001e good evening we go to on attendance no Sarah Jameson is out and Michelle Moffett thank you all right we don't have to approve any minutes for last meeting no okay and is there any public comments no no beautiful no un finish business all right so now is calendar announcements where is it yeah all right we'll do the budget review and discussion good evening uh I'll start going down through some things for you section three in your book it's budget sum summary history by article because this is what um all the warrants will be based off of when they are approved for next week under regular instruction um it's up 4.18% just to let people know what's kind of in that line that's salaries and benefits for 4.18 uh salaries and benefits and it's also
002the new FMLA tax SL fee we've had to add in there many of you have probably heard it on the radio on TV read it in the newspaper that even though it doesn't go into effect where people can take the money out until May of 2026 starting January 1st we were taxed and that has to be put in the budget um this also we have no new position in this section under regular instruction this includes 27 teaching positions at the primary school that we have right now uh also three at oh actually Four regular Ed Ed techs at the elementary school that includes the 22 teaching positions that we have now and one regular Ed at Tech uh at the middle school it includes the 24.5 teaching positions that we have right now and a
003halftime at Tech and it includes 27.5 five teaching positions at the high school including one and a half at TCH remember this is just regular Ed it is just those teachers and Ed teex positions um I will break down in the other areas where some of the other things fall because it's kind of weird where some of the things fall sometimes under special education that's up 9.42% we are adding one teacher in this budget at least I should say in the proposed budget we have 19 current teachers and looking to add one teacher in the budget we have 54 Ed techs 46 of which are in this budget the other eight are covered with Federal money and there's also one social worker in this area that is shared between the primary school and elementary school
004that is just for special ed students one of the other big reasons that this budget is up uh in this area is because we had a $50,000 increase in tuition for out a district placement remember we have students Sherry has mentioned before I think there's like eight to 10 students that we have out of District placement some are day treatment and some are residential um that's all covered in the IEPs and we have to follow by law we don't get to set the price that these agencies bill us for and we sometimes don't get to pick which ones are open for us if we're lucky enough we get slots sometimes we don't have slots and kids are on a waiting list for a while other other instruction that's up 10.87% that's Athletics Sports trips academic
005stiens like drama chorus and band field trips that all falls on what other instruction is as we know most of that is uh 49,000 of that increase of the 63,000 is from high school and middle school athletics part of that is the new high we've talked about new high school wrestling coach talking about the new mats Etc and then everything remember their stiens are based on a point system which is based on the teachers base salary so there's a point system based off of that salary so they get so much a point so when the base salary goes up for teachers I'm just going to say just going to give a number say it goes from 45,000 to 46,000 as a base salary that's not what it is I'm just using that it'd go from
006$45 a point to $46 a point and then the point system goes into effect based on that so it does fluctuate oh was that $450 a point and $460 a point mark yeah coming year is 455 a point yeah so and the maximum points is what I believe it's 12 any any Varsity High School coach could possibly get and that's based on years experience that's based on how many athletes they have it based on how long the season is uh competition from playoffs Etc yeah yeah that's all falls under the uh teachers contract and how that's broken down Jody how is it um figured out when they're not a teacher it's it's the saying whether they're a teacher or not it just it happens to fall on the teacher's contract that's the language but that's
007how it's broken down what they get for if they come in and Coach it's only for what they're doing coaching it has nothing to do what they're doing teaching so they're making so if they've been here three years they potentially go up as a teacher does with their points with the points based on the on the base salary if the base salary goes up they go up they don't get they don't get the regular steps that the teachers get um for their teaching part of their contract they just it goes off the base salary every year they do however get more points if they have so many years if they're coaching here so many years they get points for that so that I think the maximum amount of points is three that they can get
008for having so many years coaching in the district so late sorry um can you explain so people fully understand based on salary for teachers they're not entire Bas number yeah what what it is is that whatever that base number is they get one I think it's 1% of That Base number and then it's multiplied by the points Y no so I I think the highest paid coach we have is maybe 5,000 Mark yeah Jody sorry can I can I is it now a good time to ask specifics on that okay so in the middle school I noticed that there's $42,000 in stiens in the high school there's 150 and I'm just wondering Well Middle School they they offer less positions they also 75% that's that's POS no I think that's high actually for middle school
