001It's 6:30, so I'm going to gave in in just a moment if people like to find their seats. Thank you. I would like to call this first meeting of the 2005 2025 20226 school year to order. Um we have scouts from troop 109 and 323 who will come up and lead us in the pledge. And I would ask that at the end of the pledge you all remain standing because it will be followed by a moment of silence to honor the memory of a Sunrise Middle School 8th grade graduate. Thank you. Thank you very much. May I have roll call, please? >> Here. >> Mr. Pera, >> here. >> Greenberg, >> here. >> Lynn, >> here. >> Thank you. Next on the agenda is approval of agenda. Dr. Cummings items approved by consent will not
002discuss during the meeting but will be approved. Agenda is adopted. This is possible since members of the governing board receive the agenda along with backup materials at least 24 hours prior to the meeting and have had time to review and consider all items. Prior to the agenda being adopted, members of the governing board may ask that an item be removed from the consent agenda and brought to the floor for discussion at the appropriate place on the agenda. Any member of the audience who submitted a blue card, a blue public comment card prior to the start of the meeting will be recognized to speak on that agenda item under items for approval. President Greenberg, I would like to offer the agenda as posted. >> Thank you, Dr. Cummings. Prior to the meeting, we received no blue
003public comment cards. So, no one out there has asked us to pull anything. Does any member of the board wish to move anything from the consent agenda to items for approval? Going once, going twice. Seeing none, uh, Dr. Li, may I have a motion to approve the meeting agenda and recommended consent agenda items as presented? I don't have the exact language written down in front of me. >> You can you can just say so moved because >> a motion to approve the consent agenda as is. >> Thank you. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. Any opposed, please say nay. >> Any abstensions? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Next on the agenda is governing board statements. Anybody Anybody want to go first? Mrs. morning. >> It's so hot outside. So so so hot
004outside. So I will keep brief. Um I don't know why that's connected, but it feels like it is. Um I just want to welcome everybody back to uh PV and to school. It kind of feels like it happened fast, like we were just here. So that's strange. But I hope everybody had a a wonderful summer. Um I'm excited to be back. I'm excited that my children are back in school. Um, welcome again to Dr. Cummings. I'm excited for this year and this governing board and all the wonderful things that I hope we'll be able to do together. Um, and to get to come out to see all of you at your sites and to learn more about all of you. And so, just welcome and thank you to cabinet. And I this is my last
005thing. Thank you to all of the effort that has gone into um supporting the governing board and helping us be informed. and I see and appreciate the additions and the standardized information that we're getting and they've also given us um the information we've we're getting the information many more days in advance than we were before. So, I'm incredibly grateful. It helps us do I think the best job we possibly can. So, thank you. Seriously, thank you so much. I know it's extra work for you all. So, um welcome back and again excited for this school year. >> Thank you, Missy. Mrs. Christensen. >> Thank you. Good evening everyone and welcome to our first governing board meeting of this school year. Whether you're joining us online or in person, whether it's your your first or your
006251st board meeting, we welcome you and we always welcome the community to be here with us today. I would like to extend a warm welcome to all our students, staff, families, and community members as we begin what we hope will be a successful and rewarding year. I'm especially pleased to welcome our new superintendent, Dr. Cummings, and our new board secretary, Relle. We're excited to have you both both on board and look forward to your leadership and your support in our district. So, thank you both. Um, as we begin this school year, I am hopeful for continued progress in academic achievement. I remain committed to fiscal responsibility with our taxpayer dollars while ensuring resources are directed to support our students in the classroom, particularly in support of our teachers who a lot of them um are
007here today. And um we hope that we can get you some competitive salaries, our highquality local training opportunities whenever possible. And I also want to emphasize the importance of school safety and ensuring that every student and staff member feels secure and supported in their learning environment. Lastly, I want to thank all the community members that have reached out to us board members over the summer. Um while individual board members cannot independently resolve concerns, we really appreciate that we can be your voice up here. So, I just wanted to say thank you and um we just want to say that we ensure that your voice is heard and that um input is directed to the appropriate district leaders. So, here's a strong and successful school year ahead. >> Thank you, Mrs. Christensen. Mr. Pantara. >> Oh,
008thank you, President Greenberg. Hello, everyone. Welcome back. Um back to school. That's the whole thing. My running club did a theme. They do themes sometimes and this time they did a back to school running event. We had to do dress like back to school. Everybody dressed like a student from one of their favorite schools they attended. I was the only one that showed up as a teacher. They said, "What's the deal? What's the deal, Tony?" Well, I've gone back to school more as a teacher than I ever did as a student. You know, that's really I was a student for how long and then 40ome years as educator. And one part of my routine is always going to Eagle Ridge, the Ridge, and signing up for the PTSA, paying my dues there. Make sure I'm
009I'm I'm bored there. Um, other organizations around uh around the district here do the same thing. Um, a plug for my Elks Lodge, they had an event where they gave free backpacks and school supplies to students to coming back. Oh, and by the way, if any third grade teachers or schools out there needs dictionaries, they have a special program to get free dictionaries. So hit them up for those. But you see that around the district. There's churches, there's other organizations that are doing all kinds of back- to-school things for their students, you know, not just the parents, not just the PTSAs. And it's that cohesion that that uh interface of the of all these groups that really make me very happy and and full of hope that we as a community can keep going forward
010together and make sure our students have another great su successful year. >> Thank you, Mr. Panta. Dr. them. >> Great. So, a as everyone else, I'd like to welcome everyone back to the school year. It's an exciting time to be back. Um, it's exciting to see all the faces back at the school. Uh, I have the littlest, uh, kiddos in the room. Both of my kids just started back at Whispering Winds Academy. Um, my youngest, uh, for those of you who may not know, spent two months in the hospital at the end of the school year. she's doing really well and it was really great to see her welcomed into the classroom. The principal, the nurse, many other staff knew who she was before she even walked in the door. So, she felt super welcomed.
