001All right, board members, we've been truly fortunate in the Apex School District to welcome several outstanding student interns who have worked alongside our staff on various projects. These experiences aren't just tasks. They're opportunities for our students to gain meaningful real world learning that helps prepare them for life beyond high school. Our interns have contributed their time and talents in areas like technology, communication, operations, and more. They've added real value to our district while growing their own skills and confidence. And tonight, we are excited to share our meeting, start our meeting with a video that highlights some of these interns and the incredible work they've done. What makes this extra special is that the video itself was created by our student communication interns. So students telling the story of other students. So sit back and enjoy
002and let's celebrate the creativity, dedication, and potential of these young people who represent the very best of the Rayek School District. [Music] My name is Trevor Aaga and I'm the drone intern for Ray Peek for Buildings and Grounds. The Part 107 license just allows you to do so many different things. Being able to fly commercially um with a drone. Um this opportunity specifically with this job. Um it's very good experience to put on a portfolio or um tell somebody to interview. I've really enjoyed a lot of the just flying process, being able to see what really good piece of equipment does. Um, some of the things like a panoramic image, which I found out about recently that we could do something like that. It opens up a lot of opportunities. My favorite memory is going
003to be working with other students. Building a project together is super important. I think students helping students is really cool. I think that's going to be my favorite memory. I think uh leaving here knowing that I like help these students is just it feels really good. I've had a great experience working with Scott Doson so far. Um we go into the house, he leads me and he explains um some terms that I wouldn't understand. So it's getting me familiar with the term so when I go into this field in the future that I'll have a good heads up of what's going on. Communication is a huge factor of all this. when we go into um the house and we have a client, we're making sure that everyone is on the same page, um Scott will
004turn to me, make sure I'm understanding everything. And then obviously the person that we're with understands what's going on, how like big everything is and just being able to work in like a commercial setting versus like a residential skills on the job. Just being able to adapt cuz not everything's going to be like always the same. So, you have to be able to kind of work around things. I like it a lot. It's just everything is completely different every day. Like, one day we'll be working on kitchen equipment, sometimes rooftop units, or when it's rainy, we'll probably like organize storage, big buildings. Let's say if I wanted to get into a company that specializes in commercial use, like HVAC equipment, then I could say, "Hey, I worked for a school district. I'm used to this.
005I maintain the same equipment you guys do. I'm used to being in big buildings. I'm used to being, you know, 50 ft in the air, right? Like I'm used to that commercial environment. And I think that's something that most places don't really get you accustomed to. So many elements that I didn't really think about until I got here. And this really allowed me to kind of go in onto my craft and just really try to get better at it. I think it really shows the uh types of challenges that you kind of have to work with in media and it just kind of shows you some of the things that you need to kind of see and understand now before you actually get into the field after high school. So, this is really going to
006help me. I work alongside some great people here. Uh Michelle has obviously been a huge factor in my success. She's just shown me the ropes of how to go about things, how to handle myself professionally in the workplace. And then Lexi has come along and helped me a lot with the video side of things. This whole thing has really made me confident uh in my own abilities of what I'm able to do. I'm it it makes me it lets me know that I'm capable of doing something like this and I definitely would love to continue in the communications field if the opportunity is available. That is a wonderful video and I love seeing all the the students um all of their their pieces and and the integrated learning the I loved all the lead different
007shirts all the different colors um for what that represents for their trade. Uh so kudos to the to Victor and um team for putting that together. Yeah. And speaking one to one of our students tonight who received an award during the uh recognitions um he's one of our technology interns for the summer. So technology represented as well. So there a whole bunch of of our professionals at ASC and and beyond have gotten involved with providing students these you know real world opportunities so that they can learn and apply and build their resume as they move on from here. So very excited. Scott Dobson, thank you. I see you over there. Or Ryan Gooding in there. All the others that have been a part of this is uh is pretty special. Yes, it's fantastic. Um now
