001Good evening. This regular meeting of January 12th, 2026 of the Debut Community School District Board of Education is called to order. Our mission is to develop worldclass learners and citizens of character in a safe and inclusive learning community. Roll call, please. Bradley, >> here. >> Hamill, >> here. >> Henchin, here. >> Jacobitzkazire, >> here. Parks, >> here. Sansancy, >> here. >> Whitmouth here. All right, we're happy to welcome students from Marshall to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. >> Hi, my name is Carlos Sias and I'm in fifth grade. >> Hi, my name is Martha Siasa and I'm from fourth grade. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Very loud
002and clear. >> Yes. >> I move the board of education approve the agenda as submitted. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the agenda as submitted. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That motion carries. >> I move the board of education approve the minutes of the annual organi organizational meeting of December 8th, 2025 as submitted. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the minutes of the annual organizational meeting of December 8th, 2025 as submitted. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed? That motion carries. >> I move that the board of education suspend the rules of order and go into open forum. >>
003Second. >> It's been moved and seconded that the board of education suspend the rules of order and go into open forum. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That motion also carries. Uh so at this time we're happy to welcome Nick Hess from Marshall to tell us what's going well at his school. All right. Good evening. I'm Nick Hus. I'm the principal of Marshall Elementary School. I am in my my second year at Marshall. Um, you know, the things that really are going well with Marshall are it it's just our people. Um, we have students that arrive every day that are ready to learn and grow and give their best and we have a staff that is deeply committed to supporting the whole child. um
004you know what there's a there's a lot of balance between between academics and nurturing that that our staff does. Um it's really a culture that that's built on safety and care and and continuous uh continuous improvement. Um one of our really recent successes has been our family engagement. So, we had 91% of our families or our students had an adult attend conferences this fall. Um, that number is up from what was historically mid80s. So, >> um, the other couple things we have a we have a PTO led by I'm going to say her name, Katie Larson. She probably won't like it, but she is a [laughter] she is a superwoman of our PTO. It is very very small, but it's mighty. Um we've we just recently had two family engagement events. So in November um
005we had what was now our annual spaghetti dinner and that is an event where Marshall families can come get a free meal um spend time together and that is in memory of Jesse and um you know that was one of his visions when he was at Marshall. So, it's awesome that we've come up with a way to carry that out. And then in December, they hosted what was called gingerbread night. Um, I guess the spaghetti dinner, we had close to 100 families. Um, gingerbread night. We had about about 80. That was a holiday themed activity night. Um, that really encouraged creativity and family bonding. Um, academically, we've shown significant progress over the past year. Um in 2024 our status on the school report card was priority. Um 2025 we moved to acceptable. So um really
006looking at at continuing to move that dial, move those numbers up, it really shows the staff is dedicated and wants to continuously improve their instructional practices. So, you know, again, Marshall strength, it comes from the the people, the staff, the families. The one thing that strikes me at Marshall is how trusting families are of the staff. They know that there the staff, they have their kids' best interest at heart. So, and then that's just an appreciation that ends up being expressed through the whole community. So, all right. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> At the at this time, anyone else who would like to address the board can do so at this time. We ask that you come to the podium, state your full name, your connection to the district, and to limit
007your remarks to three minutes using our timer. And please know that Iowa code prohibits us from interacting or discussing what you say with you, but we are listening. So, if anyone would like to um address the board, you can do so at this time. >> Seeing none, I move the board of education reinstate the rules of order and return to regular session. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded that the board of education reinstate the rules of order and return to regular session. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? That motion carries. Okay, so that moves us to board salutes. I believe there are a few board salutes around the table. Who wants to go first? >> Start. Thank you. >> Um, I have a
008board salute that goes out to the Hemstead High School debate team for their outstanding performance at the IHSSA state congressional debate tournament for 2026 and that was recently this past weekend in Ankeny. This year the team had its very best results ever at this competition and it's divided by chamber. So in the A chamber, this is the top 20 debaters in the state of Iowa. Audi Patel placed fifth place overall. Um this was Hemstead's highest place student in the program's 21-year history. And the B Chamber, this is the students number 21 through 40. Uh Cristiana Al Curry placed second, Kartukchuk placed fifth, and Anthony Kefir placed 11th. The C Chambers next. That's the 41st through 60th debater. Eli Hoover got fifth place. And then in the D chamber, this is the 61st through the 90th