011Um, and her sister knows everyone. And so, it was a whole parade for the first day we arrived, which was meet the teacher night. um which was an amazing time to see everyone, but also a reminder that we hit the ground running here really fast with the teachers returning very quickly into the classroom to have the students show up not long after that. Um and sometimes our buildings aren't ready. Sometimes the air hasn't been turned on in a classroom in a while and we find out that a couple classrooms aren't working and people come out and fix it and it's not working again the next day. Um, so I showed up in both my daughter's classrooms, the air conditioning wasn't working. Um, but by the next day when I came back to talk, uh, as
012a leader for one of the parent groups, uh, those classrooms, the district had come together and staff were already on site fixing those classrooms so that Monday morning those kids are going to have air conditioning in those classrooms. And more important, the teachers who are rushing to set up their classrooms were able to set up comfortably. So, I appreciate that not only are the teachers hitting the ground running, but our facilities team and groups all over like transportation and other areas are also hitting the ground running very quickly and dealing with many, many issues that are snowballing across all of our schools and sites very quickly and mitigating them so fast. This allows us to have our students start and have us parents feel comfortable sending our kids to the classroom knowing not only do
013they have amazing teachers, but they have air conditioning in this lovely heat. Um, so I appreciate seeing the district come together very quickly because all the smiling faces showing up were we're so excited to be there and ready to meet their teachers and ready to start school. So, I appreciate uh seeing everyone again. and I appreciate this school year starting and I appreciate the warm welcome that is happening all over the district for many of our students. >> Thank you, Dr. Lim. Um, I just want to say welcome as well and um, yeah, start of a school year is always amazing. I always used to love the, you know, getting the the new books and getting the pencil sharpened and getting your pen, you know, just all the supplies and what you were going to
014do with them and and, you know, meet the teacher and um it's incredibly exciting to just see that replicated student after student after student, teacher after teacher after teacher, parent after parent after parent in our district. Um, I do want to thank uh everyone on staff, starting with Dr. Cummings and cabinet and on down and every teacher in the classroom, every teacher out of classroom, every staff member for making paradise paradise and for welcoming our kiddos back, welcoming our families and um I I really think we are in such an amazing place right now in terms of where we can go this year um as a district, as in each of our schools and each of our students and um every staff member in terms of professional development in terms of moving forward. And so
015I look forward to hearing about everybody's journeys of excellence as we go through this year. And um just one more thank you and welcome back. And with that, I return to the agenda. We have no awards and recognitions this evening, but I'm sure we will starting next meeting. So next on the agenda is superintendent comments. Dr. Cummings. Thank you, President Greenberg. First, I want to join the governing board and say welcome back to school, everyone. This week, I got to visit several of our schools. It's so nice to have all of our staff and students back with us. From Sunrise and Transportation to new faces at kindergarten, preschool parents, the seniors who chatted about their college, trade school, and military plans. I look forward to starting this new chapter with you. I'm grateful for the
016to the governing board for the opportunity. Thank you. PV schools remains a premier district of choice built on a foundation of cutting edge opportunities, innovative learning experiences, collaboration, and an unwavering commitment to student success. I'm looking forward to a great year and continuing to meet and listen to all of our stakeholders. I'd like to continue by congratulating our assistant superintendent of business and finance, Miss Jill Beran, on her winning the William Love It Memorial Award. The award is the highest individual recognition given annually by the Arizona Association of School Board offici of school business officials to an outstanding member for their significant contributions and impact on the organization and profession. I think we can clap. That's pretty significant. I'd like to thank Jean Copen and Dr. Andrea Cunningham for the amazing PV schools of rock
017all admin professional learning. Thank you to the staff at Paradise Valley High School, Sherry Lindsay, and the Pride of Paradise marching band, as well as Explore Middle School's Braving the Birds band members, student Ellie Walker, guitarist, and current eighth grader Explorer, student Jacob Cole, drummer, and now ninth grader at Pinnacle, and Explorer teachers Stephanie Ache, and Tyler Allen. Thank you to our new teacher mentors, Jen Hudson, Blake Ryder, Amy Zuki, Ivy Violet, and Rosemary Jacob. Welcome to our new teachers, especially all those PV schools alum who've returned to teach. It was amazing to see them raise their hand at um new teacher orientation. In PV schools, we engage, inspire, and nurture students through highquality instruction, meaningful education opportunities, and dynamic learning experiences. One of these experiences is our dual enrollment program. Recently, PV schools hosted
018its first ever districtwide dual enrollment registration event, which was an amazing success. A huge thank you goes to Paradise Valley High School for hosting the event and to our outstanding partners from the Maricopa County Community College System, Paradise Valley Community College, and Rio Salado for providing knowledgeable and enthusiastic teams to guide Pave Schools families through the dual enrollment process. The event truly exemplifies district and community collaboration and action, expanding access and opportunities for all of our students. This week I met with Marishia Gerity and Linda Shre Shredinski from Volunteers in Paradise. To all the VIPs I've met so far, thank you. I'm looking forward to supporting this amazing program and watching the fantastic ways you support our district and students. Our annual update. PV schools wants to remind families to please complete the annual update
019for the 2526 school year. This is an opportunity to update your contact information, including address changes, phone number changes, as well as emergency contact information. The online annual update has replaced the printed emergency card and can be found by visiting portal.pvschools.net. And thank you, President Greenberg. That concludes my comments this evening. >> Thank you very much, Dr. Cummings. And now we move to items for approval. So, next on the agenda is approval of um item G1, consideration and if deemed advisable, approve the authorization of the issuance and sale of school improvement bonds of the district resolution 583. Miss Berin, I'll turn it over to you. >> Thank you, President Greenberg and governing board members and Dr. Cummings. I think is this the right presentation now? Nope. This is it. Okay. Uh so it is time
020again for the district to sell bonds. Uh the bonds do fund our uh construction projects that happened throughout the district. Many of which uh happened over the summer and as is typical. Uh our facilities team worked very hard to ensure that those were completed before school started. There were a few that cut it quite close. uh we had backup plans, but we didn't actually have to implement any of those backup plans. So, moving forward, our next sale is uh recommended for 97 million. Um oh, and actually before I forget, one of the most important things there at the top, the credit ratings. We have an AA1 with Moody's and a AAA with Fitch. Very important for us to have incredible um credit ratings. That's just like the same as your personal credit rating. The better
