible." a junior high student. I helped film our variety show, then asked if I could start an afterchool club. From a first grade teacher, our kids are so engaged. And lastly, from a high school student, we were able to extend our reach and make a meaningful difference beyond the walls of our school. These grants are the extras, the nice to haves, the wouldn't it be great ifs ideas, but they're also a great example of how the foundation supports the district because we can provide grants that align with district goals. Director Peterson, please pick a number. 1,250. That's the amount of most of our scholarships. We have the privilege of managing 16 scholarship funds. You just heard a little bit about excellence grants and excellence grants are

027really great way to support a large number of students. On the other hand, scholarships are really special investment to support one student every year. We're just beginning our scholarship process. And to remind our board of our why, ahead of reading hundreds of essays, I asked a past recipient to share a small life update. She's given me permission to share it here as well. So, we're going to play the video. Hi everyone. My name is Abby D'vorak. I am a 2024 Cedar Falls graduate and recipient of the Martinsson family and Lauderbox scholarships. I just wanted to say thank you so much for your generosity, not only to me, but to all the students at Cedar Falls. I am currently at Coke College studying nursing and a Spanish minor. My favorite classes have been human anatomy, microbiology,

028and chemistry. One of my favorite college experiences has been traveling to Uganda with the biology department on May term. Outside of classes, I work as a certified pharmacy technician at a high pharmacy. I also tutor for classes. Uh, I'm involved in the concert choir here and I sing in a community choir. I hope everyone is doing well and had great holidays. Thank you so much again. Bye. Hi. [laughter] >> Scholarships are one way we help students in their lifelong learner journey. Director Orvis >> 1,350. >> Over the past five years, 1,350 people have trusted our organization to make a meaningful difference in Cedar Falls schools. Our donors are passionate about education. They want to help staff and students. And they each have a unique story on why they choose to give. Tribute gifts, which are

029gifts made in memory or in honor of someone, have been one of my favorite offerings of the foundation. These are really beautiful, joyful ways to celebrate lives and continue legacies. We've had people elect to name spaces in the new high school or have their name attached to a yearly grant or scholarship. Donors make these numbers, these stories, these adventures possible. This is only a glimpse of our work, but I hope it's given you a taste of what we do. Put concisely, we exist to turn generosity into opportunities for our students, staff, and community. We're so grateful for the partnership and we look forward to continuing the work. >> Do you have any questions for me? >> Thank you so much. Thank you so much. >> Really appreciate it. Any questions? >> I would just have

030a comment. I was in this position when Monica was hired and um we now have been a foundation for 17 years, 16 17 years. Um when we hired Monica seven or eight years ago into this role, we were still somewhat arguing over spending $100 at the uh at the table with the foundation board. and the growth, the professionalism, the focus that Monica has brought to this is unbelievable. Uh, thanks for all you've done and continue to do. >> Thank you. Thank you, Monica. >> Okay, we are now going to move into the approval of the 24 I think >> 2425 school audit year audit. Um, we should have Alex Bar on the line representing Alex Bar and and Company LLC in a Spanish minor. My favorite class of microbiology and chemistry. >> Might just be

031one moment. >> Hi everyone. >> Okay, >> excellent. I think we are now ready for you, Alex. >> Sure. Do you have the I was gonna ask Danell, do you have the presentation pulled up on the screen or do you want me to share my screen or >> No, we have it pulled up. >> There it is. There it is. So, thanks for having me tonight. My name is Alex Bar with Bar & Company LLC. We uh perform the FY25 audit. So, I'm here to present a short uh PowerPoint that kind of summarizes the audit. So, if we want to scroll to the next page. So this this slide kind of defines what our audit responsibilities and uh purpose is. Auditor's responsibility is to express an opinion on the management's district financial statements in accordance

032with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Uh auditor's responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on their audit. audit is in is conducted in accordance with a auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America and the standards applicable to financial audits contained in governmental audit standards issued by the comproller general of the United States. So that kind of defines our parameters and so in this in this case the opinion on the financial statements is the same as the prior years. It's an unqualified or unmodified opinion on the financial statements which is the best opinion we can give. We have one qualification because the foundation is included in the audit but we don't perform audit procedures on the foundation and so we have one qualification otherwise

033it's a standard unqualified unmodified opinion on the financial statements which is the best opinion we can give on a school audit. We can go ahead. So this this uh chart or graph kind of describes uh the revenue sources for the district and and you'll see property tax and uh unrestricted state grants represent the majority of the revenue that's received by the district. So it [snorts] kind of summarizes where the revenue sources are that are received by the district. We can go ahead now. Here's the expenditures for the district. all funds. Now, instruction expenses represent uh a large majority of all the expenditures of the district uh following by support services. So, that kind of summarizes where the funding is spent. We can scroll ahead. So, this this slide is a condensed statement of net position

034governmental funds. Um at the bottom it says net assets. So it's this slide's uh calculating total assets minus liabilities which equals equity or net assets essentially. So in FY23 total equity or net assets of the district was 81 million. Uh FY24 it grew to 117 million and as of FY25 it was 138 million as of June 25. We can go ahead and this kind of is the same figures in a in a chart format. Historical statement and net position governmental funds. Um you'll see on the far right FY25 I just mentioned 138 million. So this chart kind of just illustrates the growth of the district the past three years. We go ahead. And so here's some more detail on the governmental funds condensed balance sheet. Um, as of FY25, total cash was 47 million. Total

035receivables was 8 million. Uh, succeeding year property tax was 35 million. Inventory is $18 million. So total assets as of June of 25 were 91,48,000. Total liabilities was approximately 9 million. uh deferred inflows which is diapers and oped liabilities was 37 million. So at the very bottom far right for FY25 um total net assets or uh fund balance as of June of 25 was 91,48,643. We can scroll ahead. So now statement of net position proprietary funds. So this would be the school nutrition fund and the coffee shop. Um as of FY2 June of 25 the total cash was 3,800,000 uh inventories of 54,000. So total um then if you go farther down total total assets of the proprietary funds for the school nutrition and coffee shop were 3.9 million. Um total liabilities were 790,000. So

036total net position for the proprietary funds the school nutrition and coffee shop uh equity of the two funds was 3.2 million. We can scroll ahead. So this this slide called debt kind of summarizes the the debt obligations of the district for the past 3 years. Um as of June of 25 there were total bonds outstanding of 124 million total compensated absences of 4.9 million. net OPED liability of 2.3 million. Total other liabilities of 7.3 million. So the total governmental long-term debt as of June of 25 was 148,000 148 million, which was roughly a $12 million decrease from FY24. Um and then the business type activities are the proprietary funds had uh net pension liability and compensated absence liability of 620,000. So as of June of 25 the total debt for the district was 148,93,000. [snorts]

037You can scroll ahead. So included within the audit report is also the foundation uh which we don't audit but we report the financial figures of the foundation. So um as of June of 24 total net position was 8,47,000. As of June of 25 total net position assets minus liabilities was 6,774,471. So roughly a $1.3 million de decrease from the prior year. We can go ahead. So part one. So this this slide summarizes our schedule of findings. So part one go back here. I think I lost the lost the slide. >> We are still seeing it. >> There we go. There we go. [laughter] So part one summary of indep independent auditors results. This is our if you look at the back of the audit report there's a schedule of findings and questioning costs. This is

038part one of that schedule. Um an unmodified opinion was issued on the financial statements prepared in accordance with US generally accepted accounting principles. So that's the best opinion we can give on financial statements. The audit did not disclose any significant deficiencies in internal controls or financial reporting. So we found no problems in the accounting processes within the district. The audit did not disclose any non-compliance which is material to the financial statements. So during our testing, we didn't find any issues that were non-compliant and the audit did not disclose any significant deficiencies and internal control over major programs. So when it refers to major programs, it's a federal single audit. So we audited the child nutrition [clears throat] cluster federal program and title one and we found no issues within those two programs. We can go

