001the R1 School District Board of Education meeting. We stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge Allegiance. I pledge allegiance 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. >> [clears throat] >> Roll call. Matt Becker. Here. Jason Klint. Here. Jake Klingensmith. Here. Kristina Lindsey. Here. Luis Weitzer. Here. Nick Vasquez. Darlene Bailey. Quorum present. Um adopt the amend the agenda. Uh move to adopt the agenda as presented. Second. All in favor. All right, recognitions. Band, first, is that right? Mr. Hile. Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to be here this evening. We have uh several band students who uh uh qualified for and took part in just Yeah, wait right right here, guys. Uh the state
002solo ensemble festival uh in Mizzou. They did so by earning a district gold medal uh back in March at Liberty High School and then proceeded to the campus at Mizzou and um they all either earned a silver or gold medal at the state level for the Mizzou festival. Um so we've got an alphabetical list here. So performing in a percussion ensemble, Jack Anderson. Uh clarinet solo and clarinet ensemble, Reagan Bailey. I'm not sure if she's Okay. Yeah. Uh also clarinet ensemble and clarinet solo, Daisy Burnham. Go ahead. Yeah. Yeah. Another percussionist for the ensemble. You guys stay there. You're not that You're not done that easy. Uh Connor Ethan. Yeah. And another percussionist, Gavin Folkerson. A baritone saxophone soloist, Megan Greider. Our final percussion ensemble member was Carter Lydic. Another clarinetist, Elizabeth Owens, has not
003made it this evening. Hayden Rulon, trumpet soloist. A tuba soloist, Ethan Shoemaker. I believe he's at the tennis banquet. Um Charity Smith, clarinetist. Casey Springer, oboe soloist. And flute soloist, Jaylen Thomas. >> [applause] >> Yeah. >> If you can, arrange yourselves by altitude, please. Good. I'm going to take a couple of these. Don't go anywhere cuz then your parents get a chance. All right. One more. Perfect. Parents? Any other late arrivals? No? Okay. No worries. No worries. All right, we'll try this again. Okay. Great. >> [applause] >> And next choir with Mr. McKinney. All right. And did you want me to acknowledge the state and the All-State Vocal Jazz in the same go, or or those two separate things? Are we Yeah. Okay, I'll just do it all in one go. Okay, so I'm sure
004Chris already went over the process for qualifying for State Solo and Small Ensemble. It's the same thing for vocal music as it is for instrumental music. Uh we had a whole bunch of events qualify, uh 15 out of the 45 that we took to districts. And it was really, really exciting. Um what I've done is I've taken every student alphabetically and I'm going to list all of their accomplishments cuz some of these kids competed one event, some of these kids competed three events. And then on top of that, I'll be letting you guys know who made the All-State Vocal Jazz Ensemble, which is a very prestigious ensemble. Jazz is something that we do very unique here in Kearney in our vocal music program and they accept 15 students in the state of Missouri to to
005participate in that and we had four out of those 15 selected from Kearney. So we're pretty excited by that. So we'll just start at the top as my document just went to sleep. I apologize. I got to wake it up. Okay. And we have several students that were unable to make it tonight. I will and I know who's who's here and who's not. I'll let you know when they're not here. Okay. So we have James Billingsley, silver medalist vocal solo. We have Delaney Boyd, gold medalist SSA, gold SATB, gold solo and also selected for the All-State Vocal Jazz Ensemble. We have Evan Bergdoffer, silver with an SATB ensemble. We have Audrey Curran, silver SATB ensemble, bronze with her solo. Zuzu Delay was unable to make it this evening but Zuzu received a silver with the
006SATB ensemble. We have Irene Dixon, gold with her SSA ensemble and gold with her solo. We have Emmy Eberhart, gold with her SSA ensemble, gold with her SATB ensemble, gold with her solo and Emmy was also selected for the All-State Vocal Jazz Ensemble. Not here today is Tyler Eady, silver with his vocal solo. Next we have Megan Grider who you've already seen this evening with the band. But Megan got a silver with the SATB ensemble. Not here tonight is Camille Herman who received a gold with an SSA ensemble. Next we have James Hunsucker who received a silver with a vocal solo. Not here tonight is Avery Janik who received a gold with an SATB ensemble. Then we have Maverick Kearns, gold with a vocal solo. And then we have Sophia Kouzounoglou, gold with an SSA
007ensemble, gold with an SATB ensemble, gold with a vocal solo. And Sophia was also selected for the All-State Vocal Jazz Ensemble. Not here today is Drew Nelson who received a gold with an SATB ensemble and a silver with a vocal solo. Not here this evening is Joshua Robinson who received a silver with an SATB ensemble. Not here this evening is Archer Schmidt who received a gold with an SATB ensemble. Not here this evening is Ethan Shoemaker who is at a tennis banquet. He received a silver with his with his SATB ensemble. Kate Smith is not here this evening. Kate Smith was selected for the All-State Vocal Jazz Ensemble. Casey Springer is here this evening. Casey received a gold rating with her vocal solo. Not here this evening is Phoebe Taylor who received a gold rating
008with her SSA ensemble and a gold rating with her vocal solo. Here this evening we have Aiden Vasquez, a gold with his SATB ensemble. We have Nate West who has a gold with his SATB ensemble. We have Grace Williamson who has a silver with her SATB ensemble. And then not here this evening is Luke Zerlini with a silver with an SATB ensemble. Please help me congratulate all these students in their honors. [applause] Five [applause] windows. Two rows and five windows. Tall people in the back. Head is closer to the ceiling. You in the back, please. >> Okay. Good singers. Love this. Okay. Okay. >> [applause] >> Good movie. >> [clears throat] >> Hey, thanks. That was Chris's announcement tonight. All right, there is no public comment. Um, superintendent's report. All right, thank you. I just
009have a few updates as we are quickly wrapping up the school year. Um, on April 30th, we had our KSD awards and retiree reception. We had 18 retirees that we celebrated. Um, it was a great night. I appreciate both Ray and Becky for all the organization that come along with that. Um, we also recognized our support staff member of the year, Stephanie Dolliner, and teacher of the year, Dr. Brad Miller from the high school. On May 17th, uh, was graduation and this is a big shout out to Dr. Gustafson and his team at Kearney High School. They saw for seeing 268 seniors across the finish line. It's just that's the day we all live for. Um, watching that that milestone. Um this year's a couple of our bragging points. This year's graduating class earned 965