009debaters in the state of Iowa. Levi Durham placed 11th. So congratulations go to these students and to their debate coach Don Stanner and assistant coach Kunal Chuk who's a 2000 Hempstead graduate, a graduate of Vanderbilt University and a former national debate qualifier from the Hemstead team. >> Amazing. That's great. >> Thank you. >> I have another board salute which goes out to the Debuke Senior High School students who took their learning beyond the classroom uh through the model United Nations. They represented multiple committees at the Iowa youth symposium at the state capital along with students from across the state. They stepped into the roles of US diplomats and collaborated to develop resolution on resolutions on real world global issues. Four RAM stood out for their leadership and were recognized for their uh strong collaboration and
010engagement in United Nations procedures. They are Anna Garrett Doulette, Payton Decker, Morgan Wagland, and Will Worernamont. We're proud of these students for representing Debuke Senior and showcasing the power of student voice, civic engagement, and global citizenship. >> Awesome. Thank you. And one more. >> I have one. Um, I'm very pleased to offer a board salute that has uh addresses the Arts Trek program. The arts track program has been a part of our district for a very long time and I've seen firsthand how it can change a child's perspective. To experience some of the elements of the art world that this program makes possible is is a very powerful thing. So I'll just specifically mention uh salute to all the fifth grade students who participated in the art tracks field trip this year. It was a
011very enriching experience at the Debuke Museum of Art. And during that visit, students explored and compared the photographic works of Edward Curtis and Will Wilson, gaining insight into how portraiture can reflect identity, culture, and perspective. So each student participating took a self-portrait as part of the experience and those portraits are now on display at the Debuke Museum of Arts temporary location and in the Dupacco Voices building located at 1000 Jackson Street in the Millwork District. The exhibit runs through January 30th. And of course, we encourage the community to get out to the Voices building to the Debuke Museum of Art and to experience firsthand some of that um exciting u things learning that's taken place. I'd also like to offer a thanks to Brad Modern and Brooke Hensley from the district. their uh curriculum leaders
012in the district and they work together to integrate the arts and social studies programs together in this experience. And a special thanks to our partners at the Debuke Museum of Art. They are incredible partners who bring opportunities for our students that is unparalleled I think in most districts. They were very integral in creating the this amazing arts track program. And I also want to acknowledge the Foundation for Debuke Public Schools. They currently are the funders of the Arts Trek program. Without them, this would not exist. Kate, I see you nodding. Did Henry participate? >> He did. He did. >> Oh, >> I still need to get down there to see it. But yeah, he was he was part of it. He really liked it. >> Awesome. It is a beautiful site. I was there uh
013today at the museum and they have all of the kids' face and um >> just each kid had something that really expressed who they are >> and so I thought that was pretty cool to see that is awesome. So strongly encourage you guys to join. >> Yeah, for sure. >> January parents that have been posting about it and kids very proud of of of that experiment. So yeah, experience. >> Very cool. >> Wonderful. So many good things happening in our district. All right. Um, any others off the cuff? All right, looks like we're we're good to go to the consent agenda. >> I move the board of education approve those items listed in the consent agenda. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve those items listed in the
014consent agenda. Is there any item a board member wishes to have pulled? >> I don't wish to have anything pulled. I just as I was reading through the report as as I often am struck by the people we're losing and I read name after name after name of people who have not only given their very best and incredible work to their students but they've also been con major contributors to the district and its progress and its work with and for our students in developing programming and in addition I recognize some of them who have contributed mightily to the profession who have govern gone not only above their classroom but above the district to state and national um areas of of work. So I I just raised that as a another >> pain in my heart
015of losing those incredible folks who >> some of them 30 plus years in the district. So that's >> yes >> hard to replace those people. We will really miss them. Yeah, powerhouse. >> We'll celebrate them in the spring. Yes. When it's nicer weather and warmer [laughter] and give them the kudos and acknowledgement that they deserve for all their hard work for students. So, thank you. >> All right. Well, all those in favor say I. >> I. Any [clears throat] opposed. >> That motion passes. All right. So, this brings us to the facilities and support services committee report from Mr. Hannah. >> Thank you. Uh so on Monday of last week, we had our monthly uh uh facilities and support services committee uh meeting uh we had uh discussions and a presentation on the uh at