039to the next slide. Uh letter E, an unmodified opinion was issued on compliance with requirements applicable to each major program that the audit did not disclose any findings which were required to be reported in accordance with uniform guidance section 200.515 and letter G as I discussed the major programs were child nutrition cluster and title one and letter I Cedar Falls Community School qualified as a low-risisk odd because of their internal control structure. We can go to the next slide. No non-compliance was noted. No internal control deficiencies were noted. I just want to make a comment that Danell and Jana do a very good job of uh segregation of duties within the accounting department. It's very important and they do a very good job of uh segregating duties uh based on the the staffing they have

040available. So, um, many schools we audit have segregation of duties issues or compliance issues and and Danell and Janna do a very good job of, uh, separating duties to the to the point where we don't have that comment. >> We can go to the next slide. We could go one forward. And so we do have one finding in the schedule of findings and question costs. Uh expenditures for the year ending June 30th 25 exceeded the amended certified budget amounts and the non-instructional expense function. Um it was by a very nominal amount. So uh in the world of budget over expenditures it was not a a high percentage it was very low percentage. It was basically due to the timing of expenditures in the proprietary funds. No expenditures we believe may not may not meet the

041requirements of public purpose as defined in attorney general's opinion dated April 25th, 1979. Uh we noted no inappropriate travel expenses to district employees or officials. No business transactions uh between the district and district officials or employees were noted. So we found no issues in those areas. Go to the next slide. Uh no transactions were noted between the district district officials or district employees and restricted donors. Shy bond coverage was adequate. Uh, no transactions were noted that would require board approval that weren't approved. Uh, we had noted no variances in the enrollment data or supplementary waiting data. So, those are all good findings. Uh, no non-compliance with the deposit investment provisions. The certified annual report was filed timely and no instances of categorical funding used to supplant rather than supplement other funds was noted. So those

042are all positive findings and there's no non-compliance issu uh noted within the statewide sales and service tax revenue fund. So here this next slide summarizes our letter to the board audit committee. These are standard communications that we have to issue. Um so during the year during FY25 the district adopted Gazsby 101 compensated absences and was properly accounted for by by uh Danell and Jana. uh we're required to disclose the estimates in the financial statements and in this case the estimate in the financial statements is depreciation with regard to capital assets. No difficulties encountered in performing the audit. Uh this is our first year doing the audit and Danell and Janet were very very well prepared and very responsive to everything we asked for. Um, we have we have several school audits we do and they

043were as responsive as as as any district we deal with. So, they do a very good job. Um, adjust letter D, adjustments to financial statements during the audit. We adjusted for OPED, some capital asset activity, and the compensated absence restatement. So, those are pretty standard adjustments we do for all schools. So, it's not not a red flag or anything. There's no disagreements with management. Um, letter F, management consultations with other accountants. Uh, we had we're aware of one consultation with the prior auditor which is required and we had no other findings or issues. Noted good system of inter internal control, good segregation of duties. So, uh, all in all, it was a good audit, clean audit, and went very well for a first year audit. >> Great. Thank you. Um, any questions for Mr. Bar?

044Any questions for our staff? >> No, I think I think we just appreciate um uh Mr. Bar's um willingness to perform the audit in a short amount of time and and uh uh appreciate all of the work that he has done with his team as well and and look forward to continuing that um that partnership as we move forward and um yeah, it was very much uh appreciated very much. >> Appreciate it. >> I will move then for a motion. I move that the Cedar Falls Community School District Board of Education approve the 2024 2025 school year audit by Barn Associates LLC as presented. >> And I'll take a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor would say I to accept. I >> I >> and um the same for uh for not and

045so that motion is approved. >> Have a good night. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bar. >> Um we next have the DCAP presentation with Mr. Rosber. >> Okay. Thank you so much for having us tonight. we are doing our annual uh DECAP presentation which is our district career and academic planning uh community report and so I have brought quite a team uh with us just a cross-section [laughter] uh of our DECAP team and so we're excited to share with you all uh what we've been up to in the last year as it relates to uh career and academic planning. So, uh, again with me, uh, tonight I have I have just a tremendous cross-section of our team, our school, many of our school counselors, um, here with us, and then also, uh, Mr. TJ

046Warren, who's our CAPS and community career facilitator with us. Um, so with me tonight again, TJ Warren, uh, who serves that role, Chris Wood, who's our our high school counselor, uh, Becky Linds, who is a school counselor at Pete Junior High, and Julie Rouse, who is a school counselor at Holmes Junior High. So, just a little bit about DECAP and IAP. And I've just kind of tried to segregate the roles here of of what all of the different components are. Uh, but the little red box is probably the the best way to describe it. Our district career and academic plan is our individual student career and academic plan roadmap. So, uh, the IAP is is had new legislation here within the last, uh, year that it now has gone clear down to fifth grade is

047where we want students to start planning for their future. And, and that that's well within what we've been doing anyway, uh, as with all of our work in durable skills, um, and authentic learning and things along those lines. And so now kids are also having lessons uh, through Zello uh, in for their career and academic plan. So, uh, it's been a good movement for us and so we'll you'll hear a lot about that in the school counselors in in Mr. Warren's report. The DECAP really has five essential components. Uh, and as a school district, we've tried to create a statement that really just represents these five essential components within uh our our purpose statement. And so, I've tried to highlight what we feel is most important. Uh, and it's it's really just in line with

048who we are as a school. So, uh, the first highlighted component I wanted to share with you is just integrating highquality, highv value, authentic learning experiences. We've been putting a lot of work into that over the past couple of years. Uh, we, as as many people know, we have a, uh, a capstone experience really in our school district with CAPS, uh, the the center for academ or sorry, uh, center for advanced professional studies. Sorry, I got DCAP in my mind. Um and and [clears throat] so uh that's that's really a good culminating experience. But we really have started sixth grade we have the authentic learning and even with the North Cedar project trying to pilot some of that stuff even earlier. This year for the first time ever we've started a CAPS experience in our

049junior high level. Uh and we'll talk a little bit about that later as well. But also that that highlighted component of discover discovering their purpose. So now kids even at a younger age uh as as early as fifth grade getting those authentic learning experiences to discover what their purpose and try to envision their future so that students are prepared for success in higher education training programs or the workforce. And finally uh community and industry industry partners and post-secary institutions are a big part of this planning process. and if many of you serve on the the um boards that that advise us in many of these uh things. And so, um that's just a big part of what we're doing. One I'm very proud of uh with the seventh grade explore caps, we've kind of gone

050beyond just business and industry and we've also started to partner with nonprofits. Uh and that's just been another great uh addition to to our community partnerships. So just a couple uh reviewing our goals from last year. Uh you can kind of see some of the work that we did toward that in the last year. So we set out to expand authentic workbased learning experiences for all students. And so just uh a ton of work has gone into sixth grade authentic learning. TJ's going to talk a little bit more about that. The the integration of explore caps and all of the work in the North Cedar project. Uh strengthening community and industry partnerships to increase access and quality job shadows. Uh we've we've added a career discovery coordinator in partnership with the AEA. That's been a

051really huge thing. Uh our goal was to set out to do 200 additional experiences at the high school above and beyond what we had done the last year. And so we're well on our way to get that uh taken care of. Align implementation across counseling cap CTE and district uh improvement efforts. Uh at the elementary level, we've integrated the Tiger 10 uh of durable skills uh which we've we've heard a lot about. And then we've done a lot of work with open way learning. And so uh just a lot of really good work uh toward our prior year school goals. We every year we get feedback from our RPP evaluation. Um and and quite honestly uh if if anything if any of these deficiencies, it's my storytelling ability within the DECAP uh report. And so

052that's that's really what the feedback was for me is I need to do a better job of of telling our story uh to this. And so all of these deficiencies uh I feel like we do quite an excellent job of. I need to do a better job of of telling the story in the decap report. And so that's a personal goal for me uh this upcoming year. So really what we're doing for this upcoming year is staying steadfast to our previous goals. We want to continue to to strengthen those things that we have going on already. Uh we do want to uh strengthen fifth and sixth grade uh academic planning and we're using Zello to do that. So, for the first time ever, we've we're integrating Zello in fifth and sixth grade. Uh, and expand

