3/4/26 Budget Meeting

001So, we will begin. I know we've got a couple people that were waiting to come in. Um um but welcome. And for those of the people that are watching at home, our packets and all of our information is available on our website. So, feel free to pop over into there on rs16.org and that way you can follow along with our documents. So, um our our first real budget meeting, I know we had a kickoff meeting where we listened to all of the administrators, had some good conversations about their pain points or what's keeping them up at night and their future outlook. And tonight, we actually start digging into the budget that we have proposed for FY27. So with that is sort of just how we set things up. So we set up the budget committee

002similar to the district budget meeting. The district budget meeting is that one that you've been to where you get your slip of paper and we go article by article and you show your vote by holding up that slip of paper. So in order for us to get to that point of beginning with the end in mind, we run our budget committees that way. So what we'll do is we'll actually go through article by article except it's not all in one meeting. based on over four meetings and it's a little bit more relaxed because we have convers more conversations. There's room for that and there's also room to revisit the articles if we need to because as you know we are in the midst of building our budget. We feel pretty good with where we are

003because there's really nothing new in our budget. It's maintaining what we have. Uh after there's been a good amount of discussion, we'll do a straw poll. So, one of our budget committee members, uh, so that's Jess, Andrea, Gavin, Randy, Jeff, Lisa, Lisa, or Mary can call that straw poll and we look at that that straw poll will we'll ask for those that are in agreement. We call that a TA, that we tenatively agree. It kind of just means that yeah, that looks good to you right now. You can get behind that and but there is a mechanism to open up those TAs if we need to and that just keeps our our meeting structure. So, I do lay that all out for our budget committee members in the um our norms that we have. So,

004if you want to pull that out, uh it does say budget discussions and we've got a great group here. So, just reminding everybody of of of our norms, which is every idea is valuable and contributes to our shared learning. Uh one voice at a time because we don't want the side conversations to um not have an opportunity for you to be heard by everyone. uh share the space. Make sure that you're aware of how much you're you're talking and make room for others to participate and keeping that open mind that we are in this together and hoping to learn something new. Maybe change your mind, maybe not. And if we need to, we can always capture follow questions for followup. It may not be tonight that you are able to answer questions, but it may

005be later on. And just our structure to keep us going as I alluded to before is we will go article by article and uh all of our budget committee members will have the opportunity to speak on each agenda item or each article before u moving on to the next and the budget committee you can ask 18 questions any time that you want. So our board members that are used to the formality of a board meeting this is a little bit different. So you can ask the the 18 members anytime uh during the conversation. Um, and then our AT members will also, if there's something that we've missed, have an opportunity to to plug in those holes, too. And then after that discussion of the of the article, uh, we'll do that straw poll. So, we'll

006ask one of our budget committee members to move that to a TA and then we'll have a second and then we'll vote on that. And if there is agreement or a majority, then we'll consider that agreed to, which means looks good to you. Uh if you do feel like we've kind of gone down the rabbit hole and we keep discussing things over and over, a budget committee member could just call for a TA and we will see what the majority of the group feels if we're ready to take that straw poll. Uh if there are additional items that maybe aren't relative to that article, but you do want to discuss, we will make room for that at the end or that onto our next agenda. And then if you go home later on, you're like,

007h, you know, maybe we should have talked about this or maybe we should think about reopening up that article. Uh the tenatively agreed upon articles can be revisited. You can bring that up and if you wish for that article to be reconsidered uh if there's a majority of the budget committee then we'll reopen that and uh look at that and if not then that TA remains in place. But I do want to remind you it is the board's budget. The board does really appreciate having administrators working with our town reps in order to be able to have that two-way communication, but ultimately it is the board's budget and the board will make decisions uh as to that final budget that does go for the district budget. But I do know how much they value your

008input and also your communications with your boards and councils as well as as as taxpayers. So that's a general look at just our how the meeting will flow based upon the district budget meeting. I do want to recognize Matt is here tonight. Matt, we don't have public comment. Uh we invite you to to join the board meeting on Monday night. There is public comment there. You've got my email sent you a packet so you can follow along too and happy to have discussions with you after the meeting or at a different time. Any comments or questions about our process? We'll move into updates from our town reps. We've got some movement with finance meeting on town meeting on Saturday and I know Mechanic Falls has some some budget updates. So Lisa, we'll start with you.

009So our budget is being voted on. We have town meeting Saturday morning. Um I think we're in pretty good shape. I mean, we're looking at around seven and a half% overall increase. Most of our increases are, you know, usual salaries, insurance. Um, our fire department probably increases we're trying to grow that the department not expecting a lot of controversy, so to speak, what's on there. So, okay. and I'm representing MC Falls and Andrea happens to be on the budget committee also for the town of Macan Falls. Um, and ours are a lot of the same challenges that we're going to talk about in in the school budget. Some of it are some uh decreases in revenue and I don't know if it's true for Minet but our expectation is that um the revenue sharing is

010over a $100,000 cut for mechanic walls. Um possibly that um will change, but right now that's that's the information we have. And also our county tax has gone up $75,000. So, um, and we have less available in our our fund balance than than we've had other years in Munich Falls. Um, so that was a decrease of $245,000. So, some of the same challenges the school has, the town has in terms of uh less revenue. So, some of the ways that we looked at that and the budget and the budget of Mechanic Falls, we voted on the Warren articles last night. So, um, it's there were some cuts in their health insurance plan, made some adjustments in that, and then did cut out over $100,000 to take into account the the decrease in revenue sharing. So,

011and the bottom line would be that the amount that needs to be raised through taxation is a little over 2% increase, $26,000 increase. Um, so the the total town budget that's part of the the warrant is about 3,950 $50,000 about $100,000 less than last year. >> Have any questions for Mary or Lisa? >> Lisa, was the revenue sharing an issue in mind? We did talk about it. So I just wrote a note to ask about it. So, I I'm if if it was low that much lower, I think we'd have had good discussion, but I don't recall that coming into play at all. >> Our our um county went up 42,000 um in which I was budget committee member on that, too. So, I knew that that was going to go up. You know, Lisa

012is not here to to talk about Poland. I don't know if any of our residents tonight have any knowledge or updates to provide for the town of Poland. >> Nope. I don't I would not feel comfortable sharing anything. >> We'll wait to hear from Lisa next time or I know the town of Poland also puts things out on their their Facebook and their website too update us. >> Right. So, just briefly, uh, some background information on where we are with our budget and what's what you can expect and and what things look like. And I always do that through a a one pager, right? So, uh, you have in front of you this this one one pager here. It does have a small little pink mostly pink. Get that one over to Matt. that is

013uh I always try to do it on one page so you can stick it in your wallet or your bag and then that way if you are out there with talking to stakeholders you can bring it to your council or board meetings uh and being able to talk about just some of the cap some of the highlights here that we're talking about in RSC16. So first up our strategic plan uh is one of our our documents. So, Lisa, Lisa, and Mary did leave a copy of the strategic plan with you. So, you have that to be able to share with your your your boards. And we do have um four focus areas. And uh I'm going to have just some help with just talking about some of the highlights because as we look to really

014uh meet those pieces of our strategic plan, the lofty goals that in there, um we want to hear some updates. So, our our four areas are communication and community connections, infrastructure, fostering lifelong learners, and skilled workforce. So, tonight, um Eric and Joe are just going to brief us on some some cool happenings at the at the high school and in special ed. And I'm gonna ask Jess to talk about what's happening in her fifth and sixth grade uh area of of Elm Street School because there's some some cool things happening to meet those uh community connections and fostering life entrepreneurs. and then I will talk briefly about school revolving renovation funds. You have something else to go back and talk to to your your boards about. So, uh Eric, you want to pop in here?