016risk dropout plan um and funding for that. Uh we got a lot of different reports on the the various building projects that are going on. Uh happy to be able to say all the projects are are going well. There's a handful of uh special details on that. Uh Conland uh construction is working on the Irving Mechanical uh upgrade project and they there's going to be a change order there for $42,200. Ports and Construction has been working on the Himstead football field storage building and there's going to be a change order there. Happy news in the decreased amount of just over $9,000. Uh Modus Engineering has been doing uh work at the Sageville uh fueling service improvement project. We out there we had a below ground uh heating oil uh uh tank and uh they're doing
017work on that and uh the uh the the new plan is going to be it's going to be above ground LP uh gas. Um uh the Dell Field retaining wall has uh a problem. there's a crushed pipe. So, the the the wall that uh uh just behind the visitor seating, um uh there's there's some there's some troubles there. So, there's been uh uh studies on that and we're going to be putting out uh bids uh or asking for bids uh for to to do the repair work there um at uh Irving Elementary. That's uh one of the last playground upgrades we're doing. No, they're they're continuing. >> Yeah, they're still >> I I I misspoke. We we've done a lot of playground upgrades and uh there's going to be another one uh at Irving Elementary.
018And uh we also uh uh got a report on the quart quarterly budget. And then uh big part of the meeting was uh the annual comp comprehensive financial report for the school district. And our chief financial officer, Lisa Dimmer, she's going to give us a a presentation on that tonight. So, good evening, schoolboard members and Superintendent Hawkins. Just kind of a review of what we kind of talked at at facilities. Um when we look here at um this sheet here, we're going to look at the the far right column of of the author, excuse me, the authorized budget. So remember this is just general fund dollars we're talking about. So when we look here and when we look at the top there, that 14.9 million, that's kind of that's our unspent balance that we carried
019over from fiscal year 2324. So this is what we're looking at for last year 2425. Then we had we go down and we look at our authorized budget that was about 145 or excuse me $145.8 million. That's how much was authorized for us to spend. Then we look at our expenditures and we spent 143.3 million. So we actually spent under what our budget amount was. So we added 2.5 million to our unspent balance. And when we look at the the um below, can you scroll down just a little bit more? we look at when we try to keep one month's worth of expenditures was it's right around $12 million. So, we did meet our goal of that. Um, some of the reasons for that is the state allowed for some flexibility of funds in our
020categoricals. So, we chose to use some of our teacher quality dollars and our teacher leadership grant dollars to pay for some salary and benefits. And just to remind everyone that our budget is about 85% salary and um benefits. So when we go to the next slide here and look at the graph, um you can see that our unspent balance has increased. When we look at the yellow area, that's kind of our target area. And then the purple line is our goal, which is that one month's worth of expenditures at about $12 million. And then the blue line there represents our unspent balance. Does anybody have any questions regarding the how we ended last year? >> Okay. Then if we go um to the next one here and we look at this year, what we um
021will see at the top, can you scroll up just a little bit? At the top, you can see where we carried over that $17.5 million unspent balance. And then we come down to um $147.5 is the authorized budget amount for this year. And we are projecting to have $145 million worth of expenditures. So if we compare that to our budget, we are again looking at about a 2.5 increase to our unspent balance. And again, when we look at that, we still look at about $12 million is our goal um for having one month's worth of expenditures. And I think the the key point there is when we look at this, we again are using some of those categorical funding for some flexibility and we have also closed Hoover and that savings is reflected in that
022number. So then as we um go to the next screen and we look at projections forward, we do look like we kind of decrease just a little bit. I will say in this projection here we look at um expenditures increasing by 3% each year and we're looking at SSA being about 1%. Now we really don't know where that's going to be at but we had to guess at a number for this time. So that is where we're looking. So if you look out into 28 29, we really do dip to a um unrealistic amount. We need to look at some efficiencies. So that's kind of our projection as of right now. Does anybody have any questions on that? >> Yes, Miss Miss Dimmer. on. So the the sharp decrease um going into the the danger
023zone that's based on you're saying a 1% increase in in funding but safe funding is 2%. Is it going to is it going to save us? >> It will probably not save us. It will help us because we have to remember it's based on SSA and declining enrollment and we do have declining enrollment in our district. So, we will have to continue to look for efficiencies. >> Thank you. >> I I [clears throat] would encourage the community to listen to the governor's state of the state address tomorrow night at 6:00, right? 6 p.m. >> Um, at that she usually puts forward what she proposes for new money uh for public educ education in the state. Um, I think it's going to be an important number to listen for when we look at that dramatic cliff