053and improve scaffolded work-based learning. Again, we're using a similar uh approach to that uh and trying to build those community partnerships. The counseling caps and CTE experience uh again, so we've implemented the Tiger 10 in the elementary. We're going to expand that to the secondary [clears throat] and then strengthen post-secondary decision readiness for every graduate and monitor outcomes to improve support. So, those are our goals. I'm going to turn it over uh to the people behind me to talk a little bit more about those things. >> Uh good evening. Excited to talk to you about our elementary experiences. And I think it's important to emphasize we have some really strong goals for elementary. Uh these are a couple that are on here. For our DECAP goal, we want 100% of our fifth and sixth grade

054students to experience Zello, in particular, the career investigation and career intentions uh assessments as a part of that goal. Additionally, we really want to try to bridge the sixth grade and seventh grade exploratory efforts and I think we're we're starting to make that really strong through the CAPS experience of seventh grade in addition to our authentic learning initiatives. I do want to emphasize um since we are starting earlier with career exploration, fifth grade uh has a a good strong unit already going, they specifically focus on what a career is in addition to the interests and talents that play within a career and how important that is to discover those and utilize those in their career development efforts. Additionally, they start to explore different options. Uh whether that's military, whether that's going right into the workforce

055or even college options. So researching careers is a heavily part of the fifth grade unit that they teach and uh a good experience for them to get started. At North Cedar, um Mr. Rossberg kind of mentioned that there's some really good exploratory efforts going there, too. But even more broadly than sixth grade, um K through, uh sixth grade is experiencing more of an authentic learning focus and emphasis. So this past fall, we've done some work specializing in some training for the teachers collectively there at at the um at the school. And I do want to kind of back up here. I I should have put this image on that previous slide, but we've come up with a set of principles for our teachers to really practice and facilitate. and North Cedar has really embraced this

056as they experience what how this can fit into authentic learning within their curriculum. So, it's grow um we we look at and this is similar to CAPS. We look at uh our instructors as a guide on the side, not the sage on the stage. Uh what that's what guide means real is we want them to experience a real world um problem solving experience whether that's in school or um with our community. We want them to actually own it. So it's not the teachers facilitating this work, it's the students. Additionally, we also want this to be worth um our students time and in addition our community members that are participating within that. So and lastly, I'll just mention our sixth grade efforts. As of last year, um we have really invested in authentic learning. Every sixth

057grade classroom, all of our students go through authentic learning. So they spend 30 minutes a day uh focusing on these these durable skills and developing them but then additionally um working on real world problems solving. So they will throughout a given year experience one inschool experience where they're trying to uh work on a problem within the school to solve that and they also do a um an actual community member event and and some schools are a little further along in their educational training with this. So they'll do maybe even a couple of those experiences but um ultimately we want at least two of those um experiences taking place. They get the opportunity to explore their interests, which then leads into our sixth grade career days that take place in six in in April, which are

058a lot of fun. You'll see the pictures on there. And they also take uh part in our CAPS innovation celebration. So there's a team from each school that will come and celebrate their project that they have accomplished. And so that's what you're seeing there. Uh so really uh good integrated experiences taking place within the elementary levels. All right. So, Julie and I get to take team the junior high journey. And so, we're excited to um show you a little bit more about exploring caps. You guys heard about that starting and we're coming to the end of our first full year of offering these exploratories uh for students to choose. So, it's really exciting. You can see a summary up there of some of the standards that student students are assessed on. And we're going to

059have a video here in a little bit playing in the background showing you a live uh demo day at Pete that we had back in December. And so you'll see some students that are uh presenting in front of uh family, friends, the community being able to um have their client there that they worked with. And so obviously they're able to execute a lot of the durable skills that they're um coming from the elementary with uh especially communication, teamwork, preparedness, and the list goes on. And so something else that we really work with students as we introduce as part of the junior high curriculum is the graphic you'll see at the bottom, which we call the career diamond. And so this is something that is kind of in our realm as part of our career development

060as school counselors. And so we uh really give students that visual of you know the more that you learn about yourself and the more that you learn about the world of work really helps you be able to kind of narrow down. And so it's nice to be able to see how this continues from uh 512. Now >> in 8th grade we continue these experiences with the health and careers course. All eighth graders are enrolled in the semester course throughout 8th grade and we are in there for the careers portion of that unit and we are building their knowledge of themsel in the world of work. And so we're very excited in a couple years that sixth graders will be more knowledgeable and have a little bit more background. But right now it's still very fresh

061and new to our eighth graders unless they've taken the seventh grade caps course. Our students learn a little bit about their personality style. They learn a lot about different careers that would match their personality, their interests, their skills. Um, I would love to go back and look at Aby's. Um, because I know for certain she was in a helping profession. Like it was very evident when she was an eighth grader that she was going to do great things and and we always tell them you don't need to know in eighth grade what you want to be today, but it's like a great idea to just start setting your eyes on where you want to be so you can start that journey now. Um, we also start our four-year plan process. Probably not their most favorite

062part of the career unit, but we just talk about the graduation requirements for Cedar Falls High School and how they can accomplish those in the next four years and surprisingly like they get really excited to share those with their family and talk about how they're going to get that done. Um some other things that they have available to them um just because they are working um kind of independently sometimes is they have some career choice boards where they're able to do a little bit more investigation outside of Zello. We build on what they learned about themselves in eighth grade and use what their knowledge was of themselves and the 16 clusters and they prioritize what are their three favorite clusters and we use that information to build their personalized experience for the career connections day.

063Um it is a wonderful day that both Pete and Holmes have had for four years now. Uh where we have a keynote speaker that is a community member and then we go to the Central Rivers AEA and they rotate between a purpose panel oftent times Cedar Falls members. They have CTE rotations where they get three experiences whether that's FCS, IT, business, um there's more. And then this career immersion networking which you're seeing today and we have lots of companies um and agencies that come over from the Cedar Valley and present to the kids and they're working on these networking skills such as a handshake and their personal pitch. Uh so just to conclude with um we don't have the slide showing right now but one thing that's really going to sequence us o over to

064the high school culmination is that we also work on the um academic plan with our ninth grade and we have high school counselors coming back into the ninth grade this week uh where we are able to um work on their scheduling for 10th grade. One thing that I have as a visual, maybe I updated this um later. So that's what happens when you put it in a little bit late, but you guys would be able to see um that the high school counselors have done a great job of creating a a spreadsheet that's called the one-stop shop. And so we have every freshman uh that creates a copy of their own one-stop shop and it's able to show all the links and it's a great um information tool for them as they schedule throughout high

065school but also something that they can utilize with their parents with their counselors and so it's great for uh academic planning. >> Thank you. >> Good evening everybody. Uh I feel like I have a lot to uh test up to after that. Uh [laughter] gonna wrap it all up. Um, so as a lot of what these guys talked about is kind of what happens in the culmination of high school. We're putting a lot of the pieces together from a lot of what the foundation's been laid, which is pretty awesome to see. Uh, you know, the from the alumni that you got to hear from today. James may not think it, but he will be one of those alumni. He's just got some big decisions ahead of him. So, I appreciate you putting him on the

066spot, though. We've done that quite often lately. [laughter] Um, so transitioning to high school obviously has its challenges coming from 9th grade to 10th grade. Um, what our junior high counselors do really good, as Becky just mentioned, is the the one-stop shop and and the course advising and the preparation that they've done to um have a path forward, not necessarily a specific uh plan. and and we even are working with seniors on that that it doesn't have to be exactly what do you want to do with the rest of your life but more or less what is what is the path that you need for it and how can we support you. So, as the high school, um, one of our missions is really to to integrate Zello a little bit more from, uh, kind

067of, if you would, like a Google lens, they have the opportunity to kind of play around and sandbox in it a lot more. They've learned the principles of it. Um, so I guess maybe back up to what Zello is, that's our career information system. Um, so, uh, it's a Facebook, a social media of sorts for students to get in there. And what's really cool with this starting in fifth grade now is that profile will sync with them all the way through. So, those career interest inventories, those matchmakers, they'll continue to develop over the time. Um, one of the specific areas that we've kind of highlighted with our four-year plans is utilizing our Tiger Time, which is becoming like our advisory. Um, it it's hard to get in uh to individually see 1300 students with four