008moving on to the consent items. We need a motion to approve uh the consent. So moved. Is there a second? Second. All in favor? Motion passes unanimously with the two on the phone also. Um now for umformational items. Yes. I'm gonna invite Dr. Martin to come to the podium in one of her last public acts as a uh Ray Peek um employee. So, this is a big deal. So, this is your this is your swan song. All right. Well, Dr. Vulkar invited Coach Cruz to come and do this tonight and he said no. So, his last Cruz told me no. So, Dr. was very kind enough and he is retiring to say yes and I'll remind Tom that he said for what it's worth I have done for the last two ads so this will
009be the third ad that I have done this this little diddy for so yeah thank you very much I know so before we get started I would like to also add one other shout out to the interns um that led by Scott so we were in a panic um teacher appreciation week, Sonic um always does a super job um donating to our teachers during teacher appreciation and they give us ice cream and we have to start with small bowls because teachers always fill a bowl and it's heaping. So this so we keep getting smaller and smaller bowls because we want to make sure we get through. So, it's a big day and teachers look forward to it um all week long and and we do it on Thursdays and or Wednesdays and we get the
010ice cream machine out and it doesn't work and everyone is in a panic. What are we going to do without the ice cream for teacher appreciation and teachers are already hovering around like is today ice cream day? Is today ice cream day? So we called Jorge and he says, "Sure, we can we can get that going." So Jorge calls one of the interns and um the inter the electrical one of the electrical interns and his instructor comes over, they save the day and they fix the ice cream machine. So So anyway, we got teacher appreciation Sonic. We appreciate them for donating and um it was pretty amazing and all the teachers were absolutely amazed that a kid saved the day for us. So anyway, just funny story with that. All righty. Um we are doing
011our activities and athletics program update um for our 2520 2425 school year that has just passed. And um on the front cover here, you will see Surere Clark and this is Coach Martin. And um a little bit about why I chose this picture to put on here is that um Coach Martin is has retired also and he is our throws coach for the track and field. And so um there were a couple times at track this year that we had um fans in the stand with Anfield signs um because we always talk about track. But anyway, they have broken every um school record for both boys and girls in all the throwing events. So, um and some of those are back from the 1980s. So, just wanted to put that out there. And Sur was
012the last one to break the girl shot put record. So, all right. Okay. So, in the athletics department, um, so I lead this group and Brett Barber was my intern this year, followed by, um, Kristen Blunt at East, James Brown, Jim Brown at South, and in our office is Amanda Schuster and Key Ernst. And this was an amazing group to work with this year. And I think, um, they did fantastic. Uh, super excited to work with them and see where this uh, where athletics goes. um changes in our suburban conference for this year. We went from a five team conference to an eight team conference. We added Lee Summit, Lee Summit North and Staley to the conference this year. Um we had a double roundroin format for most teams. Um meaning we saw each conference
013team twice, once home and once away. And um next this year's uh or the 2526 cycle will mimic this schedule except you will see a difference in um the home and away but it will still be the 18 conference that we are currently in. Um I wanted to review the cornerstones that guided decision- making in our department. Um we wanted to big ideas. Um we wanted Rayek to be a destination district. We wanted to make sure that we had developmental programs and we instilled in our students the confidence to win. And that is why there has been a lot of focus on our middle um middle level athletics facilities um uniforms all of that in addition to um the traditional inspection of what goes on at the varsity level. Within our organizational structure, we always
014ask these questions. Are we competitive? Um, do we have do we provide the coaching and skill development needed? And are we equitable both across programs and then within the volume of a program? Meaning, are we um making sure that small programs get the same um notoriety, the same uh updates and all that as our bigger teams. And so that that is how we um tried to lead with decision- making. Um this year we are saying goodbye um coming up in the 2526 we're saying goodbye to Trevor Vuland after 14 years as our athletic trainer and this has been put out to bid and we've made our recommendation and that will on consent. Okay, that will be on consent. All right, and we're moving forward with Children's Mercy. So I'm excited to see how that um
015unfolds in the coming years. And uh one thing that Trevor led um along with Dan Schwarz was our physical night. And so we just had that on um the 4th of June and Kendall Burke, Dan Fiser, and Key Erns do a fabulous job getting that set up for us. Um we had 121 students that came through and received a physical and the very next day on June 5th, Amanda Schuster personally uploaded all information for parents. So that was kind of one of our selling points was if you come to physical night we will get you set up for 2526 and yes parents they absolutely loved uh having everything done and they were ready to go and so when August 11th hits and fall sports start they are they are ready to go. Um, we also,