009that that is my question because we have so many more Sports here at the high school I'm just in my mind so I just was wondering well I I I do know there is broken down they get 75% of what the vity number is um when they do the figuring so I'm not I don't know Craig's here if there's why it's necessarily that high is Craig here or not see it's not okay I was just wondering just based on Middle School sports in high school so it's not just Sports no there's there's a there's a line in there for athletics and there's a line in there for academic activities which comes out of all comes out of the other instruction piece that all comes out of that group but there's academic positions like drama and
010stuff gets paid out of there as well um but I don't think it comes out of that one single line yeah should be different yeah and let me be clear I am probably the biggest sports fan at this table so I do not want Sports to be cut but I just want to understand to make sure that it's Apples to Apples or you know and why the difference or why why Middle School was as high as I didn't expected to be that high all right thank you anybody else okay then uh the next part is student and staff support that what what falls under that is assessment Chris talked about the testing the other night that we have to pay for everything in the libraries in the district everything that comes directly for curriculum technology
011our nurses come out of that section and then all guidance and social work people come out of that section um that's up 3.5% almost all of that is salaries and benefits that have gone up um and then as Chris mentioned the other night the assessment went up $7,000 and while we're sitting here talking salaries and benefits we had put in the budget 133% for Anthem okay which is our health insurance in the district we got a letter stating that it could go as high as 17.5% okay what we're going to be recommending later on is um putting a capital reserve together from our uh what do we call that unfunded Bal unfunded a fund balance and we'll move that fund balance we'll move $150,000 into that fund balance that does not raise the taxes for
012anybody that's money that was left over from years in the past and it'll be sitting there just for insurance costs so that 50,000 compared to what we already put in would cover it if it actually comes in at 17 and a half they was just trying to give us a warning that because usually 13 is more than enough for us we but we want to make sure we have enough in there we were shocked and I'm sure other superintendents around the state were shocked that it could be up as high as 17.5 um but if we don't spend that this year that money sits there just for insurance purposes over the following year it could be spent on insurance it doesn't go back into the general funding carried back over it if we if we
013you guys vote and then the taxpayers vote to set up an Reserve account that's what that would be for and that would sit there that way so it's it's a way to do it without raising the taxes protecting us against the fluctuation and also if it doesn't go that high it has money sitting there for us next year for to help towards health insurance or other insurances because our liability insurance we've budgeted 25% for liability insurance so I digress okay um under system administration that is the school board that's the super office Super's office and the business office that is up 4% or $28,000 145 28,45 excuse me in our office we have the superintendent we have one secretary we have one business manager we have one payroll person we have a one accounts payable
014and we have a halftime payroll assistant the re one of the reasons that went up we had that area went up salaries and benefits but also the audit is up we put another $4,000 in for audit and that's where the liability for the insurance for the district comes out of is in that area Danel 4% 4% yeah next is School administration which is up 12.1% that's salaries and benefits of secretaries and principles the main reason that's up as much as it is is one you have the increase of salaries and benefits but as we mentioned at the last meeting we talked about the increase coming from the addition of adding a Dina students at the primary school in place of a secretary and secretaries also come out of this section School administration um and then
015also replacing putting in Adena students at the element El School replacing a half a secretary and then bringing up the Dina students amount at the middle school in order to equal him out with everybody else that's why that line that section is up Jody so these dean of student positions are their administrative positions that you're replacing a secretary for an administ officially administrative because they don't have certification they can't evaluate teachers okay but they can deal with student Behavior they will be dealing with attendance um they're hoping to free you know they will do some of the things that secretaries have done but now they'll also be able to deal with students behavior and if they need help in a classroom they can go in and help in the classroom if they need to bring
