001Regular meeting of the Bolder Valley School District Board of Education, May 27, 25. Laura, please take attendance. Chávez present. Present. Present. Rush present. Her. Thank you. Let's pay attention to the screen for land recognition. lands that have called them home since time immemorial. We acknowledge the atrocities committed here, including the painful history of genocide, forced assimilation, and efforts to align indigenous inhabitants from their lands. With the support of United States government policies, the Walder Valley School District is mindful of the many indigenous peoples, their nations, and dignified cultures that care for the land with strength and resilience. The BBSD recognizes the stories of the Land in Colorado and the survival of the many nations that have brought their oral traditions to the present day. It is BBCD's responsibility to educate our communities and our students
002so that we can celebrate and respect the wisdom and knowledge of indigenous peoples. actively unite to address injustices. By offering this recognition of the land, we affirm and honor the history, oral traditions, and resilience of Indigenous peoples and acknowledge our responsibility to care for and cherish this land together. Thanks, Alex. I want to remind everyone that the mission of the Bolter Valley School District is to create challenging, meaningful, and engaging learning opportunities for children to thrive and be prepared for a lifetime of success and psychic engagement. And to everyone present and those joining us online, we thank you. And now that we've finished the school year, I hereby submit the motion to approve today's agenda. Please take attendance. Rashler Queen Chavez. The ayes have it. I now give the floor to Dr. Anderson to present
003his report. Thank you, President Rashford. I am pleased to introduce the Lusville High School students for Student Time. They have promoted the effort to prevent suicide when this CRU presented the organization of an excursion. And well, they took matters into their own hands and here we see on the screen how it was presented and now I present to you the students of Lisbille High School. Hi, I'm Nora Driven from LVille High School. I am very happy to be here at this presentation. This club will be 2 years old in April. We also joined with Fireside Elementary to present our mission and our strength. Uh, we also work with different activities. We presented flyers and paper flowers, each petal a different color and representing different advisors. After collecting the petals, our advisors and we made some
004very large flowers. We saw suicide prevention as one of our strengths , especially among younger students . We made sure that every student had a really fun day and built a sense of belonging. It is very nice when we recognize the third- year students from Firesad School and they in turn recognize us as their classmates from another school. This will have an effect well into the future, even when we're in high school. I'm Rory Jason, I'm a club member too, we always try to find resources. This is a very important topic. Most people see it as a difficult issue, but we always have resources. Thank you. Thank you so much for your presentation, and it's wonderful how you connect with the community and work on these kinds of projects. And what are your plans for
005next year? Yes, we're going to go cycling again. Thank you. Our next item on the agenda is the superintendent's report . Yes, thank you, Madam President. Rash and council members. We had many activities during the last week of the school year last week. I wanted to take this opportunity to recognize all the parent committees in the district. Thanks to all the teachers and parents who organized these activities during the last week of classes. Thank you all. This weekend we wrap up graduation season. We were with the nudist high school on Saturday and I think Alex can attest to what a beautiful ceremony it was. I want to congratulate the entire graduating class of 2025. And we are very proud of the graduating students and their families. We have the links so you can watch the
006live stream of all the graduation ceremonies. You can see photos. If you want to relive that exciting moment with your friends, or if you couldn't attend, you can find it online. Thanks to the communications director, Randy Barbers, for his participation. This was of great value to everyone. Dr. de la Cruz and I were present a couple of weeks ago to recognize the school district that has met the educational standards in the state and we were very proud to represent our district at the Leadership Academy in all parts of our district. We have seen growth in several areas and thanks to the Colorado Department of Education for their recognition, and we were very honored to receive these awards. Thank you, Dr. Anderson, for your report. Well, I don't have a question, I'm just making a comment.
007I heard that it was actually the only district that received this type of recognition. Is there anything else, any further comment? Let's talk. Let's now turn to public participation. The Board respects the public's right to speak about matters concerning the operation of schools. The Council does not endorse the comments of any speaker. It reminds those who speak that they are responsible for their own discourse. Each speaker has 2 minutes. You will see a yellow card when you have 30 seconds left and an orange card when you have 10 seconds left. And if you run out of time, or have more information, you can email the council. One clarification. If people are talking about the budget issue. Ah, well, they're divided like that . The first speaker is Douglas Hamilton. He's not here. Let's move on
008to the next one. It's Carry Cornejo. You can start now. Yes. Good evening, members of the Council. Dr. Anderson. Thank you for the service you provide to students and their families. I understand that it presents many challenges, and I am here as a parent of students at Fireside and I am concerned about the size of the groups and how this may impact the students. My daughter started kindergarten in Fireside after the Marshall wildfires. So, I think that when you make your budget you should consider the priorities because increasing the size of the groups does not lead to a more efficient teaching system. We want to continue supporting teachers. so that they can carry out their academic programs and, above all, differentiate between the different daily teaching needs . We can't, I can't support groups of
00933 students. I understand there are concerns about the budget, but we always want the priority to be cost, not administrative cost, but the learning of all students and also being proactive. And if we see that enrollments are decreasing, we have to make decisions in advance. We must continue to trust that our children's learning needs will be met. And the main thing is to see how every dollar can be spent efficiently. Thank you. We continue with topics not included in the agenda, in public participation. Ashle Jod. It appears that Ashley is neither present nor online. The next prayer is "Come here." Hello, I am here to express my concern about the Valley School District's decision. of not having a teacher in the fourth grade. And this is a very important resource for students. That means they
010will not receive individualized attention during their education. As a former teacher, I realize the importance of class size; it's not simply a matter of adding more chairs to the classroom. To give you a perspective, in fourth grade, children should learn to write grammatically correct, multi-paragraph essays with punctuation. Oh, and grading and reviewing the essays takes up to 5 hours. I enrolled my son in open enrollment at Fireside. So, the district leaves it up to me to take my son to school. So I ask the council, but how am I supposed to take my child to school when it cannot meet its needs and the needs of its employees? It is the responsibility of the Board of Education to make the right financial decisions, because this decision not to have a fourth-grade teacher does not meet
011the needs of either the teachers or the students. Thank you for your time. I want to thank everyone who participated in this public hearing. We will now continue with the communication. Yes, Lelan, first I want to thank the people who spoke today and thank you for the student moment and also for the children who came from Fa to share their concerns with us . I also get anxious sometimes about the things we're going through. If we review the budget line by line over and over again, and there are some parts that are not understood , I am willing to explain them and stay. There are many factors that we need to take into consideration. I can also tell you that nobody agrees that 33 students in a group is not high, it is not acceptable.