015>> Sure. Um thanks Amy. Happy to. Um I'm just going to talk about two things. One is um a science class here at the high school. Um the second one is I'm going to touch briefly on extended learning opportunities um that we call our ELOs's. Um so the science class um that I'm highlighting with community connections um Patrick Martin who's uh also teaches 10th grade biology he has a a course called forest forestry fisheries and wildlife and um this trip one of the aspects of this is trying to get students out of the classroom and out into the community and so they've had three field work or field trip type experiences this fall the first of those they went to the Curtis Homestead forestry program. Um the students went to the KBEC Land Trust. They

016divided up into a couple of groups. Half the group worked with two state foresters identifying trees and discussing what it's like to be a forester in Maine. Um the other half the students worked with a logger and actually get had the opportunity to fell a tree um drag it out of the forest and talk about how it's processed into lumber. Um they also got to see a portable sawmill in action. Um the students also did a fisheries trip um to Thompson Lake where two fishery scientists um taught the students how to weigh and measure salmon. Um and then the um the students got out to um net some fish, bring them back um on shore and actually put that learning into action and collect some data. Uh they also went to the Casco fish hatchery

017where the students learned about what it takes to maintain a a fish hatchery and um how the stocking of various species happens. And then the third trip is that they went um just right down the road to the main wildlife park. Um they were able to explore the park um and speak with a a main game warden about uh careers uh in that aspect of things. Um the other interesting thing that's been happening around community connections is these extended learning opportunities. Um and this is where um students um work with a teacher here at the high school to craft a learning experience outside of the building um or on a very independent project that they can do here at school. Um we have students who are doing things around banking, theater production, um work exploring

018careers in special education um and engineering. So all things that are happening at high school this fall. Joey, you want to add on to that communication and community connection focus area of our strategic plan? >> Sure. So, our I'm excited to talk about a few things that our um students are doing with their teachers. I'll highlight for the middle school um with Miss Shanning the Midnight Fire Slayers. So, that is a program where she uh works with the um Poland Fire and Rescue. They take students um this time of year. They just started um and they go there coordination with them and they learn about a number of different skills um and the the fire and rescue staff are teaching them. They have 20 students going this year. So that's very exciting. And then when

019we look at the high school, we have um in coordination with um vocational reading path services and Goodwill, they offer a class called Goodwill Boot Camp at the high school for our students with disabilities. And it really is a workplace readiness course. And um that's been very successful. It's been going on for a few years. And we also are always proud to talk about our students in the functional life skills program at the high school and some of our med school students. Um they are going out to do a lot of volunteering in our community. So this year they've been at um the Rick Memorial Library working with um Mr. Drew. They volunteered with responsible pet hair and they are starting to do some volunteer experiences. are upcoming with the American Legion in McCain Falls

020and the Pink Feather Organization. >> Jess, you've got some something new and and and interesting happening at Alry within sixth grade. So, let's talk about that with our focus area fostering lifelong learners. >> Sure. So, um, last year with the opening open teacher position at the sixth grade level and, um, decided to kind of take the time as a group with our fifth and sixth grade team, uh, to kind of think about our typical fifth and sixth grade structure. And, um, I think maybe because of my experience at middle school uh, for many years and then the transition to elementary school, it felt like there was more we could do to sort of transition our students to the middle school model. And so as a group, we worked collaboratively. We spent some time over the

021summer really creating a vision for what we wanted that experience to be for our our students. And we onboarded a new staff member who had, you know, a a variety of experience in teaching, but specifically sort of in the STEM realm. And so it kind of gave us the opportunity to build a structure where um all of our teachers, our four teachers in 56 Wayne could each sort of focus on one content area, reading, writing, uh mathematics and STEM, and then do some more crosscurricular collaboration, which has been really really cool to see the STEM program itself. Uh the teacher has done a really incredible job really researching the reading, writing and math standards um and the science and social studies standards and integrating those and really bringing those to life. And it's really fun

022to see um just the the hands-on the creativity that the students are able to kind of bring into that setting. And it's an opportunity for students who I think typically might struggle with a typical classroom um setting have really come to life in that setting. And I think just the integration of technology into that as well as a kind of more hands-on approach for them and kind of being able to do some some coding and some engineering and some designing has really helped students begin to think about what uh their future might might look like for them. So, it's been it's been a really neat opportunity and it's been great to see um the students and the families so open and receptive to kind of that that different model for our students and certainly we've

023seen a huge decrease in behaviors in our fifth and sixth ring. um as well this year and a lot more engagement from students. So I think that really kind of speaks to uh just the new model itself and how well it's going for for our students. Just giving you some two examples of meeting the strategic plan or working towards that strategic plan and stretching those dollars to really think about education in the year 2026 for our students. And and it's not necessarily just sitting with a book in your classroom as what some of us experience. It's really about making those connections and real world experiences and getting kids excited to be at school. So, any questions for Eric, Jess, or Joe? Okay. Talk about something exciting. Our our indoor air quality project. So, budget community

024members, uh, Lisa and Mary, we gave you a visual of this. Board members, you'll get one on Monday night. Uh, and you've seen this before if you've been at subcommittee meetings. So, some exciting news and I'll definitely I don't want to steal all of the excitement of it, but um we applied for $2 million at Elm Street Community School and Middle School High School through the school revolving renovation fund. Uh, we were not expecting to get all three projects awarded and this is a focus on ventilation in those buildings. Uh, which is super exciting. So we were given the great news that we were awarded $6 million uh through the school roading renovation fund. And so you can see that on that right hand side that there is portion of that loan to be forgiven.

025So 58% of that $3.5 million in ventilation projects uh will be forgiven uh through this program and our portion for the district is 2.5 million because it is a share right the school revoling renovation fund is not going to grant the whole entire thing. They've got their formula and it is hey we'll we'll have a grant and you guys as a district will have to pay for some of it. So that's fantastic. We are excited about that to be able to have that uh work started and mostly completed next summer, not this coming summer, but the summer of 27. Uh in addition to that, so that will be on the ballot. So we'll actually on our district budget meeting, we will have this is important just to make sure to repeat back to boards and

026councils is at our district budget meeting, we'll piggyback and prior to that, we will have a hearing on the school revolving renovation fund for our community. So, it'll be a a twofer meeting. We'll do the hearing on that and then go right into the district budget meeting and and then that will also appear on on the referendum, the ballot when you go to your town office and you vote on a on the paper ballot. Do you accept that yes or no? And it will be one big question. It's not going to be projects broken out by each school. So, just make sure you make note of that. with the with the projects. It doesn't the projects weren't just six million and we get them all done. In order to get those done and done correctly

027as well as meet the requirements of the grant, there is additional cost and that's on your right hand side and that's additional costs for each project. So at Elm Street you are looking at 576,000 Poland Community School just under a million and the middle school high school 1.6 million. So that's that's approximately $3.1 million. And right now our board is talking about how do we pay for that side of that? What makes the most sense? Uh is it going to be a bond or a master lease? They talked about the the two at their finance committee meeting on Monday night. And that'll be part of the board discussion on next Monday. Well, actually this coming Monday, March 9th's meeting to talk about how they're going to pay for that. So, love to have, you know,

028people weigh in on their thoughts on that. I know the board is open to hearing how we should pay for that 3.1 million. But that just is exciting. It's it's super great to be able to feel like we've got three projects uh summer 27 to fix our ventilation in streets and regional high school. And that's in addition to you probably already know aware of too, but I did give you the the minet project there too. Won't go into that too much right now. just looking at time, but uh that minor project will begin this this summer and be substantially completed in the summer of 26. And we are uh that's just under a $4 million project. And payments for both of those projects will not begin predicted to begin in fiscal year 28. So you