024that we're about to fall off of without a major shifting of funds. >> And to again recognize that the annual cost of living increase in the state of Iowa for a very long time has been 3%. And so over that time we've continued to have increase in our funding at 0 to 2% most predictably. So the aggregate effect of that over the last 12 years or so that that's happened and I'm kind of a broken record about that. I sort of apologize for it, but I don't because I think the community needs to know in the absence of adequate state funding to public education, we face that cliff that soon. And that's a pretty shocking situation that carries with it some very serious consequences for our district. >> Yeah. So, I hope tomorrow night I'm
025surprised at what Governor Reynolds will put forward as a project as her anticipated amount of new new fun new money funded for public education going forward. It it's that's very serious situation. >> Just just high level trying to add [clears throat] to that. So, we're authorized to spend x amount of dollars and you saw in two categories what that what that is. So for the taxpayers, what happens if we, let's just say, decide not to spend what we're authorized. So that's the first question. And then what happens if we overspend? Just kind of high level. Sure. On both of those. >> When we look there, we were authorized to spend about 147 um million and we only spent 145 or projected to spend 14. We get to add that to our unspent balance. So it's
026kind of like a savings account. We get to save it and spend it at a different time. If we overspend, we're dipping into those savings accounts and using those dollars that we can only use once. So once they're spent, they're spent. >> Yep. And one of the things that I've always, you know, been told on this board is that we don't want to take away from a kid's experience. And so as much as possible, what we have in our savings account or in our account period, we want to maximize that opportunity for every single child. So also when you let's just say not spend what's there you potentially are taking away from a kid's learning or an opportunity right? >> Yeah and we do try I think out of a lot of the UEEN we
027do try to use the dollars we receive each year on the kids that we're serving. >> We um don't you know keep a lot of excess dollars. We try to spend them on the kids that we have. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. I would say that, you know, we've been very fiscally responsible over the past 20 years. >> Yes. >> And, you know, if you look at that yellow line, we have always really tried to stay within that range, if not a little bit above. Like Lisa said, we spend the money on this the students that we have in that current school year. Um, and that could come back to hurt us, you know, because we don't have as much money in that unspent balance because we only have one month's worth of
028expenditures. And um so in turn when we've been looking at budgets we have trimmed you know we look at things and say hey if we have an extra kindergarten teacher because of class levels went down then we eliminate that kindergarten position and really make sure that we don't have extra um you know so we can stay in that yellow box. And so what we're what we're seeing now is that we don't have a lot of the extras to cut. And so we have to look at what are those efficiencies in our district and how can we utilize those efficiencies to help out with our general fund. And so we've got a big task ahead of us. Um we have a lot of people are, you know, our our admin teams are working having conversations trying
029to really throw darts in lots of things and see what sticks. But um we look forward to engaging the community um you know when we're ready for that. We're going to be coming out with a timeline to say, "Hey, these are some things that we think could really work for our district long term and then get some feedback so we can see, you know, um what is really the best plan for Debuke when we can see that we are having declining enrollment." I mean, we know birth rates are lower. Um I think we saw today that over the whole state of Iowa, Julie, what was that number? like 7,300 students >> 7,300 [clears throat] students the state is down um you know and so when you look at that over you know especially a larger
030community our size that we're probably a big part part of that number >> and so as we continue to have declining enrollment what is the right size for a district um that that we're going to end up being >> and I I also have some thoughts on these projections on the uh future financial health of the school district. Um the school bond, you know, was an effort to try to um address these upcoming problems. And with the failure of the school bond, it means the district is not going to have any financial uh cushion by the time of the 2028 2029 school year and then actually fall into a deficit. And in order to avoid this failure, this, you know, almost definitely means more school closings, uh, staff reductions, larger class sizes. So, the steps
031to avoid, uh, financial collapse means that the district is going to be is going to be delivering a lower quality education. Um, I urge our legislatores, legislators to advocate for changes in the Iowa law to not only avoid a lower quality education, but actually improve the quality of the education we can provide our our children. Um, I think two legislative changes would be in order. First, change the requirement for the passage of a school bond issue to to to require a 60% majority down to a simple majority. Iowa is one of only 10 states that require more than a simple majority to pass a school bond. 40 of the states in the country, uh 50% plus one is enough to pass a school bond. And so in our last two school bond uh elections uh