012I don't believe in that, but we're facing budget cuts and we also have a salary scheduled, which is difficult. I would like to correct any notion that we are unaware that this is having an impact on people and is not helping us with the declining enrollments. We have less money and salaries are already scheduled. So, this is something very difficult. Do we want to stay at this school or do we want to go to another school? No, I'm not trying to give a direct answer to anyone. My email address is on our website. I want to make it clear that there is no member of the board who does not understand that we are going through a very difficult situation. Thanks, Alex. I want to reiterate what my colleague Lelania said, as well as the
013fact that she is also on the finance committee, and I am also willing to meet with her to review this again. We want to be very transparent with the community. We are always asked about the accountability committee and ways to better understand the budget, but we don't have enough resources to do what we want to do. So we have to make decisions because enrollments continue to decline and there are already scheduled salaries. There are some facilities that aren't being fully utilized, and we want everything to work better, and we want our families to have options. Uh, yes. And well, I'm not responding directly to anyone, but this problem isn't going away anytime soon. Some of the obstacles that we face as an institution will continue. And on another topic, I was very happy to attend
014the graduation ceremonies. But although it's good, it's always very rewarding to observe; it's a moment to celebrate. I also enjoyed myself in Woulderprad, I went to Pck to P, Netherland and it's always wonderful and good to see the differences, different ways of celebrating graduation and the affection that the teachers and staff have for their students and always see the affection they show to all the students who were graduating. And on another occasion I also went to the 30th anniversary of Community Montessori and it was very nice to see how this school is a value to the community, it is not chartered, it is part of the system and I was very impressed as a nubista and BC HIS. These are schools with a focus program and we have been able to continue supporting them, supporting
015these schools. We face complex problems that we have to solve, these situations should not be so centralized, and we have to be aware of them. by understanding what makes these schools different, what their particularities are. For example, one of the discussions we had at Community Montessori was about the preschool approach. They have preschoolers for 3 and 4 years old, and the approach at Community Montessori is that the teachers are certified and they always use what we find as evidence that the Montessori philosophy works. And as we do this, we have to keep as a priority and really embrace the philosophy that this school has. And I'm very excited to see the things we're doing in our district and to see how we're improving things in the schools that have a focus program. And that's why
016I'm so excited about it. Jorge. First, I want to thank all of tonight's speakers. I echo the comments of my colleagues regarding the situation we found ourselves in. I also participated in the graduations and it was an honor to be able to see the graduations and the diversity of students and some things touched me as very important. I participated in the Youth Equity Council at their graduation. It is a group of students committed to the work of the district and is very aligned with our strategic plan, and it is very nice to see their efforts in creating an inclusive environment and confronting this racism with other students. So they're talking about how to recruit faculty of color, their social-emotional development, and focusing on the ethnic studies curriculum so everyone can see what we offer our
017students. We offer our students and the work they have done over the course of 4 years is that they are going to graduate and I am very proud to be a part of this work as we move forward and I am glad that the work will continue as well. Uh, I have small children and I was able to participate in the continuation ceremonies. In high school they were able to talk and share. Those are my aspirations, that's what I want to do. And it was interesting to hear that the students talked about wanting to be good people, to help the world and see fewer deportations, that they want deportations to stop. We are living in difficult times and what our children are dealing with is difficult and we need to continue supporting them and continue
018with that work. Thank you. I was also part of the community bond participation committee and there is a request to transfer funds later for air quality issues and the Hback air conditioning and heating system. And it was, we need to work on this now too; it's always nice to see the involvement of our parents and community. So I wanted to share that. Thank you so much. Thank you, members of the Council. I'm going to say that graduations are always exciting. It's nice to see and hear from our students, to hear them with their speeches. to his colleagues. It's beautiful, and if you need some happiness in your life, you can watch those graduations because the children are doing great things and fostering a better future. I want to acknowledge the fifth and eighth graders who
019will continue the next level, and I was very happy to see those ceremonies. It's an exciting time for many people in the district. I was also able to participate in the negotiations, as a member of the council, and I'm feeling a little concerned about how much work has been done looking at our agenda. Well, I've spoken with the district staff about what's going on. We need to learn about the budget and hopefully we can make progress with the BBEA union. I feel a little nervous, we have little time and that's on my mind, it's related to the budget discussion. So I wanted to elevate this. So our budget is super detailed and super transparent. One thing I want to bring up is on page 116 which talks about staff allocations and is very clear for