021your credit rating, the better borrowing rate that you receive. So with selling 97 million this round, we will have 168 uh million remaining of the 340 that was approved by our voters in 2023. And these will be paid back from a period of 2026 through 2044. And then the all-in true interest costs right now estimated to be at 3.9%. Once the sale is complete, we um will know exactly what those all went for and report that back to the board. Uh but usually we estimate pretty conservatively here. So hopefully we'll get better than that 3.9%. And I would just say we do have folks with us from uh Stifel, Megan Burke from Stifel, Bill Davis um from Piper, and then um Jim Gil who is our attorney on our bond sales if there are any
022legal or financial questions that I may not be able to answer. And with that, well actually happy to answer any questions first. Well, I need to we need to make a motion first. So, >> sure. >> Do you want to do you wanna you want me to do that or you want to just >> The last thing I was going to say is thank you to our PVUSD voters. Obviously, without this we uh without their votes, we would not be able to do this, but that was that was the last thing I wanted to say. >> Then then we can go right into it. Dr. Lim, may I please have a motion to consider and if deemed advisable, approve the authorization of the issuance and sale of school improvement bonds of the district. Resolution 583
023as presented. >> I move that the governing board considers and if deemed advisable approve the authorization of the insurance and sales of school improved bonds of the district under resolution 583. >> Thank you. Now, does any board member have any questions or comments for anyone? Miss Wanie, >> thank you and thank you all for being here to answer our questions. Appreciate it. Um, so can you just can you whoever you might be able to answer this too. Um, just speak to like mark just market conditions I guess generally and how like so this 3.9 that's kind of a conservative >> um anticipated interest cost. >> How does that compare to pastimes and just like market conditions generally? >> Um, Miss Swanie, I'd have to go back to remember what our previous ones are. Obviously market
024conditions go up and down. Um they can change. I remember my very first sale here in Paradise Valley. We every we we don't just decide and then the next day bring this to the board. And so it's been a long time in planning and approved by the board and we go out to sale on that day and the night before Russia invaded Ukraine. And so things change, things like that happen and they change what happens in the market those those days. But um I would maybe just ask probably Bill, do you want to talk about any recent sales? Or Megan, if either of you have done any recent sales, if you'll come up here. Thank you. >> Good evening, Madame President, members of the board, um Dr. Cummings. My name is Bill Davis. I'm with
025the firm of Piper Sandler, and we're serving as financial adviser to the district for the sale of bonds. Um and Megan Burke is here too and maybe she can jump in. Um the market has actually been pretty stable over the last four to six weeks. Um you know midspring saw a lot of volatility with the tariffs. Uh the markets kind of went crazy. One of those events that Jill referenced that can happen overnight. Um but we have seen you know stability with slightly declining rates. Um, as you all know, the Feds, you know, been under a lot of pressure, but, you know, they're kind of standing by with the thought that towards the end of the year they are going to lower rates. Treasury rates have been kind of anticipating that. And our MUN rates,
026the tax exempt bonds that the district, you know, potentially will be selling kind of follows. It's not a direct correlation all the time, but it's close. So, generally, we're in a great market. Um Megan's firm Stifl has underwritten a couple transactions this week. Um one of which we were involved with on Tuesday. It was for Arizona school district single A rated so not quite as strong as Paradise Valley. Their all-in true interest cost came in at 4.03. Um so that's inclusive of all expenses. So, you know, we think that this is a fairly conservative estimate in, you know, today's market conditions. Megan, I don't know if you want to add. >> Madam President, members of the government board, also, thank you for having me here tonight. I would agree with what Bill said. Um, the
027market has um, you know, kind of stabilized since um, since April. The thing that is working in the district's benefit is you have very high credit ratings and the size of the transaction is larger. So um those two elements are gathering or garnering more investor interest. What the deals that are smaller and have lower credit ratings are the deals that are kind of sluggish or struggling in the market. So we anticipate to you know achieve rates around four or under 4%. Y >> and just just thank you so much and that's so helpful to understand and just one quick sort of followup. So you had said um Missan that um think of it like our own credit ratings, right? So is that so is it kind of like we can think about PV debt to
028you know in I mean not income but revenue or right like budget I guess. I mean they're looking at what is our outstanding debt. They're looking at all of those things and and our repayment and all of that. The investors are really looking at where your credit rating is. Um but they're also looking at the credit of of the Paradise Valley School District name. Um we did Tempe Elementary today which also has given its location proximity ASU Tempe. You know it's very wellreceived investors know of Tempe much more than they do some you know more rural districts. So it really is a testament to the district and how the district is running itself um and you know your budget and your surpluses and things of that nature. >> Thank you. >> And Mrs. was wondering
029if I can add to that. We generally in in the sales since I've been here and prior to my time because of the reputation, the good credit rating, the size of the district, the size of the sales, we will have multiple orders for each set of bond, meaning we have more requests than bonds that we can actually sell. So, >> does Mrs. Christensen? >> Yes. Thank you all for being here to answer our questions. Um, and thanks to Mrs. Bergen for putting this information together for us. Um, I'm um, this is a question regarding the 97 million. How did we come up with that number? Is is are these earmarked in any way yet or how do we determine how much we are going to put up for sale? >> Yes, Mrs. Christensen. Um, when
030I work to determine the dollar amount for each bond sale, I check in uh, mostly with Dr. Davis, obviously most of the projects are our construction projects, and get his estimate for what he believes will uh be next in the pipeline. Then I check with Mr. Billings because we have a technology component within um our bond pamphlet that was approved by voters. Uh check in with uh Mrs. Kaya in our procurement department, our director for purchasing. She uh helps us with all of the furniture refreshes that are happening at our schools. Um and then we do uh buses. we have uh an amount in there each year for buses and so get an estimate from our director of transportation. Combine all of that together and um in this instance, this will probably be the start,
031it's hard to believe, but it will probably be the start of the next rebuild that the district does in terms of at least the architecture fees and maybe even some of GMP1 will will be incorporated within the 97 million. When you say next rebuild, we we as we know Indian Ben is being you're talking about a total different school. Not the next phase of Indian Ben. Correct. >> Not the next phase of Indian Ben. We have that in our current bond. It'd be the next in this bond we talked about with the bond committee. We would rebuild likely two elementary schools and probably one middle school. So, it'll be a determination next of whether we're moving forward with a middle school or an elementary school. >> Earlier is either It was definitely last school year.
