001I think we've met hi I'm I'm Joe your it e e e [Music] spe f and so put it on tested it went back could see it [Music] administra appy of maximum pressure you hear that e e and 10 I will now call the first Board of Education special meeting for Wednesday March 12 2025 at 7:10 p.m. to order can we plan please stand for the pledge allegiance to the of the United States to the for stands one na andice okay so the next item on the agenda is the overview of the superintendent fiscal year 22nd recommended budget everyone I can do an introduction and then turn over to Lynn um so to provide some background um last week care pons um asked central office team to review my um proposed budget for 2526 um
002the proposed budget that I presented in January and February two different uh workshops which had 12.58% increase um and so we were asked by the board to um provide two different scenarios one that would show the impact of $5 million in cuts and the second that would show $6 million in cuts um and so Thursday and Friday I want to give a special thank you to the central office team Jody Bond as well who spend those two days going line by line painstakingly looking through the budget and seeing where um we could make cuts um that would um have the least impact on students um trying to reduce nonessential expenditures um identifying those non essential expenditures that could be reduced or eliminated also looking at items that could be uh shifted to Grants instead of
003the general budget and also comparing requests to what the department had spent in the previous year trying to align expenditures with actual prior year spending um we want to also thank the administrators um because when I presented my original budget we St really true to what the principles had asked for in terms of their budget requests and so we went back to the principles and they made a 10% uh reduction in their requests so we wanted to certainly acknowledge that so um Lyn B There is going to um share the non-personnel budget cuts as well as the Personnel cuts that were shared with the board previously this week so thank you to thank you superintendent white uh the budget cut rationale for the fiscal year 2526 spending cut are focused on aligning our expenditures with
004prior year spending shifting certain costs to Grants and reducing non exential expenses notably the cuts are designed to preserve core educational functions demonstrating our unwavering commitment to providing the students and families of bristle with a quality education we have cut program and staff stien reductions of PD R reduced to 15,000 in the lines supervisor salaries Elementary only some school we reduced 9,152 we shifted that to the alliance Grant library media salaries for before and after school program at both high schools were cut by 3,000 at each School a total of 6,000 co-curricular siphons for various programs Art Theater Wellness TSA were reduced or eliminated professional Educational Service is services in Music Theater and art were cut to previous levels software licenses have been reduced by 2,000 a decision made after careful evaluation of usage and
005the necessity to optimize the budget over time in the technology department was cut by $2,500 in the Athletics and Student Activities character uniforms at the high school were cut by $ 56,2 se4 and middle school was cut by $1,800 athletic memberships were reduced by about $ 43,2 Middle School and High School athletics recognition was cut by about $1 15,27 and a bowling bus for bristle Eastern High School was eliminated saving $5,100 5,155 something like that I didn't get up exactly $ 5,515 the Arts and Music reductions we reduced the art budget by $1 17,21 to match the 2324 spending levels music equipment and instructional supplies are significantly reduced theater and music professional development on stiens were cut transportation and field trips the summer school transportation was cut by $25,000 and moved to a grant field
006trips across multiple schools are cut or reduced to a set amount per school security repairs and maintenance were reduced by 15,000 repairs and maintenance for multiple departments and schools were cut or shifted to other funding sources vandalism was reduced by 14,000 our instructural and office supplies text purchases were cut across the district office and instructural supplies were reduced or eliminated student planners were eliminated across the buildings administrative supplies were cut for multiple departments memberships for staff and various subjects were reduced or eliminated and additional new stiens were removed from this budget resulting in 4,3,2,1 would you like me to go on with the positional Cuts yes there's 12 atas which are kindergarten teaching assistants that currently funded through the alliance rent and they were $347,900 four PE teachers two at each High School $262,900 one
007half of my secretary currently funded through Alliance $363 60 one climate and culture supervisor $164,600 one half of an art teacher $ 32865 on half of the music teacher 32865 seven science League teachers Elementary level $476 two library media specialists at one at each High School $131,400 four High School teachers $262,900 one 16 to8 coach from a k School 65730 five Middle School curriculum coordinators cutting five Middle School curriculum coordinators to have one for course for grade level $772 one 168 library media specialist from the K8 School 65730 move two administrators currently at 12 months to 11 months $30,000 and the supervisor of high school facilities $92,800 Social Security Medicare and benefits that the city hopefully will let us take it's 21575 44 in Cuts bringing the total new budget from 146 899 581 to
0084,839 680 which is a $6 million reduction then I just have one question about the um the lead teachers I is is that a contractual obligation for those positions I don't believe that you need to have one for every class or every grade level could you help please sorry are you talking about the science lead positions so there was a send in the contract uh for a science lead at the elementary level uh in the past that was really because we were often going through multiple Labs Hands-On experiments and uh activities t tasks like that and they needed a lead in the building to help manage the supplies due to the shifts in our curriculum uh we don't need that kind of supervision on what the supplies are being that the supplies that are being
009used within each building it's manageable underneath the supervision of each principal within that building so it's a position that a siphoned position that's within the contract but it's no longer necessary due to some of the shifts that we've made that's why I know Miss mentioned a science Lead Teacher in my sound like a teacher but the amount was only around $4,000 that's because it's a state B for those so there's no there's nothing that could come back to us that we have this in the contract and if we eliminate it we're out we're outside of our contract obligation that would be a question for someone another department I can always be curricular about I do know that the spens change as the need changes m a lot of times some of the stats that are
010actually in the contract are no longer used and then they get repurposed for other things I see the union president shaking has said that you're right one so I think they okay okay so we have had the overview so I will ask for a um motion so that we can go into discussion I'll motion to accept as is so we can have the discussion about where we want to go with this I'll second okay motion has been made in seconded uh all in favor or we'll go into discussion okay first we'll start with our discussion um so I will open up the floor if we want to start on either side of the table or if somebody wants to just step in my topic was going to go back to the kte versus the prayer
011professional discussion which we are uh in part in the last meeting um with regard so and if we remain fully staffed and could remain that way U for every kindergarten classroom would there have been a kindergarten teacher a KDE and a par professional yeah okay so um the of the kte would not have resulted in this proposed budget with any one of those people filling those positions not being offered an alternative position as a prayer professional correct that's correct there's 15 open positions at least right now but so there's a difference in salary between a pair of professional and an assistant PRS make a little more a little more but we don't seem to be able to keep PA of professionals since we have 15 vacancies and we have 12 people hired currently that are