016um, I want to report that last year we moved to using our student information system, uh, focus, um, to be the portal that we housed our physicals and all of our, um, athletic student records in. And I think that was a success and parents really um, enjoyed not having to go to another system. Um, we we have used Privet in the past and it was a little chaotic. So, we've um streamlined that and so parents have kind of a one-stop shop for student records and payments and things like that. So, um I also want to say thank you to our finance department because they were instrumental in um helping bring that finance piece into our student information system and making that um integrated. And Key um in our office worked um with the finance group
017and has done a I think it's been really good. So again, one-stop shop for our parents and I think anytime we can integrate those resources for our parents, that's a that is a good thing. Uh this year we had 1,021 unique high school students involved in one or more mission sponsored activity throughout the school year. Um so the unique um students doesn't mean that we had that many roster spots. We had 1,477 Misha roster positions. That's 125 more students that were involved in a Misha activity. Throughout the year, we had 479 performing arts participants, and we had 448 fall athletes, 186 winter athletes, and 206 spring athletes this year. So, we are growing in all areas. Um, if you're interested in what our roster sizes were, um, this slide right here shows our our roster
018sizes by sport or activity. And we you'll see we had teams of anywhere from 10 to groups of 372. So, um, lots of lots of students participating at all levels. So this is our high school participation data. Again, a lot of numbers here. So indicators to observe. Um we are pretty balanced in participation between male and female athletes, which supports our title n compliance. That's always something to be mindful of. Um we had a jump in participation from the sophomore year to the freshman year to the sophomore year. And then we see the typical decline in participation um junior and senior years. But I believe that that is offset when you consider the significant number of academic opportunities for our students. Plus students have the opportunity to um dual enroll part-time participation u part-time enrollment
019and other factors that kind of lead to that. But overall, um, the balance in male and female athletes and the jump in participation when they come into the sophomore year, I think are all good and positive things. Kids see kids in involved and they want to become part of that. And we are still reporting good news with higher GPA associated with participation. Almost every team that we had was recognized by Misha as a distinguished um scholar athletic team. So that is good. So our students not involved in athletics averaged a 2.91 unweighted GPA compared to our 3.25 in athletics, our 335 in band, choir, orchestra. Our musical um activities theater and speech was 3.15 and scholar bowl at 4.01. And just kind of a quick overview of of accomplishments, achievements, notable um recognitions of our
020athletes. We had two conference championships, girls golf and boys cross country. We had two district championships in softball and girls golf. Three district championships um and uh three district championship runner-up teams in girls volleyball, boys basketball and baseball. 17 state medals and two state champions. Um one being the girls 4x100 meter relay team who ran the um third fastest time overall in history. Missouri history and Gabe Vulkar uh is the new school record holder and the state champion in the 3200 meter. And these next few slides um detail like by team the accomplishments that each of them had received. Um again, girls softball was district champions. Boys uh swim had uh I would they had a team of 10 and still managed to place 18th at the state meet. Uh girls golf won the conference
021championship which was the first time since 2004 and they also placed fifth as a team at state which is moving up from sixth place last year and it is the second time in a row that they have qualified the team to participate in the state tournament. Um, and that was in um, Cape Gerardo, I believe, which Yeah, Cape Yeah, Cape Gerardo. Um, I always attend those. That was the longest drive. I could not believe I was still in Missouri six hours later. But, um, I learned that and I learned I learned a lot about, uh, where a lot of other towns were in Missouri and I was like, we're still driving and we're still in Missouri. So, uh, girls volleyball district runnerup and I want to highlight that even though they are the district runnerup,
022they are consistently making gains in postseason play um for the third year in a row. So, this was a big deal. Uh, three years ago, four years ago, they were the eight seed, which is the bottom seed in district play. And so, moving up into third seed and then outperforming their seed, I think, is is a big deal to these girls. And we have a a new coach coming in that is super excited, involved. The girls have um she's kind of hard on the girls as far as like making physical transformations and working them with them in summer fitness. And the girls um came up to me last week and said, "She's tough, but this is exactly what we asked for." So again, I hope to see um more strides in our girls volleyball program.
