001Thank you guys. We're going to call to order public school board meeting at 12:08. If we would let's stand. Uh roll call. President Bailey here. Dr. Goodwin here. Mr. Lacy here. Mr. Smith here. Miss Rhinard present. Mr. Walker he's absent. Miss Garrison. Oh, he's got he's got to excuse us. Okay. Miss Garrison. Present. Six. Present. The pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. This time we're going to have a discussion for the levy. Dr. Bailey, do you mind if I just give an overview? Yeah. Thank you so much. Uh good afternoon to everyone and especially the board members. I want to say first of all, thank you for even having this discussion.
002Uh it's been since November of 2008 that a levy has been passed in Dayton public schools at 4.9 mills as an operating levy. In the interim time, which is 17 now 18 years, Ketaring, Oakwood, Centerville, and other districts have passed levies. So we have gone uh almost two decades using cost cutting measures um and reallocating uh finances so that we can stay uh solvent and provide services for kids. And I want to thank the treasur's office um treasur abraha she has been the treasurer for most of that time uh but the time uh has come for us to determine how we can provide additional financial supports for our students. And so today we're going to be discussing a resolution of necessity, two different versions for um levies for Dayton public schools and I will let
003the board take it from here. Question for is there a presentation? Yes, there is. But I thought maybe I had some questions and then we go or you want presentation first then I'mma have question. I was Yeah, I was trying to, you know, let y'all Let's see what you got. Okay, Dan, you ready? Perfect. So, thanks for having me. Appreciate it. We okay to start that a little bit, right? This side is a little hard to see. Pushing the bottom there, but it'll be all right. You break it, you buy it. All right. So, we want to talk a little bit around about the financial goals for the district going uh forward here for 2026, how that relates to the levy and how we're pulling all this together. Dr. Lawrence, do you want me to
004proceed or do you want to You go right ahead. I'll jump in. Okay. the academics. All right. Um so the four key goals that we're looking at, one uh Dr. Lawrence already referenced is continue to uh rightsize uh the operation through attrition, cost cutting measures and reorganization as you have done for the last almost 20 years. Um second goal is to stabilize some of the volatility that we see coming from the state and some of that is really driving the 5 mil or a levy a tax levy of some size but we think it's about five mills that you need to look at at uh passing as a necessity and then the implementation of the academic transformation. So, we're going to talk a little bit about how you've made a lot of progress from a
005student standpoint, particularly over the last 5 years that were very, very difficult and talk about some of the needs that need to continue with that with students. And then the capital planning that we've looked at for the district as well to make sure that the facilities and the projects don't come back to surprise you after you go out and pass a levy. And so, those are kind of the four areas that we want to look at as we go through the presentation. The first thing if we could go to the next slide. The first thing I want to talk take just a minute and I think Dayton public has a lot to be proud of. Um I think you've done an amazing job of keeping a solid balance for the last 5 years. If you
006think about everything that the that the district has been through and and schools as a whole have been through. I think it it's worth mentioning uh and kind of just giving a quick review at a high level. COVID came within the last five years. COVID was here. You had to retool the way instruction was delivered. We had to redo pretty much everything across the board. ESSER came along to help pay for that. But ESSER was its own set of challenges. Where can you use the money? Where does the money go for? Where what can we do with it that's really going to get done what needs to get done? And so that presented its own and there was no guidance when that came out. For those of you that were here, you might remember here's
007the money. And there wasn't a lot of guidance. But then 18 months later there was guidance and you had to come be compliant and you had to adapt and adjust uh and then the transition back. So coming back off of those co needs and how that esser was helping and now it's not helping and how do we get back to regular uh everyday life was a part of that financial picture that had to be managed and through it all you maintained a positive balance uh on the books as you were making all those changes. uh fair funding formula came and then went right. So, it was going to save the world and it was going great and then the state didn't fund it all and now we're back to we're probably not using fair funding