012batched with these teachers well no there's one vacancy yeah there's also turnover in that there is turnover so um one of the it to me there's a difference in job scope which what which is what we heard earlier um that the kte are providing some instructional supports the kindergarten teachers but there are some job duties that the ktes aren't responsible for that are necessary in those classrooms at that age group that the Paras provide so we would have to add paas if that were necessary so my point being though if we have that many vacancies already and we have people that want to keep their positions and they could take that position it changes their jobs but we actually have less absente ISM of roles in those rooms as far as like the support that
013the children that there are differences in their roles right well that's what hearing from the other the other uh meeting but um we we have to have people that is this toilet we must have that so you know so if that's needed that will have to be add it that's the responsibility of the par educator is that right so if we filled all the par educator positions as a priority we're meeting the most minimum set of needs for those children in the classroom versus risking some pair of professional positions not being filled at all and then we have kte who both are not uh obligated to complete those other job responsibilities as as a KT so I think you're seeing it as NE or or I'm seeing it as we need 12 people in those
014classrooms to help with the educational piece and then when there is identifications where people need where students require help with toileting you would have to have the par for profession will provide that support but I don't know that we could tell assistant teachers that they have to toilet take that job or they don't have a job and then we don't have people in each of those 12 classrooms that are doing what they're doing now but I think that's why the K you position for put on the budget cut versus the par professionals well neither have to be on the budget C that's what I'm saying so I mean I understand what you're saying but I'm saying I think both valuable so I think we need teacher assistance in the kindergarten classrooms because they're almost 30
015per classroom and our population a lot of our students don't have prek so this is their first experience so I think that's very necessary and then if there is if a child's identified and needs help toileting because of a special ed accommodation we're required to provide that as well so I mean I just don't that's not an area where I see we're saving the the amount of money we're saving on the lowest paid staff members in the district with the highest need HS just do that make sense to me no I understand and uh when we don't have to have these kind of TP conversations putting the focus back on you know would we actually be eliminating bodies from the payroll potentially not with that budget recommendation I was just trying to explore it a
016little bit deeper um that we're trying to preserve people on the payroll and not lay off anybody right you were giving nobody no people currently being paid would be impacted by this except that they would be changing their role so I don't want to minimize that but it's still different than people not having a position at all so I saw I saw in the budget that this these two positions are trying to be repurposed we're trying to eliminate something that we know we need but we can't afford at the moment so the suggestion was if we El the K and E we actually don't lose people because we will move them into other roles that are also critical if they if they wanted to do those otheres it's a different role so I mean you're
017changing the position and just I mean realistically yeah yeah so I just see the lowest paid people not being the best positions to change and if we were to eliminate positions that are coaching positions and they are full-time teacher salaries they can bump in and we do have quite a number of vacancies so if even if they bumped a beginner teacher from a spot we have vacancies where the teachers who are bumped could then potentially take the vacancies because we're currently as of I think today or yesterday on a higher increase so let me just add um we also know that there are specific positions that remain vacant and therefore are still in the budget and being unused and they also are paid at higher rates so the the reverse situation which we find ourselves
018in is that we could take 12 of those positions eliminate those that we produce a higher savings and we're also not eliminating the total number of open positions for Paris so people still want to apply for those jobs they could but we were just told that the number exceeds 12 we also were just told that those folks are also paid at a higher rate and so if we keep folks that are already in their positions in the roles that they're comfortable in in those specific positions would eliminate 12 pairs that have not been filled for some time we produce a higher savings so that is a sort of compromise suggesting that I'm throwing out there as we have this discussion you know I'm not saying one position is more important than the other but I
019do I do see positions sitting on our books that are going unfilled and so that to me that's where you can produce the savings who did you yeah um the the um positions that are open are being filled by substitutes that are very expensive also so there's not a lot of savings because we have to by law have a child who has an IEP that says they get a a person have a person so we're using substitutes in that respect all of the vacant positions that we have right now are being all of them are being covered by substit they're all required by law yeah we need to know what extent I mean I was just told there's more than 12 positions and so I can't tell you the answer to that without looking at
020the substitute listings okay so maybe that's something you can got for us through the chair yes hi I'm so sorry this is uh commissioner Simmons I'm so sorry I can't be there in person um you know just the conversation around you know the skillful moving of staff for example because it's been uh discussed quite a bit tonight we'll take coaches for example in my opinion there's really not enough information to look at if if we're looking at a reduction in coaches and we know that they're going to bump staff I feel like identifying certifications is a really important piece of this because if we have vacant positions and we need uh you know Middle School Math teachers and the coaches that were looking to Reduce by way of the budget needs don't have math CTS
021that's not that's not equalizing so I think it's I don't feel like we have enough information and even I could somebody clarify for me please what positions yield a higher pay rate is it the ktas or the peras the Paras we were told are paid more than the C than the kindergarten assistance okay and so the question there would be what's the differential there if we're if we're reducing by way of budget need ktas and they're moving into PA of positions have we looked at you know the true cost savings there because the Paras are paid at a higher rate you know just some questions here I'm coming from you know a neutral perspective that I feel like there are some gaps here that have to be filled in in order for us to really
022understand the impacts because of bumping when we're looking at reducing um positions and we know there are bumping impacts going on you know certifications to me are an important piece of the puzzle to really see what we're you know what kind of cost savings are realized um I have a lot more uh to say about some of the other things that were discussed in the previous meeting but I'll just because we're on this topic I just wanted to throw that in there answer sure the um PA professional positions 225 of them are in the budget they're either in idea or Alliance or the general fund they're all um budgeted and readily accounted for so the current amount of openings we have could easily fill be filled by all of the ptas the all 12 of
023them could have a job if they so chose but KT okay so yeah I understand that quation but no but the qualifications for Paris are not the same as there's some that need college credits right aren't there you just need to pass the par proo exam okay so if we don't know if our KT have passed the exam we're saying if they have an associates degree they can do they all have Associates degrees also through the chair Title One schools ER yes Eric um I just want to know why we're not looking at central office here here in Bristol um to bring up our people uh and and looking at the the schools I think there's very there's a lot of people that are are are are qualified um that we're not looking at so