023boys cross country were conference champs, district champs, and third at the state championships with three all-state runners. Um, in boys soccer, coach John Shaver was named as the Missouri High School Coaches Association assistant coach of the year. Um, that was a dramatic loss of him this year and that position did remain unfulfilled um in both the girls and boys season for this year. uh because I think the coaches and the players um wanted to remember him and they all worked hard and wanted to um keep his his spirit alive through this season. Um girls tennis, we had uh Doulce Dunham was our state qualifier for the second year in a row and coach Howard was named director of this summer's Adidas tennis camp. Boys wrestling had three state qualifiers. Girls had two. Girls basketball um
024made it to district semifinals and the boys basketball team made it to the district championship this year. Again, outperforming their seed and moving up. And so that was a big deal for us as well. And I'm super happy to report that we had six state medals in our Special Olympics program this year. And I am so proud of this group. And I'm proud of the way that Ray Peek High School um supports and represents our Special Olympics athletes this year. They um they received warm-ups to wear to their state tournament. And I wish you could have seen the look on their faces when they got their their warm-ups. And there were parents that came in um the next day, the next practice, and they said, "We want to buy this because our kid will not
025take it off. So, can we please buy these warm-ups? And so, we said, "Sure." So, um super excited to see that. Um we put a logo that had um RP and then where the R&P meet um we put the Special Olympics logo. So, they truly were Special Olympics um warm-ups for them. And I can't tell you how excited it was. So, they have bowling shirts, they have um new uh basketballs, they have their own equipment, they have their own gym time, and I'm really really proud of what has has gone on in our Special Olympics program. Um baseball has three all-state members, um three all-state members, and they were also district runnerup. And then girls track, again, we have our state championship team. We have uh girls 4 by two was seventh uh and then
026kind of kind of Simmons ends her career with seven state medals which is the third most in school history. She pulled her hamstring um in the 4x100 and she still had the 200 meter relay the 200 meter open to run and she forfeited that because of her hamstring. Had she participated in that, she would have had eight state medals, which would have pushed her up to the second most in school history. And we had one state champion in boys track, and that was Gabe Walker. So, boys golf, we had uh Jackson Mallerie is our single state qualifier. girls cheerleading qualified for state and Prowers had an absolutely outstanding uh run in our at their national um championships in Orlando and they qualified uh in all three routines and the Prowers placed in the top three
027for two routines for the first time ever. So super excited for them. flag football, we had the Chiefs coach of the week and the team made it to the championship game again this year and we ended the season with a record of 16 and two. Um in our activities we had theater, speech and debate and with the inauguration of our performing arts center I don't know um how much of this was shared but we sold a record number of tickets over the four performances for our first performance and it was 2,238 tickets. So that was also using our new um ticket platform which we were allowed to to do. Um we sold seats and so it was we learned a lot in that first night and had it corrected by the second night. Um but
028again 2,238 tickets was pretty amazing. And you heard today they were the district um the readers theater were district champions for the third year in a row. And we had two teams make it to the top 60 at nationals in duo interpretations. And Eli Showan and Ian Hannibberg made it to the top 14 in the nation. Band earned had 15 state medalists. Orchestra had the first gold rating in Rayek history. We will miss Briana Henzel. She was fantastic um as an orchestra director and I'm really proud of the work she did to start our orchestra program and what a great start she has has put in place for us and when Mr. was here. Um, what he didn't say, and I uh wanted to make sure that we pointed this out, Ray Ray Sings won
029the maximum number of gold ratings available to programs in Missouri due to state rules. So, because of the way the rules are written, there's a maximum number of gold ratings that you can get for each program. But we had gold exemplary ratings from every judge, including site reading for chamber singers, treble, chamber choir, concert choir, treble choir, and the black and gold choir. So, hats off to him. And we had 22 of our student athletes or performers signing letters of intent to participate at the collegiate level. This was our first year of boys volleyball and if anybody went to a boys volleyball game, I hope you saw the excitement of just the the kids that were participating in that. Um, Coach Lewis did a fantastic job with our boys this year and they are kids