029won't you won't see any of the payments for these and our budget that we'll be discussing for fiscal year 27. Amy, can you um explain to me where does the cost what is the additional cost for each project? What what's part of that? Part of it is some of the the the thing the like 2 million was the max that we could apply for and so some of it the rest of that project and some of it is some of the things that the state won't cover like advertising, legal fees and project management, all of those kind of oversight pieces. >> All right. Thanks. Andy is off. Did I miss anything? You want to highlight anything? >> We're just really really excited to get this important work done. >> And then um also there's the

030skilled workforce is our fourth focus area. And in um two weeks uh Jill, our curriculum director, taking on a little project to find out uh who from who's graduated from PRHS that is working in our district. So, uh, she's got quite a quite a number right now. I was trying to do it myself in my head, but, uh, she's got quite the list going. And I look around and I can see a school board member that graduated from our high school, but I need to make sure his picture gets on that that poster. So, Jill will give you that information in two weeks or unless you see it on Facebook for that. And then I just want to make sure to ground you in just a look back. The next part there on your one

031pager is just looking at we have made some reductions in fiscal year 25 and 26 and those positions are not back. We're not bringing those back. That's 17 positions between teacher and support staff and those are listed out there for you. Uh so I just want to make sure that that is said that we we haven't brought those positions back and uh that's a critical piece because that is definitely a reduction in our budget from over year over the past two years and we are at that point of wanting to maintain what we have to be able to provide the opportunities to our kids. In addition uh underneath the positions there is been some some significant cuts. School is one of them. uh supplies, books, professional development, travel, and CIP have all faced cuts up

032to up to 10 to 15% per each fiscal year. So, we have made those cuts over time, and we're just at where we can actually be and make sure we can run our our buildings and our programs for our schools. Next up is just sort of a preview of uh what we know and how the FY27 budget responds. uh those five bullets there. I'll just take you through those and then um Caitlyn, Don, Caitlyn, and Brandy are just going to give some some information on three of those bullets. So, first of all, the first bullet is plan for a pre-K classroom space and staff as we welcome three and four year olds with IEPs into our schools. Uh so the state law has now uh asked or directed schools to uh look at our students

033that are typically serviced by CDS, child development services with IEPs, that's special education, individualized education plans. And now it is the school's responsibility to provide that instruction. And so next year RC16 will welcome the four-year-olds and then in fiscal year 28 we'll work welcome the three-year-olds. most of our costs are covered by uh the state to in order to provide staffing and supplies for those students. Uh but there will be some some costs we do need to consider. And then our next four bullets, we want to make sure our budget retains our our current staff. We want stability. We want to maintain our class sizes and the supports and programs we offer. and then investing in our training tools, staffing and space for our students with disabilities. Uh our we want our all of our

034our teachers and students to feel good about coming to school and being able to handle whatever is in the moment and being able to make sure students are accessing their education. Uh our budget also sustains our effective math literacy instruction and then it does balance academic programs, enrichment athletics, staffing space and funding realities. We we were all very grounded in the fact that uh we cannot bring forward anything new into our budget. It really maintains what we have uh in order to keep on the good work that we have uh but I'll make some minor tweaks in some minor areas. So Don, you want to talk a little bit about one of the bullets? >> Sure. Um looking at balancing academic programs, enrichment and athletics, I assure you that I recognize that um we try

035to uh we pursue an educational athletic program. Uh actually when I was in high school felt that it was incredibly important to be part of teams and some of the best memories I have as well as things that I learned. But I also know that a lot of our activities, our education outside the classroom, they they all come at a cost, right? It takes money to do things, but we work really hard to try to balance uh what we're asking for. And I can tell you a lot of our programs are seeking out funding on their own through through team fundraising and trying to do their part so that we don't impact uh negatively the rest of the building. So I would like just to add to the bullet around retaining current staff to maintain

036uh stability and uh class supports. So if you remember back when we were doing our points was my biggest piece was wanting to maintain staff staffing and I know that that was echoed throughout um by other administrators as well. Um I think we are very forunate to have class sizes that are small. Um, but I think the other thing that that I think is important for uh board members and this this committee as well as the community to remember is that especially when you consider our current um structure for our elementary schools, uh there really isn't a way to go from two class sizes, two classes to one um for that grade level without the number of class really being over what would be appropriate for elementary class sizes. Um, you know, we do a

037really good job with stretching our dollars as as far as they possibly can. Um, but this is one of the things that we just feel very strongly of. Um considering the 17 positions that Amy's already spoken to that we have lost in the last years, there really just is not any room for additional losses. >> So we are have implemented a new map program um this year. It's ready math. Some people know it as I Ready. Um, and that was crucial for our elementary students because our math program hadn't completed since about 2016. So, um, our state scores did reflect that we needed to do some um, work with that. And then for literacy, our um coordinator Joe Matthew is leading a district literacy leadership team through a process to start looking at literacy programs

038that are aligned with their research, making sure that our students are being instructed um with the best possible program out there and making sure that um the teachers have the proper instruction that they need. Great. Moving on is looking at the state funding formula to make sure we're all on the same page with that because it is super complicated and we all uh learn it for the year and then retain some of the information and then lose it as we get further and further from budget season, but we're back in it now. So, just a reminder, we we seem to have adopted the visual of that pie chart as being very helpful to be able to talk about the school funding pie. And so tonight is the the pink color of the pie chart is

039the state funding formula. So the pink contains the state subsidy and the required building amount and RSU 16 has no control over this. So if there's one piece that you can bring back is is letting people know that that's not RSU 16. That is a state. The required local is set by multiplying the town valuation. So, I did show you that there with the three and and that that is set by the main revenue service and that is a three-year average. So, you can see that Mechanic Falls is 267 million mined is 336 million and Poland is 1.2 billion. And then the state subsidy multiplies that by a mill rate. The mill rate is 5.645 for this school year. The mill rate is determined by the state as to how do we raise the funds

040for for education. This year it's set every single school year and it's 5.645. So that is the formula of what is required for each three of our towns. You can see mechanic balls is 1.5 minus is 1.9 if we approximate and colon is 6.8. And again, that comes down to valuation. And I'll say it again every year. I know our valuations have gone up. I'm a taxpayer in and my net and I understand that that valuation is there. It's not reflective of page tax or ability to pay, but that is the current funding formula that we do not have control over that. So, uh, our state subsidy is 13.5 million. So, we raise total if we look at those those three totals from the required local that's 10.2 2 million and the state gives then

041will provide a subsidy of 13.5 million. And you may hear of like, oh, I thought the state was supposed to fund 55% of education. Yep, that's been a law for a long time. And in recent years, it has been actually true. And for the state uh for RSU16, the state actually funds um just under 57% of education. And that's based upon our demographics and enrollment of our students. So that's just one piece to be able to talk about with folks out there is is that has no control and that is set by the state. There is some groups out there and some legislation of looking at changing the funding formula. Uh but of course the concerns of there will be winners and there'll be losers in that as as everything. So stay tuned with that.