024I'd like to look at that as well okay thank you and and through the chair yes this is commissioner Simmons again um to to get to what Lynn was sharing Lynn I can appreciate that the kta positions would easily fill the budgeted pair of positions that we have but my question is have we really examined the true cost savings by taking a lower paid position like a kta and putting it in a higher paid par position even though those positions are already you know in our budget what are the the real cost savings there have we looked at that differential it would be the actual 30 47 $ 47,7 well actually it would be more than that because you had just told me that some of these folks have required subbing so if people were
025put if we don't have the need for those any the savings would actually be more than that that is corre this is what I'm saying have we really measured it there there are lots of gaps here I I feel like we we need to take a little bit of a a deeper dive we also have a lot of the positions that are vacant for Paras that are in middle school and so when you're talking about swapping kindergarten positions how does that impact vacancies in schools in other grades where the pair of positions are for the other grades um Mrs Martino has the ability to move people where they're needed to be it's in the contract right but I mean I have parents call me that say pars are not being replaced they can't fill positions
026in middle schools like that right now currently we have middle schools that have pair of positions that are vacant for months and we're not able to replace them and and it's impacting their students so if you're going to just say it's something that we can just switch doesn't eliminate the need of the middle school so it adds another paa because now we have them in the in the kindergarten classrooms which cost more and so we're going to have to hire more Paras because they're legally required versus keeping the lower paid people who we have employed which isn't really saving us a lot of money I mean and their direct service so I just think we're spending a lot of money a lot of time talking about positions that we need and that aren't going to
027really save us a lot of money would anyone else have any comments do you have do you have a list in all the um Sor sorry commissioner thank you but no we have someone speaking I'll let you know thank you and talk a little louder sorry about that um there was a suggestion that was made at the previous meeting before this one regarding feedback from the teachers regarding the kts and I think that would be really helpful in making a decision around this as well so I just didn't want that suggestion to get lost in our conversation any other Commissioners have any uh comments for discussion commission C yes thank you so I have a question about um it's the number of there's four positions for high school teachers um is there like a specific
028area that it's just I think in one of the rationals it had to do with folks who were in electives and they they were saying that they can only get like 15% of kids in seats in those specific classrooms so that's was the rationale for the for the reduction I know there were earlier conversations about attrition and if attrition happened at the high school level and classrooms were less than you know 15 and if they could be combined or there were opportunities to not replace that I think that's something that we could look into as possible cost savings moving forward but at this you know juncture where we are without having more information I don't know if Commissioners are interested in eliminating teaching positions that are working directly with students I think that's really our
029big decision tonight is are we looking at eliminating positions to lower the budget for professional development or direct instruction if I make the shair yeah and I think commissioner tyell actually you know you know kind of nail that it really needs to come from all departments not just not just the contact position with students but it also has to be an administrative position believe commissioner Rosen said the same thing that we need to be looking at all levels of uh unfortunate of cuts and that's going to be administrative that's going to be um that's going to be old that's going to be teachers and so on um you know and another area that um you know I think we should be looking at you mentioned like electives um do we have any elected classes where
030we're having difficulty filling those classes and if so are those are those areas that we could be looking at maybe eliminating those particular class right I just want to correct I just spoke a little bit so the high school teacher rash now it say looking at the section enrollment report for 2425 about 40 to 50% of high school have 15 or fewer students the dramatically different number than we've seen in some Elementary Middle School classrooms when looking at the enrollment over time we see the high school enrollment has declined and then it is worth noting enrollment for the next year let Clos their 2023 numbers with 70 F students than in 20 that's that was a rationale the chair so in um along with this topic with some of the um classes having um not
031so many students and um I saw in an email there was a discussion of maybe having those classes at bames where you merge students from Central and Eastern to make a bigger class size um with the transportation for BS from how I understand it and I might be wrong is the students that go there the high school students on the Block schedule they don't just go for one class right I think that they go for more like a half a day two two classes um where we don't have like buses shuttling students back and forth every 80 minutes am am I wrong in [Music] that is this you I'm looking to see I don't know the answer yeah right right now students take two blocks at Baines um that means that most of the students
032who are there are identifying two electives that they're interested in we do find that there are some students who have one a course of one interest I really want to go take dramatic theater for example and so there are some opportunities to look at combining classes especially in the areas of World Language and uh PE and health because those are required courses that all students would need to take that would allow students greater opportunity and flexibility to go to Banes and take that class without having to run individual classes at either high school that might have a low enrollment can I continue on the four high school teacher topic sure sure so when we say four High School teachers because of um eliminating offerings and electives that are low enrollment I I have to say
033I think our catalog of electives is is really generous I think we we've done a really good job being a city of our size being able to offer things um compared to maybe some of us who went to smaller high schools a long long long time ago um didn't get to take I still think that even eliminating some of those electives we still have quite an offering to our student population so I wasn't worried as much about the electives but that and what comes along with that is the equivalent of four High School teachers but we weren't actually thinking that that would result in laying off or terminating for teachers we thought that those positions wouldn't impact people it just would no longer be budgeted form wouldn't move people into them anymore because there's going
034to be other things like attrition or other items am I accurate with that I don't think we were given a specific guarantee I don't think we were told which courses which positions I think it was in general they think for would be reasonable to ask to from each high school and possibly Patrician would do that but we don't know and through the chair I I you know since this is a a topic being discussed right now I think my my questions and concerns would be similar to what I already um shared previously is you know looking at what electives what are the certifications of those staff uh are those electives part of uh career pathways are they credit bearing classes because those impacts are scaffolded um and they really kind of they build on one