020our employee groups with the exception of classroom teachers because that directs people to the negotiated agreement. So we don't have much control over the agreements negotiated with the union. The budget book talks about the principals, the administration, how the budget is divided , but the number of students for each teacher is within the negotiated agreement and there is a certain level of transparency, but it is not as clear. So, we could possibly clarify that; it might be within our control. So, we can't if we don't have to refer to section 66, but we can say what the exact allocation is for each degree. That would be excellent. So, and I hear that transparency is important, we're going to do our best work, but that's what's on page 116 of our budget book. I saw him
021raise his hand. I was going to make a lot of comments, but as you can hear, or possibly can't hear, I lost my voice, but I wanted to talk about Broomfield's graduation because for reasons I don't know I could n't participate, but I was able to go. I know the community was very grateful because Chinger Ramsey did me a great honor by introducing me, even though I wasn't on stage. I wanted to thank her for that and express my continued support for Broomfield High School, and I'll say the rest when I get my voice back at another meeting. I hope you recover soon, Kiri. Let's move on to the topics. information. We have only one topic of information; it is a compilation of the legislative sessions with our Calvideros. I'm going to let Dr. Anderson
022make the introductions. Thank you, President Rashpal. We have representatives Heeder Reto from Policy Matters to give us an overview of the legislative legislation and the things that happened during this year's legislative session . So, Heather, it's my turn to learn how to buy the microphone. Thank you, Superintendent Anderson, and thank you, Katie Henka, who is with me. She is an amazing member of our team and she has participated in this session review, an update about budgeting, and then we will delve into school finance law. More than 70 of the 650 bills that were introduced were [unclear]. This session approved important issues, including elections, reproductive rights, immigrant rights, housing, social media, and consumer protection. Here is a list of two positions the district took during the session. This bill 1278, educational responsibility system , had community
023participation sessions, there was a working group and its recommendations. Superintendent Anderson was very active, particularly with preparing for work after high school, and did pass 12 87 medium eh social media tools for minors and their parents. It was not approved. Bill 25076 was postponed indefinitely and 086 protections for social media users . It was approved, then the governor rejected it and it was sent back to the legislature. 1158 digital educational materials . Several school districts were opposed, so it was not approved. Heather will talk more later about the school finance law. So, House Bill 129 concerning marijuana. Yes, it happened. And the workers' compensation bill passed, but we're waiting for the governor to reject it at some point. Updates to the state budget. Entering the session, I think everyone knew that the state was facing
024a structural deficit of $1.2 billion . That's the amount in November. On November 1st, the governor requests the committee's budget, and the following months are spent going through a budget similar to yours line by line, and then you have to make those difficult decisions. When I say a structural deficit, I am saying that there are many one-time expenditures over the last few years to create new departments and new programs that cost money and increase expenses. So, the joint budget committee had to go over in detail how to cut programs, important programs that affect the community. Those were very difficult months, and that was further complicated by the end of COVID and many people leaving Medicaid. Colorado is one of the states facing the most challenges and putting a lot of pressure on the state budget
025to cover those increased costs. Medicaid expenses have to be paid somehow, and that puts a lot of pressure on the budget as well because it was a structural deficit. We had these 63 orbital bills, which are these bills that change the statutes in the budget, and that gives you an idea of how intense those decisions are, because they had to go into the statutes to cut programs and change investments in programs. The education department, I'll start by saying, despite having that $1.2 billion deficit, Colorado supports kindergarten through first grade education. They strongly stated that this was going to be their priority to try to protect, but there was a lot of pressure on the budget, there wasn't much money to invest, they had to make very creative decisions, they increased the budget for education from
026kindergarten to twelfth grade. There were many difficult conversations about the school meals program, because it affects so many families. The program has become much more expensive than originally anticipated in this first blue notebook. For those who are new. Uh, the analysis on the ballot says whether the State cannot withhold money beyond the amount indicated in the original budget. He is, but he also supported more money, but that money has to be returned to the voters. They had many difficult conversations about whether we limit ourselves by income or simply give out lunch. What they ultimately decided was to support the program through the end of the year by halting a bill that sends two ballot measures to voters this November and will ask voters if they can keep excess money to fund the program's current cost.
027Let's see what happens and if the measure doesn't pass . The members of the GBC committee have said they will have to make difficult decisions about the program. The governor also says there's something called the big blur. Those are state grant programs. For example, the Student Leadership Institute in Colorado, which gives high school students the opportunity to learn about government, prevention, and mentoring, has eliminated some of those programs and is also looking very closely at what is working, what we can afford, and what we cannot. There is a budget cut that impacts school districts. They cut $9 million . It is a significant impact on districts despite the committee's desire to protect kindergarten-12th grade education. So, Bill 1320, the School Finance Act , passed last year. There was a lot of talk about Bill 1448.