068counselors and to advise them on their next steps. Um but so to be able to use the teachers in their advisory and and be able to get them into Zello and go through a lot of the same things these guys are doing as well uh has has been great. So along with the fifth grade and sixth grade goal, theirs is 100% completion. Uh we are rolling back into Zello really heavily this year for the first time since COVID really. Um we kind of stepped back a little bit just because of all the other things going on. Um, and we had direct feedback from seniors last year that that did have the opportunity to get and play around with Zela that they missed that opportunity so much just from the connection to what they're interested in

069to what path they should take after high school. Um, and then uh as a part of our four-year plan, we do individually meet with every student. So, we're in the process right now of meeting with every single sophomore and junior to individually discuss the plan that they originally developed as ninth graders. Um, and you'd be baffled at how many are actually stayed pretty similar. So, it's pretty cool to see that they put this plan in place. Um, and there's some slight adjustments. James had quite a few adjustments, but uh to his benefit. Um, and so to be able to see kind of them grow and continue to explore through CAPS or other avenues of uh what the next step is after high school. Um, some of our specific goals at the high school is, as

070Eric mentioned, kind of identifying some of those readiness gaps. So, um, in our senior exit surveys, we're asking our seniors what are the things that they missed out on, and that's kind of where we realized the importance of implementing Zello with more purpose and intention, um, this year, uh, which has been great. And then our work-based learning, Eric also alluded to Keith Hson in um, our building. Uh, pre-COVID, we had someone with the Cedar Valley Career Connections who placed over 500 job shadows in the community, uh, which was amazing for our students to have that experience. that funding was cut. So, we hadn't had anything up until this point. Um, and Keith hosted aformational session and we had 200 students show up. So, we knew the desire was there for our students to be in

071our community in addition to their CAPS experiences. Um, so he has uh one person, one man uh once a week he is working diligently to contact with students. Um, but we told them to uh tread lightly. uh we wanted our students going into these experiences with some knowledge beforehand, some research, some background, and then actually reflecting on the experiences. So, he has placed 42 as of today, I believe, and he's got 27 in progress, and he's hoping to get through all the rest from this school year. So, um and then finally, our goal around financial literacy and FA completion is our Americanore student leaders. We have three seniors that are paid, uh in our office that are supporting college and career readiness. Uh and their goal is 65% of our student body will have FASA

072completion uh which is above the state average. So um they are oh just under 50 I believe right now. So they're well on their way. So thank you very much. Best back to Eric. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. What what a neat thing Keith Halverson has been to our our district. I just want to mention that too. He's uh he came to me so excited the other day. there was a very difficult placement and after months of searching uh he found it and he he he said do you know this student and it happened to be actually uh Dr. Jill White's daughter but he didn't realize that at the time and so he he was so excited that he found a placement and so um he's he's just been a really great asset to us as

073well. So hopefully what you heard today is is that this has really been the work of what we've been doing for a number of years. uh they've expanded uh Iowa code to to say fifth through 12th grade, but really we've we're we've been treading that trending that way for quite some time uh preparing students for for their purpose um from from kindergarten on up. And so our our focus has been and will continue to be durable skills, the Tiger 10, uh authentic learning and community partnerships. So we're open to questions if you have any. >> Any questions? All right. I have maybe some comments and and a question to think about. Uh first of all, thank you so much. This is the exciting stuff that I think our board gets exposure to, but in a

074recent conversation, I can't remember the context, but it was kind of mentioned in the conversation that yeah, the school counselors are are pretty busy, so you know, it's it's hard for them to keep up with each individual student. And so I my question would be and maybe something to think about. Uh do do you as counselors feel that way? Do you feel like you have the resources and bandwidth to uh meet every student where they're at on their IAP plan? And if not, is there something that we as a board or administration could help help you uh better that goal? >> That's a great question. Thank you for asking that, especially after National School Counseling Week. Um, typically it's a great way for us to advocate. Um, our national association, the American School Counselor Association,

075has a recommended ratio of one school counselor to every 250 students. And I would say in our district, especially when I think about us at the junior highs, we are very fortunate that our ratios 1 to 350, 1 to 375. And obviously, you know, we would love um if we were able to get closer to that recommended ratio that we'd be able to have more intentional time and maybe even more follow-up, but as part of our three domains in school counseling, um academic and career are two of those three uh domains. And so that's a huge priority for us. And so we make the time and um that is something that we make time to be in the classroom. But also uh just hearing Chris be able to talk about those individual meetings with every

076junior, every senior, I'm sure in some sense they have to take things off their plate to be able to ensure that they can be intentional with individual meetings. And so obviously we know that that ratio is a little bit higher with our elementary, but we also know that the IAP and that individual plan is more 512. So, um I think we have um supported each other to make that best effort. Um could we do more? Yes. And we would love that. Um but we just appreciate the amazing support that we have had and that um you know, since I've been here, we have added to uh be able to have, you know, two full school counselors, full-time school counselors at both junior highs. Um and so I think that's something especially with the addition of

077having uh schoolbased mental health counseling that's been able to really help us. um when we come to our uh social emotional needs that we also have as another domain and so we really appreciate that support but I think that's a great question. >> Thank you. Anyone else? [clears throat] >> Yep. Just want to thank you for all the work you do. >> Thank you very much. Okay, we move on to section I, which is the district financial overview. Yeah, absolutely. We'll go ahead and pull up the report. This is a a little longer presentation tonight uh regarding the district. It's not the financials itself, but uh an overall [clears throat] of our district financials. Um it really is an overview um of of those that were in attendance and then those in the audience as

078well of our certified annual report. There's some um additional slides associated to that, but that gives us the opportunity really as we're moving into certified budget um to see where we're at, see where we might need to go um and and what our reflection is at this time. So we'll go ahead and get started because it is a little bit lengthy. to hold in. Um but also um ask questions if you have them as we move forward. Um uh or you can certainly wait until the end as well. So um really just that overriding purpose of of tonight is to just show that um we're meeting the needs of the Cedar Falls students, right? Um although it's not stated in every topic, that's what we revolve around. um how [clears throat] the funding is of

079the educational priorities of the district as well as then understanding how Iowa school finance works and meets those needs of the students. So tonight we're going to take a look at the governmental funding accounting standards. Alex kind of kind of mentioned those earlier tonight. Um as well as some key factors uh with the Iowa Public School Foundation formula. We'll go through that a little bit. We'll talk about the general fund um uh key indicators. Uh you'll note that those indicators are um the the fund balances, the the revenues and expenditures. We'll also talk about our restricted funds, those restricted funds specifically for those uses. And then again, we'll just wrap up uh with some overview. But again, really this just is an overview um mostly an overview of that certified annual report as of June

080of 2025 and where we sit at that time at this time. So this probably looks familiar. Um I I get a chuckle out of this uh each time everybody has seen it. Everybody knows what it means, but I do like to go over it quickly with you. Um this is just um our funds have specific purposes. And um I like to reflect that with the silos. And so we have our governmental funds, our proprietary funds, and our fiduciary funds. And Alex mentioned those throughout his presentation with the district audit as well. Um within our governmental funds, you'll see those those funds associated to that. That's our general fund. We'll primarily speak on that this evening. Um but we will get into those restricted funds minimally just to see where we're at. Um what those funds

081are used for. Uh we'll take a brief look at our proprietary funds, our enterprise fund, which is our nutrition fund. Um and student coffee shop as well then our fiduciary fund uh which is also our scholarships as well as then custodial funds which are dollars that are held on on behalf of others such as our PTOs, PTAs, our boosters, and then our River Hills Consortium. So, um, this slide probably looks familiar. I showed that, uh, a couple months ago now, uh, during my, uh, financial report. Um, I I think it's a great, uh, resource and tool provided by ISPs. Um, it just provides where the funding sources come from, um, for each particular fund as well as then the approved expenditures within those funds. And so, as I've spoken previously, you know, our general fund

