001Good evening. Today is Monday, June 23rd. We have a truth and taxation budget hearing and a special board of education meeting. We have about a 7 minute delay. We are waiting for attorney Joe Urban. He has caught in traffic. So we should resume about 7 ton. Okay, welcome back. So, it is 7:13. We are going to start our truth and taxation and budget hearing. First is called the order pledge of allegiance. Trustee Thompson, please lead us. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [Music] Next up is roll call, please. Rebecca Chamblas here. Missy Dodge here. Carlos Harp here. Cindy Holder here. Mark Kimble here. Christa McAlpine Taylor here. Gloria Thompson here. So we have
002approval of the agenda. Uh do we need to make any changes if there are none? Right. Normally we don't Can I have a We're doing this out of order. That's why I'm confused. Let's do the public fundamentals. Public fundamentals. Public input is fundamental to the operation of the Madison District Public Schools. Our public has an opportunity to speak at every board of education meeting. A period of time known as public comment is set aside at each meeting to give parents and other citizens a chance to speak directly to the board about school related topics. Anyone who wishes to speak to the board must fill out a request form and give it to the board secretary before the meeting begins. Comments are limited to three minutes. The board of education accepts comments made during public comment
003from anyone who follows these guidelines. Public comment is one of the many information sources that the board uses before making decisions in the best interest of the children who attend Madison District Public Schools. The board also works with the district staff to address citizens questions and concerns. Did we receive any requests? No, ma'am. Anybody else? All righty. Now, approval of the agenda for uh truth and taxation. This isn't something we normally do, but it's on our agenda. So, I just need a maker to approve the uh agenda and then we'll ask for support. President Holder, Trustee Chamblas, I make a motion that the board of education approve the agenda as presented. Thank you. support. Trustee Thompson supports. Any discussion? Seeing none, roll call. Gloria Thompson, yes. Christa McAlpine Taylor, yes. Mark Kimble, yes. Cindy Holder,
004yes. Carlos Harp, yes. Missy Dodge, yes. Rebecca Chamblas, yes. Motion passed. Okay, next up is the truth and taxation hearing and we will turn this over to the finance director, Miss Thompson. Good evening. Um, board members, I in your packet I gave you a copy of the the L429 if you want to take that out while I go over the truth and taxation hearing just for visuals. Looks like What does it look like? It's the It's the the right hand. Yeah, the chart. The L4829, the 2025 tax rate request. Good evening board members and community. Tonight, we are reviewing our tax levy for summer taxes as part of our annual truth and taxation hearing. This is not a new proposal, but a continuation of what voters approved last year. The district the district levied 18
005mills for operations on nonhomestead properties which is standard across Michigan school districts for general fund operations. The taxable value in Madison Heights increased from approximately 155.6 million in 2024 to 164.4 million in 2025. Based on these values, we expect to collect 2.7 million from the city of Madison Heights to support the general fund. These dollars go toward key services like staff, academic programs, and student supports. The L429 form, which representing tonight, is the formal document that authorizes the district to to collect these property taxes. In addition to the 18 mills for operation, we also collect 2.9511 mills for the stinking fund generating about 975,000. These funds are used for building repairs, safety upgrades, and infrastructure improvements. 3.7660 mills for the debt fund generating approximately 1.26 million to repay past construction bonds. A roll back of
0069812 mills has been applied due to the Headley amendment requirements which limit tax increases when property values rise faster than inflation. In total, the district anticipates collecting just under 4.94 million across all levies operating syncing fund and debt. Most importantly, because the syncing fund was passed last November, the tax levy was already set. This means residents will see no changes to their summer or winter tax bills as a result of this review. Any questions on the L429? Anybody? Don't see any. Okay. So, are we moving on to the uh this is part of the Oh, we'll just need it approve so I can submit it to the municipalities tomorrow. Actually, I think the next meeting the adoption of the 2526 tax levy is on the second meeting. Okay. Okay. All right. So, if there's no
007questions, I'll move on to the final budget for amendment to fiscal year 25. So, in the right side of your folder is the presentation. Um, then also I have a print out of the final budget two on the left side of your folder, the two spreadsheets. And then under that I have the um revenue and the expenses guide which will explain like the functions and what's included in each section for for reference like revenue includes um local, state and federal and then what's included in those for examples when we go over the um different numbers. So on this sheet, just so we're clear, if it's black, it's a savings, and if it's No, if it's black, it's an over cost. Well, let me Okay, so let me go over change. So the fiscal year 25
008M1 like the second column, this is what was approved for budget amendment one in February. So if you look at the total revenues, we approve 18 $1 18 million and then the total expenses if you can move further down is 19 million. And then the 1,12 that's we over that's our expenses over our revenue. And then if we take that from our fund balance of 1.4 4 which was the fund balance of July 1st and we subtract that we get 389,000. This is our estimated fund balance as of the amendment one. And then that left us with a 2.05% fund balance but this was amendment one. So the next column is the final budget for fiscal year 25. And so the numbers did change whether they went up or they went down. And then the
009next column is the variance. So that's just the difference between um the amendment two and amendment one. So I'm going to go over a little bit some details over this slide. This is our final revision to the current year's budget. So if we look at um the state revenue, we see that there is a a decrease of 272,000. So that's what we thought we were going to receive, but we did not. So we had to take that away from the um from our state funding. So this included grants we received in prior years but did not receive this year. Most notably, the loss of 148,000 in GSRP funding. And then as a result, these expenses had to be exorbed by the general fund, placing additional strain on our overall budget. And then um some costs
010from last year carried over to into this year's budget. Um so approximately 230,000 for example. This included late tuition invoices from other districts, utility bills for June services charged in July, and transportation related costs such as fuel, lease repairs, and an insurance claim from last year that went against this year's budget. Can you say that again? Because we knew that we had 100,000 carryover from last year, but you're saying the total of carryover is now 230. No, this is for expenses that went against this year's budget. Okay. Yeah. So this is an extra this was not budgeted. This these were expenses from 2024. So as a result it went against this year's budget which increased our expenses and affected our overall cash flow. Um, so with this year's budget, we it ends on June 30th,