032I can't remember if it was um it was definitely last fiscal year we had talked about possibly um going for a another override but it was my understanding that we're not doing that this election year. Correct. The um DAA override district additional assistance which is capital currently at $6,410,000 annually. 6 million of that is used for curriculum purposes. So when we're adopting new curriculum and the remainder is used for white fleet vehicle purchases in the district which bond cannot be used for. Um we could have gone out one year early in this year 20 November of 2026. Um but in talking with folks it seemed to make more sense to go out the same year as we're going to go out for the M override which will be November of 2027 and have them both
033on the same ballot. And that way efforts and costs and no additional costs for elections. And when you have an um election at that time, then it makes more sense to kind of combine two uh questions at the same time. >> Thank you very much. >> You're welcome. >> Does anybody else? Dr. Lim. >> So for those of us that are new to the bond space and just trying to wrap our mind around how this process works, can you talk a little bit about, you know, how long are we selling bonds? Obviously, you've mentioned that we get more requests than we have for bonds. So, does that mean we have multiple investors that are interested in purchasing the bonds? Can you just talk a little bit more in detail about that for us noviceses? >>
034Yes, absolutely. It's a great question. So, first of all, this probably goes without saying, but just to make sure it's clear, we ask our voters for an overall authorization. That happened in November of 2023 for $340 million. We don't sell all $340 million at one time. We sell in phases. Um, if you sell too many bonds and earn too much interest, then you have to pay fees on that. It's called defeasance. And so, we can only sell so much at a time. The point is not to earn interest on the bond. The point is to have those proceeds to be able to do bond projects throughout the district. So, we sell based off of the needs that I shared with you and based off of what's allowed in the voter pamphlet. Um, and the sale
035happens on one day. Is it a 1 hour window or a two-hour window? I forget. Generally, okay, I'm right between generally a 90-minute window. If anybody wants to come to my office that day and watch the sales happen, you can do so. We get a screen, we get it live. We get to see what's happening and how many requests for each bond. They're sold in increments of $5,000, if I remember correctly. Um, and you can see all of the offerings that are happening. You can see the name of the banks or investors that are interested in purchasing, but all bonds are sold that day. if if the instance happens where we don't sell all of our bond issues. Sometimes people are interested in the uh early bonds. Sometimes they're late interested in the later ones
036or the middle ones. It's hard to know. Um whatever isn't sold then um they will purchase them from from their bank and then they can they can work later to be able to sell those or keep them as they wish for their bonds. >> Thank you for that clarification. That helps. >> Welcome. >> Mr. Mr. Panta, do you have any questions? >> No, just a comment again. This wouldn't be possible if it wasn't for, like I was talking about before, our great community, >> you know, making sure we can sell these that they pass these bonds and overrides, etc. That's all. >> Thank you. Yeah, I just want to thank the community again as well. Um, we have always had the support of our community in terms of going out. There's the past 20ome years,
037there's been once where we unfortunately had an item on the back of a ballot and it didn't pass, but it passed the next time. But I think our bonds have always gone out. So, thank you all for being here. Thanks for the information. Does anybody have anything? Are we ready to vote? Okay. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any oppose, say nay. Any abstensions? Motion passes unanimously. And yeah, let us know when that bond sale is going. Yeah, I do. Seriously, I do. All right. Next on the agenda is, sorry, I'm moving paper here is item G2. The governing board will discuss and may consider action to approve in whole or in part the draft 2026 political agenda of the Arizona School Boards Association and direct the district's delegate to the
038ASBA delegate assembly to represent the board's determined position. Um we all have at our desk um the draft agenda that was sent to us by ASBA and I did not see a whole lot of changes in here but um you know the process will be and actually I don't know Mr. Pantara do you want to take over since you were the delegate last year in terms of the process? Well, again, whatever we decide here, when I go to that uh um meeting, I will vote and speak to things we've discussed here. I won't go on my own. Like last year, remember we added the uh JR um ROC portion and and that. But whatever we decide here based on these documents, what I go and vote for, but again, it could go any way. We're
039just one school board amongst all of them. So, in looking at last or talking about last year, um I think they're doing the same system which is just looking at the changes that they gave us. >> Did you find that that going into the meeting that other districts were proposing changes on the floor? Were there a lot of I mean, and that's >> last time there was something we can do. >> I was I did a change on the floor, but uh there weren't that many. Um, and some of them, most of them didn't get passed actually. People try to make changes on the floor. Uh, it's basically if it's here, these are the things that people are going to be voting on for the most part. Uh, but it can happen, >> right? >>
040And, um, and I try to support if I don't think it supports what we've decided as a group, then I won't vote against it. If I'm not sure, I just don't vote. >> Okay. Does that help? Does that answer your question? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Um, so I hope everybody got it's there's not a lot but there obviously are some changes here. I hope everybody got a chance to look through and um does anybody have any comments? I do want to remind people there are you know scouts here who need to hear this discussion. Um and so if you know we don't agree that that's cool too. Um, but does anybody have any uh comments on what we got from ASBA? Missy, >> I just I just want to make sure I understand.