035another um scarly standing at the podium and gonna answer some of this for you all right great thank you maybe not gotcha I can give some perspective one of the reasons why we looked at high school so that we have greater flexibility because of the existence of bins and so I know we're talking about electus being cut but that really wasn't the intent the intent was really to be able to continue to offer the same high level quality classes that we have across our program of studies but centrally locate them so that instead of having two teachers teach a course right if I have let's say Latin 3 has six students at one high school and has four students at another um we want to certainly progress students through three years of a world language
036but that's an expense of a 0.5 teacher likely in both both schools equaling to one full if that class was brought to Baines that means I have one teacher that teach one of the teachers are going to come to B and teach those courses for a higher enrollment the reason why we wouldn't be able to give you any particular classes right now is because that's a conversation that really does need to involve our high schools given the high school administrators given some of the um decision- making that we've had to do and recent days we didn't have the opportunity to explore that with our high school administrative teams but their input on that is very critical and we certainly the goal would be to continue to offer the high level of quality programming that we
037have and then look to see how we might better utilize all of our staff across the district in any 612 position as we're looking um for any teachers to might be displaced I can appreciate that um and going back to something that Lind mentioned with classrooms being covered um by substitutes I don't think any of us would argue that while we appreciate the classrooms are covered because it fulfills our legally obligated uh man dates if you will it certainly does not take the place of a certified staff person and um so I I I want to understand how we're able to skillfully make budget cuts in the impacts that is going to have to student instruction um I I don't want to see any staff cut to be honest um you know I'm I'm very
038frustrated that we have to be in a position to even consider staff Cuts I value every single uh staff person that we have and it's it's very disheartening because the impacts are far beyond I mean there's morale issues obviously the impact to Student Learning um an elective that we cut could be the the one class that um you know that student needed to to fulfill the vision of The Graduate I I don't I don't I don't like having to be in this position whatsoever and I think that um unfortunately we're here but these things probably could have been avoided um but that's a topic for you know a different day um even the idea of K cutting physical education teachers I'm not in favor of that whatsoever it's um I think the the more we're
039able to provide our students every student and nobody wants to be in this position and I don't mean to suggest in any way that any of us want to be in this position um but we want to also look at the impacts of substitute teachers obviously that's that's a cost um it's not only a monetary cost but it's it's the cost of high quality instruction um by not having a certified content area staff member um so I just wanted to put that out there as well thank you yes um yeah I can appreciate those and I think any my vote on any of this um obviously is not that I want any of this um I'll wait till November to make a different vote that'll make my my voice and displeasure with the situation that
040we're in um I will say that we do have to get to a number and a dollar value and we have to get to having an actual budget because we have a presentation for next week that we have to present to the board of Finance um and we can't continue to delay these sorts of things and I think what I'm hearing right is that we're on a multi-dimensional chess board and if we move one piece or reduce one piece that can affect uh a bunch of uh different things but we're still in the position that we're in and so we do have to make decisions and they're not going to be great decisions but um and I think one thing that we need to understand is that um this is a suggestion we can always
041come back to the drawing board when the staff kind of more understands what those impacts would be with again we'll get to a dollar value that we all can agree on and then the board can then later ratify its agreement in what positions to get to that dollar value we don't actually have to say I'm going to specifically do this cut and then by June that's the cut you make right you have but you have to agree on a budget and so I think that's what we need to kind of get to is maybe we don't necessarily agree with what the cuts are today because again we're hearing that we haven't even talked to staff we don't even know if you know we don't know if ktas will want to move over maybe they will
042seek other jobs and those positions will go un filled so there's not as much savings as we thought so I think we we do um we can revisit those types of things that'll later be I have one more question that I didn't see on here and that we talked talked about um previously and that was the Bristol Prep Academy principal position that was added um we have an additional administrator that we didn't previously have that we didn't necessarily know that was going to be assumed uh when changes were made structurally and so I think it's important to talk about that position as well because if you look at 40 students in the cost of a 12 month um administrator position uh and we do have vacancies or in different administrative positions across the district right
043now um I just I think it's something we we seriously have to consider if we can afford to have a full-time 12-month administrator for 40 students at an alternative location for just High School I mean if it was middle school as well if we had a different kind of setup where we were accommodating more students and helping the schools with uh the most vulnerable kids who need extra supports I mean that's conversation I would have but the way it's structured right now I just think it's the per pupil for that expense is just really really high yeah I I think that goes to what I had said what Comm Anderson had said and what our Council Le on say is that looking at sort of those high dollar um position that perhaps um we could
044look at eliminating I mean we're going to have to eliminate something so right so I guess what I'm hearing is do we want to go through and say the things that we don't want cut out of the budget do we want to have a vote that actually targets and specifies exactly what we want to cut or are we voting on a number and not cuts at this point can I um ask a quick question here about some of the cuts um Athletics I see uniforms I heard discussed briefly I wasn't able to hear everything on Zoom um but there were 56,000 in in uniforms and I the conversation kind of lended to not wanting to cut that um amongst the table while we were discussing that in the previous meeting I you know that's again
045it's all going to depend on whether or not we want to go through line item by line item right now or if we want to come to a number so I was just going to say um because there's multiple spots where the Athletics is touched right um recognitions um there's some memberships um it's it's it's it's a number so I didn't know if maybe having a discussion about gate fees would help cover that Gap the monies that are in the accounts right now um having a discussion of maybe bringing back gate fees to cover some of these these things that would be a policy discussion I don't think that's a discussion for tonight I'm I'm personally not I mean we're bringing in just as much money in each of the accounts as we did when
046we collected gate fees which is really kind of I don't know I guess people just are donating a lot of money but that's great so no I wouldn't I wouldn't be looking to do that I'd be looking to spend those balances down to zero as we should by law every year and it could cover some of these expenses but not by charging our families and our students to attend events that we've already paid for out of the general budget that doesn't make any sense it chair yeah the budget itself has um about $200,000 embedded into it to cover what gate Fe well no but in our actual monthly reports in each of the accounts from the high school you're reporting out on how much money is in those accounts and it's the same as it