011but we have 60 days uh to make sure we we post all the expenses for fiscal year 25 into this budget because after September, that's when we have to post, we won't be able to post. Um, so that's why we're we're making sure that we do post in the correct the correct year. And then like once we get our our final numbers from our audit in November, then we really know how much we spent as far as our revenues and our expenses. I have a question Taylor. Why um how okay how far off is it typically with from the audit? Right. Like I think in a perfect world that should be the same numbers. Correct. Well, it's hard to tell because sometimes we like like for instance when with the tuition bills that we got
012last like we received it in November and of course we can't post it back to the previous year. So, but that also we have to like keep track of what what invoices we haven't paid and and what what's like for instance if it's any POS that are still open, we have to contact the vendor and say like, "Hey, do you have this invoice? Send it to us so we can get you guys paid." So, we kind of have to both do our part as well as the vendor to make sure that we get our expenses paid correctly. Anybody else? So, but I'm not for sure like how far. It depends. I know last August when we had the turnover um some stuff got missed and then when I came in September it was too late
013for me to try to go back and fix it. So I have a question. Explain to us where the 300 plus thousand uh in added expense in operations and maintenance because we have bonds. We have and you know we have funding for uh if there's an emergency repair 300,000 is a lot. Now, I know we had some um overtime, but that can't possibly if if more than a very little of that is overtime, then we need to relook at our our system because that that's a huge chunk. That's a third of a million dollars. Yeah. Um not everything was overtime. Supplies have increased. Um, well, but why are they ordering if we don't have the money? Well, one of the issue was I think they were just used to just ordering and no one was
014watching the budget. Um, so but you were here, so why weren't you and and I'm not saying you specifically, but someone needed to be overseeing all these POS that were going out. Someone had to sign for them. No, all this weren't POS though. So what what did what I did do because prior to Miss Perry was approving all the POS and the AP invoices. So I switched it to where I would approve it. So that way I would look at what was going through. I'll look at the account number. I would tell people no, you don't have the funds available. Um we we had to get quote multiple quotes. Um we had to make sure you weren't just going to the same vendor just because you've always went to that vendor. um when the sinking
015fund passed, we weren't able to move the the busting cost like we wanted to because it didn't apply. And then we were only able to move about 50,000 of like maintenance and repairs to the syncing fund. So, yeah, cuz we can't have this happen again. I You know what I'm saying? And I'm sure you're the first one that would say that. Yeah. This is a line item that Yeah. And I and I did I like right when I came I was like we're we're overspending like we cut off overtime cuz people were getting overtime overtime for stuff that it wasn't a a added project. It was just their normal dayto-day like um and then um it was meetings that was taking place and if you have a meeting we had to pay the employees. So
016if the meeting wasn't covered by a grant then there would be no meeting. So it's like we were making cuts throughout the year. If we start if if your budget if your budget line item for supplies was already spent, we had to cut off spending. It had to be like if you really needed the item and we can see we can move some funds around within your within your budget. But we we cut off spending. We did POS. We we did multiple quotes and everything was being watched. So, I know Trustee Thompson has been asking for a long time just for a central um area for products, supplies so that we're not repurchasing just as a suggestion because that line item in particular just is is glaring and I know you and I already had
017had this conversation. I wanted everyone else to understand where we were, how we got there, but that there are now, and I hate to say this because every year we seem to say we're going to put, you know, things in place so that this doesn't happen again, but but that line item in particular is is a lot. It is. I agree. Trust Trusty Dodge. Um, okay. So, please forgive my ignorance, but I want to go back a little bit to um Trusty Malcoline Taylor's question. Um, I think what she was trying to get at and and what I'm trying to wrap my head around is with the audit I from what I understand the audit was supposed to be kind of like a checkpoint, an accountability checkpoint, but are we not tracking like a projected
018budget every month and comparing that to like where we actually are so that because you said said that you know you're making adjustments you know and cuts throughout the year. So, I'm just curious like do we not have a projected budget for like at this point in the year we should be at this point and comparing that to what our budget is um so that way we can know if we're on track with spending from month to month versus at the end of the year saying million dollar deficit. So with when the budget in February was approved so that budget is uploaded into our software system. Um, I can go in daily and if someone makes a wants to make a purchase, I can go in and look at their account to see what they
019have, what they have left to spend, what their balance is, and that's a way to track it. Um, any of our directors can go on and and look at their budget and see what they have. But it but this year, um, I had to train them how to go on B+ and and look up their budget because they weren't trained before. So, and that's what I did my previous district. I would beginning of the of the year I would meet with directors and principles and show them their budget and then they will make their budget off of those numbers and they will make sure that they stay within those budgets. So that's one of the things that wasn't taking place at all. So now it's like okay this is your budget. Oh we never had
020that before. So now we're changing it where they are they are able to keep track of their budget and know what they have. May I add something to that? I think the other thing is in three years we've had four directors of business. And so one of the things that Ebony has found as she's been going through this is there's these extra costs that there was no way for her to know that this bill was going to come or that bill was going to come. So what we did was started a spreadsheet so that it would show her, okay, for me in human resource or whatever, I use these programs. I use this. Here's all the things that you should expect at some point. This is going to have to come out. this is going
021to have to come out. I feel like next year she'll definitely have a better idea of monthtomonth because it'll be almost a full year that she's been here. She's been playing, you know, catchup and and trying to figure out where where this money has been taken from. And sometimes she's gone into accounts that it was taken from this account when it shouldn't have been. It should have been uh you know adjusted to this account. And so it's it's been really hard because we've had four. She is really trying to grasp it and get a hold of it. And you know, she's constantly telling people, "Nope, your spending's done. We, you know, in April we cut it like April 30th spending is over." I mean, we've cut and I'm sure she's going to go into it,