03257 and 58% of the voters have supported the bond. Any other political issue that had that kind of support would definitely be implemented. But in in in this situation because of the supermajority requirement the bond uh uh fail. Uh second, I think the legislature needs to increase the amount that can be spent for each public uh student and increase the funding accordingly. The school board and the school district do not set the funding amounts. The legislature gets to determine the amount that can be spent for each public education student, and [clears throat] the amount is currently just under $8,000. Then once the legislature uh chooses the amount per student, there's a legislative formula that determines how much of that's going to come from local property taxes and how much is going to come from state
033taxes. And that varies from district to district, how that works out. But the bottom line is $8,000 per student, per public education student is not enough. And I think one of the clearest pieces of evidence that $8,000 is not enough is by comparing the amount of funding that goes for private school students in Iowa. Uh for example, students attending uh Holy Family Catholic schools are funded through several different components. There's a voucher payment from the state of Iowa for $8,000, which is equal to the amount of the state payment for public students. parents then have to pay an additional $3,100 out of their pocket and then there's an unclear additional amount that comes from the supporting parishes uh in the area. um not it's not I I could not find out how much that is.
034But one measure of how much the parishes uh uh support uh the the the private students is if you look at De Mo Dowling, if a student comes from a non-supporting parish, the tuition for those students is $15,100. So, it's at least uh uh uh the private students are or the private system is spending 11 to $15,000 on each student. And uh I urge the legislature to to fund the public education students at at least that same level. Um also, I think it's important to keep in mind most of the private uh schools in Iowa are not admitting any new students. uh and even if a public education student could get a a slot in one of the private schools, their families could not pay the uh additional amounts ab above the voucher. Um our
035children are most important assets and I think we need to ed we need to invest more in their educations and their futures. So, one of the things I'll just just uh add is I know as a board, you know, we've met with um the legislators here and our superintendent consistently uh meets with them um just to advocate on behalf of public education and yearly we we come up with some of our top priorities again to continue to advocate and I think it would be um of value to make sure our residents are constantly aware of how they too can be involved. But I I do want to make one just correction is that although as a state public education is probably heading in a direction where we're not satisfied and happy with you know when
036the rubber meets the road here locally here in Deuke I know we have some amazing people as the superintendent mentioned that are coming together and seeing what's going to stick here. So that way again, doesn't matter who comes in our our district, we're ready for you, right? And that's just not a slogan. That's just who we are and what we believe in. And when the time comes, we'll bring that forward to the public so that way you too are are part of the process and it's not happening at you. And so super excited, although it's some challenging times to see what the superintendent and her team comes up with because it will be some challenging times, but you guys will come up with the best plan to move everyone forward. So super excited about that
037time when it comes. Yeah, I appreciate that because as you all know, I mean, our number one priority is our students and so whatever we can do to make sure we're putting them first as we're making decisions and I know that that's how our administrative team feels, our leadership team, and everybody at this table feels. So, I feel like knowing that, you know, having those goals in front of us, um we're still going to, you know, work really, really hard to give it to give it everything that we have so it's best for our kids in this community. because that's what they deserve. >> Absolutely. >> All right. I have a number of motions. >> You do. You do. >> Uh first off, I move the board of education receive and approve the June 30,
0382025 annual comprehensive financial report. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education receive and approve the June 30th, 2025 annual comprehensive financial report. Is there any further discussion? >> Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? That motion carries. >> I move the board of education approve the at risk dropout plan for the 2026 2027 school year. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the atrisisk dropout plan for the 2026 2027 school year. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That motion carries. I move the board of education approve the request of the school budget review committee for the modified supplemental amount in the amount of 5,147,38 for the 2026 uh 2027 at
039risk dropout plan. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the request to the school budget review committee SBRC for the modified supplemental amount in the amount of 5,147,38 for the 2026 2027 at risk dropout plan. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That motion carries. I move that the board of education approve change order number three to Conland Construction Company on the Irving Elementary School mechanical upgrades project in the increased amount of 42,22182. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve change order number three to Conland Construction Company on the Irving Elementary School mechanical upgrades project in the increased amount of $42,221.82. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I.