047was Prior in Prior years I think what Lyn is saying is that to bring back gate fees uh wouldn't make sense because we already have it covered in the budget for things we would have been paying for there's $200,000 in the music um theater and athletic budgets also through the chair yeah to um commissioner van gord's Point those those items that are potentially being examined for budget cuts like in uh you know the Arts and Athletics um have we looked at other sources of support things that might be uh available VI via boo booster funds or some of the monies raised by way of gate fees the donations I know that's you know been surprisingly um generous have we looked at so these areas don't have to go without could they be supplemented in other
048areas has that been examined those are conversations for policy well I think it it is relevant to this conversation when we're considering whether or not we want to consider Cuts in those areas knowing that these areas um would suffer if you will as a result of not having the the support for funding I if if I knew that these areas were covered by other sources of income that we have available to us then I would be more comfortable uh agreeing to the budget cuts as presented in those areas I think what we need to do is ask the board I think we really need to come to a decision decision if we're going line item by line item and saying we agree or disagree with cuts or if we're coming up with a number for
049tonight and moving forward with a number and then making the cuts so my position going over all of this um it was it's a lot some of my numbers aren't um swearing and um I just don't think it goes far enough um when we're kind of nickel penny and diing some spots kind of hoping that we don't spend what we might spend even with like textbooks we were just talking about threee calculus textbooks that was going to be $27,000 and in the reduced budgeted amount I'm not sure it is even necessarily covered so I think it's a good start but I think we need to go a little further I think it's going to be hard to go line item by line item tonight I really do I don't think we're going to get to
050and once the board of Finance approves a budget um then it's the board's decision on how that budget gets dispersed uh for the school year so you know we can we can come up with a number we can have these conversations um we're going to have to come back to the drawing table yeah I guess but since it was posed that we're not going far enough I would like to know how far I Comm Commissioners would like to go to what extent I mean the dollar value on the table is maxed out at 6 million as we see it so do we want to cut initial $2 million to8 million are we looking for additional $5 million I'm just trying to understand is if the comment is we haven't gone far enough how far are
051we will to go yeah if I may I think that would really depend on you know where else we could findy some other Cuts we we look at and discuss some other avenues where you know that haven't been considered and I think that need to be on the table for us to come up with a with a with a so you're looking to cut further than 6,000 6 million 6 million sorry yeah I mean I I hear that this kind of justs at the Ed we have 3.9 increase in benefits loone we have 6.4 increase in special ed a loone so now you're at over $10 million without any Cuts I'm not I'm not a fan of it either but think we got to go so if I may what I will say is that
052we have a statutory obligation to present to the board of finance a budget that we think will provide a quality education for our students if they choose to make additional recisions to that request leave it up to them to do that I would not recommend any person in this room suggests that we go beyond $6 million in reduction I will also say that the chair of this board did ask people last week to send in suggestions for specific cut so that we could get things before us I don't know how many people did that I there were many attempts many attempts such as what as asking for information we get things last minute or they're not answered by our superintendent and answered by the chair so think that's an unfair assessment commissioner okay I really
053do because we I answered your question within five minutes and then I also thought my my answer was still not really answered I have't here I can show you both well it was answered by Lynn well I'm telling you that you didn't want you didn't like the answer you received so we got you another answer which you didn't come back through the chair I I wonder if we could like collectively focus on what are we charged with um right now like what is our best approach moving forward like if we have to participate in a vote tonight what exactly might we be voting for um and let's see if we're we're ready to vote in based on like that end goal if well I think we need to either vote to remove 5 million or
054six million for the from the budget how specific we want to get in in that vote is up to us I I would I would suggest that we vote to eliminate the proposals without some of the positions that were proposed I would like to eliminate um the the kindergarten assistance um the high school gym teachers the high school teachers I I am not interested right at this moment in eliminating staff who directly service students uh we can eliminate $6 million and we don't know exactly how many positions that would impact uh that do not touch students we have some recommendations in the budget uh there's a there's um commissioner tagra can you read the positions that are not touching students that we said would be okay in the in the finance meeting it was discussed
055there was a list that we went through and there there were positions that people asked about and then there were positions that we didn't think would be you have it yeah it but if I if I can't if I may there's also positions in here that you know that hav well they were all read to us is what I'm saying and then there were some that we each we had an opportunity in finance and tonight to say whether or not we agreed or disagreed if if you have some that you'd like to discuss you're you're I'm you're welcome to do have a couple of position questions and I know it's not line item and I appreciate both sides of this discussion in order to get uh Board of Ed Commissioners to sort of visualize picking
056a number we also have to have a vision of where the superintendent along with her central office cabinet are looking to do those things because if we just say a number and don't examine some of the specifics at least the higher impact ones which I think is what our conversation is mostly stuck around it will get harder to get people to commit because then if we then turn those decisions back over to the superintendent in the cabinet because it's their budget and they go completely off everything that we presented I would have a hard time with that so somewhere in the middle I think is probably um the best way to get there I don't think we're all going to agree on every line item and then that would have to be back to the
057superintendent and her staff to collectively and I value their thought process in this because they know they more they know more than we do about the exact impacts on students their staff coverage things that we don't have to deal with every day so if we could get to maybe just some of the bigger questions we can put out what we are comfortable with and what we're not comfortable with um um and there'll be discrepancies I'm sure you know like your position on the kpas I appreciate and I wish we could keep them I had a little bit different perspective in that I didn't think we're losing anybody it gives opportunity for some of those people to get an increase in their salary uh additional training every year if they wanted to so I I kind
058of saw that more as a little bit of a win but I mean that's that's speculating because we don't know which people want to take those positions which stuff so I think on every one of the staff Cuts there be different perspectives but anyways I get back to my question just really quick um the PE teachers and PE in health um we already offer more than what's required um one of the things I looked at when I read that part as a rationale was that more and more the state has mandated mandatory courses for the high school students a third year of science um which was decided a few years ago there's coming more mandates for letting there be less choice for the student and some of the high school electives and maybe there's some