022you know, staff for next year. Like, we are really trying because we know that we can only hopefully get more students so that we have more revenue because if we don't, this is going to continue to happen. Er, trustee Chamblas for the school administration. Um, we went over by 114,000. How how do we get over it in that category with like salary based staff member? What would that include? So, um the these are the building administr or building the principles and the secretaries. this is their um budget. So, their salaries and their benefits. Um just extra just extra costs. Um and then I did have to account for uh they had some extra costs at the end of the year, so I had to make sure I had enough in the budget to carry that
023based on their contract language. But I'm sorry, but wouldn't we know all those for them to be in the projected budget? Yeah, they're already accounted for in their in their budget. So, for instance, um school administration, that's function code 24. Mhm. So, like your that's the second set of numbers. So, the 241s and things like that. So, that's everything in that line item or that group. It was in your budget patch packet. You know what I'm saying? So I think for Can I confused? Okay, maybe I can re ask it. Was it Were those numbers not already built into the fisc year 25M2 budget because we had the opportunity to adjust at that point. Is that the question you're asking? I just feel like we would know what cost to expect because they're written in
024their contracts. So, we wouldn't have a variance because we would already know what's in their contracts and what they're going to get. Well, some of these added expenses or added costs were also includes grant money because we don't have a separate grant fund. We just have general fund and all our grants are are within the general fund as well. So, some of these costs are covered by grants. So it's not necessarily just general just a straight general fund. It's general fund and grants. So if we had a a grant that they would get paid out of then that would hit that that budget. So we and I'm not saying we did, but we potentially could have approved an employee because we were told their salary was going to be based off a grant, but then
025the grant money didn't come. So now we have a variance because of that. No, this this our general fund includes grant dollars. It's it's all in one fund. It's not separate. So, in some of these cases where it looks like we increase spending, but some of that is like some of that is grant dollars. So, it's not general fund dollars. But how did we go over specifically in school administration 114,000? Like what would that 114,000 be that we didn't expect in the projected budget? It could be a multiple of different things. It can be like this also includes the principal's office supplies. This their workshop. It's their conference cost. It's um everything in in their office. I mean this is but you do have to remember this is a budget or a estimate of what
026our final expenses would be. Like when we get our final numbers for the audit in November, this could possibly change. It could be less. I'm so sorry. I please forgive me in my questions. Um and president Yes, absolutely. I guess I'm going to go back to that original question. I am very confused as to why we have to wait for an audit to see how much things they're going to be. I'm not trying to be difficult. I genuinely am confused as to why we don't have more specific numbers and to um Trusty Chandler's uh point like some of these are like instructional staff 218,000 like I'm confused. I know like I said this is my first time going over a budget so please forgive my all my questions. No, you're fine. So, what I had
027to do was I had to make sure that I had enough to cover the principal's and the secretary's salary to the end of this fiscal year. Okay. So, I based it off of their number of pays left, their their actual benefit costs, um any outstanding invoices that we may receive. I had to include that in the budget. So, I'm I'm estimating what we would have to pay to get us through this fiscal year. So, like I said, like and with me coming in in September, I'm new to what uh what has always been paid. So, I'm looking at last year's budget to make sure that we account for anything so we don't get any surprises, but we want to make sure that we're covered. Um, so it's something that we won't miss or get deemed
028for in the audit. But our audit is just give us our final everything. Just give us our final numbers, our actual actual costs. Anybody else? Yes. Trusty Hart. Um, for those that have to that have a budget they have to watch, is there some accountability if they go over it? Like will something will something happen? Will there be a discussion? I just think that would be a good HR kind of a thing. Yeah, like we'll um we can block accounts telling there's no more funding. If they have um let's say they have some more funding in another account in their budget, I can I can transfer those funds to that account. Um that's what I've done with some when after budget amendment one. I wasn't increasing no one's budget. I just made sure I just
029moved money around so they can use that so their budget wasn't increased at all. So, but then I would tell them like, "Hey, you have this available. Like, this is going to last you through the rest of the year. I can't give you any more." So, that's when I place the accountability on them that they need to keep track of what they're spending. Okay. Thank you. So, the answer was no. There's nothing that's going through HR if they overspend. No. No. That's what it would be through me through finance. Through HR. He was asking if there was any accountability through HR. If someone was overspending, it doesn't go through human resources. So there would be and that's what he was asking. Would there be a discussion of some sort saying this is what we have
030and you're overspending. You need to that wouldn't be human resources responsibility. That would be part of business and finance. Okay. Yeah. But I and I've had discussions and if they chose to say, "Hey, you this this account is over spent. You have money in this account. I can transfer over, but you won't be able to use that. Do you want to do that? Okay. Yeah, that's fine. I've done that for different departments. So, I'm not increasing their budget. I'm just making sure they stay within their budget. So, if I can help maybe give this example, if you look at instructional staff, you'll see it was over by 218,000. That's because we received grants which allowed us to um hire additional staff that we did not in initially anticipate hiring. it was not part of our
031our budget. So, we received um the grant funding, some from the state, some from um Oakland schools. That gave us the opportunity to hire, I think, three or four different staff members, but they were all paid through a grant. So, that's why that would look like 218,000. Like we overspent, but technically we didn't because we received grants to cover those, but they were not part of our original budget. If that makes sense. Taylor. Yeah, thank you so much. I appreciate that. Um, that makes a lot more sense. So, are you saying that that we are not a million dollar in deficit then? Because if we had the grant money, so we're really not $218,000 on instructional staff over because there the grant money is involved, right? So if you look down it the final is
032the 304,000 correct. Um that's the difference from that's different from M1 and M2 is 304,000 the total. Yeah. So we overspent by 1.3 million this year. And so if you take take that away from our 1.4 for fund balance. That will leave us with an estimated $84,000, which will put us at a 44% uh fund balance percentage, which is below the 5% required by the state. Do we know how much of this 304,000 that was over should have been paid through grants that we then didn't receive? Um that would be the state revenue the 272,000 that we didn't get. So if we take 304 away from the 272 well the 304 is the difference between M1 and M2 expenses. So we increased our expenses from M1 304,000 right but we lost 272,000 from the state.