016it down to the office they can help with that that some of the things you really shouldn't be having secretaries do it will also free up our administrators to get in the classrooms more to see how the teachers are doing and to inter mingle with the teachers and the and the students in the classes this isn't anything necessarily new I actually had talked with our former principal at the primary school he was very interested in doing it but we we the person who was staying was here at secretary thoughted about retiring last year but decided to stay we didn't want to have to remove anybody or let them lose their position just to make this position so no one would be losing a position in order for this to happen Jody sorry um I guess
017I'm just a little concerned about because it in my mind it does seem like new positions um and the way that it's put in it's alleviating a secretary position and bringing in technically two new positions which is like over $100,000 between those two positions and then bringing up the middle school yeah yeah it's that is close to that amount you're right yeah it's it's one and a half position that's leaving they coming in for two but yeah you're right and that's something that can be discussed tonight anybody Roger am I right in saying that they're basically like an assistant principal without the certifications and saving the district's money that's why it's called Dena Dena students and also because we can pay them at a much lower rate than we'd have to pay if it was
018an assistant principle right okay uh personally I I know the person who's been in that role in the Middle School absolutely deserves that and has done a wonderful job for the district so that I hope we don't uh affect that in any way okay thank you the next section is transportation that's up 2.43% um and included in that is remember we had discussed before the new bus lease and the new van lease um it's not it's not the full price it's broken out is it can I can't remember crystal is it is it a four year or threee for the van in bus sorry to put you on the spot I just can't remember which one it is or Norma might not this nor I didn't want to me just didn't want to misspeak van
019is a three year y you can keep looking and you can let us know later it doesn't change what it is just we're letting you know that it's a leasee and it's not paying for it all up up front and it's a lease to own we we own it when we're done paying the it off and then we have the operations and maintenance that's up 6.49% that's mostly salaries and benefits we also have a three-year lease on a new truck uh that Wayne had brought up at the last meeting for us um looking at positions I see and noric can correct me it's like 22 bus drivers and six van drivers 23 custodians 12 of which also Drive bus part-time and then of course the other people who are custodians and have their bus driver's
020license there subs for when a bus driver is out a regular bus driver is out so it isn't we only have I believe like how many people do we have that are just bus drivers Norma six okay yeah I'll say seven thank you they their contract is 180 days six hours a day whereas other people are the other people that we have that are custodian slash bus drivers are 260-day year workers and they work different hours during the summer than they work the rest of the time so then the last oh sorry y are we y next is The Debt Service that did not go up uh that is for the Seamans one and the Seamans 2 that was all the work that was all the lighting in all the buildings uh roof at the
021elementary school boilers in three of the buildings those are the loans that we had done a couple years ago those go out until like 2035 or 38 something like that so that hasn't changed and then the other expenditure is the 100,000 and that's um contingency in case something happens during the middle of the year we don't have to go back out to the taxpayers to ask for money we're hoping that's enough that would cover something in an emergency it used to be you can see a few years ago it was 145 I can remember the day it was up around 250 300,000 but we're asking the taxpayers for that money uh just in case so we decided we need to bring down the just in case uh to emergency very emergencies only so and then
022a couple things we will bring up like I said I just mentioned we'll we will hoping to put together a capital reserve you guys will vote on this next next meeting and we'll sign the warrants anything that we agree on for what the the total amount is and and then remember that will then go out to um the people and we'll have a public meeting that people get the vote at and then whatever is decided at that meeting will then go to referendum so this it's really this is the beginning step of that process couple of the things we will be asking for that you will see on on the uh warrant it's next week is um I'll read off establish a new capital reserve for insurance costs to fund costs of insurance including unanticipated
023costs caused by economic volatility and transfer up to 150,000 from available fund balances at the end of this 2425 fiscal year to that said capital reserve Insurance Fund and then ask permission to expend those funds if we need to during the 2526 school year remember this is money that is left over after the year that does we're allowed to keep 5% unlike the towns that they can just keep as much as they want in their CER that that they've brought in taxes we're only allowed 5% anything that's over 5% we have to then spend that money within the next three years back towards the budget I don't know I know Crystal sent these out and you guys should probably have them in your packet as well if you look under about halfway down other Revenue