008the fair funding formula anymore. Um we saw record inflation and changes in the labor market and so there had to be adjust adjust adjustments made in compensation kind of across the board and so that had to be done. um balances and then threats to the balances. So through all of this, you're navigating those needs for your students, putting the right things in place, and keeping a solid cash balance only to be faced recently then with we may take some of your balances. Your cash balances are going to have to go away. So you had to address that as well. Um and the capital planning needs throughout the district over the last few years have been great. and now you have a capital plan put together to address those needs on top of all of the
009rest. So just looking back over the next five years, those were the challenges to your bottom line and to your financials that that the district weathered and you weathered that with a solid uh cash balance and and a um no increase t of tax, no tax ask for your constituents. So you didn't go back and put it on the taxpayers to figure out how to pay for it. You got it done. So meanwhile, what happened with the students and and I think that's a really super impressive component to all this while you're managing through all of those things. So we want to talk about quickly. Hey, thanks Dan. I think we work really hard with the treasur's office and other outside entities to keep asking ourselves what's the main thing? Why do we do this
010work? Uh why do you need additional assets and resources? Uh actually we have lots of t-shirts around the district say keep the main thing the main thing. So for us it's students. Um and you can see and I want to thank my predecessor too. Didn't do this alone. And so together over the last five years um school year 21 until now you see a consistent increase in a performance index. We did have a meeting today to say that we need to begin to rapidly change that. We have some ideas around how to do that. But that's one component of how we want to keep the main thing the main thing keep focusing on kids and while we still need additional resources to do that. I'll take the next slide. You can see our attendance again
011over the last five years consistently an arrow slope going up. We want to continue to move forward with our attendance. Attendance is at the core of what we do academically. If you're not here, we can't get results. And then our report card um four out of five stars on career tech, which is the basis of how we're operating now. Our school transformation K12, but in particular middle school to high school now and Ford NGL is rooted in this space right here in this report card. and we want to continue to move forward. We were just five or six kids away from getting a five star uh in this career tech space. This is where the money is made right now. We definitely want to make sure the kids are reading on the f on the
012earlier end. And we had a presentation last month to talk about our K3 literacy and how we're moving forward, but on the back end, what happens when they're leaving and we are rapidly moving toward being a district of excellence on the back end while we work on the front end. So progress with everything that you needed with the students at the same time. All of those things happened I think is super something you should be super proud of um in managing to those levels and keeping the cash balances and the sustainable budget uh as you did. So the next five years when we look at what's coming we don't think it's going to be e any easier from a financial standpoint. Uh we've got a lot of volatility as you know coming forth from the
013state. We're not sure which way that funding formula is going to go. There's a lot of property tax reform, property tax legislation that's gone through. There's probably more coming. Um, and there's a potential referendum and changes in tax collection. So, all of those are putting pressure on your financials for the next 5 years as well as we look forward. um enrollment pressures and changes that might happen with vouchers in those systems is also at play and the continued attrition and cost opportunities as the last bits of uh the ESSER impact and the what we went through with all that have to be kind of sorted out uh going through the next year or two. So those pressures are going to continue and we know about those. I am sure there are some over the next
0145 years some financial pressures that we do not know are coming and uh so that's one of the reasons that uh we're looking at the um levy that uh is in front of you today as one of the key performance items for 2026 to to stabilize your financial needs. Don't expect that there will be a ma massive changes in uh academics as far as you won't need to do anything different. Right? There's a continued push to continue that forward line moving forward if you the forward progress I'm sorry that you've made in the past is still on the table for the next 5 years. And so while these financial pressures continue to come at you and continue to be seen for the for the bottom line, you're going to need to continue to invest in
015new uh programs and academic investment is going to be a major part of what you've got to balance go forward. So this is the financial forecast uh last approved. Uh I know you're getting ready to do another one, but the last financial forecast shows in insufficient funds coming from the state. shows the overall expenses exceeding revenue year after year after year. Now, uh so there's a deficit spend and that cash balance then is the yellow line that you see there year with 26 through 2030 and you can see about 20 in 2028 2029 um you're under budget. You're going into the red. You don't have that balance that you've protected to this point. So, this financial plan, go to the next slide, please, is to fix that. Is to change your five-year forecast from that