033So those almost offset each other. Well, our total revenue is 7 17.9 and then our total expenses are 19.2. So that's 1.3 expenses over revenue. Right. So I'm saying is this line is just it's just it's just a difference. Exactly. So the difference between the first budget and the second was it increased by 304,000. Yes. But the difference between the first one and the second one is we lost 272,000 that we were expecting from the state. So if you take those two numbers and you and you figure out the difference, we're looking at about 32,000 $34,000. Is that correct? Clearly. Um do you guys understand what I'm saying? Okay. But we're still $1.3 million in a deficit. Well, no, we overspent this year $1.3 million. This is this is final fiscal year 25. If we
034get to next year, we will be over a million dollar. And then you look at next year's budget and then what we're spending then next year shows that we're going to be in deficit by a million dollars. So this is just fiscal year 25 where we're ending at. ending at 84,000 estimated. Got a question. Trusty Kimble. Yes. Of the school administration, getting back to that subject, 114,000 over spent are employees in the school administration salaried positions? Yes. And how much of that 114 was did these people receive overtime? They didn't get overtime. I still not understanding how we overspent 114,000 with no nobody keep off overtime for the secretaries as well. Um I'm sorry. We uh Pam mentioned the secretaries. The secretaries are our hourly but um we did cut off overtime. So, and then
035we also had to um accumulate or had to put in the budget their end of the year uh expenses as well contract end of the year expenses. Uh what I'm trying to grasp here is if a certain amount is budget and we went 114,000 over, do we not know what that 114,000 consisted of? Yeah. because a multitude of things but you have to begin also mentioned that the original budget did not reflect actual expenses. So the original budget was for they the original budget was created it cut from fiscal year 24 which which was good but in actuality we needed that budget to kind of stay kind of the same where it was unless we were going to do some cuts. So we underbudgeted. So that's what majority of the budget was. We had to
036increase this year for the budget because the expenses were were under budget. Okay. And whose budget was that? The previous uh director, right? And what I'm thinking is there are certain um groups that had a contract in place. Administration was one of them. So they did get an increase. And I'm guessing that the original budget probably did not account for those increases. I don't think there were 114,000, but I think that probably makes up um a decent amount of that. Okay. Well, assume at looking at all this stuff that you would have a pretty good idea. So, are you telling me that's what it is or that's what you're guessing? No. Everything in this line item includes their salaries and benefits, their conference and workshop costs, their office supplies um for each of the building
037principles and the secretaries. That's what this line item includes. Okay. Well, the concern I've got there is if next year's budget is going to be a million in the whole, who's going to say that that's not going to get much worse? Well, we did um do some some revisions to 26 budget uh to reflect more of the current enrollment. So, next year's budget at the end of this year, we did decrease about $840,000 for but we're still going to be uh in a facing a $1 million deficit. So in actuality over the years we've been overspending since probably 2020. I have a slide to reflect that. Each year we overspent and then you and then we rely on the fund reduction since being back on this board that we're spending way more money than we're
038bringing in. And now we're at the point where we're we're out of fund balance and we're looking at having to make drastic decisions because the state, as you know, requires a deficit reduction plan. They do not allow us to go into deficit. They don't allow us to cut carry a balance of negativity. So I well I have a I'm just at a loss that we don't have a better grasps on some of these figures. Let me go. If you look at the financial trends for the district since 2020 2020 we did have more revenue than expenses. If you look at 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, we our expenses exceeded our revenue. So, as you can see, the fund balance went down, went down, went down. And also during that time, our staffing levels were kind
039of staying the same and enrollment dropped. So, no changes were were made during that time. We could have been cutting away each year, but it was staying the same. And then, so your expenses got higher and your revenue got lower. We're talking about smaller classroom sizes then is what is the cause of this employing the same personnel with declining revenues with declining enrollment. Am I understanding that right? So in part of it yes there was smaller class sizes due to the fact that we kept staff when our enrollment was decreasing. The other thing was they created um other positions like literacy coaches um math enrichment. Most all of those right now are being paid through grant funds, but those were there was other staff members that probably should have been eliminated that weren't. And there
040was someone from the state who came in and told us we are overstaffed. Well, I I got to tell you from running businesses myself, and don't take this personally, this is not the way to run an enterprise like this school district because now next year we're going to be in a real jam. A real jam. President Holder, Justine Mccelpine Taylor. So, looking at the proposed um fund uh for 26, have I'm I'm sure you have. Have we looked at ways that we can reduce so that it's not so it's big. I mean, I I agree with Mark, right? Like, that's a big deficit for as small a district as we are. And I understand that unfortunately we have a lot of legacy situations going on here, right? But now we are task we have the
041task of dealing with that and especially if the state because the state will come in. They've certainly done it to other districts and they will get rid of people. So it's like we do we want control over that so that we can make our decisions or is the state and that's that's my big concern is you know when will the state come in and then the community doesn't get to decide. So Joe's here so can we ask him what he knows about the process or what you've seen well just like you did last year when you're predicting a deficit speak into the mic. Oh, I I'm sorry. Just so that the community can hear you. That's okay. I I apologize. Just like you did last year when you um forecasted a deficit uh in your
042budget, you will need to uh report to the state that you've adopted a deficit budget and proceed to uh create, adopt, and submit for state approval a deficit elimination plan. and that def elimination plan will show uh the costs that the school district believes that it can contain in order to get out of deficit uh within a 5-year period. Uh the problem you have is you don't just have a cash flow problem. I mean, you you you you're going to actually not have a fund balance um you know, next year. And so, you know, to the extent that you have legacy contracts, um you know, labor is probably your single biggest cost. So, you you know, one of the things that you're going to want to have to be looking at is those contracts and