010market value assets during their careers, which averaged 3.6 MVAs per student. Uh class of 20 26 also earned a collective 1,800 dual credit and advanced placement hours. Two stern students earned an associate's degree. Eight members of the class of 2026 earned a full seal of biliteracy. Uh 1.3 million dollars of scholarship money was earned by this graduating class. 17 students signed their letters of intent during a May 11th event. And during the future teacher signing day on May 4th, eight KHS seniors were recognized as part of KSD's grow your own program in partnership and sponsorship with the Kearney School District Education Foundation. Um just a couple of quick legislative updates. Legislative session ended on May 15th at 6:00. The most significant impact to public education is that there will continue to be underfunding of the
011foundation formula by approximately 190 million, which will compound the impact of this year's shortfall in revenue. We are also appreciative that no additional administrative burden was placed through educational policy. So that wraps this particular legislative session. Thank you. All right, consent agenda. I move that the consent agenda be approved as presented. Second. All in favor? Information items, bond project update. Something, nothing? Good evening. Just a quick update on the numbers. I highlighted a few this month. You'll see some in orange. What I did was some soft costs that we've been holding on to for a long time, a very significant amount of soft cost. I went ahead and moved down to deferred maintenance, which is where the Southview roof project is located now. So, that savings was captured, redirected down there. And you will see,
012if you go clear down to the bottom on the net, we're still a positive almost $8,000. So, that's that's very good that we were able to use our soft cost and uncommitted dollars and fund that project. The other number I highlighted in blue or teal is our arbitrage number. I went ahead and padded that by 50,000 compared to a month ago. Last month's report was the actual amount we know for sure we owe, but it is a continuing obligation until everything's paid out, so it won't be 50,000, but I put 50,000 as a placeholder just to make sure we don't go over budget there. So, if you have any questions on the numbers, I'll be happy to explain. All right, thank you. >> Thank you. Come right back up with that financials. >> [clears throat]
013>> And financials? >> [laughter] >> All right, I'm back. I do need to apologize cuz when I initially shared this particular report, I realized later this afternoon I missed two numbers that I didn't update my formula. So, you should see a revised copy on the agenda for tonight along with the original. Nothing too surprising to report here. Um as we everything's tracking pretty much as it did last year. Uh if you look at some of the programs, um you know, nutrition services, uh revenue is short of expenditures, that's perfectly normal. Um activity funds surprisingly had a lot more in revenue coming in this year than last year, and expenses was just up a little bit. Um nothing real shocking in before-after school services or puppy pound. And it was the self-funded insurance plan that I
014I missed the formula, um and I forgot to tie it to last year's number, so it was showing the full amount, but um you'll see revenue um is up by more than expenditures. That's a little bit misleading cuz we are still we had to make some transfers in to fund that uh to keep to keep that fund in the in the black, but we do hope by the time we get through June's payroll, we'll be able to transfer that back out and be okay. So, uh with that, uh I'm happy to answer your questions on this report that you might have. All righty, thank you. Thank you, Doug. Um program evaluation, professional development. Hello, thank you for the opportunity to talk with you about uh professional development program for this past school year, and later
015you'll get to see our proposed professional development plan for 2026-2027. I'd like to thank Dr. Ally Stewart because she's done a lot of work um over many years with a professional development plan, and I get to highlight that um learning for our teachers that impact our student uh achievement. So, ready? Next slide. Oh, do I not have the clicker? I've got the clicker. >> [laughter] >> It's been a bit since I've done this, few months. All right, for leadership we have um truly two outcomes for professional development to improve our teacher practice and increase student achievement. Academic Services oversees and plans these. Uh however, we uh like to look at what our current need is and align it to the strategic plan. And the goal is to prepare all students for success in life, but
016also while they're in school to help learning in that safe and caring environment. So, it is the whole picture when they step in through the door until the time they leave and how we um interact with students and help them grow and achieve. So, our customers are primarily our teachers, support staff, and then building administrators cuz we want to sharpen the saw for everyone and make sure that uh we're providing the best um administrators, teachers, and support staff that our students deserve. So, uh we identify needs for um different different avenues. So, we look at um the requirements that we have in our strategic plan, but then also we like to listen to our teachers and survey them and get some information about what topics um that are uh timely and what uh our students
017are showing in by way of need. Um so, we have provided a few days for choice-based professional development, and then we also have 21st Century Skills team that works uh every month to uh determine what those needs look like and instructional practices were our um focus this year. So, um clarity within highly um aligned professional development um practices for instruction. So, then uh there are four pieces objectives that align to the strategic plan when you talk about professional development. And the top two are we want our students to perform in the top 25% but we also want our students to compete against themselves as well as we continue to be on and above grade level. Objective 2.3 is having our students immerse themselves in real world learning and Dr. Miller just highlighted our class of