041Um, so we're the discussion is really about the redlinined changes and that's it pretty right. I mean, we could have general I guess feedback and comments, but that's what their focused vote is about. >> That's what their focus vote is about. Now, if we would, you know, if we're not happy with something or we think wording isn't great or there's something I then we can vote to direct Mr. Panta to bring it forth from the floor at the actual delegate assembly. But in general, our vote would be like, hey, if we're cool with this, we approve, you know, and and we support Mr. Pantara's yes votes on these or or no votes if we don't like something. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Yeah, the the process that ASBA has used has changed over
042the years. So, right now, they're just more focused on the actual changes. We used to have to go line by line, section by section, whether there were changes or not. So, anybody have any I know Dr. Lim, you said you had looked through. Do you have any comments? I was just again highlighting the ones that I, you know, I I more that are ones that stand out to me that I think if they're asking for us to support things, they're things that I think are still on here that we supported last time that I think we should continue to stand behind, but none of those look like they have any red marks to them and haven't been changed. So, um I really have no comments if we're just focusing on the red the red aspects
043of the document. Do did we do we have any um additional context for and around the changes? Like were were you were you like were there conversations or discussions where these recommendations were made that other like district members were um privy to or was this kind of done and then given to all you know to all governing board members ac? >> Okay. My presumption is that once again everything that district submitted went to ASBA's legislative committee. Um and that committee would be the one as it says reviewed and discussed each submitted proposal at its meeting in June. So my presumption would be they looked at what everybody sent in. They've certainly made you know there's obvious changes here whether now changes also often come in from ASB ASBA staff specifically government relations because they're the
044folks who are going to be down at the capital you know discussing this with legislators and and executive branch members etc. But and again this is an evolution from before. In the past they have often um put you know given us the information like ooh 10 districts gave us something that said this so we kind of knew um but again that process has changed a bit. I haven't been on the committee in a while so I'm not totally sure when it changed. Um, >> and if I might add, you know, sometimes things disappear because they've happened. >> Yes, >> they've already happened. Okay, we don't need to fight for that because it's happened. >> Yeah. >> And again, these these these people on these committees are from all over the state. It's not just one
045group. Like you said, President Greenborn, I agree that they're gathering all that information that we all submitted and they're trying to make it make it fancy. See what kind of changes need to be made. >> Yeah. >> Make the best fit for everybody. >> Yeah. Um, well, I'm going to throw one thing out there just for me. Um, under section four, which is require public accountability and transparency for taxpaying dollars spent on education. Um they removed four which is always a topic of conversation and apparently enough folks got tired of seeing it. I personally would not have removed four. And five is something we talk about, but I thought elsewhere they talk about actual, you know, about tax credits, but I could be wrong. Whereas I think five makes sense. Um, it still bothers me
046just in general. Um, I'd rather actually see us >> if nothing else >> exceeded the limit for public, you know, for private because privates now can get vouchers or ESAs if we want to get more technical about it. So, five sort of bothers me a bit. I >> mean, the way it's written. >> Well, it's just like if we're going to increase it, let's increase it past. Why match? President Greenberg, may I request that when we are discussing an item that we read the item out loud so that >> Sure. >> because I know we have folks >> Thank you. >> on YouTube that don't know what number four is or section >> XYZ. >> We have folks in the audience who don't know what it is. So just for everybody out there, um number
047four, which the committee is recommending be dropped is support policy that encourages all eligible eligible voters to exercise their right to participate in elections. Number five, which they are recommending be added, is increase public school tax credit donation limits to match those allowed for private schools. Now, I'm not this isn't like a hill I'm going to die on, but I do think I personally think it took a lot to get four in there. And I'm not really since they're not explaining their rational like we used to get the rationale as well. like we were supposed to give rationals and we used to get the rational. >> That's exactly what I'm sort of struggling with a little bit. It's like it's like it's hard to sort of like so to that point and I would I
048would agree with what you're stating which is I too without context have a hard time supporting um removing supporting a policy that encourages eligible voters to vote. Just I'm don't under to me just I don't understand why they would remove it without any context. It's hard to understand that. And then additionally for me, um, and again, right, it right, perhaps there's was some legislation that speaks to an item, but without that cited, right, again, it doesn't give us the information, right, that we necessarily or that I would want. So, under two, there's number six. So, under preserve, respect, and strengthen local control. Number six used to read support local board authority regarding or no sorry support local board authority for student suspensions and open enrollment policies based on capacity and it looks like they want
049to remove for student suspensions. So support. So now it would read support local board authority regarding open enrollment policies. And without knowing more, it's hard for me to understand why would we not why would ASBA not advocate for local control and governing boards to have their own policies regarding student suspensions. And that was the one I was going to bring up as well is I I would I would like to know why that's been removed to be able to support something like that. Has something changed that has made it to where that's not under a local governing board's privy anymore like or is is that a selective choice they've made to not include it? >> Mr. Panta. >> Yeah. My question then is um I would too like to know why some of these were
050taken out. Um, but we're we're going to decide today whether or not we so I'm going to suspend like number four, the one about uh the elections being a right to vote. What kind of rationale can I accept for the board that removal? I'm asking for parameters. Okay, they're going to explain it. will ask but then I can need to know based on their answers whether we what our what might be acceptable reason like one acceptable reason may be sort of been taken care of somehow right like maybe there's something out there that they feel that's protected enough right uh but I I'm just asking for some guidance on which way to go once we seek out that information >> Mrs. Christensen. >> So, um, Mr. Pantara perhaps, and I don't know this to be