082is I I like to describe it as our overall operations. Um it's it's our salaries and benefits of of our staff um and our support staff as well as then um the electricity, the water, the overall uh utilities associated to that, any supplies, materials that we may need. Um that is our overall general fund and we'll we'll mainly concentrate this evening on that. Um but then we will take a look at those other funds as well that provide um some of those specific uses and those restrictions. The majority of those funding sources come from state aid. They come from instructional um uh sir tax. Uh they come from property tax. Um there's federal federal funds associated to that. There's private donations. Um there's also um parent fees. And so as you can see um I

083like to call this the octopus uh diagram. You'll see where those tentacles go um specific to those fund sources and and those funds itself. So um within that though um besides the the silos and um those particular fund sources we do have a separate categorical funding silo and those silos are treated just the same. They are restricted. They can only be used for those specific purposes. Um and those silos or those categorical funding include like our teacher salary supplement. You might have heard of that. Um it's also our four-year-old preschool. Uh most recently the board did approve our at risk and dropout um as well as then our teacher leaders compensation. This just pro tag is is is another example. They have specific uses um and specific purposes um and those funds need to be

084used for those purposes. So as we move forward then as we're talking about those funds we also want to take a look at the funding formula. And again this funding formula is specific to the general fund. Though all of these items listed on the screen are important and they are a part of the foundation formula, I like to take a look at those that on the right hand side, the funding formula is pupil driven. Uh first and foremost, just pupil driven. It's it's provides local disc uh discretion and incentives. It does establish the maximum spending control. Um and we'll get into that in a little bit with some future slides. And then this uh foundation formula is the same for all Iowa K12 public schools and AEAs. >> Could you give a a quick explanation

085of that formula? The the elevator pitch of that? >> Yeah, actually I'm going to do that next. Oh, thank you. So yeah, abs. Well, not quite, but yes. So the the foundation formula is a big complex formula. Um it establishes with um the uniform tax levy. There's multiple different items in regards to the foundation formula to make those determinations, but all in all, um it's based on our um state cost per pupil um with then how that's determined. And so there's a long formula in regards to that to get to the point of how the funding is occurred through the district. >> But essentially, am I right that the funding per student is the same in Cedar Falls as it is in any other school district? It is the there is an exception to that

086and that has to do with one of the items um equity uh in regards to the the legislation and the gap but yes it is the same throughout the district. So it's set the state cost per pupil. Yep. Great question. >> So as we move forward then there are four key factors associated to this foundation formula. Um that's enrollment equalization um supplemental state aid which is SSA and balance. So, we're going to take a brief look at each one of those here and what those mean. So, overall, um, the first key factor is enrollment. Enrollment, as I said, it's pupil driven. Enrollment determines the majority of the funding received by the school district. Um, it is based on the October one count. So, for um funding for fiscal 27, our upcoming budget, um, that is,

087um, based on the October 1st of 2025. Um it does um the enrollment times the cost per pupil is 75% of of our general fund resources and our spending authority. The one thing to remember is the certified enrollment and the served enrollment. There is a difference between that. The certified enrollment are students that are living within your district but then that served enrollment are those students that are attending your district. So they might have openen enrolled students that are attending our district. the funding associated to that. Just as a reminder, if you have students enrolling in our district from other districts or we have other students attending other districts, those funds or that state cost per pupil and additional funding, a minor additional funding does follow those students accordingly. So, um you'll see in some

088slides here in the future, excuse [clears throat] me, um some dollars associated to that open enrollment um uh as those uh those dollars do follow that student accordingly. You'll see here on our open enrollment uh or enrollment history, you'll see some fluctuations throughout the years. Uh on this graph, you'll see uh the certified enrollment is identified in the blue. Um, and you'll see for fiscal or excuse me, October 25, uh, we had a little over 5,395 students, uh, we do have that open enrolled in, which is the red, uh, red bar. Uh, for, um, October 1st of 25, we had a little over 337 students with then tuition in, which, um, is not visible. It's green. Uh, can barely see it, but we did have five students associated. We review this and continue to monitor

089this because again as I've mentioned per previously um it's 75% of our total resources available to us and where those fluctuations occur how they may impact future decisions as we move forward with programming and uh staffing and other things with that. So um we do take a look at that rather closely. >> Denal what if the student changes after that October 1 date? >> Yeah, great question. >> What happens to the money? Yeah. So the the funding does become the districts. It does not follow the student accordingly um after that funding date. So um uh we do if it's it's I say butts and seats. Um that's how we always define it. Not always the greatest way to define it. Um but as of October one uh that count does occur. Um and those dollars

090do then have um the um with the district. Go ahead Andy. >> Yeah. And the only caveat to that is students with special needs. Those dollars are build out on a per need basis on a daily basis. So those would follow the students. >> Yeah. Okay. >> And you said uh school districts, but that would also include private school. >> Yes. Re >> Yes. Yep. Yep. >> Yep. Great question. So going into a little bit more depth with enrollment, we also take a look at projections and um RSP has um completed some projections for us over the years. uh you'll see the projections associated to in the in the red line um by RSP and then the actual in the gray line. Uh you'll note over the years uh we've been 3 to 5% um

091within those projections accordingly. There has been a few changes over the most recently over the last couple of years um with those changes and that's external um impacts throughout the district but it does impact obviously that funding and how that may look in the future. So as of right now, you'll see that that decrease according to um the projections based on RSP. When is their next update on these projections? >> So their projections were done right before the U state law passing the uh vouchers across the Iowa. So, >> right, >> we we will need to have them come back in sometime soon just so they can uh look at that based on all the different data that is currently available that was not prior to this. >> Right. Cuz this was last updated 2019,

092right? >> No, it was last updated 2023 or 2024. I'd have to go back and look at that. So, um this this will need to be updated sooner more than rather than later, more than likely. Okay. Well, the next key uh indicator of that foundation formula is equalization. And equalization really is the legislature established a law that cost per student across the state will be nearly equal. It doesn't say equal um but nearly equal and um for the for the access to quality education. So, the cost state per pupil for as of June uh 2025 was $7,826. That's the minimum. Um the maximum that districts could receive was that $7,966, a difference of $140. We have 325 districts in the state of Iowa. Of that, 223 districts are receiving that minimum state cost per pupil.

093Cedar Falls is one of them. um 102 districts are receiving a different amount associated to that. So there is inequity in in regards to the amount that some districts are receiving. Back to your question, Jeff, um but the state cost per pupil is set at that $7,826. >> So what does that look like? Um this just depicts where uh the number of districts associated to that, where they fall um and the different dollars associated to that up to that $140. The one thing to note is um in fiscal 25 they did not close that gap. Um fiscal 26 they did slowly close that gap. They added another $5 to it. So as of fiscal 26 the gap is now $135. Um over the last several years the gap was originally $175. So my comment in

094regards to this is they are slowly working towards that gap to close that gap. um based on information or uh information that we've seen um there was uh potential um comments in regards to again um slowly closing that gap with another $5 this this fiscal year as well for fiscal 27. So, >> can you remind me what the difference between the 223 at the state uh at the SCPB that and those that are at the funding level above it? Like is there a pattern in the difference between those schools or what was that? Yeah, it was really based on um in 1970 when the funding rate was was changed or when it was set um they um they they they didn't make that change and so it was based on the funding rate at that

095time and so it didn't adjust during that period of time. So the difference between that unfortunately has been since that period of time and so they're slowly working to to resolve that to get to that funding rate. >> But it's not like large schools or small schools. It's just kind of a mixed bag and of whatever happened. >> Yeah. >> 19 I don't even >> 50 years ago. >> It's a scatter gum across the state. >> Yep. >> Interesting. >> Y >> So as we move forward then uh we have our supplemental state aid. That is another key factor. Um as we all know that is legislature and governor um controlled increase available per student. Um you'll note that the cost per pupil for uh fiscal 25 was $7,826. This was um a this is

096a a simple formula actually. Um it you do take that rate of growth based on the legislature and governor um uh control of 2% adding that $157. So that in fiscal 26 that state cost per pupil was $7,983. You'll note then in fiscal 26 that additional $5 to make that state cost per pupil of $7,988 again for those districts that need to close that gap accordingly. Um you'll note then also the big thing to to really um mention is that the state foundation formula sets that expenditure ceiling for each of the school districts total spending authority and tells the school district how to fund that spending authority which we'll talk about spending authority. So spending authority what is it right? Um I like to talk in regards to it's a credit card. It's what we