043the potential of uh you know, making some uh revisions uh to those contracts that deal with just the labor costs for the school district, unfortunately. And so, I I don't know u because I have not been involved in that process. So, I don't know when those contracts expire or, you know, what uh what financial uh resources are tied up in those contracts, but those are definitely going to be something that the state and you guys will certainly want to take a look at. And you know there is the fiscal responsibility act um you know which does provide under some circumstances for emergency management uh that uh you know that that are not necessarily triggered at this point but I think you definitely um are going to be wanting to look at that you know in
044the near future as well to make sure that you can stay clear of that. So, I think the most fundamentally important first step is for you to um once you adopt this budget is to begin working with the administration and will help as much as you'd like um begin working with the administration in order to um report the deficit to the state and create the requisite deficit elimination plan. And then the contracts that we we just recently approved. Um there's nothing we can do about those just as as a conversation. Um and the only thing that we can look for as far as cuts is any new contracts. And I know you have not necessarily been part of those uh negotiations in the past, but I I guess I'm asking for uh him to be
045a part of it as we go forward so we know what we need to do to keep our legacy costs in in check and make sure that overall um we I just need to know that we are doing everything possible. Saving a couple of dollars without you being there may end up costing us more in legacy costs or something else. So, I would ask the board if if the contracts coming up, they're going to be extremely important to to try to start to rein in some of this stuff. If I could, I think the the most important part before we get to that, I really think the most important part is for the administration once this budget is adopted to identify how it's going to um fill out the deficit elimination plan. And then once
046the deficit elimination plan is complete, that will have the the big picture in terms of when contracts expire and what they're looking at saving, you know, with contracts and things along those lines. I think that's probably the point for the dialogue in terms of what other involvement you need because I think if we just jump into it now. Um we don't know and there's a there's an exercise of diligence that goes into creating that deficit elimination plan that will create a roadmap and and and I think that conversation is probably more appropriate once the deficit elimination plan the administration has a handle on that um than anything else. So they're going to bring to us the necessary cuts to bring this to zero. That is the requirement of a deficit elimination plan. Okay. The state
047relies on the school district to put together a plan that shows and last year I think there was one as well um uh that uh Miss Thompson's predecessor had drafted uh which you can certainly look at for reference um in certainly available I think in the district's archives. But that plan is the roadmap to literally eliminating the deficit. And that's I think the the key document that you want to look at because right now anything that we say other than saying you got a lot of costs tied up in labor like every other municipality and school district and business in the state has you know so that's not unique to Madison. But other than that basic kind of captain obvious observation um you know the administration once the def elimination plan is put together um
048will be able to give you the road map to what you need and I think that's the point in time where we all need to put our heads together if that makes sense. So initially you and um Miss Thompson need to work together and make sure that all the paperwork is filed correctly and on time and all that other stuff. Oh yeah, there there's an office at the state that that will be glad to assist in that process. They were last year as well. Okay. Anybody else? Um yes, whoever asked. Um, is there any other questions on the 2425 budget and then we can continue with the 26 budget? I do have a question. Trusty Thompson, sorry. When we um is it each building gets a budget or is it each building has a budget
049that they allow each teacher a certain amount? No, I want to know who's going over those budgets and who's responsible in each building. Well, when I worked in the district, I was in the media center at Wilkinson. I had my own budget as media specialist. I was not allowed to go over whatever was determined for my budget each year. And I stayed within my budget. I found other ways to get new books and stuff. Um, I just want to know how it differs now. Is it the building gets a budget and she just the teachers send what they need to her or how is it being handled? Well, this is just from what I've what I think I know. Um, the building has a budget also. The building the the operations the maintenance is also
050in that budget. Um, okay. Maintenance also has their own separate budget, but the maintenance has a budget within the building as well. So, what's been done in the past was they would submit invoices, they would do POS, they did not have the the tools to go in and look at their budget. Okay? So, this year and maybe last year as well, principles and secretaries would go in, look at their budget, and they would they would know what they have. But when when I did the first amendment like some some departments or some buildings had already exceeded their budget already. They released 75% at the beginning of the year. Yes. So then orders all their supplies. Yeah. And then and then some of the stuff is like from past years. Oh, we've we've always done it
051this way. Oh, we've always did this. But now we got things in place where they have to do their own inventory. You got to check and see what you have. You can't just order on impulse. We need to check the budget. We need to get quotes. So or things are in place now moving forward. But before it kind of was a little willy-nilly. They were just ordering stuff and submitting invoices and doing POS. So we kind of had to put that in place where it's procedures to follow. So and we thought that we had kind of curbed that with the POS. Yeah. So there was more. It's always if there's more. Uh, anybody else have any questions? Yes, please. Trusty Hart. So to kind of go back to the the guidelines of the spending. I
052still think there should be some kind of guidelines for the staff for anyone who has the ability to spend. Um, it shouldn't just be a a willy-nilly thing, right? It shouldn't just automatically be approved if No, it it's not being approved. Everything is being watched and I'm watching the accounts and I'm watching what's being ordered and I'm rejecting stuff as well. So, I I I'm glad to hear that. Yeah. Do we have um written guidelines or set uh like rules or or criteria that you're looking for? So, that is I think that would be good for the board to know as well. Yeah, that's what my office we're going to do for next fiscal year. Like beginning of the year, we're going to have a meeting with with all the building principles and say these