059students that would rather take Latin three or Latin four than JY but now they don't have room in their schedule anymore and for maybe that student that third or fourth year in language is a the job opportunity um something else for that right so to me I wasn't as worried about the PE position could it also looked like we weren't actually going to affect people those people weren't going to lose their job they were going to move to something else from what I understood and I'm oversimplifying it but no that was four positions right that we would be eliminating eliminating the position in the budget but I don't know that it was going to result in in correspondence said that there was room to move them physical education is a very special certification it's it
060if we're eliminating physical education positions I don't know where those fette teachers would go do they teach do the physical education also teach yes okay that has been a recent requirement that we require all of The Hires for PE that they carry both certifications it is an area where we do have openings right now uh and there one of the certification areas that is a k through 12 ser so there is greater opportunities for teachers to have Mobility as compared to looking at a K5 sir or a 612 or they can um span the range of all of our potential schools um and I am aware of one opening I think we' have to get more confirmation of other vacancies right now so potentially three would probably be laid on teaching so the fizet teachers
061who have the Dual C with health um there are open positions in the district where if we eliminate these fizzed positions they would be able to assume positions elsewhere throughout the district using their one position Maria she said there's one opening oh one opening so the other other fette instructors potentially would just not have a place potentially so to me that's kind of a problem I feel that way as well okay so I guess I'm I am trying to kind of get to an understanding of the rationale that was used where it was the least impactful to staff and students and the area that they targeted was something that was beyond the state requirement and it also prevents some students from being able to take other kinds of electives where in years past they had
062more choice to build their own type of Junior and Senior year uh that didn't involve things that they they shouldn't be made if they don't want to we could also reduce a requirement to the state requirement not requ not in not requiring the uh second Credit in gy and still have it be available to students that's that's also an option so that was disgu where athletes could athletes could actually um yeah another way there are some other options that could be considered so if we're looking at other um opportunities there are some other districts who award students credit for their participation in athletics that would also reduce the number of sections that are required for a requirement of PE I think just to be clear we are offering more in PE I don't know if
063I understood the question correctly but the state requirement is one full credit in their four years of PE where we require our students to take to that is what that's why we're Simmons is saying is that we don't have to keep we don't have to keep the requirement there so the students that commissioner G Antonio is saying would maybe want to take a different class and not a gym every year could have that option and then we could see how that panned out and if it did you know leave smaller class sizes or a need to not have as many gym teachers maybe somebody would retire I don't know I think that that is the goal that we were proposing when we put this on the table um the the Alternatives would be you could
064look at awarding athletic Credit in that way if you're ensuring students have some physical fitness across all four year certainly that would be another option you could look at elective more of an elective base going Beyond and offering students beyond the require credit for those who want to take more and come with a middle ground of the number of teachers so I think to put other options on the table those would be other things to consider and the overall um as we were thinking about again what was guiding our decisions around uh helping our students maintain uh the high academic achievement that they have and the meeting the requirements that they need that was a position where we felt like we could do that through these vehicles and still reduce some sections for potential not
065necessarily no nobody really this is a very uncomfortable position for me to have to advocate for one or the other I don't want to lose anyone as well as I'm sure all of you don't either but looking across that scope that was one where we felt that there were more opportunities and Mobility for the teachers if they were to be impacted uh through a reduction there as opposed to some other other choices that have been presented here tonight good did share um I appreciate the effort to meet middle on this um what I would say is I don't know that this form is necessarily conducive for us to go back and forth I I don't see that there will be in total agreement but what we can do and I already suggested but I'll I'll
066lay it back on the table we can put a number and all the number has to be is the final number that we're proposing to the board of Finance the cuts could be potential option not final right but those the potential option which we have before us tonight would say that's X doll value right then we can Workshop through the cuts later but we still have to get to a final number I know but I wouldn't be comfortable voting through I'm sorry we're can you please hold on one minute I wouldn't be comfortable voting through the budget as it's been proposed and so what I'm saying is you're technically not when you are saying that this is just a proposed route it's not the final route it's not time as to say four teachers three
067administrators I know but that would have to be very not voting I'm sorry can we'll we'll in a minute we'll we'll give you a chance to talk but right this minute we're just trying to decide how we're going to move forward okay um and we at least say that we can come up with a number but we I would also want to take things out of this I would not want to vote this through as the potential because I think there's implications in doing that where people who are proposed on this could think that this is what's going to happen and I'm not comfortable with it at all so so I guess what I would say is what do we put the word placeholder X doll value for the difference I'm just trying to get
068us to a consensus so we can actually have the discussion through the chair yeah um I think what we're dealing with is just a number and we've got proposed speculative and I it is speculative which ones we're going to cut because we're going to get a number back and so may not be the same so we're going to be looking at more Cuts or less Cuts depending on what they what the board of Finance says um so I'm comfortable with pushing this forward this is our proposed cuts not it's it's a scenario right it's and that's what they that is what the board Finance had ask for scenarios except for we do have our Lea Mar Brian here and we could ask her just a a a general question can we go forward without a
069number without a plan you need a number no but I'm saying get you can [Music] I'm here as your liaison from the board of Finance I do not speak for the board of Finance right I uh have been sitting here listening because this is the first of your work sessions I believe uh other than the two presentations that the superintendent made on your budget recommendation for the next fiscal year so I wanted to hear some of the debate and the discussion but it is true that when you come come before the board of Finance next week you're going to be presenting a budget that is a specific number I believe as an individual member of the board of Finance our focus is going to be on that number and how we fulfill our role and
070authority to help advise and manage the city of Bristol's total Financial picture it is your role and authority to then whenever the final number is given to you to then decide uh the answers to some of the questions that you've brought up and the goodness in all of that is that it gives you a lot more time so as I understand and remember correctly the controller has told us that on April 2nd as she does annually she will make a recommendation to the board of finance of a preliminary picture Financial picture for the city that will include what the mill rate increase will be for Bristol's taxpayers and that is then based on her estimate of some other funds that come into the city as well as what might be possibly happening this year uh