0182026 and all of their accolades and I can tell you that that it comes at no um easy feat. It is all hands on deck. So, everyone is working in the school community and then our greater community of Kearney to make that happen and our students and community are are better for it. And then objective 4.4 and that is really helping our teachers receive experience-based coaching embedded to their profession. So, we like to have those in-service days but we also host grade level meetings or department meetings and then we also have times when we have um uh subbing out for different uh proficiency scales work and assessment alignment as well. So, and that is based off of current and previous um assessment data for students. So, we like to continue to do that throughout the
019school year. Professional Development Committee we have formed. So, this is a collaborative representation of our district across and we look at high level strategic planning uh decision-making when it comes to what students need and then also any practices that are our teachers um uh see as an area of growth. So, we like to align those. Here are our PDC members for this past school year. We have a few changes that you'll see in our street or our professional development uh proposal plan that you'll see later on in the agenda. PD budget process. This sounds really easy but there's a lot that goes into it. So, we like to look at our goals and with that included the student data. Okay, so where do our students need a little bit more focus? Maybe it is government
020and then what what can we do to help those teachers with that and then we estimate the cost. So, have we done this previously? Do we have a light cost that we can look at or is this a new effort that's related to our strategic plan? And I think you had heard with our MTSS process that we identified a few areas that we needed to focus on. So, estimating those costs and working with several different either community members or vendors and then finalize and adjust the budget. And that can happen throughout the year, but we have um a pretty detailed budget that goes based off of what specific code or revenue code that would come from um getting into Doug's um backyard here a little bit. But anyway, so we work pretty closely on how
021we um really process through that and Dr. Miller and Dr. Stewart and I got together in January and really looked at a three-year plan. So, not just what do we do each year, but stay the course and I think that if you've seen or heard anything authentic literacy and real-world learning are the course and we're going to talk a little bit more this following year about portrait of a graduate. So, that's our budget process. And then when you put numbers to the budget, I just want to remind you that we have um you know, state statute that allows us, but also tells us we have to requires us to allocate 1% of our total monies received. Um so, that way we are still eligible to receive um our state um funding. So, that way in
022a sense, we have two different funding sources. One is that 1% of our total revenue, and then the other we use our title two funding. So title two funding is federal, and that we do get reimbursement from the state. So you can kind of see those two side by side, but on top of one another for each year. And that funding that actually fluctuates with when it comes to title two a bit. And we're very grateful that we've received some preliminary funds that say that we will receive funding again. It's not at where we were, but that continues to to be funded, which is is great. And then we also have the 1% that we utilize to help um meet our goals. How do we evaluate our professional development? First of all, planning and collaboration.
023It's an ongoing process, and we talk with building admin. We do, like I said, surveys, so that needs assessment. We do surveys on this year it was every single day, and just got feedback from every facet, I guess, of each one of those professional development days. And we presented those to our district leadership team in February, and that was awesome to kind of see where places were well received, and others that we can continue to to focus in on. And then, like tonight, we bring it to you for board accountability, so that way we can look at, and then also student impact. So really, if we're doing it right, if we're doing it correctly, and we're finding the needs, and we're addressing those, and we're putting our funds towards that professional development in that area,
024we should see a strong student achievement and growth impact. So I'm going to share with you something that you've already seen, and then something new. So this is something you've already seen several times. We are able to hit that top 25% goal in four out of four content areas. We really look at state assessments, our common assessments, and then national normed assessments like NWEA. So, what I'm going to do now is show you again our within the top three in our peer group in all four tested areas as for MAP. Then I wanted to share again our ACT. We're in the top two in our cohort peer group. And now I get to share with you some exciting growth data and achievement data that is brand new as of we starting ending third quarter start
025of fourth quarter. So, this is our students currently just a few weeks ago. So, anyway, this is growth and achievement for math. And so, if you can see it, it talks a little bit about the top arrow is growth. And so, when you're in the green and you're above 60th percentile, that means your students are hitting high growth. And this is from fall this school year to spring. And then if you look at achievement, we have high achievement in the fall, but even higher in the spring. So, 70th percentile. So, this is overall district math. We do our NWEA up through eighth grade. So, that kind of shows you math in a snapshot. And then reading, we have the same a similar story, which is very awesome to see that we have growth in the
02660th second percentile. And then achievement even higher in the spring at 67th percentile. Science also, we have green, green, and green. So, the growth is 66th percentile and then even higher achievement at 72nd percentile in the spring for achievement. So, oops. I think I went past something. Nope, that is it. Program goals, um I thought I had all the grade levels in there, but that'll come later. Um program goals, uh objective 2.1, that was that first one where we wanted to be um have our students uh in um pace with all uh 25% um or sorry, with all all of our peer groups. So, um we want to continue to provide the professional development and literacy and um also real-world learning, so that way we have impact classroom instruction. And objective 2.2 is really looking