016deficit uh that you see coming into something that's a little more solid so that you have again the yellow line being a cash balance that is there to lean on and a balanced budget where the revenue and expense are at least in sync or operating as much in the black as possible. I know there's been some drafts and some things put together to look at what kind of reductions need to be made alongside and they're significant um alongside with a levy that will help take away the volatility that you're seeing come over from the state funding. Those we went pretty quick. Any questions so far? So next steps forward you've got a resolution today, a resolution of necessity. there are two options u that are the first step in putting that ballot that uh levy
017on the ballot. The second thing is to identify attrition options as retirements come in this year and the 2027 cost cutting that I know there's some drafts uh looking at how we might uh better balance to these uh revenue streams and finally the capital plan financing so you don't get surprised with capital needs in the middle of the everything else that you're doing. I'll talk about the levy since that's uh the immediate action that's in front of you for just a minute. That it's a five mil or a 5 mil plus 2 mil PI levy. Those are the two choices that you have in front of you today. Uh the 5 mil would be just strictly for operations. There's a 5 mil and a 2 mil for PI. Uh that would make a total of
018seven also in front of you. So, we need to make a selection on that as far as a resolution of necessity. Once you act on that, that resolution of necessity goes to the county auditor. The county auditor will certify back to say that those indeed are the correct numbers or what the numbers ought to be or what they'll generate. And then you will need to take a second action to proceed with putting the levy on the ballot at another board meeting prior to February 4th. So, there's not a lot of time to get on for the May uh ballot issue, but that's that's the order of things, and we are prepared uh to get you there um and get that certification back, I think, from the county auditor uh on Monday. So, thank you for
019the presentation. Thank you, Dr. Morris, for bringing this forward. I will say that I'm not a fan of the timing that we got on it, but I know we have been talking about this as a board since I've gotten on the board in 2022. So, I I do appreciate that you guys have finally brought it to us to get on there. And I see that we are on a well, you guys are on a tight timeline. The only thing we have to do is either approve in the affirmative or not approve of it in that piece of it. I will say that based not only what you've given us, but the other things that I've seen in the superintendent's update as well as I've heard from our finance committee, I do think it is necessary
020to see kind of where we are. Miss at least gives you one of two shots to get the support needed to continue to operate as this is now, I believe, our third year outside of our ESR funds. Is that correct? You are correct. Expired September of 23. Right. And board member Riner has talked frequently over the last actually every year I've been here about how the Fair Funding Act is only fair in name. So I do appreciate you guys bringing that back to us and I do hope that if we do pass this today, you are able to timelines because there's still a lot more work to be done because again it wasn't a one-stop solution. The five meal, what amount does five meals calculate to in dollars that we are projecting will come in?
021uh 10 10,445,000 and that would start at what date if it passed? Uh the first half would be in 2027 and as far as fiscal years go, right? So the full collection would be calendar year 2027. The first half would be on the back end of the fiscal year 27th. Okay. And I we don't have the options up yet, but I heard there were two options. So if we if we pass one option one or the other, it' be that 10 million you just stated of the five mill. And if we pass both options and put both on the levy, then we would be asking voters actually. How much is that for a person to pay? Down for $100,000. For $100,000 home, it's $175 for the five mil um levy. And for the 7 mil,
022do you know that? 245. 245. I knew the side down there were go. Yeah, she's on it. So, yeah. And that's per year, correct? That's per year. Additional tax on there. So, well, thank you. I appreciate it. I I do hope that our board does pass it to give you guys an opportunity because everything we talked about affects the people's jobs and the resources that they do to provide education to kids. So, thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? Um, Mr. Smith, I can go. I think she was up, too. Oh, oh, no. Go ahead. All right. Um, are we basing these projections off of our current enrollment or are we projecting it off of an increase, a decline? Like we saw with the last time that we had a levy, we ended up collecting