024it says RSU 73 cash balance we're we're wanting to put a million dollars back from that cash balance to go towards um um decreasing the cost of the taxpayers it's their money but it's it's coming back because anything remember anything in the general fund that doesn't get spent goes back in and will be can be spent in the general fund again and that's what this is for the only ones that don't do that are the Food Service program that stays just with food service and Adult Ed is also separate that stays with Adult Ed but everything else in our budget goes back through so last year we put 900,00 th000 towards it this year we're looking to put a million dollar towards it you got to be real careful with that number however because if
025you don't have that a million dollars next year you start your budget in the whole so we believe we're comfortable with doing that uh this year and should have because you try to get the budget as close as possible but it's it's a good thing when you have a percentage of money left at the end of the year that you're not we're not out there spending every diamond penny that's budgeted because then you can get yourself in a lot of TR all it takes is one big thing and you are in trouble um but at the same time you don't want 20% left over because you've overtaxed people greatly so and like I said we're we're budgeting now for what's happening next school year and it's usually our best guesstimate because things change between now
026and then I mean we know we know what the contracts say so that helps because I think it's we're like 78% Crystal of our of our this budget is salaries and benefits um so there's not a lot to play with outside of that so if people have questions we'll we have people here that'll be more than happy to answer I do know it's it's it is kind of a shocker because the budget itself from last year's budget to this year's budget is 5.82 okay we be 5.99 if we if we put in the bleaches remember there's there's going to be a a warrant on that that they'll write up for us so that people will not only you guys will have to approve it they will have to approve it at the town meeting and
027then it'll also be a referendum question because we want to put it outside what we consider the regular budget um but that being said if you take a look down at the bottom of the page total taxes per town from last year to this year it's it's greater than that it's 10.1 1% for Jay it's 12.7% for Livermore and it's 12.5% for Livermore Falls and that's based on evaluations that I wish I had a say in but I don't um it's also part of that based on um when we became an RSU it was 100% um share for anything that's over the EPS model five years in they had an opportunity to vote to change changed that they did change that they voted to go 80% evaluation 20% student count which actually in the long
028run helps like a town like Livermore out because if it was just 100% evaluation their valuation now is higher than Livermore Falls evaluation but they have a lot less students than Liv more Falls does so they kind of get a slight Break by the fact that the 20% of the student count doesn't hurt them but they're overall uh evaluation is higher than Livermore Falls and i' I've had people ask me that and I said I know there's there's three ponds or lakes in the town and that's why evaluation goes up like I said we have no say in the evaluation at the school board level or superintendent level um we try to control what we can control with this budget so Tina you got it Roger just to clarify on that the reason our evaluations
029went up so much as the towns weren't doing them for the past few years so that is is on our towns they are a big increase um if you'll notice you lost some of your percentage of your homestead exemption because of them not doing their valuation so that absolutely doesn't fall on the district in Scot thank you thank you anybody else Jo um so I think I think it's important to say that um you know we're in a very interesting time federally State um inj that has the biggest Val validation our Mill um closed last year and we have special funding which I honestly did not get a chance to find out where that special funding comes from and if something happens if that would change and um I think that just like at our
030own homes we have budgets and things go up whether those be your light bills or food um that we have to try to stay within some kind of budget that makes sense and um I completely support everything that this school is doing but I'm I'm fearful for the future unless we start really looking at something of these numbers and that's where my questions are coming from because I don't want us to have to be at these tables cutting 25 positions because we got news of something and I would like us to start thinking strategically thinking outside the box how can we do things differently um and just asking questions about it so right now with a 5 82% increase uh Cola for this year is 2.5 I know that that's hard for some seniors to
031keep increasing um the school budget and with the valid validations in the towns they're really going to get hit too so I am here to just help us get that passed through the towns that we're doing our due diligence here at these tables and asking the questions of what can we do to help alleviate some of the taxes but yet still have an amazing school system and I know that's a hard thing to pull those two together thank you any other questions I also just wanted to mention um we're talking people have been talking about per pupil cost in the state um I was able to look up it's it's under 2425 but it's really about our 23 24 school years because I just want to see where we're at because I know this is