051fact, but it, so again, reading it, support policy that encouraged all eligible voters to exercise their right to participate in elections. It to me, it's not in the purview of ASBA to decide that. I know and it it is not directly related to student achievement and education. And so perhaps that is why I and I'm just speculating. Um maybe perhaps that's why they removed it because it's really not education related. >> Well, and again, we don't know. Although you need to vote for things like bonds and overrides which do definitely impact student achievement and be able to fund the things we need to have students learn, but we don't know. And so that's why I'm saying we don't know. We can speculate all we want, but I need advice about how to deal with when
052I do ask the questions. >> And so like I can play investigation and I can see number 12 under one has actually been combined with 2G under one. So, they've moved it to say include maintenance and increase costs for CTE and rural schools for transportation, which is what 12 was saying, but I would like to not play investigation and see where they moved things and then play hunt hunt for the changes. Not that there's an amazing number of changes in here um that might have happened in that way, but it would just be nice for them to clarify where and why that changed so that we can know whether it's something that's still here, it's just in a new place, or whether this is a change based on shifting changes in policy and governance that
053have led to these. So, >> so you're saying if if it's if it's a matter of consolidation, that'd be something that we could support. >> I mean, like for that one, it looks like that's what happened. Number 12 is still on here. It's just in a different location. That makes more sense. Clearly, it makes more sense to be in this space because it already says transportation. So, it makes sense that that one's been removed, but it hasn't technically been removed. It's just in a new location. So, it'd be nice to know what's fully removed and what's actually just gone to a new place. >> Yeah. And so, like, right. So, okay. So, number three under uh six um might be another example of what we're talking about here, right? So, so three and four. So,
054number three, it says Arizona school boards call upon all state, federal, tribal, and local officials to address the causes and impact of increased self harm and violence. It used to say at K through2 schools. They want it to read in our communities. That sounds reasonable. I can get behind that. And then they're opting to remove number four in its entirety. Arizona school boards call upon all state, federal, tribal, and local officials to address the causes and impact of increased gun violence directed to K- through2 schools. I can support this change. I feel like number three, it captures that like that to me is self-explanatory, but I would some of them are not. So if we maybe if we kind of go through them in this way, is that helpful to you? Right. Each one of
055these. Okay. Okay, let's start at the beginning then. Um, so the first addition is section one is adequately and equitably fund district schools to the national median per pupil funding. Uh the second point is provide consistent dedicated bases, excuse me, sources of base funding and they would like to add based on most recent statewide cost study go and then it goes on to say that equips all Arizona public schools with adequate support to address the academic, social and emotional need of its students including and then there is a long list of topics including as Dr. pointed out we have transportation and they have added in the information from later on where they reduced it. Um so the changes here are pretty minimal. Uh does anybody have any issues with these? I I don't even want
056to guess why they put based on most recent statewide cost study, but my assumption would be is so that we can do it based on the most up-to-date costs as opposed to >> Yeah. >> Well, I'm assuming it's it's they there's the suggestion to add based on most recent statewide cost studies is so that we're not stuck with, you know, what what worked in the 80s or 90s, but we're doing recent. Okay. Okay. The next change is in that same section and it's under seven. Um where uh we have provide funding for new space before existing schools become overcrowded. Advocate for the state facilities board whatever it's now called but SFOB to set a standard for replacement of buildings that have exceeded their useful life. Advocate for the SFOB to use a professional demographer firm
057in determining school construction. Advocate for capacity standards that reflect the design of instructional space, including funding for capital repairs. >> See, that to me looks like they just decided six might have been too wordy. They and they they just took portion of it, made it number seven, and then added that red portion that says including funding for capital repairs. Because if there was no seven, then it must been all part of six. Was all one thing. >> Maybe. >> Well, six was DAA. So, I'm not >> Cuz the seven is the red part that they added. >> Yeah, they did, didn't they? >> I thought they just added include funding for capital repairs. Sometimes it's a word problem that if you put something red at the end, it actually can make the number change colors.
058I have this issue all the time in agendas. So, I don't think it's red on purpose. I think it's a hallmark of Word that if you add red text towards the end of a bullet, it will change the bullet points color. >> Kind of like a typo thing. >> Yeah. >> Fault in the word system. >> Mhm. I think the the one thing that that is they just sort of added something and everything else this is a mixture of who who the you know who the verb is for. So is it for the legislature provide funding for new space? Is it for ASBA? Advocate for um advocate for and then we just have include. So, I don't know if that really shouldn't be a semicolon and >> but also everything else in this bullet is
059around uh dealing with schools that need to be replaced and now it's talking about repair. So, are we replacing buildings with this bullet point or are we repairing buildings in this bullet point? So, if they want to repair buildings, it seems like it needs to be its own separate bullet point versus tacking it on to this one that's seems solely about replacing buildings. Actually, Miss Bergen, if I could ask, state facilities board, they would jump in on capital repairs, would they not? Or is it only replace? What does it do? I mean, I know it's it has sort of shifted a little bit over time. So, what what is the mission of? >> Yeah, President Greenberg, it's both. >> Um, but the replacement schools are actually a newer feature. That is something that schools have
060been asking for for many, many years and they're only recently approving them and there's even some legal battles around that. So, it's actually more for repairs and upgrades is what SFD is currently funding. >> Okay. So, it could be that they sat down and realized they had not included the traditional repairs and put this in. Okay, I can >> Mrs. Christensen. >> So, just just an overall comment. I I find this to be an exercise in futility. I'm not sure if I'm using that term correctly, but it just one district and we don't even understand what a lot of the of the background in why they changed this. And I don't find it useful to talk about periods and semicolons because um I personally don't agree with the majority of the of this being a