023less than what we projected. Correct. So, what are we, and it's probably too for Dr. Lawrence and maybe our church, what are we basing these projections off of? And then what are we doing inside of that to make sure that we're collecting what we're wanting to go out and collect? Because when you're saying these things, I don't want voters to go out and say, "Okay, last time we passed something like this, they said we were supposed to get x amount of dollars and we didn't get those amounts of dollars because of other things that happened throughout inside DPS, outside of DPS, foreclosure crisis, decreasing enroll things like so what are we basing what we think this is going to give us off of?" Yeah. So, what's baked into this right now is the current enrollment
024that's in the forecast, which is flat. Yeah. Flat flat enrollment. Mhm. I wish I could say, "Oh, you'll get exactly what we're estimating." Like, nobody can say that right now because we don't know how they will change property tax. Mhm. Um and so property you could end we could end up doing this and not collect uh everything that we thought we were going to collect because they changed the way the property tax worked. So it's not uh I can't say that oh yeah it's guaranteed based on flat enrollment that we'll get that but it is based on a flat enrollment uh structure and it the flat enrollment really drives more of the state funding and the expense than it does what the levy generation will be. the levy generation will stay the same regardless of
025the enrollment. Does that help somewhat? I just wanted to see kind of where we were basing it. I know that's been a point of constonation in different spaces is that when you're talking about these things, people want a transparency, but sometime the transparency doesn't always give you the answers that you think you're going to get because there's so many other factors that go into the funding formulas. That's right. Appreciate it. Very well said, sir. Thank you, President Bailey. Thank you for joining us today. This was really informative. Um, the first thing I would like to say is, so I have served two full terms. I'm in my third term now. Um, when I came in to DPS as a board member eight years ago, we talked very frequently about the fact that we had not
026passed a levy for 10 years prior to that, which is very very um impressive in terms of our fiscal responsibility and the way we have managed our resources. And to be here even 8 years later and now say we have not had to pass a levy for 18 years is very significant. And I would like to thank uh every single uh person in the district for the last 18 years who has been responsible for that. Uh particularly the treasurer. Thank you, Treasurer Abraa. Um but I'm grateful that we are approaching this with thoughtfulness. Um I would like to say I personally would uh I refer to the property tax changes not as property tax reform. Instead, this is funding elimination for vital public services, not just public schools. But I'm going to talk about this
027in terms of public schools. 90% of students in Ohio attend public schools and we have eliminated a great deal very necess uh necessary portion of our funding stream. Um think about that when you vote and think about the things that bring value to our communities that make our communities strong. Um I'm not going to refer to this as uh property tax reform. Um and the last thing I would like to pose as a question to my board members. Um in November we all attended the capital conference and there were some really good sessions about levies. I made sure to go to levy 101 presentations and the legal uh necessity uh the legal requirements and the boundaries that boards are um under uh that we need to we need to re really be careful that we
028are doing everything above board and that we are following the law in terms of um how we uh talk about the levy and how we move forward from here. So board members, did everybody get a chance to attend the legal um uh rules for um undergoing a levy process? I didn't um Okay. OSBA and others. Well, just to refresh our memories, yeah, there were a couple other people there. Uh President Bailey, if it's okay, um I still have the slide deck and my notes from that presentation. um if we could put that on the agenda for the next meeting. I'm happy to share my notes and share the slide deck to make sure that we are doing everything um above above board and we are not um risking any sort of legal repercussions. That'll be
029fine. All right, that's all I have. Thank you, Miss Garrison. Yes. Um uh I wasn't here of course uh in on any of the committees even from a external community perspective when these discussions were had over the past eight years. Um, so if you're able to give me some information on how we're working with some of our community partners like City of Dayton and McGomery County, um, more specifically, City of Dayton, uh, who who I think would be a great partner if it wasn't already something that was established to, you know, for them to attract residents to this area because, of course, the more people we have come to the area, the more we increase our population, the more funding that can benefit us with the property taxes should this levy you know, pass. So,