027at curriculum vertically and integrating um the screening data to find the actual areas that we may need further support in. And then um providing those target professional development for any grade level or specific building. Um we did that actually this year. We took uh a look at our growth data in NWEA the middle of the year and realized we had some pockets and we made some immediate adjustments and some teams did some really hard work on that. So, that is ongoing and that's how you adjust mid-course. Objective 2.3 um and this is those career pathways for real-world learning and project-based learning and strengthening that at the elementary level, looking at how we can utilize time in our day to put that um into the language of learning with our elementary students all the way up
028through cuz I think we do a really great job at the high school level and starting at junior high, but what are some opportunities at the elementary level? So, working on that this coming school year. And then uh the last objective we can always do better and we can always find other areas to hit the needs of all staff, but it's kind of difficult because everybody does different they they do different jobs during the day, but what we like to do is try to find job embedded professional development. So that's going to be a continued priority for our team and our department. So what questions do you have? I feel like I talk really fast. Sorry. When you survey your teachers and they tell you what it is that they're looking for, what's the one
029thing you feel like you're not able to get? You know, is there something they're asking for that we just haven't figured out how to fulfill on as a part of professional development? Um I would say we always want more money and we always want to have specialized groups doing more throughout the year. So that's always something, you know, just networking because we have larger conferences, right? That they go to and that can be pricey. So um all teams sending all teams at the same time isn't really cost-effective. So it is about juggling the load of who gets what when. And so I think um the biggest piece is understanding the needs but then also balancing that with teacher wants, right? So I think that yes, we do um have a rotation now that has been
030put in place, but I think uh when you look at some of our specialized groups, um they would love to all go to all conferences and and that's just not feasible with the um the budget that we receive. Um and then really balancing that with um I think a lot of secondary and elementary have very specific needs and then making that a cohesive system, I think has also been a challenge not just here but in my previous district. So don't know if that answered your question, but I I will add that um >> [clears throat] >> Dr. Yutok and Dr. Stewart have done an excellent job of trying to look at budget resources. One of the things teachers ask for all the time is just time. Time to work together to unpack standards, look at
031assessments. And so they've been really um I don't know, committed to trying to find time for teachers. And I think that's showing in results, too. I would say about half of our budget goes to just teacher autonomy and subbing and and or getting them together on those I was trying to figure it out, but I think I can get you that number in the board update. But we put a lot of a lot of money and resources into our existing staff because they get the job done and they work really, really hard. So, having them in front of the data and in front of the standards is it just it works. So, we want to make sure that we don't clamp onto the next new shiny thing, bring it in, drop it in, and it
032doesn't fit what we need. So, that's that is also the balance. All right, thank you. I'll get you uh more information in the board update. Thank you. Um next program evaluation was for school and health and wellness and it was written. Any questions? All right, action items. Um approval of the preliminary budget for 2026-2027. Uh move to approve the preliminary budget for 2026-2027 school year as presented. Second. Drop. All right, I'll offer a few comments as far as where the numbers came from. Um first I'd like to say this is preliminary. Um we have a forecast for the current year, which is likely to change by next month, and we have a budget that for next year that's going to be impacted on how we finish this year. So, um couple of things. First, I'll
033take your attention to the bottom line cuz let's face it, we all want to know what the bottom line is. So, if you go about 3/4 of the way down, you'll see a a line called net operating revenue or loss. And as I look at this and get to see 5 years laid out side by side, you know, I look at '22-'23, I see that um revenue exceeded expenditures by 230,000, and we have a ending cash balance up above of 24% with our goal between 17 and 25. I would say that's a pretty pretty good year. Um Slide over to '23-'24. Again, we have a situation where revenues exceeding expenditures. Um our ending cash balance percentage is a slightly above 20 24 and 1/2. Again, a really really good year. '24-'25. Gets a little little
034tighter, a little more challenging. You'll see when we look at the net results, uh were were to the negative by 900,000. Lot happened during that year. I think there was some forecasting early on that was off, but there was also some expenditures that hit. I know we're going to talk about here in a second. Music, uh insurance, that was a big renewal, big dollars that um uh although we might have budgeted for, we didn't necessarily think they would come to fruition. So, um so, '24-'25 obviously ending cash balance dropped by almost 2 and 1/2%. Leaving us at 22.21. That takes us to this year. And we all want to know, how are we going to end this year? Um you will notice that right now that percentage I've upped it a little bit compared to
035my other report, because I did this one last. Uh it's up slightly over 19. I still think it's going to inch a little higher, but I'm still going to be conservative uh until till flushes out. Um Right now, the number for SAT is 6,900. I know almost the entire year I was saying it's going to go to 7145. It's going to go It didn't happen, and now everybody's pretty much saying be happy with 6,900. There is a chance it could go up at the very end, but it's going to fall on the June payment. So, uh might go up a little bit. If it does, this the ending cash balance percentage might go up just a hair. Um and as the final expenditures come in and hit the books, hopefully we'll have a little bit