040>> Any opposed? That motion carries. >> I move that the board of education approved change order number one to Ports and Construction, Inc. on the Himstead Football Field Storage Building Project in the decreased amount of $9,120. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve change order number one to ports and construction incorporated on the Hemstead football field storage building project in the decreased amount of $9,120.30. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That motion carries. No one's going to be opposed to a decrease like >> No, absolutely not. not take it. >> I move that the board of education approve the agreement with Modus Engineering Limited for the Sageville Elementary School fueling system improvement project in the amount of $28,315. >>
041Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the agreement with Modus Engineering Ltd for the Sageville Elementary School fueling system improvement project in the amount of $28,315. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? That motion carries. I move that the board of education tentatively approve the plan, specifications, form of contract, and estimate of total clo cost for the Dell retaining wall repairs project and set the date, time, and location is March 9, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. at the Debuke Community School District, 2300 Cheney Road, Debuke, Iowa, for a hearing thereon and further authorize the advertisement for competitive bid bids. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education tentatively approve the plan, specifications, form of contract, and estimate of
042total cost for the Dzel retaining wall repairs project and set the date, time, and location as March 9th, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. at the Debuke Community School District, 2300 Cheney Road in Debuke, Iowa, for a hearing thereon and further authorize the advertisement for competitive bids. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? That motion carries. >> I move that the board of education approve the agreement with FE design for the Irving Elementary playground replacement project in the amount of $9,860. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the agreement with FE Design for the Irving Elementary playground replacement project in the amount of $9,860. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? That motion carries. >> Finally,
043I move that the board of education approve the quarterly budget report. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the quarterly budget report. And I believe Miss Demer gets to talk to us again at the podium about this report. >> Good evening. Again, just a couple things that I'd like to point out. on page uh 264 under our general fund. Um when we add the year-to-ate expenditures and add them to the incumbrance column, it it adds up to about $138.5 million. That's a little bit lower than we had anticipated our expenditures, but we do know that as we continue throughout the year, there are some things that aren't encumbered, and so we will continue to watch that budget closely just to make sure. The other thing I'd like to point
044out on on page 264 under our physical plant and equipment um you will see a small remaining amount amount in the budget um balance column of about $200 or $200,000. The reason for this is in our FY24 um bus replacement was carried over. It was about $790,000 that was carried over from last year. We also have some summer projects that carried over from last fiscal year. the allocation was considered last year, but it's the expenses are actually in this year. Um when we do the budget for that area, we don't um carry over the budget dollars. We just carry over the expenses. So that's why it's looking um a little small, but we will continue to to monitor those um areas too. And then lastly on pages 266 to 272 the revenue report shows that
045through December 31st the district has received approximately 50% of most of the budget um revenue for the year in all the funds except for the nutrition fund and the nutri nutrition fund is only at about 35% and that is due to the December claims. We haven't received those yet. They are usually about a month behind so we are just a little bit behind on those. Those were really the only things that I really wanted to point out. Was there any questions on the budget? Thank you. Thank you. All right. >> So, all in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> That motion carries. All right. Thank you, Mr. Hamill, for that report. >> Um, that moves us to the Educational Programs and Policy Committee report, which I'm going to give. Um so that m
046that um committee meeting happened on January 7th of last week and um we got to hear from one of our students who was an incredible uh representation of just the amazing work that's going on in our district. So Jalia Huard who is a student in the Iowa jobs for America's graduates or the JAG program came to visit us. She goes to senior high school and she presented about all the incredible things that she's doing. Um so just amazing like just an incredible student. Um JAG partners with the district to help students who have barriers and graduated from high school and helping them to transition from high school to higher education or careers. And I know Miss Hubard's going to do just anything she wants. She's amazing. Um she shared that she is one of four
047IAG students statewide that was elected by her peers to represent the state of Iowa at state and national events. Uh her uh the supervisor for JAG, Casey Breitbach, shared that Jalia got to travel to Washington DC and do some shopping which she uh [laughter] was really excited about, but also represented um our district and the students from Iowa there. and we'll get another opportunity to do that a few more times over the next couple of years. So, I think I can speak on behalf of all of the board that were there that it was just so amazing to get to hear directly from a student who's benefiting from a program and we really appreciate the work that Casey Breitbach does and just this partnership with Jack. It's an incredible opportunity. Um, we heard a little