032this this is a lot of money I've never said it's not a lot of money you know it's it's scary to me I worry about our taxpayers but I just wanted to see what the state average was and and for 23 24 and what we're spending um now there are two different rates there's the 9 through 12 rate okay um RSU 73 according to the the website that I looked at for the state for the 23 24 year spends $1,666 per student the state average is $1 13,283 per student you know not a not a huge I mean it's $617 difference and if you multiply that by our 411 high school students that's $253,000 that just to be at State average we could say that we're at it's a bigger Gap when you get to
033K through 8 K through 8 we spend RSU 73 is 9,985 $9,985 181 for 2324 State average is $1,669 that's a $281 difference multiply that by the 858 students that we we have K8 that's 17 that's $1,781 th000 I'm not saying this because I expect us to raise that kind of money that's that would be you know that's $2 million more but I just want people to see that we are trying and we have to try more Jody's absolutely right we have to try to think outside the box as we move forward but there are other you know and we and there's also a we talked at ad team today there's there like a Tipping Point there too just like when you talk about if you have a building that's half full or completely full
034what what point is it does it cost you more money or do you do you break even because sometimes if you have a building that's full yeah you use less oil use heat because the building's full you know what's the Tipping Point for this because I know some very small districts pay more per child because the a certain amount of cost no matter what size you are and then it changes depending on the size you have it um so that can skew the state average but I know there are some Southern main schools that other districts that pay quite a bit but they also have that evaluation and that ability to do that that we don't have but I have I I've been in the district 25 years we've always had great support from the
035three towns for schools and i' I've always been very proud of that I've always been very thankful of that because it is it as I I said to someone before the meeting I don't know what someone's breaking point is everybody's household is different everybody has their own bills and what they're dealing with um what might be okay for this person might not be okay for the next person so you'll never hear me say well that's not very much we're not going up very much no that's I try to put forth with my administrators what the best budget is to you guys you guys need to take a look to see is this a reasonable budget or not and then it goes to the next step it goes to the taxpayers and they could say yes
036and there's a year at any point in time that they could say no and then we have to go back to the drawing board if they do but I I do lose a lot of sleep I do care about our taxpayers um and I care about our kids and trying to find that balance is not always an easy thing to do so very good yeah any other questions or discussion that's it yeah yeah no there is no unfinished business I would entertain a motion to adjourn just just so let people know when we meet next week part of the part of the regular board meeting is you guys will be needing to sign because what these all these prices that you have here will be actually put into language for warrants okay which will then
037go out to the town that everybody votes on at the town meeting okay and those those couple of uh ones that I talked about those two those Capital Improvement accounts or whatever that'll be there for you guys to look at we will vote next week and we'll also then you will then go through and sign like 15 copies everybody um as part of your Penance for being on the school board I have a question ol has a question yeah I know you were think I know that you were thinking that you're going to get some information about the federal funding attached to the Title Nine um there is at the moment the state doesn't know we did however get reimbursed fairly quickly for something we just sent in and that could be because they don't
038know when it could shut off they believe at this point in time anything that was appropriated will still go through so you're talking they're talking 18 months they're talking supposedly the rest of this year and then in next year's school thing that supposedly the government can't stop what's appropriated I'm not a lawyer I'm not a judge I don't know how that's going to fall but that's how they feel at the moment but that could change at any point in time and if it does title one is not in this budget we get we get $2 million from the federal government a big part of that is our Title One reading in math and we also have eight as I mentioned eight Ed Tech positions that come out of federal dollars that could be shut off
039okay and there's also money that for the Food Service program that comes from the federal government that could be shut off so what do we do if that happens I mean everybody that's the thing thing everybody will be in the exact same boat um we'll have to take a look at if there's any way to cover a few of those positions you're not going to be able to cover all those positions and we're not going to you're not going to ask the taxpayers to pay $2 million more especially when they're upset on for either one side or the other on why this is playing out the way it's playing out you know any other questions Roger not so much question is I just I hope that we move faster than 18 months for truth and
040Common Sense thank you all right I would entertain a motion to adjourn Lena Roger any discussion all in favor to adjourn say I I