030um, just wanting to to know a little bit more about those committees that met in the past and if they're going to continue to meet and plan or if there's going to be, you know, what is the the external planning around this as you guys move forward to putting this um on the the ballot for May? You know, who's who's going to be working this? What does that team look like? And is that team being collaborative across McGomery County and the city of Dayton to ensure, you know, because we can attract the students, but we really need to attract more residents to this area and to hopefully keep them here in the Dayton area. Yeah, thank you for the question. Um, as we put this as we go to put this on, all of that
031will start to come together and we'll start putting those pieces um in place. The first piece is the resolution necessity because we need to kind of narrow down what's the amount and how much where are we going forward. Uh the second component will be how do we talk about that with all of those committees and those groups uh before we do the resolution you know to proceed and then beyond that between the time that that happens and the vote happens in May. So there's a a big span here between the point where the board says yep we're going on the ballot to when when that ballot actually happens. And so during that time period, some of those groups will be critical in in working with and talking about how this is going together. I don't
032know all of the past communications. Certainly, there's committee after committee and and groups that we work with religiously inside the city and the and the the county to uh to talk about where we are and where we're going. I don't know all the details of those conversations standing here, but we could certainly get you more information on that uh in the days ahead. Thank you. solution. Okay. So, should the should it pass the money should it pass in May? The money would start coming in what it went in January of 2027. Yes. It would be collected first in January of 2027. Be the first tax bill. And that and but if we waited till November also January 27. So half of it. So you pass in the year that you pass the collection starts the
033year following. Okay? So if you if we pass in May, it will start collection in January. If we pass in November, it it starts collection in January. And there's but the board does not want to wait until November. Wouldn't they if you guys can I ask a question on your question? If you were unsuccessful in May, would you also go again in November? That would be it. Well, I'm asking the staff because you guys are the one putting it. So, that's a yes. Okay. So, it's possible. Yeah. Yeah. That was the that was the rationale for the expedition of um the reconciliation now because we wanted to have two shots at it. So, that that was why. Okay. I mean, I would just go in November. I I mean, I've been in two levies. One
034that we lost that was in the spring and one that we were successful in the fall. Um I think I mean can I ask if it's okay with the with the chair if I because this is not normal if I could direct a question to some of the people that have political experience. Mr. Smith. Um, don't you think that our voters would be out in November? There's I think there's two sides of it. Um, we've talked about a lot of So, there's from what I've seen in the experience, I think there's there's the numbers of what you see. There's also the need to get the public like understanding and I think where the situation you guys were in what I do think that either way we go we have to present a clear forecast for
035the community because I think that's what happened before too is that's one of the reasons the levy passed in 2008 is that people saw the ridiculous amount of cuts and things that happened when the levy didn't pass previously and you don't want people to go into this doom and gloom space of what do we do if we don't pass is or what are what's at stake. And so I see both sides. I do think there's some merit to what Mr. Lacy is saying, but I also I also see why we're talking about doing this now. Although I do not like the timing of putting something and saying we need you guys to vote on this before next week because that that sends a message of what is the communication or lack of communication. But I
036think for anytime we're talking about a levy, for me, you want to be able to tell voters what is clearly at stake. I think that's what the last time we had a levy passed here. People saw this like they saw jobs go. They saw that's one of the reasons if you look at DECA, DECA was more in the DPS vote and that levy didn't like there's so many things that have happened because of not passing it. So where even when we talk about we haven't passed a levy in this amount of years, that was some of the consternation with people about putting one up is what happens if we do not pass it because that was disastrous and we saw the cuts that happened and I I think that it it deserves some conversation. So
037I would ask you said now we would need to send it over no later than the 4th, correct? To be able to be up today. And I'm talking about a finalized like finalized it has to be over the third by the third. Well, and Mr. Smith, I want to say that from a communication standpoint, I've been back four years and I've heard it the four years I've been back. I know the conversation was out there before. I just made a decision to to take all those conversations and ask the board to make a decision. So, I don't know that there's been a lack of communication. It's been something I've heard for a long time. I heard it even before I left in 2016. That's I would say and I'm not going to a lack communicating