042We'll definitely keep you up. That's not not going to be any changes for fiscal year 27. This the sub the ED279s the state subsidies already out. And then finally, last year some of you were on the cost sharing formula uh or you were part of the members or you were part of just hearing about it. But we did the board did institute a cost sharing review with uh town reps on board and we did look at the cost sharing formula and that you go back to that handy dandy little uh pie chart that represents the green part. So, anything we need above beyond state subsidy um that we want to have for RSU16. So, that represents for last year's uh budget uh about $5.7 million. I don't have your numbers for fiscal year 27 yet

043because we're still still have some unknowns that we'll be going through tonight. Um but that's what that pie that green pie chart represents. And then when we do that, when we take that local that local share um because again that goes beyond the minimum funding required by the state uh in fiscal year 26 our our cost sharing was 90% valuation and 10% enrollment. Well, if you remember through the cost sharing process that change was voted upon and for fiscal year it's a 2year roll in. So fiscal year 27 it will be 85% valuation and 15% enrollment. And then in fiscal year 28 which isn't on your paper it'll be 80% valuation and 20% moment. So just keeping that in mind. Um and so you can see the percent shares based upon that fiscal year 27

04485% valuation and 15%. So you can see the 63.78 for colon mechanic balls is 16.62 62 and minus is 19.6. And if we were just to sort of play around to see what that would look like for the additional local at 5.7 and apply a new cost sharing um Poland would see a decrease of 50,000. Mechanic Falls would see an increase of 35,000 and min would see an increase of 16,000. So just some some hypotheticals there. So people are like well what does that actually like translate to with numbers? Uh so that's cost sharing so people can talk to their boards and and and stakeholders about that and then um I think it's just about time we get digging into the the articles but before that if you just want to acknowledge the last time

045we were together we did hear a lot of pain points and I'm sure that there was that tug and that side to be able to want to support and help and all of the goodness and the needs of the build of of all of our buildings and departments. Um what our pain points really did not make it into the budget. What didn't make it into the budget um was some training for our functional life skills staff members. Uh they face a tremendously um complicated job with our students. And so we will talk a little bit about them. We get to Joe's Joe's uh budget. We budgeted five extra days of training for for those staff members. Um, next week we'll talk about spacing at PCS. The board will be taking that up uh at their

046meeting on Monday night to talk about uh potentially a modular classroom for PCS in order to make sure that we have room for those three and fouryear-old IEPs. So, look forward to talking with you more about that next week with John being here. Um, and then uh our literacy program, you did hear Jill talk about the new and Randy echo that tonight. Um Jill was had a price tag with that, but she was able to find those costs within her budget. She'll share you share that with you uh in two weeks when she is here. So there's no increase for the literacy um programs uh for year one. What you will see just to tee it up a little bit is um the cost of some of our transportation for trips and those include uh

047our for me trips are under three buckets. There's the athletics, there's the co-curriculars like drama, math team, um, and then there's the field trips that our our grade levels take. And so, uh, that's been a painstaking process, I would say. We have this spreadsheet and every trip gets entered into a spreadsheet. And, uh, because, well, there's twofolds. Our transportation budget was over last year, and we're like, why? and it was over by about 140,000 $146,000 last year and it was the why and part of that was our those trips were being coded to the wrong spot. So this year was for me was really working out so we can be clear with with with what our costs are is making sure that those trips get coded to the correct lines and that we actually have

048the money where it actually needs to be to support those trips. There's no new trips in there. I mean, well, there's actually some new trips. I should take that back as to um the way that we frame some of our field trips for elementary level and for middle school and high school, but for the most part, it's just what we already do with cocurriculars and so we'll talk about those tonight when we get to article four. Again, basically there's um it's maintaining what we have. So before we we jump in, do I have any questions or All right. So, um, budget committee, uh, you do what's best for you and your learning style, but you'll probably want to have out your your budget detail sheet. That's the one that has March 4th, 2026. And then

049it has uh each school on it. You may want to have that separated from the financial which has all of the budget numbers on there. You will be going back and forth between the two. So, it is helpful to have them side by side. That doesn't work for you, then you do you. And then I'm going to make a change to the agenda. actually going to pull push number eight article the all other expenditures up first because I think that'll provide some good context for the conversation going forward. So article 11 with the budget packet is actually the last side page of your your financial packet. There's nothing on the the detail sheet. just says one at the very very back. So when you look at that contingency, you'll see that uh the FY27 proposed

050is 1.8 $1.9 million. And that is because we are in contract negotiations with everybody except the support staff. So everyone except our our edte uh custodian service LPN uh everyone else is an under contract negotiations and corporate agreement negotiations. So in order to bargain in good faith we have put a set aside for what we predict those increases will be for salaries under contingency as well as we have in there um our our main pers and our our paid family medical leave in that contingency. Stacy, did you want to add anything else? >> No, there's also all the stipens for co-curricular, extracurricular, sports, improvement of instruction, and the paid family medical leave. >> Again, those stipens too are subject to contract negotiations. So, that is why there's such a a big number there in the

051contingency. And I would >> I just have a question about that. As I was looking through this, I wonder why is the main hurd separated out. It used to be part of each of those lines, >> right? Because we don't know what the salaries will be and to bargain in good faith. We have put that in what an an anticipated amount. >> Okay. So you you pulled it out of where it usually is and you'll put it back in once that's done. >> Yes. So what we have in the budget that you'll see as you go through the lines tonight is the actual salaries right now for FY26. So you might see some up or down amounts in those lines because it compares to FY25 budget to budget but people left or retired and new

052people came in. So we have the actual rates right now in the budget under the FY27 column that we are paying in FY26. >> Okay. Thanks. And that's part of the reason why I wanted to start there with the contingency. So that way when we get to all of the articles, you're going to see a lot of them we're going to have to skip right through because those are all negotiated. Um, and we have to wait for those in order to be able to plug those into the plug the actual numbers in later. So, my recommendation for our budget committee would actually not to not to TA contingency yet because I'd like to hold actually hold that until our April uh 8th meeting to see if we can actually get the those those numbers out

053of the contingency and actually into the lines. I can't predict where negotiations will go. Um, but I'm hopeful that maybe we'll be able to pull those out and get them into the correct lines so then our contingency isn't that number. So hopefully the budget committee understands and agreeable to holding the contingency until we are able to maybe get it into the right spots. >> Do you want a motion or are we just going to move on? >> We can just move on. >> All right. So that moves us on to now to the front of your financial packet there and article one and So, article one is made up of our buildings as well as our multil learners and our summer schools. So, we'll uh take a look, we'll go through there. Uh again, just

054for housekeeping purposes here, if this is your first time, you're really looking at that uh right hand column that difference uh does show if it's up or down. If it's in parentheses, that does mean there's a decrease from the from fiscal year 26 to fiscal year 27. The middle column is what the proposed is for fiscal year 27. And so at this point in time, Granny's gonna lead us off, but there's always going to be that sort of like catch-up. So like if you look at the first uh she's up first on page 106 there, if you start looking down through all of those are all salaries. Um again, the only ones that are settled are those edtech salaries. So you can see that those are up and we do not include those in discussions

055because those are contractual. Um, as Stacy alluded to, like that first PCS number one, that line is up and that's a teacher and you're like, "Well, you just said everything's in contingency." And Stacy let you know that that is uh what our actual staff members are now. Like we build that budget last time. Uh we built it with our best guess for staff members. So staff members leave and more expensive ones are hired or sometimes in some cases less expensive teachers are hired. It's not a new It's not a new teacher at that point. It's just reflective of what we have for staff in there. >> So, Brandy, it for you. I think you start on line 12. Yes, 12. So, if you look at line 12, you'll notice an increase. Um, and what that

056was, um, I actually did not add anything new. Um, I moved some things around so that it reflected the budget. um so that it looks just like um Caitlyn and um Jess's budget. So the professional development went into purchasing professional services. The cost for puberty lessons um came out of that as well. Actually the puberty lessons are now part of that. Last year it was paid um through a different um it was paid out of the subline. Um, so if you look um at line 15, you'll see that that line was significantly decreased. So that's where some of that money just shifted from. Does that make sense to everybody? >> Okay. And then so if you look at line 18, same cost center. Um the math program has a teacher tool box and that's just

057helping them um that's tools for them to help teach. Um there was some other reading a reading subscription spelling and an online uh writing tool. And the difference um there some of that money also came out of line 15 that made sense for that one. Okay. And my last one is just the different cost center. So kind of the same situation. Um line 28 was up $1,891. However, if you look at um line 26, you will see an offset. So, nothing new added. I didn't try to sneak a new teacher or anything like that in you would be able to get that pass. I feel like you guys would have noticed so I didn't try. >> Any questions for me? I have a question for Stacy. there's all these big um reductions for teacher retirement.