061political agenda, which I'm fine with because I know that we represent the entire board. And so I could nitpick almost every single item, but I just think as a whole we should look at this more holistically because it it's really not going to change unless please correct me if I if you feel I'm wrong, especially for um Mr. Panta because I know that he's going to represent us as a whole. But I just like I'm getting a little bit just frustrated or angsty because it just to me I think we're spending a lot of time and I don't see the benefit of that. >> Thank you, Mrs. Christian. Dr. Lim. So I think just going through and looking at this like like this would be one that where I would almost want to advocate for
062it to be two bullet points because this is in a larger context right now around you know other states that are are just trying to get funding for capital repairs and get repairs in their schools. So I think this may be added for the larger discourse that's happening in other states where they're just not getting money for repairs. Um, it's a seems like a larger social discourse that if we we want to focus on both, I almost feel like it needs to be its own separate bullet point that like let's not bucket them into the same thing because a a building a new building tearing down and rebuilding is different than a repair. And we might get more traction with a separate bullet point with just repairs than a bullet point with repairs and rebuild
063because the costs are significantly different. And so it almost just going through it, I'm just like, well, maybe that should just be its own bullet point because it feels like that might have a more positive path forward to change to just ask for better support around the repairs versus rebuild, which is a significant cost as we know with our bonds. So >> Mrs. Christensen, >> so just point of clarification. So this is the Arizona School Boards Association. We're not seeing other states. Are you talking about like outside of Arizona? >> There's just a bigger social context right now where there are districts outside in other states that are are seeing significant repair issues. Okay. And >> those buildings are really falling apart. We're lucky to be a district that is not in that space and
064have a state >> and that is within our own state too in the rural spaces and things like that. But um it just I think it's part it it may have come to their attention more than just what's happening in our state, but it's a larger discourse socially right now. Um there's been a few stories out of multiple other states about rural schools that are just uh in tatters and I know we've had some locally as well, but I'm just saying it may have come to their attention that it wasn't on here because there's a bigger conversation around it around school districts right now in general. So yeah, nothing I think political about it, just more that it's in the news right now and that might be why it got flagged up. And to me,
065it's like, well, if we're going to flag it up, why don't we flag it up independently and it might have better traction as its own bullet point than tacked on to this larger complex bullet point. >> Well, I I think let me and I'm sorry. Um I think if you look at eight, I think eight sort of speaks to that a little bit more. And I suspect they sort of looked at this one and we took that out of state facilities warden and we should put it back. That would be my guess. M Christensen. >> Yeah. The other thing that we just um as we're looking at this we I think we all support local control. So why I think it's very um it's it's very good that they're trying to do this at the
066state level. This has to go they lobby through the legislature. they make state law, state statute. But we are very fortunate that we as long as we're abiding by state law that we can decide a lot of the nuances based on how PV needs to work. And so I'm very grateful for that. And um I just a comment because I think we're spending a lot of time and it may not be a big impact on on us and the whole. So, >> if I may, I would just add that, you know, I I agree with what you said and I'm to a to a point. I think it's important that we continue to advocate and and that ASBA continue to advocate for those things because they could go away and we've seen we've seen some
067of that local control um be questioned and I think it's important that we you know as long as we're going to be affiliated you know or or a membership with ASBA I think it's important for us to to go through this process and to um continue to to sort of advocate as well for that local control because I don't think I know no one on this board wants to see that go away. So I think that it's important for that to just remain right like at the forefront of advocacy um so that we make sure right there's never a question that that goes away. Um and I I agree I'm also a little frustrated with this process. It's not anybody's it's not our fault, right? And poor Tony has to go and and know what
068to do. So, I feel like we need to do this for Tony so Tony can go and advocate appropriately and if there's an opportunity perhaps you might be able to advocate um and share that our frustration a little bit that we without the context we're spending a lot of time guessing and it's kind of frustrating and I'm just not sure why they would do it this way. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me. So, >> yeah. And thank you for being the person to go do this. We appreciate you. I know it's you're probably glad it's not you. I'm glad it's not me. >> Okay. So, um Okay. So, Manda is kind of Do you still think we should >> I mean, if it feels like it's part of a or if it's
069>> if it feels like we are um >> kicking a doing some kicking a can down a road, it's not helping us. It it's not like trying to get them to change it. As as Tony said, lots of things got proposed on the floor and yours is the one that ended up on there. Like I I have no problem uh supporting something like this. It just seems a little disjointed like it's going to become its own bullet point. >> But what I'm hearing what I'm hearing is if somebody were to suggest let's split this up and make a bullet point, that'd be something I could I should be supporting. >> Sure. >> I think it would make more sense, but it's also, you know, >> probably not going to change anything significantly. So, I think
070any anything that's been removed or changed or moved, I don't seem to have any major issues with besides I would like some clarification around student suspension um before supporting taking that out and not having that under local authority. >> 100%. And without more context, I don't support it. >> Yeah, that that one I don't support. And it sounds like Ann, you were the same way with four um later on. So, >> okay. >> But everything else, nothing nothing jumps out. >> Okay. So, you're saying that's So, >> so 26 would be the one that removes local board control regarding student suspension. >> Um, okay. So, section two, preserve respect and strengthen local control. Number six, uh they're reworking it to remove student suspension and kind of adding I think adding in it's hard to tell.