030that we had not seen participating in athletics in other in several other programs and it was truly a joy to go and watch them. So, I am so excited for what is in store for that program. Jeff Moore earned the Trails West student senate advisor of the year and we were part of the Missouri traditions program for both football and wrestling at the Missouri State Championships. So, in the fall uh there was a group of boys that showed up um to participate in with coach I think coach Martin and coach Cruz were at the championship and they were honored on field. And then the same thing at our wrestling championship. And you can see these guys here. So this is their um their wrestling championship photo in 2005. And these are the kids that were
031in that photo as adults in 2025. So some of these faces that you might notice um we've got Kendall Burke who is on staff. Coach Barbarick is still here. We have Coach Heinaman and Coach Martin. So, those are a few of our familiar faces around here, right Peek, that were honored that night. And this is just to sum it all up, just a longitudinal look at participation at both the middle school and high school level levels over the past three years. And we had overall, 1575 students in grades uh 6 through 12 participated in our activities and athletics programs this past year. And next year we are looking forward to expanding programs in middle school at the seventh grade for seventh grade volleyball, sixth grade cross country, sixth grade wrestling, and we have plans to
032um do sixth through eight middle school inter murals and things that are already um in place and and we're getting uh traction is with swim, soccer, volleyball, flag football, and there are several others that are in the works. So that's what we have going. Um, looking forward to 25 26 and as always, it's a great day to be a Panther. Thank you, Dr. Martin. That is an amazing feat and a lot to keep track of um throughout the year with all of the sports um and Hall of Fame wall. That is a beat to keep track of all that. Well, I'd like to say too, thank you to you and Sean for your impact, your positive impact you've made at Rayek over the years. So, you guys will both be truly missed. So, thank you.
033I appreciate that. All right. [Applause] Now on to action items. Um the 202526 meal prices. Yes. As Lindsay Morgan comes to the podium, she's going to lead us through our first two action items. Uh talking a little bit about the meal prices and then chemical sanitation services bid. We're very excited about that. So this evening, good evening. Like you said, I'm Lindsay Morgan, director of child nutrition. I have a couple things before you this evening. The first is the 25 26 meal prices. So, it is being recommended that the board of education approve an increase in price of paid lunches by 10 cents for um this upcoming school year. That means that lunch for prek through five will be 2.95. Um it'll be 315 for grades 6 through 12. And we're asking you to go
034ahead and do the same increase by 10 cents for the paid breakfast. Um that would be 220 for prek through five. And for grades six through 12 um would be sorry it's let's see yeah 220 and then prek through 5 is 210 excuse me. And then we're asking for um increase for adult meals by 20 cents. So that means breakfast would be 275 and lunch would be 415. Um the increase for meals for adults is to an effort to ensure that we are working to cover the cost of the meal and we're not subsidizing it with any of the federal funding that we have. So do you guys have any questions? Is this consistent with other districts around? Um, yeah, we have to put it into this fund formula um that Dusty gives us and
035across the nation and it kind of spits out numbers and 10 cents is pretty common of what we look at each year. When was the last time do that we had a lunch price change? Is that an answer? Last year. Okay. Most of this I believe is uh federally driven, isn't it? Our prices. Yes. Okay, any other questions? Um, I need a motion to approve increasing paid student breakfast and lunch prices by 10 cents and increasing adult breakfast and lunch prices by 20 cents for the 202526 school year. So moved. Is there a second? Second. All in favor? Motion passes unanimously. On to the chemical sanitation services bid. the very exciting chemical instead um bid. So, we've received two bids. Um based on the bid criteria, we're recommending that we continue with SFS pack. Um
036they've been really good to meet our needs. Um they look at the total package of what our chemical needs are, but they go beyond that to make sure we are meeting all our standard as well. So, it's been a really good partnership. Um the contract begins on of course July 1 um through June 30 and um 2026 and we have options um for renewal based on performance. So you guys have any questions on this one? Are they our current provider? They are our current provider. Yes. And how long have we been with them? As far back as I can see, it's at least seven years. Okay. And no issues? We've had no issues. Okay. Um, can I get a motion to approve the bid for chemical sanitation services from SFSPIAC for a yearly amount of