058What exactly does that those those line items mean? >> That is all in the contingency. That's what we were talking about. >> That's part of the contingency. >> Yes, it is. >> So, even where you're showing it negative here, that's likely going to >> correct. >> All right. Thank you for that. >> I have one question. >> Um music supplies, there's nothing in the budget for music supplies. >> Yeah. So, um, a long time ago that position, um, the way that the budget was created, it was a completely separate, it was originally with, um, regular instructions. >> Okay. >> Then I don't, it was before me. It had its own line, but now we're just putting it back into >> So, the money is still there. It's just >> still there. Yes. Mr. Orlando will

059still have this. Yes. >> Do you want to explain? >> I do. I want to add to that. Thank you, Brandy. because you you'll see that in other places. So, as you know, we are going through a financial software change. >> Yes. ADS, which is the program we currently have that this budget is created in, has what's called masking. So, there are state codes that we have to use. And then when we want to break things down further, we can create like extensions like the the music supplies was 56105 where instruction instructional supplies is 56100 and especially in the high school you're going to see a lot of lines. Okay. >> So the new software that we are going to does not have masking capabilities. So we can only use the state chart of accounts.

060>> Okay. And so this budget has been built on just using those numbers. >> Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. >> I have a a question about um health insurance. Do you have an estimate? And if not, what did you include as sort of your best guess? >> So we did get notice from Anthem the other day that the highest percentage will be less than 14. We have put in 12. Mary, our experience mod was below one, so we are hoping for even less than that. Maybe a 9.98 like we've had in the past or even a 10 would be helpful, but we do currently have 12 in there. >> Thank you, Brandy. Next up on page two of six is Elm Street School. And you also see on the the budget detail sheet

061is that there's no budget lines that are not contractual an increase greater than 1500. But of course Jess is here ready to answer any questions that you have about any of the other budget lines or on page two and six from street school. Go ahead question. Now, the the things that Randy listed on her, are those all things that are also part of your budgets? >> Um, yeah. I I can't speak to some of the specifics, but I Yes, the teacher toolbox for the math program, the reading diagnostic, and the screener. Um, I'm assuming the reading subscription is students study, and the online writing tool. Um that one was it's someone used that as part of their budget in lie of supplies. >> Okay. So it was more of a teacher subscription but um the

062bigger kind of came from just making sure that >> yes >> that throughout the district that everyone has the same critical for me and for our principles is to make sure that it's it is it is the same across the districts because we're preparing our kids for the same graduation stage. Um, but also too for me this year too is making sure that everything is in the same line. So that's why there was some adjustments too of things came out of Bry's lines and moved into a different spot to make sure that I could go into the dues and fees and find the spelling subscription to each one of the elementary principles lines and not have them be in one dues and fees and one in supplies. >> Yeah. I mean, I would say it's

063tricky, too, because like some of our expenditures for the curriculum fall under instructional supplies because it's textbooks and things like that, but as you get into larger programs, a lot of them now have online online components that come with those, subscriptions that come with those as well. So, we've tried to work through that with Stacy and Amy, too. And really, where should these things go? So, when we get invoices, really breaking them down correctly and putting them into the correct line. So that's why some things shifted this year that may have been all kind of put into one line previously. But they are different in in how the teachers access them versus what the students use. If you get one bill, you really >> just page three of six begins Caitlyn's lines and she had

064no budget lines that aren't contractual uh increase greater than500. But we'll pause there in case you have any questions for Kate. reading the room. Uh, and then we'll flip to page four of six and we'll have Sean's there kind of in the center and Sean also follows the same as there's a number of times that our contract will have an increase of have an increase of 1500. We'll pause there for that. You look at Sean's and ask him any questions. Okay, wait time. Move to the next one there on page four of six does start Regional High School and it does continue on to page five of six. And Eric, you're kind of gonna I mean Stacy's already kind of stole your magic, right? like I just like what she said. >> Um so yeah

065Stacy talked about sort of the situation that's going on there. Um the high school model being the high school model um it's we have the um academic departments we call them the learning areas and so um previously each learning area had instructional supplies um that that was delineated within the budget. Um now with this new coding process um the instructional supplies um that the learning areas had now rolled up into that instructional supply line that hadn't had existed previously. And then the textbooks line line 161 um as a brand new line um but it's it's just reflective of the textbooks uh costs that were being budgeted for each of those individual academic departments, the learning areas. So, um, overall, uh, neutral costs, but it does look like there's change because of >> Can I add

066something? >> If you will look on line 148 on page four of six, you will see that that has been zeroed out. That used to be the 16 through 20 transfer money that went to adult ed. The state has changed the funding on that and now the funding is going to go straight to adult ed instead of coming in through our subsidy and then us transferring it to adult ed. So that's why that line has been zeroed out. Can I just clarify like like I'm looking at the um what just point out on line 161 it's like that additional for the textbooks but what you're saying is that like basically everything above it just got crammed into textbooks and that's why everything else kind of got zeroed out is that >> yeah thanks exactly so

067um like so for instructional supplies there had been kind of this general instructional supply line previously because there's all sorts of things that this building needs everything from, you know, markers to graduation supplies that that um kind of the administrative team that would flow through the office and then there were all those individual instructional lines for the learning areas underneath that. >> Previously there was no textbook general textbook line that kind of flowed through the administrative team through the office. All the textbooks were delineated for the each of the each of the learning areas. >> I see. So Stace, you had to create the new textbooks kind of bucket of that line to put all those individual lines. >> And so is that still separate from like the other things you were kind of mentioning?

068Like okay, those are textbooks, but that's like was that graduation supplies? I think something you mentioned like is that still a separate from the text? >> I'm sorry. >> So 150 includes all the lines below it and then 161 includes the lines below that. So they're just kind of all rolling up collapsing. >> Yep. Okay. Thank you. All right, looking at our next one is our multilingual learners. Um, and we do have one line there, line 177, which you'll see is has an increase of $10,000 and that's crafting services. We do have a contract with Leslie Berslad who comes in and uh does testing of our our multilingual learners. Uh, create helps us to create plans and does our assessments. We are building capacity within our own district to be able to take those on.