097have available though it's a maximum limit. So though you may have that authority that ability to spend of that you may not have the cash. Um but you also um spending authority is a calculation. It's a large calculation. It does not generate its own cash. and any spending authority, which is extremely important to remember, um it does carry forward to the following fiscal year. So, we constantly monitor that to see where we end, what our spending authority is, where our expenditures are to ensure that we have the appropriate balances as we move forward with those fluctuations that do occur throughout the year based on certified enrollment, external, um different items, u additional staff, um increasing cost. it does impact this spending authority. So, just a a little overview of what the spending authority calculation looks

098like. It really is um this is a um a simpler complex a simpler formula rather than the complex formula, but it really is that combined district cost with those additions such as the dropout prevention, our four-year-old preschool, some other miscellaneous income, um as well as then the previous year's unspent budget authority equals what we can maximum maximum authority budget. That's that's totally what we can spend. um minus our expenditures equals our unspent authorized budget balance which is available which moves forward then that next year. So yeah, >> can you remind me what the you know just for those who may not be familiar with this concept like what is the rationale behind the uh spending authority as a concept? [clears throat] >> It goes back to um home rule versus Dylan's rule. And back in

099the 70s when this was created, there was a a mistrust that public schools would not spend their dollars wisely. So they put a spending cap on that. Um and so in essence, districts are rewarded by not spending their full budget aotments with the uh unspent balance that can roll forward. And that spun that unspent balance allows you then to uh carry forward just that little bit extra to make sure that the following years if there is something that occurs you can gain access to that unspent authority to be able to spend that uh on needed situations. >> So once you spent your unspent authority it's gone. >> That make sense? >> Kind of. Okay. Well, this does depict then what our unspent authorized budget worksheet looks like. Um, it just is a breakdown of that.

100It does show over the last three years. Um, after a decline, um, we have had gradual inclines over the last three years. We do anticipate for fiscal 26 a minimal increase um, with then fiscal 27 beginning with a decrease. So, this does just depict the the actual formula, how it's calculated, where the funds come from, and then what those bottom lines look like um over the last few years. >> And holy cow, I misspoke. Dylan's rule goes back to the late 1800s. So, it wasn't 1970s. Sorry. So, home rule versus Dylan's rule is where that comes from. Dylan Rule was a judge back in the late 1800s that did not believe public schools would spend their dollars or u budget dollars wisely enough. So they put in that parameter. >> Sorry, >> it's okay. I

101put you on the spot [laughter] still. >> And then last our last final key factor is is balance. And that's really the ratio of property tax and state aid that varies by district. It's property-rich districts will will receive less state aid. All districts, as you may or may not know, are is required to um levy, the uniform levy at $5.40 per thousand ces valuation. The state does come back and fill up um uh uh backfill up to that 88.4% level for that state foundation percentage. We then have our supplemental state aid that covers our property tax increase as a result of the increase in in cost per pupil within those additional levies. And those do vary um by district by dis uh district to district. So we've kind of taken a look at overall the

102foundation formula itself. We've taken a look at um the overall the the different um funds that we have available. We're kind of going to get into the numbers as everybody likes to look at and where we're at. Again, the majority of these slides are what was presented during our October CAR or certified annual report, but it just just gives you a reflection as to where we are currently um with as of June 30th of 2025. So, when we take a look at our fund balances, this is again still our general fund. Um you'll note the total assets is our our red bar. um our and total assets for those in the audience as well um those watching total assets is any cash um receivables and inventory and then our fund balance is is that total

103assets minus any payables. Uh and you'll note um our fund balance for uh fiscal 25 ended at that $15.5 million which um majority is um reason is is because of our cash on hand um our cash balances on hand specifically for our general fund. We'll uh we'll also note then within uh our general fund our revenues and expenditures and the history of that over the last five years. This does include our instructional support which I'll I'll look at at the next slide. Um, but you'll note for uh revenues for fiscal 25, we had a little over $73.2 million with expenditures of a little over $71.64 million associated to our general fund. We continue to monitor our revenues and expenditures to ensure we have the appropriate balances um as we move forward. We then do have

104our instructional support levy. Uh our instructional support levy is is unique in the sense that um this this is uh funds that we allow our buildings to have um uh use of um they have a set aside dollars associated to their particular buildings. They utilize this for um furniture um uh additional furniture or furniture replacement for staff uh staffing associated to their buildings as well as then supplies and material. This does fluctuate from year to year. Um and that's because uh this is unique. Um these funds do carry over. Um they're able to be used in the future where um the majority of general funds are uh use it or lose it. They do not carry over. And so you'll see um an increase in uh expenditures um based on the building's needs and determinations

105of their projects at that time. Um it's also equipment for the district. So um there's additional equipment that of needs as well, but you'll see the the revenues associated to that within the expenditures may be higher because of those carryover balances as they've prepared for some of those additional needs um in the future at their buildings. The one thing to note in fiscal 20 uh 23 was the the first year of the income sir tax associated to that. So those funds do receive in a rears and so that's why you see that fluctuation in regards to the revenues actually received during that period of time. We also take a look at the history of our general fund revenues. Um uh you'll note in fiscal 25 we had local property tax of a little over $21.5

106million with our local which is the red line. um that is um our open enrolled in uh the dollars associated to that as well as any rentals, any miscellaneous income, any district fees associated. But the majority of that $6 million is that open enrolled in based on our um our enrollment count as I've I've spoken about as well as special ed dollars associated to that that follow the students. Um, we have the $437 million in state as well as then in federal funding of a little over $1.79 million. You'll see some uh decline in that over the last several years. The majority of that is our ESSER funds. The district did utilize those ESSER funds. Um there is also a decrease in our Medicaid dollars that we've received um for the district as well. And

107then title dollars are our federal funds as well. So there has been a decline um over the uh the past several years um with those funds accordingly. >> Can I just double check one thing? >> Yeah. >> On your first column, >> my first >> that's 22 to 23. >> Oh, yep. >> I'm guessing that that's just a duplication of Okay. >> It is. Yep. Great catch. Thank you. I think the date's just wrong on it. So, thank you. Excuse me. It is a duplication. Good catch. Um so as we spoke as well um we've taken a look at some of the numbers associated to that. Um one of the items that ISB has developed are some key indicators and some snapshots of the district's financial health and we'll take a brief look at those.

108Um one of the items or the key indicators is certified enrollment. We've kind of spoken on that previously and in some slides associated to that. We'll take a brief look at the financial solveny ratio, the unspent budget authority and that ratio as well as then salaries and benefits to total budget ratio. So what does that look like in regards to our solveny ratio? And that really just does measure the district's fund equity position where we're at. Uh you'll note that there has been an increase associated to that. That is due to the fact of the cash on hand. Um uh you'll note for fiscal 25 we're a little over 19%. Um but it's really just uh ensuring that we have the appropriate funds um on hand to make those uh payments needed for our district

109expenses as we move forward. And you'll see that that has gradually increased but again that is is specifically due to that cash on hand that we have. You'll also note the the um general fund days net cash ratio uh that has increased. Well, that would increase because also our cash on hand has increased. Um average goal um uh and this is businesswide. This is public and private is is about three months, 90 days, three months is desired. You'll see we are um slightly above that um over the last two years. We do anticipate this to decrease in in uh beginning in fiscal uh flat in fiscal 26 but then decrease in fiscal 27. So you'll see a decrease in that. Again, this does fluctuate from year to year. We do anticipate the that to level

110off then as we continue to move forward to be at the desired of three months or 90 days as indicated um below. We then have our history of the unspent budget authority in dollars. Um the blue line indicates the total unspent authority. Uh you'll note that is 16.24 million for fiscal 25. The difference the red bar is um the difference of the categoricals because those categoricals have their required uses. They have to be removed from that. And so that leaves um that unspent authority of a little over $14.4 million. Um and again that would include your um TSS your four year four-year-old preschool tag those particular items. So we do anticipate a minimal increase in fiscal 26 um with then a decrease in fiscal 27 um based on current projections. If that goes up obviously