037$20,57640? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Any other comments, questions? Those in favor? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. That was very scintillating. Love it. Um, yes. Uh, Dr. Dr. Dobson, Districtwide Pavement Conservation. Doctor, sorry. Well, I mean, you can be today if you want, Mr. Dobson. I think that fits better. Thank you. Okay. Good evening. All right. Uh, this evening we have some pretty exciting things. So, continuing out our pavement improvement plan uh for the district. This would be a capital expenditure. Um, this is simply just our maintenance and our replacement of the really bad spots as we do our evaluations throughout the district. Um, we solicited bids back in March on this or February, excuse me, on this one. And we are electing to move forward with our low bidder of Barkley Asphalt
038in the amount of $37,000 $37,1543, excuse me. Happy to answer any questions on this one. Is this just part of the normal where you're looking at all the areas of what is next that needs to be Yep. This is not a full replacement of any facility. This is simply uh repairing the bad spots at at every facility. So I think this year we're touching about nine schools is where we're at. Okay. And have we used Sparkley in the past? Uh actually they have been our low bidder the last four years and they do excellent work for us. And Scott, this is from your capital projects line, correct? So explain to the board what that is and how do you use that real quick if you Yep. That's our fund for line. So that is for
039all capital outlays um for betterment and and whatnot of the district for large expenditures. This is just our regular maintenance basically then on our asphalt. That is correct. Yep. This is our standard uh budget. We have been carrying this about year five. I believe we've upped it a little bit every single year. Um this is by far the largest we've done but it was a planned capital outlay in our budget. Okay. Do we have any significant areas of need coming up in asphalt work? Uh there could be. Yes. Uh there is some fairly large needs of some parking lots. Um a fair percentage of the parking lots are are original in the school district. Um and that would be a future need for the school district to keep maintaining those. We are bandating them. Um
040but simply some of them are bandaids, not permanent repairs. Thank you. Can I get a motion to approve the bid for districtwide concrete and asphalt work from Barkley Asphalt, Inc. and the amount not to exceed $37,1543? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Any comments? All in favor? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Dobson. On to the budget. Miss thanks. Oh, I hate to sound biased, but I think this is going to be the most riveting conversation we're going to have of the night. Um, so I am awfully excited. So, I first Great, Ryan's got that up. Okay. So, thank you um for the opportunity to be able to present our fiscal year 2025 26 26 budget recommendation. Um for our new board member and members of the public who may not have
041been present for all of our discussions, this may seem like a pretty short presentation, but as you all know, our budget recommendation is the result of a multi-year process. And tonight, we will only be hitting the high points of that process and the recommended budget for fiscal year 2526. Um, I'd like to thank you for your involvement in the many discussions we've had about the programs and the cost and the spending um that we've had. Starting on this slide, we'll talk about the budget development process. Um, I'll begin by highlighting some points that form the basic foundation of our budget development. As in past years, we have used best practices as defined by the Association of School Business Officials International in developing our budget um which require a focus on transparency and strategic planning in
042the budget process. Our budget is always a product of collaboration among administrators throughout the district and I'd like to thank all of the administrators and staff for their part in developing this budget. U many hours were invested to build the estimates included in this budget and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank um and recognize a couple who might go unnoticed otherwise. So starting with this small this I was going to say rather large but numbers keep dwindling um cabinet group beside me Dr. Vulkar Dr. Hatfield Pam um we've all had multiple conversations either in a group setting or an individual about the 2526 budget. Um, also I'd like to recognize Rachel Surles, director of HR, who has collaborated with me time and time and time again, it seems like, um, who did a