038about the need for something is not the same as communicating about I'm going to make the decision to put this up for you to vote. It's like saying if we're thinking all right for 5 years we've been wondering if we're going to close X school, right? That's different from saying, "All right, we've had conversations about are we going to do it? We're going to call a meeting tomorrow to vote on closing X school." that is not the same when we talk about the communications because there's there's so many things that go into it about how much you're asking for. That is also what if we look back on the last levies that we put up that failed and passed if we remember the number that we 15 mil the number that we sought was a
039lot lower the next time they put it up as well. The one that failed, how much was that? That was 15. It was a few few mills above the previous one. So was it 10? There was I think it was around 10 the documents there's so many things that go into those things that people want to know. People want to know there's a lot of work and I I either way it goes whatever we decide today and whenever we go it's going to be a lot of work even around just letting people know what meals means like there are people who think that that meals means million and not the percentage that it really is calculated off of. So, I think whatever happens, we need to be ready to go. And that means that we
040have to be clear, transparent, and create the story of what we're trying to do. But I I appreciate Mr. Lacy's concern cuz that was one of the concerns I had as well, I thank you. I thank you. Um, no. I mean, yeah, this vote starts at a motion, but um, the no turn back would be a vote in February or next week. Like a week. Next week. Yeah, next week. A few days. Less than a week. A few. Yeah. Okay. Thank you very much. May I make one comment, Mr. President? Um, one thing just to note, the conversation about this has been going on for a while. recall that uh last year, you know, it's bianium and so the state started talking about what the financing would look like back in March and April last
041year. And so to go on to the ballot or to talk about, you know, to seek that money while the state's trying to figure out what they are or aren't going to fund. Lots of schools found themselves in this ex same in this exact same place and are right now here because the the they're going to fund it this way then they're not going to fund it. Oh, and by the way, we're going to take your cash balances and I know you went through that. Do we move cash here? Do we move it there? What do we do? Was property tax happening? So, so I wouldn't want to lead anybody that's watching this on to think that this was a lastm minute kind of decision. It had to be timed out with all of that
042indecision that was happening at the state level. And even today, we don't know all of that, which is part of the reason for the ask is because we can't leave it to Columbus to try to fix our city, right? So, so that's I just want to make sure that gets said because that's pretty important in in your consideration. It's not like it was all just waited and just thrown together. it this has been part of that watching that legislation pro legislative process play out. So that's a good point. Um board member Lacy to give a little bit more of an answer to your question too. The turnout in um May is one question versus the turnout in November. And yes, turnout in November will be significantly higher. However, um when looking at levy passages, there's
043a May and August and November possibility. Uh the August is always historically very low for approval and passage of levies. May and November are our best bets. So and this this for the public as well too. So we probably would not want to consider August, but May and November are good options. Dr. Yes. So, I would like to because I do think that part of the story is missing from this one and it is something that I would probably want to see more in one of our regular meetings and not in the special meetings, but the conversation on cuts and what that looks like and the reality of if a levy does pass, whether it isn't made in November, the money still doesn't come in until 2027. That's right. So, how long would we be
044able to stretch some things? because the reality is without additional funds we have to let some things go and I just don't want people to be surprised if like those type of positions on the block and I want to know how long we can stretch if we are successful in this piece to maintain some of these because again these are people's jobs these are people's livelihoods and everything in this economy in the last year has skyrocketed on that trajectory so whether we do now or later the money still doesn't come until 2027. Got to know what what are we actually looking at and if it it is failed if it does fail just for like that full presentation. So not only so people can prepare because I mean you you have to think about your