111our our unspent budget authority ratio goes up and that does reflect accordingly on this graph. Um the district is currently at 16.4 for fiscal 25. Um past boards have set a goal um an unwritten goal or a known goal of of approximately 10 to 16% um of unspent authority over expenditures is desired. We're currently at a little over 16.4%. So just on that higher end of that um 15%. Right within there. But again, we do anticipate this to decrease um in in uh fiscal 27. So, so where does that all look like and and what does that look like? Based on ISB recommendations, uh you'll note um spending authority or UAB versus cash, the solveny ratio. Uh you'll note that um uh for our solvency ratios and the the columns associated to that anywhere from

112less than 0% to above 25% we want to watch to make sure that we stay within the acceptable um good best categories associated to that and not have too much cash to be excessive or not enough cash to pay our bills accordingly. And so at this point in time, the district solven ratio is at 19.3% as indicated on prior slides. So we fall within that 17 to 25% within then then that unspent budget of um authorized budget or UAB ratio at um that 16.4% falling in that 7 to 17%. Again, this is based on ISB recommendations. Um, of the 325 districts, uh, approximately about 35 to 40 districts fall within that best category, um, associated to to these ratios and those recommendations of ISAB. So, >> and I think it's uh, very telling one of

113the most important things with school finance is cash is not the driver. It's your spending authority. And you can see that top line in red where it says very, very high concern. All those are when you do not have budget authority. So, it is possible in the state of Iowa to actually have no budget authority, cash in the bank. You can't spend the cash as a school district because you don't have the authority to expend that cash. >> Thank you. >> Crazy. >> That is. >> And that last key key indicator that ISB recommends um review regarding the snapshot is just that salary and benefits to total expenditures ratio. and our district and and as other districts um it's 80 to 85% within um salaries and benefits associated to that and that really does measure

114the district's budget dedicated to labor cost. You'll see a slight increase from the prior year. This does fluctuate based on staffing needs um benefit cost um salary cost associated to that um throughout that fiscal year. So we do anticipate this uh in fiscal 26 to be at about that 84% again. So we'll be within that 80 to 85% um as normal through um as other districts are. So we talked about those uh those key indicators, but we also talk about the history of supplemental state aid. Um we don't know where supplemental state aid is at this time. Um we've heard anywhere from uh 1.75% to 2% um to requests of of larger than that. Um currently this just depicts um what the state average has been over the last several years as well as then

115Cedar Falls schools based on um uh certified enrollment and based on growth and where we fall with those dollars associated to that. Uh you'll note over the last few years um uh we have uh received approximately about 2% on an average over the last several years um within the district the last couple of years being at that 1% with which we do anticipate again for fiscal 27 with that um with those potentials of 1.75 to 2% being at that uh 1% new money for the district. So, so we made it through the general fund. Um, I promise the next few slides will go much quicker. Um, uh, we will just, uh, briefly review what the uses are, what those available balances are, but then again, um, the importance of of of that governmental, proprietary, and

116fiduciary funds. So let's take a look quickly at at in regards to those remaining funds and those uses the majority of these are all restricted funds just so you're aware of that. Uh what that what I mean by that is we cannot utilize them for salaries and benefits. They have their specific um purposes. Uh management fund is one of those. The funding source as I've indicated is is board of education control. It is a property tax. its uses is our property and liability insuranceances as well as our insurance premiums um property loss um as well as any uh unemployment claims. You'll note for our management fund you'll see um uh uh the the last five years uh fund balance and total assets associated to that. [clears throat] Excuse me, I'm sorry. uh you will see

117an increase in fiscal 25 and that really is due um because of the increases that the district has received um over the last several years to ensure that we can pay those those um those those benefits accordingly. Um we've received anywhere from 14 to 20% increases as well as building uh value increases and that specifically was started uh at the end of COVID we start to we started to see those increases. Um that's not specific to Cedar Falls schools. I want to remind those watching um not because of our claims, not because of anything that has occurred at Cedar Falls schools, but it's it's actually nationwide. It's it's unfortunate but um it is as you probably see in your own insuranceances um the the it is pushed back then to to those individuals and so

118um we are seeing that increase and those needs for that increase and therefore uh that balance accordingly. we will see a slight increase in fiscal 26 for the management fund with then again um levying off accordingly and again those funds are associated to be able to issue those payments accordingly at the beginning of the school of that year >> and according to Denell's previous slide as well those are property casual insurance not uh health insurance or other insurance costs so [clears throat] those 20 to 30% insurance costs and increases over the last uh two to three years have all been property casual >> is that going to be the to baseline because like some of that's like bringing the new school online and the evaluation of that. So like that increase >> the big jump

119was assessment of the high school and just adding that into the kind of the the roles but uh we anticipate that there will be some increases over the next few years as well. like now we're going to see stability kind of at that higher level because of the new building and other [snorts] >> driven by the new building and among other things. >> We we hope so. What they had done for a long time previously back in the early 2020s was they kind of did a replacement cost but it wasn't the actual cost of the replacement. Um, so what they have found out over time, tornado hits a building, what they anticipated and what they were charged in insurance for was a $5,000 replacement. Cost to to rebuild the school was $15 million. Um, there

120was a big difference there. So, they've upped the assessments and the replacement value of buildings across across the Midwest. Uh, really uh and those are where those new dollars are kind of attributed to. >> But like future and future versions of this graph are not going to see that >> gigantic jump. You're going to start seeing it kind of settle at that new >> correct >> what is it 122 about 1,100 1200 >> Yep. >> Knock on >> thousand. >> Yep. >> So we have our save um secure vision for education. That's a restricted fund otherwise known I often say 1 cent sales tax. Um that that's sales tax revenue that is uh distributed monthly per pupil. Um it the uses um are very common. We utilize them for construction remodeling um any type of

121repairs um as well as um principal and interest of our retirement of our uh sales tax revenue bonds. And so what does that look like in regards to um uh revenues and expenditures of the history? This gives the last 20 years. I know it's rather difficult to read on there. Uh but you'll see that the history associated to that. Um as well as then the sales tax revenue bond sales most recently in um where we had the 10 million and the $32.9 million which was utilized for the construction of the new high school. Currently um we have that net available of a little over $15.8 million. And as Dr. Bati indicated earlier in the evening um we'll be getting uh utilizing those funds accordingly for uh the remodel of Pete and Homes pools and so

122as we move forward with that um utilizing those dollars available to us. So again this just depicts where those balances are associated to in 2021. Uh you'll see that that was actually the sale of the sales tax revenue bonds. So you'll see that fund balance accordingly um within our end of year of 2025 with that for $15.8 million. This does just reflect our revenue bond debt. Um Alex during our um uh report on the audit did uh mention our debt associated to uh some bonds. Uh you'll see the three sales tax revenue bonds associated to this. We have our 2016 which uh ends in June 30th of 2028 and then the 2019 which will end then in June 30th of 2029 with then that remaining bond of the 2021 with June of uh 2039. So

123we do also have our physical plant and levy again another restricted fund. This is board controlled up to that 33 cents per 1,000 assessed valuation uh with then voter approved additional of $1.34. Again uh this is utilized for purchases or improvements of grounds um the construction or repair um as well as any uh equipment um as Dr. Pati indicated as well. Uh we had our uh 10-year PPE plan that uh the board approved earlier this year which in includes also our our fleet as well as uh our roofing plan over the years. And so those are what the funds are utilized for within the pble plan. Most recently though uh we've been utilizing this fund for uh the Natiatorum as well as the Tiger Shields Tiger Performance Center. So, you'll see some fluctuations in the

124funding associated to that. And those dollars um of that uh fund balance of $1.6 million do reflect those funds um provided by the city as well as uh the foundation or the the donors that have provided for uh the construction of those two facilities. And so you'll begin to see that uh decrease over the next several years as we've uh completed the uh natiatorum and continue with um phase two of of the TPC center. So then we also do have our debt service levy again that really this just depicts what that is um the voters did approve um as well as then uh it is utilized to u retire that principle and interest on those bonds associated to that. what that balance looks like for this particular fiscal uh 25. You'll see a little over