069Um, but you'll see that that's not actually an addition because if you look back up at line 173, uh, last year we did bring in a halftime teacher salary to be able to service our our multilingual learners. And what we have found is uh that at the the contracted services is needed and the amount of hours we needed for that teacher salary is not as high as we predicted for last year. So we're able to bring those costs to what we need for for our contracted services to come in and then our teacher salary reflects what we would need to be able to service our students who are multilingual learners. >> Is that the term they're using? Mult is that like synopsis for was it ELLL English? Yeah. >> So we're using those terms interchangeably

070or at least >> now ML >> that's how they're referring. Okay. So it's a different it's a different change of wording that's being handed to us. Got it. Okay. >> I asked the same thing last year. I'm like what? >> Yeah. Just >> Yeah. Got it. >> Make sure that we were correct. How many how many students are are um multilingual that way? >> Uh last year we had nine and now we're down to three. >> Interesting. Okay. >> We had some graduates and um and then some also move away. >> Thank you. >> But again, that's one of those, you know, >> comes in. >> And then also summer school. Um and then gifted in towns that have no other So that takes us through article one with our protocol. Uh the budget committee

071has any questions for 18. I have one, Amy, that was just brought up at our um town council meeting on Monday night was um where we were losing sort of losing funding based on our that state subsidy outline. where were the places um and actually it came up around the class size and where were the other places that we were losing subsidy under EPS um and the question was how how closely and what's the process that you use to look through that and figure out where are those places and how do you use that to inform the budget was the question. Yeah, I can definitely bring that back in a more comprehensive for next week to be able to take you through like what the EPS ratios are just taking pull up all of those

072documents um to be able to show you the classes, >> but I know how complicated it is. So, I know it's it's hard to make it kind of complicated. So, you know, I don't think that the person who asked is asking for um very specific answers, but some general kind of process of how you utilize the EPS formula to figure out if there are places that um we are far over that we should look at making reductions. >> Well, part of that drives it is the student needs, right? the building needs and the fact that we have five different buildings and what what each one of those needs to be able to function. So yes, one of the areas we are over is an administration, right? Because we we have most our structure is principles

073and assistant principles and that ratio is is extremely high. Are we out of whack with other districts? No, we're not out of whack. we are actually probably below what other districts have for our structure within principal and >> so I think that's an important part of the story when you you know when the we ask our our citizens to look at the budget is you know have we been thorough enough at looking at all of those places and if we have why have we chosen to do something different and the other part too is just our prek numbers have been down. As you know, we we only had one AM PM session at PCS. Typically, we have another half session, AM session at PCS. And then at Elm Street this year, too, we only had

074an AM session at Elm Street. Minus still had their AM and PM. That was one of ours. And the weight of preK students is heavier than other students. Amy Stacey, I have a sort of question. Um, so the contingency that we talked about this 1.8 million that is spread out over all the articles, not just this first. Correct. So, am I to assume that once that gets spread out, you're still looking at your first article sort of being less than last year or or it's it is less than last year. Is that true? >> I would say no. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Because of salary increases and stuff. >> Oh, I'm looking at law. Okay. Yeah. All right. as you say because you're seeing 200,000. >> Right. Right. Yes. And no, I know that's

075that's false, but I was just trying to in my head figure out the 1.8 how to disperse it to kind of get a sense of where it all fits and you know what percentage of it >> because most of our employees are in this cost center. >> Yes. >> Right. Yes. >> And the next one. >> Yeah. >> Even transportation the salaries for the transportation staff is not settled either. So even under transportation. >> Yeah. As an employee, I would generally think it teacher salary >> because that represents what we actually have over what we predicted for last year. So this time last year, we predicted the FY26 budget. And that pro that to me looks like that's a a change of insurance package. So we went from a single coverage to a family coverage.

076And so that's actually what we're paying for this year. Like we budgeted for PCS regular instruction, $39,526 for benefits, but it's actually costing us with the people that we have in those positions with their selected plans the $44,149. or sorry I was my eyes went down. Yeah, line up. You got it. Sorry. >> So the the teachers retirement is based on a percentage of their wages. And so because we don't know what those will be rather than stick a number in there, we've we've put some money in contingency to cover that. Yeah. But that that increase on the on the benefit line also includes the 12% that we're estimating Anthem increase will be. We believe the budget committee I would recommend a TIA on this without the salaries and benefits um that are still being

077negotiated that are in the contingency. So all the other lines that lie outside of those if they would entertain that consideration. I'll make the motion to accept it as presented. Sorry. >> So, is your motion to make this a >> TA? Further questions or discussion? Any budget committee members? All those in favor? I'm I'm walked in a few minutes late. Could you just really quickly explain what it is I'm do voting for against here? like what what actually happened. I'm sorry. >> Yeah. No, so >> reading it as you're saying it. >> Yeah. Part of our process is is to go over each article like you've done uh and then say, "Okay, that that looks good." Like we can recommend that to the board because it still is the board's budget. So by having straw

078holding it forward to the board for consideration as as Lisa's was as presented says that all of the lines outside of the contractual benefits look good to the budget. And if I had a question that comes up tonight as I'm looking over this again, like the process of being, hey, I want to look at something on article one, what is that process? >> You definitely bring questions forward, but if you wanted to um consider reviewing it, we would we have that process there of you can bring that forward saying, "Hey, I think we need to reopen up that TA article." But of course, always answer questions. >> Yeah. >> All right. Thank you. So using the TA language from this, it's just trying to delineate that this is a recommendation, not like it's approved and

079this is it. >> Okay. >> So >> we do hope to get those salaries into the lines. We do hope to have good good the benefits coming in, our insurance coming in lower than it is and have some good news for when go to the board for Lisa and Andrea. And I think I missed Uh, all those in favor? Just got to get more of my people on. Okay, great. Thank you. At this point, I'll just pause for a moment if our article one principles want to head home because you do have >> Okay, it was unexpected. That's all. Wonderful. >> Honestly, Take care of you when I get that'll give everyone a chance to pull up article two. Jeff, if you're so comfortable there. I feel bad having you on the end, but you

080you got lots of options now. >> He's lounging. You can take my seat. It's opened up for you. >> All right, I'll just give you a spoiler for our article number two. My recommendation is that we hold article two because it is one of those it's special education and it's ever evolving and so but Joe's going to take us through that. Uh but we'll we my my my thought is that we hold it until the April meeting to fully TA that so we have the best knowledge possible of our students because it is a big budget. So sorry to te up Joe. So, we do have some increases I can talk about. If you look um line 157 is listed as 9 through 12 t that really is our um line for out of district

081placements grades 9 through 12. And what we're seeing is that there's a shift from our students who are in out of district placements K8 um they're getting older. So, more of them are moving into that line. So there is an increase there but it is offset um with a decrease in line 151. We do always anticipate that that line increases because the special purpose private schools ask um for a higher rate of pay each year. >> And I'm sorry I missed 151 is offset by which line? 157 is offset by 151. >> Thank you. >> It's not a zero, but >> no. Thank you. >> And I just want to because I want to make sure I understand. You're right. This the special ed one is >> you gota make sure I'm paying attention as

082well. >> That's why we got the expert here, Joe. >> Yeah. Stacy. So, I just want to make sure this was basically we're paying the bus kids to a private school, but now that they're older, we're they're going to a different school and really just the line is that >> Nope, they're not changing schools. They're just Well, some change schools, but they're changing grades. The lines are broken by grades. >> Okay, that's like elementary and high school and now they're going into high school. >> Okay. >> Y >> but it's Yeah. All right. All right. The next line is 168, the director's office, and that is an increase due to our um attorney fees and the cost of using attorneys >> questions about that. >> Is that because we had to use it or is

083that just like what we have on reserve we have to deal with it? >> We use them. >> We do. >> Absolutely. If you remember, special ed is regulated by laws and we're legally obligated to do what we do. So that does require that sometimes we seek advice from attorneys. >> Interesting. So just specifically for that, are we is it the same law office that we deal with for everything? >> It is. >> Do we have like a separate contract basically dealing with specifically what that is or just get lumped in? >> When Joe contacts the special ed section of that that comes out of here, when I contact that based upon that, it's under the the board. um legal fees you'll see later on in a different article. >> Next line with an increase

084is 176. Again, that's the special ed director's office and that is an increase in dues and fees of things that we need to pay to operate our office. And it is a $4,968 increase >> and that is bound by legal and >> Oh, yeah. It's legal obligations. It's not like we're asking for pencils. So, it's dues and fees that we're required to pay. Is that what I'm hearing? >> Yeah, we're legally just a little more about it. Like, just what is that? What is it? >> It's um things that we're legally obligated to pay. Some of them are are just things that we have to pay because we need to >> Can you give me an example? >> What else is in your dues and fees? >> Um dues and fees are um it's our