053are the guidelines for uh for purchasing item. These are the guidelines for payroll. These are the guidelines for check requests. Everything is going to have a procedure and then it has to get approved by our office or the superintendent's office. Okay, good. I I like that. Thank you. Um and I'm I'm still going and maybe this is already being considered. I'm still gonna go back. I think there should be some kind of reprimand or some kind of discussion when people do just go over the budget. Okay. Right. Because that's to me that could be concerning that one group, one building, you know, whatever that could be the thing to put us over and why. So I I I think they need to have some accountability to themselves. You have a budget. Don't overspend to it
054or plan better. They shouldn't have to come back to the board like this for us to say something or for us to make bigger cuts because they can't handle themselves. We can definitely put something in place for that because I I do agree with that as well. Holder trustee who asked Ibine Taylor. Um wait, can I ask questions on the 26? Sure. Okay. Can you um tell me what the basic programs and added needs, what those comprise of? I know they're instructional services, but what are they? So, if you look on the I have the reference guide, it's on the second page. So, expenditure categories. So, your basic programs that includes your direct classroom expenses from ECC, uh, MEES, Wilkinson Middle School, Madison High School. So that's your your teachers uh salary benefits um aids
055uh any of their building costs. Um um the tuition, your your EDG staff costs for each of the buildings. um conference costs, mileage reimbursement, uh fees and licenses, teaching supplies, miscellaneous supplies, um teaching stipens, dues and fees, and severance pay. So those are all that's included in the basic programs. So all your this is all the direct uh direct with with students and then your added needs is your supports program for special ed your ESL your atrisisk students. This includes staffing instructional support and program resources. So, this is like your special ed costs, uh, your special ed tuition payments. Um, and then like grants, some of the grants we have in this category, we get the bilingual section 41. Uh, we have the OT, the PT, the speech language, uh, things of that nature. teaching
056supplies, misleading supplies, workship, workshop cost, conference costs. So, uh when you put this budget together for fiscal year 26, our original operating budget, you um decided how many students at what rate. And um when we're looking at numbers, how conservative do you think you were in these numbers? So according to our state aid um student count, we have 829 929, I'm sorry. Um and then we estimated a 20 20 students 20 FTE for next fiscal year and increase and then um we projected the fund or the the per pupil rate sorry excuse me brain freeze to 10 108 but we won't know for sure until the the state approves the budget. Um the state runs in a different fiscal year. They run October 1st to September 30th and with everything going on right now, we
057still are unsure we're are unsure of our funding. So we we based it conservative um as far as our revenues and then the plan is to come back in December to do a budget amendment one because we'll have our funding more of more of a better idea of our funding. And then we kept the expenses this the same for fiscal year 26, but because we have the summer discovery grant, it could help relieve some pressure off the general fund. So then we may well I'm estimating that we we we will decrease some of our expenses. Trusty Dodge. Um are these is this all expansive of all the grants that we've we're applying for? Um, and so this is some of these are the grants that we have this year. Um, and some I just I
058don't see 35mm on here and the deadlines coming up. 35 which one? 35mm. The literacy grant. 35M. Uhhuh. 35A. No, 3. It's 35M. I don't have a 35. Section 35M. Um, it's a school aid act. It's 87 million up for grabs. Um, it's a literacy early literacy grant. Is that something that we have to apply for? Because I don't Yeah, we have to apply by July 11th for that grant. Okay. And I don't see it on here, but I we're eligible. So, we haven't applied for that. Okay. But it's really soon, July 11th. Um, but I definitely think that's something we should be capitalizing on. I just didn't see it listed. So, I didn't know if this was an all-inclusive list or Yeah, we have about 30 grants this year and then next year some
059of the grants we won't have next year. So, Right. Right. So, I didn't know others we've applied for that. Um, like there's a uh one for mentoring which I applied for that, but we haven't received word yet on that one. Right. I just wanted to know so we can make sure we're fully capitalizing on everything. Okay. Anybody else? So, I also want to point out for fiscal year 26 um original budget, although we show some decreases in the revenue, we also have decreases in all of the support services and the instructional services. So, we are we are doing some cuts. Um and then our expenses next year won't be as high as this year because we won't have previous year expenses on next year's budget. So of this 1 million4 you say you have projected
060800,000 in potential cuts. Is that what you said earlier? That was already that's already included in this fiscal year. That's already. So on top of the 800,000 that you saved, we're 1.4. We are 1.1 overspending. The 1.4 for spending. Yeah. The 1.4 is just the difference between fiscal year 25 original budget and then the M2. Got it. Yep. So for fiscal year 26, our estimated revenue is 16.7. And then our estimated expenditures is 17.8. So that brings us to 1.1 expenses over revenue. And then if we take that from our fund balance of 84,000, that would put us at 1,ion26. But we still have expenses from the 84,000 that you said we still have bills coming in. No, I accounted for as much as I can in fiscal year 25 final budget. Okay. Okay. Yeah.
061Anybody else? And then we still like as far as our revenue for this year, we still got revenue coming in in July and August that would be applied to fiscal year 25 budget. So, and that's like our Oakland schools reimbursements that I had to submit invoices to from our grants. So, things like that. So, we're still going to get revenue in, but I did account for that in the budget. So if we make the cuts that are on here for fiscal year 26, we should end the year at plus 200,000. No, this is just a difference between so that 206,000 is difference between the fiscal year operating budget of 1.1 expenses over expenses and then 1.3. So we did estimate increase or decrease spending by 206. That's just the variance, the difference between the original
062budget and M2. So that last column is just the is just the difference, but these are the numbers. So with the cuts that were made or with the cuts that were made, we're still at a 1.1. 1.1. Yeah. Uh any other questions? because we do have to when we're done um close this meeting and then reopen with our special meeting. So, do we have any other questions um on these? I don't see any. So, I um next on the list is public comment. I don't see anybody. We haven't heard from anybody. Correct. No, ma'am. BR. Alrighty. Then we need to adjourn. I need a motion and a maker in support. Please. Madam President, I make a motion to adjourn the meeting. I'll support. Trustee Thompson, discussion. Seeing none, roll call vote, please. Rebecca Chamblas, yes.