048bit about the physical education exemption application. Um, Superintendent Hawkins, do you want to tell us anything more about that? We do have a motion about it. So, if you want to wait, you can. >> So, every year, um, we actually file this with the state. Um, just because we have been offering our physical education program a little bit different, um, than other school districts with the requirements. Um, it is required for a student to take that in every semester that they are in high school. And so, we look at it or we have we've changed this. It's probably been 20 years ago, but um so students take um physical education or wellness u for one semester. And um the reasoning for that was we were offering that twice a week um throughout the entire school
049year. And so students had three periods a week that they were not able to take other coursework. And so we wanted students to have the opportunity to take another elective um or to get into a different program. So now they take um wellness for one semester every single day and then that other semester they can take another uh course that's offered at the at the school um that's five days a week as well. So it's worked really well for our students. I think they really like um that format and so um we just have to submit that to the state every year. >> Awesome. Yeah. >> All right. Well, thank you for that. Um, we also got to hear from Chief Human Resources Director Brian Coul about an really awesome incentive, attendance incentive for new
050employees. Iowa Senate File 660 was approved in the summer. It was kind of a last minute um end of session bill that happened, but it provided some money for districts to be able to um supplement some of their uh resources for uh pay for employees. The district used this money to incentivize attendance for hourly employees. Uh we have 690 employees that were eligible for the incentive and 615 of them hit their target attendance in the fall semester, which is amazing. Uh as a result of that, those employee employees will receive an incentive check this week. And so we're very happy um to be able to have that opportunity through this funding. really exciting to see all of the the success that happened from this program and hoping we get to see some more funding to
051support this because when our when our folks are there at school helping kids, it's better for everyone. >> Correct. Yes. Yeah. >> We were very excited to see um the percentage and also we know that it's so much better for our students when they get to see the same adult every single day and have that routine. So, um really happy that um this was the way we spent that money. We've gotten lots of emails from staff saying this was wonderful, especially after the holiday break when they didn't work for a few weeks. So, that was a great surprise and they got a little bit more than we had originally anticipated, which was wonderful. And we would urge as you're talking to legislators to encourage us to receive that that money in the future because um
052we definitely put that to good to a good cause. >> Yeah, definitely had a positive effect. >> Yeah. Uh we talked about several policies and I think um I want to make sure that the public knows like this we have the two committees they meet Monday and Wednesday of typically the first month the week of the month unless there's something weird going on with the calendar that's not happening then. Um so facilities and um that pro that committee meets on Mondays at 4:00 here in this room and we as a board talked about possibly pushing the time for ed programs in the future just to make it a little easier for folks to be able to be there. So that meeting time will start at 4:30 starting in February. So the next meeting will be
053on February 4th at 4:30 also in this room and everyone is always welcome to come attend. That's where we get to hear um really amazing things that are going on and also have a lot of good discussion. So, come on by. And we do have one motion. >> Okay, I will [clears throat] read that. I move the board of education approve the phys physical education exemption request as submitted. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the physical education exemption exemption request as submitted. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> That motion carries. Also probably an unpopular one to oppose, I would guess. You might be getting some emails from students who be opposed to that one. >> All
054right, that brings us to new business. >> I move the board of education approve the 2025 2026 board committees. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the 2025 2026 board committees. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> That motion carries. >> Are there any board member or administrative issues at this time? >> I'm looking at Superintendent Hawkins because she's usually the one who >> I know. I I really have none. Um, all I would say is I think it's going to be 50 degrees tomorrow on January 13th. So, um, enjoy the nice weather. And we have our high school students finishing up their semester. So, we do have semester finals this Thursday and Friday and then they'll start that
055new semester um, starting next Tuesday. So, lots of students will be busy in the coffee shops and the libraries studying for the end of the semester, I'm sure. >> Good to know. >> Yeah. All right. Well, our next meeting is February 9th, 2026 at 5:30 and we are adjourned. Thanks everyone. >> Thank you. >> [music]