028Superintendent Anderson was at the Capitol more than ever advocating for that new formula that focuses on risk factors, and that formula was intended to fund $500 million in kindergarten through twelfth grade education over the next seven years. So, how do we go about what we can afford? How are we going to promise the districts long- term funding? On the positive side, we're having a lot of in-depth conversations and learning between lawmakers and the joint budget committee. For kindergarten through 12th grade education, the governor's request includes the implementation of the formula under Law 1448. A step backward. One important thing the superintendent did was create a threshold for 1448. If the state doesn't have the money, the law won't be implemented . But since the State cannot afford the formula, the request worked in conjunction with
029the elimination of the average. It's a significant reduction in the districts. the elimination of leaving that profession without force in the law. So, when a new district was implemented, it was going to receive less money with the new formula. Thank God, with those recommendations, the districts were united in opposition to that request. This was something that could not be negotiated with the districts. The districts were already planning their budgets. So, we worked as a coalition. I am very proud of the superintendent. The council, the entire council, held a meeting with the legislative delegation from all of Bolder County to explain how detrimental those recommendations would be to the district, and the legislators advocated for rejecting that request. That's the end of school finance. We were able to eliminate the 4-year average in that proposal, and
030next year we'll have a 3- year average, but only if the State can afford to implement Law 1448. And it was very important that they rejected that provision to render it ineffective. Senator Barkmer and Senator Coker, the chairman of the Education Committee, offered an amendment to the bill called the Kids Matter Bill. It essentially takes money from the general fund each year to fund education from kindergarten through 12th grade. They designated $230 million first from the General Fund to ensure that they will first fund the hole in education from kindergarten to 12th grade. That message was very important, but I will say that although it's incredible to have that account and to fund education first, it's not new funds; it's a designation for education. It's a positive step, but it's not an increase in funding
031that's going to magically solve the budget challenges, and the law was signed . Uh, the governor signed the law last week. Important dates include the June revenue projection . The committee receives input from two different economists that helps guide its decision-making process and is related to tax credits. There are extra funds that the state could otherwise spend, but there are hundreds of millions of dollars in tax credits from last year that could otherwise have been spent. It is possible that these loans will affect the general fund. We will be monitoring the situation and will update the Board of Education on the revenue forecast, and we are very grateful to the Bolder County legislative delegation, its newest member, Leslie Smith. He worked very hard, and I also want to thank Superintendent Anderson for spending so much
032time and working with us through those very difficult conversations. That's what we have. There are questions for us. Dr. Anderson, no questions, but a big thank you to Heather, Katy, Tania, the whole Play Matters team, because these are difficult issues and you have to go and advocate and articulate, inform and educate the legislators and in our delegation, on the impacts of what's going to happen when other things happen. And there are many competing voices in the Capitol, many people who want to talk to those who have to vote and make the decisions. So, Policy Matters works directly for us and they have done a great job of working with us, having very frank and difficult conversations, and also with the decision-makers, and allowing us to advocate for the benefit of our 28,000 students and families
033and our community. As soon as the session ends, it will start again and we will have many conversations. There are potential changes to the school finance law, potential amendments. So, we'll be thinking about that during the summer and working more on it from January to May, but we never really stop working on it. I want to echo that sentiment. And the amount of bills that go through the legislature is crazy. Thank you for your efforts, and I wanted to ask what's happening at the state level. There are two things he said related to the conversations we're having. How do we use one-time funds when they are available? It creates pressure in the future and it's very difficult to turn things off. Whether it's one-time COVID relief money or Marshall funds, when that one-time money runs
034out, it's hard to shut down the program, and it 's difficult [Music] with the money we have at that moment, or when you pass the school finance law and then it's changed, it's very difficult to predict. In conditions that are not consistent or stable, everything you addressed directly impacts us. It's not easy for you, and it's difficult for us too. Alex, if I can, I want to acknowledge them too. Thank you for your support and respect to Superintendent Anderson and Nicole for this last session. Since member Anger became part of the council, he is pushing us to think proactively about our policy agenda. What is your advice for preparing for the next session? What are the issues that should be at the top of our list, and what Dr. Anderson wants to achieve, but also
035how much will the legislature be considering the budget in June? We'll see, but we're hearing that it's going to be very similar this year. This year we had the joint budget committee, it had a lot of one-time tricks to reallocate money, but opportunities in the future are going to have to be more creative. So, we're going to see deeper cuts. coming year. It's important to think about your schedule earlier . The things that are important to the district, its strategic plan, the things that benefit students, the fact that all those grant programs could be cut, it's scary, but there are things to think about. If you have ideas about how things can be improved, or things that are successful that you want to protect, it's helpful for us to know that, and we can get
036that information to the Bolder legislators earlier as well. When they start those conversations, they're going to submit the final budgets in June to the joint budget committee. Any information is helpful, but I can't thank you enough for your activity and your relationship with those members . I know they are listening to the community. President Rashp, you spend every other week talking with us about the issues and you make us feel like we are the best advocates for the district we can be. It has been a great delegation and we need to use them to protect what is very special to us. Dr. Anderson, ideas I have for this free food for everyone. We need to support that measure on the ballot because the money runs out in December if that measure doesn't pass on the
037ballot; that's something early we can think about and we have to think about. I understand what people want to do with the school finance law. They won't have enough money. It's the same song, but a different year. We need to think fundamentally as a community, as a school district, we are going to be able to fund what the community expects and the school finance law is not going to be that for us. I want to make that clear. The school finance law, even at its best, doesn't give us what we need, and when it changes, as the children will tell , it will. So, 4 3 2 0. That impacts us too. I believe we need to think over the summer about the different ways our community can continue to support and invest in our