063Missy Dodge, yes. Carlos Harp, yes. Cindy Holder, yes. Mark Kimell, yes. Christa McAlpine Taylor, yes. And Gloria Thompson, yes. Motion pass. Up is um we need to open our special meeting. It is 8:11. Um this is our special board of education meeting. Um, Trustee Chamblas um needs to leave so she will be excused from roll call. Uh, pledge of allegiance. How about Trusty Dodge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [Music] Roll call vote, please. Rebecca Chamblas, absent notice. Okay. Missy Dodge here. Carlos Harp here. Cindy Holder here. Mark Kimble here. Chris McAlpine Taylor here. Gloria Thompson here. Fundamentals. Public input is fundamental to the operation of Madison District Public Schools. Our public has
064an opportunity to speak at every board of education meeting. A period of time known as public comment is set aside at each meeting to give parents and other citizens a chance to speak directly to the board about school related topics. Anyone who wishes to speak to the board must fill out a request and give it to the board secretary before the meeting begins. Comments are limited to three minutes. The board of education accepts comments made during public comment for anyone who follows these guidelines. Public comment is one of the many information sources that the board uses before making decisions in the best interest of the children who attend Madison district public schools. The board also works with the district staff to address citizens questions and concerns. Did we receive any requests? No. Thank you. Consent
065agenda. All matters under the consent agenda are considered to be routine in nature by the board of education will be acted upon by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items. If any member of the board or any citizen request discussion of an item, that item will be removed from the consent agenda and will become the first item of business under the board of education action items portion of the agenda. Uh the today's consent agenda is approval of the minutes of the board of education for the regular meeting of June 2nd, 2025 and June 11th, 2025. Approval of the personnel reported by human resources on June 23rd, 2025. I need a maker in support, please. Madame President, Trustee Thompson, I'd like to make a motion that we um accept the consent agenda
066as presented. Thank you. Any support? I'll support. Trusty Kimble. Any discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote, please. Carlos Harper, yes. Missy Dodge, yes. Cindy Holder, yes. Chris McAlpine Taylor, yes. Mark Kimble, yes. Floria Thompson. Yes. Motion pass. Next up is the approval of the 2425 budget final amendment. In accordance with the Michigan Department of Education requirements and uniform budgeting and accounting act, the board of education is asked to approve the final amendment to the 2425 fiscy year budget. This amendment reflects actual revenues and expenditures to date, updates projections based on year-end estimates, and ensures the district remains in compliance with state regulations regarding balance budgets. The amendment incorporates adjustments for enrollment, staffing, grant funding, and other operational costs, and provides a final financial snapshot for the close of the fiscal year. Approval of this amendment
067allows the district to finalize its financial records and prepare for the annual audit. It is recommended the board of education approve the 2425 final budget amendment as presented. I need a maker in support, please. Madam President, Trustee Thompson, I'd like you to make a motion that the board of education approve the 20 2024 2025 final budget amendment as presented. Thank you. We need support. I'll support Trusty Hart. Any discussion? Seeing none, roll kov vote, please. Gloria Thompson, yes. Chris Derek, Alpine Taylor, yes. Mark Kimbell, yes. Cindy Holder, yes. Carlos Harp, yes. Missy Dot, yes. Motion passed. Next up is the adoption of the 2526 tax levy. Each year the board of education is required to adopt a tax levy to generate local revenue to support the operation of the school district. The 2526 tax levy
068includes general operating millage subject to the headley roll back debt service millage and any applicable syncing fund millillage. These levies are based on the taxable value of property within the district and are essential to funding the district's educational programs, building maintenance and debt obligations. The proposed levy has been calculated in accordance with state law and reflects the amount necessary to meet the district's 2526 budget. It is recommended the board of education adopt the 2526 tax levy as presented. I need a maker in support. Please president hold it. Go ahead. I move that uh the board of educ uh the board uh adopts the 2526 tax levy as presented. Thank you. Support. I support Trustee Thompson. The first was Trusty Dodge. Thank you. Any discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote, please. Missy Dodge, yes. Carlos Harp,
069yes. Cindy Holder, yes. Mark Kimble, yes. Christa Mcgalpine Taylor, yes. And Gloria Thompson, yes. Motion passed. Okay, next up is approval of the 2526 budget. As required by the Michigan Uniform Budgeting and Accounting Act, the Board of Education must adopt an operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year prior to July 1. The proposed 2526 budget reflects the district's strategic priorities while maintaining compliance with the state and federal funding guidelines. and includes projected revenues and expenditures for all major funds including the general fund, food service fund, debt retirement fund, and any applicable grant or capital project funds. The budget has been developed using the most current data available, including enrollment projections, staffing needs, and anticipated state aid allocations. It is recommended the board of education approve the 2526 budget as presented. I need a maker in
070support, please. Madame President, I make a motion to approve the 2526 budget as presented. Thank you, Trustee Kimell. I need support. I'll support. Trustee Harp. Any discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote, please. Gloria Thompson, yes. Christa McAlpine Taylor, no. Mark Kimble, yes. Cindy Holder, yes. Carlos Harp, yes. And Missy Dutch, no. Motion pass. Does it Do we need five? Four. You got more than half. Four. Four is good. Okay. Just wanted to be sure before we moved on. Approval of the state aid note resolution. School districts in Michigan are authorized to issue state aid notes to address temporary cash flow shortfalls that may occur during the timing of state aid payments and other revenue collections. The state aid note allows the district to borrow funds using anticipated state aid as collateral to ensure continued operations
071and timely payment of obligations such as payroll and vendor services. The borrowing is short-term in nature and is repaid using f future state aid dispersements. The note has been reviewed by legal counsel and financial advisors to ensure compliance with all applicable laws and financial best practices. It is recommended the board of education approve the issuance of the state aid note as presented. I need a maker in support please. Madam President, Trustee Thompson, I'd like to make a motion that the board of education approve the issuance of the state aid note as presented. You support. I'll support it. Trusty Kimble discussion. This is can I say and I will ask the finance director trustee our trustee Miss Thompson this is the summer loan that we typically get. This is not uncommon to get us through summer