045your livelihood and your family and you have to start making these decisions based on it and as much I mean yes that's just that piece I just want to see that so the other individuals because no one on this board works here. So whether whether it pass or fail, it doesn't affect our livelihoods in that type of way. So Mr. Lucy, Miss Garrison. Oh, go ahead. Oh, no problem. Um, so I wanted to piggyback on Joe what Joe had mentioned. Um, those those are my thoughts exactly with if if the funding is still coming in 2027. Regardless, I think um it would be best for us to do our due diligence and um doing something that is well thought out, well planned, um hitting the community uh with Q&A questions. Um, I may not have
046experience with a levy, but I definitely have experience with running a campaign. And there's a lot of work that goes into that with um getting buy in and um as as Dr. Goodwine stated showing people the transparency in the numbers and if knowing that we can't go back but if the state we knew they start having issues last year there should have been a committee created for levy discussions last year and come this year January we just had two board meetings this could have been a more uh detailed presentation with some real you know um you know information that would be useful for us to move forward for a May um decision or or a vote. I think it's um and I understand let's try and do it again, but I don't think maybe we
047could do a quick poll on social media to see what the community thinks about a May uh a May levy between now and Monday. Um, I just think we lose a lot of confidence from our constituents when we do something like this, which does look last minute when we had the information last year on how the state was going to move forward with funding. So, what where was the levy committee last year? So, I'm just that's just something to to think about. Like I said, we can't go back, but I think we owe our constituents I mean, like I said, the funding is not going to come either way till 2027. So, it's not like doing in November pushes that funding back. It doesn't. I would rather do it right the first time, do it
048well, do it thought out, and do it with, you know, community feedback and the right um support in the community in place than to do it haphazardly and then it felt because where's the confidence after that if we don't do it right in May? Where's the voter confidence when it comes back around in November? So, that's just my thought, Mr. Lucy. Um, I I know I don't think they passed, but I know the legislature was going to was at one time they were going to try to charge people for or charge districts for putting ballots on putting putting up B do they have did they do they have that? Does it cost us anything to do to the state? Right now the cost is just what it costs to put it on the ballot which
049will be a little higher in May than it will be in November but it's not a material it's not material there is a cost there's a cost to put it on the ballot yeah the fee to put it on the ballot so when when there's multiple things on the ballot that cost is divvied up against amongst all of those things. Oh that's how it works. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So May there'll be multiple things on in May. So there'll be other folks sharing that cost if you were to go in May. There'll be more on in November. So there'll be more folks that cost in November. But you don't know exactly what I don't remember the cost exactly. It's it's um No, I don't remember the cost exactly. So do we know it's in the hundreds
050of thousands? It's in the thousands. It's in the tens of thousands. Okay. I believe. Yeah. And as and looking at November too, is there are there other agencies or or the city or that that we know that anybody knows is planning one for November? Only one from the city. They just had those. They used the county's human service and I don't even know what it was called last time. It was issue nine first, then it was something else. I think this year I guess that's something could we find out maybe before Monday. Yeah. Say you ask them to bring that back to us before the second one if they Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's to for me when we talk May November, it's really two things. It's one, you know, May is going to
051have a lower turnout naturally. And so it really comes down to do you think the lower turnout benefits you or hurts you? And do you think a bigger turnout benefits you or hurts you? Which then comes into is there organized or active opposition against what you're doing. That's really what it comes down to is you know in in May you're going to have fewer people out voting. It's off time. November, more people would be out voting. It depends on if you think the the mindset of the voter is against us or for us. Um, and then you kind of weigh in, all right, in November, would you have more by then? Would you have more time to spin the picture that you need? Would you have more time to get people aware of what you're