038schools, which give us what we want and deserve. We 've performed incredibly well as a district, and at a certain point, budget pressures take away things we're used to having that we wo n't be able to have anymore. You can do that for a while, but the budget includes free meals for everyone and early days. We're going to look at things with the budget, possibly ideas about universal preschool, and what we're noticing in terms of quality control, and that's a concern we have regarding the pre-kindergarten bill. There is limited control for charity in that, and funding is behind our kindergarten through second grade students, but our salaries remain the same for those educators. So I have some ideas, board members, but Heather, let's talk next week and we'll start working. The comment to the superintendent,
039if this is very critical here, so we can definitely use his help on these very complex topics, and yes, if we are talking, we are in this conversation about the amendment of having the surface money to be able to help us, and if something can help us, what is the state in which we can work? to lower all that money and how it can be channeled. So this message is very important and, well, we are really very grateful for the champions we have here who are helping us with this, because this is a balance that is being maintained and it is something we are trying to do immediately. Yes, thank you again for coming and joining us tonight. Our next element that we are here is we have the executive session the study Yes, my
040name is Jorge Chávez and we have the section that is the one where the personal evaluation is needed and what is being sought in section 2426 8B to have the legal conditions that can be made and to have with condition 56023B to do what the board was trying to do in the final process. Uh, yes, a second session is held. Yes, Lora, you can call the list. Chávez, yes. Medler, yes. Quidand la vera, sí. Crushp, yes. Sergeant. Yes. Yes. Yes, I said yes. I hope you heard me. The motion passes and now for the members we will meet in the next room. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? proving that everything is okay. Yes, I'm listening. So, we have this meeting. Now, the next item on our agenda is the action items that
041we're going to do regarding consent approval. But before we continue, we can verify that Kitty is still here at this meeting. She is. Yes. Very good. Then, 8 pun, article ter personal 8.2 approval of the minutes May 13. 83 approval of minutes, May 20, 2025, special session. 8.4 Acceptance of donations, student support services. 8.5 C amends the contract for bond improvement work at Hills High Schools. 8.6 amends the contract for the Fairview High School Bond Project. 8.7 Approval of the non-Network contract, purchase of digital materials from ELA 8.8 Change order to JHL Builders for the bond improvement work at Promfield High School. 8.9 Contract with Chambrrock Foods. 8.10 810 contract with Spark Energy 811 FY26 purchase of Microsoft licenses 812 resolution 25-12 to accept bids and authorize construction and maintenance projects. 8.13 Resolutions 25-19 and
04225-20 Additional budget and allocation for the fund on behalf of Pera. 814 Resolution 2521 Renewal of License Agreements 8.15 15. University of Virginia Partnership Custom Support Agreement 2025-2022. Any items that the board members would like to extract from the consent group? Since we see that there are none, we need a motion to approve the discussion. By Alex. Okay, then let's leave the discussion of these articles here. I have a question in 8.6. the contract amendment for the Fairview High School bond project. This was mentioned in the opening statements, and I think if we are asking, we should use the bonds to expedite the procedures. Well, it's not so much to speed up the work, but during the design phase we realized that the mechanical units in certain parts of the building did not have the
043cooling systems. So on May 26th, we saw that there were some times we needed to look at to fix these units. It's going to be about 18 months. Thank you so much for clarifying this. By asking about the minutes now, we'll do it later, so we can buy the parts we need and, based on the prices, we can start the work in 2026. And the units, if ordered now, we'll receive them around that time. Well, as we see timelines in construction, that was the only question I had. Council members, do you have any questions or anything you'd like to discuss regarding this list? Ah, as we can see, there aren't any. Lora, can you call the list for consent? Chávez, yes. Metler, yes. Queenland Aeda. Yes. Rushban, yes. And the motion passes. The next item
044on the agenda is to review the articles we have in this motion. Okay, can you talk? Yes. We ask that the council reject the idea that this can be done. This is seconded by Alex. Is there any discussion in this article? So, hearing that now, please call the list. Chávez, yes. Metler, yes. Quinline Aguera, yes. Crashp, yes. Sergeant. Yes. The motion passes. Now let's go to the consent action policies in group 101. Then we have the management of athletic activities, and the costs that this will entail. We have the interviews with the students. In 10.3 Again we have some items that may require group consent. Since I don't hear any, then I make the request, the motion, for this to be agreed upon. So we have Jorge and Elain, they are both equally. Yes. Well,
045why don't you tell us if I appreciate that the timeline for the JJF was reviewed? And well, we're thinking that if the communication is requested to include a statement on how to reduce barriers to student participation, I like to use the word should, but at the Justice High graduation, no, well, I don't know, maybe it was Boulder Prep. Yes, it was a class of 20 students, and one of them said they were very happy to have been able to play sports where they were, and they knew it was quite expensive for families, and they were very happy that they were able to do it at that high school and not another one. And as we see, some of the challenging things in this case are that we can try to get school principals to provide
046some resources that can help students participate because the costs are lower, and we are happy to see that this is being possible . So if some of the smaller high schools are able to do it, then we realize that the larger ones can also do it in a more comprehensive way. So we are very grateful that these particular red lines have been added , because we have the clubs and donors who are being part of these processes. We also appreciate that these financial donations have been included for review and reporting on annually. Kitty, yes, I would like to comment on the page, at the top of page two, in that paragraph about the language that says that we think children keep their ankles in their pockets, and I wanted this language corrected because, well, it
047's really funny. Yes, I believe what has been done is a typographical correction that had to be made to eliminate the redundancy that the council discussed in the last session, and we left an error there, so I will take care of correcting it. Thank you. Well, since there's no further discussion to add to this, we ask that you call out the list. Chávez, yes. Metler, yes. Quinland grandmother, yes. Rush. Serge: Yes. The motion passes. So now let's continue. with the police study studies . We have one, the DJ DJE policy, which is about purchases and contracts, and we're going to have Katlin talk about this in this article. Well, the last time this policy was updated was in 2023. At that time we made a proposal to adjust the authority of the signatures, to have
048a higher signing authority and as we know, as the board knows, we can do with the contracts. Dr. Anderson can sign contracts worth over $50,000, right? Between 10 and 50, the chairman of the board signs those that are between 50 and 100,000. And what we're seeing are the districts in this neighborhood. The ceilings are kept a little lower, so we see that we're going to share several items here on the agenda, and the main idea was that we could have these authorities sign off so that it would be a much more practical point of view in operational terms for us. So we see that policies can confront some of these ideas that are based on laws, and we have some requirements that are made to acquire equipment, and this is based on federal dollars, and