071>> So they want it to say support local board authority regarding open enrollment policies. It used to read support local board authority regard sorry support local board authority for student suspensions and open enrollment based on capacity >> right >> it just seems like an odd thing to do. >> Yeah. So yeah. So our we would prefer it not change unless there is I mean I just I don't remember if something happened to the legislature regarding suspensions that might have impacted that. Okay. So we're good on that page. There's only one change on page three um in essence to change. So this is under improve opportunities outcomes for all students. Number eight um support policy that protects school district employees and students. Uh they want to change it to say from all types of discrimination period
072as opposed just saying including shouldn't say just including on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. I think to just make it more of a blanket statement. Does anybody have any issues with those? This is now page three, section three, number eight. It's the only one on that page that has a change. So, we're all pretty I think we we're all pretty good that one. Um yeah, the next excuse me, the next one is the one that we already talked about. I certainly have issues with it, both of them. Um if they want to put five in, I'd rather have it exceed as opposed to match. That would be my preference. And I also, yeah, I'm not sure what the explanation would be on taking four out that because I do think um, you
073know, >> governing board, yeah, governing board members are elected, bonds and overrides are put on, you know, facility sales. There's a number of um election pieces that that impact a school district and obviously learning by our students. So any other Okay. If not the we have a few more here on this page under school safety and security. Uh number three there's just the change from at K12 schools to in our school communities. And then four I think we talked about is now somewhat um melded into three. So does anybody have any issues there? No. And then the last one under federal advocacy simply changes oppose efforts that would reduce or interrupt to protect impact aid funding and the secure rural schools program for Arizona school districts that receive it. So that seems to be a
074pretty easy change. Okay. So, does anybody have any other questions or comments on the ASAB ASBA political agenda? Um, so, Dr. Lim, may I please have a motion to approve uh the draft 2026 political agenda of the ASBA as we discussed and direct the district's delegate to the ASBA delegate assembly to represent the board's determined position as presented. Uh, I move to approve the governing board's approval of the revision of the draft of the 2016 political agenda for the Arizona School Board Association. Um, and direct our delegate for the ASBH uh delegate assembly to represent uh our position as discussed. >> And I probably should have done that before we have the discussion, but we'll pretend it was all part of the process. Uh, anybody have any other comments to make? Seeing none. Um, yes,
075Mrs. Christensen. >> Thank you, Tony, for volunteering, too. >> We owe Tony. >> Yes. >> We appreciate that. >> Oh, yeah. It's a thrill a minute down there. It's great. >> All those in favor, please say I. >> I. Any opposed say nay. >> Any abstensions? The motion passes unanimously. Next on the agenda is acceptance of gifts and donations. Um, for the start of the school year, we had quite a number and I'd like to highlight a few. Uh, Dorito Partners uh gave $1,000 for rewards for students at Echo Mountain Intermediate. The PV Schools Education Foundation gave um uh PE Paradise Valley High School $2,790 for summer school for JAG students. and the musical instrument museum gave the PV fine arts department $4,000 as for bus expenses for MIM field trips. And then in total,
076I'd like to thank um the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust who gave more than $15,000 um donation for resources that support education with access to students in need. And that was distributed among Cactus View Elementary, Campabelloo Elementary, Eagle Ridge, Echo Mountain Primary, Hidden Hills, Indian Ben, Larksburg, and Palamino Primaries. So again, thank you to all our donors. Um we very much appreciate your support of our schools, our students, our educators. And with that, um Dr. Lynn, may I have a motion to accept gifts and donations, please? A motion to accept gifts and donations. >> Does any board member have any comments? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. I. Any oppose, say nay. Any abstensions? Motion passes unanimously. Uh, next on the agenda is called to the public. And I'd like
077to direct your attention to the video. Call to the public is about to convene. This portion of today's meeting allows the public the opportunity to address the governing board. Although state law does not require that the governing board hold a call to the public, the Paradise Valley Unified School District and its board have chosen to do so because we believe it's important to hear about concerns and issues from our community. While call to the public is not designed to be a discussion, the board is here to listen. Due to Arizona open meeting law, the governing board cannot respond to, discuss, or take any action on items brought up during this time. However, staff members may be directed to get back to you and address individual concerns. As a reminder, the point of this and every
078board meeting is to accomplish the business at hand and to be able to do so in an open and collaborative way. All in attendance are expected to observe meeting rules as well as rules of politeness and decorum so that we may serve as an example to our students that issues can be discussed in a respectful and civil manner. [Music] Thank you. Tonight we have one person who has submitted a comment card and she will have three minutes for remarks. As a reminder, not that I need to, we ask that you please direct your comments to the board and please state your first and last name when you come to the podium. And our speaker tonight is Heather Schmidt. >> Good evening, President Greenberg, Dr. Cummings, Governing Board, and Cabinet. Apologies for being the public comment
079person. Um, my name is Heather Schmidt. I'm the proud president of the Paradise Valley Education Association. Um, and now that we are officially, let's say round numbers, a week and a half into the first week of school for our certified staff, um, I want to express some thank yous on behalf of PVEA and the certified group. Uh, first of all, thank you to our governing board members who were able to join us last Tuesday for the new certified employee orientation. Um, this is a really unique event in that PBEA kind of gets to take the lead on the final pre-ervice day for our newest educators to the district. And this is not a privilege that we take lightly. We value this partnership and collaboration in making this event successful and your presence there speaks to
080uh that relationship and we very much appreciate it. To the cabinet, thank you all for being there as well and w joining us in welcoming our newest educators. Um my biggest disappointment probably of my year is that I was ill and not able to be there myself. Um, but I know that my team uh had an amazing event and we en they thoroughly enjoyed welcoming over 180 new educators to the profession um and to Paradise Valley. Um, additionally, um, on behalf of the certified group, we are thrilled to welcome our students back. Um, in my role, I'm not in the classroom anymore. And I have jumped at every chance I could this week to get back out into schools and into classrooms and seeing our kiddos getting used to routines, getting back into the swing
081of things, putting their cell phones away, and focusing on work. Um, and so, thank you to our students for being here. We are grateful to have every single one of you as uh students in our district. Um, on top of that, I will also say a big thank you to transportation and facilities. they are working their tails off to make sure that our schools are comfortable and safe for students and that they're arriving safely at school. So, uh again, appreciate all of you. Thank you for the work we're doing and I look forward to a fabulous 2526 working with all of you in support of the employees of this district. Thank you. >> Thank you. There are no items for discussion this evening. So before we adjurnn, I'd like to remind you that the next
082regular board meeting will be held on August 21, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. Dr. Lim may have a motion to adjurnn. >> I motion we adjourn the meeting. >> All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Is our last chance to argue for the last chance. >> Any opposed? No. Okay. Sorry, didn't do it. Uh motion passes unanimously. We are adjourned. >> First meeting. Nicely done. to let you know that um because I've had comments from people even you You