052trying to do? Or do you say, let's go in May, it's going to be lower people. And we have a lot of good things. some of the things that the superintendent pointed out and that could carry some of the things that we're talking about. It's really comes down to those things. Um but I guess we'll got to get the over the first hurdle for first which is just saying that we want to get ready to do it. I guess take Yeah, that that that's kind of my question as well. um like in May, does that kind of give us an outlook as to if we if it doesn't pass what it can look like in November? Is that what that means? You would have some information, you know, from your May results. Absolutely. How how
053much of that's applicable and where it applies, I'm not an expert in that area, but you would have some information for sure based on what your results were in May. Okay. Most of my questions really have been asked. Um I just know that, you know, I'm I'm thankful for what I've seen since I've been on the board with how they budgeted money without laying people off and things like that. Um and I I know that we are still in the process of making cuts or finding a way to keep people's jobs. And I do know that we're going to still have to do that all the way up until hopefully we can pass the levy and and get that money in 2027. So I do commend our our people. Miss Rhiner, thank you. President Bailey,
054so what is the ask um for us to vote on today? Exactly. Is there a resolution because I don't see a resolution on board docs? Refresh. Thank you. Um, as a followup to that question, again clarifying, we are not being asked to vote tonight to this morning, sorry, today to vote for a levy. Today we are just putting things in motion and the decision will be made at a um meeting next week. Is that correct? Today we're just asked to be putting our ducks in a row in case we want to go down that road. Is that correct? Yes, we're doing the first step. Okay. First one. And then if they meet timeline and things come back to where they shake out, then the second resolution is us putting something on the ballot. Okay. But
055that's saying without doing this, then we wouldn't be putting 11 on if we were to vote no. So in a way, we're still voting to say, are we thinking about doing this? Cuz if we voted no, then you wouldn't have time to do it. That's correct. That's correct. All right. Any other questions? So, I'm sorry. Oh, I just looked at the resolution. So, for this resolution says um specifically you guys are going after it in May. It doesn't say May or November, correct? Correct. Okay. And it's Oh, okay. So, it's five and then an additional seven, right? Just two different ones on there. No. Okay. And that was I was hearing no one for additional two two additional one. So you're not asking for 12? No, absolutely not. Hello, Mr. Chair, superintendent. What's that? We'll
056put you out of here for that. Yes. No, I I would let myself out for that. I'm EMTT Kelly. I'm with FPT Given with with Joe Scholler. uh just reintroduce myself. There are two resolutions before you today and they're both resolutions of necessity for two different potential levies. One is for a five mil operating expense levy. The other one is for a 5 mil operating expense levy plus a 2 mil permanent improvement levy. We call that a combined levy. Really, really uh exceptional language there. But so you can pass both of these today. Consider and pass. If you do, um, we have to go then take those down to the county auditor to get a certificate of the auditor to provide us the tax valuation and then what these would collect so that we could
057fill in the next resolution to proceed, which you would consider at your next board meeting, which I understand is potentially on the 3 um, so that we could get it filed before the 4th. And at that meeting, if you want to proceed with either of those levies, you would select which one you would pass at that meeting. And then we would take that with the auditor certificate and file it at the board of elections before 400 p.m. on the 4th. And so if we can get it there on the 3rd, great. If we can get there on the 4th, fine. So we're going to ask the auditor for two certificates, one for five and one for tw for seven. Correct. Not 12. Not 12. Yep. Completely. We will make sure that he understands that the
058county auditor knows it's coming potentially and that they ready to have it for us. So that's great by them. I'm sorry. I was waiting on a M. Um not this isn't for you. I just wanted to uh see if if she's comfortable. Can we get the treasurer's take on this miss on what this uh levy in May? I'm good with that. Okay. I mean, do you have any historics to share from a financial perspective? From the financial I I know, but historically, I don't know. Thank you. Thank you. Can I add one other thing? Any resolution you pass uh the resolutions of necessity or the resolutions to proceed have to be approved by twothirds of the board members. So thought that's critical that you know that as well. Which would be five board members. That's
059correct. Thank you. All right. Mr. President, would you entertain a motion at this time? Yes. I motion to approve both A and B. Second resolutions A and B. Second. Do I second it? Okay. President Bailey. Yes. Dr. Goodwin. Yes. Mr. Lacy. Yes. Mr. Smith. Charzer says yes. I say yes. M. Reard. Yes. Mr. Walker is not here. Miss Garrison, no. Okay. Five yeses, one no. Motion to adjurnn. Second. Feels like we got to vote. That's right. Always slow down. President Bailey. Yes. Dr. Goodwin, yes. Mr. Lacy, yes. Miss Reard, yes. Mr. Smith, yeah. Uh, Miss Garrison, yes. I've already six years. code. Yeah.