049it's something very difficult to read. So we're really trying to focus more clearly on having the authority we have right now so that the requirements for a person can be different, so that different agreements can be signed, some with much lower limits and others with much higher limits, so that we can clarify that we have special circumstances, so that our district can proceed in a different way, integrating state and federal laws, so that we can also clarify how we are maintaining all this information and the processes by which this information is maintained, so that we can do a clear cleanup of these very important items. Yes, thank you very much. And I'm looking at how these tables that will be made later on might look. Does anyone have any comments on this policy? Well, it's
050basically a comment. I appreciate the help from Bill and the team when the audit committee was discussing these ideas, and well, there were some changes that were made, and it was to protect the ability to procure these lines. In addition, the inclusion of federal and state policies regarding the different districts and their interests based on objectives and policies. And we also want to protect the discretion that the district has when making these proposals in both cases. Well, these are things we might be thinking about on page 3 under the idea of the services and articles we have regarding the employees of the school district. We have a rather long discussion about this paragraph with Bill and Alex. And well, if I remember correctly, there are a couple of ways, maybe we're not following this policy
051to the letter , but if you have some, maybe you're part of the stock market and you have some Google stocks, well, that's something that was here, the phrase that was used at that time. And it was something we had to think about, is that if we have a school employee who has a summer camp for athletes and the athletes are asked, well, not asked, but not required, but recommended to show up , then this could infringe on the spirit of the program if it's something private, and these are the things we 're thinking about, that the council might give its opinion on whether this has any unexpected consequences . In the same way that we are talking about stock market issues with respect to Google. Yes, there are some elementary school teachers who run
052summer camps and they're the ones who manage it at the school, so I 'm not saying they're some of the coaches, but how that relates to this, that 's covered maybe under another policy that the board should be aware of, well, we need to give it more time to consider this matter. I'm really excited to make a change to this policy because I haven't thought about this for quite some time. It's a positive move to give different people the authority to sign off on budgets, especially in schools in neighboring districts, because I've never really seen the president of the council have the authority to sign without referring the other council members. So this is something we can do that can be more efficient and avoid unnecessary waiting for things . Okay, any other comments or
053questions? Alex. Well, regarding the point, a couple of questions we had about that in this paragraph, regarding the goods and services, selling them, and well, this has to do, for example, with the staff, selling things to students, or if there ca n't be a firm or an agency or an office that one of the employees partly owns, and well, I don't see that this has really been fixed yet by the red line, so I don't see that we have solved this problem of someone owning a brand or a separate office. to the board members, if we need to go and talk to the audit committee. It is very important that this can be discussed. Yes. To clarify the spirit of this conversation, or the intention of this conversation, is that the council's intention is to
054be able to advise on these policies that people who work for the district cannot use their position as a district employee to sell other services to people who serve in the district. And this is ultimately, well, if you're a teacher and you want to do something, you're the coach, this really creates a bit of a strange dynamic. And well, if I could speak for Robert Robert on the audit committee, his concern was that, for example, a company like Google, which has millions of people who own shares, then Google can't serve us, sell us services under this policy if suddenly one of the employees owns shares in Google, no. What we mean is that they cannot have services or activities based on what is being done, if it is a company that has a relationship with
055us or sells services. Yes, yes, Alex, are you there? Well, since there are no questions or comments on this policy, then we're going to continue with the other studies we have, the study elements, and those are the budget we have, and if we can discuss it now in the meeting. Good evening, Mr. President, members of the board, Dr. Anderson. I'm excited to present the proposed 2025-2026 budget, and I have some changes that have occurred, including revisions to our milestones and timelines, budget development, projected enrollment, and next steps. To clarify, there are minimal changes from the preliminary budget presented on April 8th. Regarding the milestones and timeline, it's the same presentation that has been shown several times. The top bar shows where we are, and if you move further to the right... So, when we highlight
056the items that remain in the process, uh, the feedback that was received at tonight's meeting, we have a couple of things that are worth noting since we spoke on April 8. The legislation finished its work, as notified in the update, and we have the new school funding law. It's over. Uh, there's a minimal increase in funding for the universal PreKinder program, so we have an original formula that was based on an average of 25 to 26, and all of this has ended. We also temporarily have the funds that are for the health school, and so there were a lot of changes made in terms of the funds in particular in the last month or so in what was done in the legislative session. the articles that keep them on the timeline. Excuse me. Ah, I'm
057a little stuck here regarding school finances. Well, it is the one that is anticipated with respect to the achievements that the state will have in June 20 and these are the things that we are projecting that will be in the coming months. Thank you so much. Something went the other way. Ah, uh, the final timeline for the adoption of this budget, as required by the bylaws, is June 30. So with regard to the budget development, what we have is that we are trying to remind you that several of the things we have had are being done and we have received this slide has been updated for a couple more items that we have. These are the 18 topics that were previously included. So our focus, our focus with respect to budget development, is the strategic
058initiatives we have, addressing achievements, achievement gaps, opportunities within these gaps, disproportionality, inflation, and how we are developing this budget. In terms of registrations, we have a relative change with regard to projected registrations and the projection for October for this fall. As I remind you, preschool works very differently with respect to enrollments and what is being planned for the rest of the schools, and once a student is enrolled, this determines whether we will hire other staff because this can change throughout the year, either in terms of the payments that will be made to the school. Well, when we see that enrollments went down from this year to next year, to the previous year, and the same for sections that are not related to preschool in this district, it went down to 25 students. So what we
059can highlight from this proposed budget is that we see that the changes made based on this April 8 budget were that there were some small changes and a reduction in terms of the number of students who will enter. So there was a reduction, and as I said before, it's a reduction from what is estimated to be the increase. And I know it sounds a little funny, but the way we make projections quite far in advance, before we have the final numbers, is what we think about: the number of students who will be entering and the budget that will come to the charter schools. This has to do with how that final number is calculated, so we see that the obligation is reduced there in terms of the funds for the athletic fund and how we