071financially positively that might increase some of our reserves uh I believe then on April 22nd we take a final vote on the city's budget which again gives us more time to understand what's happening at the legislative level and and uh I don't remember whether that April 22nd date is the meeting of the joint board which is the body so it's the board of finance and the city council jointly that finally take the vote on the city budget for FIS schal year 26 thank you question but it is and um the city council will vote then okay thank you Eric did you want to say anything else oh no no I'm okay um so what I think I heard is that we can just come up with a number tonight we don't have to have a
072plan so I wouldn't want to vote through the plan just the number and then possibly schedule uh another either Workshop to come up with different scenarios maybe there's an opportunity for people to ask the more specific questions that they need answers to before that I'm I'm sorry I'm just glad Marie was able to explain it and it's it's hard to explain sometimes when it comes to budget and she did a wonderful job and I appreciate that yes thank you so the number that we have to decide between um Mar I mean Lynn you gave me two numbers right one is with the $5 million worth 5 million6 million so it's either 141 m777 646 for 140 M83 n, um doesn't match this through the chair oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt this I
073think I think my challenge my my challenge with vote on a number is the way that the budgets have been presented is a number is nebulous we can say $5 million but if we don't understand the plan to get to that $5 million reduction I'm just not comfortable with that I think we owe this community more than just saying I want to pick a number out of the sky and however we get there we'll deal with that later but if we don't know the impacts of how we're going to get there how can we pick a number it's not it's not a skillful approach I'm sorry I'm I'm just not comfortable with it I I I understand I think I said something similar earlier and but I also with okay that's different last okay thank
074you um I do agree though we have to start somewhere this is I if I could just take Liberty here we know that whether we agree with what was given to us tonight our staff and our super superintendent came up with a possibility and their possibility despite whether the differences are got us down to a 7.81 as that percentage isn't on this new one but I would use the last one I got is because they Buri between the last one I got and the one tonight right so I I think that there are the right people to look at the reductions in this room that we have to rely on are taking our directives to minimally Impact Staff to the best I've said possible and also not harms my students and we know that they
075were able to get to a 7.8 mon ask instead of the original ask so we know that for effect despite how we get there I I think we kind of have to start with there because we know it's possible anything else is speculative we don't know what possible I will only add that um the likelihood again as commissioner tago said in the last meeting that it is even going to stay at this ask is not likely so we know we're going to have to come back and think about perhaps bigger things so in respect to what um commissioner Anderson said there are some topics that were not fully discussed or fully understood by by the board that we thought could be that were bigger items and I know it was briefly talked about in the
076last meeting and that is a little more discussion around keeping all buildings that we currently have up and running and with the redistricting coming and this is sort of where the rationale was was coming without every line item detail about whether that would actually work I still think that it would be in this um board's interest to try to examine a scenario that's in addition to this in case we have to come back again and could that scenario include closing Edgewood and preserving the programs only because we are also redistricting and we're redistricting back to K through 5 in buildings that currently have rooms that are accommodating K through 8 I don't know if it's possible right we have to give back millions of dollars to the state so we said we had 11 we
077were given 13 Mill and we have the ask was 16 I thought we got 13 it's a 16 11 from the state 11 the the money the the total amount of it is 16 million there's a percentage that the state gives us and the rest of it of it we fund the city has given us I believe 1.4 and then there's three million from the hbac project so how much was actually spent was it beyond what this what the city was giving us and what was left over no um there's not been a very lot spent there was just a um a project overview done for the for the roofing project so technically haven't spent potentially the grant the 11 million that the state gives there wouldn't be anything no but we did spend the
078money to get where we are which means that whatever we spent we to get back then we would lose the money I guess the question is how much how much yeah how much would that be and is there a penalty for getting back the Grant I don't think there would be that would have to be a question that Tara answers because she's in charge of the project so I guess what we're asking is in this CER in place that we come up with a number that we know I know one thing tonight this number that we see in front of us was possible because the staff just showed us it is whether we agreed to the finer I well it's our decision on whether or not we agreed to it yes it is uh ultimately
079but I'm I'm trying to kind of assist with you know getting somewhere so that they have the rest of the time between now when they have to present to say that they they can make it happen without impacting our primary areas as to be extent possible I don't think that everything's going to be unscathed there is going to be something because we can't keep everything that we love that every commissioner loves that every staff person loves and every every administrator lives and still get to this number it's not possible so um I think that this number is possible we have to come back but I also think that we have to look at bigger ticket items maybe longterm or um things that could combine the fact that we are also redistricting and can we open
080up rooms and other buildings keep a prek alive and viable because we have to but take a building off does that get us an extra set of money instead of impacting staff and and people while still keep the programs live it's just hypothetical I'd like to explore it further that was one of the things that we had submitted I I know that this isn't going to make me popular but we also have the option to say because I know that commissioner simm Simmons is not comfortable in voting through just a number without a plan um I'm not thrilled about voting through a number without a plan uh we could ask the District staff to come back with another plan to get to that number that accommodates a lot of our concerns and additional information we
081could have another special meeting on Tuesday night the night before we present to the board of the board of Finance so that we could get some of those answers and feel more confident about the things that we would actually be supporting in that number the problem is we've already asked the staff to do that this was their best guess at getting the five or six milon we don't have to agree we have to rely on the expertise of the staff we gave them can you make it five or six million and they said yes we can like this no we have a lot more information that we didn't go over we have a lot more numbers that we have been given in the past 24 hours that weren't presented to us tonight when we did
082ask for those things to be included and so this is what the priorities are of the people who presented to us But ultimately the nine of us have to decide what's best for the community and the 8,000 students and I'm not confident that what we've been presented is what is best for our students and that is just unfortunately the truth and so it's not that I don't respect or value the work we don't have enough money and I'm not comfortable cutting positions that directly service students while leading positions that provide professional development I'm just not and now now the District staff have had an opportunity to hear from all of us to hear from um councilman rosengren and you know maybe take that feedback into consideration some of the ideas presented by the Commissioners that