085conferences. Okay. um any additional like things that we need to provide for students out of our office. >> All right. >> Yeah. >> So Joe, I have a question on line 36. Um that's it for salaries at text. That's a really really really big increase. Is that an extra person or two? That's that seems like a big >> that is 36. 36 >> representative what we have in those programs because if you see sometimes with our our edte uh we plan for the what we think we're going to use them for but then students move in and then we have to move ed texts from program to program >> so you're an actual >> I want to take this please because there's it affects another line so just going back for a second when Joe

086was talking about Line on page five is down $694,460. >> She has what's called a local entitlement grant is federal funding. When we pay a support person or even a teacher out of a federal grant, the amount that we pay towards their retirement is over 22%. Because it is federal funds, the state will not match it. When a person is paid out of local funds, that rate is only 4.36%. So Joe and I met earlier in the year because she was taking the majority of her edexs out of local entitlement. By moving them into this regular budget, and some of them are on this line that you're questioning, Lisa, and taking them out of the federal grant, we're able to use the federal grant for the outofd district placement. And that's why when you look

087on line 151, that's down almost $700,000 because that's money we have moved to the grant because there's no matching retirement on that. So we saved Amy, do you remember the number? It was like >> $4,000. Taking the people out of the grant, moving them into local and moving out of district into the grant. >> So it gives us a whole position. >> Yeah. And it gives us >> the whole position, too. Look at >> $9,000. That's >> right. But where we're going to save is on the retirement lines. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> And it is what we have already had. They were just paid out of a grant. Now they're paid out of local and that offset is moving the out of district. Um Joe, how much is it per day typically for out

088of district placement? >> So it varies depending on the school. We do send a multiple, but on average the range is $380 to $425 a day per student. So that gives us 40,000 more to pay towards out of district placement and not have to pay into mainstay retirement >> 380 to 425. It's a date. So tuition is paid daily per student. So range No, that's just the tuition. >> Yeah, it's on >> on the page one. >> Page one >> right at the top there. One through lines one through seven. >> So those are for trips. The to when we transport students to and from school, it's in the transportation budget. And so even though it's special ed students, we're transporting them to their school for the day and that's in the regular transportation budget.

089So the safety is I'm assuming then line 22 is the same as the previous one. Would that take difference? >> Yes. >> Yep. There's also so there were four edtes that we had to hire in FY26 for requirements in special ed that were not in the budget. So you're comparing budget to budget. So some of those increases are for edtech positions that were not in the budget last year. >> But also Stacy, since our edtech contract is included in here, we're seeing part of the increase is their actual salaries as we go into the >> That is correct. the support staff contract was settled. So these are actual increases. And they also we standardized the number of hours that edte work. Some were 6.2 hours, some were 7.5. So in the new contract they're all

090seven hours a day. >> How many students are we happen to um is this tu pay uh is tuition? >> Sure. Right now we currently have 17 students in district placements. >> The next line that we have an increase is line 228. That's our psychological services. So that's our um evaluations that we complete. So there is an increase um in the supplies that are needed for that. So the testing protocols um rating scales that are completed um those materials always increase in price. So that's reflecting that and we are doing more evaluations within the district each year through the referral process. So that reflects that increase. The next increase we have is on line 253 and that's for our um speech services. you'll see it's a $13,000 increase that is for contracted services. They provide

091um services that our speech language pathologists um either don't have the time for because of the number of kids that they're servicing or because of the um specialized evaluations that we need. So often we are um contracting out our what they're called augmentative and alternative communication evaluations most for our students who have communication needs. Um some students are non-verbal where they're developing their skills and they use devices to communicate. So once those are evaluations are completed they're very comprehensive. They're multi-layered. So it's not just like you come in and you evaluate the kid one day. um they're multi multiple days that they do evaluations and then they figure out if they need a device they have to trial multiple devices to see which one is best for the student. Um and then um we do

092have um consultation services as well just to add and adjust things on the devices. We have students with um devices in all of our elementary schools and um middle and high school. So, it's definitely one of those areas in special services that is um growing >> question. Um we are in this are the fouryear-olds that we've been talking a lot about. >> So, they're not in this because the way the budget is it's we provide the service and we're reimbursed for it. So essentially what it will look like is if you envision um each quarter we're given a amount of money for our four-year-olds and we pay for that out of that money that we're given from the state and then if we need more we're allowed to ask for it. If we don't use

093it it rolls into the next quarter. >> So it is a separate fund. I have created that budget but because we will not be using the software after March April 1st it's not in here >> I did not create it in here but it is a separate fund the expenditures will come out of that and then the reimbursement will go to that as well >> okay so next year it'll be in what we seek >> it will not be in the general fund budget it it will be like a grant expenditure it will have its own revenue and expenditure sections because the the money is not going to come in through our subsidy which is what the general fund is >> it will be a separate entitlement. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Ask a

094question about that. So, are we going to have to raise additional money in the budget line? No. Okay. No. >> Okay. I don't even have to finish my thought. >> Except for like the portable like >> we're going to need for somewhere. I'll call it feeding. >> There is there's the 5,000 and we we applied our formula this year. So to go back to our transportation for our field trips and you'll see that with Don's budget coming up next. Transportation's next week with John. But these are trips. These are the co-curricular, the athletic trips and the field trips. And our our our trips for swimming and our trips for taking our FLS to the Apple Orchard fall under these one through seven here, additional trips. And so that is actually calculating what we predict the

095actual cost will be for trip fuel. uh because we feel as though if I could just be brutally honest is like there's some arbitrary numbers just thrown in the budget like this is what we think we'll use for fuel and for uh salaries and this year we took the painstaking process of actually monitoring recording and calculating what it is and John provides us a per mile cost. Uh so we have Yeah. >> Y >> we we did predict the number of trips based on what we've done. >> Yeah. It's a minor cost. >> Yeah. Yeah. And we've planned for those and if we we go over in that cost center and need more fuel then we'll look at other ways to offset that like is there the dues and fees that we can say okay

096you know fuel does go over because you'll see that some of the the the lines if you're looking at the financial uh that the finance committee moves uses every month because sometimes you predict costs but then you're wrong and then you have to have an offset in order to proceed with that. So, I hear what you're saying about where we are in the state of the world with uh fuel costs. >> Yeah. The last several years we've had the 5500 in the budget and haven't even used that and fuel costs were were much higher than they are now. So, that's why we felt confident bringing it down a little bit. >> Other questions for Joe? My recommendation is to hold on that just so we can continue to work through numbers and students and uh

097as you know some of our students have IEPs meetings throughout the entire year and just being able to respond to what their actual placements are going to be next year would be just most helpful to be able to bring forward that information to you at a later date. But at least you got some time with Joe to be able to walk through everything else. Okay, >> I'll just hold it. All right, Joe. We'll pause for you before we move on to Dawn to see where you're going. >> All right. I I have three lines that are up. Uh two of them are related to transportation and Amy's talked a lot about trying to figure out, you know, trying to put things in the proper places. this year. >> Um I don't know what our schedules

098are next year, but as Jeff alluded to, it's pretty predictable. I know who the conference schools are and I know where we're going to go, so I can predict that. Um it does um unfortunately with our bus driver situation that we're in right now, there is a line for contracted um services for buses and we have at times this year had to uh because we don't have the drivers to take our kids to trips. We've contracted a bus to take the kids to the place, drop them off, and then sent one of our drivers later to pick them up. Um, I I know we're not talking about it right now, but I would commend our transportation office as well as John Ali and those bus drivers because they've really worked a lot to share with