036of savings there as well. So, I'm telling you 19.08% today, hopefully next month when I'm before you again, I have a slightly better number for you. Um and then as we look to next year's budget, obviously depending on where we end this year impacts on where we will be next year. So, if we can get another half percent, 1% on our ending cash balance, and the spread be a little bit different between revenue and expense next year will shape up to be a little bit better as well cuz obviously you look at that 15 and 1/2% projection today, that's um not very encouraging. Um but that does take into account that we are going to get a cut in SAT down to 6,800. Uh hopefully it doesn't go that low. It could go lower, um
037but I was on a meeting today, and my colleagues pretty much all felt like 60 6,800 was what we should expect. So, um still could change. It's a long ways off, but that's that's probably the safe bet as of today. Um just to give you a little detail of the thought behind the planning for the revenue and expenditures for the next budget year, um you will see that for local revenue, I I think we'll get about a 1% increase um as well as with the county. Where we're really going to feel it is on the state side. It's It's likely to go down 400,000 with our early estimates. Um federal, I have a 1% decrease on that as well, which isn't a huge amount. Um so, overall, you'll see that revenue compared to current year
038that we're wrapping up versus next year would be an overall decline of about 140,000. Then we drop down to expenditures, and I tell you we've had a lot of conversations on how to control expenditures for next year, and um we we really want to do more on salaries, and we will if we can, but for now we're being very conservative with that number. Um basically, through attrition is is how we're funding most of our salary increases for next year. Um I do think we'll still trim a little bit off of our overall certified salaries. You can see that's down 1%. Um same with non-certified positions. Um where we are going to get hit, and I we It'll be discussed here in a little bit with our insurance renewal. Um I think we should plan for
039at least a 10% increase with health insurance as far as the district's obligation. Um other benefits I think we can hold steady. Purchase services, um some of those costs are out of our control, such as our renewal with Durham and SFE. Uh so, I do have that going up 2%. Uh going down, I do think we control can control that supplies line item and reduce it by 2%. We're still working through budgets as we speak, um and finalizing them for next year, but I think there's some savings there. Um utilities, um which includes gas, um do have a 10% increase there. Hopefully things will turn and that number will be too high, but for now I've plugged in 10% as a placeholder. >> Doug, you said I'm sorry I don't I I'll lose my spot.
040You're saying that does your the 10% is because that's where your gas I I I gasoline is that's where you're seeing that. Okay, I was going to ask why it was so much higher. Yeah, and and I'm sure at the end of the day our electric expense and stuff is going to go up slightly as well. At least I'm going to hedge my bets on it. It's rarely goes down. So, most of that though is in gasoline prices. So, if that gets resolved soon and gas prices drop then woohoo, we got we got more money. And so by next month that all could happen and if so I'll readjust that number. Um, and then student activity, I had it going up a modest 1%. So, but overall you can see an overall increase of expenditures
041by 400,000 and when we look at the decrease in revenue, it does show the deficit spending um, is increasing for next year. Um, I do hope I've painted worst case scenario and I hope that by next month I'll have better numbers to share with you. So, with that I'm happy to entertain any questions you might have. All right, thank you. Thank you. All right, all in favor? Um, approval of agreement with music. Move to approve the agreement for large district retrospective rating plan with music as presented. I'm happy to answer any questions here. I don't have a second on that one. Sure. I'm going to second that. Uh, second. >> [clears throat] >> Now I'm good to go. All right. Um, happy to answer any questions. I tried to describe it in the last board
042update. Um with that I'll Does anybody have any questions on how it works? Or are there any concerns that um this program may not work well for us? Doug, I know you mentioned that you and and Eric had went out and looked at a a broker potential and that there was some risk there, but I just like to understand reward side of that as well because right now even if there's some risk there, this looks not great. And like we can't sustain it. We just looking at the budget number right there. If increases in music are going to eat up you know, we could we could move mountains in terms of all the little things that we can tuck and save here and there, but if all of a sudden music is like, "Nope. Here's
043another $200,000 raise." We can't sustain that for in my mind another year. And it is true. We got hit hard back to right now the early number they've given us is an 8% increase to plan for next year. Um >> After they've doubled it in less than 3 years. Yeah, it went up very significant. Yes. Um and um I do think that this program um again, they're going to take that $1 million that we put in, which was more like 500,000 3 years ago. Um and they're going to set aside 470 for our claims or approximately 470. So, if we have a really good claims year, which I just based on our 5-year average, um that number's 170. So, if we got 470 sitting in that claims pot and and our actual incurred is only
044170, we should be getting 300,000 back. So, 1 million minus 300,000, it won't come back in this year. It'll come back down the road, but still if we net it out at 700, to me that's much more reasonable what we should be paying for insurance and not $1 million. So, you're saying that with this program, the net would be less than the potential of exploring other options? That's hard to say. Um and we can still uh I had a broker in and we talked about doing an RFQ and that's still a possibility. Um if we go down that road, we would look at having them start um January 1st, which is when this coverage renews. Um and we could definitely include music in the process to see if they you know, if there's anything else