060are going to be able to cover the transportation needs. So we have something we're looking at, like the girls' flag team, and that's what we're going to deliver to Monar High. And I see that the statement is about school, and as we see, some of the things we can highlight are that there will be 6.9 million in tickets, 10.7 million of the funds that are available, and 13.6 million that will be given to school staff and support will be given in those areas that have been named. And to make it clear, as we see from the side of what is going to come in, last year we thought it was 15.99 million. So once the school funding law was finalized, we saw that it wasn't as terrible as the governor originally proposed, but there is
061definitely still a decrease in the funds available. There was a reduction of $7.4 million and $2.3 million to promote technology projects. And as we saw many of these, it's clear that inflation is a factor; inflation has been part of these numbers we're bringing here and of the costs of the insurance policies that are in place with respect to workers' compensation . So the overall budget will include the funds and differences we discussed last time. So there will be a refinement of these projections with respect to athletic funds and this may include the adjustment to the cost of living and we think that around 2.2 million has been identified and that represents 0.6% of the cost of living. This is the adjustment we have to make, and later we will finalize negotiations with some of the
062employee groups. Uh, this will be discussed with these employee groups and some changes will be made to the final budget that will be adopted. And this is an average action that is followed when we continue the process of refining these projections and we need to take a point and a time when we are going to think that this budget will continue from that point onwards. And generally a couple of changes are made between choosing the original proposed budget and where we are going to end up. And in the reserve line, what we are thinking is that there are three, the 3% that will increase with one of the 4% that will be in contingency and the rest of the budget will be built and be able to realize what percentage we will need in those
063other elements and what will be needed or if it can be or perhaps a lesser increase with respect to being able to reduce them. The next steps are that we have the adoption of the budget schedule, which will be on June 17th, and June 30th will be the deadline for the statute that will be made, and then we will have the final timelines that will be in 2026, so that outside of the end of the year, at the end of the year that is what we will have and we will be able to make the other adjustments. End. Uh, thank you very much, Bill. Hey, board members, do you have any questions regarding the budget? Alex B, I really appreciate all the work that goes into this. It's a lot of information, and I really
064appreciate how difficult it is for the public to generate it, and for us here at the council to understand it. I have a couple of questions for people, uh, for example, for DAC or SA members, if they've figured out how they can make this document make sense once we move forward. First, we talk about general operating funds, but we have some funds that are needed, which are part of the district budget. But I have a question, what are the differences between the general fund and the fund we have to operate? This is the focus of the operating fund. Well, the other funds are those that are held from accounting, which generally require either the laws and statutes of the State or are accepted in terms of the general principles of accounting to have separate funds.
065Some of these are the subsidies that are available. This is included in some general funds, some districts have it, so it's acceptable to have separate grants so that this can flow and be tracked. Transportation funds are required with respect to the statutes of the State since you can and in such a way as to why these special funds exist. We don't spend much time talking about it or about them. Well, generally because it has certain requirements regarding the income side or the expenses side. Most of the decisions around how the district operates, how schools are staffed, what kind of software we have, and all of this operates within general funds, and those decisions about how the dollars are spent are focused in this area. Most of them are in that area and the activities that
066take place there. There are some funds that are part of, in accounting terms, considered to be operating funds and sub-funds, and for example, athletic matters. Athletic fundraisers are a good example of this. Most of the funds for athletic matters come from this general fund, and we also have other funds that are not a requirement, but in terms of making it easier for accounting to keep them separate and to be able to have those conversations regarding, for example, risk management or athletic matters. Those who are listening at home, something like what they charge for sports activities, the fees, so we're going to see that it comes from the sports activities fund, but what is the added cost and how much comes from the general fund, and since there have been changes, not necessarily all the changes
067that have been made, this will be reflected, invested in the [Applause] students. Well, yes, this comes from the general fund, right? But what is the proportion considering the general fund? Well, I don't have that information here at the moment. We could say 300 million, 400 million, which is the bonus, which is a high proportion and this is a very different activity, it could be 90%, but that is already discounting the health insurance funds and other benefits. That's right, because the health insurance fund is reflected as an expense and this creates an income. Then it is considered in the General Fund, just as in the transport budget for the chores and the employee if he has a dependent. So, a portion of the health insurance they pay for is not directly a district expense, but it
068is considered within the same line item of expenses because it is part of the benefits package offered to employees to support them. Most of the health insurance fund is considered an expense. So, it's treated as an expense in one part of the fund, but in another line item it's considered income, but by adding that it's not being counted twice, it's not an internal accounting process. by providing the benefit of health insurance. Well, but if you consider the ups and downs, and well, these expenses don't contribute to the overall income because they could be considered within the Department of Transportation, but for example, we have obligations that we must cover. Well, my point is, to explain this in more detail, I would like to know how we spend all our money and where we get it
069from. And when reviewing these very long documents it is difficult to understand this unless we review, I mean, really the most important thing is the overall budget and sometimes I have, uh, added income, added expense. So, what I want to understand is the overall picture when we talk about the operating fund. So, how good would my contribution be in terms of the financial situation, considering everything that's going on? Well, I would say that what we do on a daily basis in schools provides most of the information about the activities that are happening, and that is considered separately. The bond program is considered separately. Debt repayment is something that's already on autopilot because there are no resources available to do anything other than pay off the debt. And this is part of the reasoning about what