083perhaps hadn't been considered before um and that might impact um you know some some ideas going forward for cuts in a different way or additional Cuts or Le I I I I don't know just just a thought now they they've had a chance to hear from us based on what they presented and I know a lot of thought and effort went in and I know that they're presenting things that they believe is in the best interest of the students um and and the community and staff um but now they get to hear from us as well and that may have an impact on uh the scope of the cuts moving forward and I know I'm a liaison but I also think that we need to not deal with Warriors we need to deal with the
084people in this town and make sure that we're doing we're doing the best for our children and the best for the people on this board and and looking at good things for here in town and not just oh let's wait for this let's wait for this let's wait for this let's figure it out no I'm sorry sorry through the chair yeah conversation background um um I'll just I I hear uh the folks who you know are kind of stuck on which item do we choose where are we going to end up um I also hear a lot of an analysis paralysis and that does scare me for having a special meeting F Tuesday from now where we end up in the same conversations and then we get frustrated with each other because we don't feel
085like we're heard I've already said this setup is not conducive for this kind of conversation I do believe a workshop shop is the right set up for this kind of conversation because it allows us to interact more freely also allows us to hear from the community I did feel comfortable with setting a number because I know we're going to have to cut this budget and I know that we're going to have to present something by next Wednesday chair this is the beginning of the negotiations not the end of the negotiations so that is we have to look at we're presenting a plan there's going to be more negotiations more more discussion all the way through item by item as you want to go down through it great we will do that later but we have
086to present a plan and this is a plan it works for me I don't like the number myself but I think we'll get something worked through again with the city we have to you know it's cooperative and we will work it through we're going to have to make Cuts different cuts we may add stuff back in again it all depends what is our flexibility to vot what is our flexibility to vote through a number but not adopt this plan because I'm not comfortable adopting a plan I said adopt plan if I I withdraw my orig which was adopting this plan and instead I'll draw the number and then they're they're going to have to present something on the screen that can't just say like here's the number and they have to say like here's potentially
087how we get there but that's not that's there's no finality to that because the Finance canot say okay great we agree now you don't cut those four High School teachers you're big trouble well no they don't that's not through the CH again this this plan is on paper and we have pencils and erasers we can take add in afterward or take things away you know so it's a it's a proposal we will change things we know it'll change because ultimate we have UL when we have the final decision on all these items so what I'll do is is I'm going to withdraw my motion we we could vote through the nonp positions right because that's over 4 million and then on the positions I would only be comfortable voting through positions that don't directly impact
088students so we can come up with a plan after the fact but I'm not going to vote through not personally I don't feel comfortable with that I'm one of nine but that's how I feel so if we can make a motion to have a million dollars of positions or whatever the number is that don't I can I'm comfortable that so I'll the motion you can accept or reject my motion to um I I'll move to accept a final budget number of 14,835 680 uh with the proposal laid before us as a non binding suggestion for the board of Finance to have a visualization I'll sh that we just have another small discussion so um I I'm leaning towards exactly what we need to accomplish tonight which is the motion currently on the floor I am
089in agreement that we don't all agree on what the cards are um my thought process is minimize the impacts of student the the position that I saw presented to us I thought was a very decent attempt at not impacting students and I know not everybody's in agree with that I thought it and and that might change I will say though that I had one other question and I thought that this budget still included the dean adding a dean of students at be is that accurate no no there is no new administrative positions in this it say the cuts two to 11 but I don't know which two which two will be cutting to 11 I know there were two that we were looking add we still there were two cuts for the additions those were
090both cut from to the sorry they were both cut from the budget something there was also a um supervisor of climate and culture that was cut and changing two 12 month admins to 11 months um those were not yet chosen I think what you're getting that is the original budget presented to us had two Dina students one at each high school or Dina discipline the Adena discipline at Southside school so that's the one you're talking about the one they're not on the list they weren't presented to us as part of CLS so my only comment in bringing this up is that I am would not be in favor of adding any new admin decisions in this current budget climate whatever the number is and whatever the plan comes back at hold on clarify I don't
091disagree with that either there are two items out here that are supervisor salaries Construction notes say C administrators one $133,500 six and a half positions that we were going to add have been covered okay that was a confir thank you you're welcome as a nine binding this is just a number yes and we have to do commissioner Simmons what what was the motion again to vote to remove 6 million and not to have the plan be binding just to have it be a number and that we have to come up with the um the specifics I I could be on board voting for a number but not the plan me however that equates if I have to accept the plan with a number my vote is no if I can accept the number without the
092plan then my vote is yes there is no plan this is for visual you said with the non-binding plan that was included in thetion it's the visualization so that the board of plans can see something it is I specifically saying non-binding so we are we are enforcing that our staff cannot go to the board stadi well I understand what non-binding means but they're not going to say these are the costs they're going to give this $6 million and hopefully between now and then come up with cups that they think that we would be more likely to approve um but again we still will have time because they're not approving our budget until April 22nd so we have time between now and then to actually come up with a plan that we can all support so
093right now Dante put a motion on the floor to cut $6 million from the budget and not adopt any plan along with that through the chair I'm my only additional request while we're still in discussion is that we do formally schedule a workshop so that um the Commissioners could get on board with their own personal rationals about how they came to the table with what they agreed with and what they didn't because we couldn't get to that level of explanation we don't want to belor the meeting any longer but I do think there's still some valuable conversation have so I'm asking that we also schedule a workshop if possible at the convenience of everyone and I'm also requesting through the chair if we can have a little call vote please yeah so there's no actual
094cut I'm sorry yes I agree commissioner T attorney we will schedule a workshop commissioner Carlson just reminded me that we're not cutting anything we're just proposing a new number so 140 396 there we go okay so commissioner tiger Alo made the motion commissioner Carls second toit all in favor request for a roll call vote oh roll call vote okay um commissioner Anderson I will vote yes as long as this goes uh to further arbitration um yeah I'll vot for this as long as it's not commissioner Carlson yes commissioner fit Simons bua yes commissioner G Antonio yes commissioner ozen Kowski yes commissioner Simmons yes commissioner Van Gorder yes commission tarella yes Sher P yes motion pass un okay so with no further business the meeting is all right guys