043lot of work on the employee cost projections. Lastly, I'd like to thank Dr. Slegel for his guidance, grace, and willingness to answer all my questions that I have. So, thank you. Um, there are many more who contributed to this budget. Um, I can't name them all, but my point is this is that all the collaboration and buyin gives me confidence that with this budget, we will be able to carry out the plans for the districts in fiscal year 2526. Additionally, as in the past, this budget is based not only on historical analysis, but on forecasting and projections to make sure that budget decisions made for the fiscal year 2526 can be carried through into the future and will result in continued financial health for the district. This budget reflects the priorities of the strategic plan
044that you approved in May 2022, including the additional support for teacher and staff salaries and benefits provided by Prop RP1 and current enrollment projections. I also want to highlight the ongoing work our administrators do to seek out and apply for external funding opportunities. Throughout the year, district leaders are consistently investigating and pursuing grant opportunities that align with our programs and our needs. Their efforts help us maximize available resources and also reduce the burden on local funding whenever possible. As we discussed at our budget work session back in March, seems like years ago at this point, and we focused on three priorities in developing the FY26 budget, investing in people who care deeply for our students, helping students do hard things, and creating lifeenhancing opportunities. I knew I was going to do that. Sorry, technical error.
045Operator error. Operator. Um, in keeping with these priorities, here are some of the highlights of this year's budget. As promised to the voters, 100% of revenues generated by Prop RP1 that was passed by the voters in April of 2023 have been and will continue to be used for salary and benefit increases. The current year salary schedules you approved in March result in a 2.7% average overall increase in the certified schedule and restructures the support staff schedules to provide for a minimum wage of $15 per hour. We also absorbed a 3% increase in health insurance premiums while continuing to provide full board paid coverage for all employees. The budget also includes um increase related to expanding middle school activities by introducing cross country and wrestling to sixth graders, adding intramural programs, and extending volleyball to seventh
046graders. I'm not going to get too click happy. The FY26 budget. I knew it that was going to happen. I'm I'm sorry. There's just a little delay here. The FY26 budget includes continuation and expansion of our real world learning programs. As everyone in this room is aware, the build of our very own integrated learning house is the epitome of all the great work we are doing. Pictures on this slide depict what we have been able to share with our public as well as news media showing what our HVAC and electrical study students are taking what they've learned in the classroom and applying it in a real world setting. We will also be expanding the heavy equipment operator engineering program at the lead center for the 2526 school year. This is allowing us to add two
047sessions per day and an additional instructor. Lastly, I'd like to mention the addition of student interns for next school year. This new initiative for the 2526 school year allows our students to work alongside district personnel on career education projects including HVAC, drones, and electrical work. As always, our budget does allow for increased costs that are generally expected and unavoidable, such as transportation, insurance, and utilities. And also, as we discussed in March, as well as our June advance just a few weeks ago, while the revenue budget follows the governor's recommendation, we have built in a measure of conservatism due to the economic uncertainties and legislation like Senate Bill 190. So, those are the highlights of our operating budget which is presented here. This is the same recap that you saw just a few weeks ago at
048the June 12th advance meeting. As we discussed, these budget projections provide for conservative revenue growth in regards to assessed valuation increases as well as the state adequacy target. Additionally, a three-year implementation of the Prop RP1 strategy under which we are providing the most significant raises that could be supported by our three-year revenue projections in the final year fiscal year 2026. After projecting revenue for fiscal years 27 2027 through 29 as well as adding in increases for salary and benefits and supplies and purchase services, we are projecting a materially balanced budget in two out of the three years as shown in this recap. The final year, fiscal year 2029, is projecting more of a larger strategic use of reserves. However, there is nothing to get too concerned about at this time. The orange column in the
049center contains the current year's current budget, fiscal year 2025. And we actually expect that we will end this year better than what with a higher fund balance to begin fiscal year 2026 with. However, even with our budgeted increase in fund balance, our proposed budget and three-year projection beyond that projects an ending fund balance well within the range specified by our strategic plan, which is 16 to 20%. In just a moment, I'll show you a fund balance graph that better illustrates that position of our fund balance. This slide shows the proportion of our operating budget spent on staff versus supplies and purchase services. Nearly threearters of our operating dollars are invested in people, salary, and benefits, underscoring our priority of supporting those who directly serve students. This slide does show the trend in operating fund balance