070dollars we really have to make decisions. And having a more complete picture, for example, in this audit, we had the Association of Treasurers of the School Districts present very concise information with a couple of documents. So that all aggregate income, as well as aggregate income and expenses, are part of the presentation of information to present reports that are somewhat more simplified for the general public. That definitely doesn't have the level of detail to, let's say, question whether those funds could be used for other purposes. And well, one of my observations would be for the general public, that is, the fact that we can change the destination of these funds, well, it doesn't have much influence because the decision was made well in advance and there is always a report on the audience, uh, can tell
071me about other decisions that were made in past years. Commitment to the staff is the most important part of this. 90% of the budget goes to staff at all levels, superintendent, teachers, choirs, school food service, and that is our main commitment. The compensation increases medical insurance, seniority, cost-of- living adjustment; these are quite large increases. The reductions to some staff and the decrease in some, uh, in some work centers, that's the majority. Thank you very much for taking the time to clarify these things for me, and we consider the discussion of these issues very useful because we really want, well, we have to lay the foundations for the environment for the next 10 years, and to some extent we are going to want to require more clarity because we are going to request more funds to
072be able to cover these needs and commitments. But when you make a decision, you have to have control over all the ideas that support that decision. Then, thank you very much. Thank you so much. I love the budgeting book and when people email me, I reference the page number for them . There is a sentence in this book that I would like to read as part of the budget development process. The council is trying to secure the human resources so that any changes or reductions in the budget have the least possible impact on students. And if we're talking about the presentation, I have some questions. On slide number 14, it's showing an adjustment of 6.9 million and also 10.7 million for staff compensation. We will also not be renewing the contracts of some employees. 10.7
073million. This amount is not covered by our current funds. So, where does the 13.6 million figure appear? the cost of living or health insurance or in the compensation package. That refers to seniority by employment. And if I could talk about those two amounts, not counting the staff who are going to leave us. I could go into more detail about these amounts because yes, 10.7 is made up of three numbers. 1.5 million for health insurance is an estimate; there is an estimated increase, and a portion of this is an annual cost of 7 million in salaries for existing staff and 2.2 million for cost-of-living adjustment. that I mentioned earlier and three things that are included there. Two, other compensation points that are not continuous. Specifically, there is one million dollars for ongoing incentives for some teachers.
074because it is an incentive program to encourage these people to participate more on substitute days. We have funds for snow removal. It's a stipend that was previously negotiated; it's a combination of this and also the reduction in funds, and this is creating the reason why the compensation is greater than the new income. And also how it gives you 13.6 million. These are one-time expenses . I do n't remember that exact amount right now, and I don't know why it doesn't specifically state a continuing commitment and a proportion; part of this is a transfer that was made, or perhaps it was a one- time staffing reserve. And going back to the point I mentioned earlier, it becomes difficult when these funds have to leave, for example, 6.9 million. We need to differentiate when I see that
075classroom teachers and support in the classrooms, when these numbers disappear, we are going to hear it and we are facing declining enrollment. I know you do a great job balancing this, and it's a significant commitment. As Alex says, we have to justify to our community that the decisions we make are to support the growth of our students, and as resources decline, at what point are we making more difficult decisions, and at what point will the public no longer agree or will reduce staff any further? We won't be able to invest more in our staff, and our community is feeling it. We need to continue providing the programs and services that our communities expect, as well as providing services to our students that are professional. It's not so much a question, but I'm finding it difficult.
076What I see is that balancing this budget is going to become increasingly difficult. We have a responsibility to respond to emails and to address situations over which we have no control. President Rashford, I realize what you have said when we have had much more continuous income during the five of the seven years I have been here outside of the COVID years, we have been able to adjust the cost of living to today. We have started to provide the supports we need in schools, increase translation services and all the resources for our students. Continuous income is going to stay as it is, well, flat. We need to be aware of our expenses and think about sustainability. Let's see how we have to see what the future holds. They're not staying; we had a special session in
077September. We try to be very mindful of the impact that our budget has on our staff and our students. And this balancing of budgets has to be an ongoing conversation. A school with a problem. which puts pressure on every other priority in the district by just one degree, and that's going to continue to happen, whether it's for substitute teacher compensation, and if we look at the data, that's going to show that we're covering classes better. manner. We now need to look at the class sizes according to the numbers that appear in the contract, in the contracts with the unions, that is, just because we predict that 33 students will be enrolled in your class, but that doesn't mean that all of them will show up, maybe there will only be 29, we only have 6.5
078million as new admissions. So, when we intertwine practices with reality, well, we're going to have a more balanced budget, and the conversations need to continue. We definitely need to keep talking and talking about the transparency comments on page 51 of the books. Very good work on where expenses are being reduced. Well, the public doesn't really get into the details of this budget book, but we are reviewing it and noticing where changes have occurred in our budget. Alex, well, with my comments I always support what you're saying. Curiosity comes from making sure that people understand where we have discretion and where we don't have much discretion in making decisions. Part of my reaction comes as the increases, but we don't see the big picture. When discussing the grand total, it's easier to understand how small increases
079add up to a larger amount, and we have funds that we can use, but we're losing sight of the fact that the budget has decreased significantly. This was 288 million, but if we put it in perspective, our hands are tied for this. Then we faced several challenges. No, no, I don't expect everyone to read this document, but it does help us understand where we have decision-making power and why we're really trying to make the right decisions, but often the results aren't satisfactory. For example, services are no longer available to the libraries, or every time there's a service that isn't satisfactory, we have to raise the issue. Sometimes, the calendar, the way the staff works, overtime, and all of this is under the lens of declining enrollments. I'm trying to understand the whole process, and I
080want other people to understand it too. and so that they can see what the adjustment is, what the change is, and also a discussion about what the total represents. Council members, do you have any other questions or comments? Since there isn't one, I wanted to tell you that we have the proposal for the year 25-26, it hasn't been adopted until June 17th at our regular meeting. We'll be here at 5 pm. The address is 6500, the drink will be the budget will be adopted in accordance with Colorado law. Council members, this is the last item on our agenda. Are there any topics you would like to add for future priorities? Ah.