072payments um and bills before our next state payment. Uh President Holder. Yes. So this is not the million dollar loan deficit situation. This is something totally different. It is uh tr can you explain every year? Okay. Yeah. Yes. So um so last year we took a state aid note loan out um and it's good for a year. So we pay it back in August. It's going to be like 700 uh 15,000. Um that includes the interest. And the agreement was that it was going to be it was going to be a one-time payment and then we would pay it back one time. So, it's going to come out our state aid in August. And that's going to take up the majority of our our revenue from our state aid and then we still have to
073make vendor payments and still make payroll. So, if we don't get a state aid note, then we will have no cash flow in our bank. Any other questions? All right. Roll KVU, please. Missy Dodge, yes. Carlos Harp, yes. Cindy Holder, yes. Mark Kimble, yes. Chrisa McAlpine Taylor, Gloria Thompson, yes. Motion passed. Uh, next up, approval of the superintendent contract. It is recommended the board of education approve a three-year contract for the superintendent effective July 1st, 2025 through June 30th. This is a typo. through June 30th, 2028. The contract includes standard terms of employment outlines the superintendent duties and evaluation process. Additionally, the contract allows for an annual wage renegotiation if the district's audited general fund balance is 5% or better or greater. This provision ensures compensation discussions are aligned with the district's financial health and
074supports ongoing fiscal responsibility. It is recommended the board of education approve the superintendent contract as presented. Anita Maker in support, please. Trustee Thompson. I'd like to make a motion that the board of education approve the superintendent contract as presented. Thank you. Support. I support. Trustee Hart. Discussion. Madame President. Trustee Thompson. Do we need to make a motion to change that date? It's also dated incorrectly on the actual contract. Don't need to make a motion to change the date. All you need to do is approve the contract. Okay. Anybody else? Roll call vote, please. Gloria Thompson, yes. Mark Kimble, yes. Christa McAlpine Taylor, yes. Cindy Holder, yes. Carlos Harp. Yes. Missy Dodge. Yes. Motion pass. I did have a request to add public comments or board comments onto this agenda. So before we adjourn, can we
075add um I need a maker to add board comments is 3F. President Holder Dodge. I make a motion like to make a motion that we add 3F to be board comments on the agenda. Thank you. Do we have support? Trustee Thompson. Roll call vote. Missy Dodge, yes. Carlos Harp, yes. Cindy Holder, yes. Mark Kimble, yes. Christa Mcpine Taylor, yes. And Gloria Thompson, yes. Motion passed. Next up then will be board comments. Trustee Kimble. I know this isn't going to be too popular to say, but I think the time to write the ship here was two years ago. And Miss Dodge brings up an interesting point about a grant that we're not even aware of. I don't know why this district doesn't have a full-time grant writer that investigates, seeks out, and gets us the money.
076I understand you guys write the grants, which you've done a good job of bringing them in, but there's a whole world of grants out there of money that we could be getting even from private corporations that two years ago we had a fund balance. We had time to maneuver. Now we don't. That's it. Trusty Harp, no comments today. Thank you. Trusty Dodge. Um, I'm eager to meet in July with Superintendent Perry to formalize a plan to seek community donations of supplies, time, and talents to get the lockers painted at Wilkinson Middle School. In an effort to foster an authentic joy of reading among students, particularly at the middle level, where most students abandon independent reading and reading for pleasure, I'm continuously looking for opportunities to build out both our high school and middle school media
077centers. Our children need books that can serve as windows and mirrors. At our last listen and learn session, it was exciting to speak with former board member Mary Bush who is interested in collaborating on this endeavor. I feel it would be irresponsible of me not to mention the grave disappointment in our current financial status. I am concerned. I am new to the board, but I do feel that the process of approving contracts came before our budget approval and that was not in our best interest. We need some very creative problem solving and serious reflection on current practices. Change has become a necessity. Hard choices need to be made. I would like to ask for an itemized explanation of anywhere we went over our projected budget of 50,000 or more for explanation and review by the
078board. I also think it is imperative for a board member to be part of all budgetary and deficit proceedings moving forward. Um I welcome the stakeholders of our district to please weigh in at our next listen and learn session on July 19th um from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at Bigby on 11 Mile Road. Thank you. with Justine McKelpine Taylor. Um, so this morning I had the opportunity to see the first day of the summer program. It was lovely. Uh, we had so many students. The staff was incredible. They were very organized. The students were incredible. I had like a lot of fun introducing myself to to some of them. And um, I just I was able to get to know a couple of the kids. It was amazing and I'm just so lucky that
079I had that opportunity. Um just what a treasure truly. Uh the other thing is I am just so concerned about this budget. Um I know a lot of it is not our current administrative administration's fault or whatever. But the problem is now we're tasked to write the situation. Um, I do think we're going to have to take a hard look at everything from building closures to staff to I I you know, and I also want to reiterate that I am really frustrated that we didn't have this information prior to um, you know, approving all of the contracts that we just that we just approved. Um, that is a very frustrating thing for me because I feel like I failed our community because I didn't realize that. Um, so I I just think that we do
080need to and to really look at things and to see how we can a million dollars is a huge amount of money for the tiny district that we are and our community deserves better. Thank you, Trusty Thompson. I just want to reiterate what Mr. Kimble and what Chris Tara just said. I I too am concerned. I mean, I keep looking at the numbers, but they're just numbers right now. We We've got to improve somehow. That's it. Um I I would concur this is even our latest projection wasn't 1.4 and that was just a month ago. So, um, yeah, I agree. Um, to that end, is there something else we need to do? No. Oh, okay. Um, to that end, we just need a motion to adjourn. Madam President, I make a motion to adjurnn. Thank
081you, Mr. Kimble. I second. Trusty Mccelpine Taylor. Roll call vote, please. Missy Dodge, yes. Carlos Harp, yes. Yes. Cindy Holder. Yes. Mark Kimble. Yes. Chris McAlpine Taylor. Yes. Gloria Thompson. Yes. Motion passed.