050as a percentage of expenditures. As I mentioned a moment ago, reserves are projected to increase in fiscal year 26 as we finish implementing the three-year strategy of Prop RP1. Our strategic plan calls for an operating fund balance of 16 to 20% of operating expenditures. Even by fiscal year 2029, reserves are projected to stay well above the board's minimum target, evidence of our conservative and forward-looking fiscal strategy. Of course, we also have to have a budget for our non-operating funds. These funds included our include our $2.6 $6 million transfer to capital projects and our dirt debt service fund remain healthy and aligned with long-term obligations. So, those were the high points. Um, is there any questions that I can answer for you all tonight? I would like to say thank you. You know, this has not
051been a one-time conversation. This is a conversation we've had over multiple months between the cabinet and the board and we appreciate that collaboration between everyone. Yes, ma'am. That's what I was going to say, Ruth. But we do appreciate it and we we have had lots of conversations and I may have had a lot of questions already. I don't have any more today just yet. I I appreciate them and welcome them anytime. Um, but I thank you for all of your time and support throughout this entire process. So, um, there's nothing else. I do respectfully recommend the approval of the FY26 budget. I need a motion, if I could find it. This diligent is not my favorite, but a motion to approve the fiscal year 26 budget as presented. So moved. Is there a second? All
052in favor? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you very much. Thank you, Miss Banks. Thank you, Tiffany. On to committee reports. Any committees? It's summer, so I know a lot of committees are breaking. Not breaking, not being broken, but taking a break. Um, okay. On to the superintendent update. Yes. Thank you, Madame Vice President. In your official board documents tonight, you will find my four most recent updates that I've submitted over the past several weeks. They are also online for uh our community to see as well. I'd like to take a few moments to highlight just a couple of things as we close out this fiscal year together. First, I want to thank the board for your attendance and engagement at the most recent board staff advance that we held last week. As you know, time together
053is always valuable. It's a chance for us to really think about the year that we've just completed and then also to look forward to uh the work ahead as it relates to our strategic plan and most importantly to our students. I'm generally excited about the direction we're headed. I shared that with you with our customer assessment survey that uh I think was very very uh encouraging and our shared work together during that work session will help us set the tone for the months to come. So I'm excited about the work ahead already for 2526 school year. Additionally, since this is our June meeting, it marks the official close of our fiscal year on July 1st, which is, I think, next Tuesday. We transition into a new year. And with that, we mark both farewells and
054fresh beginnings. We're saying goodbye to several key staff members. Dr. Martin was here tonight. Uh several others are absent tonight because they took tonight off because uh this is at the end of the road. Uh these are individuals who have provided exceptional service to the Rapex School District and we are grateful. So whether through retirement or taking on new opportunities elsewhere, I want to sincerely thank them for their dedication and positive impact they've had on students, our staff, and on this community. That said, we are equally excited about welcoming new team members who will bring being joining us. Many of them will be starting on Tuesday, July July 1st. you have the opportunity to meet them as we move into the year uh throughout the 2526 school year and they'll know they will greatly contribute
055to our success uh that we're looking forward to for the next school year. Finally, as we hit this midpoint of summer board, I want to thank you for your leadership, your continued support of this district and of our administration for what we're trying to do and wish each of you a safe, happy, and enjoyable Fourth of July. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Single. Are there any board of education comments? We're usually not very shy waiting till the end to say thank you. So, um, we thank you guys. Um, on to calendar of events. July 31st, regular board meeting, 6 pm closed, 700 p.m. open. Um, just noting it will be the fifth Thursday. Don't know if that matters, but it's what it says here, so I'm going to say it. And with that, we are
056adjourned. Thank you. Maybe it won't be raining and Carol can go see if her water her grass is being