045on the table they could bring to us to help save us money. Um I just know when I when I came here and I saw how much we were paying and how much my old district with similar sizes paying, I thought it was overpriced by about a quarter of a million. So, if we could get that price down to about 700,000, that seems reasonable to me just based on my prior experience. So, but $1 million seemed excessive. Um a broker uh it's possible that the the nice thing with a broker is they can shop around and get different carriers and then we can also customize our coverage. Music, you got to you've got their boiler plate of what they offer and that it is what it is. So, um if the board really has an
046appetite and says, "You know what? Let's do the RFQ, see what comes back." Um just keep in mind that'll just be for the broker. We won't know yet what the carriers might charge us for coverage, but at least we'd be working with the broker who would be working on our behalf. So, And we thought this was an interim strategy knowing that once we separate with MUSIC, we have to wait 5 years to get back in. It is it is a big decision. Yeah. Uh Uh, there's there's yes. Well, I hate that we've turned our health insurance into like a a FanDuel account where we're betting on having good years and and bad years, but my question is about music specifically is if you move forward with the RFQ, is that your separation from music? Is
047that or could you still have the option you can go through the RFQ, you didn't like what you saw, you can stick with music what you have? Where's the separation point? >> Absolutely, you could do the RFQ and decide, you know what, we're just going to stick with music cuz what we hear isn't going to put us in any better position. The only problem is we won't have real numbers to judge by. I mean, if we're doing it to try to save money, when we select our broker, they're not going to be able to say, "Okay, your renewal is going to be 750,000." And So, at that So, if we do it we won't be in a position where we can make a judgment based on music versus something else. It'll be still music versus
048the unknown. Yes. Um, we will know what they can offer. Um, and they will tell us how they'll approach our renewal, but as have as far as having solid numbers that we could lay out and go, "Okay, if we go with this group, this is how much cost and over here this is what this costs." >> And if memory [clears throat] serves, when we asked this there was a handful of schools in Missouri that don't use music. They go through a broker process. Correct. Have we reached out to any of them to find out what they pay? Uh, do we know Is there a way that we can reach out? We could almost If we can't have real data, we could might maybe get a sense of where it would be based on if it's
049Kirkwood or name pick your favorite district not named Kearney in Missouri. If who it is, we could at least have some sense of what others are paying. Is that something we can do or is that something that people don't share that information, so it's not possible? I would say that our colleagues would be willing to share that information. I'm happy to do some research there and see if we can't get some some numbers and some comparison. I'm not Look, I I don't want to gamble on this. Um but I I don't know that we are or aren't getting the best deal that's out there. And I just know that it keeps going up so much that it makes you wonder, you know, what else is out there. So, I'd at least like to have some
050sense of why what the others the few and it doesn't sound like there's many, but what the other few what their experience has been um to kind of gauge whether or not okay, now we're going to try this this scheme uh here or no, we think, you know, based on what others have seen maybe an RFQ could substantially not substantially, but save us money. I just I think I'm a little bit concerned that we all and it it it concerns me more when there's a herd mentality. We all seem to be kind of taking it. None of the school districts seem to be interested in seeing if there's something else. And that So, I would just like at least figure out what others are doing to figure out if if there's no other option, then
051we have a broken system. Um but if but I think we need to know that before we go, you know, before we get too far down these down the road. I do think I do think this is a step in the right direction us assuming more risk because I I think our history has shown that we would be prime for a rebate. I would be shocked if we don't get money back by approving this program. It would have to be Do I read this right that it would have to be three times worse than our worst year has been? Is Am I reading that right? >> Yes, you are. Uh Take any year of the last five and double it or triple it. It it would take that kind of year before we would actually
052owe any more money than we've already paid them. So, doing this doesn't take away from the ability to still do an RFQ if that's what we want to do. Right. Yep. Yep. And the nice thing is they are allowing us to go retroactively back to January. So, here we are in May. The year's almost half over. We know that our claim so far has been extremely low. Nothing big has hit the plate, so um I if I was a betting person, this is a pretty safe bet. I'm going to let that go. >> [laughter] >> I said if I was. Now, in order to help our our state budget out, we do want people to >> [laughter] >> go out and bet, right? So My main point with all this is just you know, as
053we look at another tight budget year I'm kind of losing the appetite to to go and and look hard at cutting things for teachers or kids or you know, the district just be you know, because we have to accommodate you know, an insurance policy that and I mean, I think we've kind of proven we're not leveraging all that hard, but for some reason they they think that we are in terms of what they've increased the premiums to, so that's my main point of concern of wanting to look at that and and look at the Did this emerge? Did this just become available to us because we went over the million dollar mark? Is that right? >> Yeah. We we wouldn't qualify for anything. >> What was the increase this past year? Was it a hundred
054it was a hundred twenty thousand or so? >> Oh, uh yeah, I think we we jumped from eight hundred and some thousand over a million, so it it was very significant. Twenty twenty-two, somewhere around like six hundred or Right, we took a two hundred twenty thousand dollar increase in one year, then the next year it's another hundred twenty hundred forty thousand dollar increase and I mean, I I see where you're going with this and I agree. We're kind of at their mercy if if we stay in, but I also understand if we get out, it's a five year waiting period. I I agree with you. I think it's to our benefit to get an RFQ and see what what other schools are paying. How long do we have to make a decision? Um for music?