125$50,000. The majority of that is interest associated to that fund. Um but which is utilized for uh payments um in the future as we move forward uh with that principle and interest. Uh this does show then what those bonds are associated to. Um you'll see, excuse me, the community did so graciously pass those two bonds um to allow us uh series 2017 which was utilized for the construction of Aldrich Elementary and the remodel of North Cedar and Orchard Hill as well as then uh the $69.9 million for the construction of the high school and those dates associated to that as when those uh those debts will be um completed. Almost done, I promise. Couple more slides. Activity fund. Our activity fund is is uh the funding source is our gate receipts as well as any

126student fundraising. And then the uses of that is our co-curricular and extracurricular activities. Again, a restricted fund. The funds associated to that, our fund balance is a little over 913,000. Uh Mr. Oranic does a fantastic job monitoring and managing these funds associated to our athletics and our co-curricular. So again, uh the utilization of those funds in the future with that fund balance. And then finally, we have our nutrition fund, which is our lunch fees and state and federal reimbursements. Excuse me. Um as well as then any uses of that would be for our salaries and benefits and food and supplies. Excuse me a minute. A lot of talking this evening. Excuse [laughter and cough] [clears throat] me. Um, and again, where those fund balances occur at the end of this fiscal year, it is a

127requirement to show where that fund balance would be with without the pension as well. Um, we ended up at that $3.2 million for our nutrition fund. [cough and clears throat] And then finally, oh, I apologize. Excuse me. Um, just an overall summary. Um, as of June 30th of 2025, the overall condition, our cash balances um have increased from June 30th of 2024. We did anticipate that. Our current cash ratio is at 108 um which did increase our solveny ratio. We do anticipate that to decrease over the next couple of years and stabilize with then that um unspent budget authority increased um from fiscal 24 to fiscal 25. But again, we do anticipate um that to to decrease with planned decreases in in fiscal 26 and 27. But really, the overall message tonight is is, you

128know, the decreases and increases in enrollment without increases in supplemental state aid really does put pressure on the general fund um and and the programs that we offer and and those items in which we can serve our students accordingly. Um but I cannot um um I I I don't want to fail in in just offering my thanks to really um those on the screen, our executive uh executive administration, our board of education. Um this really is a collaborative effort to ensure we are fiscally responsible and and sound within our district. and and uh this just gives us an opportunity as we move forward um as we talk about um certified budget here in the next couple of months. So any questions and again I apologize for my my coughing. I think it's always a great

129um great presentation. and I've seen several years of it and u it is a reminder of um while it's complex um the district manages it um and um articulates it so very well. So anything else? >> Thank you Danell for making it very understandable. >> Yes, thank you so much. >> Although there will not be a quiz after [laughter] >> there will not. >> I should put that on the end. >> Okay. Uh having completed that we are going to set a public hearing for the 26 27 school year calendar. >> Yes. So I think uh Denny put together a slide. Thank you very much for that Denny. Um this is so when it comes to school calendars there's not a lot of variation that we can create or do just because the state code

130and the requirements around when we can start, how we can start. uh we have uh so many student hours that we we have to have in and we we have a calendar based on the amount of uh staff days that um are uh under contract for those to fill into the to the calendar. A lot of different components that weigh into a staff calendar when it or the overall school calendar when it comes to when you can graduate and how many days seniors can have off. What does it look like as you now we set kind of the day before Thanksgiving that Wednesday would be no school. That's something that we we did several years ago and I don't think that's ever going to be redone because that's something that I think a lot of

131people appreciate. So just a a snapshot of the calendar. This is to set the public hearing continue to get feedback on this. Uh we'd have staff in service days. The first day of skill school would be Monday January 24th. Uh which is the first day we can actually have school in the state of Iowa. Um you can see that we have uh gone towards a kind of a flexible module where or model where uh there's a lot of required um um components of summer work uh that our staff has to do especially our teaching staff. uh if that is done before the September I can't see that is that the 4th uh which is the Friday before Labor Day weekend we get out of school half day at that time then staff can leave as

132well at that time for our teaching staff based on the required trainings and then no school on Monday the 7th uh you can kind of look into the future uh and see what some of those corresponding dates are. Uh no school on the Thanksgiving Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Uh we have heard really a lot of feedback around this past uh winter break, Christmas break. Uh what that felt like, how much time was off. So this sat a little differently. We had to kind of figure out uh bringing back staff for a professional development or starting with professional development. Uh we wanted to keep really kind of almost two weeks in intact. Uh so there is no school for students for those two weeks. Trying to match that with parent needs and wants as well because parents

133typically look at that calendar of oh when we come back after uh uh the first in New Year's we kind of expect kids to be back in school. So we we are looking at a staff inservice on December 21st and then have uh basically 13 days off for staff uh during that time frame. Spring break is always corresponding uh dates with you and I when they set their spring break and we do that for various reasons with scheduling and then you can see the remainder of the corresponding dates. We do have down that the last day of school would be June 1st. We know that that would more than likely change based on inclement weather and and snow dates. Uh a lot of people ask why don't we build in snow dates but simply built

134in snow dates pushes that last day back. So you could build a snow day in but then your last day is going to be June 2nd or June 3rd. So, uh, we just let people know that those last days are going to be added on under the calendar. >> Okay. >> Hey, Andy. Um would it be can would it be um on the final published version of it would be possible to have you know a couple lines of information like um especially for those who are either new to the district either moving into the community or just starting new students but the those early outs and the late starts that we have just consistently throughout the year just so you know those people who are not familiar with the normal operations haven't you know they

135have maybe you will see it on the final printed calendar. >> Yes, we can certainly do that. Uh I'd asked that question as well earlier and and there's some communication that goes out with the buildings, but I think it's wise to have it on this as well. So, we can we can highlight that and put that off to the side underneath one of the uh uh kind of addendums. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Anything else? Then we will take a motion to set that public hearing. I move that the Cedar Falls Community School District Board of Education set a public hearing on March 9th, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. for the 2026 20227 school year calendar. >> And a second, please second. >> Okay. Any additional discussion? All those in favor would say I. >> I.

136>> Opposed to the same. And that motion carried. Thank you so much. Uh moving into the superintendent's report. >> Uh since we have another meeting after this meeting, I'm going to keep this extremely short. Uh that uh again, a lot of uh work, discussion, dialogue. Please uh advocate as well for all the legislative components that are going on. Trying to send out as much as I possibly can to the board with the variety updates. Uh the urgent urban education network always does a great job. Sometimes you get other ones with the Iowa station Iowa Association of School Boards, but uh please read through those and uh there's always great updates in there. >> Okay. And I think because we've set the public hearing for the school year calendar on March 9th, that will be our

137next meeting. >> That is correct. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Um and any um questions, comments, or concerns from board members? I do. Sorry, that was kind of loud. Um, I just wanted to let everybody know for the state supplemental aid bill, it has been renamed after it got out of the education committee. It is now SF2201 and is eligible to for debate as early as tomorrow um on the Senate floor. I have not seen a House bill come up. So, the governor uh the Senate and the House supposedly are supposed to have each their own, but I haven't seen anything from the House. And again, the Senate brought 1.75 and the governor brought 2.0. So, um, as soon as I hear more, I will put something on my Facebook, but if you haven't already,

138please email all of our Senate legislators and plead our case. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, we will now be we do have a close session this evening. Um, and I'm going to take a motion to um, for that >> I move that the school board conduct a hearing to consider the disciplinary action against a student as provided by Iowa code section 21.5 section 1E and to review and discuss records which are required by state or federal law to be kept confidential as provided by Iowa code section 21.51A. Hey. >> Okay. I need a second, please. >> I second. >> Okay. And then we will take a roll call vote on this. Absolutely. Director Hines, >> here. >> Director Guber, >> hi. >> Director Stzman, >> here. >> Director Peterson, >> yes. >> Director Cross, >>

139yes. >> Director Orvis, >> yes. >> Director Rogers, >> here. Okay, we will now move into close session and um we will return to open session after our close session um to vote on to adopt or reject the recommendation and um that information will be available on our website. Okay, >> we'll go next door. >> And we will be going next door. So we are adjouring now.