099other districts and try to find uh alternative methods of getting our kids to not only athletic contests but also math meets and competitions and other things like that. So, uh, it's just a predictor that we should increase the contracted services by 2000. I think we're we're not thinking that, uh, a bus driver shortage is probably going away right off. Um, and then the second line is up line 29 is just predicting those, uh, uh, fuel costs for for athletic trips that are on there. >> And again, I'll go back to that. We were coding the wrong line. We were coding the transportation line. And then you'll hear that from John next week. And last year we were over in transportation. And that's supposed to be just to and from school. No trips in there. We

100were over by 146,000 of our budget last year. So that's why I went through and really looking at all of our trips and predicting those based upon a cost per mile. And that is the actual cost based upon what we do for our sports trips for all of our seasons. L. Go ahead. Sure. >> One of our drivers. >> Well, there's two areas that we use contracted services. One would be to contract a bus to come and pick our kids up. And uh at first I thought why are we take it's two trips because they're driving them there dropping them off and then we're sending another bus that's two trips out. But it's it's cheaper for us to do that than to contract a bus to sit there for three hours while there's two games

101going on. So that's one thing. The other thing that we've done is contracted vans. Um and so that helps to get some of the smaller groups around. Yeah, I'm not sure if Randy wants to pop in here, but we did look at that that every year at ops committee. We take a look at what it would cost for contracted versus >> going to chime in there. We we in the ops we've looked at that even though in a more broad scenario like is this the direction we should go? Should we look at other towns like they've contracted out their transportation and consistently doesn't seem like it's a good idea. It seems like it's more money to do it that way. I'm sure there's a convenience to it, you know what I mean? like they don't

102necessarily have the same driver shortages, but you know, it's it's more it's more to outsource it. >> Yeah. >> Line 61 for me is up about 25 or $2,600 uh purchase professional services. Uh the officials that we use for the high school, uh we don't get to pick how much we pay them. Uh they negotiated a contract with uh the MPA. They get a cost of living increase. And when you add up uh 17 programs that have officials in them, that's that's increased that number um between about $1,200. There's also an increase in there. Um we have a number of cooperative teams. You probably heard about the Kings and the Red Hornets. And uh when we are part of cooperative teams, it it doesn't necess we have to share some of the cost with that.

103And we we pay for an assistant coach on those teams. We've had kids participating on the swim team with uh Eel and Lewon and Levit um for about four years now and we we haven't paid any fees and we we've been asked uh to to pick up the officials for for a couple of the meets, but we're not paying any coaching there and we don't do any of the transportation for that. So that that's another thousand dollars that we >> Does the 17 programs number include the co-ops that we're in? Okay, >> that's a lot >> of programs. >> Yeah, I think that >> I think that uh we offer a a rich opportunity in athletics. Uh we've increased the number of teams that kids are available to go work with. uh we really haven't

104significantly increased the number of kids that we have. Um so we're spreading them out a little bit. Um but don't worry, there's still people asking for more things. It's really I want to provide what we can kids but we have to be responsible for what we can do. >> I understand there's no other questions. You could entertain a potential motion as presented. Again, those stipens are still being negotiated and that will be reviewed by the negotiation teams as well as ratified by the board for that contract and then put into the contract later on for uh all of those siphons for athletics and co-curricular and any leadership positions too. >> Motion have to reflect all of that. No, >> I make a motion that we accept. >> Teach everybody's Robert's rules of order here. >>

105Yes. Yeah. Any further discussion? All those in favor? Okay. Unanimous. Thank you. That brings us to our final article for this evening which is debt service and Stacy talk about debt service. All right. In debt service we have the Whittier Middle School construction project. That bond was issued in 2019 for $5.7 million. We pay 2.98% interest on that. The principal payment for FY27 will be $285,000. That is a fixed amount that we pay each year. The interest is 106,95. The final payment on that bond will be in November of 2038, which will be FY39. We also have in there the revolving renovation fund. That was the ADA compliant minor consolidated school loan. We closed on that on August 12th, 2024. The project came in at only 60,661 and that is a 0% interest. The amount

106that we have is 38.2% of that bond, which is only $23,63. Our annual principal payment on that is $3,671. and that will be paid off in FY29. So that is those two amounts are in the principal column and then the interest is just for the Bruce Woodia Middle School. We do have the seaman's lease which was a which was a conversion project that is not in debt service because that is a requirement of the state. We have to have that in the local operations budget. So you'll see that in John's budget when he goes over that. Uh that was a district-wide project and there were several upgrades throughout the district. We closed on that in July of 2020. That was $2.6 million. The fixed interest rate on that is 2.46%. For FY27, we have a

107principal amount of 132,169 with interest of 49,831. that will be paid off in July 2037 which will be FY 2038. That payment does change every year. The principal and interest combined for this budget is 182,000 and that was a master lease. >> Questions for Stacy on debt service. Everything she just said was that should that have been in my where am I not seeing >> that be under John's budget the project >> it's not necessarily here I know >> yeah it's the debt services article 10 so those are the top two I went over the woody middle school and the >> school revolving at minet >> yeah and then the other one will be in John's got motion to accept this as Stacy presented second. Any discussion? All those in favor in this. All right.

108Great. Thank you. I'll pause just so Stacy and Don can make their exits briefly. or not. Don is out of the house tonight. Uh just before we move on to our last agenda item is next steps and action items for next meeting. Is there anything that the budget committee would like to ensure that I bring or have available or talk about at the next meeting? And that might be like, whoa, I need time to think and I'll get back to you. And that's fine, too. You know how to reach out to me. But if there's anything that you wrote down and want to share with the group, I entertain that. Now, >> the only action item I wrote down was Mary's question regarding the additional local piece of the pie and just like a maybe

109a one pager on what are we doing to try to target that for reduction >> so she can bring that back to. >> Yep. Got that on my list, too. >> All right. I will also share with you a Q&A document. So in case you don't want to email and you just want to put it in there that I'll be checking the the Q&A and that just provides an additional opportunity for um uh for for you to be able to get your questions to me to be able to be answered. So, uh, also too, if, uh, our A team, we are, uh, working on some videos to really try to get some the word out about how we are stretching our dollars, uh, and how we're providing really good opportunities for our students and how

110school has changed. Uh, we typically are pretty flat with our communication with pictures and newsletters. So, we're trying something new. So, be on the lookout for any videos. And I'll challenge any of you if you want to create a video about why you love your town or why you're on the board or what you're makes you proud or what you're happy about for your own kids. Um, you know, that's something that you can consider too because we hope to, you know, encourage more people to really talk about our district uh and the good things that are happening here as we work on the things that need improvement. And then Lisa, Mary, and and Lisa, if you need any documents for your councils or board meetings, you know how to find me, too. So then that

111way I can make sure you have what you need in order to to share with them. >> Yela has been coming when she can to the selected meetings. She's already provided some of this to us already. So >> great. >> It's been really great having >> Yeah. Yeah, it's really >> And these kind of summary sheets are really helpful to, you know, when I have to share something at the townhouse and meeting, it's a lot of information, >> but it's so Yeah. Yeah. I squeeze it in. >> And then if you need copies or anything, just you can let Chris um my administrative assistant know and she can get those for you because I know like Andrea, you asked for maybe the pie chart at one point. >> I want to go to the next

112one. I didn't make this one, but yeah, we had a big one that I can pull up this pie chart. >> Yeah, we'll have the new pie chart. >> Sure. >> That's a good idea. >> At the same time, let's talk. >> All right, we will see you next week back here. It's the John Holly Show. >> John Holly show. Can't wait. >> Thank you everyone. Thanks,