055With music? Um I mean, if we do nothing, we just stay in the program. Um I forget which month we bring it for board approval. I think it's in November when they have the renewal numbers for us. We share those and ask the board to approve the renewal, so we have time. So, we can definitely make it a priority to do an RFQ, see what brokers would be interested in our business, see what they have to offer, and decide whether or not we just want to stay with MUSIC another year or or go another route, so I'd like to propose that we do research with other districts first. Lay it out. Research with other districts >> research. and then determine whether an RFQ is appropriate. Cuz we might find that some of those districts got
056out and wish they wouldn't have. >> That's exactly right. Yep. And and they're locked out for 5 years. And maybe they're counting the days before they can get back in, so yeah, I like that strategy. Let's I'll I'll do some research, find out what other districts have made the leap, and give you some feedback. You said that you thought it from your old district in Kansas that they were paying you thought it was about 250 grand too much. Is there something in Kansas? Is it Is it just a Is it the Kansas version of MUSIC that you were that they use over there or is there something that No, I I was just obviously my former district we used a broker and and but we had very low mod factor for work comp, so we
057were paying like 60,000 or work comp coverage and here it's way over 100,000. Um so, it just it you know, claims has an impact. But the nice thing with the broker is you can sit down with them and tell them, you know, what can we adjust the coverage, you know, go higher with the deductible, maybe add a something else to it to save money. Whereas MUSIC it's just there's their plan. So. But I think MUSIC's downfall was if you look back historically, they left rates unchanged for years and years. I think they went like 20 years without an increase. It was crazy and and I think they should have been over the years at least doing a 1% increase so that when that really bad year hit with all the tornadoes and everything, they had
058a little bit better reserves built up, but that's just my my personal opinion. I I like slow and steady rather than the the cliff where they just clobber you with the 20 30% increase. So. So, since we have a motion on the table, do we need to change that? I think we can still vote as this is. since it's the same >> Yeah. Let's move into the agreement with music. Cuz we've already We already hit this. Yeah, this So, we did We approved the deal on November, but this is something that you're going to research before we come to next to this November. >> For the renewal in January. Yeah, the What we're approving tonight would layer on to the current coverage and give [snorts] us an opportunity to get some of that money back.
059All in favor? All right, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Approval of career ladder plan for 2026 2027. Move to approve the career ladder plan for the 2026 2027 school year as presented. So, I provided the uh career ladder plan before you that I'm asking for approval for the district's asking approval for in our board update. Uh minor changes, been a lot of dates updated, uh a few tweaks to some of the plans to offer a little bit more flexibility, but for the most part it's the same plan we had or this year for next year. Um went ahead and [clears throat] applied for uh 500,000 with the state, uh which would fund um 100 uh stage three plans, which we haven't had that. Uh we usually run about 80 to 90 plans, and
060not all those are stage three. Uh if we would have that many stage three plans, uh that would cost the district about $200,000, which we put into our budget, and the the state will reimburse us the the 60% the additional uh 300,000. Any questions about the career ladder plan? All in favor? Thank you, Zach. Approval of health insurance rates for 2026-2027. Move to approve the health insurance rates for 2026-2027 as presented. Second. So, as we discussed at our work session, um again, trying to offset the high cost of some of our health care costs, not only the providers cost going up, but also some of our folks that are going through some pretty bad stuff. Uh their claims have been high. So, uh worked with Doug and our broker USI to look at with our
061underwriting to try to find that sweet spot where we can discontinue putting in uh district funds to cover our claims cost. So, we feel like um asking for the board to put in another 15% and go from 650 per employee to 750 uh to help offset some of the cost cuz we've had to increase our premiums to to uh set that uh that rate where we can cover our claims cost like I said before. I do feel like this is going to be the sweet spot for us. Hopefully, you know, barring any tra- tragedies moving forward that we're able to kind of stay flat here uh and also build some balances. So, feel like this is a good spot and I think it's still think like this is very competitive and much lower than some
062of our competitors as far as what they're paying on insurance as well. So. Any questions about these rates? This is in the budget we just approved, right? Did I read that? Correct. Okay, that is. Okay. It's correct. Right. All in favor? Approval of new positions, uh grant coordinator, technology support technician, and specialist. So, we're asking for appro- Oops, sorry. Sorry. Move to approve positions for grant coordinator, technology support technician, and technology support specialist as presented. Second. So, we're asking for approval of these job descriptions. Um grant coordinator was previously uh duties uh that were attached to our third social worker. Um and uh with the resignation, we did not hire that position back. And so, we're just uh outlining what the grant coordinator would uh need to do moving forward with the children County Children's
063Fund. Um and that can be attached to any position in the district. Um but we wanted to outline those duties, and that would come with a stipend. So, that would actually be a reduction in total expenditure because we're saving the uh the uh salary for the social worker. Um and then the technology support technician and technology support specialist, uh we have had they have we have those uh currently on our um uh salary schedule. Um we're changing the names and changing the uh updating the job descriptions. Uh as you know, um our uh agreement with our Heartland Business Systems, we're looking at taking on three of their employees. And these job descriptions will fit those employees um positions that we would intake looking at the uh cost to the budget as well. Um we do
064have that 20% buyout that we'll talk about at our next meeting um that would would uh be an upfront cost, but over 4 to 5 years, we'll actually end up saving money including benefits with this with this change to taking Heartland Business Systems employees and making them Kearney School District employees instead of contracted service. Any questions about any of these uh positions? So, am I approving a job description? Is that Essentially, yes. >> Okay. Yes. All in favor? Thank you. Approval of the 2026-2027 professional development plan. Move to approve the professional development plan for the 2026-2027 school year as presented. All right, this is a extension of what I presented earlier to continue that work for the 26-27 school year. So that plan has been included for your approval. Any questions? All in favor? Approval
065of agreements with Pathful. Move to approve the agreements with Pathful as presented. Second. So this is a proposal for us to begin using Job Ready 360. We looked at some of the current platforms we were using at the secondary level or not using at the secondary level at our MBA and attainment is it simply a spreadsheet which works until you have what Dr. Miller outlined with very many many many students getting multiple on the average three plus MBAs. So tracking that is one thing, but then also being a steward with our community members and having that ease of being able to see that information through our student information system for them to also track on their end and we took a look at U Science which is currently being utilized not to its extent at
066the secondary level mostly middle school and with able to bring in Agilities at a free cost for that that would mirror that work. We actually in purchasing Job Ready 360 can save the district some money and streamline our process so that way our MBA tracking is open and everyone can take a look at that and becomes part of their transcript. This saves $500, correct? Something like that. I think if you go scroll down, it's five or seven. >> correct. 500. How much time does it save? Um, wow. >> [laughter] >> A lot of time because we have a lot of people on some of those spreadsheets and every like even right before graduation it was a a scramble and um this this would not this would eliminate all of that. So this it sounds to
067me like even though it's a new system we're already accustomed to it a little bit to where do we will there be a lot of like transition training type stuff that Essentially it would be our uh career career readiness coordinator and then um some secretaries and then Tammy Thomas um who would need to work with this primarily and it's very easy for students to use and our um our um community members so not a whole lot of training and just very simple and streamlined and we did take a look at it prior to um bringing it to your um to your vote. Questions? All in favor? All right, approval of the agreement with Amplify. So this is >> the agreement with Amplify as presented? [laughter] We're also eager. So sorry, this is my last one.
068You don't have to hear me anymore. This is great. Um so this Amplify uh is something that is um through Senate Bill 681 we have to comply with um the reading state approved reading assessment. For the last couple of years we've been on a waiver until that um uh DESI could find the approved list for us for uh final approval. So we had that and we took a look at with a small team and Amplify or sorry, um Amplify is like in class dibbles. It's essentially a mirror assessment to what we already give. So, it is teachers in front of students listening to them read and not read into the computer, which we do not want. We want human to human contact. So, we'd like to propose this for your approval. I will give you
069a little caveat that previously the state was able to give some sort of um credit. I guess you could have apply for um um reimbursement for the approved assessments in previous years. We have not received that guidance yet. So, this is the highest cost. We may be able to shave some off with that state guidance coming out in June. But even with that, you're expecting it to save $8,000? Yes, because what we had before the program is very similar, but we are we can now use that just for math. So, we can cut it down. If we keep going, we'll make up this music deficit here shortly. >> Right, so that's what we're trying to do. >> [laughter] >> Every day, click away. All right. All in favor? And ratification of over $50,000 for Chromebook
070purchases. Move to ratify the over $50,000 Chromebook purchase as presented. Second. Any questions? It's ratification. Are there any questions? It's a ratification. Is this less I understand this is less than it would have been, right? Because we are buying less of these, correct? Everybody's looking at Ryan. So, I'm hoping I hope Ryan has the answer. We bought them earlier. This was to lock in the price earlier. We bought them earlier. But it's less though, right? Or we're buying a smaller number of them because of the change. >> We bought more than last year. Thank you. 900 at the high school last year, 600 this year, 620. Since we do have some large classes coming in next year, this was to lock in a price that would have gone way up had we waited. Continuing with
071the theme, uh this will save $50,000. It will. Good. All right. More questions? All in favor? All right. Re-adoption of board policy, board member personal finance disclosure, G275P. Uh move to rescind effective July 1st, 2026 and re-adopt effective July 1st, 2026 of board policy, board member personal financial disclosure G275P as presented today. Second. This is a policy that gets approved every year. It's required every other year. We just do it just out of habit every year so we don't miss it. Um any questions? All in favor? Item number [clears throat] 10, approval of board policies on first reading. Move to approve of board policies uh I125P and S100P on first reading as presented. Second. And really you have two policies here for your consideration. So, S100P, it's really kind of nice. It what it does
072is it allows um the school district to allow um contracted uh providers uh SFE or Durham uh allow their children to attend Kearney School District. So, we think that's a good benefit, especially for some hard-to-fill positions. Um the second is I125P, which has to do with special education section 504. And really what it allows is um the designation of a young child with a developmental delay um that designation to continue up in the um elementary school, where previously we would have had to make a determination prior to that. Questions? All in favor? Um approval of board education representative to KSDF. Move to approve the appointment of Nick Vasquez to the position of liaison to the Kearney School District Education Foundation for the 2026-2027 school year. Second. All in favor? It happens when you don't show
073up to a meeting. >> [laughter] >> Approval of board education representative as MSBA delegate. Move to approve the appointment of Jason Clint as MSBA delegate for the 2026-2027 school year for the Kearney School District. Second. All in favor? Staying. >> [laughter] >> Um approval of board representative for Kearney Advance Enterprise Zone. Move to approve the appointment of Darlene Bailey as board representative to the Kearney Advance Enterprise Zone. Second. All in favor? Hey. Board member comments? Um graduation was great. Um it was very well put on very well. Um kids were fun. Safe to say. So, congratulations to all the graduates and their families. I thought it went really smooth. Well, it did go really smooth. I mean, I had no idea what I was doing, but everybody Everybody did a great job. >> Seems like
074everybody They do. Yes. They're great team, and it's so fun to watch them cross the stage and high-five or hug or yeah. The little Yes. And like the little notes they say to Andy or that they say back and forth I think is always very cute. So, good job. Um important dates, May 22nd is the last day of school. It's a half day. May 25th is Memorial Day, the district is closed. June 1st, summer school begins. And June 17th is board meeting. Um, miscellaneous. Action for a closed session to immediately proceed the regular meeting in including any record vote to discuss items and issues allowable under section 610-021 of the Missouri Sunshine Law. Second. Roll call. Matt Baker. Yes. Jason Klint. Aye. Jake Klingensmith. Yes. Kristina Lindsey. Yes. Reece Waitzer. Yes. Nick Vescovo. Darlene Bailey.
075We're adjourned. Aye.